The Anti-Corporate Ideas Newsletter, Issue 4

THE A.C.I. NEWSLETTER

We are not for lies.
We are not for a continuation of blind consumption.
We are not for a continuation of the spread of corporate involvement in our government, our schools, our media, or our lives.
We are not for the billions of dollars spent here or there.
We are not for the mergers, the sell-outs. The pepsi-pushers, the McSingers, the money whores.

We are for the local businesses and atmosphere, the local coffee shop, the local general store.
We are for culture, music, writing, and ideas.
We are for individualism.
We are for a healthy planet.
We are for a healthy lives.
We are for knowing, not hoping that our grandchildren will not wish to curse us for what changes we made in our short stay on Earth.

We are not the few, we are the many. Everyone's pondered the nuclear waste, global warming, and sweatshops.
We are here to break the machine that tries to keep those concerns as passing thoughts.


We are trying to make this world a better place to live in today, tomorrow, and forever.

(The above is a work in progress, send in your ideas)


Misinformation
By: Halldóra Mogensen

The figures,
the facts,
our information cataract
serves naught
but to distract
the uneasy mind.
People represented
by a circumvention of truth,
on a need to know basis,
it’s shoved in our faces
all twisted and out of sync,
until we’re thinking the way
they want us to think,
until we’re sinking
in their cesspool
of misguided information,
until we’ve become the followers
of a fool’s nation,
where the rich become richer
and the poor stay poor,
and the afore mentioned facts
reveal what’s in store
when the powers that be
will push prosperity
as a free commodity
when the only ones who prosper
are the ones who foster their greed
and feed
on the seed
of ignorance planted,
then misinformation
is the only salvation
the ignorant are granted.

pz.

Halldóra Mogensen.

by Richard pitfield

Lateral Thinking
By John Henry

Corporations come in many guises. I hope as you read my ramblings each week, you will become accustomed to employing what I refer to as, Lateral Thinking. What is Lateral Thinking? I think it is best summed up as a process of moving through Life in such a fashion that events are not viewed in a forward and backward manner, but rather, around. It is the ability for one to be able to step to the side, and observe from many angles, to observe things from a lateral position. I will also challenge you to read between the lines. The obvious is not always stated.

Collateral Damage is defined as inadvertent casualties or damage inflicted on the civilian population as the result of a military action or operation. Think about how this term applies to the following story. It is a term often murmured behind closed boardroom doors. I also hope you understand it can and does happen all over America.

Last Wednesday’s final edition of The Austin America-Statesman had the headline:

Man who died in custody had multiple Taser injuries.

As I began to read the article, I realized I had been holding my breath. It has been hotter than Hades the last few days, and Stan Knee’s Valliant Defenders and Protectors had taken the life of yet another civilian.

Friendly Fire, Collateral Damage.

Since 1998, Austin has seen fourteen deaths of private individuals while, being subdued, or in the custody of, the afore mentioned civil force.

I question the validity of that demographic. I think it is a little on the lean side actually, but it is the only one available for us to use. That gives us an average of two persons per year. I don’t think that includes the members of their own rank and file who were run-over or shot by their own comrades.
I seem to remember, while I was in Government Service, I was required to requalify my skills with my weapons twice a year, is there some parallel here? Or do the officers just feel the need to break out every few months or so and bust some heads?

It gets more interesting.

Of these fourteen souls, all but one was a member of an ethnic minority. Median Age: late teens to mid thirties. Primary Ethnic Group: Black. Geographic Location: The lesser affluent part of town. They weren’t picky though. They killed women, Hispanics, mentally challenged, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, oh yeah; I almost forgot; and a Caucasian-in-a-pear-tree. You name it; they can kill it. No bias there. If you were holding the winning ticket; you joined the rest.
I want you, the reader, to understand I am absolutely not laying the groundwork for another Ethnic Cleansing, Racial Prejudice Diatribe. Not in the least. APD diligently adheres to Minority Hiring Guidelines. The Local Chapter makes sure of that.

Ah! Is that a light coming on above your head Grasshopper?

Local Chapter. Scary, Mysterious Entities, Unions. There is a time when they are, without a doubt, an absolute necessity. There is a time when they are not. Power + Corruption = Benevolent Societies. Nobody messes around with a Policemen’s Union. Would you? Heck, they can even let one of their peers get snot-slinging, knee-walking, tree-hugging, drunk, hop on his motorcycle (Wife on back), and ride off into the sunset in search of a good location to become roadkill.

Well, McDuff, at least they didn’t take anyone else out. Holidays sure are rough, aren’t they?

Not one of the participants in these incidents has been certified for prosecution by a Grand Jury. They have powerful representation from their Local. They are reassigned, put on paid administrative leave, or fly a desk for awhile, lay low, and wait until it blows over. Amazing isn’t it? Okay, I am starting to rant. I just realized the show COPS is on the telly. Thought it was supposed to be CSI. I’ve been getting Subliminals From The Darkside. Must…. Find…. Scotch. Wash…. Down…. Valium. Watch some SciFi. Find My Center.

I’m feeling better already!

