POEM: Work Week

One day I didn’t feel like going to work
Some people call them weekdays

This one goes out to all of you who feel, chronically and/or acutely, that going to work is, well…work. I wouldn’t mind being the guy who was known for proposing the 3-hour work week. My suggestion of a 3-hour work week is based on the concept, and with some experience, that working on average more than 45 minutes per day for four days per week is detrimental to human well-being. Now, I define work as doing something you don’t want to do. As the economic beings that we are often reduced to, this largely means those activities where we simply exchange your life energy for money — most people call them jobs, where you sell yourself to someone else — and shortchange your quality of life . Of course, it could mean squashing spiders occupying your living space — which generally fits well into one’s 45-minute allotment. No doubt, one of the handier practices in achieving a 3-hour work week, is learning to like what you do. A version of this would be called Karma Yoga in Hinduism. However, those of us living in Western civilization may be better able to relate to following our passions, structuring our life in such a way that our passions flow more freely. Unfortunately, Westerners are socialized from birth to achieve security through money, and that money will give us freedom. Perhaps the best illustration of why this doesn’t work can be had by simply observing Western culture over my lifetime (50-odd years — some would say very odd!). For instance, the U.S. has over three times the material wealth that it had when I was born. Also, a dream from those days, and perhaps these days still, is for increasing leisure, often brought about by technological advancement minimizing boring or routine tasks. Well, this hasn’t happened. In fact, Americans work longer work weeks than they did in recent generations — with the added “benefit” of having more household members selling themselves outside their home. We are no happier. I suspect that a more workable solution to living consistent with our passions would be to downgrade the whole money gives us freedom thing and start with the question, “What would I do if money were not an issue?”

You may have noted that clustering the work over four days implies that at least three or more days a week should be free of work. I see the practice of sabbath as essential to create and re-create our lives. My own personal take on this progressive spiritual practice would be to take off every seventh year, every seventh month, every seventh day, every seventh minute, and every seventh second. This represents the re-centering our lives around something other than “work” — read “money,” and practicing mindfulness at all times, in all that we do (or don’t do). Plus, as an addendum to this progressive journey of sabbaths, I am partial to the Jewish concept of the year of jubilee practiced. The year of jubilee is a sabbath year of sabbath years (every 49th or 50th year), where property returns to its original owners, recognizing that God owns that land (and all), and serves to prevent accumulation and concentration of wealth due to the vagaries and greed of human life. Making such a grand project a reality definitely provides a lot of work that I can be passionate about!

Tags: Anti-Corporate, Class Warfare, Culture, Dream, Economic, Experience, Freedom, God, Greed, Hindu, Jewish, Jobs, Journey, Karma, Learning, Life, Mind, Mindfulness, Money, Poems, Poetry, Reality, Sabbath, Security, Short Poems, Spiritual, Wealth, Western Civilization, Work

Occupy Wall Street Buttons

May 12th, 2012 Filed under: Health, News Add Comment

I am finally uploaded a new batch of Occupy Wall Street designs. This batch of 125 political designs is mostly Occupy Wall Street designs, but there are also a large series of “stop socialism” designs, a large series of Fox news parodies, and a new line of designs: vegetarian. I still have hundreds of other designs made that I still need to upload, so stay tuned.

The designs below are linked to button products, but each of these designs is available in all of Top Pun’s products such as T-shirts, bumper stickers, mugs, magnets, key chains, sticker sheets, posters, and caps.

If you like what you see, you can check out all of my political designs, which also include more Occupy Wall Street related designs.

Gandhi Quote: First Ignore, Then Laugh, Fight, Win – POLITICAL BUTTON

I Can EXPLAIN It To You, But I Can’t UNDERSTAND It For You – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – Dismantle Prisons (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

99 to 1 – I Can Live With That – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

I Don’t Mind You Being Rich, I Mind You Buying My Government – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – Dismantle The CIA (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

99 to One – I Stand With The Odds – Stand Together – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

I Thought There Would Be Cake (Marie Antoinette Protester) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – Dismantle The FBI (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

A Nation of Sheep Soon Beget a Government of Wolves – Edward R. Murrow Quote – POLITICAL BUTTON

I Want A Future That Can’t Be Bought (Heart Cloud) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – Dismantle The Fire Dept (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Abolish Corporate Personhood – POLITICAL BUTTON

I WANT YOU To Support FREE SPEECH – Protect the Constitution (Uncle Sam) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – Dismantle The Police Dept. (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

America is Broke BrokeN – POLITICAL BUTTON

I WANT YOU To Support FREEDOM OF RELIGION Protect the Constitution (Uncle Sam) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Border Patrols (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

