Gosh, another surprise.

So the great Bush recession - the one that nearly turned into a catastrophic depression- was only an economic downturn for some of us. Turns out the richest are still getting richer. What a surprise. It's trickle down economics all the way.

Why are we not surprised?

Of course there are resources to steal in Afghanistan. It was obvious. Every was is about stealing resources when you get down to it.  But now we know exactly what kind.

Drill Baby, Spill?

It was almost 30 years ago that Ronald Reagan was elected POTUS, and thus was birthed the United Corporate States of America. In 1986 he took the highly symbolic step of removing the solar panels from the White House roof.  His presidency solidified the supremacy of the oil powers, and set us firmly on the path toward 9/11, and the wars Afghanistan, and Iraq. The massive environment disaster in the gulf coast is the outward manifestation of the blackness that has shadowed us ever since.
Long live The Corporation!

They can't adjust their "schema".

The book I discussed in an earlier post - Deep Survival- is an analysis of how we form mental models or maps of our environment. These mental models are known as  schemas - and our schema determines how we respond to events. The definition of a conservative is one who is uncomfortable with change, unable to modify his/her schema. We certainly saw that last night when the Republicans, again acting like a nest of robot ants, voted in a solid block to obstruct reform of our financial system. Their pattern of sticking solidly together and blocking any victories for Democrats has worked very well to keep them in power in the past. But it has nearly destroyed our country in the process. No Republican so far has had the guts to defy the herd leaders, and work for the good of the country. Too bad. This particular schema will either destroy the Republican party, or the American culture. I hope it's not our culture that goes down in flames.

Drill nowhere - build solar collectors instead

Among the many many compelling reasons we MUST  break our addiction to fossil fuels, is the inescapable fact that offshore rigs and coal mines are highly vulnerable to the kind of disasters we have seen this month. When people talk about developing our own resources, they don't seem to be aware that "our own" resources will be sold on the open market, and may very well go to benefit the Chinese, rather than Americans. The so-called conservatives have not said anything about nationalizing our oil or coal reserves, so far as I can tell. So we pay the costs in lives, and the environmental costs of cleaning up or living with the pollution.  Tax payers subsidize the oil companies and coal companies; the irreplaceable resources go to the highest bidders; the energy companies get richer and richer, and the SOB's don't even bother to throw us the loose change from their pockets for a tip.

OK Tea baggers - This ought to get you riled up good.

How about this new bill that gives the police the power to take you to jail if you are not dressed "appropriately"? According to this Arizona bill - SB1070 - any police officer can arrest anyone at anytime without a warrant if that officer thinks you might be in the country illegally. Representative Bilbray says that police can tell if someone is illegal by the way they dress.  It is now a crime to be poor or to have a different taste in clothes in Arizona.  This bill also  makes it illegal for you to stop your car and pick up someone on the street to work for you. Talk about yer big government nanny state. I can't wait to hear the uproar from the libertarian tea party side about how this law infringes our civil liberties. 

Climate change that threatens civilization isn't enough to worry you?

So we are going to run out of oil anyway. What kind of idiot will dispute that non-renewable resources are in fact limited? I did hear some fruitcake claim that there is an oil machine under the Earth surface magically pumping out fresh oil from..... some magic cook pot? It wasn't clear from his discourse.
So are we determined to destroy the environment before civilization crashes from energy starvation? Or maybe we could start RIGHT NOW to seriously make alternate renewables our FIRST priority.
Hey, a blade of grass can do it. Why can't we?