tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-95041362024-03-13T09:55:11.338-06:00sanctuaryCreating Sustainability in the 21st Century, and Thinking About how we Make Decisionswalter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.comBlogger246125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-34407911450505803732022-09-13T09:39:00.000-06:002022-09-13T09:39:40.946-06:00Musings of a member<p> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Because of the outstanding science
reporting of Thoral Ibn Said, we now know that Professor Ivan Kurtz
of Moscow University, a respected mibo-ethnologist, recently
presented a novel hypothesis regarding the future of our species. His
published paper entitled "The General De-Evolvement of Homo
Sapiens" will be presented to the National Academy of Science in
Washington, D.C. The late Stephen J. Gould, the well-known
evolutionary biologist, said in his book A Full House that we humans
are here by the "luck of the draw." For Gould, it has
nothing to do with any grand design or evolutionary mechanism.
Evolution has been full of "fits and starts," frequently
leading to evolutionary dead ends. Gould believed it was pure
arrogance on our part to think that evolution has traveled in a
steady, predictable direction toward human life. And, if it could be
done all over again, it's unlikely the universe would come up with
anything remotely resembling us. In Professor Kurtz' view, Homo
sapiens may in fact be reaching some sort of evolutionary "brick
wall." His paper also suggests that the speed at which we humans
could be arriving at this dead end might be increasing by a factor of
two every 24 months! While it would be impossible here to cover all
of Kurtz' paradigm, a brief review of his two principle concepts are
worth mentioning. The first he calls the survival-fear constraint.
Kurtz believes all living organisms, including something as
supposedly "simple" as bacteria, create a kind of knowledge
log, which acts as an internal gyroscope, keeping the organism's
survival instincts focused. Professor Kurtz has developed a numbering
system from one to ten. Number one represents a species that
possesses total fear of almost everything. Number 10 represents a
species that lacks essentially all fear. It can be assumed in Kurtz'
model that no species is a perfect 1 or 10, as that would make its
survival virtually impossible. Predators in general cluster closer to
10 because they are hunters and, if not completely carnivorous, will
eat meat from time to time. For example, Kurtz assigns the number 8.6
to a lion and an 8.0 to a cheetah. The cheetah gets a lower number
than a lion because of a weaker jaw and a "kill" rate of
only one in five attempts, a lower percentage than a lion. An
elephant, on the other hand, is assigned a number 6 because it is not
carnivorous and has a highly developed sense of group responsibility
to its own immediate herd and its species. In general, species that
fall in the middle of the scale are more willing to integrate into
their environment. In Kurtz' classification scheme, only humans go
above 8.9. As well, unlike any other species, they fall into a range
of between 9.0 and 9.5. Without going into lengthy detail, the broad
factors the professor uses for assigning numbers for humans include
(1) population expansion and habitat destruction (2) environmental
degradation attributable to humans (3) species cooperation and (4)
human belief systems. Professor Kurtz has concluded that Homo sapiens
have a low fear threshold because of a poorly developed internal
gyroscope. According to Kurtz, because of the primitive alarm
mechanism of humans, our survival as a species is uncertain. Of
particular interest is the possibility we may be actually reverting
or "retreating" back to a state we had passed through at
least 40,000 years ago. If this hypothesis proves to be true, it
would make our species truly unique. But an even more astonishing
possibility may be presenting itself at the same time, according to
the professor. The reason Kurtz has used a range of numbers for
humans is because he is strongly suggesting the
possibility—admittedly tenuous right now—that we could be at the
beginning stages of creating a new species, one that is related to
us. In a worldwide population of of more than 7.2 billion people, the
professor estimates, using his classification model, that possibly
from one to two million individuals are consistently exhibiting a
more highly developed internal gyroscope, thus the reason for a
number in the range of 9.0. The second principle is called the
revelatory-egoism constraint. Simply stated, the essence of human
character is a profound belief in magic, which can be interpreted as
a deep-seated need for spirits and gods. It is virtually impossible
for our species to see things as they are and not as they believe.
But, what Professor Kurtz is suggesting, is that a new species could
be in the incipient stages of branching off from Homo sapiens; this
new species is more willing to accept things as they actually are!
The revelatory-egoism constraint says that humans have a near
pathological confusion between self and other. In other species this
separation occurs at least by the time of puberty. At birth all
species make no real distinction between self and other—or between
wanting and getting—but they eventually outgrow this egocentric
confusion. Not so for humankind. Kurtz maintains that while "words"
certainly influence behavior or can direct people to particular
courses of action, words themselves possess no power whatsoever.
Rational or objective thinking can only take place when humans are
able to grasp the subjective nature of thinking. Thought has no
"actual" power. You may hear voices emanating from the
ether late at night, but whether or not those voices exist in the
external world is another matter. (As an aside, Kurtz claims that the
United States— among all developed nations—is currently showing
the steepest negative rise in the revelatory-egoism constraint
paradigm.) Allison Harper's book Public Buffoonery, Welfare
Capitalism, and the Political Process in America offers both an
amusing and a serious commentary on the changing American politician
and revelatory decision-making. It is worth reading, especially in
light of Professor Kurtz' contentions. Finally, in an interview in
Rypin, Poland two months ago, an American reporter with the Fox News
Network, asked Professor Kurtz what one piece of advice he'd give to
humankind. The quiet, soft-spoken professor hesitated for just a
moment and then said to the attractive, young blonde reporter, "Look
closely for a pink elephant at dawn." Before the confused
reporter could ask for clarification, Professor Kurtz hobbled up the
steps of the zeppelin EMU and disappeared inside
</p>walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-40222190451023902182021-10-31T07:18:00.001-06:002021-10-31T07:18:15.258-06:00Weed Conspiracy<p><b> <i>Looking at weeds in history, considering truth, and dying gracefully.</i></b></p><p><b><i><br /></i></b></p><p><b><a href="https://weedtruth.substack.com/p/learning-to-see-is-hard-4">LEARNING TO SEE IS HARD,4</a> </b></p>walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-2298928619241465932021-10-04T10:13:00.000-06:002021-10-04T10:13:23.583-06:00Weed Conspiracy<p> <b>Weed Conspiracy</b>, a newsletter, launching on <b>Sunday October 10</b>. It's about weeds in history, considering some truth and dying gracefully. Take a look. Take a chance. Visit: <i><b>weedtruth.substack.com</b></i></p><p>How long have weeds been around? A very, very long time. When Socrates drank the hemlock (a poisonous plant) humans had already been arguing about weeds for thousands of years.</p><p>The argument deserves to continue. The alternative is ... well, not so good.</p><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Do not go gentle into that good night</i></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Rage, rage aginst the dying light</i></p><p style="text-align: center;">(Dylan Thomas, poem first published in 1951) </p><p></p>walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-7760099844340548802021-05-11T10:10:00.001-06:002021-05-11T10:10:27.847-06:00<p> There are no ongoing posts at this time.</p>walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-32102717270412822752019-12-13T11:47:00.000-06:002019-12-13T11:47:57.800-06:00The Stockings Were Hung By the Chimney With Care, in the Hope ... That Democracy Would Not Get There<br />
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<i>Capitalism is a lot
more important than democracy.”</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-Stephen
Moore, co-founder of the Club for Growth and former Trump campaign
advisor-</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
Heritage Foundation and the Fraser Institute, both conservative
research organizations, have ranked Hong Kong <b>number one</b> as
the “freest economy” in the world. Apparently the millions of
protesting residents of Hong Kong didn't get the message.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
ideal and fanciful world of so many of these conservative
organizations often seems like a tour through <i>Alice in Wonderland</i>
but the influence they exert across the globe cannot be ignored. See
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/11/democracy-defenders-economic-freedom-neoliberalism">Democracydoesn't matter to the defenders of 'economic freedom.' </a></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
start of the impeachment hearings in the House Judiciary Committee
last week offered us a glimpse of how American capitalism and
democracy interact in the United States. Four constitutional scholars
spoke to the committee about the Constitution and what it means to
all of us.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A
Democratic member of the committee asked one panelist what would be
the result if, based on the current evidence, the House did not
impeach the president. The response was precise: “We would no
longer have a democracy.” The Republicans on the committee claimed
there was nothing to investigate. John Adams, our second president,
once said that, “There is never a democracy that did not commit
suicide.”</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yes,
words do matter. Two, “<i>Originalism</i>” and “<i>Textualism,</i>”
familiar to constitutional scholars, were words that came up several
times in the hearing when discussing the meaning of the text and its
interpretation. In brief, Originalism and Textualism narrow the
interpretation of the Constitution and claims that it means no more
or less “than what it meant to those who originally wrote and
ratified it,” – the Founding Fathers. For some scholars it
becomes less of a living document and more like a sacred totem to be
decoded. (see “The Scalia Problem” below).</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
While
unknown to most Americans, the consequences of narrow judicial
interpretation could profoundly affect the average person in so many
negative ways, including in areas like discrimination, voting
rights, health care, corporate personhood and environmental
regulations. The twenty-first century, sadly for many, has arrived.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
At least
once, the innocuous sounding term “<i>unitary executive theory</i>”
was brought up. The unitary executive theory offers an expansive
belief in the power of the president to control the entire executive
branch of government and surely would be supported by most autocrats
on the planet.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
William
Barr, Trump's current Attorney General, appears to strongly subscribe
to this view. There is a clear and compelling reason why Republican
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to confirm staunchly
conservative judges, with lifetime appointments, as fast as possible.
To strengthen democracy is not the reason.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Of
course we've never had a literal democracy in this country but part
of the American narrative--and myth--says that we do have a
<b>democratic republic </b>with representative government and three
separate but equal branches with distinct duties and
responsibilities. The ultimate power is vested in “we the
people.”This was the genius of the American experiment in
self-government when our Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788.
