Social Justice News, 4-7-07

Hey everybody,
This cold snap has gotten everything messed up. Brrrr! My trees and flowers don’t know what to think. I had to shave my poodle this week because he got into some thistle and got his fur all matted. Predictably, it got cold the very next week. So now he’s in one of his little garage sale sweaters and keeps huddling under blankets and in my lap for warmth. He also looks like a naked mole rat. It’s quite funny, really.

FEATURED ARTICLES
Monitoring Criminals –From the Cradle On: Britain is going to start monitoring kid’s behavior to identify those who will begin criminals. They say that they can identify most future offenders almost from birth. I wonder, why not just go the extra step and lock them up as infants? Skip the middle man. Of better yet, just take DNA samples from fetuses, screen them for these “traits” and then force an abortion if they’re found. That way, you’ll have all your bases covered! Is it just me, or has Britain gone completely crazy? Orwell, you were SO wrong –things are much worse than 1984.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/28/ncrime28.xml

Have we hit the limits? A BBC reporter takes on the thorny issue of population growth and food production, and concludes that the only way to feed the burgeoning world population is with another ‘Green Revolution’. Will it happen? Not likely.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6496585.stm

Creation Science: A chilling description of this phenomenon from Alternet.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/49811/

GOOD NEWS
The EPA CAN regulate CO2: So said the Supreme Court yesterday, in a landmark ruling. Now if we can just get them to do it!
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/04/02/scotus.greenhousegas.ap/index.html

The New Rules of Food: An organization in the Midwest is trying to promote organic, sustainable, and fairly traded farm goods –and succeeding.
http://www.counterpunch.org/mammoser03232007.html

CLIMATE CHANGE
Perennial Arctic Ice Melting: The Arctic is losing its perennial (read: supposedly permanent) ice cap at a rate of 7-10% per decade. Which means it will be ice free within a hundred year. Simple arithmetic. But, that’s if things don’t accelerate. How fast has climate change been accelerating? Um, it might be time to sell that beach front condo…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070403/sc_afp/scienceclimatearctic_070403220958;_ylt=AkxshZ3gQkuEh074DrRRiCdrAlMA
The Lethal Non Solution: Turns out that some biofuels produce up to TEN TIMES the emissions of fossil fuels –in addition to other ecological and human rights atrocities.
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2007/03/27/a-lethal-solution/

Check Your Climate Change Risk: A new website will check your home’s climate change risk for $30. Fair Warning: It seems to me that the model they use is a little outdated, and that things are much more dire than it would lead you to suspect. But its still a good ballpark.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2007-03-28-climate-risk_N.htm

We’re NOT in it together: It turns out that those suffering the worst from climate change, thus far, are the ones who had the least to do with it. The rich exploiting the poor. Gee, what a shock!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/science/earth/03clim.html?em&ex=1175745600&en=61f7d0ebcafa354d&ei=5087%0A

New Climates: Climate change may create entirely new climates, while destroying others.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/03/26/climate.change.ap/index.html

POLITICS
4% Inflation? Try 100% Government stats say inflation is running at 4%, but that excludes food and energy. Factor those in and its more like 100%. When was the last time you met someone who didn’t buy food or gas? And of course, the poor are being impacted the most.
http://www.counterpunch.org/stillwater03282007.html

The Lights Are Out: Nigeria is rich in oil, so why can’t it keep the lights on?
http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/070325/1/47hnf.html

Vermont Considering Secession: Will it work? Who knows. But its an interesting idea. Unfortunately, several Southern states have the same idea –and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what their constitutions would be like.
http://www.alternet.org/story/50056/

POLLUTION
Plastics Running Away From Frisco: The City by the Bay has just banned plastic shopping bags. Score!
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2401714.ece

ENVIRONMENT
What if Coal is about to Peak, too? We’ll face an energy starved future, for sure. But I’ll also throw a party!
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/4/2/22553/79871

OTHER
10 Things Wrong With Sprawl: A very intelligent critique of our suburban development pattern.
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3641&src=QHA289

Happy as a pig in mud: It turns out that exposure to dirt makes us happy –which shouldn’t be a surprise, given our horticultural and forager roots.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6509781.stm

Website of the Week: The No Impact Man experiment blog. Check it out!
http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/

UU Joke of the Week: How many UU's does it take to change a lightbulb?
Why would anyone want to change a lightbulb?

