Wednesday, August 15, 2012
We Are the Children of Empire
We are the children of Empire. From the first stirrings of civilization, we can draw a direct line from the ancients of the middle east, through the Greek and Roman empires to the Germanic/British empires all the way to our dominant and triumphant empire of these United States.
Our European conquest of the New World, which us Americans are direct beneficiaries, was violent, brutal and comprehensive. The Spaniards, of course, created the largest and most brutal, using genocide of the local natives as a way to satisfy their lustful greed. Once the Native Americans couldn’t provide the necessary manpower to satisfy this very Christian empire, they began the largest slave trade known to human history, using mainly Africans.
The English desperately tried to emulate the “success” of the Spaniards. Starting with Jamestown and quickly moving through the Massachussetts Bay Company, the English established the American colonies as a wealth pump for Mother England. They created a systemic elimination of Native Americans through broken treaties, the use of “English Justice”, germ warfare and sheer brutal violence (see the Pequot and King Phillip Wars).
Once we gained control from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific and all points in between, we moved to Latin America and began our expansion into the Pacific Asia arena. Our incursion into the international stage began with the American Civil War and extended through the Spanish and Philippine Wars and into the World Wars. Once the World Wars were completed, the British had lost their overseas dominance and were replaced by the USA/USSR dichotomy. This, of course, collapsed with the Berlin Wall which left the USA all alone at the top with the rising star of China quickly trying to push its way to the top.
It has always been about money, power and control. Ego, greed, lust. The USA doesn't bother with physical conquest and permanent occupation anymore, but much prefers to establish puppet governments. Look to Cuba until Castro, the Banana Republics and Iraq. "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins is a good place to see the inner evil of our economic empire.
To truly understand how this progression was possible, and why it matters to us today, it is necessary to understand how empires use energy and especially how our American Empire has used our energy resources to gain our top spot in the world pecking order. Looking at how energy propelled the American "success" story will be the topic of the next post.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
setting the framework
In the past, my writing has been sporadic in its outlook as well as in its output. I hope to change that on both accounts, the former by providing a framework and focus to the general direction of my posts and the latter by posting on a weekly basis on every Thursday night. We shall see. I am often pulled in many directions at once but I will try my best.
I have two primary goals in my writing.
1.To articulate the decline and fall of the American Empire.
This topic is overwhelming in its evidence and therefore endless in its possibilities but I will attempt to focus on a few highlights:
a. Resource depletion especially oil
b. Population/economic growth
c. Economic/societal disintegration due to the conflicting trends of population/economic growth and resource depletion
2. To convince you, the reader, that support for Vermont secession is the only moral, economic, and sustainably viable option for the coming decades and centuries.
I will address the historical record as a way to help divine a more just and equal government that is dedicated to preserving our basic human rights. This will include:
a. The formation of a truly egalitarian nation
b. The 1777 Vermont Constitution
c. Freedom and Unity
d. A sustainable competitive market place.
I look forward to this task and I hope you, the reader, will join me on this journey. What I especially hope for is that you will also choose to participate and become part of the conversation by posting your comments and opinions.
I have two primary goals in my writing.
1.To articulate the decline and fall of the American Empire.
This topic is overwhelming in its evidence and therefore endless in its possibilities but I will attempt to focus on a few highlights:
a. Resource depletion especially oil
b. Population/economic growth
c. Economic/societal disintegration due to the conflicting trends of population/economic growth and resource depletion
2. To convince you, the reader, that support for Vermont secession is the only moral, economic, and sustainably viable option for the coming decades and centuries.
I will address the historical record as a way to help divine a more just and equal government that is dedicated to preserving our basic human rights. This will include:
a. The formation of a truly egalitarian nation
b. The 1777 Vermont Constitution
c. Freedom and Unity
d. A sustainable competitive market place.
I look forward to this task and I hope you, the reader, will join me on this journey. What I especially hope for is that you will also choose to participate and become part of the conversation by posting your comments and opinions.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
...but I love republicanism
Wow. Incendiary, volatile, angry. My previous post is all those things. At this point, I think it necessary to differentiate between Republicans and republicans.
The ideal of republicanism is a long standing tradition within the Vermont ethos. Little "r" republicanism is essentially a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people". This means that if we want our government to provide universal health care, then the government should provide universal health care. If we want to shutdown Vermont Yankee, then we should be able to shut down Vermont Yankee.
Unfortunately, the modern Republican Party does not serve the people anymore but instead works to preserve and promote the wealthy and the privileged. They serve the multi-national corporation and the people who run them. Members of the Republican Party are no longer republicans.
This is our highest ideal, this republicanism. As we lose our power to control the actions of our government, as the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, continue to fester, as corporations become more important than people, as security becomes more important than liberty, we lose our republicanism and we become...enslaved.
PS. Thank you my dear readers for waiting such a long time for a post. I will be writing more often, I promise. And look Mom...no "f" words!
The ideal of republicanism is a long standing tradition within the Vermont ethos. Little "r" republicanism is essentially a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people". This means that if we want our government to provide universal health care, then the government should provide universal health care. If we want to shutdown Vermont Yankee, then we should be able to shut down Vermont Yankee.
Unfortunately, the modern Republican Party does not serve the people anymore but instead works to preserve and promote the wealthy and the privileged. They serve the multi-national corporation and the people who run them. Members of the Republican Party are no longer republicans.
This is our highest ideal, this republicanism. As we lose our power to control the actions of our government, as the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, continue to fester, as corporations become more important than people, as security becomes more important than liberty, we lose our republicanism and we become...enslaved.
PS. Thank you my dear readers for waiting such a long time for a post. I will be writing more often, I promise. And look Mom...no "f" words!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
All Republicans are Fucking Liars
"At last we have more room to play.
All systems go to kill the poor tonight.
Gonna
Kill kill kill kill kill the poor.
kill kill kill Kill kill the poor
kill kill kill Kill kill the poor…Tonight"
The Dead Kennedy's 1980
All Republicans are Fucking Liars. Yes, I said it. Finally the truth is out. You think Republicans care about the deficit? What a laugh. The recent Congressional Budget Office report projects a 1.5 trillion deficit for the upcoming year, an increase of 400 billion from its previous projections. Why? Because of the renewal of the huge Bush era tax cuts. Yes, that's right. The Republicans actions caused a massive increase to the very thing they have stridently campaigned against. So obviously, when they are freakin' out about the deficit, they are fucking lying.
So what is their real agenda? Well, the first and most important thing is to preserve the wealthprivilege that is the perceived birthright of the uber-wealthy. There is a decade’s long trend of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Allowing extremely wealthy people to keep more money than they know what to do with is a detriment to our society at large.
The second part of their agenda is related to the first and becomes apparent after looking at what they are cutting from federal spending and that is to cut as much spending for the poor as they can. They are cutting every service that government offers. Do you think those services serve the wealthyprivileged? No, they serve the poor. Who is going to take the brunt of all this deficit reduction? That's right, the poor. Who is getting tax cuts? Oh yeah, I already mentioned that; the fucking rich. To the wealthyprivileged and their Republican (and sometimes Democrat) lackeys, the poor are never going away and any investment on the lower demographic is a waste of money that they should have. This also speaks to the essential racism of Republicans, because guess what? A high proportion of the poor are people of color and who gives a fuck about them. Never mind the poor white trailer trash. Fuck them too. They are only fodder for manipulation, the stupid fucking ignorant idiots (that probably is not very PC, sorry).
The third prong is the advancement of cultural agenda of the white man's wealthprivilege that is narrowly defined by their Judeo-Christian arrogance that has dominated and destroyed everything and everyone in its path for the last 600 years (ask a native american about immigrants). This allows Republicans to gay bash, to declare Obama’s birth certificate invalid and to call him a Muslim; to cut funding for Planned Parenthood and for heating aid for the poor; to build walls on our borders and to call those in dissent unpatriotic. If you don’t say the pledge of allegiance you’re unpatriotic. If you don’t wear a flag lapel then you are not a true American. If you don’t believe in ruining every last acre of global real estate in the pursuit of fossil fuel, then you must be a God-damned Commie. It is ultimately anti-freedom and anti-liberty and the very definition of tyranny.
And of course, we are also seeing a full court press on workers rights. Not only are Republicans wanting to maintain a large poverty class, they are also interested in destroying what’s left of our middle class. Events in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Idaho confirm this. All one needs to do is to see the motivations of such scumbags like Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers to see their nefarious trends.
Please, please, please be vigilant towards those who would like to steal our rights. Cut benefits for the poor and disadvantaged to balance the budget? Well at least tax the fucking rich. They need to pay a disproportionate amount because they are the only ones with any kind of discretionary money. I’m sorry, but they can wait another year to upgrade their Porsche SUV. The rest of us are struggling just to survive.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
The Big Picture
Two articles from the past week have helped "connect the dots" with the recent and on-going world events. Paul Krugman makes the connection between the events in Tunisia and Egypt to the ongoing world food crisis to the obvious fact that climate change is starting to shape everyday life for every person on the planet "these severe weather events are exactly the kind of thing we’d expect to see as rising concentrations of greenhouse gases change our climate — which means that the current food price surge may be just the beginning." And Krugman has the grace to think beyond the bottom line and about those who are most affected "These soaring prices have had only a modest effect on U.S. inflation, which is still low by historical standards, but they’re having a brutal impact on the world’s poor, who spend much if not most of their income on basic foodstuffs.
John Michael Greer writes a superb blog called the Archdruid Report. He also makes the connection between the uprisings in the Middle East and severe weather events but also speaks about the inability of Americans to understand how an individual event fits into the context of the greater whole "The fixation on the fantasy of perpetual growth is only one of the system-related stupidities that infest contemporary American public life, though it’s arguably the most egregious." Greer's historically based vision of the next 50 years is a must read for anyone interested in pulling their head out of their ass long enough to take a look at our future.
Ultimately, the historical trends of resource depletion, climate change, environmental degradation, our culture based on exponential growth (take Chris Martenson's Crash Course to truly understand what this means) and what hardly anyone is talking about, overpopulation are all crashing into us at the same time. We must face the fundamental fact that the world as we know it is coming to an end (cue in REM). The golden age of consumption has reached its apex and like the top of the Superman ride at Six Flags, its all downhill from here. All we can hope for is to survive the descent with a modicum of grace and hope that no-one noticed that I was screaming like a 5 year old child the whole way down.
John Michael Greer writes a superb blog called the Archdruid Report. He also makes the connection between the uprisings in the Middle East and severe weather events but also speaks about the inability of Americans to understand how an individual event fits into the context of the greater whole "The fixation on the fantasy of perpetual growth is only one of the system-related stupidities that infest contemporary American public life, though it’s arguably the most egregious." Greer's historically based vision of the next 50 years is a must read for anyone interested in pulling their head out of their ass long enough to take a look at our future.
Ultimately, the historical trends of resource depletion, climate change, environmental degradation, our culture based on exponential growth (take Chris Martenson's Crash Course to truly understand what this means) and what hardly anyone is talking about, overpopulation are all crashing into us at the same time. We must face the fundamental fact that the world as we know it is coming to an end (cue in REM). The golden age of consumption has reached its apex and like the top of the Superman ride at Six Flags, its all downhill from here. All we can hope for is to survive the descent with a modicum of grace and hope that no-one noticed that I was screaming like a 5 year old child the whole way down.
Monday, May 3, 2010
so, like, "20th century"
Those old designations between Democrat and Republican, liberal and conservative are so, like, "20th Century". Our long-term exploitation of finite natural resources (oil, coal, forest, water, soil) without regard to environmental impact is soon coming to an abrupt halt. American history seen through the lens of gaining and protecting access to these natural resources is not a pretty picture (from the Spaniards on up). The ever-excessive pursuit of wealth and mindless consumption have led us to the economic precipice. The only difference between Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Reagan is...rhetoric.
Long live AmazingPlanet!
Long live AmazingPlanet!
Monday, April 5, 2010
signs of the collapse
Two fantastic articles on our impending cultural doom (thank the gods!):
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2006/05/on-catabolic-collapse.html
>http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2010/04/collapse-competitively.html
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2006/05/on-catabolic-collapse.html
>http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2010/04/collapse-competitively.html
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
education commentary
Another commentary on Vermont Tiger. For the questions click here.
question 1: There needs to be some dollar amount allotted to the student. If enrollment goes down, money goes down, people get laid off. That's life. Also, the topic of health care is inextricably tied to the increase of education costs. No valid solution can be made without creating a solution that stabilizes health care costs.
Question 2: I don't really care what Tennessee or Missouri spend on their students. We Vermonters will value the education of our children the way we value it. BUT we do need to get control of our spending. It is unsustainable and must be remedied. 1. Decouple healthcare from the rapacious insurance market. It is not a free market and should not be given the respect of one. (Yes, like our roads and our military, let's socialize it) 2. Eliminate the requirement to attend the last two years of high school. For anyone spending time in a modern high school, there are enormous amount of hours that are completely wasted, where nothing is learned and nothing is done. It is a waste of time. It is a waste of human energy. Many students are ready to work and be a part of society by the time they are 16. Let them. Provide centralized schools for the ones who are academically motivated and who want those last two years to prepare for their life. We will eliminate 1/2 the student population for the last two years of school. Plus, academically motivated students are much easier to teach and exhibit many less behavior issues which would allow much higher student to teacher ratios.
question 3. Are you kidding me? This question is so myopic. Let's just not teach them anything about the world, because they might want to see it. If people want to leave, let them. Vermont is not an easy place to live. While young people are leaving Vermont, older boomer baby types who complain about school taxes and wind turbines are moving in. The gentrification of Vermont. You can't talk about one without the other. (oh yeah, is there any study on young Vermonters who move away and then RETURN?)
Although I accept your general point of declining educational expectations, the Kansas test is bunk for two reasons and here is a good explanation why: http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp
I think the real reason is television and marketing, but that is a story for another day.
And please, quit ranting against the arm-waving psychobabble when 2/3's of your post is just that.
question 1: There needs to be some dollar amount allotted to the student. If enrollment goes down, money goes down, people get laid off. That's life. Also, the topic of health care is inextricably tied to the increase of education costs. No valid solution can be made without creating a solution that stabilizes health care costs.
Question 2: I don't really care what Tennessee or Missouri spend on their students. We Vermonters will value the education of our children the way we value it. BUT we do need to get control of our spending. It is unsustainable and must be remedied. 1. Decouple healthcare from the rapacious insurance market. It is not a free market and should not be given the respect of one. (Yes, like our roads and our military, let's socialize it) 2. Eliminate the requirement to attend the last two years of high school. For anyone spending time in a modern high school, there are enormous amount of hours that are completely wasted, where nothing is learned and nothing is done. It is a waste of time. It is a waste of human energy. Many students are ready to work and be a part of society by the time they are 16. Let them. Provide centralized schools for the ones who are academically motivated and who want those last two years to prepare for their life. We will eliminate 1/2 the student population for the last two years of school. Plus, academically motivated students are much easier to teach and exhibit many less behavior issues which would allow much higher student to teacher ratios.
question 3. Are you kidding me? This question is so myopic. Let's just not teach them anything about the world, because they might want to see it. If people want to leave, let them. Vermont is not an easy place to live. While young people are leaving Vermont, older boomer baby types who complain about school taxes and wind turbines are moving in. The gentrification of Vermont. You can't talk about one without the other. (oh yeah, is there any study on young Vermonters who move away and then RETURN?)
Although I accept your general point of declining educational expectations, the Kansas test is bunk for two reasons and here is a good explanation why: http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.asp
I think the real reason is television and marketing, but that is a story for another day.
And please, quit ranting against the arm-waving psychobabble when 2/3's of your post is just that.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
nuclear waste=evil part 2
And here is a continuation of the previous conversation:
http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2010/02/take-a-breath.html?cid=6a00d834519c3c69e2012877903b84970c#comment-form
Daniel Foty says:
"That health care is a "right," but electricity is an optional and unnecessary extravagance?"
Well, you got it half right. I do believe that health care should be considered an inalienable right. It is not an issue that our founding fathers dealt with and I feel we, the people, need to protect the equitable access to that right (which is NOT happening now with the private/public mess that we have now).
In concerns to electricity, I never claimed that “electricity is an optional and unnecessary extravagance”. What I did mean to convey is that we can be a lot less dependent on the corporate/state to provide this need when independent sources and local production of electricity are available and through CONSERVATION which means that we can learn to use less. I believe in the decentralized view of INDEPENDENT or town-based sources of electricity. I believe that this is one of the core values of a libertarian/conservative view of governance: the promotion of individual freedom and local control of our mechanisms of survival. Dependence on large centralized corporate/governmental organizations is something I associate with the Democratic philosophy.
It is the discrepancy conservatives present that we need less gov’t influence and we need to eliminate the welfare/nanny state, but make sure you give me the cheapest electricity in the world. How can a conservative/libertarian view favor centralized top-down control of one of our modern day resources when independent, decentralized sources are available to the average citizen? I want my gov’t working on providing decentralized sources of energy and moving away from the centralized positions that are being currently advocated by people on this site and within our Republican administration.
The Brattleboro Conservative says: “Where were you and your enviro-twit friends when the plant was first proposed, in diapers perhaps?”
Well, your enviro-twit comment is quite rude and disrespectful. I am too young to have been an influence on the building of VY, but I am not too young to remember swimming between the turds that use to float on our local rivers. You and I can thank the “enviro-twits” (you can include such luminaries as George Aiken and David Deane among many other traditional conservatives in that category) to raising awareness and taking action to clean our rivers and waterways, and to clean the air we breathe and to clean the sides of our roads. They have produced real, beneficial results for our society, which is more than I can say about your attitude.
http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2010/02/take-a-breath.html?cid=6a00d834519c3c69e2012877903b84970c#comment-form
Daniel Foty says:
"That health care is a "right," but electricity is an optional and unnecessary extravagance?"
Well, you got it half right. I do believe that health care should be considered an inalienable right. It is not an issue that our founding fathers dealt with and I feel we, the people, need to protect the equitable access to that right (which is NOT happening now with the private/public mess that we have now).
In concerns to electricity, I never claimed that “electricity is an optional and unnecessary extravagance”. What I did mean to convey is that we can be a lot less dependent on the corporate/state to provide this need when independent sources and local production of electricity are available and through CONSERVATION which means that we can learn to use less. I believe in the decentralized view of INDEPENDENT or town-based sources of electricity. I believe that this is one of the core values of a libertarian/conservative view of governance: the promotion of individual freedom and local control of our mechanisms of survival. Dependence on large centralized corporate/governmental organizations is something I associate with the Democratic philosophy.
It is the discrepancy conservatives present that we need less gov’t influence and we need to eliminate the welfare/nanny state, but make sure you give me the cheapest electricity in the world. How can a conservative/libertarian view favor centralized top-down control of one of our modern day resources when independent, decentralized sources are available to the average citizen? I want my gov’t working on providing decentralized sources of energy and moving away from the centralized positions that are being currently advocated by people on this site and within our Republican administration.
The Brattleboro Conservative says: “Where were you and your enviro-twit friends when the plant was first proposed, in diapers perhaps?”
Well, your enviro-twit comment is quite rude and disrespectful. I am too young to have been an influence on the building of VY, but I am not too young to remember swimming between the turds that use to float on our local rivers. You and I can thank the “enviro-twits” (you can include such luminaries as George Aiken and David Deane among many other traditional conservatives in that category) to raising awareness and taking action to clean our rivers and waterways, and to clean the air we breathe and to clean the sides of our roads. They have produced real, beneficial results for our society, which is more than I can say about your attitude.
Monday, February 8, 2010
nuclear waste=evil
This is a response to the conservative blog VermontTiger:
http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2010/02/take-a-breath.html
I am disturbed by this conversation on several levels:
1. First and foremost; how can anyone talk about nuclear power without even mentioning radioactive waste? This is irresponsible to the core. The fact of the matter is that our self-indulgent, short-sighted, me-now culture cannot even talk about how we are creating a radioactive dead zone that will stay here on the beautiful banks of the Connecticut River for MILLENIA. There is no action that we are taking that is so profoundly bad for our future generations then the creation of such an evil by-product. This factor alone should eliminate any desire to build more nuclear power plants.
2. My Confusion: It is here, on the VermontTiger, that I was first introduced to the controversy that CO2 may not even be a factor in climate change (Thanks to Daniel Foty). But while my skepticism grows (I’m not totally convinced), there are others that are using reduced CO2 emissions to promote the growth of the nuclear industry. Which is it, VermontTiger? You can’t have it both ways (without being hypocritical).
3. Green Jobs: This moniker has become completely meaningless since it means whatever the speaker wants when they want it.
4. The rap against renewable energy: While, yes, the creation of solar panels is not the “greenest” of processes, much of that is tied to the use of aluminum as well as purifying silicon. Do the opinionators of this website suggest we shut down all industry that is reliant on these two resources? What would that do with our business/technology industry as a whole? Anyways, anything in the manufacturing of solar panels is small potatoes compared to the hazards of uranium mining and purification. Solar panels when they are installed will produce very clean energy for an undetermined time (the first commercial panels from the 70’s are still producing). Renewable energy also means hydropower, biomass, passive solar and solar hot water, all technologies with a low chemical footprint.
5. Probably the most disappointing aspect of this conversation is the sense of ENTITLEMENT people feel to endlessly receive unlimited amounts of cheap electricity. Vermonters survived quite well without electricity for nearly 200 years. Now, we feel the state must guarantee us cheap limitless power. Plus, there are many who feel that through measures of private and public CONSERVATION, we could significantly reduce our electricity needs. But, of course, our Republican administration favors cuts in our energy efficiency programs. And in regard to wind turbines marring our landscape, have you ever heard anyone refuse to come to VT because of those hideous powerlines scarring our mountainsides? Or those terrible scars cut by ski areas into the sides of our mountains? Or how we’ve criss-crossed our entire state with that black gooey tar?
It seems natural to me that CONSERVATIVES would be into CONSERVATION, not a technology that will leave a poisoned landscape for millennia of generations.
http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2010/02/take-a-breath.html
I am disturbed by this conversation on several levels:
1. First and foremost; how can anyone talk about nuclear power without even mentioning radioactive waste? This is irresponsible to the core. The fact of the matter is that our self-indulgent, short-sighted, me-now culture cannot even talk about how we are creating a radioactive dead zone that will stay here on the beautiful banks of the Connecticut River for MILLENIA. There is no action that we are taking that is so profoundly bad for our future generations then the creation of such an evil by-product. This factor alone should eliminate any desire to build more nuclear power plants.
2. My Confusion: It is here, on the VermontTiger, that I was first introduced to the controversy that CO2 may not even be a factor in climate change (Thanks to Daniel Foty). But while my skepticism grows (I’m not totally convinced), there are others that are using reduced CO2 emissions to promote the growth of the nuclear industry. Which is it, VermontTiger? You can’t have it both ways (without being hypocritical).
3. Green Jobs: This moniker has become completely meaningless since it means whatever the speaker wants when they want it.
4. The rap against renewable energy: While, yes, the creation of solar panels is not the “greenest” of processes, much of that is tied to the use of aluminum as well as purifying silicon. Do the opinionators of this website suggest we shut down all industry that is reliant on these two resources? What would that do with our business/technology industry as a whole? Anyways, anything in the manufacturing of solar panels is small potatoes compared to the hazards of uranium mining and purification. Solar panels when they are installed will produce very clean energy for an undetermined time (the first commercial panels from the 70’s are still producing). Renewable energy also means hydropower, biomass, passive solar and solar hot water, all technologies with a low chemical footprint.
5. Probably the most disappointing aspect of this conversation is the sense of ENTITLEMENT people feel to endlessly receive unlimited amounts of cheap electricity. Vermonters survived quite well without electricity for nearly 200 years. Now, we feel the state must guarantee us cheap limitless power. Plus, there are many who feel that through measures of private and public CONSERVATION, we could significantly reduce our electricity needs. But, of course, our Republican administration favors cuts in our energy efficiency programs. And in regard to wind turbines marring our landscape, have you ever heard anyone refuse to come to VT because of those hideous powerlines scarring our mountainsides? Or those terrible scars cut by ski areas into the sides of our mountains? Or how we’ve criss-crossed our entire state with that black gooey tar?
It seems natural to me that CONSERVATIVES would be into CONSERVATION, not a technology that will leave a poisoned landscape for millennia of generations.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
I Am an Environmentalist
Here are a couple of comments I posted on the conservative vermont tiger website.
http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2010/01/jihad-greened.html
Post #1
I consider myself an environmentalist because I want to leave the best looking planet that I can for my children. I take great offense at being associated with "fascism". To associate people who are trying to leave a better future for our children by taking care of our world deserve better than to be associated with the likes of Hitler and Mussolini. It's a cheap shot. I remember swimming between the effluence of untreated sewage during the 70's in Vermont and am encouraged by the successes of the environmental movement in my lifetime. I thought this website was about the future of Vermont, not the "how many creative names can I come up with against Gore and anyone possibly associated with 'the left'" website. Disappointing.
PS. Not that I am a fan of anyone who holds the Imperial Throne of America, but do people not remember that Bush left our economy in a very scary freefall, massive deficits (remember when those eviro-fascist democrats balanced the budget?), and two unending wars? It seems every Republican has chosen to forget that to try to paint Obama as the anti-Christ. Pathetic.
Post #2
http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2010/01/jihad-greened.html
“but the factual realities on the ground are sound on this one.”
Really? While I can see your point regarding media manipulation, and in creating a fear monster (drastic climate change), they are a long way from the brutal, vicious thuggery exhibited by the fascists (Hitler, Mussolini, Franco). What are the “environmentalists” being charged with? Trying to manipulate gov’t policy for their own monetary gain? There is a long historical list that can be put into that category (the defense industry comes to mind). Are they being charged as totalitarians because of their wanting to change our oil addicted society into a culture that is more harmonious with its surroundings? Hardly Hitlerian. This conversation will make more sense when our soldiers have Sierra Club badges sewn into their uniforms. But if you want to find fascism, start with looking at who is funding all the private security firms that are now taking over many of the roles that our military once did.
“I was also in Nairobi not that long ago - and the contrast is stark. Every vehicle in Nairobi belches black smoke, the roads are in such poor shape that traffic kicks up vast clouds of red dust, poverty makes "civic cleanliness" impossible, etc.”
This statement is so out of whack of any kind of context, cultural, governmental or historical that it is difficult to take it all in. How about good gov’t regulation? How does Kenya compare to the US’s? What about corruption? What about the historical context of an exploited people who’s only westernizing efforts only extended as far as the white masters verandah? What about the individual’s right to property? What about the civil liberties guaranteed by our Bill of Rights? Are these things present, or historically present in Kenya? Did you spend time in the SouthEast district of DC? What about the back streets of Baltimore? I suppose its all in your perspective.
“they know where they need to go - and "green jobs" weren't on the agenda. It was quite refreshing to hear.”
Why is it ok to subsidize oil and coal industries, vast centralized electrical grids, small businesses, large corporations and our usurious banking system, yet not technologies that support independent de-localized energy production? I thought conservative ideology believes in individual freedom and localized power structures (instead of centralized structures) and I support efforts of our government to help secure those localized individual freedoms. Solar panels on my roof help free me from my dependence on large corporate entities to spoon feed me my essential needs.
http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2010/01/jihad-greened.html
Post #1
I consider myself an environmentalist because I want to leave the best looking planet that I can for my children. I take great offense at being associated with "fascism". To associate people who are trying to leave a better future for our children by taking care of our world deserve better than to be associated with the likes of Hitler and Mussolini. It's a cheap shot. I remember swimming between the effluence of untreated sewage during the 70's in Vermont and am encouraged by the successes of the environmental movement in my lifetime. I thought this website was about the future of Vermont, not the "how many creative names can I come up with against Gore and anyone possibly associated with 'the left'" website. Disappointing.
PS. Not that I am a fan of anyone who holds the Imperial Throne of America, but do people not remember that Bush left our economy in a very scary freefall, massive deficits (remember when those eviro-fascist democrats balanced the budget?), and two unending wars? It seems every Republican has chosen to forget that to try to paint Obama as the anti-Christ. Pathetic.
Post #2
http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2010/01/jihad-greened.html
“but the factual realities on the ground are sound on this one.”
Really? While I can see your point regarding media manipulation, and in creating a fear monster (drastic climate change), they are a long way from the brutal, vicious thuggery exhibited by the fascists (Hitler, Mussolini, Franco). What are the “environmentalists” being charged with? Trying to manipulate gov’t policy for their own monetary gain? There is a long historical list that can be put into that category (the defense industry comes to mind). Are they being charged as totalitarians because of their wanting to change our oil addicted society into a culture that is more harmonious with its surroundings? Hardly Hitlerian. This conversation will make more sense when our soldiers have Sierra Club badges sewn into their uniforms. But if you want to find fascism, start with looking at who is funding all the private security firms that are now taking over many of the roles that our military once did.
“I was also in Nairobi not that long ago - and the contrast is stark. Every vehicle in Nairobi belches black smoke, the roads are in such poor shape that traffic kicks up vast clouds of red dust, poverty makes "civic cleanliness" impossible, etc.”
This statement is so out of whack of any kind of context, cultural, governmental or historical that it is difficult to take it all in. How about good gov’t regulation? How does Kenya compare to the US’s? What about corruption? What about the historical context of an exploited people who’s only westernizing efforts only extended as far as the white masters verandah? What about the individual’s right to property? What about the civil liberties guaranteed by our Bill of Rights? Are these things present, or historically present in Kenya? Did you spend time in the SouthEast district of DC? What about the back streets of Baltimore? I suppose its all in your perspective.
“they know where they need to go - and "green jobs" weren't on the agenda. It was quite refreshing to hear.”
Why is it ok to subsidize oil and coal industries, vast centralized electrical grids, small businesses, large corporations and our usurious banking system, yet not technologies that support independent de-localized energy production? I thought conservative ideology believes in individual freedom and localized power structures (instead of centralized structures) and I support efforts of our government to help secure those localized individual freedoms. Solar panels on my roof help free me from my dependence on large corporate entities to spoon feed me my essential needs.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
health care debate returns
This is part of a response I posted on The Vermont Tiger (http://www.vermonttiger.com/content/2010/01/the-message-for-montpelier.html)
Food is a need. I can grow my own. Shelter is a need. I can build my own. Health care is a need. I cannot cure sickness. I hear the criticisms of gov’t run anything, but the fact of the matter is that my father recently walked into the VA hospital in White River and described it as the best hospital experience he’s personally experienced and my mother recently completed successful lung cancer surgery (she’s a non-smoker, by the way) with the benefit of Medicaid. I would hate to think of what the experience would have been like if she had only the health insurance she could afford at 70 years of age with her earnings from her self-employed full time housecleaning work. Now, while I’m not a big fan of anecdotes to prove a point, these personal experiences do color my beliefs. The gov’t system worked. No generality can change that experience. Frankly, I would rather entrust my health care to a system that is designed to be “of the people, by the people and for the people” than to greedy capitalists who are only in it for the buck. Face up to it; insurance companies sacrifice people’s lives to save money. One of the ironies of our national discussion is the Republican fear that our gov’t will ration our care. What they don’t recognize is that insurance companies already do ration our care. But that is a topic for a different time. What we are talking about is the role of the gov’t in our health care system. We define what that role is because it is our gov’t. Does Tom Jefferson’s expression of “inalienable rights endowed by our Creator” only refer to political rights? That is illogical. Our Creator has created more “inalienable rights” than are listed in the Bill of Rights. Our gov’t’s role is to provide protection to the right of equitable access to our modern health care system. Our current system of depending on capitalists is failing in that protection. Too many people go without equitable access. Depending on private industry has failed. It’s time to move on.
Food is a need. I can grow my own. Shelter is a need. I can build my own. Health care is a need. I cannot cure sickness. I hear the criticisms of gov’t run anything, but the fact of the matter is that my father recently walked into the VA hospital in White River and described it as the best hospital experience he’s personally experienced and my mother recently completed successful lung cancer surgery (she’s a non-smoker, by the way) with the benefit of Medicaid. I would hate to think of what the experience would have been like if she had only the health insurance she could afford at 70 years of age with her earnings from her self-employed full time housecleaning work. Now, while I’m not a big fan of anecdotes to prove a point, these personal experiences do color my beliefs. The gov’t system worked. No generality can change that experience. Frankly, I would rather entrust my health care to a system that is designed to be “of the people, by the people and for the people” than to greedy capitalists who are only in it for the buck. Face up to it; insurance companies sacrifice people’s lives to save money. One of the ironies of our national discussion is the Republican fear that our gov’t will ration our care. What they don’t recognize is that insurance companies already do ration our care. But that is a topic for a different time. What we are talking about is the role of the gov’t in our health care system. We define what that role is because it is our gov’t. Does Tom Jefferson’s expression of “inalienable rights endowed by our Creator” only refer to political rights? That is illogical. Our Creator has created more “inalienable rights” than are listed in the Bill of Rights. Our gov’t’s role is to provide protection to the right of equitable access to our modern health care system. Our current system of depending on capitalists is failing in that protection. Too many people go without equitable access. Depending on private industry has failed. It’s time to move on.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
peak oil update
Oil is on the rise again. Note how volatility in the market is expected for the coming year. Demand is expected to increase due to rising consumption associated with the expected economic recovery. This means that our economic demand is dependent on economic stability. Due to instability in world markets, this means that there are going to be large fluctuations in the demand, the supply and the cost of oil. We have seen (are seeing) this happen before (right now). We will continue to see volatility in the oil market until the entire system crashes. This is a result of the peak oil syndrome. We will never run out of oil. This is because our socio-economic system will crash long before all the oil is gone. We use nearly 20 million barrels of oil a day. What would our society look like if we had to reduce to 15 million barrels a day? What about 5 million (just about as much as we produced in 2009)? The collapse of our society, as we know it, is inevitable. What are you doing about it? As always, the solutions lie within our selves. It is us that will need to create the solutions to our current and future crises.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Peak Oil: the doomsday diatribe (part 1 of 3)
“It’s the end of the world as we know it
and I feel fine.”
REM
Peak Oil, muthaf’ers, is the concept that we (as the entire world), have used up half of the world’s oil supplies. Why does this matter? Because the first half of the world’s supply was the CHEAP and EASY half, while the second half will be the HARD and EXPENSIVE half. Now think of how much our society depends on the presence of cheap petroleum. From our plastics to our clothing to our electronics to $.99 drive-thru shitburgers to the fact that everything in our supply chain of services and products are somehow reliant on the use of petroleum for TRANSPORTATION. Add to this that the only way the world’s breadbaskets can produce enough calories for the world to support 6.7 billion people is through the use of highly effective petroleum based fertilizer and petroleum based machinery, and you begin to understand how dependent the world is on petroleum for our basic survival needs. Everything is going to get tighter, more expensive, more difficult to get and the Fed printing more and more paper money will not save us.
A few facts to consider:
• the US reached peak oil in 1970, producing over 9 million barrels per day
• we now produce around 5 mbpd
• we consume around 20 mbpd
• We need to import the other 15 mpbd
• transportation accounts for 71% of our crude oil consumption
• Three of our top 5 importers have reached peak oil (Venezuala 1970, Mexico 2004, Nigeria 2005)
• Peak Oil for the world is inevitable; it is only the timing that is in question.
As all nations try to emulate the US in our advanced modern capitalistic society, they also proportionally emulate our energy needs (think China and India). Now here is a question to ponder. What is going to happen when the consumption rates of our top importers outgrows their excess production capabilities? (the answer: they will stop importing to the US). As Mexico’s oil production slides down the back side of Hubbert’s bell curve, and its consumption of oil remains constant (or increases), their ability to export to the US will disappear.
We are living at the end of the age of Cheap Oil. We are at the beginning of a profound cultural change and whether we like it or not, we are beginning the transition into a post-oil world. Rob Hopkins talks about three possibilities in his book The Transition Handbook: 1. Long-Term Transition where a 50% reduction in oil consumption over the next 20 years allows us to gradually grow our post-oil culture, 2. Oil Shock where severe supply disruptions and price hikes produce “periodic sustained emergencies”, and 3. Disintegration where the impacts of oil deprivation become so severe that the “fabric of society begins to unravel, leading to socially catastrophic competition for scarce resources, including food shelter and energy”. Which scenario would you like to see? Which scenario do your lifestyle habits support?
Get educated. Our window of figuring this out is shrinking quicker than we think. The day most people will realize what is happening is the day the shovel hits the face. Wikipedia has a good overview of Peak Oil, while The Oil Drum provides easily understood technical and analytical discussions on the topic. Remember, it is our ability to create local solutions to local issues that are going to help us transition through our upcoming crises. Next diatribe: Climate Change.
Peace,
thevermontpatriot
and I feel fine.”
REM
Peak Oil, muthaf’ers, is the concept that we (as the entire world), have used up half of the world’s oil supplies. Why does this matter? Because the first half of the world’s supply was the CHEAP and EASY half, while the second half will be the HARD and EXPENSIVE half. Now think of how much our society depends on the presence of cheap petroleum. From our plastics to our clothing to our electronics to $.99 drive-thru shitburgers to the fact that everything in our supply chain of services and products are somehow reliant on the use of petroleum for TRANSPORTATION. Add to this that the only way the world’s breadbaskets can produce enough calories for the world to support 6.7 billion people is through the use of highly effective petroleum based fertilizer and petroleum based machinery, and you begin to understand how dependent the world is on petroleum for our basic survival needs. Everything is going to get tighter, more expensive, more difficult to get and the Fed printing more and more paper money will not save us.
A few facts to consider:
• the US reached peak oil in 1970, producing over 9 million barrels per day
• we now produce around 5 mbpd
• we consume around 20 mbpd
• We need to import the other 15 mpbd
• transportation accounts for 71% of our crude oil consumption
• Three of our top 5 importers have reached peak oil (Venezuala 1970, Mexico 2004, Nigeria 2005)
• Peak Oil for the world is inevitable; it is only the timing that is in question.
As all nations try to emulate the US in our advanced modern capitalistic society, they also proportionally emulate our energy needs (think China and India). Now here is a question to ponder. What is going to happen when the consumption rates of our top importers outgrows their excess production capabilities? (the answer: they will stop importing to the US). As Mexico’s oil production slides down the back side of Hubbert’s bell curve, and its consumption of oil remains constant (or increases), their ability to export to the US will disappear.
We are living at the end of the age of Cheap Oil. We are at the beginning of a profound cultural change and whether we like it or not, we are beginning the transition into a post-oil world. Rob Hopkins talks about three possibilities in his book The Transition Handbook: 1. Long-Term Transition where a 50% reduction in oil consumption over the next 20 years allows us to gradually grow our post-oil culture, 2. Oil Shock where severe supply disruptions and price hikes produce “periodic sustained emergencies”, and 3. Disintegration where the impacts of oil deprivation become so severe that the “fabric of society begins to unravel, leading to socially catastrophic competition for scarce resources, including food shelter and energy”. Which scenario would you like to see? Which scenario do your lifestyle habits support?Get educated. Our window of figuring this out is shrinking quicker than we think. The day most people will realize what is happening is the day the shovel hits the face. Wikipedia has a good overview of Peak Oil, while The Oil Drum provides easily understood technical and analytical discussions on the topic. Remember, it is our ability to create local solutions to local issues that are going to help us transition through our upcoming crises. Next diatribe: Climate Change.
Peace,
thevermontpatriot
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Positive Transition
Thank you all for taking the time to read this blog. I especially thank those who have taken the time to provide an on-going commentary to my original posts. They are thought provoking and informative.
My mother read the first posts and she said "You need to be more positive". I intend, in this blog, to focus on the ever-deepening crisis that is beginning to affect the United States as well as the world as a whole. At times, it will be difficult to focus on the positives while detailing the elements of the collapse of our known civilization. We are experiencing change on a scale rarely seen in human and global history. I do believe there are inherent positives in this process. We will, by necessity, become kinder to our planet, our global empire based on human exploitation will fail due to its overreach and we will learn that it is only our local communities that can provide the emotional, spiritual and physical needs of our survival.
Here will be the constant message: a local community based democracy, confederated with other local community based democracies is the only way to provide solutions that can honestly and effectively meet our community needs. Healthcare is a local issue, food is a local issue, energy is a local issue, everything is a local issue: it is our parents, it is our children, it is our neighbors, it is our selves that we will need to depend upon to survive the impending transition.
Another constant message: it is through the perfect storm of peak oil (see Chris Martenson's crash course), massive environmental degradation (i.e. climate change, water supplies, food supplies) and over-population that our society will be irrevocably changed. When the shit goes down (and it will go down), it is only ourselves who can provide any relevant solution. Ultimately, that is the hope that I provide as an answer to my mother: through local collaboration, we can provide a more egalitarian, a more just and a better quality of life. I implore each and every one of you to commit yourselves to this cause. It truly is our only hope.
Here is an excerpt from the Vermont Commons, a bi-monthly newspaper dedicated to creating strong, local community governance through the act of secession. This excerpt, by Adrian Kuzminski, succinctly explains the historical context that can help guide us to a better form of governance:
Here is a link to the full article: Vermont - The First Populist Republic.
My mother read the first posts and she said "You need to be more positive". I intend, in this blog, to focus on the ever-deepening crisis that is beginning to affect the United States as well as the world as a whole. At times, it will be difficult to focus on the positives while detailing the elements of the collapse of our known civilization. We are experiencing change on a scale rarely seen in human and global history. I do believe there are inherent positives in this process. We will, by necessity, become kinder to our planet, our global empire based on human exploitation will fail due to its overreach and we will learn that it is only our local communities that can provide the emotional, spiritual and physical needs of our survival.
Here will be the constant message: a local community based democracy, confederated with other local community based democracies is the only way to provide solutions that can honestly and effectively meet our community needs. Healthcare is a local issue, food is a local issue, energy is a local issue, everything is a local issue: it is our parents, it is our children, it is our neighbors, it is our selves that we will need to depend upon to survive the impending transition.
Another constant message: it is through the perfect storm of peak oil (see Chris Martenson's crash course), massive environmental degradation (i.e. climate change, water supplies, food supplies) and over-population that our society will be irrevocably changed. When the shit goes down (and it will go down), it is only ourselves who can provide any relevant solution. Ultimately, that is the hope that I provide as an answer to my mother: through local collaboration, we can provide a more egalitarian, a more just and a better quality of life. I implore each and every one of you to commit yourselves to this cause. It truly is our only hope.
Here is an excerpt from the Vermont Commons, a bi-monthly newspaper dedicated to creating strong, local community governance through the act of secession. This excerpt, by Adrian Kuzminski, succinctly explains the historical context that can help guide us to a better form of governance:
Few Americans are aware that Vermont, the fourteenth state admitted to the Union in 1791, was not a colony like the others; it was a pre-existing independent republic spontaneously created by its residents who rejected the authority of neighboring colonies, particularly New York which had the strongest claim to its territory.
In its 14 years of formal independence, beginning in 1777, it very nearly fulfilled the textbook image of a society created voluntarily by free persons living in the state of nature – a favorite motif of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century social contract political philosophers. Texas, California, and Hawaii also enjoyed periods as independent republics, but Vermont's example reflects a greater equality of persons and resources. In the case of Vermont, in the face of a trend toward oligarchy in America evident even in the eighteenth century – an egalitarian, democratic community for a time found almost complete realization.
Here is a link to the full article: Vermont - The First Populist Republic.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Homer's Healthcare
America's health care system is second only to Japan ... Canada, Sweden, Great Britain ... well, all of Europe. But you can thank your lucky stars we don't live in Paraguay! Homer Simpson
Healthcare is a right. It is not a privilege. If we are so unlucky as to be mauled in a car accident, one hopes they are not to be asked who they are before they receive any sort of medical attention. Can you imagine an ambulance driving away without you because you were not the correct member of society? As a society, we believe that we must help each and every one of us. We know this is true because we would expect the help if we were the one mauled in that car accident. If this premise is accepted, (and frankly it is only a recently perceived right compared to the ancient rights of speech, public assembly, habeus corpus, etc…), then one must demand that our self-elected gov’t guarantees that right. For is that not what our gov’t must do? to protect our rights? is not that what our Founding Fathers fought for? that the great ideals of freedom, liberty and democracy would guarantee these rights?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Thomas Jefferson The Declaration of Independence 1776
The idea that someone is making enormous amounts of fat money off of my sick and dying family and neighbors is intolerable. It is immoral. And it really angers me. While people scream about keeping gov’t out of our healthcare, gov’t programs are quietly working for us everyday: Medicare, Medicaid, the VA system and here in Vermont we have Dr. Dynosaur which keeps 98% of children insured. Gov’t programs work. Private industry has failed to guarantee health care for every citizen. They have proven to be notoriously unreliable, intrusive and self-interested. Our healthcare model is horrible. According to the CIA World Factbook, we rank 47th in infant mortality. Why does Iceland have a three times better rate than we do? Almost any reform is good reform.
The persistent difficulty is how do we afford it? This is only going to become more difficult as the baby boomer generation continues to age. Once we realize that public health care is a basic human right (why do we guarantee education but not health care?) we then will figure it out. Our society is not going to abandon healthcare because we are going to add another trillion over ten years to our national debt. It will not make our national gov’t go bankrupt (see chrismartenson.com’s crash course to see why we are going to go bankrupt!). There are many better models around the world from Switzerland to Singapore where the average citizen is getting better health care than here in the USA.
I believe that Washington DC will fail to bring meaningful reform to our healthcare system. They will not be able to recognize that healthcare is a basic human right. The rich will continue to get richer and the poor will be saddled with overworked primary care staff or emergency room-only visits (which, by the way, was George W. Bush’s version of universal healthcare). Insurers will continue to drop clients and they will continue to heavily influence the decisions made in the doctors office. Truly it is time we stop looking to Washington DC for the answers but begin to look to ourselves for the solution. As climate change and global restructuring takes place, it is only ourselves that will be able to create the answers. This is why I believe we must separate from the cancer that is the home to our global empire, Washington DC. This is why I believe we must secede and once again become independent.
I will close with the very next sentence after the above quote from the Declaration of Independence:
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness".
thevermontpatriot
Healthcare is a right. It is not a privilege. If we are so unlucky as to be mauled in a car accident, one hopes they are not to be asked who they are before they receive any sort of medical attention. Can you imagine an ambulance driving away without you because you were not the correct member of society? As a society, we believe that we must help each and every one of us. We know this is true because we would expect the help if we were the one mauled in that car accident. If this premise is accepted, (and frankly it is only a recently perceived right compared to the ancient rights of speech, public assembly, habeus corpus, etc…), then one must demand that our self-elected gov’t guarantees that right. For is that not what our gov’t must do? to protect our rights? is not that what our Founding Fathers fought for? that the great ideals of freedom, liberty and democracy would guarantee these rights?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Thomas Jefferson The Declaration of Independence 1776
The idea that someone is making enormous amounts of fat money off of my sick and dying family and neighbors is intolerable. It is immoral. And it really angers me. While people scream about keeping gov’t out of our healthcare, gov’t programs are quietly working for us everyday: Medicare, Medicaid, the VA system and here in Vermont we have Dr. Dynosaur which keeps 98% of children insured. Gov’t programs work. Private industry has failed to guarantee health care for every citizen. They have proven to be notoriously unreliable, intrusive and self-interested. Our healthcare model is horrible. According to the CIA World Factbook, we rank 47th in infant mortality. Why does Iceland have a three times better rate than we do? Almost any reform is good reform.
The persistent difficulty is how do we afford it? This is only going to become more difficult as the baby boomer generation continues to age. Once we realize that public health care is a basic human right (why do we guarantee education but not health care?) we then will figure it out. Our society is not going to abandon healthcare because we are going to add another trillion over ten years to our national debt. It will not make our national gov’t go bankrupt (see chrismartenson.com’s crash course to see why we are going to go bankrupt!). There are many better models around the world from Switzerland to Singapore where the average citizen is getting better health care than here in the USA.
I believe that Washington DC will fail to bring meaningful reform to our healthcare system. They will not be able to recognize that healthcare is a basic human right. The rich will continue to get richer and the poor will be saddled with overworked primary care staff or emergency room-only visits (which, by the way, was George W. Bush’s version of universal healthcare). Insurers will continue to drop clients and they will continue to heavily influence the decisions made in the doctors office. Truly it is time we stop looking to Washington DC for the answers but begin to look to ourselves for the solution. As climate change and global restructuring takes place, it is only ourselves that will be able to create the answers. This is why I believe we must separate from the cancer that is the home to our global empire, Washington DC. This is why I believe we must secede and once again become independent.
I will close with the very next sentence after the above quote from the Declaration of Independence:
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness".
thevermontpatriot
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Welcome/Introduction:
Thank you for taking the time to visit and participate in this blog. This is an experiment for me and I hope you can excuse any gross errors, wild rants and other various vulgarities. Especially beware any blog posted after 2 AM. Consider yourself forewarned.
In this blog I hope to provide a steady commentary on our society as it transitions from the 20th century version of industrialization and globalization into the 21st century unknown. I hope to use historical context to help understand current situations which will then help us understand possible future outcomes. What is causing our global crisis and why? What are the actions and motivations that are being expressed on the global stage? What can you and I do that will make a difference? How can we prepare ourselves for the unknown future?
My basic premise is that when (not if, but when) global systems fail due to the perfect storm of peak oil, overpopulation and environmental degradation, it is you and me that will be responsible for the continuing survival of our progeny and our communities. Always, we must ask: what skills do I have that will help me survive when our global transportation system breaks down and our supermarket shelves become empty? What will you do when the sea levels rise a couple of feet and our coastal cities will have to evacuate? What will happen when the world’s 5th largest economy (California) experiences “the big one” and fails to function? Do you think our gov’t in Washington DC can effectively handle that crisis? Do you think the mass starvation of billions of people worldwide will affect your life?
We are on the edge of a re-awakening as our current global social system begins to disintegrate; we see the evidence everyday in the news and at the gas station. I believe that a localized communitarian based democracy is the only form of gov’t that will lead us through the looming crisis. Sustainability in every action is the key to our survival. It is my hope, through this blog, to educate, influence and inspire both common thought and common action towards a more egalitarian, communal and peaceful society.
Congratulations, by completing this post, you have passed the ADHD test. Make sure you take the poll and check out the links for lots more information.
Peace,
the vermont patriot
In this blog I hope to provide a steady commentary on our society as it transitions from the 20th century version of industrialization and globalization into the 21st century unknown. I hope to use historical context to help understand current situations which will then help us understand possible future outcomes. What is causing our global crisis and why? What are the actions and motivations that are being expressed on the global stage? What can you and I do that will make a difference? How can we prepare ourselves for the unknown future?
My basic premise is that when (not if, but when) global systems fail due to the perfect storm of peak oil, overpopulation and environmental degradation, it is you and me that will be responsible for the continuing survival of our progeny and our communities. Always, we must ask: what skills do I have that will help me survive when our global transportation system breaks down and our supermarket shelves become empty? What will you do when the sea levels rise a couple of feet and our coastal cities will have to evacuate? What will happen when the world’s 5th largest economy (California) experiences “the big one” and fails to function? Do you think our gov’t in Washington DC can effectively handle that crisis? Do you think the mass starvation of billions of people worldwide will affect your life?
We are on the edge of a re-awakening as our current global social system begins to disintegrate; we see the evidence everyday in the news and at the gas station. I believe that a localized communitarian based democracy is the only form of gov’t that will lead us through the looming crisis. Sustainability in every action is the key to our survival. It is my hope, through this blog, to educate, influence and inspire both common thought and common action towards a more egalitarian, communal and peaceful society.
Congratulations, by completing this post, you have passed the ADHD test. Make sure you take the poll and check out the links for lots more information.
Peace,
the vermont patriot
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Fear, Fascism and Healthcare
Into the depths of our future unknown, we turn to our inner primal fears. We lash and claw and bite at the very mechanism of our solutions. We live in an unsustainable culture: peak oil, over-population and massive worldwide environmental degradation guarantee the collapse of our society as we know it. There is no avoiding it, there is only delay.
Our current national health care debate is turning into a spectacle of ignorance, fear and brimming violence as the extreme right grows into the bullying fascism perfected by Hitler. One of the keys to understand contemporary American fascism (see Naomi Wolf’s “The End of America” for a good outline) is the insipid relationship between corporations and the American government. Hitler groveled to the German steel industry for their support and their money and the Krupps, etc. quite happily supported his visionary militarism. More guns mean more sales mean more money for the corporate execs. This intertwining of private interests and public policy is a constant throughout American history ever since Shay’s Rebellion taught the framers of the US constitution that government had an important role in protecting corporate interests.
So when we see Democratic Senator Max Baucus of Montana holding up the health care bill, one must consider the fact that he is the leading recipient of campaign money from the ”health care” industry. Could it be that the $3 million dollars that he has received will influence how he behaves in the backrooms of the Senate? Could it be that his sponsors would use their influence to change his behavior? Does Max Baucus act in the interests of his constituents as well as the rest of America or is he more interested in currying the favors of his corporate donors?
It is true that gov’t programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the VA run much lower administration costs than do private industry. For one, they cannot payout the massive compensation that private industry executives receive. Private industry is designed to do only one thing: make money. Giving healthcare to people is antithetical to their bottom line. They give out only what they have to and they take whatever they can. So while healthcare executives fly around the world in their corporate jets dining on gold encrusted silverware, people are dying from lack of adequate healthcare (see DemocracyNow’s interview with Wendell Potter [http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/16/former_insurance_exec_wendell_porter]). It is also true that private insurers have a huge influence on what decisions doctors make for their patients, in fact, much more than any gov’t program. We are seeing Republicans and their far right conservative base using misinformation to reach into the depths of our collective primal fears to preserve the status quo of private industry controlling our health care solutions. Which everyone agrees is inefficient and failing. People are screaming to keep the gov’t out of the doctor’s office, but, by God, don’t touch their Medicare. Go figure.
What is their solution? You can only trust a corporate executive to do what corporate executives do: whatever it takes to preserve their wealth and their privileged way of life. The results of their actions among us commoners are not of their concern.
The question for the independent minded is: Do you believe that the powers in Washington DC can craft a moral and sustainable solution that will provide a benefit to the collective group of citizens we call Americans? A greater question then arises: Do you believe that the powers of Washington DC will be able to respond in a moral and sustainable manner while the world as we know it crumbles due to peak oil, over-population and environmental degradation? The answers are obvious. Look at New Orleans, look at the multi-trillion dollar bailout of the thieves who created the economic crisis, look at the oil/automobile industry, look at Honduras, look anywhere. The answers to our solution do not lie with the money lust greed of Washington DC and the global empire it represents. The solution lies with us, it lies with our neighbors and it lies in the skills of basic survival we must learn. FreeVermont. FreeYourself. Now.
Our current national health care debate is turning into a spectacle of ignorance, fear and brimming violence as the extreme right grows into the bullying fascism perfected by Hitler. One of the keys to understand contemporary American fascism (see Naomi Wolf’s “The End of America” for a good outline) is the insipid relationship between corporations and the American government. Hitler groveled to the German steel industry for their support and their money and the Krupps, etc. quite happily supported his visionary militarism. More guns mean more sales mean more money for the corporate execs. This intertwining of private interests and public policy is a constant throughout American history ever since Shay’s Rebellion taught the framers of the US constitution that government had an important role in protecting corporate interests.
So when we see Democratic Senator Max Baucus of Montana holding up the health care bill, one must consider the fact that he is the leading recipient of campaign money from the ”health care” industry. Could it be that the $3 million dollars that he has received will influence how he behaves in the backrooms of the Senate? Could it be that his sponsors would use their influence to change his behavior? Does Max Baucus act in the interests of his constituents as well as the rest of America or is he more interested in currying the favors of his corporate donors?
It is true that gov’t programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the VA run much lower administration costs than do private industry. For one, they cannot payout the massive compensation that private industry executives receive. Private industry is designed to do only one thing: make money. Giving healthcare to people is antithetical to their bottom line. They give out only what they have to and they take whatever they can. So while healthcare executives fly around the world in their corporate jets dining on gold encrusted silverware, people are dying from lack of adequate healthcare (see DemocracyNow’s interview with Wendell Potter [http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/16/former_insurance_exec_wendell_porter]). It is also true that private insurers have a huge influence on what decisions doctors make for their patients, in fact, much more than any gov’t program. We are seeing Republicans and their far right conservative base using misinformation to reach into the depths of our collective primal fears to preserve the status quo of private industry controlling our health care solutions. Which everyone agrees is inefficient and failing. People are screaming to keep the gov’t out of the doctor’s office, but, by God, don’t touch their Medicare. Go figure.
What is their solution? You can only trust a corporate executive to do what corporate executives do: whatever it takes to preserve their wealth and their privileged way of life. The results of their actions among us commoners are not of their concern.
The question for the independent minded is: Do you believe that the powers in Washington DC can craft a moral and sustainable solution that will provide a benefit to the collective group of citizens we call Americans? A greater question then arises: Do you believe that the powers of Washington DC will be able to respond in a moral and sustainable manner while the world as we know it crumbles due to peak oil, over-population and environmental degradation? The answers are obvious. Look at New Orleans, look at the multi-trillion dollar bailout of the thieves who created the economic crisis, look at the oil/automobile industry, look at Honduras, look anywhere. The answers to our solution do not lie with the money lust greed of Washington DC and the global empire it represents. The solution lies with us, it lies with our neighbors and it lies in the skills of basic survival we must learn. FreeVermont. FreeYourself. Now.
Friday, May 22, 2009
fucked!
I.
Watching the last vestiges of democracy
slipping
Into structure and order,
I am nervous;
the sham is almost complete,
II.
Lost into the void of apathy,
nothing matters but my footstep
keeping in time to the lockstep clock 8 am be at work leave by 4
go home, eat, sleep, do it all again.
Ahhhh, great Death dreams in America,
entrapment
enslavement
entertainment
Keep me happy with my 3 megapixel iphone
Keep me happy with my soft porn football cheerleaders
Keep me happy with masturbation gas pedal 0-60 in 5 seconds
Let us forget those 50’s acid dreams, martini-drinking CIA motherfuckers dosing every shitball prostitute whore heroin crack dealing assassinating anybody who dared fight the global corporate lustful greed money fuckers:
Fuck El Salvador
Fuck Guatemala
Fuck Panama
Fuck the Philippines
Fuck Venezuela
Fuck Iraq
Fuck Iran
Fuck Vietnam
Fuck Pakistan
Fuck the Congo
Fuck Malcolm X
and MLK jr.
Fuck the Kennedy’s
death bleeding hope in the asphalt streets
Fuck the Black Panthers
and the Kent State working class educated shot in the streets of America
Fuck the whole fucking British Empire whose centuries of immoral enslavement of impoverished colored people has been their evil perceived birthright that we have taken over since WW2. God fuck the corporate raping of the every corner of the planet all in the name of glory and greed/lust money and their motherfucking yacht sailing 2nd home in aspen, 3rd home in the caymans 4th home in the fucking Hamptons and their docking fees at the motherfucking Greenwich, CT sailing club.
Fuck you,
May you fucking burn in hell.
III.
Careful iterations of dream balling Vietnam sunsets of death shit smell gonorrhea love. How can the power of the privileged few control the destinies of so many billions? How could death dealing life reaming fire breathing money lusting greed fuck me? Governmental agencies spying, dosing, lying, torturing, detaining, whiskey-drinking passion till death do us part fuck the common man, fuck the public common, fuck the cooperative working together of humans dedicated to our peaceful coexistence. That is dangerous; you me working together. That is dangerous. The black man, the yellow man the red man, man after man after man. Fuck your black. Fuck your yellow. Fuck your red. And definitely fuck your white (knight) bullshit lust fantasy of superiority grasping for righteousness let your house burn until cleansed of your un-pure spirit.
IV.
We are already defeated before we start, yet I fuck your preconceptions and rebel within my mind while my body daydreams walking zombie through the day paycheck 9-5 bullshit that my eyes deny but my legs move forward and my breathe heaves with unawareness heart beat relentless without conviction. Fuck me, where did it all go wrong lust greed masturbation fuck yourself and fuck you. Lust. Greed. Cum-Fuck yourself.
Fuck! we can’t kill them all...
the insurance will cover.
V.
Life breaths in flowing waves green wind in rainbow sky sunset yellow beams of light thru forest of beech, maple, birch, pine and hemlock, spruce and yes, oak.
Watching the last vestiges of democracy
slipping
Into structure and order,
I am nervous;
the sham is almost complete,
II.
Lost into the void of apathy,
nothing matters but my footstep
keeping in time to the lockstep clock 8 am be at work leave by 4
go home, eat, sleep, do it all again.
Ahhhh, great Death dreams in America,
entrapment
enslavement
entertainment
Keep me happy with my 3 megapixel iphone
Keep me happy with my soft porn football cheerleaders
Keep me happy with masturbation gas pedal 0-60 in 5 seconds
Let us forget those 50’s acid dreams, martini-drinking CIA motherfuckers dosing every shitball prostitute whore heroin crack dealing assassinating anybody who dared fight the global corporate lustful greed money fuckers:
Fuck El Salvador
Fuck Guatemala
Fuck Panama
Fuck the Philippines
Fuck Venezuela
Fuck Iraq
Fuck Iran
Fuck Vietnam
Fuck Pakistan
Fuck the Congo
Fuck Malcolm X
and MLK jr.
Fuck the Kennedy’s
death bleeding hope in the asphalt streets
Fuck the Black Panthers
and the Kent State working class educated shot in the streets of America
Fuck the whole fucking British Empire whose centuries of immoral enslavement of impoverished colored people has been their evil perceived birthright that we have taken over since WW2. God fuck the corporate raping of the every corner of the planet all in the name of glory and greed/lust money and their motherfucking yacht sailing 2nd home in aspen, 3rd home in the caymans 4th home in the fucking Hamptons and their docking fees at the motherfucking Greenwich, CT sailing club.
Fuck you,
May you fucking burn in hell.
III.
Careful iterations of dream balling Vietnam sunsets of death shit smell gonorrhea love. How can the power of the privileged few control the destinies of so many billions? How could death dealing life reaming fire breathing money lusting greed fuck me? Governmental agencies spying, dosing, lying, torturing, detaining, whiskey-drinking passion till death do us part fuck the common man, fuck the public common, fuck the cooperative working together of humans dedicated to our peaceful coexistence. That is dangerous; you me working together. That is dangerous. The black man, the yellow man the red man, man after man after man. Fuck your black. Fuck your yellow. Fuck your red. And definitely fuck your white (knight) bullshit lust fantasy of superiority grasping for righteousness let your house burn until cleansed of your un-pure spirit.
IV.
We are already defeated before we start, yet I fuck your preconceptions and rebel within my mind while my body daydreams walking zombie through the day paycheck 9-5 bullshit that my eyes deny but my legs move forward and my breathe heaves with unawareness heart beat relentless without conviction. Fuck me, where did it all go wrong lust greed masturbation fuck yourself and fuck you. Lust. Greed. Cum-Fuck yourself.
Fuck! we can’t kill them all...
the insurance will cover.
V.
Life breaths in flowing waves green wind in rainbow sky sunset yellow beams of light thru forest of beech, maple, birch, pine and hemlock, spruce and yes, oak.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
