Clam Chowder

it speaks for itself...

2011-02-11T22:27:00.000-08:00

Only ten US states have container redemption laws.

just a couple of zeros...

2011-02-09T23:47:00.000-08:00

Scientologists claim to have millions of members but A survey of American religious affiliations, compiled in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, estimates that only twenty-five thousand Americans actually call themselves Scientologists. That’s less than half the number who identify themselves as Rastafarians.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright#ixzz1DXXsXntC

you've had your fun now go back to work...

2011-02-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of naïveté going around when it comes to the demonstrations in Egypt. There is this notion that if Muhbarak steps down and there are free elections everything will be alright. Ain’t going to happen. That is not to say it isn’t good that he will not run again but the constitution and all institutions of governance and justice are designed to keep Munbarak or his ilk in power. On top of this other than the Muslim Brotherhood, who may not be as big a threat as especially Israel thinks as they have moderated since their radical beginnings, there are no real parties in Egypt. So the best outcome I can see is the election of another strongman who will be benevolent and along with the backing of the army will allow the stability to develop a truly democratic society where basic human rights trump all. I think the mob have made there point and should stop demonstrating otherwise all they will be is a force for anarchy. Turkey is touted as a model for democracy in the Middle East. Egypt stands a chance of following its lead but I wouldn't bet on it. This is grossly unpopular but in the middle east i think stability trumps democracy

don't rock the boat...

2011-01-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

Martin Luther King Day was last Monday. King of course was a pivotal figure in racial integration and equality before the law, but he was largely a figure head a rallying point and his assignation made him larger than life as it did with the other politicians killed during the sixties. If King had lived however he may have lost his popularity for he most certainly would have taken up issues that were not as popular such as social equality and justice for all and a levelling of the obscene income inequalities. He most certainly would have opposed the war. A black man fighting for issues that affected all Americans would not have gone over very well and there would be no holiday in his honor.

2011-01-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

2011-01-15T20:31:00.000-08:00

there are just too many people...

2011-01-13T12:46:00.000-08:00

Ecological disaster looms everywhere in China with little impetus for change. The central government does not have the will or the means to reverse the trend. At the grassroots level resistance to dissent prevails and many environmentalists languish in jail. It is at the local government level that the blame must be levelled. There it is a case of naked self-interest.
But before we get to self-righteous and damn the Chinese for doing nothing about approaching environmental Armageddon there are a few things to be considered. First China argues that during the Industrial Revolution there was much degradation and like in modern China dirty coal was the standard fuel. So it can be argued that China is playing catch up. We are also looking at economies of scale here. According to Jonathan Watts “The über-capitalist Communists now have the highest emissions of global-warming gases in the world (although the average Chinese person generates one-seventh the emissions the average American does)” Further America is outsourcing it’s true level of emissions by relying on China to manufacture things that if manufactured in North America would create green-house gases here.
All of these arguments have some validity but China’s environment continues to degrade at blinding speed with little impetus for change.

i'll call in your debt as long as you keep buying nintendos...

2011-01-11T15:11:00.000-08:00

Daniel W. Drezner in an article in Foreign Affairs tries to explode the myth that China presents a direct challenge to Americas political as well as economic power. Many feel China is holding a gun to the US's head by the amount America borrows but Drezner counters
'The "balance of financial terror" constrains China as well as the United States because China needs American consumers at least as much as the United States needs China to buy its debt."

2010-12-31T12:33:00.000-08:00

typecast for life....

2010-12-29T22:23:00.000-08:00

According to Christopher Beam in The Slate in an article in defense of May until December marriages, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall met on the set of "To Have and To Have".She was 20 and he was 45. He quotes Howard Hawks, the director as saying "Bogie fell in love with the character she played, so she had to keep playing it the rest of her life."

oil say, a super tanker did 99% more damage to birds than the Gulf Disaster...

2010-12-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

Margret Wente in the Globe and Mail writes and then quotes she says "But just three months later [after the BP disaster], the picture was looking much brighter. “The impacts have been much, much less than everyone feared,” ,geochemist Jacqueline Michel who was co-ordinating shoreline assessments for the government, told Time magazine. Strong coastal currents kept the oil away from the shore, and the damage to the wetlands was minimal. Fish and shrimp in the region have tested healthy, and the destruction of bird life was about 1 per cent of the toll inflicted by the Exxon Valdez. “There are a lot of alarmists in the bird world,” said Paul Kemp, vice-president of the National Audubon Society. “But this has been a disaster for people, not biota.”

2010-12-22T22:17:00.001-08:00

2010-12-12T21:22:00.000-08:00

the fountain of youth...

2010-12-11T23:04:00.000-08:00

i am working for the Salvation Army manning a Kettle at a local mall. I have had a lot of time observing the passersbys and have come to some conclusions. There are those who look there age but there are many who look and act like they are still in high school. They range in age from 18 to 60 and then there are those who look like they just walked out of junior high. most are married and have children. then there are the mothers who look like they are identical twins to there daughters.

the majority of these are native canadians and by and large working or lower middle class. Immigrants on the other hand look and act their age. what does this say about the state of affairs here?

a dogs eye view...

