An unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are much easier to give up
than bad ones. ~ W.Somerset Maugham

May 2, 2007

Hello, once again, all of you Loyal-Fans of My Curmudgeonly Rants ..
I am back!! It has been a long[-ish] time since my last diatribe [almost
one year], but I have not lived in the interval without taking keen Notice
and showing avid Interest in the Continuing-Follies of 'my-species-mates'!!
The so-called 'Issue' of Climate Change has been a particular "Grabber"!!!!
I will now allow myself a brief [sure!?] diversion, by way of a relating of
history - personal .... Back in the grey and rapidly fading to black past
{the later 1960's}, I taught [hard to believe, huh??!!] at a well-known
Western Canadian University. It was during this time that a number of
"my" students asked me if I would be available to get together with them
outside of class and the confines/grounds of the University to discuss things
of shared concern/interest??

Naturally, I agreed readily, and thus, we did so, on average of about once
every two to three weeks. The venue for our 'gab-fests' was my modest home,
for no other reason than space was available and access was sure and easy!

Now, you might ask, why you? .. another words, why would students choose
You to get together with??  Well, the answer is in fact known to me, because
it was offered at our first 'confab'! I was Different from anything they had
previously encountered  - both inside and outside of their educational
experiences!! Simply put, I Looked, Sounded and Acted very Different
[-ly].. I was, to their way of thinking, "A Hippie"!!!  And, they were
Attracted ... and, more than a little Curious!!!!

Anyway, one of the things that seemed to both intrigue and disturb them
was my oft-stated opinion that 'in less than 50 years, the planet would be
obviously descending into uninhabitability .. for us and our kind, anyway!!!!!

If some of you, Dear Readers ask me, I will let you know what evidence and
inferences led me to this dire and, at the time, seemingly bizarre conclusion!

My point here is that the recent interest in and concern for the Climate of our
planet and the parts/roles we play/have played in it, is Not New to some of
us!!!!! That being said, there is NO Satisfaction in being in the direction of
being Correct!!

I might add that another of my oft-rendered statements at that time was
that 'unless people can agree on the Nature and the Extent of a Problem/
Difficulty, there can be NO Positive Actions or Solution'.

So, how does this 'little-gem' relate to the history of  the "discourse" [read
Babble] on Climate Change? Well, the one side - the Denyers/Naysayers
 - say there is no such thing, and the other side - the Affirmers/Yeasayers
- say there is indeed such a thing .. and, moreover, it is getting to the point
that it will be obvious to Everyone [!!], even the Naysayers!!!

One of the most Ingenius Ways that our Recognition of and Focussing
upon the Reality and the Impacts of Climate Change has been Held-Up
[by the Naysayers!!] ,in recent years, has been the Silly Examinations,
and Sillier yet Debating of 'whether we are playing or have played any part
in the changing Climate of our Home'.

The 'CO₂ as Greenhouse Gas Debate' was/is a prime example of just such a
Colossal Waste-of-Precious-Time!

Sometime remind me to Rant about the Question that is never asked, but
is often begging-to-be-asked!!  

Anyway, if we take the example of a Deathly Ill person as a point of
departure here, it would be 'somewhat' Stupid to spend time Debating
whether the individual's situation was self-induced/caused or the result of
other things. The point is if you believe an Illness is bad enough that it is
endangering/may endanger life, then you Deal-With-It  .. Directly and
Actively ... you do not Waste what is [or at least should be seen as]
Valuable Time Debating the he/she-did{is-doing}-it~something- else-
did {is-doing}-it' question!
                                               
It is long past the time that the Citizenry of the World can afford to
tolerate/allow the Naysayers, Diddlers and their 'Well-Placed {Nothing-to-Gain-Everything-to-Lose} Bosses'[read Governments &
Corporations], who deny, delay and otherwise obstruct what needs to be
Done, to hold sway. We need to embark upon a Universal and
Momumental Effort to Save Our Home and Ourselves from a Certain,
albeit a likely Slow & Tumultuous,Death!!!!!


Over the next while I just might have more to say [directly and indirectly]
about this, but for now ... You might want to ask yourself ~ What am I
willing to part-with, forego, or otherwise change for the sake of the Children
/Grand-Children that I say I Love?

Bye for now .. MOT>


May 5, 2006

  A Perspective that raises Money and Profits on a Pedestal, lowers Everything Else -
 People, Places, and  The Future - to Expendable, or, at the very least, Negotiable! ~ D. Aracci

Ah Yes,Money and Profits, the latter-day ['Demi'-] Gods of Man!

Now, I could [and I am sorely tempted!!] go-off on a Rant about the
"New" Federal Government's first 'Budget', but all I will say is, it is
"comforting" to know that 'Smoke and Mirrors'  is still the Dominant-Type
of 'Magic' in Ottawa!! "Comforting", because it is nice to have something
you can 'count-on'!

{I am, once again, being kind here, since I might well have said 'Now Ya
See It, and Now Ya Don't', which would have more than suggested that
Mr. Harper {you know, the Guy presently 'In-Control/Power'} and His
Band of Merry Aspirants are Shell-Game-Operators/Con-Artists rather
than Magicians using a well-worn technique!}

That's it on that .. for now anyway ...

Okay, for the record I am not opposed to Money and/or Profits ... Not in
the Least!! I am, however, opposed to those things being seen as Paramount!
This is so because as the little-known 'Italian Philosopher' Domenic Aracci so
eloquently said, this results in everything else becoming relegated to a means
to the ends of acquiring More Money and [Ever] Greater Profits!  Thus,
nothing-else-really-counts for much - not People, not Places and certainly
not the Future!

Expediency {n. taking advantage of opportunities without regard for the wider
consequences} is the primary 'Value' of  this particular Religion(!!!). I am
not talking about 'situational ethics' here, I am talking about doing whatever
-is-called-for/necessary to make More Money and Greater Profits!!  Recent
Corporate and Government History in both Canada and the United States
illustrates Expediency quite well!!~ Enron, anyone  ... Weapons of 'Mass-
Destruction', ya-all  [or is it Weapons of Mass-Reconstruction????] ...
Sponsorship Funding, you there?!! 

                  Original Digital Photography, All Rights Reserved

All's Fair in Love and War .. and ... Business and Government!

And, Expediency in the Service-of the God of Money and Profits makes for
interesting/strange Bed-Fellows .. a la the Unholy [but hardly Singular!]
Alliance between the Petroleum Industry [whose sole interests are More
Money and Ever Greater Profits - just ask them!!!] and Governments
[whose interests are supposed-to lie elsewhere  .. on the side of the long(-er)
term Welfare/Well-Being of 'The People' - just ask them, too .. and listen to
the Pontification and Holier-Than-Thouisms roll-off of the tongues!!!!!].

Ahha, by jove, I think I have hit-on-some-things here!! It's the phrases
'wider' [as in consequences] and 'long(-er) term' [as in welfare/well-being]!!

Now, here's where I need to make a Confession ~ This Rant was prompted
primarily by an Email I received that took-me-to-task [and rightly so!]
for not giving any kind of direct indication as to what 'Mindless(-ness)',
as I use it [them], means!  Furthermore, I was accused of labeling anything
that I disagreed with as 'Mindless(-ness)'!

{For your information, the Rant I was planning-on writing was about the
assertion that today's cars are Better, Safer and More Reliable than those of
yesteryear.}

Well, let me just say that this 'oversight' was Deliberate, because I was
curious to see whether anyone [Dear Readers!] would notice and comment on
the absence of any defining' of  the term 'Mindless(-ness)'?!?

And, since someone has both noticed and commented, here goes >  Years ago
- during the Dark Ages, I think - I took a number of 'university-level'
courses in Anthropology. 'One' of the suffixes that was in the basic lexicon of
that 'science' was the term '-centrism'/'-centric', as in ethno-centrism/
centric and temporo-centrism/-centric.

Simply put these suffixes refer to an arrogance/absorption [ethno = with
one's self, one's group and place and/or temporo = one's time]! A
Narrowness of Focus, which allows for the Inflation of the Value attached
or the Importance attributed to one's Self, one's Group [country, society,
and culture] and/or one's Era.

So, the (Re-)Election of one's Political Party, the Profits of one's Company,
the Material Position and Wealth of one's self/family, the Salving or
Pumping-up of one's ego, etc. become the Focus/Goal .. nothing else
matters, everything becomes negotiable or otherwise available [you know,
Up-For-Grabs!!].  

In my view, the Twentieth Century was one hundred years of Carnage! All
of the so-called Scientific and Material Advances pale in comparision with
the Cruelty, which we [as a Species] heaped upon one another; nevermind
the Destruction that we bestowed upon the Planet/Biosphere in the name of
"Progress"! 

Further to this, I would submit that all of our Cruelty and the various
Destruction, which we perpetrated, were as a result of our 'Mindlessness'!
Our determination to construct objects of Affection or Disaffection and
Allegiance or Enmity, which were a result of a Narrow and Myopic,
Arrogant and Self-Absorbed Perspective!!

And, furthermore, we appear to have Learned Nothing .. so, it ain't going
to get any better!!

Our 'Ways' in the Twenty-First Century are No Different than before!
And, despite all of the Rhetoric and Chest-Thumping and Teeth-Gnashing
to the contrary, the year 2001 [read 9/11] was certainly not Singular, nor,
in a numeric way, Significant - especially when compared to other recent
examples of Large-Scale Carnage/Slaughter of the Innocent/Hapless ..
Cambodia, anyone?!!

Certainly, the arrogant/self-important Proclamations that the 'world has
changed forever', and that there is now a 'new normal' are hardly accurate.
9/11, and its [evolving] aftermath, was/are [just] more-of-the-same  ...
Mindlessness!!

   Where  do you think you 'belong'? The Invisible, The Downtrodden,
  The Put-Upon, The Privileged, or The Elite ....

Bye for now .. MOT>

Well now, a variation of the question I posed at the end of my last Rant ~
'When  are we going to get serious about 'going-off' Fossil-Fuels??' ~ was
asked on the CBC Weekly Baffled-Gab-Fest -'Cross-Country Checkup'.

The actual  question was more  like 'Given the state of the planet, why
haven't we  [Canadians] gotten on with developing alternative types of
propulsion for our various means of conveyance?'

This was asked by the show's 'Host', who drives me to distraction because
of a number of his traits .. those being: his seeming confusion of a large
vocabulary with Ponderosic-Intelligence, his seeming Inability to ask a
'simple -question'  - he seems to have to embed questions in a sesspool of
editorializing, and his tendency [I am being kind here!!] to Kiss the Well-
Placed and to Kick the Small-Guy!
The question was asked of some invited member or other of 'The-Illuminati'
~ you know, an academic, or consultant, or analyst, or some such
Intellectual 'Bright-Light' [they seem to be Everywhere -hmmm, sounds
familiar!! .. Mindless Chatter anyone??] His answer was Predictable and
Pathetic, as he pointed to the lack of 'political-will' on the part of [I
guess?!?] legions of Canada's political "leaders", who [get this] feared the
Wrath of the Citizens of Canada. Said Wrath being raised by the necessity
of said Citizens to change their lifestyles [you know, the inconvenience,
disruption or annoyances caused by such change!???], as a result of the
newly developing means of/for personal conveyance, and such.
                                              

Yup, those Wrathful Canadians have certainly done some Revolutionary/
Radical/Violent things over recent history. The burning of the Parliament
Buildings, in Ottawa, during a National Strike over the imposition of the
GST!? And then there was the lynching of the Government House Leader
over the enactment of the North American Free-Trade Agreement!?
Scarey, Very Scarey ~ Beware of  the Wrath of Canadian Citizenry!!!!

{This fellow also referred to fossil fuels [namely gasoline] as a 'Wonder
Fuel' ... this struck me as an Amazing Attribution of 'Wonder'!?? Of
course hyperbole/exaggeration [I am being kind, again!] is a tendency in
the Media and among the 'Illuminated'. Think of Asbestos being referred
to as a 'Miracle Fiber', and Nuclear Energy being called 'Safe' ~
pretty Unequivocal, eh!?? ... Absolutely!?????? - notice the 'new-found'
popularity of this term!!

So, the assertion was, as I understood it, that a combination of Abject
Cowardice and Fearsome Anger were the reasons for Canada's Non-Pursuit
of alternative sources of motive-power for our cars, trucks, buses, trains,
planes, lawn-mowers, and such and thus!  I now "understand" the reason
for Canada's Inaction [other than verbal!?!!] on the Signed Kyoto
Agreement!?? And here, I thought it was Indifference, Incompetence and
Cupidity [read Greed!]!!

What None-Sense!!! The fact is that Change(s) usually ain't easy, and Big
Change(s) is (are) even more difficult. It seems to me that Change gets even
Harder when it requires Big-Guys-with-Big-Interests in Things-Staying-
The-Same [you know, the Good Ol' Status-Quo-Meisters] to give-up/kick
-in Power and Money [losses apply here!] to the Change Effort/Process.

Simply put, the Owners-Operators of the Unholy Alliance [you know,
the Oil Companies and their Hand-Maidens, Governments] are not in the
least bit interested in either giving-up Any Thing [Power! Money/Tax
Dollars!!], even the Future of the Planet.

The longer the story of Humanity's [read the Developed World's] Mindless
Inaction regarding our Growing Negative Impact on the Biosphere continues
to be one of Dismissal, Minimization and/or Mis-Attribution, the sooner
we will reach a Point-of-No-Return ~ some of us think we have either
already crossed that particular point, or that it is close-at-hand!!

Imagine what the Biosphere [Air, Land & Water/Sea] will 'look-like'
ten years from now, or even less, as China's increasingly Self-Centered [read
Mindless] population and middle-class continue to Balloon under the
Nurturance {Prodding & Pushing}  of "Economic Success".

{Ring your Mindless [and Greedy] Li'Hands all of you Western
'Entrepreneurs and Governments', anticipating a 'Piece-of-the-Immense-
Action'!!!}

    

It ain't what we don't know, but what we do know that ain't so
.. that will end-up killing us!  {... Well said, Ira!!  .. You too.
George!}

Bye for now .. MOT>

April 22, 2006


Ah yes, the price of gas!? Or more correctly the price of 'Petroleum Products'!?

'Funny' {say with a distinct tone of sarcasm!} how the only two groups who
benefit from Higher gas/petroleum products are the 'Oil Companies' and our
'very-own' Federal Government !? Both of these groups reap Windfall Profits
and pay not-the-least-bit-of-attention to the (meek and sparse) Raised-Voices
of their respective "constituents". And, why should either care, since there is no 
'unified and concerted effort' to oppose the results of this 'Unholy-Alliance'!!

I listen with amused incredulity to the legion of media [radio, of course]
interviews, phone-ins and other forums for 'baffled-gab', because the 'Holy-
Grail' is never violated. Oh sure, some brave-souls do take half-witted/hearted
runs at both the Oil Companies and Government , but the phrases 'Windfall
Profits' and 'Unholy-Alliance' [or even some facsimiles thereof] are never
uttered. Yet, if anyone were to look {closely and critically} at the year-end
Oil CompanyProfits and/or the Federal Government Revenue generated by
the Artificially and Deceptively Inflated prices/taxes on Petroleum Products,
such terms would per force Spring-to-Many-a-Reasonable-Mind!!

For example, raising the price of a product already-in-the-hands-of-a-
distributor of that product, because either there is a "fear" of a coming shortage,
or because the price on new stock has just gone-up, would  - in any other retail
circumstance - raise the widespread ire of consumers and would certainly get
the attention of some government agency/watch-dog, or such!!  Yet that is
The-Way things are done in the 'World of Petroleum Products'  .. Slick
[pun intended!!!] I'd say!!!!

And then there is the example of the double-taxation commited by our very-
own Federal Government [you have got to "Love-em"], where they charge tax
[GST] on a Surtax [originally levied to help lower the Federal Deficit .. duh,
correct me if I am wrong, Canada has no Federal Deficit and hasn't for some
time now??!!]

This brings to mind Prime Minister Harper's {you know, the Guy presently
'In-Control/Power'} statement, when Leader of Her Majesty's Official
Loyal Opposition, accusing, the then, Liberal Federal Government of
Gouging Canadians by double-taxing Gasoline! Natually, The-Chappie has
radically changed his 'S&D' [read Song & Dance!] since assuming the
PM's Mantle!?

And another thing about the Honorarable Mr. Harper ~ His comment when
'confronted'  by a reporter regarding the seeming inconsistency between his
two positions was 'That was then, and this is now!'  That, I would suggest,
speaks 'Brittanic-Volumes' as to the man's Insensitivity and Arrogance!!
~ two Tell-Tale traits of the Chronically Self-Absorbed and Self-
Agrandized!!!

Now, all of the above is largely background to that which I really want to say
here, which is ~ When  are we going to get serious about 'going-off' Fossil-
Fuels??  It may already be too-late to save the Biosphere, but assuming it is
not, we need to get on it!!

So simply put, debating the price of Petroleum Products {etc.} while
definitely Current is certainly not Timely!!! Since it will do nothing to get
us moving on any one of the handful of things that Really-Do-Count!!!

Bye for now .. MOT>

   If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. ~ Unknown