VIOLENCE

It's about violence.  Guns are an excellent tool for violence.  It is violence that needs to be on the national agenda. 

Most male kids when I was young had a holster and a “play” gun and if we were lucky we had caps.  We had cowboys shooting at cowboys and the good guys always won.  We had cowboys shooting at Indians and the “good” guys always won.  We had Saturday morning cartoons with brutality.

Now we have such gore in movies, on television and in video games of such realism that it is all a big show.  Our culture and society than and now was and is infused with maiming and killing.  The violence today has tools undreamed of when I was a kid.

We are a warrior nation.

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children… This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”   — Former U.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a speech on April 16, 1953

Violence has been our way of life since at least the beginning of the nation.  “. . . since the United States was founded in 1776, she has been at war during 214 out of her 235 calendar years of existence.  In other words, there were only 21 calendar years in which the U.S. did not wage any wars.

To put this in perspective:

* Pick any year since 1776 and there is about a 91% chance that America was involved in some war during that calendar year.

* No U.S. president truly qualifies as a peacetime president.  Instead, all U.S. presidents can technically be considered “war presidents.”

* The U.S. has never gone a decade without war.

* The only time the U.S. went five years without war (1935-40) was during the isolationist period of the Great Depression.

For a Year-by-year Timeline of America’s Major Wars (1776-2011) see:

http://www.loonwatch.com/2011/12/we-re-at-war-and-we-have-been-since-1776/

or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States

or

http://americanhistory.about.com/library/timelines/bltimelineuswars.htm

Not only do we have a long and constant history of violence, we are annually the top or among the top arms sellers in the world.   

U.S. Arms Sales Make Up Most of Global Market

By THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON — Weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high, driven by major arms sales to Persian Gulf allies concerned about Iran’s regional ambitions, according to a new study for Congress.

Overseas weapons sales by the United States totaled $66.3 billion last year, or more than three-quarters of the global arms market, valued at $85.3 billion in 2011. Russia was a distant second, with $4.8 billion in deals.

The American weapons sales total was an “extraordinary increase” over the $21.4 billion in deals for 2010, the study found, and was the largest single-year sales total in the history of United States arms exports. The previous high was in fiscal year 2009, when American weapons sales overseas totaled nearly $31 billion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/world/middleeast/us-foreign-arms-sales-reach-66-3-billion-in-2011.html?_r=0

“Last year [2000] the U.S. controlled half of the developing world’s arms market…. This dominance of the global arms market is not something in which the American public or policy makers should take pride in. The U.S. routinely sells weapons to undemocratic regimes and gross human rights abusers.”—   Uncle Sam World’s Arms Merchant Again; In 2000 U.S. Sells $18.6 Billion Worldwide, $12.6 Billion to Developing Countries, Arms Trade Insider—#53, Arms Trade Oversight Project, Council for a Livable World, August 20, 2001From: http://www.globalissues.org/article/74/the-arms-trade-is-big-business - Itdoesnotseemtomatterwhoarmsaresoldto

It doesn’t matter who wants to buy our weapons. Money is money. The United States arms most dictatorships. See:  http://sciencenordic.com/united-states-arms-most-dictatorships

The mantra – Guns don’t kill people, people kill people – is true.  We can be proud that we supply a massive amount of guns and other weapons to help that along.  The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade.  Feinstein, Andrew. 2011.  Farrar, Straus, Giroux. N.Y.

Then there is the argument, that only the unbalanced are guilty of these mass slayings and that the mental health system is broken.  That calls into question the mental balance of many national and international leaders. How many of both the sellers of weapons and the buyers of weapons actually have psychological assessments.  It also would be interesting to see the psychological profiles of the people who our weapons are distributed to around the world.

There is another rationalization away from the reality of the situation – violence has always been with us.  That is also true.  A rock, a club, even an arrow is far different than long range semi-automatic weapons, hand grenades, mines, bunker bombs, and drones.

There are multiple articles on the sale of arms by the United States of America to whomever, whenever.

See also: http://www.globalissues.org/article/74/the-arms-trade-is-big-business#Itdoesnotseemtomatterwhoarmsaresoldto

Do your own search.

UPDATE

  

The Obama years have been a boom time for America's weapons makers. Since 2009, the United States has approved arms deals worth some $200 billion—more than under any other presidency. The deals include sending Apache helicopters to Qatar, "bunker buster" bombs and cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia, and Hellfire missiles all over the place. Predicting an increase in weapons sales fueled by the war against ISIS, an unnamed American weapons manufacturing executive told Reuters last year: "Everyone in the region is talking about building up supplies for 5 to 10 years. This is going to be a long fight. It's a huge growth area for us."

The United States currently controls more than half of the global arms market. Its top five customers are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Iraq, and Israel. By comparison, Russia, the next biggest global weapons supplier, controls just 14 percent of the market.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/05/obama-international-arms-weapons-deals

We are a warrior society and culture.  Our history is one of aggression.  In saying this I realize I may be angering and alienating many men and women who with honor, integrity and dignity served our country in battle.  (I did not experience war because I was in the military between Korea and Viet Nam.)  It is not my intention to demean their service, for many this was the defining experience of their lives.  The question remains for all of our military “adventures” – who benefits?

