Nancy? I Think This is How It's Done!

Reuters:

Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto threatened on Wednesday to lead a mass protest march to the capital unless President Pervez Musharraf quits as army chief, holds elections and restores the constitution.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto speaks during a news conference
at the party secretariat in Islamabad November 7, 2007.

And she's not alone, ya know . . .

Supporters of Benazir Bhutto chant slogans
during a protest in Islamabad November 7, 2007.

Bhutto had a challenge for the United States and other 'western countries' ...

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has challenged the western countries, particularly the US, to "back up their democratic rhetoric with concrete action," saying President Pervez Musharraf "should be given the choice of democracy or dictatorship with isolation."

The 'ole put up or shut up routine, Nancy! How very exciting!!

General Musharraf also presented the democratic world — and especially the countries of the West — with a question. Will they back up their democratic rhetoric with concrete action, or will they once again back down in the face of his bluff?

And Nancy . . . . .

she gave him until Friday to get the fuck out!
Waddya say!? Let's do it!!

Photos Credit: Faisal Mahmood (Reuters, Pakistan)

TAGS:Nancy Pelosi, Benazir Bhutto, Democracy

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

The Makings of a DINO-crat

We have no political parties. We've never had much of them --I mean the Democrats, the Republicans. We have one party --we have the party of essentially corporate America. It has two right wings, one called Democratic, one called Republican.
- Gore Vidal - Counterpunch interview, Mar. 14, 2003

"The Republicans are 95 percent corrupt and the Democrats are 75 percent corrupt. They are accepting money from the same corporations. And of course, that is going to corrupt you."
-- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. --
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - Fascist America

I saw a link at FireDogLake some time ago that I thought worth pursuing. The story, from Howie Klein, is about Darcy Burner who is described as "the quintessential Blue America candidate."

She nearly made it last year when she first challenged rubber stamp Republican Dave Reichert in an upscale suburban Seattle district, WA-08, and drew 122,021 votes to his 129,362– an incredible accomplishment. In fact, it has made a few careerist pols start licking their chops thinking they could step in and take over where she left off. One, a Republican with two first names who says he’s a Democrat now, is going to declare Tuesday.

Facing possible elimination of their candidate Reichert in the next election, how do the Republicans respond? They enter Republican state senator Rodney Tom in the Democratic primary, that's how. This is far from the first time they've done something like this, and sadly, they usually get away with it. Sometimes, like in the notable case of Joe Lieberman, a Republican can make an entire career of campaigning as a Democrat, caucusing with them, and then voting with the Republicans when crunch time comes. Well, Ned Lamont's primary challenge smoked ol' Joementum out of his hole, but how many other politicians are wearing the D in public but thinking the R all day and night long?

Michael Moore said it best in his 2001 book Stupid White Men, (and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!)
"If a Republican runs for office against another Republican, a Republican will win every time."

He goes on to list no less than 54 Democratic Congressmen, and 5 Senators who voted a minimum of 30% of the time against liberal bills, and/or for Republican legislation. Among the most notable were Senator Zell Millar, (D? - Ga.), who voted with the Republicans 100% of the time; Representative Ralph Millar of TX backstabbed his own 80% of the time; dishonorable mention went to William J. "Popsicle" Jefferson, who may have voted R only 30% of the time, but showed himself to have Republican values in other ways.

Astonishingly Joementum isn't even on the list. I guess he was still in stealth mode back in '01. It gives one pause that LIEberman almost became the first Republican to be elected Vice President on a Democratic ticket. That's how bad things are.

Here's a sampling of votes on issues that Glenn Greenwald posted on his old Unclaimed Territory blog some time ago, when the Republicans still held a majority in the House and Senate. He was demonstrating the lockstep that Republicans march to, but equally revealing is the number of Democrats that didn't even pretend to provide opposition. Some of these votes (like the Alito and Roberts confirmations) may be some of the most disastrous measures ever foisted on the American people. Like the 5-4 majority of Republican appointees who decided Bush v. Gore in 2000 wasn't bad enough!

