Dinesh D’Souza: Capitalism and the Theft of the Left

Stealing America by Dinesh D'Souza

Stealing America by Dinesh D’Souza

I stole a book today. It wasn’t Abbie Hoffman’s Steal this Book. No, I didn’t take it out of the store, but I read it without paying for it, sitting in a comfortable chair at my local B&N for several hours. They worked; I “ate.” That makes me a thieving liberal, much like the progressives described in the book Stealing America: What My Experience with Criminal Gangs Taught Me about Obama, Hillary, and the Democratic Party by Dinesh D’Souza.

I confused this D’Souza with another one, Sean D’Souza of the PsychoTactics website. . I’ve read a number of that D’Souza’s articles, and contemplated taking some of his classes, so I thought it would be interesting to get his perspective…but it was a completely different, much older man who wrote the book, one who lives in the US, not New Zealand, the one with no sense of humor, and no cartoons.

Until I got home, I wasn’t sure they  were two different men from India with the same last name (How likely is that given the population of India?), I thought perhaps I had misread the marketing guru’s messages. Silly me. Yes, I’m white, and all brown people look alike. Mea Culpa. My bad. No whitesplaining here…just a bit of transparency…(don’t go there with the colorblind comment).

Dinesh D'Souza

Dinesh D’Souza

Dinesh D’Souza, producer of the Hillary’s America documentary,  made a strong argument that the Democratic party has been steadily and conspiratorially driving the theft of the wealth of America by the left progressives lead primarily by Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton. He compared them to the convicts with whom he spent eight months in a detention center afer being convicted of breaking campaign donation laws. He wrote little about Republicans, except to say that they had not done enough to stand up for the values of capitalism.

He had some interesting thoughts: “Capitalism works by putting the energies of the capitalist entirely at the service of the actual and potential customers. In order to serve customers, the capitalist must always be thinking about them: their wants, their needs, how to make their lives better” (p. 133)

He continues on the idea of capitalism: “Capitalism makes us better people by limiting the scope of our vices.” (p. 135)

I am still processing what I read, but the main message was progressives are creating the end of America, based on envy. He says we never operate from the motives we espouse, but nearly always from envy, the desire to take what someone else has…lik e Iago.

Hillary's America

Hillary’s America: the Movie

I tend to believe that D’Souza  was targeted because he speaks out against the Obama administration at length, at least if his version of the trial was accurate, if written in somewhat emotionally loaded language. He admitted to breaking the law, a stupid mistake made to help a friend but done in the wrong way, and punished very harshly compared to others who made the same mistake.

His descriptions of the stories of men in the detention center were fascinating, and he exercised his journalistic skills during his nightly incarceration there to build his argument. I found their stories much more interesting than his comparisons to the Democrats. Understand, I don’t think any politician hung the moon, not even Saint Bernie.

I tell my students that it is easier to deconstruct an argument written by someone with whom one disagrees. I have been a Democrat all my life, and I am now currently involved in the “Ponzi Scheme” D’Souza calls Social Security (I’m semi-retired at 65) . Since I was unable to find full-time work after losing my job last year, retiring seemed like the thing to do, even at only 90% of the benefits I would have received had I been able to hold out for March of 2017. It’s not like I haven’t worked at least part time since 1968. So I found D’Souza’s claims difficult to read. He did not have a lot to say about Trump, except for the approval of hitting back, of standing up to say what many people think.

Have I been duped all my life? Am I truly a bleeding-heart, crunchy-granola, pinko progressive liberal thief? I mean, I do wear Birkenstocks (42r), no makeup, and stretchy waist pants (3X). I’m also a college instructor…yep, looks like I fit the profile.

I bewail the idea my students have of going to college to get a piece of paper that to them is just a license to work, much like a driver’s license…or more like a pilot’s license. In truth, however, that’s why I went to college, to get a teaching license, my ticket into the middle class and to avoid the secretarial pool. My other option would have been health care, and I dislike working with body fluids as much as with spreadsheets–not that spreadsheets were a thing in 1969.

I did not write back then, my true dream that was subsumed under “you can’t make a living as a writer,” or learn how to create wealth from writing, as I am working to learn now. I did buy into victimhood, (poor me, I’m a woman from the South), failed perfectionism, playing it safe (I didn’t realize how easy it was for a teacher to be fired) and trying to feel my way through life, rather than doing some critical thinking. Yep, guilty as charged.

