grafitti blog

Contradictions

From artist Filippo Minelli's "Contradictions" series juxtaposing Web 2.0-associated images with images of slums.

Oddly enough, colourful cellphone ads are ubiquitous in African slums:

Slick back your hair with used condom hair bands!

Recycling is great and all, but how far can we take it? The Chinese, being the inventive little production gnomes they are, are testing the boundaries: turning used condoms into fashionable hair accessories...

Yeah, that's right. Putting spermy latex on your hair just got a little more mainstream.

Watch my porno!

Chocolate Rain

Boo-yah!!

Tasertastic cop

Most Insane Post-Election Comment Nominees

From some douche in a Wall Street Journal article called "The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace":

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Giving him a run for his money is Michael Ledeen, who blogged about Sarah Palin at the National Review:

...the most qualified and by far the most exciting candidate of the four...

Green Financing

A good idea in Berkley - paying for green home improvements by issuing municipal bonds secured with a lien on the property, and paid off over the long term through a new line item on the owner's property tax bill.

A new day!

Who would have ever dreamed a Democrat, a black man, someone on the right side of wrong would be win in Indiana?!

My whole life, with every election, I've watched Indiana pop up on the big map first, before any other state, as RED. Last night, from a sofa in Vancouver, BC, I watched the "twisting and the turning," as my grandmother would say, of the electorate who couldn't decide whether it was backing Obama or McCain. Yes we can. By the time I went to bed, they hadn't called it, but Obama was up. This morning, I woke up to learn he'd won the state by 23,000 votes. YES! We can.

I am so proud. I've never in my life felt more proud to be an American, a Hoosier, a citizen of the world. This is a great day.

Let's count 'em!

We're counting down the minute to the big announcement for Obama by cutesy catch phrases.

6:25pm PT
CNN - Katy Couric to Bob Shieffer: "The cake is baked, you're saying?"

Vancouver Mayoral Election

The Vancouver Sun has put together a survey of the candidates, one of whom is Golok Buday...

Check out his contact info! I find it hilarious that a candidate for political office would have this as his email: buday 4 vancouver @ pornstitution.com

Haha. Something about that is very Canadian.

Your thighs are strong like Russian bear

Financial Services

What happens when you adopt policies intended to strongly orient your economy towards financial services, and then the financial services sector collapses? This:

"Iceland's GDP could shrink by 85 per cent"

Since a major objective of corporate-oriented free-trade policies is the development of the financial services and resource extraction sectors to the detriment of domestic manufacturing, it may be wise to have a debate about the wisdom of those policies.

Indiana

Within the margin of error.

Even the racists in Martinsville are feeling the love:

Silver Lining?

I'd say the one good thing that has come from the Conservative re-election is that John Baird is getting the boot from the environment portfolio in favour of Jim Prentice. John Baird is a useless hyper-partisan blowhard who is only used in Cabinet to stonewall against any and all reasonable inquires into Government policy in a particular area. The Conservatives have had no policy whatever on the environment, and so the selection of a ridiculous idiot like Baird to run the Ministry was fitting. Jim Prentice is by far the most reasonable and competent Conservative MP. I'd say his record at Indian Affairs was mixed - which is far kinder than I would describe the record of any other Conservative Minister.

That's all well and good...

but did you, or did you not, see a third testicle?

Classic cross-examination technique. Make the witness at ease, and then boom - drop the ol' third testicle question. Brilliant.

Love John Hodgmen!

Here he is on NPR.

Ted Nugent, what do you think of the global liquidity crisis?

Canada's Fourth Estate

Reporters Without Borders ranks Canada as 13th in the world in their index of press freedom. Personally, I love the smell of press freedom in the morning. Smells a lot like, well, Canwest... who own just about every media outlet in the lower mainland, including:

Vancouver Sun
Vancouver Province
Vancouver Courier
Abbotsford/Mission Times
Burnaby Now
Chilliwack Times
Coquitlam Now
Delta Optimist
Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Times
New Westminster Record
North Shore News
Richmond News
Surrey Now

As well as:

Global Vancouver
BBC Canada
Food Network Canada
History Television
HGTV
National Geographic Channel Canada
Showcase
Slice

Ahhhh, the freedom to ensure that all of our news is filtered through the views of the ultra-wealthy Asper family. That's freedom you can believe in.

Vertical Urban Farms

The story is here. They look pretty awesome. There is no reason you couldn't push this a step further and start buildings houses with one floor as a garden. Or even better, high density complexes with communal farms.

Hedge Funds, Weed, and American Revolutions

Andrew Lahde is a New York hedge fund manager who recently made a fortune thanks to his bets against the subprime mortgage industry. He is now taking the money and running, and he just published a letter explaining why. In the two-page letter, he also manages to propose a new system of US government (one that involves George Soros and the Linux operating system), and calls for the legalization of marijuana. You can read the full letter here. I don't have much to add, except that it is pretty awesome and hilarious.

Flood's here

Shock of all shocks: there's more to the economy than just the credit market... gasp!

“If manufacturing has been the sliver lining that’s been holding us up to this point, it’s gone,” Mr. Larson said, referring to a index of manufacturing in New York State that tumbled in October to the lowest since its inception in 2001.

Yes, it had only a sliver of a chance (I love typoes like this). That's what happens when you export the manufacturing sector to poor countries and don't groom businesses in that sector in your own country's economy.

This makes me think of all those emergency preparedness tips that tell you to keep a 2-week supply of food and water in your home and to keep batteries and flashlights handy. When times are good, it feels like you're wasting your time, energy, money and shelf space on collecting and keeping these things around. Then the levies break and they're all you have...

But we only gave ourselves a sliver lining... so thin and easily shattered.

Cheap Green: Laundry Time

Laundry! Here's some tips for economizing on energy...

WASHING
* Rinse in cold water.
* Set your water heater to 120 degrees, not 140 degrees.
* Always wash a full load — or at least adjust the settings to match the size of your load, so the machine knows the right amount of water.
* In general, washing machines that load in front are more energy-efficient than machines that load on top, though there are some exceptions. (Whirlpool says it has some energy-efficient top-loaders.)

DRYING
* Dry multiple loads in succession. This ensures that the heat the dryers produce does not go to waste.
* Clean the lint trap after every load. As lint fills up, it blocks air flow, making the dryer work harder.
* Use the sensor-dry settings to dry your clothes, rather than timed drying. The latter will keep clothes tumbling even if they are already dry.
* Dry similar kinds fabrics together. Ever noticed that towels dry more slowly than T-shirts?

My tip? Don't use the dryer for anything but towels, if you have to. Your clothes will last 10 times longer and will keep their shape much better. Dryer heat breaks the fibres in fabrics like cotton and elastic and saps colour as well.

Canada...

A good place to ride out the world banking collapse?

Canada has the world's soundest banking system, according to a report released this week by the World Economic Forum amid soaring concerns about the health of banking systems here and around the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen... The Modern Republican Party

Gross.

