The Communist Origin of the Modern Conservative Movement VI

The protestors in New York often carry signs that reference the totally lopsided distribution of wealth in America with the top 1% owning the vast majority wealth. The protestor’s signs point out that the wealth of the bottom 99% of American has been dramatically redistributed to the top 1%, the ungodly greedy, since Reagan took office. The Bankers in New York have now posted signs in their windows declaring they are that 1%. This would be equivalent to Marie Antoinette posting signs in the castle windows “Have no bread? Eat Cake,” during the French Revolution as guillotine was be put in place. Nobody every said these Wall Streets crooks were intelligent, just good crooks. There have been those throughout history that chose to antagonize an angry mob and it always ends badly. Now is not the time for the ungodly greedy to flaunt their wealth. If I were them I would not strap a target to my chest and jump up and down in front of the protestors.

Before the Great Depression the ungodly greedy proudly flaunted their wealth with huge mansions that took 200 servants just to maintain them after the Great Depression those huge castle like estates fell in disrepair and disappeared from the American landscape and for years afterwards the ungodly greedy tried to maintain a lower profile. The ungodly greedy continued to maintain that lower profile until Reagan led the commie/conservatives to power in the 80s. Conspicuous consumption came back into style came back in style with shows like “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” that first aired in 1984. After CEO’s salaries went off the chart a study showing the outrageous salaries of the CEOs in an effort to shame the CEO from taking such outrageous salaries. It had the opposite effect once the CEOS found that other CEOs got paid more they wanted more not less and got it, after all how could they every get their 15 minutes of fame on “Life Styles of the Rich and Famous” if other CEO were making more. Reagan made greed cool again. But if I were the those Wall Street bankers I would take those “We are the 1%” signs down and fire the idiots that put them up so they could join the protestors.

We are the 99% protest are growing what began as effort to occupy Wall Street has spread across the nation to over a 1,000 cities. The protest has spread to small towns of less than 50,000; the local protest began here yesterday. Make no doubt about this is the beginning of a holy war, at least from the commie/conservative point of view. It has long been realized that conservatism more closely resembles a religion than political philosophy Conservative view greed as their god, they believe there is only one solution to all of America’s problems greed and more greed.

Yea though they walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil: for greed art with me; thy I-phone and thy I-pod they comfort me. And thusly the ungodly greedy will march into the valley of the shadow of death confident that their god greed will protect them and be with them all the days of their lives.

Tis said every action cause and equal and opposite reaction, it took 30 years for reaction to deification of greed to start but it is gaining momentum each and every day. The baby boomers were the transitional generation we remember BG (Before Greed) destroyed 30 years of progress for the middle class. Historians have found one common thread that predicts both the success and failure of previous world hyper powers. The cultivation of a strong middle class is necessary for the existence of hyper power. Historians have also noted that middle class decline portends the end of the hyper power. History teaches us that the middle class is what makes the country but conservatism teaches that it is the ungodly greedy 1/100 of 1% that is makes or breaks Religions have no problem dealing with facts they can make them disappear or pretend they don’t exist.

One of the “We are the 99%” protestors described the protest as the “the American spring” in a reference to the “Arab spring” in the Middle East. The protestor was not a college student but a middle aged man who had lost his $100,000 a year job in the past year. It may not be the American spring but America is struggling to come out from under the dark clouds of greed that have cast a dark shadow over America for the last 30 years. The mass protests that are taking place across America have not been seen since the baby boomer’s massive protests against Vietnam War.

The Vietnam War protest ended the war. For the first time in American history the American people put an end to a war. The end of the Vietnam War underscored the very concept that underlies our government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” For the first time in history many people simply said “Hell no! I won’t go!” The Vietnam War ended the military draft for all practical purposes. The government experience with the Vietnam War protesters keep the military from imposing a draft when the Iraq war was declared.

For last thirty years a war has raged on America soil, there are no gun shots, no bombs, no shock and awe. If you stop and listen closely, you will hear only the sounds of silence. This war is waged not with mechanical weapons but with political bribes that are given in the dark recesses of offices or move silently at the speed of sound through wire transfers. There is no need to move large number of troops; money can be transferred electronically to key senator’s political account before a critical vote. Of course the bottom 99% of Americans cannot afford to fire a shot in this war of bribes which makes the battle extremely one sided. Can you imagine a war where only one side had guns? Something like what happened to the Indians when white men landed in America but at least the Indians had bow and arrows the middle class is completely unarmed.

