Monthly Archives: March 2014

What, Me Worry?

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FH

 

Punishment. François Hollande has been sent a message, via municipal elections, by the electors in France, though the message may not be exactly what the pundits are saying. Regardless, he was elected to be something other than Nicolas Sarkozy, perhaps, given that he heads the Socialist Party, some rather socialist policies, policies that might redress some of the imbalance of “market” policies outlined and implemented by his predecessor. Instead, he seems to have swallowed the Kool-Aid of the EU bureaucrats, Angela Merkel, the IMF and the World Bank, meaning that there is no way to rebuild any vision of French society that is more egalitarian and humanitarian than the standard Chicago Consensus Milton Friedman homo economicus, a smokescreen for separation of haves and have-nots, environmental degradation, and a further decline of the general standard of living, especially in the areas of health, education, housing and nutrition. These are the very areas, along with gainful employment and participation in the business of society, that the Socialists are supposed to be defending. Perhaps they might have gotten the same slapping down had they governed as socialists, but at least then they would know that they had tried to do what their natural constituency had wanted in the first place. Principle? This is a thought that Federal Liberals might want to consider here in Canada (campaign from the left, govern from the right), and that the New Democrats at all levels might want to embrace.

 

AEN

 

 

Disturbing Outlooks and Attitudes #1

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Hoax

 

I used to argue back and forth a decade ago with a sometime colleague who was an ardent supporter of George W. Bush, with he usual outcome that we would agree to disagree. I have since drilled down a ways into the current and developing status of humankind on this planet, and the auguries are not auspicious, to say the least. I was not at all comforted when said gentleman asked me at a gathering last evening whether I was looking forward to once again engaging in the breaking of speed limits for thrills, something I once undertook regularly with great relish, but gave up when it finally dawned on me that being a carbon critic who stunted on back roads for fun was not a particularly good example for others to follow. I answered him in the negative without much comment at all and was a little taken aback when he pursued his line by telling me that humans had no control over the course of the unfolding of the universe and that our best hope for survival and for thriving as a species was to decamp to the farther corners of the known universe, and that he would therefore continue to burn up resources at as rapid a pace as possible for his own enjoyment. This falls right in line with the Bill Gates geoengineering crowd, a group who doesn’t seem to understand that our living systems are more complicated, interwoven and subtle than our engineering minds can fathom, and that a look back at our witting on other interventions in managing our living space looks like a bit of a chronicle of disaster: particularly without a significant attitude adjustment and the development of both deeper and broader questioning strategies, our past would point to abject failure, this time on a scale that would basically be guaranteeing that we would, in short order, be kissing our behinds good-bye, taking the vast majority of life on the planet with us. This outlook speaks to a willingness to do whatever it takes to protect a position of privilege, and, as with most conservatives/libertarians, any justification is good enough as long as it allows life to continue on without sacrifice of the least bit of personal freedom or economic clout. The sad part is that we’ve known for decades how to manage most of the crises that confront us: we have had solutions that involve very manageable levels of sacrifice, usually balanced by long-term gain in well-being and stability. How very sad.

Burn

 

Meanwhile, here are a couple of music videos that caught my eye:

 

Looks like Green, Spencer, Kirwan, McVie and Fleetwood. Interesting that all the guitars get a voice at the front.

Perhaps one of the greatest studies in how to grow old gracefully. I think Taj is the only North American, the rest being Brazilians. Particularly nice harp playing.

Sometimes Evil People Speak the Truth

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Or parts of it, anyway.

KO

I had one of those nights where I woke up and made the mistake of having a thought, and with thoughts, as with potato chips, one leads to another. Soon, I had wads of things flitting between my ears, and it was clear that I wouldn’t get back to sleep until I logged some time with book and early morning television, normally a great soporific. I saw a report about how lotteries in Canada are suffering because their best clients (milk cows) are old and dying off and that the current generation of Millenials, those in the 18-34 age bracket, aren’t playing with the gusto of the older folks. Of course, my own reaction is that this is a wonderful phenomenon and that I don’t feel a great deal of sympathy for those who run the gambling establishment in this, or any, country. Then, this being CBC Newsworld, there had to be an expert attestation: their expert on all things economic, Kevin O’Leary, about as sterling an example of anti-social greedmongerning as could be had anywhere, a man whose sense of entitlement and self aggrandizement grates against every fibre of my being. His take? Essentially, good on the Millenials for sussing out that lotteries, like most forms of gambling (stocks, bonds and mutual funds excepted) are taxes on the stupid. I hated that I would agree with KO on anything, and his undercurrent of tax avoidance  sealed the deal: KO wants us to fail miserably to support each other, to go it alone as rugged individuals so that the already-advantaged can use their financial and political leverage to perpetuate a system of gross inequity (and iniquity). Of course, the stupid factor was on full display with reports of an event honouring the real participants in The Great Escape, not Americans, and not Steve McQueen ( and who knew that Hollywood might rearrange the substance of a story to fit their hero cult) and a replay, several days delayed, of a nun singing some r ‘n b tune on an Italian version of some reality show, something of which I would have remained blissfully unaware were it not for the inordinate amount of “news” coverage that such a non-event got. Newsworld, all entertainment, all the time. How can Nancy Wilson keep a straight face as she reads this stuff (she was, in this case, the designated deliverer of good news, a task at which she has much company, unfortunately).

