The Stock Market Has Officially Entered Crazytown Territory

At this point the stock market doesn't bear any resemblance to what is going on in the overall economy whatsoever.

What really gets me is that people act like this is something new. These fuckers been fucking you since they invented imaginary money.

Read more: The Stock Market Has Officially Entered Crazytown Territory

Duck Dynasty: I REALLY need to pick my friends and relatives better

I shared a story from a local television station about the Duck Dynasty Debacle the day after it happened. And this is what followed: 

Dumbass Relative: I READ THE BIBLE AN IT SAYS ,GOD CREATED ADAM AN EVE, AN NOT ADAM AN STEVE. THE DEVIL IS GOTTEN PRAYERS OUT OF SCHOOLS NOW THEY WANT US CHRISTIANS TO ACCEPT HOMOSEXUALS AS EQUALS. I PRAY THAT THEY CLEAN THIER LIVES UP AN GET SAVED AN KNOW GOD LOVES THEM AN NOT THIER LIFE STYLE. LIFE STYLE CAN AN WILL TAKE YOU TO HELL

Oh, I KNOW you didn't just come spray ignorant graffiti all over MY wall! So, here comes the obligatory rant:

Me: I read the Bible, too. And JESUS said: Matthew 7 Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? ...

But homosexuality aside, in my humble opinion, Duck Dynasty has got to be one of the most BRAIN DEAD and silly programs I have ever watched and can't for the life of me understand why anyone watches it in the first place. But, hey, each to his own... just like homosexuality, we all must answer for our actions, be they fruitful or fruitless... or just plain fruit cake.

The Bible also says: "Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." To me, this says to set the example, not point the finger, for judgement is for God and God alone. And we could quote scripture all day long for we both have our opinions which one scripture or another would support AND refute. My only point in sharing this story is that this VERY WEALTHY ... person ... who is a shining example to millions of people, for whatever reason which escapes me, has been censured for "throwing the first stone" and being intolerant of people who he should actually be demonstrating compassion for. He set a bad example to his ... er, followers? The Devil didn't get prayer out of school, either. That was The Constitution. Schools are state institutions supported by tax dollars paid by people of all faiths. Imagine yourself in a predominantly Muslim country having your children in THEIR schools being forced to practice their religious observations. (And, just for the record, they pray to the same God Abraham prayed to.) Public schools are for everyone. If you are offended by your child not being taught to practice Christianity you might should consider sending them to a private school... or Sunday School.

And Phil Robertson suggesting that being an ignorant redneck is somehow cool is what offends me. I applaud A&E for making a stand. The "redneck" philosophy of "kill em all and let God sort em out" is, well, it's a bad example and it's about time that a network that calls itself Arts and Entertainment, yet promotes ignorant bigotry, take a stand on the moral high ground. Jesus wants EVERYONE to come to him, even with all their sins... just like the woman at the well. And intolerant people who call themselves Christian are the one's who need forgiveness, in my opinion. But it is NOT MY PLACE to judge THEM (you), either. However, I think if I pray for you that Jesus will listen.

And if you think that ANYONE is not your equal, you have missed the whole point of why Jesus Christ came to us and are as the Pharisees he condemned. Perhaps you should go read the Bible again, the whole thing, and work on that "beam in thine own eye".

For fucks sake!

How Your Local News Is Made. (Very Disconcerting Video)

Your local news people are just actors reading scripts. Other than a few local stories, the news fed to us mostly comes from the same place, press releases, and stock stories from the AP wire. Very little of what you see is original. It is all cookie cutter and then spooned to you in your local flavor.

All these clips are from the Conan O'Brian show.
http://www.youtube.com/user/teamcoco?...

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Duck Dynasty Is Fake! and there's a sucker born every minute!

Yuppies!

Phil and his ignorant family from Duck Dynasty get destroyed and exposed for the fakes they are. How gullible are you people to fall for this shit?

"These guys get rich making phallic devices for men to blow on!"

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WATCH on Live: Alan Grayson SILENCED After Comparing Republicans To Dog ...

Damn, the truth hurts so good! And the fascists are so concerned with Phil Robertson's First Amendment Right to Free Speech! I guess the argument could be made by comparison- Duck Quacker: Gay = bestiality > House Republicans = Cockroaches. However, one of these statements is true and the other is not. Gay's do NOT equal bestiality.