Vote to confirm John Roberts to the Supreme Court:
Republicans (56-0) -- Democrats (22 -22)
Cloture vote on Sam Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court: Republicans (54-0) -- Democrats (19-25)
Vote on Authorization to use military force in Iraq:
Republicans (48-1) -- Democrats - (29-21)
Cloture vote on Bankruptcy Bill:
Republicans (55-0) -- Democrats (14-30)
Cloture vote on nomination of Priscilla Owens to appeals court:
Republicans (55-0) -- Democrats (25-18)
Torture/detention bill:
Republicans (53-1) -- Democrats (12-33)

That last item, voted on Sept. 28, 2006 - giving Bush nearly unfettered authority to detain and torture even US citizens - is telling. A dozen Democrats, nay a dozen Americans voting for such a measure is outrageous beyond words. Kvatch recorded the vote here. Glenn Greenwald broke it down.

Democrats in favor (12) - Carper (Del.), Johnson (S.D.), Landrieu (La.), Lautenberg (N.J.), Lieberman (Conn.), Menendez (N.J), Nelson (Fla.), Nelson (Neb.), Pryor (Ark.), Rockefeller (W. Va.), Salazar (Co.), Stabenow (Mich.).

Republicans against (1) - Chafee (R.I.).

Jeffords (I) voted against.

Here's some more evidence from FireDogLake of another side of the same phenomenom, which they call rootstrapping. "The practice of courting grassroots money and activism solely to attain elective office, thus securing the advantages of incumbency and making future grassroots support unnecessary. See also: Carney, Chris and McNerney, Jerry."

Much of politics in America is deception. That's known as false advertising in commerce, and can lead to criminal charges. In warfare it's called a false flag operation, and if you get caught at it you are subject to being shot on site as a spy. Yet, during a campaign a candidate can freely advocate one position, then vote for the opposite once elected without repercussion. The value of a person's vote is negated if that person is making a choice based on false information.

Full disclosure: I wrote the bulk of this post back in July, and it kind of fell through the cracks. The thing is, from time to time the Democrats remind us of just how lame they are - most recently with the disgraceful caving of Chuck Schumer and Diane Feinstein on the confirmation of Michael Mukasey, and perhaps even more infuriating (if that's possible) - Steny Hoyer's attempt to block Dennis Kucinich's motion to impeach Dick Cheney. The latter measure only passed because some of the Republicans on the committee thought it would be an embarrassment to Democrats if it was allowed to go through. Let's fervently hope that this decision backfires on them bigtime.

Anyway, it looked like it was high time the subject of DINO-crats and their contribution to the fascist takeover of America was put out there for discussion. The latest betrayal isn't just the straw that broke the camel's back. It's more like another shovelful of dirt being thrown over the grave of democratic rule.

Video: here's a very recent example of why I think Joe 'false flag' LIE-berman is even more despicable than the Republicans who at least wear their own party's label.

"Grossly Unfair"

BTW, if you follow no other links from above, please treat yourself to the Gore Vidal interview in its entirety. The man is a patriot of impeccable intellect, and a national treasure.

"Now, as we well know, we're a Lieberman or two away from the kind of one-party rule that'd make Stalin say, 'Goddamn, wish I'd've thought of that.' " -- The Rude Pundit --

TAGS: Democrats, Betrayal, Dick Cheney, Impeachment, Oh Yeah!

The Emerging Corporate Feudalism

..or Didn't We Have a Bloody Revolutionary War
to Get Rid of This Mindset?

Remember the Declaration of Independence? Sure you do. Back in the day when there was such a thing on this continent as 'a decent respect to the opinions of mankind' a bunch of upstarts had the radical idea,

"..that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.."

