Welcome to another special Sunday edition of The Ride, where we like to kick back and take it easy. Easy like Sunday Morning.
Bobby Weir throwin' down a little Bobby Dylan with the boys for your listening pleasure.
Bobby, in the highly unlikely chance you read this - Furthur is fun and all, but I miss RatDog. Please bring the boys back around.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Intellect is Not Inherited
One of the biggest things the protestors of Occupy Wall Street have going for them, in my opinion, is that while wealth is transferable from generation to generation, intellect is not.
And while there were certainly some whip-smart people who instituted many of the regulations that allowed for these financial groups to take advantage of the american people, there are some serious rogue geniuses out there.
Like this man. After watching this video, I'm not sure if I want to shake this man's hand, give him a hug, or just smash my head into a wall repeatedly for not thinking of this first.
Keep Wall Street Occupied. Fucking Brilliant.
The Ride salutes you, nameless internet figure! Hurrah!!
And while there were certainly some whip-smart people who instituted many of the regulations that allowed for these financial groups to take advantage of the american people, there are some serious rogue geniuses out there.
Like this man. After watching this video, I'm not sure if I want to shake this man's hand, give him a hug, or just smash my head into a wall repeatedly for not thinking of this first.
Keep Wall Street Occupied. Fucking Brilliant.
The Ride salutes you, nameless internet figure! Hurrah!!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Choose Your Words Carefully
I am not a doctor.
I do not have a degree in medicine.
Fuck, I've never even played a doctor on TV.
Yet nonetheless, I feel the need to give my amateur opinion on this story coming out of Pittsburgh.
From The Digital Journal: Teen dies after smoking fake marijuana
First off, how great of a pro-marijuana marketing piece is that headline? Thousands of years of human use and not a single death for the real deal. K2 is on the market for a period of a few years, and it's already being blamed in the death of a teenager.
A 13 year old boy is dead in Pennsylvania after all attempts to save the boy from two collapsed lungs, and the subsequent infection, sadly failed. As the article says, young Brandon Rice was taken to the hospital after smoking the legal marijuana substitute and complaining of "numbness in his hands and feet, [being] unable to breathe, and...vomiting blood". Medical imaging revealed extensive chemical burns on the inside of the boys lungs.
Brandon's parents searched their son's room, finding a stash of "Spice", or "K2", an increasingly popular synthetic blend designed to mimic the effects of marijuana without any of those pesky side effects, like failing a drug test. Along with his potpourri head stash, the Rice's also found a plastic candy PEZ-dispenser, which their son had modified into a smoking device. Ahh, brings me back to my formative years, when I made a pipe out of a metal kazoo. Unfortunately, you had to remove the piece of paper that made the kazoo "zoo", so you couldn't play and smoke at the same time...but that is a tale for another day.
Brandon Rice died in his sleep this morning, after being hooked to a respirator since June. But as Brandon was idly wasting away in a sterile hospital bed, the political machine has been busy. Very busy indeed, my loves.
Brandon's case was co-opted and used as an example to speed up the process of banning and criminalizing the growing number of products that are being labeled as "fake drugs". Pennsylvania became the 21st state to outlaw the possession and distribution of a litany of these products, including K2, bath salts, and salvia. Under the new law, first time offenders found guilty of possession will face punishments up to $5,000 in fines, and up to a year in prison.
OK. So there's the story as the media gives it. And I have two major problems with it.
First off is the part of the article regarding the criminalization of these "fake drugs". See if you can find the trouble areas.
The tragedy that claimed Brandon's life came months before Gov. Tom Corbett signed a bill into law that outlawed the sale of 'fake drugs' like K2, Spice, Vanilla Sky, Salvia and bath salts that produce a marijuana-like high after being ingested. Pennsylvania became the 21st state to ban the sale of synthetic drugs, which are known to cause agitation, paranoia and hallucinations, according to the National Institutes of Health.
I have a serious fucking problem with marijuana being in the same sentence as bath salts. The same is true to a lesser degree for Salvia, and I've never heard of "Vanilla Sky", but from all the horror stories I've read about bath salts, whoever crafted this sentence needs to be shackled in the stocks. Comparing a drug that has been as beneficial and utterly harmless as marijuana to a synthetic speed that has resulted in the sexual abuse of livestock is dishonest, and down right criminal. And to anyone who has actually smoked Salvia, honestly comparing it to the effects of marijuana is simply laughable. Part of me thought we were past this Reefer Madness style propaganda.
My second gripe is the choice to use a quote from the boy's father regarding his cause for death, rather than reaching out to the medical professionals who were responsible for his recovery. The article does a wonderful job of glossing over the fact that this kid was smoking out of a fucking PEZ-dispenser. Never mind the fact that we know for sure that heated plastics release the kind of vaporous chemicals known to cause the kind of damage that Brandon Rice's lungs suffered. Never mind the fact that there are no other reported cases of Spice causing this level of physical damage. Or the fact that Brandon's death was caused by his body succumbing to an infection that took root after the surgical attempt to fix his collapsed lungs, which his body was unable to fight off in its weakened state. The obvious problem here is the boy was smoking fake-weed!
Now, I am not saying these substances should be available to children. But I believe a very big piece of this puzzle is that the boy was able to legally acquire his K2, while subsequently being denied the proper tools to ingest the drug due to it being illegal to sell a proper smoking device to a minor. It seems to me the real tragedy here is that this boy somehow reached the age of 13 without anyone informing him that if he put flame to plastic and took a deep breath, he was gonna have a bad time.
Again, I am not supporting the sale of these substances to minors. And I am not a medical professional, in any way qualified to make my statement that I think the PEZ-dispenser is more to blame here than the K2 the kid was smoking. But this propaganda piece subliminally aimed to take a cheap shot against marijuana is simply piss-poor journalism. Comparing marijuana to any of the newly banned drugs in Pennsylvania is fundamentally flawed on one single point. These new bans are entirely focused on synthetics. Chemically derived substances aimed at mimicking the effect of a natural drug (except in the case of bath salts - which simply needs to be burned and removed from the human record). Is the answer here really to saddle our already inefficient system with more laws designed to entrap citizens with hefty fines and jail sentences? Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to simply remove the sanctions against the much safer drug that these chemicals are trying to imitate? Seems to me that such a move would completely undo the demand for these allegedly dangerous products. And why do I not hear more of a clamor that the people at PEZ start placing warnings on their packaging that their product is not designed to be a smoking implement?
Didn't you ever wonder why getting high is a crime in the first place??
I do not have a degree in medicine.
Fuck, I've never even played a doctor on TV.
Yet nonetheless, I feel the need to give my amateur opinion on this story coming out of Pittsburgh.
From The Digital Journal: Teen dies after smoking fake marijuana
First off, how great of a pro-marijuana marketing piece is that headline? Thousands of years of human use and not a single death for the real deal. K2 is on the market for a period of a few years, and it's already being blamed in the death of a teenager.
A 13 year old boy is dead in Pennsylvania after all attempts to save the boy from two collapsed lungs, and the subsequent infection, sadly failed. As the article says, young Brandon Rice was taken to the hospital after smoking the legal marijuana substitute and complaining of "numbness in his hands and feet, [being] unable to breathe, and...vomiting blood". Medical imaging revealed extensive chemical burns on the inside of the boys lungs.
Brandon's parents searched their son's room, finding a stash of "Spice", or "K2", an increasingly popular synthetic blend designed to mimic the effects of marijuana without any of those pesky side effects, like failing a drug test. Along with his potpourri head stash, the Rice's also found a plastic candy PEZ-dispenser, which their son had modified into a smoking device. Ahh, brings me back to my formative years, when I made a pipe out of a metal kazoo. Unfortunately, you had to remove the piece of paper that made the kazoo "zoo", so you couldn't play and smoke at the same time...but that is a tale for another day.
