The Fort Hood Incident

It is important for those involved in this incident, both on and off base, military and civilian to keep a cool head. I dearly hope that we do not see "revenge" shootings like those that occurred after 9/11, when several totally innocent individuals were harassed and even shot or injured for their apparent connection to the Muslim faith. No solid evidence has been found so far that truly links Major Hasan's shooting rampage to "radical" forces.

 To quote the New York Time's article:

"The officials said the Departments of Defense and Justice had decided Major Hasan would be prosecuted in a military court, an indication that investigators believe he acted alone."

It is very easy to paint a strange and unknown culture and those who live within it with a broad brush, but we must all strive to remember that as Americans, we are supposed to judge each individual on his own merits and qualities. Major Hasan was deeply against being deployed and had apparently been speaking with his family about those fears. According to this Guardian U.K. article, he has faced harassment over his faith and ethnicity and made numerous statements about his conflicts with the fact that U.S. Muslim soldiers were being forced to kill other Muslims.

The Washington Post story on his 2007 presentation, "The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military", is disjointed and obviously a group of talking points, but no where does it imply that attacking U.S. soldiers is justified. I looked at each slide. To me, his presentation seems to lay out the idea that devout and faithful Muslims will find themselves conflicted if they are forced to attack other Muslims in a way they see as unjust. I think that many devout Christians would find this a similarly difficult thing to do.

While it is tragic that he chose to deal with his internal issues in this horrible way, this is not the first time even this year, that a U.S. soldier has fired upon other soldiers on base. Both of these shootings are terrible events, that I wish had never happened, but I believe they are merely more visible symptoms of the pervasive combat fatigue that is growing ever more entrenched. Suicides in the U.S. military have never been higher than now, as we continue to remain bogged down in this "war on terror":

"The Army said the total number of potential or confirmed suicides since January stands at 82. Last year the Army recorded 133 suicides, the most ever. Earlier this year, Army officials saw the suicide numbers moving up, and by February said the service was on track for a record year for suicides."

 Our military is at the breaking point. I fear that if we continue to put our troops into combat without proper rest and therapy, tragedies such as Major Hasan's rampage will happen at an increasing rate. Do not let those who would paint all Muslims as the enemy distract you from the real issue, the horrible stresses that our fighting men and women are under. Stresses for which they see no end in sight.

I in no way believe that Hasan's actions were justified and I hope that he is punished to the full extent of the law. What I do not want to see is this incident becoming the impetus for a witch hunt against Muslims and Arab-Americans in general.

Kseniya Simonova shows the power of art and the devastation of War.

Watching this amazing performance art as it unfolds reminds me of the immortal line from the beginning of Fallout, "War. War never changes." There will always be a time when those who have less decide to get more by taking it from someone else by force. What I think humanity can and should ward against is the use of State and National power to do so, because such things only lead to misery and the enrichment of the few over the many.

Obama, Debt and Peak Oil

"...Instead, the American financial industry gained political power by amassing a kind of cultural capital—a belief system. Once, perhaps, what was good for General Motors was good for the country. Over the past decade, the attitude took hold that what was good for Wall Street was good for the country. The banking-and-securities industry has become one of the top contributors to political campaigns, but at the peak of its influence, it did not have to buy favors the way, for example, the tobacco companies or military contractors might have to. Instead, it benefited from the fact that Washington insiders already believed that large financial institutions and free-flowing capital markets were crucial to America’s position in the world." -http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice

Obama is not doing the right thing in his attempts to cure what ails the economy, but he did not break it in the first place. He did not deregulate the financial markets, allow savings banks to also be investment banks or the other myriad things that the financial elite, the Oligarchs of this country, started to usher in for the second time in 100 years around the time a certain Hollywood movie star took office.

Do people have such a short memory in regards to the financial shenanigans of the Bush regime? The Terror War Deficits? Or is it simply easy to throw darts at the seemingly impossibly popular Obama, whose promises of change are growing into a more bitter echo in my head every day?

I admit, I still have hope. He may yet surprise us all with a complete turnaround as he brings temporary nationalization into place in order to break up the institutions which should never have grown to be "too big to fail". Yes, I used the N word.

As Simon Johnson, a professor at MIT's School of Management and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund explains quite eloquently in the above linked article, nationalization may not be pretty, but it is one of the only things that will save the U.S. economy in the face of the massive debt unwind that is unspooling as we speak.

"...the government must force the banks to acknowledge the scale of their problems. As the IMF understands (and as the U.S. government itself has insisted to multiple emerging-market countries in the past), the most direct way to do this is nationalization. Instead, Treasury is trying to negotiate bailouts bank by bank, and behaving as if the banks hold all the cards—contorting the terms of each deal to minimize government ownership while forswearing government influence over bank strategy or operations. Under these conditions, cleaning up bank balance sheets is impossible. "

The scale of the problem indeed. Since about when Reagan tore the solar cells off the White House, Wall Street firms have been working on getting rid of the regulations that were put upon them after the last Depression. Here is just one quote from a Bloomberg article published last October:

``There's a huge gap in our regulatory system,'' former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt said at an industry conference yesterday, referring to legislation almost a decade ago that excluded the derivatives from government oversight. The regulatory system is ``terribly broken,'' he said.

After the New Deal and the destruction of Europe's industrial capacity during World War II, America found out the name of the game was consumption. We had seemingly inexhaustible reserves of oil, brand new factories, a whole new sector of workers to make use of (women) and rationing was declared a thing of the past in 1946. Britain would not see the complete end of rationing until 1954, but what did Americans care?

We had a whole world waiting for us to make things for them to buy. Things bumped along pretty well economically until the oil scares of the 70's, when domestic oil production peaked. Faced with the prospect of losing the ability to make money from an economy based on the manufacture of actual things, large portions of the economic elite started working out how to form bubbles. Enter the S&L scandals of the 80's, the dotcom boom and bust, then it really became about debt and houses and somewhere along the way, everyone started believing the good times could go on forever. Now the realities of peak credit and peak fossil fuels are showing the "truth" of that statement. Soon enough, it will become apparent that much of that debt will never be repaid and then the good times are going to stop rolling for a long time if we do not power down our resource consumption and make local arrangements for the neccessities in this country.

Once upon a time, many people kept their word, honor was not just a name starlets gave their babies and the industrial world had enough fossil fuels to meet demand. It is highly probable, especially when one takes into account the lack of oil infrastructure investment the current economic crisis is causing, that the all time peak rate of oil production occured last summer.
Check out this site and this one as well for tons of solid information, if the words "peak oil" do not mean anything to you.

Without sufficient oil, production cannot grow. Without growth of production, debt cannot be serviced. Without debt servicing, our modern economy will falter and likely fall. There are other options, thankfully, which I will discuss here soon, but time is running out.

Change for all of us

I was very pleased with the inauguration today. Some may have legitimate qualms about Obama's
potential as a leader, but I believe he will stand as strong as he can in the face of the towering wave of adversity that is bearing down on this nation. He has asked for sacrifice in about as bold a way as I think it is possible for a modern politician to do so and tomorrow he is supposedly going to revoke the global gag rule and start the process of shutting down Guantanamo. I await both actions with eager hope and anticipation as I continue to plan my own big changes. Let this year be one of effort and beneficial change for all of us, for we shall all face trials and tribulations, but if we have the courage to stand and believe in ourselves, we will triumph.

The Internet and Conversation

Ahh, such a strange, bizarre and far flung community the web is. From the sands and skyscrapers of Dubai to the industrial warrens of New Jersey and Bangladesh, people interact with others in a way humanity has never known before. I often feel that this exchange of information, if it can be harnessed properly, can be a large part of bringing the world into a more peaceful time. Increasing fossil fuel scarcity is going to put a dampener on international and cheap web shipping, but a good conversation is still one of the best things in the world and often one of the cheapest, which should not be overlooked in this time of economic woes. This is not to say that good conversation requires the internet! In some ways, a face to face conversation will always trump fiber optic based discussions, be they merely audio or fully A/V. Yet I believe that the internet has a tendency to make people open up and explore avenues of discussion they would not pursue in the "real world" and it is often the conversations we are not expecting that lead to the most interesting points in my experience... When was the last time you started up a conversation with a complete stranger?

Now Obama has to deliver and what form will that take?

"Yes, George W. Bush’s status as the most disliked man ever to occupy the White House shows that America was not worthy of him. And attacks on Bush gave aid and comfort to his enemies — unlike the firehose of abuse that will be directed against President Obama, which will of course be an expression of true patriotism." -Paul Krugman

In this election, the differences were greater, in terms of talk. A burden of proof is now being lowered onto Obama's back and I hope he is equal to the task of holding it high. My choice to vote for Obama was never in much question, but it was not easy. I had and still have my doubts, but I also have hope. He is change, that is for sure, but a great wind has already swept aside much that has stood the test of time until now in this country, will America like what Obama builds in it's place? It did not have to be this way...

Bush was put in place as President two years after I graduated high school. Much of my adult life so far has been lived under the shadow of an administration that flouted the Geneva Conventions and sunk our military deep into a place that will now forever be a part of America's story, for history will not forget blood for oil. It will not forget that we used "Shock and Awe" to win, a fireworks show on CNN that blew up children for the enrichment of the few. Eight years of rule that actively fought against the idea of global warming, doing everything in their power to tear down environmental regulations as fast as ink could dry. Eight years of abstinence education that does not work and the global gag rule.

The Bush administration has been running a torture program for several years now. Water Boarding makes your body and mind think you are dying by the simulation of drowning conditions. If done improperly, it can kill. The people we sent to third world hell holes via "Extraordinary Rendition" had far worse things done to them. Yes, the School of Americas existed before the Bush administration and South America suffered it's travesties, but the switch to doing such things openly left me cold with horror, for it seemed like the final step in a long march that started thirty plus years ago from all that I have experienced and read. It seems we have been given a small reprieve from that particular endgame, for now.

We were supposed to be a symbol of better things, a better way, but somewhere between three cars for every two people, Walmart and the boogeyman of "The Poor", America started to lose it's way. Owning the next big thing (cellphones, plastic surgery, plasma TV's) became the goal, being richer became more important than being more human. We cannot go back to the old ways, but we can blaze a new trail to greater times and a better way for most.

It has often been said in more artful ways than I am capable of this day that the Democrats and the Republicans are merely two heads of the same snake. I think in many ways this is true, yet if we can but harness it, the power of Americans to heal the wounds of this country is within our grasp. Congress, the true power in our Republic, only has 535 members and they know they are outnumbered, so they try to use fear and pointless wedge issues to divide and deceive the citizens of this nation. Let us put an end to such things. They have corporate lobbyists circling them right now but we can be a more powerful voice in their ears. Now that you have cast your political vote, do not stop. Vote with your wallet and most importantly, vote for a better world with your heart and your mind. Never doubt that your actions make a difference in the lives of everyone you interact with and in the lives of those who grew or made the products and food you purchase. They do not hate us for our freedoms, but they do hate us for stealing so many of their dreams so that we could have cheaper produce, bigger TV's and salad shooters.

Fundamental changes have already been put in place that have changed America's structure perhaps forever. Yet the idea of revolution was not unknown to our Founders. The first shots have been fired without much notice indeed, but that will not last long. "Free Market Capitalism" was and is a good idea in theory (Aside from the whole second law of thermodynamics issue), but it has shown it's self to be incompatible with modern "honor" so it has been scrapped.

Let us hope that whatever is put in it's place is ready and willing to take on Peak Oil, Global Warming and the incoming wave of Inflation without collapsing entirely. It is going to be an interesting ride.

All Hallows Eve

Winter approaches and tonight the face of season's end will dance upon the night's thin veil, it's lit from behind countenance a herald this year of a future perhaps more menacing to many each day. Yet today I woke up with a hopeful smile.

To many, Halloween has become merely another Hallmark Holiday, an event created merely to feed the monster of consumerism that has wormed it's way into every corner of modern culture.
Bags full of poison are collected by children, the very nature of the corn syrup and bleached sugar "candy" toxic, many adults lose themselves in a surge of faux rebellion, determined to throw off the shackles that they labor in the rest of the year but all too often simply accepting a different form of status quo imprisonment.

I have been guilty of this mindset myself in the past and will probably fall under it's sway in the future, but this year, I view it in a different manner. Tonight, I am going out into the dark physically un-costumed, but wearing a new soul that feels like a costume due to how long certain parts of it have been under wraps. You see, more than anything, my life has been one of change and I have only sped up in recent years, instead of slowing down and that lack of stability can have costs that are sometimes hard to bear.

Goals... such ephemeral creatures, but what value would they hold if easily caught? So much change have I seen in myself and sought out, when so many others have stilled and remained frozen in time. Sometimes I forget the value of that. For too often I look at what I have yet to achieve, the grand life changes far above me like mountain peaks and forget all of the small steps I have taken already that have brought me to that place of pause and rest that allows such contemplation. This Halloween, a few days after my first ever three day fast and a few months after spending a month alone in the wilderness, camping and hiking, I am more sure than ever of where I stand and where I must go and my costume shall be that new feeling, that I am still learning to wear...