Solutions and Rants for A Better World (?)

Why is this not being funded like Jewish Ponzi Scheme???

2010-12-09T14:43:00.001-08:00

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/boy-discovers-microbe-that-eats-plastic

It's about a 16 year old Canadian and teenaged Taiwanese boy who both synthesized up a microbe that chews up 40-45% of plastic in 6 weeks. WTF go crazy EPA?? Jesus.

Watch the Devastating Consequences of People Unprepared for Anything but Profit

2010-05-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

Google are Fucking Cowards

2010-01-21T20:01:00.000-08:00

The irony does not escape me that I am posting on a google based system.

Neither does it matter though in this instance.

Google - shame on you. You are fucking cowards.

Would you like to see how?

Google "christianity is"

Google "judaism is"

Google "hinduism is"

Google "buddhism is"

Google "islam is"

Google. You are fucking cowards.

Grow a pair you fucking pussies. Stop caving in to ignorant fanatics who look at women like they are property and are so terrified of change that they fight when challenged.

How fucking dare you censor yourself after your most recent row with China. You fucking spineless hypocrites.

Fuck you.

-Mzziqztixl

Everyone Always Asks - Where Do We Start? - Well Here Is My Idea for Tomorrow

2009-12-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

The three ways to change the world in one year.

Build a fleet of delta wing planes (that are already completely designed) and ground every piece of shit plane that we have flying.

Build a shit ton of railway that moves at roughly the speed of sound (which we can do and plans are again already set in place) and move our economy from 56k to broadband.

Go fucking get space tomorrow (pour a trillion dollars into it, fuck it, jobs will be created we know that someone is gonna have to build this insane shit) and let proven scientists with brilliant ideas go absolutely fucking nuts.

Do you know...Can you see what that world would look like one year from now....?

All it would take is for us to start tomorrow morning at 9 am.

~Mzz

P.S. See you guys for coffee at 8.

The Beauty and Cost of Our System of Dominance

2009-11-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

Did you know that 4% of our GDP goes to defense? $711 Billion in 2008.

Now, before you say something really ignorant such as "that's what every other country spends, it's all part of the game" you need to pull the blinders off and accept the reality that American is an imperial power with unlimited jurisdiction and extreme prejudice. If you are an American and did not know that, you are a fucking moron. That $711 Billion was fully half (48%, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Feb. 2008) of the the world's TOTAL spent on defense. That age-old pesky rival of ours headed by the implacable Czar Putin...yeah they spent $70 Billion last year. That scary red country just over the horizon that "may one day challenge the superiority of America" spent $122 Billion. Pardon me for saying so but LOL - is it any wonder we get away with murder (literally :( )? We can eradicate a threat anywhere on Earth and be home for chicken fried steak by 5pm.

Now, this is starting to sound to my ears like I favor this absurdity. It certainly will let me sleep well tonight knowing that my country still has the proverbial ten inch cock in relation to global military affairs but the sad, awful truth lies in where we get the money to fund our implacable juggernaut that is the United States Armed Forces.

The allocation of taxes in 2009 will be thus:

1) 44% to cover the cost of current military spending AND our obligations from previous wars.

2) 11% on non-military debt i.e. the debt on our currency. Google zeitgeist and all that conspiracy garbage is you want to learn more about that.

3) 20% Health Care - take this with a grain of salt.

4) 12% Responses to Poverty - Honestly. What. The. Fuck. Is. This? 12% and I can safely say they have nothing to show for it because I see homeless fucks panhandling me all the time. I'm not going to delve into this, but I think this should be just as enraging as the health care issue but America has a one track mind and is busy right now so fuck it...

5) 7% Government Operations - ...whatever.I'm not touching this.
Now the sad stuff.

6) 2.5% Science, Energy, Environment - Honestly, where is my fucking candidate? The one who thinks this should be like 50% of the budget.

7) 2.2% Education - It really fucking shows too.

8) 1.5% Diplomacy and Needs Abroad. - Giving 1.5% away is the least we can do. We have everything that exists to have.

So yeah, about that 4.7% that contains the most important ingredients to our future, this is fucking humiliating, embarrassing and rage-inducing. It is also entirely unsustainable. Since 2001, the most direct link to the degradation of the US economy has been the unprecedented rise in military spending which is estimated to go up another $60 Billion by the end of 2009. It costs a lot to stay top dog, right? Oh wait...after all that, here is the worst part:

The lion’s share of this money is not spent by the Pentagon on protecting American citizens. It goes to supporting U.S. military activities, including interventions, throughout the world. Were this budget and the organization it finances called the “Military Department,” then attitudes might be quite different. Americans are willing to pay for defense, but they would probably be much less willing to spend billions of dollars if the money were labeled “Foreign Military Operations.”

-— The Billions For “Defense” Jeopardize Our Safety, Center For Defense Information, March 9, 2000

So all of this, isn't even making us safer? I have only one way to describe my emotions right now.... :(

By the way, anyone who wanted to disagree with me about America being an extremely Imperial power. Feel free to help yourself to a nice glass of reality. How's it taste? Not very yummy huh...

I had to say something about it

2009-09-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

Universal Health Care is an inevitability.

Let me start with that and work backwards. The method is, as always, the fun part. Here is my main negative, the government has one more way to be up in my shit. I don't want my bloodwork to turn into a drug screening. I don't want someone to know that I almost lost my leg to an infection. I don't want my prescription history available to anyone - that most assuredly would create difficulties. But more than anything else, I don't want government approved doctors.

I'm a lockean capitalist - everyone knows that I fucking adore the idea that you can be anything you want as long as you work for it. A beneath poverty level Midwestern kid can become the most iconic investor ever in this incredible system. So I like that the free market controls healthcare - when the government got involved IS WHERE THE FUCKING PROBLEMS BEGAN!!!!! Even the liberals and conservatives can agree that healthcare costs began rising dramatically after the approval of Kaiser Permanente's managed health care plan brought to you by Nixon. The free market would manage the costs of medicines and create more stringent guidelines that must be followed simply as a necessity of the evolution of the industry. Healthcare wants to achieve perfection of the art of maintaining the human body and as such it will work towards that goal. Of course, there must be regulation - that is necessary to guard against human manipulation - but now that I've said it no one better mention it again, every fucking health care argument devolves once you bring up regulation. Yes, it's there, it function marginally well, and it is necessary.

But is the problem really the government? Or is it maybe us?

I point to our educational system, the last bastion of the redneck as it were, and am inclined to sneer but the problem with our educational system is funding really, not the government oversight thereof. It's the future yet it isn't even 5% of our government budget. You only stretch money so far and healthcare by the nature of its constant evolution requires new money, new technology, new research, new medicines - even the mundane things like new bedpans. The problem with healthcare is the funding - it's our apathy given financial form.

Do you smoke? Do you drink? Do you eat healthy or do you kill yourself with fast food? These ARE the killers of America - and they are mass murderers that unflinchingly pile up numbers that would make Hitler hang his head in shame. These three combined to bleed money off America. If you do any of these I respectfully offer that as responsible citizens we DEMAND YOU pay for your own healthcare and therefore pay the piper for your unwise decisions. I do all three and happily write my $400 check a month.

The other problem with healthcare is the ideology - and this is also where the government will have to step in to be a part of the solution. Every rational human being will despise this reality but most human beings are sheep that must be forced into doing things, even things that are obviously good for them. We don't prevent disease or health disasters - we treat them. We have zero focus on prevention and that is what is bankrupting us. These fat fucks who die of angina at 50 and rape 100 grand on the way out in hospital bills as there fat fucking hearts essentially suffocate from CHF should have been exercising their whole lives. Instead, they eat 4 rectangular meals a day and watch there penis and toes disappear from view. And then these fucks have the audacity to cost taxpayers money even as they check out.

I'll be completely honest with you. I hate fat people. I mean that. I fucking hate them. They cost me money - simple as that. If it takes universal health care to get these stupid fucks into the mentality that physical health is not some mystical gift but an achievable reality by simple being active - then you and I and everyone else will save trillions.

But right now, the path we are on is raising my premiums every year while I stay in healthy shape (my BMI is high but since I am obviously a thin guy I just ignore that and assume BMI was built for Europeans). My taxes aren't going to go up from universal health care - there is no possible way to fund it short of cutting from the defense budget which I'd love to see.

But following the rabbit hole back to where we are currently, I will leave us with this: if we stay with what we are doing, we are locking ourselves in with a timebomb that will go off before I get married even. I say let the Dems do their thing and give them no excuse to say "oh we failed because of republican influence". The right needs to step back and watch for a bit.

Also, any right wingers - if you wanna lynch a conservative christian who thinks the rapture is coming - that will help. Statistics show that 100% of those people are fat and getting fatter.

Rebuttal

2009-01-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

Several months ago a resident at a forum I spend some time on responded to an essay I posted. I have here, in order so that one can make sense of it, my original post, his response, and finally my rebuttal.

The Original Article

...too realist

time for some optimism...

America can do better. And not just America, the world is just sitting on autopilot until the sky literally falls down around us. We are letting are world come unglued at the seams because it is hard to do otherwise. Newton tells us, among other principles, two fundamental truths. First, that objects at rest, stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force. The force of effort and will to turn the cogs of a new system of energy and human rights that is still in its fetal phase is losing momentum. As we all know, it is much easier to be an armchair cynic then it is to be a proactive optimist. The Black guy said it best, god knows who wrote it. Rarely does anyone write for themselves anymore, which would normally bring on a digression about “Four score and seven years ago” and the power of a moment but I shall refrain. He said, “We are the ones we have been waiting for.”

We are. But the time and opportunity is slipping away. Literacy is at the highest point in American history, but how long can this last? The government run Department of Education is little more than prison complex of human adjustment into societal norms i.e. automaton training. You sit for eight hours a day. You generally listen to a boring “authority figure” drone on as he/she tries to fill in the time of the tedium of this system. The authority figure then gives you an objective and a deadline. You complete the work and return to the authority figure and repeat this exercise eight hours a day. Just like a 9-5 job. There are exceptions, but this is most undeniably the rule – case in point: how often did you relearn in science class what you knew from the year before? The same can be said for math, as well as many other subjects. The point being that we may not have much time to enact the change we need. Our decent into idiocracy is not a joke. It is a reality that is becoming more and more unstoppable with ever minute of inaction. I do not see a better-educated populace in our future full of analytical minds eager for the next intellectual challenge, I see drones. And the statistics are on my side as year after year America falls in the secondary education brackets.

Of course, everyone says what I am saying. It is not a new idea or a novel flavor of the month. Our decadence is and has been absolute for several decades now. We let space slip through our fingers. We let control of the human rights and poverty of the third world flow out of our minds as we simply built our hotels upwind so that the smell would not disturb us. We let our stock market be ballooned over and over again and every time one of the buttresses of the economy was melted down into severance package for another greedy CEO, we cried foul but it was out of jealousy not mockery. And over and over again our inaction and silence has been cacophonic.

The second truth of Newton is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Where then is the reaction to the true test of my era? Where is the outrage at the true root of our problem? Why are we not angry at the right things? How are we being diverted? Oil dropped below $60 dollars a barrel and suddenly 25% of all the funding in clean tech gets cut. We start relaxing back into the pace of Oil life. We extort “clean coal” with a smiling representative who would do well to brandish a pitchfork and a pair of hooves. And we let them get away with it again. To the tune of one trillion dollars, we let them get away with it…Why do we not act?

FDR gave us a pathway that I have never seen repeated except in microcosm by the Space Race that was fueled more by patriotism than desire. With one trillion dollars we could have reshaped America into an ecological wonder, an environmental beacon of the insurmountable brilliance of the human spirit. Instead, we peddled it away, to the same people, who did the same thing, burned it away on futures and securities.

The solution is still within our grasp if we do not give up hope. We want small government, then we need to take it back. The capitalist market has within its power a magnificent opportunity for an outrageous revival of small scale privatization – mom and pop stores bringing the true customer service back into a sector that has been dominated by faceless corporate giants with no heart or soul. It’s time for the free market to go crazy and cut loose. We should not hinder the little man with more red tape but instead let the Lilliputians fill in all those niche gaps that just owned by laissez faire. People always want to see the giants fall and be replaced by the little guy. Why is this so different? Is it too big? Are we perhaps frightened? Too fucking bad.

You can’t have it both ways, security in your investment and guaranteed change for the better. We have been told time and time again by our elders and betters that you must leap during these times and push for a better tomorrow. It doesn’t belong to us, the future, just as the Earth does not. We are stewards who have become lazy. Shall we continue to sit idle and watch our chance to guide the course of human history slide out of our hands? All empires end, is this the twilight of the United States? We have all the signs, the decadence, the dispassionate withdrawal.

But I say no. Tears flush my eyes and anger clouds my pen. NO!

We can do better! It’s not just what the black guy says. The sky is falling down on us because we fucking let it. And now to make it worse we are letting control go to those who will do the worst with it. Watching it slip away forlornly while wallowing in melancholy of complacency. To China, a place where civil rights are an after thought and the true nature of communism has proven once again that a ruling class will always exist in supposedly class less society. To Dubai, where the only individuals who gain are those who have too much already. To Russia, who once again rattles the saber of its inhuman history and unfurls the banner of Soviet rule and oppression. To Europe, who has declared us dead while we still breathe and laid all of the troubles of the world at our feet as if we owe the world while they posture like an aged wolf with no teeth left who still howls at the sheep.

Can I not rouse your anger? Is there not some fight left in the American spirit? Are we going to reside ourselves to our own decline that we stood idle over for 30 years? Personally, I am beyond ecstatic that this is happening. We have been getting too fucking lazy in America. We have envied those who do nothing and have no skills as the final incarnation of the human condition. I need not soil your thoughts or slander my writing with their names but shame on us not them.

Before decadence becomes an irreversible process, please let some force guide our hand before we have not the strength left to repair what we have wrought. It is not too late. It is just barely not too late.

The response

I fear that your rally call has come too late. I say that the decadence process is already too far gone to be reversible. Evidence the generation of 6 flavors of Nintendo, our entertainment is passive we sit at a screen and pass away whole days without thinking of actually going outside. Facebook and MySpace have replaced almost all socialization, and face to face interaction is only done only after one has screened possibilities online. We have no respect for ourselves (look at fashion we look like vagabonds in our spagetti straps and flip flops), our elders (Get off my lawn!), our traditions (old Skool rulez? not any more buddy), or our friends and family (when is the last time someone referred to you as sir or ma'am). Personal responsibility is shunned. I hear this ad daily and it makes me want to scream: "Are you overburdened with credit card debt? Well it's not your fault" YES IT IS! no one held your feet to the fire to make you purchase that SUV and house with the pool? You could have done just as well with a economy car and reasonable home until you could afford it. But no, you MUST BUY NOW because you won't see pices like this again.....We have become a nation of consumers. We must keep up with the Jones' we must have the newest iPhone because someone on the block might get a newer one. We just can't live without that V12 pickup truck that can pull down a school building, but can't get more than 6 miles to the gallon.

We are rewarded for laziness. Your basic high school graduate can make more money on the welfare system than he/she can make at an honest job. We don't actually produce ANYTHING here anymore. Everything "Made in America" is produced and shipped from overseas or from Mexico and "assembled" here repackaged here with an American label. The bottom line requires that we hire at the lowest wage, which inevitably brings the lowest common denominator to the table. Meanwhile the fat cats at the top are belly up to the trough of greed and slide out the back door with their "golden parachutes". I could list a thousand reasons why my generation is half of that of my father's generation, and why my children don't even fall into the same category.

The problem I see with the Lilliputians making a comeback? The stranglehold that big business and government have on the banks. Small business absolutely cannot function without lines of credit and loans, and yet if a company has an original idea or approach banks will not gamble on that...they will gamble a $200K house on someone making $35K / year, but not a "risky business" where innovation could make the difference to spawn competition and make a better business model/product.

Education....don't even get me started. Schools are not about education, they are about indoctrination. Children are presented "evidence" of global warming as fact. They are discouraged from questioning the validity of the "facts". I found several childrens books touting Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Why are we doing this? Why do children who can barely read need to be told what to believe politically? they can't vote. No parent is going to take political advice from a 6 year old. What purpose does this serve? Why would anyone bother to write and publish such a book? Because they must be controlled from an early age that is why. They must learn to accept no matter how ridiculous what the media and their corporate masters tell them without question. TV teaches children to accept opinions as undeniable fact, and free thought is never even brought into the picture. The education system is not designed to turn out intelligent children who can think for themselves, it is designed to produce mindless sheep who will show up to a service job and perform some mindless duty long enough to pay for a 94" TV screen. Children are given calculators because "adding is hard" I spent 45 minutes in the grocery store the other day with my 17 year old step child because I refused to buy a pound of roast beef until she could tell me whether it was a better bargain to buy a 7 oz pre-packaged container or by the pound from the deli. She literally didn't understand the concept, and had no point of reference to begin calculating how to make a determination. Once I defined the formula she would need, she still couldn't calculate the actual numbers because I wouldn't let her use the calculator in her cell phone and the child could not multiply the per oz price times 16 in her head. I wanted to cry for her. It was pathetic. She is 17 years old, she is almost ready to graduate high school and can't multiply times 16 in her head? Education should be about exposure. Exposure to facts, to opinions, to philosophy, to foundations of learning, to concepts, theories, all should be presented equally with the caveat that the student should make their own determination of what is valid and pertinent and what is just bullshit.

No I wish I could heed your rally call, but it comes too late. America and possibly most of the first world is lost my friend and nothing short of bloody revolution is going to fix it.

The Rebuttal

And even as he cries out that it is too late I see his mind moving behind the pen. The generation of was does not sleep nor are they ready to let go. His jaw clenches and black roman font drips the blood of heroes as it cascades down between the 1s and 0s. A century ago, perhaps even a decade ago, the word ‘revolution’ would have been scoffed at by the majority as communist favoritism and naivete. But there it is, sir, on your tongue and within your pen.

You did not take the phone calls of the outraged constituents who screamed that their taxes were not for Big Business. You did not hear over and over “I am a taxpayer and my money is not for bailing our private enterprise” echoed again and again and again…

But I can tell you that there were legions of them every day, and while I callously directed them to a voicemail box as if I too was the agent of the faceless and uncaring enemy of public trust, I still heard them. Every night, I listened to fifty or sixty of these messages, some succinct and to the point others rambling over a plethora of issues before they reached their conclusion. I did this so that as I went home I would remember who I was working for and what mattered to them. Of the people, for the people, by the people – it is not a cliché to me.

Furthermore, corporate giants and Wall Street fund managers do not outnumber those seeking to correct the flaws of our fledgling society (we are after all, only 233 years old). I have realized one truth about these individuals, those wildly successful workaholics the disenfranchised American loathes so much. They stare at the television from their Herman Miller Eames lounge chair and ottoman, drunken and intoxicated on wealth and vodka. They gaze forward looking with disdain at the scores of protesters railing against the soulless corporatism that turned them into billionaires and the never ending consumption required of a prosperous free market; but while their right hand holds their drink, their left pours money into their children’s pocket. These children are the trust fund babies who bankroll the modern day movers and shakers of a different mold. The television introduces them to the new face of the go-getter, not so different from the tycoons of the last generation, protesting everything those go-getters of yesterday worked for. They cry out against fur and man’s inhumanity to man. And while these aged men and women, who are faultless because the world they came from was very different then the modern world, claim that their greatest hope would be for those same children to get a job and a career – they hold a terrible and proud secret. That their hearts swell with approval and that part of them they sacrificed at twenty-one for their career, their 2.3 kids, and their four-bedroom house laughs silently because it never died. And now it carries on through their offspring to continue the dream that began with the then revolutionary ideas of free love and world peace. Thus, they drink excessively so that they do not have to be reminded that they sacrificed what mattered to them so that my generation could have whatever matters to us today.

The biggest lie of this century is twofold. One is that we are outnumbered and out leveraged. I merely direct your eyes to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to disprove this notion, regardless of your personal politics. The second part is that our dispassion has become overarching. If this was true, why then does the man in the three-button suit command the eye while the shabby chic vagabond is scoffed at? We do still care and I do not need to assure you of this, I know you can find an example of your own. Perhaps, the brotherhood of Katrina could show you some of the compassion America is still capable of just as it showed us the dispassion and the “me first” mindset that rules the hearts of weaker men. Society is alive and it swings between the ultra conservative and the supremely liberal. This spectrum dominates more than just politics – it governs fashion, mentality, charity, and equality as well.

So you say we have no respect for ourselves? A great man said that you can judge a society based on how it treats its animals. Can you deny that we are by far the greatest society in history by this criterion? Another great man reminded us to not ask what your country can do for you but what can you do for your country? Philanthropy is arguably and provably a million times higher than it was even fifty years ago – is this us not caring? As private enterprise and social entrepreneurs build a green energy grid from the ground up and micro finance becomes more wildly successful by the minute while still maintaining a profit margin that is incredibly modest, would you argue if I said that this is hope incarnate?

What about the people who do truly need help? Those individuals from the greatest generation who built this country into the monument it is today. I know many of them now. They asked with their shame laid out before them for heating assistance so that they could be warm for just one more winter in the twilight of their lives. I researched their income and found couples over eighty years old who live on less than twenty five thousand dollars a year. Are you not proud that we can help those in their time of need have the small luxury of heat one more time - perhaps the last time? Is this not the essence of gratitude for our elders who bought into the American dream that has manifested into our reality today?

And where is the Buy!Buy!Buy! mentality now? As the economy slows and people piss and moan that the end is near, how can you not grin unabashedly at people waking up and realizing that saving money is not an option but rather the necessity?

I spent nine years in Texas, some of the worst years of my life, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t see sir and ma’am used almost religiously. Now I live in the Northeast, and I can tell you that what is old school is the model of what success looks like. We may all have the image of the slicked back hair financial analyst doing blow off a hooker’s rack while selling shares at ridiculous profit margins but I tell you with no lie in my heart that this is the epitome of white trash and it is not idolized. Old school is alive, and well regarded, and it is the goal of the many, not the few.

I still speak to my best friend in Texas once or twice a month. He and I would be unrecognizable as having anything in common as the years have passed, but he still entertains me with stories of people who try to buy what they should not. The laughter stretches from Maine to California as we chuckle with mirthless rage at all types of white trash whether they make twenty five thousand dollars a year or two hundred. People with huge trucks who live in trailer parks, people who drive Hummers who still rent in Queens, and people who collect unemployment for endless stretches without job searching – they are universally ridiculed, they are not idolized.

And people do still go outside. In fact I will bet you something, whatever you like, that outdoor activity will sky rocket in the coming decade. Care to wager?

Addendum: So we come to education. And you are correct. It is a failed system built on a one hundred-year-old model of indoctrination, social adjustment, and behavioral modification. My solution is for those with suitable financial means to continue to pay taxes into Department of Education and pull their children out of public schools and place them in private institutions that turn out better students. This has the double benefit of removing the burden of resources and registering disapproval with a system that is under achieving. I realize that this is not ideal, but for every question the answer is generally education.

The Absurdity of Our Inability to Let the Past Become History

2009-01-10T12:38:00.000-08:00

I had a moment about a week ago that I keep replaying in my mind. It stems off a bit from my piece I wrote on election night about the clash or ideological conflict that many whites and blacks in America are having at this moment. I know that it is curious feeling that I spend a great deal of time contemplating.

Do you ever have a moment where you and another individual cross paths at a precise point and by the time you realize the imminent collision there is nothing to do but knock them over, the uncivilized solution, or stop, the polite and under represented option in post 1950s America? My moment begins with such a scenario. I was walking north and he was walking west. At the center of the cardinal rose we would cross. We cannot both occupy the same plane of space – we both choose the option that few would have expected. The part the caught me was the tension of the moment, the slight bewilderment that both of us choose manners over the selfish inclination of “Me”.

I had been daydreaming mildly as I walked and I imagine he had been doing the same. You can only look at the same windows of a mall for so many years before they bore you. For two seconds or less, time stretched infinitely as we both – tall, broad, young men – considered how to proceed. Neither faced the other, neither looked away from our direction of travel. Staring straight ahead, we both just stopped in the middle of a bustling mall. In the modern era, the prevailing attitude is “get the fuck out of my way.” This condition is generally exacerbated by the obvious inclination to violence most young men tend to resort to, squared by the presence of two of us.

Two seconds, maybe less. They stretched forever.

Every action of this interplay was rolling the chance with odds of a million to one. My mind raced as I struggled with that oh so imperfect and indefinable quantity of what is right and what is wrong.

The space of two seconds passed and in this infinitesimal pause time left the space of quantum physics, and all the seconds between zero and one grounded themselves and returned to the real – and I spoke, barely a whisper. “After you.” He responded, in exactly the same calculated whisper than reached no farther than my ears. “Thank you, sir, I appreciate it.”

That was it. And after reading this you are probably saying, “why the fuck did you even mention this…?”

The other man was black, and as we walked away I saw that everyone’s eyes were on both of us, wondering. Two tall, well-built young men – what just transpired, are they angry? No, we were actually liberated at that moment while all of these sheep looked on like they had tickets to the Coliseum. I actually saw a girl who was staring with her mouth half open, clearly nervous that she was about to witness an incident or altercation or whatever you choose to call what was in reality a pacifistic and serene moment. It was in the moment that I recognized just how on edge America truly is. Seriously, the overwhelming and prevailing racism and fear that blacks and whites still feel for each other is jaw dropping and staggering to the psyche. Get. The. Fuck. Over. It.

It made me so uncomfortable that I pushed open the nearest exit door and chose to walk outside in the ten-degree weather.

...too realist. time for some optimism...

2008-11-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

...too realist

time for some optimism...

America can do better. And not just America, the world is just sitting on autopilot until the sky literally falls down around us. We are letting are world come unglued at the seams because it is hard to do otherwise. Newton tells us, among other principles, two fundamental truths. First, that objects at rest, stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force. The force of effort and will to turn the cogs of a new system of energy and human rights that is still in its fetal phase is losing momentum. As we all know, it is much easier to be an armchair cynic then it is to be a proactive optimist. The Black guy said it best, god knows who wrote it. Rarely does anyone write for themselves anymore, which would normally bring on a digression about “Four score and seven years ago” and the power of a moment but I shall refrain. He said, “We are the ones we have been waiting for.”

We are. But the time and opportunity is slipping away. Literacy is at the highest point in American history, but how long can this last? The government run Department of Education is little more than prison complex of human adjustment into societal norms i.e. automaton training. You sit for eight hours a day. You generally listen to a boring “authority figure” drone on as he/she tries to fill in the time of the tedium of this system. The authority figure then gives you an objective and a deadline. You complete the work and return to the authority figure and repeat this exercise eight hours a day. Just like a 9-5 job. There are exceptions, but this is most undeniably the rule – case in point: how often did you relearn in science class what you knew from the year before? The same can be said for math, as well as many other subjects. The point being that we may not have much time to enact the change we need. Our decent into idiocracy is not a joke. It is a reality that is becoming more and more unstoppable with ever minute of inaction. I do not see a better-educated populace in our future full of analytical minds eager for the next intellectual challenge, I see drones. And the statistics are on my side as year after year America falls in the secondary education brackets.

Of course, everyone says what I am saying. It is not a new idea or a novel flavor of the month. Our decadence is and has been absolute for several decades now. We let space slip through our fingers. We let control of the human rights and poverty of the third world flow out of our minds as we simply built our hotels upwind so that the smell would not disturb us. We let our stock market be ballooned over and over again and every time one of the buttresses of the economy was melted down into severance package for another greedy CEO, we cried foul but it was out of jealousy not mockery. And over and over again our inaction and silence has been cacophonic.

The second truth of Newton is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Where then is the reaction to the true test of my era? Where is the outrage at the true root of our problem? Why are we not angry at the right things? How are we being diverted? Oil dropped below $60 dollars a barrel and suddenly 25% of all the funding in clean tech gets cut. We start relaxing back into the pace of Oil life. We extort “clean coal” with a smiling representative who would do well to brandish a pitchfork and a pair of hooves. And we let them get away with it again. To the tune of one trillion dollars, we let them get away with it…Why do we not act?

FDR gave us a pathway that I have never seen repeated except in microcosm by the Space Race that was fueled more by patriotism than desire. With one trillion dollars we could have reshaped America into an ecological wonder, an environmental beacon of the insurmountable brilliance of the human spirit. Instead, we peddled it away, to the same people, who did the same thing, burned it away on futures and securities.

The solution is still within our grasp if we do not give up hope. We want small government, then we need to take it back. The capitalist market has within its power a magnificent opportunity for an outrageous revival of small scale privatization – mom and pop stores bringing the true customer service back into a sector that has been dominated by faceless corporate giants with no heart or soul. It’s time for the free market to go crazy and cut loose. We should not hinder the little man with more red tape but instead let the Lilliputians fill in all those niche gaps that just owned by laissez faire. People always want to see the giants fall and be replaced by the little guy. Why is this so different? Is it too big? Are we perhaps frightened? Too fucking bad.

You can’t have it both ways, security in your investment and guaranteed change for the better. We have been told time and time again by our elders and betters that you must leap during these times and push for a better tomorrow. It doesn’t belong to us, the future, just as the Earth does not. We are stewards who have become lazy. Shall we continue to sit idle and watch our chance to guide the course of human history slide out of our hands? All empires end, is this the twilight of the United States? We have all the signs, the decadence, the dispassionate withdrawal.

But I say no. Tears flush my eyes and anger clouds my pen. NO!