I have always worked for the government, both in public and private schools who were heavily funded by tax money either through direct taxation or through Pell grants and student loans. Even for-profit colleges depend on student loans for a large portion of their income. I’m not a wealth creator. Not a job creator. I think of my teaching as community service, another government idea. A government sponsored leach.

What an interesting point of view. I can either align and agree with this point of view, or I can defend against it, but either way, I get stuck in the judgement of myself based on someone else’s view of the world. Conversely, I can allow that person to enjoy his point of view, and I can be aware of it, and even observe the verification or rebuttal to his arguments, without buying and selling it to myself.

I can also be aware of my own assumptions, my own unexamined points of view, which this book has rattled quite a bit. I can lose my judgement of myself for buying the opposite points of view, seeing big business as the evil empire, rather than big government. I can be more aware, and I can allow myself to know and perceive the contradictions and spin that each person, but especially political campaigners put on their messages.

Red States vs. Blue States

Red States vs. Blue States 2000-2012

Who will I vote for? It remains to be seen, and in South Carolina, the chances are slim that my vote will even make a blip in the red sea. Despite the large percentage of black voters in SC, the state went heavily Republican in the last two elections. I’ll vote, but I would be very surprised, like the Brits who voted for Brexit, if it made a difference.

At this point, it is more important to me to  examine my own assumptions, be more aware of what I have bought and sold myself on both sides of any issue and to operate from consciousness.  Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. I can work on being aware instead of being right…in any sense of the word.

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Bellarosa by Katharina Gerlach

Bellarosa by Katharina Gerlach

Bellarosa by Katharina Gerlach

Katharina Gerlach’s Bellarosa

“Once upon a time in a world where magic and technology collide with unexpected consequences…”

The sixth book in the series Treasures Untold, Katharina Gerlach’s Bellarosa is a new take on Sleeping Beauty from the point of view of the princess. The heroine takes an active role in her awakening, much different from the usual passive princess tale. The reader gets a new look at what has occurred while she was sleeping and a different point of view from the uninvited fairy. While all the necessary pieces of the story are present, they are only the backdrop for the revelations Gerlach provides.

Bellarosa finds that she can sometimes communicate with people in her dreams, but not under her control. Only a very few, like the young boy being bullied by his older brothers can hear her and answer back. She helps him to escape them, giving him clues he will need later. They build a life-long friendship as she slumbers through the years. He becomes more than a princeling, a strong fighter and a good man. This leads him to have to make a difficult choice.

It’s well worth the read especially for some inverted fairy tale tropes and characters. For one, there’s a robot, and for another, the youngest child becomes the heir, not the eldest, creating a perfect storm for sibling rivalry. Behind the scenes there is the game of politics that exist between any two kingdoms, especially those intended for union by marriage, one that the spell has affected.

The ending has a bit of a twist which makes the story that much more enjoyable. If you like fairy tales, I recommend this one as a quick and relaxing read.

Transparency Notice: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

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Writer’s Hedge

Hedgehog

Hedgehog

The following is a flash fiction story based on a prompt at a writers group meeting Saturday a week ago. The prompts were randomly generated around the table, each of us adding a word and then passing it along to the next writer. My list contained bra, airplane, hedgehog, author book signing, garbage disposal, Scotland.  I liked the idea of a hedge to The Question.

I have polished it a good bit, but it was very much fun to write a whole short story in 20 minutes from scratch. I’ll try this again some time. I wonder if it makes a difference to be in the presence of other writers?

Writer’s Hedge

Maxine adjusted her bra strap again. It cut into her sore shoulder, keeping her from relaxing into a nap on the airplane. Only a short trip from Dublin to Glasgow, but she needed to rest before the author book signing. Her hand was already sore from the Dublin signing, thank goodness for all her fans. That she could manage with a bit of tiger balm and an aspirin, but she’d wrenched her shoulder stuffing the remains of the hedgehog down the garbage disposal.

How the nasty animal had gotten into her hotel room, she had no idea, but it had frightened her so much that she smacked it with a frying pan, leaving a bloody mess on the tile floor. She couldn’t leave that for the cleaning crew, so she chopped it up as well as she could with the limited cutlery available and used the broom to push it down the sink.

Such a smell! She thought she would never get the blood off the floor. Thank goodness it wasn’t on the carpet. She could still hear the grinding noise…it was a wonder no one had come to check on her then. She’d plunged the broomstick at the sink over and over, and the grinding would endarken her nights for weeks. She grimaced to think of the sweet old lady persona she would present to her fans in Scotland.

