Focus

Anyone following the news from either the left or the right is being whipsawed by the velocity of the news cycle.  From the possibility of "boots on the ground" in the middle east, the focus of all news organizations switched overnight to speculation on how a man was able to penetrate White House security and make it to the doorway of the President's residence.   Either the public or the press has an acute case of attention deficit disorder.  It is certainly harder to have a nuanced debate about national priorities when stories are covered and dropped during a relentless 24/7 news cycle which craves novelty over comprehensive coverage. 

The visibly invisible

The Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans came out today and the usual suspects are at the top;  Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and the Koch Brothers.  These 4 men, plus Larry Ellison of Oracle control more than a half trillion dollars.  I don't know the percentages, but I would guess that is more than the bottom 50% of Americans own.  The inequality contained in that statement is mind boggling.  Truly, most of us have no idea how great the difference is between the 1% and the rest of us.  While we point at celebrities like Robert Downey who earns $75 million per year, many hedge fund managers make 10 times that "salary" with little or no fanfare.  I'm not jealous of the rich and famous, but I think the inequality they represent is bad for society.  We need a more progressive tax policy and an upgrade in the minimum wage and other programs for the poorest.  A more homogenous society is a happier one.

Killing browns and blahs

Well, we seem to have cranked up the killing machine in the Middle East again.  Airstrikes on the newest enemy to replace the Saddams and Al Queadas we had been killing up until now.  Pretty soon, the boots will hit the ground and Americans will start dying.  The Masters of War are already rubbing their hands together as profits soar.  Meanwhile, here in Murica, young black men are dying at the hands of the police in what seems to be record numbers.  However, I think the more likely explanation is in the wake of the Trayvon Martin incident and Michael Brown killing in Ferguson, Mo., the media has heightened our awareness of just how dangerous it is to be young and black in 21st century America.  So, all in all it is shaping up to be a good decade for haters and war profiteers.  What a world!

Summer returns

The temps forecast for this weekend are more July than late September.   As often happens after a hard frost, Mother Nature compensates by cranking up the thermometer for a few days.  This makes gardeners crazy.

The Forever War

That was a book title of a Sci-Fi novel by Joe Haldeman.  The plot was a war against aliens which drags on and on with the antagonists finally forgetting what caused the war and continuing to fight for the sake of fighting.  That seems to be the modus for our latest installment of the forever Mideast war.  This war has its origins in the CIA coup which replaced a fledgling democracy in Iran with a client monarch.  The Shah was deposed and US complicity in his rise sparked the Iranian hostage crisis.   Next came the  proxy war against the Soviets in the 1980s in Afghanistan under Reagan, continued under the first Bush with the first Iraqi war.   There was a brief pause during Clinton's two terms and then the Shrub involved us in the gratuitous war to prove he could accomplish what his father failed to do, namely get rid of Saddam.  By this time the Muslim world had equated the US with the great Satan.  Now, a new generation of jihadists is continuing a pointless war of attrition and we are seemingly powerless to avoid it.  As climate change accelerates and we eventually move away from fossil fuels perhaps we can finally say goodbye to the middle east and let them settle their differences among themselves.  In the meantime  we will spend more blood and treasure chasing a chimera.

Limping to the finish line

Well, we didn't get the big one last Thursday.  The temp dipped below freezing for a couple of hours, burning the top leaves of the summer squash and zinnias, but most of the rest of the garden escaped damage.   The bad news is no rain in the forecast until the middle of next week.  The late plantings of the cole crops are not maturing due to dryness and the later spinach plantings are also stalled by lack of moisture.  It is a shame, since the weather channel is predicting temps in the upper 70s for the weekend.  Time to put most of the garden to sleep for the winter and get one bed ready for next year's garlic crop. 

Climate Marchers Unite

Over 300,000 people of all walks of life, from pagans to capuchin monks gathered and marched in NYC yesterday.  They were highlighting the frustration of ordinary people with the "leaders" who are meeting at the UN this week to plot a response to climate change.  Despite the frost here on the NCR last week, the world as awhole is on its way to recording the hottest year ever.  Do these idiots at the top really think this global warming thing is going away, or is that most of them feel they will be protected by their status when the water creeps over the dikes?

