Sunday, March 25, 2012

Devdutt Pattnaik: Money and Property Conflicts Explained

IT IS WISDOM, NOT MONEY, THAT SHOULD BE DESIRED

The value of the value wisdom is down in the human stock market. And now for some pearls of wisdom (or is it wisdom first, then pearls?)...

Devdutt Pattnaik, an amazing mythologist, is a self declared "Chief Belief Officer" for his organization, Future Group. I think you will be delighted with his discussion of conflict arising from money, property, and inheritance. He assesses these desires of accumulation through the use of the three Hindu Godesses:

Lakshmi (also Laxmi) - The Goddess of wealth. Accompanied by her destructive twin sister Alakshmi.
Alakshmi - Goddess of discord. Sister of Lakshmi. Both Lakshmi and Alakshmi arrive as pairs.
Saraswaiti - Goddess of knowledge, good sense, and wisdom.

The meat of the video starts at the 9 minute mark.

[Youtube] Devdutt Pattnaik on significance of property and money

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Leon Panetta does not answer to Congress

Here's Leon Panetta telling Congress that they, like Hebrew National, they answer to a higher authority, and it's not Congress, as decreed by the Constitution. Isn't this blasphemous and treasonous?

The fun starts at 2:00 (two minutes) into the video.

Link to Disquiet Reservations blog entry.

The Rainforest: Externalities Abound

EXTERNALITIES - A CONCEPT TO LIVE BY

Ok, so everyone looks at the internalities, which is profit if you are an investor, wages if you are a worker, or price if you are a consumer. Being conscious about externalities, thinking about them, and prioritizing them every eventful minute will change one's perception of the world.

For example, will thinking about the externality that is the needless destruction of the rainforest for the ultimate purpose of raising cattle for the internality of cheaper meat at McDonalds change behavior? Going further, what about the externality of small US ranchers losing their livelihoods because McDonalds now imports cheaper beef to the US? It used to be McDonalds hamburgers were made from 100% US beef. What happened?

What about picturing the externality that is sweatshop/slave labor when stepping into a mainline retail clothing store? What about thinking of all the bad things the big banks have been participated in when going to one of their ATM?

So think think of the world in terms of externalities might produce different behavior, whether you are an investor, worker, or a consumer. By the way, I do not invest in the stock market, whose indexes (Dow, Nasdaq, S&P) I aptly refer to as the Misery Index. The majority of the population does not hold stocks, therefore, corporations are only there to produce profit for a handful of people at the expense of the rest. It is actually in the majority's interest that corporations fail and the Misery Indexes be low. No more easy money made off of bubbles. No more unaccountable access to greed. Being involved in any way with large corporation is dangerous on one's self. Say no to psychopathic control grid that wants total control whose tools include enslavement, impoverishment,

So I ask what is the vehicle of destruction? It is the corporation, which can be used to hide the ultimate benefactor investors and their unsavory business practices such as bribery, government capture, killings, monopoly power, and so forth. It is that psychopathic urge for profits and control that's turning the planet into toilet.

Just look at the BP oil spill or the Fukushima disaster. How many more of these can the planet resist? It seems like the pattern is increasingly larger and larger manmade disaasters. Who ignores the pleas of engineers to make the tsunami wall higher? And did Japan really save money off of nuclear power. The cost is going be $400 billion for cleanup. This does not include the lost income of small farmers and businesses in the area. And it does not include the value of the assets which no longer produce or have value. How much will the Japanese citizens who can no longer produce off their land or businesses lose over the next 30 years? I would have to say the cost is in many trillions of dollars. Now imagine if thos money had been used to produce alternate energy? Just think of all the externalities....

Now, let's follow Brazil's youngest national park director, Ana Rafaela D'Amico, as she patrols the Campos Amazonicos National Park looking for illegal logging, cattle breeding, mines, and a drug route. More info here.

"Our biggest problem here in the park - and all over the Amazon - is that we don't know who the men behind this environmental crime are. We always find the poor man hired to occupy or clear the land. But we seldom find out who is really behind it, who provides the money, or which politicians support and fund these criminal acts." -- Ana Rafaela D'Amico

[Youtube] The Fight for Amazonia - Raids in the Rainforest



Green, an orangutan, whose rainforest home is no more, has been rescued, but can he recover?

[Youtube] Indonesian rainforest as experienced through the eyes of an orangutan

Kony 2012: Best Propaganda They've Ever Made

KONY 2012: BEST PROPAGANDA DONATIONS CAN BUY

This video reminds me of the shallow propaganda I used to watch in school and college. It shows a one sided, one track minded perspective with facts and figures that do not describe the whole situation or give the whole picture.

For example, when we used to watch videos on rainforest destruction, they would not discuss that it would be rich, morally corrupt, well connected investors from the first world involved with the rich, morally corrupt, well connected investors in the third world that would profit off the trade. And then they don't show the end consumers buying and using the products which is the reason for the whole trade in the first place.

In the case of Kony 2012, they do not present the fact that the US financed Ugandan government and their elite actors over the past few decades have killed over 6 million people in civil wars which include genocide. Kony's LFA has killed up to 30,000 and he's only one of the warlords in the area. The only real reason for these civil wars to break out is the once again, the rich, morally corrupt, well connected billionare investors can buy up natural resources at under market prices and secure them by propping up warlords and financing their lifestyles and soldiers. Greg Palast on the Alex Jones show recently talked about this.

At 1:50 into the video is where the following is said:
"It's literally the best piece of propaganda we've ever made" -- Jason Russell, co-founder for Invisible Children

[Youtube] Kony 2012 is the best propaganda Invisible Children ever made



Annnnnd... Greg Palast's discussion on who exactly funds the warlords and war criminals starts at 10:00 into the video.

[Youtube] Greg Palast on Alex Jones Show 03-13-2012

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Pic of the Day - 03-07-2012

Well it turns out those search results on the first page of Google aren't so... When I am logged into Google, the search results will show this blog's post(s) on the first page. When I'm logged out, the search results are completely different and do not list this blog's posts. For some results, it will show first page or second page or even third page, but for the majority of the searches, this blog is nonexistent. Oh well.

Sorry about being so quiet this year. I will be coming out with some posts soon with some stuff I have run into and want to share. Hope all is well on your side! Keep on surfing the web!

Anyways, here is Jack Nicholson being hassle for an autograph... LOL