JERRY SEINFELD IS BIG FOOT!

Seinfeld's cozy Colorado digs: "You ever noticed how celebrities need 500 rooms to feel at home?"

Okay okay, I needed a catchy title, but it's relevant.

I read an article recently about a mammoth home Seinfeld is selling. You know the kind: 14,200-square-foot interior (the joint also has a deck the size of an airport tarmac); 11 bedrooms; 11 full bathrooms and three half baths; and a great room that looks like it took an entire forest to build. Asking price: $18.25 million. The kind of place you definitely need when you go on vacation and take half of New York City with you.

MoneyWatch.com (of course) reports that the "enormous compound is only a small part of Seinfeld’s massive real estate portfolio," which also includes the East Hampton estate that he copped off Billy Joel for the low low price of $25.6 million.

Now, I'm of the opinion that Jerry Seinfeld is one of the best entertainers around. But I think high-profile celebs like he are insanely overpaid (and TV should be publicly controlled, not run by profit-mongering corporations) and tend to live obscenely extravagant lifestyles. The kind of sickeningly self-indulgent spending that my mother has always referred to as "wicked." Mum's no fool.

Anyway, when I read the Seinfeld article, I wondered: What is this guy's ecological footprint? Hey, I have no reason to doubt that he's a nice person and he certainly brings joy to people. But does that entitle him (or anyone) to hack up the environment like John Bunyon on steroids. (Not to mention the accumulation of wealth that, if not spent on mansions and Porsches could, I dunno, save lives.)

Well, Seinfeld was just an example to illustrate a point. I've already talked about CEOs in this blog. But this stuff applies to all of us -- to one degree or another. I believe we should all ask ourselves questions like: How much is enough? What do I really need? What is my ecological footprint?


What is an "ecological footprint"?

Here are a couple of plain-English definitions of "ecological footprint":

1/ A measure of how much biologically productive land and water area an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates using prevailing technology and resource management practices;

2/ the amount of productive land appropriated on average by each person (in the world, a country, etc) for food, water, transport, housing, waste management, and other purposes.

You have one, I have one, America has one. Every individual, community and country has one. The problem is that our eco footprints are way too big -- our resource usage, our wastefulness, and our sheer greed are simply unsustainable. And we're in a hurry to crash.


"Need" Vs. "Want"

I've often asked people the question "Why do you need a big car/big house/fifty pairs of shoes/etc etc?" and received the answer "Because I want it/them!" And the answer comes without a hint of irony, without a whiff of the notion that there's a huge divide between "need" and "want" and a lot of people, in the Third World in particular, are tumbling into that chasm. At it's killing the planet herself.

Just as there's the concept of "peak oil," there's essentially a "peak everything." The days of houses on tasty blocks of land are numbered. We have to accept that. The gas guzzler must go. Shopping for the sake of shopping must, and will, atrophy. Bottled water is a disastrous gimmick that has to end. The list goes on.

I can honestly see a day when the government can't push the truth to one side any longer and there will be limits on a variety of things and fines for not recycling. Finite resources and insane consumption. You do the math.


What to Do?

You already know this answer to this, right? It's commonsense. Cut back. Use less. Recycle everything possible. Buy used, not new. Live more modestly. Don't live a consumer-junkie lifestyle. Accumulating isn't living; and it just may well be the fast track to murdering the planet.

Read up on the facts and talk about this stuff. Spread the word.

On the large scale, it's the usual things: sign petitions, write to your congressman, join environmental groups, picket corporations, do anything you can to pressure for limits, controls and regulation when it comes to any kind of environmental devastation and degradation. If you know how to use the Internet, it's pretty easy to do quite a lot: If you're willing to put forth a modicum of effort.

Live an activist's life in everything you do. Think like an activist. From the small, to the big. It's easier than you think. And the payoff is pretty cool: survival.

This is getting too long. We'll pick it up again. Maybe a bit more on consumption.

Take care and be practical,
Adrian

IMPORTANT FOOTNOTE: Death row inmate Troy Davis, about whom I've written on more than one occasion, is now scheduled to be executed on Sept. 21. Not only is the case against him full of holes, to execute anyone demeans the humanity of us all. Please GO HERE to sign a petition to try and win clemency for Troy Davis. You can also GO HERE to help spread the word. Thank you!

MORE ON CEOs, CORPORATIONS & YOUR TAXES

As punk rock icon Johnny Rotten once said: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"

Talk about timely supporting evidence!

Not that it'll put a smile on your face, but a few days after I wrote "CEOs SUCK (YOUR TAXES)!" (posted Aug. 29), DemocracyNow.org did a story on this very issue.

A new study has found that 25 of the biggest corporations in America paid more to their CEOs in 2010 than they paid the federal government in taxes. Here now, in point form, are some more of the sickening facts from the study/story:

* Corporations often use overseas tax havens and can make billions in profits while paying little, or zero, in taxes
* Companies often actually receive tax rebates
* Among the companies mentioned in the study were Coca-Cola, Verizon, General Electric and eBay
* The study stated that the ratio of CEO pay to that of the average worker in the U.S. has rocketed to 325-to-1
* The study’s co-author, Chuck Collins, (senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies as well as the director of its Program on Inequality and the Common Good), said: "What these companies do is they use a variety of tax loopholes, corporate loopholes, to game down their taxes. So, these are what I would call the sort of championS in the tax gymnastics department."

You can watch the DemocracyNow.org report here. It includes some excellent information about how corporations cheat on their taxes!

Take care and keep fighting for a fair go,
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might also like to take a look at CEOs SUCK (YOUR TAXES)!

IT'S ALL RELATIVE

We must stand together and never forget those less fortunate than ourselves.

I've been traveling -- just home late last night -- and I'm exhausted.

U.S. General Patton once said: "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." Well, I think fatigue, and misfortune, also tend to make one think.

I had a great visit with my son the past few days but terrible -- and expensive -- luck with travel. Let's not call it luck: It was actually fine-print corporate greed on the part of the airline I traveled with. I won't name the airline because they don't deserve worse advertising than the rest: They're all greedy.

There was quite a bit about my travel that was freakishly bad and had me feeling a bit sorry for myself. But it's at times like that when it's hard not to also think of those less fortunate. Even though I'd consider myself a mid-range struggler financially, I'm rich compared to so many people. Even if I have to eat sandwiches and canned spaghetti til my next pay check thanks to Fine Print Airlines, I at least know I can eat.

And being tired. How tired are those who have to work three jobs? Who are low-income single parents? Who are being victimized by an economy ravaged by military spending (half the deficit!) and corporate welfare? Who are fighting battles of personal survival or senseless wars for cold-blooded governments? Who have been out of work for months? Who are starving in a Third World country? I am tired but I have no excuse to not keep fighting: Whether it's writing a letter to the airline to explain that fine print doesn't justify unethical behavior; writing this blog; signing online petitions; agitating and networking; giving a few bucks here and there, and so on. Small stuff compared to the plight of millions of poor souls.

Yes, in war and sports fatigue does make cowards of us all. But in life's fundamental struggles, we must never allow ourselves to be so tired that we give up the fight, on our own behalf or the behalf of those who need our help.

Take care,
Adrian
PS: I still have to write another piece on the Revolution, but next time I want to talk about the book "Standing Up To the Madness" which I just finished and which, at least in part, inspired what I wrote here tonight.
PPS: Thank you so much to the folks who have recently signed up for "House on Fire." I sometimes have trouble getting the email function here to work so I can thank you one-on-one but I am very grateful for your interest.

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might also like to take a look at CHILD HUNGER -- THE SCOURGE OF THE PLANET.

A JETHRO TULL MOMENT

Remember when rock and roll was rebellious and actually said something?

Most Saturday mornings I play my rock albums and hit the Net.

So, this morning I'm on Facebook posting my comments about Verizon cheating its striking employees, corporations in general, and how to mess with them. Well, below is a post I wrote that explains the rest:

Talk about irony. Sitting here writing about corporations -- or Satan's building blocks, as I like to call them -- and I'm listening to Jethro Tull's classic "Aqualung" album. Then, this couplet: "In your pomp and all your glory, you're a poorer man than me/ And you lick the boots of death born out of fear."

You gotta love it. Coincidence? Yes. But rock and roll has often taken the rebellious road and we're the better for it.

Now, as you were. :-)

(More on the Revolution in the next 24 hours.)

Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might like to take a look at THE REVOLUTION IS KNOCKING.

THE REVOLUTION IS KNOCKING -- PT. 1

In my lifetime, I've never seen anything like this.

In fact, as far as I can tell, the present level of radicalization of the masses, in the U.S. and possibly globally, is unprecedented. The knowledge, the awareness, the networking, the activism, the motivation -- all the indexes that indicate radical societal change are going up.

This is key stuff and what "House on Fire" is all about. So I want to devote two or three posts to it. My observations of what's going on at present, what it means, where it might lead, how it will affect us and what WE can do to affect it.

What's the Evidence?

Let's start with the U.S. Even as recently as a decade ago, you didn't hear the "average person" questioning America's major institutions -- and certainly not with the sophisticated level of knowledge that they're exhibiting now.

People are aware of the Wall Street robber barons; the illegality of the U.S. invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere; the fact that we don't have a real democracy; the notion that things really do just go round and round in the same sick way regardless of who gets elected; the knowledge that corporations call the shots; the fact that those corporations can pollute the hell out of the air, water and land and not pay a serious price -- and will probably be granted more licenses to rip and tear for fossil fuels; a stark awareness that not only nuclear weapons but nuclear energy is unsafe and unnecessary. The list goes on.

People are discussing these things. I see it all the time now on Facebook, message boards, Twitter, in the alternative media and, on occasion, the mass media: you name it. The dialogue is thrilling to witness -- and very often it's really smart dialogue.

Activism-based groups have hit the mainstream. While I'm not here to go into deep detail about their individual merits or flaws, movements like Zeitgeist, Anonymous, the Venus Project and resource-based economy groups herald a whole new era. I feel that we have Wikileaks -- in tandem with a pitiful global economy -- to thank for this surge of widespread activism.

Then there are the uprisings around the globe: against oppressive regimes, protesting governments whose policies feed unemployment, and demanding peace and justice and decent-paying jobs. The Middle East alone is awash with protests.

And, of course, cyberspace. The New Frontier. The Establishment just can't keep the lid on it. TV was the one-way propaganda gold mine they relied on. But this Internet thing? What's a WASP to do?

"But how's it going to turn out?"

The question on everyone's lips. But to focus on the question itself is to miss the real point. I believe the real point is that people are actually ASKING this question. When has this ever happened before in modern, Western history vis-a-vis mass societal change? This is a landmark -- it almost feels like a miracle.

But not really: This has been simmering for some time. Of course, you could shorthand an answer and say: "Well, things are so rotten for so many people, we need radical change of some kind so at least the ship has left the dock. We have a shot of making things better." Predicting exactly how it will play out is like trying to predict anything about the future -- and it isn't what's important anyway. We just have to keep working, talking, protesting and shaping the thing as we move forward.

I'm not saying that there isn't quite a way to go; I'm just saying that we've traveled farther than ever before. And now, all things are possible.

Much more to write but I don't want to make these posts too long. Check back and I'll have more for you in a day or two -- and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Take care,
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might like to take a look at AMERICA IS IN DECAY.

WE ARE ALL WISCONSIN

 FDR signing the
National Labor Relations Act, 1935

We work too hard.

Those of us who enjoy the right to work at all, that is. This notion was addressed in Juliet B. Schor's landmark 1993 book on the subject "The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline Of Leisure."


MORE SIMPLE TRUTHS

Those who read my last blog post, "THE SIMPLE TRUTH," will know what I mean when I say you don't even need to read a book on the subject to know it's been going on for a long time. It seems in so many jobs we're asked to work longer and longer hours, while "benefits" (such as they are in this country) are constantly eroding, salaries are shrinking, the minimum wage is a human rights abuse, and it's an employer's market. So if you dare "do an Oliver" and ask for a little more, it's straight off to the unemployment line for you.

Which is why we should be equally concerned about labor representation -- or the lack thereof -- in America. And recent events in Wisconsin show us that the worker doesn't have the whip hand, thanks to the incestuous relationship between capital/corporations and the body politic. Now, I've had my fair share of experiences with unions and I know they aren't perfect. But they at least give the working person a leg to stand on.

Of course, unionization is anathema to our faux capitalism and the money grubbers who make all the profits. To such an extent that corporations like Wal-Mart (a notorious example) will videotape and badger and fire their beloved "associates" if they even look like they're talking about forming a union. (Check out the DVD "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" for more on this and other delightful W-M practices.)


WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?

Until we remove our faux capitalism and install a fairer, more meaningful, system of production and distribution, we should all care about labor representation. I'll give you just a few basic reasons from my personal experience and observations:

1/ Overwork affects your physical, mental and emotional health.
2/ There are social costs: less time with family and friends, for example. Less time to engage in chosen endeavors. Less time to do worthwhile work in your community.
3/ And less time to agitate politically! This is no accident. The people who own the system want to keep you busy so that you don't have time to cause them problems and take away any of their power. They also want to keep you scared. And who isn't scared of losing their job?
4/ We're losing basic rights, like the 40-hour week and safer working conditions, that came as a result of a great deal of struggle by a lot of brave people. (Which proved it can be done!)
5/ You're working your life away.


SUCKED IN

The many ladder-climbers I've seen who are absorbed by their careers, seem to have bought into the whole game and lost their way. They want to be promoted, they want to buy sexy things like BMWs and big houses, they want to have "prestige."

But to what end? Are these things even real? Really important? And what "progress," what greater good, is their energy poured into: Making more useless stuff for us to waste money on? Or, in the case of a company I worked for, Harrah's Entertainment (now Caesars Entertainment), to get as many people as possible to gamble away as much money as possible. And all the good little MBA-owning execs would slit your throat (metaphorically) to top the sales charts and get promoted.

My "greater good" argument does not generally apply to nurses and doctors and others who provide essential services, and aren't just involved in selling crap, fantasies, or Wall Street's "funny money." Although they have their problems too. Furthermore, any privatization of essential services like health, education, the judicial or prison systems, or public safety is just plain wrong (as is privatization in general).These things are meant to serve society, not be profited from. It's a plain conflict of interest.

Pro-labor protesters rallying at the Wisconsin Capitol.

CONCLUSION

This is not an easy road. It can be a risky, painful one. I know this from experience. But corporations -- and other types of bully employers -- are just like any other bullies: If you let them shove you once, they'll shove you again and again. The light at the end of the tunnel is, as with anything, over time, things can change. Maybe for us, or maybe for our kids.

Think about where you stand and what you can do. (Go here to lend your support to the workers of Wisconsin on April 4.)

Take care,
Adrian

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might like to take a look at THE HYPOCRITES ON THE HILL -- LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

THE ECONOMY -- NOT SO HARD TO FIX

The Federal Reserve -- helping to screw up the economy since 1913

There is a very old trick in politics and academia that we should all be aware of.

It's the trick of making things sound far more complicated than they really are. When pols or academics do this, they're kind of saying: "See, this is very complicated. Only WE can handle it. You ordinary people just take it easy and leave it all to us."

Well I'm here to tell you that most of the time this is a load of bull.

Most fields of inquiry can be distilled to simple explanations. How the hell would anyone ever learn a discipline if they had to begin at the advanced level?

Economists are NOTORIOUS for this. And yet, like weathermen and consultants, they can spout a lot of fancy talk, be completely wrong, and still get paid. Try doing that in YOUR job.

So, as a non-economist, with a vested interest in the economy -- just like you -- let me give you my version of what's going on in the United States in terms of our money.

I see it this way:

If a system isn't working to the advantage of the majority, all the tinkering and talk in the world won't fix it. You need a new system.

