Hmm, I may have emerged from this discussion with a bit of egg on my face. I am now interested in joining the BBATPA, providing of course that on any clandestine mission protecting inalienable civil liberties, my disguise be a chicken costume.

Signed:
Petit Poulet

It's hard to wage the war from inside the concentration camp that you were placed in while you were really busy not protesting the erosion of civil rights. History is full of examples of civilizations that allowed themselves to be enslaved because they were to 'dignified' to fight it.

Agree, but I argue this particular example doesn't even constitute an erosion. There may very well be a modern-day equivalent to "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", but I hardly think you'll find it concealed in the reactions of an underpaid L.A. metro worker.

And I will lose no sleep worrying about whether Americans consider dignity before a good fight.

Signed:
Déclaration des droits de Petit Poulet

You know, I find this all a bit annoying... Maybe if the photographer tried being polite, giving the badged fellow the benefit of the doubt, and vice versa, then this sort of blown-out-of-proportion shite would never get a post.

I mean, seriously, if you think that this constitutes of a violation of civil liberties, do you have any idea what really could go down? We generally live in a free society - look at all the posts here with images of the L.A. subway (the real issue is where it doesn't go, not what it bloody looks like)... So some ignorant security guard is taking his/her job a bit too seriously - does that really amount to some egregious affront to your rights as a photographer?

It will take a bit more to convince me we live in the benighted states of america, at least when it comes to this front. Some seem awfully giddy for any excuse to confront an "authority" figure; honestly it all seems a bit juvenile to me.

This instance isn't even worthy of a battle; wait for the war.

Signed:
Chicken Little
(now eviscerate away)

Good artists copy, great artists steal.

My sister and her husband lived off the grid for many years; their electricity was provided by a little Pelton Wheel on a creek in the Trinity Alps. I recall affectionately purchasing them a chrome-plated alternator for a wedding gift... I found it an incredibly romantic, sentimental gesture on my part. Anyhow, not everything "off the grid" is solar powered.

Without singling out the Southwest, water conservation in desert regions would be aided by abandoning the antiquated (and steampunky - sorry couldn't resist) notion of a lawn in favor of indigenous plants. Beautiful succulents, natural grasses... A little rock garden... Doesn't require a drop of imported water. Only potential drawback may be if your child falls off his/her bike and into a prickly pear.

That would leave only the minor issues of swimming pools in every back yard, long showers, using a gushing water hose as a rake substitute, and... oh never mind. I'm going to go stew and watch Chinatown a few times.

"For a few dollars a pound, she scrounged a salvage yard for a sack of gears that she is using to replace the knobs on her bedside tables"

THAT's my only problem with Steampunk: functionless gears!!! Please, please, please: gears were meant to do something - anything!

As an aesthetic statement the poor gear has been gnashed into brass bits by some cruel steam-driven Victorian hammer thing, made in San Francisco to boot!

This is coming from someone whose favorite film of all time is "City of Lost Children"... I'm with you, really I am, just stop it already with the gears as knobs/lapels/buttons/flowers etc.

Signed:
"He who smells of rotting apples, must be Polomoche"
aka Gear Advocate

What's wrong with gin?

"The point I am trying to make vis Marxism is that action taken against the state of things out of a conscious sense of historical position /is itself/ the outcome of the process of history."

Yes, I suppose you're right. It does get a little tricky there. Except that the revolutionary change is driven not by the causal factors endemic to the problem of capital itself (playing out of surplus value, etc.) but rather by the "historically conscious" revolutionaries. But then again, these revolutionaries didn't arise out of the ether and the problems aren't imaginary...

I don't know the answers. But intuitively I look at these sort of intellectual revolutionaries a bit like the overzealous scientist or the overconfident top-down theorist: don't meddle! Sometimes the best of intentions can have the worst results.

"[unless i misread you, as well, we share a disdain for the group]"

Oh yes, we do indeed.

"But the struggles of the early part of the century in the US did achieve an awful lot, and were a reflection of working people's keenly felt common interest. The idea is that the quantitative changes effected [higher wages, fewer hours, better conditions] would compound into a qualitative change at the level of ownership of production."

Absolutely agree with you. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle comes to mind.

"And speaking of: how can a meritocracy exist in a system of private ownership? You can have the most democratic government in the world, if all that democracy does is privilege those who own over those who work, it still sucks. I would [and in fact, do] argue that meritocracy can only exist in a system in which a worker is entitled to the product of his or her labour, which is not the case in capitalism. When someone is in a position to sell the product of their labour, rather than forced to sell their labour for the benefit of their boss, then it can be said that the system rewards merit, rather then social status. Yes? No?"

You're right, it does still suck. Still I believe in the core principles of democracy.

But the big issue I have with Marx is not the analysis of the problem - spot on, more or less - but rather the Utopian solution. Beware the promise of a Golden Age, a dream, with populations so large and resources dwindling.

What happened in France, America, Russia (speaking here of Kerensky), and elsewhere - the notion of republic, of inalienable human rights, a severing from the Old World, from social stratification, from suffering and oppression - what remarkable hope, life, promise, wonder! One certainly worth fighting and dying for.

And here we are, a few hundred years removed from one of the most radical and promising social experiments of human history, and we see some very troubling signs: social stratification, corruption, a total disregard for the greater good, in short, a return to the very values we fought so hard to eradicate. It is troubling...

Anyhow, interesting discussion... Of all places, at the end of a WU thread!!!

Scottfree, regarding getting things straight:

"The Bolsheviks were against the Duma; Alexander III's abdication was the reason for Lenin's return from Switzerland in 1917."

Nicholas II abdicated. Alexander III was his father. I was speaking of Lenin's older brother's foiled bombing attempt on Alexander III, for which he was hung, which happened years before 1917!

"The Mensheviks were behind the first Russian revolution."

Um, the first Russian revolution was a largely spontaneous march on the Tauride Palace stemming from police violence/revolt in the Petrograd bread lines and the mutiny of certain regiments in the army. Kerensky endorsed a Constituent Assembly and Provisional Government. The Mensheviks, Bolsheviks, and a hell of a lot of other parties all had a voice in the Soviet. Nicholas II abdicated on a train in Pskov because of a vote of no confidence from his generals on the front. Anyhow the Mensheviks were most certainly behind the first revolution, that's ridiculous.

"Also Bolshevik revolution was arguably the work of the German secret service, who were working to undermine the Russians during the war."

All the German's did was send Lenin back to Russia on a sealed train. Certainly they were interested in undermining the regime, but their influence on the matter is wildly overstated (particularly considering that Alexandra was a German Princess and despite the protestations of the German ambassador, was shot. Wait he was shot too. Too say nothing of Nicky and Willy, cousins) I'd say the whole thing came back and bit the Germans in the ass, to put it mildly. Lenin used them for his own devices; the Germans did the same.

"At any rate, the tactics employed were hardly original, and can be seen throughout the 19th century, a time when it seemed the revolutionary fire only needed a spark."

Precisely my point. Alexander Ulyanov was typical of the assassination/bombing attempts of the 19th century. Alexander II was killed similarly.

"And I don't think nepotism, of which there remains a fair share, is the problem, so much as privatised ownership of the means of production is the problem. People forget that."

I'm not a Marxist. I actually don't have a huge problem with privatized ownership. I do find nepotism dangerous. I like a meritocracy, and I worry that America is leaning more and more towards nepotism worship. Instead of royalty, the families are prominent capitalists. Hilton comes to mind.

"And you misunderstand Marxism, in my opinion. Since all of history has been a conflict between those who work and those who own, it is inevitable that from time to time the conflict manifests in violence, usually resulting in some quantitative change, eg: the reason people in the US don't have to work sixteen hours a day is because good people fought, bled and died for that right...and because some poor kid in Malaysia will do it cheaper. In Marxism, the rising up is an expression of common cause, throuh which class consciousness is achieved, and theoretically, there is no force on Earth to stand against that."

Marx, borrowing from Hegel, believed that socialism was an historical inevitability - a necessary outcome to the progression and collapse of capitalist priciples. I was addressing a belief among certain Marxists at the time that asserted a "revolutionary blueprint" was necessary to help along the process. This is a well-argued contradiction: why help along an inevitable process? And there are many today who would argue speeding up the process unnaturally was precisely what undermined the Bolsheviks, who had made an absolute mess of Russia long before Stalin.

I stand corrected on my run-on sentence.

But really, don't get into Russian History with me... Not a good idea.

Signed:
TURGENEV

The WU was following a very tired formula that originated in Czarist Russia and migrated to the U.S. with the Anarchist/Comintern movement in the 20's, all stemming from the most regrettable and contradictory component of Marxist ideology: namely, that an historical inevitability should be "sped up" by revolutionary action via a violent overthrow of the bourgeois. Wow that was quite a run-on sentence!

In any case you merely need to substitute the Cheka for the FBI, Lenin's older brother for this idiot (probably not an entirely fair comparison for the elder Lenin), Alexander III for the President, and Monarchy for Representative Democracy. Wait a minute! Representative Democracy and the divine right of kings don't mix! We killed off nepotism long ago! We... Oh dear. All right I admit there are subtle, arguably critical differences.

Anyhow these radicals of the 70's were in truth rather dull in their methodology. Emma Goldman was much more interesting. If you have no idea what I'm talking about and are remotely interested, try the sci-fi book (i'm serious, it is sci-fi) The Iron Heel by none other than Jack London.

The city/county falls on the side of the brick-and-mortar restaurants (also small, individually-owned, hard-working businesses) for the simple reason that they pay sales tax to the city (the mobile truck is a bit more elusive in this regard). Tia's Tamale's in East L.A. argues that the taco truck takes their business by parking nearby and staying there; they probably have a point. If there is some manner of developing civil rules benefiting both interests, I'm for it, thought the fine seems prohibitively high.

On the other hand, if the objections of legitimate small businesses are in truth a ruse for developers to further gentrify the area, ridding it of "undesirable elements", etc., then both the developers and county officials in bed with them should be arrested, removed from their positions, and sentenced to lifelong chauffeur positions for said trucks. Police escort provided by county for each hourly move. Occasional parade.

Precisely because I am so fascinated by Steampunk is also why I find painting some cheap antique a cheery brass color and gluing a gear on it to be a little annoying.

If you are an artist stay true to your craft, your passions, and either be thick-skinned or insulate yourself from the outside world. The surface of this "genre", if you will, has hardly been scratched; let us hope it survives the swift and brutal appetite of mainstream taste.

I've seen them here in Newport Beach; a few years ago a couple hundred washed up on the shore.

May be a small clue to lead a more active life.

Can't wait to get it - thanks for the recommendation

Really cool - love it

"Steampunk-looking?"

I feel as if the very compelling "Steampunk" genre/aesthetic is being beaten to a pulp.

The primary problem with contemporary literary fiction plagues contemporary science fiction as well: abysmal writing!

If you want to read a book that tackles "profound philosophical questions" relevant to our present and future, start with "Fathers and Sons" by Turgenev.

Then work your way backwards.

As I watched this I immediately recognized the melody of the little fella's song: Pompton Turnpike , covered by Louis Jordan in the 40's, written earlier by Charlie Barnet. Just swap out the "sunshine" lyrics with:

Pompton,
Turnpike,
Ride your bike or if you like just hitchhike,
Come to
Pompton
Turnpike

Random, but true...