Cui Bono - Commonly the phrase is used to suggest that the person or people guilty of committing a crime may be found among those who have something to gain, chiefly with an eye toward financial gain. The party that benefits may not always be obvious or may have successfully diverted attention to a scapegoat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cui_bono

Of the 100 companies on the list, 44 are based in the U.S., including Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin. The American companies account for more than 60% of arms sales revenue of the 100 manufacturers. Seven of SIPRI’s (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) top 10 are American, one is British, one is Italian and one is a multinational EU conglomerate. The U.S. federal government has contract deals with all seven American companies. These seven are among the top 10 U.S. federal contractors by amount procured, according to the government’s Federal Procurement Data System                                See: http://247wallst.com/2012/02/28/ten-companies-profiting-most-from-war/print/

The question is not simply who benefits from the end result of the war but from the total action of the war.  The bottom line is the bottom line.   Our men and women have lined the coffers of big business and the very wealthy.  And often the result of the conflict also lines the coffers of big business and the very wealthy while the common people live with wounds physical, psychological and spiritual.

Blinding ourselves, some of us gain employment, some gain access to materials and goodies from the low paying labor and natural resources purloined as a results of our bullying, aggressions and our arms sales.  Dulled by inertia, seduced by promises of "trickle down", conned by propaganda, we are numbed by the narcotic of things.  Grabbing the coat tails and gladly distracted by the "red carpet glitter", we aspire to emulate the merchants and bankers of war.  And we keep silent.

The issue of our culture and society of violence is one of honest self-appraisal.   We have a large sector of our society/culture that espouses Christian morals and ethics.  The United States and the world are shocked and mourn the deaths at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and grieve with the families and friends of the murdered.  Where is the outrage by ministers, pastors, priests and their congregations at the 1000s, hundreds of thousand of children, women, and men non-combatants from our aggression worldwide and/or our arm sales globally?  Many in this sector seem to be more concerned with what happens in the privacy of the bedroom than the murder of innocents by weapons we use and provide to the world.  I don’t believe Jesus is at the head of the parade with an AR15 singing “Onward Christian Soldiers.”

It is time we addressed our violence.

Year-by-year Timeline of America’s Major Wars (1776-2011)

1776 – American Revolutionary War, Chickamagua Wars, Second Cherokee War, Pennamite-Yankee War

1777 – American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Second Cherokee War, Pennamite-Yankee War

1778 – American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War

1779 – American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War

1780 – American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War

1781 – American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War

1782 – American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War

1783 – American Revolutionary War, Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War

1784 – Chickamauga Wars, Pennamite-Yankee War, Oconee War

1785 – Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War

1786 – Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War

1787 – Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War

1788 – Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War

1789 – Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War

1790 – Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War

1791 – Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War

1792 – Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War

1793 – Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War

1794 – Chickamauga Wars, Northwest Indian War

1795 – Northwest Indian War

1796 – No major war

1797 – No major war

1798 – Quasi-War

1799 – Quasi-War

1800 – Quasi-War

1801 – First Barbary War

1802 – First Barbary War

1803 – First Barbary War

1804 – First Barbary War

1805 – First Barbary War

1806 – Sabine Expedition

1807 – No major war

1808 – No major war

1809 – No major war

1810 – U.S. occupies Spanish-held West Florida

1811 – Tecumseh’s War

1812 – War of 1812, Tecumseh’s War, Seminole Wars, U.S. occupies Spanish-held Amelia Island and other parts of East Florida

1813 – War of 1812, Tecumseh’s War, Peoria War, Creek War, U.S. expands its territory in West Florida

1814 – War of 1812, Creek War, U.S. expands its territory in Florida, Anti-piracy war

1815 – War of 1812, Second Barbary War, Anti-piracy war

1816 - First Seminole War, Anti-piracy war

1817 - First Seminole War, Anti-piracy war

1818 – First Seminole War, Anti-piracy war

1819 – Yellowstone Expedition, Anti-piracy war

1820 – Yellowstone Expedition, Anti-piracy war

1821 – Anti-piracy war (see note above)

1822 – Anti-piracy war (see note above)

1823 – Anti-piracy war, Arikara War

1824 – Anti-piracy war

1825 – Yellowstone Expedition, Anti-piracy war

1826 – No major war

1827 – Winnebago War

1828 – No major war

1829 – No major war

1830 – No major war 

1831 - Sac and Fox Indian War

1832 – Black Hawk War

1833 – Cherokee Indian War

1834 – Cherokee Indian War, Pawnee Indian Territory Campaign

1835 – Cherokee Indian War, Seminole Wars, Second Creek War

1836 – Cherokee Indian War, Seminole Wars, Second Creek War, Missouri-Iowa Border War

