Comments and Articles on some of the important issues of our times from a bottom up perspective. We're all stakeholders. We're all in this together. Ashes to ashes, mud to mud.
Yesterday another Earth Day came and went and what Pogo said on the 1st Earth Day: "We have met the enemy and he is us." becomes more true and more ignored with each iteration. Humans are, as BeezleyBillyBub accurate details in 'Collapse Data Cheat Sheet' - an impressive curriculum vitae of a self-exterminating species - responsible for the disease. Beazley says: "You can blame capitalism, big banks and monstrous corporate conspiracies for the near term collapse of life on earth, but these things could not exist without us..."
Most of us, but not all, some choose to live a life of non-compliance, to fly under the radar, to use their energy growing healthy food and healthy children who understand that real wealth isn’t measured in money.
A stake in capitalism
Unfortunately in the past decades many folks started to believe they had a stake in capitalism. They ‘invested’ in mutual funds, they accepted the logic of defined contribution pension plans, they used their credit cards to buy needless crap again and again because they deserved it. Now they must turn their eyes and their minds away from the grotesque obscenities of consumer capitalism lest they are forced to admit what Pogo, Beazley and many others who have cast aside their culturally installed blinkers clearly see.
Capitalist vampires live on the blood of the compliant. There are other ways to live, better ways, but consumers fear their imaginary wealth would disappear if vampire capitalism were to crumble and they’d be forced to do the hard work it takes to live a truly sustainable life.
The only viable divestment strategy on Earth Day, and every day, is to divest in every aspect of capitalism, to refuse to comply. Turn on, tune in and drop out is still the best advice.
The message of wanting and consuming less may not sell, but it doesn't really have too. In reality we're already seeing how the limits to growth are creating deflation and slow degrowth caused by both debt and wealth inequality. What the economists call a drop in discretionary spending is to me a drop in spending on needless crap. That drop is now curtailing the demand for all types of commodities including fossil fuels by the manufacturers and shipping industries without consumers having to buy into the concept of choosing less consciously.
Slow degrowth is inevitable in a deflationary world. Avoiding the alternative - a massive environmental collapse - can happen through 'cooperative self-limitation' but it can also happen when, for whatever reason, consumers choose of bread over oreos, needs over wants. Even the most addicted consumers, living in a slowly degrowing world with a modest 2%-3% defationary economy, like we're seeing right now in many 'developed' economies', will learn a new trick.
Less may not sell, but needs must trump wants. Living simply can be a revolutionary act, but it also can be as involuntary as shading your eyes in the direct sun. Humans can refuse to participate in a dead society gone shopping. "Once we understand what feeds it, it becomes possible to think of stopping the Machine. I puzzled over this one for a long time, only to suddenly grok the obvious: the fodder for the Machine is our precious life energy! This is the crux. Any machine can withstand tinkering, but no machine can run without fuel." - Joe Bageant
Our life's energy, feeds capitalism's craw. Hedges thinks: "We have the capacity to say no, to refuse to cooperate", and that, ..."only this refusal to cooperate that will save us." Adding: "Any boycott or demonstration, any occupation or sit-in, any strike, any act of obstruction or sabotage, any refusal to pay taxes, any fast, any popular movement and any act of civil disobedience ignites the soul of the rebel and exposes the dead hand of authority."
The human world teeters on the brink of war i fear. The news becoming to depressing to watch, unable to change any of it that "give them bread and circuses" was the Roman Emperors' answer. Monetized, profited on and traded, our life's work - chicken feed for the vampires. Ignite your inner rebel, refuse to comply, STOP CONSUMING NEEDLESS CRAP starve the vampires, save the environment.
Today Ontario announced it will join Quebec and California's dubious Cap and Trade scheme. A scheme that even the Globe and Mail has trouble really endorsing in it's article this morning.'The Story of Cap and Trade' by Annie Leonard [above], Story of Stuff creator, outlines why Cap and Trade is a deception designed to generate profits for large corporations and carbon offset traders while increasing, not decreasing emissions. Consumer capitalism's pollution of the biosphere is a disaster and like all disasters there's money to be made by selling false hope to the fearful.
Annie's quote: “You can only compromise to a point before a solution isn’t really a solution.” leads off 'A devastating critique of cap-and-trade' by Marc Gunther that ends with another quote from Annie's acclaimed video: The danger with [carbon] offsets is that it’s very hard to guarantee that real carbon is being removed to create the permit, yet these permits are worth real money, This creates a very dangerous incentive to create false offsets—to cheat. Now in some cases cheating isn’t the end of the world. In this case, it is.
An excellent analysis of Cap and Trade's deceptions is by Oscar Reyes of Carbon Trade Watch, an organization that seeks a "justice-based analysis of climate change and climate analysis."
Another oft quoted piece, 'Carry On Polluting', by Larry Lohmann, says: "The damaging effects of carbon trading schemes are felt severely in poor countries. The Durban Group for Climate Justice has documented that almost all the carbon credits are generated by polluting companies, while communities that follow climate-friendly practices such as preserving local forests or defending their lands against oil exploitation are ignored. Only big firms can afford to hire carbon accountants, liaise with officials and pay the costs of getting projects registered with the UN. Yet these are often the companies that local people battle hardest against in defense of their livelihoods and health."
Lohmann goes on to cite Friends of the Earth’s report, 'A Dangerous Distraction', which concludes that the practice of carbon offsetting isn't leading to global emission reductions or helping developing countries, but instead is leading to more ways to avoid cutting emissions.
Cap and Trade fits perfectly into the neo-liberal delusion that the 'market' is always the best solution. What all cap-and-trade systems have in common is the creation of a new commodity – the right to pollute – that is then sold in a new market from which the traders scoop their cut out if every transaction. The financialization of nature is not about protecting the environment; it is about creating ways for the financial sector to continue to earn high profits.
Cap and Trade plans in Ontario and beyond won't curb CO2 emissions, won't stop any type of pollution of the biosphere, but it will enrich those who level the mangrove forests that protect the coastlines of the global south in order to replant those areas in GMO Palm oil plantations and it will subsidize the leveling of the Amazon for sugar beets that will end up as transportation fuel. Unfortunately pollution of the biosphere is a disaster and like all disasters there's money to be made by selling false hope to the fearful.