2010-12-06T19:54:00.000-08:00

In an article in Sports Illustrated S.L. Price writes of Vick's epic performance against the Red Skins that.
[...It wasn't even halftime of Vick's Monday-night rampage against the Redskins when Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett tweeted, "Vick doing so good, he got dogs cheering for him."

So there are two conflicting narratives going on: one that Vick, no matter what his superlative comeback means, is still a convicted felon and the other that what goes on on the gridiron should make us ignore his transgressions and only look at his amazing comeback.

I think the latter is true and I think there is some racism going on here. What he did was wrong but the cry for blood was over the top as dog fighting is commonplace in the South

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1178826/2/index.htm#ixzz17OWpijvB

i wonder how big the mongolian navy is?

2010-12-05T22:39:00.000-08:00

According to The Slate, "Sixty percent of ships now sail under foreign flags, plenty of which belong to countries with no coastline, places like Bolivia or Mongolia."

why should i pay for losers?

2010-11-30T19:33:00.000-08:00

Eliot Spitzer has come up with a novel idea to reduce college tuition. Students would pay after graduation based on how much they are making. It is a great idea but it will never fly.

2010-11-23T15:02:00.000-08:00

thinking block...

2010-11-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

Jacob Weisberg in his review of Bush's memoir of his time in office that his speech ghostwriter according to writes "if he leads his old boss to water, he can't make him think."

i wonder if obama called for tech support after the election?

2010-11-07T21:32:00.000-08:00

Frank Rich in a NYTs Op-ed piece writes about the horrible choice of sending Obama to India immediately after the election. If Obama is to get elected in 2012 he must put Americans back to work. Going to a country where so many jobs are being out sourced to makes no sense. Further he puts himself in the middle of the Pakistan/India conflict. Can he really have it both ways?

virtual baby wins the day

2010-11-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

A couple played a video game while their baby starved to death and with the bitterest of irony the game involved raising a baby who at the time of the death was in perfect health.

2010-11-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

2010-11-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

the muslims are coming, the muslims are coming...

2010-11-01T15:09:00.000-07:00

bill maher on his show said that he was alarmed that muhammad was the most popular name in England and worried that in 300 years it may be a muslim nation. what he fails to point out is that muslims make up only 5% of the population. maher is not the only jingoist to fear monger. the normally liberal dutch often fear that muslims will overrun their population when the concentration is about the same as it is in england. maher has a bit of an excuse as he is an equal opportunity demagogue against any religious activity but to damn a person on grounds of religion even if you think they are wrong-headed is just wrong.

campbell's folly...

2010-10-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

Here in British Columbia the Premier's approval rating is at 9%. His new GST tax has led to a wide scale revolt and enough supporters of the revolt to force a referendum. It will probably pass even though few understand it and under normal conditions wouldn't support but in the end it will be a vote on the Premiers leadership, which is a shame as the issue should have been resolved on merit

sorry i drifted off was that b3...

2010-10-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

In an article in The Slate writer By John Gravois the author makes the point that politicians and law enforcement groups are finding it harder and harder to justify the prohibition of marijuana and writes "In an age of stoned-senior-citizen bingo nights, every bogeyman helps."

what about california's three strikes your out...

2010-10-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

In an Op-ed piece in the NYTs it is reported "[that] According to human rights organizations, there are about 1,400 people political, religious and “conscience” prisoners in prison or labor camps across China." This isn't right, but it is making a mountain out of a mole hill considering China's more than a billion people. It speaks more to the fact that there is not much interest or worry about the pro-democracy movement. Compare the relative number of prisoners with other human rights violators and it is a pittance

2010-10-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

Some very considerable part of the gestural language of public places, that had once belonged to cigarettes, now belonged to phones

Zero History,

William Gibson

too much information...

2010-10-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

In his novel Zero History one of William Gibson’s protagonist’s therapists says “Paranoia is just too much information.”

2010-09-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

social dysfunction and the founding of facebook...

2010-09-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

Jose Antonio Vargas in a portrait of Adam Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook Aaron Sorkin who wrote the script for the movie about the discovery quotes writes Sorkin "...called the film “The Social Network” ironically. Referring to Facebook’s creators, Sorkin said, “It’s a group of, in one way or another, socially dysfunctional people who created the world’s great social-networking site.”

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/09/20/100920fa_fact_vargas?currentPage=3#ixzz10bEYY1Wf

a ray of hope for afghanistan...

2010-09-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

2010-09-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

canadian oil a red herring...

2010-09-11T22:44:00.001-07:00

Nancy Pelosi is in Ottawa and one of the topics on the table is climate change and energy independence and how she would like to see her country cut down on the import of fossil fuels. As I have said time and time again I believe there is no will to change and in a country terrified of big government consumers cannot be coaxed in more economic change by higher taxes on gasoline because the prices are so low to start with that in order to have any effect on consumption they would have to be astronomical, which 'aint about to happen. And for all are sakes Nancy why not start with dirty coal. That 'aint about to happen either.

i really have to hold my nose...

2010-09-11T21:48:00.001-07:00

Is the Ground Zero mosque a good idea, regardless of the fact that it has a constitutional right to be there? Its proponents are kind of up against the wall. If they back down then to the world's Muslims it looks like capitulation. To argue it is not a Mosque and is not at ground zero is nitpicking. Ground Zero is still an open wound and no matter how hard leaders try, and to his credit George Bush did this, convince Americans that Islamic Fundamentalism is an aberration many will not stop blaming all who hold the faith for the attacks. I know the Imam thinks he is extending an olive branch but that is not how it is playing out in Middle America. Right now there are some questions of whether those who want to build the Centre can come to terms with the real estate developer or if they can raise the necessary funds. Couldn't the solution be to find a donor to offer them land away from the site of the Towers and put out a multi-faith drive for funds as the Centre is supposed to be ecumenical, if Islam can ever be ecumenical. They have a perfect right to build there and in a perfect world it would be okay, but we do not live in a perfect world. Unfortunately occasionally we have to pander to the Sarah Palins and Newt Gingrichs of this world.

never heard of tom? I said swiftly

2010-09-11T18:43:00.001-07:00

Tom Swift was the hero of juvenile science fiction novels who had a propensity to over-use of adverbs. So Tom Swifties are adverbial puns. Here are a few taken from a compendium of them "This boat is leaking," said Tom balefully, "Sure I can climb cliffs!" Tom bluffed, "Don't add too much water," said Tom with great concentration., "I'd like to be a Chinese laborer," said Tom coolly. Check it out.

consecration by fire?

2010-09-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

This from Jack Shafer of Slate, It takes a religious rite to render something sacred and holy, and no such consecrating words were spoken over the WTC site. But even if one had been conducted, would it be binding on nonbelievers? I think not. Seeing as we don't live in a religious state, all protestations about WTC hallowedness are just loopy poetry and bad metaphor.

terry Jones and the true word of god...

2010-09-10T20:02:00.001-07:00

William Saletan in The Slate argues that the Florida pastor who plans to burn the Qurans isn't privy to the fact that there are many different interpretations of the work. Why should he when his own view is that the Bible is the word of God and is probably grandiose enough to believe that he and his 50 congregants are the only truly enlightened ones? This kind of fundamentalism is on par with that which most of us despise of Islam's polyglot interpretations, Muslim fundamentalism.

it’s a little more complicated, not much, but a little...

2010-09-09T21:38:00.001-07:00

One of the problems facing those who criticize anybody who is even remotely involved with Hamas or Hezbollah is that both sponsor extensive charities for the Palestinians and in the Middle East as whole as well as other non-militant roles. Now it can be argued that this doesn't matter as all the charity in the world doesn't justify terrorism but this must be put in context.

praise the lord and pass the gasoline to throw on the fire...

2010-09-08T20:39:00.001-07:00

Fred Kaplan in The Slate makes a point when he muses why Republicans in government haven't supported General Petraeus condemnation of the congregation who plan to burn the Quran. He asks if the troops and security forces Americans are fighting beside in Afghanistan and Hamid Karzai for that matter are Christians?

victims victimized again?

2010-09-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

In an article in Salon on how 9/11 victims are being led by the media to stand up against the mosque being planned close to where the WTC stood a widow of the tragedy writes "How did "9/11 victim" become sloppy shorthand for "white Christian"?"

it’s about jobs, stupid...

2010-09-07T00:20:00.001-07:00

In a critique of Jefferson Cowie's "Stayin' Alive", Salon's JOAN WALSH quotes Cowie who wrote, "Diversity arrived to American industry just as industry was leaving America." The book among other things looks at how the Democratic Party lost the blue collar vote in the 1970s. While liberal Democrats were looking for inclusion of women and blacks in the work force whites felt threatened by blacks who were now able to take or at least compete for ever fewer and fewer jobs. Nixon and later Reagan were able to cash in on these very real fears. Cowie also makes the point that Carter was the anti-Nixon and then became a footnote. Many feel the mood of American's remains centre right. So it is probably safe to speculate if Obama, the anti-Bush, will also become a one-term wonder as well. Obama's inability to grapple with massive unemployment or at least to be seen to do so will not help him. I am no expert on the job market but it seems to me the problem may be systemic. Many of the under and unemployed lack the job skills to compete in today's global economy so there may be little Obama can do to counter the backlash from Middle America.

2010-09-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

next thing you know they’ll be cloning a rat’s ass...

2010-09-01T19:58:00.001-07:00

The National Institute of Health in the US received billions of stimulus dollars and as John McCain has done with earmarks he exposed what he thought were ridiculous wastes of money. He was especially dubious of an $180,935 grant to the University of Missouri to find better ways to freeze rat sperm. On the surface this does seem pretty absurd but as in many of his criticisms of ear marks he did not know what he was talking about for as the director of the Institute says,

"Now, why would anybody spend money on freezing rat semen?" Collins asks. "Well, I'll tell you why. We have all these incredibly valuable rat strains that represent particular models of human disease, like hypertension or heart disease. But you don't necessarily want to keep them running around in cages gobbling up rat food at extreme expense, year after year, if you're not sure that strain is something you're going to want to study five years from now. If you just freeze the sperm, you can re-create that rat when you're ready, and it saves us a huge amount of money. Knowing how to do that effectively is a pretty good investment. But, of course, nobody bothered to find out the reason for this. They just thought it sounded weird and bizarre and like a waste of money."

perfect game...

2010-08-30T21:14:00.001-07:00

Dodgers versus Phillies. Kuroda on the mound for the Dodgers. 8 1/3 innings no hit ball. Vin Scully behind the mike. Perfect.

who thought a brisket could be sexy...

2010-08-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

In 2005, already a convert The Slates David Plotz went in search of America's best barbecue. What most of us take for barbecue is actually grilling where meat is seared at high temperatures. Barbecuing is in fact low temperature cooking (sometimes as low as 170 degrees) by smoke. He writes, "Grilling is a quickie on the kitchen table. Barbecue is tantric."

2010-08-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

2010-08-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

prius backlash...

2010-08-16T18:15:00.001-07:00

I wonder if fuel economy will not have a disastrous effect on infrastructure. Roads and Bridges are built, at least in part, from revenue derived from gas taxes. Right now it isn't as issue because of high fuel costs but what happens if they drop? It seems expedient to just raise taxes, but especially in places like California this would be an abomination. You can't win.

2010-08-15T19:35:00.001-07:00

charter member of the pervez musharraf fan club...

2010-08-12T19:37:00.001-07:00

According to the NYTs "Secret negotiations in 2007, which came close to creating an autonomous region [Kashmir] shared by the two countries [India and Pakistan], foundered as Pervez Musharraf, then Pakistan's president, lost his grip on power." I have always been a fan of Musharraf. His only real crime was to fire the Supreme Court Justices in order to stay in power which didn't happen. Instead we got the corrupt and incompetent Bhutto dynasty back.

a little perspective....

2010-08-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

"There were just 25 U.S. noncombatant fatalities from terrorism worldwide." Warren Strobel can't help but point out that "more Americans died overseas from traffic accidents or intestinal illnesses than from terrorism."

what will we do with your huddled masses?

2010-08-07T20:02:00.001-07:00

Bob Herbert in the NYTs writes, "In that key group, 25- to 34-year-olds with a college degree, the U.S. ranks behind Canada, South Korea, Russia, Japan, New Zealand, Ireland, Norway, Israel, France, Belgium and Australia. That is beyond pathetic."

Beyond pathetic! What are the rest of us chopped liver? Bob, news flash, the US as God's gift to the world is a delusion. That ship sailed a long time ago.

the usual suspects...

2010-08-07T15:47:00.001-07:00

Rod Mickleburgh in The Globe and Mail makes the obvious point about Stockwell Day's call for more prisons. Day doesn't dispute that the crime rate has been falling but says the unreported crime is rising. This may be the case but perpetrators of unreported crime do not go to jail!

2010-08-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

2010-08-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

According to The Slate for Americans travel to Cuba is legal for humanitarian reason. One man took pianos and piano tuners with him and was allowed to take them as long as they were "...not to be used for re-export or the purposes of torture." Knowing the incompetence of the average piano student the latter can not be guaranteed.

let’s start counting the number of trees falling in the forest that nobody hears...

2010-08-03T19:47:00.001-07:00

Now I've heard everything. The Tories justify their push for new prisons in the face of evidence that crime rates are falling by claiming the number of unreported crimes is rising without giving any evidence. This could be a little difficult as it's difficult to quantify or analyse something that is unreported.

2010-08-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

the cure may be worse than the disease

2010-08-01T16:43:00.001-07:00

There is irony in the fact that the dispersants used by BP may cause as much damage as the leaking oil itself. In May the EPA asked the Coast Guard's to stop the use of them the Coast Guard's continued sanctioning of them went directly against the edict and BP continued to pour them into the Gulf.

2010-08-01T15:46:00.001-07:00

Well, well, well, the doomsday scenarios of the BP spill have not come to pass. There were more sea birds killed by the Exxon Valdez spill and the oil continues to dissipate as the rig is finally tapped and the story has gone through one to many news cycles but unlike Haiti it is taking its natural course. This is not to say that irreparable damage has not been done but most now agree that earlier claims were hyperbolic. The only good to come out of it was focussing attention on the fragile dependence on fossil fuels but there is not the political will in Washington to face the problem. One wonders what will come of Obama's moratorium on deep sea drilling. Probably once the spill drifts away from the nations conscience it will be quietly lifted as if nothing had happened and the oil companies will go back to essentially regulating themselves

god's counting on me...

2010-08-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

pete seeger is still at .

2010-07-29T13:03:00.001-07:00

fear factor...

2010-07-25T20:49:00.000-07:00

Rick Salutin in The Globe and Mail looks at how Americans are cashing in on fear factor. Defense spending is just as high as it was before Obama was elected and 800,000 have security clearance with The Department of Homeland Security and he adds, "With 5 per cent of the world’s people, the U.S. has 25 per cent of its prisoners. Private prisons have taken off."

A rolling twit gathers no mosque - The Globe and Mail

2010-07-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

A rolling twit gathers no mosque - The Globe and Mail

2010-07-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

2010-07-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

coffee and cream...

2010-07-21T15:22:00.001-07:00

I keep on going on and on about Obama being white but my opinion has changed. There is a very funny ad for Old Spice on TV right now featuring a man with a great physique stripped to the waist. What struck me was although he is obviously black I didn't even notice it. So maybe Obama truly is black but it doesn't matter. Maybe we are the threshold of a post-racial America. There is a major caveat however. There is still the old attitudes about black male hyper-sexuality and the blacker the man the more pronounced the attitude. Obama, the man in the ad and people like Colin Powell are coffee colour or to use the older term mulatto. So perhaps things have not changed that much for even in slave days lighter skin meant more status.

I have claimed that Obama was raised white and therefore does not share that much of the Afro-American historical experience but there is one point where he does. He grew up with out a father or even a father figure.

The World’s Ongoing Ecological Disasters - By Joshua E. Keating | Foreign Policy

2010-07-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

The World’s Ongoing Ecological Disasters - By Joshua E. Keating | Foreign Policy

the way this sounds ignatieff should have david frum in his cabinet...

2010-07-19T19:31:00.001-07:00

Rick Salutin in The Globe and Mail says that while in the US Michael Ignatieff provided "...human-rights arguments to justify traditional U.S. policies of attacking or invading weak countries for its own reasons, and because it could. New arguments were needed after the Cold War, and people like him supplied them. But he seemed to think his ideas caused those policies, rather than justifying predetermined actions. It's the intellectual equivalent of being born on third base and thinking you hit a triple."

who will remember george bush?

2010-07-19T18:49:00.001-07:00

It has been said that Presidents live and die while in office by where their re-election falls in the boom bust cycle. For many pundits Obama has done everything right both politically and how he has stood up for what he believes in vis a vis Health Care which is more a legacy kind of thing which may affect his short term status adversely. Some say he fiddled with it while the economy continued to burn. The problem of course is Wall Street has recovered from the recession as it always does, although with this one it was a little touch and go for awhile, but Main Street is still hurting. The two things Obama could do to solve it: sweeten up the stimulus package and extend Unemployment Benefits, are impossible in today's political climate. So Obama and his party are in a tail spin in the polls. My question is will things be better come November and more importantly in 2012? If they are the dismal poll numbers will be just a snap shot. This is not to say that, even with the GOP in disarray, the Democrats not running of Obama's coat tails or no longer being given the gift of the Bush Administration, may lose control of Congress this Fall. Some even go as far to say that the mood of the American people has moved right of centre

boring!

2010-07-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

Ami Angelowicz posted on The Frisky blog
Meet Peter Bregman, a New York-based management consultant and my hero of the day. Like many other technophiles, Peter waited in line for hours to get his new iPad. He took it home, he emailed, browsed and Netflixed to his heart’s desire. It did pretty much everything he could ever hope for in a gadget. So why did he return it a week later?

Because it robbed him of something very valuable: his boredom. “Being bored is a precious thing, a state of mind we should pursue. Once boredom sets in, our minds begin to wander, looking for something exciting, something interesting to land on. And that’s where creativity arises ... to lose those moments, to replace them with tasks and efficiency, is a mistake. What’s worse is that we don’t just lose them. We actively throw them away ... I can’t not use [the iPad] if it’s there. And, unfortunately, it’s always there. So I returned it. Problem solved,” Peter said on his blog.

Mel Gibson's tirades are the distilled violence, cruelty, and bigotry of right-wing Catholic ideology. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine

2010-07-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

Mel Gibson's tirades are the distilled violence, cruelty, and bigotry of right-wing Catholic ideology. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine

same old same old...

2010-07-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

Maureen Dowd in a NYT's Op-ed piece writes in response to the newest attempts by the Vatican at dealing with pedophilia that, "If Roman Polanski were a priest, he’d still be working here."

2010-07-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

most wickedest of men...

2010-07-13T13:11:00.001-07:00

In my commentaries on American politics I have bemoaned the fact that government pushing for positive social change will always be stymied by the free market if it is not in the latter's interest. So I found it amusing that a Globe and Mail article opened with the following quotes, "John Maynard Keynes called capitalism "the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone." Al Capone called it "the legitimate racket of the ruling class."

the climate change band wagon...

2010-07-08T15:49:00.001-07:00

Every time there is a record breaking weather event, for instance this year may be the worst hurricane season on record, the spectre of climate change looms large in the publics mind. First off records being broken somewhere is the rule rather than the exception and in the short term are not directly attributable to climate change. A local meteorologist created an analogy that makes sense. In the short term records are like a single touch of the ball in multiple World Cups in terms of climate change and should not be taken too seriously. Climate change is insidious. Further than this records have only been recorded for a very short period of time.

2010-07-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

just say i don’t know...

2010-06-27T18:24:00.001-07:00

Especially today I have a deep distrust of populism. In principle grass-roots democracy is appealing but in order to be effective it must involve informed consent and recognition of the complexity of political systems and issues. I take California as the best example of why the approach can fail. Ever since Proposition 13 voters have put limits on how much the government can tax them to the extent that the state is bordering on bankruptcy and its once unsurpassed infrastructure lies in tatters. At the same time voters demand more prisons which are built at the cost of roads and schools.

But there are examples closer to home. In Stephen Leacock's time politicians gave long elaborate speeches on the issues of the day and they were reported verbatim in newspapers. Now we have 8 second sound bites and photo ops.

I believe the electorate are largely politically illiterate proof of which can be seen in a lecture I was forced to give in the early eighties. There was an election imminent I was a participant in a work program set up for those being released from a psych ward (as I was) and those suffering from a mental illness in the community. I was asked not about the issues that would be on the table but rather how elections and in fact how our government worked. Nobody had a clue. Now I can understand the mentally ill leading sheltered lives but there were four social workers who seemed to know even less than the participants.

So I believe elections are beauty pageants that often revolve around one issue and that voters often vote for a candidate because they like the cut of his jib or because of one issue like being tough on crime where the voters know even less about the justice system or the actual rates of various crime. For instance on the news we are subject to nightly doses of murder and mayhem, which leads the voter to conclude more must be done when the rate of these kind of offences has been steadily declining since the 1960s.

New Zealand makes voting mandatory. I believe that would be a disaster here unless one of the choices was, "I don't know."

how many more must die in an unwinable war...

2010-06-24T21:08:00.001-07:00

NATO and the American's are involved in a desperate attempt to save face. The counter-insurgency is hopelessly failing. It's aim is to rid areas of the Taliban long enough to establish civil order by establishing the presence of the Afghan army and police force and convince the inhabitants to come over to the government side. What government? Except for tentacles of graft and corruption Karzia is nothing more than the mayor of Kabul who only remains in power because of election fraud and the backing of the allies and even in areas where the surge is working many of the local officials are sympathetic to the Taliban. It is a war that cannot be won. I don't know if the Taliban will sweep to power after the allies withdraw but if they don't the country will slip into anarchy with the only thing holding it together being the opium trade

the gulf rig failed to be safe...

2010-06-24T16:27:00.001-07:00

You would think the disaster in the Gulf would make nuclear more palatable. A writer in The Slate said he was convinced this was the way to go until he realized the reason for not going nuclear were exactly the reasons for not drilling deep wells in the Gulf. If you had told BP executives six months ago that one of their rigs would create a massive oil spill you would be laughed out of the room and told the rig was completely fail-safe. Builders of nuclear reactors will probably say the same thing but if the BP disaster has taught us anything it is that in the free market place and without strict regulation we should doubt that any attempt to capture fossil fuels has its risks and I believe there is a lack of will to give legislation the political teeth to guarantee disasters won't happen. In a free market economy companies will cut corners even when it comes to insuring that accidents will not happen. So why does this principle not apply to the nuclear industry as well. Proof of this lack of political will is that even with a disaster of unprecedented magnitude Obama cannot get through an Energy Bill that will herald in any real change.

blood and Gore...

2010-06-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

Al Gore's partner is named Blood. Yes my friend Blood and Gore.

depression or delirium need not be the only choices...

2010-06-22T20:10:00.001-07:00

Depression and exercise don't mix. Whether it's endorphins or whatever, healthy excursion makes me feel better. On the other hand over-exertion can lead to mania or psychosis. What starts as the delirium brought on by dehydration and exhaustion can escalate into full blown delusion. Right now I have broken the cycle of depression with exercise and proper hydration but will I become fanatical as the euphoria associated with both hypo and hyper-mania sets in? Let's hope not.

2010-06-20T19:42:00.001-07:00

2010-06-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

2010-06-20T19:36:00.000-07:00

unseen consequences of the war on drugs...