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Democracy
was not on the top of the “to-do” list for our Founding Fathers
in the 18<sup>th</sup> century. James Madison, the author of the
first draft of the U.S. Constitution and fourth president of the
United States said that, “Democracies have ever been spectacles of
turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with
personal security or the rights of property...”</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A
recent poll by the Pew Research Center, Republicans
<a href="https://www.people-press.org/2019/08/07/republicans-now-are-more-open-to-the-idea-of-expanding-presidential-power/">Now Are More Open to the Idea of Expanding Presidential Power</a>,
indicates that while most Americans would be uncomfortable giving
more power to our presidents, conservative Republicans -- by more
than 50 percent – believe we could more effectively deal with
“problems” if the president had more power. This number has
doubled since March 2018.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In
another poll, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/12/03/republicans-prefer-trump-lincoln-poll-shows-todays-gop-couldnt-be-more-different/">Trumpgreater than Lincoln?,</a> ordinary Republicans said Trump was a
better president by 53 to 47 percent. One respondent said, “Lincoln
only freed the slaves.”
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Whether
or not we commit national suicide remains to be seen. But we are
tempting fate, with a significant portion of Americans more inclined
toward authoritarianism and less inclined toward democratic
institutions.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In the
early 1930s the German industrialists and the military considered
Herr Hitler a useful idiot that could be controlled -- but the German
<i>lumpenproletariat</i> considered Herr Hitler their savior.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Additional
Reading:</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://prospect.org/justice/scalia-problem-originalism-textualism-trumpism/">TheScalia Problem: It Wasn't Originalism or Textualism—It was Trumpism</a></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-laffer-rich-states-20190424-story.html">StephenMoore's ranking of states' economies has been wrong for 12 straightyears</a></div>
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<br />walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-21504490682242043832019-11-03T07:33:00.000-06:002019-11-03T07:33:41.620-06:00How Many People Does it Take to Turn on the Lights<br />
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<i>Getting its history
wrong is part of being a nation.</i>”</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Ernest Renan, 19<sup>th</sup>
century French philosopher)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<i>Above that 3.5%
threshold, there hadn't been any failed movements...</i>”</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Erica Chenoweth,
political scientist)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Only 20 years ago something
like 70 percent of protests pushing for major political change were
successful. This trend, however, reversed in the mid-2000s and
success rates have now dropped to around 30 percent, this according
to <a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwDrtxzTPscXfpxDRLNCnJGsnNq">The Interpreter</a>, published in the NYT, October 25, 2019.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Global mass protests have
been growing year after year since World War II but have now reached
an unheard-of level? Many people are aware of the unrest roiling
countries across our planet, including here in the U.S., but possibly
a lot less are aware that protests are <i>now</i> more likely to
fail.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The “why” is of course
extremely important. Here in America, as well as globally, failure to
understand protest objectives and strategies will certainly lead to
frustration, unsatisfactory results and increasing cynicism. Too much
is at stake for those of us seeking systemic changes. It is important
to remember that the anger and the resistance is not going to stop,
regardless of what governments might do to control the desire for
change, equality and economic justice.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Some of the answers, in
part, may come from the work of Erica Chenoweth, a political
scientist at Harvard who studies civil resistance across the globe
and has written numerous articles on the subject. She published a
book several years ago entitled, <b><i>Why Civil Resistance Works: The
Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict</i>. </b>The Extinction Rebellion
movement has credited Chenoweth's ideas for their success.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It is a complicated subject
but Chenoweth offers four broad reasons why protests have stalled at
the present time. First, more countries are favoring authoritarianism
over democracy. Second, social media makes protests easier to start
but also makes them more likely to fail as well. Third, social
polarization has risen dramatically. Four, authoritarians are getting
better at manipulating their citizens.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Nationalism has risen across
the globe brought about by economic uncertainty, immigration and fear
of losing one's social and cultural place in society. Climate change
could exacerbate all of the above. Global corruption has entrenched
defective political systems and working “within” the system is
perceived to be less likely to bring about positive democratic
changes for increasing numbers of people.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Chenoweth points out that
dictators in general in recent years have emerged gradually rather
than by overnight coups. It becomes a slow, steady drip toward
repression. Orban's Hungary may be a good example of this as well as
Turkey. Poland appears to be following the pattern, wrapping itself
in “national identity” and Catholic conservatism. What happens
right here in the U.S. remains to be seen.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Omnipresent social media may
be the most interesting factor of all. We all know that large groups
can be mobilized rapidly with cell phones and Facebook accounts. But
putting large numbers on the street quickly with no underlying
structure or deep commitment to a particular cause ultimately leads
to very little.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For anyone that remembers
the civil rights movement of the 60s or for that matter the anti-war
protests, the women's movement or the environmental movement knows
that organizing and planning was essential along with building
support at the grass roots.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Chenoweth believes social
media “really advantages” repression. Governments across the
globe have certainly learned how to co-opt media and push their own
messages as well as rally sympathizers without, and this is
important, sending in the tanks and the usual heavy handedness.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Erica Chenoweth states that
nonviolent campaigns are successful 53% of the time compared to 26%
for violent protests. Within this framework she refers to the “3.5
Rule,” a tipping point.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What this means is that
success is very likely when 3.5% of the entire population is actually
participating. In the U.S. this would amount to some 11 million
citizens, in a country of more than 320 million people.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Hong Kong, an autonomous
region of China, at the present time offers an interesting
perspective on protests. The participants remain disciplined and
focused on their goals. It started out as a protest by students and
academics confronting a law that would allow China to arrest Hong
Kong residents and bring them back to the mainland. It began with a
particular interest group or class of people but has now spread
across all sectors of society as more residents can envision their
own self-interest.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Some 2 million residents of
Hong Kong, out of a population of more than 7 million people, are
protesting and marching daily, with very little violence committed by
the participants. This is more than 3.5 percent of the population.
Another million non-participating residents are probably sympathetic
to the overall goals of the campaign.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Successful
protest campaigns require much more than a crowd gathering and waving
placards periodically. It means that, while quantity is important,
the quality of the commitment and the discipline of the participants
is far more significant in sustaining a long term movement. We
Americans, among others, ought not to be under any illusion that oppression—gradual
or otherwise—that we see across the globe won't happen in the U.S.
</div>
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<br />walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-7174939607683711782019-03-10T14:48:00.000-06:002019-03-10T14:48:40.951-06:00A Druid Nation<br />
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The well-known reality that
generations of Americans have been taught in school is that 102
deeply religious Protestant men, women and children from England
landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts on December 21, 1620.
They were later to be referred to collectively as Pilgrims.</div>
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But instead of these
Pilgrims, imagine the same number of Buddhist monks had arrived. Or
perhaps a boatload of Druids came ashore on that cold, miserable
day in December. Envision the last remaining members of that
mysterious “pagan” priesthood, first mentioned in Julius Caesar's
diaries in 55 B.C, standing on the beaches of North America.</div>
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Would the original
inhabitants of North America, the Indians, have been treated better?
Would there have been slavery? Would we have learned that we're
merely one part of the natural world around us?Yeah, what if?
</div>
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As we Americans tear
ourselves apart in 2019, it becomes ever more plausible that seeing
eye to eye or at least “getting along” with each other could
become simply impossible. Yeah, but what if?
</div>
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The arrival of Europeans or
for that matter our imaginary Buddhist monks, probably meant the
civilizations of North and South America were doomed from the start,
almost from the moment the Spanish conquistadors clanked ashore in
their suits of armor in the fifteenth century, more than 100 years
before our pious Protestants arrived in North America.
</div>
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It was, however, not because
of European technology---or Christianity, that caused the massive
destruction to the civilization of the first inhabitants of North and
South America. The unstoppable enemy was disease, unwittingly (at
least initially) brought by Europeans, of which the the indigenous
population had no immunity.</div>
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Because of individuals like
Jared Diamond (<i>Guns, Germs and Steel</i>), Charles Mann (<i>1491</i>), Nathaniel
Philbrick (<i>Mayflower</i>) and many others, we know, among other things,
that geography matters, a lot. Unlike the early inhabitants in the
Western Hemisphere, Europeans had domesticated animals such as oxen,
cows and pigs that did not exist in North and South America.
</div>
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Europeans contracted
diseases that jumped from animals to humans and over time they built
up a degree of resistance to them. Columbus, Cortez and other
Europeans traveled with the ultimate weapon—not gunpowder—but
hideous viruses like smallpox, typhus, influenza, diphtheria and
measles. It turned out to be an unimaginable “ethnic cleansing”
of entire societies. It may have been the greatest pandemic in human
history.
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While population numbers of
North and South America, just before the arrival of the Spanish in
the late 15<sup>th</sup> century have been estimated from a low of 8
million to a high of more than a 100 million people, this has been a
subject of controversy and debate for some time. But there appears to
be little doubt that millions could have been killed by Europeans
through disease, slavery, wars and environmental destruction.</div>
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It's most likely that no
society that existed in North and South America in 1490 imagined
their world would come crashing down upon them. After all, they knew
from their creation stories that generations of their ancestors had
strolled along the same paths they now walked.
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This has been the story of
human history, one group of people supplanting another group or being
absorbed into the new tribe.
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Yet, there is something
different possibly happening today. What if there are no humans from
somewhere else to replace anyone. What if there are no more human
sounds, here in the United States or anywhere else. Yeah, but what
if?</div>
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<br />walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-24315019068147285682019-02-22T10:07:00.000-06:002019-02-22T10:07:58.177-06:00What Health InsuranceSharp, stabbing chest pains, stomach ulcers, cancer have been my lot in life. As well, I have been unable to avoid severe clinical depression, erectile dysfunction and, on occasion, bloody ejaculate. But I am a survivor.<br />
<br />
For the past 18 years I've been a Standardized Patient in the Greater Kansas City area, having been involved in the training of hundreds of medical students. I play the role of a patient with some real or imaginary concerns.<br />
<br />
Patient-centered medical care is today the overarching mantra in the majority of medical schools throughout the country. Medical schools are training students to make the patient a participant in his or her medical care. The patient needs to feel in charge. It is the patient's decision. It's so obvious isn't it?<br />
<br />
Well the not so good news is that health care in the United States has more to do with revenue streams, bottom lines and marketing, rather than something seemingly as abstract as actual patient care. Just possibly it's not about the patient making any decision.<br />
<br />
Elizabeth Rosenthal, physician and editor in chief of Kaiser Health News, has stated that, "There is no free choice. Patients are stuck, and they're stuck buying American." And Atul Gawande, surgeon and writer, has said that, "It's not that we make all the money. It's that we order all the money."<br />
<br />
I have worked in several health care institutions, from large teaching hospitals to junior colleges with nursing programs. Among other things, in addition to having played numerous standardized patient roles from first year medical students to residents, I have taught exam skills to medical students and trained standardized patients.<br />
<br />
Health care, if divided into its broad components, would include insurance, hospitals, physicians, pharmaceuticals and medical devises. If you wander into the weeds you can learn about billing, coding and collections. Then of course there is research and consolidations. Finally there is the Affordable Care Act or ACC, or simply Obamacare.<br />
<br />
While the Democrats have tried their best not to upset powerful vested interests, the Republican health plan has been a constant attempt to destroy the ACA from the very beginning, but with seemingly no idea what to replace it with. Last but not least is Medicare and Medicaid, subjects unto themselves.<br />
<br />
I've often told medical students to go to the main foyer and watch who comes in the door. Those are your patients. You'll be greeted, for example, by obesity, diabetes, hypertension and those who have no insurance or what they have is inadequate. You will also notice how young some of these people are.<br />
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Self-help websites are exploding on the internet. I recently came across one offering 20 tips on how to prevent or slow down the onset of dementia: Don't smoke, control blood pressure, watch your weight, healthy diet, exercise and so forth. It's essentially preventive medicine, what a healthcare professional ought to be speaking to a patient about, and which every American should have access to ... but doesn't, unlike most of the developed countries.<br />
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The problem is that health care is not the same as selling cereal or deciding which deodorant works the best.<br />
<br />
I don't even play a doctor on television but i have worked in the healthcare field for close to 20 years, training those future doctors whom we patients sincerely want to put our trust in, rely upon and feel confident that our needs will be met. Hoping for the best is not a health care system nor is "I got mine."walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-71511784096412702122019-02-16T16:06:00.000-06:002019-02-16T16:06:27.168-06:00An Alien Probe<br />
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Oumuamua (O-mua-mua) is the
name it was given. It's a Hawaiian word which means “messenger sent
from the distant past to reach out to us.” It was some 33 million
kilometers (20 million miles) from us when first discovered in
October 2017, the first known interstellar object to visit our solar
system.</div>
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Certainly an exciting
discovery for astronomers but it has also encouraged speculations
from both scientists and the general public, especially when Avi
Loeb, chairman of Harvard's astronomy department, speculated that a
“hypothetical propulsion devise” could explain its, er, strange
trajectory. Propulsion devise? Was he suggesting something artificial
in origin? Loeb has not wavered in his original opinion.</div>
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It turns out that this
cigar-shaped object, slightly less than a half-a-mile long, is an
unusual shape for a naturally occurring asteroid. Well, could it have
been a comet, as some have suggested. But others responded that it
had no “out gas,” which comets have. Most curiously, Oumuamua
accelerated ever so slightly as it left our solar system. Why would
it have accelerated—and how? Endless questions for astronomers to
ponder.</div>
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The reality is that our
solar system is not isolated. Why couldn't we have been visited
without anyone knowing it? It was only in 1925, not quite a hundred
years ago, that half of all homes in the United States had electrical
power. The first commercial airline flight in the U.S. took place in
1914 from St. Petersburg, Florida to Tampa, Florida, which is a 25
minutes automobile ride today.
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In the U.S. alone, imagine
all the scientific discoveries and technological advancements that
have occurred in the last 100 years, which would have been
unimaginable to Americans at the end of the First World War in 1918.
Now consider the changes that have taken place on planet Earth in 500
years or a 1,000 years or the beginning of the Neolithic era 10,000
years ago, when we humans settled down, developed agriculture, built
cities and created our cultures.</div>
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Is it conceivable, in spite
of vast distances, that civilizations far more technologically
advanced than ours could have visited our solar system in person
without being detected or managed to do so with a very sophisticated
satellite of some kind? Well, we can speculate. Now imagine a
civilization 150,000 years older than ours, roughly the time we
humans might have been able to recognize our own ancestors in Africa.</div>
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What might our first
encounter be like? Well the track record for us humans is not
especially positive in so many ways. On the other hand, our alien
visitors who manage space travel could regard us as curiosities,
nothing more, and decide they have more important things to do. This
strikes me as the best outcome in the long run. I wouldn't want our
space visitors to be searching for a new food source and we're it.</div>
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But, the more likely outcome
is probably not so interesting. Our technology has far outstripped
our evolutionary development. We may now have the means to turn Earth
into an unlivable planet because we haven't developed the cognitive
skills to avoid such total stupidity. Imagine our alien probe
reporting back that Earth is merely another dead planet of no
interest to anyone. Sort of like we never existed in the first place.
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<br />walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-45472779004987682572017-12-14T15:55:00.000-06:002017-12-14T15:55:18.018-06:00The Seduction of Mein Kampf<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<i>People who shut their eyes
to reality simple invite their own destruction, and anyone who
insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that
innocence is dead turns himself into a monster.</i></div>
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(James Baldwin)</div>
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Adolf Hitler and Mein Kampf?
Haven't these subjects been analyzed over the years ad nauseam? Well
yes, but....</div>
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<i>The Dublin Review of Books</i>
recently published an essay by Albrecht Koschorke entitled <b><i>On
Hitler's Mein Kampf: The Poetics of National Socialism.</i> </b>Koschorke
himself almost offers a timid apology for bringing up the subject and
even mentions “Godwin's Law,” which states, according to the
Urban Dictionary, that the longer an online argument goes on and
becomes more and more heated, the more likely someone will bring up
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. The person invoking these names
effectively forfeits the argument..</div>
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But Koschorke, a German
literary critic, offers a compelling examination of the subject
because of what he calls the “mounting radicalization” in our own
time.</div>
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Here, in the United States
for example, we could draw up a list of worrisome changes that are
taking hold of American society. Some might include:</div>
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<i>Politicization of
everyday life</i></div>
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<i>A disregard for the
importance of 'truth”</i></div>
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<i>Devaluing of
intellectual excellence</i></div>
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<i>Knowingly accepting
outright lies from our leaders</i></div>
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<i>Vulgarization of
society in general</i></div>
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<i>Scapegoating,
immigrants for example, and Muslims in particular.
</i></div>
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<i>Tribalism</i></div>
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You could argue that many of
these conditions have reared their head in the United States before,
It's true. You could also say that some of these conditions have been
with us from the very beginnings of the country, which Alexis de
Tocqueville, among others, pointed out in the early 19<sup>th</sup>
century. True enough.</div>
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Yet it is also true that
they are collectively growing and spreading across America in 2017
and they are reasons to be concerned if we are at all interested in
equity and a viable democratic republic (recognizing that some people
aren't remotely interested). The intriguing—and important
question—is always why did it happen and why does it continue to
happen.</div>
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Koschorke states that it is
important to understand 'the confluence of circumstances” that made
national socialism in Germany possible in the 1930s.</div>
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Mein Kampf was published in
1924. Academic readers at the time considered it unoriginal,
ludicrous, poorly written and simply rabid. It is all of these things
and more. In college I managed to get through about 50 pages or so
before tossing it into the wastebasket. The point, however, is that
Hitler's intended audience was never academics. This was not his
constituency.</div>
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Koschorke says of the book,
“A menacing vacuum emanates from Mein Kampf—a license for
adherents to react with a 'Just you wait' that bristles with lustful
sadism.” For Koschorke, it is not that most people didn't read Mein
Kampf or finished it, but that those who chose to wade though it
entered into a kind of “secret society.” Perhaps most important
in this closed circle was the nature of power. It was power that was
contemptuous of any engagement with its opponents. Ultimately it was
irrelevant whether one believed in Hitler's “literary” rants or
more important in his far more mesmerizing public ranting and
ravings. His followers knew what they wanted.</div>
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But who was Hitler's
constituency according to Koschorke? Well, it wasn't the “scarcely
literate or lower order of society.” For Hitler it was those with
limited education and those who could be called the “failed” or
“faltering.” Koschorke defines Hitler's constituency as those
people who lived in a condition of existence “without
predictability or security,” which in turn affected material or
psychological well being. It was easier as time went by to blame the
Jewish “conspiracy” and the Social Democrats for the failure of
democratic institutions in Germany. By the mid-1930s it mattered
little what anyone thought.</div>
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Numerous books have been
written on the the rise of Fascism and Nazism, along with the
assorted dictators that took power in the 1920s and 1930s. But
certainly a loss of confidence in democratic institutions was a
factor, a factor that can be seen spreading across the globe today.</div>
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Once you get beyond
nationalism and making “holy mother Russia” great again, it's by
in large a thug state, a kleptocracy. China, supposedly the new
superpower is, as someone once described it, “capitalism in a
Leninist cage.” Dismal as one can imagine. You can today go across
the globe from India and Turkey to right wing nationalism in Europe
and realize that democratic institutions and beliefs are under
assault, exactly what occurred in Europe more than 80 years ago.
</div>
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Here in the United States
the slow unraveling leading to inequality and authoritarianism has
been going on for a good thirty years. There is no guarantee this
time for a “happy” ending.</div>
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walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-75871469971821583962017-11-27T07:28:00.000-06:002017-11-27T07:28:32.779-06:00Dare We Must: Yeah We Must Call It Treason<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Some may remember a Stephen
Schwarzman back in 2010. He was and is the billionaire CEO of perhaps
the largest private equity firm in the country. He became hysterical
over Obama's attempt to make some “very slight” changes to the
<i>carried interest charges</i>. He compared it to “Hitler invading
Poland in 1939.” Just more nonsense from the privileged class.</div>
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No, carried interest charges
is not something that most of us need to worry about. It was devised
by and for the very rich, sort of like the tax havens across the
globe that have been in the news lately. It also remains in the “tax
overhaul” plan the Republican cult wants to get passed as fast as
possible this week. Of course, if we actually closed all these
assorted welfare programs for our pampered parasite class we probably
wouldn't have to screw the vast majority of Americans ... or at least
as badly as what might very well happen.
</div>
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While we have been
distracted by the degenerate, half-bright sociopath in the White
House, the Republican Congress has been crawling frantically through
their own swamp desperate to appease their overseers. After all, they
have been told in no uncertain terms—<b><i>no 19<sup>th</sup> century, no
more campaign contributions, from us, the kleptocracy.
</i></b></div>
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No, no, possible collusion
with a foreign power, conflict of interests, failure to disclose
income tax returns, environmental degradation, unqualified nominees,
health and safety, growing inequality, gutting of health insurance,
third world U.S. infrastructure repairs, corporate personhood etc,
etc and etc is not the priority. The Republican Congress is counting
on an electorate unable to tear itself away from the latest
distraction on social media, television and talk radio.
</div>
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<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Republicans will give
the one-percent over one-fifth of the tax cuts, while the top
5-percent will get just under half of the tax cuts. Oh and they will
have to be paid for, not by some fanciful economic expansion or
trickle down nonsense, but by all the rest of us. <b>The holy grail for
the parasite class is of course Social Security and Medicare. </b>But the
millennials have not been forgotten. Well, they actually have, been
forgotten, actually.
</div>
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<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There will be no American
dream for the overwhelming majority. For that 40 to 60 year old
group, well, work is good for you. Stay healthy. Don't waste time on
vacations. You may even win the lottery. That's the definition of
Libertarianism: FREEDOM to be unemployed, under educated, sick and
powerless to do anything about it. Oh, and we haven't even talked
about net neutrality. But it's too complicated for most Americans
anyway. The Democratic Party? Well, we don't have time right now.
They're still deciding on who they are.</div>
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Oh, speaking of
Libertarians, at least the rich ones. Many of them don't believe in a
lot of the childlike nonsense they yap about. They just don't give a
damn about the “democracy” thing. Regardless, at this point we
have only a fig leaf of a democratic republic anyway. Yeah, I'm
inclined to think we're dealing with treason; we have been betrayed.
Sorry, I forgot to mention the “chained CPI tax hike.” Look it
up.
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walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-12685712279121300852017-10-12T14:48:00.000-06:002017-10-12T14:48:00.820-06:00The "Unmelanated" Myth of America<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Many
of us would probably be better fishermen if we did not spend so much
time watching and waiting for the world to become perfect.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Norman Maclean, “A
River Runs Through It and Other Stories”)</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I returned recently from
Montana and Wyoming, where I hiked in Glacier National Park and
Yellowstone, two national treasures I'd not seen before and which
represents the very best in public policy legislation in the United
States ... at least for the majority of Americans I suspect.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But there was something else
besides the state's natural beauty and its wildlife that caught my
attention, as my son and I drove from Bozeman, Montana to Glacier
National Park near the Canadian border. It was both something seen
and something sensed as we traveled toward our destination. It was to
me the Caucasian myth (my words) of the discovery of America writ
large.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We can thank President
Theodore Roosevelt at the turn of the 20<sup>th</sup> century for the
national park system, but we can also begin with the naturalist John
Muir who, in the 1870s, realized that European-Americans (and
others) would likely slaughter all the wildlife and possibly harm the
region's natural beauty in what is now Yellowstone National Park in
Wyoming if an area was not set aside as a “preserve” for every
Americans to enjoy in perpetuity.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This—make no mistake about
it—is a bone of contention for some Americans, especially among
many folks that live in the western states. Even when John Muir
raised the issue more than 150 years ago about setting aside
wilderness for “public” use (I prefer “Public Trust”), a
number of Americans claimed it was, well, sort of un-American. This
manifested itself two years ago when Bundy and his white terrorist
supporters occupied and trashed the Mahleur Bird Sanctuary in Oregon
because the government had “no right” to own the land.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The state of Montana is
breath taking in its natural landscape and sheer immensity. It is the
4<sup>th</sup> largest state in terms of square miles. At the same
time, with approximately one million people, it is the 44<sup>th</sup>
most populous state. (Wyoming is the second most sparsely populated
state). Montana is also the least “black” state in the country.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It is as well the home of
the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, some 1.5 million acres located east
of Glacier National Park. Montana contains a number of Indian
reservations, including the Crow, the Cheyenne, as well as the Little
Big Horn Battlefield where General Armstrong Custer, an example of
military incompetence and arrogance, met his fate.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Bozeman, Montana, a college
town, has a population of some 45,000 people, It is the fourth
largest city in the state, upscale, prosperous, diverse—and it's
“blue,” at least compared to the very, very conservative state
that surrounds it, a not unfamiliar picture in much of what we call
“red state” America, the stereotypical city-rural divide and
growing wider.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It is when you leave a place
like Bozeman that you begin to sense a very different world and
perhaps a different time. It is a land of few people but vast space
along with a great many cattle, Black Angus being a breed that I saw
a lot of. Supposedly there are three head of cattle for every human
in</div>
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Montana.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is also poverty, a lot
of it from what I could tell. Not the 19<sup>th</sup> century “sod
buster's” house or the lonely log cabin but a small, rusty looking
trailer parked on the side of a hill and perhaps a couple of
“ne'er-do-well” vehicles near by. I suspect opiod addiction has
also struck rural Montana hard. We passed one broken down shed along
the side of the road where on the roof was the word “OPIOD.” On
the other side of the roof, which you could see coming from the
opposite direction, was the word “DO NOT.”</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>You
see this man? His name is One Stab. He's a venerated elder of the
Cree nation. He's counted coup in hundreds of his enemies. He is our
friend, and he is thirsty.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Tristen, in the movie
“Legends of the Fall”)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We unmelanated <b>*</b>
Americans have been fortunate, in the sense that the United States
has not been occupied since the war of 1812 and then only briefly. We
have never really been forced to question our essential beliefs, our
history or the myths that have guided us for so long. This has now,
however, in the present day, become a festering sore that won't go
away anytime soon.
</div>
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</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The actual Caucasian history
of the United States is a story of European genocide, slavery and
predatory capitalism. Possibly it was destined to implode all along,
at some point. It obviously did not begin with cowboys in Montana,
nor the likes of Richard Spencer, a “white” nationalist and
apologist for neo-nazis, who happens to be from Montana, a state with
perhaps the largest known number of militia groups in the country.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As good a beginning as any
would be Christopher Columbus, the European who had the blessing of
the Spanish court. We learned in grade school that “Columbus sailed
the ocean blue in 1492.” He actually landed in Hispaniola in what
is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Columbus met the Taino
people in Hispaniola and was impressed by their peacefulness and
generosity. But in letters to the king and queen of Spain he remarked
about how easy it would be the make them all slaves. “With fifty
men, we could subjugate them and make them do whatever we want,”
Columbus informed the Spanish court.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Less one think that this
attitude was universal at the time, the Chinese in 1405, almost a
hundred years before, with an immense armada and traveling in ships
far larger than anything the Europeans possessed, began their
exploration that lasted some three decades, spanning areas in Africa,
the Indian ocean and Southeast Asia.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
China did not leave behind
the predation, destruction and genocidal intent like the Europeans
did. The question is why? This is a story unto itself, but one well
worth thinking about, especially in this day and age. For a good
beginning read<i> The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History for
Humanity's Search</i> f<i>or Meaning</i> by Jeremy Lent. The rest is
as they say European history and later European-American history.</div>
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</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>The earth is the mother
of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.</i></div>
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(Chief Joseph, 1879)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
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<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The recent Las Vegas
shooting where some 59 people were murdered was horrible and the most
recent mass gun atrocity in the United States. It has been called
the worst mass shooting in American history. It is not by any means,
but it says a great deal about our collective historical amnesia and
historical literacy.
</div>
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<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
A few examples: In 1864 the
U.S. Cavalry massacred over 500 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians who were
living on their own land in Colorado. In 1873 at least 150
African-Americans were murdered by white supremacists in Colfax,
Louisiana. In 1890 300 Lakota Indians were murdered by the U.S. 7<sup>th</sup>
cavalry at Wounded Knee in South Dakota. There are more examples,
including those massacres that occurred in the 20<sup>th</sup>
century.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The winning of the West, as
I have written about before, is one of the greatest unmelanated fairy
tales we have. The reality is not all about some
goofy“libertarianism,” subduing empty spaces, respecting the
land, the wildlife and, oh yeah, the native folks. It is not about
doing “without government” or the endless tales of “little
house” on the prairie and the survival of all those devout
immigrants arriving from Scandinavia. What is most often left out in
the usual and insipid Chamber of Commerce speeches is the actual
uncensored truth.
</div>
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<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Once
more:</b></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>I see
in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes
me to tremble for the safety of my country.... Corporations have been
enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow....</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(President Abraham
Lincoln, 1864)</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
All eyes turned westward at
the end of the Civil War. Time to get rich, save souls and civilize
the West. Certainly, an especially egregious brand of Christian
evangelism proclaimed that “their book” told then they had
dominion over damn near everything, which included the land, the
wildlife and of course the “savages.”
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What was called the Gilded
Age was the beginning of government and corporate collusion on a
massive scale. It was about scratching each others back, getting rich
any way one could and where the ends always justified the means and
where nothing was especially sacred except making more money.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It was an era of
imperialism, white supremacy, racism, and the collapse of promises of
equality after the Civil War. It was about the deliberate removal and
murder of the Indians; it was about the slaughter of wildlife; it
was about the disrespect and destruction of the land. It set the
stage for the twentieth and twenty-first century and where we have
arrived at the present time.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For anyone interested in a
detailed account of the age, <i>Railroaded</i> by the historian
Richard White is excellent. It is full of facts about the part the
railroad played in shaping the West for both good and for bad. It
also discusses the cattle barons and the depth of corruption and
thuggery they wallowed in and how they still have considerable
influence today.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Another excellent book,
perhaps less academic than White's book, is <i>Age
of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money
in America, 1865-1900 </i>by
Jack Beatty<i>. </i> To know and understand America today it's
important to understand the history of the late 19<sup>th</sup>
century.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Who currently resides in the
White House is for me a national disgrace and represents a seriously
dysfunctional country. The president's cabinet with few exceptions
are a collection of rich mediocrities and political hacks, including
Ryan Zinke the Interior Secretary (now under investigation) and
former congressman from Montana. He is no true friend of national
parks and wildlife. But so much is at stake and so much to protect
and preserve ... text book conservatism I know. Forget your self
pity, depression and disillusionment.
</div>
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</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In my ideal world I would
like to see more land in many western states set aside as national
preserves. Sure, I would be happy to have the livestock industry
shrink considerably, both for the sake of the environment and the
animals being killed, domestic and well as those in the wild. For
that matter, I would like to see the Second Amendment amended in
order to reflect the reality of the 21<sup>st</sup> century, not the
18<sup>th</sup>. Oh yes, if Montana gets two senators why can't
California get maybe four senators. The difference between 1 million
and 39 million is a lot. Yet, what would be the consequences for a
state like Montana?</div>
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</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
No, the above is not going
to happen anytime soon and that is why we have to work with the
reality we currently have for the benefit of all of us—like it or
not.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Sell a
country! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth?</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Tecumseh, 1768-1813)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
While in Bozeman I bought a
book entitled Conservation Heroes of
the American Heartland: Rancher, Farmer,
Fisherman, by Miriam Horn. It tells the story of five
individuals in different parts of the United States, including a
rancher near Choteau, Montana where Glacier National Park is located,
who have made a commitment to preserve a way of life yet intend to
respect and protect an environment challenged by a twenty-first
century world.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
These are stories about
people willing to engage in different points of view, sometimes
radically different. It's about a willingness to listen, to learn
how to preserve as well as how to live in a rapidly changing world
and ultimately have the patience to gather people in small groups to
find common ground. No one is claiming it is remotely easy but it is
the one thing we all must do.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is the lesson: We can
not wait for some “other” to do it. We can not just “hope” it
will get better. It is not as exciting as waving a banner or shouting
out slogans. It requires that we ourselves become thoroughly informed
or know where to go when we aren't.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Finally, while knowing the
past is critical, dwelling in it will keep us there forever. This is
the lesson. I want my children and my grandchildren to blink several
times when they stare up at the mountain, watch a pack of wolves
saunter across the land or see a grizzly stand up on its hind
legs....
</div>
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</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>We
reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in
her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was
something new to me in those eyes—something known only to her and
to the mountains.
</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Thinking Like a Mountain,
by Aldo Leopold)</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>*NOTE: </b>The word
“unmelanated” is not mine, I came across it in an essay by
Michael Harriot, a writer for the online magazine The Root. I wish I
could say that I had invented it. Melanin is of course dark brown to
black pigment occurring in the hair, skin and iris.</div>
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walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-313354692789962432017-01-17T08:28:00.000-06:002017-01-17T08:28:25.184-06:00Unmanaged pain<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>A caricature is putting
the face of a joke on the body of a truth.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Victory, by Joseph
Conrad)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><br />
</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>What is most important for
democracy is not that great fortunes should not exist, but that great
fortunes should not remain in the same hands, In that way there are
rich men, but they do not form a class.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Alexis de Tocqueville,
author of Democracy in America, 1835)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>2016</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I can't say I'm unhappy
about seeing the end of 2016 even though 2017 holds promises of being
much worse. In October of 2016 my dearest friend was murdered in her
home. It was brutal and violent and has changed my life forever.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In December of 2016 I was
diagnosed with moderate osteoarthritis in my right knee, hardly earth
shaking, uncommon nor remotely unexpected. It has, however, become a
permanent and irritating reminder of my physical self. But
“irritating” is the operating word, not chronic, debilitating
pain that can control a person's life in so many ways.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Increasing the pain in
America
</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Angus Deaton</i>, the 2015
winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, published a study along with
his wife <i>Anne Case</i>, about a segment of white America, which has
proven to be eye opening and startling in its conclusions.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The two economists analyzed
various information on working class whites, 45 to 54 years of age,
with less than a college education. They discovered a 22% rise in
death rates from 1999 to 2013, largely due to alcohol, drug abuse and
suicide. (See <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-group-of-middle-aged-american-whites-is-dying-at-a-startling-rate/2015/11/02/47a63098-8172-11e5-8ba6-cec48b74b2a7_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.5fdec718c97b">white America</a>). Deaton and Case concluded that this was
a community engulfed by pain, which is both chronic and persistent
physical and emotional pain. The researchers have suggested that
possibly one-half million people are dead who should not be.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>A people's dream died at
the Battle of Wounded Knee.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Black Elk, Lakota holy
man)</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>A pain perspective</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Frantz Fanon</i>, the French
psychiatrist, achieved near cult status in the 1960s among the global
Left. Fanon, the author of <i>Black Skin, White Masks</i> and <i>The Wretched
of the Earth</i>, explored the relationship between racism, colonialism,
mental illness and freedom while serving as a psychiatrist during the
Algerian War of Independence against France. Fanon himself was born
in the Caribbean island of Martinique to descendants of free black
cocoa farmers.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Frantz Fanon was most
interested in the psychological injuries, particularly the “shame
and self contempt” it spreads among its victims. He also noted that
both the oppressed and the oppressors were locked together and the
chains could not be broken until those that were oppressed chose to
struggle for their own independence.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Today, the <i>American
Psychological Association</i> states that “pain has biological,
psychological and emotional factors.” It is not purely a physical
sensation. We know now that chronic pain can certainly cause feelings
such as hopelessness, sadness, anxiety and most definitely anger.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>An American dystopia</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
No, the death rates in
general among African-Americans is still greater than rates for white
Americans, but for a particular segment of white America—in the
millions—there is a backward trend, unlike any other group in the
developed world at the present time. It likely began in the early
1980s.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yes, it is an oftentimes
unspoken belief and feeling that this is the group that has provided
the racist ground troops, the neo-Nazis, the xenophobia and the
bottomless ignorance that has allowed the American kleptocracy to
manipulate and exploit the so called white working class.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
After all, wasn't it “Johnny
Reb” in 1860, barefoot and penniless, that marched off to defend a
vile, racist plantocracy? And yes, is this not the group that is
about to put Donald Trump in the White House?</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Of course the element of
truth is there. But the pain, physical and psychological is real. And
who is the oppressed and who is the oppressor? Can it sometimes be
one and the same?</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The painful cause</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The truth may not always set
you free but it has always been visible if you are ever so willing to
actually study your surroundings. Frantz Fanon was right. It really
is a matter of the oppressed finally deciding to be free.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Right now a significant
percentage of the rich and the powerful in the United States is
gleefully ready to gut American health care (among so many other
things), which includes critically important mental health services.
No one will be arriving in the nick of time to save us.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For an interesting example
of our “free market” health care system go to <a href="http://www.salon.com/2017/01/09/watch-the-west-virginia-prescription-painkiller-epidemic/">Inside the WestVirginia prescription painkiller epidemic.</a></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-53916061695531832582016-11-21T07:09:00.000-06:002016-11-21T07:09:21.124-06:00Secret desires and nocturnal emissions<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>In America, anyone can
become president. That's the problem.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(George Carlin)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>White House home shopping
network</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I thought a colleague of
mine was putting me on recently when he told me that the Trump family
had been peddling products and advertising their family businesses
on a dot gov web site. Ivanka herself was marketing her $10,000
bracelet. I discovered it was true. The site came down after a few
days. I guess someone realized it was not a subtle way to begin the
four year scam.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>This is a family of rich
grifters</i> … and that's why they're liked by so many Americans. It
doesn't matter if the Donald is a billionaire (thanks to daddy) along
with numerous conflicts of interest, deadbeat morality and totally
unqualified to be town dog catcher let alone the President of the
United States.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
America he's ours—certainly
for a large percentage of white people--and we want to believe he's
revenge on the “ruling class,” which ruling class of course
depends on your point of view. Donald is going to make America “great
again.” I may be wrong but did anyone among our corporate
info-entertainers over this past dismal year ask him “when”
America was great? But hell, who cares. Right?</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The rational worldview</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
People I know have told me I
need to be patient. After all, Trump did win the presidency fair and
square. Let's wait and see what he does before we react. We need to
bring the country together in order to move forward. The opposition
needs to accept this fact. Unless you have demonstrable proof that
the election was “stolen” get it line and support America. Forget
the blather about Hillary having more of the popular vote than Trump;
Mr. Trump clearly won within the current system.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>I refuse to participate in
this process of organized amnesia, to cooperate in normalizing a man
who stands for everything America should not.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Leonard Pitts Jr.,
journalist)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The Lord of Mordor</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I've been following a
particular social media site very much in opposition to Donald Trump.
I've read with interest a lengthy thread dealing with trolls,
insulting remarks and how best to handle individuals who do this.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What struck me while reading
many of the comments was the naivete of so many, well meaning and
committed individuals who are against Trump. Nasty individuals,
however, mocking liberals is the least of our worries. Steve Bannon,
the Donald's Rasputin in the new White House, has little interest in
what you think about damn near anything. It will likely get so much
worse and we have no time for a lengthy learning curve or being
shocked or upset by troglodytes.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><b>Less we forget, the Cult
controls Congress. The list is long. Characters like Paul Ryan think
their libertarian college boy dream can soon become a reality. You
gonna stop it? In addition to the ACA they're coming after Medicare,
Medicaid, Social Security, the environment, which includes national
parks and wildlife. Women your place is in the kitchen barefoot and
pregnant. Hell, some 53% of white women voted for Donald. What
happened to the last forty years or so? Trickle down economics is
back with a vengeance. Oh yes, tax cuts for the parasite class is the
wave of the future. After all, they're clearly your betters and
struggle is good for you. Serfdom has some good aspects because
you'll know what to do day after day after day. You just do what
you're told. First amendment, well, we may have to cut back a bit in
order to make America great. Now the “other” people, you know who
you are. You've got to understand who runs this country, and realize
who is on top of the dung heap, sort of like the natural order of
things. Best of all we're going to have guns and more guns
everywhere—hospitals, schools, churches and conveniently you'll be
able to buy them in a Quick Trip or maybe a 7Eleven, hell, Hobby
Lobby possibly, who knows and no waiting time. An educated citizenry?
Well, there is too much thinking going on in this country. A well run
country can't really have educated citizens. And there is so much
more. I bet Russia could be our closest ally because we'll have so
much in common. Imagine, we could give a select group of angry white
people brown and black shirts and they could earn merit badges and
move up in the ranks. I know, it's an old idea, but we could reduce
unemployment to zero and have a lot of torchlight parades and be
proud Americans again. Be happy, don't worry citizens, you're not in
a dream....</b></i></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm going to a restaurant
tonight. It's owned by Muslims. Last week white nationalist Orcs
smashed some windows and wrote graffiti on the walls. This
approaching<i> <b>Kristallnacht</b></i> we better not ignore or worry that we might
upset the Cult. We can apologize profusely and promise to work
together if Trump and company do not turn out to be a collection of
ignorant, undemocratic thugs that want to turn the clock back to some
mythical and exclusive white boy paradise.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This is not going to be a
gentle struggle or a weekend beating of drums, chants and inspiring
folk music. <b>The thread for how we got here goes back to the very
beginning of this country founded on slavery, racism, genocide,
predatory capitalism, Social Darwinism, total disrespect for the
natural world and “I got mine.”</b> Now the monsters have been
unleashed. Be grateful for what you have and realize and understand
what and why you have it and be clear that you're not alone or
powerless. Make this Thanksgiving a time to commit to a much better
country.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>And suddenly the mirror
went altogether dark, as dark as if a hole had opened in the world of
sight, and Frodo looked into emptiness....</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Frodo seeing Sauron, in
the Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien)
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/go_back_to_sleep_america_--_nothing_to_see_here_20161115">You're getting Tired</a></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-71772649410453538822016-11-14T07:34:00.000-06:002016-11-14T07:34:04.899-06:00Let us come together ... uh, huh<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Democracy is beautiful in
theory, in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that
some day.
</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Benito Mussolini, leader
of National Fascist Party, 1922-1943)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>I love the old days—you
know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place
like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher folks … I'd like to
punch him in the face.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Donald Trump, discussing
a protester this past February being dragged out of a Trump rally)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The 60's redux</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I remember in graduate
school writing a paper on the late <i>Mario Savio</i>, the leader of the
Berkeley Free Speech Movement in 1964. My professor, an Englishman
who had fought the Nazis at Dunkirk, thought the paper was “well
written” but its premise naive. It was certainly naive, in the
sense that soaring rhetoric, lofty idealism and mere protests would
quickly cause the “establishment”-any establishment—to crumble
before our eyes. Of course, positive change did eventually occur in a
great many areas, but over time through a lot of hard work, a lot of
creative thinking, a lot of sacrifice ... and a lot of pain.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>The victor will never be
asked if he told the truth.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Adolf Hitler)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>What it is for the momen</b>t</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It was by definition
<i>Populism</i>, a mixed picture in American history. (See <a href="http://seekout.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-global-boneyard-chinless-dildos-and_13.html">The globalboneyard</a>.) Whether or not Donald Trump has the slightest idea what
Populism is, he talked about change, creating jobs and “throwing
out the rascals.” These slogans have worked in America for over 200
years.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
According to the polls (for
all that means), the voters had pretty much made up their minds by
September and Trump had a very, very good chance of becoming
president, although Clinton and the Democratic strategists, in
hindsight, remained largely clueless, in itself a reason to gut the
Democratic party or turn it inside out.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
At the moment the Democrats
control virtually nothing. We know what has happened at the national
level but how many of us know that the majority of state legislatures
and governorships are controlled by the Cult. We are knee deep in the
effluent—meaning “crap.” It matters a great deal ultimately
what we end up doing, from the town council on up to the presidency.
What we do have are many of the cities and that matters a great deal,
an article unto itself.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>You got 9 weeks</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For the time being we have
to take the Donald mostly at his word. No, I don't think all the
nonsense that Trump uttered during the campaign is going to get
implemented and become law, but in the short-term America is going to
become coarser, uglier, less democratic and increasingly unpleasant
for perhaps a majority of Americans.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For many Americans, their
real education is about to begin. Presidents have significant power
in issuing Executive Orders, requiring no advice and consent of
Congress. As well, they have the power to undo Executive Orders
implemented by their predecessor, in this case President Obama. But
there is so much more being talked about already in the
Cult-controlled Congress.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><b>Make no mistake; they are
going for everything as fast as possible. The unspoken belief is that the Cult really can take us back to the “good old days.” Best be
aware and best be prepared for what is to come. Wisdom, intelligence,
discipline and awareness will, in a few weeks, be worth all the money
in the U.S. Treasury. Pull up your bootstraps America and get ready
to listen to your “betters.”</b></i></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We have basically nine weeks
to create the beginning of an organization, at the national level as
well as at the state and local level. A good place to start is
learning how government works at all levels and how ideas become
laws. We could begin by talking to those politicians that actually
make the laws. It is much more than anger and righteous indignation
that will bring about the changes we want.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The good news is that the
wailing and gnashing of teeth appears to be short lived; therefore,
we can get on with the business at hand. Some 59 million people voted
for Trump. We have millions of potential customers if we learn how to
close the deal. <b>How much incentive do you need?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<a href="http://seekout.blogspot.com/2014/11/economic-america-delusion-wrapped-in.html">Economic America: A delusion wrapped in an illusion</a></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-50334256846311605912016-11-06T10:27:00.000-06:002016-11-06T10:27:03.617-06:00For my granddaughters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DEowKbpFgoM/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DEowKbpFgoM?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-17210962012949767882016-11-02T09:14:00.000-06:002016-11-02T09:14:01.366-06:00Dumpster Diving in America<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" id="yiv4518444750m_345512206532123210476d2f1b2-07fd-4c09-8357-370f105e135a" src="https://us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com/ya/download?mid=2%5f0%5f0%5f1%5f1%5fAL7mjkQAE9OVWA4c2gMgyCnj%2bsk&m=YaDownload&pid=2&fid=Inbox&inline=1&appid=YahooMailNeo" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An American Fencepost<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"> While stitching a cut on the hand of a 75 year old farmer, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Donald Trump</span><span class="yiv4518444750m3455122065321232104yiv8637105582m7847729879994653546m8296645727953564675m-7038460701739305215m-6283608090243739528textexposedhide" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;">...</span><span class="yiv4518444750m3455122065321232104yiv8637105582m7847729879994653546m8296645727953564675m-7038460701739305215m-6283608090243739528apple-converted-space" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"> </span><span class="yiv4518444750m3455122065321232104yiv8637105582m7847729879994653546m8296645727953564675m-7038460701739305215m-6283608090243739528textexposedshow" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478098545555_6544" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;">and his role as the Republican Nominee for President. The old farmer said, " Well, as I see it, Donald Trump is like a 'Post Tortoise'.'' Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post tortoise' was. The old farmer said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a tortoise balanced on top, that's a post tortoise." The old farmer saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with."</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-18298104062915838982016-10-24T13:00:00.000-06:002016-10-24T13:00:02.922-06:00How to suck the oxygen out of everything<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>A silent prologue</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Last week I attended a
seminar on <b><i>urban heat islands</i></b>, the speaker being a staff scientist
with the <i>Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory</i>. Mitigation strategies
to lower temperatures in urban regions will become increasingly
important as half the world's population now lives in cities of one
size or another and climate change is raising global temperatures.
This is what we call facts. We can verify these facts, anyone can for
that matter.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Can't catch my breath</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Even though 2016 is not
unique, it does seem that we have a higher collection of world
leaders at the present time that run the gamut from sociopath, to
gangster to merely authoritarian. Democratic values are not winning
the popularity contest at the moment.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>You would have to be half
mad to dream me up.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Mad Hatter, Alice in
Wonderland)</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In the United States Donald
Trump, the profoundly ignorant, deeply narcissistic and repulsive
man-child, for the past year or so, has overwhelmed our political and
cultural lives, which in and of itself says something about our
present (ideally short-lived) dysfunction.
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In a sort of “best of all
possible worlds,” the Donald will vanish into the trash can of
history along with the <i>White People's Cult</i>, formerly known as the
Republican party. But you would have to be “half mad” to believe
it's going to be that easy.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Now, to resume our
discussion on urban heat islands.... but first make sure you vote and
overwhelm ignorance.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-2121101377845907032016-10-17T05:43:00.001-06:002016-10-17T06:16:25.020-06:00Who runs the tribe<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>The current clown scare is
a result of two rising forces in the U.S: social media, and a fear of
otherness, whether it arrives in a white Mercedes or a refugee boat.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Robert Bartholomew,
sociologist, Botany College, New Zealand)</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I was about to write
something on capitalism and “geocide” but a colleague emailed me
an interesting article and survey on climate change, not about the
science of global warming but about how we “think” about it—or
not. Then I came across a video, both disturbing and depressing, but
tied indirectly to climate change.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The political spectacle</b></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Reporters for the NYT
followed Donald Trump for a year at his various presidential rallies
throughout the United States. While this video is about the 2016
election, it could be a rally of a particular kind you might attend
in far to many countries today. In fact, it conjures up scenes from
the early 1930s in Europe.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><br />
</i></b></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i>Making America Really,
Really Not So Great Again</i></b></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
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<b>Climate and beliefs</b></div>
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The survey shows that (1)
overall opinions about climate are split along (not surprisingly to
many) partisan lines and have hardly changed at all, (2) scientific
knowledge does not change the opinions of climate deniers, (3) the
increase of scientific “literacy” appears to change the views of
Democrats but not Republicans, (4) climate beliefs are more about
“tribal” beliefs, (5) most people have no organized ideology and
firm opinion on issues, (6) elite views are the most important
operator on public opinion, (7) tribal attachment is the most
important influence not issue attachment and (8) <b>BUT</b>, regardless of
where one falls on the political spectrum, everyone likes renewable
energy such as wind and solar. Go to <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/10/7/13182760/climate-change-public-opinion-stable">Climate Survey</a> to read the details.</div>
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<b>Nature, nurture and
genopolitics</b></div>
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Two to three years ago the
word <b>Genopolitics</b> appeared with increasing frequency. Did genes
influence political behavior? Could genetics tell us whether or not
we would be on the Left or Right politically? Would it be easier to
gauge if we were inclined to be Liberal or Conservative?</div>
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There was some interesting
scientific research going on. Neuroscience had made some remarkable
breakthrough in the last ten years or so and several tantalizing
ideas spread beyond brain research. Certainly some political
scientists thought they could be nearing the point where predictable
patterns of behavior might be understood in light of what
neuro-science had uncovered.</div>
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We know a good deal, for
example, about how hormones and neurotransmitters in our bodies
influence behavior. The levels of serotonin in our system might
affect our self confidence and sense of worth and intensity of
aggression. Some researchers believe that the release of oxytocin,
the “cuddle hormone,” might have something to do with increases
in generosity and trust.</div>
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The problem is that human
behavior is complicated and not easy to describe on a flow chart.
