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Civility

Rebels without a Cause

Remember the 1955 movie “Rebel Without a Cause”?  James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo played three distraught teens, alienated from their families, caught up in teenage toughness, resulting in a tragic accident.  Those were the days when a switchblade knife at school was considered dangerously wrong.  “Blackboard Jungle” that year also showed the disturbing trend, amplified much later in 1972 by “Clockwork Orange,” which portended purposeless violence.

The Rebel Without a Cause movie was titled after the psychiatrist Robert Lindner’s 1944 book of the same title, subtitled “Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath.”

Purposeless violence by psychopaths is our plight these days.

Now we have rebels without a cause, distraught characters hyped up on pretend patriotism, inflicting their psychopathic self-righteousness on anyone they don’t like.  Only instead of switchblade knives, they wield military-grade assault weapons, great for exploding the arms and heads of innocent children and any police who dare try to protect them.

What gets me is the vagueness of the causes of these rebels.  They have reactionary reactions to ill-defined words like “regulations,” “taxes,” or “inflation.”  None of these are defined or understood, they’re just resented with violent vehemence.  Attacking with defensiveness is the ploy.  The nation is beset with a national brain imbalance.  Our amygdalas are afire with hurt, wariness, and hate.  Rage is all the rage. 

That Nancy Pelosi’s husband was hit in the head with a hammer is one bad thing, that there have already been 257 shooting incidents in our schools (as of October 24), already more than the 250 total last year, both up dramatically from earlier rising stats, every one a tragedy, is another.  Children shooting children, for?

Raisin’ ’em up in the way they should go

Unmentioned this week in the general media was the escape of a tortured black woman in Kansas City, with chain wounds around her neck and wrists, who reported her friends had already been murdered by her rapist torturer.  The local black community had been trying to alert the police to a serial killer, only to be put off.  The perpetrator is a very vocal white nationalist who wants to ignite a race war, because?

Here’s what was reported on Democracy Now!:https://www.democracynow.org/2022/10/18/missouri_police_ignored_claims_black_missing

They’re rebels without a cause, but with hammers and guns. 

Those who think more guns will make us safer should see the movie “City of God.”  Teens with guns kill their way for meager income.  They have no cause.

Neither do those who attacked our Capitol on January 6th.  They have lots of anger but not much analysis, remedies, or respect.  They wiped their shit on the walls of the hallowed halls of our American faith.  They hoped to hang Mike Pence, a bland protector of their silly slogans.  They’re being ignored, excused, and encouraged by a Republican party utterly protective of a blatant con-man liar as they smirk about how scared they’re making the liberals, gloating about “liberal tears.” 

Worse are once decent Republicans now too deluded to care.  Worse are the secret rich funders of our failing empire, their “speech” (vast money) protected and hidden as these “persons” (corporations) get 1st Amendment protection.  Our Supreme (ly conservative Catholic) Court protects corporations and guns more than our children or us. 

Too partisan?  No.  You might like to read other rants I’ve posted here on such topics, such as on the Court, https://www.earthlyreligion.com/supremely-assaulting-court/, the warning that America can go to hell, https://www.earthlyreligion.com/america-can-go-to-hell/, and two screeds from 2017 on whether to shoot Trump, https://www.earthlyreligion.com/shoot-trump/ or love him, https://www.earthlyreligion.com/love-trump/.

Too alarmist?  No.  That the media assumes a Republican sweep this election season, daunting our thinking with the manipulated “fact” that worldwide inflation is all Joe Biden’s fault – while ignoring our fright and worry at the quickly magnifying surge in violence without a cause – now, that’s alarming. 

. . . . .

If interested, read my postings on various websites and Twitter exchanges about these topics, utilities, the ethics of energy, Elon Musk, and more, posted here in chronological order:

. . . . .

BBC Says in October of 2022

People are sick of the sickos.

10-2-22 To Ace Hardware (national):

I’m mad at Ace for sending out the survey supposedly leading to a chance to get a free Dewalt EXTREME Drill.  I was pleased to be able to get such a good deal, but at the last step to get it, my Avast warning system lighted up with a MALICIOUS WEBSITE warning!  What the hell is Ace doing by allowing a SCAM? 

I’m landline writing that company, complaining to my local Ace, and going on to NextDoor Neighbor to warn my neighbors about Ace. 

If you explain, apologize, and send me that drill, I will then notify others of that. 

To which they finally replied, two weeks later on 10-17:

“Thank you for contacting the Ace Care Center. We always strive to provide amazing service and have taken care of your request.

I do apologize for the inconvenience; ACE hardware do not provide this kind of promos.

Always verify the sender and should be under an official e-mail address.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact us, back.  Have an Ace Amazing Day!
Respectfully”

To which I replied:

“We always strive to provide amazing service and have taken care of your request,” or so you say in this otherwise utterly passive and irresponsible reply.”  No notice to their Ace customers who might fall prey to the slick scam.  

