Taboo Plaza

The rules are created, we play the game.
What part did you take in making the rules?

Think, you may.
May you think?
You may think.

Imagine, when you grow up,
When you've really made it,
Then you'll have your say.
Then you'll show them how the game should be played.

You may think.
May you think?
Think, you may.

Only then you may just begin to forget.
You forget to realize,
But realization will strike.
One day.
May be your last day.
Certainly not your first day.

You, will think?
Think, you will.
Will you think?

By the time you've discovered the game-
you're already there.
You're playing the rules.
Or not.
Either way, your path's determined.
Ask yourself,
Where do you fit into those rules.
Did you have any influence on the rules?

Think, you will?
You will think.
Will you think?

You want the answer?
Go out and find it.
Experience it.
Play the game and get to the top.
Then ask yourself about the rules.

Will you change?
Change, you will.
You, will change.

Try to keep perspective.
Go back.
Back to that place where you started.
Before the rules.
Before it all seemed so fair.
Because, sometimes it is.
Mostly it is not?
Life is not fair.
Is 'get use to it' the only refrain to follow such a statement?

May you, make change?
You, may make change?
Change, you may make.

Current Affairs

Senator Barak Obama won the Democratic Iowa caucuses Thursday, January 3rd with 38% of the vote.  John Edwards came in second place with 30% of the vote and Hillary Clinton came in third place with 29% of the vote.  On the Republican side of the Iowa Caucus, Mike Huckabee came in first with 34% of the vote followed by Mitt Romney with 25% of the vote and Fred Thompson and John McCain tied with 13% of the vote.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/03/iowa.caucuses/

Mitt Romney won the most delegates in Wyoming's Caucus on Saturday, January 5th.  However, apparently nobody cares- except Romney- because all eyes are on New Hampshire.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcnG5Uy7g4I1jnD39sHVyhcKnVcA





Jay Leno and David Letterman returned live to airwaves this week despite the ongoing Writer's Guild of America strike. 

"Worldwide Pants...Letterman's own production company...reach[ed] a deal with...the Writers Guild of America, under which he was allowed to put his comedy writing team back to work."

Leno, on the other hand, struck no deal with the Writer's Guild.  Without writers, Leno must come up with material- in theory- on his own.  It appears that Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart will be following suit with Leno and not striking their own deals with the Writer's Guild either.  In a joint letter, Colbert and Stewart wrote,

"We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers, we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

This is an interesting case.  Essentially, we're witnessing a labor uprising.  Think of it as class warfare if you will; however, here in America we'll continue to market the strike as anything but class warfare.  The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers make a lot of money from products they distribute.  The products they distribute, however, are created by workers.  Those workers really produce the product being distributed.  The "producers" in Hollywood finance the creativity of people doing actual creative work.  Don't read me too literally there.  I'm sure producers do other stuff as well, but if a producer can direct then "director" is probably listed on their resume before "producer."

Creative workers in Hollywood include writers as well as anyone else you can think of associated with the making of a motion picture (i.e. key grip, boom operator, gaffer, etc.)  The striking writers are demanding a share of money generated by the products of their labor through new sources of revenue.  These new sources of revenue include internet revenue and mobile device revenue.  If you believe the writers, they simply want a cut of the revenue stream generated from their creative productivity. 

The products are created by the workers but bankrolled by the producers.  The workers probably can't afford to create without the money of the producers, but the producers have nothing to sell without the labor of the worker.  The question here is what is an amicable split?  For every dollar earned should the workers receive one quarter or three quarters?  What's fair for the producers to take from every dollar earned? 
I offer no answer, only the dilemma.

Deals like the one worked out by David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Inc. production company may bode well for the Writer's Guild of America. 

"[F]or a CBS-attached production company to wander from the fold and set its own terms with writers is an unsettling precedent for networks and studios. Will other shows bolt from the AMPTP herd to forge their own deals? Will powerful shows with strong, vocal fan bases (such as Lost, Battlestar Galactica or Gray's Anatomy) use that public support to rehire writers under individual deals?"

Every deal worked out independently takes away from the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.  As writers begin generating more income from sources other than AMPTP; the less writers need the AMPTP.  Don't think for a moment that the AMPTP can be successful without writers.  At best, they can start hiring scabs to write for them or they can go into a different line of business.  Hiring scabs at a lower wage than the previous writers were making seems the more likely of those two options.  The AMPTP could do this with relatively little effort because many people would like to call writing their profession.  It doesn't mean the scabs necessarily good at writing, it simply means they'll take the title of "writer" while earning less money than those before. 

That is the Way of capitalist, market driven economies- for better or worse it is a common refrain. 

Support the Man here and get no decent television shows for an indefinite amount of time.  Stick it to the Man and risk potentially worse programming than we had before.  It is a true conundrum.  People said Leno was better than Letterman, even though David Letterman had writers and Jay Leno didn't.  Can Leno keep it up for an entire month though (let alone an entire season?)

On his first show, Letterman received credit for showing a lot of support to the Writer's Guild of America.  Including this public service announcement:

"BILL: That's enough, Dave. Thanks a lot.
Bill takes a seat on the edge of Dave's desk and speaks to the camera.
BILL: Hi, I'm Late Show strike captain Bill Scheft. Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to show you the conclusion of this joke. Why? To remind you that even though the Late Show writers are back at work, the WGA strike still goes on. Thousands of writers still walk the picket line each day until their legs cramp and their backs ache, only to return to a home they can now barely afford because of the producers' greed. So, to the arrogant media moguls who've gotten so fat off our sweat-soaked toil that they can no longer fit behind their oversized mahogany desks, I say, stop spending all your money on cufflinks, cocktails, and whores. Stick a crowbar in your wallet and start bargaining in good faith with the writers. Maybe then America won't be denied the joy of seeing Dave hold up a pair of flaming underpants. Isn't that right, Dave?
DAVE: Right, Bill.Freeze on Dave and Bill.
Announcer: This message has been brought to you by the Writers Guild of America! Back to you, Dave."

The AMPTA is trying to deliver a message of their ownas well though. 

They apparently don't want to be misunderstood in this delay of entertainment.  Potential cracks show signs of appearing for the AMPTP.  Tom Cruise and United Artists has reportedly entered talks with the Writers Guild of America to apparently work out a side deal much like David Letterman.  If United Artists can work out a deal with the Writers Guild other deals may follow.


For now though, it's time for the people putting on the Golden Globes to sweat because they have no one to write their annual spectacle.  The real news here, however, may be that the Golden Globes are actually written down before hand.

The fourth video creation in the Game Over Project, utilizing a stop motion video technique Swiss artist Guillaume Reymond created a human Tetris game.  November 24th, 2007 an audience in Lausanne, Switzerland had the opportunity to view this film.  It is mildly compelling.  I found myself asking why the player would possibly make some of the moves they were making.  I almost started to yell, "What the hell are you doing?" but I stopped just short of that point.  In my book, that means they made something of value.

You can check out their other three video game creations- and learn more- at this site.




Getting to Know Your Government

December 28th, 2007, United States of America President George W. Bush vetoed "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008."  Introduced in March of 2007 by Democrat Ike Skelton, 2008 Defense Authorization Bill H.R.1585 weighed in around 1300 pages.

The bill had a Republican and Democrat co-sponsor. 
The bill passed the House and Senate.
The bill was stopped on the desk of George W.

The bill covered a lot of ground and concepts- as naturally indicated by the high page count.  Reading this type of legislation illustrates clearly how many concepts can be squeezed into a single bureaucratic phrase.  The massive tome lacks interest though, so most Americans will not bother to read it.  Congress should really look into getting professional writers to edit their work.  With the Writers Guild of America strike going on there is an unemployed work force potentially ready to take on the job of making this legislation readable.

"Defense Appropriation" includes authorizations for the following:
-Procurement, including for aircraft, missiles, weapons and tracked combat vehicles, ammunition, and shipbuilding and conversion.
-increased costs for military activities and military construction due to the global war on terror
-the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Security Investment Program (this really sounds like an excuse to inject money into Europe's pockets.  With the way economies are running, it seems they should be giving us money.)
-chemical demilitarization construction
(Who knew destroying 1500 tons of U.S. chemical weapons a year from now until at least 2012 could sound so boring?)

"Defense Appropriation" also includes provisions and requirements impacting:
-military education and training
-military pay and allowances
-retired pay and survivor benefits
-DOD organization and management, including intelligence-related matters
-counter-drug activities and matters related to homeland security
-matters relating to other nations (pretty vague)
-cooperative threat reduction with states of the former Soviet Union
(who knew we were still engaged in ending the Cold War?)

