“Have some wine,” the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.
Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea.
“I don’t see any wine,” she remarked.
“There isn’t any,” said the March Hare.
AN ALARM FOR CIVILIZATION
From a current report published in Truthdig.
I wonder what our university students in Colorado would make of this report…through the haze of pot smoke..and its implications for their future and well as for the future of civilization as we have known it.
The information and judgments in the NASA study are far from new. I was teaching the same stuff from an earlier study by the Club of Rome, The Limits to Growth, in the 1970’s.
It appears to be impossible for human beings to curtail their own selfish and greedy demands for more of everything–food, kids, money, people comforts, leisure activities, gadgets, luxury items of all sorts, and on and on. If voluntary personal restraint is required for the survival of civilization–even of the planet itself–I am not very optimistic about the future.
Meanwhile politicians would have us believe that individuals, organizations, and nations are really capable of deferring gratification, policing themselves, self-control, and following even their own rules.
The alarm has been sounding for a long time in our industrial, corporate, capitalistic, world and we have repeatedly hit the snooze button. Our refusal to accept reality–combined with national and world leaders who won’t abandon politics long enough to grapple with real issues–will exacerbate the multiplication and complexity of our existing problems for us, our progeny–if any.
NASA-Funded Study Sounds Alarm for Civilization
Posted on Mar 16, 2014
Photo by daystar297 (CC BY 2.0)
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“The fall of the Roman Empire, and the equally (if not more) advanced Han, Mauryan, and Gupta Empires, as well as so many advanced Mesopotamian Empires, are all testimony to the fact that advanced, sophisticated, complex, and creative civilizations can be both fragile and impermanent.”
These factors can lead to collapse when they converge to generate two crucial social features: “the stretching of resources due to the strain placed on the ecological carrying capacity”; and “the economic stratification of society into Elites [rich] and Masses (or “Commoners”) [poor]” These social phenomena have played “a central role in the character or in the process of the collapse,” in all such cases over “the last five thousand years.”
Technological change can raise the efficiency of resource use, but it also tends to raise both per capita resource consumption and the scale of resource extraction, so that, absent policy effects, the increases in consumption often compensate for the increased efficiency of resource use.
[Civilization] appears to be on a sustainable path for quite a long time, but even using an optimal depletion rate and starting with a very small number of Elites, the Elites eventually consume too much, resulting in a famine among Commoners that eventually causes the collapse of society. It is important to note that this Type-L collapse is due to an inequality-induced famine that causes a loss of workers, rather than a collapse of Nature.
BETTER THAN HEROIN, (they say)
Here’s a truth I discovered early in my life, one that I continue to employ regularly. In the Paris Review, Mary Karr said it well. “[R]eading is socially accepted disassociation. You flip a switch and you’re not there anymore. It’s better than heroin. More effective and cheaper and legal.”
Wow! Flip a switch is right. I don’t venture out of my apartment for any appointment these days without a book in hand. Haven’t for years. For me, it must be a real book, makes no difference if it’s hard or soft bound, must have paper pages, and so it can’t be an electronic version. Not so fast, Mark! I don’t diss all electronic books because I can–and must– immerse myself in a narrated book on tape when I have to perform any repetitive or mindlessly boring physical activity (e.g., treadmill, recumbent bike) for half and hour or so at a time. I confess that in the gym or doctor’s waiting room I do not read Jung, Kant, Plato, or Shakespeare to escape the drudgery or the fear–those authors require concentration and focus and a Wikipedia close at hand. Rather I go for authors who write what I refer to as “chewing gum for the mind” e.g., Nelson deMille or Vince Flynn, Ken Follett, or Daniel Silva.
