Drink Water

Along with the fossil fuels burned and greenhouse gases burned, making/ moving a 1-kg bottle of water uses 6.74 kg of water. Traces of Bisphenol-A have been found in almost every American tested for it. The average cost of a bottle of water is 2,000 times that of tap water. Over 26,000,000,000 bottles of water are sold in North America each year, with 86% going into landfills. 1,500 are discarded every second.

Um, yeah…

Two Ways To “Save” Fairpoint

Vermont readers are no doubt familiar with Fairpoint Communications, the North Carolina-based company that was allowed by State and Federal regulators to purchase the communications infrastructure and systems (phone lines and internet services) of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine from Verizon last year.  Despite ample evidence that Fairpoint was never fiscally or organizationally prepared for such a huge endeavor- and despite ample evidence that they’d screw over Verizon’s unionized worker’s and fail miserably at lofty promises to bring high speed internet to rural outposts in Northern New England still operating with the steam engine equivalent of internet access, State and Federal bureaucrats charged with protecting and securing the public interest did neither; they easily bowed to Fairpoint’s desires to become a corporate behemoth and to corporate behemoth Verizon’s desires to liquidate physical assets (and the blue color labor required for their upkeep) in order to invest more in digital (and retail) communications.

160-87

160-87, that was the final vote by tech workers at FAHC (Fletcher Allen Habitually under Construction) to join the AFT.  A huge congratulations to them all, because they now have a say on matters that affect them in the workplace.  I know, I know… having a say in matters that effect you (the Greek have a word for it, I’m not sure on the spelling but it’s something like “demo-cracy”) may sound crazy to some who prefer the idea that the people at the top, with the most power, who make the most money, deserve to just tell everyone else what to do, how to do it and when (without, of course, any “why”) but I think their lives will all be better- maybe a little, maybe a lot, but certainly better.

Cheers, and good luck in bargaining.

Thursday Morning Round-Up Ready

A smattering for you of what I’ve been up to, what’s on my mind, and what to expect from this blog in the next week or two:

-First of all of note is the fact that our Three Penny Taproom softball team finally won a game!  Yes, it is only a game, and it’s damn fun, but winning, surprisingly enough, is incredibly more enjoyable than losing.  Despite my slight desire to give credit to either our incredibly beautiful fans, or our incredibly great bench staff, the credit may actually go to good team play.  Anywhichway, the parts of life in which we recognize that we’re only  playing a game are that much more special and enjoyoable, since so much of the rest can feel (and be) so fucking intense.

-Speaking of games, despite wide-spread rumors (largely started by Danny Ainge) that the Boston Celtics were ready to trade either Rondo, Allen, or Perkins to move up in the draft, the C’s front office is now saying that their “expectation” is that Pierce, Garnett, Allen, Rondo and Perk will be the starting line-up next year.  Better fucking be.  The problem, with four unquestionably all-star quality starters and one guy (Perkins) who may not quite be an all-star but otherwise is incredibly quality, is not starters but bench, and staying healthy.  Last year Pierce played the whole second half of the season looking like a veteran who had just gone through a 26-game playoff run, Garnett was out the end of the year, Rondo was playoff dynamite despite lingering ankle challenges, Tony Allen was injured, Scal was injured, Starbury bought too much of the team-centered philosophy of Doc’s C’s and was too afraid to shoot the fucking ball (no one before this year has ever complained of Steph not shooting enough and passing too much).  Don’t trade, just practice.  Your worst guys are fairly good, just work.

-Anyway.  After some provoking comments on the post, some really thoughtful emails from several people, and a few good personal conversations all about my recent piece regarding the Langdon Street Cafe, I’m going to be posting some follow-up and clarifying thoughts on the whole matter.  Stayed tuned for that soon.

-I was going to make this it’s own post, but fuck it:

Seems the cops from the ‘68 Democratic Convention police riots in Chicago are having a reunion to celebrate their  notion of the pivotal role they played in safeguarding the country from the “socialist menace” that was arising then in this country.  That’s right, one of the most notorious riots in modern history- started and staged here in the land of the free and home of the brave- will be the subject of a high school-style reunion for the very working class people who violently took up arms against their fellow man for the right of some people to be obscenely wealth while the vast majority suffer in want and need.  Luckily, Chicago CopWatch is way on it and will be taking to the streets at the banquet in order to denounce police brutality then and now.

-Elsewhere, Wayne Price has a great piece up at Anarkismo.com regarding the “two most prevalent” currents of anarchism today.  Well worth the read, even for the casually interested.  Wayne, as almost always, is spot on.

-Since you asked, I called this post “…Round-Up Ready” in ode to a very important piece written by the esteemed (and my friend) Brian Tokar over at GMD.

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-Finally, today (Thursday) is the end of voting for FAHC tech workers to join a union.  If you happen to be eligible to vote in this election, I’d like to throw in my plug for you to vote, and vote yes.  My ideological ideas about why unions are good aside- my girlfriend has worked 60+ hours a week for her entire pregnancy (almost 8 months now) in trying to get you a say on decisions on the job, raises based on seniority and skill, and a little job security (not to mention staffing ratios that have that not-so-bad effect of increasing patient care; I know you didn’t think I forgot about the patients).  Shortly after your union election we may not have health care and our family- on the verge of growing- will have to survive on less than half the income.  As I write this I’ve seen my (almost 8 months pregnant) girlfriend quite literally 3 hours in the past 7 days (that’s approx 168 hours, if that’s how you want it).  And all because she thinks you deserve better for your life.  And I agree with her.

Do me a personal favor- vote yes and let her come home to rest a little.  Thanks.

Burn, Burn, Burn

“City love ain’t quite like country style…”

“No it ain’t…”

Of Radical Spaces

At the risk of seriously offending some dear friends, I want to take a comparative look at the relative successes and failings of two similar projects.  Both began around the same time, both began with very similar ideas behind them; one in a big city, Baltimore, was put in motion by a dedicated group of politically-oriented revolutionaries who- despite a diversity of lifestyles, individual interests and opinions, and personal backgrounds- came together in a politically and socially unified manner to start Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse.  The other, Langdon Street Cafe, is located in the much smaller city of Montpelier, VT (a “city” only by rural standards) and was put in motion by a small group of people with varying degrees of social affiliation and little if any political commonalities; as we’ll see, this group’s “politics” is loosely existent at all, beyond individualism and lifestyle choices.  Where Red Emma’s was the product of left radicals from a variety of traditions but unified around some of the most basic socialist principles, the Langdon Street Cafe’s “leftness” was a product as much of the larger community’s political understanding as it was any educated and learnt principles on the part of the founders.

To be clear at the onset: I was one of the five people who started the Langdon Street Cafe back in 2004.  The other four people involved in the project are people I consider friends (some closer than others, but that’s a digression) and are all people I care about and respect deeply.  None of my following critique’s about anyone’s personal politics, social mores, or personal priorities should be understood as contrary to these things.  I can like people, hold respect for and care deeply about people without agreeing (or even liking) aspects of their character or political orientations.  I would find no fault in anyone holding the same towards me.  I’m also a big fan of the Langdon Street Cafe and one of it’s best customers: I get my coffee there nearly every morning and have personally spent untold numbers of paychecks there on breakfast, lunch, and beers during a show.  That I find fault in what it is versus what I had originally hoped it to be (or thought it could be) is not to insinuate that what it is has no value, nor that the people responsible for it over the years aren’t some of the best there are.  Whatever political conclusions I may draw bellow- or in general- are certainly mine and it could be argued- perhaps fairly- that the “failure” lies in my understanding or expectations of the project from the outset.  Though I may disagree with that, it could nonetheless be a fair conclusion to reach.

What I’m setting out to write about here though is a comparison between two political projects, both very similar at their outsets, and both arriving today at very different places.  That Langdon Street ever was a political project (or that it isn’t now) may be questionable to some of my fellow co-founders; perhaps contrary points most telling of my overall thesis here.

On Iran (and Revolution) and JD’s Cynicism …

From the NY Times, by conservative columnist David Brooks (with a tip of my hat to Wayne Price of NEFAC):

“Foreign policy experts are trained in the art of analysis, extrapolation and linear thinking.  They simply have no tools to analyze moments that are non-linear, paradigm-shifting, and involve radical shifts in consciousness (emphasis mine).  As a result they almost invariably underestimate how rapid change might be and how quickly it might come.  As Michael McFaul, who serves on the National Security Council, once wrote, “In retrospect, all revolutions seem inevitable.  Beforehand, all revolutions seem impossible.”

Yes JD- “In retrospect, all revolutions seem inevitable.  Beforehand, all revolutions seem impossible.”

Batter up.