I have friends that used to keep a blog called "Chicken or Beef?" but they have moved on to new places now ("Mousebacon" and "This is My Dangerous Career").
It occurred to me today in an Adams inspired moment of silliness (Douglas Adams, not Samuel Adams) that "Chicken or beef?" could have been the ultimate answer. You know the ultimate answer to the ultimate question, the question of life, the universe and what's for dinner?
Apropos nothing, here is a flying interlude...
I was flying my paraglider at the coast this weekend and cloud base was low, around 700 feet and I was at about 650 feet, moving reasonably slowly into the wind at just a few mph. For once cloud base at the coast was fluffy white cloudlets drifting overhead, not just an opaque blanket of fog (stratus) that you slowly disappear into while the ground (or ocean) melts away into white below you.
So I'm flying around at that height and starting to feel like the cloud is "coming right for me" because its blowing onshore at a reasonable speed and I'm so close to it. Then I notice when I'm looking up at the cloud just over my head and I start to feel a vertigo like dizziness coming on, like I was looking over the side of a tall building at the pavement, even to the point that I actually sensed some fear that I might fall up and hit the cloud... Granted that fear was perhaps well founded - cloud base can be a turbulent place to be where thermals peter out, and air layers mix up often violently - but I have a feeling it's source in this case was less rational and more primal, just like vertigo.
The solution was simple, just look down which when flying holds no ill feeling for me at all. But it was a weird experience and I'm now wondering if there is a name for the phenomenon.
The article "Brutality by the Bay" about Oakland hit my radar today and I started reading it without even noting who it was written by. Lets just say I was shocked that none other than Christopher Hitchens was weighing in on O-Town and the recent raid of the Your Black Muslim Bakery in connection with the murder of local journalist Chauncey Bailey.
This Alternet article gives the facts behind America's bloated, inefficient, and second rate (well actually seventeenth rate - or worse) healthcare system. And it makes the point that our system is focused on sickness not on health because a healthy population isn't profitable. Nothing new there - I knew most of it and I haven't even seen Sicko yet.
However its link to employment figures is interesting - it points out that the explosion in healthcare spending which is the reason for the explosion in healthcare costs to Joe Public, has been the driving force behind the explosion in healthcare employment. So guess what happens if you throw out the inefficient private healthcare system and put in one that is efficient and centrally managed by a single payer? Well you'll get massive unemployment in the healthcare sector because a business that spends six times what other countries spend on administration is clearly going to need far fewer employees - and that, as Bush would say, is "bad for the economy".
So America, you're going to have to continue to suffer because no government wants to sit by as hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers lose their jobs and ruin their unemployment statistics. Can you imagine the battles with unions that will happen if the squeeze on these bloated HMOs ever comes along? Never mind that it might be good for the health of the rest of us, never mind that it would save us hundreds of billions, and never mind that its what works for every other developed nation.
I have to say I was shocked by the high profile GOP people involved in this Rapture baloney thinly disguised as support for Israel... See the video. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Hot on the heels of my last post about "America: Freedom to Facism" as if by magic a court ruling shows up that lets a man off who has been refusing to file and tax return and pay his "taxes". Apparently they failed to show that his income was actually taxable, which was one of the main points of AF2F - that employment wages are basically straight barter - you give your time and the employer gives renumeration for what that time is worth.
Okay, so there could be some profit in the wages for time equation - maybe if you're a CEO making say $50M a year it could be argued you salary was inflated and your time wouldn't be worth $50M to you. But just how you'd ever show that I don't know. You could also argue that most people are drastically underpaid for their time, so what is that - a loss that you can write off against other taxable income (such as stock market profits).
So I'm actually guessing that an IRS argument would go like "your tax free allowance is basically what we think you're entitled for your time, everything else in excess is profit for your time and incentive for you to get out of bed in the morning and go to work for money". But that hardly seems right since everyone gets the same allowance so it is saying that an unskilled worker's time is the same value as a highly skilled one (say a doctor, teacher or rocket scientist). Economically that makes no sense to me... but then again I expect they just decided any other way of taxing wages as income is unworkable and more regressive so they just stuck with what they figured was easiest to enforce (or not as the case may be!).
I just got done with watching America: Freedom to Fascism using NetFlix on demand (you can also watch a low res version yourself for free on Google Video).
This documentary could have been made by Michael Moore - I rather wish it had for the reason it would gain wider audience and of course notoriety. But other than that I think it was spot on and concurs with many of my thoughts on "What's wrong with the country formerly known as America?". The truth is at all times there have been many things wrong and until the last twenty years or so it seemed like the general trend was to improvement. But as this documentary points out America that no longer appears to be the case.
