Mayan Explanation of December 21, 2012

Mayan Calendar/Thruthanado

Within a few weeks, it will be December 21, 2012, the date that signifies the end of a 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count in the Mayan calendar and according to some the end of the world as we know it and according to others a dawn of a new age that will bring enlightenment. It also could be just another day in December. 

The New York Times in  No End in Sight for Doomsaying,  made fun of the various doomsday documentaries to be broadcasted by The National Geographic Channel:

 "...The channel, whose signature series is now the duck-and-cover show “Doomsday Preppers,” will strengthen its brand by devoting its entire schedule on Sunday and Monday nights to the end of the world...."

In other places around the world, people are actually fearful, as the New York Times reports in In Panicky Russia, It’s Official: End of World Is Not Near:

"...Last week, Russia’s government decided to put an end to the doomsday talk. Its minister of emergency situations said Friday that he had access to “methods of monitoring what is occurring on the planet Earth,” and that he could say with confidence that the world was not going to end in December. He acknowledged, however, that Russians were still vulnerable to “blizzards, ice storms, tornadoes, floods, trouble with transportation and food supply, breakdowns in heat, electricity and water supply.....

"...In France, the authorities plan to bar access to Bugarach mountain in the south to keep out a flood of visitors who believe it is a sacred place that will protect a lucky few from the end of the world...."

Let's keep doomsday talk aside, and have a look at what an insider, Mayan ..............

Money, Power & the American Dream

Park Avenue/Daniel Case Creative Commons

Not only is the American democracy under siege by the forces of money and financial power, in Academy-award winning filmmaker, Alex Gibney's latest documentary, Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream - aired recently on PBS - Gibney makes clear that the American Dream of social & economic mobility is severely threatened as well.  As a symbol of money and power, he discusses a building, 740 Park Avenue in New York where the residents are among the richest in the world:a century ago mostly oil barons, now mostly employed in finance and at hedgefunds. Just to highlight a few fascinating observations from this documentary:

- Social & Economic Mobility in the U.S. is not better, and actually worse than in quite a few other wealthy countries, including Canada, Australia, the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and others

 - Income Inequality in the U.S. has skyrocketed over the last decades. According to the Congressional Report, Trends in the Distribution of Household Income between 1997 and 2007,  "....The share of total income in America going to the top 1% of American households increased from 11.3% in 1979 to 20.9% in 2007...." Also, from 1992 to 2007 the top 400 earners in the U.S. saw their income increase 392%, while income of the rest stagnated.

 - Distribution of Wealth in the U.S. too has reached historic levels. Professor G. William Domhoff, author of  Who Rules America?, states on his website, that" ... As of 2010, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 35.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 53.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 89%, leaving only 11% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth (total net worth minus the value of one's home), the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 42.1%." or to use a more colorful statistic: the 400 richest Americans have the same combined wealth as the poorest half of Americans, over 150 million people.

So why is it bad that a society has some very rich people, and many others who are struggling and poor?

Who Rules America ?

Statue of George Washington/Flickr by How I See Life

Now that the Presidential elections are behind us, the coming months will show the spectacle of Congress and the President dealing with the upcoming fiscal cliff, and the inauguration of the President in January. However these events will develop, it's not too late to gain a better understanding about who really rules America. Danny Schechter, independent filmmaker, longstanding media critic, blogger, aka the News Dissector, and author of Occupy: Dissecting Occupy Wall Street, produced a TV series Who Rules America (curiously first released on Iranian Press TV, but let's watch the message first before considering to shoot the messenger) a six part series covering the power of the media, corporations, money and Wall Street and explaining how their power trumps those of regular citizens. 

                                                     Episode 1: Debate over Power

One More Look Back at the Presidential Elections

I believe I've said enough about the Presidential elections, see for example my previous post Obama Win, 50% Not Voting, and Other Trends, but to round it up and offer some final information on who voted how, see this article in The Economist, The Remaking of the President  

The Economist

and the full results of the elections in this interactive CNN overview.

Obama Win, 50% Not Voting and Other Trends

Election Day came and went. Although in several states such as Ohio and Florida the lines waiting to vote were long and slow moving, there was no major upheaval or contesting voting outcomes as some had expected. President Obama won quite a convincing victory, and although surprising to me that that he won quite early in the evening and relatively easily, it was no surprise to the key pollsters I had referred to in my previous posts Alternatives to the Polling Frenzy  and At the Eleventh Hour: Election Polls Revisited.

Intrade was spot on with 303 electoral votes for Obama , so was Nate Silver  (who called 50 out of 50 states and had forecast a 91% chance for a Obama win with 313 electoral votes for Obama) and Professor Sam Wang (who had forecast a 99% chance with 332 electoral votes for Obama.)

