by Prateado | Dec 25, 2015 | Uncategorized
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.” A prime example of this is the October, November, December California methane gas leak, courtesy of SoCal Gas. The 800,000 metric ton and counting methane leak could have been averted and abated, if the area had been cemented over, and the company gave up future prospects of monetizing the gushing methane lines. But instead, we’ve got another TEPCO on our hands. So greedy for money, and the possibility of recouping lost money on what remains of the leaked gas, that instead of doing what is socially and environmentally right, they are attempting a long-shot pipe repair process, which means extra months of leaking methane. Too big to fail, SoCal Gas is unwilling to cut their losses, let alone admit their mistake. This seems to be an endless refrain in big energy corporations, begging the question of why such behemoths should even be allowed to continue to exist, as they are neither ready nor eager for any sort of accountability to the larger political-ecological community of beings they must be beholden to. Such energy corporations, bloated with the self-importance our energy-dependent society has pumped them up with, operate above the law, with no public oversight or emergency plan for protecting public health when all else fails. Instead, our crises, from the BP oil spill to Fukushima’s TEPCO disaster, to the Exxon Valdez, are dealt with in the most hurried and embarrassed ad hoc manner. Such an approach, with no Plan B, leaves us with an impoverished ecology, and a dangerously untethered...
by Prateado | Dec 25, 2015 | Uncategorized
It has long been a dogma of global capitalism that trade is good, and more trade is better. But what is the substance of any proposed trade? This is the question that we need to be asking. Rather than zombieing out and letting our eyes glaze over as we pretend that trading periwinkles for cheese is the same as trading oil for nuclear weapons, it behooves us to be more discerning in regards to the actual goods being traded. The numbers game of money, which performs the pernicious trick of equating anything with anything else (slavery for diamonds, anyone?), has pulled the wool over our eyes regarding how we evaluate and regard trade. An example is the recent Kremlin talks between India’s Prime Minister Modi and Russia’s Putin. They wanted to increase trade. Sounds good, right? Well, here’s what it turns out they’re trading: “The two sides are expected to sign a number of pacts to expand cooperation in a number of key areas including defense, nuclear energy, hydrocarbons and trade.” If trade boils down to exchanging widgits which ultimately do not bring more equality, justice, happiness, contentment, and sustainability to both countries, perhaps we need to call it by a different name. Children trade card with each other, to play. Rural neighbors trade eggs for squash, milk for apples. All benefit, and this benefit comes from nourishment. Building more Bhopals, half-built radar stations, more Fukushima Daichi nuclear plants, or more Hiroshimas and Nagasakis–is not what I would call trade. I would call that evil. The impetus behind such trade made be wholesome notions like security, safety, energy independence, and wanting...
by Prateado | Dec 24, 2015 | Uncategorized
When one watches Bernie Sanders reiterating the same story for the past 30+ years, and no one has listened, apparently, what makes it seem like things are going to change now? 30 Years of SpeechesWatch this amazing video that a talented volunteer put together showing 30 years of speeches. Posted by Bernie Sanders on Thursday, November 5, 2015 WE ARE THE ONES WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR WE ARE BEING THE CHANGE WE WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD There is no Bernie Sanders –Icon. There is only people harnessing power around this man. Senator Sanders has bravely committed to act as a lightening rod for all of the projections and aspirations of a mad world. He has stood up for the oppressed, given voice to the voiceless, and strength to the weak. But it hasn’t been him at at, properly speaking, that has done this. It’s us. Senator Sanders didn’t just pop out of the woodwork, though if you asked me two years ago who he was, I couldn’t have told you off the top of my head. His message has been consistent; anti-imperialism, pro-student, pro-justice, pro-healthcare. Pretty run of the mill issues, and certainly things that 30 years ago still were part of the mainstream Republican Party package. But what has changed is the movement that has grown around Sanders. He has acted as a molecule around which rain can form, a mass that accretes stray matter so that a speck of dust can become a surging meteor. What has been lacking all this time was leverage and visibility. Let there be no mistake about it: WE rather than “THEY” or “HE”...
by Prateado | Dec 9, 2015 | poetry, Uncategorized
Don’t pretend I’m not paying attention To every nuance of your visage Every micro-movement or furtive glance, Lustful yearnings for validation. I understand all too well, Your strained exaggeration Your compulsion to please. Please, take off your make-up. Relax that brow and pose. Reclaim connection to your body, Your authenticity, recompose. No gesture but that which’s called, No expression but your core. And mastering presence with completeness, Open heart’s rusty door. For, I hear every intrigue, every subterranean discomfort you deplore. And can feel your dishonesty spewing forth in every sip of sweat from your pores. How I long to lap up your frailty! and replace it with oak pith. Caress my finger along your vulnerability, Soothing eternal throbbings of wound’s myth. So lick me, with your bandas’ fire, Seduce me with fierce eyes, Surrender your self to my heaving chest, And wrap me in the innocence of your thighs. For you know far better than to pretend and feign and guile. I can but only pray and attend that you untwist that sickly...
Recent Comments