i wish we were smart enough to think of this ourselves.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
driving sucks now: americans
according to today's new york times, mass transit ridership is already starting to explode:
Some cities with long-established public transit systems, like New York and Boston, have seen increases in ridership of 5 percent or more so far this year. But the biggest surges — of 10 to 15 percent or more over last year — are occurring in many metropolitan areas in the South and West where the driving culture is strongest and bus and rail lines are more limited.
Here in Denver, for example, ridership was up 8 percent in the first three months of the year compared with last year, despite a fare increase in January and a slowing economy, which usually means fewer commuters. Several routes on the system have reached capacity, particularly at rush hour, for the first time.
“We are at a tipping point,” said Clarence W. Marsella, chief executive of the Denver Regional Transportation District, referring to gasoline prices.
wow.
if things are getting this crazy now, just imagine next year when gas is potentially as high as $5 or $6 a gallon. i think i'm going to start a private bus business.
Friday, May 9, 2008
BREAKING MOTHERFUCKING NEWS
Welcome to the next level.
Admittedly, my source is no expert, but he did call for Jim Webb as Obama's most likely running mate long before HuffPost called it out, so he knows his shit.
I just got this message. I took out his name for the sake of anonymity and my comments for the sake of brevity. Technically I must point out that I am in no position to confirm any of this. I can only tell you that I trust my source 100%.
Anyway, here it is:
You hear that?
That's the sound of the fucking sonic boom from the knowledge bomb I just dropped.
They call me Mr. Murder, and I am the shit.
...but they still won't get laid
according to the harvard business review, mmo games such as world of warcraft and everquest may in fact be training grounds for the next generation of real-life leadership:
The organizational and strategic challenges facing players who serve as game leaders are familiar ones: recruiting, assessing, motivating, rewarding, and retaining talented and culturally diverse team members; identifying and capitalizing on the organization’s competitive advantage; analyzing multiple streams of constantly changing and often incomplete data in order to make quick decisions that have wide-ranging and sometimes long-lasting effects. But these management challenges are heightened in online games because an organization must be built and sustained with a volunteer workforce in a fluid and digitally mediated environment.
there's some truth to this, i guess. if you can wrangle a legion of geeks in ironforge, you should be able to do it at qualcomm, right? there are few big problems with translating this into business success, however:
1. nobody fucking cares about your in-game accomplishments. let me put it this way - i'm a recovering mid-level world of warcraft addict myself. if i'm taking job applications and someone mentions in their cover letter how early their guild finished molten core, i'm going to invite them to an interview just to kick them in the nuts.
2. you still dress poorly and smell bad. as the article puts it, "individuals you’d never expect to identify—and who’d never expect to be identified—as “high potentials” for real-world management training end up taking on significant leadership roles in games."
3. you have to interact with people in the real world. but you were never any good at that in the first place. that's why you like mmos. i'd hold off until getting into business until you can interact in the real world via a robot that you can dress up in crazy armor and name some stupid bullshit like "Gforce86" or "xx_pimpington_xx".
4. these games take at least 60 of your hours a week away from the real world. 'nuff said.
i'd say more, but i gotta get back to that game i play called World of Employment.
illegal immigrants: just using the social programs we don't want
from khts am in los angeles:
According to new data from the Department of Public Social Services, nearly twenty five percent of Los Angeles County ’s welfare and food stamp benefits goes directly to the children of illegal aliens, at a cost of $36 million a month -- for a projected annual cost of $432 million.
“The total cost for illegal immigrants to County taxpayers far exceeds $1 billion a year – not including the millions of dollars for education,” said Antonovich. “With $220 million for public safety, $400 million for healthcare, and $432 million in welfare allocations, illegal immigration continues to have a devastating impact on Los Angeles County taxpayers.”
In March, illegals collected over $19 million in welfare assistance and over $16 million in food stamp allocations.
you may be that altruistic and generous. i'm not. just saying.
maybe if we actually held the people who hire them and pay them jack shit responsible for creating this drain on our already-fucked social programs, this problem could be fixed.
too bad they're white and rich, or they would have caught hell for this a long time ago.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Time to rise up on wings like eagles...
Welcome, welcome friends! Welcome to the New Religious Right. Where God and guns go hand in hand... Not that the original BMOC needs either a .38 Special or the Second Amendment for protection. This is the place where the letter of the law is the guiding light of daily life, whether that letter be from the Bible or the Constitution. This is the place where sacrifices are made but only by choice... There is no Robin Hood syndrome here. The New Right is emerging and attempting to make a face for itself. As can be seen in the presidential primaries there is too much tradition and apathy *which is tradition* for true change to happen yet there's enough change out there, or desire for change at the very least, to screw those who hold to tradition. Such is problem for our beleaguered boys in red. The New Right loves Huckabee and yearns for Paul... The New Right looks to help those who need it but expect those who can to pull their own weight. We listen to the call of liberty but also the call of the Lord guiding our principles and morals. Welcome to the voice of the New Right. We have our foundation, we have our direction... Once we find a face and a rallying point it will be time for us to rise up and take our rightful place in the sun. Our search begins here and now. Welcome to the New Right.
Senator...Are Those Calvin Kleins or Wranglers?
Elitist you say? The man is in jeans for God’s sake. All he needs is a cowboy hat and another pint of Pabst Blue Ribbon and maybe Dubya will vote for him. Wait what am I saying? But anyway, nice pose Obamaman.
Oh and Wolf B., how bout an embedding option for all us poor ass bloggers who don't have cool neon colored interactive touch screen maps?
Impending Apocalypse is the Mother of Invention
I don't have time to expound on the awesomeness of Air Trees, because I'm at work.
Still, just look at how freaking rad this is.
