tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:43:59 +0000Voicing the Obvioushttp://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/noreply@blogger.com (Mark)Blogger237125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-7135048307660147487Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:40:00 +00002008-10-27T22:43:59.082-07:00SF Gate article on mortgage foreclosure fall-out.http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/10/mortgage-foreclosure-fall-out.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-7049495807127657279Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:20:00 +00002008-10-12T21:21:41.076-07:00Why? Are citizens disengaged from the political process, as suggested? This is a matter of enormous import. Should we take it, as the professor suggests, that only policy wonks know anything substantive about candidates for high office, and if true, why? How is it that newspapers often have an entire section devoted to sports, containing the most arcane and complex statistics and analyses of http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/10/powerlessnes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-1017255911766343001Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:11:00 +00002008-10-12T20:13:42.210-07:00http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/10/indecision-2008.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-3447318344913972007Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:44:00 +00002008-10-08T11:55:16.094-07:00 I have few words for a recent essay of superb analysis written by Chalmers Johnson on a book by Sheldon Wolin. Democracy Incorporated. The daily news is enough, when we read that, without so much as a hint of irony, Lehman Brothers handed out millions of dollars to executives days before going down in flames, and that insolvent AIG threw a $440,000 party to celebrate the federal bailout. As http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/10/democracy-inc.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-8021092153044716197Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:18:00 +00002008-09-30T18:16:55.586-07:00Does anyone not know that Congress is for sale? Science says so. In an article by the Center for Responsive Politics, those members of Congress who voted for the initial Wall Street bailout on Monday also received the larger share of financial campaign contributions from Wall Street. Why would an educated, intelligent banker or stock broker give money away? Surely we can attribute some financialhttp://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/09/investment-bankes-make-investments-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-6016059087747290480Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:08:00 +00002008-09-30T01:23:35.510-07:00Doing it the Swedish way. Buy-out, not bailout. More on Sweden.http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/09/swedish-economic-meatballs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-110546525408523568Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:39:00 +00002008-09-30T00:57:47.165-07:00 Is there anything left to be said? Surely, by now, notwithstanding the vast array of propaganda, we all know that McCain, Obama, Congress, the White House, and Wall Street are corrupt. The fiction of capitalism and our smiling leaders is over. Capitalism does generate wealth and prosperity, but for a tiny minority only. When that fiction runs its course, the people use socialism to bail out the http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/09/strategery-capital-management-llc.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-8167491080335977371Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:36:00 +00002008-09-21T19:39:00.190-07:00http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/09/obama-promises-to-stop-americas-shitty.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-5148581952137755713Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:00:00 +00002008-09-19T17:24:36.196-07:00Bush's Iraq invasion is costing an estimated 1 trillion dollars. The current estimated cost of bailing out Wall Street is now at one-half trillion dollars. The Bush presidency is costing American 2.5 trillion dollars. When do people wake up to the con game? Democrats, Republicans, transnational corporations, media conglomerates (TV, radio, newspapers), and much of academia, are responsible for http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/09/wealthy-of-world-unite-neoliberal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-2617483814271881402Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:28:00 +00002008-09-17T03:17:37.856-07:00While working on a client computer system today, I was subjected to the inanity of Wolf Blitzer and CNN "reporting" on the Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and AIG crises. I had to cringe. I haven't seen a CNN program since 9/11. I have no intention of reverting my avoidance of CNN. It continues on as mental junk food. McDonald's for the mind. McNews. Don't bother trying to understand what http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/09/junk-food-for-mind.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-500479152529828854Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:00:00 +00002008-09-10T13:33:56.935-07:00I can't even write anymore. The profound corruption of the American society by capitalism is so rank, so blatant, so egregious that I don't see any purpose in writing. Surely, everyone knows by now. That puzzles me is why no one does anything about it. A recent Associated Press story outlined how medical costs are rising, and that corporations will be passing on these cost increases to employeeshttp://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/09/political-fallacy-of-voting.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-3465868070585581005Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:22:00 +00002008-09-06T00:25:09.756-07:00Apple will hold a public event on September 9th to, presumably, announce new Apple gadgets and/or software. Speculation runs wild on the possibility of new iPods and other hardware. Stay tuned...http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/09/apple-event-september-9th-new-goodies.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-6517620927203102852Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:10:00 +00002008-09-03T20:25:15.152-07:00The standard work week in France is 35 hours in duration. French workers receive eight weeks of vacation. German workers also receive, on average, eight weeks of vacation. In the U.S. it's 40 hours per week and two weeks vacation. I'd rather be in France. The U.S. is the only "Western" nation that does not have socialized medicine, or what is also termed single-payer medicine. Why is this so?http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/09/35-and-8.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-5671151653127143142Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:49:00 +00002008-09-02T16:20:31.168-07:00From my progressive political perspective, getting excited about Obama is pathetically delusional. That's a corner of consciousness where corporations excel. They define the world in the mass media to suit their own narrow, pecuniary interests, forcing citizens to either face the reality of class warfare and exploitation, or to sink into the available delusions of democracy. The fact is this http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/09/good-cop-bad-cop.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-6817926724067128846Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:00:00 +00002008-08-29T15:23:53.224-07:00Comcast has a monopoly on Internet bandwidth. Without any serious competition, the company can do much as it pleases. Cornel West? Well, I saved the best for last. Comcast announced that Internet access will be capped at 250 GB/month starting October 1st. "Customers who top 250 GB in a month twice in a six-month time-frame could have service terminated for a year." Although the cap is http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/08/comcast-to-cap-net-access.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-5990882110791758928Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:34:00 +00002008-08-29T12:21:12.317-07:00Dear Professor, Fear of science is one of the frontiers of human understanding. Not just in the third-world, but here in the "West" as well. Colleges and universities want physics and chemistry, but they don't want scientists to connect physics and chemistry with human existence. Science is about speaking truth to irrational and illegitimate power. Science is democracy of information. Science http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/08/letter-to-scientist-in-third-world.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-4398648952620006337Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:34:00 +00002008-08-28T01:30:05.834-07:00While the Democrats offer TV illusions of change in Denver, democracy is breaking out in Bangkok. People fed up with the corruption in Thailand have taken over the prime minister's compound, Government House, in Bangkok, Thailand. The future of democracy lies in Asia and South America, not the United States. This is where inspiring progressive movement creeps forward under the pressure of the http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/08/whither-democracy-bangkok-not-denver.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-1123557028575639010Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:26:00 +00002008-08-27T10:28:21.406-07:00Naomi Kkein hits the proverbial nail on the head with an honest look at the moral corruption of the "establishment" American progressive organizations: http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/08/naomi-klein-corruption-of-anti-war.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-8348353850371962858Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:24:00 +00002008-08-21T11:11:19.050-07:00 Wardriving: What you don't know about WiFi networks could ruin your whole day.http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/08/wardriving-home-office-hackers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-644402366576189990Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:55:00 +00002008-08-20T09:01:05.615-07:00Calling them alternative news is a misnomer. Better that we label TV "news" as infotainment than as news. A recent report from the Pew Research Center identified several trends in American news access. Ranging from time-wasters such as Paris Hilton, to blatant corporate propaganda, TV "news" is still the major source of "news" for Americans, with trends in certain demographic groups as they http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/08/new-news.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-4727587198364232836Sun, 17 Aug 2008 05:05:00 +00002008-08-17T00:48:34.875-07:00It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies. ~Noam Chomsky I have been known to fix computers (and more explicitly networks), but I'm not a "computer repairman." Much of my adult life has been devoted to the search for truth--beginning with the painfully familial extending naturally outward to the local, the national, and beyond to the international, and I would http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/08/mixing-cold-capitalism-with-hot.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-2475241979335329380Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:45:00 +00002008-08-15T12:52:43.375-07:00 Today makes today easier to manage. This tiny tool does one thing and one thing well: it's a pop-up window on your Mac displaying your iCal schedule for today. Appointments, tasks, phone calls to make, lunch engagment? Today has today's meetings, greetings, and deadlines, with times, sitting on your Mac desktop. Cool Tool.http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/08/cool-tool-today.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-3403298866708261575Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:17:00 +00002008-08-13T18:38:13.956-07:00 Running low on Mandarin oranges was bad enough, but the absence of cat litter made a trip to CostCo imperative. Blithely stocking up on these essentials and a couple of non-essentials, I thought surely, this is where I can kick back and disengage from the larger world. Perhaps I've done too much for one day; too much for this week. What does it matter that I agonize over American foreign and http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/08/cat-litter-and-mandarin-oranges.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-7603139517383496752Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:48:00 +00002008-08-13T14:26:50.889-07:00Serious People Have Serious Enemies ~ Maude Barlow If I'm not pissing off some corporate hack every day, I'm not living right. Power, money, and vast feel-good public relations campaigns does not a moral institution make. Each of us must decide whether to serve the interests of power, and the abuse of power, or to serve humankind. Biting the hand that feeds me is not easy. Nothing worthwhile http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/08/serious-people-have-serious-enemies.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33522576.post-2209083068561587969Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:31:00 +00002008-08-13T12:12:46.594-07:00I do not recommend Western Digital hard drives for Macs. The WD My Book drives are sold at CostCo, Fry's, and many other outlets. AVOID THEM. These drives have certain incompatibilities with Macintosh computer systems. Maxtor One Touch drives are acceptable but you would be paying a premium for the useless One Touch gimmick. Seagates and some other hard drives are okay, but I recommend OWC (http://www.fixmacs.net/poliblog/2008/08/external-hard-drives-for-macs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark)