Slushy day in brooklyn

Long way down, long way to go

The shit is piling up from all those chickens coming home to roost. Did anyone really think that replacing decent paying manufacturing jobs with low paying service jobs was an intelligent plan? Not to mention creating a monstrous, wealth sucking health providing business whose goal is not providing health care?

Lori Harris, 47, waited for the job fair to open... She is paying $95 a month toward $23,000 in student loan debt. She is living with her boyfriend, who is supporting her, not always cheerfully. She has no health insurance and cannot see a specialist for a torn rotator cuff and recently applied for food stamps.

“I tried to better myself,” she said, “and I’m getting nowhere.”

She was offered one job, as a medical technician dispensing pills to patients. The pay was $7.50 an hour.

“Forget it,” she said. “I was like, ‘Is it worth going to college? Did I waste my time?’”

She wondered if her age explains the rejections. Or her Boston accent. Or the smell of her cigarette smoking.

“It’s getting really discouraging,” she said.

Unfortunately, things are going to get a helluva lot worse for the Ms. Harris's of this country. Americans' sense of exceptionalism and entitlement are largely responsible for allowing the government to get away with shipping so many good jobs overseas for a dime on the dollar. The better educated told themselves that it would be those other losers who will have to take the lower paying jobs. Most of those affected either couldn't bother to pay attention to current events, didn't have the education to understand them and/or let their attention diverted by stupid hateful Republican propaganda. Until they lose those fantasies, they'll find that there's still a long way to go to get to the bottom.

Americans will be slow on the uptake in realizing that they don't deserve squat in this world. Great wealth is bestowed on many through the lottery of birth and many others earn it through a combination of cleverness and hustle. But most people's chances come from intelligent public policy that encourages education and job opportunity. To get and maintain those kinds of intelligent public policies requires a modicum of educated self-interest from the masses. The type of person most likely to rise in both politics and big business is prone to corruption. To keep them in check requires constant vigilance. Otherwise, before you know it, everything for sale is manufactured abroad, you can't afford to see a doctor or purchase medicine, the only food you can afford makes you fat and sick, and the only job you can get pays little better than minimum wage. If that.

So in the longer term, the Ms. Harris's of this world, and I count myself among them, better start paying attention to politics, understand the economic forces that are fucking them over, then find their voices and make them heard. If we want high paying jobs, we've got to make it in the best interest of companies to provide them. Allowing them to profit by shipping them abroad will result in them being shipped abroad. Duh.

In the short term, she'd do well to quit smoking, certainly before job interviews, eat healthy, cancel the cable and study up on some history and current events.

And take that $7.50 an hour job until you can find something better. Cause if you don't, something much worse is coming along fast.

Look away, obvious solution ahead

Regular readers know that I do not believe the there is a legitimate two party system in the U.S. Granted, the nominal parties differ on social issues but when it comes to matters of cold hard cash, they all work for the same bosses. Hopefully, Obama will prove me wrong, but his appointments don't suggest that will happen anytime soon.

Anyway, two prominent news items support the observation that the only political party in the U.S. is the Business party. The first is government's insistence that workers at American companies take pay cuts. The second is the widespread lamentation that there is nothing we can do about out-of-control executive looting, errr compensation.

Both of these issues should be easy to understand and resolve, yet all across the political spectrum our leaders just throw up their hands and say that nothing can be done. Perhaps there is areal need for American workers to take pay cuts to put their salaries in line with foreign workers. If this is a valid principle, we should apply it across the board.

For example, American executives make far more money than their Japanese or European counterparts (whose companies, btw, have apparently been much better managed):"

On average, chief executives at Japanese companies with more than $10 billion in annual revenues are paid about $1.3 million a year, including bonuses and stock-option grants, according to Towers Perrin, a consulting firm, based on data gathered between 2004 and 2006. But chiefs in the U.S. are paid about $12 million, and chiefs in Europe are paid $6 million.

So why don't our leaders demand the same pay equivalence of executives as they do of workers? And perhaps we should look at bringing our Senators and Congress people's total compensation more in line with world averages.

Of course everyone throws up their hands and wails that there's nothing we can do about executive compensation. That's really not something the government can, or should legislate. And I agree. The government shouldn't legislate anyone's salaries (not even their own).

But the government can certainly influence executive pay and it's not a great mystery how. The fact that the obvious answer that has worked so well in the U.S. historically and continues to work well abroad even up to the present day is not even discussed in the congress or the media is yet another demonstration that we are a one party state.

What is this mysterious solution to this problem? It's right out there in plain site.

The progressive tax system, duh. Just tax the greedy motherfuckers back to earth. That's what we've done in the past. That's what they do abroad. I'll leave it to the experts to figure out the best levels, but something like 70 percent of any income or capital gains over $500,000, 90 percent on any income or capital gains over 2 million, and 99 percent on any income or captial gains over 100 million. Would that result in people not wanting to become rich? No, but it might result in people not willing to mismanage and loot companies in order to become richer than Croesus.

Something like that would go a long way to solving a lot of problems. Too bad there's no opposition party or independent media to put it on the table.

Picture of the day

Snow day in Brooklyn.

The sociopath perspective

If you want a less sentimental take on "It's a Wonderful Life," (and why wouldn't you?) the New York Times obliges in this story by one Mr. Wendell Jamieson:

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your oppressively perfect wife. It is also a nightmare account of an endless home renovation.

The movie starts sappily enough... Soon enough, though, the darkness sets in. George’s brother, Harry (Todd Karns), almost drowns in a childhood accident; Mr. Gower, a pharmacist, nearly poisons a sick child; and then George, a head taller than everyone else, becomes the pathetic older sibling creepily hanging around Harry’s high school graduation party. That night George humiliates his future wife, Mary (Donna Reed), by forcing her to hide behind a bush naked, and the evening ends with his father’s sudden death.

Disappointments pile up. George can’t go to college because of his obligation to run the Bailey Building and Loan, and instead sends Harry. But Harry returns a slick, self-obsessed jerk, cannily getting out of his responsibility to help with the family business, by marrying a woman whose dad gives him a job. George again treats Mary cruelly, this time by chewing her out and bringing her to tears before kissing her. It is hard to understand precisely what she sees in him.

That's a great take. I wish I'd been perceptive enough to frame it that way. Then the writer (I find it hard to believe that Mr. Wendell Jamieson doesn't have something like III or IV or Esq. after his name) goes on to highlight thoughts I thought back when I was in my early twenties, if not 15:

Here’s the thing about Pottersville that struck me when I was 15: It looks like much more fun than stultifying Bedford Falls — the women are hot, the music swings, and the fun times go on all night. If anything, Pottersville captures just the type of excitement George had long been seeking.

