Discord, Disharmony, and Disaster

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

I know that I have been absent from the world of blogging for an eternity in internet time. The reason being, is that I was wonder is it all worth it in the end? I mean, look at how things are going. The country is in ruins, it’s collapsing under the  burden of it’s own debt, and sees the answer as getting deeper into debt. We are led by a group of war criminals, who have abandoned one of the greatest triumphs of  of the 2oth century, the Nuremberg Tribunals, and the concept of universality. This is enough to put anyone in a funk, and to make one despair at ever changing the mind of the sheeple that make up the American electorate.  I have decided to continue to blog, to become one more voice warning of the dangers that are coming.  To celebrate my return to blogging, and my (late) one year anniversary as a blogger, here is a post I have been working on for the last four months.

In America today, few products sold in stores contain sugar. Absurd you say, why just about every shelf is teaming with over sweetened garbage foods, pacakged in eye catching colors, and generaly looking like this:

image by lyzadanger (Creative Commons Attribution, Share alike)

Surprisingly, few of these junk food products actually contain sugar. The reason? Corporate Welfare. You see, back in the 1930s, farm subsidies were passed by a certain president about whom I hope to write more about later. These subsidies were supposed to help struggling small farmers, but many farms are owned by large companies, as John Stossel explains in this article from Reason Magazine:

Of course, most handouts don’t go to family farms. They end up going to big farm corporations, because the big, established companies are most skilled at using the system. Fortune 500 firms like Westvaco, Chevron, John Hancock Life Insurance, Du Pont, and Caterpillar each get hundreds of thousands of dollars in subsidies.

These subsidies raise the price of farm products to supposedly give farmers a living income. But guess what, it ain’t working. Farm employment has fell by five million jobs in the last forty years according to the USDA. The result, like most other government programs is the enrichment of the ruling class. I mean have a look at the Bureau of Reclamation. Its mission? To provide water to farmers who settled the desert west, expecting rain to follow the plow (Sounds a lot like those who believed that the housing bubble would last for ever, and thus became involved in the whole property debacle.) Never mind, that the farmers had created the problem themselves,  the region had in the days of the Oregon Trail became known as the Great American Desert so you can’t say they didn’t know. But hell, we can’t have failing family farmers now can we? (Or foreclosed family homes, or what ever the crisis du jour is)

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In other news, Kodak has stopped making the worlds first widely used color film. Kodachrome first came out in 1935, and was one of the most popular professional films, but was pushed out of that role by E-6 based films like Ektachrome and Fuji Velvia. (Which are now being  pushed to niche roles by digital) The problem with Kodachrome, is that its a dinosaur. It is a living fossil from the days when everyone had to send their film to Kodak to be processed.  The problem with Kodachrome is that it takes a complex development process, (Kodachrome has three layers that must be developed separately) which requires extensive resources. (Kodak even got out of the Kodachrome processing game, and left it to Dwayne’s in Parsons, Kansas.)  Kodachrome is also difficult to make, and with little demand, Kodak decided that it just wasn’t worth making another batch.

I have something of an obsession with technological fossils, (Among other things, I collect old computers by DEC, I’ve a couple of Old VAXStations, a first generation Alpha, and a VT-420) I find the stuff fascinating. I have shot two rolls of Kodachrome, both of them on a Vegas vacation last April. I will be posting them to photos.anddiscord.com for the viewing pleasure of anyone that wants to see them. I love how red looks under Kodachrome, its truly unique.

Kodak has chosen to send Kodachrome out in style, but this makes the second death of an iconic film in the last few years. Polaroid stopped making its instant film last year. (Fuji makes some instant film, but it doesn’t work in Polaroid cameras.)  Polaroid’s film was competing with their re badged cheap digital cameras, and this little monstrosity known as the Pogo (a thermal printer whose images fade when touched, and probably won’t last more than a few years.). Check out the Kodak website for a tribute to Kodachrome, which is probably the most attention they have given the stuff in years. For some really nice Kodachrome slides of 1930s and ’40s in color (Seeing the 1930s and ’40s in color can be unnerving) check out the Libarary of Congress website. Here are a few of my favorites.

(All of the photos in this post are Kodachromes, shot on my recent Vegas Vacation. Film is Kodachrome 64, camera is a Canon Eos Rebel K2, with an EF28-90mm f/4-5.6 III. )

I am still interested in this blog, I have a few long posts in the works, and I will finally finish them soon. Look for an expanded photography section coming soon.

This just in: According to the Chicago Tribune it seems that the Governor of Illinois has been arrested by federal agents. His crime? Among other things trying to sell the senate seat vacated by one B. Hussien Obama. Now that’s CHANGE(TM) that we all can believe in.

Story here, and here, here, and here.

Blog Reactions are here, here, here, and here. (No hares were harmed in the making of these links)

For those who don’t know, Blagojevich’s predesscor, George Ryan was convicted of corruption, and is now doing time in Terre Haute. (Ryan is a Republican, which just goes to show that all Illinois politicians are corrupt.) Here is the OFFICIAL FBI press release. Interestingly, the FBI did not consider this among their top local press releases. I guess a Texas man pleading guilty to child porn charges is more important than the potential sale of a senate seat, and years of other wrong doing by a major elected official.

(Disclosure: I voted for Judy Baar Topinka in 2004)

So the election is over. B Hussein Obama, won big, and made a victory speech to a large group of sheep supporters in Grant Park in Chicago. (My home town…) So it looks like while Obama won, the Republicans have managed to keep the house and senate close. This is a surprise, as I figured that the Republicans would get clobbered. (The democrats were positioning the Republicans as the ones to blame for all of the countries problems, and with Obama as a lure…) I was figuring that there would be a very narrow win for Obama, and that there would be 2000 style recount mess.

For those of you that think that this means much of anything, it doesn’t of course. As I have been saying all along on this blog, the two parties are basically the same party. The only difference between the two parties is that they have different sales pitches. The Democrats claim that they want to both bring America back to a time when there were factory jobs in America, with universal health care and unions for everyone. (Never mind that they also have to deal with environmentalists who demand that there not be any new factories, and that those Unions drive wages up to impossibly high levels, where jobs have to go overseas) The Republicans are trying to sell a return to good old fashioned family values, with a heapin’ helpin’ of kicking the asses of people that don’t look or talk like us, and heck even uppity people that do look like us, but won’t help spread FREEDOM(TM). (FREEDOM(TM) brand freedom may not include actual freedom, offer void were prohibited or otherwise invalid.)

Now of course, both parties support the same policies in general, and they all want to enrich their corporate sponsors. Which of course are mostly the same. I mean, if your only business is selling shit to the government, or you are in a business in which you can be regulated out of existence (nearly everything these days) you best have friends on both sides of the aisle.

What does this mean for the country? It means that Obama will do the same things that McCain would have done. Obama will probably try and give the people some red meat, by having the democrats in the house and senate try and pass his campaign promises. These bills will fail (The democrats leadership will claim that they need to get rid of the last of the dirty Republicans from the house and Senate, which the netroots will start work on right away), and it will be business as usual. The US will stay in Iraq, and will invade Iran, the US will be dragged into whatever mess that Israel puts itself in…

Oh, yeah and it looks like Prop 8 in California passed. (I forgot about this when I first made the post so this is an edit) This has to be one of the biggest victories for the Religious Right (Protestant, Catholic, and Morman), in a very long time. Look for attempts to end marriage equlity in the remaining states it survives in.

Okay, so there is only a short time left till the election. Due to being hit hard by the investment bank collapse, McCain has been driven to take desperate measures to try and win. I will of course rehash my feelings about this election, and the whole American two party system, just to prevent people from accusing me of being a crazed McCain supporter. I DO NOT believe that either Barrack Obama or John McCain should be President of the United States, as they are both unsuited to the job, mainly because they were willing to sell their souls to get there. (This is the main reason, among others) I do not delude myself into thinking that McCain would be any better for the issues that I believe in (Free Markets (Not the crony capitalism that we have now), an end to US interventionism, (not just Iraq), and a restoration of Rule of Law and civil liberties. I also know that most Obama supporters will be disappointed with their candidate. The netroots people who believe that Obama will make all the horrible things that Bush did better will find that Obama will do exactly the same things.

Now on to real business. McCain has started to get mean. He has started running this ad:

This ad points out that Barrack Obama associated with some one who was once a member of the Weather Underground Organization. This individual, William Ayers was one of the leaders of the WUO. For those who don’t know, or need a refresher, The WUO was a splinter group from the Students for a Democratic Society, mainly made up of its radical violent wing. The WUO was involved in several acts of domestic terrorism, including exploding a bomb in the Capitol Building. (The bomb didn’t hurt anyone, and it should be noted that more WUO members died in an accident (bomb making is dangerous work) than their bombs killed.(There were no casulaties from their bombs)) Ayers surrendered in 1980, and claims to have been rehabilatated, though he still seems to support leftist causes. (All federal charges against Ayers were dropped due to the FBI’s use of COINTELPRO against the WUO. This was a good thing, and something that I am afraid would never happen in these government worshiping times.)

This ad is part of the new McCain strategy to paint Obama as the OTHER. Expect to see B Hussein Obama come into common use, and for the Obama is a Muslim claims to renter the main stream from their hiding places among the crazy right. Now of course, this strategy worked in the past, but it might not work this time around. The reason the this strategy may not work this time around is the media is instead of swallowing Republican propaganda hook line and sinker like they did last time around, seems to have decided to look criticaly at the McCain campaign’s statements. Now McCain will probably swing some voters to his side with his attacks, but how many will remain to be seen.

This election will not have a major effect on the direction that this country is going, and if anything will probably destory the opposition movement in this country as discussed by Arthur Silber in this post. I mean, how many of the people who now oppose Bush can you see opposing Obama. I don’t even know if the ACLU would oppose Obama in any meaningful way. Read everything on Silber’s site. It is good, if a bit depressing. Its all true though, and we live in depressing times. My prediction is that the authoritarian corporatist state will be the predominate power structure of the 21st century. Look at China, Russia, and the way America is going. Our recent bailout will do nothing to improve the economy (Which is, to quote Mr. McCain is fundamentally strong), and is nothing but corporate welfare. I will close with this HL Mencken quote which seems to describe the current election:

As democracy is perfected, the office [the presidency] represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

(For this quotation in cartoon form see this by Mark Fiore)

Despite the fact that I haven’t been paying as much attention to my blog as I should. (lets face it, I am ignoring it and any fans that I might have…) I have moved to a dedicated host. This means that I can expand from my current blog only format, to a new format where I feature such things as other stuff I see fit… Right now, I am adding a photo gallery featuring pictures that I took in various places. (No photos yet…) I am also going to start blogging more.

Welcome one and all to Tuesday Link Rodeo! This is where I, link to what I feel is the most interesting blog posts written today.

In this post from Reason Magazine’s Hit and Run, we find that Britian has established special Sharia courts to settle cases between Muslims. The Reason piece is largely comentarty about this blog post at the GW Patriot blog. While because there is established Religion in the UK, this is not illegal, it is incredibly dumb to create separate court systems for people of various religions.

From Orac at Scienceblogs‘ Respectful Insolence we have a story about a scientific study. This study answers that age old scientific mystery that has plagued scientists since Newton’s day… Oh wait this study is about what turns people on more, the sound of an economy car or a supercar. I just hope that this wasn’t paid for by the tax payers of some country…

The next and final link is to The Agitator’s Radley Balko. This post calls out two of the main things that get on my nerves (updated to make coherent) 1. the idea that the federal government through the current crop of incompetents running for the Office of President of the United States are running for the job of your personal savior (Thats Mr. Dobbs‘ job) and the only hope for this country is them. 2. The federal government will make everything better.

To make any people that are upset about there only being three stories happy, here are some videos of Jethro Tull performing.

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Live blogging!!!
This is going to be the first day in which I will watch the coverage of the Republican Convention. Although I do support the Republican party because it is somewhat of the lesser of two evils, because it at least gives lip service to being anti tax, and anti government spending, I severely dislike both major American political parties. I mean look at both parties over the last few years. The Democrats are slowly mirroring the Republicans on foreign policy and national security policy. The Republicans are moving towards the democrats on spending, just as fast. The result will eventually be two nearly identical parties, that they might as well merge.

And now, my almost nearly live bloging:

Meg Whitman: (former Ebay CEO)

Speech mostly about stuff I care about. Lower taxes, simplify tax code, lower government spending. Typical Republican stuff but how serious is McCain about this? Remember, this is from the party of Star Wars, the 600 Ship navy, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Carly Fiorina: (Former CEO of Hewlett Packard)

Former CEO night continues, but this is a general mixed speech. Continues themes of lower taxes, and simpler tax code. While this speech was just a sampler, with no meat given to any one issue, there were two main themes, one was that Fiorina had met John McCain, (Would anyone endorse a politician that they didn’t meet?) and the other was the support our troops / McCain is a national hero stuff that one has come to expect from the Republicans.