Take it from here, Representative Grayson!

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Police unlawful harassment and racial profiling 9/27/13 Philly,Pa

The reason the masses distrust and loathe "law enforcement" is no great mystery. Those with badges and guns truly believe that they are above the law and that no one else has any rights at all!

Brutal Police Action Takes Taksim Square By Force

by Steven Argue

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has announced an end to tolerance and took Taksim Square by brute police force. Police force included a barrage of rubber bullets, water cannons, and tear gas. Rubber bullets are at times lethal ammunition. Seventy-three lawyers were also rounded-up as part of the crack-down on dissent as well.

Up until now, Erdogan's idea of tolerance has been brutal police repression that has left at least four people dead, seriously injured many others, rounded up people and jailed them for basic free speech including journalists and people who sent announcements on Twitter, included joint attacks of supporters of the ruling AKP (Erdogan's party) with the police attacking protesters, and included the documented torture of 1,000 of the prisoners rounded up since the people began this uprising against Erdogan's brutal and repressive regime.

Protests have held the square for about two weeks, but protesters have fought off police attacks in the past.

In his chilling announcement before the police attack on Taksim Square, Erdogan proclaimed:

"To those who ... are at Taksim and elsewhere taking part in the demonstrations with sincere feelings: I call on you to leave those places and to end these incidents and I send you my love. But for those who want to continue with the incidents I say: 'It's over.' As of now we have no tolerance for them. Not only will we end the actions, we will be at the necks of the provocateurs and terrorists and no one will get away with it."

Of course the true criminal is Erdogan, and the real question will be if he gets away with it.

Down with Erdogan's brutal Capitalist / Islamic Regime!

For the Building of a Revolutionary Proletarian Party to Split the Military, Smash the Capitalist State, And Carry Out a Socialist Proletarian Revolution!

-Steven Argue of the Revolutionary Tendency

The following article I wrote explains much of what has been going on. (the general strike was two days and is over for now, but the rest is current):

Turkey: Workers Begin General Strike as Protests and Government Repression Continue

by Steven Argue

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/06/05/18737997.php

Video of 73 lawyers being rounded-up by Erdigon's police today as part of his announced crackdown on dissent:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=463386340420049

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Syria: 15 Year-old Boy Executed by U.S. Backed "Rebels" for Blasphemy

by Steven Argue

According to Aljazeera, Mohammad Kattaa was a young vendor selling coffee in the Shaar neighborhood of the northern city of Aleppo. A customer was trying to get free coffee, to which the boy is said to have responded, "Even if Muhammad comes down, I will not give it as debt." This was overheard by so-called "rebels" who, like many of the U.S. backed "rebels" in Syria today, don't speak the Syrian dialect of Arabic because they are foreign mercenaries recruited from elsewhere in the Middle East. These religious fanatics misunderstood what was said to be blasphemy against their religion, so they kidnapped Kataa, beat him, and then executed Kataa by shooting him. His mother and father were also tracked down, captured, and forced to watch the execution.



The area of this crime will likely be the next targeted for capture by the Syrian Arab Army after their stunning victories that have now taken Qusair. The battle to retake Aleppo is expected within the next couple days, perhaps hours. There are many things wrong with the Syrian government, but the U.S. backed rebels are far worse.



Among those supporting the "rebels" has been the United States, European Union, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. U.S. aid to them has officially been non-military, as if there is such a thing to a "rebel" army, but the U.S. is expected to decide on openly arming the Free Syria Army this week.



End U.S. Aid to Syrian "Rebels"! End U.S. Economic Sanctions Against Syria!



See my article:

U.S. Backed Genocide of Christians, Alawites, and other Minorities in Syria

by Steven Argue

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/30/18737666.php

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U.S. Backed Genocide of Christians, Alawites, and other Minorities in Syria

[Photo, Senator John McCain with Mohammad Nour, identified by two Shi'ite kidnapping victims as the chief spokesman and photographer for the Free Syria Army's Northern Storm brigade in the operation that that kidnapped them and 9 other civilian Shi'ite hostages a year ago. Attempts are still being made to release the 9 other Shi'ite hostages.]

