Trump is the Swamp

This man and the cadre aligned with him are the greatest danger our country has ever faced. This is the invasion of the pod people. They have no souls. They have contempt for those who believe their lies. America's secret Nazi sympathizers who gave lip service to the fight against Hitler mounted a campaign to control our resources, scour the land of non-Aryans and those who dared to live alternate life-styles starting as early as 1945. There is a marbled cancer in our land, and good people in positions of influence dare not tell it like it is or suffer career ruin, family and personal injury. WAKE UP!

He's not a card-carrying Nazi - but he's a self-aggrandizing narcissist with no empathy, using fascist techniques. His attack on the news media is an attack on freedom of speech. He's a sarcastic liar who has no respect for people who believe his lies. He's duped millions of people who hoped for the image he presented - but his campaigning is a facade. He does sound bites to play to the worst racists and white collar crooks, then flipflops for the more commercial mainstream media. He's only about more money for himself and has become the perfect actor to implement the long term goals of right wing destroyers of liberty like the Koch family. Some creep just contributed $25 million to the McConnell campaign. That has nothing to do with the betterment of the general population! BLM is only proposing at long last equality! The danger of a people's movement like BLM is that they will unite behind a slogan. (RIP John Lewis) "Defunding" is a stupid choice of words. There's a percentage of sadistic racists in police uniforms - just a percentage. Good men in blue are appalled by the haters who have infiltrated the PD. Prisons for profit. From slavery to chain gangs and Jim Crow, and now it's disproportionate incarceration of people of color. The Republican party has been taken over by ugly men and ugly women full of disgusting hatred and they'd be happy to turn the US into a third world country if only they could control the resources. Look at the rape of our national monuments for mining! It's absolutely ludicrous for any thinking adult to back the destructiveness of these mean, conniving throwbacks - closet anti-Americans who would just as soon have a revived Confederacy, whatever serves their evil purpose.

Contrary to right wing rhetoric, the left is not telling us we "can't run our own lives." The agents of the conservative conquest are putting words in the mouth of a caricature liberal they created as a "straw man." To achieve their revolution of the minority they must have an enemy. United we stand, so they have been assiduously working over 75 years to divide us. We're being fooled and hoodwinked by power seeking, wealth-collaring, unprincipled narrow minded bigots and philanderers. Every stone they cast at "the left," every accusation they make is a projection straight out of their own evil hearts that mirrors their own sins! Trump and his ilk were cavorting with Epstein and his crowd, many Republicans in power are closet perverts who would rape their male pages. Child sex slavery? It wasn't Hillary! How do you think they came up with the idea? They're the ones who traffic teenage girls. How many children separated from their parents at the border who cannot be reunited because the US border system doesn't know their names or where they are? Why is South America such a mess? Because instead of building up all the Americas our "industrialists" and "businessmen" stole their natural wealth. US prison and deportation policies created MS13, the gangs are symptoms of our oppression. You've got to band together as a last resort in a society that denies adequate education, redlines housing and denies access to capital - poverty enforced through unemployment and lack of opportunity.

Because of our natural innocence, many of us don't see it. I hope this "rant" of mine doesn't anger or depress you, dear reader. It's my anger, it's my frustration, because my eyes were opened to the duplicity of power a long time ago and I am so frustrated that good people "on the right" can't see how we are being divided. The liars and schemers masquerade as good souls, but it's just a means to an end. Wool over your eyes!

Yes, some of us drank the kool-aid and don't understand this, but the DHS is just like the SS. "45" will likely refuse to acknowledge the results of the election and in that case Federal Marshals and National Guard troops will have to pull him out of the White House. Racist white power militias and "boogaloo boys" are likely to be in armed conflict with U.S. soldiers. Herr Kommandant Trump is the perfect front man for the myriad of right wingers who's antecedents were rooting for Hitler and didn't want the US to join WWII. John Birch, Heritage Foundation, i360 - the list goes on - all fifth column organizations seeking to suspend the Constitution and end representative democracy. Traitors!

This is my final response to their studied aggression: President Trump is sending an un-credentialed occupying army into cities that are led by "liberal" mayors. He is acting in the manner of classic dictators, that, in a matter of public record, he says he admires. Mussolini is perhaps the best example although he has mentioned Hitler and Kim Jong Un. These are uninvited, unconstitutional storm troopers. On an individual basis they may act with uncontrolled violence and fear no reprisal because they, in essence, are Trump's private gestapo.

