We (humans) are doing all sorts of damage to Planet Earth. Humans have always been careless about their garbage. In primitive times, when a tribe accumulated a lot of waste in one location, the tribe simply relocated to a new place. We have, however, run out of new habitable places. We believed, of course, that we had been told to “be fruitful and multiply.” That probably made sense at the time it was originally said, as in those days there was a lot more space than there were people, and life was short and brutal for most people. The best . . . → Read More: No Planet B
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 Comments are closed  Blog  Ancient Egyptians, be fruitful and multiply, build a wall, China, Civil War, epidemics, farmers, France, greed, humanity, infectious disease, Oedipus, planet Earth, politicians, politics, population, poverty, power corrupts, pressing our luck, Pretty Boy Floyd, revolution, rich, Robin Hood, space, starvation, technology, time warp, United States, world population, World Wars One of the stories from the French Revolution is about what Queen Marie Antoinette said of the peasants’ inability to buy bread: . . . → Read More: Let Them Eat Cake Comments are closed Blog civilization, economies, for, French, French revolution, gain the world, history, history repeats, Jesus, let them eat cake, Marie Antoinette, migration, New Testament, parable of the talents, parables, Planet B, poor, Queen Marie Antoinette, redistribution, refugees, revolution, rich, rich and poor, social welfare, tax breaks, warfare, wealthy Going to Hell in a Handbasket is an old saying typically used to describe a situation heading for disaster. That seems to be the current situation in the United States. In many ways, the States reached its zenith during World War II because everyone—at least nearly everyone—worked together for the common good. This is not to say that everything was wonderful during that time. We unjustly imprisoned Japanese Americans and excessively rewarded those whose companies produced munitions we needed for the war effort. In doing so, we created what has become the military-industrial complex. President Eisenhower, who had been . . . → Read More: The Handbasket to Hell Comments are closed Blog 1920s, 1930s, Allies, banking, butcher, Chine, Chinese Revolution, Civil, Civil War, conservative intellectuals, corporate greed, cuts of meat, earn a living, finance, financial laws, follow the money, France, French revolution, Gordon Gekko, Great Depression, greed, greedy, handbasket, handbasket to hell, Hell, hell in a handbasket, industrial age, Investing, Michael Douglas, Military Industrial Complex, Nineteenth century, political influence, president, repeating history, revolution, robber barons, Russia, Russian revolution, slavery, tax code, tax laws, Teamsters, the States, the wealthy, thumb on the scale, trade unions, Trump, Wall Street, war, wealth, wealthy, WW II, WWII The title is based on the song about the “Big Muddy” written by Pete Seeger in 1967. See for a summary of the circumstances. The Vietnam War was in full swing. I was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston, in San Antonio, Texas, in 1969 and was able to hear him perform that song and others at that time. Not too long after that, I received my orders to head to what was then the current “Big Muddy” of Vietnam. Once again we seem to be waist deep in the Big Muddy, in part because the world as . . . → Read More: Waist Deep in the Big Muddy Comments are closed Blog anti-war, Big Muddy, Bob Dylan, Civil War, draft, French revolution, Guess Who, Imagine, John Lennon, let them eat cake, Marie Antoinette, military operations, music, Pete Seeger, resistance, revolution, the Shondells, Tommy James, violence, war, war machine I have borrowed the title of this blog from Shakespeare’s play, Richard III. Richard III was not a nice man, although the real Richard was probably not as evil as Shakespeare and others have made him out to be. He was the last king of England to actually lead his troops into battle and died in the Battle of Bosworth Field. Shakespeare portrays him as evil, and he may well have been. Medieval kings had a tendency to be corrupt and cruel, and someone I have quoted before, Lord Acton, famously said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts . . . → Read More: Winter of Our Discontent Comments are closed Blog Abraham Lincoln, Boston Tea Party, Chinese Revolution, democracy, economic influence, England, evil, fake news, fool all the people, Founding Fathers, French revolution, George Santayana, health care, health insurance, history, human spirit, infrastructure, King, media, met the enemy, national debt, news media, Paul Simon, plutocracy, Pogo, political influence, Republicans, resisting evil, revolution, Richard III, Russian revolution, Shakespeare, Simon and Garfunkel, Slip Slidin' Away, Social Security, tax cut, tax cuts, the man behind the curtain, the States, U.S. election, wealthy, Winston Churchill, Wizard of Oz I have borrowed the title for this blog from a song by . . . → Read More: Another Brick in the Wall Comments are closed Blog American Revolution, and Mary, Another brick in the wall, Berlin Wall, Chinese Revolution, fossil fuels, French revolution, Gordon Gekko, great and beautiful wall, Great Wall of China, human history, medieval warfare, migration, Paul, Pete Seeger, Peter, Peter Paul and Mary, Pink Floyd, plants and