We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore LappĂ©, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Other articles I found today, October 3, 2019, and recommend to you

‘March of anger’: Thousands of cops protest in Paris over working conditions, pension reforms & suicides

Click here to access article and videos posted on RT

French cops are protesting about the neglectful treatment by their government. This is another variation on the fatal flaw that I temporarily referred to in my abortive post on 9/28/2019 (I intend to finish this and post it under "General Information" in the upper right-hand corner of my website.)" Before I decided to abbreviate the post and to develop the idea further in the future, it read (in part): 
I've reached the conclusion that the human species are largely ruled by [individualistic] materialism in the sense that they follow their instincts toward pleasure or positive reinforcement in the short term future. This is a fatal flaw that condemns this species to extinction along with many other life forms on this planet.
This morality has not only infected the thinking of the current ruling capitalist classes, but all class structured societies when they began some 10,000 years ago when humans settled in agricultural communities and there was a surplus of wealth produced. Class structured societies began to be developed whereby ruling classes appropriated for themselves and their families the surplus. They abandoned the morality of survival of the nomadic band and replaced it with the morality of what's best for the extended family, and this new morality passed down through our species' relatively brief history to our current ruling capitalist classes. This new morality was very well expressed by Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister who said
...you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first.
Now in the present day, humans are increasingly threatened with extinction by their excessive alteration of the climate and environment. To survive, the relatively recent morality must be abandoned in favor of the earlier one and expanded to the human species and toward life forms in general. Humans must realize that they are an integral part of the web of life that exists on this unique planet Earth. The cops in this post demonstrate the current dominant morality. But cops, and humans in general, don't have much time to move to the earlier morality. So, will they succeed, or perish along with many other species? Stay tuned, but better yet, stay active in favor of survival.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Articles I especially recommend for Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Where Are the Indictments of Those Implicated in the Coup Attempt Against Trump?

Click here to access article by Paul Craig Roberts from his weblog.

Added to this smear campaign against Donald Trump by NPR was performed by America's Public Broadcast Service (PBS) during a two hour anti-Trump barrage about Saudi Arabia which I viewed last night on television. They made sure that Trump was identified with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Obviously, PBS had all this programming prepared months and even some instances, years ahead of time. Is the timing coincidental coming after the Deep State decided to initiate impeachment proceedings against him because of his "crime" against their chosen candidate, Joe Biden? (This reminds me of the extraordinary efforts to elect Ronald Reagan.)

By the way, I don't go along with Roberts' loyalty to the Republican Party. Both parties, that we are allowed to vote for, represent the capitalist class and their opportunistic supporters, mostly well-paid upper-middle class people, who are indispensable for the system to function.

Misrepresentations of American & Soviet Roles in WWII and the Cold War

Click here to access article by Eric Zuesse from Strategic Culture Foundation (an independent website in Russia).

Although in the past I've been irritated by Zuesse's use of "aristocracy" instead of "ruling class", I commend him for this accurate history of WWII. I have read considerable material related to WWII and his views on this subject correspond, with only minor exceptions, with my readings. I note that he now uses the proto-fascist term "Deep State" frequently in reference to the directors of the US ruling class--only once did he use "aristocracy". I highly approve.

I continue to be vexed by the lack of information on the web about Zuesse's lack of biography which might disclose his education and employment. He most often is referred to as an historian or investigative historian, but there are exceptions: see this and this

It's interesting that all those Western historians, geopolitical analysts, journalists, and informed others--and they are numerous--are allowed access to the world via Russian websites (RT, New Eastern Outlook, and this website) but not Western websites. It couldn't be censorship, could it?

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

‘How Dare You!’ The Climate Crisis And The Public Demand For Real Action

Click here to access article by the editor of Medialens from that website (British). 

(Note: I am only going to post this one article today because it offers, together with important links, so much important truths about today's humans and the crisis they face. I use the third person because I am near the end of my life and the third person offers an appropriate way to address those who come after me.)

I emphatically recommend that you do not skip the following links to important articles (that is, if you haven't already read, or listened to, them): Greta's recent speech to UNGA (my link), Greta Thunberg and the consolation of doubt, Greta Thunberg's Facebook statement earlier this year, the Ted talk she delivered in August 2018, "Something Drastic Has To Happen" with an interview by Roger Hallam on the BBC in August, 2019, and many others that I may have, in the rush to post this article, overlooked.  

Please do not misunderstand me by posting this article and commentary. I do not wish to discredit those people (especially Cory Morningstar) who have tried to expose the attempts by agents of the capitalist classes to co-opt her and thereby limit her influence. They immediately recognized how dangerous she was, but that doesn't mean they were successful. Also, I don't want you to hero-worship Greta Thunberg--that would be too easy. Rather you should take her message as another inspiration to become active in your locale to join with others to take down the system of capitalism, and the people defending it, that will inevitably result in the extinction of humans, that is, if you do nothing!

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Articles I especially recommend for today: Sunday, September 29, 2019

It’s the End of the World as They Know It

Click here to access article or a reading of the article by David Corn from Mother Jones. (Note: this is an exception to my usual policy of posting articles that are not more than a month old.)

The problem with most scientists is that they don't understand how most of our civilization functions: to serve a tiny class of capitalists under their system of capitalism. They don't understand this because they have been intentionally indoctrinated all of their lives in the virtues of this system. They have been lied to as well as the vast majority of climate activists as this account entitled "The fallacy of climate activism" written in over a decade ago attests. The author of the latter article at least was able to understand that "The answers lie not with science, but with culture." But this is answer is mind-boggling broad. 

The answer is quite simple, but at the same time, overwhelming: the system of capitalism, and those who benefit from it because they as capitalist ruling classes are in control of most of our very dominant cultures. These ruling classes face two choices: 1) they must destroy the system that delivers to them so much wealth and power or 2) continue with business as usual, remain in denial or try to control or co-opt the climate change movement to serve business as usual (profits and power). Which do you think they will choose? So, what is to be done?