by gregoryheller | Oct 30, 2005 | Uncategorized
<p><img src="http://static.flickr.com/24/57327956_ddf827b771.jpg" width="500" /><br /> I am a bit disenchanted about the NYC mayoral race. Not the matchup I had hoped for, to be honest. But when the Ferrer Campaign called me up on Thursday asking if I could get Mega Bloombucks to come to a press conference about Mike Bloomberg's rediculous campaign spending, I couldn't resist.</p> <p>So this morning I went down to City Hall, and in front of many cameras and reporters, lampooned our billionaire mayor with lines like:<br /> <i>"My money will depate my oponent's anytime and anywhere, and it'll win, just watch the ads on tv!"</i></p> <p><i>"I have spent more money than even GeorgeBush, $5 million, on voter and consumer data! I know more about the people of NY than anyone else. Nick, which one of you is Nick from the New York Times? Ah yes, you wear briefs!"</i></p> <p><i>"Could I have spent this money keeping libraries open? Yes. Could I have given it to cultural institutions? Yes. Could I have kept fire houses open with a small fraction of it? of course! Will i continue asking myself rhetorical questions? If I want to!"</i></p> <p><i>"Sure I could have just given every man, woman and child in the city $8, or a $20 bill to each registered voter, but instead I have paid consultants and web developers, and data vendors and media outlets."</i><br /> <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/41204230@N00/tags/bloombucks/" target="_blank">See more pictures here</a></p> <p>I will post other media coverage of the event as it comes in in the <a href="/news">News...
by gregoryheller | Oct 28, 2005 | Uncategorized
<p>[lk:http://www.nysun.com/article/22254|This article] by Andrew Wolf in the NY Sun raises a good point abou the reults of the mayoral election:<br /> <cite>If Mr. Bloomberg wins the Bronx and scores well among Latino voters citywide, the biggest loser will be Mr. Ferrer's political Rasputin, Roberto Ramirez, the former Bronx Democratic leader. Mr. Ramirez has become a millionaire promising candidates success in winning votes from the Latino community.</cite></p> <p>Could Ferrer's crushing defeat (in all 5 boroughs) by Mike Bloomberg on Nov. 8th bring the end of the Mirram Groups political consulting operation? I mean if the firm can't deliver the Bronx with their home town candidate (who they have worked with through many elections) then when can they win the Bronx? or any other Borough?</p> <p>Watch this blog for an analysis of how the consulting companies faired in the election (coming after the...
by gregoryheller | Oct 23, 2005 | Uncategorized
<p>I also just finished reading [l:http://bookswelike.net/isbn/1576753018|Confessions of an Economic Hit Man] by John Perkins. I am not 100% sure what to think about the book. It is at times, enlightening, at others it seems like it is way oversimplifying the situation in the world around us. It feels like creative non finction, or a fictionalized account history, and that seems to cheapen the message of the book overall.</p> <p>Basically, Perkins worked for a professional services firm called MAIN that prepared studies and infrastructure plans, etc, in developing nations. He claims that it was his job to invlate the prospects of these nations so as to enslave them and their citizens with insurmountable debt, all the while degrading the environment and damaging local people, leaders, and destabilizing governments.</p> <p>It all seems completely plausible. I am just not sure if you need to read the length of the book to understand the extent of this "conspiracy". DOn't get me wrong, it is good. But I don't think the people who need to read it are reading it. Who needs to read it? not me. I already get it. The rest of America needs to read it. But I fear many would assume it is some kind of fiction, while they think the celestine prophesy and davinci code are reality.</p> <p>This paragraph struck me, and I happened to have my camera, so i snapped a picture of it:<br /> <a href="http://static.flickr.com/27/55361901_e370bd5e0c.jpg"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/27/55361901_e370bd5e0c.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /> I too often wonder if people think of such things at...
by gregoryheller | Oct 23, 2005 | Uncategorized
<p>I just finished reading [lk:vonnegut.com|Kurt Vonnegurt's] [l:http://bookswelike.net/isbn/158322713X|Man Without A Country]. At about 140 pages it was a quick read. I knocked it off in the last week. I did not know whether to laugh or to cry at times. They say "With age comes privilege" well, Vonnegut doesn't pull any punches here, he calls it like he sees it.<br /> <cite><br /> Evolution can go to hell as far as I am concerned. What a mistake we are. We have mortally wounded this sweet life-supporting planet–with a century of transportation whoopee. Our government is conducting a war against drugs, is it? Lets get them to go after petroleum. Talk about a destructive high! You put some of this stuff in your car and you can go a hundred miles an hour, run over the nieghbors dog, and tear the atmosphere to smithereens.<br /> </cite></p> <p>Vonnegut repeatedly goes after the corporatocracy that is running the show here in the US, and specivical after Bush and co.</p> <p>God bless him. (see page...
by gregoryheller | Oct 22, 2005 | Uncategorized
<p>I just returned from my trip to Amsterdam. The trip was primarily for [lk:civicactions.com|CivicActions] to have what we called an “off-site†which is kind of funny because we don't have a “site†so our 4 days spent on Amstelstraat would have better been described as an “on-siteâ€Â. We engaged in the typical retreat exercises: trust falls, obstacle course and smores. Actually we did none of those. We did produce an amazing array of “wall charts†and other assorted notes. We met with [l:http://www.greenpeace.org/international/|Greenpeace International] (twice) and hung out with [lk:drupal.org|Drupal] developers from around the globe as well as a bunch of guys from [l:http://www.bryght.com|Bryght].</p> <p>More on all of that in separate blog entries. Among the things that amazed me about Amsterdam was the overriding sense of egalitarianism. I was constantly surprised and pleased by how even the society seems. All manner of people ride their bikes and walk everywhere. Women carry their children (sometimes as many as 3!) in bins mounted to the front of special bicycles! There were hardly any big ostentatious cars or suvs. The curbs were low. This might seems like something trivial, but it broke down the barrier between street and sidewalk and pedestrians and bicyclists as well as scooterists flowed naturally between the two domains. There was a constant dance between the different forms of traffic and it all seemed to work just swimmingly.</p> <p>The public transit, from the train to the city to the trams that criss cross the city was clean and quiet and efficient! Airport to Centraal station in under 20 minutes! The scale of the city was very human, from...
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