Monday, July 16, 2012

The Corporate Olympic Spirit

The London Olympics are just around the corner, but it appears as if pre-games jitters have set-in. The most explosive controversy in this country was the discovery that the Ralph Lauren designed, official U.S. Olympic uniforms were manufactured in China. Democrats and Republicans who can't agree on the color of the sky have discovered unity in their outrage. House Speaker John Boehner said the Olympic Committee "should have known better," and Senate majority leader Harry Reid sputtered that they should throw the uniforms in a big pile, burn them, and start over again. The impracticality of that notion is illustrated by the fact that polyester doesn't burn well, and it might be considered a tribute towards the country that is holding our national note to let them continue making our clothing. I think the Olympic team should dress like the rest of America, and when I looked last night, my shoes and Dillard's brand slacks were made in China, my underthings in Costa Rica, and my groovy, Cremieux shirt was made in Sri Lanka. I don't know what's more offensive; that the US team uniforms were manufactured overseas, or that they allow the Ralph Lauren, "Polo" logo to be plastered all over the clothes like a NASCAR driver. I'm no style maven, but isn't the Polo brand a little passe? I'd be embarrassed to wear an oversized symbol of corporate branding on my coat. To make it worse, the man-on-a-horse logo is on the jacket's left side, so the athletes will be pledging their allegiances to Ralph Lauren.

Over at Fox News, the main complaint was about the beret. Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy wondered aloud why they couldn't wear cowboy hats and dimwit "contributer" Kimberly Guilfoyle complained that the berets looked, "too Frenchy." Fox News' outrage was calmed when it was pointed out that certain elite U.S. military forces also wear the beret. The general agitation was sufficient for six Democratic Senators, including Schumer and Lautenberg, to propose the "Team USA Made in America Act of 2012," as if they sold Olympic uniforms off-the-rack at Macy's. Ralph Lauren has since promised that the outfits will be all U.S. made by the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, but first he has to build some plants in the U.S. that still make clothes

London, meanwhile, resembles an armed camp with missile batteries on the rooftops and gunboats on the Thames. There are currently more air defenses in London than during the Blitz, and the Brits are such sticklers for curfews and such, that some poor civic lackey did the unthinkable. Last Saturday, Bruce Springsteen was giving a free concert in Hyde Park, which is surrounded by foreign embassies and the tony homes of London's mega-wealthy. He had already played for three hours, but when he returned for an encore, he said to the crowd of 65,000, "I've gotta tell you...I've been trying to do this for fifty years," and he called Paul McCartney onstage to join him. Springsteen's face reportedly lit up like a child as they burned their way through, "I Saw Her Standing There," and then began to play "Twist & Shout." The problem was that the concert's organizer, Hard Rock Calling, promised the event would end at 10:15, so promptly at 10:40, an overzealous city official cut off the power in mid-song, leaving the rock icons to shrug and walk off the stage. Angriest was guitarist "Little" Steven Van Zandt, who tweeted, "When did England become a police state?" British journalist Richard James wrote, "Only in Britain could a local council pull the plug on the greatest artists of the last 50 years, giving it their all."

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was unavailable for comment because he was busy preparing for his two major London fundraisers on the eve of the Games. The first presidential candidate in history to travel to a foreign country and openly solicit funds during an American election campaign, Romney will host a reception, at $2,500 per person, for the peasants, and another "private dinner" with Mitt, costing from $25,000 to $75,000 per plate. At those prices, they'd better be serving hummingbirds' eyelashes and fillet of Komodo dragon, but as an added benefit, you get to rub tuxedoed elbows with the co-hosts; the heads of Barklay's Bank, The Bank of Credit Suisse, Deutche Bank, and Wells Fargo Securities. Romney, aside from money-grubbing in Socialist Britain, will be attending the Olympics to watch his wife's "therapy horse," Rafalca, compete in the dressage, sometimes known as "horse ballet." It should be a unique sight, watching a presidential contender suspend his campaign and fly to another continent to root for his horse. I'm certain that Mitt believes the entire country will be pulling for the Romney horse to "bring home the gold." I only hope they treat the horse better than the dog.

