Consumer boycott of repugnant corporations

Just came across this tidbit about which companies donated to who in the US presidential election. Now I know as Mark Morford said that consumer choice represents only baby steps, but since we all buy stuff anyways, we might as well make the right decisions.

You probably already know this but avoid Coors (traditionally the most reliably and rabidly right wing), McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Fruit of the Loom, Guess, Dell Computers, Marriott, Holiday Inn, and even Yahoo and Amazon (Yikes! Barnes and Nobles is a far better option at 98% for Dems even though I've never shopped there). All car companies except Toyota and maybe Honda and all oil companies except Shell also sided heavily with the Republicans.

Google actually donated 100% to the Dems and Apple and Starbucks also did well. Arby's also supported the Dems... Hmm... I'll have to think that one over...

Check a cheeky article about the list here: [link]

And the list of companies and their donation levels at choosetheblue.com.

Warnings of Presidents Past

These quotes from some of the greatest American presidents reflects the decline of American democracy, and the imminent birth of the military-corporate-fascist state. Remarkably prescient, the trend had already become apparent in the early years of the Republic:

"I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
-- Thomas Jefferson

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country ... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war."
-- Abraham Lincoln

"We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the world -- no longer a Government of free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men."
-- Woodrow Wilson

"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling power. Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing."
-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted."
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Battlefield Earth

Bill Moyers, one of the brightest lights of American journalism, is getting ready to retire. His long and distinguished service to imagination, truth, and decency in his works over the years is unfortunately bookended with the lengthening of shadows in this second term of darkness. He parts however with cogent words on the environmental crisis, and the strange and horrifying ascendency of fundamentalist-millennialists who not only pray for armageddon, but are actively working towards hastening it with their baleful influence on the American political system.

The portents of the end times, here illustrated with the destruction of the Earth, are becoming clearer for these people. Ironically, these people who expect to be raptured, will actually pay dearly for their sins against life. [read here]

The Destroyer Of The World

Came across this powerful article decrying the destruction of Fallujah. I ask, who can stop this man? He is tightening his grip on the US even as I write. All his new cabinet appointees are loyalists and all the bad old ones are back, and will never be held accountable for their crimes against humanity.

For Americans, there is this:

Those who do get to know a little are in a constant state of denial. One thing is sure though. Just like in post-war Germany where some even denied the holocaust. "We didn't know what was happening" is bound to become a cliché that will one day be used to ridicule Americans who claim ignorance of the atrocities committed by their administration in their name.

[link]

The Hour of the Beast

As Bush visits Canada, and Pierre Berton, of our greatest Canadian patriots passes away, my mind turns to Yeats as the "best lack all conviction, and the worst are full of passionate intensity". However, dissent is strong outside the chambers of commerce and high treason where leaders cut opportunistic deals that betray their public pledges. Talk of the weaponization of space is already wafting in the air, with little note paid towards its potential for either global totalitarian control, permanent hegemony, or universal armageddon.

Interestingly, the CBC also aired a segment on how Canadian and US values and beliefs are diverging significantly, and gay marriage is only the tip of the iceberg. For example, 21% of Canadians believe that Men should be the Master of the House, while 52% (and rising!) of Americans believes so. In this day and age, that is frankly astounding.

Joel Kovel, editor of Capitalism, Nature, and Socialism comments quite presciently about the nature of the beast:

The nation which has gone the furthest in realizing the potentials of accumulation also maximizes the role of sexuality in accumulation, and in so doing becomes the nation with the most flourishing counter-sexualities. These seep upward from the ground of everyday life to nourish the Jimmy Swaggarts, Pat Robertsons and, most consequentially, the Karl Roves of this world, where they await a George W Bush, the born-again, ?rough beast? President slouching toward Armageddon. [link]