I understand and share the feeling. I left a small town for the big city, a series of them actually, and wouldn't wish that stultifying life on anyone with the good sense to get out, but the writer of this NY Times piece goes quite a bit farther and does a good job of illustrating the sociopathology of the wealthy shitwads that rule the world:

I interpret it instead as showing the true characters of these individuals, their venal internal selves stripped bare. The flirty Violet (played by a supersexy Gloria Grahame, who would soon become a timeless film noir femme fatale) is a dime dancer and maybe a prostitute; Ernie the cabbie’s blank face speaks true misery as George enters his taxi; Bert the cop is a trigger-happy madman, violating every rule in the patrol guide when he opens fire on the fleeing, yet unarmed, George, forcing revelers to cower on the pavement...

Not only is Pottersville cooler and more fun than Bedford Falls, it also would have had a much, much stronger future. Think about it: In one scene George helps bring manufacturing to Bedford Falls. But since the era of “It’s a Wonderful Life” manufacturing in upstate New York has suffered terribly.

On the other hand, Pottersville, with its nightclubs and gambling halls, would almost certainly be in much better financial shape today. It might well be thriving.

You see the problem? Mr. Wendell Jamieson (IV, Esq, whatever) seems to believe that it's necessary for the poor to suffer in order for people such as himself to have fun. The opposite of what he says is the reality. The true characters of Bert the cop, Ernie the cabdriver, Nick the Bartender and Violet Bick are not psychopathically violent cop, miserable loser, angry scumbag, and drunken prostitute. The point is that they would not be that way if they lived in a society with a modicum of economic fairness. They would be decent people with a good shot at happiness. Economic justice and good times are not mutually exclusive.

It really makes you wonder about the writer (III, Esq). Does his happiness require the suffering of others. Must his prostitutes be desperately unhappy for him to get off? Would he feel even smaller if the cops and cab drivers and bartenders he so obviously looks down on live decent lives? And the idea that gambling jobs are better than manufacturing? Yea, how's that working out?

That's such a fucked up take but it's valuable for the window it gives us into the minds of the upper eastsiders and their soul mates everywhere.

Annual xmas post

"When we consider the character of any individual, we naturally view it under two different aspects; first, as it may affect his own happiness; and secondly, as it may affect that of other people."

-- Adam Smith, famous Free Market Philosopher

"Remember, no man is a failure who has friends."

-- Clarence, 2nd Class Angel in "It’ a Wonderful Life."

It’s Christmas eve again, or Xmas eve as we say in our house. We strive to take the Christ out of Christmas.

Replacing Christmas with Xmas was, as you can probably imagine, a difficult battle. Like you, we live in a superstitious nation in which the airwaves are saturated with references to all the worst sorts of mumbo jumbo. And children, you know, are very susceptible to that kind of nonsense, especially when they see it on tv.

Also, kids like to argue with the parents and we actually encourage that. We are not the parental types who dictate their children’s beliefs. We require that they become educated on important subjects so they can make informed decisions rather than simply absorbing whatever nonsense happens to be wafting among the societal vapors at any given time. So Christmas didn't die easily in the chuckling household.

The children had a choice. If they wanted to celebrate Christmas instead of Xmas, well, that was their business. But I explained that Christmas is a solemn religious holiday, the reputed birthday of the God who would grant them an eternal life of bliss if they are willing to flatter it constantly; not some excuse to get a bunch of toys. I explained that it would be wrong, blasphemous even, to commercialize such a momentous occasion in the history of the universe.

Xmas, on the other hand, is mostly about the exchange of gifts, with a little family togetherness thrown in for good measure. If they liked Christmas so fucking much, we’d take them to church and then bloody well be done with it.

When presented with these simple observations, the children wisely chose Xmas over Christmas. But Xmas is not solely about hauling in loot. It also contains important lessons about the importance of societal bonds and giving to our mental health and happiness.

Of course most children will not thoroughly absorb those facts the first few times around. But as the years go by and their minds develop, repeated lessons in what makes life wonderful will often take root and grow. As adults, those with a well-developed understanding of what’s wonderful in life are able to project it beyond the immediate environs of their family and close friends. They can imagine a better society in which everyone is happier, not only due to what they are given, but also because of what they give.

That insight is a big part of what Xmas teaches and it is true. But unfortunately, our society is dominated by the spirit of Christmas. Unlike Xmas Christmas is all about getting something for nothing. Pretty much all you have to do is lie, if even that, and a supernatural being will shower you with gifts, both here and in the afterlife. For the individual, the spirit of Christmas is a prescription for poor mental health and unhappiness. For society, that same Christmas spirit is a blueprint for suffering and strife for far too many people.

Well, there’s not much we can do to save society from the evils of Christmas, but my own little family unit has developed some Xmas traditions that contribute to our own mental health and happiness.

This may surprise you, but one of our most important traditions is watching "It’s a Wonderful Life," the 1946 Frank Capra movie starring Jimmy Stewart.

You might think that poor chuckling would hate “It’s a Wonderful Life” because of the religious claptrap and overt sentimentality, but I am not opposed to the use of the supernatural as a narrative device. If angels help move the story along, then bring in the angels I say. And what's wrong with wallowing in sentimentality once a year? And what better time than XMas eve?

But it's not all about claptrap and sentimentality. Although it’s true that “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a devastating critique of the spirit of Christmas and a nearly impeccable metaphoric representation of the spirit of Xmas, I wouldn’t watch it, much less subject the kids to the experience, if it were not a great movie on its own merit. The story is much deeper than it appears at first glance.

When the movie was released in 1946, few could have guessed that it would attain the status of timeless masterpiece. "It’s a Wonderful Life" was a box office flop and financial disaster that bankrupted its studio. Although nominated for several Academy Awards, it didn’t win in any category. One of the big reasons for its failure was that many people felt that it was too political. That may surprise you, but it really was. Consciously so.

It still is.

"It’s a Wonderful Life" features nostalgic dancing and romance. Good triumphs over evil. The little guy wins. Our eyes grow moist at crucial points throughout the movie. George saves his brother from drowning, saves the druggist from a tragic mistake, saves Uncle Billy from the mental institution, saves Violet Bick from becoming a drunken harlot, and ultimately saves Bedford Falls from becoming Pottersville. Tears flow freely when we learn that George Bailey, not Mr. Potter, is the richest man in town.

George Bailey is a child in the years immediately following World War I. He’s a teenager in the Roaring Twenties. A young man during the Great Depression. A middle aged family man through the end of the Second World War.

