Now that I have posted an article about Mrs. Palin written by another author; I will say my schtic on her. This coming from a person who actually lived in Alaska for many years, and truly knows what separates the Alaskan political world from that which we live in.
First, Why did Mr. McCain pick her? Is is because she is young? Or maybe because she has given the impression she is out to shake up the Republican party? Maybe it is just because she is a "hot" woman (come on and say it Mr. McCain)? I think he picked her because he thought he could win over droves of women with this selection. By doing so, I think he will drive them away.
Let me explain this for a moment...
Your average Hillary voter is not voting for her simply because she is female. The Hillary voters as a whole are a very idealistic crowd, loaded with feminists and empowered women. Any republican woman will not be seen in the same light, as the ideals do not match up. In a sense, Mr. McCain is saying I am giving you a woman, vote for her; It does not matter what she stands for because you women are all the same anyway.
I would be insulted by this if I were female. All women are definitely not the same.
Now, on to topic 2...
Alaska politics; Alaska is a world of it's own. Being a politician up there has less in common with being one down here than you would think. Alaska is a state with a total population of less than most medium sized cities. The constituency up there does not make any undue demands on their politician's either. The average Alaskan does not really expect anything from their government, at least not on the same level as the rest of the US. The government in Alaska seems more to be a go between for various corporate interests interested in making a profit, than a truly dedicated government serving the people. That being said, the state does function very well, providing a limited set of basics for all citizens, at least it did ten years ago before the current budget slashers were there. Being a politician, even governor, of Alaska does not expose you to the demands from the political world as it exists now for most states, where most medium sized cities exceed the population of the entire state of AK, and demands from the public MUST be met.
It is the difference in being mayor of Wasilla, AK, and mayor of New York, NY.
I think that Mrs. Palin is a great person on her own, but I believe she has doomed Mr. McCain's election by making him seem too unpredictable, and hypocritical.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
What’s the deal with Sarah Palin?
By Erich Vieth
There is a feeding frenzy regarding Sarah Palin out there. It’s intense and disorienting. It’s also disquieting.
Palin seems like a pleasant woman who would make a nice neighbor. But since when are people qualified to be Vice-President just because they are “nice”?
Tonight I started seeing many comments that extol Palin for having a baby (”Trig”) even though she allegedly had amniocentesis, which indicated that Trig had Down’s Syndrome. It struck me as odd that someone would have amnio when she was planning to have the baby no matter what. In fact, this puzzling point is but one of many strange stories adding up to an intriguing claim that Trig was not actually the child of Sarah Palin, but her grandchild, and that Sarah pretended (but not very well) to be pregnant to cover up for her Daughter Bristol, who was absent from high school for more than five months allegedly because she had mononucleosis. This story is burning up the Internet at Daily Kos. If you venture over there, you’ll need to weigh the evidence presented, and you’ll have the option to add your comment to the 1,500 comments already added–a phenomenal amount of comments, given that the post went up only today.
As disputed as the story about Palin’s pregnancy is, there much more to concern cautious voters. Palin is demonstrably anti-science (disputing the human cause of global warming) and her church has tangible connections to dangerous right wing extremists. As P.Z. Myers writes, “The anti-intellectualism is overt. They’re actually proud of their contempt for learning.”
Here’s another concern. Palin has the appearance of a small town mayor, not someone sophisticated. She doesn’t show depth of thought or detailed knowledge of the world around her. Her comfort zone is simple and local. I would very much like to see Palin given as much time as she can fill, to tell us everything she knows about the culture, geography and politics of any country other than the United States. I suspect that she would be out of things to say in 30 minutes. Links are springing up by the dozens on Palin’s strange statements and behavior (Andrew Sullivan has a quickly growing collection). Palin’s story appears to be a facade that is being intensely worked over. She was actually FOR building the Bridge to No where, though she now claims to have opposed the project.
There is much more to be concerned about Palin. I suspect that it’s going to get intensely bad for her within a week. Her story just doesn’t add up.
