GLORY DAYS

Caption: Venus, a Latin scholar, says "Sic transit gloria mundi."

El Cabrero is on another ancient Greece jag this week. If this is your first visit, please click on yesterday's post.

While I am officially in favor of world peace at all times and places, one of the more inspiring stories I know from ancient history is that of the diverse Greek city states that were the cradle of science, philosophy, tragedy, and (admittedly limited) democracy uniting to fend off the vast Persian invasions.

The first was in 490 BC when the forces of Darius were defeated by the Athenians at the battle of Marathon. A much larger force invaded ten years later under Xerxes. A small force of 300 Spartans under Leonidas and a few thousand of their allies held off the invaders for three days at Thermopylae before being defeated.

Athens was burned, although the population was mostly evacuated. An oracle from Apollo at Delphi told them that they would be safe behind wooden walls, which turned out to be the walls of their ships. The Greek navies defeated the Persian fleet at the battle of Salamis shortly thereafter. The following year, combined Greek armies again defeated the invading force at Plataea.

In the wake of the victory came a period of great creativity. Athens was rebuilt on a much grander scale. This period saw the full flowering of Greek philosophy and art.

It would have been nice to think that the Greek city states would form some kind of federation which would have enabled their culture to flourish for centuries...but that didn't happen.

One should never underestimate the human capacity for self destruction.

Fifty years after the defeat of the Persian invasion, two of the principle Greek cities, Athens and Sparta, with allies in tow, would begin a fratricidal war that would rage off and on for 27 miserable years and would include imperialism, arrogance (hubris), massacres and mass enslavements, plague, an early concentration camp, civil and class warfare, etc. The war wiped out Athens as a major political power in Greece and permanently damaged the Hellenic world.

It's a (literally) classical example of how easily things can spiral out of control. One would hope it's not too late to learn that lesson.

HOW WOULD YOU SPEND IT? We don't know how much wealth the Greeks blew on the Peloponnesian War, but according to Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and his colleague Linda Bilmes, the Iraq war in its first four years has (or will) cost the U.S. $720 million per day. According to the American Friends Service Committee

For that price, the United States could have provided: 34,904 Four-Year Scholarships for University Students; 1,153,846 Children with Free School Lunches; 6,482 Families with Homes and 163,525 People with Healthcare.

The AFSC has set up a new blog called How Would You Spend It?. You are cordially invited to log in and have your say.

UTAH MINING TRAGEDY. Here's an article from the Washington Post on the Utah mine disaster. Another tragedy is that the reforms passed in the wake of the Sago disaster had been fully implemented, it would at least have been possible to communicate with any survivors.

INCOMES DOWN FOR MOST AMERICANS. From the NY Times

Americans earned a smaller average income in 2005 than in 2000, the fifth consecutive year that they had to make ends meet with less money than at the peak of the last economic expansion, new government data shows.

While incomes have been on the rise since 2002, the average income in 2005 was $55,238, still nearly 1 percent less than the $55,714 in 2000, after adjusting for inflation, analysis of new tax statistics show...

Total income listed on tax returns grew every year after World War II, with a single one-year exception, until 2001, making the five-year period of lower average incomes and four years of lower total incomes a new experience for the majority of Americans born since 1945.

Thanks, guys! If you want more evidence of the Bush (mis)administration's class war from above, check out this story on their heroic war...against health care for America's children.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

A DOG'S LIFE

Caption: The new ruling class? They might be better than the old one...

According to Business Week, around 63% of U.S. households, or 71 million homes, own least one pet, a number that has climbed from 64 million five years ago.

And they're not just for kids anymore. In fact, a lot of pets get more money spent on them than a lot of children:

There are now $430 indoor potties, $30-an-ounce perfume, and $225 trench coats aimed solely at four-footed consumers and their wallet-toting companions. Even those who shun animal couture are increasingly willing to spend thousands on drugs for depression or anxiety in pets, as well as psychotherapy, high-tech cancer surgery, cosmetic procedures, and end-of-life care. About 77% of dogs and 52% of cats have been medicated in the past year, according to APPMA, an increase of about 20 percentage points from 1996.

And speaking of dogs,

It wasn't so very long ago that the phrase "a dog's life" meant sleeping outside, enduring the elements, living with aches, and sitting by the dinner table, waiting for a few scraps to land on the floor. Today's dog has it much better. APPMA reports that 42% of dogs now sleep in the same bed as their owners, up from 34% in 1998. Their menu reflects every fad in human food—from locally sourced organic meat and vegan snacks to gourmet meals bolstered by, say, glucosamine to ward off stiff joints. Half of all dog owners say they consider their pet's comfort when buying a car, and almost a third buy gifts for their dogs' birthdays...

A STEP ON THE HIGH ROAD. El Cabrero has ranted a lot about a high road vs. low road approach to economic development for WV. Here's a story about a step on the high road from the Charleston Daily Mail:

Gov. Joe Manchin wants all West Virginians have access to fast Internet service by 2010, and Verizon West Virginia is hustling to remain a major player.

Manchin, Verizon West Virginia President Stan Cavendish and Sen. Jay Rockefeller were to be in Danville today to announce two initiatives aimed at delivering broadband services to rural West Virginians.

Cavendish was to announce that under an agreement with Verizon, a nonprofit organization, Connected Nation Inc., will produce detailed county-by-county maps of the state's broadband availability and service gaps.

The maps will be used to help develop plans to expand broadband. In addition, Verizon has pledged to speed up its efforts to make it available to more rural areas.

STRESSING THE TROOPS. This is no shock, but here's an item from The Observer UK about how stress and combat fatigue are wearing down U.S. military personnel in Iraq.

COUNTING THE COST. Yesterday El Cabrero and amigos held a press conference about the rising cost, human and otherwise, of the unnecessary war in Iraq. Here's the coverage from the Charleston Gazette.

SPEAKING OF GOAT ROPES, the big news in the capitol city of El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virgnia has been an agonizingly close vote on table games. I live out of the county and have no perros in that fight (other than my desire to tease certain friends about it). The election was held August 11 and initial results showed the measure passing by just over 30 votes. But more and more uncounted or over-counted or challenged ballots keep showing up. For a blow by blow summary, check out the masterful blog of all WV news, Lincoln Walks at Midnight. Nobody knows when we'll know.

Full disclosure: El Cabrero does not gamble if you don't count driving, eating, and generally buying things but I have nothing against those who do. However, a bet on how this will turn out might be interesting...

THOSE LOVABLE COAL OPERATORS. This is a few days old, but here's a profile from WV Public Radio of Bob Murray, CEO of the Utah coal mine where six men have been trapped for over a week. As you can see, he's no big fan of MSHA, safety regulations and advocates, or the United Mine Workers union.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

PLACID AND SELF CONTAIN'D?

Caption: Does Venus look placid to you?

First, I'd like to apologize about the irregular posts last week. These were due to a combination of a phone/internet crash at Goat Rope Farm followed by a week on the road. El Cabrero can usually get around one or the other but both at the same time are a problem.

Now we're back to the regular schedule of six days per week (more if something really bad or really good happens). Thanks for your patience.

This week, El Cabrero is thinking about animals and the roles they play in our lives (aside from consumption). How do they fit in yours?

Walt Whitman had somewhat exalted ideas about our animal friends:

I think I could turn and live with animals, they're so placid and self contain'd,
I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the earth.

It is obvious from this passage that Walt was a city boy and idealized critters. While it is true that they spend relatively little time on theological and other reflections (as far as we can tell), they are anything but placid and self contain'd.

UNLEASHING INEQUALITY. Here's an op-ed from Sunday's Gazette by Ross Eisenbrey on the proposals offered by the recent book Unleashing Capitalism, which has garnered quite a fan club among the WV's right wing media. He particularly takes issue with the idea that wages automatically increase with productivity. Would that it were so...

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE DARK. The agonizing wait for news about the trapped miners in Utah continues. Here's a good item by Ken Ward about the dangerous practice of mining the pillars that hold up earlier excavations.

On a related subject, the CEO of the company, Robert Murray, is long known as a foe of new safety regulations, the United Mine Workers union, and environmentalists. Here's an item about his opposition to post-Sago reforms.

On yet another related front, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship has filed suit against the WV Democratic Party for allegedly defaming his character during the 2006 campaigns when he spent several million dollars of his own money in an unsuccessful bid to change the composition of the state legislature.

I don't know where to start with that one. Except maybe this comment: where's tort reform when you really need it?

U.S. LIFE EXPECTANCY FALLS BEHIND. This is from the AP:

Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries.

For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles.

Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

TWO MOUNTAIN STATES

El Cabrero apologizes once again for irregular postings. I’ve been hit by several weeks of phone/internet problems at home followed by connection issues on the road in Vermont. Goat Rope will run when possible over the next few days and will resume its regular 6 day schedule (Verizon willing) on Monday.

Thanks also for all the messages and emails about the triathlon. Let me know if you hear of any good deals on new hamstring muscles. I'm in the market for one...

COMPARE AND CONTRAST. Every time I travel to Vermont, I’m struck by the similarities and differences between that state and West Virginia. Both states are rural and mountainous, but Vermont had the good fortune not to have been dominated for over 100 years by a colonial economy based on mineral extraction.

As a result (aside from summer and winter people), Vermont is pretty much owned and controlled by Vermonters. And Vermont really is "open for business," especially for locally owned small businesses and farms. It's pretty much sprawl-free too.

To borrow from Tolkien, whenever I come here, I feel like I'm visiting the Shire, home of happy hobbits. West Virginia feels more like an embattled outpost threatened by one Dark Lord or another. But we have managed to win a few.

UTAH. My thoughts this week have been focused on the trapped miners and their families in Utah. That's an all-too-familiar story. The AP reports that safety reforms enacted in the wake of the Sago disaster were too late in coming to have helped in that situation.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED