Theory of Labor Value

I read Capital Volume 1 Chapter 1. I'm puzzling over it.

We start with commodities. Commodities have use value and exchange value. Use value comes from desire. Exchange value is the value that a commodity has in the market place. It must always be an equal exchange. What makes them equal and exchangeable? It is because they have value. What is value? Socially necessary labor time. If its on the market, then it is a product of human labor. What else do they have in common? They have use value, but that alone does not make an object something in need of exchange. Air has a use value. If a thing is useless, then the labor counts for nothing. Price lowering can be seen as a way to make the labor count for more, that is, to make it have a use value to people. Price is always affected by labor. Use affects it only in relation to labor.

I think....

Goodbye Dubya!

So I watched George W. Bush's farewell speech. I didn't go into it expecting a sorry. I mean that's simply unrealistic. But I was hoping for him to be more forward, to stop hiding behind "I made tough decisions". I wanted a deep refection and overview of his presidency from his perspective. But he avoided all honesty and instead tried vainly to repair his legacy. But in a way its fitting he left us as he treated us. Without respect for the people but for the ideal of the Nation. The neocon "spread democracy" dogma was on full display. The absolutes of Good and Evil were mentioned. I didn't want a apology, I wanted an Apology in the Socratic way. I wanted explanation, but this dishonest (in the sense that it is unconnected with reality, not that he is actually lying) was what I got. It has been the tone the entire presidency. Dishonest. And yet I have grown so used to thinking of him as president. If it weren't for this man, I would not be a socialist or even care about politics. He has affected us all because he matters, because he was produced by an ideology, because he was there at 9/11, because he has been president for Eight long years. Remember when Clinton was President? Neither do I. Goodbye Dubya. I'll miss you for some reason.

"I hope you leave here and walk out and say, 'What did he say?'"- George W. Bush

Oh and he coined the term "the internets"- awesome.

factory

EDIT:Removed by author

Have You Ever Danced with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight?

I have been writing something recently. I don't quite know what it is. It takes place in a city engulfed in fog. The main character is an ex-fisherman wandering around in a hazy unclear world, unsure of his own motives as well as others. I'm not sure where I should send him next: To the mine or to the factory? The saying "Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?" feels like a good way to describe this story.

On to other matters, I posted something on a political forum. These people are smarter than me, I'm not sure I'll be able to respond. I need time to regroup. I hate not having anything to contribute, yet whenever I open my mouth I sound stupid to all. I question my right to even bother thinking in these instances. Only good opinions are worth expressing. The problem is that everyone needs an opinion and yet nobody is an expert. 

Is it bad that I judge my worth as a person according to wether or not I can make a valid point about anything?

Religiously I am now a Hellenic Pagan. I might talk about that here sometime. Heidegger paper on formal indication is going rough.

God

I don't get much out of being an agnostic. But I don't really know what exactly it was I was supposed to get out. It's simple really. Big Bang happened that was how the universe we know started. But how did the single point even get there is the first place. Two possible answers. Someone or something (aka God) made it or it was always there. If you are a hardcore empiricist you might try to privilege the latter. But since we are dealing with something clearly unknown mere see-ableness doesn't equal truth. Hence agnosticism. ID's arguments have holes in them. ID says: It's so complex so it could not have arrived by chance. I don't think you can say that about the universe itself, the laws that govern the universe can take care of everything really. But if the laws of physics were any bit different we would not exist. So ID works for the laws? Well we don't know what causes the laws. But that would create infinite regress. Causer of laws- What caused it?It would be more complex and unexplainable as the laws themselves. Instead of "Are we not lucky we have laws" It would be "Are we not lucky to have God?". Also the god of the gaps problem. Yet something lurks under all this. What we are really actually asking is why something rather than nothing? The good old question of being us phenomenologists have been asking the whole time. But it turns into the question of Dasien's being in the world as a discloser. And we get away from the god problem, which is a problem which I have thought more about of late. Maybe it is an old irrational attachment to the concept. I don't like the modern concept of faith. It's not even biblical. I'll rant about that some other time. But I don't like believing in something just because it feels good. Its a fools paradise. Even worse: Its uncritical of itself. It's simple and I wonder if one could really get anything out of it. And yet... I am attracted to the spiritual and I don't even believe in the soul. Lately I've been investigating Kemetism. It is the revival of ancient Egyptian beliefs. I am attracted to the goddess Isis. I don't know if its actual "I want to worship Isis" or "I like the idea of worshiping Isis". I also like the Kemetic idea of Ma'at (principle of order) and the one god Netjer (who is all of the gods in one, Isis is just a name or a part who I can relate to). Even if I got over my religion issues I wouldn't actually be Kemetic which would involve making a shrine, making offerings which I think the gods don't really need. Isn't my devotion, thanks, and love all you need Netjer? My thoughts are better than a thousand offerings as those are what I prize. Not sure if this will go anywhere. 

Small update on my politics: Socialism or Communism or Anarchism, I'm leaning toward Communism right now. But the next day i might decide that the state should be the first thing to go. Or I might decide that looking too far ahead is silly.

EDIT: maybe God can do phenomenology better than us lol

Election is a Joke

Since I don't take so called democratic elections seriously, here are some pictures. The actual left will loose, Obama is not a socialist, and McCain will keep us in a state of perpetual war.

Apiphobia

Let's talk about bees. If all the bees dropped dead I would be glad. Today I was sitting outside in SF class when two bees started flying around me. This ruined the class for me. It was a nice day, nice wind blowing, warm sun. But then the bees come and ruin it all. I'm on edge for the whole class, watching the little buggers. I had my hand over my shoulder to keep them away the whole time. 

I'm not entirely sure when it started. When I was a young child my mother read me a book about a bull who got stung by a bee. That is where the knowledge that bees stung came from. I remember getting very close to a bee on a flower. It was a harmless, bumblebee type creature. Yet for some reason I was very nervous about getting that close to one.

I hate how they fly around, I hate the buzzing sound they make, I hate that color of yellow. The sting is not actually that bad. Just their presence around me is what matters. Still I don't like to get stung. Three years ago I was in the woods and I stepped on a bee's nest hidden under some leaves. I felt some pin pricks on my leg. And then the bees swarmed up my leg. I ran as fast as I could but I got stung multiple times. The sight of the bees swarming up my leg was what really scary. I feel horrible when I think about. 

I have dreams about bees sometimes. Three really standout. In one dream I had when I was very young they have completely covered my house. They are over every inch of wall and they are flying around everywhere. I go inside trying to find my mother. She  tries to calm me down. The next one is where I am with some other kids, standing by a wall with holes in it. The holes are actually bee's nests. I cautiously keep away from the wall. Then I get really sacred when a  large green bee comes out of one of the holes. In the third dream I'm at a cookout. The bees are very large, about the size of baseballs. And they keep flying around my head. 

I desire the genocide of all bees so  I can enjoy the outdoors again.