From Inhabitat:
The city of Madrid soon plans to add a striking new structure that will “climatically transform” its urban architecture. Designed by Urban Ecosystems, the Air Tree pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and will be 100% energy self-sufficient. Using photovoltaic cells, the Air Tree produces a substantial amount of energy, which is then sold back to the local electric companies, the profits being used for maintenance of the structure. The second byproduct is of course oxygen - hence the name ‘Air Tree’!
I.
Want.
One.
Like Yesterday.
Right-Wing Rant: Inflation
I'm Joeverkill, and this is a Right-Wing Rant.
Inflation. It's on a lot of minds these days.
The topic reminds me of a conversation I had recently with a friend of mine who works at a securities lending firm. Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to get people with jobs like that to give an accurate description of what they do? It's because these people make nothing. They contribute nothing to society. No goods, no meaningful services. A teacher helps others to learn, a bricklayer helps build buildings, a comedian entertains. Investment bankers (and securities lenders, etc.) make money. That's it. What is money? It's meant to be an abstract representation of worth for goods or services. But when you have a whole cadre of assholes making money (and quite a bit of it) without adding anything concrete, you have an imbalance.
Our society is built around debt. Debt creates the constant drive to get more, to do more. Is it a coincidence that during economically prosperous times, the workweek is generally shorter than during recessions? I know there are cohort factors, but I think it's worthwhile to consider the possibility that our ambition is eating us alive. Think of it in terms of supply and demand: workers are flooding the market with hours, so the real value of these hours necessarily must decrease.
I for one am tired of people living above their means. And how can we expect the lower-class guy on the streets not to put those new Jordans on his credit card when the U.S. government is rampantly spending money it doesn't have? It's a top-down problem, and we're digging ourselves ever deeper.
Think of it also in terms of fairness. Is it fair that newer dollars are worth less? Remember that dollar you made in 2000? It's now worth 83 cents.
We need to do something to curtail this insanity. It's time to revamp our currency and tie the dollar back to a hard commodity. I'm Joeverkill, and this is a Right-Wing Rant.
That's It. The Bitch Must Die
Fuck Hillary Clinton.
From that wonderful coloring book they call a newspaper, USA Today:
"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."
"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.
She's right, you know. There is a pattern emerging here. The pattern goes like this.
a) Barack whups Hillary's ass.
b) Hillary says that doesn't matter
c) Hillary makes up some reason why she can still win
d) Hillary attacks Barack
Will someone in the Democratic Party grow a pair and FUCKING TELL THIS BITCH TO SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY????
I don't have time to totally vent my frustration here, but seriously, I'm'a quit my job and kill Hillary Clinton and collect the strength that screams forth from her open neck when I chop off her head Highlander Style if this shit keeps up.
Fuck you, Hillary Clinton. I hope Bill Clinton gives you AIDScancer.
california: still more enlightened than your state
used condoms and half-eaten burgers will now be used to collect other used condoms and half-eaten burgers.
waste management, the aptly-named waste management company, is planning to convert some of the trash it collects into 13,000 gallons/day of natural gas to power the trucks that collect it. this is partially in response to the terminator's big green middle finger to the federal government, who is demanding that us crazy west-coasters reduce carbon emissions by much more than bush and his oil buddies are comfortable with (arnold has even converted his much-loved hummers to run on alternative energy sources. seriously).
this new fuel facility should cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30,000 tons/year. i'm not sure how much that is compared to the total, but hey, it's a start.
from their press release:
Duane Woods, senior vice president, Western group of Waste Management, said, "This project has the potential to allow us to tap into a valuable source of clean energy while greatly reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. This will be the largest plant of its kind and we hope to break new ground by producing commercial quantities. Natural gas is already the cleanest burning fuel available for our collection trucks, and the opportunity to use recovered landfill gas offers enormous environmental benefits to the communities we serve."
let's hope this doesn't get too successful, or we might start invading poorly-maintained countries to take all their garbage.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
check and mate
they say obama's an elitist.
here he is drinking pabst blue ribbon in north carolina. he tipped the bartender $18.
hillary was drinking crown royal. crown royal is way more elitist than pbr. pabst comes in crappy aluminum cans and is a dive bar staple. crown royal comes in a PURPLE VELVET POUCH.
hillary clinton even sucks at meaningless attacks.
Now it's time to defeat the crazy old guy....
As North Carolina and Indiana precincts continued to report and tally ballots yesterday, the Democratic Party witnessed what may be the end of an extensive primary season and in a vote that may ultimately determine the party's 2008 presidential candidate. With the crushing differential of nearly 15 percentage points, Senator Barack Obama took the North Carolina primary with a commanding 200,000+ vote lead over his opponent, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. As projected, the other populous primary state of Indiana would be the determining factor in either a complete Obama victory or a notable win for Clinton -which would likely allow the senator to keep her slowly deteriorating campaign from finally crumbling to bits. With 99% of precincts reporting, the numbers were calculated and projected amongst every cable news station’s election ‘HUD’ graphic (each of which took up at least half of the entire screen).
Indiana primary results: (from The Economist)
Clinton: 50.9%
Obama: 49.1%
This projection seems to be the most mathematically sound projection of the NC and IN results.
With a ‘Hoosiers’-esque reaction to these numbers, myself and surrounding informed persons rejoiced in a fit of not only happiness but relief as well. Relief in the sense that the primaries may be over, and the Democratic Party can finally focus on more pertinent aspects of the actual presidential race. But that relief soon gives way to more malignant and worrisome general election concerns. After Tuesday’s primaries, Senator Obama is now very likely to be named the Democratic presidential candidate , but how Hillary Clinton chooses to lose the race- or bow-out , to euphemise her situation - will determine the party’s immediate strength in the months leading up to November. Already the protracted primaries have been a detriment not only to the Democratic Party, but the party’s presumptive candidates’ image as well. If Senator Clinton decides to concede honorably, she will remove herself as cleanly as possible from the primary race. She must then continually support her former opponent. In doing so, not only will Clinton manage to save face, but the party, as a whole, will benefit.
The period of intra-party separation is over, and now it is time to refocus all efforts on successfully enlightening the country and taking the presidency. This can only be done through a united democratic effort that can stop a traditionalist and xenophobic opposition in the form of John McCain.
Indiana primary results: (from The Economist)
Clinton: 50.9%
Obama: 49.1%
This projection seems to be the most mathematically sound projection of the NC and IN results.
With a ‘Hoosiers’-esque reaction to these numbers, myself and surrounding informed persons rejoiced in a fit of not only happiness but relief as well. Relief in the sense that the primaries may be over, and the Democratic Party can finally focus on more pertinent aspects of the actual presidential race. But that relief soon gives way to more malignant and worrisome general election concerns. After Tuesday’s primaries, Senator Obama is now very likely to be named the Democratic presidential candidate , but how Hillary Clinton chooses to lose the race- or bow-out , to euphemise her situation - will determine the party’s immediate strength in the months leading up to November. Already the protracted primaries have been a detriment not only to the Democratic Party, but the party’s presumptive candidates’ image as well. If Senator Clinton decides to concede honorably, she will remove herself as cleanly as possible from the primary race. She must then continually support her former opponent. In doing so, not only will Clinton manage to save face, but the party, as a whole, will benefit.
The period of intra-party separation is over, and now it is time to refocus all efforts on successfully enlightening the country and taking the presidency. This can only be done through a united democratic effort that can stop a traditionalist and xenophobic opposition in the form of John McCain.
Sexy Politics?
I want your thoughts on this.
Sexy Politics.
Mission Statement:
We are here to inform. Our access to politics has really changed. We're forced to adapt to the times. And the present times are interactive. Innovative. We are making use of what is not only an innovation revolution, but an engagement revolution.
It’s why we built a platform that offers a new approach to connecting people with politics. It’s why we hope it incentivizes education and political awareness.
Being informed could lead to a great lifestyle. There are problems to be addressed, and we believe informed people will handle those problems best. If what we're doing gets someone who would not normally care about politics to spend a minute learning about it, then we think that's real sexy.
I did some snooping around, and my final verdict stands thusly: I think this place could use a whole lot more actual content. I'm not saying I'd write for them, but I'm saying that if they had Obama Girl hit me up, I might think about it.
hillary clinton: 'post-rational' president, perfect running mate?
i agree with mr. murder's sentiments below: it's finally fucking over.
don't believe any media hype attempting to prolong this contest. even if she keeps fighting, she's mathematically eliminated and out of money, having dropped $1.4 million out of pocket in the last week, according to reuters. hillary rodham clinton may still be outwardly campaigning to the death, but if she's as savvy of a politician as i suspect her to be, she knows she's licked. it's time to hang it up.
hillary, if you know what's good for you, it's time to consider the fact that you will not win. if you truly stand for any of the ideals of the democratic party, you will quit immediately and get out of the way of the obama express. ain't no stoppin' this train.
this brings up the inevitable question: could she be obama's running mate? can she put aside the bitter, divisive attacks and stop cannibalizing her own party?
of course she can. while clinton's behavior over the last several weeks has been best described by msnbc anchordyke rachel maddow as "post-rational", you don't get that far in politics by being that dismissive of reality (most of the time), especially when you have built a career in the senate out of allegedly being a tough-talking pragmatist.
i've been talking shit on clinton for some time now, but the plain and simple truth is that she is the best running mate for barack obama, and obama/clinton would wipe the fucking floor with mccain/unnamed-jesusfreak-patsy. beyond that, i think hillary, while an inferior choice for president, is exactly the right type of person for the job of vice-president. here's why this is a good idea:
-"unify the democrats" blahblahblah. because clinton is such a centrist (and arguably a potential republican), the middle will flock to obama/clinton in droves.
-hillary is a poor diplomat, but a very shrewd master of policy, but a notorious policy wonk. as president of the senate, she stands in a very good position to understand and promote the obama administration's policies within the senate.
-clinton is a politician's politician: this is clearly manifested in what can only be dubbed her insider-ism: she's lying, half-truthing and pandering to her constituents like most politicians, and sees that part of the job as only a small portion of lawmaking. most of it is done behind closed doors, whether we like it or not, and she'll be willing to roll up her sleeves in that area and handle a lot of obama's dirt while keeping him squeaky clean (yes, sometimes i dabble in realpolitik).
-a black dude and a woman running the show is an amazing symbol of social progress, especially since they're taking their respective offices away from pinky and the brain.
-speaking of bush and cheney, clinton's a fucking attack dog. she will hunt down and prosecute these two - along with the people who aided them - to the full extent of the law for their crimes against america and humanity.
however, i have huge concerns with her anywhere near the white house:
-back to her post rational campaign...can we trust her to accurately and seriously address tough issues that some people simply don't want to acknowledge (our complicity in climate change, the possible end of the automobile-facilitated suburb, etc.)?
-can we trust her to work in the interests of the american people rather than the companies that fund her?
-most importantly: can we trust her to rescind the vice presidential powers asserted by cheney, or will she just be another disingenuous criminal of a politician?
...
-tinfoil hat moment: can we trust her to not orchestrate president obama's assassination?
UPDATE: but admit it - she's kind of a crazy bitch.
$200 Barrel of Oil?
$200 Barrel of Oil?
