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Progressives
Disappearing Progressives
May 31, 2009 Volume 16 Nr. 7, Issue 251
Common Dreams is well aware that In Latin America,
during the 20th century, a new term emerged for those people
that had simply vanished, as if they never existed. The
term, to disappear, was
the process by which writers, journalists, authors, and simply,
people, who expressing an opinion that was deemed threatening went "poof!".
They became the Deseparecido. Frank
Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, sang, "And they said, 'It
couldn't happen here..."
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
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In
A Word...
February 1, 2009 Volume 16 Nr. 6, Issue 250
In the last few
months I have received at least two, and if I’m not wrong,
maybe three invitations from our military to join their ranks. The
latest is from the Marines. It is really quite a package and
has a cover on which the text appears in white: “YOUR
HOMETOWN.” Under this is a flap held with sticky spots,
one of those new glues that does and doesn’t. Inside the
other side of the flap it declares “IS YOURS TO DEFEND.” And
it goes...
Peter Shepherd
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George
W. Bush's Last Address To The People. A Parody: Up Yours
Farewell
January 15, 2009 Volume 16 Nr. 5, Issue 249
So around the world, the United States is promoting free
markets, worker exploitation, structural adjustment, greed
Capitalism and the indignity of stolen natural resources. We
are standing with lackeys and young Capitalistocracies,
providing aid and medicine to bring dying neo-liberal
societies back to life, and sparing the owning class from
further wealth deterioration and loss of profits. And
this great republic, born alone in wiping out an indigenous
population, embracing slavery and denying women the rights of
citizenship, is leading the world toward a Nuage where the
free market belongs to all nations...
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
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Henry
and the Talking Picture Box or the World of Waste
December 31, 2008 Volume 16 Nr. 4, Issue 248
More
questions followed by more answers: The problem is “static
electricity” which knocks out the programming section stored
in something like a mother board which was readily knocked out
and the programming had to be reinstalled to make it work.
Sixty-five dollars. Could he change the board out and put a new
one in? No. Who could? If he reinstalled the programming, what
were the chances that it would be a final fix. None. Aren’t
there hundreds, even thousands of this same...
Peter Shepherd
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Capitalism
Is In Crisis. It's The Unions' Fault
November 15, Volume 16 Nr. 3, Issue 247
The blame for Capitalism's crashes rests on the shoulders of
the owning class. You see, having more than enough money
and wealth, is, well, never good enough. Being content
with having millions or billions of dollars is not what
satisfies the Capitalist. Capital, to the Capitalist,
has only one purpose, that is, to make more capital. And
when more capital is made, there is only one mindset that
keeps the Capitalist content. And that is, to add the
newly acquired capital to the total and to repeat the process
over and...
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
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Socialism
For Corporations: Bush's Failout
October 15, Volume 16 Nr. 2, Issue 246
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
Art (ink on paper) speaks.
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Do
As I Teach But Not As I Do. Vermont Teachers Union Fails
Democracy
September 12, Volume 16 Nr. 1, Issue 245
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
I'll
be the first to admit that Peter Diamondstone can be trying
and difficult. Peter can be stubborn. Perhaps this
is why the two-party system political proponents dislike
him. They may disagree with Diamondstone. But the
dislike, disagreement, adverse reaction to personality, even
Diamondstone's preference to not wearing suits, is no reason
to exclude him from gubernatorial debates. As a major
party candidate, Peter Diamondstone is entitled to
participate, and Vermonters, including young people, deserve
to hear what he has to say. The Vermont-NEA has denied
Diamondstone the standing he has earned through his party's
major status. It has denied Vermont's young people
access to non-establishment opinions which they most likely
will not hear in the classroom. Of course, this may...
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Dumping
The National Phone Directory. Electing The President of
the United States.
August 15, 2008 Volume
15 Nr. 13, Issue 244
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
In the 1995 movie version of
Harrison Bergeron, written by Arthur Crimm and directed by
Bruce Pitman, the president of the United States is randomly
chosen out of the national phone directory and then called by
telephone and notified of the "honor". Crimm
is telling us that it does not matter who the president of the
United States is. Crimm's reasoning reflects the common
thread throughout the movie that everyone is equal so who
becomes the president is irrelevant. Also, the president
is not in charge of anything. As in "Harrison
Bergeron", the movie what we see is not what we
get. What we see on TV and the media is the sideshow
passed off as reality for we have all become the George and
Hazel Bergerons of the 21st century.
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John McCain: The Candidate Of, For, And By The People.
He's Just Like You And Me. Right?
July 1, 2008 Volume
15 Nr. 12, Issue 243
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
It is now June 2008, and not since
the Great Depression has Wall Street's performance been so
dismal. War with Iran is appearing more and more
probable, perhaps inevitable, the closer we come to election
day in November. Making war to influence the outcome of
a presidential election has been a long-time tradition in the
USA. The media inform us daily that there are only two
candidates: John McCain and Barak Obama, both trying to
convince the people that they are, like us, struggling day to
day, feeling the pain of our collective economic woes.
Really? Let's examine John McCain to see if that is the
case and discover what a mensch he really is. John
McCain just another salt of the earth is he?
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Obamanation
June 7, 2008 Volume
15 Nr. 11, Issue 242
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
After a grueling year-and-a-half
of campaigning, this stage of the oppressive election year
frenzy is over. Obama has won. And so what?
Obama asked no hard questions. Obama provided no solutions.
Obama gave the electorate a preacher’s delivery, a rock
star’s persona, a basketball player’s hand claps. Obama
gave the public what the media creationists programmed them to
want: a feel better candidate delivered via Madison Avenue
finesse for which they are conditioned to accept. The main
stream corporate media orchestrated the so-called Obama
movement offering it as an adjunct to the Republican option.
The only game allowed, after all, is....
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Spirituality:
The Ego Clamoring For Attention
May 15, 2008 Volume
15 Nr. 10, Issue 241
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
No matter how big a family we may have, no
matter how many friends or colleagues, we will ultimately be
alone. Either our friends, etc., will die first or we
will. I would go one step further than Brandon: to live a
loving and peaceful life causing minimal damage to others we
must accept the fact of our ultimate non-existence. This
means that we must do what the ego is designed not to. We
must accept the reality that the ego will cease to be and along
with it, so will we...
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From
The Great Dictator: Adenoid Hynkel Speaks. Charlie Chaplin
Addresses Bush, Cheney, et al.
April 15, 2008 Volume
15 Nr. 9, Issue 240
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
I came across the classic film,
"The Great Dictator" starring Charlie Chaplin.
In this movie, Chaplin plays Adenoid Hynkel, the great and
autocratic dictator of Tomania. Chaplin also plays a second
character, a Jewish barber, who is an Adenoid Hynkel
look-alike. The barber mistaken for the dictator,
eventually is maneuvered into making a speech to the great
world masses after the successful invasion and conquest of the
fictitious country, Osterlich...People
concerned about fascism in the U.S.A. would do well to watch
"The Great Dictator" while they still can...Chaplin
knew fascism when he saw it back in 1937. If he were
alive today, he would know it again...
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Putting
It Where The Sun Does Shine. Ending Solar Impotence.
March 15, 2008 Volume
15 Nr. 8, Issue 239
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
What is wrong with
this picture? The self-appointed greatest nation in
history cannot put its ever-increasingly unemployed people to work mass-producing solar
panels. It is as if we are impotent in putting our people
to work in industries with obvious long-term benefit.
The country that made it a national goal to put its citizens
on the moon remains remarkable in its inability to produce the
energy products necessary for its own future well-being.
Why is that? Why is it that foreign competitors have
taken the lead in cellular network infrastructure building
with massive access to digital and Internet services, hybrid
and alternative fuel automobiles, etc.?
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From
Garlic Powder To Heparin. We Are At War With Ourselves.
February 15, 2008 Volume
15 Nr. 7, Issue 238
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
A technician from
interventional radiology told me that increasingly they are
seeing injectible solutions that are "Made in
China". They expressed their discomfort with this
trend, especially when it came to the important and common
injectible anti-coagulant called Heparin. And justifiably
so. Recently, the Heparin "manufacturer",
Baxter, voluntarily recalled a batch of its product. The drug
Heparin that is labeled as being manufactured in the United States
is made from an active ingredient that comes from a factory in China that
has not been inspected by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration...
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Patriotism:
The Other Opiate of the Masses
January 18, 2008 Volume
15 Nr. 6, Issue 237
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
We are as infants in our
recognition of the deleterious effects of
patriotism. We are ignorant from whence in the face
of grave loss we choke up when the colors are presented or
the national anthem is played Patriotism never tries
to interfere with our inability to understand it. It
exists as an ever present aspect of our being, a fact of
life successfully inculcated from an early age from the
habits of our parents and our schooling through the
dominant and domineering paradigms of our culture.
Patriotism's demanding proliferators build upon our
internal proclivity toward something bigger than the
self. In that regard patriotism is a parasitic
infection that often destroys the host and many more times
those branded as its enemies and collateral damage.
Patriotism is an
infection that cares not one whit whether the host survive
only that the parasite continues...
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Under
the Guise of Freedom: Fascism's Ultimate Destination
December 26, 2007
Volume 15 Nr. 5, Issue 236
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
The ultimate destination of
fascism is the total domination over and control of everything
that happens to people while operating under the guise
that people are free. The terminus operandi is a
breed of wetware automatons that question not, while being
convinced that they have chosen not to question. The goal
is a society that behaves as planned while its members
believe they have chosen their behavior...
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Mukasey,
Buchanan, Feinstein, and Schumer.
Waterboarding And The Passion Of
Christ
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
November
7, 2007 Volume
15 Nr. 4, Issue 235
Fatherland is what
fascists turn to when they cover up their personal
internal
conflicts in favor of domination over everything. To
fascists, waterboarding becomes not being torture. The
United States becomes a country that does not torture. Extreme rendition
becomes not
kidnapping. People's disappearances become not un
constitutional. Assassination becomes not being murder.
"
Preventive war" becomes not aggression. And collateral damage
is no longer contrary to "thou shall not kill".
Death becomes not being contrary to the
"pursuit of life". To hell with "all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator,
with certain unalienable Rights." I ask you,
Pat Buchanan, would your Jesus Christ sanction waterboarding?
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Homeopathic Thuggery
JeanneE
Hand-Boniakowski
November
1, 2007 Volume
15 Nr. 3, Issue 234
In
the interest of democratic discourse and the cause of rational
health care, Metaphoria is joining with dozens of sites across
the web in reproducing the article
which the Society of Homeopaths...managed to have removed from a web server via
ridiculous legal threats.... they just bullied the ISP. The SoH has continued to support its members
even when they practice dangerous
versions of homeopathy... encouraging folks to skip the malaria meds...
when visiting/working in places
where malaria is endemic. How long do we
coddle quackery in the name of twisted versions of
"healthcare freedom" and "multiculturalism"?
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Military
Cadence: A Tribute to VFP Brother David Cline, RIP
October, 2007 Volume
15 Nr. 2, Issue 233
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
"They
killed Dave forty years ago, the government of the United
States killed Dave in Vietnam; but Dave had too much in him to
die right away. Too much heart, too much soul, too much
spirit, too much of a passion to fight for what is right and
true and just; it took him 40 years to die."
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Removing
the Toxins - Cleansing the Nation
September, 2007 Volume
15 Nr. 1, Issue 232
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
The
cleansing session that removes toxins from the body are four
hours long and take place three days each week. If only the
chief
executive of the USA could be hooked
up to remove what poisons the nation. If only the flow
rate could be set to maximum and performed seven days per
week. If only the Cheney - Bush regime could be
cleansed of lies, deception, corruption and incompetence.
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Reel
Mowing As Protest. Twisting Panties And Squeezing Gonads
August, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 12, Issue 231
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
If one protester pushing a
lawn mower in opposition to the illegal and immoral Iraq war can
elicit the wrath of fascists in the White House, then there is
hope still that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights can be
defended and protected. Evidently, one protester with a
push mower can twist the panties of the powerful. Tens of millions, however, would put the gonads of
corruption in a vice grip called ...
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They're
Off! Trunks And Asses On Their Way
July, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 11, Issue 230
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
We do not elect candidates
to high office in the United States. We pay for and they buy
their way in. No Mr. Obama, what exists is the same old
corrupting influence of large sums of money on the electoral
process. Democracy is not only ill-served, it is
abrogated by campaign cash that determines candidate
viability. Little money means little electability and
the U.S. ruling class determines and manufactures who the
candidates will be.
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June, 2007 Volume 14 Nr.
10, Issue 229
JeanneE
Hand-Boniakowski
(temporarily unavailable)
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Relevant
Ramblings With A Child By My Side
May, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 9, Issue 228
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
A poem
about breast feeding and being male in the U.S.A.
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Alternative
Ethics
April 29, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 8, Issue 227
JeanneE
Hand-Boniakowski
Since the skeptical and scientific blogworld is in a deep
discussion of strategic appeasement over whether science and
religion can play nice together, I am going to look at some of
the ethical muck of appeasement that has dirtied health care...The appeasers are those who trumpet “integrative
medicine”. Seeing
themselves as moderates, a bridge between hostile camps of
“allopathic” and “alternative”, the integrators are a
muddy waffle that is dishonest at its core...
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Cindy
Sheehan in Vermont: Nothing Left For The Right Wing Except To
Attack The Messenger. How Pathetic!
March 6, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 7, Issue 226
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
What stands
out most strikingly is that the pro-war side no longer has any
credibility. No longer having any rational, nor legal, nor
moral justification to continue supporting the war and G.W.
Bush, the pro-war folk are left to their own nasty devices of
attacking the anti-war messenger. Swift-boating, spreading
lies, character assassination, are all they have left to
comfort the cold cockles of their insidious hearts...The lies
that led to Shock and Awe have now morphed into lies that
attempt to mask their own complicity. These are the deceptions
that continue to kill and maim hundreds of thousands of
people. The attacks against Cindy Sheehan are in response to
her powerful and truthful message and do not require any
rebuttal whatsoever...
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Democrats
and Liberals: Lacking Conviction. The
Door That Cannot Swing Both Ways.
February 19, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 6, Issue 225
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
War is murder.
We cannot be in support of murderers while opposing murder. I
will not honor that which makes murder and war possible.
Liberals and Democrats want to condemn war and then honor or
commemorate those who make war. Those who kill are killers no
matter what the cause or ideology, or what the flag, or what
the religion, or what the reason. If, as Nancy Pelosi says,
“There is one proposition on which we all agree: our troops
have performed excellently in Iraq. They have done everything
asked of them”, then she, and we, have honored the killing
in our name and at our request. I will not honor that.
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The
Ultimate Human Activity: The Exchange of Capital. The
Ultimate Crime: Not Participating.
January
22, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 5, Issue 224
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
Neoliberalism, however, has
it backwards. The ultimate crime is not rejecting the
moment-to-moment urge to buy something. The ultimate crime is,
instead, neo-liberalism placing profits before people. The
higher human activity is not going shopping. It is, not
shopping. Shopping is not a prerequisite for a good life. Free
market capital circulation is not necessary for well being and
living a good and content life. Quite the contrary...
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The
Relative Value of Human Life. No Iraqi Civilians on
Mount Hood.
December
22, 2006 Volume 14 Nr. 4, Issue 223
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
The
human will to survive is strong and ever-present. The money to
pay for survival, however, is another matter. Callous
neoliberal economics renders human capital inconsequential. To
neoliberalism, the use value of a human being does not matter.
Only their surplus value matters to the capitalist, thus
making the value of rich human life greater than that of the
poor...
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Industrial
Warfare. Industrial matrimony. Neo-liberalism's
Big Products.
