Thursday, August 19, 2004

Arlington Cowboys

I was very excited to see Jerry Jones new plans to fuck Arlington instead of fucking Dallas. I live in Dallas, and Jerry fucking my home city could have negative consequences for me. Luckily, he has elected to fuck Arlington instead, where the Mayor was all but to eager to bend over right away.

Economic studies have yet to show any measurable economic benefits from building enormous sports stadiums. As I recall from high school economics, a region grows economically because of two factors:

1) It improves efficiency, making it cheaper, easier, or faster to produce goods

2) It trades goods with other regions, usually because those goods are unique or specific to the region

That’s about it. Studies show that people don’t travel to other cities to see sporting events, not in significant numbers anyway.

So you’re down to a basic observation, new sports stadiums don’t justify their cost. An excellent website with links to studies about this issue is www.dfwreview.org. Click on the Sports Stadium tab for more information.

I would urge the city of Arlington voters not to vote for this absurd deal. The arguments agaisnt public subsidy of such a frivolous and small part of the local economy are numerous. For an excellent breakdown of the arguments against sports stadiums, also visit http://www.oldcity.org/stadium1.htm. I think that article was written while Philadephia was considering such a stadium.


Friday, August 13, 2004

Vote Kerry-Visit Moveon.org

The battle for the future of the country continues as www.moveon.org goes on a rock and roll tour through swing states. I live in Texas, and will probably vote third party in protest of the electoral college system. However, my sympathies are with Kerry. Until proportional representation is implemented there really won’t be much point in voting third party, except for the high minded principle of voting for what you actually believe, or to send some kind of “statement.”

I don’t believe that the purpose of America’s foreign policy in Iraq was the destruction of a dictator, even though it did accomplish that. I don’t believe that the purpose was the threat of weapons of mass destruction. I believe the purpose was the seizure of an oil rich nation that has potential long term strategic benefit to the United States. I think the policy behind this world outlook is flawed. I believe that the people responsible for these decisions are considering the importance of oil to the U.S. economy, and the importance of having a base of operations in that region of the world.

I also believe that the long term effects of this policy will not be in the country’s interest. The problem now is how to disengage from Iraq. We have created a titanic problem, and I can’t see the world community at all interested in trying to maintain peace in the region. Of course, the world community should have been taken into account before this misguided policy was ever put in place, but we can only assess the situation from where we are now. Frankly, I don’t know what the solution will be, but I doubt seriously that America is more secure than it was before the Iraq war.

The future is unknowable, but I believe that a vote for Kerry can prevent such misguided policy in the future.

Thursday, August 05, 2004

Iraq Situation- Security

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting story today about security in Iraq http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0805/dailyUpdate.html?s=ent2 . The general theme of the article is that the situation there is much worse than its portrayal in the news. Important sections of the country remain under the control of of radicals and “insurgents.”

A friend of mine suggested to me that the use of the term “insurgents” was amusing. “Hello, those are the Iraqi people. Your ‘insurgents’ are the fucking people of Iraq.” He supplied me with an interesting and different way of looking at the situation. How welcome are American troops to most Iraqis? Reading the news leaves one with the impression of “good” and “bad” Iraqis, which of course, is silly. The situation is complicated and growing increasingly so.

The “insurgents” apparently still control a large slum in Northern Baghadad. They also have made major cities like Fallujah and Kut unsafe.

Interesting how oil exports can’t be maintained with any consistency. The story also reports on another explosion at a refinery. The major pipeline to Turkey is out of commission.

Nobody will Read my Garbage

<> Nobody will read my blog. And do you know why? I’ll tell you. Because it is filled with poorly written garbage. Garbage! Hooray!
Right now, Dianne Rhiem is lamenting with some journalist on the radio at the lack of civic involvement in the country. When will we receive a decent minimum wage? When will defense spending be cut? There is no superpower to challenge America’s military superiority anyway, why spend an absurd amount of money on defense? When will basic social services be extended to all Americans? When will America build a public education system that is truly public and equal in its outlook? Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear? When will my tiny penis shrivel up and disappear? I can’t say. I wish you all a happy Hanukah.

Monday, August 02, 2004

Democratic Convention

The Democratic Convention has begun and I have already missed President Carter’s speech. I watched a little of the post speech analysis and a brief interview with Carter. Carter touched on the issue of America’s unilateral diplomacy in the world, and a need for a leader who can build coalitions. Then they had a fellow soldier from Vietnam give a rousing speech in support of Kerry. Finally, it was Clinton, enumerating all of Kerry’s leadership qualities and listing all of the Republican’s pro-ruling class measures.

It was a bit of a let down. I was watching PBS however, and when I switched to CBS I found the crowd noise was much louder. CBS, not surprisingly, either has better broadcasting equipment, or PBS uses a subdued broadcast from their engineering booth.

The democrats need someone electric to speak, someone who can energize the crowd. After all, the party conventions are just like dentist conventions- a lot of drinking, partying, an occasional bad musical act, and then the coronation.

I had hopes that Bill Clinton would energize the crowd. I couldn’t get an accurate sense of how effective his speech was, but it seems to me they should have saved him for the last night. The crowd response seemed good, so far it just seems like a series of Democratic Party stars trotting out to give their standard hooray for Kerry speeches.

7/27/04

I catch the end of the Howard Dean speech, and it seems a little flat. “We succeeded in reenergizing the party,” blah blah. The Democrats seems to be hammering affordable health care. Unless we get a national health care system I can’t see it happening. Too bad that many of the good policy points that Dean endorsed are not going to be adopted.

Barak Obama’s speech gave some real excitement to the crowd and struck the right chord. While he was a much more animated and interesting speaker, the substance of his speech was another Land of opportunity-Democrates as party of the people speech. I wonder sometimes. I wonder what real benefits the lower income working class family will gain from the election of the Democrats. We will see. I can guess at least we will get a more progressive income tax, that would at least be a small victory.

But my comments up to this point have been superficial, because the content of the speeches at the conventions is superficial. Its all just a lead up to the coronation night. There is very little dissent within the party any longer. The methods of selecting the candidates has changed enormously over the years. There is no doubt in the result, and there is no interparty fighting about who will speak and when. I remember Jerry Brown making a huge wave in 1988 over being allowed to speak. He brought the issue of campaign finance reform to the forefront of the political conscience before it became a more prominent issue. It is still not addressed in any larger sense, because neither party has much of a stake in doing it. Individual politicians don’t see it as in there interests to attack the current system of campaign contributions. Its hard to argue with them.

But this is off the subject. You will not hear divisive issues like this brought to the floor of the convention any longer. The event is a pep rally now, and the obvious fear is that democracy loses. In November, I don’t see much point in voting for Kerry in Texas. Texas is not in play.

I thought it was a bright move to get Ron Reagan to come address the convention on stem-cell research. Many moderate Republicans are annoyed with Bush’s affiliation with the religious right and his stupid positions on matters of scientific research. Ron Reagan’s presence was both an invitation to the Republican moderate, and a humane appeal to the voters on the potential medical benefits of the research. Many Republicans voting in the suburbs did not vote for Jerry Falwell’s science policy when they cast their vote in 2000.

All in all, it was another somewhat dull night. I wonder if there will be anything chewy tomorrow night.

Surreal moment of the evening: Dean finishes his speech, cue “We are family.”

Dallas

I live in Dallas, where life is existing at high temperatures. While some people would claim there is a thriving arts community here, these people are fucking liars. They are at home on Sunday watching the Cowboys stomp and smash with jack hammer precision in a hellish stomping mode down to the touchdown of God!
Does anyone remember Mirsky's worst of the Web? I sure do.
Anyhoo, in Dallas, you can see a real live woman in white mercedes, wearing a white dress with white high heels, and white sunglasses. I'm not shitting you, this kind of thing really happens.
Also, we have an odd collection of Church of Christers and fundamentalists who appear from time to time to declare Satan illegal. Why bother?
In dallas, freeways must be built further and further outside the city ring to placate the white people fleeing the decaying urban centers. If you live in Dallas proper you might pay for minorities or go to school and beat up your white children. The sensible thing to do is flee! Flee, white people, flee! Flee in your white mercedes to Frisco! Flee in your white Mercedes to Plano! Flee! Flee to Flower Mound, the Colony, and Addison! Flee White People!
This is the most shcoking news about Dallas: the white people all drive white mercedes and wear white clothing.
The State Department does not recommend you travel here.