Politics at Sea

I watched an interesting documentary today called “From Freedom to Fascism”. The bass player loaned it to me and is quite a radical thinker when it comes to government and where America is heading (although I agree with most of what he says). He is also into organic/local foods and even has a compost pile! Anyway, the movie revolves around the fact that there is no law that states that we have to pay an income tax. Back in 1913 the Federal Reserve was created and Amendment 16 requiring corporations to pay tax on profits and gains was created but never ratified. He continues the argument that America is ruled by a select few bankers who are pushing to have a world government where they have all the power. I didn’t realize the Federal Reserve is not run by the government, but a private enterprise that actually charges the government interest and can create money on a whim – could explain why my dollar will get me nowhere in Europe! According to Mussolini, fascism is nothing more than the marriage of corporation and government and thus the director, Aaron Russo, claims that we have become a fascist society. There was also an interesting clip from the National Election Committee debriefing the 2004 Ohio presidential election results and how there was no question that the electronic voting was hacked. I’ll stop my political ranting now – I guess that’s what happens when you’re stuck on a ship for a week!

Speaking of the crossing of the Atlantic, we are moving at a snail’s pace! To tie in to capitalism, the only reason we’re at sea for so long is so the ship can make more money from the passengers. At least, that’s what I believe since we basically cover the same distance from Southampton to Portugal in 1 day compared to the 3 we’re taking from the Azores! We’ve been very lucky with weather and only rocked really noticeably a few nights ago. It was actually quite calming to be rocked to sleep although my cabin was making all sorts of creaking noises.

Last night I had a nice clarinet feature with one of the guest artists who plays clarinet and sax. We did a rousing Polka duet – it was the most I’ve worked since I joined the ship! Have to run to rehearsal now. I am now 7 hours ahead of Denver time and will fluctuate between 7 and 8 for the next few months depending on how far east in the Med I am. Cheers!