10-3-22 On Next Door political thread, trying to respond to a tech idea, utilities, and how it’s being discussed:

I pay attention to Eric, George, and I notice your snarky insults too. As to privatization, I see it as often a way to rob the public of services to feed some investors. People like to gripe at government but I see self-run government as “us, taking care of ourselves.” Utilities should serve us while protecting and even enhancing our environment. Putting the TID in tubes seems excessively expensive for such a short time of year, but it might be a long-term savings of our ever more scarce and precious water (along with other water catchments, recycling, etc.). If we were to also add solar to those sections that stay in the sunlight, they could be cleanly and quietly adding electricity to our community supply. All of this should be community-owned towards long-term savings and supply. As to ego clashes and caustic communications on the Council, I regret and avoid them. Generating, evaluating, and improving cost-effective appropriate technologies is a collective responsibility and opportunity. Innovative input should be incorporated.

George Kramer replied, “So, Brad, who is privatizing our utilities?”

I replied:

I’m not accusing you of that, George.  I don’t have the patience to read all of these contentious dialogs.  I was merely voicing my preference for how we do government and how that might help or hurt our society and environment.  Like for many businesses and public services like the Y or our government, I regret the lack of public suggestion boxes.  We could welcome and refine ideas and involvement in our mutual betterment.   

He replied to me:

I certainly agree that Ashland would be a much better place if we had some forum for all voices to be heard. One of the worst things to happen in Ashland in recent years, was the effort to clamp down on public input at city council meetings (3 minutes max presentation, no ability for council to ask follow up questions) and the complete cessation of virtually every other communication forum between the city and the people it served. And then COVID happened, and things just got worse. If I had to point to one thing that has gone wrong in Ashland it would be that, would sadly transformed public discussion into an echo chamber where group think prevailed because everyone in the group has been chosen because they were already in agreement.

And I replied to him:

Thanks, George.  I also regret the loss of our community newspaper.  There’s no central place for the airing of news, opinion, and ads.  I wrote a proposal of how to facilitate that which went into Ashland.news and it went nowhere.  No one really liked it.  One aspect of that was to require contributors to write in their own name.  Anonymous opinions are fun but lead to extremism, sloppy attacks, and phony information.  Another crucial aspect is an affordable way for local businesses, etc., to contribute their ads and info without being so exploited it effectively excludes most businesses. 

So Leda replied to me:

but you and Eric are assigning this desire to privatize with no example of a candidate suggesting that… and I for one am emphatically public vs private. There may be a non profit exceptions but I would want proof of workability. The best example of outsourcing is the janitorial contract to Pathways. And the current council was unanimous in this solution.

And I replied to her:

I don’t wish to accuse any person of calling for privatization, I’m merely on the side of not privatizing our community needs. I haven’t read this extensive back-n-forth enough to know who says what. So far, I respect the various inputs, Eric

 (and I finished my comment after having the above get posted before I wanted it to…)

[to] Leda Shapiro: Dang keyboard!  So far, I respect the various inputs, Eric’s, George’s, and others.  We’re all concerned for the same town. 

She replied:

Brad, if you don’t wish to, how about you stop feeding that false narrative

And I replied:

Leda, I’m not feeding it.  If you read what I wrote, my position is clearly on the side of our utilities not being privatized in general, and not letting community needs serve private profits.  That’s a general statement, not one accusing anyone of saying anything.  I liked that Eric reminded us that our electricity is partly an Ashland utility.  I’m in favor of Ashland creating community-owned solar.  I hope someday the Imperatrise property and other sites are utilized with ample solar.  (To me, concerns for birds and hiking trails are overplayed; whether such a project can tie into Ashland as part of its utility, I don’t know.)  It would be a dramatic visual statement for those traveling I-5 that Ashland is doing something to meet our shared climate predicament.  As I also said I don’t want to read every entry in this long contentious thread.  (Too many contentious arguments in this country for me.)  Please excuse me if how I put it seemed to be “feeding that false narrative.”

Patricia replied:

Tonya Graham basically said the same thing about paying $2 million for solar panels on the police/courthouse/council building. She said that Ashland needs to show the world (really, the world) that we are a forward thinking community. You’re saying ” It would be a dramatic visual statement for those traveling I-5 that Ashland is doing something to meet our shared climate predicament.” I’m saying let’s ensure that our community is affordable for families and seniors to come or remain here.

And I replied to her:

I don’t know of Tonya’s plan.  Such an investment might save money in the long run as it generates expensive energy we’d have to buy otherwise.  That the panels would be on the building isn’t as visible to the larger world as on the Imperatrise hillside would be.  (The Cove roof would mount lots of PV panels and be visible to those in town.)  Being a senior living on the lower end of the typical income, I agree we need an affordable community.  How to do that is open to discussion, I hope.  I’m appreciative of what my town already does.

So Mayor Julie asked me:

How about housing? That’s a community need that’s fully privatized. Are you suggesting we change that?