U.S. Backed Genocide of Christians, Alawites, and other Minorities in Syria

By Steven Argue

From the beginnings of the U.S. backed Sunni uprising in Syria, a slogan chanted in the streets has been, “Alawites to the grave, Christians to Beirut.”  Alawites, like Christians, are a religious minority in Syria.  With the backing of western imperialist aid to the so-called “Free Syria Army” and its other Islamist allies, both directly and through weapons from U.S. client states in the region, promises of a genocidal counter-revolution are now a terrible reality in rebel controlled territory.

On Monday, May 27th the Fars News Agency reported the entire Christian population of al-Duvair village (outskirts of Homs) was slaughtered by the U.S. backed Free Syria Army.  According to the report, all were killed, men, women, and children.  This fits an ongoing pattern of genocide against Christians being carried out by the Islamists of the U.S. backed “Free Syria Army” and its Jabhat al-Nusra allies. 

Homs, under rebel control and under sharia (Islamic) law has had nearly its entire Christian population of 80,000 people forcibly expelled.  The same has been done to Christians who were living in the cities of al-Burj al-Qastal, Quasyr, as well as in some of the rural areas of Latakia and Idlib.  In government controlled Damascus, the rebels are using car bombs to deliberately kill and terrorize civilians in Christian and Alawite communities.  At least fourteen minority churches, mosques, shrines, and a synagogue have also been deliberately destroyed by the rebels.  Between 200,000 and 400,000 Christians have fled Syria since the start of the war.  In comparison to their numbers in the Syrian population, this is a disproportionate number that reflects the systematic genocide that is being carried out by the rebels.  In Turkey, Christians have also been driven out of the government run refugee camps by Jabhat al-Nusra rebels.

In addition, a video released by the rebels shows them cutting an unarmed Christian man's head off. His name was Andrei Arbashe, 38, a taxi driver who had recently married. After murdering him, his body was cut-up and he was fed to the dogs.

In Khalidiya, Christians and Alewites were rounded-up by rebels, put in a building, and then blown-up with dynamite.

For its part, the Syrian government’s shelling of neighborhoods is also a war crime. Part of the irony, however, is seeing western reporters on TV sitting in these neighborhoods and reporting the horror of being shelled, when at the same time, these same “news” outlets never covered the same story as the U.S. military carried out similar atrocities against neighborhoods in Iraq, or as the Israeli military carries out similar attacks against neighborhoods in Gaza.

One of the most outrageous massacres in the current civil war has been the rebel’s mass murder of 150 Alewite civilians in Aqrab.  The massacre took place after rebels held about 500 Alawite civilians hostage, including babies, without adequate food or water for nine days.  Truckloads of the prisoners were then released, but about 150 Alawite civilians were massacred by rebel forces.  As has been the case throughout this war with the corporate media, the New York Times published reports from the Free Syria Army blaming the Syrian government, without even investigating the matter.  Independent investigations have, however, revealed those reports to be blatant lies and that it is the rebels who were responsible for the massacre.

Open Promises GENOCIDE against Alawites by the U.S. Backed Free Syria Army

On May 19^th, 2013 Free Syria Army spokesman Colonel Abdel-Hamid Zakaria told Al-Arabiya television that if the Free Syria Army was defeated in Al-Qusayr, the entire communities of Alawite and Shiite minorities in Syria would be “wiped off the map”. He went on to say, “It’s going to be an open, sectarian, bloody war to the end.”  The Alawites and Shiites are religious minorities in Syria. They are hated by the U.S. backed Sunni religious extremists of the Free Syria Army (FSA) that have already carried out massacres of men, women, and children in Alawite communities.

In a major defeat for the Free Syria Army, Al-Qusayr was in fact taken the same day as Colonel Abdel-Hamid Zakaria's promise of genocide. The combined forces of the Syrian Army and Hezbollah took the town and took 2,700 FSA soldiers prisoner.

The United States government is already openly aiding the Free Syria Army, both through so-called non-military aid and through the weapons, ammunition, and troops being sent in by U.S. allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Israel. In addition, the United States and the European Union are rapidly moving legislation forward for sending direct military aid to the Free Syria Army.

U.S. backed rebels in Libya made similar promises of genocide before they took power. And they delivered on those promises. Only difference was their hate was directed at black Africans living in Libya. The U.S. and U.S. allies brought those rebels to power with air strikes, troops on the ground from Qatar, and direct military aid to the rebels.

