Monday, February 28, 2011
abuse comes in all sizes
Sunday, February 27, 2011
beyootifuuullll el paso texas
El Paso's NASTY weather
The local propagandists would like to distort reality by talking about sunshine.
That would mean ignoring the many days of truly nasty wind and dust,
and other unpleasantries.
Today the wind is fierce. The dust is blowing. Very unpleasant.
And this is day three of the most unpleasant allergic reaction I've had in
many years--maybe in my entire life..... What am I sick from? Dust? Pollen?
I don't know, but it's not nice.
No, I do not like El Paso and would never praise the local weather.....
Friday, February 25, 2011
recommended viewing
Nancy Folbre on "Women's Work and the Limits of Capitalism"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNBQU_ESqtw
Just say "No" to GDP!
rally to save the "American Dream"
american the ugly
to be old and weak?
working hard all your life...
and then when you are old and weak,
still working at home
Yes, a woman's work is work.
Unpaid work.
But for whatever help you receive,
help you were promised all of your life,
you must endure countless letters,
countless bills,
countless forms,
written in a legalistic manner, challenging common sense,
to protect doctors and insurance companies?
So far from civilization...
all the while you are old, weak,
and you are preyed upon,
and for you there is no real help,
you are threatened,
the letters are threatening.....
All in all:
no respect,
no dignity,
because the message is that you are small,
you are unimportant,
you are powerless,
and you can only bend,
submit...
obscene in its brutality,
scandalous
ugly
land of the free?
ha ha ha ha ha
Thursday, February 24, 2011
can't you say anything nice?
Okay, here's something "nice":
The local branch of the El Paso Public Library has been a god-send in an otherwise
miserable existence.
I can occasionally find a book or DVD to enjoy, and the people who work there
are always pleasant and helpful.
But, notice precisely such a public service as a library is what is currently under
attack with the well-funded totally unreasonable propaganda campaign about the "A"-word.
Budget shortfall my ass! Let the rich start paying more taxes and there will be no shortfall.
And let us not forget about the evils of El Paso's miserable public transit system.
There is no easy path from my residence to the local library. No easy and convenient
tram or bus to this basic element of culture, the public library. On the other hand.
I believe the buses are designed specifically to target Wal Mart, whose owners are
undeservedly filthy rich--and there's a service that the rich don't pay for, by the way...
wisconsin fallacies
I was struck by several things.....
1. the spuriousness of the logic employed
2. the simple-mindedness of the man--and that reminded me of a debate in the Czech Republic
3. the utter adoration expressed
Logic?
--Public unions are wrong because that would mean that the people's money was used
to spend more of the people's money to benefit a "special interest"
I may have just blended what Herr Gov. actually said with something from one of his supporters, but I don't think I'm unfair.
1. Why do we need public unions? Why do we need any unions?
They organize an otherwise unorganized group of people., To what end? To the end of getting fair pay, good working conditions--or, more accurately, to contesting the appropriation of the surplus by a minority--aka the capitalist class.
But, if a union is for state workers, does the capitalist class disappear? No, after all, when Herr Gov. in Wisconsin kow tows before someone he thinks is a wealthy sponsor, he is kow-towing before (someone he thinks to be) a wealthy capitalist.
(I realize that FDR made some remarks identifying government with the people, but that's sheer fantasy. In any case, representative government is not the most democratic form of government....)
Just because you work for the government that doesn't guarantee the government pays you fair wages. After all, the government is a large bureaucracy and many forces impinge upon it.... including the wealthy people who don't want money spent on anyone else. (money for the wealthy? Yes, so called foreign aid, e.g., primarily goes to manufarcturers of weapons and such here in the US of A.--and while some ordinary people benefit, the wealth is never share equally, but more of it goes to the people who need it least. (That is "our" economic system; it is called capitalism. You can try to fool yourself and call it "free enterprise" but you still get screwed unless you are a capitalist.) Then again, there's all that money that went to Wall Street....)
