All right stop
Collaborate and listen
Ice (Paul) is back with a brand new edition
Something grabs ahold of me tightly
Then I flow like a harpoon daily and nightly
Will it ever stop?
Yo– I don’t know
Turn off the lights and I’ll glow
Okay. Seriously. Here’s a link to the Bottom Line singing the national anthem at Wrigley. Enjoy.
Archive for May, 2003
Just in case anyone was not tired about my rants about George Bush and his ridiculous policies, here is an editorial from the May 23rd Financial Times, a respected British business newspaper which comments on the most recent Bush tax plan (which passed by the way). It’s title is, appropriately, “Tax Lunacy.”
President George W. Bush declared victory yesterday in the long-running congressional wrangle over his tax proposals. “This is a Congress which is able to identify problems facing the American people and get things done,” he said after House and Senate Republicans struck a deal on a Dollars 350bn tax cut over 10 years. If only that were true.
The long-run costs of financing huge US fiscal deficits, which stretch far into the future, will weigh heavily on future generations. With little of the tax cut having an immediate effect, the necessary short-run economic stimulus will be negligible.
Democrats are prone to exaggerate the culpability of the current administration in the deterioration of the US public finances from a surplus of 1.4 per cent of gross domestic product in 2000 to a projected 4.6 per cent deficit this year. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that only a third of this deterioration is due to legislative changes, the rest being either due to the cyclical downturn or excessive optimism in previous tax forecasts. The fiscal loosening over the past few years has mitigated the economic slowdown. But those caveats aside, on the management of fiscal policy, the lunatics are in now charge of the asylum.
Including “sunsetting” provisions to cut the 10-year cost of the tax measures is an insult to the intelligence of US people. Anyone who genuinely believes that in 2007 Congress will automatically reverse these tax cuts needs therapy. Much of Mr Bush’s 2001 tax-cutting package was also deemed temporary, only for the measures to be made permanent later.
Long-run US fiscal forecasts are still based on unrealistic assumptions of spending restraint that have not been met, either by this administration or by its predecessor.
And the latest wheeze in Republican circles is to dismiss forecasts of fiscal deficits because they rely on “static” forecasting techniques. “Dynamic scoring” which takes account of the effect of tax cuts on economic growth would transform the picture, they insist. But the evidence is not so kind to these assertions. The 1990s, when taxes were raised, was one of the more dynamic in US history; and fiscal deficits raise the cost of capital, reducing growth.
Never mind these facts, more extreme Republicans often say, big deficits are in our interests. Proposing to slash federal spending, particularly on social programmes, is a tricky electoral proposition, but a fiscal crisis offers the tantalising prospect of forcing such cuts through the back door.
For them, undermining the multilateral international order is not enough, long-held views on income distribution also require radical revision. In response to this onslaught, there is not much the rational majority can do: reason cuts no ice; economic theory is dismissed; and contrary evidence is ignored. But watching the world’s economic superpower slowly destroy perhaps the world’s most enviable fiscal position is something to behold.
INSTANT MOVIE REVIEW : BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM – Those of you who know about soccer, or as our friends in England call it, football, know that David Beckham is considered a national treasure in England, where he plays for Manchester United, a team that gained its name, I presume, because they stick together through thick and thin. Let’s forget for the moment that Beckham is rumored to be leaving United to play for Real Madrid, the incredably rich Spanish team which already sports such renowned international superstars such as Zinedine Zedane and Ronaldo among others. But I digress. In any case, David Beckham’s trademark move is a bending penalty kick which curves around walls of defenders and finds its way improbably into the goal. In Bend it like Beckham, our heroine, Jess must follow her dreams to become a soccer star. Allow me to explain the story to you in the form of a metaphor. Let’s pretend that Jess is David Beckham. David is playing a game during which he is fouled, and he has a penalty kick. And let’s say that if David makes the kick, instead of getting a goal, he instead achieves his dream of playing womens’ soccer in the United States. And instead of a wall of defenders, David has to bend the ball around a wall of his Punjabi parent’s preconceptions and cultural hangups, not to mention some interesting hijinks involving his female teammates and love-interest coach. I will not spoil the ending by telling you whether Jess can Bend it like Beckham, so to speak, but I will say that despite the rave reviews this movie recieved, it was only mildly entertaining to me. Unfortunately, I found it cute, but also slow and predictable, despite some mildly interesting characters and a girl who looks just like Natalie Portman. Alas, Bend it like Beckham is to me, this year’s Big Fat Greek Wedding. Thus, I can only give it 6/10 stars.
