KCEC Alert and Commentary

Gang at Coop wants settlement. Activists, however, say, “What we need is for everyone to send an e-mail to the PRC, Cydney Beadles: The attorney would be a good one to tell that WE DO NOT WANT A SETTLEMENT. WE WANT OUR RIGHTS AND A FULL HEARING.”

[CydneyBeadles@state.nm.us]

Droit de Seigneur (drwä dü sn-yr)

n. The supposed right of a feudal lord to have sexual relations with a vassal’s bride on her wedding night. For example, Fox News reports: Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a New York City hotel maid, “Don’t you know who I am! Don’t you know who I am?”

Haves v. Have-Nots

We think of the Frenchterm above as a metaphor for the attitudes some elected and appointed officials have toward women and children or their constituents who speak up and question the conventional ways of doing business.

For instance, should an executive be allowed to threaten a public servant with his job, while pummeling him and disobeying lawful orders to cease and desist? Most folks would be charged with a felony but he skated. And you wonder why these employees won’t support a move to the emergency center? Don’t you know who I am?

Even when there’s a million dollar case of propane negligence, the insurance company pays off. Despite losing millions of dollars in stockholder money, which board members bet on various ponzi schemes, there are no consequences. Now the board members are going to bet again on another high-priced venture.

Like any experienced mobsters, board members are lawyered up and bend the courts to their will. Employees, activists, or minority board members who speak up are threatened with their jobs and shunned or characterized as “disgruntled, not from here, envidia-ridden,” etc.

(Employees say, “We could do it in house but the CEO won’t let us. He’s a little Napoleon. But we don’t want to lose our jobs. We’ll party when he’s gone.”)

The high and mighty “haves” spend the company’s money on travel, accompanied by lovely companions, use the company dime to party, gamble, buy stuff and/or visit family members, while checking out the lights and action in the big city. They pass out contracts to buddies and get extra goodies without being charged. One year they spent big bucks, more than a 100 Gs, to hustle members at the annual meeting. They partied down themselves in Vegas, spending 30 grand in a week to fly high with Elvis.

From time to time, board members have said the sly thing about other board members: “So and so received free wood and fencing material. So and so just travels. I think he sells the fruit from board meetings. So and so charges for photo ops and meetings with this neighbors.” One said famously more than once, “When I’m elected I’m going to put so and so in prison. They have said about each other, consistently, “He’s stupid. They say they are for the poor people but look at the travel expenses. You can’t trust him. He gets jobs for his buddies. The CEO put projects out for his friends.”

When threatened with a decline in the entertainment budget, however, these boys stand together against the rabble—except for the two populists.

On Saturday last, 98% of the members boycotted the annual meeting: no quorum for the second year in a row. A boycott may be the answer: Boycott payments during winter when the providers are prohibited from cutting off the juice. Call it passive resistance.

Today member—stockholders of the capitalistic system are looking for alternative providers–just as parents are looking for alternatives to the public schools (or the banks). We must think imaginatively and vote with our feet against national and local corpocracy.

It’s the haves v. the have nots. They’ve got the money and the power. But we’ve got our souls and our freedom. Hey, I’ve been reading John Nichols’ “The Magic Journey.” Look around and one night you’ll see the redeemer in the person of  Jesus Dolores Martinez Vigil, (Jesus, etc.) armed and spouting lead, coming in the door. Los politicos act as if they live in the world of Magic Realism but the concept cuts both ways.