Attention "DuckLover24" or whatever you're called

I call on Adam Porter to post a spirited defense of Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party, as per his recent declaration of his political stripes! Freakin' homeowners.

I'm embarrased to say that I've been largely uninterested in the Canadian election, mainly because 1) I'm a bit sick of political campaigns at this point, and 2) I assumed the Convervatives pretty much had it locked up. Looks like this may not be the case, which is exciting, right? Who knew? I'm suddenly interested.

Back to Porter....in the spirit of "rubbing salt in the wound", I feel I should mention that we have a bet over who will win the US election. Loser buys the winner a full-fared Buddhas dinner. Guess who chose the Republicans.

(Porter, here is my order in advance: 3 ducks, large hot'n'sour, spring rolls, #33, #35, #29, wontons, that cashew nut & vegetable thing, the dish with black moss & bamboo fungus that costs like 16 bucks, and yam rolls to stick my fingers in.)

Michael Moore goes to Sault Ste. Marie

Weird! I wonder what his new "project" is going to be about?

MP Gary Lunn loves rich people

When a few people in Conservative cabinet minister Gary Lunn's riding wanted to hook their high-priced homes up to the region's water pipes, Lunn came through with a $1.1 million grant from the federal and provincial governments pulled from a fund for sustainable green projects.

Lunn brags on his website that he "delivered" for his Saanich suburban constituents. But now members of the Mount Newton Neighbourhood Association, representing nearby residents, is asking the federal and provincial government to cancel the grant. They say the project's hardly green, will benefit only a few wealthy homeowners, and was "approved on erroneous grounds."

Mr. Looney Lunn is also Minister of Natural Resources and has been working hard to help the Harper govt lift the moratorium on tankers in the Inside Passage. This is a guy who absolutely abuses the power the people of Canada have bestowed him. I can think of no better title for him but to call him a bonefide bad person.

This is what happens when you vote Conservative. They rape and pillage your land and then let oil tankers spill their loads all over your banks because they think they found a loop hole.

A loop hole. Is that really how we want the world to work, through loop holes. This is exactly the kind of shady behaviour that got us into the economic mess we're now trying to wade through.

Gary Lunn, I declare battle. You and me, buddy. Archnemeses. Watch out.

(Yeah, that was a threat.)

Call to Arms: End Black Out on Palin

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Colonel Edward Carrington Paris, January 16, 1787

".... the basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were if left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter..."

"... Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people and keep alive their attention..."

By every account, the McCain Campaign has suspended interviews by the national press with Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States Governor Sarah Palin until after the election. Since nominated, Governor Palin has had three interviews with members of the national press. In contrast, Democratic nominee Joe Biden has had more than 90 interviews.

If you believe that the citizens of our country should hear from a vice presidential candidate who shares the ticket with a candidate for president who is a 72 year old cancer survivor, please request that Governor Palin be interviewed by respected members of the national press. For example, Tom Brokaw moderates Sunday's Meet the Press and Jim Lehrer moderates the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. They are respected journalists who moderated the first two presidential debates.

1. Email the McCain campaign

info@johnmccain.com

2. Phone the McCain office in your district or state

Currently, Indiana doesn't have a McCain Headquarters or office. Please call:
Indiana Republican Headquarters: 317.635.8881

3. Write the McCain Headquarters in Virginia:

John McCain 2008
P.O. Box 16118
Arlington, Virginia

4. Call the McCain Headquarters in Virginia:

703.418.2008

5. Write your local newspaper

RCMP Pay for Anti-Insite Propaganda

The joke that is our national police force continues. It's sad that police accountability hasn't been an issue in this election

Obama Rally in Indiana Today

The realities of our economy, health care costs loom

Good all-arounder on Bernake's economic mud puddle.
Economic Scene
Ignoring Reality Has a Price
By DAVID LEONHARDT

Uighurs

17 of them free from Guantanamo Bay.

The saga of Harper's evil plan to kill all life in Canada continues...

CBC News has learned that 16 Canadian lakes are slated to be officially but quietly "reclassified" as toxic dump sites for mines. The lakes include prime wilderness fishing lakes from B.C. to Newfoundland.

Environmentalists say the process amounts to a "hidden subsidy" to mining companies, allowing them to get around laws against the destruction of fish habitat.
...
Last fall, a Federal Court judge ruled that federal bureaucrats acted illegally in trying to fast-track the Red Chris copper and gold mine without a full and public environmental review.

The decision put the project on hold, but late last week, the Federal Appeals Court reversed the decision, paving the way for federal officials to declare lakes to be dumps without public consultation.

Imperial Metals said in a release Monday that federal authorities "are now authorized to issue regulatory approvals for the Red Chris project to proceed," although the matter could still be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Agenda Item X: Population, Family Planning

An article about a subject not often talked about but likely at the root of many global problems today, including the failed market economy (too many people playing the same risky game), environmental degredation (one word: California) and heightened energy consumption:

As World Watch Institute's latest magazine issue "Population Forum" illustrates, concerted foreign assistance that emphasizes international family planning programs is going to be required to address the nexus of population issues that have emerged - environmental degradation, climate change, as well as poverty, security and the health of women and children.

McCain's Paranoic Straw-Grasping

This is what he's resorting to. A man who once proclaimed (loudly) that politics as usual wasn't good enough falls prey to politics as usual.

My guess: it'll only stimulate the extreme right who wouldn't have voted for Obama anyway and will further distance independents, who are probably the biggest opponents of just this type of strategic politicking. It's a gimme for Obama.

One point Obama, Zero points McCain.

The Prosperity Gospel

At the intersection of faith and sub-prime mortgages.

Chekhov on B'way

Probably my favourite play of all time, Chekhov's The Seagull has been adapted for Broadway. If only I lived in New York...

When I saw it before it was in Central Park and it was free. The best part? An amazing cast: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, John Goodman, and on and on. The worst part? Natalie Portman. Every scene she was in she ruined. (Yes, she's hot, but get over it, bonerhead, she hasn't been good since the Professional.)

Financial Crisis, a Long Time Coming

This is what I've been saying for, um, a long time. And I'm not even close to being an economist... My point? Anyone could have seen the current financial meltdown coming a mile away. Take it away Kruggers:

For the fact is that the plan on offer is a stinker — and inexcusably so. The financial system has been under severe stress for more than a year, and there should have been carefully thought-out contingency plans ready to roll out in case the markets melted down. Obviously, there weren’t: the Paulson plan was clearly drawn up in haste and confusion. And Treasury officials have yet to offer any clear explanation of how the plan is supposed to work, probably because they themselves have no idea what they’re doing.

A Message from John Cleese

Britain is Repossessing the U.S.A.

A Message adapted and updated from Mr. John Cleese:

To the Citizens of the United States of America:

In light of the strong possibility you are about to elect an elderly gentleman with a bad temper and a lady who thinks she can run foreign policy because she can see Russia from her house, as President and President-In-Waiting of the USA and thus to risk Life As We Know It for everyone else on the Planet, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas , which she does not fancy). She won't actually be in charge, but she'll greet foreign leaders as necessary and not put her foot in it or vomit on anyone at dinner.

Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections. He will choose someone who does not have his or her hand in the till and has significant experience in running Big Things. You have not had one of them for almost a decade and trust me, it is a big plus.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. They have given away too much of your money already to rescue incompetent business executives and soon your American Dollars will resemble Zimbabwean Dollars in total worthlessness.

There is no free lunch you know. Although we originally let you get away with secession because King George was robbing you blind, recent events demonstrate that your present leaders are doing much worse things and unfortunately you have not noticed.

A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether more than half of you still believe Saddam Hussein was behind 9-11. Information to the contrary will again be provided by the rest of the world and we request you read it this time and refrain from invading the wrong country ever again if you possibly can.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary.

1. Then look up aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise.

Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').

3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. But we have a lot of Bank Holidays you will enjoy instead.

5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent.

Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

8. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

9. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline)-roughly $9/US gallon. Get used to it. Your driving armoured cars to buy groceries is unnecessary, boorish and killing the planet.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

11. We will require that people running things, like your government, are at least moderately competent and not related by blood or bribes to those who benefit from their decisions. We know it makes you more cozy when your leaders know as little as you do, but, honestly, it is short sighted: you need doctors who know more about medicine, pilots who know more about flying and leaders who know more about leading.

12. We respectfully request you give up this notion that Politics is Entertainment, and that very complicated things can only be explained to you in less than fifteen seconds. If you wanted to have a democracy, honestly, you'd really need to have taken the time to understand things a bit more before you voted. And may I suggest the startling notion that politicians don't need to look good to do a good job? And it really is acceptable if they are a bit boring, so long as they do their homework. It's especially important if evidently you have not done yours.

11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting Nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them.

12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie McDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

13. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). Don't try Rugby - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.

14. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first in their country. The six out of ten of you who don't own a passport will need to get one first.

15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

16. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776). Although this will raise your taxes, remember that the Neoconservatives will no longer be robbing you blind and so your Dollars will stop shrinking. Didn't you know that inflation and government bailouts of huge companies were really paid for by you? We must do something about your educational system. What on earth is going on over there? Are you oblivious to the crushing debt you are leaving your children? You might as well throttle them now.

17. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.

God Save the Queen. But at least God won't instruct your President to invade any more wrong countries.

Alaskans Rally Against Palin

Forwarded email:

[The] Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was to be held outside on the lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage . Home made signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women, or men. I had no idea what to expect.

The rally was organized by a small group of women, talking over coffee. It made me wonder what other things have started with small groups of women talking over coffee. It's probably an impressive list. These women hatched the plan, printed up flyers, posted them around town, and sent notices to local media outlets. One of those media outlets was KBYR radio, home of Eddie Burke, a long-time uber-conservative Anchorage talk show host. Turns out that Eddie Burke not only announced the rally, but called the people who planned to attend the rally 'a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots,' and read the home phone numbers of the organizers aloud over the air, urging listeners to call and tell them what they thought. The women, of course, received some nasty, harassing and threatening messages.

I felt a bit apprehensive. I'd been disappointed before by the turnout at other rallies. Basically, in Anchorage , if you can get 25 people to show up at an event, it's a success. So, I thought to myself, if we can actually get 100 people there that aren't sent by Eddie Burke, we'll be doing good. A real statement will have been made. I confess, I still had a mental image of 15 demonstrators surrounded by hundreds of menacing 'socialist baby-killing maggot' haters.

It's a good thing I wasn't tailgating when I saw the crowd in front of the library or I would have ended up in somebody's trunk. When I got there, about 20 minutes early, the line of sign wavers stretched the full length of the library grounds, along the edge of the road, 6 or 7 people deep! I could hardly find a place to park. I nabbed one of the last spots in the library lot, and as I got out of the car and started walking, people seemed to join in from every direction, carrying signs.

Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn't honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn't happen here.

Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the media, and was instantly surrounded by a group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn't be heard. Then passing cars started honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high.

So, if you've been doing the math Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin's rally that got all the national media coverage! So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery. Feel free to spread the pictures around to anyone who needs to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans. The citizens of Alaska , who know her best, have things to say.

Pirates!!!

Lawlessness and hurt feelings in the Gulf of Aden:

He said that so far, in the eyes of the world, the pirates had been misunderstood.

Translink Blogging

Vancouver has budgeted $2.8 billion for a Sky Train line out to UBC.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to do something like this?

Just kick the cars off 12th Avenue and turn it into a road exclusively for bikes and 99 B-line buses. Seems like a better idea than almost $3 billion, years of construction and all the business along the corridor folding, like along the Canada Line.

Students kicked off Facebook for eating a cat

Holy kitty cat!

Michael Cera interview on Terry Gross

Fresh Air from WHYY, September 29, 2008 · Once known mostly for his sweetly tentative portrayal of awkward, sexually anxious teenager George-Michael Bluth on the cult TV hit Arrested Development, Michael Cera became a bona fide movie star in 2007 with his winningly geeky performances in the hit comedies Juno and Superbad.

Check it out.

Thoughts.

Duuuuuudes.

I've said this like the last 5 times I've posted, but sorry for not ever writing anything on here these days. It's been a very busy time back in the ole' T.O. Lots of shit going down. And thank you, crazy Indiana gal, for keeping this thing going (and giving me good stuff to read). While on the subject, what happened to Capt. Smokestack? Did he go the route of "I'm paid to do this shit now" McConvey??

So I guess today's gonna be somewhat of an infamous day. I thought I would spare a few minutes to share a couple bullet points about...the last 3 months??

• Sarah Palin!!!!

• Here's the thing about this bailout plan failure. I don't think revenge or "i told you so" sentiments are ever a really good idea in public policy. Bottom line is that something needs to be done to restore some sort of liquidity in the markets or shit is fucked. I find it amusing that many Americans are so scared of anything that smells of socialism that they'll stay far away from it even if a ridiculously good investment opportunity for taxpayers (that will ALSO save the country) comes along. So instead, the fat cats will just get bailed out without any upside for taxpayers. Total bullshit, but it's still preferable to full scale economic disaster. Deal with punishments later. It's always hard to explain why populism is kinda bad, but if this bailout failing does what people are fearing it'll do to the economy, this will be a pretty good example. So much for Huckabee '12. Anyways, my point is that since the bill failed I think the best option is to come up with a more PROGRESSIVE bill, which will get most democrats on board, then also catch some populist republicans by putting some superificial-yet-appealing-to-bullshit-populist-politicians shit in there. I'm not an economist or very good at math, but it seems to me like this would be a good idea AND it would have no problem passing in through congress.

• I watched the debate slightly under the influence, but it seemed to me like McCain won. And needless to say, I just mean "won" in the sense that I thought the mainstream media would SAY he won, therefore boosting his poll numbers. Maybe I've just been too conditioned into thinking that there are too many Americans out there that are worried about a potential President seeming "wimpy", even if he's right about everything. I thought they'd be calling Obams 'Dukakis'. This is why I will never be a pundit. I personally thought that McCain dished out way to much of the grumpy old man shit, but I didn't think others would pick up on it.

• Has McCain completely lost his mind? How did he think all that shit was possibly a good idea? 

• I can uncomfortably say that I have no idea who's gonna win this election. If I had to bet I'd still pick Obama, based on the electoral map breakdowns. But still, I have this bad feeling that all it might take for McCain is a good week of smears during the last week of October...

• Is there seriously a Canadian election coming up in 2 weeks?? WTF? Who are the candidates? (alright, seriously though, Bob Rae is my local MPP...and that's kinda cool....but, y'know, fuck the Liberals. Who should I vote for?)

Bailout Plan Rejected, mo-fos!

WASHINGTON — In a moment of historic drama in the Capitol and on Wall Street, the House of Representatives voted on Monday to reject a $700 billion rescue of the financial industry.

Reading the NYTimes item that was just released, one wonders where the (publically traded) newspaper stands on the rejected bailout plan... Geez, could they bury the reasons for rejecting the plan any deeper in the story. They've got like a hundred people voicing up on reasons to accept the plan right up front in the article. The phrasing is so condescending too.

I admit, I have no idea how all of this will affect world markets nor what the indirect effects will be, however I fully support rejection of the plan. Maybe I'm more republican than I thought but it is not MY job (as the taxpayer) to bailout all the rich mo-fos who got us into this mess. We've been anticipating a crash like this for years. Years. This is not a surprise. So the plan should have been in the works long before last week.

There's a reason I don't believe in "playing" the stock market. Most of it is based on a false pretense. Nothing in life is free. Period.

Now, let me get back to clipping coupons...

WTF?!?

I was just thinking yesterday about how funny it would be to hear Sarah Palin's response to a question about the bailout. Well, ask and you shall receive:



I don't think I could have made up a more incoherent answer. It's almost like she just took a "Politics" set of word fridge magnets, dropped them on the floor and read the random sequence of words that resulted.

Yemeni Man Swords

In the West, clothes may make the man. But in Yemen, the ultimate status symbol is a good knife. Just don't call it a phallus.

Chopra - The shady politics of Palin

Obama and the Palin Effect

by Deepak Chopra

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City . By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin's pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and turning negativity into a cause for pride. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of "the other." For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don't want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.) I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpfu l here to understand Palin's message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision

Look at what she stands for:

o Small town values — a nostalgic return to simpler times disguises a denial of America's global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.

o Ignorance of world affairs — a repudiation of the need to repair America's image abroad.

o Family values — a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don't need to be needed.

o Rigid stands on guns and abortion — a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.

o Patriotism — the usual fallback in a failed war.

o "Reform" — an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn't fit your ideology.

Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from "us" pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the ba nners of "I'm all right, Jack," and "Why change? Everything's OK as it is." The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness

Obama's call for higher ideals in politics can't be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow — we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. T he best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.

Alberta Oil & Gas Collateral Damage: She Can Light Her Water on Fire

When Lighting Your Water on Fire Isn't a Magic Trick
Jessica Ernst lives in the village of Rosebud, Alberta, East of Calgary. EnCana, a big oil & gas company, is operating close to her house. The photo above speaks for itself. Read on for her story.
...

In 2005, Ernst noticed something was happening to the water from her well. At first, her dogs wouldn’t drink it. Then, she saw it was fizzing as if it was carbonated. In December, she couldn’t turn her taps off: there was so much gas in her water, it raised the pressure and forced its way through her pipes.
She also discovered she could light it on fire. When lit, a huge blue flame burns on the surface of the water, before turning orange and escaping upward like a flare. 'It still scares me,' she says. 'You never know what the water is going to do.'

Tests on her water revealed high levels of methane, ethane and several other fossil fuels. It also showed signs of heavy hydrocarbons, like the ones used in drilling fluids.

Ron Paul... Keeping the R[EVOL]ution Going

With his endorsement of Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin. Here's a real zinger from Baldwin...

There is another part of the story regarding sexual predators that is not being discussed: the large numbers of young girls today that are themselves sexual predators!

This MTV generation has lost its innocence and virtue, and girls seem to be the ones leading the way. Furthermore, the days are gone when we could depend on mothers and fathers to jealously guard the purity of their own daughters. Today, it seems fashionable for girls to dress and behave like prostitutes. The moreflesh that is exposed, the more everyone (including the girl's parents) seems to like it. Whereas girls were once the prey, they are now the predators. The damning influence of pop culture icons such as Brittany (sic) Spears and Madonna has created an entire generation of girl predators.

Quote of the Day: Bailout on Capitol Hill

NYTimes article about bailout plan reaction by congress has a great quote by Senator Dodd that encapsulates how many of us feel about this business:

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. received an angry and skeptical reception on Tuesday when he appeared before the Senate Banking Committee to ask Congress to promptly give him wide authority to rescue the nation’s financial system.
...
Asserting that the plan would allow Mr. Paulson to act with “absolute impunity,” Senator Dodd said, “After reading this proposal, I can only conclude that it is not only our economy that is at risk, Mr. Secretary, but our Constitution, as well.”

Bear attacks B.C. man after jumping on fishing boat

That's right--a bear attacked a man on a boat...

A bear mauling a man on a boat in Port Renfrew, B.C., wouldn't let go of its victim despite being struck with a gaff, beaten with a hammer and stabbed with sharp objects, one of the rescuers said Wednesday.

"It didn't let go until it died right in his boat," said Bruce Miller, who was the first to try to stop the attack.

Two men were fishing around 5 p.m. Tuesday when a black bear swam towards their boat and jumped aboard, RCMP Sgt. Roger Plamondon said Wednesday.

One of the men threw fish overboard, hoping to distract the bear, but he was still attacked, Plamondon said.
Bruce Miller says he struck the black bear 10 times with a gaff but it wouldn't let go of its victim.Bruce Miller says he struck the black bear 10 times with a gaff but it wouldn't let go of its victim. (CBC)

An unidentified 52-year-old man from Saltspring Island was taken to hospital with bites to his shoulder and arm, police said. He underwent surgery and is expected to fully recover.

Miller said he was working on his boat at the Port Renfrew Marina when he heard a "commotion."

"I just happened to look up and this bear was coming out of the water onto the dock, and right into the back of the guy's boat and went right at him," he said Wednesday.

"I had to take a second look … and the guy's friend or his brother was standing on the dock screaming."

Miller ran over with his gaff, a long pole with a sharp hook, and tried to fend off the attack of the bear, weighing about 136 kilograms.

"I gaffed him probably 10 times and was pulling on him and he wouldn't let go of the victim," he said.

"Two or three other guys came over to help and put more sharp stuff in it and gaffed it and beat it with a hammer and it wouldn't let go. Finally another gentleman came over with his filletting knife and cut the bear's throat."

Police said a conservation officer went to the scene and was investigating what prompted the attack.

Beaverton boy lauded for solar cell invention

12-year-old invents 3-D solar panels, energy crisis averted, go back to your TVs...

BEAVERTON, Ore. – A new invention could revolutionize solar energy – and it was made by a 12-year-old in Beaverton.

Despite his age, William Yuan has already studied nuclear fusion and nanotechnology, and he is on his way to solving the energy crisis.

It all started with Legos - after he learned nanotechnology to make robots take off. The seventh grader then got an idea inspired by the sun.

"Solar it seems underused, and there are only a few problems with it," Yuan said.

Encouraged by his Meadow Park Middle School science teacher, the 12-year-old developed a 3D solar cell.

"Regular solar cells are only 2D and only allow light interaction once," he said.

And his cell can absorb both visible and UV light.

"I started to realize I was actually onto something," Yuan said.

At first, he couldn't believe his calculations.

"This solar cell can't be generating this much electricity, it can't be absorbing this much extra light," he recalled thinking.

If he is right, solar panels with his 3D cells would provide 500 times more light absorption than commercially-available solar cells and nine times more than cutting-edge 3D solar cells.

"Which would make solar energy actually a viable energy source for the Pacific Northwest," Yuan said.

Recycling is Re-sexy

Check out Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes' stab at using their celeb for the better (green) good: Answer the Call.

ADD druglessly

Here's a good snapshot of how people with ADD can help themselves cope with the everyday tasks of life -- without drugs.

Go here: Learning To Thrive With Attention Deficit Disorder

No Strings Attached

Clinton Secretary of Labor Robert Reich's condition for the bailout:

1. The government (i.e. taxpayers) gets an equity stake in every Wall Street financial company proportional to the amount of bad debt that company shoves onto the public. So when and if Wall Street shares rise, taxpayers are rewarded for accepting so much risk.

2. Wall Street executives and directors of Wall Street firms relinquish their current stock options and this year's other forms of compensation, and agree to future compensation linked to a rolling five-year average of firm profitability. Why should taxpayers feather their already amply-feathered nests?

3. All Wall Street executives immediately cease making campaign contributions to any candidate for public office in this election cycle or next, all Wall Street PACs be closed, and Wall Street lobbyists curtail their activities unless specifically asked for information by policymakers. Why should taxpayers finance Wall Street's outsized political power - especially when that power is being exercised to get favorable terms from taxpayers?

4. Wall Street firms agree to comply with new regulations over disclosure, capital requirements, conflicts of interest, and market manipulation. The regulations will emerge in ninety days from a bi-partisan working group, to be convened immediately. After all, inadequate regulation and lack of oversight got us into this mess.

5. Wall Street agrees to give bankruptcy judges the authority to modify the terms of primary mortgages, so homeowners have a fighting chance to keep their homes. Why should distressed homeowners lose their homes when Wall Streeters receive taxpayer money that helps them keep their fancy ones?

Mark Steyn...

is an idiot.

Options for the Bailout

From a Washington Post article:

Within hours of the Treasury announcement Friday, economists had proposed preferable alternatives. Their core insight is that it is better to boost the banking system by increasing its capital than by reducing its loans. Given a fatter capital cushion, banks would have time to dispose of the bad loans in an orderly fashion. Taxpayers would be spared the experience of wandering into a bad-loan bazaar and being ripped off by every merchant.

Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago suggest ways to force the banks to raise capital without tapping the taxpayers. First, the government should tell banks to cancel all dividend payments. Banks don't do that on their own because it would signal weakness; if everyone knows the dividend has been canceled because of a government rule, the signaling issue would be removed. Second, the government should tell all healthy banks to issue new equity. Again, banks resist doing this because they don't want to signal weakness and they don't want to dilute existing shareholders. A government order could cut through these obstacles.

Meanwhile, Charles Calomiris of Columbia University and Douglas Elmendorf of the Brookings Institution have offered versions of another idea. The government should help not by buying banks' bad loans but by buying equity stakes in the banks themselves. Whereas it's horribly complicated to value bad loans, banks have share prices you can look up in seconds, so government could inject capital into banks quickly and at a fair level. The share prices of banks that recovered would rise, compensating taxpayers for losses on their stakes in the banks that eventually went under.

About Those Fat Cats...

Some suggestions on compensation reform from Brad Delong:

- A 100% tax on all personal compensation over $1 million a year that does not take the form of restricted common stock in the entity issuing the compensation, untradeable for ten years.
- A 100% tax on the sale of and income from all securities derived from stock options paid as part of compensation where the underlying was worth less in inflation-adjusted dollars when exercised than when written.

I like these because the objective is to align the financial interests of senior management with the long term financial security of the company. Maybe corporate officers would have a different perception risk in making business decisions if they were actually exposed to risk themselves.

Huh?

I never expected Bob Rae to show up on Matthew Yglesias' blog.

Best Worst Song, Worst Best Song

A science project from the late '90s is making the rounds on the Internet. In it, two researchers named Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid surveyed 500 people to find out what qualities would be found in their "most wanted" and "most unwanted" songs.

Take a look...

Charge and Rebuttal: GOP lies

The Charge:
This is from an email forward I received...in Canada.

As your doctor starts to perform open heart surgery he tellsyou he has been doing this for 143 days. As your 747 plane pulls away from the terminal the pilot comes on the public address system and announces he has been flying for 143 days. Would you hire a lawyer to defend you 143 days out of law school? Interesting when it's put into perspective, isn't it?

Just think how great a professional of any kind you could be with only 143 days of experience! People want change so badly? . . . . maybe we should lower the experience requirement for doctors, lawyers, airline pilots, etc. This would
cause some change!

Obama's 143 Days of Senate Experience - Just how much Senate experience does Barack Obama have in terms of actual work days? Not much. From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United States Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory Committee, he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate. That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working.

The one single Senate committee that he headed never even met once. After 143 days of work experience, Obama belie ved he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World. I don't think so.

Our children spend more time in pre-school getting ready for kindergarten.

The Rebuttal:
Ridiculous. And I quote...

Fact check:

Senator Obama was sworn in to his first Senate term on January 2005 and joined the 109th Congress.

The Senate is not always in session and it can be argued that only counting session days as 'work days' is a misrepresentation of service done by any Senator.

During this 109th Congress, the Senate met 109 times during 2005 and 109 times during 2006 for a total of 218 days in session.

Senator Obama announced his intent to form a panel to explore a Presidential bid on January 16, 2007. The Senate had been in session for 7 days.

Total days in session during this time period equals 225 days

So even if the author was only counting days in session for Obama (and, conveniently, not McCain), the numbers do not add up.

It is doubtful this mysterious number was based on roll-call votes.

Sen. McCain only had four Senators miss more votes in the 109th Congress (2005-2006). Sen. McCain missed 58 votes but, to his credit, did cast 587 votes. Sen. Obama? He missed 11 votes and cast 634 votes. That's a lot of votes for someone who, as implied by the article, only worked for 143 days.

Further, DailyKos lists all of the bills he sponsored or co-sponsored and all of the amendments he introduced.

In a nut shell:

Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 570 bills in the 109th and 110th Congress.

Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 15 bills that have become LAW since he joined the Senate in 2005.

Senator Obama has also introduced amendments to 50 bills, of which 16 were adopted by the Senate.

His record is in fact quite impressive for a junior Senator from Illinois.

Regulation

An interesting article about principled-based regulation by a prof I had.

And an article blaming Alan Greenspan.

Poor man's Wi-Fi

AIG shareholders take note...

REGULATING = BAD!!!

Good piece in The American Prospect on the aspects of deregulation, or lack of regulation, of the financial sector that contributed to the current meltdown.

For example, #2 talks about the lack of conflict of interest regulations for securities rating organizations. Most people have never read a regulation and don't understand what they are, what they do or how they are created. Conflict of interest regulations in the securities arena are common, and meant to protect potential share purchasers from bad faith representations. I think if people knew a little more about "regulation" then reactionary anti-regulatory rhetoric that casts all "regulation" as bad wouldn't be so effective.

Decline and Fall of the U.S. Supreme Court

I'm going to make an effort to start posting again after a long summer off. So lets get things going with a NY Times story on the waning international influence of the US Supreme Court. Especially in human rights decisions. Which makes sense, since the majority on the US court is fundamentally hostile to human rights.

Obama and squealing pigs

Republicans are the worst, so are the media. I'm glad Obams is keeping a cool head about these idiotic attempts to isolate his remarks out of context and present them in attack ads and in mainstream media. It's important to have SOMEONE advocating for the public and the democratic process. The McCain-Bushes of the world hold so little regard and respect for either.

Salvia Balvia

Interesting (if strange) article in NYTimes on salvia.

Regardless of whatever hallucinogenic properties it may have, the seeds are so delicious on salad!

Slow Food Nation

It's funny that the personal choice I've made to strictly limit my intake of processed (not very tasty) foods in deference to the delish delights of cooking from scratch can be construed as a political decision.

Sure, part of my reasoning to do the "slow food" thing, as it is called, is tied to the gross environmental and ethical implications of eating big industry food that is grown from gmo seeds that only produce for one season (eff you, Monsantos), that is sprayed with pesticides and herbicides (read: poison), that is harvested and processed by people who likely don't make a proper living wage and who must endure the health consequences of being around poison all day (read: brown people), and that is shipped all over the world because oil is still too cheap (yeah, I said it).

But really my main reason for this "lifestyle choice" is that I just love to eat delicious whole foods. I like the way it tastes, I like the way it looks (so colourful!), I like the way I feel when it digests (processed food makes me gasy and bloated, and the sugars and salts in it cause mood swings), and quite honestly IT'S MUCH MUCH CHEAPER TO COOK AND EAT NON-PROCESSED FOODS.

Plus, there's less packaging so less trees are chopped down, less plastic is produced, less garbage ends up in our waters and the landfills are spared one less person's daily dose.

Easy choice.

Obama keeps his cool, O'Reilly proves (again) he's an idiot who doesn't listen

Less logging of BC’s old-growth forests makes more economic sense

SFU study highlights dividends for climate, recreation, endangered species

VANCOUVER – A sophisticated new study by researchers at Simon Fraser University shows that in the vast majority of cases it makes more economic sense to conserve forests than it does to cut them down.

The study uses computer modelling to assess three different conservation scenarios in old-growth forests near Vancouver that are home to highly endangered northern spotted owls. The scenarios range from present-day, relatively low levels of forest conservation to two future scenarios, each involving more forest conservation and less logging.

The researchers conclude that when a conventional, narrowly focused valuation of forests is broadened to assess the value of forests as carbon storehouses, recreation sites and sources of products other than timber — wild mushrooms, for example — increased conservation wins out over logging in most cases.

In 72 of the 81 scenarios considered, the researchers find that increased conservation and less logging delivers higher economic returns than current levels of logging and conservation. And in the nine cases where status quo logging appears to have a slight economic edge, this only holds if log prices do not fall and if little value is given to the role that forests play in capturing carbon from the atmosphere.

“We see clear evidence that conserving these forests is economically worthwhile,” says lead author Duncan Knowler, an associate professor at Simon Fraser’s School of Resource and Environmental Management. “What’s more, we have been conservative in our approach. We value carbon at $20 - $150 per tonne, while other studies have pegged the future price of carbon as high as $350 per tonne. As well, we have yet to consider other important roles our forests play, such as purifying water or protecting fish habitat. Once that is done, we believe the case for conserving more forests will be even stronger.”

“As BC begins to price carbon and participate in a market for carbon credits, Dr. Knowler’s work demonstrates the economic role forests may play as carbon sinks,” said Keith Ferguson, Staff Lawyer at Ecojustice, which sponsored the research, with the David Suzuki Foundation and Wilderness Committee.

“The BC government has always said that the economic costs of protecting forests and the critical habitat of endangered species are unacceptably high,” says Gwen Barlee, Policy Director at the Wilderness Committee. “This study shows that the opposite is true: not only do endangered species benefit from increased conservation of our remaining old growth forests, but it makes economic sense as well.”

“We are excited by these findings, and keen to see what further research on the economic value of forest conservation shows when the full spectrum of forest values, such as protecting water supplies is considered,” adds Dr. Faisal Moola, Science Director at the David Suzuki Foundation.

Entire city of Washington, DC Unemployed

A NYTimes piece today discusses the bump in unemployment over the summer and the number of jobs lost from the U.S. economy. 605,000 jobs have been eliminated since January! That more than the entire population of Washington, DC (pop. 558,891)!!!

So where are all the people who used to work those jobs working now? Are they the answer to the deficit of service workers? Is the U.S. heading the way of the Phillipines or Mexico or some other Central American country, and will its next persona be that of top service-industry professionals, shipped all over the world to work in the kitchens of China's and the Saudi's elite restaurants, paid less than a working wage and given no benefits?

No. It turns out they'll be the nurses taking care of our parents as they age and break:

Gains came in the education and health care industries, which added a total of 55,000 jobs.
...
The jobs data is considered the most reliable snapshot of the nation’s economy in any given month.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Really, with the dozens of political advisors and media people and image consultants, no one thought to avoid this??




Summer's over. Blogging to resume soon.

The Best Food Garden In Vancouver Contest

Here's a piece from the Georgia Straight (appeared September 2000) about the best food gardens in Vancouver. Lots of fodder for a wish list! Arugula! The three sisters! Guava?

It's funny how all the winners are either Italian for have Italian sounding names... does something in the culture manifest as a green thumb?

Lawns are yawns. Grass is passé. That's the message coming out of a recent contest masterminded by City Farmer, a nonprofit urban agriculture group that set out this summer to uncover the best food gardens in Vancouver. The contest attracted only 26 entrants, but, organizers say, the idea came late in the season evolving from earlier efforts to organize a food-garden tour. Entries revealed that gardeners are modest folk: many competitors (including all the winners) were nominated by their neighbours. Gardeners are also proud folk: arriving unannounced, with only a street number to guide them, the City Farmer judges soon found themselves being guided through the greenery, says program coordinator Spring Gillard, and in one case they were even fed chicory, harvested on the spot, rushed to the kitchen, cooked, and drizzled with oil and vinegar.

How space was utilized, crop diversity, whether or not there was a composting system, overall health of the vegetation, and visual appeal, plus "an emotional response that's hard to grade", all influenced the marks allotted. Only the narrowest of margins separated the three winners: Rocco Calogero, Manuel Arruda, and Tarcisio Pasetto.

Filled with, at different times, chicory, radicchio, basil, tomatoes, kiwis, figs, grapes, prunes, pears, and corn, Calogero's garden occupies two back yards and much of the front yard. It produces something different every week, says his daughter Lucy: "[My father] has been growing vegetables since he moved from Italy over 30 years ago. My mother makes enough tomato sauce for the family year-round, and sends some to my sister in Victoria."

In second place was Manuel Arruda, whose garden includes an orangery with oranges, lemons, tangerines, and guavas all flourishing; three different pear varieties on one tree (many food gardeners graft); and a thicket of densely planted beans. The Pasetto garden includes, according to Gillard, "what looked like a field of radicchio. He eats salad twice a day, and says, 'Some people watch TV 16 hours a day. I garden.' " An honourable mention went to graduate student, farm activist, and UBC Farm caretaker Derek Masselin for his personal garden on the UBC campus. (Tours of his garden are available weekdays. Call 822-3560. Organizers hope winner's gardens will form a larger tour next year.)

Entrants spanned socioeconomic, ethnic, and geographic boundaries. A new Canadian family on the East Side raises the "three sisters" - beans, squash, and corn - all ripening companionably together. A doctor in Shaughnessy grows salsify, Jerusalem artichokes, and a guerrilla squash that climbs from his compost bin and clambers over the garage roof. A Kitsilano roof garden rewards its owner with cucumbers, chard, arugula, basil, and heirloom tomatoes, all grown in containers.
For many, moving away from the traditional grass lawn is a health issue; for some, it's a way of socializing. "A lot of gardeners use their front yards [for food gardens]," Gillard says. "They're not hidden away at the back." And a front yard bursting with tomatoes is a topic ripe for conversation.

Vancouver's food gardeners also get marks for environmental awareness. All entrants practise composting and organic growing, and many have water-collection systems. Conscious of the ongoing wheel of the seasons, all routinely save their own vegetable seeds for the following year.

They are

Hilarious quote of the day (okay, of Aug 29):

Above all, should [Sarah Palin] really be the backup quarterback to a 72-year-old man of ever-declining health?

Are they out of their fucking minds?

A woman is a woman is a woman

Here's a nice piece--that's very well written--on McCain's veep pick, Sarah Palin. Shockingly, this came from Fox News...

And I quote:

...I think I understand a few things about Hillary’s base in the Democratic party, and why so many women have been so loyal to her, and if John McCain thinks that simply picking another person with similar anatomy is going to win their votes, he’s about to learn a very important lesson in gender politics.

Nothing again Sarah Palin. To be honest, I don’t know her. She is a newcomer to the national scene, new enough to make Barack Obama look like an old-timer.

She has been governor of Alaska for less than two years. Before that, she was mayor of a town in Alaska that is smaller than my immediate neighborhood. Sort of makes serving in the Illinois legislature look like secretary of state. She had the guts to take on the corrupt Republican establishment in her state, and she deserves credit for that.

She has executive experience, even if it is in a pretty small pond, and she deserves credit for that. Not much, but some. She is also mired in an investigation as to whether she tried to get her ex-brother-in-law fired which does not exactly fit with her image as an ethical reformer. Best as I can tell, she has absolutely no foreign policy or national security experience.

Can John McCain really say that he looked far and wide and she is the most qualified person in Ameerica to be his running mate? Would she have been selected had she not been a woman? She seems like a cool lady. Then again, Barack Obama certainly seems like a cool guy. Cool isn’t the issue.

The reason so many women supported Hillary Clinton, and the reason that number grew, as did the intensity of their support, as the campaign went along, is not because, or at least not solely because, she is a woman. If that was her only claim to the top seat, she would have lost straightaway.

It is because many of us saw her as the most qualified candidate in the race, without regard to race or gender, the one who had earned the job, was ready to do it, and instead of being respected for that, she was treated with scorn and condescension and outright sexism by so many in the media and even in the Obama camp itself.
What woman above a certain age – women in their prime, I call them – has not been there and done that, could not identify with the woman who was fighting for a job she was more than qualified for, only to be demeaned for her clothes and her cackle and her cleavage, only to be mocked for her ambition even as a guy with far less experience was applauded for his.

Hillary tapped into something deep in the hearts of women across the country; not,as Nancy Peolosi wrongly described it, the politics of victimhood, but just the opposite, the unwillingness to be put down or dismissed, the courage to hang in and keep fighting and prove your mettle even when others doubt you. Her speech Tuesday night only reenforced all the reasons that those of us who admire and respect her do so. It was because she wasn’t a victim, and neither are we.
...

I will note however that I don't think McCain ever meant to substitute Clinton with Palin. No repub would ever vote for Clinton so that's kind of a ridiculous claim. However i do think he's using Palin as a stand-in for the Dem's appeal on the race, youth and gender fronts.

And on an unrelated note, I just have to point out: Palin is almost HALF McCain's age! (*eyes bugging out sound*)

Trouble the Water

This film looks amazing! Perfect timing...

Morning Edition, August 29, 2008 · A week before Hurricane Katrina decimated parts of the Gulf Coast in August 2005, Kim Rivers Roberts bought a video camera.

"My state of mind was like, this could come in handy," Rivers Roberts tells Steve Inskeep. "My plan was just to film something I could sell."

So when the aspiring rap artist and her husband, Scott, became trapped in New Orleans' Ninth Ward by deadly floodwaters, she turned that camera on herself and her neighbors. What she filmed became part of a documentary, Trouble The Water, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival...

Vinegar

It must be the greatest thing since sliced bread... and baking soda. Check out all of the uses here.

Here are some faves:

Stop cats from fighting with each other with a spritz of a white distilled vinegar and water solution.

Kill weeds and grass growing in unwanted places by pouring full-strength white distilled vinegar on them. This works especially well in crevices and cracks of walkways and driveways.

To shine chrome sink fixtures that have a lime buildup, use a paste made of 2 tablespoons salt and 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar.

Some stains on clothing and linens can be soaked out using equal parts milk and white distilled vinegar.

Remove perspiration odor and stains on clothing, as well as those left by deodorants, by spraying full-strength white distilled vinegar on underarm and collar areas before tossing them into the washing machine.

Get cleaner laundry! Add about 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar to the last rinse. The acid in white distilled vinegar is too mild to harm fabrics, yet strong enough to dissolve the alkalies in soaps and detergents. Besides removing soap, white distilled vinegar prevents yellowing, acts as a fabric softener and static cling reducer, and attacks mold and mildew.

Eliminate bad breath and whiten your teeth by brushing them once or twice a week with white distilled vinegar.

When boiling or steaming cauliflower, beets or other vegetables, add a teaspoon or two of white distilled vinegar to the water to help them keep their color. This will also improve their taste, and reduce gassy elements. This also works when cooking beans and bean dishes.

Dem Convention - TV spectacularganza

Here's a good analysis of the horrendous TV coverage of the Democratic Convention. There's a hilarious bit in there about Karl Rove defending Bill Clinton on "Hannity and Colmes."

It's only 5 min.

A Plot From 24?

City and federal authorities said Monday night that at least three people were under arrest on firearms and drug charges in connection with a possible plot to kill Senator Barack Obama during his speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday night.

Organic Brew - Hangover-less?

Here's a funny test: Does an organic-alcohol hangover hurt as bad as a non-organic one?

Check it out.

Sandy Allen, World's Tallest Passes

My mom sent this to me about the recently deceased world's tallest woman, who incidentally was from Indiana... I feel an ache in my heart reading this, as I imagine that any trouble my 6' 1" ma faced due to her height would have paled in comparison to that faced by Ms. Allen.

I saw her once. She came into Easy Spirit shoe store at Glendale Mall, where I worked for a couple years as a teenager. Her friend pushed her in a wheelchair to the till and, assuming we didn't have her size, set to order a pair of size 15 or 18 (I can't seem to remember correctly) sneakers. It was hard not to stare. Besides her great size, she had something of an air to her. Not exactly a star quality or anything but a sense of her right to be there and to not be ogled. A steady confidence perhaps. Or maybe I had mythologized her.

Here's her obit:

SANDY Allen: superhero. That is how I perceived the world’s tallest woman, 7 feet 7 1/4 inches, from my vantage point as the tallest little girl in Delmar, N.Y. Ms. Allen, who died last week at the age of 53, appeared invincible in her photograph in the Guinness Book of World Records. I imagined her wearing a red cape all the time, printed with the slogan, “The weather up here is fabulous.” She must have been madly popular.

But when I drove to Shelbyville, Ind., last year to interview her, I found her alone in a claustrophobic convalescence-home room, made smaller by her 8-foot-long bed. She lived down the road from her childhood home, on $54 a month in discretionary income.

She greeted me with a hug and a joke: “If you ever want the ceiling painted, put a hat on my head and tell me which way to walk.” It was a hypothetical joke. Her legs were too weak to hold her 400 pounds, and she had recently summoned the fire department to lift her into her bed after she had slid off it. She was fighting organ failure caused by her gigantism. Excess growth hormone had wreaked havoc on her body. “I’m the oldest giant that ever lived,” she told me with pride. “All the women who held this record before me died quite young.”

Had Ms. Allen been born 20 years earlier, she would have been a circus performer, which, while not ideal, would have provided a steady income. It was a well-trod path: Anna Swan, a Canadian who was perhaps 7 feet 4 inches tall, was displayed in a museum by P.T. Barnum and thrived on the freak-show circuit with her husband, Martin Bates, who was 7 feet 2 inches, in the 1870s. The Alton Giant, Robert Pershing Wadlow, the tallest man in history at 8 feet 11 inches, toured the country in the late 1930s as a superstar, with 40,000 people attending his funeral.

But the circuit dried up in the 1960s, when audiences began seeing giants not as magical creatures but as sufferers of a medical ailment. Zoo-style objectification — of hair-covered men, of midgets — was out of fashion. It was the era of civil rights: We’re all the same on the inside, and we’re going to treat people as equals.

Everyone except very tall people. Unlike the cultural rules for weight or ethnicity or looks or disability, the social mores for height still allow bystanders to stare and say whatever they’re thinking. Which for a very tall person, let alone a giant like Sandy Allen, means: “Wow, you’re really tall!” (possibly while whipping out a cellphone camera).

I am 6 feet 3 inches tall and attract a fair amount of goggling and commentary, much of it complimentary, some of it not. It does not begin to compare to what Ms. Allen experienced. Her friend Kim Blacklock describes walking through New York City with her two decades ago: “People weren’t kind. Just the screaming. It was like — that kind of shock where they can’t even stop their mouth to think that a human being is going to be the recipient of their reaction.”

Ms. Allen spent long stretches of time not going outside. But she tried not to give into bouts of depression, which are shared by other giants, who live in isolation and poverty. Shortly after Guinness mailed her a certificate in the 1970s, she bought a van with the words “World’s Tallest Woman” printed on it. She appeared in a Federico Fellini movie, playing a woman who arm-wrestled in bars.

“I try to be friendly with everyone I meet,” she told me last year. “Some make it tougher than others. But I think that I’m this way so that I can encourage people not to give up if they’ve got problems in life.” She visited classrooms, preaching the wonders of difference — and letting kids try on her shoes.

The decency was rarely returned to her. She trusted everyone, including tabloids, which printed fabricated stories of an affair between her and the world’s shortest man. The Internet was particularly unkind. The first time I searched for her, I found a Web site where someone compared the size of her genitalia to a small Japanese truck. Her appearance on Howard Stern’s radio show was a train wreck of vulgarity, and he backed her into admitting that she was a virgin.

She shouldn’t have had to live so alone and die so alone. She was just 18 inches taller than everyone else. In a world of Michael Phelpses and teeny gymnasts, she wasn’t so different. She had a button nose, smooth pale skin, clear blue eyes. If she hadn’t grown in all directions, “I probably would have gotten married, settled down and had umpteen million kids,” she told me.

I learned of her death from a friend who is 7 feet 2 inches tall. He wanted to talk about the loss of the sunny Ambassador of Height. We discussed what might have made her life better. If every time strangers spotted her, they focused on how they identified with her, perhaps her Indiana drawl, her Pacers hat, her jewelry (Allen loved jewelry, the only mainstream women’s apparel she could fit into), things would have been different.

No stares, no questions, no cellphone cameras. No hiding inside a nursing home, no abandonment. She would have loved that, I think. She would have been madly popular.

Arianne Cohen is the author of the forthcoming “The Tall Book: A Celebration of Life From on High.”