Re: [GBlist] re. Piece of the "pie" and other guilt trips

["Paul" <webmaster@globalcircle.net>]

No disagreement about sustainable use of resources, but there's a huge fog
of disinformation out there about wealth and poverty. Money and power have
always been abused for the further enrichment and control of haves at the
expense of havenots. That's the way of the world, only today the process is
speeded up and globalized. The gap between rich and poor has multiplied
exponentially, and nobody can really believe the wealthy now work a
thousand or ten thousand times harder to get that much richer than the
poor. The media is part of that fog being the exclusive tool of its owners.
Even discussing the alleged cause of "our success" begs the question. Our
"success" is only seen with blinders that keep us from seeing the one-third
of our own people who must live like third-world people for a variety of
reasons. Of course it's not true that the rich only get rich at the expense
of the poor. They do, but there's more involved. They get rich by
exploiting the labor of the poor and the resources of most other nations,
and the poor worldwide work harder and get poorer. This whole process is
99% invisible to the so-called educated and entertained American public,
because that serves the corporate owners who also own the media. And the
process is unsustainable. It's like the title of a book, Shovelling Fuel
For a Runaway Train. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely,
and the corporate ownership class has more power than anyone in history. 

--paul, webmaster http://globalcircle.net
peace and liberty, sustainability and justice
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 1/20/02 at 3:57 AM mrjones maxine&ralph wrote:

>First, I really appreciate the great information and practical building
>tips, esp. re. SIP's. Next to straw bale, that seems the most practical
>building material, and certainly appears best for ceiling/roof of SB.
>Thanks, everyone.
>
>Isn't guilt a quite useless emotion? The piece of the pie and who is
>keeping too much, etc. has been pretty emotional at times.Too much blaming
>nasty, wealthy US citizens for keeping the poor, esp. in other nations,
>down. Anyone willing to admit that perhaps, just possibly, it is the
>freedom of thought and action we have in the USA that is at the least a
>partial cause of our success???? Or that anyone, no matter how "poor"
>their beginning in life in this nation can (and many do) rise above their
>"station in life" to become the most successful and/or wealthy people in
>the nation???? And, that there are often, in the very poorest of nations,
>a few extremely wealthy citizens at the top who do not allow their
>citizens at the bottom to move up in wealth????
>
>Then there is the political acrimony against business in general, and
>Republicans and Pres. Bush in particular especiallyh in the field of
>energy: does it occur that the NY Times is not noted for it's support of ,
>nor openness toward conservative political ideas, including the direction
>of energy policies???? We need to consider and research, both with private
>and public funds, ALL promising and even some far out energy sources. Not
>just confine ourselves to ultra-conserving of present resources, not just
>cry doom and gloom at non-renewable resource use, but learn to amplify the
>outputs from it, not decry any practical use of energy under so called
>pristine areas of  our public lands, but develop resources carefully, not
>to eliminate farming, but make more use of good practices and new crops to
>produce renewable fuel sources, for starters. Let our freedom, earned at
>such great cost over all the years of our history as a nation, truly free
>our ingenuity to find new methods of providing for our needs and, yes,
>even some of our dreams. We have a long history, too, of sharing from our
>blessings with those in our own nation and others. 
>
>Regarding the super-efficient auto research: I necessarily spend a lot of
time in my car due to distance from services in my extremely rural area. I
demand performance appropriate to my extreme climate and road conditions
first and comfort second. I fear most of the money spent on that research
will not benefit my needs in the least. Further, I believe enough tax money
has been spent, and it is high time for the market place to carry on with
the project!!!!! mj




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