h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here's another New York Times op/ed piece, trying to make sense of the rage:

Whose Country Is It?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/27/opinion/27blow.html?src=me&ref=general

Last night, I watched a snippet of the evening news with my stepfather. The report in question covered the "Conservative Woodstock", i.e. the teabagger rally in Searchlight, Nevada--Senate Majority Leader and Democrat Harry Reid's hometown--this weekend. The network interviewed several participants. All were white, most were elderly. Two woman appeared on the television screen. One was in the upper range of middle age, the other was decidedly elderly. They introduced themselves as a mother and daughter, avid teabaggers, fans of Sarah Palin. The younger one, prompted by the reporter, launched into their story. They moved from Detroit, Michigan to Las Vegas, Nevada in search of a better life. They were disappointed in the direction this country was going. The younger one couldn't find a job. They were at the rally to express their outrage at the out-of-control government spending and the size of the federal government.

Okay.

Two women who have lived their entire lives in cities dependent on government subsidies and tax breaks (Detroit, the automobile industry; Las Vegas, water and power courtesy of Hoover Dam), one woman who receives Medicare and Social Security, the other presumably receiving unemployment benefits, were demonstrating against the very government that SUBSIDIZED EVERY GODDAMNED MOMENT OF THEIR EXISTENCE.

Irony is dead in this country.

Not entirely. From the New York Times online:

California: Rove Leaves Stage After Heckling
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/us/31brfs-ROVELEAVESST_BRF.html

FG, that's .

What irks me is that I assume that the journalist didn't ask them that sort of questions?

The media is strangely cowed by these folks. Or rather, their handlers.

FG: "The media is strangely cowed by these folks. Or rather, their handlers."

Considering that most of the media in the US is anything but liberal, why would they challenge any of that?

This from Rolling Stones magazine

Looting Main Street:
How the nation's biggest banks are ripping off American cities with the same predatory deals that brought down Greece

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/32906678/looting_main_street/

From the Washington Post online:

The Tea Party: Populism of the privileged
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/18/AR2010041802724.html

"The news media's incessant focus on the Tea Party is creating a badly distorted picture of what most Americans think and is warping our policy debates. The New York Times and CBS News thus performed a public service last week with a careful study of just who is in the Tea Party movement."

"Err, wait - the government takes care of my social security? Then I guess it's OK after all... " *shakes head*

The Great American Bubble Machine:
From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression — and they're about to do it again

This article originally appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine, 1082-1083 from July 9-23, 2009.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/;kw=[3351,11459]?RS_show_page=0

"If you want to understand how we got into this financial crisis, you have to first understand where all the money went — and in order to understand that, you need to understand what Goldman has already gotten away with. It is a history exactly five bubbles long — including last year's strange and seemingly inexplicable spike in the price of oil. There were a lot of losers in each of those bubbles, and in the bailout that followed. But Goldman wasn't one of them."

Goldman didn't do that gas thing all by itself. The prices spiked, because the cost of oil spiked, but now that oil gotten cheaper the prices still have not come down. One of the exceptions to the rule of supply and demand. I'm expecting oil to go sky-high due to the oil spill. If I was really a cynic, I'd suspect foul play.

Speak of the devil...

Criminal Probe Looks Into Goldman Trading

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703572504575214652998348876.html?mod=WSJEUROPE_hpp_LEFTTopWhatNews

They passed a law last summer that had the effect of quieting the price of oil; I forget exactly how because I'm not into the arcana of high finance.

Goldman have been under the microscope for months now -- I'm not surprised to hear that it's become a criminal probe.

Lil mentioned the gulf oil spill, I have a few thoughts on this. It seems to me that our western lifestyle is founded on oil. Everything we do is dependent on oil being used either to manufacture it or transport it . Most of the easily accessible oil is already being exploited. The economic rise of places like China and India has put even more pressure on existing supplies. So to maintain our lifestyles we need more oil which means drilling for it in less easily accessible places like deep water. Accidents are pretty much inevitable when pushing technology to the limit.
I think our oil addicted lifestyles are to blame for this. We all have oil on our hands.

And there are scientists who say it's plastic that will be the end of civilization. (Warning -- this short film is hard to watch in places):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnUjTHB1lvM

But I think it's stupidity that will kill us off (and the planet).

I'm happy to remove the topic from the main salon, because it is incredibly depressing indeed. Salonistas, please refrain from invective or name-calling or other forms of anathemitization, as you will only be modded by a litigation-shy BBC.

I feel compelled to bear witness, and so I follow the live feeds of tool-bearing rovers moving around that evil black geyser, and I see the photos of murdered marshlands and dead sea life and I know it will gt lots lots worse before it gets better.

Corexit, the dispersant that BP continues to use against the wishes of the US Government: has anyone thought about where that will wind up after summer hurricanes scoop it up out of the gulf and hurl it inland?

What would Douglas Adams be saying about now?

Also, this is not a spill. This is a two-billion gallon oil volcano.

Thank you for moving it, Lil. It's not that I want to ignore it entirely, it's just that I don't want to fall over a discussion about it.

I really respect your desire and need to witness it. And the term "oil volcano" is a good one.

Ben

Lil, "But I think it's stupidity that will kill us off (and the planet)."

We have the ability to kill off the species of this planet. Kill the planet itself? We are not that powerful -- which, when you think of it, is a good thing. It means there is a chance for another rise of life here.

Lil, you'd mentioned that there's live coverage of the oil volcano (*really* an apt name for the monster!). Could you please supply a link to it?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/26/bp-oil-spill-live-feed-vi_n_590635.html