And in a post to someone else, she in part said:

We give 300 Dollar rebates to people who can afford expensive electric bikes but for those of us struggling to pay rent and utilities—-we get nada.

So I replied to her:

That’s an interesting question.  Utilities seem to me to be communal needs like water, electricity, and possibly the Internet.  Our roads are a common need; I wouldn’t want them privatized, toll booths at many intersections.  If government is “us, taking care of ourselves and each other,” such mutual needs should be provided as efficiently and economically as possible, supporting all to live minimally at least, not shunting off enormous profits to CEOs and Shareholders, as is done with some utilities.  As to housing, it seems utterly privatized by owners of where they live (well, the bank owns it for most of the life of such houses) and by owners of rentals.  As rents and evictions rise, we see how non-communal that is.  Whether the town (and/or nonprofits) could own housing to meet needs is feasible to me.  It might even be income-producing eventually, a fair return on the initial investment and ongoing service.  As to your reply to Harry David disliking the $300 rebate incentives for electric bikes instead of helping with “expensive electric,” etc., I get some help on my electric bill, for which I am grateful.  I also bought a used electric bike (no incentive involved), which I use almost entirely instead of my big, heavy car.  I calculate I’ve saved about $2,000 in two years in gasoline (and not polluted our town and world with that much carbon and other pollutants), not only paying off what the bike cost but keeping that much money here in town.  Such currency flows here in town instead of leaving for Houston or Saudi Arabia, financing more slow, toxic, collective suicide from what it’s doing to our weather and life systems and the wars to support it.  So, $300 is an investment in our own town health and economy.  Magnify that by all the bikes and electric vehicles now in town (and to come) and that the amount of money currently leaving town will be here for us, seems a largely overlooked long-term advantage. 

On Next Door political thread section on Eric Navickes’ nude croquet match:

Reply to Patricia Turner:  I liked Jen Moss too for her innocent boldness.  She made a similar point as mine when I presented a nude sermon at Eric’s Mada Shell art gallery: body shame is insulting to Nature and God.

Patricia replied: I was surprised, no judgment involved.

And I replied to her:

I didn’t mean to imply that you were judgmental, Patricia.  I’m just remembering that era and issue. 

Same day to Cleantechnica article on a Tesla “boating” through Florida streets, to this FUD (Fear Uncertainty Doubt) attempt:

As far as i can tell. The science says that storms arent becoming more frequent and one strong storm does not make for climate crisis. 1930s had more strong storms than anytime since. But, since our recordings have only been around for bout a hundred years, there isnt enough evidence to say that climate change is responsible for strong storms. Besides, if you remove fossil fuels, we will be back to the 1800s in living standards. All plastics, nylon, lubricants, etc. Are derived from fossil fuels. Mayb we can go back to whale blubber.

I replied:

We don’t murder whales for our oil anymore. Besides being unethical, it was uneconomic and doomed for depletion. Nor should we keep injuring Mother Nature with our relentless fossil fuel farts to her face, all of which have accumulated to heat up our air and oceans resulting in the obvious worldwide floods, droughts, etc. That you choose to ignore and mock this huge mutual predicament we’re all stuck in and trying to remedy won’t affect it at all. The 1800 living standards you try to warn us of were cleaner, quieter, and more peaceful than today. We needn’t return to the poop, scarcity, slowness, and slavery of those times, but we can innovate technologies that we return us to clean, peaceful abundance.

10-5-22 reply to a John Fetterman tweet roasting Oz in yet another funny but pertinent way:

John Fetterman should be advising Democratic ad makers. He has humor and punch. The early Lincoln Project ads were also more effective. I’m tired of pages of email appeals for funds for various Democratic races, the money going to what sort of ads in which feasible races?

Same day, reply tweet to Adam Kinzinger, accused of not addressing American issues:

Adam and Liz are the ONLY Republicans focusing on “actual American issues.” The rest desperately try to blame Biden for this worldwide inflationary period fueled by countless companies jacking up prices. Gas prices are down, yet they still blame Biden.

Same day reply tweet to a Flipowski tweet of Herschel Walker’s son exposing his dad as a creep:

I am proud of that boy! Perhaps a future Walker politician.

10-6-22 I replied to this post on NextDoor:

Pam KuhnUpper Tolman2 days ago

For such a small town, Ashland really packs a punch! So many things that make this town one of the most livable places I’ve seen. World class parks and public lands in and around Ashland, providing beauty, hiking, mountain biking, trail running, dog walking and dog play, bird watching, soccer, baseball, tennis, pickleball, volleyball, playgrounds, picnic areas, botanical gardens, swimming, splash pads, community garden, event space, skateboarding, ice skating, skiing and snowboarding, meditative and yoga space, fishing, golf…and the incomparable Lithia Park! And Mt Ashland, Grizzly Peak, Pilot Rock, Oredson-Todd…too many wonderful spots to name. An exceptional array of foods representing a diversity of cultures, cuisines, and price tags…something for everyone. The wonderful artisan small business atmosphere with boutiques, Ashland plaza, Calle Guanajuato, artist fairs and walks, First Fridays, the Coop, Rogue Valley Growers and Crafters Market days. Amazing holiday storefronts like those from the Paddington stores. Superb theater and music with everything from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the free Green Show to Rogue World music to street performers. One of the best public-school systems in Oregon with a community that supports them. Teachers and administrators who really do care about the kids. And wonderful alternative options to public school, like the Siskiyou School. Phenomenal parades and festivals. I remember for our first Halloween Day parade; we attended reluctantly thinking there’d be about 100 people… The farms, ranches, wineries, and breweries of the Rogue Valley! An abundance of outstanding medical and wellness facilities with everything from a great hospital to the most obscure alternative healing techniques. Chozu bath and tea gardens, Jackson Wellsprings, phenomenal yoga studios, acupuncture, massage, herbalists, nutritionists… A friendly, warm, and caring community. I’ve had friends visit from the Midwest commenting about how friendly people are here. Thriving communities for all ages from kids to seniors. An incredible mix of activities for all ages from soccer to ballroom dancing. YMCA, the Ashland Senior Center, and a diverse array of kid activities from aerial silks to theater to music to just about any type of sport. Many thanks to the city government, schools, Ashland Food Bank, OHRA, emergency shelters, faith-based and non-profit community for doing what they can so that people are housed, fed, equal, and experiencing equitable outcomes. The welcoming and inclusive Southern Oregon University, with its beautiful campus, educating over 5,000 students while bringing young and eclectic energy to the town. The staff and workers that make all of this possible, from city workers to service workers to healthcare workers to teachers to city counselors, providing critical services and all those little touches like the flower baskets on the flagpoles in spring. I know there are serious challenges and there’s always room for improvement, just as there is everywhere. But I am very grateful to be here.

By adding this:

Thanks, Pam for these appropriate reminders.  Basic brain science tells us gratitude serves our well-being.  Our larger society, and even here in town, seem gripped by a brain imbalance, a social neurosis, amygdales raging at all past, current, and future wrongs.  Gratitude for what’s good and getting better is healthy for persons and wise for society.

10-7-22 to a Cleantechnica article on the Lectric XP Lite

My son has a Lectric. It works great. The price is better than most. I believe it is the bestselling e-bike in the U.S. The young company is quick and courteous in responding to needs.

10-8-22 to Cleantechnica article on rooftop solar incentives to be reduced, replying to Bespectacled Ape’s:

Amazing what suckers we are. PG$E got away with their part of the Enron crisis (people died), for San Bruno they got a slap on the wrist (people died), and they repeatedly start fires like Paradise (people died) but the CPUC still wants to make their investors “whole.” The oil companies and even OPEC have taken note, and are happily gouging America with abandon. The MAGAots love it because it’s bad for Biden. We need to regain control of our government and the CPUC is a good place to start.

I replied:

Why are utilities paying investors and CEOs so much? While we argue about pennies, how much are such people making off the California situation?

Enron ethics perhaps persist.

I’d like to rely on California’s CPUC, CARB, and other agencies to direct our technologies and economies toward universal fairness and environmental benefit, but these shenanigans look suspicious.

10-10-22 to Daily KOS on Oregon’s new district and the tricks being imposed there:

I lived in southern Oregon and knew very little about this important race due to the lack of community newspapers.  Our local one, The Ashland Daily Tidings, founded in 1876, got purchased by an out-of-stater aligned with Sinclair Publishing (a significant owner of newspapers across the country, putting out Fox-lite news) who then went on to dissolve the Tidings, and later, the also the larger Medford paper too as a print paper (going to a video version).  We have no community newspaper other than scattered free ones, Facebook, etc., and online attempts at minimal reporting and commentary.  So, thanks to national KOS for informing local me.

The Right has usurped much of our news.  Reagan ended the fairness doctrine in the 80s, then the only radio most could get was right-wing Christian or right-wing angry Rush Limbaugh types.  Liberal thinking is increasingly unavailable in our media and precarious in our politics and government.  This race is indicative of their declaring liberals as “them” to be defeated in a win/lose mindset as increasingly crass and violent persons become our “representatives.”  Secret big money deliberately tries to ruin our Oregon liberality by ramping up fear of crime and taxes via shallow, simplistic slogans in a deluge of skillfully slick tv ads.  Tragically, with no real newspapers to report about it, they could win.  

10-11-22 to KOS thread on local media, a respondent recommended his local FM station and Democracy Now!, and I replied:

I admire Democracy Now! on KSKQ and visually on our PBS station.  It can dwell on relentless reasons to be sorrowful or angry, but it covers a much wider spectrum of what’s “the news,” including knowledgeable commentary, like the recent Vijay Prashad and Noam Chomsky’s revealing our U.S. prevented a negotiated resolution to the Ukraine tragedy.  

Same day, reply tweet to Adam Kinzinger’s mocking McCarthy’s stubborn lies that Trump didn’t know:

Proud of your Country First’s list of crucial candidates willing to overcome The Big Liars and the MAGA menace. Americans need to know of the domestic enemies in our midst. When is the next Jan 6 Hearing Presentation?

Same day, reply tweet to Ron Filipowski’s sharing Roger Stone’s expecting to be smeared by the next Jan 6 Hearing:

Stone’s smear stokes my sneer!

Same day reply tweet to Kinzinger’s supporting Democrats:

I’m proud of Adam for his daring integrity and deeper patriotism. He’s much better than the pretend patriots who attack our government, democracy, and society.

Same day reply to a Flipowski tweet of Tulsi Gabbart’s slam of Democrats:

I disagree with her shallow slogans – “complete control,” “elitist cabal,” cowardly,” “divide,” and “undermine,” … but agree that unrelenting wokeness seems smug and offputting, and I am increasingly alarmed at Biden’s ramp-up of a militarized approach to Russia and China.

10-12-22 to Cleantechnica article on Chinese BYD building school busses in S. California:

I’m glad BYD is creating electric buses and relationships here in the U.S.

Is Leonardo DiCaprio still a spokesperson for BYD?

Same day to Cleantechnica article on NASA breakthrough with lightweight solid-state batteries:

Cynical Americans elect a party whose slogan is “government is bad,” only to find that campaign promise fulfilled, or rather, inflicted.

Yet here we see tremendous potential benefits available for our economy and environment from our government which, as should be, is “us taking care of ourselves and each other.”

Same day to Cleantechnica on deconstructing buildings and building them to be reused:

Or build to last, like the Greeks and Romans did.

I fume when I see a huge machine show up to smash down an old house, tumbling it into a landfill, mostly. Instead, whole sections could be dismembered and reused in other house remodels, sheds, chicken coops, etc. Some businesses recycle house parts, which is fine.

The labor and danger would be considerable, but if liability protections to the owners were provided, do-it-yourselfers could rescue and reuse much of the structure. It seems unethical to waste reusable materials.

Same day to Cleantechnica Steve Hanley article on new UK prime minister preventing solar:

I like your writing, Steve – punchy and pertinent.

Liz Truss and Boris Johnson are counterparts of Trump. She and they serve the fossil fuel machine, as does the Federalist Society imposing their stodgy judges to legislate from the bench their conservative economics and “morality” into our formerly balanced and friendly society.

Remember when the John Birch Society and Barry Goldwater were too extreme? Such reactionary dangers have grown like cancer in the U.S. and worldwide.

Steve Bannon must be proud. They’re good at what they do, it’s just that what they do isn’t good.

Steve replied:

Great comment, Byron. Interesting how conservatism conserves nothing and consumes everything, including our earthly home. They prefer to live with no rules, no restrictions, no impediment to their insatiable thirst for money and power. They don’t want a level playing field. They want to exclude anyone else from playing their game of maximum acquisitiveness. It is like playing soccer, football, of baseball with no referees or umpires. It is madness but the power that wealth brings makes it all possible.

Thanks for joining the conversation.

My reply to him:

Too true, tragically.

Just what do conservatives conserve, other than making profits no matter what it does to others and our environment?

10-16-22 to Dan Rather regarding his remembering Angela Lansbury:

To say nothing of her being a proud socialist. Bland NPR also neglected to tell this important part of who she was. Only on Democracy Now! did I learn of this after she died.

(to which 10 people had “liked” it by now.  It was posted Saturday, I think)

10-16-22 to Cleantechnica article by Steve Hanley on popular anger at Elon Musk

I have resented how easily people will attack a successful person, like hounding Elon Musk for any ambitious or outlandish comment, resenting him because he’s smart, skilled, and rich. I’ve defended him here on this site for his forward-thinking and get-it-done success, especially his transformative purpose to quickly replace fossil fuel technologies with EVs and clean energy gathering.

But I waver about him after his trite insults to Democrats and his favoring Republicans – even as they systematically attack our government, society, and environment. He’s wrong, and he’s smug about it. If reaction to that cuts into the sales of Teslas, that’s okay, especially as more affordable options pick up the “quick transition” load Musk favored but left to other companies.

I’m still interested in his big thinking, glad he got the transition to EVs speeded up, and curious but wary about his Starlink and X (new social network platform, using Twitter in a larger scheme) aspirations. I’m for free speech but leery of it being used on us by wealthy wizards and their bots.

As to Ukraine, I regret the US/UK-led scuttled diplomacy that results in mass tragedy for Ukrainians and Russians as it feeds fears of war and funds arms merchants. What a waste of attention and resources – just when we need worldwide cooperation in fixing our century’s old mutual human blunder of fossil-fuel-driven planetary inflammation.

10-17-22 respond to a tweet calling a Wash Po report of white political power itself racist:

I agree. As an aged, white, heterosexual male, I resent being clumped in with the crude and cruel types that I’m not. Dems have rightly championed the causes of blacks, women, gays, etc., but have failed to welcome us whites with pickups and patriotism who care for all.

