Monday, February 28, 2011

abuse comes in all sizes

abuse of power comes in all sizes..

e.g., at the bank when they offer me another credit card (even though I never asked)...

when I call DIrect TV because there's a problem and they try to sell me a "new" package...
even when it is packaged as something free, I do NOT TRUST THEM

and finally,
when I get a call from some sort of 800 number I do not know,
and when I check it out to find that it's a scam......

Hello? Who is running this country? Who benefits? NOT ME,
and,
I'll bet....
not you either.....

Sunday, February 27, 2011

beyootifuuullll el paso texas

This desolate outpost on the edge of empire has the unique property
of being THE ONLY PLACE WHERE YOU CAN BE COLD YEAR ROUND!

how is that possible?
THE MINUTE WINTER ENDS EVERYONE TURNS ON FREEZING COLD AIR CONDITIONING!

lovely!

El Paso's NASTY weather

I am going to keep a record, noting the crummy weather and unpleasant conditions as they occur.
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.....

And, I do not have anything good to say about the local presupposition that
the minute it warms up just a bit, we have to turn on the air conditioning!
What bullshit. That just brings in dirty air. It is not healthy.

Moreover, a nurse at one local doctor's office recently told me they keep the place cold to discourage germs. Bullshit! They are not taking account of people like me who suffer from the cold, and end up getting sick with precisely the allergic reaction I have right now.

El Paso: City of Bullshit

Friday, February 25, 2011

recommended viewing

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!

Two other things struck me:

First, if unpaid work is so very important, but is totally (or almost totally) ignored
by economics, what sort of thing is economics? Alternative, how dreadfully and awfully
incomplete is the discipline/are the standard theories/approaches.

Secondly, Folbre made a very interesting argument that there's even more inequality in the USA than you think--because the entry of women into the workplace increased inequality.

And, that explains a phenomenon I have noted previously on this blog (and something which I find ugly to behold)--a lack of solidarity.


rally to save the "American Dream"

I myself don't endorse the ideology of the "American Dream".
(I don't think dreams of justice and a decent life are somehow peculiar to the USA...)

Nonetheless, I am sorry that I am currently residing in such a stagnant backwater that tomorrow there will be no protests nearby in support of the Wisconsin strikers..

american the ugly

what can be worse?
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?

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

Listening to Wisconsin's governor talk to a man he believed to be his wealthy sponsor,
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

Winter, such as it is, is over.
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

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/2/22/matt_taibbi_why_isnt_wall_street_in_jail


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

air conditioning
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!

the voice of conscience?

I seem to hear a voice in my head speaking:
How dare you say people in El Paso are unfriendly!
You don't know anyone and you never go out!

hmmmm.........

Can I still this irritating voice?Yes, that's so true. I can't go out often, and the only time I see people they are
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

If you are looking for my article, "Advertising; the Uninvited Guest", which appeared in "Think", you will find a link to the complete article at my other blog, "A Neurotic in an Exotic Land".

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).

This is a selection (roughly the first section) from a pre-publication version of an essay to appear in the summer issue of "Think".
Pre-publication draft;
To appear in “Think; Philosophy for Everyone”
Advertising; the Uninvited Guest
Mark J. Lovas
You certainly remember this scene from dozens of bad films: a boy and a girl are running hand in hand in a beautiful spring (or summer) landscape. Running, running, running, and laughing. By laughing the two runners are proclaiming to the whole world, to audiences in all the movie theaters: “We’re happy! We’re glad to be in the world, we’re in agreement with being!” It’s a silly scene, a cliché, but it expresses a basic human attitude: serious laughter, laughter “beyond joking”.
--Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting,
(Trans. A. Asher)
In a recent article in this journal (“Some Contrarian Reflections On Advertising”, Think, Spring 2010, pp. 47-50.) Professor Tibor Machan defends advertising from those who find that it is “anything but honorable”. According to Machan advertising is not merely honorable, but also natural, a virtual paradigm of cooperative behavior, and an essential component of human well-being. “If human life is a value, advertising is a value. It is a positive good.” Machan concedes that sometimes people exposed to advertising make foolish choices, but that is explained by their lack of prudence, not any fault of advertisers. He also appeals to our sense of fair play: advertisers are like us—people trying to earn a living, and even issues a veritable cri de coeur: Who among us hasn’t tried to promote a book we’ve written?
Let us begin with a summary of advertising as Machan imagines it to be: Two individuals meet. One has something he’d like to sell. The other does, from time to time, need to purchase goods, so is not a priori hostile toward learning about the existence of a new product or the availability of an old product. The first individual does something with the intention of making his product salient in the mind of the second. The second may choose to follow up on the suggestion implicit in the first person’s behavior, or he may choose not to. This is a transaction with potential benefit to both parties.
Machan’s portrait of advertising omits important details. Once we fill in the missing details, we will see that advertising is essentially unfriendly and uncooperative. Moreover, Machan’s most ambitious claims are the result of fallacious reasoning.
Some of the details Machan leaves out: (1) The corporate sponsors of marketing and advertising have resources unavailable to ordinary citizens, and are primarily concerned to increase profits for wealthy shareholders—and those profits are not, as Machan suggests, merely a means to allow them to make a living, but are a means whereby the already rich and powerful increase their wealth and power. (2) Machan omits details about the content of advertising. Today most advertising is “aspirational”; adverts do not chiefly aim to provide information about a product, they portray a world which citizens aspire towards, and attempt to connect specific products to that world. At the extreme, this means an advertisement aims to create a preference for Brand A rather than Brand B, even when there is no qualitative difference between the two. (3) Corporations target specific populations. They study a population, test ads on focus groups, and only after they have done so do they make an ad widely available. (4) Advertising exploits design flaws in human nature; just as we have a propensity toward health problems because our bodies were not designed for an environment rich in sugar and fat, so too we have the propensity to acquire beliefs and desires which do not necessarily further our considered or long-term interest. Our brains were not designed for an advertising rich environment. Below I focus primarily upon points (2) and (4), but the other points will be mentioned along the way.
An Ambitious Claim Based Upon Faulty Reasoning.
Machan claims that advertising is unqualifiedly good, that its goodness is part of the goodness of life. Nothing in what he says suffices to establish either claim. Machan draws attention to the fact that advertising is part of our current system of social organization. It is true that we manage to live within our existing system, and, some of us (but surely not all of us or even a majority of those on the planet) actually flourish. However, that is to say nothing about the role that advertising actually plays in such goodness as there is in the world. The fact appealed to doesn’t warrant the conclusion being drawn. An analogy: If one afternoon I find myself in the Arizona desert, and I rest for a moment in the shade of an enormous building which happens to house the machines of a polluting industry, my brief rest does not constitute a proof that the industry in question is a necessary component of human well-being.
Under our current economic and political setup we must endure advertising as part of the price of acquiring what we want or need. It is good to acquire apples and books, but no law of economics or psychology says that one must endure advertising in order to do so. There need only be some form of communication between producers and citizens. Machan’s most ambitious goal—to show that advertising is actually necessary for human flourishing--fails.

al jazeera yet again

continuing to observe how other newspapers choose headlines, "Der Standard" in Austria,
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...

Highly recommended:
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

A more honest and accurate headline about the Wisconsin struggle is found at
the homepage of "the Real News":

"Class Struggle in Wisconsin"

http://therealnews.com/


al jazeera

see after-thought (and note) below in blue
when al jazeera headlines an article
"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...)

NOTE
The eminent economist Nancy Folbre defines "ideology" in the following manner:

Following many other historians of economic thought, I define ideology as a set of rationalizations produced by powerful groups to glorify their own importance and advance their own interests.

(p. xxii, Greed, Lust, and Gender; A History of Economic Ideas, Oxford UP, 2009)


Saturday, February 19, 2011

make me laugh

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

I realize that for people who live in cloudy, rainy, Central Europe, the prospect
of living in a place where the sun shines most of the time must sound like
HEAVEN.

But for me it's HELL!

I see few benefits from El Paso's weather and many disadvantages---starting
with the over-abundant local propaganda about "our good weather"..(sic)...

A couple of weeks ago, it was cold, and the city was completely unprepared.

Now it is hot, windy, and dry.

The houses here are cheaply constructed because El Paso is "so warm".

Streets don't have proper drainage because "it never rains in El Paso".

I suffer from the dry climate. The skin on the end of my fingers is cut and
bleeding--as if someone had taken a razor blade and cut the skin.

The heating system works by forcing hot air onto the ceiling. It is not steam heat.
It dries out the air, and (best of all) it begins by blowing cold air (like an air conditioner)
before the warmer air comes out of the vents......

No, I get tired of hearing about the "good" weather. I don't fancy getting skin cancer.
The sun and lack of precipitation encourages
the local truck lovers to contribute to climate change/global destruction... I don't call the weather good because it
provides a dry path for my personally piloted monster truck--that's not the criterion I would use--but it does seem to be what people have in mind when they speak of "good weather"--good for driving the truck....

No, you will hear no good words from me about El Paso or its weather.....

Friday, February 18, 2011

(one thing) gratifying and (another) briefly noted--two distinct short entries

Gratifying:

A few months ago my father suffered a decline in his physical condition. More recently, he seems to have made a recovery. It is a pleasure to see his doctors take genuine pleasure when they notice my father's improvement.