Have a good weekend everybody!
-Rebecca

Social Justice News, 3-25-07

Hey everybody,
It’s been quite a week. Things have been hopping everywhere. Maybe it’s just because its spring, and everything is going through a period of rebirth and renewal. My turnips are up, and my potatoes, onions, carrots, etc are in the ground. I’ve resigned myself to not getting any peas thanks to this weather, and that way if I do somehow get some I’ll be extra happy. My bird feeder has lately been besieged by all kinds of different birds. I’ve counted six different types in the past week. I can only identify two of them by name –the cardinals and the finches –but I can tell the difference between the varieties. Why oh why doesn’t Audobon still give out birding guides? (Okay, I could buy one, but I’m too cheap –and too broke –to do so!)

FEATURED ARTICLES
I knew it was dry…but not this dry. We’re in the middle of the driest period in all the time -117 years –that the TVA has been keeping records. Chalk another problem up to global warming.
http://www.enewscourier.com/local/local_story_080221455.html

Department of Peace Controversy: America would be a bunch of wusses, say the detractors. Hmm, maybe if we were a bunch of “wusses”, almost a million people wouldn’t be dead in Iraq? Maybe we need more “wusses” in this country!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9083208

No More Bees = No More People (or much of anything else). Bees are dying at an incredibly alarming rate –up to 70% of the East coast bee population has died over the winter! Bees are important why? They pollinate crops, which produce food for, well, everything. Some thing GMO plants are to blame.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,473166,00.html

Why Environmentalists Sometimes Conspire Against Their Own Interests: Or, the Idols of Environmentalism. A must read folks!
http://www.orionmagazine.org/pages/om/07-2om/White.html

GOOD NEWS
Gore In Congress: The NY Times on Gore’s trip to Congress this week. For a blow-by-blow account, check out the website of Grist Magazine.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/washington/21cnd-gore.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin2

CLIMATE CHANGE
Has the arctic tipped? Scientists are beginning to think so, as melting accelerates at a frightening rate. The latest projections show that the Circle could be ice-less in summers as soon as 2040! Maybe Bush will admit global warming is real when the White House (and his family’s ranch in Maine) get submerged by rising seas. Ya think?
http://www.countercurrents.org/cc-connor170207.htm

Plastic Daffodils and Climate Change: I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. How deep down the rabbit hole does the denial go? Hey people! Take the blue pill! The blue one!
http://transitionculhttp://www.commondreams.org/views07/0321-22.htmture.org/2007/03/20/a-host-of-plastic-daffodils/

Biofuels Causing Massive Deforestation: Chalk another problem up to the rush for biofuels. And these things are supposed to be green? Only in the sense of ‘greenbacks’, if you get my meaning.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0322-01.htm

Worse than the disease? Okay, the techno-fix crowd has come out with some really wacky ideas to fix global warming –mirrors in space, putting sulphur in the air, etc. read about some of them here.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070318.wclimatee0318/BNStory/Science/home

Are you scared yet? James Lovelock says you ought to be. If he’s right, that cabin on Hudson Bay that I keep talking about in jest will soon be awfully crowded!
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/ethicalliving/story/0,,2034370,00.html

POLITICS

POLLUTION
China’s Rivers in Collapse: Oh hear ye, hear ye! Witness the result of worshipping the God of Economic Growth above all else.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/IC24Ad01.html

ENVIRONMENT

OTHER
Marketing to the World’s Poorest: All right, its official: no one in the business world has any ethics (or shame) anymore. This is revolting1
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/03/19/PM200703194.html

Why more no longer equals better: An excerpt from Bill Mckibben’s latest book, Deep Economy. This looks like a really good book, and I’d be delighted if the library would get it. If anyone else agrees, you can call to request that they get it. The more requests they get, the more likely they’ll buy it! This is a rather long excerpt, but the second link has a shorter article along the same lines if you don’t have time to read the full excerpt.
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/49593/
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0321-22.htm

Website of the Week: Hillbilly Housewife. Fair Warning: This place is ran by a fundamentalist Christian and it shows (to put it mildly). But it is THE best place I’ve found for good, cheap recipes.
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/

UU Joke of the Week: Arguing with a Unitarian Universalist is like mud wrestling a pig. Pretty soon you realize the pig likes it.

Have a good weekend everybody!
-Rebecca

Social Justice News, 3-16-07

Hey everybody,
Things have been crazy lately, though luckily they’re starting to settle down. The Chorus spring concerts were this past weekend and last night –and they both rocked. We got a standing ovation at Roberts. That was really cool. Even more cool is that my peach tree has its first ever blossom. I watched it open with my own eyes yesterday. I looked out the window of my office and saw something on the tree that looked like a bud. I kept watching –and slowly it started to unfold. The next thing I know it’s a flower! Woot! One of my profs the other day told me that Fox News is one of the “most credible, reliable, sources of news” –and she was serious. HA! That wasn’t so cool. Yesterday the pentagon finally admitted that the situation in Iraq looks like a civil war. They just now got that memo? How slow is communication in the government these days? I mean, come on –it took the Attorney General five months to discover eight of his deputies had been fired, and it took eighteen months or better for the military to discover that they’re in the middle of a shooting match? Gee, I wonder why these two sides keep shooting at each other? They must not like each other very much, huh?

FEATURED ARTICLES
Six Degrees or Less? The end of the world is nigh. And it’s all ready been written about in Nature. Just don’t expect most people to notice until Miami is under water. And then they’ll be complaining that no one warned them!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article1480669.ece

Check out these projections! Temp increase, precipitation, frost days, and heat waves for the U.S. through 2100. Anyone else want to move North? I hear land is cheap around Hudson Bay.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-02-27-global-warming_x.htm

Rio Poor Take Over Bank: Some of Brazil’s poor got tired of being ignored by the rich bankers who are funding the illegal takeover of their land. So what did they do? They took over the bank!
http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B82FEAF41-1208-42B9-A2AA-38A964A06CFB%7D&language=EN

GOOD NEWS
Australia Outlaws Incandescent Bulbs: Australia is giving the boot to the old-fashioned incandescent bulbs in favor of CFLs. Score one for the planet. Now if they’ll just sign on to Kyoto!
http://science.slashdot.org/science/07/02/20/1632204.shtml

CLIMATE CHANGE
Bush vs. the Polar Bears: Bush has picked another war he can’t win –this one against public support for the polar bears. I can’t wait for the polar bear to be listed on the ESA list. This is going to be a developer’s worst nightmare! (laughing evilly, ha ha ha!)
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/49162/

Sneak Preview of the next IPCC report: Buckle up folks, its going to be a bumpy ride. And while you’re at it, don’t buy any oceanfront property for oh, say a few hundred years. We may have a beach in Huntsville before it all done!
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0315/p04s01-sten.html

Stop BP: The green resistance movement is picking up steam!
http://www.counterpunch.org/schaefer03152007.html
What’s global warming? No, its not kids that don’t know. Apparently, many of our fellow adult Americans have never heard of it. I think these are the folks who watch Fox News and American Idol, think Bill O’Reilly is Jesus reborn, and that NASCAR is the greatest thing, ever. But hey, I could be wrong!
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/23/DDGDNO8ONL1.DTL

POLITICS
Say Vagina, get suspended: Several high school girls were suspended for using the word vagina in a recitation. The (male) principle didn’t like the word. Hmm, I wonder if he would have been so upset if the word used was the anatomically correct word for a certain part of the male body? Somehow I doubt it. Here’s the good news: Eve Ensler is going to appear at the school now. That principle ought to LOVE that.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/03/12/vagina.monologues.suspension.ap/index.html

Nuclear War: Why won’t the press really say what Bush is talking about with Iran? I’m not the only one that’s asking this question.
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0228-28.htm

Go ahead, send us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses: We’ll be happy to lock them up for you. And if we can make a buck doing it, all the better. So what if a nine year old is locked in prison for months or years? It won’t hurt ‘em!
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0228-25.htm

POLLUTION


ENVIRONMENT
Save the Bald Eagle! The bald eagle has rebounded in astounding numbers, and now it may be delisted as an endangered species –which will give developers the go-ahead to move into the prime eagle nesting grounds they’ve been eying for years.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7805391

Environmentalists and the Religious Right finding more common ground: This time on the issue of pollution, and what it’s doing to children and mothers.
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/48631/


OTHER
Welcome to Serfdom: Guess what? Free trade isn’t what its cracked up to be. A rising tide does lift all boats –as long as their yachts. The Land of Opportunity is leaving more and more people in permanent poverty. Welcome back to the Middle Ages. Go say hello to the Lord of the Manor, serf.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0223-09.htm

“Homosexuality is Immoral” says one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Well gee, thanks for insulting me and 10% or better of all humanity with your bigoted remarks, General. I suppose Abu Gharib was moral since those involved were all straight?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070313/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_gays;_ylt=AmuDqdebdpIVJlX3EdZ6hKGs0NUE

Mr. Eviction: This guy is despicable.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-evictlawyer14mar14,0,7826559.story?coll=la-home-local

Website of the Week: A brand new magazine, dedicated to conserving resources. Conserve Magazine: http://www.conservemag.com/

UU Joke of the Week: The Universalist thinks God is too good to damn him, while the Unitarian thinks he is too good for God to damn."
Have a good weekend everybody!
-Rebecca

Social Justice News, 2/23/07

Hey everybody,
It’s been a crazy week. Both personally and for the world in general. Chlorine bombs going off in Iraq, immigrant children locked up in prison here, the weather haywire everywhere –all of its enough to make me want to bury my head in the sand! Work has been a nightmare; someone joked yesterday that they must have hung a sign out front that read “Psychotics this way please”. It was that bad. The day before one of my relatives, who I haven’t seen or spoken to in years and who doesn’t even live in town, came into the restaurant. To see me, and of course I refused. I don’t know how this person found out where I work, but I’m not happy about it.

FEATURED ARTICLES
Locking Up Family Values: Please, please, PLEASE listen/watch Friday’s Democracy Now. Or at least the first half hour. We are one step away from fascism. When will we learn? We did this crap to the Native Americans, to Chinese Americans, to Japanese Americans, and now to everyone else who immigrates here (or even pass through). This is how things started with Hitler –and when things in the country got really bad (mostly because of his policies, but that’s another discussion), he had a ready scapegoat and “final solution” at hand. You don’t think that could happen here? Remember what happened to the first people who inhabited these shores.
http://www.democracynow.org/

China to need dykes within a decade: Sea level is now rising so fast that China will need to build dykes within the next ten years to protect low-lying cities. Global whatsit?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070216/sc_afp/chinaclimatewarmingoceans_070216081935;_ylt=Aq4OgkeH99OGGB3FxvptdxNrAlMA

GOOD NEWS
The Mashpee Wampanoag Finally Win Federal Recognition: They are now considered a sovereign Native American Nation, after decades of trying to prove their status. I would have thought being there to greet the Pilgrims and hosting the first Thanksgiving would’ve been enough, but hey, what do I know?
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/02/mashpee_wampano_1.html

Investors Steamed About Global Warming: A group of investors is taking some companies to task for not responding to climate change. About time, too!
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0214/p02s02-usec.html

CLIMATE CHANGE
Winds Shifting, Dead Zones Expanding: Long stable wind and current patterns are changing thanks to climate change. This is causing even more dead zones and wiping out whole marine ecosystems, sometimes overnight. I’m not a pessimist by nature, but sometimes I agree with one of my friends, who looks at the issue of climate change and says “we’re ****ed”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2015826,00.html

Grim Future for West: Now isn’t the time to move to California, or any of the Sunbelt.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/03/MNGR9NUBLN1.DTL

POLITICS
Patents on Life: Yes, a corporation should be able to patent a gene that has existed pretty much since the beginning of time. Not. Well, not unless said corporation is really an entity named God.
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0213-25.htm

POLLUTION
Low-Level Toxicants Can Harm Brain: It turns out that even lower levels of mercury and other toxins can harms fetuses. Maybe there’s a reason the coal industry has blocked so many studies on mercury. The emissions from our power plant didn’t do you or your baby any harm. Of course not. Don’t you know that mercury is good for you?
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hslead0206,0,3014503.story?coll=ny-leadhealthnews-headlines

More Plastic Problems: More discussion on the fertility risks associated with plastics. Gee, maybe polyester and cheap cooking utensils weren’t such good ideas after all!
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/47849/

ENVIRONMENT
Bye Bye Honeybees? Colony Collapse is devastating the bee population all across the country. And since bees are vital to the pollination of most plants (including all the major food crops) this is Bad News. GMOs strike again?
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2867049&page=1

OTHER
Learning to Live as Voluntary Peasants (discusses The Farm): This is an interesting piece, and discusses several ecovillages with a focus on our neighbors just to the north, The Farm.
http://culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=100&Itemid=1

