March 2010 archive
Mar 28 2010
Docudharma Times Sunday March 28
Mar 28 2010
Sakura
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You may consider this either a humble invitation to contemplate the beauty that is spring and visit my website/blog which celebrates it, or a shameless site/blog promotion. As you wish.
The blog is LetsJapan.Wordpress.Com and the particular page that link takes you to . . . well, I won’t give it away, but it’s very, very Spring-like, photo-heavy and I hope you’ll enjoy it. Here’s one of the photos (taking this morning) featured:
There’s a pretty tune on there, too (a nice vid) that I invite you to watch/listen to, too. You’ll enjoy it. To be absolutely honest, if I had to choose, I’d choose autumn as my favorite season, whether in the U.S. or Japan or I suppose pretty much anywhere. But this year I’m quite ready for spring and have been enjoying the past few days of it. Today was particularly pretty. . .
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Mar 28 2010
The Unknown History of How Big Business Bought the Democrats Off
Actually, the title is misleading. This story is about far more than the Democratic party’s acquiescence to corporate servitude. It is about the rise of neofascism in America, the conquering of our government through subversive means, and how Big Business got together and changed this country to their liking.
Below is an excerpt from the best book ever written on how money influences politics – Dollars and Votes by Dan Clawson, Alan Neustadtl and Mark Weller. This excerpt specifically, however, is the fascinating and largely unknown story of how, after a series of setbacks in the 60s, Big Business decided to band together and destroy “liberalism”. The America that we see today, neoliberal, pro-corporate, anti-regulation, and generally hostile to anything resembling liberal or progressive government interventionism – is the direct product of the campaign begun so many years ago and which culminated in the election of Ronald Reagan.
Dollars and Votes
How Business Campaign Contributions Subvert Democracy
p146
THE IDEOLOGICAL MOBILIZATION OF THE 1970sIn most elections the vast majority of corporations pursue an access (or pragmatic) strategy. But in the I980 election a large number were ideological, risk-taking, conservatives. To understand the changing corporate mood we need to go back at least to the early I960s. During the I960s, a series of social movements challenged many aspects of the established order. Blacks undertook the first major movement, first in the South and then in the North. Urban riots, Malcolm X, and the Black Panther party demonstrated that this opposition could become militant and threatening. Strong student and antiwar movements put thousands of people in the streets and took over buildings. Young men resisted the draft or deserted the military. In the late I960s and early I970s, the women’s and environmentalist movements grew rapidly. Although most of these challenges to authority did not focus primarily on corporations, corporations increasingly felt their impact, both in worker rebellions and in demands for increased social responsibility. The host of “public interest” organizations initiated or influenced by Ralph Nader constituted what was, in some ways, the mildest and most mainstream social movement. But it was also the movement that most specifically, in arguing for more regulation of business, targeted corporate practices.
Richard Nixon, a conservative Republican, won a narrow victory in I968 and a landslide in I972. But policy does not depend on politicians’ personal preferences, or even on electoral outcomes, so much as it does on the mobilization of power outside the electoral arena. In the I9805, that was primarily business power. At the end of the I960s, the forces with the power to shape the national agenda were a set of social movements. As a result, Nixon’s administration enacted a host of key liberal measures on the domestic front. From I969 through I972, virtually the entire American business community experienced a series of political setbacks without parallel in the postwar period. In the space of only four years, Congress enacted a significant tax-reform bill, four major environmental laws, an occupational safety and health act, and a series of additional consumer-protection statutes. The government also created a number of important new regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), investing them with broad powers over a wide range of business decisions. In contrast to the I9605, many of the regulatory laws enacted during the early I9705 were broader in scope and more ambitious in their objectives. As a result, corporations felt under attack and vulnerable. It appeared that even a conservative Republican president such as Nixon would inevitably be pushed to support more and more regulation of business and interference with the market. Top business executives meeting in I973 articulated their feeling of vulnerability: “We are fighting for our lives,” “We are fighting a delaying action.” As one said, “If we don’t take action now, we will see our own demise. We will evolve into another social democracy.”
Mar 28 2010
Original v. Cover — #18 of a Series
This week’s featured song was originally written, performed and released as an instrumental version by saxophonist Mike Sharpe (Shapiro), reaching #57 on the U. S. pop charts in 1967. Guitarist James Cobb and producer Buddy Buie added lyrics (Harry Middlebrooks, Jr. is also credited as a writer), which was then performed, recorded and released by Cobb’s rock group. This new version reached #3 on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100, and #46 in the U.K. Three members of this band eventually became part of a newly named band, re-recording and releasing this song in 1979, when it reached #48 in the U.K. and #17 in the U. S.
Mar 28 2010
Attending a Coffee Party in Manhattan – Looks Legit to Me
I went to a meeting, today (very late, unfortunately), and it was much larger than the previous one. The people were positive, and if what I saw was typical, not only were they not the OFA shills that some armchair blog posters made them out to be, but most of their concerns seemed to be the same as those of the armchair critics.
Mar 28 2010
Enough with the “War On Iran” Already!