The other major Olympic news concerned former Britain Football Squad captain, David Beckham, being left off his home country's roster for being "overage." How does that make you feel? I don't think the British ever forgave him for taking away "Posh Spice," but I sure hope he decides to play for our side. So, construction delays aside, no one does pomp like the British and it should be quite a show, especially with all that international corporate money to spend. The Olympics also gives me a legitimate excuse for staying home and watching hundreds of hours of televised events, at least until I get so sick of that John Williams theme music that I begin to recoil at the sound of trumpets. For sure, I'll be watching the "horse ballet." It will be a welcome change from a steady diet of Hard Core Pawn and Lizard Lick Towing. Only, the Olympics are a reality TV show that is unscripted, and, berets be damned, it's an occasion for genuine national pride, depending on how Fox News decides to spin it.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, you think that Obama doesn't hob-nob with the uber-wealthy and sponsor mega-buck fundraisers? His butthole buddies are the Hollywood super rich, and the crony capitalists that he cuts deals with, and not the much ballyhooed downtrodden. Obama consorts with the very super capitalists that you despise while throwing crumbs (Obama money) to the poor to ensure their votes. Is there no depth of hypocrisy to which Democrats won't stoop? The Republicans are too inept and cowardly to be included in any serious political discussion. We are down to discussing what will be done with the corpse of America now. But, can't we suspend the hypocritical bullshit now that the battle is over? Let's turn our sights on how we can institute the least lethal form of totalitarianism. For instance, do you think that the new ruling elite will allow the little people to have somthing akin to a bill of rights, and allow them to keep a pittance of their earnings for personal use?

Alan said...

The way you are going after Romney must be because you are a Bigot who hates Mormons. Just taking a page from the liberal playbook. Polls show a much larger % of people won't vote for Romney for that reason than won't vote for Obama because he is black.

Anonymous said...

Of course you failed to mention our main man in the White House is spending his time pandering at various fundraisers. You would think he was being paid by the American people to attend fundraisers. Guess that's the program. Two years of bad, extremely ineffective leadership, and now two years of filling the coffers. Guess a guy could always use a little extra spending money.

Anonymous said...

Obama is NOT the smiley-faced, good-time-Charlie frat boy that he pretends to be. He is a very adroit political criminal who fooled the country in 2008 and may do so again this Nov. How can anyone fall for the bull that he is for the 'little man'? He throws chump change at them to insure their votes and then he and Michelle live like royalty on the taxpayers dime. He has absolutely nothing in common with real American blacks. In fact, he is 'whiter' than 95% of the whites. But, he is a damn good hustler. He has half the country eating out of his hand even though he is arguably the worst president ever. He couldn't build a dog house or run a lemonade stand. The only thing that he really wants to run is his mouth and look in the mirror to see how cool he is. All anyone has to do to be a successfull American politician these days is to buy enough votes. If a politician suggests cutting spending to keep the country from going bankrupt he is dead in the water. Americans have become dependent dumpster animals who couldn't care less as long as the dumpster remains full. Take away the dumpster and America will transform into one huge 'Day of the Dead' movie with rioting and looting from coast to coast.

Anonymous said...

Alan, you must be a very brave man. There is nothing more dangerous than to tell a liberal the truth, especially a truth that they can't refute. It causes them to become hysterical in their efforts to spin and blow smoke to obfuscate that truth. Only they are permitted to define reality. Destroying the paradigm that forms the basis for their deceived world view can cause some of them to have a psychotic reaction. If you do this to large numbers of them they may start sharpening the guillotine blade. I wish that you would post more often. I always learn interesting things from you.

Anonymous said...

Alan, were you shocked to find out from Obama this week that if you conceive of a new business, get a loan to start that business, assume all liability, and work fourteen hours a day to make it successful, your success is not really due to you, but to the collective. I wonder how many businesses would succeed if the entreprenuers took this to heart, decided to do nothing, and said, 'Let the collective do it'. The slack-jawed members of the collective would scratch their heads and say, 'I don't want to work fourteen hours a day, but since there are no evil capitalists left, who is going to provide me with money so that I can get my handouts'? At least Obama has finally taken his mask off and revealed himself to be the Marxist that he has always been. Woe be to us if this commie is re-elected.

James Hooker, Nipple Whisperer said...

Randy, I love you. But, you know that. What inquiring minds want to know is this: Does your ¨I Heart Che¨ shirt have a ¨Made In China¨ tag? Just askin´.

Anonymous said...

