Living My Life

I ran Saturday with such fire in my belly!

And, I will do so again today.

I am listening to:  “Live Your Life” by T.I.

Are you with me?

Peace be to my Brothers and Sisters.

Brian Patrick Cork

InSanItY is not my Brother

Here is some perspective for your Saturday…

Consider this tirade by a pastor demanding that (Long-legged Mac Daddy) Barack Obama produce his Birth Certificate in the face of mounting state and federal lawsuits that the media appear reluctant to discuss.  

Youtube:  Produce the Dog Gone Birth Certificate!

Seems like this would be an easy and straightforward issue/ matter/ question to resolve.

Someone might find it of interest to note that the state of Hawaii holds that Birth Certificates are not public information.

Meanwhile… 

A Wal-Mart worker in Valley Stream Long Island was killed today when “out-of-control” shoppers, desperate for bargains, broke down the doors at a 5 a.m. sale.

Youtube:    Wal-Mart Worker Killed During Store Opening Stampede.

Classic quote:  “…opened it’s doors to a CRUSH of shoppers…”.

Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers shouted angrily, and kept shopping, when store officials said they were closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

Nassau police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the store doors at the mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the man, identified by police as Jdimytai Damour of Queens, to the ground as he opened the doors, leaving a metal portion of the frame crumpled like an accordion.  Apparently dozens of store employees trying to fight their way out to help Damour were also getting trampled by the crowd.

At least four other people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation for minor injuries, and the store finally did close for several hours before reopening.

Shoppers apparently stepped over the man on the ground and streamed into the store. When told to leave, they complained that they had been in line since Thursday morning.

Cork:  Fair is fair after all.  Given the litigious nature of this country, Wal-Mart will be lucky if it’s not sued in the event one of the stompers slipped in Mr. Damour’s blood and broke their fool neck.

More Cork:  Personally, I am trying to sort out how Laws of Natural Selection may best be applied here.

“This crowd was out of control,” said Nassau police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming. He described the scene as “utter chaos.”

Even more Cork:  However, in defense, and possibly at the core of such a materialistic frenzy, were red-neck, gleam-in-the-eye bargains that included: A Samsung 50-inch Plasma HDTV for $798; A Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28; A Samsung 10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69; and, DVDs of such epic hits as “The Incredible Hulk” for ONLY $9!

We can only imagine what the hapless Jdimyta must have been muttering (and, living the American dream) to himself as he approached that door to face the horde of coupon crazed morons.  And, what must have been his final thoughts as he was crushed under the heels of the ugliest of Americans?

Can you fathom the perplexity of people around the world – especially India – when they see the news reels on this one?

No word yet from Wal-Mart.

But, their earning are due soon. And, Wall-Street analysts are hoping for good news to bolster the DJIA.

All that makes sense (well… as much sense as) in light of this:

Youtube:  F*CK You Walmart!

…I want to make videos.

Peace be to my Brothers and Sisters.

Brian Patrick Cork

Consider Empire of Shame

Allow me to begin simply with: Happy Thanksgiving.

I am not thumping my chest (well… today).  This is just me trying to keep huge global events (that might include hunger and anarchy) in perspective on a day when many Alpharetta Moms are plotting how best to invade Wall-Mart for Christmas bargains.

Jean Ziegler is a senior professor of sociology at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne, Paris. He is one of the leading protagonists in the world for the anti-globalization movement and has taken a continued stand for human rights, the right to food and a decent livelihood for all people. In 2000, he was appointed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.

He kept this position until March 2008 in spite of much hard criticism from the neoliberal leaders of the U.S. and the UN for his categorical stand for equal rights for all people. His continued fight against poverty, hunger and chronic malnutrition in the world has been a constant embarrassment to the West. He is now the Swiss member of the UN Human Rights Council. His is one of the very few voices heard on the international scene speaking out loudly against the criminal financial system that has put the world in its present tailspin with hunger and lack of human rights, devastating a continually increasing mass of the world’s 6.6 billion population.

Unfortunately Ziegler is not very well known in the Anglophone world, where, for (obvious?) political reasons, his humanitarian message is hushed up.

He says in “Empire of Shame – A Conversation with Jean Ziegler”:

“One thing is certain: world agriculture, in the current state of productivity, could feed twice the number of today’s global population. So it is not a matter of fate: hunger is manmade.”

Then of course, there is always Fred on Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile…  Today, I am listening to “Handlebars” by Flobots.  It’s quite relevant.

Peace be to my Brothers and Sisters.

Brian Patrick Cork

Are you with me?

There I am just minding my own business being all self-indulgent (recklessly exuberant in my keen desire to enable others) and, I recalled this gem:

“If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?  And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?”

- Rabbi Hillel

Great…  Now I am relishing my Messiah Complex and totally hell bent (what?) on (single-handedly) saving the world. /1

By the way…  I was sharing with a very important person yesterday.  We somehow came to the conclusion that Santa Claus and Jesus Christ have much (not everything) in common.

Are you with me?

Peace be to my Brothers and Sisters.

Brian Patrick Cork

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1/ Good thing I am Racer X. 

Simple Truths: Example #11

In a moment of levity yesterday, my very good friend Stephen Wall, reminded me that there are (perhaps) two kinds of people:

“Weasels, and Weasel Slappers”. /1

Peace be to my Brothers and Sisters.

Brian Patrick Cork

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1/ Stephen does not lay claim to coining this phrase.  He does however, deliver it with panache. It should also be noted that, in my professional opinion, Stephen is arguably one of the finest, and best qualified, sales professionals that I know.