"Man Up" Mr. Kerry

John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, urges others to "man up" - while he himself peddles shit.

Kerry proved courageous in the Vietnam war, but since then grew fat & distant. He should spend a few months walking around Afghanistan and the Middle East, meeting people harmed by terror (which he himself partly unleashed). He can hitchhike to places complaining of misguided drone attacks, and better understand the problems of those not mega-rich American bluebloods. But of course he'll continue only meeting people vetted, screened and highly disinfected. He started life tough; Kerry's now a pussy.

Of course he'll continue deceiving the dumbest Yanks, but everyone else knows - his words are empty & foolish.  

Insider or Out

Just watched a string of TV show commercials, and saw a remarkable trend.

A lot of shows depict "public servants" - government workers of some sort (LAPD, CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Law & Order) often teamed with a non-conformist civilian (The Mentalist, Fringe). Government police & intel work are depicted attractively, though viewers are forewarned -- excitement has costs (Burn Notice). You must be an insider or you're caste ignorant.

(Needless to say, our "heroes" are not burdened by budget fundraising or much bureaucratic paperwork).

I'd like to write much more, but watch too little TV. Recall Nancy Reagan - Just Say No.

Poisoned Nature

Just reread a BBC article (link here) that looks at Chernobyl's radiation poisoning as a joyful bonanza for the animal world.

Headline: "Wildlife defies Chernobyl radiation" it's apologist rubbish. The author, Stephen Mulvey of BBC News, should take his family for alternate holidays to Chernobyl, Fukushima, and perhaps your local nuclear waste dump soon-to-be-disaster-zone.

  

Bent or Ambitious?

Another bit of news from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where four local-focused radio stations were recently bought by Clear Channel, "the largest owner of radio stations in the country."

Perhaps the new owners will introduce more local components, provide more jobs, or otherwise positively contribute to the communities on Cape Cod. The president of Quantum Communications, the former owner, put the purchase value in the tens of millions of dollars (Cape Cod Times, 16 May).

But what looks like a white knight could instead be an asset-sucking parasite.

When the big banks & financial groups of the USA were financially rescued with public funds, the bailout fundamentally undermined the US system -- it's now clearly crony capitalism.

The world of big business is often counter-intuitive. Lavishly-paid executives purchase first class services for themselves, but harangue staff members to work with less and for less. Clear Channel may be different, but they may be desperate debtors. The Times quotes Billboard magazine noting Clear Channel is $20.5 billion in debt. Should such a group be lecturing anyone on belt tightening? In their fancy suits they're worse than poor, they are mega destitute. But the American Way is now to look the prospect in the eye, smile and rumble onward. Clear Channel surely keeps a "finger in many pies" around the world, advertising, billboards, entertainment, transmission towers ('vertical real estate'), even bicycle sharing or 'mobile advertising' in nearly a dozen European cities. They're now tightly connected to Mitt Romney's old outfit, Bain Capital, which led them into private ownership in 2008.

Don't imagine the companies or individuals mentioned here are involved in any flim flam. But if they were, we couldn't know. The limited liability shell game relies upon the American s̶u̶c̶k̶e̶r̶s̶ people to fuel their party, too often supported by corrupt politicians. Remember the Enron meltdown? NASDAQ Former Chairman Bernard Madoff's wealth management operations? As with American hero Lance Armstrong, it looks pretty good till it shatters or explodes. Good Grief!

Tragedy & Hubris

The recent sinking of the MV Sewol in Korea (세월호침몰사고) was a terrible disaster. Over 260 people drowned unnecessarily. Most of the trapped were young people; some no doubt survived in air pockets for minutes or hours before succumbing in the cold & darkness. 

Korea celebrates her achievements alone, and now perhaps believes this tragedy is hers alone. But we live in a global world - any of us could have been a passenger on the doomed ship. I've myself traveled six times to Jeju (not yet by boat), but also often travel on cruise ships (across the Baltic, around Japan, touring the Adriatic, etc.). Many travelers have faced danger from overloading, poor management, inadequate safety planning, etc. Many around the world pray for those lost & their families, and we hope the lessons of the Sewol tragedy are not soon forgotten.

