tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84030906129182472702024-03-05T17:34:33.331-08:00Transparency CanadaAn investigation of the theme of Transparency in the Canadian Federal Government. Non-partisan: Power corrupts and Absolute Power corrupts absolutely. Our model: the muckracker journalists.hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.comBlogger269125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-43167751352659703652017-08-23T16:36:00.004-07:002017-08-23T16:36:59.273-07:00Living the End Days<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> I've decided that I must be an <u>honest</u> doomer. I must <u>accept doomerism on all levels</u> - loathe though I be! Otherwise, there can be no progress on my part. It is required of me that I realize - and accept - that the "System" is broke and too broke to fix.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> I know several hard-core doomers, those who believe civilization or humanity itself is doomed to extinction. Some of these hold that our imminent disappearance is a good thing. Wo/man, they hold, is a "cancer" or "virus on the face of the earth". A few more admit the possibility but cannot fully (emotionally, inwardly) accept and "embrace" the inevitability of the trajectory we are on and the vanishingly small amount of time we have left to make a "course correction" to avoid total catastrophe. Until quite recently, a few years I would think, this was my own position on the question of our civilizational crisis..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span>Non-acceptance - or outright denial - of our crisis may indeed provide a <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">illusory</span> (and - oh, so fragile!) sense of security. But, much worse, non-acceptance prevents us from seeing the <u>possibilities that collapse opens up</u>. There is an evolutionary, ecological analog of our p<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lanetary crisis.</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">M</span>ass extinction events such as the one that wiped out the dinosaurs and flying reptiles, leaving the mammals and birds to run the world. Mass extinctions tear up and rewrite the rule book. They open new evolutionary pathways for life to explore and exploit. The world that emerges from a mass extinction is, in the long run, richer, more diverse, even more resilient (<u>note</u> 1). </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Intelligence appears as an emergent phenomenon of extinction: critters with big brains, if they survive, tend to get even brainier. New species, even new forms of life, rapidly - and unexpectedly - evolve to occupy vacated ecological niches. New, more complex, networks of ecological relatedness appear. Post-extinction periods are generally periods of heightened biological and ecological innovation. "Necessity is the Mother of Invention".</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> We humans living today will remain sterile if we fail to see that our "System" - the one that gave us birth and which nourished us - is failing, is, in effect, dying. It <u>will</u> die: all trend lines show that we are on a non-sustainable trajectory (<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>note</u> 2</span>). But the death of the old System brings the possibility of new b<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">eginnings</span> into existence. (If the System did not die these potential births would remain, at best, unfulfilled, latent, sterile..) The death of our globalized, centralized, hierarchalized, top-down systems of control and governance <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">create the opportunity - and the impetus! - for</span> autonomous, self-governing, decentralized, participatory ways of community life to emerge. The transition won't be easy (it will most likely be hellish) but the <u>transition could never happen if the old order was not swept aside to make room for the new</u>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b> Crossroad<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s, crisis, the parting of the ways, new beginnings</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Ultimately, we - or at least I - must face an unpalatable truth. One, moreover, that is decidedly "psychologically incorrect" in the dominant hubristic, narcissistic neoconservative cultural frame of reference. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"> To be empowered, to possess power, to wield power that serves and blesses life (as opp<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">osed to power that poisons or stunts life<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">)</span></span>, I must open myself to the suffering of the world.<span style="color: black;"></span></span> Otherwise, I too, am doomed.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <u>notes</u>:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1- The rate of extinction for higher taxa (above species level) goes down with each succeeding mass extinction. Why? It as if there were a "learning curve", life is learning to build resilience to mass extinction events. Historian Norman Cohn noted that civilizational transitions seem to happen more rapidly, with less overall destruction, over time. Again, the pattern is of <u>increasing resilience over time</u>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Raup collaborated with former UChicago colleague Jack Sepkoski and
others to show that there were two components to extinction: a <u>slowly
decreasing background rate</u>, interrupted by rare and possibly periodic
mass extinctions." (emphasis added)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2015/07/14/david-raup-paleontologist-who-transformed-his-discipline-1933-2015">https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2015/07/14/david-raup-paleontologist-who-transformed-his-discipline-1933-2015</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/extinction/">http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/extinction/</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>2- some notes on current unsustainability</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://mg.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=0mhkeg6a1a3lr#5809744280">https://mg.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=0mhkeg6a1a3lr#5809744280</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/current-extinction-rate-10-times-worse-previously-thought/">http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/current-extinction-rate-10-times-worse-previously-thought/</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://robertscribbler.com/2017/08/18/the-present-threat-to-coastal-cities-from-antarctic-and-greenland-melt/">https://robertscribbler.com/2017/08/18/the-present-threat-to-coastal-cities-from-antarctic-and-greenland-melt/</a> </b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-51842272391118596562017-08-09T18:19:00.002-07:002017-08-16T16:49:26.445-07:00A Prophecy<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u> Abbreviations used</u>:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>CC - climate change</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>C<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">O2 - carbon dioxide, a major <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">greenhouse gas (GHG)</span> responsible for global warming (GW)</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>GHG - greenhouse gases. Gases like carbon dioxide and me<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">thane which trap outgoing infrared radiation (heat) thus <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">contributing to global warming. GHG act like an insulating layer: the more there are, the better the insulation and the hotter the earth gets<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GW - global warming </span></b></span> </span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Each of our action produces unintended consequences. Some of these consequences are beneficial; others, not so much.. </b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>(Edgar Morin: <u>La Méthode</u>, "écologie de l'action)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> In thinking about the trajectory the world is following - ecocidal, suicidal -, I am led to reflect on the role that neoconservative values, ideology and hubris play in the unfolding tragedy. Neocons <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ad<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ulate</span></span> the Brash and the Bold, the iconoclasts, the mavericks and scofflaws: Donald Trump, the Philippines' homicidal m<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">acho</span> president<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Rodrigo</span> Duterte, France's Islamophobic populist Marine Le Pe<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">n<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, Nigel Farage of Brexit (in<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">)fame</span></span></span>. You get the picture<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">:</span> the folks who love to strut their political incorrectness (and gain popularity and votes doing so).</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Let's hope Honest Abe was right..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2017/06/b-ook-review-corey-robin-reactionary.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2017/06/b-ook-review-corey-robin-reactionary.html</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I believe t</span>his political attitude can be legitimately seen as an extension<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> intensification (or degeneration) of the hubris of Western European Christian culture<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">F</span></span>ive centuries ago, Christian Europe arrogantly <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">assumed</span> the role of converting the "lost souls" outside Europe to the One True Faith. Over time, the power of the Church dwindled, the mask fell away, revealing economic exploitation <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- </span>and the political leverage it brought<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> -</span> as the true goals.</span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> Today, the folly of this approach to running a planet is becoming eviden<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">t. Global warming (GW)<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">due to</span> the greenhouse gas (<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GHG)</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> emissions of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">human industry, tra<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nsport and industrialized agriculture, threatens the world's major food production centers<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. Terrorism and war wait in the wings. The traditional horsemen of the apocalypse: famine, plague and war.. or<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> -</span> more cynically<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> -</span> "Mother Nature's birth regulation program"..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It is now becoming clear, that in order to survive and thrive, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">human s</span></span>ociet<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ies</span> should act to minimize the production of "unknown unknowns". (<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We except </span>those hardy individuals who <u>select themselves</u> as "expendable", who deliberately <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">adopt risky occupations,</span> for example, astronauts, soldiers<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, doctors fighting ebola epidemics,</span> firefighters. There are legiti<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mate risks that need to be taken and <u>someone</u> has to take them!</span>) <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Unknown unknowns</span> are the most troublesome <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">unknowns, the ones <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">we are ignorant of.</span> Such unknowns generally emerge and become <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">impactful</span> when a system (ecosystem, social system, organism, enterprise..) is <span style="color: red;">pushed beyond the normal range of values it was des</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">igned to function in</span>. Known unknowns, on the other hand, are the one's we have learned to live with<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> like</span> the natural seasonal va<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">riations in temperature and storm risk. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In principle</span> we can adapt our behaviors to the <u>expected range of variation</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> of known unknowns.</span> We put aside light jackets and sweaters as well as raincoats and umbrellas to deal with the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(known, expected) variations in spring and fall weather. For winter, we put aside snow shovels, heavy boots, salt and sand.</span></span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span>When it comes to <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the health of </span>essential ecosystem services<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, to maintaining</span> climate stability, or the potential for ethnoracial conflict, we should act, collectively, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">so</span> that the primary unknowns society has to deal with are known unknowns. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In particular, w</span>e should <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">avoid</span> pushing vital systems - upon which our lives depend - outside the normal range of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">operating values they were designed (or evolved) to handle. </span>Such wise policies would, for example, stabilize <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GHG</span> emissions to <u>minimize nasty (unexpected) surprises in the functioning of vital climatic systems and large regional ecosystems</u>. </span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>A prophecy</u>:</span> it is now too late to avoid Imminent Mass Human Die Off (IMHDO). <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Put bluntly - t</span>he world is screwed (<u>note</u> 1). I predict (going out on a limb here) that it is now <span style="color: red;">too late to stabilize global warming within 1, 1.5, 2 degree Celsius</span> (or whatever the limit of the month is..) A Permian style meltdown of polar region carbon stores has begun, reinforced by powerful positive feed backs (<u>note</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u> </u>2</span>). If the brakes on greenhouse gas emission were slammed on hard, there is a decent chance the planet would move back from a transition to a decidedly warmer global climate. However, this would just be good luck. It is just as likely, if not more so, that "rising living standards" will continue to pump up greenhouse gas levels and that Gaia, the planetary ecosystem, will soon tip into a warmer climatic submode (<u>note</u> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3</span>). Perhaps future generations will live on an earth warmer by 4 or 5 C compared to the world we live in today. Portions of the world could actually become too hot to sustain human life before the century is over. </span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.dw.com/en/climate-change-could-make-south-asia-too-hot-for-human-survival-by-2100/a-39944935">http://www.dw.com/en/climate-change-could-make-south-asia-too-hot-for-human-survival-by-2100/a-39944935</a> </span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> <u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A</span> wounded earth would then - eventually - slide into the next Ice Age</u>. The warmest portion of the present Interglacial warm period, the hypsitherm, occurred several thousand years ago. We <span style="color: red;">should</span> be cooling off now, slowly sliding into the next <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">g</span>lacial era<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. It is interesting to not<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e that</span></span> the earth <u>was</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, in <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">fact, </span>beginning to cool</span> off <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">until the industrial revolution came along and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">began pumping all those GHG into<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the atmosphere</span></span></span>.</span></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> The collapse of industrial civilization and global population will, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">one presumes</span>, allow natural Ice Age dynamics to re-instate themselves. A diminished humanity living <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">on an ecologically diminished earth</span> will encounter the challenges of the next Ice Age with diminished technological capacity to adapt. A Karmic payback, one images, for our arrogance, inflation and hubris.</span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">"As a man sows, so shall he reap" - Je<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">sus</span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><i><span lang="EN-US">"As you sow the
seed so shall you reap the fruit."</span></i> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> - Buddha</span></span></span></span></b></span> </span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> God/dess knows <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">how</span> the combined <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">impacts of</span> species extinction, ecosystem service destruction, and planetary overheating <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">will affect the dynamics of the next</span> Ice Age. Would a damaged earth experience a harsher than normal Ice Age? <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Or w</span>ould it be delayed and shortened in length because of all the GHG? At this stage of the game, it is anyone's guess - <span style="color: red;">unknown unknowns</span>!</span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjljpV86R0alfhLniKnfqvid_lzwmadwvv4Vvlp4NEKjnxcvJw6lTihimwEnIcmUXjRkE1enITgCWnoZZNX6LS3cqrKRv8Bdoh8qbnlDzsR1c57OBvcwOyh1eGp2bFLKjOCYmscUNmgFhM/s1600/o-WOOLLY-MAMMOTH-facebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjljpV86R0alfhLniKnfqvid_lzwmadwvv4Vvlp4NEKjnxcvJw6lTihimwEnIcmUXjRkE1enITgCWnoZZNX6LS3cqrKRv8Bdoh8qbnlDzsR1c57OBvcwOyh1eGp2bFLKjOCYmscUNmgFhM/s400/o-WOOLLY-MAMMOTH-facebook.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Yes, indeedy, the world is a ball of confusion - and our current (failing) culture is only making things worse. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Please take a few minutes to read these wise words.</span></span> </span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://milwaukeereflections.blogspot.ca/2017/08/writing-in-end-times-comprehensive.html">http://milwaukeereflections.blogspot.ca/2017/08/writing-in-end-times-comprehensive.html</a> </span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Can anything be done to stave off the impending collapse (or, at least, mitigate its effects)?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/08/dodging-extinction-part-3-what-can-we-do.html"><b>dodging-extinction-part-3-what-can-we-do</b></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>I also strongly recommend the following two "experimental" novels by our friend Don Hayward. These explore how the collapse of industrial society might unfold in Ontario providence, Canada, and how a new civilization based on respect for Earth, cooperation and local production and governance could arise (if we are lucky).</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://virtualbookworm.com/products/after-the-last-day">Hayward: after-the-last-day</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://www.virtualbookworm.com/products/the-seventh-path">Hayward: the-seventh-path</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><u>notes</u>:</span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">1- <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">N</span>ote that I wrote "the world is screwed", not "the earth is screwed". The earth, the planet, and the life thereof will survive. We may <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">succeed in damaging</span> the earth's ecosystems to the point that all vertebrates - including ourselves - go extinct (an extremely unlikely proposition!) Nevertheless, insects, plants and bacteria (including primitive bacteria living buried miles deep in rock under the sea floor) w<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ould</span> survive. </span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span>By "world" I mean a <u>civilizational or cultural perspective</u> on the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">human condition. A "world" - the Late Classical world of the Mediterranean<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> or</span> t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">he world</span> of the Inuit (Eskimos) before the arrival of Europeans<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> - <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">arises from th</span></span></span></span>e interaction of human imagination and the biological and physical world in which that human spirit is immersed and from which it arises. Whether or not humanity goes extinct, our present "World" is dead meat because it is ecologically and d<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">emographically</span> unviable, unsustainable.</span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">2- T<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">he Permian mass extinction event, 250 million years ago, was the worst<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: more than 90% of plant and animal <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">species</span> on land and sea<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">went extinct.</span></span></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This mass extinction</span> bears creepy similarities <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">to</span> what is <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">happening to our earth</span> today. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Then, a</span>s today, <span style="color: red;">massive re</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">leases of GHG caused planet</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">-wide GW</span>. The only difference is that then the GHG were due to <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">vast subcontinental</span> volcanic er<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">upti<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ve zones </span>(the Siberian Traps), today the GHG are due to human economic and agricultural activity. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> One of the most disquieting similarities<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> relates to the nature of the actual kill mechanisms.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span>The initial <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Permian <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">volcanic GHG emissions warmed polar regions. This caused permafrost to thaw and decompose, releas<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing massive quantities of GHG (CO2 and methane). Th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ese new emissions amplified the initial <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GHG warming (positive feedback loop). In addition, methane - an even more potent GHG than CO2 - was released in industrial quantities as buried methane containing ice thawed in shallow polar coastal waters. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It is this second pulse of GHG that is generally accepted today as the knock out punch that did most of the killing. In addition, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Late Permian </span>ocean waters became stratified <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(reducing the ve<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">rtical circulation <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">that oxygenates deep water)<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and</span> acid<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ified (from atmos<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">pheric </span>CO2 absorption and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">seabed</span> methane release). <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Life disa<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ppeared from large regions of the oceans <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">as</span> toxic anoxic (no oxygen) zones spread. Now, <span style="color: red;">all these kill mechanisms are becoming active today</span>: permafrost is rapidly melting, methane ice i<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">n shallow coastal waters <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">is</span> thawing and releasing methane, anoxic zones are spreading<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3Uz4M84MreWid15-iGacXOyGZLIN907JOCX9RJ61QhpOyxbI-0AcsZr9XobJX0bl89vz8GMpdwLnqilHG199otqCHe1qZ3yypA9WiQhXd2EI8TRqIu6POkMvKp4EzZyyYy0mBcSgsnA/s1600/745958-6c748dac-176a-11e4-85ab-b94874755dbc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="650" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC3Uz4M84MreWid15-iGacXOyGZLIN907JOCX9RJ61QhpOyxbI-0AcsZr9XobJX0bl89vz8GMpdwLnqilHG199otqCHe1qZ3yypA9WiQhXd2EI8TRqIu6POkMvKp4EzZyyYy0mBcSgsnA/s400/745958-6c748dac-176a-11e4-85ab-b94874755dbc.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> massive Arctic methane blow hole, Siberia (aerial photo)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYGRne0INGCON62VZ69L_hpco72t_F8VuX0LEAMR55b-EPri8-zk7jP5rPV6dEtTXvZbun2dvI9FBklJ3da2vA49lrqpuzjq-LVN6et1rhVqJ6c8FJZrPEqs3Asjqv2CKwbp7Z5PHjjLU/s1600/655309-1b3d8e6c-bbb0-11e4-a5f5-f6d8716b3afa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="650" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYGRne0INGCON62VZ69L_hpco72t_F8VuX0LEAMR55b-EPri8-zk7jP5rPV6dEtTXvZbun2dvI9FBklJ3da2vA49lrqpuzjq-LVN6et1rhVqJ6c8FJZrPEqs3Asjqv2CKwbp7Z5PHjjLU/s400/655309-1b3d8e6c-bbb0-11e4-a5f5-f6d8716b3afa.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Close up of blow hole. Note tiny human figures on upper rim (left side)</span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3</span>- Ice Age<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s are periods of about 100,000 years in which global temperatures drop by about 5 C or more. These are separated by shorter Interglacial warm peri<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ods lasting several tens of thousand of years. The current Ice Age / Interglacial periodicity is a re<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">latively recent phenomenon<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> in </span>earth's climatic history. It is due to the current patterns of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">deep water ocean circulation arising from the joining of North<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and Sou<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">th America about two million years ago.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age</a></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> N<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ot all Ice Ages and Interglacials are created equal! Some Ice Ages are colder than others<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, some Interglacials are warmer than others. If Ice Ages and Interglacials are two dominant <u>modes</u> that the earth's climate systems swing through then <u>Ice Ages and Interglacials </u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>possess several sub-modes</u>. It is conceivable that our current <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GHG emissions might "pop" our current climate system into a warmer sub-mode. An analog<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> to the world we are probably headed toward </span>would be the last Interglacial (Eemian) when hippopotamuses waddled in the Thames and Rhine rivers<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> while</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">forests grew on what is now arctic tundra<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eemian">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eemian</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-66652181504685974832017-07-03T14:38:00.001-07:002017-08-02T12:46:29.301-07:00Book Review: Life in the Universe, expectations and constraints<b> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Louis N Irwin: <u><span class="fbUnderline">Life in the Universe, expectations and constraints</span></u> (Springer-Verlag, 2006) 172 pages, extensive references. </span></b><br />
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKUNewaMgD1Opra7pfAxBX85H3ywgLHN2p7OrcWKyJHWOghrfyFCwl2paN5k5_hwQQb6DoHkM4yfVm_pi6aHKgnq1GNmxrgb2lOh4gIdgB_P2tPHwSv4o5xrl5Q60T-cvSFcfGnaxefY/s1600/PIA20028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="818" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKUNewaMgD1Opra7pfAxBX85H3ywgLHN2p7OrcWKyJHWOghrfyFCwl2paN5k5_hwQQb6DoHkM4yfVm_pi6aHKgnq1GNmxrgb2lOh4gIdgB_P2tPHwSv4o5xrl5Q60T-cvSFcfGnaxefY/s400/PIA20028.jpg" width="203" /></a></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Detail of active ice surface of Jupiter's moon Europe. Is there life in the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ocean under that thin ice shield?</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00502" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00502</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Click on image for enlargement</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Another ecosystem in our solar system?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/153110702753621385?cookieSet=1&journalCode=ast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/153110702753621385?cookieSet=1&journalCode=ast</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
How would satellite based remote detection or a robotic space probe
recognize the presence of life within our own solar system or on
exoplanets? </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The short answer: search for indicators of</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1- adequate energy flows</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>2-
chemical cycling: auto-regenerating reactive cycles employing an
external energy source (solar energy, chemical energy stored in mineral
reserves..). Special attention should be payed to strong chemical
disequilibria of chemical species susceptible of incorporation in
biological processes (O2, N2, CH4..)</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>3- presence of a suitable solvent for biochemical reactions in sufficient quantities</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>4- polymeric chemistry capable of storing and transmitting information necessary for the maintenance and propagation of life. </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
"Astrobiology studies the origin, evolution, distribution, and the fate
of life throughout the universe." Thus begins this fascinating trek
into a nascent Space Age science, the logical twin of Astrophysics. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
What, then, is life, the subject mattter of Astrobiology's study?
Students of Self-Organization Theory will feel themselves at home with
the authors' definition. One can even conclude that Astrobiology itself
is a projective application of Self-Organization..</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>- </b><b>Life consists of </b><b>bounded
microenvironments in thermodynamic disequilibrium with their
surrounding. Energy and selected chemical species constantly flow across
the boundaries of the organism. The living, metabolizing cell is
characterized by a high internal energy content (stored chemical energy:
sugar, starch, fat, oil..) and low internal entropy (high degree of
functional organization usually structured hierarchally into several
levels)</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>- Life
transforms energy and matter obtained from the environment to maintain
low internal entropy (highly structured interior). The cell's /
organism's boundary is "porous" and "selective". Energy flows
continually through the metabolizing cell, energy used to regenerate the
cell / organism: "autopoiesis" (self-production). Creationists aside,
autopoiesis does NOT violate the 2nd (or any other) law of
thermodynamics. Autopoiesis represents the physical work extracted from
the energy flow passing through the cell's / organism's boundary. The
internal order - low entropy - of the living cell is, in fact,
overcompensated by the amount of degraded energy - high entropy -
leaving the cell. The cell's activity thus produces a net increase itn
the universe's entropy, satisfying the 2nd law of thermodynamics :-D
(Sorry, "intelligent" designers..)</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>-
Life encodes and transmits information. Info is transmitted through
genetic codes (DNA), allowing the organized complexity of species to
perpetuate across generations, despite the mortality of individual
organisms. Useful changes in the genetic code - mutations, epigenetic
modifications - must be incorporated into the transmitted code to
provide evolutionary adaptations over time. At the individual level,
novel experiences are encoded in modifications of nervous systems (or
molecular cycles and DNA changes in microbes). Learning, from microbe to
mammal, allows for adaptive behavioral change of both individual and
societies of individuals.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
I consider this book a rare chance for the layman to grasp the
principles and a good part of the details of an emergent science before
it becomes complicated, arcane and specialized into proliferating
subdisciplines. In this sense, it is comparable to Darwin's <span class="fbUnderline">Origin of Species</span>, a highly readable scientific classic accessible to the nonspecialist reader.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
What would life elsewhere look like? Most of the biomass on earth - a
planet conducive to the emergence of complex, multicellular life - is,
in fact, microbial. Even large organisms, like humans, can be viewed as
symbiotic colonies of (microbe-derived) cells which, in turn,
incorporate symbiotic microbial colonies: the intestinal bacteria we
"use" to digest our food and synthesize essential vitamins. Physical and
informational constraints favor small size even on our planet so
favored for the evolution of macro-organisms. one can only conclude that
most life in the universe will be microbial in nature.</b></span><br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04DbGakfHcZdbLDtIxwOdRKSMSRlQYsx9aTtkxJ88ynyepPWHpM3N83uhoTiNIZ5uJeoib6_xcO3kuwyiFHDsQ_k9DUaSpFfvS-2tKCkVM_I1S143vFWzkqb3DDaF7oaWGHIYb95XJcc/s1600/trappist-1+discovery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="620" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg04DbGakfHcZdbLDtIxwOdRKSMSRlQYsx9aTtkxJ88ynyepPWHpM3N83uhoTiNIZ5uJeoib6_xcO3kuwyiFHDsQ_k9DUaSpFfvS-2tKCkVM_I1S143vFWzkqb3DDaF7oaWGHIYb95XJcc/s400/trappist-1+discovery.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
Life should not be a rare phenomenon: hundreds of exoplanets orbiting
other stars are now catalogued. If earth is taken as a standard, life
evolves early whenever the physio-chemical and energetic conditions for
its emergence arise. Life is, above all, opportunistic. We would expect
to find harbors of life peppered fairly densely throughout the hundred
odd billion stars of our home galaxy - not to mention the hundreds of
billions of other galaxies.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
Nevertheless, once established, life tends toward conservatism: if it
ain't broke don't fix it. If environments remain stable, stabilizing
selection will actually narrow the range of phenotypic (and underlying
genetic) variation. Thus the vast body of microbial biomass living below
our feet in the soil and underlying rock has remained simple and
archaic, ancestral forms from which the complex life of the surface
emerged: "organisms will remain static as long as the environment does."
When change - evolution - occurs it is usually as a reponse to
environmental change and is rapid, involving extinction and
replacement, not gradual change. Thus most life elsewhere is probably
structurally and physiologically simple and archaic - as on earth.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
However, the emerging (meta-)science of Self-Organization Theory
strongly suggests that the above considerations paint only a partial
picture. Life is opportunistic and will seek (through selective
advantage) to occupy - or even create - new ecological niches through
modification of the physical environment. Thus, large, more complex
organisms - more efficently exploiting specialized ecological niches -
would aslo be expected to evolve over time, physical conditions
permitting. Example: an atmosphere containing oxygen to fuel the high
octane metabolisms required for the mobility of large organisms. Such
"higher" organisms require favorable physical environments , a long time
to evolve, and are higly energivore. We would expect them to be a
relative rarity in the universe. Similar arguments apply to the
emergence of intelligence: intelligent life should exist elsewhere but
as an exception, a rarity. </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
Finally, taking earth and its biological history as a typical "case
study", we would expect life to appear most easily and evolve most
diversely on worlds presenting a larger variety of environments: deep
seas, shallow coastal waters, wetlands, a variety of emerged lands
(humid, semi-arid, arid, cold, temperate, tropical..) Once again, in
comparing earth with other planetary bodies and moons in our solar
system, earth appears to belong to a class of planets especially favored
for the emergence and flourishing of life.</b></span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOiFYlojOmo1YxDGmdGG8JQHiP4s27bet8YhYo850E-rWrd9eAhsOzDYGabczm2VxrA9oz-uKuqDfcpbrfYHTnRw7HAPSmX7ki5tiMPqSCGoa2Fh-OXs1ZcNS0G6W2qYxsQX82xhplvsw/s1600/2POF100Z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOiFYlojOmo1YxDGmdGG8JQHiP4s27bet8YhYo850E-rWrd9eAhsOzDYGabczm2VxrA9oz-uKuqDfcpbrfYHTnRw7HAPSmX7ki5tiMPqSCGoa2Fh-OXs1ZcNS0G6W2qYxsQX82xhplvsw/s400/2POF100Z.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
One of the essential requirements for life is the presence of
"adequate" energy fluxes. In a sense, energy is the essence of life. A
continuous regulated energy flow through the boundaries of an organism
maintains life. Without this flow the organism either dies or creates
inert - non-metabolizing - copies of its genetic code, for example.
spores. Spores remain inert until conditions propice for life reappear
at which time they reconstitute the parent organism of which they are
clones. Energy flow, in the modern materialistic view of life is the
analog of the "vital force" and "soul" of primitive and pre-scientific
Western thought.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
The energy flow transversing the boundaries of an organism is used to
perform the work of self-reparation and maintenance as well as perform
physiochemical work: muscular effort; registering, encoding and storing
information derived from the environment and internal body states
(neurological activity); production of eggs, embryos or other
biomaterials (silk, spiderweb, toxins..)</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
On earth, there are two primary energy sources exploited by life: 1-
photosynthesis by plants and bacteria and 2- redox chemical reactions
(liberating energy stored in inorganic mineral substrates
(chemoautotrophy). The chemoautotrophic bacteria, Thiobacillus
ferooxidans, extracts energy from minerals by oxydizing sulfur or iron.
On earth heterotrophic organisms (incapable of extracting their energy
directly from the environment) such as herbivores and carnivores exploit
secondary energy sources found in the energy rich molecules synthesized
by primary producers such as plants. The rich, diversified ecosystems
of energy rich earth typically have several "trophic" levels in the food
chain (or web): autotrophic ("self-feeding") primary producers like
plants that capture energy from sunlight and store it in energy rich
biomolecules (sugars, starches, oils, fats..), heterotrophic ("feeding
off others") herbivores which obtain their energy inputs by eating
plants, primary carnivores which obtain energy concentrated in the
tissues of herbivores. Follow secondary and tertiary carnivores,
omnivores (which obtain energy from several distincts sources: plants,
herbivores, even lower trophic level carnivores, detritus..), and,
finally, detrivores which extract residual energy found in dead /
decomposing organic matter. Detrivores form an essential link in the
food web by "re-mineralizing" dead organic matter into a form utilizable
by photosynthetic plants. Nature, is above all, the Great Recycler -
nothing is wasted! </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
On earth sunlight and chemical energy are equivalent in terms of their
relative energy yield (energy density). Both are widely employed, to the
excusion of other potential energy sources (thermal energy, kinetic
energy of currents of water or air, the earth's magnetic field..)
However, the potential biological use of other forms of energy is shown
by the fact that terrestrial organisms use the earth's gravitational and
magnetic fields as well as biogenetic electric fields to obtain
information about their environment: orientation with respect to the
gravitational field, navigation of birds and eels, location of prey by
electric field detection.. It is arguable that on earth these
alternative energy sources were simply outcompeted by the abundance of
light and chemical energy and were relegated to sensory functions. On
other worlds - Jupiter's "water world" moon, Europa, for example - light
is absent as an energy source and other forms of energy may be used to
power metabolic processes. (If life exists on Europa, it will most
likely be found in a global ocean, beneath a planetary ice shield dozens
of kilometers thick - no light could penetrate such a thickness of
ice.)</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
Several potential energy sources are explored and found capable of
providing biologically useful amounts of energy. # 1 - 4 in the
following list look particularly promising even for energy hungry
multicellular life. # 5 - 6 may still provide usable energy densities
for microorganisms:</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1-
thermal energy (example: volcanic or other internal heat sources which
maintain Europa's ocean above the freezing point despite its great
distance from the sun)</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>2- kinetic energy of currents of air or water</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>3-
osmotic gradients (differences in solute concentations across a
biological membrane. The energy flux transversing the organism is used
"pump" solute molecules inside / outside of the membrane thus storing
energy - for later metabolic use - in the osmotic gradient)</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>4-
ionic gradients (differences in ionic species concentration across a
biological membrane such as salinity gradients. Same principle as omotic
energy storage. On earth ionic gradients across cell walls are use to
power nerve impulses and muscle contraction. The energy stored in the
ionic gradient was originally obtained from the chemical energy
contained in food.)</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>5-
radiation (example: dissociation of water in the ice shield of Europa by
magnetically induced radiative flux. The energy in the radiative flux -
charged particles accelerated by Jupiter's intense revolving magnetic
field - is transfered to liberated atoms of hydrogen and oxygen which
would then be employed by microorganisms living in water inclusions in
the shield ice. Alternatively, some oxygen could diffuse through the ice
shield for use by primitive organisms living on the underside of the
ice shield, "ice roof dwellers")</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>6-
magnetic field (Jupiter's magnetic field is 12 times as strong as
earth's and therefore could be directly employed as an energy source by
European organisms with the energy stored, for example, in energy rich
biomolecules.)</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>7- gravitational field</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>8- pressure gradients</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>9- tectonic forces</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
The last three potential energy sources are less promising from an
energetic viewpoint but cannot be totally excluded in extreme
environmental conditions. Example: large planet with intense
gravitational field or pressure gradients.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
One conclusion seems fairly well established by modern biology. Life as
we understand it requires a liquid phase to exist: liquids provide the
required density and mobility of bioreactant molecules. The authors
examine alternative solvents for biochemistry. For a variety of reasons
water appears to be the most suitable solvent: large thermal band in
which it remains liquid, high heat of vaporization, proper degree of
reactivity with carbon compounds, electrical polarity of the water
molecule, etc. Once again, Earth - the "blue planet" because of its
oceans - appears to be a cosmic niche particularly suited for life to
evolve and to evolve to high levels of complexity and organization.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b><b>At
lower temperatures - upper cyrogenic range - a saturated ammonia /
water solution might serve as a biological solvent. Saturated NH3 / H20
geysers - indicating, perhaps, subsurface oceans - have been detected on
several of the large moons of the outer solar system (Io, Triton..)
