Jenna Orkin
Mike has asked me to convey to you what's going on.
MCR is taking a much needed week off from writing. Because of the glitches which many of you have experienced first hand, it's been a little slow to get sales pages up around the world especially when, in true FTW tradition, Amazon and Rubiconworks have been breaking so many molds. But MCR says he has never seen so many commited mf's working so hard to make something happen. He has every confidence the book will not only make the NY Times list but top it.
He asks you to have faith in it. He does.
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US
Pentagon Plans 20,000 New Jobs to Manage Arms Buys
Bank of America to Need $34 Billion in Capital
BofA Mulls $8 Billion China Bank Stake
Obama's Tax Plan Could Push Up Costs of Outsourcing 50% (Times of India)
US Stocks Tumble; Dow Down 46 Points
And on the same day, in the same newspaper: US Stocks Surge
Should the need ever arise, ie in the event of a genuine pandemic, this website offering protective gear comes with the highest recommendation.
Europe/Central Asia
Georgia Accuses Russia Over Foiled Rebellion
May Day Demonstrators Riot in Germany and Turkey
Asia/Africa
China: Navy Chief Outlines Objectives
Flu Likely to Hasten Launch of Hog Futures Trading
Hospitals in Tokyo Refusing Flu Patients
How about measles? Pneumonia? TB?
Seed Monopolies Lead to Harvest of Suicides
Japan: Ignorance of Sustainability Is Not an OptionSouth Africa: Third Wave of HIV/AIDS Deaths Will Be Tsunami
Energy
Abiotic Oil claims: the Peak Oil "snooze button"
It seems that while there's no free lunch or inexhaustible source of energy, the myth of one is indeed immortal.
Chocolate Powered Racing Car
Waste of another valuable resource.
Hardwired for War
Tit for Tat: Birds Found to Keep Track of Wartime Help
Rock-Throwing Chimp Stocked Ammo in Advance
"Extreme" Rain Follows Global Warming
PS from NYC:
Today I officially move from the home in which I've lived longer than any other in my life. Have been talking to MCR from my closet and to you all from Burger King to whose interim e-hospitality I pay grateful homage.
Not willing to go into detail in this forum, but this feels like Step One in the process of disengaging from life-as-we-have-known-it. Had a farewell party a few nights ago with some hefty pieces of furniture including the diningroom table I bought, at MCR's request, from the Salvation Army as well as the walls which contained all the frantic research of the early days (which turned into years) following 9/11.
It is an ironic fluke, rather than solace, to have moved to an apartment which is within shouting distance of where I was born. I don't like to think about what that might mean. (ie closing the circle, tying up loose ends before the absolute end and all that bs.)
In this context, the blog is an oasis of stability. Eventually, I'll get to all your comments. Please don't think anything dire meanwhile. The reason you're not seeing prompt, liberal posting is far more mundane.
Jenna, good luck and all the happiness in your new dwellings
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58th Bilderberg Meeting to be held in Greece, May 14-17Can someone tell me the significance of the Lisbon Treaty? How does it effectthe US.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/10854
Clear Channel Blood Bath
ReplyDeleteLimbaugh's living large while radio boss Clear Channel implodes
http://mediamatters.org/columns/200905050007
Could this be a blessing? We all know Clear Channel is a fascist dog.
On the other hand, what will happen to BMI music performance royalty rights? Song writers will loose out too. Shameful....
Jenna:
ReplyDeleteWhen I accelerated the process of disengagement, the first thing I did was move close to "home", to a place I knew and where I'd have some family nearby. Eight years later, I know it was the right move. It sounds like you're making a good and logical move. Hope you'll let us know how things work out.
I ordered the book a week ago and still have not received it. When will you guys ever get your shit together?
ReplyDeleteJenna...Thank you for your complete openness and honesty with us in your "PS from NYC" post on the main page.
ReplyDeleteOn a separate note, I just returned from vacation and bought Mike's new book on Amazon. They had it in stock, and they've already shipped it to me within hours after placing my order.
We just let go of some cherrished furniture in order to downsize a bunch...it's a weird feeling when one cleanses the past objects of our lives. Good Luck to you Jena. Hang in there and thank you for keeping the fires burning, (the soup on the back burner) for all these years. May many doors open for you as you close the old ones. Somewhere in the middle of springtime new birth is unfolding. Apple green is the color. Love & hugs to you, mrsp
ReplyDeleteRegarding the "Chocolate powered racing car".
ReplyDeleteThat one goes in the category of folks who don't get it and ain't ever gonna get it.
My personal association with automobile racing is more intimate than I'd care to admit to here. Anyway, that was a long time ago.
I will say that car racing is all about resource consumption on a truly enormous scale.