Raul Castro during historic Summit of the America's speech
How convenient for Obama and the Untied Snakes of America to dismiss the history of colonialism, intervention and abuse throughout Latin America because it happened before Obama was born. And of course the lapdog global mainstream media regurgatated their dear leader's wit. South of 'the border', in Latin America itself, where the people live with the disastrous effects of that history every day, the media and the people know that it's much easier for the oppressors to dismiss their abuses as old news than for the oppressed whose families have been murdered, whose resources have been stolen and whose inalienable rights have been crushed by racism and greed to forget it.
For instance Latin America listened to Raul Castro's historic speech to the Summit of the Americas, not a summation by the corporate press. Raul Castro's speech itself called for an end to the U.S. blockade against his country. Castro said "...the decades-old blockade has harmed the Cuban people, and is a violation of international law.” Castro argued relations between Washington and Havana are far from normalized, saying, "...the continued presence of a U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay still usurps part of our territory.”
John Wight's overview 'Latin America not US backyard' from a few days ago played out these last few days when the Summit of the Americas became the "triangle of tension" when Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro arrived and said he would hand U.S. President Barack Obama a petition with more than 11 million signatures asking him to repeal the sanctions. Immediately the other leaders spoke out in support of Maduro. Obama was in full retreat, once or twice seeming to stumble over his slower, older, lapdog Harper in the process.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said, "We reiterate our strong condemnation of the unacceptable and unjustifiable unilateral sanctions imposed against the sister nation of Venezuela and the continued foreign interference with the purpose of creating a climate of instability in that sister nation. We ratify our firmest support to the Bolivarian Revolution and the legitimate government headed by President Nicolás Maduro." Brazil, Argentina, Boliva, Equador, Mexico, Nicaragua, even Columbia said Obama must rescind the sanctions against Venezuela.
History doesn't determine the future but it does frame it. So to does the media not only present content but also frames it.
Speaking Friday, Obama said the US is not looking to interfere with Latin American countries as it used to. Saying, "The days in which our agenda in this hemisphere so often presumed that the United States could meddle with impunity, those days are past," The hypnotized Norte Americanos may believe this crap but the people of Latin America know better, they've heard the fork tougued snake's speeches before.
Hermit, hippie, or scoundrel - O.B. Joyful in 1920
O.B. Joyful - 'America's First Hippie' - left an indelible legacy on Berkshire County where i grew up. He lived most of his years in Lanesborough, Massachusetts about 10 miles away from my hometown of Adams. He was born in the same year as my grandfather who knew him a bit and often, after a few Genesee Ales, would tell me stories about the "crazy old man" down the road a peice.
Joe Durwin reminds the readers of his recent article that O.B. Joyful was viewed in his time as a eccentric or a criminal depending on the viewer's perspective. Luckily for me, grandpa was a unique individual himself and allowed others the same right. Today's labels have expanded and now include hermit, renowned poet-philosopher and pioneer hippie. None the labels do him justice, as no label can for any of us. O. B. was a cultural revolutionary who lived his life close to nature. In an age of unquestioning reliance on 'growth' O. B. thrived by having and wanting less. O.B. joyful was a prophet for the coming age of 'Aquarius' in the '60's and '70's and an example for us all then and today that living simply is a revolutionary act.
O.B. knew in his bones and manifested in his actions what half a century later was being written about in the book 'Limits to Growth' which predicted our civilization would probably collapse due to our inability to live within nature's limits. Looking back now at the '70s or further back to O.B.'s time it's easy to see that modern 'civilization' by and large has never heeded those warnings and the delusion of self-centered endless material growth has brought the natural world that underlies all real wealth to its knees.
A few days ago The Mud Report wrote, in response to Chris Hedges article that 'Only Refusal to Cooperate Will Save Us From Totalitarian Capitalism', saying in part: "Humans do, hopefully, still have the capacity to say 'no'. Will they? Refusal to cooperate isn't easy. Refusal, individually and collectively, to capitulate can save us and make us whole as well." O. B. Joyful was both prophet for and example of how to live another way in the world, a way that fulfills the individual, the society and the nature's undeniable limits.
Hedges wrote: "...any act of civil disobedience ignites the soul of the rebel and exposes the dead hand of authority. It is only this refusal to cooperate that will save us." Refusal to comply, cooperate, capitulate with who? The fascist forces of corporate domination? The Machine? The Man? or the conditioning that 'civilization' attempts to pound into us from every corner in an attempt to form within each of us a uniform worldview from which escape is near impossible?
The materialist internal domination O.B. escaped is escapable by everyone. Escape isn't easy, but it is essential. There can be no freedom, there is no salvation without it. The Machine, The Man, Pirsig's Giant are created by the collective projections, the complicit dreams, of the prisoners of materialism. When a person complies, cooperates, capitulates to civilization's crass commands that person dies on the vine.
O.B. Joyful's actions, and mine to the best of my ability, show that living simply is a revolutionary act.
Today in Ottawa Harpo is beating the fear drum louder than ever. He and his evangelical co-hort are following the GW Bush/Netanhayu game plan to stay in power by manipulating the unfounded fears of their poulations. Fortunately on this topic all the opposition parties agree [though for some reason Justin Trudeau refuses to connect the dots on Harpo's Secret Police Act - Bill C-51].
Crawford Kilian's piece today at the Tyee - 'How Harper Turned Canada into a Rogue State' - takes on the historic as well as the recent 'how' of Harpo's strategy. Besides focusing on the diversionary swivel from tar sands and corporate ass-kissers to war PM Kilian also says: "Harper and the Conservatives are classic Bush-style chicken-hawks." A phrase lifted from Jessie Ventura in his rants agains Bushy and his bullshit.
