WATCHING AND WAITING

Today we have some pictures of Rockpicker and Oldensoul’s fall garden. Killer frost evidently has not hit their area yet. Our garden is about done except for the onions and garlic to yet be fully harvested for the winter.

Rockpickers fall garden, look how it has grown!

Rockpicker and Oldensoul's end of season rock planter with ripening tomatoes.

Squash fest from our garden, an no, we didn't grow all of them. Frost killed off many fruit that were started.

Squash custard with resberries


WATCHING AND WAITING
From Murph

I’ve got to admit that I feel like I am reaching an overload on information. Among all the web sites on the internet and various books and periodicals we try and stay up with, I feel saturated right now. Most of the subjects I am concerned with and some new approaches and ideas I read about are written so well that I wonder what I can talk about on the blog nowadays. One thing that sprang out at me was a new post at the Archdruid blog. He has been on an extensive examination of all sorts of perspectives on the current economic situation and economics in general. Very scholarly stuff and well written.

By now I am sure you frequenters of this campfire are aware that Freeacre and I have unending contempt for most of what our society, government and civilization is and has been doing as long as we have been alive, and before, if our reading of history has any validity at all. We have been anticipating a fall/collapse/revolution so long and have been preparing so long for something along this line to happen that we are sick of the waiting. Let’s get with it on is our frequent mantra.

However, the universe seems rather perverse in its determination to thwart our projections of events. Charles H. Smith recently put up a post that examined the possibility that the dollar will not collapse. Oh darn! The PTB aren’t going to allow that, bad for business. I have a lot of respect for Smith and his perspectives on what is happening financially and socially in this society. His 110 page e-book that nicely condenses his analysis is an excellent read. This can be found at: http://www.oftwominds.com/survival-plus1.html

When we picture what a collapse would be like, we are mostly projecting fantasy into it. Our fantasies around this determine what we do in preparations. Inevitably, collapse/revolution will be different than what we fantasize. It might just be so different that what we do in preparation has no significance at all. And, that conundrum is what I am continually scratching my head over. For the most part, I realize humans are damned poor at future projections. That is not even assuming how many unforeseen consequences can and will happen for any scenario we dream up.

Without some drastic change in thinking, I have little faith in humanity’s ability to make decisions for the good of those living or to be born yet. It sure seems to me that a very large proportion of decisions have these niggling unforeseen consequences that are harmful. Cripes, look at what the indigenous people did on this continent when the white man came, they helped them overcome starvation and look at those consequences.

Among my favorite conspiracy theories is the one of shadow governments; some elite PTB that is controlling events throughout the world for their own nefarious purposes. Unless they aren’t human, are they subject to the same problems in future projections as the rest of us? Are all of their plans going to have consequences they haven’t planned for? I’m sure the elites were not planning to have to deal with a national uprising during the French revolution. Will we have something similar in our case? I am also reasonably sure that the English aristocracies were not figuring on the surety of an American revolution since the Americans were facing such an overwhelming force, nor took into account the tenacity of the rebellion.

So what I am banking on is that the PTB have done a magnitude of overreach, and are doomed to ultimate failure. But then again, maybe not. Much science fiction from the 70’s dealt with the ultimate takeover by some elite group and the consequences. What these novels did not take into account for was the need for vast amounts of non renewable energy to do so. Will that apply today? Does the shadow government have technology that we can only dream of in SF novels? Are they indeed at a point that their ultimate control of the world is at hand? If so, what do we do about it? Bend our knees and pay homage to the bastards? Even so, would humanity be better off or not? It sure seems to me that a vast majority of people are willing to live that way since societies have been doing so for most of recorded history. If freedom from autocratic control by a few is not desirable, when are we going to do what is good for us on an individual and group basis and end autocratic control? Again, without some serious and drastic mind shifts, it is not likely. My observation is that most people want that control, and in some cases, feel it is necessary. Considering the emotional/education level/mental states of the population they might be right.

Whether humanity is ultimately destined to be ruled by an elite few or live in some other manner, I think it would behoove us to carefully examine what we really want and the ultimate consequences of it. I am reminded of the million moron march recently on Washington. What I heard in interviews and read on the signs they were carrying, my impression is that they had no idea about what they were advocating. A very large proportion of the idiot marchers were against socialism and sure looked like they were either in or near retirement age and able to collect social security (a socialist agenda). Didn’t see one sign that advocated ending that or Medicare or ADC or end taxes to support public schools, or military expansion overseas or any or a hundred other “socialist” programs. All they seemed to be concerned with is government control over who their health care providers were. Geez! Don’t they realize that is the case now, except instead of government control it is controlled by the insurance industry? I guess they figure that big corporations know better what is good for us better than the government. Frankly, I don’t buy into either concept.