The results in the Presidential election were as follows:

303 electoral votes for Obama vs. 206 electoral votes for Romney (270 electoral votes needed to win);  60,364,793 Popular Votes (51.2% - O) and 57,776,942 Popular Votes (48.8% - R),
a difference of 2.8 million voters (or approximately 2%) in Obama's favor.

The Senate race resulted in 53 seats for the Democrats (up 2); 45 for the Republicans (down 2) and 2 for the Independents (unchanged.) 51 of 100 votes are needed for majority. The House race resulted in  193 seats for the Democrats (up 7) and 233 for the Republicans (down 2). 218 of 435 seats are needed for majority.

In addition to President Obama's victory, there were some major trends to note:

At the Eleventh Hour: the Case for Proposition 37

Sweet Corn/Fairfax County

On the day of the Californian referendum of Proposition 37, requiring labeling of GMOs, an editorial was written for the American Sustainable Business Council by Brian Chossek, President of Seven Oaks Farm, titled "Making the Business Case for Prop 37." 

"Prop 37 isn’t just a vote for the rights of consumers, although that’s more than enough reason to pass it. Prop 37 isn’t just a vote about the quality of our food, although that’s more than enough reason to pass it. Prop 37 is about voting for transparency in businesses. It’s a vote that tells businesses to meet our needs. It’s a vote for entrepreneurship, innovation, and job and wealth creation. That’s just good business, and it’s why sustainability minded businesses should back Prop 37 on November 6th."
 
If the case wasn't already clear to support Proposition 37 - see my previous post, GMO, Health & Elections - this editorial will only strengthen it.

At the Eleventh Hour: Election Polls Revisited

Election Day in Philadelphia by John Lewis Krimmel 1815

Today is Election Day and it's finally the American voters' turn to speak and decide this election after a long year of way too many meaningless Republican primary debates, too much negative advertising, too many pundits keeping the media and citizenry occupied with tidbits, and Presidential debates which were basically ignored after the first one. Not to mention a barrage of obscene amounts funding two presidential campaigns, the money of which was spent on what exactly:to inform the voters or to fund solutions for the future of this country? Anyway, before you are on your way to the voting booth, here a few snapshots of leading pollsters. Let's review and at the end of the day see who will be right.

First, Intrade: with a 72% chance for a Obama win, and 303 electoral votes for Obama and 235 for Romney (270 electoral votes are necessary for the Presidency.)

GMO, Health & Elections

Sweet corn/Fairfax County

This coming Tuesday it's not only U.S. Presidential Election Day, but there also will be a Californian referendum with wide repercussions. I'm speaking of Proposition 37 requiring labeling of GMOs ("genetically modified organisms".) The outcome of this referendum will not only influence farmers and eaters in California, but also around the U.S. and even the rest of the world.

Foods that contain GMO have been available in the U.S. since the mid 1990s, and by now approximately 90 percent of the corn, soybeans, rapeseed and sugar beets grown in the United States are GMO.  Differently from most other countries, no labeling is required in the U.S. In an article by Francis Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé in the Huffington Post, "Seven Things to Tell Your Friends About GMOs"  the writers, experts in food, environment and sustainability, describe seven key points to consider for this referendum about GMOs:

Holland Offering a Solution for Battling Floods

The Netherlands/Wikimedia Commons

Just after hurricane Sandy has struck the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. with a ferociousness and damage to people and property,  only unimaginable a few days before, the first voices are being raised on how to avoid this kind of disaster.

Let's look at the damage sofar: 90 deaths in the U.S., of which 41 in New York City; over 6 million households have been or are still without power; hundreds of homes along the shore damaged or destroyed; the nation's leading subway and railway system which is still not fully in use; and the list goes on and on. The Financial Times reports that "Sandy will rank among the eight most costly storms ever to have struck the US, with losses to the insurance industry of at least $7bn..... The more pessimistic say initial forecasts have a tendency to underestimate the final tally, as was the case with hurricanes Katrina and Irene. One consultancy, PwC, says the total costs to the economy may well reach $45bn." 

Clearly, the first priority is to take care of the victims and repair damage. But what if similar hurricanes would hit again: is there a way to reduce or avoid all together this kind of damage?  Matthew Yglesias  wrote an article in Slate, New Amsterdam May Have To Look Back to the Netherlands To Control Future Flooding where he says:

The Day After Tomorrow.....

The Day After Tomorrow/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.