In the gym setting, it takes but a few seconds of listening to a favorite reader from Audible Books to transport me, entirely, to another place, time, and mental state. These days I am listening to volume 17 of Patrick O’Brian’s 20 volume series of historical novels featuring Aubrey-Maturin. I confess that this is my second time through the series because the narrative is exciting, and because because the narrator’s ability to use a variety of British accents simply ripens the story’s effectiveness in transporting me back in time, up the rigging, and into a life filled with hard ship’s biscuit full of weevils, the taste of lime and Maderia, the smells of tar and gun powder, and the sounds of holystones scrubbing the decks during the morning watch.
The novels are set in Napoleonic times, in the British navy, far removed in time and place from my treadmill at 24 Hour Fitness. I listen with deeply padded earphones that eliminate the ambient noise of crashing weights and screams of Zumba enthusiasts. When my trainer arrives to announce that it is time to begin our session, and touches my shoulder to get my attention, I jump as if hit with a cattle prod, as I struggle to return to Denver from the deck of a 64 gun Man of War in the South Seas c.1814.
My hyper anxiety in the waiting room of a dentist, urologist, cardiologist, or Emergency Room is almost totally relieved or abated if I can sink my conscious mind into an adventure of espionage or become a participant in realistic military action. So necessary is this kind of reading to my mental health that I have mustered the courage brazenly to turn off a waiting room television set, or at least get its volume muted, so that I can concentrate on my of escape from reality via print. I am unable to remove all distractions, unfortunately, such as the telephone calls being made by the receptionist to remind other patients about their upcoming appointments–usually in a loud and strident voice as if increased volume would somehow guarantee attendance at the scheduled time (think Lily Tomlin without the humor). And don’t even get me started on people who use their cell phone in the waiting room to discuss shopping lists, recipes, school problems, personal problems, or politics.
So I’ve figured out how to cope with the realities –and dangers–of my life by flipping the switch, by changing where I am and what I feel by immersing myself in a book. Disassociation has proven to be an important and inexpensive key to improving my mental health. As an added benefit, reading has allowed me to travel without having to deal with the long lines of security checks at airports, to participate in derring-do without putting myself in actual danger, to love-woo-wed-make love, eat sumptuous meals, and to participate in life and events long past.
Forget the X-rays and drills, the diagnosis, the blood draw, the tread mill’s endless challenge. Just flip the switch…
NEW WORDS FOR MY MOST HATED LIST
Add to the following hated words from Lake Superior’s list, the following words I heard too many times during the recent football season: sports commentators’ repetitive use of “the next level” (will he be able to play on “the next level?”) and observations that a defensive back was able to make a tackle “in space.” And now, “Omaha” is perilously close to being added to my list along with “Hurry Hurry.” Maybe I’m just feeling poorly after the Bronco’s loss to Seattle. (Talk about being out in space–the needle and all).
Now add these two lists to my earlier blog, and take an aspirin.
Lake Superior State University 2014 List of Banished Words
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SELFIE
“Named ‘Word of the Year’ by Oxford Dictionary? Give me a break! Ugh, get rid of it.” – Bruce, Ottawa, Ont.
TWERK / TWERKING
“I twitch when I hear twerk, for to twerk proves one is a jerk — or is at least twitching like a jerk. Twerking has brought us to a new low in our lexicon.” – Lisa, New York, NY
“Time to dance this one off the stage.” – Jim, Flagstaff, Ariz.
HASHTAG
TWITTERSPHERE
MISTER MOM
T-BONE
_______ ON STEROIDS
SUFFERING SUFFIXES:
–AGEDDON
–POCALYPSE
POLITICS:
INTELLECTUALLY / MORALLY BANKRUPT
OBAMACARE
SPORTS:
ADVERSITY
FAN BASE
THE SMELL OF THE CRAYONS, THE SOUND OF THE PENCIL SHARPENER
Here’s an interesting article that I ran across the other day. Some of my older readers may appreciate the list.
