Notes: 12/15/11

Photos this week are from a Christmas trip to Oaxaca Mexico...

Oaxaca Central Plaza ( Zocolo) at night

1. My first awareness of music was limited by what was available on Radio WIBW in Topeka Kansas. The popular music of the time was choppy fast swing rhythms, mostly on the themes of love and loss. My Mother didn't particularly like this music and when a music station opened at Kansas University at Lawrence Kansas – this became her daily companion as she worked at home. By indirect exposure I learned to appreciate a range of European music – Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky… I learned to recognize different music forms and time periods of music. Some classical music I still enjoy, although over the years my taste has become both wider and my choices more definite.

Providing music to help the making of Atole - My ex student Bruce Doctor

My favorite classical music is mostly in the form of such composers as Dvorak, Smetana, Mahler, Stravinsky, and Copland. In my college years I encountered other forms of music that I have come to love. Music of the people – southern roots blues, old time country singers, Cajun music, Pacific Island Slack Key, Appalachian blue grass music… This music is alive, it is the music of people having a good time together, people sharing their traditions, enjoying each others company.

A modern Aztec playing Christmas music

Travelling has opened me to world music – the slightly atonal music of the Balkan countries, Greek Rubetica, Turkish, Syrian, North African music from Arabic music traditions, Asian music lacking the themes and melodies of western music is based on the natural sounds of nature, the rich and varied styles of African music, Music of Central Asia designed for playing in small enclosed yurts, Mexican Ranchera music, Horocho, Banda, and Tuna… One way to undertand a people is to listen to their music.... making music seems to be something all of us humans do... early musical instruments have been found even with Cro Magnan human remains. There are some forms of music I just dont relate to...I don’t particularily enjoy Opera (with a few exceptions), nor do I like most electric guitar music, nor most of the ever changing forms of trendy popular music, also I just dont relate to jazz.

At a Manos de Vida gift giving for poor children in one of the barrios of Oaxaca

These days, as I am commuting on Bay Area freeways, I have my favorite music sources... One day it may be a 14^th century brass and organ composition, and the next I may listen to Muddy Waters followed by Russian Orthodox polyphonic singing or I may find simple gospel tunes,. It may be The Rite of Spring or Johnnie Cash… We have a variety of listener supported stations in our area that supprise me each day with their varied offerings.

The season of light in the darkness

2. In case you are wondering why the Occupy movement continues to grow…read there 3 clips from news sources this week

The New York Times reported last week that among the middle class, median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1996. Another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the United States last year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, and the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it.

And in new signs of distress among the middle class, median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1996.

Economists pointed to a telling statistic: It was the first time since the Great Depression that median household income, adjusted for inflation, had not risen over such a long period."

To read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/14census.html?pagewanted=all

We had dinner one evening at her home with our Manos friends

And what has happened to our friends in the top 1%? ( from the Christian Science Monitor ) "Average after-tax income for the top 1 percent of U.S. households almost quadrupled, up 275 percent, from 1979 to 2007, the Congressional Budget Office found. For people in the middle of the economic scale, after-tax income grew by just 40 percent in the same time period. Those at the bottom experienced an 18 percent increase.

Lawmakers and presidential candidates are mulling overhauling the tax code — some propose a flat tax that critics say could magnify the income gap."

Read there full article here: http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2011/1028/Top-1-percent-has-nearly-quadrupled-income-since-1979

A colony of displaced mountain village people squatting on the outskirts of Oaxaca

Both sides are talking about taxes as one of the solutions: ( Williamette Weekly) "Despite skyrocketing incomes, the federal tax burden on the richest 400 has been slashed, thanks to a variety of loopholes, allowable deductions and other tools. The actual share of their income paid in taxes, according to the IRS, is 16.6 percent. Adding payroll taxes barely nudges that number.

"Compare that to the vast majority of Americans, whose share of their income going to federal taxes increased from 13.1 percent in 1961 to 22.5 percent in 2007.

Lots of other people live tax-free, too. Donald Trump’s tax records for four years early in his career show that he paid no taxes for two of those years. Big real-estate investors enjoy tax-free living under a 1993 law President Clinton signed. It lets “professional” real-estate investors use paper losses like depreciation on their buildings against any cash income, even if they end up with negative incomes like Trump. "

And to top it off we have a vast system of lobbyists spending huge amounts of money to buy influence with those who should be addressing the problem... The top 1% will be happy as long as nothing happens to upset their good deal!

Disturbing! - it came out this week that some of the big players in financial circles are funding a program to discredit the Occupy movement - watch for signs of a PR program in the months ahead...

You have heard about supply side economics - but do you understand how well it works ; Please read this to learn: http://wweek.com/portland/article-17350-9_things_the_rich_dont_want_you_to_know_about_taxes.html

3. La Nina ("the little girl”) is playing a joke on us this year… "La Nina" is a weather pattern brought about because the surface ocean temperature along the central south American coast is made lower than normal by 3–5 °C, due to fluctuating wind patterns that cause cold water to rise to the surface. This brings about changes in world wide weather patterns… Most La Nina years bring Southern California dry winters, the Pacific NW usually gets more rain, and the central northern California region can go either way.

Dry skies!

Last year was also La Nina and we had record rainfall. For us it depends on the chance occurrence of a “pineapple express” pattern… in January and February we sometimes get a whole series of intense warm rainstorms from Tropical waters from our southwest ocean. That can give us the bulk of our rainfall for the year in a few days time. But for now, after one moderate rainfall in October, we have had virtually none since. I still have to water my garden.

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Notes Week of December 9

(2 items today)

1. My history with Electronics: On the wall of my childhood home was mounted a large oak box – our telephone! There was a listening device to hold to the ear, and a mounted mouth piece to speak into. To make a call, it was necessary to remove the ear piece, then turn the handle on the side of the phone 3 times … this could connect you with Grace Cheney– the “Central” telephone operator in downtown Delia Kansas.

Wall Telephone - ~1940

We would just tell her the name of the person we wanted to call. She could also help arrange a long distance call ( rarely used ). If the bells on the phone rang two long and a short ring we knew the call was for us. Since the phone system was a party line everyone else received the rings too – so other folks would listen in to see what interesting gossip they could pick up on their neighbors. As more and more people listened in the signal became fainter and it was necessary to shout into the phone.

The only other electronic device that we had in the house was a radio – Rushing home from school to listen to radio adventures filled my imagination as well as TV does today! In the evening there were famous radio “stars” to hear– names known and loved for their weekly radio appearances – Jack Benny, Fibber MacGee, and Gracie Allen… You can listen here: http://www.best-otr.com/

I was about nine when I first saw a television… and it seemed a very unlikely candidate for success.

It was a large box with a small 6 inch screen, with a large magnifying glass in front. The image was blurry – it was black and white ( but actually quite bluish in appearance). The programming was poor - people talking or singing… and it didn’t do much for me. The Principal of the Delia High School was the first to have a set in his home. They had a regular stream of people come by to see this new phenomenon.

Early TV image - Felix the Cat? ~ 1948

When I started the fifth grade we had moved into Topeka, and I recall a lesson on telephone etiquette. The teacher handed standard desktop telephone to two students to hold a mock conversation. (I was one !)

Desktop telephone with dial! ~1950

I had no idea how to speak into this thing! The teacher was very kind and explained to me in a way to minimize my embarrassment.

TV of course went on to became a dominant part of the American culture – it has changed how we get our news, our entertainment, and has changed the exercise patterns of millions. Today I watch mostly news programs, nature programs, and BBC imports… I have very little patience with the so called “reality TV “ shows and situation comedies that I see… And I hate programs with recorded sound tracks of canned laugher played during situation comedies to signal to the viewers that something is supposed to be funny…Aargh! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laugh_track

I was out if college before I heard of computers. They were small and not very impressive. Apple computers in the early days gave computers to the schools ( a smart move ) and I found my school computer to be a useful tool – kind of a fancy calculator… but nothing to get very excited about. It couldn't do much.

Early "Mac" computer ~ 1965

And look at me today – I love the internet! Wikipedia and Google are my constant sources of information. I use my desk top and my lap top daily… I send emails instantly to the far corners of the world. Skype even allows me to have face to face visual conversations with far distant people. I love my digital camera and the ability to connect it to my computer to process the photos and send them to far distant friends and family.

There are some things I don’t do. My Facebook page is poorly maintained. I don’t play games. I dont use chat groups. I don’t “twitter” ( except to send out my blog). Not that any these things are bad – I just don’t have time.

And now, my friends, – my latest accomplishment, of which I am very proud… I have learned to send text messages… I resisted it for a long time – but it became necessary if I wanted to connect with my student teachers and interns… It is kind of fun...

Now it looks like the internet, cell phones, and twitter are major agents of change in our world. In the cases of Iran, the Arab spring, the US Occupy Movement – cell phones and cell cameras have played a large role in documentation of events, communication across a city or world... Criminal activity, police wrong doing, political speeches... are all recorded and used to build the movements and as evidence of wrong doing.

Occupy wall street - NYork

See for yourself: http://twitter.com/occupywallst

2. Robert Reich: I dont normally use this space to directly copy an article - Here is a portion of the article in the Nation of Change web newspaper: This is "don't miss" reading:

For full article go to :http://www.nationofchange.org/rebirth-social-darwinism-1322924980

What kind of society, exactly, do modern Republicans want? I’ve been listening to Republican candidates in an effort to discern an overall philosophy, a broadly-shared vision, an ideal picture of America.

The share of the nation’s income flowing to the top 1 percent of households increased sharply, from 16.9 percent in 2002 to 23.5 percent in 2007

They say they want a smaller government but that can’t be it. Most seek a larger national defense and more muscular homeland security. Almost all want to widen the government’s powers of search and surveillance inside the United States – eradicating possible terrorists, expunging undocumented immigrants, “securing” the nation’s borders.

Border fence - US/MEXICO

They want stiffer criminal sentences, including broader application of the death penalty. Many also want government to intrude on the most intimate aspects of private life.

They call themselves conservatives but that’s not it, either. They don’t want to conserve what we now have. They’d rather take the country backwards – before the 1960s and 1970s, and the Environmental Protection Act, Medicare, and Medicaid; before the New Deal,

Before the time of environmental oversight - Air pollution was uncontrolled

and its provision for Social Security, unemployment insurance, the forty-hour workweek, laws against child labor, and official recognition of trade unions; even before the Progressive Era, and the first national income tax, antitrust laws, and Federal Reserve.

They’re not conservatives. They’re regressives. And the America they seek is the one we had in the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century.

Child Labor in America - 1880

It was an era when the nation was mesmerized by the doctrine of free enterprise, but few Americans actually enjoyed much freedom. Robber barons like the financier Jay Gould, the railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, controlled much of American industry; the gap between rich and poor had turned into a chasm;

Your biggest mistake was being born poor...

urban slums festered; children worked long hours in factories; women couldn’t vote and black Americans were subject to Jim Crow; and the lackeys of rich literally deposited sacks of money on desks of pliant legislators. (sound familiar? - history repeats itself...)

For full article go to :http://www.nationofchange.org/rebirth-social-darwinism-1322924980

Don't miss Links of the week:

National Defense Authorization Act: Read this and fear: http://www.pissedonpolitics.com/?p=4194

The truth about global climate change: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/03/1041854/-This-week-in-science:-RIP-to-a-wingnut-talking-point?via=blog_1

Notes - Week of December 4

I took these photos while flying in commercial airplanes...

1. Adventures come in every size. First thing each morning I step out into the new day in search of my morning newspaper.The air is cool and scented with matted walnut leaves. My stocking feet became wet with condensed dew as I walk along the garden steps. Each puff of the morning breeze stirs the tree branches overhead to bring down a fresh rush of leaves.

The timing of the seasons is about right - I relish a change every few months. I get tired of the sameness of summer – grand as it is – the crispness of fall gives me new vigor. My Granny Smith apple tree has just comes into its own, also Kiwi fruits, and red/orange persimmons… Our kitchen counter look like a farmers market with the produce I gather. Yesterday morning as I stepped outdoors a flock of high flying geese – over 100 - forming one huge “V” shape - passed noisily overhead. Stirring!

2. In my late teens and early 20s I was pretty much a summertime mountaineer. Growing up in the shadow of Sequoia Park (Visalia) my friends and I determined to be rock climbers. In the early 1960s we had no teachers other than a few books that we were able to find – mostly published in Great Britain. Our equipment came from the Army Surplus store and a new start up company in Seattle – REI – that at that time only sold carabineers, pitons, and climbing ropes (120 feet of 5/8" Hemp rope!). We had fine adventures testing our skills to the limit.

Winter shut down our rock adventures because everything was covered with ice and snow – but we had read about ice climbing – Ah ha!! – just the thing… So three of us determined to climb a sequence of frozen cataracts in Sequoia Park. We rented bear-paw snow-shoes, packed backpacks for snow camping, acquired crampons from somewhere, and between us had one ice ax. The cataracts were a series of waterfalls – all well frozen over – no free flowing water – composed of crystal clear ice –

Our method was sound – we roped up, the lead person advanced to a point where a steel piton could be driven into reliable ice or a rock crack adjacent to the ice, carabineer attached and then the rest of the party advance, one person at a time, secured by rope... and then the process repeated. The way was steep, but it was a reasonable route. The concept of crossing very steep smooth clear ice was new for us, but the crampons gave us security– At one point we discovered that there was liquid water flowing under the ice and if we struck the ice with the ice ax it would produce a jet of liquid water shooting out from the ice! What fun!

