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Mickey Z
Cool Observer
the Department of Homeland Security.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
How to stop worrying and love the collapse
Emma Goldman once spoke of not wanting to take part in a revolution that didn’t include dancing. Unfortunately, most dissidents rarely have a chance to stop and take stock and do an impromptu jig. So, if you’re one of the lucky activists—of any stripe—and you’re able to slow down, regroup, and then jump back into the fray for yourself and others: do it. Rather than allow the state of the planet to deter or even paralyze you, learn ways to navigate the madness and provoke change.
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Bonus link:
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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities...
...in the expert’s, there are few
We are so inundated with corporate propaganda on a minute-to-minute basis that we rarely even stop to consider what a word like “natural” means. After all, arsenic is natural, isn’t it? So are uranium and E. coli, for that matter.
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Bonus links:
9 powerful quotes to inspire green action
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Sunday, September 27, 2009
Fuck the New York Times
When telling his loyal readers about a group called “Students for Justice in Palestine” and what they were calling for, propagandist Urbina was extra-cautious to use quotation marks: “the Israeli occupation.” A practicing journalist might have at least used a search engine to include some context from United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (1967), which refers to the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war” and calls for the “withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.”
P.S. Most of the folks at Daily Kos either seemed unable to get past my use of the word fuck or unable to understand the article. Oh well…
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Bonus links:
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Friday, September 25, 2009
There's No Time Like Right Now
When else in all of human history has there been a time when we were in better position to shape the future? Eco-systems are screaming for mercy and our landbase is practically an endangered species. What we do (or don’t do) in the next few years could quite possibly tilt us all toward either the point of no return or a far more sane form of society. In other words, each and every one of us can take part in creating the most important social changes ever imagined.
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Bonus link:
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Thursday, September 24, 2009
"Screams from a Dying World"
What would get if you crossed Derrick Jensen with Philip K. Dick and Stephen King? As far as I can tell, the answer just might be: David Agranoff. I just finished reading his latest fiction collection, Screams from a Dying World (Afterbirth Books). It’s a scathing critique/salient analysis of pre-collapse America...all dressed up in a sometimes gory and graphic horror/sci-fi cloak. Cell phone towers are downed, trees are clear cut, genes are spliced—and that’s just the beginning. Agranoff brings his vegan, non-sexist, pro-justice, anti-civ sensibilities to every story but best all, he’s an excellent writer and storyteller first and foremost. The closing story, “The Network,” is a tour de force not to be missed.
Highly, highly recommended...
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Pop Quiz
What is the world’s #1 killer?
a) Heart disease
b) War
c) Cancer
d) Poverty
e) Infectious diseases
f) Industrial civilization
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Bonus links:
Upcycle, downcycle, freecycle, and more
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Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Another look at "normal"
More than 20 years ago, the Exxon Valdez spilled 10.8 million gallons into the Prince William Sound, Alaska. The oil eventually covered 11,000 square miles of ocean. In the aftermath, the National Transportation Safety Board made a number of recommendations, such as changes to the work patterns of Exxon crew in order to address the causes of the accident. In other words, things in the oil business basically got back to normal (e.g. offshore drilling, air pollution, sprawl, climate change, wars fought in oil-rich nations, and all that).
We seem to have an insatiable craving for normal.
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Congratulate me: I won a haiku contest
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Bonus links:
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A squirrel gets comfortable on our fire escape
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