I’m not going to make the claim that I know this graphic to be absolutely true. But it rings true, to my mind. Via the comments in this post. Which you need to read, all the way thru. SN is spot on in this point:
Powerful forces want to keep society in its current shape. For good reason, there is not only physical capital, but the doctrine of incorporation to contend with: we become physically the shapes and habits that they live. Moses never reached the promised land, and there is a desert to cross to take this generation out of the desert and into the land of milk and honey. Either we will face a reactionary century, or a new, progressive century, there is no third choice.I guess that’s really been my problem with HRC and BHO supporters all along. And I’ll even admit that my guy would’ve hardly been better, perhaps a little, perhaps not. But I think that’s it in a nutshell: too many of us want to believe in the “third way.” Folks, that’s a myth, a joke, a fallacy. It doesn’t exist, it can’t and it won’t. History has never been kind to middle of the road types, and right now, even if we don’t want to admit it, we’re smack dab in the center of an historical narrative that future generations will call “good vs evil” in the same way people talk about teevee characters and video games today. Anyway, I found those links to be very stimulating and I hope you enjoy them.
Going in today: bush beans, pole beans, climbing peas, cucumbers. If I have the time/energy, sunflowers as well. And Aramanth, which I’ve never tried to grow before. The “cock’s comb” bloom is very interesting next to more traditional “pom pom” or “daisy” type of flowers, and makes a great and unusual contrast. Let’s hope the Goddess approves and they come up. I should’ve started them indoors earlier, but I didn’t and I guess we’ll see if the growing season is long enough for them to show results.
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Self sufficiency
What this shows is the effect of decoupling money from something tangible. Right now we are seeing dramatic increases in the price of food because capital is flooding into commodities. It’s not good! I agree that the way out is to do for ourselves, and avoid debt. So, planting is the ideal antidote, as would be building our own houses, buying and maintaining vehicles we can obtain with cash, riding bicycles where possible, etc. My current material comfort is a direct result of such a strategy. Let’s see how successful I am passing this on to children and young friends (together with the skills and tools of a lifetime).
That's my problem with HRC and BHO too
Our society faces some big challenges in the coming years, yet our political leadership is comprised of tiny people with outsized egos.
Much of the resistance, though, comes from the people themselves. We’ve become so used to life with all our toys that we find living any other way to be inconceivable. I hope Western society wakes up in time that we can have a soft landing, but the longer we stay in denial, the greater the chances of a crash.
…for the rest of us
yes, we're pretty fucked.
but to suggest that clinton and obama are indistinguishable on this is too similar for my tastes to the 2000 naderite argument that gore and bush are twins. in terms of votes (forget the rhetoric, which i don’t give two shits about) clinton’s been consistently more progressive than obama has on economic issues. and check out some good points here and here.
make no mistake: wall street wants mccain first and obama second, and they’re trying to get hillary out of the primary at all costs. which is yet another reason why i don’t have to wonder which candidate i should pick.
2008
I agree w/ much of this post. Bill Clinton was the best president of my lifetime, and it is a real shame Obama and netroots have taken upon themselves to trash his legacy.
On the other hand, one of the reasons that the nation is in such bad shape is that the Democrats didn’t do their job as the opposition party. Hillary Clinton voted for the war authorization act, she voted for the patriot act, she voted to confirm Rice in 2004. She voted for Kyl Lieberman for crying out loud, when she knew her hawkishness was a problem with primary voters. It just slays me that she thinks she should be pres because of her understanding of national security when in fact, she gets it wrong really wrong.
On the other hand, the Unity
Pony
has done zilch to end the war since he was given the power to do something about it. I don’t like his advisors and I don’t like his talk about social security. Those are our choices in 2008, we don’t have any others.
It is very discouraging, because I had such high hopes for netroots in 2002. Now I see it is just a digital mob.
general elections always are
about national security and foreign stuff, and on culture war stuff—the GOP ensures that everytime, and the media loves it.