The era we are in is no longer "politics as usual." We are victims of the death of truth in America. The authority of the Portland police has been usurped by an invading force. I marched with the Occupy movement in Portland a few years ago. The protestors at that time were quite clearly a cross section of the community, including families with children. Extended protests in Portland are attracting those who relish confrontation and destruction of property - for many reasons - including lack of hope from living in an America of diminishing opportunity as the corporate noose draws tighter. And now they are motivated to fight the anonymous force cloaked in brown camouflage. The far right movement to control America's resources and subjugate the citizens in the manner of a corrupt dictatorship has been proceeding apace since 1945 (or earlier!). Trump is the perfect "strong man" to lead their revolution. 2020 is the last chance for these invisible elites with their lust for control because the Republicans as presently constituted will never win another election. They aren't even Republicans anymore! And every accusation they hurl at Democrats and "liberals" symbolizes an evil that they themselves perpetrate and know too well. Their lies and propaganda are representative of their own thought processes and soiled consciousness. I know their rhetoric, I get Trump mailings, I get polls and questionnaires from Heritage Foundation, and all their twisted logic and loaded questions make me sick.

We all have very different points of view, different life experiences. If you're a "red hat," you have revealed yourself as intransigent (temporarily, I hope) and from your perspective, I suppose this author is equally stubborn and unmoveable. This may seem strange to some, but the House of Blues in Los Angeles had these two phrases emblazoned on the stage curtains, audience left and right: "help ever, hurt never" and "each one teach one." The latter phrase also suggests that one be humble and teachable. I will change if persuaded. I am open - teach me - with facts, not slogans.

I will be cloistered in my home engaged in creative projects for the duration of the Covid Crisis, and the burgeoning Revolution. I cannot afford to continue spinning wheels where there is no engagement, no result for my efforts. At this point I will "rest my case." There are many modern Paul Reveres sounding the alarm. Our current crises will play out as they will.

Aho, we are all related!
❤️🙏☮️😉🕉
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Zero Sum versus Rising Tide

It’s actually quite simple. Patriarchy v matriarchy. Oligarchy v community. Corporation v individual. Two philosophies dividing.

Is this as eternal as the Tao? This schism, this attitudinal canyon, is this the Achilles heel of the human race? The Libertarian point of view espoused by the current version of Republicanism starts with the feeling that “what’s mine is mine, period.” This leads further to “I got mine, now you go out and get yours, and leave me alone.” The response from the excluded majority was articulated nicely by none other than the great entertainer and artist Mr. James Brown: “Open up the door - I’ll get it myself!” What some might call neoconservative-ism, libertarian-ism, Republican-ism (whatever!), is suffused with an egocentrism that says “I am not my brothers keeper, I am not responsible for your well-being.” And at the root of this attitude of exclusion is the concept of zero sum transactions: whatever I give to help others will subtract from what I can provide for “me and mine.”

A fallacy of ancient tribal attitudes, the blind spot of paternalism, the intrinsic flaw of Libertarianism is the blind assumption that transactions are essentially “zero sum.” And the log in the eye of democratic socialism is “don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax the man behind the tree.” It’s not enough to maintain the status quo. We can’t continue with semi-sacred capitalism as a sacred cow. The “leftist” would simply take the overage from the corporation and spread the spoils among the impoverished, give lip service to improving education, provide support for “green industries” without examining their efficacy, and through failures of imagination, continue our exploitation of the planet without truly addressing the inequities caused by the profit motive and its siren song that leads to greed and lust for power. Where is the middle path? How can we maintain proper levels of human comfort, encourage arts and culture, provide lifelong education, provide medical care for all and cease challenging our very existence by cannibalizing our host, the lovely planet Earth?

We’re all in this together, this thing called “life.” We espouse love, sense of family and security for our family, our kin, our tribe. But if our security, prosperity and growth is impinged upon, challenged by the growth or acquisitiveness of another tribe, soon we adopt an “us v them” viewpoint. This leads to skirmishes, conflict, even full-fledged warfare. In the extreme, histories of bloodshed and concomitant atrocities create continuing enmity and provide a didactic base that argues in favor of standing armies and the warehousing of weaponry. Hence, we devote a good portion of our wealth and personal energy to nonproductive, even destructive endeavors. It is so much easier to destroy rather than build. And the time has come to recognize and redefine the goals of civilized society.

The evidence is in. It’s not open to discussion any more. Humanity, the species homo sapiens, has developed a survival methodology akin to a snake eating its tail. We are destroying the planet that nurtures us. When our numbers were fewer and our knowledge of interconnectedness incomplete, our concept of “conquering” nature appeared to serve us well. We now know that indigenous cultures living in harmony with their geography, biblical exhortations to act as caretakers of creation, these are the voices that must prevail. If not, we will all perish and those who manage to extend their tenancy on this planet will live lives unnatural and foreign to what they once knew, lives tragically circumscribed and ultimately not worth living.

Freedom of Speech is dying

R.I.P. First Amendment, 1791-2020?

The “Federalists” are winning their battle to transform the U.S. government into a monarchy.

I first became aware of the continuing attack on the Bill of Rights in 1987. I had washed out of a 12 year Silicon Valley quality assurance career after a lay-off - computer scanning of resumes ruled me out because I had an Associate degree in digital electronics (not a BS). But I found a sales job at a retail computer store on University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto, and early in my tenure a detective from the local PD visited to explain limits on the actions we could take against shoplifting and thievery. For one, we could not pursue and physically harm anyone once they were out the door and off our premises. At first he followed the script, a factual recital of the stores legal rights and restrictions, but soon he launched into a diatribe against the Bill of Rights. Apparently, law enforcement found unreasonable restrictions to their authority and a coddling of criminals in the Fifth Amendment, and of course the Miranda Rights.

In addition to the detective’s attack on Constitutional Amendments protecting the citizenry from broad governmental power, I became aware of a propagandizing effort from clandestine conservative forces. The young salesmen I worked with had elevated their own quest for personal rights into a “me-first” attitude that embraced the worst aspects of sales. The caricature of a lying unethical, SPIF-taking, up-selling, slick talking, red tie wearing, black BMW driving money-grubber was their role model and ideal. I went to dinners and parties with these new “Libertarians” and listened to jokes and negative verbal screeds directed at their object of derision, those they deemed clueless “Liberals.” They even had anti-Liberal joke books: “What’s the definition of a liberal? Someone who’ll give you the shirt off someone else’s back!” They showed me a quasi-official looking document that had adopted the cover colors, size and style of a U.S. military manual that purported to disclose the Carter White House as a source of drug importing and distribution with photos of Carter supposedly illicitly partying with the Allman Brothers when they visited. How the world had changed during my 12 years of head down attention to an engineering career! In essence, “Where had all the flowers gone?”

I suppose I could be criticized for my feckless indifference to changing societal mores but I was sandbagged, appalled by the derision directed toward attitudes of compassion, community and equality. Before long the Iran-Contra scandal hit the popular press and again I was surprised by the great numbers of people who found Oliver North a heroic figure. Ronald Reagan, who greatly exacerbated the homeless problem by closing state mental institutions, and presided over a great recession was now considered a near god. And behind these attitudinal changes there was a relentless program mounted by organizations I couldn’t trace, cut from the same cloth as the John Birch Society, Heritage Society, Cato Institute, Ayn Rand Institute, and scores of others, e.g.: https://71republic.com/2018/09/24/the-15-organizations-every-young-libertarian-should-know/

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

It prohibits the passage of any law which would “abridge” freedom of speech, or freedom of the press. But we now have a president who demonizes the press and encourages derision and mocking of any thought he deems inappropriate. So, while Congress has not passed any laws restricting the press or the exercise of free speech, we are in a new reality! The Republican Party has abandoned Constitutional ideals. In fealty to and fear of reprisal from President Trump, their popular demagogue, acting like spineless lackeys and sycophants under the sway of corporate influence and decades of ultra-conservative erosion of centrist values, they mutely stand by as their strangely electable figurehead fills the digital forum with aspersion and lies, as well as extracting revenge on truth-tellers and excoriating any thoughtful opposition. The current president has established a tone in the country’s discourse befitting of a dictatorship. There are no sedition laws, but the penalties are in place: lose your job, suffer threats to self and family. And the enforcement will come from anyone attitudinally aligned with the current corrupt administration.

Ironically, the birth of the United States of America came in large part from the great embrace of individual freedoms found in the writings of the French Enlightenment. The success of the American revolution and the values espoused by the U.S. Constitution greatly informed the creation of the United Nations charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, where Article 19 states:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

This broader interpretation for freedom of speech can also be construed as a defense for contemporary uses of social media to promote hateful ideas and untruths. But there are differences between opinion and distortion of fact, information versus studied mistruth and the unrestrained promulgation of ideas repugnant to societal morals and ethics. The current administration and body politic in the United States ignores expressions of negativity and evil when it strengthens their position but will denigrate media sources counter to their agenda and will indeed interfere with individuals who bear witness and provide information exposing administrational malice, collusion and criminality.

Further, the flagrant abuses of the Republican President and Senate have created an atmosphere where vigilantism and violence selectively directed at enemies of “conservative” thinking is allowed with a shrug. Holding ideas contrary to the “party line” exposes one to potential ad hoc punishment, as if the thought itself is a crime creating and inciting an inevitable, sometimes violent response.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). From Wikipedia:

“The... ICCPR later amends [Article 19] by stating that the exercise of these rights carries ‘special duties and responsibilities’ and may ‘therefore be subject to certain restrictions’ when necessary ‘[f]or respect of the rights or reputation of others’ or ‘[f]or the protection of national security or of public order (order public), or of public health or morals’.”

