On Individual Sovereignty

My latest post is found here:   http://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/ .  I started that blog in 2007, and left it in May of 2020 to launch Ecological Liberalism.  After well over one year here, I'm returning to "Sovereignty".  While I fully appreciate the fact that numbers of people here have been rock-solid steady for the past year-plus, those numbers are too small relative to the time it takes to research & post items... and they're not growing.

During my time on this blog, "Sovereignty" had over three times the monthly hits registered here... with no new posts there.  I hope you readers who have followed my essays on Ecological Liberalism will continue to do so on the link in the  paragraph above.  If you do, thanks in advance.

Happy Trails

"HOT MONEY"...

 with General Wesley Clark & his son, Wes, Jr., & directed by Susan Kucera ("Living in the Future's Past", narrated by Jeff Bridges).  Too bad Clark Sr. wasn't elected President when he ran awhile ago.  It's on Amazon Prime, not the best production for a doc, but the content is on the mark.  It shows precisely why:

1.  the global financial world is so fragile, & why mega banks should be broken up ASAP;

2.  there's so much economic inequality;

3.  most national gov'ts (including ours) are not seriously addressing Climate Change [only some cities & States in the USA are, & that's insufficient];

4.  mostly, the transformation to clean energy is going at a snail's pace;

5.  Climate Change already has started the destruction of the worldwide financial & economic systems;

6.  the new normal will involve mass human migrations never seen before;

7.  too many people apparently fail to recognize the paradigm shift in values which must occur if we are to survive & thrive in the future; and

8.  too many people are wrong when they believe that Tech will save us in time, therefore to them, there's no urgency about any of this, no need to drastically alter politics, the economy, or the financial system...much less our values.

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I imagine this documentary is found not only on Prime, but elsewhere online as well.  Look for it if you really want to understand what's going on currently, and what's required to avoid complete catastrophe.  Off & on, I've been studying this for 50 years (started in 1972 at Arizona State U.), so please believe this:  humans are facing the greatest Crisis in our history, and climate disruption is only a part of it.  The "experts" think we have until 2050 to mitigate the problem & thus avoid total societal breakdown.  In all probability, I believe that benchmark should be moved to the year 2035.  Why?  Because much more than climate is involved.  

It's time for all of us to take this seriously.  Much can be done on the micro scale, & much "lobbying" (of sorts) needs to be done on the macro scale.  Politicians will engage in window dressing efforts unless there's an outcry from the ground up.  History has proven such.

Best of Due Diligence to Everyone

p.s.  STEP 1:  stop believing the Edward Bernays style propaganda put out by most of the Powers-That-Be.  For example, it will take much more than Tech to avoid catastrophe.  Don't believe anyone who says otherwise.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Human Extinction?

Below is my latest email (slightly edited) to a few friends and family.

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If anyone has the time or interest, & it takes very little time, read the Conclusion (starting on pg 86) of this 2016 scholarly Thesis.  https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/54848306.pdf

It provides evidence of how neoliberalism essentially has (over decades) squashed the environmental movement relative to protection of our habitat.  

That has been accomplished via 3 avenues:  legislation (interpreted to include Free Trade Agreements enforced by private "courts" via the WTO), assimilation (corporations partnering with NGOs & gov'ts, corps determining policy, etc.), and financial coercion (through debt via mega banks, the IMF, & the World Bank).   It has been an assault on not only the enviro movement, but also on any social movement which opposes neoliberal policies.  Those policies include worldwide privatization, deregulation, liberalization of Finance (without adequate oversight), austerity for commoners, and mega corporate hegemony in general.

This is one of several scholarly papers which tend to support my contention that neoliberals now rule society with the aid of their political puppets... regardless of Party.

Most of the "Green" talk by the Establishment in DC today is all in the framework of neoliberal philosophy & neoliberal economics.  It's an oxymoron. It's window dressing.  It's tinkering around the edges of the Crisis.

When the political Establishment talks about "following the science", they mean the medical science.  They don't pay much attention at all to the science of ecology.  That lack on their part might be the 1st step on the path to eventual human extinction.  That's entirely within the realm of possibility.  To avoid it, we need a paradigm shift in ethics & our worldview.

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Not only my opinion.

Be Well

Reframing the Crisis

 https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/the-nature-and-overshoot-crisis-reframing-the-discussion-of-climate-change-and-biodiversity-loss/

While anthropogenic climate disruption is a massive problem requiring immediate attention, let's not marginalize other assaults on the ecosphere.  The article at the link above demonstrates that loss of biodiversity and other related disasters are interconnected to climate change, and every bit as important.

At the root, the ongoing crisis we're facing is as much a question of ethics as anything else.  The hubris of humans in relation to other species and the environment is (in general) beyond the pale.  We have to correct that if we expect to survive and thrive in the future.

We do have a model or two with which to work.  Indigenous societies around the world and certain Eastern religions have understood for thousands of years the importance of treating Nature as sacred.  It turns out they are on the mark.

