Please, if you haven’t already checked out this short-but-amazingly comprehensive look at the way we extract resources, form them into products, market them, consume them and then throw them away, watch this incredible video, called simply “The Story of Stuff”. Here is the introduction teaser, with much more at the website. Help spread the word far and wide - this is basic stuff that we should all know!

Never ask me why I’m a vegetarian again.

This article says it all.

We need to change, people. Put the meat down and slowly back away from the plate.

For the simple version, just enter the Meatrix.

I think it’s my annual tradition to write something introspective and searching about the state of politics 6 years after you know what. But I’m pretty sick of it all, so I’ll just post a link to the following documentary film, which you should have a look at, even though it’s a conspiracy theory and anyway it’s irrelevant because the war hawk neocons got away with their dastardly deeds for another attempt at world domination anyway, and we still haven’t done shit to stop it. I guess when that mortgage bubble pops and oil prices continue to rise we’ll finally have to do something, right? Whatevs, just give this a look if you have a free 90 minutes.

One Day in Iraq
= 720 Million Dollars
= 423,529 Children with Healthcare
= 34,904 Four-Year Scholarships for University Students
= 1,153,846 Children with Free School lunches
= 84 New Elementary Schools
= 95,364 Head Start Places for Children
= 6,482 Familes With Homes
= 1,274,335 Homes with Renewable Electricity
= 12,478 Elementary School Teachers
= 163,525 People with health Care

How would you spend it?

Just in time for the next edition of the Budapest Bardroom, here is the soon-to-be-infamous theory of local art-historian and long-term expat Dzseff: that the cookie monster is really a . . . . just, kidding, you’ll have to watch the video to find out!

Here’s a link to a text version of the presentation, with footnotes, sources, and more information. Stay tuned for part two, being revealed tomorrow at the Bardroom, and hopefully online soon for the world to see and be shocked!

I’ve totally fallen behind in blogging, but this one got the blood boiling (thanks Matt!) and it needs to be shared. Please watch the videos at the link below and share your thoughts. Is it all over for America?

Bill Moyers: Tough Talk on Impeachment 

It’s not often that the average person gets a glimpse of an alternate reality, one in which up is clearly down and war is clearly peace. This story is just such a glimpse, one in which a journalist for the Independent goes on a cruise with neo-cons, courtesy of the National Review. I highly recommend it, if simply for the laugh-out-loud bizarreness.

A sample:

“The civilised countries should invade all the oil-owning places in the Middle East and run them properly. We won’t take the money ourselves, but we’ll manage it so the money isn’t going to terrorists.”

via BoingBoing

When is organic not organic? Well, when it’s loaded with non-organic ingredients! The USDA has just passed a law making it possible for major agribusiness and other corporate interests to use a bunch of gross non-organic ingredients in products that will carry the “certified organic” label. WTF, you might ask. Well, we might not be able to do anything about it, and basically just chalk up another win for profit over people, but you can sign a petition. Hey, I’m doing it from all the way over here in Hungary!

Meanwhile, don’t buy Budweiser if it isn’t the kind you get in the Czech Republic! As if you did anyway.

Oh yes they did. The American Air Force is the most advanced in the world. To reflect this, they’ve changed their well-known slogan of “Bomb ‘em back to the stone age” with something a little more 21st-century:

“Bomb ‘em into stoned gays.”

What’s next, a rainbow-colored arms race?

As Earth Day is coming up on Sunday, there have been a lot of articles written lately, not least of which in Budapest Fuzine, that discuss the effect of climate change and what we can do to slow it, adapt to it, and profit from it. I was passed a recent issue of Time Magazine with the morosely simplistic cover story “Global Warming Survival Guide: 51 Things You Can do to Make a Difference”, accompanied by one of those sinfully cute emperor penguins. I wouldn’t mind having one stuffed in the same pose on my bedside table, but since I don’t have one (a bedside table) I guess I’ll have to pass. But skipping over the fact that humanity’s single most disastrous challenge in recent history is hanging over our heads and the title makes it look like a Cosmo guide on “51 Ways to Make him love your toe nail clippings”, I must say that Time magazine is written as if it’s audience hadn’t graduated 4th grade. As a part of the “things you can do” piece, the authors helpfully included a scale with such important measurements as “feel good factor”, which complemented the various made-up words and distracting references to popular television quite well. If I didn’t care so much I would have been insulted. Haven’t Pulitzer Prize winners written for this magazine? The photographs, on the other hand, were terrific. Thank God they tell a thousand words, because the writers sure didn’t bother to.

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This week has been one of those times that I’m happy I live in Hungary. There have been no shootings of random people, or any shootings at all for that matter. The Virginia Tech tragedy is definitely in the news, but it feels far away - perhaps I’ve been desensitized by the constant news of bombings in Iraq, of which today there was another painfully gruesome example. It’s hard to imagine 32 people being gunned down, just as hard to imagine at least 146 dying in the wake of car bombs in Baghdad. It’s almost like this happens every day. Which it does, in places like Sudan and Sri Lanka.

What I think is pretty abominable has been the sensationalization of the event. Even the New York Times has diagrams, walkthroughs entitled “Interactive Graphic: The Rampage“, profiles of the victims - only a day after it happened! While some people have already jumped to blame the violence on video games, the response has been even more game-like: giving readers the power to live a madman’s last hours in an orgy of violence, as if it was internet hits were the score. The political fallout will of course be intense, and as boingboing notes quite astutely, will be similar to that after the 9/11 attacks. Personally, I’m anti-gun. I have never felt safer in Japan or Hungary, which both make it virtually impossible for citizens to obtain weapons. But I also know that guns are a part of American culture. It’s in our blood, just like the Magyars and paprika.

What has been easier to imagine is the big news in Hungary today, that a trailer truck filled with some 5,000 rabbits got in an accident on the highway, freeing the lucky bunnies, who had apparently been en route to a slaughterhouse. There were no injuries in the accident, and dozens of cops and firefighters were sent to the scene to round them up. Hop, bunnies, hop! Only about 1,000 of the hares were carrying their lucky rabbit’s foot, however, as the rest have so far been recaptured.

Also interesting (and another grab from boingboing) is the story about the world’s oldest company going out of business. I wonder what the second oldest company is.

GreenPeace Hungary made the headlines yesterday as brave activists descended upon the nation’s oldest bridge and most famous landmark the Chain Bridge, flying a large banner and lowering themselves halfway to the icy waters in a peaceful protest action designed to bring attention to the poor air quality in Budapest, as well as the government’s sluggishness in implementing EU directives for addressing environmental protection and climate change.

The protest forced a shutdown of the bridge, a major traffic thoroughfare, causing ripples of angry drivers for kilometers and drawing much attention to the action. One bicyclist was honked at very long and loudly by a BMW driver for simply having a “Stop Szmog!” sticker on his rear mudguard.

Here on brave activist is hauled back up to the roadway, to be arrested by waiting police officers. There is no word yet on the fates of these heroic defenders of our most precious resource.

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Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be some holiday guilt trip. I actually dislike Christmas for all of the consumer frenzy and forcing yourself to give generally shitty things to people you don’t really care about anyway. On the other hand, while I’d like to argue that we should (and do) give gifts all year round, the fact is that many of us need the sort of ambiguous, structured and required responsibility to give presents that Christmas, well, presents.

Anyway, that’s not really what this post is about. It’s about this article. FIRST read it (Warning: it’s a bit long, but not too bad), then make the jump.

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Bush: End of an Error
That’s OK, I Wasn’t Using My Civil Liberties Anyway
Let’s Fix Democracy in This Country First
If You Want a Nation Ruled By Religion, Move to Iran
Bush. Like a Rock. Only Dumber.
If You Can Read This, You’re Not Our President
Of Course It Hurts: You’re Getting Screwed by an Elephant
Hey, Bush Supporters: Embarrassed Yet?
George Bush: Creating the Terrorists Our Grandkids Will Have to Fight
Impeachment: It’s Not Just for Blowjobs Anymore
America: One Nation, Under Surveillance 
They Call Him “W” So He Can Spell It.
Whose God Do You Kill For?
Cheney/Satan ‘08
Jail to the Chief
No, Seriously, Why Did We Invade Iraq?
Bush: God’s Way of Proving Intelligent Design is Full Of Crap
Bad President!  No Banana. 
We Need a President Who is Fluent in at Least One Language.
We’re Making Enemies Faster Than We Can Kill Them
Is It Vietnam Yet?
Bush Doesn’t Care About White People, Either
Where Are We Going?  And Why Are We In This Handbasket?
You Elected Him. You Deserve Him.
Impeach Cheney First
Dubya, Your Dad Shoulda Pulled Out, Too
When Bush Took Office, Gas Was $1.46
Pray For Impeachment
The Republican Party:  Our Bridge to the 11th Century
What Part of “Bush Lied” Don’t You Understand?
One Nation Under Clod
2004: Embarrassed
2005: Horrified 
2006: Terrified
Bush Never Exhaled
At Least Nixon Resigned

Last night I saw a really strange contemporary dance piece by a German troupe called Derevo. E had told me that this was one of her favorite choreographers, and so, trying to be a good boyfriend, I went with her to check it out. The “performance” started in the lobby, where androgynous-looking people with shaved heads walked, crawled, screamed, smiled and otherwise performed the actions of living manequins. Okaaaay, I can handle this after a long stressful Monday at the office (wow, I sound so boring). Next we moved into the theatre space, where more crazies were throwing chairs and brooms and hand-trucks around. When one of them draped a huge rope around one of the audience members, I got a little worried that this performance would be one of those ones where they mess with the audience, and I was not in a mood to get messed with. Luckily, the action stayed on stage, and for the next hour and a half the performers screamed and twitched their way through any number of life and death and sex struggles, rebirths, joys, pains, and realizations, all the while dressed in nothing but a thong loincloth and some occaisional garbage bags, feathers, chicken beaks or skirts. At the end they poured water all over the floor and rolled around in it, perhaps mimicking bacteria in a petri dish. But I heard somewhere that the whole thing was based on an Aztec God. That’s Budapest for ya.

Next, I got to see a free screening of An Inconvenient Truth, which everyone in the world should see. The reason it was free is because E and I have volunteered to transcribe and translate several short videos produced by Greenpeace, which Greenpeace Hungary wants to make subtitles for. The leader of the group is named Bob, and is this totally cool grizzly-bear tree-hugger dude that always wears a green bandanna headband and plaid flannel shirts. Anyway I will refrain from taking too much time to get into it, but we should really all be trying to consume less, recycle and reuse more, pressure our governments to tackle global climate change and support green, sustainable development. Some things you can do are really easy, such as changing even a few light bulbs to compact flourescents and unplugging your appliances and computers at night. If you want a list of ten things you can do, click HERE. Make it a habit! In my opinion, global climate change is a little like uncontrolled eating. It feels real good and easy at first to chow down on Big Macs and potato chips, but then you turn into a huge, smelly, disease ridden burden, and then you die an early, painful death. But when you eat right, get enough exercise, and think conciously, you look good, feel great, live longer and make more money. It’s just better.  

What do YOU think?