Tuesday, November 6, 2018

third ways - update 2018


text by cathy aragon

illustrations provided by penmarq studios





four years ago, i wrote this little piece about the final results of the 2012 presidential election.

here is an update, reflecting the results of the 2016 election, as reported by the federal election commission in december 2017:

*

Hillary Clinton (Democrat, Women's Equality, Working Families) 65,853,514 48.18%

Donald J. Trump (Republican, American Independent, Conservative) 62,984,828 46.09%


Gary Johnson (Libertarian, Independence, Independent) 4,489,341 3.28%

Jill Stein (Green, Mountain, Progressive, Independent) 1,457,218 1.07%

Evan McMullin (Better for America, Independence, Independent) 731,991 0.54%

Write-In (Miscellaneous) 698,990 0.51%

Darrell L. Castle (Constitution, Independent American, U.S. Taxpayers, Independent) 203,090 0.15%

Gloria Estela La Riva (Liberty Union, Peace and Freedom, Socialism and Liberation) 74,401 0.05%


Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente (American Delta, Reform, Independent) 33,136 0.02%

None of These Candidates (Nevada) 28,863 0.02%

Richard Duncan (Nonpartisan) 24,307 0.02%

Dan R. Vacek (Legal Marijuana Now) 13,537 0.01%

Alyson Kennedy (Socialist Workers, Independent) 12,467 0.01%

Mike Smith (Independent) 9,338 0.01%

Chris Keniston (Veterans) 7,211 0.01%


Michael A. Maturen (American Solidarity) 6,462 0.00%

Lynn S. Kahn (New Independent, Independent) 5,733 0.00%

James (Jim) Hedges (Prohibition, Independent) 5,617 0.00%

Tom Hoefling (America's Party, Life Family Constititution) 4,779 0.00%

Monica Moorehead (Workers World, Unaffiliated) 4,317 0.00%

Laurence Kotlikoff (It's Our Children) 3,581 0.00%


Peter Skewes (American) 3,250 0.00%

Rocky Giordani (Independent American) 2,752 0.00%

Emidio Soltysik (Natural Law, Socialist) 2,691 0.00%

Scott Copeland (Constitution) 2,356 0.00%

Kyle Kenley Kopitke (Independent American) 1,096 0.00%

Joseph Allen Maldonado (Independent People of Colorado) 962 0.00%

Ryan Alan Scott (Unaffiliated) 754 0.00%


Rod Silva (Nutrition) 751 0.00%

Princess Jacob (Loyal Trustworthy Compassion) 749 0.00%

Jerry White (Socialism Equality Anti-War) 475 0.00%

Bradford Lyttle (Nonviolent Resistance/Pacifist) 382 0.00%

Frank Atwood (Approval Voting) 337 0.00%

*

not a whole lot has changed. the prohibition party, which finished dead last in 2012 , made a dramatic improvement from 503 votes to 5,617! congratulations, prohibition party!


the reform party - ross perot’s old party - which finished next to last in 2012, does not appear on the list.

mr frank atwood, who finished last in 2016, was formerly a candidate of the libertarian party.

two candidates describing themselves as “anti-war” and “pacifist”, finished second and third from the bottom.

princess jacob, who finished fourth from the bottom, is already running in the 2020 election, and has a strong feminist, anti-racist, and anti-poverty message.

what has not changed is that as i wrote in 2014:

two parties which do not appear on the above list, probably because they did not field candidates and do not exist are:

a feminist or womens separatist party

and a world government party

i can’t find any signs of change on google. a world government party in the u k expired in 1998 with the death of its founder. there are groups advocating female separation but i do not see any putting up candidates for office anywhere.




Wednesday, January 11, 2017

white nationalism vs world government


by cathy aragon

illustrations by penmarq studios





recently i was online and the algorithms at yahoo or google decided to show me an ad for a book by a man named jared taylor, whom i had never heard of.

mister taylor is a white nationalist. apparently completely unapologetic. believes that black people are inferior, that the “white race” needs to wake up and defend itself, etc.

the ad linked me to amazon . as anyone familiar with amazon knows, the ads for any book will link you to other similar books that “might interest you”, which in turn link you to other books, videos, etc. there seems to be no subject so obscure, esoteric, or “niched” that amazon - not to mention google - can link to what seem infinite numbers of books, blogs, videos, etc on it.


so - no surprise to find that this unapologetic white nationalism is “out there”, generating enormous amounts of material for its niche audience.

this got me to thinking about another cause - the cause of world government. i.e. to spell it out, a single government - most likely the united nations but in any case a single government - which will rule the world , replacing all the separate governments - china, the united states, nauru, the republic of san marino, and the rest of them - which now exist.


as everyone knows, and has known for many years, world government is the goal of the “elites” who more or less rule the world now. notably the mainstream media, the majority of the scientists in the world (usually given as 97%) who are promoting the hoax of global warming, and the left wing academics who are brainwashing the world’s youth.

but in searching “world government” on google and amazon and on a site for available library books, i could only find a single book about the idea of world government - governing the world: the history of an idea, by mark mazower. professor mazower’s book, published in 2012, concludes with the sentence “the idea of governing the world is becoming yesterday’s dream”.


i also found a number of articles denouncing the idea of world government and/or warning against it.

but i could not find anything - anything at all - actually advocating world government.

why is this? is it because

a) the advocates of world government - who include, for starters, virtually all the journalists and all the scientists in the world - are so powerful, and so entrenched, that they are able to lull the world to sleep by keeping all references to their plans off the internet and other media, and that they are so confident of success that they do not feel the need to add new recruits to their cause

or

b) there is in fact, for better or worse, no movement for world government existing in the world today?



Saturday, November 7, 2015

test




important! complete each step before reading the instructions for the next one.


1 - write down, taking no more than 2 minutes to do so, the names of the 20 most famous people who have ever lived.

2 - how many females are in your list? give yourself one point for each one. this is the beginning of your score.

3 - in 2 minutes, increase the list to 40 names - 20 male and 20 female.

4 - give yourself a point for every non-white person on the list.

5 - in 2 minutes, increase the list to 60 persons - at least 30 female and 30 non-white.

6 - give yourself yourself a point for every gay or transgender person on the list.

7 -in 2 minutes, increase the list to 80 persons - at least 40 female and at least 40 non-white

8 - subtract one point for each movie star, popular entertainer or serial or spree killer on the list.

9 - in 2 minutes, increase the list to 100 persons - at least 50 female and 50 non-white.

10 - subtract one point for each living person on the list.

11 - subtract one point for each person from the english-speaking world.

12 - that is your final score.



Friday, October 17, 2014

snakebite 4000

by f. flynn




pearl, amanda wilson's long time secretary, was not surprised when amanda showed up at the office on the day before the election.

it had been agreed that the candidates would not campaign on election day, or on the final day before it.

and of course, the result was regarded as settled, with the vote count a formality.

amanda, who was already the richest person in the world, as well as most famous and powerful woman in the world, would be the first democratically elected president of the new world government.

pearl was proud of the fact that she had been able to manage almost all of the messages amanda received while she was campaigning for the world presidency.


of course, most of the messages were simply routed to the various companies amanda owned, to be handled by their ceo's or vice presidents or staffs.

calls of a personal nature - that is, from the tiny percentage that knew the codes and had gotten through the hundreds of filters to amanda's private office - pearl had mostly handled herself, forwarding no more than one or two a day to amanda.

there was one curious and cryptic message from the day before that the ever conscientious pearl had hesitated over. finally, figuring that amanda would probably show up the following day, she had actually written the message on a piece of paper and left it on amanda's desk.


it was the only thing on the desk and amanda noticed it immediately when she entered the office.

she picked it up and glanced at it. pearl thought she looked just a bit startled.

but amanda laughed. "what timing!" she said, more to herself than pearl.

"i hope you don't mind," pearl said. "i didn't know what to make of it, but he did manage to get through all the codes."

"no, it's cool," amanda assured pearl. she took her phone out and punched in a number - a very long number, so pearl assumed it was someone amanda was not in constant contact with.


but whoever was on the other line picked up immediately.

"mister martin? amanda wilson here. yes. yes, i am still very much interested." pause. "especially by your timing." another pause. "yes, i suppose that makes sense. i suppose you can come over to the office. yes, that would be good. there will be all sorts of security people." pause. "yes, i understand, but it might be best if you actually went through them - "

pearl was mystified by this turn in the conversation, but of course held her tongue. she had never been chatty, which of course was one reason amanda valued her.


"they will want a code phrase," amanda was saying to mister wilson. "use - use 'snakebite 4000'. i will have them instructed to let you through. all right, i will see you in about half an hour." she clicked the phone off.

"did you hear that?" amanda asked pearl. "maybe you could go downstairs and meet him. i'll call security and tell them to expect him."

"of course," pearl agreed. "should i lay anything on for him?"

"what? oh no, nothing special. he won't be staying long. you can give him some coffee and a croissant if he wants one."

"very good. what does he look like?"

"what does he look like? i haven't seen him for a while, but when i did, he looked like nothing much. like nothing at all."

*


pearl closed the door behind her. mister martin seated himself on a couch and tool a sip of the coffee pearl had brought him.

neither amanda nor mister martin wasted time in small talk.

"so," he began, "you are still interested in the proposition we previously discussed?"

"that is what i said."

mister martin was a demon, who served powers who were not bound by the rules of earthly science.


amanda had met him by chance during her meteoric rise in the world, and they had discussed the possibility that amanda could exchange bodies with a human male.

amanda had agreed to the exchange with any human male who was willing to make the exchange with her.

mister martin had not been able to find such a person, but now a candidate had been found, perhaps tempted by amanda's prospective new position, although that was neither here nor there.

the willing person was bill johnson, a fifty-three year old habitué of the bowery with three days to live.

it was settled. there was no paperwork, nothing to sign.

the exchange would take place in ten minutes, after mister martin left the office.

he put his coffee cup down with a slight grimace.

"that's really not very good."

"no," amanda agreed, "i never was a coffee person."

*


amanda walked down the bowery toward bleecker street in her new body.

there was a chill in the air, and a wind in amanda's face. (for she still thought of herself as amanda, not bill)

she was pumped, as she had never been before, not on the floor of the stock exchange, or in a board room, or on a tv talk show, or on the campaign trail.

she was free. free at last!

nobody noticed her. nobody at all.

she decided to test out her new identity. she was standing in front of an establishment labeled "bob's bowery bar."

a sign in the window said "be of good cheer."

amanda stopped and fished in bill's pockets. a dollar and seventy-three cents. what would that buy?


a nondescript man in a yankees jacket was approaching from the west side.

"hey, buddy," amanda approached him, "can you spare some change?" was that still a right thing to say?

"fuck you." the man walked right past her.

he had not even looked at her. not at her legs, not at her tits or ass, he hadn't looked at her at all!

how cool was that?

another, somewhat older man appeared. he wore an old fashioned cloth cap like you saw in old movies on tbs. amanda asked him for change in the same words.


"get a job, asshole." he went by even faster than the first man. again, without even looking at her.

amanda looked up and saw an old woman with a cane approaching. somehow she felt sure the old woman would give her a few cents at least.

the wind blew in her face. this was great!

how she wished she could live like this for more than a few days.

but everything had its price.

*


bill johnson sat at amanda's desk, in amanda's old body.

it was getting dark outside. you couldn't argue with the view of the skyline. very nice.

and he had plenty of time to enjoy it. how old was this bitch anyway, only about thirty-five? and in good health, according to the demon martin.

bill was hungry and thirsty, and a little - just a little, nervous.

but he figured he could fake his way through whatever came up. after all, who was going to suspect anything?

and he should at least get some good grub out of it, and some good booze.

he leaned back in the chair. without thinking much about it, he opened one of the desk drawers.

not much there. but his eye caught something.

a box of tampons.

tampons. tampons! what the fuck!

oh, man...

at that moment, he would have given anything to call the demon back and be back in his old body.

