give it up or else

Bill Gates, the white knight of African infectious disease, and one-time founder of Microsucks, now sporting respectable jowls, joined his friend, the long-time illusionist and oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, to call on all wealthy individuals to give up at least half of their wealth before they die. Or if they should be struck by unexpected death, to do so at the time of their demise.

True to his nature as a second mover, Bill's idea was copied from none other than the queen of mean, Leona Helmsley, who set the example by her generous charitable donation to the welfare of Trouble, the fluffy pooch. Money well spent I might add!

Such is the irony of modern capitalism, that one first has to resort to all kinds of deceit and malice to amass people's sustenance and throw them into poverty so that one can then later come around and rescue them by generous donation. It reminds me of amateur hunters who grow pheasants and other wildlife so they can release them in season and hunt them down.

Surely the eager defenders of capitalism will point out invaluable benefits of this system that has now reduced the wealth over half of our countrymen (and -women) to zero or below. Steve Forbes, whose equally impressive jowls attest to his profound knowhow, has recently come out to teach us how wrong we all are and how unfettered capitalism will ultimately save the day.

Mind you, I have nothing against capitalism. It is, like its cousin democracy, the lesser evil. But like all such things, both natural and man-made, it is a double-edge sword that needs to be kept in check lest it causes more trouble than it is worth. And it is in the latter part -the checks and bounds part- that we have been failing so miserably over the last few decades. We have turned the great engine of wealth creation into an evil machine of wealth-shifting and senseless consumption.

Sooner or later we will all pay the price for this travesty.

shadow of the moon

I saw Shadow of the Moon recently. It is an interesting movie in many respects although overall it was more than a bit disappointing. But there was one thing that really struck me and made me realize how precarious our situation on this planet is.

Astronauts in the movie repeatedly mention the 3 billion people on the planet watching their every move. Three billion? Yes that is right. In the 1960's there were "only" three billion people on the planet. Today there are over 6 billion. The world population doubled in less than a normal lifespan.

Nothing drives it home so clearly than seeing footage you saw before, and events you can remember.

Oh, and before I forget, even back in the 1970's pollution was visible from space. So much for those who think we are too puny to destroy our environment.

jobs?

First a representative from Texas and now lawmakers from Louisiana, all crying to save offshore drilling. The Texas guy, John Culberson, called the oil spill a "statistical anomaly." I guess that is what you call a drive-by shooting, unless you are the victim?

In any case, all these good people are just trying to save jobs. We have to drill oil so people have jobs and the economy recovers. That is of course if other people are so kind to burn that oil, greenhouse gases be damned. Never mind the bad stuff, it is all a "statistical anomaly" anyways, so says the good man from Texas.

The real issue is not jobs of course, it is profits. It is easy enough to create other jobs, in alternative energy for example. But that would not help all the fat cats who own shares in oil companies. All that beautiful infrastructure that decorates the landscape. Doing away with it would hurt the profits of the oilmen. And what is Texas without its oilmen? Just ask George.

not connected

Every day thousands of gallons of oil enter the Gulf of Mexico. The spectacle, now surely the worst environmental disaster in US history, is making people mad. Images of dying birds, floating tar balls and once-pristine beaches covered in muck are making America angry. That much makes sense. But do these same Americans make the connection to their gas-guzzling SUV's, their oversized pickup trucks and all the miles they drive each and every day? Hardly.

When asked, people sounded frustrated, angry and upset. Their rage was directed at BP and big oil companies; their sympathies were with the fishermen of the Gulf. But did they for one instant think they themselves were playing an active role in this disaster? Did they ever sit back and think about the true cause of this travesty? Fat chance.

All the journalists heard was people explaining how they NEEDED to drive all those miles, how they NEEDED their big truck, how they NEEDED their cheap gas, how they NEEDED oil and how America NEEDED to free itself from foreign imports of oil and gas.

Well then, there is only one logical conclusion one can draw from all this: we godt what we deserved. And surely there is more to come.

obese and depressed

The American public is seriously unhealthy. More than half are overweight and nearly 1 in 4 suffers from a mental illness, usually depression. How come people in the richest nation on earth are so unhealthy and unhappy?

There are ugly statistics wherever you look. Some show that all the gains society made in combatting infectious disease are now nullified by atherosclerosis, diabetes, hypertension, asthma and other conditions. Obesity plays a key role in all of these.

But maybe you think I am a pessimist and you point out that people live longer lives today than they did in at other times in history? You probably heard the average life-span of 40 years too many times. Clearly people are living longer now? But do they? If you take out infant mortality the difference is not that great.

Furthermore, the key determinants of infant mortality are clean water, sewer systems, and vaccines. By about 1950 most of these issues were solved. There are actually data showing that infant mortality is on the rise again in the US. Surely the numbers are low but the trends are disturbing.

But let's not get distracted. What is it that makes Americans so unhappy and unhealthy? How about being bombarded for hours on end with commercials that tell you how inadequate you are, how you would be so much better off if you owned this or that car, or ate this or that food, or drank this or that beer?

How about being told that in order to be cool you need a TV in every room, a blu ray disc player for every TV, cable and Tivo everywhere, the latest gadget cell phones, new PCs, a larger home, more furniture, a bigger yard, an outdoor kitchen, etc.? Hard to keep up with all of that. Work, work, work. Work and endless insecurity. You are always one paycheck away from being laid off or fired. Not to mention the ever mounting bills, the credit card debt, the home equity loan, the mortgage, the fear of losing your home, the inadequate health insurance, you name it.

Guess what America, it's time to throw out the TV. Time to stop listening to all those voices that keep telling you to buy more stuff, to eat more, to consume more, to drive more.

Throw out the TV, park the car and go for a walk.

texas dumps jefferson

The Education board of the great state of Texas is rewriting history once again. This time they want to make sure kids get it right. And getting it right means just that: right, or as far right as we can possibly go for the time being. In doing so, the board decided to dump Thomas Jefferson. The reason? Apparently, Jefferson committed a grave sin by arguing for the separation of church and state. That, the board found was un-enlightened or possibly even un-American.

So there you have it, if even the Founding Fathers were infiltrated by un-American sympathizers, we have to make doubly sure that our kids learn the right lessons in school, lest they too be brainwashed by those who hate our great nation, like TJ? Soon Texas will vote to remove TJ from the currency and replace him with their hero, Ronnie.

In the new curriculum students will learn that America is a Christian nation and that the Founding Fathers wanted it to be that way, notwithstanding subversive forces like Thomas J. They will also learn that supporting the government with taxes can be detrimental to economic well being and it too should be considered a subversive act.

If you are confused, don't worry. Just memorize this simple truth: America is good and its government is evil. Did I get that right?

But it isn't just the American government that is bad. All governments are bad, and the baddest of them all is the United Nations. The UN isn't a government yet -oh thank the forces of good and the will of the almighty- but if it were to become one, it would surely be EVIL.

The UN strikes fear in the hearts of all good citizens, and rightfully so, because kids will now learn that the UN can be a danger to personal freedom, a key American value. As long as that personal freedom excludes such things as free speech, freedom of religion and other perverted freedoms that have no place our Christian religion.

I can' think of a more appropriate ending than to say to y'all: God bless America and the Great State of Texas!!

don't blame us

The oil industry has it right," Don't blame us for the oil spill. It's not our fault." Spoken like a true drug pusher. Blame the addict.

Unfortunately, in this case, there is more truth to it than meets the eye. While oil spills cause a lot of damage, they are "hardly the most baleful consequence of America's oil addiction" according to The Economist.

Furthermore, devastating as they may be, spills are not even the main source of oil floating around in the oceans. Offshore drilling accounts for only 1%, tankers and pipelines for only 4%, compared to 33% from other shipping.

What you also may not realize is that much of the oil spilled in this disaster is expected to evaporate before reaching the coast. So never mind the poor sea gulls, watch what you breathe. Honestly people, if you get upset about this look no further than your own garage. That is where the true culprits are.

oil slick

Heard another debate on BBC America about the disaster that is about to unfold in the Gulf. What was truly surprising was that an industry representative stated matter-of-factly that we need the oil and nobody flinched. Everyone just took it for granted. We need the oil and gas to support our way of life. That is a given.

Now if we could just get it out without those embarrassing incidents. Because that is really what matters here, it doesn't look good. When the commentator asked about a major spill in Indonesia, the industry representative's answer focused on regulations, and how some countries don't have good regulations! Duh.

Once again, deafening silence from the opposition. As if regulations is what matters. Never mind the spill, worry about the rules. Never mind either that those rules were probably dictated by the industry, all too happy that there are plenty of countries with little or no regulations!

Nobody, but absolutely nobody mentioned the outrageous living-room-on-wheels SUV's that Americans need to drive to and from work. Nobody questioned our life-style. Even the environmentalist, or should I say the so-called environmentalist focused on the problem at hand, not the bigger picture.

It is obvious that when people think this way, we are never going to solve our problem. If people take our outrageous life-style for granted, we are doomed. We are doomed to repeat what has happened so many times before: arrogant civilizations running into a brick wall at 100 mph. Collapse.

separation of church and state??

The Supreme Court dealt a major blow to the 1st amendment recently. It is step one towards theocracy. The Court has now formally endorsed a christian symbol as a national emblem. That is what you get when courts swing to right. For years conservative Republicans have rallied against what they called, legislating from the bench, their code-phrase for judges who interpret the constitution as it was meant to be interpreted and refuse to endorse extremist religious views.

Now that the Roberts court is in session, true legislating from the bench is the law of the land. So we no longer hear those Republican voices.

First the court approved campaign contributions from rich corporations, and now it endorses christian symbols as American symbols. What's next you may ask?

Richard Dawkins correctly points out that we give religious types a very wide berth. For no reason really. Why do we hold back when priests abuse and rape children instead of being outraged and cleaning up the church? What stops the police from searching the premises for evidence of crimes? If any ordinary person abused children the way priests routinely do, we would put them in jail and throw away the key.

We have registries of sex offenders and we protest each and every time one moves into our neighborhood. Everyone gets really upset and we have laws keeping these criminals away from schools and parks. But what about the priests? We let them in and teach our kids!

While these "dangerous sex offenders" are often nothing more than boys who had sex with their girlfriend two days before her 18th birthday, these priests are men who molest boys (and sometimes girls) from age 7 onwards.

And we welcome and worship these men who abuse and rape our children. Why? Because they are priests? Because they are men of god and so they can rape our kids, while we stand around and watch? Surely, if god approves, who are we to criticize them?

And now we can watch when the Supreme Court protects the cross in the Mojave by endorsing it as a symbol of our nation. Go figure!

gusher

The proponents of offshore drilling better take a good look at the Gulf of Mexico. The disaster that is unfolding there should be reason enough to ban all offshore drilling forever. But I doubt that it will have any impact at all. Because the only right response to such disasters is not to protest, or to demand tough penalties, but to get rid of your gas-guzzling SUV.

That is right. Without demand, there won't be any reason to go look for oil in the Gulf or any other place, such as the Alaskan wilderness for example.

More than half the oil we "use" is wasted. It is wasted in traffic jams and needless driving. It is wasted in oversized and overweight vehicles, and it is wasted heating buildings that are empty or sparsely occupied.

It is wasted in generators that produce electricity to power lights, appliances and other devices that are left on 24/7 whether anyone needs them or not.

That is one giant oil spill that nobody wants to contain.

foreclosure

California foreclosures rose 92% in March. Analysts were quick to blame government programs that postponed foreclosures for the sudden rise. Nobody said a word about the newer, more ominous mortgages going past their five-year fixed rate period, although there is little doubt that herein lies the true cause.

Expect more trouble to come. Sure, consumers are spending again. But if you think that will lift the economy, hold on. Without jobs and with more foreclosures to come, it is hard to see how spending can be sustained. Sure, people are spending, but you need to ask yourself why?

They are spending because they have money and they have been sitting on it for a long time, holding their breath. Now it is time to let go. This letting-go is likely to last a bit longer as everyone is eagerly awaiting the recovery and making -wishful thinking- statements about it. There is little doubt we will see a bounce and that bounce may well last into summer.

With the advent of spring, reproductive juices are flowing and that always leads to more optimism, more joy, and more spending. When spring gives way to summer and no jobs appear reality will surely intervene sooner rather than later.

androgynous

As our modern society has expanded, longevity has become the rule. While many will attribute this to medicine and excellent medical care, the true causes are closer to clean water, good sewers and plenty of food.

Controlling infection is what longevity is all about. The less trouble bugs can make the better we humans fare. And the more androgynous we become. Bugs are, after all the true cause of sexual reproduction. Without infectious agents, there is no need for sexual reproduction. When the future is predictable and infection in check, asexual reproduction is the way to go. It is easier and faster.

A recent study showed that women who live in countries with high mortality due to infectious disease, prefer more macho looking men. They also tolerate polygamy and prefer to share one alpha male with other women. All in all it is a better deal than having your own -somewhat less alpha- hubby.

Clearly, when the future is uncertain, we want sex and we want sexual dimorphism. We want men that look and behave like men. Like or not, but aggression seems part and parcel of such male behavior. It isn't just aggressive looks that women in such situations crave.

When the future is more certain, and our offspring are more likely to survive, we prefer men with more feminine and tolerant traits and we don't want share them. Hence we become monogamous.

If we could, I guess we would become genderless as well.

In that sense we are very much like other species that manipulate sexuality and gender according to the environment. We are, fortunately or unfortunately, a bit more constrained and we can't simply change gender or become genderless on a whim. But we do display all the other traits, just stopping short of actual physical transformation. That is, of course, if you ignore those transgender surgeries.

All in all those who long for the past, "when men were men...," here is a simple recipe: bring back the bugs. Unfortunately, it looks like that is about to happen.

the good of the universal church

Everybody who cares to open their eyes can see that religion is all about sex and control. What better place to bring this all together than having a priest, who represents ultimate power and control to the believers, mess with their young children? After all who can blame men who trumpet celibacy as a virtue, for the occasional transgression? There is only so much one can do to live against one's innate drives.

Isn't it funny that those who rally against non reproductive sex engage in such acts themselves?Or that those who rally the loudest against homosexuality are closeted homosexuals? Do we smell a whiff of denial here? Didn't we just see politicians with free government health insurance rally against such insurance for others?

Unfortunately idols get away with a lot. Just look at OJ. No doubt the pope too is hoping that this glove won't fit and his innocence be thusly demonstrated. It would be best for the good of the universal church after all!

gop logic

For those of you with no sense of history, which ironically enough includes almost the entire Tea Party movement, here is a reality check as seen in The Economist, March 27 issue.

About what we now affectionately call Obamacare: ."..closely resembles the approach the Republicans themselves offered up as an alternative to Hillarycare in 1993."

There is more:

"Despite the resemblance, the Republicans have been swift to denounce the legislation as an abomination and its centerpiece -an obligation on all citizens to buy health insurance on the pain of a fine-as a violation of the constitution."

Other similar parallels have been drawn, in particular to the healthcare solution proposed by Mitt Romney -now a staunch critic of any reform- in Massachusetts.

And that just goes to show you that the opposition to healthcare reform, probably the most needed reform in the country, is driven by nothing more than partisan politics and backed up by nothing more than threats and hot air.

TSA tries to be funny

Here is a double standard for you. Don't try to make a joke, especially not one about guns or bombs, at the airport. We all know that doing so will result in jail time, fines, and tons of nasty treatment. TSA it seems, hates jokes. But only if you, the passenger, about to be treated like a criminal -guilty until proven innocent- try to make light of the ridiculous situation.

TSA itself has no problem making fun of you. They love to tell jokes. They must know the joke is on us and what better way to show who's in charge than to make fun of the people who are about to have their privacy invaded, and now thanks to amazing technology, their privates exposed. TSA apparently thinks this is all very funny, and not only do they have screeners making bad jokes and thereby delaying everyone, but TSA has gone to a full media assault using videos to make fun of passengers trying to get their luggage on a plane.

At a recent TSA checkpoint that uses the new naked scanners, one bright officer thought it was very funny to tell people over and over again to empty their pants. He reminded everyone to remove everything from their pockets. Don't leave any nuts in your pockets because we will see them, he said with a big smile on his face. Now how is that for a good joke?

TSA also showed videos of clowns trying to get past security with overloaded packs. Don't these idiots know that one is only allowed one tiny bag, containing no dangerous liquids -water comes to mind- or other subversive materials like toothpaste and mouthwash? That is exactly how TSA sees the traveling public, a bunch of morons who don't understand the important security measures that keep our skies safe.

The reality is a bit different. Time and time again tests have shown the incompetence of the screening process. People get past the elaborate security charade with all its scanners, X ray machines, and magic wands, with knives, ice picks and other forbidden items. Meanwhile busy TSA officers stop moms with babies to look for explosives in sippy cups. Elderly people are searched while those in wheelchairs create traffic jams at the magnetic scanners. All of it in the name of no profiling. No wonder TSA thinks the whole process is one big joke!

extremists vying for attention

Yesterday, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner tried to outdo themselves to appear like right wing extremists to please the crowds in Orange County. You may remember that Orange County is the county where people must waste water. It is therefore not surprising that extremist views are welcomed here.

Apart from the regular Republican mantras such as cutting taxes, Whitman and Poizner tried to show how they would fire people, deny them healthcare and basic benefits, run them out of the state, and make their lives harder in other meaningful ways. Clearly both these former business people mean business when it comes to race, ethnicity, and other controversial issues. Like good business people, they also know how to word these proposals so nobody could accuse them of being racist.

Mr. Poizner will balance the budget by cutting taxes. Already the state has a multi-billion dollar shortfall, but that will not stop Mr. Poizner from making matters worse if he needs to do so to get elected. Ms. Whitman, no doubt remembering her days at the helm sucking up to Wall Street, will fire tens of thousands of state workers. Apart from the moral outrage, one has to wonder how a consumer economy will recover if more people are forced into bankruptcy and more housing will go into foreclosure.

Both candidates acted as if they had just returned from a three year vacation to another planet.

Clearly the debate was underwhelming enough so that no TV station deemed it necessary to waste airtime on such sloganeering. Or maybe they were afraid the advertisers would balk at broadcasting extreme views that play well in Orange but might infuriate the rest of the electorate?

genomic waste

One can understand that laymen may have a hard time understanding evolution and its implications. Especially in a country like America, where evolution is often treated as a philosophical idea akin to religion, instead of the scientific notion it really is.

Evolution is not palatable to the common folk. They already feel intimidated by all the smarts around them. The last they want to hear is that they are descended from monkeys, with the obvious implication that they are closer to those monkeys than the smart ones, who must -by definition- be more evolved. All of this is hogwash of course, but try to explain that to the press.

However when a bunch of geneticists start wasting money because they don't understand the implications of natural selection, one has to wonder. That is precisely what happened when the HapMap project was announced. One could argue the scientists can be forgiven for there are many forces here to cloud the picture.

First, there was the enormous inventory of sequencing and PCR machines that now stood idle. Second there were the government bureaucrats, who felt somewhat disappointed when the much ballyhooed genome project failed to deliver all the medicines and therapies they had promised to their sponsors. Third there were the very people who drove much the project, many of whom were mathematicians and physicists, who never sat down and thought about evolution. And finally, there was the master of them all, the kumba-ya singing apostle of fundamentalism and science, who was appointed the high priest of the project.

But face it, HapMap was and is a glorious failure. Even more so than the genome project itself. That project had at least one redeeming factor: a lot of technology was developed that has other uses. Much like the velcro and the space project one could say.

HapMap was based on the mistaken assumption that common diseases would be caused by common gene mutations and that these would be relatively easy to find if one applied enough genotyping and sequencing volume. Enough brute force, it was truly an American idea.

Nobody ever thought that maybe, just maybe, natural selection would have weeded out these common errors before they could become common. That simple notion, the first one that is taught students when they learn about biology, escaped the great minds of the genome.

Now hundreds of millions of dollars later, they are finally coming face to face with reality. They are finally realizing the old saying, "garbage in, garbage out."

People can ignore evolution if they choose to do so. They can ignore gravity too. But when they do, it will cost them dearly. Such is the nature of reality. It is a bit different from religion.

orange country logic

Orange County isn't know for its smarts. But now the city of Orange is pulling out all the stops. The city is suing a couple who removed their front lawn, thereby reducing their water usage from 229,221 gallons in 2007 to 58,348 gallons in 2009. Given California's problems with drought and the fact that some cities in the Southland are contemplating or are building desalination plants, one would think that the couple would win an award.

But the city of Orange does not think so. It thinks the Ha's are criminals for not wasting water. Its laws require that residents waste water. The city forces residents to cover significant portions of their front yards with live ground cover. The Ha's front yard is not overgrown with weeds, it is not an eyesore according to the LA Times. Furthermore, the Times reports it has recently been covered with wood chips, drought tolerant plants and a nice fence.

None of that is not acceptable to city officials, who claim city codes require that 40% of the yard be landscaped predominantly with live plants. And that is why the couple will have to appear in Orange County Superior Court on Tuesday to challenge the city's lawsuit against them.

big business fights climate change

Just in case you wonder, Democrats are not that different from Republicans. All lawmakers listen to the beat of one drum: big business and its campaign contributions. Even if doing so goes against the wishes of voters, or common sense. These lawmakers figure their donors will be successful at convincing voters anyhow. History has shown that they are often right to think so. Nobody is as brainwashed as the American voters. American voters are the only ones who gladly and proudly vote against their own interest as is clearly shown by what is happening around Health Care Reform.

A democratic senator from West Virginia, aka coaltown, John D. Rockefeller IV introduced a bill that would put a two year freeze on the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants. It was just one of many proposals from both chambers designed to delay or overturn the EPA's regulations.

What is Senator Rockefeller IV worried about? That fossil fuel prices could go up? How is that for logic? Fossil fuel prices should go up. They should go up by a lot. Anyone who cares for the future of humans on the planet knows that. Only higher prices will deter people from wasting energy and producing more greenhouse gases.

Guess what Rockefeller is waiting for? Clean coal? He calls it a technological breakthrough to reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels. He also said," Today we took important action to safeguard jobs, the coal industry, and the entire economy." What he really meant was, "today we are setting back environmental regulation by several decades to please my big business campaign contributors."

The oil and mining industries immediately started lobbying for Rockefeller's bill, although the American Petroleum Institute was clearly upset that the bill did not go far enough. "We don't know why the freeze on EPA authority isn't made permanent," a policy analyst for the Institute said.

reagan bills

Conservatives want to put Ronnie on the $50 bill. What better way to celebrate a man who lies at the root of our current fiscal mess!

Patrick McHenry, a Republican congressman from North Carolina, made the proposal. He says his generation needs its own heroes and that it is time to honor President Reagan. McHenry is 34, a proud member of Generation X.

Reagan would bump Grant, the 18th President and a general in the civil war. Grant is a hero to the Union Army who led them to victory over the Confederates. It may be good to point out that that is something that does not sit well with the people South of the Mason-Dixon line. Grant like Reagan was hugely popular -in the North that is- and like Reagan his presidency was no great success. Oops, I forgot the conservatives do think Reagan was a success.

Reagan's leadership in the cold war and his economic policies and tax reductions -that we will pay for in decades to come- no doubt put him on par with Grant's accomplishments in McHenry's mind. Of course Reagan can be forgiven since he suffered from Alzheimer's disease. McHenry though has no such excuse.

Although anti-Reagan opinion focuses on Iran Contra and the failure to recognize the AIDS epidemic, Reagan's credit card economy is his real handiwork. Granted (sic) that economy made some people outrageously wealthy. So why not put their hero on the $1,000 bill instead? Or on some CDO's?