This sweet little video brought a different sort of tears to my eyes.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
This video brought tears to my eyes!
Sarah Palin is just a few years older than me, which means that she shared the same coming-of-age years when Reagan was threatening nuclear Armageddon and the Russians were threatening to bomb/invade etc. in any number of books and Hollywood films. So it warmed the little cockles of my heart to see this video. Enjoy!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Did I mention I love Dar Williams?
We just went to see Dar Williams in Seattle last night with Shawn Mullins. I pretty much only knew his one (as he said Dar called it) "monster" hit: "Lullaby," so it was fun to hear more of his repertoire; he's quite a good performer.
Dar had only a drummer on an African drum and a guy on keyboards, so a smaller entourage than she normally has, but they were quite good.
Her new album "Promised Land" is great; she has one song that stands out in terms of being thought-provoking, about the Milgram experiments at Yale:
-The Perils of Obedience, Stanley Milgram
The song is called Buzzer, and it's about a woman who participates in these experiments and ends up with a sobering insight into herself:
Right away I knew it was like I failed a quiz
The man said, "Do you know what a fascist is?"
I said, "Yeah, it's when you do things you're not proud of
But you're scraping by taking orders from above"
I get it now, I'm the face, I'm the cause of war
We don't have to blame white-coated men anymore
When I knew it was wrong, I played it just like a game
I pressed the buzzer
I pressed the buzzer
Here's your seventy bucks, now everything's changed
I had an interesting conversation with our babysitter, a very sweet teenaged girl, yesterday, on the way home after the concert; I shared a little about this song, and she said she had been studying the Holocaust, and that she thought the people who'd done those atrocious things were just evil. And I was like, well, that's sort of the message of these experiments. How much does it take for "normal" people to follow orders and do horrific, unimaginable things?
At any rate, NPR has an interview segment up with Dar where she talks more about the new album and about this song in particular. Some of the links aren't working at the moment (coincidence, surely?) but hopefully this is just a temporary problem.
And of course, Dar being Dar, she doesn't let any of us off the hook. The song ends like this:
But tell me where are your stocks, would you do this again?
I pressed the buzzer
And tell me who made your clothes, was it children or men?
I pressed the buzzer
Links:
The Perils of Obedience, Stanley Milgram, from Harper's Magazine, 1976
Main Dar Williams page at NPR
Dar had only a drummer on an African drum and a guy on keyboards, so a smaller entourage than she normally has, but they were quite good.
Her new album "Promised Land" is great; she has one song that stands out in terms of being thought-provoking, about the Milgram experiments at Yale:
The legal and philosophic aspects of obedience are of enormous import, but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete situations. I set up a simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental scientist. Stark authority was pitted against the subjects' strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the subjects' ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation.
-The Perils of Obedience, Stanley Milgram
The song is called Buzzer, and it's about a woman who participates in these experiments and ends up with a sobering insight into herself:
Right away I knew it was like I failed a quiz
The man said, "Do you know what a fascist is?"
I said, "Yeah, it's when you do things you're not proud of
But you're scraping by taking orders from above"
I get it now, I'm the face, I'm the cause of war
We don't have to blame white-coated men anymore
When I knew it was wrong, I played it just like a game
I pressed the buzzer
I pressed the buzzer
Here's your seventy bucks, now everything's changed
I had an interesting conversation with our babysitter, a very sweet teenaged girl, yesterday, on the way home after the concert; I shared a little about this song, and she said she had been studying the Holocaust, and that she thought the people who'd done those atrocious things were just evil. And I was like, well, that's sort of the message of these experiments. How much does it take for "normal" people to follow orders and do horrific, unimaginable things?
At any rate, NPR has an interview segment up with Dar where she talks more about the new album and about this song in particular. Some of the links aren't working at the moment (coincidence, surely?) but hopefully this is just a temporary problem.
And of course, Dar being Dar, she doesn't let any of us off the hook. The song ends like this:
But tell me where are your stocks, would you do this again?
I pressed the buzzer
And tell me who made your clothes, was it children or men?
I pressed the buzzer
Links:
The Perils of Obedience, Stanley Milgram, from Harper's Magazine, 1976
Main Dar Williams page at NPR
Monday, October 06, 2008
If this doesn't do it for you...
...I don't know what will. Deregulation is a disaster; always has been, always will be. There is a reason why you need regulation: greed. Until greed goes the way of the dinosaur, we will need to watch people to make sure they follow the rules.
