Jenna Orkin
The belief in spiritual Resurrection and related phenomena has done wonders for a whole lot of people. Who knows if they're right? One day, we'll all find out but then it'll be too late.
The belief in more mundane resurrections, such as for the economy and Life As We Know It, has also done wonders for a whole lot of people. But these days, some are questioning that faith. In fact, they seem to be falling away from it like the old skin of a snake.
We are living in a crucial transition when the illusions that have kept us going for centuries are about to disintegrate and the truth, in all its hideousness, be revealed. (In Latin, a "crux," from which "crucial" derives, is a cross.)
The snake cannot simply grow a new skin. (To follow the metaphor, that would consist of simply transferring one's faith to some new idea.) The snake is dying. And it's not leaving any progeny because the earth is no longer hospitable to snakes.
Whatever comes next, it's not going to be rooted in the same blind faith in Authority, Power and supposed Expertise which has gotten us into this mess. It's not going to have much to do with blind faith in anything. Like the old guy at the end of The Magnificent Ambersons, people are going to stare into the fire and ask themselves the real questions they've spent their whole lives running away from. And that's the beginning of real knowledge.
US/Global
Water Crises: Who's Next?
Goldman Sachs an 'Empty Creditor' of AIG
Would China Dump the Dollar?
Fed Budget Deficit Sets March Record: $192 Billion
What Happens to Stimulus Money to Which States Say No Thanks?
Bomb Scare at Bank of America
Study Confirms Firing Fixes America's Big Businesses
Buzz on job openings: Bee Counter
Obama Flexible on Climate Legislation
As an example of said flexibility on climate change: Government to Buy 17,600 Cars
The Decline and Fall of Time Inc.
Open House, Anyone? 1 in 9 Homes Sits Empty
Why This Will Not Be a Normal Cyclical Recovery
CIA Says Shuttering Detention "Black Sites"
Spy Satellite Agency Boss Resigns
Smoke and Mirrors
Banks Told Not to Mention Stress Tests
Seized Credit Union Planned to Understate Loss
Motorola ex-CFO Says Fired for Doubting Forecasts
Europe/Central Asia/Middle East
Europe and Global Food Security
One Million Bank Customers in Limbo
Ireland is ECB's Sacrificial Lamb to Satisfy Germany's Inflation Demands
Spending is the Key to Avoid Ireland's Plight
Fearing Uprising, Russia Backs Moldova's Communists
Turkmenistan Accuses Gazprom of Causing Pipeline Explosion
The Nabucco Conspiracy (from Rice Farmer)
Surviving in a Post-American World (Jerusalem Post)
The king is dead.
Long live the king: Israel Selling Reconnaissance Drones to Russia
Soldier is Accused of Stealing Iraq War Cash
Africa/Pirates
Pirates Recapture Hostage After Escape Attempt
Somali Pirates in German Ship Fail to Find Comrades
What About the Filipinos? Piracy Focus Seen as Hypocritical
Asia
China, Kazakhstan Sign $10 Billion Accord
Thai Protests Prevent Asian Summit
Protesters at Asia Summit in Thailand
Protests as Japan Approves Nationalist Textbook
Korea, Japan, China to Strengthen Financial Ties
Unusual Chinese Cargo Ship
Yo, JO! Nice acronym on Authority, Power and Expertise. With the tone of your last para, I thought you may have squeezed in the acronym for FEAR, i.e. Fuck Everything And Run. Later.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteJenna, "people are going to stare into the fire and ask themselves the real questions they've spent their whole lives running away from. And that's the beginning of real knowledge."did you come up with that? powerful
ReplyDeleteYa,these imperialists in sheeps clothing are loosing their sway on the public. We need a civilian draft to build the green energy future, its not a re education camp. Wall Street Hedge funds would fail if civilian community drafts or green energy were to happen.
Wall Street is not invested in non toxic assets.
"James Dobson concedes that the far right has ‘lost’ the culture war.
In a farewell address to the staff of Focus on the Family, James Dobson conceded that evangelical conservatives had lost most of the recent so-called “culture war” battles. Attributing the right’s recent failures to the “internet” and the election of Bill Clinton, Dobson said, “Humanly speaking, we can say that we have lost.” He added that the nation is now “absolutely awash in evil“: And we are right now in the most discouraging period of that long conflict.
This week, the Grand Old Party continued its march into madness -- and irrelevancy. Rep. Spencer Bachus pegged the number of Congressional socialists at 17. Rep. Michele Bachmann said she fears the Obama administration will use "volunteerism" to create "re-education camps for young people." Sen. James Inhofe responded to news that Obama plans to increase military spending by $31 billion dollars by claiming the president "is disarming America." And Rick Santorum penned an op-ed accusing Obama of having "disdain for American values."Huffington post
Then this morning from an old friend in Atlanta who just sold his Chinese manufacturing company for 20 million, " You know what I say, FUCK permaculture, and fuck the left wing liberals
Here is an idea for you:
You should contact all the left wing crackpots whose articles you include in your emails, and get all of them to move to your Econest. See how many of them will come??"
You see what I am up against?
Jenna:
ReplyDeleteYou and Mike have run articles on threats to honeybees.
Please check this article that lays much of the blame upon microencapsulated parathion, that the U.S. Government has acknowledged as a threat since 1974:
http://www.truthout.org/041209F
I find this article concise and grounded in accessible empirical data that explains honeybee die-off and observed disorientation of honeybees that cell phone radiation theories do not explain so elegantly.
The article, however, does not refute another hypothesized die-off cause -- GMO crops, with their indigestibly toxic pollen.
Thank you for posting the Martin Weiss story I forwarded last week.
Peter J. of Minneapolis
There is something quite cleansing to look such things in the face. I welcome it. Jung speaks much of the elation that accompanies subconscious contents. In this case we are talking about cultural ones which might be the hardest to overcome being how they are constantly being reinforced.
ReplyDeleteHi Jenna, Mike,
ReplyDeleteMike, I video interviewed you back in October at the ASPO conference.
I agree with you that "until we change the way money works, we change nothing".
I've been reading up various non-mainstream texts on money, and happened across one that you might find interesting. It is a person in the UK, who has clearly spent a lot of time thinking about the systemic flaws of the current money system, and how to design a money system that will encourage sustainability, stability and resilience.
Here is the relevant link:
http://www.feasta.org/documents/moneyecology/contents.htm
The article is a short book by Richard Douthwaite called "The Ecology of Money", and I think his proposal for a new money system is very much on the right track, perhaps right on the mark.
Douthwaite also happens to be a Post Carbon Fellow, which I think is interesting; I'm left wondering if it was this "Ecology of Money" that made him appealing to the Post Carbon team, or if it was other work.
Best regards, and keep up the good work.
Aaron Wissner
Crisis hits North Sea oil search
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/40ed13fa-2794-11de-9b77-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
The remaining lifespan of the UK’s North Sea oil and gas production risks being halved as the economic crisis has prompted a plunge in exploration in one of the western world’s most important deposits, the industry has warned.
The number of exploration wells being drilled in the North Sea has collapsed by 78 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same period last year, according to the most recent industry data from Deloitte, the accounting and consulting firm.
comment was sent linking to kimspages.org
ReplyDelete04,12,09
ReplyDeleteBravo Jenna!
This is the best post I have seen posted in years, today is not about Christ--get over it!
It's about the Spirit (energy),
within every one of us/all of us.
If you have F/faith or not, it is
about Resurrection, or Renewal/
regeneration, celebrated since
before time.
If you are waiting for Christ or any other force/farce outside of
your selfish Ego to force being
"Born Again" upon someone else,
or admittedly on one's self;
wake up, no GOD has more control
of you and those around YOU than
you do.
"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us universe, a
part limited in time and space.
He experances himself, his thoughts, and feelings as something
separated from the rest--a kind of
optical delusion of his consicousness. This delusion is a
kind of prison for us, restricting
us to our personal desires and to
affiction for a few persons nearest
to us. Our task must be to free
ourselves from this prison by
widening our circle of compassion
to embrace all living creatures and
the whole of nature in its beauty."
Elbert Einstein.
He defined Amae/dependency.
"People say that what we're seeking
is a meaning for life...
I think that what we're realy seeking is an experience of being
alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical
plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality,
so that we can actually feel the
rapture of being alive"
Joseph Campbell, mythologist.
Why did I happan upon these quotes
yesterday, while reading, " Brain
Wave Vibrations" a book with no
connection to Easter?