2. In the Czech Republic they used to argue about whether official communists in the past were actually true believers or just opportunists. This went to amazing lengths, as I seem to recall, even leading to successful lawsuits by former Communists who claimed to be sincere--lawsuits
aimed at defending themselves from the charge that they had once been Communists...
Can Herr Gov really believe what he says he believes? Is he so uninformed or is he an opportunist? Trickle down economics doesn't work. I heard him talking about freedom; that w
was his goal, to win back lost freedom. Freedom?-to be gotten by weakening or eliminating unions? Whose freedom? Apparently freedom for employers to squeeze all they can out of workers! Freedom for capitalists to screw the rest of us.
3. It was amazing to hear the man's tone of voice, his honesty, candor, the talk of "us" versus "them".....I dare say that politicians are not so candid when they speak to the public, nor do
they quite gush so much.... How can that be? Candid when talking to a wealthy sponsor, but not to others? Or, does he always talk in that manner? I suspect not. Which would suggest that the wealthy have more power and influence than ordinary people. And, in fact, that's one reason why we need unions. They provide one tool by which to fight against the power of the wealthy.
I hope I can fix this up, but I'm going to publish it as is.
El Paso's Crappy Weather
And what do we have now?
DUST
WIND
AND MORE WIND
not pleasant
sunshine?
Really, I couldn't care less. I couldn't give a flying fuck if the sun is shining as the wind
is blowing in my face. What difference does it make? I don't want skin cancer and the
back of my neck is turning to leather.
No thank you.
I would never say that this is "good" weather.
Good for what?
Driving your climate destroying vehicles?
Not my idea of "good" anything.
No, nothing good here.
Please, get me out of here.
As soon as possible.
Please.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
footnote to my letter to the Texas Senators
to be a bit more explicit: In my letter to the Texas Senators, I complained that in the USA,
the rich get an "automatic Pass", and they don't have to jump through the sort of hoops
that ordinary citizens must jump through. I had in mind the atrocity called "Estate Recovery" which guarantees that ordinary old folks who get the medical attention needed if they want to stay in their homes (and not go into nursing homes) will have zero assets when they die.
According to the journalist interviewed here (at this link) Wall Street operators are
responsible for the financial short falls currently blamed on unions and working people...
all more of the same...
To:
John Cornyn,
and Kay Bailey Hutchison,
THE QUESTION IS:
Whose side are you on ?
link to the article in "Rolling Stone":
http://www.rolingstone.com/pcolitics/news/why-isnt-wall/street-in-jail-20110216
my albertsons nightmare
not fresh air
bright lights
fluorescent
the sounds! oh the sounds!
music I hate
and a phoney voice
oh yccch
i feel sick
could not settle down to buy all the items on the list
I had to run away
my god what an ugly country this is
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Revised Letter
the revised version of my letter to the Texas Senators...
TO:
John Cornyn,
Kay Bailey Hutchison,
Dear John Cornyn,
Recently a prominent politician (a member of your party) went before the American people and proclaimed the US health care system to be “the best in the world.” His words were not true. Why he said them—whether he is uninformed or confused or whether there is another explanation—I leave to you.
I write you now as the son of a loyal and patriotic American, a veteran of World War Two, a man who has always paid his taxes and (until his health declined) voted in very election, a man who believes in his country and who believed that his country would treat him fairly when he retired and when he was hold. Indeed, you could say that the country made a promise to him, a promise which has now been broken.
We are not talking about getting something for nothing. We are talking about an agreement between the government of the U.S.A. and my father, an agreement which said that if he contributed to his retirement while he worked, he would receive the care he needed when he was too old to work any longer. My father kept his end of the bargain, but the government of which you are a part has been shamefully remiss.
Then, again, I erred above when I attempted to portray my father in a way that you would find sympathetic, trying to convince you that my father deserves help—as if it were necessary to provide proof that any human being deserves dignity and respect. The idea that a human must prove his or her worthiness of respect is a foul piece of ideology that stinks to the high heaven. And, in any case, this demand is only placed upon those who are not rich, while the most wealthy and powerful citizens have the equivalent of a “automatic pass”—their wealth and the unbridled power it buys are sufficient proof of virtue in this false and degraded system of value.
My father is eighty-five years old and he needs home care. Today he receives only a small bit of help—a Nurse’s assistant bathes him twice a week and a Nurse checks his vitals once a week. My mother is eighty-four years old and has incurable health problems, yet she has been taking care of him. As I am younger and healthier I have been living with my parents and helping them, but I cannot continue to do so without endangering my own hopes for a decent future.
In essence, I have, for nearly a year and a half, been doing the job that Medicare should have been doing. And I have been doing it for free. I have been covering up for the inadequacy of the US health care system, making up for the government’s failure.
My father has Parkinson’s, and in recent months his health has declined. He cannot even get out of a chair or bed without help.
My mother has severe arthritis, as well as a degenerative condition in her spine which makes it difficult for her to walk. For two years my mother was unable to get the pain care she needed, something she needed to perform her daily activities like cooking and cleaning. And, even, today, when she is finally getting pain relief, our health care system is so stingy and burdensome that she must constantly return to her doctor to acquire proof that she needs pain relief, and she regularly faces the anxiety that the pharmacy might not fill her prescription in time, the fear that tomorrow she will be incapacitated with pain on account of the inefficient and troublesome system which places an infinity of roadblocks in the way.
Things do not have to be this way. There is no law of God or economics that says things have to be this way. And I don’t say that because I read it in a book or some so-called expert told me so. I know this because I have experienced a different system, one which is not so onerous.
For many years I lived in Slovakia, a formerly communist country, a country which is not so rich as the United Sates. And, I did have to rely upon their medical services, and use a Slovak hospital when I contracted pneumonia. After being hospitalized, and using the services of specialists, I did not have to endure the paperwork and the seemingly endless bills that I have seen my parents struggling with every month. My hospitalization was free and the only serious cost I incurred was lost income on account of missing work beyond the yearly allowance of sick days. The medicines were inexpensive, and I never had to fight the sort of battle I see Americans face everyday at my local Walgreens. (“Did my insurance pay for the medicines my doctor says I need?” Can you prove that this medicine is really for you?—insulting and insincere paternalism!) I did not face the sort of obnoxious bureaucracy my elderly and weak parents must fight in order to achieve basic medical care.
So, anything I say to you now is coming from my personal experience.
It is shameful that a small country like Slovakia is more generous than the U.S.A. If Slovakia can avoid the torturous bureaucracy, then surely the U.S.A. can. If Slovakia can provide medicines to its citizens at reasonable prices, then surely the U.S.A. can.
No, the United States does not have the best health care system in the world. And, now I am not talking about the fact, and it is a fact, that some twenty odd countries do better in terms of results, while being less expensive than our system. Now I am referring to a fundamental lack of humanity. The U.S. system is a cold system, a system without a heart. People are treated badly. They do not receive the respect they deserve as human beings. In this Health Don’t-Care System, you are, in effect, guilty until prove innocent. The burden—repeated and unending—is on the citizen to “prove” that he or she is ill, that he or she needs care. That demand is, in the first place, disrespectful, but also onerous and excessive. It is as if the purpose of the system were not to help people keep their health, but something else entirely.
The problem is not individual nurses and doctors and other professionals. The problem is not the individuals. The problem is the system.
Recently I have discovered another evil in this less-than-best health care system—so-called “Estate Recovery”. Were my parents to get more help than they currently receive, upon their death, any money or property they left behind would be seized by the government-As if my father and mother had not already paid into the health care system!
Understand me well: My father and mother have worked hard all of their lives, and now you reward them with suspicion and distrust. They only need and expect what any person of their age reasonably expects from a country which they have served faithful and honorably. Whatever sum they may have managed to save in their lifetimes is small compared to the resources available to you, let alone the resources available to those wealthy individuals who are your actual manners, individuals whose relative contribution to this society’s pie is puny compared to that of my parents and millions of Americans like them. You mock every notion of justice and fairness when you require that my parents and other Americans prove their worthiness for medical care. You insult their hard work, their contribution, their faith in their country.
And you, together with your colleagues, are hypocrites as well, since you receive medical care far better than the average citizen.
Unlike the merchants of war who you fund so generously, and with so little oversight, and unlike the cunning and sophistical gamblers of Wall Street, my parents and millions of ordinary citizens have made a real contribution to the life of this country, and a contribution to peace and goodwill among nations.
Now, through “Estate Recovery” you repay them with an insult. You demand that they pay a third time for what they have already earned by payment and the generosity with which they have lived their lives.
“Estate Recovery” is unnecessary and mean-spirited. Universal medical care is neither technically impossible or too costly. However, it does face many hurdles of a practical sort—above all the confusion of America’s legislators, who have forgotten that they are supposed to serve all of the people, preferring instead to serve at the beck-and-call of the wealthiest in the country, a de facto aristocracy, a ruling class with no moral compass and not the least tincture of justice, a group, moreover, which does not contribute a fair share of taxes or anything else.
Shame on you. Shame on every legislator and politician who has forgotten that their job is to serve every American, preferring to toady before the wealthiest—a shameful and ugly spectacle.
Sincerely yours,
Mark J. Lovas
how dare you!
I seem to hear a voice in my head speaking:
You don't know anyone and you never go out!
surrounded by glass, steel, plastic, and are moving swiftly, and I conceive them
only as a potential threat to me, irritating me with their bright headlights
illuminating the dark streets.....
People in El Paso only go into public spaces with the protection provided by their climate destroying vehicles; but that's not my preference. I'd rather live in a place with public transport.....
Yes, it is hard to meet people when they are always in their metal/plastic cocoons..... but, I say it again: the ambience of the personal climate destroying vehicle is an unfriendly one....
obviously unnoticed by those who believe there is no other way to live....
Monday, February 21, 2011
Advertising; The Uninvited Guest
I have another blog dedicated to my novella, "A Neurotic in an Exotic Land", and I did post an essay there; but, it seems to me that given the contents of the novella and the contents of this blog, this particular essay fits better here.....(at least for the time being).
al jazeera yet again
says
REPUBLICANS PLUNGE WISCONSIN INTO CHAOS
Republikaner sturzen Wisconsin ins Chaos
(the "u" should have an umlaut...)
(20 February 2011; 20:32)
http://derstandard.at/
once again better than Al Jazeera's clash between ideologies...
I didn't know that... not exactly...
Robert Paul Wolff's "The Philosopher's Stone"--in general, but also especially his
Monday, February 21, 2011, "The Future of Socialism Final Post"
http://robertpaulwolff.blogspot.com/
what is it that I didn't know? Wolff's discussion of the attempt to use a theorem of Euler's isn't something I exactly knew... (though I'd read mention of bits and pieces..)
and it is important, worth knowing.....
(The result: no good arguments to justify capitalism; it's not a just system and no one should be fooled by talk about "marginal" productivity.....
Sunday, February 20, 2011
follow-up on al jazeera
the homepage of "the Real News":
"Class Struggle in Wisconsin"
http://therealnews.com/
al jazeera
"ideologies clash in Wisconsin"
they are not being neutral
and they are not being accurate
not every belief is automatically an ideology
this is another case where al jazeera--whatever its virtues--strikes me as simply being
too much like the mainstream press
ideology is, above all, the tool of the ruling class
so long as al jazeera cannot or will not recognize that fact, they are lost
well,then again...
(after-thought)
maybe not
I"m not sure
I checked Andy Levine's "Political Keywords" and the entry on "ideology" seems
to back al jazeera: they were saying two comprehensively different political points of view
were conflicting.
Well, maybe, but even then I'm not so sure.
When the fight is between those who have health insurance and those who don't
or one group of workers who has better insurance and those who have worse....
that's not a clash of ideologies.
That's a trick because the social pie is being divided in such a way that the bulk of
the surplus is not going to any of those workers.
the worker who says "I want my fair share" and "those other guys have more than me"
is not expressing an ideology....
But I wish he would consider that some people have even more than "Cadillac" (sic) health care, and benefit more than the people he is targeting with is anger..... (but those unseen people are like that little guy in the Wizard of Oz---beyond the curtain... where is that little dog when you need him?),......
In any case I worry about the suggestion, a pejorative one behind "conflicting ideologies". Doesn't it suggest that it's not a matter of fact? not to be settled in some reasonable way? (If so, I would reject the suggestion. I don't think justice is just a matter of opinion, even if there are difficult questions in this neighborhood...)
Saturday, February 19, 2011
make me laugh
over at Michael Dawson's blog "the Consumer Trap"
There is a link to a report by Shell Oil Company. (they know the world is running out of oil.......) In addition there is a link to a "Foreign Policy" article sumarizing and analyzing the report....
No, I didn't bother to read the report (and only glanced at the FP article) as it is now pretty late and I am very tired, but I did notice
that they mentioned that Wal Mart has promised to cut back on their contribution to
global warming.
(What are the exact numbers? and why should I believe what Wal Mart says unless there is some independent accounting? I'm sure that's what you are thinking...)
Now that's what I call an optimistic sign. ha ha ha
Shell Oil Company and Wal Mart as leaders of a green world?
(I don't think so....)
Ha ha ha
hating El Paso Weather
Friday, February 18, 2011
(one thing) gratifying and (another) briefly noted--two distinct short entries
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
recommended viewing
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
not again
Albertsons, the store without fresh bread, without real bread, and without much by way of fresh food, let alone fruits and vegs.....
On my way out, the young lady insisted I play "Monopoly". No thank you,. Really
I play enough games without that...
She insisted. "You could win a million dollars."
h aa ha ha ha
Sorry, why are you wasting my time like this? The chances of my winning are about equal to the chance I'll be hit by a meteor when I go outside... etc.
I'm not about to buy meteor insurance, or waste my time with this idiotic game.
What a waste of paper! and time!
Did her boss put her up to this?
Was she trying to be nice?
Really, It wasn't a conversation I wanted to have.
Did the education system in the State of Texas fail her to such an extent that she could not understand me?
If other employees bother me in this way, I shall suppose it is a company policy. If not,
I'll accept another explanation.
I don't need this, really.....
Anyway, these games are an insulting joke. But that's the sort of nonsense I expect (but do not enjoy ( in this country.
Why I Hate Driving
commonplace
obnoxious....
details soon....
(did I say it before? -----get me out of here!!!!)
briefly noted, and appreciated....
Juan Cole has taken to calling "Fox News" FAUX news!
("Scenarios for Egypt's Future; How Democratic Will it Be?" at http://www.zcommunications.org/scenarios-for-Egypt-s-future-by-juan-cole
Michael Dawson is calling B. Obama: Black Reagan!
"Overclass Charades", Feb. 7
http://www.consumertrap.com
Sunday, February 13, 2011
culture in the USA?--scorned, abused, violated, and disrespected
Friday, February 11, 2011
recommended viewing
I have read an essay by Oreskes....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T4UF_Rmlio
title: The American Denial of Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes
update: I've watched it, and it's excellent.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
socialism
should be free
or very cheap
and they should be in public (not private) hands.