The scenes on TV the last few days reminded me of the 'science fiction" movie, The Day After Tomorrow, with actor Dennis Quaid as a climatologist who warns governments against catastrophic weather caused by global warming. His warnings are not heeded till suddenly violent polar weather starts assaulting the world, from New Delhi to Tokyo, from Scotland to eventually New York City.  The images of floodings and devastation in the streets of New York, which in this 2004 movie looked like fantasy and science fiction, became reality this week. Just like the concept of climate change being connected to recent hurricanes hitting the American North East, a concept being ridiculed by many in the U.S.,  finally starts gaining traction with some political leaders.

New York Governor Cuomo was quoted in the New York Times this Wednesday, saying:

 "“Climate change is reality,” while estimating Sandy’s economic damage up to $6 billion. “Given the frequency of these extreme weather situations that we’ve had — and I believe that it’s an increasing frequency — for us to sit here today and say this is a once-in-a-generation and it’s not going to happen again, I think would be shortsighted.”

In that same article, Klaus Jacob, an adviser to New York City on climate change, who had warned of the certainty of flooded Manhattan highways and tunnels of stranded ed subway riders and subway commuters if the next storm surge topped Irene’s, states:

“I’m disappointed that the political process hasn’t recognized that we’re playing Russian roulette,” said Mr. Jacob."

 New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said:

Hurricane Sandy Hits New York

Hurricane Sandy

It all started last weekend when my wife, diligent as ever, did preparatory shopping on Saturday (water, canned food, candles: all the necessary items to get through the unknown dangers of "Frankenstorm" as it was dubbed.) She also started clearing the terrace, so no lose objects would become hapless victims to the winds and fly into the streets. 
Sunday afternoon we heard that the Mayor had decided that the subways and buses would stop running at 7pm in New York City, as that's where we live. I was a bit skeptical: "why close tonight already? Sandy, the hurricane, is not expected to hit New York till Monday night, isn't it?" Little did I know. Later that Sunday afternoon, the streets of New York started emptying: visitors left town, residents prepared for the upcoming super storm and tourists returned to their hotels. Sunday night was quiet: no taxis honking, no rain drops and no wind worth mentioning.  Monday seemed even quieter, even fewer people on the streets, almost all stores and restaurants closed - with the exception of  a few Irish pubs in our Turtle Bay neighborhood -. Even though the weather didn't seem that bad, I had closed my office in Chelsea - in downtown Manhattan -, mainly due to the lack of public transportation, the lifeline for commuters and New York residents alike in order to get around in this, usually, busy and bustling city.

Monday night the wind started picking up:

Alternatives to the Polling Frenzy

The U.S. airwaves are filled with the latest polling numbers: Obama is up, Obama is down. Romney is behind, Romney is catching up. As many polls there are, as many differing results. For example, according to polling firm Rasmussen, Obama and Romney are even both at 48%; IDB/TIPP say Barack is ahead 47% to 45%; and according Gallup, Romney is ahead 51% to 45%.

Although, I'd wish the mainstream media spend more (or any) time on the important issues, and what the candidates'  campaigns actually stand for. I guess that's too much to expect in this time of media hype, and it's easier and more exciting to show the viewers and readers a horse race is going on than discuss a candidate's views on something more complex as climate change and how that might affect this country in the years to come.

Still, there are other and better ways of forecasting the outcome of the elections, than being distracted by the polling frenzy. One option is offered by Intrade, “the world’s leading prediction market": individual wagers can make a bet on who will be the next U.S. President.  A few weeks ago Obama was given a 79% chance for re-election and Romney 21% for an upset. After the first debate the numbers moved towards Romney, although the chances are still favorable  for a Obama win, now at 60%.  Intrade's track record has been pretty good: it predicted George W. Bush' win and the outcome of the electoral votes in 2004, and Obama's win in 2008.

Another alternative source of forecasting is...............

9/11 Explosive Evidence

As we just remembered the tragedy of 9/11,  a new 9/11 documentary aired on PBS and has become one of the most shared of all PBS documentaries.  The documentary "9/11: Explosive Evidence - Experts Speak Out' was produced by Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, a group of over 1,500 architects and engineers which asks hard questions about 9/11 and presents disturbing evidence. They come to the conclusion that the World Trade Center building 7 collapse must have been a controlled demolition. The makers of this documentary are experts and seem credible. Does that make their documentary credible: judge for yourself and click here for full viewing of this documentary. To watch a 15 minute summary click here .  If you want to know more, then review this collection of media reports and articles which shed more light on what happened on 9/11. For the official 9/11 Commission Report click here

The Upcoming Dutch Election: Move Towards the Left and Against Europe?

The Netherlands/Wikimedia Commons

In less than a week from now, on September 12, the Dutch parliamentary elections will be held. This will be a crucial election for the Netherlands, as Europe is in the middle of a Euro crisis, and the Netherlands itself - although with Germany, Finland, and Austria still among the stronger economies and with a AAA credit rating - is facing increasingly economic headwinds. The key question for Holland and Europe will therefore be: will this election result in a shift to the left, being more protective of the Dutch social welfare system and less supportive of the European South in their struggle out of the Euro-crisis, or will the right remain in power following an apparent German oriented, stern but responsible approach to the European Union and the Dutch welfare state?

It's not always easy to explain Dutch politics to those used to "winner takes all"- politics and a two party system, such as in the U.S.: "If you're not for us, you're against us", if that sounds familiar to you. Although this is not the place for an extensive explanation of Dutch politics, I'll  try to summarize some of the key issues........

The Netherlands is governed through a parliamentary representative domocracy , ....................

Geert Wilders Among Europe’s Most Dangerous Politicians

(European Politicians, Robin Hood Tax/Flickr)

German weekly Der Spiegel has presented their list of Europe’s 10 most dangerous politicans. According to Der Spiegel, these politicians are part of a growing group of populist politicians, who are becoming “more aggressive…...and whipping up sentiment and worsening the Euro crisis.” Among those top 10, are media tycoon and former Italian prime minister Sylvio Berlusconi, whose newspaper Il Giornale recently printed the headline "Fourth Reich" above an article about the euro crisis alongside a picture of Angela Merkel raising her right arm; Marine Le Pen, the French leader of the far right Front National in France, who in the recent French presidential election campaign said:”Frau Merkel and her friends, ...........

Noise Pollution Hits New York

(iProzac/Flickr)

“My job is to put my hand deeply in your pocket as I can for as long as you like. It’s a manipulative business.” This quote is from Jon Taffer, a restaurant and night life consultant and host of the reality show “Bar Rescue” speaking about designing music programs for restaurants, bars and hotels in a recent New York Times article “Working or Playing Indoors, NewYorkers Face an Unabated Roar" Thanks to The New York Times we know that the noise levels in one-third of its researched 37 restaurants, bars, stores, and gyms in New York City are bordering on dangerous. Examples are given from Beaumarchais, a brasserie which averaged 99 decibels, a spin class at Crunch gym averaging 100 decibels, and an Abercrombie & Fitch store with music hitting 88 decibels. Just to compare: normal conversation is between 60-65 decibel and The Occupational Safety andHealth Administration requires that workers exposed to an average of 90 decibels for eight hours wear hearing protection. “ …repeated exposure to loud noise often damages.........

America's Heartland Turning into Ghosttowns

Gary,Indiana (Zachary Perlinski/Flickr)

"Once the centre of the country's booming steel industry and known as the City of the Century, Gary, Indiana now lies in ruins as a sad example of American industrial decline. Founded in 1906 by the US Steel Corporation, Gary's heyday was in the post-war boom of the 1950s when almost 200,000 people lived and worked in the bustling city, 25 miles from Chicago...". That's the start of an article in the British Daily Mail describing the.....

Only in America

"Only in America could the President talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000 a plate campaign fund-raising event......"  This is the first of ten funny and surprisingly apt observations made by a blogger in the British Telegraph. Another one is.......

Political Polarization Due To Personalities?

Flickr/katja.torres

Watching Republican and Democratic politicians, and their statements in the media, I continue to be amazed by the seemingly never ending polarization between both parties. They appear to be against whatever the other party claims. I have to say the Republicans in Congress clearly are leading in this game by demonizing the President's actions, no matter what he does.  This polarization seems to me not just based on different political philosophies or ideologies, nor just on cultural differences, but very much on the character and personalities of the politicians, and their supporters.

The Economist presented a blog post
Personality and Polarisation confirming that conservatives and liberals do have different personalities:

Romney: Three Strikes You're Out

While the media and political pundits are eagerly anticipating the presidential elections, describing Mitt Romney’s supposed move to the center, and the “excitement” of a tightening race, it’s time to apply some common sense to this “horse race.” Most voters will vote republican or democrat because that’s what they always do, no matter who the candidate is. But let’s take a different view, and first, try to understand what Romney and the Republicans stand for. Then let’s look at their track record, and finally look at the candidate’s character........ 

Cellphoney Technology

Bfishadow/Flickr

How helpful is our daily technology when we really need it? A few days ago I decided to put a password lock on my cell phone, after hearing all the scary stories about what could happen if you lose your phone and unsavory characters find it. This morning I wanted to check my cell phone and punched in my password, but couldn’t unlock it: “password incorrect”, it said.  Even though I hadn’t changed anything since last night when it had worked perfectly fine, I couldn’t open my cellphone just when I needed it.....

