Invading Australia

As I'm sure you've heard (sarcasm), America will soon be deploying Marines to Australia. OK, the deployment doesn't involve any fighting, but it is another example of how out of whack our priorities are:

President Obama and Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia announced plans on Wednesday for the first sustained American military presence in Australia, a relatively small deployment that is still a major symbol of American intentions to use regional alliances to counterbalance a rising China...

The first 200 to 250 Marines will arrive next year, with forces rotating in and out and eventually building to 2,500-strong, the two leaders said.
www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/world/asia/obama-and-gillard-expand-us-australia-military-ties.html?_r=2&hp

Let's see...Sec. of Def. Panetta recently screamed at the thought of any defense budget cuts possibly coming from the 'congressional super committee', but we have plenty of money to send Marines to Australia, as some sort of message to China. A very cunning plan...I guess.

Thought of the day

I wouldn't mind the fact that the news drives me to drink if it would at least pay the tab and drive me home afterwards.

The Latest Circus

Not that I really wanted to post anything about Ol' Hermie Cain, but...I mean, the guy ran a chain that made one of the worst fast food pizzas imaginable, and now he's running for president? New rule: if ya' can't make a decent pizza, ya' can't be president ( I am assuming Barack can pull it off).
Now Ol' Hermie's got himself a 'sex scandal', which is a guaranteed way to get yourself a lot of media attention. And on a few rare occasions, some actual consequences (ask John Edwards). The media know that old marketing axiom: sex sells. It sells much better than politics, no matter how simple you make your slogan.
Which is why we'll get lots and lots of air time on this "scandal", but the very real nationally damaging historic crimes committed by The Cheney never caught the media's interest. Ol' Hermie is just the latest act to be thrust on stage.

Powered By The People

It's such a simple idea: people can generate power. The Occupy movement grasps the concept. And when Mayor Bloombulbug took away the gas powered generators, bicycle generators fired up:

Having lost their gas-powered generators, the protestors at Occupy Wall Street are turning to a more eco-friendly alternative: pedal power.

Keegan Stephan, a bike mechanic and environmentalist at the Zuccotti Park site of the protest in New York, has been pedaling a stationary bronze Schwinn bicycle to provide energy for the protesters' encampment.

"People get really excited when they see these bikes," George Pingeon, a bike tour guide involved with the effort, told the New York Times.

How does the contraption work? The bike is connected to a flywheel, which in turn connects to a dynamo, the Times explains. That dynamo creates energy, which flows through a motor and a one-way diode to charge a black battery.

news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/power-people-occupy-wall-street-uses-bikes-generate-141853827.html

Generating electricity is really rather simple: spin the reverse of an electric motor, and electricity comes out. Spinning a generator by using a bicycle is not a new concept. But, hey, you've got a lot of people; let them make their own power.

Now all we need to do is translate this into the political process.

Suggested Reading

I highly recommend that you go read our old blog buddy Badtux's piece Occupy Wall Street in one picture. Sample:

60% of Americans own less than 5% of America. I.e., they're flat broke, lacking the fundamental capital to do anything at all to improve their economic position. Meanwhile, 5% of Americans own 59.4% of America. The top 5%, and especially the top 1%, have set up an anti-capitalist system where they are the rulers, and the bottom 60% are their serfs. This isn't capitalism. This is neo-feudalism.

...

This is not sustainable in a democracy. It isn't. OWS is just a canary in the coal mine here. The amount of pressure building down below is enormous and when it blows... nothing good will happen, guaranteed. Nothing good.

I can only agree, and wish that I could explain it so clearly.

Ending the Disaster

The absolute worst mistake in the history of American foreign policy is coming to an end as Obama has announced the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. I suppose this is a good thing, pursuant to the first rule of holes: when you're in one, stop digging. But nothing 'good' has or will come out of our horrible misadventure that was the invasion of Iraq. The price paid will be beyond measure, but here's a quick look at some of the costs:

8 years, 260 days since Secretary of State Colin Powell presented evidence of Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons program

8 years, 215 days since the March 20, 2003 invasion of Iraq

8 years, 175 days since President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln

4,479 U.S. military fatalities

30,182 U.S. military injuries

468 contractor fatalities

103,142 – 112,708 documented civilian deaths

2.8 million internally displaced Iraqis

$806 billion in federal funding for the Iraq War through FY2011

$3 – $5 trillion in total economic cost to the United States of the Iraq war according to economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Blimes

$60 billion in U.S. expenditures lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001

0 weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq

thinkprogress.org/security/2011/10/21/350368/iraq-by-the-numbers-the-worlds-costliest-cakewalk/

When the shrub/Cheney misadministration slunk into power they made clear their intention to invade Iraq as soon as they could conjure up a plausible pretext. 9/11 became that 'justification', despite the fact that there was absolutely zero connection. Let's face it: the American public was rather gullible at the time, and could easily be sold that a known dusky "boogyman" was a valid target for retribution. All that was required to substitute "Saddam" for "Osama" was a relentless front page marketing campaign, and the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" certainly sounds scary, especially when repeated often and loudly enough.

It was all a pack of lies.

The real legacy of the war in Iraq wont be told for years, and many of the realities may never be faced. America unilaterally invaded another country without justification or provocation, slaughtered civilians and committed atrocities that we will never be held truly accountable for. We wasted trillions of dollars on death and destruction, while our own country and citizens fell into poverty and decay. Shrub and 'the Cheney' truly are guilty of an astounding array of war crimes, but will never be tried in any court of law despite all the evidence against them.

In short: an incredible amount was lost and absolutely nothing was gained by going to war in Iraq. Forgive me if I don't feel much like celebrating its end.

Rangers? Bummer.

Once again, the Texas Rangers will represent the American League in the World Series. I hate the Rangers (almost as much as I hate the Yankees), and will never forgive them for one simple reason: they effectively are guilty of giving us shrub Bush. Shrub owned a minority share of the team (thanks to a sweetheart family deal) which he sold to finance his run for governor of Texas, which then led to his (Supreme Court aided) disastrous elevation to president. The country has yet to recover from his mis-administration, and the Rangers are partially to blame.
If you watched the games on TV, there was shrub at every Texas home game, yucking it up from his luxury box like the spoiled rich kid with a shiny toy that he is. And I'm sure we'll see him at every Texas home game during the series, when the only place I'd ever want to see his smirking mug is on trial at the Hague.
Last year it was very easy to root against the Rangers, as they were playing my beloved Giants. This year, they will be opposed by one of two teams (either the Cardinals or the Brewers) for whom I generally have rather neutral feelings. But I'm rooting for either one over the hated Rangers. Normally, I don't think of baseball as a political issue. But I'm willing to make an exception for shrub and the Rangers.

Some Thoughts on Occupy Minneapolis

Having spent the majority of yesterday at the Occupy Minneapolis protests, I'm going to share a few of my observations. The crowd, while not huge, was large enough to be notable. At the peak, I'd estimate around 800-1,000 people (I'm pretty good at estimating crowd sizes, having worked rock concerts for a lot of years), but only about 500 'real' participants, the rest being passersby who kind of 'stopped in'. Very diverse; the usual drum circle hippies that the media likes to focus on, a strong union turnout (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, United Steel Workers, Nursing and Teachers Unions all having a notable presence), lots of seniors, and a whole bunch of 'just plain working class folks', along with the LaRouche and Paulite fringe. Which is great, with the minor exception that there always seemed to be three different bullhorns shouting to different audiences at the same time. And the free food booths had vegan tabouli and the greasiest cheeseburgers I've ever seen, all available at the same time.
Quite a few witty signs. The one I carried read "We don't make bootstraps in America anymore", which may have been a little too subtle. I actually had a lady tell me "Your sign is wrong. Target sells American made bootstraps", and when I tried to explain that it was an 'analogy' she just looked confused. Sorry, no pics, as my camera failed to survive my last river trip before I moved up here.
It's true that, as the media pundits love to point out, there's no clear 'message' or 'agenda' coming out of the Occupy demonstrations, but I think that could be a strength rather than a weakness. What there clearly was is a general consensus that things are going very badly for most of us, that it is wrong and unfair, and that the country needs to seriously reevaluate the way that our economy works. That over riding feeling is likely far more important than any one single policy proposal, given that "one size fits all" doesn't work for all the "99%" present. And I don't believe that the majority wanted any one "answer" so much as they just want a fair chance. The vast majority of the crowd are the type of working people who could 'get by' in the past, but now can't find jobs or fear losing the jobs they have, are overwhelmed by costs from housing and medical care, and are generally afraid for their and their children's future. They're not looking for a revolution; rather, they just want to have a system that works.
So how meaningful is it? I'm really not certain. I do know that this was very different from any other protest I've ever participated in (and believe me, as an old liberal hippie, I've been part of many protests), and it looks to be growing. If I were a "1%er", I'd be worried.

Occupy Everywhere

When I first read about the Occupy Wall Street protests, my cynical response was "like that'll accomplish anything." Tomorrow, I will be joining in at the Occupy Minneapolis protest.
What changed? Well, momentum for one major thing. Seems like a lot of people were just waiting for a venue to express their anger at our current economic situation. Once the protests achieved that critical level of mass where the media could no longer ignore them, and more people became aware that they weren't alone in their angst, protests began springing up all around the country. Now, every major city has one. And a lot of smaller towns are getting action, too.
The (corporate owned) media has tried to downplay it, and marginalize the crowds as being "hippies and anarchists", but it isn't working. For one simple reason: the public sees the protesters, and they see themselves. Working Americans who've played by the rules but are struggling harder and harder just to survive, barely employed or unemployed, while the wealthiest grow increasingly richer. The general public may be dumb, but they're not stupid; they know that something is going dramatically wrong in this country, and that they're the ones getting screwed.
It was entertaining to watch the 'pundits' in the first week or so of Occupy Wall Street, all agreeing that the protesters had "no clear message or agenda." Which, while partly true, is absolutely irrelevant. Remember back during Stephen Colbert's rally where the crowd was chanting "three word slogan, three word slogan" over and over? That was brilliant satire. The simple fact is that there is no simple slogan or message to address the complex problems facing us. We need a systemic change, and right now those in power are doing all they can to prevent any such change. Just look at the congressional republicans (not that the democrats are a whole lot better) who claim to be about "jobs, jobs, jobs" and address this by attempting to further restrict women's access to abortion. Not quite sure how that agenda is supposed to work, but they seem to believe that it will hurt Obama's chances of re-election so they're pushing it as far as they can.
Ya' wanna boost America's economy? It really wouldn't be that hard to do. Just drop a few trillion dollars on infrastructure repair and upgrade. Doing that would require a lot of workers, who then would have more income, which they would then spend buying things, which would boost that magical 'consumer spending' that business so covets. "But we don't have the money because of the deficit" conservatives will scream. Funny, we had plenty of trillions to spend destroying and rebuilding the infrastructure of Iraq and Afghanistan (OK, not that Afghanistan had any real infrastructure to destroy, but we're rebuilding one anyway) and besides, as my blog friend badtux the snarky penguin likes to point out, the government owns a printing press. During a recession, putting more money into circulation is a smart move; austerity only prolongs the recession. Oh, and all those workers: They'd be paying taxes on that income, instead of not paying income tax due to a lack of income. I know that this will come as a shock to the tea party folk, but most people don't mind paying taxes if they're earning more money.
Will these protests actually accomplish any change? I have no idea. I do know that it's worth a try. I know that protesting against the Iraq war didn't prevent it. But sitting around, doing nothing, certainly isn't going to effect any change. And this movement seems to be growing and spreading. If enough of us are out there showing our faces and raising our voices, that top 1% just might get nervous enough and realise that there's a limit to how much they can get away with. If they're halfway smart, they'll understand that the time to engage in some wealth redistribution is before the pitchforks and torches enter their gated communities.
So I'll be joining my local Occupy protest. And I hope you will, too. After all, it's not like we have the money to buy our own congressperson. But if there are enough of us out there, we might be able to scare them into action. Besides, anything that upsets Eric Cantor is a thing well worth doing.
Added: My old pal monkeyfister is back in action, and he's on fire about the Occupy protests.
Added 2: Heres some maps for Occupy Everywhere and Occupy Together. Hope there's one near you!

Happy National Vodka Day

Happy National Vodka Day. While I’m more of a beer guy myself, I support this holiday. More - here, here and here. And all my old friends in Arizona can celebrate with local vodka from my friends at www.arizonahighspirits.com/index.php.

Today's "Did You Know?"

Did you know that...
If you hold your ear up against a strangers leg, you can hear



them saying "what the fuck are you doing?"

It's true.

History and Technology

That is a photo of the card catalog of the Library of Congress around 1918. Now, many of us carry all that information and more around in our pocket. Less than a century later.

Which is why I'm always skeptical when I hear someone projecting what the future will be like in more than a fairly short period. Especially economists.

If someone in 1918 said "in less than a century, we'll fit all this onto something the size of a small book" they'd most likely land in an asylum.

(Prompted by a conversation today with a person who was quite adamantly telling me about the future of technology. I'm not saying that he was wrong; just that I'm skeptical that his predictions will be the actual reality.)

(Also, I thought Sweaterman would like the pic.)

Latest Sign of the Apocalypse

OK, not really. But it is a break with one of those traditions that had been true throughout my life:

Hoping to boost sagging revenue, the U.S. Postal Service on Monday abandoned its longstanding rule that stamps cannot feature people who are still alive and is asking the public for suggestions.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_STAMPS_ALIVE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

It was a concrete rule that the only way to get on a postage stamp was to die. And it was a sacred truth that anybody on a U.S. stamp was dead.

And now that I think about it, a Lady Gaga postage stamp could really be a sign that civilization is doomed.

Dormant; Not Dead, But Changing

This old blog has been suffering from an abundance of inactivity lately, I know. There's a reasonably good reason for this, at least in my mind: I've been making major life changes. While I rarely post much 'personal blogging', I'll share this update.

For a variety of reasons, I've moved from my beloved Flagstaff, AZ, to Minnesota. It was a difficult decision, as I have many dear friends in Flag. Not to mention Minnesota winters, which I'm not really looking forward to. But after 17 years in Flag (city motto: poverty with a view), my life had become quite stagnant. Here in Minnesota I've got good job prospects and a good woman to share my life with. And I really needed to get out of the rut my life was in.

I have no idea whether this change will lead to more blogging or even less, but at least the politics will be better. Heck, in the senate alone I just traded John McCain and Jon Kyl for Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken. Which is a damn good trade when you think about it.

Obligatory 9/11 Post

There is no 'win' in a war against a verb.

Presidents and Chess

Read a very interesting article on which US Presidents played chess. I happen to enjoy a good game of chess, myself. I'm not saying that playing chess means that you are smarter-I know plenty of smart people who don't play-but it is a game where intelligence matters.

(sorry, I tried to post the table, but the formatting is royally screwed up. Just go to the link to see.)

http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7474

Now, what first struck me is the party breakdown among those who have been President during my lifetime. Every Democratic since LBJ has been a chess player, while Dwight Eisenhower was the only Republican who played (and the last decent Republican President in my opinion) during my lifetime.

Doesn't prove anything, but it is an interesting (at least to me) division.

Hurricane Advice

With hurricane Irene bearing down on the east coast, blog friend Jack of What Would Jack Do has posted A few tips on hurricane preparation for the uninitiated, and it's a great read. My favorite tip:

4. Alcohol (and limes). I can’t stress this enough. No self-respecting human being should EVER have to face an approaching tropical storm of ANY strength without a sizable supply of alcohol and associated accoutrements.

Seriously though, this looks like a very real threat and I urge all my east coast readers to take all appropriate precautions.
Added: Here's FEMA's Hurricane preparedness page.

Could Be Worse

Haven't felt like posting anything about the stupid bullshit debt ceiling debate as the whole process has been disgusting and depressing. A crisis ginned up by thugs to force a choice between cutting federal spending during a recession (a very bad idea) or defaulting and blowing up the whole global economy (a really, really, really very bad idea) ain't much of a choice.

So now we've got a "compromise" that's only 'very bad' as opposed to a total disaster. The rethugs get to expand their policy of "death to the poor", the dims continue to be weak and useless, and the recession will grind on even longer. No new jobs for anyone, even though that is what the economy actually needs.

The only good thing in the whole process was Rep. Gabrielle Giffords makes first return to House since Jan. 8th shooting to cast vote in favor of debt deal. Everything else was dismal.

Added: Passed the senate 74-26. Now we get another "bi-partisan commission", and we all know that those always work wonders.

Pics that made me happy

My beloved San Francisco Giants being honored at the White House.

I wonder if 'The Beard' could help with the debt ceiling negotiations?

Congrats, New York

Gay people are getting married in New York, and that's a great thing. My view on gay marriage is really quite simple: 'equal rights' means equal rights for all.

I'm reminded of Branch Rickey's statement on the integration of baseball, "I truly believe that future generations will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about."