Hence libel, flagrant immorality, “hate speech” and the encouragement of dangerous and unhealthy practices may be constrained. But in our topsy turvy world today the President himself exhibits a communication style that approaches libelous, prides sexual conquest and misogyny and reeks of racial intolerance. He has publicly called for brutal action against protestors, which qualifies as disturbing the public order. And his denial of scientific evidence regarding planetary climate disaster and resulting removal of environmental pollution controls qualifies as speech so damaging it affects public health. We’re in an Orwellian world now where good is bad, bad is good. As the poet Rumi said:

“The world is upside down

He who should be hanged in the public square is crowned emperor

People applaud”

Presidential encouragement for vigilante action against those who have different ideas and opinions has the effect of squelching opposition, silencing free speech. His autocratic “you’re fired” leadership style has cowed the formerly honorable GOP into a subservient silent lockstep. Only one man stood up against the party leader to look at the honest truth and vote to remove the divisive fool who hoodwinked the public to gain election for self-elevation rather than the public good. The example set by Donald Trump and the anti-Constitutionalists formerly known as the Republican Party runs against the noble ideals America was founded on. No law was passed, but the current wave of populism has the effect of stifling dialogue and silencing opposition. Though the concept of free speech still exists, it is dying in the U.S. and may well be pronounced dead this coming November!

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights

Way it is...

The U.S. senate response to articles of impeachment is a sad spectacle. Senate Republicans offering their soul to the devil, cloaking their abandonment of constitutional principles behind a facade of red tie anger. I can’t separate my own frustration and anger at these fat suit power brokers from the angst and sadness that comes from watching my beloved America foundering on the rocks as Captain Queeg’s spiraling madness becomes a contagion. Better to let someone else offer an essay on this travesty!

GW Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson

"With the impeachment trial of President Trump beginning in earnest, right-wing populism has come full circle. Trump was elected on the theory that American politics had become corrupt and broken. Now he is calling upon his party and his followers to normalize corruption and brokenness as essential features of our political order. It is a bold maneuver by a skilled demagogue. Trump has cultivated disrespect for politics as a dirty business and now seeks to benefit from dramatically lowered public standards.

The question at stake in the Senate trial is plain: Is the use of public funds as leverage to gain private, political benefits from a foreign government an impeachable abuse of presidential power? The matter is so simple that Trump’s Republican defenders are reduced to babbling incoherence in trying to avoid it. When asked whether Trump’s solicitation of foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election was proper, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) responded, “Well, those are just statements, political. They make them all the time. . . . People do things. Things happen.”

“Things happen.” This is a revealingly ludicrous response to a charge of public corruption. No, trying to cheat in a presidential election is not like losing your keys or getting caught in the rain without your umbrella. Those are the kinds of “things” that just happen. The evidence that Trump cut off military aid to a friendly government in the middle of an armed conflict to compel that government to announce the investigation of a political rival is overwhelming. Several administration officials found this action so unethical, dangerous and disturbing that they expressed their alarm to relevant authorities. Those who dismiss such accusations as a political vendetta or a coup attempt are engaged in willful deception.

And because Trump denies any wrongdoing — pronouncing his own actions “perfect” — senators who vote for his vindication are effectively blessing such abuses in the future. Their action would set an expectation of corruption at the highest levels of our government.

All this would be particularly damaging to our constitutional order because Trump’s abuse of power is, for many supporters, the essence of his political appeal. Incidents such as the Ukraine shakedown are not excesses or outliers. They represent an approach to governing that resembles a crime syndicate. Anyone Trump can hire or fire is assumed to be an operative, sworn to personal loyalty. Fixers and factotums are employed to impose the leader’s will and to weed out resistance. Discipline is assured through the fear of swift and cruel reprisal. Any action that “owns the Democrats” or defeats the “deep state” is justified because Trump’s opponents are disloyal to the United States and seek its ruin.

This is a world where ethical rules count for nothing. A world where character is for chumps. A world where institutional constraints are temporary obstacles and the pursuit of power takes priority over every norm or principle.

Do elected Republicans really want to live in such a world? At one point they generally claimed, above all, to be constitutionalists. But in our constitutional order, power is legitimate because it is checked. In our system of government, patriotism means institutionalism.

Most abuses of power are eventually attacks on the separation of powers. And that is exactly what the Senate now faces.

Trump challenged Congress by withholding congressionally appropriated military assistance. Though there are limited circumstances in which spending can be legally delayed, the Trump administration did not notify Congress that it was making an exception in this case. Budget officials within the administration warned that this action violated the law, which was also the conclusion of a recent Government Accountability Office report.

Trump has challenged Congress by urging officials to defy lawful subpoenas and by blocking the production of documents — essentially declaring the White House immune from oversight.

And Trump has challenged Congress by directly disputing the legitimacy of the impeachment process. White House lawyers have declared impeachment to be “a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election.” But America’s Founders specially included an impeachment provision in the Constitution to overturn the result of an election when the president engages in misconduct and betrays the public trust. Trump is essentially claiming that he should be accountable only to voters — an argument that may sound reasonable but has nothing to do with our system of government.

