Oppression

an email i wrote to a friend, and some notes on my ideas.

since i've started a family, i'm all the more convinced that the nuclear family is a unit of discipline. yet my attempts to get away from it resulted in greater misery. i've been turning over this book idea in my mind, "how to be a man in the 21st century", and the idea is that a morally rigorous life is more compelling than a sloppy one. but i don't want to write a book about morals. i want to write a book about how the "post" feminist world is in some ways oppressing and screwing women even more than they were before, and that men have to evolve to create a better world. and some alchemy of buddhist thought and moral rigor, along with the emotional growth of embracing adulthood and accepting the devilishness of the world, are kind of the key ingredients to making the world better (starting at home). i know you must have been thinking similar thoughts. it feels like the world is ready for this book, the world needs this book. should we write it? it needs to be like Justice, by michael j sandal, in that it takes difficult concepts and rigorously but pleasantly presents them to a lay audience.

i'm sending you this email because this thread goes through my head all the time and the project of turning it into an outline for the book is going to be long. i also know that you must have been thinking about some of the same problems, if not in the same way. i'm curious what you think. the rule of the game is that if you want to talk about it, you don't have to write out anything long or particularly well thought out, the goal instead is to just get a dialog going that is longer than 140 characters but short enough that it can be tapped out quickly in the brief 5 minutes of solitude you may get in your day. i'll probably use a blog to capture my mind barfs to somewhere more permanent than email.

Notes on my book, How to be a Man in the 21st century West.

• Women have all the responsibility of men, plus they are responsible for child-raising. It's become more acceptable for successful, educated women to opt to be house wives for extended periods, but it is still bullshit. Our world and economy has made it harder than ever for families to succeed, especially families where a reasonable standard of living is sought after. 
• The family is a productive unit, a node of bio-power to coerce disciplined, productive work units out of the bourgeoise. The bourgeoise is convinced that they enjoy freedom because they are not in jail, despite the fact that their lives are structured in the exact same way as a jail. Jail exists to convince the working people that they are not in one.  
• Actually raising a family requires more labor than 2 people can provide. Certainly non-North American and probably non-Western families are closer-knit geographically and emotionally and raise children together. Ok ok I'm not saying we all need to live in primitive villages, but the point is that the nuclear family is a post-war invention designed to isolate and discipline and it doesn't work.
• I'm tired of conservatives owning the narrative of family and child-raising, which can be summarized as fear and loathing. 
• I'm equally tired of the liberal bourgeoise narrative of fear and achievement, as it really is just a nicer version of the conservative narrative of fear and punishment. 
• Men are increasingly immersed in a mindless world of juvenilia as the balance of desirable men and women grows increasingly out of whack. 
• Taking on lives of moral conduct is viewed as succumbing to "oppression", while those who do embrace some moral life often do so with the express intent of oppressing others
• The narrative of hyper-sexualized hedonism compels people to search for ever-higher levels of chemical stimulation, whether from orgasm or pharmaceutical drugs to squash the pain of disappointment and loss.
• Moral conduct itself is viewed as old fashioned, the narrative of self-directed lives free from contraints is a fantasy peddled by the baby boomers, and we see how that is working out for them. People need boundaries and constraints and communities to function properly. They also need rituals and release. We've dismantled all these things (or they've hyper-ossified).

Letter to the Editor time again: David Brooks and the Conservative fantasy land

David Brooks' latest column represent the kind of facile thinking that is fueling voter fantasies about the "growth of government", and seems to suggest that state and federal employees are a new kind of "welfare queen". There are many logical fallacies with his argument. The most obvious is the idea that Democrats just want to "spend, spend, spend," while Republicans want to reduce spending. The last time the GOP was in the majority, they oversaw the largest expansion of Medicare since its inception with the Part D benefit, and they started a $3 trillion (according to Columbia University economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes) war of choice, while cutting taxes and demanding no sacrifice for anyone who wasn't in the military. Meanwhile the last time this country didn't run a deficit, it was under President Clinton, a Democrat.

The real point of contention I have with Brooks' argument is the idea that the path to regaining control over budgets is to cut benefits and pay to employees. The idea that the massive transfer of taxpayer monies to private corporations in the form of agricultural subsidies, oil-company subsidies, and the Part D benefit, never seems to cross Mr. Brooks' mind. This suggests that he believes it is OK for private corporations to receive unlimited taxpayer largesse, but heaven forbid should an everyday middle class wage-earner derive a paycheck by working for it.

As Mr. Brooks alludes to, much of government spending in post-war America went towards things that created the greatest growth in opportunity our country has ever seen, from the GI Bill to the space program. The real problem in the decline of innovative programs is not greedy unions, but a lack of political will and leadership to innovate as one people and one country. Conservatives have used fear and greed to divide our country as never before, pouring gasoline on the fires of time-wasting and irrelevant issues to our nation. In addition they have pushed for deregulation and the promulgation of a value-draining economy based on speculative real estate deals and unregulated derivatives trading.

This translates to lack of cohesive national vision and the decline of government-induced innovation. It is an ideologically-driven assertion with no basis in fact to blame the decline of useful government programs on pensions. It is part of the conservative agenda to siphon ever more taxpayer money into Wall Street, and he alludes to one of the favorite hobby horses of conservatives: privatize the pension plans. Anyone who has had a 401(k) plan and an interest in retiring while still capable of self-ambulating can tell you about the effectiveness of this approach.

In addition, the largest political campaign contributions are coming from shadow organizations funded by the Koch brothers and other dubious private interests, and it is simply not true that unions spend more than any other entity.

I also wanted to point out that the growth of the prison-industrial complex is the direct result of the conservative obsession with punishment and incarceration as opposed to education and rehabilitation. If Mr. Brooks is so concerned about prison pension plans, he might consider the root cause of the growth of prisons is that they are a job creation program in rural areas in California, and that conservative voters enjoy the idea of punishing criminals far more than the idea of educating people before they become criminals in the first place. To his credit, he does point out that California pays more for prisons than for schools, but he seems to fail to connect the dots that conservatives like prisons while normal Americans would probably prefer to pay for schools.

Republicans: Black = White

Pro-life, Pro-Death Penalty
Pro-life, anti-neo-natal care
Pro-life, anti-healthcare
Pro-life, anti-immigrant
Pro-life, pro-war
Pro-Freedom, Pro Jails
Pro tax cuts, Pro Jails
Pro-Jesus, Pro hate fear loathing stealing lying killing
Pro-tax-cuts, Pro agricultural subsidies for GOP-voting districts
Anti-welfare, Pro-corporate tax subsidies for Big Oil ($100 million for Exxon)
Pro-tax-cuts, Pro $2 trillion dollar optional wars
Pro-free-market, Pro government bailouts
Pro-free-market, pro protectionist tariffs
Pro ideology, anti-results
Decrease taxes, increase spending
The number one goal of any Republican is to siphon as many tax dollars as they can get their hands on into the pockets of themselves and their friends. Their brilliant discursive strategy is to play into the racist and economic fears of the ignorant and uneducated, to govern strictly by ideaology rather than pragmatic need. They've taken a completely incoherant agenda full of paradoxes and logical contradictions and created a simple, easy to digest platform of racist, religious jingoism. In short, they are today's Nazi party without the concentration camps. Any Republican is as good as a "good" German was in 1942. By being Republican, you are consciously and deliberately seeking the destruction of your own country, and you are committed to the prolongment of suffering to the disenfranchised people of the world. In short, you are evil.

Letter to Senator Cantwell about health care

Listen to the pod cast of the show - an amazing conversation with small business owners in the PNW

Dear Senator Cantwell,

I heard you the other day on KUOW discussing health care reform with Steve Sher. I don't believe your argument that co-ops are the only option. The world is very diferent now from when the prescription drug option was passed.

