[PEN-L] Thomas Friedman parody I wrote
The World is Flattening, But our Metaphorical Tectonics Have More in Store Thomas Friedman New York Times June 20, 2006 At the dawn of the twentieth century, people in the advanced nations lived in global societies. The expansion of capitalism, technology, and political democracy allowed an American company to be sold to financiers in London, with the money received in exchange to be spent on textiles produced in Japan. However, in the twenty first century, individuals truly live global lives. Your typical American citizen can pause his DVD of Amelie to use his Japanese cell phone to call a manager from the Third Italy district to see if the flec-spec command center they ordered for their innovatorium is done being customized. Professor James Kartzengreb, an economist at Columbia University, estimates that interlinkedness among people doubles every three years. We don't have exact numbers on domestic interlinkedness from 1996 Kartzengreb cautions, but adds that the level interlinkedness among Americans and Europeans today probably outweighs that the domestic level among Americans a decade ago. The world is of course flattening, but experts are now realizing that its getting smaller as well. Steve Warmerdam, professor of International Relations at Stanford points out that as the world gets smaller, economic tectonic plates must come into contact with and put stress on each other. The end result must of course be mountains. Does this mean that the earth isn't flattening? Warmerdam disagrees. If we look behind the metaphor, the new mountains arising merely represent shifts in the global economy's commanding heights. While industrial economies were formerly dominated by massive Fordist industries, modern economies now find their dynamism in small, flexible techno-innovatory production sub units. The large masses of semi skilled workers are now replaced by expert technicians. Karl Marx once described the capitalist firm by way of the metaphor of a general leading an industrial army. It is now more appropriate to refer to the most dynamic firms as elite special forces units sub-contracted out to industrial commandos. Of course, the clash of tectonic plates creates Earthquakes. In the 1940s, the legendary economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the term creative destruction to refer to the process of innovation. As new industries are created, old ones are destroyed. It is up to the government to ease this transition. However, the United states government is still wrapped up in the pre-post-industrial world. The only solution is to begin the quasi-privatization of education so today's innovators can teach the technocrats of tomorrow. The late John Galbraith coined the term technostructure, which was appropriate for the immediate post war period with Keynesian policy and Fordist production. However, our literature departments are pioneering the way for the technocrats of the future. They will have to run the technopoststructure. I thus propose the merging of engineering and English departments at our universities. Such is the only way that we can have a government appropriate to our flat, shrinking would with rough terrain.
[PEN-L] query on investment
a student is conducting research on investment in the developing world and needs a literature review on investment theory and in general and onone in investment in the third world in particular Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.
[PEN-L] Greek economist barred from the US
Inside Higher Education, June 21 Another Scholar Turned Back at JFK John Milios, associate professor of political economy and the history of economic thought at the National Technical University of Athens, was expecting to explain some of his ideas about class and politics when he flew to the How Class Works conference at the State University of New York at Stony Brook this month. He just wasnt expecting to do it in detainment at the airport. According to e-mails Milios sent to colleagues, he was held and questioned for hours upon his arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on June 8. Milios was ultimately sent back to Greece by federal authorities, because of, he wrote, alleged visa irregularities. Milios added that he had travelled to the United States on exactly this visa several times in the past and had just checked with the U.S. Embassy in Athens before coming to confirm that the visa was valid even though it was in the final six months of its 10-year duration. Milios wrote that the questioning focused on my political beliefs and affiliations, which I find totally repellent, an extravagant theatre of the absurd, and a clear clue of the extremist right-wing policy of the present-day U.S. administration. His story, which has not hit the mainstream media in the United States, was front page news in Greece. Milios is a member of the the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), a Greek opposition party. In one of his e-mails, Milios wrote that SYRIZA, as well as the Greek Socialist and Communist Parties drafted resolutions condemning the United States for this action. Michael Zweig, professor of economics at Stony Brook and organizer of the conference, said in a statement that he was embarrassed at the unacceptable political intrusion into the flow of ideas and intellectual work across borders. Milios was expected to present as part of a panel titled: Class and the Distribution of Income in the United States. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not have an immediate response to questions about Milios. After 9/11, many academics were dismayed at what they called overly strict visa procedures that sent the number of foreign students into a downward spiral. Even as visa restrictions have improved, according to both colleges and the State Department, potentially embarrassing instances like Milios ordeal crop up from time to time. In 2004, Tariq Ramadan, who is Swiss and is considered one of the worlds leading scholars on Islam, had his visa revoked, preventing him from assuming a position as a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame. Last year, the American Association of University Professors joined in a lawsuit against the federal government with the American Civil Liberties Union and the PEN American Center, in the hopes of obtaining documents about why certain scholars have been turned away. One of the examples cited in the lawsuit involved a group of Cuban scholars who were turned away from attending a conference in the U.S. In one of the most high profile visa faux pas, Goverdhan Mehta, an Indian chemist and president of the International Council for Science, a coalition of national and international unions of scientists, said he was grilled about his research and accused of hiding information, according to news reports. Like Milios, Mehta was not a rookie traveler. He had worked as a visiting professor at the University of Florida, the institution to which he was traveling for a conference when he was stopped. Mehta had decided not to come by the time U.S. officials offered him a visa. David Epstein The original story and user comments can be viewed online at http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/21/milios. -- www.marxmail.org
Re: [PEN-L] Thomas Friedman parody I wrote
I suspect this is a actual Friedman column, Walt, and you're just making it seem like a parody by saying it's a parody you wrote. ;-) I hereby authorize you to use the title, Son of Sandwichman. On 6/20/06, Walt Byars [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The World is Flattening, But our Metaphorical Tectonics Have More in Store -- Sandwichman
Re: [PEN-L] Thomas Friedman parody I wrote
Why not father of Sandwichman? Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
[PEN-L] Green party talk becoming more mainstream
(Thomas Friedman's encouragement of a Green party - not, of course, with a program of the kind favoured here - reflects the increasing disenchantment of liberal Americans with the Democrats. Friedman's main purpose would be to use the threat of a Geo-Green presidential campaign in 2008 in order to pressure the Democratic party to embrace a higher gas tax and other progressive reforms. But if that effort falls short, he writes, I hope it will become the soul of a third party. This the same kind of reasoning from the same social base which produced the CCF/NDP in Canada and the Green party in Germany. But the electoral systems in these countries allows left-liberal ginger groups to become a permanent part of the political landscape, a feature which seems to be lacking in the US where third parties have rarely gained representation at the national level.) Seeds for a Geo-Green Party By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN New York Times June 16, 2006 The recent focus of the Republican-led Congress on divisive diversions, like gay marriage and flag burning, coupled with the unveiling of Unity '08, an Internet-based third party that plans to select its presidential candidate through online voting, has intensified the chatter that a third party, and maybe even a fourth, will emerge in the 2008 election. Up to now, though, most of that talk has been about how a third party might galvanize voters, using the Web, rather than what it would actually galvanize them to do. I'd like to toss out an idea in the hopes that some enterprising politician or group of citizens - or Unity '08 - will develop it. It's the concept I call Geo-Green. What might a Geo-Green third party platform look like? Its centerpiece would be a $1 a gallon gasoline tax, called The Patriot Tax, which would be phased in over a year. People earning less than $50,000 a year, and those with unusual driving needs, would get a reduction on their payroll taxes as an offset. The billions of dollars raised by the Patriot Tax would go first to shore up Social Security, second to subsidize clean mass transit in and between every major American city, third to reduce the deficit, and fourth to massively increase energy research by the National Science Foundation and the Energy and Defense Departments' research arms. Most important, though, the Patriot Tax would increase the price of gasoline to a level that would ensure that many of the most promising alternatives - ethanol, biodiesel, coal gasification, solar energy, nuclear energy and wind - would all be economically competitive with oil and thereby reduce both our dependence on crude and our emissions of greenhouse gases. In short: the Geo-Green party could claim that it has a plan for shoring up America's energy security, environmental security, economic security and Social Security with one move. It could also claim that - however the Iraq war ends - the Geo-Green party has a strategy for advancing political and economic reform in the Arab-Muslim world, without another war. By stimulating all these alternatives to oil, we would gradually bring down the price, possibly as low as $25 to $30 a barrel. That, better than anything else, would force regimes like those in Iran, Sudan, Egypt, Angola, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia to open up. Countries don't reform when you tell them they should. They reform when they tell themselves they must - and only when the price of oil goes down will they tell themselves they must. Moreover, by making America the leader in promoting clean power, the Geo-Greens would be offering a credible plan for recouping a lot of America's lost prestige in the world - prestige it lost when the Bush team trashed Kyoto. This would put America in a much better position to galvanize allies to combat jihadism. Last, Geo-Greenism could be the foundation of a new American patriotism and educational renaissance. Under the banner Green is the New Red, White and Blue, the Geo-Green party would seek to inspire young Americans to study math, science and engineering to help make America not only energy independent but also the dominant player in what will be the dominant industry of the 21st century: clean power and green technology. Frankly, I wish we did not need a third party. I wish the Democrats would adopt a Geo-Green agenda as their own. (Republicans never would.) But if not, I hope it will become the soul of a third party. Historically, third parties arise in America when they seize a neglected issue and demonstrate that there is a real constituency for it, said Micah Sifry, author of Spoiling for a Fight: Third-Party Politics in America. They win by forcing that issue into the mainstream - even if the party itself is later forgotten. Conditions certainly seem ripe for such a third-party bid today. But rather than artificially splitting the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans, Mr. Sifry added, a successful third party has to get in front of both - with an agenda that inspires hope
Re: [PEN-L] Green party talk becoming more mainstream
That's Geo-Greenism. To be sure, Geo-Greenism is not a complete philosophy on par with liberalism or conservatism. But it can be paired with either of them to make them more relevant to the biggest challenges of our time. Even if Geo-Greenism couldn't attract enough voters to win an election, it might attract a big enough following to frighten both Democrats and Republicans into finally doing the right things. Friedman is not really to be taken seriously. The main threat to the environment today is unregulated capitalist growth, which is certainly his main objective. -- www.marxmail.org
Re: [PEN-L] Thomas Friedman parody I wrote
On 6/21/06, Perelman, Michael [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Why not father of Sandwichman? Because: 1. No alliteration. 2. No play on words on a notorious serial (or cereal) killer. -- Sandwichman
[PEN-L] An Inconvenient Truth
I finally saw An Inconvenient Truth last night. I have four conclusions: (1) it's a pretty good film -- given that it's based on a PowerPoint Presentation. (2) not many people who don't already think that global warming is a big problem that _needs to be fought immediately_ will see this film. (3) Al Gore is running for President. (4) we're screwed. BTW, there's a bit of opportunism at the end, where they list what _we_ can do. One was stop using _foreign_ oil (or some such, my emphasis). What does it matter where the oil comes from, as far as global warming is concerned? They also like ethanol, which is somewhat controversial. -- Jim Devine / In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy. -- Fran Lebowitz
Re: [PEN-L] An Inconvenient Truth
I saw a preview for it at Thank you For Smoking and there were alot of teenagers in the audience who made hs and wows during the preview when the showed things like contrasting glaciers to the past. I doubt all these people were already global warming activists. (2) not many people who don't already think that global warming is a big problem that _needs to be fought immediately_ will see this film.
[PEN-L] google's quote of the day
When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. -- George Bernard Shaw so: When a smart man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it comes from his theory. or is there a better line? -- Jim Devine / In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy. -- Fran Lebowitz
Re: [PEN-L] google's quote of the day
When a smart man is doing something he is ashamed of, he declares he is a hard headed realist and can't always do utopian puppy dog and lolipop activites. When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. -- George Bernard Shaw so: When a smart man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it comes from his theory. or is there a better line? -- Jim Devine / In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy. -- Fran Lebowitz
Re: [PEN-L] google's quote of the day
When a smart man is doing something he is ashamed of, he declares that at least he's not a cheese-eating surrender monkey. On 6/21/06, Walt Byars [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: When a smart man is doing something he is ashamed of, he declares he is a hard headed realist and can't always do utopian puppy dog and lolipop activites. When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. -- George Bernard Shaw so: When a smart man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it comes from his theory. or is there a better line? -- Jim Devine / In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy. -- Fran Lebowitz -- Jim Devine / In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy. -- Fran Lebowitz
[PEN-L] PC help
does anyone know why a Compaq PC running Windows XP (service pack 2) would turn itself off (without permission) if left alone for a few hours? yeah, Doug, I know I should get a Mac, but they're expensive and seem to change operating systems every year, rendering all old software obsolete. The cute TV ads with the stuffy chubby guy representing the PC world and the cool skinny guy representing the Mac world haven't moved me... -- Jim Devine / In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy. -- Fran Lebowitz
Re: [PEN-L] PC help
On Jun 21, 2006, at 12:32 PM, Jim Devine wrote: yeah, Doug, I know I should get a Mac, but they're expensive and seem to change operating systems every year, rendering all old software obsolete. I'm not going to give you a Mac sales pitch, but 1) the price differential is a lot less than it looks on its face because of all the included hardware and software, and 2) almost no software is rendered obsolete by OS changes - I'm still using the same statistical program I used in 1989, under Mac System 8-something, which was a completely different OS than OS X. Doug
Re: [PEN-L] PC help
Jim Devine wrote: does anyone know why a Compaq PC running Windows XP (service pack 2) would turn itself off (without permission) if left alone for a few hours? It's possible that the hibernate mode is set, even on a home computer. Check your power settings (and forget about the toy computers...)