I don't know if Obama will have the guts to do what needs to be done to get us out of this mess, which is nothing less than to reverse the tide of wealth flowing upward. It has made the vast majority of us on earth less secure. It is not inevitable that things are this way. We can choose a different path. But it will mean some very very tough choices in the months and years ahead.
Bottom line: Don't look to the poor and middle class to fund this reconstruction. We have been being bled dry for decades. And that doesn't just mean us in the "first" world (if we can still claim membership); people in the "third" world were better off in 1960 than they are today. There are those who claim otherwise, because people in the third world use more money today than they used to. But if you didn't use to have to pay for shelter or food because you owned land that kept and fed you, you didn't have as much need for money. But I digress.
This is John McCain. He is a true believer, and as they say, "by their fruits, you shall know them."
I don't know if Obama will have the guts to do what needs to be done to get us out of this mess, which is nothing less than to reverse the tide of wealth flowing upward. It has made the vast majority of us on earth less secure. It is not inevitable that things are this way. We can choose a different path. But it will mean some very very tough choices in the months and years ahead.
Bottom line: Don't look to the poor and middle class to fund this reconstruction. We have been being bled dry for decades. And that doesn't just mean us in the "first" world (if we can still claim membership); people in the "third" world were better off in 1960 than they are today. There are those who claim otherwise, because people in the third world use more money today than they used to. But if you didn't use to have to pay for shelter or food because you owned land that kept and fed you, you didn't have as much need for money. But I digress.
This is John McCain. He is a true believer, and as they say, "by their fruits, you shall know them."
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Eliot Spitzer Editorial on the Mortgage Crisis, and Bush's House of Cards
I heard Thom Hartmann read part of this little article today about the mortgage crisis and I found it hard to maintain my equilibrium. I knew part of this story. I knew that a lot of people were worried about all the crazy loans and the housing bubble and this and that. I just didn't realize that Bush can add to his resume that he actually stopped the states from protecting their citizens against predatory lenders. Unbelievable. And a few days ago he stood before us like this (check out Bush, coming in at about 2:40 into the clip):
In the Spitzer article, published shortly before he was taken down in the prostitution scandal, he said this (from the Washington Post, February 14, 2008): [In the face of predatory lending] "Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye."
Using a law dating from the civil war, the Bush administration derailed efforts by many state attorneys general and several state legislatures to protect consumers from predatory lending. The article is short, but stunning. I mean, I knew the Bushies didn't do anything to help, and I knew their lax policies had helped the crisis grow. I just didn't know that they actively prevented consumer protection. It's enough to make you sick to your stomach. Is this why Spitzer was taken down?
The whole article is here:
Washington Post article by Eliot Spitzer
Project Censored article: Bush's Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer
In the Spitzer article, published shortly before he was taken down in the prostitution scandal, he said this (from the Washington Post, February 14, 2008): [In the face of predatory lending] "Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye."
Using a law dating from the civil war, the Bush administration derailed efforts by many state attorneys general and several state legislatures to protect consumers from predatory lending. The article is short, but stunning. I mean, I knew the Bushies didn't do anything to help, and I knew their lax policies had helped the crisis grow. I just didn't know that they actively prevented consumer protection. It's enough to make you sick to your stomach. Is this why Spitzer was taken down?
The whole article is here:
Washington Post article by Eliot Spitzer
Project Censored article: Bush's Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer
Too Much Money in Too Few Hands
The thought that keeps coming back to me as this whole new (manufactured?) crisis unfolds, is that this is what you get when you get too much money in too few hands. The economic policies of the last thirty years have been all about a shift of wealth from many hands into few. The tax policies and trade policies of the "conservatives" have allowed us to buy cheap toys with easy credit, but have done nothing to ensure the long-term security of the middle and lower classes--quite the opposite, in fact. We've become a nation drunk on debt, where debt seems to be one of the only things we reliably know how to produce.
When you have rich people with too much damn money, all they want to do is invest it to make more money. Hence the creation of ever-more-creative "vehicles" for investment. Tech stocks stop making money? The money flows to mortgage-backed securities. Those start to tank? The money flows to commodities, like corn and oil. Where it goes doesn't really matter. The imperative is just to make more and more money. Of course, there is a need for more stringent regulation. But I think we cannot overemphasize the importance of this wealth shift and what it means for us, ordinary people, who have seen our real wealth erode as the cost of everyday needs has soared: housing, energy, food. When regular people have more money, they can pay their bills. They can pay off their loans. They might even be able to save some money, so that they have a cushion in tighter times that doesn't rely on a credit card. But the wealth shift orchestrated by the free traders and the tax avoiders has made the whole world more and more vulnerable. It's crazy.