Those years span momentous eras in the history of the United States. From the general economic well-being of the war years through the record setting prosperity of the 1920’s to the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Society was rocked by wild mood swings and extreme changes in fortune and financial well-being. Radically different social and political philosophies were embraced to explain the times. Each new era seemed to prove false the philosophy of its predecessor.

"It’s a Wonderful Life" presents those philosophical arguments just beneath the surface. George Bailey’s struggle with Mr. Potter for the soul of Bedford Falls pits the individualistic moral universe of the Roaring Twenties against the community oriented struggles of the Great Depression and war years. European style socialism vs. unfettered capitalism. Capitalism comes out looking pretty bad. But the movie is hardly didactic. It shows rather than tells.

In Bedford Falls, freshly fallen snow blankets the town square. Patriot buntings deck the walls and buildings. Main Street is empty at night save for a few parked cars and some lonely tire tracks in the snow. The trees are decked in Christmas lights. Precocious little boys sled down a hill onto an icy pond. Little girls in ribbons and bows twirl on soda fountain stools. People treat each other with respect. The cops and the cab drivers are nice, happy people. Christmas wreaths and glowing candles in the windows of classic American homes appear warm and inviting.

In Pottersville, nothing is warm and inviting. Certainly not its Main street panorama of nightclubs and bars that serve "hard liquor to people who want to get drunk fast." Blinking lights and cold neon signs garishly advertise the Blue Moon, billiards and fights every Wednesday night, the Indian Club, cocktails, pawn brokers, dancing at the Midnight Club and gorgeous girls can be had for a dime in any number of nightclubs.

The same men who are warm, fun loving guys in Bedford Falls -- Bert the cop Ernie the cab driver, Nick the bartender; are angry wrecks living in broken down shacks in Pottersville. Women like Mary and Mrs. Bailey who were safely ensconced in the warmth of family and friends in Bedford Falls are lonely, cold and afraid of strangers in Pottersville.

The message was clear in 1946. George Bailey’s community spirit resulted in a better society than Mr. Potter’s relentless pursuit of financial self-interest.

Judging by the box office, people didn’t want to hear it back in those days. But somehow in our own time, that message has much more resonance.

It’s a bit ironic, because, let’s face it, we’re living in Pottersville. An apiring Capra could easily put together a montage of images depicting a Pottersville-like panoply of strip clubs, porno shops, casinos, bars, violent cops and mean drunks in just about any American city.

And if only the similarities between Pottersville and the America we know ended with the nightlife. We’re just waking up from a nightmare of corrupt capitalistic excess. We lived in a time of record setting prosperity that proved to be a Ponzi scheme. Opportunity is drying up. Businesses are closing and jobs are hard to come by. The stock market keeps going up, up, up until the next day when it goes down, down, down.

Then, as now, the rich, and the minority of people who participated in the stock market, are got a lot richer while those who had to work for a living stagnated. In 1920’s Pottersville the wealthiest 1 percent' controlled a statistically inordinate amount of the nation’s wealth and that number was compounded daily by the inexorable march of interest. Today, the top 1 percent of Americans own more than 35 percent of the nation's wealth, and one half of the population has less than $1000 in net financial assets. The governments of both eras exacerbated the disparity though regressive tax policies and loopholes for wealthy campaign contributor types. John D. Rockefeller was reborn as Bernard L. Madoff.

Then, as now, a technological revolution had provided more jobs. Back then skilled labor gave way to assembly lines, which in this era became customer service and teleservices jobs. Working in a phone center was the 1990’s equivalent of working on the assembly line in the 1920’s. Then the job was shipped overseas.

As wages for the majority stagnated or declined, consumer debt kept setting new records. The mailbox was full of easy credit. No more.

Just as the 1920’s ended with the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression, the economy of the late 2000’s is mired in all the shit dropped by so many chickens coming home to roost. Once again it’s turned out that consumer spending and economic expansion couldn’t go on forever in conjunction with exponentially increasing income disparity and massive consumer debt. One rich family can have thousands of times more assets than thousands of middle class families, but they’re not going to buy a thousand times more washing machines. Business fundamentals eventually bring stock valuations back in line with reality. Funding dries up for all of the businesses that are making crappy products and losing money, or in danger of doing so. Those that manage to stay in business lay off much of their workforce.

Although "It’s a Wonderful Life" deals with these grand issues, what sets it apart from other political message movies is its focus on the value of an individual life. Yet paradoxically, the great lie at the heart of "It’s a Wonderful Life" is that the life of anyone like George Bailey would have a significant influence on the life of a city like Bedford Falls.

The reality is that wars and recessions, boom times and depressions will come and go and Adam Smith’s "invisible hand" will continue to assure social results that are beyond the ability of a regular Joe to influence.

Ultimately, what separates the people in "It’s a Wonderful Life" isn’t their interest in accumulating wealth but their attitude towards it. For example, George's life-long friend Sam Wainwright pursues wealth with the same single-minded intensity of Mr. Potter, but he wants his friends to get rich as well. Plus he’s happy to help the community. Mr. Potter, on the other hand, tries to keep it all for himself. The result of that difference in attitude is that some people maintain a pretty good level of happiness while other become unhappy and bitter.

Like the great majority of Americans, George Bailey never becomes inordinately wealthy. But, like most of us, he learns that the value of family and friends is dearer than the value of money.

George Bailey will be the richest man in town in any era. Pottersville may be visible just outside the window, but we can all be good people. Doesn’t matter where we live.

That’s, ultimately, what makes “It’s a Wonderful Life” such an appealing film.

No one notices the underlying political messages and either wouldn’t care or would get angry if they did. But the progressive political message provides the foundation without which the story would not work.

Affordable tourism

As I think I mentioned, I got a new camera recently that's specifically for Black and White photos. Since my Thanksgiving vacation plans fell through, I spent the time in New York, mostly Brooklyn, learning how to use it.

This is the documentary of my learning experience, which future photography historians will likely refer to as my "professional suicide" phase. Nevertheless, I enjoy the slideshow.

In the spirit of XMas, I'm offering a free download of these photos so that anyone who wants can load them as a screen saver. They work much better on the larger screen, especially on a Mac. You can put on your favorite music, have a drink and/or whatever, and wallow in New York squalor!

ftp.fatcow.com
username: photoVisitor
pw: Welcome1234

Of course you are allowed to use these photos for non-commercial purposes only. Let me know if you have any problems.

Picture of the day

Picture of the day

The way to paradise

I just finished reading Mario Vargas Llosa's novel, "The Way to Pardise," about Paul Gauguin and his grandmother Flora Tristan. Tristan was a proto-feminist author and revolutionary. Gauguin, as you probably know, was an influential French painter most famous for the work he did in Tahiti. They were both of Peruvian descent and each spent an influential period of their lives in Peru, which is probably why they came to be the subjects of a Vargas Llosa novel.

