I guess we’ll know if things are really bad when we start raising chickens for meat and eggs. Do other people out there also see little bits of the economy falling apart? What’s happening out there?

Because even if this GOP group is getting dinged for putting it out publicly, it means there’s a whole ecosystem of low-life Americans gleefully generating this stuff and passing it around, winking and flashing their hate signs just below the radar.

We ought to thank the group who put this up, they’re holding a mirror up to exactly where we are, and where we still aren’t.

(got this from Andrew Sullivan’s blog. I’m a junkie for him, at the moment.)

I like how Republicans deal with dissent. All or nothing. And if you respectfully disagree… WALK THE PLANK!

via Andew Sullivan.

The actual ad in the game is a reminder that early voting has started. Not message oriented at all. Mobilization oriented to a demographic he has been cultivating.

“I also would also pray, Lord, that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god–whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah–that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons.”

Cuz, you know, only evil heathens vote Obama.

Thanks for widening the circle of intolerance, there. Christian McCain against the world– and a good chunk of Americans, too. Nice.

A. The banking industry is in free fall and the problem is spreading.

B. There’s methane bubbling out of the Arctic.

To me, the really interesting thing about this period in history is the amount of uncertainty over what story lines will dominate our lives, moving forward. Both of the topics are obviously important, but only one of them is grabbing massive headlines.

In science fiction, it’s convenient to extrapolate based on a small number of factors – say increasing computing power and network effects, or in my case, something like intense drought. As you add more variables, it becomes harder to construct a coherent future, and it’s harder to deliver a focused experience with meaningful take-aways for your reader.

But the current set of events is a pretty interesting window into how randomized our future can actually be. The banking crisis is happening now, and so we’re already trying to construct storylines about what this means, everything from the next Great Depression, to the rise of China as financial hub. But these storylines either heark back to past (and probably outdated) metaphors to explain the present, or depend on the idea that there are no other variables in play. Even with just two variables, you can have a lot of interesting outcomes.

Which brings me to the methane bubbling away up in the Arctic. Right now, we’re under the impression that the banks are the story. That’s what those huge type-face headlines tell us. But maybe the real story is that climate change legislation is being put off yet again thanks to the banking crisis, or that the bailout may drain our coffers to the extent that we have no appetite to go after a comprehensive energy plan, regardless of who gets elected in November. Maybe, in a hundred years everyone will look back on the moment when our last window of opportunity closed for addressing climate change, and yeah, the banks were important, but only because they ensured that we missed the real storyline.

Serious question, Paolo: Do you think authors blogging about their views on the election can undercut their fiction?

It is very difficult to experience the fiction of Orson Scott Card or John Scalzi the same way after reading their political posts. Catherynne Valente is a brilliant writer, and I am trying so hard to forget the rant on her blog where she fervently wished that a falling tree would crush John McCain’s skull.

No political commentary I have ever read has caused me to question my worldview as much as reading “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula LeGuin. But I wonder if that story would have lost some of its effectiveness if I had read it alongside a blogpost by LeGuin listing reasons to vote for Jimmy Carter.

I posted my own answer here, but I’m wondering what other people’s perspective is on this?

I have a feeling this will just keep going drip drip drip with the American Chemistry Council blustering about how all the studies are flawed and finally, in about ten years, everyone will say, yeah, we really should have banned this stuff a long time ago. Until then? Drip drip drip, with consumer deselection as the only route of protest. Nalgene is producing BPA-free bottles now.

And here’s a link describing BPA, its history, and the ongoing scientific and regulatory warfare:
http://www.defendingscience.org/case_studies/Battles-Over-Bisphenol-A.cfm

-Paolo

“My country, right or wrong’ is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying ‘My mother, drunk or sober.”
— GK Chesterton