caught in the net

a recent news story tells the sad story of the victim of cruel and anonomous behavior on MySpace. A young girl became estranged from her best friend and sought out friends on MySpace. I have heard many use such incidents as some sort of indictment of the internet. I know, I know, I get a little preachy. The net is just a tool. The same as a shovel or a car. You can wack someone over the head with a shovel and take thier money. The same shovel can dig a hole. In fact, the shovel can do both and then be used again and again. So the blame for any evil is on us, not the tool.

TIBU

I have spent CONSIDERABLE amount of time reading and writing on a site for writers. The stuff I write is noticed by a few but mostly I am shunned. I don't know why this is so but I can deal. Most of the writing is very good, in my opinion, so it must be mine is not up to snuff. Or maybe it was something I said or didn't say, I don't know. Writing for the world can be bruising if one does it for praise. Lucky for me that is not why I write.
Someone put up a post there desribing the famous crossed swords in Bagdad. We should all read it.
Thisisby.us
Brakeformoose

hoping for change, but not holding my breath

Well this year's elections in my home town have brought a change in many faces. Mayor, council, projects, committees and more. The ads try to convince us of the different future in store for everyone. But, we've heard it all before. We shall see. Getting elected seems to be a matter of who can promise the most. In an old Gilligan's Island, Gilligan is told by a political insider to promise the people "Dis,Dat and dee udder ting" and the assembled crowd cheers wildly when he does. Sound familiar?

broken health

In a letter to Sen. Wayne Allard (R) of Colorado Thomas Weiss, M.A., C.N.A. brings to the forefront of discussion the plight of patients, Nurses and Certified Nursing Assistants in the environment of the greedy corporate takeover of public health care. The amount of qualified people being driven out of these fields can be traced to the ever increasing involvement of the huge profits to be made as "The Boomers" retire. The moves of big business and their efforts to get profit enhancing legislation is lowering the value of human life to merely the bottom line of a profit/loss balance sheet. Where once those who owned a nursing home also owned the responsibility of patient care, this is no longer the case. Now thru changes in our laws, the levels of corporate structure and ownership make it all but imposable to find who is really in charge. Some of the largest owners of nursing homes own as many as 300 to 400 homes. This is made possible by the cozy way laws are snuck into our lives under the banner of "privatisation". Is your life and the lives of your loved ones really better than they were pre-REAGANOMICS and the trickle-down theory?

been a while

I have been spending considerable time reading and writing at one of the on-line sites for those that wish to hone their skills. I must say, I have a long row to hoe to be published, especially in this way.
The fire in San Diego reveals much of our arrogance and folly. 500,000 plus acres burned, thousands of homes and businesses destroyed, at least one alleged arsonist shot dead. Let us hope this the result of the convergence of natural weather with our own stupidity and not the work of those that would seek to exploit our obvious vulnerabilities to advance our total destruction. Military might and sophistication can't protect us any more. Truth and justice must be the American way. A new way(or an old one reapplied) is the only way to a united Earth. We should live so long!

if this math is correct, WTF are we waiting for?

Over at MOTHERJONES in an article Iraq 101, the statement was made that it is estimated that it will cost $20 billion to rebuild the oil industry in Iraq but only $6.6 billion to provide every home there with solar power. After Iraq can we save the US. from the evils of oil next? Oh, I forgot, capitalism means never reaching the point of economic freedom for the masses!

Technological Singularity, here or not here

Reading some articleshere, I asked myself a question. Is this event in our past or still in our future. Those that remember the movie "Colossus, The Forbin Project" know that this has been an eventuality for some time. While I do not fear the machines per Se, I am highly skeptical of the humans that wish a cyborg-like existence for all of us. There are those that foresee this event as coming somewhere between 2005 and 2030. But since there are entities(commercial, governmental, diabolical etc.)that have been working toward this for many, many years, it may have already happened but we have not been told. What ever the case, I do hope the AI uses itself more like Asimov's guardian of a radioactive Earth and not THE BORG on Star Trek, The Next Generation. BTW, the link above may take a few seconds to work, please be patient.

to change or not to change?

Sometimes change is good. Sometimes not. But change is life. And even things in our world that are not "animated" are described as having a life, The river, the mountain, the desert, etc. all have a cycle and thus a life. It is foolish and selfish to think that change in all things can be stopped or is not necessary. This applies to civilization as well. Since change will come anyway, it is a must for us to look ahead and see to it that it is of benefit to all.

It's the water, stupid!

Water is life. A children's show from a while back had a particularly intuitive set of words we would all be wise to learn. "The Earth's a big blue marble when you see it from out there...the sun and moon declare...our beauty's very rare!" The picture of the Earth taken from space showed, indeed, how beautiful and vibrant the Earth is. What makes it so you ask? Is it the act of Civilization? Politics? Religion? Capitalism? Communism? Conservatism? Liberalism? Feminism? No to all the above. It's the water. Life itself is all about water. This truth demonstrated to me again in a NYT's article about China. It seems the phenomenal economic growth it is enjoying is coming at the possably irreversible depletion of it's ground water. Water tables in the north are going down 3 to 4 feet a year. The whole of the water supply shows signs of 30% to 75% contamination. As anyone that visits CHINA, or India, or Africa or anywhere will tell you, the water stinks with our waste. I do not see civilization curbing the misuse of this planet even though we know we must if we are to survive here. That is why, in our heart of hearts, we also know we must find another home in the cosmos. Why? It's the water, stupid.

The US. military, not to be trusted to do a good job, even for and by themselves?

The use of private armies by the US. sends the message that our military is incapable of providing well trained personnel. Why is this true? Is President Bush saying that the brave souls he sends to die are not worthy of his trust. Is he saying that vast amounts of money can only be trusted to give satisfactory results when given to those that seek to profit from his intentions. We the People foot the bill in more ways than one, yet HE decides who will profit and who will just die.

Sputniik

50 years seems like a life time. Hey, for me it is. In the context of time, 50 years is but an eye blink. For me it is most of the time I will experience. But the last 50 years have ushered in either the end of the beginning or the end of it all. We have within our grasp nothing less than everything. Sure, much time and effort remains until the full utilization of space by us is so commonplace that it is no longer a topic. It will just fade into our lives as fire has done. But unlike fire, who's origins are lost to us, the time and date of Sputnik will be known and spoken of forever.

Burma

The recent developments in the country formerly known as Burma bring to the forefront several disturbing things. The obvious fight that continues for freedom from the junta that rules there is but one. Underlying all that is going on is the foot-dragging way the supposed democracies of the world respond and act. Too often economics takes precedence over political will and human rights. It would seem to me that complete economic isolation would have a much better chance of effecting change. While in the short run this kind of action would cause hardships on the people of Burma and all her trading partners, if the world (us) is really serious in its beliefs this would be a small price to pay when compared to continued repression. Freedom isn't free. Not even for those of us already living with it, sort of. As long as wealth and our own comfort come first, freedom for all comes last. The global economy must not rely on hypocracy to advance. The global mantra must be "ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE"

the Star Trek world we want

Over at the ReclusiveLeftist Dr. Socks gives what I think is the clearest path to the gender neautral world here, comment 50 scroll down the #50 comment. She talks of the need to abandon the old to have the new.

define illegal for one and all

Every time the subject of illegal immigration comes up the term illegal seems to fade from view. What is it about coming to the US. that makes being illegal desirable to being legal? What makes this even possible? The health care system? The willingness of business to provide illegal jobs? The American consumer's willingness to look the other way as long as they get things cheap? A capitalist system that puts profit above the law? To require a full accounting of those that get paid, those that pay, those that receive medical treatment and so on may scare those that are in violation but just maybe an above board approach to this problem is the only way to keep the front door open while shutting the back door...Some make noises about losses of freedom, government intrusion into our private lives and all the usual rhetoric. But what about MY freedom, MY government and MY private life? Are we to be held captive to those that abuse our system for fear of being called politically incorrect or subject to economic threats? If you want to dance to our band, buy a ticket. At full price!!

the hipocracy of it all

the federal reserve has taken drastic measures to smooth out the ripples in the banking and real estate markets before the economy as a whole hits the Crapper. The unspoken truth of this move is the benefit to those that were mostly the beneficiaries of the actions that caused the problems in the first place. Those that speak the loudest about the evils of taxes seem to have no qualms about having taxpayers and our government bail out their sorry asses because they set up and abuse a system that holds most of the people hostage to their excesses.

stumbling

great article at WIRED about the ongoing online spying, by our government and corporate entities.

test 3

one more time for good measure

test 2

funny but true

testing

check here

slip up or slippedout

In a NYT article Fred Thompson, talking about the economy, said that what is now a worrisome unemployment level used to be considered "full" employment. He also said that nothing is sustainable forever. Does that include profit growth that is larger than population growth? As some revel in the Dow's advance, they must not be doing ALL the math. If profit growth, real profit, is larger than population growth the only place this growth can come from is increased productivity per worker. We are seeing the use of the exploitation of resources and people to produce wealth for some but we have reached the end of that line in many ways.
As anyone that remembers high school math will tell you "A geometric progression will eventually reach tangent" Unfortunately for those of us living today this is a fact that those that came before us ignored. The economic progression must be in stasis with population if we are to survive as a civilization and a species.