Notebook Entries, August 2001
Notebook Entries, August 2001
Notebook entry, August 29, 2001
A sort of early Labor Day story from The Chicago Tribune by R.C. Longworth as reported in The Denver Post, same date, p.2A. Title: "As economy sinks, CEO pay soaring" tells us the story of the widening gap in wages between business executive and hourly wage earners. Citing a report on from the Institute for a Fair Economy, the average chief executive officer of a major corporation now makes 531 times as much in pay, bonuses and stock options as the average factory worker. Despite a slowing world economy, executive pay rose 18 in 2000, while the paycheck of the average worker by contrast, went up only 3 percent. Of course, defenders of this wage gap argue that the global market sets the level at which to attract executive talent, and "it not fair to compare them with hourly workers," so quoted was a Ira Kay, a compensation consultant.
Despite Mr. Kay's admonishment, I, as a hourly paid worker, can not help but take notice and I am here to tell Mr. Kay that is starting to piss me off as well as many "Ronald Reagan" democrats. It is particularly grating when executives tell us that there is no money for pay raises, no money for health care, and no money for company shared pensions. I believe, and so do many evolutionary psychologists, that resources differentials are deep innate areas in our brains, and we can not help but notice the gap differences in resources.
Capital can do nothing without the efforts of labor; without labor's efforts, it just sits in the bank and looks pretty. Take heed Republican Party -- economic times are getting worse and you don't have Bill Clinton's Oval Office blow job to help your cause.
Notebook entry, August 19, 2001
I have been meaning to enter this for several weeks, but the heat and humid here kept me from turning on the word processor to this website and poking the right fingers.
The U.S. News & World Report, July 30, 2001 issue, p. 38, by Anna Mulrine. Title: Are Boys the Weaker Sex? Internal headline: Science say yes. But society is trying to deal with male handicaps. I'm only going to give the highlights to this because I am pressed for time, but, the gist of the article goes something like this:
Now, let me get this straight. This article wants me to believe that all the males who control the top 500 corporations, who were once young boys, and make zillion of dollars a years are the product of a defective gender? That all the males who run our political parties are really losers? That the wage gap enjoyed by males is really not of their doing? That all the crap of industrialization and the exploitation of third world countries is really done by a gender that does not know how to wipe its own ass?
Where is John Stossel of ABC news when you need him? GIVE ME A BREAK. The real basis for this article is the last balloon notch: that girls will outnumber boys in college by 2007. You see, people who go to college then go into professions where they then move in politics as they advance in ambitions after establishing a family..That means that by 2027, politics would be heavily influenced by female politicians, and that means, YIKES! POLITICIANS WHO THINK WITH THEIR EMOTIONS and not like a solid rock of male warriorness. It also sounds like this article was about to have a clarion call for MALE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION!
Notebook entry, August 19, 2001
A New York Times report by Larry Rohter tells us about Brazil granting women equality after a 26 year debate on the subject. The title of the news item: Brazil Grants Women Equality as it appeared in The Denver Post, p. 10A, Aug 19th issue. to quote the Times article: The new legislation replaces a 1916 statute that formally enshrined the hierarchical, patriarchal view of the family and sexual relations that prevailed here and elsewhere in Latin America at the time.
to quote Solange Bentes Jurema, president of the National Council for Women's Rights, "The family is no longer an institution that is the property of the man but a union in which all members have responsibilities and duties."
Once again, the elevation of women has seen the decline of the hierarchical and patriarchal view of another male's fiefdoms. The decline of the warrior male in a far away territory continues its march towards world peace. Brazil is home to the largest Roman Catholic country in the world.
Notebook entry, August 17, 2001
Wow, has it really been almost three weeks since my last entry? I feel like a Roman Catholic who has been too long between confessions! (relax, I was raised a Roman Catholic so I am not smearing anyone). It has been horribly hot and humid here in Denver over these past three weeks, and I'm sure that my job as a letter-carrier with the U.S. Postal Service may have had something to do with it. I can stand the heat, but when it is in combination with humidity, then it really drains you and you just feel like curling up into a little ball while the air conditioner brings you back to life; that includes not working on the notebook I can not ever remember Colorado being this humid before. (must be all those Californians moving here and dumping water on their lawns that used to be semi-arid land). It is also the reason that I left New Jersey to move out here. Oh well, it too late to bitch and moan now. My fate is sealed until I retire in five or six years -- then I'll start another career.
Another reason for my absence was that I was busy working on a remake of one of my early essays done in 1995. When I work on a piece, I put my whole soul into it. I focus like a laser beam on my writing and I walk around for days in deep concentration. I really love to write, but it also requires such focus, that when I write, I can't wait to finish, but when I am finished writing a piece, I go through withdrawal and can't wait to start planning the next piece of work. (it going to be about the male conservative mind, and framing it in an evolutionary perspective -- a real challenge).
I really feel that I have progressed greatly over the past six years in my studies and my writing and that this reflects in this remake. See for yourself. Just click on the link below to take you to the essay. Evolutionary Psychology and the Origins of Racism, Prejudice, Bigotry, and Discrimination: an updated view.