Longer Step: Ideas for Justice and Sustainability

  I'm not a single-issue voter; if I was, then for women's rights issues I would certainly vote for Biden. But we're facing other huge issues, on which I think Biden is failing grossly: Climate change, addressing the debt, and the Israeli war on Hamas are the best examples. Biden has leverage he could use, to mitigate Israel's genocide of the Palestinians, but instead Biden has encouraged it--enabled it, even. Israel's war will fail, and will only create more hatred of the US. Even if you don't consider the humanitarian aspect, it's not a very sound US strategy. And don't forget that in every war we've supported since WW2, we lost. Even if you don't care about the death/maiming of US soldiers and the world's civilians, our supporting war hasn't often been sound strategy (though in Ukraine, it may be). When turning away from a hapless Biden, what thoughtful person could vote for a narcissistic, self-aggrandizing criminal? But I would con...

  Absolutely there are limits on free speech*. College presidents are clueless when they defend free speech so much that they fail to discipline students who call for the extermination of Jews. And they should discipline students who call for the extermination of Palestinians, or any civilian peoples. It's surprising, that high-paid college presidents, who have access to good attorneys, would let themselves be paraded thru a shitshow in Congress, over this. Rep. Stefanik, though guilty of grandstanding for political gain, was right to complain about this, though I hope she remembers there are limits to free speech, whenever she has an opportunity to combat hate speech against gays, atheists, and liberals, which has been so vociferously spouted by some members of her party. (*Most people agree that you can't shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater. Similary, I believe that the intentional publication (especially by mass media) of a known lie, as true, should carry civil an...

  Cuba Gooding Jr. Axl Rose. Jamie Foxx. Sean "Diddie" Combs. Those are the well-known men accused of sexual assault just this past week. THIRTY celebrities have been accused since Harvey Weinstein. Only 50% of reported sexual assaults see an arrest. Of those, 80% are prosecuted. But of those, only 60% are convicted. For a total of 24% of reported sexual assaults resulting in a conviction. And that includes a lot of poor men; I bet the rich men's conviction rate is only about 12%. (And I should note that no one should be considered guilty, unless convicted, BUT there seems to be a very high victim reliability rate among sexual assault complaints.) What gets me about these wildly popular men is that they have enough star power to attract consensual partners. So we know they have a truly evil core from which they want to destroy people. And they were beloved celebrities. Think about that.

  On Trying Times: This is iteration #2 of a drystack stone wall (no mortar), around our compost pile. I hate it, and I hope you do, too. So, down it comes, and I'll try an iteration #3, which should reflect some additional learning since #2, after even more hours spent poring over obscure British websites. Mind you, it takes at least a few minutes to find one rock and test it up to seven ways before either accepting it or rejecting it, for a spot. So the failures add up to a great deal of time. Drystack walls are best built by stonemasons who have years of experience. The problem with rough rocks is that there are very few ways they can fit together into a pile which looks both finished and stable. There is no user guide telling you how to assemble the wall. You must invent a way, over and over, knowing there might be no way that works. This would be a great sermon topic: How often do we try and fail, and then learn more about how to "try better," and then try again, b...

  66 trips around the sun, and here's my advice (spoiler alert: It's obvious, stupid, and contradictory): - Be passionate and active in worthy causes, but step back and don't let them consume you with fear or hatred; - Stay busy and set achievable goals, but honor the need for downtime; - Live by an opportunistic, humanitarian moral code, but be willing to make exceptions and try to see strengths in the positions of others opposed to you; - Love family and friends, and spend more time listening to them than talking to them, but give them plenty of space and feel "OK" if they reject your ideas. - Make it a fun avocation to try to figure out all the ways modern US society is concealing how it protects big business and enriches the wealthy, at the expense of ordinary individuals. - To make the world better, think globally but act locally. Remember how small the Earth is. Do everything you can to grow more, healthier earthworms ;)

  This article is interesting:  Oh, this is very nice: Shell Oil is paying its shareholders $23B in a special dividend, while cutting its staff 25% in the group that's working to move the company into low-carbon business. Nice. The only way to fight this, on a personal level, is to work very hard to use less oil and natural gas. Fly less! Drive a hybrid or all-electric car! Replace gas stoves and furnaces and water heaters with electric. Look for ways to use less plastic. You know, if any company has a spare $23B that they don't know what to do with, it might be nice if they paid more in taxes, or donated to nonprofits that feed, house, and educate people. Our governments don't take care of the destitute, so maybe the big corporations should.

  I dunno. It's easy to say we're for "peace," and certainly unnecessary wars (like W Bush's foray into Iraq) were utter financial and humanitarian disasters, with no kind of success to point to. Cynics say that the US gov't does whatever it needs to, to boost the profits of the weapons makers. Mere lives are expendable. I'd like to support the (below cut-and-pasted) sentiment by World Beyond War), but it feels naive. It's catchy to say "let's spend the next $100 trillion on the needs of our own people." If only we would. The biggest reason that the US remains unattacked--the reason you don't have to worry about missiles or vengeful enemy soldiers entering your house-- is our powerful military. It's not because everyone loves us; they know we are one of the most-violent, most-meddling countries on the planet. The biggest reason Ukraine is still a free country is our military aid. Probably could say the same about Israel; not sure...