Guaino

 

Then there is Henri Guaino, now an elected member of the French National Assembly and formerly a special advisor to former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was invited to answer questions on a segment of a Paris morning show (Télématin) called Les Quatre Vérités, with the hot topic being the outcome of the first round of the municipal elections. His rightish UMP did well, the current central government of François Hollande did generally poorly and the real “winner” seems to be the National Front, whose populist thuggish nationalism seems to have become a safe harbour for a lot of the protest vote. Bless Guaino’s pointed and selfish little head, he was able to spot that not only were the Socialists being sanctioned, but the whole political class was taking something of a beating for their unfulfilled promises to improve life for the general citizenry in France. Guaino cited in particular the surrender of the levers of power to the EU and to the financial and corporate structure (this from an individual very much in the house of those entities). I didn’t hear any real solutions (the segment lasts all of ten minutes), but the implication is clear that democracy, when it gives over power to economic interests and bureaucracies, is in serious trouble. Who knew.

mdAs a cap to all this, Murray Dobbin had a piece published in The Tyee this morning about big ideas and why the New Democrats seem to have lost some of their luster as they get more enthused about the idea of possibly forming a government (dream on!) and move toward the centre to attempt to capture that vote. In the end, the election of an NDP government might look more like a Pierre Trudeau government of the late Sixties than a real solution to the economic, environmental and social ills that beset us, so that the Dippers would have gained power, but would be unlikely to be able, or willing, to undertake the renewal that would lead us to a more just and equitable society.

 

 

Three Times A Fool

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One for Syria, one for the Ukraine and one for Venezuela.

 

 

Stirring up the pot in the name of democracy where greed is the less apparent and root cause of the loosing of the hounds. Of course, it’s not the Henry Kissingers, Hilary Clintons, Angela Merkels, Dick Cheneys, and all manner of denizens of capitals wherever capital holds court who pay the price, either in terms of blood and despair, or in terms of austerity crashing down on opportunity and sanity. It’s the poor saps who started business  in the Maidan, in Damascus, and the poor of the barrios who will surely be stuffed back in their cages if the “middle class” privileged of Caracas regain the ascendency. So here’s another Otis Rush:

 

 

Tell me I’m ‘way off base, but it seems to me that Otis Rush’s All Your Love (Miss Lovin’) is the song that inspired Peter Green to write Balck Magic Woman, morphed into high-octane rock by Carlos Santana…

 

 

 

 

Every Once In Awhile

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I like to revisit this ditty that often used to start off my week, a) because it’s about Monday mornings, and b) because it does have a tendency to engage the movement instincts (and really did when I was 17 or 18). The whole album is a masterpiece, and part of its charm comes from the meddling of Sam Charters, I suspect, who seems to have wanted to tone down some of Buddy Guy’s edgy and unbridled approach to playing: it’s not typical BG, but the restraint works well.

Of course, this misses the great news about the Oscars, the Heritage Classic and the end of the world, wherein Obama says to Putin: “I dog double dare you.” Putin says nothing, just goes ahead and deploys the troops. Well, what did you expect, Barry. Once again, an honest yearning for more local control and a better life has been hijacked by a group of local National Socialist types and reinforced by “diplomacy” from the EU and NATO. Ianukovitch and his lot should be gone, but when John Baird hies himself off to congratulate the newly installed administration (just who is it that rushes in?), you have to wonder which of the big miners is staking a claim. It’s what Canadians do. Again, rather like Assad in Syria, al-Sisi in Egypt, and whoever is running the show in Libya. Tunisia seems to be evolving, but who knows what goes on behind the scenes? Venezuela and Thailand are also targets for the “spokespeople” of the investor class, it would seem.

 

And, of course, this one always comes back: