Feel’ in Kinda Colicky

The High Price of Gas, John McSame, And Why You Should Never Trust Anyone Over The Age Of Twelve.

With the relatively new (Bush Crime Family Era) High Cost of Everything Reality we have been hit by these days, it seemed appropriate to write something about Gasoline prices in particular. What prompted me to talk about this specific subject was a piece I watched on the Countdown With Keith Olbermann show a couple of days ago. It was all about John McCain and his connection to the now defunct Enron Corporation, many of his current campaign advisers, and the loop hole that allowed Enron to rape California with outrageous Megawatt prices, and now Big Oil, to artificially cranked up the price of oil. Yet, it doesn’t just stop with these guys, one must look to Wall Street as well, in particular, Speculators who are currently raking in millions from Oil Futures. All of it going un-checked by the very people we appointed to protect and serve us: Politicians. (You can throw some blame onto most of the media as well, for simply not bothering to report any real news anymore). This gaping hole in our financial system is aptly named the Enron Loophole.

There are three general reasons for the price of oil to be so high right now:

• Increased demand from around the world, especially developing countries like China and India.

• A very de-valued U.S. Dollar against other currencies.

• Speculators on Wall Street.

The Olbermann report is one of the best explanations about the little known Enron Loophole, and the free pass given to Wall Street yet again.

The reason why most people don’t understand why all these things can happen is simply because the Main Stream Media has no real interest in reporting all the facts and nuances of any given story. Back in the day of old, print media could write out long exposes on particular stories. The message was generally credible and to the point. Most people got their news from the newspapers and periodicals. Nowadays, most people get their news, if they care or get it at all, from Television. Television news is basically short, out of context sound bites, usually of one little inane part of a much bigger issue spoon feed through junk food-like shock points, played over and over and over again, ad-nauseam. The purpose is to never resolve the issue for viewers, it is designed to string us along with controversy, real or contrived, skirting the border of tabloid pulp. Most issues are understood by the public in this very shallow way. Yet even when someone within that genre attempts to spell it out more precisely, as Keith Olberman usually attempts to do, it just doesn’t ever seem to resonate with the public at large. Our attention span is just too damaged. We are way too conditioned to be able to pay attention to the details, even when served up in only slightly bigger portions.

Snuff and Un-Cut

At the behest of a friend of mine, (actually a multi-year harangue), I went out and purchased a canister of snuff. For those who don’t know what snuff is, it is a powered tobacco product administered into your blood stream via small piles snorted into the nostrils. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking.

He pontificated on and on about how great it was, what a wonderful buzz one receives from it, and just an all around gushing rant of praise.

When I was a teenager, a group of us went to the local Head Shop and bought some snuff. We sniffed it, we sneezed it, we tossed it. That was it for that god-awful substance. What the hell was the point?

Well, I finally gave in and determined to give it another shot. After much searching and perusing the Yellow Pages, and quite a few calls to smoke shops, I finally found a cigar store that carried this apparently rare olfactory delicacy.

I obtained the precious treasure, moved quickly to my car, opened the small can, and sniffed away. I immediately understood what the hoopla was all about…

Sorry, I’m back, I had to stop and take a quick sniff. Anyway, I got religion now. Snuff is a wonderful substance. It has lived up to everything my buddy claimed on its behalf.

Well, I gotta go. I suddenly have this strange urge to smoke a cigarette. Go figure.

Autodidact Redux

About a month ago, I embarked on yet another attempt at learning Japanese. My first attempt was many years ago when I attended a Community College class at night with a friend of mine.

My friend is already fluent in Chinese, and even lived in Japan for more than five years. He never learned to speak Japanese though, even while shacking up with a Japanese girlfriend. Too busy I guess.

I didn’t make much progress either: We both became friends with the Japanese Professor, and subsequently, dropped out of the class. Too bad, because I thought it was really going to pop that time.

Over the years, once in a while, I screw up my resolve, get out all the books and CDs and flash cards, set it all up, sit down at the desk, and…. I get discouraged, distracted, and lose interest.

This time there is a different factor in play. That is, my daughter is teaching herself Japanese. Suddenly, I am feeling the urgency to pick it up as she does, not wanting to see yet another person pass me by with bi-lingual-ability-ness. She has a clear advantage over me though, in that she is a kid with a language cortex like a thirsty sponge. And, oh yeah, she is way smarter than me.

Our home life is interesting in terms of linguistics. My wife speaks fluent Mongolian, Russian, and English. My daughter can comprehend Mongolian, but refuses to speak any of it, preferring the much more comfortable English target language. My son only speaks English. I can speak a smattering of Chinese and Spanish. (I get the Mexican guys at work to teach me Spanish; although I sometimes wonder if they are teaching me the right words).

When my in-laws visit, my mother-in-law just talks to all of us in Mongolian. I haven’t a clue what the hell she is talking about, but my son seems to understand. Probably for the same ‘kid-with-a-mind-like-a-fully available-10,000,000-terabyte-hard drive’ reason all of us possess as kids.

I think I would ignore her even if I understood what she was saying. I guess some things are the same in any language.