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TechnoratiTide of Anger
Watching the crowds in Iceland banging pots and pans until their government fell reminded me of a chant popular in anti-capitalist circles in 2002: "You are Enron. We are Argentina."
Its message was simple enough. You--politicians and CEOs huddled at some trade summit--are like the reckless scamming execs at Enron (of course, we didn't know the half of it). We--the rabble outside--are like the people of Argentina, who, in the midst of an economic crisis eerily similar to our own, took to the street banging pots and pans. They shouted, "¡Que se vayan todos!" ("All of them must go!") and forced out a procession of four presidents in less than three weeks. What made Argentina's 2001-02 uprising unique was that it wasn't directed at a particular political party or even at corruption in the abstract. The target was the dominant economic model--this was the first national revolt against contemporary deregulated capitalism.It's taken a while, but from Iceland to Latvia, South Korea to Greece, the rest of the world is finally having its ¡Que se vayan todos! moment.
The stoic Icelandic matriarchs beating their pots flat even as their kids ransack the fridge for projectiles (eggs, sure, but yogurt?) echo the tactics made famous in Buenos Aires. So does the collective rage at elites who trashed a once thriving country and thought they could get away with it. As Gudrun Jonsdottir, a 36-year-old Icelandic office worker, put it: "I've just had enough of this whole thing. I don't trust the government, I don't trust the banks, I don't trust the political parties and I don't trust the IMF. We had a good country, and they ruined it."
Another echo: in Reykjavik, the protesters clearly won't be bought off by a mere change of face at the top (even if the new PM is a lesbian). They want aid for people, not just banks; criminal investigations into the debacle; and deep electoral reform.
Similar demands can be heard these days in Latvia, whose economy has contracted more sharply than any country in the EU, and where the government is teetering on the brink. For weeks the capital has been rocked by protests, including a full-blown, cobblestone-hurling riot on January 13. As in Iceland, Latvians are appalled by their leaders' refusal to take any responsibility for the mess. Asked by Bloomberg TV what caused the crisis, Latvia's finance minister shrugged: "Nothing special."
But Latvia's troubles are indeed special: the very policies that allowed the "Baltic Tiger" to grow at a rate of 12 percent in 2006 are also causing it to contract violently by a projected 10 percent this year: money, freed of all barriers, flows out as quickly as it flows in, with plenty being diverted to political pockets. (It is no coincidence that many of today's basket cases are yesterday's "miracles": Ireland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia.)
Something else Argentina-esque is in the air. In 2001 Argentina's leaders responded to the crisis with a brutal International Monetary Fund-prescribed austerity package: $9 billion in spending cuts, much of it hitting health and education. This proved to be a fatal mistake. Unions staged a general strike, teachers moved their classes to the streets and the protests never stopped.
This same bottom-up refusal to bear the brunt of the crisis unites many of today's protests. In Latvia, much of the popular rage has focused on government austerity measures--mass layoffs, reduced social services and slashed public sector salaries--all to qualify for an IMF emergency loan (no, nothing has changed). In Greece, December's riots followed a police shooting of a 15-year-old. But what's kept them going, with farmers taking the lead from students, is widespread rage at the government's crisis response: banks got a $36 billion bailout while workers got their pensions cut and farmers received next to nothing. Despite the inconvenience caused by tractors blocking roads, 78 percent of Greeks say the farmers' demands are reasonable. Similarly, in France the recent general strike--triggered in part by President Sarkozy's plans to reduce the number of teachers dramatically--inspired the support of 70 percent of the population.
Perhaps the sturdiest thread connecting this global backlash is a rejection of the logic of "extraordinary politics"--the phrase coined by Polish politician Leszek Balcerowicz to describe how, in a crisis, politicians can ignore legislative rules and rush through unpopular "reforms." That trick is getting tired, as South Korea's government recently discovered. In December, the ruling party tried to use the crisis to ram through a highly controversial free trade agreement with the United States. Taking closed-door politics to new extremes, legislators locked themselves in the chamber so they could vote in private, barricading the door with desks, chairs and couches.
Opposition politicians were having none of it: with sledgehammers and an electric saw, they broke in and staged a twelve-day sit-in of Parliament. The vote was delayed, allowing for more debate--a victory for a new kind of "extraordinary politics."
Here in Canada, politics is markedly less YouTube-friendly--but it has still been surprisingly eventful. In October the Conservative Party won national elections on an unambitious platform. Six weeks later, our Tory prime minister found his inner ideologue, presenting a budget bill that stripped public sector workers of the right to strike, canceled public funding for political parties and contained no economic stimulus. Opposition parties responded by forming a historic coalition that was only prevented from taking power by an abrupt suspension of Parliament. The Tories have just come back with a revised budget: the pet right-wing policies have disappeared, and it is packed with economic stimulus.
The pattern is clear: governments that respond to a crisis created by free-market ideology with an acceleration of that same discredited agenda will not survive to tell the tale. As Italy's students have taken to shouting in the streets: "We won't pay for your crisis!"
80 Comments so far
Show AllThere's no financial bubble to sustain, and the Obama administration has been flinging billions of U.S. taxpayer money to Wall Street and industry without a plan.
It hasn't stopped the layoffs or started the banks lending.
So, the bottom is coming up fast. However, the lack of political insight in the United States among the general population makes me less confident that there'll be pot banging here anytime soon. Hope to be proved wrong on that point.
-TIA
It's time for the freeway bloggers and the pots and pans-now! I will go down to NYC on Weds and try to find any old pans made in USA, bring extra bangers and clangers and hang out on Wall St. IMAHACTIA! (Mad as hell and can't take it anymore). Who is with me? Code Pinkers?
theinitiate
I've done my share of talk in reagards to possible/probable revolution. Now, I found something that struck me Fri night. I watch Battle Star Galactica. I know many of you don't watch tv, and I don't watch much. Anyway, this week's show was the unfolding of the Coup that Gata and the Vice Pres. started last week. Here's what struck me. By the end of the show, Gata was realizing (understatement) the gravity of what he had done. The vice pres. had had the cabinet shot dead, 12 people, because he was seeing that they were not going to go along with the coup.
When it came time for Gata to face those he was disposing of power, the fact that he had previously had true, respect and cared about the individual(s)- caused great conflict within him. He caved (well, he had no choice) But the thing is all through the event, Gata was struggling with his FEELINGS about fighting those he had lived, workd and cared about all his life.
I'm just saying that we need to remind ourselves just how brutal, something like revolution can be. Like many during the Civil War -when family and friends were split apart.
It's kind of funny that the show is putting this idea of coup -failed coup, out just now... The jist of what's happening through out the show is that the last say 30somethousand humans are trying to survive against the man-made robotic Cylone "race". So, it brings up the idea of how those in power will use what ever means necessary -even against democratic principles- to accomplish what they deem as their cause, trying to save the human race by joining the enemey in an alliance. Those that opposed, tried the coup.
The struggle which GAta dealt with and the cold blooded assessment of the vice pres, to do WHAT EVER IT TOOK to have a successful coup hit me very hard.
i am very -what's the word- attuned -wary, of what is going down every day. Trying to eek out any positive efforts and progress toward real change. Because any revolution that results from the collasping system, will be something that none of us have experianced, unless you've been a soldier, I guess. Some of you may think it silly that a tv show should have any significance. But ...
Naomi Klein for President! Amy Goodman for VP! Oh, I am so in love! Let's move to Utah and marry both of you :)) That would truly be heaven.,...
The Glue That Holds Chaos Together
...and to think that all we have to do is bang on a few pots.
Summary: people are angry. Government and CEO'S are ripping us off. Understating the obvious, and making vague implications towards a bloodless revolution is your standard modus operandi.
I know that you know that there can be no revolution with out the spilling of blood, of course saying this would be politically incorrect and make you sound like a terrorista. LOL!
And more often than not there is spilling of blood without a revolution.
Joe
There is a sale on pots and spoons at Walmart ...made in China, of course.
The Glue That Holds Chaos Together
Damn! I wanted to post that! lol!
I believe that this nation will rise up and a new revolution will occur in the not to distant future. As a kid going to a Catholic School I remember one of the Sisters talking about the Saints who died as martyrs and she telling us that each drop of blood that was spilled created an energy and the memory for others to hold steadfast to their Faith and belief, it caused the Church to grow in numbers because what those people did in dying proved that what they did was correct and just.
The common man and woman in this Country believe in the correctness and justice in our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. They may not know how to form that belief into words but they know that Freedom cannot be taken for granted either for themselves or for the children. Just as the early Christians died for their belief's, so too will the American people die for what they know what is right and what is at stake. They will shake off their yokes of oppression when they realize that their birthright is about to be stolen by the members of the elite.
It may take time for this realization to hit them, but once they really see their freedoms vanish, folks will rise up and fight back. Its not a matter of "if" folks will rebel, its a matter of "when". And if I'm wrong in my assumption, then we deserve to vanish because we chose to allow our birthright be sold by Wall Street. We did not keep the flame of liberty lit.
Hunter-gatherer societies subsist working 15 hours/week. Modern industrial progress SHOULD deliver today's luxury/convenience without any increase beyond 15 hours/week. And yet here we are working 50 hours/week. Now let's set aside the industrial progress and consider something else: Our fossil fuel gluttony should deliver today's luxury/convenience without any increase beyond 15 hours/week. And yet here we are working 50 hours/week.
Taken together, the industrial progress and the fossil gluttony should deliver DOUBLE today's luxury/convenience without any increase beyond 15 hours/week. One reason they fail is the elites hoarding the production surplus. Another is the elites' horribly counter-productive rackets (war/banking/ etc). So if we throw off the elite parasites we should have double today's luxury/convenience on 15 hours/week.
This isn't to say we SHOULD have double lux/con. In fact, what suits our nature best is something like 1/4 of today's lux/con at 1/4 the energy consumption, 15 hours/week, and no elites. In this scenario our industrial progress leaves us with a great surplus, and we use it to provide ourselves free education, free healthcare, free transportation, and very low cost food/clothing/shelter. This arrangement also means stability.
We have to compare what we get for our labor under elite domination today with what we get for our labor in the ideal scenario presented. The difference is like a factor of four. We have to first recognize our potential before we can pursue it.
Anyone interested in following up on this general idea - of enabling technology and intellect to free us from the current drudgery compelled by the elites - might be want to watch the Zeitgeist Addendum on youtube. The first part is kinda dull- but, the last number of sections outlines ways to do just what you are proposing.
The Venus Project and the Zeitgeist Movement are just getting underway to broaden these ideas.
Face it, we may have to go through the whole life cycle of the shock doctrine that has come to america. I have hard hard times in dealing with the general public's lack of concern like 'oh well, it will be over in a few months' attitudes. Members of my family and friends I know don't even want to acknowledge the financial terrorist attack this country is going through much less discuss it, and just like South American countries, Indonesia, Russia, European countries that were forced to accept this milton friedman 'unfettered market' ideology, we will have to fail, our economy will crash, inflation goes out the roof, authoritarian rule will go into force, people will die, unemployment will go up to 25 to 60% as it did in those countries. The elite will make out like bandits because that is what they are: criminals, finanical terrorists committing the large heist in history, total grand larceny, just to keep control of the wealth.
But it is beyond erksome to see the public not even lift so much as a finger to demand those that we elected to begin investigating and prosecutions of those financial terrorists that have created this mess and are being rewarded for their actions. And even with a new government, so to speak, it looks to be the samosamo BS as w & dick's illegal administrations.
And as some have commented on the lack of protestations by the people, just remember what the effects of tv, radio, high tech gadgetry that of actual no value. Where does pushing a button to see something move, a scene play in front of one's eyes, hear some sounds that represent the 'modern' version of music(played almost 24/7 these days)which is basically empty and useless. Hell, people can't even listen to a whole song anymore, just the 'cool' parts of a song. Also, the effects of what the 4 or 5 owners of our mainstream media allow you to see and hear or how they want you to see and here. Marketing is pure propaganda for making people believe in anything but the truth.
So, no, it is not surprising to me that a still to huge part of our population are so vegged out and are probably permanently so. How do you fight that?
I agree with most. But, when you say, "remember what the effects of tv, radio, high tech gadgetry that of actual no value". This "gadgetry" of "no value" has allowed you to make your post and your position known. Nuagers have gone a long way in condemning and throwing out the baby with the bathwater, and, always going out and retrieving the bruised baby. The people who are "vegged" out, are overworked and/or distraught. Soon, the system's failure will not allow them the luxury of being "vegged out". There will be few veggies, or anything else, available.
Apologies for the blanket grouping of the 'gadgetry' but in my haste I find that I don't have time to list everything accordingly. I would hope since this is the internet and a site where those that are more attuned to searching and researching information can find better information than the msm. Most commentors have basically the same idea of what is real and what isn't, what is useful and what is worthless and what should be used for forming ideas and opinions about the reality of this jacked up country that they would understand what is of value and what is propaganda, fluff and BS.
Now, how would you like to be, say, riding a bike with the headphones on, music playing and you just happened not to hear that car coming that knocked you off your bike? Just an example, but possible. That is useless to me and the only value would be to see how good your health insurance is.
Sioux Rose
When the slaves were freed, slavery didn't end, it turned into share cropping and debt peonage. That is the status for most of us today. Slavery has become an equal opportunity for all who want the good consumer life. Now, mirabile dictu! we have a black master on the plantation who is kinder than his white predecessor. We are in debt just the same for generations to come, no matter who captains the ship because the entire enterprise is funded and controlled by the private owners of the banking system who have turned usury into a science so complex one needs an MBA to grapple with the concepts.
Strip away the jargon and the phony science of "financial economics" and what you find is an elaborate game of usury beneath it all which is designed to siphon off the wealth of the many and concentrate it in the hands of a few. The house always makes a profit because it controls the odds. It has worked very well, but it is collapsing as we speak because there are too few suckers left to buy in to the pyramid scheme.
Maybe you feel the inevitability of the end of the world as we know it deep in your bones. I sympathize. Many people have the same feeling. I became aware of it at the age of 4 and it has haunted me ever since. But those who run this casino need us as much as we need them. They will do what is necessary to keep the casino as we know it operating. That deeply felt omen of the end of the world is also shared by those on top of the pyramid. The controllers understand chaos. Obama is himself very intelligent and those who put him in power, represented by the Trilateralist co-founder, Zbig Brzezinski, do not work for a living and therefore have all day and every day to consider how to keep their ship afloat. They are attempting to deal with it. ( There are, incidentally, 7 members of the Trilateral Commission among Obama's top 12 appointments. )
The stimulus bill Obama is pushing through Congress will pass. Things will pick up a bit. the DJIA will respond. Local control of the US monetary system will be limited through new financial regulations being coordinated through the BIS in Basel. Toxic debt will be sucked into a "bad bank" and quarantined. All the stray cats of the US financial elite who have screwed up so egregiously will be taught to march in formation. The die hard free market Republicans who are arguing against this "government spending" will be rendered more irrelevant than they already have been with the passing of the Bush crime syndicate.
In short, don't worry, you're in good hands with the NWO. Nobody's going to let Cheney and his crew detonate nuclear or biological weapons on US soil. No new 911. The Cheney fiend is just unstressing. Things may not get back to 90's normal, but the supermarkets will be filled. You won't need to become a hard scrabble farmer. Your equity will begin to recover.
Those people, the "conservatives", like Peter Schiff, who believe the bubble should just be allowed to deflate, are truly clueless, not to mention heartless. But it's not a matter of the controllers loving the people because the controllers love the people like the agribusiness farmer loves the steers in his feedlot. He's not in love with any cows, he just likes the business. It's called power, or "hegemony". A 30's depression scenario will not be permitted for simple demographic reasons. Nobody wins in such a scenario, and everybody loses.
They will make concessions to the people to prevent societal collapse. When that happens, the game is really over and a dark age is dead ahead. It is not imminent just now.
Here's the truth: governments are afraid of the people. Mass populations cannot be dominated in the traditional Stalinist way. The past has taught governments that repression does not work. The CCP understands this, which is why they invented their own brand of capitalism, so they wouldn't have to pay for the upkeep of the slaves. They would enslave and repress if they could, but that day is gone. That is why there are so many informants in every organized group, left, right, or center. The job of "government informant" is probably the fasted growing unknown occupation in the shadow economy. The Fourth Amendment is dead. It is incompatible with law and order.
Here's the truth: humankind is hunkering down before the growing malevolence of mother nature. You get it, don't you Sioux?
Sioux Rose
CRUX PUPPY: I appreciate the time you took to elaborate on the concerns I raised. It would be great if your sensible long-term view proved more prescient than the implication of upcoming stellar trends. Nonetheless, I applaud your intelligence and always look forward to your posted comments.
As for the malevolence of the great Mother, a/k/a the "Revenge of Gaia," her patience even now astounds me. Watching those amazing penquins share the nurture of their offspring's egg in sub-zero temperatures, and knowing their way of life will vanish with a great many too-beautiful-for-words species; each given to its own incredible style of adaptation, must feel a lot like a mother seeing her children murdered, one by one. I feel mourning right now... for the senseless slaughter of species, and of human beings in at least three areas, added to our nation's callous disregard for the broken in body, mind and spirit. It is tough to see all that needs to be done, and realize one can do little. That is unless one is able to, perhaps destined to climb over the cuckoo's nest and lead others to a higher location.
Again, thank you for your thoughtful contribution.
"As for the malevolence of the great Mother, a/k/a the "Revenge of Gaia," her patience even now astounds me. Watching those amazing penquins share the nurture of their offspring's egg in sub-zero temperatures, and knowing their way of life will vanish with a great many too-beautiful-for-words species; each given to its own incredible style of adaptation, must feel a lot like a mother seeing her children murdered, one by one. I feel mourning right now... for the senseless slaughter of species, and of human beings in at least three areas, added to our nation's callous disregard for the broken in body, mind and spirit. It is tough to see all that needs to be done, and realize one can do little. That is unless one is able to, perhaps destined to climb over the cuckoo's nest and lead others to a higher location."
The Great Mother would have none of this human nonsense. Her children have come and gone through the eons of the shifting universal tides. The eternal recreation and destruction of the energy in all it's beautiful forms is a Mother wrought phenomenon. The penguins will return in just as magnificent of a form whichever it may be, the penguins will do what is in their hearts until they can no longer.
Humans lost that and so we mourn their painful reminder to us of what we should be doing even as our chances of survival potentially slip away. If the penguin dies, the best we can do is keep their spirit alive, the spirit of all life, until our time here passes too.
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
Define "the growing malevolence of mother nature"? Does she wear an apron, or a uniform?
I think she's naked but carries a fly swatter. ;)
What happens when snowflakes stick together?...............friends come together and have snow ball fights. :)
Leea
Naomi Klein shoudl run for the leadership of the NDP party. She would have my vote.
PK
Bring America Back !!!! Our 'Tide of Anger' used to have extremely effective impacts when it was organized and came from our US universities and colleges.
They had Tricky Dick Nixon going crazy, calling out the National Guard, and getting shouted down at his public appearances !!!!
It is now Silent...there is no Protest movement at our academic institutions, and for 8 years there has been no revolution factor from those whose future is dependent upon what the corrupt leaders are wreaking and ravaging !!!
There was a massive movement among the student youth who organized and very efficiently helped get Obama elected, to change our course. They are pretty tired after a long campaign and no doubt are willing to give the Prez his chance to do what he promised. Nothing wrong with that !!
But, we were promised an end to the Iraq War and the troops death toll rises to its present 4300 !! During Vietnam , that fact would have brought out the college crowd to the streets by the droves.......congressional offices, politician speeches, peaceful protests, blocking of roads==would and should serve to show our 'Tide of Anger'.
So, what we have is the Silence of the Sheeples, the Couch Potatoes of the X generation, the feckless new age interns of nothingness !!
****Right ? Rolling layoffs, escalating gas pump prices-Again, Neocons still in control of major Govt Departments, none of this stirring any kind of Tide of Anger in the USA !! Allowing Bush & Cheney to sneak out of DC !
*****It may work in Iceland but here we just applaud General Petraeus (Betrayus) at the Super Bowl for being the War Monger of the "W" regime !
I thought Petraeus at the Super Bowl would stir up some Progressive anger, but then guess it's just me ! I hate it !!!
The president's role is promoter and guardian of corporate capitalism. As commander-in-chief of the military, he solemnly pledges to defend corporate interests at home and abroad. Sometimes the president must "oppose" the practices of individual corporations, i.e. the metastasized banking heists that did collateral damage to many other corporate interests. They must be nudged back in line with incentives that reflect the overall needs of the corporate economy. The only consideration ever given to the populace is whether or not they are going to revolt over the costs they must incur. When engaged in such "conflicts," Obama finds it convenient to take on the appearance of opposing the special interests on behalf of the common interest. What he is doing is protecting the common interests of the special interests by trying to keep "free market" capitalism from devouring itself. However, any collectivist alternative that obtains a toe hold on the playing field will face the combined wrath of all the players.
As Obama's reality bites, don't lose sight of the executive orders recorded in the Federal Register Vol. 59 No. 108, (www.archives.gov/federal-register/) and accepted by Congress, to deal with "national emergencies, allowing the federal government to seize all utilities, food resources, transportation and communication media: force every individual to register; and forcibly relocate populations within the United States."
Only if they feel they need to.
Which particular executive order did you quote? Do you have a direct link? I've read some executive orders of that type, but I didn't find the Federal Register site you linked to easy to search.
Nothing can focus the attention of the American public like an economic downturn because we are a money-obsessed people like no other at any place or time. We monetize every minute of the day and calculate the returns on a friendly gesture.
But nobody likes to be this way. It's no way to be. The DJIA numbers shouldn't make or break a mood. Still, it's our fault. Naomi doesn't say it's the Icelander's fault. She says the Icelander's beat on pots and protest what's being done to them. Their attention has been focused. There is anger building. Hopefully it will build here, too, and when it does, I hope we realize it's our fault that we have come to this unpleasant moment.
It's our fault that we permit the IRS to force us to keep records and save receipts and monetize, monetize, monetize! This is no way to live, but it's the way we live due to a certain fatalistic outlook that begins to develop when we give away control over our own lives and accept the inevitability and necessity of being controlled.
Money is the most effective tool for control that one can imagine. You control your kids by rewarding or denying them with money in just the same way that a government controls the people through taxation.
It is commonly said we live in a "democracy". Naomi thinks that the uprising of people in these distressed countries is an expression of democracy. It is just the opposite. The people rise up because there is no democracy. They have no control over the most crucial elements of their lives: the most important of these crucial elements being their own money. They give away what used to be called the "money power" to private interests. They are convinced to privatize their money creation and delivery system. Their governments that are theoretically supposed to operate in their interest, are, like the people themselves held in thrall to a privately owned system of central banks that exercise the money power in the interest of a small elite group of very wealthy people.
We do not control our own money. It is controlled by a system of private banks. These banks exercise control over government and society by rewarding or denying money. The people are not free to manage their own financial system. They have the freedom to get angry when the private owners of the banking interests reward themselves and punish the people with unimaginable debt. But that is the only freedom they have in their so-called democracy.
There is no democracy without financial democracy. Money defines every move we make and whether we are happy or sad. Why do we give the money power to private interests? Why, Naomi?
Why do we tolerate the illusion of democracy? And when we finally get angry and focused will we realize that we the people can have a financial system operated by own own government in the name of the general welfare?
Will we be able to make the distinction between public control of credit and a private free market? Will we be able to understand that a nationalized banking system can support a private sector free market economy?
We do not have to surrender our national sovereignty to an international central banking system owned and operated by new class of global aristocrats. The failure of the private banking system we now experience is also a failure of you and I to own our own lives. If we owned the money power, we would no longer be forced to monetize every minute of the day. We would not rise or fall with the DJIA.
It is so simple and yet so difficult to communicate to those who live in a fog of propaganda created by private capital.
Sioux Rose
CRUX: Excellent post. I think that the distance between the symbol of the dollar and what it will soon represent is about to stretch to the breaking point. As a result the insights you related above will become clearer to many many people. We've been living in a state of cognitive dissonance, presuming so long as the money gave us shelter, the once a year vacation, some form of health care, food on our supermarket shelves (truly an embarassment of riches when compared with markets in other lands)... that the pursuit of happiness was ours for the taking. America provided a good life. Sure, you got your check and gave Caesar his true or otherwise forced due, but the benefits generally outweighed the risks. Until now. As home prices fall, as supermarket prices rise, as one wonders about the viability not only of their job, but of their life savings, the ENTIRE paradigm feels like a kid on a tricycle the first time those training wheels suddenly get popped off.
I have talked to three investment planners/stock brokers, a sister who's been very successful in business, friends, even a few psychics. Few can or are willing to see where all logistics appear to be leading. I hope the astrology is wrong on this one; but like others who post here, I've "downsized my life" to as close to subsistence as one (in America) can get. And I am ready to learn to grow food. Maybe I'm inside my own shadow today (full moon in my sign, and Obama's in 2 days)... but persons living in Pompeii, or the islands off shore to Krakatoa, or those purported to have lived in Atlantis, went about their daily affairs not knowing things were about to change in a manner that would never be reversed. Things would not return to what they had been. As the Buddhists teach, this is a life of impermanence; but how many of us take seriously what that aspect of mortality means? Even empires are temporal configurations. Nothing on the physical plane lasts in its present form... what America was and what it will be are apt to be diametrically opposed. As least through the time of transition. It IS the end of an era.
Psychics? No such things exists. Conjurers, and inflated delusional egos, perhaps, but psychics, no. Astrology? Come on. Give us a break. This poppy cock has nothing to offer. "...purported to live in Atlantis"?! Oh please. As for the "Buddhists teach, this is a life of impermanence", duh, some surprise, eh? Full moon in my sign? I'm sorry, but this is the friggin' 21th century.
Sioux Rose
BINBAN: How about you take your narrow mindedness to your own circle of friends; that is if you have any? Don't like my posts, move right on by. You were given a child with special needs to develop some understanding of things beyond your intellect, like a heart and a soul. What a courageous child to come in and accept you for his parent. You are mean-spirited in this forum, and seem to like to try to use acerbic snide remarks to put down others who have traveled light years beyond your foot prints. Give it a rest. I don't insult those who know history and are better informed than I am on a topic, and having spent 30 years studying, reading, and counseling in this field, if it had no merit, I would long ago have abandoned it. And if I were a charlatan, I could have parlayed a gift of gab into bamboozling the public and made a fortune. My ethics are my own business. I am a woman of integrity, and am tired of your taunts.
Sioux Rose: I like your posts and I learn from them. Don't let the peanut gallery get to you. Too many people are deluded by their five physical senses. They think what they see means that this is all there is. It's like they can physically see, but they are spiritually blind.
Sioux Rose
WINNING TICKET: Thank you for the reminder. I get touchy about those attacks as it wasn't that long ago that persons who studied and believed as I do were publicly burned as witches. It's interesting why the subject matter bothers certain people, the ones who have never studied it? I wonder if it's some intimation of GUILT on their end, a very subliminal sensation. Criticism to silence their own inner demons?
Sioux Rose:
Your posts reflect your compassion and wisdom, which is all that's important. Binban was clearly irritated by things that are peripheral to your main point (astrology, Atlantis, psychics), and because of that, he chose to mock you without addressing the substance of what you wrote. It's best to ignore such comments.
I would add one thing regarding your statement that this is the end of an era. I don't believe that anyone is wise enough to know if that's true in the sense you mean. I am reminded of a statement of Thomas Huxley, who coined the term "agnostic":
"Materialists and Spiritualists agree in making very positive assertions about matters of which I am certain I know nothing, and about which I believe they are, in truth, just as ignorant."
Whether or not we're at the moment of our downfall, there's an old Chinese poem by Han-shan that you might know, which beautifully evokes the dissolution of empires:
"Often I've heard how Emperor Wu of the Han
And the First Emperor of the Ch'in before him
delighted in tales of immortals and spirits
and tried in vain to prolong their lives.
Now their golden towers are broken,
their palaces have vanished away,
while the grave at Mou-ling and the tomb of Mount Li
today are a wilderness of weeds."
[From "Cold Mountain", translated by Burton Watson, Shambhala Press, Boston, 1992]
Peace,
John
Sioux Rose
JOHN MITCHELL: And your post reflects your wisdom and compassion. Thank you for sharing real insight(s). I am a passionate, sometimes dramatic woman (what Leo woman isn't? I say we're all one third LUCY, with a sense of comic relief; and one third Madame Blavatsky, with a love of the mystical; and the last third, Mae West, with some pretty racy sexually liberated ideas about life) and perhaps my comment got a bit carried away. However, when I say end of an era, I believe all endings lead to new beginnings. Whether we look to nature's example wherein every bit of biology, every molecule is recycled, to Einstein's revelation that matter could neither be created, nor destroyed. We are somewhere between that matter and that tangible molecule, with a considerable dose of mystery added to the mix... and I believe WE continue on, albeit in changed forms; so why not entire societies?
I don't think America can pour new wine into the old wineskins... too many turning points are asserting at once. Times like this, a massive call of necessity, could bring out gargantuan levels of invention. THAT is pretty much what I meant. And you are SO kind, sir. I appreciate it.
Got Cynicism?
Objectivity? No such thing exists...
Astrology is the"science" of interpretation of measurable celestial patterns & events...
Do you take issue with the measurement of celestial patterns or the interpretation of said events?
As for psychic powers, there is an old saying...
Those who "know" don't say... And those who say don't "know"...
Sioux Rose
GOLDEN MEAN: Thank you for attempting to educate someone who's allowed prejudice to seem glib and in the process obstructed his own capacity to see past his own ego.
There are many called and few chosen. Most who claim to be psychic may at best have had a moment or two of genuine luminous understanding; but for the vast majority this gift cannot be turned off and on like a spicket. A lot of pretenders are out there. As you related, astrology requires study, an education of systems, correspondences and complex mathematics. To those who say they don't believe in astrology, I like to respond, "And gravity doesn't believe in your, either."
Here's the change so far read it and weep comrades. The bankers ( PIGS) get 700 Billion the rest of us lose our jobs, 401K's , homes etc. Whose being rewarded for what here? What's has happened to Capitalism's vaunted invisible hand that rewards those that make right decisions and punishes those that don't? It's BS folks, the invisible hand is the hand of a pick pocket, go ahead check to see if your wallet is still in your back pocket! GOTCHA SUCKERS! Talk about laughing all the way to the bank! Boy, is that an understatement!
For eight years, THEY fed us FEAR. Now, they are feeding us HOPE. All BS. All LIES. Want results? Stop consuming. The bottom line..it's all that means anything to them. Can't even do that? Then, bend over and continue to be sodomized.
re: what gets right wing backlash can be instructive
One measure of what kinds of action challenge the US right is the right wing response. Judging from this thread, it appears that the US right is not at present threatened by the possibility that the world might save the U.S. from itself.
On the other hand, Amy Goodman's piece on Congresswoman Kaptur's (D, OH) call for victims of foreclosure to squat brought right wing asslicks, goons and apologists out of the CD closet. Potential threats to corporate property set off their petit bourgeois ruling-class-identifying instincts fast.
Ugh. I think this site should be renamed "Common Nightmares." The more informed, the less inspired, the more deeply, darkly cynical I become about believing that change can be ignited for the common good. It's all becoming one massive remake: Voyage of the Damned.
One of the main purposes of this site is to bitch. If we complain enough the elites will condescend to throw us the occasional bone. Or to put it another way, small changes occur every now and then, but they never occur without citizen complaints. If you think about it, a tremendous amount of good change has happened over the decades and centuries. Get angry and complain. You're doing it for the good of humanity.
Or maybe "Commmon Dreams?" question mark included.
The real reasons we're not seeing mass protests here in the USA are: 1) we've learned that protests accomplish nothing here (remember how the two biggest protests in history failed to impact the decision to illegally invade Iraq even one iota?) 2) there's nothing to protest (can't protest "bailouts," since the money's already gone; can't demand jobs be created out of thin air; can't demand our corrupt 'leaders' step down, cause all potential replacements are members of the same club); 3) We The Rabble have no solid, identifiable protest 'leaders'; and, 4) we've become the fattest, laziest and dumbest population on Earth.
Nope - we're nothing but a bunch of spectators sitting in the stands helplessly watching the Super Bowl of Greed, cheap beer in one hand and a Big Mac in the other, well aware that, no matter who 'wins,' we're totally f**ked...
Exactly right. And "bi-partisanship" in Washington means all Senators & Congressmen wink & grin at each other because they know that even in a crippling depression, their pay & benefits won't stop. Protests will be crushed with violence. We all love Naomi, and she makes sense...but signifies nothing.
actually protests do accomplish something.
if that were NOT so -- such POWERFUL repressive governments as in china would not stand in FEAR of their own people which is why china is gearing towards dealing with the loss of export-oriented jobs to tens of millions of chinese that originally were from the countryside and went back to find no jobs with a MASSIVE domestic jobs program - quickly, mind you - learning that they can NOT completely depend for economic expansion on export-orientation only -- but that they now have to use their savings and sovereign credit to prompt DOMESTIC consumption -- and in other words prioritize THEIR people as consumers and producers rather than prioritize americans as consumers of their cheap products.
in a sense this is a good development over-all that the root cause of global economic disaster from america has arrived at this stage - to wake up governments such as china's, iceland, ireland, the baltic republics like latvia and estonia to just how CORROSIVE oftheir own economies the US model or "globalization and free trade" really has been.
so -- with all these countries one by one having their populations showing , in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS , to their governments regardless of what political systems they have - that their governments ARE answerable to the people -- what will happen if this goes on as it PROBABLY WILL expand?
THE USA will be LEFT ISOLATED as the country whose people can not even shed their SHEEPLIKE attitudes..until the day comes when - with governments and countries having DEVELOPED NEW alliances in trade and found NEW sources of moving their economies forward -- the USA will be LEFT without too many "allies" to sell or buy from.
in the end -- people WILL rise against the USA leaders - just the same..........
except of course -- they shall do so against a FASCIST system that will eventually be swept away anyway...
but then -- what will show up is:
The Sheeplike Americans were the "ones that were left behind" -- long after other nations's people had already done the RIGHT thing : MAKE their governments pay attention to their wishes.
Show that their governments and institutions SHOULD be afraid of the people!
well...americans ARE fat and lazy -- and intellectually impotent...that's why. it takes a while and a lot MORE for them to ....."get moving". after all -- that IS why wall street had to implode first ...and other things, isn't that so?.......
credit that to americans' lack of interest or detachment...but --in a way -- they DO deserve what they get.
it's their own doing really. not JUST the governments' or corporations.
you can't isolate these things from one another.
see there is something the Bolivian peasants and countryfolk - unsophisticated by modern standards, generations-long suffering, always being at the sidelines "looking in" as they were divested of their rights and lands and livelihoods - but what did they do about possible shenanigans before they voted morales into power? with all the state apparatus against them?....it is summed up in the words of on peasant:
"They are powerful -- but WE are MANY...what can they REALLY do? it is our will they are against".
just like it was in the philippines when they en masse overthrew the dictator and US lackey Marcos after 25 years of Martial Law -- that was an example of True "people's power"..and what could the oppressors do? all they could is remain in their houses and gated communities and -- in their TURN --
WATCH as the properties they STOLE were taken away from them ONCE the people woke up and had enough of them. PERIOD!
I don't believe in much, but I do believe that some humans are especially prone to greed and lack of compassion. These people, through the default of others who are not so greedy and uncompassionate, and many of whom are also very stupid and cowardly, wind up manipulating the others into giving up their means of living and happiness based upon lies and deceit. I believe that these greedy ones are truly evil. That their souls are so evil and embodied in human form leaves little choice for the meek and stupid but to eliminate evil from their midst.
I believe that an economic system driven by insatiable greed and consumption of resources needed for life and happiness must be killed, both in its ideology and in the form of humans that will continue to prey on the earth and all other life forms so long as the less-evil allow them to do so. I believe that the extermination of the greedy and destructive ones must be accomplished to sustain life for the many. Failure to do so will likely mean the end of life as we've known it, and as earth has been able to sustain for hundreds of millions of years. No need for details, we just need to get to work eliminating the sources of evil.
sand flea wrote:
These people, through the default of others ... and many of whom are also very stupid and cowardly, wind up manipulating the others into giving up their means....
COMMENT:
How could anyone possibly argue with this?
But, just how can those who default their civic duty, especially those that are very stupid, and most especially those that are cowardly be changed into citizens who rule their government instead of being ruled by their government?
They are called "conservatives". But along with the Bushite fascists, Stalinists, Repugs, Zionists, Xtians, Mullahs and Blue Dog Democrats, they often include the nice little old lady next door and your own parents. Extermination is not the answer. Just don't vote for them or place them in positions of power.
correct == especially "they include the nice little old lady and your own mother".......because this is after all a "continuum" -- every generation brings a mentality forward and it is that "conservative" mentality that says:
:"let's not rock the boat...know your place and everything will be alright"......
until of course everytime they TEACH that to the next generation -- they "conserve" nothing but a DWINDLING amount of their own rights and liberties AND what is LEFT of it FOR the future generation..and THAT"s the "gift" and legacy they leave to their own children -- and all of it because of their FEAR of "losing" something that they thought they owned or had or will always have -- by behaving LIKE conservatives.
Sioux Rose
EZE; Nice response...
Gracias Sioux Rose.
Very eloquent. The problem is that for roughly half of US citizens the greed and lack of compassion you call "evil" is considered a "virtue". What I call helping a poor bastard out by giving him a couple bucks, they call handing out unearned rewards for being lazy.
I think it all boils down to the eternal problem: how do you fight a bully with a gun when you don't believe in violence.
here's an ironic thing:
as americans perhaps SEE other governments being "made to march" by their people -- with vast differences in political systems and their internal problems and effects of the economic hardships rooted from the "inventions" of financial "magic" in america that it tries to export -- as americans see that...what are americans doing?
they REPRESS themselves.
where other people live under perhaps , PRESENTLY, more overtly repressive or controlling states (russia, china, turkey, etc.) - americans who bloviate about "freedom" in the USA because they can "vote" during a day that they don't even put as an OFFICIAL NON WORKING DAY in order to vote - and call this "choice" --
REPRESS THEMSELVES.
who NEEDS a repressive police state as is the incipient case in the USA when the SHEEPLE themselves
REPRESS THEMSELVES VOLUNTARILY as a matter of "choice?"
it's so tragically comical! as a body politic -- americans ARE laughable...that much is certain.
in many essential "human personal freedom" ways -- the peasants in china , peru, colombia, bolivia , the ordinary people in economies that are NOW basket cases which were just a few years ago the "miracle cases" of American-led free market capitalism - etc..the youth and farmers in greece...the poverty, disease , war-famine stricken people in africa and elsewhere --
all of them with so MUCH LESS to have in their lives
PRACTICE LIBERTY and CHOICE
FAR MORE and MORE TRUTHFULLY than americans do and EVER HAVE!
americans really ought to be ASHAMED of themselves for being such WILLING SLAVES!
Oh please. Have you ever been to China? Liberty and choice?
rfloh wrote:
Oh please. Have you ever been to China? Liberty and choice?
COMMENT:
Have you been to China?
I haven't, but I have non-Chinese and Chinese friends that have, and Chinese friends that came from the PRC. Some express disappointment in the US, others I've known have returned to China because they were happier there. An extensive article in a newspaper a year or so ago interviewed people who longed to return to China, hoped to or planned to, and gave a variety of reasons why.
There are many views of what liberty is and the ability to publicly speak out against the government or be a political activist against the ruling regime is just one of them. Employment, friends, community, health care, food security, are other facets of "liberty" that loom larger for many than politics - not only for Chinese, but also, if truth be told, for many Americans as well.
As for liberties, well, US citizens that wanted to travel to Cuba or anywhere else the US government didn't want you to go couldn't. I personally know a fellow who is facing a big fine for daring to take medicines to Iraq to save the lives of children during the US sanctions. And choice? I've never seen my choice for president accepted by the Democratic Party or my choice for president from a Third Party accepted by many of my fellow citizens. In any political system, some get their choice, some don't.
People that want to get rich off the labors of others are doing well in the US, and also in Russia and China now that they have gone capitalist: the exploiters get their choice of the freedom to exploit. People in Russia and China that need excellent access to health care they couldn't afford used to get it and no longer do: that is a freedom the poor no longer have.
The US no longer has aid to families with dependent children, AFDC, Clinton killed it. The US does have many, many thousands of people who are homeless, an extraordinary number of people who are food insecure every month, many whose lives will be sharply shortened because of lack of access to health care. Your choice of freedom may mean nothing to someone else. One of the most basic of all freedoms is freedom from want, and that is a freedom many of the world's people, including many in the US do not have.
Liberty? Choice? I refer you to something Anatole France said:
"How noble the law, in its majestic equality, that both the rich and poor are equally prohibited from peeing in the streets, sleeping under bridges, and stealing bread!"
Sioux Rose
TEDDY: Consider the network of agencies that socialize the child from a young age. If the church does the whole mojo thing about sex = sin, that's a BIGGIE to overcome. If lack of good jobs leads to a life of quiet desperation, there's just enough psychic juice left to get loaded, and repeat the whole scenario again tomorrow, shades of "Waiting for Godot." And if income is not groovy, and one opts for "fast food" then slow and steady weight gain makes the actual gravity of the body heavier to cart around to socially active events like protests. In short, between media hypnosis, lousy jobs (for many), "faux" food as filler devoid of nutrition, you're not staring power, intelligence, vitality or enthusiasm in the collective face. (Perhaps this explains what you call repression.)
It's not that we repress ourselves as much as it is that we don't want to leave our tv sets, computers and refrigerators.
true enough. lol.
Sioux Rose
K.J. It's about the slow and painstaking work of changing the mass consciousness, which is why education and a media that was doing its TRUE job (enlightening the masses rather than addicting them to false "th-needs" as Dr. Seuss put it) to inform and keep healthy, through constructive discourse, the public is so vital. Note that most tyrants recognize the potency of a war of words (or through language and its framing modalities), and hence either own the media as a state organ of propaganda or establish relatively the same outcome by allowing a merger of corporate media interests with those of the militarized state. How many generals were featured on CNN in the run-up to a "case fixed for" war? How many companies with fiscal ties to the MIC own major broadcast networks? These formulas are not new, only the modern apparatus has altered.
The kind of massive, angry street protests mentioned in this article will be met in this nation by overwhelming gunfire and death from police and the military. The cupboard may be completely bare but the Repelicans and the Dumbocrats own it. Their message to the people of this country will be that even if you are on your knees you will do as you are told. Even Obama will agree to this. The strategy of killing protesters will fail. Once the government starts dishing out death, the more much of this nation will resist.
Mordechai Shiblikov wrote:
even if you are on your knees you will do as you are told
COMMENT:
It is better to die on your feet that to live on your knees. –Emiliano Zapata
Bang on. Here in Canada the Royal Canadian Murdering Police are more than delighted to put on the black shirts and make triple time and a half, pepper spraying and electrocuting the unwashed masses, at the slightest provocation.
I agree Mordechai S. But I think they will confiscate our arms and destroy the second Amendment first!
Thanks for the post, Vox. As always, I agree with everything Naomi Klein says. People need to mobilize and make their voices heard. Every new announcement coming out of the new Obama administration is cause for disappointment and alarm (such as this recent blackmail of the UK over torture info). They need to know that this will not be accepted.
clovis: I was with Naomi Klein 100% unti she praised the Canadian stimulus. We need to rebuild economic systems from the bottom up and should not be borrowing money to get out of debt. The problems are not a "weak economy" but a structural failure. They have been stealing from us for decades and we have allowed them to destroy our local and regional economies. There is no way to keep this from getting ugly but if we focus on development at the local/small business level we'd be better off. And the gov't needs to repeal laws that stand in the way. And change the constitution to get corporations out of politics.
And I hope you're not one of the folks that thought Obama would mean real change. If so, you should prepare for real disappointment. Yes, I voted for him, but under no illusions. However, the Geithner appointment makes me sorry I voted for him.
cassandra wrote:
The problems are not a "weak economy" but a structural failure.
COMMENT:
Indeed. There is enough housing to house every person in the US properly. The US is capable of growing enough healthy food to feed every person in the US properly. There are enough (barely, perhaps, but enough) to give quality health care to every person in the US.
So why is anyone going to lose their homes? Why is anyone going to go without adequate and healthful nutrition? Why is anyone going to have to do without adequate medical, dental, vision, or any other health care?
Basic human needs such as housing, food, health care, schooling, do not require an "economy." Those who grow food can provide food for those that don't, and in return receive medical care from those whom they feed and health care persons who get the food get schooling for their children who get housing from those that have it or build it who also receive the food, the schooling, the medical care, and so on.
The ability of a society to fill these needs has nothing to do with "economy": any failure to meet these basic needs has everything to do with public will. So what is this thing called economy: the Dow Jones and NASDAQ, a strong or weak economy, Bull or Bear markets and all the rest?
The "economy" is something those that have capital use to extract wealth from those that have less. Or as Cassandra says "They have been stealing from us for decades."
And no, I never thought for a microsecond that Obama would mean real change. Nor did I think anyone as president would make real change. Real change, major change, can only come from the people, and the people must be really represented by Congress. Only one member of Congress voted against giving away the Constitution to GW Bush, which means the entire membership of Congress at that time that is still there, except perhaps for one, Rep Barbara Lee of Oakland CA who voted against the war powers resolution, ought to be replaced by the voters.
That's right: replace every damn one of them, including the so-called "Progressive Wing" of the Democratic Party, and replace them with people that will take the power from the capitalist class - the plutocracy that rules - and represent the majority they have been "stealing from" for...well, not just decades but since 1776.
I append this e-mail I sent last night to my absent neighbors, who have land next to mine on the edge of a soon-to-be-former state park. The meeting described was angry and futile. My feeling is that banging pots and pans, or even hanging the perps from lampposts, may help us to express our present and coming pain, but it is not going to repair the damage or cause our vanished money to reappear.
Hello neighbors
I just got back from the Community Center and a packed meeting about the proposed closure of the State Park. Most of the stuff about which fund lacked which money for which purpose went over my head as usual. Christina will no doubt batch up her notes and e-mail them to us. I will either get you on her list or forward info as it comes.
From my prescient perspective it looks like:
1. Bush has indeed driven the Bus of State straight through the guard rail into empty space, and we are approaching the first bounce (of many).
2. The State of Arizona has a huge deficit, and has passed a draconian budget bill chopping every imaginable expense, including the closure of the eight state parks which are least profitable by their measurement, i.e. profit per visitor, in our case a negative number.
3. They sent a state representative and some other officials to our meeting, to assure us that whereas the situation is dire, they are not themselves the bad guys. God knows their hearts are breaking. The state rep was reading from a crib sheet and didn't know much except to say that if we think this year's budget cuts were bloody, wait till 2010! On our behalf he has co-sponsored a bill to restore funding for state parks, HB28 I think. My impression is that the purpose of this is to give us a source of hope and a list of people to write letters to, so that we don't march on Phoenix with torches and pitchforks.
4. The bottom line is that, well, there isn't any money. Sure, they are aware that the Oracle State Park is the hub of our community activity and a major source of our social cohesion, besides being an historic location with a genuine adobe ranch house and a valuable environmental education program, but, hey, there isn't any money.
5. The decision is not officially firm. They are "analyzing" citizen input and suggestions (running the park ourselves, donating operating funds, etc.), but it sure looks like they are fixing to shut it down. The best option I heard all night was to write letters to the governor. If it makes you feel better.
6. If they close the park, the land will revert to Defenders of Wildlife. I can't imagine that Defenders of Wildlife is rolling in money about now either, but their overhead is low. Hopefully if they have to sell off the land nobody will be able to afford to buy it.
I think that in the context of the overall size of the economic tsunami the issue of the park may turn out to be a trifle. This is just the first bit of pain to make its way from bankerville and the land of regulatory dysfunction all the way up into our little mountain community to bite us in the ass. Optimism is not my strong suit, so I would say expect more hits, and worse. Stock up on pinto beans. Don't have any more children. Cultivate cheap hobbies and try to move your center of gravity into a more spiritual direction.
Nitey nite,
M
no matter what -- a person such as you Voxclamantis is an example of a CIVIC MINDED citizen who deserves great honor. would it that more americans are like you...then this world would have been much better.
Sioux Rose
VOX: I wonder if this would not be one of those issues that unites left with right as lots of right "types" love to fish and hunt, and many have a positive admiration for nature (if in their own wild ways).
To think that tax cuts were given to the rich, that stupid senseless wars were funded, so that the Grover Norquist dream of bankrupting government could be realized is an obscenity greater than that which most sensitive souls can bear. That it actually was allowed to progress, that the democrats rolled over, is a treason; and in the instance of closure to the precious state parks (we will need those pitchforks if they start selling our most SACRED real estate, that which belongs to tomorrow's children, to foreign cronies thanks to the fiscal pickle Bush put us in) a sin against things sane and decent.
Can't the Hollywood gliteratti with their mega checks step in to stop the financial bleeding? Where's Bill Gates or the other billionaires, the Steve Forbes club of blue blooded rich kids on this one? Where's THEIR patrotism? Or are only weapons the idols they cherish in the name of patriotism?
On the positive side, refried beans and tortillas make a lovely meal.
Throw in some rice as a good source of protein.
Rice is not a good source of protein.
rfloh wrote:
Cheese is a complete protein on its own.
Rice is not a good source of protein.
ADVOCATE:
Rice, whole brown rice, is a good source of protein when coupled with a legume. There are eight essential amino acids and rice is lacking two of them, legumes such as soybeans and some seeds such as sesame add the two missing amino acids to make a complete protein. Thus brown rice and soy or sesame are complementary protein sources that together make a complete protein.
Cheese is not a complete protein and is not a particularly healthy food. There are nearly three times the calories of usable protein per gram from rice and sesame seeds and more than twice as much from rice and soy, than there are per gram of usable protein from beans and milk or milk product: ie cheese. Then, with cheese, there is the saturated fat, cholesterol, poor digestibility, and lactose intolerance in some people that make cheese less than perfect. Cows milk is good for cows, not so much for humans.
Cassandra has it right: whole grains and legumes.
It's my understanding that beans and corn, mixed together, give complete protein.
If memory serves, you need all three- beans, rice and corn (or was that beans, rice and cheese?) to make a complete protein (but this is making me hungry).
Cheese is a complete protein on its own.
Beans and corn (or rice). Indigenous peoples in the Americas used corn (maize) while Asians used rice.
http://www.csmngt.com/amino_acids.htm
Almost every traditional culture has a grain and legume combo at the core of their diet. But the grains should be whole grains.
I thought you people were my friends. You've turned my righteous indignation into a hippie recipe book!
That's funny vox, I was scrolling thinking, WTF? then I read your comment and had a good laugh, thanks.
Indeed, cultures universally rely upon a single staple dish that meets all nutritional requirements; from considerable personal experience with this tribe, I can report that indigenous aboriginal Philadelphians developed the cheese steak sandwich with fried onions (condiments & extras vary by individual taste) for this purpose.
· Yr Obd't Servant
But then, there's nobody stupider than a free-market ideologue.
Here in Canada the only reason the coalition came about was because of the initiative of Jack Layton the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP). As in Argentina the socialists lead the way.
Sophie Scholl-The Final Days