I miss the taste of paste (wintergreen) and the smell and feel and visual glory (and names) of Crayola brand crayons (which I actually collect to this day). I also miss clapping erasers together to remove most of the chalk dust, and then opening the port to the built-in vacuum system to let the negative pressure do the rest. I also miss blackboards and using white and colored chalk. (I’ve taught in classrooms with the “revised updated” green boards and those white boards that use foul, chemical-smelling markers that stain hands, sleeves and shirt fronts). Cursive writing, for me at least, was always easier than printing which we were never taught. While my results were never as good as Lucy Stansbury’s (class artist), they were passable and I learned to write quickly. I even learned some symbols to speed up taking notes such as “&” for “and” along with the use of arrows and balloon circles.
I also miss my special Scripto automatic pencil with its shorter round, see-through red or blue barrel and pink eraser. I will not miss the wall-mounted pencil sharpeners that I had to clean and that left my hands filthy with carbon black. But I will miss the sharp points that those wall mounters gave my lead pencils (#2 yellow Ticondaroga or Dixon), a point that hand-held sharpeners can’t duplicate. I do miss 16 mm. Bell and Howell movie projectors, less so the slide projector–even those with carousels– or the film strip projectors with their funny beeps. Cigar boxes, of course, were a luxury item for those of us who lived in non-smoking households. I had a deal with the local pharmacist who saved me some every now and then. Cigar boxes could be made to hold a variety of secret, amazing items, including de-coder rings, single edge razor blades for model airplane building, a skate key, a missing jigsaw puzzle piece, a chess piece, a folding scout knife with multiple blades, a match book, cloth “wolf-bear-lion” patches from my blue cub scout shirt, and a spare (oft-misplaced) needle valve that we used with a bicycle pump to inflate basketballs and footballs. You get the idea.
I wonder if enforced good manners have also disappeared? Coloring between the lines? Cutting construction paper to make Christmas Tree chains or Valentines–with a deplorably dull set of round pointed tin scissors? How about peanut butter sandwiched between the halves of a hamburger bun, warm milk in half pint cartons with a straw, fig newtons, brown bananas, or the surprising first taste of V-8?
I reserve a special place in my memory of elementary schools for the smell of mimeograph sheets or ditto sheets. The scent of that ink can still take my imagination through history–across the world, over the times tables, up and down animal kingdom, and in and out of Presidents and capitals. I knew so much, so easily, then. Uncomplicated process and no Software building and testing errors.
What will Millenials miss? Boomers?
Who could have predicted that one day, cursive handwriting would become a hot-button issue along the lines of school prayer and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance? But thanks to computers and texting and all that fancy technology, script handwriting is slowly going the way of the abacus. Many educators believe that legible printing and good typing skills are all today’s students need to learn to succeed in the world, and cursive is a non-essential skill. I recall feeling quite grown-up when I started learning cursive in the second grade — I could now read all that “secret” stuff my mom and other adults were writing down!
Maybe teachers were made of sturdier stuff Back in the Day, or maybe they just had a stock of Valium in the teacher’s lounge…how else did they survive without the “Classroom-Friendly Pencil Sharpeners” that are all the rage? Some are electric, some are manual, but they are quiet and many have a pop-out feature to prevent over-sharpening. Sure, these old-style sharpeners were awkward for southpaws to use, but to take away the fun of grinding a pencil down to a stub just for the heck of it? Sheesh.
THE NEW AMERICA’S CUP
A miracle: Team Oracle pulled it off after being so woefully behind that American ‘yachts people’ were wringing their hands in despair. As for me, I have been depressed and in despair since I first glimpsed the trials on YouTube. The new racing devices bear little resemblance to contenders of yore, and I confess that I could get no emotional juices running this year.
Oracle was a technological miracle, fast as the wind (even faster, it’s said), sported little hull in the water, and could accelerate like a Porsche. Cost of the hardware was well in excess of $10 million. Crew and sponsorship were hardly American.