American AND Liberal (Flag) – POLITICAL BUTTON

I WANT YOU To Support FREEDOM OF THE PRESS – Protect the Constitution (Uncle Sam) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Child Protective Services (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Anarchy is Not What You See on TV – POLITICAL BUTTON

I WANT YOU To Support PEACEABLE ASSEMBLY – Protect the Constitution (Uncle Sam) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Elections (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Arrest Greed – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

I WANT YOU To Support PETITION FOR REDRESS GRIEVANCES – Protect the Constitution Uncle Sam – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism –End Environmental Protection (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

At Least We Are Winning The War on Camping (Tent) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

I WANT YOU To Support THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY – Protect the Constitution (Uncle Sam) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Food Safety Inspections (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Banks Know The Price of Everything But Value Nothing – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

If Money is Speech, Poverty is Silence – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Highways and Roads (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Bigger Cages, Longer Chains – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

If You Aren’t A Vegetarian, You Probably Don’t Know Beans – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Homeland Security (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

BLAME AMERICA? It’s Called Responsibility – POLITICAL BUTTON

If You Can’t Beat ’em, Join ’em 99% (Riot Policeman) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Medicare (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Bull Shit Meter – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

If You Can’t Join ’em, Beat ’em 99% (Riot Policeman) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Money and Coins (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Capitalism is Not in Crisis, Capitalism is the Crisis – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

If You Think The System Is Working, Ask Someone Who Isn’t – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Postal Service (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Class, I Know Nothing of Class – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

If You’re Not Part of the Solution, You Must Be a Republican – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Public Education (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Class War – I Thought We Won That When Corporations Were Declared People and That Money Is Free Speech – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

I’m Not Anti-Corporation, I’m Anti-Corruption – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Public Libraries (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

CLASS WARS (Star Wars Parody) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

IN PROTEST WE TRUST – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Public Sewer and Water Service (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Clean Water is the Solution – POLITICAL BUTTON

International NO Nuclear Power – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism End Public Utilities (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Corporate PAC Man Eating DEMOCRACY – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

It’s Called the American Dream Because You Have to be Asleep to Believe It – George Carlin Quote – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Social Security (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Corporations Aren’t People, We Are – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

It’s NOT Spelled Demo¢ra$y (Democracy) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End State Colleges and Universities (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Corporations Lie – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

It’s Not WEE The People (Monopoly Man) – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End the Court System (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Debt Slavery – No Chains Necessary (Sisyphus) – POLITICAL BUTTON

It’s WE The People, Not WEE The People Founding Fathers – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End The Federal Aviation Admin (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Democrat, Republican, AWAKE (Checkbox) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Keep Your Coins, I Want Change (Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End The Military (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Democrat, Republican, OTHER (Checkbox) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Killer Coke – Buying Coke Products May Be Dangerous to Others – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End The National Institutes of Health (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Democrat, Republican, Pissed Off (Checkbox) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Left, Right, Take Your Pick (Manacles) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End The National Park System (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Democrats Think The Glass Is Half Full, Republicans Think The Glass Is Theirs – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

Let Them Eat Pasteurized Processed Imitation Cheese Food Product (Marie Antoinette) – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End The State (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Did Someone Say Class War (Monopoly Man Parody) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Listen And Obey (TV) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – End Trash Pick up (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Do You Think They Herd Us (Riot Police) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Looks Like You’ve Had A Bit Too Much To Think Today (Policeman) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – Make Crime Legal (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Dollar Statue Falling – Occupy Wall Street – POLITICAL BUTTON

Love Greater Than Money (Heart) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialized Risk Privatized Profit (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Don’t Ask Me Why I’m A Vegetarian, Ask Yourself Why You’re Not – POLITICAL BUTTON

Make Every Day Earth Day – POLITICAL BUTTON

SUPERSIZE The Minimum Wage – POLITICAL BUTTON

Earth First – We’ll Rape the Other Planets Later – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

May The Forest Be With You – POLITICAL BUTTON

Support Organized Crime – Vote Republican – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

Eat Beans, Not Beings – POLITICAL BUTTON

Money is Free Speech – SHUT UP! – POLITICAL BUTTON

That Stuff Trickling Down on You is NOT Money (Wall Street Bull Shit) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Elect Satan – Why Pick The Lesser Of Two Evils – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

Money is the Root of All Politics – POLITICAL BUTTON

The Audacity of Dopes – Wall Street – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

