From The Guardian:

“International drug cartels have abandoned the US dollar for high denomination euros to launder millions in illegal profits, Europol has revealed.”

Apparently, it is not all about the Benjamins anymore. The cartel reasoning is solid. (International crime is probably the most rational market player.) One 500 Euro note makes a stack of Bejamins. But the fact that laundering activities are now Euro denominated should be worrying. That’s more financial activity than we’d care to admit; it’s also significant in our economy.

Then there’s the loss of faith and psychology of impending collapse to be considered. The currency of exchange is about all we have. The Chinese are still in the ballroom but the rats are heading overboard.

Nobody writes it quite like Joe Bageant, and his latest should be printed out and attached to the door of every bank, church, school desk, television screen in America…and anywhere else it will fit. Two choice paragraphs:

The saddest thing is that Americans are cultivated like mushrooms from birth to death, kept in the dark and fed horseshit. Consequently, they haven’t the slightest idea that there is an alternative to the system in which they labor at the pleasure of corporate and financial elites who own both their government and their every waking hour. That alternative is democratic Socialism. Self governance for the broadest common good. Which the Ministry of Truth has defined for them as fascism.

And:

Will Americans ever rise up in defense of their own common well being through such things as education, health and a productive peace caring society? Nope. Because it has been seen to that socialism — the administration of the nation solely for the common good and benefit of all the people without preference or privilege — doesn’t stand a chance in America. For over a century those who have attempted to further socialism have been shot, hanged, burned alive in their beds on Christmas Eve, imprisoned, falsely accused of crimes and falsely convicted, and demonized by the capitalist elites of the corporate state. The cause of socialism has effectively been wiped out in the US. Few Americans can even define the word. Most think it is a political system when it is a social philosophy. Hell, half the socialists these days think it is entirely a political system.

Go read the rest at Joe’s site

I decided that today was the first day of winter. Yesterday felt pretty chilly with the wind, and i knew that i’d be outside from beginning to end. So i put on the bibs, that timeless wardrobe of the working man. These are the northern workingman variety; Carhart duck canvas with double knees and quilted insulation. I put them on over a pair of 300 weight fleece pants…i was taking no chances. But it turned out to be a beautiful day. I don’t know what the temperature was, but the sun shone and i was moving, so i got to ditch the jacket.

The reacquaintance day with the ultimate in functional wardrobing got me to thinking. Come the endish of winter i’m going to buy a couple pairs of non-insulated bibs for working. It’s bloody nice to not deal with a belt; a cinch at the waist; or my pants wanting to slide down while my hands are full. Hurray for suspenders and fashion be damned. I’ll probably opt for bibs from The Duluth Trading Company. Gusseted crotch for the win, and firehose material rocks…it’s softer out of the box and if my firehose work jacket is any indication it’s also tougher than nails. (Duluth also treats the material for water resistance, my jacket no longer beads but it still keeps me dry.)

An interesting fringe benefit of bibs: they’re great for squatting because your shoulders end up supporting your ass. I know that squatting isn’t very popular in America; i always thought i was weird for finding the squat a practical and comfortable way of getting close to the ground, then i went to Asia and it made me feel better about myself.

First i start wearing bibs all the time, then i organize a Communist labor union. I’ve had the proper hat for a decade now, Finland Station here we come…

Beware the new blog meme about hash smoking in the Afghan National Army. Yes, i referenced it a few weeks ago, but i did so for humor and was quick to point out that U.S. soldiers got just as high a generation ago in Vietnam. And i then went on to make the point that the problem isn’t ANA guys getting high. The new, embryonic meme is that an Afghan National Army of the sort talked up by D.C. isn’t possible because, “all the men there– yes, all of them– are stoned all day, every day on the strongest hash (much of it opiated) on God’s earth.“

Wow, that’s a lot of bullshit for one sentence.

The writer makes the statement based on six months in Afghanistan in the early 1970’s, and the statement undermines the meme of the drugged — and hence ineffective — ANA.

If all Afghan men are stoned all day every day, then all the Talibs are also stoned all day every day. They appear to be able to fight fairly well, no? So as i’ve said before, the problem isn’t the hash smoking.

But let’s get something out of the way right up front. DownWithTyranny is talking about things s/he knows nothing about when s/he makes the claim about Afghanistan having the best hash in the world. I’ve never been there (which is about the same as having been there almost 40 years ago), but i’ve smoked Afghan hash in Amsterdam. It isn’t. Try Arcadia, California or any of the Dutch growers.

More importantly, i’d like to see some evidence that getting high makes someone a terrible soldier. Historically, marijuana (and even opium) are most often used by people who do hard labor and live hard lives. Chinese coolies did some of the most back breaking work this side of chattel slavery, and the majority of them were full blown opium addicts. Marijuana arrived in Jamaica with Indian contract laborers who taught the island’s former slaves how to cultivate and use cannabis; the word “ganja” comes from India. And there’s still the Vietnam example wherein plenty of guys with M-16’s smoked dope of a far higher quality than anything the hippies back home had (unless they had friends in Nam), and they managed to do a far share of killing under the influence.

I’m against the escalation too, and i don’t see the ANA being built to anything resembling what Obama or the General’s describe. But if the anti-war left is going to latch on to this “the ANA are a bunch of worthless high-ons and won’t be able to get it together because they’re worthless high-ons” argument, then the anti-war left can kiss my ass. What do i care if all Afghan men want to get high all day every day? What business of mine is that? More importantly, look at the hell their country’s been dragged through for the sake of Great Power Games. Can you blame them?

I guess that some people can, because it’s easier than putting the blame where it belongs. The grand plan of the D.C. mandarins isn’t going to fail because Afghans get high; it’s going to fail because it’s a stupid plan.

Fuck, why is it always the brown people’s fault? And why do old hippies feel compelled to pretend that they still know what they’re talking about?

Local food is all the rage. I place it higher on the scale of importance than organic, which is an easily fudged word. For those with big yards in developments on former farm land (meaning few mature trees), there’s no excuse for not producing as much food at home as possible. Local farmers are not only an excellent source of food, but supporting them keeps money in the community. The biggest hurdle for local food remains producing food in an urban environment. Projects like Growing Power are amazing and deserve close attention from urban revitalization programs in places like Detroit. But that still leaves urban centers that are actually populated without many solutions. Whenever i’m in a big city, i can’t help imagining all the flat roofs covered by poly hoop houses containing hydroponic greens and lightweight potting soil fruiting vegetables. That requires capital investment, etc that may not be available to the people who would benefit most — financially and in terms of health.

So when i stumbled across the video after the jump on Corrente i couldn’t help but exclaim, “Neato!”

There is nothing particularly new about the idea being employed. Gardener’s Supply has been selling similar units for wall mounting houseplants for at least a few years. Some people in the underground gardening community have also employed similar systems. And a friend of mine did a vertical gardening project locally last year.

Nonetheless, look at the difference between the bare cinder block wall of before and the verdant wall after. That is a huge number of plants in a very small space that would be otherwise unusable; furthermore, the vertical nature means that only a few square feet of actual land is needed.

I, of course, have some questions. It’s going to be a hot spot and the cells are quite small. There’s no way that the system would work without automated irrigation, or constant attending. The incredibly close spacing is efficient, but could promote disease when the plants are full-size as air circulation would appear to be problematic. The website notes that pesticides are not used, and that’s great. On the other hand, the close spacing is apt to promote pest infestations that will not appear to the untrained eye until it’s too late for even pesticides. I’m also curious about the fertilizer regimen, because there is no way that those small cells can hold enough nutrient rich soil to see complex, fruiting plants like tomatoes from transplant to harvest.

Chances are…at least hopefully…that all of this has been worked out by the designers. And so long as it has, well, hot damn that’s a lot of food from very little space. The concept is simple, and with the drain catch could be run as a recirculating system.

You can read more at Urban Farming , and if you click on the video there are more on the You Tube page to view.

The system may be patented, but it looks simple enough to fabricate…so my mind is turning over concrete walls in the area that i might be able to play with once the snow that finally arrived yesterday makes its exit come spring.

hat tip to Corrente

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