What’s funny about all the advances of personal computing, ergo the availability of wider and wider swaths of knowledge, is the cultural and technological forces are vying to create a level of public ignorance that is so high, so preposterous, so gianormous, that the foundation of our democracy is perhaps threatened.
It’s no secret that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal tarnished Golden Boy Barak Obama’s bid at the US Presidency, nearly derailed it and certainly put up a huge obstacle for him to overcome in the Fall.. And you have to ask yourself why? It’s because the trend is that more and more people form their opinions about society from carefully constructed soundbites and juxtaposed images with specifically chosen music cues to shape YOUR opinion... as opposed to you making up your own opinion.
Pollsters know that people lie about race (still!); votes rarely come out and say they will not vote for someone because he’s black (‘cause most people are cowards and afraid to state what’s really on their minds). Instead, they say things like what was heard in West Virginia and Kentucky – that “race is a factor.” Which anybody with half a brain would call an understatement considering the populace of those two states and their history with KND (Keeping Niggas Down). In Kentucky, over 25 percent of Clinton supporters said race was a factor in their vote – about FIVE TIMES the national average for such a question. Clinton, if she really wanted to do something lasting, could and would ask her supporters why the color of a fellow Democrat’s skin is so important to their vote. That would leave these closet-bigots stumbling for words… as they yanked the dog-shit stained shoe out of their mouths…
The Republican cabal — composed of the religious fundamentalist extremists on social issues, the radical tax cutters or “supply-siders” on fiscal issues, and the saber-rattling NeoCons on foreign policy — has produced only superficial religiosity with a nasty bend to it, a woefully failed war that is bankrupting the present and the future of the country and record deficits that look to cripple the next generation (should the current recession not humble America to an economy that is filled with a bunch of “remember whens”)…
Barak Obama has an opportunity to usher in a new age in American politics that must re-define the Post-Cold War, Post-9/11 National Security Questions, figure out a way to make the US a producing economy instead of a consumer/service economy (the collapse of the dollar should led to that, if America still has the skilled workers to command the return of manufacturing jobs) and, lastly, have the moral obligation and attitude to tackle the issues afflicting our planetary environments. Otherwise, we look to have a dismal future, where the American Dream becomes the American Nightmare as the Pax Americanaa is radically and violently eclipsed by the Pax Sino.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Two Men Enter... One Man Leaves
As Exxon Mobil gets out of the retail gas business as it's no longer profitable for a company that made $404 Billion in revenue (that's like how much money was spent on the Iraq War in the same time frame). What is really going on?
So now that the presidential primary is down to the final two men, we're entering the Thunderdome stage of Electoral Politics in the United States. One could hazard to guess that the predicted President -- Barak Obama -- goes after the oil companies ON THE RETAIL LEVEL ONLY. So that it looks like he's doing something to combat the never-lowering-again price of oil.
In the 2nd installment of the Max Mad series -- the Road Warrior to some, just Mad Max 2 to others -- gasoline is THE source of all power in a destroyed economically-obliterated new world, where man is still reliant on gas and the infernal internal combustion engine -- even though the ones who could radically alter what is used for transportation and power creation, don't seem to have a clue on how to fix the problem.
We might see a scenario like Mad Max in certain areas of this country, but not wide-spread panic and civilization metal down, because the interior of the country -- probably where you'd expect this to happen, actually supplies food for the not just the US, but the world.
It's the cities on the Eastern and Western seaboard that will become real-life inspirations of such classics of the post apocalyptic canon -- shit like Cyborg and Space Hunter or even Ice Pirates (which is another posting all by itself -- the search for fresh water, perhaps it needs to come from Mars, hence that's why we're there?).
Society is contracting now, and widespread death is going to happen, but covens and gangs and cabals are going to form in the urban areas...
The last of the SuperCarriers is going to be something like the last of Hummers... imagine in a new variant of Mad Max that the Hummer, or just the SUV in general is like some holy grail piece of transportation. It might become that, it just might.
But back to Barry and Johnny-Boy, the world wants Obama to be running the US, because he represents a new form of governing the Great Satan (as Khomeni dubbed us, but as as John Perkins of Confessions of an Economic Hitman confirmed) and enabling the country to gracefully deal with the economic consequences that will continue to wreak havoc with the world's economy.
Thee Club of Rome (that group that mets and decides X) published a polemic in the 1972 called THE LIMITS OF GROWTH, which predicted another 100 years of growth at the current rate, before radical shifts would inevitably take place. They updated the thesis statement in 1992 and again more recently, revising their estimates DOWNWARD. The rapid growth of the 3rd World wasn't accounted for and the estimates is that we're looking at 40 to 60 years of growth before we as a planet hit the wall -- and people have to start dying.
So now that the presidential primary is down to the final two men, we're entering the Thunderdome stage of Electoral Politics in the United States. One could hazard to guess that the predicted President -- Barak Obama -- goes after the oil companies ON THE RETAIL LEVEL ONLY. So that it looks like he's doing something to combat the never-lowering-again price of oil.
In the 2nd installment of the Max Mad series -- the Road Warrior to some, just Mad Max 2 to others -- gasoline is THE source of all power in a destroyed economically-obliterated new world, where man is still reliant on gas and the infernal internal combustion engine -- even though the ones who could radically alter what is used for transportation and power creation, don't seem to have a clue on how to fix the problem.
We might see a scenario like Mad Max in certain areas of this country, but not wide-spread panic and civilization metal down, because the interior of the country -- probably where you'd expect this to happen, actually supplies food for the not just the US, but the world.
It's the cities on the Eastern and Western seaboard that will become real-life inspirations of such classics of the post apocalyptic canon -- shit like Cyborg and Space Hunter or even Ice Pirates (which is another posting all by itself -- the search for fresh water, perhaps it needs to come from Mars, hence that's why we're there?).
Society is contracting now, and widespread death is going to happen, but covens and gangs and cabals are going to form in the urban areas...
The last of the SuperCarriers is going to be something like the last of Hummers... imagine in a new variant of Mad Max that the Hummer, or just the SUV in general is like some holy grail piece of transportation. It might become that, it just might.
But back to Barry and Johnny-Boy, the world wants Obama to be running the US, because he represents a new form of governing the Great Satan (as Khomeni dubbed us, but as as John Perkins of Confessions of an Economic Hitman confirmed) and enabling the country to gracefully deal with the economic consequences that will continue to wreak havoc with the world's economy.
Thee Club of Rome (that group that mets and decides X) published a polemic in the 1972 called THE LIMITS OF GROWTH, which predicted another 100 years of growth at the current rate, before radical shifts would inevitably take place. They updated the thesis statement in 1992 and again more recently, revising their estimates DOWNWARD. The rapid growth of the 3rd World wasn't accounted for and the estimates is that we're looking at 40 to 60 years of growth before we as a planet hit the wall -- and people have to start dying.
BOONDOCKS -- Prognosticator of Black Culture
In a bizarre (but not really) case of life imitating art, R&B super-star singer R. Kelly was acquitted of all criminal counts of child porn… just Aaron McGruder predicted in his satire maybe about 3 years ago now. Hard to believe R. didn’t get convicted on at least one charge… but Dave Chappelle was mocking this piece of attempted justice on his brilliant social satire short-lived variety show. I find it hilarious the Kelly and the bitch he peed on both vigorous claimed that they weren’t the ones on that tape.
In other nigger-as-court-jester/entertainer news, apparently a group of investors is hoping to get Michael Jackson to appear in some Vegas shows… to raise money to combat his enormous debt load, and to rehabilitate the maligned and talent-forlorn once-dubbed King of Pop’s image. But why do that in the first place? That man-child has lost his luster almost ten years ago.
Oh yes, I forgot, America loves the comeback story almost as much as it loves the underdog story. And we love to see those who we built up (only to tear down) revive themselves in a way doesn’t convert them into complete jokes… although Jackson missed his chance to start the road to recovery by bowing of the 25th Anniversary of THRILLER performances at this year’s Grammy Awards. He could have just done a quick maybe 5 minute version of Billy Jean and then taken a helicopter and gone back to where ever he’s been hiding since the alleged child fucking acquittal (the man should never have gone to trial in the first place, but that’s another story).
It’s no longer shocking that these celebrities transgress society’s moral compass and then walk like the most innocent person possible; Average Joe gets gang-raped forever (or until he commits suicide) for a child molestation charge… because you usually go down for that, and that’s not a sign you want hung on you when you go to the state pen.
In other nigger-as-court-jester/entertainer news, apparently a group of investors is hoping to get Michael Jackson to appear in some Vegas shows… to raise money to combat his enormous debt load, and to rehabilitate the maligned and talent-forlorn once-dubbed King of Pop’s image. But why do that in the first place? That man-child has lost his luster almost ten years ago.
Oh yes, I forgot, America loves the comeback story almost as much as it loves the underdog story. And we love to see those who we built up (only to tear down) revive themselves in a way doesn’t convert them into complete jokes… although Jackson missed his chance to start the road to recovery by bowing of the 25th Anniversary of THRILLER performances at this year’s Grammy Awards. He could have just done a quick maybe 5 minute version of Billy Jean and then taken a helicopter and gone back to where ever he’s been hiding since the alleged child fucking acquittal (the man should never have gone to trial in the first place, but that’s another story).
It’s no longer shocking that these celebrities transgress society’s moral compass and then walk like the most innocent person possible; Average Joe gets gang-raped forever (or until he commits suicide) for a child molestation charge… because you usually go down for that, and that’s not a sign you want hung on you when you go to the state pen.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
BMW... Some bitches?!?!?
So I’m watching some old shows on the DVR last night, and I come across an ad from BMW… it’s of water (well, CG water) forming the outline for an unannounced hydrogen-powered 7 Series… and the tag line is some bullshit like, “when the world is ready, a BMW 7 Series is ready for the world.”
Now here’s the REALLY fucked-up thing about this ad, in particularly this car… back in 1988 when I was in high school, there was a blurb in BusinessWeek (I saved the article for years) in which BMW was doing track testing of a 7 Series that ran on hydrogen… twenty years ago! Fucking two generations and maybe 6 model updates… and we still haven’t seen this car get close to becoming a production car… they’ve obviously worked out the kinks to a hydrogen fueled car (with water as the “waste exhaust”) since then, and they’ve probably road-tested the hell out of this car.
It just tells you how much of a stranglehold the oil companies have on the automotive consumer market… and that GM and Ford probably can’t master the technology, so they can’t enter into collusion talks with ExxonMobil, ConnocoPhillips and the rest of the robber barons who have been making profits the likes the planet has never previously seen (perhaps even conceived).
Oil and its byproducts are one of the few products on the market that buck most economic laws of supply & demand…
But I think that BMW is a bunch of bitches, because they could be leading the way with this technology, they could be partnering with companies like Chevron (which claim to be an “energy” company) or Shell or even new Green companies in rolling out the infrastructure to support autos like this.
Although… who am I kidding thinking that corporations would do anything for the public good – that’s one of the reasons why there are corporations, so people can act like complete assholes in the name of money and decadence and not really be held accountable for such behavior.
I mean, when I was in junior high my history professor was telling the class how his brother worked on a research unit at one of the big three (at the time big four) auto makers and they created a carburetor component add-on that they junky late 70s to early 80s averaging 70 mpg. Once they presented the research study to the board, the researchers were given a pat on the back, asked to sign all sorts of non-disclosure documents (in lieu of HEFTY sums of money) and then lab work was stuffed in box – much like the Box in the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Even though I am a conspiracy theorist, because my teacher related this story on a tangent (and I’ve heard about all sorts of other tech breakthroughs that have been silenced and squelched throughout the decades) I’m most inclined to believe it and ever since then I’ve been waiting for Detroit to unveil this decades-old technology.
The Internal Combustion Engine ranks up there near the top as one of the most malignant engineering creations known to man. And the oil companies make a shitload of their profits from just refining oil into gasoline…
People in the country are loosing their ability to stay afloat financially by using credit cards to pay for shit like gas, gas in the cars!!! At like 14+% APR.
There’s a movie I’ve been catching pieces of on cable the last month called MAXED OUT… and it’s about the problems with Debt in America and the scurrilous tactics of the Credit Card Companies and the Banks that hand out subprime loans. It’s all a spiral that takes us all down the shitdrain…
Now here’s the REALLY fucked-up thing about this ad, in particularly this car… back in 1988 when I was in high school, there was a blurb in BusinessWeek (I saved the article for years) in which BMW was doing track testing of a 7 Series that ran on hydrogen… twenty years ago! Fucking two generations and maybe 6 model updates… and we still haven’t seen this car get close to becoming a production car… they’ve obviously worked out the kinks to a hydrogen fueled car (with water as the “waste exhaust”) since then, and they’ve probably road-tested the hell out of this car.
It just tells you how much of a stranglehold the oil companies have on the automotive consumer market… and that GM and Ford probably can’t master the technology, so they can’t enter into collusion talks with ExxonMobil, ConnocoPhillips and the rest of the robber barons who have been making profits the likes the planet has never previously seen (perhaps even conceived).
Oil and its byproducts are one of the few products on the market that buck most economic laws of supply & demand…
But I think that BMW is a bunch of bitches, because they could be leading the way with this technology, they could be partnering with companies like Chevron (which claim to be an “energy” company) or Shell or even new Green companies in rolling out the infrastructure to support autos like this.
Although… who am I kidding thinking that corporations would do anything for the public good – that’s one of the reasons why there are corporations, so people can act like complete assholes in the name of money and decadence and not really be held accountable for such behavior.
I mean, when I was in junior high my history professor was telling the class how his brother worked on a research unit at one of the big three (at the time big four) auto makers and they created a carburetor component add-on that they junky late 70s to early 80s averaging 70 mpg. Once they presented the research study to the board, the researchers were given a pat on the back, asked to sign all sorts of non-disclosure documents (in lieu of HEFTY sums of money) and then lab work was stuffed in box – much like the Box in the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Even though I am a conspiracy theorist, because my teacher related this story on a tangent (and I’ve heard about all sorts of other tech breakthroughs that have been silenced and squelched throughout the decades) I’m most inclined to believe it and ever since then I’ve been waiting for Detroit to unveil this decades-old technology.
The Internal Combustion Engine ranks up there near the top as one of the most malignant engineering creations known to man. And the oil companies make a shitload of their profits from just refining oil into gasoline…
People in the country are loosing their ability to stay afloat financially by using credit cards to pay for shit like gas, gas in the cars!!! At like 14+% APR.
There’s a movie I’ve been catching pieces of on cable the last month called MAXED OUT… and it’s about the problems with Debt in America and the scurrilous tactics of the Credit Card Companies and the Banks that hand out subprime loans. It’s all a spiral that takes us all down the shitdrain…
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Do Votes Count?
Well... only in the right circumstances, otherwise they're liable to get thrown out. As if it needs to be said again that Florida is having trouble getting properly represented in US Presidential politics. After yesterday's DNC Rules Committee ruling Florida and Michigan will receive half votes for their entire delegations to the Democratic National Party Convention in Denver in August (which is really right around the corner if you think about it).
After watching the HBO TV Movie "RECOUNT", I have to really wonder what goes in Florida? Why are the people who run the show on the ground, and in the official corridors of power, unable to get the democracy right? If what we saw, and is accurately documented, about how the actual people ignored the from the top rules on how to execute a recount -- if necessary -- goes a long way to show why the Florida Democrats fucked themselves by breaking the national rules as to when they were going to hold their primary this year... which resulted in the current debacle.
I don't think the Michigan and Florida delegation should be seated, or get their votes... what should have happened it a new primary should have been held. Yeah, that would have cost a lot of fucking money, but the candidates didn't get to canvas the area, roll out their get of the vote machinery and get a true accounting of what the people wanted.
Since that was never really on the table, providing a split of the delegates is perhaps not the best thing to do, but it certainly isn't the worst... at least for Barak Obama. Now for Hillary Clinton it's a kick in the buck-teeth. But what her supporters have failed to realize, especially the feminists, is that while it IS TIME for a viable woman presidential candidate, Bill's spouse with all the baggage of the final Clinton White House years, is DECIDEDLY NOT THAT CANDIDATE.