OIL briefly reached another record on Tuesday May 6th as West Texas Intermediate traded at over $122 a barrel for the first time. Ten years ago a barrel fetched around $15. The feeble dollar, soaring demand and supply constraints have all helped to push up prices by 25% in the past four months alone. And there is little sign of respite for worried governments and consumers. This week Goldman Sachs, a bank, predicted that oil could reach $200 a barrel before the end of the year.
OIL briefly reached another record on Tuesday May 6th as West Texas Intermediate traded at over $122 a barrel for the first time. Ten years ago a barrel fetched around $15. The feeble dollar, soaring demand and supply constraints have all helped to push up prices by 25% in the past four months alone. And there is little sign of respite for worried governments and consumers. This week Goldman Sachs, a bank, predicted that oil could reach $200 a barrel before the end of the year.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Barack Gets Jump Start on Eventual Presidency....
....by helping bring peace to the Niger Delta?
From MOTHERFUCKING REUTERS:
Rebels who have stepped up attacks on Nigeria's oil industry in the last month said on Sunday they were considering a ceasefire appeal by U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has launched five attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta since it resumed a campaign of violence in April, forcing Royal Dutch Shell to shut more than 164,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
"The MEND command is seriously considering a temporary ceasefire appeal by Senator Barack Obama. Obama is someone we respect and hold in high esteem," the militant group said in an e-mailed statement.
At this point, if you told me the man moonlights as Batman, I'd believe it.
pelosi attempts to extract $100b+ from own anus
madam speaker, are you FUCKING RETARDED?
"It's clear there is a need for a second stimulus," Pelosi, a California Democrat, told reporters at a news conference.
"The president has for a long time been in denial on the state of the economy," she said.
Bush, backed by fellow Republicans in Congress, has indicated he wants to wait and see how the first stimulus package works before looking at another one.
"I don't think that we have that amount of time," Pelosi said. "There are indications that this downturn is steeper than it was when we created the first stimulus package."
yeah, pelosi, it is. but let me explain something to you about money, and namely our financial situation: WE DON'T FUCKING HAVE ANY.
look nancy, i know you're a politician, and you have to pander to your voters in order to save face for the fact that you're completely toothless and neutered against the logically sound and popularly supported bush administration, but we are NINE TRILLION DOLLARS in debt.
that's (as of around noon pacific today) $30,772.80 for every man, woman, and child who is a citizen of the united states.
now let me explain something to you, madam speaker. let's say we all get another $600 stimulus check, like you're suggesting. last i heard, we haven't had a budget surplus since the clinton administration, so here's our two options:
1) get the fed to print more money with their magic money machine. sadly, the kinks still have to be worked out, as making more money somehow makes each individual dollar worth less.
2) borrow it from the chinese...thus making our per capita national debt...
drum roll please...
$31,372.80!
you want me to forgive you for being an idiot? impeach bush and cheney and try them for war crimes.
seriously, that's all i ask.
Desperate Barack Obama begs Democrats: Help me finish Hillary | News | This is London
Barack Obama made an impassioned appeal to voters last night to end Hillary Clinton's dreams of another comeback in the race for the White House.
The Illinois senator told Democrat voters heading to the polls today in Indiana and North Carolina: "I need help."
...Mr Obama has also been endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Springsteen and Scarlett Johansson.
Despite receiving her own support from celebrities including Barbra Streisand, Jerry Springer and Martha Stewart, Mrs Clinton was being written off just a month ago.
--It's like a fuckin' comic book.
Superman: "Batman and Robin, Catwoman and Nightwing, I need your help to defeat the greatest threat mankind has ever faced!"
But look who's contending!: Oprah could unleash the might of the uneasily-slumbering horde of middle-aged house-crones. We could invade Russia with that kind of power. Blacks everywhere and middle-aged housewives-- what more does the man need? and I'm sure any hot-blooded American male would listen to the persuasive, erm, voice of Scarlett Johansson.
Fitting that Clinton has in her corner Barbara Streisand and Martha Stewart. though I think Jerry Springer just might be taking the piss...
Monday, May 5, 2008
Yes, It was at the top of digg
it still sucks.
From Freepress.org:
Contrary to two centuries of American election law, the Court has ruled 6-3 that it is legal for a state to require official photo ID in order to vote. The lead decision in this case, written by liberal Justice John Paul Stevens, acknowledges that there is no evidence of voter fraud to make this requirement vital to the security of the election process. Indeed, it is clearly stated in the minority opinion that requiring photo ID to vote discriminates heavily against citizens who are young, poor, elderly and of color.
The Indiana primary will now be the first in US history with a Supreme Court-certified requirement for photo ID...
There is simply no doubt this requirement will eliminate hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters in November. It is in place not only in Indiana, but in Florida, Michigan, Louisiana, Georgia, Hawaii and North Dakota. Other Republican-controlled legislatures will hasten to duplicate the requirement, though it's unclear how many can pull it off before this November.
Awesome.
Mildred Loving, Jack Johnson, Love Pioneers.
RICHMOND, Va. - Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died, her daughter said Monday.
Old heroes die everyday around us and we must remember them. I never heard of the wonderfully appropriately named Loving before today but after reading about her and her husband I felt the need to mention her. They stood up for the right to love anyone and marry anybody, regardless of what black and white society said. Something as fundamental as that was denied people in America a scant 41 years ago. Just imagine the amount of pressure these two must have felt to bend to the will of society. Their fight helped end and heal a chapter of American history in the most dignified possible way. That fight continues today for our gay brothers and sisters who face much the same form of repression that the Lovings did.