That would mean the end of private tyrannies like google or att&t etc.
a better world is possible
but before you can have it
you have to imagine it first
and that's what I'm doing....
you want more details? read Michael Albert (advocate of "participatory economics) and his critics (e.g David Schweickart). .... for a start...(don't expect me to do all of your work, as I've said before I'm an amateur at this stuff....)
pushy, aggressive, RUDE
dismayed, discouraged, depressed, and fed up
I continue to be upset, depressed, discouraged, and angered by the ugliness of life in this particular corner of the globe.
Today I had to endure that special brand of ugliness and insult called "Albertson's". I don't know that this particular grocery store is more ugly than others in this suffering land,
but that's the one where I went shopping today.
No, I still don't enjoy the drive. No, I don't like the bright lights of opposing traffic or the game of squeezing in between enormous trucks. No, I don't like walking with caution in a parking lot filled with the enormous beasts, negotiating my chance to cross the street without injury.
Nor do I enjoy the rows and rows of colored boxes, the bright fluorescent lights, the nasty music and advertising courtesy of the in-house radio torture. I asked one of the employees whether they get used to the ugliness of the music, and he said "no". At that point it occurred to me that if you try to tune it out, all of the tunes seem to feature a similar whine or wail, a sort of moaning voice, mid-range in the background. Perhaps some sadistic psychologist has determined that exactly that stimulus leads to more foolish purchases, or simply more purchases.
Fresh food? ha ha ha So little of it is fresh. And the freshest is not as fresh as one would like.
Then there are the obnoxious signs everywhere tellings us what a good deal we are getting. Excuse me while I puke. That is really insulting.
All in all, an insulting, unpleasant experience. I'd avoid it if I could.
And did I enjoy shopping more in Slovakia or Austria? Well, the food was better, and I didn't have to drive to the shops. That makes a big difference. The food was much better. The bread was actually fresh, for a start..... And I don't recall such aggressive marketing--e.g., stupid little red white and blue signs on every aisle telling you you are getting a deal. (so stupid; so juvenile; such a waste of paper!) And, it might matter that working conditions are generally better in Austria, though even there not everyone gets a fair shake (or so I believe).... ((BUt if you doubt my words, you do a little research: and here's an assignment: write a paper (or book) about how working conditions influence the mood of employees in grocery stores..... and the overall mood of a country.... (Unknowable? I doubt it, but you may have trouble getting funding unless you told your funding source what they want to hear...)
Monday, February 7, 2011
more ignorance in El Paso, Texas
Is it treated as a commodity?
rather than a public good?
Apparently so, to judge from what I've just seen (on line) on a local news channel.
A member of the local water mafia spoke about our "customers', uh hmmm, hmmm,
I am a citizen. And water is a public service...
Nonetheless, the ignorance did not stop there: due to an "act of God" they were uable
to provide water.
What was the act of God? cold weather.
Unusually cold weather.
As I have noted before, with global warming, extreme or unusual weather will be
more usual....
global warming? more precisely, anthropogenic global warming, i.e. warming caused by human activity.
Hence these (formerly) "Unusual" weather events are caused by human beings, not by any God or gods.....
this was a public hearing and no one spoke on either of these issues. The first silence may be excused as people tend to be very deeply confused about politics, but climate change is science. No excuse. Hence shameful ignorance. Not even a reporter commented. Sad. Sorry. Ignorant El Paso...
Sunday, February 6, 2011
al jazeera
facebook revolution?
it's been said before, I'm sure... but....
There’s a restaurant in El Paso that my parents like to go to.
A restaurant like a factory.
You sit down at your table. You get menus. You order. You get a pot of coffee if you’ve ordered coffee. The food comes shortly thereafter. The plates are taken away….
As I write the sequence, I see that it is inevitable, a natural sequence--except for the business about a pot of coffee....but I need to add something else, like, shall we say, “Whoosh!”-to indicate the speed, the absence of a time to catch one’s breath between the various stages of the process. I see that speed, absence of an interval, absence of a pause---all as a form of fear.... fear that we are not doing what we are supposed to, moving quickly to a goal that we know in advance.... because we always know what we are doing, don't we? Not allowed a moment for thought or reflection, NO! we wouldn't want that... better action, action, action. NOT dialogue! Heaven forbid! NOt that! Please. My life is not boring!
