This past week Congress passed a bill linking continued tax cuts to a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring minimally processed Canadian oil sands to the Gulf region to be refined and distributed. Well, if I were president, I would veto this bill. And not only because I think that the Keystone XL pipeline is ridiculous (for many reasons, which I’ll detail in a later post). For I also am against continuing the Bush-era tax cuts, and I’ll tell you why.
Beg and Borrow
Just got off Skype with my German friend Volker. During our almost-weekly phone calls (free via Skype!), we discuss all sorts of things, and today, we talked about the European debt crisis, among other things.
I asked how things were going in Europe, after getting the story from our U.S. media that things are all fine now that the Greek and Italian governments are being run by sensible men who will bring order and austerity to their respective countries. Volker said that indeed, the riots have calmed down, and in Italy, there seems to be some relief at the ouster of Berlisconi. A couple other things he said got me thinking.
Stevie-Dean and The Horse or the Further Adventures of the Mayor
Before I begin this, my first post to the Upper Left Edge, let me say that I am honored if somewhat confused by ending up writing for such a great endeavor. I unlike some of the more serious authors on this site hope only to share some stories and if all goes well entertain you a little. I promise no revelations or enlightenment but rather to give you other worlds to consider that I have had the luck to encounter in my own life and enjoyed. As I hope you enjoy my telling of them. So with that said I take the plunge.
Occupy the Future
Occupy Portland is in its very uniquely Portland end game and it’s time to think a little. Because of some family health issues I have only been marginally attached to the flow of Occupy events, so my reflections are… pure. Something that the Occupy Movement is not. Occupy is made up of wildly diverse groups […]
Chopping carrots at Occupy Vancouver BC
Today is cool and crisp, with a peek of sunshine, and there’s probably 300 people in the park surrounding the Vancouver Art Gallery(VAG), where Occupy Vancouver has existed since October 15. There are about a hundred small tents, from one-to six person size, mostly distributed around the periphery of the encampment, with a so-called “gated community”(not really, of course) of tents in a sheltered area behind the Food Not Bombs(FNB) kitchen tent, which puts out meals fifteen hours a day. There are larger tents for “information”, “media”, “medical assistance”, “peacekeeping”, a”tea house”, and a very well-stocked lending library with comfy sofa and chairs, where I borrowed a copy of Manda Scott’s Boudacia–to take back on Saturday, of course. Hand-written posters everywhere remind us of the shenanigans of the banksters and the governments, the evil and waste of the illegal wars being waged against poor people all over the world, and how these crimes are impacting every one of us.
What’s going to happen?
I’ve been reading books, articles and e-mails about complexity, the economic and political situation, and technology for years now, trying to get a handle on what is going to happen to life on earth in the near future (while I might be alive). I get all kinds of mixed signals, and I seem to change my mind almost daily about what it all means.
The tortoise and the euro
Near the center of Athens you can walk through large tracts of public land covered in rocks, ruins, wooded areas, and dry-land vegetation. Go in one direction and you’ll find the Hill of the Muses. It’s a cool place to take a break from news of global economic decay.
My family wandered there one afternoon during a recent trip to Europe. On the hillside facing the Parthenon we could hear the roar of 100,000 citizens outside the parliament building, protesting cuts in worker pensions, reductions in the minimum wage, increases in taxes, and other bloodletting demanded by eurozone financiers.
Keep Calm and Carry On
First published in The Daily Astorian 10/25/2011.
The title of this column comes from a poster I was given by a friend from the British Commonwealth. The words were a civic maxim during World War II. If fascists had crossed the English Channel, posters like the one that now hangs in my shop would have graced windows throughout the U.K.
The essence of this maxim was repeated recently while I was in Rome and Athens. It was shouted when panic spread beside the Colosseum during a demonstration with tens of thousands of people. It was spoken near the foot of the Acropolis during a protest with 100,000 participants, when violence erupted between policemen and provocateurs.
What about the poor?
What about the poor? I’m talking about the people (which include me) that either don’t make an income, or whose income is so small that they would be considered poor, or at least not “middle class”. Those who get no or little benefits. Those who are chained to their paying or non-paying job, even though it doesn’t make them enough to support their family, or themselves. I work with and know so many of these people. I’m guessing that we make up a significant part of the U.S. population.
I wish Krugman would talk about us.
My take on “Something’s fishy in Arizona”
This libertarian outlook is a bit dangerous, I think. The problem is that, while the small businesses mentioned in the article (cosmetology, moving) are unlikely to destroy the environment, kill people, or generally mess things up, there are plenty of businesses, some even “small” by some people’s definition, that either could potentially, or already have, mess(ed) things up. The general call I hear lately for less government regulation is not, I think, about getting nibbled by fish, as the example in the article details. It’s a thinly veiled attempt to remove the protections we enjoy against messing things up.