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September 5, 2012

Down the memory hole

With the recent Republican National Convention out of the way, and its Democratic counterpart underway, it behooves us to cast our minds back to previous administrations of both stripes.

Did you notice that no previous Republican president spoke at the RNC? They had a couple of Georges to choose from, both H.W. Bush and W. If the Repubs were so proud of what they had “built” during their heroes' administrations, why not bring one of them forward to tout how great they were?

I mean, there were videos of George 1 and George 2, although 1 did most of the talking. And, their fair ladies also made video appearances. But, no talk of all they had accomplished from 1988 to 1992, and from 2000 to 2008. Why?

Perhaps because both Georges are war criminals. Do you think that might be why? Just two days ago, on

war criminals Bush and Blair

"The immorality of the United States and Great Britain's decision to invade Iraq in 2003," Tutu wrote in an exclusive for the Observer this weekend, was "premised on the lie that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction [WMDs]," and instead of bringing peace, democracy, or harmony to the region, "has destabilised and polarised the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history." [1] [2]

January 29, 2012

          We are now in a crucial time in America, the 2012 election cycle. Things are very much different than they were in 2008. The World Wide Awakening has begun. Is it too late? Too late to undo the total privatization of governments and citizens everywhere?

          One could make a case for the idea that only a few nations are not tangled up in the web of control by trans-national corporations: Cuba, North Korea and Iran. And Iran is about to be attacked in an obvious attempt to shorten that list by one third.

          Will we once again fall for the weapons of mass destruction ploy? Have we learned nothing from our brutal invasion and destruction of Iraq? Even if Iran actually had an atomic bomb, even if they had a missile delivery system capable of transporting it to a target, does anybody think that they'd be stupid enough to use it? Everybody knows that instant retaliation would result in the obliteration of the entire nation of Iran.

          This strategy was called mutually assured destruction (or MAD) when the U.S.A. practiced this policy successfully vis-a-vis the Soviet Union. Could it be that this simple fact is one more big chunk of knowledge that has just gone down the memory hole?

          The memory hole is a crucial element in the power structure's management of our minds. Just dangle a few shiney keys in front of our baby minds and we'll forget all about ....what was it now?....I forgot.

First History Post: Aug, 2011

     Tell the truth about history. Let the chips fall where they may. Keep your eyes on this tab as events unfold. Remember the old curse/blessing "May you live in interesting times".

     The interesting times have arrived. The tipping point has been passed. Certain things are now inevitable. The flames of war have encroached upon a gigantic source of fuel. Firestorm is imminent. Remember this lesson: form islands of sanity and sustainability. "We must all hang together, or we shall surely hang separately" — Benjamin Franklin

     Beware of distractions, misinformation, and false logic. Keep emotion in balance with careful thought. Join hands spiritually. Embrace the succor of community. Protect Mother Earth.

Where does history begin?

     Does it begin with the first written word? Or with the discovery of fire? Let's assume that some things are lost in antiquity. We were once without societal norms, scratching when we itched and eating when there was food. As hunter gatherers we didn't know what was poison and what wasn't. We killed animals smaller than ourselves, and were killed by ones more powerful than we were. As we joined together to gather food, kill and defend, society was born.

     Flash forward to the here and now. Much has changed. In antiquity our actions were simple and rational. That seems not to be the case today. As a society, we act in highly irrational ways. Some would say insane ways. Although our life spans are far greater, we now kill with impunity, seemingly without reasons.  We gather more than we need, more than we can use. What is going on?

     As this page develops, we'll explore where we are and how we got here.  —  

Where we are at now —

       Since antiquity, empires have been born, grown in strength and ambition, become rich, and eventually faded from prominence as their reach exceeded their grasp. The Roman empire grew until it reached all of the way to Britain, then collapsed in a decadent heap.

     The Ottoman empire grew in briliant splendor as the Moors brought science and culture to Europe. But then, the Christian Crusades drove them out, bringing on the Dark Ages. The list goes on: the Dutch, the Spanish, French, Germans, and British reached out and each had their shot at ruling the world.

     In each case, they created magnificent cultures that flamed out as military adventurism sapped their financial strength. Now the United States of America has reached its zenith. Shortly before he died, President Richard Nixon predicted that the 21st century would belong to the Chinese. They span the gap between northern and southern Hemispheres. They lead the third world, albeit neck-and-neck with India.They dominate Asia.

Where we could be in the future

     Does anybody doubt this? What is to become of us? Will America flame out, self destruct? Or is it just possible that we will mature as a people, exerting world leadership in a loving and sensible way?

     We can't tell China to refrain from building a hundred nuclear power plants, but maybe we could demonstrate our concern about the most lethal technology in common use ever created by mankind. We could do as the Germans have now done: decide to forgo nuclear power and undertake massive social re-engineering through government spending.

     Germany (a.k.a. Duetchland) is investing in a better future by deciding to shut down their nuclear power industry within ten years. At the same time they will be pouring billions of deutschmarks into renewable energy. Switching government systems over to solar and wind-generated electricity will drive the cost of these technologies down by virtue of market economic principles.

     The more demand there is for a product, the more money there is to be made by manufacturing it. The more of it is manufactured, the lower the cost per unit becomes. Think of it this way. When pocket calculators first came on the market in the late 1960s, the cost of a simple four-function unit was around $100 in today's money. Now a much more sophisticated unit with a solar cell, memory function and automatic on-off is under ten bucks.

     It is entirely possible to move away from the use of petrochemicals and end the oil wars by moving along the following lines. We make renewable energy affordable for the common man. Home-generated electricity not only powers our appliances, it also makes hydrogen through the process of electrolysis.

     Hydrogen could be used in the home for heating, air conditioning and refrigeration directly, and also in various other ways through the technology of fuel cells. Storing energy through compressed hydrogen would be much more efficient than storing it in batteries that inevitably degrade over time and suffer from the problem of self-discharge.

     Compressed hydrogen could also be used to fuel hybrid vehicles. These vehicles would then be powered by both hydrogen-powered turbine engines and by electric motors. Various transport models may run the gamut from pure electric to pure turbine, and every possible permutation in between.