I previously wrote about a report that America was shipping classified ordnance to Diego Garcia in preparation for a likely attack against Iran. In my view and experience this report, at best, is questionable, and is, in my opinion, total psy-op garbage. The reasons are simple; a) A shipment of extremely classified ordnance is going to be handed over to a 3rd-party contractor?, b) A shipping manifest is going to be posted online so everyone can see that classified ordnance is being shipped to Diego Garcia?, c) The company named in the report hasn’t posted any projects on their website since 2006, nor, does it post this alleged project?, and d) There is no doubt in my mind that Diego Garcia already has all of the ordnance it would need to perform operations.
This very simple reasoning, however, hasn’t stopped the story from being picked up by other news outlets. TruthOut.org has now run two articles/op-eds that cite this very report (here and here). We have only heard that the United States or Israel were going to attack Iran for years.
Here is why there is little reason to believe there is an upcoming attack on Iran…
Mar 28 2010
What’s for Dinner? 20100327: Pecan Oven Baked Catfish
Youngest Son came to visit this week (the reason why there was no Pique the Geek last Sunday, getting ready for his visit). He is 20 and is in culinary school. I am actually sort of pleased, as cooking good food is as important as being a scientist, and actually involves a lot of science to do it well.
We had a great time! After the 10+ hour drive, he was pretty tired, but hungry. I made Frog Sandwiches for both of us late Monday night (recipe available on request), talked, joked, went meet my dear neighbors across the street, and threw some darts. Neither of us were very good at darts Monday.
Mar 27 2010
Weekend News Digest
Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread
| From Yahoo News Top Stories |
1 Pope under pressure over child abuse scandal
by Michele Leridon, AFP
2 hrs 6 mins ago
| VATICAN CITY (AFP) – The child abuse scandal rocking the Catholic Church homed in Saturday on Pope Benedict XVI, labelled the “biggest sinner” in one newspaper as the Vatican said his handling of the crisis would only strengthen his authority.
As allegations piled up of sexual molestation by priests in the scandal that has swept the United States and Europe, the media expressed shock and bewilderment in comments and editorials. “How could the Catholics do such a thing?” asked Britain’s The Independent newspaper. |
Mar 27 2010
Still No Dawn Johnsen In Recess Appointments
President Obama is going to make 15 recess appointments during Easter break, but one name is still missing:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-…
Dawn E. Johnsen, the current nominee to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the United States Dept. of Justice.
While President – elect, Obama said he intended to nominate Johnson, currently a law professor and a former ACLU attorney, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General from ’93 to ’96 under President Clinton, and former Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Council from ’97 to ’98.
Mar 27 2010
This Week in Health and Fitness
Welcome to this week’s Health and Fitness. This is an Open Thread.
Drug-resistant tuberculosis killed about 150,000 people in 2008, and half of all the world’s cases are thought in be in China and India, the World Health Organization said in a report last week.
No one knows the exact number of cases of the two types of drug-resistant TB, called MDR and XDR for multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant.
A few places, like Peru and Hong Kong, have fought the disease effectively, as New York City did in the early 1990s. Progress has been made in parts of Siberia, but in another region of Russia, more than a quarter of all cases are drug-resistant. And in Africa, a vast majority of cases have probably not even been diagnosed, the report said.
Even standard tuberculosis takes six months to cure with a four antibiotic cocktail. But the drugs cost only $20 and are relatively easy to take. Drug-resistant forms can take two years and require dangerously toxic drugs that cost $5,000 or more per person; they usually emerge when public health officials fail to ensure that patients with regular TB take their drugs daily.
As is now custom, I’ll try to include the more interesting and pertinent articles that will help the community awareness of their health and bodies. This essay will not be posted anywhere else due to constraints on my time. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvement and ask questions, I’ll answer as best I can.
Mar 27 2010
Social Security Isn’t in “Crisis” – But, Older Women Are.
By Stacy Sanders, the Director of the Elder Economic Security Initiative, WOW
This week, with health care reform passed, the New York Times speculated that Social Security, “the other big entitlement program,” would be the next big program to “tackle,” specifically within the context of reducing the nation’s debt. Reports followed that suggest the program is in crisis, despite the fact that predictions show Social Security can pay benefits in full until 2037.
With thirty years to attend to the program’s ability to pay benefits, there’s little evidence to suggest that Social Security is in trouble. On the contrary, there is real data that shows its beneficiaries, particularly older women, are in crisis. Though never intended to be the only source of income in retirement, many find themselves solely reliant upon Social Security as they age. In fact, Social Security provides more than 90 percent of income to three out of ten retired elders. And, due to time spent out of the workforce for caregiving and lower lifetime wages, women are even more dependent on Social Security.
Last year, the average annual Social Security payment was only $11,316 for an older woman. According to the Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index (Elder Index), a new measure of what it costs to age in place, a single elder who rents needs $20,248 to make ends meet, almost twice the average annual Social Security payment for women. Developed by Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) and the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, the Elder Index is a bare-bones measure of basic needs in retirement.
The data shows that, for older women, Social Security provides a life line. It offers a secure, reliable and necessary income base in retirement. But, those who rely only on Social Security must make difficult sacrifices – such as choosing between groceries and essential medications or going without heat.
As Congress and the Administration take up the nation’s deficit, they ought to consider the real, day-to-day crisis of our nation’s older women. Doing so means making responsible choices to safeguard and strengthen Social Security benefits while addressing its long-term stability.
Cross posted from the National Elder Economic Security Initiative