I reckon we will just have to watch and wait to see how this all works out.
For Belgium from Freeacre

THOUGHTS ON THE NATURE OF EVIL

First some pics of gardens and produce

Rockpicker and Oldensoul garden in Montana

Stone planter by Rockpicker

Freeacre's latest, Orange zest wheat bread

Our latest garden produce, onions and carrots


Thoughts on the Nature of Evil

This is a guest post kindly sent to us from Belgium (abridged due to length, but e-mail us and we could send you the entire essay as an e-mail attachment)

From Belgium

I have had some problems writing this piece because even after researching the internet, I still do not know where the answer lies and therefore offer it up as a discussion document with some initial meanderings to point your thoughts along the lines that I have traveled. You may have an entirely different response which I consider all to the good since such discussions will only put flesh on the bones of this effort.

There are two initial thoughts which occur to me, the first is a question regarding its nature. Is it a tangible concept say like friendship or is it more amorphous say like hope? Whatever it is, its manifestation is subjective in that my worst example may be trumped by your worst example so that its true extent may be only guessed at.

Wikipedia regards views on the nature of evil to fall into one of four
opposed camps:

Moral absolutism holds that good and evil are fixed concepts
established by a deity or deities, nature, morality, common sense, or some other source.

Amoralism claims that good and evil are meaningless, as there are no deities, no moral ingredient in nature.

Moral relativism holds that standards of good and evil are only products of local culture, custom, or prejudice.

Moral universalism is the attempt to find a compromise between the absolutist sense of morality, and the relativist view; universalism claims that morality is only flexible to a degree, and that what is truly good or evil can be determined by examining what is commonly considered to be evil amongst all humans.

Author and moral philosopher Sam Harris notes that universal morality
can be understood using measurable (i.e. quantifiable) metrics of happiness and suffering, both physical and mental, rooted in how the biology of the brain processes stimuli.

A more practical view states that all human life is sacred and any attempt to end another’s life deliberately is evil. In the interests of space I am going to leave the subject of euthanasia out of this discussion entirely. Any attempt to make another believe his life may be ended prematurely by torture is also evil as is torture of the mind as opposed to the body.
I am not going to choose one of these above the others but dip into them freely and to see where that takes us.

Hannah Aret wrote a book titled The Banality of Evil. This centered on the trial of Adolph Eichmann, which happened to take place in Jerusalem. She argued that rather than being a crazy fanatic (would probably now be called a fascist fundamentalist) he was an ordinary bureaucrat who accepted his place in the hierarchy and just got on with his job, which by chance happened to be the running of the death camps. For him it was clear that the heads of state set the policy; his roll was to implement it. Eichmann was trapped by having access to the ears of the true decision makers whilst being above the rank and file myriad bureaucrats who were just doing a job of work for the government. The banality comes from the fact that evil intent can be passed off down an organization by making it so routine it is never questioned.

There are a number of techniques for engaging the public in morally questionable acts. One is to split the work on a project between a number of locations as is common in the automotive industry for instance and distance the component plants from the assembly plant so the connection is not at the forefront of peoples minds. Another is to make the work production line mind numbing so people think “Anything this boring can’t be evil”.

Dual functional components are a way of sanitizing the product. A trip switch used in a missile may also be used in a domestic central heating installation for instance. Yet another is to wrap the project up in jargon so that WMD become as benign as SUV, sure they both kill people now and again but that is not their real purpose.

In the 1960’s MIT’s head of research argued that their concern was the development of technology, not its use. Making more adhesive longer burning napalm was just another interesting problem to be solved during the working day. That it gave innocent villagers an ugly death was not their concern as it was not the concern of the air crew who, distanced from the killing could also take a detached view.

The largest employer in the town where Columbine High School massacre took place is Lockheed Martin. When Michael Moore asked one of the directors the obvious question of isn’t what their company doing just the same as what the rogue kids had done only on a bigger scale, his reply was “No. The missiles which their company made were for the defense of the USA on American soil and not for offense against second or third states”. Of course not and history doesn’t bear it out either.

Sometimes people are head hunted for certain positions where they will be culpable in the continuance or development of some aspect of evil. Overt flattery is a way of bringing them on board by describing exciting aspects of the work and saying that the applicant could do this. It is very difficult technique to resist. Here is one person who did just this from the film Good Will Hunting. For those not familiar with the film Will is a janitor in a University until it is discovered that he is a mathematical genius able to solve problems that tie the professors up in knots. He is sent for a job with the NSA where he is interviewed by its head. After some initial sparing Will is asked why he shouldn’t want to join the NSA. Here is his answer:

Will: “Why shouldn’t I work for the N.S.A.? That’s a tough one, but I’ll give it a shot. Say I’m working at N.S.A. somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. So I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I’m real happy with myself, ‘cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never had a problem with get killed. Now the politicians are saying’, “Send in the marines to secure the area” ‘cause they don’t give a shit. It won’t be their kid over there, getting’ shot. Just like it wasn’t them when their number was called, ‘cause they were pulling’ a tour in the National Guard. It’ll be some guy from Southie takin’ shrapnel in the
ass. And he comes home to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, ‘cause he’ll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile my buddy from Southie realizes the only reason he was over there was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the skirmish to scare up oil prices so they could turn a quick buck. A cute little ancillary benefit for them but it ain’t helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. And naturally
they’re takin’ their sweet time bringing’ the oil back, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain’t too long ‘til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So my buddy’s out of work and he can’t afford to drive, so he’s got to walk to the job interviews, which sucks ‘cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin’ him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he’s starvin’ ‘cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat the only blue plate special they’re servin’ is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what do I think? I’m holdin’ out for somethin’ better. Why not just shoot my buddy, take his job and give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.”

9/11 is too big a subject to get bogged down in here except to make a brief comment on Iraq. Whether Iraq was the reason behind 9/11 or was a reprisal for it, this country was chosen as a target when the CIA knew it had no connection with the events of that day. In fact since they invented Al Qaeda they knew from the beginning there was no connection. So why did the USA decide to kill tens of thousands of innocents in a country halfway around the world? There are two answers to this; the first is because they could (they had done it before and they knew they could do it again) and the second reason is because they deserved it. Saddam for good or bad had not unrolled his prayer mat and genuflected before the American God. It should be noted that both of these answers are good ones. Former friend had angered those who matter and life was forfeited as hubris won the day.


Sometimes the Universal Soldier can have ethical reservations over his or her allotted task. It takes more courage to make a stand and say no than to simply accept your lot and go with the flow. One such was Ehren Watada, an officer in the Stryker Brigade who refused to go with his group to Iraq. To combat foreseen accusations of cowardice his mother sent this open letter to explain her son’s actions.

“I am the mother of Lt. Ehren Watada, an officer stationed at Ft. Lewis. He is part of a Stryker brigade unit that deployed today to Iraq. Despite an unflinching commitment to his men and to democratic ideals, he chose not to accompany his men. His decision came through much soul-searching and through research and consultation with experts Dear Fellow Americans, across disciplines, inside and outside of the military and the government. After weighing the evidence, he came to the conclusion that he could no longer be silent while atrocities were committed in the name of democracy. He could no longer be a tool of an administration that used deception and lies to make the case for pre-emptive war. As a member of the armed forces, sworn to uphold the US Constitution, he refuses to blindly participate in a war of aggression, an illegal war that undermines who we are as a nation and violates international law. Implicit in his oath as an officer is the duty to disobey all unlawful orders for to carry out these orders renders him an accomplice to a criminal act. Furthermore, to order his men to participate in a war of aggression multiplies his guilt a thousand fold. His conscience will not permit him to do so. He believes that he can best serve them by taking a stand against the war. In so doing, he demonstrates that one does not relinquish the freedom to choose what is right, even in the military, and that the freedom to choose what is right transcends the allegiance to man and institutions.”

I think this just about puts good and evil in their respective positions.

Here is a story of someone who went with the flow and then regretted it afterwards. Even though as a result of his decision he was able to save many lives which would otherwise not have been the case. He regards himself personally responsible for “Loosing the World”. He was a chemical engineer and his story is related by Jacob Hornberger. His story relates to the general culpability theme but this time on a more conscious level. In 1935 Hitler’s Nationalist Socialist Movement was establishing its power and in order to unify the nation under one leadership, they wanted all citizens to take an oath of allegiance to the new party. Some like the engineer disagreed with the fundamental aspirations of the party and initially refused to sign. He later reconsidered and then regretted it for the rest of his life. Even though as a result of signing he later was able to save maybe 1000 lives he still thinks that if he and others like him had refused to sign then he could have saved all Eichmann’s victims plus the causalities of war. Because he accepted the lesser evil he fell victim to the greater evil. If in future times the American people are asked to sign an oath of allegiance to the American administration or the European citizens to the European Union how will we choose because there is no middle way with a Sophie’s choice?

”People often exhibit a visceral rejection of comparisons of our dire predicament to the rise of Nazi Germany.” Have you noticed how many Americans get upset over the comparisons that are increasingly being made between the United States and National socialist Germany? After all, it’s not as though we’re living in a police state, right? Well, if U.S. officials could somehow assure us that the U.S. government’s treatment of accused terrorists isn’t moving in the same direction in which Nazi Germany treated accused traitors, maybe that would help to put those comparisons to rest.

So, take the time to be sure to understand the momentous nature of the battle. Speak out about it, wherever and as often as you can. Make clear to everyone you know what is at stake, and convince them to fight, too.

For the present, we have the certainty of the Military Commissions Act—and the hope that we may still prevent its most ghastly eventualities. I pray that hope will be realized. The most terrible and terrifying thing of all, for those of you who will still be alive in forty or fifty years, will be to look back on this time, and to have to say, “Thus the world was lost”—and to know that, because you did not do everything you could, you helped to lose it.”

These discussions although centered on America do not except those on the other side of the pond. The EU as it is now known (haven’t we come a long way from the Common Market) first had Maastricht and now Lisbon as a way of trading freedom for security.

Incidentally it has been shown historically that the only purpose of torture is torture and it rarely if ever has any effective results. What about the ticking bomb scenario, is usually the next question? A nuke is set to explode somewhere in mainland USA within three hours and the only way to find its location is to torture the information out of someone. Is this not justified? Former President Clinton, ever one for an eye to a good public image, has rediscovered the judiciary as a way of passing the buck and has suggested the introduction of torture warrants in the same way as there used to be wire tap warrants (remember those).

The essential question we are coming around to is this, is it in a natural part of human nature to commit atrocities? The answer seems to be divided between those who would and those who would not. The biggest obstacle to overcome amongst military draftees is their resistance to kill another of their own species.

It was reported than in many instances, soldiers in the trenches during WW l never fired their weapon even when charged at. On the other side, in groups they seem to adopt a heard mentality especially when there is some personal gain to be had. To pick a few at random throughout history there were the Crusaders; the Conquistadors and the US soldiers who slaughtered the indigenous American peoples. Here the gains were souls; gold and land. Although these reasons are not excusable there was an identifiable end result but what about the early colonists who would shoot up an Aborigine village or an African village from the air for a bit of Saturday afternoon sport. There is obviously a level of superior/inferior mentality here but would any of these people consider themselves to be evil; probably not - would others judge them to be evil; probably? In some societies such people would not be punished for their acts but would be regarded as being out of balance and would be helped to have their complete being restored in balance. Are such attitudes wussy or enlightened? The difference in attitudes seems to be one of conscience.

Macbeth was a Scottish warrior with an impeccable record in battle but his down coming was an evil wife who had designs on becoming the power behind the throne. According to Scottish custom at that time succession could be passed down the family line but could also be awarded by the Royal Court to a person deemed to be a natural leader. Macbeth was a strong contender but this was not good enough for his wife who persuaded him to kill King Duncan and claim the crown. Eventually he was overcome with remorse and finished up going to pieces.

So the answer to the question of whether ordinary people can be made to act in an evil way appears to be yes, although we should not forget the soldiers in the trenches who would not shoot at the enemy.

Finally we come to two thorny questions: is it evil for one person or group to own another persons body and is it evil for one person or group to own another persons mind? Slavery has been with us for thousands of years and as such may be regarded as Custom and Practice. It is only in the last 150 – 200 years that it has become to be regarded as evil and only for the last forty or so years that former slaves had equal civil rights to other races in the USA. Certainly so far as the slaves were concerned, it was not a good deal to have their freedom taken away, although others would argue to the contrary. In order to provide good work for their owners the slaves had to be well housed, well fed and kept in better health than might otherwise be the case in order for the owner to protect his investment.

Some groups of Christians may not agree that former slaves and their families should be accorded any civil rights at all. We all know that the only time Jesus lost his temper was with the money changers at the Temple and even though slavery was rife at the time in the countries he traveled, he never spoke out against it once. God’s beloved Abraham, the Bible leads us to believe, with his wife’s permission, impregnated one of her slaves named Hagar. As time went by Hagar became insolent and as a result was severely beaten. When the opportunity presented itself she ran away but then met the angel of God on the road. Instead of guiding her towards her original land of Egypt, the angel advised her to “Return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hand.”