Everything moved backwards under that imperialist imposed counter-revolution in Libya, yet imperialist oil companies are profiting from the war, including U.S. based Conoco Phillips, Italy's Eni SpA, and France's Total SA.

The U.S. directly participated in that war that helped put racist rebels in power that jailed Black Africans, murdered Black Africans, made hundreds of thousands of Black Africans refugees as they fled the country in fear for their lives, and now routinely uses torture and murder against opponents of the new regime. Yet it is a government more friendly to imperialist oil interests. This is the reason Obama lies to us saying the new regime in Libya is "democratic".

Likewise, the lie of the sectarian and chauvinistic "Free Syria Army" being democratic is also being propagated both by the western imperialist press and by many fake socialist groups. Today, a hell on Earth is emerging in Syria in areas controlled by the FSA and their Islamist allies. This is similar to the suffering created by the U.S. - Saudi Arabian and Pakistani backed mujahideen and Taliban in Afghanistan. What took place in Afghanistan truly was a counter-revolution, eliminating the pro-woman gains of Afghanistan’s PDPA revolution. So close are the connections, the Free Syria Army even has an “Osama bin Laden Brigade”.

Everywhere the FSA and its allies have taken power they are setting up Islamic governments with shariah Law. Nowhere are they setting-up secular governments. And similar to the mujhideen and Taliban, the Sunni religious extremists of the FSA and their allies are carrying out atrocities against religious and ethnic minorities. This includes direct attacks by the FSA on liberated Kurdish territory controlled by the YPG. In stark contrast to the FSA’s governance, the YPG has set-up democratic and secular government, thrown off the yoke of Assad’s oppression of the Kurdish language, and taken steps on behalf of women’s liberation. The forces of the FSA have, however, carried out direct military attacks on this revolutionary process. In fact, besides attacks on the real revolution that is taking place in Kurdish territory, the FSA and their allies are even a step backward from the semi-secular governance of Assad’s capitalist regime. All of these things together, including the FSA’s attacks on liberated Kurdish territory, make the FSA and its other Islamist allies a decidedly counter-revolutionary force.

Meanwhile, many fake socialist groups are supporting the imperialist intervention in Syria by supporting the Free Syria Army. In contrast, legitimate Trotskyists and other anti-imperialists demand: US, EU, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel Out of Syria!

For the Defense of Kurdish Liberated Territory!

Under the rule of President Assad the Kurdish language as well as much of the Kurdish culture was illegal. Kurdish political organizations were also banned and 20% of Syrian Kurds had their citizenship rights completely stripped from them.

Today the Kurdish region of Syria has been liberated by troops of the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) that have fought both the U.S. backed religious extremists of the Free Syria Army (FSA) as well as Assad’s military. A secular and democratically elected government has been established with a volunteer police force, women’s centers have been established to advance women’s rights by educating women about their rights and self defense, schools are now teaching in Kurdish (but facing a crisis of qualified teachers), and Kurdish cultural centers have been established. These are all significant gains for a long oppressed people.

In YPG controlled territory, the dominant political party is the communist influenced Democratic Union Party (PYD) which is the Syrian wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PKK has long been fighting against the oppression of Kurdish people by the U.S. backed Turkish government. U.S. weapons have been used to carry out warfare against the Kurdish population and a U.S. operation captured PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan who now sits in a Turkish prison.

In Syrian Kurdistan, Vice chairwoman of the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD), Asya Muhammed Abdullah points out, "For 30 years we Syrian Kurds have been fighting for our rights, that's why so many of our friends have been arrested and tortured to death by the regime."

Yet Kurds have also been the victims of the U.S. and Turkish backed Free Syria Army. Instead of pretending the FSA's imperialist backed counter-revolutionary forces represent a "revolution", as fake Trotskyist outfits like the International Socialist Organization (ISO) do, legitimate Trotskyists call for the military defense of the Kurdish and Assad governments from U.S. imperialism. Unlike the ISO, Lenin was very clear on the right of nations to self-determination.