Some people have a genetic predisposition to alcoholism but never
become alcoholics because of environmental factors. A psychiatrist
and well respected authority on serial killers, in the course of his
research, discovered he himself had the genetic makeup of a sociopath
but it was the environmental factor (home life, family) that
triggered a full blown monster. At some point there is a good chance
we will get beyond merely uncovering “interesting” connections in
human behavior and be able to identify cause and effect and replicate
it over and over again.</div>
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Nevertheless, understanding
human behavior, it seems to me, cannot be merely left to brain
researchers and various policy wonks but all of us … if we want to
succeed. If as this particular climate survey indicates, the one
thing we all seem to agree upon is the value of renewable energy.
Then what ought we to be doing, if fifty percent of us believe
climate change is an existential threat to all of us? Who is
thwarting the effort?
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While Clinton's emails and
Trumps' behavior may be the current American distraction (along with
scary clowns), on November 9, 2016, we will be back to dealing with
human behavior, which needs some serious hormonal alteration and
rewiring.
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walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-26200785503750845522016-10-10T07:37:00.000-06:002016-10-10T07:37:16.106-06:00Coal miners of the world unite and take back the 20th century<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Critical thinking still
breathing</b></div>
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The most recent issue of
<i>Nature Conservancy magazine</i> is devoted to climate change in the U.S.
One of the articles discusses the varied strategies taking place
across the United States, which often reflects the makeup of the
state be it politically, economically, socially and so forth. For
example, in Iowa more than one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions
comes from agriculture. The focus here is educating farmers on soil
management and fertilizer reduction and working closely with the
state's “decision makers.”</div>
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In New York state the
emphasis is on overhauling the electrical grid system, decentralizing
power generation and encouraging more solar and wind energy. In
Louisiana reforestation is seen as an important goal, while in
Libertarian-inclined New Hampshire energy independence,
self-sufficiency and clean energy is attractive across the political
spectrum.</div>
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The point of all these
examples is that there are many different <i>KNOWN</i> strategies to
confront climate change, the overriding goal being to keep global
temperatures under 2 degrees Celsius. Something like one-third of
greenhouse gas emission reductions can be accomplished by the
protection and restoration of nature. Ultimately, the strategy for
global success is both mitigation and adaptation to climate change
and a lot of creative thinking.</div>
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What ought not to be
considered in the U.S. and across the globe is the increase of fossil
fuel production, coal in particular. In the recent vice-presidential
“debate,” nominee Mike Pence spoke about the unemployed coal
miners and that his party would restore coal production and
presumably put the miners back to work.
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It's almost irrelevant
whether it is ignorance or merely electioneering blather, but coal
production needs to vanish, much, much sooner than later. Mountain
top restoration of coal mines, among other things, is a better
acknowledgment of 21<sup>st</sup> century reality.
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What coal miners and others
need is the unvarnished truth about economic change, along with
programs that actually provide serious retraining, financial support
and a first world education system for their children. Once again,
the electorate has considerable responsibility in making this happen,
and not merely complaining about what is not happening. Yes, the
automobile put the buggy whip manufacturers out of business.</div>
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<b>Cigarettes don't cause
cancer</b></div>
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A lot of folks remember the
iconic photograph of cigarette executives in 1994 raising their hands
before a Congressional committee promising to tell the truth about
their product. Well, that “truth” proved elusive back then, but
in the minds of many people the cigarette industry is nothing more
than a criminal enterprise, which is apparently still thriving today
in many third world countries.
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In 2016 we have the fossil
fuel industry, which will potentially have a far greater impact than
the tobacco industry ever had. EXXON, in particular, has spent some
$31 million dollars funding climate denial campaigns, yet at the same
time—unlike the tobacco industry—has conducted genuine climate
change studies undertaken by real climate scientists, who clearly
state that human caused climate change is very real.<i> <b>It is well worth
reading,</b></i><b> </b><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2015/nov/25/two-faced-exxon-the-misinformation-campaign-against-its-own-scientists">Two-Faced Exxon: the Misinformation Campaign Against its OwnScientists</a> and <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/truthdigger_of_the_week_sir_robert_watson_british_climate_expert_20161008">Sir Robert Watson, British Climate Expert.</a></div>
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An existential threat is a
terrific reason to become involved and become informed about how to
make changes that matter to more than merely the comfortable.</div>
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<b>Additional reading:</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/09/30/1576364/-Republican-science-chairman-Rep-Lamar-Smith-is-now-going-after-the-SEC-to-protect-ExxonMobil?detail=emailgreen&link_id=7&can_id=e6b4c13c795a9f30504b63c6ff0bbc3b&source=email-when-animals-murder&email_referrer=when-animals-murder&email_subject=when-animals-murder">Politicians Protecting Exxon</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/10/05/1578133/-Pence-s-WarOnCoal-whines-echoes-from-2008-campaign?detail=emailgreen&link_id=14&can_id=e6b4c13c795a9f30504b63c6ff0bbc3b&source=email-when-animals-murder&email_referrer=when-animals-murder&email_subject=when-animals-murder">Pence Whines About War OnCoal </a></div>
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<b>P.S</b>.</div>
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Yes I too watched the
presidential “debate” last night. Clearly Donald Trump and
depressingly a large number of his supporters prefer the dankness of
the sewer rather than fresh air and blue skies. Hillary Clinton
managed to utter the words<i> <b>Climate Change</b></i> at the very end of the
evening when an audience member asked a question about energy. While
my heart is well to the left of Clinton my head says more than ever
she deserves my support. That's where the organizing can take place,
in a world where climate change must take center stage.</div>
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<b>NEXT: Does Capitalism and
“Geocide” Go Together?
</b></div>
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walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-53821815613253191052016-10-03T06:26:00.000-06:002016-10-03T06:26:28.941-06:00Ha, just keep 'em watching the bouncing ball<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Climate change is
happening now and much faster than anticipated.</i></div>
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(Sir Robert Watson, former
chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)</div>
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<i>The Arctic is a principal,
global driver of the climate system and is undergoing an
unprecedented rate of change with consequences far beyond its
boundaries.</i></div>
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(David Grimes, President
of World Meteorological Organization)</div>
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<b>So the American voter wants
change?</b></div>
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Possibly one of the world's
largest ice avalanches, which contained some 100 million cubic meters
of ice and rock, occurred in western Tibet this past July.
Glaciologists are not yet certain why an entire “glacier tongue”
would collapse so quickly and violently. The glaciers of Central and
South Asia, including Tibet, have the largest reserves of glacier ice
outside of Antarctica, Greenland and Canada.</div>
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As mentioned previously, an
international climate goal is to keep temperature rise under 2
degrees Celsius. The current reality is, however, that the Arctic,
which makes up 4 percent of the earth's surface has already risen
some 4 degrees Celsius. Climate scientists believe
that if we don't take far more serious measures, temperatures will
certainly rise to 1.5 degrees C by 2030 and quite conceivably 2
degrees C by 2050.
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Yes, stuff could happen—<b>in
our lifetime</b>. Permafrost could melt in the tundra (where it used to
be cold all the time) releasing more carbon dioxide—and
methane—making what we call feedback loops an unpleasant reality.
Ocean currents could change and weather patterns might begin to vary
a lot, with extreme weather events becoming the new reality.
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This time you might want to
stop living in flood plains and do not expect the government to bail
you out citizen. Massive die offs of plant and animal life could
occur, along with water wars, forced migration of millions of people across the globe,
famines and no more exotic vacations for the privileged and the
wealthy … get the idea?
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<b>My fellow Americans,
ignorance is not bliss, right here in “River City”</b></div>
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Watching the recent
presidential debate, I was surprised by the amount of revulsion I
felt toward Donald Trump, in my opinion the most unqualified
presidential candidate in modern history, but I do not consider him
merely an ignorant, narcissistic carnival barker. History offers far
too many examples of seeming buffoons and charlatans seducing the
citizenry, taking power and then wreaking havoc.
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We are being told by
assorted pundits that the demographic group designated “millennials,”
some 75 million souls, ages 18 to 34 dislike or are uneasy about
voting for Hillary Clinton and she could lose the election if she
does not get their support.</div>
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If you are a 34 year old
millennial right now, in 2050 you will be 68 years old and some of
you will presumably have children and grandchildren. If you are 25
years old you will be only 59 in 2050. Donald, Hillary and a great
many of us will be long gone 34 years from now.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/voting_third_party_20160930/">third party</a></b></div>
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<b>You forget the Greens and
the Libertarians</b></div>
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I'm doing my best to
definitely forget about Jill Stein and Gary Johnson, the nominees for
the Green Party and the Libertarian Party. It is a wasted protest
vote. Jill Stein appears to live in a world of illusion and seems to
have little understanding of political reality, how the political
system actually works and how people actually make decisions.</div>
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Then there is Gary Johnson,
a seemingly nice guy who needs to brush up on world events before
running for the presidency of the United States. But perhaps even
more important in a diverse, continental sized country with more than
300 million people, libertarian, free market claptrap is the last
thing we need in a world with climate change, demographic increases,
global trade, nuclear weapons and a host of grown up issues requiring
collective action.
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<b>Wishing is hardly enough</b></div>
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My personal wish list
includes such things as universal health care, the repeal of
Citizen's United, national gun legislation that reflects a 21<sup>st</sup>
century world, criminal justice reform, reducing livestock farming (a global warming
disaster), free college education, a genuine progressive income tax,
intelligent cuts in the bloated defense budget, increasing funding
for our national parks (one of the greatest public policy successes
in our history), a large scale infrastructure program and above all,
an actual commitment to fighting climate change.</div>
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<b><i>I'm going to vote for
Hillary Clinton without reservation, not because she ignites my
passion or guarantees my wish list, but because she is capable of the
“change” so many Americans claim that they want.</i></b><i> <b>Of course the
change comes when we who profess the need for that change actually
organize, educate and vote at all levels all the time over the long
term.
</b></i></div>
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Finally, there is the
definition of what “change” means. I have a pretty good idea of
what Donald Trump's most passionate supporters mean by change. </div>
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walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-65124863423765354732016-09-29T12:10:00.001-06:002019-12-13T11:48:20.753-06:00walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-42389119426662880262016-09-26T06:05:00.000-06:002016-09-26T06:08:55.133-06:00Climate vs weather: delusion vs illusion<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>So far we simply have not
been prepared to accept the revolutionary implications of our own
findings, and even when we do we are reluctant to voice such thoughts
openly … many are ultimately choosing to censor their own
research.</i></div>
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(Kevin Anderson, Tyndall
Center for Climate Change Research, Manchester, England)</div>
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<b>Destructive children</b></div>
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One number in particular
always stands out for me. That number is 0.00004. It represents the
time we humans have existed on our planet compared to Earth's total
age. Earth is 4.543 billion years old.
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Modern humans have been
around for approximately 200,000 years. Perhaps 6 or 7 million years
ago our distant ancestors, possibly in what is present day Chad, and
the chimpanzee separated from our common ancestor <i>Sahelanthropus
Tchandensis</i> (see <i><a href="http://seekout.blogspot.com/2013/05/remembering-uncle-sah.html">“Remembering uncle sah,”</a></i> May 7,2013).</div>
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Only 92 elements make up<b> ALL</b>
of life on this planet. We humans today are quite likely breathing
the same air that the dinosaurs breathed 100 million years ago.
Scientists believe, in a general sense, that any given species of
plant and animal, vertebrate or invertebrate on average lasts around
10 million years. We Homo sapiens (sapiens) are animal vertebrates.
How long do you think humankind will manage to hang on? How much
misery and destruction to all life are we capable of leaving in our
wake?</div>
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<b>Brief Explanation of
Weather and Climate</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<b>The numbers but which ones</b></div>
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The<b> number</b> of importance at
the moment for government policy makers and climate scientist is <i>2
degrees Celsius.
</i></div>
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While it may be of more
significance politically than scientifically, it is a serious marker
that the international community has set as a temperature standard in
an attempt to avoid a global warming disaster, which in the worst
case scenario could conceivably result in human extinction, possibly
sooner than what was previously imagined. <i><b>The objective is to keep
global warming increases under 2 degrees Celsius.</b> </i>(A temperature of 2
degrees Celsius is 35.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
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Several years ago the number
400 ppm was well known to policy makers and climate scientists. It
represented parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.<i> <b>The objective was to keep CO2 emissions in the atmosphere under 400
ppm.
</b></i></div>
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The last monitoring station
that crossed the threshold occurred in the Antarctic on May 23 of
this year. What happens in Beijing, New York or Paris doesn't stay
there. This is the first time in 4 million years that carbon
emissions have risen above 400 ppm and remained there.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Since the beginning of the
Neolithic era, which began some 10,000 years ago global temperatures
fluctuated only about 1 degree Celsius. This is the period when human
civilization got underway, beginning with human settlements,
agriculture and what we call culture. We are now moving into the
unknown. Since the 1800s we have warmed 1 degree Celsius.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>All the truth and only the
truth so help me....</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>Kevin Anderson</i>, a respected
climate scientist, believes many scientists are indulging in a form
of self-censorship; in other words, they are producing reports that
are “politically” acceptable, because the reality may be far
worse than government policy makers, corporations and the public want
to hear at the present time.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The first video clip is a
short interview with Anderson at the climate talks in Paris in
December 2015 and the second video is a lecture that Anderson gave in
September 2015. It is very much about the numbers and the possible
consequences.
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<b>NEXT</b>:<b> U.S. election, climate
change and protest votes</b></div>
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walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-50054435178727774032016-09-19T05:40:00.000-06:002016-09-19T06:31:36.114-06:00Searching for deplorables<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Credo Quia Absurdum Est</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>translation: I believe it
because it is absurd</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Tertullian, influential
early Christian author, 155-240 A.D.</div>
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I live in Kansas City,
Missouri at the present time, an increasingly vibrant and diverse
medium-sized city in the middle of the United States. Unfortunately,
my fair city is in Missouri, a state whose heart seems to reside in
the Old Confederacy and the OK Corral rather than the 21<sup>st</sup>
century.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Missouri brings to mind the
line from Franz Kafka's novel<i> The Trial</i> published in 1925: <b><i>“It's
only because of their stupidity that they're able to be so sure of
themselves.”
</i></b></div>
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The Missouri state
legislature, overriding the governor's veto, has recently approved a
bill, which expands our “concealed carry” law. Now, no gun permit
is required, no criminal background check needed and no firearms
training deemed necessary. We're just all lusty, red-blooded yeomen,
you know, like Thomas Jefferson praised in the 18<sup>th</sup>
century.
</div>
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Of course Missouri is as
well a major contributor to the expanding dead zone in the Gulf of
Mexico, because of unregulated farming pollution runoff in the
Mississippi river. Welcome to Missouri. Give us your tired and your
deplorables.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Speaking of those
“deplorables,” Hillary Clinton supposedly made a political
mistake when she spoke of the Trump's supporters. Okay, 50% might be
high. Let's say it's only 45 percent that are kind of deplorable,
even though some polls have claimed that something like 60 percent of
the White People's Cult believe that President Obama is a Muslim or
not born in the U.S. or the founder of Isis—well whatever. Time to
buy my gun(s) and protect my castle.</div>
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<b>From Missouri with love</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/deplorables_video_20160915">The basket</a></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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For a glimpse of white gun culture in America, see <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2016/sep/16/gun-nation-a-journey-to-the-heart-of-americas-gun-culture-video">The Guardian</a> video </div>
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walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9504136.post-68761793268157870682016-09-13T05:42:00.000-06:002016-09-13T05:42:14.685-06:00The global boneyard, chinless dildos and glimmers of light (2)<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>The twenty-first century
is not characterized by the search for new-ness, but by the
proliferations of nostalgias.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Svetlana Boym, late
Russian-American philologist)</div>
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</div>
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<i>In the charged atmosphere
of the populist insurgency, spectacle lynchings sent a message: Stay
out of any politics that would divide whites and weaken white
supremacy.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
(Age of Betrayal
1865-1890, by Jack Beatty)</div>
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<b><i>Why has it seemed so
improbable to so many people that Donald Trump, the repulsive,
narcissistic buffoon, could very well become the next president of
the United States? Trump might well be the inevitable outcome—the
poster child--of a country desperate to fail.</i></b></div>
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<br />
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<b>It's called American history</b></div>
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No, it's not new at all,
regardless of whether or not assorted politicians and
info-entertainers on television today purport to be presenting some
fresh insight to an oftentimes uninformed electorate. The election
year 2016 in the United States is depressingly familiar. We can,
however, still make an attempt not to—once again—<i>do the same
stupid</i>.
</div>
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</div>
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The<b> Populist </b>movement of the
1880s and 1890s had many themes familiar to us today, including the
demands for economic fairness, equality and the end of political
corruption. The movement exploded across the mid-west and the south
in the 1880s brought on, as Supreme Court Justice John Marshall
Harlan recalled, by a “deep feeling of unrest.”
</div>
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</div>
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Small farmers and the
relatively poor were especially hard hit by economic forces they had
little control over and by decisions made in New York and Washington
that more often than not had virtually nothing to do with the needs
of the American people as a whole.</div>
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</div>
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But by fearlessness,
organizing and an education campaign, which started out in a remote
part of Texas, the Populist movement became arguably the greatest
mass movement in American history. By 1891 they were a powerful
political force, quite capable of challenging the oligarchy, the
status quo and possibly capturing the White House. By 1900, however,
the Populist movement was virtually finished.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
White racism, the sickness
that was built into the founding of the United States, was certainly
a major reason for the eventual collapse of the Populist movement.
White Southerners especially were ultimately incapable of getting
beyond their, uh, “cultural” heritage. The year 1892, when the
Populist movement was at its pinnacle, was also the worst year for
lynchings since 1868.
</div>
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Once again white people,
especially the rural poor and the powerless in the south, responded
to the various “dog whistles,” employed so skillfully by the
likes of the robber baron Jay Gould in New York or by some wealthy,
politically connected plantation owner in Dixie.
</div>
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<br />
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<b>The W.P.C., aka the white
people's cult aka formerly known as the Republican party</b></div>
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</div>
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The comedian Samantha Bee
once referred to the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as a
“chinless dildo.” While McConnell can easily claim the mantel of
mediocrity, he reflects reasonably well the cult, of which he is a
leading member, and which the Donald, for the time being, is also an
“honored” member.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<b>The Karl Marx coloring book
</b></div>
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<br />
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In fairness to Karl Marx,
Susan Sarandon and many of my Progressive friends, the times they are
most certainly changing. WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE! Er, which
workers might that be? There are the self-employed. Not all of them
are rich lawyers and doctors that have set up their single-person
corporation. And what about the growing number of temporary
employees? They're workers. And yes, the monster under the bed. It's
called automation and likely to grow.
</div>
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The not-so-secret
observation is that probably a majority of these “lost” jobs are
never going to come back, here or from anywhere else, with or without
Bernie Sanders, or the return of Malcolm X or Leon Trotsky.
</div>
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</div>
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Susan Sarandon, the well
known actress, said a few months back that a Donald Trump presidency
would likely speed up the “revolution.” Yes, we workers will all
unite and storm the Winter Palace. We could though most definitely
get noticeable change, but it will not be the kind that we want, and
the majority of us will not be able to ride out the storm on the
island of Majorca.
</div>
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<b>It's so hard and unfair</b></div>
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</div>
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Yes, yes we did not get
Bernie, we don't like Hillary, even though she's not remotely the
devil incarnate that our 21<sup>st</sup> century Jay Goulds want
Americans to believe. And once again the so-called white working
class is mad because they've been duped and manipulated for, er ...
well ... since the beginning of our republic, but Trump tells it like
it is, and what about and so forth … imagine not standing for the
National Anthem … what's climate change....</div>
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</div>
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The original Populists got
it right in the beginning: they knew it was about fearlessness,
organizing and an education campaign, which was a full-time job with
dignity. It's unfortunate we're having difficulty understanding this
in 2016.</div>
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walter winchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02764049062289495120noreply@blogger.com0