Constructive Construction

During my brief time in Chicago between LA and Shanghai roads were being reconstructed all over Chicago. It was a tremendous pain in the ass. To commute was to understand the infinite wait ahead of you. It was a Zen exercise that helped Chicago commuters appreciate the joys of completed infrastructure. I have been in Shanghai just over 2 months now. They have ripped apart and resurrected the sidewalk in front of my building 3(!!) times. When I return from the land of one man one jackhammer, I'm going to need to find a Sharper Image (who knew a struggling economy would turn its back) that sells a ratchet noise machine. Strangely this is not uncommon in Shanghai. Everything in the city is under construction. The streets are under construction. The sidewalks are under construction. The buildings are under construction (with badass bamboo scaffolding). But the odd thing is the construction is done quickly. The construction is efficient. Then the following week they rip it all up. They start over again. The World Expo is about 1 year from today. The Expo explains the construction. The Expo does not explain the repetition of construction. It feels like a Soprano's episode. In the analogy the Chinese Government is the Soprano Family. In this analogy I am every innocent bystander who is afraid to say anything or gets beaten with a lead pipe. I can't say China lacks for a commitment to strong infrastructure. I'm afraid to say they lack for insight on what to do with government directed labor forces (oops). Keep em busy, keep em happy. China may be onto something. The unemployment rate in the US is 8.5%. Perhaps it is better to keep people unnecessarily busy.

Outraged to the Point of Apathy

Has America gone through so much shit that we no longer realize when we've gone from waist to neck deep? At this point I don't blame anybody for their apathy. Its exhausting to continually invest in the melancholy that has surrounded the United States since Shrub took office in 2000. Nonetheless it bears on me as an inheritor of this country to feel that the checks and balances system is starting to feel like a rigged carnival game. I've attached two articles; if you're in a swell mood avoid them.

Glen Greenwald
Greeenwald continues to establish himself as a premier journalist in a period where they are most needed and least valued.

Robert Scheer
A former professor of mine and a STORIED journalist. For a journalist of this caliber, who has covered and experienced what he has, to be this outraged by the current occurrences does not bode well for the current entangled state of politics and financial institution.


Post Script: The country (and world) must take a sigh of relief and give itself its due credit for doing what they could with their voice by electing Barry. Without him at the helm this could and would be a bleaker picture. He has inherited a system that does not want reform nor does it look on itself as anything other than an incestual club of mirrored masturbators.

Our outrage is justified but insular. Newspapers are dying. Journalism is on the decline. People can literally consume media all day and learn nothing (my favorite website is hulu.com). But our shared responsibility is to stay involved. Be a quarter, an eighth, a hundredth as involved in everyday politics as the bullshit that comes with the presidential elections and we may have a shot of actually making politicians fear their constituencies. And isn't that what we the people want, a government that is scared shitless of we the people.