But to go back to interracial marriage, or miscegenation as it was cruelly designated - take the case of the champion heavy weight champion of the world from 1908 - 1915, Jack Johnson. They searched long and wide for a 'Great White Hope' to beat Johnson. When the appointed fighter, former champion James J Jeffries failed to beat him, it triggered race riots across America, a 4Th of July by the way. But the reason for the extent of the hatred felt against Jackson was not just his physical and athletic prowess or his flamboyant personality that embraced fast cars (this guy was caught speeding in 1910 and paid the officer 100 dollars instead of 50 so that he could speed on his way out of town). Jack defied society's deepest taboos in dating and marrying white women, openly and without apology.In 1920 he was arrested for violating the Mann act - a law meant to combat trafficking of women for immoral purposes across state lines. He had sent a railroad ticket to his white girlfriend Belle Schreiber for her to travel from Chicago to Pittsburgh. A little snivelling rat trap of a law to fell a giant of a man. This guy basically wrote the textbook on the celebrity African American athlete - he was the quintessential bad boy who drank, danced, caroused and defiantly lived out his life in front of a disapproving and puritanical public. Before Muhammed Ali and Mike Tyson and OJ, he stood - the mold for the men they would be. He was no saint either, he was as human and fallible as any of us but he was ahead of his time and paid the price for it.
If you want to see a sensational portrayal of his life be sure to rent or torrent- "The Great White Hope" starring James Earl Jones in an unforgettable and eerily life like portrayal of Jack. Compare 'Darth Vader's' histrionics to the real Jack Johnson from Ken Burns' brilliant documentary - 'Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson'. James Earl gets the mixture of pride, amiability and sheer bullheadedness of this peerless showman just right. This country and the world needs fighters and lovers both, both types mingled under the same skin, regardless of the skin type. Jack and Mildred were both, the women and man who loved them were too.
The perception of mixed race couples and marriage is still far from enlightened. Take the case of Bob Jones university that lifted a ban on interracial dating as late as 2000, after a George W Bush visit prompted a media storm. As an international student I observed an overwhelming desire of people to stick to communities of similar ethnic background. It never made sense to me to come to a whole different country and to college - a place for openness and learning - and stick to your own safe umbrella community. Why do people feel the desire to disappear into the anonymity of a crowd of similar looking people anyway? The desire to go out and mingle with different people is a very individualistic one, a very American one. Its strange that it has taken so long to realise this fact in the United States.
This whole presidential campaign is another example of racial narrow mindedness. Why is the media promoting the idea that somehow your race or sex will decide your allegiance? True, they are just regurgitating poll data, but, don't you think their incessant interpretation of data through the prism of race and demographic somehow affects the way we align ourselves. I promote a more personal vote, a more individualistic vote, but also a vote for the good of the community. What I mean by this is - stop thinking of yourself as a member of a demographic but rather as a member of the community at large. In other words, think for yourself by ignoring the media's race/class obsession and start thinking of how your vote will affect all of us. A vote is a civic duty after all is it not?
Communesque.
The recent executive elections in Russia have caused a great level of speculation to arise on account of the authoritative infrastructure now imposed. Former president of the country, Vladmir Putin, has not fully conceded his administrative powers; even though a new figure has been elected, Dimitri Medvedev.
“Mr Putin spent the eight years since he was first elected president building up the powers of the office. He neutered the once-combative legislature and appointed prime ministers distinguished only by their loyalty.”
Putin, during his recent terms, has seemingly orchestrated an administrative body that has complete control over all aspects of the government. The United Russian Party (the ruling party of the Duma by two-thirds majority) has enabled Putin to continually protract his already extensive stint of power, by offering him not only the position of party leader, but also as prime minister of the country. The newly elected Dimitri Medvedev would seemingly bring focus upon rebalancing the somewhat out-of-sync legislative and administrative bodies, but the recent transfer of powers (widely in favor of Putin), have motioned to the contrary.
“Certainly Mr Medvedev shows no sign of complaining about his lot. Indeed, he added his voice to calls for Mr Putin to accept the party leadership, saying this was “logical and timely”.”
It seems as if Putin is attempting to officially concede his presidency, but at the same time retain enough power to call himself a ruling figure. Although this is obviously authoritarian of him and of the occupying ruling party, the country faces change in a possible positive way. Clearly an authoritarian form of government seems regressive, especially when the country will have not one, but two ruling figures with similar power. But perhaps this is what the struggling nation that is Russia needs. It may not be a fresh or even unfamiliar reform, but it is a reform that will be widely nationalist, and help focus more so on Russia’s domestic and social struggles before returning to the International platform.
Russia, mainly after its reform of the Communist infrastructure, has seen incredibly drastic declines in its socio-political growth. Honestly, regional efforts to bolster the Russian demographic go as far as a holiday for procreation. Perhaps the authoritative like government now in place will sanction a more isolationist’s philosophy when dealing internationally; at the same time becoming widely nationalists in dealing with attempts to reconcile social regression.
police state goes broke; mustache-grooming budget slashed in half
those of us who were born any time from the end of world war II until the 90's grew up assuming that america was good at everything. we had the best weapons, the best democracy, the best music, and the best movie special effects.
the 21st century sucks. it seems like every day we lose our footing in one field or another: scientific progress, human rights, olympic basketball, and now, our crown jewel is being threatened. we're in danger of losing our status as the world leader in incarcerations (both raw numbers and per capita, 2.3 million and 1 out of every 99.1, respectively).
thanks to a budget crisis, some state governments are being forced to release non-violent inmates early and end parole systems.
Between 1987 and last year, states increased their higher education spending by 21 percent, in inflation-adjusted dollars, according to the Pew Center on the States. During the same period, spending on corrections jumped by 127 percent.
In the Northeastern states, according to the Pew report, prison spending over the past 20 years has risen 61 percent, while higher education spending has declined by 5.5 percent.
California -- which has the country's worst fiscal crisis, with a potential shortfall of $20 billion -- has seen its prison-related spending swell to $10.4 billion for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. About 170,000 inmates are packed into California's 33 prisons, which were designed to hold 100,000. About 15,000 prisoners are being housed in emergency beds, in converted classrooms and gymnasiums.
fuck it, why bother spending money on both education and corrections, or converting classrooms into prison cells? why continue to justify stripping high school kids of their constitutional rights? let's just merge schools and prisons!
law enforcement officials: wondering how you can still bust some heads and kick some asses when your state governments are clearly being run by terror-loving commies? here's a few simple ways that you can still meet quota:
1) racial profiling - just beat up the next raghead that looks at you funny. they don't have rights in gitmo, so why should they here?
2) "accidental" fatalities - seriously...they're gonna get tortured in prison anyways, and it's not like tyree was gonna make anything of himself.
3) find people who look like they got let out early due to budget cuts (see item 1), and taser them on sight, just to "keep them honest".
4) suburban cops: make up new victimless crimes just to pester poor naive middle-class folk. im sure you can convince a few people that picking your butt in public is illegal.
5) lay off busting people for possession charges. seriously.
with the us broke as shit and democracy falling apart everywhere, it's only a matter of time until we get outdone on prison numbers by the chinese. if we lose our perch there, there's only one man left we can depend on to keep amurka at #1: joey chestnut.
keep fighting the good fight, joey! if america's fat ass falls off the top of the competitive eating circuit, all is lost.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Pie charts and political psychology, Race and demographic
I was reading an article in the Sunday edition of the Noo York Times today called - 'Race and the Race - A Fault Line That Haunts the Democrats''. This article interested me because I have been interested in the historical shift in loyalties of Southern voters since the civil rights era. However, apart from the basics, there was little detail regarding the gruelling Democrat Primary seasons of 68 and 72 and the aftermath of civil rights era.
I saw a documentary once on the 68 DNC convention that was fascinating in that it showed the sense of desperation that surrounded the political scene in that era. People got down in the streets back then and the voting and violence that surrounded it seemed to come from closer in the heart. Maybe the difference was that the Vietnam war had dragged on for 9 years at that point, 9 years that elapsed concurrently with unparalled social change. There has been a siesmic shift in political activity and thinking since those heady days of optimism mingled with bitterness. Back then, people watched the news together. If the revolution were televised today, half of us would be watching CSI or Southpark, separated from the action by 20 or 50 channels.
When I watch the news, I am struck by the remarkable Americanness of it all. The closest thing to the method and the commentary used by the pundits are the sports channels that precede the news channels on the dial. One sees an abundance of pie charts with an emphasis on percentages and technical terms. When these methods are used in sports they help to create an aura of professionalism and rigorousness that separates the pros from the amateurs. When they are used in the realm of politics they serve to provide the news casters with a distance from the news they read. It helps to create an air of impartiality and they derive their divinity from this cool distance. However, the more I hear them talk about how white voters vote or black voters feel, the more I feel like nothing substantial is being said, that somehow our actions are being dictated to us, our psychology exposed to us in a shallow and superficial way.
Maybe its just the duhumanising effect of being reduced to a racial or economic statistic. Toward the end of the article a stratergist says about Obama - “He’s been pulled into a demographic corner, not a racial corner,”. I thought to myself, race is just a demographic, isn't that the point of all we have learnt from history, isn't that the logical end point of our attempts at enlightenment. At this point, race should be just a talking point, a historical accident. Unfortunately I guess I am more naive than I thought. Besides, a 24 hour news cycle is like a gossipy sewing circle or a mic'ed water cooler. Sheer boredom drives the whole enterprise and there is no worse crime than not having something to say. I guess we are lucky that we can flip away from the news.
Hillz accidentally pwnd by Guam Voter
The Huffington Post ran some article pretending that the Guam primaries matter.
This would be completely forgettable, if not for this gem from a Guam voter:
"She's had the experience," [Guam voter] said. "She's got her husband to help her."
I want that on a poster...
Hillary Clinton: She's Got Her Husband to Help Her
stewart grills dean; daily show now more legit than cnn
thursday night's episode of the daily show featured '04 netroots kook candidate and current democratic party chair howard dean. dean had a few interesting things to say, including the previously unreported fact that he will find a way for florida and michigan to have delegates at the national convention in denver:
note: thedailyshow.com has every segment from every single stewart-era daily show. it's pretty sweet.
all the belligerent zealots and braindead talking heads in the news media should pay close attention to what jon stewart does here - he conducts a friendly yet tough interview, calling out problems with the current primary campaign process and dismissing all the bullshit gossip that passes for legitimate media in this country. rev. wright and the bosnia sniper thing were only referenced as footnotes to bring up the point that the entire process is fubar.
say what you will about stewart's bias to the left - it's out in the open, and not swept under the table in the name of 'objective' reporting. whether we like to admit it or not, every single piece of information communicated from another source is going to be biased in some way shape or form.
i've had this conversation with several people, and nobody seems to disagree - it's safe to say that the daily show has become one of the more legitimate sources of political commentary and discourse on network television, and often contains more factual information about the news. congratulations to the big cable and broadcast news programs - you're being outdone by comedy central.
we all know that fox news is a complete joke, and future generations will rightfully dismiss it as yellow journalism at best and far-right nationalist propaganda at worst. while there are likely still some legitimate journalists left everywhere in the media machine (former sportscenter god keith olbermann has been possessed by the ghost of edward r murrow for about 10 years), these news organizations are quickly getting lost in the explosion of media options we've seen in the last couple decades, and now have resorted to getting our attention by using the lowest common denominator: hot girls and explosions.
maybe this is what tv's all about. maybe grandma was right - it does rot your brain. it's no coincidence that the development of writing and its subsequent replacement of visual culture made us way smarter. i guess it makes sense that the court jester is king in a land full of fools.