Part of the problem was poor oversight. It's too easy for this type of accident to occur in Korea's "hurry-hurry" society. Leadership is often untrustworthy. Revealing contempt & distrust of authority some days after the Sewol sinking was a Seoul subway accident on 2nd May (link here). The BBC reported "A witness said many passengers ignored an onboard announcement telling them to stay inside and forced the doors open, escaping on to the tracks." They probably put themselves in added danger, but preferring to act somehow and take care of themselves. 

Are Koreans so different from the rest of the world? Surely there are many people elsewhere who foolishly trust their leaders. Government transparency and strong regulatory safety are essential elements to continued success. Unfortunate cheating endangers us all. Insensitive corporations often abuse government officials to advance private profits over public health.

Humanity mourns those lost. They could have contributed widely, but...

Goodbye Internet?

The FCC is presently under the control of Tom Wheeler, a former industry lobbyist. Wheeler's trying to eviscerate & destroy the concept of net neutrality in the USA, hoping to allow content discrimination and censorship by broadband service providers.

These corporations are already ominously powerful. In many regions of the USA, a single company has monopoly provider position. They enjoy protected profits, with privileged access to government.

Already, former FCC chairman Michael Powell serves industry as President & CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (one of Wheeler's old lobbying posts). When Wheeler was to be appointed FCC Chairman, a key industry insider noted (link) "Wheeler undoubtedly will have a light regulatory touch in all matters" -- and that forecast has been all too true. Wheeler's reportedly a nice person in a difficult position. Could anyone expect him to strongly resist Washington's wholly-legal revolving door between lobbyists and policy makers? Thus far his services to industry greatly outweigh any effort at public service.

If corporations dictate what information you can receive, your choices will be far fewer. Allowing businesses & politicians to mess with content is a huge mistake. The internet is a public utility that should not be controlled by political parties or corporations. Surely you'll not be allowed to read non-profit low budget output such as this blog. You can be certain griwdhndn47//#v

Wasteful Riches

I can sympathize with an argument that creative & productive people should be paid for their efforts, and how society vitally needs such people.

But that ain't all we need. There is far too much waste and underutilization of people and materials because of stockpiled wealth among the mega-rich.

How many millions of people are unemployed?  How many billions of people are under-employed? These are social costs. Richy doesn't care at all...

Sometimes only a few drops of oil are necessary to fix a sticky machine. But fail to lubricate -- and a few small parts can bring the whole factory and system to a halt.

We need living wages. We need social investment.

Less militarism, more humanity.

Vote for the Pimp?

There's reportedly an upswell in Egypt against US/UK-trained  military strongman Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Surely the violence el-Sisi unleashed at Rabaa (14 Aug 2013) was terrible, butchering thousands. CC also demanded the heavy-handed mass death sentences imposed on his many enemies.

Who's pulling el-Sisi's strings? Those powers behind him don't care for Egypt. Surely these harsh cycles of violence and polarization have deeply wounded Egypt with scars to last for decades. The tourist industry is in shambles. The upcoming "election" is a stage-managed joke. Soldier/murderers roam the streets & seek to control all public interaction. Journalists are "detained" for months without bail. The world seems to have abandoned Egyptians to their captors, though there's some hope (link) the continuing repression might be investigated by the International Criminal Court. Common citizens of Egypt try to survive this newly-imported brutality & fear.

Film clips (here) allow a taste of official savagery. Terrible!

A wonderful culture and caring people reduced to tearing at itself...

انتخبوا العرص

Democracy?

Like a dumb kid prodding at his or her injury, I look again at the U.S. Government.

Certainly there are hundreds of thousands of government employees (including military and intel people and secret police) who faithfully do their jobs. Each is a career worker who cares.

But there are also elected officials who control the lot. Even when not fairly elected, each is sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution and serve the nation's people.

How could a shithole like George W. Bush get elected? He'd not have finished high school if not for family leverage.

Maybe he didn't get elected. Someone 'cooked the books' and Bush was appointed. Twice.

Then it was so clear nobody was voting Republican, so Obama was appointed.

The only way 'our democracy' could support the huge fascist apparatus of secret police and torture camps and worldwide militarism is when it ain't democracy at all. Does secretive US spy pharaoh James Clapper support democracy?  It's his enemy !