Skiing, awesome?

Thanks to Templeton for sharing this clip.

Politics, in general, is for the rich...

"The staggering economic inequality that has led Americans across the country to take to the streets in protest is no accident. It has been fueled to a large extent by the GOP's all-out war on behalf of the rich. Since Republicans rededicated themselves to slashing taxes for the wealthy in 1997, the average annual income of the 400 richest Americans has more than tripled, to $345 million – while their share of the tax burden has plunged by 40 percent. Today, a billionaire in the top 400 pays less than 17 percent of his income in taxes – five percentage points less than a bus driver earning $26,000 a year. "Most Americans got none of the growth of the preceding dozen years," says Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist. "All the gains went to the top percentage points."       —More here.

I feel like people are bored with politics and no one wants to really talk about it.

INTERNETZ

Lytro

Initial reaction: I think this thing is stupid.

duh

Antlers

So, I have found out about ALOT of good music lately. It's always a good feeling.

A Trident!?

Nevermind that bullshit below, just watch this one!

Cass McCombs

This song is tight, the video is okay. I just started listening to this guy, after hearing about him in passing for awhile now. Pretty mellow stuff, but good.

What to think about the Occupy movement

I have not had a lot of time to fully comprehend the Occupy Movements, but it is obviously important and stands to drive the 2012 election. The other night I finally got around to reading a piece on it, and found it all fairly as I thought. Rather than rehash it, I will lead with a quote from the piece by Andrew Sullivan because he is pretty good at breaking things down:

"The theme that connects them all is disenfranchisement, the sense that the world is shifting deeply and inexorably beyond our ability to control it through our democratic institutions. You can call this many things, but a “democratic deficit” gets to the nub of it. Democracy means rule by the people—however rough-edged, however blunted by representative government, however imperfect. But everywhere, the people feel as if someone else is now ruling them—and see no way to regain control."

The message is pretty clear, basically, we're all fucked unless something changes at the root of our government. It's interesting to see how it has taken center stage, as an extension of the overall gloomy conversation on the economy, the recession, etc. How many more times do we have to hear "there are no jobs and the national unemployment rate is 9%?" Apparently these stories are not impactful enough, we just feel grateful for what we DO have. Well, the facts aren't changing anything, it's just more bad news on top of more bad news. Nothing shocks anyone anymore so the people had to take it to the streets. (Think about the 10 year old kids in America who have been "born and raised" in a time of war—a time of two wars; the impact on many of these kids can be so minimal as to not even feel it at all.)

I guess all I am saying is that the Occupy stuff is a good thing and hopefully it will shake us out of our national despondency. It's also feels like, perhaps for the first time ever, America is copying the Middle East by rising up, declaring change in the streets in the form of mass protest. It might be a long shot, but it certainly feels like it's worth a try.