C99 Constitutional Convention

This afternoon is the Movement for a Peoples Party Convention. Jimmy Dore is streaming it on his channel if anyone is interested. But this morning I want to suggest a bigger project... redesigning the nation with a new constitution. This community well understands the failure of the US economic, political, and social systems...hurdling us (and other species) toward extinction, all for the greed of the oligarchs. Reinventing our systems might save us, but it would have to happen quickly. So climb on your unicorn, ride under the rainbow, and lets have fun re-imagining the way the country is organized.

Unconventional

I managed to avoid most of the DNC convention other than a few clips on Rising and Jimmy Dore. What I did see was hollow, vapid, and without substance...full of platitudes and no policy. All they got is 'we ain't Trump'. Perhaps the inept response to the pandemic will be enough to sink Trump, but this sure rings of 2016. We'll see. I find myself in agreement with Caity and her view that this isn't normal...

So abnormalize the status quo. Abnormalize it every chance you get. Abnormalize it by holding a clear idea in your mind of what a healthy society would look like, then point out all the bizarre deviations from that vision at every opportunity. Remind people that this is crazy. Assure them that it doesn’t have to be this way. That the only thing keeping it this way is the fact that the powerful keep pouring vast troves of wealth into manipulating us into thinking that we should.

We're being controlled, threatened with a COVID club. It provides excellent cover for outright economic thievery (transferring unbelievable wealth upward), the demolition of the few decaying social services including the post office, the increasing corruption of our elections, and more corporate control, coups, and war. I can't help but be fascinated with the nature of this virus and its reverberating effects on our society. This pandemic has revealed US incompetence on so many levels. Perhaps the people are prepared to reset the system. All the protests suggest some awareness. I hope we will find our way to the garden...some have. But of course, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Past the Peak or a Second Wave?

Let's conduct an experiment with our kids and teachers. Put them back in school and see if there is more spread of COVID-19. As a retired teacher, I suggest the teachers are the ones holding the bag. In my old district they are offering three options...regular class attendance, on-line distance learning, or a hybrid blend of the two. Guess who has to organize and prepare for all three approaches...not to mention cleaning the classroom between groups of students? Lots of talk about student safety and not a word about staff. And it's the coaches who have matriculated to the central office that are calling the shots with claims of following state guidelines. We'll know in a couple of months (before the election) how successful this strategy is. A Georgia student was suspended this week for posting a picture of crowded hallways and no mask wearing. (2.5 min)

A Georgia student named Hannah who posted a shocking photo of her high school’s jam-packed hallways says she was called to the principal's office and suspended for five days. The school principal came on the PA system and warned students not to post negative content on social media, warning that “there will be consequences.”

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/08/08/geor-a08.html

Sold Down the River...Again!

This 3.5 minute clip says it well -

Promoting War as a Pandemic Rages

Both at home and abroad the US war machine continues its march toward empire collapse. Militarized police employ the same tactics that they use in foreign conflicts against our citizens...Snatching protesters off the streets into unmarked vehicles...Beating and shooting those who will not submit to their aggression...using federal troops to target cities run by political opponents. Meanwhile we are ratcheting up tensions with China as they are building alliances, roads, railways, solar infrastructure, and trade with others. Mike, the pompous one, has been in Europe threatening sanctions to those who are aiding in the pipeline construction and want to buy oil from Russia (and enlisting more aggression against China). We continue to stir the pot in Latin America. Our incompetence is on display with the handling of COVID in the US...managing the pandemic to maximize profit. The US has one major goal...to further enrich the elite...the people be damned.

As R. Ann says, this virus is an agent of change. What we know (and what we don't know) is also in flux. I learned more about T cells this week. They may be our primary defense against this disease. There's some news about new fast and inexpensive tests. Some are seeing an end point to the crisis, and others think we're in this for a few years. Part of the problem as one virologist said - there's quite a bit of poor quality information out there. Science uses evidence to reach understandings, but like the old adage, garbage in, garbage out. I heard one scientist say masks don't work and may make things worse. However, his assumption was that the mask was to protect the wearer. In that case he is correct. Having a clear understanding of the question is as important as the conclusion. So lets look at the evidence that emerged this week and see what we can make of it.

COVID Confusion

It is getting worse. It is going away.
Lock down, open up, lock down.
You don't need to wear a mask. You must wear a mask.
Test those with symptoms. Test everyone. Don't bother testing.
Use antibody tests. Antibody tests don't work.
About 5-8% of people are asymptomatic. Over half the population has been asymptomatic.
People develop immunity after infection. People can be infected multiple times.
The virus came from bats. It was engineered in a lab.
And on and on. This is like a pandemic managed by the Keystone Kops...

It's been over half a year and basic research still hasn't been done. Why hasn't a randomized clinical trial looking at infection rate been done in every state or at least region? Perhaps because understanding the extent of this disease might eat into the profits?
Let's see if we can parse out some things we do know, look at strategies which might prevent infection, and if you are infected what treatments might effective.

Mourning America

They call it the American Dream cause you have to be asleep to believe it.
St. George

America was grown out of genocide and built by slavery...both travesties wound tightly in our national DNA...both still evident today. Genocide continues with global corporate capture, for example, in Brazil where mining on indigenous territories brings ecological devastation, land invasions, and renewed cycles of violence. Slavery continues blatantly in our penal system, and less obviously with college debt enslaving our youth. So the idea the US is "great" is a farce, but wave the flag and celebrate the myth.

“When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving a cross”

source?

“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power”

― Benito Mussolini

Preservation, Restoration, and Reclamation

Once the garden starts production, you've got to begin processing and storing your produce. I put together a food preservation resource last year. This year as I was freezing and storing the blueberries (which I do on a flat metal pan in the freezer before bagging) I started thinking we need to preserve more than just food. How about trying to preserve our health and wealth in these times when it is in jeopardy? What about our soils and resources? Or the ecosystem at large? So that train led me to thinking we need to do more than preserve, we need to restore...soils, the environment, our health and wealth. Which led me to the last theme, reclamation. We need to reclaim our rights...our right to health care, quality education, productive employment, decent energy efficient housing, clean water, peaceful coexistence... in other words a world designed across many levels and dimensions to foster people and a stable planet. There are examples. Let's look at some this week.