One could make the argument that the reason Dubya was elected was because the GOP did such a fantastic job at demonizing Clinton and his wife, that the desire to get ANYONE in the office who was the opposite of Clinton was necessary for the good of the country. Interestingly how the man that was installed has engendered the same kind of "get that son of a bitch out" hatred and vilification by the general public.
What's at stake now and what the Voting Block of 18 to 35 year olds need to consider is -- the time is NOW to make a change, not just in the politics of Washington, but a change in the direction that the country is heading down...
Dubya is the Nero of the Pax Americana; his fucking inability to govern, to manage his own affairs, to lead his underlings and to devise a clear vision for the country in the 21st Century has effective set fire to the country, its financial markets, its economy, its stature internationally, and its future.
He trade integrity for access (for his father's ilk), which is never a good bargain in life.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Reputation
Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation!
-- Othello, Act 2 scene 3
On the front page of Tuesday or Wednesday's Wall Street Journal was about Alan Greenspan and the besmirching of his reputation in the wake of the credit crisis that took roots during his sixteen year tenure as the most powerful banker on the planet.
I’m quite neutral on Alan (except I don’t think he should have orchestrated the bail-out of the Asian Contagion in 1997), but I don’t recall the overall (or even majority) Conventional Wisdom or Consensus being that Greenspan was butt-fucking the economy during the Clinton boom years or the years directly after 9/11 with lax controls financial institution controls and allowing damn near free money (for those with good credit). It seems to me, as it always seems in these situations, that the Wall Street Black Ops units and their Satan-spawned cousins in the mortgage banking industry concocted up some devilish ass shit to peddle to the consumers on Main Street (and in the rest of the world) – which as always made the rich more rich, and arranged for the future (i.e. now!) castration of the middle classes and the working poor; those who are fucking dirt poor probably don’t see much difference to what’s going – they’re used to the struggle, so…
I would say that the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Republican controlled Congress over the past sixteen years should be held responsible. Scapegoat those bitches, if you need to scapegoat somebody for fuck’s sake.
You honestly think mutahfuckas like Jack Ambramoff and others of his politically-bribing ilk didn’t make hella cash off of all the houses and condos that we sold to bitches wanting a piece of the AmeriKKKan dream? Regardless if they could afford said Dream; in fact, in spite of the fact that these living-beyond-their-means muthafuckas just wanted more and more … to look good in expensive ass shit that they don’t need, courtesy of Madison Ave. without thinking about how shit can’t go gangbusters forever.
Greenspan needs to worry about the value of his fortune, as it’s just going to get depleted and depleted as the America he presided over swings into a protracted recession, nay, depression the likes we haven’t seen in 80 years…
Speaking of Reptuation… I don’t think all these airlines that are getting grounded is for “maintenance issues”, I think there is some terrorism shit underfoot and this is the smokescreen. They’re all taking too much of a financial ass-beating for it to be just FAA potential violations (American grounded 1000 flights!)
-- Othello, Act 2 scene 3
On the front page of Tuesday or Wednesday's Wall Street Journal was about Alan Greenspan and the besmirching of his reputation in the wake of the credit crisis that took roots during his sixteen year tenure as the most powerful banker on the planet.
I’m quite neutral on Alan (except I don’t think he should have orchestrated the bail-out of the Asian Contagion in 1997), but I don’t recall the overall (or even majority) Conventional Wisdom or Consensus being that Greenspan was butt-fucking the economy during the Clinton boom years or the years directly after 9/11 with lax controls financial institution controls and allowing damn near free money (for those with good credit). It seems to me, as it always seems in these situations, that the Wall Street Black Ops units and their Satan-spawned cousins in the mortgage banking industry concocted up some devilish ass shit to peddle to the consumers on Main Street (and in the rest of the world) – which as always made the rich more rich, and arranged for the future (i.e. now!) castration of the middle classes and the working poor; those who are fucking dirt poor probably don’t see much difference to what’s going – they’re used to the struggle, so…
I would say that the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Republican controlled Congress over the past sixteen years should be held responsible. Scapegoat those bitches, if you need to scapegoat somebody for fuck’s sake.
You honestly think mutahfuckas like Jack Ambramoff and others of his politically-bribing ilk didn’t make hella cash off of all the houses and condos that we sold to bitches wanting a piece of the AmeriKKKan dream? Regardless if they could afford said Dream; in fact, in spite of the fact that these living-beyond-their-means muthafuckas just wanted more and more … to look good in expensive ass shit that they don’t need, courtesy of Madison Ave. without thinking about how shit can’t go gangbusters forever.
Greenspan needs to worry about the value of his fortune, as it’s just going to get depleted and depleted as the America he presided over swings into a protracted recession, nay, depression the likes we haven’t seen in 80 years…
Speaking of Reptuation… I don’t think all these airlines that are getting grounded is for “maintenance issues”, I think there is some terrorism shit underfoot and this is the smokescreen. They’re all taking too much of a financial ass-beating for it to be just FAA potential violations (American grounded 1000 flights!)
Thursday, April 03, 2008
In the Politics of Hate…
The Democratic nomination process is going to sour the general electorate on politics in general, but for Democrats specifically. Maureen Dowd of the NYTimes dropped this bomb on Hillary Clinton in her most recent column - Hillary is going for “the Tonya Harding option” — if she can’t get the gold, kneecap her rival. And even Clinton supporters know that Bill does not want to be replaced as the first "black" president, especially by a REAL black president with enough ju-ju to possibly eclipse him in the history books.
Mr. Obama said: “What I’m certain about is that people are disenchanted with a highly ideological GOP that believes tax cuts are the answer to every problem, and lack of regulation and oversight is always going to generate economic growth, and unilateral intervention around the world is the best approach to foreign policy. So there’s no doubt the pendulum is swinging.”
The policy debates between the two have been long exhausted, so the only way to get the public really engaged is by poking some raw national wound.
Mr. Obama said: “What I’m certain about is that people are disenchanted with a highly ideological GOP that believes tax cuts are the answer to every problem, and lack of regulation and oversight is always going to generate economic growth, and unilateral intervention around the world is the best approach to foreign policy. So there’s no doubt the pendulum is swinging.”
The policy debates between the two have been long exhausted, so the only way to get the public really engaged is by poking some raw national wound.
Parrallels... the Housing Bubble a Do-Over?
Ah… The 1980s… the Days of the Me Generation were in full swing and the Japanese with their super strong Yen were buying up so much property in the native Nippon (and therefore driving up prices) that they went on real estate buying sprees in the United States as well, snapping up such lauded properties as Rockerfeller Center! The Japanese speculators and the Average Akria drove up prices to record levels that are still shocking (in today’s dollars and yen), and real estate leveraged money reached out an bought up companies like Universal Studios and Columbia/Tri-Star and out of real estate . Go-Go Days like that don’t last very long,After the 1987 Stock Market Crash the Japanese Housing bubble took a pinprick that popped the bubble in record time… and when it collapsed the crash was back-breaking to not only an entire generation, but to the proletariat culture of Japan!
Many of us don’t recall or care to recall what happened in Japan throughout the 90s, as we were living high on the hog during the BILL Clinton years and during the makings of the first internet bubble (yes, there will be a second one… don’t you worry). But Japan, after being viewed as the country (and therefore culture) that was going to own the world – what they couldn’t do by military force in the 1930s they were doing by economic force in the 1980s – and this vaunted economic success had a lot of people learning Japanese and studying Japanese management techniques. However, Japan waded through at least 6 to 8 years of recessions, where they would have 3 down quarters to 1 up quarter or other anemic combinations of sputtering economic growth… there was even stagflation and then there was even a deflationary period (where consumers where afraid to spend, because they knew prices would be cheaper the following month). One truly remarkable aspect of the Japanese economic seesaw was that at certain points the Bank of Japan established negative interest rates… yeah, you pay the bank back less than what you borrow!
It was a decidedly difficult time, that was only exacerbated by Alan Greenspan saving the Asian Tigers from collapse in the late 90s (remember that?) and while Japan has emerged from the storm, it’s place in the Global Economy was demoted. Sure they’re still a powerhouse (by sheer numbers), but we don’t look to them as a challenge any more – they’ve been replaced by China and India.
Why talk about Japan? Well, the housing bubble that burst in Japan could be analogous to the future of the housing marketing in the United States; only it might be more dire, as far too many people took out HELOC and used the money to extend their lifestyle (cheaper money than using a credit card) or bought up too much house than they could afford or never should have been in the market for a home in the first place (able to make the mortgage payments, but not the insurance and property taxes).
Are we poised to deal with a housing market, i.e. general economy that oscillates up two quarters, down the next three? What happens when the Baby Boomers retire and dump all their investments? The stock market, at least in the US, is poised for a perpetual zigzagging for the next 5 to 15 years. Sure it’ll go up, but the economy is going to have difficult time sustaining overall growth, except for maybe in the medical sector.
Although optimists will say our economy can withstand just about anything… I wonder if Nero’s advisers thought the same thing, before he torched the place.
Many of us don’t recall or care to recall what happened in Japan throughout the 90s, as we were living high on the hog during the BILL Clinton years and during the makings of the first internet bubble (yes, there will be a second one… don’t you worry). But Japan, after being viewed as the country (and therefore culture) that was going to own the world – what they couldn’t do by military force in the 1930s they were doing by economic force in the 1980s – and this vaunted economic success had a lot of people learning Japanese and studying Japanese management techniques. However, Japan waded through at least 6 to 8 years of recessions, where they would have 3 down quarters to 1 up quarter or other anemic combinations of sputtering economic growth… there was even stagflation and then there was even a deflationary period (where consumers where afraid to spend, because they knew prices would be cheaper the following month). One truly remarkable aspect of the Japanese economic seesaw was that at certain points the Bank of Japan established negative interest rates… yeah, you pay the bank back less than what you borrow!
It was a decidedly difficult time, that was only exacerbated by Alan Greenspan saving the Asian Tigers from collapse in the late 90s (remember that?) and while Japan has emerged from the storm, it’s place in the Global Economy was demoted. Sure they’re still a powerhouse (by sheer numbers), but we don’t look to them as a challenge any more – they’ve been replaced by China and India.
Why talk about Japan? Well, the housing bubble that burst in Japan could be analogous to the future of the housing marketing in the United States; only it might be more dire, as far too many people took out HELOC and used the money to extend their lifestyle (cheaper money than using a credit card) or bought up too much house than they could afford or never should have been in the market for a home in the first place (able to make the mortgage payments, but not the insurance and property taxes).
Are we poised to deal with a housing market, i.e. general economy that oscillates up two quarters, down the next three? What happens when the Baby Boomers retire and dump all their investments? The stock market, at least in the US, is poised for a perpetual zigzagging for the next 5 to 15 years. Sure it’ll go up, but the economy is going to have difficult time sustaining overall growth, except for maybe in the medical sector.
Although optimists will say our economy can withstand just about anything… I wonder if Nero’s advisers thought the same thing, before he torched the place.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Three Cheers for the War that Ends the Country
It's either today or this is the five year anniversary of the War in Iraq -- thus surpassing World War Two, and bringing us to a Vietnam War timeframe.And, as always, there is no end in sight. Why?
Because Donald Rumsfeld and the rest of the Pentagon brass that was ineptly running shit when the war started really had no plan other than to take out Saddam Hussein. Think about it, nothing else but do that and it's costing half a trillion dollars at this point, if not more.
One of the biggest goddamn mistakes was dismantling the Iraqi army -- with its 350,000 troop strength -- and not replacing that figure with American and other "Coalition of the Willing" soldiers. It is expected as invaders -- throughout the history of civilization -- that the purpose of the state, the reason why bands of people form larger groups that then turn into nations and the prime directive of the state is to protect its citizens... with an army. So when W, Shrub and Tricky Dick Cheney approved the policy of dismantling the Iraqi army they obviously inadvertently pushed the country into a style of chaos perhaps unprecedented.
Armies keep the public in check, hence the advent of martial law. When shit gets bad, the army goes in to quell the public outcry. It happened in the US during the 60s Civil Rights combustions, it happened in the aftermath of Katrina, because civilization broke down and the duty of the State is to maintain order. And if you think about, the people don't cry foul when the army comes in WHEN CHAOS RULES THE DAY. Now, how long has Chaos Ruled The Day in Iraq?
Also, when Prescott's Grandson put 350,000 men out of work, those people immediately became enemies of the state, because the US became the de facto state -- even though that kind of Nation Building was objected to by Shrub and his ilk. Uh... you dump a country's army with your army it is now your responsibility to be the new army or raise a new one. And the US did neither, hence the sad sad sad state of affairs in Iraq.
Of course Shrub and his duplicitous so-called managers weren't thinking about the history of geopolitics when they said, "let's go get this sucker. He tried to kill my Dad, so he's gotta pay!"
So raise your glasses to the War, because it'll continue well into the next president's second term. Get used to the fact that money that could be used to fix almost any social ailment that you can think of is being spent refusing to acknowledge that G.I. Joe and crew are the new Iraqi army, yet behaving as if that's the fact with a supremely undermanned force.
Don't think the 350K uneumployed disgruntled sand niggers are responsible for more than 2/3 of all the deaths in Iraq. Of course there's no way to verify this fact, and the Pentagon would deny it anyway.
So say we all!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Oil Barons Rape Us... and we like It!!
So Oil has breached $110 a muthafuckin’ barrel!!! God damn! And to think, I was tripping out when it was inching near $80… in SoCal that means over $4/gal EASILY come April 15th. Especially if you happen to be on the Westside of Los Angeles, where they rape you even more… part of the price of living in the so-called “nice part of town.”
On LA’s premiere radio station KCRW they run these ads for something called Flex Your Power, which is basically a website listing ways and means to cut your overall energy consumption, stuff like getting motion sensors on your lights and using CF light bulbs, because lighting is about 25% of your monthly bill, and you can cut it by 50% by using this little tips. There are video ads on the site as well about what’s up with our kids and their future; it’s interesting.
I see know reason why all this power stuff is intriguing because we have to do something about getting away from oil as our primary means of powering our go-go economies. Business will solve the problems of transpo and power with different technology, business has to because the potential money to be made is outrageous – the power boom will be like the early 80s tech boom, in terms of creating lots and lots of wealth, and even creating manufacturing jobs here in the US.
However, it doesn’t solve the issue that we use fossil fuel, i.e. petroleum/black gold, in manufacturing of all sorts of shit in the global economy. The true scientific technological break-thru will be on how to reclaim and cycle plastics, Styrofoam and other chemical products that once junked have a half-life of like a few hundred thousand years. Imagine a company with the ability to reclaim and recycle expending plastics? Said company can roll up to any landfill on the planet (and there are too fucking many, so that’s a big market) and start unearthing and sifting around to reclaim the junked plastic for future use.
Of course no one really knows what kind of toxic soup is in a landfill and even the most impregnable hazardous materials suits might not be able to protect these new workers from culling what they need from those zones.
Will companies like Applied Materials, BP and Shell (with their GTL technology, see the film on their website shell.com) be able to create the kinds of technology necessary to get us away for oil for energy needs? All the big ass muthafuckin’ bank that these companies have been making since the War in Iraq started, and they aren’t dumping huge swaths in the R&D for alternative fuels and green technology? Sure, they’re being asked to fuel the potential competition, but… BUT what’s the alternative? Don’t think oil can’t reach $150/barrel this year (as some have predicted). ‘cause it will by the time the election rolls around – and Barak, Hillary and Johnny POW won’t be able to do shit about it.
NASA and the Military have been fucking up by not doing the hard science research required to lick this problem (that’s a W-ism, BTW).
On LA’s premiere radio station KCRW they run these ads for something called Flex Your Power, which is basically a website listing ways and means to cut your overall energy consumption, stuff like getting motion sensors on your lights and using CF light bulbs, because lighting is about 25% of your monthly bill, and you can cut it by 50% by using this little tips. There are video ads on the site as well about what’s up with our kids and their future; it’s interesting.
I see know reason why all this power stuff is intriguing because we have to do something about getting away from oil as our primary means of powering our go-go economies. Business will solve the problems of transpo and power with different technology, business has to because the potential money to be made is outrageous – the power boom will be like the early 80s tech boom, in terms of creating lots and lots of wealth, and even creating manufacturing jobs here in the US.
However, it doesn’t solve the issue that we use fossil fuel, i.e. petroleum/black gold, in manufacturing of all sorts of shit in the global economy. The true scientific technological break-thru will be on how to reclaim and cycle plastics, Styrofoam and other chemical products that once junked have a half-life of like a few hundred thousand years. Imagine a company with the ability to reclaim and recycle expending plastics? Said company can roll up to any landfill on the planet (and there are too fucking many, so that’s a big market) and start unearthing and sifting around to reclaim the junked plastic for future use.
Of course no one really knows what kind of toxic soup is in a landfill and even the most impregnable hazardous materials suits might not be able to protect these new workers from culling what they need from those zones.
Will companies like Applied Materials, BP and Shell (with their GTL technology, see the film on their website shell.com) be able to create the kinds of technology necessary to get us away for oil for energy needs? All the big ass muthafuckin’ bank that these companies have been making since the War in Iraq started, and they aren’t dumping huge swaths in the R&D for alternative fuels and green technology? Sure, they’re being asked to fuel the potential competition, but… BUT what’s the alternative? Don’t think oil can’t reach $150/barrel this year (as some have predicted). ‘cause it will by the time the election rolls around – and Barak, Hillary and Johnny POW won’t be able to do shit about it.
NASA and the Military have been fucking up by not doing the hard science research required to lick this problem (that’s a W-ism, BTW).
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Brink of Collapse...
So the Fed offers up to Wall Street US Treasuries to open up the credit markets? Is Bernanke insane? How can he and the rest of the Fed Governors even entertain that the Big Banks can use their troubled mortgage-backed securities as collateral? How does this make sense? When:
a) the whole mess with the credit markets is rooted in the mortgage-backed securities market?
b) no one YET knows how to value the mortgage-backed securities, and since the default rate is climbing by the hour, there’s no way to measure the risk of these investments?
c) you know damn well that they are going to use their most difficult, sub-prime securities as collateral, so effectively this is a bail out at the general welfare of the country’s expense;
d) this type of extreme horsetrading the reason why the credit markets are in freefall in the first place.
e) the Fed traditionally refused to accept private label securities for collateral – and with good reason, if the Wall Street Warriors can trick even their shrewdest competitors be sure they can trick the Fed and the SEC long enough for their to be cataclysmic damage committed.
Look at the Credit Derivatives market, it’s predicting that Citibank has a 17% of defaulting on its obligations in the next 5 years!!! That’s a whopping, if not astronomical number. And since no Sovereign Wealth Fund has bought into Citi (and I suspect none will), they might be in some trouble. So that 17% might not be as outrageous as it seems…
And what’s up with Carlyle Group? They’re just about to go under and smash the industry again. They’re about to lose their Triple A-rated mortgage-backed securities to cover their massive debt; this will no doubt flood the market with AAA securities, therefore driving the price down on this top grade shit and just think what it’s going to do to the value of the bottom-of-the-barrel crapola that’s the root cause of the market meltdown?
Treasury Secretary Paulson was issuing edicts to have more supervision and greater controls so this type of bursting of the bubble doesn’t happen again… well at least anytime soon, because those sons of bitches on Wall Street make the big bucks because they figure out ways to jook the system, and they sidestep any kind of serious fallout – no one goes to jail or is seriously fined. Secretary Paulson’s biggest hurdle is going to be getting the Ratings Companies (i.e. Moody’s and Standard & Poor) to act in the best interest of shareholders and the general market – not the investment banks who had the game rigged, whereby they would demand a rating from say Moody’s (usually a high one) and pay for their rating of an investment issue AFTER that’s right I said, after the investment bank sold the security to bamboozled investors!
The thing is no matter what Bernanke or Paulson do, there is no Silver Bullet for the killing the GREED PRINCIPLE, which fuels all the excesses in capital markets that we’ve seen since the 1987 Crash – and their have been a few: internet, real estate, financials, commodities (oh wait that crash hasn’t happened again yet), Asian Tigers, etc from recurring – again and again and again. All those Wall Street and Fed Economic Gurus never foresee the raping of the system until the System has been ransacked much like Rome when the Germanic Barbarians where invading, and it’s too late to save it as the Centurions scratch their heads wondering why didn’t we stop this when we saw it coming?
a) the whole mess with the credit markets is rooted in the mortgage-backed securities market?
b) no one YET knows how to value the mortgage-backed securities, and since the default rate is climbing by the hour, there’s no way to measure the risk of these investments?
c) you know damn well that they are going to use their most difficult, sub-prime securities as collateral, so effectively this is a bail out at the general welfare of the country’s expense;
d) this type of extreme horsetrading the reason why the credit markets are in freefall in the first place.
e) the Fed traditionally refused to accept private label securities for collateral – and with good reason, if the Wall Street Warriors can trick even their shrewdest competitors be sure they can trick the Fed and the SEC long enough for their to be cataclysmic damage committed.
Look at the Credit Derivatives market, it’s predicting that Citibank has a 17% of defaulting on its obligations in the next 5 years!!! That’s a whopping, if not astronomical number. And since no Sovereign Wealth Fund has bought into Citi (and I suspect none will), they might be in some trouble. So that 17% might not be as outrageous as it seems…
And what’s up with Carlyle Group? They’re just about to go under and smash the industry again. They’re about to lose their Triple A-rated mortgage-backed securities to cover their massive debt; this will no doubt flood the market with AAA securities, therefore driving the price down on this top grade shit and just think what it’s going to do to the value of the bottom-of-the-barrel crapola that’s the root cause of the market meltdown?
Treasury Secretary Paulson was issuing edicts to have more supervision and greater controls so this type of bursting of the bubble doesn’t happen again… well at least anytime soon, because those sons of bitches on Wall Street make the big bucks because they figure out ways to jook the system, and they sidestep any kind of serious fallout – no one goes to jail or is seriously fined. Secretary Paulson’s biggest hurdle is going to be getting the Ratings Companies (i.e. Moody’s and Standard & Poor) to act in the best interest of shareholders and the general market – not the investment banks who had the game rigged, whereby they would demand a rating from say Moody’s (usually a high one) and pay for their rating of an investment issue AFTER that’s right I said, after the investment bank sold the security to bamboozled investors!
The thing is no matter what Bernanke or Paulson do, there is no Silver Bullet for the killing the GREED PRINCIPLE, which fuels all the excesses in capital markets that we’ve seen since the 1987 Crash – and their have been a few: internet, real estate, financials, commodities (oh wait that crash hasn’t happened again yet), Asian Tigers, etc from recurring – again and again and again. All those Wall Street and Fed Economic Gurus never foresee the raping of the system until the System has been ransacked much like Rome when the Germanic Barbarians where invading, and it’s too late to save it as the Centurions scratch their heads wondering why didn’t we stop this when we saw it coming?
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Taking It Up The Ass and other musing…
This post is part one of a series tentatively called - The Aftermath of The Great Decider’s Time In The Oval Office
The one moment in Dubya’s time in office that is a precursor to what’s really happening in our future as country is the devastating natural disaster known as Hurricane Katrina, and how the US government dealt with it or rather failed to. New Orleans’ African-Americans were stand-ins for the world’s billions of people of color living hand-to-mouth, while the top 1% owns 50% of all the world’s wealth. The pitiful response of the government controlled by a GOP administration – i.e. one run by corporate lobbyist, er friendly fascists, -- so caught up in its phony way in Iraq that it could not handle the war-like devastation in New Orleans.
The belief that additional national GOP leadership is the answer to renewed stewardship of the country and the country’s image and influence around the globe is absolute nonsense, if not utterly ridiculous.
John McCain is a good man, a good Senator, in fact one of the better Senators we’ve had in recent memory, but he’ll be beholden the greed mongering cutthroat bandits that –- in the end -- run his party. Not to mention that he’d fill the corridors of power with more of the odious political cronies, who have a great affinity to the same old Fuck Shit that Dubya Bush has been force-feeding us than a Democratic Commander-in-Chief would.
