Fear and Loathing in 2012: Not Only the Sociopathy of the Right that Threatens Us, But Also the Dysfunction of the Left. THIS IS NOT A SHELL GAME, THIS IS AN END GAME.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Pandora (1869) 

Aside from the sheer biological ludicrousness of Todd Akin’s ideas on female physiology, one unsettling subplot to the debacle is his presence on the House of Committee on Science, Space and Technology. That’s right: A man who, to put it gently, ignores what science tells us about how babies are made, helps shape the future of science in America. It would be shocking, but for the fact that many of the committee’s GOP members have spent the last several years displaying comparable contempt for climate science. Todd Akin and the Anti-Science House Science Committee, Wired, 8-24-12

Fear and Loathing in 2012: Not Only the Sociopathy of the Right that Threatens Us, But Also the Dysfunction of the Left. THIS IS NOT A SHELL GAME, THIS IS AN END GAME.

By Richard Power

To those in the progressive movement who are resolved not to vote in 2012, or to vote for a third party candidate with no chance of thwarting the Hollow Man and his catfish-strangling boy toy, I say this: if you insist on such folly, you will be living proof that not only have the Zombie Cult and its Death Eater Overlords gotten the sheeple to vote against their own self-interest, they have also gotten you to vote against your own self-interest.

You may think that you are not voting or voting third party to register your profound dissatisfaction with POTUS and the corporatist bent of his policy choices and his leadership style; BUT the rise of corporatism within the Democratic Party correlates directly with the rise of the Death Eaters and their minions in the Zombie Cult, which all started with the Reagan Counter-Revolution in 1980. (Another fateful year ...) You are eating out of their hands, again.

Julian Assange is trapped inside the Ecuadorean Embassy, but you and I are trapped inside Atlas Shrugged. Assange is safe(r), for the moment, because the Ecuadoreans are courageously shielding him; you and are not so safe at all, because mark my words the Randian cultists have come to drag us back into the Hell-world of their minds.

Unfortunately, it is not only the sociopathy of the Right that threatens us, but also the dysfunction of the Left.

It is a pervasive and false meme of the puer "left" that so-called "social issues" (e.g., women's reproductive rights, gay civil rights, etc.) are "wedge" issues simply used to divide the populace in a pretend two-party system. But this is, as I said, a false meme, and it reveals the puer behavior of those who say "there is no difference" between the "R" and the "D" ... I say "puer" because this notion of "no difference" between Romney and Obama (as before with Bush and Gore) reveals a resistance to acknowledging where we really are, accepting responsibility for what actually is and making serious choices based on the grim options available.

Women's reproductive rights is not a "social issue" it is a HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE, as is gay rights, as are the rights of soon to be not minority racial and ethnic groups. We are confronting MISOGYNY, HOMOPHOBIA and RACSISM. These are human rights issues. Just as the Climate Crisis is not just an "environmental issue" but also a human rights issue and a economic issue and a national security issue. These are also all spiritual issues. These so-called "social issues" are not meant simply to distract and divide the electorate, they are meant to debase this kulchur and dehumanize this populace.

We already tolerate far too much from the religious right and its obsessions with women's bodies and people's gender orientations, just as we already have suffered far too much from the obscene affront of corporate personhood. To turn the entire federal government of the U.S.A. over to them is unthinkable, and someone who does not vote, or votes for someone who can't defeat them, is just as complicit in what will follows as someone who votes for them.

I vowed years ago that I would sustain this narrative, that I would provide context and continuity as long as there were those deserving of the moniker "human being" who were still willing to stand for the highest good in us all. And so I have, and so I will.

Here are three stories you simply must take in and share with others.

The Devil's Budget

First, in stark and poignant terms, George Lakoff articulates how far we have fallen and how much we have lost.

America was born with a great soul, a moral view of Democracy in which citizens care about their fellow citizens and join together to take responsibility not just for themselves but for each other, for America as a union, a joint enterprise. The government's job was to carry out that moral vision and to do so it created what we call The Public, the provision of basic protection and empowerment for all. From the beginning of America, the Public provided roads and bridges, public schools, hospitals, a national bank, a patent office, police, a justice system, public buildings and records, and more. Since then the Public has expanded as public needs have expanded -- sewers, clean water, public transportation, public health and disease control, scientific research, the internet, GPS, an energy grid, parks, and much, much more. The Public provides freedom, the freedom to use what the Public provides to live a decent life and to start businesses. Without the public, there would be no American way of life, no freedom to live a decent life, to run or work in businesses, or work as a public servant. The Public carries out the work of America's soul. Budgets are moral documents. National, state, and local budgets are commitments about where and how to carry out the work of America's soul, or to abandon it. A national budget that abandons the Public and the freedoms it gives us is selling America's very soul. Such a budget is the Devil's Budget. It uses numbers for an evil purpose: to rob us of our basic everyday freedom. George Lakoff, How Romney-Ryan's Budget Would Destroy America's Soul, AlertNet, 8-22-12

Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom

Next, an update on the activities of Karl Rove.

Please understand, not only is Karl Rove NOT in the docket fighting against conviction on multiple Federal charges, or better yet already languishing in some prison somewhere, Karl Rove is actually more powerful today than in the grim years when he was acting as "Bush's Brain."

(This second piece of evidence is also yet another reminder of how much Amy Goodman and Democracy Now do with so little; as opposed to how little CNN does with so much.)

This is a very important story. Please take the time to read the transcript or watch the segment (VIDEO EMBEDDED BELOW), before it is too late ...

In a new book, author Craig Unger examines the return of Karl Rove, the man who masterminded the rise of George W. Bush from governor of Texas to a two-term presidency, who advised Bush during two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who was at the center of two of the biggest scandals of the Bush administration: the Valerie Plame Wilson affair and the U.S. attorneys scandal. While Rove was almost indicted for the Plame affair, he has reinvented himself to become the most powerful political operative in America. Heading up the American Crossroads super PAC and the affiliated nonprofit, Crossroads GPS, Rove has built up a war chest that has given Mitt Romney a significant cash advantage in the fundraising race with President Obama. In "Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom of Power," Unger writes that Rove’s ambitions are not simply about winning elections, but represent "a far more grandiose vision — the forging of a historic re-alignment of America’s political landscape, the transformation of America into effectively a one-party state." Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom: Craig Unger on Stolen Votes, Political Attacks, Billionaire Ties, 8-22/12

"And the world was watching because you were watching ..."

Our government is on the wrong side of history. But are you? Listen to Assange's speech from the threshold of the Ecuadorean embassy in London (VIDEO EMBEDDED BELOW).

When the world is watching, the world is not just watching it is ACTING, it is birthing a new world through witnessing the desperate struggling of the dying world. This is not about Assange or Manning, neither are heroes, or villains, they are just people, for better and worse. This is about the FUTURE of sentient life on this planet.

Here are a few excerpts from the transcript of Assange's remarks ...

On Wednesday night, after a threat was sent to this embassy and the police descended on the building, you came out in the middle of the night to watch over it, and you brought the world's eyes with you. Inside the embassy after dark I could hear teams of police swarming up into the building through the internal fire escape. But I knew that there would be witnesses. And that is because of you. If the UK did not throw away the Vienna conventions the other night that is because the world was watching. And the world was watching because you were watching. I ask President Obama to do the right thing. The United States must renounce its witch-hunt against Wikileaks. The United States must dissolve its FBI investigation. The United States must vow that it will not seek to prosecute our staff or our supporters. The United States must pledge before the world that it will not pursue journalists for shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful. There must be no more foolish talk about prosecuting any media organization be it Wikileaks or the New York Times. The US administration's war on whistleblowers must end ... On Wednesday Bradley Manning spent his 815th day of detention without trial. The legal maximum is 120 days. On Thursday my friend Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bharanian human rights center, was sentenced to three years for a tweet. On Friday a Russian band were sentenced to two years in jail for a political performance. There is unity in the oppression. There must be absolute unity and determination in the response. Full Transcript of Julian Assange August 19th 2012 Speech Outside the Ecuadorian Embassy, 8-19-12

Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom: Craig Unger on Stolen Votes, Political Attacks, Billionaire Ties

Assange Speaks

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.

Richard Power is the author of eight books, including Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in an Era of Global Peril, Between Shadow and Night: The Singularity in Anticipation of Itself and True North on the Pathless Path: Towards a 21st Century Yoga. Power writes and speaks on spirituality, sustainability, human rights, and security. He blogs at http://words-of-power.blogspot.com and http://primalwordsofpower.blogspot.com, and is a member of the Truthout Board of Advisors. He also teaches yoga.

Do Not Try to Separate Shadow from Light

Thomas Cole - Shroon Mountain (1838)

The way of joy is a river that never runs dry.

Don't turn upstream, and go against the current.
You will not find the source (even though it is closer to you than even the urge to find it).

Instead, move with the current, as it flows on and on into new life. This river of joy runs through the lands of both light and shadow; it nourishes the soils of each, equally.

The way of beauty is a trail that winds alongside this river of joy. The trail snakes under waterfalls, stretches over chasms, and weaves through deep forests. It too, traverses the lands of light and shadow, its exquisite reflection permeates both landscapes.

Do not try to separate shadow from light, or light from shadow. 
Neither can exist apart from the other.

Instead, understand their desperate love, and the underlying oneness it hints at.

Serve that oneness, in tenderness and clarity; serve only that, in whatever names and forms it presents itself, and from within whatever circumstances it calls to you.

-- Richard Power

Richard Power's latest book, Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in an Era of Global Peril is available now in soft cover and Kindle versions, from Amazon and elsewhere.

Inseparable

Auguste Rodin - The Kiss (1889)

There is a great peace that occupies the same space as this dynamic universe. They are inseparable, like lovers in coitus; to the Tibetans, Yab-Yum, to the Kashmiri, Siva-Sakti.

Go deep enough into the dynamism of the universe and you discover the true nature of the great peace. Go deep enough into the great peace and you discover the true nature of the universal dynamism. Within pure sound, you discover the secret of silence; within pure silence you discover the secret of sound.

Empty your mind of projection, and you will abide within the great peace; abide within the great peace, and you will move in a new way, with the dynamism of the universe. Empty your movement of distraction, and you will move with the dynamism of the universe; move with the dynamism of the universe, and you will abide in the great peace.

Abide in the great peace, and you will realize you are the dynamism of the universe.
Move in the dynamism of the universe, and you will discover you are the great peace.

This truth is not far removed from your daily life, it is the reality of your daily life at this moment; and you are free to access this reality and live in this truth. Here and now.

"It's just a kiss away, a kiss away, a kiss away ..." Or just a breath away; a gentle, in-drawn breath into the heart, with the feeling of unconditional love flowing out.

You are this, this is you.

-- Richard Power

Richard Power's latest book, Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in an Era of Global Peril is available now in soft cover and Kindle versions, from Amazon and elsewhere.

Not An Illusion

Titian - Mary Magdalene (1530)

The suffering of the world is not an illusion to be shattered; it is not some problem that simply requires a more positive attitude.

Nor is it something that can be addressed with wishful thinking.

The suffering of the world, e.g., that of Tibet and Darfur, is a call to action, even if for you that action is simply, silently, inwardly, breathing in peace and breathing out compassion.

You must determine for yourself how to respond to the suffering of the world. For everyone it is different, for everyone it is personal.

You must respond, but not with erroneous metaphysical doctrines and false detachment.

True detachment from the suffering of the world is entering into it, with eyes open, with heart engaged, and with unwavering love and indomitable courage.

True detachment is NEVER turning away; indeed, true detachment is the refusal to look away. True detachment also the refusal to be overcome by despair.

True detachment is utter engagement; utter engagement is true detachment.

You are only truly free when you realize that the imprisonment of your brother and sister beings is your own, and that you are never free until all are free; and in THAT MOMENT, all are free WORLD WITHOUT END. Live large!

-- Richard Power

Richard Power's latest book, Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in an Era of Global Peril is available now in soft cover and Kindle versions, from Amazon and elsewhere.

Fear and Loathing at the End of the Mayan Calendar, An Elections 2012 Update: Naming Paul Ryan is Not Pandering to the Extreme Right; It is An Act of Brazen Confidence in the Triumph of the Will Thru Citizens United Cash & ALEC Vote Suppression

Edvard Munch, The Scream (1893)

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom ...
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper. T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men

Fear and Loathing at the End of the Mayan Calendar, An Elections 2012 Update: Naming Paul Ryan is Not Pandering to the Extreme Right; It is An Act of Brazen Confidence in the Triumph of the Will Thru Citizens United Cash & ALEC Vote Suppression

By Richard Power

So the Hollow Man has named Paul Ryan as his running mate. Do you understand the implications? The Death Eater overlords of the Zombie Cult formerly known as the Republican Party have just doubled down on the doctrine of delusionary selfishness. Ryan's budget ideas are not only cruel and deceitful, they are utterly INSANE. Tell me, should we be unfortunate enough to see Ryan sworn in will he have it done with his hand on Atlas Shrugged? It is, after all, his holy book. Literally. So now the Hollow Man, who has a Citizens United war chest of inconceivable amounts of cash, has told you in brazen, unambiguous terms that he intends to utterly dismantle Social Security and Medicare. What are you going to do? How are you going to respond?

I am struck by the profound contrasts. In 2008, the shell of a man formerly known as John McCain named Sarah Palin, a younger woman remarkable for the VACUITY of her ideas. In 2012, the Hollow Man, Mitt Romney, has named Paul Ryan, a younger man remarkable for the INSANITY of his ideas. Both Palin and Ryan are utterly lacking in conscience, both Palin and Ryan are paragons of aggression, both Palin and Ryan are so very dangerous. Both have been thrust on to the national stage, and suggested to stand one heart beat from the Presidency. And in naming Palin and Ryan, the Death Eater overlords of the Zombie Cult have shown such recklessness and such contempt for common sense. The sad truth, though, is that unlike Palin, who quickly became a laughing stock, Ryan will be held up as someone with bold ideas. Unlike Palin, the mainstream media will take Ryan seriously, and it will move his oh so dangerous ideas from the extremes, where they were hatched, into the forefront of the national psyche. Elections have consequences. Dire consequences.

Do not misinterpret the Hollow Man's move in naming Paul Ryan. The false meme will be that, in this choice, he is "pandering to the right wing once again." But this is not the truth of it. The truth of it is that in naming Ryan, the Hollow Man, and the Death Eater overlords he fronts for, are showing naked, unabashed confidence in what they see as the coming triumph of the Citizens United war chests amassed by Rove and others, and in the bitter harvest of the ALEC vote suppression legislation passed in battleground states. If you don't vote in 2012, or you throw your vote away, you will be the answer to the question, "How could it happen here?"

I will put it as simply as possible for you, if you vote for Obama you are voting against HOMOPHOBIA, MISOGYNY and RACISM, as well as against the DISMANTLING of MEDICARE and the PLUNDERING OF SOCIAL SECURITY, even if it means that you cannot also vote against MILITARISM and CORPORATISM. If you DO NOT VOTE, or you throw your vote away, you VOTE FOR HOMOPHOBIA, MISOGYNY, RACISM, the DISMANTLING of MEDICARE and the PLUNDERING OF SOCIAL SECURITY, as well as for MILITARISM and CORPORATISM. If you don't see the difference, well, you are quite simply LOST ...

It's official: The Republican Party is now officially a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Koch brothers' political enterprise. How else to explain Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's pick of Rep. Paul Ryan, Wis., as his running mate. Yes, that Paul Ryan -- chairman of the House Budget Committee and author of the infamous Ryan roadmap budget plan, which promises to turn Medicare into a privatized voucher system, and yank health care from millions of children whose parents happen to be poor. And that's just the beginning. In addition to a raft of cuts, the Ryan plan would end the Earned Income Tax Credit, which millions of parents count on. It's a plan that even former House Speaker Newt Gingrich deemed too "radical." Adele Stan, Romney's Veep Choice: Paul Ryan, Koch Ally and 'Right-Wing Social Engineer' AlterNet, 8-10-12

Paul Ryan once said: "Ayn Rand, more than anyone else, did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism." The Wisconsin congressman and GOP nominee for vice-president has been known to give copies of Rand's books for gifts and has told many he bases policy after Rand's views. What did Rand believe so strongly? "What I am fighting is the idea that charity is a moral duty," once said the philosopher, and perhaps that is why Ryan has fought to cut Medicare and lead a revolution in the U.S. House to gut social services. Roman Catholics, evangelicals and mainline Christians are among the many faith voices in the U.S. that have condemned Ryan's efforts. Faculty at Georgetown University wrote Ryan a letter last year that stated in part: "...your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her call to selfishness and her antagonism toward religion are antithetical to the Gospel values of compassion and love." Ryan's budget proposals affects the support of seniors, cut assistance to programs aimed at combating childhood hunger, and would leave people who have lost their jobs without heat during cold winter months. This isn't hyperbole but reasoned analysis of his budget goals from non-partisan groups like the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ... At the same time, Ryan and his allies - including Mitt Romney - want to cut taxes for the wealthiest ... Rev. Chuck Currie, Paul Ryan Choice Lifts Up Difficult Moral Questions, Huffington Post, 8-11-12

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential pick, is a virulent denier of climate science, with a voting record to match. A favorite of the Koch brothers, Ryan has accused scientists of engaging in conspiracy to “intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change.” He has implied that snow invalidates global warming. Ryan has voted to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from limiting greenhouse pollution, to eliminate White House climate advisers, to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture from preparing for climate disasters like the drought devastating his home state, and to eliminate the Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) Brad Johnson, Climate Progress, 8-11-12

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.

Richard Power is the author of eight books, including Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in an Era of Global Peril, Between Shadow and Night: The Singularity in Anticipation of Itself and True North on the Pathless Path: Towards a 21st Century Yoga. Power writes and speaks on spirituality, sustainability, human rights, and security. He blogs at http://words-of-power.blogspot.com and http://primalwordsofpower.blogspot.com, and is a member of the Truthout Board of Advisors. He also teaches yoga.

Metta-Quantum-Physics

Gustav Klimt - The Dancer (1917)

The time for "metaphysics" is long gone, beautiful friends, ours is the time for Metta-Quantum-Physics.

On this quest, time and space fold into each other as if lovers embracing.

Whose hand strokes whose brow? Whose lips kiss whose eyelids?

Love is the wayfarer, the journey and the destination all at once.

Peace is not the end result of some process; no, peace itself is the process which yields the end result.

And that end result?

Universe upon universe of dynamic truth and beauty, in infinite unfoldment; each with an original name and a unique set of fingerprints.

On this voyage, the ocean itself is the vessel, and the horizon is always behind you.

-- Richard Power

Richard Power's latest book, Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in an Era of Global Peril is available now in soft cover and Kindle versions, from Amazon and elsewhere.

Of Crime and Punishment, of Dis and The Trial; Naming Names in the Greatest Failure of Governance in Human History

Paul Gustave Doré (1832-1883): Dante speaks to the traitors in the ice, Divine Comedy, Inferno.

Here's the simplest fact - we are killing our oceans. Rapidly. Already, the massive atmospheric accumulation of greenhouse gases from the burning of non-Arctic fossil fuels has, scientists believe, caused a rise in sea surface temperature of 1 degree Centigrade over the past 140 years ... Similarly, the rapid melting of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is already proving catastrophic for a host of species ... Subhankar Banerjee, Saving the Arctic From Big Oil, Mother Jones, 8-2-12

The chronic drought that hit western North America from 2000 to 2004 left dying forests and depleted river basins in its wake and was the strongest in 800 years, scientists have concluded, but they say those conditions will become the "new normal" for most of the coming century. Chronic 2000-04 Drought, Worst in 800 Years, May Be the 'New Normal' Science Daily, 6-30-12

Across the country extreme heat is melting asphalt and buckling major roadways, kinking rail tracks, and over heating nuclear power plants. Extreme storms are causing massive power outages and unprecedented flooding ... As extreme weather has become more and more common over the past few years, infrastructure specialists are now expecting to see a relentless attack on infrastructure engineering that has not been constructed to deal with stark changes in weather patterns. US Infrastructure in Disarray Due to Extreme Weather, Climate Change, Common Dreams, 6-26-12

"In a rational world and society, the RCMP would investigate Enbridge, Shell and others that have a long history of violating human rights and safety in their rush to fill their pockets with enormous wealth; instead the RCMP suggests an environmental organization such as Greenpeace is a threat to peace. For 40 years Greenpeace has never behaved violently ..." Greenpeace: Oil Companies, Not Us, Are 'Dangerous' and 'Radical' Common Dreams, 7-31-12

Of Crime and Punishment, of Dis and The Trial; Naming Names in the Greatest Failure of Governance in Human History

By Richard Power

With much air time and much ink dedicated to the story, UC Berkeley astrophysics professor Richard A. Muller, a heralded climate change denier, has done an about face and is now staring squarely at reality.

"Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming ... Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I'm now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause."Climate-Change Skeptic Changes His Mind, Sci-Tech Today.

Am I supposed to applaud him? Am I supposed to welcome him into the reality-based community with open arms?

Muller should have known better, the science was already well-settled, three years ago, when he waded into the fray with filthy Koch Brothers lucre. Perhaps he did know better, and was simply seizing an opportunity. What did Muller know and when did he know it? He should stand trial with the rest of the scientists who sold their sacred science for thirty pieces of silver. ("Biostitutes" Mike Papantonio calls them) Let them stand in the dock alongside those elected officials, for example, Imhofe, who betrayed the public trust on this direst of national security issues. Yes, send them all to the Hague: the biostitutes, the ring-leaders of the Cult formerly known as the Republican Party, and of course their paymasters in the Chamber of Horrors, a.k.a. the Chamber of Commerce.

For people like the Kochs, Murray Energy and Harold Clark Simmons, the money they give to politicians is small change. For environmental campaigns, contributions of this size would break the bank. The money available to big business means that there will always be a massive asymmetry of this kind in the potential for political funding. As a result, a political system which imposes no effective cap on campaign finance leads inexorably to plutocracy: governance on behalf of the richest people and corporations. The first prerequisite for protecting the environment is a functioning democracy. In any other system, those with the most money to spend or, in other circumstances, the most thugs to deploy, win the political battles. The further from democracy a nation strays, the greater the opportunities to destroy the world's living systems, however unpopular that destruction may be. George Monbiot, Stop this culture of paying politicians for denying climate change, Guardian, 8-2-12

Oh yes, and just as some Rwandan radio executives were convicted of playing key roles in the genocide, so should those media mavens who played key roles in this planetary ecocide. Yes, they looked the other way as much as possible, and whenever circumstances made it impossible for them to simply look away, they chose to propagate the false meme that there was a legitimate debate about the reality of human-induced climate change, instead of reporting on what must be done to mitigate its catastrophic consequences.

To forestall policy on climate change, the Wall Street Journal editorial board routinely downplays scientific consensus, overstates the cost of taking action, and claims that politics, not science, motivate those concerned about the climate. But an analysis of more than 100 editorials from 1976 to present shows that the Wall Street Journal used these same rhetorical tactics in previous decades on acid rain and ozone depletion and they did not stand the test of time. Jill Fitzsimmons and Jocelyn Fong, Media Matters, 8-2-12

Was it Muller's conscience that brought him to reality? Or was it concern over his career? I don't know, and I don't care. Let him be indicted with the rest of them in some future international court of environmental justice. And if he wants to turn planet's evidence, well, then he can cop a plea and negotiate a lighter sentence.

Yes, I am being tongue-in-cheek. Sort of.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

Imagine a 21st Century Crime and Punishment, in which, the killer wasn't the wretched Raskolnikov and the victim wasn't some misanthropic pawnbroker. Imagine. In this 21st Century Crime and Punishment, the killer would be George W. Bush, and the victim would be the future of a nation. Imagine a 21st Century Divine Comedy, in which the denizens of Circle 7, 8 and 9 of Dante's Inferno had Chamber of Commerce name tags.

Imagine a 21st Century Trial, in which the defendant wasn't the innocuous Josef K. (or the innocent Tim DeChristopher) but those like Muller who, before his come-to-Jesus moment, sought to obfuscate the truth and muffle a dire warning.

Obfuscate and muffle they did, and when the obfuscating and muffling of biostitutes didn't work, well then, kill the messenger.

And so it went on, case after case, country after country, a veritable worldwide epidemic of killing. Most of it is provoked by opposition to the competitive stampede by powerful corporations making multi-billion-dollar investments to dig up, cut down, and ship out the world’s remaining natural resources, a disproportionate amount of which lie beneath the soil of developing countries and more often than not (as in Peru) in the territory of indigenous peoples. These are frequently places with feeble judicial systems, limited or non-existent environmental laws, and a culture of collusion between governments and foreign corporations who promise that at least a little of the wealth from their gold and copper mines, their logging operations, their oil and natural gas plays, or their giant soybean or palm oil plantations will trickle down to the impoverished locals. George Black, via OnEarth, Climate Progress, 8-2-12

Yes, truth is stranger than fiction. And justice is elusive. We are, after all, in the throes of the greatest failure of governance in human history. Nevertheless, take heart. Although Pinochet died of old age, but he did not die in peace. And as, Dr. Martin Luther King promised, "arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

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.

Richard Power is the author of eight books, including Humanifesto: A Guide to Primal Reality in an Era of Global Peril, Between Shadow and Night: The Singularity in Anticipation of Itself and True North on the Pathless Path: Towards a 21st Century Yoga. Power writes and speaks on spirituality, sustainability, human rights, and security. He blogs at http://words-of-power.blogspot.com and http://primalwordsofpower.blogspot.com, and is a member of the Truthout Board of Advisors. He also teaches yoga.

Frida Kahlo - Roots (1943)