Consider the tires alone. One race car in one race event, including qualifying, practice and the race itself will consume upwards of 40 tires! That's forty tires per car per race.
Those things are made from petroleum by the way. I have read that it takes seven gallons of oil to make the average passenger car tire. I'll guess that the typical race car tire is more than ten.
That's about 9.5 barrels of oil per car per race merely to provide tires (alone)for a completely useless activity.
It makes me sad to see this kind of thing sold to the public with the underlying suggestion that the simple application of new technologies and will keep the familiar world going on as it has been.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI was curious and clicked on the link you have for the protective gear from fisher scientific. It no longer works, or rather it takes you to fisher but says 'No product available under this category'. It appears though that what happened is they moved the items from category Applications>Personal Protective Equipment to Pandemics>Personal Protective Equipment. Just thought you'd like to know.
Jenna
ReplyDeleteMoving is one of the top causes of stress in life - right up there with divorce, loss of job, death of someone close, etc. Do what you need to deal with the move.
Be well.
Why one should think of Afghanistan, not as a "failed state," but as a heroin-ravaged state Excellent article by Peter Dale Scott about the conflict in Afghanistan
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It is common sense, in short, that America’s own interests would be best served by becoming a post-imperial society. Unfortunately it is not likely that common sense will prevail against the special interests of what has been called the "petroleum-military-complex," along with others, including drug-traffickers, with a stake in America’s current military posture.
unquote
Got the book ordered and congrats. Jenna, the seed monopoly story hits close to home for me. Frustrating world in agriculture. Monsanto charged around $300 per 50 lb. bag for their GM (genetically-modified) cotton this year, while we can still farm conventional for less than $40 per bag. Each year they raise their prices and each year more U.S. farmers plant those heinous seed. We are currently at 88% of all U.S. cotton acres are GM. India rose 150% in two years. I know ya'll want links, but the information is overwhelmingly present and growing. Working on my own book, hoping to finish by the fall to rip the face off of commercial agriculture.
ReplyDeleteWe're still in a huge drought in West Texas. No way to plant our cotton or any crop right now. Been preparing for such situation occurring before our very eyes for several years now thanks to Mike, Jenna, and many of you. Still have a ways to go, but plowing straight ahead. Let's stay strong and focused on what we must do to evolve so we may survive. Peace, love, and homegrown tomatoes.
Koolkarma asked about the Lisbon Treaty.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really an expert, but here's my take on the matter. I'd welcome the comments of others to enlighten me on it. Maybe from Europeans? Anyway:
For a little over a century, beginning in the late 19th century and lasting until the fall of the Berlin Wall, the heavy dichotomy of world politics was labor vs. capital -- socialism vs. capitalism. With the End of History, it was assumed that capitalism had won and that there would be no more dialectic. But a few years ago, even Fukuyama had to admit that seething competition between worldviews was not over. Of late, many see the primary dichotomy in terms of biosphere protection vs. industrial civilization.
But that’s not what’s really happening on the world stage. The real question is whether the world will be run by a tight club of American military-industrial tycoons, or whether a larger, worldwide web of plutocrats will decide the fate of the world. Both worldviews are monopolar, but the internationalist view, espoused by the Trilateral Commission, envisions a world government that treats nation states either as satrapies or as federated units of a vastly more potent world system.
The Lisbon Treaty, poorly received by such America-first organizations as Heritage Foundation, seeks a deeper synthesis of the EU, increasing the efficiency of its operations and further centralizing power in this regional body. Lisbon is seen as threatening the sovereignty of traditional states and distancing local “citizens” from the business of legislation and administration.
Whatever food safety laws, or drug laws, or labor laws the EU establishes, farmers in Ireland or fishermen in Greece may have to obey. Yet they will have little input into the decisions taken by a class of people more loyal to each other than to the people they’re supposed to represent (drop “Davos Man” into a search engine). This has been the trend of the EU from its inception, but is furthered by various tweaks in Lisbon. By strengthening the regional uber-state, hugely empowered international corporations can increasingly run world affairs to suit their own objectives, muting whatever local objections might have prevailed at the state level in Ireland or Greece.
In defense of the internationalist “New World Order”, one could say “at least this keeps the neocons from running amok”. And that may have been the purpose of allowing the neocons their day. Considerable savings in resources and human attention could be realized by eliminating catastrophic nationalistic wars and by pursuing rational global policies rather than a conflicting hodge-podge of perceived “national interests”. In an era of resource scarcity and alarming population growth, a global oligarchy is arguably a best-case scenario. If you can trust the oligarchs.
However, I still see the main issue as the health of the biosphere vs. industrial civilization, and expect little relief from the global “elite” when it comes to clearcutting, nuclear waste and the proliferation of harmful technologies into a fragile world.