Oil-based tech developed over the past century has created a population explosion & is responsible for historically-unprecedented high standards of living for those in the 1st World. We owe plastics, cheap transportation & an abundant food supply -among other things- to OIL. But IT'S ON THE WAY OUT & oil-profits-entrenched-short-sighted capitalists don't care a fig about the damage & misery that waiting till the last minute to do anything about it is going to create. The "Economy" etc is NOT GOING TO GET "BETTER" or go back to a 20th century paradigm. In short, it's gonna be a very bumpy ride & get down to WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?!
Pete Seeger
Hero
Advocate for the environment Tom DeChristopher was sentenced to 2 years in federal prison for an act of civil disobedience aimed at drawing attention to the unethical practices of the oil and natural gas industries.
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"Most of us know that we’ve probably passed the point where we can avoid the collapse of our industrial civilization, and when we look at prior examples of collapse, the greatest atrocities weren’t because of direct impacts, it was because of what those in power did to try to maintain that power as it started to fall away, and what they did in the name of restoring order and security. In Darfur, the greatest atrocity wasn’t the water and food shortage, it was what was done in response to that. In Germany in the 1930s, the biggest deal wasn’t the inflation -- it was really a trigger of a lot of those problems -- it was the laws that were passed in the name of restoring order and security.
I think as a climate movement, most of us should be aware that we can pretty well count on the fact that there will be some scapegoat chosen over the course of this century. Some laws that are passed that sacrifice one or several groups of people in the name of restoring order and security. The big question for us at this point is how we as citizens are going to respond to that, what we as citizens are going to be willing to do to our fellow human beings in the name of just following the law. When the government tells us that it’s not our job to question whether that law is right or wrong, as the judge did in this case to the jury, I think we need to be prepared for that moment, and make a more conscious decision of what we want our role to really be."
-Tom DeChristopher
INFO:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-michaelson/why-liberals-should-be-ou_b_910432.html
http://www.grist.org/climate-energy/2011-07-27-dechristopher-supporters-go-to-jail-for-justice
"The Animal Within"
FRIDAY, August 5th, 8:00pm
ARTISTS TELEVISION ACCESS
992 Valencia Street. San Francisco, CA
Short films by: CATHERINE CHALMERS • IRA COHEN • STEVE DAVIS • JONATHAN HARRIS • PETER MALONEY • ASHLEIGH NANKIVELL • TARA SINN • JUSTIN SPRING • RANDAL WILCOX
Selected by: Billy Miller
INFO:
http://www.atasite.org/2011/08/the-animal-within/
Badlands Special Edition Gazette
(above) "Badlands Gazette" (special edition)
Featuring artwork by:
Paul Gabrielli, Paul McCarthy, Luc Sante, Eric Yahnker
text by:
Edgar Allan Poe
Available for a limited time only by sending $3.00 (U.S.) to:
Box 20424 NYC 10023,
or via PayPal by writing to:
translux@earthlink.net
"B-B-B-BAD"
Anna Kustera Gallery
520 West 21st Street NYC
June 30 - August 12
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 30, 6-8PM
Featuring:
Adam Axel • Mattia Biagi • Keith Boadwee • Matt Borruso • Charles Browning • Elijah Burgher • Luke Butler • Wayne Coe • Steve Davis • Peter Eide • Scott Ewalt • Glen Fogel • Jonah Freeman • Martha Friedman • Paul Gabrielli • John Wayne Gacy • Joe Graham-Felsen • Gregory Green • Adam Helms • Lisa Kirk • Kristian Kozul • Scooter LaForge • Wes Lang • Karine Laval • Patrick Lee • Michael Magnan • Paul McCarthy • Adam McEwen • Bob Mizer • John Monteith • John Ensor Parker & Johnny Moreno • Luc Sante • Ryan Schneider • Jeff Shagawat • Tara Sinn • HankWillisThomas • Wolfgang Tillmans • John Waters • Karlheinz Weinberger • Eric Yahnker
Curated by: Doug McClemont & Billy Miller
INFO:
http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/art/1747433/review-“b-b-b-bad”
(Above: sculpture by Gregory Green)
Channeling
"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it.It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.
No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."
-Martha Graham
Dumb No More
“The few own the many because they possess the means of livelihood of all ... The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor. The majority of mankind are working people. So long as their fair demands - the ownership and control of their livelihoods - are set at naught, we can have neither men’s rights nor women’s rights. The majority of mankind is ground down by industrial oppression in order that the small remnant may live in ease.”
—Helen Keller, 1911
INFO:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller
http://www.nndb.com/people/074/000046933/
“It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.”*
*-Jean-Luc Godardabove: "Just What Is It that Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?" (1956) by Richard Hamilton
INFO:
http://vimeo.com/11749071
http://storychasers.org/2011/02/02/creation-requires-influence-understanding-remix-power-in-star-wars/
"Art exists because reality is neither real nor significant."*
*-J.G. Ballard
(above: paintings by Thomas Downing, Kenneth Nolan)
The Whole Twentieth Century Was A Mistake
"I am expensive. I am subsidized by all the poor people in the world. I dress as though I were a gift to unwrap. I am a rich American heiress looking for a husband"
-program notes from a 2007 Vivienne Westwood fashion show(!)
INFO:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivienne_Westwood
http://www.paulgormanis.com/?p=624
Zan Yu said, "Once there are so many people, what should be done?"... *
*... "Enrich them," said the Master."Once they are enriched, what next?"
"Educate them."
-Confucius (c. 551 - c. 479 BC)
_________________________________
The world’s human population doubled from 1 to 2 billion between 1800 and 1930, and then doubled again by 1975. Sometime in 2011, it’s expected to top 7 billion. This staggering increase and the massive consumption it drives are overwhelming the planet’s finite resources. We’ve already witnessed the devastating effects of overpopulation on biodiversity: Species abundant in North America two centuries ago — from the woodland bison of West Virginia and Arizona’s Merriam’s elk to the Rocky Mountain grasshopper and Puerto Rico’s Culebra parrot — have been wiped out by growing human numbers.
As the world’s population grows unsustainably, so do its unyielding demands for water, land, trees and fossil fuels — all of which come at a steep price for already endangered plants and animals. Most biologists agree we’re in the midst of the Earth’s sixth mass extinction event; species are disappearing about 1,000 times faster than is typical of the planet’s history. This time, though, it isn’t because of geologic or cosmic forces but unsustainable human population growth.
Today’s global human population stands at 6.9 billion. Every day, the planet sees a net gain of roughly 250,000 people. If the pace continues, we’ll be on course to reach 8 billion by 2020 and 9 billion by 2050.
By any ecological measure, Homo sapiens sapiens has exceeded its sustainable population size. Just a single human waste product — greenhouse gas — has drastically altered the chemistry of the planet’s atmosphere and oceans, causing global warming and ocean acidification.
In the United States, which has the world’s third largest population after China and India, the fertility rate peaked in 2007 at its highest level since 1971 before dropping off slightly due to the recent economic recession. At 2.1 children per woman, the U.S. fertility rate remains the highest among developed nations, which average around 1.6. The current U.S. population exceeds 300 million and is projected to grow 50 percent by 2050.
The mission of the Center for Biological Diversity is to stop the planetary extinction crisis wiping out rare plants and animals around the world. Explosive, unsustainable human population growth is an essential root cause of this crisis.
We can reduce our own population to an ecologically sustainable level in a number of ways, including the empowerment of women, education of all people, universal access to birth control and a societal commitment to ensuring that all species are given a chance to live and thrive. All of these steps will decrease human poverty and overcrowding, raise our standard of living and sustain the lives of plants, animals and ecosystems everywhere.
-Center for Biological Diversity
INFO:
http://tetrahedral.blogspot.com/2010/12/some-effects-of-human-overpopulation.html
John Law & the Mississippi Bubble
John Law (1671-1729) was a a Scottish economist (and convicted murderer) who pioneered the use of paper money when, after moving to France, he established himself as the Controller General and then subsequently engineered the greatest money swindle in history up till that time - which became known as "The Mississippi Bubble", that ended in the collapse of the French economy. INFO:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Law_(economist)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Company
An entertaining animated short detailing the swindle HERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADv5-Pen1L4
An insightful hourlong video presentation explaining more about John Law and the evolution of his and other moneymaking schemes HERE:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ascentofmoney/featured/the-ascent-of-money-episode-2-bonds-of-war/90/
The Corporate States of America
• In the Corporate States of America, health care "reform" consists of gutting all efforts to put real competition back into monopolized markets while at the same time putting into place fines for those who don’t buy insurance from the monopolies.• In the Corporate States of America, "contractors" outnumber military personnel in war efforts. "Contractors" also are immune from all laws and are able to kill indiscriminately in "security" operations and to carry out extrajudicial killings with drone missiles that also kill large numbers of civilians.
• In the Corporate States of America, practically the entire treasury of the country is put into the hands of the "banks" to rescue them after they bankrupt themselves due to a poor investment strategy based on pure greed.
• In the Corporate States of America, laws are written to provide immunity after the fact when it is discovered that communications companies have assisted the government in spying illegally on the citizens.
• In the Corporate States of America, laws are written by lobbyists and transcribed by the legislature.
• In the Corporate States of America, news is scripted by corporate-owned politicians and transcribed by the media.
• In the Corporate States of America, taxes are for low level employees only.
• In the Corporate States of America, prisons are privatized, and funds paid to private prisons are then plowed back into lobbying for stricter laws and sentencing guidelines, in order to steadily expand the pool of “clients” that can be drawn from the underclass.
• In the Corporate States of America, a corporation have all the legal rights of an individual person with none of the liabilities, and will virtually never face criminal charges no matter what it does.
• In the Corporate States of America, elections are investments.
INFO:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-g-brant/the-united-corporate-stat_b_436937.html
Unequal Union
"Economists long ago tried to justify the vast inequalities that seemed so troubling in the mid-19th century—inequalities that are but a pale shadow of what we are seeing in America today. The justification they came up with was called “marginal-productivity theory.” In a nutshell, this theory associated higher incomes with higher productivity and a greater contribution to society. It is a theory that has always been cherished by the rich. Evidence for its validity, however, remains thin. The corporate executives who helped bring on the recession of the past three years—whose contribution to our society, and to their own companies, has been massively negative—went on to receive large bonuses. In some cases, companies were so embarrassed about calling such rewards “performance bonuses” that they felt compelled to change the name to “retention bonuses” (even if the only thing being retained was bad performance). Those who have contributed great positive innovations to our society, from the pioneers of genetic understanding to the pioneers of the Information Age, have received a pittance compared with those responsible for the financial innovations that brought our global economy to the brink of ruin." -Joseph E. Stiglitz
(excerpted from:" Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%" - Vanity Fair, May 2011)
"Our only political party has two right wings, one called Republican, the other Democratic."*
... "Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt - until recently - and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, blacks, and anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties."*-Gore Vidal
Pledge Of Allegiance
•Exxon Mobil's 2009 profits totaled $19 billion, yet according to its SEC filings, the company received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, plus, IT DIDN'T PAY ANY FEDERAL TAXES.•Bank of America made $4.4 billion in profits last year. This was after it received a $1 TRILLION BAILOUT from the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department, and A $1.9 BILLION TAX REFUND from the IRS.
•General Electric has made $26 billion in profits in the United States over the past five years. It's also received a $4.1 BILLION TAX REFUND from the IRS. GE HAS CUT A FIFTH OF ITS AMERICAN JOBS in the past nine years, and is boosting jobs overseas - where tax rates are lower. And where it can continue evading U.S. taxes.
•Chevron's IRS REFUND LAST YEAR TOTALED $19 MILLION, but it's 2009 profits came to a whopping $10 billion.
•Boeing received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers. It also received a $124 MILLION REFUND FROM THE IRS.
•Valero Energy made $68 billion in sales and received a $157 MILLION TAX REFUND check from the IRS. Over the past three years, it has received a $134 million tax break thanks to the oil and gas manufacturing tax reduction.
•Goldman Sachs paid 1.1% OF ITS 2008 INCOME TAXES and received a $800 billion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department. Yet it made a PROFIT OF $2.3 BILLION in profit for the same year.
•Citigroup profits last year totaled more than $4 billion. But it paid zero dollars in federal income tax, and RECEIVED A $2.5 TRILLION BAILOUT from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.
•Conoco Phillips' profits from 2007 through 2009 totaled $16 billion. BUT IT WAS STILL AWARDED $451 MILLION IN TAX BREAKS.
•Carnival Cruise Lines' profit over the past five years totaled more than $11 billion, BUT ITS FEDERAL INCOME TAX CAME TO JUST 1.1%
"Them that don't know don't know they don't know."*
"If you hang out much with thinking people, conversation eventually turns to the serious political and cultural questions of our times. Such as: How can the Americans remain so consistently brain-fucked? Much of the world, including plenty of Americans, asks that question as they watch U.S. culture go down like a thrashing mastodon giving itself up to some Pleistocene tar pit.We create institutions whose function is to pretend to know, which makes everyone feel better. Unfortunately, it also makes the savviest among us -- those elites who run the institutions -- very rich, or safe from the vicissitudes that buffet the rest of us.
Directly or indirectly, they understand that the real function of American social institutions is to justify, rationalize and hide the true purpose of cultural behavior from the lumpenproletariat, and to shape that behavior to the benefit of the institution's members.
Two hundred years ago no one would have thought sheer volume of available facts in the digital information age would produce informed Americans. Founders of the republic, steeped in the Enlightenment as they were, and believers in an informed citizenry being vital to freedom and democracy, would be delirious with joy at the prospect. Imagine Jefferson and Franklin high on Google.
The fatal assumption was that Americans would choose to think and learn, instead of cherry picking the blogs and TV channels to reinforce their particular branded choice cultural ignorance, consumer, scientific or political, but especially political.
In a nation that equates democracy with everyman's right to an opinion, no matter how ridiculous, this was probably inevitable.
But when Americans too poor to buy health care nevertheless vote to retain the corporate auction process, that is cultural stupidity.
Cultural stupidity might not be so bad, were it not self-reproducing and viral, and prone to place stupid people in charge.
Neither populist, nor authentic movement, the Tea Party may yet prove historic, however, by seriously fucking things up more than they already are. Spun entirely from manufactured spectacle (and thus void of cohesive political philosophy or internal logic), the Tea Party lurches across the political landscape bellowing at the cameras and collecting the victims of cultural ignorance in sort of a medieval idiots crusade.
Meanwhile, here we are, American riders on the short bus, barreling into the Grand Canyon."
-Joe Bageant
*(excerpted from: "AMERICA: Y UR PEEPS B SO DUM?")
Read the entire article HERE: http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/12/america-y-ur-peeps-b-so-dum.html#more
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