Let's just consider for a moment how truly radical that sentiment was from an historical perspective. Because the rulers of Europe saw things in the exact opposite way. They believed themselves to have been endowed by their Creator (the same creator, BTW) with exclusive 'rights' not extended to their subjects. The Hapsburgs, Hannoverians, Saxe-Coburgs, Romanovs and Bourbons (to name just a few) were, by virtue of their lofty bloodlines, chosen by God to enjoy virtually unlimited authority over their fellow man, no questions asked.

In fact if I pull a Canadian coin out of my pocket right now it will be inscribed on the obverse (heads) side with the words "D.G. Regina" - D.G. standing for Dei Gratia, which translates to Queen by the grace of God. The tradition lives on. And needless to say these two views of God's grace, one general and one exclusive are mutually irreconcilable.

The thing is, the United States of America that came about because of this radical declaration seems to have switched sides. The current ruler professes himself to be (and I'm afraid that he really believes it) 'chosen by god' to rule over his 300,000,000 subjects, ignoring all contrary opinion and limited by nothing but his own petulant will.

WE, THE PEOPLE has apparently devolved to this:
So let's look at the situation under feudalism. Feel free to make comparisons to the way things are now, and especially the way they are heading.

• Under the feudal system, a very small number of people have control over vast resources, while everyone else is left the scraps.
• The children of privilege inherit the wealth and are responsible for its preservation regardless of their lack of talent or effort, and even despite any mental illness they may have.
• The legal system protects the privileged from prosecution for the most egregious of crimes, up to and including torture and murder - especially when the victims are from the disenfranchised lower classes.
• Unalienable rights? Forget about it. You can be arrested, imprisoned, even tortured or murdered on the whim of the powerful - with no recourse whatsoever.
• The rich keep get richer without earning it. Everybody else can sweat their balls off and get nothing.
• Having no restrictions placed on them but their own whim, many of the 'noble class' degrade to a system of ethics centered solely on their own immediate gratification.

Sound familiar? All too familiar if you ask me. and sadly, one of the most devastating long-term consequences is economic. Because the idea of inherited wealth and power is completely detached from the idea of sober competence. If anything the spoiled brats who get the spoils have been trained to be irresponsible and lazy. Get caught DUI? - let Poppy take care of it. Don't want to show up for the National Guard? - Don't worry, the underclass will never dare to question the nobility. Want to spend money like it's going out of style on an illegal war, while reducing taxes? - - -

- - WAIT, that has consequences! But Dumbya isn't in the habit of thinking that way. He can't even see the deaths of thousands of American soldiers as anything but a minor inconvenience. Guess we'll have to increase the bonuses, lower our standards, and recruit some more. They're just peasants anyway. It's like the shameful performance of William of Orange at the battle of Waterloo. He treats soldiers like they were so many wooden toys.

I've said this all before, quite a while ago, on another blog, where I argued that the new feudalism is demonstrably worse than the one that caused the Revolutionary War.

Conditions in the US are becoming far worse than those that precipitated the American Revolution. An arrogant privileged overclass are allowed to rewrite the rules that govern society to their benefit, with no regard to the harm caused to others. The concentration of wealth and power equals or exceeds that of feudal Europe, while opportunities for social advancement have declined to an all-time low. And yet the peasantry remains blithely complacent, apparently waiting to give their attention to this crisis only when it comes out in a movie starring Tom Hanks.

One distinction differentiates the modern corporate baron from the Peers of Olde England in the 18th century. The peers' capital was tied up in land, and could not conveniently be transferred to another country, whether that be a bank in the Caymans or a factory on the low-wage island of Saipan. This forced a noblesse oblige on the ruling class that is not in effect in this brave new world.

In this globalized, 'we'll just move our capital to Paraguay' environment that THEY CREATED FOR THEMSELVES, there is all of the noblesse (privilege) with none of the oblige (responsibility.) Which is why they're so blithe about flushing America's economy down the shithole. Or Dubai, or Bahrain - whatever. And did you know that Dick Cheney's investment portfolio has been betting on the failure of the American dollar? Well it has.

I thought this kind of selfish crap was what the Revolutionary War was fought to eliminate. Apparently not.

And one other thing. This new class structure isn't limited to the Republican party or even the U.S.A. It's global, and unless we do something about it real soon, it's going to be the reality of the future. Think for instance about how much influence the Australian billionaire Rupert Murdoch has on the American discourse. See? Money knows no borders.

TAGS: Corporatism, Corporate Feudalism, Cronyism,

Tomorrow is Election Day.

So get out and participate in your democracy.

While you still have one.

I asked a number of my colleagues and friends today if they planned on voting tomorrow. We have state assembly and state senate seats up for grabs here in The Garden State, along with a very important public question that would subsidize stem cell research here. I was amazed and more than a little disappointed at the number of folks who couldn't care less about voting. You see, this is an "off year election" which "doesn't mean anything" and which "won't change anything."

Well, maybe. Unless you're a public employee (like, say, a public school teacher...) who depends on the folks in the statehouse to make the right decisions regarding your working conditions, your benefits, and your pension. And unless you or someone you love or care about has an illness (or will someday contract an illness) which might be cured or treated because of stem cell research.

It doesn't mean anything if you don't vote. Yup. Keep telling yourself that.

Fifty Thousand!

Yowza!

There's a lot going on here at Les Enragés.
Sometime today, someone will be the 50,000th visitor. Not bad since we were just short of 30,000 when we had our first anniversary on Aug. 1.

WE LOVE YOU! You only come here and read us, 'cause you want to. We don't run ads or ask for donations, so I guess we're all here purely because we want to be too.

And, while I do not speak for the entire Unruly Mob, I will say this: If you're visiting here, there are probably a few things you're OK with. You understand:

• "Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery." --Thomas Jefferson: Rights of British America, 1774.
• "When patience has begotten false estimates of its motives, when wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes morality." --Thomas Jefferson to M. deStael, 1807

Jefferson could have played guitar for these guys:

(Just like Ziggy)

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away
Its a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting its shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerized as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
[intermezzo]
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?

And we thank you for coming here. Indeed, it's a privilege that WE are READ by you.

Thank you!


TAGS: CELEBRATE!, 50k, Are you kidding me?, I love this place.

Smoke and Mirrors on Petroleum Prices

Newspapers and online media outlets are full of breathless observations about crude oil prices and their effect on what we pay at the pump.

"The national average price for gasoline rose about 16 cents over the last two weeks..."

- San Francisco Chronicle

"If the uptrend continues, market watchers say this could be the week that oil manages to punch through the symbolic level and eclipse the inflation-adjusted record of $101.70 reached in April 1980."

- Wall Street Journal

But you know what? All these dire pronouncements are meaningless. The plain fact is that the price of gasoline right now has nothing to do with the price of crude. Are you paying $3.80 a gallon for gas? No? I didn't think so, and neither is anybody else...not anywhere in the nation! Despite the fact that, with crude at $100/barrel, $3.80 is the break even point for refiners...the BREAK EVEN POINT! Forget about profits.

Consider: Approximately half of the 42 gallons of crude in a standard barrel are refined into gasoline. So...$50 for 21 gallons or $2.38/gallon is the cost of the crude. Add to that the average of $1.40/gallon that comprises the cost of refining, transporting, and marketing gasoline (which includes $.40 in state and federal taxes). Hell the highest prices in the US are right here in Babylon by the Bay, and we're only seeing $3.28 for regular.

What's it all about then? Simple... Last spring--as the summertime petroleum consumption bonanza ramped up, crude hovered in the $70s, and gas prices topped out just above $4.00 a gallon--Big Oil raked in the profits. And now they can afford to subsidize our purchases--sell gasoline at a loss for a bit--because what they must ensure, in fact what they are desperate to ensure, is that we keep on consuming oil just as fast as we can. In other words, this is massive market manipulation.

So forget about opportunistic politicians who whine about price gouging. Complaining about gouging, with respect to a finite resource the remaining supply of which is already known, is absurd. What politicians should be talking about is the fact that Big Oil is selling at a loss in order to encourage demand. Or, to put this on a more personal level, we are all being manipulated through price fixing into consuming more petroleum than we probably should.

Think about that the next time you're at the pump.

More on the subject at Ice Station Tango.

TAGS: petroleum, oil

Who killed Thomas the Tank Engine?

Wanted - For destroying various childhoods:

"Acting" Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairwoman Nancy Nord.

I'm a little behind on a story that's a few days old, but that doesn't mean I'm any less enraged:

WASHINGTON (AP) Nov. 2 - Two chief consumer product safety regulators for the Bush administration accepted dozens of trips paid for by toy makers, children's furniture manufacturers and other industries they oversee, it was reported Friday.

Acting Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairwoman Nancy Nord and her predecessor, Hal Stratton, took nearly 30 trips since 2002 that were partially or fully paid for by trade associations, manufacturers or corporate lawyers, at a cost of nearly $60,000, according to The Washington Post. The newspaper obtained internal CPSC records of the travel.

The report comes as Nord fends off calls for her resignation from some congressional Democrats, who are angry that the safety chief opposes their efforts to strengthen her agency in light of this year's recalls of millions of unsafe toys.

Among Nord's industry-paid travel was a July 2005 trip to San Francisco to talk to the Toy Industry Association and a trip to New York last year for that group's presentation at the American International Toy Fair.

The previous commissioner, Stratton, took more than 25 of the trips in question, the Post said, including an 11-day, $11,000 visit to China and Hong Kong paid for by the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, an industry group.

The rest of the story is here. [In case you're interested, as a side note, a CPSC report states that "fireworks were involved in an estimated 10,800 injuries treated in U. S. hospital emergency departments during calendar year 2005 (95 percent confidence interval 8,600 – 13,100). CPSC staff estimated that there were 9,600 injuries during 2004... There has been a statistically significant upward trend in fireworks injuries since 1996... An estimated 6,500 fireworks-related injuries were treated in U. S. hospital emergency departments during the one month special study period between June 18, 2005 and July 18, 2005 (95 percent confidence interval 4,900 – 8,100)." The full report is here. Just sayin'...]

Nancy Nord, whose job it is (supposedly) to be the chief watchdog over dangerous products made, sold, and imported into the United States, is the former director of consumer affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In other words, she is yet another in an endless line of crony appointments made by this regime, putting corporate tools in a position to oversee and regulate the same industries who interests they have previously represented in boardrooms and in lobbyists' offices. This is nothing new. An EXCELLENT piece in the latest issue of Mother Jones (a magazine you really should subscribe to, by the way) documents the recent sordid history of the CPSC, especially since the Reagan years. Like everything else in Washington, DC, however, things are even worse there under Bush/Cheney. Instead of watching over these industries, Ms. Nord has been lifting her metaphorical leg on the American public since the day should took office. And this business about taxpayer-funded junkets is the just the tip of the evil iceberg. Junkets don't poison people, at least not directly. Many industry people - and their pimps, like Ms. Nord - pushed the blame for the recent mega-hyped incidents involving lead in toys and other products off on Chinese manufacturers and "sub-contractors" and their unscrupulous ways, like it was new strain of "yellow peril." The blame, however, rests squarely in the laps of Ms. Nord and her ilk. And people are being made sick - and are dying - because of it.

Especially kids. Especially really little kids.

I take this issue very personally. I have two kids, and several nephews and nieces. And my younger son was a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine when he was small. Wait... let me rephrase that. He was a card-carrying member of The Cult of Thomas. Everything in his world, for the better part of six years, revolved around and focused like a laser beam in on the Isle of Sodor. We watched the show. We bought the tapes. We had all the little metal engines. We had a HUGE collection of little wooden engines and miles of wooden track upon which to run them. We had stuffed plush engines in the bed. We had Thomas costumes for Halloween and Thomas birthday cakes at our Thomas-themed birthday parties. We went out to the Strasburg Railroad in the Pennsylvania Dutch country so we could ride restored rail cars pulled by real steam engines. And we saved almost all of it (except for the plushies, which got loved to death, literally), hoping to share them with our grandkids someday.

And now it turns out that, along with our happy memories of this part of my son's childhood, we have nothing tangible left but boxes full of toxic materials that should be destroyed, not loved by a new generation of little Agitators. So, yeah, I'm a bit pissed.

And I want that woman fired. Today.

Slow Motion Suffocation

There's a poll at the Idaho Statesman tonight - (middle column, almost to the bottom)

Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey has come under fire from some Democrats because he refused to classify "waterboarding," an interrogation technique that simulates drowning, as torture. Do you consider waterboarding a form of torture?

There's the usual choices: Yes / No / Don't Know / In some circumstances

The results following my vote of 'fuck, yeah'...... 43 382 people had voted (and this is not scientific). The initial poll results are striked; second set of results clear.

• Yes = 42% 48%
• No = 37% 30%
• Don't know = 19% 18%
• In some circumstances = 2% 4%

Okayy....for those who missed my bit of an offering on Torquemada - there's quite a dramatization of waterboarding in one of the links. I'd suggest that those who don't think it's torture be forced to undergo such a dramatization upon them. Then we'll let them retake the poll.
∞
I'd also like to know how it is that someone doesn't consider the act of simulated drowning - meaning actions are performed that makes one THINK they ARE drowning - as a torture. I've come close to drowning; it's not a pleasurable experience. It's pretty goddamned scary.
∞
Then an interesting find at Velvet Revolution, in a piece about waterboarding complete with video, and complete with some cheesy ass music. Oh, that's right, it's supposed to be a 'music video' - well, then - use another genre of music or at least another song. Okay - breathe deep, get past the music......whew. One thing a tad um, poignant (?) - looking for a word here - is the recitation of the after effects medically and psychologically for the individual who underwent the 'torture.'

Since Attorney General designate Michael Mukasey can’t figure out if waterboarding constitutes torture, we are going to help him out. Brett Kimberlin, the Director of Justice Through Music, a co-founder of VR, wanted to know and to show the public actual waterboarding and torture. He therefore agreed to be the subject of a music video featuring various means of torture approved by U.S. officials and used by military personnel over the past few years.

The forced over-wroughtness of the video somehow doesn't seem too consistent with this, "Following the torture session, I was hobbled for three weeks, had scars on my wrists for months, and contracted a life threatening respiratory infection and shingles for which I had to seek medical treatment. I still have nightmares about the torture even though I knew that I would get out alive."

I don't know, maybe the cheesy nature of it all is just hitting me wrong. Maybe I just need to lighten up a bit.

And then, I discovered this piece from 'Small Wars Journal', a site made up of some Marines (Gyrines, we used to call them - I don't know; I was stoned a lot in my younger years is the best I can offer):

Waterboarding is a controlled drowning that, in the American model, occurs under the watch of a doctor, a psychologist, an interrogator and a trained strap-in/strap-out team. It does not simulate drowning, as the lungs are actually filling with water. There is no way to simulate that. The victim is drowning. How much the victim is to drown depends on the desired result (in the form of answers to questions shouted into the victim’s face) and the obstinacy of the subject. A team doctor watches the quantity of water that is ingested and for the physiological signs which show when the drowning effect goes from painful psychological experience, to horrific suffocating punishment to the final death spiral.

Waterboarding is slow motion suffocation....

One has to overcome basic human decency to endure watching or causing the effects. The brutality would force you into a personal moral dilemma between humanity and hatred. It would leave you to question the meaning of what it is to be an American.

Read Malcolm Nance's piece and see why I think the piece at VR is buffoonery and does us no favors. Mr. Nance also presented the same as an abbreviated editorial on waterboarding in the New York Daily News in which he defines some of his credentialing.

(Update - Sunday: Nance also appeared as a guest on NPR's 'Day to Day' with Alex Chadwick. It's mind-blowing.)

Update: Watch this great YouTube Video: No Torture, No Rendition (h/t John in comments)

Crosspost: Left Side of the Moon


TAGS: Global War on Terror and other bullshit lies, Mukasey, Waterboarding, Torture

Water, Part II: Bottled Water Blowback

Welcome to Part II.

Who buys bottled water in the U.S.?

California is by far the biggest guzzler of bottled water, representing about 24 percent of the national market -- twice the consumption level of any other state...Nearly 70 percent of Californians drink bottled water, which nationwide is a $6 billion industry. And by the end of this year, bottled water will have moved past milk, coffee and beer to become the second most popular beverage behind soft drinks, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp.

Bottled water is a problem. Not a little one, a big one. And lately, the coolest most hip, most now, most all the rage restaurants are banning it. That's right. They are banning a commodity they formerly sold for profit. Think about it. In a capitalistic system, it takes a bit of something to motivate a company to do that.

Maybe you are already onto this new wave that refuses to be surfed by empty water bottles.

Here's the trouble with bottled water, broken down in a way that plastic water bottles may never be:

1. The bottled water industry is under-regulated.
2. Private companies are selling public resources for up to 5,000% profit.
   
3. Much of the water is simply drawn from the tap, and minimally processed, if at all.
4. The drain on water threatens the public management of our water supply.
   
5. The bottles flood landfills with plastic waste.
6. Chemicals leach out of the plastic and pollute the soil and water.

That's right, corporations profiting from tons of plastic, decomposing, seeping toxic substances into the soil, poisoning the water table...

Here's how the mayor of Salt Lake City describes the bottled water situation:

Bottled water "very clearly reflects the wasteful and reckless consumerism in this country," said Salt Lake City's Anderson in a conference call with reporters this month. "You really have to wonder at the utter stupidity and the irresponsibility sometimes of American consumers. These false needs are provided, and too often we just fall in line with what Madison Avenue comes up with to market these unnecessary products."

Some bottled facts:

• Much of the bottled water sold is the same as "tap water."
• Water costs bottlers almost nothing.
• 4 large corporations control much of the bottled water industry.
  
• Companies that pump water from ground water, streams, and the tap pay almost nothing in fees.
• A liter of bottled water purchased in a store costs up to 5,000 times what tap water costs.
• Water bottles feed the mass of plastic debris twice the size of Texas floating off the CA coast.
  
• The health hype is just hype.
  

Water Bottled, originally uploaded by Ooodit.

Bungle-
—Synonyms 1. mismanage, muddle, spoil, ruin; foul up.

• Bottled water is a big, bad bungle.

Blowback-
—By its original definition, blowback is the backwards escape of unexploded gunpowder when firing a handgun. In diplomatic terms, it is an unpredicted, negative response against a nation in regards to a diplomatic action that country has undertaken.

• I need to drink a lot of water throughout the day. I carry water with me everywhere I go. I put a filter on my tap when I moved in, and have been filling the same two Nalgene bottles for years. But I will confess to you now, I did these things to save money, not because I had been thinking about the blowback from bottled water.

Here's the bottom line for me:

A few large private companies have marketed public resources as a private commodity that is good for one's health, with the direct consequence of causing irreparable damage to our water supply, thereby threatening our collective Health. Irony.

In other words, bottled water blowback really bites.

For more, see SBT's fine post from February, The Uncool Quaff.

spin the bottle, originally uploaded by ShazzMack.

Without water the symphony fails:

Let the music play...

(P.S. A nice post on the topic of Part I, Shrinking Supply, and current legislation at "Down with Tyrrany".)

---

This post is part of a series on Water:

• Water, Part I: Shrinking Supply
• Water, Part II: Bottled Water Blowback

Water Bottle, originally uploaded by Terry Bain.

NOTE: Post updated with floating plastic blob link from tireiron chef, and reusable water bottles link, inspired by Quaker Dave. /Tipping hat...

TAGS: Water, Scarcity, Environmentalism, Bottled Water, Green, Natural Resources, Blowback, Bittersweet Symphony, Pollution

TGIF!

I declare Cocktail Hour!

Lord knows we could all use one. It's been a hell of a week.

Post your favorite poison.

Oh and By the way...




TAGS: Open Thread, Humor

Undo the Undoing

I want you to do something for me. I want you to think about these ideas. I want you to feel these emotions. I want you to experience this tension of intention and harvest on the horizon. Indulge me...

Once there were some people who thought about things.
They thought about things like what the future might be like for their children.
They started important conversations like this one:





Their children also were thinkers.
They thought about what their future might be like, too.
They thought about things like this, though they didn't always say it out loud:

The people sang a beautiful melody with haunting words:

Yes there comes a booming sound
It used to come from underground
Now it emanates
From a kind of welfare state
Of the soul
Yeah baby of the soul

And of the sweet sweet soul
Let's be certain
Of the deliberate monologue
As sure as if it will fall
Across you
Unto you
Will most certainly leave the doing undone

Come on undone

And we are doing
And we are screwing
Up our lives today
What's that we chanted
It's this we planted
C'mon progeny
~"Up with People", by Lambchop

That's right,
They knew what they were doing.
They kept singing the same songs, however.

₪

Are you listening to the things the children aren't saying out loud...yet?
Are the children singing songs to themselves?
If you wrote your own lyrics, what story would your song tell?
What song is the Bush administration singing? (Answer.)
And if government officials fail to provide protection, doesn't that make them enemies of our collective future?

I am struck by the juxtaposition of these two conversations.
Or are they really two monologues?

Here's what I think...

Having the foresight to think about the future is worth a lot;
paying attention to what matters most is priceless.

And, of course, there is the little matter of aligning the doing with the thinking.

---

P.S. Here is the original "Shift Happens You-Tube" (Pssst, SBT)

TAGS: Bush, Environment, Ecology, Global Warming, Demographic Shift, Shift Happens, Did you Know?, Greenpeace, Future of the Planet, Earth Activism, Intergenerational Conflict

All Souls Day

Here is an angel from Waverley Cemetery, Sydney.

Marcia Clemmitt took the photo and wrote:

She's wonderful, isn't she? I think what I like best about her...him?...the
inability to know is part of the point, I would think....Anyway, I think what
I like best is not only the compassion of the face but the human depth, the
realness of it. So many angels are of the too-smooth-to-be-people variety,
which is one way to look at it and has its own beauty. But this one is a
*person* that you could meet on the sidewalk outside the grocery store, but an angel with an infinite power of compassion nevertheless. Whenever I look at the pictures, I think, we were right to hang around that angel! (The clouds were great that day, too.)

A person you could meet on the sidewalk.

Damn, we could only hope.

Our sidewalks are far more empty these days, of angels. The challenges to peace these days, with the Chipministration trying to dig up the muscle for the drum beat for war with Iran, are so VAST. I still say NO! Don't frikking do it! Don't reduce our "human depth." Why? Why would you want to?

Ask the questions in the following song, and answer them. Is it mine?

I never cease to wonder at the cruelty of this land
But it seems a time of sadness is a time to understand.

Is it mine? Is there no need to fight?

There must be a thousand voices trying to get through.

It's All Souls Day, according to my post title. I am pretty sure I understand. It's about all of our souls. And I'm not even religious.

TAGS: Wistfulness, Activism