2010-06-20T19:09:00.001-07:00

Now here's a problem the EU, the UN and individual nations are aiding Third World countries in prosecuting drug offenders, but there is an unseen consequence in that in many of these countries offenders are often executed, which even for the US seems inappropriate.

the twilight of the god?

2010-06-20T18:46:00.001-07:00

Tiger Wood's earlier withdrawal from the Tour was a major blow to professional golf. A great many television viewers only watched to see him. His inauspicious return may not make matters much better, but I hope there are those who are now tuning to watch the sleaze-ball fuck up. Graeme McDowell, this year's champion, is a true gentleman, intelligent and articulate. If there are more like him things can only look up for professional golf, or maybe not. Viewer may still need a god to worship.

daley’s ghost rises again...

2010-06-19T22:03:00.001-07:00

Clacy Sigal writes in response to Obama's response to the oil spill and his response to whistle blowers writes "We, Obama's "liberal base", of which I'm a charter member, were in numb denial that our former community organiser, who elicited such an outpouring of love from his vast network of volunteers, is actually just another Illinois pol – but with a better vocabulary."

weight in gold...

2010-06-18T19:52:00.001-07:00

Why do blacks do well in sports that require athleticism? Is even asking the question a slippery slope leading to racism? I think not. I think they do well in the first place because of the culture they find themselves in values physical prowess is valued and can be a way out of the poverty many blacks find themselves due in part to the racism that still runs unabated through American society. Many strive to be professional athletes or at least College athletes. Seeing as there are about as many professional athletes in America as work at Microsoft the former given the tremendous number is for most a wasted enterprise and sad for the many who devout their entire youths to making it big. In the case of College it is a different matter. Scholarships, and there are a fair many offered, can be a very real way out.

I feel however that the reason for domination in those positions in sports that demand athleticism goes right to the heart of the Afro-American historical experience. The majority of black Americans came over as slaves and even before they were picked up brought over to America the slavers in Africa chose them for physical prowess and then the auction process once they did arrive heightened the process. The phrase "worth his weight in gold" perhaps apocryphally some say means that the best slaves wore a band of gold around their ankle and even once they were bred for physical traits.

Physical anthropology has a bad name with many on the left because proponents to often mistake the physical evidence for the cultural but in this case it is relevant for the very traits need for athleticism were selected for by the slave traders and continue to be selected for on the basketball courts of the Inner City

political science...

2010-06-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

America consumes 20% of the world's oil but only produces less than 10% of that.

eating puppies might not be that bad a thing either...

2010-06-16T18:53:00.001-07:00

Child labour in China has been a hot topic for years and subject to universal condemnation but that is beginning to change and to be put in context. In the Third World children have always worked there is no comparison with labour in developed countries. The small amounts of money they send home has also been held up to criticism but compared to the income of peasants in the country side the children's contribution can be major. This is not to say that western capitalist exploit this and that often the conditions of employment can be deplorable but so can conditions in the country side. So perhaps child labour shouldn't be seen be subject to outright condemnation but that along with work children should receive an education and that the West should monitor conditions in factories.

2010-06-15T10:27:00.001-07:00

Christopher Hitchens in The Slate writes a scathing article about Prince Charles and the English monarchy in which he quotes Thomas Paine who wrote "A hereditary head of state...is as absurd a proposition as a hereditary physician or a hereditary astronomer." Charles believes that the mechanistic world view that he attributes Galileo robbed the world of its soul. Hitchens goes on to enumerate the number of hair-brained New Age doctrines Charles has espoused and further goes on to say the Prince introduced his thesis at an Islamic conference and added that as Defender of the Faith he would in fact become defender of the faiths. He sees this as sinister in that Islamic fundamentalism and all the dangers this may bring would be institutionalized. Hitchens notoriously paints all religion with the same brush. and I don't believe the Churches of England he foresees would sponsor terrorism, but at the same time it shows how out of touch the monarchy is and how silly Charles can be at times. I too am an atheist but do believe something is missing when we only view the world in materialist terms but think Charles is being excessive but do not see the ecumenical stance he takes as being in any way dangerous, but when Charles recommends talking to plants or defending Uri Geller I am a bit leery. All and all I remain a royalist. Charles may be silly but as a constitutional monarch he does not pose the same threat as the American executive office does where some equally silly men have been elected and done immense damage.

oil, oil all around...

2010-06-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

Iran is the world's fourth largest producer of oil and the second largest producer of natural gas but because of the sanctions they have limited refinery capacity and therefore are ironically short of fuel.

if you can remember the '60s you weren't there...

2010-06-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

a drop in the bucket...

