There are more of us than there are of them.

Posted on April 15, 2013 by The Old Wolf

With regards to the horrific tragedy in Boston today, Patton Oswalt said:

Boston. Fucking horrible.

I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, “Well, I’ve had it with humanity.”

But I was wrong. I don’t know what’s going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths.

But here’s what I DO know. If it’s one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. (Thanks FAKE Gallery founder and owner Paul Kozlowski for pointing this out to me). This is a giant planet and we’re lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they’re pointed towards darkness.

But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We’d have eaten ourselves alive long ago.

So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, “The good outnumber you, and we always will.”

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families and loved ones. So many lives will never be the same as the result of senseless madness; thank you, Mr. Oswalt, for uplifting and affirming words in this moment of terrible sadness.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

This is not a world that works for everyone.

Posted on April 4, 2013 by The Old Wolf

According to an article by by David Cay Johnston posted at Taxanalysts.com, the average adjusted gross income for 90% of American wage earners grew only $59.00 from 1966 to 2011, while the top 1% of the top 1% saw income growth equaling $18.4 million dollars. Put that in a graph, and it looks like this:

Screw whole bunches of that.

From the article:

“In 2011 entry into the top 10 percent, where all the gains took place, required an adjusted gross income of at least $110,651. The top 1 percent started at $366,623.

The top 1 percent enjoyed 81 percent of all the increased income since 2009. Just over half of the gains went to the top one-tenth of 1 percent, and 39 percent of the gains went to the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent.

Ponder that last fact for a moment — the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent, those making at least $7.97 million in 2011, enjoyed 39 percent of all the income gains in America. In a nation of 158.4 million households, just 15,837 of them received 39 cents out of every dollar of increased income.

That extreme concentration, however, is far from the most jaw-dropping figure that can be distilled from the new Saez-Piketty analysis. That requires a long-term comparison of those at or near the top with the bottom 90 percent.

In 2011 the average AGI of the vast majority fell to $30,437 per taxpayer, its lowest level since 1966 when measured in 2011 dollars. The vast majority averaged a mere $59 more in 2011 than in 1966. For the top 10 percent, by the same measures, average income rose by $116,071 to $254,864, an increase of 84 percent over 1966.

Plot those numbers on a chart, with one inch for $59, and the top 10 percent’s line would extend more than 163 feet.

Now compare the vast majority’s $59 with the top 1 percent, and that line extends for 884 feet. The top 1 percent of the top 1 percent, whose 2011 average income of $23.7 million was $18.4 million more per taxpayer than in 1966, would require a line nearly five miles long.”

These numbers show without equivocation that the rich truly are getting richer at mind-boggling speed, while the rest of us are getting poorer by the year. It almost makes me want to support forced redistribution of wealth, but even these disgusting statistics can’t quite get me there. But somehow the playing field needs to be leveled, because inequalities of this nature in the land of the free and the home of the brave will not long endure without some sort of massive social upheaval down the road.

I’m not an economist, so I don’t have the answers. I can only hope that there are people out there who still believe in a world that works for everyone, with no one left out, and who have the skills and insight to make a difference. For all of us.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Conspiracy Theory Poll

Posted on April 3, 2013 by The Old Wolf

Interesting data here.

Conspiracy Theory Poll Results

(Reblogged from Public Policy Polling)

On our national poll this week we took the opportunity to poll 20 widespread and/or infamous conspiracy theories. Many of these theories are well known to the public, others perhaps to just the darker corners of the internet. Here’s what we found:

– 37% of voters believe global warming is a hoax, 51% do not. Republicans say global warming is a hoax by a 58-25 margin, Democrats disagree 11-77, and Independents are more split at 41-51. 61% of Romney voters believe global warming is a hoax

– 6% of voters believe Osama bin Laden is still alive

– 21% of voters say a UFO crashed in Roswell, NM in 1947 and the US government covered it up. More Romney voters (27%) than Obama voters (16%) believe in a UFO coverup

– 28% of voters believe secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian world government, or New World Order. A plurality of Romney voters (38%) believe in the New World Order compared to 35% who don’t

– 28% of voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks. 36% of Romney voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, 41% do not

– 20% of voters believe there is a link between childhood vaccines and autism, 51% do not

– 7% of voters think the moon landing was faked

– 13% of voters think Barack Obama is the anti-Christ, including 22% of Romney voters

