Joe Metric

U.S. manufacturing is often world-leading, but the primacy of the USA as a market and as a source of products is declining. The rise of China, with four times the people, and other vast swathes of a developing world seem undeniable and almost inevitable. And this is not necessarily a problem.

But the American media is cultivating anti-scientific prejudices. Engineering and the worldwide metric system are denounced as elitist, or foreign, and a threat to Mom & apple pie. Units used in America can confuse - twelve inches to a foot, three feet to a yard. A pound weighs sixteen ounces; eight liquid ounces to the cup. If we switch, the world won't fit... but it don't fit so good now. Pity the nuclear-armed Yankee imperialist & his overweight cannon fodder shock troops... ?

Occupy Our Parks

Hey Bully:       Shut Down     Occupy Afghanistan !

Filet of Filly: Eatin' Hoss

Horsemeat is not part of the American diet. It would be difficult for people to eat horse, even if they wished to, as horse are not legally slaughtered in the USA for human consumption. I'm quite surprised.

Just around the corner from my home in Stockholm is a restaurant specializing in horsemeat; we go there often (great french fries). Perhaps my first taste of horse was 30 years ago in Japan, eating 'sakura niku' or raw horsemeat - basashi 馬刺し. Tasty! The odd thing of that neighborhood was its big horse racing track, and we regularly joked we ate the slow ones. Disappointed gamblers perhaps enjoyed revenge when ordering that dish.

I've surely eaten many odd foods over the years. Jellyfish in Chinese food is one. All creatures great & small, but I'd forgotten horse was odd.

Visit Japan for Fraudulent Food

Many Chinese tourists in Japan seeking a taste of world-famous Matsusaka beef have been served lesser stuff. Over the past five years, several dozen tourists each month were sold 180-gram ¥3700 servings (US$48 or $120 per pound) of mislabeled inferior meat. One restaurant under investigation, Barato Garden North Hill of Ishikari City, Hokkaido, admitted deception (link). But the firm's president Shigeru Oka insists Japanese customers for the well-marbled wagyū were never swindled.

Cheat only the tourists... Terrible. A great way to torpedo trade.

No information about how the scam was uncovered. What penalties should be imposed? The heifer themselves would be happy if their hand-massaged, beer-fed, tasty flesh were in less demand. But does such news damage producers of the beef? Or will the attention and publicity raise demand? Advertisers elsewhere in Japan recognize mislabeling fraud, sometimes insisting "Proof of Origin Supplied!"

Tears from the Pepper Spray?

Shameful violence in California:
(video here)

UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza defended the indefensible, claiming officers used force in concern for their own safety.

Claudia Morain, spokesperson for UC Davis, explained the pepper spray was used because campus police "needed to get out of there" (link). "The police tried to use the least force that they could" but in any case, "We are just not going to allow a tent city. Just period."

But as other evidence mounts, these explanations evaporate from corporate news archives. For analyses of the incident, see:
(link) UC Davis Prof. Bob Ostertag
(link) Jon Weiner at The Nation
(link) Student Activism report

PS - UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza recently won National Campus Safety Director of the Year Award, citing the fact that (link) "Although her department’s budget was cut by 8 percent, the cut was accomplished with little impact to workload at the front line and without impact to the community"... mmmm.

Arrogant Authority

Brutality & use of chemical agents on non-violent, unarmed civilians mocks democracy. To smother reporting is more offensive.

Arrogant restrictions on the press have already undermined the USA's self-definition as a beacon of freedom for the world. How should journalists, Occupy participants & supporters respond as political bullies attempt to club, muzzle & gas them into submission?

And the world is watching. (link)



(quote below)
New York, November 15, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by today's reports of New York City police mistreating and detaining journalists and obstructing them from covering events at the Occupy Wall Street protests.

"We are alarmed by New York law enforcement's treatment of journalists covering the eviction of Occupy Wall Street today," said Carlos Lauria, CPJ senior coordinator for the Americas. "Journalists must be allowed to cover news events without fear of arrest and harassment. It is particularly disturbing that government officials sought to block any coverage of the event at all." ...

Worship the Bunghole of the Rich

The oligarchs control most media. They show us reality, and
often we believe.

Have you visited an Occupy assembly? What do you know of what's going on? You may be scared to question authority -- will our rulers take away the little you've earned?

Why did our neighborhood cops become paramilitary?
...looking & mobilizing like a Darth Vader unit?

We're told those clubbed on the streets by our stormtroopers are dirty rabble. They are gassed and electrocuted for "talking back" or taking photos.

But arresting the public won't solve the vampire banking crisis.

Did the marchers cheat my community of trillions of dollars?
If I work hard, won't the system treat me fairly?
Are our leaders corrupted by the megarich?
Can't wealth buy-out equal opportunity?
Have our recent wars done any good?
Time to wake up, asskisser.

apathy ain't cool

Busted By Billy: Billionaire Bloomberg

"The First Amendment gives every New Yorker the right to speak out - but it does not give anyone the right to sleep in a park..."
    -- "Billy"   New York City billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg

Billionaire Bloomberg now barricades himself against the city.
Mayor Billy lies in luxury, but it's beginning to end...

He's harbored Wall Street, a nest of vipers -- corrupt financiers who robbed us of trillions of dollars. Billy's a gimpy poster boy for corporate media, which seeks to scare, mislead and constantly tease the public. They consider us dumb beasts. Sheeple. But the abuse stops now - we're not gonna take it anymore.

