the contents of thought balloons

These are the things tangled up in my head. They are my meager offering for the day. Today it's hamhanded ham sandwiches: all broad generalizations, soapbox rhetoric, and paranoia.

1.
I just saw a documentary about Argentina by Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis called "The Take." I don't know how to accurately describe it. In Argentina some workers, who were laid off, refused to stop working. They "reclaimed" their abandoned factories and worked collectively to resume production and reenter the economy. There's more to it than this. It is about people trying to rebuild their lives not with capitalism or communism or ideology rather through grassroots collectivism. Or as Ben Franklin would say "If we do not hang together, we will all hang separately. We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."

2.
France voted down ratifying the EU constitution and the Netherlands did too. Expressing a frustration and dissatisfaction with if not globalization than with European Unionization. I don't know why but this disconnect between the ruling folks in Europe and those they claim to serve fascinates me. How often are people given such a direct way to express themselves? And how often do they take it? This disconnect I suspect exists in our country on any number of questions but rarely finds an outlet. I hope that the result of France and Netherlands is something more productive than trying to ram this down people's throats or sneaking it under their noses.

3.
While it is true that there are jobs in this country that American citizens do not want to do. I don't think it follows that this is because they are lazy and unwilling to do difficult work. Maybe it's because an illegal immigrant can take a job that pays very poorly and support his/her family overseas while an American citizen can take that same job but not be able to support his/her family (barely be able to support him/herself) here. An American citizen might not even get that job because they would report poor working conditions and inadequate wages.

4.
There is a relationship between culture and identity. Identity and politics. People will tell you that guns and money matter while the arts are useless. That painting and sculpture and music and theater and dance are superfluous. They will treat popular culture (television, movies, hip-hop, punk, metal, rock, computer games .. you name it) as merely a means of marketing, a way to manipulate you into drinking more branded beverages. Bull pucky. Art inspires the emotional connection of identity and the means of participation in culture. You become a tribe through shared stories, songs, experiences, philosophy, history, mythology. You stand with your tribe, fight, feed and die with your tribe. To me, that's political identity. Corporations and marketing people call it brand loyalty.

5.
Years ago, JV and I had conversations in which we speculated about whether it was possible to truly understand the human mind. I thought it might be possible to draw box defining its outermost boundaries and then gradually work inwards. The marketing people, advertisers, sociologists, and psychologists are doing just that. Sometimes not for the public good as evidenced in Martin Howard's book: "We Know What You Want : How They Change Your Mind" (disinfo link, amazon link) (It's more a series of charts and quotes, less of a book, really.)

6.
Domystic has a post about Dr. Thomas Butler. Perhaps there is more to this story that I do not know. I am sure he's a very smart scientist. But the guy should not have waived his right to have an attorney present. Know your rights and Never waive them. I don't care if you are innocent and neither do the authorities. When you are detained by the police or by the FBI or by other US authorities ask for an attorney and shut the hell up. Those words represent your rights, they represent laws that exist to protect you. If you waive your rights, you have surrendered your protection under the law. They may ignore your rights and take them away, you can do nothing about that. What you can do is insist on your rights and refuse to surrender them. This story makes me afraid to be in science. It does not make me feel safe in the homeland.

7.
The Supreme Court ruling on medicinal marijuana is being described as a ruling in favor of the power of Congress over the rights of states. I keep trying to envision a civil war being fought over the legalization of medicinal marijuana. It seems unlikely. =)

8.
I met T at FnB. He's a train riding punk most recently from Pittsburgh. He told us about FreeRide in Pittsburgh. Sustainable living through biking.