It was the first new (to me) work of high quality fiction I've read in awhile. Part of it is related to my general intellectual decline but I think part of it is that I've again run out of authors. So I'm left with trying somebody completely new and superficially unappealing or reading the lesser, or at least lesser known, works of authors I've read extensively in the past. And of course I go way back with Vargas Llosa. I first read him in Spanish way back when I lived in Peru.

If you are unfamiliar with his work, know that Mario Vargas Llosa is easily one of the greatest living writers. He has an incredible command of storytelling's multiple tools and usually puts them to use in constructing compelling fictions that push, at least slightly, the established boundaries of literature. I consider "The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta" one of the best novels I've ever read. The story itself is great and the way it is told is both masterful and avant-garde, somehow managing to come off as traditional and ultra-modern at the same time. I very much enjoy reading "The War of the End of the World" and consider that a masterpiece as well. I'm not so sure about the ultimate literary value of "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter," but it is one of the funniest works of fiction I've read.

I doubt that The Way to Paradise" will be considered a masterpiece, but it is an interesting read. As usual, Vargas Llosa's mastery of form is exceptional, but it is the historicity of the characters that carries the novel. Paul Gauguin, after all, is an interesting character and if you don't know much about him, as I didn't, you will probably find his story fascinating. I doubt if much of anyone has heard of Flora Tristan, but her life and place in history are fascinating as well.

The link to Gauguin's Wikipedia page above is worth clicking on for the jpegs of some of his major works, many of which are discussed at length in the novel.

But the heart of the story is summed up best by Gauguin's epitaph provided by the Catholic bishop on the South Pacific island where he died: "The only noteworthy event here has been the sudden death of an individual named Paul Gauguin, a reputed artist but an enemy of God and everything that is decent in this world."

That, my friends, is an epitaph worth dying for.

What goes around goes around

Atrios points to yet another abject surrender by the congressional Democrats to the administration. But don't worry my friends. The Democratic party will soon find its spine and thwart the administration in all it tries to do. Just as soon as it's the Obama administration. Of that, you can be sure.

Freedom's finale

Today I went to Sunset Park. It was cold, rainy and ugly. Thus ends the worst vacation ever. Go anywhere my friends. Anywhere but New York City. In addition to cold, rainy and ugly, it's loud and it stinks. People are nice though.

The audacity of reality

Today's Washington Post has a good essay that points out the very obvious reality that Barack Obama is mixed, not black.

I've caught quite a bit of shit from progressives for making the same point. Of course it's true that racists use that fact to help justify their continued hate and ignorance towards non-whites. It's his white half, they say, that makes him smart. Well, it's true that racists are ignorant assholes but that's no reason for everyone else to deny reality. Obama really is mixed, not black.

Personally, I detest the entire classification of humans based on our ancestry. Who gives a fuck about hue and recent genetic origin? People with fucked up priorities, that's who.

I also find it interesting that so many progressives seem unable to comprehend the possibility of progress, at least in this area. I'm always told that reality-based analysis that shows the unmitigated idiocy of the concept of race is irrelevant to the poor African descendant pulled over for driving while black, or otherwise the victim of racism. Oh hi. Scientific reality is not irrelevant. It is the antiquated notions of race that enable the racists. Progress is embracing and promoting reality, not making excuses for those who refuse to do so.

The rules of journalism require the post to balance an intelligent article about race with an opposing one, so here is the answer from a nice, fucked up woman that speaks for all too many progressives:

For me, the goal has never been negating race through colorblindness -- to do so would take a healthy discussion of existing racial disparities off the table. My aim is not for us to be post-racial but to embrace our cultural heritages while refusing to be confined by them.

I've barely recovered from the epic campaign that led to President-elect Obama, so it's a bit early to be thinking about how cold it will be in Iowa come December 2011 or what the crowds might look like. It's safe to assume that Obama's coalition will somehow be altered by the power of the presidency. Perhaps by the time 2011 arrives, the country will have become less racially stratified.

I hope that by then, we will find that an auditorium of white Iowans cheering on a black, Asian or Latino presidential candidate is commonplace. I also hope that in that auditorium, race and ethnicity will remain valued aspects of our identities, not forgotten or homogenized for the sake of some vague notion of post-racialism.

Note three things. 1. It is now commonplace for white Iowans and people from every other state to cheer a (perceived) minority candidate. Fuck, they even voted for one by the millions, and 2. Ethnicity will always be a part of people's identities and no one is saying otherwise. Race, however, is not even real and it's fucked up for anyone to want it to be a part of his or her identity. Even more so to push those fucked up values on other people and 3. What the hell does any of that have to do with taking the goal of fixing existing disparities off the table? Nothing. Nothing whatsoever.

Tired of buildings and trees

Today is people day.

A day at the beach

Today, continuing my thanksgiving vacation in New York City, I went to Coney Island.






It's not all fun and games. Most of it is quite desolate. Especially in winter.






Outside the amusement park area, Coney Island is predominantly black and Latino. It's one of the more dangerous parts of the city. And unlike the Flatbush area where Obama's face is plastered everywhere, I didn't see a single image all along Mermaid Avenue. Does that say something about the relative presence of hope in these communities?

A day in the city

I think I mentioned that I'm vacationing in the New York City area this thanksgiving. As far as vacations go, that's akin to eating shit for thanksgiving dinner. Certainly not one's first choice.

On a photography note, I need to go back to this place when those smokestacks are smokin.



Actually it is a lot of people's first choice. Why? Beats the hell out of me. But I had nothing else to do so I went to check out the phenomenon.

You know there's a lot of controversy as to the precise location of the asshole of the universe. Well, I've been to a lot of the contenders and can't imagine there being anywhere more excremental than Times Square. People pay incredible amounts of money to come here and look at advertising. How crazy is that? Pretty crazy, that's how. Future historians will wag their heads in disgust.



Then I popped by Rockefeller center. I actually enjoy this area at night during the Xmas (we here at chuckling on-line magazine believe in taking the christ out of christmas) season. Cynical I may be, but there's a happy vibe about the place on december nights. But it's not even past Thanksgiving and this crap just feels excremental. Still, I found myself wanting to buy something. Damn the costs.




Then I went to church at St. Patrick's cathedral. Talk about excrement. Made me want to high tail it back to Brooklyn toot sweet.




That's more like it.



Yep.



Speaking of worship, I belatedly took an interest in the African American community's genuine pride in Obama's election. If it's not too late I may put together a show at some point. It's probably too late. It seems a lot of street vendors are going to be stuck with nicely framed portraits.



I've never understood why anyone goes to Manhattan. Except maybe to work. Or museums. And for nightlife. Granted, there's that.

Obla di, obla da, oble ah

Kia has a nice essay about ultra-violence, religious stupidity and intolerance in the Caribbean. Includes a link to a coupla great statues that are (allegedly) responsible for much of the violence.

W(h)ither the 800 pound gorilla?

I can't help but noting that in all this talk of out-of-control budget deficits and cutting wasteful spending, I have not heard nor read a single person mention the defense budget which is what? Half of all spending, much of which is total fucking waste and corruption.

Sure, the old Soviet Union went bankrupt and collapsed, partially due to the devotion of too many resources to military spending. But that can't happen to us now, can it? We're different. Exceptional, you might say. And our imaginary enemies might develop awesome capabilities for which we must be prepared, no matter the cost. Of course if they want to just buy us, that's a different matter. Rope is selling cheap these days.

Another day in the life

I've given up color photography. Just so you know. I'm like totally sick of color. It's just a trick the brain plays on the eyes and I've had it up to here with stupid brain tricks. From here on out, all I do is black and white. And many shades of gray. At least sixteen. No fewer.


I had to get a specialized black and white camera, which was expensive. That and the price of travel these days resulted in me staying home for Thanksgiving, doing my part to tank the economy. I'd already taken the vacation days at work, so here I am playing the tourist in Brooklyn on a rainy November day. Today I saw Flatbush Avenue.


Figuring it's going to get even colder before it gets warmer, I hiked to Sears and bought some long underwear. When I got home I put on a top and threw a t-shirt over it. My teenage daughter said I looked like Kurt Cobain if he had lived to be old and fat. Kurt Cobain, I thought. Cool. Anyway, after shopping I had a bite to eat.


Then I did some window shopping. The Xmas season is upon us.



I felt safe with the NYPD watching over me.



Getting tired, I stopped by the orgy for some relaxation.



Then I took a picture of a tree.



That got me thinking about nature so I went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It's free on weekdays all winter.



Afterward I walked back home through Prospect Park. Tomorrow I'll probably do the same. The same. The same. The same.

What's in store

A sign went up for the new business that will be replacing the recently closed Halal meat market in my neighborhood. Fortunately, we were all wrong. It is not a pawn shop, nor a pawn mall. Not a storefront church, though that was a very good guess. Could have been a storefront mosque as well, but no. And it didn't turn out to be a Mexican or Chinese restaurant either, though I got a bit scared when I saw two Chinese looking guys installing a steam table.

No, it turns out to be a place called Basmati, specializing in Curries, Shwarmas, and Falafels. Praise be to Allah! Something to balance out the dreaded Pizza or Chinese on eat in Fridays.

There are already plenty of curry places down the street and around the corner, but we never eat there because we are sure they rip us off. None of the prices are posted. The rooms are full of Bangladeshi and Pakistani laborers and taxi drivers. And they're asking me to believe a shriveled piece of Tandoori chicken is nine dollars? No way Bub. And a Jewish Falafel place opened recently, but they are closed on Friday nights and Saturdays, which are the only times we ever order out.

So my pessimism was over the top, as is not unusual. But the recently closed 99 cent store is now gutted, and whoever bought it also took over the recently deceased cheap furniture place right next door, so something big is coming.

Normally, I'd guess something that size would be a drugstore but it's right across the street from a Walgreens, caddy corner to a Rite-Aid, and just down the street from at least two Russian pharmacies, so I'm not as confident in that prediction as I might otherwise be.

It's almost big enough for a burger joint like Wendy's or McDonald's. That would be a horror. The first fast food place on the strip. Or it could be a porno palace. We don't have any of those nearby. Storefront church or mosque is still a good possibility.

But I'll still guess drug store. That smells most like capitalism these days.

Photo of the day

It's the stupid, economy

You can’t accuse me of being a conservative. What is a conservative? Someone who is wrong again and again and again yet keeps believing in the value of his or her analysis. On economic questions, I have been wrong again and again and again. But instead of trying to get myself appointed secretary of Treasury as if I were a conservative, I quit making economic predictions a long time ago. At least short term economic predictions.

Time frame is the key. Time and time again I’ve been burned on the short term predictions. For example, Ronald Reagan is running gargantuan budget deficits which means hyperinflation is about to take off so therefore I should obviously use as much credit as possible, no matter the interest rates, because soon the dollar will be so worthless we’ll be using them for toilet paper. Wrong.

Which brings me to today’s topic. The economic crisis. Everyone agrees that in order for us to be prosperous, we must be voracious consumers who spend more and more, exponentially, forever.

Well excuse me. This plan simply cannot work, not in the long term. It is essentially a pyramid scheme: a non-sustainable business model in which approximately 88% of all people will lose, if not more.

The question is not if it will collapse, but when it will collapse. People simply cannot continue to buy a bunch of useless, or at best unnecessary crap until the end of time. Eventually they will have enough. How many Ipods do you really need. Five? Okay, but that’s not enough. No number will ever be enough.

Or the cost to produce crap will become too high. Resources are not infinite. The population continues to grow. A realistic plan to mine the moons of Jupiter is nowhere on the horizon.

But does this economic crisis signal the end is upon us? I very much doubt it. Remember way back in the mists of time, as long ago as June, oil was $135 a barrel and we were doomed to $5 per gallon of gas until prices would go even higher. Yet now the price has been more than halved. Does this mean that we will have cheap oil forever? No. But it demonstrates that predicting the short term economic results of unsustainable economic models is hopeless.

So go ahead, buy an SUV and a 128 inch flat screen teevee with surround sound and invest in GE and GM and you’d better eat out a lot, too. It’s your patriotic duty and who’s to say that you’ll be burned when the insane consumer economy crashes and burns as it inevitably will. It might not be this year, maybe not even this generation or the next. Before you die, you may have a big screen teevee the size of a wall and a wall the size of a billboard in a house the size of a castle, if not in the backs seat of your SUV.

Or maybe not. I don’t know. I’m not making any short term economic predictions, not in public anyway. But there is a shiny new camera I’ve been eyeing, and the old Mac is ready for an upgrade, and I don’t feel like cooking or doing the dishes, and the kids need new toys, and games and I’m bored and just don’t know what to do with myself but shop shop, buy buy, buy.

Everywhere the signs

I went online to rent a car and was shocked to find that the price for an economy car had nearly tripled since last time I rented. But what I really found interesting was that a full size SUV was $15 a day cheaper than the smallest car.

Well, market forces were speaking and I was listening. I checked the airlines, but they were no bargain either. We decided to stay home instead. The economy suffers accordingly.

Meanwhile, changes are afoot on the commercial street between my house and the subway. First, a grouchy old locksmith who had been there forever closed and was replaced by a 99¢ store. Then the leather guy. Another 99¢ store. Then a great Pizzeria that had been there for 50 years. Another 99¢ store. Several middle class clothing stores closed. Several $1 clothing stores opened. We have four nail salons, six drugstores, four Chinese restaurants, two polish groceries and one Albanian. None seem very busy. The Halal meat market just closed and so did one of the 99¢ stores. What could replace them? I don't know. The wife is betting another 99¢ store. The kids are split between a Chinese or a Mexican restaurant.

Me, I'm guessing pawn shops.

Chuckling has a better idea

Word has it that Senate Doormatocrat Harry Reid is offering Joe Lieberman a chairmanship of some committee other than the one to which he has become accustomed.

Well Harry, here's a better idea: Give him 30 pieces of silver, an appropriate length of rope and--in the spirit of bipartisanship--have the courtesy to point him to a good, stout tree.

Changing colors

Happy days. More photos here.

Duty done

I went against all of my best instincts and voted and I swear that will be the last time ever. The polling place, pictured above, was downright creepy and the poll watchers charged me $50 to vote. No way, I said and turned to leave. Sorry sir, it's mandatory, I was told. And they didn't even have ballots. It was verbal voting. Well, enough about that. I reported it to CNN's election irregularity hotline. I trust something will be done.

Anyway, since I've spent considerable time here detailing my indecision, I'll tell you how I voted. Working Families party all down the line. Jewish sounding names when Working Families had no line. Go team!

Pay no attention to the elephant in the rooom

Just saw my first McCain campaign commercial. Some guy was going on and on about how Obama has never operated a small business.

Funny, I don't recall seeing small business owner on McCain's resume. I don't think marrying a big business heiress counts.

How stupid do they think people are. Pretty fucking stupid, that's how.

Hate, injustice, and the (real) american way

The Guardian UK, perhaps America’s most informative newspaper, gets off the campaign bus in the small town (pop. 176) of Hasty, Colorado and informs us:

Times have been tough here for some time, and seem only to be getting worse. "The valley is already hurting," Colleen tells us. "It's really scary for the kids that are making minimum wage and driving 25 or 30 miles a day to work — paying for gas, for babysitters, housing. Hard to watch these kids. It's a struggle. It takes all they've got. They don't have luxuries. They live on $1500 a month - $500 for rent. How can you live on that? They have no health insurance. They can't afford it."

Why are times so tough in these small towns? Well, the answer to that question is outside the bounds of big time journalism. We’ll just have to read between the lines. If we are able.

Not all areas of inquiry, however, are off the table.

She says most of the people in Hasty are for McCain, and she herself will vote for him. "I think they're scared of Obama," she says. Sarah Palin is the one Colleen really likes. "I think Sarah is the closest thing [to us] that's ever arrived in politics. She knows what it's like. She's got family. They [the politicians in Washington] don't know what it's like to live. They don't have a clue. I'd really like to sit down and talk to that woman."

The implication, of course, is that small town inhabitants are dumb. Dumb as a steaming pile of shit. And stinky too. Well, not all that dumb and stinky perhaps, but suffering from the debilitating weight of poverty induced ignorance. More like third worlders than civilized folk on the coasts, you know.

Scared of Obama? Sarah Palin knows what it’s like? She’s got family? Obama doesn’t have family?

And would Colleen really enjoy a sit down with Sarah? Yea, I’d love to observe that conversation.

Colleen (humbly):

"It's scary owning a store. People going hungry." She pauses. "I would never let that happen." She wants to make sure we understand that the locals here take care of one another, are made of strong stuff. We're survivors here. We'll survive anything. Beans and rice," she laughs, "and on Sunday put bacon pieces in it."

Sarah (backing away from the table, nasally Ned Flandersish voice):

“Taking care of other people?” That’s socialism. Why your (sic) just a gosh darned loser, Colleen. No wonder you gotcha some of them Socialist notions. Hard work is what you need.

Not that a real life Sarah Palin would actually sit down socially with someone like Colleen. I know because I am from a small town and have been acquainted with plenty of Sarah Palin types. They are the go-getters, attending the right churches, involved in the PTA, cheering fanatically at their kids’ ballgames, running for the school board, plotting to take down that obnoxious Mrs. Smith and anyone else who stands in their, or their kids', way. Small town women like Sarah are far worse than the snobs of Colleen’s nightmares. Rich New Yorkers, for the most part, would treat her well. The small town Sarah Palins, on the other hand, feel the god-driven need to make the Colleens of this world feel small. Really small. That’s one of the things I hate about small towns.

Of course, that alone is not enough to make me vote against the Palin/McCain ticket. I still haven’t made up my mind about this election. There’s a lot to hate about both tickets.

For starters, I hate all the candidates. I hate Obama, I hate McCain, I hate Palin, and if Obama had a running mate I would hate him or her too.

Not only do I hate the candidates; I really hate their followers. The Palin/McCain people are either small minded bigots, drop dead stupid, or sleaze bags wanting to keep their hands in my pocket for another four years. When I think about the type of hateful, divisive campaign they have run, I seethe with anger and want to vote for someone, anyone else. They think that just because I’m a small person from a small town and almost as hateful and angry as they are, that I will vote for them. They take me for granted. You can’t believe how much I hate that. You can't believe how much that makes me angry.

But what really pisses me off about the Obama people is the way they condescend. They are just like the Palin/McCain crowd only the opposite. They assume that just because I’m from a small town and anger and hatred gush visibly from my pores, that I am a Palin/McCain supporter. I hate that, too. It makes me angry. Really, really angry.

Just because I wallow in hate and anger don't mean I’m stupid. Not about politics.

I guess it will all come down to whom I hate most. Right now, I’m leaning slightly for Obama. Maybe it’s because I was never around an incredibly smart, cool and successful black guy when I was a kid so I can only hate him from an intellectual perspective. The Palins and McCains, however, I know all too well. Not only do I hate them, but they hate me as well. Why should I vote for someone who hates me?

Well, there's still time to answer that question. Nine more days to decide.

Gawd, I hate this election.

Photo of the day

Live debate photoblogging II

Mysteries and conundrums

The above image makes me as red-faced-vein-poppin-crazy-with-rage as John McCain. That is the Obama's campaign giant American flag and those are his followers walking around on it, desecrating it.

Of course Senator Obama doesn't have control over the actions of his followers, and these people are in New York, Brooklyn no less, so they hardly count as Americans, but still, it makes me ponder.

As you may recall, I am an independent and have not yet made up my mind who I will vote for come November. Senator Obama is young and represents change, but I don't really know who he is. Senator McCain, on the other hand, is old and erratic, but he is a war hero and has a lot of experience. And he's a Maverick. His running mate, Governor Palin is also a Maverick, but she doesn't have much foreign policy experience. Senator Obama, as far as I can tell, doesn't have a running mate. What's up with that?

Of course I give a lot of consideration to the candidate that I'd prefer to hang out and drink with, but frankly I wouldn't particularly want to drink with either of them. Senator Obama probably sips some kind of exotic cocktail with fizz in the title and McCain likely rambles like grandpa Simpson, then picks a fight, then gets all emotional, then ends up praying to the porcelain god for forgiveness. But I guess the McCain ticket still wins by the drinking criteria. If I'd already had a few beers, I might not mind getting Governor Palin drunk. She'd forget all about that wussy boy husband of hers.

Still, just because she likes to get drunk and fuck doesn't mean she'd make a good vice=president. What to do? What to do? Should I vote for Ralph Nader or Bob Barr instead? They both have some pretty good ideas. But can either of them win?

Anyway, here are some more disturbing photos of suspicious Brooklynites. What are they all doing outside on such a grey day, besides desecrating the flag? Up to no good, if you ask me.

Update: I just learned that Ralph Nader is an Arab. Hmmmmmm. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It's all so complicated.

Chuckling does live debate photoblogging

Typical brooklyn

Little men

Someone please come over and kick me, I've been watching cable news again.

Lately, I'm struck by the pathetic insecurity displayed by so many of the male anchors, correspondents, and guests. The thing that really jumps out at me is how they describe the McCain campaign's strategy of attacking Obama with lies and nasty innuendo as "tough."

Spreading lies and nasty innuendo is not tough. It is sleazy. It is undignified. It is the opposite of tough. It is cowardly.

Why do they associate cowardly sleaze with toughness? My guess is that they are insecure about their manhood. They think that juvenile taunting is the essence of manliness. How could anyone come to see the world in such a way? Were they mercilessly picked on by the tough guys when they were young? Is that why they think bad behavior is a sign of toughness? That's my guess. They have no clue at all what it means to be a man*.

A second question is how so many of these insecure little men manage to get on television. It must be somehow related to Bill Gates's observation that one should be nice to nerds because you'll end up working for one.

And I'll even go all Utopian on your ass and expand on Bill Gates's idea. Everyone should be nice to all children because if we're not they'll grow up to be Republicans, Christian conservatives, or cable tv news blowhards. Gawd, I know, I sound like Sally Struthers, but it's true, it's true.


*It means one was born that way. Being mean to people is not required.

Miracle at St. Anna

I saw the new Spike Lee movie today. Lee has arrived at the point where there is no longer much recognizable "Spike Lee" style in a Spike Lee film. I don't mean that in either a negative or a positive way. Just an observation.

Miracle at St. Anna is a character driven World War II movie. It lasts about two and a half hours, much of which is devoted to character building scenes that do not really move the plot along. For a story like that to work, we must be manipulated into caring about the characters and there has to be an emotional payoff at the end. I thought the film succeeded very well by those criteria. Although it seemed slow in some of the early parts, as the film progressed I became totally immersed in the lives of the characters and I was very moved by the denouement.

The film is structured, and advertised, as a mystery, but it didn't really work for me as such. An old man shoots someone in a post office with a German Luger. A valuable Italian artifact turns up in his apartment. Why did he shoot the guy? Why did he have the artifact? Where did he get the Luger? Very soon we are immersed in a flashback to World War II that takes up roughly 98 percent of the movie. The shooter was a member of an all black battalion that fought in Italy. An adventure unfolds. The questions are answered. But none of those larger plot points matter very much. As I mentioned, this is a character-driven film.

The main characters are four black men. I'll refer to them as negros from here on out since that is how they are referred to in the movie. One is the archetypal good negro, one a street negro, another the angelically innocent religious negro, the fourth a negro from the Caribbean that doesn't want anything to do with all that archetypal American shit. They end up in an Italian mountain village where learning experiences ensue.

Sounds corny at that level, which is why I normally refrain from telling anything whatsoever about the plot in these shallow reviews I sometimes do. Why am I breaking this rule now? I don't know. Best not to ponder these things.

Anyway, the character development is incredibly well handled. Little, if any of it is the least bit hokey. Some of it you might expect, other parts you won't see coming, but it all feels true. And when the mystery is solved, it feels okay as well. If you have the patience to watch a serious film, I found this one worth the effort.

Dog bites man, again

The New York Times today reports on further evidence, as if it were needed, that the United States is a one party state in which the constitution is nothing more than a museum piece that serves roughly the same purpose as the bones of a saint. People venerate it, but it has no power in the real world.

Bowing to President Bush's demands, the House passed a mammoth package for the Pentagon on Wednesday that contains a pay raise for troops, billions of dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and some political protection for lawmakers during a tense election season....

To earn President Bush's signature rather than a veto, House and Senate negotiators dropped several provisions he opposed. They include a ban on private interrogators in U.S. military detention facilities and what would have amounted to congressional veto power over a security pact with Iraq.

Not passing it before Congress adjourns this week was not an option...

Note that, worse than caving on the issue of torture, they can't even stand up for their constitutional responsibility to okay treaties. All this, as Atrios so often reminds us, against President 24 percent approval rating.

Time to quit fooling ourselves. It's not because democrats are weak. It's because they are complicit.

Payback time

I think it's time we all recognize that we haven't had a functional democracy for quite some time now. Stupid wars, devastated cities, financial collapse. No one even remotely accountable. What more evidence do you need. Men in uniforms? Well, it's not a junta. Not yet. We are currently "governed" by an oligarchy. One that exists to enable kleptomaniacs.

We will soon have given more than a trillion dollars to millionaires and billionaires while as recently as last year we reportedly could not afford $7 million dollars to help needy children get health care. And the recipients of our wealth are those who have already gamed the system to become fabulously wealthy.

Note that no one has broached the subject of actually making the millionaires and billionaires pay for the calamity they have caused. There's talk of making a few settle for millions in salary rather than tens of millions, but it goes no farther than that.

In a democracy we would tax those people back to reality. Those who have profited so handsomely from looting our economy would have a special 90 percent tax bracket in place until the costs are covered. Capital gains would be taxed at least as much as earned income. And sensible estate taxes would keep them from setting their children up to be inordinately wealthy without having to earn a penny.

Tradgedies

Washington's Dunbar high school quit a football game they were leading against a high school in Cumberland, Maryland because of racial taunts.