animals, pollution, revolution, Russian revolution, shared resources, sustainability, Troy, uranium mining, walled cities, Where have all the flowers gone With apologies to James Baldwin for appropriating his title: If people could actually “spin in their graves,” my guess is that he would be doing a very rapid rotation at this time, as would, I think, Abraham Lincoln and many others who have done their best to make the United States a better country than it has been in the past. We have taken at least one big step backwards with the recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia. I am both angry and sad that “white nationalism” is on the march, and that the Ku Klux Klan is crawling out from . . . → Read More: The Fire This Time Comments are closed Blog Abraham Lincoln, Big Screen TVs, Charlottesville, Chinese Revolution, devolve, Donald Trump, evolve, French revolution, James Baldwin, KKK, Ku Klux Klan, lunch-counter protests, military, racial, racial violence, resentment, revolution, revolution Blacks, Russian revolution, screens, sit-ins, St. Louis, talking heads, Trump, TV, United States, video, Vietnam, Watts, white nationalism, white nationalists, zero sum game You can tell a lot about people based on their musical preferences. I borrow my title from a radical group from the ’60s, the Fugs, and one of their old songs: It would be pretty hard to know me well without knowing when and where I grew up and how I had been influenced by the music of my youth. I assume that the same is true for everyone. The concept has been most fully explored by Morris Massey, who wrote about the three main periods in a person’s maturation process: The Imprint Period. From birth . . . → Read More: When the Mode of the Music Changes Comments are closed Blog 4 on the floor, adolescence, African-Amerrican, almost-Democrat, automatic transmissions, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Bill Haley and the Comets, blues, classical music, communication technologies, congress, Count Basie, country music, crystal blue persuasion, curry favor, divide between rich and poor, Duke Ellington, Eisenhower, Elvis Presley, everything changes, folk music, Golden Age of Jazz, I like Ike, Imprint Period, Janis Joplin, jazz, Jefferson Airplane, Lord Acton, mode of the music, Modeling Period, Morris Massey, music, Music from Big Pink, musicians, peace and good brotherhood, politicians, poor people, popular music, power corrupts, rap and hip hop, Republican politics, revolution, Richard Nixon, rock & roll, Rock Around the Clock, self-aggrandizement, sense of community, shared values, Shondells, Socialization Period, stick shift, The Band, the Fugs, Tommy James, tribe, twentieth century, Vietnam War, What You Are Is Where You Were When, WW II One of the problems with peeing in the pool (not that you would do it, of course) is that the pee goes everywhere. Humans, and perhaps other animals as well, tend to be short-sighted and do things for their own convenience. For however long humans have been on planet Earth, we have been metaphorically peeing in the pool and then moving to the other end. Whether we have finally discovered that there is no “other end” remains to be seen. The principal impetus for this blog entry is not some new information about the way humans have been damaging the . . . → Read More: Ecosystems: The “No Peeing” End of the Pool Comments are closed Blog African-Americans, Age of Aquarius, Alfred, architect, army, Blacks, California, Charleston, Cherokee, China, Civil Rights, clinical social work, college, Commissioned Officers, Computer Information Systems, construction, Department Chair, dissertation, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, English Department, environment, evening news, Executive Order, faculty, Filipino, Florida, Ft. Lauderdale, George Santayana, graduate school, historic Black church, Illinois, India, integration, JFK, John F. Kennedy, justice, karate, Lord Tennyson, Los Altos, Los Angeles, Mexican, Mexican War of Independence, Mexico, military, Nature red in tooth and claw, NCOs, Noncommissioned Officers, Okinawan Karate Academy, Oklahoma, Pakistan, peace, pee, peeing, politicians, pool, post-racial, President Truman, race, reconciliation, reparations, revolution, SC, short-sighted, Sixth Extinction, South Carolina, Spanish Conquistadors, swimming pool, Texas, Trail of Tears, University of Florida, University of Illinois, Urbana, Vietnam, war on Christians, Watts, Western Michigan University, Whites, WMU What’s your view of those who take a “my way or the highway” stance? If you are in favor of having them hit the highway, please honk. The impetus for this blog is the current “stand-off” in Wisconsin that pits Republicans against Democrats and corporations and the state against labor unions and those that belong to them. The Governor (a Republican) admits that the unions have agreed to 90 percent of his administration’s demands. But, he says, “no compromise.” It seems to me that we’ve been seeing more of that philosophy in recent years, and I am not at . . . → Read More: My Way or the Highway Comments are closed Blog 7 Habits, creative solutions, David Brooks, divorce, fair, fairness, French revolution, get even, get mad, go first, going first, highway, inequality, my way, New York Times, power, resentment, revolution, Richard Bandler, Russian revolution, Seven Habits, Stephen Covey, Win-Win, Wisconsin, zero-sum |
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