Frosty start

We'll see later today just how frosty it was this morning.  It was a little above freezing at 6 a.m., but I'm sure we dipped a couple of degrees before the sun started to warm things up again.  I didn't bother to cover anything except some basil in a cold frame, so the summer squash is probably toast.  Hopefully the peppers and tomatoes survived, otherwise the offerings for the famers' market are going to be mostly hardy stuff like kale, broccoli and potatoes.  I think the lettuce will be OK since the last plantings are in a relatively protected location.  It's still way to early to experience this degree of cold.  There are still a lot of growing days left this fall.  The weather people are predicting 75 degree temps and thunderstorms for the weekend!

The NFL and women

If you had told me a month ago the NFL would be in deep trouble due to domestic violence charges to players, I would have probably laughed.  The 20 billion a year juggernaut seemed immune to bad publicity.  Although over 50 players had been arrested during Roger Goodell's tenure as commissioner, the fallout has been minimal.  Then came the video of Ray Rice punching out his fiancé.  The power of that visual has destroyed the "business as usual" mentality the league has operated under.  Now a steady parade of new victims are stepping forward and the damage is considerable.  Yes, the diehard fans will watch their teams come Sunday, but advertisers are skittish.  If the big money beer and car companies begin pulling their ads, the poop will begin hitting the proverbial whirling blades.  The league is starting to lose its tenuous hold on the female population.  There are many ladies who while they don't like football, tolerate their men's infatuation during the fall.  When they start to voice strenuous misgivings about a sport which advocates violence during games and has begun to spill over into private lives, their men may have to take notice.  Perhaps they will watch their home team and skip other games.  Maybe some men will decide to support women and give up the Sunday ritual.  Even this speculation will damage the NFL brand.  That coupled with the recent concussion scandals may not bring football down, but it will certainly make many fans think twice about supporting it.

People Power

In today's NYT, Mark Bittman does a little publicity for a people's march against climate change which is happening this weekend in the city.   This, against the backdrop of a climate change summit at the UN next week.   As we all know, the UN is a toothless tiger which will put on a show, with little or no effect on the single biggest crisis facing humanity.  As he points out, massive marches for or against any issue rarely have an immediate impact.  However, they do begin to move policy over time.  The problem is we don't have a lot of time to affect the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, and unfortunately we still have a large percentage of the population who either don't believe the science or despair of being able to do anything in time.  I have to admit I am sometimes in the despair camp.  But with  my beautiful little granddaughter lighting up my life, I think  it is time to start becoming active in the fight for a livable planet for the next generation.  Please join and start making noise to our elected officials about actually doing the job of planning for the future instead of cowering before corporate giants.  Which is more important, Exxon-Mobil's quarterly profits or Hannah's future?

Crisis Du Jour

Ebola, jihad, nuclear proliferation, North Korea, the economy, climate change.   If you are the president, take your pick of crises to deal with.  It seems the modus for the 21st century is to lurch from one bad situation to the next with no time for reflection, only the demand to do something, anything.  Then the blame game starts.  Congress spends most of its time avoiding responsibility for anything and blaming everything on the White House.  The coming election promise an even more gridlocked situation.  It would seem the nation has decided to hold its collective breath until 2016.  I hope things are not at a critical juncture at that time.  As the pressure mounts, will people demand a "strong" leader who will provide certainty at the cost of liberty.  I hope not, but seeing the quality of our elected congresscritters, I wouldn't bet the farm on democracy.

Reminders

I don't really need a reminder that winter is coming.  The NCR is similar to Winterfell in this case.  We always know the season of dread is just around the corner.  36 degrees in the yard this morning and more cold weather predicted for later in the week.  Between the cold and dryness, the garden is in suspended animation at the moment.  The late crops like spinach, broccoli and cauliflower need some rain, while the summer lovers need warmth.  Since neither wet or warm is predicted, the stalemate will continue through this week at least. 

