25.8.11

Buckle down, Buckaroo.

I have intended to write an article on the value of discipline for weeks now, and, unsurprisingly, I have shown none by avoiding the task and continuing to neglect this blog. Admirably, Jamil has managed to keep this burned-out school bus moving with a few of his best articles to date. In truth, the inspiration for that idea, whatever it was that got the gears going, it's long gone. I recall certain points that I had intended to focus on. I remember thinking about my eleventh grade English teacher addressing a student who was asking if he could break the rules and be experimental with a certain writing assignment. She told him he should demonstrate his understanding of the fundamentals before he starts challenging them. There was a connection I planned to draw between this and the value that our society puts on uniqueness and individualism. Shortcuts and posturing taking precedent over skill development and craftsmanship. I recognize this in my own character. Rarely seeing the allure of utility and practicality. Unfortunately, recognition alone doesn't break a habit. Here I am, however. There have been many opportunities for me to sit down and write. Over and over I have made a decision to not work at this. To recognize a problem and not address it. I drove for ten hours today. It's very hot. I'm tired. I had no intention of doing this tonight, but then I saw that Jamil had posted again and it was in my head. So I'm here alone and this decision was on me. So fuck it. Just start writing, right? I don't have to be full of shit. There was something there and I'll find it.

Having played organized football for eight years as a kid I see how often I was confronted with the fine line between discipline and obedience. The relationships developed between players and coaches and the action of the game form connections to authority that can easily be misread. While a coach can provide the guidance and knowledge to help develop the skills needed to excel at the game and instill a valuable sense of discipline, they can also use their position as an ego-driven power play, demanding militaristic obedience. The results of this ranging from blind rebellion to blind acceptance of all authority. This dynamic plays out with teachers and parents and the nature of our society dictates that there will usually be some balance of both approaches within ever educator. I don't want to start going too far down some child development rabbit-hole because I would be talking out of my ass, but I think our society has a connection to authority similar to that of a confused child. Not simply the authority of individuals, but the authority of history and myths and medicine and media. The impulse being to conform or to fight but rarely to understand and to question. The true value of discipline comes in the recognition of the connection between theory and practice. It's from that spark that true growth and progress can develop.

I don't know if this is what I intended when I first went over this idea in my mind. I know I didn't cover everything I had wanted to get to. I don't know if I got where I wanted to go, but I think I got somewhere. Somewhere small, but somewhere. I'm really tired now, but I did it, okay?

Sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is. Sleeping is giving in, so lift those heavy eyelids.

Sleep, shhhhh just sleep!

Close your eyes and just sleep!

Its okay you are safe to close your eyes and let yourself sleep!

I remember being 17 or 18 and laying in my water bed in my parents basement, scribbling furiously on a pad of paper, or was it a journal?  It must have been 3 in the morning, and i had been listening to music and scibbling words, and ideas, thinking  about girls and then scribbling some more.  I was writing about how I had soooo many ideas in my head and that sleeping was become obsolete, because the only time I can just lay there and let my mind race away were the times that I am supposed to be sleeping.  So why sleep to miss all those marvelous thoughts.  At 17 there is so much to sort out, to explore to try to put sense to.  You think you know so much but at the same time know there is this huge scary world you will be navigating soon and it is these moments of free thought that will grow into the tools you will use to go through that journey.

So never in my wildest dreams did i think there would be a time where the only thing i would want is sleep.  You see I have just been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea.  It is not that surprising to anyone close to me, or who has traveled or slept in a radius of me.  You have heard me snore and choke, and wake up and do it again!  So I know it has been getting worse, i could feel it getting worse, but when the doctor told me that I probably hadn't had a real nights sleep in 2-3 years even I was taken a back.  I feel like I have made some great accomplishments over those years, and the idea that I did it on no real sleep is a little alarming.  I am missing out on a world of energy, could I be doing more?  should i be doing more? so many questions??????????

So tonight will be my first night with the sleep apnea machine, I am not expecting any change for a couple of months, but the idea that change is a comin it is pretty exciting!

sweet dreams

Soundtrack to writing this blog
Atlas Sound- Terra Incognita
The Weekend- Lonely Star
Danny Brown- Monopoly




24.8.11

Why do we let the Banks and Media run out countries?

I am continually perplexed how we allow banks and financial institutions to run our countries.  I don't want to dwell on the USA, but the whole Standards and Poor down grading the states is a prime example.  Standards and Poors can be directly blamed for inflating mortgage companies which caused the huge economic collapse by falsely rating those companies at a AAA rating.

I will stop there about the US economy, because i have no interest in doing a blog about something that is so aggravating.  The second issue is the media, Canada is perhaps not as bad as the states, but i think it is fairly simple to liken sun news to fox news without anyone objecting to that statement.  My concern is more how we do not have any credible nation news sources.  I am talking mainstream here, but the more CBC moves towards this constant repetition of headlines and no in depth reporting on issues the more I am concerned.  Fortunately enough there is Democracy Now! only a podcast away and online access to papers like the Guardian.

