I join the majority of the scientific community in believing, that we should hedge our bets agianst Man Made Global Warming, or Climate Change (“CC”). In the last two centuries scientists have been able to objectively measure the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, which is one of the principal components causing the increase in the earth’s temperature.
CC should not be made into a political issue, with so called Moderates and Liberals affirming CC, and Conservatives, Fossil Fuel Producers, and Traditionalists denying the evidence of CC. Unfortunately the focus on dealing with the real issues are being detoured by issues such as Wall Street profiteers ambitions to profit off of “Cap and Trade”, and Al Gore and his band of venture capitalists wanting to push the CC agenda to profit from renewable energy sources. Money has always been made from opportunities to solve social, environmental, medical, transportation, and other delivery systems. Our capitalistic system can provide positive goods and services for our society that are beneficial to all stakeholders.
There are CC pundits who will pull out a few aberrations in the CC argument, and then attempt to use that “Straw Man” to discredit the entire hypothesis. The fact is that in the last 100 years average temperatures have risen 1.8 degrees F, pre-industrial carbon levels have risen from 280 parts per million, to more than 390 PPM, and is rising at 3 PPM/year. Really dangerous levels of carbon occur at around 450PPM, or about the year 2030 +/-. The rise in temperature is directly related to atmospheric carbon levels.
Deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels are the two greatest contributors to the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Fossil fuel producers of oil and coal have a present economic interest in discouraging people’s acceptance of CC. Fossil fuel stakeholders usually try to use the big fear words, “Loss of Jobs”, but they could care less about jobs, their interests are purely corporate profits. Fortunately natural gas is plentiful, less polluting, and as a result coal fired generation plants are being converted to natural gas. The bad news is that this coal mined in the US is being exported China, where its negative effect will touch the entire world.
The oceans play a major role in the absorption of one third of all the carbon dioxide. Oceans also move heat around the world to balance out climates. Hurricanes will continue to increase as temperatures increase, causing land devastation and more disruption to climate patterns. Increased carbon dioxide in the oceans has created more acidity, which intern has damaged coral beds and other sea life that sustain our very dwindling edible fish population.
“Cap and Trade” is a somewhat misunderstood delivery system for reducing carbon emissions. The free market, with every person acting in their own rational self-interest, can’t by itself solve the global climate change problem. We need new economics that encourages carbon reduction and that makes it economically untenable for companies to pollute. Those that pollute will lose profits. For example coal generating power plants who convert to natural gas, or other less polluting sources would be able to sell a reasonable amount of credits to other coal companies. This disparity would put less polluting companies at an economic advantage. The idea here is to put a ceiling on how much each industry sector can emit, and gradually reduce that carbon cap over time. Those who run “clean Industries” could add to their bottom line by selling to higher polluters who would still have a ceiling on their allowable maximum emissions. If some people make money by brokering these trades, so be it. Brokers now make money from the sales of other financial instruments such as medical insurance, casualty insurance, real estate, and other tangible and intangible assets. When I hear some capitalists using the argument against “Cap and Trade” as just another Wall Street scam, I just shake my head and say, “Its all about who’s ox is getting gored”. These fossil fuel producers would be there in a “New York Minute” to support “Cap and Trade” if some of the brokerage commissions dropped in their pockets.
Linguistic author George Lakoff said, “The salesmen of death -- the oil and coal companies -- are profiting hugely from our payouts to them via subsidies and high prices. And with the money ordinary citizens are giving to them in subsidies, they are corrupting the political process, influencing political leaders not to deal with global warming -- our greatest threat. We are dependent on them for energy, to a large extent because they have politically blocked the development of alternatives for decades.”
There are four possible scenarios available that I see relating to our confrontation or dismissal of remediating CC as follows:
(1) We assume there is no CC and we do nothing: This would be the perfect scenario, no insurance premiums paid and no future perils. The down side is that we would not be as motivated to wean ourselves off of imported oil; our air would continue to be polluted from dwindling fossil fuels.
(2) We accept that there is CC and we act now: This would be a “win-Win” situation. Effectively we would be reducing our dependence on oil imports (38% of all our imports), breathing cleaner air, reducing the need to invade other countries for their oil, staving off weather disasters of increased hurricanes, rising sea levels, and more deserts. Putting a proactive policy in place will not happen overnight, we need to plan ahead and start implementing this plan immediately.
(3) We act now but find out there is no CC: We would have spent large amounts of money for renewable energy. Effectively we would be reducing our dependence on oil imports (38% of all our imports), breathing cleaner air, reducing the need to invade other countries for their oil.
