Lessons from the past

"Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

From a conversation between Gustave Gilbert and Hermann Goering in his Nuremberg jail cell on the evening of 18 April 1946

A friend of mine sent me that quote and it was so germane to current events I simply had to do something to verify its authenticity, or as best one can these days without resorting to actually visiting a library. Hence, according to Snopes this conversation really did happen, and it really is yet another example of us being condemned to repeat the past because of our short, media brainwashed memories.

I recently read a book called "Unequal protection" by Thom Hartmann which is full of quotes from some of America's finer and less intellectually challenged presidents. For example:

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country." -- Thomas Jefferson

Its chilling to read stuff like this written 50, 100, 150 years ago and realize history really is repeating itself and people really aren't learning a damned thing from our country's previous mistakes.

Now of course American children are not learning anything of value about history or the world, just a mantra that shopping is good and dissent is un-patriotic and once you've gone to war its treasonable to support whatever enemy the state and their coporate minions have chosen. Children of today should be reading George Orwells "1984" which in 1983 when I first read it, seemed like a far off and dark prediction that would never transpire. Something written in the shadow of a horrendous period of world war and not relevant to the happy money filled dream times of the '80s and '90s. Now it seems like just one of our possible grim commercialized, globalized plutocratic destinies, none of which include anything even vaguely utopian.

Wake up destiny's child! Its time to shop till you drop.

Hollywood hordes

Okay, I'm exaggerating, they aren't from Hollywood, they are from TV land, but anyway I'm experiencing quite a sureal evening. Its 11:20pm and I'm writing my blog having just pulled a double espresso for a production person who is part of the 100+ TV crew poised just outside my door. Yes literally I have an entire TV production crew working in the hallyway and outside on the streets now. They are producing a new TV detective series for CBS featuring (and apparently co-written by) Danny Glover who is currently esconced in the loft down the hallway that belongs to one of my neighbours.

Intel from the crew has revealed that the entire shennanigans is all for five minutes of the show. This has required an entire block of parking on the street in either direction, lights on the roof, about a half dozen "star wagons", two generators, trucks and trucks of gear, two days of loading equipment into the aforementioned lofts and of course, about a hundred or so miscellaneous people crawing all over the building and neighbourhood. Not to mention the cart loads of equipment in the hallway and the dozen people going "shhhhhh!" everytime we open the door.

Now as you may have guessed from my previous writing I am convinced that the American TV and Hollywood are for the most part just another facet of the evil axis of media, corporations and that bunch of stupid (but rich) white men we like to think of as government. But of course being my first real contact with Hollywood I have naturally been sucked into the spectacle of its "shock and awe" invasion of the neighbourhood. Yes, Danny Glover is wandering outside my doorway at 11:30pm and I'm in awe.

What I'm most in awe of is the sheer magnitude of people and effort to produce just five minutes of a TV show. Really, isn't it incredible that five minutes of show takes 100 or so people, two days of load in, six hours of shooting and then a day of load out? Are these really the kind of values that we are currently devoting 300,000 American troops and countless BILLIONS of dollars to take over Iraq, just so that they can experience the freedom to enjoy the American dream and a TV show on each night that takes this massive amount of effort per five minutes. Aren't there better things in life to fight for, die for and live for?

Paranoia is patriotic

Well it happened, GWB and his merry gang of hooligans have gone to war. It happened in spite of the millions of people protesting around the world, and polls indicating the majority of Americans wanted UN support for any military action. Never mind, GWB knows what’s best for us and he’s ready to take on all the hate of the world because that just makes it easier to keep the war machine rolling on. Expect Iran and North Korea to be next and what a bloody mess that will be, that is if some well meaning folks don’t manage to take out the tyrant apparent first (the one in the White House that is).

