Subsidies for Left Handed Briefs, It's Not Just a Good Idea, It's the Law

One more item to add to things that are right-handed – men’s briefs – what do you mean  by them being right handed? – It means that it is easy for a right-handed wearer of briefs (as opposed to boxes which have neutral handiness) to urinate but a left-hander has to make a complicated ‘z’ maneuver (two 180º turns) to extract his penis. For the right hander – its straight in – straight out and wiggle it about. I started long ago lowering the waist ban and going over the top, but I had never stopped to wonder why they had made it so complicated – as scissors were made to be uncomfortable (thumb in the little hole and finger in the big hole – and with the blades reversed so the cut raggedly) and coffee mugs where the sipper looked at the logo. Left handers learn to adapt – its what makes them rebels, non-conformists and artists. I only discovered this handiness of brief when reading an article about a British firm manufacturing left handed one – what do you mean left handed briefs – that’s just weird

The law represents the sovereign continuity of the past over the present controversy – Ivan Illich – Tools of Conviviality, 1973 p95

And then there was the item about Obama requesting the G-20 to look at eliminating national subsidies for fossil fuel – good idea I though, but how much is fossil fuel subsidized – well it turned out that in the US alone it amounts to about $100 billion dollars a year – but this is just a guess, for no one collectss these types of statistics. For statistics to be gathered it must be in someone’s interest. You would think that in a democracy that it would be in the national interest to have open government – but apparently not. So organizations that disapprove of subsidies for fossil fuels (the greens) try to piece together some idea and in the end in comes down to guessing (tax dollars redistributed to oil companies is just the tip of the ice-berg – the largest form of subsidy is in the form of tax deferrals). After some research I found the following rough estimates: housing - $100b; agriculture - $100 billion; highway transportation - $100 billion – It would seem that  $100 billion is the threshold of unacceptability – stay below it and you stay off the radar. One substantiated figure was the $1 billion dollars that retails outlets keep of the sales taxes they have collected (26 states put no limit on what a store could keep of the sales taxes that it collected – a fee for the cost of collecting that  tax) and the total of uncollected sales taxes from those 26 states alone was $1b per year. A single big-box – Wal-Mart – alone has managed to garner $1b in development subsidies and deferred taxes (the total for all of  retail must must be staggering - the average new Wal-Mart store reviews $6m in subsidies). What about health-care or airlines or fisheries or hunnting – no one has any idea. It all makes that slogan “Tax and Spend” which is waived at Democrats seem very beguine compared to “Don’t Ask and Don’t Tell" of hidden subsidies. And does all this spending – let’s say a $1,000,000,000,000 (ONE TRILLION) a year – accomplish anything its state objectives – the overwhelming evidence is no. Maybe Obama should not rock the boat. Maybe I should stop reading the news.

Taxing what we want less of (resource depletion and pollution) and ceasing to tax what we want more of (income) would seem reasonable – Herman E Daly – Economics in a Full World (Scientific American Sept 2005) p108

“It’s funny how times have changed”, says Walter. “There was a time when I didn’t want anything but a donut. Now you couldn’t pay me to eat one.”

Walter has another idea, “What if they had a restaurant that served frozen dinners for people who wanted frozen diners but did not want to eat alone” He had just discovered Swanson’s Hungary Man Roast Beef and Potatoes. During his recent illness, he had said, it had been the only thing that he had been able to eat and he had had to eat alone. I suspected there was probably some connection between his recent illness and his new business proposition.

“What if you could bring your own TV diner and they would heat it up for you. You bring your favorite frozen entry to the restaurant of choice, they heat it up and serve it you. For a fee of course.” “Something like a corkage fee”, I suggested. Walter says, “A foliage fee” - “Hungry Man ready”. “What about home delivery of TV diners - ‘Foil to go’ or ‘TV diners on wheels’”, I interjected.

Walter says that they could heat it on the radiator – “another product for ‘Soup or Shuttle’” And what is ‘Soup or Shuttle’ you ask? Another of Walter’s schemes. He says that the Supershuttle that picks you up and takes you to the airport could put soup in the radiators of their vans. When they picked you up, especially early on a cold winter day, wouldn’t it be nice if they could offer you a hot bowl of soup? A little tap at the front of the van would make your day.

Discourse is a matter of developing a way of putting things - a vocabulary, a rhetoric, a pattern of argument - Clifford Greetz – Work and Lives: the anthropologists as author, 1997

Later I will turn and ask Linda “If I read Walter a Walter story would he appreciate it? She replied “Oh, I think so. I think he enjoys being the center of attention.” “Regardless of the nature of the attention” I ask her. “Well there are limits” she replied.

Narratological issues - how best to get an honest story, honestly told - Clifford Greetz – Work and Lives: the anthropologists as author, 1997

A system is comprised of actors who derive benefits from the systematization of an activity. Criminals are not part of the criminal justice system.

Its 9:37AM and the red voice mail light on my phone is blinking. I have been farting around writing in this notebook. Time to get to work

I was held in cages of time which seemed infinite and which I believed never would pass – Stephen Spender – World Within World, 1994 p31

At 2:48 – I recorded a voice mail extended absence message.
At 2:52 – I updated my E-mail bounce back message updated.
At 3:55 – I was Back at the Royal Ground

How to sound like a pilgrim and a cartographer all at the same time - Clifford Greetz – Work and Lives: the anthropologists as author, 1997

From the banks of the Mississippi to the banks of the James, I did not (that I remember) see, except in one or two towns, a thermometer, nor a book by Shakespeare, nor a pianoforte or sheet of music; not the light of a carcel or other good center table or reading-lamp, nor an engraving or copy of any kind of a work of art of the slightest merit. I am not talking of what are commonly called “poor whites”; a large majority of all these houses were the residences of shareholders, a considerable proportion cotton-planters – Fredrick Law Olmsted – The Cotton Kingdom, 1861 p520