Monday, October 28, 2013
Exploding Heads
North Americans, like all people, would prefer that energy extraction and distribution be done carefully and responsibly. At the same time, they continue to demand ever greater volumes of oil, gas and coal to fuel their cars, heat their homes and power their appliances.
If they can't have clean energy, they'll take dirty. Pretending they can force Wall Street to clean up its act is folly.
When has Wall Street ever lost? Certainly not under Obama.
I
believe there will be many exploding heads as North America becomes as
toxic a wasteland as Asia. Environmentalists have no realistic plan on
how to stop that from happening. Even the moral theatrics industry will
suffer as millions succumb to despair.
I believe the Maya are right in saying we are already dead (as a species). We just haven't gotten our minds around the irreversible trajectory of industrial and social policy.
On the bright side, maybe a new plague -- caused by the global collapse of public health -- will spare a few billion people from starving or freezing to death when food and fuel are exhausted.
Good thing cannabis is becoming legal; at least that might provide an alternative to depression or religious hysteria at the end of civilization.
If they can't have clean energy, they'll take dirty. Pretending they can force Wall Street to clean up its act is folly.
When has Wall Street ever lost? Certainly not under Obama.
I believe the Maya are right in saying we are already dead (as a species). We just haven't gotten our minds around the irreversible trajectory of industrial and social policy.
On the bright side, maybe a new plague -- caused by the global collapse of public health -- will spare a few billion people from starving or freezing to death when food and fuel are exhausted.
Good thing cannabis is becoming legal; at least that might provide an alternative to depression or religious hysteria at the end of civilization.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Secular Satanic Panic
As Bruce Wilson reports,
14th Century beliefs about demon possession are resurging in the US,
especially among young people. While commonly associated with the
Evangelical subculture, this "satanic panic" has moved into the secular
mainstream.
In addition to public opinion polls cited by Wilson, religion monitors like Military Religious Freedom Foundation have documented that literature associating Jews with the devil is now being distributed by chaplains on U.S. military bases and naval ships.
While right-wing Christianity is primarily responsible for the increasing belief in demons, sensationalist mainstream media contributes to this mental health problem, that in turn feeds such phenomena as homophobia. Combined with U.S. Treasury funding to churches, religious schools and non-profits, this ideological virus -- made lethal by the Pentecostal New Apostolic Reformation -- is now infecting society at large.
In addition to public opinion polls cited by Wilson, religion monitors like Military Religious Freedom Foundation have documented that literature associating Jews with the devil is now being distributed by chaplains on U.S. military bases and naval ships.
While right-wing Christianity is primarily responsible for the increasing belief in demons, sensationalist mainstream media contributes to this mental health problem, that in turn feeds such phenomena as homophobia. Combined with U.S. Treasury funding to churches, religious schools and non-profits, this ideological virus -- made lethal by the Pentecostal New Apostolic Reformation -- is now infecting society at large.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Defending Theft
Mike Papantonio and Robert F. Kennedy discuss the US Chamber of Commerce attack on the federal whistleblower law, the history of that law and its value to American democracy.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
A Chance to Blossom
Paul Jay at Real News talks with Black Agenda Report editor Glen Ford about the history of Black media in the United States, and how it transformed Black grassroots leadership.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Lubing Louisiana
As reported at the Globe and Mail, three million pounds of oil washed up on the Louisiana coast this year, three years after the BP blowout. While this was not the first scandal of the Obama administration, it is a contender for the worst.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
JP Morgan Guilty
The $13billion settlement agreed to by JP Morgan and the U.S. Government might sound like a lot, and it is, unless one compares it to the trillions of U.S. Treasury dollars used to bail out Wall Street banks that caused the 2008 economic meltdown. While it is fitting that the U.S. Department of Justice continue investigating criminal wrongdoing by America's largest financial institutions, one has to ask why it took until 2012 for the Obama administration to begin its investigation.
Cynical viewers might reasonably ask if this report by FRONTLINE is responsible for moving things along.
Cynical viewers might reasonably ask if this report by FRONTLINE is responsible for moving things along.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Foundational Colonial Violence
Eric Ritske's op-ed on settler state foundational colonial violence toward Indigenous peoples is worth reading.
Friday, October 18, 2013
The Angry Right
Contrary to popular wishful thinking, the Tea Party isn't over. As Josh Eidelson reports at Salon, they'll be back.
Monday, October 14, 2013
CBS 60 Minutes Attacks Disabled People
As noted at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, CBS 60 Minutes has joined Fox News in bashing the chronically ill and disabled in America. Based on a Far-Right Republican misinformation campaign against Social Security benefits for those unable to work, it is appalling to see the top-rated investigative journalism show on American TV utterly fail to serve its viewers in understanding disability reality.
While the letter from the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities to CBS 60 Minutes helps to correct the distorted perceptions perpetuated on the 6 October 2013 show, it is shameful that a news program with the resources of CBS has to be told that checking the facts with the Social Security Administration -- as opposed to airing unsubstantiated accusations -- before airing a hit piece on the disability programs, would have been the responsible thing to do.
While the letter from the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities to CBS 60 Minutes helps to correct the distorted perceptions perpetuated on the 6 October 2013 show, it is shameful that a news program with the resources of CBS has to be told that checking the facts with the Social Security Administration -- as opposed to airing unsubstantiated accusations -- before airing a hit piece on the disability programs, would have been the responsible thing to do.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Church and State Series
My three-part essay Church and State takes a close look at religious hysteria in America and the
spiritual warfare of Puritanical conservatism against socialism and the
Indigenous Peoples Movement.
Saturday, October 05, 2013
Crippling America: The Tea Party Plan
As Bruce Wilson notes, creating economic chaos as a political window of opportunity is behind Ron Paul's Tea Party and the determination to shut down the U.S. Government. As observed by the U.S. Treasury, another financial crisis as a result of shutdown -- perhaps worse than the economic meltdown of 2008 -- is in the making. Indeed, Tea Party strategists readily admit that destroying Social Security and Medicare follows the Tea Party central premise of monumental political transformation through systematic bankruptcy.
