Is Prince Charles crazy, or Maclean’s?

A ‘newsmagazine’ I hardly recognized, on the eve of the ‘critically panned’ Fall Homecoming of the Heir to the Throne (including of Canada), published an opinion that he’d taken leave of his senses.  Is it possible that His Royal Highness is just a Classic, ie Progressive, Conservative, such as I’ve tried to be*, rather than the U.S. regressive Republican (GOP) kind?

Is it also possible HRH is “becoming Orthodox“??  Certainly he has opportunity to reflect on the world he sits almost at the top of in terms of wealth, fame, and access to power.  And/Or just chat with our First Among Equals, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople (yes, that’s Istanbul in Turkish), “The Green Patriarch.”

But children must play … instead of providing reportage and analysis that knows what on earth it’s talking about.  Looks like I got out of journalism just in time – ‘My skills, it seems, are no longer required!’

(*–He said humbly!! 😉 )

Fiduciary Responsibility

Global catastrophe is NOT “fiduciary responsibility”!

If Business kills-off its stockholders and customers, isn’t that bad for business???

ISTM the REAL bottom line is to HAVE a bottom line!!!  But right now it seems most American business is in a race to the bottom, period: ‘He who dies with the most toys wins.’  😦

Cash for Clunkers!

You read it here first 7 months ago.  😉

As for those who think it’ll benefit foreign manufacturers more than domestic, well, that’s OK too, since we all live on the same planet, breathe the same air, yada yada yada!  Though, sure, we’d prefer to benefit our own assemblyline workers and chartered / originated corporations — so let’s keep this up long enough for them to build (more) cars that qualify!

Global Warming Update: 3-4 foot sea rise, many Northeast Katrinas

By the end of this century!  (That crashing sound you hear is Northeast Seaboard property values … and not just Jersey and Long Island either….)

Global Warming satellite sabotaged?

Inquiring minds wanna know….

Further Evidence/Analysis: Global Warming to last 1000 years or more

Report from America’s NOAA, ‘liberated’ on January 20(!).  I’ve been saying up to 2,000 years more at least; worse if we continue doing very little about it.  This report says the problem is that while some carbon dioxide precipitates out of the upper atmosphere after a shorter amount of time naturally, other CO2 takes much longer: it’s a mixed picture, a complex system.  They don’t mean “irreversible,” as a read of the article indicates, so they shouldn’t say that; they mean very long term — way beyond the next Electoral Cycle!  The thing is, we have to get cracking, because everything we can do now will make a difference down the road, even if not for us or our children or grandchildren.  It’s way past late for political games with China and India and the Third World, Bushies!  As Red Green says, we’re all in this together.  As we started learning about trash in the ’80s, There’s no more “away”!

Will life on Earth survive such a prolonged assault, is the question.

IQ and Thanksgiving

I just read here about Inuit (Canada Eskimo) traditional knowledge being called (in the Inuit language, Inuktitut) Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or IQ.  LOL!  That’s so cool!  I know *I* couldn’t pass this IQ test!!!  Hell, if what we laughably call civilization collapsed tomorrow, I’d probably unknowingly eat some noxious weed growing out of the ground and croak!  That’s right, we’ve all been “taught” how to survive in a supermarket – or worse yet, McDonald’s – and Heaven forbid we should ever find ourselves without one!  Seriously, we should all learn some Native knowledge about wherever we live, in case we need it someday;* we probably need it NOW!  It might help us more to “walk lightly over the earth.”

(*–Interestingly, it took the Peanuts gang to remind many of us that when Squanto, one of the last Patuxet Indians after a British smallpox epidemic devastated “New England” and the Maritimes, taught the Plymouth “Pilgrims” and Co. how to survive in their accidental new home in Massachusetts [vs. New York], he was passing on to them the traditional knowledge of his by-then-dead village nation, something not done lightly by Indigenous Peoples today because they usually end up regretting it.  Had he not done so, the colonists might have died, or abandoned the colony.)

Renewable energy

Great Wikipedia overview here.  We gotta do it, people, governments, charities, everybody!

Except burning stuff solves nothing, whether it’s imported or domestic.

I only recently heard of geothermal heat-exchange, which sounds like a no-brainer just about universally!  Heating and air-conditioning from the same cheap process and equipment?  Many buildings can even be retrofitted.

How about legally requiring implementation of as many non-burning renewable energy technologies as possible, with government help for the needy to do so, etc etc etc?!!!!!  It seems there’s so much that can be done RIGHT NOW.  We can’t let this slip by us like we did with motor vehicle gasoline mileage standards since Reagan: remember when we were supposed to be up around 100 mpg by the ’90s?!!!

Arctic Indigenous in U.S., Russia, protest Alaska offshore oil prospect

Fascinating story here.

In case you forgot about Global Warming…

Over 240 square miles of Canadian Arctic ice shelf.  Gone.  This.  Year.

That’s GOPal Warming – and the Repugs’ Canadian agent, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, wants to expand it … not like Canada is short on oil these days, with the Oil Sands and all.

Palin and shooting wolves from helicopters

(UPDATE 4 September 2008: Obviously Sarah didn’t go through school named Palin!  I was half-asleep when I wrote it.  Sincerest apologies.)

I knew there was something else: Palin and the Alaska Legislature interfered with this week’s referendum on once again trying to ban aerial hunting except in a biological emergency, by sponsoring anti-referendum publicity with taxpayer dollars.  A referendum which outside hunting enthusiasts also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat.  State biologists themselves broke Alaska law by killing wolf mothers and pups in their dens, and covered it up!

“Hockey mom,” or “rifle-in-a-chopper mom”?!!!  Sportswoman?: Where’s the sport in that?!!!  I’d say it’s like shooting fish in a barrel, but Mythbusters proved it’s actually easier than that!

This reinforces something I realized a couple hours ago: Palin is giving McCain’s adoring media another chance to dust off his false “maverick” image, by painting her as one too … that’s what he sees in her.  That’s desperate.  But what Senator Bob Casey Jr. at America’s Convention this week said of the one seems to hold true for the other as well: “That’s not a maverick, that’s a sidekick!”  Or as Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said of McCain, the only green in their platform is the money for Big Oil, and the only recycling they’ll be doing will be of W.’s failed energy policies!

Looks like Little Miss Wonderful is crashing and burning, and it’s just been 24 hours!  John, there’s still time for a not-too-ungraceful exit!

I print this at some risk to my own name, and Todd probably got this all through school, but I can’t resist:

McSame/Failin’

Fight back, Drive 55.

An idea whose time has come?

“Richardson Leaves the Personality Contest;” Go with Kucinich

The Nation’s perceptive editorial about the frontrunners and MSM coverage of them.

Guess I have to go with Congressman Dennis Kucinich now, just to make a statement.  Although really, all his experience in Congress does dwarf Rodham Clinton’s, Obama’s, and Edwards’s, and is current, versus Mike Gravel’s (honorable) terms in the Senate back in the ’70s.

Heck, even running a major city, Cleveland, wisely, for a few years during a tumultuous time for it, should say something!

Germany warns on Wifi; What about cumulative effects?

This recent British newspaper piece* is somewhat opinionated, but includes facts about German concerns about health risks.  This Wikipedia link currently provides allegedly-scientific counterpoint.  [“Jane you ignorant slut!”]

One thing possibly hinted at in the German report is the cumulative effect of ALL the electromagnetic radiation we now live amid (“electrosmog”?).  We’re usually told about their “safety” one at a time, but what about altogether?!!  One smokestack or factory-farm, car or burnt forest or clearcut, doesn’t cause Global Warming, but millions do, after all!

(*–Don’t worry about the .ece suffix on this link, it seems to just be a normal webpage.)

U.S. liberals’ progressive conservatism(!)

To hear “conservative” politicians and “pundits,” we try to get government to help the needy, sick, and disabled, as a way of buying their votes, that is, bribing them.  Same with labor and workplace rules for workers and unions … public education for kids(?) and the teachers’ unions … a little more social justice, for city people’s, women’s, people of color’s, immigrants’, and gay people’s votes … reduced censorship and looser broadcast content guidelines for, well, pornographers’ and bohemians’ and atheists’ votes, I guess … Evolution and equality and compassion in said public schools, for, I dunno, Unitarians’, “social engineers’,” and wimps’ votes? … environmentalism for the treehuggers’, EarthFirsters’, and eco-terrorists’ votes … “well-regulated” firearms control for the “jack-booted thug” vote I guess? … and peace, for the huge Muslim vote in this country!

They talk as if we’ve all devoured the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, the Quran, Gustavo Gutierrez and Chairman Mao and Madalyn Murray O’Hair, all ‘baddies’ like that.  We’re all free-loving, swinging, acid-dropping, rock-and-roll-listening(!), non-breeding stereotypes from the ’60s – just like they sound!

