‘We must unhumanise our views a little, and become confident
As the rock and ocean that we were made from.’
We live in a time of social, economic and ecological unravelling. All around us are signs that our whole way of living is already passing into history. We will face this reality honestly and learn how to live with it.
We reject the faith which holds that the converging crises of our times can be reduced to a set of‘problems’ in need of technological or political ‘solutions’.
We believe that the roots of these crises lie in the stories we have been telling ourselves. We intend to challenge the stories which underpin our civilisation: the myth of progress, the myth of human centrality, and the myth of our separation from ‘nature’. These myths are more dangerous for the fact that we have forgotten they are myths.
We will reassert the role of story-telling as more than mere entertainment. It is through stories that we weave reality.
Humans are not the point and purpose of the planet. Our art will begin with the attempt to step outside the human bubble. By careful attention, we will reengage with the non-human world.
We will celebrate writing and art which is grounded in a sense of place and of time. Our literature has been dominated for too long by those who inhabit the cosmopolitan citadels.
We will not lose ourselves in the elaboration of theories or ideologies. Our words will be elemental. We write with dirt under our fingernails.
The end of the world as we know it is not the end of the world full stop. Together, we will find the hope beyond hope, the paths which lead to the unknown world ahead of us.
The Dark Mountain Manifesto
(excerpt)
Walking on lava
The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilisation
Ralph Waldo EmersonThose who witness extreme social collapse at first hand seldom describe any deep revelation about the truths of human existence. What they do mention, if asked, is their surprise at how easy it is to die.
The pattern of ordinary life, in which so much stays the same from one day to the next, disguises the fragility of its fabric. How many of our activities are made possible by the impression of stability that pattern gives? So long as it repeats, or varies steadily enough, we are able to plan for tomorrow as if all the things we rely on and don’t think about too carefully will still be there. When the pattern is broken, by civil war or natural disaster or the smaller-scale tragedies that tear at its fabric, many of those activities become impossible or meaningless, while simply meeting needs we once took for granted may occupy much of our lives.
What war correspondents and relief workers report is not only the fragility of the fabric, but the speed with which it can unravel. As we write this, no one can say with certainty where the unravelling of the financial and commercial fabric of our economies will end. Meanwhile, beyond the cities, unchecked industrial exploitation frays the material basis of life in many parts of the world, and pulls at the ecological systems which sustain it.
Precarious as this moment may be, however, an awareness of the fragility of what we call civilisation is nothing new.
‘Few men realise,’ wrote Joseph Conrad in 1896, ‘that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief in the safety of their surroundings.’ Conrad’s writings exposed the civilisation exported by European imperialists to be little more than a comforting illusion, not only in the dark, unconquerable heart of Africa, but in the whited sepulchres of their capital cities. The inhabitants of that civilisation believed ‘blindly in the irresistible force of its institutions and its morals, in the power of its police and of its opinion,’ but their confidence could be maintained only by the seeming solidity of the crowd of like-minded believers surrounding them. Outside the walls, the wild remained as close to the surface as blood under skin, but the city-dweller was no longer equipped to face it directly.
The remainder of the essay can be read online: Dark Mountain manifesto.
Paul is the author of One No, Many Yeses and Real England. He was deputy editor of The Ecologist between 1999 and 2001. His first poetry collection, Kidland, is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry. His website is www.paulkingsnorth.netDougald writes the blog Changing the World (and other excuses for not getting a proper job). He is a former BBC journalist and has written for and edited various online and offline magazines. His website is www.dougald.co.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Editorial Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The "Eight principles of uncivilisation" are expanded in the Dark Mountain manifesto (also available as PDF or purchased as a limited-edition, hand-stitched pamphlet.
See the site for the blog and information about their upcoming festival May 28-30.
Several Energy Bulletin contributors are on their Blogroll, including John Michael Greer, Sharon Astyk, Rob Hopkins and Dmitry Orlov. Also mentioned are Wendell Berry and Ivan Illich.
George Monbiot recently wrote a column in the Guardian about Dark Mountain Project: I share their despair, but I'm not quite ready to climb the Dark Mountain.
On Common Dreams, Robert C. Koehler wrote a related piece: Dark Green.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Original article available here~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is so frustrating to know any environmentally conscious effort an American makes is overwhelmingly offset and cancelled out by the billions of Chinese and Indians who have no environmental consciousness whatsoever and are hellbent on destroying the planet even worse than what they have done in their own nations.
