Surveillance - it's never been just a Republican thing. They just get the credit for starting it all. And Obama and his minions are right behind it.
Salon article summarizing recent troubling developments.
2011/05/29
2011/05/28
Can I Get a Witness?
I've been caught in the whirl of Spring this year, and my blog has suffered for it. The growing things call me - plants, dirt, weeds, children - all pressing me with their needs and love. All are givers, all take something in return. I give myself as freely as I can; in return I get the chance to understand the absolute "yes" of plants and the in- and inter-dependence of children.
In addition to growing things, there is still the possibility of this frac sand mine 3 miles from our house and right next door to our friends' house, and Fukushima now has officially-confirmed meltdowns in three of the four reactors and insane radiation levels in the ocean, and my children had chickenpox, and my partner is busy someplace else with his 20-year-old band, and there are the frogs and the robins and the aphids and all the rain. The world as we know it is forever changed, as far as I can tell. For me, it is a feeling of irrevocabilty, of the newest political trends toward control and fascism, of a radioactive planet, of contaminated food, soil, air, and breast milk, forever. That despite the actions of a few that affect the whole, including non-human life, there can still be poetry and delicious transgression and radical actions and humor that create real human relations without dogma - be it religion, pacifism, abuse, or science.
And to top it all off, I have an idea.
I want to publish a blog of local nature writing: mundane, beatific, transcendent, holy, joyful, scared, funny, thoughtful writing. Whatever people are thinking and feeling. Because right now all of us are fighting really hard for our ways of life - some of us more than others - and it seems like the right time to share a little reflection of what it is that we see when we look into the mirror of right outside the door. I believe that women's voices are especially important right now, that we have a relationship with and responsibility to wild life that is precious and maybe sacred. I want to help share this kind of writing here in my neck of Wisconsin, and hope people might want to read it. And there are tons of interesting people with interesting observations and thoughts about the world up in here. What do you think? Please share your comments. This is still in the brainstorm stage, and I am trying to gauge interest and possibilities.
In addition to growing things, there is still the possibility of this frac sand mine 3 miles from our house and right next door to our friends' house, and Fukushima now has officially-confirmed meltdowns in three of the four reactors and insane radiation levels in the ocean, and my children had chickenpox, and my partner is busy someplace else with his 20-year-old band, and there are the frogs and the robins and the aphids and all the rain. The world as we know it is forever changed, as far as I can tell. For me, it is a feeling of irrevocabilty, of the newest political trends toward control and fascism, of a radioactive planet, of contaminated food, soil, air, and breast milk, forever. That despite the actions of a few that affect the whole, including non-human life, there can still be poetry and delicious transgression and radical actions and humor that create real human relations without dogma - be it religion, pacifism, abuse, or science.
And to top it all off, I have an idea.
I want to publish a blog of local nature writing: mundane, beatific, transcendent, holy, joyful, scared, funny, thoughtful writing. Whatever people are thinking and feeling. Because right now all of us are fighting really hard for our ways of life - some of us more than others - and it seems like the right time to share a little reflection of what it is that we see when we look into the mirror of right outside the door. I believe that women's voices are especially important right now, that we have a relationship with and responsibility to wild life that is precious and maybe sacred. I want to help share this kind of writing here in my neck of Wisconsin, and hope people might want to read it. And there are tons of interesting people with interesting observations and thoughts about the world up in here. What do you think? Please share your comments. This is still in the brainstorm stage, and I am trying to gauge interest and possibilities.
 |
| Kodama/tree spirit in the film Princess Mononoke |
2011/05/13
Frac Sand Mining
There is a raging hot issue in my neck of the woods that is pissing me off and making me work hard to figure out what I can do to stop it: a frac sand mine is proposed a couple of miles from my house in western Wisconsin. I will post more about this in the future, but it's hard to find time with it being Spring and planting season and cooking our meals and cleaning up our meals and housework and parenting duties and all that. And I don't even farm! I have a relative life of luxury.
I will share here many of the questions and ideas that come to me that I may not have other opportunities to express, which will hopefully help me organize myself and kick some corporate ass. And as you might expect, it won't always be pretty, because I refuse to accept our community being treated as a place that most of the world considers a valuable resource for the rest of the population, so the US can continue our swift plummet into the deep abyss of the end of Empire - and all that entails.
I will share here many of the questions and ideas that come to me that I may not have other opportunities to express, which will hopefully help me organize myself and kick some corporate ass. And as you might expect, it won't always be pretty, because I refuse to accept our community being treated as a place that most of the world considers a valuable resource for the rest of the population, so the US can continue our swift plummet into the deep abyss of the end of Empire - and all that entails.
Fukushima Updates
Finally, TEPCO can no longer deny the level of radioactive destruction in its Fukushima plants.
Unit #1 has a confirmed meltdown of its core, #4 is about to collapse, and #2 is leaking radioactive water like a sieve.
Arnie Gunderson has a great new video update you should watch.
Dr. Helen Caldicott posts truly wonderful and up-to-date information on her facebook page. She is not only very knowledgeable, but works tirelessly to educate whoever will listen about the many false claims to the relative safety of nuclear power from a physician's and activist's perspective. She is awesome, go find her page on facebook now. Just open up a new tab and go do it if you care to learn about nuclear power throughout the world.
Giant tents will cover the reactors! Presumably to reduce steam and atmospheric releases. And like Chris pointed out, it will also shield cameras quite well. The only good news in that article is that there will be no limit set on the liabilities Tepco will have to pay.
The risk of another explosion, in #1, is still possible. Since there is a confirmed meltdown there, an explosion would be bad, right?
Since radiation from Fukushima probably never really ended, the rain is not as safe as we might want to believe. Cesium is still high around the reactors; when will Japan's ground water and oceans be safe enough to support life without also causing cancers? Why will the US not learn from Japan?
Unit #1 has a confirmed meltdown of its core, #4 is about to collapse, and #2 is leaking radioactive water like a sieve.
Arnie Gunderson has a great new video update you should watch.
Dr. Helen Caldicott posts truly wonderful and up-to-date information on her facebook page. She is not only very knowledgeable, but works tirelessly to educate whoever will listen about the many false claims to the relative safety of nuclear power from a physician's and activist's perspective. She is awesome, go find her page on facebook now. Just open up a new tab and go do it if you care to learn about nuclear power throughout the world.
Giant tents will cover the reactors! Presumably to reduce steam and atmospheric releases. And like Chris pointed out, it will also shield cameras quite well. The only good news in that article is that there will be no limit set on the liabilities Tepco will have to pay.
The risk of another explosion, in #1, is still possible. Since there is a confirmed meltdown there, an explosion would be bad, right?
Since radiation from Fukushima probably never really ended, the rain is not as safe as we might want to believe. Cesium is still high around the reactors; when will Japan's ground water and oceans be safe enough to support life without also causing cancers? Why will the US not learn from Japan?
2011/05/05
Dust in the Wind
The latest update from Fairewinds Associates hosts an interview with scientist and researcher Marco Kaltofen explaining why radioactive particles, which were pushed into the atmosphere from the Fukushima explosion(s), will continue to affect the health of people in Japan and the United States for a long time.
Hint: it's not just because it's in your food or water.
Hint: it's not just because it's in your food or water.
2011/05/02
Commitment, Sacrifice, Justice, and Power
"Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The United States has killed Osama bin Laden. President Obama, in his announcement last night, [the link is to the transcript] told us everything we should be feeling about this recent assassination: justice, safety, unity, and the blessings of God on our amazingly powerful country.
I couldn't care less about this kind of patriotism.
I want to to see justice served, but to all the species the industrialized United States (and other countries) has killed in its mission to expand without end.
I want to see justice served to all the descendants of freed slaves, the end of oppression, the end of discrimination.
I want to see the justice of traditional lands returned without question to the north american tribes from which they were stolen in bloodshed.
I want to see justice served to the residents of and workers in this country who have been fed pollution so toxic their babies die and their children develop leukemia, including genetic pollution controlled by corporations whose end goal is to control our food and water from seed to table.
I want to see the justice of actual persons living actual lives free from harm, with the right to organize their communities for the benefit and compassion of all, not just the elected or the wealthy.
I want to see the free reign of love, true pervy blinking teary meaty down-and-dirty swishy and boring love, waving its pink handkerchief at me as I tie up my boots and tickle the beard of my manly man.
I want justice for all the indigenous populations around the globe whose lands have been stolen and handed to the oil and mining corporations, leaving nothing but unsafe jobs, a depleted and toxic land base, and no legal voice with which to demand justice.
I want justice served for the water - all the rivers, lakes, streams, springs, ponds, bogs and oceans.