She rolled her shoulder again, wincing in pain, and disturbing the woman next to her, trying to read. The woman gave her a cold glance, then stared back at her book.

Maxine wondered if human parts would fit down the disposal. No, it would take too long for her perpetrator to chop them up.  A bigger disposal might work, maybe one from some industrial kitchen, or slaughter house. She’d have to research it.

She rubbed her hand, working out the soreness, and it began to seep a bit of blood. She must have scratched herself in the confusion.  The motor of the plane grew louder, reminding her of the grinding, grinding, grinding. She’d use that in her next novel, wherever it took place. She wiped the blood with her thumb.

“You’re bleeding,” said the woman next to her. She handed over a napkin.

“It’s just a scratch,” Maxine said. “Thank you. That was very kind.”

The woman looked her over, clearly too interrupted to go back to reading. “So what do you do? First trip to Glasgow?”

“Yes, I’m going to a book signing. I’m an author.” Maxine said, pressing the napkin tight to her hand. “I write thrillers.”

“How interesting.” The woman’s face broadened into the smile as she asked The Question. “Where do you get your ideas?”

“Mostly while I’m in the kitchen.”


I’d love to know what you think. Share a comment below.

 

 

 

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Rape Culture

 screw it rape culture

f*ck it – an IT problem?

Penises don’t rape people. People rape people.

Rape is about the physical violation of a person, power over the person. It’s about dominance, punishment,  and humiliation. It’s a very personal one-on-one kind of terrorism, not always but mostly perpetrated (and penetrated) by men. Just like mass murderers and terrorists.

This is not bashing men. It’s bashing the culture with the  concept of rape as integral as marbling is to a rib eye.

The most colorful expression of rape I ever heard came from a man complaining about a waitress: “I’d like to jerk off in her ear.” It was not about sex. It was not about “getting some action.”

He expressed his frustration as a desire to rape her–at least her ear–a punishment for not meeting his expectations. She didn’t fill up his drink or bring the meal fast enough.

rape culture a fucking book

Read a f*cking book – erotica?

 Rape Culture Embedded in Language

This past weekend I finally saw how much rape is part of Western Culture,  using the word F*CK. Some people are working steadily to make the F-bomb just another word with no shock value. People who don’t use such language will still say “screw it.”

If we don’t like something, we want to physically violate it. Our very language uses f*ck  to vent our emotions–women as well as men. How far is that  from that to actually raping or killing someone? People who are peaceful, like me for example, are willing to imagine the violence, even if we mean it metaphorically. What about people with less impulse control?

I don’t want to f*ck (eeeewwww) or violate or kill Donald Trump, no matter how much I dislike him. Yet the thought crosses my mind that someone should “take him out with extreme prejudice.” That thought puts me in the same category as any terrorist or mass-murderer, at least according to the Good Shepherd.

Do we really have to say WTF?

Do we really?

Rape culture objectifies victims

Add this to the misogyny of the use of language (compare “sissy” to “buddy” as names for siblings) , and you have a language that is white cis-male dominated. The people who complain about “political correctness” are the ones who don’t want to show common courtesy or respect to non-white, non-male people. Some of them do not see non-white-males as people at all. Every rape victim is suspect, even after the conviction of  the perpetrator/penetrator of three felonies.  Rape culture portrays men as unable to resist women, and therefore, it is the woman’s problem. Even in school dress codes, girls get sent home so as not to “distract” boys.

So it is with f*ck. I am not shocked by the word. I have used it often in my life. The idea of rape that the word reinforces even in my mind offends me, whether in full Anglo-Saxon or euphemism. Until we can erase the idea of physical or mental violation of a person or idea that we don’t like, we will continue to have rapes and mass murders.

Can we change the rape culture embedded in our use of language? It will take more than “f*ck it” to change our minds.

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Roller coaster Year

turtle climbing out of the pond scum off the roller coaster

climbing out of the pond scum off the roller coaster

I’ve got the front row seat on my life’s roller coaster.

Losing my job last year was like riding a roller coaster, even though some of it was more like hiding under pond scum. Now I’m ready to bask in my life. This has been a most interesting year…as in the Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” My life is pretty good, all things considered, though.

A year ago yesterday, I lost my full-time job, rather unexpectedly, going from $70k in 2014, to $48k in 2015 to about $28k this year. Of course this took away my health insurance, and any chance of paying for insurance even with ACA. I’ve done without before, and that eliminated my doctor’s visits and medications, which I don’t seem to need anyway.

I went back to teaching fourth grade grammar to college freshmen face-to-face, so that I am still “falling back on” the degree I earned in English 40 years ago. I made a little less teaching than I did on unemployment, but then it was only 10 hours a week. Thank goodness for U of Phoenix, where I have taught online for some 13 years.

Two weeks ago, I spent six minutes in a bankruptcy hearing, so that my plans to pay off my credit cards (but not student loans) came to fruition, although not in the way I envisioned. I’d planned to work 2-3 more years at my top earnings, getting a better deal on Social Security, and actually paying off the credit. Still, it’s working out. No credit. No hassle.

I am retired…at least, I’m getting Social Security…and still working part time. The chronic health issues with my legs seem to be clearing up, another year long battle. Like Janis, I’m  “just like a turtle, hiding underneath my horny shell.”

With all this “free” time, I thought I would be writing a lot, but that’s not the case, as my WIP is languishing in revision as I rethink where I want it to go. I’ve taken up painting again, just for fun, but mostly I’m watching a lot of Netflix, to the point where Netflix added a new category to my feed: Bingeworthy. Watching a series front to back in the space of a couple of weeks certainly gives one an understanding not only of episode arc, but character arc, season arc, and series arc. I’d like to think that  I’m researching story, but what I have been doing is hiding.

Now it’s time to climb up out of the pond scum, get off the roller coaster, and decide where I’m going to put my creative energies. If I can claim that I have just been tired, I think nap time is over (not that I won’t take a nap now and then) . It’s time to get a new perspective and to let the scum dry and flake off my life.  The pond is always there, but I don’t have to get back on the roller coaster.

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Lessons from Offline

offline - blank computer screen

No Internet! Offline! YIKES!

Offline. I didn’t realize how much of my life I live online, as much as I joke about logging into Reality once a day or so, until yesterday when (horror of horrors!!!)  my internet went down…not my router, but ATT’s connection to the internet.

I could not check into my online class. I ended up going to the local Barnes & Nobel (funny how their ATT wifi was working). but even then I could not grade papers.

I could not watch Netflix. I could not play CandyCrush, even on my phone. YIKES.

I could not figure out what to do. I was lost in my own house.

Finally,  I did some cooking, worked on some crafts, made an audio file and edited another one. All very productive stuff. Even ran the dishwasher. Tried to do some writing, but there was no internet for backup.

I really need to get a life offline. I’ll be at ConCarolinas next weekend, June 3-5, so I will be more or less in real time then. See you in NC.

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Return to DiLunna by Deborah Cidboy

TASKET: Return to DiLunna by Deborah Cidboy

TASKET: Return to DiLunna

Deborah Cidboy’s sequel to Tasket: The Passage, teenager Denny and his cross-universe friends have been summoned to DiLunna, a planet in danger of destruction. An evil sorcerer was recently released from a milliennium-old curse. They meet with the Queen and her healers, a group of very large spiders. This world features fairies, trolls and dwarfish miners with a unique form of reproduction.

The story starts a bit slowly with Denny and his magical friends escaping Henrietta, who has been hired to babysit Denny. While riding the rainbow Denny is injured, causing him amnesia. Once on DiLunna, the magical  spiders heal him, and he meets the queen, her entourage, and a baby fairy.   Tamara, a shapeshifter girl, is his path to trouble. The characters from the previous book are revealed along and along, so that this book does stand alone.

One thing I particularly liked about this book is that the “three man band” features teens who are not loyal friends. They are  forced to work together despite  their lack of trust. Building trust allows them to discover the cause of the collapse of the world and who is behind it. This is handled very nicely, without anyone withholding information that is known, only that what one person thinks he or she knows may not be the truth.

Tasket: The Passage by Deborah Cidboy

Tasket: The Passage

Deborah Cidboy tells the story from shifting points of view, making it very textured. Once the world is established, the pace picks up and the meanings of the various legends and traditions begin to make sense. A number of characters are not what they appear to be.  The teens must  facing an ancient evil to restore power from to  queen.

This book should appeal to middle grade and junior high readers, as well as adults. The plot is layered, the relationships platonic, and the setting complex. I received an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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