Downton Abbey...and Ultrarunning

Since the bride was away cavorting in the Caribbean, it was only last night that we watched the season finale of Downton Abbey.

I am an unapologetic fan--I LOVE this show!  The essential issues that this family faces are the same real issues that can face any one of us, yet the extreme wealth and connections of the extended Grantham family offer solutions that are not available to the masses.  As with the 1% today, the Granthams are far removed from the day-to-day struggle for existence that occupies the rest of the world.  Thus one of the pressing problems of this episode dealt with some real or imagined embarrassment that would befall some royal.  See, even a whiff of a scandal is devastating.

As Echidne put it in a recent post:

The way politics is financed in the US, combined with the increasing inequalities in income and wealth, means that democracy is at risk.

And the larger the wealth differences between the rich and the rest, the more will the political goals of the two groups diverge.  Whose goals will be taken care of when money comes from the top one percent of the one percent?  

One article argues that the current US wealth and income inequalities match those of the 1920s UK, portrayed, in its extreme form,  in the 'Downton Abbey' television series.   It's the Lord Granthams of this world who are funding the US elections, and it's their concerns and goals which will weigh the most.  Even very nice Lord Granthams will not have the same worries and concerns in life as Daisy, the kitchen maid.

And the link to Ultrarunning is simply this tenuous one: this endeavor has yielded countless riches to me.  The day I stumbled into the joys of endurance running has proven to be of immeasurable wealth. 

Pardon Me, Your End of the Lifeboat is Sinking

Found recently at The Rude Pundit, my guilty pleasure reading blog:

David Simon, creator of The Wire and other stuff, gave a speech last month at the Sydney, Australia, Festival of Dangerous Ideas. In it, he attacks the actions of American capitalists.

The problem with income inequality in this country isn't capitalism - Simon says he's all for it - but how much rich Americans are such dickholes about acquiring ludicrous amounts of wealth. That dickishness is causing the nation to rot at its core.

"A horror show," Simon calls it.  "The idea that the market will solve such things as environmental concerns, as our racial divides, as our class distinctions, our problems with educating and incorporating one generation of workers into the economy after the other when that economy is changing; the idea that the market is going to heed all of the human concerns and still maximise profit is juvenile. It's a juvenile notion and it's still being argued in my country passionately and we're going down the tubes.  And it terrifies me because I'm astonished at how comfortable we are in absolving ourselves of what is basically a moral choice. Are we all in this together or are we all not?"

This point is one that I literally lose sleep over, as I ponder the futures of my kids and grandkids.  The free market, left alone, will basically practice unfettered extraction philosophy until whatever resource is consumed.  Then--given the previous rabbit-in-the-hat miracles of technology--the successor extraction candidate will be consumed, because so far there's always been a technological fix.  And so on.

Except that the planet has pretty much reached its carrying capacity, and man-made climate change is teetering on the edge of irreversibility.  While the capitalists wring their hands about how we can't afford to fix it, our lifeboat is coming ever closer to quietly slipping beneath the waves.

To make you feel even better, from a quick post over at Rising Hegemon:

"The coldest years now are warmer than the hottest years before 1998." Those are the words of World Meteorological Organization secretary-general Michel Jarraud at the presentation of their latest report.

The WMO report says that, looking at the data from January to September, 2013 will be the seventh warmest year in recorded climate history.

         But fortunately we've got just the people you want to handle this kind of problem.

Over 56 percent — 131 members — of the current Republican caucus in the House of Representatives deny the basic tenets of climate science. 65 percent (30 members) of the Senate Republican caucus also deny climate change. What this means is that they have made public statements indicating that they question or reject that climate change is real, is happening, and is caused by human consumption of fossil fuels.

 

The Parable of the Talents...and Politics

I don't usually blog about the Bible and religion unless it is to point out hypocrisy, which I eagerly and gleefully love to rip into.

See, I believe that one's faith or absence thereof is a personal issue, unless somebody trots it out first and cloaks themselves in the mantle of sanctimony.  Then it's fair game.

Anyway, I think I've figured it out: the real reason why conservatives (like those who are vying for the Republican presidential nomination) are so very staunchly in favor of tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy.

For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. (Matthew 25:29, Revised Standard Version)

See, it's Biblical.  Thus unerring, infallible, etc.  Not only do the rich get more as their just due, this verse also addresses the flip side of screwing the poor as well, in one neat little package.  Oh, and lest you think this verse is taken out of context, it's the capstone summary sentence to the famous parable of the talents, which is all about...creating and protecting wealth.

But Gary, you may say, what about helping the poor?  See, Jesus also said these things: 

Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'" (Matthew 19:21)

"Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys."  (Luke 12:33)

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'" (Luke 18:22)

But not to worry.  Since the Bible says both things, you can practice situational ethics and select the verse(s) that you wish to adhere to.   Invoking the first verse gives plausible deniability against those liberals who would point to the last three verses about helping the needy and downtrodden.

Actually, conservatives don't overtly invoke the first verse--that'd be a bit too crass, to speak of it aloud.  They just act on it like it's the Prime Directive in Star Trek.