Defense Industry Political Contributions

I found an interesting bit of information recently. In the current election cycle, weapons industries, with the exception of Lockheed, are contributing more heavily to Democrats than to Republicans. The figure is that $8.5 million is going to Dems, and $7.8 million going to Republicans. Does anyone know why that is? Assuming most Democrats agree with Obama, then we will not be going to war anytime soon with Iran. Wouldn't it be more lucrative for these industries to invest in the Republicans, since they are the war mongering party? 

Perhaps they feel that Obama is going to have an overwhelming victory over McCain, in which case, all they money they have paid might get them special treatment in Obama's plan to refocus on Afganistan.

In any case, opensecrets.org is a fascinating website. The quantity of dollars that some of these industries contribute is hard to read. For defense spending, go to Open Secrets' defense page. They also have every other kind of political contribution on record!

New York: The Most Expensive City

Will I ever be able to realize my dream of becoming a New Yorker? Probably not... at least not in a financially comfortable way. Read Paying the Price for Living in New York  by Courtney Gross from the Gotham Gazette:

"New Yorkers already pay a high price to live here, and the cost of everything from a subway ride to tap water keeps going up."

Also, check out escapebrooklyn.blogspot.com for the perspective of a woman's plan to escape NYC. It is really well done; I am frankly jealous of her page. She moved to Brooklyn (supposedly the cheap part of New York) years ago, loved it at first, and now realizes she can't get ahead financially, despite a career in nonprofit. It is painful and depressing to read her count out every last penny she spends. Maybe New York isn't for me.... 

America's Culture of Debt

A great explanation of the current conundrum we find ourselves in, and much more logical than my previous posting! America's Culture of Debt in IHT Opinion Page by David Brooks.

The Chagrin of a soon-to-be college grad

In a word, I am DISTRESSED. The US economy is out of control. Our country’s debt is skyrocketing (bought by China Inc.), Americans’ personal debt is following suit to lenders, and what is normally our most valuable asset, our home, is, in some cases, worth half of the mortgage borrowed in its namesake. What with the skyrocketing price of oil, on which the economy has been stupidly founded, we are in real danger of economic disaster on the scale of the Great Depression. The dollar is plummeting in value, while prices continue to soar, in recognition of that fact.

All of this means different things for different people. For the baby boomers (the ones who are not billionaires,) this manifests itself as a shrinking nest egg for retirement. (Perhaps shrinking is too weak – shriveling.) For many corporate CEOs, the economy in its current state is a cash cow. Even when their companies fail, they walk away with millions of dollars in severance. For middle-aged professionals, perhaps they can no longer depend on returning to work tomorrow.

But for people like me, (or the person I will be at the end of this academic year,) that is, fresh graduates looking to begin their professional lives, the economy is perhaps even more bleak. We are in desperate need for a job to start repaying all the debt we have accumulated over the four to six years we’ve spent in undergrad and graduate schools. We were promised the world… “Get an education, and you can do whatever your heart desires.” Some crock of bullshit that has turned out to be. Lending institutions have taken advantage of our naiveté, cashing in on all those student loans we needed to fund our study abroad that would “pay itself back in a few years.” Yet another lie financial and academic institutions have worked together to propagate.

Unfortunately for us, there are no jobs that can help us pay those loans back. We students, who followed our dreams, pursuing liberal arts degrees with no clear career track like professional degrees, are stuck working in the service sector, or maybe, nonprofit sector, earning barely the minimum wage, and hardly a livable wage. Furthermore, those jobs exist in bulk only in big cities, where the cost of living greatly exceeds what the wages we are offered can sustain.

I suppose all we young people can do is resign ourselves to destitution, and hate our baby boomer parents and grand parents for enjoying higher standards of living than we ever will.

Gay Bashing

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It is incredible. My boyfriend and I were walking down the streets of the Short North minding our own business, trying to figure out what to do with our selves on a pleasant Friday evening. We were both wearing clothes that would not be considered “normal” for guys, that is, not a loose pair of khaki shorts with an even more ill fitting dress shirt, although neither of our outfits was outrageous.