I have to end by repeating Jenna's
closing.
"people are going to stare into the fire and ask themselves the
real questions they've spent their whole lives running away from.
And that's the beginning of real knowledge."
Agape.
Ps. To Butch -- "Butch said...
Folks on here should watch "Zeitgeist" if they havn't."
I'm sure most have, just another missionary film, poorly put together, MCR cut up and cut off, to make their point, full of just enough truth to make it sound trustworthy, sure relevant, but in my opinion, just a distraction. Has the smell of the dead past, better forgotten.
Again a relevant quote from Jenna, "The snake cannot simply
grow a new skin. (To follow the metaphor, that would consist of simply transferring one's faith to some new idea.) The snake is dying. And it's not leaving any progeny because the earth is no longer hospitable to snakes."
Namasate.
Great article, Jenna!
ReplyDeleteEcosutra...I used to be a member of the Republican party for many years...but I haven't voted for a Republican for President now in over 20 years.
It just seems to me that the Party has morphed total and complete greed and selfishness into doing what it takes to be a Patriotic American.
The truth is I have problems with the Democratic party also, so I'm an Independent.
When I see people who are dedicated to their own political party, they tend to look for what they see the other party is doing wrong and ignore what their own party is doing wrong...and I think that's a far cry from being someone who's looking for the truth.
"...there is no reward at the end of any path other than that of the journey itself." --Polaris
ReplyDeleteIt is not just the nature of the unreal impracticality of the US economic system - there is also the very simple yet towering issue of justice and natural retribution, first and foremost, and above all other considerations: the US was the only nation in ever in the recorded history of this planet that had the power and ability to transform Mankind's future in a utopian way, as never before. Instead, it callously abused and misused that potential in a very base and fallen way. That statement is self-explanatory, and the inevitable consequences can well be imagined by those who have the capacity to do so.
ReplyDeleteHi Guys,
ReplyDeletewhen all the froth and bubble dies down, however we choose to view what's going on arounds us, with all the wise minds far beyond mine who can grapple with issues I can't begin to conceive, it still comes down to a lowest common denomenator. Love yourself and love the person or people next to you. That means that all the skills displayed here and everywhere are subordinated to the overarching principle that will serve to preserve the only things that are worth preserving in humanity. Mercy. Compassion. Love.
As my gran'pappy told me, don't have a wishbone, have a backbone.
Pirates or people trying to survive?
ReplyDeleteYou are Being Lied to About Pirates
http://www.sfbayview.com/2009/you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates/
@ Tyler Havlin
ReplyDeleteCheck out Matt Simmons latest (via the Energy Bulletin site)
"If we don’t see a snap-back in prices for three to six to nine months, we should start preparing ourselves for a very large loss in supply, and brace ourselves for a shortage, unless suddenly demand does start to plunge, which so far it hasn’t done. If oil prices just stay unchanged for 18 months, or just bounce around with no confidence, then the industry will say, ”Oh, that was a mistake, we need to start drilling!” The lag time in getting started is another 18 months. In 30 months, we could find crude oil supply—which was 72.2 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter, according to EIA estimates—down to 66.5 million b/d, with worst case at 59.6 mb/d. That’s obviously an utter catastrophe.
PeakedOut:
ReplyDeleteThank you for your valuable advice of late. Mission accomplished. Now all we have to do is work on our skills. May we never have to use them. All the best to you and your family also.
- - - - - - - - - -
Mr. Kamilov:
We here in the States may have had the potential to create a better world, but we also have been victims of private interests subverting the process for their own benefit for a long time. Americans have not been in control of their country for decades. The notion of democracy is only an allusion to keep us all pacified and cooperative. It takes more than flag waving and patriotic music to make a democracy. All we have to do is look at the beneficiaries of the bailout to see where the priorities are and it's not the welfare of the masses.
