On global warming and green house gases, there is the catastrophic
possibility that there could be a runaway greenhouse which would turn
earth into another Venus--and eradicate ALL life.  I would like to
hear from experts on this nightmare.
wcm >
> COASTAL POST
> (415)868 1600 FAX (415) 868 0502
> P.O. Box 31
> Bolinas CA 94924
> http://www.coastalpost.com
> email: [log in to unmask]
> april, 2001
>
>
>
> Changing of the Guard?
>
>
>
> "We are here to show the world that another world is possible"
>
> The speaker  was addressing  the World Social Conference at Porto
> Alegre, Brazil. This  event brought together international movements, to
>
> unify their work at ending the global domination of  corporate
> capitalism and beginning the creation of global democracy. The
> international signs are hopeful.
>
> How are things here in the USA, now that capital has changed its
> management team at the White House ? Unfortunately, for most of us,
> it’s business as usual.
>
> Our most recent teen murderer created another market surge in hand
> wringing and grief counseling, but as usual, little thought about the
> alienating death culture  in which we raise our kids. They have a
> better chance at getting  weapons and drugs than  a decent education
> and  nurturing care . Their parents are  too busy working, desperately
> trying to buy, on credit, all the stuff they don’t really need , in
> order to keep the economy from collapsing. And their schools are
> underfunded and mismanaged, given a lower social priority than their
> prisons.
>
>
> In the  lock-up-and-execute trend cultivated by Clinton and continued by
>
> Bush, this kid may  be tried as an adult. We remain more dedicated to
> punishing than  nurturing . So? What else is new?
>
> Our military  still bombs Iraq, and kills its own along with innocent
> foreigners. In a series of  murderous mishaps that would be laughable if
>
> not so tragic, our high-tech weapons have performed  like our  high-tech
>
> markets, exploding on themselves. Nuclear weapons , and  other idiotic
> ideas like a  space defense system , are still deemed  worthy of
> increased tax payer expenditures.  We’re supposed to fear China, with
> whom we do more and more business, and North Korea, whose people
> starve
> while ours overeat. Contradictions? So what else is new?
>
> The  internet parish of our market religion has been  consumed by its
> own dogma, and dreams of an eternal boom  have become  nightmares of
> an
> eternal bust . While attention was  focused on a fictional problem  with
>
> social security, our casino owners missed the real  problem of a vastly
> over-inflated bubble of speculative investments in companies that were
> actually losing money. Wall Street witch doctors  advised more  buying
> in a profit frenzy that has turned into a loss panic.
>
> The rich will make up their paper deficits with new paper;  those who
> will suffer  in this casino crap-out are those who had the least to
> begin with. They will lose  pensions,  college education funds, and
> dreams of a secure future. Banks and credit card firms got what they
> paid for;  Corporate Congress  reacted , not by making it easier for
> working citizens to survive the crisis , but by making bankruptcy more
> difficult for them. So? What’s new?
>
> Palestinians are still  being treated with  murderous  indignity, while
> Israel is generally depicted as a source of democracy and civilization,
> threatened by fanatic Arab  hordes. Israel’s apartheid policies and
> savage cruelty to the people in its occupied territories are depicted by
>
> our consciousness controllers  as the only thing they can do under
> trying circumstances. Sure.
>
>  If we treated any other people - or even animals -  the way we treat
> Palestinians and Arabs, there would be righteous indignation and
> hysteria among liberals ,  conservatives, and  the community of
> professional bleeding hearts . But it is still okay to support outright
> bigotry and murder when it comes to the Arab World. So? What’s new?
>
> Despite propaganda about our  power and leadership , the global
> situation is quite different from what our mind managers tell us. We are
>
> feared by all, but respected by few , and hated by even more . The
> material reality of the world  is a wasteland of destruction, disrespect
>
> and death, and we are seen as a major reason for the creation and
> maintenance of that reality.
>
> This situation endangers not only the people who live in other parts of
> the world, but populations far removed from them. Globalization, the
> current buzzword for  capital’s conquest of the earth, doesn’t only
> serve to make a minority rich. It has brought about a world in which  we
>
> can no longer mistreat a majority in distant places and get away with
> it.
>
> The corporate program to make the earth a massive shopping center,
> with
> nations as anchor stores and localities as strip malls, has nearly
> succeeded  in having goods, services, people and animals traded without
> barriers , borders or democratic rights getting in the way of profit.
> This program has brought everything and everyone closer together. That
> Includes the problem of war, pollution, terrorism and disease, but also
> the  potential solution of global democracy. That last  will only be
> possible if the people of the world can organize themselves to counter
> the dominant organization of  corporate capital.
>
>
> A new U.S. administration, led by a user of democratic rhetoric about
> compassion to cover his  corporate republicanism , has replaced an old
> one led by a user of republican rhetoric about  toughness on crime and
> welfare to cover his democratic corporatism. There are differences
> between the two regimes, apparent to those who can afford the time and
> effort to study them .  For those who can’t afford it,  like most kids,
> most people in prison, most Iraqis, most Palestinians and most small
> investors , it’s business as usual.
>
> But international events like that conference in Brazil offer hope. It
> will be  difficult for   groups opposed to capital’s  domination  to
> forge a unity that crosses national boundaries, without becoming too
> centralized. That is part of the problem. But the growing trend toward
> global democracy is  so clear that even capital has taken  fearful
> notice . Democracy is a problem for them, but it’s  a  solution, for us.
>
> Last year’s  U.S. election meant a lot, to  a U.S. minority. But next
> year’s meeting in Porto Alegre may be the most important event of the
> new millennium, for a global majority. Stay tuned.
>
>             Copyright (c) 2001 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.
>
>              This text may be used and shared in accordance with the
>              fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be
>            archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that
>             the author is notified and no fee is charged for access.
>            Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on
>           other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the author
> .
>
>
>
> frank scott
> email: [log in to unmask]
> 225 laurel place, san rafael ca. 94901
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>