U.S.A. Oligarchs and Oligarchy For Real?

Well, author Michael Ventura thinks so. In this article in the latest Austin Chronicle newspaper, he posits that notion. If you have a chance to read it, please comment back to this post. Maybe a conversation will ensue?

Comments welcomed.

Moseying beyond the oughts

I was talking with our small town's city secretary. We had recently been at the city council meeting together. She announced proudly that her learning curve included results for my asking repeatedly for the past council minutes and the next meeting's agenda to be posted on the town's (mostly unused) Web site for all to see and evaluate. Current custom was to post the agenda pages on the City Hall front window with tape, so interested parties could peruse the agenda. Minutes were mostly unavailable to the public.

When even small towns are getting onto the Web with more than just place markers, it is a good sign to me that more universally available information about them is being promulgated and that government is becoming more open. When only the people who know where to ask and wheedle and beg and plead to see minutes of public meetings are rewarded with a few pages (with possibly a per-page charge, depending on the government involved) vs. just cranking up a browser and looking for anyone knowing or asking ONE time for the page address, I feel like progress is being made.

Now, I'll start asking for inputs for citizens on that Web page, like question & answer and reporting problems around town. Things like the state transportation department's video camera that sets when the light turns red has not been changed since a street became one-way. That means folks wanting to turn left onto the town's main street were rewarded with waiting until forever for the light to turn green for their turn. Or another newly one-way street had a missing sign to notify motorists who might have turned into oncoming traffic without the warning the sign allows. Or a school crossing sign with a missing bolt that's now swinging upside down across the street from our house. The government is nothing without the eyes and ears of the populace to help them keep up with what needs fixing.

Stand by for the progress evident in the new decade, in spite of poor economic conditions.

Comments are welcomed.

Spring cleaning for the French attitude

I guess I had pushed this whole story from the dusty archives of French history, begun slightly before my birth but carried out almost my entire life, under a mental carpet. This BBC story does an admirable job of characterizing it, putting it into perspective, and allowing American thoughts to engulf what enormity it has in the form of a hold on the lives of almost all French citizens living today. Some may know and escape from the lie, but there must be many, many who haven't or don't want to do so. Their current president may make holding back almost impossible. Time will tell.

Views on the future of Afghanistan

This interview brings the political and strategic happenings in Afghanistan into focus. It is a video interview from last month, where former-CIA officer Milton Bearden discusses the future of Afghanistan. It is not overtly political, but instead deals with the strategies of the U.S. in dealing with Pakistan and Afghanistan. I find it to be refreshing and frank talk about recent history and proposed strategies leading to future history of the region.

A second interview text is here. I believe it to be from 1998-1999, though I didn't find any particularly clear dating of the occasion. It is part of a larger PBS series on Bin Laden in the interviews section. Although it is dated, Milton Bearden's expertise and facility with the history and customs of the area shines through. It does provide insights, I believe.

Thanks to a friend for alerting me to this information. Comments welcomed.

Flight of humorous fancy

Well, all kinds of humor are not for all kinds of people. Everyone likes their own stripe on life's back. Our neighbor in Austin, Darin Murphy, has just posted on the Huffington Post blog about a subject on which he finds satire possible. At least one of his commenters has missed the point that it is satire. He gently reminds them that it is, indeed, satire.

Political satire: be very afraid

An Austin friend sent this the other day:

Be very afraid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoXgRtDysLY

Well, I watched it and marveled at how smoothly the editing went on inserting the fellow into the President's news conference out on the lawn. [Now, wait, that fellow WAS inserted after the fact, wasn't he? I surely hope so!]