These challenges clarify the stakes of impeachment. Will Republican senators allow partisanship to override their institutional obligations? Probably. Would this make them complicit, not only in an unethical presidential act, but also in the further decay of the constitutional order? Definitely."

Lessons Learned

“Closed loop” organizational systems are enabling the rise of dictatorship and the cult of populism around the world. I tend to fixate on the vanishing of participatory democracy in the United States, the country of my birth, but all over the planet the voice of the people is being denied.

The recent reveal of “Lessons Learned” documents illustrating expensive and pervasive failures of the US military actions in Afghanistan is not a singular expose’. It’s common practice for military commands and duty sections to maintain a log of unique situational learning and site specific practices. The lack of a feedback loop and the need to “cover your ass” and keep local failures a secret is the real problem. There is no covert sense, no plot to conceal, just the human tendency to keep ones dirty laundry behind closed doors.

The enemy of democracy is darkness. The failure to shine our light on sad realities keeps them hidden and thus we are handcuffed, unable to take corrective action. In our current system the heart of the humanist manifests as a permanent cry for help, a repetitive loop where atrocities are unearthed after the fact, pointed to with anguish and frustration, and the juggernaut rolls on with no perceptible change for good. But the answer is not greater sacrifice, as it’s not practical or wise to leave one’s home and family to throw your body on “the gears and levers of the machine.” Instead, we need to rethink and redesign our organizational structures to perform in a transparent fashion where reporting observational truth is not a sin, because we all share the ultimate goal of prevention and improvement.

The best job I ever had was working in a profit-sharing environment. Because we all were equally vested in the success of the company, every office had an open door, we could question any policy or procedure. The only constraint was our own sense of time, to not detract from the over all mission with time consuming philosophical discussion, just question, point out, move on. Quite often one’s question or observation became your own action item, and your “committee of one” became empowered to effect a change. In contrast, at the national level we have closed doors, closed minds and a minority of personal power brokers exerting control over a largely disenfranchised populace. We need a reexamination of these procedures and processes that are so out of line with the original concepts of representative government - we need a Constitutional chiropractor!

It’s been said that anyone can imagine a possible future, but the challenge lies in getting from point A to point B. England’s “Brexit” problem immediately comes to mind as an example. How about eliminating fossil fuels? We may need to do that! And how are we to get that done? Some who study governments will recommend their “best form of government,” a “benign dictatorship!” But woe unto the populace with an all powerful leader who is less than benign. So, we make a case for checks and balances within the structure, mix in the spirit of the French Enlightenment period and we emerge with the greatest governing document in the history of the planet, the United States Constitution. But now, in spite of the wisdom gifted to us by our founders, we find ourselves at loggerheads. Barely able to move benign legislation ahead, we have nihilists dismantling safeguards and packing the courts with partisan judges, factions of the ruling class at each other’s throats, gerrymandering, vote tampering, election fixing and a politics of denial and enforced religious morality - we are at a crossroads. Not only in the US, but planet-wide the citizenry know their leaders are failing them. The present rise of nationalism and populism is symptomatic of great frustrations, the sense that our governments are not providing for the common good.

There was great hope surrounding the birth of the United Nations, but in spite of many successes, we haven’t achieved world peace, the UN forum is host to diverse factions, there is no UN enforcement power, nations conspire to flaunt or openly disregard UN guidelines and authority when it suits their own agenda. In the early years of the UN, America had a great influence in the development of its charter, we were the guiding light, bright in the halo effect of our heroic efforts to help end World War II. Unfortunately, we then decided to invest secret government agencies with great power, enabling corporate colonialism, subverting the governments of other nations when it suited our twisted sense of entitlement. Nationalism can lead to committing atrocities in the name of “national security.”

So we are left with a systemic inefficacy, an inability to identify and solve our true problems, and a legacy of hate caused by years of violent actions across the globe. If we, the human race, are going to save the planet from the follies of our own technology and flawed beliefs we need to develop a new system that will allow accurate diagnosis, truthful presentation of our problems and obstacles, and a dispassionate process to repair and make our environment better. As great as the US governmental system is, it has become corrupted, incapable of instituting any positive and pervasive change. Too many legislators have sacrificed their ideals to the need for perpetual fund-raising and a capitulation to the lobbyist. Too many people, in government and out, place party loyalty, career and personal profit ahead of their nation, ahead of their planet!

Now, back to the “moving from A to B.” First, where are we now? Dysfunctional, unable to unite against the most pervasive and singular threat to all life on earth - ever! We’re fighting to save the planet that sustains us! Humans are a young species. Our growth in technical skills has surpassed our emotional and reasoning capabilities. Witness the mixed blessings of the industrial age, the nuclear age, and petrochemicals. Petrochemicals as fuel, petrochemicals as fodder for plastics, petrochemicals in prescription drugs. Products that never wear out. Chemicals created in laboratories with complex chains of molecules never found in nature. Chemicals that won’t break down into simpler elements. Global plastic pollution, climate change from carbon and methane releases that are accelerating, vanishing species and habitats, rising sea level. Climate change and industrial pollution threaten to devastate low income societies. 1% percent of the population controlling 90% of the wealth has not resulted in egalitarian solutions, has not resulted in prosperity for all, has not provided health care and quality education. “Status quo” is not working.

Now, what about point B? We’re going to need the wisdom, as a species, to agree that the greatest achievements of the human mind come from studied use of scientific method coupled with experiential insight. Experts representing life and bio sciences, geology, meteorology, computer scientists and programmers could be called on to guide enhanced computer studies in their specialties. Call a moratorium on war, an acknowledgement that all humanity must pull together, a social and cultural recognition that interpersonal conflict is non-productive and must cease. Saving the planet, treasuring the jewel of creation we reside on, this must be first.

Using all available modes of communication, let’s create a world scientific knowledge consortium of scientists - and financiers. In sci-fi movies, faced with global challenge the rulers of the world band together to solve the problem, fight the foe. In the real world, the governments are so beholden to special interests or hidebound in their thought, they are doing no better than sitting on their hands. In this cyber age the US is being divided by pernicious propaganda and a paucity of truth. The despoilers who profit from the status quo have and will continue to sell us out no matter who the ruling party is - just a difference of degree, perhaps. We will lose the planet if we continue on an “as is” basis. The intelligentsia of planet earth can and should develop a scientific plan to get us off fossil fuels, and make it pronto. Perhaps a coalition of planet saving consortiums working in parallel using various analytical methodologies. And once the expertise, AI and computing technology is defined, offer the concept to all the earth’s governments. For free, financed by “good guy” billionaires - they’re out there.

The people’s message to government is: We want to save the planet, we know it can’t be done through normal channels, so we’re offering the solution. But we need your support - we need governments to suspend obstacles to change. We need capitalists to realize the golden goose is damn near dead, you made a lot of bread, now it’s time to get out of the way. You’re lucky we don’t kill you for what you’ve done to the earth, to our children and grandchildren - for Christ’s sake, what you’ve done to your children and grandchildren! The Americans consulted the natives they were displacing when creating the Constitution, did the founders not hear about the seven generation concept? Dear government, let us work together to save the very earth that sustains us, and please, support our efforts fully!

At this point, we, the citizens of planet earth will have unified behind the concept of using scientific guidance to save the planet, presented the solution by organizing knowledge and computer power backed by volunteer financing of pooled knowledge consortiums, and if a suitable majority of governments do not agree to get out of the way and let the wisdom and guidance of brilliant and dedicated humans get us out of this ungodly mess - we go on strike. A worldwide walkout. No one goes to work or school - small groups gather in neighborhoods to talk, work on projects - share food. It could go on for weeks. Some people may even die, dying to save the planet for their children, all children. Even when people in horrible dictatorships who are threatened with brutality and gunfire opt out, the halting of the world economy should be enough impetus for change.

Hopefully a world wide strike would not be necessary. Governments may feel the need for expediency and choose to unite with the populace to fight the quickly encroaching escalation of destructive events. Either way, we still need to save the planet and our lives will be severely impacted. The sacrifices made by households in the World War II era will be more than matched by the sacrifices required to save the planet. Many existing businesses and institutions will be negatively affected and will likely mount disinformation campaigns, even incite violence. Money previously directed to weapon production could be used to smooth these technological and societal transitions. Most likely, a complete ban on petrochemicals may be required. Expect resistance.

But, finally, imagine restoring the planet and it’s ecosystems, using applied science to enhance and improve techniques in every sphere. Prove the efficacy of caring for every individual by providing access to housing, health care, education, and some kind of combination of employment and guaranteed income. In essence, make each nation a profit-sharing corporation. Entrepreneurs and high ranking management positions should have their monetary rewards, but ultimately, how much wealth does one person need? Some very basic societal values will have to change. And rather than divine the adjustments that must be made, we’ll have to embark on the journey together and as we go, redefine our values, remake our processes, re-dedicate our governments to the welfare of the people. With knowledge of past mistakes and the foibles of human nature well in our minds, we’ll be able to craft feedback and correction loops to insure efficient and ethical behavior in all our businesses and support systems. It will be a dicey and dangerous path to implement statistical watchdog systems without creating a nightmare Orwellian world, but the benefits of preventive controls to detect theft, identify inefficiencies and report contract breaches will help prevent corruption, waste and cover-ups. Big changes in attitude and law will be forthcoming, and not without resistance and argument. But before we get on that slippery slope - first, save the planet!