Hitler would have made a great antichrist, except we’ve had Stalin, Pol Pot, etc., since. Putin? Potentially. Comparing the Sudetenland to Crimea and Donbas? Possibly. Whether the Russians living in those eastern provinces fear Kyiv’s new Nazis or the Russian invaders? I don’t know.

I remember Russia lost twenty million fighting Nazis earlier, which leaves them a bit paranoid, especially as promises to not make Ukraine a NATO country appear systematically ignored. It’s a new mess that the US/UK helped create, scuttling earlier potential diplomatic negotiations.

I regret the pain for all involved, a monumental misdirection of attention and resources away from fixing global warming. The hapless civilians and soldiers on both sides get the brunt of the wasteful ruin, not Putin, Biden, the arms makers, merchants, etc.

10-18-22 to John Cobb while hosting journalist Chris Hedges on zoom:

What’s the chance of a monitored and fair vote by those residents in the disputed eastern regions, not a Russian-intimidated and western news-slanted version of those people’s wishes?  Can the neglected proposed negotiation parameters be restored?

I’m no Trumpist, but I feel betrayed by Biden and the war machine.  Negotiations were scuttled.  The only winners are the arms makers and merchants.  Otherwise, it is the hapless soldiers in Ukraine and Russia and the civilians who bear the brunt of this needless and dangerous tragedy. I am leery and ashamed of Biden’s rattling of sabers at Russia and China, just when we need mutual efforts at fixing global warming.

Independent energy supply via solar and wind will free us from the exploitation usually involved and the wars to keep those profits going.  Local energy, food, transport, etc. will help all places be self-sufficient, as John Cobb is saying.

The guru Anandamurti, writing as his given name Sakar, recommended local production of local needs.  He founded the Ananda Marga worldwide community.  It is active in the Philippines and South America; I don’t know if it is active in China.  I admire their service ethic.

I’m re-reading “Small is Beautiful” now, subtitled “Economics as if People Mattered.”  I remember his promoting “intermediate [appropriate] technology,” though I haven’t reached that idea in his book and I’m nearing the end.  I remember the reaction to his daring to assert that small can be beautiful and appropriate.

10-20-22 to KOS on Dem Katie Porter explaining what companies are driving inflation:

Shy of the windfall profit taxes or breaking up monopolies, both of which won’t happen quickly, Democrats could Fight Back with simple and conspicuous examples of big oil/grocery chains/etc., as being The Main Cause of inflation.  

As is, they’re letting Biden take their vague accusation as if he alone causes inflation.

Republicans win by sneering at vague topics, blaming Biden for inflation or whatever the current gripe is, and Democrats let them by not countering with anything other than being noble losers, the whipping boys of the right.  

I agree with Michael Moore’s prediction that a Blue Wave will trounce the Trumpists.  People are sick of the sickos.  But Democrats need to say so with pizzaz, like Fetterman and Val Demings do.  

Same day replying to Evees’s post of Katie Porter on Cleantechnica:

Thanks for posting Katie Porter’s takedown of the silly, sloppy accusations that Biden alone causes inflation. Such drivel drives some people’s “thinking” unless countered, as she does.

10-22-22 reply Tweet to Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer:

I’m from Michigan, and even from out here in Oregon I can tell she’s brave and principled, enduring the silly hate of low-life magats, the enemies of America. May she be safe and successful! Proud of you, Gretchen!

Responding to Jenifer Cohn tweet on Christian Dominionism:

Ironic that America was founded on the abhorrence of Christian zealotry (like the Inquisition) only to have new idiot fanatics wield their pretend patriotism. Poor Jesus has his name and message defiled over and over. The devil sports a clerical collar.

10-27-22 response to John Doyle’s otherwise impressive ‘catastrophe-check’ for the UN:

Scary, but too passive. We won’t stop doing civilization in order to “let the planet be a healthy planet.” His dismissing machines that fix the problems of other machines is too glib. Machines now create LEDs that shine brighter for less energy than older incandescent bulbs. Would he have us slaughter whales for our reading lights? Using robots to create electric vehicles that we power from the ever-renewing sunlight and wind invests in materials that provide our desired mobility in ways that stop polluting with fossil fuels.

Just as our little acts (from cooking fires, to building houses, to running steam engines, to burning coal, oil, and natural gas, all contributed to the climate catastrophe we’ve blundered into, so will intelligent and efficient use of technology provide ways of living that will help heal the harm we’ve done.

His dismal pronouncement is passive and fatalistic. It’s true enough to warrant our collective efforts at the ingenuity to rapidly change our evil ways. But asserting we’re all gonna die and we’re past redemption is dramatically cynical. As we find the will, we will find the ways.

I wrote of it in my monthly screed, my sermonic rant: https://www.earthlyreligion.com/the-storm-is-coming-disinformed-is-worse-than-misinformed/

Same day to Cleantechnica article on China’s BYD making 2 million solar modules in Brazil:

Good for BYD in Brazil! Every bit of switching from dirty, nonrenewable resources to clean renewable ones will help extricate us from our common predicament.

10-28-22 to NY Times Opinion on the Fetterman/Oz debate coverage:

NBC dwelled on the minor speech ability issue but never told of Oz’s out-of-state houses, how slogan-rich but dull-witted he is, nor that Fetterman is well-liked in Pennsylvania and the country. Such media seems intent on imposing a Republican surge when a Blue Wave is rising.

Same-day reply to Adam Kinzinger’s tweet showing mob attacking capitol:

Fascist Republicans ignore and excuse this because it is what they’d impose as the future of America, riled thugs attacking our government, police, and society. This dangerous trend is the 2nd worst moment in American history after the Civil War.

10-30-22 reply to tweet of Obama remembering Social Security:

Democrats created Social Security. Republicans resisted it and still seek to undermine it. Republicans are the party of Anti-Social In-Security.

Same day on KOS comment on Fetterman/Oz reporting:

Why only one debate?  Why a debate so structured to be rapid-fire and tense?  Why is the NY Times trying to dwell on word stumbles while the snake oil doctor wows viewers with slick but empty gibes? 

Why does Chuck Todd on Face the Nation let a string of Republicans assert the main thing on people’s minds is inflation, as if only Democrats created it, ignoring voters alarmed at armed fascists trying to intimidate their way to even more power? 

Trump warned of Fake News only to promote even Faker News.

Americans need to stand up to chant: The News Will Not Replace Us!

10-31-22 to a Cleantechnica forum on Elon Musk buying Twitter, on reviewer wrote this realistic concern leading to an interesting thread:

and wants to fix Twitter’s “strong left-wing bias.”

Ooh, this is creepy. Now Musk will probably allow Trump to spew out his hate speech and lies again, cultural pollution.

And Carolyn: saying «we know Musk is brilliant» is a bit mindless. He is a brilliant engineer and business man, but that is no help in understanding society or politics, which he does not

To which another replied:

“Strong left-wing bias” is just right-wing-speak for “can’t post conspiracy theories and idiotic lies with the purpose of spreading division (increasing tribal insularity) and hate (which may or may not lead to violence, but we didn’t pull the trigger, swing the hammer, etc., so we’re OK).”

Remember when Musk tweeted that he was voting with Republicans because the Democrats had become the party of division and hate? That’s called transference, a trait that the right has engaged in more and more as they get more and more nutso and extreme. It’s accusing your opponents of doing what you yourself are doing – sometimes even before you do it.

It has become so bad that any time some GOP nutter makes a wild accusation that Dems are doing X, I see it as a tell or tip-off. And more often than not, that’s what they’re doing or will soon do.

Once you recognize this pattern you’ll start seeing it all-too-frequently.

And another replied to him:

Yeah I agree he is wrong on that one but as a Democrat they have started to annoy me as well. And by day I mean the extreme left of the party with their nonsense on things like which Halloween costumes are too offensive to wear etc. They’ve become the no fun wing of the party. Now granted that is not nearly as threatening as the fascist kind of violent right-wing movement in this country that doesn’t even believe in elections. I just wasted gave a little less ammunition to the other side. But Trump will be back on Twitter and if he’s not arrested and in jail he will be the next president if he’s alive they’re already fixing the electoral processes and key States he’ll be back on Twitter and then the dye will be cast

So, I put in this:

I agree, “the no fun wing of the party.” Too woke for me, and I’m beyond left. Why are the Republicans the only ones having drug-fueled sex orgies?

On the other hand, I don’t want to go to any such parties if Elon is there. That creeps me out.

The left gets accused of being libertine. Would that it were so!

And got this reply:

They used to be, Bill Maher had a thing on that a little while back about how the right wing was always be uptight ones in the left or wild and fun but now not so much

To which I replied:

When the MAGAt deplorables protest and party, at least they’re colorful and having loud-mouthed fun. I’d resent them more if I didn’t suspect this could be the only passionate, proud time of dreary, anxious lives. Kinda sad. When I remember “hurt people hurt people,” I have some compassion for their dangerous antics.

Meanwhile, those on the left are expected to declare their pronoun preference from behind masks of marginal utility.

I suspect Elon’s accusation that the left is divisive is because of woke pc pressures, which he resents. I agree with woke pc principles, but I resent being pushed to say so. Meanwhile, when comes the party?

Later that day, this part of the thread:

On the same thread, fcfcfc wrote:

“Abstract
The American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association have suggested for many years now that there is significant empirical evidence supporting the claim that homosexuality is a normal variant of human sexual orientation as opposed to a mental disorder. This paper summarizes and analyzes that purported scientific evidence and explains that much (if not all) of the evidence is irrelevant and does not support the homosexuality-is-not-a-mental-disorder claim. As a result of their deficiencies and arbitrariness, the credibility those two groups that are typically deemed authoritative and trustworthy is called into question.”