In addition to the national liberation achieved by the PYD, sweeping socialist revolution is also needed. Sixty percent of the oil wells of Syria are currently in the hands of the Kurds. The other 40% is controlled by the Islamists of Jabhat al-Nusra and the Free Syria Army. Economically, Syria’s Kurdish region depends on electricity produced in Arab regions. In terms of practical economic considerations, the revolution liberating Syrian Kurdistan cannot be limited to Kurdistan because neither the Turkish backed Islamists nor the Assad regime are friendly to Kurdish national self-determination. Within these contexts, the PYD’s program is far too modest to address essential revolutionary tasks, including long-term national liberation. The needed program is one for the overthrow of capitalism as well as for the overthrow of all of the capitalist regimes in the region including those of Assad, the FSA, and Jabhat al-Nusra. Victories for national liberation must be deepened to include the overthrow of capitalism and extended beyond Kurdish territory with the advocacy of socialist revolutions that can establish a united federation of socialist republics of the Middle East which would include Kurdish, Arab, Turkish, and Hebrew speaking republics.

Despite the deficiencies of the PYD’s program, their achievements have brought real gains for the Kurdish people. Yet, those gains will remain precarious without a sweeping socialist revolution.

For Socialist Revolution in Syria

The Ba’athist Assad dynasty’s oppression and opposition to the national rights of Kurds is in direct contradiction to the program of Lenin and Trotsky who, upon taking power in the October 1917 Russian Revolution, ended discrimination and oppression of national minorities.  Language rights of traditionally oppressed nationalities were encouraged rather than outlawed.  For instance, the Kurdish minority of the young Soviet Union under Lenin and Trotsky’s leadership created a Kurdish Republic where children learned the Kurdish language in school.  After Stalin’s conservative wing of the bureaucracy crushed those who agreed with Lenin and Trotsky’s ideas, some of the original gains of the Russian Revolution were lost.  For instance, Stalin crushed the Red Kurdistani Republic of the USSR.  Yet, not even Stalin could destroy all of the gains of the Russian Revolution, and most of the language rights and republics that were created under the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky remained.  In fact, the socialist planned economy was used to create preferential investment in the historically less advanced republics, helping raise-up the economies of those republics with the rest of the USSR. 

In addition to helping liberate oppressed nationalities, the USSR’s planned socialist economy was used to turn one of the poorest countries in the world into an industrial powerhouse, capable of defeating two major imperialist invasions (including smashing Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich) and then rebuilding to provide everyone with a guaranteed job, health care, and education.    

In contrast to a socialist economy, while parts of the Syrian economy were nationalized under the Ba’athist Revolution in the 1960’s in Syria, much of Syria’s economy is owned by capitalists.  This is in part due to the pro-capitalist reforms carried out since the Assad dynasty took power in 1970, overturning a number of gains first made when the Ba’athists took power in 1963.  For instance, there are several privately owned banks.  In contrast, in a socialist society there would be a fully state run banking system that, instead of making private profit, reinvests in the economy where needed to meet human needs.  This is a critical ingredient to building a socialist planned economy.  That ingredient is missing under Bashir al-Assad’s capitalist regime.

While many claim that Syria has a socialist economy, not enough of the economy is planned to sufficiently meet human needs as is possible with a planned socialist economy.  For instance, Syria has had both a public and a private sector that builds housing.  In a truly socialist economy, proper investment by the state in building housing would better meet needs for housing while providing jobs.  The continuation of a capitalist sector in the Syrian economy, on the other hand, produces a corrupting wealthy capitalist class that prefers little to no investment in the state run economy.  These kinds of problems under Syria’s mixed economy are reasons why Syria hasn’t adequately dealt with housing problems or meeting other human needs.  This is also why Syria hasn’t eliminated unemployment, unlike what was done with a number of socialist economies after fully overthrowing the capitalist system. 

Of course, the massive refugee crisis produced by the genocide carried out by the Free Syria Army is creating a far worse housing crisis today.  Likewise, the imperialist economic sanctions against Syria in support of the Free Syria Army have also hurt the civilian population greatly.