As I'm sure you know, the American public is overwhelmingly in support of a public option for health care, far more so than Congress seems willing to support with real legislation. Your admission that small businesses simply lack clout was appreciated for its honesty, but was also completely unacceptable. I absolutely need you as my representative to push forward a bolder vision as espoused by your colleague representative McDermott advocated on the program before you.

As I'm sure you also know, without the heavy hand of a large public plan such as the one enjoyed by Congressional representatives such as yourself, cost controls will never be implemented. Without cost control, our problem will never go away.

I know it may appear like an uphill battle from within the beltway (where I was born and raised), but the rest of the country, at least me and all the other small business employees I know, are not going to accept a middle way compromise that does not radically change the costs of health care itself. The problem is not that people don't have insurance; the problem is that health care is so expensive and provides so little value in return for the dollars spent when benchmarked against every other health care outcome metric in the industrialized world.

I laud your position that health care providers need a better value metric that correlates with outcomes rather than paying for services, which we all know thanks to Atul Gawande, incents incredibly bad behavior. However, better metrics need to be directly tied to value and payment, they are not a solution in and of themselves.

It is not acceptable to allow a few die hard right wing blowhards and timid middle-of-the-road representatives to say that we can't do what we all know is both morally just and economically required to create better health care outcomes, cover all citizens, and lower costs, which is a true public health care plan that provides all the benefits and costs of the plan enjoyed by congressional representatives.

Professors are full of it

RE: End The University As We Know It To The Editor

I know you must have gotten thousands of letters on this topic, but I was intrigued to note the near-universal rejection of Mark C. Taylor’s ideas, which I found quite appealing. It seemed to me that none of the other respondents, not even Dr. Taylor Carman, professor of philosophy, have been equipped with a suitable critical apparatus to recognize the modern university for what it is: a regime of truth that produces technocrats with little to no critical foundations or ability to stir up trouble in the real world.

You can verify my claim by noting how the neo-cons succeeded in bringing our country to its knees, as suggested by the recent wonderful book, “French Theory”; no university would have the likes of a Paul Wolfovitz or a Don Rumsfeld as a tenured professor, so, like the dogs of hell, they were unleashed in the only other institution that would have them: the US government. Dogmatic universities did not want dialog or dissent happening on their campuses. And we all know how that turned out.

All of the rabble rousers at my alma mater certainly never got tenure and found themselves on the street shortly after I graduated; I was just lucky to be at the right place at the right time to actually learn something (McGill ‘98). [Addendum: Rather than protect freedom of speech, tenure leads to unilateral dogmatism, and a highly charged political atmosphere where any deviation from the departmental status quo is not tolerated for long. It stifles innovation and is the wrong reward for talent worth retaining. It creates a mob-boss, union intimidation style environment for what should be the most intellectually diverse, challenging, AND safe places in our world.]

Of course, it is technocratism, with its total lack of depth and narrowness of focus, that has brought about our economic predicament as well. Regardless of their field, students have been taught how to participate in a highly bureaucratic institution that teaches them how to sit for an exam and get a good mark by following the rules.

I am saddened by the lack of dialog or critical discourse found in the unilateral academic rejection of changing the status quo. I also found it interesting how none of the academics offered any real useful alternatives, just vague gestures of, “something else will have to do that would not cause me to lose my chair.” What a lot of timid cowards. Perhaps if they had to read some books outside their specialties, they might recognize their institutions for what they are: either state-run tax-base enhancement vehicles, or privately-held bridges limiting the passage into the privileged hallways of power.

Universities will never change until the demand for their product declines. The ever-increasing middle class obsession with premium college-degree product seems to indicate that there is no sign of demand waning, so I’m not holding my breath. I will just make sure my kids do what I did, and go to school in Canada. If you’re not going to change with the times, you may as well have to actually work hard to get a good mark.

Bonuses For Idiots: Where's mine?

Dear President Obama,

This letter is to let you know that I will no longer be paying taxes to the US government. In addition, I am also requesting that I receive "bailout" funds of $1 billion USD annually. You see, unlike all of the already-wealthy bankers who are currently reupholstering their yachts with my tax dollars, I actually work for a living. I pay taxes, I pay rent, I pay my bills, I keep my credit cards under control, my car is 7 years old, I don't even have cable. My reward is having the privilege of being able to pay for executives to get bonuses that are worth more money than will pass through my bank accounts for my entire life.

Senator Chris Dodd seemed to have no problem inserting special language into bailout legislation making sure that AIG executives were guaranteed to get their filthy lucre. I don't see any reason why Congress can't legislate what AIG can and can't do, seeing as how the tax-paying citizens of this country own the company. Is the idea that only graduates of Harvard are entitled to limitless free tax dollars to sustain their multi-million dollar mansions?

Taxpayers like me are beyond furious. We know that it's going to take years to clean up this Exxon Valdez spill that is our economy, and that the economic ecosphere will be devesated for longer than we all care to imagine. But I have just lost all tolerance for the endless pilfering, and the spinelessness of this government to shut it down and take control of the situation. Right now is not a time for coddling and worrying about the polls. You've got 4 years to do something and there's no time like the present. Take the kid gloves off, take away all the money from these bastards, and keep them off the field.

Republican Guide for Free Market Economy

A how-to guide for getting rich quick.

First, let's be clear: free-market means that taxpayer money is free, while money that you actually earn by doing work isn't - and why should you do work if you're a true-blue white American! Working is what negroes should be doing! It's beneath you! Now, on to the guide.

Start a company of your own. The tax code in this country is designed for corporations to never pay taxes. Paying taxes doesn't apply to Republicans! Only assholes and socialist liberal communist gay faggot jews pay taxes! Get a clue.

Be sure to completely cook the books. Ideally, you should hire some gay faggot jews to come up with the best way to come up with insanely complex ways of printing money, creating "value" out of thin air, and other forms of stealing that those dirty jews are so good at. Don't shake their hands though, you might get AIDS.

Spend spend spend! Be sure to acquire every repuslive, tacky, disgusting thing you've ever possibly imagined, from a harem of slave children to a golden toilet that is mounted on your front yard for all to say as you do your business. Let your neighbors watch as you wipe your ass with $100 bills.

Be sure to hire the "best and brightest" to manage your team of jews. Pay them earth-shattering millions, regardless of their performance. Nothing but the holy Lord Jesus himself should get between this money - that you had to find a way to make out of nothing! - and you and your people. Even if Jesus does come down off the cross to remind you that the meek shall inherit the earth, think twice about giving up that money.

Make sure that you relentlessly give away fake vapor money ("credit") to the poor huddled masses to prevent them from noticing that their real wages have actually gone down in the last 25 years since deregulation, since what we did was reregulate the flow of money from us to them! The world is better off when Republicans have money, because we know what to do with it, like spend 2 trillion on a useless war on credit and fly private corporate jets! Oh and who can forget those golden toilets. Actually lately I've been hiring slave children from India to wipe my ass with their hands, after which I throw them out the window.

When it all goes to shit DON'T PANIC! Those same idiot tax payers who you've been stealing money from for years are going to BAIL YOU OUT so you can keep getting the finest Peruvian fishscale, keep your harem flooded with fresh slaves from Russia, shoot machine guns out your back door, and generally act like the living incarnation of Satan that you are. And remember, all the gay commie jews who got you there will go to jail, after which they'll burn in hell! With AIDS! Now THAT'S a FREE MARKET! GOD BLESS THE USA!

IMG_2137.JPG

IMG_2137.JPG, originally uploaded by fluxoneflickr.

The Haida painting comes to life

Abortion nuts: please go away

RE: Why Pro Choice is Bad For Democrats

America is the most powerful empire the world has ever known. Yet our political discourse is dominated by religiously-tinged issues that, while important to some, really don't compare to the truly relevant issues of the day. Abortion is an issue that affects women's health, and strikes some people, as noted in this piece, as immoral. It's an issue people care about and its worth discussing. On a local level.

In the meantime, America contributes a 25% share to greenhouse gases with only 5% of the world's population; we have unleashed a pandora's box of horror in the middle east through Dick Cheney's personal enrichment program known as the Iraq war; the current crop of Presidential candidates have no serious solution to either problem. We also have a nuclear North Korea and an Iran hell-bent on joining the club. Thomas Friedman has been reporting on the death of 4 million people in the Congo. Special interests from big oil, big pharma, mega-agriculture, the prison-industrial complex, the defense industry, the gun lobby, etc., all are taking home our hard-earned tax dollars to either produce record profit or stay afloat. And here at home we've got a large swath of the population that casts its vote entirely based on the abortion Kabuki.

The fact that the American people have allowed our political discourse to be shaped by whatever conspiratorial forces, whether its the sickening Machiavellian maneuverings of Karl Rove, the detested 30 second sound bite that passes for campaign discourse, the cowardice of news organizations who present entertainment rather than real news (try watching CBC's "The National" if you live close enough to the border for an entirely different reality) -- it doesn't matter. It is totally depressing, not to mention a great danger to world peace, that the meaningful discussion of significant issues has been drowned out in a sea of local-level issues like abortion, stem-cell research, and Christmas parades. My feeling is that politicians have tacitly allowed this to happen, because in order to campaign, they need to fill their war chest with money from the special interests who all benefit from the smoke screen created by the focus on these types of issues. Al Gore is right in his new book, and if the American people don't wake up, there's going to be very, very serious consequences.

Sakuran

Just saw Sakuran at the Seattle International Film Festival. AMAZING! See it when you can.

Their Finest Hour

RE: Defeat's Killing Fields

To The Editor--

The author's of this article make many vague, grandiose statements that I think are a misguided attempt at a Roosevelt- or Kennedy-esque statement of vision and leadership. While I respect the courage in even professing to have an unambiguous vision in this time of wiffle-waffle sieve-like philosophical and ethical moorings, I find the lack of substance or adherence to anything resembling reality in their statement to be both tiresome and dangerous.

Some key points: What is meant by American defeat and victory? Is victory an indefinite occupation of a foreign land, or more South Korean like, an indefinite unliked but tolerated occupation? It is clear that regardless of the consequences, the American people have no stomach for the long-term occupation (10-20 year minimum seems to be the going rate) that creating a more civilized police state would require. Speaking of an Iraqi democracy is pure hubris at this stage in the game as the Iraqi parliament has largely left the building for the summer.

And in their discussion of the Vietnam war, they never address the plain and simple fact was that the reason we lost is the same reason the British lost when the American people decided they no longer wished to be subservient to the crown: we wanted to be free more than they wanted to suppress the rebellion. Victory then in the case of Vietnam or in the case of Iraq means imposing a reality the native people don't want, and "father knows best" doesn't work on the scale of nations -- especially nations whose boundaries were so capriciously drawn up by the British in the wake of WWI.

Such a shallow simplistic attitude is what got us into this mess -- well that and no lack of greed and avarice on the part of Mr. Dick Cheney -- and it certainly isn't going to get us out anytime soon. Who knows what would have happened in Southeast Asia if we hadn't gone in, but what's done is done, and what we've done in Iraq is unpardonable and irreconcilable, and it's time for these dreamers to wake up and realize that the only dignified thing to do is get out of the Empire game of conquest, go home with our tail between our legs, and let them figure it out for themselves.

And if America and her people are truly at war, then we will starve the beasts that foment the armies of destruction: we shall all, as one, in the most Churchillian manner, cease to have anything to do whatsoever with the black gold that finances the whole nefarious operation. We must stop buying oil from Iran and Saudi Arabia immediately. We must lead with bold vision in action, and not just foist our hopes on our volunteer army while the rest of us continue to shop on the web and kill ourselves slowly in an orgy of corn syrup and discount children's clothing from China. Shame on the American people for not having the vision or courage to truly do what is right, which is to give up our Imperial way of life that our Military might makes possible, and that costs so much in economic and human terms.

PTU

PTU is a totally unique twist on the HK cop movie theme. Get it.

It's a YESKING TING

It's a Yes King Ting where-ever you are. Anyone looking for the jamming summer mixtape that will not leave your box for the rest of the season... go to this site and download the mix.

David Brooks, ever the self-hating Jew

My latest letter to my favorite Republican Jew:

Dear Mr. Brooks-

Sometimes you point out interesting scientific discoveries, such as the fact that we are all emotional irrational blobs of impulses that the rational mind pretends to have control over. Moving from there, I can see how you might find Al Gore's attempt at "rational discourse" discomfiting. It is after all an intellectual work that even references some rather well known academic scholarship. It reflects on you somewhat poorly to be so hostile to this sort of thing.

George Bush (well and Jimmy Carter too) has shown us what leadership from the heart looks like: it's not very effective, even if you do want to drink a beer with the guy. The role of our leaders is not to set the feel good agenda that you are so fond of, but to effectively and competently govern our country to insure the welfare of its citizens. This is often best achieved with a cold and calculating manner devoid of the irrational exuberance that brought us the war in Iraq, Terry Schiavo, Abu Gharib, New Orleans, etc.

Your faith in the Santa Claus like figure of the benevolent Republican really scares me, because you are smart enough to know better. I found myself wondering the other day if you had ever lived through an extended period of poverty or suffering. I am often troubled by Jews who are Republicans, it feels like something you only do if you're a self-hating Jew. My grandfather was a Republican who never went to synagogue and was obsessed with being a WASP. My assumption was that you hadn't truly suffered, and that maybe you weren't even Jewish, for all Jews suffer just by being alive, or surely you wouldn't fall for the "can't we all just get along with a nice warm hug" a la Mr. Rogers.

Letter to Patty Murray re: Liquid Coal (Liquid Stupid)

Dear Senator Murray:

I read in today's New York Times that Liquefied Coal is rapidly gaining support in Congress, roughly in parallel to the amount of lobbying money the coal industry has been handing out in the other Washington.

Surely a bit of hyperbole is called for in this latest blatant money-for-legislation kabuki that is in direct conflict with what this country needs to do to prepare for an energy policy that both limits our dependencies on other countries while paving the way, so to speak, for reduced emissions to reverse the effects of global warming.

Everything I've read about energy policy suggests that there is no silver bullet technology that will magically allow the continuation of limitless suburban sprawl, SUV driving, and other touchstones of a certain vision of a free America. Americans must learn to be more energy efficient above and beyond all other goals in order to be less dependent on foreign oil, and to reduce the damage we are doing to our planet.

That being said, as I'm sure you already know, there are a wide variety of alternative, truly renewable energy technologies. Our state is a progressive state, and our city is a progressive city. I was able to tick a box and kick in $12/month to use wind power! I was out at the Gorge this Memorial Day weekend and I smiled when I saw all the windmills up on the ridge. It was beautiful.

Thomas Friedman has repeatedly pointed out that setting a floor on the price of oil at $40/barrel is one way to spark innovation and investment in alternative energies. Why should only the coal industry benefit from this legislative largess? Indeed, all forms of energy should be catalyzed by this progressive bit of price control. Our state in particular has a number of potential technologies, from my personal favorite, cellulosic ethanol, to wind power.

I write to urge you to vote against any legislation around subsidizing liquid coal -- an obvious pork barrel debacle that goes against science and stifles the free market while promoting the least cost-effective use of my tax dollars and guaranteeing increased pollution, not to mention the destruction to communities that coal mining causes. Most coal communities in Kentucky and West Virgina don't even want the jobs that the industry offers, because they now know first hand the price they will pay -- the complete destruction of their land and way of life. The only beneficiaries will be industry titans, those with the nosebleed seats in that don't even exist anymore in today's Bush-designed tax brackets.

Sincerely

Lawmakers: going where the money is, not the brains

Liquefied Coal Gains Support as Pork of the Future

As usual and what should come as no surprise, legislators are auctioning off your future to the stupidest, least effecient, and most expensive "alternative" energy technology ever: liquid coal. Made famous by the Germans who used it in WWII when no one would sell them any oil. Likely to double green house gases. The coal industry wants a staggering array of long-term handouts from you and me, while they are busy telling shareholders about the trillions of dollars worth of assets they will be sitting on once taxpayers prop up their half-baked idea. My favorite is that they want the Air Force to be forced to buy 780 million gallons a year for 25 years. Once again proving that Republicans (and Democrats too when the pork is in their backyard) believe that "Free market" means my money is free for them to take. Guaranteed to increase global warming, while doing nothing to encourage conservation: that's America!

PBR's

PBR's, originally uploaded by Grandma Dynamite.

Canada + America: Better together

$4 Gas, this time to NYTimes

To the Editor--

High gas prices are a necessity to drive this country forward towards two critical goals for our country's long-term survival: cutting our dependency on petro-dictatorships like Iran, and reducing the negative environmental impact that our inefficient lifestyles have on the planet. To the first point, anything that reduces America's appetite for the stuff that fuels the economies of hostile nations is a positive from a national security stand point. As Thomas Friedman has frequently pointed out, the sooner the economy of countries like Iran are damaged by reduced oil sales, the sooner the mullahs will have to give up their death grip on their government.

Secondly, Eisenhower's interstate highway system has been the chief enabler for the contemporary American penchant for the 6 mpg SUV and the cheaply constructed energy apocalypse that is the McMansion. Anything that creates "free market" pressure to disincentivize the incredible damage that this way of life entails -- from the diesel transport required to bring goods to the outer reaches of minority-free exubrbia, to the single-occupant SUVs I pass everyday on my bike ride to work (yes I am so pious) -- must be seen as a painful but positive step towards a more sustainable way of life.

I think that Americans know that change is coming with regards to our inefficient lifestyles, but they don't want to have to pony up when the time comes to pay for it. The irony of course is that the whole oil industry is massively subsidized world-wide by the American taxpayer, as we foot the bill required to pay for our military to keep the world safe for the free flow of oil from the dictators to us. The true price of gas has been estimated to be anywhere from $5 to $15 a gallon. We should be so lucky that it has been so cheap for so long. Happy biking.

Daily screed to MoveOn

In response to the hideous email I found from them in my mail box whining about $4/gallon gas:

I was surprised and saddened to see your latest screed berating oil companies for supposedly "gouging" consumers with expensive gas prices. No one held a gun to anyone's head and told people to live a life of conspicuous consumption that included senseless hours of precious life wasted in a single occupant vehicle on a tax payer financed highway that is destroying the earth, one mcmansion at a time. It is ridiculous to blame oil companies for americans being the fat lazy SUV drivers that they are, and while I am no fan of the oil industry, i'm even less of a fan of people who can't take responsibility for the lifestyle choices they make at the expense of the health of the rest of the world, and anything that disincentivizes driving is a positive in my book. Americans need to be pushed to get out of the cars and their alienated suburban way of life. My 3 mile bike ride to work is a part of my self-righteous and ever so pious decision to choose to live in a way that i don't need a car. As the wealthiest nation on earth, we should be more generous and not treat the destruction of the environment as our right, and try to waste time manipulating congress on such a short-sighted vote winning strategy. You have turned into a shameful organization of borg-like zealots. You no longer think for yourselves and are just looking for something to be mad about. And I will look down my nose and piously judge you for it.

How to bring booze into a music festival

A plan to smuggle in some booze into the venue from a guy in my lab who did it last year, successfully. Here it is: Before leaving, go to a U-brew store and buy some self-sealing bottle caps. When you cross the border, buy a bottle of clear booze (e. g. vodka, white rum). Also buy a flat of small water bottles. Put your booze into the water bottles and screw on the self-sealing caps. Voila! Now you can put your booze in with your water and bring it in to the show without any hassle. The only draw-back is that you have to buy mix or drink warm straight booze...