It is a war with no name, to even mention it is forbidden in political circles, if the bottom 99% does not acknowledge it, it is like the tree falling in the forest when no one is around, it makes no sound, but the damage to the tree it fell on is unmistakable. We have the ability to customize our personal reality by denying the existence. This has been one of the ungodly greedy most effective weapons is to give class warfare the same credibility to the general public as UFOs. After all who is the middle class going to believe their lying eyes when they see the ungodly income skyrocketed by over 600% in the last 30 years while the middleclass couples work 32 more hours a week and still make less than their father alone did 30 years ago or are they going to believe the ungodly greedy. So far the majority of the middle class don’t believe their lying eyes they believe the ungodly greedy. But as Bob Dillon once said, “The times, they are a changing.”

The statistics I often sight are from David Cay Johnson’s book “Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich—And Cheat Everyone Else.” Johnson book is an eye opener and affirms what we can see going on all around us. Peter Ferrara takes on Johnson’s numbers (derived from the 1970 and 2000 US Census) in his book “America Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb” asks the question, what are we going to believe our lying eyes or the commie/conservative propaganda?

Unfortunately many on the red neck right have been convinced that their eyes are indeed lying to them and the commie/conservative propaganda is the gospel truth. Ferrara accuses Johnson of cherry picking numbers and then Ferrara chooses 1967 instead of 1970 for his initial year. But the there was no census in 1967. Ferrara then choose 2003 the stock market had lost nearly 4,000 points since the turn of the century. The stock market had lost 34% of its value meaning the ungodly greedy portfolio had lost 34% of its paper value but it was recovered by 2007. Cherry picking according to Charles Seife in his book “Proofiness: The Dark Art of Mathematical Deception.”
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Cherry-picking is the careful selection of data, choosing those that support the argument you wish to make while underplaying the data or ignoring data that undermines it.

From the book “Proofiness”
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Of course Ferrara took the figures his figures from Alan Reynolds book “Income and Wealth” you will often hear Rush Slimbaugh or Glen Beck quote from Reynolds’ book. Ferrara accuses Johnson of cherry picking while it is very obvious the 2003 date was cherry picking as it picked the lowest point for the stock market in this century before 2007 low. Reynolds could find a lower point while his book was being written. Reynolds book was published in 2006 or he would have cherry picked the lower stock market figure in 2007. Johnson chose even10 year intervals for 30 years while Reynolds chose36 year interval and very obviously cherry picked the data. Who you going to believe your lying eyes or the commie/conservative propaganda?

Operation bring greed under control in America is entering its forth week and spreading like wild fire across America. The demonstrations spread to more cities each day; nothing has happened like this since the Vietnam War demonstrations in the 60s. The “We are the 99% demonstrations quickly eclipsed the pro greed Pee Party demonstrations in both numbers and number of cities, not to mention the length of the demonstrations which was a matter of hours for Pee Party demonstrations while the we are the 99% demonstrations will like the Vietnam War Demonstrations go on no doubt for years. It took 30 years for the commie/conservatives to bring America to its knees with their political philosophy Greedism it will take years not hours to repair.

Over the weekend my sister-in-law bought over her retirement statement because she did not understand the statement. She works for Marshall University and as a public employee I assumed she was in the West Virginia Public Employees Retirement system. I was appalled to find she was in the Teacher’s Public Retirement a defined contribution retirement system which the employee’s contributions are invested by stock brokers. I thought that system had been closed since so many lost their retirement.

As the commie/conservatives propaganda convinced many people they would make a fortune if they invested their retirement in the stock market they would make a fortune. The WV Teachers Retirement System had long been a defined benefit pension where final average salary multiplied by the number of years service multiplied by 2 determined the amount of retirement. It provided a modest retirement but you could keep a roof over your head and you didn’t end up living on cat food if you didn’t live to long and let inflation destroy your retirement. Along came the commie/conservatives super sales men and they convinced the state to let the teachers decide between staying in the defined benefit retirement system or opting out into the new defined benefit system. The super salesmen with eyes of super commissions and fees descended on the schools like locusts and convinced the teachers they would be millionaires if they played the stock market with their retirement money. In a few years the predictable happened the vast majority of teachers in the defined contribution system not only did they not make money they lost a good portion of their principle. The stock brokers of course made off like fat rats getting fat on commissions and fees that were not charged to teachers in the old defined benefit plan. The teachers that lost their rear end soon petitioned the state to rejoin the defined old benefit pension system. They were permitted to buy their way back into the old retirement system. My sister purchased a few years she worked in another state in her Florida teachers retirement for $75,000 so no doubt the teachers who bought back in borrowed a lot of money, a plus for banks.

So I was surprised to find someone still in the defined contribution system. Evidently while public school teachers got smart University employees stayed in the defined contribution system. My sister-in-law defined contribution will provide with only $217 a month but they noted if she would increase her contribution an additional $250 a month she would then get $250 a month. She is in her mid 60s with bad knees and very close to retirement. Her account had lost substantial amount money this year as no doubt it has lost more money then it made. Welcome to the real world away from the commie/conservative lies. Where did her retirement go? Into the billionaire hedge fund managers who manipulate the stock market and the stock brokers who are paid to lose millions. They actually make a commission on what you lose. The stock brokers make money win lose or draw their commission gets paid first.

I got my first look at the local “We are the 99%” protest and was quite impressed with the size of the protest it rivaled the local Vietnam War protests in the 60s. Huntington is a college town and the protestors reflect that fact. It reminds the baby boomers that today this world is ours but tomorrow it will be theirs. I have always said that a man’s enemies define him far more than his friends. Anyone can pretend to be your friend and share your values but when you make a stand and declare an enemy people can deduce your position. The younger generation is taking a stand against greed, that greed is not making their life better but in fact is making it much worse. Baby boomers were the transitional generation. If you throw a frog in boiling water he will jump out immediately but if you put him in water and heat the water slowly the frog will not notice the small changes and is soon cooked. Greed cooked this generation slowly our wives fist worked for extra money but soon were required to work to pay basic bills working and extra 32 hours a week but the couple made less than their dad working alone. We watched as a college education that could be paid for by mowing lawns when we were in college takes a $100,000 in loans today. The younger generation, unlike the baby boomer generation, is being thrown into the hot boiling water of greed and they are jumping out.

I will have some time after work today and before the council finance committee meeting this evening and I hope to join them in front of Chase bank today. I know just what I will put on my sign, “30 Years of Greedism is Killing America.” Even though this generation was boiled slowly many now realize what happened to us as we cash in our chips and find our retirement plans that we paid into for a life time will only provide $300 a month. To retiree in comfort, a reality for our parent’s generation is an unobtainable goal for many of this generation. Where has all the retirement fund gone long time passing, into hedge fund managers pockets each and everyone.

Security tax by 22% at same he cuts taxes he cut the on the ungodly greedy by 60%. The city of soon after the city of Huntington made massive cuts to their portion of pension contributions. They went to what was called the option funding method based on the rosy scenario method; you simply predict your future income with wishful thinking. Slightly less than you going out and buying a Rolls Royce and projecting that you would hit the lottery to pay for it. If you didn’t hit the lottery you would be in big trouble. The city kept waiting but they didn’t hit the lottery either. Now the police and fire pensions were on track to take 50% of the city budget when it dawned on them to close the pension system and get out of the pension business. The state took over the pension for new hires but the city is still responsible for the current policemen and firemen retirements. It dawned them they needed a new funding method for the pensions and alternate method was found by re-amortizing the debt over 40 years. The problem is it cost $4.4 million more than optional funding method in three years not less. From the frying pan into the fire. This of course is redistribution of wealth in the 90s the city supplied was anxious to supply city services far under the cost to the wealthy property owners downtown. This let the city kick the can down the road for a while. But guess who is going to pay for those city services now if you have a two story shack your fire fee will be raised $100 if you have six 20 story buildings and they are built side by side you will pay the $100 only once. The property owner who owns the six twenty story building taking in a million dollars in rent will pay the same extra $100 as the 85 window with $400 a month. This is the brave new America that the commie/conservatives have dreamed of for so long where the politically strong can rape at pillage at will.

Is it any wonder the next generation is standing on the street corners? They can see commie/conservative soul is rotten to its black greedy core. That is why I have been standing with them with my sign “30 Years of Greedism is Killing America My internet has been down for a couple of days and the city of Huntington has found itself in crisis mode; it discovered that is $4.69 million in the red after chronically under funding the police and fire pension fund for the last two decades. The Reaganites decreed the American pension funds were over funded and fresh for the pickings at the same time they decreed Social Security was under funded. Go figure. Reagan raised the Social.”

The “We Are the 99%” demonstrations are well into the second week in Huntington and have spawned “occupy Charleston” demonstrations in the state capital and across the state line in Ashland Kentucky. “The times they are a changing,” Bob Dylan words have never been as true as they are today. I can look at today’s protestors and see their grandfather’s generation’s protest of the Vietnam War. If you close your eyes and listen to the guitars and the singing, even if the words are not the same, it is 1968 all over again. A generation has found a common cause and came together to right a wrong. It seems social responsibility skipped a generation but is alive in well in our grandchildren.

I would like to think that the Pee Party was greed’s dying gasp, its death rattle but greed will abide in the darker corner of men’s heats until “stars fall from the skies.” The demonstrations will never wipe out greed, they may force it into hiding so it will not be so politically correct but it will always be there in hiding, waiting to take over.

In just the few days at the protest I have noticed the older face beginning to become more common. The other generations are not staying twenty four seven but are showing their support with the few hours they can spare from work and family. On Friday a much larger union demonstration took place at city hall and marched up to join the protestors. This demonstration was well organized and involved several hundred people but none of the media mentioned it even though their cameras are only a block away and trained on that corner 24-7. The protest is live on the internet via the news paper has webcam but no mention in print of SEIU join the battle. The piddling Pee Party protests were dwarfed by the new protests. “The times they are a changing.”

The Pee Party was a top down political movement with $100s of millions worth of free publicity on Glen Beck and other red neck right talk shows while the Occupy Wall Street movement is a bottom up political movement. The Pee Party folks that demonstrated for more greed are now even more unpopular than child molesters. I wonder when the last time a known child molester was elected to political office. The next congressional election will be worse than Custer Last Stand anyone wanting a seat in congress only need run against one of the Pee Party candidates.

The difference between the typical Pee Party demonstrator and the “We Are the 99%” demonstrators is marked. The Typical Pee Party demonstrator is older reasonably well off while the “We Are the 99%” demonstrators are young and just starting out, they have found that excessive greed has kicked down the latter. Starting life a $100,000 in debt is like chaining an anchor around their neck.

The damage done to America by 30 years of greed worship may well be un-repairable at this point. Once the cancer of greed metastases across America the health of the entire country was placed in jeopardy.

One sign carried by a “We are the 99%” protestors proclaimed “Minimum wage $16,000 a year, CEO of Goldman Sacks $16,000 an hour. To show how out of quilter things have gotten even in the 40s the ungodly greedy only advocated that the CEO make no more than 5 times his lowest paid employee.

Yesterday as I went to the “We are the 99%” protest the first thing I noticed was a Pee Partier was on the corner. Since he was an army of one he bought several signs and changed them frequently. He used both sides to economize on the number of signs. The whole commie/conservative political philosophy was condensed down onto his signs. The Pee Partiers plan was no doubt to disrupt the protest and get a fight started if possible. I took my sign and stood directly beside him. His signs made it clear that his hate of our government was as strong as the hate of America by the communist intellectuals who founded his political movement. By the time I got there several passerby had cussed him out and told him he was number one by displaying their middle finger. But the other protestors did not try to drive him away and did not harass him. He told me they had called him over and talked to him a couple of times.

As he changed from one popular red neck right slogan to another he watched for a reaction from me. He would go from a sign stating “The Solution for Big Government is not to Make Government Bigger” to “Government Needs to Stay Out of Health Care. The protestor claimed to be a junior at Marshall University studying to be a movie star. Unlike other students at the protest he was unconcerned about the skyrocketing cost of a college education, after all we wouldn’t want the government involved in his education. Unfortunately he didn’t know that Marshall University is a government institution paid for by tax payers. Public Universities are government and make government much bigger. If all universities were private think how much smaller government would be. Of course our protestor probably could get a student loan. No wait student loans are government backed loans and those loans make government even bigger.

As I stood beside him another student came up behind and claimed to be a communist. I think he was trying to get a rise out of him but by now he was surrounded by other protestors and he was beginning to feel outnumbered. The red neck had the corner to himself when I arrived. The other protestor was holding a sign over the other guys head with just a symbol on it and I was not familiar with the symbol. With a supposed communist in our presence it was time to inform our red neck right friend who founded his political movement, the Modern Conservative Movement. I informed the red neck what a deep debt of gratitude he owed to the communist intellectuals who founded the Modern Conservative Movement. The expression of disbelief on his face was priceless. If he had any doubt I gave him the names of the communist intellectuals so he could easily verify them on the internet. He came away with something he didn’t expect and he found he was the follower of a communist spy and communist intellectuals.

The best bombs are those that explode in the mind. Good work.

Kuvasz, I agree the expression on the guy’s face was priceless. I await the day someone calls the Glen Beck show and asks him if he knows who the father of the Modern Conservative Movement and either can’t answer or won’t answer. When Beck audience is informed that Frank Meyer was indeed the founding father of the Modern Conservative Movement and was internationally known communist who was thrown out of England for trying to organize a communist revolution there will be a long silence across America among Beck’s red neck right audience. Beck should then be forced to admit that without the communist founding fathers there would be no Modern Conservative Movement today. Glen is the very first to get the communist boogie man out of the closet and try and herd the ignorant with the threat.

If Glen Beck had to publicly acknowledge the large debt the Modern Conservative Movement owes to all those communist intellectuals his cries of commie here commie there would ring hollow.

The brown shirts took to the streets in Huntington with a counter demonstration. You can hear the fear in the voices of Glen Beck and Rush Slimbaugh when they talk about the “We are the99%” protests. They say there is no such thing as disease just dis-ease, that in essence that all disease is caused by stress. In the laboratory they have demonstrated that stress compromises the immune system. Someone under stress immune response is lowered and opportunistic germ is able to grab hold while a healthy immune system would have fought the invader. It seems poor old Glen Beck is sick and has lost his voice; Beck has been absent without leave for the last two days. Rush Slimbaugh is also missing and a foreigner is now lecturing his red neck right army. The problem is their fear is spreading to their followers who have now taken to the street.

Out front in the counter demonstration was the red neck right young man who had tried to disrupt the “We Are the 99%” demonstration on Tuesday. The counter protest was by the Marshall University young Republicans. It was in the 40s with a pouring down cold rain all day yesterday so anybody standing on a street corner here had to be motivated. The opposing groups were on opposite street corners yelling back and forth. The brown shirts freely admit that demonstration is in opposition to the “We Are the 99%” demonstration. In essence the red neck right is not there to express their point of view they are there to stop others from expressing theirs. Like the brown shirts in Germany they are there to provoke violence. If the brown shirts can provoke a violent incident no doubt the demonstration will be shut down.

The red neck right believed they had already won the next election until the demonstrations against greed. Greed is at the heart of the conservative philosophy if greed once again becomes a bad word in America a political philosophy based on greed will not survive so this situation will be viewed as life and death from their perspective. The red neck right always proudly display signs for freedom and liberty but are quick to seize legislative control of a woman body. The red neck right given the chance would have their religion state imposed. Look for the red neck right to try and stop anyone but themselves from expressing an opinion. The right believes their freedom gives them the right to stop others from even expressing their point of view. We may not have brown shirts with clubs running down the streets of America yet but look for the right to provoke violent incidents across America. What may at first glance look like sporadic violent incidences where the right will appear to be the victim will be an organized offensive by the right.

The red neck right did not show up to demonstrate yesterday it was colder with a blowing rain. Their counter demonstration only lasted two hours on Wednesday but they threatened to return. You can bet at some point the red neck right will instigate violence and pretend to be the victim in an effort to stop the protest. If enough violent incidences take place the protest’s permit will be pulled. The red neck right protestor I stood beside on Tuesday seems to be the ring leader of the counter protest. He is the president of the young Republicans organization. The weather is due to clear up this weekend and the red neck right should return. I will be surprised if at least one violent incident doesn’t take place this weekend.

The protestor I stood beside Tuesday claimed that several passerbies had cussed him and gave him the flying fickle finger of fate but in the hour I stood beside I saw no such incident take place. In fact I witnessed no such incidences on any of the days I was on that corner. Whether he imagined the incidences or made them up no doubt similar incidences whether real or imagined will be excuse for violence. There is no doubt the counter protests are a top down movement with orders from the party higher ups to blunt and discredit the “We Are the 99%” movement. Beck and Slimbaugh were both back on the air yesterday. Beck who supposedly lost his voice was in perfect form with no sign of any trouble with his voice. I suspect both Beck and Slimbaugh were be counseled by party professionals as to how to best handle their coverage of the protestors.

I though the red neck right would make the first assault on the protestors but their surrogates were sent in first. The local red neck right government took some time away from their union busting to focus the might of government on the college kids. It like Ronald Reagan was in political office again when the right believed in shooting anyone that disagreed with their commie/conservative philosophy. The police, health, and other government department descended on the protestors like the flying monkeys from the Wizard of OZ, writing citations and drawing red lines on the public sidewalks and telling protestors they could not stand on the public sidewalks. The police instituted a no tolerance policy where even the slightest violation would be prosecuted. In other words violations that would be routinely ignored in other parts of the city will receive maximum fines in the occupied areas. No tolerance policies are used in high crime areas with the idea that people who ignore minor laws are more apt to ignore major laws.

In most countries the police and military are the most vulnerable to the fascist mindset they are the quickest to develop a us them mindset. The enemy is whoever their government superiors tell them it is. It is easy for their rational minds to justify severe retaliation. Even being hit by small rock is enough to open fire on a crowd of teenagers. Kent State showed how fast the military will open fire on unarmed children. Government of and by the gun is normal in many countries and it is never very far thought from those that carry the guns.

Could Kent State happen again? Human nature hasn’t changed and the red neck right controls the government of many states. A mall rock upside the head may well be justification for executing every teenager in sight, even if the rock is thrown by the red neck right. Our military calls it a free fire zone in Iraq where every living thing that moves is killed. Historically the ungodly will fight to the death if even 1% of their wealth is threatened but don’t expect them to fight in person they use surrogates. “The times they are a changing.”

The underlying principle of the commie/conservative political philosophy is greed. New research shows that greed may not strengthen the American economy but may be actually destroying it. In Dan Ariely book “The Upside of Irrationality: The unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home” he has confirmed the obvious, the massive increase in compensation are actually counterproductive, job performance dose not increase, it does not even remain the same, job performance actually declines. The massive increases in compensation to the ungodly greedy over the last 30 years did not result in improved job performance it resulted in the Enrons and World Coms. It also led to the first Great Depression in 80 years.

In the face of irrefutable fact that greed is not helping America but destroying America will the conservatives change their mind and their political philosophy? Not a chance, one night a few years ago we had a group of teenage girls speeding down an old airport runway. The runway was built on a hilltop an inevitable they went over the hill but you can bet not one of the girls said slow down as they headed for disaster. The conservatives are that way; they wildly cheered the driver on, as America headed for disaster over the economic precipice. Even after the commie/conservatives drove the car over the cliff they wanted to do the same thing again believing they would get different result.

In Huntington several years ago a policeman drove a car over a railroad crossing on a call; the car hooked the tracks and badly damaged the car’s frame. The policeman claimed to be doing only 35 mph when he crossed the tracks. His superiors didn’t believe him and staged a reenactment to prove he was going much faster than he said. The same type of car was driven at 35mph over the same railroad crossing and the second car’s frame was damaged worse than the first. The supervisors scattered like flies. The supervisor’s were looking for a different result doing the exact same thing, just as the commie/conservatives are looking for a different result doing the exact same things.

Faced with new information and changing our minds or getting busy listing the reason’s why not to; most of us get busy listing the reason not to change our mind.

Busy days and busy nights, the city is in a budget crisis short more than $4 million on a $40 million budget but I managed to take some time to spend on the corner with the 99%. The occupy Huntington is alive and going strong in its third week. The red neck right also known as the Young Republicans were a no show. I had looked forward to going over and standing on their corner with my sign, “30 Years of Greedism is Killing America.” I wonder if I would be treated with the same courtesy as the Young Republican leader was when he was on the 99% corner. The Young Republicans were yelling across the street “Get a Job.” Personally I have had a job for over 43 years and sometimes two but that doesn’t make more likely to adopt Greedism as a political philosophy.

I would like to have blown up a picture of Frank Meyer and put the inscription Father of the Modern Conservative Movement and proud communist intellectual. Maybe we could have someone dress up as Frank Meyers, sort of like someone dresses up as Uncle Sam at other demonstrations, and greet passerbys on the Young Republicans corner as comrade.

Public Works directors always seem to be red neck right and ours noticed the Occupy Huntington demonstrators have placed parasite signs on our street light posts. This is a violation of city law against such practices. When I informed the Public Works Director I was going up to the demonstration he told me to have the demonstrators take their signs off of our light poles. I told him not on my time. So I guess I will now have to make an official call on the demonstrators today. The public works director could not understand how anybody could be against greed after all wasn’t that just people getting their just reward? I keep my sign proudly on display in my office and ware my “The 99% Occupy Huntington” button to council meetings. This is a red neck right administration and it has been extremely rough on the three bargaining units which have been without contracts since 2008. It has been nothing but a long list of take aways but course there were 20% raises for the incoming administration. No one ever said greed was fair. To the victor go the spoils in Greedism and in that philosophy only the strong have the right to survive.

This morning news brings news of the counter uprising to stop the occupy demonstrations in Oklahoma City and Atlanta. How much longer will it before an “incident” takes place that allows Police to cut lose with automatic weapons on our grandchildren? Remember early in the baby Bush administration Rumsfeld said they just needed an “incident” to justify a war on Iraq. Just such an incident happened on 9/11 it had nothing at all to do with Iraq but that didn’t matter. Now $3 trillion dollars and 9 years later the mistake ends. Even a firecracker in a crowd could set off a massive slaughter.

Having spent many days with the 99% protestors it is enough to restore faith in America. The baby boomers generation hold on power is tenuous at best as they move on to retirement in Florida and Arizona. The lost generation, the me generation is concerned only with themselves but the grandchildren inherited their grandparents belief that they can change the world for the better. The lost generation is simply leaves in the wind they belief they can do nothing but be blown along by the winds of time. I am reminded of a line from an old Tom T Hall song, “Today this is your world tomorrow it is ours.” The younger generation is no longer content to just wait in the wings they have begun to enter from stage left as our generation exits stage right. The simple belief that they can change the world is enough to make that possible, “whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t you are usually right.” We may have forgot but at one time this generation believed they could change and change the world we did.

Watching the film Matewan this morning, and hope that the supressions of these demonstrations do not devolve into a Lattimer or Ludlow Massacre.

But, it is apparent that the opponents of such demonstrations have taken a page from their ancestors in union busting and have infiltrated the protests with agents provocateurs.

Same as it ever was.

Kuvasz, it is has been several years since I saw that film but it was a good film. Each year I run a half-marathon that ends in Matewan each year. The race starts in Goody Kentucky, goes over Blackberry Mountain and finishes in Matewan WV. The race draws people from all around the country and world because of its historic setting. I usually finish in the top three in my age group.

Matewan reminds us of what happen when greed gets out of control. It is hard to imagine what life was like in company owned coal tows. They paid in company script, you lived in a company owned house, if you were killed in a coal mine accident your kids were taken out of school and your wife was kicked out of her house. Homer Hickam’s autobiographical book the “Coalwood Way” allows one to understand just how different WV was in one man’s lifetime.

Everybody remembers Union Carbide accident in Bhopal India the biggest industrial accident in the world but the second biggest industrial accident also involved Union Carbide and happened in WV but I doubt 1 out of 1000 WV knows about the Hawks Nest Tunnel or the fact that hundreds died in the pursuit of corporate greed. Union Carbide had a tunnel dug to produce hydro electric power. The mountain side had silica in it and for thousand years it was known that mining of silica caused silicosis a fatal lung disease. The miners were sent in with no breathing apparatus often at gun point after blast had taken place and before the deadly dust had cleared. Only the engineers were supplied with breathing apparatuses by Union Carbide. When the miners began getting sick and dying the local sheriff deputies forced them into the mines at gun point. When the trial was held after hundreds had died one Union Carbide foreman testified, “We knew we were going to kill these niggers we just didn’t know we were going to kill them this soon.” The niggers the foreman referred to were mostly white and poor.

I lived in WV all my life and had visited Hawks Nest many times but I had no idea there was a tunnel under it to redirect the river or of all the lives lost in digging it. I found out about “the accident” by reading a book with a detailed account from a California author. When I find my copy I will post the name of the book and author. Wikipedia devotes only one paragraph to the disaster in Union Carbide history and not all the information is accurate.

By now that tunnel will have generated countless millions in profits for Union Carbide and no doubt the lawsuits were settled for pennies on the dollar.