Max Ernst - Totem & Tabu (1941)
The few creatures that remained alive, such as the crabs, were too listless to flee ... Her conclusion? "I think it is not beyond the imagination that 50% of the oil is still floating around out there." Guardian, Has BP Really Cleaned Up the Gulf Oil Spill?, 4-13-11
Radiation above the legal limit has been detected in fish and vegetables in the Fukushima Prefecture, according to Japan’s health ministry. Radiation 25 times the limit of radioactive cesium was found in lances, a small fish ... The health ministry detected high levels of radiation in 11 kinds of vegetables. Raw Story, High levels of radiation detected in Japanese fish, vegetables, 4-14-11
Young penguins in the Antarctic may be dying because they are having a tougher time finding food, as melting sea ice cuts back on the tiny fish they eat, US researchers suggested on Monday. Agence France Press, Young penguins dying due to lack of food: study, 4-11-11
Cities worldwide are failing to take necessary steps to protect residents from the likely impacts of climate change, even though billions of urban dwellers are vulnerable to heat waves, sea level rise and other changes associated with warming temperatures. Terra Daily, Climate Change Poses Major Risks For Unprepared Cities, 4-11-11
Will Gaia Turn on the Human Race? For Her Survival, Yes. Will US Body Politic Turn on Beltwayistan & Infotainmentstan for Its Survival? Maybe, But ...
By Richard Power
The spiritual verities of our species do not belong to any particular religious tradition, and, indeed, more often than not, they survive in spite of these traditions, not because of them: The macrocosm is within the microcosm. All life is a oneness. Everything, and everyone, everywhere, is connected. The harm you inflict on another you inflict on yourself. Cultivate a quiet mind and an open heart. Laughter heals. Love liberates.
Cherish these verities, you will have great need of them, as we go deeper and deeper into the second decade of the 21st Century ...
Will Gaia Turn on the Human Race?
For Her own survival, yes.
It’s not enough to think of Eaarth as an impotent casualty of humanity’s predations. It is also a complex organic system with many potent defenses against alien intervention -- defenses it is already wielding to devastating effect when it comes to human societies. And keep this in mind: we are only at the beginning of this process. Michael Klare, The Planet Strikes Back!, Tom Dispatch, 4-14-11
She is already is turning on us, in numerous ways, some seen, some unseen, some acknowledged, some denied, some only now being openly considered.
For example, I was asking about the relationship between the Climate Crisis and intensified seismic activity as far back as a decade ago. The scientific corroboration is emerging slowly, and deliberately (as it should); but from the shamanic perspective, this link is already known to exist.
Scientists have for the first time shown a link between intensifying climate events and tectonic plate movement in findings that could provide a valuable insight into why huge tremors occur. Agence France Press, Climate change affects tectonic plate movement, causing earthquakes: study, 4-13-11
The Climate Crisis continues to be ignored in Beltwayistan and Infotainmentstan.
It is not being ignored in La Paz.
Bolivia is preparing to pass a new law that could lead to citizens challenging environmental destruction in court. A Ley de Derechos de la Madre Tierra (The Law of Mother Earth) would grant nature the same rights as humans, according to The Guardian.
The country will establish 11 new rights for nature, including: the right to exist, the right to continue natural cycles, the right to clean water and air, the right to be free of pollution, and the right not to have cellular structures altered or genetically modified. The law will also give nature the right "to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities." Raw Story, Bolivia to ‘make world history’ by granting rights to Mother Nature, 4-12-11
Among the developed nations, in those circles that do entertain serious talk of Climate Crisis, the emphasis has shifted from mitigation to adaptation. That translates into "we missed the window to mitigate radical climate change in any significant, now we must re-focus on adapting to radical climate change." What are the chances that they will heed this urgency and drastic nature of this imperative to adapt anymore than they heeded the urgency and drastic nature of the imperative to mitigate? Not good. And even if they do, remember what the rich call "adaptation" translates into "abandonment" for the poor, i.e., we have abandoned them, so they must abandon their humble homes, their meager livelihoods and their age-old communities. (See Bolivia: Where adaptation equals abandonment, Climate Progress, 4-13-11)
Will the US Body Politic Turn on Beltwayistan & Infotainmentstan for Its Survival? Maybe, But ...
If it does, will it turn right to embrace death or left to embrace life?
And if it turns left, will it be reported? And if it isn't reported, will it still have happened?
How woefully under-reported was the extraordinary non-violent siege of the State Capitol by democratic forces in Madison. How quickly did it disappear from your TV screens only to be replaced dog-wagging war in Libya.
And no, I have nothing to say about POTUS' deficit speech, except that he did not mention Madison in it, and although he went after Ayn Rand poster boy Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), which is good, he should have also gone after the Koch Brothers love child Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), and tied it all together.
But those who rail against POTUS as no better than Bush, etc., are acting foolishly, and so are those who defy reason in their blind defense of POTUS' indefensible compromises. (Of course, I still know the difference between Sonia Sotomayor and John Roberts, and between Elena Kagan and Samuel Alito. And that, if nothing else, is what will matter in 2012.)
The simple awful truth is that there is something very, very wrong in America, and unfortunately there is very little that one man (even wrapped as he is in the myth that he is the most powerful man in the world) can do about it, that is if he wants to live a long life.
Where should your strength be applied?
Fighting for the People's Budget, as proposed by the Progressive Caucus.
After all, the Progressive Caucus is larger than the Blue Dog Caucus was before it was decimated in 2010; and larger than the Teabaggers Caucus ever will be. Furthermore, the Progressive Caucus represents many more citizens (and therefore far more of the tax base) than both the Blue Dogs and the Teabaggers combined. But you will not hear the details of its budget proposals discussed seriously by Bob Schieffer or David Gergen or David Brooks or Juan Williams or David Gregory or any of the other Hollow Men whose false punditry frames the political debate on the air waves of Infotainmentstan.
[The Progressive Caucus'] simple solution: pull the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, install a public option for health care, raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations and voila, America is fixed. Talking Points Memo, House Progressives: End The Wars, Save The Economy, 4-13-11
It is painfully poignant that a mere three years after the Grant Park celebration in November 2008, tens of thousand citizens have been compelled to take up the one of the most radical acts of principled dissent, i.e., fasting.
So far, over 30,000 people are participating in a rolling fast to protest the immoral budget cuts Republicans are pushing in Washington. With some help from Grammy-nominated recording artist Moby, MoveOn.org Political Action has put together a short, powerful video about this fast. Please check it out and then help spread the message by passing it on ... MoveOn.org, Why 30,000 People Are Fasting, 4-12-11
Corporations are not persons. Money is not speech. Hand-counted paper ballots are the gold standard of democracies. Universal health care is a human right. Going true green (i.e., wind & solar) is our greatest national security imperative. War is a racket. We were not meant to be a government of the top 1% by the top 1% for the top 1%.
Oh yeah, and we are not broke.
Do you know why 350 is the most important number in your life and the lives of everyone you love? Go to 350.org for the answer.
The Day -- Moby and MoveOn Protest Budget Cuts on the Poor
Richard Power's seventh book, Between Shadow and Night: The Singularity in Anticipation of Itself, is now available. Here are links to purchase it from Amazon.com, or from CreateSpace.
You can also visit Richard Power author's page at Amazon.com.
