Jesse's Blog

The Real Heroes of New Orleans


And, yes, the local, state and federal officials were just as bad as the worst stories you've heard. Other than a few national guardsmen, no one from government treated these people with anything resembling proper behavior. Too bad most of the national guard is in Iraq getting shot at for no good reason (well, other than to make sure Bush's cronies and friends have control of the Iraqi oil).

First, let me offer condolences to everyone affected by this disaster, and I wish you all the best possible outcome, wherever you are.


In case you don't see this anywhere else (and I'm guessing 99% of Americans won't see it), here's a good article on why most of New Orleans is now a flooded, nasty death trap.

Why the Levee Broke

Basically, BushCo cut the funding to shore up the levees in order to spend it on Iraq (and to a lesser extent for "homeland security", although that seems like an odd thing to divert money to when you're taking it away from basic safety issues like flood control for a major coastal city).

And, yes, they have lots of facts to back this up (it really wasn't a secret, it's been reported on many times in major newspapers over the past few years).

Can we throw the lying crooks out of office yet? Please?

If you still don't understand what "Peak Oil" means or why it's going to change the way the world operates, read this article:

Peak Oil: The High Water Mark of the Culture of Consumption

If you like to listen to new music (as in music that you've never heard before), I highly recommend One Duck on the Wall.

If you don't know what a podcast is, here is the Wikipedia definition. I mostly listen to music podcasts, but that's just one genre out of about 15.

You can listen to podcasts even if you don't have an iPod (or any other MP3 player). If you have a computer that can play MP3's, you can listen to podcasts. Apple's iTunes makes it very easy to get into it (and works on Macs and Windows PCs), or you can look at iPodder.org for alternatives. And for other podcasts, Podcast Alley has a massive selection (one of my favorites is Tartan Podcast).

The one tricky thing about using podcasts with iTunes is that if isn't one of the podcasts they have listed in the iTunes Music Store, you have to go to the "Advanced" menu to add the rss feed link.


Oh, and just so there's no questions of hidden bias, I'll let you know that I'm the one making the One Duck on the Wall (so now, you know it's just obvious bias ;)

Well, I don't know if they'll be able to pull it off, but I hope so.

Trailblazer Maglev Would Be Powered by Solar Hydrogen

The article describes a Maglev transportation system that would run alongside the current Interstate system. It would capture solar power along it's 54,000 mile length, using it directly as needed and converting the excess to Hydrogen, both for later use (at night or on cloudy days). They claim that there will be huge excesses of hydrogen produced, and it could be sold off for various other uses (filling stations and industry).

The transportation component would allow vehicles (and other stuff), to be loaded onto the maglev transporters and conveyed (at 250 mph!) between cities. The other stuff would be things like cargo transport and something resembling current passenger trains (i.e., people without cars).

They claim (in the second part of the story) that they'll be starting on ground breaking almost immediately, and should have a north-south corridor on the east coast done within a few years (after a shorter proof-of-concept section is completed).

I've seen ideas similar to this before, but they always seemed to be pie-in-the-sky fantasies. The reason this one seems to be possible (at least to me), is that it sounds like they have an actual business plan, and that each section of track can be paid for within 3 years of completion.

So, here's hoping that they are successful, and that the Oil/Coal/Nuclear lobbies don't kill them off because they're a threat to their profits.

Well, this at least explains why it feels like it's impossible to get ahead (even for a family with 2 Masters Degrees).

The Productivity Problem

This article points out that if wages had stayed relatively connected to productivity, the minimum wage should be $19.12, and the median family income would be about $20k more than it is now. And where's all that extra money going? You know the answer...straight into profit for greedy CEO's and corporations.

Tour of the Sun by Plug-In Hybrid

I hope Toyota starts offering plugin-hybrids as an option soon. Joyce's Camry is getting a bit old, and we'll probably be replacing it in the next 2-3 years.

