Endless Winter

Another day, another slog across the frozen tundra of the erstwhile NCR (that's the North Country Riviera for those who only follow this blog occasionally).  It is hard to pretend spring will come when the 2 week forecast doesn't feature a day with temperatures above freezing.  It has been so cold in this area we haven't had to deal with the pothole plague many cities are facing.  However, when it does get a little warmer I'm sure we'll have our share.  I have definitely resolved to start some seedlings in my basement growing area this weekend.  It is already a little late for rosemary, but I have primed seed, so it is use it or lose it.  Celeriac, celery and some of the later blooming flowers are other candidates for early planting.  Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are still a few weeks away from start dates.  There is always a temptation to start early, but with the cold weather outside, I am less enthusiastic than some prior years.

Morals and entropy

For most of my life, I have felt that the frontiers of human freedom have not been pushed forward far enough.  You can never have enough equality and freedom.  As long as your freedom does not impinge on someone else's, then have at it.  Ah, but there is the rub.  How do we define freedom?  Does one man's freedom lead to the diminishment of another's?  The fight over "religious freedom" in Arizona and other states is a case in point.  The recently vetoed bill would have allowed anyone to discriminate against others based on their religious views.   As one critic put it, anyone could refuse service to virtually anyone else they claimed espoused views or practices they disapproved of.   The bill was aimed squarely at the LGBT community, but was so ambiguous as to be the generator of social chaos.  Instead of greater freedom, the effect of the act was to generate less freedom.   It would seem that most people are uncomfortable with free will.  The strictures of society and religion are built to constrain.   It would seem whenever freedom is widely distributed, more strain is placed on society.   Does that mean we are doomed to collapse into a new feudalism with a rigidly structured society, or will we finally break free and allow our better natures to triumph.

Rights and Wrongs

Do Americans have the right to be fat and unhealthy, smoke, wave guns around and drive huge SUVs, regardless of the environmental and societal consequences?  These are some of the questions Marc Bittman poses in his latest column in the Times this morning.  Actually his starting point is a new book titled, "Lethal but legal; Corporations, Consumption and  Protecting Public Health".   The book was written by a City college professor, Nicholas Freudenberg to examine the "consumption industrial complex".   He examines the junk food industry, tobacco, alcohol, firearms and automotive corporations and their strategy to convince Americans it is not only their right, but their duty to indulge in behaviors which in a sane society would be condemned as wasteful, self destructive and anti-social.  Using the tobacco industry's playbook, the makers of junk food formulate their products to addict us in unhealthy ways.  Similarly, the gun industry via their mouthpiece, the NRA tries to convince us we are basically un American if we don't have a firearm in every room to protect us from non-existent threats.  All of these companies seek to avoid common sense regulation by positing "rights" to engage in the behaviors which generate profit for them.  As Bittman points out, the "right to smoke" eventually ran into the "right to breathe clean air".  We know who is winning that fight.  Similarly, the right to junk food, excessively large cars, firearms and alcohol will eventually yield to our right to a healthy diet, less air pollution, safer society, etc.  The average American is helpless before the onslaught of advertising glorifying unhealthy habits as a "right" we must enjoy.  We need a counterbalance from government, similar to tobacco regulation today.

Genetic modifications

Having read a fair amount of Science Fiction over the course of my life, I was intrigued to see a piece in today's NYT decrying the possibility of modifying the eggs of women predisposed to pass on genetic diseases to their offspring.  Instead of using another woman's egg and in-vitro fertilization, scientists would pluck the offending genetic material from the donee's egg and use the healthy egg as a host by expunging the genes which make up the essential humanity of the other.  While I applauded this sort of thing in a sci-fi novel, I can't help but wonder if we are careening down a blind alley if this is pursued on a real life basis.  The horrors which usually ensue in the novel are blithely waved off by today's intrepid doctor's.  This is only going to help women who would otherwise pass on deadly genes to their children.  Unfortunately, that is also how many of the sci-fi novels also start.  Soon after, the temptation to further meddle with the culmination of a billion years of evolution becomes too great and the "fun" begins.