Progress was slow but by early afternoon we reached the top of the cataract. Now we discovered a new challenge – we discovered that our route was covered with fresh powder snow almost waist deep. We took turns breaking trail – and it was exhausting work! We found the bear paw snow shoes impractical in such deep soft snow. Our goal was to reach a protected frozen lake about a mile and a half away – it passed through a steep glacial valley and we were pretty well all worn out by the time we reached the lake. Here he established out camp - set up the tent and sleeping bags. A hot fire and some warm soup revived our spirits.

Three of us in a two-man tent was pretty cozy, and in the morning we discovered that it was necessary to chip free the sleeping bags that had frozen into the ice. It was a glorious clear day and we were anxious to get an early start because we knew we would be facing the deep snow again… Going down was somewhat easier and the air was warmer… but half way through the glacerial valley we had another surprise… first we heard a great roar and looking around us we saw an avalanche of snow come crashing down over the trail that we had walked just minutes ago. That was the first of three avalanches that we were to see that morning. When we got to the cliff that formed the cataracts we choose a non ice-covered route and rigged the rope so that we could rappel down the cliff– faster and safer than returning by the ice route. All things considered it had been a fine adventure…

2. This quote by Vaslav Havel the first elected president of the Czech Republic was made at the time when the Czech people were dreaming of a free country. The same quote is suitable for all those who are boldly making a statement in our time about corporate greed and dealing with worldwide economic disparities.:

“Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Either we have hope or we don't; it is a dimension of the soul, and it's not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation. Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, and orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons ...Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more propitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper the hope is. Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”

3. So how do I assess the Occupy movement at this point in it's evolution?

In most ways I see it is a positive movement. But I also want to share with you my questions about the movement...

The root causes are the same as when "Occupy" first surfaced– many Americans feel left out – There is bitter anger at Wall Street and the Banking industry that continue to make shameful profits, often overstepping legal bounds, and taking their profits at the expense of “the rest of us”.New data from the Commerce Department shows employee pay is now down to the smallest share of the economy since the government began collecting wage and salary data in 1929. Meanwhile, corporate profits now constitute the largest share of the economy since 1929. Read more: http://www.salon.com/topic/taxes/

Something is seriously out of whack when corporations disparage workers and labor, and at the same time prevent the workers from earning a living wage so that the workers can buy the products being produced!

Lobbies and special interest groups continue to work with a compliant Congress to make life easier for those who pay the lobbying interests. And those of us without lobbyists are left holding the bag. Fox News continues to promotes a one sided message promoted by the wealthy interest lobbies. If you have enough money you can engineer and “sell” public opinion.

Graphs showing the disparity in America today:

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph

This is an anger that is not going to go away just because Occupy encampments are shut down. The movement is not fading – only evolving. The “genie will not be put back into the jug” – the hundreds of thousands of angry disgruntled people will not suddenly change their mindset – we have a national issue ( in international issue ) here and it will continue to evolve and take form.

What is happening is in the American tradition of citizens raising their concerns within the legal bounds of the Constitution – The test will be whether out institutions support the constructional challenges before us. Powerful financial interests are seem to be doing what they can to crush the movement. It comes down to this: – are we a government of the people - by the people - for the people…? Or are we are government of the corporations - by the corporations - for the corporations…?

My concerns

1. Decision making within the Occupy meetings is free and democratic - decisions are made by vote. I wonder,though, if the group often isn't just speaking to itself... What would it take to make the message know to a wider base? Many of the very people that the 99% is seeking to serve are alienated because of the reporting on FOX news. Up to this point the "occupy" settlements have been in big cities and exchanging views in long meetings - how can the message become more populist ? Being forced out of the camps may in fact be a good thing for stimulating new approaches.

2. There is great danger from elements that would like to coopt the occupy movement - and turn it into something that it is not today. By judiciously avoiding stated goals or stated leaders the large gatherings of participants are open to change. However every successful movement that I can remember has stated objectives and leaders - Many in the land are confused about who there movement is and what they stand for...

3. The long term success of the program depends on maintaining a Gandhi like peaceful resistance. I admire the discipline that I have seen thus far by the vast majority... and the efforts of the movement to control the few problem makers. There have been multiple occasions where police provocateurs have attempted to incite the demonstrators. Insight and discipline are required to deal with them.

Case study: http://www.thenation.com/article/164659/you-cannot-evict-idea

One last piece: 1. If you have ever been involved with voter registration you will find this youtube video of interest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsHlNR-nVR0&feature=player_embedded

From: http://www.commondreams.org/further/2011/11/29-0

-I'll leave it for you to interpret the data-

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