Citizens of the United States are unlikely to hear about the failed war on drugs and war for oil on U.S. corporate media giants like FOX, CNN, ABC, NBC, or CBS. I'm not even talking about the ever-increasing flow of heroin from Afghanistan or the occupation of Iraq.
This struggle is playing out in the tiny Republic of Ecuador, home of the Galapagos Islands where Charles Darwin's studies there helped develop his theory of the transmutation of species 170 years ago. People living outside of the U.S. do know about these international issues because their airwaves are not as dominated by stupidity and gossip.
Newly elected President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, has made some major changes in his country's relationship with the United States. Backed by Venezuelan financial aid money, Correa has told neocon Paul Wolfowitz's World Bank and their loans to go screw themselves, rejoined OPEC, and will soon kick the U.S. military out of Ecuador.
"Chevron is responsible for environmental and social destruction in the Amazon. And that's why they're on trial."
The lawsuit filed against Chevron seeks $12 billion in damages over the environmental nightmare of open oil sludge pits in the Amazon jungle that the indigenous Cofan people claim has poisoned and killed many. Palast's report, "Rumble in the Jungle: Big Oil and Little Indians," will air on Democracy Now! on Thursday, December 27th.
I stepped, somewhat inelegantly, into a dug-out log canoe to seek out the Cofan in their rainforest village to investigate their allegations. There I discovered stinking, leaking pits of old oil residue leaking into drinking water - and farmers whose skin is covered in pustules.
The Cofan's leader, Emergildo Criollo, claims that when Texaco Oil, now part of Chevron, came to the village in 1972, they told the natives rubbing crude on their arms would relieve aches and pains.
He blames the death of his three-year-old son on oil contamination. "He went swimming, then began vomiting blood," he said.
The U.S. military operating base in Ecuador is located inside an Ecuadorian Air Force base at the port city of Manta. The U.S. signed a 10-year lease in 1999 allowing air operations primarily in support of the counter-narcotics surveillance missions in neighboring Colombia. Ecuadorian President Correa has stated he will not sign a new lease when the current one expires in 2009.
Josh Rushing, investigative journalist from Al-Jazeera English, also tromped through the Amazon jungle this past September to file a report not only on the air base in Ecuador, but also about the U.S. counter-narcotics operations in Colombia. Rushing, a veteran of the U.S. Marines for 14 years, seemed to be more at home in the jungle than Greg Palast.
Rushing's report, "Shadow War," is in two parts below (23 minutes video total).
As you can see from the second part of Josh Rushing's "Shadow War" report, the situation in Colombia is no joke. I knew several people before the first Gulf War who had worked counter-narcotics gigs in Central and South America. Some of their stories of jungle combat were personal, tense and horrific.
The Colombian government has been struggling with an insurgent para-military opposition group called the FARC for many years. The FARC has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and are not recognized as legitimate "freedom fighters" because the FARC has a working relationship with Colombian cocaine cartels and uses many asymmetric terrorist tactics, even by Human Rights Watch's standards.
Now wait a minute! Don't go chipping a tooth from gnashing teeth while wailing about this image.
If you had received a Christmas card from Art Conrad, a Seattle real estate agent and amateur artist, the caption on it would have read "Santa died for your Mastercard."
Conrad erected the crucified Santa on his front lawn to make an artistic statement against the commercialization of Christmas.
Conrad says he's not trying to make a religious statement.
With several million additional property foreclosures forecast for the first half of 2008, I can only imagine that this credit issue is near and dear to Conrad's heart.
Christmas is one day out of the year. Take your annual take-home income and divide it by 365. Or, if you don't have a calculator handy (Start> All Programs> Accessories> Calculator), simply take two zeros off and divide that by 3 for a quick guesstimate.
Did you go into debt for Christmas? That's not exactly a gift for your family, now is it?
If your kid is whining for a video game system, put a classified ad for a paper route job in his stocking. I pulled a sledful of Detroit Free Press newspapers through the snow wearing my little goofy-looking snow suit during the holidays when I was a kid.
Give your child the gift of character building -- that gift will last a lifetime.
Do read the news article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Susan Gilmore... it's so frakkin' funny. His neighbors are like, "WTF dude?"
Real or Fake?
When it comes to Christmas trees, I'm for fake. If you need that tree in your living room for ... symbolism, I hope you have a fire extinguisher. My mother actually once owned a small 80-acre Christmas tree farm in Michigan.
Nonetheless, I have come to disfavor real Christmas trees in homes.
First, a huge number of trees are cut down and taken out of our ecosystem for a holiday. Christmas is the anti-Arbor Day on steroids.
Second, the last time I had a real tree in my house, I burned it after the holidays in my burn pit outside. It only took 15 seconds to create a huge 40-foot-tall blaze that burned the leaves and branches in a nearby tree.
I couldn't even imagine how quickly my house would burn down and kill me with that flammable power. Seriously, that scared the hell out of me. I vowed to never have a real Christmas tree anywhere near where I slept.
Well, I want to thank everyone who stopped by here to wish me Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings, and Happy New Year. I also want to thank my friend Dan who is always so generous with his time, and thank his wife who gave me a delicious bag of Ghirardelli chocolates. I'm not even done eating my most delicious fudge brownie cupcakes!
I hope everyone I haven't been able to visit and well wish will know that you're in my thoughts. I hope you have a great holiday time and a safe and happy coming new year.
I'm desperately trying to last out the next week until 2008 begins before I blog about anything dark or negative. That means I'm just storing bookmarks for future commentary about politics, world affairs, and news in general.
For example, I've basically written very little about the 2008 U.S. presidential campaigns because I thought I'd wait until the primary process got underway. Until then, talking about individual candidates is just inside baseball trivia, gossip and speculation. I'm more of an issue oriented person anyway. Another reason is that I don't want to harsh your happy holidaze buzz -- so, here is yet another of my attempts at fluffy bunny topic writing. I blame it on the cupcakes.
Popeye the sailor
As you know by now, I'm a big fan of JLC's Internet TV. If not, you haven't been paying attention. Anyway, this morning when I cranked up the application, I was prompted to update it. JLC has taken his program out of the beta stage and released v1.1 final. Hooray for him!
One of the many free video channels I like to check out, from time to time, is White Springs TV which streams classic and odd movies. Sometimes, WSTV puts short cartoons in between the movies in order to fill time so their broadcast schedule is a little more orderly and manageable.
WSTV is where I have seen 1930's cartoons like Popeye the Sailor. It's weird to think that my most beloved grandmother may have seen these cartoons for the first time before the turmoil of World War II, more than 70 years ago.
Spinach Serendipity
Unless you're a cinematography or animation wonk, most of you kids have no clue about the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor. That's okay. You do have the all-knowing wikipedia. If Popeye cartoons were a video game, spinach would be the power-ups.
In the spirit of Popeye, here's my bachelor chow recipe for Popeye's Ramen Casserole. I just made it up yesterday in my bio-chem lab, otherwise known as my kitchen. As a bachelor living in the future, my definition of chow has to be both inexpensive and fast to prepare. My continued survival to be able to write this entry is witness to the recipe's safety for human consumption [1].
Popeye's Ramen Casserole
Turn a burner on your stove to high heat. Fill a small quart/litre sized uncovered pot halfway with potable water. Toss a packet of ramen noodles in it.
Spray a very light coating of non-stick Pam into a microwave safe [2] dish. Toss a 1/4 to 1/2 of a medium-sized, medium-chopped onion into the dish. Nuke it for about 2-3 minutes.
Stir the ramen noodles.
Toss a handful of sliced mushrooms into the dish. Plop a teaspoon of oleo/butter on it. Sprinkle some Garlic and Onion powder on it. Nuke it for another 1-2 minutes.
Cover the ramen noodles with a pot lid and turn off the stove.
Open and drain a can of spinach. Toot toot! Dump it in the dish [3] and stir it up with the onion and mushrooms. Crack two eggs into the empty spinach can and scramble them. Pour the egg into the dish and stir it. Microwave for 4-5 minutes.
Drain your ramen noodles.
Stir your microwave dish and cook 1-3 minutes longer, if needed [4] Place four slices of American cheese on the dish. Sprinkle your ramen noodle flavor packet on the dish. Dump your drained noodles on top of that. Let stand for 1-3 minutes while the cheese melts. Stir and season with butter or spices to taste.
While describing a recipe seems complicated, this took me about 15 minutes to make. If it wasn't easy, I wouldn't have done it. If you can boil water and operate a microwave oven, you'll be surprised how freakishly simple it is to make this unusual yet tasty side dish that will feed 2-4 people at any meal. The ingredients only cost about a dollar.
Bio/Chem Ingredients
1 can of spinach 1 packet of ramen noodles 2 eggs 4 slices of American (processed) cheese Onion, Mushroom, Spices and Butter/Oleo to taste.
Lab Equipment
stove or hot plate microwave oven can opener QT/L size pot microwave safe dish sharp prep knife fork
Footnotes
[1]. I am not legally liable for your anxiety about your dark green poop, Mr. Bixby. [2]. I prefer ceramic to plastic for molecular denaturing of food with microwaves. [3]. After several minutes, ceramic may be too hot to touch. Use an oven mitten. [4]. Microwave oven power output differs by manufacturer. Practice makes perfect.
* That's not me. I just really like the image. There is no snow in Florida.
Happy Holidays! Saturday is the Winter Solstice, which for many cultures in the northern hemisphere marks the likely precursor celebration to our modern day Christmas (and other religious holidays). I'm not a linguistic anthropologist, but even I can see how the word "holiday" evolved over time.
After the longest cold night, there is hope that we can survive this winter. It's like Wednesday being called "hump day." Once we're past the midpoint, it's all easier from this day forward until the life-renewing Spring season (or weekend).
Some people get a bunch in their underwear about people who say "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas." I grew up in an area with a diverse population of people with different religions and customs. So, whatever your custom, I'm just trying to be pleasant.
I don't plan on making a habit out of being pleasant to you an enduring habit, so I suggest that you just enjoy it while it lasts. I blame my uncharacteristic cheerfulness on intoxicating cupcakes and carols.
The internet is the vast collective digital mind of the puny humans living on our pathethic spinning ball of mud called Earth. It is a growing electronic organism of unimaginable size and shape. Even powerful governments and multi-national corporations can't fully control it.
We are all part of it as contributors and spectators: buying and selling, listening and telling.
Every grand dream and dark nightmare in human history can be found within a few moments of your desire to know it. It can be a path to enlightenment and a little box of horrors.
Sopcast
I have begun testing a software program and free service called sopcast. Similar to JLC's Internet TV that compiles a list of streaming channels around the digital planet, sopcast is different in that it uses peer-to-peer technology to stream the data.
You first download and install a small client program (~ 3 MBs). Then, you simply login as you would any instant messenger program, like WLM, AIM, or YIM. You can login anonymously. Sopcast then displays a real-time list of streaming media channels.
Sunday, I watched the Detroit Lions get crushed by the San Diego Chargers. I lost interest in the football game when Lion's Quarterback, Kitna, threw interceptions on three possessions in a row that the Chargers turned into a 21 point lead in the first half of the game. The video quality was not very good.
Later, I decided to check out a movie channel. The video quality was far better and I was able to double the screen size without pixelation. The data stream only had one or two short-duration (1 second) hiccups. I use a satellite ISP which does have latency/lag. I don't foresee lag as being a problem for cable broadband users.
I plan on posting a full review on HelpForum blog once I have had more than half a day to test sopcast. If you want to help me out, buy the DVD of the movie I watched, "A Sound Of Thunder" for your Sci-Fi collection. This is definitely a movie for your own little big screen and surround sound.
It is an exciting action and adventure tale based upon a short story by legendary author Ray Bradbury and stars Sir Ben Kingsley, Edward Burns, and Catherine McCormack. The special effects are excellent.
School Dress Codes
When I went to high school, I would usually wear a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that I bought at the last rock concert I had attended. Catholic school girls wore uniforms, not public school classmates.
Recently, public school boards around the United States have come to the conclusion that requiring students to dress conservatively (we used to call that yuppy) will be beneficial for the learning environment.
I recently discoverd that Texas -- the big, shiny buckle of the U.S. Bible belt -- has the following dress code philosophy for the students enrolled in the Mesquite Independent School District:
This total development includes the training of students in social and moral standards, ethical conduct, good manners, and good grooming as well as the teaching of academic subjects. With this philosophy in mind, the Board of Trustees has approved the following dress code.
The courts have reaffirmed and upheld a school board's authority to regulate dress and grooming within the schools that the board serves. The dress code has been adopted on the premise that students who dress and groom themselves neatly, and in an acceptable and appropriate manner, are more likely to become constructive members of the society in which we live.
This dress code is established to teach hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruption, avoid safety hazards and develop an awareness that there are distinct occasions appropriate for formal and informal attire. These guides apply to all students enrolled in Mesquite schools at the elementary level.
Sponsors of extra/co-curricular activities may, at their discretion, establish grooming guides for students involved in such activities that are more stringent. Decisions regarding dress and grooming are campus decisions, and the decision of the principal is considered final.
Notice that in the first sentence, the teaching of academic subjects is the last goal of this "philosophy" of the dress code which applies to all students, K-12. It seems that brainwashing kids to be conformist corporate cubicle rats starts at an early age. And then when the kids are in their teens, they can consult this flash presentation to make sure they don't get out of line.
In my high school advanced placement classes, my fellow classmates came from diverse backgrounds. There were geeks, jocks, cheerleaders, goths, and stoners. Innovation, not conformity, will strengthen our country. Sheeple suck.