The creation of the word “Homophobia” in its extensive use today, is just another misdirection, or transference if you like, to deflect guilt to the accusing party.

Homo: from the Latin meaning like or same.
Phobia: from the Greek meaning an intense fear or hatred.

Even IF such an attitude exists, do you really think such large numbers exist fitting that REAL definition? No. Homosexuality like Pedophilia, Schizophrenia, Intermittent explosive disorder, Sociopaths, the list unfortunately goes on and on is just another abnormal social behavior that used to be kept in “The Social Shadows” (Closet) with all the others. DO you think Brian Epstein or the very top of the Religious Hierarchy would be welcome at wealthy parties if they practiced their social pleasure’s in broad daylight, rather than in the social shadows? I don’t think so. Bring those into broad daylight and watch the social scene blow up.

Feeling negative against the behavioral acts (Particularly if observed) of Homosexuality is no more “Homophobic” than saying to someone, “I don’t care for you cloths you are wearing today”, being classified as “Hate speech”.

The use of these RE-DIRECTION tactics, just like the thief or the car crasher supporting the Red party, does not gain or loose credibility based on which “side” chooses to use them.

To which I replied:

Any questions or unease at the topic of homosexuality gets treated as homophobia, as if that means violence against gays. It doesn’t open a conversation; it shuts it down. Mere questions and opinions become “hate speech.” It’s part of reactionary divisiveness bound to prevent mutual understanding or inclusiveness.

And he (or she) replied:

Yes, but more than that it is designed to polarize a population using instinctual reactions over intellectual ones where the truth is so obvious. This to me is the quintessential motive logic that gets missed.
If you want to polarize for the purpose of paralysis regarding the status quo or weakening a “structure” (Democracy), what is your greatest fear?
Answer. That the two sides will reach a consensus of understanding and solution, and then be able to “see the light” about WHO is shafting them. Choosing Homosexuality was brilliant because it not only seeks to normalize that which is instinctually abnormal, but allows for the attack on the institution of marriage which is another “sacred” area for middle America via religious entanglement. When you pile on all the other valid offerings (Gasoline to the fire), it was able to topple the USA into January 6th, all while preventing wealth distribution (Taxes etc..) and an agenda for the betterment of middle America.

And I replied to that:

Wow. That is an insightful analysis. I spoke and wrote about it with trepidation in terms of including gays in community: https://www.earthlyreligion… and in terms of the definition of marriage: https://www.earthlyreligion…. Both were risky topics, and I hope I addressed them with sensitivity and intelligence. Contentious issues rile us up on various sides of the issues. The PBS series Hacking Your Mind does a great job of explaining the vulnerability and how that gets exploited, much as you describe here.

Same day to Cleantechnica on GM suspending advertising on Twitter:

The internet allows anyone to say anything no matter how wrong or riling. This could all be fixed by requiring all who post to do so in their own name.

To which evee replied:

Be careful what you ask for. You could find yourself doxxed, or hounded by extremist groups.

And I replied to her (or him):

Right. That’s the fear, and if all who posted were to have to do so in their own name, perhaps they wouldn’t be so blatantly vile and offensive.

. . . . .

But then, before going out in my outrageous costume for Halloween, news of Lula Da Silva’s return win in Brazil over the Trump-like fascist Bolsonaro.  Good news!

Much of Southeast America (sorry, it’s not South America, it’s Southeast America.  Look at it on the globe or a map) is showing happy, hopeful breakthroughs of democracy, the people acting on their own behalf and their environment’s. 

Instead of the ongoing, ecological radical eradication of Brazil’s crucial forests, some hope for ecological care for the immediate and long term. 

Instead of the suddenly-growing worldwide stumble into fascist authoritarianism, some joy for the many of us who just want a peaceful, pleasurable life.

Instead of the cringe of yet another round of futile conflict, some relief for all involved, Bolsonaro, Trump, all of us.

It helps me have some hope that Michael Moore is right, that a Blue Wave is coming in the U.S. that repudiates and reverses the take-over otherwise currently expected.  Americans aren’t as crude, cruel, and crazy as the Trumpists. 

I hope.

. . . . .

But then, before getting out of the door, an Amanpour report of widespread hostile intimidation of long-time election monitor volunteers, driving them out of their roles for fear of vitriol and violence. Even the reporters were threatened.

Such evils erupt in humans. We’ve endured and transcended the Inquisition when the adamant believers put others to the rack and worse. Self-righteous zealotry is the bane in our human community. I thought America meant not letting kings, popes, or pretenders to take over.

We’ll see.

Byron has been using his writing and public speaking to engage, challenge and inspire audiences for over 40 years. Reverend Carrier's mission is to rescue and revive our earthly Eden, including our human worth and potential. If you enjoy his work, consider supporting him with Patreon.

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Teja
Teja
2 years ago

“The nation is beset with a national brain imbalance.” ~ well said, Byron Bradley.

Last edited 2 years ago by Teja
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