July 18, 2012: Post 554 (2012 Day 200)

July 18, 2012

Daily Comment

For starters (pun intended), coffee made in the new machine is excellent -noticeably better than the last batch I made in the Braun before it went belly-up.

Next up: 

The challenge of cooperative endeavors in an individualistic society.

Just kidding. You know: "Show me that map of the Middle East again?" (I hope you got that punch-line reference).

That's the kind of mood I'm in. I'm cool at home, again, and I have great coffee. And no inspiration for today's commentary at this point.

*********

OK, I'm back. 

As much as I've fed off the corporate teat (while remaining just uncooperative, unambitious and non-conforming enough to satisfy my internal hippie) most of my working career, I am now solidly, determinedly, and even functionally anti-corporate.

I think the Supreme Court's 'Citizens United' ruling will be marked as the tipping point in the decline of the USA, and if the USA can reverse the decline, one of the marker's will be its reversal.

I have an old friend who disagrees with me on this, who thinks that there is nothing inherently wrong with corporations, and thinks they are benign. At the core, he may be right. There is nothing inherently wrong with corporations. Not until corporations start acting as if they are human, and better than human, with superior status. 

Then you have, in miniature and figuratively, the whole Terminator scenario.

Giving corporations human rights, when they have no human qualities or limitations, and exist only to exploit the profit potential of human industry, seems the opposite of what is good for humanity, and I'm very much in favor of humanity.  Mitt Romney could cure cancer and the common cold, give his entire fortune to Food Banks and Ronald McDonald House, have a rock'n'roll hit with a hot video, solve the Palestinian-Israeli crisis, but his remark, "Corporations are people" would still disqualify him for ever getting my vote.

Corporations exist only to make money for their shareholder-owner(s), and if they don't, they have to cease operations. Notice I didn't say 'die' because corporations, never having lived, can't die. In mythology, the vampire, an undead being who must parasitically suck the blood of humans for existence, is the closest fictional being to a corporation.

What good do corporations do? Damned if I know. I guess they afford protection to their shareholders from personal liability, but if that's a good thing, I'm sure it is not a good thing all the time. Of course, they also provide gainful employment for a huge majority of working people (as opposed to business owners or managers), but I think that they undervalue their employees, and therefore it is an exploitative relationship.

Now that corporations are getting treated as legal persons, they (or their representative) can govern the rest of us. That's not good. We're supposed to be somewhat self-governing (of the people, by the people, for the people...), able to participate in our government to enable actions for the common good. 

There's no incentive for corporations to do anything for the common good, only for the benefit of increasing profit.

Hmmm. Now I'm bummed. Maybe I was better off without inspiration today.

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Food and Diet Section

Today's Weight:        203.2 lbs 
Yesterday's Weight:    203.0 lbs  
Day Net Loss/Gain:     + 0.2 lbs

Year 2012 daily weight from December 31, 2011.

Diet Comment:

That's more or less the same weight over the last 3 days.

Food Log

Breakfast
Chia gel.

Snack
A cocoa-kale protein shake (almond milk, whey protein (48g protein), kale, cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon, stevia-inulin blend).

Lunch

At Ling-Ling Chinese Buffet:

From the griddle: Chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, bean sprouts, onions and peppers; with kimchi,and tomato and cucumber salad with a hard-boiled egg.

Dinner

 At La Dolce Vita:

Spinach salad, with bacon, blue cheese and sun-dried tomatoes.

Broiled bacon-wrapped scallops with avocado butter and sauteed spinach with garlic and goat cheese.

Snack
Roast turkey and guacamole.

Liquid Intake

    Coffee:    30 oz,   Water: 92+ oz

Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!