I know this blog is going nowhere fast, but I really wanted to share is this article i just read about Iceland, I think it is vital we take lessons from countries who allowed banks to run them and collapsed and see how they are rebuilding.  If Canada had any sense we would jump on this band wagon, take control of our resources and take care of our people first rather then catering to banks and foreign interests.  In the sad passing of Jack Layton, a man who was the closest thing to a real leader this country has seen, and although his greatness seems to have come to light more in his passing then it did while he was alive, I think we need to ride his wave and take heed of what is happening in Iceland if we want a fate other then where the USA is headed.

Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not
An Italian radio program's story about Iceland’s on-going revolution is a stunning example of how little our media tells us about the rest of the world. Americans may remember that at the start of the 2008 financial crisis, Iceland literally went bankrupt.  The reasons were mentioned only in passing, and since then, this little-known member of the European Union fell back into oblivion.

As one European country after another fails or risks failing, imperiling the Euro, with repercussions for the entire world, the last thing the powers that be want is for Iceland to become an example. Here's why:
Five years of a pure neo-liberal regime had made Iceland, (population 320 thousand, no army), one of the richest countries in the world. In 2003 all the country’s banks were privatized, and in an effort to attract foreign investors, they offered on-line banking whose minimal costs allowed them to offer relatively high rates of return. The accounts, called IceSave, attracted many English and Dutch small investors.  But as investments grew, so did the banks’ foreign debt.  In 2003 Iceland’s debt was equal to 200 times its GNP, but in 2007, it was 900 percent.  The 2008 world financial crisis was the coup de grace. The three main Icelandic banks, Landbanki, Kapthing and Glitnir, went belly up and were nationalized, while the Kroner lost 85% of its value with respect to the Euro.  At the end of the year Iceland declared bankruptcy.

Contrary to what could be expected, the crisis resulted in Icelanders recovering their sovereign rights, through a process of direct participatory democracy that eventually led to a new Constitution.  But only after much pain.

Geir Haarde, the Prime Minister of a Social Democratic coalition government, negotiated a two million one hundred thousand dollar loan, to which the Nordic countries added another two and a half million. But the foreign financial community pressured Iceland to impose drastic measures.  The FMI and the European Union wanted to take over its debt, claiming this was the only way for the country to pay back Holland and Great Britain, who had promised to reimburse their citizens.
Protests and riots continued, eventually forcing the government to resign. Elections were brought forward to April 2009, resulting in a left-wing coalition which condemned the neoliberal economic system, but immediately gave in to its demands that Iceland pay off a total of three and a half million Euros.  This required each Icelandic citizen to pay 100 Euros a month (or about $130) for fifteen years, at 5.5% interest, to pay off a debt incurred by private parties vis a vis other private parties. It was the straw that broke the reindeer’s back.

What happened next was extraordinary. The belief that citizens had to pay for the mistakes of a financial monopoly, that an entire nation must be taxed to pay off private debts was shattered, transforming the relationship between citizens and their political institutions and eventually driving Iceland’s leaders to the side of their constituents. The Head of State, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, refused to ratify the law that would have made Iceland’s citizens responsible for its bankers’ debts, and accepted calls for a referendum.
Of course the international community only increased the pressure on Iceland. Great Britain and Holland threatened dire reprisals that would isolate the country.  As Icelanders went to vote, foreign bankers threatened to block any aid from the IMF.  The British government threatened to freeze Icelander savings and checking accounts. As Grimsson said: “We were told that if we refused the international community’s conditions, we would become the Cuba of the North.  But if we had accepted, we would have become the Haiti of the North.” (How many times have I written that when Cubans see the dire state of their neighbor, Haiti, they count themselves lucky.)

In the March 2010 referendum, 93% voted against repayment of the debt.  The IMF immediately froze its loan.  But the revolution (though not televised in the United States), would not be intimidated. With the support of a furious citizenry, the government launched civil and penal investigations into those responsible for the financial crisis.  Interpol put out an international arrest warrant for the ex-president of Kaupthing, Sigurdur Einarsson, as the other bankers implicated in the crash fled the country.

But Icelanders didn't stop there: they decided to draft a new constitution that would free the country from the exaggerated power of international finance and virtual money.  (The one in use had been written when Iceland gained its independence from Denmark, in 1918, the only difference with the Danish constitution being that the word ‘president’ replaced the word ‘king’.)

To write the new constitution, the people of Iceland elected twenty-five citizens from among 522 adults not belonging to any political party but recommended by at least thirty citizens. This document was not the work of a handful of politicians, but was written on the internet. The constituent’s meetings are streamed on-line, and citizens can send their comments and suggestions, witnessing the document as it takes shape. The constitution that eventually emerges from this participatory democratic process will be submitted to parliament for approval after the next elections.

Some readers will remember that Iceland’s ninth century agrarian collapse was featured in Jared Diamond’s book by the same name. Today, that country is recovering from its financial collapse in ways just the opposite of those generally considered unavoidable, as confirmed yesterday by the new head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde to Fareed Zakaria. The people of Greece have been told that the privatization of their public sector is the only solution.  And those of Italy, Spain and Portugal are facing the same threat.
They should look to Iceland. Refusing to bow to foreign interests, that small country stated loud and clear that the people are sovereign.    

That’s why it is not in the news anymore.