I watched Avatar last night. Hi-tech, low politics, lower art. Echt kitsch, ugh. Kitsch visuals, kitsch plot, kitsch pantheism. Ugh,ugh,ugh. Religion and morality for kiddies and liberals. It has value as insight to the shallow dreams and self-approval of the permanent adolescents who run much of the West.
My best film of 2009 is here. Low-tech, middle brow, high art.
July 11, 2010
June 24, 2010
Correlation is not causation, but...
Abortion 'triples breast cancer risk': Fourth study finds terminations linked to disease.
It's notable how often cultural marxism leads to health catastrophes. Abortion is a health catastrophe for the unborn baby, but also, quite possibly, for the mother who killed her baby. Homosexual libertinism is a health catastrophe for AIDS victims. Soft drugs are a health catastrophe for those rendered schizophrenic. Rampant vaccination through semi-coercion is a health catastrophe for attenuated immune systems. The sedation of disruptive boys through semi-coercion in a feminised and riskophobic public school system in America is a health catastrophe. God knows I'd have been Ritalined from an early age were I at school now.
As Margaret Thatcher said, the facts of life are conservative.
AC Chickadee comments:
Mark comments:
Think I'm exaggerating? Here's today's outrage:
The striking thing to me is the smug confidence with which the statist professionals commit these atrocities. They've captured the levers of social control while honest citizens are busy making money and raising families.
[In the UK] There has been an 80 per cent increase in the rate of breast cancer since 1971, when in the wake of the Abortion Act, the number of abortions rose from 18,000 to nearly 200,000 a year.
It's notable how often cultural marxism leads to health catastrophes. Abortion is a health catastrophe for the unborn baby, but also, quite possibly, for the mother who killed her baby. Homosexual libertinism is a health catastrophe for AIDS victims. Soft drugs are a health catastrophe for those rendered schizophrenic. Rampant vaccination through semi-coercion is a health catastrophe for attenuated immune systems. The sedation of disruptive boys through semi-coercion in a feminised and riskophobic public school system in America is a health catastrophe. God knows I'd have been Ritalined from an early age were I at school now.
As Margaret Thatcher said, the facts of life are conservative.
AC Chickadee comments:
I've never heard that abortions can cause breast cancer. I wonder if it has something to do with hormones? I believe Ritalin is oftentimes prescribed just to make it easier for teachers to handle unruly students, who are really just normal. Parents can refuse to do it, but they probably go along with it just to make it easier for them too. Sad.
Mark comments:
I recently spoke to a parent from New Hampshire whose school is threatening to bar his son unless he's medicated. His dad believes the boy, with whom I've vacationed, is normally disruptive in a setting which stigmatizes that and messes with the boy's mind, rather than discipline it. Principals are litigation averse social workers, who use non-fiction versions of 'soma'.
Whether or not our children are barred in NJ for not being 'adequately' vaccinated is essentially at the whim of a bureaucrat who decides whether I've used the correct form of lie in claiming a religious exemption.
Brave New World is here in America. How ironic, since Shakespeare used the phrase in The Tempest with a different Americas in mind. 'Oh brave new world that has such people in't' - coercive socialists who govern our children with drugs and pc brainwashing.
Think I'm exaggerating? Here's today's outrage:
The striking thing to me is the smug confidence with which the statist professionals commit these atrocities. They've captured the levers of social control while honest citizens are busy making money and raising families.
June 20, 2010
Barack Petroleum - banana republic edition
The $20 billion dollar shakedown of BP has set an unholy precedent which will reverberate thru US business interests overseas. Next time Exxon has a Russian style environmental audit at Sakhalin, what's to stop a Gazprom-friendly politician ordering up a few bill. in escrow money by citing the Obama example ?