I could go on.
Obama's closing words made me check my calendar: was it 2011 or 2001? Who was sitting in the comfy White House chair, Bush or Obama? Really, when the president continues to claim that "we" are powerful and wealthy and somehow special enough to be blessed by an all-powerful sky god (at the exclusion of all other gods, or any god), and that somehow this relationship has anything to do with celebrating the death of a wealthy psychopath hunkering in Pakistan, and that our right is to continue hunting whomever "we" like however the president sees fit, I have to disagree.
"...America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place."
Perseverance does not mean we are all blessed by God; commitment does not mean we are somehow deserving of special dispensations from the holy of holies; rather, the words of a man in power ruling one of the poorest, most incarcerated, corrupt and unhealthiest industrialized nations in the world ring everywhere but true. That is the "story of our history."
As the United States continues to build and protect the pipeline in Afghanistan and bombs Libya, as Scott Walker sits in the governor's office in Madison, as electric companies rub their hands anticipating renewing nuclear power plants in many states around the country, as residents of Japan hope they will be able find safe food and water for their elders and families for the next 100 years, I would ask you: Do you feel safer?
My observations are not meant to be merely cynical, but rather an attempt to prompt the inspired to actions and thoughts full of light and water, the kind of things that grow sharp minds and clever actions. Sparkly words full of empty praise for the brave dead do not compel warm feelings toward my land base or my neighbor (I refuse to call it my "country").
Guess I'll have to take a walk and listen a little bit to the frogs for that.
Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America."
The United States has killed Osama bin Laden. President Obama, in his announcement last night, [the link is to the transcript] told us everything we should be feeling about this recent assassination: justice, safety, unity, and the blessings of God on our amazingly powerful country.
I couldn't care less about this kind of patriotism.
I want to to see justice served, but to all the species the industrialized United States (and other countries) has killed in its mission to expand without end.
I want to see justice served to all the descendants of freed slaves, the end of oppression, the end of discrimination.
I want to see the justice of traditional lands returned without question to the north american tribes from which they were stolen in bloodshed.
I want to see justice served to the residents of and workers in this country who have been fed pollution so toxic their babies die and their children develop leukemia, including genetic pollution controlled by corporations whose end goal is to control our food and water from seed to table.
I want to see the justice of actual persons living actual lives free from harm, with the right to organize their communities for the benefit and compassion of all, not just the elected or the wealthy.
I want to see the free reign of love, true pervy blinking teary meaty down-and-dirty swishy and boring love, waving its pink handkerchief at me as I tie up my boots and tickle the beard of my manly man.
I want justice for all the indigenous populations around the globe whose lands have been stolen and handed to the oil and mining corporations, leaving nothing but unsafe jobs, a depleted and toxic land base, and no legal voice with which to demand justice.
I want justice served for the water - all the rivers, lakes, streams, springs, ponds, bogs and oceans.
I could go on.
Obama's closing words made me check my calendar: was it 2011 or 2001? Who was sitting in the comfy White House chair, Bush or Obama? Really, when the president continues to claim that "we" are powerful and wealthy and somehow special enough to be blessed by an all-powerful sky god (at the exclusion of all other gods, or any god), and that somehow this relationship has anything to do with celebrating the death of a wealthy psychopath hunkering in Pakistan, and that our right is to continue hunting whomever "we" like however the president sees fit, I have to disagree.
"...America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place."
Perseverance does not mean we are all blessed by God; commitment does not mean we are somehow deserving of special dispensations from the holy of holies; rather, the words of a man in power ruling one of the poorest, most incarcerated, corrupt and unhealthiest industrialized nations in the world ring everywhere but true. That is the "story of our history."
As the United States continues to build and protect the pipeline in Afghanistan and bombs Libya, as Scott Walker sits in the governor's office in Madison, as electric companies rub their hands anticipating renewing nuclear power plants in many states around the country, as residents of Japan hope they will be able find safe food and water for their elders and families for the next 100 years, I would ask you: Do you feel safer?
My observations are not meant to be merely cynical, but rather an attempt to prompt the inspired to actions and thoughts full of light and water, the kind of things that grow sharp minds and clever actions. Sparkly words full of empty praise for the brave dead do not compel warm feelings toward my land base or my neighbor (I refuse to call it my "country").
Guess I'll have to take a walk and listen a little bit to the frogs for that.
 |
| Frogs-to-be |
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