Archive for November, 2007
Please, please, please kill the farm bill
There’s a nasty piece of legislation that gets written by some very powerful lobbyists every few years and passed through Washington. The express intent of this bill is to ensure that commodity crops protected from the free market and that industrial farms are given public handouts. The side effect of this bill is that foods like high fructose corn syrup and corn fed (high in fat) beef are artificially cheap due to the public subsidy. It’s a real lose-lose situation for everyone but the industrial farmer.
Farm programs, like all corporate welfare, involve taking money from people who have earned it and giving it to people who have not. There’s nothing exceptional about them.
Please read these two articles to learn a bit more about this terrible legislation that’s ruining our environment, our food supply, and our economy. (Wow, Tad, that’s a bit extreme)
If you align more with the progressives, you’ll hate the farm bill because it’s destroying our bodies and environment. If you align more with the conservatives, you’ll hate the farm bill because it’s the biggest federal handout going and it’s expressly anti-free market.
If you’re me, you’ll hate the farm bill for all of the above.
Filed under economics, environment, politics : Comments (1) : Nov 14th, 2007
Up Nort(h) : Eagle River
For the last 10 years or so, I’ve spent at least a few days outside on a backpacking or canoeing trip. I find it extremely therapeutic and refreshing to get out of the city for a few days and get all the voices in my head in sync.
This year’s adventure took a slightly different path. My friend Dustin is working at an environmental learning center in Eagle River, so I used a long weekend to visit him. Since winter strikes pretty early in northern Wisconsin, we both agreed that overnight backpacking was not in the cards. Instead, we went on a day hike Saturday and Sunday, and enjoyed the bustling night life in Eagle River.
It was great to spend some time outdoors, away from the daily grind. I still enjoy living in the city, but I need these respites to keep me on the level.
[More photos on the photos page or at Flickr]
Filed under culture, environment : Comments (3) : Nov 12th, 2007
US Economy : Ouch
I’ve been saying for awhile that the US economy can’t run on fumes forever. Fumes, in the literal sense of oil (in case you didn’t notice, we burn a hell of a lot of the stuff) and fumes in the figurative sense of black-magic economics in which deficits are good, loans are cheap, and long-term planning is all but ignored.
The wheels just might be starting to come off the bus. Here are a few graphs to get you interested:
Here’s the stock market in 2007. Not bad, right? It’s had some ups and downs, but over the year it’s up about 10%. Everything is great.
Unless you consider the falling value of the U.S. dollar. You see, the rest of the world is a bit more conservative in their economic policies, and they prefer fundamentals over fanfare when valuing a currency. Even our 10% stock market gain looks pretty sorry if you’re taking holiday in Europe.
And then there’s oil : with the price of oil teasing $100/bbl and oil markets talking about a move away from the $USD as its default currency, we’re going to have to get real smart real quick about alternatives to our oil-intensive lifestyle.
It seems to have come to a head in the past week, with the stock market taking a sharp dive and giving up most of its gains in the past month. Could it be that economists and traders alike have looked through the smoke and realized that we’re running on fumes?
What’s your plan?
Filed under economics : Comments (3) : Nov 7th, 2007
Waterboarding
It’s been the subject of many congressional hearings, media exposes, and it’s a key phrase to define the policies of our current leadership: waterboarding.
There is no question that the U.S. employs the waterboarding technique while interrogating alleged criminals. This has been openly sanctioned in Justice Department memos and confirmed by numerous sources within the federal government.
The impossible contradiction facing the Bush Whitehouse, and our country at large, is that we openly use this technique, and yet “we don’t torture”. I won’t tell you what I think of waterboarding, because now you can decide for yourself.
Please, go read about the technique at waterboarding.org and decide whether this constitutes as torture. This is the United States of America in 2007. We know too much information to pretend otherwise.
[Update Nov 6]
Here’s Jon Stewart’s take on the issue. (And provides some context for the first comment)
Filed under culture, war : Comments (1) : Nov 6th, 2007
Three Years!
Well, I missed the official anniversary again, but I’m happy to report that I’ve been staking my claim in this little corner of the internet for three years!
Thanks to all of you for keeping me going. I love writing and knowing that there are friends/family/colleagues/strangers out there reading it makes it all worthwhile. Thank you!
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (1) : Nov 5th, 2007