1837 – Cherokee Indian War, Seminole Wars, Second Creek War, Osage Indian War, Buckshot War

1838 – Cherokee Indian War, Seminole Wars, Buckshot War, Heatherly Indian War

1839 – Cherokee Indian War, Seminole Wars

1840 – Seminole Wars, U.S. naval forces invade Fiji Islands

1841 – Seminole Wars, U.S. naval forces invade McKean Island, Gilbert Islands, and Samoa

1842 – Seminole Wars

1843 – U.S. forces clash with Chinese, U.S. troops invade African coast

1844 – Texas-Indian Wars

1845 – Texas-Indian Wars

1846 – Mexican-American War, Texas-Indian Wars

1847 – Mexican-American War, Texas-Indian Wars

1848 – Mexican-American War, Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War

1849 – Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians

1850 – Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Yuma War, California Indian Wars, Pitt River Expedition

1851 – Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, Yuma War, Utah Indian Wars, California Indian Wars

1852 – Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Yuma War, Utah Indian Wars, California Indian Wars

1853 – Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Yuma War, Utah Indian Wars, Walker War, California Indian Wars

1854 – Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians

1855 – Seminole Wars, Texas-Indian Wars, Cayuse War, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Yakima War, Winnas Expedition, Klickitat War, Puget Sound War, Rogue River Wars, U.S. forces invade Fiji Islands and Uruguay

1856 – Seminole Wars, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, California Indian Wars, Puget Sound War, Rogue River Wars, Tintic War

1857 – Seminole Wars, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, California Indian Wars, Utah War, Conflict in Nicaragua

1858 – Seminole Wars, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Mohave War, California Indian Wars, Spokane-Coeur d’Alene-Paloos War, Utah War, U.S. forces invade Fiji Islands and Uruguay

1859 Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, California Indian Wars, Pecos Expedition, Antelope Hills Expedition, Bear River Expedition, John Brown’s raid, U.S. forces launch attack against Paraguay, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1860 – Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Paiute War, Kiowa-Comanche War

1861 – American Civil War, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Cheyenne Campaign

1862 – American Civil War, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Cheyenne Campaign, Dakota War of 1862,

1863 – American Civil War, Texas-Indian Wars, Southwest Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Cheyenne Campaign, Colorado War, Goshute War

1864 – American Civil War, Texas-Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Cheyenne Campaign, Colorado War, Snake War

1865 – American Civil War, Texas-Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Colorado War, Snake War, Utah’s Black Hawk War

1866 – Texas-Indian Wars, Navajo Wars, Apache Wars, California Indian Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Snake War, Utah’s Black Hawk War, Red Cloud’s War, Franklin County War, U.S. invades Mexico, Conflict with China

1867 – Texas-Indian Wars, Long Walk of the Navajo, Apache Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Snake War, Utah’s Black Hawk War, Red Cloud’s War, Comanche Wars, Franklin County War, U.S. troops occupy Nicaragua and attack Taiwan

1868 – Texas-Indian Wars, Long Walk of the Navajo, Apache Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Snake War, Utah’s Black Hawk War, Red Cloud’s War, Comanche Wars, Battle of Washita River, Franklin County War

1869 – Texas-Indian Wars, Apache Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Utah’s Black Hawk War, Comanche Wars, Franklin County War

1870 – Texas-Indian Wars, Apache Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Utah’s Black Hawk War, Comanche Wars, Franklin County War

1871 – Texas-Indian Wars, Apache Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Utah’s Black Hawk War, Comanche Wars, Franklin County War, Kingsley Cave Massacre, U.S. forces invade Korea

1872 – Texas-Indian Wars, Apache Wars, Utah’s Black Hawk War, Comanche Wars, Modoc War, Franklin County War

1873 – Texas-Indian Wars, Comanche Wars, Modoc War, Apache Wars, Cypress Hills Massacre, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1874 – Texas-Indian Wars, Comanche Wars, Red River War, Mason County War, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1875 – Conflict in Mexico, Texas-Indian Wars, Comanche Wars, Eastern Nevada, Mason County War, Colfax County War, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1876 – Texas-Indian Wars, Black Hills War, Mason County War, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1877 – Texas-Indian Wars, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Black Hills War, Nez Perce War, Mason County War, Lincoln County War, San Elizario Salt War, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1878 – Paiute Indian conflict, Bannock War, Cheyenne War, Lincoln County War, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1879 – Cheyenne War, Sheepeater Indian War, White River War, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1880 – U.S. forces invade Mexico

1881 – U.S. forces invade Mexico

1882 – U.S. forces invade Mexico

1883 – U.S. forces invade Mexico

1884 – U.S. forces invade Mexico

1885 – Apache Wars, Eastern Nevada Expedition, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1886 – Apache Wars, Pleasant Valley War, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1887 – U.S. forces invade Mexico

1888 – U.S. show of force against Haiti, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1889 – U.S. forces invade Mexico

1890 – Sioux Indian War, Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians, Ghost Dance War, Wounded Knee, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1891 – Sioux Indian War, Ghost Dance War, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1892 – Johnson County War, U.S. forces invade Mexico

1893 – U.S. forces invade Mexico and Hawaii

1894 – U.S. forces invade Mexico

1895 - U.S. forces invade Mexico, Bannock Indian Disturbances

1896 – U.S. forces invade Mexico

1897 – No major war

1898 – Spanish-American War, Battle of Leech Lake, Chippewa Indian Disturbances

1899 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1900 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1901 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1902 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1903 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1904 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1905 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1906 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1907 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1908 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1909 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1910 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1911 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1912 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars

1913 – Philippine-American War, Banana Wars, New Mexico Navajo War

1914 – Banana Wars, U.S. invades Mexico

1915 – Banana Wars, U.S. invades Mexico, Colorado Paiute War

1916 – Banana Wars, U.S. invades Mexico

1917 – Banana Wars, World War I, U.S. invades Mexico

1918 – Banana Wars, World War I, U.S invades Mexico

1919 – Banana Wars, U.S. invades Mexico

1920 – Banana Wars

1921 – Banana Wars

1922 – Banana Wars

1923 – Banana Wars, Posey War

1924 – Banana Wars

1925 – Banana Wars

1926 – Banana Wars

1927 – Banana Wars

1928 – Banana Wars

1930 – Banana Wars

1931 – Banana Wars

1932 – Banana Wars

1933 – Banana Wars

1934 – Banana Wars

1935 – No major war

1936 – No major war

1937 – No major war

1938 – No major war

1939 – No major war

1940 – No major war

1941 – World War II

1942 – World War II

1943 – Wold War II

1944 – World War II

1945 – World War II

1946 – Cold War (U.S. occupies the Philippines and South Korea)

1947 – Cold War (U.S. occupies South Korea, U.S. forces land in Greece to fight Communists)

1948 – Cold War (U.S. forces aid Chinese Nationalist Party against Communists)

1949 - Cold War (U.S. forces aid Chinese Nationalist Party against Communists)

1950 – Korean War, Jayuga Uprising

1951 – Korean War

1952 – Korean War

1953 – Korean War

1954 – Covert War in Guatemala

1955 – Vietnam War

1956 – Vietnam War

1957 – Vietnam War

1958 – Vietnam War

1959 – Vietnam War, Conflict in Haiti

1960 – Vietnam War

1961 – Vietnam War

1962 – Vietnam War, Cold War (Cuban Missile Crisis; U.S. marines fight Communists in Thailand)

1963 – Vietnam War

1964 – Vietnam War

1965 – Vietnam War, U.S. occupation of Dominican Republic

1966 – Vietnam War, U.S. occupation of Dominican Republic

1967 – Vietnam War

1968 – Vietnam War

1969 – Vietnam War

1970 – Vietnam War

1971 – Vietnam War

1972 – Vietnam War

1973 – Vietnam War, U.S. aids Israel in Yom Kippur War

1974 – Vietnam War

1975 – Vietnam War

1976 – No major war

1977 – No major war

1978 – No major war

1979 – Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan)

1980 – Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan)

1981 – Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua), First Gulf of Sidra Incident

1982 – Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua), Conflict in Lebanon

1983 – Cold War (Invasion of Grenada, CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua), Conflict in Lebanon

1984 – Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua), Conflict in Persian Gulf

1985 - Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua)

1986 – Cold War (CIA proxy war in Afghanistan and Nicaragua)

1987 – Conflict in Persian Gulf

1988 – Conflict in Persian Gulf, U.S. occupation of Panama

1989 – Second Gulf of Sidra Incident, U.S. occupation of Panama, Conflict in Philippines

1990 – First Gulf War, U.S. occupation of Panama

1991 – First Gulf War

1992 – Conflict in Iraq

1993 – Conflict in Iraq

1994 – Conflict in Iraq, U.S. invades Haiti

1995 – Conflict in Iraq, U.S. invades Haiti, NATO bombing of Bosnia and Herzegovina

1996 – Conflict in Iraq

1997 – No major war

1998 – Bombing of Iraq, Missile strikes against Afghanistan and Sudan

1999 – Kosovo War

2000 – No major war

2001 – War on Terror in Afghanistan

2002 – War on Terror in Afghanistan and Yemen

2003 – War on Terror in Afghanistan, and Iraq

2004 – War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen

2005 – War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen

2006 – War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen

2007 – War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen

2008 – War on Terror in

Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen

2009 – War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen

2010 – War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen

2011 – War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen; Conflict in Libya (Libyan Civil War)

 

 

Hothouse Update

I had four solar electric panels I bought more than a decade ago.  I wrestled with whether I should use them.  I bought them when I was a strong advocate for "renewables".  I actually had three high quality solar hot water panels and controls that I traded for a high quality wood cook stove.  

The decision to use the photovoltaics was because I already had them.  I needed to buy a deep cycle battery and some controller/diverter electronics.  I think this will give the next generation to use our farm a leg up.  I had solar panels at my old place that had been up 22 years when I sold the place.  They appeared to be putting out the same amount of electricity as the day I installed them.  The weak link is the batteries and then the electronics. 

