An email reply to my republican brother Kenneth...

马丁叔叔

(Martianshushu)

My Dear Brother Kenneth,

Thank you for your email questioning the wisdom and the efficacy of some of President Obama's proposals for our nation. Don't be afraid. Martinshushu will take care of you when you get too cranky to think properly.

First, a little back story. The source of Martinshushu began many years ago in the 1990's when the wise leaders of the People's Republic of China allowed the transmission all over the Republic of a singular American television series for the enlightenment and productivity of the workers. From that TV show is a photo above of Martianshushu, or "Uncle Martian," or as we called him in the 1960's USA, "My Favorite Martian." Similar to your brother, Martinshushu, Martianshushu was very smart and possessed magical, albeit alien powers like retractable antennae.

Martianshushu was a metaphor for what the regular people of the PRC believed was the key to the power of the USA: alien influences.

But how do the citizens of the USA nation gain access to those powers? It is obvious that in our modern era we need look no further than our own United States Senate. For example, the Minority Leader from Kentucky may or may not have antennae, but Senator McConnell and his cohorts are certainly in touch with some other planet, not this one. The historical record gives us a fitting name for these old guard republicans who delight in obstructing our government. The republicans of the 1850's proudly called themselves "Know Nothings." It remains to be seen if the newly elected Senator from the great, Yankee state of Massachusetts, rises to that standard from the past.

Yes, Scott Brown does look like an iconic new-age right winger. Like the girl-gone-vogue Palin, Scott Brown seems to have only a smudge of dignity. He did pose nude for a national fashion mag. He does drive a pick-up paid for by the RNC. He speaks in vague clichés just like Ronald Reagan. He is a darling new addition to the panoply of Fox and WSJ masturbation fantasies. It should be duly noted that Olberman's diatribe condemning Brown was in fact a tearfully funny lampoon on both the loud, fat OxyContin-head from Seattle, Limbaugh and the sweet little closet queen of Fox, Glenda Beck.

Don't misunderstand me. As Martinshushu, I really think Brown is an okay sort of regular guy. Hopefully the new Brown will look west to Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown for guidance in Washington. Senator Sherrod Brown is a very smart guy who is genuinely attuned to the people of the nation.

Oops, I almost forgot to mention this about elections in Massachusetts: Boston's Mayor Curley in the 1940's was soundly re-elected to office as he sat in Federal Prison on an eighteen month sentence for mail fraud.

Yes, the "Know Nothings" are reborn.

Cheers from the South-Paw Coast,

Martinshushu

REMEMBER AMERICAN PEOPLE

DO NOT FEAR A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER

Darwin's Xenophobe

PS: As an offering of compromise, here's something you can fear: The venerable Directors Guild of America allows every member to vote on which movie, or TV movie, or TV commercial is to be the winner of their DGA Award every year. But for the 2009 movie releases the DGA does not allow the plenary membership to vote on the choice of winner for the Documentary category. The choice is dictated by a "Blue Ribbon Panel." Is the DGA becoming more like the PRC (China)? The regular membership must feel like the Chinese proletariat - or chopped liver anyway.

Hard Scrabble Economics Part II

Economics is simple. That is what some in the Republican Party, many in the Flea Party and various other incompetents splash all over FOX network and other stations on TV. Many people here in this nation believe the media hucksters' furious, Reaganistic rhetoric that the wealthy will let money trickle down to all of us in the once-middle-now-lower classes. The media hucksters tout that trickle-down was proven many years ago by the Mythic, Monetaristic Toothfairy Professor Milton Friedman of the University of Chicago.

Most of the people in Washington truly do not understand Economics 101, or worse yet, they choose to ignore it because of their political delusions. In the PRC (China) most people clearly understand Econ 101, because they were raised as Materialists. Yes, Dialectical Materialists, but Materialists nevertheless. What matters most to Chinese people is what you and your family can eat, and how they can have a better life. Yes, it was Marxian forces at work there in the 1930s and 40s that impelled the workers to overthrow the corrupt imperial government and put in place the communist party of Chairman Mao. Today Mao's giant portrait shines like a gigantic materialistic billboard watching over Tianamen Square in Beijing. Mao was brutal in some ways, but he did have a grand vision to feed and provide for the regular people of China.

Former Labor Secretary and Professor at UC Berkeley, Robert Reich stated today that about 23% of the wealth of the USA is held by 1% of the people. That disparity between the "Haves" and the "Have-Nots" has not been seen in the USA at those levels since 1928. The situation in Czarist Russia in 1916 was probably even worse... ask the Romanovs. It certainly was worse in Paris in 1789... ask Marie Antoinette.

So is it not fair that the top 1% pay a bit more in taxes to help the nation that allowed their great material success? Of the US $250,000,000 that was paid as a 2009 bonus to one of the giant bank people, the CEO of Bank of America, can we not take a little more in income taxes?

Or is it better to let the problem simmer for another generation or two? If we let it come to a boil in the near future then the people, the workers, the once-middle-now-lower-classes may decide that the 1% need to be held accountable for their theft of the workers money.

Now back to the Chinese Modern Version of Radical Materialism, read Capitalism. If a CEO cooks the books of a Chinese corporation or the CEO lies about something they manufactured the consequences are dire. The CEO will face the firing squad.

Our dearly beloved 1% are never subjected to such simple justice. But they are certainly harbored and massaged by our Economic system of laissez faire everything. And the 1% are certainly protected by our huge war, homeland, intelligence, and defense departments.

So dear 1% lay off our government before the old fashioned Marxist forces rise up and revive the guillotine or the firing squad to deal with the disparity problem. The Goodfellows from Wall Street can keep the house in Aspen and the apartment on Fifth Avenue. They just need to pay the tax money to keep their toys safe in a dangerous world.

Hard Scrabble Economics Part I

Some Important Questions as a tip of the hat to Carey McWilliams and others:

1) When do corporation-people die?

2) Why do corporation-people pay federal taxes at a lower rate than human-people?

3) Why can a corporation-people deduct any expenses in running the business like golf tee fees and donuts for the jet, and human-people cannot?

4) If a corporation-people kills someone, like Dow chemical did in India in the 1980's, why is a corporation-people shielded from the death penalty?

5) If David Bowie is a corporation-people, and he is, then can he be a non-profit corporation-people?

6) Can the Shiite Sect of the Islamic religion be incorporated as a corporation-people so they can get grant money from TARP just like AIG?

7) If the Shiite corporation-people has two hundred million shareholders, is the Shiite corporation-people too big to fail?

8) If I am a Zoroastrian Fire worshipper can I become a corporation-people, and can I get Goldman-Sachs to help me with an IPO?

Enough for now. There are many, many more questions for this.

What do you all think?

Martinshushu,

(Admittedly once a benefactor of some of the tax and accounting rules from my ownership of three different corporation-people)

Begin forwarded message:

Subject: Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad - Corporations are people?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v._Southern_Pacific_Railroad