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Disturbing Trends
political comment in our turning world
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Friday, August 30, 2002
Rail weight
Auckland, New Zealand has one of the worst rail systems in the world. Or is it a fortunate thiing for this car happy city with one slender artery over its harbour connecting the two largest sectors of local industry.
The queues of industrial trucks in the central city are a great concern as are the majority of buses being empty and a self styled self made millionaire Mayor John Banks who annouced yesterday that 200 homes are to become a superhighway, spending the cities $1B reserve on a road to allow much more industrial convergence in the "center", i.e. the single harbour bridge link.
The sorry state of public transport here was briefly subjected to a mad fling by successive previous Mayors - in the form of an underground railway to the central shopping zone.
In overdeveloped countries like the UK and USA the rail networks are in need of expensive maintenance. Maybe that we have not got that infrastructure will have economic and ecological consequences for Auckland, bugger the environment though - I predict that air pollution in central Auckland will get steadily worse over the next fifteen years as more and more traffic condenses and the air, already foul for a clean city, will be sour and acidic.
10:02 AM
Tuesday, August 27, 2002
USA Slave Reparations
Naked Writing
kuro5hin
We focus upon the facinating criteria of liability by unpremedidated association.
What was being suggested just before Sept 11th kind of interrupted the discussion seemed to be an economic reparation for lost wages due to slaves as they were forcefully hired.
This has been achieved by political means in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Maori lands previously traded for blankets and guns have been returned by the Crown (ie the Government being a representative of the Commonwealth Queen) to the indigenous people.
It is also true that the US Slaves had no wage agreement. There were however stolen from their own progress in their own land and its historical development.
It is also true that slavery existed in Africa long before America started plundering Africa for manpower.
Therefore, would it not actually make more sense that since these people were forcably removed from one country by another, that it is America, as a nation, that has the debt to Africa.
To repay Africa would require the US Governemnt to pay hundreds of billions of dollars.
So the logic to wipe third world debt as a corrective paradigm to the supreme arrogance of America's empire building may resurface as a solution.
Sept 11, part III will however outsell this show at the box office.
6:14 PM
Monday, August 26, 2002
Real Imagined Enemies
ABC News
"What we must not do is in the face of a mortal threat is to give in to wishful thinking or willful blindness. We will not simply look away, hope for the best and leave the matter for some future administration to resolve."
Yes. Mr Cheney. The only mortal threat I see here is the one you are making rattling your sabre. The world will not be able to look away if you start invading countries without proper cause, and in this case that has not been established. Establish your proper cause and convince the world then you will be heroes, otherwise you will be treated with deserved scepticism.
One can not technically be blind to information that nobody can see.
Of course one hopes against hope that things may one day get better in Iraq.
Everyone agrees that ousting Saddam may be a good idea, but can America afford to pick up the pieces or have any will whatsoever after the man is dead.
Or will future generations have other problems to contend with if you go in there with guns blazing. Can even your president's popularity extended over a potential for hundreds of thousands of casualties?
Get the threat into perspective. Try not to spill American blood for no reason. Saddam will die one day regardless. Get Iraq back into the UN for godness sake.
7:01 PM
We care, do we?
The Independent
John Turner, the head of the American delegation, stressed his country's opposition to the whole idea of timetables. "I think it's important that we realise that those targets are no more than lofty aspirations, which sit somewhere in the rafters of the UN or somewhere else," he said.
Have the Americans devised a new method of managing change events other than the seeming logic of (a) set real target which bring about real change and (b) commit resources and effort to achieving those targets and not waste resources doing something else.
It would seem that is not the American Way. It would seem that continued mass extinction of anything not American (now seen an UnAmerican) and the assimilation of the greedy into the American machine may be the alternative America is offering.
Is it frighteningly that simple?
10:11 AM
Saturday, August 24, 2002
This Plague of Tragic Proportions
Nearly the entire adult population of some villages was infected almost simultaneously in the 1990's as poor farmers flocked en masse to blood collection stations whose unsterile practices introduced hefty doses of H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, directly into their veins. Now, the victims ? including many married couples ? are falling ill and dying almost in unison.
When you stop to consider how a social system could unwittingly but effectively wipe out its poorer population, inherent social arrogance ensured AIDS made a giant footprints of death via economic slavery and blood trade - it brings Western fears about smallpox and anthrax into perspective.
It is tragic to consider how a million infected human beings and enforced social denial of the possibility of AIDS infection running rife has given the infection a real chance of causing human extinction.
The West shudders under the threats of anthrax and smallpox, while AIDS erases a sizeable portion of the population of China, India, Africa and the Third World by 2100.
If you really think about this with a cool head, it makes Pres Bush's avoidance of the Earth Summit appear more than just ill-informed, it seems almost complicit with an understanding that the world population may actually be lower by the end of this century than it is now.
2:24 PM
Pornography in the Office?
Separately released statistics state that 70 percent of Internet pornography traffic occurs during the 9-5 workday.
If that is true, then you would simply encounter it in the office everyday as 70% is the majority. But it adds whole new dimensions to letters signed "Yours faithfully".
Research from IDC claims that 30-40 percent of all Internet surfing is non-work related, and Nielsen/NetRatings states that 60 percent of online purchases are made during business work hours.
It would seem that the working human is evolving into one that may not always follow instructions. Feed them more money and all will be well. And encourage on-line shopping at work, its the new economy, stupid, and it saves your staff valuable time getting to know their partners at home. Then the incidence of shagged but happy workers will increase, and the first statistic would start to drop.
1:27 PM
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
Why Bush won't go
I guess that this explains a lot.
9:54 PM
Ok back to the world, with the Earth Summit being presented with a dystopian future , we are encouraged to grow more it seems in a related article.
"If we are going to conquer poverty we have to have growth, and at a serious rate," said Nick Stern, the bank's chief economist. "If that is sustained over the next 50 years and environmental issues are not addressed, growth will be derailed."
What is the point of there being more and more people if it just makes it more difficult to sustain life? How do we address "environmental issues" is growth is our religion, will not its necessities be served? What if our economic system itself placed a different set of demands upon our values and growth was very moderate. Then we could achieve sustainability without trying to squeeze more out of a world which is not giving it to us without enormous costs.
At what point will we have gone too far?
9:22 PM
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
I am fondly disturbed by my propensity to open far too many windows when I am uploading a website and everything gradually bleeds into existence, and then my stupid laptop crashes, probably overheating. My efforts to put on an external fan work effectively, but I don't want to buy a soldering iron.
Has anybody thought of conductive blue tack yet?
6:10 PM
Monday, August 19, 2002
Blog is behaving badly. Tut tut. What next...
7:44 PM
The Guardian
Abu Nidal found dead - or shouldn't they say, Abu Nidal assasinated? But, if he commited suicide, once can hardly doubt the logic. He was horrid. How could he be a happy man, having to live with himself committing acts of genocide?
We all have to die sometime...
Perhaps the CIA has studied the methods of the Quaeda mob and realized to assasinate someone it is better to go do it oneself rather than trying to create another Saddam to do it by proxy? Or has Mossad infiltrated Iraq?
Goodness. It is some relief to note the passing of this terror leader as a suicide. An assasination could have been executed by just about anybody, including Saddam or the CIA. It would be more interesting to know what happened, really.
What comes next? Has the war actually started?
7:19 PM
Guardian Article
Right Wing think tanks are a necessary balance to Left Wing think tanks, but the trouble with the American political system is that one side seems to want to shut the other down, when the Republicans go into power, they post all the right Judges on the Supreme Court - it is their way of evolving a better and more efficient way of governing the massive resource that is America.
The trouble is though that they are using the world's resources out of proportion to the benefit, except medium term economic. When the entire machinery turns round and is constantly indoctrinating the "democratic" population, it is incumbent upon the guardians of democracy to go back to inner and outer space exploration as a priority, rather than seeking to burn the oil candle blackening the atmosphere. Haven't the weather anomolies of the past 10 years affected America as well as now deluging Europe?