Re: [PEN-L] PC help
Jim Devine wrote: does anyone know why a Compaq PC running Windows XP (service pack 2) would turn itself off (without permission) if left alone for a few hours? try Start menu -- Control Panel -- Power options -- Power schemes and see if standby or hibernate is activated. les schaffer
Re: [PEN-L] PC help
On Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 09:32:56 (-0700) Jim Devine writes: does anyone know why a Compaq PC running Windows XP (service pack 2) would turn itself off (without permission) if left alone for a few hours? Your power settings told it to (if it's off, it's not hibernating). Or, it is hosed. Bill
Re: [PEN-L] google's quote of the day
Jim Devine wrote: When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. -- George Bernard Shaw so: When a smart man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it comes from his theory. or is there a better line? . When a smart man is doing something he's ashamed of, he should stop doing it and critically analyse why he started. Leigh http://leighm.net/
Re: [PEN-L] google's quote of the day
On Jun 21, 2006, at 8:29 AM, Jim Devine wrote: When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. -- George Bernard Shaw so: When a smart man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it comes from his theory. or is there a better line? ... it's in the interest of science?
Re: [PEN-L] PC help
On Jun 21, 2006, at 9:32 AM, Jim Devine wrote: yeah, Doug, I know I should get a Mac, but they're expensive and seem to change operating systems every year, rendering all old software obsolete. Not true.
Re: [PEN-L] PC help
At around 21/6/06 12:32 pm, Jim Devine wrote: does anyone know why a Compaq PC running Windows XP (service pack 2) would turn itself off (without permission) if left alone for a few hours? Do you see it when it turns itself off? If so, any error messages? If it is not an orderly shutdown or one with at least an error message, there is probably some hardware error, typically bad memory, but could be your hard disk. Your computer probably came with a diagnostics disk... see if you can find it and run it and it may tell you if your memory or hard disk have errors. yeah, Doug, I know I should get a Mac, but they're expensive and seem to change operating systems every year, rendering all old software obsolete. Well, if you already have a keyboard/mouse and monitor, you can buy a Mac Mini for $500. The OS obsolescence is a problem, but its not as bad as you think. I am still on OS X Panther (about 3-4 years old now?), and most apps I need continue to work on it. The problem, I would say much to most people's surprise (I am sure), with switching to a Mac is the complicated and counter-intuitive UI. And I say counter-intuitive not relative to what you are used to in Windows, but just not the thing that you would expect. But, its a small price to pay for running FreeBSD with a GUI that's a bit more polished than KDE. The cute TV ads with the stuffy chubby guy representing the PC world and the cool skinny guy representing the Mac world haven't moved me... Not surprising. One of the BoingBoing guys wrote yesterday (and I agree) that the MS guy just looks like a friendly, lovable geeky suit, while the Mac guy seems an annoying, smug creep. --ravi -- Support something better than yourself: ;-) PeTA: http://www.peta.org/ GreenPeace: http://www.greenpeace.org/
Re: [PEN-L] PC help
thanks to everyone for their help! On 6/21/06, ravi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At around 21/6/06 12:32 pm, Jim Devine wrote: does anyone know why a Compaq PC running Windows XP (service pack 2) would turn itself off (without permission) if left alone for a few hours? Do you see it when it turns itself off? If so, any error messages? If it is not an orderly shutdown or one with at least an error message, there is probably some hardware error, typically bad memory, but could be your hard disk. Your computer probably came with a diagnostics disk... see if you can find it and run it and it may tell you if your memory or hard disk have errors. I've never seen it do it on its own. My thought is that when it's suppose to hybernate -- or when the hard disk is supposed to be turned off or the system is supposed to go into stand-by, Windows instead simply turns off the PC. (After all, it can turn off the PC when I ask it to.) I'll have to check it out when I get home. I once saw a fleeting error message, but not this morning when I discovered that the PC had turned itself off. The cute TV ads with the stuffy chubby guy representing the PC world and the cool skinny guy representing the Mac world haven't moved me... Not surprising. One of the BoingBoing guys wrote yesterday (and I agree) that the MS guy just looks like a friendly, lovable geeky suit, while the Mac guy seems an annoying, smug creep. I'd bet that it depends on your age. Being over 50, I'd agree with you. But someone who's (say) 20 might be turned off by the MS guy as being stuffy and aspire to be like the cool Mac guy. -- Jim Devine / In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy. -- Fran Lebowitz
Re: [PEN-L] PC help
At around 21/6/06 2:17 pm, Jim Devine wrote: On 6/21/06, ravi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Not surprising. One of the BoingBoing guys wrote yesterday (and I agree) that the MS guy just looks like a friendly, lovable geeky suit, while the Mac guy seems an annoying, smug creep. I'd bet that it depends on your age. Being over 50, I'd agree with you. But someone who's (say) 20 might be turned off by the MS guy as being stuffy and aspire to be like the cool Mac guy. Well, yes, I think the preference for the Mac creep is probably higher among the 20+ crowd, but I would guess not by much. The Mac guy is not really cool (he is not a metrosexual, or a jock, or any of that), just geek cool. As the BoingBoing guy pointed out, his appeal is restricted to the converted: he fits the Mac geek stereotype. The MS guy is uncool but he comes across as a friendly, amiable person. One of my female friends put it this way: the MS guy is the kind of guy that women would put in the friend category. The Mac guy is the sort of creep that hit on her in a CS course at college. Not cool, but just full of himself. Apologies for off-list content! --ravi -- Support something better than yourself: ;-) PeTA: http://www.peta.org/ GreenPeace: http://www.greenpeace.org/
[PEN-L] Integration of South American Regional Infrastructure
Introducing the latest policy analysis from International Relations Center IIRSA: Integration Custom-Made for International Markets By Raúl Zibechi The project for Integration of South American Regional Infrastructure (IIRSA, by its initials in Spanish), is swiftly but silently moving forward. IIRSA is the most ambitious and encompassing plan to integrate the region for international trade. If completed in full, the project would connect zones containing natural resources (natural gas, water, oil, biodiversity) with metropolitan areas, and both of these with the world's largest markets. The most disturbing prospect of IIRSA's large network of infrastructure projects is that they may well accomplish the same goals as the FTAA, only without that name, with no debate, and imposed from the top down by global markets and national elites. If this is the case, a few decades from now South America will have quietly completed a gigantic, continent-wide remodeling project that affects every one of its inhabitants. Raúl Zibechi, a member of the editorial board of the weekly Brecha de Montevideo, is a professor and researcher on social movements at the Multiversidad Franciscana de América Latina and adviser to several grassroots organizations. He is a monthly contributor to the IRC Americas Program (www.americaspolicy.org). See new IRC article online at: http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3313 -- Jim Devine / In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy. -- Fran Lebowitz
Re: [PEN-L] Thomas Friedman parody I wrote
Salami tactics? On 6/21/06, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 6/21/06, Perelman, Michael [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Why not father of Sandwichman? isn't that former Congresscritter Tom Deli? JD -- Sandwichman
[PEN-L] Fwd: Food for Thought
Food for Thought – How buying local food contributes to sustainability By Heidi Garrett-Peltier, CPE Staff Economist June 21, 2006 In 1810, 84 percent of the U.S. workforce was employed in agriculture. Today, it's down to two percent. Thanks to dramatic increases in productivity resulting from advances in technology and the mechanization of agriculture, we can produce a great deal more food with far fewer people than we could 200 years ago. But does this progress come at a cost? Large-scale corporate farms are able to out-compete small-scale (often family-owned) farms and drive them out of business. Economies of scale (the competitive edge gained by being bigger) enable large corporate farms to produce more cheaply than smaller farms. These large farms are able to invest in expensive machinery and buy their inputs (fertilizer, seed, etc.) more cheaply than small farms, which in turn makes it difficult for small farms to compete. One might think that corporate farming is better for the consumer – large farms, producing more efficiently, can offer products at lower prices. In addition, the vast network of global agriculture allows consumers access to many varieties of foods throughout the year that can not be produced locally. The advantage of lower prices, however, may be offset by other, more detrimental effects. In the case of corporate farming, those effects include environmental degradation, decreased plant and animal diversity, poorer nutritional value, and money leaking out of the local economy and into the pockets of 'absentee owners.' * Local food increases environmental sustainability: Environmental degradation results not only from the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, but also from the packaging, transportation and distribution of food. On average, each food item consumed in the U.S. travels 1,500 miles before reaching our tables. Packing and delivery alone account for an estimated 80-90% of fossil fuels used in global food production. Jim Hendrickson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison estimates that 9.14 percent of total energy consumption in the U.S. is accounted for by the production, processing and transportation of food. Local food consumes fewer fossil fuels and contributes to lower carbon dioxide emissions than does food that has to travel a great distance. Large-scale farms can also contribute to decreased plant and animal diversity – both through clearing land and destroying native flora and fauna, and by replacing native varieties with genetically modified varieties of crops. Reduced variety means less ability for crops and animals to withstand the strains of disease. * Local food increases economic sustainability: In additional to threatening environmental sustainability, corporate farming threatens economic sustainability. Corporate farming changes the dynamic of ownership: small-scale farmers, rather than working for themselves and being the owner of their labor, become employees or suppliers of agri-business, thus vulnerable to wage and price cuts, inferior working conditions, and other forms of exploitation. Small scale farmers are often forced to buy high and sell low – since large scale agri-businesses are sole suppliers of feed and grain to farmers and sole purchasers of farmers' production, they are able to manipulate prices and exploit farmers. Furthermore, as consumers purchase products from large-scale farms, their money goes into the pockets of absentee owners rather than to local farmers and the local economy. Buying local food helps local farmers survive and helps to support the local economy in general by keeping more money circulating in the community. According to the New Economics Foundation, $1 in consumption of local food results in $2.50 for your community. In comparison, $1 spent in a supermarket results in only $1.40 for the community. * Local food is more nutritious and flavorful: Corporate farming is driven by the goals of maximizing yields and profits, not nutrition and taste. Local foods, which are purchased almost immediately after harvest, can be much more flavorful and preserve more of their nutrients than foods which are picked before maturity in order to be distributed thousands of miles away. Furthermore, since small-scale farmers often eat what they grow and drink the water from their wells, they are more likely to protect their soil and water than are large-scale farms which pollute waterways and erode soil as they seek to increase profits. Consumption may not be the key to changing the world, but consumption of local food can begin to undo the harm created by agri-business. Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture, wherein you buy a share of a local farm's output and get a weekly distribution of in-season crops), buy produce from a farm stand or farmer's market, and opt for local food over well-traveled food – you'll contribute to the economic and environmental health of your community and eat better
Re: [PEN-L] An Inconvenient Truth
Jim Devine wrote: BTW, there's a bit of opportunism at the end, where they list what _we_ can do. One was stop using _foreign_ oil (or some such, my emphasis). What does it matter where the oil comes from, as far as global warming is concerned? They also like ethanol, which is somewhat controversial. . More so because: WORLD GRAINS STOCKS FALL, PRICES TO RISE (15 jun 2006) This year's grain harvest has fallen short once again, marking the sixth time in the last seven years that production has failed to satisfy demand. As a result, grain prices are expected to rise, up to almost 22% for corn in the U.S. http://us.oneworld.net/link/gotoarticle/addhit/134946/7263/88337 Not to mention the overall benefit to the environment from the continuing unabated emmision of CO2. FWIW, I have this awful feeling by the time hydrogen fuel cells come to fruition, water, one of most common methods of producing hydrogen by hydrolysis, will be ALL PRIVATISED, and hydrogen fill-ups will cost as much as a gallon of gas will. Then: . (4) we're screwed.
Re: [PEN-L] Green party talk becoming more mainstream
Louis Proyect wrote:. Friedman is not really to be taken seriously. The main threat to the environment today is unregulated capitalist growth, which is certainly his main objective. Friedman's casual attitude about the emergence of a third party is what interested me. It would seem to indicate a high degree of confidence by the American bourgeosie that, in current conditions, such a party could be contained and coopted and even, as Friedman suggests, perform a necessary function as gadfly and critic of the two major parties which he and a growing number of others close to the centres of power think have become too complacent about the need for serious environmental, social, and foreign policy reform. The NDP is patronized in a similar way in Canada. In a social crisis, of course, Friedman and those he represents would fear the uncontrollable dynamics of a third party and would hardly be as blase about its appearance, but right now there is no open crisis and he is enough at ease to fire the threat as a warning shot across the bow of the Democrats.
[PEN-L] How to get the attention of your elected federal representative
Be mean... they may add you to their blogroll (or not). I received an email a while back from my elected representative in congress Sam Farr. Within his chatty newsletter, important news: . As the summer legislative session kicks into high gear, I wanted to update you on energy issues, student loan concerns, renewing ocean and fishing laws, this year's winner of the annual Congressional Artistic Discovery competition, and progress on a Fort Ord Veterans Cemetery . . Well that just put me in a ...mood. A new veteran's cemetery, oh boy! Here's the end result of my pique: . Mr. Farr, I sincerely hope you aren't affiliated with the group of Democrats that believe the propagandistic, self-serving, time-wasting H.R 861, and the policies it supports, was worth more than toilet paper to the 2500 dead soldiers caused by the US government's attempt to assert hegemony over the Iraqi and Afghani people, and perhaps soon, anyone our corrupt, murderous, internationally despised administration would care to demonize as terrorists. cf. Somalia's ICU, whom the majority of Somalis (unlike some of Somalia's businessmen with U.S. affiliations) seem to have no problem with... Leigh http://leighm.net/ ...if we are going to do things like send Marines into Iran to force Iranian women to wear bikinis at the beach, we are going to have a very busy century and Arlington Cemetery is going to run out of room. --Juan Cole, Professor of History, University of Michigan So will Fort Ord's Cemetery. Support our troops... Bring them home TODAY! . Today, from sitemeter, an interesting visitor: Domain Name house.gov ? (United States Government) IP Address 143.231.249.# (Information Systems, U.S. House of Representatives) ISP Information Systems, U.S. House of Representatives Location Continent : North America Country : United States (Facts) State : District of Columbia City : Washington Lat/Long : 38.8933, -77.0146 (Map) Distance : 2,437 miles Language unknown Operating System Microsoft Win2000 Browser Internet Explorer 6.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) Javascript disabled Time of Visit Jun 21 2006 1:30:29 pm Referring URLunknown Visit Entry Page http://leighm.wordpress.com/2006/03/ Visit Exit Page http://leighm.wordpress.com/2006/03/ Out Click Time Zone unknown Visitor's Time Unknown Visit Number 19,586 ... Some headlines from that archive (dunno what the party at the other end was searching *for* in my March archive.) Bush told repeatedly that aluminum tubes were not for building a nuclear weapon - Mother Jones Surveillance in the sky: Homeland Security wants aerial drones with cameras - PoliTech Western media: Shaping susceptible minds 24 7 365 - US Media Bias: Covering Israel/Palestine [March 31 2006] Travus T. Hipp Morning News Commentary: I Figured It Out… Due To Increasing Lifespans In The U.S. We’re Seeing The McCarthy Era Again, And More Stupid Wars I’m Sure They ‘Spiffy’d’ It Up For Him: Judge gets execution site tour - San Jose Mercury News [March 30 2006] Travus T. Hipp Morning News Commentary: Fishing Stories: Let Me Tell You About The BIGGEST ‘Red Herring’ To Ever Swim The Potomac - Immigration Reform Fish Stories ‘Red Herrings’ Redux: Our Fake Immigration Crisis - Alternet Bush, Blair had ‘no evidence’ of Iraq WMDs - Australian Broadcasting Corporation I hope they found what they were looking for (immigration reform?). Y'all come back now, y'hear? Leigh http://leighm.net/
[PEN-L] The July 4th conspiracy
First I'VE heard of it but I'm out of the loop: Gun owners accuse UN of July 4 conspiracy Wed Jun 21, 2006 05:35 PM By Irwin Arieff http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNewsstoryID=12605679src=rss/topNews UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Americans mistakenly worried the United Nations is plotting to take away their guns on July 4 -- U.S. Independence Day -- are flooding the world body with angry letters and postcards, the chairman of a U.N. conference on the illegal small arms trade said on Wednesday. I myself have received over 100,000 letters from the U.S. public, criticizing me personally, saying, 'You are having this conference on the 4th of July, you are not going to get our guns on that day,' said Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka's U.N. ambassador. That is a total misconception as far as we are concerned, Kariyawasam told reporters ahead of the two-week meeting opening on Monday. For one, July 4 is a holiday at U.N. headquarters and the world body's staff will be watching a fireworks display from the U.N. lawn rather than attending any meetings, he said. For another, the U.N. conference will look only at illegal arms and does not in any way address legal possession, a matter left to national governments to regulate rather than the United Nations, he added. The campaign is largely the work of the U.S. National Rifle Association, whose executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, warns on an NRA Web site (http://www.stopungunban.org/) of a July 4 plot to finalize a U.N. treaty that would strip all citizens of all nations of their right to self-protection. Kariyawasam said, The U.N. conference will not negotiate any treaty to prohibit citizens of any country from possessing firearms or to interfere with the legal trade in small arms and light weapons. U.N. CONSPIRACY -- OR STRONGER CONTROLS? LaPierre, who also uses the site to pitch his new book, The Global War on Your Guns, asks NRA members to send letters to Kariyawasam and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warning that the American people will never let you take away the rights that our 4th of July holiday represents. The group also asks members to write to John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, urging him to ensure the defeat of this treaty. Bolton's office confirmed he had received tens of thousands of cards from concerned Americans. We understand their concerns and will work during the conference to communicate their concerns, Bolton spokesman Richard Grenell said. At the same time, 1 million people around the world -- symbolizing the number of people killed by guns since the last U.N. small arms conference in 2001 -- have signed a petition backing stronger controls on arms deals in a campaign organized by Oxfam International, Amnesty International and the International Action Network on Small Arms. The June 26-July 7 U.N. conference was called to review a 2001 U.N. action plan aimed at stemming the illegal global trade in small arms, which, as defined by the United Nations, range from pistols and grenades to mortars and shoulder-fired anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles. The action program set out broad guidelines for national and global measures to track arms sales, promote better management of government arms stockpiles and encourage the destruction of illicit arms. #33#
Re: [PEN-L] An Inconvenient Truth
The electricity for producing hydrogen is most likely to come from coal or nuclear generation. Hydrogen is not a panacea -- it is not even an energy source but rather a storage medium. Gene Coyle On Jun 21, 2006, at 2:52 PM, Leigh Meyers wrote: Jim Devine wrote: BTW, there's a bit of opportunism at the end, where they list what _we_ can do. One was stop using _foreign_ oil (or some such, my emphasis). What does it matter where the oil comes from, as far as global warming is concerned? They also like ethanol, which is somewhat controversial. . More so because: WORLD GRAINS STOCKS FALL, PRICES TO RISE (15 jun 2006) This year's grain harvest has fallen short once again, marking the sixth time in the last seven years that production has failed to satisfy demand. As a result, grain prices are expected to rise, up to almost 22% for corn in the U.S. http://us.oneworld.net/link/gotoarticle/addhit/134946/7263/88337 Not to mention the overall benefit to the environment from the continuing unabated emmision of CO2. FWIW, I have this awful feeling by the time hydrogen fuel cells come to fruition, water, one of most common methods of producing hydrogen by hydrolysis, will be ALL PRIVATISED, and hydrogen fill-ups will cost as much as a gallon of gas will. Then: . (4) we're screwed.
Re: [PEN-L] An Inconvenient Truth
Eugene Coyle wrote: The electricity for producing hydrogen is most likely to come from coal or nuclear generation. Hydrogen is not a panacea -- it is not even an energy source but rather a storage medium. The coal industry is pushing synfuels as a replacement for oil generated energy, not hydrogen http://leighm.net/blog/ndc_synfuel_transcript/, so I'm going to leave them out of this as they are currently not a 'player'. I knew hydrogen is a storage medium for energy (as are coal and oil), but as a de-centralized energy source for the smaller, more human communities of the future, AFAICT water... not coal or fission, will be the choice for generating that hydrogen (unless there's going to be a nuclear reactor in every town and city), and they've yet to work out the transport scheme for centralized distribution of LNG, no less hydrogen. Decentralized generation will be the most viable situation in lieu of dramatic changes in governmental and petro-chemical industry policy. And we're back to the privatization of a valuable energy resource. Not to mention human neccesity. Water. Leigh http://leighm.net/
Re: [PEN-L] An Inconvenient Truth
Eugene Coyle wrote: The electricity for producing hydrogen is most likely to come from coal or nuclear generation. Hydrogen is not a panacea -- it is not even an energy source but rather a storage medium. It is precisely because hydrogen is a storage medium that the electricity to produce it (by electrolysis) on a mass scale will come, will have to come, from wind turbines and solar cells. Because the best wind and solar locations are far from the main energy-usage centers and the inputs are irregularly available, wind and solar energy are relatively uneconomic as inputs to the grid (which is anyway, because of wastage in the transmission process, an inefficient means of supplying electricity). But since hydrogen can be delivered, with insignificant losses, to its point of use, the solar/wind/hydrogen process becomes the only practicable solution to the energy/global warming crisis. Of course monopoly capital, totally invested in nuclear/petroleum/coal, will never in time consent to the massive Manhattan Project-scale investments needed for the solar/wind/hydrogen transition. Either it gets overthrown or, as Michael said (4) we're screwed. Shane Mage Thunderbolt steers all things...It consents and does not consent to be called Zeus. Herakleitos of Ephesos
