A GIFT TO CONSUMERS FROM BANK OF AMERICA

Ah, good old Bank of America, one of the largest financial institutions on the world. They're also a bunch of crooks!

It took me quite a long time to find a number for the amount of taxpayer money has been handed to Bank of America. I finally found a January, 2009 article on CNN.com that listed the amount of bailout money given to Bank of America as $45,000,000,000 (45 billion).

In the mail today, we received a notice from Bank of America that they are raising the fees for a number of credit card transactions: ATM cash advances, balance transfers, bank cash advances, cash equivalents, check cash advances, direct deposit cash advances, wire transfer purchases.

The new transaction fee for the above will be 4% of each transaction, with a minimum of $10. So if you go to the ATM machine or walk into a BofA bank to get $100 cash with your BofA credit card, they will charge you 4% (4 dollars) - but wait, it will actually be 10% because the minimum fee is $10.

They are also expanding the definition of "foreign transactions" to include transactions in U.S. dollars made outside of the United States (this includes online purchases from foreign merchants). Bank of America will now get 3% on any of these transactions.

Doesn't it make you proud that $45 billion of our tax dollars went to Bank of America, and they thank us by raising the fees on our credit card transactions?

These folks are slime - sorry, but it's true. I recently caught them red-handed trying to cheat us out of $40. A $40 "late payment" fee showed up on a recent credit card statement from BofA. I called them to ask about this. We pay bills electronically, and the electronic payment was made about 3 days prior to the payment due date. But what I was told was that the payment wasn't posted by BofA until several days after the payment due date, therefore it was a late payment. It is up to me, I was told, to get the payment to Bank of America early enough to be posted. I didn't agree - if the payment was made electronically (i.e. instantaneously) then the day it was paid is the day it was paid. They did me a favor and credited the amount of the late fee!

I'd like to know why the government is giving these folks billions of dollars, and they turn around and raise their fees, and try to cheat people a few dollars at a time. Let's have some real regulation here.

(A day later: oh yes, I forgot. Another full-page add today in the NY Times by Bank of America telling us all how wonderful they are. My sources say that an ad like this is easily $100,000. No wonder they want more from me in the way of fees.)

THIS ONE'S FOR THE BIRDS

The just released report, State of the Birds is a beautiful report that catalogues the alarming decline of bird species in the United States. There are a few exceptions, on a habitat basis, such as waterfowl and other species associated with wetlands, for which conservation efforts seem to be helping.

Here at our very urban home we put out a seed mix and suet cake for our fine feathered friends, and a few furry ones as well. If you know me at all, you have guessed that I keep a list, and here it is:

Oregon junco*
Scrub jay*
Black-capped chickadee*
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Bushtit*
Western tanager
Pine siskin
Audubons warbler
House finch
House sparrow*
American goldfinch
Anna's hummingbird
American robin
American crow
Northern flicker
Downy woodpecker
European starling*
Sharp-shinned hawk
(overhead: Red-tailed hawk, Great blue heron)

* these are the most frequently seen, and are here throughout the year. Some are occasional seasonal visitors. The Sharp-shinned hawk was heard before it was seen - a bone-crunching sound - it was sitting on the back fence eating a small bird (a starling, we hope).

This isn't a huge list of species by any means, but it's many more than we thought we'd see here after moving from a more forested neighborhood a few years ago.

And oh yes, the furry visitors: some big red squirrels eat a major share of the seed. There was also a young opossum walking along the top of the back fence one evening. And our neighbors fought a battle with raccoons who came into their yard at night and rolled up the newly placed grass sod to get at the worms and bugs underneath.

I've sometimes wondered if feeding the birds is a good thing or not; maybe we shouldn't make the birds dependent on us for their food, you now, let nature be nature. But, on the other hand, this neighborhood used to be forest, and humans are part of nature, so feeding them is a good thing. It's hard to imagine a world without birds.

THE CONTINUING MISADVENTURES OF LORD DARTH CHENEY

I miss old Lord Darth Cheney - the guy I loved to hate while he was Veep. But wait, there's more: Darth is still at it, dissing Obama on T.V., issuing dire warnings - in that deep, scary, gravelly Darth voice - that the bad guys are going to get us because Obama ad the Dems are soft on terrorism; defending his OK of torture because of all the terrible attacks that were averted (we're all waiting for some proof of that).

And now, according to journalist Seymore Hersh in the NY Times, Lord Darth Cheney has a network of spies and informants in the Obama administration feeding him inside information about the workings of the new Administration.

If President Obama can force the CEO of GM to step down, can't he declare Lord Darth Cheney a threat to national security or something, and send him out to pasture for good?

At least Dubya has the decency not to bad-mouth the current President.

WAR, INC.

I learned from a recent interview of actor John Cusack, in The Progressive magazine, that he had made a movie about the outsourcing of war by the USA to private firms. The film, War, Inc., was out in the middle of last year, but I never heard or saw anything about it at the time. It's a good story, very political, with a great cast (including his sister, Joan Cusack - a personal favorite - and Marisa Tomei -another favorite since My Cousin Vinnie days). We just got it this week from Netflix, and I highly recommend it for those of you who like John and Joan, who like action thrillers, who like political films, and who like to rant about the relationship between government and corporations. And, if you substitute in your head Lord Darth Cheney for the actor Ben Kingsley, it's an even better rant.

Enjoy.

SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF "SHOCK AND AWE"

The sixth anniversary of the USA invasion of Iraq was a couple of days ago, and if you blinked you missed any mention of it in the popular media. I guess the AIG bonuses are much more important news than a six year war that is, we hope, winding down now that we've "won."

I've written before about what "victory" in Iraq means, and the major disconnect between why Cheney-Bush told us we were there and the real reasons. I'm also on record as one who thinks that the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the United States was illegal and an act of naked aggression against a sovereign country for no plausible reasons.

But the sixth anniversary of this war really should be about the victims:

- the tens or hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians who are injured or died;
- the millions of Iraqi refugees who have been uprooted from their homes and lives;
- the 4,300+ American military men and women who died;
- the thousands of injured American military men and women;
- the families of American service men and women who continue to suffer in a variety of ways as a result of multiple deployments, disrupted lives, inadequate services and benefits for veterans and their families.

And let's not forget the rest of us. In the midst of the most extensive economic crisis in over 50 years, we forget - and are not reminded - that the Iraq war contributed to this economic disaster. The true cost of the Cheney-Bush war is estimated to be three trillion dollars ($3,000,000,000,000). Where does this money come from? Duh.

The big winners of the Iraq war - the real "victory" - are the companies contracted by the US government to provide the materials and services of war and reconstruction - the military-industrial complex. And let's not forget the oil companies.

Below is a list of the top ten money makers in the Iraq war (source)

10 companies making the most in Iraq* (millions of dollars)

Rank	Company		Amount
		2003	2004	2005	2006	Total
1.	KBR Inc. (KBR, news, msgs) and Halliburton (HAL, news, msgs)	$2,550	$5,809	$4,505	$4,362	$17,226
2.	Veritas Capital Fund	0.7	208	850	386	1,444
3.	Washington Group International (WNG, news, msgs)	111	205	533	82	931
4.	Environmental Chemical	0	192	360	326	878
5.	International American Products	58	283	310	108	759
6.	Fluor (FLR, news, msgs)	116	413	123	105	757
7.	Perini (PCR, news, msgs)	72	312	185	81	650
8.	Parsons	0	248	120	172	540
9.	First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting	0	7	469	24	500
10.	L-3 Communications (LLL, news, msgs)	1	9	148	201	359

*Goods and services contracted specifically for Iraq. Source: Eagle Eye

I haven't taken the time to look them up, but I'm guessing that the stock prices of these firms are doing very well. (Hmmm, I wonder if there is a defense industry index fund.....) This is war profiteering at it's best. And let's not overlook the fact that a number of high-ranking and lower level Cheney-Bush administration officials are connected to these firms.

The war in Iraq has been a big factor in the shock and awe to our economy. The folks responsible for this historic debacle have made out like bandits, with big profits in their pockets, and no accountability for the damage they've done. I'd like to see the Iraqi and American families most injured by this war get compensated for the damage done to their lives, and I'd like to see it paid out of the pockets of those who profited from this misadventure.

"DITCH LIGHT BULBS, CHANGE THE WORLD"

The title of this post is the headline of an article in the SustainableLife section of the Portland Tribune this week. The author suggests that we return to a "daylight society" by not using light bulbs, except for essential things like hospitals. The resulting society would be more environmentally sensible, and our lives would be less hectic and more meaningful.

There was another article in the paper recently about a couple who decided that refrigerators are bad environmentally, and they unplugged theirs. They shop every day and keep perishables in a cooler chest - using ice brought home from the office ice machine.

This is great stuff. We need to do even more. Why, just this morning, as I sat in the "library" reading this article, I had what I'll call a "plumbing epiphany" - the common toilet is an environmental disaster! How many millions of gallons of pure, clean, treated , drinkable water are used annually to transport my bodily wastes through pipes to the sewage treatment plant and then out to the river? And we can't leave out the dire impacts of the manufacture and disposal of toilet paper.

But wait - I've got the oven on right now baking some chicken - what a colossal waste of natural gas and electricity just to cook food (and what about the impact of raising and transporting the chicken?). You know, we're down to only one automobile in this family, but I feel guilty every time I drive it - the petroleum, the exhaust, the pollution. I ask myself, what's the environmental cost of the asphalt I'm driving on? This has to stop!!!

So we're ditching our light bulbs, and we have a year's supply of soy-based candles (we'll rub sticks together to light them so we don't emit chemicals to the atmosphere by lighting matches). The refrigerator, stove, furnace, water heater? Gone - to the recycling center. We're gathering firewood throughout the neighborhood (will the Park Bureau miss a few trees from the park?). We've planted as many vegetables as we can fit into our small yard, and the new chicks will be here tomorrow. I sure hope the pigs don't bother the neighbors with all their grunting. I've almost got the pit dug in the yard for the outhouse, and we hope the leaves will be out soon on all the trees and shrubs so we can use them to....uh, well, you know.

Sustainable Life - that's us!

OK, OK....a bit too much tongue in cheek? In fact, human societies do need to become more sustainable, and there are a lot of great things going on now that will result in big changes in the future. But seriously, return to the Dark Ages by getting rid of light bulbs? Maybe the Tribune included the light bulb article for comic relief - I laughed heartily while reading it. And you know, a good laugh helps sustain us all.

AN ODE TO AGING

Last month I applied for and received my Medicare card;
what's that all about?

My knee hurts;
right now, yesterday, tomorrow, all the time.

In the past few years, I've had:
two surgeries, a tooth pulled, root canals, a bunch of minor injuries.

I got new glasses last June and as of about three months ago I can't see worth sh*t; the eye doc says I need cataract surgery.

I feel young when I get up in the morning;
until I look in the mirror, or at my 40-something "kids."

I bike all over town;
but everyone else passes me on the hills, which aren't very steep.

I guess I'm aging. Oh well. It happens.
What's comforting is the knowledge
that all of you are going there with me!

A-ROD or J-THAIN: WHOSE SUBSTANCE ABUSE SHOULD WE BE MORE CONCERNED ABOUT?

I really don't get all the bloviating about the substance abuse by Alex Rodriguez and other professional sports figures. After all, these folks are paid for performing, and they are expected to perform at a level commensurate with their pay. In the world of sports-as-entertainment-industry, it should not surprise us that those paid to perform do whatever they can to please us.

At the same time, I think we need to shine the spotlight of substance abuse inquiry more directly on people like John Thain, the recently departed CEO of the Merrill Lynch unit of Bank of America. Thain, like so many of his colleagues in Wall Street Big Houses, also has a problem with substance abuse, only the substance in question is money. We all have read the stories about how J-Thain remodeled his office bathroom for about $1.2 million dollars, how he handed out a couple of billion dollars worth of bonuses to Merrill Lynch execs just prior to the acquisition by BofA, without BofA being in the loop, and how he reportedly didn't clue BofA to the fact that Merrill had $15 billion of losses in the last quarter of 2008 (doesn't say much about the due diligence processes at BofA).

A very large factor in the current global economic crisis is the creation, sales and holdings of what are now called "toxic assets" by financial institutions. This is substance abuse, pure and simple. The people in these businesses who created, bought and sold these assets knew that they were serious flim-flam, but the lure of profits and bonuses made them do it.

The analogy here breaks down in at least one major way: guys like A-Rod used substances that actually enhanced their performance - they work in an industry that is based on reward for performance. On the other hand, guys like J-Thain fell into substance abuse and got away with it because they work in an industry that ignores performance - they get big bucks and big percs regardless of how their firms perform.

Even though I'm not a huge sports fan, I do remember the exciting baseball season when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were slugging them out of the park chasing the record. In the back of my mind I recognized that these guys couldn't be real - they had to be using some kind of special juice. But all the steroids in the world wouldn't turn me into a home run hitter; these guys were skilled professional ball players who enhanced their skills and power with something special. Would we be complaining if that something special was a couple of cans of spinach every day? And, after all, who got hurt by it?

The J-Thain crowd, on the other hand, were using special juice that wasn't theirs - it was money that belonged to you and me. And a lot of people got hurt as a result of these guys swinging for the fences.

THE IMORTANCE OF BEING PHLEGMISH

[Bloggers warning: read on ONLY if you enjoy biology and medicine, and are not one of those who recoils at the discussion of bodily fluids.]

Last night was the first in a week during which I did not wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning gasping for breath. Each time, I had to go through what seemed like an entire box of tissue to clear all the sticky fluid out of my nose and throat. Finally, I was able to breathe again, and while trying to get back to sleep, had ample time to contemplate the origin of these copious fluids. How is it possible that for the past week, 24 hours per day, my cranium could manufacture so much disgusting fluid?

It's a good thing we have the internet, and I have some time on my hands because I'm sick.

Let's start at the very beginning, the Science of Phlegm, shall we?

Phlegm is sticky fluid secreted by the mucous membranes of humans and other animals. Its definition is limited to the mucus produced by the respiratory system, excluding that from the nasal passages, and particularly that which is expelled by coughing (sputum). Its composition varies, depending on climate, genetics, and state of the immune system, but basically is a water-based gel consisting of glycoproteins, immunoglobulins, lipids, etc. Phlegm may be of several different colors. (Wikipedia)

In vertebrates, mucus is a slippery secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. It is a viscous colloid containing antiseptic enzymes (such as lysozyme) and immunoglobulins that serves to protect epithelial cells in the respiratory, gastrointestinal, urogenital, visual, and auditory systems in mammals; the epidermis in amphibians; and the gills in fish. Snails, slugs, hagfish, and certain invertebrates also produce external mucus, which in addition to serving a protective function, can facilitate movement and play a role in communication. Mucus also contains mucins, produced by goblet cells in the mucous membranes and submucosal glands, and inorganic salts suspended in water. The average human body produces about a litre of mucus per day. (Wikipedia)

I also found a great article on phlegm by Flash Gordon, M.D. (really). The good DocFlash cautions us not to use to many drugs that are intended to "dry us up" because the result is that phlegm in the small airways of the lung dries up and creates blockages - which our body then involuntarily tries to cough open. This promotes more coughing, and can also result in bronchitis.

But that's not all there is to know about phlegm. It turns out that phlegm has a rich and varied history, including many important cultural values. Think, for example, what the world would be like without the works of Ian Phlegming, author of James Bond. There were many important Dutch and Phlegmish paintings in the 16th and 17th centuries. Why, there is even an association of breeders of phlegmish giant rabbits. And who would know that phlegm can support vast resources of fish, which must be more easily caught due to the viscosity of their habitat, resulting in overfishing in the Nose (and the Tail) of the Grand Banks, and the Phlegmish Cap, another fish-rich region east of the Nose.

Where would Europe be without Phlanders? Would it be the same without a Phlegmish community? (The sound of all that hacking and coughing must be maddening!) There is even a society to study the genealogy of phlegmish people.

At this point, I need to pay homage to a man who has helped put sticky nasal fluids on the map and into the common lexicon of America, Kinky Friedman the Jewish cowboy. With one song he wrote and has sung everywhere, he has elevated the runny nose to a high stature:

"Old man Lucas
had a lot of mucus,
hangin' right out of his nose...."

And finally, because I am who I am, I need to point you to the lowly hagfish - not really a true fish, not really a vertebrate, but a fascinating animal that lives in the deep oceans of the world. The hagfish is a champion of mucus, and you have to watch this science video to see it.

I hope you learned something today.

THE END OF CAPITALISM (AS WE KNOW IT)

It never ceases to amaze me that Americans are, at least according to the news media, so afraid of "socialism" that our elected officials are afraid to use the word "nationalize." News flash - the system of free market capitalism has gone bust and the entire world is crashing and burning! But we're so afraid of being socialists -even though I doubt that 1 out of any 10 people really know what that means - that we continue to pump public money down various capitalist rat holes. I've written it before on this blog, and I'll say it again - if private companies make very bad business decisions and can't survive - let them die. This is, after all, the free market way. (btw - even Thomas Friedman now agrees with me - see his column today in the NY Times).

Example - why are we bailing out General Motors? This is a company that has made bad decisions for decades, and has spent big bucks fighting every attempt to regulate them (for consumer and environmental safety), and they are now faced with bankruptcy. The best thing we can do is let them fail, clean out the management, and see if they can recreate an automobile business that is in tune with the 21st century.

And what about the big banks, like Bank of America and Citigroup? The management at these companies has violated every bit of the public trust, all in the name of unbridled greed. And yet, we, the taxpayers, are pumping billions of dollars into these firms, with no guarantee that anything will change. It's past time to nationalize these institutions. Critics of nationalization are saying that the government doesn't have the experience or skill to run these failed banks - um, can it get any worse than it did under the capable and skilled leadership of the present management?

But there is a larger underlying agenda here - the future of capitalism itself. Now don't go bolting the doors and getting out the shotguns - I'm not talking about commies taking over. I am talking about instituting some very basic and drastic changes in our economic system, a rationalization of the economy that takes the personal and institutional greed factor out of the equation. What will this new system look like? I don't know, but there are a lot of smart people out there who certainly have viable ideas.

Our economy is based on all of us consumers continually buying as much useless junk as we can get our hands on to prop up the factories in China and the big box stores scattered around our landscape - and to which we have to drive in out gas-guzzling and polluting automobiles. It's not a rational or a sustainable system, as we now see very plainly.

I'm open to some new and radical ideas - how about you? (assignment: google "alternative economic systems" and browse round for a bit....)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: WEEK 4

Yesterday was the end of week 3 of the Obama presidency. Why does it seem like he's been there so much longer? Why do I have trouble remembering the previous White House occupant?

I've been patiently watching and waiting before commenting on the job performance of our new President. I've thought it unfair and disingenuous to criticize Obama during his first few weeks of service; after all, it's a huge job and he's the new-hire, and I doubt that he got that much help from Baby Bush.

But to tell the truth, I've had some trepidations. I knew going in that Obama isn't my ideal, a flaming progressive lefty, but a more middle road moderate Democrat. I do like his style, his coolness under pressure, his ability to talk to the public and make sense, his world views, and I certainly appreciate his willingness to say "I made a mistake." Very refreshing.

Early on, however, some of his appointments raised some little red flags for me. "Hey, wait a minute, these are insiders, Clintonites, old boys...what the...what happened to "change"?" An example is his financial team, with guys like Geithner, Rubin, and Summers; these are people who were involved in, and at least partially responsible for the economic meltdown we are now experiencing. The party line is that Obama is in charge, and these appointees will do what their boss wants, even if it means that they will need to "change." OK, we'll see.

A great disappointment to me was on Monday when Justice Department lawyers perpetuated the Bush tactic of claiming state secrets in an effort to get a case dismissed in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where a three judge panel is considering a case brought by five victims of Bush Administration "extraordinary rendition" - kidnapping and torture. This is seen by many, including me, as a betrayal of trust - an Obama campaign issue was criticism of this very tactic by the Bush Justice Department.

I'm still in a wait and see mode. I'm still very hopeful. I truly celebrated the actions taken by Obama on his first few days in office by which he reversed a number of Bush decisions, set the departure from Iraq in motion, announced the closing of the prison camp at Guantanamo, etc. Hooray! But I'm getting more doubtful by the day regarding the economic recovery strategy. Sec. Geithner's bailout announcement yesterday was a resounding "thud." And don't get me started about the Democrats wienieism on pushing through a stimulus package against a pack of cowardly, mean and bitter old-fart Republicans. Shameful.

So I'll hold my tongue some more - after all, this is only the beginning of week 4 (can you believe it?). In the meantime, I'm thinking more and more that the "change" we all seem to want will only happen if we push for it. So I'm going to make more phone calls, and maybe carve out more time to get more involved in making change a reality.

DINNER CONTEMPLATION

Making dinner for myself tonight (Sherry is at a meeting) was more time consuming than it should have been. I spent time on the internet searching several sites, including the FDA web site and the Trader Joe's site, trying to decide whether or not to open the recently purchased jar of Trader Joe's Organic Crunch Peanut Butter. (I'm a pretty good cook, but when alone, I have a few tried and true meals - tonight was tomato soup, and peanut butter and strawberry preserves on rice cakes.)

Why do I have to think twice about eating peanut butter? I've been eating this stuff for most of my life. I have a very special relationship with peanut butter: in grade school I researched and wrote a major paper on the life of George Washington Carver, who invented over 300 uses for peanuts! I always think about Mr. Carver when I eat peanut butter. He was an African-American born near the end of the Civil War who become a well known agricultural chemist and educator, and who had to break down a number of racial barriers to get there. In some way, I think Mr. Carver was one of the inspirations that led me to become a naturalist and scientist.

But now my dear jar of peanut butter is suspect; I have to approach it with trepidation and, to be honest, a certain degree of daredevilism. We tsk-tsk the Chinese for putting melamine in milk, resulting in the deaths of many children. And yet here we are, in America, amazed that a big corporate entity appears to have purposefully put tainted peanut products on the market out of sheer greed. Is nothing sacred? Not even peanuts?

Note: if you read my next blog post, you will know that I survived my dinner tonight!

NEEDED: A SMART PHONE, NOT A GENIUS PHONE

Attention cell phone device manufacturers, you are ignoring a large and growing demographic of users - retiring baby boomers. What is needed is a smart phone that does not have every imaginable application, bell and whistle known to geekdom. What is needed is a device that is: a phone, a camera, a qwerty keyboard text messaging device (with a very accessible keyboard for aging eyes), an internet browser, and a simple calendar and address book. I can't find such a device - all I find is phones on steroids (I actually have one of the latter, but I know people who want a much simpler device in their purse or pocket).

And, by the way, you mobile phone service providers, how about a simplified plan to go with the simplified device?

There's money to be made if you look beyond the kid generation.

OBAMA AND SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

I'm very sensitive to the issue of separation of church and state. I know that the United States is, for all practical purposes, a Christian country; however, the founders purposefully established a line between church and state. I react negatively when I see religion mixed into government; the inauguration ceremony of President Obama activated my church-and-state alarm.

The primary assault was the invocation by Rick Warren. An invocation, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is: "1 a: the act or process of petitioning for help or support ; specifically often capitalized : a prayer of entreaty (as at the beginning of a service of worship) b: a calling upon for authority or justification." When I see the word "invocation" on a program, I know that I'm going to hear someone ask something of some god (usually, of course, God). This always bothers me at an event that is not a religious service, and particularly at a government-sponsored event. Any petitioning of any god at a government event should not be allowed - period. Separation of church and state.

The invocation by the Rev. Rick Warren was a very Christian message, quoting the Lord's Prayer and invoking the name of Jesus Christ. I guarantee that every U.S. citizen watching or listening to this speech was not Christian. (As an aside, let's not overlook the hypocrisy of Warren's words in the context of his very public campaign to deny basic rights to gay people: "Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the Earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.)

Not withstanding the blatant violation of church-state separation, the choice of the Rev. Warren in itself was controversial. Warren's anti-gay marriage (California Proposition 8) stand and campaigning was the primary reason many people, especially gays, questioned the choice. But a quick googling of the man reveals other items that make me wonder. Here's a video with out takes from a Rick Warren talk at a stadium rally in California.



I find this very chilling. If I were using the Sarah Palin Playbook, I would ask if Barak Obama is "palling around" with known domestic religious extremists whose goal is world domination.

Barak Obama asked for the words "so help me God" to be added to the end of the oath of office - it isn't there in the Constitution, Article II Section I. If an elected official wants to add the god phrase to his or her oath, that's OK with me because it is an expression of that person's faith; however, I'm guessing that most people think that the oath comes with that phrase built-in.

Separation of church and state is one of the basic building blocks of our country. We need to be certain that this separation remains.

BARAK OBAMA: A READMYOPINION RETROSPECTIVE

I thought the other day about a post I made here in the early days of readmyopionion about the need for a revolution. So I went back and read it, then I went forward from that point through the years and picked out a few other posts that follow a similar thread about the need for new thinking, new leadership, and a new way of being America.

And so dear readers (all 2 or 3 of you), for your reading enjoyment, I present a retrospective. Enjoy.

November 6, 2004. How about some introspection from US?

June 12, 2005. Now is it time for Revolution?

October 2, 2006. This is not my America.

February 25, 2007. Wanted/Needed: a leader for a new world.

May 4, 2008. Why I'm voting for Barak Obama.

POLITICS MAKES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

What is it about politicians and sex? It seems that every year there are a few more politicians who, um, get caught with their pants down - so to speak. And yes, it's all men (maybe there are exceptions, but none spring to mind).

And so here we are in Portland, Oregon where our newly sworn-in Mayor, Sam Adams, finds himself in the middle of a sex scandal. Sam, who the press loves to point out is the first openly gay mayor of a major American city, had a sexual relationship with an 18 year old man in 2005 (Sam was in his early 40's at the time) and, while running for mayor, vigorously denied it when an accusation was made by another potential candidate. A few days ago, just before a local newspaper broke the story, Sam held a press conference and admitted that he had lied about the sexual liaison, and convinced his young lover to also lie, in order not to jeopardize his mayoral run. And so the scandal swirls and swirls.

The issue here, in my opinion, has nothing to do with Sam having sex - everyone does, I hope. There are a few issues that bother me:

1. Sam lied. He lied to the press and to the public. He now admits to the lie, and asks for the public to forgive this "one mistake" in a long political career. The issue: can Sam be trusted not to lie about other things? How will we know if he is telling the truth?
2. Sam had sex with a teenager. Yes, in Oregon, an 18 year old is considered a consenting adult, but there is something , well, creepy about a 40-something powerful politician having sex with an admittedly confused teenager. Gayness has nothing to do with it, it's just plain out of line.
3. And what does this episode have to say about Sam's judgment? I'd say it shows very poor judgment, particularly for a politician with ambitions of higher elected office. Can we trust Sam's judgment regarding the business of the City of Portland?

The battles are raging in the various media. Some people are defending Sam, others, including our newspapers, are calling for his resignation. Some folks are talking about a recall campaign. Can tar and feathers be far behind?

I don't have a position, yet, on whether Sam should step down or not. But I think the decision has to be Sam's - he needs to look at his role and responsibility as Mayor and decide what is best for the citizens of Portland and the workings of city government. I heard an interview today of the President of the Portland Police Union, who thinks Sam should resign. His issue: as Mayor, Sam is the final word on employee discipline, so what does he do if a policeman admits that he lied about something, but claims it was his only mistake in 20 years of service, and he's sorry?

And so Sam Adams joins the long list of distinguished (and not so distinguished) American politicians who have been caught up in sex scandals, including those of recent memory like Bill Clinton, Elliot Spitzer, John Edwards, David Vitter, Mark Foley and Larry Craig (here's a list of the top 53). Truth be told, I like Sam, and he'll probably be an OK mayor if he hangs on and gets past this - there are other things about his political style and focus that are more bothersome to me. But this situation certainly raises some doubts.

THE WALLS ARE ALIVE...

...without the sound of music.

My automatic audio brain alarm was trained when we owned a 1965 V-Dub Transporter (nickname "Truckin'"). That VW engine had a bad habit of bending and breaking push rods, and the driver's ear had to be attuned to very subtle changes in driving sounds.

Something that wasn't right, some subtle sound, woke me at 4AM on the morning of Christmas eve. I wandered around, searching for, and dreading to find, the source of the rapid drip-drip-drip sound. We were in the middle of a Portland, Oregon record snow storm, with lots of snow and ice on the roof. After stumbling around in the dark for awhile, I found the source - inside the closet wall at the back of the house. I didn't see any water, but my bare feet found some oozing up between the hardwood floor boards. Oh crap!

I called the insurance company (Amica - we highly recommend them) on Christmas eve day, and they had a mitigator (not like a Terminator) out on Christmas day. They opened some holes in the closet wall, found water, but also found, on the inner wall (there are four layers of drywall in the common firewall between the two townhouses), what looked like black mold. They sealed up the hole with plastic sheeting, set up an industrial dehumidifier to dry everything out, and left.

We bought this townhouse, one of a duplex, new in 2002. We had looked at older houses, but decided that we didn't want all the issues that came with older homes, including mold - Sherry has asthma and is very allergic to mold. In the days since Christmas, we've had all kinds of inspectors, mold guys, contractors, roofers, etc. out here. The mold remediation company was here yesterday and removed our closet wall and the inner layer of our neighbor's wall (i.e. 3 of the 4 sheet rock layers, plus insulation and studs) - all covered with Stachybotrys chartarum, a toxic mold.

Here's a short video of the moldy 2nd layer of our closet wall.


