What I'm thinking about, and planning on writing (and podcasting) about soon:
The Next War of Independence: Natural Community, Natural Enterprise, Natural Economy: The
Germans didn't know they lived in a fascist state until they had been
living under it for years. The world didn't know they were in the Great
Depression until it was half over. Since 9/11, Americans have slid the
last few steps into a corporatist aristocracy -- a corpocracy -- and
most of them don't realize it, or how difficult it will be to get out
of it. It controls the US economy (you can either work obediently for a
large corporation that is part of an industry-controlling oligopoly, or
you can struggle on the Edge of that economy). It controls the
two-party Tweedledum Tweedledee political hegemony, complete with
gerrymandering, vote-machine rigging, and repression of minority voting
rights. It controls the land and what it can and cannot be used for. It
dictates how, and often where, you must live. It controls the money and
tax systems, which it uses to bail out corporate criminals (like
usurous mortgage lenders) and to punish the poor and disobedient (like
the victims of those lenders). All of the additional wealth created in
the last generation has accrued to it. It controls the mainstream media
and the education system, both propaganda machines designed to dumb us
down so we don't realize what has happened to us. Most Americans don't
realize that Orwell's 1984 has finally arrived, so slowly and
imperceptibly that few noticed. Slavery (the 'right' to work three
mind-numbing, degrading jobs at exploitative oligopoly corporations
like McDonalds) truly is now 'freedom', worth bombing to oblivion and
then occupying every resource-rich nation that doesn't bow to the
corpocracy's will. The corrupt elite of most of the world's struggling
nations have been bought off to stoke the resource needs of the
corpocracy, and 'free' trade and buy-out of richer nations' (like
Canada's) resources and politicians means global domination is within
reach. This is much like the situation that led to the war of
independence. Could it happen again? How might we take back our land,
our civil freedoms, our self-government, our economy?
The Impatient Listener: I've learned to be a better listener
when there's something worth listening to. But I have trouble listening
to vapid or ignorant conversation, and it shows. What to do?
Book Reviews: Ecoholic: Your Guide to Environmentally Friendly Products, by Adria Vasil, and The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman.
Vignettes: Coming up soon, vignette #5.
Blog-Hosted Conversations:
Starting this week, this blog will feature
30-minute conversations, initially on the subject of "What is your
model of a better way to live, and what capacities do we need to
develop or re-learn to live that way?"
Open Thread Question:
How
can we convince our neighbours to let us renaturalize our land (despite
the fact that, for awhile, like badly cut hair growing out, it will
look dreadful) -- and then persuade them to renaturalize theirs too? |
1:11:34 PM 
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MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