***



Monday, July 21, 2014

third ways

text by cathy aragon

illustrations provided by penmarq studios






here are the vote totals, per wikipedia, of the 2012 presidential election in the united states.

obama - 65,915,796

romney - 60,933.500

Gary Johnson (Libertarian) – 1,115,886

Jill Stein (Green) – 404,901

Virgil Goode (Constitution) – 114,143

Roseanne Barr (Peace & Freedom) – 49,388


Rocky Anderson (Justice) – 35,699

Tom Hoefling (America’s Party) – 28,590

Randall Terry (Independent) – 12,895

Richard Duncan (Independent) – 12,108



Peta Lindsay (PSL) – 7,071

None of these Candidates – 5,753

Chuck Baldwin (Kansas Reform) – 4,704

Tom Stevens (Objectivist) – 4,013


Steven Alexander (Socialist) – 3,023

Will Christensen (Oregon Constitution) – 3,915

James Harris (Socialist Workers) – 3,432

Jim Carlson (Minnesota Grassroots) – 3,171


Merlin Miller (American Third Position) – 2,603

Sheila “Sam” Tittle (We The People) – 2,479



Jill Reed (Twelve Visions Party) – 2,373

Gloria La Riva (PSL) – 1,524


Jerry Litzel (Independent) – 1,196

Jerry White (Socialist Equality) – 1,133

Dean Morstad (Constitutional) – 1,108

Barbara Dale Washer (Mississippi Reform) – 955


Jeff Boss (Independent) – 888

Andre Barnett (Reform) – 795


Lowell “Jack” Fellure (Prohibition) – 503

as you see, the candidate of the prohibition party finished last. the prohibition party was a force in american politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and is credited with getting the ill-fated eighteenth amendment passed.

next to last was the candidate of the reform party, the party formed by ross perot in 1992. perot himself got 19% of the popular vote in 1992 and 8% in 1996.


third from the bottom was jeff boss, a conspiracy theorist who believes the 911 attacks were implemented by the national security agency.

what would it take to do even worse than these?

two parties which do not appear on the above list, probably because they did not field candidates and do not exist are:

a feminist or womens separatist party

and a world government party

if you google "womens separatist" or "world government" you will find entries but no sign of any existing political parties putting up candidates. there was apparently a world government party in the united kingdom in the middle of the twentieth century.


could either of these, if they existed, do better than the prohibition party?

neither could plausibly assert, if they ran candidates, that they could achieve their objectives overnight, even if they won.

but they could at least make womens separatism or world government stated long term goals, to be implemented as much as practically possible.

in the case of world government , the candidate could pledge to ask congress to pass an amendment ceding all federal power to the united nations and inviting all other countries to do the same.


for womens separatism, the candidate could propose that certain areas of the country - perhaps an area in each one of the fifty states - be set aside as self-governing states for women only, and men kept out, with the areas to be expanded as they filled up.

how enthusiastically would such proposals be welcomed by the american electorate?

estimate that between 140 million and 150 million votes will be cast in the 2016 election.

could either the projected world government or womens party get 1000 votes ?

could they get 500?

could they get 100?

***



Tuesday, July 8, 2014

juan gonzalez

anonymous

english version by dylan carnsworth

illustrations by konrad kraus and jacqueline le mot






they came for juan gonzalez in the night

they surrounded the village at dusk

they came with their guns

they came with their ropes

they came with their dogs

they waited for nightfall and they entered the village

juan gonzalez was not afraid

he had never been afraid

he had taught the people not to be afraid

not to be afraid for him

and not to be afraid for themselves

when they came

with their guns and their dogs

juan gonzalez was ready for them

he was ready for them with the truth

he knew they could take him away

because they could not take the truth away

they had come for juan gonzalez before

in the places where he had told the truth

he had escaped

but this time there was no escape

juan gonzalez had been betrayed

this time they knew

they knew where to find him

they came with all their force

all their guns

all their ropes and chains

all their dogs

and their tanks

they surrounded the village

when darkness fell they began to enter the village

juan gonzalez came out to meet them

and they took him away

but they left the truth behind

they came with their guns

they came with their dogs

they came with their ropes and chains

this is how they come

this is what they do

they came for juan gonzalez