I guess the message here is: buyer beware. We think the problem is that the roof wasn't done properly, and there has been a chronic leak into the common wall between the duplexes. The damage is on each side of the common wall, so both owners had damage and have repair work to do. We're lucky, I guess, that we had a dripping leak during a record snowstorm that led us to discover the bigger problem. We're also lucky that Amica Insurance covers mold remediation on our homeowners insurance. We're also lucky that the damage wasn't more extensive because the mold insurance has a maximum it will pay (our project will fall below the maximum). But we need to have the roof partially redone, and insurance doesn't cover that. We've talked to the builder, and so far he's claiming that he has no liability.

We'll get through the reconstruction. In fact, the contractors will have to work around us tomorrow because, by golly, we'll be in the next room watching the inauguration of President Barak Obama.

Life goes on - but not for those particular colonies of black mold - they're history!

DREAMS

I have a dream...
yes we can

I have a dream...
yes we did

I have a dream...
yes we will

Were he alive today,
the eighty year old Dr King
would look down from the mountain top
to see how far we've come

Were he alive today,
Dr King would look up
from the mountain top
and see higher peaks
to climb

The old man and
the young man
The preacher and
the president
climb together in
ideals and spirit

Dr King took on the burdens
of a people
President Obama takes on the burdens
of a world

I have a dream...
yes we can

I have a dream...
yes we did

I have a dream...
yes we must

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS: THAT MEANS YOU AND ME, SUCKER

Understanding the financial system of the U.S. and the world is a daunting task that leads me to a painful form of brain freeze. But every once in awhile I find an article in the popular press that helps, like this recent piece in the New York Times. Yes, I know, I'm assigning you yet another somewhat lengthy piece of reading; but really, is reading and using your brain really too much to ask?

The article gives us a peek inside the tents at the big financial institutions and the government agencies that are supposed to be regulating them. What is revealed makes an ordinary consumer cringe: unbridled and unregulated greed is the credo of our financial system. The goal is short-term huge profit; the reward is even hugher bonuses and other forms of compensation. "Our financial catastrophe, like Bernard Madoff's pyramid scheme, required all sorts of important, plugged-in people to sacrifice our collective long-term interests for short-term gain. The pressure to do this in today's financial markets is immense." The system of financial institutions, rating agencies (like Moody's, and Standard and Poor's), and regulatory bodies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.) each have their hands in the others' pockets, and operate as a very large career revolving door.

The bailout orchestrated by Treasury Secretary Paulson rewarded big firms for making very bad business decisions. And the bailout, dubbed Troubled Assets Relief Program - TARP - has been just that, a tarp thrown over the dirty business in a way that prevents anyone from knowing what's really going on underneath. We don't need a TARP for this mess, we need a piece of clear plastic sheeting through which we can all watch for continuing shenanigans.

My wife and I are among the fortunate investors who only lost about 20% of the value of our investment portfolio (i.e. retirement savings) over the past year (only!). Our financial advisor had the smarts to see this coming and moved a lot of our money into safer investments that aren't making money, but also aren't losing a lot - an "asset protection strategy." Will we get bailed out by TARP? Duh. Once again the ordinary citizen, the consumer, ends up getting screwed by big business and their government partners - under the watchful neglect of an administration hell-bent on awarding it's "base" to the detriment of everyone else.

We live under an economic system that is not sustainable. The system is based on borrowing and spending as if there is no tomorrow - except that tomorrow showed up this past year demanding to be paid. As long as we, the consumers, continue to spend our money on "things," most of which we really don't need, the economic engine keeps running. But the value of these "things," whether they be HD television, SUV gas guzzlers, or houses, has to continue to increase, and we have to continue to buy them, or the house of cards starts to shake. We, the consumers, are merely the drones in this vast hive - as long as we do what we're told - buy, buy, buy - and don't hold onto our money too long (saving? what a stupid concept when you can buy anything you want on credit), everything chugs along. And, oh yeah, the folks at the top keep rolling in cash and laughing at us poor slobs whose pockets they took it from.

So what's the answer? Well, for one thing, I think that free-market capitalism is a sham and a bad paradigm. Is there something better? I don't know, but I think smart people with open minds can answer that question. In my opinion it all comes back to concepts of sustainability, an over used term these days, but one that has deep meanings. Certainly there is enough wealth in this world, created by the labor of human minds and hands, to provide a good quality of life for all of us. The change has to begin somewhere, and maybe it's us, the little people, who can force that change by the way we live our lives.

3--2--1--BYE BYE GEORGE; TAKE A HIKE, DICK!!!

I've been smiling more and more each day over the past few weeks. And now it is three days until the Cheney-Bush Cabal exits the stage and a new American Administration takes over. The sense of relief in this country and the world is palpable.

I've spent many blogger words on Dubya and Lord Darth Cheney over the past few years. In a way I'll miss them - hell, I'm going to need some new topics! But good riddance to bad garbage! The Lovable George and Kind Uncle Richard dog-and-pony show that has been spun out in the national media the last few weeks is a sickening reminder of how these bad characters operate. Their attempts to create a fantasy legacy for themselves is, and will prove to be, nothing more than the usual lies and fairy tales. On more misinformation campaign perpetrated on the public. Sorry fellas - were not in a buying mood today. Go peddle your flawed merchandise somewhere else. We've got important work to do cleaning up the mess you left behind.

I've realized something about President Obama (I know, he's not President yet - but in my view he has been more presidential since the day he won the election than Bush ever was in eight years). Obama is a different kind of politician, a different kind of leader. He has a calmness about him, and an apparent lack of vindictiveness and partisanship. It bothers me that Bush and Cheney are just going to walk away. I think they are guilty of a multitude of transgressions - even crimes - for which I want to see them pay, and pay dearly. But our new President thinks we have better things to do than go after them, and maybe he's right. Maybe I need to be a better person in that regard and look more to the future than the recent past.

History will tell the story of the Bush-Cheney years, and I firmly believe history will not be kind to them. This will be especially true if the Obama years turn out to be what the majority of Americans hope and want them to be: not just a "return" to greatness for America, but a moving forward to become an even greater America. Not greater in the sense of military might, economic superiority, and world dominance, but greater in the sense of leading the world on a different journey, one that focuses on peace, prosperity for everyone, growth and development that are realistic for every Earthling, not based on profit for the few. The journey that I think - and hope - President Obama can start us on is more than getting us out of the hole we're in and back to some status quo. And this journey can't be realized unless the majority of us understand where we have to go, what we need to do to get there, and why it is so urgent for us to start.

I'll leave it for others to recount the misery of the Bush-Cheney years, to make the long lists of the wreckage they are leaving behind. My pledge to you, the few and loyal readers of this blog, is to focus on the positive and the future - not an easy thing to do for this old cynic, but hey, anything is possible.

Sherry and I will be hanging our American flag from the front porch on Inauguration Day, and we'll have a big sign next to it: YES WE CAN!

MORE THOUGHTS ON THE HAMAS-ISRAEL CONFLICT

First, here's a short, interesting piece by journalist/author Jeffrey Goldberg about Nizar Rayyan, a top Hamas official killed recently in Gaza by an Israeli missile. This helps understand some of the basic issues in the Hamas-Israel conflict.

Second, I've thought a lot today about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, and it's important to understand that this is war between two countries (assuming it's OK here to call Gaza a country). It's not a "conflict;" it's not a "military action;" for all practical purposes this is a war between two governments.

The death and injury toll of civilians in Gaza is a terrible reality of war. The toll is higher than it might otherwise be because of the population density in Gaza and the intergration of Hamas military structure within the urban areas. I believe that the Israeli military is doing it's best to avoid civilian casualties; however, a high toll is inevitable in this situation.