The video age

I truly doubt we would be having any debates about blowing up the middle east if two Americans had not been beheaded on video.  Likewise, Ray Rice would have participated in a blowout win over the Steelers last night if the video of him brutally knocking out his wife did not become public.   It seems we are all doubting Thomas' these days.  We have to see the bloody corpse or the knockout blow before we act.  Is it too many bloody video games,  the embedded cultural violence we all take for granted, or is it a moral sickness we suffer from in the 21st century.  Personally, I think our society suffers a collective Post Traumatic Stress Disorder brought on by the above mentioned factors.  Sooner or later, there will be a reckoning.  Hopefully it will not be as violent as the events which precipitated the condition.

Same old, same old

I'm sure the stocks of munitions manufacturers are soaring this morning as we get back into the business of blowing up people and real estate in the middle east.  Although most intelligence agencies have concluded ISIS is not an immediate threat to the US, the drumbeat to do something, anything is overwhelming the administration and those who have urged caution.  Because 2 American journalists were brutally murdered, we now have to spend billions and expose thousands of servicemen to danger.  It's a shame we couldn't summon such an outpouring of righteous anger when an unarmed teen was shot by a policeman in our own country.  While the two incidents may not be comparable, the reactions to them are certainly not.  I for one am tired of the relentless war brought on by our past foreign policy blunders.  Let's rethink our policies instead of killing more people.

Letting the dogs slip

Here's hoping the President does not "Cry Havoc"  tonight.  The media has been playing up the use of the military once again and it looks like there will be minimal pushback from Congress.  It almost looks like a replay of the Iraq war, although in this case the administration looks like it is being sucked into the maelstrom instead of leading the charge.  The spectacle of Americans beheaded on video has galvanized a war weary population as few other events could do.  That military force will have little or no effect on ISIS unless it is overwhelming does not seem to affect anyone's calculations.  What we need is a nuanced debate.  What we will get is a headlong rush to blow up something and kill some people without a clear plan.  Sounds familiar.

The NFL and violence

While it is hard to feel sorry for former Raven's running back Ray Rice, I wonder how many other NFL stars would be out of work if surveillance cameras were trained on them at inopportune times.  The problem America's most successful sport's league has to deal with is the glorification of violence.  From pee wee leagues through Friday night high school games to the Sunday afternoon pro games, the players are exhorted to hit harder and make spectacularly violent plays.  Last year, the head trauma problem was exposed.   This year it seems domestic violence will be spotlighted.  How many hits can football's reputation take?   After seeing non-stop replays of Rice's brutal punch out of his fiance', it was hard to watch the Monday night game without thinking about the potential for any athlete on the field to be the subject of another video.   When you glorify violence, look the other way at the use of drugs which exacerbate the problem and do little or nothing when it spills into private lives, you can expect more Ray Rice type videos in the future.

Getting Richer

For a mere 129,000,000, you can have a waterfront mansion in the Tampa, Florida area.  It includes 465 ft. of beachfront, a 2 million dollar gold leaf staircase and 11 bathrooms.  That is the most expensive publically offered house in America today.  For that price you could buy a pretty large chunk of the NCR with cash to spare.  If this is a snapshot of America's future, we are in more trouble than I thought.  The level of inequality in this country is rapidly approaching the age of Louis XIIII.  And we all know what happened then.  Just sayin...

Another comedian gone

Unlike Robin Williams, but embracing a similar vein of humor, Joan Rivers was a phenomenon during the 60s and 70s.  I never much cared for the skewer everyone type of humor she specialized in, but she spared no one, including herself.  She re-invented herself several times, from a talk show gadfly to a one woman hurricane and a QVC pitchman and finally the host of a fashion put down show.  She never lost the sharp edge which cut everything in its path.  Ironically, the Divine Mrs. M appreciated the QVC Joan Rivers as she never did earlier in her career.  In any case, I salute her and mourn the passing of another funny person.  We need them more than ever.

