water water everywhere and not a drop to drink

50 years from now we will look back on the days when fresh water was plentiful and the ocean was relatively unpolluted. We will cringe when we realize how much water we have wasted and we will be shocked when the world's fisheries collapse. Wars will be fought over water and they will be unimaginably brutal. This is where we are heading. While this rarely gets much press, some scientists recently called for a ban on fishing in a third of the world's oceans. It probably won't happen but it's good that they are getting the idea of cutting back on fishing into the mainstream media.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/26/fishing-stocks-protection-conservation

Plus, an article that has some pretty strong things to say about Obama's lack of innovative thinking and policy writing in his first 100 days.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/133157.html

uh huh

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/700_billion_bailout_celebrated

http://hurundurujkapujka.blogspot.com/2009/04/strange-tracks-in-snow.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/27/colbert-study-conservativ_n_191899.html

http://www.pleaselink.me/_hotlinking/myconfinedspace/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/calvin-parenting-is-screwing-him-up.jpg

http://www.propublica.org/feature/officials-in-three-states-pin-water-woes-on-gas-drilling-426

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/3076232-its-a-picture-thats-sure-to-make-your-hair-stand-on-end

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/even-genghis-kahn-knew-torture-doesnt.html

what are we coming to

i am usually pretty understanding of other cultures and religions but this is really too much. saudi police beat back unveiled girls who were trying to escape from a burning building so that they would not be seen in public without their veils. the girls died.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1874471.stm

linx

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/opinion/16kristof.html?_r=1

pretty interesting article on IQ testing. makes you wonder whether or not that test means all that much in terms of actual intelligence and not just learned knowledge. for example, using today's IQ test half of the US population of 1917 would be considered legally mentally disabled.

plus: the best of banksy. need i say more. (and there's some in here that i haven't seen so much before)
http://joaoramos.org/bestofbanksy/

a legend

harry kalas was just that. this article, more than any of the ones i have read since his passing, encapsulates everything that he was to the phillies, to philadelphia, and to baseball.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/opinion/15glanville-harrykalas.html?_r=2&emc=eta1

teeeeaabagggin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLsKt4O4Yw8

comedic gold

struggling with what our culture demands of the rest of the world

I have never really been able to fully understand what living my lifestyle means to the rest of the world. What I am really doing by owning expensive electronics, buying third-world imports, and traveling to the third-world. In reality, I know that by doing those things I am supporting a system of exploitation and oppression. We, the West, are holding the head of the third-world under water. Not to the point that they drown but to the point that they are gasping for air and have no choice but to do what we ask of them.

So, I guess what I am really wondering is what does this mean for me. What should I do to work against this? Should I stop buying cameras whose parts are made in the third-world (which really means all cameras)? The answer to that question may very well be yes but fuck! if it is because I like cameras! I am of course being a bit facetious but still, a part of me does not want to stop living the life that I lead. I mean I already buy humanely whenever it's possible, i.e. when it's not too expensive or is available. The problem is that there are some things in this world, usually electronics, that are not produced without exploitation and oppression.

I suppose the questions that I have been building to for this whole post are "Am I doing as much as I can or is there more that I can do? and Should I be prepared to drastically change my lifestyle to do more? or even Should I feel the need to change my lifestyle (i.e. is the pressure on me to change or will me changing not even make a difference at all)? This is all a bit garbled but it may be the most important question in my life right now because, really, I do not want to lead a life that inhibits others from leading theirs.

Am I wasting my time by even worrying about this or should I be this concerned?
Here's a link to the set of pictures that got me started on this tangent and, yes, I know that this is not commonplace across the entire third-world.
http://www.zoriah.net/blog/2009/04/guest-photographerphotojournalist-gmb-akash-child-labor.html

reallll interesting

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/14/federal-agency-warns-of-radicals-on-right/

the department of homeland security is predicting a rise in far right white extremism and warns police forces to be on the lookout for "groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority." hmmm, do i smell a revolution brewing?

on a side note I have now twice seen a PA department of homeland security van in philly. It's a make of van that I have never seen otherwise. The things are monstrous. They are covered in electronics, including a massive camera perched on the back that looks down at whatever is following the van. weird man weird. also, i just tried to google image homeland security van and nothing came up. again, hmmmm. im probably on some anti-us lists now, too!

monsanto baby

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/business/global/15gmo.html

so i posted some stuff a week or so ago regarding agri-business giant Monsanto. In a pretty cool move, considering germany apparently grows so little corn, germany has outlawed genetically modified corn, which monsanto produces en masse. If there is one business sector that needs to be held in check in the entire world, and yes I am considering the banking industry, it is the gmo industry. Those guys have all too much power and guile.

good signs...?

What with this whole troop increase in Afghanistan and protection of the government's right to wiretap I have been a bit torn up lately by our president. These are not huge things but they may be telling ones. Whatever, maybe I'm overreacting. Either way, this article is one that re-instills some confidence in me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/business/energy-environment/08greenoil.html?_r=1

pesticide companies bitch and moan about michelle doing good

so, michelle obama is trying to start an organic garden on the white house lawn and a pesticide company is complaining about the fact that she is not going to be using chemicals on her plants. The company is even going far enough to campaign to get her to use the chemicals. This is obviously ridiculous but the pesticide lobby is a strong one and who knows what would happen if they put their back into this fight. So!, here is something you can do to help. This is a link to a sight that is creating a petition to stop the pesticide company from winning this fight. Do us all a favor, sign up.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/wh_garden/?r=3305&id=3489-1227855-ASVmLvx

http://www.oliviagentile.com/

the world of monsanto

first a blog that monsanto puts out

http://blog.monsantoblog.com/

then some info on a new bill that may get passed by congress and blatantly supports monsanto

http://www.populistamerica.com/gmo_proliferation_bills_proliferate

more to come here later

are we free to choose?

I just added a new picture at the bottom of the blog and it is getting me thinking.

I like to think of myself as being a bit counter culture or, at least, as being aware of the absurdity of our culture but this picture makes me wonder. I know that, by living in a major Western city, buying name brand goods, and being in the upper class, I am just a cog in this whole system. The question for me is how big of a cog am I?

This graffiti makes me think that I am a pretty big one. It exposes the fact that, while I do speak out against a lot of our cultural practices, I am still totally a part of this culture. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that it is still a little disconcerting. Could I be more of my own person? Could I lead a life outside of this culture's boundaries? Why do I follow so many of this culture's rules? Has this culture co-opted/stifled my creativity? These are all questions that worry me because I know the answers to most of them and I don't really like them.

Quite honestly, this makes me want to get up tomorrow morning and do something different. Do something that is mine and not theirs. I want to stop worrying about things like grad school, my appearance, and money and start worrying about things that influence my true happiness, not the happiness that I have been taught to experience inside the contexts of this culture. I mean really, whose life am I leading; my own or the one that I have been taught to lead? Right now I am pretty sure that I am leading the one that I have been taught to lead but I feel as though it is well within my power to lead my own life.

I am not entirely sure what this all means for me so all that I can really hope is that I continue to look behind the reasoning for the decisions that I make. For it is there that the grip this culture has on me hides and it is also there that the grip can be broken.

colbert 1 glenn beck 0

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/223279/march-31-2009/the-10-31-project