Another Problem Solved

Yesterday was the Rally for Local Climate Solutions, deemed a huge success by the organizers. Maybe a hundred people showed up ( there was free beer) to listen to experts talk about the effects of climate change on the forest ecology. Then some people sold them solar panels and some revolutionary alcohol based fuel. Then they signed the petition to the EPA and went home, having put yet another dire issue to rest. I was actually on the organizing committee because they said I could do a "break-out session" on direct action but they ran out of time and failed to mention the session. Other solutions were: get better politicians who would make better policy and change the government so it makes better policy, oh, and also "end corporate rule". Then a guy told me I should see this great movie called Thrive and when I told him it was whack he said people just needed "common sense" and should "meet in the middle" to find common ground. Then I heard about all the local Democrats I should vote for in the upcoming election. So all and all, exactly what you would expect, although you don't usually get free beer. These liberals have an extraordinary capacity for endlessly repeating the same useless, banal tactics while expecting different results. After all these years I can still be stunned by their cluelessness.

More Farmer Rants

It's not that I'm obsessed with farmers but, think about it, all those farmers out there just farming away and who really pays them any mind? They totally fly under the radar! And then think about this Farm Bill; who really gets the Farm Bill? How come fuckin farmers get their own Bill? All those price supports and complex formulas for adjustments and powdered milk and "spring wheat" and shit, or manure, as they say on the farm. ( moo poo) What up? And when it is all said and done, and all the cows have gone back to the barn, do you know what it finally comes down to? Corn. That's right, EVERYTHING hinges on corn. Corn pone, corn on the cob, corn syrup, corn rows. That's all I've got for now but it's far from the last word on farmers. Believe me.

States Rights

So I'm trying to picture some guy in Connecticut reading about this Nevada standoff and going "armed militias" ? WTF? Isn't "armed militias" something they have in Beirut, in Syria, or the Ukraine? Oh yeah, no, we got armed militias out here ( I live in Montana) and they act with impunity. They got the NRA and most of the legislators rooting for them. Remember Oklahoma City and the Nichols brothers? They would win if they ran for county commission where I live. These people live on high alert and they are networked. A few tweets and a couple calls and you got firepower backing you up. Lots of em have bunkers full of food and ammunition and they are READY for whatever comes. Now imagine that some left wingers converged "in the hundreds", armed and threatening law enforcement officials. Think any of them would be alive? Of course it is far from over, as much as the "Patriots" might be celebrating. They all got their picture taken, they can all expect an IRS audit and no-fly lists and a hundred different ways to make your life miserable. Still, I'm kind of jealous. Lefties would take two months to build consensus over what their signs should say. And now it makes more sense how polite and appreciative the police were on Sunday at our coal train protest. Seven people getting arrested for non-violent civil disobedience is a walk in the park compared to confronting a couple hundred well armed cowboys, many of whom were probably trained by the Marines.

Simply Shocked

The usual array of "progressives" are voicing their collective outrage at the latest Supreme Court decision around money as "free speech". John Nichols,Robert Reich, Charles Pierce, etc all wrote pieces expressing shock and dismay at this blow to capitalist democracy. I'm sure Bill Moyers is busy putting together a whole show on the travesty. Why if only we had a five -four majority of liberals, they moan, we could have gotten money out of politics and saved our precious capitalist democracy. Guess we'll just have to work harder at getting liberals elected and sign more petitions and bring more lawsuits. Sound at all familiar? This should because I use it regularly: "Just as the scorpion htreatened by fire shoots its own venom into itself, democracy encircled by the flames of free market economic and the new world order pumps the searing venom of corruption into its veins." Jean Baudrillard Nobody is saying global capitalism is a free market system but the point is even more extreme when speaking of Chomsky's "real existing capitalist democracy" with all its state intervention. My belief is that you could actually take all the money out so-called "politics" and it wouldn't change a damn thing in terms of power. We The People have so thoroughly internalized capitalist ideology that We would vote down any expansion of social provision without the Koch Brothers lifting a finger. Please, the people beg, crush me with greater austerity, for I am not worthy. Only the Invisible Hand In All Its Glory can deliver us from evil. We love freedom and the greatest freedom is freedom from our own Desire.

More Pathology

It is generally said that doing the same thing and expecting different results is a hallmark of insanity but if that's the case, most of the world is insane. I would suggest this syndrome is just a pathology, but a mass pathology particular to our historical moment. For instance, I met with some local "progressives" about doing an Earth Day celebration with the theme of climate change . For decades these good people have been promoting individual, local solutions like recycling and solar panels and organic gardening while avoiding all talk of system change or Market failure. Too divisive, too aggressive, they say. I suggested we talk about coal export and the Tar Sands but they were more comfortable talking about farmers markets. Meanwhile the rate of greenhouse gas emissions continues to climb. Then there are the folks fighting money in politics. They continue with their petitions and legal challenges decade after decade. They don't want to talk about the contradiction inherent in the term capitalist democracy because that would be too divisive, cause too much heartburn. So when the supreme court takes the billionaire's money and rubs it in their face and shoves it down their throats till they choke they break out another petition and mount another legal challenge. Then there are the young folks I met with last night who are fighting mega-loads and Keystone XL and who want to continue doing what they have been doing for decades, setting up action camps, chaining themselves to bulldozers, getting arrested a couple at a time. Mention a new tactic and they nod and say sure, but first we have to have another isolated, independent protest and chain ourselves to a bulldozer. Everyone seems to be addicted to losing. Quite frankly, it is easier than winning and less risky.