Another last hurrah

Corn, beans, squash and peppers are loving the late season blast of warm we are getting.  Even the late plantings of lettuce that looked to be late are catching up.  We need a little moisture, and Mother Nature looks willing to oblige on Saturday.  I am trying to resist the siren call of the planter, but I'll probably make one last planting of broccoli rabe this weekend.  It is supposed to mature in 40 days, although as we approach October it will be more like 60 days.  I will also plant some spinach and other greens in the cold frames this weekend.   It should be ready for Thanksgiving here on the NCR.  After that, the next thing I plant will be the garlic in October.

Taking on the partisan right

In the NYT today, Thomas Edsall, a normally even handed columnist bends over backwards to make the "they both do it" narrative of left and right approaches to the problem of poverty fit his narrative.  After painstakingly grabbing at straws such as the left's reaction to Patrick Moynihan's somewhat racist paper on the black ghettoes in the US, he finally admits some on the right are moving toward a more nuanced view of poverty in the US rather than the default position of blaming the poor for their plight.   Off shoring of American jobs, increasing inequality and the breakdown of the working class due to these factors are now being touted by some on the right as possible reasons for the divisions in our society.  Of course, until the white working class stumbled into the abyss, it was assumed by these same pundits that blacks were to blame for their inability to break out of the cycle of poverty.  Amazing how viewpoints can change.   At the end of his column, Edsall appeals to both sides to come together.  He then admits there is little to be done in the present global environment where capital has the upper hand and labor is hobbled by low wage competition in developing countries.  Government action to level the playing field is really the only option, and that will be opposed by the right.

Musings on jobs well done

Charley Pierce's labor day blog post was very much to the point of teh murky scribble I posted earlier today.  He was musing about the role of unions in the pride Americans seemed to take in their work in the middle of the last century.  The focus of his remembrance is a carousel, built in 1909, hand carved and still running in a tawdry mall in Minneapolis.  The men who carved those horses did a job for the ages, not for next week.  The same goes for the people who made our cars, our furniture and the thousands of other products we use each day.  Most of them are now made in China or Vietnam by people who work for starvation wages so we can have cheap consumer goods.  Neither the nameless masses in the far east or the American consumer has the time or the money to enjoy the fruits of their labor.  Meanwhile, even among the 12% of Americans who are still unionized, there is antagonism instead of solidarity.  It would seem the gilded age has come again and will stay as long as the sheeple allow themselves to be manipulated by the powerful. 

To have and to have not

Joe Nocera, the business columnist of the NYT says we should be educating our kids to take advantage of the"knowledge economy" and let the rest of the world make our consumer goods.  Who needs factory jobs, he says.  Meanwhile, nearly 2 billion Indians and Chinese are probably hearing the same message and will be rapidly educating 5 times our number of children to take these same jobs.  Do you hear a giant sucking sound as the internet enables well educated people around the world to do our banking, investing, health care diagnoses, etc.  If this sounds like a replay of the loss of American factory jobs, it is.  Only this time around, there is no educational alternative to get us to the next job.   What the pundit class and Americans in general don't seem to realize is there is a class of low education Americans who for whatever reason can't or won't be assimilated into the knowledge economy.  For these people, the middle class factory job is the end of the rainbow.  Besides, the keyboard commandoes who think they will be masters of the universe will soon find themselves working for peanuts as they compete against billions of highly educated people around the world.  Those factory jobs may be the future....

Too hot, too dry

I never thought I would use hot and dry in the same sentence this year, but as we celebrate Labor Day, it appears I must.  We were supposed to have some rain yesterday, but we didn't get enough to settle the dust.  Chances of showers are predicted throughout the week, but as it gets drier, the rain probability tends to evaporate.  There remains ample subsurface moisture, so established crops will continue to mature, but the lettuce and other shallow rooted or newly planted crops need some rain.  The weeding and harvesting continue, and spaghetti sauce making has commenced.   I will probably plant some spinach in cold frames later this week for late fall/ early winter use, but that is about it for seeding.  The dry weather should also give the lawn mowers a rest.