Symbolic Interaction & Inequality Revisited ( Walls,Walls,Walls)

The Octogenarians

The acquisition of 700 acres of beachfront property in the northern Kiluea region of Hawaii’s Kuai has produced a firestorm of protest against Mark Zuckerberg the multibillionaire whe heads Facebook.Zuckerberg is one of the “good guys” who wants to do good things for people and the world.It is his aesthetic predilection coupled with a need for privacy that caused him to acquire the property and to build a wall.It would seem that the land ” belongs”to a broad family of native Hawaiians as a sort of spiritual heritage.Zuckerberg’s legal folks tracked down and purchased property rights from all they could locate with some evidence of proprietorship.It did not help the OPTICS involved.(I hate that word but it works better for the subject than appearances!)that some received a paltry sum of $500 for their property rights.What are spiritual rights? (shades of native American burial grounds vs drilling opportunity,Amazonian Indian hunting grounds…

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Why climate change “mustn’t be”

The Octogenarians

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From:
Date: January 20, 2017 12:14:01 PM PST
To: “cysid32”
Cc: “cheswett”
Subject:Why climate change “mustn’t be “

Claude,for your Octogenarians,Chet,Jane

This is a story so obvious that everybody knows it yet no one sees it, or is allowed to see it much like the “Emperor’s New Clothes”kept him naked before his kingdom.FACT:FULLY ONE THIRD of the world’s wealth=a third of everything owned by everybody-is contained in the totality of carbon fuels,oil(mostly),coal,natural gas and all of the infrastructure necessary to mine,drill,transport refine and process, ship,pipeline,sell, distribute store,remove cleanse and protect the environment from the consequences of fossil fuel.First of course,is the trillions invested in the land and water beneath and within which large amounts of fuels spread across every continent and many of the oceans.So valuable are these holdings that they have been a major factor int the great and small wars…

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The Quality of Mercy. (One More Time)

The Octogenarians

President Obama’s pardon of convicted traitor Chelsea Manning,is explained as a commuting of a partially served sentence rather than a cancellation of a penal penalty.By so doing he has reassured some and outraged many.His message seemed to be a nod to the abused LBGTE community and an indicator that certain crimes don’t need punishment for the length of time that a splenic fury can persist.As 20 million Americans face loss of health coverage,and millions more,are about to be charged for full services after being operated on.The amelioration provided by Medicare Is now being readied for destruction by a GOP that scored a big hit.Now Hear This folks.The thousands of dollars of hospital bills presently eliminated by Medicare will be billed to you and you can and will be susceptible to collection by hospitals and physicians.Hold on to both your hats and your houses if you can!

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Punching Down An Aspect Of “The New Abnormal”

The Octogenarians

On the weekend of Martin Luther King day,John Lewis expressed openly his disbelief in the validity of the Trump victory.Trump’s disbelief in the Russian hacking,Trump’s advocacy of Putin and Wikileaks,Trumps condemnation of NATO,Trump’s attacks on the intelligence community etc.lend increasing concern and credibility to the possibility that he is blackmailable by Putin and his cyber spies.Much as we would not want to believe in this degree of U.S. vulnerability it all makes a horrid kind of sense.Trumps behavior in trying to encapsulate himself by distancing from the establishment press figuratively and literally ,continuing to use his old twitter account to punch down at the likes of John Lewis and to presage foreign policy decisions rather than to use POTUS accounts is ominous.The use of Trump Towers and Trump International Hotel as well as Florida sites,indicates a serious lack of veneration for the office and it’s symbols.Obama may have displayed too…

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Countdown

The Octogenarians

On reading a throwaway segment of the LA times I found that many people have been overtaken by a form of psychic paralysis in anticipation of the Trump inauguration.I was not alone.The advice given was to realize the transience of the process and to concentrate on accomplishing things bit by bit, planning ahead for a diffferent day but resuming the necessary functioning 0f a day to day existence.The percussive aspect of the piano was available to me but the fiddle demanded  inner peace.This blog required something to respond to.I found it in my resumption of my retirement review of material from The Great Courses.The technology has altered but my old equipment groans and shudders but works.A review of economics produced the familiar lack of economic motivation beyond survival until the 13th-16th centuries.With this time period and the permissibility of the accumulation of wealth came mercantilism and the importance of gold…

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