End the Casino Economy (Dice) – POLITICAL BUTTON

NO Nuclear – POLITICAL BUTTON

The Death Penalty is Dead Wrong (Skull) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Every Day Is Earth Day – POLITICAL BUTTON

Nuclear Waste – Pay as You Glow – POLITICAL BUTTON

The First Amendment IS Our Permit (US Constitution) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Evolve (LOVE) – POLITICAL BUTTON

OCCUPY EVERYTHING (Heart) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

The First Illegal Immigrants Arrived in 1492 – POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – AGREE for FOX SAKE (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Occupy Everywhere – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

The Left is Right – POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – BIG BROTHER’S Little Brother (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

OCCUPY is Cool – REALLY COOL (Hell Freezing Over Sign) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

The Meek Are Getting Ready – POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – Chicken Coup Specialists (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

OCCUPY Your HEAD With Your HEART – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

The One Percent Have People And They Are Dressed For Success (Riot Police) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – FAIRLY UNBALANCED (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

One Party System – Republicrats – POLITICAL BUTTON

The System Was Never Broken It Was BUILT That Way – POLITICAL BUTTON

FAUX NEWS – Making The World Safe For Stupidity (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

One Percent FED, 99 Percent FED UP – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

There Is No Planet B – POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – NEO CON NEWS NETWORK (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

One Percent, Ninety Nine Percent, Cash Rich versus Cash Poor – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

These Are NOT The Green Jobs We Were Hoping For (CASH) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – NEWS at the Speed of Lies (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Please Pardon Our Peaceful Chaos As We Reboot Our Country’s Operating System – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

They Only Call It Class Warfare When We Fight Back – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – Preferred by 5 Out of 4 Rednecks (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Political Prisoner In Training (Dove in Jail) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Think Green – POLITICAL BUTTON

FAUX NEWS – Rich People Paying Rich People To Tell Middle Class People To Blame Poor People (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Pre-OCCUPIED and STUPIFIED (TV) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Think Outside the Box (TV) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – SO RIGHT WE’RE WRONG (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Pro Life – Unborn, GOOD – Born, BAD – Born Again, GOOD – POLITICAL BUTTON

This is the Only Bill Unanimously Passed in Congress (100 Dollar Bill) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – Spreading It Everywhere (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Proud Member of The Reality Based Community – POLITICAL BUTTON

This Is The Way Bankstas Roll (Pig Rolling in Cash Rolls) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – Take a Peak at Doublespeak (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Proud To Be Everything The Right Wing Hates – POLITICAL BUTTON

This Is The Way Bankstas Roll (Rolling Dice) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – Trust Our Klan of Reporters (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Question Consumption – POLITICAL BUTTON

This Is What Democracy Looks Like To the One Percent (Riot Police) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – Unencumbered by Truth (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies – POLITICAL BUTTON

Throw Out The Money Changers (Jesus) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – We Have Half a Mind to Be Right (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Reality Has A Well Known Liberal Bias – Stephen Colbert – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

Titanic – Too Big To Fail – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – Where News Goes to Die (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

REALITY Keep Left – REPUBLICAN PARTY Exit Right (Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

UNFUCK The World, It’s Un-Fucking Believable – POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – Where The Wrong is Made Right (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

REALITY Keep Left – TEA PARTY Exit Right (Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Urban Sprawl – Cut Down All the Trees and Name the Streets After Them – POLITICAL BUTTON

Faux News – Wise Guys Selling Lies (FOX NEWS Parody) – POLITICAL BUTTON

REALITY Keep Left – WALL STREET Exit Right (Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

USS Economy (Titanic) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Flesh Colored Crayons – POLITICAL BUTTON

REPRESENT YOURSELF – POLITICAL BUTTON

Vegetable Time – POLITICAL BUTTON

Follow Your Dreams – CANCELLED – POLITICAL BUTTON

rEVOLution is the Solution (LOVE) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Vegetarian – Compassion Doesn’t Leave A Bad Taste in Your Mouth – POLITICAL BUTTON

Fossil Fuels, Fossil Fools (Pollution) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Screw Compassion, We’re Full of Xenophobia – POLITICAL BUTTON

VEGETARIAN – Join The Evolution – POLITICAL BUTTON

Free Range Human Being – POLITICAL BUTTON

Screw Us And We Multiply – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Want Freedom From Government, Go Live in Somalia – POLITICAL BUTTON

Freedom Isn’t Free – So Stop Whining and Pay Your Taxes – POLITICAL BUTTON

Slower Minds Keep Right (Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

WARNING: LACK of DEMOCRACY May Make Your Vision BLURRY – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote Republican – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