The time between the steps is too brief. Real food cannot be prepared so quickly. Fresh food cannot be prepared so quickly. Cannot. Plainly what we’re getting is mostly prepared in advance. (Well, here’s a country that doesn’t know the meaning of the words “fresh bread”—unless you go to some pretentious special shop, itself an insult to the word ‘culture’….)
So, in the end, I feel as though I have gotten onto a conveyor belt. It’s not just that the food is relatively tasteless; it’s the whole process.
What’s that you say? Did I hear a voice tell me that I’ve just betrayed my origins?
Oh, you mean my class origins? Or, in more pretentious but no less unegalitarian language, my socio-economic class?
You are saying we like to eat in cheap restaurants? Are you suggesting that I should be ashamed because I am not a child of the capitalist class? Or their overly-paid servants?
Well, that sort of class consciousness wasn’t what I wanted to talk about, but you’ve raised it. America, a very class conscious, un-egalitarian society…. Something else I don’t like.
Oh that angels would carry me away! I have grown tired of the stale air of inequality, the desultory drumbeat of the poison they call efficiency….
Saturday, February 5, 2011
primitivism
doesn't know how to punctuate?
No, he's a primitive,
and that's the style of his blog...
After all, what they call "civilization"... isn't.....
Friday, February 4, 2011
gecu.mail.com--name and shame
I've gotten about thirty sms's from these bastards:
gecu.mail.com
apparently it's connected to a phone call I got this morning....
Should be a law against that sort of thing....
(another case where the government, such as it is, does not serve the people....?)
Note:
just found out the real "gecu" doesn't do this
Thought;
Don't tell me it's impossible to stop this sort of crap. I don't believe you.
Why?
It's actually possible to stop mobile phone theft, but companies don't bother. (or so I have
read....)
((Ahhh, yes I am drawing an analogy about how the world works..... what? you don't like my analogy? Well, I don't like the way the world works.))
An (other) After-Thought:
It just occurred to me that while I lived in Central Europe (mostly Slovakia and briefly Austria) I never (NEVER) received thirty junk messages... or even two.....Might it possibly be that legislators in the United States are making different laws than they have in ?Europe?
(I happened to be in Austria a while back--about six seven months ago---and at that
time they were arguing about whether to allow Google to go around taking pictures of buildings.....I liked that. I don't think that Google Earth should have been allowed, e.g., to photograph my father's house without his permission....
But the general point is this: many things that residents of the USA take for granted are not inevitable or universal... (and my further point is that many such things are also not even good.,....
what a ruthless country...
and get only a little help
just enough so that you can't say you didn't get any help at all....
but it's not enough
and the suffering is unnecesary and cruel
no,
this is not civilization.......
overheard
ostrich style El Paso TX
After three days of unusually cold temperatures, the citizens are uncomfortable.
However, it is worth pointing out that the discomfort is even greater across the border in the virtual US colony called Mexico....
(Do I go too far when I speak of Mexico as a "colony"? Did NAFTA hurt Mexico? Did US businesses profit more than Mexican citizens? Does the USA government support the Mexican military?)
But so far as I can tell from a quick inspection of the local newspaper, no one is mentioning the fact that global warming/climate change means an increase
in weather events which were previously regarded as "unusual"...
The discomfort in El Paso is only a small sample of what is to come in the future if the United States continues its policy of science-denial, putting its head in the sand and ignoring the fact of climate change/anthropogenic global warming...
how sad
Now would be the perfect time for the local newspaper to have a week long feature, interviewing local scientists (employed by the state university, i.e.., the taxpayer
funded University of Texas at El Paso) explaining how unusual weather will become more common, and why it is urgent to make changes now...
but that would be too much to expect from a stagnant outpost of empire....