Disasters Japan 3/11 - Continuing

On 11 March 2011, a severe earthquake shook Japan's Tohoku region. The quakes & subsequent tsunami killed 20,000 people and damaged a wide area, including nuclear energy facilities built on the Fukushima coast.

Please spare a moment and reflect on the scale of these tragedies, and the continuing impact on survivors. A huge region remains evacuated & uninhabitable. Pollution is a major threat. Radioactive contamination and stress from fear of exposure engulfs millions.

One year later, the Japanese people remain deeply shaken by these events.

A valiant nation struggles in sudden glare, plodding into the future, Japan is now a radioisotope economy.

We learn: there is no fail-safe ... never trust industrial capitalists or the politicians they employ.

TV Nation - Da Doofus

I grew up in a loving home. We discussed politics, often heatedly. My family's wide ranging policy suggestions reflect deep-rooted differences in opinion.

What to make of this smiling Stepford family, politically united & wholly self-satisfied? (link)
Creepy.

I'm amazed these Harris Okies are fellow citizens.  Smarmy...

I want to believe .. But reality ain't so neat. Too many Americans suffer grimly without respect, without jobs, cold, lonely, confused, in poor health, and without health insurance. These folk's wholesome song supports Nixon's party of Watergate burglars, "dirty tricks" & genocide. There's no "Justice for the unborn" nor is there often justice for the rest of us. And Rick Santorum sadly won't improve conditions for most of us. I suppose I'm happy for this family. Hope they stay pleased.

Picturing Democracy ?

Here's an image of northeast Ohio's new Congressional redistricting. The red letters & colors show the nutty gerrymandered districts drawn-up under Republican control. The squared-off black lines & names are existing counties.

What a scam.

Uncle Sam - Assassin

Attorney General Eric Holder, head of the US Department of Justice, tried to justify assassinating America's enemies (link). But the killing is terrible policy by an increasingly rogue regime. The USA is a foreign occupying force in dozens of nations. The USA supports horrible overseas dictatorships suppressing huge populations. Control & secrecy are processes increasingly now felt at home.

Most Americans are most at risk from their own government: idiots who bury screw-ups & self-righteously attack all critics.

 Russia's censors taught our goons...

Dog Eat Dog

 
Andrew Breitbart (link) is dead.

Should Breitbart be eulogized as pitiful, or troubled, or heroic? Dead at 43, he leaves behind a warm family, and abandons his mini army of now-leaderless employees.

Noting Andrew Breitbart's boiling furies, and his wholehearted condemnation of the dead & disadvantaged for his personal gain, we see a boil lanced from the arse of the body politic. Another aggressive self-styled Goebbels is gone; his incitement of war is finished; his dirty tricks remain a footnote; his wealthy well-wishers shrug & turn away. Some commentators ask those disgusted by Andrew: rise above the fray. Pray for his children. A sad ending for this media giant.

Lost on dark streets. He wasn't granted Lee Atwater's chances to apologize or say goodbye. Dead in a ditch. Food for stray dogs. Suddenly gone. Cruising to salvation? Or suffering endless hell for self-aggrandizing attacks... Dead far too young from a weak heart.
A dark finish.

Explanations for Andrew's death remain mysterious (link), though autopsy details were made public; Breitbart's eulogies range from gross insult to idolatry.

He taught unabashedly that the weak are scum.

Why Wire?

I've just left the beautiful island of Maui, a place made ugly by electric & telephone cables strung willy-nilly over dramatic landscapes.

Travel the newly refurbished Mokulele highway out of Kahului. Look at the lush greenery, fat strips of ugly wires, and behind them the West Maui mountains. Look east to the lower slopes of Haleakala volcano, another scrum of wires, and the majestic mountain top. Perhaps you'll see a rainbow sliced to segments by electric lines...

Such pollution of our landscape is far too common.

Utilities companies:   please put wires out of sight.

Armchair Patriot?

Too many people wait for political leaders to improve their community. The wait is long & largely fruitless.

Politics in the USA is thankless. But there's no need to become an elected official and an object of derision, complaint & investigation. Concerned hardworking individuals maybe can better drive change if outside officialdom.

Shout. Become an activist, a muckraking blogger, or an independent journalist. Do something to counterbalance corporate takeover of our world. Take back your streets & parks.

Resist lifestyle homogenization & the feeble forcefed stripmall culture. Speak out among neighbors as a citizen & resident, as an angry taxpayer sick of lies & deception. Support local initiatives from your own neighborhood. Recognize you're in play as a patsy & putz. Act fast if you still can.

Choked

"More Jobs" are promised Americans by political candidates. But it's bullshit.

Who will hire in substantial numbers? Nobody will employ the unmotivated or poorly educated. America has not invested sufficiently in education & infrastructure. Increasing portions of our own markets are being wrested away by clever people from elsewhere. Positive change will never come from electing a not-so-bad political joker. We need more good ideas for becoming prosperous & competitive.

My best suggestion for many communities is to decouple with the automobile economy. Change your streets & parking spaces into gardens, piazzas and pedestrian-focused market strips. Too much community space is now -- without debate -- given over to ugly dirty Joe Automobile.

Zombies for Hire

Look carefully at scum selling services to USA's wealthy boss class. Newt Gingrich is one cheap butt-boy, Mr. Mitt another. Senator Joe Lieberman seems easily hired, as is Mayor Rahm Emmanuel. Shameless tools work in your community too - spending days marked by greed & deceit.

Cracked Corporate America

Corporate America, represented by both major parties, is close to breakdown. Most American people (99%) are an afterthought, a costly line item attracting PR & deception.

As Americans awaken to the crippling costs of militarization & attempted global dominance, propagandists crow about "US exceptionalism" requiring struggle. Our elite masters laugh & party - as we are cannon fodder.

Turn-off your TV and live your own way. Let piggish assholes fight themselves.

Sincerely Crooked

Newt Gingrich, Jack Abramoff, Dick Cheney & assorted other crooked scum have dragged the American people into tragedy. They blame others, but with great power & many opportunities they didn't help -- they looted, whored & made the nation worse.

...   Apple of Newt's eye: scary Mrs. Gingrich III