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"Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but, disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort." Marshall Mcluhan

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Member for

2 years 38 weeks

Blog Posts

Lite Beer and the Segmentation of America

by cmaukonen 6/11/2012 - 2:42 pm

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• 19 comments
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Remembering Nixon

by cmaukonen 6/9/2012 - 11:35 pm

Bernstein and Woodward have a very good retrospective of Nixon and Watergate in the Washington Post. For most here - those much younger than I - the whole era is but a small chapter in history. However I believe it is good to reflect on how close the country came to not only a constitutional crisis but a total break down in our democratic form of government. [Read more]

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• 10 comments
• 347 reads

Economy on a precipice

by cmaukonen 6/8/2012 - 11:27 pm

We've all seem them. The iconic scenes of the train wreck or car wreck with the cars hanging off a cliff. Nobody dares move else they cause the whole thing to plummet into the abyss below.

This is where the economy stands today according to Dr. Paul Craig Roberts in his current analysis. [Read more]

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• 7 comments
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On The French Revolution and why we keep on fighting the same battles....

by cmaukonen 5/13/2012 - 8:02 pm

And by the same battles I am referring to the same or similar complaints that the revolutionaries in France had during this time period. The source of most of this diary comes from a site dedicated to the French revolution by George Mason University and my general interest - as well as the main topic of this diary - is the social and economic conditions that lead up to it and what came out of it. [Read more]

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• 4 comments
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Government explained...well almost.

by cmaukonen 5/5/2012 - 5:37 pm

If you are not totally confused by this little animation........

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• 2 comments
• 129 reads

Why Obama Won’t Help Foreclosure Victims

by cmaukonen 5/4/2012 - 9:33 am

Probably the best analysis I have seen so far and what I suspected all along. From BAR.

The problem begins at the top. Obama has consistently protected bankers’ rights to deal with homeowners as they please.  [Read more]

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• 5 comments
• 142 reads

100 Years ago - The Titanic and Wireless

by cmaukonen 4/14/2012 - 8:14 pm

Olympic Radio Room

There has already been a lot written about the most famous sinking of a passenger ship. That of the Titanic. But not much has been done concerning the role of the new medium wireless. Only the biggest of passenger liners carried the new Marconi equipment and there were few rules governing it’s use at that time. Nearly all of the wireless operators had come from land line telegraphy service and the mode of course was Morse Code. But not exactly the same as in land based wired circuits but a slightly modified variant. [Read more]

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• 10 comments
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Warm March and little snow and rain = Early and Intense Fire Season

by cmaukonen 4/13/2012 - 9:38 am

And according to this report from MSNBC 25 - yes 25 - East Coast States are on Red Flag warning for wild fires.

Twenty-five states, all east of the Rockies, posted their warmest January-March periods on record, and many Northeastern states have had their driest starts ever.

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Vive la Différence!

by cmaukonen 3/31/2012 - 10:03 pm

Brussels Belgium - Flickr

Most people in this country try are totally ignorant of how people outside of it live.  In fact according to this piece from a 2006 Denver Post, “Only about 23 percent of Americans own a passport, and only 10 percent of those actually leave the country.” That’s not very many and I am sure the figure now is much lower. It also does not even specify the destinations. This was not always the case. When the dollar was higher, there was significantly more travel and in the 1950s and 1960s when there was still a military draft, a lager number of service men and service women would be stationed in Germany or France of Greece or some other NATO country for their length in the military. [Read more]

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• 9 comments
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America's (not so) liberal past. A brief history lesson.

by cmaukonen 3/29/2012 - 9:35 pm

With all the talk of how the political right seems to be heading off a cliff and equated to fascists, I thought I would do a little reminiscing of how wonderful life was here during my childhood in the 1950s.

Lets start with the women first.

For the most part women were stay at home moms. Most had finished high school but few went to college. Those that did could look forward to exciting careers of teaching, nursing, secretarial work etc. College was for finding a husband, after all.  And women all wore dresses. [Read more]

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