Same Tactics, Different Location

Wary Eye Cast on Abe's 'New Japan' is a shallow overview of Japan's new prime minister, Abe Shinzo.

It isn't comforting but also not surprising to see that the attacks taking place in this country are also taking place elsewhere. In the U.S. it is some sort of mythical, christian America. In Japan, the politicians leading the attacks against working people are vocally calling upon bushido, the old samurai code that allowed the elite to cut down peasants as part of their social rights. For a wonderful commentary on bushido, I recommend the film Harakiri.

These politicians aren't subtle, either. They focus their energies on "left-wing" education and "brainwashing" — this despite the fact that their party has dominated Japanese politics for the whole period they say is the problem. At the same time, they claim that their cronies who are right-wing terrorists aren't a threat. It's obvious pandering to these groups which openly harass and commit violence against the population (and have done so for some time).

The LDP has had the remilitarization of Japan as a goal for some time now. What isn't reported on here is that there's obviously been a shift in the Japanese population. For decades, leading politicians wanted the constitution changed, but knew that the population wouldn't support it. Economic desperation and social breakdown over the last fifteen years, however, have shifted people's opinions. In the absence of another voice, the demagogues have gained ground. This subtext is throughout the article, but not mentioned clearly.

The Gas-Roots Lie in Tobacco

Great article at the Guardian entitled The Denial Industry. It uses corporate documents to show how it was actually Phillip Morris who spearheaded the astroturf organizations that are so prevalent today, though it is ExxonMobil who perhaps benefits the most now. (All of the above are providing funding, of course.)

There's too many details to talk about here, but what's really impressive is the level of calculated, patient, insidious planning that has gone into creating the media environment today. What many people call "right-wing" should really just be called "corporate." Not that those two ideas are in any way contradictory, but it is important to draw a distinction between people who are desperate and attach to backward ideas and those that are shilling for company profits.

Celebration of an Embargo

Today's article From the Ground Up, Cuba Is Crumbling gives a nice long list of how bad the situation is in Cuba. It makes a weak attempt to try to place the blame elsewhere, but the reality is that 45 years of embargo have devastated the economy, and continues to do so.

In addition to the weakness of the economy, more and more of the infrastructure is falling into disrepair. This, of course, has had an effect on the population, forcing them to deal with it by scavenging from any and everything. Of course, it is hard to decipher how much this reflects the real attitude of the population — U.S. newspapers like to pretend that Cubans are on the verge of returning to a U.S.-sponsored dictatorship. I'm sure, as much as people are dissatisfied with the current situation, they have no interest in seeing their health care system and other public goods completely disassembled by U.S. interests.

The other thing to point out here is that much of the infrastructure that is crumbling wasn't even there before 1959. It isn't like Cubans lived in some slick, polished dream up until that date. It's a testament to the Cuban people that they have what they do, in spite of the embargo.

So-Called

The littlest things can actually say a lot. In today's short quip, Council Fails to Override Veto of Living Wage, it starts off with the statement, "The so-called living-wage ordinance..."

This article is about the City Council's inability to override a veto from Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley. The ordinance would have forced larger employers (read as Wal-Mart to many) to pay higher wages, something like $10/hour plus some amount of benefits, if my memory is correct.

But why the editorial phrase "so-called"? Is it because this wage would not in fact be enough to provide a living wage? Because to put the recipient above the national poverty level would take a few more dollars? I really doubt it. And it isn't a coincidence that the use of the phrase "so-called" is applied to something that would help working people. I don't see the paper reporting about the so-called Patriot Act, or any of the other long line of insidiously misnamed laws and propositions that come before us on a regular basis.

Pollution in Perspective

There were a few interesting articles that touched on pollution on Friday and Saturday:

• New Power Plants May Get Leeway on Smog

• Air Quality Board Approves Revised Pollution Credit Policy -- Much to Critics' Displeasure

• Pollution Concerns May Lower the Boom on Offshore Fireworks

Basically, when it comes to major polluters, like power plants, the South Coast Air Quality Management District wants to give them a break. Instead of really enforcing the (poor) pollution standards that have been set, they are lowering them. Instead of the $90,000 per pound fee every year a plant is over the limit, the South Coast AQMD decided a $54,000 per pound fee just once (not yearly) would be enough. And, oh yeah, these plants are likely to be in poor neighborhoods where the air quality is already low and asthma rates high.

The contrast with this issue was the concern over the pollution from fireworks shot over the ocean. The pollution from this is probably less than from one airliner making a flight over the Pacific. Furthermore, there has been only one study done on this pollution, whereas there are plenty of studies to show the horrible effects of pollution from power plants.

The difference is small fry (fireworks companies and the towns who hire them) versus big fry (energy industry). It is yet another good example of how incapable this system is of tackling environmental issues. They can attack the individual and expect us to monitor our purchasing and recycling habits, or even attack smaller industries, but the only thing they have to offer in way of controlling the big industries is to offer them greater and greater subsidies at our expense.