Yes, there is a  sense of being a hypocrite given my feelings about "renewables" simply being an extension of the fossil fuel stream.   However, given my feelings about fracking, tar sands, and deep ocean drilling, I am being hypocritical every time I drive, rototill and blow snow.  And so much more.  Damn.

We plan to use this set up at the hothouse/greenhouse to pump water using a 1/2 hp 12 volt motor on our pumpjack,
for  12 volt grow lights, and
when the batteries are full the load will switch to a 12 volt heater in the drying cabinet. 

See also:   http://sunweber.blogspot.com/2012/10/our-hothousegreenhouse.html  

 
  

Our hothouse/greenhouse

This is the work we did this year, 2012.  It will be both a greenhouse for growing and a drying area for preservation of food.  

The area next to the door is a screen opening for ventilation.  There is an insulated (R-11) panel covering it now for the colder times.  The chimney is a solar chimney.  Below the vents is a window facing south with a selective coated copper piece behind it.  This heats the air causing it to rise and creating a draw.  On the outside is a solar collector I made from materials I had from 35 years ago.  I just tested it.  The incoming air was 60 F, the out flow (and there was a noticeable flow) was 140 F.  There is a food drying cabinet below the chimney with 10 2’ x 3’ drying racks.  The collector will be connected to the food drying cabinet so it not only adds hot air but extends the length of the chimney creating more draw.

The skylights will have insulated panels for the freezing months.

The shed roof at the end has a well and water pump that irrigates our orchard and makes water available year round.  The well can be powered with 110, 12 volt dc or manually.  See: http://sunweber.blogspot.com/2011/11/onthewaydown-1.html

We have had freezing nights and 3 days on no sun and the temperature has been 50 F or higher in the hothouse every morning.  The rocks in the front will be an herb garden.rocks in the front will be an herb garden.
It is a grand experiment and a steeeep learning curve.

It is a grand experiment and a steeeep learning curve.

Inside we have the drying cabinet beneath the chimney.  Here it is with shelves and closed.  On the one side is a small opening that will allow air directly from the room to enter.  Not built yet is the duct that will connect the solar panel to the drying cabinet.  The duct will have a door that either allows air to flow into the drying cabinet or allow the heated air to flow into the room.  The scaffolding allows us to work comfortably at the drying cabinet.  It will be used for other purposes as we learn.  (The color of the walls is white but the light off the green wood acts strange?)

 

Suck it up.

This has been on many of the mailing lists about energy, resources and climate that I follow:

“The latest from Guy McPherson... is his saddest yet

30. August 2012

http://guymcpherson.com/

“What are we fighting for?”

In my latest essay in this space I mentioned two phenomena worth fighting for: the living planet and freedom based in anarchy. I surrender. I no longer believe the struggle matters on either front. I no longer think we’ll save the remaining shards of the living planet beyond another human generation. We’ll destroy every — [...]”

Others echoed this position. This is my response.

We can grieve our potential demise as a species. We may cause it. Species come and go. Mortality is a bitch.

But living isn't. It is great joy.

I play cribbage with the senior citizens in my town. At 69, I am the youngest. One of their sayings, "You want some cheese with that whine."

Two of my local friends are farmers. They are both in their 80s. They just stopped milking this year. He has been legally blind since early childhood. Has a rope strung to the barn. I rototill their garden so she can grow their food. They still will cut hay because in is their way. They revel in living.

Because of stupidity, I have emphysema and hardened lungs from radiation that saved me from cancer. When I work, I will often and episodically have to been over to catch my breath. I don't stop working, I revel in it.

We, my partner and I, are building a growing system with rotational fields, trees, berry bushes, large root cellar, new hot house for growing and drying food. Wells that can be worked with human power all for the next generation. We have one young man working with us. We had some 20 somethings visit this summer and they want to come back and volunteer (we will see). I am planting trees and bushes the odds are I may not see come to fruition. If it goes to hell, there is not a damn thing I can do about it. I love the learning, the creating, the work.

We will continue our population stupidity, it is the nature of the beast (all life).

We will continue gorging ourselves on the resource of the earth because it is the nature of the beast (all life).

We will continue to play the us and them game because we are a social animal, we need to belong, we need to have answers no matter how absurd for a sense of control and we will find scapegoats among the "them" because it is the nature of this particular beast.

We will continue to have unintended consequences arising from our acts seemingly well intended and innocuous, again it is the nature of this particular "too smart for our own good" beast.

We will continue to have inequity in power/resource availability whenever we become larger than the gatherer and hunter group size (30 to 200) that we evolve into and lived with for 99% of our existence. Life does not give out the candy of brain and/or brawn fairly. It is the nature of how things shake things out.

I have lived at an incredible time in human history. So many opportunities. So much to enjoy. I am alive because of high tech medicine. I thrive at the knowledge available to me to learn about so much and celebrate the men and women who have contributed to that knowing.

I know I have done it on the backs of others and on the back of "mother" earth. We in the USofA (and much of the west and the rich everywhere else) have benefitted from the rape of others lands, from military incursion when it will be good for business, assassination when necessary and so many other atrocities.

Now it is coming home to roost.

Suck it up.

John Weber

Curmudgeon of Northern Minnesota

Willful Blindness, Willful Hypocrisy, You first. What’s your spin?

Here’s the deal. Research reveals that we lie to ourselves. Not you and I of course, but others do prolifically. Willful Blindness is one of various books and research papers that verify this. We seem to fool ourselves for a variety of reasons. Two of the main reasons, one is self protective and the other is social protective.

From Margaret Heffernan’s Willful Blindness:

“People are highly driven to do things that build self-worth; you can’t transgress and think of yourself as bad. You need to protect your sense of yourself as good. And so people transform harmful practices into worthy ones, by coming up with social justification, by distancing themselves with euphemisms, by ignoring the long-term consequences of their actions. “

Heffernan, Margaret. 2011. Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril. Walker. N.Y. pg. 195.

This is something that I have known for a long time. Here is a quote from my journal written when I was around twelve years of age. It is from a book on psychology but I don’t know which. I started reading psychology books at eleven – Freud, Havelock Ellis, Kraft-Ebing, Jung, etc. Yes, I have always been strange. I didn’t know to copy references at that age.

“We build up a picture of ourselves; hence, we come to expect certain things from ourselves, to value ourselves and to do everything possible to keep this idealized picture of ourselves unspoiled.”

The social protective is our very human need to belong. The essence of being human is being a social animal. We must learn the rules of our particular game early – language, emotional display, right, wrong, and most importantly how to belong. We carry this early training (shaping) with us our whole life. Without it we do not survive physically or psychologically.

“As the pioneering psychopharmacologist Jaak Panksepp put it, ‘social affect and social bonding are in some fundamental neurochemical sense opioid addictions.’ In other words, our desire to seek social connection with others comes from chemical rewards as well as social ones.”

Heffernan, Margaret. 2011. Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril. Walker. N.Y. pg. 132.

Endorphins: Endorphins ("endogenous morphine") are endogenous opioid peptides that function as neurotransmitters.[1] They are produced by the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus in vertebrates during exercise,[2] excitement, pain, consumption of spicy food, love and orgasm,[3][4] and they resemble the opiates in their abilities to produce analgesia and a feeling of well-being.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphin

. . . the general argument is that we deceive ourselves the better to deceive others. To fool others, we may be tempted to reorganize information internally in all sorts of improbable ways and to do so largely unconsciously. . . . the primary function of self-deception is offensive – measured as the ability to fool others.

Trivers, Robert. 2011. The Folly of Fools. Basic Books. N.Y.

Here is the point of this. There is lots of information about the convergence of serious problems. There is lots of information – books, articles, internet, meetings – on these problems and the solutions.

“. . . A lot of people think we were facing our last century as a viable civilization, maybe even as a species. Global warming, overpopulation, the death of he seas, the loss of arable land, the proliferation of disease, the threat of nuclear or biological warfare . . .”

“We might have destroyed ourselves but at least it would have been our own fault.”

“Would it, though? Whose fault exactly? Yours? Mine? No, it would have been the result of several billion humn beings making relatively innocuous choices: to have kids, drive a car to work, keep their job, solve the short-term problems first. When you reach the point at which even the most trivial acts are punishable by the death of the species, then obviously, obviously, you’re at a critical juncture, a different kin of point of no return.”

Wilson, Robert Charles. 2005. Spin. Tom Doherty Associates Book. N.Y. pg.127-128.

In essence few if any of us are really doing a damn thing about it. We all have our spin.

From the Energy Round Table – a quote from the moderator and in italics a poster:

"Hitting the gas pedal decades ago is not something that

I think anyone who understood the problem would have

done. Why would anyone with half a brain make a plan

that severely damaged the biosphere of the planet that

their descendants would have to live (or die) on??"

Bill Tamblyn – Moderator

If we don't use all the water, someone else will.

If we don't use the oil, someone else will.

If we don't burn the coal, someone else will.

If we don't spread GMO crops, someone else will.

If we don't make more babies, someone else will.

If we don't waste the biosphere, someone else will.

If hitting the oil or coal or baby or gas pedal

gets me ahead or more status, then I must do it.

Was this a plan or lots of little plans?

More likely we just can't help ourselves?

Does tragedy of the commons fit here?

Arlen Comfort

My partner in answer to using a banana each day at breakfast and buying strawberries grown a thousand miles away said, “But I don’t buy roses.” Friends, who I love dearly and who are very environmentally and energy conscious, have a business totally dependent on driving to supply it and tourism for its success. They modified their distribution paths and feel they have made a significant change.

WHAT IS YOUR SPIN?