Saint Peter devotes a whole chapter in his testament in the defense of slavery. He exhorts slaves to be “subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward (tough and cruel)”. Peter also tells slaves “when you do well and suffer for it, yet take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” If Peter was hard on slaves, Paul was worse. In addition to making obligatory calls for obedience “With fear and trembling”, Paul went so far as to return a runaway slave to his master.

According to Samuel Francis who wrote in a 1998 edition of the magazine
Southern Partisan, “Neither Jesus nor the apostles nor the early church condemned slavery, despite countless opportunities to do so and there is no indication that slavery is contrary to Christian ethics or that any serious theologian before modern times ever thought it was.”

So there we have it. The keeper of the Universe’s moral code reckons that owning another person’s body is right on with him, at least so far as his representatives can be relied on. It also follows from this that the God of universal love and mercy also has sympathies with the Klan. I sometimes wonder that if the Christian God has such obvious double standards why the PTB want to abandon him in favor of Lucifer. Still, that is not my concern.

Zombies and people on life support can exist without a mind but so far as I know, without going into the realms of the paranormal, a functioning mind cannot exist independent of a body to house it. If owning another’s body is morally acceptable then owning another’s mind must also be acceptable by the same token. This argument gives the moral green light to projects such as MKUltra. (The details of which can be had by e-mailing for the unabridged copy of this post.)

Susan’s story is evil by any standards but not according to theologians.

Let us recap on a few logical conclusions here.

We are told in the Bible by the representatives of God that he (or she) does not have a problem with slavery. If it is acceptable for one person or group to own another’s body then it must also be acceptable to own another’s mind since the two are not separable. It is then honorable or, at least, not dishonorable to take another’s mind away from them and replace it with a creation of your own for your own purposes. The problem here is that if the 300 or so people that represent the 12 bloodline families that control the world take the rest of the world’s citizenry into slavery, including the whole of Christendom, this then gets a pass from God but these families are supposedly representatives of Lucifer so God is on a hiding into nothing. Unless, that is, you take the Book of Revelations as an accurate document.

Notwithstanding any of this, evil exists but it one of those words or concepts which defy a dictionary definition and can only be understood by way of examples about which you must make up your OWN mind.

Sources
The Banality of Evil
http://musictravel.free.fr/political/political65.htm
Wikipedia – Evil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil
Good Will Hunting – NSA Speech
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=189834
The Terrorist – OPEC Meeting Attack
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0841179/usercomments
Vietnam War was Lost – The Quiet Mutiny Documentary by John Pilger
http://freedocumentaries.org/film.php?id=255
Ehren Watada – The soldier who refused a tour in Iraq
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/June/27%20o/A%20letter%20from%20Carolyn%20Ho,%20Mother%20of%20Ehren%20Watada%20Who%20Refuse%20to%20Fight%20in%20Iraq.htm
Universal Soldier Song Lyrics
http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/sainte_marie_buffy/universal_soldier.html
Jacob Hornberger – Thus the World was Lost – Arthur Silber
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2006/09/thus-world-was-lost.html
The Ticking Bomb Scenario to Justify Torture – Arthur Silber
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2006/10/lies-in-service-of-evil.html
The Stanford Prison Experiment
http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/09/our-dark-hearts-stanford-prison.php
Slavery Condoned in Bible
Derek Jensen – The Culture of Make Believe pp 54 – 57
Mind Control – Bryce Taylor / Susan Ford – Thanks for the Memories
e-book download
http://www.box.net/shared/dx8i272e88

TIME TO MAN UP

from Freeacre

First, some photos of our simulated post collapse gustatory chemistry.

Homemade pizza with spinach and artichokes.


One of our garden salads


Some garden produce. Two kinds of carrots, a fennel root, white onion, and wax beans


Time to Man Up

As many of you know, Murph and I disconnected from the satellite TV a couple of years ago and now we just watch PBS and the local news with an antenna and order a bunch of movies from Netflix to watch in the evenings. We read and we blog in our time off from gardening, going to meetings, and preparing food, but we do watch a lot of movies. And, since we can, we often will get on some sort of tear and decide to watch All of the Quinton Tarantino Movies, for instance. Then, we’ll learn that his “Kill Bill” movies were based on his watching “The Lonewolf” series of Shogun Assassin movies and also the “Lady Snowblood” series of vengeance. So, we have watched all of those as well.

Not all the movies we watch are violent. We recently watched “Princess Bride” again. We love to watch “Secondhand Lion” over and over. We watch documentaries and quirky movies like “Lars and the Real Girl” or “Special.” But, many of the movies we watch depict characters who make a stand and fight for it or fight for their family or friends, like Clint Eastwood in “Gran Torino” or Bruce Willis in “Live Free or Die Hard.”

Last night we watched the third in a series of movies all based on the historic battle fought between the Spartans and Persians in the formative days of the Greek nation. The heroic King of Sparta, Leonidis, held off a force estimated to be between 300,000 and a million Persians with only 300 men at the pass of Thermopylae to protect his homeland. The 300 did die, but Greece was inspired by their heroism to unite as one country, and the Persians were demoralized and did not return to Europe. And, the battle was never forgotten. Tom Cruise refers to it in “The Last Samarai,” in fact, when he leads the fight against the evil arms dealers of the West and fights with the Samurai to the last man.

So, what is my point here? Is this a post on the history of film or something? No. It’s about gearing up for the struggle against those forces that have been kicking our collective ass. I understand that we need to balance our feminine and masculine sides of our natures. I think this forum, in fact, encourages the powerful love and nurturing that the feminine provides. I am devoted to Our Mother, the Earth. I turn toward the feminine face of God.

But, Buddies, it’s time to “Man Up.” Get a grip. Get balanced. And, this is coming from me, freeacre – the feminine part of the partnership of murph and freeacre. These movies help me to access my inner Klingon – the masculine side. Because we need it against the goon squads and shitstorm that is in front of us. Without it, we are going to get rolled and smoked like a Cuban cigar.

I’ll be watching with interest the speech that Pres. Obama gives this evening to the despicable congressional sell-outs regarding health care. I imagine that he is going to sound reasonable and in touch with people’s needs. He will be articulate and sympathetic and knowledgeable. And, afterward, the Republican goons like Limbaugh and Beck will stomp in and tear him to shreds. They’ll try to burn him like they did Jimmy Carter after his speech on oil depletion. They’ll say it’s not the “American Way” to think in terms of oil depletion – or real health care for all either. I’m not 100% in favor of the Democratic plan for health care. But, it is a good start, considering what factions Obama has to contend with. If we can get something going, it can be evaluated and tweaked later on as we see what works and what doesn’t. Any system can work if the people involved are truly motivated by an honest intention to help the citizenry. And, any system can and will be sabotaged if those in power are greedy bastards with no consequences for their misdeeds.

But, right now, It doesn’t matter whether the plan is good or not. They don’t care. They’d kick in his head or drag him behind a pick-up truck or lynch him if they could. Just because they are mean, spiteful, racist sons-of-bitches, who happen to also be bought off by Big Money. And, as George Carlin (God Rest His Soul) so aptly observed: “They don’t give a fuck about you!”. Even if Obama does, most of them (including the democrats) don’t. And, the bad side seems to have a lock in the balls department.

We have a collection of DVD’s on Peak Oil, financial collapse, and other anarchist or anti-war protest films, for instance. All of them present a very rational, well-thought out argument for organizing to make the changes necessary to survive the collapse of the civilization based on cheap oil. Or, they show the protests held in the Northern California rain forests to protect the Old Growth forests. They depict hand-cuffed college aged girls on their knees before cops. The cops then hold their eyelids open and spray them with mace, torturing them as punishment for their non-compliance to the logging industry.

Has this made anyone want to go out and join the struggle against the Evil Empire? Uh, no. Not that I have seen, anyway. Something is missing.

I remember one time while we still lived in Tahoe. Murph and I went to see “Signs,” the M. Night Shyamalian film about aliens who come down to take over the planet, produce crop circles, and raise havoc for awhile. We thought it was quite exciting. Our housemate, Steve, though, thought it was comical. Steve, a dear friend, is a white ghetto rat from Detroit.

“Boy, it’s a good thing those aliens didn’t land in Detroit, “he chortled after the movie. “My homeboys woulda had their ride stripped five minutes after they went around the corner. And, if they gave us any shit, we’d a put a cap in their ass.” Attitude. Balls – that’s what is missing.

I’ll tell you what, if that were my son or daughter maced while kneeling and handcuffed or my 74 year old mother tased by a highway patrol officer for not getting her license out fast enough – there would be hell to pay. Those motherfuckers should be maced or tased BACK. And their parents should be shunned for raising such a beast. And, their wife should be treated the same way for feeding and sleeping with the pig. (Their kids, however, should be left alone to lead lives that could possibly redeem the family.) I’m fat and I am old. But, if it took my last breath, I’d make those miscreants lives a living hell if that shit was done to my mom or kids. You aren’t going to turn them around by enrolling them in an anger management class. And, you aren’t going to re-direct congressmen with educational seminars on the issues. It’s going to take a dog fight.

I am all for peaceful organizing, cooperation, community, and all that. But, maybe it’s because we haven’t drunk any fluoridated water in five years. Or, maybe it’s because I’ve watched “Braveheart,” “The Postman,” “The Matrix,” “V for Vendetta,” and the “Terminator” series multiple times – but there is a point when we need to “man up”, fight for what we believe in, and protect each others back.. We need to figure out for ourselves where to draw the line on how much we are willing to put up with. Rather than denying our anger, we need to use it to protect ourselves and our communities. Martin Luther King said that unless one finds something he is willing to die for, he has never really lived.

Let’s face it, we are all going to die. But, how is it going to be? Fear-filled and miserable, exhausted, confident, satisfied, grateful or what? And, how do we live? Intimidated, herded like animals, bought and sold, or free, strong, and courageous.

It is looking like the “hard rain” is about to fall. We gotta get tougher if we are going to get through it with a shred of self-respect, honor, or sense of our place in history. I’m not advocating futile gestures of armed resistance that will only end up being an excuse for additional tyranny. We have to fight with our heads, first, as was taught in “Braveheart.” Money is the only vote that counts anymore. And, money can be a powerful determinant in the struggle to be taken seriously. That is why we advocate being very conscious of where every dollar goes. If you don’t like the lamestream media, don’t pay for it. If you are appalled by Frankenfood and the atrocities of Agrabusiness – don’t buy into it. If you don’t like the resource wars – use as little of them as possible. If you despise the financial overlords – cancel your credit cards (or pay them off each month so you pay no fees) and don’t invest in the rancid stock market (that means no 401K). Resist, resist, resist! Be united and coordinated like the Spartan phalanxes – each covering the other with their shields and swords. Our modern equivalent might be offering a spare room and food to someone who will help to defend the perimeter, or helping to ensure that a full-time activist gets enough to eat. Whatever it takes. It’s going to be a monumental task to dismantle the corporate class war machine. Our idealism and hope and empathy for each other is going to need to be balanced and strengthened by our discipline, commitment, and willingness to sacrifice for the greater good of our children and our planet.

On the domestic tranquility front – here is a picture of Brie surrounded by a bunch of young chickens playing and trying to get a rise out of her.

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

from Freeacre

Before I get on with my rambling thoughts, here are a few pictures of the projects we’ve been working on lately…

Tiny frog in a squash blossom looking for a meal to come in.

Ingredients for jerky

Glazed beets and carrots, fresh bread and tabuli salad


freeacre

Normally, I try to write a post from some sort of sense of clarity. But, when the comments begin to go beyond 60, and clarity still doesn’t happen on any topic, I just feel compelled to write something anyway. So, this is what’s been on my mind lately… questions, not answers.

Just where in the hell is the anti-war movement in this country?

How come Cryptogon can quote this article written by Glen Greenwald and taken from salon.com, and people aren’t in the streets, shutting down traffic in front of recruiting stations:

“The fact that we are not really bothered any more by taking helpless detainees in our custody and (a) threatening to blow their brains out, torture them with drills, rape their mothers, and murder their children; (b) choking them until they pass out; (c) pouring water down their throats to drown them; (d) hanging them by their arms until their shoulders are dislocated; (e) blowing smoke in their face until they vomit; (f) putting them in diapers, dousing them with cold water, and leaving them on a concrete floor to induce hypothermia; and (g) beating them with the butt of a rifle — all things that we have always condemned as “torture” and which our laws explicitly criminalize as felonies (”torture means. . . the threat of imminent death; or the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering . . .”) — reveals better than all the words in the world could how degraded, barbaric and depraved a society becomes when it lifts the taboo on torturing captives….”

When you read additional sources that give details on prisoners kept in shit-filled diapers for three days at a time, fathers threatened with being forced to watch while their young son’s testicles were being crushed, women prisoners begging their male counterparts to kill them to put them out of their misery, anal rape, despicable humiliations of all kinds to people who may have only been guilty of being in Iraq or Afghanistan and standing on the wrong corner, one wonders just what sort of monstrous people Americans have become. Finally, Attorney General Holder seems like he will be looking into at least some of these atrocities. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is contemplating running the man probably most responsible for the culture of torture, Dick Chaney, for President in 2012. Un-fucking-believable. If he were to win, we’d deserve that asteroid hit.

This is worse than Vietnam. Worse than Mei Lai. Condoned by the top echelon of the government on a people who didn’t even do anything to us. The 911 perps (if they even were perps) were all from Saudi Arabia, not Iraq or Afghanistan, after all. And, even if they weren’t … so what? Is this what we do?

What I find ironic is that every day, I get 3 or 4 e-mails from practically ecstatic Christian neighbors who let me know how filled with love they are, and what a difference their religion makes in their lives. Oh, how the angels are with them at every moment. Oh, what a comfort it is to know that they are all loved and cherished and assured a comfy place next to Jesus in heaven when they die. It just seems OK to them, I guess, that none of this celestial host seems to be whispering a word about the fact that they should be standing up for their fellow man and working to end the wars, the torture, and the profiteers. Where in the fuck is the Council of Churches? The ACLU is the only one doing anything. And, they are thought of as Godless communist Jewboys by the faux-news-reading- knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers.

Oh, shit, there I go again. Name calling and stereo-typing these miscreants as I read about the Mayan prophecies and how we are on the verge of a wonderful transition in consciousness. All we have to do is cultivate a sense of unity and unconditional love toward our fellow humans, and we will all transform into something wonderful. Which leads me to my second question:

What if aliens really exist and the world as we know it is really going to end?

I gotta admit that I’ve always been inspired by science fiction and visions of Star Trek and their world no longer based on the profit motive. Or the Star Wars movies and their idea of The Force that binds together the Universe. The amazing works of indigenous peoples from the Hopis to the Mayans and the Maoris, Sumerians, and the aborigines who say that they hearken from star stuff, and say that our real home is in outer space or the fourth dimension. But, now that even NASA scientists are telling us that our planet is approaching the plane of the galactic center (“Hanab Ku” to the Mayans), and measurable waves of energy are washing over us emanating from it, the tangible reality is starting to set in. The magnetosphere is wildly fluctuating, the pole shift might actually be in process. As our galaxy bobs up into the plane of the center, our chances of getting hit with a bunch of big rocks or the Planet X go way up. It wouldn’t be the first time. (see http://projectavalon.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8441 )

On the one hand, I’d like to see Tim Geithner, Ben Bernake, the entire staff of Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, and Dick Chaney put in stocks and set out on Wall St. as targets for rotten vegetables before they get frog-marched to prison. Then, I’d move on to the executives and scientists at Monsanto Corp., creators of the Frankenfood that is poisoning us, Big Pharma, and the Council of Foreign Relations. And, that’s just for openers. I’m not even going to go into the Health Care fiasco.

But, then I remember a line from “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” “You can be mad as hell and rail against everything, but in the end, you have to let it all go” (or words to that effect). Maybe it’s a case of working out the timing. I want to react in real time with real emotions and all I can bring to the table to the outrageous insults to our humanity while I am here and functioning. But, at the same time, I want to be cultivating a sense of wonder as to What Else Is Out There.

I don’t want my reality to be confined or defined by what suits the corporations and the overlords. I am sure that they would love us all to feel like powerless pawns on a chessboard that they own. It is great for them if the best thing that we can imagine is a trip to Disneyland and all we can feel is impotent anger
.
Maybe instead, I’ll start to imagine that we ARE all star stuff. . . that they, too, are changing frequency and are unable to continue to be the miserable scumbags that they have been. I’ll imagine that they won’t be able to lie anymore. I’ll imagine that employees will walk away from factories making pain rays and depleted uranium anti-personnel weaponry. I’ll imagine that people come to their senses and stop doing jobs and making decisions that ruin people’s lives and make us sick. What if the opening bell in the stock market stopped ringing because nobody showed up to ring it? Maybe I’ll open the door of my mind that has been closed to accepting that alien beings really do exist, and that some of them might actually be attempting to help at least some us survive the cataclysm that is to come.

I refuse to believe that this twisted, sick and wrong culture of crap is the best we can come up with. Nope – unacceptable. I’m going to make a peach streusel and contemplate a better world.
peach streusel, oh yummmm