Another well worth the read was written by Haroon Siddiqui in the The Star yesterday and titled 'Stephen Harper's flip-flop on war fits pattern of deceit' In it Haroon says: "Harper makes the mission against the Islamic State sound like holy war against evil." Then explains that "Our [Canadian] presence there motivates the angry lone wolfs here to attack Canadian targets. It also prompts some young Canadians to go join the Islamic State in an ill-conceived solidarity with Muslims." Adding: "Whereas all this is presented as “jihad” and “jihadism” — a product of “violent Islam,” no less — reality is more prosaic. In just about every case of “jihadist” attack, either carried out or foiled, the stated reason is the same: retaliation for the endless wars on Muslim nations. But Harper won’t hear of it."
Harpo and his ilk are only interested in power not peace just as Netanhayu was in the Israeli election last week. The slight difference in their rhetoric is emblematic of the underlying amount of delusional fear within the two populations. Canada still has a majority of folks not yet completely paralysed by fear, in fact many recent polls are showing that the fear-mongering isn't working and that support for the 'chickenhawks' is dropping coast to coast to coast.
As Crawford Kilian, a Vietnam era dissenter, points out, asserted effort by resistance can change the mndset of the even the most ardent pro-war person when the reality of it strikes close enough to their home. i lived through that era too, an era of perhaps even larger lies about the motives behind that atrocity and the facts on the ground. Back then the chicken-hawks were still trumpeting the 'commie under every bed' lies, now it's 'a terrorist under every bed'. The names have changed slightly but the methods and the motives are the same.
The biggest threats to the safety and security of Canadians are Harpo and fear-mongering chicken-hawks. The only way that Canadians can stop Harpo and his ilk is by cooperating in a one-time people's coilition to 'Heave Steve' by holding their individual noses long enough to vote for the mostly likely candidate to beat the Conservatives in their riding in the next election especially in the swing ridings and those newly formed ridings that are 'to close to call'
Chris Hedges's piece 'on C-51' last week at Rabble.ca was maybe his best ever. In it he says: "We have the capacity to say no, to refuse to cooperate. Any boycott or demonstration, any occupation or sit-in, any strike, any act of obstruction or sabotage, any refusal to pay taxes, any fast, any popular movement and any act of civil disobedience ignites the soul of the rebel and exposes the dead hand of authority. It is only this refusal to cooperate that will save us."
What a paragraph eh, i totally agree, only refusal will save us. And a usually untouchable gem, Do you see it? It's hiding right there, though it'd be called revolutionary by some, economic terrorism by others and illegal by the 'justice' system, tax revolt could be the next step if the current wave of opposition to C-51 followed by strikes, boycotts etc fail then Harper manages to win again by splitting the vote of the over 60% who will vote against him.
i digress [again], Hedges foresees a Canadian future under C-51m saying, "Try to defend the treaty rights of First Nations people and you will go to prison. Try to halt the tar sands, fracking, or the bitumen-carrying pipelines and you will go to prison. Try to oppose Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and you will go to prison. And once you are seized by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service you can be subjected to sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, the disorienting poles of extreme light and darkness or extreme heat and extreme cold, along with stress-position torture, waterboarding, beatings and pressure-point torture. And it will all be legal."
He's right, this upcoming election will decide Canada's future for generations. It should go down in history as: 'Fascist Fear' vs. Refusal to Cooperate' Refusal to cooperate, non-compliance will not be tolerated in "a future for the generations that come after us, a future that the corporate state, if not overthrown, will obliterate."
Even the very conservative Free Dominion founder Connie Fournier said, "I feel like we're in some kind of alternate universe" when re-launcher her website to fight Bill C-51. This destruction of individual and group rights has many real conservatives and libertarians just as pissed off as everyone else
Humans do, hopefully, still have the capacity to say 'no'. Will they? Refusal to cooperate isn't easy, not even possible if unprepared at all. Refusal, individually and collectively, to capitulate can save us and make us whole as well.
A young Canadian protests Harper's Secret Police Act in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Last week San Francisco's Bay View News covered a very good interview on Pacifica's KPFA in which Ann Garrison spoke to Professor Michael Keefer about Harper's Secret Police Act, Bill C-51. Keefer is among the bill’s many critics, and has said in the recent past that it “subverts basic principles of constitutional law, assaults rights of free speech and free assembly” and called it “viciously undemocratic.”
This Q/A exchange is an excellent example of the interview: KPFA/Ann Garrison: Professor Keefer, I read this bill and it’s so vague that it seems like it would just give a lot of prosecutors a lot of discretion to charge Canadians with terrorism, however they choose to define it.
Professor Keefer: That’s exactly the purpose. The purpose is to find a terrorist under every bed. In particular, to enable the government to send its secret police after defenders of Native rights, activists on environmental issues, people who have concerns about the dangers of the Alberta tar sands, the dangers of foolish pipeline developments across the country, the dangers of fracking, which is going on from East to West, from New Brunswick to British Columbia. And finally it’s aimed at silencing supporters of the rights of Palestinians.
Given the racist, fear-mongering tactics that Netanyahu employed to rally similarly fear-filled Israelis last week and the "unconditional support" for Netanyahu and his ultra right-wing Likud Party that Harper repeats at every opportunity, it's important that Keefer included the supporters of Palestinian Rights in the list of those Harper and his ilk seek to silence.
The interview is in large part a commentary on March 14 when thousands Canadians in 50 cities protested Canada’s pending Anti-Terrorism Act - legislation would sweep all the enemies of Stephen Harper’s Conservative government into one big tent labeled 'terrorist'. The images above and below show that not only do Canadians from sea to sea to sea bemoan and belittle Harpo's Netanyahu like tactics but increasingly they mock them to boot.
Another very good article a few days ago by Murray Dobbin at the Tyee titled 'Bill C-51 Reveals Harper's Inner Bully' explains that, "There is a built in bias in a hierarchical, capitalist society against critical thinking -- precisely because in liberal democracies the over-arching role of government is to manage capitalism with a view to maintaining it along with all its inherent inequalities. Too many critical thinkers are not helpful."
As the Canadian election scheduled for this coming mid-October draws closer most of critical thinking opponents of Harpo's fear-mongering expect to see the Conservatives ramp up the fear tactics day by day. For instance a few days ago Ontario Conservative MP Larry Miller said that "new Canadians who want to wear a niqab at their citizenship ceremony should "stay the hell where you came from". Almost immediately critical thinking and progressive voices rang out in response that "Miller should consider doing the same himself."
Criticism and reasoned debate about the ramifications of Harper Secret Police Act continue across Canada but as time goes on mockery of Harpo dominates both the private and public spheres. Mockery can be educational too as long as it doesn't diminish the real danger that Harper represents.
The recent International Energy Agency [IEA] announcement that "energy-related carbon dioxide emissions flatlined globally in 2014, while the world economy grew" is surprising at first glance The IEA reports that this marks “the first time in 40 years in which there was a halt or reduction in emissions of the greenhouse gas that was not tied to an economic downturn.”
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First off, i'm very glad that energy-related global CO2 emissions have stalled. However one of the largest portions of CO2 emissions stall came from replacing coal with gas in China and other developing countries. As the proportion gas replacing coal that's derived from fracking is unclear and growing by leaps and bounds in could very well be 'cold comfort'. The stall in CO2 might very well be negated by increases in the far more dangerous fugitve methane emissions escaping from the fracking industries as numerous peer reviewed studies have proven that fugitive methane emissions make fracked gas dirtier than coal.
Other contributors to the CO2 'stall' are the increase in alternatives like wind and solar which is encouraging, especially if those industries, though still having a large fossil fuel footprint embedded in their production, are local and smaller scale which suits their widely distributed sources thereby eliminating the attendant destruction and losses built into the grid and transmission expansions that would be necessary if any of these alternatives were expected to replace other baseline sources instead of as supplements to them.
Another important factor that groups who trumpet the wonders alternative energy's Green Illusions overlooks is the global deflationary picture which has cut into discretionary spending by consumers everywhere [including yesterday's post]. This reduction in consumer demand, especially for needless crap, has driven down the extraction, consumption and price of all commodities including fossil fuels necessary to produce and ship the crap.
Hopefully the effects of these combined changes are a type of 'tipping point' that shows how small but broad changes can lead to systemic change. IMO the CO2 stall is good news because it shows that we can all live another way, that small changes can have big effects and that we can have growth in the quality of our lives while consuming less.
Slow steady deflation is currently the largest driver of degrowth globally though in other cases local factors may overshadow it. Deflation itself has many drivers including things like personal debt wherein even the most addticted consumer often finds it nearly imposible to borrow more while living in a car.
The world, including humans, can live well without all the needless crap...but neither Gaia or any of our cousins can live well [or maybe even live al all] if consumers and their enablers keep it up. Many things have changed in my time as upright mud, including my ideas many times. But as Timothy Leary once said, "You're only as young as the last time you changed your mind."
Brandon Smith has been writing a very good educational series [part 1, part 2 and part 3] focusing on the forces underlying the the imploding demand for unnecessary crap that economists call a decrease in discretionary spending. It's interesting in that it shows that there is no right or left wing, that in reality those are artificial divisions in what is a continuous political and intellectual spectrum.
Today in part 3 Brandon started with a great paragraph: "In the previous installments of this series, we discussed the hidden and often unspoken crisis brewing within the employment market, as well as in personal debt. The primary consequence being a collapse in overall consumer demand, something which we are at this very moment witnessing in the macro-picture of the fiscal situation around the world. Lack of real production and lack of sustainable employment options result in a lack of savings, an over-dependency on debt and welfare, the destruction of grass-roots entrepreneurship, a conflated and disingenuous representation of gross domestic product, and ultimately an economic system devoid of structural integrity — a hollow shell of a system, vulnerable to even the slightest shocks."
Of course, i don't totally agree all of his terminology. What Brandon calls 'welfare' i call 'wealth re-distribution'. Nonetheless his logic and conclusions are right on regardless of semantics.
The fact is that demand for needless crap is imploding not due to high the minded motives of those few of us folks who see the folly of materialism and live lives of simplicity in response. Instead the implosion is, as Brandon eloquently explains, being driven mainly by spiraling personal debts and underemployment, both of which are in turn driven by systemic inequalities of opportunity and education inherent in extractive capitalism and it's fallacious logic of endless growth.
He says in part 1: "Despite the assumptions in the mainstream media that lower oil prices would result in high retails sales, this fantasy refuses to materialize. Retail sales continue the dismal trend set during the Christmas season of 2014,with the largest decline in 11 months in December, and continued declines in January [as it did in Feb as we now know]. As to why, Brandon says, "Beyond unemployment as a destroyer of consumer demand, there is also personal debt."
In part 2 he focuses more on how imploding demand for needless crap is the driver behind across the board declines in the prices of all commodities and how that rebounds throughout the consumer economy: "...global shipping giant Maersk Line now openly admits that the primary detriment to shipping rates, the reason the BDI [Baltic Dry Index] is falling to historic lows, is because of falling demand in nearly every market; ship supply is secondary. Falling demand for goods came first, the number of unused ships came second. This is the reality."
The size of the drop in consumer demand isn't huge and it doesn't have to be in economics or any system that's balanced on a knife edge. Imagine a teeter-tooter perfectly balanced by huge sumo wrestlers on either side, if a tiny baby climbed onto either lap the results would be 'upending'. The fact that: "a hollow shell of a system, vulnerable to even the slightest shocks" is neither a left or right concept, it's just true.
The message of living simply, of wanting and consuming less may not sell, but it doesn't really have too. In reality we're already seeing how the limits to growth are creating deflation and slow degrowth as a result of both debt and wealth inequality. That drop is now curtailing the demand for all types of commodities including fossil fuels by the manufacturers and shipping industries without consumers having to buy into the concept of choosing less consciously.
Slow degrowth is inevitable in a deflationary world. Avoiding the alternative - a massive environmental and/or financial collapse - can happen through 'co-operative self-limitation' but it can also happen by choosing bread over oreos, needs over wants, by even the most addicted consumer. In a slowly degrowing world where a modest 2%-3% deflationary economic sceneri,o like we're seeing right now in many 'developed' world will lead to another way of being, a way that's in tune with the reality that we - the flora, fauna, microbes, minerals, forces and faeries - are all cousins, all in this together, and that only by destroying our cousins can any one individual or group 'profit' from such inequality.
There is no left or right, they are artificial divisions created by those who wish to enslave us.
The UN World Water Development Report 2015, 'Water for a Sustainable World' was released in New Delhi on March 18th, two days before World Water Day and the Spring Equinox. Besides describing how terrible a situation our global freshwater resources are in it talks about how climate change is effecting weather patterns around the world especially in almost all of the world's most productive agricultural areas.
As the photos from California show, severe prolonged drought in the most productive area of North America combined with the skyrocketing debt incurred by industrial agriculture's practitioners has now led to plummeting groundwater levels as well as surface aridity. The combination of the two aren't unique to S. California and N. Mexico, it's the same story in Australia, India, N. Africa, S. China, Central America and N. South America.
What this means to us up here, where British Columbians currently spend 11% of household income on food, is that the truckloads of cheap tomatoes from California rolling across the border won't last much longer. Despite that most folks here in BC have adopted the ostrich defense strategy and as long as those trucks keeping rolling north from California and Mexico they won't question the idiocy of flooding the best farmland in the north in order to line the pockets of the few rich BC Liberal supporters.
The Peace River Valley is one of Canada’s most fertile regions
The Site C Dam is just another pack of lies whose actual purpose to the transfer of the people's hard earned money into the hands of the rich. The damned supporters include those on the receiving end of $1.5+ billion windfall in interest payments at the Bankers and Billionaires Club, the concrete and steel tycoons, the big unions [who've never seen a mega project they didn't love], the stock market speculators, the equipment producers, the Chamber of Commerce types etc., who all have have a vested interest in the idiotic scheme.
The battle to save the Peace River Valley from this unnecessary and destructive project is far from over. Six lawsuits have been launched against the federal and provincial governments with regard to Site C. The cases are solid and will set important precedents in environmental assessment in Canada if any of them succeed. The Stop Site C website in a great resource for following the progress of these cases and feeling the pain of those under the gun of the 'developers'.
From a realistic economic assessment like the Suzuki Foundation study titled 'The Peace Dividend', the first study of its kind that quantifies the enormous natural wealth in B.C.'s threatened Peace Region, the project is sheer stupidity. The report concludes the economic benefits of keeping the Peace River region's remaining farmland and nature intact are enormous. Saying, "These ecosystems play a critical role in providing clean air, clean water, habitat for wildlife and many other ecological benefits that sustain the health and well-being of local residents, and contribute to the cultural and traditional ways of First Nations."
Queen Clark may think that that Site C is a done deal, but she’s hugely mistaken. This disaster must be and will be stopped by the people of the Peace River Valley and all its cultures backed up by the good people of BC and Alberta who know that the future lives of their children and grandchildren depend on the living soils not profits for political backers. Be it in the courts or on the ground, we the people will Stop the Site-C Dam.
The much watched and widely acclaimed video below explains why the $9billion mega project is far from a done deal.
A few days ago DeSmog.ca published an interview with Harry Swain, Chair of Joint Review Panel on the Site-C Dam mega-project His candor in the two part interview [part 1 and part 2] undoubtedly means he'll never be on another government review panel. In the interview Swain condemns both the pre-conditions imposed on the panel from the outset and how the BC government ignored the recommendations of the review panel saying "I think the province was determined to go ahead with the project from the beginning."
Though to long to reprint here, this important interview covers many of the major points Site-C's opponents have focused on including where Swain describes BC's failure to investigate alternatives to Site C as a "dereliction of duty." He was especially blunt about BC Hydro and their governmental overlords' refusal to conduct the investigations they were ordered 32 years ago by the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC).
In its recommendations to government, the joint federal-provincial panel said "it had neither the time nor the resources to analyze the costs of the project and couldn't determine whether the dam was needed on the timeline provided. It recommended a review by the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC), a body created for exactly this purpose."
At that time the BCUC rejected the earlier Site-C proposal saying that BC Hydro hadn't proved BC needed the damn dam and ordered the government to look into other options including geothermal generation which the government refused to do despite all the information they already have on the books from mandated gas exploration operations reportsa. As a result, Canada is now the only country around the Pacific Ring of Fire that does not produce geothermal power at a commercial scale.
Considering the financial price tag is now estimated $9 billion, Site C, if it's built, would constitute the largest expenditure of public money in B.C. history it seems obvious that successive governments in BC must have a different agenda than being good stewards. Swain says instead of deferring the project, the government forged ahead in an attempt to capitalize on the "out of sight, out of mind" factor to try to get away with ignoring recommendations made by its own expert panel.
Another very important point Swain — who wrote a book on the Oka crisis — made outlined the limitations of the review process as it related to First Nations rights. “They said that we were to catalogue the assertions of First Nations regarding treaty rights and aboriginal rights. But we were not to pass an opinion on them. We were not to say whether consultation had been adequate and so on and forth. If you are forbidden to talk about that, you can not come to a conclusion about the overall project,” Swain said.
Why is the cunning Queen Christy smiling so conspiratorially? Because she's just heard that California has about one year of water left because of the combined effects of the ongoing drought and the rapacious depletion of groundwater being pumped faster and faster by the debt indentured farmers who, like all debt addicts, need more just to stay even. Christy and her neocon co-conspirators are drooling in anticipation of the trillon$ in kickback potential from industrial agriculture's pesticide, fertilizer, GMO and bankster operatives.
If you've haven't heard about NAWAPA - The North American Water and Power Alliance - here's an excellent overview of the project from it's beginnings over 50 years. There's a number of reasons why so few folks know about the dastardly scheme to move up to 2/3rds of the flow of the Peace River, Yukon and Laird River systems into the drought ridden deserts of the southwestern USA and northern Mexico. Among the most glaring reasons: a compliant corporate media in fear of a backlash from their corporate owners and advertisers, a conspiratorial silence among politicians who fear that until the moment is right, until all the pieces are in place [especially a populace fearful enough to acquiesce to it] that their scheme would be politically suicidal.
The plan, whose name keeps changing so as to throw the hounds of truth off their trail, would divert water that should go into the ocean in the north and re-direct it to parts of the US and Mexico. NAWAPA is now known as the Weatherford Project and was originally named the Parson's Project in 1964. Alberta has been forced to release much more information about this conspiracy than others because of the energy extraction leases the government there lives on.
Environmentalists [called terrorists by Canada's government] have long warned that the scheme would devastate not only the Yukon and MacKenzie ecosystems, but also the Northern Pacific oceanic areas into which these waters drain as well as the desert ecosystems of the southwestern US and northern Mexico that the corporate criminals claim this water is supposed to help. Of course the only ones the criminals, the compliant MSM or the bribery addicted politicians want to help is themselves.
Kelowna Now asked recently why this is ill-advised and incredibly stupid decision to go ahead with the Site-C project was made by Queen Christy's BC government? Especially considering that:
1. BC Hydro has failed to prove to the BC Utilities Commission in prior applications for approval that BC needs the electricty and refuses to re-submit it to them this time around because they won'tapprove it this time either.
2. BC Hydro can no longer speculate on selling the power stateside either because the price of electricity is very low now. so low in fact that even the building of this massive boondoggle can't be justified evonomically.
3. BC Hydro can't sell the power to the LNG industry either because, though now cheap, it's still far more expensive overall than just using the gas itself.
4. They can't sell it to the frackers either as the cost of natural gas is so low because of the oversupply from the global fracking idiocy they are shutting down not gearing up.
5. And, most importantly, that the flooding of some of the best agricultural land in the north, the destruction of habitat and migration routes of already endangered species and the trampling of the treaty rights of First Nations are inevitable.
Site C would produce 1100 mwh when completed [and before the silt strangles it]. Not enough to pay for itself even when prices are higher. The plans have been rejected in the past for these reasons, but it does make a lake from which to draw large quantities of water year around and once impounded the water in that lake becomes a NAFTA trafdeable commodity. The oft renamed and already engineered plan calls for 3 large pipelines running from the C site lake to the U S. and Mexico. There are 8 lift stations built into the project, each taking the power of a large city. So Site C does have a customer for both the electricity and the water.
Exporting water is a money-losing game Andrew Nikiforuk says, "for the simple reason that it would subtract from existing economic and ecological services that are provided by freshwater. “Canada’s freshwater resources are less available than we think,” according to Gilles Rheaume, vice-president of policy for the Conference Board of Canada in part because western Canada's mountain snowpacks are declining at the same rate California's are for the same reasons.
The video below made by the NAPAWA is drooled over by Harper, Prentice, Quenn Christy and their fellow corporate criminals but chilling for those of us who believe there is another way to be in the world without destroying the biosphere simply to further enrich an already wealthy few.
Since 1982 Canada's multicultural heritage has guaranteed certain rights for all citizens and legal residents including minorities. A right is a freedom of some kind that is guaranteed. It is something to which you are entitled by virtue of being human.
Rights are not subject to popularity, not subject to majority rule of any government. Rights are rights not only when they are acceptable to the prevailing political winds, rights are guaranteed to protect minorities from those winds. If Harper's Conservatives, or any other group, want to limit minority rights let them begin the long arduous process of changing the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
When Harper says “Most Canadians believe that it is offensive that someone would hide their identity at the very moment where they are committing to join the Canadian family.” and that "the majority of ‘moderate Muslims’ support the niqab ban", it's an attack on a distinguishable minority and it's pandering to the ignorance and fear of his political base. He may be correct about the opinion of the majority, but it's meaningless.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it are subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. Everyone, citizen or legal resident, has the following fundamental freedoms: freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; freedom of peaceful assembly; and freedom of association.
When Harper said during Question Period on Wednesday that "the niqab is contrary to our own values, embraces a practice that is not transparent, that is not open, and frankly is rooted in a culture that is anti-woman.”. he showed his immense dis-respect for the rights guaranteed to everyone, not just the few women who choose to wear this traditional Muslim headgear.
15. (1) of the Charter says: "Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability." Harper and his ultra right-wing ilk are attempting to divide and conquer Canadians for their own political gain. Every Canadian that goes on to vote for this fascist asshole should understand that sooner or later they will be next.
Legal experts agree that this divisive law will never stand up to the avalanche of challenges in the Supreme Court, Harpo knows that. This is political bullshit timed and designed to generate votes, it will be thrown out. But it clearly shows how important our rights are in view of the Anti-Terrorism Bill C-51 which seeks to destroy Canadian rights to protest and impede environmentally destructive capitalist 'growth' by saying those actions 'might' hinder economic security.
When Harper says: "the niqab is contrary to our own values", we should all understand immediately it's Harpo who seeks to undermine Canadian values not Islam, not Muslims, not the niqab wearers who see themselves as being faithful to their religion. IMO everyone everywhere has the right to believe in whatever imaginary being or religious delusion they choose without fear or intimidation by any government or group.
so beautiful, so sad, so true...but there is another way
Living simply in this world isn't always easy or convenient, but it is always necessary. The video above replicates in images what the “Lord Man” parable in the book Overdevelopment Overpopulation Overshoot teaches. The stunning images of what once was in contrast to those of what is, are at once terribly sad and an eloquent reminder that there is 'another way' to be in this world without destroying it. We all could, as some already do, choose to live simply, choose to reject the immorality of materialism, choose to marvel in the beauty of the biosphere we are a part of, choose to reject the culture of consumption, inequality, and the delusion of dominion over our cousins.
Having grownup in the 60's and lived through an earlier era when many disenchanted with the what the Ludda call the 'Machine' realized that there was another way to be and recognizing themselves as part of the miracle, returned to the land. Yesterday i learned that spirit is alive and well at the Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri. Dancing Rabbit (DR) is a fully functioning eco-village with around 60 full-time members who live happily on just 10% of the resources the average American consumes.
DR solved the problem of being able to buy good land in a world jam packed with real-estate speculators by forming a Community Land Trust. Because there's so many great things to say about Dancing Rabbit i highly recommend everyone visit their excellent website, learn about their chosen way and maybe become involved in a work exchange or internship there. There is another way to be, in fact there's lots of 'em.