The one moment in Dubya’s time in office that is a precursor to what’s really happening in our future as country is the devastating natural disaster known as Hurricane Katrina, and how the US government dealt with it or rather failed to. New Orleans’ African-Americans were stand-ins for the world’s billions of people of color living hand-to-mouth, while the top 1% owns 50% of all the world’s wealth. The pitiful response of the government controlled by a GOP administration – i.e. one run by corporate lobbyist, er friendly fascists, -- so caught up in its phony way in Iraq that it could not handle the war-like devastation in New Orleans.
The belief that additional national GOP leadership is the answer to renewed stewardship of the country and the country’s image and influence around the globe is absolute nonsense, if not utterly ridiculous.
John McCain is a good man, a good Senator, in fact one of the better Senators we’ve had in recent memory, but he’ll be beholden the greed mongering cutthroat bandits that –- in the end -- run his party. Not to mention that he’d fill the corridors of power with more of the odious political cronies, who have a great affinity to the same old Fuck Shit that Dubya Bush has been force-feeding us than a Democratic Commander-in-Chief would.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Adaptation
I just finished reading Leon Wynter's fascinating book, AMERICAN SKIN, and he made a curiously interesting observation -- that white men are the very template for the Borg of Star Trek: Next Generation fame; they will adapt to what they cannot assimilate by force. As whiteness continues to lose its overall premium in commercial culture, more and more whites are forced to take stock of their investment in whiteness.
He ponders if whether whiteness will eventually redefine itself out of existence in America, taking blackness along with it. Logically it could happen when social and economic whiteness has entirely outlived its usefulness. Never forget: the underlying motivation for the institution of political whiteness has always been economic first and social second. Hence no economic return, no more whiteness.
He ponders if whether whiteness will eventually redefine itself out of existence in America, taking blackness along with it. Logically it could happen when social and economic whiteness has entirely outlived its usefulness. Never forget: the underlying motivation for the institution of political whiteness has always been economic first and social second. Hence no economic return, no more whiteness.
Fidel Steps Down
So the big news in geopolitics this week is the Fidel Castro - the penultimate revolutionary -- has relinquished power in Havana. After nearly 50 years of rule, perhaps the longest run of any ruler in history (I don't have all the numbers, but it's pretty long time), Castro has to release his grip on power, and he did it on his own terms without "losing the revolution." Typically, we'd see some rioting in the streets or the opposition party was geared up for the transition and they seize power, but that's not the case here.
I'm curious to see if Barak Obama meets with Raul Castro -- without pre-conditions -- about normalizing relations.
Apparently, the last true efforts to normalize relations occurred during the Carter Administration, but Fidel's support of revolutionary causes in Angola and Ethiopia scuttled the attempts.
The biggest black eye during the Cold War for the US has a chance to heal, before a revolution takes place. Obviously, Cuba could go the way of China and still be a Communist country, but fully embrace capitalist ideas and increase its economy. As the largest island in the Caribbean and natural trading partner/vacation spot for the US, it's been a pissed awsay half-century for both countries.
Will Obama, should he be elected president, actually bring Change to Central America?
I'm curious to see if Barak Obama meets with Raul Castro -- without pre-conditions -- about normalizing relations.
Apparently, the last true efforts to normalize relations occurred during the Carter Administration, but Fidel's support of revolutionary causes in Angola and Ethiopia scuttled the attempts.
The biggest black eye during the Cold War for the US has a chance to heal, before a revolution takes place. Obviously, Cuba could go the way of China and still be a Communist country, but fully embrace capitalist ideas and increase its economy. As the largest island in the Caribbean and natural trading partner/vacation spot for the US, it's been a pissed awsay half-century for both countries.
Will Obama, should he be elected president, actually bring Change to Central America?
What's In A Word?
N - Non
I - Immigrant
G - Gaining
G - Global
A - Achievement...
How's that, fo' yo' ass??!?!?!
I - Immigrant
G - Gaining
G - Global
A - Achievement...
How's that, fo' yo' ass??!?!?!
THE DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA, Part Two
I was reading an article in last week's NYTimes about how fucking ignorant Americans are, and how much they actively dodge knowledge?!!?!?
Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?
By PATRICIA COHEN
Published: February 14, 2008
A popular video on YouTube shows Kellie Pickler, the adorable that’s a questionable adjective, to say the least platinum blonde from “American Idol,” appearing on the Fox game show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” during celebrity week. Selected from a third-grade geography curriculum, the $25,000 question asked: “Budapest is the capital of what European country?”
Ms. Pickler threw up both hands and looked at the large blackboard perplexed. “I thought Europe was a country,” she said. Playing it safe, she chose to copy the answer offered by one of the genuine fifth graders: Hungary. “Hungry?” she said, eyes widening in disbelief. “That’s a country? I’ve heard of Turkey. But Hungry? I’ve never heard of it.” Why would you make this statement? It just compounds how fucking ignorant this no talent bitch is? Say something like, “I guess I forgot… world history class was ten years ago.” Don’t drop a bomb that exacerbates your own personal stupidity, please!
Such, uh, lack of global awareness is the kind of thing that drives Susan Jacoby, author of “The Age of American Unreason,” up a wall. Ms. Jacoby is one of a number of writers with new books that bemoan the state of American culture.
Joining the circle of curmudgeons this season is Eric G. Wilson, whose “Against Happiness” warns that the “American obsession with happiness” could “well lead to a sudden extinction of the creative impulse, that could result in an extermination as horrible as those foreshadowed by global warming and environmental crisis and nuclear proliferation.”This statement is a bit extreme, but it is extremes that the truth is really laid bare.
Then there is Lee Siegel’s “Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob,” which inveighs against the Internet for encouraging solipsism, debased discourse and arrant commercialization.This is ALL true; I’ll be pick up this book and reading it on my next trip to the library. Mr. Siegel, one might remember, was suspended by The New Republic for using a fake online persona in order to trash critics of his blog (“you couldn’t tie Siegel’s shoelaces”) and to praise himself (“brave, brilliant”).And here’s the rub, the whole purpose of the internet is to rant anonymously… of course, you can’t stay in the shadows for too long. People WILL make it their mission to find out who wrote what on the internet.
Ms. Jacoby, whose book came out on Tuesday, doesn’t zero in on a particular technology or emotion, but rather on what she feels is a generalized hostility to knowledge. She is well aware that some may tag her a crank. “I expect to get bashed,” said Ms. Jacoby, 62, either as an older person who upbraids the young for plummeting standards and values, or as a secularist whose defense of scientific rationalism is a way to disparage religion.She’s going to get bashed by the people who’s best interest lies in keeping the large majority of the public woefully ignorant on a whole host of topics, fields and subject matter.
Ms. Jacoby, however, is quick to point out that her indictment is not limited by age or ideology. Yes, she knows that eggheads, nerds, bookworms, longhairs, pointy heads, highbrows and know-it-alls have been mocked and dismissed throughout American history.yes, this true with our country, because the country rube is bequeathed a level of power, because the Founding Fathers wanted to let the masses believe they have a lot of say over the direction that this country is headed, but in actuality that’s the biggest piece of chicanery (i.e. pulling the wool over someone’s eyes, if you have a bad vocabulary) that also happens to be the cornerstone of the true nature of this country. And liberal and conservative writers, from Richard Hofstadter to Allan Bloom, have regularly analyzed the phenomenon and offered advice.
T. J. Jackson Lears, a cultural historian who edits the quarterly review Raritan, said, “The tendency to this sort of lamentation is perennial in American history,” adding that in periods “when political problems seem intractable or somehow frozen, there is a turn toward cultural issues.”
But now, Ms. Jacoby said, something different is happening: anti-intellectualism (the attitude that “too much learning can be a dangerous thing”) and anti-rationalism (“the idea that there is no such things as evidence or fact, just opinion”) have fused in a particularly insidious way.
Not only are citizens ignorant about essential scientific, civic and cultural knowledge, she said, but they also don’t think it matters.
She pointed to a 2006 National Geographic poll that found nearly half of 18- to 24-year-olds don’t think it is necessary or important to know where countries in the news are located. So more than three years into the Iraq war, only 23 percent of those with some college could locate Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel on a map. Geo-politics is THE key notion facing the United States as the 21st century progresses, to fail to understand, let alone the desire to understand how the countries of the 2nd World of their geography effects one’s wallet in Green Bay or Kansas City. To bash that knowledge begs that Malcolm X quote, “the chickens have come home to roost.
