heart ache

Just five days ago I was in the ER suffering a heart attack. Today I am back home feeling so much better. My family has no known history of heart trouble, my blood pressure is great and so are my cholesterol levels. I was a moderate to heavy smoker for about 30 years. I haven't had a cigarette since and I hope to never smoke one again.

A friend of mine brought me an interesting book, The Easy Way To Quit Smoking, by Allen Carr. As I read, I wondered how this could apply to other areas and reflected how the book paralleled Buddhist right view or proper perspective. I now see that it has been applied to alcohol and weight loss, but I would of course, like to apply it to the Big Problem. Carr explains how amazing it is that, "the fear of the horrendous health risks attached to smoking is overshadowed by the fear of stopping. It's not so much that the latter fear is greater, but that if we quit today the fear is immediate, whereas the fear of contracting lung cancer is a fear of the future".

So there it is. We are poised on the brink of Collapse that will bring unimaginable suffering to billions of humans because we fear that we may have to make a little sacrifice today. The greed of a few psychopaths and sociopaths threaten to bring ruin to us all. Too bad there isn't a test to see who they are...as if we need a test. Consider that one of CEOs of United Healthcare received 1.7 billion dollars in compensation and then another also received more than one billion dollars in compensation. Don't you think that it would require a psycho to skim off all that cash that could be used for health care? Who really needs a billion dollars?

James Verone tried to rob a bank for a dollar so that he could be sent to prison and receive the health care that he desperately needs. Unfortuantely, one dollar wasn't enough so he won't be going to prison. I sympathize with the man, after all, I had several small heart attacks before I went to the hospital. I don't have any health insurance, I'm having trouble paying my rent and I wasn't sure whether it was my heart or lung cancer. I do know that I had plenty of fantasies of hunting and terrorizing those who are responsible for preventing this country from having universal health care like all of the other developed nations.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

There are about 50 million people without any healthcare, 45 million using medicare and 58 million using medicaid. If we do the math and add those numbers we find that about half of Americans are privately insured and the rest rely on the government or nothing at all. The wealthiest 400 families in the US have as much or more wealth than all of the uninsured and government insured people combined. They're all billionaires. Does anyone really need a billion dollars? Is it moral?

Last Chance

One of the authors of a new report indicating the the oceans are beginning a mass extinction event (the last occurring about 65 million years ago) says that this generation is the last chance to mitigate catastrophic destruction.

The authors of that study are not necessarily experts on pollution and I'm not sure that they are aware of all those sunken ships from previous wars that may be beginning to or will start seeping oil from decaying tanks, nor what the Fukishima effects will be.

Another report stated that 50+ of 65 nuclear power plants in the US have been leaking contaminated waters. We have an emerging tritium problem

While the Big Problem is becoming ever more clear, the Republican agenda remains to cut essential regulations and programs that protect life other than that of human fetuses. There are more unfilled government Department Seats than ever before thanks to the republican opposition of anything Obama touched and their starve the beast madness.

Desperate times call for desperate measures so my hat goes off to James Richard Varone who robbed a bank for one dollar so he could be sent to prison and receive the medical care he desperately needs.

Five things

Why is it that the best bills in congress never get any coverage? The Nation published it's pick of The Five Smartest Congressional Bills You've Never Heard Of. Too bad those bills don't stand a chance to make it through the gauntlet of special interest henchmen. We can see who they are when we look at who voted for what.

Our schools are deteriorating as funding for education is being slashed and the rich are getting richer. America'a infotainment industry keeps us ignorant and distracted, but there are those who work to bring integrity to reporting and those who attempt to illustrate ugly truths.

Here are five lessons about reducing deficits, but I wouldn't trust the author who fails to cite an alleged study.

Corporate sponsored vs corporate owned media...hmm, an important distinction? Maybe, but one thing is for sure...that the big corporate infotainers are not reporting on the real stories like flood waters threatening some of our nuclear power plants. Go ahead and google it yourself, you'll see. Where do the Kochs fit into all of this?

How about Goldman Sachs and the crisis of Greece? The EU Chronicle is covering the story. It's obscene.

lessons of the past

I've made some mistakes in my life. I never completed a bachelors degree. I failed to properly plan for these interesting times and I'm paying for it now. I know that I'm not the only one. We, as a country, forgot the lessons our forefathers. It is difficult to remember things that happened before we were born. Robert Reich explains how we got here and what we need to do about it in Atershock

Some refer to more recent history as a Lost Decade for American Income. Despite all of the evidence, Republicans are still promoting policies that put us in a hole. They would like to take it to the next level and put the banksters in control of Social Security and Medicare. Trillions of dollars could be skimmed off the top of public funds. We need a new way forward. Americans want financial reforms.

Meanwhile there's a nuclear power plant in Nebraska that might be in trouble due to flooding. You can read about that here and view lots of pictures here. I didn't see anything about this in the corporate media. At least Fared Zacharia has come around and realizes the simple truth of the matter.

This chart helps to put things in perspective. But that's nothing compared to what Pawlenty would do, or at least what he's proposing. Just look at this insanity.

If you'd like to check out a sane budget for the nation look at the Progressive Plan. Looks good to me. Rachel Maddow asked why it wasn't covered. If you like graphics then you might want to look at these charts.

elements of faith

The wildfires in Arizona are the largest in history while rivers flood elsewhere. Volcanoes are disrupting air traffic while CO2 levels have exceeded safe levels.

Collective bargaining remains under assault, but we don't see that covered by corporate media.

Here's a plan to reboot the American Dream.

The vultures are just waiting to feast on loose change because it adds up to millions and millions while the radical right remains lockstep as the secularists fail to come together. Perhaps they will step from the shadows and cast the light

So many organizations....what might unify them? Integrative activism?

billions stolen

The Pentagon and the Iraqi government are closing the books and making the figure official; $6.6 billion remains unaccounted. How could we just loose three planes worth of cash? Why isn't this story covered by corporate media? Oh, wait, maybe the Los Angeles Times is corporate, but they published this whopper of a story.

The Cree Indians supposedly stated that only when we (white people) run out of food will we learn that we cannot eat money. That day seems to be getting closer all the time. Can we drink the money when we destroy our fresh water sources? Too many Pennsylvanians seem to be hoping that they can, because they're just asking for Gasland. How did Americans get so stupid?

Corporate media is focusing lots of time covering the Republican race for the White House with the Prophets of Poison. Maybe all the money spent by the right has something to do with American ignorance. Tell a lie often enough and it will seem like the truth.

At least The Immoral Minority is trying to tell the truth.

water, weiners, and waste

I was nine years old when the Clean Water Act was signed into law. Three years earlier I watched the Cuyahoga River burn. Witnessing a major river burn was a big wake-up call for many Americans. Unfortunately our regulatory agencies are now threatened, underfunded, obsolete, inadequate and appear to the victims of regulatory capture. There is a growing body of works that examines the fate of the worlds' water supplies and the ripple effects of our actions.

Meanwhile the mainstream corporate media focuses great attention on Weiner's transgressions and hypocritically ignores the Vitter problem, except for Rachel. The heat should be on Justice Clarence Thomas, but the people suffer more droughts in the making while the money continues to erode just democratic functions.

The weather gets weirder, the institutions become more corrupt and the truth becomes more difficult to discern through the veils of interlocking directorates. They rule and we all loose. For those reasons and more, I am an integrative activist.

Cooperation and regulation helped to solve one severe global problem. We can do more. Here's someone who does a lot.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention revolving doors ( here's a how-to to use the previous link) and the present example of Chris Christie and Edison Schools collaboration to take $800,000,000 from the public and handing to the cronny capitalists. You can read about that here.

That story is chump change when compared to the war profiteering engineered by Dick Cheney, Haliburton, Blackwater and other evil-doers (see comments).

May God help us all to be righteous and free from religion.

watch out

There are many good watch groups. PR watch, labor rights watch, NGO, treaty, global governance etc. It's hard to keep up...there are rights organizations, like global labour rights that act like watches..

There's a story about working conditions in Jordan that reminds of us the triangle shirtwaist factory incident . The men were acquitted of criminal charges, but were forced to pay $75 to each of the victims families. They bad guys then sued the insurance company and were awarded $400 for each victim...nice profit for killing people. Two years later one of those rats locked the doors on workers again.

There are reports of factories that now have netting around factory rooftops to prevent suicide of workers.

So let's just keep our noses to the grindstones so we can have our infotainment and cheap goods. Where is the next Francis Perkins when you need her?

prophesy

A lazy Sunday and the history channel have informed me about the Georgia guide-stones and the lost book of Nostradamus. Meltzer and his team are kind of silly, but they at least approached the rationality advocated by the stones.

It's the simple truth that humanity has become too populous and is destroying the biosphere. It's a hard truth that we choose our destiny.

May we all choose more wisely.

Antifascist Jackpot

Thanks Antifascist for sharing your work.

Don't forget to research Salmon Kahn

Zach Kopplin fights to repeal Creationism

Go Zack, go. Support Zack, support....you can check it out yourself.

Did you know that Saudi Arabia is the only country left that prohibits women from driving? There's a Rosa Parks moment happening there now.

The political center shifts right

The political center has shifted dramatically to the right through the last few decades. This has occurred both in the United States and abroad. Liberty Central uses a Pew poll to support itself and the draconian cuts of the RNC budget proposal. Global Conditions gives us a deeper and broader perspective on the issue.

An Economist's View notes the shift, but seems to remain unaware of policy changes such as a repeal of the fairness doctrine and rules changes about media consolidation that were enacted during the Regan Administration.

The political climate has shifted and Climate Shifts notes that a Koch binge is pushing things to the right which is wrong for the vast majority.

Nixon created lots of regulatory agencies like the EPA and Reagan raised taxes. They'd be considered pinko-commies by today's standards. Don't believe me though, read about it here and here and listen to Rush getting reamed. As for Nixon, you can sock it to 'em, or read about it here, here or there.

To be liberal now...