More of the same

After a nice weekend where we actually enjoyed daylight hours above freezing, reality has set in.  It is snowing and the 10 day forecast is reminiscent of January.  It is time to start some of the long range seeds, ones that require 10-12 weeks before transplanting.  But the winter weather outside  is discouraging me from making the effort.  It is hard to get enthusiastic about gardening when you haven't seen bare soil in 2 months.  Meanwhile, the Olympics are over, so the media will start focusing on all the turmoil around the world.  The Olympic ideal was that all nations would lay down their arms during the competition and hopefully the spirit of peace would last beyond the games.  Instead, we have the spectacle of Ukrainian citizens in pitched battles with their own police while world powers warned that nation's armed forces to stay out of the fracas. Syria, Egypt, Ukraine and who knows how many other hot spots have popped up around the world?  It would seem intra national strife is the latest wrinkle in international relations.  Restive populations around the world are revolting against the status quo, but don't seem to know what they want to replace it.  The messy strivings of real democracy doesn't seem to be that attractive to many people.  They want certainty without corruption.  Unfortunately, as Americans can tell anyone willing to listen, real self government is hard.  Even under intense scrutiny, corruption and self dealing can thrive. 

Random thought

If anyone establishes a Rock and Roll Hall of Shame, Ted Nugent should hands down be the first inductee.  No only is his music misogynistic and tasteless, his whole life is something to be lived down.  His latest hate filled diatribe should be taken for what it is, the ravings of a pathetic excuse for a human being.

Willful Myopia

For those with poor vision, removing glasses or other vision aids reduces the ability to see clearly.  It would seem climate change deniers are either removing the part of their brain that processes facts or they are lying to themselves for some other motive.  The various congressmen, media figures and crackpots who claim climate change is a hoax are deliberately unacquainted with the science behind the facts.  More pernicious are actual scientists (a very small minority of the community) who shill for the giant corporations who are helping cause the climate shift.  They provide cover for those who would put profit before planetary welfare.   The cold winter we have experienced in the east is an anomaly compared to the rest of the world.  Overall, this is the 4th warmest January on record.  The agricultural interests in California are anticipating a dry summer with little snowmelt to augment water supplies.  Tree crops will have a priority over annuals such as hay and even some vegetables.  The famed "Mediterranean" climate on the west coast may become more "Sahara" like in years to come.  The growers will adapt, using drip irrigation and other water conservation measures.  Along the coasts, cities are already planning massive seawall projects to defend against rising sea levels and increasingly vicious storms.   What is missing is the will to tackle the underlying cause of climate change.   Until we do that, we will face worsening conditions with human civilization hanging in the balance.  Removing our collective glasses will not save us.

Feeling Lionized

Based on the long range forecast for next week, I think March will come in like the proverbial king of beasts.   Snow, sub-zero temps and overall miserable weather will make it feel like January again.  And that's the good news on the NCR.  For political junkies at least, the election season is heating up.  The Republican party in the 21st district is salivating over the retirement of Bill Owens, a Democrat who decided the current dysfunctional congress will not be improving any time soon.  A more cynical take is that after two hard fought battles, the 64 year old has decided to cash in on the contacts he has undoubtedly made.  It's hard to blame him if that is the case; being a back bencher in the minority party in the House is like warming the bench on your junior high baseball team.  Meanwhile, the Repubs think this district is theirs for the taking.  But a funny thing happened on the way to a swearing in.  There are four or five candidates who will be duking it out in the primaries and the bloodied winner will probably face a united Democratic party nominee who will have several months to define himself and his challenger.  Also, the district demographics are changing.  The older, white constituency which had a 100 year republican lean is slowly becoming younger and more urban.   While there is still a drain of young people away from the North Country, there is also an infusion of outsiders who come here for the wide open spaces and recreational opportunities.  It will be an interesting race.

Talking low expectations

I think if the south  voted to secede from the union today, most Americans would probably say don't let the doorknob hit you on the way out.  The vote at Volkswagen's Tennessee auto plant is another case of southerners' voting against their own interest.  Their were threats and intimidation involved, but beyond that was the specter of people who are so ideologically opposed to unionism they voted to remain unrepresented, despite the encouragement of Volkswagen's management to organize.   When you think of the union movement in this country, you picture ordinary people making extraordinary sacrifices to advance the good of all.  In this case, the workers are effectively turning their backs on their peers in the name of what?  Rugged individualism?  The right to work for nothing?  It boggles the mind.   I have to believe there is a fundamental difference between the average southerner and most of the rest of us.   How else to explain the willingness of poor whites to go to the slaughterhouse of the Civil War to defend the rights of richer men  to own other human beings.  Or the relentless persecution of blacks by their economic peers since Reconstruction.  If you can't realize and defend your own interests, how can you participate effectively in a democracy?

The tyranny of low expectations

Another sub-freezing day on the NCR and aside from a brief warm up this Thursday and Friday, the long range forecast is pretty bleak.  Snow and freezing temps into the first week of March.  This is the time of year I usually feel building excitement for the coming gardening season.  However, this year it is hard to get excited about anything except breaking the freezing mark, even for a day or two.  With a bad knee keeping me from skiing or running, there is little to mark the passing days.  White is becoming monotonous after 2 months of relentless snow cover in the North Country.   I guess things will get better as time progresses, but it is hard to get enthusiastic about spring when it continues to recede into a hazy future.   Pass the hot chocolate and the seed catalogs.

Monopoly and competition

We rarely experience the suffocating problems brought on by monopolization of markets in the vegetable business.  If someone comes up with a trendy new product, there are soon many competitors on the market with slight variations of said product.   Many of these variations are actually better than the original and most are cheaper.  There are few giants in the produce business and the ones who qualify for that category are constantly looking over their shoulders.  The era where a United Fruit Company could dictate the leadership of "banana republics" in Central America is long gone.  Perhaps the experience of this industry should be used to guide regulators when they decide if Comcast should be allowed to buy Time Warner cable systems.  The new company would be by far the largest cable company in the US with a monopoly in many areas of the country.   How anyone can argue this situation is good for consumers is beyond me.  If you live in an area dominated by one of the cable giants, you have little or no choice about what you are offered and what you pay.  Until or unless satellite systems or wireless broadband become more widespread, the public needs protection from Comcast and its ilk.

Subaru weather

Subarus will be selling like hotcakes this weekend.   If I had a "headlight cam" on my trusty Forester this morning, it would have been a 60 MPH advertisement for all wheel drive.  I never saw a snow plow on Rt. 87, although to be fair the road was in fairly good shape considering the snowfall rate.   The Forester breezed past several small caravans poking along at 45 MPH and there were no "white knuckle" moments.  Settling in this morning, I saw Paul Krugman's column in the Times.  While not explicitly calling for a guaranteed income for all Americans, Mr. Krugman praised the legacy of Social Security and Medicare for lifting many seniors out of poverty and called for the extension of the social safety net to more, not less of the population.  I think the election of progressives like Elizabeth Warren and Bill Di Blasio and the writings of people like Krugman in mainstream papers are forcing politicians to confront the issue of economic inequality.  Much like the increase in acceptance of same sex marriage, the need to do something about the 1% and their increasing monopoly on the wealth of the country will gain momentum in the months and years to come.  Hopefully our grandchildren will wonder how the current gilded age was allowed to gain widespread acceptance.

Stormy Weather

As the east coast struggles with yet another storm, it seems like winter will never end.  The thermometer read 5 degrees this morning an I actually felt it was a heat wave compared to yesterday's -15 start.  Another 6-10 inches of snow is predicted today with more on the horizon for next week.  This kind of weather is similar to a heat wave in the summer.  It saps the joy out of life and makes each day a slog.   The veg markets are totally demoralized, from FOB producers to the terminal markets.  Prices remain so low that discing the crop is in many cases the best economic outcome.  Meanwhile, the chain stores continue to make their 30% markup, resulting in prices discouraging consumers from purchasing more green stuff.  Depressed people, depressed prices, it's a recipe for a long cold winter.

Class Skirmishes

The Divine Mrs. M says my idea for ending or at least tempering the inequality in this country is too radical.  She wants me to state unequivocally that the poorest among us would use their new found government subsidy to chase the middle class dream.  Many might decide to live a life of indolence on the munificent $20,000 or so per year.  Many more might renegotiate the terms of the hopeless jobs they now occupy.  Since we are rapidly automating many jobs, fewer workers will be needed in coming decades.  How will the people who can't qualify or compete for jobs left in the economy at that point survive.   It seems to me we can either choose the model of the Roman Empire and use bread and circuses to keep the masses occupied, or we can use the bounty created by the machines who replace us to release the creative energy we so often sublimate in our dead end jobs.  As more and more people realize the gains in productivity are going to the 1%, the demands to change the social contract will become more vocal.  I believe the people who are now disproportionately vacuuming up the wealth are terrified that ideas like the one outlined above will gain currency.  Let the battle begin.  I certainly hope it will be a bloodless struggle, but history tells us the parasites at the top, be they the French nobility of the 18th century, the Russian aristocracy of the early 20th or the hedge fund billionaires of today will not surrender any portion of their spoils without  a fight.

