It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.

These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread.

Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.


 
Workers Have to Work Saturday To Make Up Pay Lost During Bush's "Jobs" Speech

In one particularly telling moment of Bush's push for his plan for tax give-aways to the leisure class, workers at a factory in Nebraska are being told that they'll have to come in to work an extra day to make up for the delays caused by Bush's presence. If they don't, they're being told that they'll have to lose a day's pay.

This is just the latest example of how Bush leaves economic chaos in his wake wherever he goes. Economic losses resulting from his various appearances pushing tax cuts range from the tens of thousands to the millions of dollars.

Of course, it's not the factory's owners who will be taking the financial hit. It's the floor workers who are being asked to work the weekend as a result of Bush's visit. This aptly reflects the unfair focus of Bush's special tax giveaways, which will not help the workers, but are designed to provide a big bonus to people like the factory owners: corporations and the nation's one percent most wealthy citizens.

While the workers are forced to take extra time away from their families, and Bush makes his public relations appearance, a group of concerned citizens who are worried about the failures of Bush's economic policies is being selectively excluded from the event. Nebraska's Fair Taxes for All Coalition is being told by the factory owners to stay out of sight.

Apparently George W. Bush's photo opportunity requires a quick cover-up of the real struggles of Nebraska's workers, who are wondering whether Bush will ever get around to helping anyone who doesn't have enough money to own a yacht or eat foie gras for lunch.

We're waiting.


Posted by J. Clifford Cook at 5:27 PM. # (permalink)  




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