tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74447237449667668802024-02-18T23:39:05.752-05:00alternative ideasThis is a forum for constructive and cooperative ideas that attempt to offer different views and alternative solutions to the 'mainstream' thoughts and functionality of our world...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-9767322785320357382013-08-31T11:51:00.001-04:002013-09-02T20:50:13.122-04:00War, War, and More War!!
I mean, lets do it!! What are we waiting for?! A little "limited" strike never really hurt anyone right?! I mean its a win win for everyone involved. We get to stick to it to Assad for "provocating with us", our military industrial complex gets to use those shiny weapons it makes billions of dollars off of, the Syrian rebels and all of their unknown and/or undesirable Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-90383294054141641402013-03-28T11:21:00.000-04:002013-03-30T11:24:26.626-04:00Marriage Equality, The Same as any Equality?
I find this debate over same sex marriage incredible. That is, that at this point in America's existence - and after all the social struggles we've been through - that we are even having this debate. Just step back for one second from emotions and the flood of positioned journalism, and you will quickly see the problems with the existence of even having this debate.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-72997839102859214242013-03-20T10:14:00.004-04:002013-04-08T10:43:42.770-04:00The Back Door
I want to take a moment to examine the idea and conceptualization of the service entrance, the servant, and the segregating of social classes/places/people, etc. In my recent work as a "delivery boy" for an upscale supermarket, I deliver food throughout Manhattan's midtown and upper east/west sides. I spend my time going in and out of the buildings "service Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-14847326525243269132013-03-15T10:05:00.001-04:002013-03-30T20:49:17.581-04:00Political Profit
In filling out paperwork to register a non-profit company here in the US I have come cross what I see as a substantial problem with the legal structure of the American political landscape. Of course the ability of corporations to act politically in much the same ways as people is an obvious one, but within the same spectrum, the inability of non-profits to engage Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-55930862452409649772012-12-11T13:00:00.000-05:002012-12-11T13:22:58.215-05:00Midland Avenue
by Amy Miller
A few days ago I saw posts on Facebook that a community run relief hub at 489 Midland Avenue in Staten Island is being evicted by the city, with an ask to call the Public Advocate's office.
The next day, I received an email forwarded to me from someone who knows I know people at Occupy Sandy. It was from a staff member for the Public Advocate's office asking for more details Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-39934453826745004022012-11-25T12:05:00.000-05:002013-03-13T12:39:01.805-04:00Hard Work
There is a myth floating around about Americans ability to "do work" that looks at the number of hours worked compared to other countries, the focus on jobs and professions, and the innate ideological "frontier" type rhetoric that assumes that American's are self made "hard workers". Simply put, that those that work hard are destined for success in America. This of course is a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-22533305662338179062012-11-08T11:05:00.000-05:002012-11-12T11:08:11.763-05:00The Real Demographic Shift
Much
of the analysis of last Tuesday’s election results has centered on
the need for the Republican party to "reinvent" itself with
respect to the changing demographics and the evolving electorate in
the United States. The main crux of the discussion has centered
around Hispanic and woman voters, who overwhelmingly cast ballots for
Democratic candidates, and with women in some Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-91192510050812778612012-10-09T11:38:00.000-04:002012-10-09T11:38:27.406-04:00Law and Disorder
[This is the text of an article I wrote which appeared in the MetroOccupied's second edition in June.]
Society
is said to be based on the maintenance of law and order for its
social “stability”. This is done through either the creation, or
the appearance, of legitimacy and
“order”, and usually is forced upon others: policing, war,
colonialism, globalization. The key to winning over Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-67923112679451621152012-10-06T10:39:00.003-04:002012-10-06T10:39:28.956-04:00Free Speech
I wanted to quickly examine a statement I read this morning from an article on an increase in legislation banning begging in many American cities.
"Michigan’s attorney general, Bill Schuette, has appealed, arguing that begging is not protected speech."