SOCIAL CHANGE IS NOT SOCIALISM (Anarchism Symbol) – POLITICAL BUTTON

We Are The People We Have Been Waiting For – POLITICAL BUTTON

Fukushima, Chernobyl, 3 Mile Island – NO NUCLEAR POWER – POLITICAL BUTTON

Sorry, Your OCCUPIED – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

What About A MAXIMUM Wage – POLITICAL BUTTON

Gandhi Quote: Seven Social Sins – POLITICAL BUTTON

SOS Earth – POLITICAL BUTTON

What Do You Call An Unprovoked Sexual Advance With No Intention But To Take Your Money: Advertising – POLITICAL BUTTON

Global Warming is Not Cool (Polar Bear) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Spare Some Truth 2 (Homeless Man Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

WHAT YOU DO MATTERS or Don’t Do – POLITICAL BUTTON

Good Planets Are Hard To Find (Earth) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Spare Some Truth (Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

What Your Flag Stands For Is Up To You – POLITICAL BUTTON

Good Questions Outrank Easy Answers – POLITICAL BUTTON

Spare Some Truth that leads to change (Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

When The RICH Rob The POOR It’s Called BUSINESS, When The POOR Fight Back It’s Called VIOLENCE – POLITICAL BUTTON

GOP – Greed Over People – POLITICAL BUTTON

Speak The Truth Even If Your Voice Shakes (Candle Lit) – POLITICAL BUTTON

When You’re In Riot Gear Everything Looks Like a Riot – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

GOP – Greedy Old Perverts – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Beating Protesters (STOP Sign) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Wimpy: I Will Gladly Pay You Never for a Billion Dollars Today – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Got Bankstas – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

STOP Buying Crap (Planet Earth) – POLITICAL BUTTON

With Democrats Like These, Who Needs Republicans – POLITICAL BUTTON

HEY STOP Going Banksta On Our Economy – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

STOP Buying Crap – POLITICAL BUTTON

Work Harder, Your Corporate Masters Need A Tax Break (Sisyphus) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Homeless Maybe, Streetless Never, Hit The Streets – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Corporate Greed (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Work is the New Retirement – POLITICAL BUTTON

How About Securing This Homeland (Planet Earth) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Corporate Welfare (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

YES I Can Eat Meat, I Choose Not To – POLITICAL BUTTON

Human Race, Asian, White, African American, Hispanic, Native American, HUMAN (Checklist) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Cutting Down Trees on My Property, signed God – POLITICAL BUTTON

You Are Entitled To Your Own Opinions, But Not Your Own Facts – POLITICAL BUTTON

I’m Not Weird. Everyone Else Is Just Too Normal – POLITICAL BUTTON

STOP Nuclear – POLITICAL BUTTON

You Laugh at Me Because I’m Different, I Laugh at You Because You’re All the Same – FUNNY POLITICAL BUTTON

I am the 99 percent – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

Stop Socialism – Decriminalize Drugs (STOP Sign) – POLITICAL BUTTON

Your Occupation Will Be a Success, Lucky Number 99 (Fortune Cookie) – OCCUPY WALL STREET POLITICAL BUTTON

If you like what you see, you can check out all of my political designs.

Tags: Advertising, African American, America, Anarchism, Big Brother, Business, Buttons-Pins, Capitalism, Change, Chaos, Class Warfare, Community, Compassion, Congress, Constitution, Consumption, cool design, Corporate Personhood, Corruption, Crime, Death, Death Penalty, Debt, Democracy, Democrat, Dream, Dreams, Economy, Education, Elections, Environmental, Evolution, Facts, First Amendment, Food, Fox News, Free Speech, Freedom, Freedom of the Press, Funny, Future, Gandhi, God, GOP, government, Greed, Heart, Hell, Human Race, Illegal, Jesus, Jobs, Liberal, Life, Love, Medicare, Military, Mind, Money, Normal, Nuclear Power, Occupy Wall Street, Parodies, Police, Political, Politics, Pollution, Poor, Postal Service, Poverty, Power, Protesters, Questions, Reality, Religion, Republican, Responsibility, Revolution, Rich, Risk, Security, Silence, Slavery, Social Security, Socialism, State, Success, taxes, Tea Party, Time, Titanic, Top Pun, Trust, Truth, Vegetarianism, Violence, Wall Street, Wall Street Bull, War, Welfare, Work, Xenophobia

Who’s the One percent and 99 Percent?