Those Revolting Europeans

Paul Krugman, Noble Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist, wrote in his column last Sunday about the outcome of two critical European elections, in  France and Greece. Krugman, who has been all along an opponent of the European strategy of recovery through austerity sees those elections as a clear repudiation of this strategy and offering an opening to solutions of the Euro crisis.  Krugman states:

"What’s wrong with the prescription of spending cuts as the remedy for Europe’s ills? One answer is that the confidence fairy doesn’t exist — that is, claims that slashing government spending would somehow encourage consumers and businesses to spend more have been overwhelmingly refuted by the experience of the past two years. So spending cuts in a depressed economy just make the depression deeper. ........Moreover, there seems to be little if any gain in return for the pain."

He then continues on the alternatives: the first would be the break-up of the euro, which in essence he dismisses as being "too disruptive." The other, more credible, alternative in his view would be much more expansionary policies by the European Central Bank in the richer countries, first of all Germany. Krugman believes that the win by French socialist Hollande as new president will make this latter alternative more likely in the months to come. It's true that with Hollande the German-French axis between conservatives Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy may get looser, but let's see if Krugman will be right that expansionary policies will be the outcome.

Romney, Quo Vadis?

Mitt Romney (DonkeyHotey/flickr)

I’d prefer not to spend too much time on the Republican primaries for the U.S. presidential elections, or on the U.S. presidential elections in general for that matter. Any self-respecting supermarket chain would be losing customers, not to say on its way to bankruptcy, if its products were limited to two mediocre brands neither of which are able to offer what they promise. Even though that’s what the presidential elections have been about for years, or maybe especially because these elections have become devoid of any fundamental debate, the Republican primaries at least have succeeded this year in being of great entertainment value like a TV reality show. Rarely have we seen a bunch of political leaders who say....

Author Jonathan Franzen: "eBooks are a Threat to Society"

(goXunuReviews/Flickr)

A few years ago, after the dotcom boom and the splurge of new digital entertainment gadgets, pundits started speaking of the upcoming death of the book. More recently, as eBooks finally seem to take off, eBooks are seen by some as the possible savior of reading. Everyone has been reading about the Kindle and its seemingly endless incarnations, Barnes and Noble’s Nook, and the astonishing success of the iPad. If we look at total U.S. trade book sales (which include the popular categories of fiction and non-fiction in print, audio and eBook formats), then we can see these increased slightly, 6%, between 2008 and 2010 from $13.1 billion to $ 13.9 billion. eBook sales, however, as part of this total grew an extraordinary 1,300% from $62 million to $864 million!So, there is no denying that eBooks are changing the book industry. Experts and readers differ strongly about what kind of change and how positive this eBook-caused change is.American novelist Jonathan Franzen recently has spoken out against eBooks as damaging society and corroding its values. He was quoted in the British Telegraph as saying:..................

Spinoza's Vision of Freedom

In a recent, op-ed article in The New York Times, Steven Nadler, professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, writes about the enduring importance of  Baruch Spinoza, the 17th-century Dutch thinker. 

"He was an eloquent proponent of a secular, democratic society, and was the strongest advocate for freedom and tolerance in the early modern period. The ultimate goal of his “Theological-Political Treatise” — published anonymously to great alarm in 1670, when it was called by one of its many critics “a book forged in hell by the devil himself”— is enshrined both in the book’s subtitle and in the argument of its final chapter: to show that the “freedom of philosophizing” not only can be granted “without detriment to public peace, to piety, and to the right of the sovereign, but also that it must be granted if these are to be preserved.”

Nadler then continues about Spinoza's views on freedom of expression:

Obama, Hostile to Business?

President Obama
(photo by Jurvetson/flickr)

Last week I was watching the Kudlow Report, a daily TV program on politics, business and investing on CNBC, hosted by Larry Kudlow, a former economist in the Reagan administration. For those not familiar with CNBC, it’s generally skewed towards Wall Street and as far as mr. Kudlow goes, he seems a nice guy who speaks eloquently and passionately about the importance of free markets, while conveniently favoring Republican viewpoints. Kudlow's guest was Bob Lutz, a former senior executive at several car companies, including President of Chrysler in the eighties and nineties and Vice Chairman of General Motors from 2001 to 2010. In other words an accomplished businessman with wide experience in one of the key industries in the U.S. Kudlow asked him  whether Mitt Romney, as U.S. President, would be good for business. Lutz’s response was: