I've noticed a few stories about how much people are suffering as a result
of what they are now calling the "Great Recession"...
A little late they notice it...
But there is a curious cowardice about it, pussyfooting around the facts,
that this is not a natural disaster
but has been entirely caused by human beings....
hence, was not inevitable...
Changes need to be made to the political and economic system.
i am sick of hearing wise commentators talk about change coming from below...
as if they expected someone else to do the work.
Strong language is needed
we need to use words like "ruling class"...
Friday, February 26, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
The barbarians who destroy the planet and show no concern for others
Barbarity El Paso Style
It's been raining all day and the local streets are flooded.
Drains? what's that? It doesn't rain in El Paso, and we don't believe
in climate change...
The nearest busy street has four wide lanes. Two of the lanes are flooded.
Water is running there like a river, down the center of the road. And I must cross
that road to get to a bus stop.
Most drivers responsibly choose to drive in the the center lanes.
However, some drivers in their climate-destroying SUV's choose the outer lanes, the
lanes nearest to pedestrians.
And two such a.....holes... driving irresponsibly fast have thrown up huge
sprays of water, and the result is that I have become totally soaked.
I am trappped, unable to even cross the street to get to a bus stop....
Now that's real lack of civilization....
El Paso... what a desert.... in every conceivable way....
It's been raining all day and the local streets are flooded.
Drains? what's that? It doesn't rain in El Paso, and we don't believe
in climate change...
The nearest busy street has four wide lanes. Two of the lanes are flooded.
Water is running there like a river, down the center of the road. And I must cross
that road to get to a bus stop.
Most drivers responsibly choose to drive in the the center lanes.
However, some drivers in their climate-destroying SUV's choose the outer lanes, the
lanes nearest to pedestrians.
And two such a.....holes... driving irresponsibly fast have thrown up huge
sprays of water, and the result is that I have become totally soaked.
I am trappped, unable to even cross the street to get to a bus stop....
Now that's real lack of civilization....
El Paso... what a desert.... in every conceivable way....
Saturday, January 16, 2010
New Disease
My eyes hurt from the sun reflecting off the steel and glass beasts
rushing by.
No pedestrians to be seen.
Only enormous trucks.
Where are the people?
Oh, there was one, getting out of his truck to go into a so-called
convenience store--a store, which, I have noticed, does not even sell
milk--but does sell alcohol and cigarettes and newspapers.
And then there is the noise of these climate-destroying metal boxes...
shhhhhhh....whoooosh
ugly
UGLY EL PASO
GET ME OUT OF HERE
rushing by.
No pedestrians to be seen.
Only enormous trucks.
Where are the people?
Oh, there was one, getting out of his truck to go into a so-called
convenience store--a store, which, I have noticed, does not even sell
milk--but does sell alcohol and cigarettes and newspapers.
And then there is the noise of these climate-destroying metal boxes...
shhhhhhh....whoooosh
ugly
UGLY EL PASO
GET ME OUT OF HERE
Shitty Sun Metro
I took the 42 bus from northeast elpaso to the downtown. A twenty minute trip.
Crowded bus.
A woman with two children on her lap sat beside me. That was not comfortable.
the buses are very cheap, low quality.
They seem to have no suspension. If I sit in the back half of the bus, the buses bounce up and
down so much that it is hard to read.
In addition, at night, the bus drivers turn off the lights in the front of the bus. so, it is hard to
read there because it is dark.
Another feature of the buses which is evidence of their poor quality is that the center door does
not shut properly. There is a large gap between where the door is and where the door frame is.
This allows cold air to blow into the bus, and when it rains, water comes in.
Today I rode buses for about sixty minutes and I waited for buses about fifty minutes.
SHITTY SUN METRO
I note in passing that Western Europeans who visit Bratislava complain about the local
public transport.
(That's according to the English page of the Bratislava public transport website.)
Yet Bratislava's public transport is far superior to sun metro in El Paso.
shitty el paso
shitty sun metro
Crowded bus.
A woman with two children on her lap sat beside me. That was not comfortable.
the buses are very cheap, low quality.
They seem to have no suspension. If I sit in the back half of the bus, the buses bounce up and
down so much that it is hard to read.
In addition, at night, the bus drivers turn off the lights in the front of the bus. so, it is hard to
read there because it is dark.
Another feature of the buses which is evidence of their poor quality is that the center door does
not shut properly. There is a large gap between where the door is and where the door frame is.
This allows cold air to blow into the bus, and when it rains, water comes in.
Today I rode buses for about sixty minutes and I waited for buses about fifty minutes.
SHITTY SUN METRO
I note in passing that Western Europeans who visit Bratislava complain about the local
public transport.
(That's according to the English page of the Bratislava public transport website.)
Yet Bratislava's public transport is far superior to sun metro in El Paso.
shitty el paso
shitty sun metro
And, there is as well, a contraption worthy of Rube Goldberg which makes it possible for wheel chairs to get on.
But it's crazy! slow and noisy!
A simpler solution would be if the buses were simply built lower.
Yes that is possible. I have seen it.
Oh, you say it must be "expensive".
There are millions of dollars to waste on spy planes along the border,
but not money for basic public services.
That is American capitalism at work, a fundamentally non-democratic system....
Monday, December 14, 2009
back to basics....
Recently I wrote the following to my sister... but it may be of more general interest...
Dear Sister,
I just want to stress that I didn’t agree when you suggested the problems we face as a family are universal ones.
It is not true to say that it is the same everywhere. The problem is not only the inevitable fact of aging. To be sure, getting old is a problem everywhere, but the problem is made worse by the social and political system in the United States.
Aging is a universal problem, but our shitty system of public transport, and the correlated system of suburbanization, together with the awful profit-driven system of medical care all combine to exacerbate the problem. What all of those elements have in common is that they were designed to serve the interests of a small minority of our population.
An additional factor is cultural: America’s extreme individualistic ethos combined with Puritanism (or Calvinism) creates shame among the poor and intolerance towards them. We, as a society, specialize in blaming the victims. “Socialism” is not universally regarded as a dirty word. And many people (rightly in my opinion) regard America as a country with anti-social values. But let’s focus on public transport and health care.
Other countries have much better public transport and a system of medical care that is not profit-driven..
These two problems are instances of a more general problem in the United States. And if it exists elsewhere, that is largely because the US in the form of the WTO has been aggressively insisting that other countries behave like the US. Every time the United Nations ranks countries according to the quality of life, the USA ranks near the bottom among developed countries—below European countries.
I am not saying that there are no problems in Europe.
Slovaks and Austrians are racists. Austrians are suspicious of so-called “Eastern Europeans” and Turks. And Slovaks are suspicious of the Roma minority.
But Slovakia provides generous support to mothers and I have experienced the Slovak medical system, and I have seen with my own eyes that there is less bureaucracy when you go to the doctor in Slovakia than there is in the USA. Whenever I have gone with Mom and Dad to the doctor’s office, they have had to fill out detailed forms. (And these are not doctors who they are visiting for the first time!) I never had to do that in Slovakia. I had a small plastic card, and I just gave it to them. No forms. No hassle.
And, what’s more, I have been told that it is the same in Mexico. When you go to the doctor you give them your health card and you don’t have to fill out forms.
So, it is important to understand that it is not the same everywhere.
In many respects, things are worse in the United States—not because God or the laws of physics or economics or psychology make it that way. It is worse because certain groups in America (a genuine ruling class) have managed to control the economy and politics so that it benefits them first, so that they retain superior access to resources. The system they have created is neither just nor logical nor an inevitable product of the laws of nature. The current system was created by self-interested individuals who wished to retain their unjustly acquired privileges. And so it continues.
And if you say or think, “It’s the same everywhere”, what you are really saying is that no one is responsible. You are, in effect, justifying and trivializing the crimes of the ruling class. You are letting them off the hook for the mess they have made in pursuit of their own self-interest.
Yes, aging is a problem everywhere; but the social and political institutions which people create can either make that problem worse or they can ameliorate it.
Change begins when you say that a piece of shit smells. Something important happens when you say that the emperor has no clothes.
And the inefficient system of public transport and the system of medical care we have in this country are both enormous pieces of shit that reek of privilege and class.
I am not picking on you. Some things are too important to sweep under the carpet.
Love,
Your Brother
PS
You may be skeptical of my term “ruing class”. If so, I would suggest that when you get online, you take a look at the following:
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/
This is the homepage of a sociologist, G. William Domhoff (at the University of California at Santa Cruz) who has been studying the class structure of the United States.
Dear Sister,
I just want to stress that I didn’t agree when you suggested the problems we face as a family are universal ones.
It is not true to say that it is the same everywhere. The problem is not only the inevitable fact of aging. To be sure, getting old is a problem everywhere, but the problem is made worse by the social and political system in the United States.
Aging is a universal problem, but our shitty system of public transport, and the correlated system of suburbanization, together with the awful profit-driven system of medical care all combine to exacerbate the problem. What all of those elements have in common is that they were designed to serve the interests of a small minority of our population.
An additional factor is cultural: America’s extreme individualistic ethos combined with Puritanism (or Calvinism) creates shame among the poor and intolerance towards them. We, as a society, specialize in blaming the victims. “Socialism” is not universally regarded as a dirty word. And many people (rightly in my opinion) regard America as a country with anti-social values. But let’s focus on public transport and health care.
Other countries have much better public transport and a system of medical care that is not profit-driven..
These two problems are instances of a more general problem in the United States. And if it exists elsewhere, that is largely because the US in the form of the WTO has been aggressively insisting that other countries behave like the US. Every time the United Nations ranks countries according to the quality of life, the USA ranks near the bottom among developed countries—below European countries.
I am not saying that there are no problems in Europe.
Slovaks and Austrians are racists. Austrians are suspicious of so-called “Eastern Europeans” and Turks. And Slovaks are suspicious of the Roma minority.
But Slovakia provides generous support to mothers and I have experienced the Slovak medical system, and I have seen with my own eyes that there is less bureaucracy when you go to the doctor in Slovakia than there is in the USA. Whenever I have gone with Mom and Dad to the doctor’s office, they have had to fill out detailed forms. (And these are not doctors who they are visiting for the first time!) I never had to do that in Slovakia. I had a small plastic card, and I just gave it to them. No forms. No hassle.
And, what’s more, I have been told that it is the same in Mexico. When you go to the doctor you give them your health card and you don’t have to fill out forms.
So, it is important to understand that it is not the same everywhere.
In many respects, things are worse in the United States—not because God or the laws of physics or economics or psychology make it that way. It is worse because certain groups in America (a genuine ruling class) have managed to control the economy and politics so that it benefits them first, so that they retain superior access to resources. The system they have created is neither just nor logical nor an inevitable product of the laws of nature. The current system was created by self-interested individuals who wished to retain their unjustly acquired privileges. And so it continues.
And if you say or think, “It’s the same everywhere”, what you are really saying is that no one is responsible. You are, in effect, justifying and trivializing the crimes of the ruling class. You are letting them off the hook for the mess they have made in pursuit of their own self-interest.
Yes, aging is a problem everywhere; but the social and political institutions which people create can either make that problem worse or they can ameliorate it.
Change begins when you say that a piece of shit smells. Something important happens when you say that the emperor has no clothes.
And the inefficient system of public transport and the system of medical care we have in this country are both enormous pieces of shit that reek of privilege and class.
I am not picking on you. Some things are too important to sweep under the carpet.
Love,
Your Brother
PS
You may be skeptical of my term “ruing class”. If so, I would suggest that when you get online, you take a look at the following:
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/
This is the homepage of a sociologist, G. William Domhoff (at the University of California at Santa Cruz) who has been studying the class structure of the United States.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
so-called radicalization
Of course the propaganda machine is so powerful and ominpresent that it can be difficult to breathe,
not to mention say what one means...
But let us take as an example recent talk of "radicalization"
At my local coffee shop, while waiting for coffee, I commented on what was then displayed on CNN
"And what made Obama become radical? Now there's a question."
If we use words as they are defined in, say a dictionary, then the idea that you can attack any country you
want to further your ends is a very radical idea. It is, that is to say, a very extreme idea.
It is extreme to use violence when it is not in self-defense, but only to pursue self-interest.
(Strictly speaking, you could argue with me that American imperialism is the status quo, and any attempt
to oppose it would be, by definition, "radical". In that case the question becomes whether being radical
isn't a good thing. I think that in the current terms of debate being radical is presupposed to be bad.)
However, if we use the word "radical" and "radicalize" as it is currently used in discussion on CNN and
other sources of propaganda, that elementary point won't be made.
The United States has no justification for occupying Afghanistan. But the opponents of that occupation are
dubbed "radical" and "radicalized".
So words can mean what you want them to. If you oppose the wishes of the empire, you are a "radical".
I don't believe, however, that my audience at the local coffee shop understood what I was saying.
They live in a peculiarly American dream-world where listening is short-circuited by dismissal.
My words must have seemed to them to be mere "cynicism" or faux cleverness....
(Is such short circuiting really peculiarly American? Well, I think on the topic of war and peace it is.
My friends outside the United States seem to have clearer views about the reality of war.
The sensitivity I refer to is usually recognized in official declarations and it is trivialized and/or
criticized. We hear about Europe's pacifism, described as something regrettable, indicating a
failure to be realistic. This was present in Obama's recent Nobel speech.)
the propaganda machine is powerful
not to mention say what one means...
But let us take as an example recent talk of "radicalization"
At my local coffee shop, while waiting for coffee, I commented on what was then displayed on CNN
"And what made Obama become radical? Now there's a question."
If we use words as they are defined in, say a dictionary, then the idea that you can attack any country you
want to further your ends is a very radical idea. It is, that is to say, a very extreme idea.
It is extreme to use violence when it is not in self-defense, but only to pursue self-interest.
(Strictly speaking, you could argue with me that American imperialism is the status quo, and any attempt
to oppose it would be, by definition, "radical". In that case the question becomes whether being radical
isn't a good thing. I think that in the current terms of debate being radical is presupposed to be bad.)
However, if we use the word "radical" and "radicalize" as it is currently used in discussion on CNN and
other sources of propaganda, that elementary point won't be made.
The United States has no justification for occupying Afghanistan. But the opponents of that occupation are
dubbed "radical" and "radicalized".
So words can mean what you want them to. If you oppose the wishes of the empire, you are a "radical".
I don't believe, however, that my audience at the local coffee shop understood what I was saying.
They live in a peculiarly American dream-world where listening is short-circuited by dismissal.
My words must have seemed to them to be mere "cynicism" or faux cleverness....
(Is such short circuiting really peculiarly American? Well, I think on the topic of war and peace it is.
My friends outside the United States seem to have clearer views about the reality of war.
The sensitivity I refer to is usually recognized in official declarations and it is trivialized and/or
criticized. We hear about Europe's pacifism, described as something regrettable, indicating a
failure to be realistic. This was present in Obama's recent Nobel speech.)
the propaganda machine is powerful
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