The idea of "independent contractors" instead of employees for many corporations is clearly without question a scam and con, not only for the very "independent contractors", but also local, state, and federal governments who are deprived of tax revenues from those corporations. Federal and state legislation is in critical need of enactment to eliminate these labor and tax law loopholes that exploit workers and cheat governments. If such laws had already been in place, I would not have been cheated out of perhaps $100,000 by employers in the past. I have to believe that eventually the government will get its way and this dishonest and immoral practice by employers will be illegalized and ended.
It is a very shortsighted and foolish decision by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to declassify Northern Gray Wolves from an endangered status to being eligible to be hunted without penalty throughout the Northern Rockies. Fortunately, the decision will not be implimented anytime soon with scores of cases of litigation surely to be filed that will stop the change for probably the better part of a decade if not longer. Hunting wolves is a very poor idea, and if there are animals in excess of what their ecosystem to support, they need to be captured and relocated to areas where their presense would be greatly beneficial to ecosystems out of balance. That would be most of the United States.
The wind does blow mercilessly across Central and West Texas and more folks are seeing dollar signs in creating infrastructure to harness that resource. Here in Wyoming, there is a virtual inexhaustible supply of wind energy, more than enough to eliminate all kinds of taxes statewide from sales taxes to property taxes to all citizen-based revenues required to support and pay for state and local government. Add in solar energy for the rare times when the wind does not blow sufficiently enough for energy generation, and this state is well positioned to be an energy giant in the new era of mainstream renewable energy.
Barack Obama continues to increasingly realize that stating altering and even reversing recent economic and trade policy in the United States is the way to get elected President. This writer is not convinced of his sincerity yet, however. This support to make these desperately needed fundamental economic changes doe not seem to be in place in the Senate and Congress even with the changes coming after the '08 elections. In addition, it is a total certainty corporate America and special interests will wage a campaign akin to that of a war with no limits on spending, subterfuge, and deception to stop even the most minimal changes. These entities and elements of greed, power, and corruption see these changes as being detrimental in every way to their current standing and position and will not risk that. Of course, they are cutting their own throats to save their limbs. Inevitably and eventually, these mistakes in policy which have hurt and harmed so many American citizens will be set aside and replaced with a more beneficial and progressive vision. This can be done the easy way, or the hard way, which will destroy the most obstinate and stubborn of these corporate entities, elements, and their lackeys.
Evan Mecham will largely be remembered as foolish and stubborn Republican racist rightwing zealot who served but 15 months as an elected Arizona governor in 1987 and 1988 before being impeached and ousted on improper money use issues after creating a firestorm from ill-advised and inept acts and statements that created enormous division and controversy in Arizona as well as around the nation. The extremist hardcore Morman automobile dealer was on the outermost right fringe of Arizona politics, and individuals like him and in the years after him served only to move Arizona into a regular political environment of extremism, irresponsiblity, and special interests support that has largely decimated the state economically with a relatively unsophisticated and backwards economy, an educational system throughout the state that is among if not the worst in the nation, and an environment and quality of life that has seen a tremendous decline and loss of promise. The Arizona of 1987 and 1988 was an okay place, but it has clearly worsened in the last 20 years to the point that it is simply mad to consider relocating there in the coming decade or so without clear and massive reform and modernization. Given the existing political climate, it would seem unlikely or challenging at least for the necessary changes to be undertaken. Arizona thrived during the years of the Babbitt governorship, and starting with Mecham, much of that has been lost. Whereas the Republican Party prior to Mecham had points on policy that were commendable and progressive, the Mecham GOP and its elements which dominate the party to this day are worthy of little but scorn and repudiation.
Arizona US Representative Rick Renzi was indicted on 35 criminal counts of various offenses on Friday 22 February. Renzi is the seventh sitting US Congressman to either be indicted or face criminal charges this decade, a disgrace and shame for Americans, and another in a long list of Arizona politicians to be identified as criminally malfeasant over the years. Renzi, 49, has been in the House since 2002, representing the 1st Congressional District in Arizona, an area in northern and eastern Arizona largely made up of Indian reservations, public land, and sparsely populated rural areas and small towns. Renzi very well may resign his seat in the coming weeks to spare Arizona of yet another sitting accused criminal sitting in public office. Renzi's voting record has been strongly conservative and exclusively supportive of corporations and big money interests at the expense of his constituency, Arizonans, and other lower and middle class American citizens throughtout the nation. He will be arraigned in Tucson on Thursday 6 March. If Renzi resigns before 4 May, a special election will be held to fill out the remainder of his term. If he resigns after 4 May, the seat would be vacated until after the general election in November and the subsequent installing of a new congressman in January '09.
In many ways, 2008 has a feeling like 1980, 1968, and 1960. Change is in the air, and the campaign of Barack Obama for the presidency is looking more and more each day like it is going to be successful. The big question is will he have the numbers in the Senate and House to boldly propose needed policy and programs that will force the desperately needed change across the nation ? In the last twenty-five years plus the nation has stagnated and the standard of living has declined for most all citizens except the wealthiest. The image and facade of prosperity and success that most citizens present to the outside world is an illusion, almost entirely built on debt and inflated value. Over time, this is inevitably doomed to fail and collapse as it has for many already. A nation built on economic fairness, justice, and much greater equality is essential in keeping our nation and its citizens strong, competitive, and happy.
This news of a new kind of automobile, the aircar, that is capable of amazing fuel economy, works on a new technology basis, and has an acceptable range for use is quite exciting and wonderful. While this vehicle is not the best for families and other activities requiring space and size, it looks to be a great commuter vehicle and good for an individual or a small group. This is the kind of technological leap the US needs to free this nation of its slavery and addiction to dangerous Middle East oil and the enormous social and economic costs tied to it.
Research continues to further prove without question that actions and inactions taken by parents with young formative growing children have a lifetime effect on the very lives of those children well into adulthood. Nutrition, discipline, structure, love, concern, care, and attention on a physical, mental, emotional, and psychological level and more are critically essential in developing a child into a contributing, successful, fulfilled adult and citizen. Unfortunately, greed and inattention by many in positions of power and influence continue to ignore the evidence and perennially establish and pursue policies and programs that are highly destructive to millions of children nationwide and billions globally. Eradication of poverty, dispair, and economic injustice has to be one of the highest priorities of American political and business leadership, particularly when it concerns children. To not make this a dedicated movement paramount is to continually resign untold numbers of children to lives where they end up costing society enormous amounts of resources and increasing the inefficiency and inproductivity of society. Potential is a terrible thing to discard, especially when those individuals are never given a chance or opportunity to succeed and thrive when denied essential elements when children.
Like most states in the Mountain Time Zone and elsewhere in the US, Nevada is greatly behind the curve on maintaining and modernizing its roads and highways in the state, particularly in rapidly growing Clark County where Las Vegas is. Serious hikes in fuel taxes and establishment of other revenue sources is desparately needed to address the growing inadequacy of surface infrastructure and increasing gridlock in the the Silver State. Federal revenues are also being looked at carefully, with significant increases in the federal gasoline tax looming by as much as 40 cents per gallon being considered to fund the overwhelming backload of maintenance, replacement, upgrade, and improvements needed on roads, highways, and mass transit alternatives throughout the nation. After years of ignorance by anti-tax zealots, largely Republicans, the bill for neglect of America's infrastructure is rapidly coming due.
A plan to seriously combat global warming in Maryland is making its way through the Maryland state legislature that sets mandates to cut back greenhouse gases and carbon-based pollution by 25 % in 12 years (2020) and a 90 % cut by the year 2050. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has pledged to sign the legislation upon its passage. The effort is noble and praiseworthy, but it is akin to spitting in the wind. A tiny state with a relatively small population base is merely making a statement, as any benefits from these actions would be inconsequential at best. For any efforts to be successful to slow down the effects and consequences of global warming would take a similar aggressive effort by the entire United States, not just a handful of states. And even this is not even close to being enough, as it would take a concerted intense efforts by most nations on the planet. The chances of this happening are remote at best, as there is virtually no international interest by the greatest polluting nations around the globe and their corporate sponsors and benefactors to address this issue in a meaningful and serious way. The only way that changes is when extreme weather, definitive rises in sea level, and significant evident changes in ecosystems and regions occur for a period of time. Even then, that may not be enough to get the necessary extensive changes needed to be implimented within a reasonable period of time.
The political process in New Mexico is among the worst in all fifty states, perhaps only exceeded by Louisiana on the state level. Efforts to reform and cleanup the state politically have gotten nowhere for generations. New Mexico is one of just a few states in the West that has no term limits for its elected legislative members, a partial reason for its many shortcomings. Money and influence are the dominating elements in the political culture of the state, particularly in the Rio Grande Valley and points west and north. The state has a deep, thorough, and wide-ranging good old boy network that permeates the entire political proces throughout the state with a magnified intensity on the state level. It would seem highly improbable to expect any changes in the future with regards to the dirtiness and corruption that regularly occurs in Santa Fe and surrounding counties. The citizenry and residents of the state largely do not care, and competing institutions in the state have little power or prestige to wage a campaign that would successfully end the generations of graft and smarminess that has always defined the state.
Newspapers in Chicago are on a level of importance in the minds of many people as is the wind, Michigan Avenue, Lake Michigan, the Cubs, the Whitesox, the Bears, the Loop, the El, Marshall Field, and many other cultural and historical landmarks and items of significance and noteworthiness. Sadly, the best days for Chicago's two remaining significant newspapers are seemingly over. Circulation is done markedly as with newspapers everywhere, and years of mismanagement and evident corruption by ownership has left the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times teetering in the direction of extinction for at least one of the papers with a continued serious decline in content as well as journalistic independence and investigative journalism for the surviving paper. Chicago looks to be moving towards being a one newspaper city like virtually everywhere else.
It was made official today with the announcement the Albuquerque Tribune newspaper would cease publishing after this Saturday 23 February. This newspaper has been publishing for over three-quarters of a century and its demise is a tremendous indescribable loss for the Middle Rio Grande Valley, all of New Mexico, and beyond. The Tribune was about the last afternoon newspaper still being published in the time zone, and there are not many left elsewhere in the nation. When I lived in NM in the 1970s and early 1980s, the Tribune was my paper of choice for many reasons; simply it was better, more complete, thoughtful, and better balanced than the stodgy alternative, the Albuquerque Journal. With the smallness of the Albuquerque market, the demographics of that community, and the rapid advancement in other technologies that offer much better alternatives to newspapers, there is no possibility of a secondary print source arising again. These are indeed profoundly sad times for residents of Albuquerque and beyond who enjoy getting their news, information, and entertainment from a twice honored Pulitzer Prize quality newspaper.
The beat goes on as John McCain and Barack Obama were winners once again, this time in the Wisconsin Primary. Obama won his ninth consecutive contest over Hillary Clinton, taking the Badger State by a nearly 2-1 margin over the fast fading one-time frontrunner. Obama picked up an estimated 31 delegates with still over 20 more to be awarded as results get finalized. Clinton had claimed 22 delegates at the time of this post. The latest estimates for total delegates held by each candidate show Obama with approximately 1300 delegates to about 1235 for Clinton.
Pervez Musharraf and his dictatorship suffered a widescale political defeat in the elections in Pakistan, and with the coalescence of a coalition gaining power set on ousting the corrupt dictator and perhaps even arresting him to try him for various crimes against Pakistan, an eerie and alarming scenario is beginning to develop similar to what happened with and after the fall of Shah Reza Pahlavi in Iran in 1979. Voices of extremism and insanity gained power in Iran and seized the American Embassy in Tehran, holding hundreds of Americans hostage for well over a year, crippling an American Presidency, rendering the American economy stagnant and impotent, and sweeping in a tidal change with the 1980 elections in American political leadership and culture that continues largely and more so to date. One can envision a similar like scenario eventuating with Pakistan and Musharraf. George Bush and the current administration are hardcore friends of his and will take any and all steps to preserve his safety and keep him for harm, humilation, and worse. A Musharraff out of Pakistan and in exile in the US or elsewhere free from repercussions for his crimes, treachery and violence in Pakistan could result in the sudden rise of an extremist anti-American government that could follow a stunningly similar route as what happened in Iran almost three decades ago. With American military forces tied down in Iraq and a weakened directionless lame duck presidency currently in place in the United States, events could happen quickly and in ways that become of enormous concern throughout South Asia, the Middle East, and globally, perhaps even to the extent of imperilment. One critical significant difference of the highest paramount as compared to 1979: Pakistan has nuclear weapons. Americans, other peoples of the West, and neighbors of Pakistan have to be confident a strategy is in place to prevent those weapons from getting into the hands of irrational individuals hellbent on using them in some way. 2008 may have greater challenges and tests than most of us are aware of.
The longtime dictatorial tyrant and despot of Cuba for nearly a half a century, Fidel Castro, announced his "resignation" on Tuesday19 February. This largely superfluous and meaningless act will not result in any changes for Cuba, however. The new dictator, younger brother Raoul Castro, will largely continue the status quo on the isolated island for the foreseeable future, Any issues will still receive the usual input from Fidel who, despite being in poor health, will still have the upper hand and the greatest major decision making role in the "leadership" of Cuba. But a more significant change is in the distance. The Castro brothers will both be dead within a decade, and a younger more pragmatic generation of leadership is likely to emerge. This new generation could take steps to open up the Cuban economy to modernization and perhaps even foreign investment. Cuba could follow the model of contemporary Communism as practiced in China, with a largely totalitarian government opening their doors to American corporations bringing money and jobs to the almost exclusively impoverished Cuban masses. A strategy like this could backfire, however, as there may be an unknown swelling and movement for democracy and freedom from the masses once less entrenched leadership takes the helm of this nation. But for now, nothing will change, including the United States' longtime political and economic embargo of the island nation.
It remains to be seen if the United States is statistically in a recession, but in the minds of most everyone, the nation clearly is. With rising unemployment, an evident slowdown in consumer spending, dire concern in the banking industry, and seemingly futile attempts by the Federal Reserve to address the increasing economic reversal, the parts are all in place for at least a recession in the nation with global repercussions. Some, like the professor cited in this article, envision a set of circumstances negatively developing quickly one after another occuring in a largely sequential flow, like dominos falling and tipping additional dominos over. This downward spiral is likely to result in a "catastrophic financial and economic outcome" for the United States. If the current recession continues into the Summer of 2009, we very well may see the professor's forecast come to fruition. Forecasts of this magnitude are difficult to make, particularly over such an extended period of time, because there are so many variables that can factor into what happens, many which are unimaginable and sometimes even seemingly impossible.
This article clearly spells out what has happened in the US recently and what are the consequences of these many ill-advised decisions and actions. It is difficult to have much, if any, optimism about the future even in the short term. The whole system is slowing but steadily breaking down, but the pace of the breakdown is now markedly increasing and become more apparent to anyone who is watching and has any kind of insight or understanding on where we were, where we are now, and where we will be soon. Its a very alarming and unsettling future that awaits us. And even a worse one for the young of today.
Taxpayers for Common Sense is an entity that keeps tabs on activities and practices of various governmental agencies and departments, as well as congressional and senatorial members who determine funding for agencies through their votes and interests. One can access a lot of information and data from this website and see what kind of hijinks and buffoonery is occuring in our federal government, courtesy of nonthinking bureaucrats, greedy persistant lobbyists, and politicians with no perspectives and sensibilities.
This subject was explored on the CBS 60 Minutes newsmagazine report on Sunday evening 17 February with some interesting results. All the nations with greater happiness have more compassionate and generous governments that all but eliminate poverty and economic dispair. These nations have established a social safety net for their citizenry with broad rewards and not the endless rut of the rat race like what is in America. I have always felt I have been living in the wrong kind of nation economically as I abhor competitiveness and the rat race for the most part and have never felt rewarded, satisfied, and fulfilled in any of the work I have had as an adult and the American economic system of which I am forced to be a part of has been an constant eternal struggle and the cause of frequent episodes of depression and mental illness. I guess being a misfit has its price for someone like me being in a nation like the US economically. Reading a story like this and seeing the report on 60 Minutes affirms that I was put in the wrong place on this planet.
Here are a few websites one can go to in order to partially determine or calculate the impact one is making environmentally, or one's "carbon footprint". For most, it is higher than we would like, but as long as one makes an effort in some ways, that is what is important. One person or family cannot save the world, so it is the little things that one has to make count in the big picture.
The biggest city, and only real city, in The Last Frontier is truly a city now, as this article illustrates. With a metro population nearing 300,000 and growing, Anchorage is a more sophisticated and diversified city than just a decade or so ago with plenty of new choices and options for dining, entertainment, shopping, and even nightlife. And global warming is sure to make the climate more hospitable as well in the coming years as the effect will be more amplified in such a northerly location. Add to that the easy availability of virtually every kind of outdoor recreation (with the exception of surfing and tanning at the beach) and one can see why this place is growing. It has be eye-opening to say the least to see the wildlife like moose a part of the urban environment. Maybe there will be a NHL team there within the next 20 years.
Here are some of the many interesting climatological records set in cities across the United States in January 2008. NOAA takes a little longer to compile this list with all the details they must sort through and validate. It is interesting to see most of the warm temperature records occurred across the Great Lakes region and Northeast with Chicago and Syracuse having their warmest January days ever.
Payday loan businesses are nothing more but loan sharks and criminals in the guise of corporate respectability. Their greedy predatory practices and exploitation of society's most fragile and desperate individuals and families is one of the ugliest aspects in modern American society. With rates that effectively gouge consumers at over 350 % annual interest, it is no wonder a backlash is growing against these fiends. Some payday loan businesses are strongly rumored to have connections with funding for terrorist organizations in Europe and Asia. A number of additional states have started to consider enacting laws to strongly regulate these shysters, often to the point of extermination. Twelve states [Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont and West Virginia] have usury laws in place that already strongly regulate these exploitative businesses. The legislation being proposed in Colorado is a strong start on ridding communities of this blight.
With the application of this technology in homes within a decade or so, one of the most likeliest places for germs and disease will literally be able to micromanaged in ways largly unimaginable even recently. This technology will be a godsend for parents and the elderly as they will be able to have greater peace of mind in their homes. Plus it eliminates one of the most unpleasant tasks and hassles. And say goodbye to janitors in restrooms in many, if not most places soon. Public restrooms most everywhere always bring strong feelings of unease and concern over their sanitation and healthfulness. Having public restrooms that are completely cleaned and sanitized after each use would be a tremendous advance in Western Civilization.
The pace of advancing technology is ever quickening, and this report affirms that. It is not hard to believe artificial intelligence within android like robotics being a common place occurrence within a generation. The changes that will take place in our society and elsewhere will be nothing short of profound as most employment that requires little intelligence, creativity, and technical skills will be done by robots, eliminating the drudgery of this kind of work by human beings. Of course, a change of this magnitude will have repercussions throughout society, and it will be an enormous challenge to find meaningful productive work for perhaps as many as 100 million Americans within 30 years. Another generation of anti-Luddites is looming.
A new nation joined the family of nations today in Europe with the declaration of independence by Kosovo. This now makes eight nations that originated out of the former Yugoslavia created after World War I that last over 65 years on the Balkan peninsula in southeast Europe. The new flag is in the upper right, a blue field with a golden map of the nation and six white stars to denote the main ethnicities in Kosovo. Recent decades with war and hardship has been the major feature of life for Kosovans for the last generation with numerous incidents of mass murder and attempted genocide by bitter warring factions. NATO intervention eventually brought a level of control to the countryside, but only after years of struggle. The declaration of independence today is no sure thing for future peace, as both Russia and Serbia denounced the proclamation and likely will work to undermine the independence of Kosovo throught direct and covert acts intended to weaken the Kosova government and re-ignite centuries old factional frictions. Direct military action by Serbia is at least a possibility, making yet another foreign policy crisis looming for the Bush junta. With the creation of a nation in Kosovo, the European continent now has 49 nations.
Like many, I truly do not believe the Bush junta economic stimulus plan will do any good. It basically throws money at people in hopes that it will result in financially propping up flagging banks. This proposal by Robert Kuttener is much worthwhile and will result in a deeper and longer benefits for more citizens in the nation. Much of the economic weakness and shortcomings that are structurally evident in the US could start to be addressed with this proposal, resulting in improvements for many more elements and sectors.
HR2353, The Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008, has been introduced with bipartisan support in the US House of Representatives to deal with the increasing threat of internet freedoms and access being controlled and regulated by outside corporations acting as internet service providers. This serious risk could eventuate in an internet of limited controlled content and restrictions on freedoms of speech and other constitutional liberties. The proposed legislation calls for an internet that "will promote openness, competition, innovation, and affordable, ubiquitous broadband service for all individuals in the United States.” Hopefully these objectives will be achieved to maintain the incredible freedoms and information at ones fingertips that the internet has brought us.
Indeed, to hear words on these critical economic matters by Barack Obama is a positive. Free trade policies pursued by the US government over the last two decades have devastated the American workforce and manufacturing sector. This has resulted in a serious decline in the standard of living and quality of life for many. Families, communities, and society have suffered hardship and noteworthy tragic impacts. If elected, Obama faces an enormous economic challenge to reverse the negatives of this longterm free trade policy approach without causing additional effects that make things even worse. Economic and policy scholars have plans and ideas out there that need to be heard, debated, and considered before the American economy starts to bellyup further.
Robert Reich was the Secretary of Commerce during the Clinton administration and has a key understanding of the American economic scene. His simple, straightforward analyis of the current enlarging economic downturn is very easy to grasp. Wages and salaries for most Americans have all but stagnant for over a quarter-century. The income disparity in the nation is the worst its been since 1929, and we all know what happened in the years following that. Solutions for trying to get the economy going are easy to understand. The tax structure in the nation must be significantly and progressively modified, with noteworthy increases particularly for the wealthy and the largest 5000 corporations. Wages must be increased by at least 40 % if not more in a five year window to economically empower the lower-middle and lower class. And a plan must be into place to re-establish the American manufacturing industry nationwide to allow American dollars to stay in the nations, states, regions, and communities instead of flowing out of the country to places like China and India or into the bank accounts of corporations and the wealthy. The power in the workplace must move back towards a balance or in favor of the worker instead of virtually entirely in favor of the corporations. And the workplace must place an emphasis on education of it's workers children by establishing a work culture that places a premium and value on family, time, and education of the young instead of focusing exclusively on the 24/7 pursuit of sales and profits. In other words, the answer for where we are now can be found in the past, with the American economic model of the 1950s and 1960s modified to fix it in a global economic environment.
The announcement this week by Polaroid that it will shortly no longer manufacture film for its long standing instant picture line of cameras is truly disappointing, but ultimately inevitable. I have owned a Polaroid camera for over a quarter-century, having gotten it as a gift. The film itself was always rather expensive, so I did not utilize my camera extensively. Hopefully the plan to find another manufacturer to continue manufacturing the film will be successful, because even though we are in the newly dawned era of digital photography, there is yet to be an alternative as exciting, attractive, and satisfying as having a snapshot in your hand moments after taking a photograph and not having to link up to a printer or even having to have a printer near.
Earlier I reported on the probability of a dying satellite crashing down over North America with some reminant material having a ground impact. Today's announcement by the Pentagon to use a Navy missile to shoot down and destroy the satellite in the coming days before it enters the atmosphere is probably the best option available, given the fact there is evidently sensitive high security classified equipment and material that the US Defense Department does not want to risk ending up in the hands of anyone that are not absolutely friendly to the US government. Now we don't have to concern ourselves with looking up when that day would have come in early March.
Information released today by the National Association of Realtors shows the depth of the decline in both home sales and housing values in the fourth quarter of '07. The declines are across the board nationally for the most part, but some places are still showing some growth in values and even in sales, but when figures get released in about three months for the first quarter of '08, count on declines all but universally everywhere in both categories. 
Global Warming is occuring at a more intense extent and faster pace closer to the poles. One of the many consequences of this climatic change will be the near certain extinction of many species of penguins in the wild. The King Penguin is in nearly inevitable of becoming extinct in the wild. The other species most imperiled are the Emperor, Gentoo, Chinstrap, and Adélie Penguins. These creatures have little time left as any actions to prevent their demise are too little and too late. The Antarctic continent is undergoing some of , if not the most, serious and rapid changes ever experienced in an ecosystem. This continent very well maybe able support limited agriculture within a generation, a stunning change without question.
Its exciting to hear that a city is being created that will not require ownership of automobiles to work. Its difficult to foresee anything like this occuring in the US with all the sprawling suburbs and modern urban design that all but mandates personal ownership of an automobile to be able to participate and live in modern metropolitan and even smaller areas. Its likely though that concerted efforts will have to be made in many American metropolitan areas very soon with the coming end of easy oil, relatively low fuel prices, and the imminent onset of the consequences of global warming.
This nifty little device with a 6.5" screen is available in Australia and clones of it, probably even smaller, are sure to be selling in the US within the next year or so as the next step in personal computers is nearing. Expect introductory prices in excess of $1200, but as has been seen with other new technologies, a price drop of near or greater than 50 % within two to three years of introduction will occur, making these devices the new mainstream computer technology within five years. This very well maybe the mainstream computer of use for children today who are entering into their secondary education years by then.
Research indicates a pretty good likelihood that either or both Lake Mead and Lake Powell could go all but dry within 13 years. This is a stunning possibility to ponder given the immense physical sizes of these man-made bodies of water created by dams across the Colorado River. I have been to Lake Powell twice and it is enormous and vast. I have crossed the Hoover Dam bridge on five occasions and also seen Lake Mead from other vantage points and it, too, is a vast body of water surrounded by arid mountains and desert like Lake Powell. For these lakes to go dry will require a significant change in winter moisture pattern in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. This current winter has seen an exceptional amount of snow accumulate in the mountains that drain into these lakes, so lake levels may actually rise this spring. But, in addition to moisture in the mountains, another critical factor is the continued population growth and extension of agricultural operations in the basin and region that relies on water from these two reservoirs. The report earlier this week of the massive population growth anticipated over the coming decades is alarming, as a good bit of this growth will be in Arizona, California, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada -- all states that are strongly reliant on water from the Colorado River basin. Still, its difficult these two vast bodies of water all but disappearing.
It is difficult to have any reason to eliminate trees from residential properties in non-fire prone areas. But laws in California give priority to solar panels over trees. With the increasing efficiency of solar panels and wider applications of these clean alternative energy products, conflicts like this are sure to increase. Many homeowners and neighborhoods will have to make the difficult choices between large mature trees that partly or wholly shades places where solar panels would be or are in place or having clean efficient energy sources being utilized. This will not be an easy decision for most, and the courts will be brought into the frays more often that not.
Monday 11 February marked the opening of the 2008 Wyoming Legislative Session in Cheyenne. Even numbered years are sessions that meet for twenty days and are largely focused on assembling a budget for the next two years. Any additional legislation that is taken under consideration is often seemingly superficial or of a type that illicits broad support and requires little debate. For example, an effort to make crimes involving dogfighting a felony instead just a misdemeanor is expected to be easily enacted. The pressure of putting together a workable financially sensible state budget is just too time consuming to allow much debate and discussion on other matters for the most part in these even year shorter sessions.
California US Representative Tom Lantos, a fourteen term Democrat serving southern San Francisco and San Mateo County, passed from cancer on Tuesday 11 February. Lantos had an extraordinary life, escaping from the horrors of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany occupied Hungary in the 1940s to career of distinction in public service in academia and later in Congress.
This article in the Economist points out the disparity of economic circumstances across the nation. The local and state economies are stronger in the heartland and Northern Rockies, while coastal areas, parts of the South and Midwest, and the Northeast urban corridor are feeling the bite more. The agricultural and traditional nature of the economy in those areas still doing comparatively better probably explains in some part why the recession is slower to occur in those locales. A huge factor in this new recession is the effect foreclosures and falling home values are having on local and state economies, primarily in metropolitan and suburban areas. Studies of past economic downturns usually show pockets of the nation that do not fall into recession, or do not stay in recession as other places. The two states at either end of the economic extremes are Montana and Michigan. Other states doing well include most states in the Northern Rockies, Northern and Central Plains, and the Central Atlantic region. Those doing poorly include most in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, the Southern Atlantic Coast, and those in the Pacific Time Zone.
Illinois US Senator Barack Obama scored three decisive victories in the triumvirate of Potomac Primaries on Tuesday, routing one-time leader and favorite Hillary Clinton by nearly 2-1 in Maryland and in Virginia, and by over 3-1 in the District of Columbia. Obama figures to picks up a whale of delegates from these states which will unquestionably give him the lead in committed delegates for the first time clearly in this process. Early estimates this evening show him with at least a 35 to 50 delegate lead over the fading Clinton, who figures to be headed for more losses in next week's primaries in Wisconsin and Washington as well as the Hawaii caucuses. Clinton's last stand will come in three weeks at the Texas and Ohio primaries on Tuesday 4 March. Increasingly, it appears that the will be the end of the longtime Clinton quest for the presidency. Ohio, at one time a sure notch for Clinton, will likely to go with Obama as the Obama wave continues to grow. Texas is still up for grabs at this point, but the momentum and ever-increasing perpetual swelling of support nationally for the Illinois senator probably will result in the Lone Star State joining the movement and choosing Obama.
Arizona US Senator John McCain continued his inevitable march towards the Republican Party presidential nomination with three primary victories on Tuesday in the "Potomac Primaries" of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. The victories will add at least an additional 93 delegates to the estimated 719 McCain already had collected prior to Tuesday. Maryland provides him at least 17 to perhaps as many as 37 more; Virginia gives him all 60 in a winner take all primary; and the District serves up 16 more. These results increase his estimated delegate total to at least 812. Next up for the McCain express is the Wisconsin and Washington primaries, next Tuesday, 19 February.
I always looked forward to reading Jon Talton's thrice-weekly poignant column in the business section of the Arizona Republic until last summer when he was ousted by the powers that be in the publishers office of the Phoenix media giant. I knew he was returning to his first love, fiction writing, but news of his blog concerning public policy and many other issues was given to me recently by my youngest brother who also enjoyed Talton, who has relocated to the Emerald City of the Pacific Northwest, Seattle. Welcome back, Jon, you were missed and I, like many others, greatly look forward to reading your observations and opinions in your blog. Talton does not hesitate to step on feet and elsewhere in his quest for the truth and facts concerning many, often controversial, issues with his often ruthfully honest opinions and observations.
Depending on what media source one accesses, the number of delegates each candidate supposedly has can vary noticeably. There is also the question of superdelegates and where they stand in the realm of things. Of course these numbers will change after the triple Potamac primaries. Look for good gains for Obama and McCain. Polls close at 7pm EST and results should be announced as far as winners within minutes afterward as the concensus is that Obama and McCain should earn easy victories.