Now where was I? Oh Yes! The Unions. The scary, scary, Unions.
We are blessed with a Police Oversight Committee here in our fair city. When it was established a few years back, I saw a ray of hope. It saddened me that the ray was really from a five-cell Maglight with weak batteries. It saddened me and made me shiver.
Why should we need an oversight committee? Are these guys really that bad? Why I am afraid to even suspect that? Why is the traffic ‘chopper based with them? Why does it have a larger price tag on the upgrades than the sticker price? Why are there cameras co-existing with the light posts and towers of our city like the remora and shark? These are all questions I began to ask myself.
I sincerely wish I could write my suspicions off as paranoid delusions, but the docs keep certifying me sane.

So that brings us back to the topic at hand.

Unions and Oversight Committees should be working hand in hand, and as long as the Committee does what Frontman Police Chief, Stan Knee encourages them to do, the hand in hand thing works. You see, Chief Stan has his own committee. Wonder who they are?
The Committee should be assessable to the public, but I am not sure who is on the committee or how to contact them. I would love to hear their philosophy on the subject sometime, but when and where do they meet? I don’t know. I do know that he made a public statement of censure about the chairperson of the committee in response to recommendations made over one of the incidents, and he demanded he be given voice in how the committee conducted its business. This is a man, a public servant who is commissioned to Protect and Defend the huddled masses. He is in a supervisory position, in a right-to-work-state, [For those of you not familiar with the term, it means No Unions.] Yet he has some kind of relationship with a union? Katie, bar the door!

So Reader, we now have a little groundwork, and background that will enable us to explore the events of last Monday.

In short, A crippled and on crutches, Thirty year-old Michael Clark, A black man with a three year-old son, succumbed from unknown causes while being confronted by nine officers who were attempting to bring him into custody. He was dosed with pepper spray, and eventually two of the officers introduced him to 50,000 volts of Edison Medicine. From their humane use of the Taser, Michael received two “quick” jolts from wire guided darts that can punch through two inches of clothing. Fifty- Thousand x Two. Couldn’t that possibly be a total of one-hundred thousand if administered properly? At present, there is some controversy as to the number of burns on his body resultant to the penetration of the two darts and I have some questions about the S O P as to lethal force and shoot to wound.
Michael was no angel, in fact, he was a convicted felon. None of these people were total innocents, but that doesn’t mean they deserved to die.
By the same token, I am not attacking Chief Stan, The Department, and Peace officers in general. I have known many fine men and women over the years, who have sacrificed much for their profession. They are good people. I salute them, I just have questions.
I have also heard officers whine about pay, benefits, and daily trips into Harm’s Way. To them I say,” Wake up and smell the coffee, McDuff!” It was their choice to be so employed, as it was mine at one time for far less money.
So now we will hear news of yet another misconduct investigation that the Oversight Committee will become involved in. It is a good thing that they will have the support and guidance of Chief Stan. I wonder who supports and guides him?

There is your corporation.

Collateral Damage

29 and 30, September, 2005



by Y'all 'r stupid

Interesting websites:

Tired of the corporate coffee? Try delocator.net to find the closest locally owned coffee shop!

AreYouGeneric.org, A great anti-corporate group that has a wide array of resources and up to date news.

PublicCampaign.org is a "non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to sweeping reform that aims to dramatically reduce the role of big special interest money in American politics." (from their website) A very interesting group focused on what democracy should be.

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Letters to the Editor:

My only solution is to produce an American made movement to gain personal self-reliance. If we, as Americans, strived to produce our own food, shelter, and clothing, and stop relying on Walmart, we would all be less reliant. It requires change.

Cory Michael

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To be fair, I am not entirely opposed to corporations in general. Some of them provide beneficial services to the consumers and to society as a whole (for example, certain cell phone companies provide great coverage and reliable technology, not only helping consumers, but aiding communication all across the US).

My one true concern is the profit motive, particularly when exercised by near-monopoly businesses. Some companies would rather lay off workers than allow their profit margins to fall below a certain point, even if they are still fully functional at that profit level. Yes, large corporations do have a loyalty to their stockholders, but I believe they have a much larger duty to the public and to the people that run their departments and manufacture their products. Without them, they would have nothing to build upon for the sake of profit.

A true capitalist would see to it that his workers are paid a reasonable wage (reasonable to both him and his employees), given all necessary benefits to assist them in times of need, and ensured that their jobs are just as important as the company's profits.

No one wants to have a company that bears any sort of resemblance to the scandalous behavior of Enron. Laying off workers for the sake of profit is one thing. Swindling your workers for their pensions to boost your stock is borderline diabolical.

My final thought on this matter is, if we are to have any form of stability in our economy, whether long-term or short-term, one of the first places to start is to get the workers and the business executives on the same side of pushing their company forward, not just for the good of the company or the stockholders, but for the public good as well.

-The Slam


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Sent in by I'm a Teen Wonder

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Notes:

We plan on having a section focusing on the ideas of people who you wouldn't normally think of as being activists. A church sermon one editor recently heard mentioned needless consumption and that priest is sending his thoughts in for the next issue. We also hope to hear from the cogs in the machine. They're not evil, they're normal people who care about the world but have been opressed and guided into a lifestyle that many of them don't want to lead. I want to hear from the bankers, the stock brokers, the ad models... These are the people that need to hear about the message so they can find resources to escape from their lifestyles!

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We're planning on having a rough PDF version out for the next issue. It will have more of a newsletter look to it so you can print it out and pass it to your friends and leave it at your local coffee shops (In this case we're actually promoting a visit to Starbucks!)

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