Brandon Rice died in his sleep this morning, after being hooked to a respirator since June. But as Brandon was idly wasting away in a sterile hospital bed, the political machine has been busy. Very busy indeed, my loves.
Brandon's case was co-opted and used as an example to speed up the process of banning and criminalizing the growing number of products that are being labeled as "fake drugs". Pennsylvania became the 21st state to outlaw the possession and distribution of a litany of these products, including K2, bath salts, and salvia. Under the new law, first time offenders found guilty of possession will face punishments up to $5,000 in fines, and up to a year in prison.
OK. So there's the story as the media gives it. And I have two major problems with it.
First off is the part of the article regarding the criminalization of these "fake drugs". See if you can find the trouble areas.
The tragedy that claimed Brandon's life came months before Gov. Tom Corbett signed a bill into law that outlawed the sale of 'fake drugs' like K2, Spice, Vanilla Sky, Salvia and bath salts that produce a marijuana-like high after being ingested. Pennsylvania became the 21st state to ban the sale of synthetic drugs, which are known to cause agitation, paranoia and hallucinations, according to the National Institutes of Health.
I have a serious fucking problem with marijuana being in the same sentence as bath salts. The same is true to a lesser degree for Salvia, and I've never heard of "Vanilla Sky", but from all the horror stories I've read about bath salts, whoever crafted this sentence needs to be shackled in the stocks. Comparing a drug that has been as beneficial and utterly harmless as marijuana to a synthetic speed that has resulted in the sexual abuse of livestock is dishonest, and down right criminal. And to anyone who has actually smoked Salvia, honestly comparing it to the effects of marijuana is simply laughable. Part of me thought we were past this Reefer Madness style propaganda.
My second gripe is the choice to use a quote from the boy's father regarding his cause for death, rather than reaching out to the medical professionals who were responsible for his recovery. The article does a wonderful job of glossing over the fact that this kid was smoking out of a fucking PEZ-dispenser. Never mind the fact that we know for sure that heated plastics release the kind of vaporous chemicals known to cause the kind of damage that Brandon Rice's lungs suffered. Never mind the fact that there are no other reported cases of Spice causing this level of physical damage. Or the fact that Brandon's death was caused by his body succumbing to an infection that took root after the surgical attempt to fix his collapsed lungs, which his body was unable to fight off in its weakened state. The obvious problem here is the boy was smoking fake-weed!
Now, I am not saying these substances should be available to children. But I believe a very big piece of this puzzle is that the boy was able to legally acquire his K2, while subsequently being denied the proper tools to ingest the drug due to it being illegal to sell a proper smoking device to a minor. It seems to me the real tragedy here is that this boy somehow reached the age of 13 without anyone informing him that if he put flame to plastic and took a deep breath, he was gonna have a bad time.
Again, I am not supporting the sale of these substances to minors. And I am not a medical professional, in any way qualified to make my statement that I think the PEZ-dispenser is more to blame here than the K2 the kid was smoking. But this propaganda piece subliminally aimed to take a cheap shot against marijuana is simply piss-poor journalism. Comparing marijuana to any of the newly banned drugs in Pennsylvania is fundamentally flawed on one single point. These new bans are entirely focused on synthetics. Chemically derived substances aimed at mimicking the effect of a natural drug (except in the case of bath salts - which simply needs to be burned and removed from the human record). Is the answer here really to saddle our already inefficient system with more laws designed to entrap citizens with hefty fines and jail sentences? Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to simply remove the sanctions against the much safer drug that these chemicals are trying to imitate? Seems to me that such a move would completely undo the demand for these allegedly dangerous products. And why do I not hear more of a clamor that the people at PEZ start placing warnings on their packaging that their product is not designed to be a smoking implement?
Didn't you ever wonder why getting high is a crime in the first place??
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Whales are People Too, Maaaan!!
PETA is at it again. And no, I'm not talking about People Eating Tasty Animals.
In a bid for advancing their tireless cause of ending animal abuse, PETA is attempting to sue Sea World for "enslaving" killer whales, asserting that the 13th Amendment does not explicitly mention that it only protects human beings.
While I agree with the ideas behind PETA, I usually find their actions to be a little over stated for the most part. And this case is no exception. I mean, honestly, suing on the grounds that killer whales have the same unalienable rights as human beings? If that's the case, then I hope you're also seeking jail time for all the killer whales that have killed or assaulted their trainers over the years.
So, as I encountered this story, I rolled my eyes and went about my day. Certainly a noble pursuit, speaking for those that can not speak for themselves, but I didn't see this one going anywhere.
That is, until I watched the Colbert Report's coverage of the story. And let me tell you, Steven Colbert brought up something that may have changed my mind on the effectiveness of this tactic. Here's the clip.
As the Supreme Court has ruled, corporations ARE people. So why not levy the same respect to animals? At least they have a pulse. And big watery eyes to stare at you with while they suffer their various degrees of injustice. If faceless corporations demand a level of respect in our legal system, why are we so willing to laugh off the prospect of providing the same to a living creature?
Sure gives you something to think about on a rainy day.
In a bid for advancing their tireless cause of ending animal abuse, PETA is attempting to sue Sea World for "enslaving" killer whales, asserting that the 13th Amendment does not explicitly mention that it only protects human beings.
While I agree with the ideas behind PETA, I usually find their actions to be a little over stated for the most part. And this case is no exception. I mean, honestly, suing on the grounds that killer whales have the same unalienable rights as human beings? If that's the case, then I hope you're also seeking jail time for all the killer whales that have killed or assaulted their trainers over the years.
So, as I encountered this story, I rolled my eyes and went about my day. Certainly a noble pursuit, speaking for those that can not speak for themselves, but I didn't see this one going anywhere.
That is, until I watched the Colbert Report's coverage of the story. And let me tell you, Steven Colbert brought up something that may have changed my mind on the effectiveness of this tactic. Here's the clip.
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
As the Supreme Court has ruled, corporations ARE people. So why not levy the same respect to animals? At least they have a pulse. And big watery eyes to stare at you with while they suffer their various degrees of injustice. If faceless corporations demand a level of respect in our legal system, why are we so willing to laugh off the prospect of providing the same to a living creature?
Sure gives you something to think about on a rainy day.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Happy Birthday, Patriotism!!
A toast! To the tenth anniversary of Patriotism!
After all, how could patriotism have been possible before the advent of The Patriot Act??
Excuse me. Sorry, the official name is "The USA PATRIOT Act". See, without adding the "USA" at the beginning, you don't get the full effect of the acronym. See, unbeknownst to me until this morning, the Patriot Act actually stands for: "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act". I would really love to know how many hours whatever intern spent on forcing an acronym out of "USA PATRIOT". Fucking brilliant. Just imagine what that sort of energy and ingenuity could accomplish if properly focused!
Ten Long Years of government surveillance on American civilians, a grotesque sacrifice of civil liberty in the name of perceived security.
You know what? I'm going to step back from this one. I open the comments up here for your voice. Let me know what you feel about the Patriot Act. Is it a necessary evil? Or just another tool of the encroaching fascism that is taking over our once noble home of the free?
Speak your mind. Just don't speak it too freely, you never know who might be listening.
After all, how could patriotism have been possible before the advent of The Patriot Act??
Excuse me. Sorry, the official name is "The USA PATRIOT Act". See, without adding the "USA" at the beginning, you don't get the full effect of the acronym. See, unbeknownst to me until this morning, the Patriot Act actually stands for: "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act". I would really love to know how many hours whatever intern spent on forcing an acronym out of "USA PATRIOT". Fucking brilliant. Just imagine what that sort of energy and ingenuity could accomplish if properly focused!
Ten Long Years of government surveillance on American civilians, a grotesque sacrifice of civil liberty in the name of perceived security.
You know what? I'm going to step back from this one. I open the comments up here for your voice. Let me know what you feel about the Patriot Act. Is it a necessary evil? Or just another tool of the encroaching fascism that is taking over our once noble home of the free?
Speak your mind. Just don't speak it too freely, you never know who might be listening.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Baton Courtesies - Service with a Smile
Good Afternoon, kids.
Alright, I'm sorry. No matter how I try to talk about something else, everything keeps coming back to OWS. You just can't escape it.
From CBSNews.com: Riot police arrest "Occupy Oakland" protesters
In a surprise move from Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who had been quoted in support of the protests as saying "sometimes democracy can be messy", a force of around 500 law enforcement officers moved in on the group of roughly 200 protestors this morning. Which sounds about right to me. Nothing says even odds like an over 2-to-1 ratio of police to protestor, especially when the police are armed with riot gear, rubber bullets, and tear gas. I even found a few scattered reports of the police using sound cannons on the protesters, but as of right now it would appear those are unconfirmed, confused reports of helicopters in the area.
I'm curious to know what caused Mayor Quan's 180 on the topic. To go from supporting the spirit of the protests to signing off on a police action that included 12 departments marshaled against a group that could file into a single Olive Garden without the fire marshall quirking an eyebrow, well that simply is not a decision that comes without some force of external pressure.
Not only was the protest broken up in their original park, but any attempt to organize away from the scene in the wake of the raid was also disbursed, resulting in further arrests.
It's just a shame that the Oakland cops didn't hear about this story out of Albany, in which the New York Staties, in conjunction with Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, refused to comply with an order from the governor to clear out a similar protest in New York's capital.
You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning ....
And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave
Hunter S. Thompson
Alright, I'm sorry. No matter how I try to talk about something else, everything keeps coming back to OWS. You just can't escape it.
From CBSNews.com: Riot police arrest "Occupy Oakland" protesters
In a surprise move from Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who had been quoted in support of the protests as saying "sometimes democracy can be messy", a force of around 500 law enforcement officers moved in on the group of roughly 200 protestors this morning. Which sounds about right to me. Nothing says even odds like an over 2-to-1 ratio of police to protestor, especially when the police are armed with riot gear, rubber bullets, and tear gas. I even found a few scattered reports of the police using sound cannons on the protesters, but as of right now it would appear those are unconfirmed, confused reports of helicopters in the area.
I'm curious to know what caused Mayor Quan's 180 on the topic. To go from supporting the spirit of the protests to signing off on a police action that included 12 departments marshaled against a group that could file into a single Olive Garden without the fire marshall quirking an eyebrow, well that simply is not a decision that comes without some force of external pressure.
Not only was the protest broken up in their original park, but any attempt to organize away from the scene in the wake of the raid was also disbursed, resulting in further arrests.
It's just a shame that the Oakland cops didn't hear about this story out of Albany, in which the New York Staties, in conjunction with Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, refused to comply with an order from the governor to clear out a similar protest in New York's capital.
You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning ....
And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave
Hunter S. Thompson
Monday, October 24, 2011
Put on the Glasses!!
It's incredible how hard some people fight when you try to open their eyes.
Happy Monday to you, dear friends. While I am sure many of you are sick of me talking about it at this point, today we will be clicking the gears back to Occupy Wall Street. After spending some quality time with some of my extended family this weekend, I started to realize how skewed the public's view of these protests is. Not to say that their confusion is incomprehensible - the media is doing a hell of a job on this to keep everyone's head spinning. From conservative monoliths like FOX News explaining how the protesters are not only confused, but the "fact" that all the injustices they are protesting are actually their own fault, to liberal political forces attempting to co-opt the movement in a power-bid for aspirations of office, as per usual, everyone has an agenda when talking about this loaded issue.
But like all great tragedies, it is the fool who has the least to lose in telling you the unadulterated truth.
It seems to me that the biggest problem the protestors are facing, beyond the police brutality and corporate efforts to silence their voice, is the public's view that the protestors demand of an end to corporate greed is too ethereal. They have no hard, itemized demands that can be checked off in the name of marking progress.
So in the interest of compassionate comprehension, today in lieu of discussing current events we are going to play a little game. And that game is called They Rule. If you would kindly point your browser to the page, the game will begin.
They Rule is a website that I remember being discussed on an edition of ABC's World News Tonight back in the early 2000s. Once the page is loaded, you are met with a blank screen with a tool bar in the upper left corner. What They Rule does is allow you to view the board members of any of the top Fortune 500 corporations. Simply select a company and mouse over the table icon that appears, and you will be able to generate a list of every board member for that company. Now, where it gets really interesting is when you mouse over the name of the individuals representing that board you will be able to extrapolate the map to include a list of every other company these people also serve as board members for. By the time you're finished, you have a disgustingly widespread and tight knit web of greed.
Let's start with one example together, class. Considering it is largely the banking interests that has people so up-in-arms these past weeks, we will begin with the Bank of America Corporation. Once you have expanded the list of their board, you will find a list of 18 names. Of these 18 names, 9 of them, half of their board, also have interests on other corporate boards. The list of these companies includes CBS, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, and even The Walt Disney Company. Now, make sure to drag the CBS table out of the way a little so we can expand that list without our graphic becoming too muddled. Expanding upon CBS's board will show that not only are two of their members protecting interests in Bank of America, but we also see Northrup Grumman - a defense tech corporation, VIACOM - another American media conglomerate, Urban Institute - a DC based think tank involved in data collection and processing on the social and economic trends facing Americans, AECOM - an engineering group which provides services in the areas of transportation, energy, and government, amongst others, and lastly, The Center for Strategic and International Studies - another bi-partisan think tank with its focus placed primarily on foreign policy, rather than domestic.
Phew! Talk about a head rush. Now of course, you can take any one of these companies connected to CBS and expand their list of board members, creating more degrees of connection between the clandestine members of the top 1%.
Let's try another quick example before I leave you to play with this tool on your own. This time, we'll start with the lovable, kid-friendly people over at The Walt Disney Corporation. Clear your maps, and start there. Once you expand their list of board members, and then the list of secondary boards these individuals belong to, you will find that Disney has a total of 13 board members, and actually more secondary boards than they have members! Of the 14 secondary boards listed, we find financial interests like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and VISA. We also find corporate commercial interests from Nike, McDonald's, Apple, Starbucks, and Clorox. And of course, the shining gem of any list of Fortune 500 companies, the military defense contractors over at Boeing Co. And don't even get me started on how convoluted Boeing's map gets.
So, maybe now with this little graphical demonstration, you might start to see where the rage of the 99% is coming from. The elites running these corporations have woven a fine web whose sole purpose is to ensure that nothing can tamper with their steady market trend of profit gains. How can we trust anything CBS reports regarding the financial markets, when one of their board directors also seats a chair for Bank of America? How comfortable are you in the fact that The Walt Disney Companies childish facade is hiding a board director who signs off on Nike's usage of third world child labor? And when one man, W James McNerney Jr., holds a chair on the board for IBM, Boeing, and Proctor and Gambel, well, I can't help but think that that much power simply has to lead to corruption.
Of course, I expect none of my words to change any minds that are already made up on the topic. As I said in my introduction to this post, no man will fight you as hard as one who is being led from ignorance. The wonderful people over at The 53% are proof of that, if nothing else. All I can do, is ask that you open your eyes. And put on the glasses.
Happy Monday to you, dear friends. While I am sure many of you are sick of me talking about it at this point, today we will be clicking the gears back to Occupy Wall Street. After spending some quality time with some of my extended family this weekend, I started to realize how skewed the public's view of these protests is. Not to say that their confusion is incomprehensible - the media is doing a hell of a job on this to keep everyone's head spinning. From conservative monoliths like FOX News explaining how the protesters are not only confused, but the "fact" that all the injustices they are protesting are actually their own fault, to liberal political forces attempting to co-opt the movement in a power-bid for aspirations of office, as per usual, everyone has an agenda when talking about this loaded issue.
But like all great tragedies, it is the fool who has the least to lose in telling you the unadulterated truth.
It seems to me that the biggest problem the protestors are facing, beyond the police brutality and corporate efforts to silence their voice, is the public's view that the protestors demand of an end to corporate greed is too ethereal. They have no hard, itemized demands that can be checked off in the name of marking progress.
So in the interest of compassionate comprehension, today in lieu of discussing current events we are going to play a little game. And that game is called They Rule. If you would kindly point your browser to the page, the game will begin.
They Rule is a website that I remember being discussed on an edition of ABC's World News Tonight back in the early 2000s. Once the page is loaded, you are met with a blank screen with a tool bar in the upper left corner. What They Rule does is allow you to view the board members of any of the top Fortune 500 corporations. Simply select a company and mouse over the table icon that appears, and you will be able to generate a list of every board member for that company. Now, where it gets really interesting is when you mouse over the name of the individuals representing that board you will be able to extrapolate the map to include a list of every other company these people also serve as board members for. By the time you're finished, you have a disgustingly widespread and tight knit web of greed.
Let's start with one example together, class. Considering it is largely the banking interests that has people so up-in-arms these past weeks, we will begin with the Bank of America Corporation. Once you have expanded the list of their board, you will find a list of 18 names. Of these 18 names, 9 of them, half of their board, also have interests on other corporate boards. The list of these companies includes CBS, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, and even The Walt Disney Company. Now, make sure to drag the CBS table out of the way a little so we can expand that list without our graphic becoming too muddled. Expanding upon CBS's board will show that not only are two of their members protecting interests in Bank of America, but we also see Northrup Grumman - a defense tech corporation, VIACOM - another American media conglomerate, Urban Institute - a DC based think tank involved in data collection and processing on the social and economic trends facing Americans, AECOM - an engineering group which provides services in the areas of transportation, energy, and government, amongst others, and lastly, The Center for Strategic and International Studies - another bi-partisan think tank with its focus placed primarily on foreign policy, rather than domestic.
Phew! Talk about a head rush. Now of course, you can take any one of these companies connected to CBS and expand their list of board members, creating more degrees of connection between the clandestine members of the top 1%.
Let's try another quick example before I leave you to play with this tool on your own. This time, we'll start with the lovable, kid-friendly people over at The Walt Disney Corporation. Clear your maps, and start there. Once you expand their list of board members, and then the list of secondary boards these individuals belong to, you will find that Disney has a total of 13 board members, and actually more secondary boards than they have members! Of the 14 secondary boards listed, we find financial interests like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and VISA. We also find corporate commercial interests from Nike, McDonald's, Apple, Starbucks, and Clorox. And of course, the shining gem of any list of Fortune 500 companies, the military defense contractors over at Boeing Co. And don't even get me started on how convoluted Boeing's map gets.
So, maybe now with this little graphical demonstration, you might start to see where the rage of the 99% is coming from. The elites running these corporations have woven a fine web whose sole purpose is to ensure that nothing can tamper with their steady market trend of profit gains. How can we trust anything CBS reports regarding the financial markets, when one of their board directors also seats a chair for Bank of America? How comfortable are you in the fact that The Walt Disney Companies childish facade is hiding a board director who signs off on Nike's usage of third world child labor? And when one man, W James McNerney Jr., holds a chair on the board for IBM, Boeing, and Proctor and Gambel, well, I can't help but think that that much power simply has to lead to corruption.
Of course, I expect none of my words to change any minds that are already made up on the topic. As I said in my introduction to this post, no man will fight you as hard as one who is being led from ignorance. The wonderful people over at The 53% are proof of that, if nothing else. All I can do, is ask that you open your eyes. And put on the glasses.
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