Trashing some of my old art, and wanting to post some pictures here :). I had a fantastic art teacher at Fayetteville high school, I learned a lot.

Is the USA a democracy if your vote influences your “elected” leaders less than the money they receive from special interest?

At what point and by what metric marks that inflection? Is this a new type of democracy where votes are not per person but per dollar? Dollarocracy?

This is something I’ve been thinking on a lot lately, and wondering what a tipping point would mean for the country. The vast majority of people are totally disillusioned with politics, and it all seems to come back to the huge amount of money involved in the process. In the old days different political machines would buy votes and walk people to polls, how different is that then the modern practice of spending billions of dollars in secret super pacs that do media buys with 30 second of false information on both sides? Doesn’t seem like much of a difference.

I’ve gotten a lot of help and gifts of opportunity in my life, from family, friends, and random people I’ve met along the way. I love Kiva because it is a way to help others with a goal they are working towards, and it lets you see a face behind the bundle of loans.

Who have I loaned too?

I joined in September 2007, and since that time I have done 481 loans. Over time you get your money back so the number of loans you do just goes up and up. Just make sure to give money each year to them too to keep this running.

The country I’ve loaned to the most is Iraq at 13.3%, because I am trying to rebuild that country after we partially broke it for the second time. In second place is Pakistan, because I think people there are awesome, and need more opportunity. Ditto for a lot of the countries in my top 20.

Click the images to zoom in :)

Some other cool stats:

67% of my loans are to females, 33% to males.
I’ve loaned to 56 of 84 countries Kiva operates in.

If you are interested in trying out Kiva just click here, it is only $25 dollars to do your first loan!

I was shocked and saddened to learn that Jon Stewart is going to be leaving the Daily Show later this year :(. Here is his video sharing the news.

I’ve been watching the Daily Show for a long time, and over the last 12+ years Jon Stewart and the show have rebuilt my faith in the political process. I won’t go into too many details as it is unimportant, but I was really into politics when I was younger, and I wanted to work in government. That feeling turned into disgust and disbelief as I learned more and watched what has occurred over the years. Over time Jon Stewart helped me to better understand our system, and served as a hero, someone who shed a spotlight on the big problems, abuse, hypocrisy, and corruption. Jon Stewart consistently stands up for the little guy, and he calls out big money and those with undue influence. We need that, and we need that on a national scale. It is a sad state of our current media that he is the best news show on TV when he is also on the comedy channel.

When I try to explain to people in other countries who Jon Stewart & The Daily Show are I explain that he is a saint, and probably the most important person in our country for exposing the corrupt parts of the political process. We don’t really have a working media IMO, he is the sole bastion of what the media should be doing and investigating.

I am hopeful that he is leaving a new generation behind who have a similar purpose and comedic style, specifically Colbert and John Oliver. I am hopeful they will find someone to continue his very important work.

This is a very sad day :(

Check out this great article on a lesson a teach used to show the class what privilege looks like (and the facts around social mobility). Might be a good lesson to run through with all your white friends who watch fox news and don’t seem to understand how many barriers are removed from their path at birth. Here is another good article to read too.

I love this, I watch it a lot :)

I had an “awesome” birthday week, and hopefully Rose is as well :). Since I had to work so much the first 3 weeks I was in Croatia I took 3 days off to see more of the country and do some touristy type trips. I got rid of as much stuff as possible after Australia so I only have my old iphone 4s for pictures. And thus, the quality of photis is not great.

Sunday, a friend & business associate invited me to join his family and friends on a huge ship off the island of Vis for 2 days. It was a fantastic trip filled with a lot of great Croatian wine, absolutely amazing food, and good company. I was particularly proud that I slept on a boat, and that I didn’t end up puking everywhere given some bad seasickness experiences I had as a kid :). The water around the island is crystal clear, and I swam all over along with a little bit of snorkeling. I’m hoping to come back in a year and bring my flippers and snorkel gear to do more.

After waking up we headed to the Blue Cave. You might think the below photo is faked but it is 100% like this when you enter, incredibly surreal experience. You expect mermaids to start jumping out of the water at any moment.

Later that day we did an amazing tour of a few military bases on the island of Vis. I highly recommend the Alternatura tour/guide as his english was great and he explained everything + knew the history of the island. I love military history and climbing through old tunnels and abandoned gun turrets is like a dream come true. Plus I got to go in a submarine base which has been a dream ever since watching indiana jones :). Best tour ever, and hopefully in a few years I can go explore some of the old Russian bases that have been abandoned too. A few pictures too…

And then I woke up really early on Tuesday to drive up to Bosnia and see Mostar and a lot of other stops along the way. The group on the trip were fun and we had some nice 10am grappa shots + a cold swim to end the day at Kravice.

And on Wednesday Dubrovnik, I think I found a few places they filmed Game of Thrones too. When I left split they were just about to start filming there and screening for extras for season 4!

And on Thursday I flew & trained to Freiburg Germany where I’ll be for a month. It is near the black forest with an amazing trail system and I should be getting a bike to use next week :)

Nice to see even our shitty Congress unanimously say NO to some group of assholes trying to destroy the very fabric of the internet and free speech online. Along with the EU, Canada, Aussies, etc etc.

The 27 EU member states also voted unanimously, joining the U.S. to fight the ITU’s WCIT-12 plans as a unified bloc. The E.U. is backed in its stance by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and other countries who are also members of the ITU.

Nice!

“We need to send a strong message to the world that the Internet has thrived under a decentralized, bottom-up, multi-stakeholder governance model.”

Holy shit a Republican said that? I know it makes your mind want to explode because it’s logical and not some nonsense about the social fabric of this country disintegrating. Quick nobody tell them about all the porn and abortion online :)

Find out in this great article by Michael Lewes entitled Obama’s Way. Honestly it’s amazing anyone wants to do that job.

A while back President Obama was giving a speech somewhere and stumbled while delivery of line and said:

“If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

The “that” in that line was the roads and bridges, but when delivered sounded like he was referring to the business. IE, you didn’t build that business. Republicans have used this in ads and as a theme. This is very similar to something Elizabeth Warren said a while back too:

“I think the basic notion is right. Nobody got rich on their own. Nobody. People worked hard, they build a business, God bless, but they moved their goods on roads the rest of us helped build, they hired employees the rest of us helped educate, they plugged into a power grid the rest of us helped build,”

So why does this annoy the hell out of me?

Because it’s true! The United States is the greatest business platform in the world right now. And I’m lucky enough to be able to launch my business on that platform.

The USA is like the app platform you use with your smart phone. Apple/Google provide the hardware infrastructure that delivers your product to consumers. The USA provides the road, power, and other infrastructure that make commerce possible. Apple/Google provide the software that runs those apps and the standards that enable a good playing field. The USA provides the standards through the FDA, Health Department, FBI, etc to provide a good playing field to business. Apple/Google take ~30% to cover that infrastructure, and so does the USA (less actually).

I totally understand and love the independent vibe, its part of what makes us Americans. That raw wild freedom that is our hero story, the American who goes west, who rides off into the dark wilderness to tame, build, and master. Who creates something out of nothing. I personally have an incredible addiction to this image, it is a struggle for me to find and develop a community because I so value being highly independent.

BUT… It’s simply not true. The modern global world is one that is built on everyone’s strengths and is interwoven beyond everyone’s comprehension.

I’m a business owner and entrepreneur.
I work my ass off to create and built my business.
But, I didn’t build this all by myself.

PS.
Each year I pay taxes and invest in the American system. I’m not happy with a lot of the regulations on small businesses, and a lot of the licenses that states create, but it is idiotic to imply you are building this on your own. I’m embarrassed for Republicans, the Republican party used to have good ideas, I used to like parts of their platform, just like I only like part of the Democratic platform. But in the last 10 years the Republican party has jumped into the crazy pool. This really sucks because there is no real debate on a macro level any longer. And I find that worrisome as there are some really important macro problems that need to be solved. But the choice in most national elections now is to vote for crazy idiots who don’t say anything but soundbites, or the Democrats who are floundering because they have no one to debate real ideas with. Eeek.

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History is one of my favorite podcasts and if you are a history nut I highly recommend it. Even if you are not this is super approachable material and he makes everything really interesting. The last two have been on Genghis Kahn and contrasting how brutal he was yet how when historians view it they tend to gloss over or apologize for the mass genocides. And he actively wonders if this is going to happen in 200 years when we look at WW2 and Hitler’s evil.

I’ve listened to everyone of them and highly recommend it. And the best part is it’s free! Just take a look at the episodes!

Wow check out this great post on gun control by Jason Alexanders. He makes some great points and I hope people listen and a constructive dialogue emerges. Which is unlikely :)

Having 14 people die at a movie theater sucks. Personally I’m torn on the issue. On one hand I like the cowboy violent psycho culture of the USA, I think it’s a big part of America’s culture and why we excel and fail at so many other aspects of our society. The notion that a citizen has rights to weaponry to defend themselves from a tyrannical government is pretty awesome. Sure it’s stupid right now, but in 50 or 100 years it might not be (highly unlikely but we (Americans) are also super bad at math/risk analysis).

But I can’t help to wonder that maybe it is time to take a step back. We loose so many people each year to gun violence and we are loosing the future those people could build. What if one of them cured cancer? Went into politics and changes the course of history? Was an amazing teacher that impacted hundreds of people? Started a new business? I’m just not sure the loss is worth it on society.

Maybe in order to own guns you have to attend a class every 6 months to be evaluated mentally. Or you have to be part of a “militia” that has similar requirements and seems to be what the constitution was more aimed at (who knows though what they meant?). What can we do to prevent 75% of the current gun fatalities?

Maybe it is time to scale things back and limit it to single shot bolt action hunting rifles only. Our national guard and army are made up of citizens, do we really think they would somehow rise up against us? Do we really think that at some point the fabric of what it is to be an American will so disintegrate that the individuals making up the military would turn on their own people? Not impossible but it seems so unlikely.

Holy Pollution! Santiago Chile is a mess, went for a run for what is my 2nd day here and I had to stare at my feet as I ran because you can see the smog just looking down the road a mere 15 feet. The only place I’ve ever seen this bad was Cairo Egypt. The city is surrounded by snow capped moutains and I can barely see them over the dirty smog covered film, it’s gross.

Back in 2008, experts measured the airborne particulates in the city at 444 micrograms/cubic meter while the normal should not go beyond 50. Santiago is also unfortunate to have high ground-level ozone based on WHO studies.

From this link.

Guess I’m going to have to find a gym to run in for the month of May while I’m here.

They have a pretty good running path although surrounded by 6 lane traffic. Better than most cities but still sucks, the pollution is out of control. Hopefully they can pull a Bangkok and fix pollution as quickly as possible.

Flying from the humid coastal jungles of Panama to the high altitude and cold of Cuso Peru was a bit of a shock for my system. Cusco is located at ~11,500 feet altitude and there are 40% fewer oxygen molecules per breathe. So for the first few days I didn’t do much beyond slowly walk around the city, drink copious amounts of water and coco tea, and wonder what the hell ancient people were thinking when they decided to live here. Seriously!!! I like jogging up the stairs or jumping around, but not when it feels like my heart is going to explode and I can’t talk because I’m so winded. Did you know this is the continent’s oldest continuously inhabited city? Maybe it was just super defensible because half the attacking army coming up from the valleys would die during the march or not be able to swing a sword or throw a spear due to lack of oxygen. I can’t believe the Spanish were able to conquer this place.

Rose and Steve made it into town last week and we went up to the ruins above Cusco (Sacsayhuaman), we didn’t go in as the tourist tickets are way too expensive (we didn’t have enough cash). Peru is gouging the crap out of people. It was $28 USD just to go in plus it included 3 other places that you might go too, or you pay ~$60 bucks for a ticket to a lot of places. But the shitty thing is it is only good for 2 or 10 days, and some places you can’t even buy a solo ticket if you wanted too.

Yesterday we did a big trip to Pisac to go to the market and do a big hike above the city. Most of the pictures are of the amazing ruins there. It was a pretty tough climb but worth it. Once again the ticket was ridiculous and they wouldn’t take our slightly old student cards. In Peru you are only a student if you are under 25… We ended up bribing the guard $28 USD to let the 3 of us in, instead of the listed price of $28 USD each…

Things not to do when you are living at ~12,000 feet:

1. Get your hair buzzed, then wear a visor with no top. It results in a bad sun burn on the top of your head despite thick hair.
2. Move quickly, your heart/lungs might explode.
3. Hangovers are 100x worse, don’t get one.
4. Try to play any type of instrument involving air. Peruvian kids trying to sell flutes at the top of mountains need to move their marketing to the bottom of the mountain. Or carry mini oxygen cans around.

Things to do when you are living at ~12,000 feet:

1. Drink, my drinking efficiency is equal to a small asian woman. I have a couple Pisco Sours and I can’t walk straight, it’s fantastic.
2. Eat lots of carbs, it helps with the altitude so I’m eating my weight in bread daily.
3. Eat fruit and veggies. I’ve had the best avocados, mangos, and oranges I’ve ever had in my life. They beat hawaii, florida, thailand, egypt, etc. Plus they are huge!

I’m taking Spanish lessons too which have actually gone pretty well. I’m terrible at languages but so far I seem to be picking up a few things here and there. For example I can recognize that everyone keeps saying I’m tall (alto!).

What else?
– I haven’t been able to run yet because of altitude/cold, but that is probably good as there are a ton of dogs around. Looking forward to sea level!
– Peruvians are super nice and chill. This is a huge tourist town but they are not too pushy and pretty respectful. Really digging it.
– Internet is a bit slow, I can do voice and all my work but sometimes voice isn’t perfect. And it went down once late at night for a few hours, as well as my backup 3g connection. At which point I went into shock.

I think that it for now!

The NY Times released this awesome tool that allows you to go through and apply different items that will help to fix the budget and shortfall for 2015 and 2030. Check out the tool here but be warned it is super addictive!

Here are my my choices! And a couple notes:

1. Farm subsidies, Joel made a convincing argument on these, and I left them only because i want the subsidies moved towards promoting better eating. So away from corn…

2. Reduce the federal work force, this one I’m a tad split on and left it unchecked. I think we need to lower it but do it smartly. There are some offices that need more resources and some that do not. Personal need to go towards areas such as education, energy policy, SEC and bank monitoring and investigation, and other protective areas. I did however cut the 250k in government contractors.

3. On military I reduced our nuke and space spending, duh. I feel strongly we should keep troops in Asia and Europe and really push that up, its good for the country and for our ability to project force abroad. Which is also why I didn’t vote for reducing the navy and air force fleet as they enable us to do that. I cut some of the terrible programs like the osprey, we need to drop the cold war race against our self. And not cutting veterans benefits as that seems insulting. And I voted to reduce the troops to 60k by 2015, I’d love to do 30k but I don’t think that is as feasible.

4. With health care I voted to cap medicare growth as I’ve read some on that and it makes sense, and to enact medical malpractice reform. I also wanted to vote to reduce tax breaks on employer provided health insurance, but this should be done once we have a base government provided health care or at least something that you buy yourself. Then the added extra insurance through your employer should be taxed.

5. Social security… I voted to reduce social security to those with high incomes and use an alternative measure for inflation. I’m not huge on increasing the retirement age just yet.

6. Existing taxes. This is a big one for me and I would vote for the most moderate one by Lincoln, the Obama one is good too as its the same as Bushes. Investment taxes, we need to go with Obama’s proposal. And on the bush tax cuts I want to allow expiration of taxes for incomes above 250,000 a year. And allow the payroll tax for those above 106k a year.

7. New taxes… The millionaire tax needs to happen. In terms of overhaul I’m very for the Bowles Simpson plan, we need to bring corporate tax rates down while cutting loopholes and other tax deductions. Plus reducing mortgage deductoins for high income households.

This puts me at 43% savings from tax increases and 57% from spending cuts… It puts me around 42 billion over the 2015 shortfall and it puts me 185 billion in surplus over the 2030 shortfall.

Now, I am very interested in a national VAT tax of 5%… I like consumption taxes as right now Americans just consume consume consume and this might break that a bit and bring in much needed money we could focus on doubling teacher saleries and redoing our energy grid…

So here are my results to view.