June 28, 2005

Temperature-59.6 C -75.3 F
Windchill-83.1 C -117.6 F
Wind 14.5 kts Grid 36
Barometer 689.9 mb (10257 ft)
Lunch: Deli Day
Dinner: I don't know yet

For about a week now I have been thinking about what I might write as my latest blog entry. I thought I might write something about mid winter and all the celebrations that surround the coming of the mid point of our incarceration. I also thought about writing about our recent decision to tour Southeast Asia by bicycle but then something fell into my lap that I could not let pass without comment.
Recently a friend of mine had her assets frozen under the guise of the “Patriot Act”. She is not a terrorist and she would never do anything to hurt our country, in fact she loves our country but like so many of us is bothered by the culture of “fear” that surrounds us and manipulates us daily. The government froze her assets because she travels and the justice department feared she was laundering money for foreign terrorists. They have not charged her with any crime, they did not question her, they just decided she was suspicious and thought they would freeze her bank accounts and make her prove her innocence instead of proving her guilt. This past week she made countless trips to her bank, filling out forms, and providing all the information they requested. She asked the bank what organization is receiving the information and they would not tell her, they just sent the stuff off to some black hole for processing. Meanwhile here money is frozen, she cannot pay bills and has no idea when she will have cash flow again.
I sometimes wonder what Thomas Jefferson might think about the “Patriot Act”. Would he approve of the increased government powers, such as search and seizers without probable cause and holding people without charging them? I suspect he would not approve because many of the provisions allowed in the act were reasons we wanted to free ourselves from the British before the revolutionary war.
I have written my congressman and my senators about my personal opposition to the act and because I live in a Bush state, I usually get some letter that says we need the “Partiot Act” to protect us from the terrorists, but I wonder who will protect me from the government? Increasingly I am coming to terms that the current regime does not represent me and the interests of a growing number of Americans and I wonder how we will get our voice again. Then it occurred to me that Bush provided the answer in the first days after 911. He said that Americans ought to go out and buy something to show their support for America in the name of patriotism. I thought what if a group of people were to stop buying things and instead made due with what they have until the government starts listening to somebody other than the neoconservatives, evangelical Christians and big business. What if I were to write a letter to my Congressman and Senators saying I have _____ dollars of disposable income every month and I will not spend any of it until I see legislation concerning the repeal of the Patriot Act, reduced green house emissions and an energy policy that includes renewable energy. I suspect one letter they would ignore but if they received a thousand they might think again. If a large sector of the consumer economy decided it did not want to consume the stock prices in many of the rich portfolios would drop and they would loose money. Then much of republican base would begin to see job losses and a loss of wealth and I suspect their support for the president would wane. The congressman and senators with thousands of letters indicating why the economy is tanking would start departing from the Presidents agenda and start thinking about the people and I bet we would see legislation addressing our concerns.
How many people does it take to make a difference in consumer spending. Generally, economists want GDP to grow around 4% a year any thing below is considered a recession and anything greater the country faces inflationary problems. I am not an economists but I suspect if 10% of the people who voted for John Kerry were to stop all non-discretionary spending it would be enough to see some changes. If 50% of the people who voted for Kerry were to participate the government would need to respond quickly in order prevent a depression. The important aspect is we must let the government know why the economy is hurting and give them targets to meet before the consumer strike will end.
I like my freedom and the fact that I can write my ideas in a blog without the fear of the KGB showing up at my door and throwing me in a gulag for my political views. But even writing this today I feel fear because I am afraid that what I am writing will appear on some super computer at the NSA and I will be placed on some watch list. Fear is something I do not want to feel and if I have to go without a new Ipod, house, car and/or fashion to free myself of that feeling then so be it. I like feeling empowered and my strike does that, I know what I am going to do, what goal the government must meet and when my strike will end. Now all I need is to write my letter.

“Dear Senator,
I am a concerned American and during the republican tenure in the House of Representatives, The Senate and the Presidency, I have seen many changes that I believe are not for the better. When the President assumed control of the White House we were at peace, the country had a budget surplus and terrorism was not the focus of our daily lives. Since then I have seen my personal freedoms reduced, the budget surplus evaporate and the republicans undo legislation that protects my air and water. I have written you and your colleagues on many occasions regarding my concerns and the typical response is a long-winded “so”. In an effort to display my protest to the current direction of our country, I am going on a “spending strike” until a change of direction is noticed and legislated by the government. I will not participate in any non-discretionary spending on items that are not essential until I see legislation returning my civil liberties, reduced green house emissions and an energy policy that includes significant funding for renewable energy.
Sincerely
Just another American"

June 12, 2005

Temperature-63.9 C -83.0 FWindchill-83.2 C -117.7 F Wind 8.1 kts Grid 66Barometer 681.4 mb (10575 ft)
Lunch: None
Dinner: Tofu Quiche
Where did Sunday go? Last night I went to bed thinking that I was going to have trouble going sleep and five minutes later I was out until 11:00 AM the next morning. I never sleep like this but here I could sleep away every day.
The crisis of the past week did not quite blow over but things are returning to normal. The cooks are back at their best and turning out some pretty good food. Eric moved from lunch to breakfast and he is again making his creative fair. He really hates it here because he has so little to work with. He is constantly making fun of the corporate pukes who order only three types of vegetables and other limited fair. In spite of the lack of materials he does a really good job making new and interesting fair. The other cooks could back to their jobs and Denny’s but Eric is something special and it is pleasure having him here.
Last night I went to kiwi Jon’s masquerade birthday party and had a pretty good time. The masquerade party was pretty lame but a parallel party occurring in the berthing hallway was a blast. The big topic of conversation was about one citizen who has been seen washing his organ in the mens restroom lavatory. We are all pretty grossed out because we all have to brush our teeth at the same sink but how does one tell this fellow to shower instead of washing his junk for all of us to see.
I will write more this coming week, so keep reading.

June 4, 2005

Temperature-68.3 C -90.9 F
Windchill-90.8 C -131.5 F
Wind 10.2 kts Grid 72
Barometer 669.8 mb (11015 ft)
Breakfast: Granola
Dinner: Pasta with pesto.
33 people died in Iraq yesterday.
Tough week! The head cook decided to cut meal service from breakfast, lunch and dinner on the last day of the work week to a brunch served at lunch time. She felt her crew was working to many hours and the abbreviated meals would help them work the same hours as the rest of the station. Problem is the station "community" had already assumed many of the duties the galley staff were responsible for in past seasons and it was difficult for the population to understand why they are working so much harder than past galley staffs. Furthermore, her and the station manager decided to make the changes to the meals without consulting the other operations managers but past it up to Big "R" for approval. Wednesday night they sent out an email stating the changes to the supervisors and this is where the trouble started. Thursday morning my supervisor invited the cook to our safety meeting and she brought HR and the Station Manager with. She started out her sales pitch with "I hope you all will support us through these changes and I welcome your comments." Several people raised their hands and presented their comments and questions and she became defensive and said something that sounded like "this has already been approved by corporate and you are all going to have to deal with it" which we latter found out was a lie. Her and her hench men abruptly left the meeting and we were all left wondering how we are all going to work from breakfast until lunch on just cold cereal. I have found I burn more calories here than at home and a morning breakfast of cold cereal just doesn’t cut it. Most of the morning the crews were not very productive because they were all discussing the changes and the general consensus was that three meals a day was part of our employment agreement and we were getting screwed. Morning break came and my supervisor decided to have another meeting among the group to formulate a plan of action. We decided that we could live without dinner (crappy pizza) if they would make breakfast and lunch. Meanwhile the heavy shop mechanics were really upset by the changes and were discussing striking until the meals were restored. The station was in turmoil and I was becoming scarred that if the current course of things were to continue it was going to be a long 4 months before the first planes arrived.
My wife and several coworkers were putting a talking points paper together that addressed our work centers concerns and our proposal when the station manager walked in on them. He was very defensive and said he would send out an email and my wife became upset because she felt enough had been handled behind closed doors and sending out some email would not address the communities concerns and insisted he have an all hands meeting where a representative from our operations center would present our proposal. He indicated he would not have an all hands meeting and my wife and her coworkers said "fine we will call an all hands meeting and we will discuss without you!" Things were pretty tense and I was thankful that I was on the fray but then my work center decided that I should represent them in this meeting. Reading through the talking points paper it became clear to me that if I read all these points in the meeting things would degenerate quickly and the meeting would not be productive and would polarize the community further. I spent the afternoon in knots trying to think how I was going to mix in some humor and try to sell this thing without crucifying the galley staff. Meanwhile the station manger had the same concerns and fortunately had been doing some thinking of his own. He called an all hands meeting where he apologized to the community for not including them in the decision and he will be calling a meeting with the all the station supervisors in hopes they could arrive at a consensus. Friday evening they had their meeting and surprisingly the outcome was exactly the same as our proposal. The station is still reeling from all the polarization that occurred and I suspect there will be some hard feelings for some time. This whole thing reminds me of something I once heard about moral in the military "Don’t fuck with the food.".