This morning, Tom Waits said:

All your cryin don't do no good
Come on up to the house
Come down off the cross
We can use the wood
Come on up to the house

A Subtle Plan

CNN "invited the world" to propose designs for a rebuilt World Trade Center. They go a lot of strange results, including this, my favoite

What does Bush do with the windfall from cutting federal programs for kids & seniors?

The administration continues its dismantling of the civil service, clear air regulations (hey, we’re at the end of the tail pipe here in New England!), while spending more & more at a deficit as social programs get the axe. Meanwhile, even though there is no money floating around for said social programs, Bush (As get Donkey says, the party of “spend & cripple” or “spend & destroy”) has reinstated the policy of handing out political appointees in the federal government cash rewards of up to $15,000. How does one get one of these bonuses? Ask Andrew Card or the justice Dept.:

An Oct. 8 Justice Department memorandum explaining how the bonuses will be distributed within the department says that awards for political appointees "will be limited to truly outstanding performance that contributes directly to achieving the president's and the attorney general's national goals and objectives."

Wow...better toe the line if you want George to pony up the cash. The plan was reinstated earlier this year but Andrew Card kept it a secret until yesterday because ...well, there must be some reason, right? Could it be that it’s not such a good idea to mention that your administration is stepping up the sale of the US Government to the highest bidder before a midterm election? Now that that’s over, it’s dollar days down at the White House -yeehaw! How How How will cronyism and corruption make the Dept. of Homeland Security or even the whole of the US Government more efficient?!!! Do you feel safer now? Does this administration have any code? Sheesh!

Cliff Notes Save The Day

Like Finnegan's Wake, Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone can sometimes make for pretty convoluted reading. Luckily, there are now notes available.

* * * * * * *


Homeland Security For Corporations

Two interesting provisions were tacked on to the recent Homeland Security bill that flew through Congress. These days, everybody’s talking about the logistics and problems associated with the largest government reorganization since the Truman Administration while these small gifts to Bush contributors are remaining steadfastly under the radar. Let’s shine a little light on them:

Corporations have been reincorporating in Bermuda to avoid paying US taxes. Now, they aren’t moving there, they’re just setting up a shell office as a mail drop and boom! - it saves them millions of dollars a year. Let’s put aside the offense to the concept of patriotism that a corporation such as Ingersoll-Rand (that split for Bermuda 3 months after 9/11) commits by running off to the nearest tax dodge during a time of war (or prewar or whatever) and get down to the problems with this bill. The Wellstone amendment to this bill was meant to close the loophole that allowed these ethically-challenged companies to still get highly lucrative US government contracts despite the fact that they were no longer US companies on paper. At the same time that various lawmakers were praising the late senator for his values immediately following his death, they were removing his amendment and replacing it with a completely toothless one which benefits theses tax evaders (oops, sorry. The new names for corporate tax cheats is “corporate expatriates” and the relocation is called a “corporate Inversion.” Doesn't that sound less treasonous?). So, As Molly Ivans puts is:

Here's Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts on how it works: "Let's take Tyco, formerly of New Hampshire, now of Bermuda, for example. Tyco avoids paying $400 million a year in U.S. taxes by setting up a shell headquarters offshore, but it was awarded $182 million in lucrative defense and homeland security-related contracts in 2001 alone. If Tyco had just paid its tax bill, Congress could easily have paid for 400 explosive detection systems (EDS), which are badly needed to protect U.S. travelers at airports around the nation. "Or let's examine corporate expatriate Ingersoll-Rand, formerly of New Jersey, and now also in Bermuda. Ingersoll-Rand earned as much last year in U.S. defense and homeland security federal contracts as it avoids in U.S. taxes annually merely by renting a mailbox in Bermuda and calling it 'home.' If Ingersoll Rand paid its U.S. tax bill, Congress could easily afford to fund the Cyberspace Warning Intelligence Network, estimated to cost $30 million, or it could also buy 400,000 gas masks for American citizens. More here.

Any guesses on which of these companies was a major contributor to the Bush campaign? Speaking of major contributors, another company, Eli Lily, also got a lot for their dollar in this new bill. The legislation contains a provision that protects the company from the lawsuits that are gathering strength over the use of a mercury based preservative called thimerosal that is used in some of their vaccines. Mercury, as you may know, is not so hot for your noggin and small doses of it can cause severe brain damage. Although the company maintains that this preservative is safe (and is backed up by many studies,) ,there are many others that see a link between thimerosal and autism (with studies that support this, as well). While the jury is still out on this, the dispute is heating up. So, Eli Lily basically paid to have itself granted immunity just in case their vaccines are linked to autism. Not a lot of faith in their own product, huh? Isn’t this like tacking a provision protecting the German company that marketed Thalidomide on to the civli rights legislation of the 60s? How about tacking on to the A.D.A a provision which protects Philip Morris from its practice of secretly manipulating the nicotine levels in their products? I mean, come on? Can this administration get any more brazen in it’s attempts to protect corporations from the repercussions of their own ethical violations, crime, and wrongdoing? Of course, most businesses in this country are run ethically and respectably but the actions of some high profile corporations as of late are not a great argument for totally free market capitalism. Does anyone in this government give a rats ass about the general public that suffers when one of these wayward corporations trashes the stock holdings of its employees and share holders, cheats the people out of taxes, or beta tests the safety of its products on an unsuspecting public?


CCF
Formerly of Boston
Now reachable in Bermuda for tax purposes

Cleaning Up The Mess?

Here’s a picture from Mitt Romney’s successful gubernatorial campaign in Massachusetts last month:



He promised to “clean up the mess on Beacon Hill,” even placing the image of a broom on his campaign posters. Now, one month later those same posters are still all over the place, littering the roadside on my way to work and blowing across my snow-strewn street like tumbleweeds. How bloody likely is it that Mitt will hop into that truck and come pick up those damn signs around town now that the election is over? Not very...

Two Unrelated Thoughts This Morning:

There has been a lot of coverage about the huge oil spill off the coasts of Portugal & Spain and it looks like it’s right up there in size and damage as the infamous Exxon Valdez. What doesn’t seem to be getting any press are the questions “to which company does this oil belong?” and “why is it ok to allow companies to contract out the transportation of hazardous materials to the lowest bidder?” The Prestige (the now-sunken tanker) seems to have missed a few safety inspections over the last few years. What company, currently keeping its head down in the media took such a lax stand on safety? Does this make you more or less confidant about the whole Yucca Mountain plan?

* * * * *

One is constantly barraged with presidential approval ratings, especially since 9/11. As an informal poll, have you or anybody you know ever been called for one of these things? Who are they calling and what are they asking?

If I’m going to sit up here and sound reasonably intelligent (a stretch for me as those who know me will tell you), I’d better learn to tell my ass from my elbow.....

Flip The Switch

Welcome! After a few years of harassing my family and friends with perpetual e-mails of links, pictures and rants, it’s time to give them a break from their morning deletions of said correspondence in favor a trip to blogsville. I’ve had a good time ferreting out the strange stories and compelling art that inhabits the less visited corners of the web and sending them off to my long suffering mail list. Also, I’ve tried to maintain a running commentary against the cacophonous news of the day by offering up important viewpoints from the alternative media under the maxim of “something closer to the truth is out there...you just have to work to find it.” I’ll continue to do these things because it’s fun, cathartic, and I hope you’ll join in and contribute your ideas as well as whatever you find floating out there.

A lot of people had told me that I’d have less time to dredge up the things that I do from the web when Asher was born. I kind of hoped that the bliss & work of an infant would shield me from the less than optimistic news of the outside world for a while. War, terrorism, Bush, Ashcroft, Bin Laden, Hussein, The Ketchup Song...enough was enough. While I did bliss out heavily on Asher (no trouble attaching to my kid here...I almost dove in front of the needle the other day when he had to get a shot), the opposite of what I expected would happen occurred( if you’ll excuse the cliché): It just seems more urgent these days. So, a blog seems like a good outlet (sparing Nili & Asher my “what is it with these people?!!!” post-work tirades is a priority) as well as a means to for me to learn something and even possibly help perpetuate viewpoints someone might not encounter at the newsstands. So far, the web still seems good for that. It’s also good for a bit of fun and we’ll go there to, terror-alert color permitting. Hey, I never considered myself very political ...mostly just not very serious about much (despite what you read here) combined with a healthy dose of political disbelief.

The desire to dive one’s cranium into the nearest sand trap over world events is highly understandable. Distractions are easy to find and it’s almost comforting to hyperfocus on the stuff that’s right in front of us each day. However, if this place is going to even maintain the resemblance of a democracy, we’ve got to do more than throw a switch every two years for the lesser of two evils. So the choice is that we can have quick onset evil or let it grow more slowly? Not much of a choice. Maybe quick is better because, like the proverbial frog in boiling water, we’d be more inclined to hop out of this mess. A blog is a starting place. Getting your voice and body out there might be the first step towards helping to point out that the emperor has no clothes despite the fancy kingly crap that Fox, ABC, CNN swear he’s always preening around in. I hope you’ll be inspired to join in with your voice ( no matter where you fall within the narrowing spectrum of American politics) the way that I was by reading so many of the excellent blogs and news sites that I have over the past few years.

From Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino:

“He said “It is all useless, if the last landing place can only be the infernal city, and it is there that, in ever-narrowing circles, the current is drawing us.”

And Polo said “ The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live everyday, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not the inferno, then make them endure, give them space.””

Thanks for dropping in. Let’s get down to blogging proper...

CCF

Daddo & Kiddo

Kiddo & Mommo

Blink...Blink