Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

I heard that old joke the other night on one of the cable TV old movie channels and it evoked the ideal that as a inhabitants of mother earth we are as a whole in denial.

We are in denial on climate change. i know we say we accept the fact that the earth is changing but then we treat it as a dirty little secret we don't like to talk about. If we started to talk about it then we would have to do something about it and that mean we would have to make changes in the way we live. God forbid if we should have to realize we can no longer afford to be indiscriminate consumers of needless and worthless goods.

If we started to accept the challenge of taking personal responsibility for our impact on earth climate change then we might find our self rethinking the total concept of how we live. But mother earth may not give us the opportunity to ignore our situation. She may in fact brutally remind us that we must accept our responsibility for our way of life.

As the oceans warm and rain forest are systematically destroyed and we create bigger concrete islands of heat and produce greater carbon dioxide levels with indiscriminate burning of carbon based fuels, pollute our drinking water with runoff from industrial waste both agg and manufacturing mother nature reminds us she has the finally say.

The southwest USA is in one of the longest driest spells since the dust bowls days.  Has any one thought of the consequences of failing ranches and farms. No water no food simple as that .


Aquifers are being poisoned by drilling for natural gas by fracturing. In short no drinking water no life.

One of the mainstays of physics is the belief that for ever action there is a reaction. That applies to everything that happens in life. It is the yin and yang of life. The good vs. bad.

I believe that we can no longer ignore our personal impact on the earth. That true change can only come about through individual effort. While legislation assist in change it is only by changing how people think can true change happen.

My personal belief is that we must think globally on the environment and locally on the economy for one has equal effect on the other.

Reading

Still reading "Theories of Flight" so far not a bad read. This blog entry has caused me to pull down off my shelves Bruce Sterlings "Heavy Weather" to reread. Also waiting to receive "Nickled and Dimed- On not getting by in America" updated from the original 2001 edition.

Evoloution of Everything

For some reason I woke up this morning thinking about Darwin’s theory of Evolution. Why I don’t know but I did. To me to argue about whether we evolved from monkeys or not is like arguing on how many angels you can get on the head of a pin. Essentially does it change the price of a cup of coffee.

The answer is No.

So why did I start to think about evolution?  Well it is that we do evolve one way or another. In fact the theory of evolution is one that can be applied to everything in life.

Think about it this way. When you start out as a young reader you are reading the basic See Dick and Jane. See Dick and Jane run. From that basic sentence structure you evolve into application of more complicated reading.

The same concept can be applied to our working life. When I started out as a young construction inspector I was raw with only the basic ability to follow instructions. In time I evolved into a senior construction inspector that understood the complexities of the work and how one item effected and related to another.

The world economy down to our very personal economy is evolving and like in any growth there are growing pains. But, I believe in this case it is more comparable to rebirth as we slowly evolve from a local economy where we depended on local made products and food supplies to global where our needs are supplied from all over the world mostly from third world countries with extremely low wages and eviromental laws.

Now we are entering into another evolution of our economy. This one is back to eventually a more local economy. Where our goods and food stuff are locally supplied.

This local economy rebirth will not be without growing pains and those who profit from a global economy will fit it kicking and screaming for they will profit from it the least. The ultra-rich and global corporations will not want to accept the concept of a local economy for there is no profit in it for them on the same level as it has been.

The future economy will evolve into local or national manufactures vs. international. Local business will flourish in the market place where as the big box stores like Wal-mart will suffer if not fail for it will make more economic and envirometal sense to walk or bicycle down to your local farmer’s market or merchant then to drive 10 miles to the big box store.

 VS

Will this happen overnight? No. But it will happen. How painful will be determine on how hard we try to maintain a unsustainable life style.

In The Workshop, Current Reads and in General

The heat has kept me out of the workshop but I am determined to get back out in it. My wife and I have received two second hand Iphones and our old cell phone holders no longer fit. So I am not waiting for cooler weather but getting back into the shop to fabricate new Iphone stands. Hopefully I will post photos by the end of the next post.

Started reading “Theories of Flight” by Simon Morden  and as in the first book of so far not disappointed. Have also been reading “For every Book” by Nicholas A. Basbanes

Also ordering two other books “The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality” by Richard Heinberg and the book by Barbara Ehrenreich “Nickle and Dime: on {not} getting by in America” from Amazon.

P.S.

Darwin came to hate being associated with the theory of evolution. He felt that the people failed to see what he was writing about. His theory was about how animals evolved in their environment to meet the best case survival scenario and not how man came from monkeys.

"There is nothing to fear but fear itself"

"There is nothing fear but fear itself." was what Roosevelt told the American people in 37 when it seem that the Great Depression would never end. Perhaps it is time for that speech to be made again.

Yesterday I heard one of the economic pros used for sound bits say that we are not so much in a double dip recession as we are in a global depression. Some how no one seem to latch onto it, but rather they ignored it intentionally or not. But it did start me to thinking about it.

We have rioting in London, GB as well as protesting in other European countries that are economically driven. A case of the have not vs the haves.

Economic growth in the world have stagnated. The question you have to ask is why?

Perhaps if I might put forward is that any economic growth that is based on the continual expansion of product sales is unsustainable and currently that is how business is currently runs. Sooner or later you will reach a saturation point and it becomes a matter of replacement. Even with designed obsolete or limited life Span of a product there is only so many widgets needed before you fulfill that need.

Combined that with high unemployment, lower paying job, governments unwilling to act aggressively, with big business and the uber-rich unwilling to act responsibly and you now have the ingredients for a economic melt down.

Unfortunately history indicates we tend to be self-destructive and the poor and middle class will pay for what happens either with the destruction of their traditional safety nets or draconian acts and laws that cause further pain and hardship. That is until the people rise up and act. Or do we dare forget the French revolution or the Italian revolution of the mid 19th century.

Then again the do seem to be acceptable to lies and mis-information. Only time will tell.

Nickled and Dimed

I have just finished reading an article found in Mother Jones that I thought I would share with you. The article based on the research done for the revised edition of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by journalist Barbara Ehrenreich. 
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/nickel-and-dimed-afterword

If you don't know this writer than you owe it to yourself to become acquainted. Her book first issued back in 2001 wrote about the working poor and the struggles of trying to live on minimum wage.  She did this by cutting herself off from the her safety net of family and friends and living at various locations doing the work ranging from waitress to Wal-Mart associate. All minimum wage jobs. No matter what it paid she had to support herself on the wage she could get.

Her experince and relationships she developed with other in the same situation was the basis of the first edition. This later edition is an update of what is going on today 10 years later. Based on what she is finding the situation hasn't improved in fact it has gotten worse. She calls it war on the poor. Where cities make it more difficult for the poor to survive in this new economy we live in.

On some of the things she says about cities and their fines I can only verify based on my own experience as a former city employee who has set in meeting where the PD rep spoke about a situation as a potential revenue maker in fines that could be generated. There is something inherently wrong with that.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

I love the old Rolling Stones Song "You Can't Always Get What You Want". To me it speaks to my common sense.

Think about it.

When you realize that in life there will be things you want but no matter how hard you try you just never get it. Or worse yet you do get it and it is a disaster. There is just no winning it seems at time.

That is how I look at the the recent debacle in DC between the republican control congress and the President. and democrats. The TEA party pseudo-christian republicans wanted the dismantling of the government particularly the social programs that they saw as give-a-ways. This thinking begin with Ronald Regan and continued with GH Bush "thousand points of lights" gained some ground with Clinton's welfare reforms and continued with GW Bush's ideal of Evangelical control of social programs.

As far as Social Security goes the conservatives have been steadily hacking at it for as they see it as a unnecessary government program better run by private industry and tied to investments. You can imagine how that would go if they had their way. All you have to do is look at most private retirement programs and see the hit they have taken that have been tied to the stock market.

There is a reason that there is a Social Security system in place. The majority of people work and live from one pay check to the next. Try as they might savings is a thought and not a reality. It was for that way for me. As most of theses working folks would tell you about the time you think you are going to reach your goals someone moves the goal post. That is the reason that Social Security was established as a safety net for the working and middle class.

Those that are Christian or call them self Christian should remember what the Bible teaches.
Christ said "What you do for the least you do for me"
James chapter  2 vs 4 thru 6 says

But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 7Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

All I am saying is that it is better to let some abuse the system then to punish the those who truly need it.  Call me a bleeding heart liberal and you would be right. But that does not change the fact that right now we are being misled by the umber rich and powerful corporations.

They talk about a "Balance Budge Amendment" well it is time for a term limits amendment on the Congress and the senate. with the only benefit being the privilege of serving and being paid while serving. A career in politics take on a whole different look. Perhaps when viewing the congress on TV you would see a lot less of old white haired men and a lot more people who would want the system to work when they leave office and return back to the society that they have created by the laws they have passed.

Enough ranting for now.

Reading and other things.

Well I finished Alan Furst "Spies of the Balkans" and it was as expected a good read and give it a 3 out of 4 stars.  He has a firm hold on the time period and the subject matter and knows how to present it in a very readable fashion.

Began reading Douglas Preston "Impact" and am looking forward to getting into the book. Past reads of this author usually have me forgoing anything else until I finish it once the action begins.

Watching TNT's "Falling Skies" not a bad aliens invasion TV series. and recommend it to anyone.

In the shop just too hot yesterday it was a 100 degrees so until it cools down to the lower 90's I am afraid not much will get done.

That's all that I have for now. Stay Cool.