I'm not ready to deal with this amount of shit this early in the New Year...

just sayin'...

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Attention Frequent Flyers...!

just for chuckles and grins, something different for the new year and because i tend to spend a great deal of time on airplanes, i added a flight stats widget to the blog on the right-hand column... yeah, ok... deal with it...!

Track Flight Status & more at www.flightstats.com

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Octupied

be sure to tune in to tomorrow's rose parade...

Fat cats and greedy pigs make great symbols of corporate greed, but multi-armed octopi speak to the ways in which corporations operate. On 11/20/2011 at noon a 15 foot tall x 70 foot long octopus puppet manned by 40 puppeteers "Octupied" the steps of Los Angeles City Hall and visiblized the tentacular stranglehold of corporations on politics and government. For more info visit: performingpublicspace.org

more at firedoglake...

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Wow...! What a long break...!

this has been the longest time i've gone without making a post in the seven years i've been doing this blog... i've been devoting my time to family and the holidays...

HAPPY NEW YEAR...!

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One step closer to the Panopticon - reality intrudes on optimism

as much as i would like to pursue a thread of optimism in this new year and as much as i'd like to keep the ugliness of current reality at bay, i guess i'm not genetically equipped to stick my head in the sand...

when i was last in afghanistan, i noted a surveillance dirigible hovering over kabul that i hadn't seen in any of my previous visits... my afghan friends told me that it had been there for just a few months but, despite being a new arrival on the kabul scene, they had been a common sight over u.s. military bases around the country for a couple of years... here's a photo i took of it a year ago september...



the local wisdom was that it was loaded with surveillance equipment and that our emails were probably being scrutinized on a regular basis... while we all chuckled at that possibility, i, for one, had little doubt that was the case...

interestingly enough, the previous june and july, after i had bought my rv and parked it in an rv park close to my son's house, i became acquainted with an air force officer and his family whose rv was parked across from mine... he was on his way to train to fly unmanned drones and ultimately to be stationed at an air force base in the southwest... as appalled as i am at the whole concept of death and destruction no matter what form it takes and particularly when it's delivered remotely by a pilot comfortably ensconced 10,000 miles away, i was nonetheless able to suppress my feelings, maintain a cordial relationship and learn a little bit about what he was going to be doing... as a result, he's kept me on his general info mailing list and i found out that he recently started flying the next generation drone, the mq9 reaper (see my previous post here)...



in today's wapo, i see that yet another next generation drone, the "gorgon stare," has been announced...

This winter, the Air Force is set to deploy to Afghanistan what it says is a revolutionary airborne surveillance system called Gorgon Stare, which will be able to transmit live video images of physical movement across an entire town.

The system, made up of nine video cameras mounted on a remotely piloted aircraft, can transmit live images to soldiers on the ground or to analysts tracking enemy movements. It can send up to 65 different images to different users; by contrast, Air Force drones today shoot video from a single camera over a "soda straw" area the size of a building or two.

i have no doubt this rapid high-tech evolution will continue and, as with all defense and war-spurred innovations, will soon be commonplace tools for domestic use... just one step closer to the panopticon...

The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in 1785. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the incarcerated being able to tell whether they are being watched, thereby conveying what one architect has called the "sentiment of an invisible omniscience."

Bentham himself described the Panopticon as "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example."

great news for the new year, eh what...?

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Starting the new year on an optimistic note - a brief peek at two sustainable food cultures

australian geoff lawton researches permaculture, specifically around a concept new to me called "food forests"... here's two video clips, one from morocco and one from vietnam, two dramatically different climates, featuring food forests... the one in morocco is 2000 years old and the one in vietnam is over 300...





thanks to next world tv...

P.S. HAPPY NEW YEAR...!

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I'm having trouble facing the news of a new year

yaknowhutimean...?

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Obscene tax breaks on obscene bonuses

these banksters are so over-the-top greedy it fairly boggles the mind...

Along with Wall Street’s resurgent bonuses will come a jump in an ancillary benefit: tax breaks.

For all banks and Wall Street firms, “I’m sure we’re talking $200 billion total compensation, which would create a tax savings for the firms of $80 billion,” said Robert Willens, an accounting and tax analyst in New York who runs a consulting firm, Robert Willens LLC. The figure does not include bonus plans by hedge funds, which are likely to reduce their payouts after a down year.

The tax deductions, which will increase the bottom line of the banks, are perfectly legal and not new. They come as compensation for 2009 has roared back after the largest banks paid back billions of dollars in federal aid, an outlay still fresh in the minds of taxpayers. As pay goes up, so do the deductions.

Many American banks already pay minuscule federal income taxes, because of various deductions and clever tax planning; the payout-related breaks will reduce their tax bills further in coming years.

The biggest tax break will go to Goldman Sachs. It expects to award its employees $23 billion in bonuses — the most in its history — after having paid back $10 billion. Because most employee compensation is a deductible expense under tax laws, Goldman Sachs, which is technically taxed at a top corporate rate of 39 percent, will save about $9 billion in federal income taxes on the bonuses it pays out for 2009, Mr. Willens said.

The tax breaks cover both cash awards and stock options. Banks can generally carry back losses related to compensation two to five years or forward 20 years, depending on when the payouts are made in a given tax year.

the fact that over one billion people around the world are going hungry while these bloated bastards continue to rake in amounts of money that an average person can't even fathom is one shitty way to start off a new year...

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Dubai ushers in the New Year with massive fireworks display (using more money they don't have)

from itn courtesy of juan cole...

The new decade makes it's entrance in the Middle East - the United Arab Emirates welcomes it with fireworks over the Burj Al Arab building.

once you're accustomed to obscene, over-the-top, insanely ostentatious displays, it's hard to give 'em up...

HAPPY NEW YEAR...!!

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The CIA - oops, I mean Blackwater - dodges accountability... What a bunch o'crap...!

erik prince's cia cut-out organization never did have to worry about being held accountable...

Judge dismisses all charges in Blackwater shooting

A federal judge on Thursday threw out charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of killing 14 people in a 2007 shooting in downtown Baghdad.

and a happy new year to all...!!

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Yes, Virginia, there ARE fireworks...!

at the moment (11:53 p.m., Argentina time), it sounds like all-out war around my neighborhood here in buenos aires... thankfully, it's "war" of the joyful, celebratory, hopeful kind... here's hoping that 2009 sees a redemption from the horrors of the past eight years, eight years that's seemed like an eternity...

the bbc has a record of the goings-on around the world...

and here's a couple of youtube clips of videos i took of the "war" taking place on MY street...





this one family right around the corner offered up a finale that was definitely in a league with some of the larger public displays i've seen... it went on, massive explosion after massive explosion and a continuous light show, for well over five minutes... the other neighbors were gathered in small groups on the street corners with their mouths hanging open and burst into spontaneous cheers and applause when it was over... like i said, the argentines love them some fireworks...!

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Embarrassing moments prior to ringing in the New Year in Argentina

i arrived back in argentina yesterday, a bit worn out from a full day in airports and an overnight flight... the good news was that the flights were all smooth and on-time, my luggage arrived with me, nothing was stolen and it was a glorious summer morning here in buenos aires when i got off the plane...

after a shower and some superficial unpacking, i walked over to the supermarket in the early afternoon to pick up some necessities... i won't define "necessities" for you, just suffice it to say that mantecol was on the list (see below)... i was able to lay my hands on most everything i wanted but when i got to the checkout counter, i was dismayed to find i hadn't enough money... i could have SWORN on a stack of bibles that i did, but upon retrieving the wad of bills from my pocket, i was horrified to find that, in addition to argentine pesos, i had grabbed a handful of macedonian dinars as well... (macedonian currency, while not identical to argentine currency, is enough alike to withstand a cursory glance which is all i had given it when i took it out of the foreign currency pocket in my travel folder... sigh...) the cashier was somewhat taken aback when i announced that i wouldn't be paying for ANY of it... i figured i would come back later and do my own self-imposed version of groundhog day...



(note: mantecol makes another variety called "mega," coated with chocolate, which is, to my way of thinking, incredibly more delicious - and positively addicting - than the regular variety...)

well, after walking back home to nurse my wounded pride and then later walking back to the bank atm and getting more cash, i did go return to the supermarket, tail between my legs, only to find that the store was about 10x more crowded than it had been earlier... hmmmm... by that time, jet lag was rapidly catching up, so i decided to postpone it 'til today and instead marched on to the fruit and vegetable kiosk and the corner chinese convenience store to get enough things to tide me over...

i managed to sleep to nearly 10:30 this morning, something i almost never do, but that's just an indication of not only how tired i was, but how completely being back here relaxes me... so, after a very leisurely late morning and early afternoon, punctuated by a french toast with fresh peaches, scrambled eggs and brazilian coffee breakfast, i moseyed back over to the supermarket only to find it was about TWICE as crowded as it had been when i huffed away last evening... double sigh... needless to say, i stuck it out and was pleasantly rewarded by almost 45 minutes in line enjoying my argentine neighbors chattering with excitement over their plans for the evening festivities...

big holidays, particularly christmas and new years, are celebrated with special relish by the argentines... at midnight on both christmas and new years eves, there is nothing to compare with the explosion of fireworks taking place on every street in every barrio in the city... literally, it is impossible to even walk across a street without tripping over a kid in the process of lighting a fuse... and, lemme tell ya, some of those fireworks are B.I.G., as in H.U.G.E...! two big fireworks companies, jupiter and cienfuegos, are the major suppliers and one of them, jupiter, garners business from all over the world to put on displays...



and, as long as i'm shamelessly shilling, take a look at jupiter's awards...



so, after completing my restocking (even though i have to leave again a week from friday), i walked the two flat tires attached to my bike over to the service station to get them re-inflated and, as i passed the entryway of my neighbor's house around the corner, i was reminded that, for the past three years, i have blown the opportunity to grab a photo of their annual holiday decorating... my intentions have been good, i just never seem to have had my camera in hand before they took it down after new years... so, after riding my back back, i snatched up the camera and finally made good my promise to take a picture of it, offered below for your amusement and edification...

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Merry Christmas!

it's 4:30 a.m. christmas morning and, after having escorted my aging and insistent bladder to the appropriate place of relief, i thought i'd check my email prior to crawling back between those delicious flannel sheets to grab a last bit of shut-eye, before the grandsons shoot out of their beds like cannons to snatch up their goodies from under the tree in their annual frenzy of pillage and plunder...

for some reason i can't quite put my finger on, this is turning out to be the most wonder-filled, quietly happy and deeply satisfying christmas holidays i can remember for a long, long time... in past years i have been increasingly alienated by the relentless focus on the mercantile aspect of the season and the unreasonable and largely unattainable expectations that reality could never quite match... but this year is different... maybe it's just me, but i can't quite shake the feeling that there's something in the air and that a rising wave of good tidings is slowly but inexorably lifting us all to a place we've never been...

with that as backdrop, let me offer everyone my wishes for the best and most joyful christmas ever and my profound hope - ok, i'll say it - my profound belief that the best is not only yet to come but is also just around the corner...

in the spirit of sharing the joy of the season, let's have a great deal more of this...


My grandson's fourth grade class offering up their Christmas program

and a whole hell of a lot less of this...

Palestinian Christians living in Bethlehem could be spending their last Christmas in their hometown.

They live next to Jewish settlements and that means they also face the constant threat of eviction by the Israeli authorities.

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Welcome to the New Year!

here we are, january 2d, once again sliding through the inexorable procession of the days of another year, a year that i believe will be momentous and wonderful in ways we can't even imagine... but, let's also not forget that it is up to us to make it that way...


Sunrise, 2 January 2008, 0720 PST

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Happy Holidays to everyone!

i know there are a few of you out there who are faithful followers of this blog as well as those who occasionally drop by... i'm sure i can speak for my fellow bloggers in wishing everyone the very happiest of holidays and an amazing and wonderful new year which, as i said below, i think will surprise us all...


Sunrise, 5:56 a.m., 20 January 2007
Villa Gesell, Argentina

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