Journals I read:

Farrellworlds

Have Coffee Will Write

Kurt Roth

Esoteric Pride

NAW





2274

3 December 2004
I See Invisible People....

I've been thinking long and hard about what direction I want to go with this new journal. I could talk about writing, but Steve Leigh over at Farrellworlds is holding down that fort in fine fashion. I could focus on the absurdity of contemporary politics (and probably still will from time to time) but Have Coffee Will Write is really the best place to get your daily fix. And let's face it--my daily life doesn't begin to rise to the etertainment standards of your average college student. So I've decided to go after the news you probably don't hear other places, and point out things we all can do to help.

This world is full of invisible people. Just because it doesn't happen right under our noses doesn't mean it doesn't matter. On 11 September, 2001, 2,749 people died in the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC. It was a horror, and every person in the country noticed. But on the same day, 41,000 children starved to death. Another 41,000 died on 12 September, 2001. And 13 September, 2001. Every single day. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

So far in December, 7 US and UK soldiers have been killed in Iraq. In the same period, more than 1,000 have died in the Phillippines, under an onslaught of typhoon driving flooding and mudslides. One tragedy does not decrease the pain of another; they're both horrific events. But one is front page, the other below the fold on page 14. And some don't rate notice in the mainstream media at all. That's where I intend to come in. Hope you'll stick around and maybe learn a thing or two.

Invisible People Alert:Philippines: 1,000 dead or missing in Typhoon Nanmadol
Link of the day: Label Me Liberal

Zags Report: Gonzaga 99 - UW 87 (6-1)
Fiction: Dead Water, Barbara Hambly
Nonfiction: The Unquiet Mind; A Memoir of Moods and Madness, Kay Redfield Jamison
Music: Ohio Grown, Ekoostik Hookah

1 December 2004
So you think your one vote doesn't count ....

One month after the election, the Washington State governor's race is still up in the air. After the first count, Republican Dino Rossi led Democrat Chris Gregoire by a slim 216 vote margin out of a total of 2,744,926 votes cast. After an official machine recount, that lead dropped to 42 votes. 42 votes -- roughly 1 vote per county. Rossi is whining for Gregoire to concede and "not put the state through" another, hand, recount. She, wisely, is ignoring him.

Karl Marx, rewritten

My 18 year old daughter is in the midst of Application Hell, writing essays for admission to several university programs. This topic, for the University of Washington Honors Program launched an interesting discussion yesterday.

At the 2004 University of Washington Commencement, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson spoke to the graduating class. In his speech he conveyed the following idea:

"Look around you. Everywhere you see systems of commerce and transportation, systems of law and government, systems of communication and finance and agriculture. You didn't build any of it. You are reaping the harvest. You are heirs to all of it. To all of our history. The glorious and the shameful. It does not come free. It comes with rights and responsibilities."

Imagine yourself sitting among the graduating students. How do Wilson's words resonate with your own understanding of privileges and responsibilities in contemporary society?

As we discussed the quote, she made an interesting observation; the system depends upon not everyone receiving those benefits. If noblesse oblige truly functioned, the entire system would collapse. If the beleagured minority at the bottom of the pyramid were fully compensated for their labors and were therefore content, they could not be manipulated and played against each other. The price of goods would rise, upsetting the middle class, who would then demand more reward from the upper class, cutting into its profit margin. Rampant inflation and eventually chaos and collapse would ensure.

For a brief time, the US economy achieved responsible statis while labor unions were strong. The least attractive and most dangerous jobs were highly paid by group negotiated contract. But the opening of global labor market provided a new underclass -- this time comfortably off-shore and invisible -- to play off the local workers. Retail prices dropped, pleasing the middle class, and profits rose, delighting the upper class. And no one seemed to hear the protests of those at the bottom of the ladder.

Until "middle class" jobs began moving overseas.

Yes, the screaming has begun, but no one can bring themselves to utter the U word, now considered nearly as obscene as the L(iberal) word -- union.

Because religion is no longer the opiate of the masses, as Karl Marx once theorized. Cheap goods is.

Link of the day: Proud Liberal Bitch

Fiction: Body Double, Tess Geritson
Nonfiction: Beating back the devil : on the front lines with the disease detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Maryn McKenna
Music: It Had To Be You; The Great American Songbook, Rod Stewart