Similar to housing, Syria’s state run health care system has been on the decline.  While Syria’s population increased by 18% between 1995 and 2001, the number of hospital beds in state run hospitals declined.  Meanwhile, there was a big increase during that same period of capitalist healthcare provided to those who can afford it.  While life expectancy increased dramatically after the Ba’athist revolution, the growth of capitalist health care, decline in public investment in socialized health care, and the return of a two tier system of health care, one for the wealthy and another for the rest, represents a capitalist attack by the Assad regime on the people’s health care no different than what has occurred under the neo-liberal policies of any pro-imperialist capitalist government in the world.  Life expectancy for Syrians in 2006 was only 72 years, far better than many countries that are completely under the thumb of U.S. imperialism, but far worse than what has been achieved under Cuba’s socialist health care system.

Also unlike the deformed workers states, Syria under the Ba’athists has not brought the gains to education found in “communist” deformed workers states in terms of women’s liberation and literacy either.  For instance, Cuba and China have provided their entire populations with good universal education which has brought literacy rates for the entire population, including women, to nearly 100%.  In contrast, under the Assad dynasty, big improvements have been made in education, but illiteracy has remained a problem.  Women’s literacy in Syria in 2004 was 78%.  While far worse than the deformed workers states, this does reflect a 200% increase in female literacy since 1970, and is far better than what has been produced by the U.S. imposed mjahideen, Taliban, and Karzai dictatorships of Afghanistan.  Those U.S. imposed governments have produced a female literacy rate of 12% in 2012 after destroying the pro-woman and pro-literacy PDPA government of the 1980’s.

Whatever may be said of the deficiencies of the Syrian Revolution, over and over again the U.S. imperialists have shown their counter-revolutions to be far worse than what they overthrow.  The genocidal and U.S. funded counter-revolutions in Libya and Afghanistan are prime examples.  Both the Assad government and the Kurdish democratic government should be defended from imperialist attack and sectarian Islamic counter-revolution, while at the same time giving no political support to Assad’s capitalist dictatorship.      

Leadership must be built to overthrow Assad's capitalist government in a proletarian revolution, not in an imperialist sponsored capitalist counter-revolution led by chauvinistic religious extremists. What is occurring in YPG controlled territory is far different than what is being done by imperialist backed Islamists of the FSA who have attacked Kurdish territory. Revolutionary leadership in Syria must distance itself completely from the Free Syria Army which has carried out many atrocities against civilian Kurds, Christians, and Alawites and has promised genocide against Alawite and Shiite communities. They have also set-up sharia (Islamic) law everywhere the FSA has taken power. Unfortunately, the fighters of the “Trotskyist” Leon Sedov Brigade of the Free Syria Army are giving their lives to bring these Islamists to power. This reflects a tendency among those types of fake Trotskyists to support any uprising in an opportunistic manner, no matter its program, to avoid the hard work of fighting for an authentic revolutionary socialist program and party.

Forward on the Revolutionary Socialist Path Laid Down By Lenin and Trotsky!

US, EU, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel Out of Syria!  End the Imperialist Sanctions!

Down With the Anti-Kurd, Anti-Alawite, Anti-Christian, Anti-Woman, Anti-Secular, Sectarian Religious Fanatics of the Free Syria Army!

For the Defense of Kurdish Liberated Territory!

For A United Kurdistan as Part of a Federation of Socialist Republics of the Middle East!

For the Overthrow of U.S. Imperialism through Socialist Revolution in the United States!

*****

Steven Argue is a member of the Revolutionary Tendency.

Join the conversations of the Revolutionary Tendency (no longer part of the Socialist Party) on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/RevolutionaryTendency/

This is an article of Liberation News, subscribe free

(not associated with the paper by the same name of the Stalinist PSL who stole our name)

https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news

Check out these other articles from Liberation News:

Afghanistan: Misogynistic Hell Hole Made in the U.S.A.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/07/16/18717635.php

For Women’s Liberation through Socialist Revolution!

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/03/08/18733326.php

End U.S. Imperialist Attacks on Liberated Syrian Kurdistan!

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/03/03/18733059.php

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DO NOT CALL VA CRISIS LINE!!!!!

If you are a Vet in crisis and in need of help do NOT call the VA Crisis Line! Turn to a friend, family member, fellow vet, or look deep inside yourself. Because if you call the VA they will enter your "confidential" conversation into your records with arm chair diagnoses and use it for punitive purposes to the extent that they may deny health care that you really need. They will also use it to deny your rights under the constitution by labeling you and taking your rights to make decisions for yourself.

Just don't do it. It is better - and more noble - to die than to ask your government for the help that they owe us.

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The Verdict is in: The Veteran's Administration is NOT your friend

I have been trying - more like begging - for the Veteran's Administration to address a very real physical problem for several months, a problem for which I actually had documented evidence to support. I had a CT scan from a local hospital which clearly indicated gall stones almost an inch in diameter. The very reason that I went to the Emergency Room in the first place is because I had been sick and vomiting for weeks. The VA Primary Care provider that I went to referred me to a surgeon almost 250 miles away indicating that he suspect that the gall bladder was indeed causing me pain, nausea and discomfort.

The VA Surgeon in St. Louis, Jane Tenquist, decided upon reading all of the scurrilous and slanderous claims repeated over and over in my St. Louis VA records which indicate that in their professional opinion I am a danger to myself and that I have "major recurring depressive disorder" and "personality disorder" - among many other insulting invectives, that there was nothing wrong with me and that she felt I would be better served to have the VA stick a camera up my ass. EVEN AFTER VIEWING THE CT SCAN SHOWING THE GALL STONES!

I really have trouble understanding the VA compulsion to stick stuff up your ass! That seems to be their treatment de jure for anything that they don't want to face head on. But I digress....
I was so sick that I HAD to find SOMEONE - ANYONE - who might treat me for the problem. Which I did. This (non-VA affiliated) surgeon recognized immediately the seriousness of the matter and set up surgery for as soon as he could get me in. When he got inside of me and saw just how serious the matter had become he made the decision to document the procedure with photographs. The nurse told me that my gall bladder was "nasty" and that one of the largest stones had begun to traverse into the common bile duct. If you are uninformed on this complication, this can and likely will be life threatening!

When I returned from hospital I sent in a request for my VA medical records for the past six months. Those pages, when simple lab reports are removed, numbered somewhere around 30 and were riddled with fallacious statements made by "social workers" alleged conversations with me in person and via the telephone which painted me as a crazy person. And in those pages my alleged psychiatric condition is discussed more than anything else! Along with the allegations cited above they claim that I am a chronic substance abuser... without a shred of evidence to support those claims other than their word.

The simple fact of the matter is that, once again, the St'. Louis VA did all in their power to deny me much needed health care and treatment. I say "once again" because from '05 to '06 I complained of feeling as if "an elephant is setting on my chest". I had to ask help from US Congresswoman JoAnn Emerson's office to get them to recognize the fact that I needed emergency heart surgery.

Please stay tuned as I fully plan to post my medical records and pictures of this most recent surgery here. You don't have to believe me, you can decide for yourself.

But if you are a Veteran, heed this warning: The Veteran's Administration is the LAST place you need to go for help of any kind.

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I have been posting less here. My health is failing. If you wish to keep track of what little I am able to post and inform, please check out People Basically Suck!

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Hunger Strike is over and canned Spam is better than the comments here

Yeah, I quit on the hunger strike after day six. Nobody gave a fuck. Especially the Veteran's Administration at whom it was aimed. I've sicked my State Representative on them. For all the propaganda that is pumped out about how much this suck ass country wants to honor and care for its Vets one could use it to build a causeway from Miami to Cuba complete with Circle K stops... and a few titty bars!

But the thing that I find most annoying is the spam comments that these posts have generated. This blog was linked to by CNN for over a week at one time. I had regular readers. I had thoughtful comments. I met wonderful people. Now, all I get is spam. I kind of like canned spam once in a while. But the crap that appears here (awaiting moderation as I have that option turned on) are nothing short of insulting.

Capitalism is sooooo wonderful. I'm posting shit about my health deteriorating and the VA doing nothing when it is contractually their obligation and all anyone wants to say in their comments is "come to my website and buy my shit". So, capitalism is doing exactly what it is created to do: benefit from the suffering of others.

I'm a heartbeat away from turning comments off completely. I tire of seeing that crap. If you don't have anything to say about what I am writing - good, bad, or indifferent - then simply move along. I don't care if you like me or agree with anything I say. And I don't care if you say so! But if you provide a link to some "buy my shit" bullshit in a comment IT WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED!

So, read or don't read. Comment if you like so long as your comment has anything at all to do with the post. If I keep getting spam I'll just turn the shit off... you blood sucking capitalist pigs.

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