So I’m watching the TV coverage to find out what’s going on in San Francisco this evening and it occurs to me that watching American TV news is intended to be a visceral experience. They really don’t want you to think while you watch the news; you should just feel the news and let the hormones your body will secrete take over with a gut reaction – most often fear. They are telling the viewers that it is dangerous in the city tonight, don’t come here, keep your children away, and that the police can’t protect us from terrorists tonight (you know, the ones with box cutters and shoe bombs) because they are too busy zip tying all the protestors and carting them off to the East Bay because the jails are all full.

So conteract the fucked up state of the world I decided self-administer some shopping therapy. Yes folks, today I ordered a T-shirt from whitehouse.org (not to be confused with the .gov or .com sites by the same name. It has a picture of the shrub apparent GWB, and says, “Be afraid! Because PARANOIA is PATRIOTIC”. I’m going to enjoy wearing it because most of the people who will be orshould be pissed off at me wearing it are not smart enough to see the irony that its exactly the message our wonderful visceral media is pumping into them 24-7.

SUVs piss me off

There, I've said it and I wont apologize because its just how I feel. In the same way that liberals piss some people off, or poor people on the streets begging for money offend other people, I feel just the same way about SUVs.

I'm feeling a little better these days because even though 50% of all new car sales are SUVs (and I'm not sure if that's by $ amount of number of vehicles - does it matter?) but at least 50% of all my acquaintances also feel the same way as I do about SUVs. Its really a case of "either you're with SUVs or you're against them". Either you do or you don't get the problem with driving a vehicle that uses twice or three times as much gas as it needs to, is six or more times likely to kill someone in a side collision, and is more likely to kill you the driver per mile driven than a car. If you don't get it, or do get it and don't care, well it tells me a lot about you. It tells me you're exactly the kind of person who should be punished by driving a Reliant Robin for a year and then see how you feel about sharing the road with a monster Ford Excursion.

I wont deny that some people have a legitimate reason to drive an SUV. Those people have been driving them, and their light truck breathren for years now, but they aren't the SUV "I like to be up high" neophytes we are now seeing rushing out to put $55k down on a Hummer H2. The most common reason to buy one of these monsters is pure and simply fear, followed closely by a generous helping of the "fuck you" crowd. Its the people who got tired of driving behind the other people with SUVs and tired of being cut off and menaced by the big SUV behind them or beside them. And its the people who just do it because they can. Why buy a small car when the big one costs the same or less? Why not? I ask you, bigger is better aint it? Go figure.

Where, just where I ask, will this all end? Will it only be the width of the lanes on the freeway, the height of people's garages and the length of parking spots that prevent us all from driving a Kenworth eighteen wheeler to and from the video store? Will America's next President be elected on a wave of support for his constitutional ammendment for the right to drive a big wide ass "fuck you" car crushing OLV (obscenely large vehicle) and be able to right it off on your taxes?

On that note I was recently led to the web site of the Avanti Motors Studebaker XUV. A vehicle designed to so closely resemble the Hummer H2 that they are being sued by the makers of the Hummer. Well, my heart bleeds for Avanti, but I doubt if it'll do any good at keeping this oversized death machine of the roads.

The Tyranny of Email

A co-worker sent me an email about a posting on Slashdot about The Tyranny of Email. It was an interesting and in my opinion, entirely valid description of how email interruptions are bad for your concentration. Just as bad for instance, as an interruption to go play Foosball.

For me the word "tyranny" is indelibly linked to the movie "Pulp Fiction" and Jules' little quote from the bible. So I decided to rework the quote for all those extreme programmers out there (and you know who you are).

The path of the extreme programmer is beset on all sides by the inequities of the management and the tyranny of email. Blessed is he who, in the name of quality and unit tests, shepherds the weak through the mountains of documentation, for he is truly his pair-programmer and the finder of bugs. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to distract and interupt my brother programmers. And you will know my name is The Coach when I lay my vengeance upon you.

In the beginning

In the beginning there was the word, and the word was good. Or bad. Anyway I found I had a lot of them to spare and a long dark tea-time of the soul to contemplate how to string them together.

And thus was yet another blog born...