Cartoon by Charles Barsotti from The New Yorker. Buy his amazing cartoons here, or his new book here.
Global Politics and Economics:
War
is the Health of the State: "It automatically
sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for
uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the government in coercing
into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the
larger herd sense. The machinery of government sets and enforces the
drastic penalties; the minorities are either intimidated into silence,
or brought slowly around by a subtle process of persuasion which may
seem to them really to be converting them..Minorities are rendered sullen, and
some intellectual opinion bitter and satirical. But in general, the
nation in wartime attains a uniformity of feeling, a hierarchy of
values culminating at the undisputed apex of the State ideal, which
could not possibly be produced through any other agency than war." A wonderful essay on how power-mongers use war to stifle dissent and individuality, by Randolph Bourne -- written almost ninety years ago. We never learn.
European Futurists See Dollar and Global Economic Collapse Imminent: A new economics group Europe 2020 is watching the data and sees the collapse moving to its second phase
this month. Their report also tells you the seven consequences this
will produce by year-end: accelerated collapse of the Dollar, internal
social and political crisis in the US, Iran/USA/Israel military
conflict, increased global inflation, stop of the process of trade and
economic globalisation, accelerated emergence of new
regional/continental blocs, and rebalancing of world assets'
comparative value. Thanks to reader Melinda Fleming for the link.
Planet of Slums: Excellent report by Mike Davis in New Left Review on the staggering demographics of flight to the cities worldwide and the global explosion of slums that offer their residents nothing
-- no economic viability or opportunity, no political
representation, no essential services, no hope. A global tinder-keg.
Thanks to Phil Jones for the link.
Global Food Supply Near Breaking Point:
Industrial agriculture is capable of producing much more food than it
does, but it is indebted to the 'market economy' and hence only
produces what customers are willing to pay a handsome margin for. That
margin does not go to the farmer, of course, who must make ends meet by
selling off land bit by bit for suburban sprawl. It goes to the ConAgra/ADM/Cargill
oligopsony that controls the market. When the poor can't pay, the
oligopsony reduces supply of food staples and instead produces luxury
foods -- highly processed, overpackaged, extravagantly expensive and
wasteful to produce foods that the rich will pay for. As a consequence,
just as supply and demand of oil is now teetering on a delicate balance
of 'just enough' supply to prevent price spikes, by pushing all wells
into overdrive, supply and demand of food teeters on a delicate balance
of 'just enough' to keep both farmers from demanding higher prices and
the oligopsony's wholesale buyers from demanding lower prices. For the
past five years, Stephen Leahy reports, global food supply has hence been dropping rapidly,
and that, combined with global collapse of fish stocks, looming water
scarcities, exhausted soils, soaring cost of oil-based agricultural
chemicals, the vulnerability of homogenized, zero-diversity crops and
farmed animals to disease, and the ravages of global warming, have
resulted in the ironic situation that a world capable of producing much
more food (if it reverted to local ownership, production and
distribution models, permaculture, and basic foods rather than farmed
animal foods), is now producing too little, and will be largely unable
to produce more when it is needed. Thanks to Dale Asberry for the link and the one that follows.
Dueling 9-11 Conspiracy Theories: Follow the dots
from a Mexican flight with 5.5 tons of cocaine, to the disgraced US
defense contractor Titan Corporation, to Abu Ghraib, to criminal
congressman Duke Cunningham, to a store in Venice Florida owned by a
mysterious Lebanese man named Makram Chams, to a demand by Chams for
$22 million for work done for Titan in Saudi Arabia, to Zacharias
Moussaoui, to Mohamed Atta, to a tall mysterious visitor dressed in
Armani and shades, to Max Burge, the owner of Huffman Aviation that
trained Atta to fly and who co-owned a gambling operation with Chams,
to a trunk filled with gold. We will probably never know the truth, but
this conspiracy theory claims the trail is made murky by a competing theory
(the towers crumbled from the bottom, not where the planes hit; the
plane that allegedly hit the Pentagon quickly disappeared without a
trace) financed by arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. My head's spinning.
Cargill Wrecking the Rainforest: Speaking of the global agribusiness oligopsony, Greenpeace charges Cargill with destroying the Amazon rainforest to grow soya to feed European farmed animals.
Bill Moyers Apologizes to Future Generations: Another great Moyers speech.
Excerpt: "We're sorry. We're really sorry for the mess you're
inheriting. We are sorry for the war in Iraq. For the huge debts you
will have to pay for without getting a new social infrastructure in
return. We're sorry for the polarized country. The corporate scandals.
The corrupt politics. Our imperiled democracy. We're sorry for the
sprawl and our addiction to oil and for all those toxins in the
environment. Sorry about all this, class of 2006. Good luck cleaning it
up."
Countering the Climate Change Skeptics: DeSmogBlog writes up and deconstructs the blather of global warming deniers.
Innovation:
Women's Peer-to-Peer Services Network: Writer/healer Indigo Ocean has co-created Phone-Buddies.com,
a mutual support network by which you trade the services you offer,
hour-for-hour, for services of other women in the network. It's like
file-sharing for services, and it's a great example of the Gift Economy
at work. The give-and-take is not formally measured, but self-managed
using the honour system. A wonderful, imaginative and very promising
model.
Intuit's Scott Cook on Innovation: Great notes from blogger Antonella Pavese on a recent talk by Cook about innovation. Thanks to Innovation Weekly for the link.
Create Your Own National Budget: France is laying out how they develop their budget on their website, and inviting citizens to see if they can do better than the politicians and civil service. Ah, the Wisdom of Crowds! Thanks to Collision Detection for the link.
Cutting Out the Bank Middleman, Continued: Further to my post last Saturday, Salon's Farhad Manjoo explains the workings of Prosper.com,
a virtual money-lending institution. This could have all kinds of
benefits -- most notably coming to grips with our addiction to debt,
and combatting the rampant usury of financial institutions. Another
step towards what I have predicted -- business becomes a World of Ends,
and those in the middle are toast.
What Makes a Blog Popular?: You want to know, just ask the readers of one.
Over 100 absolutely amazing comments in this thread celebrating the
soaring success of Kathy Sierra's Creating Passionate Users. Reading
through these is the best 90 minutes any new blogger (or blogger whose
audience is not increasing) can spend. I'm going to use it next week to
update the "blogosphere wants more of" list on my right sidebar. Brava,
Kathy.
Canola Oil: Brilliant Healthy Innovation or Genetically Manufactured Scourge?: Well, both, it turns out. The erudite Umbra Fisk at Grist tells you why you should buy organic canola oil.
Pause for Thought:
Anne Lamott on Parenting:
The inestimable Anne Lamott, guru of writers everywhere, tells Salon
the heartbreaking and all-too-common story of how her loving son has
become churlish, distant and angry. |
MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