Several of these bodies seem to possses adequate energy fluxes,
essential for life to emerge. Potential sources of these energy fluxes
are gravitational flexing, radioactive metallic planetary cores and
induced electric currents in liquid iron cores exposed to Jupiter's
intense magnetic field. In addition, several of these bodies exhibit
self-regenerating chemical cycles driven by energy fluxes (Titan, Io,
Europa, Triton, some levels of Venus' atmosphere..). Such cycles are
considered to be the precursors of life. It should be empasized though
that the mere presence of such chemical cycyling does not, in itself,
indicate the presence of life, merely the POSSIBILITY of life. Titan - a
moon of Saturn - shows signs of polymeric chemistry. Thus Titan meets
the four requirements of life stated at the beginning of this review:
1- adequate energy flux, 2- chemical cycling, 3- suitable solvents
(liquid methane and ethane are possibly suitable biosolvents at low -
cyrogenic - temperatures) and 4- polymeric chemistry. Whether any body
in our solar system other than earth possesses life is debatable but at
least we know what to look for and we are already registering several
potential candidates. Microbes and photosynthetic algae may florish on
Mars. Europa may harbor marine life the size of shrimp or small fish
beneath its ice shield. Because of low temperatures life, if it existed
on places like Io, Titan or Triton would be "exotic", probably microbial
life existing in saturated ammonia water solution, liquid methane /
ethane, or liquid nitrogen. Such life, at this stage of our knowlege,
is, of course, highly speculative. Mars and Europa are our best bets for
"life as we know it".</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
Interestingly, the authors throw out the popular notion of a "habitable
zone" around stars. The idea might still prove useful in the search for
earthlike habitats though. It is now recognized that the conventional
habitable zone hypothesis is too restrictive, especially for hardy
microbial life. Contemporary knowledge of planet formation indicates
that planets (or large mooons) pass through an early accretion phase
(through gravitational attraction). The infalling matter heats the
forming body (kinetic energy). Since water is abundant, one would expect
many bodies to pass a part of their existence with a water covered
surface. Depending upon the size, chemical composition and distance from
the star, millions to billions of years might pass before all the water
was frozen. This might give life a chance to evolve, even if the body
does not lie within the conventional "habitable zone". We might
therefore find fossil microbial - perhaps macroscopic - life forms on
Mars and some of the large moons of the outer solar system.
Alternatively, on some cooling worlds microbial life (in particular)
might be able to pull off the transiton from say, a saturated NH3 / H2O
solution to another, low temperature, solvent like liquid ammonia,
methane or nitrogen. Don't be TOO surprised if frigid Triton (a moon of
Uranus covered with nitrogen snow) harbors microbes breeding in
underground liquid nitrogen oceans using a free radical based chemistry
(those nasty free radicals which our bodies spend so much effort
destroying and which we attempt to destroy by popping anti-oxidant
pills). At low temperatures, the chemical reactions our bodies use are
too sluggish to fuel life. Free radical chemistry would fit the bill
although at the temperatures our biology operates at free radical
chemistry is "too hot to handle" and free radicals damage the integrity
of infomation carrying biomolecules causing cellular aging and
pre-cancerous genetic damage. </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
The authors conclude with a list of "biosignatures" and "geoindicators"
- chemical species and landform modifications - which a satellite based
remote life detection program might employ. The number of "hits" in our
solar system is quite surprising.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
This is a technical monograph - published by Springer Verlag - intended
for a scientifically literate audience. Technical terms are generally
not defined and there is no glossary. A few graphics lack clarity. On
the whole, tight, very compact, generally well written. Excellent reading.</b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-56436780945489810632017-06-21T14:18:00.001-07:002017-06-21T14:31:16.556-07:00Fake news and mythology<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeXQ_L4foy9cy0ll_enAjgm7i5rCVcqmJg-A8Z2NC_rb6nv3cBomknpTmnXwBqbveOSDddADqXLCtanqfGDa7Ib51a0CSKqaLJxUh9kKoxvMYbXmRHADTSqod6rPbj7DVQXu1SrfqtcSA/s1600/hubble_friday_05132016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1280" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeXQ_L4foy9cy0ll_enAjgm7i5rCVcqmJg-A8Z2NC_rb6nv3cBomknpTmnXwBqbveOSDddADqXLCtanqfGDa7Ib51a0CSKqaLJxUh9kKoxvMYbXmRHADTSqod6rPbj7DVQXu1SrfqtcSA/s400/hubble_friday_05132016.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>What is the relationship between fa<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">k</span>e news and mythology</u>?</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">R</span>eligious myths<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> conspiracy theories, and new gn<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">osticisms</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.<br /><br /> First a definition, so we all start on the same page. A definition of fake ne<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ws:</span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_news">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_news</a></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> But what about myth? The term has acquired several, sometimes contradictory meanings. In the post-Enlightenment era (19th century an<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">d beyond), m<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">yth has come to mean</span> a f<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">alse <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- </span>"primitive"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> "superstitious" <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">or "pre-scientific</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">" -</span> description or narrative of the world. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Traditionally though, stories that we to<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">day call m<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">yths <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- </span>at least the Great Myths of religion<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> -</span> were <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">taken as <u>absolute truths</u> in much the same way that a modern rationalist believes in the statement "two things plus <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">two things gives four things".</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Myths in the traditional - religious - sense <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">were</span> critically important parts of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">human psychic architecture. They situated the person in a universe full of sense, meaning and purpose. (<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In practice, th</span>e purposes of some of the hypothesized entities<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> -</span> spirits of the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">enemies one killed</span>, nature spirits, offended divinities - could be quite malevolent.) <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">T</span>he animistic universe of ancient hunter-gatherer peoples was a world full of life<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, purpose and intent. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One placated angry gods<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, one offered sacrifices to obtain their favor in enterprises. We have forgotten how revolutionary the ancient Greek "philosophers of nature" were. Rather than seek the causes of events in the whims of gods and spirits, they sought to understand the unfolding phenomena and processes of the physical world in terms of material processes<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> (which could be captured <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">in the elegant intellectu<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">al forms of mathematics). </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Pyt<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hagorean theorem: in a right triangle the length of lon<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">gest side squared is equal to the sum of the s<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">quares of the lengths of the other two sides. Pythagor<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">as flourish<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ed <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">six</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">centuries before Christ.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> One can dr<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">aw several conclusions from an "evolutionary" perspective. The most obvious is that "<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">R</span>eason" - at least as the <u>dominant</u> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mode</span> of th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">inking</span> - is a relative newcomer<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> on the hist<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">orical stage</span></span>. Myth as a<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> form of explan<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ation of<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the world</span></span></span> is vastly older<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">! (In reality, it is an open question if Reason is the dominant mode of thought today.. We seem in some ways to have hit upon the worst of both worlds. We have<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, collectively, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">great powers for manipulating the physical world with technology but <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">too often<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, alas, t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hat manipulation i<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s for</span></span> idiotic or antihuman ends.</span></span></span></span>)</span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In their hi<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ghest <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">manifestation, m</span></span></span>yths are "sacred stories" told to explain the world, why it is like it is, who "we" (the members of our tribe) are and what <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">values we <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hold</span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. Myths <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">describe</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the Good Life (particularly the Good Life in <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a s</span>oci<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">al context</span>). Myths, as narrative, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">are</span> an out<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">growth - an extension and an el<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">aboration </span>- of the "primate politics" of our <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">biological ancestors. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">They</span> tell who did what to whom<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> what the outcome was and why that outcome is important to us living today. Myths<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> are "hard-wired" into our human nervous systems<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: myths and stories are universal, wherever there are humans there is story telling and sacred narrative.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But <u>w</u></span><u>hy</u> are myths and narrative <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">universal?</span></span> </span></span> One can hazard, with some anthropol<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ogical and psychological evidence supporting, that i</span>t is <u>natural</u> for humans to view the world through the lens of narrative<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">B</span>ecause of hard-wired primate political thinking we naturally wonder</span> who did what to whom and why. Our minds are simply hard-wired to th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ink along narrative lines.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> From this perspective,</span> the formal, mathematical abstractions of science are more recent evolutionary a<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">cquisitions<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. A</span>s such, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"abstract thinking" lacks</span> the compelling for<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ce<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> of concrete narrative. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Here we see</span> one of the disadvantages that climate scientists and e<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nvironmental activists </span>have in dealing with the raw<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, </span>more primitiv<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e,</span> emotional narratives of GW <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"sceptics" and deniers. Quantum mech<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">anic<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">al energy exchanges at the molecular levels are hard to grasp<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> (abstract scientific thinking). </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">O</span>ur primate political genes though, are programmed to identify and understand</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span> the following narrative-type: <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">c</span></span>r<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ooked university professors peddl<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e</span> the "climate change hoax"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> in order</span> to <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">make trillions<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> of dollars </span></span>on the carbon credit trading market</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. In other words, climate scientists are an enemy clique plott<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing to do "us" in dirty - this is pure primate politics!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A general listing of Authoritarian Personality tr<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">aits (both<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> leaders and followers)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></u><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://whale.to/b/authoritarian_personality_traits.html">authoritarian personality traits</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> In general, "classical" authoritarians see the world in <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">black and white terms: "us" versus "them", "Good" versus "Evil". Their perceptions of social groups tends toward stereotypy<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: all <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">wo/men (blacks, Je<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ws, gays, Muslims..) share a common set of characters. The group one belongs to is more important than one's individ<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">uality. In addition, authoritarians <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">demonize the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">excluded groups they hate: <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">people belonging to <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">out-groups</span></span> are treated as subhuman, incarnate all evil, p<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lot<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> to <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">enslave</span> the world to their wicked ends.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> I mention the Authoritarian Personality here because it represents a particularly <u>primitive</u> (hence <u>emotionally compelling</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and "<u>natura</u>l")<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> expression of primate politics that is activated in situations of threat and uncertainty. The paranoid narratives of Authoritarians flourish in criti<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">cal periods of social transition such as the one we are living through today.</span></span></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Fascistic" paranoid delusional narratives become <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">preva<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lent</span> - even dominant - myths at times of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">social<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> breakdown and transformation.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> It is hard to describe how wacky <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the paranoid delusi<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">onal world<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">view can become<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">!</span> To do justice, I can only <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">c<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">opy</span> verbatim from a "chemtrails<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, New World Order conspiracy" website</span></span></span></span></span>. Hold on<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'yer</span> hats, folks, the wind she<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'s</span> goin<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'</span> t'blow!</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><b>"</b>Population "Control," New World Order Style</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> </span> <br />
<span class="font36"><span style="color: black;">The Illuminati's
idea of Population Control falls into two broad categories:</span></span><br />
<span class="font36"><span style="color: black;"> </span>
<br />
</span>1. <b>Limiting</b> the size of human societies and <b>monitoring/controlling</b>
the movement of individuals within that society, and<br />
<br />
2. Intentionally reducing the bulk
of the world's population through GENOCIDE
via the introduction of <b> orchestrated conflicts, </b>intentionally inserted<b> toxic substances </b>into the<b> air </b>(chemtrails),<b> environment</b> (depleted uranium),<b> wate</b>r/<b>food supply</b> (GMOs), and<b> bioengineered, weaponized disease organisms</b> (AIDS, Ebola, Bird & Swine Flu, etc.) along with <b>anti-fertility</b> compounds introduced via<b> vaccines </b>and
other means of external transmission. <br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">....</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black;">In order to preserve the 'best' of humanity when the
supposed 'self-destruction' of the earth takes place around the year 2,000,
the JASON Society proposed that a vast network of <b>underground cities</b>
be built in order to secure living quarters for the <i>chosen Illuminati elite</i>,
<i>high level cooperative politicians</i>, and <i>selected military</i> elements.
Underground cities are also co-habitated by<b> extraterrestrial alien
groups</b> that the secret government has made treaties with for technology
exchange and human-alien hybrid breeding programs. The idea of the earth 'self
destructing' around the turn of the century due to overpopulation was perhaps
an early cover story for the justification of the underground cities. In the
1950's and 60's, the American public was led to believe that the contiuance
of government, in the event of <b>worldwide nuclear war</b>, was
a logical reason for undeground facilities, but we now know that the entire
Soviet/American cold war and MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) scenario was
an <b>orchestrated Illuminati deception</b> to bleed both Russian
and American citizens of their wealth in order to finance black budget operations,
secret technology developments, underground city construction, genetic engineering
projects, time & space travel research, and anti-gravity, flying saucer
spacecraft development. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> Based on 1989 information, it was claimed that there
were <i>at least</i> <b>75 underground cities</b> in existence below
the soil of America interconnected by high speed, frictionless trains called
<i>Maglev</i> trains (<i>Magnetic Levitation</i>).</span> The former <b>Atomic
Energy Commission</b> had also constructed <b>22 seperate underground
cities</b> for their own use...<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>.... </b></span> recommendations for population "control".
They included:<br />
<br />
1. Birth control (birth prevention and <b>abortion</b> - <b>43.8 Million babies </b>aborted yearly worldwide.) <br />
2. <b>Sterilization </b>(today includes vaccines) and <br />
3. The <b>introduction of deadly microbes</b> to reduce or otherwise slow
the growth of the earth's population.<br />
<br />
<u><span style="color: #cc0000;">Bioengineered Diseases</span></u><br />
<u><span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span></u>
<br />
AIDS, <b>Ebola</b>, <b>Gulf
War Illness (GWI)</b>, and many other "new" diseases were <b>intentionally
bioengineered in laboratories</b> that are mostly found in the United States
and include the Army's secretive facilities at Ft.
Detrick Maryland (2.). Drs. Nancy and Garth Nicholson have done a great
deal of research and investigation into the cause and treatment of Gulf
War Illness, since they and their daughter (who was a helicopter flight nurse
in the 1991 Gulf War) ALL came down with GWI. In 1996, the Nichols published
a paper which states their deep suspicions that GWI is due to bioengineered
pathogens and that a hidden population control agenda appears to be in
place. <br />
Some bioengineered pathogens were designed to target certain ethnic groups
for elimination. These groups likely include <b>blacks</b>, <b>hispanics</b>,
<b>Black
Africans</b>,<b> Native Americans</b>, and <b>homosexuals</b>. The preferred
Iluminati method to introduce disease is via<b> vaccinations</b>.
Tthe <b>HIV virus</b> which causes AIDS was introduced and spread
throughout the majority of black populations in Africa via the <b>World
Health Organization</b> (WHO) during their <b><i>mandatory</i> smallpox
vaccine campaigns of 1976-1980</b>.<br />
<br />
The pathogens which produced <b>Gulf War Illness</b> were introduced to a
limited number of Gulf War troops via "special" vaccinations (<i>not</i> recorded
on the troop's official vaccination records) for <b>Anthrax</b> and other
supposed dangers posed by Saddam Hussein. It was a CIA test run to see how
many Gulf troops would succumb to the disease and how quickly they might die
off. The results have been somewhat disappointing for the CIA/Illuminati planners.
They thought their new little bugs would wipe out a lot more people, a lot
faster than it has.."<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>And so it goes, on and on and on.. Pretty wild, eh? </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>From <a href="http://educate-yourself.org/nwo/nwopopcontrol.shtml">http://educate-yourself.org/nwo/nwopopcontrol.shtml</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Was the death of God a liberation for humanity? Or did it simply blow the doors off hell, liberating all its inhabitants.. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Ab<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ove, a m</span></span>odern degenerate myth, the Aryan Master Race (a degraded form of the Chosen People)</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Which brings us to the central <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">theme</span> of this article: are such degraded forms of mythology related in some way to the "death of God" announced a century and a half ago by the Austrian philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche? <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">S</span>ee <u>note</u> 1<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.) </span></span>Nietzsche's view <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">is</span> contested from various perspectives <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">but it is clear that he was, at the least, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">merel</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y</span></span> giving a name to a process of secularization <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">in</span> Western thought that goes back to the Renaissance. That secularization brought us the scientific and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">technical revolution, the modern concept of citizenry, democracy, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the belief in human rights, feminism..The modern world of Progress.</span></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">However a</span> question <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">remains unanswered for</span> the unbiased observer<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I</span>f Western th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ought is no longer g<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">uided by Christian theology, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">who gets to establish</span> the new norms, the new values, the new definition of the Good Life, etc? </span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Religion and culture, claim some anthropologists <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">are</span> socia<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">l <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mechanisms <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">which</span> regulate, control and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">direct</span> human drives and behavior into social<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ly acceptable channels.</span></span></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Religion and culture r<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">eplace m<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">uch of the instinctive (genetically programmed) <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">behavior patterns observed in non-human animals. In culture and religion<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, the human has partially e<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">scaped the determinisms of instinct. To some degree, we humans are self-defining, self-determining, self-creating animals. We have<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, to some degree, e<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">scaped the strictures of Darwinian evolution and determine some of the conditions of our own future evolution.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> But what ha<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ppens when "God" <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-the dominant cultur<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">al</span> and relig<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ious system - "dies"-, bcomes inoperant, no longer credible to a growing (and eventually critical) number of people? Certainly, G<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">od's death means the end of certainty. It means a<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">n interregnum, a period of cultural, spiritual and political anarchy till a new "God" and a new "tables of the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Law" rise and once again provide wo/men with meaning, sense, direction.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> In this perspective, the current spate of Consp<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">iracy theories and fake news <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">is </span>the symptom - and the embodiment - of the current state of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">philosophical, moral and cultural anarchy. The<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">se dege<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nerate m<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">yths</span></span></span> constitute a "regression", in the Freudian sense, to an earlier state of behavioral adaptation. Such states imply that an <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ecosystem, a society, an organism is experienc<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing an "existential threat", a <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">life or health threatening situation</span> requir<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing some sort of creative response<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> (note 2).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">An interesting synchronicity. Just as I was finishing this piece<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, I rec<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">eived a notice con<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">cerning the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">first <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">article of John Michael Greer's new blog Ecosophia. It treats the same themes I have in pretty much the same way I have above. Such a convergence says something about the zeitgeist - The Spirit of the Age - we i<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nhabit..<br /><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <a href="http://www.ecosophia.net/the-twilight-of-anthropolatry/">http://www.ecosophia.net/the-twilight-of-anthropolatry/</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span> <br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <u>notes</u>:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1- <a href="http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/philosophy/friedrich_nietzsche_quotes.html">http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/philosophy/friedrich_nietzsche_quotes.html</a><br /><br />"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.. </span>Nietzsche is concerned about<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">..</span> relating<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.. </span>that
God is dead in the hearts and minds of his own generation of modern men - killed by an indifference that was itself
directly related to a pronounced cultural shift away from faith and towards rationalism and science.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">..</span><br /><br />
Nietzsche had been raised in an intensely devout and pietistic family atmosphere that he saw as having been unduly restrictive<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
As an atheist who saw aspects of the influence of the traditions of christianity within which he grew up
as having been regrettable Friedrich Nietzsche tended to welcome what he saw as The Death of God!
<br /><br />For Nietzsche a recognition that God is Dead to his own generation of men and women ought to come
as a Joyous Wisdom allowing individuals to lead less guilt-ridden lives in a world that was no longer to be
seen as being inherently sinful. He considered that earthly lives could become more joyful, meaningful and "healthy" when not
lived within narrow limits set by faith-related concerns for the state of an individual's eternal soul.
<br />
<br />
Nietzsche seems to be suggesting that the acceptance that God is dead
will also involve the ending of long-established standards
of morality and of purpose.. the
possible emergence of a nihilistic situation
where people's lives are not<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">..</span> constrained by faith-based
considerations of morali<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ty or..</span> guided by any faith-related sense of purpose.<br />
<br />
What are we now to do?<br />
<br />
Given what he saw as the "unbelievability" of the "God-hypothesis" Nietzsche
himself seemed to favour the creation of a new set of values
"faithful to the earth." This view perhaps being associa<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">[ted]</span> with
the possibility of the "Overman" or "Superman."
<br />
<br />
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="padded">
"I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be
overcome. What have you done to overcome him? All beings so far
have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be
the ebb of this great flood and even go back to the beasts rather
than overcome man? What is the ape to man? A laughingstock or a
painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the
overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment..."
<br />
<h3 align="right">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Friedrich Nietzsche ~ Thus spoke Zarathustra"</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>2- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_%28psychology%29">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_%28psychology%29</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"</b>Regression: a defense mechanism leading to the temporary or long-term reversion of the ego
to an earlier stage of development rather than handling unacceptable
impulses in a more [adaptive] way. The defense mechanism of regression,
in psychoanalytic theory, occurs when an individual's personality
reverts to an earlier stage of development, adopting more childish
mannerisms.
Psychiatrist Joel Gold suggests that careful use of "ARISE" (Adaptive
Regression in the service of the Ego) can sometimes yield creative
benefits. To the extent that one is handling thoughts and impulses less
like an adult, ARISE involves play, appreciation and primitive pleasures, and imagination.<b>"</b>
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-54048848366829043182017-06-08T14:54:00.003-07:002017-08-21T14:14:21.078-07:00B ook Review: Corey Robin, The Reactionary Mind<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Corey Robin: <u>The Reactionary Mind, Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin</u>, Oxford University Press, 2011, 248 pages, chapter notes, index.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">".. an inspired move, characteristic of all great counterrevolutionary theories, in which <u>the people become actors without roles</u>, an audience that believes it is onstage. (emphasis added)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"'</b>A free act is only that which proceeds from the free election of the rational will'. And 'where there is no consideration nor use of reason, there is no liberty at all.' Being free entails acting in accordance with reason or, in political terms, living under laws as opposed to arbitrary power." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Prof Robin's approach to Conservatism and socio-political Reaction (he does not distinguish the two) is iconoclastic. He rejects the idea that the core of Conservatism is a desire to hold onto the good things of the past - "Tradition" - and, instead, sees a power dialectic at work:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“Though it is often claimed that the left stands for equality while the
right stands for freedom, this notion misstates the actual disagreement
between right and left. Historically, the conservative has favored
liberty for the higher orders and constraint for the lower orders. What
the conservative sees and dislikes in equality, in other words, is not a
threat to freedom but its extension. For in that extension, he sees a
loss of his own freedom.” In Robin’s understanding, conservatives aren’t
traditionalists who seek to maintain the status quo, but
counterrevolutionaries: “People on the left often fail to realize this,
but conservatism really does speak to and for people who have lost
something. It may be a landed estate or the privileges of white skin,
the unquestioned authority of a husband or the untrammeled rights of a
factory owner. The loss may be as material as money or as ethereal as a
sense of standing.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> While I might harbor some doubts as to the identification of conservatives and reactionaries (<u>note</u> 1), Robin's portrait of the conservative / reactionary co-incides pretty well with my own observations of true reactionaries. Traditional definitions of Conservatism tend toward the bucolic, toward the idealization of the "pastoral" and (supposedly) simpler - and better - life of the past. Conservatives are said, and themselves often claim, to respect Tradition. </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> However, reactionaries I have met - and most of the conservatives I know are reactionaries - , schoolmates, neighbors and family members, don't fit these traditional depictions. My reactionaries tend to be mavericks, wild cards, innovators, iconoclasts (or, at least, see themselves as such). On one point in particular I concur with prof Robin, reactionaries seek power and, specifically, power <span style="color: red;">over</span> others (as opposed to power wielded to empower, liberate or heal others).</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Can you identify these two famous reactionaries?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Today, and since at least the end of World War II, the forces of political Reaction are in ascendancy in the West. This is true despite some tactical, battlefield victories like second (or third) wave feminism, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s (U.S.A.), the decolonization of third world countries, the founding of the United Nations, the overthrow of apartheid in South Africa and the fall of Communism. However, if one looks closely, one sees that these (apparent) victories for Reason and the empowerment of minorities and the oppressed are, at best, partial, incomplete or truncated revolutions. Thus, racism is still very much alive and well, despite attempts over the last five decades to render it politically incorrect and to empower its victims. Witness the recent shootings of young black men in the U.S.A. and Canada, the oppression of the Roma in central and eastern Europe, the general rise of anti-immigrant sentiment, and growing religious intolerance and fanaticism. Liberal and progressive forces may still be able to win battles, but the forces of reaction seem to be winning the war (<u>note</u> 2).</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The cultural signs of the rise of Reaction are everywhere, if one takes the time to look.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"</b>In 1998 readers responding to a Modern Library poll identified [reactionary Ayn Rand's] <u>Atlas Shrugged</u> and <u>The Fountainhead</u> as the two greatest novels in English in the twentieth century.." Page 76</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/">http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/</a> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b><br />".. the conservative position stems from a genuine conviction that a world thus emancipated will be ugly, brutish, base and dull. It will lack the excellence of a world where the better man commands the worse. When [conservative theoretician Edmund] Burke adds,.. , that the "great Object" of the [French] Revolution is 'to root out that thing called an Aristocrat or Nobleman and Gentleman', he is not simply referring to the power of the nobility; he is also referring to the distinction that power brings to the world. If the power goes, the distinction goes with it. This vision of the connection between excellence and rule is what brings together in post-war America that unlikely alliance of the libertarian, with his vision of the employer's untrammeled power in the workplace; the traditionalist, with his vision of the father's rule at home; and the statist [fascist], with his vision of a heroic leader pressing his hand upon the face of the earth. Each in his own way subscribes to this typical statement, from the nineteenth century, of the conservative creed: 'To obey a real superior.. is one of the most important of all virtues - a virtue absolutely essential to the attainment of anything great and lasting.'" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> We are now left with a plausible - but yet to be empirically tested - mechanism to explain the rise of Reaction today, particularly in its populist forms: Donald Trump, Marie Le Pen in France, Putin's appeals to Russian chauvinism, the anti-drug war of Duterte in the Philippines, the Brexit campaign in the UK. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/populism">populism: definition Encyclopedia Britannica</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> In Western democracies, the populace is taught that the people is king. Some, of course, are "superior" to (more gifted than) their fellows; these are the "natural rulers" lauded by novelist and reactionary theoretician Ayn Rand. The problem is that today the average citizen (the "King" of democratic societies) feels himself threatened from all quarters: climate change, environmental degradation, the loss or risk of loss of employment as blue collar jobs are off-shored to third world sweatshops, incomprehensible and incredibly violent international terrorist movements capable of striking our homeland, uppity minorities and "deviants" who refuse to accept their status as inferiors.. <u>The general sentiment today is one of loss of control or power</u>, a generalized attack on status (climate change threatens to destroy everyone's status!) Since many of these threats are "tentacular" - hard to comprehend and omnipresent - , deep, but poorly focused, fear is generated. Now <span style="color: red;">fear is perhaps the greatest incitement to violence</span> (the classic "fight or flight response"). To provide temporary relief from chronic invasive fear, scapegoats are sought. Attacking the scapegoat provides temporary stress reduction but, since it <u>does not affect the root cause of fear</u>, its effects soon wear off and, like the junkie, another "fix" is soon needed. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> It is interesting to note how contemporary populist leaders lash out against vulnerable - and expendable - groups: immigrants, Mexicans, Muslims, drug addicts, gays, transgendered,.. and how they promise to deliver the harrowed populace from their enemies, real or imagined. All of which coincides with prof Robin's definition of Reaction as a response to a sense of impending loss.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Since our social, political and economic institutions seem helpless either to address - or even to adequately define the challenges we collectively face - , Reaction must surely grow till a social explosion (war, revolution) occurs. We are in the early stages of that detonation today..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Perhaps because I am a congenital optimist (who sees the glass as half-full as opposed to half-empty), I don't see <u>The Reactionary Mind</u> as a doom and gloom book. My take away is a positive message. Prof Robin argues that a language of displacement and falsification is employed by reactionaries. Rather than frame political struggle in terms of power and powerlessness, reactionaries falsely frame struggle in terms of security. Thus Hitler tried to protect the Aryan race from the nefarious Jew. Trump wants to protect Americans from criminal Mexican illegals. <u>The Reactionary Mind</u> teaches us to look past the verbal smoke and mirrors of security-speak to the real issue of empowerment. </b></span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b> interview with Prof Corey Robin</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>notes</u>: </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1- I have encountered "red Tories" who describe themselves as fiscal conservatives and social progressives. One red Tory mother held up American president John F. Kennedy and his civil rights project as an exemplar for her children to emulate. When speaking of red Tories and moderate conservatives (on a case by case basis), we may indeed be justified in adhering to traditional definitions of Conservatism (such as the valorisation of Tradition, Hierarchy and Authority). In the case of the red Tory, one's rank in the social order is determined by <u>earned merit</u>, not inherited status or Machiavellian thuggery. I would therefore nuance my appreciation of Robin's thesis by making a <u>pragmatic distinctio</u>n between more moderate conservatives and reactionary power trippers.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>2- Reaction will probably win the war for a number of reasons, the most salient being a growing perception (often unavowed) that the world is going to hell. Climate change, for example, threatens disruption of major regional agricultural systems in the near future which will trigger regional conflicts and (most likely) intensified global terrorism. ISIS terrorism in Europe is probably only a foretaste of the globalized terror to come. Those who have - the peoples of the West in particular - (consciously or not) are afraid of losing what they have and becoming have-nots.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-43136852023061108172017-06-05T13:09:00.000-07:002017-06-05T13:09:01.787-07:00Bleeding Québec<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>January 29, 2017. Québec city, Québec. Around 8 pm, at the conclusion of prayers at the Grande Mo<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">squée, a lone gun<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">man stormed into the men<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s section, killing<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> six</span> and injuring <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">around a dozen</span>. Alexandre Bissonnette, age 27, was captured by police the same night. He has been indicted<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, so far, on <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">six</span> counts of murder and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">five</span> counts of attempted murder<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> with a restricted firearm. He had no previous police record but had recently gained a reputation as <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a</span> xenophobic, m<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">i</span>sogynist troll.</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Why? Why<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> did this happen in t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ol</span>erant, liberal, easy going Québec. Such horrors are only "supposed" to happen elsewhere, in present or defunct empires: the United States, France, Belgium, Russia.. , or in the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Third Word and Israel, societies riven by ancient ethnic<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and</span> relig<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ious hatreds. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But n</span>ot here<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, not in pea<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ce-loving Québec.</span></span> No<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. Never..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Of course, it is always easy, in retrospect, to tease out an infinity of plausible causes and links. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Some are immediate and obvious.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <u>H</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>ate waves</u>. </span>"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">La radio<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span>poubelle", trash radio, spewing bigotry, anger, hatred, f<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">rustration against all<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> that is not conform with their populist reactionary world view</span>. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Radio-poubelle is popular</span> in the ethnically homogeneous pro<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">vincial capital</span>. With a population of 1.1 million Québec city "boasts" of no less th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">an 5 hate ra<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">dio stations. Bigotry apparently sells<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">! At least in Québec city.</span></span></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Radio poubelle, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">one notes</span>,</span> failed to take root in <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">cosmopolitan, ethnically diverse Montréal. This being said, even Montréal mosques have noted an uptick in vandalism and hate graffiti recently. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-city-radio-poubelle-mosque-attack-1.3964005">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-city-radio-poubelle-mosque-attack-1.3964005</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>World going to hell in a handbasket</u>. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">he neoconservative "Free Market" globalized economy<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">is patently broken. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Wil<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">dlife is going extinct at a rate that matches or exceeds extinction rates</span> at the time of the extinction of the di<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nosaurs<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">E</span>ssential ecosystem services that humanity depends <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">upon for its very survival are being destroyed. </span></span>The gap between rich and poor is growing, generating irresolvable social tensions. The p<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lanetary </span>climate is going to hell due to greenhouse gas emissions (which never cease rising).</span></span></span>Worse, <u>o</u></span><u>ur "leaders" have nothing new to offer</u>. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The dominant ideologies (or what is left of them) are impotent even to formulate the challenges we face or have been instrumentalized to maintain ruling elites in power for as long as possible (<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">fundamentalist religion is a case in point - think of ISIS). </span>To hide their nakedness,</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">our "leaders" </span>resort to the cheapest electioneering tricks<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: witness Donald Trumps' presidential campaign or the Brexit campaign that took the UK out of the European Union.</span> Increasingly,</span> the<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> powers-that<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-be </span></span>are forced to appeal to the baser instincts of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">increasingly</span> frightened, frustrated <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">publics</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Consider</span></span> the rise of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">xenopho<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">bic, proto-fascist populism aroun<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">d the world: Trump in the US, Le Pen in France, Putin in Russia, Duterte in the Philippines<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, the rise of the New Right in Hungary, Pol<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">and, Scandin<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">avia, Holland, It<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">aly, the UK..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Québec, alas, is not imm<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">une from the general distemper. Last summer, Jean-François Lisée<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the current<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span>Parti Québécois <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">leader, stated:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">«Nous avons un ennemi déclaré, l'État islamique, qui recrute ici des
gens pour poser des bombes. Notre seul choix est de débattre de
l'interdiction de la burqa AVANT qu'un jihadiste s'en serve pour cacher
ses mouvements pour un attentat, ou APRÈS.»</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.journaldequebec.com/2017/01/31/debat-sur-la-laicite-il-faut-changer-de-ton-reconnait-lisee">http://www.journaldequebec.com/2017/01/31/debat-sur-la-laicite-il-faut-changer-de-ton-reconnait-lisee</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">W</span>e have a declared ene<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">my, the Islamic State<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">They recruit<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> members in the province to plant bombs. The only c<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">h<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">oice we have is to debate the banning of the burqa BEFORE a jihadist uses one to hide his prepar<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ations for an attack or AFTER the attack"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJk8EVPv2OC6HM7qSKVNlLrIuxrOB66nl6G3vOMBbhSRixQja5kAqwxQ2D8a-diEZfmi2a1jwS8xIJYvJ3XyDiMqzFeNnkw6yk-TT5VJgXoWZ-q9JiITJ0F_xkThDDtLkgYlMRRuaA3u0/s1600/ff6578dc7ab81a563b69a7ab99e86949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJk8EVPv2OC6HM7qSKVNlLrIuxrOB66nl6G3vOMBbhSRixQja5kAqwxQ2D8a-diEZfmi2a1jwS8xIJYvJ3XyDiMqzFeNnkw6yk-TT5VJgXoWZ-q9JiITJ0F_xkThDDtLkgYlMRRuaA3u0/s400/ff6578dc7ab81a563b69a7ab99e86949.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></b></div>
<b><b> </b></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> burqa clad women: a picture is worth <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1,000 words..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> One may indeed find the psychology behind the burqa repugnant but Lisée's words go<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> much further, too far. They <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">constitute</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> a thinly veiled</span> <u>incitement to hat<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">red</span> </u>and fear of all muslims by association with "islamic" or "<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">jihadist terrorists". <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This is vintage populism! Meanwhile, r</span>eal issu<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">es concerning the integration of immigran<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ts and the numbers of immigrants<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span>accepted annually are <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">conveniently s</span>wept under the rug by Lisée's simplistic knee jerk associations.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> In reality, the number of burqa wearing women in Québec is vanishingly small. I have yet to meet one<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">! (<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The h</span>ijab, the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">head s</span>carf or hair cove<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ring<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, yes<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> but burquas, no.</span>) </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">When one looks at religious fanaticism</span> dispassionately, one is about as likely to encounter fanatics among Christians and Jews (not to mention atheist neonazis). The statistics from muslim communities in Québec are <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">r</span>ather revealing on this point<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. Con<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">cerning mo<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">sque attendance:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<b>15 % </b>ont dit y aller assidument.<br />
<b>25 % </b>ont dit s'y présenter de façon plus ou moins récurrente.<br />
<b>60 % </b>des musulmans au Québec n’ont jamais fréquenté une mosquée.<br />
<b>10 % </b>des femmes musulmanes portent le hidjab.<br />
<b>60 % </b>des femmes converties à l’islam par choix revêtent le hidjab.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>15% - one out of seven - attend mosque "assiduously"</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>25% - one out of four - attend "more or less regularly"</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>60% of muslims in Québec never attend mosque</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>10% of female muslims wear the hijab (head scarf)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>while 60% of native female converts to Islam choose to wear the hijab.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The last two stats are interesting in their own right, given Lisée's fear mongering attacks on female attire. Québécois women coverted to Islam are SIX times more likely to wear the hijab than muslim women who immigrated here: 60% versus 10%!! </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/02/04/qui-sont-les-musulmans-du-quebec">http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/02/04/qui-sont-les-musulmans-du-quebec</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Politicians who <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">whip u<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">p</span> xenophobia to gain cheap votes are playing with fire (or dynamite). Once out of the bottle the genie of race hatred is not easily c<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ontrolled or calmed. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Québec's<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> recent </span>f<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lirtation with xenopho<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">bic populism<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> goes back at least four years to the infamous debate on a proposed "<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Quebec charter of values</span>". This <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"debate"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> was launched by Parti<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Québécois minister of </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Democratic Institutions and Active Citizenship, Berna<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">rd Drainville and proposed<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, among other measures, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">baning the "ostentat<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">i</span>ous displa<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y of re<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ligious symbols" by employees of public institutions: h<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ospitals, schools, daycare centers, public offices.. The debate had the effect<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> of fanning the flames of racism, always lurking in the human psyche's depths - a legacy of our tribal <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">past</span>. Racism became "legitimized", no longer <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">muzzled by political correctness. Muslim women wearing the hijab reported verbal insults while walk<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing the streets. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A few</span> were spat upon.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> A new auto<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">motive sport was born: playing chicken with <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hijab wearing women p<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">edestrians</span> at stop lights. As she<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> approache<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s</span>, you gun the motor, then hit the brakes. Scare the hell o<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ut of her, ha, ha<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.. funny, funny. (This is what I referred to above as "appealing to the baser instincts". Not all of human nature is pleasant..)</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/09/left-wing-populism-in-quebec.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/09/left-wing-populism-in-quebec.html</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/09/pandoras-box-to-open-or-not-to-open.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/09/pandoras-box-to-open-or-not-to-open.html</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Recently, on a late night Montréal <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">radio t</span>alk show, I heard a caller claim that when she sees a woman wearing a hijab, she fe<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">els fear. Interesting - and dangerous - reaction. The "reptilian" - more primitive<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span>- part of the brain which regulates basic survival instincts doesn't distinguish between fear and aggression<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. A c<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ornered rat - or human - will <u>fight</u> like hell to save itself, out of <u>fear</u>. Hitler's anti-Semitic propaganda always emphasized the <u>threat</u> that Jews constituted to the German people and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">to the German's</span> "superio<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">r" values <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- </span>a<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> past echo of our recent Quebec charter of values debate</span>. We note that a certain Donald Trump is employing the same tactic to whip up a lynch mob mental<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ity in the US a<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ga<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">inst Muslims, Islam<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> Latinos and "immigrants" in general. With the expected results:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Get out of my country!" <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">shouted the gunman</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/02/28/fbi-investigating-shooting-of-two-indian-men-in-kansas-as-a-hate-crime/?utm_term=.557f0a2a2a13">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/02/28/fbi-investigating-shooting-of-two-indian-men-in-kansas-as-a-hate-crime/?utm_term=.557f0a2a2a13</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Jewish centres and schools across the U.S. coped with another wave of
bomb threats Monday as officials in Philadelphia made plans to repair
and restore hundreds of vandalized headstones at a Jewish cemetery.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span> </span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/02/27/hundreds-of-gravestones-smashed-at-jewish-cemetery-in-us-_n_15051506.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/02/27/hundreds-of-gravestones-smashed-at-jewish-cemetery-in-us-_n_15051506.html</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> But there are causes and there are causes, some causes are deeper<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">more fun<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">damental</span></span>. One of the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">major, rarely - if ever - discussed, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">causes of our recent "immigrant and refugee problems" in Europe<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, Australia<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, North and South America is the failure to achieve Sustainable Development in the Third World in <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the seven<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> decades following World War II. <u>Small scale</u>, <u>participatory</u>, <u>community based</u> development employing <u>local resources</u>, supplying local markets and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">employing <u>s</u></span><u>imple technologies</u>, these are <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the key elements of true Sustainable Development. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">T</span>his is the road not taken. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Not having taken the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">road of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sustainable Development is</span></span></span> the source of much of our troubles today, along with overpopulation, climate change and rising socio-economic inequity<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. (In reality, these <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">challenges</span> are interconnected and mutually reinforcing<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> which means that solutions <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">to one challenge will often - not always! - have positive spillover into <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">one or more of the other</span> challenge</span>s<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.)</span></span></span></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">S</span>imple, sustainable<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, locally based</span> technologies <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">are founded</span> on renewable energy sources: sun, wind, biomass (plants, organic wastes of all sorts), tidal and wave force energy, geothermal <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">energy</span>. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Such</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sustainable Development</span> would, on the whole, not<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> have required much more than mid-ninetheenth century to early twen<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tieth century technology to get off the ground and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">drastically improve the standard of liv<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing and life opportunities of billions of people living in the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Third World</span></span></span>: <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">metallurgy, electric motors and generators, early 20th century vacuum tube technolog<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y. The road not taken would also have required a massive reduction in birthrates in developing count<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ries<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> which implies assuring universal female education (the factor most correlated with reduction in birthrate)<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. Ra<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">pid Sustainable Development post-WW II <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">required</span></span></span> free or accessible public primary and secondary education, sex education <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">with</span> access to contraception<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and</span> universal old age pensions<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">O</span></span>ne reason people in countries with high infant mortality rates have lots of children is <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">to assure</span> that a few of them will live to care for their parents in old age. <u>Sustainable </u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>Development would require that </u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>this <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">vicious circle</span> of poverty - </u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>high mortality - high n<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">atality </span>be broken</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/core-poems/detail/44272">Robert Frost, the road not taken</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <u> The <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">R</span>oad actually <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">T</span>aken</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. Such a developmental trajectory - one in which <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">economy serves humanity - did not fall in favor with the Masters of the World, the multinational corporate <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">elite and their servitors in government<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and</span> the professions. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In today's <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">world, the</span></span> objective of economic activi<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ty is not <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- </span>except as a pious, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">aspirational</span> goal <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span>the Common Good". The true objective of economic activity is to maxi<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mize prof<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">it (or, at <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">least, to <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">build the infrastructure required for future profit maximi<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">zation).</span></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In a sense, the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">R</span>oad <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">T</span>aken inverts the logic and l<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ogistics of the road not taken wher<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ein <u>eco<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nomy and technology exist to serve wo/man</span></u></span>. On the developmental tra<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ject<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ory the world has followed post-World War II,</span></span> wo<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">/man serves the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">economy and her servant technology<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Cheap <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mass produced goods <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">designed to be replaced often (planned obselescence) require massive inputs of</span> fossil fuel<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and mass transport (ship, truck, rail, air) and thus have hig<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hly negative environmental impacts: greenhouse gases, acid rain, acidified oceans, fine particulate mat<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ter, carcinogens.. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The production of such goods has been offshored to third world countr<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ies <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">with poor environmental and worker safety regulation<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s. Working conditions border on slavery. O</span>utmoded<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, hig<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hly polluting technologies <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- China is a case in point - are us<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ually employed</span>. </span></span></span></span></span></span>The real cos<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ts of mass industrial <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(multinational) production are conveniently swe<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">pt</span> under the rug by the accountant<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'s / economist's trick of "externalized co<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">sts": one simply ignores cost<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">that can<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">not be easily entered in a financial ledger. The family devastated by the dea<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">th of the<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> breadwinner who died from workplace cancer does not <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">count in the unreal, abstract world of profit margins and Free Market<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> "laws".</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> The following draft article contains an outline of what a really sustainable economy would have to take into consideration. Please note that this is a draft article. We would appreciate any suggestions you leave in the Comments section.. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2014/08/four-pillars-of-sustainable-economy.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2014/08/four-pillars-of-sustainable-economy.html</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<b><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span></span></span></span></b></b></div>
<b><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"> </span></span></span></span></b></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> It is my argument that, because the West (and the now defunct Communist World) failed to launch the Third World on a Sustainable Development trajectory, we now face a rising tide of refugees. Refugees from failed and failing states, from poverty, war, famine, environmental degradation, ecosystem collapse and climate change. Quite a litany of failures to lay at the feet of non-sustainable "development"!</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> In short, if we are faced with immigrant and refugee "problems", we should ask <span style="color: red;">who</span> created those problems in the first place..</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> It is possible - quite likely - that another cause of Islamophobia in Québec is the proliferation of right wing extremist groups in the province. Québec, as a French speaking cultural and linguistic minority in North America, may be more <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">prone</span> to fits of xenophobia and intolerance when we feel ourselves under threat. That is, feeling ourselves to be a vulnerable minority on the continent, we may over<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-react to percieved collective threats. </span>And this, despite the fact, that on the whole, Québec is seen by immigrants as an open and welcoming society for those willing to make the effort to learn and speak French.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>Some food for thought</u>:</span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/as-quebec-shooting-victims-mourned-montreal-mosque-vandalized-1.3269120">http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/as-quebec-shooting-victims-mourned-montreal-mosque-vandalized-1.3269120</a> </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"I don’t think people are more racist than they were,” Maxime Fiset, a
reformed neo-Nazi who now works with Montreal’s Centre for the
Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, told CTV News earlier
this week. “I think they’re just more outspoken -- and social media
gives them a perfect platform to organize.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>And part of the reason they are more outspoken is that the Inner Baboon has been given permission to act out by hate-mongering populists on the podium and the (anti-)social media..</b> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/words-hurt-quebec-politicians-link-values-debate-to-shooting-1.3265600">http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/words-hurt-quebec-politicians-link-values-debate-to-shooting-1.3265600</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span>Couillard acknowledged the province has its "demons" in terms of
attitudes toward Muslims and that "xenophobia, racism and exclusion" are
present in the province."<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/quebec-citys-trash-radio-under-microscope-following-mosque-shooting">http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/quebec-citys-trash-radio-under-microscope-following-mosque-shooting</a> </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/quebec-mosque-shooting-what-happened-to-alexandre-bissonnette">profile of a mass murderer?</a> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“We were good friends. He was a really good guy, and his parents were
great,” said Kingma-Lord, now an international business consultant in
Quebec City.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Bissonnette, who has a twin brother, Mathieu, was bullied at school
for being a “nerd” with “unpopular tastes,” he said. Together they used
to go looking for quartz rocks at recess. Bissonnette also played chess.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“People were mean to him, and called him a weirdo. Your popularity is
important as a child,” Kingma-Lord said. “But he would be mean back at
them. He developed a very thick skin.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span>Debroise described Bissonnette as a boyish, skinny young man who didn’t make an impression.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">“If he wasn’t there, you might not notice,” he said. “So it’s hard to understand that he could become so violent.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Actually, from the description you provide, I find it rather easy to understand that he became so violent. He was primed to explode and the current unsettled<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, anxiety generat<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing times provided the spark..</span></span></b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiDlJTnW3OytscH-HQrfDBd663tQVnqD9tk400vtoiVj_f0doD0LjnWfhwUJGvZ1Go51EfQx9QiNyPrZb_2zvnaoPcTUZLu0vp0OBUbyzeQnRmWmtTUwmFB4YgU2LklKUhIQMZ-SGjrHM/s1600/alexandre-bissonnette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiDlJTnW3OytscH-HQrfDBd663tQVnqD9tk400vtoiVj_f0doD0LjnWfhwUJGvZ1Go51EfQx9QiNyPrZb_2zvnaoPcTUZLu0vp0OBUbyzeQnRmWmtTUwmFB4YgU2LklKUhIQMZ-SGjrHM/s400/alexandre-bissonnette.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Mass murderer? Said to have been <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">regularly</span> bullied in school<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">for being a</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nerd.</span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"He was known in the city’s activist circles as a right-wing troll who
frequently took anti-foreigner and anti-feminist positions and stood up
for U.S. President Donald Trump."</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-city-mosque-shooting-what-we-know-so-far/article33826078/">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-city-mosque-shooting-what-we-know-so-far/article33826078/</a> </b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> manifestation of solidarity with Muslim community after the shootings</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Rising tide of racism? Pig's head left on steps of the Grande Mosqué during Ramadan in June of last year </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-29494002731746078692017-05-24T14:15:00.001-07:002017-05-29T13:30:55.794-07:00Book Review: Good Muslim, Bad Muslim<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Mahmood Mamdani: <u>Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, America, the Cold War and the roots of terro</u>r (Pantheon Books, NY, 2004), 260 pages, extensive chapter notes, index, lacks bibliography (references are given in chapter notes which hampers research).</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Prof Mamdani's book is a chilling indictment of the foreign policy of Imperial America with some reference to the negative impact of that policy on American democracy at home. His major thesis is that<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> during</span> the waning years of the Cold War<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, </span>American democracy became perverted, internally colonized by imperialistic institutions and mindsets. Successive administrations, Democratic or Neoconservative Republican, have actively suppressed nationalist and autonomist movements in the Third World.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Whatever their motives, the U.S. has, particularly in recent decades, attempted to subvert the rule of International law and ar<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">rogantly</span> assum<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ed</span> the mantle of world policeman (or de facto sovereign).</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"</b>The U.S. has renounced treaties controlling nuclear weapons and their proliferation, voted against the protocol enabling enforcement of the Biological Weapons Convention, rejected the treaty banning land mines, endeavored to prevent its creation and since to cripple the International Criminal Court, and frustrated the Convention on the Child and the prohibition against using children in war. The U.S. has opposed virtually every other international effort to control and limit war, protect the environment, reduce poverty and protect health." Rams<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ey Clark (quote<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">d on page 208 see <u><b>note</b></u><b> </b><u><b>1</b></u>)</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> A disturbing parallel presents i<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tself here. On the international scene<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e U.S. acts like the trigger<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-</span>happ<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y Am<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">erican <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">cops who shoot young black men <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">on flimsy (or no) preten<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s</span>es. Both at home and abroad<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, the US cop acts as cop, prosecutor, judge, jury and legislat<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">or<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, effectively acting above, or outside, the law. It is not an exaggeration to classify the U.S. today as a rogue state.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s reluctance to be held accountable internationally does not distinguish the Bush administration from other great powers, historically. What does distinguish it is the reckless determination to dispense with any project that would integrate others - whether rivals, dissidents, junior partners, or dependents - in a rule-based internati<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">onal order. Anatol Lieven, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, reminds us that the plan for "unilateral world domination through absolute military superiority" has been "consistently advocated and worked on by the group of intellec<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tuals close to Dick Cheney and Richard Perle since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s."</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Even <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Secretary of State Colin Powell, considered the in-house dove in the Bush administration, shares this basic goal with the rest of the security establishment. As early as 1992, when he was chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Powell declared that the United States requires sufficient power "to deter any challenger of ever dreaming of challenging us on the world stage<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">."<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">..What distinguishes Powell from the hawks in the administration is not this basic goal but their commitment to preemptive war, now official American doctrine. Americans need to be aware of the logic of preemptive war. It is not accidental that most genocides have been carried out in times of war. The population is told: if you do not kill, you will be killed. You kill because you fear th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ey may do to you what you are about to do to them. Preemptive war is the logic for genocide." (page 210)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Ironically, this agenda of unipolar world domination is undertaken under the cover of "exporting democracy" to benighted th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ird world countries. Thus President GW Bush justified overthrowing the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussei<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">n by claiming that he was "democratizing" the country which would, through chain reaction, provoke democratic "regime change" throughout the region.</span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> "They are being civilized"! So claimed 19th century British and French imperialists to justify their colonial <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">adventures. Earlier, coercive conversion to Christianity (to save the souls of benighted savages from eternal damnation) was used to justif<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y a<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nd rationalize</span></span> the conquest of the New World. Christopher Columbus (late 15th century) saw colonial expansion (and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the slave trade) as a means of acquiring the capital necessary to convert <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the world to Roman Catholicism.</span></span></span> The scam of "helping" the people one is shafting is ancient.. (<u>note</u> 2)</span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> An<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">other theme treated by Prof Mamdani deserves mention: the common form of political obscurantism he labels "Culture <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Talk". Its most virulent expression is found in President Donald Trump's "Islam hates us" speech.</span></span> (I could not find the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">original, more vigorous, sp<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">eech so this interview will have to do.)</span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Zj0tfZY6o">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Zj0tfZY6o </a> </span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> In Culture Talk, people<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s' history (recent colonial political history in particular) is ignored. Cultures become - as philosophers would say - "Essences", the deep nature <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">of collectivities (overriding our common human nature). The state of a culture at any given time explains all there is to know about a people, race or religion. In Trump's categorization of Islam's hatefulness, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">its (purporte<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">d) hatred of the West, America and Christianity <u>defines</u> Islam. Islam <span style="color: red;">is</span> this hatred. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> A <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(superficially) more sophisticated variant of Cult<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ure Talk discerns t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">wo</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Muslim types: Good Muslims and Bad Muslims. Good Muslims are those who have, in effect, westernized. They have accepted Enlightenment values such as the criticism of Traditional Authority and Scripture. They embrace the R<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ights of Wo/man. Bad Muslims are essentially backwards, premodern. They have not experienced the equivalent of the Protestant Reformation (otherwise they would think like us and be <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Good Muslims).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> The result of Culture Talk is a radical simplification and dumbing down of the world of political discourse. Critical examination of the West's interactions with Muslims (and other non-Western societies) is suspen<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ded. This is especially dangerous since U.S. foreign policy is in desperate need <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">of critical (re-)examination..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The authoritarian streak in Trump and his entourage is interesting in this context. Among the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">defining traits of the Authoritarian Personality discovered by social psychologists:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- Manichean <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">dichotomization of the world into war<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ring Forces of Good and Evil (with all Good being on our side),</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- "stereotypy": all individuals belo<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nging to excluded <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">and scapegoated groups are assimilated to a common "type<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">" or "essence". Individual differences are ignored.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- demonization of the Enemy (those belonging to <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">excluded or scapegoated groups)</span>. They can do <span style="color: red;">no</span> good. Even (<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">apparently) </span>generous acts are subterfuges<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> to win<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> influence for n<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">efarious ends.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Culture Talk would appear ready made for authoritarian (populist) discourse and demagogy.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> The major part of <u>Good Muslim, Bad Muslim</u> traces the evolution of U.S. foreign policy in the<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> late <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Cold War, post-Soviet era. The author argues that the Cold War provided a simplifying framework fo U.S. (and Soviet) foreign policy makers: thwart the enemy's attempts to achieve global hegemony. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">During the late Cold War t</span>he internal contradictions of Soviet domestic economic and political policy</span></span> </span></span></span>increasingly weakened one pole of the stable bipolar political universe which emerged after World War II. </span>The post<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-</span>war </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>anti-colonial struggles in the third world colonies only muddied the waters further. In the late Cold <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">War era, U.S. policy makers found third world nationalist movements particularly problematical: they did not fit on the bipolar Communist versus Free World map. T<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">he</span>se movements were wild cards and potential disrup<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tors. Successive administrations<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, both<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Democra<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tic and Republican, attempted to undermine these popular movements. One can speculate on the role that multinational<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> corporations, often centered in the U.S.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> while exploiting third world resources (minerals, oil) and cash<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> crops (rubber, coffee, palm oil..) played in the development of U.S. foreign policy. Such speculation, though, is not <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">essential to the argument Prof Mamdani develops and can be left our of an initial description and appraisal of those policies. The goal of U.S. for<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">eign policy became the establishment of compliant "puppet <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">states", open to globalized U.S. and multinational "Free Market" trade. Also important was the minimization of regulatory <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">legis<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lation</span>, </span>social safety nets and social service networks in third world client states in order to reduce the costs to multinational corporations<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. A stable<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, predictable world controlled by American military might and profitable for (U.S<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.) <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">multinationals.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> One of the author's surprising claims (for non-cynical readers anyway):</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"</b> Rather than a residue of a</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> premodern culture in modern politics, <u>terrorism is best understood</u></span><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> as a</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> modern</span></u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u> construction</u>. Even when it</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> harnesses one or another aspect of tradition and culture, the result is a modern ensemble at the service of</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> a modern project." (emphasis added)</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/sj6/mamdanigoodmuslimbadmuslim.pdf"><b>http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/sj6/mamdanigoodmuslimbadmuslim.pdf</b> </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL46J10pRhCNALjT0pkVd9g488fBlUb3f5U9fR9DO4_zoE-9uCOJV2Q7Qixag90EUI-TcoiqxSf6NhrpxM-caaRt9Lk_J1iy45dEDDCA_O82DdlfF6xQhxIAk8Kp4dxptAzlYMFQdtDdw/s1600/220px-President_Reagan_speaking_in_Minneapolis_1982.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL46J10pRhCNALjT0pkVd9g488fBlUb3f5U9fR9DO4_zoE-9uCOJV2Q7Qixag90EUI-TcoiqxSf6NhrpxM-caaRt9Lk_J1iy45dEDDCA_O82DdlfF6xQhxIAk8Kp4dxptAzlYMFQdtDdw/s400/220px-President_Reagan_speaking_in_Minneapolis_1982.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The paranoid Reagan administration (Republican, 1980 - 1988), in particular, interpreted the Post WW II anti-colonial struggles as deliberate Soviet attempts to undermine U.S. / Western values and world hegemony. Applying the old rationalization of the "end justifies the means", the U.S. began supporting reactionary forces employing terrorism to suppress popular anti-colonial, nationalist movements. This was a major moral failure for a nation which was forged in the fire of an anti-colonial revolution (the American Revolution, 1765 - 1783). American anti-liberation policy reinforced imperialist / racist tendencies in American thinking and thus degraded American democracy at home and abroad.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Over time, the anti-nationalist, anti-liberation, anti-liberal forces supported by the U.S. became increasingly vicious and degenerate. Programs to fund these forces became increasingly covert, "off the books", creating - in effect - an imperialistic, anti-democratic "shadow government" within the U.S. federal government. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"</b>If one advantage of proxy war was that its conduct could be hidden from public scrutiny, the disadvantage was that it was <u>not easy to finance from public funds</u>. This explains why covert wars have <u>often tended to go hand in hand with illicit trade, usually in drugs</u>. There has been a long-established link between the drug trade - whether licit or illicit - and the financing of colonial wars. In the early nineteenth century, the British empire set up an official monopoly for the cultivation of opium seed in its Indian colony and exported the harvest to China. When the Chinese emperor objected, the British claimed he was in violation of freedom of trade. To defend the freedom to trade opium, the empire sent gunboats up the Yangtze River and fought the ignoble Opium War. Similarly, in neighboring Indochina, the French used officially sanctioned opium revenues to pay the cost of their colonial occupation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> In a monumental historical study of the <u>link between the drug trade and counterinsurgency</u>, <u>The Politics of Heroin</u>, University of Wisconsin scholar Alfred McCoy has traced the global expansion of drug-production centers - in Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Colombia, and Afghanistan - to the political cover provided by CIA-sponsored covert wars. At the heart of the global drug trade after the Second World War has been trade in opium, the raw material base for the industrial manufacture of high-grade heroin. When the CIA began its alliance with drug lords, the global opium trade was "at its lowest ebb in nearly two centuries." The war disrupted international shipping, and tight security had blocked heroin smuggling into the United States. The CIA entered into two sets of alliances it consider key to waging the Cold War, both of which boosted the drug trade far beyond prewar levels. The first was with the Mafia in Italy and France, the second was with anti-Communist Chinese forces along the Burma-China border. From 1948 to 1950, the CIA allied "with the Corsican underworld in its struggle against the French Communist Party for control over the strategic Mediterranean port of Marseille." The Corsicans triumphed and "used their control over the Marseille waterfront to dominate the export of heroin to the U.S. Market" for "the next quarter century." At the same time, "the CIA ran a series of covert operations along the China border that were instrumental in the creation of the Golden Triangle heroin complex." Beginning in 1950, these operations were aimed at creating an anti-Communist Chinese force to mount an invasion of mainland China. The invasion never happened, but the anti-Communist Chinese (KMT) "succeeded in monopolizing and expanding the Shan states' opium trade." The CIA retained these forces along the Burma-China border, hoping they would function as an advance warning system against an anticipated Chinese invasion of Southeast Asia. Instead, this anti-Communist army "transformed Burma's Shan states into the world's largest opium producer" over the next decade." (page 66-67, emphasis added. See<b> <u>note</u> 3</b>)<b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Religion has been press ganged into serving the anti-national liberation movement as well. The instrumentalization of religion to serve this parallel government is well documented in Jeff Sharlet's excellent investigation, <u>The Family</u>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/12/book-review-jeff-sharlet-family.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/12/book-review-jeff-sharlet-family.html</a></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjldx5zIet2yFuL10bppR0npB8XhHNHECB410vyXrzq4OZ8dA2PSz4Z2r7q76uMgQaaHVBooeiqOa87xyV-xSdCODV-tfLlmUB0jOzXM4CafQTn8I2xh6s3jbNrDn_ne2y-TDshXb7ZTQk/s1600/e855cd5c3f90fca8ca7c4238c3e16f0d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="554" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjldx5zIet2yFuL10bppR0npB8XhHNHECB410vyXrzq4OZ8dA2PSz4Z2r7q76uMgQaaHVBooeiqOa87xyV-xSdCODV-tfLlmUB0jOzXM4CafQTn8I2xh6s3jbNrDn_ne2y-TDshXb7ZTQk/s400/e855cd5c3f90fca8ca7c4238c3e16f0d.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Soviet helicopter brought down by Afghan rebels. Stinger missles provided by<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the U.S. were often used.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> As they say, politics makes strange bedfellows. In the later Cold War period, 1975 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, U.S. foreign policy planners decided not merely to "contain the Communist menace" but to "roll back Communism". Although the roll back doctrine has come to be associated with the neoconservative Republican Reagan administration (1981 - 1989), it actually began a bit earlier under the Democratic Carter administration which began funding the Afghan mujahideen - those who wage jihad ("struggle" or, at the limit, "Holy War"). The objective was to weaken the pro-Soviet government in Kabul and force the Soviets into an expensive, possibly humiliating, foreign war against irregular (guerilla) forces, further weakening Soviet world power and influence: "roll back" in other words. The Soviets took the bait. The Soviet-Afghan war lasted from 1979 to 1989, cost the lives of about 15,000 Soviets, 55,000 wounded and a massive loss of helicopters (brought down by hand-held U.S. provided Stinger missles). This humilating costly conflict has been described as the Soviet Union's Viet Nam and is listed as a contributing factor in the weakening and final break up of the Soviet Union.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ7kP6_JKp4x9ukTAt-joutuBJfgkzYx-Dc3TNDYfkpF6xdponKbShnIPdRkFCwAu4Wud0LJNQ-k_f7bZMxONAge9vtfExgG6o9bdGPu09urlMwAnrBHN3eD4gHeURo48IwEckhvGEZmY/s1600/06_3+Mujahadin+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1001" data-original-width="1500" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ7kP6_JKp4x9ukTAt-joutuBJfgkzYx-Dc3TNDYfkpF6xdponKbShnIPdRkFCwAu4Wud0LJNQ-k_f7bZMxONAge9vtfExgG6o9bdGPu09urlMwAnrBHN3eD4gHeURo48IwEckhvGEZmY/s400/06_3+Mujahadin+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Afghan mujahideen fighters</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzanbXt2hQSaB_evBCd-jDD-OaeVLABsDr2yU4PWnDuylPkqqQAG_v2Fd3K5_EBPWRSjs9VfQoNDKknDOGQamnXB5fu3lGuET-AZ2n8Zon8vRgn1qoRzT-jfokfNgavvzAdOa-D94pW8M/s1600/A+Mujahideen+fighter+aims+an+FIM-92+Stinger+missile+at+passing+aircraft%252C+Afghanistan%252C+1988+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="877" data-original-width="1300" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzanbXt2hQSaB_evBCd-jDD-OaeVLABsDr2yU4PWnDuylPkqqQAG_v2Fd3K5_EBPWRSjs9VfQoNDKknDOGQamnXB5fu3lGuET-AZ2n8Zon8vRgn1qoRzT-jfokfNgavvzAdOa-D94pW8M/s400/A+Mujahideen+fighter+aims+an+FIM-92+Stinger+missile+at+passing+aircraft%252C+Afghanistan%252C+1988+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Mujahideen with portable stinger missle</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> However, actions - especially political ones - produce unintended consequences: blow-back. Once the mujahideen were in power in Kabul, they could not hold onto it. Factionalized, they ended up fighting among themselves. One of their number, an Osama bin Laden, ended up turning to bite the hand that fed. Bin Laden, be it not forgotten, was the mastermind of the September 11, 201 attack on the Twin Towers, New York City which left 3,000 Americans dead. In a sense, the U.S. was reaping what it had sown. It decided to fight the dirty war, so now the dirty war was coming home..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The reasons for bin Laden's turning are not important in this article, only the fact that, in choosing to use terrorism to roll back Communist and thwart nationalist movements in the third world, the U.S. had let loose a Frankenstein's monster on itself. After the September 11 attack on American territory, bin Laden went to ground in Afghanistan, sheltered by a mujahideen faction called the Taliban which provided a reason for President GW Bush to invade that country. Thus the wheel of Karma ("causality") turned full circle. Dirty covert war by proxy against Communists and third world liberation movements employing terror against civilian targets led directly to the New Normal we are living, post 9-11: terrorist attacks (often homegrown) in Paris, Nice, New York, Orlando, Ottawa, Manchester..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> As the Good Book puts it:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span class="text Gal-6-7" id="en-KJV-29196">For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap - Galatians, 6:7</span> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>notes</u>:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1- Ramsey Clark: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsey_Clark">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsey_Clark</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2</span>- Evolutionary psychologists claim that human nature has a hypocritical streak for a reason: we are lousy liars. If, however, we manage to <u>convince ourselves</u> that our BS is true, we will make a much more convincing case before a potential audience. It pays, then, not to scrutinize our motives or rationale too closely! I recall a grandmother who called the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">BC</span></span> talk show, Cross Country Check Up, to say that her grandson had joined the army to "bring education to girls in Afghanistan", an argument used by the government to justify Canadian participation in the war. Yet, before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, few Canadians could find Afghanistan on the globe or could state whether girls had access to education there or not. Making people feel good about doing lousy things (wars, slavery, oppression of women, tax holidays for the rich..) is extremely useful to ruling elites<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> since most people prefer to see themselves virtuous and meritorious amongst their peers.</span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2015/02/book-review-dogs-are-eating-them-now.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2015/02/book-review-dogs-are-eating-them-now.html</a> </b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> </span> </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">3- </span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Note that it is these very same neoconservative inspired governments who
pushed a punitive "war against drugs" at home and abroad. The questions
that need to be addressed here are:</span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- Who payed for the drugs? R: the
American taxpayer through covert proxy wars. </span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- Who
payed for the war on drugs? R: the American taxpayer. </span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- Who benefited
from the war on drugs? R: the privatized prison and police system -
subsidized by the taxpayers - installed by "Free Market"
neoconservative ideologues. Also the bloody thugs in third world countries receiving funding to carry out America's proxy wars.</span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- Who suffers the most from the drug traffic supported by
covert wars? R: American drug addicts, particularly
from marginalized groups like blacks who received heavier sentences. </span></span></span></b></span> </span></span></span> </b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-37904683240634183912017-05-18T15:15:00.001-07:002017-05-23T15:56:18.004-07:00Book Review: Michael Benton: When Life Nearly Died<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Michael Benton: <u>When Life Nearly Died</u> (Thames and Hudson, 3rd edition, revised, 2015), 313 pages, glossary, index, chapter notes, bibliography, numerous illustrations. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>abbreviations used in this article</u>:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>CO2: carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas causing global warming</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>GHG: greenhouse gas</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>GW: global warming</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>m<span style="background-color: white;"></span>ya: millions of years ago</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b>The Late Permian Mass Extinction event, 250 mya, was the greatest. It was caused by massive volcanic release of greenhouse gases (GHG), overheating the earth and driving <u>most</u> animal and plant species on land and sea to extinction. The current human induced extinction rate is believed to largely exceed that of the Late Permian extinction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <u>When Life Nearly Died</u> or everything you wanted to know about mass extinctions were afraid to ask. One of the most pleasantly readable, complete and up to date texts accessible to the general reader. Reads like a historical novel. Definitely recommended. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> This text covers the modern history of evolutionary theory with special emphasis on the spectacular advances in our understanding of mass extinction mechanisms, their impacts, duration and timing which have occurred over the last fifty years. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b></b>Estemmenosuchus-mirabilis: the only known omnivore with antlers. Body of a hippo, antlers of a moose, muzzle of a sabre tooth tiger -<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> a veritable</span> chimeric monster! An early - Permian age - member of the synapsid clad (genetic group) which gave rise to mammals.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <b>Traditionally, the appearance and evolution of life on earth were framed within a biblical understanding of the origin of the world. During the Industrial Revolution mining activity increased, bringing to light many fossils which were studied and classified by by students of the emerging earth sciences: geology, paleontology, ecology, climatology and evolutionary biology. European scientists soon realized that the Earth had to much older than the chronology presented in the Old Testament. The fossils were records of life in earlier aeons of Earth's existence. But how old is the Earth? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Over time, a pattern of "gaps" in the fossil record emerged. Gaps in fossil chronologies appeared everywhere - they are the rule, in effect. The "fossil record" - the chronology of biological evolution as recorded in successive rock strata - is a series of <u>fragmentary</u> chronologies of biogeological history broken by changes in topology of the earth's surface and seafloors. Regions of upthrusting mountains will expose seabeds to the atmosphere and to erosion by rain, river flows and windborne sand particles. Overtime, the former seabed will erode exposing increasingly older sediments (and the fossils they contain). </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b>sedimentary fossil formation: click on image to enlarge</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> A big part of the work of geologists and paleontologists is to match segments of rock strata from different parts of the globe to create a Universal Earth History. Some types of fossils are extremely useful in constructing this History. A critter which lived for several tens of millions of years and was widespread provides a sort of "key" or "index" allowing us to say that a layer of sediment in Russia corresponds to a layer in South Africa: the fossils were deposited at roughly the same time. This allows paleontologists to align fossil chronologies from different parts of the world.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> During the 20th century, particularly the second half, great progress was made in dating fossils and rock strata using both radioactive and non-radioactive isotopes (see <u>note</u> 1). Volcanic ash layers with specific isotopic signatures, allow geologists to posit the synchronous nature of two, geologically separated strata or fossils beds. In some cases radio-isotopic measures allow researchers to assign an <u>absolute age</u> to a rock stratum: the volcanic ash signature in this stratum shows that it was deposited X number of years before the present. Four digit accuracy is attainable. This is a vast improvement from the time of Charles Darwin, the mid-19th century, when the most that could be said was that one layer of fossils was older or younger than another (<u>relative</u> geological age). </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> However, some gaps in the fossil record remain recalcitrant to analysis. Is the fossil record <u>really broken</u> in places? Did one group of animals, one type of ecosystem, one climate regime suddenly replace another? Or is the break merely apparent, the result of missing data? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b>The Permo-triassac boundary (mass extinction). Click on image to enlarge. The Lower layers (Permian age) are rich in fossils of dicynodonts (herbivores related, distantly, to mammals). These disappear and are replaced by lystrosaur species (another herbivore type distantly related to mammals) above the extinction boundary. Note that the boundary zone itself - when the Great Extinction occurred - is virtually devoid of signs of life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Charles Darwin, the recognized founder of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, held to that the evolution was continuous but the fossil record, for geological reasons, contained gaps - missing data. This position<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> came to be known as Uniformitarianism. <u>Uniformitarianism</u>, as a school of thought, held that the laws and processes of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">na</span>ture do not change over time<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. Natural processes occur slowly without "quantum jumps" or discontinuities. Christian creationists of Darwin's time, on the other hand, assimilated evidence of mass extinctions - holes or gaps in the fossil record - to the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">biblical story of the Great Deluge. God chose from time to time to destroy most / all life on Earth and then create whole new planetary ecosystems from scratch. Their school of thought came to be called <u>Catastrophism</u>. Som<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e even suggested that dinosaurs were left behind because they were too big to fit in Noah's ark and drowned in the Great Deluge sent by God as punishment for mankind's sin<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">fulness. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> History, of course, often takes strange detours. Darwin proved to be wrong about the continuity and gradualness of natural change. As the fossil record becomes more complete and chronology more accurate, some gaps just won't go away. Instead, they are reinforced and confirmed by accumulating evidence. The contemporary acceptance of the non-uniformity of natural processes over times is called, naturally, <u>Neocatastrophism</u>. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> There's a lot of irony in this story. Poor Darwin got the fossil record wrong but for the right reasons (in denying God's heavy handed intervention in Natural History). The creationists got the (non-uniform) fossil record right but for the wrong reasons. You could write a comedy about this..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> In reality, it is a testimony to the robustness of the Darwinian theory of Natural Selection that it survived several such revolutions in the scientific understanding of the World Process and has emerged, not merely unscathed in its essentials, but reinforced and validated in its applicability. Evolution by Natural Selection has all the hallmarks of a Good Scientific Hypothesis. It was won its spurs in the 150 years since the publication of <u>The Origin of Species</u>.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Gorgonops -"monster face". Teeth specialized for different functions - a mammalian trait - as well as details of skull structure show that gorgonops were (very) distant cousins! Most gorgonopsid species died out during the Great Permian extinction and aftermath. The remainder died out during the following early mesozoic era (Age of Dinosaurs).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> According to contemporary understanding, there have been five massive extinction events. Of these, the Late Permian, 250 mya, was the worse, killing off about ninety percent of life on land and sea. In addition there have been, according to experts and criteria, some 10 to 20 minor extinction events, often regional rather than global in extent. The Permian extinction is now generally believed to be due to massive Global Warming (GW) caused by rapid release of GHG of volcanic origin. The recent rapid decline in world wild life has led some scientists to argue that we are living through the sixth mass extinction of life on earth.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Mass extinctions are dramatic and biologically important events but rare, occurring once in tens of millions of years. In reality, probably more than 95% of species go extinct during normal, non-extinction periods. This is the so-called "background extinction rate". Conservationists are worried about the health of Earth's ecosystems because today's extinction rates are several times expected background rates.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/12/book-review-e-o-wilson-future-of-life.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/12/book-review-e-o-wilson-future-of-life.html</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> While rare, mass extinctions are important because they are dramatic accelerators of evolution due to increased environmental stresses and altered relationships between surviving - and newly immigrated - members of ecosystem communities. Organisms that were once barred entry to a region - because of competition with a better adapted local resident - may be free to enter once the competitor is eliminated. The newly arrived organisms will be under strong environmental selective pressures as they adapt to their new habitation. They will also provide strong selective pressure on resident organisms via competition for resources and habitats. New symbiotic alliances between species will be forged: another source of selective pressures as partners fine tune their mutual adaptations. Ecological niches left empty by extinction will be filled by immigrants or mutated resident organisms. New ecological niches may be created from altered interspecies interactions (because of eliminated links in the food web) or from interactions with immigrant species. Increased selective pressures during the recovery phase will trigger mutator genes into activity, increasing mutation rates generally. The recovery phase is thus a hothouse of biological innovation. Ironically, while Darwin combated the Catastrophists of his day, contemporary Neocatastrophism actually tends to reinforce and confirm Darwin's hypotheses concerning Natural Selection.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> It is important to recognize the disruptive / innovative nature of mass extinction events. They do not select for the "fittest" according to the Rule Book. Mass extinctions tear up and rewrite the Rule Book. Mass extinctions cause evolution to veer off along strange, unpredictable trajectories. For example, most people, if asked, would say that mammals are more recent than dinosaurs. In a sense, this is correct. Small, chipmunk-like or rat-like mammals appeared during into the Age of Dinosaurs (Mesozoic Era) when dinosaurs already ruled. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span class="st"> </span></b><span class="st">Agilocodon, a chipmunk-like critter that lived 174 to 163 mya</span><b><span class="st">.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://novataxa.blogspot.ca/2015/02/agilodocodon-docofossor.html?spref=fb">http://novataxa.blogspot.ca/2015/02/agilodocodon-docofossor.html?spref=fb</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> However, these early true mammals are the highly mutated descendants of the
weird, dominant synapsid "monsters" of the Permian. The Permian
extinction, in effect, put an end to the "first age of mammals" allowing
the ancestors of the dinosaurs - and the dinos themselves - to get the
upper hand for a hundred million years or so. It is only when the dinos themselves were eliminated by the Late Cretaceous extinction, 65 mya, that the mammalian tribe was given a second chance as dominant terrestrial vertebrates. Mass extinctions tear up and rewrite the evolutionary Rule Book..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>So what caused the Great Extinction then</u>? The continents of the time, through plate tectonic drift, had coalesced into a single megacontinent, Pangaea ("all Earth"). This was a disaster, a perfect storm waiting to happen. The worst part was the blockage of tectonic plate movement around the perimeter of Pangaea. The mounting pressure in the Earth's crust and mantle eventually provoked a massive outpouring of magma (lava originating from deep within the Earth) in what is now Siberia. Vulcanism was so intense that it was not confined to individual volcanic cones. Large fissures opened and poured forth molten rock and huge quantities of GHG such as CO2 and methane. GHG warmed the earth, expanding the Great Central Desert of Pangaea. Species died off faster than the background extinction rate marking an extinction event in progress. In the sea, for a variety of reasons, large regions stratified, reducing circulation of oxygen and nutrient minerals. These anoxic (low or no oxygen) strata became dead zones, devoid of life and sometimes laden with poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas. During sudden massive turnovers of stratified oceanic layers, hydrogen sulfide gas was released to the atmosphere, poisoning life along seacoasts. Sometimes the extinction zones could reach hundreds of miles inland as hydrogen sulfide was carried inland on prevailing coastal winds.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>And then things got really bad</u>. Life is persistent and resilient, it adapts to and opportuni<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">sticall<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y exploits </span></span>changing environments<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. As Late Permian climates <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">deteriorated new s<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">pecies emerged to replace those eliminated. Some paleontologists even speak of a short-lived mid-extinction recovery phase. But then the Earth's climate systems were driven through a climatic tipping point by particularly strong Late Permian Siberian eruptions. Massive GHG induced global warming delivered the knockout punch. The warming polar regions and their contiguous coastal waters thawed. This had two effects:</span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1- thawed permafrost containing buried organic matter provided <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">food</span> for microbes and fungi which broke down the<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> organic matter, releasing <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">industrial quantities <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">of</span> GHG: CO2 and methane.</span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2- methane ice (methane clathrate) - ice containing imprisoned methane - in polar soils and offshore sea<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">floor </span>melted, rel<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">easing industrial quantities <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">of methane, a potent GHG.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> This, second pulse of GHG release was t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">he sucker punch that nearly killed <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">off life. About <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">90% of non-microbial species on land and sea went extinct. Evolution<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'s trajectory was permanently modified by the shake up the Late Permian extinction.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">During the Carboniferous and Permian, the <u>diapsids</u> had been a minor element of most faunas, only a small lizard-like creature here and there, never large, and rarely more than 2 or 3% of the total number of animals. In the Early Triassic <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">[</span>period following the Permian extinction<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">], some diapsid<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s</span>, in pa<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">rticular the group called the archosaurs ("ruling reptile") took over the carnivore niches. They preyed on the re-evolving synapsid [mammal<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> ancestor] plant-eaters. During the first 20 million years of the Triassic, the basal archosaurs diversified slowly, and eventually included huge predators, some of them up to 5 meters long. The first dinosaurs appeared about this time, and diversified in the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Late Triassic, rather small, bipedal forms at first, they soon reached huge size. Mammals were around during the entire age of dinosaurs, s<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mall descendents of the <u>formerly dominant synapsid<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s</span></u>, but the dinosaurs ruled the Earth for the next 165 million years, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">until the<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ir extinction 66 million years ago.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Then, and after a long wait in the wings, the synapsid descendants, the mammals, finally moved back to dominate the Earth, a position they had last had in the Late Permian. The synapsid - diapsid - synapsid cycle <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">[of dominance] had gone full cycle." Page 24</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>Ok, GHG can be dangerous but what is the relevance for today</u>?</span></b> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The recent explosion of knowledge about the mechanisms of mass extinction is important for understanding the gravity and possible outcome of the current ecological / demographic cris<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">es the World <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">is living through. At present, human agricultural and industrial activity has reached a level where it is <u>perturbing the rhythm of </u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>the natural recycling of biologically active elements</u>. This situation inadvertently replicates the chemical imbalances of previous mass extinction events, the Great Permian Mass Extinction in particular.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2015/10/book-review-vaclav-smil-cycles-of-life.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2015/10/book-review-vaclav-smil-cycles-of-life.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> A little reflection will show why such perturbations are important. The fact that an element like oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, carbon, phosphorous, iron<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> is biologically active means two things:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1- abnormal amounts (too little, too much) are liable to interfere with the healthy - normal<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> - functioning of bi<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ological systems (organisms, ecosystems). Like powerful machinery or chemicals, what is useful becomes dangerous when misused. Nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorous are extremely active biologically and when present in the wrong amounts or in the wrong form are among the most to<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">xic elements known.</span></span></span> </span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2-<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> "tiny" but chronic imbalances in the rates of element recycling rates soon lead to critical imbalances. Critics of GW (hypocritically or stupidly) argue that the amount of im<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">balance in Earth's carbon cycle induced by human industrial activity and agriculture is tiny in comparison to the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">total <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">amount of carbon</span></span></span></span> cycl<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing in <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Earth's ecosystems. By way of comparison, consider a "tiny" imbalance in the the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">birth</span> / death ratio of human population leading to a 1% per annum increas<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> in world population. One percent, so what? But this "tiny" increase, year in and year out, leads to a doubling of world population in a mere 70 years<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> less than a <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">century and just under <u>three</u> generations! The lesson to take away: sm<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">all <span style="color: red;">cum</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">ulative</span> increases (or decreases) lead to surprising results in short order. Even at a much more leisurely growth rate of 1% <u>per decade</u>, human population would take 183 years to double, a mere five generations, a period of time that would only take us back to the invention and early expansion of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">r</span>ail travel and electrical <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">te<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lecommunication (telegraph), a period that we recognize as the beginning of the contemporary technical, industrial society, not so long ago..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> We now understand the role that such "tiny" chronic imbalances - produced by natural causes, not human activity - play in mass extinctions of the past. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This knowledge places humanity at a cross-roads. Do we, collectively, make the choice to replace GHG producing technologies in industry, power production, transport and agriculture by renewable "green" energy technologies: solar, wind, tidal and wave power, passive solar building heating, hydrogen fuel cells, geothermal energy, energy efficiency and<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> low energy consumption lifes<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tyles? Or do we maintain the status quo fossil energy system<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> till it either disrupts climate to the point that civilized society collapses or we run out of cheap fossil fuel? The choice is ours, today, especially the young people, to make. My generation, the Baby Boomers - those born between 1946 and 1963 -</span></span></span></span> b<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lew our chance at greatness. We, collectively, let ourselves be conned into a hyperco<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nsumptive lifestyle designed (consciously or not) to maximize the profits of multinational corporations. Even those who did not aspire to become the high living "officers" of the multinationals or the financial sector which bankrolls them, applied ourselves to becoming members of the servitor classes (professionals, middle management, technical support). We learned to define our self-worth relative to those we could look down upon because they could not consume as much as we could. In the meantime, we learned to reject the Real Values of life: family, community, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">p</span>ride in work well done, the expression in our personal lives and work of our deepest held values. The mill<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e</span>nnials (born 1982 to 2000), though they know it not yet, though they feign ignorance or cower in cheap cynicism, will be forced to make the necessary changes my generation failed <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">to make. Do the millennials still have the time and the resources to make the transition to a Green Economy? It's anyone's guess. There may still be enough time and readily extractable resources left but the transition <u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">will</span> no longer be peaceful</u>.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> We Boomers held back change too long.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIrW5rJNpqjOyJnOu3edV0NtIiMvvTsSuClwRM5xmzY0SakbFR13NPSxkqJnL2x2MQmTnmzZYxmgkqrLOLTvn0hH29Rb_Pz467rmewK5kfkxq8igYovmdczLZykq0Cs3GMwRqLDVFdfI/s1600/siberian-hole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIrW5rJNpqjOyJnOu3edV0NtIiMvvTsSuClwRM5xmzY0SakbFR13NPSxkqJnL2x2MQmTnmzZYxmgkqrLOLTvn0hH29Rb_Pz467rmewK5kfkxq8igYovmdczLZykq0Cs3GMwRqLDVFdfI/s400/siberian-hole.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Methane blow hole in Siberia caused by thawed permafrost. Permafrost locks up buried organic manner for millennia (or longer). When it thaws, the formerly frozen organics become food for bacteria and fungi. The result of their digestion are GHG like CO2 and methane. When gas pressure builds up it creates these huge blow holes in the Siberian tundra. For size comparison note the tiny human figures along the upper rim. The GHG released by thawing permafrost and seabed methane-ice deposits constitute a <u>positive feedback</u>, <u>amplifying the original rise in temperature that released the GHG</u>. This mechanism was the "second pulse" of GHG that constituted the "sucker punch" that killed off 90% of life on Earth during the Permian Mass Extinction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>notes</u>:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1- Isotope: "</b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="oneClick-link">any</span> <span class="oneClick-link">of</span> <span class="oneClick-link">two</span> <span class="oneClick-link">or</span> <span class="oneClick-link">more</span> <span class="oneClick-link">forms</span> <span class="oneClick-link">of</span> <span class="oneClick-link">a</span> <span class="oneClick-link">chemical</span> <span class="oneClick-link">element,</span> <span class="oneClick-link">having</span> <span class="oneClick-link">the</span> <span class="oneClick-link">same</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">number</span> <span class="oneClick-link">of</span> <span class="oneClick-link">protons</span> <span class="oneClick-link">in</span> <span class="oneClick-link">the</span> <span class="oneClick-link">nucleus,</span> <span class="oneClick-link">or</span> <span class="oneClick-link">the</span> <span class="oneClick-link">same</span> <span class="oneClick-link">atomic</span> <span class="oneClick-link">number,</span> <span class="oneClick-link">but</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">having</span> <span class="oneClick-link">different</span> <span class="oneClick-link">numbers</span> <span class="oneClick-link">of</span> <span class="oneClick-link">neutrons</span> <span class="oneClick-link">in</span> <span class="oneClick-link">the</span> <span class="oneClick-link">nucleus,</span> <span class="oneClick-link">or</span> <span class="oneClick-link">different</span> <span class="oneClick-link">atomic</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">weights.</span> <span class="oneClick-link">There</span> <span class="oneClick-link">are</span> <span class="oneClick-link">275</span> <span class="oneClick-link">isotopes</span> <span class="oneClick-link">of</span> <span class="oneClick-link">the</span> <span class="oneClick-link">81</span> <span class="oneClick-link">stable</span> <span class="oneClick-link">elements,</span> <span class="oneClick-link">in</span> <span class="oneClick-link">addition</span> <span class="oneClick-link">to</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">over</span> <span class="oneClick-link">800</span> <span class="oneClick-link">radioactive</span> <span class="oneClick-link">isotopes,</span> <span class="oneClick-link">and</span> <span class="oneClick-link">every</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">element</span> <span class="oneClick-link">has</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">known</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">isotopic</span> <span class="oneClick-link">forms.</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">Isotopes</span> <span class="oneClick-link">of</span> <span class="oneClick-link">a</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">single</span> <span class="oneClick-link">element</span> <span class="oneClick-link">possess</span> <span class="oneClick-link">almost</span> <span class="oneClick-link">identical</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">properties."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">From dictionary.com. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available"> Thus carbon 12 has 6 protons and 6 neutrons in its nucleus, carbon 13 has 6 p and 7 n. Both are non-radioactive (stable isotopes) with virtually identical chemical properties (only their <u>rate of reaction</u> in biological chemistry may vary slightly). Carbon 14 has 6 p and 8 n but is radioactive (non-stable isotope). In 5,730 years, <u>one half</u> of the atoms in a sample of carbon 14 will have decayed to nitrogen 14 (with seven protons and seven neutrons in its nucleus). Thus the "half-life" of C 14 is 5,730 years. If one can determine the amount of C 14 which remains in an organic specimen (mummy wrapping from a Pharaoh's tomb, for example), one can determine the date of the specimen. A bone which has only one quarter of its original C 14 can be dated to 2 X 5,730 or approximately 11,500 years before the present. (One half of the C 14 remains after one half-life. The second half-life reduces the amount remaining by half - 1/2 X 1/2 = 1/4.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b> </span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-30649702951876783502017-05-04T18:37:00.000-07:002017-05-04T18:37:00.242-07:00Future climate: the poo is in the fan<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> The land that is now called Québec province was shaped during the last two million years by cycles of glaciation / deglaciation (the Ice Ages). Many times the earth was scoured by mile deep glaciers and the rocky debris they carry. This is a land of lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and creeks. Water - or snow and ice in winter - is a predominant feature of our landscape. (The canoe was the primary mode of transport among the First Nations peoples of this land.) Spring flooding is the norm in many parts of the province. However 2017 is turning out to be an annus horribilis, a perfect weather bomb of late heavy snowfall and record or near recordbreaking spring rain.. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>"</b>As water levels continue to rise in the national capital region, a
climate scientist is warning flooding and extreme weather events are
here to stay, and says homeowners should prepare.</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Swollen rivers and streams have threatened hundreds of homes in the Outaouais thanks to recent heavy rainfall — three times the normal amount since April 1.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">University of Ottawa climate scientist Paul Beckwith says that's due
to a changing climate, and says we're seeing its effects "on a
day-to-day basis" in weather patterns.</span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"What we can see is that the jet streams are behaving differently.
They're much slower, wavier, and storms are therefore moving slower. So
when they're carrying water, they're hovering over an area longer than
they would be normally, so they're depositing more water," Beckwith told
host Hallie Cotnam on CBC Radio's <em>Ottawa Morning</em>."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/capital-region-flooding-climate-change-1.4098783">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/capital-region-flooding-climate-change-1.4098783</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> And with continued global warming, we should expect more of the same. What we are seeing this year is a <u>foretaste</u>, most likely, of our future climate. Better get used to it..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> Some of the unexpected coasts of global warming / climate change: infrastructure damage as in this road wash out</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Rigaud, Québec: a town built in a flood plain, used to flooding but this year is special.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> Rigaud, road washout. And was there an <u>injury</u> associated with the skewed car? If so, more "collateral damage" of economic "progress" at any price..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> Gatineau, western Québec, 4th largest city in the province, April 21 - <u>two weeks ago</u>! This flood season is stuck in high gear and we probably haven't seen the worst yet. As I write, meteorologists are calling for heavy rain throughout southern Québec - including the flood zones - for the next three days, May 5 - 7, 2017. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> Gatineau: "roads like canals". Today, May 4, and with three days of heavy weekend rain predicted for May 5 - 7 ahead..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> Faut se débrouiller - gotta use your smarts</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Another knock on effect of global warming (and economic "progress" at any price): personal property damage (and the concurrent inconvenience, stress and loss). This is the kind of stuff that barely gets mentioned in official scientific reports on climate change like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> </b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-33251549097136222232017-04-24T11:28:00.004-07:002017-04-24T15:23:09.478-07:00Book Review: Andrew H Knoll, Life on a Young Planet<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Andrew H Knoll: <u>Life on a Young Planet</u>, Princeton University Press (2003, 2015), 246 pages, index, </b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>numerous photos and diagrams, </b></span>very extensive "further reading" list for those who want to pursue the origin of life and early evolutionary development. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We shall not cease from exploration</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And the end of all our exploring</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Will be to arrive where we started</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And know the place for the first time T S Eliot</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Des<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">pite an almost bewildering diversity of form and function, all cells share a common core of molecular features<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.. The recipr<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ocal observation is equally stri<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">king. In spite of their <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">fundamental unity of molecular structure, organisms display extraordinary variation in size, shape<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, physiology, and behavior. <u>L<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">if</span>e's unity and diversity are both remarkable</u> in their own ways; together<u> they comp</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ris</span>e the two great themes of comparative biology</u>. (page 17, emphasis<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> added</span>)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Animals may be evolution's icing, but bacteria are the cake (page 19)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>abbreviations used in this article</u>:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>CO2: carbon dioxide, involved in the photosynthesis / respiration cycle. It is also a greenhouse gas, trapping heat (infrared radiation) and warming the earth. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Mya: million years ago </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>geological periods discussed</u>:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Cambrian: 543 Mya to 485 Mya. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">During</span> the "Cambrian Explosion", "large" - multicellular - plants and animals appeared. "Modern" - oxygen breathing<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- </span>forms of life proliferated in the seas and soon spread to land in the following order: plants, arthropods (insects and their kin) and, finally, our own ancestors, the vertebrates (marine tetrapods)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Proterozoic (also called the pre-Cambrian): about 2.5 billion to 543 million years ago. Aside from <u>colonial microbial</u> stromatolites which formed coral-like structures in water, life was microbial. See two stromatolite photos below.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Most definitely a nerd book. The intended readership are both science literate general readers and workers in the earth and life sciences. To appreciate this text fully you need a decent background - self-acquired or school learned - in the earth sciences, paleontology and evolutionary theory in particular. A basic grounding or working knowledge in biology (ecology) and (bio)chemistry helps. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">On the plus side, t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">he </span></span>author's style is remarkably readable. Essentials are generally well explained, allowing the novice to tread into deeper waters than they otherwise would be capable of handling.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The subject of <u>Life on a Young Planet</u> is the appearance and evolution of early life on earth <u>before</u> the Great Cambrian Explosion, about 600 million years ago (Mya), when "large" (visible to the naked eye) plants and animals wildly proliferated and "the world as we know it" was born. On young earth, life was microscopic: bacteria, one celled animals and plants.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <u>How old is life</u>? The first microfossil traces of life are hotly contested. Mineralogical processes can produce microfossil like structures. Finding "biomarkers", chemical signatures of life (or of its decomposition products), in association with putative microfossils can, in some circumstances, provide a strong case that one is dealing with real microfossils. Today, claims of microfossils 3.7 years old are being made. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If confirmed, they would indicate an extraordinary early emergence of life. The solar system <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">was born 4.5 billion years ago and the ea<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">rth i<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tself i<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s only about 4 billion years old<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">!</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9vIBWcnKX4QC1JQ_RZBZCJDegPOIGtFN-RRhkXl0-X0drpzIUO2za2CSM99FVIIGWLaf1NJm0JVfBFlBklsoecoEVjNUz0u5RPlk-_nop_QrmdXtH4AcPcKjk-AsZEJnpP1nzROeIdMw/s1600/450px-Phylogenetic_tree.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9vIBWcnKX4QC1JQ_RZBZCJDegPOIGtFN-RRhkXl0-X0drpzIUO2za2CSM99FVIIGWLaf1NJm0JVfBFlBklsoecoEVjNUz0u5RPlk-_nop_QrmdXtH4AcPcKjk-AsZEJnpP1nzROeIdMw/s400/450px-Phylogenetic_tree.svg.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The modern tree
of life, based on genetic similarity. Modern multicellular <u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a</span>nimals and plants</u> are found in
the upper right hand corner among the "more evolved" Eukaryota. Click on image to enlarge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Everything you wanted to know about Archaea <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- the extremophiles - </span>but were afraid to ask:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/archaea/archaea.html">http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/archaea/archaea.html</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7mtY8RGSx4HjreFI46Xc2SIHd2E6T_cO4hTo3zFk5t0sQBdOaqbutqtnkLlYR-vNAcuEuY5Q9lEu4XAeSoh4ncNk28jpoT1vO2dMYBTETFBKxOcw5e37YNQc7qQjcKRMHJb3eIkkOlLs/s1600/testate200.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7mtY8RGSx4HjreFI46Xc2SIHd2E6T_cO4hTo3zFk5t0sQBdOaqbutqtnkLlYR-vNAcuEuY5Q9lEu4XAeSoh4ncNk28jpoT1vO2dMYBTETFBKxOcw5e37YNQc7qQjcKRMHJb3eIkkOlLs/s400/testate200.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> A modern
testate amoeba, which lives in a mineral shell which is secreted by this one
celled "animal" (technically, a <u>protist</u>, neither animal or plant). Testate amoebas are Eu<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">k</span>aryota, "more evolved" lifeforms, and lie on<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the right<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">most branch of the Tree of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Life along with animals and plants. See above diagram<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. They are one of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">earliest animal-like life forms dating back at least 750 Mya, well before the Cambrian Explosion when modern multicelled animals and plants proliferated<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, diversified and flourished. Testate <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">amoeba are still important <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">members</span> of <u>contemporary</u> aquatic and soil ecosystems<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> A fossil testate amoeba shell unearthed by author Knoll. The white bar on the lower left of the photo is 25 microns (millionths of a meter). The shell is thus about 100 microns in length, the width of the average human hair. It was secreted about 720 to 635 Mya in the pre-Cambrian.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Video of living testate amoeba. The shell is composed of sand gra<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ins <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">cemented together with <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">silicic acid secreted by the amoeba.</span></span></span></b></span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tku6rIelVNg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tku6rIelVNg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></b> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Over time early microbes developed communal "biofilms"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. Later<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> biofilms</span></span></span> would evolve into the tissues of higher multicellular organisms like plants and animals). <u>Stromatolites</u> are pseudo-corals consisting of la<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">yers</span> of mineral matter<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> (sand grains or fine sediments) </span>alternating with <u>photosynthesizing microbial mat</u>s. Stromatolites may achieve impressive dimensions and some stomatolite fossils have been dated at a credible 3.5 billion years. Interestingly, living stromatolites are found in some seas today.</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2knHExhVWQS3pPrAdgynTotQ-i_skUJKRNxumVJL2w_i2M9wkMYMO8AujzUNNFEI980alw5wYCDdp5VeyMwUMu1XnqiifBUjzuf7f37p6Z-MVsUQCEbOt9QSW7qOYoTDQTWLQTlYVTQ/s1600/shark-bay-australia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2knHExhVWQS3pPrAdgynTotQ-i_skUJKRNxumVJL2w_i2M9wkMYMO8AujzUNNFEI980alw5wYCDdp5VeyMwUMu1XnqiifBUjzuf7f37p6Z-MVsUQCEbOt9QSW7qOYoTDQTWLQTlYVTQ/s400/shark-bay-australia.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <u>living</u> stromatolites, Shark Bay, Australia</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIirn2R7QMhQ0Vf24HDo9wC3KHmWGHIHaepvZINxXbbIE2KiwGSfeWDvCYoC4Wh5ycIbkAbIBIcmHC7iz44etSMyx3EMYNsZIPk2z1-P3G9wDk8RKYrUdxARwgTxrhwxz2TV61cRuOUqE/s1600/DS123d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIirn2R7QMhQ0Vf24HDo9wC3KHmWGHIHaepvZINxXbbIE2KiwGSfeWDvCYoC4Wh5ycIbkAbIBIcmHC7iz44etSMyx3EMYNsZIPk2z1-P3G9wDk8RKYrUdxARwgTxrhwxz2TV61cRuOUqE/s400/DS123d.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> pre-Cambrian stromatolite <u>fossil</u> from Bolivia</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Lif<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e on a Young Planet</span></span></u> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">argues</span> that life is a co-dependent, co-evolving network of energy flows, chemical cycles and living organisms, a <u>living</u> tissue or fabric which includes the body of the earth itself, its seas<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and</span> atmosphere. The health of individual<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> organisms and species</span> ultimately depends upon the integrity of the whole fabric, a lesson humanity is painfully learning today <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">because of our</span> disruption of vital ecological systems and the chemical equilibria of the planet.</span></b><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/01/book-review-disaster-ecology-bright.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/01/book-review-disaster-ecology-bright.html</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2015/10/book-review-vaclav-smil-cycles-of-life.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2015/10/book-review-vaclav-smil-cycles-of-life.html</a></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> An interesting example of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">c</span>o-dependence and co-evolution are the Eu<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">k</span>aryota, the domain which includes <u>dominant modern life-forms like plants and animals</u>. It is now believed that the Eukaryot<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a</span> arose from the symbiotic co-dependence of single celled organisms. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It is believed that t</span>he mitochondria - the sub-cellular "organelles" which our bodies' cells use to burn sugars with oxygen to liberate vital energy - were once free living organisms. Several lines of evidence support this conclusion, including the fact that mitochondria contain their own DNA (genetic code) and replicate independently when our bodily cells replicate.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> From the micro-level to the macro-level, the co-dependence and co-evolution of life is evident. Plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and water from the soil. Using the energy of visible light rays from the sun, sugars, starches and other energy rich molecules are synthesized from CO2 and wate<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">r during photosynthesis</span>. Oxygen is released <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">as a by-product</span>. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Photosynthesized</span> energy rich hydrocarbons (sugar, starch, oil, fat) form the basis of the food web. Herbivores eat plants to incorporate energy rich hydrocarbons to power their metabolisms. Carnivores eat herbivores to incorporate energy rich molecules incorporated in the herbivores bodies. Through co-dependent co-evolution, efficient carbon cycl<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing was</span> established<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> over time<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">:</span></span> the <u>photosynthesis / respiration cycle</u>. Plants absorb CO2, synthesize energy rich hydrocarbons and release oxygen during photosynthesis. Animals respire the oxygen released by plants to burn energy rich hydrocarbons, releasing CO2 in the process. A rough equilibrium between photosynthesis and respiration has been established over time<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> allowing all organisms to flourish. Too much oxygen, and our forests would burn up in planetary conflagrations<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> while too little would prevent the emergence of animal life.</span></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> But co-dependent co-evolution runs even deeper. Both plants and animals are Eu<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">k</span>ar<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y</span>ota. When these organisms die most of their organic matter is quickly recycled by decomposers: insects, worms, fungi, bacteria.. But not all organic matter is recycled. In water, organic matter may precipitate to the bottom as sediment before it decomposes. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Such</span> environments are often anoxic, contain little or no oxygen. Now, </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Eu<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">k</span>ar<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y</span>ota</span></b> like plants and animals require oxygen and are therefore <u>incapable of extracting energy from buried sediments</u> (and, in the process, <u>recycling vital bio-elements</u> back into the environment, in this case, sea or lake water). Only anaerobic pro<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">karyot</span>a - micro-organisms not requiring oxygen for metabolism - are capable of processing buried organic matter to liberate essential bio-elements like nitrogen and sulfur. In effect, without the recycling activity of the "lowly" p<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">rokaryota</span>, we <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"mo<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">re evolved" Eu<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">karyota</span></span></span> would disappear as vital bio-elements were buried and removed from biospheric circulation<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">!</span> The "web of life" is much more than a fuzzy New Age or mystical meme. It is a literal, physical reality upon which our very lives depend..</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> As prof Knoll puts it so eloquently,</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"<u>Life on a Young Planet</u> records that moment in time when biologists and Earth scientists began working together to build an integrative picture of our planet's history. We now know that <u>we can only understand life's evolutionary trajectory by embedding it in the chronicle of Earth's dynamic environmental history</u>. That is the lesson of deep Earth history, and it is also a lesson for today, when human technology has emerged as an environmental force of geological prominence. Whether we look outward, searching for a second example of life, or forward, hoping to navigate wisely through an era of mounting global change, the record of Earth and life through time provides a fundamentally important catalog of experience that can help guide our actions." (page XV, emphasis added)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> As is so often the case with the best science <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">writing, much of the charm of this book comes from it's evolutionary approach to science itself. The clash of competing theories, the fruitful alliances between disciplines, the slow unearthing of critical clues.. all these are grain for Prof Knoll's mill. For those interested in life's early his<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tory and deep ecology and who possess the requisite science back<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ground, this book is a must read. Even novice earth science readers should find it a challenging and stimulating read (and don't forget the extensive <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">suggested reading list for aid..) <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Definitely re</span>commended<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"For scientists, unanswered questions are like Everests unclimbed, an irresistible lure for restless minds" (page 224)</span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span> </b> </span><br />
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hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-65343000287665055952017-04-18T11:09:00.001-07:002017-04-18T17:12:49.173-07:00(More) hidden costs of fossil fuel use<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvwS8eaoNkCAbCJQDJT4n2WdVcHlMpkxfeEYGtb5zh6HkdG3qRStj6NBo_C9Dn055lrMNtsJA3GRtqtcwgyyslzzNJafgjY5HyYpUWOjzxgxfaJHBGuUc9dz9oXCXDzZQGEqpzXbdDE24/s1600/forest-fire-991479_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvwS8eaoNkCAbCJQDJT4n2WdVcHlMpkxfeEYGtb5zh6HkdG3qRStj6NBo_C9Dn055lrMNtsJA3GRtqtcwgyyslzzNJafgjY5HyYpUWOjzxgxfaJHBGuUc9dz9oXCXDzZQGEqpzXbdDE24/s400/forest-fire-991479_1280.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <u>Fort McMurray, Alberta, summer 2016</u>, a monster forest fire - nicknamed The Beast - consumed some 500,000 hectares of boreal forest, an area larger than the province of Prince Edward.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"</b>The fire destroyed 2,400 structures, nearly 10 per cent of the city,
when it ripped through in May and forced more than 80,000 residents to
flee."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/the-fort-mcmurray-disaster-read-the-latest-weekend/article29930041/">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/the-fort-mcmurray-disaster-read-the-latest-weekend/article29930041/</a><b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Links to our articles on the Big Fire: </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/05/future-climate-alberta-jumps-gun.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/05/future-climate-alberta-jumps-gun.html</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/05/alberta-forest-fire-update-monster-is.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/05/alberta-forest-fire-update-monster-is.html</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/05/alberta-forest-fire-update-monster-is.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/05/alberta-forest-fire-update-monster-is.html</a><b><br /></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> A year, nearly, has passed since The Beast passed through Alberta, enough time to begin to register some of its long term effects. Since calamitous fires like the Beast will become more common in a greenhouse gas warmed world, we can begin, if not to measure, at least to appreciate what some of the costs of continued fossil fuel use will be.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>externalized cost: </b>Fundamentally, cost externalization occurs when a company transfers some
of its moral responsibilities as costs to the community directly or as
degradation to the environment. For example, railroads and airlines
transfer the cost of fuel, noise, and terminal infrastructure to the
community. Airlines and auto manufacturers transfer the cost of degraded
air quality to the community and the environment. By externalizing to
the community or the environment, many true costs become lost in
analysis because the true cost is non-quantifiable and neither the
community nor the environment have effective advocates to recoup the
damages. A major modern theme in the relationship of business to society
is the society's ability (or inability) to resist this kind of externalization. In its extreme, society collapses as business realizes
its profits. (Wikipedia: cost externalizing) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> In effect, the long term human and environmental costs of present and future Fort McMurray-type fires are the <u>externalized costs of employing fossil fuels</u> to power our industrial lifestyles. The continually rising costs of these "negative externalities" pose vital questions to industrial society:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1- are the benefits of our modern lifestyles worth the cost?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>2- are their other ways - renewable energy, for example - to obtain the benefits of modernity while avoiding the rising externalized costs whose impacts we are finally beginning to appreciate? </b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG6BoiatN9VZBuUm3phv31p4bQmpm5Y6VQkE5fcKuRq8f0hOGJ6tIMLMJGvgmQHbtBP2S3_1qCxnRC7aE1-HzPml-7GKuMyuoGVMUcmS6aTh218yTMRvMi9xj5pwdXp2vdBCUTTtKYj3w/s1600/fire-ftmc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG6BoiatN9VZBuUm3phv31p4bQmpm5Y6VQkE5fcKuRq8f0hOGJ6tIMLMJGvgmQHbtBP2S3_1qCxnRC7aE1-HzPml-7GKuMyuoGVMUcmS6aTh218yTMRvMi9xj5pwdXp2vdBCUTTtKYj3w/s400/fire-ftmc.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> What then will some of the future costs of continued fossil fuel use be? What can we expect?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> For openers, the brave, self-sacrificing men who physically and emotionally over-extended themselves fighting The Beast are (probably) damaged for life:</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"The University of Alberta study found one in five of the 355
firefighters surveyed reported persistent respiratory issues including
coughing, breathlessness, wheezing and chest tightness.</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> And they're battling more than just physical ailments — mental-health issues affect 1 in 6."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fort-mcmurray-wildfire-firefighter-study-1.4073284">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fort-mcmurray-wildfire-firefighter-study-1.4073284</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> While it is still too early to tell what the long term impacts of the Fort McMurray fire will be, the earlier Slave Lake fire of 2011 may offer some insights:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"</b>Coutts said the Slave Lake fire hit his department hard — half the
firefighters quit within the subsequent two years, and many reported
ongoing respiratory issues."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <b>Imagine! <u>Fifty percen</u>t felt obliged to quit their profession because of psychological and / or physical aftereffects. These are the kind of human - and social - costs we should expect on our greenhouse gas warmed future earth. Think of all the money invested in training those fire fighters and all their experience lost. Then there are long term <u>public health costs</u>, to be borne primarily by the taxpayer (not the fossil fuel corporations or their "officers"). Consider also the <u>human costs</u> of post-traumatic stress disorder and broken health: self-medication, drug and alcohol abuse, broken families.. A vast out-rippling of hidden costs and suffering resulting from our collective addiction to fossil fuels. Are the benefits really worth the costs? (Especially as these costs will escalate dramatically in the coming decades..) </b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="pullquote-quotation">'At the end of the day, you're basically trading a piece of your life away to help people.'</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="pullquote-quotation"><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fort-mcmurray-wildfire-firefighter-study-1.4073284">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/fort-mcmurray-wildfire-firefighter-study-1.4073284</a> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> At least researchers on post-tra<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">umatic stress disorder are making some money from the fire (but the taxpayers still foot the bill..)</span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/one-million-dollars-ptsd-fort-mcmurray-wildfire-1.4073187">http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/one-million-dollars-ptsd-fort-mcmurray-wildfire-1.4073187</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> "I<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'m not a professor, I'm just someone learning to deal with mental illness"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> -</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">climate changed induced mental illness.. (see video link in above article)</span></span></span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJ99SaivyjFqcj3kS5zQ4MwPm2Ien1aydV0iZIHCSmLjOOpmZ5ZW5hgBkKPmSUnqAi9KV6POMarZs-YnBXF5UYOcf2MCOSlhyVBanjw5GvQMKS18U_jQzdN6ZakyN1uzL4zXSROplN8g/s1600/11592777-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJ99SaivyjFqcj3kS5zQ4MwPm2Ien1aydV0iZIHCSmLjOOpmZ5ZW5hgBkKPmSUnqAi9KV6POMarZs-YnBXF5UYOcf2MCOSlhyVBanjw5GvQMKS18U_jQzdN6ZakyN1uzL4zXSROplN8g/s400/11592777-.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></b> </span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b> </span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-65283323424126879232017-03-23T17:24:00.001-07:002017-04-18T11:52:25.350-07:00seed of the moon, 26 february, 2017<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>New moon, 26 February, 2017</b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiScKF4XcFmRxhyphenhyphenP_l4CO3N1VprQJuCEQLR_FavQrpdrBzS1Skg9dIOV_TLFfxOuCiKoC3RnjrYZHykKxYLpUA9EpOISDfVYUpSO0UYrT3XBxZDzBn-toFWEAoY4eG6vnnNe6bfuRArj4w/s1600/new-moon-october-2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiScKF4XcFmRxhyphenhyphenP_l4CO3N1VprQJuCEQLR_FavQrpdrBzS1Skg9dIOV_TLFfxOuCiKoC3RnjrYZHykKxYLpUA9EpOISDfVYUpSO0UYrT3XBxZDzBn-toFWEAoY4eG6vnnNe6bfuRArj4w/s400/new-moon-october-2012.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> At this time of the planting of the seed of the new lunar cycle, I am struck with the observation - or revelation - that I am responsible for the future of the world.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Everyone <u>else</u> is responsible for the world's fate too, of course.. This fact, though, doesn't diminish the fact of my personal agency.. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> To be human or enlightened - or simply alive, I assume my personal agency, my personal responsibility for the "fate of the earth". It is as "simple" as that..</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The above observation is scientific - as well as "gnostic" - in nature and so can be demonstrated scientifically Physically speaking, life <span style="color: red;">is</span> energy flow. <u>No flow, no life</u> (<u>note</u> 1). The energy flow through me implies that, as long as I am alive, I cannot <span style="color: red;">but</span> act on my environment. At the most basic level, my breathing removes oxygen and adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere (a physical action on the environment whether or not I am conscious of it). Therefore I possess (some) "agency" on the world.. QED</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The question of how to act, what to act toward is a bit more problematic, admittedly. The French philosopher / sociologist of self-organization, Edgar Morin, has some interesting things to say on the matter.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>- <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A</span>ll actions in the social, cultural, political realms have unforeseen / unforeseeable consequences ("<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">blowback"). </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">T</span>hese consequences may be positive<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, negative or mixed. Typically, some parties will gain, some will<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> lo<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">se<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, </span>so whether the effects are positive or negative often depends on your perspective<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(!)</span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We are left <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">in the curious <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ituation</span></span> of (unavoidably<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">) interacting with our environment but without detailed knowledge of the proba<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ble longterm consequences of those <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">interactions..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> The only ratio<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nal </span>conclusion I <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">can d</span>raw is that we have to act according to what we see <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">i</span>s right (<u>Right Action</u>)<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- and to hell with the consequence<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Edgar-Morin-La-M%C3%A9thode-167436323275851/">https://www.facebook.com/Edgar-Morin-La-M%C3%A9thode-167436323275851/</a></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>notes</u>:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1- cryptobiosis: no energy flow leads to either death or "suspended animation":</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11290443">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11290443</a></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>The full article:</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://courses.washington.edu/bioe555/Clegg%202001.pdf">http://courses.washington.edu/bioe555/Clegg%202001.pdf</a></b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">"</span>Live tardigrades have been regenerated from dried moss kept in a museum
for over 100 years! Once the moss was moistened, they successfully
recovered from their tuns" </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/tardigrade/index.html">http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/tardigrade/index.html</a></b></span></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-44689895054204526892017-02-23T13:05:00.000-08:002017-08-21T12:23:16.632-07:00Book Review: David Keith, A case for climate engineering<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAV6L9jv8jAByt4jKRyDXpkphH5cTRdwC63stCSpEi6GOYvwo5dd69CqMj8E08suKrRjpHc9i0biBOMPxeEcgZAnlBVbm3686NPCbllFUKNokhKO5N3-h6JKnDXuWtS4kEGz5VxzafuuQ/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAV6L9jv8jAByt4jKRyDXpkphH5cTRdwC63stCSpEi6GOYvwo5dd69CqMj8E08suKrRjpHc9i0biBOMPxeEcgZAnlBVbm3686NPCbllFUKNokhKO5N3-h6JKnDXuWtS4kEGz5VxzafuuQ/s400/maxresdefault.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>David Keith: <u>A case for climate geoengineering</u> (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2013), 2013, 174 pages, chapter notes. No index, glossary, photos or graphics. Compact, may serve as an introduction and even as basic reference text (alas! - for the lack of an index and glossary).</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Abbreviations used in article</u>: </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>CC: climate change</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>CO2: carbon dioxide</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>GHG: greenhouse gases</b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>. GHG are responsible for global warming and climate change. The most important GHG are carbon dioxide and methane.</b></span> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>GW: global warming</b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Global warming (GW) and the subsequent climate change (CC) threaten, in the next few decades, to disrupt regional climates upon which traditional food production systems depend<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, affecting </span>crop and livestock choices, yields, timing of planting and harvesting, pest and disease risks, droughts, extreme weather damage risks, erosion rates, availability of water.. - <u>note</u> 1. Such regional disruption of food production would likely entail great misery, large scale population declines and an enormous rise is the risk of war and terrorism. For example <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GW causes</span> sea levels to rise: through the thermal expansion of water<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and</span> glacial melt in north and south polar regions.</b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266838504_THE_IMPACT_OF_SEA_LEVEL_RISE_ON_PAKISTAN'S_COASTAL_ZONES-_IN_A_CLIMATE_CHANGE_SCENARIO">impact of sea level rise on Pakistan coastal zone</a> </b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1169339">http://www.dawn.com/news/1169339</a> </b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> If things get really bad, low lying countries like Pakistan with nuclear weapons might be tempted to clear adjacent regions of their neighbor's territory of their population with exterminating nuclear strikes before invading and resettling their threatened coastal population on the "cleared" land. (Historical analog: the clearing and resettling of aboriginal populations by European colonists in North and South America.) </b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Since attempts to reduce GHG emissions<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> to safe levels </span>have failed - a case of "too little, too late" - some researches have proposed "geoengineering" fixes to compensate the negative impact of GW / CC. </b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2014/04/book-review-earthmasters-clive-hamilton.html">book review: Earthmasters by Clive Hamilton</a> </b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Geoengineering technologies fall into several broad categories: </b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1- carbon removal: offending GHG <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">are removed <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">directly <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">at the source </span></span>or from the atmosphere. Some technologies attempt to "sequester" or lock up carbon in a secure place: exhausted oil fields, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">natural underground caverns, absorption by minerals or photosynthetic alga<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e or bacteria (to produce food and biofuels). Generally, these schemes propose capturing CO2 emissions at the site of pr<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">oduction although some recent proposals are based on chemical absorption from the general atmosphere.</span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2-<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> solar geoengineering<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">these technologies </span></span>attempt to compensate <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">for the increased quantity of heat retained by the atmosphere by reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the earth's surface. The<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y</span> aim to reduce the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">flow</span> of energy heating the earth.</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <u>A case f</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>or geoengineering</u> pleads for a well-studied, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">gradually phased-in multilateral (global) adoption of solar geoengineering. The technologies reviewed by Keith may be described as first generation<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: </span>the "low hanging fruit", the most obvious and least costly applications. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It is possible to </span>cool the planet by injecting reflective particles of sulfuric acid into the upper atmosphere where they would scatter a tiny fraction of incoming sunlight back to space, creating a thin sunshade for the ground beneath.. it is cheap and technically easy. The specialized aircraft and disper<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">sal systems required to get started could be depl<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">oyed in a few years for the price of a Hollywood blockbuster.. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">[</span>It could</span>]</span></span> stop GW; it could increase crop yields, particularly those in the hottest and poorest parts of the world</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Solar geoengineering is an extraordinarily powerful tool. But it is also dangerous. It entails nove<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">l environmental risks. And, like CC itself, its effects are unequal, so even if it makes many farmers better off, others will be worse off. It is so cheap that almost any nation could afford to alter the earth's climate<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, a fact that may <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">accelerate the shifting balance of global power<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, raising security concerns that could, in the worst case, lead to war. If misused, geoengineering could drive extraordinarily rapid <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CC, imperiling global food supply<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span> In the long run, stable control of geoengineering may <u>require new forms of global governance and prove as disruptive to the political order of the 21st century as nuclear weapons were for the 20th</u>.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">" Pages X - XI (emp<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hasis added)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> One of the virtues of this compact, easy reading text is that the author aims for a "neutral objectivity". He states what geoeng<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ineering is - he is a researcher in the field - and what are the plausible (and implausible) risks of employing it. He describes why we might need to use it in the next few decades: <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">disruptive GW / CC<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and resultant</span> geopolitical instability</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. Then he presents the case why he <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">advocates</span> a cautious, gradual deployment within the next few years.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <u>Injection of a fine mist of sulfuric acid droplets in the upper atmosphere</u>, reflecting sunlight back into space, is perhaps the easiest, cheapest and most well understood proposal to date. I<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">t is founded <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">o</span>n the observation of planetary cooling following massive volcanic<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> eruptions which inject sulfuric acid aerosols into the stratosphere<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> such as the massive Mt Pina<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tubo eruption (Philippines) <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">of</span> 1991<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> which produced a global cooling of .6 C (1 degree Fahrenheit).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB33tifdkjumeGDpiYISD8LD04JxVDrs34aZqcwZWGGR1O3q_sotnOIgFkqwrp1sdUuKYIgy2y6vCReIhoP7amFDWRU7tXa05nHmp-JsvtntZFkEf4lI7yYNIAi2Gb6aCVgfNuqCwquJg/s1600/Pinatubo91eruption_plume.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB33tifdkjumeGDpiYISD8LD04JxVDrs34aZqcwZWGGR1O3q_sotnOIgFkqwrp1sdUuKYIgy2y6vCReIhoP7amFDWRU7tXa05nHmp-JsvtntZFkEf4lI7yYNIAi2Gb6aCVgfNuqCwquJg/s1600/Pinatubo91eruption_plume.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Thar she blows<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">!</span> Mount Pinatubo, 1991</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Cooling the earth to a significant degree would require a fleet of modified commercial or military jets. It could be implement<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ed today.. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Demonstration</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">projects -<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">o</span> test t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">he technology and observe negative side effects - could cost a "mere" $700 mill<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ion annually. This is a bit less than half the US military budget of 2015 ($1,600 million<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">), and the burden would be shared among the nations of the earth..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Sulfuric acid aerosol injection has side effects, often opposing, and not distributed equally around the world. Algal growth would be stimulated in some parts of the world ocean, producing more food for fish and possibly absorbing a bit of CO2 in the process. Other <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">parts of the ocean</span> would reach toxic levels of acidity, reducing photosynthetic activity and biomass production. Some regions of the globe will cool more than others<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">; modification</span> of temperature regimes disrupt<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s</span> weather patterns and weather <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">regulating</span> oceanic currents like the Gulf Stream. Some regions will receive more rain, others will become drier. Though the planet will cool and agricultural production rise, there will be winners and losers. The big problem here, of course, is how to redistribute gains - and compensate losses - on a global scale in a just, equitable fashion. Given current geo-political <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tensions, such redistribution will prove much, much harder than actually implementing aerosol injection and monitoring its effects. Dr Keith, to his credit, addresses such difficulties, being forced finally to admit that a new system of international governance will be required. Good luck on that one!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Aerosol injection should be "ramped up" gradually with close monitoring of side effects, both positive and negative. Fortunately, its effects are reversible. Stop in<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">jecting aerosols into the stratosphere and<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, in a year or t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">wo, the droplets have descended.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> In aerosol injection's favor, Dr Ke<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ith argues that crop loss due to heat stress</span></span> and flooding<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> aff<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">licts</span></span> mo<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">st harshly on the world' p<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">oorest. It is thus the poorest who could benefit th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e</span> most - <span style="color: red;">if</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">aerosol injection</span> "works" (</span></span> produces more positive <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">effects than negative ones).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <u>Why GW is really bad</u>. </span></span></span></span>The <span style="color: red;">unprecedented speed</span> of GW / CC will prove costly. Sea costs will flood forcing mass inland migrations. This is really bad because most people actually live near costs and much of the world is already <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">overpopulated.</span> Eleven of the fifteen largest cities of the world lie along sea coasts or on river estuaries. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">53% of the US population l<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ives near a seacoast. Relocating climate refugees inland (where else can they go ?) steals land from agricultural production. Our overpopulated world has already put <span style="color: red;">all</span> the arable land under the plow. Where, then, will <u>hundreds of millions of </u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>coastal climate refugees</u> go? The moon? Mars? Not likely..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Then there's the question of the <span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">increasing </span>frequency of extreme weather events</span>. </b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch19s19-3-6.html">http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch19s19-3-6.html</a> </b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> As the world warms, evaporation increases<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Water vapor carries</span></span> with it the energy which was required to raise the energy of water molecules from the liquid state to vapor (the "heat of evaporation" or "latent heat"). The <u>hydrological cycle</u> comprises the cyclic movement of water from the liquid state (lakes, oceans), through</b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>- evaporation,</b></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>- transport of vapor by circulating air currents, </b></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>- recondensation of vapor as precipitation, </b></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>- f<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">low of water downhill to lakes and oceans<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> completing the cycle.</span> </span></span> </b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Increased evaporation means two things: 1- more energy (latent heat) carried by the atmosphere, 2- increased speed circulation of water in the hydrological cycle. The <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">big wheel in the sky turns faster and faster<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/06/future-climate-wither-our-weather.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/06/future-climate-wither-our-weather.html</a> </span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> The result? More droughts in arid regions, greater storm violence with increased risk of flood, high wind, ha<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">il <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">and light<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ning damage.</span></span></span>The real costs of GW / CC arise not from a mediocre global<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> temperature ri<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">se of a 1 - 2 C but from the increased frequency of extreme weather even<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ts<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, something <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">insurance companies</span> are well aware of.</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.swissre.com/rethinking/turbulent_times_ahead_in_europe.html">http://www.swissre.com/rethinking/turbulent_times_ahead_in_europe.html</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The study of Swiss Re and ETH showed a clear trend: in addition to
intensifying storms, the storm paths will shift further northwards,
resulting in a higher storm frequency and higher losses in the regions
affected. For the period 1975-2085, for instance, we expect losses from
winter storms to increase in real terms by 16 to 68 percent, depending
on the region</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">."</span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> An additional problem, rarely discussed. Some northern <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nations like Canada, Sweden, Norway, Russia.. may, in the long run benefit from GW. Their growing seasons will be longer and slightly warmer. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GW temperature<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s rise faster in polar regions<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">; <u>n</u></span></span></span><u>orthern<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span>temperature</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>s </u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>rise </u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>about double the global average</u>. The recently implemented Paris Climate Agreement seeks to limit GW to 1.5 C. In fact, the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">measures</span> s<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tipulated</span> in the Accord fall short of the mark and will lead to a 2 C or greater increase in global temperature. Therefore Canada should, conser<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">vatively speaking, expect a 4 to 6 C (7 to 11 degree Fahrenheit!!) rise in annual temperature by century's end. Such a rise could, "all things being equal" (they may not be though!), boost agricultural ouputs significantly. The hick is that the transition to the warmer "Northern Bread Basket" climate will require decades (??) of unstable, "kaleidoscopically shifting", weather patterns, highly variable from one year to the next, and, in any case, "out of synch" with traditional <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">farming practices and crop choices. If northern countries benefit from G<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">W</span> in the long run, the <span style="color: red;">short and medium terms promise a </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;">chaotic transition with reduced agricultural outputs<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> social and political disruption</span>. We even have a<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">n historical analog to study. </span>A similar phase of acute climate instability marke<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">d</span> the end of the Little Ice Age<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> (1300 - 185<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">0)</span> in western Europe. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">R</span>e<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">current</span> local and regional crop failures <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">contributed</span> to the social strife that <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">fuel<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ed</span></span> the French Revolution. See, for example, Simon Schama: <u>Citizens, a chronicle of the French Revolution</u>, </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> (Random House, 1990).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"></span>Prof Keith argues convincingly that geoengineering, judiciously chosen and democratically implemented (with full compensation to those negatively affected), with all its risks, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">may be less costly <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(</span>in lives <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">and money) than current w<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">impy GHG reduction and green energy policies. These <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"policies"</span>, be it admitted, are a lot of <span style="color: red;">hot air</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: CO2 levels now stand 50% above pre-industrial levels (as measured from glacial ice cores). They are still rising with no end in sight.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Keith<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> proposes</span> research on <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the </span>development of geoengineering technologies. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Then</span> if, at some time in the near future<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> it is decided that we need <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">geoengineering</span> to avoid catastrophic ecological and social breakdown, we will have a viable Plan B, ready to go.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Keith emphasizes that geoengineering should <u>not</u> be <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">taken as</span> a substitute for renewable energy development, GHG emission reduction or CC mitigation strategies (reclaiming wetlands, sea walls, alternative crops, water conservation, tree plan<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ting in arid zones..) A rational approach to geoengineering, cautions prof Keith, is to employ it as an <u>emergency measure</u> to <span style="color: red;">buy more time</span> for green energy deployment and CC mitigation.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Cutting [GHG] emissions to zero means replacing a big chunk of the heavy infrastructure on which our society rests." Page 31</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> And that, of course, takes time - too much of which we have frittered away and wasted, to date..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <u>Where we disagree</u>. </span> Prof Keith<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> be<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lieves that nuclear energy provides a viable tra<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nsitional technology to a green future. I don't. This probably arise<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s from the fact that I am less of an optimist (and certainly less of a techno-optimist) than he is. At this late date, I no longer believe that a smooth, peaceful transition to a green energy future is possible. I believe in <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the near inevitability of large scale societal breakdown and rapid regional population collapse. To deal with the Hard Days Ahead, we need <span style="color: red;">simple</span> technologies to maintain <u>Cultural Refugia</u>.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">At this time of pl<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">anetary crisis, I <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">propose</span> we shoul<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">d take a page from those great survivalists of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Late Antiquity, the early Christians. Christian monasteries preserved a good part of the philosophy, law, science</span></span></span> and mathematics of antiquity<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> during the Dark Ages which followed the breakup of the Roman Empire. These preserved teachings served a vital ro<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">le i<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">n</span> the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Renaissance of Western civilization and the birth of Modernity<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> (12th through 17th centuries).</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> We need to think of do<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing something similar today, to preserve what is worth saving in our civilization so that</span></span></span></span></span></span> the survivors w<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">on't have to start from scratch, so they will have the best seed from which <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">to grow</span> a new civilizational cycle. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I call communities designed to preserve and pass on<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span>our civilization<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'s know</span></span>ledge and our best values, Cultural Refugia. We have payed a high price for our science, we should not throw it away lightly (very bad karma!)<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> We <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">need to</span> preserve the Periodic Table, Calculus, P<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hysics, Chemistry, Ecology..<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">n</span>eed to preserve e</span>ssential technologies to kick start a new cycle of civilization<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. Ideally, the larger Refugia would maintain</span> 19th century metalur<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">gy<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and electrical technology<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, early 20th century</span></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">v</span>acuum tube <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">technology</span> (intergrated circuit<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ry is probably too high tech to survive the social chaos I <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">see</span> coming. Ditto for nuclear <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">r<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">eactors: too complex<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, too deman<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ding of infrastructure and capital</span></span>)<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. To the degree possible, we should attempt to maintain</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mid-20th century medicine.. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Above all, w</span>e need to preserve our most precious spiritual acquisitions like C</span>ivil or Human <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">R</span>ights: liberty, equality, fratern<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">i</span>t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">;</span> the belief in the dignity of<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the human person<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and</span> the Universality of human nature<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">;</span> the gains of modern feminism,..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>" </span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/08/dodging-extinction-part-3-what-can-we-do.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/08/dodging-extinction-part-3-what-can-we-do.html</a></span></b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Prof Keith spends much time deflating "propagandistic" distortions and selective readings of geoengineering research by the environmental Left. Example: solar geoengineering necessarily causes droughts which will afflict poor farmers in the third world. Once again - alas! - we <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">encounter that ancient - but always forgotten - truth: in war the first ca<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">sualty is truth.</span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> As an environmentalist, I found Keith's discussion of the Left's propagandistic distortions to be a he<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">althy corrective<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> to the natural human failing of seeing one's own camp as virtuous and our opponent's camp as a cesspit of iniquity. S<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">uc</span>h hypocrisy is all too evident when one takes the time to look. Liberal profe<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ssionals in North America <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">decry geoengineering as "technological hubris". Yet, geoeng<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ineering may be the fastest stopgap measure to reduce Th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ird World drought and famine until renewable energ<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y technologies really kick in and reduce our carbon footprint to zero.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> M</span>ean<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">while</span>, the same liberal professionals continue to buy gas guzzling, GHG spewing SUVs<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, nor do they</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> militate for <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GHG reducing public transport and green energy. Collectively, we speak from both sides of our mouths..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> "</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's vital that the debate about geoeng<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ineering shift from the physics o<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">f climate models to focus on<u> human and environmental impacts</u>. The risks of geoengineering need urgent attention, along with the benefits. But the current debate reveals the extent to which people fit geoengineering into <u>convenient narr</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>atives</u> while ignoring facts that don't fit their theory.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">" <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Page 61, emphasis added. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> To this I can only say "amen!" I <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">remain</span> skeptical <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">about the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">feasibili<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ty of a</span></span> global program of gradually phased in and moderately dosed geoengineering in today's increasingly chaotic, divided and conflictual world. Given<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">speed of climate </span>deteriorati<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">on</span>, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the world's leaders may <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">soon be forced to </span></span></span>deploy geoengineering within the framework of a scientifically base<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">d United Nations administered program<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Unfortuna<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tely, i</span></span>t is as least as likely that rogue states, heavily impacted by CC<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, will undertake ill<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-advised, crisis driven climate modification projects - and to hell with the neighbors! Think: Kim's North Korea, Putin's Russia, Trump's America..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If Keith is right, a judicious mix of green technologie<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s and pall<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">iative geoeng<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ineering could allow technical civilization to scra<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">pe th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">rough<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the Hard Days Ahead. The real<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> problem, though, is not sciento-technological in nat<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ure, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">but spiritual: <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">as a world we lack the collective, pol<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">itical </span>will to work together for <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the Common Good of all.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></b></span> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>notes</u>: </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1- GHG: Greenhouse <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">effect</span>. The most important GHG are carbon dioxide and methane. These gases are produced naturally<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> by</span> respiration, the decomposition of organic matter, and volcanism. </b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Carbon
naturally cycles in the the earth's ecosystems and betw<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">een ecosystems and geological reservoirs (se<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">dimentary rock produced by compression of ocean sediment.</span></span>.) These fluxes maintain a
rough equilibrium over long periods of time, geologically speaking. </b></span>Excesses <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">of GHG</span> produced by the combustion of fossil fuels and modern agriculture are responsible for GW and CC.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> In the last two centuries, industrial activities, rising living standards and rapid population growth have increased global atmospheric levels of CO2.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> C<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">arbon which was once harmlessly sequestered in subterranean reservoirs o<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">f coal, p<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">etroleum and natural gas ha<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s been burned to sustain increased industrialization, living stand<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ards and population.</span></span></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Likewise, f</span>orest and grassland clearing for agricultural activities and settlement release <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">carbon </span>stored in soil humus to the atmosphere as CO2. Rice cultivation and livestock production are net sources of methane. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Like the glass wall of a greenhouse, GHG <u>trap heat radiated by earth and water heated by the sun</u>, thus raising the earth's average temperature. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GW</span>, in turn, profoundly affects the productivity and timing of biological processes such as maturation, migration and the geographical distribution of species. The planet's average temperature also profoundly affects average weather patterns: precipitation, extent and location of deserts, the trajectory of agriculturally vital monsoon rains and the availability of mountain glacial melt water. A complicating factor, increasing the uncertainty in predicting the evolution of tomorrow's climate: GW is not uniform in time and space. Nigh time temperatures are raised more than daily temperature maxima. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">N</span>orthern and southern polar regions warm faster than<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">for lands falling near the</span></span> equator.</b></span><br />
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<br />hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-79167590100269834562016-12-06T18:42:00.000-08:002017-04-18T11:54:54.263-07:00narratives of violence<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Physical events have a symbolic aspect making it possible to construct "narratives" (sacred stories, myths, ideologies..) from physical events ( whether real or imagined). In practice, story creation involves collective editing. The group - society - selects which facts, actions, attitudes are "real", "important" or acceptable. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/q/segment/11046088">Anatomy of violence, Deepa Mehta film</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Indo-Canadian film-maker Deepa Mehta's recent film deals with a gang rape which fatally injured an Indian </b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>medical student a few years ago. Mehta agrees that the young men (one was even married) were "monsters" and needed to be punished. She wanted to explore the question of how (and, perhaps, why) society creates such monsters.</b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> She focused on causal factors like poverty which debases and degrades sensibilities, cultural norms which tolerate physical (and, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">to some degree</span>, sexual) abuse of children, a machismo <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">psychology </span>which deval<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">u</span>es women and glorifies male violence and toughness. As Mehta realizes, the problem of gender inequality knows no national boundaries even if it manifests a bit differently from place to place and one historical period to another.</b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Anthropologists see human culture as a (more flexible) replacement for instinctive behavior patterns. Even if cultures don't allow <u>individuals</u> much more freedom than fixed instinctual patterns do, human cultures themselves are less constrained and more rapidly adaptable in their expression than "instinct dominated" animal<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> societies</span>. The individual human may not be much - or any - "freer" than the average animal but human <u>groups</u> possess superior behavioral suppleness<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and adaptability</span> because of human culture. </b></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Periods of extremely rapid transformation such as we are living through today, provide particular challenges. The old Roadmaps of Reality that once worked no longer do, or they are no longer believable or no one wants to reach the old destinations anymore. Such times inevitably show a rise in "insane" behaviors. Over the years I have heard several comedians complain that satire becomes impossible in a world in which today's parody is tomorrow's headline news: think, the Trump presidential campaign and election! Who would have thought it possible just a year ago.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Trump himself is a self-parodying modern narcissist..</span></b></span> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/business/media/comet-ping-pong-pizza-shooting-fake-news-consequences.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/business/media/comet-ping-pong-pizza-shooting-fake-news-consequences.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The following article deals with some of the problems of living in a time of transition. As colonizers we occidentals were raised with the foundational myth that we were bringing the One True Religion in order to save the souls of the Heathen from eternal punishment in Hell's fires. (Later, after the Enlightenment and Scientific Materialism, a new foundational myth was needed to justify European rapacity in the colonized world: White Supremacy. Darwin's evolutionary theory was press-ganged to <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">justify and rationalize</span> colonial exploitation: superior races <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">are</span> destined to dominate / eliminate inferior ones in the universal struggle for survival..<br /> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://godsandradicals.org/2016/12/05/the-myth-of-the-pagan-passcard/">https://godsandradicals.org/2016/12/05/the-myth-of-the-pagan-passcard/</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The following podcast gives some insight into just how strong the human "herd instinct" really is. Once we have committed ourselves to some cause or course of action, we assiduously sweep aside all data that do not conform to our current position <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(</span><u>note</u> 1). One can easily see that, under technologically primitive conditions, such behavior would probably have been "selected for" by evolutionary pressures <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">such as </span>endemic competition with other human or proto-human hunter / gatherer groups for limited resources. The question now arises as to whether such behavior has negative survival in world of space rockets, genetic engineering and nuclear bombs. In our evolutionary past m<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ost</span> of our worst problems probably came from the natural environment. Our collective "ecological footprint" was small, our impacts on the environment limited in scope, intensity and duration. Today, with advances in technology, we - not nature - have become the source of our own worse problems. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> In the archaic Past, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">b</span>lind obedience to a charismatic leader may have had survival value but as World War II demonstrated, in "advanced" industrial societies, these ancient patterns of behavior may prove lethal..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> A CBC journalist visited towns along the route of the Kinder Morgan pipeline (western Canada). Th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">is</span> pipeline is going to be updated, tripling its capacity to carry oil from the center of the country to West coast ports for export. People in smaller, remote communities accepted unhesitatingly the multinationals' false equation: a healthy environment means job loss. Thus in the collective mind, pipelines become equated with economic security and "Progress". </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The multinationals' stranglehold on the mass media provides them with a propaganda victory. The fact that renewable energies tend to be less capital intensive and more labor intensive - thus creat<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ing </span>more jobs per dollar invested than highly centralized fossil fuel<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> or nuclear</span> energy systems - appeared to be universally rejected by all the people interviewed. Some <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">people </span>did nuance their enthusiasm for Big Oil with a desire for increased security in transport but <u>none challenged the Great Lie</u>: Jobs OR Environment. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/current_20161206_61335.mp3">http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/current_20161206_61335.mp3</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <u> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">R</span>ationalizations</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"P</span>ipelines, at least, are <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">safer</span> than rail<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> transport of petroleum".</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But t</span>he root question<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s</span> never get asked<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span> What do we actually need energy for? Are th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ere better sources than the one's we rely on today? Do we rea<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lly need all the energy we consume to do the things we want to do (that is, can we do things more efficiently)? And<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> -</span> of c<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ourse<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> -</span> what <u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">should</span></u> we really want to do (that is, what constitutes the Good Life)?</span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/07/petro-transport-rail-or-pipeline.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/07/petro-transport-rail-or-pipeline.html</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/10/lac-megantic-2-sequel.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2013/10/lac-megantic-2-sequel.html</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2014/08/deregulation-blues-anatomy-of-inferno.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2014/08/deregulation-blues-anatomy-of-inferno.html</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2014/08/lac-megantic-inferno-transport-safety.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2014/08/lac-megantic-inferno-transport-safety.html</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Even out in the<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> - supposedly - tree hugging West Coast, British </span> Columbia,<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span>"tangible concerns" like jobs and transport security trumped worries over the long term effects of greenhouse gas emissions. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I</span>n Burnaby BC, risk to water quality and local scenic beauty was the Big Issue. No one gets <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the B</span>ig <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">P</span>ic<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, that <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">in a Self-Organizing System like nature, everything is connected to everything else.. You<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> can't do ser<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ious injury to one part without its impact being felt else<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">where.</span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://robertscribbler.com/2016/11/23/climate-change-has-left-bolivia-crippled-by-drought/">https://robertscribbler.com/2016/11/23/climate-change-has-left-bolivia-crippled-by-drought/</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://robertscribbler.com/2016/11/23/climate-change-has-left-bolivia-crippled-by-drought/">https://robertscribbler.com/2016/11/23/climate-change-has-left-bolivia-crippled-by-drought/</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>notes</u>:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1- <u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span>ognitive dissonance</u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. We favor "Roadmaps of Reality" that are internally logically consistent. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Data, arising from the environment (social or physica<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">l), which doesn't fit with our world view are ignored, denied, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">under-rated or re-interpreted to make them fit<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> "</span></span></span></span></span></b></span><span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">anxiety</span> <span class="oneClick-link">that</span> <span class="oneClick-link">results</span> <span class="oneClick-link">from</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">simultaneously</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">holding</span> <span class="oneClick-link">contradictory</span> <span class="oneClick-link">or</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">otherwise</span> <span class="oneClick-link">incompatible</span> <span class="oneClick-link">attitudes,</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">beliefs,</span> <span class="oneClick-link">or</span> <span class="oneClick-link">the</span> <span class="oneClick-link">like,</span> <span class="oneClick-link">as</span> <span class="oneClick-link">when</span> <span class="oneClick-link">one</span> <span class="oneClick-link">likes</span> <span class="oneClick-link">a</span> <span class="oneClick-link oneClick-available">person</span> <span class="oneClick-link">but</span> <span class="oneClick-link">disapproves</span> <span class="oneClick-link">strongly</span> <span class="oneClick-link">of</span> <span class="oneClick-link">one</span> <span class="oneClick-link">of</span> <span class="oneClick-link">his</span> <span class="oneClick-link">or</span> <span class="oneClick-link">her</span> <span class="oneClick-link">habits." </span><br />
<span class="oneClick-link"> </span> <br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.dictionary.com/browse/cognitive-dissonance">http://www.dictionary.com/browse/cognitive-dissonance</a> </span></span></span></span></span></b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-31436498736003734212016-12-01T17:45:00.000-08:002016-12-01T17:45:09.003-08:00Book Review: Jeff Sharlet: The Family - an American Tragedy<br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b> Mirror image clones joined at the lip</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Jeff Sharlet: <u>The Family</u>, the secret fundamentalism at the heart of American Power (Harper Collins, New York, 2008): 387 pages, extensive chapter notes, index. Missing: a glossary to keep track of obscure fundamentalist pressure groups and their front organizations.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b> <b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"I
am not against structure. I am for structure. I just think it needs to
be underground"<b>, </b>page 218. Doug Coe, elitist fundamentalist militant </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"All the vital activities of industry, commerce and government are carried on by corporations and other formal organizations. Such bodies are constantly growing in size, and hence the top leadership is continually growing in power and influence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> We have entered an era when the masses of the people are dependent upon a rapidly diminishing number of leaders for the determination of their patterns of life and the definition of their ultimate goals. It is the age of minority control", page 143. Abram Vereide, elitist fundamentalist militant</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">" 'An epochal opportunity is ours', one of his tracts had advertised to the new men of his congressional Fellowship back in 1942, 'to control the future of America by the simple strategy of controlling the character and ideals of a relatively small majority of {college-age} men and women. Hitler long ago perceived this strategy, and established his elaborate system of .. leadership training. The democracies have been asleep'.", page 217. Abram Vereide</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> For one who has lost their belief in Lighthouse America, beacon of hope to the world's oppressed, T<u>he Family</u> does not shock so much as confirm and complete their understanding of America's decline. The book will be a great shock, methink, for secularists who can only see religion as as a vestigial force, a relic of primitive ages when Myth, not Science, served to explain the world and our place in it.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <u>The Family</u> documents how, far from being dead, <u>religion</u> and the <u>rising tide of social reaction</u> are forging powerful new symbiotic linkages. Post-modern society, we learn, is being steered toward a destination neither envisioned nor desired by the founders of the Enlightenment nor their successors.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> This was not an easy read for me. The first three-quarters of the text is a history of the current fundamentalist revival (post World War II, USA). I found it tedious and overwritten. I wished an editor had taken a weed whacker to the manuscript and hacked out 20 - 30% <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">of the</span> superfluous matter. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I felt that t</span>he numerous intertwining narratives of bit actors obscure<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">d</span>, rather than elucidates, whatever points Sharlet is trying to make.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> My opinion changed <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">d</span>uring the last one hundred pages. The last quarter of the books is a freestanding narrative of Sharlet's investigation of the various groups, churches, schools and organizations which constitute the network known to insiders as The Family (also known as The Fellowship, The Brotherhood). As Sharlet himself intimates, The Family is not an easy concept to grasp. Like the Islamic jihadist organizations which it preceded, The Family is fluid, omnipresent, interconnected and polymorphous, constantly generating offshoots and mutating into new forms as circumstances require. Like Islamic jihadism, the informal American fundamentalist network in its international extension is hard to pin down, define, isolate geographically or in terms of class, nationality, race or even psychology. (Some interesting parallels to say the least.. <u>note</u> 1)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The Family, as it exists today, may be described as a <u>loose informal network of American fundamentalist activists and groups</u>. Their goal is, baldly, World Theocracy (Islamic State style.. mirror image clones joined at the lip..) A "Christian" Theocracy led <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">by that most exceptional of all nations<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the United States.</span></span></span> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"The voice he heard was his own, his prayers, transformed by his inverted theology into revelation. What he wanted was what God wanted.. And what the Family desired, from Abram Vereide to Doug Coe to Bengt, was power, worldly power, with which Christ's Kingdom could be built, cell by cell", page 51</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Spiritual arrogance, hubris and delusion raised to the highest power: mistaking one's will for God's <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- </span>under the guise of a false self-serving "humility" which sees wo/mankind as "worthless sinners"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The Family (Brotherhood, Fellowship) includes America's <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"elite<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">": CEOs of multinationals, powerful neoconservative politicians at the State and Federal level, the Officer corps of the military and Christian university students. A prefered<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> method of outrea<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ch is the Prayer Group - or "cell"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, following the example of the early Christians <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">during</span> their persecutions and revolutionar<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ies of all ages and cultures. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A</span> loose (semi-)informal netw<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ork of c</span></span>ells <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">encourages</span> intense personal interaction<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, efficient mutual / group indoctrination and the elaboration of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">highly effective "on the ground" <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tactical engagements. A cellular network allowed Christianity to survive several persecutions to become the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Number One religion on earth today. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And let us not forget, a revolutionary cellular network allowed Communism to rise to become a very serious threat to monopolist<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ic Capitalism<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">! Of course, Internet <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">interconnectivity</span> facilitates cellular interaction and organization: witness the work of terrorist groups like ISIS<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> (or Right Wing extrem<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ists in Europe and North America).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As is the case with</span> ISIS, the<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> actual philosophy and psychology of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Prayer Groups (other names are used)</span></span> is surprisingly hard to pin down and define. On the one hand, the "elite" are required to submit to God's Will and do His Bidding. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Which raises the th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">orny questions: <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">what is God's <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Will? How do we know it? </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span>A</span>pparently<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> -</span> as an unchallenged assumption on the part of Family members<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> -</span> the Divine Will coincides with unregulated <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Free Market" capital<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ism<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and</span> minim<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">al environmental and worker protection. If I read Sharlet right, it is as<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> dumbly and blindly self-serving as that! (Sharlet's documentation seems impeccable, a few exceptions aside. Sceptics - always a healthy starting position! - should check out his <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">references given in the notes; quite a few are on line.)</span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> What makes the Family really dangerous - beyond its arrogance, power and depth of self-<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">deception - is their recent (post 1960) fusion with / control of popular fundame<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ntalist Christianity. For example,<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Family members or sympathizers</span> produ<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ce </span>textbooks for self-scho<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">o</span>ling fundamentalist parents of for use in school <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">districts controlled by Family friendly politicians. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Such</span> texts deny the reality of Darwinian evolution and teach that the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">B</span>ook of Genesis gives an accurate account of the creation of the world<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, thus weakening the appeal <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">of</span> scientific, fact-based</span> argument to young people. These guys really know how to fly under the radar, invisible to self-contented and somewhat contemptuous Liberal commentators. Yet their influence on young minds <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">seems to be</span> growing. Recent polls indicate that 50% of Americans do not <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">accept Darwinian evolution as "factual" or "proven". In Canada, that figure is only 25%. In Western Europe, where American fundamentalism has less taken root, even <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">fewer</span> people reject science.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>An Open Conspiracy</u>. </span>Several times Sharlet notes how Family members consciously avoid seeking publicity.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"I
am not against structure. I am for structure. I just think it needs to
be underground", page 218. Doug Coe, elitist fundamentalist militant </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> As a <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">C</span>hristian theocratic elite, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The Family</span> wants to work through backroom politics, elite speaking to elite, the Old Boys' Club - Democracy be damned! The recent fus<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ion with / control of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">popular fundamentalism, Sharlet believes, augurs no good. To be blunt, it smacks of the kind of (mass) psych<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ological manipulation<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, resp<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ons<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">i</span>ble for the 20th century's bloodiness: Communism, Fascism (but also, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">for</span> its long term negative environmental consequences, Consumerism).</span> Sharlet chillingly provides numerous citations, written, printed or spoken, of Family members' admiration for <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">fascists, communists<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and dictators. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Such admiration</span> makes a certain cockeyed logical sense: if <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">God speaks to you personally through<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the networks' cells, you possess Absolut<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e Truth<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, you therefore have no need of debate to discover truth.</span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></b></span>It follows that Democracy's untidiness and uncertainty are not <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">for those whose soul and will have been <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">enflamed by <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"God's" Will..</span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'Yes', Coe told us, "it's good to have friends. Do know what a <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">difference a <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">f</span>riend can make? A friend you can agree with?<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'. He smiled. 'Two or three agree, and they pray? They can do anything. <u>Agree. Agreement</u>. What's that mean?' Doug Coe looked at me. 'You<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'re a writer. What does that mean?'</span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> I remember Paul's letter to Philippians, which we {a bible study g<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">roup Sharlet had joined in order to study it} had begun to memorize. <u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">F</span>ufill ye my joy</u></span><u>, that ye be likeminded</u>. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'Unity', I said. 'Agreement means unit<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y.'</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Doug Coe didn't smile. 'Yes'<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> he said. 'Total unity. Two, or three, become one. Do you know,' he<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> asked, 'that there's another word for that?'</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> No one spoke.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> 'It's called a<u> covenant</u>. Two, or three, agree?<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> The<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y can do anything. A covenant is.. powerful. Can you think of anyone who made a covenant with his friends?'</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We knew the answer to this, having heard his names invoked numerous times in this context. Andrew from Australia, sitting beside Coe, cleared this throat: <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'Hitler'.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> 'Yes,' Doug Coe said. 'Yes, Hitler made a covenant. Th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e Mafia makes a covenant. It is such a very powerful thing. Two or three agree.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'" Page 54</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e</span> meeting this quotation comes from could be considered a form of political indoctrination of intelligent, but naive and rather socially isolated, you<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ng <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">college men from well-to-do / wealthy families. The anti-democratic elitist vision expressed is patently evident. Less evident, the covert, Machi<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a</span>vellian ethic: God's Will, which works through established "elites" is above the law, outside any consideration of a "comm<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">o</span>n humanity<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">". Hitler and the Mafia are, after all, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">not known to be altar boys..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Another piece of evidence for the danger the Family poses to Democracy<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: t</span>he Family<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'s capacity to clone cells / Prayer Groups among the elites of countries under the sway of the American Imperium: Egypt, Indonesia, Brazil, post-war occupied Japan, Indochina, India.. Si<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nce</span> their real goal is Power (wielded in God's Name to bring about His Kingdom on Earth), Family cells may, in practice, include non-Christians - a rather cur<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ious ecumenicism for theo<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">cratic globalists!! <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Foreign P<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">rayer Group</span></span> members<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> are drawn </span>from local elites heavily implicated in the civil rights abuses, corruption and drug running</span> which the cynical Pax American<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">authorizes</span>: Egypt's autocratic military governments, murderous Indonesian and African regimes, the obscene Pinochet regime<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> installed by CIA coup in Chili ("the Other 9-11": September 11, 1973, the overthrow of the democratically elected Leftist <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Allende government)..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> All in all, it is neither <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a pretty nor an edifying picture<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: religion "instrumentalized" - prostituted - to the service of the multinational corporate elite. The Family's true function, if I read Sharlet rightly, is to grease the wheels of the universal (American based) corporate elite.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Fascism: control or seizure of t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">he State by the Corporate Elite</span> </span></span> </span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It is </span>a scary image of America. <u><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Family</span></span> </u>was published about eight years ago. The recent election of Donald Trump gives credence of its essential correctness. Once again, the Corporate Elite will fleece the masses by directing their anger <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- raised by globalization's nega<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tive <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">impacts - onto scapegoats. Witness the racism, sexism, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">xenophobia flooding the media and<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, especially, the Internet lately..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> These are dangerous times we live in. If there is indeed a silver lining to this tur<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">moil, it will lie in the demonstration of inability of the "System" to <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">confront the mounting tide of planetary challenges</span>.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> While <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The Family is not an easy - or comforting! - read, it is essential reading for those who want to get a handle on the rise of authoritarian political views and movements today<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, what is their tru<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e source and in<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">spiration or, alternatively (as i<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">n the case of Al Queda or ISIS) what they are reacting <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">against.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"When Buchman spoke of Christianity's 'new illumination<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'</span>, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'</span>a new social order under the dictatorship of the Spirit of Go<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">d' that would transform politics and eradicate the conflict of capital and labor, Abram took him literally<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">." Page 128</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>notes</u>:</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1- <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The </span>psychology of groups like ISIS<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> is hard to quan<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tify or <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">qualify</span></span></span>. Members may be rich or poor, foreign <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">or native born, male or female, conventionally religious or not, well integrated socially or not, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">idealistic or criminally motivated, and so on</span>.</span> Some social psychologists b<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lame the </span>Anomia (sense of meaningless or drift), typical of industrial urban culture.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> They point to the</span> <span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lack of</span> "Life Narrative"</span> (sense of purpose and value in one's life) and the <span style="color: red;">lack of a sense of Community</span> in modern society<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> as causal or contributing factors to the success of te<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">rrorist recruiters. These are certainly contributing factors. In addition, the misguided and misdirected attention of Western powers <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">in the Mid-East has provided a reservoir of long standing greivances to avenge. </span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Specific events in the Mid-East <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">have then</span> served as "nuc<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">lei of cryst<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">alisation", as triggers or detonators for the radicalization of <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">disaffected young people, particularly <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">in Western <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Europe (but also here in North America)</span></span>. An <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">overarching source of frustration has been the failure of the West to launch a Green Technological Revolution in the Th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ird World <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">in the eight decades following World War II. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Rising ex<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">pectations <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">f<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">rustrated by chronic unemployment and underemployment <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">in</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">bur<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">geonning youthful populations. Can't ask for better Social Dynamite than that!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/07/bastille-day-massacre-what-more-is.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/07/bastille-day-massacre-what-more-is.html</a></span></span></span></span></span></b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-34830757007417905372016-11-22T14:33:00.000-08:002016-11-22T18:01:46.806-08:00Trudeau government, Year 1: the corruption of power?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6eLMmknLWeof-Za4J8pEl3rPXMOBpnqEHi_9HMAfeCgRnJH44KAgbecuulDfm22vj-bmMDvEWx0RJBaKajgpsOAbEL6M8UWmz1lSVLWExYIBayxecuHMVjSxgxBLMXS_W4OlovNZs6Q8/s1600/Ottawa_-_ON_-_Parliament_Hill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6eLMmknLWeof-Za4J8pEl3rPXMOBpnqEHi_9HMAfeCgRnJH44KAgbecuulDfm22vj-bmMDvEWx0RJBaKajgpsOAbEL6M8UWmz1lSVLWExYIBayxecuHMVjSxgxBLMXS_W4OlovNZs6Q8/s400/Ottawa_-_ON_-_Parliament_Hill.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b> </b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Parliament, Ottawa</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> There is a saying, attributed to various sources, "</b></span><span class="_Tgc"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" which seems to apply to the Trudeau government in these its early days. No nothing truly scandalous. President elect Donald Trump is more entertaining for the scandal seeking.</b></span></span><br />
<span class="_Tgc"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span class="_Tgc"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But c</span>onsider the practi<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">c</span>e of $1500 per place fundraisers for the Federal Liberal Party. The opposition is arguing that these gatherings provide the super-wealthy with privileged access to Trudeau cabinet ministers and to the Prime Minister himself. Aside from the PM,</b></span></span><span class="_Tgc"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould have attended these exclusive fundraisers. Nothing illegal is taking place, of course, but <u>what is legal is not necessarily moral</u>. </b></span></span><br />
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<span class="_Tgc"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/11/22/trudeau-fundraiser-with-chinese-billionaires-does-not-pass-the-smell-test-opposition.html">fundraiser-with-chinese-billionaires-does-not-pass-the-smell-test</a></b></span></span><br />
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<span class="_Tgc"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span class="_Tgc"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> In this case the government has failed to adhere to its own standards regarding transparency.</b></span></span> </b></span></span><br />
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<b> </b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>On Nov. 27, 2015, the Trudeau government released an 87-page document called "Open and Accountable Government" which says ministers and parliamentary secretaries</b> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> "must ensure that political fundraising activities or considerations do
not affect, or <u>appear to affect</u>, the exercise of their official duties
or the access of individuals or organizations to government.. There should be no preferential access to government, or <u>appearance
of preferential access</u>, accorded to individuals or organizations because
they have made financial contributions to politicians and political
parties,"</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(emphasis added)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The problem is that during the election Trudeau and his team promised "transparency" - as, interestingly, the Harper government before them! They were shaking down votes by appealing to the voters' rising sense that world society (and Canada) <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">are</span> adrift and heading toward some ill-defined future <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">cataclysm.</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">W</span>itness the sentiments expressed in the BRexit referendum which took the UK out of the European Union or the "stunning" populist victory of Trump in the recent American elections. One need hardly mention the rise of the populist Right in France, Germany, Austria, Holland, Scandinavia,..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Trudeau reached out to a skittish populace and offered them consolation and comfort: we are on your side, we will prove it by standing above vested interests who place themselves above national interest and the Common Good. Not only must transparency be achieved but the appearance of transparency must be achieved..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Trudeau has failed on this one.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> We are back to government-as-usual. The "fix is in" as Trump like to argue during his campaign. Big <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Money talks Big<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> (at least, this is the <u>perception</u> people are getting..)</span></span></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Worse,</span> when confronted with disquieting facts, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Trudeau</span> dodges by turning and pointing a finger at the Conservatives' lousy record of blurring the line between partisan politics and governance. When the pot calls the kettle black..</b> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-duffy-senate-fundraiser-1.3834889">Trudeau defends fundraisers by attacking Conservatives' record</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivwDOjXXGMlDfZlFBRICFycPeMNBG19KgQfbNBEU6_pHb5_A6xy89Jrfc1dbuNsGjE0TtWovxwvkOA0MDJ9XujA5aWgLIsoTCfHv0R-nxBGsnoJ6lOYIxTTMmKSyiuwjH_amFGJpUbnm8/s1600/LAV_25-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivwDOjXXGMlDfZlFBRICFycPeMNBG19KgQfbNBEU6_pHb5_A6xy89Jrfc1dbuNsGjE0TtWovxwvkOA0MDJ9XujA5aWgLIsoTCfHv0R-nxBGsnoJ6lOYIxTTMmKSyiuwjH_amFGJpUbnm8/s400/LAV_25-01.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b>controversial Light Armored Vehicle sales to Saudi Arabia</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <b> Before the last federal election which brought the Liberals to power, Harper's Conservatives <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">contracted</span> to sell Light Armored Vehicles (LAVs) to Saudi Arabia despite the fact that the Saudi government has used such vehicles against dissident elements of its own civilian population and abroad. Such usage <u>contravenes Canada' own weapons export regulations</u>:</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Attacks on civilians – or even serious, reasonable doubt that the Saudis
would use LAVs only for their stated military purpose –
would raise red flags under Canada’s weapons export rules, which forbid
weapons shipments “unless it can be demonstrated there is no reasonable
risk that the goods might be used against the civilian population” by
the buyer."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/the-saudi-arms-deal-what-weve-learned-so-far/article28180299/">Saudi LAV deal in a nutshell</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> One has to concede that the Feds were between a rock and a hard place on this one. If they refused to sign the deal the outgoing Harper Conservatives had negotiated, they would be held responsible for job losses in Ontario where the vehicles are constructed.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> One option that presented itself to the incoming Trudeau team: open the nature of the LAV deal to parliamentary (and public) debate along with the demonstrated Saudi record of human rights violations committed with such vehicles. This High Road moral approach <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">would</span> still probably lose them some votes in affected parts of Ontario but gain them votes elsewhere (in addition to confirming their commitment to probity and transparency).</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Unfortunately, the Trudeau government chose the Low (government as usual) Road and they did so in a particularly cheesy way. The Liberals claimed, falsely, that the Saudi LAV sale was a "done deal", put into motion by the defeated Harper government and their was nothing they could do about it. Nothing could have been further from the truth! In reality, Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion signed export permits allowing the vehicles to be shipped. Without his signature neither vehicles nor their "spare parts" would have left the country.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion has
quietly issued export permits for the bulk of the shipments tied to a
controversial $15-billion sale of combat vehicles to Saudi Arabia, a
crucial green light for the deal that many thought had already been
granted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Mr. Dion approved six export
permits on Friday covering more than 70 per cent of the transaction,
newly released documents show – a decision that represents the most
vital step in the Canadian government’s arms-control process. The
Liberals have long said they could not interfere with what they
described as a “done deal” arranged by the Harper Conservatives."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/liberals-quietly-approved-arms-sale-to-saudis-in-april-documents/article29612233/">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/liberals-quietly-approved-arms-sale-to-saudis-in-april-documents/article29612233/</a></b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <b>Once again, a smell test failed. This does not auger well for a government barely a year into its mandate. People were voting for change when they voted Trudeau..</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2c-wMXx3RrhmQ0QBoBPfdDFrR_PJKp_LXa2dSvx9XBj0KHFnmaea3tyZp5sbhtJW90BTSqu5xpdAQv5IaJx7rVFppwMuz9tblQuPZpR7Zh2y6w085E9qswS7UZQciBI7CgfNuv3dhqI/s1600/image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2c-wMXx3RrhmQ0QBoBPfdDFrR_PJKp_LXa2dSvx9XBj0KHFnmaea3tyZp5sbhtJW90BTSqu5xpdAQv5IaJx7rVFppwMuz9tblQuPZpR7Zh2y6w085E9qswS7UZQciBI7CgfNuv3dhqI/s320/image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Speaking of voters seeking change. Voters in the US revealed the degree to which the chattering classes inhabit a parallel universe by voting the "impossible" Donald Trump as their next president. Th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e Trump</span> presidency could pose some interesting existential challenges for the Trudeau government!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> For openers, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna recently announced plans to accelerate the phase out of coal fired electricity. Meanwhile, south of the border, President elect Trump wants to phase coal back in again. The two leaders seem out of phase on this one (<u>note</u> 1).</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAB2YMmf3Mby7d7Vi-dPoka3L3dmzs_MiwTwG6TAjuXfjXP3mkfx9LAS6W-Ilpz23ZdmDp_JwN55cPhVB1prKm1pxQj-Xdy1nziFw3n3LP9m8ayfcrWEXidHxFea0Iz-XWtpG0vUtEUas/s1600/donald_trump_flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAB2YMmf3Mby7d7Vi-dPoka3L3dmzs_MiwTwG6TAjuXfjXP3mkfx9LAS6W-Ilpz23ZdmDp_JwN55cPhVB1prKm1pxQj-Xdy1nziFw3n3LP9m8ayfcrWEXidHxFea0Iz-XWtpG0vUtEUas/s320/donald_trump_flag.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-coal-electricity-phase-out-1.3860131">http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-coal-electricity-phase-out-1.3860131</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Yet o</span>nce again, Trudeau seems the prey of indecisiveness. He has argued that Canada need infrastructure (this is true, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">bridges and buildings in Québec fall down and kill people..) <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In a <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Keynesian at<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tempt
to stimulate a flagging economy, Trudeau has promised increased
Federally<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-</span>driven infrastructure development, some of it the renewable
energy sector. Yet he has not really bitten the bullet yet. He has not made the
messy, the politically incorrect - yet necessary - choice: choose <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">renewable energy infrastructure development over oil pipelines and other forms of fossil energy. He is still clinging to mealy-mouthed "please everyone" platitu<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">des a<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">bout using pipeline revenues to finance the conversion to a green energy economy. We have left those days <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">far behind! Today is the time of choosing<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, we have run out of time..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/03/02/news/trudeau-says-pipelines-will-pay-canadas-transition-green-economy">trudeau-says-pipelines-will-pay-canadas-transition-green-economy</a> </span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></b></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Then there are the social value issues and questions of "style". Women make up a whopping 50% of the Trudeau cabinet. So far President elect Trump has not announced any female members of his cabinet. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> In a similar vein, Trump, during the election at least, promised to build a wall separating the US and Mexico - and make the Mexicans pay for it! As part of his campaign, Trudeau promised to "throw the doors open" to Syrian refugees, one promise he has kept (<u>note</u> 2). Once again, the two leaders appear to be out of step. At this stage of the game, one can only guess what the outcome will be.. </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>notes</u>:</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1- Some pundits have argued that Trump won't get far with his zombie coal strategy. Depending upon where you live, renewable energies are already a bit cheaper, the same price or within striking difference of coal fired electricity rates. Economics, they argue, will trump Trump's populism. When the rubber hits the road..</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><a href="http://solarcellcentral.com/cost_page.html">http://solarcellcentral.com/cost_page.html</a></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2- In a sense, Trudeau - like Trump - does not have much of a platform, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">few</span> really new ideas, just government-as-usual with a few tweaks and some fancy spin. (This criticism applies to all, or most, governments and parties in the so-called "developed world"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> not just to Trudeau and Trump. The "System" is broke and too broke to fix. We need a new breed of popular - community based - leader to think outside <span style="color: red;">all </span>boxes and <span style="color: red;">all</span> existing political ideologies.) <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">During their <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">victorious campaigns</span>, both T</span>rudeau<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and</span> Trump appealed to popular sentiment (emotions, public self images, nationalistic clichés..) Trump played the Angry White Man card (AKA: Hard Working Ordinary American card). Trudeau played the Compassionate, Tolerant Canadian card. Both lead to hasty ad hoc policy <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">commitments</span> which neither country is in a position to fufill<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span> Just think of the economic impact of sudden massive tariffs on Mexican or Chinese imports on the standard of living of all those Angry White Men who voted for Trump! <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And here</span> is a text that argues that Canada was not ready to accept the numbers of refugees Trudeau has attempted to resettle:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2016/a-critique-of-the-trudeau-governments-immigration-policies/">a-critique-of-the-trudeau-governments-immigration-policies</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Make haste, make waste! </b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-58490920337721909772016-11-16T13:37:00.000-08:002017-04-18T11:56:29.284-07:00Samhain 2016, the Dark approaches<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> I sense a historical cycle completing itself. History's lesson is clear. An end is always the start of something new. We are the ripe fruit falling in the cold autumn night. Winter approaches, the Hard Days ahead.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkE2Cu-HYRUGa7tTMB2VpD5NwaBqFtfIAekTRqLJ0mWB_u1Lvab09I60w7w-oEcWsQNhzsNAdvLUUNAoBloV0ES1zQ3bn169n8qMgYPgGnIveNNKmArxqBm8M4muWTGPZN2y0oNlygqBs/s1600/la_recolte_des_foins+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkE2Cu-HYRUGa7tTMB2VpD5NwaBqFtfIAekTRqLJ0mWB_u1Lvab09I60w7w-oEcWsQNhzsNAdvLUUNAoBloV0ES1zQ3bn169n8qMgYPgGnIveNNKmArxqBm8M4muWTGPZN2y0oNlygqBs/s400/la_recolte_des_foins+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> It is good to be able to accept imminent mass human die-off, but harrowing. Either way, accept or deny, you're damned!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Damned if you deny for then you live a lie.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Damned if you accept because it hurts! The Humanist Within is humiliated, frightened, dumbfounded, enraged.. Acceptance of imminent mass human die-off is also politically incorrect, to the highest degree, on the Left as on the Right.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Acceptance of mass die-off brings Liberation, the heavy burden slipped off the tiring shoulders, worn out through years or decades of denial. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Acceptance brings the Power to move on, to serve and bless life without the burden of delusion and the false action it breeds. The most wicked deeds are usually done by wo/men who think they are doing good. The Romans said, "the highway to hell is paved with good intentions":<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"> </span></b></span><i style="color: #141414; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><b style="background-color: #fce5cd;">Via ad Infernum consiliis bonis delapidatur</b><b style="background-color: #fce5cd;">.</b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> People today, on the whole, will not, cannot love and respect the earth and its life. If they could, our houses of government, our parliaments and senates, would be full of green parties, fighting like dogs to green human society and the earth, each promoting with vigor <u>their</u> way. Instead, the Silence, the Indifference is deafening..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Since people cannot love and respect earth, by the Law of Karma (Causality), they will suffer, for they are part of the nature they destroy. Fools, they are mad..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Perhaps we, humanity, will become wise through our pain: no pain, no gain!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Is it possible to learn to use SciTech wisely? Or are our minds indelibly formed by the Darwinian crucible which forged them?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Or will the tribal circle close again, more largely this time, to embrace the whole earth and the whole of humanity? Anything is possible in a Time of Transition..<br /><br /> Charles Mann in his popular <u>1491</u> (Vintage Books, 2006) found possible sources of Enlightenment thinking on liberty, freedom and human rights in the New World cultures recently discovered by European colonizers:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-some-themes-consider-found-1491-please-470297">http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-some-themes-consider-found-1491-please-470297</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> "Mann asserts that personal freedom has its roots in Native American culture. Everything about Native American culture embraced personal freedom. This can be seen in its insistence on parliamentary procedure, the advancement of women's rights as means of increasing discourse (The Five Nations were governed by women as well as the Great Law explicitly ordered council members to heed “the warnings of your women relatives), as well as the premise of the rights of the individual.. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Important historically, these were the free people encountered by France and Britain—personifications of democratic self-government so vivid that some historians and activists have argued that the Great Law of Peace directly inspired the U.S. Constitution."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> By definition, the publics of democracies are king. We must either accept this proposition or reject it. There is no middle ground. To say, in excuse, that the publics of democracies have been duped by the greedy and the mad is both true and false.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <u>True</u>: witness the deafening silence (at worst) or the hollow lip service given environmental issues in our parliaments. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <u>False</u>, for if we truly accept that in Democracy, the People are King, then it follows that the publics of contemporary democracies have <span style="color: red;">let themselves by duped</span> by the false prophets of Market Economics. Either the King is King or he is not. And if the People are indeed king, then we must accept personal responsibility for we, each one of us, are the People..<br /><br /> In Times of Transition like these, many will find it easier to shirk the personal responsibility that citizenship imposes and look for Salvation in the Strong Man. As Neitzsche observed, wo/man is a herd animal. (But is that all we are..??)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/11/history-is-myth.html?spref=fb">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/11/history-is-myth.html?spref=fb</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-55964431708315565352016-11-15T18:23:00.003-08:002016-11-16T15:34:15.662-08:00history is myth?<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Jacques Barzun and Henry F Graff: <u>The Modern Researcher</u> (Harcourt, Brace and World, NY, 1970), page 172<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, on the nature of causality:</span> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"</span>The historical researcher is thus led to adopt a practical distinction about causality that has already commended itself to workers in physical science. They draw attention to the difference between causation that occurs in a long chain of events of various kinds and causation within a closed system. An example of the first is: the forming of a cloud, the darkening of the sun to earth dwellers, the lowering of temperature, people putting on coats, a thunderstorm bursting, a person taking refuge under a tree and being struck by lightning and killed. This chain of<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> '</span>causes' is miscellaneous and each event in it unpredictable, not because it is not determined, but because it occurs outside any controlled or controllable limits. As against this, in the physics laboratory, an elastic body of known stresses and strains goes through a series of evolving states; at any moment a single definite distribution of measured stress and strains is the effect of the previous moment, which may therefore be regarded as its complete cause, as <u>the</u> cause.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> The distinctive feature of the first kind of causality is that there is <u>no restriction on the events that may be related</u>. It is open to the observer<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">'s insight to select, not causes in sense number two, but conditions that belong to the chain and have the merit of <u>interesting him and his audience</u>. It is <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">for them to judge whether the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">resulting <u>narrative</u> is intelligible, consonant with the experience of the race, and useful in orienting the mind amid the welter of facts."</span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">During the heyday of scientific (or "scientistic") thinking, some thinkers believed that all knowledge of the world could be reduced to logic<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and mathematics. Some believed that the evolution of society was a deterministic, rule-driven process who<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">se</span> "La<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ws"</span></span></span> could be derived through empirical study and logical analysis (Karl Marx). Today such ideas str<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ik<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e us as quaint or dangerous (<u>note</u> 1) It was even dreamed for a while that history would become a branch of science!</span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <u>The Modern Researcher</u> is described as "the classic manual on all aspects of research and writing". It is that and more<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, one of those<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> inspired</span> "sui g<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">neris" - one of a kind<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> hard to characterize works.</span></span></span> Not just a "how-to" <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">manual on the use of index cards to keep notes, the authors also explore<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> fascinating<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> "philosophical" <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">questions</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">on the nature and goals of research and verification<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> or</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">on t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">he nature of</span> causality<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and</span></span></span> truth<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span> </span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In the above quote, w</span>hat Bazrun and Graff a<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">re suggesting is, to my way of thinking, much more radical, than it first appe<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ars. It is<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> instructive</span> that they use the term "narrative" to describe what history is. The criteri<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a used to <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">evaluate <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">history's story - "interesting", "int<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">elli<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">gible", "consonant" with individual or collective experience, and "useful" (itself subjective, depending upon who<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">se use)</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">seem</span> more "aesthetic" than "scientific"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> in nature. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">N</span>o longer is history seen as <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the description of something</span> "objective", "out there" (<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">which is how</span> science <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">views its work</span>) but rather as a<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">n artistic endeavor of creating something<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> new and vital </span>from the raw, dead data that <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">chronology <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">provides. Thus, say the authors, each generation must create its own history anew. The work of the historian is never finished then..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> But more interestingly - more disturbi<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ng, too - if history is more akin to art, literature and myth than to science, math or logic, what are the criteria with which to judge <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">history? What distinguishe<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s good from bad history?</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> The authors<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">' words - originally penned <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">sixty years ago - were perhaps a bit ahead of their time. Today, as dissatisfaction with science and its accomplishments grows, it is obvious that people are turning to "mythic representations<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">" of the world. A crude form of the "Golden Age" - to which we must return to be saved - is <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">echoed in Donald Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again!" <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">T</span>he rising tide of ecological disasters taps into th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">at</span> potent <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">J</span>udeo-Christian Archetype, the End Days (Apo<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">c<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a</span>lypse)<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. Sometimes<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the Apocalypse</span> is reduced t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">o</span> mere justification for the status quo<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span> American fundamentalist "christians" claim th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">at these disasters are "Signs" of the End <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Days. Environmentalist activists are then accused of doing Satan's work<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> since God has planned for earth's near destruction. An interesting perversion and corruption of a religious m<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">yth if there ever was one! God mad<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">e responsib<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">le for human <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">stupidity and greed.. Blasphemy, I say!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/07/book-review-toward-buddhist-ecology.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/07/book-review-toward-buddhist-ecology.html</a> </span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>notes</u>:</span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1- <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">historical determinism / fatalism / fascism: studies by clinical psychologists of fascist and fascist sympathizers <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">during and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">immediately after <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">World War II revealed that "authoritarians" tend to see the world in black / white, stereotypic ways, often with a rejection of the idea of free will and self-determination.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> (Authoritarian thinkers are found, generally, at both extremes of the <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">political spectrum: <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Stalinist communists were as "fascist" ans authoritarian as <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">any nazis<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.) </span></span></span></span>Part of the worldview of the fascist or authoritarian usually inv<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">olves</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: "symbol";"><b>- </b></span> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Substitution and
Stereotypy -- superstition, cliché, categorization and <span style="color: red;">fatalistic determinism<span style="color: black;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(for
example, the Nazi ideology's cult of "racial determinism", one does
what one does because one's ancestors came from a certain part of the
world).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">See, for example, <a href="http://www.cepsr.com/clanek.php?ID=328">http://www.cepsr.com/clanek.php?ID=328</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Such world views are dangerous because they lead to false - or, a<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">t best<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> - </span></span>oversimplified - causal connections between even<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ts<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> between<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, for example, being a bad person and being Jewish (Nazis), M<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">uslim (islamophobes)<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> or Mexican (Donald Trump during the 2016 US <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Presidential Election).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAcRIXl8UBUR1mh0IeTrTuH6Vh4sTUGXJl090wG2oHK_tO_9mQ1VPJ7eC3AEWD1IxoekhMbsbPzVAPxNPjsYPGrSmn6il_3BVfxYCbltnJmSrSU9_CtSM2jYpfAvCQayRXnvZuQw3xh34/s1600/1ca4a33354d6bc585b0e2953dea5b0ec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAcRIXl8UBUR1mh0IeTrTuH6Vh4sTUGXJl090wG2oHK_tO_9mQ1VPJ7eC3AEWD1IxoekhMbsbPzVAPxNPjsYPGrSmn6il_3BVfxYCbltnJmSrSU9_CtSM2jYpfAvCQayRXnvZuQw3xh34/s400/1ca4a33354d6bc585b0e2953dea5b0ec.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">robbed
of their childhood? Not much happiness there (probably not much
curiosity or sense of wonder either..) Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth
League).</span></span></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-6516995270526221322016-10-13T18:12:00.003-07:002017-07-03T13:46:46.641-07:00Book Review: A New History of Life<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Peter ward and Joe Kirschvink: <u>A New History of Life</u>, Bloomsbury Press (New York), 2015: 356 pages, extensive chapter notes, index, graphs, diagrams, photos, sketches - well illustrated.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ89CA5Zy26dGxlFuWWom3xBW4rJQUaSVhzT4bYyl0kbm8pgXGk-gCo5jRJP3gu0NI7eTLMCCSvTPXFWU4o87wZTRmAaFCHzPhbDWz6umdMcEvq8N_oH7dSfQFacI-aNY8e4Tvw3KuLj8/s1600/2002666294.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ89CA5Zy26dGxlFuWWom3xBW4rJQUaSVhzT4bYyl0kbm8pgXGk-gCo5jRJP3gu0NI7eTLMCCSvTPXFWU4o87wZTRmAaFCHzPhbDWz6umdMcEvq8N_oH7dSfQFacI-aNY8e4Tvw3KuLj8/s1600/2002666294.jpg" /></a></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Peter Ward</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><u>Abbreviations used</u>: </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CC - climate change</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">CO2 - carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GHG - greenhouse gas (responsable for global warming and climate change) </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">GW - global warming</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">mya - million years ago</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Joe Kirschvink</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"With every molecule of carbon dioxide we pump into the atmosphere we are ignoring the early warning sirens that rapid rises in carbon dioxide are the commonality between more than ten mass extinctions of the deep past and what is happening today. Those extinctions were caused not by asteroid impact, but from rapid increases in volcanically produced atmospheric greenhouse gases and the global warming they produced. A terrifying new paradigm of mass extinction has arisen this century: "greenhouse mass extinctions", a name overtly chosen to describe the cause of the vast majority of species killed off by mass extinctions in the past." (page 3)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"The increasing acceptance of the dominant roles of oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in understanding no<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">t only large-scale patterns but nuances of life's progression on our planet is in many respects a twenty-first century innovation in interpreting Earth history. As is the understanding that two other important gases have played dominant roles in the story of life, and in the pages to come: hydrogen sulfide and methane. Their stories are written in rock, life<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, and death as well."</span></span> (page 27)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"Over and over, however, it really looks like a dominant theme in the history of life is that times of crisis promote new innovation. Diversity stays low, but disparity - the measure of the number of different, an in the dinosaur's case, radically different body plans and anatomies - skyrockets. An analogy comes from Tom Wolfe's wonderful book <u>The Right Stuff</u>. In it he describes the often short and violent ends of test pilots in the late 1950s, when giant new jet planes were being developed. Sooner or later any test pilot would find himself in a death dive. But Wolfe describes the reac<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">tions of the pilots: very cooly going through the progressions - trying method A, no, try B, try C..<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. In the latest Triassic world<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, so many organisms were those crashing jets, with evolution as the pilot, trying this morphology, th<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">en another, then another. To use this analogy, it was dinosaurs that pulled out of the death spiral that the low-oxygen, late Triassic biosphere had become by evolving the most sophisticated and efficient set of lungs that the world has ever seen." (page 247-8)</span></span></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="color: red;">Necessity is the Mother of Invention!</span></span></span></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR4f-2x-OZ6Ww1DfljeZTI_gwwpWVxo4128uXg0kA5r_XlSdbBCFDFk-tA4nMDWnQus5JMrDHvhkbJLglTwp8OrjRTnFvdwFPgpROghgH8v7mXHdrnTN3IbHlGszKYjsP34sD-0Pl5Htw/s1600/397613-la-terre-avant-les-dinosaures.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR4f-2x-OZ6Ww1DfljeZTI_gwwpWVxo4128uXg0kA5r_XlSdbBCFDFk-tA4nMDWnQus5JMrDHvhkbJLglTwp8OrjRTnFvdwFPgpROghgH8v7mXHdrnTN3IbHlGszKYjsP34sD-0Pl5Htw/s400/397613-la-terre-avant-les-dinosaures.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"> </span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"> </span> </span></span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Hynerpeton: Devonian age proto-tetrapod ("4 legged", all modern terrestrial vertebrates are tetrapods). It lived 360 mya. A "transitional" form with both lungs and gills</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> I read this book for two reasons. Firstly, I am interested in Self-Organizing Systems and biological evolution is the prime example of Self Organization at work. Life began with proto-organic molecules self-organizing as a result of a flux of energy through the medium (sea water</b><b>) which housed them. <u>New History</u>, as the title indicates, is a synthesis of contemporary discoveries, dating back to improved fossil dating technology (non-radioactive isotopic analysis developed in the 1960s) and culminating in the first decade of the new millennium with a deeper understanding of the physical <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">drivers of evolution and</span> mass extinctions.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Profs Ward and Kirschvink are major contributors to the emerging "New Synthesis" (yet unamed) which perceives life as an emerging Self Organizing phenomenon. They</b><b> are pioneers in advancing our understanding of
the interactions between life and <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the p<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hysics and chemistry of the planet</span></span> (<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">particularly</span>
atmospheric chemistry and physics). They have made major contributions
in the dating of the Permo-Triassic boundary (Late Permian Mass
Extinction) and elucidating the structure, duration and nature of its
successive exterminatory pulses. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Ichthyostega: Devonian age amphibian, an inhabitant of the extensive marine mangrove forests of the time. Ichthyostega was an aquatic predator but was able to traverse short streches of land either to feed on giant insects or to change swamps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> <b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My second reason for reading <u>New History</u> is to provide myself with intellectual arms against CC deniers. For my own peace of mind, I to bury any niggling doubts remaining about the reality and seriousness of CC / GW. I want to <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">finish</span> this "debate" so I can move on to more pressing issues demanding my attention (<u>note </u>1) </span></b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> Perhaps more importantly, I want to prepare myself to offer people, especially younger people (at my age, anyone less than 50..), a fact-based understanding of the relation between living organisms, including humans, and the physical environment we share. "Normal", "traditional" regional climates are rapidly shifting, dislocating, re-organizing. Many people will soon wake to this new reality, to the new normal. In fact, due to the increasingly wacky weather, many people <span style="color: red;">are</span> awakening but a tipping point in public consciousness has not been reached in most countries. National governments do indeed make appropriate noises but outside of Scandinavia, Germany, Scotland and more recently, China, efforts to make the transition to a green economy are more words than action. And, even in the above mentioned countries, the actions taken are, by my standards, still somewhat "anemic".</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> I want to be pro-active, I want to have facts at my disposal (and useful skills, practical knowledge for the hard days coming). Unnatural "natural" disasters are beginning to waken "the masses" from their consumer culture induced hypnosis. Among those awakening from deep denial, there will be many who remain stunned, confused, disoriented. Providing them with a realistic Roadmap of our New Reality may, I hope, help them to take sane, realistic, corrective actions. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> I concede that it is late, very late. We have waited far too long to launch the transition from a fossil fuel to a renewable energy economy. There will be heavy costs to pay for our continued inaction. At this late date, we may not be able to save the house but, with luck, we may be able to save some furniture and valuables. We may lose a lot but we are not lost (yet..) To further delay action - given what I now know about the risks implied by CC / GW - would be simply immoral.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> Building "Cultural Refugia" is my current priority. "Debating" the scientific - or other - "reality" of CC simply wastes precious time and energy. In a sense, I read<u> New History</u> to help me turn this page and get on with something new. </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><b> On a purely intellectual level, <u>New History</u> is a fascinating read on its own merits. I confess that Prof Ward is not my favorite science writer: sloppy proof reading leaves too many typos, syntaxically challenged and ambiguous sentences. On occasion, a desire to communicate to a general readership leads to oversimplication or incomplete arguements thereby vitiating the very arguments he is trying to present. However, <u>New History</u>'s obvious importance as a major work of popular scientific synthesis - in a politically important and rapidly evolving area of study - far outweigh such "stylistic" quibbles.</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> Given the importance of GHG emissions to CC, <u>New History</u>'s appearance is timely on several fronts. It represents an emerging holistic view of the co-evolution of life and its environment. Darwin, of course, noted such interactions and correctly called attention to their importance in understanding the Saga of Life on earth.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> However, it took another 100 years, to the 1960s, for science to develop the tools, physical and conceptual, to explore the details of ecosystem / environment interaction through Deep Time, the billions of years life has existed on earth. The original "breakthroughs" (more evident as such in retrospect) were the development of measures which record past biological activity and the climate conditions they took place under. For example, the comparison of the ratios of non-radioactive isotopes of biologically active elements in fossils like oxygen, carbon, sulfur.. Because these isotopes are not subject to radioactive decay, they lock into the fossil record valuable indices of organism / environment interaction.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> Biological processes favor isotopically light elements. Carbon 12 (6 protons, 6 neutrons in nucleus) is absorbed a wee bit faster than C 13 (7 neutrons) or C 14 (8 neutrons). Variations in the relative amounts of different isotopes of biologically active elements (carbon, oxygen, sulfur..) found in rocks can provide valuable clues to the first appearance of life, its origin, intensity and disappearance.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> Building on the successes of non-radioactive isotopic paleontological studies, a deepening knowledge of the nature, sequence and duration of major evolutionary events has emerged over the past 50 years. In the first decades of the new millennium, these discoveries have sparked a "new synthesis", a marvellously rich, detailed and profound understanding of life's emergence and its unfolding interaction with the physical environments of one small planet of an insignificant star in an insignificant galaxy. The subject matter of <u>New History</u> is this New Science of Life: the title was well chosen.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> It is perhaps on a deeper, "philosophical" level that the New Science of Life will have its greatest, long term impacts.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> Life, as now understood, has four major requirements:</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">1- A <span style="color: red;">flow of energy</span> of sufficient strength and constancy. On earth this energy flow arrives from the sun as radiant energy, largely as visible light</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">2- An <span style="color: red;">appropriate solvent</span> for biochemical reactions to take place in. Dissolving biochemical reactants in a solvent increases the probability that two reactant molecules will encounter each other, rendering chemical reaction possible. The solvent must also be present in sufficient quantities in liquid form under ambient planetary conditions for life to emerge and flourish. On earth the universal biosolvent is water. It is postulated that life might flourish in saturated water / ammonia solutions which freeze well below the freezing point of water. These solutions occur in abundance on the outer planets and moons of our own solar system. Other solvents for low temperature biology have been proposed: liquid ammonia, liquid nitrogen. Their potential biochemistries are highly speculative at the present state of knowledge. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2015/04/extraterrestrial-life-in-our-solar.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2015/04/extraterrestrial-life-in-our-solar.html</a> </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Titan, a moon of Saturn rich in low temperature proto-organic</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">chemistry (and exotic life?)<b> </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>3- <span style="color: red;">Chemical cycling</span>. Chemical cycling occurs when the products of a chemical reaction are also <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">its</span> inputs. This means that, <u>given an adequate energy flow</u> (point 1 above), and an <u>adequate supply of raw materials</u> (point 2 - biosolvent), the reaction has the potential of self-maintenance. This is the first step toward the capacity to reproduce individual organisms. Chemical cycling has been observed in the atmosphere of the low temperature moon of Saturn, Titan.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Biologically driven chemical cycling on earth creates huge stores of energy storing, energy releasing or otherwise biologically useful chemicals. Such substances are considered "biosignatures" or "biomarkers" in the search for extra-terrestrial life since the presence of life <u>maintains their abundance at levels which are extremely far from chemical equilibrium</u>. On earth, the photosynthesis of plants maintains the level of (extremely reactive<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">!)</span> oxygen at levels impossible on a dead world. Oxygen is used b<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">y living organisms </span>to release biologically useful energy by oxidizing energy rich hydrocarbons (sugars, starches, fats..) in the slow burn of metabolism. Methane levels are way out of chemical equilibrium on Titan - are there Titanian microbes burning acetylene into methane to obtain life energy?</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir55FqMykbdRb0nE0NpkERNY4kY-YJf7LVb9-ULlBGdgg-Mce2qnMGx4U5Zf6yDr8X5D7D4q4LynrWojWv262KF0e_CVh_yHSQQefk6dL4m8xrGyCbEWk-jZKtu3EWrmgzozKw6Ku0dBM/s1600/Fig+1-5+Carbon+Cycle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir55FqMykbdRb0nE0NpkERNY4kY-YJf7LVb9-ULlBGdgg-Mce2qnMGx4U5Zf6yDr8X5D7D4q4LynrWojWv262KF0e_CVh_yHSQQefk6dL4m8xrGyCbEWk-jZKtu3EWrmgzozKw6Ku0dBM/s400/Fig+1-5+Carbon+Cycle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b>The cycling of carbon by earth life (click to enlarge image)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>4- <span style="color: red;">Polymeric chemistry</span>. In polymeric reactions, repetitive "base units" are strung together like links in a chain. This creates the possibility of storing information - a "message" or "code" - by <u>adding slight variations to each link of the chain</u>. DNA and RNA molecules are used by life on earth to encode the "blueprints" or "recipes" used to synthesize essential biochemicals like proteins. DNA also contains the whole body code that allows organisms to produce offspring similar to themselves, thus living species persist over time, transcending the death of individuals. Copying procedures are never perfect, however, allowing random mutations to occur in the genetic code when DNA molecules are copied. Such mutations provide the raw material of evolution: since mutated organisms are different than the "standard model", natural selection will favor the propagation of the mutants best adapted to the environment they live in.</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> In 1979, physical chemist and inventor, James Lovelock coined the term "Gaia hypothesis" for a new way of defining and looking at life. Lovelock was working on a contract with NASA to devise ways of detecting life on other planets. He came up with the idea of searching for spectroscopic signals of "biosignature" molecules (point 3 above). A telescope - on earth or in space - would search for the frequencies of light (or infrared - heat) energy given off or absorbed by biologically important molecules in the atmospheres of distant planets. For example, In the earth's upper atmosphere, diatomic - two atom - oxygen molecules are broken down and re-assembled by ultraviolet rays into triatomic ozone molecules. This reaction is marked by a <u>strong absorption line</u> in light passing through the earth's atmosphere. This line is considered a potential "biomarker" for future exoplanet life detection missions by NASA.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> Lovelock's work with NASA led him to consider the totality of life on earth as a sort of "planetary super-organism", hence the name Gaia Hypothesis: Gaia was the archaic Earth Mother of the ancient Greeks. The beauty of the hypothesis lies in its recognition that life is an emergent phenomenon, rising from the interactions between life and the physical body of the earth: oceans, atmosphere, soils, the rocky substrate, glaciers and polar ice caps. In some ways, the Gaia Hypothesis, appearing in the mid-twentieth century, can be compared to Darwin's theory of Natural Selection which appeared in mid-nineteenth century. Both theories culminated and synthesized a period of scientific discoveries about the nature of life which could not easily be incorporated into the dominant world view of the times. In Darwin's case, the picture of life evolving new species over Deep Time "collided" - called into question - the traditional Christian theological view that God created all species at the same time, some 6000 years ago in the Near Past. The Gaia Hypothesis sees all life, including humans, as an emergent, co-evolving, self-regulating system maintaining itself in a "bio-geo-chemical" milieu through delicately balanced, mutual interactions with that environment. This world view collides with the dominant anthropocentric worldview which sees humanity "above" Nature, its "master" who freely exploits "natural wealth" for the "profit" of our species. Our imploding ecology (the Sixth Mass Extinction - note 2) and deregulated climate give the lie to this ideological fallacy, of course..</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> Lovelock's hypothesis found a natural resonance with ecological movements and back-to-nature enthusiasts. It's "scientific" dimensions were muted and it became romanticized as a modern image of Mother Nature. (I'm not negating the validity - or necessity - of these interpretations. I'm just making an observation..) Scientifically, though, as all good scientific hypotheses must, the Gaia Hypothesis became the subject of professional scrutiny and criticism. Unlike Darwin's Natural Selection which has proven resilient over time, adapting itself to the rigors of creative criticism, the fate of the Gaia Hypothesis (like the earth itself!) is still unclear.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> <u>New History</u>, although it never mentions the Gaia Hypothesis directly, discusses some its flaws (and <span style="color: red;">some</span> additional flaws generated by non-scientific enthusiasts). Gaian enthusiasts often laud the "balance" of nature. Some speak of Gaia having meaning, purpose and plans (again, I don't deny such ideas: they are simply not part of the <u><span style="color: red;">scientific</span></u> Hypothesis elaborated by Lovelock. Lovelock, in fact, explicitly denies meaning, consciousness or goals to Gaia. <u>Note 3</u>). <u>New History</u> correctly points out that life, while opportunistic and struggling to survive and flourish: </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">1- Only has a limited regulatory power over biogeochemical processes. Lovelock, in some writings, has claimed that all aspects of the chemical milieu we live in are regulated by life. This is true, in a sense, but it does not mean that "Gaia's" control is arbitrary or total. Carbon dioxide and oxygen levels of the atmosphere are linked processes so cannot be arbitrarily adjusted as Gaia might like, nor can they be manipulated with impunity. Too much oxygen results in massive forest fires which kill off trees reducing photosynthetic oxygen production, thereby lowering percentage oxygen content of the atmosphere to sustainable limits. Gaia has limits..</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">2- Gaia can also act, blindly, against Her own self interests. Early photosynthetic microbes drew down massive quantities of CO2 from the primitive atmosphere which was extremely rich in the gas by modern standards. Since the early sun was cooler than the sun of today, the drop in CO2 - a greenhouse gas - caused the earth to cool off - and freeze. The earth went through several such "snowball earth" phases several billions of years ago. The seas froze solid, except perhaps for an equatorial "slush belt" where some marginal photosynthetic activity could take place. Life never went extinct but became quiescent. Over time, volcanic activity would raise global CO2 levels, the earth would thaw out and microbial life would bloom again: absorbing CO2 and releasing oxygen in industrial quantities till the temperature fell, provoking another universal snowball earth, lasting a hundred million years or so.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> There is much food for thought in this book. The main message for me is that life is an emerging, self-complexifying process in tight interaction with its physical milieu upon which it depends, that healthy life modifies its environment so it can flourish and that this control is, at best, very partial. <u>New History</u> is a good read and, as I wrote earlier, one of the best popular syntheses of the New Science of Life available for the non-specialist reader. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><u>notes</u>: </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">1- To simplify an argument, a bit. It is today probably too late to make the transition to a green (post fossil fuel) economy without "major disruptions": </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">- rolling regional crop failures due to CC and disruption of the traditional weather patterns around which traditional agricultures were built: the Asian monsoons, for example, </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">- mass human die-off, exterminatory warfare, </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">- cultural regression.. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Basically, I want to devote myself to preserving the best that 8000 (?) years of Patriarchal Culture has produced: calculus, the periodic table, the scientific method, Science, the Ideals of Universal Human Rights and the Universality of Human Nature, feminist liberation.. Taking a page from the christian monasteries of the Dark and Middle Ages, I propose building <u>Cultural Refugia</u>. These are self-sustaining communities linked into self-sustaining regional networks of communities that could weather the hard days ahead, preserving what humanity has accomplished and learned. Intentional communities like <u>Transition Initiative</u>s<span style="color: red;"> <span style="color: black;">can, in the interim, serve as prototypes and models.</span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://www.transitiontowntotnes.org/">https://www.transitiontowntotnes.org/</a> </span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">A rather well run initiative in Ontario, Canada:<br /> </span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://transitiontownpeterborough.ca/transition-town">http://transitiontownpeterborough.ca/transition-town</a></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">2- <u>The Sixth Extinction</u>. There have been five natural mass extinction events (and about ten minor, sometimes regional, ones) over the earth's history. During a <u>major</u> extinction event half or more of species go extinct in a geologically short period of time. Mass extinctions are dramatic and cause evolution to veer off in novel, unexpected directions. They are times of innovation. But they are rare events, occurring at intervals of tens of millions of years or longer. Thus at least 95% of species go extinct between mass extinction periods, the so-called "background" extinction level.</span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /> Estimates of the human-caused sixth extinction vary a bit from expert to expert but the consensus seems to be that something like 40 - 50% of animals (not species but individuals) on both land and sea have gone extinct over the last four decades! Unbelievable but true. Estimated species extinction rates today are also far elevated over natural "background" extinction rates.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2015/oct/20/the-four-horsemen-of-the-sixth-mass-extinction">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2015/oct/20/the-four-horsemen-of-the-sixth-mass-extinction</a></span></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">3- I have found Lovelock somewhat inconsistent: on the one hand, arguing that Gaia has no ultimate purpose or goal and then inventing <u>bizarre</u> teleologies - goal directed behaviors - that I wouldn't shake a stick at. In one text - which I can't relocate - I recall Lovelock arguing that marine kelp (seaweed) release an iodine containing gas "in order to" transport iodine inland "for the the use of" terrestrial vertebrates. Iodine is used to synthesize an essential metabolism stimulating hormone in terrestrial vertebrate thyroid glands. Such an idea in not absurd, of course. In symbiotic relations, organism A produces something or does something that helps organism B survive and B returns the favor. Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.. Both parties benefit from this naturally emerging specialization of function, which being acting upon by natural selection, becomes more effective over time. Thus each partner mutates to better match its partner's needs and better exploit the benefits offered by the partner. The hand is shaped to fit the glove, the glove to fit the hand.. Bees evolved to feed on the nectar of flowers and pollinate them in the process. Flowers evolved to feed pollinating bees.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> However, Lovelock's idea that kelp evolved to send iodine inland is incomplete. What benefit do marine kelp get from providing terrestrial vertebrates with essential iodine - the link is not obvious!</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> The fact that profs Ward and Kirschvink, as well as other earth scientists writing on evolution, don't - or rarely - mention the Gaia hypothesis is interesting. Perhaps it is a case of academic snubbing. Lovelock has been criticized for his lack of biological savy before. Recall: he is a <u>physical chemist</u> who invents devices used in detecting and analyzing trace bio-signature molecules, hence his work with NASA designing remote life-detection strategies. Perhaps earth scientists resent the forays of a physical scientist on their turf..</span></b></div>
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hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-11725881693723009552016-09-30T13:23:00.003-07:002016-09-30T13:23:25.953-07:00Challenges for the emerging Type 1 Civilization<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b> Some scientists, philosophers, biologists have noted the relationship between "civilization" and energy consumption. The relation is complex and not linear (one to one). Scandinavian countries consume less energy than Americans or Canadians but have an overall standard of living at least as high.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b> According to one (speculative) system of classification of civilizations by mode of energy consumption, modern societies are Type 0. Type 0 cultures are nascent technological cultures. They extract energy from non-renewable resources like fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal). They overpopulate, pollute and destroy the ecosystems they depend upon. They do, in effect, what 3 billion years of Darwinian evolution have programed them to do.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b> If a technical culture manages to survive this difficult stage, it progresses to a Type 1 technical culture. In Type 1 cultures, energy is harvested from renewable resources and used intelligently (sparingly, very efficiently). Non-renewable resources are intensely recycled to prolong their availability. To compensate the inevitable slow depletion of non-renewables (through loss in processing and use), valuable renewables - the rare earth metals - will be extracted from robotic asteroid mining. Robotic space mining has the advantage of removing a very polluting form of mining / extraction operation from the earth's surface. (And no! We cannot pollute the asteroid belt: the solar wind sweeps all the junk out of the solar system). </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b> To the degree possible, manufacturing processes will employ <span style="color: red;">biology</span> - "green machines" - which can be made totally renewable and self-sustaining in the long run: think of a forest or natural ocean ecosystem (before disruption by human activity).</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b> A Type 1 technical culture is always at risk of destroying itself through war, a fairly probable event given human nature and the Darwinian evolution which produced humanity. Another potential for collective suicide arises from technological screwups, Whizbang technological innovations with lethal unintended blowback. Genetic engineering and nanotechnology are probably ripe with potential booby traps.. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b> If it avoids these pitfalls, a Type 1 civilization should be (quasi-)"immortal". It should then progress to a Type 2 technical culture: terraforming and colonizing uninhabited terrestrial type planets in nearby solar systems. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b> <u>Getting there from here</u>: challenges for the emerging (?) Type 1 civilization.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>- We must assure that the controlled control their controllers: the police must serve the citizenry!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>- Society must protect minorities from the violence of majorities. As a species we must learn, first to <u>tolerate</u>, then to <span style="color: red;">celebrate</span> Diversity in Unity / Unity in our human Diversity. (Edgar Morin: <u>La Méthode</u>)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>- We must be creative in seizing <u>local</u> opportunities, finding <u>local / regiona</u>l solutions to <u>local / regiona</u>l problems. Only then can we realistically think of dealing with truly global issues (liking robotic exploration of Mars and the outer planets, searching for life on exoplanets, robotic asteroid mining. Even issues we normally think of as global - like overpopulation - require <u>regional</u> solutions, with <u>local</u> implementation.) </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2014/08/four-pillars-of-sustainable-economy.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2014/08/four-pillars-of-sustainable-economy.html</a> </b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-60478806453828034372016-09-30T11:47:00.001-07:002017-04-18T11:57:24.441-07:00Harvest, 2016<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Harvest, 2016</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>A man reaps what he has sown,</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>the bitter seed yields bitter fruit.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>What have we Boomers sown</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>for tomorrow's children to reap?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Strange images flood the mind, poor</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>disconnected things, strands of thought,</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>images, fantoms raised by fear</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>and memories of horrors lived,</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>the warning of sages</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>or prophets mad raving.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Politicians lies are heavy grapes,</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>clustered tight, ripe for harvest,</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>the wine our grandchildren shall feast.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>The mob grows restless, they know their hour is near.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>In their hearts dwells Fear, yet harder they grasp</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>that which draws doom upon their heads.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Why do they not see? What clouds their vision?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>What stops their eyes, what empties their minds</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>(or, worse, fills it with redundant rubbish)?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>I fear the mob in their fear</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>will choose a monster or a madman as a Messiah.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>It happened before, why not again?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>Why do we look aside from the menace that marches? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5VXkvH91RwI_8qjgq3eCy-ik1TfAB6yBCY53Myzya8lvbhOZ0ZeJ0uMRTdJqIgDFBsRAlq_oPuP0s6Im_Qe89w3lXqqCb6z91VieCw4iSTl8rAdeUTB4S44n0Kw75eVrxBM4r-rQMSv8/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5VXkvH91RwI_8qjgq3eCy-ik1TfAB6yBCY53Myzya8lvbhOZ0ZeJ0uMRTdJqIgDFBsRAlq_oPuP0s6Im_Qe89w3lXqqCb6z91VieCw4iSTl8rAdeUTB4S44n0Kw75eVrxBM4r-rQMSv8/s320/2.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></div>
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hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-68145089759584913502016-09-23T11:29:00.003-07:002016-09-26T09:48:43.730-07:00Historical Alliance: First Nations sign treaty to block tar sands development<br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXeCDekrASqCIuAQ598uVneyFJ78lghyphenhyphenc6ij-GVCboYK1vIuoy4xHZZYTKw10AJAkBDe779ApcXbQxAZqIrhv4bXXtlFaH9WEf3Tk06XmhbRizd7FjIZKDCTGZXlcCTOhEXTd2OPAiV-g/s1600/lake-9817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXeCDekrASqCIuAQ598uVneyFJ78lghyphenhyphenc6ij-GVCboYK1vIuoy4xHZZYTKw10AJAkBDe779ApcXbQxAZqIrhv4bXXtlFaH9WEf3Tk06XmhbRizd7FjIZKDCTGZXlcCTOhEXTd2OPAiV-g/s400/lake-9817.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> At simultaneous signing ceremonies in Vancouver and Montréal, Thursday, September 22, 2016, the autumnal equinox, a (potentially) historical alliance was forged. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"</b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>The document, called the <u>Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion</u>,
commits its signatories to assist one another when called upon in the
battle against oilsands expansion, and to work in partnership to move
society towards more sustainable lifestyles. By aligning themselves with
other Indigenous nations across Canada and the northern U.S.,
participants hope to ensure that dangerous projects are not able to
"escape" by using alternative routes."</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"As <u>sovereign Indigenous Nations</u>, we enter this treaty <u>pursuant to our
inherent legal authority and responsibility to protect our respective
territories from threats to our lands, waters, air and climate,</u> but we
do so knowing full well that it is in the best interest of all peoples,
both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to put a stop to the threat of Tar
Sands expansion.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>We wish to work in collaboration with all peoples and all governments
in building a more equitable and sustainable future, one that will
produce healthier and more prosperous communities across Turtle Island
and beyond, as well as preserve and protect our peoples’ way of life."</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/09/22/news/first-nations-across-north-america-sign-treaty-alliance-against-oilsands">http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/09/22/news/first-nations-across-north-america-sign-treaty-alliance-against-oilsands</a></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAlAPy_Mo9llJ8NTtdp8Eb7tvYdWjXlq1B5rnf4eX4Tz9o-FX4WzauJsg-rQKL4Gy3WFX7RmJ2EySM3nbS_ovM-YaSsO4BYkJ1wgQ7PyBpeSXN8pqI8q7BPaa_qrSL4nLpQIQPwbLiq6o/s1600/b530c-soaring-eagle-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAlAPy_Mo9llJ8NTtdp8Eb7tvYdWjXlq1B5rnf4eX4Tz9o-FX4WzauJsg-rQKL4Gy3WFX7RmJ2EySM3nbS_ovM-YaSsO4BYkJ1wgQ7PyBpeSXN8pqI8q7BPaa_qrSL4nLpQIQPwbLiq6o/s400/b530c-soaring-eagle-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> This is interesting news - to say the least! To take it at face value, after five centuries of colonization, ethnocide and forced cultural assimilation, aboriginal peoples around the world are rising, phoenix-like from their ashes. What it all means in the long scheme of things is anyone's guess. One can speculate, based on historical precedent, of course. It may simply be that, living on the margins of the dominant European culture, aboriginal peoples are more attuned to the ongoing implosion of that culture. We, non-aboriginals, living in the cultural epicenter, are more fully "hypnotized" by the dominant culture's narratives and glitz. It is easier for the aboriginal than for us to "jump ship", to search for viable alternatives to Nonsustainable "Development". They, the marginalized "natives", were never fully part of our crew in the first place, never fully assimilated and yet never fully severed from their roots. We are perhaps now discovering that those ancient spiritual, cultural roots are still alive, still capable of drawing nourishment from earth, water, air and fire (the sun).</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/09/burning-pine-cones.html?spref=fb">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/09/burning-pine-cones.html?spref=fb</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/07/book-review-toward-buddhist-ecology.html">http://transparencycanada.blogspot.ca/2016/07/book-review-toward-buddhist-ecology.html</a> </b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6tEdChnWqY-6rotafbEyO3ZeKXxsCuYkOx9u9nSC2lgpmzTHK0YBnDuSEOwxPcdnR3VjTmj3ZZOMXOR4CLm5PMQ_x3Nc06FKA51u7Xt9nVCm4lzgXfBw1i1GGMztaNJK6M5GWkFZaTI0/s1600/cae2a51d3d6f3dda0c140416dc59c66d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6tEdChnWqY-6rotafbEyO3ZeKXxsCuYkOx9u9nSC2lgpmzTHK0YBnDuSEOwxPcdnR3VjTmj3ZZOMXOR4CLm5PMQ_x3Nc06FKA51u7Xt9nVCm4lzgXfBw1i1GGMztaNJK6M5GWkFZaTI0/s640/cae2a51d3d6f3dda0c140416dc59c66d.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-74659932874378456232016-09-20T16:36:00.000-07:002017-04-18T11:59:01.008-07:00burning pine cones<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">reflections on the Fort McMurray, Alberta, fire - summer 2016</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzaiezzovZ10EXnzD8ZzNfZ2L4tbtcHDSDWGuneM7x2sNO-ZHHcupb_559VsER-EgwecrH8ALpjNiI1gffe0-JKUHPuflx4ZnAZ1Ul2BikjJoivvEDO8aZk5_3p9m9UQmiaYAuj3sfIQ/s1600/fire91.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzaiezzovZ10EXnzD8ZzNfZ2L4tbtcHDSDWGuneM7x2sNO-ZHHcupb_559VsER-EgwecrH8ALpjNiI1gffe0-JKUHPuflx4ZnAZ1Ul2BikjJoivvEDO8aZk5_3p9m9UQmiaYAuj3sfIQ/s400/fire91.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b> <span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> </span></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">our world falls down, our world falls aprt</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">what joy is found in the wasting city of the dead?</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">we have become outcasts in our own country</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">neophyte wanderers in the world of the narrative</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">seeking deep roots in living earth</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">in living, loved or wasted time..</span></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">a wise woman, a sage I know, told me</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">seek living earth in old cultures being born</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">put faith and hope in the regenerative fires of Nature</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">the earth is old and seen much change</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">'twas born and died and rose again</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">again and ever again </span></b>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-18848561870507966512016-08-08T10:47:00.001-07:002016-08-08T11:14:42.127-07:00Swedish in Milwaukee: My Life as a Writer: We have some things to talk about, yes?<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> This short article - an appeal - shows the frustration of the activist artist (writer, creative person..) in contemporary neo-conservative society. Such people often feel isolated, powerless and frustrated, angry, despondant.. As I pointed out in a comment to the article, we don't have much time to get viable sustainable communities off the ground before the lash of climate change and societal breakdown comes down hard.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://milwaukeereflections.blogspot.com/2016/08/we-have-some-things-to-talk-about-yes.html?spref=bl">Swedish in Milwaukee: My Life as a Writer: We have some things to talk about, yes?</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> Recent political events are showing that instability is now settling into <u>political and social</u> structures. In our air-conditioned urban comfort we can ignore arctic meltdown a few years longer. But Black Lives Matter and the European refugee crisis are up front, in your face, can't be ignored any longer.</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLbJTXftVCZDRchF76bFBXlj8R04CkYmVh2O1W-OVIhKJhF9RFna2WY_MuASDT0ptd0LDG1ozOF3i_63juVgXaBJog4OrcIEswdg97exKpziA1Ljij7CXDi6Lui5vUTKGaRCkaK9MmuTw/s1600/complexity_2010_6_by_piritipany-d34nwxd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLbJTXftVCZDRchF76bFBXlj8R04CkYmVh2O1W-OVIhKJhF9RFna2WY_MuASDT0ptd0LDG1ozOF3i_63juVgXaBJog4OrcIEswdg97exKpziA1Ljij7CXDi6Lui5vUTKGaRCkaK9MmuTw/s400/complexity_2010_6_by_piritipany-d34nwxd.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> How does the "creative" person (who does <u>not</u> have some taint of creativity..) act in a bankrupt society? What values should they follow? Should they engage with others to create viable local / regional communities - "Cultural Refugia" - to sustain and preserve our culture's best values and the knowledge our civilization has accumulated? What would such an engagement look like? How does one begin..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> Many questions! Few answers.. </b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8403090612918247270.post-56141792729678622322016-08-03T13:10:00.000-07:002016-08-03T13:10:54.664-07:00Update: What has Justin Trudeau done so far?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLdfzGqZ5k_E0pA-vFvW0DvhH474fApl9Ak6nO7ZBlSjv9ec0SdEXwWPMKhSM01R68iSoZ_zHTS2LaRnPLZOZSqRNSpJ64xniOtycaN3P4KVtDgOeSaxJd94LPrDthpcennzNn8D-TXw/s1600/Ottawa_-_ON_-_Parliament_Hill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLdfzGqZ5k_E0pA-vFvW0DvhH474fApl9Ak6nO7ZBlSjv9ec0SdEXwWPMKhSM01R68iSoZ_zHTS2LaRnPLZOZSqRNSpJ64xniOtycaN3P4KVtDgOeSaxJd94LPrDthpcennzNn8D-TXw/s400/Ottawa_-_ON_-_Parliament_Hill.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> Time for a six month report card on the performance of the Trudeau t<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">eam in Ottawa. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> One of nast<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ier <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">sides of the Harper Conservative government was the mean spirited way they went after program<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s which leveled the playing f<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ield for the less advantaged members of soci<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ety<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: </span>legal aid<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> assistance, immigrant language programs and inte<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">gration services..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2202:tens-of-thousands-of-immigrants-victims-of-harper-cuts&Itemid=6&lang=en">http://www.ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2202:tens-of-thousands-of-immigrants-victims-of-harper-cuts&Itemid=6&lang=en</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> One of the nicer program<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">s these mean-spirited bâtards et bâtardes cut was K<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">itimavik, the Canadian "dome<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">stic <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Peace Corps<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">" program.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.katimavik.org/">https://www.katimavik.org/</a> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Justin Trudeau in his election campagin last fall<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> suggested - if not promised<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">,</span> restoring Kitimavik. To da<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">te, funding is not comfirmed but the folks at Kitimavik seem optimistic. They are even hiring people for both<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> the</span> Board of Directors and public relations <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">posts</span> - which is a good sign..</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Posted July 29 on katimavik.org</span>, 2016:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"</b></span>The federal government budget for 2016 earmarked $105 million (over
five years) “in support of youth service,” plus an additional $25
million per year after that. The budget said further details about the
recipients of these funds would be announced.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Though the budget
did not mention Katimavik by name, alumni are hopeful about the future
of the program and confident that they have an ally in Justin Trudeau."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b> The Court Challenges Program, while modest ($12 million for five years), is considered an important piece of empowering legislation, helping marginalized groups to challenge provincial and federal governments in civil rights legislation cases. This program was cut by Harper in his first term and has been re-instored by Trudeau. Bravo!</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberals-roll-back-harper-initiatives-1.3504107">http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberals-roll-back-harper-initiatives-1.3504107</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b> Playing up to his redneck, anti-intellectual and reactionary core, Haper and his government took aim at funding of the arts arguing that "ordinary" folk don't understand that artsy cr%p which is all a lot of leftwing propaganda anyway. In this case, despite their mantra of "economy - economy - economy..", the Harperites showed themselves bad economist as well as louts. Due to "multiplier factors", the arts inject surprising amounts of money into exactly the places it's needed: local economies. The much vaunted multinationals, which profit from massive federal and provincial subsidies - <u>welfare for the rich</u>, tend to ship their profits overseas. Art festivals, however, employ local people but also draw in people from outside to spend in local communites: hotels, restaurants, stores, local travel and tourism..</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b> In a virogous policy reversal, Trudeau's first budget has restored funding for the arts, the Arts Council and for the long beleaguered Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (lest anyone forget: the contemporary, neo-conservative inspired, round of CBC cuts actually began with an earlier <u>Liberal</u> government, that of Jean Chrétien).<br /><br />"</b>Trudeau and his finance minister have taken a starkly different approach. The budget unveiled $1.9 billion in new arts spending,
including $550 million over five years for the Canada Council for the
Arts, millions for Canada's national museums and $675 million for CBC."</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3APLPT3vDL4JdAFullcQPJ2llbG0UO7Hz2cMf5HmtObq6GRyX7iKchyfd1ht8Tnb3HPiiA33AxapC49J2_2w9lDZLQg2ckvc9WAiK9Jjd-P0lnaMBgsKriHC_BwqFLqwf0TPT2BTY41U/s1600/scientists-protest-ottawa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3APLPT3vDL4JdAFullcQPJ2llbG0UO7Hz2cMf5HmtObq6GRyX7iKchyfd1ht8Tnb3HPiiA33AxapC49J2_2w9lDZLQg2ckvc9WAiK9Jjd-P0lnaMBgsKriHC_BwqFLqwf0TPT2BTY41U/s400/scientists-protest-ottawa.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><b><u>On the Science front</u>: The Harper government was notorious for its war on evidence based science especially any science that could be construed as relating to global warming, climate change, pollution effects, habitat destruction or renewable resource overexploitation. In addition, science funding was shifted from basic science research (which is a gamble but may generate major innovations) to applied science (which benefits the industrial bottom line in the short term).</b> <b>At its worst, scientists doing "suspect" research for federal agencies were subjected to an utterly bizarre, North Korean style vetting procedure, actually having to obtain <span style="color: red;">permission</span> to speak with journalists (!sic! - this, in a modern Western "democracy"</b>)</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/faq-the-issues-around-muzzling-government-scientists-1.3079537">http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/faq-the-issues-around-muzzling-government-scientists-1.3079537</a> </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"> Some of this stuff is too bizarre! Fit for a mid-twentieth century totalitarian regime. Here's a tidbit:</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">"</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">In 2010, Natural Resources Canada scientist Scott Dallimore was not
allowed to talk about research into a flood in northern Canada 13,000
years ago without getting pre-approval from political staff in the
office of then-Natural Resources minister Christian Paradis. Postmedia
News said requests were only approved after reporters' deadlines had
already passed."</span><b><span style="color: black;"> </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"> I supose this could be construed as climate change research, hence suspect (of linkages with leftwing, "foreign controlled environmental radicals"). The fact it happened 13,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice ages seems irrelevant..</span></b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmpRiYnZDeh5PzvHaUQFu3M8Hen8kdeBXkiWQlnoFVDECRUOsnpgdWg-nhAe9Im6wZWTt2GElfoIuOUF5WQ1QIlSXak12i56m4wDWp0nBboeu2pBJjf9m_A0NfYuEVpCvlNu_kURRuIEo/s1600/brain-size-obese.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmpRiYnZDeh5PzvHaUQFu3M8Hen8kdeBXkiWQlnoFVDECRUOsnpgdWg-nhAe9Im6wZWTt2GElfoIuOUF5WQ1QIlSXak12i56m4wDWp0nBboeu2pBJjf9m_A0NfYuEVpCvlNu_kURRuIEo/s400/brain-size-obese.jpg" width="338" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"> brainscan: Ministry of Ce<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">nsorship bureaucrat</span></span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"> The Trudeau government has signaled a new era for Canadian Science in its first budget. An immediate 72.8 <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">m</span>illion dollars per annum will be injected into science funding, following years of stagnant or declining budgets. Specifically, the world class, Experimental Lakes Projects (to study long term water pollution), will once again receive funding by the feds. The Harper (fossil fuel puppet) government discontinued funding, forcing <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">the Experimental Lakes Project (Ontario)</span> to seek private, foreign intitutional <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">funding s</span>ources for the last few years.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Under</span> the Trudeau government, s</span>cientists are now free, once again, to speak of their research openly to whom they want (except, of course, for classified military work). </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"> Research into Sustainable Development <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">has <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">bee</span>n given</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">annual</span> funding by Ottawa. </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Finally<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, a</span></span> fund to assist provinces to reach their greenhouse gas emission goals has been established at $2 billion.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/canadian-scientists-smile-liberals-deliver-d-j-vu-budget">http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/canadian-scientists-smile-liberals-deliver-d-j-vu-budget</a> </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/03/22/news/green-ink-ten-highlights-canadas-federal-budget">http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/03/22/news/green-ink-ten-highlights-canadas-federal-budget</a></span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"> So the scientists are happy. However, one should not expect major outlays of cash to start flowing before 2017 - 18. The longterm change in trajectory is welcome, nonetheless.</span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"> The mills of government grind exceedingly slowly. <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Trudeau has <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">already fufilled <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">a few</span> of his promises, the easy ones: increasing the number of Syrian <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">refugees accepted by Canada, for example. </span></span></span>Other important promises made by Trudeau <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">during the campaign are just getting <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">off the ground</span>, for example, the Commission on Missing and Murdered <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Indigenous</span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">W</span>omen.</span></span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mmiw-inquiry-launch-details-1.3704191">http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mmiw-inquiry-launch-details-1.3704191</a> </span></span></b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This commission may turn out to be the moral make-or-break point for Canadian society (at least for many generations). First Nations people<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, like blacks in the States<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> have "traditional greviences" against the society they live in<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: they were, after all, victims of colonization and all that implies. They are under-scholarized<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> but</span> over-represented in prisio<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">n. First nation women <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">run</span> a hig<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">her risk of being <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">murdered or going missing<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and, worse, t</span>here is fear that police are not taking these cases seriously enough.</span></span> </span></span>Now, as seems to be the case in the States with blacks, our country has reached a make-or-break point. We are at a fork in the road. The Commission on Missing and Murdered <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Indigenous</span> Women may be our last chance to set things right, to turn a new - and brighter <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">- page of the checkered history between European settlers and the indigenous founding <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">peoples</span>. However, even at its inception, we see a tendancy to waffle, to water things down, to not ask the questi<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ons that really must be asked. For example, <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">there is concern that families of missing <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">and murdered indigenous women</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> may not be allowed to re-open investigations of murdered and missing relatives. This one is <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">most defin<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">itely a "work in progress"<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span> Good l<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">uck with this one Mr Trudeau - you'<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ll need it<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">!</span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></b></span>hombredelatierrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07347889851876420925noreply@blogger.com0