Nonetheless, as we were making our way to High along Spring, a group of frat guys walked by. I felt physically threatened because there were so many of them, and Spring was absolutely deserted besides us. I braced myself as they walked by. No physical beating occurred, but they yelled “QUEERS” at us once they had walked past us. They didn’t even have the decency to say it to our faces.

As if that were not discouraging enough, as we made our way from Spring down toward Jeni’s Ice Cream on High, a group of macho dudes in a car shouted “FAGS” at us. We both felt angry, and a bit confused.

First, I must say that many gay people are accustomed to this sort of barbaric behavior. I have been called many vicious synonyms of “fag” and “queer” too many times to count. I expect it often times when I am in the Arena District, or in the University District, where classless and uncultivated types tend to abound. But, this is the Short North we are talking about! This is OUR territory. Everyone knows that the Short North is the de facto “Gay” district. As such, we should be able to flaunt around as freely as we desire, in only a rainbow thong if we so choose, without fear of being haggled.

Lately, I have been growing much fonder of Columbus. For instance, I discovered the Olentangy multi-use path, which gave me a newfound respect for the city. But Columbus is still the Mid West, a region notorious for its lack of tolerance, dignity, intelligence, and culture. In New York, where I have had the opportunity to spend a good deal of time, this would never happen. “FAG” as a pejorative insult would never be heard in the streets of Chelsea, the New York counterpart to the Short North (Although “fag” as in “Hey fag” a la Paris Hilton’s “Hey bitch” is quite prevalent.) It is accepted as gay territory. I should also add that I never felt threatened anywhere in Manhattan as I do here in Columbus. As much as I love this city, it is a product of the state of Ohio, and as such, gays can never truly feel at home.

Global Food Crisis

On Wednesday morning, Raj Patel appeared on Open Line with Fred Andrle. He discussed the global food system that connects producers to consumers. He describes it as a singular system that at once starves the poor and fattens the core countries. This is the central theme of his book Stuffed and Starved.

How exactly does the same system manage to overfeed millions while systemically starving a billion people? Patel describes it as simple economics. These days, all food is supplied by a handful of corporations. The goal of any business is to buy low, sell high. For instance, coffee farmers are paid on average a measly seven cents per pound. Nestle buys those beans directly or through a distributor, processes them into instant coffee, and sells it to Northern consumers for $10 per pound. This is a huge profit margin!

The problem arises when farmers of the global South are unable to buy basic foodstuffs to sustain themselves with these low prices. Commodities like coffee have been plummeting in price for decades. Economists would have these farmers farm a different crop to attain natural advantage, but climates suitable for coffee are not suitable for many other crops.

At the same time, the processing required to exact such huge profits enriches our food with sugars and salts. As we all know, sugars and salts are what make us fat and sick (ie cancer). As Patel points out, Americans love to believe that when they enter a supermarket they have every choice in the world. They can buy all different kinds of fruits, vegetables, meats, cereals, and beverages. But they are really choosing between Coke and Pepsi, Frosted Flakes and Coco Puffs, or Red Delicious and Golden Delicious apples, none of which is really a choice (or delicious for that matter).

Perhaps most distressing is that this system does not adhere to the democratic principals of this country, or those of the international order. Americans never sat down to decide they wanted to eat fattening, sterile foods, nor did the poor farmers of the South vote to be paid less than a living wage.

There are alternatives though. Eating local is a great way to avoid this system. Visit your local farmers market. The fresh food you buy there is sure to be tastier and healthier. Fair trade is also vital to circumventing this system. It ensures a livable wage to producers, and high quality and social justice to consumers.

What do you think? Do you agree with Raj Patel’s opinion, or does the current system seem to work? Should the burden be placed on consumers to pressure corporations and make their own decisions? Do you feel like you have a choice at the grocery? How does the global food system tie into food borne illnesses? Do you think there is a link between the recent outbreak of E. coli and salmonella and the way our food is handled and distributed in the system? Please leave a comment with you ideas!

Links

Stuffed and Starved
Listen to Fred Andrle interview Raj Patel on Open Line

The Political Western Woman and Her Pantsuit

Women

are finally able to claim their place in the political arena. We have the fabulous Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. Should Bush and Cheney die, she would be president! Of course Hilary Clinton is a political powerhouse, and was the first woman to run in the Democratic primaries for president. Condoleezza Rice is a genius, and our current woman secretary of state, being preceded by Madeleine Albright. On the international scene, Angela Merkel, the first woman chancellor of Germany, was named Forbes most powerful woman. Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, and Margaret Thatcher have all served as the heads of very powerful states. While many of these women have turned out to be more “masculine” in politics than their male counterparts to “make up” for being a woman, this is quite a positive development. Nonetheless, our Western female politicians are caught in a dreadful fashion rut. Unlike Gandhi, who was always seen in beautiful feminine Indian dresses, our female leaders are one note in their boring pant suits.

“But dresses are too feminine for Western politicians,” is the response I get whenever I mention something so sacrilegious in the United States. Well what’s wrong with feminine? Dresses can be powerful, and they are much more interesting than the power suits men wear.

Don’t get me wrong, there are fashionable pantsuits for women. Unfortunately Mrs. Clinton has yet to find one… she apparently only has eyes for Easter egg pastels! Nancy Pelosi is always dressed very stylishly. But would it be that unprofessional to wear a dress?

The real issue here seems to be a much more subtle form of sexism that still exists in our society. It is not OK to be feminine when posted to a position of power. Women have to be dressed like men, but not look so butch as to be a lesbian.

This must change! Women in power should be free to wear a professional dress that makes them feel and look fabulous. We have great examples from Southern Asia in the late Gandhi. We just need to Westernize it to make it relevant here, a task that has never proven difficult for this country.

Change is the theme of the current election. People are fed up with the way this country is run. A strong woman in a good-looking dress could be the catalyst for a long line of changes that need to be made. Call it superficial, but the symbolic power of a woman breaking free from the sexist norm could be the beginning of the next great social revolution!

The Case for a Higher Gas Tax

I recently began working at WOSU on Open Line, screening callers and maintaining the webpage. It is a lot of fun! Today, we had an open forum where people just call in to talk about what's on their mind. Many callers were very concerned with the rising price of gas. With demand for crude oil skyrocketing due to growing demand from the developing world, not to mention shameless speculation on Wall Street , the price of gas is not likely to plateau any time soon. Within this context, raising taxes on gas seems out of the question for most people. Perhaps the most convincing argument against raising taxes on gas in the US is the lack of alternatives, namely, people have to drive to get around. Taxes, the story goes, are only going to hurt the poor. I would like to respond to that claim.

Many of you know that in most parts of the world, especially Europe, gas is selling for well over $8 per gallon. Why the difference from the US? European governments figure that aside from the cost of gas, driving incurs many other costs. There are steep costs associated with motor vehicle accidents, congestion, infrastructure construction and maintenance, pollution, etc. They heavily tax gasoline to ensure that the people who are causing these externalities and using the roadways are the ones who are paying for it. It turns out that $8 per gallon is the true cost of driving in Europe. In the US, where taxes on gasoline are very low, the government is subsidizing gasoline. This has been part of larger policy failure that has led us to our current conundrum, where we are fuel dependent. The problem arises when the cost of gasoline rises, and the government's subsidy is no longer apparent. Americans are penny pinching, and do not want to pay more for gas. They reminisce of the days when gas was only $2 per gallon.

But Americans need to wake up. Those days are over, and life is going to be getting much more difficult. We have spent the last fifty years creating a car centric society that is desperately dependent on cheap oil. The economy is in danger of collapse because we can no longer cheaply transport goods. A steep tax on gasoline, as part of a broader policy initiative to ween us off oil, is not only smart but necessary. That policy should also include encouraging high density city living and expanding public transportation facilities.

What about the poor? Firstly, a majority of America's poor live in urban areas, namely urban centers. Many of them have no choice but to use public transportation anyway. They will not feel directly the hike in gas prices. Second, no one should be getting a free ride in regards to driving. If someone cannot afford the true cost of driving, which would take into account accidents, pollution, infrastructure, and the like, they should not be driving. That may put some people, like the rural and working poor in difficult situations, but ultimately, they will have to move closer to work or to some place that has access to public transport, which is the desired effect.

The most important advantage of the gas tax is that it will force people to stop wasting gas. You are going to think twice about driving a block to see your friend when gas is $8 per gallon. You may decide to bike to work, which would make you healthy and happy. In the end, the gas tax may just be the cure to many of America's most urgent maladies and chagrins.

Hipsters

I thought a few of you would find this amusing. If you ever wondered what a hipster was, this site has it covered with 56 definitions. I especially liked #1:

"Listens to bands that you have never heard of. Has hairstyle that can only be described as "complicated." (Most likely achieved by a minimum of one week not washing it.) Probably tattooed. Maybe gay. Definitely cooler than you. Reads Black Book, Nylon, and the Styles section of the New York Times. Drinks Pabst Blue Ribbon. Often. Complains. Always denies being a hipster. Hates the word. Probably living off parents money - and spends a great deal of it to look like they don't have any. Has friends and/or self cut hair. Dyes it frequently (black, white-blonde, etc. and until scalp bleeds). Has a closet full of clothing but usually wears same three things OVER AND OVER (most likely very tight black pants, scarf, and ironic tee-shirt). Chips off nail polish artfully after $50 manicure. Sleeps with everyone and talks about it at great volume in crowded coffee shops. Addicted to coffee, cigarettes (Parliaments, Kamel Reds, Lucky Strikes, etc.), and possibly cocaine. Claims to be in a band. Rehearsals consist of choosing outfits for next show and drinking PBR. Always on the list. Majors or majored in art, writing, or queer studies. Name-drops. May go by "Penny Lane," "Eleanor Rigby," etc. when drunk. On PBR. Which is usually.


I am not a fucking hipster! (sweeps bangs to side dramatically and takes a swig of PBR)

by 'Penny Rigby' "

Doesn't it all make sense now? Read more at urban dictionary. 

Disclaimer: I have immense respect for hipsters' originality and general coolness. The only reason I am poking fun is I am just not hip enough to be a hipster... :(

Notes on Notes: Vespucci on Native Americans

I am writing an essay for a world history class, using primary sources like Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci's diaries to substantiate my claims. I took some notes on Vespucci's diary of first encounters with Native American, and found them to be interesting and entertaining. Don't mind the lack of accurate punctuation and unpolished ideas... they're notes!! Do note the utter lack of respect and disgust in Vespucci's writings (through my notes...)

"Naked men and women- no different than the way were born, beautiful proportions, red skin like lion, but would be white if dressed like Europeans, no hair except on head but very rough and disheveled , look like Tartars, agile like animals- run and swim fast and a lot of endurance, well made weapons but weak with no iron- use animal teeth instead, sure shots, cruel wars, no leader, no order in war, no dominion expanding, war to avenge death of ancestors, live in freedom- obey no one, no justice, never in-fighting, simple soft talk, but cunning, barbarous lifestyle, don’t eat at regular times; eat off ground, cleanly habits, urinate openly-shameful, no matrimony, fuck e/o like crazy man and woman have many children, cause abortion if angry poor infants, recover quickly from birth, cannibalistic all the time, barbarous ceremonies to welcome them [Europeans]- songs dance and food, [Europeans] offered wives, unable to keep from fucking them, war like, Europeans try to make friends, but unable to- animals, [should be] made slaves, afraid of guns, [Europeans ]killed many, others refugee, [Europeans] burned village, wounded many, no European was killed God is great."

-Tyler's notes that will be used to make one kick-ass paper!