The writer Douglas Adams mused on how humans had spent thousands of years coming up with ideas to make everyone happy (without nailing any one to a cross) but how each one seemed to revolve around the movement of small green pieces of paper "which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy." - I think this documentary essentially says they same.
It seems like there may have been a few liberties taken along the way - so far the best evidence I can find for the case that the 16th Amendment was never ratified indicates it is based on minor technicalities that probably apply to any amendment's ratification you care to examine. It seems pretty clear that the spirit, if not the exact letter of the amendment was ratified by the required 75% super majority of states. Other arguments made against the legality of taxes may stand except of course, apparently, in a court of law. However the larger point is really quite beyond the legality of collecting non-apportioned income tax - it is how that, and many other "anomalies" of this supposedly "free" country continue to be enforced basically by brute force of collusion between money, media and corporate collusion in the houses of power that run the show and hold all the big bang, bang you're dead weapons.
That said - don't forget you've never had it so good - and even if the answer to "You think that's freedom you're living" is a hearty "No!" it is, almost the closest you'll get in the world. At least that is until unverifiable electronic elections become ubiquitous, untraceable humans and money - illegal, and descent - treason. Chose your moment to act or act up wisely America, because your days of freedom may be numbered.
Business Week's story Shoppers concerned about Chinese goods misses some obvious points when it quotes "Joyce Simple, a church secretary, interviewed on a recent shopping trip to a Wal-Mart". Joyce says "I'm scared to death. We are dependent on our government inspecting things, I would be careful of anything that came from China."
Gee didn't anyone tell Joyce who the #1 importer from China is and the huge percentage of WalMart inventory that comes from China - last I heard it was close to 80% inspite of their red-white and blue flag waving activities. Oh well, ignorance is bliss but if she really wants to avoid Chinese goods she should shop else where and put money where her mouth is.
Later on in the article it says "There's no question that too many Chinese manufacturers and food producers put the bottom line ahead of safety". Oh really, well I think there may be a certain carrot being dangled in front of them by major retailers like WalMart who put the bottom line above everything else as almost any article or interview with a former WalMart supplier would reveal. So if there was anyone who chose to turn a blind eye or pray to god (literally) that quality goods would be delivered at bargain basement prices, that would be WalMart.
After all for the corporation there is nothing to lose - most of the time they would be okay and if there was a problem then well, it is easy for them to point the finger at the government and say it was someone elses for not inspecting the goods. Thus they are simply leveraging the wonderful economic crutch of "externalities" whereby society gets to foot the bill for all of industries blunders - from pollution, global warming, industrial accidents, to poisoned consumers - while they reap all the profits from cutting corners at every opportunity.
You see when it is convenient big government is a big evil monster that must be destroyed because its always telling us what to do with pesky laws and regulations, and collecting those nasty taxes and driving prices up. At other times those same people will tell us it is of course the governments job to protect us from them. Naturally they wont say it literally, but when things like ground plastic in pet food show up because they went with the cheapest bid (hmmm, rather like NASA has always had to do) and they want the government to foot the bill for testing every load of food that arrives because they can't trust their corner cutting suppliers, well that's the implication.
So you see, shopping at Wal*Mart is just perpetuating corporate welfare - to those that need it least, and its perpetuating businesses that do what everyone does best - looking after #1 above all and screwing over their neighbors for nickels and dimes.
One of my biggest gripes about living in the USA (spare me the "so move somewhere else" quips - you're boring me!) is the f**ked up health care, or rather health insurance situation. I was really happy to see that Michael Moore had tackled this issue with his new movie "Sicko", even happier that unlike Fahrenheit 911 it is getting universal, bi-partisan acclaim, and ecstatic that my home town Oakand (aka "O-Town") is getting previews of the movie projected on the head quarters of Kaiser. Like all HMOs Kaiser gets some "special" attention in Sicko.
I'm event more pleased to point out that Moore makes a point of telling us that Kaiser, as a corporation is legally obliged to maximize profit for its shareholders, yes there is a supreme court ruling to that effect, Kaiser could get sued if they didn't put the dollar before your health. Not the kind of behavior you want from an company that is supposedly trying to give you health care. As Moore tells us frequently - profit is not something that has any business being considered in conjunction with health care.
Said George Bush today "Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical — and it is not the only option before us"
Well that's a very convenient attitude to take when you talking about embryos which at the time of harvesting are no more "alive" than a hunk of flesh from your nose that any plastic surgeon would willingly lop off - for the right fee.
