Wednesday, October 25, 2017

New Zealand's new leader Ardern: Capitalism is a Blatant Failure

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/new-zealands-new-prime-minister-says-capitalism-failed-people-video/

Well, hundreds of thousands in poverty. You decide.

“If you have hundreds of thousands of children living in homes without enough to survive, that’s a blatant failure. What else could you describe it as? …

“The measures [such as GDP] for us have to change. We need to make sure we are looking at people’s ability to actually have a meaningful life, an enjoyable life, where their work is enough to survive and support their families.”

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Jeff Flake: 'I Will Not Be Complicit' - The Atlantic

Jeff Flake: 'I Will Not Be Complicit' - The Atlantic 



And this lovely tribute, from another mainstream member of Trump's political party.



Reckless, outrageous, and undignified behavior has become excused and
countenanced as ‘telling it like it is,’ when it is actually just
reckless, outrageous, and undignified,” Flake said on the Senate floor.
“And when such behavior emanates from the top of our government, it is
something else: It is dangerous to a democracy. Such behavior does not
project strength
—because our strength comes from our values. It instead
projects a corruption of the spirit, and weakness
.”

Senator Bob Corker on Twitter: "Same untruths from an utterly untruthful president. #AlertTheDaycareStaff"

Monday, October 23, 2017

UK's Johnson urges North Korea to 'change course' on nukes - ABC News

UK's Johnson urges North Korea to 'change course' on nukes - ABC News 



Well, rogue nations are not good. "Diplomatic imagination" has created the global will to reduce and limit the number of countries with nukes. This makes sense, and is testament to the power of powerfully good -- and necessary -- ideas.



I like these quotes from Boris Johnson.



".... diplomacy had succeeded in limiting the spread of atomic weapons beyond a handful of countries.


He said that if North Korea changed tack, "the world can show that it is
once again capable of the diplomatic imagination that produced the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty" and the Iran nuclear deal."

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Lloyd Doggett says 80 percent of Republican-sought tax cuts flow to wealthiest 1 percent | PolitiFact Texas

Lloyd Doggett says 80 percent of Republican-sought tax cuts flow to wealthiest 1 percent | PolitiFact Texas 

That's where the plan would end up in 2027 (per analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.)

Straight off the bat, "...at least half the framework’s tax cuts would flow to the wealthiest 1 percent of residents."

"We the People"... or "we the rich 1% circumventing Democracy to create a perfect 1%."

This is a shameful, crass, greedy, upper-class, pocket-stuffing "governance" attempt that our forefathers would have thrown back into Boston Harbor. Then they would have sent the backers of such aristocratic defrauding back to England.

Monday, October 9, 2017

EPA photos show what US looked like before pollution regulation - Business Insider

EPA photos show what US looked like before pollution regulation - Business Insider 



Wow. Just wow. Yikes, disgusting and so unhealthy.

EPA chief to sign rule on Clean Power Plan exit on Tuesday

EPA chief to sign rule on Clean Power Plan exit on Tuesday 



Polluters gonna pollute. Shame. Under the guise of "fairness" when all the terrible social costs (health, asthma, cancer, climate, storm damages from climate-enhanced storms, etc.) remove any reasonable comparison to clean power.



Shady charlatan and hype man for polluting fossil fuels. Black-hearted as coal.



Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012

Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012
I've been thinking some about the Winter Solstice, the Mayan end of the 30,000-year-cycle on 12/21/12.

What if in fact the world did end? Even though this probably will not happen, to live consciously it is honest for us to take a bit of an inventory.

Am I happy with how I've lived my life? (Yesterday, I thought mostly yes, with some areas for improvement, as below.) Are there changes I would make?
Would I have tried to forgive those that were hostile or disappointing to me?
Would I spend more time with those I loved the most, telling them that, feeling that more?
Would I be happier, grateful for what I have, what I've experienced, the joy, the beauty in this world?

Maybe the answer is yes to all of the above.
So this time can serve as a point of rebirth for all of us. If we think about it.

Because somewhere along the line I realized I think maybe mankind deserves it. !
The way we are killing each other, killing the planet.
How selfish we are, and snotty to those around us. Petty, competitive. Why is this? Do we have to behave this way? (I say no, it greatly detracts and misdirects energy from the full-time celebration in which we could engage, the great multi-cultural, multi-rhythmic dance we can sustain here.)

Maybe God or the Great Universe is fed up, and will pull the rug out from under us.
Don't think I can say we could blame Him/Her/It.

But it probably won't happen. (Probably not! This time.)

Still we are finite on this ride.

It is a time to think, am I happy with how I've lived my life?
Hopefully most of us can say yes.

For the part of us that have a little worry, a little sadness....
This is the time to be present.
This is the time to be the person you want to be, that can die at peace, that can hope to every day be able to look yourself and the Universe in the eye and say, how beautiful, smiling, and thank you. Let's do that.

Antidotes to Violence, a.k.a., Take Charge of Where Your Head's At - here

Tell Congress to Strengthen Gun Control Laws NOW - here

Good News & Brain Food News -
Christians & Muslims Gather, for Peace here
Good News - Top RIO+20 Summit Posts here
The 'Busy' Trap - NYTimes.com
here