OPEC, Chavez & WalMart: Union-busting large and small
Recently I've been reading some really scary stuff about the folks who own WalMart. For instance, despite the fact that Jim and Christy Walton alone are worth approximately 30 billion dollars each, they are still treating their employees pretty much like chopped liver http://abcnews.go.com/Business/walmart-ceo-pay-hour-workers-year/story?id=11067470#.UMYpM3ecHBY. Like some modern-day Ebenezer Scrooges, WalMart's avaricious owners appear to be hoarding every penny of profits they make -- and just in time for Christmas too.
Baby Jesus would NOT approve!
And recently I've also been reading Jimmy Carter's excellent personal memoir, "White House Diary". And what I have learned so far is that, first, Jimmy Carter was one of America's greatest presidents because he did everything he possibly could do to help average Americans like you and me get ahead; fought against climate change almost even back before Al Gore; stood up for civil rights worldwide; and scared the shite out of Wall Street, the Pentagon and AIPAC -- thus almost guaranteeing that he would never ever get re-elected, be cut off at the knees by the powers that be and get defeated by a puppet like Ronald Reagan as soon as humanly possible.
But if Carter had won a second term and our Ronnie had been forced to go back to making grade-B cowboy movies, we definitely wouldn't be facing a RepubliDem-generated "Fiscal Cliff" right now http://www.nationofchange.org/archeology-decline-1354551090. But I digress.
The second idea that I came up with after reading this book was that back in the 1950s, the Middle East was pretty much a hell-hole of poverty, thanks to the American "extractive industry" and their scab pashas who had been exploiting that area like it was 1859 back in the States and no one had yet freed the slaves -- or like the coal-mine workers had been exploited in West Virginia before miners there unionized themselves back in 1902.
However, the exploited "sweatshop workers" of the Middle East finally began to organize and form their own union too. And they called it OPEC. And practically the entire history of that region from that day to this has been merely one episode after another of what can only be described as UNION-BUSTING -- except that the "extractive industries" no longer use Pinkertons. They use GIs. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33286.htm
All over the world today, the "extractive industries" are running people off their land, stealing their resources and, in every way that they possibly can, performing the type of union-busting activities that would make WalMart owners proud. And whenever victims of these "extractive industries" actually try to unionize or rebel, we immediately have yet another union-busting war http://www.roitov.com/articles/100.htm.
Incidentally, it is also my personal opinion that Iran's leadership made a disastrous deal with the devil when they started negotiating with Ronald Reagan back in the 1980s -- because Reagan ended up supplying weapons to both Iran and Iraq, a very clever example of union-busting at its best. And thus the Ayatollah Khomeini, after his deals with Reagan such as the famous alleged October Surprise and the very real Iran-Contra scandal, ended up having the blood of his own people on his hands. One million Iranians died in that "war". http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/23/iran-iraq-war-anniversary
PS: Have you been noticing lately how Muslims are constantly being demonized and accused of being terrorists and other types of bad people by the powers that be? And have you also noticed that almost every Muslim country from Libya to Indonesia also has oil, valuable minerals or water resources under their soil? Coincidence? I think not. http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com/2012/12/mazin-qumsiyeh-on-12-12-12.html
Further, the Quran clearly states that, "God has sent down the Torah and the Gospel, as a guidance to the people...." And rest assured that this guidance definitely includes the Sermon on the Mount. “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." But what the pseudo-Jews and pseudo-Christians who spread this crap about Muslims don't seem to understand is that when they are happily busy dissing Muslims, they are also dissing Judaism and Christianity too.
PPS: I just got an e-mail from a friend of mine in Jakarta. She said, "Obama's better than most presidents because he's got more dimension, having gained more experience after living all over the world. However, when Obama's step-father worked for American oil companies in Indonesia, he took that posh lifestyle too seriously. And that's why he lost Obama's mom and his family."
Apparently Obama's mother couldn't stand being just another member of the union-busting WalMart generation http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2012/12/2012121874846805636.html and so left his step-father and moved back to Hawaii where Obama had originally been born -- and how ironic is that? That Obama's mother's son should now be helping to preside over some of the greatest "extractive industry" union-busting puschs of all time?
PPPS: Remember the grape strikers out in California's central valley back in the 1960s? How, under Cesar Chavez, these little guys were demonized and persecuted but they hung in there and persevered and finally won a few union victories over the growers?
And also remember that Hugo Chavez is also a union rep for OPEC -- and he too is being demonized and persecuted. But he too is hanging in there and may finally even win a few union victories himself. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0909/24/lkl.01.html
And remember back in 1965, when thousands of us marched with Reverend King in Montgomery and chanted "Wallace, you never can jail us all"? That attitude of dogged resistance against injustice, against all odds, also explains why I still keep grinding out this Cassandra-like blog that nobody reads year after year -- ever since GWB stole the 2000 election -- because there are still more of us than there are of them and eventually, someday, the "union" of all us underdogs will finally prevail. Why? Because our immense "collective bargaining" power is the only single thing that the powers-that-be are afraid of.
And so the world's WalMart types always keep trying to brainwash us peons into hating one another instead of organizing against them. But this divide-and-conquer technique can't go on forever. Sooner or later, as things go further and further downhill across the world both economically and democratically, all of us little guys are gonna finally be forced to become "Union Maids" too.
*********************************************************
*********************************************************
Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!
******
https://www.wepay.com/donations/going-to-a-vodou-cave-in-haiti And if this link doesn't work, please just cut and paste. Thanks.
And if anyone ever wants to hire me on as a travel writer, "Have laptop, will travel!"
******
Need someone to help you throw out stuff? I'm really good at deciding what needs to be thrown out (starting with all those corporate-owned bums in Washington!)
****
Need an actor to play an older woman in your movie? Then I'm your man! I can portray all kinds of older women -- from judges, business execs and other insane zombies to bag ladies, cancer patients, kindly grandmothers and dying patients in rest homes. I've played them all. So send me a script and let's do this. Hollywood, here we come!
****
Are you a plaintiffs' attorney who is tired of writing those pesky personal injury settlement briefs all the time? No problem! I can write them for you. Years of experience. And pay me only if you win the case.
****
I recently got my Notary Public commission!
Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!
****
I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=cm_rdp_product
****
"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters
"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters
