Heard about this on the Current. It's a show of the National Geographic Society. The society's motto is "Inspiring people to care about the planet since 1888". I'm not sure that this show would apply.
The second video is the most disturbing (to be honest they are both disturbing--especially the guy wanting to maximize hemorrhaging). While I share this woman's concern with peak oil, I'm not sure (if I had a gun) if I would 'bug out' and execute my cat before I left. I can only imagine what the cat would say. The cat would be just fine hunting around Houston. I guess the idea of killing your cat shows an arrogance of the civilized. How could this creature possibly live without me? So I'm going to kill it. Weird shit.
Watch your back everyone.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Boys oh Boys and Body Counts
Last time Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, I figured out the equation of that 'conflict', as the conventional media like to call it. Of course now I can't remember exactly but I think it was 10 to 1. In the bombardment Israel maintained the equation by making sure 10 Palestinians were killed for every one Israeli. The logical conclusion is that one Israeli has the value of 10 Palestinians.
Probably the same equation was used in South Africa under Apartheid. During the conquest of North America is was probably something like 1 civilized person to 100 First Nations or maybe even higher.
Though the body count equation is pretty clear now, we have the benefit of seeing the actual cash value of dead brown folk in Afghanistan. After the recent murder of 16 or 17 people of all ages and genders at the hands of a US soldier the payout per person was $50,000.
--
Man, I heard about this kid Trayvon Martin who was stalked and killed in a gated community in Florida because he was black. He was 16. Check out this Democracy Now! show about him. So sad. The guy who killed him still hasn't even been arrested and charged with anything.
(Incidentally, I wonder if the powers that be don't think we all see this and the hypocrisy. I guess they are testing us to find our breaking points. Still not there!)
Anyway, Obama the other day lamented the death of this young man, saying that if he had a son he would look like Trayvon. On the surface this is a fair comment and I was glad he made it. But then I saw a comment posted after an article where the anonymous person reminded readers that Obama had himself killed brown children like Trayvon. While this statement appeals to a lefty sense of injustice in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is actually one kid Obama did murder and got away with it, much like Trayvon's killer.
The 16 year old American citizen with brown skin (like Trayvon) was murdered by a drone strike in Yemen. On the orders of the President. The US government never presented any evidence to murder a child. The only difference is that Abdulrahman al-Awlaki had a supposedly terrorist father, again no evidence presented that he actually did anything apart from preach against the US. But even if his dad had done something terroristic does that mean that his kid needs to die?
Justice is in short supply all around.
Probably the same equation was used in South Africa under Apartheid. During the conquest of North America is was probably something like 1 civilized person to 100 First Nations or maybe even higher.
Though the body count equation is pretty clear now, we have the benefit of seeing the actual cash value of dead brown folk in Afghanistan. After the recent murder of 16 or 17 people of all ages and genders at the hands of a US soldier the payout per person was $50,000.
--
Man, I heard about this kid Trayvon Martin who was stalked and killed in a gated community in Florida because he was black. He was 16. Check out this Democracy Now! show about him. So sad. The guy who killed him still hasn't even been arrested and charged with anything.
(Incidentally, I wonder if the powers that be don't think we all see this and the hypocrisy. I guess they are testing us to find our breaking points. Still not there!)
Anyway, Obama the other day lamented the death of this young man, saying that if he had a son he would look like Trayvon. On the surface this is a fair comment and I was glad he made it. But then I saw a comment posted after an article where the anonymous person reminded readers that Obama had himself killed brown children like Trayvon. While this statement appeals to a lefty sense of injustice in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is actually one kid Obama did murder and got away with it, much like Trayvon's killer.
The 16 year old American citizen with brown skin (like Trayvon) was murdered by a drone strike in Yemen. On the orders of the President. The US government never presented any evidence to murder a child. The only difference is that Abdulrahman al-Awlaki had a supposedly terrorist father, again no evidence presented that he actually did anything apart from preach against the US. But even if his dad had done something terroristic does that mean that his kid needs to die?
Justice is in short supply all around.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
End:Retirement
I had this idea once to make a stencil that said, 'retirement is a warm gun'. I thought it was kind of clever but most people didn't get it. In the end, this may be the only choice that we get.
Now the UK has announced that the state retirement age will rise to 71. That's right, 71. It ties retirement to life expectancy. In Canada we are looking at another rise in the pension age but no one really knows what the Cons will decide. I imagine all other countries are going to follow suit to be 'competitive'.
What these announcements tell me:
1) Governments (and their buddies in big business) want real people, normal people to throw their money into the casino that is the stock markets. Because that has worked so well for our parents and grandparents. If you want to retire before your 70s then you have to jump in with the sharks. Guess who's going to actually profit from this.
2) The party is over. Not that we didn't know this already with the price of oil. But it is most certainly over. We can't afford it after the boomers have sucked up all the money and energy. All we can do is live in hope and toil for the destruction of the planet (what do you think all the money you are going to invest is going toward?).
3) Young people are basically going to have to pay in longer to pay for all the boomers. It's doubtful, if after sitting at a desk for maybe 50 years, people will even be in any kind of shape to retire. Who thinks disability pensions will still be around in even 20 years? Try disability insurance instead and line the pockets of Wall Street!
