It’s whack a mole but with issues.

Just when you thought we had conquered certain problems, they come back. Despite its current unpopularity, thanks to Silent Spring (a book), we stopped using DDT. The real problem was that because it was cheap, the people who used it would use about a thousand times the amount needed. In those does it is bad for you. In lower doses, it just kills bugs and is the reason things like malaria disappeared from the US. Global warming and our pc nature have brought it back. Now infectious diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever (a real treat – there are FOUR strains and if you get one and then are infected with another you are MORE likely to get the hemorrhagic version – think Ebola – nice, right?) and others, are making a comeback in the US. Don’t believe it? The CDC reported in 2002 that the mosquito that carries Dengue had been found as north as North Carolina. More cases of the disease have been reported along the US-Mexican border. Sure they kill millions of people in the world but those are poor people in far away places so they don’t count. (If they did our pharmaceutical giants – who seem to be weathering the current economic problems just fine – would make more anti-malaria drugs and spend less on erectile dysfunction, which kills, I am just guessing here, zero people a year.) Our overdependence on antibiotics, and doctors I have talked to will tell you this, too – many people don’t think their doctor helped them unless they get a prescription, has lead to a drug resistant bugs, like TB. Washington, DC has a high rate of both normal TB and drug resistant TB. Back when my grandmother got TB it was called consumption.

If infectious diseases aren’t your thing, don’t worry. There are other problems that have made a comeback. If all pirates looked like Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom I might not have a problem but apparently they don’t. Moreover they didn’t stay in the 1800’s – or whenever – like they were supposed to. No, they are alive and well and taking ships off the coast of Somalia and East Africa.

Maybe that’s too far away, too. Well back here in the states we have had resurgence of slavery. Human trafficking probably never actually went away, it just went underground. Today I read about a house in Falls Church, VA where 11 women were being forced to work. Depending on whose data you believe, the number of people being held at any given time ranges from one to four million people worldwide. An estimated 70-80 percent are female and 50 percent are minors. http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=1963

And that doesn’t even include companies that just abuse their workers (Walmart I am looking at you). With the economy tanking it can be hard to think about anything else. I am probably in a bitter mood today but it just seems ridiculous that in 2008 things like slavery, piracy and curable diseases kill and hurt so many people. And we think we’re so advanced.

I worked on the Gore-Lieberman campaign and during that I worked hard to make Mr. Lieberman VP. To say I felt betrayed by his a, vigorous campaigning for McCain and b, his vigorous campaigning for other GOP candidates, well it’s an understatement of crazy proportions. I feel totally betrayed and my normal response to betrayal is to be angry.

If he really believed McCain was the better choice – and it was that alone – I could move on but the things he said about Barack Obama, things like he would hurt Israel, was bad for America and he may have even questioned his patriotism showed the worst in American political campaigns. John McCain once said that he would not ‘take the low road to the highest job in the land.’ We all know he went back on that promise, and it hurt him. That Lieberman helped makes me even more mad.

Then let’s think for a minute about the committee he chairs. The chairmanship that was in the balance was of the Homeland Security Committee. One of the jobs of this committee is to oversee the Executive Branch. While Henry Waxman (D-CA) ran a similar committee on the House side he actually did things. He held hearings, he asked questions, he used his power to issue subpoenas. Lieberman did none of this. In fact, even if he had not been such turncoat he doesn’t deserve this post. Moreover, his criticism of President-elect Obama makes one wonder if he will use his post for political reasons. I am not alone here, http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/11/lieberman_two_additional_views.php.

With Lieberman caucusing with the Dems, they have 58 votes. As wiser people than me have pointed out, filibusters don’t always break down along party lines. Coming from a very blue state he has to vote with the Democrats most of the time – as he has on everything except Iraq – and his recent actions will certainly make his reelection in 2012 harder. The problem is four years is a long time and Lieberman can do a world of damage in that time. I don’t trust him. Personally, I think they should have stripped him of his chairmanship and if decided to bolt – an act that would have guaranteed either a recall effort if that is possible or a serious primary or just plain defeat. My only comment to Lieberman should he do that would be: don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.

The Wizard of Oz

TBS showed The Wizard of Oz last night, or the night before, again and again and again… I have written about the political symbolism before but feel the need to do it again. The last time I looked stuff up but I am going to pull a ‘Stephen Colbert’ and write about my thoughts from the gut. (For those of you who like looking stuff up, that came directly from Mr. Colbert’s performance at the 2006 White House Correspondence Dinner.)

The first thing to note about this legendary movie is the infamous suicide that takes place in the background. Now you can research this and believe the stories that it’s a hoax, my gut tells me this is totally true. Right after the Wicked Witch of the West sets fire to the Scarecrow, the trio set off on the Yellow Brick Road singing. If you look carefully, you have to have the DVD, you will see a figure walk out and place a chair in the background. The figure then stands on the chair and is next seen swinging from a rope. Don’t believe me? My roommates and I spent hours reviewing this DVD frame by frame (and you had better ways to waste your time in college?). I think it’s true. Don’t believe me. Look at the DVD and trust your gut.

The Wizard of Oz, the book, was obviously published before the movie (no, dud, idiot). The story took place during a time of political turmoil – I’d bet my life that people then said that whatever election came around then was ‘the most important election of our lives!” If I had a million dollars I would give it to the campaign that said, Yes, we would like you to vote for us but you, this election’s not that important. If you’re too busy… On second thought that could be a way the GOP will suppress turnout. Anyway…

What did the whole thing mean? In the book, Dorothy’s shoes were silver, not ruby. At the time we were moving from the gold to silver standard and oz is the abbreviation for ounces , you know measurement. The Emerald City was Washington. The Scarecrow was Midwest farmers without much intelligence. The Tin Man was industry without any heart. The Cowardly Lion was Congress without any courage. The Wizard was the president without any power. The wicked Witch of the East was eastern bankers. The wicked witch of the west was the untamed western US. What the movie could do that the book could not, was use color. Kansas scenes are all black and white vs. the bright colors of Oz to show the depression, perhaps also the dust bowl but that’s conjecture.

Side note; Judy Garland was not slated to play Dorothy. They wanted a blond – a younger girl and they wanted to use less makeup. People think she was lucky for landing that role. I don’t know. At the end of her life, after she became an alcoholic, she said she had ‘rainbows coming out of her ass.’ I am sure she was speaking metaphorically because otherwise, that would suck.

Why does this matter? It matters because we write off a lot of things as being ‘just entertainment.’ I do not support censorship in fact my point is the opposite. It is easy to watch movies like Syriana and get the take home message but it’s often more subtle. In that way it’s more special. The Wizard of Oz was a story about populism and that theme still resonates today.

Has anyone else seen this show? Man vs. wild is a show on the Discovery Channel. (http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/manvswild/manvswild.html) Bear Grylls gets dropped off in various remote places and shows the rest of us how to survive in these locations. My only real beef with the show is that the only way ever that I would end up in these situations is if my plane crashed. Given that I fly commercial, I would not have most of the tools he has like a knife. Already I am dead in this scenario because he uses it all the time.

I only catch the show when I am channel surfing but I have also realized that I would never survive in the wild. To be fair, I don't camp because I am afraid of serial killers (in the US) but have a tiny amount of experience in the wild. I climbed Kilimanjaro and trekked to Everest's base camp. On the Everest trek I learned what food really is: energy. We tend to think of meals and just enjoyable experiences but when you are climbing or hiking you become aware of how your body needs calories. I noticed something about myself on these trips. Once we got to camp each day my body shut down almost completely. I would get really cold and have to get into my sleeping bag. For about 10 minutes I was as cold as I have ever been in my life. Then everything would change and I would have energy and be warm again. I think it has something to do with how the body metabolism works — anyone have any thoughts on this? No one can explain it to me.

Anyway, Bear ends up doing a host of things I never want to do (drink urine) and a number I can never do (eat an eye ball). He and his team have people there to help should things go awry but if it was me, my hours would be numbered.