Winds of Change

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 5:00am

Good Morning C99%! Having a long winded discussion with our neighbour to the south Jose. Watching his sister Marie growing up at the same time. Exciting times. I hear summer is almost over. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted...

The maples are beginning to shed, their helicopter seeds ready to launch. Local vineyards are dripping with grape clusters, begging to be picked. We are up to our eyeballs in beautiful tomatoes, so will be doing some canning while this OT simmers, putting up the bounty for later.

Had planned on delving into a deep socio-political topic of some sort, but haven't the heart for it just now. Politics are ugly compared to the wonders of nature (as I gaze out the window). Sometimes we need to vent, for sure. Since this is an Open Thread, blow it out there!

For those with an escapist fantasy...

Being a rummy old sailor, wind on the water has been a favourite. It's just sad the whales can't survive in the oceans our culture has destroyed. Just crossed the Atlantic to Azores, then on to Portugal. The sight of a pod of whales blowing was one of the highlights.

How do we stop the destruction of mother earth? It is the challenge of our times. I'm partial to bringing the needs of individuals into localised communities, setting up co-ops to support survival in ways we can effect change. A revolution of sorts. When the corporate greed destroys our basic needs by shutting down the distribution networks, we will be forced to pool resources within our communities to carry over. Food, health, energy, shelter co-ops need organising before the breakdown. That way when the winds blow, we are ready for change.

Tags:

Open Thread

wind

change

co-ops

autumnal equinox

Vote

Comments

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 1:42am

(No subject)

—

question everything

Submitted by ggersh on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 8:08am

propaganda is all they have

@QMS unfortunately it works until it doesn't
which is way to long a period.

https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

"The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public, but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.”

Henry A. Wallace

it must be awesome to see whales up close, must put
on my bucket list!

—

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 8:26am

Thanks for the link

@ggersh Wish more people would wake up to the cause for our conditions...

Unsustainable social and economic arrangements promoted by an abusive minority are backed by force and fraud. As the fraud loses its power to persuade and misdirect the public, over time, force must increase in the suppression of dissent and the increased control over all relevant news and public information.

—

question everything

Submitted by mhagle on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 7:29am

Grapes and tomatoes are much better

Local vineyards are dripping with grape clusters, begging to be picked. We are up to our eyeballs in beautiful tomatoes, so will be doing some canning while this OT simmers, putting up the bounty for later.

Words and music to help me move on into the garden. Will be back later. Thank you!

—

Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 7:56am

getting hosed by Jose

@mhagle otherwise, I'd be out there with you!

—

question everything

Submitted by mimi on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 7:53am

Lucky are those who have land to garden in

where I am right now no normal person can buy land. It's all taken by IT CEOs, Hollywood and TV celebrities, rich artists, phony spiritual/religious and cult-like quack salvers, who live in their "compounds",banksters and other NY investors and Alaskan and West Coat folks with too much money they don't know otherwise to use, so they buy the land and then do nothing useful with it. Folks claim to garden, but they don't do it. It's work, that's too much for them, so they hire their day laborer slave workers to do the "real gardening' work.

Meanwhile there is an food shortage and food 'insecurity' around here for many people (how do I hate this word) of the 'working class', acute pollution of the little bit of land and water, and not way in sight to handle it (against the corporate interests who play kick ass against those, who like to change it).

I mean, just be happy for your piece of land you own.

Have a good day.

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 8:06am

land possession

@mimi In an alternate universe, the land could be shared. Can the "owners" be contacted with a proposal to allow small portions of their holdings tended by local gardeners? Sort of like share cropping.

—

question everything

Submitted by mimi on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 12:31pm

I don't think so, at least not here on Maui, HI

@QMS
there have been attempts to do so, but afaik on the island where I am, it's not.

For all of Hawaii:
HAWAI‘I’S COOPERATIVE BUSINESS SECTOR.

That's what the only thing I could find for the island of Maui.

Maui Farmers’ Cooperative Exchange closes

Agricultural co-ops in the United States began in the 1800s and gained protection from antitrust laws through the Capper-Volstead Act in 1922. The act empowered farmers to market, price and sell their products through cooperatives....

Maui County Agricultural Specialist Kenneth Yamamura said Wednesday that wholesalers have a “huge advantage” over farmers and co-ops gave farmers “strength in numbers.”...

“I’m sad that they shut down because they’re really good farmers,” Yamamura said. “They were committed, and they were steady. It’s a dying breed. We need to find new ones, and there are people.

“Whether they find the land that they need, that’s a concern.”...

Yamamura, whose family has been growing vegetables Upcountry since 1888, was a member of the Maui Vegetable Growers Cooperative Association. He said that group joined the Maui Farmers’ Cooperative Exchange for a time during World War II, but split up later. The association closed in the 1990s after losing its building near the harbor to Young Brothers....

With the closure of the Maui Farmers’ Cooperative Exchange, farmers will be on their own to find markets and have to deal directly with wholesalers. The co-op also used to provide gas, fertilizer and other resources to help farmers, Hashimoto said....

“I don’t think the co-op can exist again because the ones who are on their own — we call them independents — kind of fight each other.”

Yamamura said farmers will need to learn to demand a sustainable price from buyers. It will be difficult due to the cheap produce from the Mainland at stores such as Costco, he added....

Hawaii consumers must realize if you don’t buy the local stuff, then you won’t have farms,” he said. “Then, it’s a world market, and you won’t have a choice once the local markets are gone.”

Yamamura said that he can see a future for an organic farm cooperative. He said organic and hydroponic operations have become the more successful and steady farms on the island.

The island lives off Cosco. It's hard to buy and/or find produce that you can afford to pay for. Farmers markets are so expensive, only the rich really can afford to buy there and then very little.

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 2:18pm

this just seems wrong on so many levels

@mimi what is Costco trying to do there? Putting small farmers out of business is not helping it's bottom line all that much. It hurts to see co-ops closed down. I wonder if the politics behind it is more than what is published? Sounds like subsidies are only for the big Ag groups there. Really sucks.

#3.1
there have been attempts to do so, but afaik on the island where I am, it's not.

For all of Hawaii:
HAWAI‘I’S COOPERATIVE BUSINESS SECTOR.

That's what the only thing I could find for the island of Maui.

Maui Farmers’ Cooperative Exchange closes

Agricultural co-ops in the United States began in the 1800s and gained protection from antitrust laws through the Capper-Volstead Act in 1922. The act empowered farmers to market, price and sell their products through cooperatives....

Maui County Agricultural Specialist Kenneth Yamamura said Wednesday that wholesalers have a “huge advantage” over farmers and co-ops gave farmers “strength in numbers.”...

“I’m sad that they shut down because they’re really good farmers,” Yamamura said. “They were committed, and they were steady. It’s a dying breed. We need to find new ones, and there are people.

“Whether they find the land that they need, that’s a concern.”...

Yamamura, whose family has been growing vegetables Upcountry since 1888, was a member of the Maui Vegetable Growers Cooperative Association. He said that group joined the Maui Farmers’ Cooperative Exchange for a time during World War II, but split up later. The association closed in the 1990s after losing its building near the harbor to Young Brothers....

With the closure of the Maui Farmers’ Cooperative Exchange, farmers will be on their own to find markets and have to deal directly with wholesalers. The co-op also used to provide gas, fertilizer and other resources to help farmers, Hashimoto said....

“I don’t think the co-op can exist again because the ones who are on their own — we call them independents — kind of fight each other.”

Yamamura said farmers will need to learn to demand a sustainable price from buyers. It will be difficult due to the cheap produce from the Mainland at stores such as Costco, he added....

Hawaii consumers must realize if you don’t buy the local stuff, then you won’t have farms,” he said. “Then, it’s a world market, and you won’t have a choice once the local markets are gone.”

