We (humans) are doing all sorts of damage to Planet Earth. Humans have always been careless about their garbage. In primitive times, when a tribe accumulated a lot of waste in one location, the tribe simply relocated to a new place. We have, however, run out of new habitable places. We believed, of course, that we had been told to “be fruitful and multiply.” That probably made sense at the time it was originally said, as in those days there was a lot more space than there were people, and life was short and brutal for most people. The best . . . → Read More: No Planet B
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 Comments are closed  Blog  Ancient Egyptians, be fruitful and multiply, build a wall, China, Civil War, epidemics, farmers, France, greed, humanity, infectious disease, Oedipus, planet Earth, politicians, politics, population, poverty, power corrupts, pressing our luck, Pretty Boy Floyd, revolution, rich, Robin Hood, space, starvation, technology, time warp, United States, world population, World Wars It’s no longer a matter of living in interesting times. Democracy in the US has always been on a roller coaster. We got started on a big hill by men (women only in the background at that point) who were flawed giants. Their principal flaw was owning slaves, In their defense, we can say that slavery was common at that time, and it hadn’t yet occurred to many that slavery was (and is) an evil institution. The country has had a variety of ups and downs since its founding, we’ve had numerous wars, including the military actions required to complete . . . → Read More: Bad to Worse Comments are closed Blog African-Americans, Carter, China, Civil Rights, Clinton, democracy, economic decline, economy, Eisenhower, George Bush, GOP, Great Depression, Great Recession, greed, Harley Davidson, honesty, housing, industrial base, Interesting Times, Interstate Highway System, laves, mobsters, Native Americans, Nixon, North Korea, Pogo, political decline, presidents, Reagan, Republican, rich get richer, robber barons, Russia, slavery, tariffs, Trump, Vietnam War, War in Southeast Asia, women, WWII Going to Hell in a Handbasket is an old saying typically used to describe a situation heading for disaster. That seems to be the current situation in the United States. In many ways, the States reached its zenith during World War II because everyone—at least nearly everyone—worked together for the common good. This is not to say that everything was wonderful during that time. We unjustly imprisoned Japanese Americans and excessively rewarded those whose companies produced munitions we needed for the war effort. In doing so, we created what has become the military-industrial complex. President Eisenhower, who had been . . . → Read More: The Handbasket to Hell Comments are closed Blog 1920s, 1930s, Allies, banking, butcher, Chine, Chinese Revolution, Civil, Civil War, conservative intellectuals, corporate greed, cuts of meat, earn a living, finance, financial laws, follow the money, France, French revolution, Gordon Gekko, Great Depression, greed, greedy, handbasket, handbasket to hell, Hell, hell in a handbasket, industrial age, Investing, Michael Douglas, Military Industrial Complex, Nineteenth century, political influence, president, repeating history, revolution, robber barons, Russia, Russian revolution, slavery, tax code, tax laws, Teamsters, the States, the wealthy, thumb on the scale, trade unions, Trump, Wall Street, war, wealth, wealthy, WW II, WWII In one way or another, everyone thinks, “God’s on our side.” This has always been the case. In the religious wars between Protestants and Catholics in the Middle Ages, both sides thought that God was on their side. In the U.S. Civil War, both Tap water catches fire and earthquakes multiply. As a rule, those who own and run oil and gas companies do not explore for fossil fuels in their own backyards. Is it worth ruining our environment to exploit fossil fuels when we are currently able to get the power we need from wind and solar energy? . . . → Read More: God’s On Our Side Comments are closed Blog backyards, Bears Ears, Bible, Bob Dylan, Catholics, Civil War, clean energy, commies, culture, despoil the land, earthquakes, ecology, England, environment, exploitation, fossil fuels, fracking, gender, God, Grand Staircase, greed, head of state, hydroelectric power, love of money, Masters of War, matriarchy, Middle Ages, modern world, National Monuments, North, oil and gas, political interests, political strife, politics, Protestants, queens, reality, religion, religious, religious wars, South, Southeast Asia, tap water, tax laws, U.S. Civil War, vested interests, Vietnam, vote, water, water catches fire, wealth, white men If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you already know about the conflict between Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump. While the Trump administration seems to be setting a new record for corruption and other “dishonesties” in the White House, this isn’t the first time in U.S. history politicians have yielded to temptation and the abuse of power. As Lord Acton pointed out, power corrupts, and that has certainly been true for U.S. Presidents. As is true today, our Founding Fathers tended to be the rich and powerful. One of the ways they used their wealth and power was . . . → Read More: Stormy Weather Comments are closed Blog agri-business, American Presidents, Belgian Congo, corporations, corruption, Democrats, Donald Trump, earthquakes, fame, Founding Fathers, fracking, French Indochina, Gordon Gekko, greed, Lord Actor, Martin Shkrekli, Mexico, Native Americans, oil and gas, political donations, politics, power, presidents, profit, Republicans, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Shkrekli, slavery, slaves, Stormy Daniels, the Fugs, the Rolling Stones, Vietnam, wars, wealth, White House, White Man's burden, Wide Wide River With apologies to Paul McCartney, the winding road I have in mind for this blog is not to your door but to the 2016 elections in the US. For one reason or another, we seem to be off to an earlier and stranger start than is usually the case. The impetus for this blog post was an article in Salon by Heather Cox Richardson about the intellectual battle for the soul of the Republican Party. The article caught my attention because I started my political life as an “Eisenhower Republican” while I was still too young to vote. I liked . . . → Read More: The Long and Winding Road Comments are closed Blog 2016, austerity, Big Ag, Big Enders, Big Pharma, Charlie Brown, Chinese Revolution, conflict, Cuban Revolution Russian Revolution, Democrats, economic data, economic history, economy, ecosystems, election, evidence procedure, financial well-being, Food Stamps, football, French revolution, George Santayana, gerrymander, global mean temperature, global warming, greed, Heather Cox Richardson, incarceration, inequality, Jonathan Swift, Little Enders, Lucy, Lucy and Charlie Brown football, macroeconomics, microeconomics, Minimum Wage, national defense, November 2016, opportunity, Paul McCartney, politicians, reality-based, religion, Republicans, Salon, Social Security, values, voting, wakeup call, Wall Street |
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