Ms. Jacoby, dressed in a bright red turtleneck with lipstick to match, was sitting, appropriately, in that temple of knowledge, the New York Public Library’s majestic Beaux Arts building on Fifth Avenue. The author of seven other books, she was a fellow at the library when she first got the idea for this book back in 2001, on 9/11.
Walking home to her Upper East Side apartment, she said, overwhelmed and confused, she stopped at a bar. As she sipped her bloody mary, she quietly listened to two men, neatly dressed in suits. For a second she thought they were going to compare that day’s horrifying attack to the Japanese bombing in 1941 that blew America into World War II:
“This is just like Pearl Harbor,” one of the men said.
The other asked, “What is Pearl Harbor?”
“That was when the Vietnamese dropped bombs in a harbor, and it started the Vietnam War,” the first man replied.
At that moment, Ms. Jacoby said, “I decided to write this book.”
Ms. Jacoby doesn’t expect to revolutionize the nation’s educational system or cause millions of Americans to switch off “American Idol” and pick up Schopenhauer. But she would like to start a conversation about why the United States seems particularly vulnerable to such a virulent strain of anti-intellectualism. After all, “the empire of infotainment doesn’t stop at the American border,” she said, yet students in many other countries consistently outperform American students in science, math and reading on comparative tests.
In part, she lays the blame on a failing educational system. “Although people are going to school more and more years, there’s no evidence that they know more,” she said. Schooling is perhaps the biggest monetary fraud that I can think of… unless you’re planning on working on Wall Street or being a doctor of some sort, then schooling is a trick, a weeding out process more than anything.
Ms. Jacoby also blames religious fundamentalism’s antipathy toward science, as she grieves over surveys that show that nearly two-thirds of Americans want creationism to be taught along with evolution. Creationism IS NOT something to be believed or taught in schools -- it's a waste of resources and time. If you believe in modern science and medicine, then you can't be down with Creationism -- so stop taking your prescription drugs or OTC meds if you really want Creationism to be taught and believed.
Ms. Jacoby doesn’t leave liberals out of her analysis, mentioning the New Left’s attacks on universities in the 1960s, the decision to consign African-American and women’s studies to an “academic ghetto” instead of integrating them into the core curriculum, ponderous musings on rock music and pop culture courses on everything from sitcoms to fat that trivialize college-level learning.
Avoiding the liberal or conservative label in this particular argument, she prefers to call herself a “cultural conservationist.”
For all her scholarly interests, though, Ms. Jacoby said she recognized just how hard it is to tune out the 24/7 entertainment culture. A few years ago she participated in the annual campaign to turn off the television for a week. “I was stunned at how difficult it was for me,” she said.
The surprise at her own dependency on electronic and visual media made her realize just how pervasive the culture of distraction is and how susceptible everyone is — even curmudgeons.
100 YEARS OR MORE?!?!
The other n night on CNN’s LARRY KING LIVE, Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) was the guest and he espousing the underpinnings of “The Straight Talk Express” – first off I don’t know why a Dolly Parton Song is being used as part of his campaign slogan-age, but to each his own; the meat of the interview, in my mind, was McCain trying to defend his statement about keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years. Certainly, he didn’t mean it – although we have had troops in Germany and Japan for well over 50 years (but in peacetime, not in the middle of an insurgency that’s lasted longer World War 2, and cost even more – yet has generated less in terms of world changing technology).
What McCain’s biggest problem is when it comes to the illegitimate War in Iraq is that he can’t live down the supposed shame of the VietNam War – especially because he’s tortured and decorated vet of that misbegotten conflict. I’m taking anything whatsoever away from McCain, his struggle, his POW days, his war record – but that armed conflict left a black eye on American foreign policy and military for close to two decades (rehashed by shit like FIRST BLOOD). The US didn’t exactly recover from that, and at the end of the day we’re now good trading partners with VietNam; with normalized diplomatic relations. But the might of the vaunted US armed forces was called into question (however, effectively propagandizes as unstoppable by Hollywood throughout the 80s and 90s).
The current pre-occupation with the Middle East has not only blinded America from its true and present interests across the globe, but the crux of the problem could have been dealt with effectively if a “fuck all y’all” foreign policy wasn’t in effect during the Reagan and Bush years (sure, we’ve been dicking the Middle East since the end of WW2, but it took a new level after Reagan came into office).
So for McCain to claim that we can’t leave without victory (and that MEANS what?) is just ridick!!! No one has even defined what “victory in the Iraq” is supposed to look like. Arabs aren’t cut-out for democracy… I can’t call it when it comes to any place in the whole region is operating under a democracy as entertained by the Greeks. There might be “elections”, but they’re reasonably phony.
And the spiraling costs of the war – in hard dollars, in human lives, in wasted war material, the psychic cost to the nation – doesn’t seem to be factored into McCain’s equation.
Should Barak and Hillary have hard exit strategies? Yeah, but the operative word is strategy – which is something that is usually considered flexible and is oft-revised. No one wants to have the US Military show the pink of its ass, but there’s no problem in turning tail and running – because we’ve done in numerous times before… can anyone same Beirut 1985?
LIVING COLOR SAID IT BEST – “I’m The Cult of Personality”
That hard rock anthem from 1989 from the first legitimate Black rock band in say 25 years is know being used as a invective remark aimed at Senator Barak Obama’s Democratic nomination campaign; which accusations of having a self-referential campaign message, one has to wonder what exactly does it mean to be President. Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan were charismatic leaders that could have worn the same goathorns, and even Dubya has his own cult of personality – people just wanted to believe that Compassionate Conservative BOOLSHIT – and old boy got elected, and fucked the country with a sharp spike up it’s tight ass.
Sure the Obama camp and its supporters are rabid fans of the man, but they see a man who can articulate a message. People attack his policies or more to the point that his policies are hazy, but if you really think about what Presidential Contender actually made a lot of his election platform come to pass? When you get down to it, national policy isn’t controlled by the President.
Representative Chet Edwards (D-Texas), perhaps has summed up Obama’s candidacy the best, “It's not Senator Clinton's fault, but the baggage she carries is the divisiveness of the 1990s. People are wanting to turn the chapter to the future rather than going back to the last chapter. It's not fair but that is the reality."
Let's Be Real Now
The one thing I really enjoy about Barak Obama’s speaking is that he doesn’t sound like a character on THE BOONDOCKS - not a straight-up coon like Uncle Ruckus, a white-washed chump like Tom DuBois, a foolish old negro like Robert "Grandad" Freeman, a clown hip-hop nigga like Riley or "down for the cause" kid like Huey. All stereotypical examples of how niggas talk, but Barak evades that -- which makes him acceptable to all non-African Americans, whether they get down with his politics or his meesage is another story.
Don’t get me wrong, I love that show, but far too many African-Americans SOUND like African-Americans when you throw a mic in their face; more aptly, they sound like niggaz.
Senator Barak Obama delivered a Victory Speech in Wisconsin the other night, a speech with the grace and power of man who knows how to wield power and influence for the greater good (whether that’s true is anyone’s guess, but I have to hope so…) and it just really began to usher in a new era in America’s socio-cultural landscape.
Obama’s popularity among white women is the most contested constituency in the entire race (one that Hillary Clinton has been winning hand-over-fist in the early voting), and it has been the deciding factor in the big prize contests, but that seems to be eroding as witnessed in the Potomac Primaries just yesterday. In addition, Obama pulled something like 56% of white male voters… something that Clinton has, is and will struggle with.
What does this say about the transracial nature of America? That the one country founded on the hatred of another racial/ethnic group is now finally able to set aside that element of “otherness” – or at least publicly – an embrace a Man who stands for change and camaraderie across traditional dividing lines? Surely since the complete acceptance of Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson as the appeal-to-all Pitchmen, the understanding that their could be an African-American president was tickling some peoples minds… enough so for the people behind Fox’s 24 put a Black man in the White House for multiple seasons dealing with crisis after crisis, and he never failed from the foibles that many would unjustly hang on a Black man’s ability to lead and to make cognitively
The odd thing about Obama is that he’s not a born-n-bread American nigga… because there is a TREMENDOUS amount of baggage the goes with that. Of being part of the constituency that is ever the socio-economic underdog. The burdens attributed to American Blacks are like Atlas’s impossible burden – difficult to shake off because they define that person. To be in the “struggle” typifies what it means to be Black, but it’s not a mutually exclusive moniker.
To look at it from another angle, the new majority of so-called Minorities (the people of color who are non-African American) ascribe to and aspire to be what was dubbed “white” for 88% of the last 100 years – a whiteness that rings of truth and realism in terms of what it means to be societal and financially successful. Yet that same group of People of Color looks to stand on the shoulders of what American Blacks created culturally and side-step any and all malapropism that go hand in hand with being “urban.” It’s a known fact that 50% of all Hispanics consider themselves “white” when walking the streets of America.
Racism, misogyny and character assassination are all ways of distracting voters from the issues, and people who care about the issues have a shared interest in making the politics of hatred unacceptable.
Don’t get me wrong, I love that show, but far too many African-Americans SOUND like African-Americans when you throw a mic in their face; more aptly, they sound like niggaz.
Senator Barak Obama delivered a Victory Speech in Wisconsin the other night, a speech with the grace and power of man who knows how to wield power and influence for the greater good (whether that’s true is anyone’s guess, but I have to hope so…) and it just really began to usher in a new era in America’s socio-cultural landscape.
Obama’s popularity among white women is the most contested constituency in the entire race (one that Hillary Clinton has been winning hand-over-fist in the early voting), and it has been the deciding factor in the big prize contests, but that seems to be eroding as witnessed in the Potomac Primaries just yesterday. In addition, Obama pulled something like 56% of white male voters… something that Clinton has, is and will struggle with.
What does this say about the transracial nature of America? That the one country founded on the hatred of another racial/ethnic group is now finally able to set aside that element of “otherness” – or at least publicly – an embrace a Man who stands for change and camaraderie across traditional dividing lines? Surely since the complete acceptance of Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson as the appeal-to-all Pitchmen, the understanding that their could be an African-American president was tickling some peoples minds… enough so for the people behind Fox’s 24 put a Black man in the White House for multiple seasons dealing with crisis after crisis, and he never failed from the foibles that many would unjustly hang on a Black man’s ability to lead and to make cognitively
The odd thing about Obama is that he’s not a born-n-bread American nigga… because there is a TREMENDOUS amount of baggage the goes with that. Of being part of the constituency that is ever the socio-economic underdog. The burdens attributed to American Blacks are like Atlas’s impossible burden – difficult to shake off because they define that person. To be in the “struggle” typifies what it means to be Black, but it’s not a mutually exclusive moniker.
To look at it from another angle, the new majority of so-called Minorities (the people of color who are non-African American) ascribe to and aspire to be what was dubbed “white” for 88% of the last 100 years – a whiteness that rings of truth and realism in terms of what it means to be societal and financially successful. Yet that same group of People of Color looks to stand on the shoulders of what American Blacks created culturally and side-step any and all malapropism that go hand in hand with being “urban.” It’s a known fact that 50% of all Hispanics consider themselves “white” when walking the streets of America.
Racism, misogyny and character assassination are all ways of distracting voters from the issues, and people who care about the issues have a shared interest in making the politics of hatred unacceptable.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Smack Back
There's lots of talk now that Senator Barak Obama's presidential nomination campaign has become a Cult of Personality. As much as I love that song from the late 80s Black hard rock band, I find it slanderous to claim that Obama's campaign is a cult with no relevancy behind it.
Sure, the backers and supporters of the campaign are rabid fans, but that's because the public at large REALLY has enough of the boolshit that's happened under Dubya's reign.
Ranging from all the conspiracy theories about what really happened on 9/11 to the true nature of the Bush families relationship with the Saudi royal family and the bin Ladens. And everyone is sick of hearing about the war in Iraq; even if you're an idiot and thinks the war was the right thing, you're probably sick of hearing about it and all the lies and deceit that led up to the shameless event.
What is quite possible about the Obama's campaign is that Obama isn't providing enough substantive policy and election platform, because he's shaping his policy and saving the release of the nuts-n-bolts of it all until he's facing John McCain... not much reason or rationale to drop elements that the GOP can get a jump start on fucking up the Democratic contender's election campaign.
However, a President doesn't need to have it all worked about during the campaign, because all policy concepts need to be flexible once one is occupying the Oval Office. In reality, the President can't ramrod policy down the the throat of the American public -- they have to go through the Congress, and people see to forget that. If the Congress is about putting up road blocks for the President, he or she ain't gettin' shit done.
The President does need to be charismatic or at least have some sort of the media impact -- Reagan, Billy Clinton, and Dubya all have a strong media impact quality; Reagan and Clinton hold people in their sway because they speak with such direct fluidity toward the audience; Dubya's complete display of ignorance and inarticulateness is so shocking that it's captivating for the sheer joke of it all.
Senator Obama's voice is gripping like a Tony Robbins character, but that doesn't make him a demagogue.
Hillary Clinton - much like Al Gore during his presidential run -- is too packaged, too staid to be captivating, and yes, sadly, because she's an older woman the key components of her charisma have aged away or would be highly inappropriate for her to use to aide her media image -- even if she was doing squats and lunges for the past 16 years and had a tight asss and lithe legs, she'd be taken to task and laughed at if she wore any kind of clothing that accentuated her female sexuality.
So it goes to reason that Hillary's campaign and those who are supposed to be impartial in their reporting on the campaign are going to find whatever they can to perform character assassination on Obama. This is a smart thing, because ultimately the likability of a candidate has an overwhelming amount of ethereal evidence as to why a voter chooses a candidate.
Mark my words, lots of people didn't like Walter Mondale, didn't like Michale Dukakis, didn't like Bob Dole, didn't lilke John Kerry as people, as someone who they are supposed to respect as the "face" of the nation -- and that's why their opponents beat them in the election.
Sure, the backers and supporters of the campaign are rabid fans, but that's because the public at large REALLY has enough of the boolshit that's happened under Dubya's reign.
Ranging from all the conspiracy theories about what really happened on 9/11 to the true nature of the Bush families relationship with the Saudi royal family and the bin Ladens. And everyone is sick of hearing about the war in Iraq; even if you're an idiot and thinks the war was the right thing, you're probably sick of hearing about it and all the lies and deceit that led up to the shameless event.
What is quite possible about the Obama's campaign is that Obama isn't providing enough substantive policy and election platform, because he's shaping his policy and saving the release of the nuts-n-bolts of it all until he's facing John McCain... not much reason or rationale to drop elements that the GOP can get a jump start on fucking up the Democratic contender's election campaign.
However, a President doesn't need to have it all worked about during the campaign, because all policy concepts need to be flexible once one is occupying the Oval Office. In reality, the President can't ramrod policy down the the throat of the American public -- they have to go through the Congress, and people see to forget that. If the Congress is about putting up road blocks for the President, he or she ain't gettin' shit done.
The President does need to be charismatic or at least have some sort of the media impact -- Reagan, Billy Clinton, and Dubya all have a strong media impact quality; Reagan and Clinton hold people in their sway because they speak with such direct fluidity toward the audience; Dubya's complete display of ignorance and inarticulateness is so shocking that it's captivating for the sheer joke of it all.
Senator Obama's voice is gripping like a Tony Robbins character, but that doesn't make him a demagogue.
Hillary Clinton - much like Al Gore during his presidential run -- is too packaged, too staid to be captivating, and yes, sadly, because she's an older woman the key components of her charisma have aged away or would be highly inappropriate for her to use to aide her media image -- even if she was doing squats and lunges for the past 16 years and had a tight asss and lithe legs, she'd be taken to task and laughed at if she wore any kind of clothing that accentuated her female sexuality.
So it goes to reason that Hillary's campaign and those who are supposed to be impartial in their reporting on the campaign are going to find whatever they can to perform character assassination on Obama. This is a smart thing, because ultimately the likability of a candidate has an overwhelming amount of ethereal evidence as to why a voter chooses a candidate.
Mark my words, lots of people didn't like Walter Mondale, didn't like Michale Dukakis, didn't like Bob Dole, didn't lilke John Kerry as people, as someone who they are supposed to respect as the "face" of the nation -- and that's why their opponents beat them in the election.
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