I had a similar experience myself once. After being so sick that I had to spend nearly two weeks in the hospital, and after a recovery, I was on the way home in Bratislava's train station when I saw my GP from a distance, waving and smiling. I am sure that he could see that my health had improved, and he was glad to see it. And I was glad to see his pleasure. He hadn't seen me since the time just before my hospitalization, so I'm sure there was a clear difference.

On the other hand....

not gratifying and briefly noted:

I just overheard a DVD my parents were watching about an operation my father is about to undergo. On the one hand, it is nice for my father to see that other people have his problem.

I, however, was not pleased to hear the repetition of the words "gold standard" in describing
the procedure. First, because it is like empty boasting--unless you tell me exactly the details of the pluses and minuses, and history of this procedure. Don't try to trick me by conjuring up images instead of telling me the facts!

Secondly, what gold standard? I thought Nixon got rid of that? And I think it was a rather risky and very self-interested matter... though, I hasten to add, I've not made a careful (or even a careless) study of this matter....

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

recommended viewing

Richard D. Wolff interviewed on RTV about the financial collapse and American cities....


Looks to me as though the ruling class wants to create another Greater Depression
in order to consolidate their power, and really screw the rest of us....

Note: I've added a link to Wolff's homepage at the left of the page in my list of links...

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

not again

What? Was it a replay of my unpleasant experience with "Jitterbug"?

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.

Footnote: American Ideology/american illness

On reflection this conversation shows the ability of a private tyranny like Albertson's to infect the minds of ordinary citizens who do not benefit from the unegalitarian economic and political system of the USA.

If I had a million dollars, would that make me happy?

NO! First of all, I would still live in a country with enormous injustice and inequality. I wouldn't like to be eating caviar while other people are suffering. But it is, oh so USA style, to have no solidarity. And, that's what unthinkingly the woman at Albertson's was indicating--no thought about the others, no thought about our essentially social natures, but instead
a primitive and false sort of individualism. (I've got mine; the hell with the other guy/gal!)

But, furthermore, we know that money alone is not enough to make you happy. If you are foolish, then having money with lead you to do stupid things you wouldn't otherwise do.
What you need is wisdom. (Thus, Socrates, e.g., in the "Euthydemus".....)

Again, what we have here is an arrogantly and aggressively stupid and superficial culture. Play monopoly? No thank you Albertsons, you can stuff it where the sun doesn't shine.

File this under: USA-style ideology and brain-washing.


Why I Hate Driving

The automobile is a tool of oppression. It guarantees that a large proportion of the working person's salary goes to large corporations, private tyrannies.

In addition, it creates a mindset.

In addition, automobiles and pets contribute to global warming, which is catastrophic.

But, apart from all that, driving is itself unpleasant.

First of all, as I leave the neighborhood, I have to enter a busy street, full of speeding trucks, large trucks, coming at me from both directions. At night their bright lights are unpleasant to see.

And then, there is the ugliness of the landscape, the monotony and sameness.
Every building is ugly and they all look the same.
Except for a few banks and hospitals down toward the border, at the so-called center
or downtown.

The roads are long and straight and all of the buildings on either side look boring and monotonous.

There are plenty of signs, commercial, or even a few trees or bushes that increase
the danger of entering a street from a shopping area.

When you want to go someplace, you have to turn off the long street, but where?
since everything looks the same, you have to find a landmark. Say the orange
sign for a restaurant.

An orange sign--an ugly object.

But since there is so little variety, so much monotony, you have a constant problem: drivers who can't find the place they want to turn.

And, then there are the mini traffic jams caused by people turning left at a light.

Is this pleasant? No, not at all.

why in the world can't people see that this is not heaven. This is hell.

Why waste your valuable and finite time in such a stupid manner?

Get me out of here. Please. Now.


PART TWO; should be: Where do I want to go?
/WHY I LOVE PUBLIC TRANSPORT

I can't do a proper Part Two now, but here's something off the top of my head:

I love public transport--not the crappy buses that El Paso has, but real public transport,
e.g. a tram every five minutes, or a fast subway every ten minutes....

With public transport, good public transport, I can read or listen to music.
I don't have to worry about driving. I am not competing with my fellow passengers as I do with other drivers. Other passengers are not a potential threat as are other drivers in their enormous trucks.

With public transport I don't have to worry about buying gas or changing the oil.
I don't need to buy extra things. I don't need a garage or a garage door or an electric
garage door opener.

With public transport I can relax when I travel. I can people watch. All without worrying about a crash.

Get me out of here.... to a place with good public transport!


commonplace

the way we are treated is just...
obnoxious....

details soon....


(did I say it before? -----get me out of here!!!!)

briefly noted, and appreciated....

From around the web....

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

How obscene is American capitalism!
Who the hell is ted turner?

If anything belongs to the patrimony of the USA, it should be Broadway...
Yet here are all these old musicals (dear to my parents' generation)
which are the personal property of one individual!

disgusting

f**ck capitalism

Friday, February 11, 2011

recommended viewing

I haven't watched it yet, but plan to in the next week.
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

services, basic services, like the internet, telephones, and public transportation
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

North America
The USA
home of aggressive, pushy, rude, I don't listen-you do, sales tactics

Just called to pay my mother's cell phone bill
to "Jitterbug" operated by a very aggressive company
that's always trying to sell me things I don't want
THAT WON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER

and they are not the only one
recently I overheard a phone call made by a "charitable" organization to my handicapped father,
and he was very polite, but THEY WOULD NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER

there is no excuse for this
America is that sort of country
people have to be rude to survive

disgusting

jitterbuG =jitterBOTHER

jitterbug = JITTERBOTHER

"jitterbug" aka "GreatCall"
better known as JITTERBOTHER AND ANNOYINGCALL

JITTERBUG IS NOT FRIENDLY

WHAT TOTAL BULLSHIT THAT THEY SAY THEy ARE.. .. HOW typically american
to lie, exaggerate and expect the audience to be stupid.....
department of defense? ha! the USA hasn't fought a defensive war in my lifetime.

i will say it again
they are rude and pushy
and I do not believe that their prices are fair or reasonable
(ten cents to receive a text message!! how greedy)

dear citizens of the u.s.a.:
TIME FOR A CHANGE
time for socialism, a.k.a. economic democracy

I spent thirteen years in central europe (a capitalist society, incidentally, but
less aggressively so than the USA)....and never did I have to endure
so many aggressive and pushy salespeople as I have in the past year
in the USA. --what a horrible country....

North America:
Bothersome and ugly tricks
to take my money away,
with half truths and outright lies
you take my breath away

America
America
it was an evil day
when I returned to your sorry shores
and threw my freedom away

After-thought
I just want to add a little detail about the obnoxious phone conversation I recently had with a person at "Jitterbug".
Whenever I call to make my monthly payment I am forced to listen to a sales pitch.
(Or maybe it's only most of the time; but it's common enough that the assholes who run America take advantage of our captive audience status.)
But I was genuinely taken aback when the person on the other end told me she wanted
"feedback."
Well, her idea of feedback is my idea of a sales pitch--and I told her as much.
Now, I suspect she was offended, thought that I had accused her of lying.
And, I stick by what I said. You may say: Oh it's just her job, she's reading from a screen, etc.
No, I say, Sorry, they are your words, and if you really do not understand them,
then you pay the price when someone interrupts you to point out the true meaning of
what you've just said.
Oh, I do hate the way they treat us in this country!

dismayed, discouraged, depressed, and fed up

Dear Reader,
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 the water of the citizens of el paso in private hands?
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

in passing.... (no not pissing, no matter how many times I empty a urinal....)

My father is listening to Al jazeera in the other room...

and for a minute I thought it was the BBC...

some clever communications student should do a study:

how does the standard format of the news distort? (even under the best of circumstances; even with the best of intentions)...

e.g., the "objective" voice of the presenter.... (CNN voices are ludicrous, with phony
facial gestures choreographed, or so it seems....)

just a thought

and that would mean we shall always need theater and other art forms to fill in what can't be said in the news format...

facebook revolution?

sorry, I think it's an exaggeration....
Free Egypt?
Yes, please.
And let's have freedom from capitalism here and everywhere too.....

but facebook shouldn't get credit.
sorry.
When you've got a problem, you grab whatever tools you can find....

No, I'm not impressed with facebook or the internet,
but I am impressed with human creativity.....

it's been said before, I'm sure... but....

Sunday, February 6, 2011

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….

No reflection?
Comment by a sane voice : You pretentious ass! Haven't you noticed that people sit around in this restaurant after they've eaten?

The Yankee Gringo responds: Yes, I did. That is somewhat better. But, then again, it's as if they've done their job, and only then did they allow themselves to rest. Eating is still conceptualized as efficient work.....


Saturday, February 5, 2011

primitivism

is he illiterate?
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

petty crime:
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...

you can be old and sick
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

Recently saw a conversation something like this on the web:

El Paso Texas resident: My sister lives on the west side and her power has not been shut
off. I have had my power shut off five times!

Representative of the Local Power Mafia: Your sister must live near hospitals or essential
services.... We choose neighborhoods randomly....

Comment: It just so happens that most medical facilities (hospitals, doctors offices, etc.)
are located nearer to or in the "West" side of town, where, coincidentally, more of
the high income earners are housed....

Further Comment: anyone ever thought of socialism?

ostrich style El Paso TX

El Paso, TX should consider having the ostrich for a mascot.

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....