So George, how come in Iraq you have no problems causing the death of hundreds of thousands in the hope of saving some human lives? Even at his worst Saddam didn't have that kind of effect on the people of Iraq. Could it be that Mr Bush you are a hypocrite pandering to a special interest in the hopes of keeping your friends in power?
A sweet story from the UK about someone who discovered the real power of music - using Cliff Richard tunes to disperse evil hoddies.
US Attorney for Arkansas Tim Griffin has resigned but a search of Google news is showing that there has been little coverage of the story so far in the main stream. The longest story from CNN details his involvement in the ongoing Gonzales attorney firings scandal. However every seems to be missing the connection between Griffin and an ongoing investigation into voter caging that may eventually implicate none other than Bush's "Prince of Darkness" Karl Rove. To quote from Greg Palast's announcement of June 1st:
Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee investigating the firing of US Attorneys, met Thursday evening in New York with Palast. After reviewing key documents, Conyers stated that, despite Griffin's resignation, "We're not through with him by any means."
Conyers indicated to the BBC that he thought it unlikely that Griffin could carry out this massive 'caging' operation without the knowledge of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rove.
Griffin has not responded to requests by BBC to explain this 'caging' operation. However, in emails subpoenaed by Conyers' committee, Griffin complains to Monica Goodling, an assistant to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, about the BBC reporter's reproduction of caging lists in Palast's book, "Armed Madhouse."
Last Wednesday, Goodling testified under a grant of immunity before the House Judiciary Committee that Gonzales' Deputy Paul McNulty, "failed to disclose that he had some knowledge of allegations that Tim Griffin had been involved in vote 'caging' during his work on the President's 2004 campaign."
Goodling's testimony prompted Conyers' request to the BBC for the Griffin emails.
Last night Palast showed Conyers a Griffin email from August 2004 indicating that Griffin not only knew of 'caging,' but directed the operation.
Hmmm, and the next day Griffin resigns, coincidence? Just how long before the real story breaks? You can help Palast's story get some coverage by digging it over at Digg.com
I couldn't believe today when I pulled up my Napster start page - with is on the Electronica page - and saw the featured album was by Jean Michel Jarre. It's been a long time since I was into his work, at the time well ahead of the electronica curve. Maybe Napster somehow knew I was trolling the favourites of my youth today with a monster ELO-fest. Anyway I started listening to Teo and Tea and you know what, it's pretty darned good. If you're all into electronic or used to be a Jarre/Vangelis/KraftWerk/<insert 80s electro-pop band of your choice> you might want to give it a try.
Here's a link to listen to it for free on Napster - 
I'm not going to say 'if the US leaves Iraq' - it has to be inevitable right? I mean we know that the only reason we are still there is because
My biggest worry is that surely if the US pulls out then why on Earth wont the Iranian just roll in their tanks the next day? They have been busy keeping the diplomats busy rattling their nuclear option, but in the mean time all they have to do is invade Iraq and get all that oil and a strategic increase in land and Shiite followers for the cause. Even better because the Americans did the exact same thing they can do it themselves with impunity because
I forgot to mention that Gen A to E will be sicker too. Thanks to Michael Moore and his new movie Sicko for reminding us of the insanity and embarrassment of USA being the only major industrialized nation to not have free universal health care.
Begin rant
If you read this blog you should already know that thanks to Bush Americans are on average poorer than ever before, not to mention enjoying relatively lower standards of living compared to Europe. Americans can mock Europe's socialized medicine all they want but ask them how they would feel about 5 to 6 weeks of vacation a year. I've yet to find a politician who could spin that as bad for you... of course could just tell you that you're busy working hard pursuing the American dream and you don't need all that vacation - working hard is patriotic, yada, yada, yada... Unforunately people are dumb enough to fall for that and not even think about why when standards are supposedly improving they need to work more and more and more...
And if you have half a brain you'd realize that pissing away over $1 trillion dollars (folks that's $3,333 per man, woman, child and illegal immigrant) on fighting Iraq has lead us to the point where we can only blow hot air at other nations who dare defy Uncle Sam. Team USA invade Iran? Not happening. Attack North Korea? No way. All of a sudden Bush thinks maybe he'll give diplomacy a chance. Scratch from the table that his own country would be rioting (not just protesting this time) in the streets if there was another war started in The (Old) White (boys) man (club) House. The US simply doesn't have the resources at hand to do engage any more enemy combatants, I mean it can't even protect its own borders, let alone remote ones.