What I would like to see in these debates about the bailout is this: You can have the money, with all these conditions (oversight, an equity stake, limits on executive compensation etc)--and... you know all those tax cuts we gave you that added more money to the huge pots of money you guys were sitting on already? We'll have them back, thank you very much. You can pay for your own bailout. For icing on the cake, we could also end that war that has continued to bleed us dry, because we just can't afford it anymore.
I got an email yesterday from Food First about the crisis that I wish I could link to, because I think it was a very powerful synopsis of the problem. But it doesn't appear to be on the internet yet except as a comment to a New York Times blog post! But you can at least see that here.
Other links:
Food First website
Article: Let Them Eat Free Markets
When you have rich people with too much damn money, all they want to do is invest it to make more money. Hence the creation of ever-more-creative "vehicles" for investment. Tech stocks stop making money? The money flows to mortgage-backed securities. Those start to tank? The money flows to commodities, like corn and oil. Where it goes doesn't really matter. The imperative is just to make more and more money. Of course, there is a need for more stringent regulation. But I think we cannot overemphasize the importance of this wealth shift and what it means for us, ordinary people, who have seen our real wealth erode as the cost of everyday needs has soared: housing, energy, food. When regular people have more money, they can pay their bills. They can pay off their loans. They might even be able to save some money, so that they have a cushion in tighter times that doesn't rely on a credit card. But the wealth shift orchestrated by the free traders and the tax avoiders has made the whole world more and more vulnerable. It's crazy.
What I would like to see in these debates about the bailout is this: You can have the money, with all these conditions (oversight, an equity stake, limits on executive compensation etc)--and... you know all those tax cuts we gave you that added more money to the huge pots of money you guys were sitting on already? We'll have them back, thank you very much. You can pay for your own bailout. For icing on the cake, we could also end that war that has continued to bleed us dry, because we just can't afford it anymore.
I got an email yesterday from Food First about the crisis that I wish I could link to, because I think it was a very powerful synopsis of the problem. But it doesn't appear to be on the internet yet except as a comment to a New York Times blog post! But you can at least see that here.
Other links:
Food First website
Article: Let Them Eat Free Markets
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The Theft of the 2008 Election
The theft of the 2000 and 2004 elections has been well documented. Although it got very little attention in the corporate media, there were so many shenanigans with the vote in the last few elections as to make one's head spin, especially if one wants to believe in democracy.
I just stumbled over to Greg Palast's website the other day to see if he had any updated information about what was going on with Venezuela (because thanks to Greg, I know that when Chavez starts saying that the US is out to topple him, it isn't something that can just be dismissed out of hand, since it wouldn't be the first time).
At any rate, there are some alarming numbers there. Over a million people whose voter registrations have disappeared. The purging of huge numbers of voters from the rolls in battleground states. This is serious stuff.
They've gotten away with it before. They will try to get away with it again. All they need is a close-enough election, which it looks like they will have. Greg Palast is asking for support to get his message out into the media in the next few weeks, to see if shining a spotlight on what is going on with these states can make a difference. If you care about democracy in this country, I'd encourage you to consider throwing some $$ Greg's way.
Links:
Greg Palast talks about the theft of 2008
A good collection of links about problems in the 2004 election, and to organizations working on this issue
I just stumbled over to Greg Palast's website the other day to see if he had any updated information about what was going on with Venezuela (because thanks to Greg, I know that when Chavez starts saying that the US is out to topple him, it isn't something that can just be dismissed out of hand, since it wouldn't be the first time).
At any rate, there are some alarming numbers there. Over a million people whose voter registrations have disappeared. The purging of huge numbers of voters from the rolls in battleground states. This is serious stuff.
They've gotten away with it before. They will try to get away with it again. All they need is a close-enough election, which it looks like they will have. Greg Palast is asking for support to get his message out into the media in the next few weeks, to see if shining a spotlight on what is going on with these states can make a difference. If you care about democracy in this country, I'd encourage you to consider throwing some $$ Greg's way.
Links:
Greg Palast talks about the theft of 2008
A good collection of links about problems in the 2004 election, and to organizations working on this issue
Saturday, September 13, 2008
New Stuff In the Shop!