I've thought about the on-going U.S. and Allies war in Afghanistan against the Taliban, and the similarities of situations with the Israel-Hamas war. Al-Qaeda attacked the United States in 2001, prompting the U.S. to attack Afghanistan because the Afghan government was harboring Al-Qaeda. The initial missile and bomb attacks ("Operation Enduring Freedom") killed and wounded many (thousands) Afghan civilians, and there is still a mounting toll of casualties of Afghan civilians in this war seven years later. (Civilian casualty figures are estimated by a variety of groups and individuals; the consensus appears to be that several thousand civilians have been killed directly in the war, with uncounted numbers dying as a result of injuries and indirect causes such as disease, displacement, starvation, etc.) There have been media reports over the past year or so of incidents of civilian casualties in Afghanistan resulting from U.S. missiles/bombs - the official U.S. response has been that the incidents are under investigation.

Israel lives with self-sworn enemies next door or nearby: Hamas in Gaza; Hezbollah in Lebanon; Iran a missile flight away; and Syria. At least the first three of these have directly sworn to eliminate Israel, "wipe Israel off the map," "kill all Jews," etc. Hamas has been launching rockets and mortars into Israel for the past several years. So why does it shock people that Israel has decided to fight a direct war against Hamas in Gaza?

Finally, I have to write a bit about geopolitics. To do this, I have to step away from emotional and moral concerns and distress about people being killed and injured in this war, and look dispassionately at the politics of the situation. An article in the Sunday New York Times is a good place to start this thought process, if you want to do a bit more reading. The Israel-Hamas war has to be taken within the context of regional politics. In one view, Israel is a proxy for the United States, and Hamas is a proxy for Iran, with each proxy being supported militarily by the larger sponsor. An open war between the U.S. and Iran would plunge the world into chaos; a war betwen Israel and Hamas is much more containable. A loss by Hamas would be a major setback to Iran and it's regional ambitions; a loss by Israel would certainly shift the balance of power in the region.

I don't support war as a way to resolve conflict, although there are times when it is inevitable and necessary. The victims of war are the citizens of the fighting countries, and they are generally not the ones who decide to wage the war. The destruction and human suffering in Gaza and Israel is painful to watch from afar, and it's easy to sit here in my easy chair and opine about the situation. But I also can't sit here and ignore the one-sidedness that always seems to spring out of the woodwork when Israel is involved. I don't think for a minute that Israel has totally clean hands in this decades-old conflict - I've posted about this a number of times over the past few years. What is clear now is that Hamas has provoked the present chapter of this war, and has brought down upon it's own citizens a horrendous level of violence.

I hope the violence ends very soon. I hope that Hamas loses it's grip on Gaza and more rational people find a path towards peace. I also hope that Israel makes positive steps towards resolution of this 60 year old conflict in a way that benefits all Israelis and all Palestinians (see my previous post). I hope this doesn't turn out to be a lose-lose for everyone.

I know, I'm a dreamer, but there is no other way.

THE WAR IN GAZA

Open warfare has once again broken out in and around Israel. This time the fighting is between Israel and Hamas, and civilians on both sides are caught in the line of fire. I have many thoughts about this, both from the perspective of the present round of violence, and a broader historic and future perspective.

And for clarity - I am a secular (atheist) Jew and have visited Israel a few times, and parts of the West Bank once. One of the trips was a Journey of Peace, from which I posted to this blog (use the search function for the term "Israel.")

The present round of violence - There is no question that Israel has the right to defend itself against constant attacks by Hamas and other factions from within Gaza, or anywhere else. Over the past several years, since Israel pulled out of Gaza, more than 10,000 rockets and mortars have been launched from Gaza into civilian areas of southern Israel. The targets have been either random or specific civilian sites including schools and hospitals. The physical, psychological and economic impacts to the people of the region have been very great; deaths and injuries have been minimized by warning systems and bomb shelters. Israel's response to this constant barrage has been mostly restrained, using economic pressure (blockades, sanctions, etc.) and limited military actions - against military targets (yes, there have been civilian casualties, because the Palestinian rocket launchers typically hide in residential areas).

I think every one of us would agree that if someone started launching rockets into our neighborhood, we would expect our government to take decisive action immediately to end it!

Is the military response by Israel too much? This is a tough one to answer from where I sit. The information I've seen is that Israel has targeted military and government (Hamas) installations, and has tried to warn civilians in Gaza to get away from any military or government sites because they are targets. I believe that Israel does not target civilians (unlike Hamas and other terrorists), but there have been civilian casualties (I refuse to call these unfortunate persons "collateral damage."). I do support the suggestions that Israel call and maintain a 48-hour cease fire, asking Hamas to cease launching rockets into Israel in order to get discussions going to build a truce.

Can Israel or Hamas "win" this battle? No. Hamas cannot defeat Israel in a war. And, short of complete annihilation of the people in Gaza, Israel can only achieve a lessened amount of violence against it from within Gaza, with an accompanying strengthening of resolve of Palestinians, particularly the young, to fight "the oppressor."

The situation is an ongoing cycle of violence that seems to have no end. The fact that Hamas has the stated goal of eliminating Israel as a main part of it's mission is a major roadblock to peace.

Is there hope for the future? I'm not a citizen of Israel or Gaza or the West Bank, so these are armchair musings based on my study of the situation and my few visits there. I do think that there are some positive steps that can be taken for a better future for all people in the region.

• Mutual respect for each other.
  
• Israel - A civil rights movement is needed in Israel to provide Arab Israelis equality and greater integration into Israeli society. Prejudice against Arabs in Israeli society needs to be identified and eliminated.
  
• Gaza and West Bank - the teaching of anti-Semitism in schools and mosques, as well as on TV and in other mass media, has to end.
  
• Education.
  
• Gaza and West Bank - accurate history and geography of the Middle East need to be taught in schools; Israel (not "the Zionist Entity") exists and needs to be shown on maps; the histories of the Jewish people, the Palestinian people, and the region are complex and rich, and should be a focus of education
• Israel - the history and claims of the Palestinian people need to be recognized and taught, including an objective history of the creation of the modern Israel within the context of world politics and local realities at the time
• State Building - the West Bank.
  
• Israel - Israel's future will be best served by helping establish a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank (based on the pre-1967 border). Building of Jewish settlements and outposts in the West Bank should be halted immediately, and existing ones either disbanded or traded with the Palestinians for land of equal value inside Israel. Israel should work closely with moderate Palestinians and their leadership to forge a lasting peace based on mutual respect, security, and economic cooperation. Israel and other nations should be encouraged to invest in West Bank economic ventures, education and infrastructure development.
• West Bank - Palestinians need to end fighting between political factions and find common ground based on building a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank. A vision of statehood needs to reject extremism/terrorism and hatred of Israel and work towards cooperation with Israel for mutual benefits.
  
• Jerusalem. Control of Jerusalem is a major and contentious issue between Jews, Muslims and Christians. The Old City (within the walls) contains important sites for these and other religions, and each group has important historic ties to the City. The Old City of Jerusalem should be re-established as a World City - perhaps a Heritage Site - under the auspices of the United Nations, and administered by a board of atheists. The remainder of Jerusalem should be divided between Israel and the Palestinian State based on negotiations. (Yes, this idea is way out there!)
  

I focused above on the West Bank because the present leadership there is more moderate and willing to work towards peace with Israel. Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist groups in the region do not want peace with Israel - they want to destroy Israel and kill Jews. The present open warfare between Hamas and Israel is a lose-lose proposition for both sides, and the human toll is unacceptable. Implementing the items above, or something similar, can change the future by moving in positive directions and demonstrating that people on all sides of the conflict can learn to live in peace and work together towards a better world.

There are once again many public anti-Israel demonstrations in the United States and around the world. I find it strange, and frankly disheartening, that there have been no public demonstrations in the U.S. against Hamas as they launched thousands of rockets and mortars into civilian areas of Israel over the past few years. Where were the demonstrations and letters to editors when Palestinian suicide-bombers and shooters killed and injured hundreds of Israeli civilians? I'm afraid there is at best a double standard in the liberal community - and at worst an ugly strain of anti-Semitism.

Let's be clear - Hamas, Hezbollah and others of their ilk are not "freedom fighters" - they are terrorists. The Palestinian people have legitimate grievances with Israel, but terrorism and violence are not acceptable tools. Israeli military strategy, like the current U.S. military strategy that relies on massive air power ("shock and awe") is also not acceptable. The State of Israel has, in my opinion, lost it's moral compass and needs to change direction. The 40 year occupation of the West Bank, and the continuing land grabs by Israeli Jews, as one example, needs to end now.

The present violence in Gaza will end, just as it did in Lebanon a couple of years ago; unfortunately, the toll in lives and property will be high, and the result will be the same tension that existed before - a status quo between armed camps waiting for the next round of violence. This is a failed paradigm, a cycle with no end. There has to be a better way.

DRILL BABY DRILL - NUKE BABY NUKE

The fallacies of drilling or nuking our way out of our petroleum addiction have become quite evident, now that the hot air phase of the elections is over. The idea that we can solve the fuel problem by drilling new oil and gas wells off the coasts of the USA has a number of problems, primary of which is the simple fact of market economics (geeze - now I'm sounding like a free market Republican). If you've been paying any attention at all, you've certainly noticed that the price of gasoline at the pump is below $2 per gallon and still falling (dare I ask why we were paying over $4 per gallon a few months ago?), because the price of oil by the barrel has been in free-fall. The oil companies have suspended any thoughts of new drilling because - yep - the price of oil is too low to create the obscene profits they're used to, and want.

But wait, you say, isn't nukaler power the answer to our problems? It doesn't pollute, it's quiet, it's safe..... Well, one of the basic laws of ecology is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. In addition to safety and security issues, a major problem with nuclear power is the waste it generates, material that remains dangerous for a very, very long time. As discussed in a New York Times editorial today, there is still not a national repository for nuclear wastes, as ordered by Congress in the 1980's. "Tens of thousands of tons of spent fuel and military waste" are sitting around in temporary storage around the country waiting for the national repository to open. The Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada - the only one that has been pushed forward since the 1980's order - appears to be doomed by a combination of politics and technical issues. And oh, by the way, as designed, it is too small for the amount of waste that is now waiting for a place to go.

Using a controlled nuclear reaction to boil water for steam turbines has always seemed to me to be a bizarre and dangerous technology. Actually using a technology that generates extremely toxic waste that lasts for millennia, and deferring the decision to future generations about how to safely dispose of the waste is more than bizarre - it is simply irresponsible and immoral.

As citizens, we actually have some power here. When gasoline was over $4 per gallon, we drove our cars less, and also drove down the price of gasoline (supply and demand theory). Now that the price has fallen, let's not go back to our old ways, let's continue to use the gas guzzlers less. And the demand for electricity (i.e. more nukes)? Conservation has not been a part of the Cheney energy policy, but small to moderate increases in the amount of electricity each of us conserves, coupled with real conservation policies from the Obama administration, will literally speak truth to power.

It's up to us folks, and the time is now. Power to the People!

IF THE SHOE FITS

Certainly you've seen the video of an irate Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad today. (If you didn't, go to You Tube.) Now, I don't really condone throwing shoes, or anything else for that matter, at people, particularly world leaders; however, I have to admit that this was the best laugh I've had in some time.

Now if only we could get a court of law to throw the book at him.....

(And I really hope the shoe-pitching journalist wasn't dragged out back, tortured and shot, or rendited to Guantanamo.)

[Note - December 15: I heard a news clip this morning of President Bush making light of the incident: "Really, it didn't bother me; and if you need the facts, I think it was a size 10." Nice - but this is one of the things that bothers me about this self-proclaimed compassionate conservative, his lack of compassion and humility. Perhaps he could have used the incident as a moment to express that yes, he understands the pain and suffering of the Iraqi people caused by this war, and his hopes are with them for recovery and reconciliation, etc., etc. But this is too much to ask from the present leader of the free world.]

HERE'S TO LESS

HERE'S TO LESS

Our lives are filled with things. We're overwhelmed by possessions we own but do not treasure. Stuff we buy but never love. To be thrown away in weeks rather than passed down for generations.

Perhaps it will be different now. Perhaps now is an opportunity to reassess what really matters. After all, if everything you ever bought her disappeared overnight, what would she truly miss?

A DIAMOND IS FOREVER

The De Beers Family of Companies

[The above is a full-page advertisement in the Sunday New York Times Magazine. Except for the last sentence, it reads like something I might have written on this blog as a protest of consumerism. This is slick copy writing! Never mind that the "value" of diamonds is created by the total control of the supply and market by the De Beers company, and by a brilliant advertising campaign. Ah yes, all she really needs are some diamonds, and everything else will be Okey Dokey!]

THE LATE GREAT AMERICAN AUTO INDUSTRY

News flash from the U.S. Senate: it's the auto workers union that's going to be the cause of the demise of the Big Three. Oh give me a break!!!!

I've thought a lot about the auto industry bailout, and (with apologies to our Detroit-area relatives) I'm leaning towards saying "goodbye and good riddance!" I've made lists in my mind - reasons to bail them out in one column, reasons to not bail them out in the other column. The "bail them out" column really has only one item - avoiding massive lay offs of working people, people who have no control over the decisions made by the automobile industry. The collapse of the American auto companies will be disastrous for working people and the economy, but I think there are ways the new administration can organize a recovery.

The "don't bail them out" column has a long list. For decades, the American automobile companies, now known as The Big Three, have made business decisions intended to do one thing - increase and protect profits. Yes, this is the goal of business, to make a profit. But the auto industry profits, for the years that the companies made them, were based on massive hidden costs to American taxpayers - and people around the world. The Big Three built their profits on death and destruction, the resulting costs of which have been borne by everyone living on the planet. The automobile, as I've discussed in several previous posts over the last few years, became the central feature of our society, it's use dominating and dictating the realities of urban design, transportation and commerce. America became addicted to foreign oil, our cars and trucks spew millions of tons of carbon dioxide and poisons into the air and water, and thousands of people are injured and killed in auto accidents.

The American auto industry has fought tooth and nail against almost every proposed safety standard, fuel efficiency measure, and emission standard. And they're still at it, challenging the new State of California emission standards in court because they claim that they can't meet them. This is, of course, more of the same BS for which the auto industry is famous. And in the meantime the climate changes more quickly, asthma and other respiratory illnesses are on the rise, and our roads get more gridlocked than ever. None of this is a news flash, we've all known about these problems for years. And yet the Big Three have continued to tell Americans that what we want is bigger and faster cars, behemoth trucks and SUV's, all designed to use gasoline as if it's an unlimited, benign and cheap resource.

So why should we, the taxpayers, bail out these greedy companies? The executives at GM, Ford and Chrysler have made bad decisions, and their chickens have come home to roost. Isn't that what it's all about, we're told, free market, market forces, trickle down, and all that other capitalist mumbo-jumbo? Hey fellas - you snooze, you loose.

There's an aspect of the proposed bailout that isn't discussed: if the government loans these guys money so they can stay in business, who's going to buy their cars and trucks anyway? We are in a recession (yes, it is now official - duh), many thousands of people are losing their jobs, their homes, their savings and retirement funds. Car dealers are going out of business, and new cars from Asia are sitting in giant parking lots in west coast ports with no buyers in sight.

I think this is a giant lemons-to-lemonade moment in U.S. history, and I'm hoping our political leadership undergoes a miraculous transformation and actually does the right things. We need to plot a course away from the automobile as the centerpiece of our culture, and become a more sustainable society. We need to rethink the most basic assumptions about our culture and our economy, and make wise choices that will push us in new directions. There are plenty of jobs to be had in a green economy if we have the backbone to make some tough choices, roll up our collective sleeves, and rebuild an America that makes sense.

I, for one, am tired of being pushed around by big companies with fleets of lobbyists and attorneys and over-paid executives who decide how my world should be - for their profit. To the Big Three I say - get out of the road, the times they are a'changin, and you guys are just in the way.

SILK FACTORY: THE VIDEO

Here's the video that goes with a previous post about Suzhou Silk Factory Number 1, in Suzhou, China.

A COMMUNITY MOMENT

There are certain events that bring people together; brief moments of community that connect people with those around them. Such a moment was tonight's sunset that created a sky filled with gloriously blazing red-bottomed clouds against a darkening blue sky.

I left the house for a quick walk to the store for a few needed items, and a parked car was blocking the sidewalk at the corner - how rude. But as I walked around the car, I noticed a young woman in the drivers seat with her cell phone in hand - held up in front of her eyes. She was taking a picture, so I turned to see what the subject of the photo might be, and froze in my tracks in wonderment. I called my wife to tell her to go out on the porch and look, then walked on towards Hawthorne Blvd. When I got to the next corner, many people on the crowded street were looking to the west, and probably 1 out of 5 were snapping photos with their cell phones. Parents were pointing to the sky to show their children, and people were talking to each other - stranger to stranger - about this incredible display that nature had provided just for us to enjoy.

My cell phone photo doesn't really convey the breathtaking beauty of this brief moment. And, of course, a photograph cannot do justice to the moment of community that I shared with my neighbors.

I wonder how many people, and in how wide a geographic area shared that moment of community. I'm guessing many thousands of people; and you know what? I bet we were all kinds of people in terms of age, race, gender, politics, and religion (or not) watching and marveling at that sky. These are the moments of community that make Earth a small village - wouldn't it be nice if we had more?

NEWS ROUNDUP, NOVEMBER 29, 2008

- The Next Big Bailout? Keep your eyeballs on the impending credit
card market crash. Lenders are tightening up offered credit, raising
interest rates, and offering fewer incentives. Mail offers to new and
existing customers are on pace to drop below 8.4 billion pieces.

An interesting thought about the above is the effect on fuel
consumption and global warming: assume each mailing is 1 ounce (very
conservative assumption), the reduced number above would represent one
half billion pounds (250,000 tons) less mail to be transported, with
related less fuel used, fewer emissions, etc. I say: right on!"

- And the bailout of banks? Seems like the Treasury stratigery is to
give money (uh, purchase shares) to the bigger, more solid banks that
don't really need it, in an effort, it seems, to encourage them to
acquire their weaker competitors - ah, free market capitalism. The
criteria are a mystery. Some banks that have not asked for bailout
money have been approached by Treasury and asked to apply for it, and
who can resist free money? Umpqua Bank of Oregon was approached, and
will be getting a quarter of a billion dollars, even though they don't
really need it. And Bank of America has just increased their share of
one of the major banks in China (owned by the Chinese government) to
about 20% - some analysts think this is a bit tacky after B of A
accepted big money from the bailout fund.

- Consumerism Gone Wild. The death by trampling of a Walmart employee
by a Black Friday sale-crazed mob in New York is difficult to
comprehend. These uber-consumers gave up Thanksgiving to wait in line
for the store to open early in the morning, and then broke through the
doors before the opening because they couldn't wait any longer. This
tragedy is a sad commentary on the values of many of our fellow
citizens, and another sad reminder that consumerism as we know it is
an illness that must be cured.

- The Tragedy in Mumbai. How can one make any sense of terrorism other
than to conclude that these are evil acts perpetrated by evil people.
We have perhaps become so desensitized to this now common form of
brutality that the "every day" bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan kind
of roll off our minds as just another one of those incidents. But the
magnitude, brazeness and cold calculated brutality of the Mumbai
terrorists shocks us into a recognition of the ugliness of the real
world. I intend to write soon about the aspects of the human species
that often lead me to conclude that Mother Nature made a fatal error
in the evolution of Homo sapiens.

CHINA: ON THE SILK ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING

Silk Factory Number 1 has operated inside a non-descript building in a Suzhou neighborhood since the 1920's. Inside the entrance from the street, visitors can tour a small museum telling the history of the silk trade and the process of silk making. Live silkworms methodically eat mulberry leaves on an open tray, and real historic looms and other equipment are displayed in a museum setting. Visitors can then wander through the factory, peeking over the shoulders of workers - mostly women - and poking cameras at and around them as they sort cocoons, cook them in warm water to kill the pupae and loosen the strands, and deftly coax silk strands from cocoons in warm water as machines that look like they just leaped of the page of a history book about the industrial revolution spool the silk. After additional processing, the silk is woven into cloth on several old card looms. The final stop on the tour is the sales room, where purchases can be carried with or shipped to your home.

The remarkable thing about our visit to Silk Factory Number 1 was how unremarkable it seemed within the context of China. Now, at the end of a three week trip, I'm trying to sort out the complex threads of our experiences, like finding the one loose end of silk strand in a cocoon and carefully unraveling it to make whole cloth.

The People's Republic of China is at once fascinating and overwhelming, charming and intimidating, enigmatic and complex and yet simple. It has to be seen, felt, heard, smelled and tasted in order to have any chance of being understood. As visitors, we realized that understanding could only be gained by meeting and building friendships with people - certainly not a new concept, but an essential one.

The following China posts will not be written during our visit as I had planned. My trusty pocket PC was mostly useless as an internet reporter's device because I rarely found wifi access (2 Starbucks stores allowed brief interludes of connectivity - all praise globalization). The very modern American-owned hotels in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the older Chinese hotel in Xian all had internet access, but only wired - doesn't work with a wireless device. A few hours before leaving China from Shanghai, Hotel Manager Kim explained that China is still catching up, and wifi would probably be very common within a year or so. China is, after all, a developing nation.

NOVEMBER 5, 2008 - AN HISTORIC DAY FOR AMERICA AND THE WORLD!

November 5, 2008, in the early afternoon, my cell phone alerted me to a text message. It was from one of our sons: "Wow. Yes we DID!" It could only mean one thing - Barack Obama won!! Our exclamations and tears of joy and relief let our guide, Jessie, know that Obama had been elected President of the United States. She told our driver, Mr. Wu, the news in Chinese, and he nodded and smiled as he threaded the car through Beijing traffic towards the neighborhood where we hoped to find the French wine bar next to the Hutong Pizza place, where American journalists and others would be watching the election returns. We did get to the bar, just after Obama finished his acceptance speech, and we watched CNN with jubilation and awe as they ran a montage of scenes from the Obama acceptance. What pride for America we have. Look what the people have done! About an hour later, we looked at each other in amazement as we strolled the expansive Tien an Mein Square, looking at the monuments to the heroes of the birth of modern China, and Mao. How wonderfully strange to be here, on this day, celebrating within ourselves and with each other for a gentle revolution in our home country. This truly is a small world. I'll always remember November 5, 2008 as the day the people of the United States took back our country from those who would destroy it, and started out on a path to a new time for America and the world.