October 11, 2012 at 2:10 P.M. All printers at NYPL, Morningside Heights branch, have been disabled, again.
October 10, 2012 at 11:07 A.M. Call received from 646-652-0952. ("New York, N.Y.") How strange that this call originates from the same source, using a different number, as yesterday's call from "Eugene, Oregon." (Mr. Menendez? "Gloria Colon?")
To refer to President Obama as an "obstinate child" is irresponsible and offensive. Why is the U.S. media, mostly, not challenging such comments? Racism? Mr. Romney's eldest son -- explaining his father's remark in the debate said -- that he, like his brothers, sometimes "lied" like an "obstinate child." The purported reference to Mr. Obama was unmistakable and condescending.
October 9, 2012 at 1:55 P.M. As election day approaches, I expect the intensity of the attacks against these blogs to increase. The size of the writing and print today is shrunken and barely legible, for me. I hope it is better for others. At any time I may be prevented from writing against my will. I will continue to struggle, in any way that I can, against censorship and cybercrime. Perhaps with Mr. Zisa's incarceration things will improve in New Jersey.
I received several calls this morning at about 11:27 A.M. allegedly from Eugene, Oregon: 458-201-0296. (Mr. Menendez?)
David E. Sanger, "Romney Strives to Stand Apart in Global Policy: Hits Obama's Record," in The New York Times, October 8, 2012, at p. A1. (Romney 49%; Obama 41%. It is a long way to November 6, 2012.)
William Neuman, "Chavez Wins a Third Term in Venezuela Amid Historically High Turnout," in The New York Times, October 8, 2012, at p. A9. ("A leader gains a new mandate to deepen his social revolution. ...")
Lizette Alvarez, "G.O.P. Aims to Remake Florida Supreme Court," in The New York Times, October 3, 2012, at p. A20. (Politicizing the judiciary. Ms. Alvarez is the instrument, allegedly, of Mr. Rubio and Ms. Ros-Leghtinen. Ms. Alvarez is a card-carrying member of the Republican party.)
S. Saul, "G.O.P. Operative Long Trailed by Allegations of Voter Fraud," in The New York Times, October 5, 2012, at p. A11. (Republican fraud to control election in Florida is alleged. How shocking?)
No one knows who will win the U.S. predidential election which is statistically even at this time. Fluctuations of 5% to 10% during the final weeks of the election are not unusual. If the election is close, I believe that Republicans can and will steal it. The Supreme Court is expected to "call it" for the Republican candidate 5 to 4, whatever the facts may be, on strictly partisan lines.
Whichever candidate wins this election, the American people and our democracy will lose. In what follows, I will do my best to explain this strange claim provided that New Jersey's hackers and the "dirty tricks" brigade can be obstructed in their efforts to prevent me from writing on-line. ("How censorship works in America.")
The American people will lose this election because the choices we are offered embody the limited options for change allowed by the richest section of America's population that finances presidential elections and that "owns" our presidents. Mr. Obama, in my judgment, is preferable to Mr. Romney. However, this may not be saying much.
No one can occupy the oval office for long without serving the interests of wealth and corporate power in America, usually at the expense of ordinary people. Mr. Romney is favored by such wealthy people over President Obama -- who is more hated than I realized by so-called "media elites" -- so that coverage of the election will be slanted in favor of the Republican candidate.
Mr. Romney may well "not lose this year's presidential election no matter how many Americans vote against him because of a concerted plan to turn over the nation's voting machines, state by state, to the computer machine manufacturers, Diboud, Sequoia, and Election System Software (ESS), whose most ingenious model is one that voters are alleged to love -- one where you just touch a screen and the candidate of your choice is supposedly recorded by a black box back of the screen as one vote closer to election. ..."
Gore Vidal, Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia (New York: Nation, 2005), p. 29. (Noting elections in which votes were, mysteriously, counted for opposing candidates. Curiously, the beneficiaries of these "errors" were always Republicans.)
Both candidates -- or any other persons who come to occupy their current positions -- will, inevitably, become the servants of wealth in our society. Sometimes the interest of most people will coincide with the interest of the wealthy few; just as often the interest of the many will be sacrificed to the good of the richest of us. Think of this as reverse utilitarianism.
At the moment, wealth has no geographical loyalties.Money is attracted to more money, typically in places like the Cayman islands. Most ordinary Americans will be losers as capital seeks ever-cheaper labor markets. Jobs (workers) will be "bought" where they are cheapest and for the least possible cost -- that is, people will be "hired" in China and India as opposed to Kentucky or New Jersey. No matter who is elected president, this will not change.
Our democracy will also lose this election because crucial issues are not being discussed. The population is not educated by candidates to appreciate the significance of those issues.
No one is going to raise the issue of human rights abuses that have come to define the United States of America to billions of persons in the world as a "pariah nation." (Noam Chomsky)
Neither candidate will spend much time dicussing the decline of the American educational system, especially higher education, and what this portends for the future if the problem is not dealt with, adequately, and very soon. At the moment, we are ignoring the genuine "crisis in education." Being 27th out of 29 countries in science, math, and literary skills among recent univerity graduates is not hunky-dory. ("Who Killed the Liberal Arts?" and "Nihilists in Disneyworld.")
No one will mention the continuing violations of international law in the robot bomb campaigns that have attracted so many protests this week in Pakistan and around the world with several distinguished Americans participating in rallies in South Asia against this barbaric practice.
No one will speak of the tensions and growing anti-Americanism in the Middle East that threaten to explode at any minute, regardless of who is elected president. The increasing influence of Israeli intelligence agencies in American domestic matters and elections is yet another forbidden topic. ("Illegal Payments to Bob Menendez.")
An issue that should concern voters is the loss of America's independent media and its transformation (with a few honorable exceptions) into paid political advertising. Neither candidate will speak of the loss of privacy in America, cybercensorship through "buffers" by politicians and parties, also corporate spying on our purchasing and other "habits" designed to improve the ways in which we are manipulated in order to be deprived of our money. Americans' loss of privacy is not making us safer from terrorism.
No one will touch the issue of racism, corruption, inhumane prisons where inmates are raped, experimented upon, drugged, starved, subjected to horrible violence, even murdered -- all of this takes place to the indifference of our corporate courts. ("So Black and So Blue in Prison" and "Foucault, Rose, Davis and the Meanings of Prison.")
None of these issues will be discussed because they do not trouble our corporate and economic "elite," an oligarchy whose candidates have come to represent, exclusively, themselves, as distinct from the majority of people in the country and world community. I consider the risk that American democracy may become a lie a real danger and great concern worthy of discussion in our presidential "debates."
Forced impoverishment and cybercrime may prevent me from writing at any time. I experience a post-iceberg-on-the-Titanic quality to my daily writing adventures at the New York Public Library. Certainly, if Mr. Romney is elected, my blogs will be destroyed by eager volunteeers collected by Mr. Rubio from South Beach, Miami. ("Cubanazos Pose a Threat to National Security" and "Miami's Cubanoids Protest Against Peace.")
For as long as I continue to write, however, I will speak of the vicious racism that defines American society, at this late date, that may explain the otherwise inexplicable hostility to Mr. Obama among allegedly "liberal" media types, like David Letterman and David Remnick. ("Barack Obama and 'The New Yorker.'")
The reaction to the first presidential debate is highly revealing of the latent tensions between sections of America that are drifting further apart, every day, and whose mutual hatred is disturbing and frightening. ("America's Holocaust.")
"The nation imagined by its founders-- those authors of 'We the People,' who clearly intended this experience in self-government to include the many, not just the privileged few -- is under siege by extraordinary concentrations of corporate power and private wealth, aided and abetted by an autocratic judiciary. There can be only one reponse to this usurpation of democracy: defiance. ..."
Bill Moyers & Bernard A. Weissberger, "The 1 Percent Court," in The Nation, October 8, 2012, at p. 11 (emphasis added).
Sources:
Tim Dickingson, "The Federal Bailout That Saved Romney," in Rolling Stone, September 13, 2012, at p. 52. ("Corporate Food Stamps.")
New York & the World:
Susann Craig & Ben Protess, "A Bigger Paycheck On Wall Street," in The New York Times, October 10, 2012, at p. B1. ("Average pay package of $362,950 ..." among stocktraders unrelated to the performance of their stocks. Nice work if you can get it.)
Rod Nordland, "5 Dead in Attack Involving U.S. and Afghan Troops," in The New York Times, October 1, 2012, at p. A4. (Pattern increasing.)
Mathew Rosenberg & Rod Nordland, "U.S. Abandoning Hopes For Taliban Peace Deal," in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A1. (They know we are leaving.)
"To Combat Modern Slavery," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A1. (Obama is doing something to deal with this issue and also addressing prison rape issues. Romney could not care less about either issue.)
"Mr. Romney's Government Handout: Unlike Most Americans, He Can Take Advantage of a Tax Loophole Useful Only to the Very Rich," (Editorial) in The New York Times, October 2, 2012, at p. A31. (Dinner for the Romney clan is on you, America.)
"Names of the Dead," in The New York Times, October 9, 2012, at p. A9. (Approximately, 10 casualties since the beginning of the month. I write this on October 10, 2012. One of these names is a Latino young man earning his residence status.)
New Jersey's Continuing Farce:
Geoff Mulhill, "A Change in Camden Police: Troubled City Dismantling Force, and County Will Take Over," in The Record, September 24, 2012, at p. A-3. (Camden Police is so corrupt that it will be eliminated. West New York, Union City, Elizabeth and several others are worse. Newark is Switzerland compared to these towns.)
Bill Borrow, "Public Unhappy With Both Choices: Obama, Romney Have Historically Low Poll Ratings," in The Record, September 25, 2012, at p. A-1. (NJ voters are among the most pessimistic about U.S. politics. Many feel politics is "hopeless" based on New Jersey's experience. "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead.")
John Petrick, "County Must Pay Legal Fees for Ex-Cops: Six Detectives Won Age Bias Suit After Being Forced From Jobs," in The Record, September 25, 2012, at p. L-1. ($627,000 in legal fees plus more in compensation for the fired cops at the expense of Passaic County taxpayers.)
Anthony Campisi, "ACLU Files Suit Over Removal of Political Pins: Action is the Latest in Face-Off With State Police," in The Record, September 25, 2012, at p. L-5. (NJ State Police may face additional monitoring by federal government because of new allegations of racism, lawsuits for abuse, and more trouble: "Albert Florence and New Jersey's Racism" and "Driving While Black [DWB] in New Jersey.")
Richard Cowen, "Board Ousts School Chief: Passaic Dispute is Apparently Over Pay," in The Record, September 26, 2012, at p. L-1. ($218,000 salary, plus other perks for now ousted school chief Robert Holster. Mr. Holster is on PAID leave.)
Matt Freedman, "Bill Would Let Patients Say When It's Time to Die," in The Star Ledger, September 27, 2012, at p. 1. (If only Mr. Rabner and the OAE would consider this option.)
Ed Beeson, "Hedge Fund Head Admits Taking $4 MILLION From Clients," in The Star Ledger, September 27, 2012, at p. 26. (Michael Spak, 44, "scooped" $4 million and counting. Garcia and Kriko? I did not take a dime from my clients. Do you speak to me of "ethics," Mr. Rabner? Who did you partner with at the OAE to get little-old me?)
Aisha Sultan, "Consumer Fighting Back Against Involuntary Internet Tracking," in The Star Ledger, September 27, 2012, at p. 26. (Cybercrime, spyware, from government working with private corporations. Privacy? OAE, do you have a warrant?)
