Green, green, it's green they say
On the far side of the hill
Green, green, I'm goin' away
To where the grass is greener still
-- New Christy Minstrels
As some of you may know, I have not considered the Green Party a viable vehicle for independent politics. I have argued that they are organizationally calcified, obsessed with programmatics, and would lack the flexibility to adapt to a strong 3rd-party upsurge.
At the same time, I've noticed a lot of people touting the Greens as our best independent vehicle, citing their having thoroughly progressive politics, a nationally-recognized organization in place, and ballot status in many states and I am moved by this. I have put in many years with independent left politics, including:
California Peace & Freedom Party
Barry Commoner's Citizens Party (Northern California executive board)
Lenora Fulani's New Alliance Party (I was their main typesetter)
Ross Perot's Reform Party (active in New Jersey branch's bloody factions)
But I have never seen as much broad 3rd-party sentiment as I am seeing now. Not even close. Politically chaotic, from teabaggers (whatever their leaders may tout), to commie radicals to pissed-off liberals to Golden-Mean moderates, but never as much part of the mainstream discourse. Geez, I remember the days when 3rd party votes weren't even counted.
So in these circumstances, I am reconsidering my position on the Greens. It may be the case that the Greens or elements of the Greens will be more responsive to an independent upsurge than to maintaining their own organizational status quo.
Once again, the Federal Reserve is going to come to the rescue of Wall Street. Once again, it will be in the name of helping out "us".
The idea behind giving the banks cheap money was that the banks would lend it to consumers and businesses. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened: Since the start of the crisis, bank lending has fallen off a cliff. The banks are, however, lending to the Federal government, which needs to fund record deficits by borrowing more than $1 trillion a year. The combination of the Fed's desire to stimulate lending via cheap money and the government's desire to stimulate the economy by running a huge deficit has made it a great time to be a bank: Banks can borrow from the government at artificially cheap rates and then lend the money back to the Federal government at higher rates, pocketing the difference.
And now it's going to get even better to be a bank.
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) - Aid workers in Haiti rushed to provide tents on Sunday with the coming rainy season threatening further misery and anger building among the desperate population over the stumbling relief effort.
While officials say food distribution has finally moved into high gear, more Haitians protested Sunday, saying the government had done nothing for them as the one-month anniversary of the January 12 devastating earthquake approached.
Meanwhile, the case of 10 Americans charged with kidnapping children in the wake of the disaster here took another turn, with their Haitian lawyer saying he had quit after being accused of seeking to bribe the judge.
The January 21 Supreme Court decision [.pdf] in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case lifted bans on corporate spending for campaign finance, drawing heavy criticism from across the country for the ruling's potential to undermine the American democratic process.
Now with that ruling in their back pockets, "[a]t least half a dozen leaders of the Republican Party have joined forces to create a new political group with the goal of organizing grass-roots support and raising funds ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to people familiar with the effort", says the Wall Street journal in an article January 30.
The Supreme Court ruling could potentially allow the group, called the American Action Network, to take unlimited contributions from corporations for use in political campaigns.
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
Disclaimer: Nothing said here should be taken to imply that airport/train connections are the primary transport task for either light rail, mass transit, conventional intercity rail, or high speed intercity rail. In other words, the focus of an essay in a regular weekly series on one particular topic does not imply anything along the lines of "most important thing".
However, recently, I keep running into the issue of taking the train to the airport. I read an recent article in an air travel industry publication that focused on the airport connections associated with the projects funded in the $8b HSR funding. I read an older piece about the proposed intermodal station in Chicago that would allow our Ohio trains to get to O'Hare. And the proposal to terminate the California HSR at the redesigned Lindbergh Field came up as part of the discussion at the California HSR blog.
So with the Super Bowl coming up to distract things, I succumbed to what was clearly fate, and am going to discuss taking the train to the airport.
A strategist at the Deutsche Bank had something interesting to say last week regarding the economic crisis in southern Europe.
"The problems currently faced by peripheral Europe could be a dress rehearsal for what the U.S. and U.K. may face further down the road," Jim Reid, a strategist at Deutsche Bank in London, wrote in a research note today.
It seems impossible that what is going on in Greece has anything to do with America. After all, Greece has defaulted on its debts so often over the last two centuries that you could almost set your watch to it. It was always contained in the past because Greece's economy is so small, so why would this time be different this time?
And yet, it isn't contained this time. It is spreading and no one knows how far it might go.
The East India Company's first corporate charter was granted in 1600 for a period of fifteen years. The company struggled to advance its trading and turn a profit initially but by 1609, business was picking up and King James I renewed the charter in 1609, for an indefinite period of time.