“Perfect Storm” of re-enactors: This is a hoot! But it’s a good thing neither the Civil Rights folks or the Confederate ones were in the mood for a uh, confrontation.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/Stories/Columns/The_Fabricator/2007/02/08/Re_enactor_Perfect_Storm_Strik/index.shtml

Arrows for the War: These people are flippin’ mad. I can’t help but wonder what will happen to them as the economy tanks and depression sets in, Peak Oil starts affecting this country, and climate change becomes obvious. Will they still think having 6 or more children is a good thing when they can’t even feed three?
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061127/joyce


Website of the Week: A practical approach to organic gardening.
http://www.momsorganichouse.com/a-practical-approach-to-organic-gardening/

UU Joke of the Week: Jesus said to them, "Who do you say that I am?" The Unitarian Universalist Christian replied "You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma of which we find the ultimate meaning in our interpersonal relationships." And Jesus said "What?"

Have a good weekend everybody!
-Rebecca

Social Justice News 2-2-07

Hey everybody,
My new job is going all right. I like it much better than the last one! Classes are about to kick my butt though. Two chapters and a paper per week per class –that’s a lot of work! One of my profs assigned two 60 page chapters. Talk about overload! No worries though, I’m handling it all right. Wait until the ground thaws so I can get out into the garden and plant, and I might have some problems then!
I’ve been baking my own bread for a couple of months now, but it’s all been plain old sandwich bread –whole wheat mostly. Tonight I got a little adventurous and decided to try my hand at cinnamon raisin bread. I’m not sure how it turned out (its still cooling) but I’m anxious to try it.
Molly Ivins died this week. Godspeed Molly –we’ll miss you. Meanwhile, Shrub is getting ready to attack Iran. But if you think Shrub is bad, meet Sam Brownback. He’s a Senator for Kansas who’s running for the Republican nomination. Here’s a man who (literally) makes his staff wash his feet once a year. Seriously. Folks, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. Which begs the question –is he running for President, or for Pharaoh?

FEATURED ARTICLES
“Iranian” Agents Abduct, Kill 4 American Soldiers: What’s this doing on a Social Justice Newsletter? You’re probably thinking to yourself. Well, we all know that Shrub is planning to attack Iran, and more and more incidents are being blamed on that country all of a sudden, coincidence like. Right? Well, check this out: these Iranians had AMERICAN weapons, wore AMERICAN uniforms, drove AMERICAN SUVs, spoke ENGLISH, and the leader of the assault team was BLOND. When was the last time you met a blond Iranian? Hmmm, Gulf of Tonkin ring a bell, anyone?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070127/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_sneak_attack

Terrorists Next Door, Typing at their computers: Yep, you heard that right. Bush and co. have expanded the use of the term terrorist again –this time to include anyone who SAYS anything that causes an ‘animal enterprise’ to lose money. The first victims? A group of activists who videotaped dogs being tortured at a lab and exposed the crimes.
http://www.counterpunch.org/laws01262007.html

GOOD NEWS
Nobel for Gore? Al Gore was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this week. Woot!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_on_re_eu/norway_nobel_gore_1;_ylt=Ag4NnFuh8RKsAdzjLFX0xE9rAlMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

REAL Carbon Sequestration: Forget pumping CO2 into underground caverns. These folks are doing it another way –they’re planting trees.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070126/ap_on_sc/carbon_forestry_1;_ylt=ApSjgk4A7TPKmLtPp1.7T6VrAlMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

CLIMATE CHANGE
Environment more Important than Economy: Or so Canadians said in a recent poll. They, at least, have finally woken up. The question is, will they act on it or not?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070129.wclimatepoll29/BNStory/ClimateChange

Where have all the birds gone? Birds are disappearing at alarming rates in Britain. Of course, this is due to climate change, but since birds don’t vote, and can’t make campaign contributions, who cares?
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2193673.ece

Empty Gestures Won’t Save the Planet: Recycle but fly to Europe on vacation? Change out the lightbulbs but leave the heat turned up? Then this article (and me) are talking to you.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2184477.ece

Climate Refugees: All ready, tens of thousands have been displaced by climate change. Now experts are saying that will climb to 200 million this century. I would say that they’re too optimistic –with sea levels rising as they are, I expect that number to be ten times that, at least.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070201/sc_afp/unclimaterefugees_070201065856;_ylt=AgSd9qiip3qHhg3b5OGYcshrAlMA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

POLITICS


POLLUTION
Orange Snow: Siberia has finally gotten some snow. There’s only one problem: it’s ORANGE. Anyone want to try telling me this is natural, much less harmless?
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/orange-snow-falls-in-siberia/2007/02/02/1169919501503.html

Ship it to China: So this is why are landfills aren’t overflowing with garbage –we just ship it to China! Gee, what a neat idea.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2186532.ece

ENVIRONMENT
Liquid Gold: Water is now more precious than gold in Australia, where people are (literally) facing a life or death struggle to obtain supplies, thanks to the increasing drought.
http://www.energyandcapital.com/editorials.php?id=352

OTHER
Website of the Week: Junk Science. Just for fun. This site is funded by the American Foxnews, Exxon Mobil, and Philip Morris.
http://www.junkscience.com/

UU Joke of the Week:
As we welcome our newest members and visitors, it is only fair to let them know what we Unitarian Universalists are like and what we expect.
We are friendly. If you are not friendly, out you go!
We are genuine people. Even our phonies are real phonies.
We are always sincere even if we have to fake it.
We aren't sure how ambivalant we should be.
We believe in tolerance and cannot stand intolerant people.
We are optimists. Anyone who doesn't look on the bright side depresses us.
We are more non-competitive than other groups.
We believe in equality; everyone is as good as the next person and a whole lot better.
Every Unitarian is a feminist, so he has to watch his language.
The organization is run democratically because the president insists on it.
We have our critics, but they are paranoid
We are prompt about being late to meetings.
Dogmatism is absolutely forbidden.
Freedom of belief is rigidly enforced.
And to this wonderful place we joyfully welcome you.

Have a good weekend everybody!
-Rebecca

Social Justice News, 1-26-07

Hey everybody,
Something really funny happened this week. I got a call from Newt Gingrich’s staffers. Yes, THAT Newt Gingrich. Apparently, I am on some kind of list as a conservative. Yes, I know your laughing… Anyway, they asked me if, as a good conservative (don’t faint from laughing too hard yet, I’m not to the good part) would I be willing to listen to a recorded message from Mr. Gingrich? For a second I thought about telling them that I’m a Democrat and hanging up, but then I decided to play along. The message was all about getting the GOP “back to basics” along with a lot of rigamorale about left wing nuts trying to hijack the country. I kept the phone away from my ear at first, afraid that I was going to get some kind of subliminal message through the phone: “You are now a conservative. Bush is right. Support Bush.” Apparently, according to him, in November people didn’t vote for the Democrats, but against the Republicans. All right, you could’ve fooled me! Then the staffer came back on the line and asked me for $200. After I hung up, I ended up in the floor laughing so hard I had to clutch my sides.
My new job is going okay, though they have some crazy things going on there. It’ll last for a while at any rate. I have to be at work at 7 in the morning, and I work till 3, so I won’t be able to go to the rally. My apologies –I hope it’s a great one! Someone please let me know how it goes.
Bush called for a 20% cut in gasoline consumption in his State of the Union, as expected. He wants to make it up with ethanol. One analyst pointed out that in order to replace 15% of our gas with ethanol and NOT lose any food production, we’d have to convert an area the size of Kansas and Iowa COMBINED to growing corn. No worries, we’ll just cut down a rain forest or two. That’s it.
Anyway, here’s the news.

FEATURED ARTICLES
Parent’s Angry over ‘Truth,’ Get Film Pulled: That’s right –angry evangelical parents have gotten Gore’s movie pulled from science classrooms in Seattle, and now it can only be watched if ‘balance’ material is presented. And here I thought science prevailed over religion in this country!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012401807.html?sub=AR

Want to cut your carbon output? This is the article for you! Check it out.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/cash/story/0,,1994984,00.html

Big Brother and Big Oil: This is the best analysis of the Bush drama on Capital Hill this week (otherwise known as the State of the Union Address) that I’ve seen. It’s also a little bit worrying.
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/bigoilbigbrother.php

Energy Fascism’s Rise: Maybe this will come true, maybe it won’t but the signs are there, and frightening!
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/46838/

GOOD NEWS
Climate Change Concerns Rising Fast: Worldover, the general public is (finally! –sorry, I couldn’t resist) starting to wake up to the reality of global warming.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070125/lf_afp/unclimateopinion_070125031842

CLIMATE CHANGE
IPCC’s Final Verdict: The World as we know it will be gone by 2100. Bye-bye mountaintop snowcaps. Bye bye 2/3 of the world’s species. Hello, climate change.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1995348,00.html

Are we nuts? We buy health insurance, life insurance, fire insurance, auto insurance, even though we may never need most of them. But we won’t do anything to stop climate change. So this author asks –are we nuts? I would say yes. We may be the first species in the planet’s history to commit mass suicide –and mass murder along the way.
http://baltimorechronicle.com/2007/011507Lindorff.shtml

Awakening the Giant: There are now hopeful signs that the American public is finally awakening to the reality of climate change.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-enviro2007jan20,0,3131999.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines

POLITICS
State of the Apocalypse: Global and domestic rampage, the failing war in Iraq, the changing climate, none of these were included in Bush’s speech the other night, now were they?
http://www.alternet.org/story/47127/

POLLUTION
Kid’s Lung Damage Caused by Roads: The exhaust from cars is causing mass damage to the lungs of kids who live next to the roads. Gee, I thought we drove cars to keep the kids safe!
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2186523.ece

ENVIRONMENT
The Sand Takes All: The Sahara desert is advancing relentlessly across Africa, while activists try to stop it, seemingly to no avail. Meanwhile, many villagers can’t see the connection between the continuous felling of trees and the desert’s advance.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6288445.stm

Criminals, Terrorists, or Something altogether different? An in-depth look at the “ecoterrorism” incidents in the past few years, and at those who committed them.
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/46847/

OTHER
110 SWAT Team Incidents EVERY DAY Last Year: SWAT teams were called out about 110 times every single day last year. Why? Terrorism? Hostages? No –to serve warrants. And guess who got hurt? Innocent adults and children. Gee, let’s just send out the paramilitary to arrest someone who didn’t show up to traffic court! What a bright idea!
http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=10382

More Cooks, Waitresses, and Busboys than Farmers: Seriously. There are now more of these folks than those who actually grow food! If this continues, soon all food production will be in the hands of Monsanto and its ilk. And when that unsustainable system breaks down? Well….I think it’s a good time to learn to garden!
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070125/un_global_unemployment.html?.v=3

Website of the Week: Ecology Action. These folks do a lot of good work. (Full disclosure: I bought some seeds this year from their garden catalog.) http://www.growbiointensive.org/

UU Joke of the Week:
Conversation overheard:
Person A (Mainstream Protestant Denomination): I hear that you allow all sorts of weirdos in your church. Atheists, Buddhists, Pagans...
Person B (Unitarian Universalist): We allow Christians too -- we're very open minded!

Have a good weekend everybody!
-Rebecca

Gandhi's Legacy

This is the second installment of my three part series on how empires are brought down. If this is your first time visiting, or the first you’ve read of this series, my purpose here is to discuss how empires fall, particularly how they are brought down from within. In the first essay I discussed violent revolts, and in this essay I shall tackle nonviolent rebellion. The third essay, entitled The Third Course, will sum up and discuss what I feel are the key factors in whether or not an empire is brought down successfully.

First, I am going to discuss my own feelings about nonviolence. That will be the first question that comes to mind for anyone who reads this. I consider myself to be a conditional pacifist. That isn’t a conventional term, so give me a minute to explain that. The tradition definition of pacifism can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifism For the most part, this fits me, as I do not believe violence is a legitimate way of solving problems. I am not a violent or aggressive person, and given my druthers I would and will live my life in as peaceful away as possible. That said, I am a child of the streets and as such am wise enough in the ways of the world to recognize that pacifism is a luxury. I have the highest respect for the Amish and the Mennonites; they are an amazing group of people. But they are able to live as they do because their neighbors are generally peaceful and orderly people who do not want to hurt them or take what they have. If that were to ever change, they would either have to let the intruders have their way or fight to stop them. In the world of Genghis Khan and his ilk, the Amish would simply have been wiped out.

Likewise, I am able to live my life peacefully at the moment because I live in a fairly ordered society. If I were suddenly plunked down in the middle of Darfur, I would immediately lose the luxury of being pacifistic if I wanted to keep life and body together. Therefore, I consider myself a conditional pacifist: I will not harm you, I will not be aggressive towards you, and I will never initiate aggression against another human being. But, I also believe in self-defense. If someone broke into my house tonight, I would have no compunctions against shooting them dead. Likewise, if someone invaded us with the intent of taking over our land and us, I would support fighting them and be ready and willing to fight myself.

That is what I mean by conditional pacifist.

But that is not the purpose of this essay. Its purpose is to explore the non violent route of bringing down empires, how and if it works, and what the advantages and drawbacks are. So, here is the essay.

*****

It happened one morning in early September, the 11th to be exact. No, not that September 11th –this one was in 1906. I have no idea what the weather was like, but perhaps it was a cool, crisp fall day just as our 9/11 was. On this day, a man did what had long been considered impossible: he brought down an empire. And he did it using unconventional means. There was no war, no attack, no violence of any sort. He simply walked away. And a few million others followed him. The beleaguered, battered, tottering British Empire couldn’t withstand a loss of support of this magnitude, and it simply crumbled.

The relevant question for this paper is, was what Gandhi did an anomaly or it a useful tool for bringing down an empire? I would argue that the answer lies somewhere in between.

There can be little doubt that Gandhi left behind an impressive legacy. Martin Luther King. Rosa Parks. The Children’s March. The Freedom Riders. Powerful images that evoke powerful feelings. The entire Civil Rights struggle in the U.S. and countless other social and liberation movements in other countries drew from the teachings of Gandhi. Without Gandhi, there might never have been the great social upheavals of the mid-20th century.

By now, astute readers will have noticed an important difference between these movements and the subject of this essay: these were movements for social change and the subject here is social revolution. The distinction is a very important one. Social change is relatively easy compared to revolution. The goal of such a movement is to change the society within its currently existing paradigms. The goal of a revolutionary movement is to change the paradigms themselves, thereby creating a new society. In the former example, the existing Empire merely changes a few of its rules to quiet the rabble rousers. After it’s over, the same Empire exists underneath. Basically the end result is a face lift of the prevailing Imperial structure. The goal of a revolutionary movement is not to change the Empire, but to bring it down.

Social Movements need surprisingly little support to succeed. The rule of thumb I was taught in my upper-level sociology courses was 3%. That’s all it takes to change the face of a society. That’s the reason some Equal Rights movements have advanced so rapidly. Take the LGBT rights movement, which has made incredible gains in only two decades. LGBT individuals make up at least 10% of the population of the U.S., and well over half are politically active. Add in their supportive friends, families, and other straight allies and you have a powerful force for change.

But again, social change is not social revolution. As an example, could 3% of an Empire’s population walking away bring it down? Probably, but it wouldn’t happen –except in the extraordinary cases were, like the British Empire in 1906, said Empire is all ready in rags and there is nothing to stop them. For one thing, were would they go? It’s easy for one person or a family, or even 100 of them, to walk away. It’s not so easy for 10,000 or 100,000 to do so –much less a few million. Those people still have to have food, income, clothing, and so on and so forth. Unless there are alternatives to those provided by the Empire, they will still be dependent upon it to some extent. It’s impossible for that many people to simply walk off into the woods.

There is one other example of people bringing down an Empire by primarily non-violent means. But this is an example of how NOT to do it, because said Empire was replaced by another that was far worse than the first. Two millennia ago, give or take a century, a young Jewish carpenter was executed in a rather hideous manner. His followers didn’t just disband, as was hoped for by the ruling elites of the time. Rather, they grew and became such a popular movement that the Empire was toppled. And thus, was the Roman Catholic Empire born with the passing of Rome. There is no doubt that this one was worse than its predecessor –after all, the Church not only plunged the world into the Dark Ages for over 1500 years, but they also burned some of the most priceless works in human history, destroyed the cultural heritage of millions, started countless bloody wars, repressed well over half the human race, and burned over 5 million women at the stake (just in the first 3 centuries), many for “crimes” that included midwifery. Ok, so that was my Catholic Church rant. I’m entitled to it –I am pagan after all!

In conclusion, if walking away from an empire won’t bring it down, and picking up arms won’t necessarily bring it down, then what are the necessary ingredients in a successful revolution? That will be the subject of my next essay, The Third Course.

As an aside, I would like to suggest that walking away is probably the best course to take if one is going to survive the collapse of an empire. To have the best chance of survival, one needs to be as far as possible from the seat of Imperial Power, and also be as independent from the services of the Empire as one can be.