What Brought Detroit to it's Knees?

 This is just an amazingly, on-target post by a Detroit resident who counters the notion that poor politics, liberal democrats, union members, or wild spending bankrupted Detroit. It is, in fact, a response from a progressive libertarian who blames racism, pure and simple, for Detroit's fiscal problems...and who sees great promise in the city still.  Thank you to Milo Sales for this impassioned analysis:

Anyone who knows anything about Detroit knows how dumb this (blaming Obama or specific politicians) is. If a racist had a city, it's what Detroit would look like 50 years later. You might want to look up what White Flight and Redlining are - because that's what turned Detroit into what it is today. When you move all the jobs to the suburbs and refuse to let poor minorities rent/buy houses in the area, with shit for mass transportation (effectively stranding them with no means of reasonable income) guess what, the city will degenerate.
What you fail to realize is that METRO Detroit (ie, the Suburbs) are prosperous. As a matter of fact one of our suburbs is the second richest city in the ENTIRE country. [I suspect he is referring to Grosse Pointe].  If you understand the scale of Detroit (we can fit Manhattan, Austin and SF all in our city borders only) and then consider the size of the suburbs (at least 15x larger) you might start to make some connections here. The Old Detroit spread out, taking its wealth and jobs with it. It's not coincidence that the City/Suburbs is the most racially segregated part of the entire USA - 8 Mile is a Black/White Line, even still. 

 
You have a city designed for a tax base of a million trying to make do with 200,000 - which falls daily as black people whose families got left behind emigrate to the more prosperous suburbs now that, you know, they can actually do that.

Detroit wasn't killed by Democrats or Liberalism, it was killed by Racism - pure and fucking simple. Now tell me, which party is more Racist? Yeah, I thought so. It's amazing that the city has held on as long as it has without going bankrupt.

Second, despite all of this - Detroit is an amazing place; especially for Libertarians. Where else could a couple kids buy a 3 story building downtown for 40k? I renovated an entire loft out of nothing, no electricity, no water, with no permits, no government interference. I built a place that in another city would have been so far out of my budget it's absurd. You know how many permits I pull when I go till an abandoned lot and plant a community garden? None. We have communities, real ones, where people stick together and know each others names still. We have neighborhood watches where we manage not to kill unarmed kids, despite their being ACTUAL crime. We have an incredible entrepreneurial spirit - art galleries which spring from nowhere, designer clothing shops started up by 20 year old's, 2k and a screen printer. Nineteen year old's are buying and renovating homes, starting businesses.

But maybe you're right, if Obama had a city maybe it would be Detroit. A city where blacks and whites come together despite centuries of racism, create and achieve things that no one expected or thought possible. While I'm no fan of the president, I'll take that comparison.

The general ignorance of people is amazing. Maybe we're all Secret Muslims too.

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Boycott Russian Winter Oympics? A Resounding NO...

I am seeing an increasing number of people calling for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. Some come from the Neoconservative Right, because they're pissed off at Russia's non-cooperation on Snowden.  Others are gay activists, horrified at Russia's new draconian anti-gay laws.

I'll be the odd man out, and say this is a really bad idea folks.

First, NO ONE calling for a boycott will be personally hurt by it. They have nothing to lose, so its easy to yell, "Yeah, let's boycott!"  On the other hand, hundreds of American young people who have been training and working and devoting their lives to these games, would have to bear the burden of this action. It's easy to call for action when *others* have to bear the cost. I'm not willing to have American athletes suffer (or athlete's from any nation, quite frankly) to make  a political statement.

Second, the message is mixed. If we want Russia to "do" something, what is it? Turn over Snowden?  Or Repeal Anti-gay statutes? It's a mixed, muddled - and conflicting message. In other words, in return for destroying innocent people's dreams - nothing will be accomplished and no laws will change.





Third, it's hypocritical. If you wanted to protest governments that engage in civil liberties violations and espionage activities, you should have boycotted Beijing a few years ago. If you want to punish countries with anti-gay laws...where was your voice when 30 athletes came from Nigeria (a nation where homosexuality is punishable by death in the northern states) arrived in Atlanta in 1996?


Lastly, it's just poor policy to use Sports as a political weapon.  Sports is one of the few human activities that actually has the ability to take human conflict and channel it into constructive competitiveness somewhere other than on the battlefield. The statement  that was made in the summer of 1936 when African-American athletes (like Jesse Owens) trounced the Germans in track and field in Berlin helped topple the myth of Aryan Supremacy in a bloodless way that no bullet ever did.  The Olympics need to be kept out of political intrigue and maintained as a sporting event. The original, ancient Greek Olympics allowed warring city-states to compete with each other, and allowed its populations to override the war-mongering idiocy of their governments by coming together in spite of political differences.  

And that's the way it should stay.

Gay brothers and allies...you want to do something that will really hurt them where it hurts? Stop drinking Stoli.  Demand that your local liquor stores and favorite bars cease carrying Russian-made vodka.  Hit them where it hurts. But to do so requires you to get off your keyboard, and bear the burden of this protest yourself...will you do it?

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Why Whites Insist on Defending Zimmerman

I have really been shocked at the stridency with which so many white folk – otherwise intelligent, even liberal white folk – have engaged in semantic gymnastics in an effort to justify the Zimmerman verdict and criticize those who see injustice.  The righteous anger in defense of Zimmerman is startling, even for someone like me, who has grown accustomed to racial animus as a fact of life.  But why has this case struck such a nerve, in the white community as well as in the black community?

I think back to something a very wise, sympathetic figure said about me more than a decade ago.  

I was still closeted, and had not come to terms with my sexuality. I was engaged in furious online debates with this man, who was unapologetically open about his orientation. I came up with every argument in the book as to why he was wrong, mistaken, sinful, sick, twisted, and deluded.  I would grasp at any weird event that had happened in the gay community, and attempted to characterize it as ‘normal’ for that group. With each such bizarre post, I would punctuate my comments with the equivalent of “A-ha!  See?!  You’re a hypocrite/wrong/blind blah blah blah."  I was irrational in my need to prove I was right.

This gentlemen with whom I was debating wrote a private message to someone else, who had the courage to send it to me.  What it said was,

“Thom is a man conflicted.  You fight yourself the hardest, and he is not really fighting me…he is fighting himself.”

That insight was brilliant.  I have never forgotten it (eternal thanks, John/Jane Z)

And I see the same concept manifesting itself among white people in the aftermath of the trial.

White people who insist that they are not racist, because, in their heads, they know it's a bad thing to be racist.

But for who, in their guts, still have knee-jerk feelings...based on race.

In their hearts, they know they distrust blacks more than whites.  They know they’re even afraid of blacks, and will cross the street to avoid them.  They know in their gut that when they hear about welfare queens and people who rip-off the tax system, they envision a black family.  They can’t avoid these feelings, often because they were raised in an environment where they were taught to fear and loathe blacks.

But, they know in their heads that such misplaced hate and prejudice is simply wrong. Ergo, they deal with a conflict between the head and the gut.

And so, “they fight themselves the hardest.”  They scour their minds and the internet and every cliché they can find to make sure that they can satisfy the racial fears in their guts by lauding Zimmerman, without violating their conscience which tells them that racial fear is not a good enough reason.

They throw punches in the air:

“Black on black crime is much worse…”

“No one ever talks about a white kid getting killed by blacks…”

“The jury spoke, it’s over…”

“You don’t see whites rioting…”

“Zimmerman was being pummeled…”

“It’s the media’s fault…”

"He was a thug.."

“If Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton wouldn't get involved….”

“The civil war ended over a hundred years ago, and all you people do is talk about race…”

Of course, not one of these arguments is a legitimate reason to support George Zimmerman. Not one of them addresses the District Attorney’s sweeping this under the rug for 45 days,  the misuse of the Stand Your Ground Statute and the refusal of the Judge to issue jury instructions on that matter, the admission of concrete slabs and shirtless pictures of Trayvon as evidence, the lack of *any* pre-emptory challenges by the prosecution over jurors, the lack of any men or blacks on the jury, the fact that Zimmerman’s father was a local Judge and the venue wasn't changed,  and a host of other suspect irregularities.

But what these folk are doing is not fighting for or against Justice.

They are using George Zimmerman as a proxy for themselves.

They know that George suspected Trayvon, because Trayvon was a young black man in a gated, middle class neighborhood.  

And they know they would have felt the same.  

Putting Zimmerman on trial is like putting them on trial.

And so the only way to fight the inner vestiges of racism in their gut, is to ‘fight themselves the hardest’ – lash out and defend Zimmerman any way they can, so they can avoid the ugly reality of having to reconcile Gut with Mind.

It’s an irrational, ugly, brutal process.

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RePost from Last Year: Time for Another Revolution

 

What follows is the list of grievances contained in the 1776 American Declaration of Independence which compelled us to engage in armed revolution. One can only wonder where that fiery, rebellious spirit has gone:

"...He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands…

(Like the refusal of Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform…and Arizona’s and Alabama’s efforts to force brown people to ‘show papers’ simply to travel)

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers…

(Like removing terrorism trials from Judicial Review by calling them ‘military tribunals’)

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance...

(like DEA waging a ‘War on Drugs’ and the FDA raiding raw milk vendors)

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures...

(Like a vague “war on terror” as a pretense for increased militarization and global adventures, the militarization of our police forces, and drones flying overhead)

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power...

(Like asking the Generals how they feel about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” rather than telling them what to do)

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation…

(Like the World Trade Organization…)

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States…

(Like arresting citizens for videotaping police brutality incidents on their cell phones and protecting troops who engage in waterboarding and other tortures)

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world…

(Like embargoes on Cuba and Iran)

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent…

(Like Imputed Income Tax on same-sex spouses covered by health insurance)

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury…

(Like confiscation of property in tax and drug cases prior to trial)

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences…

(Like Guantanamo Bay)

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies…

(Like Iraq and Afghanistan)

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments…

(Like suspending Writs of Habaeus corpus under The Patriot Act, and eliminating the need for a warrant to search cars, library records, and bank accounts)

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

(Like gerrymandering districts to insure the outcomes of elections, making it almost impossible for third parties to get on the ballot, and passing laws against victimless crimes and regulating our private lives).

What will YOU do this year to continue the Spirit of the American Revolution?

On Memorial Day: Monsanto's Unpaid Debt to US Veterans

 New Years Eve 2010, and the body of John P. Wheeler is found in a dump in Delaware. The cause of death is ruled a homicide. Wheeler was returning from Washington, D.C. His family didn't know precisely why, or when to expect him to return.
Who is Wheeler? A respected Army Officer and Vietnam Veteran who served as the guiding force and Chair of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund from 1979 - 1989. Not only was that the time period during which "The Wall" was being planned and implemented...it was the height of the Agent Orange Trial.

Turn back the Clock:
By the mid 1980s, a class-action suit launched by Vietnam Vets against Monsanto, Dow, Diamond Shamrock, and a few smaller chemical companies had hit the federal court system. All these companies were involved in producing Agent Orange, a defoliating agent designed to strip the jungle of vegetation. In the process, the breakdown of the constituent chemicals of the substance (Di- and Trichlorophenoxyacetic Acid, otherwise known as 2,4 D and 2,4,5 T for short) created Dioxin. Vietnam Vets exposed to the substance suffered everything from severe skin rashes (chloracne) to cancer and death...and their children experienced a range of horrible birth defects.
John "Jack" Wheeler was instrumental in demanding medical treatment for, and focusing attention on, Veterans health issues - especially those affected by Agent Orange.
I know. I worked for Dean, Falanga & Rose, one of the law firms that represented the Veterans at the time. My job involved reading through the deposition of Monsanto officials...and tracing how much the company officials actually knew about the poison they were selling. And how much the government knew about the poison they were buying and dumping on American soldiers. It was Ugly.

Specifically, my job was to read through the depositions that had been taken of Monsanto executives and employees, to try and create a ‘chain’ of information: precisely who in the company knew what, and when did they know it, and who did they tell and when?  In creating this chain of information, I was handling sensitive material – and required to sign a life-long gag order that I would never reveal the contents of what I found.

Too bad.  Here goes.

In 1948, there was an explosion in Monsanto’s herbicide factory in Wheeling, West Virginia.  Workers there were exposed to the herbicide that came to be known later as “Agent Orange” (due to the fact that it was shipped to Vietnam in Orange color-coded drums). 

Monsanto followed up on the health effects on their workers, and quickly discovered both short-term and long-term effects.  The short-term effects included horrible skin conditions (known as chloracne) and open, weeping sores and skin cancers.  The long-term effects included deformities to internal organs, not only among the workers exposed, but even worse among the children they fathered in subsequent years. That didn’t stop them from producing the herbicide, or from selling it for killing weeds along railroad tracks around the United States (one of its most common applications).

When the Vietnam War escalated, Monsanto – along with Dow, Diamond Shamrock, and some smaller companies – supplied the military with Agent Orange, promising that it would be an effective substance to spray on the jungle canopy.  By defoliating the jungle, they argued, soldier’s lives would be saved because the Viet Cong would be unable to hide beneath the thick vegetation.

The only problem, of course, was the nagging possibility that someone might find out about the toxic effect the substance has on human beings.

During the early “discovery phases” of the trial, Monsanto needed to find an out, or else be responsible for billions of dollars of damages visited upon soldiers and their families as the defoliant rained down from the sky on them.  So early in this phase, Monsanto invited  supposed “rival” chemical companies Dow and Diamond Shamrock (who also produced the substance) to strategy sessions to find a way to avoid taking  responsibility for the damages they caused.  In what can only be described as brazen arrogance that they were above the law, they actually took minutes of these meetings.

I read these minutes.

Under US law, if the US Government knew that Agent Orange was dangerous when they bought it, then Monsanto was off the hook. But Monsanto never informed the Pentagon of the dangers.

Instead, they created an almost foolproof defense:  they sought to show that “someone,” “somewhere” (anywhere) in the federal government knew it was dangerous, and would then use that information to claim that they were off the hook.

They discovered that in a laboratory in Virginia, the United States Department of Agriculture became aware that mice grew small tumors and produced deformed offspring when exposed to Agent Orange.

And on that, they hung their entire defense:  they argued that because a federal government lab technician in the Department of Agriculture knew there was potential danger, that they did not have to reveal to the Department of Defense that such dangers existed; they argued that the federal Government already ‘knew’ of the danger when they bought it, and they, therefore, were off the hook.

Anyone who knows anything about bureaucracy knows that rarely do people in the same office share information; trading information across agencies (such as from Agriculture to Defense) is unheard of.

On that disgustingly insincere shred of defense, the attorneys representing the veterans – who received 1/3 of any settlement monies -  folded their hands and threw in their cards.  They accepted an out of court settlement whereby veterans received pennies for the dollars of their damages.

In rage, I quit the law firm that day and never returned to the profession. I started driving a tractor trailer.

Back to Jack Wheeler.

As the years rolled on,  Jack Wheeler would go on to serve multiple Presidential administrations. At one point, he authored a document on the US Military's use of Biochemical weapons, including Agent Orange.  The document concluded that the US must never employ these substances, and explained their history. At the time, the US Army was in the process of  releasing a stockpiled arsenal full of the stuff in Arkansas. Massive bird kills and fish kills had raised the attention of the public and the press.
Sometime after Dec 28, 2010, after meeting with officials in Washington, Jack Wheeler left Washington DC on a train for his home in Delaware. He never got home. The experienced Army officer was ambushed, killed, and his body later found dumped in a landfill.

Memorial Day, Indeed . .  .

5 New England Driving Habits That Drive Me Crazy....

I will admit from the start: I am a born-and-bred New Yorker, and that means a certain smugness flows through my veins when I observe the quaint habits of my New England neighbors.  But if there is one condition sure to bring out my exasperation with these folks is when I am forced to drive among them  For a guy who learned to navigate the avenues and side streets of Manhattan and Long Island in a tractor trailer, the inability of New Englanders to make a turn or understand traffic patterns is, well…infuriating.

And so, my top five beefs with clueless New England drivers:

 

1) New Englanders have no clue how to make a left turn at a light. This is my number #1 complaint.  It really needs to be taught in driving school up here.

More often than not, I am stuck behind some driver who, when seeking to make a left turn, sits way back behind the corner, behind the ‘white line,’ so as to watch the light turn from red, to green, and back to red again, without ever having moved an inch.  Such people bring traffic flow to a screeching halt – not just for those seeking to turn, but for anyone who would seek to proceed straight ahead by getting around them. 

