Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiA President Breaks Hearts in Appalachia
Mountaintop removal coal mining is the worst environmental tragedy in American history. When will the Obama administration finally stop this Appalachian apocalypse?
If ever an issue deserved President Obama's promise of change, this is it. Mining syndicates are detonating 2,500 tons of explosives each day -- the equivalent of a Hiroshima bomb weekly -- to blow up Appalachia's mountains and extract sub-surface coal seams. They have demolished 500 mountains -- encompassing about a million acres -- buried hundreds of valley streams under tons of rubble, poisoned and uprooted countless communities, and caused widespread contamination to the region's air and water. On this continent, only Appalachia's rich woodlands survived the Pleistocene ice ages that turned the rest of North America into a treeless tundra. King Coal is now accomplishing what the glaciers could not -- obliterating the hemisphere's oldest, most biologically dense and diverse forests. Highly mechanized processes allow giant machines to flatten in months mountains older than the Himalayas -- while employing fewer workers for far less time than other types of mining. The coal industry's promise to restore the desolate wastelands is a cruel joke, and the industry's fallback position, that the flattened landscapes will provide space for economic development, is the weak punchline. America adores its Adirondacks and reveres the Rockies, while the Appalachian Mountains -- with their impoverished and alienated population -- are dismantled by coal moguls who dominate state politics and have little to prevent them from blasting the physical landscape to smithereens.
Obama promised science-based policies that would save what remains of Appalachia, but last month senior administration officials finally weighed in with a mixture of strong words and weak action that broke hearts across the region. The modest measures federal bureaucrats promised amount to little more than a tepid pledge of better enforcement of existing laws.
And government claims of doing everything possible to halt the holocaust are simply not true. George Bush gutted Clean Water Act protections. Obama must restore them.
First, the White House should fix the "fill" rule the Bush administration adopted in 2002 to allow coal companies to use streams as waste dumps. Under this perverse interpretation of the Clean Water Act, 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been interred under mining waste. Obama could reverse the "fill" rule to reflect its original meaning, which forbids waste matter from being dumped into waterways.
Second, the Interior Department should strictly enforce the widely ignored "buffer zone" rule that forbids dumping waste within 100 feet of intermittent or perennial streams.
Third, our laws require companies to restore mined areas to their original condition. The administration should end the absurd fiction that extraction pits filled with unconsolidated rocks and rubble where trees will never grow and streams will never flow are "reclaimed."
Fourth, current law forbids the issuance of "fill" permits that will cause "significant degradation" to waterways. It is absurd for the Army Corps of Engineers to endorse the canard that filling miles of streams is not causing significant degradation. The president should require the Corps to deny and rescind permits where operations will cause downstream damage.
Fifth, the Clean Water Act requires mining operators to prove that they can restore the "function and structure" of affected streams. Operators have never been compelled to make the functional or structural analyses of the aquatic ecosystem required by the act. Obama should order his officials to stop ignoring this requirement.
Sixth, the administration should enforce the law requiring an environmental impact study for each permit when a mine "may have significant environmental impacts," individually or cumulatively. The Corps of Engineers routinely allows coal operators to escape this mandate -- an illegal practice that should stop.
Instead of acting to enforce these laws, administration officials indicated last month that they will allow more than 100 permits to go forward while they carefully review their regulatory options. If they act accordingly, the ruined landscapes of Appalachia will be Obama's legacy.
President Obama should go to Appalachia and see mountaintop removal. My father visited Appalachia in 1966 and was so horrified by strip mining -- then in its infancy -- that he made it a key priority of his political agenda. He complained that Appalachia, with our nation's richest natural resources, was home to America's poorest populations, its worst education system, and its highest illiteracy and unemployment rates. These statistics are even grimmer today as mining saps state wealth. In 1966, 46,000 West Virginia miners were collecting salaries and pensions and reinvesting in their communities. Mechanization has shrunk that number to fewer than 11,000. They extract more coal annually, but virtually all the profits leave the state for Wall Street.
The coal industry provides only 2 percent of the jobs in Central Appalachia. Wal-Mart employs more people than the coal companies in West Virginia. Last week a major study documented how coal imposes a net cost to Kentucky of more than $100 million per year. Coal is not an economic engine in the coalfields. It is an extraction engine.
Obama has the authority to end mountaintop removal, without further action from Congress and without formal rulemaking. He just needs to make the coal barons obey the law.
124 Comments so far
Show AllOK, And if this didn't piss you off, here comes HR875.
I shall refer anyone interested in this subject to the following website: gnhealth.com or just google hr875, the commentary is chilling.
From Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply on HR875:
"There has been some concern surrounding the “Food Safety Modernization Act” (HR875) several blogs, and YouTube videos have been criticizing the Act as “The Death of Organic Farming” and “…making it illegal to have a backyard garden”. The criticisms site the support of large agribusiness (like Monsanto) and reason to be skeptical of the Act.
We here at Peaceful Valley received several questions and emails with links to various takes on the Act and it’s implications in the organic agriculture industry. While we are not directly involved with any legislation or political movements, the sustainability of the industry and the organic movement at large is obviously of great concern to us… and has been since 1976.
I did my own research and asked for the opinions of industry groups. All of my investigation leads me to the conclusion that The Food Safety Modernization Act contains no language that would put organic farming or gardening at risk.
Many of those who were originally very concerned about this Act have been relieved by the “Myths and Facts about The Food Modernization Act” memo released by Congresswoman DeLauro’s office (see Below).
Some have apologized for causing a “False Alarm”. I would like to say that there is no apology necessary, the uprising of concern and interest is an important element of our democracy. The flurry of questions, emails, calls and concern that we saw from our staff, vendors, customers and peers shows that we are an aware and active community that is not afraid to stand up for what we believe in. For that I would like to applaud the community at large and encourage you all to stay alert and to continue to defend what you believe in!"
For more info go to:
http://intheloop.groworganic.com/?tag=hr875
Happy Organic Gardening! ~Moondoggy
Moondoggy failed to mention that Congresswoman DeLauro's husband works for Monsanto. Please correct me if this is incorrect.
Is that true? Where did you hear that?
Hey, don't take it from me. Do your own research, draw your own conclusions. Don't believe everything you read.
Change Obama.
I support the Right to Arm Bears
There is absolutely NO action without CONSEQUENCES. Any energy expended in whatever direction produces--or sets into motion--a cause (which is usually an effect from a previous cause). This holds true whether or not we understand the nature of our actions. Not understanding or being aware is what is meant by 'unconsciousness.' So to make a better world for ourselves and others, we must first strive to become more aware, and to deeply understand the nature of our actions. Once understood, we see that NOT DOING or INACTION can be much more revolutionary than 'negative' or violent action. Furthermore, it can actually break a negative energetic cycle in which we are embroiled. When this happens there will be a 'shock,' a sudden awareness of just what it was that had formally mesmerized us. These 'shocks' are generally not pleasant, but necessary if we are to awaken.
"They extract more coal annually, but virtually all the profits leave the state for Wall Street."
But isn't that the whole point of the fraudulent Obama administration? As a progressive, he's an absolute fraud, but as a promoter of Wall Street he's as good as it gets.
AGREED. Obama is a fraud. I am going to change parties. no more Dem loyalty.
remember everyone, we Boomers and post-boomers built this structure, we can take it apart. pull back your money. take it all out of the system. they'll fall apart.
Mr Kennedy Jr. if you are so disappointed with YOUR political party, remove yourself from their ranks publicly. How can anyone who opposes the corporate destruction of our planet still be affiliated with the Dems. They now have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. They have a healthy majority in the house of Representatives. They have the White House. They can no longer blame the Repugs for the bills that are coming out of Congress, and being signed in to law by Obama, or the wars that are bankrupting our country. Until you are no longer a member of the Democratic party, you'll pardon me if I'm skeptical about your motives. I suppose you and Dennis truly are nice people, but you are being USED by your political party. If you truly want to put an end to these problems join a real progressive party like the GREEN PARTY.
first peak oil - now "peak" coal?
Bobby Jr writes:
Obama ... just needs to make the coal barons obey the law.
Obama also needs to obey the law.
Prosecute the retards who sat in the Whitehouse not so long ago!
Properly investigate the demolition of the WTC!
King Coal has never obeyed the law. Look up the Buffalo Creek flood.
Since time is running out, what with perpetual war + global warming + economic collapse = doomsday, what's holding us back from rising up en masse? Battle fatigue? Partly. So many things simultaneoulsy going wrong that one hardly knows where to begin? That too, but there's something else, which might best be characterized as a slow-motion "On The Beach" syndrome, from Nevil Shute's novel, whereby, after a Nuclear bomb explodes, the ensuing radioactive cloud gets windborn around the world, with Australia the last continent to be hit. What happens is that the Aussies, knowing the horrific fate that awaits them once the radioactive cloud arrives, go into a total nihilistic mode - death be damned and who cares because within a few hours we'll all be aglow, sort of thing. Except what we're reacting (better, not reacting) to now isn't the spectre of a radioactive cloud (not that such couldn't happen), but to a gradual, irreversible deterioration of our way of life, about which we can do nothing. But if this is a slow motion "On The Beach" where's the nihilism? We got lots of it {violence, drugs, perpetual wars, indifference to global warming), only here at home mostly low intensity, full bore, perhaps, once the realization sets in as to what lies ahead. Alternatively, should we wake up right now to what confronts us, we'd still have time to do something about it.
Some past Presidents went beyond presidential powers and did things . Reagan went beyond presidential powers when he defunded the health and other domestic programs put in place by an earlier compassionate Congress . That caused today's health care problems . This President seems to go by the book so far . Congress more so with this President than with the previous wants everyone to know they have equal power . I heard a Senator from the finance committee tell ED Shultz on air that "the President has no power over Congress" . "Only Congress can enact a health care plan" . The fact that 76% of Americans want the "public option" "meant nothing to Congress and CONGRESS will decide on the health care program" . To me that sounded like a shot across the bow of all those trying to tell the President to tell Congress what to do .
Gods, they say, dwell on mountain tops. Mountaintop removal erases heaven.
Why strive for our 'final reward' when it no longer exists?
This strange belief we seem to have that voting for a president/messiah will help us is the problem. Citizenship requires active participation everyday - not just once every four years. Progressive civil libertarians are guilty of playing the victim when it comes to active citizenship. FOX libertarians act and whine. But, at least they act.
We, one the other hand, refuse to take the proper steps.
Also, Sioux Rose, excellent points on Gandhi and Crazy Horse.
I don't know if this counts as action but on June 9, in the VA gubenatorial primary I voted for Brian Moran who was against MTR despite Creigh Deeds who stands with Obama on it winning. Does anyone on this forum ever pay attention to state wide elections other than CA ? If not, I'm disappointed in such lack of attention. Obama or Mccain can permit offshore oil drilling for example but eventually it's the state that has to actally approve of it. Same thing with MTR. With the federal government giving an easy pass for Big Coal, the states will have to push back and fight preemptive federal intervention giving Big Coal victory over states' rights.
Thank you Robert Kennedy Jr.for carrying on the family tradition of concern for the poor and Natural Resources.I worked to help get Jack elected. And I voted for your Dad for Senator of New York.
When I wrote to him about my opposition to the Vietnam War, or a domestic policy, he always sent me a copy of a congressional record.I quote from the Washington Report Legislative Roundup-90th Congress, First Session:
"Natural Resources also received attention in the current session of Congress. The Air Quality Act of 1967 provided more than $428 million for pollution control; over the next three years; this money will assist state and regional efforts to control the spreading danger of air pollution. In the field of water pollution, I recently urged Secretary Udall to locate a federal research center in the New York metropolitan area.Such a center would be of great benefit to our region, which is threatened with destruction of its lakes and rivers." Robert F. Kennedy U.S.S.
I wish you luck, Robert Kennedy Jr.
oBomba may be breaking hearts in Appalachia but he's breaking bones in Afghanistan. Is there just ONE Goddamn thing this guy can do right? excuse me "correctly" he's already doing everything (for the) right.
Responsibility (accountability and self-development) is the price of freedom. When all we think about is "what's going to work best for ME", we set ourselves up for the kind of confusion and failure we see in this country today. Asking ourselves what's going to work best for "me" is a very limiting concept that only takes "us" into account. A belief in rugged individualism and competition worked well for a while but this idea has reached the end of its run. There are too many people in the world today for it to work. There's no denying we've done a great job in creating this country (America) but it's time to change or die and we all know it.
Why don't we begin asking, what's going to work best for ALL of us - in personal terms and in terms of business, education, the environment and peace? By filtering our thoughts through questions like these we'll stop competing to see who's the smartest, the fastest, the strongest, the most powerful and the richest in the world and, instead, cooperate and be the best of who we are.
Nature can survive without us but we can't survive without nature. As we think, we create. Change what we think and we change what we create! We are both one and separate and we are both the products of creation and creation itself.
Change begins from within. It' something we all need to do together.
Pete
http://realtalkworld.com
"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
The phrase "mountain top removal" has always sounded to me like something absurd, some kind of black humor- like one might have said (before it became all too real) "those coal companies are so greedy they'd blow the top off a mountain if they thought they'd find more coal"
someone wrote yesterday about obama's breaking faith with the good people of West Virginia- and with all of us- because he first promised to stop this unconscionable mountain and river destruction, then met secretly with coal companies and told them ok boys- blast away.
How about this? Coal company removal. Does this not sound better? it would provide jobs, as our former mountain blasters could take apart the buildings where the coal companies have their offices. Brick by brick. and throw the wreckage in the street. then just walk away, like a coal company ceo leaving the scene of his crimes.
the irony of all of this is the age of obama's daughters.
is this the legacy he leaves them? what a cruel and calculating
fool. this will come back to bite them more then any
of us posting here.this is clearly a case of political
expediancey coming back in the form of a pitbull
biting him on the leg and not letting go!
private ownership of natural resources at its best. move now, americans, or move never.
Robert F Kennedy Jr writes here:
"America adores its Adirondacks and reveres the Rockies, while the Appalachian Mountains -- with their impoverished and alienated population -- are dismantled by coal moguls who dominate state politics and have little to prevent them from blasting the physical landscape to smithereens."
How about enforcing the laws on the books?
If my old memory serves, back in 1960 JFK visited W Va and gave his speech about his ultimate loyalty to the US versus the Pope. It has been written that JFK's trip there (and vote manipulation by former Mayor Daley in Chicago) got him elected by the narrowist of margins (until the year 2000).
What has changed since then? Foremost, mining has been mechanized to the exclusion of the once-mighty United Mine Workers union. Today, bitter people struggle there for the few remaining good-paying jobs most of which now require them to destroy their own environment. Extended families depend on these mercenary rapists of Gaia. When not in hospital, America's longest-serving Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd gives flowerly southern drawl speeches from the floor idolizing the Constitution and the Bill of Rights---entirely in the abstract. Dialect without the Dialectic.
Meanwhile, the manipulation of language by which the Bush Administration "legalized" dumping hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble into formerly nearly pristine streams boggles the mind.
"...the Appalachian Mountains -- with their impoverished and alienated population -- ..." Like the so-called "lawless" territories of NW Pakistan, which are in effect self-governing until US drones blow up whole families at funerals and weddings and the US bribes the Pakistani government into invading and destroying whole villages and creating millions of refugees. Impoverished and alienated population.
Interesting, too, that the impoverished and alienated population of West Virginia has turned to the illegal cultivation of marijuana as the state's major cash crop, just as Afghans have turned to the poppy. "Legal" to destroy a mountain and poison everything around it; illegal to grow a life-supporting weed. Alienated? You betcha.
Also worth noting here is that before the Civil War what is now West Virginia was part of Virginia, a slave state. During the civil war, the people of West Virginia seceded from slavery.
When the coal companies sheer a mountaintop, do they sell the timber first? Do they pay taxes? How do they sleep at night? After all, the cognitive dissonance here is palpable. Oh, that's it, they eat mind-altering prescription drugs for breakfast. Never mind, be happy.
-30-
hilarious!
You got the perfect answer, OleManRiver. Good on yer!
Rainborowe
No one is required to obey any governing body that does not protect them from the few who for profit are given the power to destroy the environment for others.
The only problem I see here is that the 'down streamers' do not recognize that the 'Coal Barons" ARE observing the law;
the "Law of Survival of the Fittest". The people who are directly effected have every right to resist even to the use of force. They simply need to observe the "Law of Self Preservation" and make the "Coal Barons" decide to go some where else.
I can only speak from my own heart on this matter. But, if I were one of the people adversely effected by the 'Coal Barons' and the 'Companies', then I would simply make their ventures so UN-profitable and dangerous they would go somewhere else. Not to mention, the 'inconvenient truth', that to pollute my home and land and water would be dangerous in and of itself, it would be extremely dangerous to all of those who would participate.
I would not conspire with others to do this. But if enough "others' decided to do the same then there would be a force far more powerful to deal with and the "Coal Barons" and their "companies of others who would follow their lead"--would move on to some other place.
Americans love to brag about being fiercely protective of their 'freedom' and I cannot think of a more blatant and obvious threat to 'freedom'--than to think that anyone has the right make a living off creating misery--for thousands of others. No jobs should be worth it. No profit should be in it for business. No one should even want a job--no matter how badly they needed one, that would make them a parasite on others. "Parasites" aren't safe anywhere, in any formm, anyway.
But then, it is the same attitude that makes me realize that I was born a 'prisoner of war of the Americans'----they 'speak often' of 'freedom', but seem to be blind to it at the same time.
They cannot hope to remain in power much longer, but the world in general cannot hope that they are allowed to remain in power much longer, 'those Americans are some dangerous people'.
Good Luck America, you really need it.
It'slwaays nice, and instructive, to get your perspective Native Son
thanks.
Brother, resisting the coal barons with force would only result in the senseless deaths of many innocent (and a few guilty) people. But I doubt it would achieve the desired outcome. Instead, we need to put the coal companies out of business by making no market for their product.
I support a resistance, as long as there is no violence. For violence only begets more violence. How many times do we need to learn and relearn this lesson? An armed resistance would only be met with a much bigger force of arms. A well armed resistance of say 2000 civilians would be met with 20,000 military personnel. 20,000 citizens with 200,000 soldiers. So forget it.
I wouldn't want the coal barons to go somewhere else either, because they would. It doesn't matter which state or country they go to either. There is only one Mother Earth, and there is no place on Earth any less sacred than any place else. I don't care if it's the homeland of Native Americans, Native Africans or Native Australians. It's the same Earth, and we are all one people.
There is one Sun above us that gives us more than all the power we need each day. We need to push for solar electric generation. It starts with you putting in that first solar panel. And it starts with you planting a small patch of corn, beans and squash next to your strawberries, tomatoes and sunflowers beside your peach, apricot and apple trees.
We need to be more self reliant and quit sucking on the tit of the corporate robber barons. We need to teach this to a lot of people, so they teach this to a lot of people. Then nobody will be able to sell coal, and there will no longer be any motivation to dig it up.
America doesn't need luck, America needs to learn how to live with Mother Earth.
"violence only begets more violence"
Write on!
The right to bear arms does not make it right to bear arms.
You promised so much, you inspired such hope, you broke the hearts of thousands.
Obama is a big disappointment. Let's have fun and keep building a true revolution.
Let's drop all the complaining and get on with it.
Go here for some laughs and interesting articles and links. I just started it, let me know what you think.
http://www.jasondylan.wordpress.com
Be well.
Does paying attention and voting for better state pols count? See my response to another poster on this thread for details.
maxpayne-
Count towards what?
I come here to read the articles and connect with people and keep it real.
I am always surprised that many progressives, here and elsewhere, think that showing how knowledgeable they are by complaining all the time is a cool thing to do.
I know we all need to vent but then we have to do something about it.
I am always looking for ideas to move things forward.
My gripe is with people here who only come here to rant at the "man". Let's take it to the "man" man.
Man!
Excellent start Jason. I thought the article by Chris Hedges was a really good one.
Leea-
Thanks. I have some links to others articles but I hope you check out some of my stuff. Not much up there yet. I only started a week ago and I moved locations in the meantime.
I have been seeing you around for awhile Leea. I am glad you like it. ;)
If you like Colbert. I think you will like this. I envision it being a place where people can laugh and train themselves to spot and analyze propaganda in the media and get links.
I find the Huffpost a little convoluted these days. Way too gauche.
Thanks again.
The Kennedys knew Obama was a fraud before supporting him, why the fake outrage now?
Give us a break.
Jim Shea
This is just one more betrayal by Obama of what he claimed to stand for during his campaign for the Presidency.
I respected and admired your Dad, Robert. As a kid I did volunteer work for his presidential run.
What surprises me is your surprise about Obama. You really did not expect anything different out of the duopoly did you?
Now, I am a card carrying member of the Green Party. I voted Nader twice and Mckinney once. But the last Dem I voted for was McGovern.
Why not join the real environmental movement, and quite pinning about our corporate owned representatives and president.
I think that had your dad lived, he would now be advocating for a political transformation by repudiating the Dems. It is not too late for you to do the same.
I just wanted to say I agree with your words. Let us hope that the son will pick up the torch of his dad and join us fellow Greens and help build our party or start a real Progressive party with people like Bernie Sanders and other real Progressives.
I somehow think that he is finding out the truth and is doing some serious thinking. Let us hope that he will find the courage and strength within him to do the morally right thing and that he will find the encouragment and inspiration to fight the battles that must be fought to save this country.
Anyway I do pray for him daily, and believe in the end he will do the right thing.
"Why not join the real environmental movement, and quite pinning about our corporate owned representatives and president."
And why don't you contribute something to the discussion of the issue instead of using every thread on every issue to repeat the same childish taunts about the fact that you did not vote for Obama?
Please show us where the author expresses any level of astonishment at Obama's perfidy in this piece.
I remain convinced that you are simply another Limbaugh acolyte who posts crap on this site to turn people off about the Green Party.
q
Word Up!
I personally didn't find anything wrong with the comments that were made. I think the point that he was trying to make, and maybe he didn't make it in the best way is that many of us who are Green Party members feel that the time has come for someone who has some political power behind him to either join our party (Green) party or start a real Progressive party with others who have political power such as Bernie Sanders or Jess Ventura and other real progressives who will stand up to those who have been corrupted and no longer serve the people and those corporations who have corrupted both parties.
I too when I was 10 and living in CA spoke to many adults about voting for Bobby Kennedy in the primary. He was my hero. I also watched the ending that I will never forget and it still haunts me to this day.
I think that if his dad were alive that he would tell his son to pray for wisdom and to have the courage and strength to do what he knows he has to do for the future of this country and the future of his children. I don't think his dad would stay with the Democratic party as it is, but would either make the Green party the true Progressive Party or start a new Progressive Party. I believe that his dad was a fighter who fought for truth, justice, and freedom. He held the true values that the Founding Fathers held for this nation. He had a deep love for this nation and tried to pass that love on to his children. He also had a strong faith and I believe he would be a true American Patriot.
I don't think there is anything wrong with those of us in the Green Party hoping that Bobby Jr would join us and realize that we need and want him in this fight. He is a leader and most important I believe he has the courage to tell the American people the truth. America is in such need of a political leader who tells the truth to the American people. One who will not lie, but who will tell the truth.
Many of us realize that there is very little difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. They are two faces to one party. Our real hope is if we can bring people like Bobby Jr, and others who are smart, honorable, and have the courage to do the right thing and joining us who believe the best hope for this country is to join a third party that becomes the true opposition party to the two corporate parties.
Happy 4th of July.
chrisy58-
Nice words. I think we all agree with the Green platform and most true progressives would love to have Nader or McKinney in there if that were possible but I believe people are ignoring the real problem progressives have. We are DIVIDED!
Of course Bobby Jr would work for the Greens in a heartbeat if there seemed to be a consensus there. All that stuff is complicated but the truth is many progressives seem not to care enough to do something about the status quo.
It is sad, since there are so many educated and honest people here and other places. It just makes no sense to me to complain about Paul Krugman or Bobby or whoever, when we have few real friends who are on the inside.
I think you cannot just say "let's all go Green" and walk away. I think people need to offer more than that. What is goin on in your neighborhood? What fresh ideas or links do we have?
It is exhausting but if it is not fun what is the point.
www.JasonDylan.wordpress.com
Highkarate--
We are not divided so much as unconverted. Nader has no governmental legislative or executive experience and McKinney had a brief and not very successful legislative experience, but they are running for president of the USA. Really? As Jim Hightower said, "If the gods wanted us to vote they'd have given us candidates."
I'm very interested in the Green Party but I've never seen it on the ballot where I live in upstate NY. I still likely wouldn't vote for it at the national level because however wretched the Dems are, the Republicans are both wretched and vicious. So back to the beginning: a party has to begin at the local level, not just keep tossing up presidential candidates.
Rainborowe
Rainborowe, then keep voting for corrupt politicians and when NYC is under water you can write a thank you note to your wretched democratic party. I for one will not vote for a politician that's affiliated with either of these two criminal organizations, and if you can't vote in a race because there is no third party or independent candidates, then don't vote on that race. By voting for these crooks you are digging your own grave.
Just ignore her Cheryl. She is nothing more than disempowered twit. Her existential angst runs deep, and her projections demonstrates her maturity level. What she hates about me, is nothing more than a reflection of the deep seated dysfunction in her own unhealed psyche. (Perhaps she had too many rejections in her life; just pity it for what it is: another crippling handicap.)
I'm afraid that you have completely missed my point. elohim alawys pollutes these threads by abusing those who admit to having voted for Obama and now wish that they hadn't. He never actually discusses any of the issues; he just goes on and on with his adolescent boasts. There are many such posts under other names but they all have the same intent: to frame third-parties as too purist and intolerant for mainstream tastes.
As I and other have pointed out many times on this site, political parties grow from the local level. I vote for local and state third party candidates when they show up - which isn't very often in a state as backward as Georgia. I've even voted for the Socialist Workers' Party.
If you expect the Green Party to grow then you're going to need those disaffected voters that drones such as elohim are working so hard to piss off.
q
I do understand your point. You make very valid points. Even though I am a Green party member I do go to the Democratic Club meeting. They know I am a Green party member and no longer am Democrat, but they still want me to come to their meetings. I like to go as I can learn about the different issues that we are dealing with on the local level. Being that I am an experienced committee precint woman I have offered to help them on election day. Bernie Sanders is in third party and he has alligned himself with the Democratic party.
On the local level in AZ we do have an active Green party that has managed to get candidates on the ballot for local seats. Most of those seats are West and North of Phoenix. We even have a platform and are active in the state. I know the Green party is active in Hawaii, California, and other states.
You make a valid point that we as Green Party or any third party do not want to make other Progressives who are still Democrats to feel that we are their enemy. I look at you as fellow Progressives who haven't left the Democratic party because we in the Green party haven't proven to you that we are a valid route to achieve what we must achieve to change things.
I have lots of people that I agree to disagree with because to accept that we are all human beings and not robots and to allow others to take the time to discuss issues in a civil manner and to allow them the time to look at things from all sides and to make up their own mind is healthy in political debate. If someone is so hard nosed that they say it is my way or hit the highway than that does not foster healthy discussion of the issues. We may just find that we agree more on the issues than at first glance.
The important thing is what we as Progressives are going to do in the future. Let us not blame each other for what we have done in the past. The past is over with, but we can change the future. If we can continue to build our party at a local and state level and if we can get people like Bobby Jr, and others to become Greens who can start winning seats on a federal level than we can have a true Progressive Voice in the government.
Happy 4th of July everyone.
Love
Chrisy
Thank you Chrisy.
You're absolutely right, Quickstepper: the sniping gets tiresome. And the other truth you touch upon is that too many people from 3rd parties only want to run for president. As you say, parties are built from the ground up and that's where we have very few 3rd party people prepared to run for office. Even if by some stroke of magic one of these perennial 3rd party presidential candidates won election to the White House, what would they do with not only one but both parties in Congress in opposition to them?
The successful 3rd parties in this country always had a solid local base: the Progressives, the People's Party, the Republicans (in the mid 19th century). And, while we never had a People's Party president or a Progressive Party president, their platforms were adopted by both Theodore Roosevelt as a Republican and also by the Democratic Party in the legislation of the 1930s and beyond.
But all that required a solid local and regional representation. And that required a local movement.
Rainborowe
Personally I don't think elohim could post enough about the reoccurring mistake of voting for the two headed beast in America. I hope he continues to bring it up often and pointedly because we should not fall back asleep. I also think that your angst quick stepper is nothing more than the natural desire to drift back into an unconscious state of dream fantasy. You should thank elohim for the painful but necessary reminder he graciously offers to us all so we can learn to never do it again. 2012 is but a few unconscious winks away and we need to stay alert this time if we want things to change starting now and carrying us until then.
with respect - 2016 is not that far off either.
the "dream fantasy" you should avoid is that this system which offers the "hope of change" but once every four years will work for you.
It does not; it only works for those who control it.
Leaders will only take you where they want to go.
When 0 says "Make me" it's only the old schoolyard taunt.
Change is the only certain thing in life, it happens daily.
Don't wait to be offered a token chance to affect it with a vote.
Use your veto instead and refuse to play their game.
Oregoncharles
The Green Party is ripe and ready for a monumental influx of members. We don't care who you voted for in past elections. If you have the heart and mind of a progressive, we want and need YOU! You can help us build a strong, bold progressive party. Currently we have a dedicated membership, we have ballot lines in a majority of states. Yes, for us, it was frustrating to only get a fraction of a percent of the overall vote for president but we do understand - although we don't agree - with the reasoning of many Democrat voters. We hope by now the reality is clear. I have no doubt that Obama will toss a few crumbs before the next election and the republicans will run another "very scary Republican." It's the duopoly's MO. The duopoly cares more about maintaining control than it does about any one candidate winning.
It's a highly managed scam.
Consider this: You're just as likely to take over Walmart, from the grassroots up, as you are the Democratic Party because the decisions and control are at the top. Reps are vetted, supported or destroyed. Just like a job at Walmart, you get to the next rung by going along. On close votes, any position a rep takes can mean losing support come next election. Take, for example, the latest war supplemental, where progressive Democrats were pressured to remain "loyal to the president," or risk losing support. In other words: vote the way we tell you to or go look for another job! Reps like Kucinich are tolerated because he is not a threat and he gives Democratic progressives some hope, which lets out a little steam. In some ways he's an asset to the Party. When a vote is very close, the Democratic leadership bares it's teeth.
Oregon Charles-
I wish someone from the Green party would tell me why we can't both support progressive Dems and Greens? Is it really that complicated? Come on?
You build a fluid base and use it to move Dems more left while at the same time building a friendly and open Green Party.
Tell me one good reason why we can't do that?
I see the Greens being taken over by a bunch of people out of touch with the grim reality that the poor people in this country are actually helped by some of the programs that Dems support and the Repugs don't.
I am well aware of good cop bad cop but only those not under the iron fist of the "bad cop" will not want to work with the good cop in the meantime.
Again, why can't we do both?
Will one Green, one passionate Green tell me?
Thanks. Not holding breathe.
www.JasonDylan.wordpress.com
highkarate, the problem with the Progressive Democrats of America is that they have no political power within the Democratic party. The Dems use this group to siphon votes away from real progressive parties such as the Greens, by scaring the voters with nightmarish visions of Republican control and initiatives that are DOA before they even reach the halls of congress. The Democratic party, with all it's diversity, still makes laws that favor only the corporate elite. That will not change until the registered Dems switch in mass to a real progressive national party such as the Green party. This will force the Democratic party to evolve or join the list of defunct parties that litter the American political landscape.
For this to happen, the Green Party is going to have to show that they can unite enough people, around 50 million to have a chance to win.
This takes massive effort.
And add on that our winner take all system evolved over time where money talks so that no single election is gonna change that. The Greens need to find a way to grow and show progress in getting folks elected.
I think this could be done by organizing coalitions rather than limiting yourself by claiming this is the only or best party ... a 3rd party movement has to be a coalition of diverse voters to unify the power of the people not divide it among small 3rd parties.
They can't sit and wait for people to join them and expect anything different.
Jim how long is it going to take to build this new party?
How much time do we have before the Dems or Repugs get the excuse to place the country on a state of emergency?
Do you want to be part of the generation that allowed democracy to perish?
Americans cannot bury their heads in the sand and HOPE our leaders are going to save us this time. We need to act. I don't think that there is one solution to this problem, nor do I think violence is the only way, but freedom is something worth fighting for. If we cannot come together over the obvious fact that voting for the duopoly is detrimental to the majority of Americans, we don't stand a chance in hell to fix this problem.
The Green party is not perfect, but they have a ballot line in 40+ states. This took 10+ years to accomplish. Why create a new party that's going to take 10+ years or more to get the ballot access when the Green party already has it. We need to use the meager resources we have, and use whatever cash we can get to reach the millions that have no idea what a real progressive party looks like. I hope we wake up in time and remove our elected officials peacefully by voting en mass for the Greens or whatever the best option is at election time. If we don't our democracy will end.
I hope I'm dead before that happens, because the living will envy the dead when freedom is a fading memory in the land of the oppressed and the home of the cowardly.
I think NIN said it best:
bow down before the one you serve.
you're going to get what you deserve.
bow down before the one you serve.
you're going to get what you deserve.
If the Greens aren't willing to build coalitions they will lose and they will continue to be a help to the right wing in politics (Rush) and the duopoly. If you don't join other progressives they won't help you.
This is the big league, so get over it.
To attack all Dems shows your lack of social skills and if this is any indication of your Green membership, You are only holding progress back with irrational attitudes.
You want progressives to join the Green Party. But if people just did what you want, we wouldn't need to vote.
Jim, the Green party has cooperated with many local groups on issues of mutual interest. The peace and justice coalition, Emerge Miami, Broward Antiwar, are a few of the South Florida organizations that we have worked with in the recent past.
I have no idea what you mean by the "big league" but if by that you are referring to our political landscape, Bush league would be far more appropriate.
Can you name any other third party that in recent history have achieved more that the Green party?
Can you name an existing third party that has been more active in election reform that the Green party?
Who was it that used their resources to challenge the Ohio election results in 2004?
I wasn't the Dems, it was the Green party.
Instead of trying to delay a challenge to the duopoly by starting a new party, you should be doing something productive with your time. Assuming of course that your motives are just misguided and not malicious, I will again remind you that in order to succeed we need to act now, not 20+ years from now.
And for the record I did not attack all Democrats, just the ones like you. I have run out patience with individuals that are in denial, or living in some fantasy land where their messiah(Obama) can do no wrong.
As for wanting progressives to join the Green party, guilty as charged. But let me let you in on a little secret. I don't want just the progressives, I want any American that is sick and tire of the crap the duopoly is dishing out to join us. However I would rather have you and the rest of the apologist for the Democratic party to stay with whatever party you are currently affiliated with.
Thank you,
I considered myself among other unspeakables, a Green Democrat.
But labels divide us at the places we naturally have in common.
Parties and politicians do this without thinking about it.
Together, we are stuck in the muck... Good Luck!
Hate to disappoint, but I cannot find one piece of legislation put forth by the Democrats that comports with my radical values. Keep in mind the word root for radical comes the Latin radix meaning root. A radical view point is a precursor; it holds a solidness, i.e. in political terms, once you dilute the root, you lose its effectiveness, and the pristine quality of its potency. Or take the Greek work oikos which in English is translated as "ecology" and means "home" or "place to live." Neither of these concepts comport with the legislative agenda of the Democratic Party, because their agenda holds to power elites who care little for legislative agendas rooted in wisdom instead of greed. Take the juxtaposition in some indigenous world views which asks, "Will our decision positively impact 7 generations of future progeny?" If the elders conclude that the answer is "no" the action is not taken. Have you ever heard a Democrat or Republican ask that question?
The Climate Legislation is nothing more than a corporate giveaway which provides little by way of policies that generate meaningful care for our 'home' the Earth, the 'place where we live."
I find it offensive to offer your Democratic apologetic suggesting that somehow being green and a Dem is somehow mutually inclusive. If you honestly believe it, we are beyond help. Because 'denial' is more pernicious than anyone cares to admit or see the contradictions.
The Democrat and Republicans are both representative of right wing values tied to corporate nexus power.
What we need besides denial is another revolution with the way people think and recognizing their own addictions to conspicuous consumption. Until they cross that threshold, true Greens share little with the oxymoron called Green Democrat.
Your too hung up in lables and your Know it all attitude to win votes or a real revolution.
Dennis K considered himself a green Democrat and he does more for the people than you will ever do with your exclusive view.
"Parties and politicians do this without thinking about it."
with respect, Jim, they do think about it: divide and conquer.
I'm sure you've seen pictures of the bushes and clinton all laffing and buddy-buddy.
do you really imagine that the dems and reps differ?
perhaps in cosmetic detail, but not in substance.
they only bicker to give the voters the illusion of choice.
0's continuation of the bush crimes verifies this.
Exactly. Representative democracy is tolerated as long as the results are acceptable to the predatory elite.
I don't think Obama cares about being the "environmental President" . It's not something he talks about except in the most cursorial way. Moreover, the MSM doesn't mention this as an issue at all, and the vast majority of Americans don't care what happens in Appalachia as long as they get the energy to move electrons around screens all day (Yes, I'm aware of the irony of my being at the keyboard doing the same thing, but at least I'm not sending meaningless texts and e-mails).
Actually, you could have simply said, "I don't think Obama cares". That's about the size of it. End of subject.
The solution to any problem with a predatory corporation is to lock up the money they say they are going to provide for this and that RIGHT NOW. In this case, they claim 1) mountain top landscaping for new urbanizations and 2) replacement of mountain tops if need be. I'm sure they go on about how miners don't get killed in open pits thereby saving lives.
O-o-o-o-okay. How much does it cost your corporation to tear up a medium sized mountain top? Put double that in TIPS (inflation indexed treasury bonds) in OUR name (the municipality where the strip mining will occur and when we have the money, you can go ahead.
You will then see a miraculous transformation to suggesting wind power on mountain tops.
It's ALWAYS about money, folks.
Sioux Rose
Thank you Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for all that you do. And God bless you for standing up, like David to Goliath, against forces that would break a lesser man's heart.
The nation's ecological holocaust drives me to despair. I can't say I have the remotest faith that Obama will hear your words. Apparently his ego is ablaze with being the first Black U.S. president, and from there, he just does the bidding of those that groomed him for the role. He has stood firm on absolutely nothing, but is useful in putting on a nice show of words which has managed to fool too many intelligent persons. We are way past tragic now, as for all our jokes about politics and lies, after the hit-job the Bush team executed not only on our nation, but with serious reverberations around the world, something else--or should I say someone else--was desperately needed to shift the agenda driving the nation to ruin.
As state after state falls like drunk dominoes, the woefully bankrupt priorities that set this calamity into motion show. What is particularly egregious is that just as the failed banking system became the excuse to allot more power to its criminally-minded engineers, it is likely that those sell-outs that helped forge legislation to bankrupt the states will be first on board to "fire sale" precious assets claiming this is the path to remedial action. We can't say Naomi didn't warn us!
There needs to be a revolution, but with so many armed forces (police, sheriff departments, DEA, marine patrol, Homeland Security, FBI, private armies, etc) the capacity to stand up to an utterly corrupt government seems impossible. As the money runs out, the pattern right now is for more claims to be made (forced insurance!!!!) against the few who still CAN make their bills/payments.
It is a terrible set of circumstances the full impacts of which have hardly been felt. The U.S. is in for at least 5-7 years of tribulation, and it has in part been brought on by the population going willfully to sleep, when not being aided and abetted into that state by anti-depressant medications, or the hypnotic drug of T.V. where all the talking heads do the thinking for them. And what a result!
I really hope Divine intervention ameliorates the otherwise inevitable ramifications of the warped priorities of the beast turning inward (onto the homeland.)
And consider the irony: for all the billions wasted on war and so-called defense, the nation can't even repair its own schools or provide cursory medical treatment to those in need. Talk about failed priorities and the absolutely narrow-minded ego-driven blindness of the Mars-ruled state! SICKENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RFK Jr. endorsed Obama and never supported Nader who actually stood for better environmental policies. His environmental flyers in the mail were sappy but money rules doesn't it?
Civilization is not redeemable, the dominant culture that exists will never willingly change voluntarily. From birth, the dominant culture, indoctrinates the masses to hate the natural world, life, the wild, women, ourselves, if this was not true we would never stand by and allow the destruction of the world, and if we did not hate ourselves we could not allow the poisoning of our homes and our bodies.
The new emperor has lost his way, his visions may fool those who believe they may have had something to gain in worshiping him, but that light grows dimmer every day. He is in fact only a politician, and that puts him right in the middle of the worst of the worst. To believe he will hold the land, the people, and the non-humans in higher regard than the property of those who own him is not rational thinking.
Only when the ropes that pull the the stones to build the hierarchy's pyramids are left behind will the human race find the peace it so desperately seems to be searching for.
Love does not imply pacifism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkElnIiE4U4
A performance of Crescendo+Diminuendo In Blue by the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
This not the legendary one performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956 but remarkable nevertheless.
Now when I listen to and watch something like this and see the absolute JOY of the men performing this piece, I take away something quite different then you do on whether or not we are redeemable.
That they are black men performing music in a dominantly White culture is immaterial to the MUSIC itself. Note how all the performers are cheering the lead Sax player on. How they are fueled off of each others SUCCESS and how their love for the Music creates a genuine work of art.
Clash-
Nice. Check me out.
www.JasonDylan.wordpress.com
Sioux Rose
CLASH: Do you recall Gandhi's response when asked what he thought of Western civilization? That it WOULD be a good idea. From all that you stated in your first paragraph, the very term "civilization" does not fit the contours (moral and legal) of much of the Western world, led by the bloated spoiled "enfant terrible," America. Has civilization, and by that I mean a partnership between men and women, a respect for life that extended from human bonds to those we share with the natural world, ever been tried by Western culture? Plenty of Indigenous tribes, and those that pre-dated the patriarchal phase, lived by far more harmonious creeds.
Your last paragraph is intersting. I will give it some thought. My energy level is rather low today on the prelude to this particular full moon, therefore my response is shortened.
By the way, as to this hatred, it does not speak for me at all! In fact, due to the wish to preserve my life so that I can teach and raise consciousness, I have not made myself fodder for a tank to run or some psychotic cop to shoot with tasers. MANY of us have devoted much of our lives to trying to make a difference, to singing the song of Creation and articulating the awesome beauties all around us. Hatred may refer to the unawakened who waste their lives before the TV set munching on food that hardly qualifies as such, but such a broad stroke only reinforces guilt and shame. Those are TOXIC emotions. I keep fighting for change, for the spiritual epiphany that might make a difference. Hatred is not what motivates me, sir, LOVE is. Divine love at that! And there are many working as I do, similarly "armed."
Seems like everybody skates around pointing to the darkness of human nature itself; all present societies are erected with ego, so why should we expect selfless action? Without transcendence, the majority of people will continue to live from darkness and unconsciousness. Fortunately, the human CAN live from the consciousness of the Divine, but not without individual self-work. Like Christ on the cross, mankind must 'die' to its darkness in order to be resurrected into the Light. If the majority of us would just BEGIN to work on ourselves in the 'right' way, the whole of things would start to change. So few who begin on the 'path' [the path toward abolishing ego in oneself] persist to the end. Why? Because the trek is a long and difficult one. We can skate around this until the chickens come home to roost and point fingers and blame all we want, or attempt to reform the darkness from the periphery inward, but this approach, of necessity, MUST fail because it does NOT address the root cause. Mankind is in a pot that will soon come to a boil, unless we all work together to turn off the heat. The Divine can only 'intervene' if we channel it through our psyches. And that is the kind of 'revolution' needed today. The word 'evolution' implies time which, as you duly note, we do not have a lot of.
Sioux Rose
CHESSGAME: First of all, I do NOT see it as either/or. Yes, individuals have a responsibility to grow their consciousness, but societies also must collectively do their part to support "our better angels." I have been on the spiritual path since a teenager and ALWAYS tried to light others' lamps. People have told me I changed their lives when they ran into me years later. Just as the "waste" industry has tried to co-opt the use of the word ORGANIC to suggest that its spraying biohazard items around constitutes a wise use of "natural" materials; the church and its patriarchal rules have sought to co-opt the very nature of the word SPIRITUAL. LOTS of people have run back to the churches, and out of the manufactured (atmosphere of) fear, they hope that resorting to strict rules will grant them clemency over the inevitable wave of karma they sense is heading their way.
It becomes incredibly difficult to rouse the higher awareness when TV numbs people, the medical field gives them drugs to shut OFF their sentience (the inner aspect that resembles those canaries shrieking at their exposure to poison gases in the old mines is disabled thanks to anti-depressant drugs), while patriarchal religious institutions are all over TV, radio, even the publishing field seducing persons into a recidivistic return to the old ways. These NEVER worked. What they did achieve was dividing persons and teaching a rejection of life through castigating the natural world as dirty, dangerous, off-limits, and associating those distancing emotions with sexuality, too. A great divide was placed between the genders and it's caused LOVE to become rare. And then, too, there is the purposeful denigration of women, LIES about what God is, as if the glorious Infinite is ONLY a masculine, flawed, human-like entity. ("God made man in his image and likeness," is related to energy. Instead human beings have taken it in reverse, so that MEN made GOD in THEIR image and likeness, women as second-class spiritual beings, be damned, and earth Mother along with them!)
A lot of people feel the angst, know something is wrong at a fundamental level; but the sources they trust or rely upon are sending them in the wrong directions. It's like the news. 95% of it is bogus, but so many still trust the old "brand" names to deliver them "all the news that's fit to print" or broadcast. The karmic challenge is for Truth to rise above the thick fog of deception, and so far the majority cannot breathe in that rarified atmosphere where the Eternal Verities dwell.
It's only 'either/or' in the sense that there is no static state of being. Nothing is static in life, so as individuals we are either moving toward greater unconsciousness or going against the grain and moving 'uphill.' Granted, sometimes it means taking two steps forward and one step back but, psychologically (or spiritually) speaking, we must move in one direction or the other, correct? One of the most difficult things to see is that there are people who are entirely dedicated to the darkness, many of whom are our leaders; this also means they are psychopathic. While it is comforting to believe that every soul, given enough incarnations, will eventually make it to the light, is this really so? Or can one eventually lose this possibility? You even admit that mankind might not have time to 'evolve' to a more harmonious interrelationship, meaning EITHER we change OR perish.
Sioux Rose;
The definition of civilization used here refers to the label that most in the dominant culture ascribe to themselves. As far as self hate this statement was surely not directed at you or about you.
As far as following Gandhi's ideas on how to live I would just say to you, A man who hated his wife and disowned his sons will never be a model for how I would lead my life. Personally the life and philosophy of Crazy Horse would be more to my way of thinking about the world. Even if in the end his own people, the very people he was trying to save held him down so the dominant culture could bayonet him in the back .
Sioux Rose
CLASH: Gandhi, like America's founding fathers had a blindspot, and it was related to tradition(s). Who among us is perfect, has mastered all aspects of living? Do we cast the first stone at someone who has given much because in some human area s/he erred?
My point was that civilization is NOT civil. Just because soldiers make their uniforms impeccable, and shine their boots hardly takes away the barbarian nature of their acts of carnage. You remind me of the preacher who finds something cruel in Scripture and uses that as his yardstick for defining God's will. (Although all Bibles were rewritten many times across history; and like the game "Telephone" little kids play, by the time the message comes full circle, it's irreparably distorted.)
One cannot converse with another if the other so fervently believes their mysticism is the only way. Not once did I make this a personal attack on you or any one else.
I merely tried to share my thoughts with you, most unsuccessfully it seems.
Like the one mysticism they believe in, is the only path, this culture has the same beliefs when they choose their life paths, the culture demands that there is one and only way to live or be cast out, and that has always been OK with me.
One last note, in Peru last week the indigenous people of the forest defended themselves against the abusive culture, they won and injunction against their government and the forces out side of their land base to stop the the destruction and poisoning of their homes. It cost the lives of many of their people, and some of the fascist police state but for now they have their homes.
While in Appalachia I am sure the removal of mountains will continue, people will continue to lose their land base, and be poisoned with no end in sight.
"As far as following Gandhi's ideas on how to live I would just say to you, A man who hated his wife and disowned his sons will never be a model for how I would lead my life."
And yet back in India, services are offered cheap but great to foreigners including us westerners while the residents get the shaft. That dark side of Gandhi has been used by political leaders all over the world to oppress their own citzens and in seductive ways too. Gandhi's wife agreed to be by his side regardless even though I can never forgive him for refusing medicine for his wife and then taking the same medicine 6 weeks later.
However, I don't think Sioux Rose was talking about Gandhi's dark side of sacrificing his own wife. A lot of Gandhi's selflessness was what really made him better in some ways but unfortunately, most political leaders all over the world never caught on to it and today, few of them do and they usually get villainized. They might as well be vigilantes for the people against the elites.
Well put.
Sioux Rose, to borrow from Swami Beyondananda, "America doesn't need a revolution, America needs an evolution. And this evolution is what is going to bring sanity back into our lives. Sanity, and abundance. And out of that naturally will grow world peace.
It's a new game. The old game of revolution won't work any more. Why? Because revolutions turn violent. And in these days of ever more sophisticated and deadly weaponry, we need to look for a different game.
We can't win a revolution, no matter how much we scream and cry. Violence is their game. We have a different game. So rather than screaming about the problems, we're getting to work on the solutions.
At risk of sounding like a broken record, the solution is to eliminate agriculture. We need to quit farming. We need to get involved with a new system, which is completely based in and in concert with nature. What we need instead is agroforestry, food-forest gardening, permaculture.
We can't go back to the way we've done things in the past, because it's not working. We need a new way of doing virtually everything. We don't need a revolution at all. We need something more sustainable. We need an evolution. It's the only way out of the madness.
Forget nationalism. Localism is where we need to shift our focus. Peace through permaculture. It's very grounding. It's the way forward. Dig it.
Need more inspiration? Watch this 5 minute video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShJheNIXiDA&NR=1
Evolution and revolution are two sides of the change that is what the universe is all about.
They are both expressions of time.
We need both because they are the changes of time and how they are recorded by history.
We can't have one or the other by declaring one violent and one peaceful. Revolutionary changes are changes that are needed in time for the living to enjoy and participate in while evolutionary changes are more of what occurs after many generations..slow but real too.
We need both.
When suppression comes it should be actively opposed because revolution is an expression of immediate human needs.
Any change can be violent or peaceful.... but the idea of "evolution" is not something that gives hope for those suffering now.
If you are working on a new farming technique, that is revolutionary, evolutionary is more about after we are dead...
In other words if you got forever and are not desperate evolution is fine, but for the masses it is like saying "eat cake." or "plant a garden".
Even though we are a scardy cat nation and afraid of the word "revolution", We need both points of view on change.
A revolution of common sense is not necessarily violent but worth fighting for and needed now.
Thanks for your comments. However, nobody seems to get what I'm talking about, even though I tried to explain it. I'm not referring to physiological evolution, but an evolution in consciousness.
Call it revolution if you will, but I'm talking about a huge leap in consciousness that is so far beyond what we we have been practicing that I'm referring to it as an evolution *in consciousness*. Permaculture is what I'm talking about. And it is a leap.
Allow me back up a bit. Evolution, physical evolution can and does take place in leaps, contrary to popular belief. That's why we never find the missing links. Life adapts and changes very quickly in times of geologic upheaval. It changes and adapts, or it dies.
But back to permaculture. It is a very new way of producing food. It's only been defined and practiced since the 1970's, and is still in the experimental stages. However, it is being practiced by about a half million people in about 300,000 sites worldwide. So it's a rapidly growing movement.
What can permaculture do, and where can it be practiced? Here's one example: A group of permaculturists from Australia decided to set up a permaculture site in Israel on the Dead Sea, in the lowest, driest saltiest place on Earth.
They transformed a 10 acre site into veritable garden of Eden in 3 years that is self sustaining and requires no irrigation. There are even mushrooms growing on the site, and the locals there say they had never seen a mushroom before.
The developers of the project say this can be done anywhere, that they can literally make the desert bloom. This can be employed in the most inhospitable places on earth, reforesting vast tracts of land that had previously been rendered a wasteland by desertification.
But in order for people to adopt permaculture it takes an evolution in consciousness. But let's not get hung up on semantics. I don't need to argue my point any longer.
Evolution, revolution. Reminds me of Lance Lot Link, one of my favorite Saturday morning shows as a kid. It was always after The Monkeys. Remember them? "Hey, hey we're the Monkeys..."
I get it Moon, and you're not alone in making this point. J. Krishnamurti said it many years ago. However, you cannot have a revolution in conscious without INDIVIDUAL self-work. There is no such thing as a 'mass' revolution [in consciousness] imposed from the outside. Many want to ignore or skirt around this issue; they think they are perfectly fine as they are, and it's everyone else that's 'screwed up,' or needs to change. However, it is also true that if you transcend the selfish, limited 'me' [ego], you will bring that expression of Light wherever you go and to whomever you meet. Thus, one candle can light another, and a small flame can turn into a blaze. That being said, not everyone will want it; on the contrary, many will fight vehemently against it. Understand human nature and you will understand why.
From: The_collected_works_of_j.krishnamurti_vol_13
"It is absolutely, urgently necessary to alter the whole course of human thought, of human existence, because it is becoming more and more mechanistic. And I do not see how this complete revolution can take place except in the individual. The collective cannot be revolutionary; the collective can only follow, can only adjust itself, can imitate, can conform. But it is only the individual, the `you', that can break through shattering all these conditionings and be creative. It is the crisis in consciousness which demands this mind, this new mind."
http://tchl.freeweb.hu
Wow, man. That was beautiful. I'm so glad people like you post on this site. It's people like you who make me feel at home here, and keep me coming back. People like you give people like me a lot of hope. Thanks for sharing. I'll be paying more attention to your posts from now on. Groovy.
InLakesh ~Moondoggy
(Inlakesh is a Mayan greeting which translates "I am another you")
Thanks, always had a fascination for Mayan culture, especially after visiting Chichen Itza. Ready for 2012? :-)
I'm getting ready for 2012. That is one of my biggest motivators to be getting right on the permaculture program. Anyone that's smart would be doing the same right about now. It's only 3 years away. We need to be fast tracking our lives into a more sustainable, low energy direction.
There's no time to waste! I've left lots of links to helpful and inspiring resources all over Common Dreams, and all over this page in particular. The smart person would be paying attention and getting on it. Go for it! 3 years to go.
InLakesh ~Moondoggy
Was the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela violent? Was the MAS revolution in Bolivia violent?
You seem to be oblivious as to how the working class lives. What you are prescribing is only available to the rich.