We can do better! It’s not just what the black guy says. The sky is falling down on us because we fucking let it. And now to make it worse we are letting control go to those who will do the worst with it. Watching it slip away forlornly while wallowing in melancholy of complacency. To China, a place where civil rights are an after thought and the true nature of communism has proven once again that a ruling class will always exist in supposedly class less society. To Dubai, where the only individuals who gain are those who have too much already. To Russia, who once again rattles the saber of its inhuman history and unfurls the banner of Soviet rule and oppression. To Europe, who has declared us dead while we still breathe and laid all of the troubles of the world at our feet as if we owe the world while they posture like an aged wolf with no teeth left who still howls at the sheep.

Can I not rouse your anger? Is there not some fight left in the American spirit? Are we going to reside ourselves to our own decline that we stood idle over for 30 years? Personally, I am beyond ecstatic that this is happening. We have been getting too fucking lazy in America. We have envied those who do nothing and have no skills as the final incarnation of the human condition. I need not soil your thoughts or slander my writing with their names but shame on us not them.

Before decadence becomes an irreversible process, please let some force guide our hand before we have not the strength left to repair what we have wrought. It is not too late. It is just barely not too late.

Good night, Old America

2008-11-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

Like a good book, all chapters must end. And the next must begin.

It’s over now. Done. Tomorrow I will walk outside, and the world will be colorblind. Those who don’t accept are not equipped for the world now. If I hear the word nigger, I will turn my head and laugh at the man who utters it, black or white. Not quietly, but in their face. What more is there to say? This chapter is closed for America. I think that the reality will set in for many black Americans tomorrow and they will not find it to their liking. This man is not a messiah. He will not make their problems go away. They will get worse because those who have coasted through life on excuses will suddenly be stripped naked and open for ridicule by all.

I smile; I may get drunk here in a few minutes. I let the tension fall off my shoulders. Five hundred years of guilt…no…more, but it washes off here and now. It’s not my responsibility anymore. People looking for hand outs…god, I wish I could see the look on your faces in January when you go looking for handouts and for the first time people laugh in your face. No pity, no words of sympathy for the hardships – just a litany, “What the fuck is holding you back?” Your confusion will be hysterical, you won’t get it. But that is the point, and as reality sets in you will either realize the true extent of the cosmic joke this election brought or you will go the way of the dinosaur.

The choice tomorrow is yours, but woe to those who look for the sympathy – and … do you hear the universe laughing?

My hat is off to John McCain, thank you for coming back to us, please lose the conservative Christians on your way home tonight.

Congratulations, Mr. President. Don’t you dare fuck this up.

The Beggar

2008-10-23T12:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was on my way home from a lecture I take weekly at Northeastern on what the new president should do about our decreasing ability to pay our bills due to the staggering interest of our national debt. For those curious, in 2010 our national debt will equal 75% of our GDP. GDP is everything we produce – goods, services, labor, etc. This means that if we wanted to pay it off, everyone would have to work from January first to sometime in late September to pay off our debt. Well done, W. The night was very brisk, nothing compared to what it will be in a few more weeks but still eye opening. I was entering the T station my mind on nothing and everything all at once, contemplating the new lows of the Dow dispassionately since it really doesn’t affect me but indirectly it is destroying my ability to find employment. I put money on my transit card and chuckled as the machine gave me an extra dollar in change. Apparently, ten minus five is tough for a machine. I heard the train approaching on the opposite track, so I picked up my feet assuming mine would not be far away and scanned my card at the turnstile.

As I turned the corner and walked down the stairs, keeping my jacket fully buttoned in the chill, I heard behind me, “Can I borrow a dollar for the bus?” The voice had not been there when I started down the steps nor had the man who owned it. It was the same sorrowful voice of the common beggar, tired from asking so often for so little but caught in a litany of repetition – unable to break the cycle. I turned on the stairs, several people behind me glanced askance at the man who was blocking their way down the stairs, but I looked past them at the bum. He had a wild mane of hair that was long and unkempt. His clothing was drab and dirty if not exactly crossing the line into filthy. His feet shifted anxiously with the movements of the drifter dance with its unerringly designed steps that, at once, grabbed attention and placed himself in the vicinity between you and your destination. I have never known if this was due to a life of constant inebriation and therefore never ending hangovers or if it is more due to the street performer nature of this routine of begging for money. That it is done to provoke feelings of pity is doubtless, however.

I looked at him for a moment and my thoughts turned to the extra dollar coin the machine had given me a moment before. Was there a divine purpose to this dollar, perhaps? I turned away from the man and continued down the stairs. The train’s arrival was not immediate so I filled the interim with drifting thoughts. I thought about the cold, watched a mother and daughter interact in an entirely immature and humorous way, and read the billboard about tranny’s and AIDS before turning to a less uncomfortable message advertising condos in Rhode Island starting at $100,000. The $100,000 one is always such a shit box with no view…why do they even bother? As a nice dose of reality, I read the plague on the wall which ended up being an obituary for a track worker who had likely been run over in 1997, the date on the plaque. It read “he was well liked” and then had the names of every single MBTA official in office at the time as well as the Massachusetts governor and lieutenant governor. Grimly, I smiled at the plaque hoping against hope that my cap stone would not be so inhuman and praying to the gods I do not believe in that my death would not turn into a PR stunt when some politician ebbed in the polls.

My train arrived with a screech. Against my will, my thoughts kept returning to the beggar. I hadn’t given him the dollar. The coincidence was undeniable, a machine gives you a dollar and 15 – 20 seconds later a man asks for a dollar. Normally, the drifters ask for spare change. Maybe the harsh realities of survival are merely forcing them to ask for more. I assumed he was going to go drink with it. Most likely, he would have. But what if it had been the dollar that provided him shelter for the evening. I doubt it, I know the shelters take you in no matter what, but I could not stop feeling guilty. Whenever things appear borderline serendipitous I always question my atheism. Believing firmly that I am right is just as bad as a Christian believing that their god is the right one. People who are always questioning their faith have my deep respect; I know the schizophrenic madness of never knowing if you are the bigot or the martyr and trying to find a place of serenity in the unanswerable questions.

Later in the evening as I was about to attempt to sleep after consuming my little concoction of government approved drugs, a joint I had forgotten about appeared on my desk. I had run out of pot two days earlier. It caused my thoughts to return to the underground train station. The whole incident made me wonder what was right and wrong. Should I have given him the dollar? Should he stop being a lazy motherfucker and make something of his life? Can he, that is to say, is he mentally able to pull himself together? Can a world as rich as ours really be this dispassionate about other human beings when it would take just one penny on every dollar a corporation made to eliminate poverty globally? To drive home the point that the cosmic joke is simply beyond my capacity of understanding, the DOW had dropped another three hundred points by the time I managed to pull myself out of bed, well past noon.

Feeling Dysthymic

2008-10-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

1st

2nd

A moment of pure poetry

2008-10-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

I took a walk today. Just felt like getting out of the house. I wandered around and spoke to a long distance friend as I walked. When our conversation had ended, I found that I had ambled to the State House of Boston. As with all of these buildings in the modern era, you never enter through the front entrance anymore. A thick, old style metal fence sealed off the entire front of the building for security reasons or some other post 9/11 nonsense. The true reason, in my opinion, is to prevent the gathering of a public forum of discussion near a center of power.

I found a garden terrace nearby and I sat on a bench away from most of the commotion, the bustling of to and fro as people darted back and worth. As I sat, I stared at the flowers that will soon die in the holocaust that is northeastern weather and thought about loneliness, the paths you take in life, and the boredom of modern living – how easy it is. Eventually, an older woman in her fifties sat down on the same bench as I for a cigarette and to finish her newspaper. I was wondering what the function of a marble building near the terrace was, so I asked her assuming that she had probably walked out of it. She informed me, with a hint of a foreign accent, that it was part of the State House complex, which made since given our proximity to the main building. Then she spoke these words:

“All these people coming and going. It doesn’t seem like they are doing much, does it?”

It was one of the most poignant statements about modern government and its inability to deal with our current state of affairs anyone has ever uttered to me. I told her so and left, thinking about how worthless the bureaucracy truly is.

My One Day of Canvassing

2008-09-16T15:33:00.001-07:00

I am outside. Asking people for money. In Boston, what am I doing trying to get Obama elected in Boston? I’m not, I respond. I want your money so I can send it to swing states to get the votes we need. To get the message out to people through radio and other mediums, I need money.

Never mind that three banks just closed and hundreds of thousands of people are out of jobs. Never mind that Obama “set records” in campaign financing over and over again. Never mind that the people I am asking for money have generally already donated. No, I’m asking for more. My pitch line is “we are losing the election” so that I can guilt them into giving more. And suddenly…I find myself unable to ask anymore. I can’t say give more - you haven’t given enough - because I know they have done more than their share. I just talk to them. I listen to them. They care about the issues. Not the person. What matters is right and wrong. It’s not in the eye of the beholder. Enough war. Enough violence. It breeds itself into a never ending cycle. Enough rape of terra firma. It just shapes a world we cannot live in. Or worse a world we cannot leave ever again because what it gave us is no longer accessible. A prison of our own making.

Then a moment straight out of providence hits me. A woman and a man come up to me and speak to me. I have spoken to dozens of people today. But I haven’t collected a cent. The woman speaks, the man waits while she speaks. They are obviously very poor. They have bad teeth from being unable to afford dentists. She tells me about the elderly, what are we doing to help them? Their homes are being stripped from them. And a job posting is asking me to sell reverse mortgages. She tells me she works at a psychiatric hotline. Canada, New York, California, Boston…Iraq, she tells me. She tells me about men who tell her they are swallowing safety pins. She tells me about girlfriends of soldiers who call because they are terrified their loved ones are going to kill themselves. She tells me about “fuck, mother fucker, shit” and they are beautiful words because they are honest. But war, she tells me, is the ugliest word to her. It destroys humanities hopes and dreams. It kills children. She starts to cry. She tells me she is a gypsy. Gypsies steal, lie, tell fortunes to make money, and yet they never cause harm. They have no homeland. They are outcasts in a world full of reparations. She tells me, never forget. She tells me I have the face of a politician. That I will be a politician one day. Then she leaves sobbing quietly, while the man gently comforts her. Never forget. How could I? I am cold to the very core of my being.

I am vulture. I am asking for money from people who have already given more then they needed to and I am telling them it is not enough. I feel sick. I quit the job. I tell them to rip up my paper work. I don’t want a dime from them. They say they have to. They say its legal. I laugh, I shrug, I tell them to donate it. They say they’ll mail it. I leave. What’s more to say? They don’t get it.

Who cares anymore if it’s Obama or McCain? America deserves to fall. We are a nation who rewards whores. We celebrate athletes who are on performance enhancers. We built an industry based on raping margins for insane profits. And it’s all crashing down around us. Does it matter which wins? Will the results really be any different?

One day at a job I thought would help make a difference and instead I break and the difference breaks me. I remember something. Justice for those who have no voice. Not his voice, Obama’s that is. Clearly, those who support have a voice in him. But I remember, the Indians, the Mayans, the poor, the elderly, the Armenians, the true Africans. Injustice upon injustice compounding themselves until all humanity and it’s history is a vile, disgusting, putrid stream of selfishness and exploitation. All we think about is ourselves. Our interests, our needs. I hope America falls if we don’t fix the insane gaps in our psyche. Fuck all of it. Most importantly fuck you, Max, for contributing.

Filler Post Because I Have Been Lazy on Vacation

2008-09-09T17:17:00.001-07:00

When is the US a third-world country? The United States totes itself as ahead of the times. We are a proud country and we feel justified to boast about our leadership in most categories. One sad category we find ourself leading is the pollution index. I would much rather we were the leader in clean energy efforts and efficiency models and we could be. If we could develop cheap alternatives to fossil fuels, other nations coming of age would use these rather than rely on something as volatile as fossil fuels. I say volatile in ways other than its explosive properties. We as well as 185 other nations pledged themselves to something, yet treat that pledge as something to be disregarded when it could hurt their popularity rating.
Oil controls the world, simply put. Other realized this long before I wrote this and further realized the damage it does in its rule. The solution to this problem was supposed to be something called the Kyoto Protocol. Now, as the KP begins to take full effect and demands that pollution reduction targets be met, the actions speak louder than words. The Dutch magazine, Expatica, reported that the EU was warned by its environmental agency that it will barely lower its emissions by 2.5 percent compared to the levels in 1990, well short of the goal of 8 percent. The report however is not as incendiary as one might assume. Currently, the EEA is hoping that by continuing the current conservation methods they will be able to meet their 8 percent quota - this is a pipe dream. Serious changes must be enacted in order o reduce emissions by 5.5 percent more yet the report appears to be merely chiding the EU as one might scold a child for taking a cookie. The article treats the KP as a fantasy that real effort shouldn’t be applied too. In effect, this reduces the KP’s status and makes it into something whimsical that world leaders can ignore, with little or no penalty, if they so choose.
In a piece by Reuters presented by the New York Times, Australia is reported to be considering changing much of its energy structure over to uranium. Australia currently relies on its vast reserves of coal for 4/5 th’s of its energy generation, yet produces 1/3 of the world’s exported uranium. This reliance releases an extremely large amount of greenhouse gases that drew worldwide criticism, especially after their refusal to sign the KP. Activists claims that the switch too nuclear power would be costly and would not deal with any of the immediate problems of climate change. The Australian Conservation further points out that nuclear power is a solution. This is a country that claims to be concerned about its reefs and ecology yet seems to embrace every source of dirty power available. A contradiction to be sure and again it shows the lack of authority of the KP as world governments flaunt its powerlessness.
Finally, we return home. In London at the UN Climate Conference, crucial talks aimed at combating the threat of global warming opened with the U.S. Government signaling that it would resist attempts to be drawn into a new international process to cut emissions. These were the first talks since the KP came into full effect this February and it seems everyone is slandering its innocent dream. Of course, one could argue that the US never signed the KP and therefore should feel no obligation to it. However, as I said earlier, we could be the leader of the conservation category yet we choose not to. Why? Oil pays its dues. It is well known that Oil has deep pockets and it is not too difficult to trace the trail of monetary enticement back and forth between them and the politicians not creating laws to protect the environment. The sentiment is very clear: Let the world die, as long as I am rich.
Why is the EU not able to meet its standards? There has been a substantial increase in travel, both commercial and private, and that increase drives the emissions up while reducing much of the gain of engine efficiency technologies. Also, there has only been a half percent increase in renewable energy generation. The EU is unable to meet its reduction levels because it is too weak and infantile to demand more of its members currently.
Australia is dependent on its fossil fuels. It has vast reserves of coal and that is a comfort that allows the Australian government to bask in the safety of energy independence. It is huge in relation to homeland security when your energy is not dependent on world events. Also, because of the natural abundance of coal, Australia has invested heavily in fossil fuel energy generation. To change over to renewable energy sources now would be very costly.
America is in the power of our gigantice energy corporations. Even the government is careful to sanction these providers and when they are sanctioned there is always an ensuing scandal. We are hooked to our oil and derive most of our energy from that oil. More, as American we believe it is a right to have energy within our fingertips at all times. Hence, we use it up at a frenetic rate and assure our place as the number one polluter. Yes, we are number one.
Overall, while the cases all deal with the diverse issues entailed within the same problem of global warming, the conclusion is the same. Greed, the fear of change, and mankind’s reliance on fossil fuels for more than a century make transition very difficult and very economically damaging for some very powerful people and conglomerates. When you threaten someone’s power, they will fight to the bitter end. And oil sees the end is near and is fighting for its life in a changing world.
The outcome in the end is the same though. Reliance on oil is defeat. Conservation and renewable energy is victory.

