Australian man wakes,
finds his wife dead, has
a beer and goes to bed.
What does Harry Reid have to do with it? Come to think of it, what does most everyone have to do with it? Muslims in New York want to create a mosque and a community center that happens to be near what has become known as “ground zero.” They have the space, they have the money, and they have the right. So what’s all the fuss about? Some of the people who were affected by the tragedy at the towers have expressed opposition because they think it is somehow inappropriate to build a mosque so close to ground zero, some going so far as to claim it is a slap in the face or even an attempt to start a terrorist center, and so on. This, of course, assumes all Muslims are terrorists or otherwise enemies, but that is obviously not true. Al Qaida, a small group of Saudi extremists attacked the towers, not Muslims in general. Furthermore, there has apparently been a smaller mosque at that location since long before the attack occurred. There is also said to be more than 100 mosques in New York City. And what you do not hear much about is the fact that not all of those affected by the disaster are opposed to having a mosque there. So why has this grown into such a monumental problem that it occupies the news most of the time every day now?
Republicans, that’s why. Once again the Republicans have taken what should have been basically a private matter between the builders and the city of New York and magnified it into something it is not. And once again the Democrats fell for it and have gone along with the gag. President Obama, who probably had no choice but to comment on the situation said simply that of course Muslims have the same rights as all other religions in the U.S. (what was he supposed to say, he doesn’t support the constitution), but then he foolishly later said he was commenting only on their right to build, not the wisdom of doing so (perhaps he had in mind the exaggerated claims of the MSM that “Obama strongly supports…”. Now having exposed himself to charges of being wishy-washy and trying to have it both ways, the Republicans are having a field day. And leave it to Republicans to turn it into a serious terrorist threat as well as an utter nonsensical dispute. Newt Gingrich, the world’s greatest pontificating, hypocritical, fake intellectual blowhard, suggested no mosques should be built in the U.S. until Christian religious buildings are built in Saudi Arabia, implying I guess, that we should model ourselves after that fine bastion of democracy. Other Republicans have said we wouldn’t allow the Japanese to build a place like that in Pearl Harbor, or allow Nazis to build something like that next of Auschwitz, and so on. Never mind that Nazis and wartime Japanese were our sworn enemies whereas Muslims are perfectly legitimate American citizens with all the attendant rights that go along with that exalted status.
What should have been an ordinary private transaction between some Muslims and the City of New York has been made into a serious national, and even international problem, mostly because of the unconscionable and purely politically driven lies and distortions of Republicans. About the only person that has kept his head about this was Mayor Bloomberg. The Governor of New York, Patterson, want to negotiate a different site, Obama belatedly wants to not have to say one way or the other what he thinks about it, and Harry Reid, who doesn’t live in New York, and has no legitimate reason for opposing it, or even commenting on it, has said he thinks it should be built elsewhere. I find it impossible to believe that Harry Reid is anti-Muslim, or that he truly cares where they build a mosque, but he has to out-extreme what’s-her-name Angle in order to prove to conservative voters in Nevada that he’s just as bigoted as they are. Someone said he lacks moral courage, I suspect that is only part of the problem, he knows what it takes to get re-elected. It is true, however, that once again Democrats have proven themselves incapable of exercising the courage of their convictions. They should have said the Muslims have the right to build a mosque on private property wherever they wish and then butted out entirely. It seems that right is right and wrong is wrong, except when it comes to politics. Democrats have proven time and time again they are apparently too dim-witted to understand the Republicans don’t want to merely retake power, they want to utterly destroy them. Not only that, Republicans seem to be willing to even destroy our country in their mad quest for power and dominance. And why not, now that their Corporate masters virtually control the world and have economies that dwarf those of most nations, who needs old-fashioned nation-states anyway?
LKBIQ:
As witnesses not of our intentions but of our conduct, we can be true or false, and the hypocrite's crime is that he bears false witness against himself. What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other vices except this one. Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.
Hannah Arendt
TILT:
DNA test have established that King Tut was the result of a union between brother and sister.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Who, Indeed?
Who, indeed, is going to vote for Obama in 2012? It does appear he is pretty much uninterested in his base, with his spokesperson basically insulting them by saying they should be drug tested and all. There obviously is a great disconnect between what the White House thinks it has accomplished and what it is the base expected. It is entirely possible the base expected too much and also possible the White House has accomplished too little. None of this would probably be regarded as particularly important if there were jobs, and more jobs. There is unlikely much chance there will be jobs as long as we continue our nonsensical unregulated capitalistic ways, as the goal of corporate and business profit is fundamentally incompatible with the creation of many jobs, and even the jobs that might be created will be based on the lowest wages and benefits possible. The road to profit is paved with the exploitation of labor and the environment. It’s pretty simple really. It would be possible to pay more decent wages and hire more people but that would require reducing profits, and reduced profits would mean no more multi-million dollar salaries and benefits for CEO’s. Does anyone truly deserve several million dollars or more a year for doing anything? It’s absurd.
Obama has even greater problems that merely dissing the progressives. In a way he is often caught in situations in which it is impossible to please everyone and sometimes anyone. The Mosque in New York is a case in point. As President of the United States he has no choice but to insist they have religious freedom just like any other religion. He said so and should have just left it at that. But then he had to add that he wasn’t commenting on the wisdom of building it, merely their right to build it. This, I think, was unnecessary, even superfluous. He should have left well enough alone. However, as many of our free-ranging loonies still think he is a Muslim he must have felt he had to in some way disassociate himself. It’s not easy being President, especially when you are both black and white, but you should a avoid looking wishy-washy at all costs.
Another issue I cannot understand (as I have no access to the facts or what goes on in the administration) is the fuss over the appointment of Elizabeth Warren. She does seem clearly to be by far the best candidate, indeed, even a dream candidate, and she has enormous support from many important people and even the public. So why doesn’t Obama just appoint her? I have no idea but it certainly gives again the impression of wishy-washy. If he’s not going to appoint her why doesn’t he say so and offer some cogent reason for it? Similarly, if he doesn’t believe in Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, why doesn’t he do something about it, at least suspend it until further notice? It’s the same when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian issue; Obama could use his power and authority to demand the Israelis stop their blatant war crimes against the Palestinians, stop their slow genocide of their captives in Gaza, stop the illegal expansions in Jerusalem and the West Bank, insist the Israelis come clean about their nuclear arsenal, but he doesn’t, he gives in to the colonialist Netanyahu at the drop of a hat. He could have virtually ended the hostilities in Afghanistan but chose instead to make the situation worse for no comprehensible reason I can see. He seems to think he should get credit for what he has done but be excused from not doing the things he either promised or should be doing. This does not bode well for the future. He may survive but if so probably because the alternative will be so much worse it will be unthinkable.
I did not expect miracles when I voted for Obama, but I did expect a bit more leadership and backbone. He should have insisted on the public option. He should be standing up more for labor. He should be paying no attention to what Republicans want, because all they want is for him to fail, and they have made this crystal clear. He should be standing up for Main Street instead of Wall Street. It is not all Obama, of course, the spineless Democratic Congress has to share in the disgrace they have become. They have failed to act decisively on anything, caving in time and time again to Republican stalling and demands.
I am normally not in favor of tinkering with the Constitution or the Amendments. And usually if an idea is put forward by Republicans I reject it out of hand as they have established themselves as enemies of the people. But the question of birthright I think is far more complicated than it appears. First of all, it had nothing to do with immigration when it was established, but over the years it has become used in that context. But also when it was established there were not some 20 million or so illegal immigrants dropping babies at a very high rate. Now, if we had immigration under control, this would not be much of a problem, or even any problem, but under the present circumstances it seems to me to create a problem that should be dealt with. I would prefer something be done about illegal immigration rather than messing with the 14th Amendment, but here again, we have an apparently wishy-washy Congress who can’t seem to take any decisive action.
Obama has even greater problems that merely dissing the progressives. In a way he is often caught in situations in which it is impossible to please everyone and sometimes anyone. The Mosque in New York is a case in point. As President of the United States he has no choice but to insist they have religious freedom just like any other religion. He said so and should have just left it at that. But then he had to add that he wasn’t commenting on the wisdom of building it, merely their right to build it. This, I think, was unnecessary, even superfluous. He should have left well enough alone. However, as many of our free-ranging loonies still think he is a Muslim he must have felt he had to in some way disassociate himself. It’s not easy being President, especially when you are both black and white, but you should a avoid looking wishy-washy at all costs.
Another issue I cannot understand (as I have no access to the facts or what goes on in the administration) is the fuss over the appointment of Elizabeth Warren. She does seem clearly to be by far the best candidate, indeed, even a dream candidate, and she has enormous support from many important people and even the public. So why doesn’t Obama just appoint her? I have no idea but it certainly gives again the impression of wishy-washy. If he’s not going to appoint her why doesn’t he say so and offer some cogent reason for it? Similarly, if he doesn’t believe in Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, why doesn’t he do something about it, at least suspend it until further notice? It’s the same when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian issue; Obama could use his power and authority to demand the Israelis stop their blatant war crimes against the Palestinians, stop their slow genocide of their captives in Gaza, stop the illegal expansions in Jerusalem and the West Bank, insist the Israelis come clean about their nuclear arsenal, but he doesn’t, he gives in to the colonialist Netanyahu at the drop of a hat. He could have virtually ended the hostilities in Afghanistan but chose instead to make the situation worse for no comprehensible reason I can see. He seems to think he should get credit for what he has done but be excused from not doing the things he either promised or should be doing. This does not bode well for the future. He may survive but if so probably because the alternative will be so much worse it will be unthinkable.
I did not expect miracles when I voted for Obama, but I did expect a bit more leadership and backbone. He should have insisted on the public option. He should be standing up more for labor. He should be paying no attention to what Republicans want, because all they want is for him to fail, and they have made this crystal clear. He should be standing up for Main Street instead of Wall Street. It is not all Obama, of course, the spineless Democratic Congress has to share in the disgrace they have become. They have failed to act decisively on anything, caving in time and time again to Republican stalling and demands.
I am normally not in favor of tinkering with the Constitution or the Amendments. And usually if an idea is put forward by Republicans I reject it out of hand as they have established themselves as enemies of the people. But the question of birthright I think is far more complicated than it appears. First of all, it had nothing to do with immigration when it was established, but over the years it has become used in that context. But also when it was established there were not some 20 million or so illegal immigrants dropping babies at a very high rate. Now, if we had immigration under control, this would not be much of a problem, or even any problem, but under the present circumstances it seems to me to create a problem that should be dealt with. I would prefer something be done about illegal immigration rather than messing with the 14th Amendment, but here again, we have an apparently wishy-washy Congress who can’t seem to take any decisive action.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Kitchen Stuff
Kitchen Gadgets
Twice now I have seen this new kitchen gadget featured on TV, an “egg cracker.” You know how difficult it is to crack an egg, but no more! You just place an egg in this thing, squeeze the handles, and the egg is cracked perfectly (or so they claim). Not only that, it is so sophisticated it will even separate the yolk from the white. Cracking eggs is such an onerous, hard, and tricky task I should think every kitchen should have one of these fine new egg crackers.
Of course there are many other items now that no self-respecting kitchen should be without. Take the Original Bagel Guillotine, for example. Now you don’t have to struggle with a knife and all the dangers that accompany trying to slice a bagel, you just put it in this guillotine and press the handle. What could be easier?
I’m sure you must be familiar with that famous French cookware, Le Creuset. Anyone who is anyone at all should certainly have one or more of these fine and quite expensive cooking pots. And, if you are the kind of person who agrees you should also then purchase a “Sleek Maple Tower” to display your Le Creuset. A 6-shelf Pot rack retails for a mere $229.95 and allows you to “display” your expensive pots for all to see, admire, and envy. For those less wealthy there is a more modest 3-shelf rack, not quite as ostentatious, but adequate, and certainly better than what the peasants have.
Something else I regard as an absolute “must,” would be the Electric Salt and Pepper Mill. You know how hard it is to shake the salt cellar, and twisting the pepper mill requires even more skill and strength. Now, with the mere touch of a button, you can help yourself to as much salt and pepper as desired. (batteries not included). Perhaps one day they will develop this so as to even eliminate the trouble of having to push a button (oh, I guess we already have that now). You also wouldn’t want to pass up the “Titanium Mesh Spice Infuser.” No more having to wrestle with and tie up a recalcitrant bundle of stubborn herbs (that bouquet garni), you just place them in this handy stainless steel titanium holder, with a convenient attached small chain with which to remove it, and stick it in with your stew or whatever. It ‘s real genuine titanium, “antimicrobial with no metallic transfer .” Don’t be caught without one. Think of all the string you’ll save.
Remember how hard it is to get those stuffed green peppers to stand up when you want to bake them? Worry no more, there is now a special pan guaranteed to keep them upright. It features specially dimpled holes designed specifically for them that will eliminate any tip-overs. This is not as specialized as it may appear (thank goodness) as you can also use it for cabbage rolls and stuffed tomatoes. And speaking of specialization, you must get one of the specially designed ventilated garlic holders, hand-washable and made to keep your garlic warm and dry. No more hanging those unsightly braided garlic wreaths around the kitchen where your garlic might get cold or wet. There is now also a special pan for cooking meatballs, it elevates them above the bottom of the pan, out of the grease, so you no longer have to expend any energy turning them. Of course you dare not go without a pair of onion goggles, guaranteed “to block vapors to prevent tears.” They have fog-free lenses with a special soft foam seal. Worried about cutting your fingers when slicing roasts? You don’t have to worry any longer, just buy a pair of “roast-cutting tongs” that will not only protect fingers but allow you to slice perfectly even slices every time. Speaking of perfectly even slices, there is also a special gadget that features stainless steel tines that you sink into tomatoes to allow you to produce beautiful even slices. Although it doesn’t say so, I assume this is dishwasher safe. Also in the interest of finger safety get the stainless steel finger guard, “the secret tool used by professional chefs” (strangely, I confess I have never, ever, seen a chef use such a gadget, but what do I know). Still emphasizing safety, there is a specially made pounder for flattening chicken breasts, veal, and other cutlets, that features a carefully designed and thoughtfully offset handle to prevent any potential damage to the knuckles. You can also acquire, for a very reasonable price, a special “cool gripper,” for lifting pans from the burners or oven. No more having to use those inconvenient hot pads. I should think this would be an absolute necessity for those forced to cook in tin cans over an open fire.
For a mere $150 you can acquire a Touchless Paper Tower Dispenser that not only dispenses paper towels with dispatch but even cuts them, thus saving money (somehow). This indispensable gadget fits any paper towel brand and will easily fit under cabinets. I assume this is another part of the plan to create a form of cooking entirely free of human hands or effort.
There seems to be an endless supply of increasingly specialized gadgets for the cook who has to have everything (including, I gather, an exceptionally large kitchen with unlimited storage, see my essay, Valley Girls in the Kitchen, 12-24-04). I fear I cannot deal with all of these clever innovations here (there must be hundreds if not thousands of specialized pans, pots, dishes, utensils, racks, holders, and other kitchen aids). Let me close with what I guess is my favorite to date, the “turkey cannon.” This clever device is a rack constructed with a special cannon-like tube that is shoved up inside the ass (cavity, that is) of the bird. The heat of the oven plus the moistness of the hot liquids causes them to shoot up inside the bird (it is said), thus guaranteeing the fowl will (somehow) be perfectly seasoned and never dry. I love this stuff!
It seems to me it was only yesterday we discovered how to make fire, eventually cook by one means or another, and now we already have all these fine new gadgets designed to make life so much easier, eliminate the terrible dangers associated with everyday cooking, and presumably enhance the enjoyment of what would otherwise be such a terrible and difficult routine chore. This is what real progress is all about. I bet pretty soon someone will invent a way to keep cooks from having to touch or deal with food preparation at all. Oh, I guess Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, and some of the other Glycemic index people have already done that (interesting that Nutrisystem never bothers to mention you won’t have to cook for weeks). I guess The “Joy of Cooking” didn’t really ring many bells. Sigh!
Twice now I have seen this new kitchen gadget featured on TV, an “egg cracker.” You know how difficult it is to crack an egg, but no more! You just place an egg in this thing, squeeze the handles, and the egg is cracked perfectly (or so they claim). Not only that, it is so sophisticated it will even separate the yolk from the white. Cracking eggs is such an onerous, hard, and tricky task I should think every kitchen should have one of these fine new egg crackers.
Of course there are many other items now that no self-respecting kitchen should be without. Take the Original Bagel Guillotine, for example. Now you don’t have to struggle with a knife and all the dangers that accompany trying to slice a bagel, you just put it in this guillotine and press the handle. What could be easier?
I’m sure you must be familiar with that famous French cookware, Le Creuset. Anyone who is anyone at all should certainly have one or more of these fine and quite expensive cooking pots. And, if you are the kind of person who agrees you should also then purchase a “Sleek Maple Tower” to display your Le Creuset. A 6-shelf Pot rack retails for a mere $229.95 and allows you to “display” your expensive pots for all to see, admire, and envy. For those less wealthy there is a more modest 3-shelf rack, not quite as ostentatious, but adequate, and certainly better than what the peasants have.
Something else I regard as an absolute “must,” would be the Electric Salt and Pepper Mill. You know how hard it is to shake the salt cellar, and twisting the pepper mill requires even more skill and strength. Now, with the mere touch of a button, you can help yourself to as much salt and pepper as desired. (batteries not included). Perhaps one day they will develop this so as to even eliminate the trouble of having to push a button (oh, I guess we already have that now). You also wouldn’t want to pass up the “Titanium Mesh Spice Infuser.” No more having to wrestle with and tie up a recalcitrant bundle of stubborn herbs (that bouquet garni), you just place them in this handy stainless steel titanium holder, with a convenient attached small chain with which to remove it, and stick it in with your stew or whatever. It ‘s real genuine titanium, “antimicrobial with no metallic transfer .” Don’t be caught without one. Think of all the string you’ll save.
Remember how hard it is to get those stuffed green peppers to stand up when you want to bake them? Worry no more, there is now a special pan guaranteed to keep them upright. It features specially dimpled holes designed specifically for them that will eliminate any tip-overs. This is not as specialized as it may appear (thank goodness) as you can also use it for cabbage rolls and stuffed tomatoes. And speaking of specialization, you must get one of the specially designed ventilated garlic holders, hand-washable and made to keep your garlic warm and dry. No more hanging those unsightly braided garlic wreaths around the kitchen where your garlic might get cold or wet. There is now also a special pan for cooking meatballs, it elevates them above the bottom of the pan, out of the grease, so you no longer have to expend any energy turning them. Of course you dare not go without a pair of onion goggles, guaranteed “to block vapors to prevent tears.” They have fog-free lenses with a special soft foam seal. Worried about cutting your fingers when slicing roasts? You don’t have to worry any longer, just buy a pair of “roast-cutting tongs” that will not only protect fingers but allow you to slice perfectly even slices every time. Speaking of perfectly even slices, there is also a special gadget that features stainless steel tines that you sink into tomatoes to allow you to produce beautiful even slices. Although it doesn’t say so, I assume this is dishwasher safe. Also in the interest of finger safety get the stainless steel finger guard, “the secret tool used by professional chefs” (strangely, I confess I have never, ever, seen a chef use such a gadget, but what do I know). Still emphasizing safety, there is a specially made pounder for flattening chicken breasts, veal, and other cutlets, that features a carefully designed and thoughtfully offset handle to prevent any potential damage to the knuckles. You can also acquire, for a very reasonable price, a special “cool gripper,” for lifting pans from the burners or oven. No more having to use those inconvenient hot pads. I should think this would be an absolute necessity for those forced to cook in tin cans over an open fire.
For a mere $150 you can acquire a Touchless Paper Tower Dispenser that not only dispenses paper towels with dispatch but even cuts them, thus saving money (somehow). This indispensable gadget fits any paper towel brand and will easily fit under cabinets. I assume this is another part of the plan to create a form of cooking entirely free of human hands or effort.
There seems to be an endless supply of increasingly specialized gadgets for the cook who has to have everything (including, I gather, an exceptionally large kitchen with unlimited storage, see my essay, Valley Girls in the Kitchen, 12-24-04). I fear I cannot deal with all of these clever innovations here (there must be hundreds if not thousands of specialized pans, pots, dishes, utensils, racks, holders, and other kitchen aids). Let me close with what I guess is my favorite to date, the “turkey cannon.” This clever device is a rack constructed with a special cannon-like tube that is shoved up inside the ass (cavity, that is) of the bird. The heat of the oven plus the moistness of the hot liquids causes them to shoot up inside the bird (it is said), thus guaranteeing the fowl will (somehow) be perfectly seasoned and never dry. I love this stuff!
It seems to me it was only yesterday we discovered how to make fire, eventually cook by one means or another, and now we already have all these fine new gadgets designed to make life so much easier, eliminate the terrible dangers associated with everyday cooking, and presumably enhance the enjoyment of what would otherwise be such a terrible and difficult routine chore. This is what real progress is all about. I bet pretty soon someone will invent a way to keep cooks from having to touch or deal with food preparation at all. Oh, I guess Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, and some of the other Glycemic index people have already done that (interesting that Nutrisystem never bothers to mention you won’t have to cook for weeks). I guess The “Joy of Cooking” didn’t really ring many bells. Sigh!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
American Exceptionalism
Judge denies Pittsburgh man’s
request to legally change his name
to “Boomer the Dog.”
For a very long time, probably at least from Alexis de Tocqueville, we have heard about American exceptionalism in one form or another. This has to do with the belief that somehow America holds a special niche in the world because of its political and religious institutions, because it was built by immigrants, because it was in de Tocqueville’s time the only truly functioning democracy and so on. Others have argued for exceptionalism because of its geographical location, protected on two sides by huge oceans and with friendly powers on both borders. Still others believe it was selected by God to be exceptional. Hitler believed it was doomed because of the mixture of Jews and Negroes that he believed to be inferior races. But by and large America has been considered exceptional, you know, the great “beacon on the hill,” the “thousand points of light,” home for the huddled masses, and all that. Certainly America itself has believed it is an exceptional nation. It became exceptional primarily after WW II when, unlike most of Europe, it was not decimated and became the great superpower when compared to those nations who actually experienced the devastation and killing first hand. It has remained that way ever since, and now, especially since the collapse of Russia. And of course it is true that in many ways America has been exceptional, but American exceptionalism needs a closer look.
America has been exceptional in some ways that are by no means anything to boast about. For example, we have been exceptionally greedy. With some 5% of the earth’s population we have traditionally used 25% of the earth’s resources. To maintain this exceptional life style we have had we have traditionally and shamelessly exploited the resources of others. We have done this by means of economic imperialism backed up by the use of force. We have quite an exceptional military with a budget that exceeds that of all the rest of the world combined. We have been exceptionally arrogant and paternalistic, looking down on others and insisting that we always know best . We have certainly been exceptionally militaristic in recent years, involved in more wars than any other nation. And also in recent years we have exceptionally argued that we have the right to attack any nation we want merely on the suspicion that they might someday be a threat, a position regarded by the rest of the world as a war crime. And although we were in the forefront of the Nuremberg trials and the establishment of international laws having to do with war crimes, we apparently believe these laws do not apply to our own war criminals.
Finally, in recent years I believe we have established ourselves as exceptionally stupid. Our country is rapidly disintegrating. Our educational system is basically a joke, our infrastructure has been neglected for years, our economy teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, our middle class is disappearing and unemployment is rampant, large numbers of our citizens are on food stamps that are being reduced, some of our long-term unemployed have been thrown to the wolves, we are the only major country on earth that does not provide universal health care, and we are in debt virtually beyond our means. All of this could be easily remedied as the reasons for it are quite clear. If we were not involved in utterly useless “wars,” and did not maintain military bases all over the world to presumably defend our “empire,” and did not provide tax breaks for the filthy rich and the huge corporations that don’t even need them, we could probably revive our country and place it once again at the apex of greatness. Apparently we are too proud to admit we are overextended, too proud and stubborn to admit we have been defeated by nations armed with little more than slingshots and rocks, and unwilling to share the enormous wealth that actually exists in our country. We continue to believe in unregulated capitalism even though its failure is right before our eyes. We abhor socialism, a concept that we take to mean anything that benefits anyone but the obscenely wealthy and powerful. We allow our country to be run by dishonest politicians bribed by the corporations and the wealthy to do their bidding, uninterested in governing and beholding to special interests dedicated to making profits and letting the citizens fall where they may. We cannot even do the things that we know are obviously “right,” such as doing away with the completely absurd DADT, allowing Gay marriage, and ending the ridiculous and failed “war on drugs.” We appear to be paralyzed, unable to do even the basic things we need to do, usually because of some minority or other that can impose their will on the majority. Our government has become divorced from the needs of its citizens and interested only in its own survival year after year. Even global warming, the greatest danger facing us at the moment, an unprecedented danger that has been scientifically established as real, is largely ignored in the pursuit of short-term profit. Our nation is being sacrificed by the greed of a few and the disinterest and ignorance of the many. American exceptionalism boils down to nothing more than exceptional, even deliberate and conscience stupidity. Basically we have brought it on ourselves. Whoever first wrote, “Tomorrow is canceled due to lack of interest,” must have had us in mind.
LKBIQ:
The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois.
Gustave Flaubert
TILT:
More than half of all Mustangs in North America are found in Nevada.
request to legally change his name
to “Boomer the Dog.”
For a very long time, probably at least from Alexis de Tocqueville, we have heard about American exceptionalism in one form or another. This has to do with the belief that somehow America holds a special niche in the world because of its political and religious institutions, because it was built by immigrants, because it was in de Tocqueville’s time the only truly functioning democracy and so on. Others have argued for exceptionalism because of its geographical location, protected on two sides by huge oceans and with friendly powers on both borders. Still others believe it was selected by God to be exceptional. Hitler believed it was doomed because of the mixture of Jews and Negroes that he believed to be inferior races. But by and large America has been considered exceptional, you know, the great “beacon on the hill,” the “thousand points of light,” home for the huddled masses, and all that. Certainly America itself has believed it is an exceptional nation. It became exceptional primarily after WW II when, unlike most of Europe, it was not decimated and became the great superpower when compared to those nations who actually experienced the devastation and killing first hand. It has remained that way ever since, and now, especially since the collapse of Russia. And of course it is true that in many ways America has been exceptional, but American exceptionalism needs a closer look.
America has been exceptional in some ways that are by no means anything to boast about. For example, we have been exceptionally greedy. With some 5% of the earth’s population we have traditionally used 25% of the earth’s resources. To maintain this exceptional life style we have had we have traditionally and shamelessly exploited the resources of others. We have done this by means of economic imperialism backed up by the use of force. We have quite an exceptional military with a budget that exceeds that of all the rest of the world combined. We have been exceptionally arrogant and paternalistic, looking down on others and insisting that we always know best . We have certainly been exceptionally militaristic in recent years, involved in more wars than any other nation. And also in recent years we have exceptionally argued that we have the right to attack any nation we want merely on the suspicion that they might someday be a threat, a position regarded by the rest of the world as a war crime. And although we were in the forefront of the Nuremberg trials and the establishment of international laws having to do with war crimes, we apparently believe these laws do not apply to our own war criminals.
Finally, in recent years I believe we have established ourselves as exceptionally stupid. Our country is rapidly disintegrating. Our educational system is basically a joke, our infrastructure has been neglected for years, our economy teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, our middle class is disappearing and unemployment is rampant, large numbers of our citizens are on food stamps that are being reduced, some of our long-term unemployed have been thrown to the wolves, we are the only major country on earth that does not provide universal health care, and we are in debt virtually beyond our means. All of this could be easily remedied as the reasons for it are quite clear. If we were not involved in utterly useless “wars,” and did not maintain military bases all over the world to presumably defend our “empire,” and did not provide tax breaks for the filthy rich and the huge corporations that don’t even need them, we could probably revive our country and place it once again at the apex of greatness. Apparently we are too proud to admit we are overextended, too proud and stubborn to admit we have been defeated by nations armed with little more than slingshots and rocks, and unwilling to share the enormous wealth that actually exists in our country. We continue to believe in unregulated capitalism even though its failure is right before our eyes. We abhor socialism, a concept that we take to mean anything that benefits anyone but the obscenely wealthy and powerful. We allow our country to be run by dishonest politicians bribed by the corporations and the wealthy to do their bidding, uninterested in governing and beholding to special interests dedicated to making profits and letting the citizens fall where they may. We cannot even do the things that we know are obviously “right,” such as doing away with the completely absurd DADT, allowing Gay marriage, and ending the ridiculous and failed “war on drugs.” We appear to be paralyzed, unable to do even the basic things we need to do, usually because of some minority or other that can impose their will on the majority. Our government has become divorced from the needs of its citizens and interested only in its own survival year after year. Even global warming, the greatest danger facing us at the moment, an unprecedented danger that has been scientifically established as real, is largely ignored in the pursuit of short-term profit. Our nation is being sacrificed by the greed of a few and the disinterest and ignorance of the many. American exceptionalism boils down to nothing more than exceptional, even deliberate and conscience stupidity. Basically we have brought it on ourselves. Whoever first wrote, “Tomorrow is canceled due to lack of interest,” must have had us in mind.
LKBIQ:
The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletarian to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeois.
Gustave Flaubert
TILT:
More than half of all Mustangs in North America are found in Nevada.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Yes, Why?
Restaurant owner fined after
head chef videotaped
kissing and licking toads.
Yes, Why? Rachel Maddow (bless her) spent her program tonight reviewing three cases of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell situations and concluded by asking outright of Obama, if DADT is scheduled to be overturned, as everyone agrees it will, why does he not use an Executive Order to stay the proceedings in the meanwhile. I believe this is a perfectly reasonable question, Obama apparently does have the authority to stay the proceedings, there is no reason he should not do so, but it would require courage. It seems to me that if Harry Truman could integrate the U.S. Military against tremendous opposition from most of the population, because it was the right thing to do, Obama ought to be able to do the same. It is not clear to me just who it is he is afraid of upsetting, the far right (they will be upset no matter what he does about anything), Independents (I see no reason why all Independent voters would be assumed to be outraged), and certainly not his base. Strangely, it seems he is less concerned about his presumptive base than he is about Republicans who continue to spit on him at every opportunity. As every other major military force around the world has openly Gay people serving, why should the U.S. be any different? Oh, I forgot, we are exceptional. Sorry. There is a psychoanalytic concept called “identification with the aggressor.” I think perhaps Obama suffers from it when it comes to Republicans.
As utterly disgusting as our current political scene is, I think it will prove to be a most interesting election season. Republicans seem to think they are somehow going to take back the House and perhaps even the Senate. But the Republican candidates for office favored by the Tea Party are often being selected. As all of these candidates are so extreme as to be laughable it is not clear to me how any of them could possibly be elected (except perhaps in places like Idaho and maybe Nevada). And if they are elected I’m not sure what that might mean for the future. I rather doubt any of them could make serious inroads into the existing political establishment (as not everyone is crazy) but I suppose they could cause a lot of trouble. Democrats, who probably deserve to lose as they are such a spineless, timid bunch, may be saved only by the fact that their alternatives are even worse. Like I say, interesting.
I should mention the case of the vanishing sewer pipe, if only for personal interest material. When we bought this house, twenty years ago, there was a sewer hookup for a trailer located on the edge of the driveway. I clearly remember placing some boards over it and covering it up, never dreaming we would ever use it. Now, however, we have reason to want to use it and we cannot find it. I was certain I knew fairly closely to where it was. We even have old photographs that illustrate that location. But after two days of digging we have been defeated by this presumably stationary object. We simply cannot find it. It seemingly has vanished into thin air. We have no recollection of anyone moving it, or even knowing of its presence. It is a great mystery. Because it’s North Idaho I think maybe Bigfoot. I doubt it was flying saucers. Maybe the black helicopters from Canada coming for our lawn chairs? No, I bet Bill Clinton did it. Well, shucks, I guess maybe sewer pipes disappear every day. Who cares, besides me?
I am not one given to hero worship. Indeed, I am far too cynical for such things. But if I had to have a hero to worship at the moment it would have to be Rachel Maddow. Her show is the only thing I consistently watch on television as for all intents and purposes I have given up watching the idiot box entirely. I find it insulting and offensive in every way, the commercials, and the infotainment. Maddow deals only with the real nitty-gritty (except for an occasional misstep as her recent treatment of the fife and drummer nonsense), and truly confronts important issues. I believe she is now so popular and confident she may be occasionally getting “too big for her britches” (she does wear britches, you know). Tonight she presented Obama with a direct challenge, something along the lines of “are you a man or a mouse?” I think this may have been a mistake because now if he acts like a man and does away with the policy he will be accused of surrendering to Maddow, and if he doesn’t do it, he’ll be seen as a mouse. What is a President to do when surrounded by some people who can never be completely satisfied no matter what he does, and others that will never be satisfied with anything he does? Good question. If anyone has an answer please advise.
LKBIQ:
To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle.
Confucius
TILT:
In Asian elephants only males have tusks.
head chef videotaped
kissing and licking toads.
Yes, Why? Rachel Maddow (bless her) spent her program tonight reviewing three cases of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell situations and concluded by asking outright of Obama, if DADT is scheduled to be overturned, as everyone agrees it will, why does he not use an Executive Order to stay the proceedings in the meanwhile. I believe this is a perfectly reasonable question, Obama apparently does have the authority to stay the proceedings, there is no reason he should not do so, but it would require courage. It seems to me that if Harry Truman could integrate the U.S. Military against tremendous opposition from most of the population, because it was the right thing to do, Obama ought to be able to do the same. It is not clear to me just who it is he is afraid of upsetting, the far right (they will be upset no matter what he does about anything), Independents (I see no reason why all Independent voters would be assumed to be outraged), and certainly not his base. Strangely, it seems he is less concerned about his presumptive base than he is about Republicans who continue to spit on him at every opportunity. As every other major military force around the world has openly Gay people serving, why should the U.S. be any different? Oh, I forgot, we are exceptional. Sorry. There is a psychoanalytic concept called “identification with the aggressor.” I think perhaps Obama suffers from it when it comes to Republicans.
As utterly disgusting as our current political scene is, I think it will prove to be a most interesting election season. Republicans seem to think they are somehow going to take back the House and perhaps even the Senate. But the Republican candidates for office favored by the Tea Party are often being selected. As all of these candidates are so extreme as to be laughable it is not clear to me how any of them could possibly be elected (except perhaps in places like Idaho and maybe Nevada). And if they are elected I’m not sure what that might mean for the future. I rather doubt any of them could make serious inroads into the existing political establishment (as not everyone is crazy) but I suppose they could cause a lot of trouble. Democrats, who probably deserve to lose as they are such a spineless, timid bunch, may be saved only by the fact that their alternatives are even worse. Like I say, interesting.
I should mention the case of the vanishing sewer pipe, if only for personal interest material. When we bought this house, twenty years ago, there was a sewer hookup for a trailer located on the edge of the driveway. I clearly remember placing some boards over it and covering it up, never dreaming we would ever use it. Now, however, we have reason to want to use it and we cannot find it. I was certain I knew fairly closely to where it was. We even have old photographs that illustrate that location. But after two days of digging we have been defeated by this presumably stationary object. We simply cannot find it. It seemingly has vanished into thin air. We have no recollection of anyone moving it, or even knowing of its presence. It is a great mystery. Because it’s North Idaho I think maybe Bigfoot. I doubt it was flying saucers. Maybe the black helicopters from Canada coming for our lawn chairs? No, I bet Bill Clinton did it. Well, shucks, I guess maybe sewer pipes disappear every day. Who cares, besides me?
I am not one given to hero worship. Indeed, I am far too cynical for such things. But if I had to have a hero to worship at the moment it would have to be Rachel Maddow. Her show is the only thing I consistently watch on television as for all intents and purposes I have given up watching the idiot box entirely. I find it insulting and offensive in every way, the commercials, and the infotainment. Maddow deals only with the real nitty-gritty (except for an occasional misstep as her recent treatment of the fife and drummer nonsense), and truly confronts important issues. I believe she is now so popular and confident she may be occasionally getting “too big for her britches” (she does wear britches, you know). Tonight she presented Obama with a direct challenge, something along the lines of “are you a man or a mouse?” I think this may have been a mistake because now if he acts like a man and does away with the policy he will be accused of surrendering to Maddow, and if he doesn’t do it, he’ll be seen as a mouse. What is a President to do when surrounded by some people who can never be completely satisfied no matter what he does, and others that will never be satisfied with anything he does? Good question. If anyone has an answer please advise.
LKBIQ:
To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle.
Confucius
TILT:
In Asian elephants only males have tusks.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Who Says They Lack Ideas?
Denied chicken McNuggets,
she punches two employees,
throws bottle through window.
Remember the United States of America, where freedom of religion is a constitutional right? Some people obviously don’t think so, consider the outrage over the building of a mosque near Ground Zero. Apparently this discrimination is spreading all over the country and mosques are everywhere becoming subject to suspicion and animosity. I guess we have freedom of religion as long as it doesn’t involve Muslims. What would you expect in a country of loony right-wing bible thumpers?
Some people seem outraged because the First Lady, Michelle Obama, took a trip to Spain. I guess this is just another example of the Obamas being criticized no matter what they do. Like, why should it make any difference to anyone if the First Lady takes a trip to Europe? I hope she enjoyed every moment of it and will take many more trips. President Obama is also criticized for playing golf, like no President before him played the game or had any recreation at all? What about the fact that Bush spent almost half his time in office on vacation? I can understand why Republicans or others might criticize Obama’s Foreign Policy or economics or support of the auto industry, but criticizing him and his wife for having a bit of recreation or travel is just too pathetic for words. The criticism that she should not have taken such a trip because these are hard times rings a bit hollow when you compare it to the “royal” wedding the Clintons just put on for Chelsea. What’s in a name? Not much unless your name is Obama.
The latest bit of Republican stupidity has to do with the son of the notorious Phyllis Schlafly who has now decided that Einstein’s theory of relativity is a liberal plot of some kind. The Republican Party is full of these types nowadays: Angle of Nevada who claims the constitution does not mention the separation of church and state, Bachmann who has 6 utterly ridiculous ideas every day before breakfast, Palin who actually knows less than nothing but gets paid big bucks to prove it over and over again, Huckabee and many others who don’t believe in evolution, some idiot whose name I can’t recall, who thinks community bicycles is a plot to turn us all into communists, Jindal who thinks guns in church is a fine idea, Brewer of Arizona who passed the immigration bill to stop (nonexistent) beheadings in her state, Barton who thinks we should apologize to BP, Gingrich who has 6 utterly stupid ideas every day after dinner, Inhofe who insists global warming is a myth, another guy I can’t remember who suggest Islam (with more than a billion members worldwide) is a cult, and on and on. I think perhaps the worst are those who claim evolution is only a theory and don’t believe it because that is more than it seems. It not only denies evolution but also indicates quite clearly they have no idea what they are talking about. Those who think Obama is a socialist are not far behind in not knowing what they are talking about. These idiotic ideas could be fun if it were not for the fact they are held by people in position of power and influence. Anyway, who says Republicans have no ideas?
Of course when it comes to really stupid ideas it’s hard to beat continuing the “war” in Afghanistan, continuing the totally failed “war on drugs,” allowing more offshore drilling, supporting more nuclear energy plants, continuing tax cuts for the rich, abolishing social security, trying to work with Republicans when they have already announced they are going to say “no” to everything, and the related failure to stop the horribly abused filibuster. An attack on Iran would no doubt top everything in terms of stupidity but it appears that (hopefully) that will not happen, at least not in the near future.
LKBIQ:
Truth stood on one side and Ease on the other; it has often been so.
Theodore Parker
TILT:
Timbuktu actually exists as a place, a city in Mali.
she punches two employees,
throws bottle through window.
Remember the United States of America, where freedom of religion is a constitutional right? Some people obviously don’t think so, consider the outrage over the building of a mosque near Ground Zero. Apparently this discrimination is spreading all over the country and mosques are everywhere becoming subject to suspicion and animosity. I guess we have freedom of religion as long as it doesn’t involve Muslims. What would you expect in a country of loony right-wing bible thumpers?
Some people seem outraged because the First Lady, Michelle Obama, took a trip to Spain. I guess this is just another example of the Obamas being criticized no matter what they do. Like, why should it make any difference to anyone if the First Lady takes a trip to Europe? I hope she enjoyed every moment of it and will take many more trips. President Obama is also criticized for playing golf, like no President before him played the game or had any recreation at all? What about the fact that Bush spent almost half his time in office on vacation? I can understand why Republicans or others might criticize Obama’s Foreign Policy or economics or support of the auto industry, but criticizing him and his wife for having a bit of recreation or travel is just too pathetic for words. The criticism that she should not have taken such a trip because these are hard times rings a bit hollow when you compare it to the “royal” wedding the Clintons just put on for Chelsea. What’s in a name? Not much unless your name is Obama.
The latest bit of Republican stupidity has to do with the son of the notorious Phyllis Schlafly who has now decided that Einstein’s theory of relativity is a liberal plot of some kind. The Republican Party is full of these types nowadays: Angle of Nevada who claims the constitution does not mention the separation of church and state, Bachmann who has 6 utterly ridiculous ideas every day before breakfast, Palin who actually knows less than nothing but gets paid big bucks to prove it over and over again, Huckabee and many others who don’t believe in evolution, some idiot whose name I can’t recall, who thinks community bicycles is a plot to turn us all into communists, Jindal who thinks guns in church is a fine idea, Brewer of Arizona who passed the immigration bill to stop (nonexistent) beheadings in her state, Barton who thinks we should apologize to BP, Gingrich who has 6 utterly stupid ideas every day after dinner, Inhofe who insists global warming is a myth, another guy I can’t remember who suggest Islam (with more than a billion members worldwide) is a cult, and on and on. I think perhaps the worst are those who claim evolution is only a theory and don’t believe it because that is more than it seems. It not only denies evolution but also indicates quite clearly they have no idea what they are talking about. Those who think Obama is a socialist are not far behind in not knowing what they are talking about. These idiotic ideas could be fun if it were not for the fact they are held by people in position of power and influence. Anyway, who says Republicans have no ideas?
Of course when it comes to really stupid ideas it’s hard to beat continuing the “war” in Afghanistan, continuing the totally failed “war on drugs,” allowing more offshore drilling, supporting more nuclear energy plants, continuing tax cuts for the rich, abolishing social security, trying to work with Republicans when they have already announced they are going to say “no” to everything, and the related failure to stop the horribly abused filibuster. An attack on Iran would no doubt top everything in terms of stupidity but it appears that (hopefully) that will not happen, at least not in the near future.
LKBIQ:
Truth stood on one side and Ease on the other; it has often been so.
Theodore Parker
TILT:
Timbuktu actually exists as a place, a city in Mali.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Adland - book
Adland Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet, by James P. Othmer (Doubleday, 2009)
I might have thought the title of this book should have been Ad Land, but we are dealing here with an advertising man. So put aside your morals and ethics, and especially your “taste,” and consider the world of advertising. Othmer does, of course, mention the moral and other problems that beset those who make a career in advertising. How, for example, does one deal with having to create advertising programs for things like paste for false teeth, suppositories, or tampax? More importantly, how would you sell things you might well entirely disapprove of, things like sugary cereals to children, or fast foods, perhaps even a Presidential candidate you thought was a terrible choice? How about pesticides or insecticides, sleeping pills, pills to induce erections, or how about selling an oil company you knew was doing terrible things to the environment? What kind of person would you have to be to spend your career creating advertising programs that you knew were misleading or completely dishonest? All of these things get mentioned in this book by an ex-advertising man, but they are not the major subject of the book and he spends little time on them. This is a book written primarily, as near as I can tell, for those who are knowledgeable about the industry, familiar with some of the changes, conversant with the language of the profession, and interested with the future of this strange profession.
I have long wondered about advertising that is, in general, something I despise. It is one of the main reasons I no longer watch television. When I was a child I had an eccentric uncle who lived on a sailboat. There was only radio in those days and we listened to the news rather than watching it. Uncle Otto hated the advertising and had rigged up a mercury switch to combat it. When a commercial came on he would lift up the switch and it was timed to last as long as an ordinary radio commercial, thus allowing him to never listen to one. He also had a rule that he would never buy a product that he saw or heard advertised. Uncle Otto was a great influence on my life in many ways and his hatred of advertising rang a bell with me that I have followed ever since.
It becomes clear from Othmer’s account that the primary reason people go into advertising is because it’s where the money is. If you create even one single commercial that is a resounding success you have it pretty much made for a long time. Simple slogans like “The Jolly Green Giant,” “Where’s the Beef?” and “Fruit of the Loom,” for example, easily made a career for someone in addition to a lot of money. The author, who worked in advertising for twenty years and was reasonably successful, confesses he never made up a slogan that made it “to the big time.” But he did make up many successful programs that were of lesser importance but nevertheless successful. He, himself, became involved in advertising mostly by accident, but once hooked he stayed with it for a long time. This is where another interesting fact emerges from his book, in the process that is advertising those that are involved don’t even pay much, if any, attention to the item being advertised. The excitement and reward comes from the task itself, the challenge, the demands on creativity, and have nothing much to do with the product involved. Indeed, in some cases they are more highly motivated the more difficult the challenge. The simply slogans that emerge from their creative competitions are not simply come by, but involve hours and hours of creative thought as well as trial runs and so on.
But even the professionals, like Othmer himself, can reach a point where they just burn out or decide they cannot continue doing some things. After working on pharmaceutical ads for a time, he decided they should not even be permitted, or, if permitted, should have to have full length ads describing the side effects as well. He seems to have decided he was more or less “burned out” and perhaps “over the hill,” when he found himself in charge of creating a program for a new “turd-shrinking Japanese cat food.”
The main subject matter of this interesting work, however, has to do with the changing profession of advertising and how it is they are going to meet the challenges of advertising less on television and much more on the internet. They talk now of viral advertising, multi-media ads, participatory advertising, digital, and other such things that I do not completely understand. But it seems clear that the traditional advertising agencies, along with the tradition television ads, are becoming far less important and new directions are being called for. Ad agencies are being replaced by “Creation Centers,” and such, and creative talents are now being teamed to collaborate with experts from other professions like computer freaks and even the management professionals that previously had nothing to do with the creation of their ads. No one seems to understand completely where all this will lead but it is certainly the main topic of interest in the schools that exist for training those who wish to make a career of this rather strange profession, places like Brandcenter at Richmond’s Virginia Commonwealth University (I confess to being unaware there even were such graduate programs in advertising, and personally I’m not certain there ought to be). There is much more to this work than I can possibly mention here. If you have an interest in this subject you will no doubt benefit from reading it.
I might have thought the title of this book should have been Ad Land, but we are dealing here with an advertising man. So put aside your morals and ethics, and especially your “taste,” and consider the world of advertising. Othmer does, of course, mention the moral and other problems that beset those who make a career in advertising. How, for example, does one deal with having to create advertising programs for things like paste for false teeth, suppositories, or tampax? More importantly, how would you sell things you might well entirely disapprove of, things like sugary cereals to children, or fast foods, perhaps even a Presidential candidate you thought was a terrible choice? How about pesticides or insecticides, sleeping pills, pills to induce erections, or how about selling an oil company you knew was doing terrible things to the environment? What kind of person would you have to be to spend your career creating advertising programs that you knew were misleading or completely dishonest? All of these things get mentioned in this book by an ex-advertising man, but they are not the major subject of the book and he spends little time on them. This is a book written primarily, as near as I can tell, for those who are knowledgeable about the industry, familiar with some of the changes, conversant with the language of the profession, and interested with the future of this strange profession.
I have long wondered about advertising that is, in general, something I despise. It is one of the main reasons I no longer watch television. When I was a child I had an eccentric uncle who lived on a sailboat. There was only radio in those days and we listened to the news rather than watching it. Uncle Otto hated the advertising and had rigged up a mercury switch to combat it. When a commercial came on he would lift up the switch and it was timed to last as long as an ordinary radio commercial, thus allowing him to never listen to one. He also had a rule that he would never buy a product that he saw or heard advertised. Uncle Otto was a great influence on my life in many ways and his hatred of advertising rang a bell with me that I have followed ever since.
It becomes clear from Othmer’s account that the primary reason people go into advertising is because it’s where the money is. If you create even one single commercial that is a resounding success you have it pretty much made for a long time. Simple slogans like “The Jolly Green Giant,” “Where’s the Beef?” and “Fruit of the Loom,” for example, easily made a career for someone in addition to a lot of money. The author, who worked in advertising for twenty years and was reasonably successful, confesses he never made up a slogan that made it “to the big time.” But he did make up many successful programs that were of lesser importance but nevertheless successful. He, himself, became involved in advertising mostly by accident, but once hooked he stayed with it for a long time. This is where another interesting fact emerges from his book, in the process that is advertising those that are involved don’t even pay much, if any, attention to the item being advertised. The excitement and reward comes from the task itself, the challenge, the demands on creativity, and have nothing much to do with the product involved. Indeed, in some cases they are more highly motivated the more difficult the challenge. The simply slogans that emerge from their creative competitions are not simply come by, but involve hours and hours of creative thought as well as trial runs and so on.
But even the professionals, like Othmer himself, can reach a point where they just burn out or decide they cannot continue doing some things. After working on pharmaceutical ads for a time, he decided they should not even be permitted, or, if permitted, should have to have full length ads describing the side effects as well. He seems to have decided he was more or less “burned out” and perhaps “over the hill,” when he found himself in charge of creating a program for a new “turd-shrinking Japanese cat food.”
The main subject matter of this interesting work, however, has to do with the changing profession of advertising and how it is they are going to meet the challenges of advertising less on television and much more on the internet. They talk now of viral advertising, multi-media ads, participatory advertising, digital, and other such things that I do not completely understand. But it seems clear that the traditional advertising agencies, along with the tradition television ads, are becoming far less important and new directions are being called for. Ad agencies are being replaced by “Creation Centers,” and such, and creative talents are now being teamed to collaborate with experts from other professions like computer freaks and even the management professionals that previously had nothing to do with the creation of their ads. No one seems to understand completely where all this will lead but it is certainly the main topic of interest in the schools that exist for training those who wish to make a career of this rather strange profession, places like Brandcenter at Richmond’s Virginia Commonwealth University (I confess to being unaware there even were such graduate programs in advertising, and personally I’m not certain there ought to be). There is much more to this work than I can possibly mention here. If you have an interest in this subject you will no doubt benefit from reading it.
