understand politics

the meeting was pretty neat! i went with a friend for about an hour. i know i don’t know all the issues regarding congestion pricing (nyc wants to charge drivers $8 to get into the city for the day), but i wanted to support it (for environmental reasons, mostly).

what the meeting was like: people would give their testimonies, three at a time. each person had two and a half minutes to speak (plus a little extra), and then each council member could ask 2 questions (although frequently they didn’t). all the people who spoke were pro-congestion pricing, some were even business groups. they said that their studies show that congestion costs businesses $13 billion, b/c of all the time lost in traffic.

almost all the speakers were representatives from a non-profit group. there was only one who a medical professional who discussed how much soot cars caused, and how soot damages peoples’ health.

the meeting was less solemn than i expected. there were lots of photographers, and people were stepping in & out and whispering. a lot of people were also wearing green shirts from better transit.

i still need to learn how legislation actually gets passed at the city level.

i’ve also been taking a look at nyc’s budget. it’s pretty amazing how much work the government does, even if it seems inefficient & slow. i felt a little less annoyed when i did my taxes this year. ;)

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lunchbox & i went to the east side sustainability summit. the speakers included heads of environmental organizations and environmentally-conscious business owners. there was a much larger audience than i had expected. almost everyone who asked a question after the presentation had their own agenda or activist group. getting things done in the community seems much more difficult than i thought (nevermind getting a whole country to change its policies).

also, my friend and i are applying for a grant to have a block party in the LES. reading the procedures for throwing a block party was pretty intimidating – we decided to ignore it and just try to get the grant first. i am becoming increasingly aware of how much of the government i take for granted. especially if i consider how impossible it is to resolve office politics or even choosing a restaurant for dinner among friends.

it’s a beautiful day out
& the news is so depressing

1. myanmar troops attacking civilians
2. bush sez the US is gonna ‘lead the world to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and we must do it in a way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity for their people.’ b/c what’s the point of preventing extreme destructive weather/storms/droughts etc if the economy’s not growing?
3. dubious food!
4. you’re lucky you still have water!

this is hopeless.

also, will someone explain why 3/4 arm-length winter jackets are exist? is it just so we can buy a new arm-length gloves? the shapeless short tent-dresses cause enough suffering already. why must these things happen? WHY?!

oh, but something fun, i’ve been reading feminist-y stuff & it’s great. jezebel is also great. i think it’s difficult to sustain interest in current events, and i quickly get worked up about an issue and then burn out. so far this year it’s been: nutrition, the environment, & now gender equality. some things are more connected than others. maybe i could stick to these 3, but focus on them one at a time & switch when i get bored. that sounds like the right speed…

lunchbox has been watching them. i tried to watch some with him.

the youtube/cnn debate sounded like such a great idea, everyone could get involved! but the actual thing was depressing (i only saw the part on domestic issues). instead of asking about policies, plans, solutions, most of the questions were personal. like, ‘did you send your children to public or private school?’ or, ‘who was your favorite teacher?’ i don’t understand. the personal is political must be different when you have more political power than the average person.

like i wouldn’t trust giuliani to improve the US’s environmental policies even if he carried around a ‘i am not a plastic bag’ bag everywhere with him. if he had a compost bin though… i guess that would be easier to remember than his past record on environmental issues.

the other things i learned were: obama is really really polished & convincing. & ron paul seems cool – but believes in the market too much i think. i don’t like watching the debates.

The more I learn the less I understand politics, and I don’t think I ever really will!

Hmm what gets me the most is figuring out what the parties stand for, most people say they are generally republican, liberal, or democratic…. but what are the qualities? Discussing the war in Iraq is like jumping into a pirana tank butt naked. I support it, but a political person could easily slam me down with too many worldly facts to not back up my reasonings. I found out the worse topic to bring into a political chat is religion. I have yet to register for voting at age 24 because I feel if I have no idea what I’m voting for then I shouldn’t randomly vote. (Which I feel a large majority people do just biased off of media or because the person looks attractive)

I feel shame to stay quiet when my friends start speaking about politics…I feel shame to not be aware of what is happening in this word!! I have to devote more time to learn politics. Thus:

-Every day, watch morning news (NHK, BBC) while eating my breakfast and before going to university.
-Every day, spend 30 min to read news and newspapers on Internet. I already asked advice from a friend to choose interesting websites.
-Choose one political event and write about it in my diary!

I really want to get to grips with politics as in 3 years I can vote. Especially under the UK’s new devolved political system.

wikipedia on politics

Another theory, proposed by biopolitics and based upon evolution is that politics is a macrotool created by man to organise itself for the collective survival of the group or polity. In effect, organising and promoting survival is the purpose, reason and practice of politics.

And apropos that special relationship:

The United States and Britain share the world’s largest foreign direct investment partnership. American investment in Britain reached $255.4 billion in 2002, while British direct investment in the U.S. totaled $283.3 billion.

which is from a US Department of State, Background Note on Britain quoted in the wikipedia article on Anglo-American relations