At the moment, I'd like a Tango for my next car, but since it will probably be 5-7 years before I get a new car, there will probably be a lot more electric cars for sale (assuming we all survive the upcoming peak oil/energy crunch/food shortage).

And, since I'm getting around 50MPG in my first generation Prius, I guess we're a lot better off than the morons that are still buying gas guzzling behemoths. It's gonna suck to be getting 20 MPG (or less) when gas prices are hitting $3 or $4 per gallon (or more), especially for the people commuting long distances (I'm only driving about 14 miles round trip, and if they ever put a bus route within walking distance of us, I'll start riding it 2-3 days a week, minimum).

Wow. I knew the recruiters were desperate, but this is just ridiculous.

When Marine recruiters go way beyond the call.

Things “Grow Better” With Coke (as pesticide)

Good article. If you don't know why the deficit sucks, and how it's related to the ongoing oil shortages, read it.

Sorry America, But We're Toast

And if you don't believe that BushCo really wants to invade Iran, right now, really really badly, then you haven't been paying attention. I expect that we will be doing something bad to them very soon, unless something unexpected happens (well, unexpected for BushCo at least).

President Carter was right about a great many things.

Too bad the country (and BushCo) chose not to believe him.


This is a great article from EvWorld.com:

One of the more telling paragraphs:

If we failed to develop alternative sources of renewable energy and conserve what we have, the alternative could be nasty. As Carter pointed out: "We will have a crash program to build more nuclear plants, strip-mine and burn more coal, and drill more offshore wells than we will need if we begin to conserve now. Inflation will soar, production will go down, people will lose their jobs. Intense competition will build up among nations and among the different regions within our own country. "If we fail to act soon, we will face an economic, social and political crisis that will threaten our free institutions."

The whole article is here
(link to original doc at CommonDreams.org is near the top of the page).

Well, the actual title of the story is:

Bush Lies, America Cries

But I like my version better. Well, I don't actually like it...but it seems more correct, since I don't think America is going to survive the looming oil/energy/food crisis in anything close to what I think of as America. BushCo has made sure of that.

We're going to either continue on in this continual state of low level war until the whole economy collapses, or we're going to piss off the rest of the world enough that they start imposing trade sanctions against us (which has already started happening) or just stop trading with us (which many countries have already threatened to do), at which point we'll either change our ways (unlikely), or start using force to get what we want (likely).

Or, worst case, someone big (China, Europe, India, Russia) is going to stand up to us, and there will be a real war, and that will pretty much be it for US (and most of the world).

Sorry. Did I harsh your buzz?

Well, according to this poll:

You scored as Utilitarianism. Your life is guided by the principles of Utilitarianism: You seek the greatest good for the greatest number. “The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.” --Jeremy Bentham “Whenever the general disposition of the people is such, that each individual regards those only of his interests which are selfish, and does not dwell on, or concern himself for, his share of the general interest, in such a state of things, good government is impossible.” --John Stuart Mill More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page... </td> Utilitarianism 80% Existentialism 75% Hedonism 70% Kantianism 70% Justice (Fairness) 55% Apathy 35% Strong Egoism 30% Nihilism 5% Divine Command 0% What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03) created with QuizFarm.com

at least for someone that got most of his info from RPGs and boardgames.

Initiate Your Mythos Knowledge score is 57!

"You've read much of the original Mythos and Dream Cycle, and may have read some other authors' interpretations too. You can tell which writers get it and which ones don't, but you still don't quite grasp what "it" is yet. Your SAN has dropped a bit as you've started seeing the fringes of what's really going on in the world. Keep reading, but keep away from any shining trapezohedrons."

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender : You scored higher than 8% on elderpoints

Link: The Lovecraft Mythos Test written by RevErik on OkCupid Free Online Dating

I know my last post (the one below this one) was a bit of a downer, so here's something light and fluffy...In 1400AD I'd be:

The Prioress You scored 18% Cardinal, 61% Monk, 61% Lady, and 32% Knight!

You are a moral person and are also highly intellectual. You like your solitude but are also kind and helpful to those around you. Guided by a belief in the goodness of mankind you will likely be christened a saint after your life is over. You scored high as both the Lady and the Monk. You can try again to get a more precise description of either the Monk or the lady, or you can be happy that you're an individual.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender : You scored higher than 10% on Cardinal You scored higher than 96% on Monk You scored higher than 98% on Lady You scored higher than 16% on Knight

Link: The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test written by KnightlyKnave on Ok Cupid

In case you weren't paying attention, the beginning of the end of the world as you know it has already started.

GlobalCorp

Read it. Read all of it.

If you can read all of it and still believe that nothing bad is going on, have fun driving your gas guzzler on your 2 hour commute until you can't afford to pay for any more gas.

Sorry if I've harshed your buzz.

I hope be getting the Solar Panels in place in the next month or so. Hopefully we'll be able to get enough locally grown food (or convince stuff to grow in our back yard).

I'm already driving a Prius. If we can hold out long enough, we'll trade in Joyce's car for an EV (or get it converted). Then we'll at least have one car we can keep driving once we can't afford gas anymore.

Good Luck.

Just wait till BushCo finishes gutting the Clean Air Act. They got off to a good start (well, good for polluters, bad for people) in their first 4 years, but there's still more they can do to make the air even more unsafe (but very profitable for the big polluters).

Corporate Air Pollution Plan

I wrote this for the Austin Stay at Home Dads Off Topic list a while ago (started in late October, posted Nov. 4). I thought it might be interesting to see how much of this comes to pass, so I'm posting it here in my blog for future reference.


From:  Jesse Spears <jessespears@m...>
Date:  Thu Nov 4, 2004  10:23 am
Subject:  Re: [ASAHDSOT] Be VERY VERY scared, Part III


I started this email over a week ago, then Erin got sick and I decided
to put off finishing it till after the election. So, now that Kerry
has apparently conceded, I think I'll finish it.

This was in response to an email in a thread where I agreed with Stan
that America was sinking rapidly (in many ways), and that it might be
time to get out. I assume this cliche was in response to my short
assessment of Canada.

On Oct 22, 2004, at 9:17 AM, Austin SAHDs (Kevin) wrote:

> Just a quick cliche to keep you in check:  "The grass is always
> greener..."


Yeah, I know, but let me run down an entirely plausible scenario for
you:

Backstory:
Bush is reelected (already happened).

The Republicans dominate the Senate and the House (ditto).

Bush is able to pack the Supreme court with even more Right wing judges
(8 out of 9 are older than 65).

The Republicans effectively control all 3 branches of government.


Results (in no particular order, most going on at the same time):

1. Bush and Company (hereafter referred to as BushCo) get Patriot Act
2 passed (pretty easily considering the size of their majorities in
Congress now). I'd like to believe that there are still a few
Conservative Republicans that will fight this in Congress (as opposed
to NeoCons, of which there are plenty), but I just don't see it
anymore. Various pieces of it will be challenged in the courts, and
probably overturned by some lower courts, but eventually reaffirmed in
the Supreme Court.

Dissent with BushCo is no longer legal (during this time of perpetual
"war" on terrorism). BushCo can have anyone designated as a threat
(i.e., someone that causes trouble for them by dissenting), arrested,
and locked away indefinitely. They may never be able to convict them
of anything, but that's not really the point (scaring people into
silence is).


2. BushCo continues to build up its new bases in Iraq, and starts
moving troops there from other parts of the world (part of the
redistribution effort it announced this past summer). 100K (or more)
troops are "temporarily" stationed in Iraq indefinitely.

BushCo continues pushing the "Bush Doctrine" as valid, and people
continue to believe it (at least in the US).

Iraq is used as a launching point for a series of invasions of
countries that the NeoCons don't like (or want to control). Possible
targets for next invasion: Iran, Syria, and any non-allied muslim
country with large oil (now) or natural gas (later) deposits. [Edit 2/5/2005: I'll add Venezuala to this list now...given it's anti-business stance, and the fact that we've already tried to overthrow the current government at least once, I think it's likely to be an ongoing target for "regime change", even though the current leader was democratically elected by a sizeable majority of Venezualens).]


[Heck do I even need a number 3? 1 and 2 are scary enough for me]

3. Continuing to stuff agencies full of industry lobbyists and
sycophants, all semblance of enforcing the laws with respect to
protecting the air and water (EPA), food (USDA), and drugs (FDA) is
tossed out the window (this has already happened in BushCo's first term
to the extent that there's not much left to do, but I guess they can
force out some more long time staffers that have become too frustrated
to continue trying to do their job).

Example: BushCo finally admitted that Climate Change is real (after 4
years of suppressing data from its own agencies and referring to
Climate Change as junk science), and that we (humans) have been the
primary cause of it over the past 20-30 years. But they've also
refused to do anything about it (or even discuss things we could do
about it). The EPA tried to include this information in reports for
over 3 years before it finally got published (but not by the EPA,
IIRC).


4. Deficit spending continues it increase (or maybe we'll get lucky
and it will level off at the current record highs in the $400 Billion
range). The Debt continues to grow (we're already past 7 Trillion, and
it's forecast to hit 10 Trillion before BushCo2 is over, even if they
don't do any more damage in the next 4 years).

Here's a report (released today) about this rapidly growing problem:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?R131341B9


5. The Economy continues to sputter.

5A. Jobs will continue to be permanently lost as long the tax
loopholes making it BENEFICIAL to do so (i.e., outsourcing continues at
break neck speed).**

5B. The trade deficit continues to grow.

5C. Healthcare costs continue to rise (ours have effectively doubled
in the past 3 years, not counting the increase caused by the baby,
which brings it to triple what it was 3 years ago).

5D. Wages continue to stagnate (other than switching jobs, no one I've
talked to has had a raise in the past 2 years).

5E. The rich keep getting richer, and the rest of us keep getting
poorer.

5F. Gasoline prices continue to rise. According to BushCo we just
need to drill more holes, but that plan won't help (the US peaked in
Production about 1970, and discovery way before that). We use about
26% of the worlds Oil production, with about 5-6% of the population
(and 3% of the Oil reserves). Nothing will help except using less oil
(conservation, increased fuel MPG requirements), but that's just crazy
talk to the oil-industry heavies in BushCo.

Our economy is based on energy. Cheap Energy = strong economy.
Expensive Energy = weak economy. Invading Iraq had the opposite effect
of what was predicted (BushCo said it would bring energy prices down
because of the extra supply, but instead the supply has gone down and
terrorism has gone up, oil prices are high, and the stock market will
most likely continue to decline as long as oil prices go up).***



Those are my biggest concerns.

Also note, I'm not saying that I think Kerry would have fixed all of
these problems, but at least he had a plan to work on most of them.
BushCo doesn't see any problems to fix.

I saw this quote today in a CNN report:

"""Despite Bush's appeal to Kerry supporters, Cheney said the popular
vote victory gave Bush a mandate and the Bush White House would
continue pushing for the Republicans' "clear agenda.""""


So, ignoring the fact that half the electorate disagrees with their
agenda, and their approval rating has been below 50% for most of the
last 6 months, they will continue to do whatever the hell they feel
like because they barely eked out a victory.



So, given that scary future if we stay in the USA, Canada is looking
very nice. Especially if I don't find a job by the end of the year (or
earlier, if Joyce's fears that her job is being eliminated come true).


Can you honestly tell me that if Patriot Act 2 passes and the US
"preemptively" invades Iran and Syria (and maybe a few more countries)
that you still believe this country is worth supporting? How about the
fact that your children (and grand children, and so on) will be living
in a country where it's no longer safe to breathe unfiltered air (it
isn't right now for the vast majority of Americans), or eat the fish
(too polluted with Mercury if they were caught or raised in America, or
along it's shores), or drink the water (you don't even want to know
what's in that "safe" tap water you're drinking).

So, no, I don't think Canada is perfect. But, ideologically, morally,
and financially, it'll be hard to stomach living in the US for much
longer if things continue going the way they have the last 4 years.


Jesse / "Oh, Canada, you don't suck quite as much"* / Spears


*sung to the tune of "Oh, Canada"


** Please don't tell me that we just need to re-educate people...403K
of those permanently lost jobs were hi-tech workers, like me, and half
of those jobs were lost AFTER the recession "ended". I've already got
a BSEE, coursework for an MSEE and 12 years experience as a C++
programmer, and I can't find a job in Austin. What should I take
courses in? Burger flipping? Latte Making?


*** Or, you can take the slightly more radical view: We've already
hit Hubbert's Peak, we're teetering on the top right now, and it will
never get better from here on out. The Age of Cheap Oil is over.

Here's one site working on calling attention to this:
http://www.odac-info.org/

Or, here's a scary site you can look at:
http://www.dieoff.com/
(it's a bit old and out of date, and deals with over-population as well
as Peak Oil, but it's still somewhat relevant)

Note: I don't think we're going to run out of oil anytime soon. We're
running out of cheap, easy to refine oil (that's the "peak" I think
we've already hit). There are other sources of oil available, but it's
all more expensive to produce than what we've been using up these past
100 years, or it's very "heavy" which means that it's really expensive
to make anything useful out of it (i.e., the Tar Sands in Canada are a
huge source of "oil", but they aren't even worth processing until the
price of oil goes high and stays there).

And, of course, it just means more CO2 gets pumped into the atmosphere,
making Climate Change worse (which means Canada will keep getting
warmer ;).

Climate change report warns that the point of no return may be reached in 10 years (or less), leading to droughts, agricultural failure and water shortages.

Countdown to Catastrophe


Not that I think our clueless "leaders" will do anything about it, but maybe some of you will.


(and if you don't get the fish reference, tough, I'm not going to try to explain it)

Great. Even more bad news about how our (not really) elected leaders are continuing to screw us over.

This article Bush Wants $80B More for Iraq, Afghan Wars (might require registration, but it's free) talks about how the deficit is going to grow, again, to yet another record amount. Here's the most relevant paragraphs on this subject:

The CBO also projected this year's shortfall will be $368 billion. That was close to the $348 billion deficit for 2005 that it had forecast last fall. The two largest deficits ever in dollar terms were last year's $412 billion and the $377 billion gap of 2003.

The budget office estimated that if U.S. troop strength in Iraq and Afghanistan declines gradually after 2006, those wars would add $590 billion to deficits over the next decade. Including war costs, this year's shortfall should hit about $400 billion, the budget office said.

One of the administration officials said the White House will project this year's deficit — including war costs — at $427 billion, citing higher overall spending estimates than the congressional estimators used.



It then talks about how badly the price estimates for the "war on terror" have been, and how big the cost is relative to other wars. Here are the last 2 paragraphs, which sums it up pretty well:

The forthcoming request highlights how much war spending has soared past initial White House estimates. Early on, then-presidential economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey placed Iraq costs at $100 billion to $200 billion, only to see his comments derided by administration colleagues.

By pushing war spending beyond $300 billion, the latest proposal would approach nearly half the $613 billion the United States spent for World War I or the $623 billion it expended for the Vietnam War, when the costs of those conflicts are translated into 2005 dollars.


Oh, and for those of you that still buy into the BS that "deficits don't matter", I'll point out that the Dollar is at an all time low against the Euro. And every time our deficits go up, the dollar value goes down. Why? Probably because the EU doesn't allow their members to run budget deficits, and the EU is working on decoupling it's economy from Oil (and has been for a little over 10 years).

Or, if you'd like an alternate explanation that only relies on simple logic, think about this: Everytime we pay out interest on our debt, we do it by creating more debt. Every time we create more debt, it devalues the US currency a little bit more. Do that year after year (even if it's only a few percent a year), and eventually your money's not worth very much.