BP screwed up unforgivably by the looks of it, albeit with the full, explicit knowledge of the relevant federal agencies, but it was meeting all its financial duties and has resources and cash flow to meet future liabilities. That refers to legal and moral liabilities, not economic losses from the imbecilic, US mandated 6 month drilling shutdown based on an expert report falsified by the Dept of Energy and disowned by the experts who wrote it.
This FT article asks a good question - how is the BP's escrow commitment to Obama legal without shareholder approval?
The article makes a nice point about one of Tony Hayward's possible successors, Robert Dudley:
BP screwed up unforgivably by the looks of it, albeit with the full, explicit knowledge of the relevant federal agencies, but it was meeting all its financial duties and has resources and cash flow to meet future liabilities. That refers to legal and moral liabilities, not economic losses from the imbecilic, US mandated 6 month drilling shutdown based on an expert report falsified by the Dept of Energy and disowned by the experts who wrote it.
This FT article asks a good question - how is the BP's escrow commitment to Obama legal without shareholder approval?
“I don’t get how [legally] BP can cancel an already declared dividend, and offer up $20 billion, without a shareholder vote. Nor why they’d do either of those things. If Obama insisted on a political headline, I’d have much rather it’d been Hayward’s scalp,” one trader said.
The article makes a nice point about one of Tony Hayward's possible successors, Robert Dudley:
Mr Dudley, an affable Mississippian, meanwhile, has been in the fray in Houston, managing the clean-up and is seen as having handled the public scrutiny better than his chief executive.
He was also at Mr Hayward and Mr Svanberg’s side during Wednesday’s meeting with Mr Obama.
Mr Dudley’s recent post as chief executive of TNK-BP, BP’s Russian partnership, gives him experience running a company in a host country with an unpredictably hostile government.
Every silver lining has a cloud
Obama and Hayward, the 2 CEO's responsible for the Gulf screw-up, are both snakebit. For them every silver lining has a cloud.
A comment in the DT:
There's some truth in that. Today Hayward is sailing with his son on his first few hours off since April 20th and the media feign outrage. Hey-ho. Anyway, writing as a punter long BP, it's obvious that Hayward has to go. The guy looks punch-drunk with snake bites - a mixed metaphor to be proud of, I think.
Now, Obama....
Mick intones:
Two nations separated by a common language? I'm sure some of that was in play, but truth be told, calm in the face of the storm is also considered a virtue here in the U.S.
Hayward's demeanor was perfect for BP, because shareholders, employees and executives all know that he shares their fate and concerns. The appearance of sang froid is, in my view, always an asset within this context, but what Hayward did not understand is that Gulf coast residents, and the nation at large, were not at all certain that Hayward and BP shared their specific fate or concerns. The American south has always had a streak of xenophobia running through it, and BP being perceived as a 'foreign' corporation with a 'foreign' chief wasn't helping.
That seemed obvious to me, but apparently escaped Hayward and his team, who would have benefited from hiring some PR consultants as soon as the situated developed. Before he could create a perception of control, he needed to create for the Gulf Coast what he took for granted at BP--a shared fate (BP has long been part of the Gulf coast community...). I would have set up camp and invited the governors of the various gulf states to join him for some helicopter tours and in-depth discussions, setting up some sort of coordinated response between the company and the states.
Hayward made a lot of mistakes, but he has an excuse--ignorance. What's Obama's excuse?
It is literally incomprehensible that Obama didn't jump on this like a hungry owl on a mouse caught out in the open. He had Clinton as an advisor (who handled the Florida hurricanes with aplomb), the negative example of Katrina, and a life-time of political experience to tell him that he needed to get on this thing within hours of it happening.
Obama still has some die-hard supporters in the media who'll keep on making excuses for his profound incompetence, but they are dwindling rapidly.
Mark agrees: I agree.
Actually I don't excuse Hayward. PR in a crisis is an indispensable attribute of his job. The best PR is calm, directed action, frankly explained with no quips. It's not mysterious.
The only xenophobia I've noticed is in Washington. In the UK the contrast with Piper Alpha is widely noted. In 1988 a US operated platform exploded in the North Sea killing 168 men. An enquiry judged the operator, Occidental, to be culpable. There were no boots on throats, yankeephobia or political posturing about this accident, just a determination to fix what was wrong. Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.
A comment in the DT:
As for Hayward’s supposed PR disaster, we need to accept the cultural differences between Britain and the US. We believe you should stay calm and behave as if everything is under control in a crisis. They like to show how committed they are and involved emotionally in the problem.
There's some truth in that. Today Hayward is sailing with his son on his first few hours off since April 20th and the media feign outrage. Hey-ho. Anyway, writing as a punter long BP, it's obvious that Hayward has to go. The guy looks punch-drunk with snake bites - a mixed metaphor to be proud of, I think.
Now, Obama....
Mick intones:
Two nations separated by a common language? I'm sure some of that was in play, but truth be told, calm in the face of the storm is also considered a virtue here in the U.S.
Hayward's demeanor was perfect for BP, because shareholders, employees and executives all know that he shares their fate and concerns. The appearance of sang froid is, in my view, always an asset within this context, but what Hayward did not understand is that Gulf coast residents, and the nation at large, were not at all certain that Hayward and BP shared their specific fate or concerns. The American south has always had a streak of xenophobia running through it, and BP being perceived as a 'foreign' corporation with a 'foreign' chief wasn't helping.
That seemed obvious to me, but apparently escaped Hayward and his team, who would have benefited from hiring some PR consultants as soon as the situated developed. Before he could create a perception of control, he needed to create for the Gulf Coast what he took for granted at BP--a shared fate (BP has long been part of the Gulf coast community...). I would have set up camp and invited the governors of the various gulf states to join him for some helicopter tours and in-depth discussions, setting up some sort of coordinated response between the company and the states.
Hayward made a lot of mistakes, but he has an excuse--ignorance. What's Obama's excuse?
It is literally incomprehensible that Obama didn't jump on this like a hungry owl on a mouse caught out in the open. He had Clinton as an advisor (who handled the Florida hurricanes with aplomb), the negative example of Katrina, and a life-time of political experience to tell him that he needed to get on this thing within hours of it happening.
Obama still has some die-hard supporters in the media who'll keep on making excuses for his profound incompetence, but they are dwindling rapidly.
Mark agrees: I agree.
Actually I don't excuse Hayward. PR in a crisis is an indispensable attribute of his job. The best PR is calm, directed action, frankly explained with no quips. It's not mysterious.
The only xenophobia I've noticed is in Washington. In the UK the contrast with Piper Alpha is widely noted. In 1988 a US operated platform exploded in the North Sea killing 168 men. An enquiry judged the operator, Occidental, to be culpable. There were no boots on throats, yankeephobia or political posturing about this accident, just a determination to fix what was wrong. Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister.
June 14, 2010
The poop, not the scoop
Daniel Hannan has written a mea culpa: "I admit it: I was wrong to have supported Barack Obama".
My comment:
My comment:
Sorry that this sounds snooty, but your post is better analysed by a psychologist than a bloggologist. To touch on one claim - "Obama was dealt a rotten economic hand." No, he was a major promoter and beneficiary of Fannie and Freddie, the CRA and mega-Government which are the principal causes of what went wrong. Obama is the poop, not the scoop. That was obvious all along, so that someone of your excellence (I mean it) could only have been self-duped. That is what you need to acknowledge - that you wanted Obama to be the One for psychological motivations which met at the intersection of many other self-dupes' motivations.
May 29, 2010
How true
Hearken:
President Obama turned to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and made clear that he had to do more to ensure that his agency could manage the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a growing problem for an administration that prides itself on competence.