March 15th, 2012 Filed under: Health, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment

The Occupy Wall Street movement has been successful in framing much of the political debate in this country around the concept of who is the 1%, and who are the 99%. Obviously, for those in the United States, it is usually quite easy to ascertain whether you are in the top 99% or not. The confusion probably only arises among Americans whose income is at least a few hundred thousand dollars per year. The actual break off for the top 1% income in the United States is about $380,000.

However, as Morgan Housel, the Motley Fool blogger, has written in his article, Attention, Protestors: You’re Probably Part of the 1%, the profile of who is the 1% and who are the 99% changes drastically when looked in the context of occupying the entire planet. When considering all humans on this planet, earning about $34,000 per year or more will place you in the top 1% of incomes. Further, an income of about $70,000 per year would place you in the top .1% of incomes worldwide. Now, in dollar-denominated economies, you can probably discount such income about 10% or 20% when comparing incomes worldwide. Thus, to be among the top 1 percent of incomes worldwide, would be about $40,000 per year or so in the United States. Likewise, to be among the top .1% of incomes worldwide, you would need to have an income of about $80,000 per year or so in the United States. This is a humbling reality for many Americans, most of whom consider themselves at least cash poor and middle-class. Somewhat ironically, most of the 99% in the United States are actually the 1% in a worldwide context. Even the poorest 5% of Americans are better off economically than more than two-thirds of the world’s population. Thus, in American discourse, the discussion of rich and poor, wealth and poverty, would be greatly enriched my understanding and appreciating the massive income inequality both between and within different countries. A common thread in the American discourse of rich and poor is about “earnings”, and about who are deserving poor. To shed some light on this discussion, we need to realize that our country of birth determines more than 60% of the variability in incomes worldwide. Apparently, picking parents who resides in the right country account for most of our economic success!

There many things that we take for granted living in the United States. One example would be having access to clean water and adequate sanitation. This is nearly universal the United States. However, according to the blue planet network, over one billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, roughly one-sixth of the world’s population. Over two million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Half of the world’s hospital beds are filled with people suffering from water related illnesses. In the past 10 years, diarrhea has killed more children than all the people lost to armed conflict since World War II. Half of people on earth lack adequate sanitation. Another way to look at it: Nearly half of the world’s population fails to receive the level of water services available 2,000 years ago to the citizens of ancient Rome. 80 percent of diseases in the developing world are caused by contaminated water. The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is six kilometers. The average person in the developing world uses 2.64 gallons of water a day. The average person in the United Kingdom uses 35.66 gallons of water per day. The average person in the United States uses between 100 and 175 gallons every day at home. It takes 5 liters of water to make 1 liter of bottled water. It takes 2,900 gallons of water to produce one quarter pound hamburger (just the meat). The UN estimates it would cost an additional $30 billion to provide access to safe water to the entire planet. That’s a third of what the world spends in a year on bottled water.

If we are going to have an evolution or a revolution that changes the world, we certainly can’t settle for fixing the perceived problems in the economically developed world. The vast income inequalities across the planet must be addressed with eyes wide open and hearts wide open if we are to have any hope of bringing justice to this planet and its inhabitants.

Tags: Ancient, Children, Citizens, Class Warfare, Conflict, Economic, Economy, Evolution, Hope, Income, Inequality, Justice, Money, Occupy Wall Street, Political, Politics, Poor, Poverty, Public Health, Reality, Revolution, Rich, Success, Suffering, Wall Street, War, Wealth, Women

POEM: WELCOME To The Corporate Person Hood

March 8th, 2012 Filed under: Poems Add Comment

WELCOME To The Corporate Person Hood!

Theirs an outside chance
Say 1%
Facing such a ghostly figure
That passes over
What sum
Say billions
Who could passably planet that way!
Ether way
The Almighty Logos
Taken it
To the Greek
Drug through history and currency
Only to Rustle a new Brand®
This is not where democracy comes from!
Where livestock and dead stock are just the same
Like making a buck that is deer to no one
They get it all
Backwards
As they are
Dyslexics
Every won of them
Amiss take
Immorality for immortality
And in morality plays
Where the real masses
Cry out
Author! Author!
Only to fine themselves
Taxed
For a library of legal fictions
Worthless signatures
On countless dotted lyins
Part of the lessen plan
Buying and selling naming rights
With naught even a real bastard for the lineup
Only edifice complexes
From mother corporations
And fatherless spawn
Unendingly descendent
Fostering your loco shop lifter
As a parent
Such up-rearing is
Unconscionable
Never reaching scion
The promised
Land
A job
Putting on heirs
Like PR
Not even
Real state
Only wanting
Cold blooded lizards with personalities
To assure us
Real people need not apply
When animation pawns itself off
As real life syndication
When incorporeal “persons”
Claim the hood
More like a ski mask!
Robber barrens
Steal magnates
Attracting lowlifes
And burgle kings
Rifling through any goods
Is its dealing
Like some pharmaceutical pillage
Hearing only its own
Plunderous applause
The racket here
The William E. club (that’s Bully to you!)
Breaking a-head
Forging new bonds
Sharing penitentiaries only for prophet see
Conjuring con jobs
Open to all takers
Never no-ing an inside job
Sincere sinecures for counterfeiters
Who mint to say
Money speaks
So those without
Must shut the buck up
And weather a safe cracker in a penthouse
Or a black mailer selling us some interest
Re-morsel-ess tie-coons
Doing
Whatever
It takes
Getting busy-ness
Producing nothing
Yet reproducing!
Grafting itself
To any stock to be had
With no judgment
It Chases any merger
Acquiring any firm it may manage
With holding company
Only hoping its too big too fail
And to not get caught in the pokey
After a wile
Breaking up
Because its not hard to do
And its back up plan
Is too slinky down the back stairs
Making that booty
Quiet an undertaking
No witnesses
No hi Jack
Know Union Jack
Heisting the flag as cover
Left with just a big stick up
Jolly Roger that
Scoring more than a little snatch
Going where no man has gone before
The S.S. Enterprise
If it’s good for US, they banned it
Wee the people
Of the corporations
Buy the corporations
Fore the corporations
Their constitution
Is paper thin
Yet thick as thieves
They no no flesh
In bored rooms
Where they can’t be too rich or too thin!
Their currency (mostly DC) is rarefied
In corporation papers
Well suited
For what
They do do
Leaving US the tissue
Yet raising the stakes on these fly-by-knighted vampires
Is never enough
Thou dust never see them!
Merrily
In an Antoinettesque turn of a phrase
They take the cake
As we end up eating it
For seeing
The preoccupation
of Wall Street
Money
Verses
CITIZENS UNITED

I wrote this poem yesterday. The first notions struck me before dawn. I turned on the light and I sat up in my bed to jot down some ideas. By the end of the day, the poem was finished. YES, I may have too much time on my hands. But, like they say, I may be underemployed but I have an OCCUPATION! Long live Occupy Wall Street!

This poem is dedicated to all of the Wall Street occupiers and all of those dedicated to abolishing corporate personhood and money as free (sic) speech.

I usually comment on my shorter poems. However, this poem is 145 lines, just exceeding that which is gross (144, or corporate personhood, or money that speaks, if you are into metaphors). To comment on this poem would take me most of another day, and like money, I will let this poem speak for itself!

Download a printable version of POEM: Welcome To The Corporate Person Hood!

View a larger print web version of POEM: Welcome To The Corporate Person Hood!

Tags: Anti-Corporate, Capitalism, Citizens, Class Warfare, Constitution, Corporate Personhood, Democracy, Greed, History, Immorality, Job, Jobs, Life, Metaphors, Money, Morality, Move to Amend, Occupy Wall Street, Poems, Poetry, Politics, Poor, Prophet, Rich, Social Movements, State, Time, Wall Street

POEM: In God We Trust? Money Speaks!

March 5th, 2012 Filed under: Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment

In God we trust?

A graven image

We never leave home without

Good

For all debts, public and private

When miss taking goods for good

The most note worthy tender legal

By George, Abe, Alex, Andy, Ulysses, and Ben

Close impersonal friends

Treasuring some denominations more than others

Speaking for itself

Silencing those without

Trust

In God

Wee

It is hard to imagine anything much more ironic than engraving on our money, “In God we trust.” In a so-called Judeo-Christian nation, the irony is even much deeper. Jesus tells us that “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Luke 16:13, NIV) Perhaps, the intent of engraving, “In God we trust”, on our money is to remind us that we are supposed to trust God rather than money. However, this also just seems to play into the irony. Of course, this irony has reached the point of the surreal in recent times in the United States, with the US Supreme Court declaring that money is free speech and corporations are persons entitled to rights formerly reserved for human beings. God has created human beings, and human beings have apparently created some other form of persons. In Wall Street speak it would be some form of human derivative. Wall Street is a modern-day Golden calf, creating idolatrous graven images. The reason such activities are considered idolatrous is because it violates the natural order of things. Humans are to serve God and one another. Corporations are legal fictions created to serve humans, a man-made technology or tool to be subservient to human needs. Corporate personhood is a derivative of the modern-day Golden calf, the worship of Wall Street, its so-called best and brightest, and, in the end, the worship of money. Money is a tool. People who worship money become tools, dehumanizing themselves and others. Wall Street brings us to a very sad state: we put a precise price on everything, yet lose our ability to value anything other than the almighty buck — deer me! We must not get caught staring into the bright headlights of unrestrained capitalism and its well funded propaganda trying to convince us that we are helpless against the idolatrous idea that serving money is inevitable and that we cannot do better. It strikes me that living in this surreal and cynical situation requires that real people speak out freely against this dangerous fiction of corporate personhood and money as free speech. Otherwise, corporations will rule us rather than the other way around, and money, concentrated in the hands of a few, will drown out the true speech of the people and we will be robbed of our democracy. This is all just a fancy legalistic way of the richer telling the poorer to shut up. What say you?

Tags: Bible, Capitalism, Christian, Christianity, Class Warfare, Corporate Personhood, Cynical, Dehumanizing, Democracy, Free Speech, God, Hate, Idolatry, Image, Impersonal, Ironic, Irony, Jesus, Love, Modern, Money, Play, Poor, Propaganda, Religion, Rich, State, Supreme Court, Surreal, Technology, Trust, Wall Street, Worship

Corporate Tax Dodger FirstEnergy, Toledo Protest

March 1st, 2012 Filed under: About Top Pun, News, Political Action Add Comment

The corporate tax dodger FirstEnergy paid no income taxes on its over $1.2 billion of profits in 2010. FirstEnergy provides electricity to Toledo and the surrounding area. At noon today, about two dozen protesters gathered outside the corporate headquarters of FirstEnergy in downtown Toledo. The protesters gathered to demand that FirstEnergy pay its fair share of taxes, which would definitely be more than zero! The protest was organized by Fight for a Fair Economy which organize similar protests around Ohio to protest Ohio energy companies making billions of dollars in profits and paying no income taxes. The Fight for a Fair Economy (Ohio) is a collaboration of efforts between the SEIU union, labor allies, community partners and grassroots supporters to fight back against attacks on working people and their families all across Ohio. Other local groups which participated were Occupy Toledo and Jobs with Justice Toledo. Pictured below is Top Pun holding up a bright yellow sign that says “FirstEnergy is a tax dodger, pay your fair share.” The sign to the far left says, “Why is it easier to believe that 150 million Americans are lazy rather than 400 Americans are greedy.” The sign indicating Interfaith Worker Justice is a reference to one of the partner coalitions of Jobs with Justice Toledo.

Please visit Ohio Citizens Action to see a list of 37 Ohio corporations who paid no income taxes. These 37 Ohio corporations made over $50 billion in profits and actually made another $7.8 billion in tax credits, for an effective tax rate of -15.6%. Each of these companies are profitable without taxpayer support. Each of these companies benefits from taxpayer supported infrastructure and services. We should end this corporate welfare and demand that these companies make a fair contribution to their communities and no longer be a drain on our tax dollars, especially during a very difficult time for our economy and when essential government services are being strained or cut.

Tags: Anti-Corporate, Citizens, Class Warfare, Community, Demonstrators, Economy, government, Income, Jobs, Jobs with Justice, Justice, Labor, Lazy, Occupy Toledo, Politics, Protesters, Protests, taxes, Time, Toledo, Top Pun, Welfare

Ultra-Rich Mitt Romney in 1% of the 1%

February 13th, 2012 Filed under: News, Political and Philosophical Musings Add Comment

According to the Wall Street Journal, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney had an income of $21.7 million last year. This puts Mr. Romney in the category of the ultra rich, the super rich, the mega rich, the 1% of the 1%. In fact, Mr. Romney is in the top 0.0025% of Americans in income. He makes the 1% look like the 99%. His earnings are over 800 times that of the median American wage earner. Scientists and political philosophers alike speculate that it may be existentially impossible for Mr. Romney to be anything other than a Republican. Poor Mitt, so much for the freedom to choose.

Tags: Class Warfare, Freedom, Income, Mitt Romney, Money, Political, Poor, Republican, Rich, Wall Street, Wall Street Journal

If You Think The Poor are Hard to Get Rid of Try the Rich

February 4th, 2012 Filed under: Top Pun Design Commentaries Add Comment

If You Think that the Poor are Hard to Get Rid of Try the Rich-POLITICAL BUTTON

This cool design is linked to a button, but other great Top Pun products like T-shirts, bumper stickers, mugs, caps, key chains, magnets, posters, and sticker sheets can be accessed by scrolling down the product page.

