Update On Venezuela

A Short 20 Minute Documentary Update That Includes Everything Going On In Venezuela

They asked CNN to leave Venezuela.  Maduro danced on TV during the funeral of Geraldine who was shot in the eye by the National Guard, under the command of democratically elected President Maduro. Who was previously appointed by Hugo Chavez before death. She died the next day. 20 other student protesters younger than me. Motivated by insanely high unemployment, faced with starvation, after a sham of a democratic election have been murdered since the protesting began on February 12th.

Social media is keeping this movement alive through I'm your voice as well and SOS than a fella so many Venezuelans have left because they feared for their lives with the lives of their children that they are scattered about the globe they speak with truth and passion about the beautiful wealthy countries they love so much these kids look just like us they sound like my best friend but many of them speak enough English to communicate which most Americans with four years of high school Spanish can't say they are so smart their bravery is a sounding the police didn't even bother with us in New York City but what if it was every day or for longer than 2 hours we have lives to keep living what if everyone protested something every Sunday would realize we all care about something we all know how it feels to love we all believe in peace and freedom how many human rights abuses will continue to be suffered before the lower classes of the world unite and say enough.

Leopoldo Lopez turned himself on February 18th after being charged with inciting violence at the protest held on February 12th. On February 18th hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan students and workers showed up wearing white while he turned himself in, as a symbol of peace. 

The final Facebook status of a Venezuelan student who was the first to lose his life on February 12 has become a message to the Venezuelan people fighting in this movement. "Well people, this person here is going to march tomorrow. Without fear of anything. Hoping to find a better future." Bassil De Costa was 23 years old. 

This is a modern democratic country just like ours. The scene should seem familiar, we've seen this before. Tear gas and rubber bullets used on our own citizens to quell protest and keep lower classes from having any say in the governing of our society. How would America have reacted to 20 20 to 30 something college students shot dead by out national guard and hundreds more missing and being tortured. 

400 people were arrested for holding hands in front of the White House to stop the Keystone XL pipeline on March 9th 2014 in this country. We are all fighting different battles of the same war. We still have many freedoms not left in other places. I can post this message to you all from my home in New Jersey and speak for Venezuela even when they can not speak for themselves because their internet and televised news channels have been taken down.

#SOSvenezuela #sosvenezuelaNY

What Do We Do?

So what do we do to change this?

Start buying second hand. Any penny you can keep out of their hands is a win. But I figured out Friday that alone we can do nothing. For instance my mom owns two businesses. She even sells coffee. But when she's at work, she likes McDonald's coffee. But even if she bought one every day (Which is a gross over exaggeration) and stopped, she'd only be taking $365 dollars out of the hands of McDonald's. That's not even penny's to them. That isn't a noticeable percentage. So there is a sort of myth about what kind of power there remains to boycott.

What is really important is the farm Bill. Most of American commerce is in service and most of it food. Every paper pusher or commuter has to eat fast food once if not twice a day. Even if you are a great planner who brings lunch and breakfast to save money or for health reasons. Some days you are going to forget. Can't make a 10 hour work on an empty stomach. This economy goes 'round on the backs of the people who serve our fuel. Aka calories. 

We need to remove all federal subsidies to corporation's. No more tax breaks for banks, agriculture companies, oil companies, etc. Do away with any subsidy that isn't paying for food, education, and shelter for the poor and there would be a lot of money to spare for all the things we need to fix. There should be a maximum wage difference between CEO and employee at this point. And there should be a max amount of energy a person or corporation can use per year unless they prove to the rest of us they need it. No more using valuable oil and coal to heat and light mansions unless you can prove your mansion is contributing to its local economy back the same amount it uses. 

Solar panels would mean Everyone collects from the grid and contributes to the grid. There are a lot of ideas. We just don't have any revenues to implement them because the "people" making all the profits (But nothing of tangible value) legally stopped paying taxes a long time ago.

Damn, well said. This, to me, is a lost battle in America unless everyone changes together. Is their anyway it is not a lost battle?

I hear people say words and phrases every day that 2 or 3 years ago they had never heard of. Popular culture and awareness can change now at the speed of internet. 

In moments on Twitter instead of decades of news print. We're winning. There are more of us than their are of them. 

The only problem is that so much wealth is concentrated in the hands of so few. if they decide go throw a temper tantrum as the myth of infinite growth pops they could take us all down with them. But not if we're prepared. 

Nerds put the internet back up on Cairo. in less than 24 hours. 

No one is taking knowledge away from anyone. Some people are trying to prevent knowledge expansion. As religions and wealthy have always done but the poor in America have smart phones. 

There are 300 million of us. We have power. "We" just don't know it. I hope we can all pay more attention and right the ship before we sink entirely. 

Grander civilizations have crumbled. The Egyptians. The Mayans. The Romans. And so many others. But the satellites aren't coming down any time soon. I think everything is fixable. 

No fate is set. All decisions are made in the now.  

 This is an amazing speech to go unheard, except by me and a few others who read it.
"I'll put it in my blog"

Why the Fuck Should I Care About Venezuela?

 

Testimony of Venezuelan's in Times Square of What Is Going On In Their Country 

My best friend is the first testimony and her father and sister are further into the video. Don't trust the media, trust the opinions of people you know. 

 

I Don't Know Where to Begin So I Will Let This Video Speak For Me

A girl named Geraldine was murdered by the brutal military police response when she was hit in the face with a rubber bullet. "Non-lethal" violence is still violence. 

We Are All Scott Olsen 

Feel the Connectivity. We are not alone. 

There is so much violence in Venezuela right now. Every 20 minutes someone is murdered. They are without necessities like rice, toilet paper, sugar, and flour and yet Maduro is dancing on television while students are being beaten by his thugs in the streets. I no longer trust any news source. On the television or otherwise. The internet is just as full of corrupt corporate government propaganda as the television. All your dot coms are belong to us.

Another Bloggers In Person Account of the Violence and Why She Left the Country

On Sunday March 9th I went to a protest in Times Square to show support for the students standing up against the riot police in Venezuela.

Here Is How the Police In Venezuela Would Respond To What We Did In Time Square

Here Is My Best Friend Protesting On the Streets of NYC
This is the English Translation of her Speech: 
"I'm here at this moment representing all of the students who are fighting for a better country and all of the mothers who've lost their children. I'm the international representative for the movement Resitencia Venezuela and I want to make a world wide calling and report the political persecution from which our students are victims. Simply for thinking differently and for wanting a better country. Our young people are being threatened. Their lives are in danger in this very moment for talking. For sharing their ideas. For wanting a free and democratic country. The movement of Venezuelan Resistance want me to make a report and this is a message to the ONU (United Nations) and the OEA (Organization of American States). WE SAY NO to the Cuban intelligence. We demand the immediate expulsion of the military and police troupes of the occupation and all of the members of the department of intelligence G-2 MINFAR (The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.) Resistencia Venezuela denounce the crimes that violate human rights. Torture and persecution caused by the institutions of the Venezuelan country that for 15 years have functioned and work as political appendages of the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela.) Especially fiscal general Luisa Ortega Diaz, Public Defender Gabriela Rodriguez, and President of the TSJ Supreme Court Justice Gladys Gutierrez. It is not fair that our people and our students have to go through this. WE WANT A DEMOCRACY! WE DON'T WANT A DICTATORSHIP! WE DON'T WANT TO LIVE THE WAY THEY LIVE IN CUBA!" 
I had no idea how powerful the words she was saying where while I was filming them. I had some idea. I had heard all of these thoughts and ideas throughout the day. This is the best speech about what is going on you will see.
We need to remember what people like us look like. We need to remember that we aren't the upper classes being sold to on television and in the media. Do you live paycheck to paycheck despite investing much of your money into payroll taxes every year?

Obama can appear on Funny or Die to promote the Affordable Care Act which is making the insurance companies billions of dollars because there is no public option and now we all have to enroll. I think we all deserve healthcare but this is not a poverty issue, it's a middle class issue. Good on Zach Galifianakis for making a quip about Drone Strikes to the Actual President of the United States in a real life interview. But where were the jokes to bring light to people in THIS country who are food insecure and just lost their food stamps due to the cuts that millionaires in congress approved of and President Obama signed?

Stop trusting propaganda with excellent production value and sponsors and start sharing things that were made by artists you know. Or artists who your friends know. 


There is so much more depth to the history of Shock and Awe psychological operations on civilians in South America and around the globe but you're going to have to do your own reading on that. I suggest you start with The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Cline. 


Tell Me: Do These Kids Look Threatening Or Just Like You And Me?

A rough translation of the text, "We were hiding in the common room, from the police and their armed escorts."

My Best Friend's Speech In Spanish In Time Square
Este video fue grabado el 09 de Marzo de 2014 a las 2:30 PM en Times Square, NY, U.S.A. con el soporte y certificación del Movimiento Pacifista Venezolano Resistencia Venezuela 58.