Let’s be clear. Every mile we drive supports fracking, tar sands, pollution of the oceans, underground water, rivers, the air, and our food. Each meeting we attend to save the earth from whatever surely makes us feel good. Each thing we write, each time we talk about this, we are playing the Transactional Analysis game – “Ain’t it Awful?”.

Each of the maybe billion of us at the top of the energy/resource heap are rushing towards the cliff. I do not to excuse myself from the spinning. This from one of my other essays:

Just say I.

I am polluting our ground water by using the natural gas from fracking. I am creating havoc in the oceans by spilling life-killing oil. I am also plasticizing the oceans. I am also limiting or eliminating species after species in the ocean, on the land, in the air. I am putting my medicines into the rivers and the water supply. I am greedily creating food sources that only I control. I am removing the topsoil. I am gouging huge holes in the earth. I am burning coal and creating nuclear waste for thousands of years to come for my flat screen television, my computer and my DVD player. I am putting mercury and acids into the air, water and life. I am melting the ice caps and the glaciers. I am heating the planet to drive my snowmobile, my wave runner, and my four-wheeler and to drive to any damn place I want. I am using many people to cater to my many whims.

I saw the DVD “What a Way to Go” yesterday. It was very well done in listing the freight train laden with our woes coming straight at us. The many speakers continually said, “we are doing this” and “we are doing that”. They must have been talking about me. Because I am aware of these things and more and I keep doing it.

http://sunweber.blogspot.com/2011/05/just-say-i.html

John Weber

Busy in Northern Minnesota doing all these things and more.

So enjoy while you can. I am.

Some internet sources:

http://climateandenergynews.zparking.net/

http://www.peakoil.com/

http://www.energybulletin.net/

http://guymcpherson.com/

My site: http://sunweber.blogspot.com/

http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/

Abelson, Robert P. 2004. Experiments with people : revelations from social psychology. Lawrence Erlbaum. Mahwah, N.J.

Bayne, Tim and Fernández.Jordi, editors. 2009. Delusion and self-deception : affective and motivational influences on belief formation. Psychology Press. New York.

Berne, Eric. 1964. Games people play : the psychology of human relationships. Grove Press. New York.

Berners-Lee. Mike. 2011. How Bad Are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything. Greystone. Vancouver.

Cumpsty. John S. 1991. Religion as Belonging. University Press of America. N.Y.

Fonseca, Eduardo Giannetti da. 2000. Lies we live by : the art of self-deception. St. Martin’s Press. New York.

Gianetti, Eduardo. 1997. Lies We Live By: The Art of Self-Deception. Bloomsbury. N.Y.

Hirstein, William. 2005. Brain fiction : self-deception and the riddle of confabulation. MIT Press. Cambridge, Mass.

Keyes, Ralph. 2004. The Post-truth Era. St. Martin’s Press. N.Y.

Kurzban, Robert. 2010. Why everybody (else) is a hypocrite. Princeton.

Lockard, Joan S. and Paulhus, Delroy L. Editors. 1988. Self-Deception: An Adaptive Mechanism. Prentice Hall. New Jersey.

Mele, Alfred R. 2001. Self-deception unmasked. Princeton University Press. Princeton, N.J.

Triandis, Harry Charalambos. 2009. Fooling ourselves : self-deception in politics, religion, and terrorism. Praeger Publishers. Westport, Conn.

Twerski, Abraham J. 1997. Addictive thinking : understanding self-deception. Hazelden. Center City, MN.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization_disorder

“. . . The farther removed we become from our neighbors, the more siloed in our self-sufficiency, the easier it is to treat people as things, to turn a blind eye to the human costs of toxic cultures and to make immoral decisions.

LIES

Credibility gap

Reframing

Terminological inexactitudes (Winston Churchill’s)

Poetic truth

Parallel truth

Nuanced truth

Imaginative truth

Virtual truth

Alternative reality

Strategic misrepresentations

Creative enhancement

Nonfull disclosure

Selective disclosure

Augmented reality

Nearly true

Almost true

Counterfactural statements

Fact-based information

TO LIE

Enrich the truth

Enhance the truth

Embroider the truth

Massage the truth

Tamper with the truth

Tell more than the truth

Bend the truth

Soften the truth

Shade the truth

Shave the truth

Stretch the truth

Stray from the truth

Withhold the truth

Tell the truth improved

Present the truth in a favorable perspective

Make things clearer than the truth

Be lenient with honesty

Spin

Keyes, Ralph. 2004. The Post-truth Era. St. Martin’s Press. N.Y. pg.15-16.

Our New Greenhouse

When it is done, I will provide actual pictures. My friend and building budding put this mock up together.

Nuclear Power

I received this email:

Hello,

I read your SunWeb blog. What are your thoughts on nuclear power, including fusion and fission power?

As for fusion, it has been ten years away - for decades. The best place for fusion is on the sun and the best way to use it is photosynthesis and passive solar. In other words, the sun provides energy through plant foods, animal foods, animal power, wood, some biomass, windmills (non electric) and well-designed structures.

There are four major reasons that I don’t support nuclear fission power now or in our future.