Our Political Parties Are Failing Us

To my Democratic friends: Just because the Republicans are wrong on so many policy issues doesn’t make you right. And Republicans, please believe me, just because you think the Democrats are wrong on everything, that doesn’t make you right on everything. We are all missing the boat because of our binocular vision. While we look with kaleidoscope eyes through the prism of our party affiliation we are unaware of what’s happening right next to us!

It’s quite likely that no political agenda existing today holds the solution to our global woes. The planet needs its human stewards to fucking wake up! Let me pose a question: What if you held the keys to unlock the problems of the world? Let’s say you have the knowledge, or the means to develop the knowledge that will end poverty, eradicate disease, feed and clothe, and educate every human on the planet - how would you communicate your knowledge?

First, people would be skeptical. Like a sermon I heard concerning the travails of David as he tried to sell his slingshot idea: “At first they won’t receive you, then they will deceive you, until finally they’ll believe you.” The skeptical brush off followed by a backhanded attempt to prove you wrong, and eventually truth - or divine intervention - prevails.

Well, we could use a bit of divine intervention now. Our macro focus is on climate change, betrayal of the Kurds, who’s tweeting what, Impeachment? Add: Micro plastics in everything? Coral reefs dying? Species extinction, war!

And, guess what. We may be doomed. We may have already “screwed the pooch.” But it’s in human nature to pitch in and join the bucket brigade - recalling that famous scene in an old black and white film... And I’m calling black and white film old? When were motion pictures developed? When did film become commercially viable? The accelerating effects of technology are evident - thousands of years of human history with this great “hockey stick” ramp up in merely the last couple of centuries. The mere existence of oxygen wasn’t even known until 1772, about the time of the birth of our nation! Our capabilities for invention have exceeded our understanding of our technology’s effect! The internal combustion engine, plastics, antibiotics, nuclear science, computers, artificial intelligence - all are both boon and bane!

So our goal now is to save the planet from the effects of our own inventions. We inherited this marvelous earth but there was no owner’s manual and we’ve been winging it. But it’s time to realize the efficacy of applied science and get with the program. That’s just a phrase. There is no “program” to be imposed. The phrase is a recognized cultural reference in English speaking North America, perhaps of US military origin. It means take off the blinders, wake up, go with the flow, you’re needed now, we’re all pitching in. Ironically, most citizens of this planet could and likely would agree to any methodology that would heal the changes to their environment, bring peace, health and wealth to their neighborhood. The only obstacle to world unity at this point is the intransigence and obstinance of our governments.

So here’s the challenge. First, get the two dominant American political parties to take a look at their own selves, realize their devolution is harming the republic. And in atonement they can sit down together, drop their dogmatic responses, stop pursuing legislation merely designed to strengthen their chance for re-election and address planetary challenges as if they were a threat to national security. For isn’t an optimum quality of life the goal of our national security?

In capitalism there’s an attitude of financial Darwinism, that if your idea is not right for the market, or if your business plan is poorly executed you deserve to fail. If your cost of doing business is so great that your employees suffer depressed wages and limited benefits, to take up the slack because of your poor management - you’re gonna fail. And that’s where we are with our militarism, and our sense of expanding empire as a corollary to securing the borders. The mores of planet Earth have to change. For all those in power, here’s your absolution, your hall pass, your get out of jail free: just join the people and save the planet. Everything else will fall in place.

This means the bishops remove their robes and roll up their sleeves. Capitalists - if you must wear your suits, do so, but sport a blue earth lapel pin. Or the old R. Cobb ecology sticker. And start listening to your scientists. Apply all the AI and knowledge pooling the global data centers can handle. Share knowledge and techniques. Get efficient real damn fast, save money. Or even better, use all the above devices, and reward the invention of new techniques, convert militaries to community service organizations, ban fossil fuels, ban plastics - spend money to save money - print some money. Funny money - get everyone to agree it’s real money! Crypto money - community service same as data mining. Let your minds run wild, let the ideas flow. Government get out of the way- or better still - help, not hinder.

There are so many ways for politicians to err. The false hope of legislation as a problem solver when it often is a problem creator. Maybe less legalism and more finance allocation! Government should be like the person on the curling team with the broom - sweeping ahead of the stone, guiding its course. There are ideas out there, revelations and renaissance - use every available technique to encourage and bring out the science and techniques to save us. Belay the politics and adopt a unified practical approach to the crisis - please!

Retrospective: October 10, 2002

As I read this again in November of 2019, there is but one jarring note. We now know we were duped into our war of aggression: there were no cached weapons of destruction!
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Serious thoughts -- then back to making the music!

 Just watched the news of the House vote, 148-37 to start a war with Iraq. Like an Indian warrior would say, it's a good day to die.

Weather is overcast and cold in the Bay Area today, providing a properly somber backdrop. The tarot card symbolizing change is a hand coming out of the fog...

As the newscast goes to commercial I hear the chorus to Eleanor Rigby, then "Nights In White Satin" and as I hit the mute button on my stereo "We're Going Down."

In conversation with an artist friend this morning, acceptance and resignation. "I hate war," he said. "But with people the way they are, whattaya gonna do?" I replied, "The top part of the triangle is missing, the union with God is not established, the precept that all life is sacred is not universal." We fell silent, knowing things are somehow different now, not caring to repeat the familiar discussion, world peace through allegiance to God, where we applaud each other in agreement.

I recalled "The Hidden Government" by Bill Moyers. Our history of meddling in the Middle East goes back a long way. It doesn't matter that those who acted in our name, disturbing the internal affairs of foreign governments through subterfuge and assassination, did so without our consent. Today we act less through arrogance than in need. We hope that smart bombs will cut the Gordian Knot caused by fifty years of failed policy.

Whatever happened to "two wrongs don't make a right?" Americans are not aggressors. Perhaps it has been a covert policy, the "best defense is a good offense." But in our hearts, we want to love, to "live and let live."

I'm with Barbara Lee from Berkeley, and Senator Byrd of West Virginia. This is wrong. But the alternative is so enlightened and unprecedented that it would be interpreted as a sign of weakness to stop now after months of tough talk by our president. I wanted the House to reason with their hearts, not with political logic. Let the world know the true character of America as we put the bellicose cowboy in check. Senator Daschle, the democratic leader voted "yes." Does he know more about the true situation, or was it "politics as usual?"

Yesterday (October 9) was John Lennon's birthday, he would have been 62. As I heard "Oh, look at all the lonely people," I thought: How willing we are to take all the best of our civilization, the inspired music, art, theatre, culture, neighborhoods, family -- and in one hot Congressional moment -- put it all on the line, up for disaster. Not because we might fail in our tragic, expensive war. For we will prevail. But the distrust, enmity and retribution we will engender is a horrible legacy for our children, grandchildren and beyond.

The only thing one person can do is to love. Love everyone you meet, even the difficult people. Love the young soldier who goes to wreak havoc on our behalf, not a pawn in a game, but cast in society's role because of age, circumstance, love of country and family. I have found very little pure evil in my travels through this world, and very little pure good. Love the self-serving efficaciously corrupt politicians, they know no other way. Extend love to all.

It's too late to protest. This is no time for divisiveness. The handbrake has been released, the car is careening down the hill. We're all on board. Reach out to each other, listen, care. And when the 98% of the American people who don't live in a cordoned compound are found to be unanimous in humility and compassion, the news of our true character as a people will be irrepressible, spreading to even the subjugated citizens of the most despotic rulers. We will be safe when hate can no longer find volunteers.

I see an edifice of argument. Our history, the need for oil, the Gulf War, 9-11. But the promontory we stand on is too lonely. Why are our allies not supporting us? I was on vacation in Europe in August. As I paused to enjoy a canal view in Amsterdam, I spoke to a workman sitting on the tail gate of his truck. "Goede dag, meneer," resulted in a disdainful reply "Goede dag, Amerikaner." The world feels different when one walks on streets that once belonged to an occupying army. Europeans recognize and are repulsed by our insularity.

Thus, I am against the move we are about to make. Yet, I will reap the benefits of our incursion, as we interdict the supplies of mustard gas, sarin and weapons grade uranium. And those who oppose us will treat the discovery of cached weapons as lies and propaganda. Our track record is not good, the battleship Maine, the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Are we the bully on the block, or the Lone Ranger riding to the rescue?

I have no answer, but there is something I have felt in the air for a long time. In my travels as a road musician, I have met very few people who are not dissatisfied with government. US citizens agree that although imperfect, our system is the best existing form, but leaves a lot to be desired. Is it the nature of government that it must become bureaucratic, insensitive to individuals, subservient to political expediency? I know we are only guaranteed the pursuit of happiness, but what if we all could live in peace, and let that be an example to the world? I suppose, on the national level, on the world stage, as a nation, we have tried. I fear that through the delegation of power, from the people to our representatives, we have lost our soul to bureacracy. Support for Pinochet in Chile, the Contra debacle, the history of the Phillipines. How do we break the cycle?

More questions than answers, indeed. But this I know for sure, we must love each other unashamedly, unabashedly. For when we open our hearts and let love pour through, we are tipping the balance in favor of love and giving no weight to hate.

If I were to take to the street with cardboard signage proclaiming "no Iraq war" I would engender more hate than love in the process. Yet it's important to verify that peace is preferable to war, hence my letter today. Having produced my personal "position paper" on these events. I now proceed to the true work. When the great Buddha was asked about work, he replied: "the only true work is turning sadness into joy." So I return to my tasks as a musician with undiminished effort, no need for rededication. But this I know, as sure as the world turns; I vote for peace through my actions, through my care for others and the delightful work of bringing pleasure to relaxation hours.

Love On, -Don Baraka-