Cuenta Oficial de Twitter de Resistencia Venezuela 58
@ResistenciaV58

Cuentas certificadas por regiones:
Lara @resvenezuela11
Monagas @ResVenezuela10
Mérida @ResistenciaVM
Zulia @ResVenezuela4
Carabobo @ResVenezuela
Barinas @ResVenezuela7
Mérida @ResistenciaVM
New York U.S.A. @ResistenciaVeNY


Lots of Imagery Set To Music. We Need More Art With Language We Can All Understand

There is testimony from masked protestors about why they are part of the resistance. 


Find more information on Twitter #sosvenezuela #sosvenezuelaNYC

Use Your Privilege

That brave little girl front and center doesn't have to be afraid to protest because she is in America now. But she is fighting for her brothers and sisters.

Everything should he made as simple as possible, but not simpler

My cousin Lindsey said I am awesome to be around because I make jokes constantly that I laugh at, out loud. So she says, sometimes even if the joke doesn't make sense to the other person or isn't even funny the other person still laughs because me laughing at myself is funny in itself. I decide I'm okay with that. 

I think more people should laugh for no reason. It's a defense mechanism for me. I have severe depression. Seeing the humor in everything is necessary for me to function.

I can't do anything because I feel trapped. This blog is a compilation of thoughts I scattered about other places and brought together here because I am so disappointed I didn't post anything before February ended like I wanted to. I could barely squeeze out pages.

Damn snow. Damn cold.

Not that I don't have millions of things to do here. I'm just fed up with looking at it. That's always my dilemma. My happiness or my productivity. My stress level goes up while working on tedious shit (computer shit for work) or sorting through old shit.

Does this stay or go. Deciding on how important are hundreds of items and pieces of paper and Shit. Sometimes I don't want any of it. But be careful what you wish for. My cousin got that wish, no stuff.

Somebody called me college educated again.
 

I had to school him on how I know what I know.

Yes I went to a good High School but two years of community college and one year of a state school do not an elitist make.

I just figured out what I am. I just didn't know it had a word. I am not "college educated". I'm an autodidact. Coincidentally I just found out that was a word from a movie I watched over the weekend. 
 

My parents are super blue collar. Neither finished college. I know more because I have the internet and an Ocean County Library card than I learned in college. I had The Worst textbooks in college. Useless really, I felt everything was a longer more boring version of the things we'd already learned in the 12 years of grade school.

Bill Maher put it best, "You know what news story I read this morning... no you don't because my news is tailor made for me, and your news is tailor made for you. As such we are all fed things even in just headlines that solidify our beliefs as they already are."

Perfect.

I try to explain that to people all the time, they have no idea to the extent they are being monitored and how well their entire worldview fits their opinions to keep them complacent.

Algorithms.

People often want to start from ideal circumstances too have you noticed? Made up scenarios instead of what is actually the starting point of reality right now.

They imagine the world as they want to see it. We all do to some extent.

I actively work against it. But in this culture I'm told that my ideas constitute mental illness.

The only part I find ill is the lack of motivation. Seeing how powerless someone without money really is to change this world in most ways is discouraging some days.

I just don't see people I like enough. The only power we have is in the people. I am home a lot and the salon. With old republican ladies. And with my mom's employees. Who can never be my real friends because they are afraid of me.

It takes years for people to realize they can tell me anything. I really don't care. And I also don't tell my mom, or anyone else everything.

A lot if people I like IRL, I don't keep in touch with on Facebook. Because I don't have to. Facebook is for maintaining relationships when people are far away. Not being up people's ass when you're together.

I often don't take pictures of awesome moments in my life because I'm too busy experiencing them.

Cell phone cameras make that easier though. Snapping pictures of things in nature or absurd cultural things I like.

This winter I just withdrew.

I'm bugging out! I have a doctor's appointment Monday. In less than a week.

How crazy can you make yourself worrying that you're not crazy enough? Or crazy enough it will cause you further trouble and you're just to crazy to realize?

February is over and I didn't post again. Wtf. Hate winter. I should have just done it but I hate sitting at the computer. It hurts my back. Mental excuses, I have an Alphasmart 3000, a notebook, a mini recorder, a smartphone. Something should have been done. 

I have a ton of stuff at my house. Just most of it is not mine. Or not whatever Crazy life I would have had without my son. It's all ours. I still skirt they edge of insanity. But I keep my shit together and keep moving forward and learning for my son and my husband. Once one person depends on you it's easier to let other people depend on you. My husband and I have a policy. We almost always say yes to favors. Unless we literally don't have the time or money. Which is kind of rare. Unless we think it will cause family drama, lessons learned the hard way sometimes always saying yes. But I regret nothing. Experience is why I'm as smart as I am. That and too much reading, not enough human interaction.

I greatly approve of epic parenting. You need to take that shit seriously and realize they are gonna do what you do. So you have to be self aware and honest with them if you want to break a bad cycle. My son knows all about how sick daddy gets if he tries to quit smoking altogether. Despite cutting back tremendously. I've told him my husband started when he was a kid. Mommy could stop easier because I was over 18 when I started. Daddy was like fucking 12 stealing cigarettes from Grammy and great grandma. 

My son asked me to quit. I did. Mostly. Unless somebody like dies. Or some other drastic event happens. Sometimes after a panic attack. 

I think a lot of people who cant quit smoking have an anxiety disorder. It is a great excuse to leave the room whenever you want at any social function. Since you can't inside any more. All anti social people migrating to one space. 

I think addiction isn't like we think it is. I think it's social. Unless it's physical and the person is in real pain not just emotional pain. Some people take opiates because on blue collars jobs shit gets hurt. Even white collar sometimes. Carpal tunnel. Desks aren't healthy for anyone. Addiction I don't think is brain chemistry. I think it's sociology.
 
That's why my favorite drug is pot. Even though I want it legalized. Smoking is half awesome because every time you do it it's like giving a finger to the people who try and make plants illegal. Or patent them. Cause what the fuck? That shouldn't happen. But again. All social behaviors. Who you want to be around. What kind of mental state you want to be in. 

Your friends probably drink the same level. I'm at moderate social drinker status. But the occasion is rare because I'm old and broke. But people who abstain altogether are foreign to me, as are people who still get wasted and puke and stupid shit. But I think we can go about changing those physical chemical flaws in our bodies and our DNA actively. I'm not under the impression we are destined by DNA to be a certain way until we die.

I support medication of chemical problems like depression, OCD, ADHD, PTSD, schizophrenia, etc. I know those illnesses are real and probably literally physically chemical. At this point we haven't isolated exactly what brain chemicals are effected by what drugs, in what ways in most cases.  I prefer the idea of chewing coca leaf, opium, and eating cannabis food or oil to any of the shit they have people taking now. Everything should go back to being plant based and not patentable. We should be letting more variety develop instead of creating mono-crops. And we should be medicating with more whole-food-style less brain-altering medications.

Part of the reason I'm on this is because I think this "laziness" epidemic the American Right always talks about is actually an American addiction epidemic. We've taken a lot of potentially excessive behaviors to extremes culturally. Some people use addiction to tune out pain with opiates. But others do it to keep things up, keep up appearances, if you will. Remain busy. 

Amphetamines. 

Coffee. 

Nictone. 

White sugar. 

Stimulants are super popular. But eventually you burn out that way. Like how they burned out new lineman at the slaughter houses in The Jungle. Use people up and throw them away because you have a constant stream of desperate to work new people.

Alcoholism is cultural and pandemic at this point. They openly call obesity an epidemic. Obesity isn't a problem from an image perspective but a heart disease and diabetes perspective. If you look at the sales figures you start to see the real picture. Combine them with the costs of healthcare and the rate of deaths from those behaviors and you can see the big picture. Death is a cash business. Even the smallest funeral items cost big bucks. Capitalism exploits people at their most vulnerable because that is when they are least likely to be keeping a tight grasp on their wallet. In those moments you care more about family than money.

Too much alcohol makes you violent or just sad enough to be hopeless eventually. It is a killer. There are other safer options. Or just make paint thinner style cheap vodka illegal. There is minimal regulation on types of alcohol. Liquor content and processing standards are set by industry and demand. 

I don't want the government or doctors manipulating DNA in a lab or in the womb. That's not cool. I'm talking about treating mental and physical illness with organic chemistry instead of lab made compounds. Unless it's antibiotic. I'm not crazy. I believe in science. I mean chronic illnesses we think of as "genetic" shouldn't be treated as life sentences necessarily. 
 
I actually think alcohol shouldn't be completely abstained from. It is excellent social lubricant. It creates a definitive mental change few other behaviors or chemicals can mimic. I think our culture is contributing to excessive behaviors and no one is born genetically an addict, we all have the potential. I think these things are learned just like everything else we are. We learn how to be from adults around us. We may have their genes but that doesn't mean we are destined to live a certain life without the power to change it. We shouldn't teach kids that these things are scary and not to be talked about. It's really ridiculous. Or just "grown up stuff". It effects them.