How is asking people for help not free speech? And how can you even begin to quantify and codify any act of asking for anything in aUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-85598130670911772982012-08-14T01:47:00.000-04:002012-08-14T01:47:15.987-04:00Guns
So I've got to weigh in on this gun debate given the rash of large
scale shootings that seem to litter the news every other day now. At
what point are we going to stop saying that these are individual actors
acting singularly and in isolation? There is just too many of them:
"More
than 32,000 people in the US die from gunshot wounds yearly—five times
the number of US Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-36635615805426819622011-03-03T09:48:00.002-05:002011-08-16T21:23:03.735-04:00The Return of the Least Interesting ManSo it has been quite some time since The Least Interesting Person in the World reared his ugly head in these shark infested waters... but he is back, and in full force!! No job, no prospects, lots of ambition, big dreams, and no outlet for any of it!! Hi Ho Silver!! He rides again... But this story has a little different twist to it... a true sense of irony. "This, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-2561268351431159392011-01-20T09:15:00.001-05:002011-01-20T09:53:16.622-05:00A place for nothing...What is it that the world is made up of, what got us here, and what keeps us going? Some would say it is God, others Allah, multiple deities, the quest for enlightenment, immortality, internal spiritual understanding, or to some perhaps even nothing. Much of history has shown that humanity is always searching for an answer to this question. But in recent history much attention Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-45093977135386596102011-01-18T16:52:00.000-05:002011-01-18T16:52:27.368-05:00NormalabilityGotta say that over the last however many years and days I have been feeling like I must not be a normal person. Society is set up a certain way and in a certain direction that I don't seem to be able to follow. From the time we can remember we are inundated with images and conceptions of families and children, jobs and careers, houses and yards, things and things, night and day over Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-12086075697054152542010-08-29T10:17:00.000-04:002010-08-29T10:17:10.216-04:00Humility's PlaceHumility has no place in the Western world. Not if you are trying to make things happen and show your worth. If I want something I have to attack it, I have to take it. No one wants you if you don't sell yourself to them. But with the way the world is set up, no one will see you, no one will recognize your strengths, or spend enough time with you to find out who you reallyUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-71831915242699839012010-07-19T10:27:00.000-04:002010-07-19T10:27:25.558-04:00The lost art of IntegrityDetermining what is 'right' is a longwinded question with no real answer at all. But there are guidelines: taking responsibility for one's actions, telling the truth, treating people with mutual respect and dignity, standing up for yourself and/or others, injustice, fairness, whatever. But what does any of this matter here in a Western society that no longer values this within Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-54738117644707125722010-07-13T17:32:00.001-04:002010-07-13T17:33:15.594-04:00Life IIBetter to read the previous post first as this one is simply an extension of that one. The continuation of that concept of equality and treating all living things the same, of course needs to be accompanied by ways of doing this. What this means is that life must become about conservation, simplicity, compassion, and patience, rather than extravagance, indulgence, and the self. &Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-82013372287043070112010-07-12T11:03:00.001-04:002010-07-12T11:04:55.707-04:00LifeI have spent a great deal of time over the last however many months and years really trying to explain my view of life to people. I feel that it might just be easier to put it down on paper and send people here to read it.
Before I get into the ills of society and what we are doing to offset the balances of life on our planet, think it best to jsut state my position. I believe firstUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-35229665187432772522010-06-30T11:44:00.000-04:002010-06-30T11:44:10.449-04:00Is Freedom Truly Possible?So I just picked up and skimmed through an old book of mine, F.A. Hayek's classic Road to Serfdom, and came to an interesting thought that I'd been meaning to write about for a while. There is a section about freedom v. organization. It says basically that they are contradictory, that you can't have organization and freedom together, that organization is the culprit. I see Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-67725080469661731112010-06-24T17:45:00.000-04:002010-06-24T17:45:50.866-04:00Walking LionSo... given the post directly below this, I have decided to become even less interesting and look into a new venture that is close to my heart. I will never abandon this project - as ideas are the foundation of what the world needs, and alternative ones are the most important - but I can not do much with it now and I've found a way to go looking the world over for more ideas!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-30527462100727763262010-06-01T13:29:00.004-04:002012-08-02T14:41:59.674-04:00The Least Interesting Person in the World
So here I am, by myself, alone. Well not entirely, I do live with my parents. So they're around. But I'm recently single, I have no real job, seemingly little prospects of such a thing, and less and less hope these days. I feel like I have accomplished things in life, yet find myself feeling as if I must be the absolute least interesting person in the world.
Why?
I'mUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-18167722252269142102010-05-15T10:00:00.003-04:002010-05-15T10:01:44.081-04:00In Greek Debt Crisis, Some See Parallels to U.S - NY TimesIt’s easy to look at the protesters and the politicians in Greece — and at the other European countries with huge debts — and wonder why they don’t get it. They have been enjoying more generous government benefits than they can afford. No mass rally and no bailout fund will change that. Only benefit cuts or tax increases can.
Yet in the back of your mind comes a nagging question: how Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-49934375105507576682010-05-04T11:09:00.002-04:002011-01-16T11:50:13.878-05:00The ExceptionSo I had a long conversation with a very good and old friend of mine the other day. First time we had seen each other in years. It was fabulous, great memories of great times, and lots of mutual admiration. But there was one huge remembrance that I came away with that has been tough to move beyond. She has become the epitome of the individualistic person that half of this Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-67896031844651994972010-04-29T10:51:00.000-04:002010-04-29T10:51:52.978-04:00Under Employed and Under RepresentedI find it truly amazing and even humorous, that I wrote a letter to every possible representative of mine from local town government all the way up to US senate and house and have gotten so little feedback that it is almost insulting. I wrote regarding my experience in applying to social services and wanted to see what could be done to make changes in the treatment of people seeking help. &Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-39715867104041074752010-03-31T15:46:00.000-04:002010-03-31T15:46:49.059-04:00A Job Clearing HouseThe more jobs one applies to the more one realizes that the system is set up for us to fail. I recently started approaching my job hunting in a different way. I was simply looking at opportunities through various media sources and searches, but then more recently I started focusing more on networking type of opportunties, volunteering, etc. My chances suddenly looked up. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7444723744966766880.post-76659936806180049702010-03-31T13:47:00.001-04:002010-03-31T15:51:14.613-04:00The True Value of WorkWhat a world, what a world we live in. As you may have seen from some earlier posts, I am not exactly making ends meet these days. I am underemployed and not finding 'gainful' employment. But does this really matter? So what if I did have a job? I have a friend that is employed in their career path, through a respectable institution, and still has to take on other Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0