Chamber of Commerce horrors

SUBHEAD: The gang that couldn't lobby straight or get anything right.By Bill McKibbon on 20 March 2011 for Huffington Post -(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mckibben/the-gang-that-couldnt-lob_b_839047.html)Image above: Logo of the US Chamber of Commerce with "Wrong Way" sign. By Juan Wilson.What if I told you I'd found a political group that for a 100 years had managed to be absolutely right

Slaying the Hydra

SUBHEAD: We assume that we are clever enough to go Mother Nature one better.By Paul Chefurka on 14 March 2011 in Limits to Growth -(http://paulchefurka.ca/Hydra.html)Image above Hydra computer modelled in Lightwave, surfaced in ZBrush. From (http://www.johnnyrem.com/recent.htm).As the nuclear calamity unfolds at Fukushima, a long-standing conflict between world views has been thrown into sharp

Reality Option Nation

SUBHEAD: A drag race with Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sen. Jim DeMint to see who can get America to drive over a cliff fastest.By James Kunstler on 7 March 2011 for Kunstler.com - (http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/03/reality-optional-living.html)Image above: Still from "Rebel Without a Cause", 1955. Natalie Wood wishing luck to James Dean a moment before the "chucken race" to cliff over the sea

Hawaii in Lala Land

SUBHEAD: Delusional thinking still is front and center in the thoughts of most people in Hawaii.By Juan Wilson on 2 March 2011 for Island Breath - (http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2011/03/hawaii-in-lala-land.html)Image above: Screen shot of a computer game in which you help young Summer with her job to make her picky clientele's vacation the most relaxing and comfortable they've ever had! From (

Dr Strangelove & Global Warming

SUBHEAD: NASA research question - Could A Small Nuclear War Reverse Global Warming? WTF![Editor's note: The depths of depravity and self delusion are plumbed in any suggestion that the cure for climate change rests in the detonation of a 100 or so Hiroshima size nuclear devices. For the greatest effectiveness the location for these explosions should be the top 100 greenhouse gas producing

God to fix Peak Oil

SUBHEAD: GOP lawmaker Mike Beard claims god will provide unlimited natural resources for people of the world.By Nick Wing on 16 February 2011 for Huffington Post - (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/16/mike-beard-natural-resources-god_n_824312.html)Image above: "The End of Oil" photo by Edward Burtynsky. SOCAR Oil Fields #4 Baku, Azerbaijan, 2006. From (http://www.city-analysis.net/2011/02/

Energy Funds, Energy Flows

SUBHEAD: Trying to find some new jackpot of energy to fuel our current lifestyles is not a viable response to our predicament.By John Michael Greer on 9 February 2011 in The Archdruid Report - (http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2011/02/energy-funds-energy-flows.html)Image above: PowerBall lottery winner Muncie Meade & family pose with $19.2 million check. Fro (http://www.lotterypost.com/

The Language of Tyranny

SUBHEAD: Once self-delusion no longer works it is the iron fist that speaks.By Chris Hedges on 6 February 2011 in Truthdig - (http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/recognizing_the_language_of_tyranny_20110206)Image above: A cover of George Orwell's "1984". From (http://greaterthanorequalto.net/blog/2009/08/1984).Empires communicate in two languages. One language is expressed in imperatives. It is

Hawaii Superferry back?

SOURCE: Ken Taylor (taylork021@Hawaii.rr.com)SUBHEAD: Yes, the legislature is considering repurchasing the two Superferrys and putting them back online.By Juan Wilson on 26 January 2011 - Image above: A military configuration for the JHSV that was developed in the Superferry project. From (http://www.motionmodels.com/ships/amphib/jhsv1.html).The Hawaii legislature just won't let it go. They have

Interview With Derrick Jensen

SUBHEAD: Those of us who are working to stop this planetary murder are sometimes characterized as extremists.By Mickey Z on 23 January 2011 in Press Action - (http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/mickeyz01232011)Image above: Mickey Z (l) and Derrick Jensoin (r) from (http://www.amovingtrain.com/transmissions1/?p=660).As you begin reading this interview, take a look at the nearest

KIUC Wailua Dam Plans

SUBHEAD: Small scale slowing the flow of water is a virtue. Large scale hydroelectric dams on Kauai are abominations.By Juan Wilson on 17 January 2011 - Image above: Damming a rocky stream as example of rain harvesting. From (http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/imagesvideoaudio/image-gallery/assortment-of-water-harvesting-images).According to the philosophy of permaculture, slowing the flow of

Time of the US Demagogues

SUBHEAD: Demagogues profess an answer for the restoration of the prosperity that is the American birthright.By Tom Whipple on 22 December 2010 in Fall Church News-Press - (http://www.fcnp.com/commentary/national/8087-the-peak-oil-crisis-the-time-of-the-demagogues.html)Image above: Sarah Palin delivers lecture at Glnn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally. From (http://www.upi.com/News_Photos/gallery/

I Have No Choice

SUBHEAD: Am I going to fight the system that enslaves my brothers and sisters and, ultimately, me? I have no choice.By Peaceful Life on 19 December 2010 in Nature Bats Last -(http://guymcpherson.com/2010/12/i-have-no-choice)Image above: "Couch Potato" sculpture by Guillermo Forchino. From (http://kaynegallery.com/forchino.html).Whether it’s systematic dinosaur bureaucracy fueled by greed and

COPS16 First Day

SUBHEAD: Opening day coverage of the Cancún 16th Climate Conference of Parties Summit (COPS16).Image above: Pool at the Moon Palace Hotel in Cancun, Mexico. Host facility of COP16. From (http://www.flickr.com/photos/39712788@N00/293996042).By Albert Bates on 30 November 2010 in The Great Change -(http://peaksurfer.blogspot.com/2010/11/cimientos-de-cancun.html)Cancún, México, November 30.

America - The Grim Truth

SUBHEAD: The USA has the worst quality of life in the developed world—by a wide margin.Image above: The 2004 Rose Bowl Parade featuring an Uncle Sam float. From (http://www.galenfrysinger.com/music,_music.htm). [Dmitry Orlov note: I was planning to write something a bit like this, but found that someone has done some of my work for me. Please give it a read, while I concentrate on the part

Sixty Lame Minutes

SUBHEAD: What this disgusting episode really shows is how eager the USA is to mount a campaign to sustain the unsustainable at all costs.Image above: Painting of fracking by Ciruelo. From (http://frackedagain.blogspot.com/2010/08/faults-with-fracking.html).By James Kunstler on 15 November 2010 in Kunstler.com -(http://kunstler.com/blog/2010/11/sixty-lame-minutes.html)So, last night CBS hauled

Fusion around the corner ... again

SUBHEAD: Another optimistic thrust at limitless energy through nuclear fusion - this time "pinching" seawater to generate electricity.Image above: Sandia Z-Pinch fusion reactor. From (http://schillerinstitute.org/lar_related/2010/lyn_question_before_us.html).[Editor's note: There have been reports of immanent containment of nuclear fusion since I was an architectural student i the 1960's; back

Time to take Exception

SUBHEAD: Once you start spouting that your nation is superior to anything that has ever existed, then you are going to start acting like God.Indicative of American Exceptionalists, Mitt Romney's book is entitled No Apologies: The Case for American Greatness By Jon Letman on 12 November 2010 in Clear Sky Press - (http://httpclearskypress.blogspot.com/2010/11/time-to-take-exception.html)On any day

Depend on your Wheelbarrow

SUBHEAD: Once you’ve swallowed the little red pill you’re kicked out of the garden of oblivious innocence and blissful ease.Image above: A restored wheelbarrow ready for another decade. From (http://www.ourfamilyprojects.com/Comfortable_Hippies/2007-11-15_Wheelbarrow.html).By Elizabeth Scarpino on 1 November 2010 in Transition Voice - (http://transitionvoice.com/2010/11/

Enough!

SUBHEAD: Only by healing our belief in our separateness will we be able to finally and fully restore our balance with Nature.Image above: Painting "Newborn" by Alex Gray (1996). From (http://www.alexgrey.com/gs.html).By Paul Chefurka on 3 November 2010 in Approaching the Limits to Growth - (http://paulchefurka.ca/Enough.html)Whenever I contemplate the spectacular mischief that we humans have