Headlines for today:
CNN.com 1, 12:26 pm: The U.S. entered a recession in December 2007, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
CNN.com 2, 4:17 pm: The Dow closes down about 680 points, as manufacturing hits a 26-year low and the U.S. is declared to be in a recession.
Okay people, synchronize! I know the government until now has denied any real recession but wasn't it obvious what would happen when it happened in other countries in the last decade? Does anyone remember the Asian Financial Crisis? You know, the EXACT same thing happened but the US decided to use the EXACT same B.S. band-aid on the current crisis instead of oh I don't know, trying to REFORM the system? Maybe if we hired economists that didn't own/run huge corporations...
Other news bits that I find ironic given the above:
The New York Times: An Abundance of Food, Wasted: Each Day, America wastes enough food to fill Madison Square Garden. Okay so maybe all of our food is processed frankenfood but we don't actually eat it. We just get it because we can and toss it.
Democracy Now!: Wal-Mart Worker Crushed to Death in Early Morning Stampede of Shoppers on Black Friday I see buying cheap plastic crap manufactured by children did not fall into the recession category.
The New York Times: The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job. Uh maybe we can fix the growing unemployment rate by killing off people so we don't have to employ them? I mean why bother with quality of life or I don't know, keeping the planet around for people to live on?
Important to me personally:
The New York Times: Researchers have discovered that a compound in red wine may reverse the chromosomal aging process. So all along, I've been making myself YOUNGER by drinking wine! Wonderful!
Telegraph.co.UK: Lawyers call for international court for the environment: A former chairman of the Bar Council is calling for an international court for the environment to punish states that fail to protect wild life and prevent climate change. It's about time someone said this. I think the only successful multilateral organization that should be left (aside from the UN itself) is one that deals with the environment. I liked this one after reading our Labor Department wants to poison our workers...
The Huffington Post: Ann Coulter's Jaw Wired Shut! I wonder if she'll write a liberal book about how god showed her she was evil? I hope it stays shut for a long long time.
The Guardian.co.UK: Melissa Etheridge withholds taxes over gay marriage row. It's about time we thought of a smarter way to deal with equal rights. If the government thinks they are losing money through gay marriage, I wonder how much they'd lose if gay people just didn't pay taxes? The whole framework needs to be re-written in such a way that "marriage" is removed from legal documentation and is replaced with "civil union" or something of that nature so church and state can finally be separate. Props to Etheridge though. I hope Ellen Degeneres jumps on the wagon too...
These are, of course, just a few headlines. There are others. MANY others. Maybe even too many. I'm constantly overwhelmed by the news. From these headlines here's my take:
I hope the US is humbled in recession. I hope we can learn to be an individualist society that is still concerned with the interconnectedness of all humans and all life. I think massive poverty is one way that is going to happen and although it terrifies me and I feel bad for the suffering that will soon explode here, I am grateful that it may actually make us less robotic consumers and more human. I'm somehow happy that the US and Europe are both facing these problems because it's about time the Roman Empire remnants disappeared. I am grateful for the people that are my friends and that I am close with because most of them are progressive enough to see the changes that need to happen. I am constantly scared our voices won't be heard, but I have faith that humans can be altruistic. Yes, I think we can.
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