– Voters are split 44%-45% on whether Bush intentionally misled about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 72% of Democrats think Bush lied about WMDs, Independents agree 48-45, just 13% of Republicans think so

– 29% of voters believe aliens exist

– 14% of voters say the CIA was instrumental in creating the crack cocaine epidemic in America’s inner cities in the 1980’s

– 9% of voters think the government adds fluoride to our water supply for sinister reasons (not just dental health)

– 4% of voters say they believe “lizard people” control our societies by gaining political power

– 51% of voters say a larger conspiracy was at work in the JFK assassination, just 25% say Oswald acted alone

– 14% of voters believe in Bigfoot

– 15% of voters say the government or the media adds mind-controlling technology to TV broadcast signals (the so-called Tinfoil Hat crowd)

– 5% believe exhaust seen in the sky behind airplanes is actually chemicals sprayed by the government for sinister reasons (also called chemtrails)

– 15% of voters think the medical industry and the pharmaceutical industry “invent” new diseases to make money

– Just 5% of voters believe that Paul McCartney actually died in 1966

– 11% of voters believe the US government allowed 9/11 to happen, 78% do not agree

Full results here

In my experience, once a “fact” has taken hold in the public’s mind, either from a Mr. Popiel infomercial, or a Dr. Oz special, or a spam email trumpeting “Seen on Oprah!”, it will essentially live forever.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Bring your “A” Game

Posted on March 18, 2013 by The Old Wolf

We all make jokes about heartless landlords foreclosing on widows and orphans… you can probably see the same image I do in your mind’s eye, even without help.

But for the love of Mogg’s holy grandmother, who would victimize the Girl Scouts?

Recent news articles show a distressing trend in our society to prey on the easiest and weakest victims. Last Saturday, a Utah man (with an accomplice driving his getway car) robbed a girl scout troop of their cash; in Oregon, some bottom-feeder placed a hoax order for 500 cases of cookies with another troop^[1]; in Seattle this month, vandals trashed a garage full of Girl Scout cookies; and in South Carolina, a man was charged with taking 450 boxes of cookies from a warehouse.

All these people may think they’re smart and clever; they may be desperate for drugs; they may be irritated by some imagined social agenda; who knows? It doesn’t matter – they are douchebags, wastes of human cytoplasm, lower than the scum I would scrape off the soles of my shoes. And the universe will pay them back, because wickedness never was happiness. In their hearts, they are already miserable.

The point here is not to focus on the negative in society, because that will always be with us. The point is, it’s time for people of good will in the world to step up their game. I heartily support the affirmation of Sarah Miller, director of communication for Girls Scouts of Oregon and Washington, when she said, “For every one person that has bad intentions, there are hundreds more with good intentions and good hearts that are here to help you.” There are more of us than there are of them, but it’s time to do more. Evil is rising, and we need to move out of our comfort zones to make a difference on a daily basis, and not just when the news reports a need. Edmund Burke (or someone else)^[2] once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” And it’s true. Evil will flourish if unopposed, and scurries for dark corners when people of good will confront it.

This in no way implies that people are not already reaching out and doing good at every possible opportunity; many are^[3]. A great place to read about good things happening in the world is The Good News Network; certainly a more uplifting option than the mainstream news outlets which are only interested in one thing – generating advertising revenue, which they do by pushing visual impact, drama, and blood-pressure-raising sound bytes rather than solid content. As I mentioned elsewhere, one of my favorite film quotes ever is when Secretary Rittenhouse tells Jenny Lerner in “Deep Impact,” “Look, I know you’re just a reporter… but you used to be a person, right?”

Let’s all step up our game. Let’s bring our first-string efforts to making this world a better place, a place that works for 100% of humanity. Let’s all do something every day to lift, strengthen, heal, and brighten. Only if we do this can we stem the rising tide of darkness and ignorance.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

[EDIT: As of 3/19/2013, one suspect in the cash robbery has been arrested and the other identified. Updates as they happen.]

[EDIT: On 3/21/2013, the prime suspect turned himself in.]

[EDIT: On 3/23/2103, City Hall offered the girls another chance to sell cookies; community members have donated enough to make up for their lost cash as well.]

[1] Good Samaritans in Oregon have stepped up to help these girls – last Saturday they sold about half of their excess inventory, and will probably sell the rest next week.

[2] That’s an unusual attribution, but there’s a significant controversy about who said it first. A masterful summary of the quote and its history is found at The Quote Investigator.

[3] For example.

Conspiracy Theory Poll Results

First:

Second:

Third: