Wake up! You're in the presence of your future

From XinJua

From Alaska's biggest-ever protest rally. Thanks Jeannette!!



Yes, thanks! she said.


McCain's pants catch fire

National health care is not about you, or me, or our taxes. It's a matter of the public health. Think of it this way: If your neighbor is sick, you are more likely to get sick, yourself. If that homeless guy you pass on your way to work gets sick, then everyone he's exposed to is more likely to get sick. Maybe it's not a nightmare if all they have is a cold, but what happens when Ebola crosses the Atlantic? It's a small world- given time, it's inevitable. It seems so obvious to me... how can people continue to think that they live in a safe little bubble? We all need health care. When one of us is sick, all of us are sick.

Plants and pain. Careful with that sprout, vegans!

Things that make you go "hmm..."

On this day in 1783, the first hot air balloon passengers were sent aloft, at Versailles: a sheep, a rooster, and a duck. Science! And in 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev was denied entrance to Disneyland. Damn commies.

Let's make happy time

Great picture It's good to see a genuinely smiling face.

I'm tired of harping on Republicans John "W" McCain and Sarah Palin. Yawn. So, what happens when a nation's economy collapses? I guess we'll find out. I suspect we'll lose credibility on the international scene- not only economically, but also politically, militarily (because we can hardly afford what we've got goin on already, if at all), and -worst of all-- culturally.

I say 'worst of all' because culture is the only thing we really export in mass these days. Movies, TV and music. Why will this suffer as the result of electing Republican John McCain? Because we will be trying so hard to keep our little fantasy-world inflated that nothing of any value or relevance will come out. Conducting diplomacy with America will be like trying to have a conversation with a sweaty child molester in a Barney costume.

The rest of the world will shortly become just as disaffected with our political system as we already are. In other words, no one will care about the US. The eyes of the rest of the world will stop caring about what we do; they'll turn to other channels, for the same reasons we don't care about what our country does, either: because we don't feel that our voices count. And that's voter apathy.

I'm still holding to my prediction that the Republican party is coming apart. McCain will take the election, but it'll be dubious at best, and hopefully contested, but the truth of the matter will be that economic conservatives will split their votes between Ron Paul and Bob Barr, while evangelicals will split theirs between dinner at home (not voting) and Sarah Palin. It's conceivable that Palin could be the last Republican president, if she follows McCain.

Her presidency will be largely ineffectual, though, because the voting public won't elect another Republican majority in congress for a while, even if the party doesn't disintegrate, so congress won't be the lap-dog that it has been of late. I hope.

Today is the Feast Day of St Joseph of Cupertino. Joseph (1603-63) was barred by his Franciscan superiors from public worship due to his habit of levitating, utterly disrupting the service and distracting the congregation. Once, according to a witness, he 'flew like a bird on the high altar, where he embraced the tabernacle.' On another occasion, he flew into an olive tree and remained kneeling on a branch for half an hour.

Why I make shoes

Not my work- the photo is from Jill Greenberg, who's having some difficulties with The Atlantic right now, apparently (I'm not sure if she added the text or not, but it's true). Give 'em hell, Jill.


I make shoes because I saw this economic collapse coming 25 years ago. No lie: ask my friends from then if they remember (are you guys out there?)- during Reagan's first term, I said that if things continued as they were going (de-regulation was becoming very fashionable, which I saw then and still see as nepotistic Authority-encouraged selfishness), that eventually people would get carried away with the greed and the screwing of each other, and then we'd all be fucked. I wasn't sure how exactly it would happen, but I knew that you can't screw your neighbor without getting screwed yourself, eventually.

And I was right: We're fucked.

And there's more to it than the authorities are letting on, because they're not ready to let go of their control yet. This is not just a liquidity crisis, not just a stock market crisis- this won't be fixed by financial instruments alone, kids. We won't see our way out of this mess until Americans are making things for themselves again. Even if it's infrastructure; even it it's being done on assembly lines in factories: a purely service economy is not viable, especially when the society in question is based on disposability. Why pay your neighbor to fix [that thing] when you can just go out and buy a new one (made in China) for less? Well, because your neighbor needs that money, so that one day he can in turn patronize your business. Dumbass.

I quit a good job back then, cold. I was a retail marketing agent, it was a total cake job: sweet, easy, completely unfulfilling. Just walked away from my desk; I was disgusted, I didn't even wave. It took me a few years to find my calling, but I listened to my heart (and to the people who saw me trying it and wanted me to do it for them, too), and I found myself.

I make shoes because I wanted to be able to put my hands on what I do and say "this is how I contribute to the betterment of my society." I could not -can not-- bring myself to sell something I don't believe in, or work for a company so big that the owner can't recognize his employees. I wanted to contribute to society creatively, but constructively- art for art's sake is a luxury of wealth. I wanted a job I could not lose to outsourcing, a company that would not lay me off in hard times, an occupation that would still be viable after the fall. We all need shoes. We'll always need shoes. And I make them, myself.

Microbusiness is the way of the future.

On this day in 1179, Hildegard von Bingen merged with the infinite.
In 1859, Norton I proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, in his capital, San Francisco.
In 1862, the battle of Antietam commenced. It would be the bloodiest day of the war; roughly 25,000 dead today alone. Sgt. William McKinley and a single volunteer drove a wagon of hot coffee and warm food through Confederate fire to the men of the 23rd Ohio regiment. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes promoted him to lieutenant for his bravery and initiative.
In 1964, the Beatles played in Kansas City, for a then-record $150,000.00.