I have no retirement plans apart from a state pension, OAS and the like that I pay into now and again when I decide to sell my labour. I flatly refuse to invest in the system which is destroying the planet and lining the pockets of the 1%. Now even that 'plan', such as it is, is looking murky. But I take heart in the fact that humans eventually decide to change things. We can tolerate a lot, we can cope with a lot but eventually something has to give. Maybe it's the insulting mansions of the super rich. Perhaps it's some fucker mocking us by saying his wife owns two Cadillacs. Maybe it's knowing that your children are going to suffer in the future. Eventually humans break out the guillotine.
So I have a feeling that in the coming 20 years that one of two things will happen. Either the system collapses entirely in which case our retirement investments will amount to nothing (unless you were one of the rich bastards overseeing the whole thing). Or two, people get fed up and our dear leaders implement a fair and just retirement scheme. I'm not expecting to live in Florida or anything, just something fair.
Or maybe if our kids don't hate us for screwing things up so bad, they'll be our retirement plan.
Now the UK has announced that the state retirement age will rise to 71. That's right, 71. It ties retirement to life expectancy. In Canada we are looking at another rise in the pension age but no one really knows what the Cons will decide. I imagine all other countries are going to follow suit to be 'competitive'.
What these announcements tell me:
1) Governments (and their buddies in big business) want real people, normal people to throw their money into the casino that is the stock markets. Because that has worked so well for our parents and grandparents. If you want to retire before your 70s then you have to jump in with the sharks. Guess who's going to actually profit from this.
2) The party is over. Not that we didn't know this already with the price of oil. But it is most certainly over. We can't afford it after the boomers have sucked up all the money and energy. All we can do is live in hope and toil for the destruction of the planet (what do you think all the money you are going to invest is going toward?).
3) Young people are basically going to have to pay in longer to pay for all the boomers. It's doubtful, if after sitting at a desk for maybe 50 years, people will even be in any kind of shape to retire. Who thinks disability pensions will still be around in even 20 years? Try disability insurance instead and line the pockets of Wall Street!
I have no retirement plans apart from a state pension, OAS and the like that I pay into now and again when I decide to sell my labour. I flatly refuse to invest in the system which is destroying the planet and lining the pockets of the 1%. Now even that 'plan', such as it is, is looking murky. But I take heart in the fact that humans eventually decide to change things. We can tolerate a lot, we can cope with a lot but eventually something has to give. Maybe it's the insulting mansions of the super rich. Perhaps it's some fucker mocking us by saying his wife owns two Cadillacs. Maybe it's knowing that your children are going to suffer in the future. Eventually humans break out the guillotine.
So I have a feeling that in the coming 20 years that one of two things will happen. Either the system collapses entirely in which case our retirement investments will amount to nothing (unless you were one of the rich bastards overseeing the whole thing). Or two, people get fed up and our dear leaders implement a fair and just retirement scheme. I'm not expecting to live in Florida or anything, just something fair.
Or maybe if our kids don't hate us for screwing things up so bad, they'll be our retirement plan.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Greece The Future
Lots of interesting initiatives coming out of Greece right now. It may be yet another destructive neoliberal experiment but it's also an experiment in doing things the right way.
This scheme involves direct selling with a twist. Many of us are part of Community Supported Agriculture agreements where we arrange directly with a farmer to get mixed boxes of food delivered weekly. Great things, check them out if you aren't already participating. You get less expensive food, get to know your farmer and usually it's organic.
In Greece, it seems, greens are a luxury and most people just want potatoes, onions and rice. Cheap and cheerful as I once heard. I guess most people realize that they can eat most of the weeds that grow near their houses.
Two interesting things that stood out.
1) The scheme is being encouraged by the local municipalities and local politicians. I guess these guys and gals haven't sold out yet and, likely, they don't live behind walls in mansions like the rest of the national politicians. In other words they have to look people in the eye and be accountable. All the more reason to focus on the local government as a vehicle for real change.
2) Potatoes sell for nothing. I never sell the potatoes I grow because you can barely make anything off them. Might as well eat them yourself. Next time you're in the grocery check out the price of potatoes. It's so inexpensive I can hardly believe it. Through the scheme in the article, these Greek farmers are getting very little. "The potatoes generally fetch 25-30 cents a kilo at direct sales, 5-10 cents more than cost and far cheaper than the 60-70 cents they typically sell for in supermarkets." But of course all these potatoes couldn't be grown without massive oil inputs. But we all know that one. Eating fossil fuels.
This scheme involves direct selling with a twist. Many of us are part of Community Supported Agriculture agreements where we arrange directly with a farmer to get mixed boxes of food delivered weekly. Great things, check them out if you aren't already participating. You get less expensive food, get to know your farmer and usually it's organic.
In Greece, it seems, greens are a luxury and most people just want potatoes, onions and rice. Cheap and cheerful as I once heard. I guess most people realize that they can eat most of the weeds that grow near their houses.
Two interesting things that stood out.
1) The scheme is being encouraged by the local municipalities and local politicians. I guess these guys and gals haven't sold out yet and, likely, they don't live behind walls in mansions like the rest of the national politicians. In other words they have to look people in the eye and be accountable. All the more reason to focus on the local government as a vehicle for real change.
2) Potatoes sell for nothing. I never sell the potatoes I grow because you can barely make anything off them. Might as well eat them yourself. Next time you're in the grocery check out the price of potatoes. It's so inexpensive I can hardly believe it. Through the scheme in the article, these Greek farmers are getting very little. "The potatoes generally fetch 25-30 cents a kilo at direct sales, 5-10 cents more than cost and far cheaper than the 60-70 cents they typically sell for in supermarkets." But of course all these potatoes couldn't be grown without massive oil inputs. But we all know that one. Eating fossil fuels.
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