Freedom to think outside of the extreme bounds of American politics is something these opinioned types seem to lack.
America starts to fail the test of a true democracy.
7:02 PM
Guardian article
If Mr Bush decides to threaten Iraq with military intervention, well, they are hardly going to want weapons inspections just before a war. They are hardly going to want their enemy (and Mr Bush does seem to fill those boots so readily) to know how they may defend their country. If, for example, Canada was suddenly planning to invade America, Mr Bush would hardly let the Mounties in to count America's arsenal, now would he. Military secrets are secret to scare off potential opponents.
Of course one could doubt that Bush actually will go through with it, but I suspect that a justification for action will arise as soon as there are enough troups handy to Saudi Arabia - perhaps Bush has a hidden agenda.
But it seems he is on slipperly ground.
6:52 AM
Is Mr Bush being a racist? He has defined certain countries as an "axis of evil". Plus of course, Saddam. Why is Iraq not part of the 'axis', then? Is Saddam the only evil one there?
6:05 AM
Sunday, August 18, 2002
Planet in Peril
The Earth Summit is examining issues to stop the growth of humanity destroying the possibility that are future generations will be welcome here, on earth.
And I am worried that the new look for this blog may be consuming too many colours when nearly half the world's population do not have access to fresh clean water.
The removal of the world's forests has to stop. Already we are experiencing climatic change, and this is bound to continue over the next 100 years. But if the need for growth just continues unabated, we may only experience 50 or so more years inhabiting this earth.
The need for faster agriculture (by genetically modifying plants) will possibly result in more food, but what breeds faster and eats more than a pair of mice? How about ten pairs of mice? Or a thousand?
What are we doing?
4:08 PM
Just seen "Cats and Dogs" in which humans are totally stunned to discover that cats and dogs have a secret society each and TALK! Of course the film makers resort to tricks such as CGI graphics and puppetry to do the Mr Ed thing on their mouths and terribly meaningful expressions.
But it gives a disturbing dimension to the idea that a dog may be your best friend. Until you discover how the clever little fiend is watching your keystrokes and now knows your bank account number and ...
See also: ApeSpeak article on Naked Writing
3:57 PM
While we were reading the Herald, we found this delight.
Riders on the Storm
We are disturbed by the every increasing reliance upon surveys of confidence as an economic marker which is purely political. Economics trends may be caused by the way people feel, but when you tell your population that they feel good all the time, but their productivity stinks, well isn't that a bit like newspeak?
2:34 PM
We list the NZ Herald as it is possibly the first newspaper in the world to cover international news stories - first thing in the morning as the sun rises over the long white cloud.
Since the Internet started to provide the grass roots with some power the giant multi national companies have been losing business to its own public, serving themselves.
It used to be the cost of a CD pressing plant that protected the music industry. Then Napster got bought out. But now the copy cats. Listen4ever.com, a China located Napster type site has escaped the legal net that stopped Napster.
So the big music companies are now suing the big Internet companies. We have giant media companies suing giant providers of bandwidth. It is strange to see AOL Time Warner suing AT&T, but there we go.
When the men in dogs tooth jackets have finished exploiting artists, and decimated the internet infrasture in their war against efficient delivery of their product, who then will they go for?
My flatmate most likely, who copies so many CDs whilst singing loudly in the shower, that the entire building is broadcast the latest hits by Kylie and nearly all the INXS library.
We have secretly asked the entire building to not tell the music companies since the power of his voice may be found, in law, to be broadcasting.
We are profoundly disturbed so shall consult a lawyer to ensure they do not start trying to control his vocal chords with a writ.
2:30 PM
Friday, August 16, 2002
Disturbing Trends broke, so I started another disturbing trends blog and this is the first entry and now I feel that is a disturbing development.
Just so you know the second oldest entry is the broken one you will find in the first edition of Disturbing - preserved for your delights here . But on with the war.
It broke blogger. I thought it best to preserve the bug without changing it too much, so DTnews is born, the child of Disturbing Trends. It will be renamed Disturbing Trends when the new graphics are ready...
12:16 PM
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