Call me an old fogey, but I much preferred the line and grace of Lipton’s J-boats and the design and refinements of the subsequent 12 meters that raced to keep the Cup in the NY Yacht Club. Those were beautiful yachts that relied more on design and sailing skill than on mechanics, carbon fibers, and technical sophistication to achieve maximum hull speed.
I celebrate America’s victory, therefore, with a muted “hooray.”
TEXTBOOK PROBLEMS AND BIAS LINGER
SERIOUS SYRIAN AMBIGUITY
This is about how I am feeling this week. Cartoon from Funny Times.
ELLSBERG, SNOWDON, MANNING: PATRIOTS? TRAITORS?
At this point, I come down on the side of Ellsberg, Snowden, and Manning–people who acted on their beliefs and conscience, even if those actions caused them to violate specific orders of the government forbidding that behavior. Whistleblowers at all levels are rarely popular. We know that they act for a variety of reasons–some less than altruistic, e.g., motivations of revenge or jealousy. I know that I personally have to be careful to discriminate among those differences in motivation as well as the intended and unintended results of actions.
In this current case, as Snowden’s and Manning’s leaked material continues to become public, we learn that our government has apparently exceeded its Constitutional and legislated powers and violated a number of individual liberties, along with the sovereignty of many nations abroad.
The good that came from Daniel Ellsberg’s revelations during the Vietnam catastrophe is still vivid in my memory, as is the disclosure of which public officials, in fact, were betraying the country by covering up, using warrantless wiretaps, actively surveilling private communications, and outright lying about the scope of what they were doing. Sounds very familiar.
Our Government was caught napping by the September 11 attacks, but its response, understandably –but not acceptably–appears to me to be an over reaction. The Patriot Act is loaded with good intentions–and I certainly affirm the Government’s necessary role in protecting the Nation. However, as we all know, “the devil is in the details” of choosing what methods are going to be employed, and by whom, in carrying out that obligation to “protect and defend.” Ironically, we appear to be being violated and attacked by the very Government that is ostensibly trying to fulfill its obligation to protect and defend us.
Having learned from what went on in the response to the disclosures and brouhaha surrounding the Pentagon Papers years ago, I’m going to be very slow to judge or condemn Snowden, Manning or the Government out of hand on the evidence I have seen thus far. I do lean in the direction of supporting the whistleblowers again in this case since my critical cynicism has increased with my age.
As I do my pondering, however, I was pleased to run across Backderf’s new political cartoon and Sheer’s article which I will use as I work my way through the complexity of the interplay of ethics, morality and legality in this situation.
The City by John Backderf
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The Good Germans in Government http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_good_germans_in_government_20130625/
Posted on Jun 25, 2013
By Robert Scheer
Yes, Snowden has admitted that he violated the terms of his employment at Booz Allen Hamilton, which has the power to grant security clearances as well as profiting mightily from spying on the American taxpayers who pay to be spied on without ever being told that is where their tax dollars are going. Snowden violated the law in the same way that Daniel Ellsberg did when, as a RAND Corporation employee, he leaked the damning Pentagon Papers study of the Vietnam War that the taxpayers had paid for but were not allowed to read.
In both instances, violating a government order was mandated by the principle that the United States trumpeted before the world in the Nuremberg war crime trials of German officers and officials. As Principle IV of what came to be known as the Nuremberg Code states: “The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”
That is a heavy obligation, and the question we should be asking is not why do folks like Ellsberg, Snowden and Bradley Manning do the right thing, but rather why aren’t we bringing charges against the many others with access to such damning data of government malfeasance who remain silent?
Is there an international manhunt being organized to bring to justice Dick Cheney, the then-vice president who seized upon the pain and fear of 9/11 to make lying to the public the bedrock of American foreign policy? This traitor to the central integrity of a representative democracy dares condemn Snowden as a “traitor” and suggest that he is a spy for China because he took temporary refuge in Hong Kong.
The Chinese government, which incidentally does much to finance our massive military budget, was embarrassed by the example of Snowden and was quick to send him on his way. Not so ordinary folk in Hong Kong, who clearly demonstrated their support of the man as an exponent of individual conscience.
So too did Albert Ho, who volunteered his considerable legal skills in support of Snowden, risking the ire of Hong Kong officials. Ho, whom The New York Times describes as “a longtime campaigner for full democracy [in Hong Kong], to the irritation of government leaders of the territory,” is an example of the true democrats around the world who support Snowden, contradicting Cheney’s smear.
But U.S. Democrats have also been quick to join the shoot-the-messenger craze, ignoring the immense significance of Snowden’s revelations. Take Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. Fool me once and shame on her, fool me dozens of times, as Feinstein has, and I feel like a blithering idiot having voted for her. After years of covering up for the intelligence bureaucracy, Feinstein is now chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and clearly for some time has been in a position to know the inconvenient truths that Snowden and others before him have revealed.
Did she know that the NSA had granted Booz Allen Hamilton such extensive access to our telephone and Internet records? Did she grasp that the revolving door between Booz Allen and the NSA meant that this was a double-dealing process involving high officials swapping out between the government and the war profiteers? Did she know that the security system administered by Booz Allen was so lax that young Snowden was given vast access to what she now feels was very sensitive data? Or that private companies like Booz Allen were able to hand out “top security” clearances to their employees, and that there now are 1.4 million Americans with that status?
As with her past cover-ups of government lying going back to the phony weapons of mass destruction claims made to justify the Iraq War, Feinstein, like so many in the government, specializes in plausible deniability. She smugly assumes the stance of the all-knowing expert on claimed intelligence success while pretending to be shocked at the egregious failures. She claims not to have known of the extent of the invasion of our privacy and at the same time says she is assured that the information gained “has disrupted plots, prevented terrorist attacks. …” If so, why did she not come clean with the American public and say this is what we are doing to you and why?
Instead, Feinstein failed horribly in the central obligation of a public servant to inform the public and now serves as prosecutor, judge and jury in convicting Snowden hours after his name was in the news: “He violated the oath, he violated the law. It’s treason,” she said.
Treason is a word that dictators love to hurl at dissidents, and when both Cheney and Feinstein bring it back into favor, you know that courageous whistle-blowers like Snowden are not the enemy.
AP/Jacquelyn Martin
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, speaks to the media.
A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved. |
PLUTOCRACY AND DEMOCRACY DON’T MIX
The following video is Bill Moyers at his best, and I couldn’t agree more with his point of view. I share it with you–my readers and students–so that there will be no doubt in your minds about where I stand on this issue.
The power of the top economic 1% and of corporations is formidable indeed. Look how much money was poured into the last election, and by whom. Look at the number of millionaires in the Congress. The world appears more and more to be run on “greased palms” and making “The Deal.” Gauge the impact on a world where all transactions are zero sum games, and where quid pro quo dominates political as well as economic interactions.
Note that compromise has become as much an accepted way of life as outright lying, even when it is moral principles or the health and safety of other people–indeed of the planet itself–that get compromised. Self-advancement and getting “ME” ahead–at any cost–appears to be the goal of increasing numbers of my countrymen, especially those who share with me a history of being more or less privileged members of the American economic and social order.
So, you’ve been warned and, I hope, are in the process of becoming forearmed. Keeping yourself vigilant and well educated about public issues is a first step. Next, it is imperative to dig out the alliances as well as the vocalized beliefs of our political candidates. Who’s really in bed with whom?
Finally, in a democracy, we all have a responsibility to defend ourselves against those who are trying to take advantage of us, put us down, take our vote, rule over us or enslave us in any way, and we also have an obligation to help defend and protect our less fortunate neighbors–irrespective of how they came to be less fortunate. Like it or not, we’re all in this together.
Copy and paste if need be.
http://www.nationofchange.org/must-see-video-bill-moyers-slams-rule-1-plutocracy-and-democracy-don-t-mix-1321809065