I have added some new items to the Lovely Flower Bright Idea Shop. The first is one I've been thinking about for a long time. Thom Hartmann likes to play the audio clip of Ronald Reagan saying, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" Well, after watching New Orleans drown in Katrina, and after watching veterans coming back from war to inadequate support, and generally watching how government under conservative rule has failed to help ordinary people much while it has helped a few rich people and corporations to grow even richer and more powerful; how the agencies filled with cronies have failed to protect us and do what they were created to do--well, all I have to say is, yes, the government can fail to deliver. But when it does, it does for a reason. And there are things we need our government to do, things we can't possibly do on our own. In my opinion, that's why we have a government to begin with--or at least, that should be the reason.
The whole conservative "You're-on-your-own-ership society" is not something that is going to work out well for most of us.
The other design is a modification to another design in the shop. I'm not thrilled with some of the Dems we have out there. But maybe if we can get solid majorities in Congress, especially in the Senate, we can make some real change happen.
The other design is a modification to another design in the shop. I'm not thrilled with some of the Dems we have out there. But maybe if we can get solid majorities in Congress, especially in the Senate, we can make some real change happen.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Thursday, September 04, 2008
So I've had this dream...
...of designing bumper stickers. I had a bunch of anti-Hillary ones all over the place. In my head. On little notes. I don't hate her or anything. Just didn't want her to be president.
While I was on vacation last week, I opened up a very small shop with not-yet-so-many offerings at CafePress.
I just couldn't help myself with this one. The whole Maverick meme just gets me. What is left of my rational mind cannot understand why he is permitted to get away with it. So I offer this to the world, at the Lovely Flower Bright Idea Shop.
While I was on vacation last week, I opened up a very small shop with not-yet-so-many offerings at CafePress.
I just couldn't help myself with this one. The whole Maverick meme just gets me. What is left of my rational mind cannot understand why he is permitted to get away with it. So I offer this to the world, at the Lovely Flower Bright Idea Shop.
Monday, August 11, 2008
I'm Takin' My Country Back
I'd heard bits of this song before but Thom Hartmann played a little bit of it as bumper music last week and somehow this time it got stuck in my head long enough to look it up!
This particular version is part of a campaign to...retire Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
This particular version is part of a campaign to...retire Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Go, Paris!
I just had to share this, it's so precious. And timely, since McCain is spending (I imagine) oodles of money to position his "Celebrity" ad so prominently in the Olympics coverage.
See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die
If you haven't seen the original John McCain video and want to watch it, YouTube has it here.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The Things We Keep
This is just short, and personal. I've been searching my garage for this quilting book I got from my grandma when she died, and so I've been going through all these boxes, some of which I haven't really looked in for years.
Since I've posted on this site about my enduring ... admiration for John Cusack, I thought I would share a page from one of the fun things I found today--a program from the free campus screening of The Sure Thing, his first big hit and the movie that cemented him in my mind as a huge talent.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
McCain, Free Trade, and the Release of the FARC Captives
I heard earlier today about John McCain being in Colombia today to campaign for the adoption of the bilateral Colombia Free Trade Agreement (not to be confused with CAFTA, now CAFTA-DR, which is the Central American (+ the Dominican Republic) Free Trade Agreement).
I then heard about the liberation, courtesy of the Colombian government, of a group of people, including Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate, and a number of American Pentagon contractors.
I couldn't help but think...coincidence? Coincidence that McCain just happens to be in Colombia on the day these people are freed? And apparently, he got briefed about the action before it happened. Wow! How...presidential sounding! And it was so coincidental that he was there just in time for the rescue!
I couldn't help but be reminded of other captives, hostages that were held longer to help a new American president be elected, freed on an Inauguration Day many years ago. An American president whose administration would subsequently be involved in the trade of arms for hostages in the Iran-Contra scandal.
McCain supports the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and has apparently (to my knowledge) never seen a Free Trade Agreement that he didn't like. Obama on the other hand has gone on record opposing the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. The current administration of Colombia wants this agreement to happen. It doesn't take a brilliant mind to surmise that they might have a vested interest in doing anything they can do to help McCain look the hero.
Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries for labor organizers--over 2500 have been killed since 2005 and although murders of union activists are apparently down under Uribe, the current President, they have been picking up lately. Between that and--dare I say?--the drugs, it's no wonder that a FTA with Colombia is so desired by the neoliberals.