But the latest revelation is that oh boy, this country has gone dumb and dumber. The simple fact that the above are true is a testament to that fact. A smart populace doesn't put up with declining living standards, a smart populace doesn't support policies that actually make the country more vulnerable. Now we find that America has become a bunch of telly addicts and the media refuses to cover anything but pulp fiction. Anything remotely like an "issue" is off limits so we can become comfortably numb while we become comfortably dumb.
This shouldn't be any surprise to anyone who has been near a school recently and knows how instead of education the prime occupation of kids these days is remembering their A to Es - that's endless streams of A to E answers to multi-choice questions. Whatever happened to essay questions, or completely open ended questions where you might have to express and think for yourself? If all you've ever experienced is A to E questions where the right answer is on the paper somewhere (just roll the dice...) what that heck are you supposed to do in real life where the real answer is something you have to provide? Instead we now have some kind of institutionalized knowledge welfare where everyone expects at every step of the way to be handed a guaranteed right answer to life, the universe and everything on a plate. All they have to do is roll the dice and pick that answer - and if they don't, well they just got unlucky. Whatever happened to just "using your loaf?" (brain).
Instead kids are busy learning to talk with text and email abbreviations (BRB, BF, ROTFL etc.) they are also busy assimilating their entire knowledge base as some bizarre DNA like encoding of DABCEABCDEBABCDCAABEEACEDADBE... etc. and that is supposed to be their and this country's key to prosperity. My only question is just how bad does it have to get before this country just starts falling apart, I'll give it a generation at most so it won't be the global warming that gets us, it'll be global (or in this case local) dumbing that does it...
Assisting that increasing dumbness (and numbness) is America's collective obsession with "faith in god" which statistics claim is something like 90%. But when you really look at it you find that these days more people either don't believe, or don't have any strong convictions than those who are regular church going theists who have any clue of what they really believe (and even if you go to church on a weekly basis it has no real bearing on whether you actually believe or know what you believe - I've heard at some churches there's free food and wine available followed by a good old sing song, doesn't sound so bad...). I guess it shouldn't really come as any surprise that if America was going to do religion it would do it at least as badly as it does everything else these days (diplomacy, economics, health care, welfare, education). And yet the media continues to pander to the deep pocketed god-corps as freely as it does other corporations, so there really is no breaking out of their stranglehold any more than we can escape from the tyranny of the A to E generation. Sigh. Try and get some real publicity for non religious "free thought" and you'll be ostracized and ridiculed just like homosexuals and racial minorities were just a few decades ago.
Oy.
End of rant
A nice little "joke" about Zen and hot dogs that was mentioned by Christopher Hitchens:
Did you hear the one about the Zen Master who said to the hot dog vendor, "Make me one with everything?"
The hot dog vendor hands him one with everything. The Zen master hands him a $20 bill and the vendor pockets it.
"What about my change?" asked the Zen master.
The hot dog vendor says, "Change comes only from within."
This morning I laughed out loud on the drive to work when I heard Bush say this:
I admire Paul Wolfowitz. I admire his heart and I particularly admired his focus on helping the poor."
My immediate thought was, yes he really did well for his poor girlfriend, gave her one big fat pay raise to get her out of poverty. Yeah, that Wolfie, one heck of a guy...
Of course by the end of the day he probably got his own big fat hand out from the World Bank in return from his resignation. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a nice tax free World Bank retirement policy included to boot.
Tonight I was lucky enough to attend a special preview performance of Josh Kornbluth's new monologue called "Citizen Josh". It was at once fun, entertaining and thought provoking with a distinctly more political bent than normal - that's great for me since Josh is "one of my guys" but it may make it harder to tour with the performance. Better hope he doesn't experience a Mike Daisey style audience coup!
Anyway,early in the show Josh postulated that perhaps America had done so much "exporting of Democracy" in the past few year that it had simple run out of it at home. Sold out, gone, dried up - no more democracy for you. I know what he means, it certainly feels like that at times. What's a country to do? Well the rest of the monologue is all about that and Citizen Josh got his groove back and rekindled his democratic flame. Nicely done Josh.
While browsing books in the book lined basement of City Lights bookstore (San Francisco) it occurred to me that they use up an awful lot of trees to make books. No great revelation there - there's a reason they (geeks) call printed media "thin tree format". However trees are made of carbon which means growing trees, turning them into paper and then storing them, often for hundreds of years must have taken an awful lot of carbon out of play. Yes, books are our very own knowledge based carbon sequestration technique. We should be burning or recylcing books but just filling our basements, garages, and homes with them. What a thought, buying books is patriotic!
But then again I have to wonder, does it take more carbon emissions to produce each book than that which is stored in the book on the shelf? If so maybe it is time for low carbon emissions eco-friendly books.