A short lesson in energy economics
Refinery strike 'risks supplies'
Gee, why would a strike do that?
"Planned strike action at the Grangemouth oil refinery which unions say could disrupt fuel supplies poses a threat to safety, it has been warned."
Recently there has been massive turmoil in the northwestern quadrant of this continent over a single refinery -- the Grangemouth refinery in central Scotland.
Ineos decided to axe pensions in an effort to "remain a competitive long-term business".
Being an unabashedly blood-red socialist, I have no qualms whatsoever over the working man organising to protect his own from class assault. I wish I was a refinery worker, actually.
Let's put this in proper historical context, however. Many have mentioned the great coal miners' strike of the 80's, which was a watershed in modern British history. On one hand, it proved that the people have officially less say than their elected government: it ended with military force on civilian resistance strongholds --the army actually assaulted the mines the miners were blockading and arrested mass amounts of people. On the other hand, it showed just what unions can do if they really wanted to: the coal mining industry was nationalised at the time, the vast majority of power in the UK was from coal, and the resulting monopoly meant that the coal workers in effect held the country's energy supply hostage over closure disputes. To put a long story short, the government decided that the country could not be shut down, but they would not give in to the demands of effective "economic terrorists". That it was Thatcher's administration who did so was no coincidence.
(Former) union workers are bitter towards non-union workers; non-union workers are bitter towards (former) union workers. In finality, what was the gradual closure of a slowing industry was catalysed a thousandfold by the very industrial action to protect the industry. The miners ultimately speeded their own doom.
Why this is brought up now is because (a) energy prices are already stupidly-high around the world and especially the UK, causing everyone other than refinery workers and their closest relations to hate anything and anyone who makes them higher and b) "it is Scotland's only oil refinery, one of eight in the UK".
For a country which at least used to be one of the world's top oil producers, this is ridiculous. In Russia, refineries seem to pop up more often than homeless people.
In fact, with the oil-production capacity of the UK, they have had to ship oil thousands of miles from their own North Sea to have it refined, only to have it shipped back for usage. Apparently the most expensive fuel in the UK is in the Shetland Islands--ironically or not the place closest to the North Sea reserves themselves. This country is already a repeat offender of globalisation glutton, probably highlighted by the "food miles" controversy: the fact that even "environmentalists" like the idea of organic foods shipped from New Zealand makes as much sense as building a giant air-conditioner to combat global warming.
The point is that the logistics of energy, especially in this country, are fucked. With the threat of a single refinery going off-line for 48 hours, prices for everything -- not just filling up your tank at Shell -- will go up... and even if the workers end up benefiting in the short-term, it actually lines the pockets of the energy companies more. If you were a real conspiracy-lover, you might say that Ineos removed the pay package knowing that the workers would threaten with a strike, causing oil prices to go nuts and then allowing them to retain the pension scheme and make even more profit at the same time. or they'll probably ultimately remove the pensions anyway.
To keep everything running smoothly, supplies have been re-routed all the way from Rotterdam to Gothenburg... but haven't we forgotten that the UK gov't now stockpiles energy resources for this very occasion?
No matter what economic/political environment exists, non-renewable resources are, by their very essense, a dying industry. Eventually, no matter how well worked-out the balance of everyone's rights combined with production and demand is, coal will run out. oil will run out. It has long been understood by realists that the North Sea is drying up. BP, StatoilHyrdo and the like have their tentacles all over the world, so that's not a problem for them. The problem is for workers-- like those who are striking just now. They cannot move to Saudi Arabia to retain their livelihoods: there are Saudis already there with the jobs and already being paid 1/20 of what British/Norwegian/whoever workers do. A few expert engineers and project managers have the worth to be that mobile, but most don't.
The actual environmental impacts aside, this is a general lesson in modern economics: the modern world must be able to adapt to changing and dying industries. Strangely enough, as redundancy is ultimately inevitable, redundancy must be handled well. The dole isn't enough by itself-- even though it at least keeps people from starving.
Not only must individuals be able to handle the changes of the tides, but nations and the world in themselves must be able to. Nigeria, a country overlooked by so many in the light of Sudan, Iraq, North Korea, etc, has an unbelievable amount of money flowing through it in the form of oil and gas. However, it is terribly poor, rife with corruption, organised crime and outright civil strife. This country used military force to massacre its own people to allow corporate workers access to their lands, but it seems a world "lost cause": "The country's fucked, but the economy is still growing and companies still operate and make shitloads of petrodollars, so that's the best we can do"... even though McCain will happily work on Iraq for 100 years.
My point with this is that once Nigeria's oil and gas runs out, the companies will all move on and Nigeria will be a broken, rotting shell of a country: the government now is most certainly not concerned with the long-term survival of its countrymen, so why on Earth would we expect them to have a plan for when unemployment reaches 99% and mass starvation breaks out? There will probably be another civil war after Nigeria reaches the apex of its energy output.
Back to Britain, the 1970's were a boon like no other with the discovery of oil in the North Sea. However, no long-term benefits came from it. There is a chip on the collective Scottish shoulder that "it's our oil" that caused Britain/England (London) to be so successful: all the revenues didn't go to the workers, wasn't put into infrastructure or expansion; it went to corporate offices in London. Scotland as a nation has the highest unemployment and has the worst regions for unemployment in the UK. What is not said is what sorts of jobs people have in Scotland: in the UK, industry in general is gone. What largely remains is service-based jobs and management. Even those are far and few between in Scotland compared to England. The Scottish oil industry despite its moribund status is still the country's most impressive economic asset.