Links:
McCain briefed on rescue operation in Colombia, Washington Post
Al Jazeera's report on the release of the captives
NYT article about the murder of union organizers in Colombia and the proposed FTA
The US Trade Representative's web page with links to information about trade agreements
Wikipedia entry on Iran-Contra
I then heard about the liberation, courtesy of the Colombian government, of a group of people, including Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate, and a number of American Pentagon contractors.
I couldn't help but think...coincidence? Coincidence that McCain just happens to be in Colombia on the day these people are freed? And apparently, he got briefed about the action before it happened. Wow! How...presidential sounding! And it was so coincidental that he was there just in time for the rescue!
I couldn't help but be reminded of other captives, hostages that were held longer to help a new American president be elected, freed on an Inauguration Day many years ago. An American president whose administration would subsequently be involved in the trade of arms for hostages in the Iran-Contra scandal.
McCain supports the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and has apparently (to my knowledge) never seen a Free Trade Agreement that he didn't like. Obama on the other hand has gone on record opposing the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. The current administration of Colombia wants this agreement to happen. It doesn't take a brilliant mind to surmise that they might have a vested interest in doing anything they can do to help McCain look the hero.
Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries for labor organizers--over 2500 have been killed since 2005 and although murders of union activists are apparently down under Uribe, the current President, they have been picking up lately. Between that and--dare I say?--the drugs, it's no wonder that a FTA with Colombia is so desired by the neoliberals.
Links:
McCain briefed on rescue operation in Colombia, Washington Post
Al Jazeera's report on the release of the captives
NYT article about the murder of union organizers in Colombia and the proposed FTA
The US Trade Representative's web page with links to information about trade agreements
Wikipedia entry on Iran-Contra
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Just got back from War, Inc.
I was very much looking forward to the movie, and went to see it tonight in a tiny theater near the University of Washington. It was the late show, and the theater wasn't exactly packed. I felt a little sad about that. I know that it is still in the test market phase, and how it does now will impact what kind of broader distribution it gets.
It was more or less what I expected in most ways, although there were of course surprises. It was funny, but it also had a rawness, and it hit a little too close to home to be a very comfortable movie to watch. I kind of expected that--I knew the film was made to provoke thought about how the United States is operating right now in the world. But I felt a little more uncomfortable than I expected.
At any rate, it's not a masterpiece. But it's a funny film that I hope will help people to see something that may not be comfortable, but is important.
And it was pretty fun to see goody-two-shoes Hilary Duff (and I am fond of her for that, being a former goody-two-shoes myself) play the tramp-like, oversexed pop star too.
Showtimes here.
It was more or less what I expected in most ways, although there were of course surprises. It was funny, but it also had a rawness, and it hit a little too close to home to be a very comfortable movie to watch. I kind of expected that--I knew the film was made to provoke thought about how the United States is operating right now in the world. But I felt a little more uncomfortable than I expected.
At any rate, it's not a masterpiece. But it's a funny film that I hope will help people to see something that may not be comfortable, but is important.
And it was pretty fun to see goody-two-shoes Hilary Duff (and I am fond of her for that, being a former goody-two-shoes myself) play the tramp-like, oversexed pop star too.
Showtimes here.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
And the future means...more bondage to Big Oil?
This morning I read about Honda's new hydrogen-fueled car. It's very shiny, and if you live in parts of California, you might be able to lease one for $600 a month. Yikes! I wasn't all that thrilled to read that a tank of hydrogen would only get you about 270 miles. Now my little Civic will go about 400 miles on a tank of gasoline, and the Prius can go more than 500. So right off the bat it's not sounding like such a great deal.
I tried to find out then how much a tank of hydrogen will cost, anyhow. I couldn't find anyone who would say exactly (perhaps I just didn't look long and hard enough?), but I did find a Shell FAQ web page that said this:
I have to admit that I am cynical about the whole Hydrogen Economy thing. From what I've seen. Hydrogen is as yet expensive to produce, and although we might one day be able to plug a hydrogen generator into our rooftop solar panels, it would seem to make more sense to just plug an electric car's battery into the solar panel directly.
I think I have a tendency to believe what they said in the film Who Killed the Electric Car--that the Hydrogen Fuel Cell thing isn't the best idea, or the best technology. It's just a way to keep us coming back to them--to keep us paying them for fuel. Over and over and over again. Automobile manufacturers also have something at stake--electric cars typically require very little maintenance, and as also pointed out in that movie, car dealerships make more money from service than from car sales.