As Barry Commoner said in 1971, "Nature knows best.".  Our technology has accomplished amazing things, but sorry to say, it also has egregiously damaged our global habitat.  As a species and overall, our attempts to improve human well-being have brought us to the beginning of our own extinction.  Unfortunately, that's true not only in the ecological sphere, but also in the social sphere.

It will take a paradigm shift in ethics if we are to survive and thrive.

Two books which point the way:  The Sacred Balance -Rediscovering Our Place in Nature, by David Suzuki; and The Web of Meaning - Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, by Jeremy Lent.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

A Pioneer in Systems Theory and Sustainability for Spaceship Earth

Boulding's work goes all the way back to the 1960's.

 https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/3917-kenneth-e-boulding

A sample of his thoughts---

“Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.”

-- Kenneth E. Boulding

“As long as man was small in numbers and limited in technology, he could realistically regard the earth as an infinite reservoir, an infinite source of inputs and an infinite cesspool for outputs. Today we can no longer make this assumption. Earth has become a space ship, not only in our imagination but also in the hard realities of the social, biological, and physical system in which man is enmeshed.”
-- Kenneth E. Boulding

“Physicists only talk to physicists, economists to economists-worse still, nuclear physicists only talk to nuclear physicists and econometricians to econometricians. One wonders sometimes if science will not grind to a stop in an assemblage of walled-in hermits, each mumbling to himself words in a private language that only he can understand.”
-- Kenneth E. Boulding

“Economics has been incurably growth-oriented and addicted to everybody growing richer, even at the cost of exhaustion of resources and pollution of the environment.”
-- Kenneth E. Boulding

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

For 20 Years - "One Lie After Another"

https://twitter.com/ScottHa85992272/status/1432141855588769793?s=20 

Link to a piece by the well respected journalist, James Risen.  Finally, what really happened in Afghanistan for 20 years.  Imperial hubris, opium trade, killing of civilians, warlords, corruption, horrendous mistakes, and lies about it all.  When will we ever learn?  A paradigm shift is needed.  We the People don't want perpetual war.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

p.s.  Surprisingly quickly, Twitter unblocked my account.  [For context, see the posts immediately previous to this one.]

Twitter Update

Found a way to contact Twit even when you're blocked from Twit.  It's convoluted and somewhat hidden; I really just stumbled upon it.  Once you find the "Contact Us" button, it's still convoluted...and more hidden.  If anyone really needs all the excruciating details, contact me.  Here's the message I finally was able to submit to Twit  ---edited a bit:  [It's a lot like the last post, but don't miss my commentary after the quote.]

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 "1. As a senior citizen & a night owl, I do not have regular sleep hours.  Plus, I get only 4 -6 hours of sleep per 24.  Those are not any more than 2 consecutive hrs of sleep at a time.  Much of my awake time is online.  I SUSPECT all that has caused your algorithms to block me from Twitter because of SUSPECTED AUTOMATION.

2.  Apparently, your algorithms were programmed in such a way as to make them incapable of handling this:  I DON'T HAVE A CELL PHONE, & don't want one.  That means I can't give you a MOBILE number to get a code to verify my acct.  HELLO.

3.  Just prior to being blocked for suspected automation, I passed the "I am not a robot test" by ID-ing "taxis" in a series of photos.  Still blocked.  Really, Twitter?!  That action on the part of your algorithms MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER.

4. You have a problem.  Those algorithms in that scenario are incapable of handling a simple situation.  I am NOT automated in any way.  I have NOT violated any of your policies as far as I can determine.  All I have is a land line for a phone. My email is abstractcowboy@gmail.com.  I live in NM, USA.  I'm a former Biology & Ecology teacher, & a former employee of Sacramento Environmental Management Dept., HazMat Div.

5.  Stop blocking me from your site.  Unlike your algorithms, I AM NOT A ROBOT.   I've passed that "not a robot" test on Twitter a gazillion times.  If you don't believe the results of those tests, why even have them?  This is not rocket science.  Sincerely, Scott Haley"

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We'll see how they respond.  I realize this is a somewhat trivial matter; however, it is indicative of the mindset of High Tech companies.  For the most part, they don't seem to care one whit about folks who use their venues.  It doesn't seem to matter that we're the only reason they have paying ad clients.  They make it as difficult as they can for someone to contact Support.  Then you wait an ungodly amount of time to hear back.  Why?  Most likely because the companies haven't hired enough CSRs to handle the load.  Or, like some companies, they refer you to a "Discussion Forum" where nonprofessionals give helping you a shot.  That's often nothing but a nightmare.  C'est la vie in an overpopulated world, eh?

Back when I was a young man (1960), the population of the USA was HALF of what it is now.  Fewer customers for Biz.  Companies bent over backwards to help you, and keep you coming back to their operation.  You younger folks have no idea of how different it was then in that regard as compared to now.  It's astounding.

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Not only my opinion.  Happy Trails