Another Precinct Heard From

The floundering MainStreamMedia strikes again. What a great idea; we now need to "educate" and/or "certify" bloggers. I'll let the current state of the "media establishment" speak for itself, in terms of its credentials to make any such assertion. To generalize from the problem as originally outlined in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the MSM should be completely overhauled and "recertified" because of the antics in CBS' "Rathergate" or the legendary Jayson Blair fiasco at the New York Times.

Here's a site that deals with the various categories of journalistic cheating. Cheating that is going on in the MSM.

Never has there been a clearer example of the pot calling the kettle black. As a blogger, I can wholeheartedly, if not eloquently state my response to the MSM: up yours.

Criminalizing Nature

The trend I first observed on The Weather Channel of anthropomorphizing the forces of nature ("vicious" tornadoes, "ruthless" tsunamis) has now been matched with reportage on astronomical events on the largest scale. The black hole in question is alleged to have exhibited "-- an act of galactic violence that astronomers said yesterday they have never seen before-" Despite all the fruity, overblown rhetoric, larded with extreme adjectives, natural forces are not capable of intent (which is certainly implied by the use of "act" and its modifier "violence") and therefore there can be no teleological component to the event.

The journalists are running out of language; what's going to happen if we get paved over by Douglas Adams' aliens to make that hyperspace bypass? What will we say? "You....you....you...!!"

Save an adjective for a rainy day (or one of horrid, relentless vulcanism).

Times to the Rescue

The mortgage "crisis" has finally deepened enough to provoke outright pleas for government bailouts from certain quarters. This NY Times Op-Ed explicitly calls for "- federal funds to help at-risk borrowers to stay in their homes and at-risk communities to reduce foreclosures-" although you have to read through a litany of other measures to finally reach it. This piece is authored by a Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers 1993-95 under old You-Know-Who. Some of the measures she proposes may be justified, such as postponing variable rate increases and strictly temporary moratoriums on foreclosures, but you can't simply use scare expressions like "-for the good of the overall economy" and justify pouring tax money in to pay what amount to scam mortgages to rescue those who were stupid enough or oblivious enough to sign them. Another proposal to short-circuit personal responsibility and endorse worse-than-irresponsible behavior in the lending industry will yield- nothing.

It's not often I quote Calvin Coolidge, because he said very little that anyone would wish to remember. This case is an exception: "They hired the money, didn't they?"

Define "Organic" ?

According to this story, some people are peddling milk that isn't organic.

I have to admit- I don't understand what "organic" means, except from my short career in Chemistry, and a somewhat broader exposure to the concept in Biology. I understand organic compounds to be: those comprising some combination of C,H,O,N (Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen) with the occasional incorporation of atoms of such elements as Sulfur or Iron.
Ever since the unfortunate adoption of the word "organic" by those who theorize that foods produced in a certain manner are more "foodlike" or "less poisonous" than others, I've yet to see any simple, concise definition of "organic foods" ....which, I submit, should be rendered as some sort of phrase when applied in this manner (....or "organic sustenance, organic chow"), and not merely as the modifier "organic," which, as I have noted, is already taken.
What I'm getting at, and where the confusing "middle part" comes in, is that a molecule of glucose is an organic compound, and it is just as much glucose in sugar cane that is raised "inorganically" as some that is raised "organically." The article linked above does nothing to remove the murkiness from the concept of "organic food." It appears that it revolves around a bunch of rather hard to define conditions, e.g., whether (and how much?) milk cows get their sustenance from pasture, as opposed to food. But if their food is just dried baled grass from those same pastures, does it qualify? And then there's the fact that the brand of "organic" has been around long enough, and enough people seek it out, that it's become a battle of the food interests- but I'm not going there.
I admit that I've a very dubious outlook on the whole idea of "organic food" as it's been presented and marketed so far. The best I can say is that I'm looking for more light, and less heat. "Free-range light," naturally.....

The Role of Government

Amidst all the views concerning Matters Green as they are currently playing out -and they are legion- we find the unfortunately common view that Government Must Intercede, as exemplified by this article from our favorite Nanny State, in the relentlessly Socialist Guardian. A brief summary would state that the solution to our Green Disease is goverment rationing of consumer products. A reply to the article is much more deserving of wide publication:

stevejones123
December 3, 2007 1:26 AM

What the government is doing regarding climate change is passing the buck on to the individual.

It could easily ban incandescent light bulbs, air conditioners, insist that public buildings only be heated to 18 centigrade, give the subsidies the Germans do to those who invest in renewable energy, bring in strict laws regarding energy efficiency for new houses, stick an additional tax on electronic goods that don't go into proper standby, insist of aircraft fuel being taxed at the same rate as petrol and diesel, forbid subsidies from local or regional authorities to local airports or budget airlines, and a fair number of other measures.

Expecting the consumer to follow his conscience is a recipe for making people feel miserable and harrassed without significantly reducing energy use.

We are driven to ask: why is government not doing these things? Politically indigestible, might cost some politicians votes, perhaps. It seems to be a necessity of the profession nowadays that the backbone be excised prior to beginning a successful career.

Extremism, I fear it....

....and some days, it seems like there's nothing left in our media but those positions where everyone concerned is breathing into a brown paper bag. Like the New Prohibition, which is another example (or, perhaps, a historically recurring example.....) of good intentions gone wrong, as and organization like MADD can morph itself into a gaggle of Carrie Nations.

This article, via Coffee and Diapers, gives a quote that must be replicated far and wide. It's as much a plea for individuality, free will, and self-recognizance as it is about the topic under discussion, and such statements are sorely needed:

We, the undersigned, take exception to the claim that social drinking in the presence of our children is a sign of irresponsible or bad parenting. Further, we contend that it is moderation that makes responsible drinkers, and that moderation and good sense are the responsibility of all citizens; that healthy attitudes towards the consumption of alcohol are learned in the home; that successful parenting does not require us to sacrifice the exercise of our own maturity in order to protect our children’s innocence; and that our society has more to fear from the poor judgment and intemperance of institutions which prey on parental insecurities than with the hospitality we share with other mothers in our parenting journey.

Bravo.

I'm an Idiot.

Well, whatever sort of insanity grips consumers prior to Christmas finally got me- although for less than an hour, and I didn't actually buy anything. Received word that a local electronics chain (which shall remain nameless, the initials being "Best Buy") was getting a shipment of the scarce Nintendo "Wii" video game machine at 4PM. The store apparently gets shipments of 16 machines on Tuesday and Saturday. When I called to confirm, the individual stated that it would be best if I showed up "-a little before 4." Ha.

I arrived at the store a bit past 3, and inquire as to where I might get in line to wait for the item in question. I was told to repair to the cluster of balloons floating above the piles of merchandise on the far side of the store. I went to the indicated spot, and was thunderstruck to see at least 50 people standing, sitting on the floor and in the store's display lounge chairs, even lying down, all looking at me like deer in the headlights, presumably concerned lest I try to jump the line. I gave a somewhat involuntary laugh, and said something to the effect of "50 people for 16 machines? I think not." And I turned on my heel and left.

It didn't bother me, it was actually what I expected. Lesson learned, never again.

The cream of the jest didn't play out until I got home, where I learned from my eldest son that while I was out braving the anthill of free-enterprise retail that is our local Heart of Darkness, he had received an alert that they were in stock at an on-line retailer (which shall remain nameless, if you don't know the name of the largest river in South America). With a few keystrokes, he accomplished what an hour and two gallons of $3 gasoline had failed to do. If this is the future of consumption, I'm for it.

Well, Duh! Dept.

Housing: A Crisis With Staying Power in the CSM seems to think it's advancing some scientific discovery to say that the housing bust is having profound effects -and will continue to do- beyond a raft of foreclosures. Where it doesn't venture is the historical perspective that the economic history of the United States has been largely the story of boom & bust. We tolerate the bust because we confidently expect the next boom. So far, it works.....

Touchy World

"Everyone's a drum major, leading a parade of hurt." That line, from John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, seems to apply more and more in a world grown insanely sensitive to the crossed wires that are inevitable in human interaction. Teddy bears given the wrong name, wallets given as gifts, or in another place, gifts opened in the presence of the giver......all serious -or even deadly- mistakes, depending on whose toes are being trodden. The first thing that occurs is that there's something built-in that causes such radical reaction upon nonconformance to cultural norms.....at least when it's observed in an alien culture. The second thing is that it would never involve such masses of people if it weren't for the media.

What to do about it? Stay home, I guess, where one may expect to understand the manners and mores.....if indeed such things may properly be defined in early 21st century America.

Why Read?

As can be seen from the category, this is another of those books you really should read.....if you read. If you're part of the growing hordes of non-readers, you can quit reading this post now. The Gutenberg Elegies by Sven Birkerts is a volume that may occasionally be tiresome, but it's point is one I've read in no other dedicated book: what is happening to us as a civilization because of the tectonic move away from reading caused by the various technologies and media of "the information age?"

For me, this book has nothing to do with:

1) reading to attain "literacy."

2) reading to peruse the newspaper or magazines; these media are in the same status as the dinosaurs a few seconds after the asteroid hit, and reading for information has nothing to do with the point being made.

3) reading to get some job, pass a test to get a grade, and all that dreary crap.

What really grabbed me about Birkerts' book is something else again: reading as escape. Reading to get away from.....this. (From YOU, too!) Just me and the words of Dickens, or Hemingway, or Heinlein, or Miller, or......and if you don't understand what I'm talking about yet, here's another invitation to stop reading. Chances are if you don't get this, you never will.

By way of digression, unlike a lot of people, I don't believe reading is for everyone. First, about a third of the human race doesn't read, and will never be able to read, or not very well; I suppose that's what's meant by "functional illiteracy." Doesn't matter, it's built-in. Reading and writing are an altogether different proposition, categorically different from speaking and hearing. Any normally functioning human being will learn to speak and listen to their language, without the slightest effort, just by "hanging out," by the time they are 2 or so. Reading and writing are handled in different parts of the brain, and a significant fraction of the human race can no more learn to read or write than most can do differential equations. This is -yet another- thing that is not admitted by the educational establishment, although it's documented beyond all question.

To return to the main point, and Birkerts', what will become of us when we can no longer "get away" for a while? Is that "reading place" where a lot of the world's creativity is brewed? I don't know, and don't rate the concept that highly anyway. Is it just one of the last really private places, in a world more crowded and packed each day? Although I consciously live as far away as I can from most humans, and particularly their noxious collectivities, I value it terribly. I can't escape my conviction that whatever the consequences, if and when the world of the reader disappears, something great and fundamental in us will be lost, and our humanity will be something other than we have known.