"They were trying to upset us, calling my guys the N-word. I had one guy in tears. I had to take him off the field," Jefferies said, adding that as he walked with his team to the locker room he was verbally accosted with slurs. He said the team was forced to stay in the locker room for 30 minutes while police established a secure path for the team to board its buses.

Think about the negative reverberations an ugly incident like that can have in those young peoples' lives. Welcome to christian conservative America boys. Just stay down.

A family friend of ours died the other day after an eight month struggle with cancer. We attended her funeral yesterday. She was my daughter's first friend when we moved to New York and my wife and her mother became friends as well. The girl was 16 years old.

Her drawn out death turned into one of those otherwise uplifting stories you hear about. She maintained a positive attitude and fought it all the way. She became closer with her family and classmates and brightened the lives of her hospital mates. She was a genuinely beautiful individual in every way.

Her family is from Haiti, so I didn't know what to expect at the funeral. I thought it possible that there would be some profound cultural differences between a Haitian family's rites and those of my own family from the midwest. I was right about that,but it didn't have anything to do with voodoo or naked emotion or anything like that. Basically, it was the same except that everyone present acted with a great deal of class. I think it was the first funeral I've been to where at least two people didn't do something to embarass themselves and cause a family rift that would never be healed.

That, and just about everyone was very well dressed. Back where I'm from, most people wear their best Levis or the more fashion conscious among them don their cowboy clothes. The only poorly dressed people at this funeral were some of the dead girl's white classmates and my own son John Bob. On the morning of the funeral, we were shocked to find out that he had no clothes that were remotely appropriate. He ended up going in cargo pants, tennis shoes, and a hoodie. I guess we were the biggest embarrassment.

Another huge difference was the production values. Comparing it to a midwestern funeral is like comparing a Broadway play to a 2nd grade production. They had a keyboard player, a drummer, a choir, and a couple American Idol caliber guest singers. The preachers were very good. Just about the only thing Haitian about it was that there was that the service was bilingual. Two preachers would alternate between English and French. They made it work very well.

The only downer was the next to final preacher. He was an African American from the church where the service was being held and he apparently knew nothing about the girl or her family. He did the fire and brimstone crap just like the country preachers do at the worst funerals back home. Then he suckered some poor saps into pledging their lives for Jesus, made them come up to the front and hug while he kept on talking and talking and talking, then asked them to come downstairs after the service to receive a special gift. I was pleased to see that very few people got up, even though he implored us a lot and threatened us with hell and damnation if we didn't find Jesus. Stupid fuckwit. But what can you do?

Anyway, it wasn't about him, or us, or fashion, or family comportment. It was about the poor young girl who died so tragically and her grieving family. You would not want to feel the sadness that was in that room.

And it especially hurts when I think of that girl and her family and the other people at that funeral. How she lived her life. How they live theirs. And then to think of those racist scumbag at that high school football game and the small town values that they hurl at those poor black kids. I'm from a small town and I can tell you this. Small town values suck.

DuFuOR for evah!

The New York Times reports that "some lawmakers and experts were considering a longer-term legislative solution that would create a new agency to dispose of the mortgage-related assets at the core of Wall Street’s woes."

Okay, I'll go along with that, but only on the condition that it be named the Department of Corporate Welfare (DoCW).

But an even better idea is to create a government agency that would more efficiently transfer all of our wealth to billionaires. Currently, that responsibility is divided among many government agencies. We could realize a great cost savings if we were to create an umbrella department, something like Homeland Security, that would bring together all of the agencies that exist throughout the government to transfer our wealth to billionaires. They could name it the Department of Fucking us Over Royally (DoFuOR).

The DoCW (Department of Corporate Welfare) would be an important part of the DoFuOR. The savings, of course, would be given to billionaires.

In the meantime,we should all just sell our assets and mail the check to the nearest billionaire. It's our duty to do whatever we can to help "the economy" in its time of need.

BTW, note that all the lawmakers and most of the experts referenced in the Times article are democrats. See how they drop their lame-ass facade of being an opposition party when there's dirty work to be done that only they can do?

Smells like corporate spirit

I've tried successfully up until now to avoid writing anything about computers or technology. Nevertheless, this quote from an article about Microsoft's new in-store "Guru" program painfully illustrates what's wrong with Microsoft as well as failing companies in general. The "Guru" program is in response to Apple's "Geniuses" who provide free in-store tech support. Microsoft's "Guru's," on the other hand, will not provide free tech support. They are there primarily as sales people, secondarily to keep the crap running and the advertising materials clean and straightened.

“The Guru role is to help sell Windows-based PCs. It is not to be an alternative tech support channel for Microsoft as this has no financial return beyond improved customer satisfaction,” Baker said.

"No financial return beyond improved customer satisfaction." Yep. That's the spirit. The spirit that keeps me paying the Apple tax all these years. Seems to be the spirit of those who govern us as well.

Desert storms

Just got back from my vacation out west, which included a week at Burning Man. I plan on writing something more substantial about the experience, but am not quite ready. For now, these lyrics from Shriekback's "The Strongest Wind that Blows" sum it up pretty well.

I start to know
the strongest wind that blows
The thing that until now I only read about
New structure
eating up the old
The process we all have this nameless dread about

Cold shoals
Their bloodless arms enfold
The earthen engines moan
Corruption,
the feast out in the cold
Everybody leaves this dance alone

Lashed up,
clinging to a thing
The nights are drawing in, that there's no doubt about
Wild rapture:
the old familiar code
This brute reflex is nothing much to shout about

Pegged out,
pulling down the stone
Botched, brave and alone
Fierce lustre
blistering the soul
Mourning for those I will never know

Stake out,
cops inside a van
To test a theory that the world is credible
My brains
boiling in a pan
Tests have shown they prove to be inedible

Own up
The terrifying trees
Will shake the leaves around
Dumbstruck
Starts at every sound
Everybody needs somebody now

Apparently, Barry Andrews went to Burning Man this year, wrote that song, then traveled back to the past and recorded it.

One of the best parts of the trip was getting totally cut off from news and current events for a week. I wish I could have stayed out until mid-November.

The important cog in the big story, for me at least, was the conservative reaction to Bristol Palin's pregnancy. Taken along with their criticism of Senator Obama's dedication to physical fitness and healthy eating habits, we can divine that their plan for our nation's children is to make them fat and pregnant. No news yet on the Republican's policy position regarding the availability of shoes in winter.

Seriously though, this is horrible. I am morally outraged that a national party is encouraging teen pregnancy. "It's her choice," they say. Choice? For a child? If my daughter were to come home pregnant, we'd be speeding on down to the abortion clinic before she finished the sentence. Choice? No. She can choose to fuck up her life when she's 18. Until then, that's my job.