Bibliography

h
ttp//www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-energy-australia-nuclear.html

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticleSearch.aspx?storyID=256139+21-Nov-2005+RTRS&srch=kyoto

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=25766&name=EU+warned+it+will+miss+Kyoto+targets+
http://www.hindu.com/2005/11/30

Hezbollah : The Party of God in Lebanon

2008-09-02T04:01:00.000-07:00

Hezbollah formed in southern Lebanon to counter the Israeli occupation following the invasion of 1982. The name comes from two words: ‘hizb’ meaning ‘party’ and ‘Allah’ meaning ‘God’. The translation changed ‘Allah’ to ‘Ullah’ meaning ‘of God’ and you are left with ‘the Party of God.’

The group was officially chartered in 1985, following Ibrahim al-Amin’s declaration of the party’s manifesto. The manifesto changed the doctrine of Hezbollah from freedom fighting to establishing an Islamic state styled after Iran. The group follows the Shi'a doctrine of Islam which was established by the leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. This ideology is outlined in the Wilayat al-faqih which translates roughly into the Trusteeship of the Jurisprudent. The group has grown from their origin as an armed band of resistance fighters into a political entity that currently holds fourteen seats in the Lebanese government. The close ties with Syria and Iran and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) have given Hezbollah tremendous cultural influence in the Middle East. [1, 3]

Hezbollah’s members originally were either Shi’ite Muslims or Iranian Revolutionary Guard. They formed a union that held three main goals. The first was the establishment of an Islamic republic because “only this type of regime can secure equality and justice for all of Lebanon’s citizens.” This first point is ironic to a mind raised in the liberal West because there is no equality between men and women which means justice does not exist. The second goal outlined in the 1985 charter was to “fight against ‘Western imperialism’ and eradicate it from Lebanon.” “The group strives for complete American and French withdrawal from Lebanon, including their institutions.” Another irony about this is that a large amount of the Lebanese GDP comes from foreign investment allowing Lebanon is have a moderate growth rate of 4.6% annually. [1, 5]

The third and most contentious principle of Hezbollah, and many other Arab nations and organizations, is the denial of the Zionist entity’s right to exist, the entity being Israel. Hezbollah takes this one step further by claiming that victory will only be had once Jerusalem is under Islamic rule. The West has closely identified itself with this extremely illiberal democracy and has built ties and alliances with Israel since the inception of the Jewish homeland. [1, 2]

The question is: can you blame the Arabs for their anger? Essentially, the West came into a legitimate state, Palestine, appropriated 75% of their land, and moved in the Jews displaced from the Holocaust. Where did Britain (and consequently the rest of the West) derive the authority to do this? The last time the West had any interest in the Middle East was when we realized there was a vast amount of this fascinating substance buried under the shifting sands. Before the discovery of oil and the combustion engine, the only thing that old Europe wanted out of Jerusalem was treasure after spending two unsuccessful and bloody centuries trying to burn it down. The West has fueled the hatred of the Middle East by sharing nuclear technology with Israel while pursuing a policy of non-proliferation with the other Gulf States and the Arabic world in general. Today, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, refers to the United States and Israel as the “Great Satan.” To him, there is no distinguishing one from the other. [1, 6]

The West made a major mistake when it started asking for democratically elected parties to represent the region and the people. By trying to discredit their unorthodox methods and the West actually granted the group a legitimacy that otherwise might never have come. Proving that the West never seems to learn the simplest lessons we saw this same process repeated with Hamas in Palestine. The people chose those who they felt represented their interests best and chose Hezbollah because of their social efforts and charitable work. It does not matter to the Lebanese people that this money comes from Iran and Syria. The choice was obvious for two reasons. First, this group has successfully defied the most powerful governments in the region and the world and therefore is the champion of the “little guy.” Hezbollah is also the only Arab entity that has achieved any success militarily against Israel. The second reason is Hezbollah’s social effort. While Israel had been lining their northern border with an impenetrable wall of tanks, Hezbollah has been busy bringing in bulldozers and heavy industrial equipment to facilitate the reconstruction of southern Lebanon. This approach shows the people of Lebanon that Hezbollah is for the people and cares about their plights and trials. [1, 3, 7]

This is not to say that Hezbollah is a moral group. Their particular tactics of bombing, kidnapping, and murder are contemptible. Hezbollah even takes pride in being called a terrorist organization. Unfortunately, these are the few tactics that they are available to Hezbollah due to the size and power of their opposition but that is not a justification. As Gandhi put it so eloquently, “An eye for an eye leaves the world blind.” Hijacking planes, taking hostages, and planting bombs (or using a human to detonate a bomb) are not activities that the West, or anyone, will view as the operations of a directed and responsible resistance group. Guerilla movements are generally not recognized as legitimate because their ideologies usually include an intention to destroy the established social order.

Hezbollah’s activities can be classified in three ways. First, you can apply the standard Western stereotype of Islamic militant groups and brand them terrorists. The second classification places Hezbollah as the leaders of a Jihad. This is a difficult term to translate into English but essentially it means “holy war.” Under this classification, the militants are fighting the “infidel” and this makes death the ultimate achievement for the militant. This is the concept of the martyr and martyrs in Islam are accorded exceptional privileges in heaven. Fighting an enemy that holds death as the highest achievement is a daunting prospect but under this classification you are still able to simplify this movement to a fanatical ideology. Furthermore, this is an Americanized way of viewing the idea of Jihad. One Imam I spoke to explained that Jihad was being misrepresented by fundamentalists. Jihad, according to the Koran and this Imam, is actually the Muslims attempt to live his or her life to their utmost potential. [3]

The third way of classifying Hezbollah is to grant that they are a legitimate resistance movement. The problem with viewing Hezbollah as a legitimate group with more than a fundamentalist agenda is that in doing so you grant Hezbollah a status that could be equated with pre-Revolutionary War America. The West does not want to relate Hezbollah to itself preferring to keep the distance and avoid similarities by calling Hezbollah terrorists and, less frequently, Jihadists. Very rarely is Hezbollah ever described as a resistance movement outside of the news network Al-Jazeera and the Middle East.

The more difficult question is whether or not Hezbollah is actually concerned for the welfare of Lebanon or if the group is just another puppet of Iran and Syria in their mission to destroy Israel. There is no question that both Israel and Hezbollah gained and lost in their month long conflict. The only true losers, though, are the Lebanese. This makes me wonder if Hezbollah actually cares about the people it claims to champion or if it is all publicity to keep the focus on Israel rather than itself. Reading Al-Jazeera gives a lot of mixed opinions. Many people of Arabic descent claim that Hezbollah is causing the destruction of Lebanon by pursuing the destruction of Israel. Others claim that Hezbollah has set a new trend for the Middle East by “bravely defying the Israeli war machine.” One group of opinions talks about the lack of military targets for Hezbollah’s 2000 rockets while another group talks about the injustice of the civilian deaths due to Israeli air strikes. I heard one opinion that called the Middle East the West’s weapons testing field. More condemned America for supporting the “true terrorists”, the Israelis, who are constantly terrorizing Palestinians and Lebanese by destroying their homes and making them bury their dead by the thousands. I agree with various pieces of all these opinions but I disagree with all but one because they do not factor in the big picture. One anonymous post of one line spoke the most truth of any: “both sides are the losers for the destruction they have inflicted upon each other.” Hezbollah is just as much a reason for the Lebanese sufferings as the Israelis. [4, 7]

Inside Lebanon, this recent conflict with Israel has had a polarizing effect on the populace. During the war, the Lebanese supported Hezbollah because of the tremendous destruction raining down from the Israeli warplanes. After the conflict, the Lebanese began considering that some of the fault could be attributed to Hezbollah itself. Their cross-border actions and intolerance of Israel does contribute to antagonizing one the most delicate situations in the modern world. Another viewpoint put forth primarily by Lebanese Christian’s was that this war had halted and reversed a decade of progress. There is also a fear that Lebanon could be dragged into the possible conflict looming with Iran because of Hezbollah’s ties with the Islamic republic. Another fear is that the delicate balance of Lebanon could be broken. Lebanon is governed by a tribunal of religious diversity. The president is required to be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister must be a Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker of Parliament must be a Shi’a Muslim. Lebanon has managed to coexist in peace with itself despite the volatility of the region it is located in. Escalating sectarian tensions in Iraq between Shi’ites and Sunnis could spill over into Lebanon and it does not take much imagination to realize that the Christian minority could exacerbate such a situation. Many Lebanese are fearful that this balance has already been permanently altered by this recent conflict with Israel. [4, 5, 7]

I have spoken to three Muslims about Hezbollah. One is Turkish, another is Moroccan, and the other is Lebanese. They all universally referred to Hezbollah as terrorists. They told me about how these organizations go into the most desolate and poverty stricken areas of the Islamic world and brainwash men and women into becoming martyrs. The ignorance of these backwoods people makes their mission easy considering that you would be hard pressed to find an Arab anywhere who believes that the US and Israel have made a lot of good decisions. These uneducated people have all heard about the injustice of America and Israel and willingly offer up their lives because they are told that a special place in heaven will be waiting for them. This highlights a tragedy that is infrequently spoken of: these men and women are sent to die by those who would not make the same sacrifice themselves. That being said, all three also expressed a fervent dislike of Israel. They told me about a lot of situations that are not covered in Western news broadcasts such as the Palestinian crops that rot at the Wall. The crops rot because Israel will not let them in to sell their produce inside Jerusalem because they fear more suicide bombings. Every day thousands of Arabs sneak into Jerusalem to find work, commuting ten miles or farther. The people who suffer are never those who antagonize these conflicts. [9]

Hezbollah has changed much since its beginning. The party of God has been many things and the group has held many identities ranging from a theocratic institution to an armed guerilla force to a social institution encouraging the growth of Lebanon. The ties to Iran, Syria, and Hamas show that the goals of Hezbollah are not entirely peaceful and their manifesto confirms their intention to destroy Israel in any manner possible. After this most recent conflict, many Arab nations and people are cheering for the Hezbollah for successfully defying Israel a second time. Islam as a religion is about peace, however. All the prophets of all the major religions are included within the Koran and a lot of common ground exists between Hezbollah and their enemies. This consistent fighting does nothing except destroy progress and waste lives. Whatever good Hezbollah renders is balanced out by continually encouraging the hostility of Israel. When Israel acts it is not Hezbollah that suffers, it is the Lebanese. [1, 3, 4, 7, 9]

The last thing the Middle East needs is another militant group. Hezbollah, in my opinion, does not care about Lebanon. The work they do is a cover to maintain the social support they need to survive within Lebanon. Hezbollah is an organization that only helps encourage an unstable situation. The destruction of Israel is not an option. What is done is done. Reparations should be assuredly made but the death or removal of six and half million Israeli citizens is not a feasible option. I am not laying all the blame at Hezbollah’s feet because I feel that Israel is just as guilty, if not more so, for their actions which include everything from the Six Day War to the occupation of Lebanon to the construction of that monstrosity between Israel and Palestine. What would be truly monumental would be if just one of these militant groups stepped forward and made it mandatory for everyone to sit down and not get up until every single problem has at least been addressed. The only possible outcome of this continued belligerence is an intensified war with some horrifically possible outcomes. Hezbollah is in a unique position and I wish that Hassan Nasrallah, who has shown that he is nobody’s fool, could move beyond his hatred and see the good that he and his organization could render. However, this is a pipedream as long as Hezbollah is financed by Iran and Syria and as long as Israel itself encourages this hatred through their actions. [8, 9]
Bibliography
1. Military.com. 2006. Hezbollah. Military Advantage: A Monster.com Company
http://www.military.com/Resources/ResourceFileView?file=Hezbollah-History.htm

2. Al-Bab: An open door to the Arab World. 2002. Hizbullah.
http://www.al-bab.com/arab/background/hizbullah.htm

3. Wikipedia. 2006. Hezbollah.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah

4. Aljzaeera.Net. 2006. Crisis in Lebanon.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/07BA1ECA-EF3E-4B25-913E-F918AAA1D906.htm

5. U.S. State Dept. 2005. Lebanon. Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35833.htm

6. Rotten.Com. 2006. Hezbollah.
http://www.rotten.com/library/history/terrorist-organizations/hezbollah/

7. Lateline - ABC. 2006. Lebanese Divided on Hezbollah. Sally Sara.
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1722528.htm

8. U.S. State Dept. 2005. Israel. Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3581.htm

9. Mur (Wall). 2004. Simone Bitton. Documentary.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0413018/

Why Roe v Wade Should Be Struck Down in Order to Guarantee Permanently Legalizing Abortion in Every City, County, and Stae

2008-08-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

Note : While comprehesion of this essay is guaranteed due to the broad scope of Roe v Wade, I highly recommend perusing "What Roe v Wade Should Have Said." It is an insightful read.

Roe v Wade
Rosen v Collett

Of the eleven opinions put forth in What Roe V Wade Should Have Said, I nod in agreement while reading Jeffrey Rosen’s dissenting opinion. In his descriptive criticism of the 1973 landmark, Rosen calls the decision rushed. His opinion is that “the states would have repealed these laws” and further goes on to say that he uses the word ‘would’ because “[the states] are no longer free to do so.” This sentiment cuts directly to the real issue of the argument. It is not about abortion per se, but rather the hasty judgment that lamed the legislative process and prevented the standard discourse of political action, which was moving inexorably towards resolution. Moreover, the resolution had no grounding in the Constitution.

When asked to decide the worst opinion, I found it to be more difficult than deciding my favorite. I felt that Terri Collett’s opinion was incorrect, but I also felt that her perspective as a woman should be deferred to on this issue. After reading it, however, I felt that I had witnessed an atrocity that needed to be rectified. I choose Terri Collett’s opinion as the worst of the eleven because her idea of feminism is counter-productive and her argument is littered with elements quoted directly from the religious right. Religion is biased on this issue and has no place in the democratic judgment of women’s fundamental rights because of the influence of patriarchy throughout religion’s history. Further, her argument attempts to trap us within circular logic. She first states that no one knows the consequences of pregnancy like a woman and that abortion frees men from sexual responsibility. She then goes on to add that abortion is conforming to the “male-model.” However, how often do we see single mothers’ living in poverty because the father is absent and left her to fend for herself and her son or daughter? Is this not giving women an answer to a man’s immaturity? Her ideas are clearly undeveloped because she is forced to use stories and emotions to try to quantify her ill-conceived opinion. A story about a cabin boy who was cannibalized by his other larger shipmates is an example of Darwinism. It is not an example that is relevant in justifying anti-abortion sentiment.

Aside from the logical assumption that Roe v. Wade interfered with the likely path of democracy and abortion, the other part I find convincing is his point about the Constitution’s lack of a measure securing personal autonomy. Privacy among other things is guaranteed through the First Amendment, as is personal dignity through slander and libel laws. Autonomy, or the ability to operate the way you wish, is not guaranteed by the Constitution. If autonomy was definite, then there would be no crime since one would be operating the way one wishes to when he or she robbed a bank. Many have drawn the conclusion that if privacy is guaranteed, and if dignity is guaranteed, then autonomy is guaranteed as well. Dissenters might even have a related point to being able to be autonomous from the government, but personal autonomy is not expressed within the Constitution. I concur with Rosen that the lack of provision for personal autonomy was an intentional oversight.

The 14th Amendment does allow for laws not specifically enumerated in the Constitution, but when the 14th Amendment was passed citizen’s rights were not viewed as an “abstract set of rights…judges could define on a whim.” The 14th Amendment guaranteed civil rights when passed in the 19th century, not social rights. Since the pressures women feel in relation to abortion are social and not legal, they are not protected by the 14th Amendment. This could be splitting hairs if abortion were illegal, but because the laws are so vague and because women face legally pettier distractions like insults and threats for their choices, a woman getting an abortion does not risk legal penalty. Moreover, terminating a pregnancy is inherently a social issue and would seem to be irrelevant to the course of a country’s path, hence Rosen’s dissent. No person or authority suggested that abortion restrictions violated the Due Process Clause or Equal Protection Clause when the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, yet 30 of the 37 states of the Union had placed restrictions on abortion at that time.

Now, as Rosen points out, tradition is not a static element, but rather a living entity capable of dramatic changes over a short period. History has done a great deal to suppress women and encourage their status as second rate in relation to men but our era is quickly making up for lost ground. Roe is the figurehead for one of the most radical changes of the Equal Rights struggle, perhaps with the exception of the Civil Rights movement itself. In 1973, 13 states had already adopted the American Law Institute’s Penal Code approach. This allowed for abortions if the health of the mother was threatened, if the child was believed to have serious birth defects, or if the pregnancy resulted from rape, incest, or any other negligible intercourse. Four states allowed abortions within the first trimester without penalty. Today only a small minority of US states follow this model. So we return to the stagnation brought on by an overzealous Supreme Court that invented a right to abortion “before a consensus in favor of liberalization had an opportunity to crystallize.” So now, more states, not less, follow the model that makes abortion legal only to save the mother’s life. Texas still represents the majority that follows the old-fashioned model; and the Constitution does not give a great deal of evidence to support a right to terminate pregnancies.

Rosen next argues for precedent. The right to contract is secured through Lochner and Meyer v Nebraska but using this idea would mean that a child is a social contract that can be rendered null and void not only during pregnancy but also during any step of the child’s life. This would violate the Equal Protection Clause. The right to marriage is also guaranteed but that right does not imply that children can be raised as the parents see fit. State police power determined that states have the ability to restrict the categories of people being married. This would imply that the state also has a say over the progeny of marriage unions. This logical progression, however, finds itself under the eye of the federal government. The Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of many things for its citizens and would reject such a scenario of state directed child rearing. So perhaps this invalidation would be the allowance for the permission of abortion. This is not in Rosen’s paper as he points out that it is not enough to ensure the right of abortion.

Rosen’s next attack is on Justice Douglas’s support of the unenumerated right to privacy, which Douglas derived from the Fourth Amendment. This is irrelevant because it is not a case of intrusion in the home nor is it about the archaic thought process that criminalizes contraceptives. He goes on to say that, “It’s easy enough, if you are a judge determined to reach a particular destination, to read every constitutional precedent at such a high level of generality that the differences among them evaporate into air.” This statement embodies his whole argument. You can get to point B from point A easily enough but the logic will not be reproducible if the readers do not share your preconceived opinions. Those who disagree with you will, most likely, feel deceived by your logic.

Rosen dissents against the manner in which the Supreme Court came to its conclusion, not against the idea of abortion. The Equal Protection Clause is the machete that cuts short the most important constitutional debate of our generation. He feels that the restrictions on abortion do deny women equal liberty and equal rights but that these rights would have already been achieved through the ordinary political process. Because the Supreme Court made a brazen decision and invoked the equal rights stance during a peculiar situation, it hindered the normal course of legislation.

Terri Collett’s first argument uses the idea that the laws of Texas and Georgia are recognized by the majority and are constitutionally favorable to keep. This, to use Rosen’s word again, is an extremely atavistic outlook. In 1973, the statutes she is referring to are more than a hundred years old. She then uses the idea of judicial review vs. parliamentary sovereignty and claims that the people are not represented by the presidentially nominated Justices of the Court but by the legislature, the legislature that is not part of this decision. This becomes more ridiculous by her position as a judge on the case. Throughout her entire opinion, she embraces an outdated outlook in all her points. She claims that early feminists opposed abortions, which they did, but her model of feminism is extremely out of place in the modern world as modern feminists and post-modern feminists find that abortion is necessary because it removes an undeserved burden on single mothers. Restricting abortions creates the burden of the ‘double-day’ and fathers who do not pay alimony to their children’s mothers.

She then goes on to quote a few Suffrage-era feminist leaders who claim that all of this is the fault of the male sex. If the male is the one leaving, then shouldn’t a woman be permitted to receiving an abortion due to the fact that she cannot depart the pregnancy like her partner? Her opinion traps women in a cycle because it leaves women with no options except anger. She also points out several women who have done extraordinary things in the past few years as if that validates that abortion should be immoral. There is no logic whatsoever in her argument.

Her next point is that abortion and contraceptives are a violation of a woman’s “sacred temple”, her body. All surgery and medications are arguably violations of both sexes’ bodies but I would stake my life on the fact that Justice Collett has had a Tylenol once or twice in her life. The first half of her opinion is subjective and based on a model of women’s empowerment. This model is irrelevant in dated 80 year prior to the modern era. She then traps her logic in the idea that abortion guarantees men the right to walk away from their partners and leave women to cope with the consequences. Would it not follow the concept that abortion should be made available so a woman can move on with her life, as the male is by walking out, without the burden that a child may create?

Her next argument is the right of privacy and its guarantee that we are free from government intervention. By her own logic, should people not be free to choose what to do with their offspring, legitimate or otherwise? Collett believes that marriage is the civil institution by which people assume legal responsibility for children conceived during marital intercourse. Most people are married because they love one another. At the time most get married, children are not on the forefront of the mind, the wedding, the honeymoon, and the spouse are.

Third, for Ms. Collett is the idea of fetal life. She states that abortion should be allowed up to the end of the first trimester, because of her restatement of a medical opinion. “By the end of the 12th week, the fetus is a sentient moving being.” Therefore, before the 12th week the fetus should not be considered a living thing. She moves her attack in a different direction, by claiming that most women panic and are depressed during pregnancy and that these are natural symptoms. But the panic and depression of pregnancy do not cloud one’s mind enough to prevent a rational decision. She goes on to state that childbirth brings contentment. Explain the contentment of a fifteen-year-old girl living on the streets who does not have enough money to feed herself and her child?

Next, Collett uses what I will call her “Kidnapper Scenario.” These types of fantastic allusions have no place within a judicial opinion and emotional concerns should be set aside in favor of a more logical stance. Emotions are not for the courts, they are for human beings. The courts are supposed to be moral, that is all. Her story about the cabin boy who was cannibalized is merely an attempt to stir up support in a situation that cannot produce any logical basis in order to encourage her opinion.

Her final insult is the use of Carolene and its jurisprudence of protecting insular and discrete minorities in reference to fetuses of women who have been raped. A woman forced to raise her rapist’s son or daughter is in fact being made to submit to the male model. Is this not what she herself argues so stringently against? By claiming that the rapist’s child has rights too, Collett shows herself to be incapable of rational, logical, or even moral thoughts and this turns her entire opinion into a hoax.

Therefore, I return to agree with Rosen’s assertion that the decision of Roe v Wade hindered the standard legislative process. It has marshaled the forces of anti-abortionists into a coalition that has allowed people to develop arguments which resemble those of Terri Stanton Collett’s. Roe v. Wade needs to be overturned so that it can usher in the era that should have been established years prior. It does not currently exist because of a Supreme Court that was ill equipped to render a sound decision and caused vast consequences; instead it rushed towards a hasty ruling in the name of progress.

Addendum: Legalize Abortion. For those who choose to have differing opinions, choose to not have an abortion. Stop impinging on the freedom of others because of your beliefs.

Reflections on a Paper I Wrote in 2006

2008-08-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

The International Impact of an Archaic Energy Policy

The United States’ economic and international dominance that has remained intact since World War I will most likely disappear within the next 50 years. It is predicted that the global landscape will be highlighted by the growing power of India and China. The cheery picture of a “new world order” envisioned by George H. W. Bush in the post- Cold War era is not the world we live in. This was intended to be an era known for its diplomacy and multilateral peacekeeping. We were supposed to be a safer world after the US’s defeat of Soviet Russia. That is not the world we live in. In fact, the world has become more volatile with the rise of terrorism and the spread of rogue fascist governments and socialist dictatorships. If the world no longer has the clashing superpowers vying for dominance, then why is the world not a safer, more utopian society? The answer is energy. [1]

Historically, Man first relied on fire, technically termed “thermal energy.” Man harnessed this power with tools of flint and steel. The next step for Man came about with the power of the animals to push his plows and carry him longer distances than his own legs could. This is kinetic energy, the power of motion. Animal power was followed by steam power, the combustion engine, and the Industrial Revolution. The idea of an energy policy is born in this era around the late 1700s. While Britain, the leader of the Industrial Revolution, did not develop the steam engine, or the external combustion engine, they developed more energy efficient techniques during the late 16- to early 1700s. During the era of the steam engine, Britain dominated the world and zealously guarded their exclusive knowledge of the steam engine’s power. Steam engines produced thermal energy, but they also required an accelerant like coal or wood to boil the water. Britain had an abundance of coal so it was the perfect technological usage of their natural resources at the time. This was also a logistical nightmare as the British navy had to deposit massive stockpiles of coal, called coaling stations, all over the Pacific islands. These coaling stations allowed their ships to refuel without requiring a return trip to Britain. These factors gave Britain a tremendous advantage over their rivals Spain, France, and Russia. Britain exploited its advantage as the most powerful nation by colonizing much of the world and surpassing rival France by taking control of India and Australia. [2, 3]

Britain’s position as the dominant nation remained until the late 1800s. Electricity and the internal combustion engine were developed as nations took the next steps in energy development. The first efficient internal combustion engine was patented in London in 1854. One may argue that electricity came from Ben Franklin’s famous experiment involving a kite, key, and a lightning storm just as one may argue that the first steam engine came from 1st century Greece with the aeolipile. However, just as the aeolipile needed 1500 years to achieve its full potential, electricity did not become a practical force until the development of the cathode, transistor, and vacuum tube. The consistent characteristic of all these types of energy is the need for fuel to maintain the production of energy. Whereas in the past, fuel was abundant because a fire could be fed logs, an animal could be fed grain, however, electricity and the internal combustion engine required certain specific and limited natural resources to fuel their energy output. This is where energy truly became subjected to politics, economics, and the laws of supply and demand. [4, 5]

By 1890, the world was preparing for an unknown conflict but the instability of the 19th century hovered ominously on the horizon. Britain knew that its navy was archaic and inefficient due to their ships reliance on coal. Britain redesigned its navy by replacing frigates with dreadnaughts which were faster ships with bigger guns that relied on a more efficient energy, oil. Since Britain did not possess any oil they had to look to foreign markets to sustain their rapidly growing needs. The only developed European markets were in Russia under the control of Royal Dutch Shell. There was no logical way to transport enough oil down the Crimea to sustain Britain’s need, so Britain explored elsewhere and found oil in Burma and Persia. This began a destructive legacy in world history that still remains in our present day. [3, 5]

The history of earth has been filled with the interplay of natural resources and conflict. While the progression from animal power to steam power, electricity and the internal combustion engine were all vital to the development of modern civilization, our reliance on particular energies have also hindered us tremendously.

Energy comes in many forms in the modern era. We rely most heavily on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources which a romantic might refer to as the gift of the dinosaurs, but in actuality is merely decomposing plants and animals. Fossil fuels are coal, petroleum, and natural gas and are what referred to as “easy energy.” It is a simple process which releases very large amounts of energy using small amounts of fuel. If you need more energy, you add more fuel. One energy expert, Edward L. Morse, made the assertion that “Petroleum is the most versatile fuel source ever discovered.” Most importantly, fossil fuels were and continue to remain abundant, they are also inexpensive compared to other sources of energy. This produces a false sense of comfort. According to a theory put forth by Marion Hubbert, oil production peaked worldwide in 2000 and in the United States in 1970. The US government did its own research in 2004. It found that worldwide energy production has already peaked and is on the decline. This research did not include countries located within the former Soviet Union or current OPEC members. [1, 6]

As a civilization we have built our energy infrastructure around fossil fuels; changing our preference to a different form of energy would be extremely costly. Who would suffer the greatest cost if we were to transition from fossil fuels to clean energy? The consumers would suffer, this being only one of thousands of negative manifestations in the politics of energy. Businesses have shown themselves to be self-serving thus the large expenditures required for this transition would most likely be laid on the consumer’s shoulders.

Fossil fuels are extremely hazardous to the environment. The combustion of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, a gas that contributes to the Greenhouse Effect. The Greenhouse Effect is a global warming cause by the heat-trapping gases that are vented into the atmosphere. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls this “radiative forcing.” Furthermore, as supplies of fossil fuels continue to dwindle, the extraction of fossil fuels will become much more costly as oil rigs seek deeper and deeper waters to mine. This will also make the process of mining oil even more dangerous. Overall, a country to remaining “addicted to oil” is equivalent to declaring your nation a failed state. The future of fossil fuels is grim with little to know positive aspects left. Since most of the Hubbert peak theory has been correct, it seems logical to assume that a global economy powered by oil will begin an inevitable decline if immediate solutions are not found in the next 50 years. [8]

The oil issue has become an issue of immediate urgency in recent weeks. As I write this, the political system, more specifically the President and the Republican-majority Congress, is under fire for the rising gas prices. A few months ago there was a special run on CNN about the consequences of America’s foreign energy dependency. America has an “addiction to oil.” They predicted that as oil prices started to rise; the government would call upon energy officials to be questioned in an attempt to find answers, of which little to none exist. Now, in our modern world, the government is calling energy officials to testify and provide answers they do not have. I interviewed a Dining In delivery service man to see if these higher oil prices were affecting his paycheck. The man claimed that he was losing around $10 a day of income. Considering that his average income is around $100 a day that would be a 10% deduction in his daily pay. This 10% provides health care, luxuries, and food and is disappearing as a tax to America’s oil addiction while helping to line the former Exxon CEO’s pocket with a $400 million severance package. [9]

There are many consequences associated with fossil fuels that we are already suffering for our affair with this natural resource. Fossil fuels have divided everyone, even the scientific community. Half of these people state that the earth is getting warmer as a result of trapped Greenhouse gases. The other half of the community claims that the world is getting warmer as a result of a natural process, but this theory is questionable because these researchers are often funded by Exxon Mobil. At the very least, they both agree that the world is getting warmer which should be enough to shock us out of our lethargy and take action to bring about change. [10]

Most of the world’s conflicts can be boiled down to control of resources. Ethnic and religious differences are usually a means to incite an uprising. Sierra Leone’s conflict sustained itself for a long period due to the opposing faction’s greed and desire to control the diamond mines. Congo sustained war for half a century over copper and gold. Furthermore, every single recession of the international economy since World War II can be associated with a shortage of abundant petroleum. Petroleum has been referred to as “[the] determinant of well-being, of national security, and international power for those who possess this vital resource, and the converse for those who do not.” Nigeria, Africa’s largest nation by gross domestic product, would certainly make a strong case for this point. [1]

If there is so much malevolence attached to fossil fuel reliance, why do we refuse to change? Why do we allow ourselves to be pigeon-holed, and even governed, by a resource – a thing we are supposed to control, but instead controls us? The simple explanation is greed and politics. There are many different forms of energy in the world and reliance on alternative fuels would bring about a lot of international stability, but people are afraid of some of these energies. One fifth of all nuclear reactors are located in areas of significant seismic activity. Japan’s nuclear reactors are all located in areas of great seismic activity and the nation is powered largely by nuclear energy. Currently 33% of the energy generated in Japan is nuclear and that number will be 40% within the next few years. Yet, the Japanese public is strongly opposed to nuclear power and even forced the closure of the country’s newest and biggest nuclear plant on March 24th. Japan is not alone in its distrust of nuclear power although they do have more reason to fear nuclear power than anyone else since World War II. [11]

The current global community is in the equivalent of an international holding pattern. This, in my opinion, is even worse than doing nothing because we know that, eventually, the oil will run out. We are like spectators waiting for the game to start. We need immediate and large-scale reforms. Oil at the Katrina-damaged facilities should not start pumping again. Instead we should take the money we would spend on rebuilding and apply it towards new energy efforts. Where and how do we go about doing that? I believe a small step we could take would be to start converting our transportation fuels over to sugarcane ethanol. This is important because the US is currently resigning to the fact corn ethanol as the answer. The dirty truth about E85, which stands for 85% ethanol mixed with 15% petroleum, is that it takes more energy to produce the corn and convert it to alcohol the amount it produces after its transformation. Furthermore, this process releases even more pollution than simply burning oil once you have taken the steps required to make E85 into account. The final blow to E85 is the tremendous damage corn causes to soil. We can regrow more sugarcane ethanol every year. It is far less polluting and much less volatile and it is cheaper as well. Biodiesel doesn’t have to be sugarcane; biodiesel can also be produces out of many oils – including recycled Chinese restaurant vegetable oil. This is not a hard step to take. Everyone in the world can take this step with the only people losing out being despotic leaders and despotic businessmen sitting on the boards of Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, and Chevron.

Brazil, it appears, will be our new face for sustainable living. They stunned the world by claiming that they will be energy independent by next year. They accomplished this based on Getúlio Vargas’s mid-1970s decision to subsidize ethanol production with government funds providing the framework for what is now a booming free trade market. Half the vehicles on the road in Brazil are powered by ethanol. Japan’s oil industry is starting to buy Brazilian bio-ethanol in large quantities. South Africa is starting to get into the act too. George Bush has thrown down the gauntlet to have, by 2020, 75% of America’s vehicles running on ethanol, which is made from corn in America. Ethanol is inevitably the next step in automotive energy, but it is not the perfect solution. There is still gas in ethanol and ethanol will not provide a suitable energy solution for the world, especially not the supply produces from corn. [9]

The world needs new ideologies, not new energy alternatives. If world governments started manufacturing their own supplies of energy, the benefits would be astounding. Economic growth and development would no longer be hindered by the laws of supply and demand. Electricity and running water would no longer be a privilege in third world countries, they would become the norm. There are numerous renewable energy resources in the world that it is unforgivable for us to continue to use nature to power our economy.

The effects of fossil fuels are extremely important to our international agenda. The climate model research shows that even slight changes in our eco system will be devastating to humanity due to the way mankind has set up its infrastructure. These slight changes will destroy the bread-baskets the world relies on to feed itself. It is estimated that the world can currently hold a population of 8 billion. If a quick-freeze ice age were to occur, this number would reduce to 2 billion. There was an interview on the BBC with Sir David King, the science advisor to Tony Blair, which discussed India specifically. India’s monsoon is dependent on a very small range of fluctuation. If the monsoon is 10 percent less intense in one year, it can lead to agricultural famines. If the monsoon is 10 percent more severe, there can be heavy flooding and the large number of fatalities that arise from flooding in rural areas. At a population of more than a billion of the world’s seven billion people, India’s climate change could affect 15 percent of the world’s population in a possible scenario that could occur in the next 50 to 100 years. Monsoons affect 70 percent of India, and affected almost one million people during the 2003 season. [12, 13]

There is another consideration about global warming. The difference between the sea level in the ice age and the medieval warm period was 120 meters. In scientific terms the difference in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere between the ice age (200 parts per million) and the warm period (270 parts per million) was 70 million parts and 120 meters of sea level. The medieval warm period (MWP) had a rise in temperature that occurred around 1000 to 1400 CE primarily in the northern hemisphere. By burning fossil fuels we have increased carbon dioxide levels to 370+ parts per million. At a change of 100 million parts we have to expect, at the very least, an increase in temperature and sea level. [12, 14]

If we as a global culture do not take immediate action, our world will suffer irreversible consequences. The most immediate concern is sustaining the global economy. Oil levels have already peaked worldwide according to multiple research studies. As the supply dips prices will begin to rise dramatically. We may see the unthinkable occur – light, sweet crude selling for $100 a barrel. As this price increase occurs, the economy will start to slow down as more and more money needs to power the transportation sector. Our world not able to meet its energy demand and will begin a slow decline back towards a less modern age.

The economy of the world is the immediate problem, but the long term effects are even more devastating. If our global economy crashes, the world will be a very different place but life will go on. If the climate shifts rapidly, either towards an ice age or a warm period, life as we know it will eventually end. An ice age would make life difficult, but this is not as scary a scenario as the polar ice caps melting. If this happened, the usable landmass of the world would decrease by half. Coupled with overpopulation and the fact that most of the human population is located along the coastlines, this would create an enormous amount of causalities and an irreparable amount of damage. In a hotter climate, insect populations would flourish bringing with them pestilence and disease. We need to urgently stop using fossil fuels today to ensure that the ecosystem, which we desperately need to thrive, continues. The alternative is to replace our current climate with a much different ecosystem, one with an ambient temperature of either 30 degrees Fahrenheit above the current temperature or about 80 degrees below it. We need immediate action now before it’s too late.

Bibliography
1. Klare, Michael T. Blood and Oil .New York: An Owl Book, 2004.
2. Public Domain. “Energy Development.” Wikipedia. [2006]
3. Hobsbawm, Eric. Industry and Empire. New York: The New York Press, 1999.
4. Jones, Bill, Dennis Kavanagh, Michael Moran, and Phillip Norton. Politics UK. New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.
5. Public Domain. “Steam Engines.” Wikipedia. [2006]
6. Hubbert, M.K. Nuclear Energy and the Fossil Fuels. (1956)
7. United States National Research Council, Radiative Forcing of Climate Change: Expanding the Concept and Addressing Uncertainties, Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate. (2005)
8. CNN Special, We Were Warned: The Coming Oil Crisis March 18, 2006.
9. Anonymous, “Exxon Secrets.”
10. Tokyo, “Allergic Reactions.” The Economist (2006): 1-7 April
11. Sir David King, Interview by Harry Kriesler, BBC News, 15 September 2005.
12. Wills, Judith. “Major Disasters Worldwide: 2003” e11th-hour.org. [2004]
13. American Heritage Dictionary, “Medieval Warm Period” Houghton Miffin Co. [2000]

The Industry of Violence

2008-08-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

The movie industry is a menace to society. It is an institution that profits from a near Gestapo-esque solitude with the help of the MPAA, another institution that discloses nothing about its operations. I recently got around to watching This Film is Not Yet Rated and it reminded me of a particular problem I have with the movie industry as a whole. Why is sex treated with more fear than violence? I truly believe that no sane, moral, and healthy individual would rather see a gratuitous violent decapitation over a steaming session of yells and grunts punctuated by a long silence of heavy breathing. Everyone from my mother to an infinite number of talk show hosts, random pedestrians, and anyone else who thinks clearly have at one time or another expressed this point of view. However, according to the movie industry and its MPAA, it would be more damaging for my unborn progeny to see Maria Bello’s pubic hair in The Cooler than it would for them to see a human being turned into debris in various and sundry ways in Saving Private Ryan.

This indicates a conflict of interest and I have a strong suspicion that religion has played in roll in this confusion. After all, the Bible never skimps on warfare and destruction but sex is almost always “X laid with Y and a child was born,” or better yet the Immaculate Conception. Pro. Another telling sign that idiot chauvinism is at hand is the dichotomy of who’s getting fucked and straight vs. gay sex. When a man is getting pleasure out of it, it’s all good – highest rating R. But, when a woman is enjoying herself, Bam! – NC 17. Straight people humping generally get an R as long as they keep it at a maximum of 10 humps. But whenever gay people get down and dirty it’s not even a question that is will be NC-17. Tell me this does not stink of a patriarchal institution that is afraid of women and hates homosexuality.

Let’s cut the bullshit here. At this point, my generation has seen more hardcore porn, decapitations, gruesome murders, holocaust pictures, and other varieties of extremely fucked up shit than any and possibly all generations combined. Anyone over forty who reads this probably has no idea what ‘Rotten.com’ in but everyone under twenty-five certainly does. So our experience vastly outweighs yours in the department of disturbing and not so disturbing images and videos. So technically our opinion counts more. And since I am writing this, I choose to assume that I speak for my generation and I say, ”less violence, more pornography. “

A movie just came out that I wish to dissect. The title of the movie is Death Race. Excellent title don’t you think? The sole goal and plot of this movie is that there is an island full of criminals who fight to the death to get their freedom in the form of a high-speed race. Let us skip the obvious “We’d be releasing the most dangerous and villainous people who would be able to win at such an event back into society” and turn our attention back to a specific comment that dictates American media in general. What is the intrinsic value and contribution that this piece of media makes to society? I am sure there is moment when all the criminals and protagonists release they are being used and unite to fight against the evil Big Brother system blahblahblah. However, that doesn’t make a justification for the release of a movie that’s based on brutal violence. Plus, at some point some Spanish girl who seems to be fairly attractive and is shipped over from the “women’s prison” to be the protagonist’s sidekick. Seriously, what the fuck? Can we get a movie that isn’t based on cave men like mentalities? Me Ugh. Ugh fight bad guys. Ugh get hot girl. Ugh have fast car. Ugh has mortal enemy Ugh vanquishes. Ugh have big guns and big booms. Ugh tired, go bang hot girl. Ugh win.

I, for one, am too fucking smart for this kind of bullshit to interest me and I’m getting sick and fucking tired of Clearchannel and Viacom and MGM and all the fucking rest slinging bullshit like this at me every time I turn on the TV. It’s Death Race or other gems like Wanted, House Bunny, and Love Guru yet I never ever see ads for movies like BOY A or Apologies of an Economic Hitman, movies that have true intrinsic value. The world is so full of death and violence and sadness and we keep ramping it up. Is it any wonder that our military is so talented when all our youth are constantly being desensitized by what we see in our oligopolic media? Is it any wonder that all of us suffer from more and more psychological dysfunction? Isn’t it time we stopped protesting and took some action? A good start would be a rating system that could compete with the MPAA. Private enterprise is a marvelous thing. Sundance, IFC, are you guys paying attention?

Biden for Veep

2008-08-25T13:30:00.001-07:00

Obama just won. Sometimes, in politics, the best choices are also the obvious ones. But Obama just won the 2008 election all the same. I am relieved and I feel like America has dodged the penultimate bullet.

Barack Obama has just nominated Joe Biden for his Vice President. I am stunned by Obama’s choice. In complete honesty, I had given up on Obama. I feel he is inexperienced and untested and I am certainly not alone in that belief. Even our vaunted JFK was unprepared for his first dance with Khruschev during the Cuban Missile Crisis and it was due to a lack of experience. A trial by fire to be certain but I would prefer to avoid an encounter of that magnitude entirely and forever. Joe Biden was whom I prayed would win out for the Democrat’s top slot. My hope for the Republicans, if you are curious, was Ron Paul. Beyond Biden’s tremendous experience as the chair for the Senate Foreign Relations committee, he has just shown the world that he is a man who can swallow his pride. This reminded me of all the characteristics that I first liked in him. He speaks his mind and he doesn’t shy away from what is politically expedient. I have seen him several times on Bill Maher and his ability to speak the same way on that show as he does from the platform is commendable. He is who is he and unabashedly so.

Let us not forget he is from the old school. He is a sixty-five year old man and without a second’s hesitation has taken the right hand of a younger, black man. I think this is admirable and should not be ignored because it is a matter of race. He is a servant to America and he has just proven to all of us that he honors us over himself and will take a lesser job. Of course, we are not naïve. It may set him up to be president in a few short years. This was not a politically stupid move. However, all suspicions aside, I believe his intentions are noble, or rather as noble as a politician's motives can be.

I must confess this has enlivened my interest in the Election Year banter. It will be a short soirée to be sure after the last 2 years of speculations, talk shows, and “enlightened” opinions of the main stream pundits, but it is good to pay attention. We are, after all, accountable only to ourselves and should make sure our vote matters even if we only have two choices. It is far preferably to living in a situation in which you have one or none. The truth is that an advanced society, one that is growing towards the future, should have many more than two choices. Our system is undeniably flawed, but that is business for another day.

Obama/Biden will indeed be the strongest ticket for those who can claim an ability to think rationally, but even my own family is what I would call enlightened yet they believe McCain is the best choice. They have all the old ideals of a republican military family and still cling to an idea that McCain would be the best choice. I even received an e-mail from my favorite uncle that was borderline propaganda from Exxon, Shell, or any of the Big Oil companies. The man in the video was calling for drilling on our coastal waters and in ANWAR. It made me very sad that the people who are supposed to be closest to me are always the aliens in my life. I see the world in such a different light. I care not however, I just hope they abstain or vote independent. It’s funny, I used to truly respect John McCain – but I think my respect died on the lawn of Liberty University.

My digressions are unending. I am truly excited by the addition of Joe Biden to the Obama campaign and I have made my decision to seek employment with the DNC, the Obama/Biden campaign, or the Democratic Party. Perhaps 2008 will turn out all right. Time will tell.

The Breakdown of Classical American Culture Due to the Postmodern Condition

2008-08-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

There is a phenomenon spreading across America. The consequences of this process threaten the fabric of our country. The synergistic effects of globalization and the post-Industrial Revolution have left broad swathes of destruction across the landscape of the world, but the indifferent attitudes that modernization has bred are potentially more dangerous than any ecological issue we are facing. This is due to a combination of shifts in thought and culture that have replaced the traditional models of religion and community building. We are in the grip of the postmodern condition.

Robert Putnam’s book Bowling Alone approaches this lack of cultural participation of group bowling league attendance as a metaphor for the breakdown of American communities and offers his suggestions on how to repair our broken system. The collapse of the American community is due to the replacement of what we consider good values. This revision of values has enabled by the postmodern condition. The postmodern condition is a societal and cultural revolution that is being facilitated by the vast accumulation of knowledge that humanity has exposed itself too. Western culture has led this transition and today our culture is evolving at a rapid pace. For example, in just two years a website which wanted to enable free video sharing has transformed into the mega phenomenon “YouTube.” The culture of America has reinvented itself and the ideal that we seem to be leaning towards is not the most upstanding. The cultural shift away from traditional community groups has given rise to several social welfare problems. We have witnessed this lack of participation in society and politics in our recent elections. The candidates offer only two perspectives inhibiting the execution of democracy and many have made the connection that this political system is not functioning in peak form.

There were many critics who were quick to pounce on the facts and data of Putnam’s book. Many tried to discredit Putnam by claiming that those older groups, such as the Boy Scouts, had become outdated and were replaced by more modern organizations. An article in the New York Times brought up several points about the criticism Putnam was receiving. First, the Encyclopedia of Associations has more than doubled its listed non-profit organizations between 1968 and 1997 and organizations like Greenpeace have had their memberships swell to more than 500% of what they were in 1980. The argument that these non-profit organizations resemble corporations more than public forums, is noted.

The golden age that Putnam discusses, seems to be more circa 1950 than modern era. The Middletown studies have also been used to criticize Putnam. Those studies in 1920 claimed that the radio would lead to isolationism and weaken the bonds of society. The other aspect that Putnam neglected was the evolution of society. Membership in many organizations has risen, even though the neighborhood ties are declining. The transition of social interaction seems like an inevitable side effect of the postmodern condition. These facts do provide data against Putnam’s argument, but the feeling of American community does seem to be distant in our modern country.

The cultural breakdown of America can be attributed to some uncontrollable variables. Some of this is due to population density and regional sentiment. The suburban sprawl factor certainly contributes to this disassociation from the community. Public transportation highlights the lack of empathy we have within the community. People no longer seem to greet one another and frequently avoid eye contact. Suburban sprawl creates a resident population that makes community maintenance unmanageable. The way to solve this problem is districting. By districting a city into smaller sections you can manifest the sense of community in these smaller areas by promoting the gathering of like minded individuals or families. Boston is a city that has benefited from the districting effect with a moderate amount of success.

The dominant attitude of my age group has been popularized as the anorexic, unabashed cheerleader and the moral-free, discontent rebel. In a culture that values Paris Hilton and Kid Rock, is there any wonder that many of our youth find it difficult to reason out morality? There are many who do decide to discuss the missing values of American popular culture. A community would most likely frown on a cadre of cameramen following a group of late-20s and early-30s frivolous individuals who may have money but remain classless, amoral, and unfortunately idyllic to America’s twelve year olds. There certainly seems to be a lack of strong values in America. The most telling sign that America has become disenfranchised and detached from the day to day administration of the country is the abysmally low voter turn out rate. The rank is constantly shifting, but America is even behind voter turn out rate of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The sense of community we are lacking is a significant source that weakens American society. The community is what enables us to know our neighbors. This allows us to know our community because it enables our community to have an identity. A modern, moral community would certainly help combat the less moral pursuits of curious adolescents. We need a new kind of community that teaches those important values without relying on religious dogma and the threat of punishment to justify moral behavior. This is not a problem of involvement. The problem is that we put more emphasis on the chat room while the town hall is neglected. The sense of community has been replaced with a fondness for electronic screens that supply limitless information.

A significant factor that Putnam does not believe in, is the weight working women carry. Female social entrepreneurs have proved to be better at creating lasting social institutions, historically. Many of the institutions of today, like the FDA, were initiatives started by female volunteers. Today, many women work full time and provide for their families so they have no time to dedicate to community groups. I believe that men in many ways genetically and socially lack a refined capacity for social interaction. I would venture so far as to say that women are brought up to view social interaction among peers as more important than men do. “A woman’s touch” is not an accidental phrase and coping with the shortage of female members is most likely the most direct factor contributing to the lack of community building.

That said, the misuse of technology is having an unquestionably negative impact on America. The obesity rate both among youth and adults is astronomical. Children prefer their X-Box over a game of football. Men ages 15-40 are spending time and money playing videogames in increasing numbers. It is difficult to walk into any building and not find a television on. TV is not keeping people in their seats. People are getting lazy. Technology is allowing people to be lazy and children are learning from a young age to be lazy.

Our country’s mentality has become idle. We worship reality TV and plastic surgery is so prevalent in our society that you can find no less than 5 television programs dedicated to this American addiction at any time. Consider the ramifications of this: so many people are changing their appearance that it could be construed that our nation’s main characteristic is superficial insecurity. European’s frequently stereotype the US as lacking a sense of the real values of the world. We value vacations to Disneyland over weekends in Tuscany. Our culture is nouveau riche and we love it. People spend more money on their mode of transportation then on retirement. As a culture, we have forgotten what is important and replaced it with what is flashy. MTV, The Bachelor, and Spike are all shameless promoters of this prostitution of American culture. As a member of the generation that is morally inept, I can see that our culture is on a downward slope that is getting steeper.

Jean Francois Lyotard’s book The Postmodern Condition is an ideal framework with which to analyze this growing cultural identity crisis. The technological advances, particular those of the last century, have allowed the distribution of knowledge to reach an unprecedented scale. The postmodern condition is a philosophy where man is able to manipulate nature and the virtual reality. Gradually, this process blurs the line between reality and simulation and therefore man takes over reality. The process can possibly render infinite good but the capacity for this theory to manipulate the public is apparent and the public is sold products, storylines, and candidates. When man assumes control of the world of illusions, reality becomes more difficult to differentiate and this promotes man to ask old questions and receive new answers. The cultural crisis we are suffering from is due to the uncertain path that lies before us.

Lyotard discusses the culture war in America. He sums it up as a two-sided fight between the elites who want to maintain their power and the less powerful group who claim the moral high ground. The fight has evolved from left and right to the media and the critic. The media has the ability to transform reality into whatever suits the industry’s purpose. As more and more Americans accept popular culture as the ideal form of society, this problem becomes more pervasive. Local politicians can now reinvent themselves in any way they choose and display scripted performances to get a calculated response. Some products advertise themselves with heavenly orchestras and lights shining down from above to imply that consumption of their product will bring you closer to a divine experience. This desire to alter reality, explains the obsession with plastic surgery and celebrity. Even when the disastrous results and consequences are released into the public, there exists only apathy. The media, the main peddlers of popular culture, is certainly not going to blow the whistle on an industry that is selling the same concept of manipulated reality. This also explains our obsession with new things. We want the shiny, shrink-wrapped versions of life, while the simpler and culturally rich experiences are forgotten.

We are giving ourselves a false version of reality and this is allowing us to neglect our communities. People are shaping their lives with tools of illusion, and our society is learning to value false impressions. We are being encouraged to adopt perceptions and realities that are ideal for TV instead of learning those practical values that have relevance in the real world. The possibility of a culture war is not as far fetched as it may sound. The evolution of society will inevitably bring new forms of conflict. The purveyors of the media stand to lose everything if a movement grows against their industry. Hypothetically, it is a movement away from the media and its manipulation of reality that may be the cure for American culture. A revival of moral, civic ethics will help provide America with a strong base that can bring rebirth to our postmodern society.

The postmodern condition is just as troublesome as the breakdown of the traditional community, but postmodernism can become a positive tool. The idea that one can design their reality to fit a person’s perfect preconceptions could do a tremendous amount of good, but the public would have to stand up and take back control for themselves. The salesmen of virtual reality and illusions stand to lose everything if the culture shifts away from its obsession of superficial alterations of reality and uses this potential power to abolish many of the social problems humanity has been unable to correct. We stand at the cusp of a new era, where humans will be as close to gods as we have ever been. Poverty, homelessness, and corporatism could all be eliminated and Western culture could help undo the gross abuse of the environment. We could also mend the suffering of third world countries that are stuck in a purgatory of pre-industrial conceptions tempered with all the garbage contraptions of modern society.

We are obligated to use this postmodern condition to help the world. Lyotard defines obligation as unjustifiable but also inexplicably obvious. We have an obligation to pass along our knowledge and use that knowledge properly. Obligation is a feeling and is a political objective, more than a personal responsibility. The idea of obligation is pagan because the obliged is free to act in any capacity. Lyotard’s definition of “pagan” is a little more refined than the traditional term “pagan.” Pagan is a facet of the postmodern condition. This is not a concept of religion but actually an open ended forum for “discursive pragmatics.” Lyotard’s “pagan” is not influenced by preconceptions and classical criteria. These postmodern definitions are related and build on each other to form a theory of obligation that suggests postmodern societies should cultivate and spread justice.

Putnam addressed a topic that is clearly causing damage to American culture. America is suffering from quite a few moral dilemmas and even identity conflicts. There are clear regional divisions on policy as any partisan shaded map shows. The bipartisan system is exacerbating this lack of community by promoting America as a “one or the other” nation. People’s unique political viewpoints are not conveyed and American’s are left with a sense that, our political system will only be able to get it half right. The shamefully indifferent attitudes of Americans in the postmodern era are causing us to forget not only our obligations to our country and our fellow citizen but also to the world. America has carried this obligation for a long time but we have forgotten some of the most important aspects of this obligation and this causes us to fail. America had never failed in this sense until the end of the 1950s which was, coincidentally, the dawn of postmodernism. A mere fifty years later, our country has lost a war and is in the process of losing a second one. We spend more of our time trying to prevent wars now than spreading real justice. However, the worst blunder is that we have lost so much of our sense of morality, that we have allowed three genocides to continue far longer than they should have. Rwanda, Yugoslavia, and now Darfur were all failures on the part of postmodernists to live up to their obligations. The world is no longer enamored with the United States and one can detect a sense of pity being directed towards us because of our apparent loss of culture and values.

These phenomena are clearly and identifiably related. The breakdown of American culture, the stagnation of the political system, and the failure of our obligation to spread justice are just a few of the many issues confronting the postmodern age. These problems are all related to the greater whole of issues that need immediate attention. Robert Putnam identified a major problem, but many of his assumptions and ideas for change seem archaic now. Jean Francois Lyotard helps fill in what Putnam left out. The world is addicted to oil because we are caught in an illusion that we will not have to deal with the consequences. We have ravaged our planet in the name of industry and have done nothing to conserve our only home. The values of family and morality seem to be completely absent from the images the media beams into every household in America. We have become cold and cruel in our postmodernism. Our callous attitudes extend from architecture to animal welfare. There are so many problems on so many levels that our contemporary society is failing at, that it is no wonder that the majority of people have appeared to turn a blind eye. Both Robert Putnam and Jean-Francios Lyotard would agree that if America and the entire Western world does not cease its self-destructive behaviors and neglective attitudes then the people of these societies will surely suffer irreversible consequences.

Analysis of the Pros and Cons of the Three Gorges Project

2008-08-21T12:26:00.001-07:00

The Three Gorges Dam is a construction project unlike anything the world has ever seen. Structures like the Itaipu Dam in Brazil, the Petronus Towers, and even Hoover Dam pale in comparison to this massive public works project. The only projects that compare are the Coliseum, the Grand Canal, and the Great Wall of China and these only because of the difficulty of the era that they were constructed in.

Since 1919, it has been the dream of many Chinese to harness the flow of the Yangtze River and give it stability with a dam to control the flooding in the Northern provinces which has claimed a million lives in the last century. An added benefit would be the production of a large amount of power for the expanding and power-starved population of China. A set of ship locks, the largest ever built, will allow tankers to acjcess the inland parts of China making the agricultural goods of the area much more available. Supporters of the project point out the good claiming the benefits outweigh the costs. [6, 2]

The Ching Jing river valley has been plagued by chronic flooding. A recent flood in the area killed 30,000 people and forced another million out of their homes. The Three Gorges dam will control this problem. However, at an estimated total cost of close to $11 billion dollars and a final recap that places the project closer to $25 billion the benefits are being offset by a public works expenditure that has never been witnessed in human history. Furthermore, the total cost of the project may actually be closer to $75 or even $100 billion dollars and the design is not performing the task it was designed to do. The ship elevator carries 30 percent of the weight it was proposed to carry. Finally, the sedimentation is going to clog everything from the power generators to the ship locks until the entire dam is clogged by the river it attempted to tame. [1, 2, 4, 6]

The final lake of Three Gorges will stretch 36 miles at a depth of 525 feet. A reservoir will form behind this lake that will stretch another 400 miles. The dam itself will stand 600 feet in the air and from bank to bank will cover 1.3 miles. Points of higher elevation upstream will become islands and 2 cities, 11 counties, 140 towns, 326 townships, and 1351 villages will be partially or completely flooded. Between 1.5 and 2 million people will have to be relocated. The Chinese record of resettlement is abysmal and a large majority of the peasants are expected to become reservoir refugees. The lives of an estimated two million will feel the social and economic upheaval of being forced to leave their homes. A government audit found that 12% of the fund dedicated to the resettlement effort had been embezzled. The worst human right’s abuse is China’s policy concerning opposition to the resettlement and protesting this eviction has frequently turned deadly for the dissidents. [6, 7, 8]

The ecological damage will come from the conversion of the area surrounding the dam from land to water. The ecological impact of flooding 25000 hectares of land and redirecting the rivers natural flow will strain the land increasing the possibility of earthquakes and landslides in the area. The silt that becomes backed up at the dam will both impede the power generators and prevent the silt from reaching downstream areas. Silt is an important ingredient for maintaining the stability of river drainage. Without silt the mouths of rivers break down, increasing susceptibility to ocean-borne storms because of the lack of natural defenses. This increases the damage potential in Katrina-like scenario. Silt is also a natural fertilizer and without it all the down stream fertile lands will rapidly begin to use up all the soil’s available nutrients. [1, 2, 5, 7]

As the river is slowly transformed into a slow moving reservoir, the toxic substances and chemicals already in the land will be released into the water stream. This will adversely affect the biodiversity of the river and will kill many of the animals that will replace this land based ecosystem. In addition, the dam itself will trap the pollution that would normally was out to sea and will further pollute the reservoir. [2, 7]

