Fukushima Cost to You

After the Fukushima nuclear disaster (which is still continuing) people living somewhat near a coastal nuclear plant should be paying much more for insurance - if they're insured at all.

Home insurance, health insurance, the risks are clearly high and much can go wrong.

We foolishly continue to stockpile nuclear waste next to operating nuclear reactors, just off beaches. Crazy.

NYC Madness

Was it a motorcycle gang that swarmed investment banker Alexian Lien, dragged him from his Range Rover, and beat him? Was it a mob enraged by Lien's seeming callousness? Was this an ethnically-fuelled attack? Or a bike vs. car rivalry? Was it a class war skirmish? Was it common road rage?

A daytime drive in upper Manhattan for a young family quickly turned nasty last Sunday (29 Sept) when they collided with a pack of motorcyclists. Plainclothes police were among the motorcyclists, and at least some of the multiple altercations were filmed over the at-least four mile chase & assault(s). Nobody was killed, but a man was crushed under Alexian Lien's SUV Range Rover, and Lien was subsequently dragged from the driver's seat and beaten in the street in front of his wife & toddler.

The bikers were part of a larger annual rally of some 1000 motorcyclists from around the region converging on Times Square (link), in which police reportedly forcefully intervened - making many arrests & confiscating 55 motorcycles.

The incident makes clear that sudden attacks can easily happen - in New York City or elsewhere, by a mob or by the cops.

Mr. Lien seems suddenly to have been confronted with annoyance, then trouble. How to best react? Conditions escalated / deteriorated quickly. While Lien survived with reportedly minor injuries, it is imaginable he & his family might have been killed. Subsequent reports on Lien's background (link) (link) and financial situation (involving Skrill emoney / Moneybookers, Investcorp and the Bahraini royal family) led to Lien seeking withdrawal from LinkedIn and other social media. Confrontation thus continues shaking-up those involved & peripheral. Of course the "live & let live" option seems most appealing in hindsight.

Bugging Your Bookmarks

It's unreasonably invasive when the secret police can legally sort through anyone's bookmarks & web browser history, secretly devising imagined personality profiles.

Curiosity is important for personal and social development. Creativity is stifled when we must lodge a state-sanctioned censor in every home, office & human mind.

Soldiering the Shutdown

Sequestration

Standing armies

Shutdown

Soldiers soldiers soldiers

No money for nothing.
But  MILITARISM  continues grabbing big funds.

Republicans Win !!!!

The Republican quest for smaller government has been successful.

The forced shutdown of the U.S. Federal Government is due to the House of Representatives failing to fund the U.S. Federal budget.

Many Republicans seek to eliminate assorted government operations, especially introduction of the Affordable Care Act (dubbed "ObamaCare").

After failing to strip away health care law, they sought to defund or delay it. Failing that, a hardcore "Tea Party" faction determined to shutdown government.

What happens? National Parks shutdown; the IRS stops tax audits; Small Business Administration Loan processing is halted, as are Veteran's benefits proceedings; the E-Verify system stops authentications (to eliminate illegal employment of foreign workers). It's Law of the Jungle: the biggest & meanest slaughter freely.

Programs monitoring illegality, that hamper big industry from wholly dominating American life, are out of operation. Terminating anything holding them accountable, Republicans thus win.

Dirty Bombs from US Spies

The secret police and spy services of the USA have gathered together a dangerous, even deadly system of intelligence gathering. Spying on so many people leaves huge security flaws. They spy because they can - it's what they do. Problems include misuse of security intelligence for commercial advantage, and blackmail.

It's natural we question the patriotism of those ferreting out the most intimate details of our lives, and challenge the widespread use of private contractors in top secret programs.

Ultimately, even when the secret police can point to multiple successes, consider also their many failures. By gathering & packaging confidential private information, they create dirty bombs. Allowing others to misuse intel about our leaders, neighbors, and perhaps our own family is inexcusable. Arrogantly spying on our allies and on prominent foreigners is odious and rude.

It all stinks. We must limit what the secret police are allowed to do, and greatly improve oversight and proper accountability. 

Pity Iraq

Pity Iraq.

First we supported Saddam Hussein with billions of dollars as he sacrificed his people against Iran. Then we turn and bomb the shit out of the country, tearing away infrastructure and allowing our mercenary-terrorists (Blackwater) to kick ass. Now Iraq is destabilized and wounded.

Surely we're partly at fault for their pain. But we've our own chronic creeping problems.

Now we try to ignore Iraqis. But we've done similar things in Egypt & elsewhere. Is retribution inevitable? Why not pull back our overseas armies, secure & keep our own borders safe, and truly beg forgiveness?  Our deadly militarism isn't amusing.

Political Arson

The Republican Party, USA, promises to burn down government. Without enough votes & support to make policy, they are only destructive. Unable to choose the color of a room, they vow to burn down our house.

They'll horribly wound Americans and the world economy. Irresponsible idiots.

Hello ?!

Who is served by the Surveillance State?

We're told it keeps terrorists from hurting us, and any level of cost is appropriate.

We're told the secret police spies have "public interest"at heart.

But as the government throws their net, and catches everything we think & do, what do they notice? Are they paying attention to our troubles, our pains, the fact so many are hungry and unsatisfied?

Do the watchers care we live carefully, shop cheaply, smile & greet our neighbors? Surely instead they look for activists, anarchists, and those who might fight against the rulers. It's been the same shit for generations:  "the haves" fear the "have nots" -- it's been so for millenia. Our secret police serve the master class. They don't really care what miserable things we do. We are significant only so much as we're any threat. As we fade to illness and death, we're boring and in the way. Our monies simply fund imprisonment.

Corporate interests pay attention to whether we use Crest® or Colgate®, and how often we brush our teeth. When P&G salespersons visit a home, they look beyond furniture and ambiance to the sink and the brand of dishwashing liquid, and at brands used in the bath. Their systems monitor our purchases. No doubt the Federal secret police also fish in such data streams, not only because they can, but with expectation they can better profile enemies of the state ... enemies of the rich.

But our energies can fuel better living and a brighter world. Work on those positive things, and give thanks if the secret police haven't interfered too negatively in your life to date.  Thank you!