- - - - - - - - - -
Seems like die-off is already underway. I have been to 3 websites about feeding oneself on practically no money - onedollardietproject.com and survival-cooking.com are two of them. If you read some of the comments, you find folks having to make tough choices and going hungry - even educated people with jobs. One related that 3 of 4 breadwinners in her extended family had lost their jobs. The 4th, a nurse, was doing her best to hold things up, but was relating how she went to work having had only one meal per day. Others describe dumpster diving, asking restaurants for food and shopping at Asian markets where bulk foods can be purchased in small portions. If we have this already, think of what will occur once the anticipated food shortages from the worst global drought in 50 years, happening right now, start kicking in. Everyone should be putting in a home garden this year, even if it is merely to practice one's skills. Be sure to include a lot of calorie foods, such as potatoes, dry beans, oats, and wheat if one has the room. Quinoa is a versatile, lesser known grain that is nutritionally complete, stores well and can morph from a breakfast food to an elegant pilaf with a change of seasonings. Doesn't grow well in all climates, but worth the effort if it is.
Hi CJ
ReplyDeleteYou post some great stuff, and I agree with most of your comments. When I looked at those two "nutritional" sites, however, I was startled to find that both the blogmasters and the commenters seemed clueless about basic nutrition, not to mention economy.
First, there's an unspoken assumption that one must eat meat every day. Now, I'm a vegetarian, and so a bit biassed, but from a purely economical standpoint, that's gonna be hard to maintain. If beans are soaked overnight, the cooking time is way reduced. But here's the clue everyone's missing: cooking is not really required. You get just as much protein (plus a good amount of fiber) out of a sprouted bean as a cooked one.
Sprouts are an under-discussed method of keeping fresh food in the diet, even when there's nothing out there in your garden. In addition, sprouted grains and beans are actually nutritious enough to replace meat and potatoes and bread, for long stretches. The cost of sunflower seeds (my favorite sprout) and alfalfa, radish and mung beans (the most common) is relatively small. Purchase organic, in bulk, even if you have to travel to another community or buy online.
All this talk about storing dried peanut powder under your bed and wetting it down with a bit of your precious drinking water strikes me as a bit insane. The water you use to sprout seeds is very healthful (it's called rejuvulac)so absolutely no water need be wasted while sprouting. And seeds themselves are already dried -- far better for your body than proccessed foods.
Another unproccessed food that is A1 is spirulina. Not a strong taste, but it takes some getting used to for some folks. High in protein and vitamins, vegan, stores well...but is VERY green. Learning to use it could be the difference between robust health in hard times or serious nutritional lack. Of course, another thing to stock up on, better than gold, is a supply of high-quality vitamin tabs. I also think that could be a brisk trade item once things progress.
As for cooking, I saw one good recipie (only) on both websites: hardtack. It's just flour and water (I recommend adding iodized salt, f'cryinoutloud) kneeded into a dough, rolled out and cut into cracker-sized pieces. The recipie said to poke holes in them with a fork, like saltines (apparently for even cooking). Store em for years, if necessary.
Anyway, had to chime in. Thanks, CJ for your insights and for sharing these sites, which do provide an insight into how America is dealing with the food crisis. Let's try and keep our friends ahead of the curve!
Sad commentary on the "Green Revolution". The story is about Indian farmers in the Punjab region. It's exactly where American farmers are and have been.
ReplyDeleteChange from barely sustainable agriculture methods to the "high yield Green Revolution" way of farming due to population pressures.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102944731
It's a no win situation. Increasing debt, increasing pesticide use and rapidly decreasing crop yield.
Continuing to sow the seeds of our own destruction we are ...
namaste
F Kamilov wrote:
ReplyDeleteThe US was the only nation ever in the recorded history of this planet that had the power and ability to transform Mankind's future in a utopian way, as never before. Instead, it callously abused and misused that potential in a very base and fallen way.
The fault is not with a nation, it lies at the very core of each man’s soul. Along with the ideologues teeming to be free, there were the crooks, liars and murderers. Just as is the case in a pot of boiling chicken, the scum always surfaces to the top. In our pot the scummiest place happens to be Washington D.C.
Tyler’s post on North Sea Oil is just the tip of the iceberg (if you will allow me that cheap pun). James Quinn has a very concise report and does a great job of laying out all of the pieces of this very intricate puzzle and it’s not a pretty picture. As Kunstler says Americans are “sleep walking” into the oil crisis. Quinn’s work traces our steps up to the point where we drop off the edge into a hellish nightmare of our own making.
“Wasting a Good Crisis: Result - $200 Oil” http://theburningplatform.com/
The Health Ramifications of Obama's "emergency" global warming plan, by dumping massive amounts of particles in the upper troposphere.
ReplyDeleteAir pollution triggers blood clots: study"We now know how the inflammation in the lungs caused by air pollutants leads to death from cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Gokhan Mutlu of Northwestern University in Chicago, who studied the effects of air pollution in mice.
Lungs inflamed by pollution secrete interleukin-6, an immune system compound that sparks inflammation and has been shown to make blood more likely to clot...
Mice exposed to pollution showed a 15-fold increase in interleukin-6 just 24 hours later. That time frame is important because some studies have shown a spike in air pollution can boost heart attacks with 24 hours.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN2042863220070920
Apologies
ReplyDeleteIn my last post, I recommended using all the water from sprouting as drinking water. Actually, you should not drink the water used to rinse your seeds (and this should always be done before sprouting, since you'll be eating everything you don't rinse off).
In addition, the water used to soak the seeds may take in some of the "toxins" released by the seeds. While these "toxins" are controversial, it would be irresponsible to tell people to drink a lot of that water. It does work nicely for washing, though. Subsequent rinsings will contain only miniscule (and quite safe) levels of these "toxins". Common foods such as potatoes also contain "toxins", so ... not to worry.
If you are ever in a situation where drinking water is dangerously limited (and I hope you never are, for long) it might be worth taking the chance to drink (possibly after filtering) all the water used in sprouting. In most cases, the initial rinsing and soaking water should be discarded. But the daily rinse water for your sprouts is healthful and not unpleasant to drink.
Although it is to be hoped that we always have delicious, fresh, organic vegetables available on a daily basis, late winter and early spring may squeeze the supply, and sprouts are a great addition to a diet low on (other) fresh veggies. In addition, sprouts are both more nutritious and more economical than cooked beans and grains. We may want to eat bread and cookies and refried beans and tofu, but we may want to go to Disneyland, too. If the future really is going to constrain our options (and everyone on this blog agrees is's likely to) then incorporating sprouts into the diet NOW, while there's time to experiement and develop tastes and habits, makes a lot of sense.
Toxic assets?
ReplyDeleteLehman Brothers sitting on a stockpile of uranium 'yellowcake'
We’re fortunate to still have functioning regulatory agencies to supervise the orderly transfer of this stock to “responsible users”. It’s good to know that industry will be powered and that the warheads it inevitably makes will belong to “legitimate” states. In a deeper crisis, though, a variety of inconvenient stock may be abandoned, mishandled or stolen, poisoning the jagged barbs of chaos.
@ eyeballs: cooking may not be absolutely necessary but cooked food is digested much better (more nutrients absorbed)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13139619 says: "Cooking increases the share of food digested in the stomach and small intestine, where it can be absorbed, from 50% to 95% according to work done on people fitted for medical reasons with collection bags at the ends of their small intestines."
Tony, thanks for that bit of data. I think we can assume that the editors and contributors at The Economist are not raw foods fanatics, "faddists" as the article put it. So my first warning is to consider the source.
ReplyDeleteThen, this bit is just wrong:
"Moreover, without cooking, the human brain (which consumes 20-25% of the body’s energy) could not keep running. Dr Wrangham thus believes that cooking and humanity are coeval."
I know several raw foods eaters with well-functioning brains. The notion that all humans have always eaten cooked food must use a circular logic that defines "human" as "one who eats cooked food". A broader definition could probably allow examples of societies not dependent on cooking. (Don't ask me to do so, however.)
The paragraph that says there's an increase in digestibility uses one case of sick people fitted with collector bags (probably not the hardiest digestive systems) and goes on to say that, by the time foods reache the anus, they "have been exposed to the digestive mercies of bacteria in the large intestine, and any residual goodies have been removed from them that way." That means that, although in a limited study, raw food was only partially digested in the small intestine, the large intestine removed the rest in people who had a large intestine.
Considerable anecdotal evidence shows that, although a strictly raw vegetarian diet risks deficiencies over the long term, it's quite possible to eat a very healthy diet without cooking. I have known some nutty people who were raw foods eaters, but I have also known people who did not eat cooked food for years, and lived very useful, happy lives.
But my point was not to recommend a career of raw foodism. The point was to recommend an alternative food source that delivers good value for the cost (which is efficient to store). And, colon-deprived patients aside, sprouted grain and bean eating really does offer a low-cost way to maintain good health through times of scarcity.