In The News Today...

Quote: Face

I may have a different take on all this.

This guy can cry all he wants about his fam and his status as the only bread winner and all that jazz. I'm not saying it's not a reasonable complaint. But GD man... it's that exact line of thinking that allows s@#$ like this to happen, is it not? The threat of the loss of just three months pay plus severance, which, let's be real, can't be no six figures plus, was enough for this guy to allow himself to be run over. Was enough for him to allow this sort of thing to happen.

Actually, your take is not all that different. Of course what is happening is people put themselves in the position of a serf to the lord (Disney, in this case) and are so jacked-up with their nice house, two car payments, and loads of other crap that the loss two paychecks is a disaster and even one missed pay period clobbers you. Spend time in corporate America and you see all kinds of soul selling on all kinds of levels.

Quote:

You can call for Congressional hearings all you want. Me, I'd rather stop our thinking that "someone else" is going to be our savior. Real change, the kind that matters, almost always requires pain. Great Things require pain. But we've become so pussified that something as simple a 3 months pay and a four figure severance is "too much to lose".

Pathetic. We want our country back, we gotta take it.

I agree. If you want to know how entire societies end up in slavery, look at the USA in our times. Go and watch Amreika. People are so afraid of losing what they have they will do anything no matter what it cost them in the end.

Quote: AZDuffman

Actually, your take is not all that different. Of course what is happening is people put themselves in the position of a serf to the lord (Disney, in this case) and are so jacked-up with their nice house, two car payments, and loads of other crap that the loss two paychecks is a disaster and even one missed pay period clobbers you. Spend time in corporate America and you see all kinds of soul selling on all kinds of levels.




I agree. If you want to know how entire societies end up in slavery, look at the USA in our times. Go and watch Amreika. People are so afraid of losing what they have they will do anything no matter what it cost them in the end.

Things either happen by accident or they are planned. "Coincidence is when the moon blots out the sun, everything else was planned".

It is all about control. A question asked in Report from Iron Mountain was, "how to control people in times of peace". The answer of course is fear. Most people have fewer critical thinking skills and free will as cattle. That would help explain, the Kardashians and advertising.

Carrot and stick. Boogeymen, MAD, Ebola, bad guys with suitcase nukes, yada yada, control, direct with fear. It is when we are convinced that we only have two choices. People don't want to know, or take the lead, it's risky. And those that own the world know it. They have studied it, and the methods are written, studied, and they work. In herd thinking, beings join in large groups for individual protection. The controllers want everyone bunched up, so they don't have to deal with stragglers. That is why so many corporations encouraged or were the impetus behind unions forming, " http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html"

Not much different from whales and schools of bait. Give the herd cheap loans for housing, school, stocks, what happens is it drives up the price and lowers the quality. It never changes. It makes followers servile and mostly docile.

The third Reich was able to confiscate guns by first issuing food [ration] stamps. It was all good in the beginning, there was enough for everyone, so no complaints. Then the supply tightened up and the government wanted the guns. Some guns were turned in voluntarily, some hidden. Then the government offered extra food stamps if people turned in their neighbors who had guns. Works every time.

The moral barriers that people will cross, and use their kids as an excuse, are appalling. "If I had a nickel" for every time I heard a union person tell me, they couldn't stand up for the agreement "because they had kids", I could probably buy a cup of coffee. People are herd animals, and the element that extracts the fruit of their labor [capital], are well aware.

The truth of it is, most of us don't deserve what we inherited from our forefathers. Loosely Twain, "lucky for man that entrance to heaven is by favor and not merit, otherwise dogs would go in, and men would wait outside"

Quote: AZDuffman

A second-tier POTUS candidate should be vetting it and if true then be all over it.

If you go back to the 20's and 30's, when
the big unions were born, employers were
dead set against them. To the point of mob
violence. We're heading that way again, with
mega rich owners stomping all over the
employees. The past will always repeat itself
unless we remain vigilant.

Quote: petroglyph

The moral barriers that people will cross, and use their kids as an excuse, are appalling. "If I had a nickel" for every time I heard a union person tell me, they couldn't stand up for the agreement "because they had kids", I could probably buy a cup of coffee. People are herd animals, and the element that extracts the fruit of their labor [capital], are well aware.

Wanna keep a slave happy and hanging around? Make him think he is a free man.

Quote: AZDuffman

Wanna keep a slave happy and hanging around? Make him think he is a free man.

There is considerable merit to t his view. The sixties "back to the land" movement was viewed as anti-wage-slavery and anti-sheepskin movements. The 'tune out' part was to reject the cubicle, the minimum wage, the Mcdonalds, the watch at retirement (even if workers were no longer banned from having a time piece on them).

slavery? I knew one young couple from Kentucky to planned their future in California for its educational advantages and would each work two jobs until they qualified for in state tuition. It was a transition to freedom because they knew that Kentucky schools were useless to them.

slavery? Maybe its a bit extreme but one man, a carpenter who was gradually growing weaker and weaker, decided that urban poverty meant drugs and crime but rural poverty meant hard work, fresh air and safety. So he moved his family to rural Alaska and fled the hopeless entanglements of urban poverty. Not quite slavery but still a decision favoring freedom.

One man decided to raise his kids in the Redwoods... so it was either drugs or carpenter trainee. He chose carpenter trainee over pot growing/driving.

cubicles and cells are rather similar.

Quote: Fleastiff

There is considerable merit to t his view. The sixties "back to the land" movement was viewed as anti-wage-slavery and anti-sheepskin movements. The 'tune out' part was to reject the cubicle, the minimum wage, the Mcdonalds, the watch at retirement (even if workers were no longer banned from having a time piece on them).

slavery? Maybe its a bit extreme but one man, a carpenter who was gradually growing weaker and weaker, decided that urban poverty meant drugs and crime but rural poverty meant hard work, fresh air and safety. So he moved his family to rural Alaska and fled the hopeless entanglements of urban poverty. Not quite slavery but still a decision favoring freedom.

A better word in the USA is "serfdom." Once at a boring job I researched the difference. For those who do not know, while similar, serfs had it a touch better. A slave can be sold and moved. Serfs are just "bound to the land." Think a tractor vs. a barn. One stays with the land when sold. Serfs had somewhat greater freedom to marry and even go into town. Free they were not, and even if they ran off, there was nowhere to run to.

So we get most of the USA who bind themselves to debt (guilty, though I will buy my freedom in 3-4 years), live over their means, work at a job they hate but hope for some OT so they can stay where they hate it even longer, and keep binding themselves to more and more things. Probably 1/3 could make it a month if the job ended with an additional 1/3 a "flat tire away from financial disaster."

I keep striving for that remaining 1/3. Only debt on investment properties. Hustling out a living. Enough skills and ability to always be working but not bothering to sell my soul to corporate. Wish I had this attitude 15 years ago.

Quote:

cubicles and cells are rather similar.

Once I was watching The History Channel and saw some show on prisons. They gave the size a cell had to be to meet UN standards. My office was barely over the size. Not saying, just saying.

Marine study finds all-male infantry units outperformed teams with women.

Not sure why they needed a study here. On the whole women are not as strong, cannot run as fast, and generally cannot perform the same as men physically. I can hear the whining, "But I know this woman who can............"

Women in ground combat units IMHO is a very bad idea. If things go bad just wait for public reaction. Though that might be the plan.

Quote: AZDuffman

Marine study finds all-male infantry units outperformed teams with women.

Not sure why they needed a study here. On the whole women are not as strong, cannot run as fast, and generally cannot perform the same as men physically. I can hear the whining, "But I know this woman who can............"

Women in ground combat units IMHO is a very bad idea. If things go bad just wait for public reaction. Though that might be the plan.

Let's keep track of the author here, Jim Michaels, somehow he failed to realize he was supposed to show up any conclusions like this. The poor sap probably used to be a Jarhead or something. His head will roll, sooner or later.

Looking into this sort of thing in the least little bit, you find out the women wanting to do this want to be officers. Grunts? No. Nurses, etc, sure. Someone has forgotten that the lower ranks in combat units are full of teenagers, especially in wartime. Think about that.

Of course the thinking all along has been that women are being denied highest rank because they don't have combat records. So they come up with this hare-brained idea. Well, as you say, the idea of destroying the military doesn't bother these people.

Quote: odiousgambit

Of course the thinking all along has been that women are being denied highest rank because they don't have combat records. So they come up with this hare-brained idea. Well, as you say, the idea of destroying the military doesn't bother these people.

Now, I never even gave that part thought! Probably part of justifying things.

My thought is that wait until say ISIS captures a few females and rapes and beats them. Wait until a few come back without all their limbs. The outrage will be major. It will make it impossible to have a sustained ground operation.

Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: odiousgambit

Of course the thinking all along has been that women are being denied highest rank because they don't have combat records. So they come up with this hare-brained idea. Well, as you say, the idea of destroying the military doesn't bother these people.

Now, I never even gave that part thought! Probably part of justifying things.

My thought is that wait until say ISIS captures a few females and rapes and beats them. Wait until a few come back without all their limbs. The outrage will be major. It will make it impossible to have a sustained ground operation.

There's a stat that 400-700 women secretly fought in the Civil War dressed as men. The Civil War wasn't a walk in the park!

If women want to fight and qualify to do so in a particular profession, I don't see a big deal.

Not sure why anyone gets more outraged when women are beat and raped by enemies as they are also beat and raped at home on occasion. They certainly might suffer beatings and rapes by an occupying force, be better off fighting in any case.

I'm also pretty sure women who might become grunts are aware of the risks as applies to them. If they're willing to accept them, and meet qualifications, no reason to stand in their way.

Quote:

The Army announced Wednesday that it is opening its legendary Ranger School to women on a full-time basis, following the historic graduation last month of two female soldiers.

The school, with headquarters at Fort Benning, Ga., has been a centerpiece of the military’s ongoing research on integrating women into more jobs in combat units. Capt. Kristen Griest, 26, a military policy officer, and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, 25, an Apache helicopter pilot, became the first women to graduate from school Aug. 21, after spending months alongside men enduring the grueling training

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/09/02/after-historic-graduation-army-removes-all-restrictions-on-women-attending-ranger-school/