Archive for the Pogo Plight Category

The American Menu: Three Food Groups (January 6, 2014)

Posted in Consumerism, Food, Health Care, Market Solutions, Plastic, Pogo Plight on January 6, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

The Gyre of Death:

Breakfast:     Sugar, Fat, Salt

Lunch:            Fat, Salt, Sugar

Dinner:           Salt, Sugar, Fat

Rinse and repeat and repeat and repeat.

. . .

A          “New Year’s resolutions are one of the earliest examples of recycling.  The list of resolutions could be stored with the holiday decorations and reused each year.”

B          “We need to reduce.  Hope springs eternal, particularly in the winter.  Better to have propounded New Year’s resolutions and lost than never to have propounded them at all.”

A          “We need to resolve to shed calories responsibly all year.”

B          “Better to have lost pounds.”

. . .

A          “Disregard the class and cultural arrogance and condescension that underlies the discussion and the problem still weighs on us.  We as a people are too chunky.”

B          “Too many Americans drive around all day poisoning themselves at the food shacks that litter the highways and byways and then drive to a bar and poison themselves with liquid intoxicants before taking that last drive of the day late at night back home.  We need to change our life style.”

A          “Obesity imposes a staggering additional tax on health care costs.  If the government chimes in and proposes something, someone whines about the ‘nanny state’ interfering in our lives.”  

B          “Granny may have been right about these things.  Moderation always in all things.”

. . .

A          “Beer companies seek to decant 11 rather than 12 ounces into a bottle and grocers now package five rather than six avocados in the bag.  How do you create the market conditions so that a sugar water company reduces the ounces in the bottle and the purveyor of French fries puts fewer spuds in the bag?”

B          “And change our life style so that no uses plastic bottles.”

. . .    

[See the “e-ssay” titled Back Door Inflation (July 16, 2007).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

‘Mericanize: Monetize, Mechanize And Militarize (December 30, 2013)

Posted in Economics, Energy, Kleptocracy, Markets, Military, Pogo Plight, Society on December 30, 2013 by e-commentary.org

. . .

C1        “America makes nothing but monetizes everything.”

C2        “And makes things up.” 

C1        “We make up fake money, but we cannot make up fake energy.  We need to energize not monetize.  We need to measure the energy inputs and environmental outputs before we do or make or consume anything.  Money is not the measure and sends the wrong signals.”

C2        “Even by their own terms, money and markets are far too broken to work either efficiently or equitably today.”

C1        “We aid and abet the rich players taking money electronically from the poor and middle class.”

C2        “Everything is an accounting hijink and a legal mirage concocted by the accountants and the lawyers.”

C1        “And the e-con-omists.  Everything is virtual; nothing is real.”

. . .

C1        “Now they are proclaiming that the great American heartland will be saved by the construction of new factories and a renaissance in manufacturing.  However, the typical factory does not actually employ more than two employees who turn on and monitor the machine.”

C2        “And billions are spent to keep those two employees from receiving a slightly higher minimum wage.”

C1        “Economic slaves make unprofitable consumers.”

. . .

C1        “The response in Boston is another display of the militarization of society.  The town was invaded by American storm troopers who dressed and acted like they were invading Fallujah or Kandahar.”

C2        “We lost the race years ago.  The camo armored personnel carrier replaced the black and white Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.  The .308 replaced the .38.  Kevlar® replaced khaki.”

C1        “The old saw says it all:  ‘A YouTube video is worth ten thousand words.’  The vignettes told the most harrowing stories as the militarized police broke into houses and pulled citizens out of their homes.  A few folks were shocked, a few were outraged, and a few were disgusted, yet there was an undertone of acceptance and obeisance.”

C2        “We are lost.  We are neutered and anesthetized.”

. . .

C1        “We are the Etch-A-Sketch® society.  Nothing is real or permanent.”

C2        “We are the Play-Doh® people.  No spine and no substance.  Malleable as clay.  There is no there there.” 

. . .

[See the “e-ssays” titled Minimum Wage and Maximum Earners (July 31, 2006), Racing Backwards; Moving Forward? (July 27, 2009), Occupy America: The “Bonus March/Chicago Police Riot/Kent State” Of 2011? (October 17, 2011) and Men In Pink: Today’s Sensitive New SWAT Togs (August 20, 2012).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Too much information, too little insight

Everything is virtual; nothing is real

Energize don’t marginalize

We need fewer folks chasing fewer flora and far fewer fauna

The cup is one sixteenth full

In the end, the physicists always triumph over the e-con-omists

Foot Longs and Football (September 2, 2013)

Posted in Football, Fracking, Health Care, Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty, Pogo Plight, Society, Sports on September 2, 2013 by e-commentary.org

. . .

F1        “One is bad for us and the other is bad for them.”

F2        “How about hot dog buns and pig skin antics.  Today’s version of bread and circuses.”

F1        “The fans poison themselves in the stands while the combatants bang their heads on the field.”

F2        “And on the heads of their opponents.”

F1       “Those who make it to the top have been pummeled for years if not decades and performed on Friday nights and then Saturday afternoons and then all day on Sunday.”

F2         “And on Monday and Thursday and Wednesday and Tuesday.”

. . .

F1       “America was about education, now it is about revenue sports.  Two sports are the revenue sports in high school, in college and in the prose.”

F2        “College combatants do not even receive workmens’ compensation insurance coverage while on the job let alone a share of the profits.  We celebrate Labor Day but do not reward them for their labor.”

. . .

F2        “The NFL executives testified before Congress in 2009, under oath as always, that repeated head contact by players has not been shown to lead to brain injury.  One representative, Linda Sánchez, noted that their testimony is the same as the tobacco company executives denying the link between smoking and lung disease.”

F1        “Every generation can be defined by its Big Lie.”

F2        “The danger from fracking also may be our generations’ Big Lie.” 

. . .

F1        “There are rumors of a legal settlement with a gang of retired gladiators who are suffering all manner of predictable maladies.  Most settlements include a provision enjoining future violations, but the games go on.” 

. . .

[See the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/sports/football/29hearing.html.] 

[See the “e-ssay” titled Gettin’ Health Risks Right (June 25, 2012) discussing the Big Lies of past generations.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Play ball

Digital Deception (August 5, 2013)

Posted in Consumerism, Digital, Economics, Perjury/Dishonesty, Pogo Plight, Privacy on August 5, 2013 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1          “I mentioned to a close friend privately that digital is holding its own against analog.  However, digital has some downsides.”

2          “I call it digital deception.  Digital allows for so much more deception because nothing is permanent.”

. . .

1          “I clicked ‘add to cart’ to add a product on the ‘Styx’ e-commerce website, jotted down the price and noted the free shipping on a sheet of paper.”

2          “Which gets us back to the need to make a written record that is permanent.”

1          “I minimized the site on the screen, called a local store for comparison and then maximized the site on the screen.  The price was the same, but the free shipping was changed to a much more substantial cost.”

2          “Bait and switch transcends technology.  You may find that the shipping is free, but the shipping date is in a month or longer.  That may prove to be an unprofitable stratagem because it goes against the all-consuming desire for immediate gratification.”

. . .

1          “Now it is offering free shipping and delivery in a week.  It is almost as if the system detects that I will purchase the product if the shipping is free.”

2          “If you leave the site for a period of time and then return, the algorithm may reset to bait you with free shipping.  Switch from the site for a while and see what happens.”

. . .

1          “The ‘Fly By Night’ travel web sites provide the best price for a flight and then in a subsequent visit to the site a few minutes later increase the price or offer less appealing routes.  Once they have gotten you, they have got you.”

2          “Unless you don’t let them get you.”

. . .

1          “The ‘Pillow’ real estate website regularly changes and updates information including what it represented to be historical data.  The predicted price for my house in 2007 is now materially different.”

2          “I can predict the closing price of the Dow last week.”

1          “Taking a screen shot requires a clever workaround.  I filed a printed screen shot of my property and then compared it a year later.  The figures and historical graph were different.  I printed the subsequent results to keep a record in a printed format and then check later.”

. . .

1          “I checked on the availability of a website address and was shocked at this late stage of web address homesteading that it was still available.  I then checked the availability of another more general website and discovered that it was already staked.  When I returned to purchase the first website, it was not available.”

2          “If I find that a website address is available, I immediately purchase it.” 

. . .

2        “You could use another computer and search for a product or flight without revealing your identity or propensity until you sign in to make a purchase.  However, the dubious real estate data appears on every computer screen.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Clio needs to clutch the parchment scrolls tenaciously

Let the buyer be aware and be wary and be weary

Mano-a-mano with a machine

Hero or Traitor? (June 10, 2013)

Posted in Internet, Pogo Plight, Privacy, Technology, USA PATRIOT Act on June 10, 2013 by e-commentary.org

. . .

X          “Julian Assange.  Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

. . .

Y          “Bradley Manning.  Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

. . .

X          “Edward Snowden.  Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

X          “Hero.”

Y          “Traitor.”

. . .