When making a left turn at a light, motorists should NOT wait back behind the crosswalk; they should ENTER THE INTERSECTION and wait “under” an overhead light.  When oncoming traffic is clear, you make your turn.  Such an approach means that left-turning traffic will not wait interminably, making turns one car at a time.  It also increases the chance that those behind you who wish to pass and go straight will have the room to maneuver to do so.

OK, so maybe I’m given to road rage, but its all I can do to keep from jumping out of the car and knocking on these idiots’ windows to explain the process of making a left-hand turn.

2) Speed Limits take years of study to understand in New England. Having lived in exile up here for 23 years, I have finally broken the code. With a little time, you, too, can figure out the System:

 Connecticut: take the Posted Speed Limit, and add 25 mph to this.

Vermont: take the Posted Speed Limit, and subtract 15 mph from this.

Massachusetts: If on a two-lane highway, subtract 10 mph from the limit.  As soon as it opens up permitting you to pass the slow-poke in front of you, expect them to go at Speed Limit Plus 15 mph.  This ensures that no one ever gets out of line and Order is Maintained.

Rhode Island: My experience is that Rhode Island is so small that I can usually pass through it from one end to the other in less time than it takes me to pass a Masshole on a two-lane (see above).

New Hampshire: Posted Speed Limits represent an overreach of Big Government, and should be ignored. Do what makes sense.

Maine: Speed is posted in Knots and most travel is via nautical miles, so all bets are off on your standard speedometer.

3) Courtesy is Discourteous...and dangerous.

In a public show of smug self-righteousness, New Englanders prefer to show the world how civilized they are by slamming on their brakes at every available opportunity.

When it comes to pedestrians, New Englanders will stop for a pedestrian entering a crosswalk. Actually, they also stop when the pedestrian merely glances across the street or takes a step on the sidewalk within 20 feet of a potential crosswalk.  They will remain stopped until the pedestrian has crossed, stepped up on the curb, sauntered down the sidewalk, entered a storefront, and paid for their purchases…because it’s the ‘courteous’ thing to do.

A variation on this habit is the effort to overturn all traffic engineering plans by waving-in traffic exiting from side streets and parking lots to bring 4-lane highway traffic to a screeching stop.

No one explained to these Ultra-Courtesy Nuts that the timing of traffic signals is designed and tested by engineers in an effort to insure that the main (“primary arterial”) traffic actually flows smoothly, since this affects the majority of motorists.  Minor (“secondary”) side street traffic is *supposed* to wait to enter the main flow of traffic.   But New Englanders, who pride themselves on personal education and believe their ideas are as valid as the engineers, prefer to thwart planning.  They halt traffic on the main through-routes to wave in cars exiting from minor locations.  Such activity serves to effectively screw-up blocks, nay, miles of through-street traffic, and sets the stage for domino-effect rear-end accidents.  But hey, at least its courteous.

4)  Trajectories are an unknown concept.  In spite of the presence of Harvard, Yale, and MIT, all those pesky math problems that ask, “what happens when Car A is heading east at 30 mph and Car B is heading north at 55 mph…” have fallen on deaf ears.

In New York, one makes a snap judgment by observing the direction and speed with which other traffic is proceeding.  Vehicles traveling at cross-paths do NOT need to stop or even slow down when they judge that they can safely continue at their respective speeds; or, if continuing will result in a collision, then slight adjustments to speed are made so that one vehicle passes behind the other.

Not so in New England. 

A “Yield” sign in a Traffic Circle is re-imagined to mean, “Come to a Dead Stop if someone is approaching and is still a football field away.”  There seems to be a brain-fart when it comes to understanding that two vehicles (or a vehicle and a bicycle, or a vehicle and a pedestrian) actually CAN proceed at cross-paths, and simply adjust speeds to avoid collision.  No, in New England, one must come to a DEAD STOP (and then look at you as if you did something wrong).

5) Turn Signals – After the above, this is pretty minor, but common enough to warrant comment.

 Either use them like you’re supposed to, or don’t…but please, don’t adopt this strange New England habit of flipping on your turn signal only after you’ve started the turn. You're not giving us information we don't have just be watching you slide out of the lane.  For some reason, like some mindless religious ritual, drivers here do a quick flip-of-the-signal not because they are giving drivers around them warning – but simply to be able to say that they ‘did what they were supposed to do.’

Why bother at that point?

Hmmm.

Maybe this is why, more and more, I see myself riding trains and piloting a boat.

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