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John’s pocket treatise on meditation for you busy yuppies:
You are so wrong! Meditation isn’t resting. It’s in fact the opposite. It’s an active training of your mind. You don’t just sit there and be comfortable and think whatever you want. You are supposed to focus on something, an image, a thought, or breath, which is what most people do cuz that’s the easiest. Try it and see how long that lasts before your mind starts to wander. When your mind starts to wonder, you are supposed to bring it back to the focus. It is said, if you can do 20 breaths without your mind wandering, you’ve achieved the first stage. I will bet you money you can’t do 20 breaths. It’s like weigh lifting for your mind, oh wait, I don’t like that analogy, there’s no finess in weight lifting, it’s more like yoga for your mind, and in fact the 2 often go hand in hand, if you do it past the new age hippie I’m doing yoga! stage. And of course, the whole mind/body discipline thing later went to china and got incorporated into martial arts. Coincidentally, my kung fu teacher told us yesterday, it’s all about your mind, you train your mind, your body will follow (my paraphrase).
And if resting was all it took, white trash of the world would be the happiest people in the world. All they do is sit around eating and watching tv. how much more rest can you get? And of course the monks have a lot to worry about. They have to worry about the fascist chinese taking over their land, torturing them, destroying their culture, everything. If they had some fascist religion like one of those judeo-christian-islam, they’d probably be blowing up the chinese (which I wish they would). And they still have to make a living somehow. Do you think life is a bowl of roses? Not to mention the whole weight of contemplating human suffering and eternity. It’s like the image of Atlas with the globe on his shoulder, err wait, I don’t like that image either, it’s too obvious, lacking subtlety. I prefer the image of a monk sitting in meditation, calmly bearing it all. I’m all eastern today, I feel eastern philosophy is much more subtle and sophisticated compared to the crass barbaric western HELLO! IT’S RIGHT HERE IN BLACK AND WHITE! I think I will go to china town for lunch (yeah! high five,
Sheecheng!)
Soapbox Comment by Ann
I recently changed my mind and now think that meditation is a good thing. I used to think that it was some stupid new age crap created by charlatans to be different and “enlightened” but now I believe it has some benefit. Basically, I think meditation is just another way to let you rest your mind and refresh it. I think that a catnap is just as good. Or a jog in the park, or playing with your children. If people enjoy sitting by themselves and resting or “meditating”, then great. Let them do it. In fact, let’s encourage it. But let’s call it what it is… a REST. You are simply RESTING and RESTING is good because they promote endorphins and endorphins are good.
Cynical Comment by Ann
“The most reasonable hypothesis is that there is something about conscientious Buddhist practice that results in the kind of happiness we all seek,” Flanagan said in a report in New Scientist magazine.
That is not the most reasonable hypothesis. The study is freaking flawed! I’m sure that these Buddists in Dharamsala, India are happy and serene people. Afterall, what do they have to worry about for Christ sake? They aren’t in normal society so do they have to worry about budget cuts, subway delays, increases in the cost of their children’s day care/education or their nagging Chinese mother? NO! Plus, they believe that their afterlife is pretty much guarenteed so there’s no emotional strain to question existence. No stupid group is going to blow up 2 giant buildings across the street from where they live. The only thing that has happened to them is that their leader has been kidnapped, the neighboring nation has taken their independence and young liberals around the world are trying to free them with bumper stickers and silly chants. Plu-lease!
Yo. Check out the Pic of the Day, where I have posted a picture of the Bottom Line, the Kellogg Acapella group of which I am a member, singing the National Anthem for the White Sox at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Coming soon is video of us singing at Wrigley Field for the Cubs!
INSTANT MOVIE REVIEW : THE MATRIX RELOADED – In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo keeps having these dreams in which he sees disturbing glimpses into the future. I too had a distrubing preminition. It started when I saw the trailer for the new movie, which, while interesting in the sense that it had some amazing looking effects, had a indecipherable story line which somehow involves having a rave at a Phish concert. I was concerned. As it turns out, my concerns were well founded, because while the movie is pretty cool to watch, with some crazy action scenes, (those Wachowski brothers have mad skillz!) it also has a questionable story line which ends with some pontificating about ‘anomalys’ which made no sense at all. Anyone who claims it made sense is in their own Matrix. (WAKE UP!) Also I don’t understand why everyone in the Matrix looks like they are heading out to a Marilyn Manson concert, with their dorky trench coats and sunglasses. If I were “The One,” I’d wear an Adidas warm-up suit and tennis shoes. But that’s just me. Anyway, I give the Matrix Reloaded 6.5/10 stars. I liked Xmen 2 better, frankly. I give Xmen 8/10.
So I just turned 30 years old the other day, and I have been trying to think of something profound to say in regards to this momentus occasion. I have nothing to say about it except that everyone who I know who is already 30 laughed when they found out, and those who were not yet 30 gave me a kind of pitying look. Misery, as one person noted, loves company. And so, another decade begins. . .