[Reflect on the ideas and experience of Daniel Ellsberg in http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/10/edward-snowden-united-stasi-america.]

[See the “e-ssay” titled “Brave 1984 Farm: The Best Of All Possible Worlds (March 19, 2012).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

In a dozen plus years and without a debate or a vote, technology has deprived us of privacy.  With little debate and many hasty votes, Congress has deprived us of privacy at every opportunity.  We as a society should create a rebuttable presumption in favor of privacy even if it appears to sacrifice security.  Our personal insecurities are actually creating greater national insecurity.  

Those who would give up Essential Liberty, to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”  Benjamin Franklin

Did Bin Laden win?

On Community (June 3, 2013)

Posted in Community, Guns, Pogo Plight, Society on June 3, 2013 by e-commentary.org

. . .

A          “Seems that you have the ‘guns and ammo’ crowd and the ‘beans and band aids’ folks.”

B      “The ‘bullets and bandoliers’ boys and the ‘kumbaya and jambalaya’ community.”

A          “The ‘whole wheat set’ espouses something called ‘community’ that sounds good but is far more elusive to achieve.  My long-term study of the ‘community clan’ continues.  ‘Develop community’ is a more mature and rational response to the challenges ahead, but most of the adherents would not respond that way in a pinch.”

. . .

A             “I wonder if we are too late and too far gone.”

B           “We may be too self-indulgent, self-absorbed and selfish to take care of anyone but ourselves.”

A      “We have been acculturated to behave as a self-interested consumer consumed with our self and our interests and our own consumption.  We collect stuff but are certain that our stuff is better stuff than the next guy’s stuff, so everything is righteous.”

B             “When we are really challenged, we will need to fundamentally retool our soul and learn to use hand tools.  The transition will be wrenching and will require us to use wrenches.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” titled “Beans and Bullets (April 6, 2009).”]

Bumper sticker of the week:

It’s all about me

Tax Bullets (January 7, 2013)

Posted in Guns, Pogo Plight, Taxation on January 7, 2013 by e-commentary.org

. . .

GO1     “I have visited a gun store every few days.  They are flying off the shelves.  And not guns for personal protection, target shooting or hunting.”

GO2     “The NRA is a terrorist organization that lobbies for gun manufacturers and terrorizes legislators.  We need a new organization, the NGO, the National Gun Owners organization, to represent gun owners not gun manufacturers and to keep guns in the hands of normal persons and out of the hands of psychos.”

GO1     “With a one hundred year supply of guns and a five year supply of bullets, restrict access to bullets.  We subsidize what we like and tax what we don’t like.  Others have noted that we should tax bullets.”

GO2     “The Constitution does not recognize any underlying right to keep and bear bullets or limit the governments’ ability to restrict access to bullets.  And Congress has almost unfettered authority to tax.”

GO1     “The government should place a huge tax on .223s that are used in assault rifles, a moderate tax on other calibers, and no tax on .22s.  I have shot over 20,000 rounds of .22s and about 500 rounds of other than .22 caliber rounds.  Almost all indoor and outdoor target rifles and pistols use .22s.  Most automatic pistols can be modified to shoot .22s so that a person can practice with the pistol using a cheaper round.”

GO2     “Sounds reasonable.”

GO1     “Won’t go anywhere, but it is worth a shot.”

. . .

GO2     “The gun buyback programs should set up a review process so that any gun that is rare, novel or historical is made available for purchase by individuals who pass background checks.”

GO1     “Finding volunteers who know the history of guns would be easy.”

. . .

[GO1 = Gun Owner 1; GO2 = . . . ]

[See the “e-ssays” titled A Taxing Explanation (August 22, 2011) for some perspective on the current tax challenges, O’Bama Arming Industry (November 22, 2010) on gun purchases and One Gun Per White Adult Male? A Flintlock Musket? The “One Man, One Gun” Decision (October 4, 2010) on the legal framework of gun regulation.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

If you need ten rounds to kill a deer, take up tiddlywinks

You know, cigarettes are getting so expensive that I just might have to give them up.

Over The Cliff Or At The Foot? (December 31, 2012)

Posted in Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Congress, Consumerism, FISA, National Defense Authorization Act / FY 2012, Pogo Plight, Spending, Taxation on December 31, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

E1          “Everyone describes our current federal budgetary mess as a ‘cliff,’ yet we as a society are at the foot of a great summit.”

E2          “Everything is a matter of perspective.  The mix of taxes and spending cuts proposed as part of the ‘sequestration’ are painful and may even lead to a slow-down in the economy in the short term, yet they are a critical first start.  The cuts looked desirable when the Republicans and Democrats agreed to them in 2011.”

E1          “We will not make the right decision unless we realize that we must step up rather than step off.  The ‘can’ they refer to looks more like a 55 gallon steel drum that is not likely to respond to further kicking.  We need to take the first step rather than continue our kicking and screaming.”

E2          “And then Congress must address the budget ceiling in the next two months.  Congress has already spent the money and is allowed, after the fact, to ratify or reject what they already spent.  Some wingnuts are saying they should not raise the debt ceiling.  What Congress needs to do is focus on future spending so that they do not need to ratify their excessive spending in the future.”

E1          “After receiving a bill for goods already provided and services already performed, no citizen gets to decide whether to ‘pay the freight’ or not.”

. . .

[See the “e-ssays” titled A Taxing Explanation (August 22, 2011) and On Uncertainty, Certainment (July 30, 2012).]

[Congress continues to transgression on our civil liberties with another Christmas gift.  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/12/28/168220266/congress-extends-fisa-wiretapping-act-to-2017-awaits-obamas-signatureLast year, Congress gave us the NDAA of 2012.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Can I pay my MasterCard bill with my Visa?

Can I not pay my MasterCard and my Visa bill?

December 24 (December 24, 2012)

Posted in Bankruptcy, Banks and Banking System, Bernanke, Consumerism, Federal Reserve, Pogo Plight, Spending, Taxation on December 24, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

TV        “You need a new car, you really smell bad and need to do something about it, you really, really need to sport an expensive watch and you really, really, really need to acquire expensive jewelry for the woman in your life or you are a total loser.”

. . .

LTR

Dear Billy,

I would like a regular 9 to 5 gig, a change of threads, a new straight razor and a short vacation.

Your friend,

Santa

P.S. – I’ve been nice.

P.P.S. – I don’t need a new ride, any cologne or a chronometer.  Ms. C. does not need any jewelry.  She says ‘hello.’  

. . .

[See the FBI documents that reveal secret nationwide monitoring of the Occupy Wall Street effort at http://www.justiceonline.org/commentary/fbi-files-ows.html.]

[See the research paper by the Congressional Research Service titled “Taxes and the Economy: An Economic Analysis of the Top Tax Rates Since 1945” at http://graphics8.nytimes.com/news/business/0915taxesandeconomy.pdf.]

[See the “e-ssays” titled “Consume, Don’t Invest? (Nov. 9, 2009)” and Boxing Day (December 26, 2011).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Can I pay my Visa bill with my MasterCard?

Today is the 99 year anniversary of the creation of the Federal Reserve – a semi-quasi-proto-government-like being – not understood by 99.999999999 % of Americans.  To his (and our) credit, Bernanke is sharing the assumptions and strategy more transparently and considering the unemployment level because Congress directed the Federal Reserve to consider the unemployment level in its decision making.  To his (and our) detriment, he is subsidizing Wall Street with vast amounts of free money and saddling ‘Main Street’ with debt and creating unhealthy conditions for the economy in the intermediate term.

Assigning Blame: The Lawyers: 50 Percent; The Non-Lawyer Public: 50 Percent; The Judges: 100 Percent (December 3, 2012)

Posted in Courts, Judges, Law, Pogo Plight on December 3, 2012 by e-commentary.org

. . .

C          “Lawyers have ruined the legal system.”

L          “Non-lawyers have ruined the legal system.”

C          “Lawyers are suing everyone.”

L          “Non-lawyer members of the public are suing everyone.  A lawyer brings and maintains a lawsuit, yet the suit is brought and maintained in the name of a non-lawyer member of the public.  If there is any possible financial reward, a non-lawyer member of the public will steam roll over anyone to get to court.  When he finds out what he can do to his creditors, even an individual who states adamantly that he wants to pay his debts will embrace the Bankruptcy Code and shed debts with zeal.” 

C          “They are encouraged by the lawyer to bring the lawsuit.”

L          “The non-lawyer member of the public makes the final decision.  That is not to say that a lawsuit should be not brought.  So many individuals and institutions do not care about the rights of an individual.  Yet, the most culpable persons in the entire process are the judges.  They fail far, far too many times with no accountability or responsibility.” 

C          “And all the judges are lawyers.”

L          “Judges regularly dismiss legitimate lawsuits and embrace bogus ones with no sound explanation.”

C          “The judges are lawyers.”

. . .

[C = Non-Lawyer Citizen; L = . . .]

[When it comes to judges in America, you get what you pay for.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/us/judges-rulings-follow-partisan-lines.html]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Is a judge just a political hack in a moo moo black?