November 15, 2008 archive

Who made the New Deal?

Original article, subtitled Lance Selfa recounts the history of an era that is still remembered for the important changes that benefited the working majority, via SocialistWorker.org:

COMPARISONS BETWEEN Barack Obama’s assumption of power and Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s in 1933 have been many and varied.

Friday Night at 8: Fragments

As I am resting in my own confusion at the moment, refusing to be swayed by even the best of writing, waiting for my own view to emerge, fragments of visions appear.

Resting in my own confusion.  You see, I have no great position of power so I can freely confess I don’t know what to make of the country of which I am a citizen.

I’ve written a little bit about freedom of information — that accountability is not just catching crooks and putting them in jail, but allowing the citizens of this country to be truly informed.  We have become a wierd mix of incredible secrecy in the halls of power, be they government or private business and no privacy allowed for the rest of us.

That can’t be good.

I have no doubt that the Obama Administration will do everything they can to get as much information as they can about what has gone on these past eight years.  They really don’t have any choice, after all.  Each member of Obama’s cabinet will inherit a big giant awful stinky mess.  Consider the EPA, just as the first thing that came to mind.  Not only will whoever heads the EPA have to deal with the climate crisis and the effects of all the deregulation that has gone on while corporations have basically set policy for that Department, they will also have to confront criminal acts, at the very least politicization of the Department (a’la the DOJ) and at most … well I shudder to think.

This mix of criminality, corruption and incompetence will be quite a challenge.

My question, though, is whether or not they will share all this information with the rest of us.

I think that’s a very important issue.  We can’t make informed decisions as citizens if we are not informed.

Bailout Crimes and our Approaching Poverty

An associate of mine still believes that his stocks portfolio is safe (it will come back) even as he witnesses his business failing due to the credit freeze…but that is so American “it can’t happen here, it can’t happen to me,”… even though it is and right in front of our eyes.

And that is perhaps the most amazing trick as well as the biggest crime: making people believe that something works to their advantage, while in reality it drives them into debt-riddled poverty. People have this remarkable talent to fool themselves, to see only what they wish to see, and it can be a gift from heaven. But that’s not always a given.

http://theautomaticearth.blogs…

Why Doesn’t Sarah Palin Go Away?

Elections are over!  Still, Sarah Palin is in the news every day.  

Palin urges GOP governors to keep Democrats honest

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON, Associated Press Writer  – Thu Nov 13, 6:18 pm ET

—–MIAMI – Sarah Palin called on fellow Republican governors to keep the new president and his strengthened Democratic majority in check on issues from taxes to health care as she signaled she’ll take a leadership role in a party searching for a new standard-bearer.

Addressing the Republican Governors Association meeting Thursday, this year’s GOP vice presidential nominee – and an oft-mentioned candidate for 2012 – revisited some aspects of the bitter campaign and talked about the role of the governors in the coming year. After losing the White House and several seats in the Senate and House, the party is engaging in some soul-searching about its direction. . . .

The title alone blows me away!  While the Repugs have lied, cheated and stolen for all of these past eight years, Palin is now the criterian?

Follow me . . . .

FALL

On the west coast, in Malibu, seasons are ill-defined by time.

In the fall here, the season is often defined by fire, winter, by floods & slides.

At this present moment, fires, rage & devastate the Santa Barbara area.

Santa Anna winds, a defining condition of fall here, are blowing these flames along. Called the “Sundowners”, also, many are anxiously awaiting sundown to see if these winds pick up again. Lets hope not.

Here is what fall is to me here. One of the things about the fires is that they do photoshop the sunsets, more than I could artificially do.

I did include a pic for Andif. Emperor Blenniticus Novembris, from the Fall of the Roman Empire.

Enjoy the fall & I`ll see you next trip.

DSCN7051

Much Ado about GM, Part 3 of 3

Today we conclude our small series on General Motors.  As you can probably tell by now, I favor helping out the company.  The company has history of market incompetence, it not only failed to meet various customer demands.  Adding to this, it designed its product line in such a way that made it at times more at the mercy of the price of petroleum than anything else.  Saying this, there are reasons to keep GM alive.

Friday Philosophy: Choosing happiness

It’s an old argument.  Old as the hills.  Older than some kinds of dirt.  But then, so am I.

The thinking goes like this:

It is totally wrong to discriminate against someone because of something they had no control over.

Nobody could disagree with that.  Surely I don’t.  But as someone who taught logic for a quarter century, I am all too aware of human frailty in this matter.  Some people read that as having the implication that it would not be wrong to discriminate against someone because of what they did choose.

There’s the culprit:  thinking that it is okay to discriminate against people.

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