I heard the other day that 60% of Americans believe that if we could just drill more (like in ANWR), the price of gas would drop. But if the problem were just that the cost of production for oil is going up, then the oil companies wouldn't be making these huge profits. Of course if the price of oil goes up, the cost of gas will go up. But it doesn't logically follow that profits will automatically increase astronomically as a result. They don't call it Big Oil without cause--the few oil companies there are left after all the mergers and acquisitions are clearly colluding to keep the price of oil up. Given what has happened to the cost of oil since the invasion of Iraq, I am inclined to believe Greg Palast when he said that the war in Iraq wasn't about cheap access to oil--it was about controlling the supply of oil so that the price would go up. There is a reason that we have anti-trust laws on the books. Monopolies are bad for everybody except the people who run them.
As for the car thing...well, I'm still waiting for that plug-in hybrid.
Links:
A different way of looking at this development (and how I found out about it!)
Honda website--New Hydrogen-Fueled Car
Shell's FAQ site
Greg Palast about the Cost of Oil
Plug-In America
I tried to find out then how much a tank of hydrogen will cost, anyhow. I couldn't find anyone who would say exactly (perhaps I just didn't look long and hard enough?), but I did find a Shell FAQ web page that said this:
How much does hydrogen cost compared to petrol at the present moment?Hmm...more expensive car that has to have all sorts of high-tech features to keep it from blowing up in an accident (only another way to say lots of stuff that's going to need maintenance, in my mind)...and it's going to cost about the same as gas...and require more fill-ups than an economy car...doesn't sound like such a great deal to me yet.
This is comparing apples and pears. There is no existing commercial market for hydrogen yet. However we have publicly stated that we expect a tank of hydrogen ultimately will get you as far as the same tank filled with petrol for about the same costs.
I have to admit that I am cynical about the whole Hydrogen Economy thing. From what I've seen. Hydrogen is as yet expensive to produce, and although we might one day be able to plug a hydrogen generator into our rooftop solar panels, it would seem to make more sense to just plug an electric car's battery into the solar panel directly.
I think I have a tendency to believe what they said in the film Who Killed the Electric Car--that the Hydrogen Fuel Cell thing isn't the best idea, or the best technology. It's just a way to keep us coming back to them--to keep us paying them for fuel. Over and over and over again. Automobile manufacturers also have something at stake--electric cars typically require very little maintenance, and as also pointed out in that movie, car dealerships make more money from service than from car sales.
I heard the other day that 60% of Americans believe that if we could just drill more (like in ANWR), the price of gas would drop. But if the problem were just that the cost of production for oil is going up, then the oil companies wouldn't be making these huge profits. Of course if the price of oil goes up, the cost of gas will go up. But it doesn't logically follow that profits will automatically increase astronomically as a result. They don't call it Big Oil without cause--the few oil companies there are left after all the mergers and acquisitions are clearly colluding to keep the price of oil up. Given what has happened to the cost of oil since the invasion of Iraq, I am inclined to believe Greg Palast when he said that the war in Iraq wasn't about cheap access to oil--it was about controlling the supply of oil so that the price would go up. There is a reason that we have anti-trust laws on the books. Monopolies are bad for everybody except the people who run them.
As for the car thing...well, I'm still waiting for that plug-in hybrid.
Links:
A different way of looking at this development (and how I found out about it!)
Honda website--New Hydrogen-Fueled Car
Shell's FAQ site
Greg Palast about the Cost of Oil
Plug-In America
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
The Global Oneness Project
My husband came across this video this morning and I thought it was beautiful and thought-provoking--the project is to document with video new awakenings and new beginnings in this world in a time of transformation. During this video below, the question is asked, "What if a large percentage of us decided to do something different?" What if? What if a new world--a better world--really is possible? What if it could be right within our grasp? Who would fight to hold on to the status quo? And who would welcome its passing for a different way of being--a way that says I am You. You are me. Whatever happens to you, happens to me. What I do to you, I do to myself. As Dr. King once said so eloquently, "We are caught in an inescapable web of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." What if we knew that, not just intellectually, but from the core of our being?
What if?
Link:
Global Oneness Project
What if?
Link:
Global Oneness Project
Monday, June 16, 2008
Jerry Mander talking about Indigenous Peoples' Resistance to Economic Globalization
When I first heard Jerry Mander's name, I thought maybe it was a joke. A progressive activist named Jerry Mander? Gerrymander? Sounds like a joke. However, according to Wikipedia (despite the jokes, a pretty accurate source of information about many things), it's not a pseudonym but his real name.
At any rate, I stumbled across this transcript of a speech by Jerry Mander the other day in a publication I'd never heard of called Lapis Magazine. It's about how indigenous people are threatened by our manic corporate system, and how they are fighting back. The article also includes links to the International Forum on Globalization website which looks like it's chock full of interesting stuff. Annie Leonard, who created The Story of Stuff, is apparently a board member.
Links:
Jerry Mander speech on Lapis Magazine website
International Forum on Globalization
At any rate, I stumbled across this transcript of a speech by Jerry Mander the other day in a publication I'd never heard of called Lapis Magazine. It's about how indigenous people are threatened by our manic corporate system, and how they are fighting back. The article also includes links to the International Forum on Globalization website which looks like it's chock full of interesting stuff. Annie Leonard, who created The Story of Stuff, is apparently a board member.
Links:
Jerry Mander speech on Lapis Magazine website
International Forum on Globalization
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Imagine...the rule of law
Dennis Kucinich, a man of high ideals who loves this country with all her blemishes and fights to make her better, spent some five hours reading 35 articles of impeachment against George W. Bush into the congressional record this week. Lies. Torture. The incarceration of children. Illegal wiretapping. If anyone has been a poster child for scofflaw presidents, surely it is George W. Bush. I say that in the nicest possible way, of course. In his shoes, I might have done the same thing. I can't really say. I don't know. I don't think I will wish to be in his shoes when he has his life review though.
At any rate, if we had the rule of law undoubtedly we would see some kind of action on this list. If the Democrats had any guts, we would see action on this list. I think it is likely it will just languish in committee, but one can hope otherwise. After all, the best way to ensure you don't repeat the past is to first try to understand it honestly.
You can find links to a pdf of the whole thing and a bunch of other goodies here:
AfterDowningStreet.org page with links
At any rate, if we had the rule of law undoubtedly we would see some kind of action on this list. If the Democrats had any guts, we would see action on this list. I think it is likely it will just languish in committee, but one can hope otherwise. After all, the best way to ensure you don't repeat the past is to first try to understand it honestly.
You can find links to a pdf of the whole thing and a bunch of other goodies here:
AfterDowningStreet.org page with links
Friday, June 13, 2008
Floods and a different way of being
The floods in Iowa have been on my mind this week, as a vendor we work with in Cedar Rapids had to abandon their offices and shift work elsewhere. Last I heard earlier today, the river was still on the rise, expected to crest over 12 feet above the previous historical record. Hearing the news, I couldn't help but think of Al Gore, and his warnings. Here in Washington, I heard a rumor that we might be having the coldest June on record (and I believe it, it's felt like October). It makes you wonder, is "normal" weather a thing of the past? And it concerns me, with food prices already high, what the rest of the year is going to look like, if too many crops are destroyed, and what this might mean.
It also brought to mind this article I read in Yes! Magazine some time ago, from a 2001 edition of the magazine, about a new social movement in India. The article talked about how in addition to healing wounds brought about by poverty and the caste system, the Swadhyaya movement was also teaching people how to catch rain in special catchment ponds and use that to recharge aquifers. I think it's time to start thinking hard about how to deal with both "abnormal" rainfall patterns and drought. Now I'm no expert, but the article made me think there may be more we can do to green this garden of Earth than we might think. They don't talk about flood control in the article, but I think there might possibly be some connection there too. The article was also interesting on some other levels, but it was the water, all that water, that brought it to my mind today.
Link:
India's Silent But Singing Revolution
It also brought to mind this article I read in Yes! Magazine some time ago, from a 2001 edition of the magazine, about a new social movement in India. The article talked about how in addition to healing wounds brought about by poverty and the caste system, the Swadhyaya movement was also teaching people how to catch rain in special catchment ponds and use that to recharge aquifers. I think it's time to start thinking hard about how to deal with both "abnormal" rainfall patterns and drought. Now I'm no expert, but the article made me think there may be more we can do to green this garden of Earth than we might think. They don't talk about flood control in the article, but I think there might possibly be some connection there too. The article was also interesting on some other levels, but it was the water, all that water, that brought it to my mind today.
Link:
India's Silent But Singing Revolution
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