Meanwhile Pres. Obama senses trouble & scurries away.
Obama turns tail to Australia & goes Down Under...

"Mic Check" & Other Merry Pranks

The Occupy movement needs good ideas & energies. Activists hoping to shake up the status quo and promote reform by culture jamming might try some of the below strategies:

1) Of course, illegal actions & pranks that threaten life, liberty or pursuit of happiness are best avoided.

2) Intimidation by authorities is very spooky. State Stormtroopers easily generate fear (each darkly wants to be Vader; serenade them with the Star Wars Imperial March). Try to insert levity. Smile, laugh & foster a sense of humanity as darkness surrounds you.

You'll be scared. Laugh at the cold! Prepare to get dragged & be violently clubbed. You may lose property, and may suffer stress & pain. It's fun!

3) It's a great idea to publicly confront deceitful businesspeople & corrupt government officials who've raped our national treasuries. But how to do it? Activists politely deferring to wealth & power are ignored. The "Mic Check" and human megaphone strategies of cascading disruptors have energized participants.

4) During "serious" meetings, hidden phones can laugh, or cry... From assorted concealed places, phones can amplify a message. Cellphones can be programmed to ring together.

5) It's important to encourage drop-in visitors to our Occupy venues at any hour. Motley tent cities & roped-off private territories frighten newcomers; it's easier to join assemblies gathering in places not allowing camping. Any Occupy assembly is a shifting assortment of people. Most can sleep elsewhere. Potential mobility is tactically superior to a rooted encampment Thanks Billy! (see below)

6) Build memes, motto, slogans, catchphrases, and battle cries. Hopefully we'll not see another "Boston Massacre" or "Remember Pearl Harbor" but imagery work is essential. For a start, recognize the unusual elegance of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg by dubbing him " Billy "
-- short for Billionaire --

7) The key contest is a battle for minds. Corporate media (so-called "News") regularly portrays unsavory actions & doubtful people, and seeks to thus emasculate the Occupy movement. But it's a small 1%, the rabid megarich, who are extreme. Stay on message:

-- Megawealthy banksters & corrupt politicians suckered us for $7 trillion dollars of public money (US$7,000,000,000,000).
Stop.   Indict.   They stole our future.   Claw back.

-- Public spaces are for public use, and are not the private domain of government or the police. Where possible, public spaces should always be open & accessible. Our societies run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; the public should be able to meet & play freely, and not be shutout of our own spaces by Puritanical operating hours or nanny-state cost-cutting.

-- Overseas US military adventures in Iraq, Afghanistan (Vietnam, and elsewhere) are brutalizing & too expensive.
Unaffordable.   Stop.

8) Handout key web addresses to passers-by, who'll go home and lookup information. Many who might be sympathetic are as yet unprepared for confrontation. Start by recommending:

http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com   [ speak up now ]
http://www.occupywallst.org
http://www.adbusters.org
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.mindwatch.com
http://www.cooltownstudios.com
http://www.pps.org

9) Record what happens. Archived records protect both demonstrators and law enforcement officials from unjust abuse. The bottom line remains: too little justice, too many cops.

... more later

Hawaii - A New Iraq?

Last Saturday at 3AM, a US Federal agent allegedly shot & killed a local Hawaiian man inside a Waikiki McDonalds.

Quarreling with authority might lead to summary death in Iraq or Pakistan or Afghanistan, but Hawaiians expect better treatment.

This incident recalls the case of Raymond Davis, an American government employee who in January 2011 on the streets of Lahore, Pakistan, shot & killed two men (a third was crushed by a car driven by his colleagues). After Davis was released & returned to the USA, he was arrested for reportedly brawling over a parking space (link) and charged with felony second-degree assault.

Last weekend's Honolulu event was no less murky and tragic. After an argument, Federal agent Chris Deedy reportedly stated "How would you like to get shot tonight?" before knocking down local 23-year old Kollin Elderts with a kung-fu kick and shooting him in the chest. (He fired two more shots that went elsewhere). Both men reportedly had consumed alcohol. This event was a horrific catastrophe for all concerned; both families suffer loss, the government loses an important staff member, lives are shattered.

Christopher W. Deedy, 27, an off-duty special agent with the State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security, has been charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Deedy is reportedly married & lives in Arlington VA; he's a Tulane Univ. graduate originally from Holden, MA. He's now free on bail (after being held two days).

Meanwhile, Hilo Hawaii's Roger Christie, a 62-year-old U.S. Army veteran, remains incarcerated without bail on marijuana charges. Rev. Christie, an ordained minister with no history of violent crime, was refused bail & jailed as a danger to the community. Since 8 July 2010 he's been held in the Honolulu Federal Detention Center awaiting trial (as of today, for 496 days).

This is unjust & unreasonable. An accused murderer with no local ties is freed in two days. A peaceful local pot smoker is jailed 18 months without trial...

Samaras as Tyrant

Right-wing Greek leader Antonis Samaras Αντώνης Σαμαράς is a hugely ambitious Harvard boy. His rebellion from his party's government in 1992-93 caused it to collapse. Now he's toying with Greek debt and the euro. His brinksmanship serves American big corporate interests: to destabilize the euro & the European Union.

Greece tried all kinds of democracy in its long history. The politics of Samaras -- "New Democracy" -- might be labeled "No Democracy"

Samaras is a weasel.   Expect bad things from him.