2010-06-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

In an article in The Slate the author talks about needing to get gas and approaching a BP station and wondering if he should get gas there. In the end he does and the article is his justification for doing so. First off he speaks of the insanity of drilling for deep water oil but points out that BP is by no means the only company doing so and in a sense saying no one is drilling relief wells so BP was just unlucky. Further he points out that BP is only the 19th largest oil company and that oil spills are common around the world especially in Nigeria the world's biggest producer where there is no regulation and spills are common place from any kind of offshore drilling and that most certainly the bigger companies are all engaged. He also points out that the US only generates three percent of its own oil which means although the spill is catastrophic it is in mo way unique and it is the US consumer who use a disproportionate amount of the world's fossil fuel are ultimately responsible for the environmental degradation that goes largely unreported. Too blame the oil companies alone is ridiculous. The exploration for oil involves a dog eat dog process where corners must be cut. It is the US's demand for cheap energy that fuels the process and a complete disregard for what goes on beyond its shores

are gun carriers really more law abiding...

2010-06-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

Want to skip the line at the metal detector at the Texas Capitol? Just tell the agents on duty you have a gun. No, really. Do it. It works. In an exasperated editorial, the Austin American-Statesman explains that the quirks of capitol security policy actually reward frequent visitors to the dome—including journalists and lobbyists—for carrying weapons. Firearms are not forbidden in Texas' capitol building. "It remains perfectly legal to carry a loaded rifle into the Capitol," the Statesman writes. (Even Oklahoma asks the lawmakers who pack heat to keep the pistols in the parking lot.) The metal detectors are there to screen for illegal weapons, but holders of concealed handgun licenses are free to traipse around the Capitol complex with their legal guns. They're also free to skip the long lines at metal detectors. They just have to alert a security officer to the fact that they have a gun (and CHL) and breeze right by. They've already had background checks, so there's no need to screen them at the entrance, or so the thinking goes. That means people who have never felt the desire to carry a gun, much less bring a loaded one into the state capitol, are suddenly very keen on the idea of getting themselves a concealed-carry permit. Lobbyists and journalists who don't want to have to put up with security lines every time they walk into the capitol are signing up for CHL classes. "For 140 bucks, plus a $2 handling fee, it's worth it," one lobbyist said. The Statesman agrees: Its own reporters are doing the same thing. Still, the paper calls the situation "crazy" and calls on the legislature to outlaw guns at the Capitol and put a stop to the "nonsense."
The Austin American-Statesman | Monday, June 7, 2010

calling dick tracy...

2010-06-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

Apple is taking a stab at video calling with the newest iteration of its smartphone, the iPhone 4.

obama's lemonade...

2010-06-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

Obama is making a delicious batch of lemonade as a result of the Gulf oil spill. He may be able to add some meat to his green intiatives by investing tax breaks for oil companies in alternative forms of energy. The oil companies have become ogres in light of the spill and Obama should milk the situation as much as possible. This sounds good in principle but US oil stocks have been declining and it gets harder and harder to tap new source and as we have seen with the well in the Gulf. It could take over twenty years to convert to clean alternatives and that is if there really is the will. It maybe however a continued embargo on offshore drilling may lead to an energy crisis not on the scale of the that of the seventies and eighties but enough to lead to positive outcomes as this one did.

But America will be dependant on the internal combustion for a long time. Even increased oil prices may not dampen the sales of SUVs and pickups and even if it did American auto makers are in no shape to radically retool.

I am the last person on earth to justify the free market, but it is a fact and no matter what representives of the major parties say it is here to stay and only when their are debacles like the Great Depression or the current financial crisis is the government able to intervene.

Obama will be able to push his green agenda but one wonders if it will just be green wash.

Drill baby drill redux

2010-05-28T13:44:00.001-07:00

Is the US offshore moratorium really necessary? BP's spill could have been prevented if there had been oversight on the ground or in this case the water. I think US energy independence benefits everybody except other oil producers. It will not hurt us here in Canada as the US will be able to stop importing as much from rogue states within OPEC. It will of course keep energy prices down and make greener alternatives less palatable but I believe a nation of gas guzzlers would pay an incredible amount for gas and still drive SUVs and pick-up trucks.

drill baby drill...

2010-05-26T18:27:00.001-07:00

Obama moratorium doesn't make sense oil is like aviation, accidents happen but they are very, very rare. Rather than a moratorium why not work on more effective ways to control spills There has been a lot of hyperbole about the spill, up until a couple a weeks ago no more oil had been lost than was spilled from the Xeon Valdez and as John Kerry points out, "We are not going to stop drilling in the Gulf tomorrow, folks," he said. "Let's be realistic. There are 48,000 wells out there. One of them went sour. About 30 percent of our transportation fuel comes from the Gulf. You think Americans are going to suddenly stop driving to work tomorrow?" There are no real ready alternatives. The Prius and the Volt are not going to be it. America has a love affair with the internal combustion engine and gas is cheap. So there is little reason to think that the death of a few cormorants and oysters is going to be a catalyst for change, once the thing has been capped using it as fuel to push for greener alternatives will dissipate within a couple of news cycles. When gas prices went up a few years ago some experts argued that even doubling of prices in the long run would have little effect on consumption. So America still needs to "Drill baby drill."