A larger scale example is happening and has been for over 20 years in Chiapas - the Zapatista Movement. Laura Gottesdiener's visit there resulted in her awakening to the Zapatista Way. Laura's excellent expose - 'A Revolution That Won't Go Away' - filled my heart with joy when i read the section about 'Diego, The Boy Who Is Free'
"Diego is part of the first generation of Zapatista children whose births are registered by one of the organization’s own civil judges. In the eyes of his father, he is one of the first fully independent human beings. He was born in Zapatista territory, attends a Zapatista school, lives on unregistered land, and his body is free of pesticides and genetically modified organisms. Adding to his autonomy is the fact that nothing about him -- not his name, weight, eye color, or birth date -- is officially registered with the Mexican government. His family does not receive a peso of government aid, nor does it pay a peso worth of taxes. Not even the name of Diego’s town appears on any official map."
On a much smaller scale, i've done my best to live another way all my life. To live simply, to do my best for my family, my community and the world we all share. To do as i say, to grow my own as much as possible, to work hard every day to create real wealth in the soil in order to do my little part for the health of all - flora, fauna, microbes, minerals, forces and faeries.
Two important Canadians, the Privacy Commissioner and the head of the RCMP, yesterday made presentations to Ottawa. Each proved that Bill C-51's goals are political not security focused. Harpo and his neocon allies everywhere trumpet the phrase "They [the terrorists] hate hate us for our freedoms". In reality it's the neocons who are the terrorists, it's them who are, piece by piece undermining the liberal democratic values - like freedom of speech and association - through fear-mongering as a vehicle for establishing a police state. If you are't afraid of Harpo's means and motives in this regard you haven't been paying attention.
Canada's Dept. of Justice's definition of terrorism: In Canada, section 83.01 of the Criminal Code[1] defines terrorism as an act committed "in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause" with the intention of intimidating the public "…with regard to its security, including its economic security, or compelling a person, a government or a domestic or an international organization to do or to refrain from doing any act."
Canada's Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien's submission to the House of Commons public safety committee regarding Bill C-51, the Anti-Terrorism Act, was made public Friday morning. In it Therrien says "...the anti-terrorism bill will allow authorities to harass protesters." That, "...the bill enables law enforcement authorities to gather information on anyone, not just suspected terrorists." Adding, "... the bill permits various government departments to share information about Canadians". For example, he writes, "...tax information that has traditionally been highly protected could be widely shared with other government departments. And, if it turns out that sharing such information was inappropriate, there's no recourse for Canadians."
Bill C-51 is fear-mongering intended to scare the shit out of enough folks to secure another Harpo 39% majority government while at the same time intimidating any who would oppose the fascist marriage of corporate criminality and the corrupted governments they underwrite.. Once C-51 is enacted any interference with government and corporate criminality will not be tolerated, regardless of how destructive that behaviour is for the environment and future generations. How is the destruction of Canadian civil liberties not terrorism?
Add to that yesterday's statements in Ottawa by RCMP chief Paulson that the RCMP has adequate resources to deal with the terrorist threat. But other important criminal investigations into organized crime and narcotics, among others, are suffering because over 300 officers have had to be removed and over 600 investigations into real crimes shelved to service the chasing of ghosts. “We have enough people that are working on these (counter-terror operations), but they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing. I just don’t think it’s sustainable to maintain our programs in other areas.” Paulson said.
Members of the three major political parties were quick to seize on Paulson’s comments. Harpo's C-51, instead of protecting Canadians, opens the doors to violent crime while the police are now assigned to chasing 'ghosts', we are all vulnerable once this bill is enacted. This evil legislation creates a secret police structure and empowers it to abuse ordinary Canadian's cherished rights and the protection of the law from the abuses of unworthy government actors.
A great evil has been descending on our world,” Herr Harper said when introducing his secret police enabling Anti-Terrorism Bill C-51. He's right, he and his neocon allies are that 'great evil. Canadians do have reason to be afraid, not of some mythical or manufactured terrorist attack, but rather for the destruction of Canadian values.
Conservative ad on Facebook being widely criticized as fear-mongering. Don't miss the comments below the picture there [if they haven't been deleted already].
The condemnation of Canadian P.M. Harper and his cronies ongoing fear-mongering tactics in the run-up to the next election is near unanimous across Canada and internationally. Harper and his ilk are the vilification of Islam has made some Muslims fear for their safety here in Canada according to security expert Ihsaan Gardee in his excellent article: 'Tory Ads Put Security Efforts at Risk'. In it Gardee details why he and other experts agree as well as concluding that "the advertisements are a political effort to draw attention away from a sluggish economy."
The fact that Harpo and Co. is fanning the flames of fear, division and bigotry is not accidental but a calculated stratedgy based on ulra rightwing neocon tactics is the focus of Ralph Nader's letter titled 'On Harper's Politics Of Fear' and his interview with the CBC's Evan Solomon [below].
Harpo and his gang of assholes are very dangerous, not because they have the muscle to back up their empty threats but because so many peole everywhere who don't pay close attention to anything but their 'portfolio' believe anything and everything that agrees with their short-sighted self-indulgent worldview.
In reality the only way we can stop Harpo and his fear-mongering is at the voting booth. Unfortunately the opposition parties refuse to co-operate and form a coalition. So it's up to Canadians to form a People's Coalition to do it for them Many, like The Dogwood Initiative and Leadnow, are already doing just that in one form or another. An email yesterday from Kai Nagata at Dogwood explained that they are coordinating efforts with other groups and currently building a website containing polling information and historic voting patterns in each of Canada's swing ridings as well as those newly created ridings whose outcomes are in doubt.
Almost every Canadian i've talked or emailed with is already on the 'Heave Steve' bandwagon. But in the divided political battlefield here in Canada it's often difficult to figure out how to vote strategically toward that end. As the election draws closer the pollsters will be covering Canada's 'swing ridings' but there are lots of them especially when all the new ridings that are not a forgone conclusion are included. So important pre-vote information about your own riding's leanings may be sparse but will be essential in a People's Coalition's toolkit. So it's up to Canadians to do the local research themselves.
For now, here's an excellent website that details the voting history in each riding as well as a comparision of the relative historic strengths of each party in the areas now lumped into the new ridings. Don't run and hide in a closet like Harpo did when the going gets tough, stand up to fear-mongering, stand up for freedom.
This year's national elections here in Canada are the most important in the 45 years i've lived here. The Conservatives and Liberals, each with their corporate ass kissing lips permanently browned have traded positions as dictator and loyal opposition throughout. Now both support the much hated Anti-Terrorism Bill C-51.
Fortunately the corporate ass-kissers face opposition from both the NDP and the Greens in Ottawa and all the usual suspects across Canada. Globally Bill C-51 is seen for what it is - fear-mongering. Edward Snowden's 'Warning to Canada' is well worth the few minutes it takes to read. In it the world famous whistleblower talks Bill C-51 and 'weak' oversight of our intelligence agencies including a warning to Canadians to be 'Extraordinarily Cautious' over accepting the anti terror bill.
After Snowden's address via conference call journalist Glen Greenwald said, “If you are a Canadian citizen, you have a greater chance of dying by being struck by lightning than you do dying in a terrorist attack.”. Adding, “Your government continuously hypes the threat and tells you that unless you give it more and more power it will be incapable of saving you from this threat... this fear-mongering is a very dangerous, yet very effective form of persuading people to submit to things you otherwise wouldn't submit to."
Canada, Mitchell Anderson says, "...arguably leads the world in harmonious diversity, which also helps explain why Canada is so comparatively safe from extremist threats. For the most part, people of all ethnicities and cultures feel welcome, respected and included, undermining extremist recruitment efforts and making Canadians of all backgrounds inclined to alert authorities to potential threats."
Anderson's article, 'Harper's Terror Rhetoric Is Alienating Allies', focuses on Mubin Shaikh, an ex-CSIS operative on the front lines of fighting extremism, illustrates why Stephen Harper's overheated rhetoric on so-called jihadi threats is making our country more dangerous, not more safe. For example, Harpo's recent election-style speech unveiling Bill C-51 referenced jihad 15 times.
Harpo uses jihad and the unfortunate murders of two servicemen by mentally ill Canadians to serve up his foul message but his aim is to give security agencies even more power to spy on and silence citizen activities that interfere with "the economic or financial stability of Canada.” Harpo's objective is to silence those who oppose corporate or government projects through threats of surveillance, interrogation or worse.
It's already working, in the last few days a number of Mud Report readers have mentioned that writing articles like this one or attending protests are both meaningless and dangerous. Chilling eh! "
Anderson asks "Is the Harpo government unraveling this unique and precious aspect of Canadian culture for short-term political gain?". No, IMO Harpo's goal is much larger than short term politics. Harpo and those like him everywhere seek total the domination of our lives, total submission to the whims of the elites in their 'War on the Wild' by all those who defend the Great Mother.
"The Goddess in all her manifestations was a symbol of the unity of all life in Nature. Her power was in water and stone, in tomb and cave, in animals and birds, snakes and fish, hill, trees, and flowers." - Marija Gimbutas
This year's election in Canada is much more than the usual choice between corporate hacks, this time Canadians are choosing between fear and freedom, between corporate criminals and the biosphere.
The good people at RollingJubilee.org have designed a simple plan that produces 'A bailout of the people by the people' by turning disaster capitalism inside out. They buy up bad debts at pennies on the dollar, then abolish them instead of collecting. As of this morning they've raised $700,000 from online donations and paid off $32,000,000 in debt. The Debt Collective, Rolling Jubilee's founders, "...helps people organize with each other to challenge creditors. We believe no one should have to go into debt for basic needs like housing, healthcare, and education. When the indebted join together they can build power to help create a just society."
Assuring the 'needs' of our fellows is part of what defines a society as 'just'. Not all debt is equal. Some debts come from uncontrollable consumer debt for wants, addictions really. Some debts come from the inequalities built into the structure of capitalism, these are the needs The Debt Collective is attacking in principle. In principle because it's muddy, there is no one clear line between needs and wants unfortunately, it's a draw-it-yourself kinda line.
Defining who our 'fellows' are is as muddy as what 'needs' are. For me, as we - the lora, fauna, microbes, minerals, forces and faeries - are all in this together, we're all fellows. For me a just society would assure the needs of us all and all that connects us. A just society, wouldn't kill the web of life that supports it to enrich a greedy few, a just society 'wouldn't shit in it's own nest' as the capitalist one does. A just society doesn't indenture it's poorest in the service of its richest.
A just society re-distributes wealth so that needs are met. An unjust society is one where the corporations and elites buy political power in all the major parties, which deregulate, subsidize, and under-tax so that corporate profits and executive compensation reach astronomical heights while wages stagnate, climate change goes unchecked and the of the needy debt pile up while the elites become billionaires.
The Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual available FREE online here is an excellent resource for tuning in on 'how to' create your own non-debt ridden just society.
The other day i wondered if i'd been switched at birth when i read Aristides Hatzis, an associate professor of law and economics at the University of Athens explain that: “Normally taxes are considered the price you have to pay for a just state, but this is not accepted by the Greek mentality...Greeks consider taxes as theft.”
A just society attends to needs. A capitalist society caters to wants. We owe our support to one one, nothing to the other.
The commentaries and posts here are written and published by Bob Wiley from the hideout in Black Point. The goal of The Mud Report is to help provide leadership from the bottom.
La Via Campesina is the international movement which brings together millions of peasants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world. It defends small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity. It strongly opposes corporate driven agriculture and transnational companies that are destroying people and nature.
Sitting Up Mud
"Bokonon made mud. Bokonon said to some of the mud, "Sit up!" "See all I've made, the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars."
And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around. Lucky me, lucky mud. I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job Bokonon had done.
"Nice going, Bokonon. Nobody but you could have done it, I certainly couldn't have. I feel very unimportant compared to You. The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around. I got so much, and most mud got so little. Thank you for the honor!"
Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep. What memories for mud to have! "What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met! I loved everything I saw! Good night. Amen."