(UPDATE: In an MSNBC interview Fiorina repeated her claims that attacks on Palin’s competency are sexist)

Mit Romney:

First off, this was the big nationalistic speech, which was interrupted by shouts of USA! USA! twice. but first I have a correction for Romney, it is conservative to rule in favor of Guantanamo detainees (As in conserving that the constitution applies to everybody the US has jurisdiction over). Romney made a few good points like receiving welfare limiting a person’s initiative, but come on who is going to believe that Mit Romney isn’t part of the Eastern Establishment. (Update) “Providence of the Almighty” opens the door to other religions…

Huckabee:

More nationalism and support our troops / veterens. Huckabee is a very good speaker In my opinion, and better than Romney’s cardboard cutout performance. I was surpirsed that Huckabee didn’t go into religious subjects more. In a sane country, the story about the desks would have no place in a national election. Decent speech, continues the low taxes thing. Huckabee made a point about the difference between Republicans and Democrats, in that Democrats believe that the government is the only one that could help people, and that Republicans beleive that people can help themselves. A very decent speech overall, and in my mind indicates that Huckabee isn’t done looking for national office.
Rudy Giuliani:
Decent speech, very aggressive thought he’d try to add more 9/11 to it…

Sarah Palin:

This speech didn’t strike me as anything out of the ordinary. It was still very good, and covered a wide range of material. She continued to drive home the same attack points that the other speakers set up, providing a sense of consistancy. One thing that I did feel was odd, was that her youngest child was passed between people during the speech. The child started with the oldest daughter, than as far as I can tell went to Cindy McCain (I think), and than to Palin (there may have been an intermediate stop).

Overall:

I think the Republicans are doing more to start the general election season going than the Democrats did at their convention. The Republicans have a multi line, multi level attack narrative drawn out that they are already selling, while the best the Democrats seemed to offer was that McCain was four more years of the same. The Democrats have to fight as dirty as the Republicans if they want to win. The Republicans made a good showing, and were able to even keep their culture war stuff toned down. I was however disappointed at the lack of celebration after the actual nomination. All they had was some projected confetti…

Hello and Welcome to this weeks edition of the Tuesday Link Rodeo!

The first link today goes to the general at Jesus’ General, as is one of his letters to far right wing lunatics. This one is goes to a pro life Republican congressional candidate who paid for his girlfriend’s abortion.

Our next link goes to this blog post about George Carlin by Ed Brayton of Dispatches From the Culture Wars. Via PZ Meyers, comes this video of George Carlin doing one of his routines. This video is great. (updated to change wordpress.com youtube= tag to real youtube video embedding)

Our last article for the day is this post at reason magazine’s blog hit and run, about an article that claims that airlines need to be re-regulated. Now, for anyone who knows anything about the history of the airline industry knows that this would be a disaster, unless your idea of fun is one air carrier having a monopoly on international travel, and other such things. (Of course, regulation also breeds creative ways to avoid it, this is way Southwest Airlines, and the airline from which it acquired its business model from (PSA) were both intrastate carriers, and were thus regulated by their local states) I should so bring up the IATA, which had its own crazy rules (The IATA’s price fixing attempts as decreased)

No, this post is not about the more visible aspects of the Religious Right’s attempts to control women’s access to abortion and birth control (Anti contraceptive activity among the Religious Right is really starting to increase) but rather about one of the Religious Right’s more insidious attempts at undermining the rights of women everywhere. A major problem for much of the religious right, especially the Protestant Right is the emergence of feminism. The empowerment of women has meant that the Protestant Right’s dream of imposing their 1950s television show style world on the rest of us has gotten harder, due to women being able to do what they want. The solution? Bringing back the “Biblical Family”. To remove the code words talk, this means that they want to restore families to being under the complete control of the man, with the wife doing all of the dirty work, and the children being seen and not heard. (Or paraded out to do tricks for the neighbors) The Protestant Right quote one of the Epistles of Paul, Ephesians 5, to justify one mens domination over women. Unlike some of the odd Biblical quotes that the Protestant Right twists to justify some of their practices this quote is clear:

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

(I am a man and this still creeps me out. I would never want to be completely in control of another human beings life like that)

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