Season 4, Episode 3 January 8, 2023

S4E3

Well, hello! Thank you for putting your ear to season 4, episode 3 of the Listening Tube. I’m your host, Bob Woodley. On this episode, we’ll hear about a plastic car, the national debt, the war on poverty, plus words and pictures. But first, (not the headlines)!

Once again, our liberties, privacy and freedoms are being wittled away by the very government we elected. The people who take a vow to defend the Constitution and our liberties have voted for a law, signed by President Biden, that will require vehicle manufacturers to install a so-called safety device on all new vehicles beginning in 5 years. Now, you might be thinking, “Gee, Bob, it’s a safety device. How bad can it be?” Well, the government calls it a safety device, but in a letter by former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, this safety device is more accurately described as a kill switch. Whoever came up with this idea sold it to congress as a “benign tool to help prevent drunk driving.” 

You may be familiar with similar devices mandated by courts for people who have a habit of driving under the influence of alcohol. It’s a machine installed in your car that analyses a breath sample prior to allowing you to start the car. If it detects alcohol, it won’t start. The new system works in kind of the same way, but rather than taking a breath sample, it uses other means to determine if you’re sober. But unlike with the breath analysis, you might still be able to start the car regardless of how much partying you’ve done. But the article by Barr indicates the device may be able to determine your abilities even before you begin driving. How, I don’t know. Once you’re on the road, the so-called safety device will passively monitor your driving performance to determine if you might be impaired. If the system believes you’re impaired, it will either prevent you from starting the vehicle, or disable it while you’re driving. So, it’s basically a kill switch on the vehicle that you might own, lease, or rent. Now, I think we can all agree that driving while impaired is a bad idea, and the fewer people doing it the better. And if all this device did is prevent people from driving drunk, I’d be all for it. But it doesn’t always do that, nor does it only do that. For example, if you’re already driving, and the system decides you’re impaired, you’re already on the road, possible driving impaired. What happens when the vehicle is disabled? Does it just stop in the middle of the street? What if there isn’t a safe place to pull over? What if I was just a little tired? Can the system tell the difference? Will the police be notified that the vehicle was disabled? What if you’re driving erratically because of an emergency, or an injury to yourself that’s having an adverse effect on your ability to drive yourself to a hospital? What algorithm will decide? What computer program can determine the correct conclusion? Maybe it’s scheduled to go into effect in five years because it will take that long to perfect the system. But there are many other questions that need to be answered first. How long will the vehicle be disabled? Is there a way to challenge it; to prove you’re not impaired? What if it forces you to pull over in a dangerous area? Those are just some of the questions about the system and the device itself. There are other concerns as well. If this is a passive system, it will be on all the time, working in the background, gathering data about your driving habits. It will keep track of where you go, how fast you get there, how long you stay there. It will know if you come to a complete stop at stop signs and how fast you accelerate when the light turns green. Similar to the devices insurance companies ask you to plug in to your car to lower your rates if you demonstrate the habits of what they define as a safe driver. But unlike the insurance device, the already installed device mandated by the government has the power to turn off the car. And similar to the insurance device, it can be examined by a third party. Not just examined by, but controlled by. Controlled by who? Well, remember when the Canadian government froze the bank accounts of protesting truckers? The government, at all levels, will have access to all of the devices, and will have the ability to disable any car they want. Of course, they’ll tell us that they won’t have access to the control of the devices, but that’s the same as tik tok telling us our data isn’t getting sent back to the Chinese Communist Party. Government entities, from the local police to the state police to the FBI, from County Sheriffs to State agencies to federal officials will not only have access to all of the data that you generate as you drive, but also the ability to disable the vehicle as they see fit. It’s understandable why law enforcement will want access to these devices. They’ll be able to disable a car instead of chasing it. They’ll be able to track your whereabouts without a warrant. Other uses for the device are, but not limited to, preventing people from attending protests, restricting movement within established parameters, and providing a treasure trove of data for successful hackers, who can then sell your data, or even disable your vehicle for fun. 

Let’s go back liner...

1349

The Jewish population of Basel, Switzerland, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up by a mob and locked in a wooden shed built on an island in the Rhine river. Medieval sources say as many as 600 people were locked up, but Wikipedia claims that number is exaggerated. Modern historians believe the entire Jewish community at the time was probably around a hundred, and some had already left because of recent persecution. So 50 to 70 people are believed to be locked in the shed. Despite no evidence that the Jewish population was the source of the Black Death, the shed was lit on fire, and all of the Jewish residents were incinerated. That was over 600 years before the Nazi’s came along, and about 2000 years after the earliest recorded persecution of Jews 605 years Before the Common Era. Before the Common Era, or BCE, used to be just BC, or Before Christ. So the persecution of Jews predates not just Nazism, but also Christianity. 

1605

The controversial play Eastward Hoe by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston is performed, landing two of the authors in prison. Back then, in 17th century England, public performances this this were supposed to be approved by the government. But the guy who’s job it was to approve them was on the road with King James I. You may have heard of King James as the guy who had the Bible translated into English for the Church of England. But before he became King James I of England, he was already King James VI of Scotland. Well, the play parodied the Scottish, and that, along with the fact that the performance hadn’t been approved, led to the arrests of two of the authors. There were other plays that broke the rules, but as you know, the people in charge decide which laws are enforced. 

In America today, you can’t get arrested for writing a play that upsets the powers that be. The Second Amendment of the Constitution insures that. Satire is one of the greatest tools of the general public for criticizing political personalities. Our founding fathers knew that they were opening themselves up to that type of satire when the Bill of Rights was written, and they knew it was important that they do so.

As for the men who were imprisoned in England for writing a play, they were both released within a year thanks to an aggressive letter-writing campaign. So writing the play got them in jail, and writing the letters got them out. The pen is mightier than the sword.

1639

The “Fundamental Orders”, the first written constitution that created a government, is adopted in the Constitution State. No, not Pennsylvania. Connecticut is the Constitution State because the Connecticut Colony council came up with what many historians believe was the first written constitution. Why it stands out is because it gave authority of the colony to the elected general court, without even mentioning the fact that the colony itself was still under British rule. A few decades later, in 1662, the Connecticut petitioned the King of England for a royal charter and got it, establishing the colony as self-governed. More than a hundred years before the Declaration of Independence. Speaking of which, it was this week in... 

1776 that Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense. Back then, pamphlets were a common and effective way to spread news and opinions about a variety of things, much like this podcast is today. By 1776, the people in the American colonies were aggravated by British rule, but resigned themselves to tolerate it. But Thomas Paine used Common Sense to remind the colonists that England had no right to rule America, writing, “Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither they have fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.” The 47-page pamphlet sold big, about a half-million copies, helping to influence the people of the American colonies to join the American Revolution.

1835

The United States national debt is 0 for the only time. Today, the national debt is more than 31-trillion dollars, and keeps rising by the second. In fact, it goes up by a million and a half dollars every minute. According to the U.S. National Debt clock, in 1960, the national debt was about 53 percent of the gross domestic product. It dropped to about 34 and a half percent in 1980. Jumped to just under 60 percent in 2000, and now, 23 years later, our debt is over 121 percent of our GDP. But that didn’t stop President Biden from signing a 1.7 trillion dollar omnibus budget bill. A report from CBS News mentions where some of the money will go, including Defense spending, of course, as well as more money for socialist programs like child care, mental health, food assistance and college access. The budget also provides money for the defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression, protections for pregnant workers, new rules on retirement savings and electoral vote-counting and a ban on using the TikTok app on federal government devices. By contrast, a Fox News report that also lists many of the benefactors of the budget lists 200-million dollars for a “gender equity and equality action fund.” But it won’t be spent here. It’s to promote gender programs in Pakistan. Yes. Two-hundred-million of American tax dollars are being used to promote gender programs in Pakistan. The Michele Obama Trail in Georgia got 3.6 million. Three-point-six million dollars. For a trail. Why is there a trail in Georgia named after Michele Obama, anyway? 

Gonna look that up liner…

Well, the trail does begin at the Barack Obama Magnet School and it’s paved for about 6 and a half miles. Formerly the South River Trail, it was renamed the Michelle Obama Trail in 2016 when the DeKalb County commissioners approved the resolution. According to a Newsweek story, the name change was inspired by the former First Lady’s “Let’s Move” initiative, encouraging children to become more physically active. Ironically, a newly-constructed 2.2 mile segment of the trail was celebrated by a ribbon-cutting ceremony in October of 2021. That project cost 3.9 million dollars. They got 3.6 million of it back in the new federal budget. 

Other notable earmarks the Fox News story pointed out included millions of dollars for LGBTQ+ programs in Pittsburgh, New York and San Deigo, plus 750,000 dollars for Albany, New York "Transitional Housing and Services for LGBT and Gender Non-Conforming." Plus an Ohio organization that describes itself as a "non-profit coworking and community space built by and for women and gender expansive people of color." So a group that excludes white people and men got a million dollars of American tax dollars, too. Even more disturbing to some, a hefty 575-million dollars went to "family planning/reproductive health … in areas where population growth threatens biodiversity or endangered species." Put more simply: Population control.

1858

Anson Jones, the forth and last President of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide. When Texas became part of the United States, he figured he’d be elected to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. But twice he was passed over, and he became seriously depressed. An injury to his arm nine years earlier left it withered and discolored, adding to his depression.

1880

The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow. Described as an extratropical cyclone, it brought winds of an estimated 138 miles per hour. Buildings were destroyed and a three-mast schooner was tossed onto the beach where it broke in two. The Morning Oregonian called it the heaviest wind storm ever known in these parts! The storm lasted for several hours, and a letter published later in the Oregonian said, “We have just experienced one of the severest gales; nothing like it has occurred since the settlement of the bay. It was southeast, lasted about five hours, and was terrible in force… The tide rose seven feet higher than was ever known; nearly all the old wharves are taken away.” Climate change! Said no one.

1901

The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas. There’s still plenty of oil in Texas, Pennsylvania, California and other states. Unfortunately, the current federal administration has put up roadblocks to it’s removal from America’s land, causing high oil and gasoline prices, which in turn, cause high transportation costs, which in turn increase the prices of goods and services. There are a variety of Biden administration policies causing inflation, but the obvious solution of creating more energy here is resisted in the name of environmental policies. 

1915

The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to give women the right to vote. They thought about it, and went, “Naaa.”

1942

Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile. The plastic is made primarily of soybeans and it’s wrapped around a metal frame, which made it 30% lighter than a regular car, and more resistant to rust. Plus, it ran on ethanol instead of gasoline. Ford’s plastic car was tough. Ford himself demonstrated that by hitting the car with an ax several time without resulting in a dent or a scratch. Because of America’s involvement in World War II, the project was shelved while manufacturers were retooling their factories to support the war effort. Decades later, many car parts were being made from plastic and then carbon fiber. I used to have a Dodge Neon that didn’t have anything metal anywhere inside the car. I only noticed when I tried to find a place to stick a magnet logo of my favorite football team somewhere, and couldn’t.

1953

An article appears in Pravda accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership. Ironically, Pravda is Russian for Truth. In reality, Pravda was the mouthpiece of the Communist Party. It was used for propaganda and communist brainwashing. The story accusing the doctors was made up by Joseph Stalin and his henchmen. The arrests of the doctors was the first step toward a show trial that would show Stalin was “cleansing the Soviet Union of foreign, cosmopolitan and Zionist elements.” Many doctors, both Jewish and otherwise, lost their jobs, were arrested. When Stalin died in March of 1953, his successor declared a lack of evidence in the Doctor’s plot and the cases were dropped. Seven of the nine doctors who were arrested were released. The other two had already died in prison. It wasn’t long until the Pravda, or the Truth, was learned. Pravda lied, as the case was declared a fabrication.

1964

President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in the United States. Much like the war on drugs, it’s kind of a stalemate as to whether or not it worked. A variety of social programs were the result of the initiative, such as the Economic Opportunity Act, the Food Stamp Act and the Social Security Act. The Social Security Act had the most impact, resulting in the poverty rate for people over age 65 dropping from 28 and a half percent in 1966 to 10.1 percent today. It’s had practically no effect on people age 18 to 64, who have a poverty rate at around 10 percent today, just as in 1966. Poverty among those under 18 dropped from 23 percent in 1964 to as low as 17 percent, but it rose back to 20 percent by 2009. There was, and still is, a lot of controversy about the programs begun by the war on poverty. Supporters of the programs say they’d work better if we committed more money to them, while opponents of the programs argue that the best way to reduce poverty is through economic growth rather than government spending. It should be noted, though, that Social Security is not a government hand out, as workers pay into the program through payroll deductions. Economist and writer Thomas Sowell wrote in 2004 that the war on poverty, especially as it relates to black families, “...began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life." Dr. Martin Luther King had faith in the programs until he saw the country’s fortunes being spent on the Vietnam war, pointing out that it cost America 500,000 dollars to kill a single enemy soldier, while only 53 dollars was spent on each person classified as poor.

1964

United States Surgeon General Dr. Luther Leonidas Terry, publishes a landmark report saying that cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health, sparking nation- and worldwide anti-smoking efforts, as well as a warning on the side of cigarette packs that smokers ignore. By the time I started smoking, the warning was out for more than a decade. I made my mom quit. Then I started. I, like all other cigarette smokers, knew of the hazards, but kept smoking anyway. I smoked about a pack a day for more than 40 years, and every pack had a warning on it. If it wasn’t a warning from the Surgeon General of the United States, it was a warning from the Bundesgezundheitminister of Germany. I had been smoking for so long that I couldn’t imagine myself as a non-smoker. So what finally made me quit? I found myself not being able to laugh out loud without coughing. I went to see my doctor about it, and after a couple tests, determined that I was on the brink of COPD. My doctor knew that I smoked, and he’s probably the only doctor I ever had who didn’t bug me about it. But when he said I had to quit smoking in order laugh again, that was all I needed to hear. It was much easier to picture myself as a non-smoker than a non-laugher. It’s been four or five years now since I quit. I don’t miss it, my wife certainly doesn’t miss it, and I save a lot of money. Plus, I can laugh as much as I want without any undesirable consequences.

1967

Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation. He is still preserved today. An examination in 1991 showed he’s been properly frozen since 1967. He hasn’t exactly rested in peace, though. He was first preserved in Phoenix, Arizona, then moved to California in 1969, then moved again to Berkeley in 1973. His family took possession of the body, stored in Liquid Nitrogen in Southern California until 1982, when it was moved back to Arizona, where it remains today. There are more than 300 people around the world who have been cryonically preserved, and thousands more are on waiting lists. It might be safe to say that we’re no closer to unfreezing anyone than we were in 1967.

1971

The Harrisburg Seven are indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger and of plotting to blow up the heating tunnels of federal buildings in Washington, D.C. The Harrisburg seven were six nuns or priests, while the seventh was a journalist. All were anti-war. A few months later, a hung jury resulted in all of them being acquitted.

1982

AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions. AT&T still exists, of course, but it’s not the giant corporation it once was. Referred to as Ma Bell, AT&T controlled practically all commercial communication in America. The U.S. government sued Ma Bell for anti-trust violations, resulting in the breakup of the company. Seven “baby bells” emerged from the breakup, including Southwestern Bell, which would ironically turn around and buy AT&T in 2005. Keeping the AT&T name, it then bought the last remaining Baby bell in 2006, then bought Time/Warner in 2016. Time/Warner merged with Discovery just last year. According to wikipedia, the current AT&T is much the same as it was before being broken up, owning four of the former baby bells and the original AT&T. Antitrust laws in the United States have been largely ignored in recent decades, allowing giant oil companies to merge, creating even bigger monopolies. Google and Meta have been scooping up any company that threatens their dominance of the markets they control. 

Phone and email liner

There’s an old saying you may be familiar with that opines, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This phrase isn’t as old as you might think. Although drawings and paintings and even mosaics have been around for thousands of years, pictures are a relatively new medium. There’s an undated Chinese phrase that translated into English says, “Hearing something a hundred times isn't better than seeing it once." Now, that’s some wisdom right there. Especially in today’s world of propaganda, and the incessant lies told to us by the government and media. But that phrase is fundamentally different in that it pre-dates photography. The Chinese example is pointing out the difference between witnessing something for yourself and hearing about it from outside sources, regardless of how many times you hear it. The 20th century philosopher Alan Watts, who’s book, The Wisdom of Insecurity, I enjoyed as a teenager, once wrote, “One showing is worth a hundred sayings.” Admittedly, Watts was influenced by Easter philosophies, but while these phrases are commonly used interchangeably, they are fundamentally different from “A picture is worth a thousand words.” The phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” is more accurately used to describe the amount of words it might take to describe a picture. It is not necessarily meant as a precautionary tale like the much older Chinese phrase, “Hearing something a hundred times isn't better than seeing it once." But the Chinese phrase pre-dates the photograph, while “A picture is worth a thousand words” according to wikipedia, only goes back to 1911. It was first published in two articles describing a banquet held by the Syracuse Advertising Men’s Club. The actual quote was: “Use a picture. It’s worth a thousand words.” So just like “A diamond is forever,” “Beef. It’s what’s for dinner,” and “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!,” A picture is worth a thousand words seems to have come from the brilliant minds in the advertising industry. The same people who trained us to say Q-tip instead of cotton swab, and Kleenex instead of tissue, and Coke instead of cola, (or Pepsi if you’re part of the new generation), brought us the wisdom of what it means to see a photograph. Although the phrase mentions words, it subjugates them by comparison, as if you almost don’t need any words at all if you have a photograph. It argues that a picture will save you time, as with a glance at a photograph, you can reach your own conclusion without commentary that would take too long. Before photographs, the fastest way to re-create an image was to describe it to someone verbally. Before photographs, one had to make a drawing or a painting of a scene or point in history to tell the story visually. Before photography, it was more common to rely on the words of people, whether spoken or written, than to count on seeing what happened for yourself. After all, we can’t be everywhere. When pictures replaced drawings and paintings, then moving pictures came along, it changed the dynamic of how the rest of the world was brought to us. The photograph replaced the words as the most reliable source of information. It was faster than paintings, drawings and words. Plus, we could practically say we saw it with our own eyes. A picture can’t lie! There was a picture in the paper! It was on television! We were empowered by pictures and video. Some of what we saw was horrible, some was heartwarming, but the speed at which the press became able to bring us photographs of events from around the world re-shaped the way we saw the whole world, and the images have never stopped coming. The number of images each of us sees today, and I haven’t looked this up or anything, has to be hundreds of times more than when the phrase about a picture being worth a thousand words was first used in 1911. In 1911, a single image in a newspaper could ignite the imagination of a business owner or a farmer or a homemaker to buy a product or service they never thought of, and that still applies today, but back then, it was one of maybe a dozen images they saw that day. Take a moment to think about how many images you see as you scroll through a social media feed, as you drive down the freeway, or surf the internet. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words are you trying to absorb every day? How much of it can you even recall? There was a time when a picture could inspire, scare, disgust and even elevate us. Some still can. But new technology has made it possible for photographs to be forged. Video’s too, can be altered to make them look like something they aren’t. We can’t trust photographs as much as we could when they were new and people hadn’t yet mastered the art of altering them. Now, we can’t even believe what we see, unless we’re at the right place at the right time to witness it for ourselves. That’s why the Chinese phrase, "Hearing something a hundred times isn't better than seeing it once" is similar but different from “a picture is worth a thousand words.” The latter phrase has become out dated, while the ancient phrase is still accurate. While a picture may still be worth a thousand words, those words may be based on an altered image, which would make the words used to describe it worthless. On the other hand, a hundred different descriptions of an event will not equal what you saw in person. But if you can’t be there in person, a picture will help tell the story more quickly and with a clarity that words may not be able to convey. Despite the mastery of some wordsmiths to verbally paint a vivid picture of some place you’ve never been, describing an event or scene as accurately as a picture is more difficult, and the description will pale in comparison to the photograph. If the photograph is real. The latest pocket phones have cameras that come with filters and various ways to alter photographs, edit out what you don’t want, change backgrounds, all kinds of ways to alter photographs, even for the novice. The professionals, like ad agencies and reputation management companies are even better at it. I’ve seen pictures on the internet of people who look so flawless that it has to have been retouched, if not a complete fabrication; a computer-generated photograph of a non-existent person. The reflection of what its creator envisions as a perfect human specimen. Giving no value to our imperfections whatsoever. 

So is a picture worth a thousand words? Is it better to see something once than hear it a hundred times? I guess it depends on where you look, and at what you’re looking. Just like you can’t believe everything you hear, neither can you believe everything you see. There was a time when you could rely on a photograph or a video being authentic, but no more. I’m not saying the media is doctoring photos and videos. No. When it comes to the media, any visual media, it’s what they won’t show us that is worrisome. 

Perhaps the growing popularity of audio, like radio and podcasts, is a result of our realizing that photos and videos are easily altered. Perhaps the spoken word is again the more reliable source of information and more easily trusted. There’s something about the human voice that we naturally trust. Yes, it can lie, just like an altered picture, but like a forensic scientist can tell if a photograph’s been altered, we all have within us the ability to decipher not just what words we’re hearing, but how they’re being said, with what kind of emotion, with what kind of conviction. Words can convey a layer of understanding that a picture can’t. Plus, it’s easier to spot a liar than to spot a fake picture. At its most basic level, what we see is just light bouncing off objects. Sometimes you have to block out the light to see what’s beyond it. Just as silence sometimes speaks louder than words. 

The Listening Tube is written and produced by yours truly. Copyright 2023. Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube. I’m your host Bob Woodley for thou ad infinitum.