Yamamura said that he can see a future for an organic farm cooperative. He said organic and hydroponic operations have become the more successful and steady farms on the island.

The island lives off Cosco. It's hard to buy and/or find produce that you can afford to pay for. Farmers markets are so expensive, only the rich really can afford to buy there and then very little.

—

question everything

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 5:34pm

share the land?

@QMS

land possession In an alternate universe, the land could be shared. Can the "owners" be contacted with a proposal to allow small portions of their holdings tended by local gardeners? Sort of like share cropping.

"In an alternate universe" is right! Most of these "land investors" would rather see these lands overgrown and fire hazardous -- or even actually burned -- than allow some hippie-dippie enviro-weenies to use them to grow crops!

please note: I'm a skosh pissed off right now. Our retired military officer rich homeowner association board of directors just cost us a well-beloved tree. Grrrr.

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 5:56pm

what they don't see

@thanatokephaloides won't hurt them. stealth farming. pickles that grow in the night!

—

question everything

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 5:28pm

access to the land

@mimi

Lucky are those who have land to garden in where I am right now no normal person can buy land.

Damn near everywhere, mimi. Especially land worth living on or doing anything with.

And I resemble your remark, by the way!

Most of us Serfs are stacked like cord-wood in apartment buildings with no say at all about even how the grounds of the buildings get used.

My mother is a supposed "owner" in the condo(m) complex in which we live. But the ex-military-brass board of directors really makes all the decisions, whether the plastic siding we can't afford or the loss of a beloved tree that happened today. Only those who have been fully owned by the Military-Industrial Complex all their lives have the cash to meet the requirements for Board membership. You can forget being able to garden the grounds for food.

And as private-sector worker bees go, we've got it better than many.....

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 6:07pm

maybe it's not so much about "owning" land

@thanatokephaloides as it will to become occupying the resources needed to survive. I know fellow hobo's who've existed for years on "govt" or "private" property. The greedy don't "own" it, they are only jealous of our ability to survive without their permission. crazy as a fuch (german for fox)

—

question everything

Submitted by mimi on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 8:46am

Tell me who these people are ... I am not good at research ...

International University of Professional Studies
and Lew Abrams and his crew. Is Lew Abrams the same as this Lewis J. Abrams, ACSW, LCSW, CASAC - Psychotherapy the same person?

International University of Professional Studies .... sounds bombastic, doesn't it? Is there something fishy about them? They surely make good money with sanctuary farms etc.

Crap ?

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 5:47pm

International University of Professional Studies

@mimi

International University of Professional Studies .... sounds bombastic, doesn't it? Is there something fishy about them? They surely make good money with sanctuary farms etc.

Crap ?

Crap.

A quick IXQUICK search reveals that the school is non-accredited and only recently has approached conformance with the school laws of the State of Hawaii where it is located. And claiming its degrees, even casually, can expose the claimant to criminal sanctions in Oregon.

This thread on degreeinfo.com should prove informative on these matters.

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by mimi on Wed, 09/20/2017 - 10:38am

redacted /nt

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by randtntx on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 8:50am

We eat what we sow.

Counterpunch has an article this morning that is dear to my heart. Food as medicine, gardening, trying to take care of the earth as best as we can, are my interests. "Modern food production has failed us completely." It is destroying our soil and water. We need an abrupt and complete change in how we provide food to our societies. One of the biggest culprits of poisoning the earth is big ag.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/19/what-we-sow-is-what-we-eat/

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 9:03am

Excellent article

@randtntx Until we stop seeing food and it's production as commodities, food insecurities will prevail. Not unlike health care. When traded for it's potential market value, rather than produced as a basic need, there will be shortages.

—

question everything

Submitted by randtntx on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 9:34am

Yes, the article is very general

@QMS and doesn't provide a lot of information but it hits the nail on the head. I am always disappointed when people regard gardening as some quaint little hobby. I think that gardening is an absolute essential tool that we can use to try and fix what is wrong.

We all know what is wrong, the article touches on it. Everything from a decrease of nutrients in our food with a corresponding increase of toxins in them, to destruction of our soil, forests, grasslands, water, and air. Have you ever sniffed the air in southern MN and northern Iowa on certain days? Holy shit is all I can say. That smell is the result of pig farms that are simply too big and are unsustainable. I wonder if the general public knows how horribly we pollute the mighty Mississippi river that runs down the length of this beautiful country and empties its toxins into the gulf.

The article points to solutions to help heal this planet. There are a few other tools available in our tool box that we can use to try and counteract the damage done by those in positions of power who seem intent on nothing but destruction. Gardening is only one tool. People need to discover and use the tools available to them. Those who can must. We are out of time. And yes, share the land, always.

Submitted by earthling1 on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 11:57am

Yes, great article.

@randtntx
Yates nails it with pointing out the destruction of our soils, the most important part of our food supply.
What is being done to the Earths soils is not much different than the Romans salting the fields of their conquered enemies.
Thanks for the link, randtntx.

—

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Submitted by mhagle on Wed, 09/20/2017 - 1:49am

Excellent article

@randtntx

Gardening a quaint hobby. Yes. Bad smelling hog farms. Yes. Rendering the soil useless. Yes.

It seems to me that we need to start applying the lessons of the Loess Plateau asap.

I think of my family farm in northern Iowa ... If we didn't rent it for a year and just let it sit ... Would anything grow back on it? After 25 years of killing every weed everywhere? (That's when my dad ... The organic dairy farmer passed away)

—

Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 9:45am

Hiya, QMS - haven't had time to read yet, but could you please

add "Open Thread" to your tags so that this shows up in the "Open Threads" portion of the sidebar. It would be greatly appreciated by those looking around for one, I suspect.

Thanks.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 9:52am

I just noted the tag "Morning Open Thread", that, however,

@enhydra lutris
doesn't trigger the script to insert the post info into the sidebar, only the two word phrase "open thread" (without quotes) will do it.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 9:56am

I fixed it...

@enhydra lutris
Thanks for the heads up el.

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 10:28am

OK, thanks

@enhydra lutris live and learn...sorry bout that chief.

—

question everything

Submitted by riverlover on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 10:02am

I wrote an entire comment and then realized I had had a power/

computer blip and was no longer logged in. My computer has developed an instability, my power randomly stops flowing. Does not bode well for coming seasons. Anyway, I have a fruit fly explosion in my house. It's annoying to feel 6 little feet on my body when I read in the dark at night.

Still no more falls. Good artificial illumination at night improves life. I have "slumped beds" outside, no longer enclosed. If I get well enough I want to raise them again by setting dead branches under the soil. Carbon sequestering @ home. It could become a cooperative or occupational therapy (OT) project for me and others.

—

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Submitted by WoodsDweller on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 11:20am

Another Day, Another Island Lost

This time it's Dominica, population 72,000.

Maria blew up from a Cat 1 to Cat 5 in 24 hours and made a direct hit on Dominica.

At the time of landfall, an Air Force hurricane hunter aircraft measured surface winds of 160 mph and a central pressure of 924 mb. Maria likely did catastrophic damage to Dominica.

There have now been two Atlantic Category 5 storms in 2017: Maria and Irma. The Atlantic has had only five other years on record with multiple Cat 5s: Dean and Felix in 2007; Emily, Katrina, Rita and Wilma in 2005; Carla and Hattie in 1961; and two Cat 5s each in 1932 and 1933.

Only 6 years with multiple Cat 5s, and three of them were in the last 12 years. Just sayin'.

The only major hurricane to hit Dominica was Category 4 Hurricane David of 1979. David killed 40 people and did $160 million in damage (2017 dollars). The most expensive storm to hit Dominica was Tropical Storm Erika of August 2015. Erika caused extensive flooding and landslides across the island, killing 30 and causing $500 million in damage (2017 dollars). This was a disastrous 90% of their yearly GDP.

Current projections have Maria hitting Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

—

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Submitted by earthling1 on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 11:42am

And Trump is spewing that

N. Korea is the world's biggest danger. Wadda ass.

—

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 12:23pm

tweeter de dump

@earthling1 is little more than a voice for the MIC. What cha mean we can't bomb killer storms? Ha!

—

question everything

Submitted by Timmethy2.0 on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 2:38pm

I wonder where Trump thinks he's going with all this

@earthling1

Or does he even think beyond a week ahead? WTF is supposed to happen in Trump's mind? I'm sure Kim Jong Un saw what happened to Gaddaffi, who signed a nuclear deal with the US, and Saddaam Hussein and he's not going to go that route. WTF is the end game here? It seems like we basically have 2 dictator mentalities here in Trump and Kim Jong Un and they're not about to talk it out. This is how shit spirals out of control into war.

—

Beware the bullshit factories.

Submitted by mimi on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 1:08pm

Sounds like wwIII is the only option left for Trump

In U.N. speech, Trump threatens to ‘totally destroy North Korea’ and calls Kim Jong Un ‘Rocket Man’

Complete speech:
[video:https://youtu.be/iUPcEYik2Oc]

Ok, where do you hide? I am ducking under my bed. That'll help.

Hmm, I can't read all this stuff, but may be you do.
Trump’s War on the North Korean People

And Netanyahu, his bossom friend, is all happy. From AP

NEW YORK—The Latest on U.S. President Donald Trump at the United Nations (all times local):

11:35 a.m.
Israel’s prime minister is praising President Donald Trump’s address to the U.N. that condemned Iran.

Benjamin Netanyahu said, “In over 30 years in my experience with the U.N., I never heard a bolder or more courageous speech.” He said Trump “spoke the truth about the great dangers facing our world and issued a powerful call to confront them in order to ensure the future of humanity.”

Trump said in his speech that Iran’s main export is violence. He accused Iran of supporting terrorists and threatening Israel. He criticized the 2015 nuclear deal that curbed Iran’s nuclear activities in return for the lifting of sanctions.

Israel and Iran are bitter enemies. Israel views Iran as an existential threat because of calls by Iranian leaders for the destruction of the Jewish state along with Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs.

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by mimi on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 1:17pm

Listen to Wilkerson about the Trump Speech at the UN

September 19, 2017 - Wilkerson: Trump a 'Diplomatic Fiasco' at the UN he said.

Col. Larry Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, talks about Trump's speech before the UN General Assembly and explains why Ambassador Nikki Haley's remarks on the Iran nuclear deal scare him

[video:https://youtu.be/k1UdNHl04us]

So, how much of a Diplomatic Fiasco has it been?

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by mimi on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 2:21pm

That's a response from the NYT after the Trump Speech

From Truman to Trump: How U.S. Presidents Have Addressed the U.N.

How to avoid an analysis of Trump's speech ...

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by mimi on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 2:32pm

Eric Foner and Chris Hedges about Manipulation of History

Chris Hedges and Historian Eric Foner on the Manipulation of History
SEP 19, 2017

"History is what the present chooses to remember"

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by WoodsDweller on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 6:33pm

More on Maria

Only "sporadic" contact with a few ham radio operators on Dominica.

7:00 PM AST Tue Sep 19
Location: 16.9°N 64.1°W
Moving: WNW at 10 mph
Min pressure: 909 mb
Max sustained: 175 mph
...
On the forecast track, the eye of Maria will move near or over the U. S.
Virgin Islands tonight, cross Puerto Rico on Wednesday, and then
pass just north of the coast of the Dominican Republic Wednesday
night and Thursday.

Still strengthening.

EDIT:
Latest dropsonde recorded surface winds of 168 knots = 193 MPH
Nothing to slow it down before it hits St. Croix.

—

Submitted by Ellen North on Tue, 09/19/2017 - 7:29pm