The first is simply, nuclear fission would not exist without fossil fuels. I mean the research, experimentation, testing, construction, maintenance, storage and decommissioning. It is an extension of the fossil fuel supply system. Both the economy and fossil fuel energy availability and cost will challenge present reactors. Without fossil fuels, nuclear power stations will not be built and will represent a serious danger over and above the danger the waste currently presents.

DNA India 2012-03-13: Eighty percent of the world's nuclear power plants are more than 20 years old, raising safety concerns, a draft UN report says a year after Japan's Fukushima disaster. Many operators have begun programmes, or expressed their intention, to run reactors beyond their planned design lifetimes, said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) document which has not yet been made public. "There are growing expectations that older nuclear reactors should meet enhanced safety objectives, closer to that of... more »

http://article.wn.com/view/2012/03/13/Older_nuclear_plants_pose_safety_challenge_IAEA/

The danger of waste is the second reason. The thousands of years required to allow some of the waste to become non-toxic requires a stability in the world of which history shows no evidence.

Nuclear power is seen by nuclear utilities and congress as such a risk that:

The Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act (commonly called the Price-Anderson Act) is a United States federal law, first passed in 1957 and since renewed several times, which governs liability-related issues for all non-military nuclear facilities constructed in the United States before 2026. The main purpose of the Act is to partially indemnify the nuclear industry against liability claims arising from nuclear incidents while still ensuring compensation coverage for the general public. The Act establishes a no fault insurance-type system in which the first approximately $12.6 billion (as of 2011) is industry-funded as described in the Act. Any claims above the $12.6 billion would be covered by a Congressional mandate to retroactively increa

se nuclear utility liability or would be covered by the federal government. At the time of the Act's passing, it was considered necessary as an incentive for the private production of nuclear power — this was because electric utilities viewed the available liability coverage (only $60 million) as inadequate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price–Anderson_Nuclear_Industries_Indemnity_Act

Nuclear operators are not liable for the entire costs of their own nuclear accidents, and the financial burden for this risk is inappropriately transferred to taxpayers. Since corporations under Price- Anderson are only responsible for around two percent of the estimated cost of a serious accident, nuclear power corporations can largely ignore (from a financial perspective) the dangers that reactors impose on American communities.

www.citizen.org/documents/Price-Anderson-Factsheet.pdf

The story of the Price-Anderson Act

: how Congress made nuclear power financially viable in the U.S. by eliminating accountability for risk.

http://legalplanet.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/the-story-of-the-price-anderson-act-how-congress-made-nuclear-power-financially-viable-in-the-u-s-by-eliminating-accountability-for-risk/

Chernobyl and Fukushima speak for themselves as the third reason. They are the Black Swans (Nassim Nicholas Taleb) we can perhaps imagine, but not predict. One was direct human error; one was natural catastrophe with of course indirect human error. How many more? These are some of the unintended consequences of nuclear.

Each of the above are premium and primary reasons why I do not support nuclear power; however, there is a fourth that is truly my main reason. We humans, as a group and as most individuals, are not smart enough, wise enough, moral enough or mature enough to handle such power. All technology carries with it the unintended consequences mentioned above. We rush blindly into technological innovation because it will make life “easier”, it will immensely benefit some economically and we simply can not predict the complex effects.

Dillworth, Craig. 2010. Too Smart for Our Own Good. Cambridge Univ. London.

McCorriston, J. & Hole, F. 1991. “The Ecology of Seasonal Stress and Origins of Agriculture in the Near East.” American Anthropologist. V. 93. p. 46-49.

There is also the continued tendency of power technologies to be more centralized, demanding more draconian control measures and creating a dependency that makes humans beholden to the power distribution brokers. I find this an unhealthy trend.

Our human tendency of creating US-against-THEM thinking to strengthen our sense of identity and belonging adds a dangerous component to all potential technologies of such intrinsic power.

Eller, Jack. 2006. Violence and Culture. Thomson. Canada.

Eller, Jack David. 2010. Cruel Creed, Virtuous Violence. Prometheus. N.Y.

Avalos, Hector. 2005. Fighting Words. Prometheus. New York.

Berreby, David. 2005. Us and them : understanding your tribal mind. New York : Little, Brown and Co.

Cumpsty, John. 1991. Religion As Belonging. University Press of America. N.Y.

Docker, John. 2008. The Origins of Violence: Religion, History and Genocide. University of New South Wales.

Kiernan, Ben. 2007. Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur. Yale Univ. New Haven.

Rozenblit, Bruce. 2008. Us against them : how tribalism affects the way we think. Kansas City, MO : Transcendent Publications.

Volkan, Vamik. 2004. Blind Trust. Pitchstone. Virginia.

Wellman, James. 2007. Belief and Bloodshed. Rowman and Little. N.Y.

Wentz, Richard. 1993. Why People Do Bad Things in the Name of Religion. Mercer University Press. Georgia.

It is clear to me sustainability is a living process and a process of living. Nuclear does not fit this process.