Friday, May 29, 2009

Swine Flu

The mountain out of a mole hill

Judge Sotomayor’s sense of humor is beyond the range perceived by main-stream journalism. The predilection for conflict in everything, which is the meat of main-stream journalism, has spoiled the reality and the facts of so many situations that main-stream journalism is tainted by it's desire to make everything interesting. It cannot survive in this age of high-speed information. The mischaracterization of Judge Sotomayor's statement is a crystal clear example of making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Radio talk show host evades the truth on WTAX

WTAX - Jim Bohannon was interviewing author David Bacon of the book "Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants"

The author stated that the main cause for illegal immigration from Mexico was that corporations such as Cargill glutted the Mexican market with corn, driving the prices down so much that it became impossible for local farmers to make a profit. Consequently they lost their land and had no recourse but to migrate to the U.S. to find work.

The problem, Jim Bohannon said, was that it was against the law, and that was his focus during the entire interview. Every time the author mentioned the corporate foreign policy of destroying foreign economies, Jimbo would continuously repeat "But these people shouldn't come over the border because it's against the law.

Remember Farm-Aid? Right here in the U.S. http://www.farmaid.org was started because the same practice was going on right here in the U.S. Giant Agribusiness corporations were glutting the local market with grain and beef to drive family farms out of business so they could buy up the land at cheap prices.

As a direct consequence, people had to migrate to the cities to get work. Now they are getting laid off. They have no land as a fall-back position.

David Bacon discovered the real cause of why we are having illegal immigration, but Jim Bohannon would have none of it. He just kept looking away. This is why the Republicans fail. They refuse to see the un-sustainability of what they allege to be a “Free Market Economy.”

Monday, May 25, 2009

Requiem for an abandoned blog


It's no longer an issue, sides rather, there are no sides, there is only the staff of physicians hovering over an enigmatic patient for whom they have little hope and are ready to transfer to hospice.

The ideology of the "right" drove U.S. foreign policy to the point of being hated by all foreigners. The ideology of the "right" drove an antiquated unsustainable economic model to death, and to this day the few that remain believe they are Napoleon.

It just doesn't seem right to complain anymore. It actually seems cruel to criticize them "because they no not what they do."

There's simply too much information available to the public to make it worthwhile to criticize the "right" anymore. Even their sad, sad cartoons.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

What you don't know won't hurt you

George didn’t believe in driver’s education, he didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

Never mind how he learned to drive, his biggest fear was that his children would get hurt if they learned too much about it in advance, but he knew his children would one day drive a car when they reached the legal age.

Until then, he decided, his children would be allowed nowhere near his car or even see the keys, and especially not one of those rules-of-the-road books, that would be just irresponsible in the eyes of George’s community.

Mike had a safe full of guns and ammunition. He liked to target practice and hunt, but he absolutely didn’t want his children to know anything about any guns until they were old enough, but how old is old enough?

Sarah has a motorcycle but she absolutely didn’t want any of her kids to even think about riding a motorcycle, ever.

Okay, what is wrong with these people? They all use the notion of “Abstinence-Only,” which means simply “Stay away and ignore it, and maybe it will just go away.” Or “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.” Does it make sense? Will their children be safe from exposure to driving a car, shooting a gun, or riding a motorcycle?

The United States Federal Government seems to think so, and so do most of the state governments.

I received an email from Planned Parenthood of Illinois this morning asking me to send an e-mail to Governor Quinn stating the following: [edited for clarity]

“Reject federal funding for Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage programs!

In your FY 2010 budget proposal you included a continuation federal Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage (AOUM) funding. I urge you to reject this federal funding. These programs do a disservice to Illinois youth.

A federally-funded, nonpartisan study of the effectiveness of AOUM programs has found these programs to have no impact on the sexual abstinence of youth. The students' AOUM education had no effect on the age of first intercourse, number of sexual partners, or condom usage. Continuing to fund ineffective AOUM programs is throwing good money after bad.

Teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections are important problems. Comprehensive sexual health education programs (which include information about abstinence, contraceptives, and sexually transmitted infections in addition to other key elements) are proven to delay sexual activity and prevent disease among young people. While stressing abstinence, comprehensive sex ed provides students with the information they need to stay safe and healthy.

Again, please reject the federal Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage funding so Illinois can move forward with positive programs that protect our youth.”


The Illinois Governor has an opportunity to accept or reject funding that will go to such programs in the states, but I challenge President Barack Obama and Congress to suspend that program’s funding altogether on the grounds that it is a violation of the separation of church and state.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Tea Party at the State Capitol at 1PM


I read a post on Craigs List Rants and raves that a Tea Party was to take place and I missed it. Because it was yesterday

Here's the post:
http://springfieldil.craigslist.org/rnr/1178221173.html

I didn't read it until around noon this morning. I was bored anyway so I went down there and snapped off some photos anyway. It sure would have been nice to get a little more advanced notice.

I wonder if it made any difference?

Monday, May 18, 2009

American Idol

Are you into American Idol? I never saw the show, but I know just enough to know that anyone who actually watches that show is at the same time having their pockets picked.

In economics, an opportunity cost is another name for something else you could have spent time on. For example, American Idol is an opportunity cost of education. That is where you are getting ripped off.

Moment by moment your life is slipping away as you sit there and admire someone who doesn't even sign your paycheck.

I suppose you could say you were studying for Springfield Idol.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

The art fair clouded by metal music?

Art Fair? If you subscribe to the Illinois State Journal-Register, you may accidentally read about the art fair a couple of days in advance, if you're lucky. I also discovered it listed at the Illinois Times website as well, but only after breaking through the barrier of being put-off by it for so long.

Why was I put off by it? I have an aversion to so-called "metal" music. Substitute the word "bad." I was classically conditioned against it when my ears rang for a week after a particularly bad experience. I thought I was going to have permanent Tinnitus.

So naturally browsing through the "Pub Crawl" section of Illinois Times I see listing of band after band playing in bar after bar. My head would start to hurt and I would put the magazine down, for literally months.

Websites such as eventful.com are a very poor source of information because the site relies on input from local individuals. Eventful.com is full of similar music venues as Illinois Times.

I was getting just as put-off by it as I was Illinois Times, but someone actually posted the Illinois State Fair, an event that requires no late nights, no alcohol consumption, no ear plugs, and does not close at five o'clock.

But sadly, the Art Fair going on right now at the Old State Capitol cannot be found at eventful.com

Sites like Craigslist.com have event sections, but they are clogged with advertising that have nothing to do with local events. No mention of the art fair there either.

The underlying problem is the distribution and saturation of event information. Publishers, in their attempt to reach the widest audience possible, have homogenized their content to such a degree that their product becomes unattractive.

I added http://www.bandnut.com/ to my list of links. If you in a band you can post your venues and other stuff there, and you can stay there.

I'm going to check out the nice peaceful art fair. Maybe next time I'll pick up the Illinois Times and see more frequent non-alcoholic, non-late night, non-ear-busting events.

Thankfully, I no longer have to use the phrase "Smoke-filled."

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Red Springfield


In Red Springfield:
• Government wages are equal to the minimum wage and anyone who is deemed qualified to serve the people in a specific role is drafted for no more or less than the time it takes to find someone of equal or better qualifications. Offices may be totally vacated or reoccupied by bureaucrats at the whim of the people. Voting cycles are forty eight hours and will take place on Facebook.com

• Laws regarding yellow lines on the road will also be enforced in private parking lots. Especially the yellow curved line behind the County Market on White Oaks Drive. You will stay to the right of the curved yellow line as you enter the rear of the parking lot or lose toilet paper privileges.

• All Public School children wear uniforms to school that look exactly the same.

• All Public Schools have separate classrooms for boys and girls.

• Busing will no longer exist as the entire city is desegregated.

• Everyone will be issued a wheelbarrow, shovel and pick. There will be work for all.

I'm sure there's more. What is your ideal Red Springfield?

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Satellite TV option totally skipped

Disgruntled cable subscribers are no longer opting for Satellite. Instead, they are going directly for the Internet and not Comcast either.

Well, it turns out that AT&T DSL is just as fast as Comcast cable Internet access. And more competition is coming along through wireless. Old and new, favorite television programs are now offered on the Internet as media production houses wrangle and rope in advertising revenue for themselves instead of dolling out fees to distributors.

Just as those leaving the nest are not bothering to subscribe to the local newspaper, they have decided not to bother hooking up cable television either, specifically because advertising, 90 percent of the time, is inappropriate to the particular audience.

The best audiences are active seekers, and active seekers will ignore commercials but retain only that fact that a certain product or type thereof exists from which to be selected. From that point a product is distinguished by its true quality, whereas before, there were so few channels of information lending to the research of specific product, that people were more often deceived into a purchase.

The aforementioned deception gave way to an assumption about advertising’s value held close to the hearts of Ogilvy and Mather, which no longer applies. In fact, the entire historic economic structure of which we have come to rely is now in question, as is generally accepted accounting principles, due plainly to the facts surrounding our current economic situation.

Clearly, those who claim to have knowledge, especially those holding offices in our disastrous bureaucracy must be cleansed.