View more Political Buttons.

I created this design long before the occupy movement. Nonetheless, this timeless commentary on the rich and the poor is a tip of the hat to the Occupy Wall Street movement. One of the main quests of the rich, the 1%, is to convince the masses, the 99%, that they can’t make a difference. A saying that fits into this genre, that the poor will always be with us. I guess that this is meant to reflect some underlying reality about human society, but I think that it distracts from a more important question. Somehow this saying is an effort to discourage those who try to ameliorate the conditions of the poor by emphasizing how difficult that work may be. This may be true. However, have you ever tried to get rid of the rich?! They are at least as difficult to get rid of as the poor! By reversing or extending the meaning of the saying, we can better reflect on the whole picture, and make a better judgment about to which ends we wish to exert our efforts, even considerable efforts. Some people will immediately get distracted by the question of whether we should try to get rid of the poor or try to get rid of the rich, or if and how these two tasks may relate. However, pondering this is only a secondary concern of mine. I am more interested in neutralizing the depressing and hope-sapping implications of focusing on the difficulty of changing the lot of the poor. I believe that much power is mediated by the ability to define the questions in our public life together. Having the power or the privilege to ask questions is probably at least as important as having the power or the privilege to answer the questions. Unfortunately, the powerful elite and a complicit media are very adept at asking less important questions that distract us from more important questions. Then, we spend an inordinate amount of time answering the less important questions and typically never get around to asking the more important questions. Mission accomplished! That is, for the powers that be who benefit from the status quo, advantaged by the present injustice.

Back to that much debated relationship between the rich and the poor, I would offer another saying or proverb, “where there is no wealth there is no poverty.” Well, hopefully, this design neutralizes the negative message of working to change the lives of those who are poor, and ends with a beginning, that is, a question about trying to get rid of the rich. While this may not be the ultimate question, it is certainly closer than the original question that this design addresses, and moving in the right direction is a very good start. So, what would you propose is the best question to be asked relative to the relationship between the rich and poor?

Tags: Change, Class Warfare, cool design, Elite, Funny, Hope, Injustice, Life, Meaning, Media, Money, Occupy Wall Street, Parodies, Political, Poor, Poverty, Power, Powers that be, Present, Privilege, Proverb, Questioning, Questions, Reality, Rich, Satire, Society, Status, Status Quo, Time, Top Pun, Wall Street, Wealth, Work

TopPun.com Celebrates 10 years, Launches TP Paper

January 23rd, 2012 Filed under: About Top Pun, Free Stuff, Web Specials Add Comment

TopPun.com Celebrates 10 years, Launches TP Paper

Ten years ago I had little idea exactly what I would be doing in 10 years. Fortunately, TopPun.com – Maximizing Prophets has turned out to be too small to fail. And while General Motors and pretty much the entire banking system have had to be bailed out, apparently, what is good for TopPun.com is good for America. While I continue to make too little money to pay federal taxes (not unlike many corporations), this could just as well be the most effective way to not support war and imperialism by the US. Reality has played neatly into my hand to live simply and justly. How does one celebrate such an auspicious anniversary? Well, the way that I’m celebrating is by launching a new monthly e-newsletter, affectionately known as the TP paper, because I prefer it over the top. This newsletter will feature monthly web specials and free downloadable posters, among other things. The first Web special, hopefully appropriately and timely, celebrates the Occupy Wall Street movement by offering 100 assorted Occupy Wall Street buttons for a mere $29.95, featuring dozens of new Occupy Wall Street themed designs that are not even available yet elsewhere on the website. Also to honor the Occupy Wall Street movement, the first free downloadable poster, “Class War” parodies the ridiculous attitudes of the 1%, corporate personhood, and money as free speech. To receive the TP paper regularly, just complete the e- newsletter sign-up form. THANKS!

Tags: America, Anti-Corporate, Celebrations, Class Warfare, Corporate Personhood, downloadable poster, Free Downloadable Posters, Free Speech, Imperialism, Money, Occupy Wall Street, Parodies, Reality, Satire, taxes, Wall Street, War

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POEM: Work Week

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POEM: In God We Trust? Money Speaks!

Corporate Tax Dodger FirstEnergy, Toledo Protest

Ultra-Rich Mitt Romney in 1% of the 1%

If You Think The Poor are Hard to Get Rid of Try the Rich

If You Think that the Poor are Hard to Get Rid of Try the Rich-POLITICAL BUTTON

TopPun.com Celebrates 10 years, Launches TP Paper

TopPun.com Celebrates 10 years, Launches TP Paper

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