(4) We assume there is CC and do nothing: If we do nothing and we are wrong, the devastation to our planet would be disastrous. Rising sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps would flood many of our coastal cities, causing death, injury, major economic losses, and untold deaths. Our continued use of fossil fuels would increase oil costs, continue to cause health damaging pollution, and make us more vulnerable due to energy dependence and a continued need to invade other countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and possibly Iran, Russia, and Venezuela for control of oil assets. Our food supply would be at risk due to changes in water availability and fertile land.
It appears to me that the best choice and insurance policy against world disaster is choice #2. We are used to paying insurance premiums for medical, fire, and life insurance. We spend $4,000/yr. for every man, women, and child for defense, so what’s the big deal about getting us off of oil and coal, unless one owns a lot of stock in these fossil fuel producing companies? Let’s cut our excessive military spending, eliminate corporate and agricultural subsidies, and as a result we will not have to raise taxes to get us on an energy independent and renewable diet. The pundits of Man Made Global warming do not have a very good and sustainable argument for doing nothing and keeping our heads in the sand about the above critical climate and energy issue.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
14 Characteristics of Fascism, should we be cautious?
Fascism is the “F Word” that seems to raise the hackles on most folks backs, unlike the ubiquitous one that many of us use to informally punctuate our sentences. This heavy handed word is being used as a demonizing tool by some people, and an actual description of possible trending in this country by others. My own informal definition of Fascism is where individual rights, freedom of speech, access to transparent news are limited and married with a great deal of “Corporate Cronyism” that benefits the Military Industrial Complex and world bankers. In addition, fear and False Flag events are used as a mind bending tool to justify wars and brutality.
Lawrence Britt, a high level business executive, who has a passion for contemporary history has examined many Fascist regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to the following regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin countries.
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
The individual display of flags as a symbol of national pride is benign. What is dangerous is when our national leaders portray our malicious behavior, as being acceptable because we are always the “Good Guys”, and others are “Evil Doers”, we are then approaching foreign affairs with an imperialistic myopic mythical chauvinistic point of view.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
Our treatment of detainees has been despicable, in violation of the Geneva Conventions, very arbitrary, and lacks any sense of humanity and justice that our country was founded upon.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
In the past we used Communism as the scapegoat for oppression and military buildups, these days it is Muslim bashing. It has never been proven that 19 Muslim high-jackers flew planes into the WTC Towers, in fact seven have been identified as CIA operatives, and proven to be alive.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
Today the military uses approximately half of our federal budget, with much of it buried in other departments other than “Defense”. A large portion of the mobilization and operations in the present Middle East wars are carried on by private no-bid contractors, who or have been “Crony Capitalist” buddies of people within the Pentagon and Whitehouse.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
It is still a white male dominated corporatocracy that primarily recognizes only the legitimacy of heterosexual male control. For example parity pay for women, who today only get paid approximately 77% of what a male receives for the same job description has been shot down primarily by a Conservative legislature. The Defense of Marriage Act and foot dragging on DADT in the military are additional examples of sexism and a lack of parity for homosexuals.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
The mass media today is owned and controlled by approximately six major corporations who have only one motive which is profit and not transparency. In addition many of these corporations have CEO’s and board members who sit on other corporations who benefit directly or indirectly from the Military Industrial Complex.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
Homeland Security has put a limit of citizen rights, privacy from wire tapping, and government inroads to monitor the internet. Intrusive body scans and searches are an exaggerated hoax that enriches government insiders.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
The words “God” and ‘Christian Nation” are invoked many times in government official discourse. Should a politician say that he is an Atheist or Agnostic, is to place a major blight on his career. There have been complaints by military field personnel in Iraq about top brass coercing soldiers toward forced Christian belief and worship.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
We have seen a real reticence to legislate and prosecute egregious behavior and overstepping by Wall Street and major Corporations. When there was Senate hearings relating to Cheney’s secret meetings with the major oil CEO’s about taking over the oil assets in Iraq, just 2 weeks prior to “9/11”, some of the politicians refused to require that the oil “Fat Cats” testify under oath at the hearings.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
The power of private union membership in the US has plummeted to 12% from a high of 30% a decade ago, a large cause for this has been weakened union lobbying and off shoring of jobs which has been exacerbated by NAFTA and low wages in other countries.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
Intellectuals are seen in this country as an irritant that promotes “Critical Thinking”, human rights, and questioning of nation state behavior.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
Habeas Corpus rules have been suspended by the invocation of Homeland Security and exaggerated abusive Executive power.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
With the major influence of Wall Street and Corporate “Personhood” use of lobbying money, the guy on the street does not have a reasonable chance to sway our corrupt politicians.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
Stalin said, “I don’t care how many people vote for whom, only who counts the votes”. With allegations of past voter fraud in the Florida, supported by a Right Wing Supreme Court majority, which is difficult to uncover because of electronic voting machines, it is easy for “Hackers” and corrupted software programmers to change vote counts in the system.
Be it Communism or Fascism manifesting itself under a degree of Totalitarianism, supported by manufactured fear and enemies, governments ability to control the media, and “Corporate Cronyism”, the precious thing we call democracy, bolstered by our Constitutional rights, will be eroded and may die.
Lawrence Britt, a high level business executive, who has a passion for contemporary history has examined many Fascist regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to the following regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin countries.
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
The individual display of flags as a symbol of national pride is benign. What is dangerous is when our national leaders portray our malicious behavior, as being acceptable because we are always the “Good Guys”, and others are “Evil Doers”, we are then approaching foreign affairs with an imperialistic myopic mythical chauvinistic point of view.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
Our treatment of detainees has been despicable, in violation of the Geneva Conventions, very arbitrary, and lacks any sense of humanity and justice that our country was founded upon.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
In the past we used Communism as the scapegoat for oppression and military buildups, these days it is Muslim bashing. It has never been proven that 19 Muslim high-jackers flew planes into the WTC Towers, in fact seven have been identified as CIA operatives, and proven to be alive.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
Today the military uses approximately half of our federal budget, with much of it buried in other departments other than “Defense”. A large portion of the mobilization and operations in the present Middle East wars are carried on by private no-bid contractors, who or have been “Crony Capitalist” buddies of people within the Pentagon and Whitehouse.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
It is still a white male dominated corporatocracy that primarily recognizes only the legitimacy of heterosexual male control. For example parity pay for women, who today only get paid approximately 77% of what a male receives for the same job description has been shot down primarily by a Conservative legislature. The Defense of Marriage Act and foot dragging on DADT in the military are additional examples of sexism and a lack of parity for homosexuals.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
The mass media today is owned and controlled by approximately six major corporations who have only one motive which is profit and not transparency. In addition many of these corporations have CEO’s and board members who sit on other corporations who benefit directly or indirectly from the Military Industrial Complex.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
Homeland Security has put a limit of citizen rights, privacy from wire tapping, and government inroads to monitor the internet. Intrusive body scans and searches are an exaggerated hoax that enriches government insiders.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
The words “God” and ‘Christian Nation” are invoked many times in government official discourse. Should a politician say that he is an Atheist or Agnostic, is to place a major blight on his career. There have been complaints by military field personnel in Iraq about top brass coercing soldiers toward forced Christian belief and worship.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
We have seen a real reticence to legislate and prosecute egregious behavior and overstepping by Wall Street and major Corporations. When there was Senate hearings relating to Cheney’s secret meetings with the major oil CEO’s about taking over the oil assets in Iraq, just 2 weeks prior to “9/11”, some of the politicians refused to require that the oil “Fat Cats” testify under oath at the hearings.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
The power of private union membership in the US has plummeted to 12% from a high of 30% a decade ago, a large cause for this has been weakened union lobbying and off shoring of jobs which has been exacerbated by NAFTA and low wages in other countries.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
Intellectuals are seen in this country as an irritant that promotes “Critical Thinking”, human rights, and questioning of nation state behavior.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
Habeas Corpus rules have been suspended by the invocation of Homeland Security and exaggerated abusive Executive power.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
With the major influence of Wall Street and Corporate “Personhood” use of lobbying money, the guy on the street does not have a reasonable chance to sway our corrupt politicians.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
Stalin said, “I don’t care how many people vote for whom, only who counts the votes”. With allegations of past voter fraud in the Florida, supported by a Right Wing Supreme Court majority, which is difficult to uncover because of electronic voting machines, it is easy for “Hackers” and corrupted software programmers to change vote counts in the system.
Be it Communism or Fascism manifesting itself under a degree of Totalitarianism, supported by manufactured fear and enemies, governments ability to control the media, and “Corporate Cronyism”, the precious thing we call democracy, bolstered by our Constitutional rights, will be eroded and may die.
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