The Annual Phallus Festival in Greece

September 17th, 2008

Each year on the first Monday of Lent, the people of the tiny Greek town of Tyrnavos go crazy about penises, singing lewd songs and urging passersby to kiss their model phallusses. The pagan fertility festival is one of the most famous parties in Greece.

If you want to eat phallus-shaped bread, drink through phallus-shaped straws from phallus-shaped cups, kiss ceramic phalluses, sit on a phallus-shaped throne and sing dirty Greek songs about the phallus, then you should visit the little Greek town of Tyrnavos each year on “Clean Monday.”

The one-day pagan fertility festival in this town of 15,000 people near the central Greek city of Larissa marks the beginning of Lent, the fasting period before Easter, and is one of the most famous carnivals in Greece.

Come prepared. Passersby tend to be grabbed and rocked over a pot of boiling “bourani” spinach soup while a ceramic penis is placed between their legs. They must kiss the phallus, then drink tsipouro — a strong local spirit — from its tip, and then stir the soup before they’re let go.

Phallus-kissers are rewarded with ash-streaks on their face, which presumably absolves them from having to go through the procedure again, unless of course they would like to.

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Second Chinese baby dies in tainted milk scandal

September 15th, 2008

– Was it just last year that pet food from China was laced with melamine and pets died all over the U.S. and there was a huge scandal and backlash? ➡ & ➡ & ➡

– Well, now the same folks in China, who put making a bigger profit above all else, are at it again.   This time they’ve slipped melamine into the milk that goes into baby formula.  Unbelievable.

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China on Monday reported one more infant death from tainted milk powder, bringing to two the number of babies killed in an expanding scandal that drew an official product recall only after New Zealand blew the whistle.

The latest death blamed on infant milk powder made by the Sanlu Group occurred in Gansu province, a poor region in the northwest that was also home to the only other fatality blamed on chemical-laced milk, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

China has recorded nearly 500 babies falling ill from the tainted milk powder, including 102 in Gansu.

Sanlu, a milk powder producer 43 percent owned by New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, was ordered to halt production last week after investigators found the chemical melamine in its powder was causing kidney stones in infants.

Farmers or dealers supplying milk to Sanlu may have diluted it with water and then added melamine, used in plastics, fertilisers and cleaning products, to make the milk’s protein level appear higher than it actually was.

Local Chinese officials only acted after the New Zealand government contacted the central government in Beijing, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Monday.

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17Sep08 – more… ➡

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Climate inaction ‘costing lives’

September 15th, 2008

Failure to take urgent action to curb climate change is effectively violating the human rights of people in the poorest nations, an aid charity warns.

A report by Oxfam International says emissions, primarily from developed countries, are exacerbating flooding, droughts and extreme weather events.

As a result, harvests are failing and people are losing their homes and access to water, the authors observe.

They say human rights need to be at the heart of global climate policies.

Oxfam will be submitting its report, called Climate Wrongs and Human Rights, to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Righting wrongs

“Climate change was first seen as a scientific problem, then an economic one,” explained report author Kate Raworth. “Now it is becoming a matter of international justice.

The global impacts of climate change meant that nations had to be held accountable for the consequences of their actions, Ms Raworth said.

“Litigation is seldom the best way to solve a dispute.

“That is why we need a strong UN deal in 2009 to cut emissions and support adaption,” she added, referring to next year’s key UN climate summit where a future global climate strategy is expected to be agreed.

“However, vulnerable countries do need options to protect themselves. Rich country polluters have been fully aware of their culpability for many years.”

More… ➡

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Concealed pistol permits up 43 percent in Wash

September 13th, 2008

-  Here in the U.S., we have the right to ‘bear arms’.   This ‘right’ was established for us by Article 2 of the United States Bill of Rights. 

– The original idea, I think, was that a government is suppose to serve its people, not oppress them.   Allowing the country’s citizens to bear arms is a way of ensuring the government’s good behavior.

– I know that most other countries consider this an odd idea and even here in the U.S., there has always been a lot of debate about it.

– Regardless of what you might think about it, the article below is, I think, a reflection of the growing sense of insecurity here in the U.S.    This article is about the State of Washington where I am currently living here in the U.S.

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SEABECK, Wash. – In Julian Piercy’s mind, the small bulge in his shirt near his lower back is a way of “leveling a situation.”

The clip that he fastens to his waist band before leaving the house isn’t just another accessory. It gives him an option, he said, when all others are off the table and a life is on the line.

When he feels the pressure of metal on his back, it gives him confidence that he has a chance of protecting those he cares about most.

“As a parent, I am the first line of defense for my children,” he said. “Not the police.”

Piercy, a nursing student at Olympic College, lifts his shirt to reveal a .45-caliber Springfield XD, a black semi-automatic handgun that weighs about 30 ounces when loaded. He carries constantly with a few exceptions mostly when he’s on campus and prohibited from doing so.

Having carried in his younger days because, frankly, he could, Piercy, 38, has once again obtained a license to carry a concealed weapon and is getting used to the feel of carrying again.

“The gun doesn’t make me invincible, smarter, or tougher than anyone else,” he said. “It’s merely there as a tool.”

Spurred by fear of a violent attack or because they have actually survived one more Washingtonians are getting a concealed pistol license. The license, or CPL, allows them to travel with a hidden gun among an unknowing public. License holders jumped from about 179,000 to 258,000, 43 percent, between 2003 and 2007. The state Department of Licensing says permit applications in Kitsap County jumped from 1,587 in 2004 to 3,339 in 2007.

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Wealthy states look globally for fertile soil

September 13th, 2008

– This sounds like a new form of colonialism to me.  

– It may begin with economic arrangements, but once the growing country is supplying a significant portion of the consuming country’s food, the internal affairs of the growing country will become the ‘personal and deeply vested interest business’ of the consuming country.

– If the growing country is not well behaved, then military or clandestine intervention will follow.  

– Can anyone say, “Chile, Allende, Anaconda and CIA”?  It’s the same pattern, just with a new name.

“For some policymakers, this evokes the nightmare scenario of crops being transported out of fortified farms as hungry locals look on.”

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Capital-rich but food-insecure countries are exploring the idea of leasing farmland beyond their own borders. Is this a “win-win” idea or a recipe for exploitation? Javier Blas and Andrew England report.

Saudi Arabia has no permanent rivers or lakes. Rainfall is low and unreliable. Cereals can be cultivated only through expensive projects that deplete underground reservoirs. Dairy cattle must be cooled with fans and machines that spray them with water mists. This is not, in short, a nation that would normally be associated with large-scale agriculture.

But that could be about to change. Boosted by revenues from the oil boom and concerned about food security, the kingdom is scouring the globe for fertile lands in a search that has taken Saudi officials to Sudan, Ukraine, Pakistan and Thailand.

Their plan is to set up large-scale projects overseas that will later involve the private sector in growing crops such as corn, wheat and rice. Once a country has been selected, each project could be in excess of 100,000 hectares – about 10 times the size of New York City’s Manhattan island – and the majority of the crop would be exported back, officials say.

While Saudi Arabia’s plans are among the grandest, they reflect growing interest in such projects among capital-rich countries that import most of their food. The United Arab Emirates is looking into Kazakhstan and Sudan, Libya is hoping to lease farms in Ukraine and South Korea has hinted at plans in Mongolia. Even China – with plenty of cultivable land but not a lot of water – is exploring investments in south-east Asia.

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Idiots Fiddle While Rome Burns

September 11th, 2008

– I really like Barry Ritholtz’s commentary on financial matters on his Big Picture Blog.

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The collection of ne’er do wells, clueless dolts, political hacks, and oh, let’s just be blunt and call them what they are — total Idiots — expands into an ever larger circle.

While the Republic burns due to the unsavory combination of incompetence, ideological rigidity, and crony capitalism, the fools and assclowns seem ever more determined to avoid any personal responsibility for the damages they have wrought. Instead, they flail about blindly, blaming everything and everyone — except their own horrific negligence.

This is financial incompetence writ on a scale far grander than anything seen for centuries.

As a nation, our institutions have failed us: Under Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve slept through the most reckless and irresponsible expansion of bank lending in history for reasons of ideological purity. His opposition to the Fed’s regulatory role reached the point of malfeasance long ago.  History is unlikely to be kind to the Maestro.

More… ➡

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Presidential Crimes

September 9th, 2008

Moving on is not an option

We have at the present time two government leaders, a president and a vice president, who, according to all available evidence, have carried out grave crimes. Will these two men leave office and live out their lives without being subjected to legal proceedings? Such proceedings will surely release new documents and provide additional testimony important in resolving their guilt or innocence. But the public record is now so elaborate, so detailed, and validated from so many directions that a weight is on the population’s shoulders: does our already existing knowledge of what they have done obligate us to press for legal redress?

The question is painful even to ask, so painful that we may all yield to an easy temptation not to pursue it at all.

More… ➡

– Research Thanks to PHK

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Enneagram U.S.A.

September 9th, 2008

– Following along on yesterday’s theme of having great friends with interesting viewpoints, here’s another view that was shared with me recently by a friend. 

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Riso, a Jesuit, is brilliant, and  wrote a book about personality types based on The Enneagram.  The “Three” is the narcissist.  (Sarah Palin for example).

I read this 20 years ago when my counselor gave me this book.  Things haven’t changed.  🙂 v

The United States is becoming a “Three” culture: narcissistic, image- oriented, emphasizing style over substance, symbols over reality. The pursuit of excellence is being replaced by the celebration of the artificial as everything is being treated as a commodity—-packaged, advertised, and marketed. Politics is becoming less concerned with principles or the use of power for the common good than with the display of personalities. Politics serves public relations, selling candidates with their calculated positions to a public which can no longer tell a clone from a real person. The communications media, particularly television, are primarily concerned with attracting attention so that the public can be sold something. The shallow values and the beguiling glitter of show biz have become the norms by which everything is measured. The only guideline is the ability to gain attention: what is noticed and in demand has value. People are so seduced by the slick package that they often do not realize there is nothing in it. To paraphrase McLuhan, the package is the message. Calculated images successfully masquerade as reality, from the programmed friendliness of television personalities to the rehearsed sincerity of beauty contestants to the hard fluff of “evening magazine” shows. Exhibitionism and self promotion are becoming acceptable as people do whatever it takes to get noticed in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The ideal is to be a winner—–to be successful, famous, and celebrated. The quest for success and prestige is everywhere. Every day a new book comes out telling us how to dress for success, eat for success, or network for success. We are being sold a narcissistic fantasy: that we will be “somebody” if we are like everybody else, only better. If you manage your image properly, you too can become a star—–or a god. The personality type Three exemplifies the search for the affirmation of the self, a self which becomes more empty as its apparent perfection bids for more attention.

– Reasearch Thanks to Robert V.

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Candid Europe

September 8th, 2008

– I have great friends.   I guess maybe that comes with age.  But many of these folks have risen to positions in their careers which give them great views that not many of the rest of us are privileged to share.  

– Occasionally, they share the view from where they are with me.   And in this world of endless spin, I find this highly valuable.   

– Below, are a few paragraphs that a friend of mine, who works in a large international organization in Europe, wrote me.  

– I trust his intelligence, his candor and his proximity to the things he discusses.   In short, it’s a relatively clear view of something we would normally only see through a fog of spin and ideology.

– My friend shall remain nameless.  Enjoy.

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It is very interesting in Europe.  First, the European Union for the most part has control of the currency (the Euro) not all old member states are under the Euro, (Denmark, Sweden, UK), and the newer member states are not all in the Euro (Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania).  So I think it is 13 European countries which are laboring under the Euro which includes France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Finland, Slovenia, Ireland.  But, these for the most part are the economic dynamos.  I might not have the Euro members exactly correct, but it is close and off the top of my head.  Anyway, the main point is that the European Central Bank (ECB) does not act like our Federal Reserve.  The ECB is charged with keeping Inflation at or below 3% across the board.  It might be 2% but I think its 3.  So, when someplace like Spain gets a head of inflationary  steam, then the ECB would screw with interest rates and other controls to curb  this villain. This was a solution looking for a problem. This has been disruptive in some cases because if a smaller nation causes the ECB to react, it could really affect larger nations, like Germany, to enter an economic downturn where things were otherwise OK.

Overall this has more or less worked OK, but it really has not had to deal with a major economic problem like that which is coming.  If you will notice, the dollar is slowly strengthening against the Euro. This is because the European economy follows the US lead but it traditionally lags by 9 months to a year.  The UK seems to have a much shorter lag, and they are feeling the crunch now. Real Estate in Spain and France is in dire straights. Europe is beginning to head south at this time.  The ECB now has to make a decision about broadening its mandate. All bets are that it will reduce interest rates to stimulate the EU economy even though inflation is not where they want it. That in part is why the dollar is strengthening.  High interest rates attract capital which causes the currency to strengthen.  So if the ECB reduces or indicates lower interest rates, then the currency depreciates.

There are other problems also, no real wage growth for years, very high social programs which drain investment capital. None of this can hold because the Asian tigers are gobbling up everything in sight.  So what we have is a massive drain of capital (National Wealth) towards Asia.  Also, Asia is stealing all the intellectual capital. To me all of this means that at some point in time Europe and the US become has-been nations.

This issue with Russia is very interesting. It has revealed the real weakness in Europe’s ability to defend itself.  For years they have lived under the US umbrella which as you know can’t extend this far due to world wide commitments. The amount they (Europe at large) spend on national defense is very low.  They are not equipped to defend themselves at all. Our (USA) equipment is wearing out, our troops are tired, and our national will is spent.  Russia knows this and is taking full advantage. For some reason the Europeans are deluded into thinking it is really not a big deal.  Shades of Pre-WW II wishfull thinking.  They are also extremely dependent upon Russia for energy.  By taking Georgia, they [ Russia] have severely tightened the screws.

My overall assessment is that economically Europe is headed South.  This very well could cause a huge social upheaval.  We will just have to wait and see how deep this thing gets.

By the way I saw something yesterday about the number of Americans now in trouble with mortgages. It is about 10%.  The Fed is going to intervene in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  I am afraid that I do not see any leadership coming that will deal with these issues.  Reminds me of the old Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times”. OR, can we say depression???

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Arctic Map shows dispute hotspots

September 4th, 2008

British scientists say they have drawn up the first detailed map to show areas in the Arctic that could become embroiled in future border disputes.

A team from Durham University compiled the outline of potential hotspots by basing the design on historical and ongoing arguments over ownership.

Russian scientists caused outrage last year when they planted their national flag on the seabed at the North Pole.

The UK researchers hope the map will inform politicians and policy makers.

“Its primary purpose is to inform discussions and debates because, frankly, there has been a lot of rubbish about who can claim (sovereignty) over what,” explained Martin Pratt, director of the university’s International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU).

“To be honest, most of the other maps that I have seen in the media have been very simple,” he added.

“We have attempted to show all known claims; agreed boundaries and one thing that has not appeared on any other maps, which is the number of areas that could be claimed by Canada, Denmark and the US.”

More… ➡

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