Jon Lovitz quipped, 'Hey Obama, I didn't build my house either'. Lovitz posted a picture of Obama holding his bogus Nobel Peace Prize which was awarded a week after he took office with the caption, 'Nobel Peace prize? You didn't earn that. Somebody else made that happen'. He owes it to the collective. Maybe he should give it to the nanny who changed his diapers, or to his elementary school bus driver, or his postman, or to the girl who first made him cum.

Anonymous said...

I was going to mow my lawn today, but I realized that according to Obama it wouldn't actually be me who was mowing my lawn and that all credit for mowing my lawn would be due to the collective. I'll never mow my lawn again. Then, by extension I realized that I had been fooling myself all my life. The 39 years that I thought that I was working was actually being done by the collective. Realizing all of this, I am not going to do anything any more. The collective is actually doing it anyway. Then, it dawned on me that the welfare class had it figure out all along...let the collective pay my bills because anything that they might have done wasn't due to their efforts after all. So, turn it all over to the collective and live off of the collective. The individual and his efforts don't matter. It is so simple. If I had been smart enough to figure this out I wouldn't have wasted 39 years working under a delusion. I could have retired at 21. Liberalism could have saved me from my folly.

Alan said...

I talked to Randy last week about Frank Marshal Davis. I asked him to do his own research as he was not aware of him. Then 2 days later FMD name was all over the conservative blogs. At the time I talked to Randy I was working from my own research from 2 years ago when I read Obama's book. I hope the info from the conservative media does not prevent Randy from looking him up.

Anonymous said...

Sput, don't hide your head in the sand. Wake up and smell the feces. How can you profess to be an informed journalist if you only look at one side of an issue? It reminds me of the time when you lambasted the Tea Party, but refused to even go to a meeting to see what actually goes on there. You chose to repeat liberal slander without so much as doing a simple check on your own. That really made me wonder about your journalistic integrity. Frank Marshall Davis was a card carrying Communist. The FBI was very much aware of him and kept a file on him. He was also one weird, kinky sex perv. He wrote a book entitled 'Sex Rebel' under the pen name Bob Greene. The subtitle of the book was 'Memoirs of A Gash Gourmet'. It was an auotbiographical account of his sexual exploits. Among other things, he was a bisexual pedophile. He was also Obama's mentor from the age of 10 till he left for college at age 18. Davis was hand picked by Obama's grandfather to be his mentor. This can all be verified by a simple Google search. There is a new expose currently available about Davis called 'The Communist' by Paul Kengor. I am going to read it. All of this is just one of the things that make people nervous about Obama. Who in the hell is this guy anyway? Was he astrally projected to Earth from hell?

Anonymous said...

I was first made aware of Davis about 4 years ago. I remembered thinking that if a conservative presidential candidate had a mentor like this it would be all over the news. I couldn't understand why no one was aware of Davis and his influence upon Obama. But then I learned of the gargantuan media cover up of nearly everything about Obama. That is a very, very spooky thing. There are people who know the truth about Obama but are very careful to suppress that truth. Obama is the least vetted President in all of American history. However, all kinds of things are being discovered about him now and the picture is extremely unnerving. Most people now know that his mother, his father, and his grandparents were all communists. By his own admission he hung out with Marxist professors and radical students during his college days. His mother hated both America and white people. One of the reasons that she left her Indonesian husband, Sotero, was because he was too pro-American and didn't sufficiently hate whites. This sort of revelation is pretty well known these days, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. The full truth would probably scare all but the most radical leftists shitless. It is not much of an exaggeration to say that Obama is a Manchurian Candidate. A rose (or communist) by any other name is still a rose (or communist). However, I get the feeling that some who participate in this blog are happy about that state of affairs.

performs said...

Anon says: It is so simple. If I had been smart enough to figure this out I wouldn't have wasted 39 years working under a delusion.

Unfortunately it is not a simple matter of being smart enough. You are plenty smart enough but remain under the popular delusion because you lack the heartfelt understanding that all are one and interconnected. What is that popular delusion that lies as the root cause of 99% of all the miseries of the world?: Just because it appears outwardly that everyone is separate it must be that all must struggle against one another for the sake of one’s own self-interest and self-regard. Only the pure love from the heart can dispel this delusional darkness. No amount of intellect can grasp it.

It is not your fault. However, you would be wise not to believe everything you think. Question the limitations that the intellect imposes. Consider that self-sacrifice might not be as foolish as so many think. The intellect is a useful tool but makes a terrible master.

performs said...

Anon says: It is so simple. If I had been smart enough to figure this out I wouldn't have wasted 39 years working under a delusion.

Unfortunately it is not a simple matter of being smart enough. You are plenty smart enough but remain under the popular delusion because you lack the heartfelt understanding that all are one and interconnected. What is that popular delusion that lies as the root cause of 99% of all the miseries of the world?: Just because it appears outwardly that everyone is separate it must be that all must struggle against one another for the sake of one’s own self-interest and self-regard. Only the pure love from the heart can dispel this delusional darkness. No amount of intellect can grasp it.

It is not your fault. However, you would be wise not to believe everything you think. Question the limitations that the intellect imposes. Consider that self-sacrifice might not be as foolish as so many think. The intellect is a useful tool but makes a terrible master.

performs said...

I just read and recommend this wise essay.

from the essay, Eliminating Feedback Loops at Our Peril:

Similarly, if someone had to pay for the loss of oxygen and the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere, for the erosion of topsoil, for the effect on communities of having pollution in their midst, and for the many other negative consequences which right now do not register on the profit and loss sheets of most companies, the recorded cost of production would increase. This is what internalizing costs would mean.

Because the costs are externalized, we can, collectively, continue to delude ourselves into believing that we can continue with business as usual, without anything that would compel us to look at the true cost, beyond the price tag on the product we purchase.

http://baynvc.blogspot.com/2012/07/eliminating-feedback-loops-at-our-peril.html#more

Anonymous said...

Hell is coming to Earth. The horrors of the French Revolution will look like child's play compared to what is coming our way. Incidents like the one in Aurora, Co. and the episodes of 'wilding' in the large cities are just a foretaste, and will increase logarithmically. It will be sort of like popping pop corn. At first a kernal pops, then another, and so on til there is a conflagration...a total societal breakdown. What could precipitate such a thing? Maybe a complete, cataclysmic economic breakdown in which hundreds of thousands of hungry, desperate people begin trashing neighborhoods looking for sustenance. Memphis should be one of the really scary places to be if such a thing occurs. It is just a matter of time before the economic props are kicked out from under us. Our enemies are calculating, waiting, and salivating till America drops into their hands like an over-ripened fruit. And, this will happen. Kruschev is going to be proven right after all. Some people will just never learn that they shouldn't trust tyrants, like the ones who currently run our country. Soon the masks will come off.

Anonymous said...

Does Obama realize that by his own words his ascendancy to the presidency had very little to do with him? That it was actually the collective who placed him in the presidency? That same collective might just as well have placed Curly, Larry, or Moe there, because the individual means is nothing. He/she is nothing more than a vessel for the actions and expression of the collective. Only the collective is real and deserving of praise, honor, and worship. If that is the case, why is the treasonous, criminal bastard so cocky...as if he has accomplished something through his own efforts?

Anonymous said...

A liberal political pundit recently settled the issue as to whether Obama is a socialist or not. He said that Obama is definitely not a socialist. He is an income redistributing collectivist. By that type of reasoning one could say that a guy who sniffs girls' bicycle seats is not a deviant. He rather seeks alternative olfactory stimulation from bipedal objects.

performs said...

Obama, the way I see it, is nothing more than a socialism talker. He and his crony-capitalist puppet-masters serve to create more inequality among people by their actual deeds. As long as they get what they want in money and power, pumping up their own self-regard, they will continue the ruse and the heist.

Anonymous said...

Performs, that is the truest and most intelligent statement that anyone has made on this blog...perhaps with the exception of Alan. Hooray for you. I will be paying better attention to what you have to say now. Thanks for coming out of the Obamatron trance. I hope some of the others on this blog are bright enough to take heed to what you said. Here is one more thing...the powers that be that push for world socialism are all uber-wealthy capitalists (Rockefellers, Rothchilds, Soros, et al). That should tell everyone something. They are using Marxism to eliminate the middle class. In the end, there will be only two classes of people. The uber-wealthy rulers and the rest of humanity living in squalor. Look at the former Soviet Union and North Korea today. The Soviet rulers lived in opulent luxury while the people lived in squalor. The same thing is true of Korea today. Only the Korean people are being starved to death while the rulers guzzle champagne, caviar, steak, and every other luxurious item. The run of the mill socialists are just useful idiots for the super-capitalists to accomplish their goal of world dominion. Also, the bad fat cats have a nasty habit of killing lots and lots of people once they consolidate their power. The garden variety socialists need to wise up. But, history shows that the common man is slow to learn and gullible and therefore suffers horribly.

Anonymous said...

I live in the rural boonies and most everyone here is either a survivalist or an old hippie. The old hippies tend to resent those who played by the rules, worked hard, and are therefore well off in their old age. They think that those who are enjoying the fruit of their labors are selfish for not giving them more of their earnings. When they were young and running barefooted through the woods, getting stoned and playing nature boy, it never occurred to them what it would be like in their old age if they didn't work and plan for the future. Like Steve Miller said in his popular song 'Living in the USA'...'we would rather play'. Now it is time to reap what they have sown and they are content to blame others and resent those who are not in bad shape like they are. Of course they are all socialists. What else could they be under their circumstances? Hey, Alan! They are coming after your money, because you cheated and made something of yourself. If you don't pay for their housing, their utilities, their food stamps,their health care, etc., you are a stingy bastard. I tell them to take a flying leap up a rat's ass where they belong. At least it can serve as a warm shelter there and they can always eat the feces. As you sow, so shall you reap. It is hard to get around that one...unless you are a socialist and then you can reap where others have sown.

Randy Haspel said...

"The United States, the world's largest capitalist country, has from the standpoint of distribution of wealth, come closest to the ideal of prosperity for all in a classless society."

Richard M. Nixon; June, 1960.

performs said...

Randy, just as feudalism had its hayday, so did capitalism. It allowed for some very creative/productive things and some very destructive things to occur. But it is time to move on as the system of capitalism as practiced and learned today is a very corrupt, immoral, unethical, crony system with a few individual powerful rich folks making virtually all the important decisions for the sake of their own personal gain.
We must bring democracy to the business sector. Check out the thinking of Richard D. Wolff.

Anonymous said...

Richard Nixon was a criminal and a snake in the grass. He would have sold his own mother into slavery if he thought it would advance his quest for power. Nixon was a closet globalist and contributed greatly to the 'fundamental transformation' of America. For that matter so did George W. Bush. It makes me sick to see conservatives rallying to his defense. He wasn't much better than Obama, but the conservatives will never admit this, because they have no other heroes except for Reagan. Both political parties have destroyed America. The Republicans are as bogus as a three dollar bill. Marxism will triumph, and individual freedom and private property will eventually disappear from the Earth. Too bad for the young. I'm gld I won't be around to see the carnage.

performs said...

"...individual freedom and private property will eventually disappear from the Earth."

What do you find so virtuous about the ideas of i.f. and p.p.? As I see it, nearly all the carnage, as you put it, surely all the struggle and strife for ages has been around these ideas. The more serious the attachment to them, the more misery stems from that attachment.
No one wants to take away your toothbrush, but that all persons be given the chance to care for their teeth in a healthy way.

Anonymous said...

So, you think that freedom and private property are negatives. You don't know history. You don't know tyranny. But, if you are young enough you are going to find out. Just like the French citizenry during the French Revolution, the Jews and other minorities under Hitler, the Russian peasants under Lenin and Stalin, the Chinese under Mao, and the Cambodians under Pol Pot. These are just a few examples of the depredations of unbrideled central power in modern history. If you don't value freedom, you must be one of the 'beat me, whip me, make me write bad checks' boys. Oh well. I might as well be spitting into the wind. Good luck, because the hammer will fall. It is just a matter of time. I can almost hear you squeal to your tormentors, 'But what about peace, love, and universal harmony' as you are sliced and diced. Tyrants count on the gullibility and cowardice of the citizenry that they are about to subdue and Americans are about as gullible and cowardly (with the exception of the military) as a people can get. My only prayer is to be out of here before what is left of our republic collapses. I hope that you enjoy being a serf.

Anonymous said...

This video corroborates everything that Performs said in his posts on July 25 at 11:30 a.m. and on July 26 at 10:10 a.m. The truth is much worse than Performs suspicions...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nisNDsRLOH8