President Bush didn't like this bill.  The length of the bill and the broad range of topics however wasn't the problem.  Bush didn't approve of the bill because Section 1083 would imperil billions of dollars of Iraqi assets at a crucial juncture in that nation's reconstruction efforts and because it would undermine the foreign policy and commercial interests of the United States.

Bush wrote that Section 1083,"would expose Iraq to new liability of at least several billion dollars by undoing judgments favorable to Iraq, by foreclosing available defenses on which Iraq is relying in pending litigation, and by creating a new Federal cause of action backed by the prospect of punitive damages to support claims that may previously have been foreclosed.

That's a mouthful and it makes absolutely little to no sense on the surface.  It's incomprehensibility is only enhanced by its dense, litigious wording- the coup de grace for any lingering reader interest.  If you stop reading there though you may miss what seems to really be the point.  A couple of paragraphs later Bush expressed the following concern.

"By potentially forcing a close U.S. ally to withdraw significant funds from the U.S. financial system, section 1083 would cast doubt on whether the United States remains a safe place to invest and to hold financial assets. Iraqi entities would be deterred from engaging in commercial partnerships with U.S. businesses for fear of entangling assets in lawsuits."

This really seems to be about the economy and finances.  Again directly from President Bush, "Immediately upon enactment, section 1083 would risk the freezing of substantial Iraqi assets in the United States —including those of the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), and commercial entities in the United States in which Iraq has an interest."

It seems to me there is a lot more U.S. investment in the creation of the Iraqi market system of government than is ever fully alluded to anywhere else.  You have to ask yourself, how U.S. legislative action can have such a tremendous impact on a foreign economy?  We would really have to be entwined on both sides of said economies for our legislative actions to have such a tremendous impact on their "Central Bank" system as well as the globablly negative impression generated by others if Iraqi investment withdrew from the U.S.

Who knew that Iraq was so heavily invested in the United States of America?  And there in lies a major problem.  Iraq cannot be heavily invested in the U.S.  SOMEONE within Iraq is heavily invested in the United States of America.  Someone- or some people- in Iraq will benefit more than many others (immediately) from the creation of a Central Bank.  My guess is that someone- or again some people- in the United States of America will benefit immediately from the creation of the Central Bank of Iraq.

Competition is not going to matter.  The hard work invested by individuals is not going to matter.  When the Central Bank is created someone benefits exponentially more than most of the people around them.  Happy capitalism Iraq.

And do you think there won't continue to be a war in Iraq with this kind of thing happening?  It will only end with the iron clad rule of someone like Saddam Hussein.  However, by the time that happens Operation Enduring Freedom will be a distant memory.  The U.S. War on Terrorism will have hit the road and by all accounts it will seem that Iraqis elected a despotic ruler to run roughshod over their hopes and dreams.

As for Bill H.R. 1585, the bill had many other areas of interest.  For example, the Congress makes the Secretary of Defenses' job far more difficult because there are many directives pointed in that Secretary's direction. 

Other areas highlighted by Project Vote Smart include:
"-Expresses the sense of the Senate that the United States should support a political settlement in Iraq that would create a loose federal system (Sec. 1537)."
"-Reaffirms support for all men and women of the United States Armed Forces, strongly condemns any attacks on General David Petraeus and all members of the US Armed Forces and specifically condemns Moveon.org's advertisement about General David Petraeus (Sec. 1079)."
"-Allows the U.S. Attorney General to assist law enforcement agencies in the criminal investigation or prosecution of crimes of violence that are motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim and sets a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and a possible fine for hate crimes (Sec. 1023)."
"-Allows the Secretary of State to authorize a reward of $50.00 million for the capture or death, or information leading to the capture or death, of Osama bin Laden (Sec. 1219)."
"-Authorizes $150.91 billion for appropriations for the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan"
"-Authorizes $142.88 billion for military operations and maintenance appropriations"

The following highlights were supplied by the Congressional Research Service.
"Section 314 - Directs the Secretary to report to the defense and appropriations committees on current and planned future actions to control the brown tree snake (an invasive species currently on Guam) and to ensure that it is not introduced into Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the continental United States as a result of the movement from Guam of military aircraft, personnel, and cargo, including household goods."
"Section 555 - Authorizes the commander of the Air University to confer the following additional degrees: (1) doctor of philosophy in strategic studies; (2) master of air, space, and cyberspace studies; and (3) master of flight test engineering science."
"Section 591 - Increases from 60 to 90, for all military personnel, the number of days of accumulated leave they may carry over from one fiscal year to the next. Allows personnel serving in support of contingency operations an additional fiscal year after the current fiscal year to retain (without losing) any accumulated leave in excess of 90 days. Allows enlisted personnel who have accumulated more than 120 days of leave to sell back, on a one-time basis, up to 30 days of any leave in excess of the 120-day limit."
"Section 1011 - Amends the NDAA for Fiscal Year 1998 to include the Dominican Republic and Mexico among countries for which DOD may provide support for foreign counter-drug activities."
"Section 1012 - Directs the President to report to Congress on counternarcotics assistance for the government of Haiti."
"Section 1061 - Requires the Secretary to: (1) conduct a comprehensive review of the U.S. nuclear posture for the next five to ten years; and (2) report review results to Congress. Expresses the sense of Congress that such review should be used as a basis for establishing future U.S. arms control objectives and negotiating positions."
"Section 1211 - Renames "arms cooperation opportunities documents" as "cooperative opportunities documents" for purposes of cooperative research and development agreements between the United States, NATO organizations, and other allied and friendly foreign countries."

When the Cliff Notes for government policy is this dry and uninteresting, it is probably time for a change.  This type of dryness can only be produced actively by avoiding truly crucial issues.  If the legislation coming out of Congress really addressed the true concerns of the people, interesting reading would result.  

 

Question of the Week

What are you doing to make your dreams come true?  How is that working for you?

Tip of the week

Figure out now how many bills you can payoff with your income tax refund.  Then, when you get your refund, pay off those bills. 
2008 is a good year to be out of debt, especially credit card debt.

Birthday Shout Outs (Jan. 6 to Jan. 12)
1/6
(1412) Joan of Arc: It's a hell of a thing to have people saying your name for this many years.
(1929) Vic Tayback: "Mel.  Kiss my grits."
(1946) Syd Barrett: He helped found Pink Floyd, so I have to pay him due respect.
(1953) Malcolm Young: AC/DC kicks ass.

(1968) John Singleton: Boyz in the Hood is one of the greatest movies ever made.


1/7
(1800) Millard Fillmore: He was the 13th President of the United States of America.
(1912) Charles Addams: He created the Addams Family.

1/8
(1926) Soupy Sales: He's an icon.
(1935) Elvis Presley: A bigger icon.
(1942) Stephen Hawking: Incomprehensibly intelligent.  If you don't believe, go pick up A Brief History in Time.
(1946) Robby Krieger: The Doors had their moments.
(1947) David Bowie: I'm not generally into androgynous, but he was still pretty cool.

1/9
(1913) Richard Nixon: He was 37th President of the United States of America.
(1935) Bob Denver: Gilligan was a bigger icon than Elvis for a time.

(1944) Jimmy Page: He is a rock and roll legend.
(1965) Mugsy Bogues: An NBA legend and statistical phenomenon.
(1967) Dave Matthews: I really like the disc "Crash."

1/10
(1904) Ray Bolger: He was the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz.

Wizard of Oz-If I Only Had A Brain

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(1943) Jim Croce: He had some really good songs.
(1948) Donald Fagen: Steely Dan had a song that should be emulated more.

1/11
(1755) Alexander Hamilton: I always get the impression that this guy helped to really f**k everything up in this country, but I have no solid basis for that opinion.
(1958) Vicki Peterson: The Bangles had a couple of good jams.

(1968) Tom DuMont: No Doubt were a good band and played a hell of a live show
(1972) Amanda Peet: She's kind of a hottie.

1/12
(1628) Charles Perrault: He wrote "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty."
(1951) Rush Limbaugh: One side of the radio coin.
(1954) Howard Stern: The other side of the radio coin.
(1960) Oliver Platt: I really like the movie "Diggstown."
(1970) Raekwon: Wu Tang Clan ain't nothing to f**k with.

Belly Laugh

Sometimes I wish I were Japanese.