Friday, August 06, 2010
Winners and Losers
It is no longer difficult to tell the winners from the losers. Just consider the case of WalMart. Whenever I enter one of the zillions of WalMarts around the country I cannot overcome the feeling that I am entering a huge warehouse full of losers, losers as far as the eye can see. It might appear that I am disparaging the good people that shop and work there, but that is not my intention. They are losers only in the sense that those who work there work mostly for minimum wages, are not allowed to unionize, and are otherwise exploited. Those who shop there are losers in that they are desperate to save money as they don’t have much (any more, if ever). The winners are not hard to locate, just look at the list of billionaires, they are right there. It is also hard to escape the knowledge that those who are producing the cheap goods available there are even worse off that the clerks and shoppers. Sweat shops all around the world, but mostly in China, produce most of the items working for very low wages and with virtually no benefits at all. WalMart is the epitome of what is wrong with unregulated capitalism, the exploitation of the labor of others and the exploitation of the environment. It is obviously true, the middle class has almost completely disappeared, leaving only the obscenely rich and powerful and those who are shamelessly exploited and powerless. Of course it is comforting to know that recently a group of billionaires have agreed to give half of their fortunes to charity. What a sacrifice! Now they will only have a half billion or twenty or thirty billion left. I can see no reason why any individual anywhere on earth should be allowed to have a billion dollars. Remember, as above, the only way capital can accumulate is through the exploitation of others labor or the environment. Instead of measuring their fortunes in dollars there should be a misery index showing how much human misery went into their fortunes.
This situation is the inevitable outcome of allowing unregulated capitalism to flourish over a period of time, it is always the case that money will tend to collect in the hands of a few at the expense of the many. WalMart is not the only corporation guilty by any means but it is, I think, the prime example. As money also equals power it is not surprising that those with the money will tend to make the rules, and the rules they make will naturally benefit them, allowing them to increasingly profit at the expense of the increasingly powerless. Money also buys influence so that the individuals who are elected to manage the country are easily bought, and once bought, as long as they continue to do the buyers’ bidding, they will remain in office. Citizens should have run for their lives into the mountains when they heard the words “deregulation,” and “privatization,” but they foolishly did not. They did not decide to stay and fight either, being bamboozled by the powerful into believing all kinds of nonsense and myths about the joys of capitalism and the benefits of things actually opposed to their best interests. This was overlain with all kinds of scare tactics about gay marriage, abortion, black and brown ambitions, and so on, all falling on ears tuned to scapegoating and propaganda. Education and a love of learning would have helped eliminate this but education itself has been commandeered, emasculated, and used for the same propaganda purposes as the similarly captured media. These United States that we have traditionally been so proud of, and our democracy that has historically treated us so well, have changed over time in ways that from the point of view of ordinary citizens are both dysfunctional and undesirable. Government, that device employed by humans over time to presumably regulate themselves and look after the interests and concerns of the citizens, has almost completely divorced itself from those concerns and become an independent organization completely, an entity now totally self-centered, self-regulated, self-renewing, self-justifying, and self-controlled. Votes are no longer cast with the public in mind but, rather, how they perpetuate this ongoing profit-making industrial/military/political complex that now controls our country, and seriously attempts to control the entire world.
It is rather amazing to contemplate the fact that this enormous organization, this attempted empire, this enormous complex and the country that created it, may all come crashing down fairly soon largely due to the simple acts of one man, the now notorious Osama bin Laden. Remember that bin Laden said he would bankrupt us just as the Russians were driven into bankruptcy. With a few men, armed with some primitive knives, he has created a situation that will fulfill his prophecy. How he must be chuckling and enjoying himself, wherever he is, watching us slowly borrowing more and more money, going farther and farther into dangerous debt, winning battles here and there but obviously losing the “war,” to say nothing of how he must enjoy watching millions upon millions every week taking off their shoes just to board an aircraft. Osama bin Laden may your tribe decrease, you certainly woke us from a strange dream of peace.
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
This situation is the inevitable outcome of allowing unregulated capitalism to flourish over a period of time, it is always the case that money will tend to collect in the hands of a few at the expense of the many. WalMart is not the only corporation guilty by any means but it is, I think, the prime example. As money also equals power it is not surprising that those with the money will tend to make the rules, and the rules they make will naturally benefit them, allowing them to increasingly profit at the expense of the increasingly powerless. Money also buys influence so that the individuals who are elected to manage the country are easily bought, and once bought, as long as they continue to do the buyers’ bidding, they will remain in office. Citizens should have run for their lives into the mountains when they heard the words “deregulation,” and “privatization,” but they foolishly did not. They did not decide to stay and fight either, being bamboozled by the powerful into believing all kinds of nonsense and myths about the joys of capitalism and the benefits of things actually opposed to their best interests. This was overlain with all kinds of scare tactics about gay marriage, abortion, black and brown ambitions, and so on, all falling on ears tuned to scapegoating and propaganda. Education and a love of learning would have helped eliminate this but education itself has been commandeered, emasculated, and used for the same propaganda purposes as the similarly captured media. These United States that we have traditionally been so proud of, and our democracy that has historically treated us so well, have changed over time in ways that from the point of view of ordinary citizens are both dysfunctional and undesirable. Government, that device employed by humans over time to presumably regulate themselves and look after the interests and concerns of the citizens, has almost completely divorced itself from those concerns and become an independent organization completely, an entity now totally self-centered, self-regulated, self-renewing, self-justifying, and self-controlled. Votes are no longer cast with the public in mind but, rather, how they perpetuate this ongoing profit-making industrial/military/political complex that now controls our country, and seriously attempts to control the entire world.
It is rather amazing to contemplate the fact that this enormous organization, this attempted empire, this enormous complex and the country that created it, may all come crashing down fairly soon largely due to the simple acts of one man, the now notorious Osama bin Laden. Remember that bin Laden said he would bankrupt us just as the Russians were driven into bankruptcy. With a few men, armed with some primitive knives, he has created a situation that will fulfill his prophecy. How he must be chuckling and enjoying himself, wherever he is, watching us slowly borrowing more and more money, going farther and farther into dangerous debt, winning battles here and there but obviously losing the “war,” to say nothing of how he must enjoy watching millions upon millions every week taking off their shoes just to board an aircraft. Osama bin Laden may your tribe decrease, you certainly woke us from a strange dream of peace.
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Disconnect
Critized in Dubai mall for
wearing low-cut blouse,
English woman strips to bikini.
Unless you have been hiding under a rock somewhere you will know that a Federal Judge has declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional. I am not a lawyer, have never studied law, but I have often been told I have a “legal mind” (read devious). This Judge not only declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional, in a 138 page decision he virtually demolished any arguments in favor of that particular form of discrimination. I believe his decision is so definitive even the current Robert’s Supreme Court, those five judges that constitute a majority, that capitalistic worshipping, corporate toadying, activist cabal, will not be able to overturn it. But don’t count them out, anyone who believes corporations are persons is probably capable of anything. Even more fascinating, if true, is that the Judge himself is gay (I have heard someone say this but I don’t know if it is true). So…if the Judge is gay, does that disqualify him from deciding the issue of gay marriage? One might think so, but then, it seems to my lawyerly mind, you would have to disqualify heterosexuals from deciding issues having to do with heterosexual marriages. Would this make sense? It would only if you assume that gays are somehow less competent or honest or qualified than others. Actually, I never wanted to be a lawyer.
Elena Kagan was confirmed for the Court, 63 to 37. This was a foregone conclusion. But interestingly, even strangely, five Republicans voted to confirm her, so even the defection of Democrat-in-Sheep’s-Clothing, Ben Nelson, was irrelevant. What I find the most interesting about this is that I don’t believe those who voted against her had any truly valid reasons to vote no, they just voted no our of their usual opposition to anything Obama wants. In any case, their votes were obviously political, having nothing to do with what was right or wrong or the facts of the matter. This is the problem with our lost democracy, our Congresspersons no longer vote according to what is right or wrong, or what might be good for the country or the citizens, they vote on purely political grounds. This means, in effect, there is no longer any genuine connection between the acts of Congress and the needs of the citizens or the nation. It has become just one gigantic charade, attempting to pull the wool over our eyes, while at the same time insuring their continuing elections and positions. The five Republicans who voted for confirmation obviously knew they could safely do so, while those who voted no simply voted the party line, proving their loyalty to party rather than nation.
What is even more interesting is the similar complete disconnect between what our corporate masters care about and what they encourage their paid-for-Congresspersons to vote for or against. Corporations don’t care in the slightest whether gays marry or not, nor do they care about abortions or even about the rule of law. They only care about keeping in power those who will faithfully perform their duties as instructed. If fringe, fake social issues help things along so much the better. It is simple for business at all levels as they do not have to consider such mundane matters as morality or ethics, or even what the electorate wants, their interest is purely profits. If it makes a profit it is good, if not it is bad. Those who major in business don’t have to concern themselves with anything but economics and business strategies, no liberal arts for them. In this respect they are just like those in Medical Schools where they turn out mechanics who work on the body but know little or nothing outside of their specialties. I realize it seems laughable nowadays that a “liberal education” used to be the main goal of the universities. There are many people even now who believe professional schools like Business, Nursing, Medicine, and Law have no business being part of the university system, and even some old-fashioned enough to believe the function of the university should not be merely to train people for a job. Nowadays we hear that “the business of America is business,” “ what’s good for General Motors is good for the country,” and similar statements that confirm what Margaret Halsey said long ago, the U.S. is a one institution society, and that institution is business.
I would like to pay a belated homage to President Harry Truman. I did not care for Truman as President and I still believe his ordering of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima was both unnecessary and unconscionable, but I have also learned that he ordered the integration of the military in spite of the overwhelming opposition of most everyone, an act of great courage and nobility, done simply because it was the right thing to do. How long has it been since you have seen our Congress do anything because it was the right thing to do?
LKBIQ:
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter Drucker
TILT:
Merkeets are immune to the poisonous venom of scorpions.
wearing low-cut blouse,
English woman strips to bikini.
Unless you have been hiding under a rock somewhere you will know that a Federal Judge has declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional. I am not a lawyer, have never studied law, but I have often been told I have a “legal mind” (read devious). This Judge not only declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional, in a 138 page decision he virtually demolished any arguments in favor of that particular form of discrimination. I believe his decision is so definitive even the current Robert’s Supreme Court, those five judges that constitute a majority, that capitalistic worshipping, corporate toadying, activist cabal, will not be able to overturn it. But don’t count them out, anyone who believes corporations are persons is probably capable of anything. Even more fascinating, if true, is that the Judge himself is gay (I have heard someone say this but I don’t know if it is true). So…if the Judge is gay, does that disqualify him from deciding the issue of gay marriage? One might think so, but then, it seems to my lawyerly mind, you would have to disqualify heterosexuals from deciding issues having to do with heterosexual marriages. Would this make sense? It would only if you assume that gays are somehow less competent or honest or qualified than others. Actually, I never wanted to be a lawyer.
Elena Kagan was confirmed for the Court, 63 to 37. This was a foregone conclusion. But interestingly, even strangely, five Republicans voted to confirm her, so even the defection of Democrat-in-Sheep’s-Clothing, Ben Nelson, was irrelevant. What I find the most interesting about this is that I don’t believe those who voted against her had any truly valid reasons to vote no, they just voted no our of their usual opposition to anything Obama wants. In any case, their votes were obviously political, having nothing to do with what was right or wrong or the facts of the matter. This is the problem with our lost democracy, our Congresspersons no longer vote according to what is right or wrong, or what might be good for the country or the citizens, they vote on purely political grounds. This means, in effect, there is no longer any genuine connection between the acts of Congress and the needs of the citizens or the nation. It has become just one gigantic charade, attempting to pull the wool over our eyes, while at the same time insuring their continuing elections and positions. The five Republicans who voted for confirmation obviously knew they could safely do so, while those who voted no simply voted the party line, proving their loyalty to party rather than nation.
What is even more interesting is the similar complete disconnect between what our corporate masters care about and what they encourage their paid-for-Congresspersons to vote for or against. Corporations don’t care in the slightest whether gays marry or not, nor do they care about abortions or even about the rule of law. They only care about keeping in power those who will faithfully perform their duties as instructed. If fringe, fake social issues help things along so much the better. It is simple for business at all levels as they do not have to consider such mundane matters as morality or ethics, or even what the electorate wants, their interest is purely profits. If it makes a profit it is good, if not it is bad. Those who major in business don’t have to concern themselves with anything but economics and business strategies, no liberal arts for them. In this respect they are just like those in Medical Schools where they turn out mechanics who work on the body but know little or nothing outside of their specialties. I realize it seems laughable nowadays that a “liberal education” used to be the main goal of the universities. There are many people even now who believe professional schools like Business, Nursing, Medicine, and Law have no business being part of the university system, and even some old-fashioned enough to believe the function of the university should not be merely to train people for a job. Nowadays we hear that “the business of America is business,” “ what’s good for General Motors is good for the country,” and similar statements that confirm what Margaret Halsey said long ago, the U.S. is a one institution society, and that institution is business.
I would like to pay a belated homage to President Harry Truman. I did not care for Truman as President and I still believe his ordering of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima was both unnecessary and unconscionable, but I have also learned that he ordered the integration of the military in spite of the overwhelming opposition of most everyone, an act of great courage and nobility, done simply because it was the right thing to do. How long has it been since you have seen our Congress do anything because it was the right thing to do?
LKBIQ:
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter Drucker
TILT:
Merkeets are immune to the poisonous venom of scorpions.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
A Nation of Vulgarians
Pennsylvania woman cleans
bathroom with son’s tootbrush,
returns it to its holder.
Apropros of my blog of last night I have been thinking of a related matter, vulgarity. When was the last time you heard anyone describe something as vulgar? I suspect it must have been some time ago as the word seems to have virtually disappeared from everyday language. You rarely, if ever, hear something described as vulgar. Shocking, perhaps, or inappropriate, maybe “off the wall,” perhaps even in bad taste, but never vulgar, not any more. Why is this so?
Vulgar, like so many words in the English language, has several meanings, but all pretty much related to one another. Vulgar is, for example, associated with “common” people, but this has meaning only if you understand that this is meant to compare common people with uncommon people, where common people is basically meant to be pejorative. “Generally current” is also associated with being vulgar, but this is much the same in that current speech or current behavior is meant to mean what the masses are doing at the moment, also regarded as “plebian” or common and thus of less value. Vulgar also means “lacking in cultivation, perception, or taste,” “morally crude,” and basically “gross.” I would suggest that American culture in general has become far more vulgar than it used to be. Indeed, I think it is not too outrageous to suggest that we have become a nation of vulgarians.
Think about it, speech and behavior that formerly would have been considered vulgar has more or less become the norm. Words that were once considered far too vulgar to be uttered publicly are now commonplace. Virtually all comedy now trades on vulgarity. Much of our contemporary music (if it can be called that) is vulgar almost beyond belief. I have no doubt that baring much of your body, especially in a bikini, for example, would have been considered vulgar. Dying your hair and using lipstick was considered vulgar not so long ago (even when I was a child). Women smoking was regarded as exceedingly vulgar. Mentioning sex or telling off-color jokes was also quite vulgar.
For something to be considered vulgar is not merely a matter of using four letter words. I have no doubt that Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Beck, and most of the ultra-right wing blowhards would have been considered just plain vulgar, if only because they so obviously catered to the “common” psyche. Lying and demagoguery, although they existed, were certainly considered vulgar as they were deliberate messages to the common people. Indeed, I think that even displaying intense emotions in public was considered vulgar, one was supposed to “keep a stiff upper lip” and all that. Similarly, you did not discuss your personal problems with others, certainly not those involving your bodily functions, and you did not discuss your finances either. Boasting about how much you paid in taxes, for example, was terribly vulgar, even discussing the subject of money was vulgar. People who were recognized as upper class were also wealthy and could not be vulgar by definition.
Virtually everything I have mentioned above, formerly thought of as vulgar, now represent the common, everyday behavior of Americans. With rare exceptions, perhaps, even the wealthy are likely to be just as vulgar as we “commoners.” Why is this so? I have no doubt that television has played a very important role. What could have been a wonderful educational and instructive medium for promoting the best of human behavior and thought simply degenerated into a mass of unbelievably awful schlock. The programs for the most part are so bad as to un unwatchable, the commercials are insulting, the news is no longer news but infotainment, and most Americans spend hours every day being bombarded with this utter nonsensical crap. Television has doubtless done more to “dumb down” the public than any other media. Most everything is geared to the lowest common denominator, in this case probably about the level of the fourth grade. This has helped to foster an attitude of anti-intellectualism that permeates our culture, disvalues, even mocks education, and results in a population of voters that have little or no idea of what or who they are voting for or even why (if, that is, they vote at all). Vulgarity is no longer an exception or deviation from the norm, it has become the norm.
LKBIQ:
Vulgarity is, in reality, nothing but a modern, chic, pert descendant of the goddess Dullness.
Edith Sitwell
TILT:
Trigger is mounted, not stuffed.
bathroom with son’s tootbrush,
returns it to its holder.
Apropros of my blog of last night I have been thinking of a related matter, vulgarity. When was the last time you heard anyone describe something as vulgar? I suspect it must have been some time ago as the word seems to have virtually disappeared from everyday language. You rarely, if ever, hear something described as vulgar. Shocking, perhaps, or inappropriate, maybe “off the wall,” perhaps even in bad taste, but never vulgar, not any more. Why is this so?
Vulgar, like so many words in the English language, has several meanings, but all pretty much related to one another. Vulgar is, for example, associated with “common” people, but this has meaning only if you understand that this is meant to compare common people with uncommon people, where common people is basically meant to be pejorative. “Generally current” is also associated with being vulgar, but this is much the same in that current speech or current behavior is meant to mean what the masses are doing at the moment, also regarded as “plebian” or common and thus of less value. Vulgar also means “lacking in cultivation, perception, or taste,” “morally crude,” and basically “gross.” I would suggest that American culture in general has become far more vulgar than it used to be. Indeed, I think it is not too outrageous to suggest that we have become a nation of vulgarians.
Think about it, speech and behavior that formerly would have been considered vulgar has more or less become the norm. Words that were once considered far too vulgar to be uttered publicly are now commonplace. Virtually all comedy now trades on vulgarity. Much of our contemporary music (if it can be called that) is vulgar almost beyond belief. I have no doubt that baring much of your body, especially in a bikini, for example, would have been considered vulgar. Dying your hair and using lipstick was considered vulgar not so long ago (even when I was a child). Women smoking was regarded as exceedingly vulgar. Mentioning sex or telling off-color jokes was also quite vulgar.
For something to be considered vulgar is not merely a matter of using four letter words. I have no doubt that Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Beck, and most of the ultra-right wing blowhards would have been considered just plain vulgar, if only because they so obviously catered to the “common” psyche. Lying and demagoguery, although they existed, were certainly considered vulgar as they were deliberate messages to the common people. Indeed, I think that even displaying intense emotions in public was considered vulgar, one was supposed to “keep a stiff upper lip” and all that. Similarly, you did not discuss your personal problems with others, certainly not those involving your bodily functions, and you did not discuss your finances either. Boasting about how much you paid in taxes, for example, was terribly vulgar, even discussing the subject of money was vulgar. People who were recognized as upper class were also wealthy and could not be vulgar by definition.
Virtually everything I have mentioned above, formerly thought of as vulgar, now represent the common, everyday behavior of Americans. With rare exceptions, perhaps, even the wealthy are likely to be just as vulgar as we “commoners.” Why is this so? I have no doubt that television has played a very important role. What could have been a wonderful educational and instructive medium for promoting the best of human behavior and thought simply degenerated into a mass of unbelievably awful schlock. The programs for the most part are so bad as to un unwatchable, the commercials are insulting, the news is no longer news but infotainment, and most Americans spend hours every day being bombarded with this utter nonsensical crap. Television has doubtless done more to “dumb down” the public than any other media. Most everything is geared to the lowest common denominator, in this case probably about the level of the fourth grade. This has helped to foster an attitude of anti-intellectualism that permeates our culture, disvalues, even mocks education, and results in a population of voters that have little or no idea of what or who they are voting for or even why (if, that is, they vote at all). Vulgarity is no longer an exception or deviation from the norm, it has become the norm.
LKBIQ:
Vulgarity is, in reality, nothing but a modern, chic, pert descendant of the goddess Dullness.
Edith Sitwell
TILT:
Trigger is mounted, not stuffed.
Monday, August 02, 2010
Whatever Happened to Culture?
Whatever happened to Culture, Culture with a capital “C,” that is? At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when anthropology was first being established as an academic discipline, the term Culture was used synonymously with Civilization. Sir Edward Burnett Tylor, who first defined the term, used it in this way, as did Sir James George Frazer and a few others interested in the subject at that time. Later, mostly because of the influence of Franz Boas, culture came to be seen as something different, something plural, something that all human groups possessed but in different forms. It became common to distinguish between Culture with a capital “C,” and culture(s). Culture or Civilization was seen as the apex of cultural evolution, the unique possession of white Western-Europeans, the standard towards which all societies were attempting to move. Culture as Civilization meant, among other things, table manners, etiquette, ladies wearing long white gloves, men tipping their hats to ladies, knowing the proper fork or spoon to use, patronizing the arts, never mentioning things like “legs” or “ankles” in public, wearing the proper attire, drinking the proper wine with meals, and all of the so-called “higher” behaviors thought indispensable to living a proper, civilized life. Culture was, of course, intimately connected to wealth as only the wealthy could afford to live in a proper civilized manner, and wealth was mostly in the hands of a few who possessed land and inherited money.
Interestingly enough, at least to me, culture with a capital “C” seems to have gradually disappeared. Social and cultural life seems to have gradually coarsened over time, and if there are small pockets of Culture remaining at all they are few and probably still associated with what has become known as “old” money. Certainly in our contemporary culture the possession of wealth does not necessarily correlate with Culture. Indeed, it seems sometimes the mere possession of great wealth gives one license to behave even more coarsely than ever, witness the behavior of many celebrities, rap stars, professional athletes, and others who have recently come by their wealth in one way or another, those often described as the “nouveau riche.”
The disappearance of Culture can be seen in our language that has indisputably be coarsened over the years, words uttered commonly in public that were absolutely taboo not so long ago. Table manners, too, have changed dramatically, how many people nowadays know a dessert spoon from a finger bowl, or a fish knife from a steak knife or even a teacup? Respect for age has pretty much disappeared, and deference to ladies is little more than a joke. Not only do people speak of their legs and ankles, now they talk publicly about their colons, suppositories, vaginas, and erections. Top hats and tails have been replaced by blue jeans and backwards baseball caps. As far as humor goes, nothing is sacred.
It is not my purpose here to claim these changes are necessarily all bad, merely that they exist. Why they exist, at least in the extreme form they do, is not entirely clear to me. The so-called “free speech” movement obviously had an important effect. What used to be a terrible perjorative has now become oral sex, other words that were previously avoided by all are now uttered commonly in public and on television nightly. Fast foods are no doubt related as our eating habits have changed dramatically over the years, fine dining, although it still exists, has become somewhat rare and very expensive. And when you have hot dog and apple pie eating contests, along with all-you-can-eat dining, it is hard to expect much in the way of table manners. Advertising has gone a long way toward turning us into slobs, with young women slurping down food and talking with their mouths full becoming a standard for breakfast cereals and potato chips and such. Of course our dining habits are related to the economy and economic necessity, with families having to have all members working in order to live, who has time to indulge in fine cooking? Supermarkets, too, have played a part. Where communities used to have butchers and bakers and fishmongers who tried to please, now we have row upon row of packaged meats and vegetables, instant potatoes, instant rice, instant gratification, and whatever can be prepared and consumed in a hurry.
The change in the definition of culture has also, I believe, had an effect on how we live our lives. Whereas there was formerly a more or less absolute standard against which to judge behavior (how closely it approximated upper class white society), now we have cultural relativism which implies no clear standards of behavior. The culture concept, although lacking a standard widely shared definition, has been extremely successful as a concept. Now we speak not only of cultural relativity, but also cultural geography, cultural psychology, cultural economics, corporate culture, a culture of poverty, street culture, Gay culture, American culture, German culture, Everyday culture, the culture of the FBI, and even a culture of contentment. It is because the concept is so imprecise that we are able to use it in these various contexts even though it mostly has little meaning. In any case, what started out as an anthropological concept has now entered the vernacular and we hear it constantly. I believe the concept has some potential that has never been completely tapped, but that is another story. With modern individuals far less likely to stick to rigid standards of behavior than ever before it is not surprising our culture has changed, either for worse or better, depending upon your preference. Perhaps someday someone will be able to decide which changes are better and which worse. I detect at least a slight tendency to return to a more civilized life, as there are apparently courses now being taught to children on table manners, courtesy, and such. And I saw an article the other day that claims some of our younger people are attempting a return to fidelity, marriage, and less uninhibited sex (apparently a reaction to the excesses of the 60’s). Perhaps the presence of ceramic port-o-potties with piped-in music at Chelsea’s wedding suggests a return to a more genteel era? Will there be a renaissance? Don’t bet on it.
Interestingly enough, at least to me, culture with a capital “C” seems to have gradually disappeared. Social and cultural life seems to have gradually coarsened over time, and if there are small pockets of Culture remaining at all they are few and probably still associated with what has become known as “old” money. Certainly in our contemporary culture the possession of wealth does not necessarily correlate with Culture. Indeed, it seems sometimes the mere possession of great wealth gives one license to behave even more coarsely than ever, witness the behavior of many celebrities, rap stars, professional athletes, and others who have recently come by their wealth in one way or another, those often described as the “nouveau riche.”
The disappearance of Culture can be seen in our language that has indisputably be coarsened over the years, words uttered commonly in public that were absolutely taboo not so long ago. Table manners, too, have changed dramatically, how many people nowadays know a dessert spoon from a finger bowl, or a fish knife from a steak knife or even a teacup? Respect for age has pretty much disappeared, and deference to ladies is little more than a joke. Not only do people speak of their legs and ankles, now they talk publicly about their colons, suppositories, vaginas, and erections. Top hats and tails have been replaced by blue jeans and backwards baseball caps. As far as humor goes, nothing is sacred.
It is not my purpose here to claim these changes are necessarily all bad, merely that they exist. Why they exist, at least in the extreme form they do, is not entirely clear to me. The so-called “free speech” movement obviously had an important effect. What used to be a terrible perjorative has now become oral sex, other words that were previously avoided by all are now uttered commonly in public and on television nightly. Fast foods are no doubt related as our eating habits have changed dramatically over the years, fine dining, although it still exists, has become somewhat rare and very expensive. And when you have hot dog and apple pie eating contests, along with all-you-can-eat dining, it is hard to expect much in the way of table manners. Advertising has gone a long way toward turning us into slobs, with young women slurping down food and talking with their mouths full becoming a standard for breakfast cereals and potato chips and such. Of course our dining habits are related to the economy and economic necessity, with families having to have all members working in order to live, who has time to indulge in fine cooking? Supermarkets, too, have played a part. Where communities used to have butchers and bakers and fishmongers who tried to please, now we have row upon row of packaged meats and vegetables, instant potatoes, instant rice, instant gratification, and whatever can be prepared and consumed in a hurry.
The change in the definition of culture has also, I believe, had an effect on how we live our lives. Whereas there was formerly a more or less absolute standard against which to judge behavior (how closely it approximated upper class white society), now we have cultural relativism which implies no clear standards of behavior. The culture concept, although lacking a standard widely shared definition, has been extremely successful as a concept. Now we speak not only of cultural relativity, but also cultural geography, cultural psychology, cultural economics, corporate culture, a culture of poverty, street culture, Gay culture, American culture, German culture, Everyday culture, the culture of the FBI, and even a culture of contentment. It is because the concept is so imprecise that we are able to use it in these various contexts even though it mostly has little meaning. In any case, what started out as an anthropological concept has now entered the vernacular and we hear it constantly. I believe the concept has some potential that has never been completely tapped, but that is another story. With modern individuals far less likely to stick to rigid standards of behavior than ever before it is not surprising our culture has changed, either for worse or better, depending upon your preference. Perhaps someday someone will be able to decide which changes are better and which worse. I detect at least a slight tendency to return to a more civilized life, as there are apparently courses now being taught to children on table manners, courtesy, and such. And I saw an article the other day that claims some of our younger people are attempting a return to fidelity, marriage, and less uninhibited sex (apparently a reaction to the excesses of the 60’s). Perhaps the presence of ceramic port-o-potties with piped-in music at Chelsea’s wedding suggests a return to a more genteel era? Will there be a renaissance? Don’t bet on it.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Every Man in This Village is a Liar - book
Every Man in This Village is a Liar, an Education in War, by Megan K. Stack (Doubleday, 2010)
Megan K. Stack is an award winning reporter and nominee for a Pulitzer Prize who reported on terrorism and war in the Middle East for at least seven years. From 2001 until the present she has had experience in twenty-two countries and was for a time most recently Moscow bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times. At twenty-five she found herself almost by accident in Afghanistan and from there moved from country to country including Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, and others. She had no experience as a war correspondent when she began. This book is her account of war in the Middle East as she personally experienced and learned about it.
If you are squeamish about bloodshed, bodies blown to bits, death, and misery on a scale that cannot be measured you should not read this book. Stack pulls no punches, she writes objectively of what she experienced, what she learned, what she took away, and how it has affected her. It is not a pretty picture she offers, but tales of almost non-stop and mostly untold murder, torture, and suffering. In the process she manages to explain fairly well the political and economic reasons for the conflicts in these various countries. Through personal interviews with ordinary citizens in the Middle East she is able to present their views of the conflict as well as the official versions. She also writes respectfully of those she met who worked with her as interpreters, photographers, drivers, bodyguards, and others, some of whom disappeared or were killed, probably in some cases merely because they were seen talking with her.
Although she does not dwell on it, she speaks of the problems she encountered as a woman trying to interview and deal with men in the Middle East. As a woman she also deals at some length with the women she met, the problems they encounter on a day-to-day basis, the question of the birka, headscarves, not being able to drive or travel without a husband or a male relative, and how they feel about such things. She points out that many of these customs are virtually timeless and are not going to change, certainly not in the near future.
Megan Stack was not a reporter who merely stationed herself in hotels and had informants brought to her. She traveled widely with great difficulty and experienced much of the fighting and bloodshed first hand. Her accounts of driving through the bombed out countries are vividly realistic and convey the constant fear involved, fear of being captured, or more importantly, bombed. It was the almost incessant bombing that everyone seemed to fear the most, the planes were virtually always above, like sharks in the water, and would bomb indiscriminately. The people were helpless against such attacks and everyone knew they could easily be victims at any moment.
Perhaps the finest part of the book deals with the Israeli attack on Lebanon while she was in that unfortunate country. Her description of the terrible destruction wrought by Israel, the massive destruction of virtually everything in the country, including even hospitals and ambulances, their futile attempt to cripple Hezbollah at all costs, that ended up with Hezbollah victorious and boasting they were the first to defeat the Israelis in battle. It is clear from her account that Hezbollah can never be destroyed by Israel because it is such an integral part of the Lebanese community and most of the citizens support them as their only protection from further Israeli attacks.
There is no reason to believe that Stack wrote her book as an anti-American tirade. It is pretty clear that at first she was in favor of American intervention and believed in the “cause” (whatever it was). It is equally clear that she was terribly disillusioned and came to realize the horror of it all. The “Village” in the title must be seen as a metaphor for the world community, a community in which everyone lies and the mayhem and murder continues unabated. As for her experience, she says “it is possible to survive and not survive at the same time.”
At first I was somewhat put off by her prose style that seemed to me at times to be not very compatible with her subject matter, but I eventually concluded that the occasional lapses into poetic description may well have been the only thing to keep her sane throughout her traumatic and difficult times. This is not your run-of-the-mill account of war and is well worth reading.
Megan K. Stack is an award winning reporter and nominee for a Pulitzer Prize who reported on terrorism and war in the Middle East for at least seven years. From 2001 until the present she has had experience in twenty-two countries and was for a time most recently Moscow bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times. At twenty-five she found herself almost by accident in Afghanistan and from there moved from country to country including Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, and others. She had no experience as a war correspondent when she began. This book is her account of war in the Middle East as she personally experienced and learned about it.
If you are squeamish about bloodshed, bodies blown to bits, death, and misery on a scale that cannot be measured you should not read this book. Stack pulls no punches, she writes objectively of what she experienced, what she learned, what she took away, and how it has affected her. It is not a pretty picture she offers, but tales of almost non-stop and mostly untold murder, torture, and suffering. In the process she manages to explain fairly well the political and economic reasons for the conflicts in these various countries. Through personal interviews with ordinary citizens in the Middle East she is able to present their views of the conflict as well as the official versions. She also writes respectfully of those she met who worked with her as interpreters, photographers, drivers, bodyguards, and others, some of whom disappeared or were killed, probably in some cases merely because they were seen talking with her.
Although she does not dwell on it, she speaks of the problems she encountered as a woman trying to interview and deal with men in the Middle East. As a woman she also deals at some length with the women she met, the problems they encounter on a day-to-day basis, the question of the birka, headscarves, not being able to drive or travel without a husband or a male relative, and how they feel about such things. She points out that many of these customs are virtually timeless and are not going to change, certainly not in the near future.
Megan Stack was not a reporter who merely stationed herself in hotels and had informants brought to her. She traveled widely with great difficulty and experienced much of the fighting and bloodshed first hand. Her accounts of driving through the bombed out countries are vividly realistic and convey the constant fear involved, fear of being captured, or more importantly, bombed. It was the almost incessant bombing that everyone seemed to fear the most, the planes were virtually always above, like sharks in the water, and would bomb indiscriminately. The people were helpless against such attacks and everyone knew they could easily be victims at any moment.
Perhaps the finest part of the book deals with the Israeli attack on Lebanon while she was in that unfortunate country. Her description of the terrible destruction wrought by Israel, the massive destruction of virtually everything in the country, including even hospitals and ambulances, their futile attempt to cripple Hezbollah at all costs, that ended up with Hezbollah victorious and boasting they were the first to defeat the Israelis in battle. It is clear from her account that Hezbollah can never be destroyed by Israel because it is such an integral part of the Lebanese community and most of the citizens support them as their only protection from further Israeli attacks.
There is no reason to believe that Stack wrote her book as an anti-American tirade. It is pretty clear that at first she was in favor of American intervention and believed in the “cause” (whatever it was). It is equally clear that she was terribly disillusioned and came to realize the horror of it all. The “Village” in the title must be seen as a metaphor for the world community, a community in which everyone lies and the mayhem and murder continues unabated. As for her experience, she says “it is possible to survive and not survive at the same time.”
At first I was somewhat put off by her prose style that seemed to me at times to be not very compatible with her subject matter, but I eventually concluded that the occasional lapses into poetic description may well have been the only thing to keep her sane throughout her traumatic and difficult times. This is not your run-of-the-mill account of war and is well worth reading.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Dumber than Frogs
Woman arrested for
growing marijuana plant,
because it was “cute.”
You have no doubt all heard the story about frogs and hot water, in one variant or another. That is, if you try to put a frog in boiling water it will immediately jump out, but if you put the frog in cold water and slowly heat it towards boiling the frog will be too dumb to know the difference and will allow itself to be boiled to death. This is, of course, not true. Frogs are not entirely stupid and when the temperature of the water gets uncomfortable they will certainly attempt to escape. Alas, I have concluded this is not true of humans. Here we are at this very moment subject to global warming that will almost surely have terrible consequences for some, if not all, humans. There is no doubt this rise in temperature is happening, the glaciers and the ice caps are melting, annual temperatures reflect these changes, virtually all scientists from all over the world agree, and we are just sitting here in the pot arguing about whether we are going to be cooked or not. Pat Buchanan, a well-known Republican spokesman, when informed of the possible changes that might occur, simply replied in the usual unintelligent Republican manner, “I don’t believe it.” And of course there is the inimitable and brain-dead Senator sent to us by the good voters of Oklahoma, James Inhofe, who, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, insists global warming is a myth and in fact we are in for a period of cooling. Former Vice President Al Gore, who has been warning us about this for a long time, is now ridiculed and spurned by those with a vested interest in no change (killing the messenger). With frog-brains like these at work, and our Congress unwilling to take any serious meaningful action, I can only conclude that we are dumber than frogs. Who would have thunk it?
Global warming is not the only area in which we are apparently dumber than frogs. There is always Afghanistan, a “war” that everyone now knows cannot be “won,” in a place known as “the graveyard of empires,” that costs us billions of dollars everyone knows we can’t afford, that increasingly takes the lives of our military personnel, a place we are not wanted and claim not to want to be, but continue on endlessly anyway. Indeed, Congress just passed another 33 billion dollar contribution to this completely whacky, futile, stupid, unnecessary, losing enterprise. Why are we doing this? Because we are losing and cannot admit we are losing. We continue, apparently hoping that somehow it will all go away someday. I wonder if frogs, too, indulge in magical thinking?
The above two examples are not the end of our dumber-than-frog behavior. Consider the fact that we are almost surely on the road to national bankruptcy as we continue to borrow and spend at an accelerated pace. Sensible people worry about this and would like to reduce our deficit. Do they think we should do this by (1)calling all the (military) “outs in free” from wherever they are all unnecessarily and needlessly parked around the world to protect our imaginary empire and keep our allies from having to spend any money on their own defense, (2) reducing our unbelievably bloated Pentagon military budget that exceeds all the rest of the world combined, (3) return to taxing the obscenely wealthy and unconscionable corporate profits and doing away with massive and undeserved tax breaks they have been receiving for years, or (4) reducing a lot of unnecessary pork-barrel spending, cutting back on buying foreign oil, doing away with profligate Congressional expenses and other cost-cutting measures.
The answers are no, no, no, and no. They are proposing to reduce the deficit by doing away with social security, Medicare and Medicaid, cutting back on spending for our schools and education, cutting food stamps for the poor, taking away unemployment benefits from the truly needy, letting our infrastructure continue to deteriorate, and repealing health care. I submit that even frogs are not that dumb.
LKBIQ:
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
Unknown
TILT:
Ida Lupino was known as “the poor man’s Bette Davis.”
growing marijuana plant,
because it was “cute.”
You have no doubt all heard the story about frogs and hot water, in one variant or another. That is, if you try to put a frog in boiling water it will immediately jump out, but if you put the frog in cold water and slowly heat it towards boiling the frog will be too dumb to know the difference and will allow itself to be boiled to death. This is, of course, not true. Frogs are not entirely stupid and when the temperature of the water gets uncomfortable they will certainly attempt to escape. Alas, I have concluded this is not true of humans. Here we are at this very moment subject to global warming that will almost surely have terrible consequences for some, if not all, humans. There is no doubt this rise in temperature is happening, the glaciers and the ice caps are melting, annual temperatures reflect these changes, virtually all scientists from all over the world agree, and we are just sitting here in the pot arguing about whether we are going to be cooked or not. Pat Buchanan, a well-known Republican spokesman, when informed of the possible changes that might occur, simply replied in the usual unintelligent Republican manner, “I don’t believe it.” And of course there is the inimitable and brain-dead Senator sent to us by the good voters of Oklahoma, James Inhofe, who, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, insists global warming is a myth and in fact we are in for a period of cooling. Former Vice President Al Gore, who has been warning us about this for a long time, is now ridiculed and spurned by those with a vested interest in no change (killing the messenger). With frog-brains like these at work, and our Congress unwilling to take any serious meaningful action, I can only conclude that we are dumber than frogs. Who would have thunk it?
Global warming is not the only area in which we are apparently dumber than frogs. There is always Afghanistan, a “war” that everyone now knows cannot be “won,” in a place known as “the graveyard of empires,” that costs us billions of dollars everyone knows we can’t afford, that increasingly takes the lives of our military personnel, a place we are not wanted and claim not to want to be, but continue on endlessly anyway. Indeed, Congress just passed another 33 billion dollar contribution to this completely whacky, futile, stupid, unnecessary, losing enterprise. Why are we doing this? Because we are losing and cannot admit we are losing. We continue, apparently hoping that somehow it will all go away someday. I wonder if frogs, too, indulge in magical thinking?
The above two examples are not the end of our dumber-than-frog behavior. Consider the fact that we are almost surely on the road to national bankruptcy as we continue to borrow and spend at an accelerated pace. Sensible people worry about this and would like to reduce our deficit. Do they think we should do this by (1)calling all the (military) “outs in free” from wherever they are all unnecessarily and needlessly parked around the world to protect our imaginary empire and keep our allies from having to spend any money on their own defense, (2) reducing our unbelievably bloated Pentagon military budget that exceeds all the rest of the world combined, (3) return to taxing the obscenely wealthy and unconscionable corporate profits and doing away with massive and undeserved tax breaks they have been receiving for years, or (4) reducing a lot of unnecessary pork-barrel spending, cutting back on buying foreign oil, doing away with profligate Congressional expenses and other cost-cutting measures.
The answers are no, no, no, and no. They are proposing to reduce the deficit by doing away with social security, Medicare and Medicaid, cutting back on spending for our schools and education, cutting food stamps for the poor, taking away unemployment benefits from the truly needy, letting our infrastructure continue to deteriorate, and repealing health care. I submit that even frogs are not that dumb.
LKBIQ:
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
Unknown
TILT:
Ida Lupino was known as “the poor man’s Bette Davis.”
Friday, July 30, 2010
What are They Thinking?
I was not going to blog again until the first but I just couldn't help it.
I really do not want to be a killjoy, but…and I don’t like being a wet blanket, but…and I hate being a party-pooper, but…and I don’t want to rain on someone’s parade, but…and while I don’t want to ruin someone’s party or be just a cranky old man, crass, unkind, malicious or unfair, or even an envious nobody or a disgruntled bystander, or even just plain bitchy, just what in the world are Bill and Hillary thinking?
We are reminded every single day of the growing and ever more obscene discrepancy between the rich and the poor, we are told there are more people living in poverty and on food stamps than ever before, that millions of our citizens are out of work, some for so long they have exhausted their benefits and are being thrown to the wolves, hundreds of thousands of our citizens are said to be going hungry, there is little or no reason this is going to change in the near future, or even at all, we are being told to bite the bullet, and the future looks grim.
So what are Bill and Hillary doing? Why, putting on a multi-million dollar wedding for Chelsea, what else? Depending on where you look, the estimates for this super extravaganza range from two to five million smackers. There are to be 500 guests, all people Chelsea knows personally it is said, the catering is estimated to be $1500 per person (a mere $750,000), rental for the facility could be between $125,000 and $200,000, $250,000 for the flowers, $40.000 for music, $35,000 for photographs, and apparently somewhere in the vicinity of $35,000 for security. I don’t know if these estimates are correct but I doubt they are very far from reality. The guest list reads like a who’s-who of important people, but neither the Obama’s nor the Gore’s are being invited (I gather). I guess Bill and Hillary don’t want to risk being upstaged by the current President and First Lady, and Al Gore has obviously fallen from grace (even though he has been exonerated from the charge of being a dirty old man). In any case this is obviously a Fairy-tale wedding, even grander, more expensive and ostentatious than many royal weddings (and I thought there were no royals in the United States, silly me).
Don’t misunderstand, I actually like the Clintons, all of them, and I certainly hope that Chelsea will be happy with her new husband, but, really, don’t you think this is a bit much (to say nothing of rather insulting to those in such obvious need)? Whatever happened to that nice young couple from Arkansas, hardworking and ambitious, champions of the underdog, who both apparently aspired to become President? While they were not poor they certainly were not wealthy either. Hillary, it is said, bought her modest wedding dress “off the rack” the day before her wedding. When they finally moved into the White House many thought of them as merely “hicks” who could not possibly make it in sophisticated Washington. But they thrived and made it big, in spite of all the unscrupulous attacks and open animosity. Now they have become both wealthy and famous. They seem to have joined those who made fun of them and attempted to ruin the Clinton Presidency. Bill now pals around with the Bush’s and they obviously move in the highest social circles. I do not begrudge them their successes. Bill, “the big dog” Clinton is active in charities and still has tremendous influence, Hillary is now Secretary of State and doing well (although she is much too hawkish for my taste). It is said they are interested in buying a ten million dollar estate. They seem to have reached that “Promised Land” the Reverend Martin Luther King spoke about so eloquently, although not exactly in the way he conceived of it.
So what is it that bothers me so much about this wedding, apart from what I regard as a terrible waste of money for what should be, in my mind at least, a relatively modest, mostly family, ritual? The fact that it seems to me to personify, “nouveau riche, nouveau riche, nouveau riche,” in huge, blinking neon signs that I find unpleasant. I always thought Bill and Hillary had that elusive quality we call “class.” I am disappointed.
Lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
And when he once obtains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds,
scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. - William Shakespeare
I really do not want to be a killjoy, but…and I don’t like being a wet blanket, but…and I hate being a party-pooper, but…and I don’t want to rain on someone’s parade, but…and while I don’t want to ruin someone’s party or be just a cranky old man, crass, unkind, malicious or unfair, or even an envious nobody or a disgruntled bystander, or even just plain bitchy, just what in the world are Bill and Hillary thinking?
We are reminded every single day of the growing and ever more obscene discrepancy between the rich and the poor, we are told there are more people living in poverty and on food stamps than ever before, that millions of our citizens are out of work, some for so long they have exhausted their benefits and are being thrown to the wolves, hundreds of thousands of our citizens are said to be going hungry, there is little or no reason this is going to change in the near future, or even at all, we are being told to bite the bullet, and the future looks grim.
So what are Bill and Hillary doing? Why, putting on a multi-million dollar wedding for Chelsea, what else? Depending on where you look, the estimates for this super extravaganza range from two to five million smackers. There are to be 500 guests, all people Chelsea knows personally it is said, the catering is estimated to be $1500 per person (a mere $750,000), rental for the facility could be between $125,000 and $200,000, $250,000 for the flowers, $40.000 for music, $35,000 for photographs, and apparently somewhere in the vicinity of $35,000 for security. I don’t know if these estimates are correct but I doubt they are very far from reality. The guest list reads like a who’s-who of important people, but neither the Obama’s nor the Gore’s are being invited (I gather). I guess Bill and Hillary don’t want to risk being upstaged by the current President and First Lady, and Al Gore has obviously fallen from grace (even though he has been exonerated from the charge of being a dirty old man). In any case this is obviously a Fairy-tale wedding, even grander, more expensive and ostentatious than many royal weddings (and I thought there were no royals in the United States, silly me).
Don’t misunderstand, I actually like the Clintons, all of them, and I certainly hope that Chelsea will be happy with her new husband, but, really, don’t you think this is a bit much (to say nothing of rather insulting to those in such obvious need)? Whatever happened to that nice young couple from Arkansas, hardworking and ambitious, champions of the underdog, who both apparently aspired to become President? While they were not poor they certainly were not wealthy either. Hillary, it is said, bought her modest wedding dress “off the rack” the day before her wedding. When they finally moved into the White House many thought of them as merely “hicks” who could not possibly make it in sophisticated Washington. But they thrived and made it big, in spite of all the unscrupulous attacks and open animosity. Now they have become both wealthy and famous. They seem to have joined those who made fun of them and attempted to ruin the Clinton Presidency. Bill now pals around with the Bush’s and they obviously move in the highest social circles. I do not begrudge them their successes. Bill, “the big dog” Clinton is active in charities and still has tremendous influence, Hillary is now Secretary of State and doing well (although she is much too hawkish for my taste). It is said they are interested in buying a ten million dollar estate. They seem to have reached that “Promised Land” the Reverend Martin Luther King spoke about so eloquently, although not exactly in the way he conceived of it.
So what is it that bothers me so much about this wedding, apart from what I regard as a terrible waste of money for what should be, in my mind at least, a relatively modest, mostly family, ritual? The fact that it seems to me to personify, “nouveau riche, nouveau riche, nouveau riche,” in huge, blinking neon signs that I find unpleasant. I always thought Bill and Hillary had that elusive quality we call “class.” I am disappointed.
Lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
And when he once obtains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds,
scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. - William Shakespeare
Monday, July 26, 2010
Pomodoro! - book
Pomodoro! A History of the Tomato in Italy, David Gentilcore (Columbia University Press, 2010)
This is an interesting book by a Professor of Early Modern History who tends to specialize in Italy. Interesting, that is, if you want to know things about food, Italy, and tomatoes in general. Given the dominant place of the tomato, tomato paste, and tomato sauce in Italian cooking you might well think the tomato has always been in Italy. It is, however, of New World origin, where wild tomatoes still grow in parts of South America. It did not arrive in Italy until the 16th century, having been brought there by the Spanish explorers. It was first regarded as a novelty, then as an ornamental, and was widely regarded at first as poisonous. In fact, it took three hundred years for the tomato to reach the tremendous importance it currently enjoys. Interestingly enough, there are still a few areas in Italy where tomatoes are of little importance.
As Gentilcore makes clear, you cannot separate the tomato from the history of Italian culture in general, especially medical beliefs, poverty (it often substituted for meat), changes in diet, attitudes to food and diet over time, and botanical developments, nor can the rise of the humble tomato be understood apart from the history of pasta as a foodstuff, and the rise of food preservation in general that was/is, in turn, intimately related to the changing varieties of tomatoes that have been developed. I, for one, was not completely aware of the nuances involved in tomatoes grown for paste as opposed to juice, or sauce as opposed to being canned whole, and tomatoes to be eaten fresh, and so on. Not only that, but there are incredible nuances of flavor involved in tomatoes, differences that clods like me are not even aware exist. The creation of pizza also features prominently in this history, especially by way of spreading the use of tomatoes to a wider public.
As tomatoes have a definite growing season, early forms of preservation were both time-consuming and labor intensive. Women strained tomatoes to eliminate the skins and seeds, the result was then spread out on boards to dry and eventually rolled up to be used as paste throughout the rest of the year. This, and making sauce, was a ritual engaged in by virtually all Italian families every year at the end of the growing season, a custom that survived in America for quite a long time as Italian Americans tended to be suspicious of canned tomatoes when they first began to appear. Green tomatoes were hung so as to continue to ripen into fall and winter as long as possible. Naturally, the invention of canning was an incredible boon to those who depended upon tomatoes and brought about important changes in the way tomatoes were grown and processed. Large tomato farms were not possible until canning became commonplace, and tomatoes were not commercialized substantially until then as well.
The author has done his research well, tracing the first appearances of the tomato in paintings and prose, and especially in the earliest cookbooks, and also considering the influences of Spain and France on the preparation and cooking of tomatoes. The concluding chapter is appropriately titled “The Tomato Conquest,” as the result of this history has established the tomato as the premier vegetable not only of Italy but of most of the rest of the world as well (not bad for what is actually a fruit). This conquest has not come about without a dark side. The move to huge tomato farms has at times been plagued by a criminal element and has also encouraged the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that are not good for nature or the soil over time. The Italian government has at times intervened in the growing of tomatoes, not always for the better, as during the Fascist regime of Mussollini. But the tomato can truly say, “we’ve come a long way, baby.” Is there anyone these days who has not heard of and most probably eaten pasta al pomodoro?
This is an interesting book by a Professor of Early Modern History who tends to specialize in Italy. Interesting, that is, if you want to know things about food, Italy, and tomatoes in general. Given the dominant place of the tomato, tomato paste, and tomato sauce in Italian cooking you might well think the tomato has always been in Italy. It is, however, of New World origin, where wild tomatoes still grow in parts of South America. It did not arrive in Italy until the 16th century, having been brought there by the Spanish explorers. It was first regarded as a novelty, then as an ornamental, and was widely regarded at first as poisonous. In fact, it took three hundred years for the tomato to reach the tremendous importance it currently enjoys. Interestingly enough, there are still a few areas in Italy where tomatoes are of little importance.
As Gentilcore makes clear, you cannot separate the tomato from the history of Italian culture in general, especially medical beliefs, poverty (it often substituted for meat), changes in diet, attitudes to food and diet over time, and botanical developments, nor can the rise of the humble tomato be understood apart from the history of pasta as a foodstuff, and the rise of food preservation in general that was/is, in turn, intimately related to the changing varieties of tomatoes that have been developed. I, for one, was not completely aware of the nuances involved in tomatoes grown for paste as opposed to juice, or sauce as opposed to being canned whole, and tomatoes to be eaten fresh, and so on. Not only that, but there are incredible nuances of flavor involved in tomatoes, differences that clods like me are not even aware exist. The creation of pizza also features prominently in this history, especially by way of spreading the use of tomatoes to a wider public.
As tomatoes have a definite growing season, early forms of preservation were both time-consuming and labor intensive. Women strained tomatoes to eliminate the skins and seeds, the result was then spread out on boards to dry and eventually rolled up to be used as paste throughout the rest of the year. This, and making sauce, was a ritual engaged in by virtually all Italian families every year at the end of the growing season, a custom that survived in America for quite a long time as Italian Americans tended to be suspicious of canned tomatoes when they first began to appear. Green tomatoes were hung so as to continue to ripen into fall and winter as long as possible. Naturally, the invention of canning was an incredible boon to those who depended upon tomatoes and brought about important changes in the way tomatoes were grown and processed. Large tomato farms were not possible until canning became commonplace, and tomatoes were not commercialized substantially until then as well.
The author has done his research well, tracing the first appearances of the tomato in paintings and prose, and especially in the earliest cookbooks, and also considering the influences of Spain and France on the preparation and cooking of tomatoes. The concluding chapter is appropriately titled “The Tomato Conquest,” as the result of this history has established the tomato as the premier vegetable not only of Italy but of most of the rest of the world as well (not bad for what is actually a fruit). This conquest has not come about without a dark side. The move to huge tomato farms has at times been plagued by a criminal element and has also encouraged the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that are not good for nature or the soil over time. The Italian government has at times intervened in the growing of tomatoes, not always for the better, as during the Fascist regime of Mussollini. But the tomato can truly say, “we’ve come a long way, baby.” Is there anyone these days who has not heard of and most probably eaten pasta al pomodoro?
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Six Years!
Good grief, can another entire year have passed so quickly? Morialekafa has now completed its sixth year. Last year on this date I published a list of what I think were the most interesting essays, short stories and reviews of that five year period. Not much has been added since them, three short stories, a few book reviews, and my usual ravings, mostly about Republicans and their unrelenting idiocy. While Republican idiocy is a never ending source of both amusement and wonder I am tiring of writing about it, especially as it just continues unabated. It’s much the same with the “war” in Afghanistan, about the most useless enterprise ever undertaken by the U.S., a “war” that never should have been, should not be continuing, but does year after year, now the longest war in U.S. history. Having repeatedly tried to point out just how absurd it is, I am tired of writing about it. Similarly, I am tired of carping about the war crimes of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld et al, as it seems certain that no one in a position of authority cares about war crimes or accountability. And speaking of war crimes always leads me to the crimes of Israel against the helpless Palestinians, a subject on which I have expressed myself often. I am also opposed to unregulated capitalism, privatization, offshore oil drilling, ultra-large corporations, banks “too big to fail,” our “empire,” environmental degradation, biomass produced energy, and, above all, nuclear energy, to say nothing of many other aspects of human stupidity that are leading us, in my opinion, to eventual oblivion. I have become much more inclined towards socialism than I would ever have imagined.
I continue getting the same “hits” from all over the world, mostly from people interested in “Being an Only Child,” sardines, pig’s feet, and “Women and Ice Cream. ” Curiously, at least to me, the few essays I think might be my best get no attention at all. Similarly, short stories are ignored. I don’t know if this is because they just don’t like my short stories or because short stories in general seem to be passé. I remain absolutely mystified by the internet and think getting connected with people in even the remotest parts of the globe is quite unbelievable. I love it!
I am not stupid or egotistic enough to believe that things I want to happen are necessarily going to happen soon or perhaps ever, and I am aware of having grown increasingly cynical over the years, especially recent years. As I am not interested in violence or sex, I virtually never watch motion pictures anymore, what passes for popular music these days sounds to me like noise, and I have stopped watching television entirely except for the Rachel Maddow show or an occasional cooking show (even these have badly deteriorated). I think the 24/7 news business is essentially useless as it is far too repetitive, there is little in the way of what I would consider genuine “news,” and the so-called news we hear here in the U.S. is so biased and distorted as to be hopeless. When the corporations figured out that “infotainment” was easier and cheaper than news, journalism died and has been replaced with stenographers who simply regurgitate what they are told to say (with rare exceptions there are no serious foreign correspondents anymore, they are too expensive). In short, I think I have reached the point where I am no longer of much relevance to contemporary society and culture. I really do believe that things were better and people in general were happier when I was younger (perhaps that is simply because I was younger and not yet so cynical and disappointed in my species).
In any case, I have been finding it increasingly difficult to write a blog most every evening as I feel I am just flogging the same dead horses over and over, and as I am not as creative as I once was, I am running out of things I want to say. I am thinking of giving up Morialekafa, but not quite yet as I at least want to witness the outcome of the coming elections. I might even get energized enough to finish my “Journey to the West,” however unpleasant that may be. For the moment, however, I am going to take a week off and think things over. After tomorrow night (a book review), unless something really unusual happens, my next blog will not appear before August 1st. , In the meanwhile, try to be of good cheer and do not forget entirely those concepts we used to at least pretend were important: democracy, hope, goodwill, community, fair play, brother and sisterhood, empathy, sharing, and of course, peace (if anyone actually remembers that bizarre idea).
I continue getting the same “hits” from all over the world, mostly from people interested in “Being an Only Child,” sardines, pig’s feet, and “Women and Ice Cream. ” Curiously, at least to me, the few essays I think might be my best get no attention at all. Similarly, short stories are ignored. I don’t know if this is because they just don’t like my short stories or because short stories in general seem to be passé. I remain absolutely mystified by the internet and think getting connected with people in even the remotest parts of the globe is quite unbelievable. I love it!
I am not stupid or egotistic enough to believe that things I want to happen are necessarily going to happen soon or perhaps ever, and I am aware of having grown increasingly cynical over the years, especially recent years. As I am not interested in violence or sex, I virtually never watch motion pictures anymore, what passes for popular music these days sounds to me like noise, and I have stopped watching television entirely except for the Rachel Maddow show or an occasional cooking show (even these have badly deteriorated). I think the 24/7 news business is essentially useless as it is far too repetitive, there is little in the way of what I would consider genuine “news,” and the so-called news we hear here in the U.S. is so biased and distorted as to be hopeless. When the corporations figured out that “infotainment” was easier and cheaper than news, journalism died and has been replaced with stenographers who simply regurgitate what they are told to say (with rare exceptions there are no serious foreign correspondents anymore, they are too expensive). In short, I think I have reached the point where I am no longer of much relevance to contemporary society and culture. I really do believe that things were better and people in general were happier when I was younger (perhaps that is simply because I was younger and not yet so cynical and disappointed in my species).
In any case, I have been finding it increasingly difficult to write a blog most every evening as I feel I am just flogging the same dead horses over and over, and as I am not as creative as I once was, I am running out of things I want to say. I am thinking of giving up Morialekafa, but not quite yet as I at least want to witness the outcome of the coming elections. I might even get energized enough to finish my “Journey to the West,” however unpleasant that may be. For the moment, however, I am going to take a week off and think things over. After tomorrow night (a book review), unless something really unusual happens, my next blog will not appear before August 1st. , In the meanwhile, try to be of good cheer and do not forget entirely those concepts we used to at least pretend were important: democracy, hope, goodwill, community, fair play, brother and sisterhood, empathy, sharing, and of course, peace (if anyone actually remembers that bizarre idea).
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Slums
Utah man ordered not to
contact estranged wife
writes letters to her cat.
My blog of last night caused me to start thinking about slums. I am by no means an authority on slums, but I have seen slums in Mexico and the Philippines and a few other places and I know they are most unpleasant. Like everything else these days there is an extensive literature on the subject with which I am not very conversant. I think we could all agree that slums are unpleasant places where huge numbers of primarily unemployed people are crammed into inadequate housing, lack clean water and sanitation, have little or no health care, often go hungry, and are in general not well off either in resources or health. It is believed at the moment that at least one billion people now inhabit slums and it is predicted this number will grow to two billion within another ten years or so. Slums are, of course, an urban phenomenon and are directly linked to the growth of cities. There is a new book out now called Pandora’s Seed, by Spencer Wells, that deals with some of the problems that have resulted from the change from hunting-gathering to agriculture to industrialization and urbanization, the general outlines of culture change since the beginning. As I have not yet read this book (I certainly intend to) I do not know if Wells deals specifically with the question of slums, but the growth of slums surely is related to the vast changes that have occurred in human cultures over the past few thousands and hundreds of years, and specifically to industrialization and urbanization.
My interest in this subject is not with the details and problems of slums and slum life in general, but, rather, with what slums tell us about the human species. That is, it seems to me the problem of slums is a species-specific one. As far as I know no other species has anything resembling slums. There are, I’m pretty sure, no honey bee slums, no ant hill slums, no giraffe or elephant slums, no termite or bird slums, and no slums for any of the completely social species that exist other than ours. I suppose one could argue that when there are surplus populations in insect or animal societies they somehow are killed off and just disappear, you know “nature raw in fang and claw,” as it is sometimes said. Thus there is no need for slums because there are no creatures to populate them. There are of course situations where there are groups of bachelors that live on the outskirts of certain animal communities until they might be strong enough to overthrow an existing harem-master, but these surely could not be considered slums.
There are also no slums found in small-scale so-called “primitive” societies either. In such groups everyone shares pretty much with everyone else, there are no exceptionally wealthy individuals, when one person eats they all eat, and so on. I believe this is largely true even of small-scale farming communities where people in general take care of each other, orphans found homes, the elderly were care for by the community, and so forth. Slums are clearly a characteristic of very large-scale, industrialized and urbanized communities. I strongly suspect they are also more strongly characteristic of capitalistic societies than socialized or communized communities. Are the same kinds of slums found in socialistic countries like Russia, China, or others? I confess I don’t know for certain if there are, I will try to find out. In any case there would not be such slums at least theoretically in such societies. If they in fact exist it probably has to do with the overall poverty rate keeping people in such conditions rather than with demands for cheap labor and surplus populations found in capitalistic societies, or so I would think. In any case, I cannot see why slums need to be an inevitable consequence of human cultural evolution, and it must be true that some slums are much worse than others, and some countries go to greater lengths to avoid them than others. If this is not one of the inevitable consequences of industrialization and urbanization, along with capitalism, why does it occur (I am aware of the fact there may well be slums in some societies claiming to be socialistic or communistic but are, in fact, controlled by an elite that is the functional equivalent of capitalistic rulers). In principle, however, socialistic societies should not generate slums.
Could this problem be the result of some kind of sick cosmic experiment? Could that all powerful deity (if such a thing exists) that created everything, have planned this just to see the outcome? Did he/she/it/they simply look down one day and observe a small planet where everything ran pretty much in a perfectly natural order as it was designed to do, without the presence of the human species, and then, out of curiosity, think to itself, what if I/we introduced a different kind of creature, one with a bit of variety that would be capable of complicated languages, the basic ability to reason, one with “free-will,” who would be superior to all others and have the power to control the earth almost completely as they choose, and watch and see what happens? If there is more than just one supernatural did they place bets on the outcome? Was it all just a cosmic joke? Is it perhaps still going on? Who will win out in the long run?
Yeah, I know, this is all pretty silly. If I were a Republican I wouldn’t even think about it. I’d just keep enough of a surplus around to keep wages down and let the rest disappear. After all, they’re not people, just labor.
LKBIQ:
I tell you, sir, the only safeguard of order and discipline in the modern world is a standardized worker with interchangeable parts. That would solve the entire problem of management.
-Jean Giraudoux
TILT:
Howler monkeys are considered the loudest land mammals.
contact estranged wife
writes letters to her cat.
My blog of last night caused me to start thinking about slums. I am by no means an authority on slums, but I have seen slums in Mexico and the Philippines and a few other places and I know they are most unpleasant. Like everything else these days there is an extensive literature on the subject with which I am not very conversant. I think we could all agree that slums are unpleasant places where huge numbers of primarily unemployed people are crammed into inadequate housing, lack clean water and sanitation, have little or no health care, often go hungry, and are in general not well off either in resources or health. It is believed at the moment that at least one billion people now inhabit slums and it is predicted this number will grow to two billion within another ten years or so. Slums are, of course, an urban phenomenon and are directly linked to the growth of cities. There is a new book out now called Pandora’s Seed, by Spencer Wells, that deals with some of the problems that have resulted from the change from hunting-gathering to agriculture to industrialization and urbanization, the general outlines of culture change since the beginning. As I have not yet read this book (I certainly intend to) I do not know if Wells deals specifically with the question of slums, but the growth of slums surely is related to the vast changes that have occurred in human cultures over the past few thousands and hundreds of years, and specifically to industrialization and urbanization.
My interest in this subject is not with the details and problems of slums and slum life in general, but, rather, with what slums tell us about the human species. That is, it seems to me the problem of slums is a species-specific one. As far as I know no other species has anything resembling slums. There are, I’m pretty sure, no honey bee slums, no ant hill slums, no giraffe or elephant slums, no termite or bird slums, and no slums for any of the completely social species that exist other than ours. I suppose one could argue that when there are surplus populations in insect or animal societies they somehow are killed off and just disappear, you know “nature raw in fang and claw,” as it is sometimes said. Thus there is no need for slums because there are no creatures to populate them. There are of course situations where there are groups of bachelors that live on the outskirts of certain animal communities until they might be strong enough to overthrow an existing harem-master, but these surely could not be considered slums.
There are also no slums found in small-scale so-called “primitive” societies either. In such groups everyone shares pretty much with everyone else, there are no exceptionally wealthy individuals, when one person eats they all eat, and so on. I believe this is largely true even of small-scale farming communities where people in general take care of each other, orphans found homes, the elderly were care for by the community, and so forth. Slums are clearly a characteristic of very large-scale, industrialized and urbanized communities. I strongly suspect they are also more strongly characteristic of capitalistic societies than socialized or communized communities. Are the same kinds of slums found in socialistic countries like Russia, China, or others? I confess I don’t know for certain if there are, I will try to find out. In any case there would not be such slums at least theoretically in such societies. If they in fact exist it probably has to do with the overall poverty rate keeping people in such conditions rather than with demands for cheap labor and surplus populations found in capitalistic societies, or so I would think. In any case, I cannot see why slums need to be an inevitable consequence of human cultural evolution, and it must be true that some slums are much worse than others, and some countries go to greater lengths to avoid them than others. If this is not one of the inevitable consequences of industrialization and urbanization, along with capitalism, why does it occur (I am aware of the fact there may well be slums in some societies claiming to be socialistic or communistic but are, in fact, controlled by an elite that is the functional equivalent of capitalistic rulers). In principle, however, socialistic societies should not generate slums.
Could this problem be the result of some kind of sick cosmic experiment? Could that all powerful deity (if such a thing exists) that created everything, have planned this just to see the outcome? Did he/she/it/they simply look down one day and observe a small planet where everything ran pretty much in a perfectly natural order as it was designed to do, without the presence of the human species, and then, out of curiosity, think to itself, what if I/we introduced a different kind of creature, one with a bit of variety that would be capable of complicated languages, the basic ability to reason, one with “free-will,” who would be superior to all others and have the power to control the earth almost completely as they choose, and watch and see what happens? If there is more than just one supernatural did they place bets on the outcome? Was it all just a cosmic joke? Is it perhaps still going on? Who will win out in the long run?
Yeah, I know, this is all pretty silly. If I were a Republican I wouldn’t even think about it. I’d just keep enough of a surplus around to keep wages down and let the rest disappear. After all, they’re not people, just labor.
LKBIQ:
I tell you, sir, the only safeguard of order and discipline in the modern world is a standardized worker with interchangeable parts. That would solve the entire problem of management.
-Jean Giraudoux
TILT:
Howler monkeys are considered the loudest land mammals.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Scrapped
Autopsy tools used
to embalm Elvis Presley
for sale at auction.
Scrapped, I guess that has what has happened to those unfortunates who have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. That’s what it means, they have no further benefits, they don’t have jobs, and they have nowhere else to turn (I think maybe they will be eligible for$ 221 a month in some kind of general benefits, whee!). So what is it these people are supposed to do? What can they do? Remember, these are not obsolete spare parts for a 1943 Studebaker or a 1948 Edsel, they are living, breathing, human beings. Is it really our intention to just throw them on the scrap heap? This is, I suppose, the logical conclusion for a capitalistic economy. If they are no longer usefully employed what good are they? They might, in desperation, turn to crime, but heck, we have police to deal with that eventuality. We could go to some kind of massive welfare system where everyone is guaranteed at least a minimum amount of food and water, but that would be socialism of the worst kind. So what the hell, let ‘em starve. That is pretty much what has been happening to such people over the years, for what are the enormous, festering, filthy slums surrounding all of the world’s cities but human garbage dumps, places for those deemed not only surplus but not worth saving. But people are not garbage and therein lies a great moral and practical problem (I will have to return to this at a later date).
Some of the Republicans, perhaps most of them, as they seem to travel in schools, are back on the “eliminate-the-estate-tax-bandwagon.” Somehow they regard this as terribly important. Their plan, as I have heard it described so far, probably doesn’t affect more than 1% of the population, that 1% that already has so much money they cannot possibly spend it in several lifetimes and therefore need to leave it to their heirs who also would not be able to spend it in several lifetimes. It is said that if this “death tax” is not eliminated it will negatively affect the economy. I’m sure it will, after all who will be able to pay a million dollars for a pair of Marilyn Monroe’s panties, or big bucks for Elvis’s autopsy instruments, or 100 million for a Picasso, or a million or so for a Babe Ruth home run ball, and who will buy those 200 foot luxury yachts that are inundating the market. Yes, I feel really sorry for those in the no-tax, keep your money in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands brackets. Of all the abuses I can think of in the tax business the estate tax is the worst. This is a tax that does nothing except guarantee that more and more money will accumulate in the hands of a very small number of obscenely wealthy people while the rest of the population goes hungry. It is potentially even worse than the former medieval system when almost all of the money was in the hands of the nobles, at least then the peasants were assured of a reliable position in the social system, no matter how humble.
I am not at all sorry to say it, I think Republicans are greedy and disgusting, to say nothing of heartless and despicable. Now that the unemployment benefits extension has finally been passed they are forcing the treasury to wait until the absolutely last moment to send the checks. The only point in this that I can see is simple childish vindictiveness. Remember they blocked the payments for two months to begin with and now they have lost they will make the unemployed wait as long as possible to receive any aid, is that not both pointless and vindictive? I hope the voting public has been following this, I fear they may be so caught up with listening to Rush and the rest of the hate-mongers they may not be paying sufficient attention. Republicans obviously do not have the ordinary (I should think “normal”) human capacity for empathy. Does that mean people without empathy are somehow drawn to the Republican Party, or is empathy taken from them as a condition of belonging? It is a mystery to me how Republicans can believe any ordinary middle or lower-class American would vote for them, and even more of a mystery that some apparently do. Of course as I have previously observed, Americans are notoriously perverse. That is, they will enter where it says exit, and exit where it says enter, they will walk on the grass, feed the animals, tap on the glass, talk in the library, exceed the speed limit, pick up the puppies, and do everything contrary to the rules, no matter what. I don’t know why this is, but it is. I guess it’s the American way. It’s why they will vote for the very people who are their arch enemies, who will lie to them incessantly and rob them blind at every opportunity. Yes, we should do away with the estate tax, let’s do it by doing away with estates, at least those that contribute importantly to the cycle of poverty we are now beginning to experience.
LKBIQ:
It was the boast of Augustus that he found Rome of brick and left it of marble. But how much nobler will be the sovereign's boast when he shall have it to say that he found law... a sealed book and left it a living letter; found it the patrimony of the rich and left it the inheritance of the poor; found it the two-edged sword of craft and oppression and left it the staff of honesty and the shield of innocence.
Henry Brougham
TILT:
Infants under one year of age can contract botulism from honey.
to embalm Elvis Presley
for sale at auction.
Scrapped, I guess that has what has happened to those unfortunates who have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. That’s what it means, they have no further benefits, they don’t have jobs, and they have nowhere else to turn (I think maybe they will be eligible for$ 221 a month in some kind of general benefits, whee!). So what is it these people are supposed to do? What can they do? Remember, these are not obsolete spare parts for a 1943 Studebaker or a 1948 Edsel, they are living, breathing, human beings. Is it really our intention to just throw them on the scrap heap? This is, I suppose, the logical conclusion for a capitalistic economy. If they are no longer usefully employed what good are they? They might, in desperation, turn to crime, but heck, we have police to deal with that eventuality. We could go to some kind of massive welfare system where everyone is guaranteed at least a minimum amount of food and water, but that would be socialism of the worst kind. So what the hell, let ‘em starve. That is pretty much what has been happening to such people over the years, for what are the enormous, festering, filthy slums surrounding all of the world’s cities but human garbage dumps, places for those deemed not only surplus but not worth saving. But people are not garbage and therein lies a great moral and practical problem (I will have to return to this at a later date).
Some of the Republicans, perhaps most of them, as they seem to travel in schools, are back on the “eliminate-the-estate-tax-bandwagon.” Somehow they regard this as terribly important. Their plan, as I have heard it described so far, probably doesn’t affect more than 1% of the population, that 1% that already has so much money they cannot possibly spend it in several lifetimes and therefore need to leave it to their heirs who also would not be able to spend it in several lifetimes. It is said that if this “death tax” is not eliminated it will negatively affect the economy. I’m sure it will, after all who will be able to pay a million dollars for a pair of Marilyn Monroe’s panties, or big bucks for Elvis’s autopsy instruments, or 100 million for a Picasso, or a million or so for a Babe Ruth home run ball, and who will buy those 200 foot luxury yachts that are inundating the market. Yes, I feel really sorry for those in the no-tax, keep your money in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands brackets. Of all the abuses I can think of in the tax business the estate tax is the worst. This is a tax that does nothing except guarantee that more and more money will accumulate in the hands of a very small number of obscenely wealthy people while the rest of the population goes hungry. It is potentially even worse than the former medieval system when almost all of the money was in the hands of the nobles, at least then the peasants were assured of a reliable position in the social system, no matter how humble.
I am not at all sorry to say it, I think Republicans are greedy and disgusting, to say nothing of heartless and despicable. Now that the unemployment benefits extension has finally been passed they are forcing the treasury to wait until the absolutely last moment to send the checks. The only point in this that I can see is simple childish vindictiveness. Remember they blocked the payments for two months to begin with and now they have lost they will make the unemployed wait as long as possible to receive any aid, is that not both pointless and vindictive? I hope the voting public has been following this, I fear they may be so caught up with listening to Rush and the rest of the hate-mongers they may not be paying sufficient attention. Republicans obviously do not have the ordinary (I should think “normal”) human capacity for empathy. Does that mean people without empathy are somehow drawn to the Republican Party, or is empathy taken from them as a condition of belonging? It is a mystery to me how Republicans can believe any ordinary middle or lower-class American would vote for them, and even more of a mystery that some apparently do. Of course as I have previously observed, Americans are notoriously perverse. That is, they will enter where it says exit, and exit where it says enter, they will walk on the grass, feed the animals, tap on the glass, talk in the library, exceed the speed limit, pick up the puppies, and do everything contrary to the rules, no matter what. I don’t know why this is, but it is. I guess it’s the American way. It’s why they will vote for the very people who are their arch enemies, who will lie to them incessantly and rob them blind at every opportunity. Yes, we should do away with the estate tax, let’s do it by doing away with estates, at least those that contribute importantly to the cycle of poverty we are now beginning to experience.
LKBIQ:
It was the boast of Augustus that he found Rome of brick and left it of marble. But how much nobler will be the sovereign's boast when he shall have it to say that he found law... a sealed book and left it a living letter; found it the patrimony of the rich and left it the inheritance of the poor; found it the two-edged sword of craft and oppression and left it the staff of honesty and the shield of innocence.
Henry Brougham
TILT:
Infants under one year of age can contract botulism from honey.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
There Oughta be a Law
There oughta be a law but apparently there isn’t. At least I believe this must be true because what just happened has happened before and I have seen no attempt at holding anyone accountable. I am speaking of Fox media propaganda (I cannot bring myself to say Fox News). If you watched the Rachel Maddow show tonight as I did (it is now the only hour of news I watch) you will know the latest Fox underhanded attempt to smear someone and get them fired. If you didn’t watch, you should, as Rachel makes it very clear what they did. Shirley Sherrod, a Black woman who was part of the Obama administration was shown on Fox as having claimed to discriminate against a white farmer when she worked in an Agricultural job in Georgia. Of course Fox couldn’t give up ranting and raving about this Black woman discriminating against a white farmers (“just because he was white”). Without giving her the benefit of the doubt, without any investigations whatsoever, without innocent until proven guilty, without even a semblance of fair play, she was immediately fired from her position in the administration and was even condemned by the NAACP.
As further review was carried out it became clear that Fox had made a deliberate, intentional, dishonest, and scurrilous attack on a completely innocent woman. They did this through the selective editing of a video, reportedly made recently, in which she is seen to imply or confess to having discriminated in such a racist manner. However, the videotape in question was made in 1986 before she was a member of the Obama administration and was working for a private organization. What is worse, Fox lifted her statement completely out of context to indicate she said and did something that was precisely the opposite of what she said and did. She said that when she was confronted for the very first time with a request to help a white farmer she paused for a moment to consider such an unusual request but then went ahead and helped him. In other words she overcame any racist attitude she might have had and did the right thing. There is now videotaped confirmation from the farmer himself that she went out of her way to help him and that at no time, in no way, did she ever act toward him in a racist manner. She acted properly in every way exactly the opposite of the false picture given by Fox. There is no doubt this was a deliberate attempt on the part of Fox to discredit her and attempt to stir up racial animosity. Should there not be a law against a major media outlet that purposely lies about someone and causes them to lose their job and also deliberately promotes racial hatred? I do not know if Sherrod will be reinstated, perhaps not. Fox did the same thing with Acorn, presenting through dishonest editing a totally false account of what transpired. As you doubtless know, Acorn was closed down quickly and as far as I know has not been reinstated. Fox also did the same thing with another Black member of the administration (whose name I cannot recall at the moment) that either resulted in his firing or perhaps in not getting the job he was nominated for.
Clearly what Fox is doing cannot be considered “news” or journalism, but is, in fact, simply right-wing propaganda. This is not a question of Fox simply making a mistake or accidentally getting something wrong. In all three of these cases the administration just took Fox’s word for something and immediately responded by doing what Fox intended. Although there is now pretty much common knowledge about Fox’s role as a propaganda organ for the far right, nothing seems to be done about it. I don’t know if anything even can be done about it. But at the very least the administration should stop automatically jumping through the Fox hoops. If there is some law that might be applied in this case it is not being applied, not that this administration is particularly concerned about the law or enforcing it, Dick the Slimy and his simple-minded puppet, who together engineered some of the greatest war crimes of all time are still free and boasting about their crimes. I sincerely wish Rachel would spend some of her talent and resources on an investigation of this issue. I have no doubt it would be devastating, but even so I doubt anything could be devastating enough to move Obama and Holder to act. They seem to be oblivious of the laws against war crimes.
There seems to be no doubt that Elena Kagan will be confirmed for the Supreme Court in spite of Republican opposition. There is little cogent reason for opposition other than she is someone Obama appointed and wants. Whatever Obama wants, Republicans oppose, it’s just that simple these days. In a last ditch attempt to prevent her confirmation one of the right-wing loonies has suggested she is really a Muslim man who is part of a plot to establish Shari’a law in the U.S., a peculiarly strange behavior for an East Coast Jew and ex Dean of the Harvard Law School. But you have to give the loonies credit for imagination.
The extension of unemployment benefits finally passed after two months of Republican opposition. There were 40 votes against it, and the bare 60 required for passage. So a vast majority of Republicans continue their seemingly suicidal attack on the working class, gotta have that cheap labor, you know, and also them groovy tax breaks for the filthy rich and the corporations. Someone asked me today how much longer things can go on like this. I said, “not long.” Cheers.
Once it smiled a silent dell
Where the people did not dwell;
They had gone unto the wars,
Trusting to the mild-eyed stars,
Nightly, from their azure towers,
To keep watch above the flowers,
In the midst of which all day
The red sun-light lazily lay.
Now each visitor shall confess
The sad valley's restlessness.
Nothing there is motionless --
Nothing save the airs that brood
Over the magic solitude.
Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees
That palpitate like the chill seas
Around the misty Hebrides!
Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven
That rustle through the unquiet
HeavenUneasily, from morn till even,
Over the violets there that lie
In myriad types of the human eye --
Over the lilies there that wave
And weep above a nameless grave!
They wave: -- from out their fragrant tops
Eternal dews come down in drops.
They weep: -- from off their delicate stems
Perennial tears descend in gems.
Edgar Allen Poe
As further review was carried out it became clear that Fox had made a deliberate, intentional, dishonest, and scurrilous attack on a completely innocent woman. They did this through the selective editing of a video, reportedly made recently, in which she is seen to imply or confess to having discriminated in such a racist manner. However, the videotape in question was made in 1986 before she was a member of the Obama administration and was working for a private organization. What is worse, Fox lifted her statement completely out of context to indicate she said and did something that was precisely the opposite of what she said and did. She said that when she was confronted for the very first time with a request to help a white farmer she paused for a moment to consider such an unusual request but then went ahead and helped him. In other words she overcame any racist attitude she might have had and did the right thing. There is now videotaped confirmation from the farmer himself that she went out of her way to help him and that at no time, in no way, did she ever act toward him in a racist manner. She acted properly in every way exactly the opposite of the false picture given by Fox. There is no doubt this was a deliberate attempt on the part of Fox to discredit her and attempt to stir up racial animosity. Should there not be a law against a major media outlet that purposely lies about someone and causes them to lose their job and also deliberately promotes racial hatred? I do not know if Sherrod will be reinstated, perhaps not. Fox did the same thing with Acorn, presenting through dishonest editing a totally false account of what transpired. As you doubtless know, Acorn was closed down quickly and as far as I know has not been reinstated. Fox also did the same thing with another Black member of the administration (whose name I cannot recall at the moment) that either resulted in his firing or perhaps in not getting the job he was nominated for.
Clearly what Fox is doing cannot be considered “news” or journalism, but is, in fact, simply right-wing propaganda. This is not a question of Fox simply making a mistake or accidentally getting something wrong. In all three of these cases the administration just took Fox’s word for something and immediately responded by doing what Fox intended. Although there is now pretty much common knowledge about Fox’s role as a propaganda organ for the far right, nothing seems to be done about it. I don’t know if anything even can be done about it. But at the very least the administration should stop automatically jumping through the Fox hoops. If there is some law that might be applied in this case it is not being applied, not that this administration is particularly concerned about the law or enforcing it, Dick the Slimy and his simple-minded puppet, who together engineered some of the greatest war crimes of all time are still free and boasting about their crimes. I sincerely wish Rachel would spend some of her talent and resources on an investigation of this issue. I have no doubt it would be devastating, but even so I doubt anything could be devastating enough to move Obama and Holder to act. They seem to be oblivious of the laws against war crimes.
There seems to be no doubt that Elena Kagan will be confirmed for the Supreme Court in spite of Republican opposition. There is little cogent reason for opposition other than she is someone Obama appointed and wants. Whatever Obama wants, Republicans oppose, it’s just that simple these days. In a last ditch attempt to prevent her confirmation one of the right-wing loonies has suggested she is really a Muslim man who is part of a plot to establish Shari’a law in the U.S., a peculiarly strange behavior for an East Coast Jew and ex Dean of the Harvard Law School. But you have to give the loonies credit for imagination.
The extension of unemployment benefits finally passed after two months of Republican opposition. There were 40 votes against it, and the bare 60 required for passage. So a vast majority of Republicans continue their seemingly suicidal attack on the working class, gotta have that cheap labor, you know, and also them groovy tax breaks for the filthy rich and the corporations. Someone asked me today how much longer things can go on like this. I said, “not long.” Cheers.
Once it smiled a silent dell
Where the people did not dwell;
They had gone unto the wars,
Trusting to the mild-eyed stars,
Nightly, from their azure towers,
To keep watch above the flowers,
In the midst of which all day
The red sun-light lazily lay.
Now each visitor shall confess
The sad valley's restlessness.
Nothing there is motionless --
Nothing save the airs that brood
Over the magic solitude.
Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees
That palpitate like the chill seas
Around the misty Hebrides!
Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven
That rustle through the unquiet
HeavenUneasily, from morn till even,
Over the violets there that lie
In myriad types of the human eye --
Over the lilies there that wave
And weep above a nameless grave!
They wave: -- from out their fragrant tops
Eternal dews come down in drops.
They weep: -- from off their delicate stems
Perennial tears descend in gems.
Edgar Allen Poe
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