Now, I'm not here to advocate one system or the other. My understanding is that we have rarely had an economic system be left to operate uncorrupted by greed and elitism: be it communism, capitalism, socialism or anything else you can name. There are some inspiring exceptions. I'll talk about them next time.

I DO believe we need a new type of economic system. But in this blog post let me just take us the first step and address what we already have: We do not have real capitalism. There is not fair and open competition, free markets, or survival of the fittest.

For example, corporations privatize their profits (capitalism) but often socialize their losses (as when taxes from the people are used to bail them out). So forget about this being a capitalist system. It has some semblance of that, but it has taken the worst aspect of capitalism -- a lack of fairness and compassion -- and run with it.

What do I suggest? This:

1/ Don't listen too hard and long to the boss of the Reserve or Obama or the Secretary of the Treasury. They talk nonsense and are in the pockets of people who don't give a damn about you or me.

2/ Slash unproductive, cynical spending like the enormous military budget and corporate tax breaks, and redirect those billions into public works, social services, helping the poor, ramping up education, bolstering (not plundering) social security, and instituting universal health care. That kind of good stuff. And guess what: Unemployment will plummet -- although some rich folks might have a few less mill each year. It's just common sense (and we haven't used terms like "stagflation" or "commodities" or "fiscal policy" or "supply-side economics" to confuse the issue).

3/ Get money out of politics. It's corrupting the system, keeping honest people out of Washington, and, well, wasting money.

4/ Make your voice heard. I say this time and time again. And if we do it, in numbers, the politicians will have to listen. It works on single issues with single politicians; and that's the way to work up to broader change.

We don't need a "stimulus package." We need a reallocation of resources (i.e. our taxes). Sure, there's a lot more that can be done, but that's a big step in the right direction.

And remember, that's just mending the capitalist model which isn't all that great to begin with.

At the base level of our economy are some basic truths. One of them is that we have a very unfair system. The second is that it can be made fairer and more efficient if we cut the leeches out of the picture.

Those who benefit from a system, however corrupt, will tend to defend that system.

And one of their best defenses is a lot of complicated talk that confuses the hell out of us.

Let's call them on it.

Take care,
Adrian Zupp
FOOTNOTE, NOV. 13 I just read that Obama is "offerin" to spend $4.1 billion on the U.S. nuke arsenal. That's a lot of jobs to you and me.
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JUAN WILLIAMS, MEDIA MORONS AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT

Juan Williams: Shouldn't have had the job in the first place.

National Public Radio (NPR) has fired political "analyst" Juan Williams. Let the storm in the wrong tea cup begin.

Among other things, Williams works for NPR and the FOX network.

Already there is much huffing and puffing about so-called "liberals" being too touchy and "conservatives" being too insensitive. And if you see someone on a plane in "full Muslim garb," as Williams put it on that disgusting freak-fest called The O'Reilly Factor on FOX, well, of course you're going to be nervous!

The mass media love to miss the point, keep us all arguing and getting upset, and maintain the status quo, rather than getting any real information and demanding true democracy. Here's my take.


PEOPLE WITH COMMON SENSE NEED NOT APPLY

Williams did not scream "Fire!" in a crowded theater -- or "Bomb!" on a crowded airplane -- and so he has a First Amendment right to say pretty much as he pleases. HOWEVER, it is way past time that we insisted on having journalists who really are ANALYSTS and don't spout simplistic crap and get well paid for it.

And that's a long line of so-called journalists we're talking about.

Mr. Williams argument that, hey, lot's of people think the same thing when they see a Muslim on a plane is a schoolyard-level argument.

To begin with, he's making an ASSERTION, not providing evidence -- unless he can prove he's psychic. But let's run with his assertion for now.

Even if some folks do feel some concern about seeing a Muslim in full "garb" on a plane because they've been brainwashed by a mass media machine that doesn't educate us as it blusters along in a bid to win advertisers, at least they have the sense not to say it out loud. Something in them recognizes that it is an irrational fear.

They know that "Muslim" rarely means "terrorist." That people have freedom of religion in this country. And, to make even the crudest of arguments, they know that terrorists usually just wear plain clothes when doing what they do.

As several other commentators have now pointed out, Williams' Muslim assertion has direct parallels with our stereotyping of blacks in this country. You simply cannot cite particular incidents to generalize about an entire race, creed, religion, etc. -- and we have to start insisting on that. Ask a college student: They teach the limitations of generalization in Logic 101 and statistics classes.

If other nations were to do that, guess what, NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHTS MINDS WOULD WANT TO BE AROUND AMERICANS! I mean, our government/corporations have invaded more nations than Britney Spears. But you and I didn't give the order. See what I mean?


IT'S UP TO US

Really, we need to look at ourselves. Our government, our media, our education system. And we as individual citizens need to speak out. The French put us to shame in this regard: which is why our government/corporations want us to hate them.

We get too much of our "education" from biased media talking heads who don't bother to explain what Islam is and the diversity within it -- among many other things they don't explain in their rush to be conservative, keep things as they are, and to win advertisers.

If you want to throw fuel on the extremist fire, just keep insulting religions.

Why don't we get the best minds in the country interviewed on FOX (and not cut them off every 30 seconds) and elsewhere? And yes, I'm talking about people like Noam Chomsky who I have mentioned in this blog before.

At day's end, the real issue is not whether Juan Williams had a right to say what he did. The real issue is whether we want simpletons and people with cynical agendas holding positions where their views are heard by millions of people.

I vote "no" on that one.

Take care,
Adrian Zupp

FOOTNOTE: I didn't want to make this post about NPR but I will say that I am not a complete fan. They have corporate connections that have biased their reporting at times and they are less "open" than many people think. Noam Chomsky talks about that fact in this YouTube clip.

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING I invite you to take a look at THE FIRST AMENDMENT BELONGS TO YOU.

THE FOOD WE EAT -- PART 4: FACTORY FARMS

Factory farms (AKA industrial farms) are huge farms owned by corporations that are ruining our food supply, putting farmers out of business, damaging the environment, treating animals with extreme cruelty, and putting our health at risk.

It's all about speed, greed and volume: and man and beast are paying a stiff price for this corporate greed. There is very little that's natural about this kind of food production and you might be surprised at what's actually in that steak you're eating. (Or produce, for that matter.)

Take a look at the brief videos here and you'll get the idea:
1/ http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/campaigns/factory_farming/multimedia.html

2/ http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=factory+farms&aq=f

Or Google "factory farms" and read more.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

It will only take you 30-60 seconds to have your voice heard...

Tell President Obama and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) that you oppose factory farms:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

This is the Secretary of Agriculture:
http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Tom_Vilsack
Email him at this address: AgSec@usda.gov

Send a message about the use of antibiotics on factory farms here:
https://secure2.convio.net/fsi/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=341&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr004=zepd1nlxe3.app209b

Find good, organic food here:
http://www.eatwellguide.org/i.php?pd=Home

These are grim times for the food we eat. You're no longer getting the dinners your Mom put on the table. Buy local, eat organic, protest factory farms and pay attention to all labels.

There's more at stake than you may realize.

Take care,
Adrian Zupp

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might also like THE FOOD WE EAT -- PART 5: BOTTLED WATER.

THE FIRST AMENDMENT BELONGS TO YOU

I write this blog for everyone.

It doesn't matter where you live, what you do, or what your political persuasion. I don't care if you hate what I say: That is your right. My goal is to provoke thought and debate while highlighting problems and offering practical actions in response to those problems.

Most of the subjects I address are patently universal. Certainly they are all global in their impact.

But, necessarily, I most often address specifics that obtain to the United States of America. This stands to reason since -- for now at least -- the U.S. is the most powerful, influential and interfering nation on Earth. (In this usage, "nation" refers to the U.S. government and U.S. corporations and all institutions, instruments and individuals at their disposal in achieving selfish aims.)

So I believe it is very important at this point in my blogging to devote an entry to the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.

It reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

My main concern here, at this time, is the subject of free speech. In America, according to the First Amendment -- which is part of a supposedly sacred document that even the white men who run the planet swear by -- YOU have the right to have your say.

Provided you do not abuse this right -- for example, through slander -- you are protected by the law of the land. Of course, it does take courage to speak up in the face of power and power will often bark back: often with its own slanders and often in courts of law. But whatever may be thrown your way, the First Amendment is still your last best hope of bringing truth to the surface, and power to heel, in America.

And as you can see above, the First Amendment also tells you you have the right to fight the powerful, the corrupt, those seemingly above our reach: "the right of the people...to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

If you are a U.S. citizen it is vital that you are aware of your First Amendment rights and exercise them at every opportunity. Because you can bet that every greedy and pernicious corporation, every dishonest public official, every ego-tripping TV talk show nut job, every journalist and media outlet that gives us less than the whole truth and nothing but the truth, every PR agency that will create Big Lies for a price, every warmonger who profits from misery, every U.S. citizen who would put him or herself ahead of the good of the many, WILL exercise that right to the detriment of the greater populace.

And even if you do not live in the United States, whether you know it or not, you rely on the First Amendment as well. Do all you can to ensure that your fellow citizens of the world who reside in the U.S. do not allow their protection under this critical piece of legislation to go to waste.

This is a big subject and there are many technicalities we could look at. Perhaps another time. My goal here was to explain one important way in which you have more power than you may realize.

Use it!

Take care,
Adrian Zupp

IF YOU FOUND THIS BLOG POST INTERESTING you might also like to take a look at FDR's SECOND BILL OF RIGHTS and A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR THE FABULOUS BILL HICKS.

LIVING IN A STOPWATCH WORLD

I hope by now I'm succeeding in using my "Little World" experiences to amplify my thoughts on the "Big World" problems we are all facing together. That's the plan, anyway.

As fate and the gods of workday drudgery would have it, this is an opportune time to slip back to the micro level after a couple of more theoretical blog entries.

I work in the creative department of Harrah's Corporate in Las Vegas. It's called Studio One. We produce countless posters, billboard designs, slot toppers, ads, radio bites and on and on for our various casinos all in the name of converting more people to gambling and making sure the ones already sucked in stay for a long ride. This is not the noblest vocation to which I've applied my writing skills. But I think I've made that clear before.

Putting aside, for one moment, the ends to which our work is applied, Studio One (or, simply, The Studio) produces some fine stuff. We're also asked to do a lot of cheesy, crass and exploitive stuff.

For most of us, it's just a job and we dream of using our creative skills in more rewarding pursuits. However, Harrah's, like most big corporations, seems hell bent (yes, that would definitely be the phrase!), on turning The Studio into some kind of production line/sweatshop.

Why do I say this? Because, just as in the cult comedy "Office Space," Harrah's has "brought in the Bobs" (see movie still above). "The Bobs," for those of you who haven't seen the movie, (I insist that you do! :-), is slang for consultants.

Now, every place I have worked where consultants have been brought in, two things have happened as a result: 1/ There were staff cuts; 2/ People mysteriously ended up working harder. (Oh, and there's usually some musical chairs between positions accompanied by a bunch of meaningless title changes.) Why has Harrah's brought in consultants (some nasty outfit called Kaizen)? Well, in the name of "efficiency" of course.

"Efficiency" is corporatespeak for cutting costs to the bone and working people like mules. For squeezing the blood out of everyone. For placing unreasonable demands on folks. For jackhammering the profit margin just a little bit wider.

So these wizards came in and lassoed our sorry group of supervisors (mostly yes men/women) and brainwashed them with wonderful tales of "hard data" and enticed them to play serious executive development games with blocks (no kidding) and all that good stuff. The usual quasi-psychobabble these quarterwits come up with. (Incidentally I know what went on because, surprise surprise, there are very few secrets in Office Land. People always spill their guts sooner or later.)

Next, The Studio's fearless leader (we'll call him Tom -- not his real name. His real name is Chris) reported back from one his serious sessions with The Bobs, dragging behind him the largest, most incomprehensible (that's never an accident!), pair of workflow charts I have ever seen. Santa Loveman's elves had been busy indeed. I'll spare you the details of the nonsense explanations that went on when these Picasso-vomit nightmares were presented to the whole Studio.

More at the nut of all this is the "hard data" thing. You see, consultants deal in numbers: dollars, seconds, widgets churned out, "excess" personnel. They're like mathematician wannabes with a perverse fascist streak. Most of them are dorks -- but their vocation is actually very dangerous for the average worker and they should not be dismissed out of hand. They are dorks who can make a mess of people's lives.

The Kaizen dorks' pursuit of numbers, of "hard data," led to them having some of our people follow their colleagues around with stopwatches and clipboards, noting down everything they did. I won't say "Hey, you can't make this stuff up" because you could: if you were twisted and boring enough. But this, to many of us, was an inappropriate, insulting, and rather dehumanizing state of affairs. Nobody has come near me with a stopwatch yet and if they do it may be their last act on this mortal coil.

So the question presents itself: Where is the acknowledgment of the "soft" data? The human factor? The stress? The mental wear and tear? For the message I'm inferring from "The Bobs" is loud and clear: We will work out the formula by which you work hardest, produce the most (what about quality? Oops, not quantifiable), and get the big boys the max dollars. It's already started: People are disappearing and our hours are lengthening -- and the hardcore Bob Plan isn't even in place yet.

Clearly this will all lead to low morale and burnout. (That's happening already too.) But in an employers' market (technically, it's virtually always an employers' market) it's easy to push us hard, burn us out, let us go, and replace us with some college grads who will work for peanuts.

As thinking and creative beings, we, like so many others in so many places, are being shoveled into the furnace of devolution. And the fundamental notion of respect for one's fellow humans gets tossed right in there with it.

Unions are almost extinct and the 40-hour week has gone with them. Workers in the Information Age are becoming regarded less as people, arguably, than any time since the Industrial Revolution. (Okay, that would take some explaining but I think there's a very good case to be made.)

It reminds me of that well-known line from the film "Network," when Peter Finch, playing the mad newscaster who comes clean, screams out: "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

Of course that was only a movie. But something in my skull tells me that the day when the "average person" is fed up, en masse, is fast approaching. And they will not love Big Brother.

Gone over my limit. Apologies, apologies.

Adrian Zupp
PS: A quote I once saw: "A consultant is someone you pay for their opinion." 'Nuff said.

WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR LIFE FOR YOUR COMPANY? -- PART 2

Let’s climb back into this saddle for a bit.

I left off in Part 1 talking about how disingenuous the leaders of corporations can be. How they sing a song of unity with the workers but have little in common with them and show little real care for them.

It seems to me that, especially in tough times, the calls for those lower down the totem pole to tighten their belts is, well, diametrically wrong.

How about this: How about they pay us more and we work less? How about they slash their salaries to something nearer to a sane level and put the money back into the salary kitty for us all to divide up?

Can’t you just hear them howling foul? Because when leading execs say “We must tighten our belts,” what they’re really saying is “You must tighten your belts.” The word “We” is not really in the Fat Cat Lexicon.

And I can give you an example that’s really close to home. In 2009, Gary Loveman, the president and CEO of Harrah’s, made 666 times more than I did. (I know that the 666 sounds like a gimmick, but that’s what the calculator came up with.) Now, I may not throw my heart and soul into my job, but I have to think that Mr. Loveman, Harvard pedigree and all, is not working 666 times harder than me.

I know the arguments: He's a wonderboy specialist; he’s supremely skilled; he has connections on Capitol Hill; he works 100 hours a week; he knows God personally. Yes, I got it. Let me repeat: 666 times what I make! Personally, I don’t care if he’s laying golden eggs, that’s just plain obscene.

Of course, Mr. Loveman did speak to we corporate peons at the Christmas party in the ballroom at the Rio in Vegas. He even brought slides of his family because, y’know, he’s just a family man like us. Except that he flies around on a private jet and doesn’t have to worry about medical bills, rent, heat or paying for his kids' top-drawer college educations. His smarmy speech reminded me of the title of a Warren Zevon (pictured) song: Even a dog can shake hands.

When I look at people like Loveman, and even middle managers and lower ranking "yes men/women," I wonder how their brains work. What is it they’re striving for? If they bust their humps for the corporation do they think they’ll achieve some kind of capitalist or personal nirvana? To me, there seems to be no meaningful end for all the means applied. As they say, there’s no “there” there. On my deathbed I hope to be able to reflect on something a little deeper than how many rungs up the corporate ladder to nowhere I climbed. And let’s face it: Corporations don’t really do much good for anybody. They're profit machines. Period.

So that’s the gloom. Where’s it leave us?

Well it’s easier to pontificate on this stuff than to solve it. And most people need to work regardless of what they’re doing: razing rainforests, crunching numbers for insurance companies, or coming up with ways to get people to gamble. It’s easy to feel hopeless and just not think about it.

But that’s the biggest mistake we can make. If you want a better life for your children, if you want a better world, it’s going to take a bit of suffering. The good news is that the dividends are much more gratifying than those you get suffering for a corporation.

I suggest talking to colleagues. Reading up on corporations and the history of the labor movement. Writing down on a piece of paper, in priority order, the things in your life that are most important to you and why. If there’s a union available to you, join it. If there’s not, think about how you might bring one into your workplace – though, admittedly, that’s a very tough undertaking.

You can speak up more to your boss. Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets oiled; sometimes it gets fired. You’ll have to weigh that up.

Consider going into the non-profit sector and working for a worthwhile organization and helping to fight the good fight.

But even if you can’t readily change your work situation directly, there are many things you can do outside of work to try and change the economy and the culture of greed. Join groups (even if they're online groups), sign petitions (again, even if they're online), contact your local politicians about issues, make your voice heard any way you can.

Let me give you a very concrete starting point that might fire up your own thinking on the subject. Go to the website of Corporate Accountability International (http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/) and look around. If you pull on that thread, you’ll soon be starting on your own tapestry.

My final point: The day will have to come when we don't just change certain issues or particular workplaces, but we change the very institutions that shape our society, our economy and our thinking. That is the Big Task. But it is attainable. As this blog goes on, I'll talk more about how we can do some serious world changing.

Til next time, keep smiling,
Adrian Zupp
PS: I've emailed Gary Loveman a couple of times asking when Harrah's employees might expect to have their sick leave benefit reinstated. So far, no word from the big man.

LET'S TALK ABOUT STRESS, BAY-BEE

I didn't go to work today.

I didn't go to work because I am so stressed out by the place and the continuing soap opera that plays out there that I just ran the white flag up the pole. The details pertaining to my particular situation aren't all that relevant. At the end of the day, I'm just one more person in the pandemic of work-related stress.

I don't consider myself to be a weak person. I started out in blue collar jobs at a relatively young age and got my hands dirty for many years before seeing the inside of a college. I know the value of a dollar and the meaning of hard work. I pride myself on my resilience.

But have you noticed how the working life has gotten harder and harder, as a general trend, over the past years and decades?

Why is that?

I think there are many interwoven reasons and one overarching one: The beast that is corporate-driven capitalism. I will lay my cards on the table and say up front that I am not a fan of capitalism. But even if I were -- or if you are -- anyone who has studied any economics at all knows that we do not have pure capitalism anywhere on the planet.

Is our capitalism driven by fair and open competition? No way. In the United States, the corporations with the most lobbyists in Washington DC win at will. Just think of it as another form of insider trading.

And all this guff about welfare to the poor being a waste of taxes and harmful to the economy and blah blah blah. Guess who are, BY FAR, the greatest recipients of taxes-funded welfare in the United States. Yep, corporations. The recent bailout of banks and various other crooks was only one of the more transparent examples of this. It's been going on a long time and the guys at the top know how to take care of each other. So if you're wondering where your hard-earned tax dollars go, better to look up than down.

The point about capitalism goes on and on but I promised myself I'd keep these blogs somewhat bite sized. So we'll come back to that another time.

So, "stress." If you work in the private sector, capitalism and the corporate culture have a lot to say about your stress level. (And even if you aren't in the private sector, you're still going to be heavily impacted.) This culture will determine your pay level, how much time you get off, your sick days, what you do for eight or 10 or more hours for five or more days per week. It will impact your self image, your self esteem, your family, your friends, your sleep, your entire private life. That's pretty significant, right?

No wonder we're stressed to hell. And hey, most of you reading this aren't living in the Third World: a chorus of countries that gets kicked in the groin by capitalism whether they like it or not.

If we are to feel fulfilled and happier and healthier, this all has to change. Simple logic. We need to talk to colleagues about how we feel (you'll find most of them feel the same way). We need to voice our complaints where and when we can: factoring in the risk of being fired, of course. We need to join unions if they are available to us. We need to read and educate ourselves on work, on our economy, on stress, on the institutions that dictate the shape of our lives (corporations, the body politic, the public relations industry and the media). We need to voice our concerns to these institutions and join public action/social change groups (even if only via the Internet). We need to take every opportunity we can to reach out and reach up.

This is not impossible stuff. Big things are changed by many voices and united actions. And if you share any of the concerns here you are NOT in a minority. You are the majority! It's just that the fat cats own most of the media so you aren't going to get any smoke signals about your partners-in-change from them. They like things just the way they are. And keeping the masses divided is the age old way to subdue them.

I have to end this here and promise to keep circling back to, and elaborating on, the various issues I've raised.

For now, here are three resources (of the many available) that might help you get started on joining the fight for a better world and feeling more optimistic:

1/ www.democracynow.org -- if you want the real news, you will get it here.

2/ "The Overworked American" by Juliet B. Shor -- a landmark book on, well, how we're overworked in the U.S.

3/ www.care2.com -- you can sign up here to get email bulletins about online petitions on important issues. So for 60 seconds of your time each day, you could add your voice to thousands of others on a critical issue and, yes, politicians do pay attention to these things. They love lobbyists but they also have to heed their constituents. Don't give up this power!

4/ Just about any book by (or DVD featuring) Noam Chomsky (pictured). Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest minds on the planet, his books are quite easy to read and devastatingly revealing. And many of them are quite short and in Q&A interview form.

I'll share more such sources with you in coming weeks. Perhaps you'd like to share some too by writing a comment with your thoughts on how to fight the good fight.

To end on a light note, the great radical comedian Bill Hicks once said: "Bosses. They're like gnats on a fishing trip." Doesn't go to the heart of the whole problem, perhaps, but it's a fun thought to roll around in your head on those days when work is getting you down and levering your stress up. (More on Hicks another time.)

Thanks for reading and I will try to pick up the thread started in my first post when I return here tomorrow.

Take care and onward!
Adrian Zupp

IT ALL STARTED WITH A SPARK

I work for Harrah's Entertainment Inc. -- the largest gaming corporation in the world. The Harrah's brass prefer the word "gaming" to "gambling" because it's innocuous and potential-customer friendly.

Today was an interesting day in a somewhat awful way. We had a human resources flack -- complete with soften-the-blow cheese humor and whiteboard markers -- come into our department (The Studio -- where much of Harrah's advertising materials are developed) to explain the mysterious "9-Point Grid" to us.

I battened down for the usual stream of BS and promised myself I'd gnaw my hand off before I dared to speak and get myself into more trouble as a rabble rouser... or whatever the current term is for someone who speaks up in the face of nonsense.

The Grid, it would seem, is a cute little "calculation device" for assessing and describing our performance as employees. This was good to know because we wouldn't want to slack off and see less-than-maximum shekels going to the rich white men who run the show. That just wouldn't do. No no. Besides, GE uses the Grid and we all know what a bunch of good guys they are.

The presentation was the usual horse-and-pony show you get when businesses do this kind of thing, and the Q&A that followed was, well, the usual softball game you get when businesses do this kind of thing. The presenter confessed, at one point, that, no, the grid wasn't "totally scientific" (the gods of MIT can rest easy -- their jobs are safe) and yes, a certain aspect of it could be "taken with a grain of salt."

At this point I had to raise my hand. You know that feeling, right? All the blood has rushed to your head and you just can't have your intelligence treated like a dog's favorite fire hydrant anymore.

"You said this wasn't completely scientific," I said. "Well, that is correct. If a scientist has a paradigm, and the paradigm has a component that you can take with a grain of salt, the scientist will dismiss the entire paradigm as useless."

This went on for a while, as you can guess. He parried with some bad jokes and patronizing filler ("Well, you're certainly entitled to your opinion") but basically I won on points.

But you never win these things when you work for a corporation -- you just begin something that you hope someone else will tune into. Most (not all) people accept the thimble-and-pea trick they're being sold, and you can't really blame them.It's easier to buy into it and hope life won't get more difficult.

My larger point is this: This is one small example of how corporations control their employees. Clearly, the "9-Point Grid" could do nothing more than a supervisor's hand-written appraisal could do. It's facility did not really lie in its purported use. What things like the Grid do is throw people off balance: What does it mean? How will it affect my performance reviews? My raises? How high do I have to leap to get through the highest square on the grid?

People get nervous; scared even. You can see it. They're confused. All they can glean is that they are being asked to work hard ("Your personal objectives will be constantly raised as you progress"), then harder and harder. And of course the message is clear that if you don't excel like a good little Harrah's employee, well you just might end up in one of those bottom squares that the presenter drolly implied were for, um, the losers among us.

The moral here is pretty much what your best teachers in school and college taught you: Question everything. Don't take guff like the Grid on face value. Corporations aren't your friends and the rich guys who run them aren't really out to be your best buddies.

But I'll say more on that tomorrow.

WHAT I HOPE TO ACHIEVE WITH THIS BLOG

The truth is, the world is in bad shape. I am not the doomsayer type. I like to have fun and occasionally shop at the forbidden fruit market. But the overwhelming body of scientific evidence tells us that the next half century might see us out. Whether it be environmental degradation or nuclear disaster (intended OR accidental). I have felt the need to join the discourse on the need for radical social change to try and reverse the ominous trends we're faced with. But, to my shame, I have put it off and put it off, choosing instead to read, discuss and donate some money here and there. Well, for some reason the events at work today that I described above took me beyond critical mass. So I've decided to start here with a daily blog, and then move on to building my own website. I'll expand on these things at a later date.

For now, I would like to invite you to visit my blog regularly. Much of what I will have to say is the result of many years of study and interviewing (I have worked as a journalist in the past). It is also the result of just plain thinking these things through over the years. At times I will tap some connections I have out in the world: very smart people whom you may well have heard of. I'll try to keep things a little lively but entirely meaningful. This is serious stuff and unlike most of the Washington speechmakers, many of us do really care what kind of world our children, and their children, will inherit.

Thanks for reading!
Adrian Zupp