What most concerns me most, however, is John McCain’s poor judgment. Aren’t there any job qualifications for the office of Vice President? All responsible businesses require special knowledge and experience for demanding jobs. Why wouldn’t McCain demand someone with the requisite knowledge and experience? Palin is a laughable choice for Vice President. Should we start allowing life guards to work as architects? Should we allow window washers to teach medical school? Add this to the list of questions the Press should ask McCain.
I suspect that McCain’s choice of Palin is possible in McCain’s mind because John McCain subscribes to the Grover Norquist school of “starve the beast” when it comes to government. He thinks we’re all better off without government. We’re better off on our own, and the country will somehow run itself. That’s the way it is with many free market fanatics. Therefore, it doesn’t matter who serves as President or Vice President.
Our country can’t run itself, of course. What McCain is revealing by choosing a running mate without meaningful qualifications is that he is actually a nihilist. Or maybe he’s trying to cleverly hand the election to Obama. Or maybe he is pandering to the religious right. Or maybe he is intellectually incoherent.
Reprinted from Dangerous Intersections
There is a feeding frenzy regarding Sarah Palin out there. It’s intense and disorienting. It’s also disquieting.
Palin seems like a pleasant woman who would make a nice neighbor. But since when are people qualified to be Vice-President just because they are “nice”?
Tonight I started seeing many comments that extol Palin for having a baby (”Trig”) even though she allegedly had amniocentesis, which indicated that Trig had Down’s Syndrome. It struck me as odd that someone would have amnio when she was planning to have the baby no matter what. In fact, this puzzling point is but one of many strange stories adding up to an intriguing claim that Trig was not actually the child of Sarah Palin, but her grandchild, and that Sarah pretended (but not very well) to be pregnant to cover up for her Daughter Bristol, who was absent from high school for more than five months allegedly because she had mononucleosis. This story is burning up the Internet at Daily Kos. If you venture over there, you’ll need to weigh the evidence presented, and you’ll have the option to add your comment to the 1,500 comments already added–a phenomenal amount of comments, given that the post went up only today.
As disputed as the story about Palin’s pregnancy is, there much more to concern cautious voters. Palin is demonstrably anti-science (disputing the human cause of global warming) and her church has tangible connections to dangerous right wing extremists. As P.Z. Myers writes, “The anti-intellectualism is overt. They’re actually proud of their contempt for learning.”
Here’s another concern. Palin has the appearance of a small town mayor, not someone sophisticated. She doesn’t show depth of thought or detailed knowledge of the world around her. Her comfort zone is simple and local. I would very much like to see Palin given as much time as she can fill, to tell us everything she knows about the culture, geography and politics of any country other than the United States. I suspect that she would be out of things to say in 30 minutes. Links are springing up by the dozens on Palin’s strange statements and behavior (Andrew Sullivan has a quickly growing collection). Palin’s story appears to be a facade that is being intensely worked over. She was actually FOR building the Bridge to No where, though she now claims to have opposed the project.
There is much more to be concerned about Palin. I suspect that it’s going to get intensely bad for her within a week. Her story just doesn’t add up.
What most concerns me most, however, is John McCain’s poor judgment. Aren’t there any job qualifications for the office of Vice President? All responsible businesses require special knowledge and experience for demanding jobs. Why wouldn’t McCain demand someone with the requisite knowledge and experience? Palin is a laughable choice for Vice President. Should we start allowing life guards to work as architects? Should we allow window washers to teach medical school? Add this to the list of questions the Press should ask McCain.
I suspect that McCain’s choice of Palin is possible in McCain’s mind because John McCain subscribes to the Grover Norquist school of “starve the beast” when it comes to government. He thinks we’re all better off without government. We’re better off on our own, and the country will somehow run itself. That’s the way it is with many free market fanatics. Therefore, it doesn’t matter who serves as President or Vice President.
Our country can’t run itself, of course. What McCain is revealing by choosing a running mate without meaningful qualifications is that he is actually a nihilist. Or maybe he’s trying to cleverly hand the election to Obama. Or maybe he is pandering to the religious right. Or maybe he is intellectually incoherent.
Reprinted from Dangerous Intersections
Friday, August 15, 2008
It is now Easier to be Fat than Healthy!
As a sad statement for our society, and the ongoing decline of mankind, it is now far easier to be fat, than to maintain a healthy weight and diet. Healthy, natural food now costs more than than cheap garbage foods. It is easier to buy vast quantities of mass marketed foods, such as corn chips, sodas, and fatty lunch-able kits, than it is to buy food that is actually made from natural, healthy ingredients. I challenge you to go to the store and read what is really in the food and it's price you buy before you put it in the cart. You will see what I mean. The deck is stacked against you if you want to be healthy and natural. For what you pay for a few truly healthy items, you can literally purchase a shopping cart-load of fatty, salty, sugary garbage.
The modern food supply is poisoned. Almost everything that is marketed as being healthy is typically not, as evidenced by the inordinate amount of salt or chemical fillers put in it to make it taste like junk food. Even regular canned food is not exempt. Many of these supposed innocuous items harbor more than a full days supply of salt in as little as two servings. Not to sound like a conspiracy nut, but this whole dilemma seems strange to me. What could society hope to gain by knowingly selling items that are bad for the public. The food supply is literally making people sick, as evidence by the massive obesity, and heart problems faced by the general American public. Could or society be so twisted that it is willing to keep a portion of itself sick or unhealthy in order to sell vast quantities? Is the health care industry complicit in this so that business is maintained. How many people in this world make money off of other people's misery? The former is sick enough, but when you think of the very people who are supposed to help you being accomplices in something like this, it truly takes a dark turn.
It has been said, that for Capitalism to function, there must be misery and death. One side must get the other hooked on something to it's detriment, so that the economy is maintained. Be it cigarettes, junk food, or gasoline.
What is a person to do?
The modern food supply is poisoned. Almost everything that is marketed as being healthy is typically not, as evidenced by the inordinate amount of salt or chemical fillers put in it to make it taste like junk food. Even regular canned food is not exempt. Many of these supposed innocuous items harbor more than a full days supply of salt in as little as two servings. Not to sound like a conspiracy nut, but this whole dilemma seems strange to me. What could society hope to gain by knowingly selling items that are bad for the public. The food supply is literally making people sick, as evidence by the massive obesity, and heart problems faced by the general American public. Could or society be so twisted that it is willing to keep a portion of itself sick or unhealthy in order to sell vast quantities? Is the health care industry complicit in this so that business is maintained. How many people in this world make money off of other people's misery? The former is sick enough, but when you think of the very people who are supposed to help you being accomplices in something like this, it truly takes a dark turn.
It has been said, that for Capitalism to function, there must be misery and death. One side must get the other hooked on something to it's detriment, so that the economy is maintained. Be it cigarettes, junk food, or gasoline.
What is a person to do?
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Second Comings
I am not Christian in any way, shape, or form, but while on this subject, what if the Second Coming touted by the Christian's has already happened? Maybe it took a form unrecognizable to them. What if the current rise of Environmental Consciousness and other iconoclastic Aquarian ideas are the real coming they have been predicting for years. Maybe it is an idea or an awareness and not a person.
Ideas can be divine. They can also be pretty earth-changingly powerful, am I not mistaken?
Boy will some people be disappointed...
Here's another thought; What if the coming of the Anti-christ was really the coming of Industrialization?
Ideas can be divine. They can also be pretty earth-changingly powerful, am I not mistaken?
Boy will some people be disappointed...
Here's another thought; What if the coming of the Anti-christ was really the coming of Industrialization?
Friday, July 25, 2008
What if the Apocalypse Happened and We Didn't Even Notice?
I was thinking a few days back, about many different world issues, as I am prone to do when my mind wanders. I Thought of an intriguing possibility. What if the "End of the World" has already happened? What if we are too self absorbed to notice? Maybe it is in some form or fashion that we will not or cannot recognize.
Peak Oil, Global Warming, Nuclear War Take your pick... What if the rise of Industrialism was really the end of the Earth, and we just haven't figured it out yet?
Peak Oil, Global Warming, Nuclear War Take your pick... What if the rise of Industrialism was really the end of the Earth, and we just haven't figured it out yet?
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
13 Ways to Promote Consumption
I found this on http://peakoilhausfrau.blogspot.com/
When the entire economy depends on infinite growth, it is important to remind the consumers of their primary job - buying expensive stuff and wasting energy. Here are some highly effective methods to promote these very behaviors.
1. Design the built environment properly - No house should have a bike rack, a clothesline, or a Sun Oven. Homes should be far from anything useful and require maximum energy usage. Design highways, not public transport and bicycle lanes. Power stations, not solar panels. Make it difficult for consumers to be energy efficient, use less stuff and burn less gasoline. Make them spend tons of time and energy on research if they want to do something differently. Let them know: It's so much easier just to use what's already there!
2. Break up familes - Families should be as separated as possible - no more living in close proximity to each other, and definitely not 3 or 4 generations in one household. Spread them out! This way, when families part ways, a whole household of things must be purchased - furniture, lawn equipment, linens, kitchenware, tools, decorations. Even items used only once or twice per year will be purchased. Isolation from family also promotes consumption of leisure and entertainment goods. Plus, they will need to purchase frequent flights to visit Grandma and Pa. Bonus!
3. Promote ignorance and specialization
Make sure the consumers know that they should specialize in one thing - their job - and buy products or pay other people to do everything else. Remember, for every problem, there is a product or a service. Here's a list of things the consumers should not know:
How to fix things.
How to grow food.
How to cook bake or sew.
How to calculate the true costs of maintenance of appliances, cars, homes.
How to figure the cost of the interest on credit cards, mortgage, the auto note.
4. Stimulate fashion - Anything that is visible to others is a good candidate to be replaced every 3 or 4 years. Clothing, the color of paint, the material for countertops, carpet, and especially cars. Since cars can easily last 15 years, fashion is especially important!
5. Create social expectations - When our consumer shows up to work, they should be expected to look and smell a certain way. We undertand that this requires soap, facial soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, deoderant, razors, shaving gel, hair dryers, hair gel, mascara, nail polish, toilet paper, tampons, toothbrush, and toothpaste. Not to mention cover up makeup, lipstick, eye makeup, base, powder, lip liners, eyeliners, eyelash curlers, and perfume as well. Ha ha ha ha ha!
When our consumer buys a house, it (and especially the yard) should be expected to look and function a certain way. The lawn requires a trimmer, a mower, a fertilizer spreader, fertilizer, pre-emergent, water hoses, a sprinkler, pesticides, herbicides. The house needs updated kitchen and bathrooms and floors, appliances, cleaning agents, new furniture, decorations, art, entertainment system. It's something new every year. Trust me folks, it's like printing money.
6. Design products with obsolescence in mind - Make sure that technology changes frequently. After 5 or 6 years, new programs won't work on the old computer any more. And what use is a VCR or tape player now?Design things so that they break after a certain period of time. They might not have to, if they were made well, without cheap plastic parts. What's the point in fixing broken things when it costs more to fix them as it does to buy one brand new?
7. Provide cheap credit
Why wait to buy something when you can have it now instead? If we have done our jobs properly, our consumers can't figure out the cost of the interest, so they don't even really know how much they are paying. (Do you know what the true cost of the mortgage of a $250,000 house over the course of a 30-year mortgage at 6%? It's $539,000. That's called a PROFIT.)
8. Send women to the workplace and expect a 10-hour day
With mothers working, families have to purchase daycare, Pampers and formula. With 2 people working long hours, there is less time to cook meals at home, cook meals from scratch, clean the house, do the yardwork, grow a garden, shop for bargains - and there is more money to pay someone else to do these things instead.
9. Kill off public places and community events
In many places, if you want to be around people, that literally means paying to go somewhere, or exposing yourself to lots of tempting shopping opportunities. And people do need to be around people. This is why teenagers hang out at the mall all day long. There's no real public equivalent anymore.
Or we could encourage the consumer to just watch or interact with people electronically. So feather their nest at home with computers, entertainment centers, media rooms (!!!), cable television, high-speed internet, stocked liquor cabinets, etc. etc. etc.
10. Sell disposables
An easy way to get people to buy more is to make something only worth using once. So sell them paper towels instead of rags, Kleenex instead of handkerchiefs, tampons and pads instead of Divas and Lunapads, toilet paper instead of cloth wipes. These are so prevalent now that no one can even imagine the alternatives. Good job, folks!
11. Isolate people and make them anxious and afraid
Give them more of what they don't need, and less of what they do need. Less time with families, less interesting work, less nutritious food, but more anxiety about the kid's education, Grandpa's health, retirement, the state of the economy, the dying planet.
How will they treat themselves right? How will they get through the day with all these worries and not enough fun and relaxation, no interesting conversation about things that matter, no time to spend with friends? Will they buy a latte and a martini, or Prozac and a gym membership? Maybe they need a manicure and some highlights in their hair. A snazzy new car or a kitchen remodel might make them feel better. But really, the best thing would be a vacation, or a house in the country. If they have to take on loans or pay with credit, all the better.
12. Structure their lives
Everyone knows how life is supposed to look. First you go to high school, then college. Of course, then you need a job and a new car. Then you get married, have kids, buy a house (not necessarily in that order). If you can associate huge, expensive costs with all these things that people "must" do to live like normal middle-class folk, you've won half the battle! Why, by the time they get out of college they owe us 10 years of debt service. And what GENIUS came up with the requirement to spend $20,000 on one day of celebration? We owe that guy, big time.
13. Sell them "Health" care
If we've done our job properly, people will be reeling from all the toxins in the environment, lack of nutritious organic food, stress, and no time to take care of themselves. Just one more opportunity to sock it to them twice - with insurance and health care!
This is also a clever way to keep them where they belong - working for us. Trust me, they will never be able to leave a job with health care benefits once they have kids. Keep them on the treadmill, ok?
Seriously, if we can make people miserable by starting them off in debt, working them to death, while expecting that they look and act a certain way, and making sure they don't know any different, we can lay back and watch the money roll in.
Posted by Hausfrau at 8:00 AM
When the entire economy depends on infinite growth, it is important to remind the consumers of their primary job - buying expensive stuff and wasting energy. Here are some highly effective methods to promote these very behaviors.
1. Design the built environment properly - No house should have a bike rack, a clothesline, or a Sun Oven. Homes should be far from anything useful and require maximum energy usage. Design highways, not public transport and bicycle lanes. Power stations, not solar panels. Make it difficult for consumers to be energy efficient, use less stuff and burn less gasoline. Make them spend tons of time and energy on research if they want to do something differently. Let them know: It's so much easier just to use what's already there!
2. Break up familes - Families should be as separated as possible - no more living in close proximity to each other, and definitely not 3 or 4 generations in one household. Spread them out! This way, when families part ways, a whole household of things must be purchased - furniture, lawn equipment, linens, kitchenware, tools, decorations. Even items used only once or twice per year will be purchased. Isolation from family also promotes consumption of leisure and entertainment goods. Plus, they will need to purchase frequent flights to visit Grandma and Pa. Bonus!
3. Promote ignorance and specialization
Make sure the consumers know that they should specialize in one thing - their job - and buy products or pay other people to do everything else. Remember, for every problem, there is a product or a service. Here's a list of things the consumers should not know:
How to fix things.
How to grow food.
How to cook bake or sew.
How to calculate the true costs of maintenance of appliances, cars, homes.
How to figure the cost of the interest on credit cards, mortgage, the auto note.
4. Stimulate fashion - Anything that is visible to others is a good candidate to be replaced every 3 or 4 years. Clothing, the color of paint, the material for countertops, carpet, and especially cars. Since cars can easily last 15 years, fashion is especially important!
5. Create social expectations - When our consumer shows up to work, they should be expected to look and smell a certain way. We undertand that this requires soap, facial soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, deoderant, razors, shaving gel, hair dryers, hair gel, mascara, nail polish, toilet paper, tampons, toothbrush, and toothpaste. Not to mention cover up makeup, lipstick, eye makeup, base, powder, lip liners, eyeliners, eyelash curlers, and perfume as well. Ha ha ha ha ha!
When our consumer buys a house, it (and especially the yard) should be expected to look and function a certain way. The lawn requires a trimmer, a mower, a fertilizer spreader, fertilizer, pre-emergent, water hoses, a sprinkler, pesticides, herbicides. The house needs updated kitchen and bathrooms and floors, appliances, cleaning agents, new furniture, decorations, art, entertainment system. It's something new every year. Trust me folks, it's like printing money.
6. Design products with obsolescence in mind - Make sure that technology changes frequently. After 5 or 6 years, new programs won't work on the old computer any more. And what use is a VCR or tape player now?Design things so that they break after a certain period of time. They might not have to, if they were made well, without cheap plastic parts. What's the point in fixing broken things when it costs more to fix them as it does to buy one brand new?
7. Provide cheap credit
Why wait to buy something when you can have it now instead? If we have done our jobs properly, our consumers can't figure out the cost of the interest, so they don't even really know how much they are paying. (Do you know what the true cost of the mortgage of a $250,000 house over the course of a 30-year mortgage at 6%? It's $539,000. That's called a PROFIT.)
8. Send women to the workplace and expect a 10-hour day
With mothers working, families have to purchase daycare, Pampers and formula. With 2 people working long hours, there is less time to cook meals at home, cook meals from scratch, clean the house, do the yardwork, grow a garden, shop for bargains - and there is more money to pay someone else to do these things instead.
9. Kill off public places and community events
In many places, if you want to be around people, that literally means paying to go somewhere, or exposing yourself to lots of tempting shopping opportunities. And people do need to be around people. This is why teenagers hang out at the mall all day long. There's no real public equivalent anymore.
Or we could encourage the consumer to just watch or interact with people electronically. So feather their nest at home with computers, entertainment centers, media rooms (!!!), cable television, high-speed internet, stocked liquor cabinets, etc. etc. etc.
10. Sell disposables
An easy way to get people to buy more is to make something only worth using once. So sell them paper towels instead of rags, Kleenex instead of handkerchiefs, tampons and pads instead of Divas and Lunapads, toilet paper instead of cloth wipes. These are so prevalent now that no one can even imagine the alternatives. Good job, folks!
11. Isolate people and make them anxious and afraid
Give them more of what they don't need, and less of what they do need. Less time with families, less interesting work, less nutritious food, but more anxiety about the kid's education, Grandpa's health, retirement, the state of the economy, the dying planet.
How will they treat themselves right? How will they get through the day with all these worries and not enough fun and relaxation, no interesting conversation about things that matter, no time to spend with friends? Will they buy a latte and a martini, or Prozac and a gym membership? Maybe they need a manicure and some highlights in their hair. A snazzy new car or a kitchen remodel might make them feel better. But really, the best thing would be a vacation, or a house in the country. If they have to take on loans or pay with credit, all the better.
12. Structure their lives
Everyone knows how life is supposed to look. First you go to high school, then college. Of course, then you need a job and a new car. Then you get married, have kids, buy a house (not necessarily in that order). If you can associate huge, expensive costs with all these things that people "must" do to live like normal middle-class folk, you've won half the battle! Why, by the time they get out of college they owe us 10 years of debt service. And what GENIUS came up with the requirement to spend $20,000 on one day of celebration? We owe that guy, big time.
13. Sell them "Health" care
If we've done our job properly, people will be reeling from all the toxins in the environment, lack of nutritious organic food, stress, and no time to take care of themselves. Just one more opportunity to sock it to them twice - with insurance and health care!
This is also a clever way to keep them where they belong - working for us. Trust me, they will never be able to leave a job with health care benefits once they have kids. Keep them on the treadmill, ok?
Seriously, if we can make people miserable by starting them off in debt, working them to death, while expecting that they look and act a certain way, and making sure they don't know any different, we can lay back and watch the money roll in.
Posted by Hausfrau at 8:00 AM
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