Early estimates suggested that between 6000 and 6500 plants found the in the areas that will make up the reservoir will be lost. Fifty seven of these are on the endangered species list. Estimates now place that number closer to 10,000. The environmental impact of this project will be staggering. Barro Colorado formed during the construction of the Panama Canal. Half of the birds that bred at what is now Barro Colorado have disappeared. In Venezuela, the dammed Caroni River gave way to Lake Guri. The small islands that formed from the elevated spots in Lake Guri lost seventy five percent of all of the vertebrate species that had dwelled in the area within 15 years. These estimates may be even higher because surveys were conducted following the construction of those dams. [6]

The true toll is on the wildlife. The loss of massive amounts fish species is expected but the loss of more Giant Pandas, Chinese river dolphins, Chinese tiger, sturgeon, and crocodile, and Siberian cranes is devastating. All these animals are on the endangered species list and this dam is destroying what little remains of their natural habitat. The Chinese river dolphin’s population is around 200 worldwide and they are only found in the Yangtze River area. The dolphins were thought to be the river goddesses in ancient China. The extinction seems almost assured and the loss of yet another species due to humanity’s callous disregard for the environment that makes our lives possible is horrendous. [2, 6, 7]

The list of negatives goes on to include the loss of between 800 and 1300 of China’s most historical sites. 300 to 500 of these are aboveground cultural relics that are truly worth preserving. The pagodas along the Yangtze are very old and the archaeological value of these sites is immeasurable and they will be lost forever. There is currently a large tourist market that is visiting and photographing these ancient treasures which will soon be swallowed by the dam’s massive reservoir lake. This tourism brought in nearly $50 million dollars a year as an industry. Factoring in this tourism loss beginning in 1992 adds another billion dollars to the economic impact which is now projected to possibly reach $100 billion dollars. [6, 7, 8]

The pictures of the dam are shocking. The monstrosity of the dam and the ship locks and the original construction site are so painful to look at that it defies description. The true dichotomy is comparing the artist’s rendering with that is actually there. The dam looks like something out of pre-industrial nightmare. The water, always do blue in the artist’s drawings, is red brown and mud filled. The sky, always so clear in the artist’s imagination, is so oppressively hazy that pictures must be filtered and sharpened just to make them viewable. China has an air pollution problem that forces many Chinese to wear breath masks as they go about their daily tasks. This is due China’s reliance on coal to supply 80% of their energy needs. The environmental impact of the construction of the dam was to be tempered by the dam’s cleaner ways of generating energy. The picture makes it appear that the dam may not be living up to the promised hype. The true horror is that the Three Gorges area was considered the most scenic area of China. [3, 6, 8]

In total, the environmental impact and other cons are overshadowing the benefits of the project. The world views the dam in much the same way. Inside China there is some protest both regionally and nationally which is shocking to see in such a repressive regime. Nationally, one third of the People’s Congress voted against the project or abstained from the vote. This is as close to a sign of opposition as is possible without state police crackdowns getting involved. It is also worth noting that several of the deputies of the People’s Congress, including the vice-minister of the water conservancy, voiced their opposition and are now unemployed. Another side note: The peaceful protest that turned so horrific in Tiananmen Square had its roots in the 1989 survey that listed Three Gorges as a potential dam site. The suppression of internal opposition began after this tragic human right’s abuse and lead to the ban of public opinion on the Three Gorges project. This is less a country wanting a dam and more a select group of leaders forcing the completion of their agenda. [4, 6, 7]

The regional protest stems from the gross lack of communism in the distribution of rewards and penalties carried with the construction of the dam. The northern province of Sichuan is being burdened with the large majority of peasants that were displaced by the project yet is going to receive a small fraction of the power created by the dam. Meanwhile, the downstream province of Hubei will benefit from both increased flood control and a large percentage of the electricity produced by the dam. The Chinese governmental yet again callously shows its lack of interest in the fair and universal living standards proposed by Mao Zedong. [2, 4, 7]

Outside China, the world majority is vocally opposed. The sheer impact on the world economy associated with a $30-100 billion dollar endeavor is enormous. The parts and machinery to build this dam will come as much from the rest of the world as they will from China. Nine environmental groups in the US have sued the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation to try and prevent their participation in the Three Gorges project. The World Bank has been unsupportive as it always is concerning river damming efforts. An expert working for the British Medical Association journal, The Lancet, is quoted as saying that “the human health impacts associated with the Three Gorges reservoir could create a Chernobyl of hydropower.” [2, 6, 8]

All of this has assumed that the dam will be completed responsibly. The possibility exists that it will not be structurally sound due to the rampant corruption that plagues China’s public works projects. A dam chain collapsed in Southern China in 1975 killing estimated millions and a bridge collapsed in 1998 killing another forty people. The dam is too far along to stop construction. The investment is too great and the pride of China is riding on this dam to prove China’s place as a world superpower. If the dam breaks, millions of people will be washed to see and the lands surrounding the Yangtze River will be stripped of everything as the backed up waters of the reservoir rush out to the sea. Another possibility is the dam’s destruction by exterior means. In the age of terrorism, a small bomb placed correctly could bring the whole structure crashing down devastating China economically. A war could mean the same fate for the dam. [6, 7]

I foresee that the dam will never work, or at least not for long. The heavy sediment of the aptly named “yellow river” will eventually cause everything to slowly stop. I also foresee a grim future for many specialists China will force into nightmarish jobs in order to keep the dam running as long as possible. The first proposition of this dam claimed the project would cost around $11 billion dollars in 1990. As time has passed that estimate has risen to $25 billion, then to $75 billion and now it is speculated that the project will top well over $100 billion. This dam was a fool’s pipedream. Not one single “expert” brought in to oversee the dam was an archaeologist, ecologist, or even a sociologist. The entire project was viewed from an engineering perspective and never considered the impact beyond the question, “can we build it?” Now, the reservoir is filling, the ecology of an area the size of West Virginia is about become an underwater habitat, and the dam cost a quarter of the yearly GDP of the continent of Africa (not including South Africa.) This project is a failure. The ecological cost is devastating and will almost assuredly result in the extinction of some of the earth’s most unique and oldest animals. The human misery that is being inflicted is immense and the region will not recover from this mass relocation in my lifetime, which is just now beginning. The pollution that was created by the dam’s construction and which the dam will now trap in its immense reservoir will only help to choke the viability of the land further. Worst of all, this dam will only work for a short period of time and when it stops, the Chinese economy, which is banking on this dam to supply power for the next 100 years, will slow tremendously as power will become much more scarce in a country aiming to continue its tremendous economic growth.

Bibliography

1. Yangtze River Travel Service. 2006 www.yangtzeriver.org/threegorges_dam/index.htm

2. Mcully, Patrick. 2005. Evaluating Three Gorges against WCD guideline. International Rivers Network. www.irn.org/wcd/gallery.shtml, http://www.irn.org/wcd/threegorges.shtml

3. Sanborn, Robert. 2001. A photo journal about his trip down the Yangtze.
http://www.thesanborns.com/china/three%20gorges%20dam%20sm.html

4. Perkins, Sid. 2003. A Dark Shame? Project may slam China’s Biodiversity. Science News, Volume 163, No. 21, May 24, 2003, p. 323.
http://www.phschool.com/science/science_news/articles/dam_shame_china.html

5. Liu, J., et al. 2003. Protecting China's biodiversity. Science 300. May 23, p.1240–1241. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1078868.

6. Lee, James. 1997 TED Case Studies: Three Gorges Dam.
http://american.edu/ted/threedam.htm

7. Min, Kris. 1998. Three Gorges, Infinite Reasons.
http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/state/kmin.html

8. Wikipedia. 2006. Three Gorges Dam Project. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam

The Fed(eral Reserve)

2008-08-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

Every dollar you make turns you into a slave. Don’t look away and in your head say, “Well this author is clearly crazy.” I’ll show you. I’ll make you believe.

We borrow money, our currency, from a private corporation called the “Federal Reserve.” The name is deceptive but it is a privately managed corporation with the authority of a federal institution. The money that we borrow is equal to the amount of currency in circulation. An interest rate is charged on every dollar that is released from the Fed. So we are constantly devaluing our currency and our economy by using the Fed's money. Since we are no longer on a “gold standard” system (i.e. you can no longer trade currency into gold) the inflation rate is caused by the consumer who buys his or her goods. Wait. What the fuck? Let me repeat that. We are charging and fulfilling an outstanding ledger on our money supply and increasing that debt every time we use paper money.

It’s a basic economic principle. And it begs the question, “Why do we have a private corporation charging us interest to use our own publicly held currency?”

Let me put it out there for you in some basic math:

Z = X(xR) + Y(xT)

X= The Currency is circulation
xR = The interest rate charge on that currency
Y = Outstanding balance or debt owed to the Federal Reserve
xT = Percentage this outstanding grows by each year
Z = Our new annual debt to the Fed

Before you respond, “Well we need a central bank…” No, we do not. Three times in our nation’s history we have struck down the central bank. This one has been here in existence since the end of World War I. Remember when Aaron Burr was shot? This is why. He and Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson fought bitterly over this issue because the possibility of misuse and ridiculous power of a central bank. It has been said before he who controls the money supply controls the country. This was said in Roman times and it hasn’t changed. Our money supply is in the hands of a private corporation. We do not need a central bank. We, the American taxpayers, do not and should not be paying an average 30% of our income into a private corporation. This is the reasoning when you hear people like Ron Paul say we should eliminate FICA, that is the federal income tax.

Of course, at this point your throw up your hands. It’s an institution even if it is privately held, so how do we get rid of it? Congress never ratified the Federal Reserve institution. As you are no doubt seeing red at this current moment in your existence let me give you a moment to gather your thoughts. Yes, you have been paying taxes your whole life into an institution that has no legal authority. Sorry, the truth hurts. The bill that created the Fed wasn’t even close to passing either. When Congress goes out of session, sometimes you can slip bills through with one or two votes because everyone is away, at home with their families. It happens all the time. This particular bill got 6 votes. You call surprise sessions of Congress when you know your opponents cannot make it to Congress therefore they cannot vote. This is the way of Washington. If you know the system there are black holes you can slip legislation into law through.

At the end of the day, the framework to abolish FICA, the Fed, the IRS, and the federal tax system is truly in our hands. The government works for us. They live in terror of the day that people stop believing that they can not make an impact in the world. The power of one is greater than ever today, not less. You can become a star over a virtual reality system without limits in a minute. Your voice can be amplified with wi-fi, radio, television, and can reach a deafening power all on your own. We are more able to speak our opinions today, not less. “We the people, for the people, by the people,” were not just words written down in a witty order.

For further reading and reference on this issue, may I direct you to:

http://www.livefreenow.org/index.php

Click the $300,000 dollar reward link and prove me wrong, if you can.

Goodbye Musharraf

2008-08-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

Musharraf is gone. I suppose this was Act 3 of the play after Benazir was assassinated. I suppose now the question is how many acts are left? Pakistan still has nuclear weapons and is not the safest country in the world. The western mountains house the whatever-they-are, Al Qaeda, etc. Islamic Fundamentalists who believe Shariyah law is the highest ideal. I do not worry much though, but perhaps this is naïve. I just have too much faith in humanity.

To be honest, I am sick to death of Islam. A Dutch cartoonist puts out a picture and the Muslim world starts screaming. Is it just me or do Muslims act like a bunch of fucking children? Crying when they don’t get their way (flag burning/ “death to America”), bullying those who don’t see their point of view (you Christians and Jews are not the true chosen), and always picking on the different kid on the block for being different (Israel). All classic syndromes of behavior an adolescent would exhibit if they had been abused all their lives. And the problems are always internal in cases like this generally stemming from abusive parents. On top of that, it is well known that Muslims frequently abuse, by American standards, their children. This is all a digression I just wanted to point of the similarities since I had asked the question. I mean for God’s sakes someone stuck a crucifix in a jar of urine and we called it art. Plus, their perfect book which has not been modified since it was passed down from God to an illiterate man (yeah okay) has been modified so many times it looks like a Tuesday Afternoon Special. Hey Fundamentalists, wake up and listen to your own Muslim friends who have actually read the book and find out what the Quran really says beyond “Jihad”, “infidel”, and “martyr.”

Of course, our idiot monkey clown president had this to say: “After the announcement, President George W. Bush said he appreciated Musharraf's efforts to fight al Qaeda and other extremists, and was committed to a strong Pakistan that strengthened democracy and fought terrorism.”(Reuters 8.18.08) Why does this fucking douche always mention terrorism? Goddamit it’s not the only problem in the world. Starvation, women’s rights, the lack of clean water, pollution, mass extinction events, and yet all this fucking tool says is “We support blahblahblah you fighting terrorism.” I’m exhausted of it. I don’t care any more. I’m apathetic. I’m tired. I’m not alone in this. Shut the fuck up, monkey clown.

I don’t really care who has nuclear weapons anymore either. I hope they won’t be used on civilians or armies, ever again. But if it happens how could America say anything except “We did it twice to others.” Perhaps if it does happen they will choose a remote, smaller city rather than megalopolis just like we did. But I still don’t care if everyone has them. In my opinion, all of should or none of us should. The disarmament we went through still left us with enough to burn the planet into nothingness. What do we keep them for? Insurance that we can ruin the whole world if it ever happens? Can you imagine if weapons were launched and our leader came on the TV and said, “We are not going to fire a single nuclear weapon. We are going to turn the other cheek, shoot as many down as we can and pity those of you who fired these weapons. There is not heaven waiting for us. Only a legacy of immortality that the mighty America choose, at the final moment, to choose the responsible action and atone for all our wrong doings.” Can you see it, in your Mind’s eye? It would make me proud even if I knew it was my death knell.

I also miss Benazir Bhutto today. She may or may not have been a Mother Teresa but at least she was a woman in power in a Muslim country. They killed her for her gender more than any other reason. A blatant hate crime. I used to be angry thinking about this despicable abuse of the better sex but now I am just very sad. Millennia ago, when the men stalked food and brought it back to the women, do you think he stumbled into the village after a long journey then ate and started then physically abusing his mate? No, because if he had the other women would have clubbed him to death in his sleep. We need to return to this ideal. And so many men have forgotten that their mothers who they claim to have loved are women too in the moment right before they strike their significant others. We can only blame ourselves. We have marginalized women for five thousand years. And it doesn’t seem to be getting better when a popular refrain among men and women (Yes, I’ve heard both sexes utter this bullshit I’m grudgingly about to repeat) is that Hillary Clinton will not be a good president because once a month she’ll go crazy. It makes me see red.

I do not believe Musharraf was an evil man. I believe he had lost faith in the politics of his country, as we all are guilty of doing in our respective countries. He believed an iron fist would hold his country together. Hindsight is always so much easier than action in the present. Let us wish him off. His job was never easy and always dangerous. Three assassination attempts would turn even the most saintly of us into cold robots. He was certainly flawed, but let one of us step forward and prove we are not. Goodbye, Mr. Musharraf, perhaps your legacy will have caused some good in the final analysis. At the very least, the presidential office may finally have some teeth with which to lead your country and as far as legacies go, that isn’t too shabby.