Pages

Saturday, March 19, 2011

The Peak Of Evolution

Evolutionary biologists may or may not disagree with the premise of our series The Impact of Toxins of Power On Evolution.

But I venture to guess that most do agree with at least one of the peak series (peak oil, peak sanity, peak of oil wars, etc.).

I suppose it would depend on one's definition of "evolution".

Add an itsy bitsy "r" to "evolution" at the right place and you have "revolution", which social evolutionists see as positive evolution a la The French Revolution or The American Revolution.
Ye olde Bastille

Of course our capitalistic view of "positive" would be applied to any direction any revolution takes by asking only one thing, which would be to ask about the effect any such revolution would have on that capitalistic analyst's bank account.

The yardstick used is nothing more than a sequential series of numbers going from zero to infinity, but not back again.

Evolutionary cosmologists use, as their yardstick to measure "positive", the mature development of the capacity to travel in space.

It is their measurement of evolution because all species on this earth are given life by the Sun, our star, for a span of time.

But in astounding contrast all life forms still here at the end of that span of time, the Sun's "life cycle", are eradicated (See Life According To Science or Tenet One Basics).

Academicians know that empires or kingdoms historically rise to the peak of preeminence, then fall to the depths of decay and/or destruction to eventually become the subject matter of archeology or history classes in college.

Keith Olbermann indicates that even the journalism of blogdom does this as well.

But when we get down to biological or cosmological evolution, hard core science, the scene changes from a scenario of peaks, however, to a peak-less, Kansas-like terrain where the flow of evolution is in only one direction.

We cited Dollo's Law of Irreversibility in the next to last sentence in the post Jabber The Whut, while mentioning the newly discovered female lizard that can reproduce itself without a male counterpart.

The clear, concise, black and white, peak nirvana sought by evolutionary and cosmological scientists, as well as dogmatic authoritarians, is difficult to touch, see, taste, feel, or even prove, when we consider Dollo's Law:
"An organism is unable to return, even partially, to a previous stage already realized in the ranks of its ancestors.". According to this hypothesis a structure or organ that has been lost or discarded through the process of evolution will not reappear in exactly the same form in that line of organisms.
(Dollo's Law). That, combined with the female lizard discovery, would seem to indicate either that women are no longer orgasmic, or to indicate that once peak oil, peak nuclear, peak sanity, and yes peak social evolution have been reached then passed, there is no going back to "better days".

The Earth is whispering to many of us, but shouting to the rest of us, that our social evolution in ecological terms indicates that our time is up in terms of the need of a revolution concerning the use of energy.

According to astronomers and cosmologists, the Sun will one day "say" out loud what it has been whispering for eons, yes, it will say to any species still inhabiting the inner planets of this solar system, "your time is up, there is no going back."

The sum of evolution it would seem will depend on where we are then, determined it would seem by where we are now.

Friday, March 18, 2011

The Peak of Democracy

This is another post in the various "peak series" where we discuss the peak of various things around the world.

We have discussed peak oil in the series The Peak of Oil Wars, peak sanity in the post The Peak of Sanity series.

There are collateral issues these peaks tend to have an effect on, which we touch upon in: Iraq: Number One Oil Producer, Embryonic Look At Civilization's Future, Peak of Oil Lies, and Your Brain on Propaganda.

The overall theme in all of this is the peak of democracy then its demise brought on by the peak of authoritarianism.

These peaks are brought on by not only the outer persona of MOMCOM, but by the inner MOMCOM as well, the movie director behind the smoke, mirrors, and curtains.

Yes, the mechanism is ancient, the game is Democracy (the good voice of power) vs. propaganda (the bad voice of power), with democracy losing in the ninth inning as it were.

To the degree one of those is up ends up being the degree to which the other is down, as in a zero sum game.

One dictionary says that democracy is defined as:
"government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system."
(Dictionary). Our officials often describe it as "a government of law" rather than a "government of men", revealing their intellectual obscurity.

We pointed out in the series Is The Empress Taking Off Her Clothes, that law is simply the clothing worn by any nation or civilization at a particular time.

We went on to say that the law changes as fashion changes, as the democracy wars change the persona of nations, and as the toxins of power wax and wane.

Dictatorships have laws, socialist countries have laws, communist countries have laws, democracies have laws, republics have laws, and they all have men and women (it is not that rule of law excludes rule of men).

Japan had laws that govern nuclear plants, just like Russia did before, during, and after Chernobyl.

Today the news is talking about Japan's new backup plan to bury their mistakes like doctors do, like Russia did at Chernobyl I, as Japan may now have to do at Chernobyl II.

Japan followed the MOMCOM model to present a glossy, rosy picture to the public (the government in a democracy) which slowly eroded their democracy via propaganda (virtual overthrow of democratic government).

The people felt secure because they were "a nation of laws", laws said to be engendered to bring about the democratic notion of public safety and welfare.

Civilization is reaching the peak of every wrong as it passes the peaks of everything good it seems.

We can say that laws are inevitable, but that democracy is not.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Open Thread


Open
Thread



Meltdown In Japan:
"We are afraid that the water level at [the No 4 reactor] is the lowest," said Hikaru Kuroda, a Tepco official. But he added, "Because we cannot get near it, the only way to monitor the situation is visually from far away."
(Guardian, emphasis added). The United Nations projects that the radioactive plume will hit Alaska by today, California by Friday.

USA decides to dispense with the propaganda and for once tell it like it is:
According to the official, the U.S. believes a larger evacuation zone should be imposed and that the next 24-48 hours are "critical."

"It would be hard to describe how alarming this is right now," ABC quoted the anonymous official as saying.
(Huffpo, emphasis added).
Meanwhile propaganda goes to Hollywood:
Connections between the Pentagon and the entertainment industry, first intensified in the 1980s, continue to embed militarism in seemingly non-political products like video games and action movies ... when it comes to the Pentagon-Hollywood relationship since the 1980s -- only in that case, we're now seeing military officials quite literally line-editing scripts to make them more pro-military.
(Your Tax Dollars At Work, emphasis added).
I updated the post which said that MOMCOM spent about $700 billion a year on "defense".

After that update, the post now says $1.22 Trillion, which means MOMCOM spends the equivalent of about 120 Japan disasters every year (10 per month) on imperialism.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Iraq: World's Number One Oil Producer? - 4


In the last episode Dredd Blog mentioned a twisty little factor of the Oilah Akbar religion that inspires the flow of civilization's drug of choice:
"Remember first that the top producer is necessarily the one bringing the most out of the ground, but not necessarily the one with the most in the ground"
(Iraq: World's Number One Oil Producer? - 3). Thus, it is not impossible for a nation with the second-most or third-most quantity in the ground to be the first-place holder when it comes to taking it out of the ground.

That is simply a matter of pump speed.

Now that Chernobyl II is underway in Japan, the Japan disaster can be used to make oil "look good" again, as blogger disaffected said a day or so ago.

It is not entirely unreasonable to expect the oil drug peddlers to begin to start harping about the need for more "safe oil" and "clean coal".

Iraq oil is under MOMCOM control, so look for the time in the near future when the pumps are turned on full bore there.

A quote from a nuclear expert concerning unfolding events in Japan lends credence to the likelihood that nuclear addiction can be fatal:
A U.S. nuclear expert said he feared the worst.

"It's more of a surrender," said David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who now heads the nuclear safety program for the Union of Concerned Scientists, an activist group. "It's not like you wait 10 days and the radiation goes away. In that 10 days things are going to get worse."

"It's basically a sign that there's nothing left to do but throw in the towel," Lochbaum said.
(Towel Glows In The Dark). China has been persuaded to re-think the nuclear addiction:
China has become the latest nation to re-think its nuclear plans following the situation in Japan. The State Council in Beijing announced tonight that it will suspend approval of new nuclear projects until new safety rules are introduced, the Wall Street Journal reports.
(Guardian). So now will we see drill baby drill on steroids to prove that the oil addiction is also terminal?

The next post in this series is here., the previous post in this series is here.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Open Thread


Open
Thread



Japan tsunami and earthquake - Live coverage - Guardian:
"Japan's nuclear crisis is equivalent to number six on the INES scale of nuclear accidents, Kyodo news agency has quoted the French Nuclear Agency as saying.

The INES – International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale – ranks incidents from one to seven, with one described as "anomaly" and seven as "major accident".


New York Times on nuke disaster
One wonders if Obama will take his girls swimming in the waters around the collapsing nuclear plants after what Keith Olbermann said:
... even President Obama applauded while trying to pitch the same Doomsday Machines to us two years ago, turned out to be not so safe after all, and there’s no reason to assume our antiquated nukes are somehow even as impervious to disaster as Japan’s obviously weren’t.
(FOK News Channel). FOK is Keith's website at the moment.

New Oil wars in the mid-east as the peak of oil wars approaches ...
Elections won't cure the shhhhhh quiet disease
in this post Peak Of Sanity world
Letter to My Fellow Michiganders ... from Michael Moore

Monday, March 14th, 2011

AFL-CIO Protest Page | Working Families Facebook Event Page | MoveOn Protest Page | Bus Times & Locations | Rachel Maddow Explains Rick Snyder's Attack on Middle Class

Fellow Michiganders (and honorary Michiganders around the world):

The call has gone out and I'm asking everyone who can to take Wednesday off and head to the State Capitol in Lansing to protest the cruel and downright frightening legislation currently being jammed down our throats.

What is most shocking to many is that the new governor, who ran against the Tea Party and defeated the right wing of his party in the primaries -- and then ran in the general election as "just a nerd from Ann Arbor" who was a moderate, not an ideologue -- has pulled off one of the biggest Jekyll and Hyde ruses I've ever seen in electoral politics.

Governor Snyder, once elected, yanked off his nice-guy mask to reveal that he is in fact a multi-millionaire hell-bent on destroying our state and turning it over to his buddies from Wall Street.

In just 8 short weeks he has:

* Gotten the House and Senate to pass bills giving him "Emergency Management" powers such as the ability to appoint a corporation or a CEO who could literally dissolve town governments or school boards, fire the elected officials, nullify any local law and run your local governmental entity. That company then would have the power to immediately declare all collective bargaining contracts null and void.

* Proposed giving business a whopping 86% tax cut while raising personal taxes by 31%! And much of that tax hike he believes should be shouldered by -- I kid you not -- senior citizens and the poor! He says these two groups have not been "sharing the sacrifice" the rest of us have been burdened with. So his budget proposes a $1.8 billion tax CUT for business and a $1.75 billion tax INCREASE for the rest of us, much of it from the poor, seniors and working people -- even though the top 1% in Michigan ALREADY pay a lower state tax rate than everyone else does!

* Together with the legislature, introduced over 40 anti-labor bills in just the first two months of this session! They have wasted no time and have caught most people off guard. Much of this is being rushed through right now before you have a chance to raise your voice in objection.

These actions are breathtaking when you realize they will drive our already battered state straight into the ground. What we needed right now was an inspiring leader to help us reinvent Michigan and to find creative ways to create new jobs and lift us out of our economic depression. The rest of the country may call what they're experiencing the "Great Recession," but few argue that Michigan is suffering a "one-state Depression."

I know many of you are filled with a great sense of despair and a justifiable loss of hope these days in Michigan. But you must not let things get even worse. You must stand up against these Draconian measures and this outrageous attempt to rip our democratic rights from us by turning our state over to well-paid hacks from Wall Street and corporate America. They see our state as one big fire sale -- and they are licking their chops to get their hands on what is still a state rich in natural resources and industrial infrastructure.

Please show up at noon on Wednesday for our first mega-rally against this insanity. Hundreds of groups are already organizing car pools and buses. You can right now just declare yourself an organizer and get your friends and neighbors committed to being in Lansing. If ever there were a day to call in sick, Wednesday is it (because this IS sick). Students, if ever there were a day to cut class and become a participant in your democracy, Wednesday is it. This event needs to be HUGE -- and I believe it will be if you will simply be there and take a stand.

Much attention has been paid to Wisconsin in recent weeks. Well, they got nothing on what's going on here in Michigan. Rick Snyder is Scott Walker on steroids. There's never been what even the AARP calls "an all-out attack" like this on us. Trust me, you will rue the day you sat home and did nothing while thieves posing as politicians stole your Great Lakes State from you.

Don't let it happen. Be at the Capitol by noon on Wednesday for the largest demonstration the state has ever seen.

Go Spartans! Go Wolverines! Go Everyone Else In Between!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

Monday, March 14, 2011

A Closer Look At MOMCOM's DNA - 5

How does one explain how much money MOMCOM takes from the people, how the wealth is being redistributed to the 2% from the 98%?

Let's try some Japanese economics.

One frequent Dredd Blog blogger disaffected was in accord with other economists when he estimated the Japanese disaster at "~100bn" (CNN is in accord "will total at least $100 billion").

Our MOMCOM admits to getting about $700 billion every year right now from the taxpayers, the citizenry.

Simple arithmetic shows that seven Japanese disasters a year is how much MOMCOM admits as entitlement for waging imperialism and destruction around the globe "on our behalf".

So, since the bushies took over in 2000, MOMCOM has blown the equivalent of A MINIMUM of 70 Japanese disasters on war, specifically, MOMCOM has wasted the equivalent of 70 Japanese disasters while destroying Iraq and Afghanistan (not to mention destroying the reputation of the USA in the process).

Good job MOMCOM ... the states are bleeding for you, the nation is bleeding for you, but you are getting rich as we get poor.

Think of all the jobs the Japanese clean-up and rebuild will take.

Then think of all the jobs to do it 70 times in only about ten years.

Now, think about the gluttony, warmongering, and propaganda of MOMCOM causing job loss or the sending of those jobs elsewhere.

Guess we should invade ourselves?

UPDATE: Daily Kos says the real "defense" (a.k.a. imperialistic) budget is 1.22 trillion (about 120 Japan disasters a year).
The previous post in this series is here.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Open Thread


Weekend
Open
Thread



Japan tsunami and earthquake -
Live coverage - Guardian

• Up to 10,000 feared dead in Miyagi prefecture alone
• Cooling system fails at a second nuclear plant
• Japan PM: "worst crisis since WWII"
• 190 people exposed to radiation
• Original quake upgraded to magnitude 9
• Over 250 aftershocks so far

Cooling System Update At Nuke Power Plants
Experts Explain Worse Case Scenario

First Ever Nuclear Emergency In Japan
First Ever Core Meltdown In Japan Suspected
"a nuclear meltdown was suspected at the Fukushima No. 1
nuclear power plant's No. 1 reactor"
The Gulf of Alaska Quake (1964) made obsolete marine charts of the bottom of that Gulf. Now there is a similar effect from the Japan Quake:
Dr. Daniel McNamara, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, told The Huffington Post that the disaster left a gigantic rupture in the sea floor, 217-miles long and 50 miles wide. It also shifted Japan's coast by eight feet in some parts, though McNamara was quick to explain much of the coast likely didn't move as far.

McNamara found the way in which the quake actually sunk the elevation of the country's terrain to be more troublesome than coastal shifting. "You see cities still underwater; the reason is subsidence," he said. "The land actually dropped, so when the tsunami came in, it's just staying."

The enormous tremor also shifted the Earth's axis. According to CNN, the earthquake moved the planet's axis approximately 4 inches.
(HuffPo, emphasis added). Areas of Japan sank lower as the oceans are rising, and some of those areas are now "still underwater".

New Deep Water Offshore Drilling Permit Granted:

"The well was being drilled in waters 4,234 feet deep,
120 miles off the Louisiana coast south of Houma,
at the time BP's Macondo [Deepwater Horizon]
well blew out in April 2010." (Raw Story, emphasis added)
Oil Found In Gulf Seafood Exposing Government Propaganda:
"The federal government is going out of its way to assure the public that seafood pulled from recently reopened Gulf of Mexico waters is safe to consume, in spite of the largest accidental release of crude oil in America's history.

However, testing methodologies used by the government to deem areas of water safe for commercial fishing are woefully inadequate and permit high levels of toxic compounds to slip into the human food chain, according to a series of scientific and medical professionals interviewed by Raw Story."
(Raw Story).