The Minimum Wage Problem

Even if they increase the minimum wage you still need the same amount of employees or you're going out of business. Or you are at least in the retraction phase not expansion phase of business. Either way. If you can't afford an extra 40 (assuming this is a full time worker) to 80 dollars a week you were not doing good way before the min wage increase. Also if you fire one minimum wage worker the max you could save is $290 a week.  Assuming again that this easily fired worker actually works 40 hours. In reality it's probably more like $150 a week or less. 

There are two other options in addition to a minimum wage increase we should try. A maximum wage linked in percentage to the lowest paid workers wages so CEOs couldn't make 400 percent of what their lowest paid worker makes. Or caps on inflation of necessities. Which we technically already have in place except we give the subsidies to the corporations claiming to end starvation with GMOs to keep the prices down. Instead of giving more subsidies to people who are starving because of low wages. Some of them do get food assistance. However a much larger percentage of our tax revenue goes to corporate subsidies for large scale agricultural crops than food stamps which keep people from starving to death, or starving long enough to suffer permanent brain damage. Even once you give the starving person food stamps they still have to give the money to corporations to get food.

Big business lobbyists do not support the minimum wage increase. The IRS actually has almost no policing power over people with major money. The way they hoard money hand over fist for offshore bank accounts has all been made Perfectly Legal. 

I capitalized Perfectly Legal because it is a book about specific changes in the tax codes that favor people with a certain level of wealth or higher, By David Cay Johnston. You should check it out. I've read his other two as well. Also good. I haven't taken any college level economics classes. As far as I know some assholes are still teaching laissez faire Chicago style economics as a viable global option even though it has proven time and time again to be a disaster Everywhere and create huge economic disparities. 

ALEC, ya know the people who write the laws for the lobbyists to give the Senators, is actively fighting against the minimum wage being raised. As a matter of fact the Tea Party wants the minimum wage abolished.

A small business owner can't just fire half her staff because they raised minimum wage to $8.15. That's not how that works. Also tipped waitress minimum wage and home health care is still $3.24.

Small business owners will moan and groan about a minimum wage increase in some cases. But they won't downsize. Because that's the cost of doing business. Successful business naturally wants to expand. Companies don't produce anything, no profits at all without labor. In service at least which is where min wage primarily resides. You can profit in silicone valley or on wall street without labor. You can use social media to make your advertising go viral but you can't actually produce anything.

I don't think things that produce nothing of value to society should produce profit. Paperwork and organization, management and CEOs are glorified paper pushers. We have computers and programs that could do the job much most efficiently. Women are likely to do the same types of leadership jobs as men but for volunteer organizations. Women often work for free or almost free taking care of loved ones and friends, or cleaning and other shit that holds society up like raising children and teaching. But that hard work doesn't ever produce profits. When the economy takes a down turn like this the unemployed are the opposite of lazy, they hold everyone else up.

The idea is, employees shouldn't come and go. There should be a low turnover rate if people were doing things to contribute to society that they love. They should be invested in where they work. Capitalism created the come and go culture. Real small businesses just want to stay afloat and pay their bills and their employees bills and expenses and every penny more goes back into the business and that local community. There is a myth of small business profit. That you can have what the banks have. That you can jump class.

It's when you ignore things like safety regulations, required insurance, fees, that you make profits, from not paying things you owe. Or from keeping your employees at below living wages. People who do things by the book who aren't millionaires already pay out the ass in taxes and fees. And no they don't make much profit. I'm talking less than 50 employees that aren't publicly traded. I'd even say there are a lot of businesses with fewer than 20. Look around your town, they are dropping like flies. But they are the places with things we need as a society a lot of the time. I've seen more secondhand stores popping up which is encouraging.

All those min wage stock clerks working at the big boxes like Target, Walmart, Kohls, etc. etc. etc. don't have money to go out to eat or get their hair done or a massage. They need to eat and it's on a tight budget. It is exactly a businesses responsibility to the community to provide living wage jobs. Often small businesses, real ones, aren't paying below a living wage, it's the big boxes churning out drone employees and burning out their energy and frustration level on minimum wage jobs that have little meaning. 

We should have more locally produced items to save on shipping for environmental and cost minimizing reasons. Protecting labor rights and working conditions is part of keeping things local. We don't want to have to dial our factories back to the 1900s to compete in the global economy. We are the wealthiest nation in history. We should have amazingly productive and safe modern factories that pay a living wage. The model of the future as opposed to racing backwards in time.