"You need to have people in the top jobs who can actually do them," Obama told Salazar
May 20, 2010
In which I barter photos for a special bottle of vin ordinaire
I was shooting balconies in Shad Thames yesterday morning, squatting low down among the fag ends, when a voice said "Do you want to take our photo?" It was 3 young french guys who work at Pont de la Tour Restaurant. So I took this shot:
Then I realised they were all hiding their cigarettes, which was why they'd been loitering outside, so I told them to show the cigarettes, which made them look frenchier esp the middle one:
Then I realised they were all hiding their cigarettes, which was why they'd been loitering outside, so I told them to show the cigarettes, which made them look frenchier esp the middle one:
The name of the one on the left is Nicolas Clerc and I took him a few prints today - he was happy.
The punchline is that Nicolas was 'Sommelier of the Year 2007'. See this story. In return he gave me a bottle of red which I'm enjoying now. It's not often one gets given a bottle of wine by the Sommelier of the Year and it's not really vin ordinaire !
And here's a cormorant shot from the same morning for good luck, Tower Bridge and St Paul's nicely bokehed behind:
The horror, the horror, the horror
2 years ago I wrote a post about the official logo for the 2012 London Olympics - "the horror, the horror". Now the official Olympic mascots have been unveiled and I can't improve on Stephen Bayley's verdict:
What is it about these Games which seems to drive the organisers into the embrace of this kind of patronising, cretinous infantilism? Why can’t we have something that makes us sing with pride, instead of these appalling computerised Smurfs for the iPhone generation?
May 18, 2010
A political masterclass
Professor Gingrich struts his stuff in a tutorial setting. I'm pleased that he recognizes Chris Christie as the most important governor in the United States for what he's attempting in New Jersey. What's so attractive about Gingrich is that he integrates the nitty gritty of politics with the ideas of politics and does so with the utmost fluency; a beautiful mind.
May 16, 2010
Trip to Iceland
Gallery is here.
Alain and I had a great trip! Keflavik airport was shut by the wind swinging round to bring volcanic ash that way, so we were both routed via Glasgow to Akureyri in the north. This was much worse for him coming from Montreal, but Akureyri is a fine alternative to start from.
The big takeaway is that end April/ early May is a fantastic time to visit Iceland. The only negative is that the interior roads are impassable, but Iceland is almost all wild anyway and in 10 days we only scratched the surface. The place is empty,empty, empty. Many of my shots were just stopping the SUV in the middle of the road, turning off the engine, and bracing a long lens against the window frame. There was almost no traffic. We had wonderful locations like the basalt column cliffs of the Snaefells peninsula all to ourselves for hours on end. The light was much more than ample with 16 hour days and long twilights. There's also a chance of A. Borealis in April as shot by someone over the volcanic eruption. We didn't need to book ahead and it was significantly cheaper than in the summer.
Anyway lovely trip. Driving was a pleasure...I guess we did about 1400 miles.
I should add that I'm thinking to go back end April/early May 2011 to concentrate on the North West, ie Snaefells and the NW fjords. For fellow Britons it's worth realizing that it's only a 6 hour flight and drive to these spectacular locations and not much more from North America
The big takeaway is that end April/ early May is a fantastic time to visit Iceland. The only negative is that the interior roads are impassable, but Iceland is almost all wild anyway and in 10 days we only scratched the surface. The place is empty,empty, empty. Many of my shots were just stopping the SUV in the middle of the road, turning off the engine, and bracing a long lens against the window frame. There was almost no traffic. We had wonderful locations like the basalt column cliffs of the Snaefells peninsula all to ourselves for hours on end. The light was much more than ample with 16 hour days and long twilights. There's also a chance of A. Borealis in April as shot by someone over the volcanic eruption. We didn't need to book ahead and it was significantly cheaper than in the summer.
Anyway lovely trip. Driving was a pleasure...I guess we did about 1400 miles.
I should add that I'm thinking to go back end April/early May 2011 to concentrate on the North West, ie Snaefells and the NW fjords. For fellow Britons it's worth realizing that it's only a 6 hour flight and drive to these spectacular locations and not much more from North America