With my own life’s study and observation, I think the large number of native-born Americans – I don’t have alot of in-depth exposure to Americans born elsewhere at this time – being American (small-R) republicans, *are* somewhat ‘ideological,’ very much attached to the words of this country’s individual liberties, to the vote (preferably free and clean and counted correctly – How hard is that?!), to the Constitution of 1787 as amended and generally as interpreted, and to our accustomed, historical/evolved form of Rationalized Capitalism.  I also think the large number of them, being what might be called center-left in social ethics(!), or such awful terms like ‘caring’ or ‘sensitive’ or ‘polite,’ also believe this status quo isn’t perfect yet, has generally been getting better through the labor of alot of people in our society over the years, and can always be tweaked and improved: “Our best days are yet to come.”  We care about the Common Good, generally for those worse-off than ourselves in this country and abroad, even those different from ourselves.  On a personal basis we are the most philanthropic in the world (though as I’ve said, that may be in part because morally we have to be, since per population or economy, our government is not; in any case, it’s not enough to meet the need and the Common Good).  We generally support fairness especially to those worse-off, even some extra help if they really need it and we can give it.  Our biggest problem is such a disconnect with our government that we always feel overtaxed, but when we’re correctly informed, we’re often even ready to adjust our stances in politics, economics, ecology, society, etc., not because we “flipflop,” but because we discover we didn’t know as much as we thought we did about this or that situation.  It’s a big country, after all, and an even bigger world!

Therefore, when our critics and (supposed) ‘betters’ accuse us of mere cynical angling for power for power’s sake, such charges are patently false.  We don’t wage “class war,” though some of us seek to *end* the one being waged against us!  And we certainly didn’t make up Global Warming because we thought it’d put us back in power, but we espouse doing what we can about it because we just don’t want the planet to FRY as much over the next couple thousand years!!!  I don’t want to engage in potentially false gainsaying, but in the era of Karl Rove, it seems our critics doth protest too much!

In fact, IOTM that the large number of native-born Americans display qualities of progressive conservatism or Red Toryism, of a kind not entirely unlike what I’m constantly discussing in this blog!  Obviously relatively few have studied the British, Canadian, and Australian constitutions and legal and political systems, or other comparative government, or consider themselves Monarchists at this time, or explicit critics so much of Classical Liberalism or Modernity, or, obviously, Orthodox Christians.  But this is only to be expected in an environment of over two centuries of school and media brainwashing.  But the large number of native-born Americans show signs of convinceability, if the truth, the facts, the history and the causes of things, can be gotten out to them, and they can be reminded to think carefully before they vote or lobby, and to remember that what unites us is far greater than whatever may be perceived as dividing us.  Their real ‘conservatism’ manifests itself as it is able, in a country where we exiled or suppressed our true Classical Conservatism, and where heartless, brainless, even unFaithful and traitorous actions masquerade under the name of “conservatism” today.  Actually, as I recently read someone else suggest, we are the ones, in the absence of any other relatively-viable alternative at this time, seeking to ‘conserve’ what good there may be from the republic as described above, while our critics and ‘betters’ defy the agreed Constitution, undermine its interpretation, neuter Congress and the States, and risk “World War 3” several times over, in the last few years alone.

Which is why I blog.

OTOH, our critics are the ones who show signs of blind faith in innovative, false, artificial, unrealistic, inhumane, lethal, unChristian, Classically Liberal and Modernist ideologies … of hypocrisy, cynical manipulation, divisiveness, and incivility … of sinister agenda on behalf of a minority of vested interests … of moral and ethical corruption … of military, foreign policy, fiscal, and intelligence-management malfeasance, misfeasance, and/or nonfeasance … of lost Sovereignty over our own and other countries’ created corporations … of “voodoo economics” which basically are the single biggest cause of most of our people’s real material problems for the whole last generation, such as increased hunger and homelessness, falling wages and health-care coverage and assistance to the needy, rampant profiteering and offshoring instead of the promised reinvestment of corporate and wealthy tax giveaways, etc.

THIS JUST IN: GW: Canuck theocons to derail Bali?

Sounds really possible.

We’re driving ourselves to death

…here in America, says the Toronto Star.

An Indigenous way to look at a Global Warming and Peak Oil future

I missed Live Earth, so I missed Prof. Wildcat’s talk, but it and his book seem worthy.

Best Place to Live for Global Warming AND Peak Oil

Just a reminder that when I started calculating this based on climate maps, I was thinking not only about GW but also PO.  Obviously anyplace COLD gets you out of GW, but if it makes you burn more fossil fuels for heat – your own, or your electric plant’s – it’s counterproductive.  Hence, Bay Area winters – on the wetter, cooler side – aren’t too chilly, and summers aren’t too hot for now, but this “sweet spot” will drift north over the generations.

Food can also be grown there in abundance, but then it’d compete with living space, employment space, etc.

Keep in mind that areas around  this area, while not as ideal, will be better than many.  There are other less-ideal spots around the world comparable to areas abutting this part of the Bay Area.  If I think about it, I may look into listing them.

Another lifestyle to consider is Snowbirding, ie, spending winters closer to the Equator, and summers farther away from it – water resources being equal, of course.  Jobs would have to migrate, too; I’m not sure exactly how you work that out.  What about two half-year jobs instead of one full-year job, with year-to-year guarantees/contracts of employment?

Windshield flyers

You don’t stick flyers under my wipers, I won’t bust your windshield, deal?

Flyers left under windshield wipers cause permanent damage to them, making it harder for them to clear rain, snow, mud, etc., off them, thus making it harder, sometimes impossible, to drive safely.

Just like if I bust your windshield.

Got it?

What will happen in a Little Ice Age?

If Global Warming shuts down the Gulf Stream – not currently expected this century, but very possibly in the 22nd – will we have mile-high glaciers as far south as the Mid-Atlantic United States, the Upper Midwest, etc.?  Ocean waves freezing in mid-surge in New York Harbor?

I’m no scientist, but from what I’m reading, they’re talking in terms of a “Little Ice Age,” maybe not even this bad, but similar to just one “year without a summer,” and apparently ‘only’ restricted to Western Europe – though I have to think Eastern North America as well, since the Gulf Stream influences weather there also.

IOW, perhaps liveable climatically, but damned unpleasant even for the hardiest hockey fan!

But combine reduced agricultural output there with that coming from Peak Oil and the end of petro-fertilizer, and that could be more than unpleasant!

Global Warming denier-scientist preparing for 3 foot sea rise

in the next 100-150 years, to swamp many coastlines.

Fight Global Warming, Peak Oil, and Obesity: Eat less!

(Those of us who are able, that is.)

Drink less non-human animal milk, too.  (Unless you need what’s in it, like calcium, and can’t find it anywhere else.)

See, factory farming on land – cows, pigs, chickens, etc. – may be America’s Number One source of Greenhouse Gases.  Factory farming in water – many seafoods – is a very bad scene for other reasons: diseases, unhygienic, pollution, etc.  But demand for flesh-foods of all kinds is going through the roof, with big parts of the Third World (China, India, etc.) now ‘coming online’ in that regard.  And many natural fisheries are already in danger of being ‘fished out.’  Hence, we need to eat less of all flesh foods.

But substituting plant foods is problematic because the recent “Green Revolution” was mainly wrought by petro-fertilizers, and they’re going the way of the dinosaurs, so more plants is not an option.  And I think letting GMOs out into the planetary gene pool – eg, to increase crop yields or selected nutrients that way – is way too big a threat without knowing the long-term and even very-long-term consequences; we’ve only got one planet folks!  (For now.)*  And increasing arable land by burning forest adds carbon dioxide and other Greenhouse Gases to the atmosphere, and takes away trees that help remove these gases from the atmosphere.

Hence, eat less of everything if we can.

Obviously people with eating disorders who don’t eat enough, or with malnutrition or simply true hunger (vs. psychologically-induced pseudo-hunger) or certain health problems, or perhaps who are elderly and/or frail, etc., shouldn’t worry about this.  But the rest of us, especially the 2/3 of Americans who are overweight (Canadians and Brits are up there too), could use this for extra motivation, if overeating is a problem.

Also, let’s not stop partying, people!  But is every meal a party? every supper?  Not where I come from!!!

And let’s not cold-turkey it and drive ourselves crazy and set ourselves up for failure.  Perhaps a good program to start with/build up to (in the beginning) is the Orthodox Church’s “fasting” schedule.  (That’s “abstaining,” for you Catholics and High Church Protestants.)  Most Wednesdays and Fridays of the year, the 40 days before Christmas, the 40 days before Holy Week, Holy Week itself, the period between Pentecost and the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29), the first half of August, and a few other “fast” days throughout the year.  (Old Calendar or New Calendar.)  Before I became Orthodox, but was considering it, I was told I shouldn’t try to fast; spiritually it wasn’t a good idea.  But I see no reason why people not currently considering Orthodoxy couldn’t adopt some or all of its fasting practices as a simple eating program.  Like I’ve said, Orthodox “ascesis” may turn out to be a great idea for the whole human race and the earth!  Fortunately or unfortunately, the decentralized structure of the Orthodox Church means there is not in every sense a uniform practice of fasting.  I could point you to websites that might seem to conflict, or in going overboard in describing the strictest forms of the fast may discourage and demoralize.  What you might want to do is consult an Orthodox parish near you; I’m sure they’d be glad to help!

(*–An experimental community should move to a bubble-enclosed island and mess around with GMOs for a few centuries to make sure they’re safe.  I mean it.  Otherwise, we could f— ourselves for good!)

Least Arctic ice ever; “NW Passage” thru Canadian internal waters!

This AOL News link will break.

Actually ISTM they could keep the “passage” open year-round by running enough ships through there to keep it from re-freezing, ever.  Not that I wanna give them ideas or anything, but surely it’s already been thought of.  Screw the polar bears, screw the environment, screw Canada.

This is separate from “who owns the Arctic Ocean.”  [“Who owns an ocean?” That’s greed!]  Every map since the French and Indian War has depicted the Far North of North America as belonging to Britain, or now Canada.  The inhabitants of the islands north of the Canadian mainland regard themselves as Canadian citizens, and always have.  But Washington says it doesn’t recognize Canadian sovereignty even there… without saying who they think does have it… surely not the U.S.?!?!?!  But the Bushies will provoke a war even with our best friends, Canada!

Global Warming affects Earth’s rotation, GPS!

So saith Wikipedia.

Liberal and Conservative, Right and Left, in Canada

Here I’ll help clarify things… or further muddy them!  See, Canadian (and by extension any country using the Classical meanings of “liberal” and “conservative,” ie, most of the world) “liberals” can be what many people consider “right”- OR “left”-wing… and so can Canadian “conservatives.”  I offer this because some discourse in Canada has been infected with American ideologism, which is doing its own muddying of the waters up there!

Left-wing Classical Liberal is what I believe a significant minority of the Canadian Liberal Party’s supporters – though not many of its leaders – are: similar to American “liberal Democrats.”  That’s why its successful leaders have “campaigned from the Left, and governed from the Right.”  Political and social progressivism with individual liberties, a fair bit of government regulation and intervention.  In terms of current Canadian issues: Afghanistan, same-sex marriage, marijuana decriminalization, peacekeeping, English AND French, proto-republicanism/anti-monarchy, health care, etc.  The New Democratic Party (NDP) would mostly fit under this rubric, but being social democratic, go farther in a progressive and labor-oriented direction; and the Bloc Quebecois in the non-nationalistic aspects of its agenda, though somewhat less so – see below.

Right-wing Classical Liberal is what I believe the former Reform/Alliance members and supporters of today’s Conservative Party of Canada are, as well as “Blue Tories,” ie, Peter MacKay and other former Progressive Conservative Party of Canada members and supporters who share much of the Reform/Alliance agenda, and in a big way though not completely, the perrennial leaders of the Liberal Party; identifiable with the U.S. Republican Party as it has increasingly become after Eisenhower.  Political and social regressivism with fewer individual liberties, pro-business, pro-American, more militaristic, very little governmental intervention except in favor of business and against labor, anti-European, North American/isolationist, “red meat” for “conservative” religion, (small-R) republican/anti-monarchy.  Commonly called “neo-conservative” in North America (sometimes “neocon,” even “theocon”), more correctly called “neo-liberal” elsewhere.  To be clearer, the Reform/Alliance are the most right-wing, the Blue Tories less so, and the leading Liberals even less so, but definitely still there (except probably their new Leader, Stephane Dion, and his [very small] coterie).

Right-wing Classical Conservative is almost non-existent in the U.S. and Canada.  Some Roman Catholic traditionalists/ monarchists in both countries would qualify, including some political (as opposed to solely cultural) Jacobites, and some of the radical Papal-loyalists nurtured by the current Pope of Rome and his predecessor.  Anti-democracy, anti-civil liberties, anti-constitutionalism, politically and socially regressive, moralist, very religious and clericalist, aristocratic and monarchist (some might say “absolutist”), medievalist.

Left-wing Classical Conservative is this blog, most Canadians I believe, most Western Europeans I believe(!), even most Americans I think if they knew it was an option – part of why I write!  As I once saw written on a church wall (roughly), “Conserving what needs to be conserved, progressing in what needs to be progressed in.”  I think most recent Liberal Party voters in Canada have done so out of misunderstanding of the former Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, or disgust with its increasingly “Blue” leadership after Diefenbaker; and now since the successful movement (misnamed!*) to “Unite the Right,” because the Liberals seem the only realistic option, the small NDP not yet considered a realistic political option.  (The Liberals lost their majority in the House of Commons mostly because of the Sponsorship Scandal… but only just barely! It was like most of the Palestinians who voted for Hamas to punish Fatah for corruption. Some choice!! The problem with a virtual [or actual] two-party system!)  As I said, the NDP is Canada’s labor/social democratic party, but more than one analyst has detected Classical Conservative notes in socialism, such as a restored sense of society/solidarity and not just individualism, and a restored sense of trying to apply right and wrong in public affairs versus laissez-faire/ dog-eat-dog/ war-of-all-against-all.  And the Bloc Quebecois may be in some ways the exception that proves the rule: Quebec separatism aside, its agenda is very much like the NDP’s.  Why?  Because they’re “socialist”?  Or because they’re Catholic?!! or both?!!  The Catholic Church and faith in traditional senses have had a lower explicit profile in La belle province since its “Quiet Revolution” in the ’60s, but you don’t kill an ancient culture that quickly, and contrary to popular (mostly Protestant) opinion, most First-World RCs are center-left politically and socially today, and may even have been in their own way – the Classical Conservative way – since ancient times!  So Quebec’s Catholicism may still be very implicit in its politics… even if some of them don’t go to church as often as they used to!

In fact, here’s something to think about: Canada has even had some prominent “progressive conservatives” who were considered Marxian!  I guess they’d be the really “Red” Tories!!

(*–Or maybe not, since so many Red Tories have been left homeless by the PC/Alliance party merger!)

Meat-eating causes Global Warming? (Got milk? That too!)

So said the head of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on TV the other day: factory-farming of livestock is a major cause of greenhouse gases, with them farting and burping and pooping so much.*

(My apologies to that lawyer-kid, although in fairness, what we’re talking about here is not “natural processes,” but the astronomical increase in livestock by humanity in recent centuries, now even in the Third World as it too “modernizes” and eats lots more meat.)

In addition, she pointed out that the fires from burning away forest for pasture and farming to feed the beasts, and in so doing taking away trees that remove carbon dioxide from the air, compound the effect.  And of course, it takes alot more crops to produce meat than to feed humans directly with the crops.

Turns out last November the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO [not Schwarz!!]) reported on this.  The animals’ poor diets are part of the problem, and that can be improved with positive benefit GW-wise, but it sure looks like “prosperity” will outstrip those efforts easily:

“With increased prosperity, people are consuming more meat and dairy products every year, the report notes. Global meat production is projected to more than double from 229 million tonnes in 1999/2001 to 465 million tonnes in 2050, while milk output is set to climb from 580 to 1043 million tonnes.

“The global livestock sector is growing faster than any other agricultural sub-sector. It provides livelihoods to about 1.3 billion people and contributes about 40 per cent to global agricultural output. For many poor farmers in developing countries livestock are also a source of renewable energy for draft and an essential source of organic fertilizer for their crops.”  [Emphasis added.]

Oh, yeah, dairy products too: milk, butter, cheese, casein, yogurt, (sodium) caseinate, lactose, etc etc etc.

But what’s clear is that once again, we “prosperous” of the world consuming all that meat and dairy, are screwing the whole planet, especially the poorest.  But of course, if we consume less meat and dairy, some real people (Screw corporations!) will get less money and thus be harmed.  Therefore what’s needed is a coordinated campaign to consume less meat and dairy, AND “economic conversion” help for the real people harmed thereby.

Makes me think of an idea from recent(?) Catholic and Orthodox fasting/abstaining practice, like for Lent/the Great Fast: The money you “save” from giving up meat (and for Orthodox, dairy also), you don’t bank, but do something better with – traditionally, give to the poor or charity; how about a more direct connection to the real people who make the stuff?!

It can be done.  I don’t eat alot of meat, and I’ve been lactose-intolerant since my religious-inspired vegan stint in the ’90s.  Many flavored soymilks actually taste better than cow’s milk now, and apparently lots of people are foregoing cheese on their pizzas or Mexican food already because of the fat content, so you won’t stick out as much as you/I did even a few years ago!  They’re even fortifying some soymilks with calcium (and other nutrients it lacks), and there are other sources for calcium too.

As for milk for human babies… and even their daddies**…!  For that matter, apparently it’s even possible for many women to “induce lactation” without a recent pregnancy or birth, so they could donate their milk to interested families, reducing human use of cow’s milk even further.  And doing so is real natural birth control, during lactation and for two months to two years after stopping… sure to appeal to many!

(*–This choice of words will bring the kiddies running!!)

(**–As far as I’ve looked into the “adult nursing relationship” concept – by reading only! – the common idea that the partner has to suckle 6-8 times per day around the clock doesn’t seem necessary, as long as the other times the lactating woman expresses instead [to keep the milk flowing]. ISTM the extra milk can be donated, used in cooking – what about cheesemaking? [After all, “Blessed are the cheesemakers“!] – or simply discarded.  NB: Breast milk does contain lactose, so if you’re lactose-intolerant, you might need to see if you can do something about that. The guys quoted on the first page of this PDF seem to think it’s easy, though their research is ten years old, so if it worked you’d think we’d have heard more about it since then, eh? I’d try it, for nothing else but the sake of my next relationship or marriage, but dairy stinks to me since I went off it, like, even fresh milk smells sour to me – not much motivation there!)

Funny Canada

About a zillion Canadian jokes here.  Not all keeping with the Canadian stereotype of PC or sensitivity or apologeticness!

One of my faves, in the style of Jeff Foxworthy’s Redneck jokes (which got him made a Kentucky Colonel* believe it or not): “You might be a Canadian if… 23. You know that Canada is the only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to the ground.”  (Not that I advocate the violent overthrow of the United States government or anything!)

(*–Which reminds me of another joke whose punchline is, “It’s like the ‘Honorable’ in front of your name, Judge: It don’t mean a thing!”

Which reminds me of a conundrum: If Americans have to call Harlan Sanders “Colonel,” why can’t Canadians call knights “Sir”?!!)

The one about the temperature scale reminded me of the scene in the recent cable movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, when Sitting Bull seeks refuge across the border, and the Mountie says, “I welcome you in the Queen’s name.  But I should warn you, the winters get pretty cold up here – this isn’t Dakota!”

The “Cultural differences” one about Americans, Australians, British, and Canadians is pretty good too, especially:

Brits:   Shop at home and have goods imported because they live on an island.
Aussies:   Shop at home and have goods imported because they live on an island.
Americans:   Cross the southern border for cheap shopping, gas, & liquor in a backwards country.
Canadians:   Cross the southern border for cheap shopping, gas, & liquor in a backwards country.

Hey, a little perspective is good, eh?  🙂

Life on Mars?

This is the latest Science Daily news release (despite that label, it seems pretty factual) regarding possible hydrogen-peroxide-based microbes,* but this preview from January actually offers more information.  This piece from a year ago seems to present another, non-organic, explanation, but the two theories – Antarctic-style biomass or dust-storm chemical reactions – for the unexpected peroxide, don’t seem mutually exclusive.  However, research reported six years ago favors the organic – life-based – explanation over the non-organic: basically the microbes ate the nutrients over nine weeks, at varying but regular rates of speed, instead of mere chemicals interacting with all of it more-or-less instantaneously.  (The controversial Richard C. Hoagland discussed all this with George Norry on Coast-to-Coast AM Thursday night/Friday morning: scroll down to “Life in Martian Soil” sidebar; audio also available on that page.)

And as a reminder, this is the International Committee Against Mars Sample Return!  I’m Native American, and we’ve been through this once already, OK?!

(*–Does that mean they’re not natural blondes?!!)

More on Global Warming and your “pinpoint forecast”

A while ago I tried to clarify why GW scientists probably have a better grip on the next 2,000 years than the dude with your “backyard forecast.”  But the other day I heard two once-venerable CBS Radio affiliates, once news leaders in their local markets, now pumping out Faux News and the usual theocon “new-stalk,” making like how un-warm it’s been there this summer.  I can’t say where because it wouldn’t be safe to give The Man any idea of my whereabouts, but let’s just say with Col. Sherman T. Potter, USA, HORSEHOCKEY!

Be that as it may, would one less-warm summer mean GW is a hoax?  [George Norry, I used to respect you!]  No, because GW isn’t your “hometown doppler 12 million,” it’s the whole planet’s doppler 6.6 billion (or whatever).  Just like one 45-degree (F) winter day doesn’t take the sting out of the rest of that God-forsaken season, one cool summer in Podunk doesn’t take the sting out of GW for the rest of the world for the rest of now and unto ages of ages if we don’t try and do something about it.  In fact, the North and South Poles are gonna warm a hell of a lot more than the rest of the planet, because of the Earth’s rotation and air and sea currents and such… but we’re still all screwed.  The effects will vary from continent to continent, as already featured on this blog… but they’re trending hotter and drier everywhere ultimately.

What kind of observations would scientifically call GW into valid question?  I’m not a scientist, but how about half a century worldwide not living up to the warnings?

Of course, that doesn’t make for interesting “new stalk radio,” because most of their listeners won’t be here 50 years from now (nor will I, unless the Lord allows my sinning to go on in hopes I’ll repent)!  So they peddle their own fake hype to counter what they like to claim is our hype.  And The Assault on Reason continues….

“How to Talk to Ann Coulter (If You Must)”

Poignant, funny, ironic… and supposedly not a Leftie!

UPDATE: Best Place to Live for Global Warming

When I recently calculated that parts of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties near the California coast were the best places to live amid GW for now, I neglected to factor-in water resources.  Those places are going to get mighty drier, mighty fast.

I now favor the cooler and wetter side of the San Francisco Bay Area… for now.  But not right on the Bay or ocean, of course.  And forget Silicon Valley: long-term, it’ll be flooded by rising sea levels.  [Earthquakes?  Pshaw!]

I liked Tasmania and New Zealand, but recently heard they’re going to get substantially drier too.  (Though NZ is marketing itself to Europeans afraid of the coming Little Ice Age in a century or two!!)  Quito, Ecuador and Caracas, Venezuela [Viva Chavez!] actually look nice longer-term, but climatologically they’re pin-points, and won’t hold enough people to be significant longest-term.  Of course, no place will!

The problem with the California coast, of course, is that when my new Nice Zone creeps northward over time, it’ll bump into the oldest residents of that region, the redwoods.  Some tough choices will have to be made when that time comes.  Not unlike having to go back to some more coal and nuclear when oil and natural gas run out… if we have enough of the latter to provide the time we’ll need to ramp-up the former… (hopefully temporarily) compromising anti-GW efforts and global peace and security, respectively.  Of course, as I’ve said, GW is our worst chronic global problem, very-long-term; Peak Oil, Third World “dirty” industrialization* and the bad First World diet already coming with it, and the (hopefully) temporarily-shrinking magnetic field of the planet, are IMHO worse acute problems, much-shorter-term.

[*–‘Chinese Communism: Screwing Workers and “the People” Just Like The Man!’]

Corporate Media Promoting Benefits from Global Warming

This AOL link will break.  In the meantime, observe how they point out benefits to the Global North, as the NY Times and I have already said.  If you work harder, you’ll see how they don’t neglect detriments elsewhere, and planetarily, but still, this is misleading and shameful.

They also neglect the expected Little Ice Age in the Upper North Atlantic, including their favored Greenland and Iceland.  We’re already seeing fauna migrating southward from the UNA – because it’s cold maybe?!!  They could be the Gulf Stream monitoring system scientists are looking for!

Peak Oil in more detail

Someone recently looked at the Peak Oil problem in a little more personal and American detail than I’ve seen before… and it ain’t pretty.  *I* sure don’t know how to farm… and I’m crippled to boot!

Billion to be displaced by Global Warming, etc., by 2050

If they’re lucky, they’ll only be displaced, and not die from heat, drought, thirst, famine, disease, civil war, loss of petroleum-based fertilizers, etc.

Commandments to humanity at Creation?

In the Book of Genesis, God tells humanity to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion.”  Some “Christians” use this as religious cover to dismiss concern about the apparent ability of the planet to sustain many more human beings [or at least, many more First-World human beings!!!], and to destroy the environment.  But it occurs to me that these commands were given before the Fall.  After the Fall, humanity’s chief concern is different: to reunite with God in His Uncreated Energies/Activities.

Traditionally more than a few Orthodox have tried to collaborate with God through monasticism, ie, a lifestyle of NOT multiplying, and of using as little of the earth as possible.  Even practicing Orthodox laity try to include some of this asceticism in their lives, including abstaining from marital relations most Wednesdays and Fridays, during the four Fasting Periods (“lents”) of the year, several other prescribed days each year, any nights before and after receiving Communion… as well as the fast-related dietary self-restrictions during these periods, and in the weeks leading up to the Great Fast (ie, Great Lent, or just Lent, the pre-Pascha/Easter fast).  I believe many of these practices persist among Eastern Catholics, and some of them persisted among Latins (Catholics of Western Rite) before the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, and among many older Latins even afterward – though since the ’60s they have all retained the practices of fast and abstinence on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent, and some bishops seem to want to bring back the year-round “fish on Fridays” practice.

Furthermore, a number of Protestant groups embrace what might be called a certain neo-asceticism, such as Amish, Mennonites, some Quakers, some individual liberal mainstream Protestants, and even some “conservative” Protestants, under the rubric of “How ought a Christian to live?”  Some pacifists extend their ethic to “simple living,” or at least advocating it, in the spirit of 1700s New Jersey Quaker John Woolman, who sought to remove from his life anything containing “the seeds of war,” including profiting from slave labor and foreign trade in unnecessary clothing accessories.  (In fact, he predicted the U.S. Civil War.)

As I have reflected previously, greater asceticism may be the lifestyle of the next two thousand years, as we face Global Warming, Peak Oil, and the other coming difficulties – lest we destroy ourselves even before the Lord returns in Glory!  Though as He said, ‘Don’t go around moping, unwashed, in ratty clothes, but smile, clean up, dress adequately’ (more or less!).  For Orthodox, asceticism is the privilege of collaborating with God in this world, and becoming more God-like (NOT “god-like”)!

Democrat Surrender Monkeys indeed!

I guess the Congressional Democrats really are what the theocons (who hate America) like to call most of America, “surrender monkeys,” for caving-in to another Bush veto threat on a timetable for abandoning his Iraq/Oil/civil war/Empire quagmire.  Minimum wage?  I thought we did that months ago!

Until the Monarchy Party gets off the ground, there’s always these guys….  I was once more sympathetic to the Green movement than I am today obviously, but if we could just replace the Democratic affiliation of voters, votes, and (most, apparently) Democratic members of Congress, with Green(s), 100 pct., all at once, it’d be an improvement.  I actually voted for my Green U.S. Rep. candidate in November, but only because I’m in a very safe Dem district, and wanted to make a statement.  Call me a Green Monarchist Realist Anti-abortionist maybe!