Waiting for opportunity

I find it ironic that my proposal the government should step in to make our society more equal should be greeted so skeptically.   Survey after survey shows the American public feels that opportunity is unequal in our society and most respondents feel the government should step in an make things more fair.   The sticking point is how that should happen.  I think most people feel the government fairy should wave his or her bureaucratic wand and all of a sudden equality will break out.  Centuries of prejudice will evaporate and poverty stricken minimum wage slaves will be dancing in the street.  It doesn't work that way.  To incentivize the poor will take money and it has to come from somewhere.  A guaranteed minimum income is the surest way to eliminate poverty immediately from the supposedly richest nation on earth.  Yes, some will abuse the program, but that happens in all strata of society.   Many if not most of the poor will take advantage of their new found economic freedom to educate themselves and their children and seek opportunities to rise further.  Their new purchasing power will push the economy forward to the benefit of all.  Of course it is mostly a pipe dream, since so many who do not grudge the rich the many government subsidies which tilt the field in their direction.  We give the wealthiest among us billions of dollars in tax breaks, but balk at the idea of direct payments to the poor.  Maybe we just need a fancy name for the program.  But without something along these lines, inequality will continue to grow and wringing our hands and demanding that something be done is not going to cut it.  

Spring fever

It's more like a hangover from a mini-cold I'm still dealing with, but I got my first seed order and mailed the last two over the weekend.  Spring fever has officially visited the NCR.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't get the memo as the temps are still hovering around zero and no big warmup is predicted.  At least we are gaining light each day. 

Let's cut to the chase

Work and a severe cold conspired to limit blogging.  Now, on to the rant.   The employment numbers are in and it is not impressive.  The talking heads and congressional leaders shake their heads and say we should do better, but no one is willing to spend money to get it done.  Our infrastructure is crumbling, we are about to give away the store on trade with the Trans Pacific "Partnership" and millions of people are losing their extended unemployment compensation along with the last shreds of their self respect.   We can change that.  Just give every citizen over the age of 18 a guaranteed annual income sufficient to meet the poverty level along with health care.   Sure, a certain number of people would not work if they could collect poverty wages.  But then they probably aren't working now.  And those who are working at Mcjobs would tell their employer to take that job and shove it.  All of a sudden, fast food, retail and service sector jobs would have to pay two or three times what they do now.   How would we pay for this?   Go back to the marginal tax rates of the 1950s.  That would take care of inequality too.   Any questions?

Snow more misery

Another day, another snowfall.  As usual in the NCR, not as much as they predicted, but a misery nonetheless.   The long range forecast for the area keeps us below freezing with clouds and snow predicted most days for the next two weeks.  We are heading for the absolute nadir of winter and it's hard to gin up enthusiasm for work or play.  The continuous drumbeat of bad weather predictions is having a chilling effect on demand for fresh vegetables and the near perfect weather in the western growing regions is keeping a supply exceeds demand scenario in play.  If these cheap FOBs would translate to inexpensive prices at the store, there might be more movement.  However, the chains continue to hold the retail prices at levels which generate more profit per sale than should be the case.  Punxatawny Phil says six more weeks of winter, and yours truly predicts at least than many more weeks of cheap prices.  Stewed groundhog anyone?

Politics as usual

The controversy surrounding the governor of New Jersey looks like it won't go away anytime soon.  Certainly not soon enough for him to regain the national stature he needs to qualify for the presidential sweepstakes.   The revelations of tawdry political retribution and low grade extortion give Chris Christie the aura of a bully revealed as a cheap political manipulator caught with his hand in the cookie jar.   Anyone who thought he was ready for national leadership will be needing to rethink that conclusion.   Using government agencies as enforcers to punish political rivals and government funds to reward those who play ball are just the sort of behavior which causes people to loathe government.   It should not be that way.   We are the government.  It is our shared expression of a sacred covenant.  When it is abused by those we put in positions of authority the polity is diminished by those actions.  We the people are the losers.   The sooner Mr. Christie is shuffled of the national stage, the faster we can begin the process of repairing the damage he and his henchmen have done to our democracy.

Getting on with Winter

Well, the weather was very nice for a Sunday in February in New Jersey.  That was the story.  Certainly the hapless Broncos were not.   It looks like Eli will have Super Bowl bragging rights for the forseeable future in the Manning family.  As I was driving home after attending a Super Bowl party, a commenter on the radio was talking about the late Pete Seeger who died late last week.  I doubt he would have been cheering either team in the Meadowlands.  He might have been outside the stadium protesting the waste of money which might have alleviated suffering somewhere else.  Or he might have protested the use of non union workers at concession stands.  He certainly would not have been cheering the sight of oversized men chasing a leather ball around.  While most everyone agrees we need the occasional diversion, it seems we are starting to imitate the latter stages of the Roman Empire where bread and circuses were used by the ruling class to keep the plebeians from protesting the steadily worsening economic conditions.  Perhaps we need more Pete Seegers and fewer Al Michaels.  Meanwhile, we have reached the halfway point for winter and it can't be over soon enough for me.