They couldn’t attack Hillary the way Bush just did to Obama.
won't matter this year
The GOP ran commercials in Miss with Childres face between Pelosi and Obama. Childres won by something like 7 points. If that won’t work in Mississippi, then where will it work?
Incidentally, I just start reading Swing State Project, which tracks house and senate races. Those of us who are discouraged with the Presidential might want to check it out.
childers quite actively distanced himself from obama,
and he was smart to do so, because otherwise i think we would’ve seen the inverse of that result.
me too-
he very strongly and repeatedly made that clear. I wonder if Supers noticed or just looked at the results?
i'll bet that most supers,
especially among the elected officials, noticed. but the problem remains: many of them are still too cowardly to vote for the stronger and more progressive candidate.
sure his distanced himself from O & P
but in the past Dem candidates have distanced themselves from national figures to no avail. besides, we were never planning to win the White House in northern Mississippi. The fact is, attacks on Obama and Pelosi had no effect.
No, I don’t think Obama, or Clinton for the matter, could carry Northern Mississippi, but I do think that the fact the Republicans have to struggle their shows that we can win big nationally.
wait until hurricane season and we have a big reminder of how much it matters who controls the White House.
if they control the agenda again,
they won’t have to struggle anywhere—they’re already defining the terms of this election—just like always—and have already defined Obama as Kerry/Dukakis/McGovern all rolled into one.
And because Obama’s not running on issues—esp not on domestic issues which are our strength—they have it even easier.
totally a DINO
like too many of Schumer and Emanuel’s picks always.
methinks you underestimate
the redness of our country. based on past levels of turnout, i’m predicting that about 3x as many people show up in the GE this november as did in the primaries (D & R) combined. and if presidential campaign history is any indicator, once exposed to that expanded pool of voters, obama will be a godsend to the GOP.
underestimating what the GOP is capable of accomplishing between august and november is a recurring, and often fatal, mistake made by democrats.
they need money to do that
and they don’t have money this time.
Tell the godess we need rain in GA
Great minds think, though not necessarily alike. I am investing quite a lot of labor in crops on my modest fifth of an acre suburban lot. I got the idea after hearing someone read this piece by Dmitri Orlov you can find here http://www.altruists.org/f705
Tells about how folks in what used to be the USSR dealt with the literal collapse of the electric grid, garbage collection and the state itself. Some important lessons there. One of them is that folks with a little land better learn how to grow some groceries.
The beans and peas and such should be OK going in even now, even that far north. Our problem down here is climate change. Ordinarily springs are wet down here in GA, and summers are drier. Last two years the spring rains never came. I only cut the grass three times between March and August. This year so far is no different.
Maybe you are on better terms with the goddess than I. If so, do intercede for us down here.
In the end, the Childers thing tells us little about Obama. The Repubs tried to use their national anti-Obama strategy against a local candidate and it didn’t work. But that’s not saying it won’t work against Obama, who as others have said, exposes himself to that stuff by running an issue-free ponies for everybody kind of campaign.
Bruce Dixon
www.blackagendareport.com
Don't bet on it
The GOP has lots of money if they want it.
It’s the party of the rich and shameless.
————————————————————————
“A true friend stabs you from the front” -Oscar Wilde
Obama would be a fundraising godsend
for republicans.
hating hillary is so last year. And anyway it seems like a noisy but shrinking group of democrats hate her WAY more than the republicans do, if that is even possible.
Hillary is old news to republicans. I bet they’ll raise millions from people they’ve convinced that Obama is a muslim, terrorist-aiding, unamerican, manchurian candidate who MUST BE STOPPED. There will be plenty of fuel for their fire under his cute little pony candidacy.
Just my opinion, but I get the sense that people are starting to actually be afraid of the repercussions of an Obama presidency. Nobody’s afraid of Hillary. Repugs might take a pass on voting for her, but their leaders wont have the big knives out for her like they will for Obama.