November
15, 2006 Volume 14 Nr. 3, Issue 222
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
Just as we are
indoctrinated into the mindset that the war will never be done
away with, we think we cannot have a wedding outside the
corporate model. The cultural operative dictates a
public ceremony, typically including a minister, a reception
with an obligatory meal, a bubbly toast, booze, a band, a DJ,
a wedding cake and some kind of favor for the guests. A
corporate recipe for yet another commodity. Like other
commodities, the typical mass produced wedding is riddled with...
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The
Doctrine of Americanism and the United States Midterm
Elections of November 7, 2006.
October
30, 2006 Volume 14 Nr. 2, Issue 221
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
In this the last week
before the 2006 mid-term elections (November 7, 2006) in the
United States, it may behoove us as United States citizens to
ponder upon the following historic words: "Many
of the practical expressions of Americanism such
as party
organization, system of education, and discipline can
only be understood
when considered in relation to its general attitude
toward life. A spiritual attitude.
Americanism sees in the
world...
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War
as Human Defect. Faith as Disease
September
19, 2006 Volume 14 Nr. 1, Issue 220
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
Just before the cease fire in the Israel-Hezbollah
war went into effect at 0500 hours GMT, 14 August, there was a
final push for maximizing destruction and death. Last licks,
before time runs out. The maximization of casualties is not the
characteristic of a
sophisticated and highly developed species. Quite the
contrary...
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All Natural
August
7, 2006 Volume 13 Nr. 51, Issue 219
JeanneE
Hand-Boniakowski
Ah,
the seduction of that meme: “natural”.
We are enchanted by a notion of the natural world that reads
like a personals ad: “loves long moonlit walks on the beach.”
Just as one should be realistic about Mr. Box # 4723, so
should one examine assumptions about nature.
Parasites and polio, tsunamis and tsetse flies, volcanoes and
vipers are all natural. When
we get that wistful idea of Nature, we are thinking of...
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Banning
Body Jewelry. Stretching Ear Lobes While
Shrinking Free Speech.
July
26, 2006 Volume 13 Nr. 50, Issue 218
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
Having mouth jewelry in today's
off-shoring job marketplace appears to be a positive
asset. Just wait, Ms. Pena. Your job and your teachers
positions are about to be eliminated. You are going to be
replaced by Indian educators and teachers with mouth and ear jewelry!
These other fad- endowed educators and teachers even have
the audacity to speak the Queen's English. They are
anglophiles who, unlike "Texan", G.W. Bush, can pronounce the word
"nuclear" properly and not mangle verb tenses...
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Exceptional
Americans Manifest Their Destiny:
And to Hell with the Consequences...
June
17, 2006 Volume 13 Nr. 49, Issue 217
Jason
Miller
Contrary
to the “catapulted propaganda”, Enron, Haditha, and Abu
Ghraib were not isolated incidents or the work of a “few bad
apples”. American savagery and oppressive behavior pervades
our society and predates our nation’s birth. Building its
patriarchal wealth on the backs of Black slaves and cheap
labor while acquiring its territory through Native American
genocide, predatory exploitation of non-Anglos, the poor,
women, and the working class emerged as a pillar of
America’s socioeconomic “success” before we even
declared our independence...
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Capitalism
Requires a Great Depression. Getting
Ready for World War III.
June
17, 2006, Volume 13 Nr. 48, Issue 216
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
The Boomers grew up in a
period within the United States when the expectation was that
every year the personal and family economic situation would improve
along with the improved fiscal condition of the nation. Every
year better than the previous year. The Boomers who worked hard all their lives are
now
beginning to retire and the fiscal house of the United States is not in
order to provide for them in their senior years as was promised...
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Memorial
Day. A Dedication to the People of Woodfolk in Charlottesville, Virginia
May
30, 2006, Volume 13
Nr. 46, Issue 214
Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
A few days ago, a
long time friend and I had the good fortune to spend a few
days with the wonderful people of the anarchist environmental
community, Woodfolk, in Charlottesville, Virginia. It is
to them I wish to rededicate the first two versions of my
Peacemakers songs below, especially Peacemakers II, for it is
within the Woodfolk community that I see the best chances for
this planet realizing what I have written about in this
song. The planet needs more people like Woodfolk if it
is to survive. Thank you Woodfolk. Thank you very
very much...
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