Imperialism worked like it always has and the corporation was able to expand toward many different places and grow bigger and richer. Thanks in large part to the stockholders and other rich people, deregulation of the company proceeded to occur over the years.
Monopolies were imposed soon enough. Another company was briefly set up by the government to try to compete, but they soon argued that there really was no strong competition against the company, so the companies merged.
Catching this, not much up yet, gives me a chance to catch up on the Brit Iraq War Inquiry, still ongoing.
First the Brits with theirs, next the Dutch and theirs and now some very prominent Aussie's are calling for their own! Could the pressure start mounting on the Power that controlled the whole extremely failed policies of the previous decade? Time will tell but most residents of this country are apathetic and arrogant as to most everything especially baring their guilt and guilty in mass, as the The pitbull in lipstick said at the no American Flags tea gathering, "We don't want to look back'"!
So this year's below the radar challenge is Alinghi v. Oracle/BMW. Partisan that I am I have to hope that Oracle wins and returns the race to it's traditional Louis Vuitton Cup & Defender Regatta format that makes for interesting racing because he who holds the Cup makes the rules.
Except when they are challenged in court as contrary to the deed of gift, which this year has shifted the site from Abu Dhabi in the mine infested and aptly named Persian Gulf (and anyone who thinks we won't lose a war with Iran is just stupid) to Valencia, Spain where at least we won't have to worry about hostage taking or boats being blown up.
That was an Alinghi idea.
As is removing the Challenger series (a landlocked nation of Templar Bankers could hardly hold a Defender series).
One idea I agree with is removing design restrictions. Formula 1 is a shadow of it's former self in the name of parsimonious racing rules- no better than bumper car NASCAR and bettered by CART until the money ran out and they couldn't get a TV deal.
Oh, did I mention it's only available by streaming video on the internet?
But the money here is is limited only by your imagination and billions have been spent on both sides to produce their one off technological triumphs.
Alinghi is sporting a twin hull catamaran (a redundancy). Oracle a huge trimaran (single hull, out-riggers on both sides) with the largest sail ever.
Or more correctly a semi-rigid airfoil.
In races like this the dominant technology tends to assert itself early and just pile up the advantage so it's hugely boring to watch. We should know actually on the first upwind lap and then have it reinforced.
I don't actually know how many laps they have to make and there are only three races overall. The only random factors are equipment failures, weather, and stupidity.
There are many people who lament the end of the '60s and complain about today's self-absorbed, materialistic youth. Now, I'm a teenager, and I can tell you that there's a grain of truth (maybe a boulder...) to those complaints, but there's also a vibrant political culture among those of us whippersnappers who do care.
Well, we all know Dylan, Lennon, and Young. But what about Francis, Folds, and Morello? If you take a look at the music scene today, it's apparent that there are a lot of young people who care. There's currently a lot of music in the same spirit, if not the same style, as the classics of protest music.
Though I prefer the Bissell Kitty Halftime Show some of you may be interested in this year's performers, Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey- abused as a child and researching internet child porn for his autobiography and not at all guilty thank you very much.
A much better performance than you will see today-
ISTANBUL -- The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, whose gloomy assessment of the war last summer prompted the White House to boost troop levels, said Thursday that conditions are no longer deteriorating and predicted further improvements this year.
"I am not prepared to say that we have turned the corner," Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal told a group of U.S. reporters during a NATO conference here. "I'm not prepared to say we are winning. I am prepared to say we are very much engaged, and I'm confident we're going to see serious progress this year."
snip
Asked why he thought the situation had improved, McChrystal said he could not point to specific measurements, but rather a general sense that security was better in some areas and that the mood among Afghan leaders was more optimistic.
My favorite quote from the comments
erwinroots wrote:
Isn't "no longer deteriorating" the same as "can't get any worse"?
Well folks, today is the sixth annual Puppy Bowl, a spectacle of juvenile canine frivolity that (briefly interrupted by the Bissell Kitty Halftime Show) provides as much butt sniffing, barking, snarling, and wrestling over saliva soaked chew toys as a typical day in Washington D.C.
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) - The battle-stretched US military Saturday vowed to help Haiti as long as needed, as the Caribbean nation struggles to feed up to a million people left destitute by a huge quake.
Colonel Gregory Kane, the US Joint Task Force Haiti operations officer, said US involvement in the earthquake-shattered country would last as long as their presence was required.
But he said military operations could end as little as 45 days after they began in the aftermath of the January 12 quake.
The January 21 Supreme Court 
Disclaimer: Nothing said here should be taken to imply that airport/train connections are the primary transport task for either light rail, mass transit, conventional intercity rail, or high speed intercity rail. In other words, the focus of an essay in a regular weekly series on one particular topic does not imply anything along the lines of "most important thing".