Iain from Southwest Scotland is just finishing his dissertation for a Bachelor of Engineering at Napier University. His father is an engineer, working long-term seasonally in Azerbaijan: "No one wants to work in the North Sea: it's fucking cold and you're paid shit like-- but in five years you won't even be able to get a post there anyway".
Once the North Sea dries up, Scotland's benefits-army will increase tenfold: refineries will shut down, petrochemical industries, transport and shipping, surveying companies... and there seems to be no one willing to invest in new business in Scotland. BP is thriving, but what does that mean even to the UK as a whole? BP pays corporate taxes, but most of its profits and operations are overseas now anyway. You might say BP took the UK's wealth and ran. They outsourced jobs and pay relatively few taxes anyway. The people who do work for BP in the UK contribute a small percentage of the entire economy... just because a lot of them are stupidly rich doesn't mean that that money really helps. Ask anyone about trickle-down economics for a heated debate possibly followed by a fistfight or stabbing.
Let's take a look at the other side of the North Sea, at a different history. Norway has also benefited from the oil boom, and with the surge of prices the country's wealth continues to explode. In the 1960's the country was poorer than most every other state in western Europe, and when compared to its close neighbour Sweden looked like a third-world country at the time.
Now Norway enjoys Swedish migrant workers to fill menial jobs. The country consistently ranks as having the highest (or one of the highest) standard(s) of living in the world, with one of the highest home-ownership rates, excellent figures for public health, extensive and high-quality public servics, and also has no national debt, some of the greatest personal purchasing power, and the lowest unemployment in Europe, at 2.5% in 2006.
Why is this? Lefties and righties will both find the same piece of information: The government owns the majority of the shares of StatoilHydro. Put into technical terms, everyone owns stock in it. The profits have been used to invest in everything from hospitals and health-maintenance programmes to education, infrastructure and even research and development.
But what happens when the oil and gas runs out? Profits from the company itself are never actually used: they're put into the Government Pension Fund, the second-largest state-owned wealth fund in the world (the largest being the one in Abu Dhabi, and we probably can deduce how many people that benefits). Even now, the fund is used to invest in new industries-- including new energy technologies (perhaps to mitigate the guilt of enabling world destruction through supplying carbon fuels?). In fact, the country has already long been virtually independent of oil itself-- almost all of its own needs are met by locally-produced hydroelectric power.
While the majority of the country's economy still piggy-backs off of the oil and gas ones, technological and knowledge/laboratory-based exports are benefiting as well.
You can call it all a pinko commie way of redistributing the wealth, but Alaska uses a similar idea. Why is Alaska not the most prosperous part of the USA-- despite being the most lucrative in terms of resource production and even having its own public investment fund?
Well, how are dividends from the Alaska Permanent Fund spent? Every Alaskan resident gets, once a year... a cheque. Where does that cheque go? I know what I'd spend it on-- and it wouldn't be a pension or a CD. I'd pay off some of my loans and probably buy a new computer or pair of skis. This is an All-American variant of the same idea: prosperity through consumption. They expect the cheques to stimulate the Alaskan economy by encouraging people to buy more shit. Just like our tax-rebate gift from Fearless Leader.
Considering what Alaska is like these days, I can really see the benefit. I don't care about a 40% tax rate if my most-likely salary is $70k/annum in a country that in all reality isn't much more expensive than the UK-- where it would be more like 40% and $40. I'm not sure where all the taxes go because it's certainly not to public services. Most likely to the military.
Of course, Norways' success story has its failings. Apparently people there are pissed off about why, with all their stored wealth, they can't be even more affluent. Apparently a big topic is that the conservative party/-ies want(s) to start spending shitloads of money and reduce taxes at the same time, while the Labour party still stick to their guns of "prepare for hard times today".
If my ex-flatmate who also is daughter of a regional MP is accurate, apparently the "old folk" want to keep doing it the old way. The younguns are divided: some think that things shouldn't change, risking losing what they have--while the upstart, confident, the-future-is-ours want to liberalise, thinking it will give greater (personal) freedoms and thus greater prosperity-- "I shouldn't be forced to invest through taxes" etc. However, if she's telling the truth, the main supporters of the FRPseem to be the baby boomer generation.
I wonder where we've seen this trend before?
On a final note, the wealth of the Russian government is mind-boggling, and it can all be thanked to two words-- Lukoil and Gazprom. They've got an oil fund too, but with how fucked up the country is, it's neither spent on national investment nor personal welfare. I don't know what they're using it for, but having lived in St Petersburg myself, I think I can guess.
What can this teach us about economics? There are ways of mitigating the ebb and flow of the economy through smart collective investment, one which can only be controlled by the (educated) people to benefit the people. It would even be possible for the USA to, say, create a state fund from general personal/corporate taxation. That could please even some right-wingers: using income taxes to effectively purchase shares for the benefit of the person. (Of course, it would probably for them be "individual accounts" where those who pay more taxes also invest more and so reap more long-term benefits).
Finally, such investment must also be in the sense of investment in people: when people lose their livelihood, they've become obsolete, they should not have to fear it. Extensive opportunities for re-training and education would allow people to resume their lives: refinery work is not so unique that such workers are completely helpless and inexperienced at everything else. A proper system of unemployment benefits and lifelong education combined with regular, intelligent investment in (local) industry will make industrial actions history-- and no one will bemoan it. In fact, apparently Denmark has done something like that, and has blown the protectionist European dinosaurs out of the water.
As the USA really doesn't have any material resources of abundance in relation to its size, and people have a very strong individualistic streak, Denmark's model may be the more comparable. I see a huge resistance for either a corporate public fund or unemployment-retraining programmes, but the latter would definitely meld better with traditional pro-labour Democrats and maybe a few progressive capital owners.
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