8/21/11

Aggression in its Most Noxious Form


Car ads are exercises in impunity
Appealing blatently to the hostile instincts 
For their product is inherently lethal
And we are forced by circumstance and choice terribly wrong
To endure life using cars

But the day of the car's rule are numbered
And with it the blatency and testerone-driven
Ads that litter our channels
With slick barbarian drawl

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The solution for dying rural communities

Shannon Hayes: Saying Goodby to the P.O.: Thousands of small-town post offices are on notice for closure. Radical homemaker Shannon Hayes on what that will mean for the communities who love them.

The solution for dying rural communities
Is to become pioneers in the creation of
Car free communities of sufficient size to enable a vital local economy to develop
This could mean consolidation of communities into clusters containing up to 10 K
The result would enable development of what I call cyber-cities
These have residences, work places, services, commercial ventures, public places - everything - mingled and designed to work together
This is the successor to sprawl commuter society

Chalk up Libya

The Great Tripoli Uprising | Informed Comment: One way or another, it seems clear that the Libyan Revolution has entered its last phase, and that this phase could well end abruptly in the next days. If Qaddafi’s own capital is so eager to be rid of him, his support is much thinner than many observers had assumed.

And chalk up that a slog works. If this comes off as it seems to be coming off it promises a large quiver of options for the achievement of a global democratic revolution. Underlying are issues of human rights - the establishment of secular states with values based on the ontological aspirations of all people for democracy, tolerance and helpfulness - and transition away from oil-car-consumer economies to sustainable community-oriented societies.


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Principles of Civilization

ShortFormContent at Blogger: NRC hiding the truth

There are four principles of civilization
The first and foundational principle is non-idolatry
The worship of anything is idolatry
Worship no idols or graven images
The only thing warranting first place is no-idolatry whatsoever
The three interactive active values of civilization are
Democracy which means equal rights for all and the rectification of all inequalities
Tolerance which means tensile strength in the face of provocation and hewing to the principle of not-judging
Better to shake the dust from your feet than to pass judgment
The foundational active value is direct and enabling helpfulness which is the only form of charity recommended
We should structure economies to enable direct assistance between all persons

NRC hiding the truth

Whistleblowers Say Nuclear Regulatory Commission Watchdog Is Losing Its Bite - ProPublica: But rather than accept Mulley's findings, the inspector general's office rewrote them. The revised report shifted much of the blame to the plant's owner, Exelon, instead of NRC procedures. And instead of designating it a public report and delivering it to Congress, as is the norm, the office put it off-limits. A reporter obtained it only after filing a Freedom of Information Act request.

Should we be surprised? Nuke plants are lethal to us all. Anything nuke is dangerous. We have bought a storm and will not reap multiple whirlwinds until the world reconstitutes itself according to principles of civilization, not barbarism.





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Are you telling me that Perry and Bachmann have transformed hearts

Christian Dominionism: Bachmann and Perry Aren't Out for World Domination - The Daily Beast: "Not only is a leader who has experienced authentic heart transformation able to live a godly life, he or she also endeavors to model counterintuitive servant leadership, rather than domination or control, and to empower the least of society instead of mounting a quest for power."

Come come. I suppose this also applies to W.

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A Little Goes A Long Way Larry

Christian Dominionism: Bachmann and Perry Aren't Out for World Domination - The Daily Beast: "The media paint Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry as frightening 'Dominionists,' but A. Larry Ross argues that this is a scare tactic with little basis in truth."

I've been around the block too and witnessed dominionism close up and personal. I also can read. These people collate or conflate dominionism with American exceptionalism and allow for some Nixonian racism to boot. Evangelicals believe in creedal messianism which is a nefarious doctrine in itself.

No one knows yet if DSK will take the pipe or not

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Criminal Charges Could Be Dropped Soon - The Daily Beast: "Lawyers for the maid accusing Dominique Strauss-Kahn of assault tell Christopher Dickey that criminal charges will likely be dropped this week—and the ex-IMF chief could soon be back in France."

The liberal gotcha way would be to tell her she will be dragged through the mud and deported and does she really want to go through with it? Such is the patriarchal methodology wrapped in vapid benignity.


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Sanity is inimical to the GOP

Huntsman Slams Perry on Climate, Economy - The Daily Beast

You actually believe in evolution
Evolution is an Obama plot
And climate change
Nancy Pelosi does it in her sleep
Who is Huntsman anyway

Now we're shooting people after football games

Two Shot After 49ers Game - The Daily Beast

Next we will simply allow people to have free rein among those they disagree with - forget gun control, forget civilization. Sic transit the we-they world.


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This isn't half bad if I do say so

Adam Hears a Prophecy that Turns Out to Be Generally True 1958 - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com: "Why, yes, he is asleep I think. I am enjoying him." (Pause.) "No we didn't. We are talking mainly about my ideas, such as they are. Or about them in a preliminary way." (Pause.) "Ha, ha, ha. No. No my dear. He would telegraph boredom if that were true. Even with myopia, one would catch it. He is an open book. You're the bored one! Ha, ha, ha." (Pause.) "No, we don't understand much at all, my love." (Pause.) "Yes, that is all we have left. I agree. Good, my dear. Good by."

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The mind keeps paying tricks on us

ShortFormContent at Blogger: The Dust Did It:

The mind keeps paying tricks on us
Saying we have won when we have lost
We half believe and then move on
Thankful if there has been no cost

The Dust Did It

Phoenix Dust Storm Blankets City: A string of thunderstorms caused a dust storm in the Phoenix area,with 60 mph winds downing trees and damaging property, forecasters said.

Interesting sentence. I can think of a better time and place for it to have happened.

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Sprawl threatens Dayaks sacred groves

A Battle Is Under Way For The Forests Of Borneo : NPR: "Environmentalists say Layan's lifestyle is a form of "indigenous knowledge" that has allowed the Dayaks to both use and protect Borneo's forests. But those same forests are now a staging ground for a complicated clash. It involves economic growth, land rights and environmental concerns, development and traditional cultures, as well as a broader fight in Indonesia against entrenched corruption."

Inexorable. In three centuries we will inspect a bare planet and wonder what it was like when there was nature.

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Green is hardly dead in Iran

Power Struggle in Iran Pits President Against Supreme Leader | The Nation: Contrary to public perceptions outside Iran, Iran’s Green Movement is alive and well and more popular than ever, even as mass repression has forced movement activists to assume a largely underground existence. From the winter of 2010, when it became too dangerous to demonstrate publicly, to this past winter, when the movement again made a large showing in the streets, its considerable energies were redeployed in the cyber sphere—mostly in internal debates about strategy and tactics—and in individual acts of defiance, like graffiti-writing and campus activism.

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Don't get ready to sing Goodnight Irene

Irene nears hurricane status, could hit Florida - Weather - msnbc.com: MIAMI — Tropical Storm Irene began lashing the northern Leeward Islands with heavy rains and squalls early Sunday and could become a hurricane within a day, the National Hurricane Center said.


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Do you really want to look at this

PhotoBlog - Thinning ice has big impact on life in Greenland: Inuit hunter Nukappi Brandt steers his small boat as he and his daughter Aaneeraq, 9, scan the water for seals, accompanied by his other daughter Luusi, 8, outside Qeqertarsuaq, Disko Island, Greenland, July 21. Brandt, 49, has been a hunter since age 14, and said roughly 20 years ago, when winter sea ice became too thin to support dogsleds, seal hunting ceased to be a sustainable way of life here.

Fine go ahead with a background image in your mind of McCain going drill baby drill. Or Palin. Or Perry. Or Bachmann. Haunting images.

Obama mandates some slack on deportations

Obama administration amends deportation policy | McClatchy: As part of the policy change, the Department of Homeland Security intends to review the cases of approximately 300,000 illegal immigrants facing deportation orders.

It's about time. Save in cases of obvious criminality, freedom of movement should be the default. The most liberating thing Jesus ever mandated is shake the dust from your feet where you are not received. A universal edict. The sort of thing the New Jersey inept wife murderer should have done if he wanted out.

Just in case you want to know who pays the Super Committee

UPDATED: Contribution Profile of Members of the Deficit 'Super Committee' | MAPLight.org - Money and Politics

Will there ever be a pool of money to support no more oil, no more sprawl, no more school factories where students cannot read, no more prisons of the sort we have now, no more war on drugs, no more war on terror?

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Liberia in the balance

Liberia: How Sustainable Is the Recovery? - International Crisis Group: Liberia’s October 2011 general and presidential elections, the second since civil war ended in 2003, are an opportunity to consolidate its fragile peace and nascent democracy. Peaceful, free and fair elections depend on how well the National Elections Commission (NEC) handles the challenges of the 23 August referendum on constitutional amendments and opposition perceptions of bias toward the president’s Unity Party (UP).

It can be done. It will be done. As people will it. It can be.

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Secular has always trumped religion


Secular has always trumped religion
Science has always trumped speculation
Realism has always trumped nominalism
Poetry has always trumped prose
Experience has always trumped supposition
Threes have always trumped twos
Life has always trumped death
Syntropy trumps entropy


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What do horses and US prisons have in common?

Happy trails, Fugly! « I Blame The Patriarchy: "The horse industry, because the whole enterprise leeches off an enslaved and incarcerated population (the horses) while simultaneously preying upon a self-replenishing customer base of gullible horse-crazy romantics (the owners), is lousy with flim-flam, rip-offs, cruelty, deceit, abuse, ignorance, and murder."

The difference of course is that the horses didn't have to go through our justice system.

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Maternal health is not exactly decent in South Africa

“Stop Making Excuses” | Human Rights Watch: Eastern Cape has some of the worst health indicators in South Africa, including high infant, child, and maternal mortality rates. But analyses by government and other public health experts show that other regions experience the same problems, including negative attitudes by health workers, poor quality care, administrative and financial management inefficiencies, and lack of accountability for health system failures




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Egypt has a full plate when it comes to things it needs to clean up

Staying Connected: Egyptian Women Use Social Media to Combat Gender Inequality, Violence | Human Rights First: A new generation of Egyptian women is speaking up to address long-standing gender and equality issues. Since the fall of President Mubarak, sexual harassment cases have become more public as women’s political participation becomes increasingly widespread. Campaigners stress the need for Egyptian women to unite as they face some of the worst treatment in the world. Domestic violence, harassment, work and legal discrimination, arranged marriages and systematic female genital mutilation validated by Islamic holy texts, are all prevalent in different regions of Egypt.


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Which Kubrick film will trump all the others eventually

Hullabaloo: Indeed, a lot of filmmakers (alive or dead) should be so lucky to have but one entry in their entire catalog that could hold a candle to, say, a Paths of Glory. Or a Spartacus. Or a Lolita. Or Dr. Strangelove. Or something like 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, or Full Metal Jacket. Even Stanley Kubrick on a relatively “off” day (The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut) handily blows the majority of current titles playing at the multiplex out of the water (i.e., technically, artistically and aesthetically speaking).

My personal candidate is Full Metal Jacket. As Shakespearean as one can get in every sense.

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W Hates Rick Perry Like Satan Hates Satanists

The 2012 Speculatron Weekly Roundup For August 19, 2011: But what happened next was interesting. Amid all of the condemnation of Perry’s Bernanke comment, one set of voices rang out the loudest -- the voices of the old Dubya Camp, who hate Perry like feline leukemia. Tony Fratto and Nicolle Wallace were quick out of the gate. Alex Castellanos piled on. But it was Karl Rove -- warning of right-wing extremism as if the concept of irony had never been invented -- who finally got the worm to turn. By mid-week, the media was over Perry, and amplifying the renewed voice of all those in the GOP bandstand who want someone -- anyone! Paul Ryan! Chris Christie! Nyan Cat! -- to get into the 2012 race and rescue it from oblivion.

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Everything that Jesus said implies equalization not stratification

Historical Jesus Theories

Everything that Jesus said implies equalization not stratification
That the first shall be last and the last first is a paradigm for a values based economy
This economy rewards the circulation of money period
This economy rewards those who have the least so that their least grows at a faster rate than those who have
This economy abolishes conventional charity and rewards instead the circulation of money in the form of gifts and payments and direct contributions to others
This economy embraces an ethic of agape

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