Christian Taliban: Foot Soldiers for the Corporate Profiteers

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one
of the greatest contemporary
Canaries.

Help Me ...

I was feeling glum today until I came across this interview with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which was published a year ago at this time in Grist Magazine. What a joy it was to see that there are other people out there who "get it." This gives me great hope and joy.

As for the Christian Taliban, this is what I call the Christian fundamentalists in the U.S. The Christian Hard Right is just as heretical as the Afghanistan Taliban regime that our country toppled in 2001.

Anyway, Mr. Kennedy's comments on capitalism and religion are extremely enlightening. The following interview is so extremely important that I've placed quotes on my blog. I am doing this to remind myself that maybe I'm not crazy after all, since there are some really respectable people who see things as I do. I encourage everyone to read this interview in its entirety on the Grist website .

Great quotes from Robert F. Kennedy:

"We've got to get the money out of politics. It's overwhelming the Democratic process. Campaign finance reform is hands-down the most important environmental bill."

"We are living in a science-fiction nightmare where children are gasping for breath on bad-air days because somebody gave money to a politician. And my children and the kids of millions of other Americans can no longer go fishing and eat their catch because somebody gave money to a politician. And where the oldest wilderness area on the face of the Earth -- the Adirondack Mountains -- has acidified lakes with sterilized fish because somebody gave money to politicians. And the Appalachian Mountains -- the birthplace of American democracy, the landscapes where Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone roamed, the source of our values, our virtues, our character as a people -- are being cut to the ground so somebody can make money."

"The payback far outstrips the contributions. The Bush administration got a record-breaking $100 million in contributions in 2000, largely from corporations that are now reaping billions of dollars of relief. But you and I -- the federal taxpayer and the American citizens -- for generations are going to be paying that campaign debt and that is a civil-rights and a human-rights issue."

"The best thing that could happen to the environment is free-market capitalism. In a true free-market economy, you can't make yourself rich without making your neighbors rich and without enriching your community. In a true free-market economy, you get efficiencies and efficiency means the elimination of waste. Waste is pollution. So in true free-market capitalism, you eliminate pollution and you properly value our natural resources so you won't cut them down. What polluters do is escape the discipline of the free market. You show me a polluter, I'll show you a subsidy -- a fat cat who's using political clout to escape the discipline of the free market."

"Laissez-faire capitalism does not work, particularly in the commons. Individuals pursuing their own self-interest will devour the commons very quickly. That's the economic law -- the tragedy of the commons. You have to force companies to internalize costs. All of the federal environmental laws are designed to restore free-market capitalism in America in this regard."

"I don't even consider myself an environmentalist anymore. I'm a free-marketeer. I go out into the marketplace and I catch the polluters who are cheating the free market and I say, 'We are going to force you to internalize your costs the same way you are internalizing your profit.' That's what the federal environmental laws allow us to do: restore real property rights in America. You cannot get sustained environmental protection under any system but a democracy. There's a direct correlation around the planet between the level of tyranny in various countries and the level of environmental degradation."

"There's a history since 1980 of a link between [anti-environmentalism] and the fundamental Christian right (which I don't even consider Christianity but Christian heresy) called dominion theology. It's driven by people like James Watt, who claimed that the Bible justified environmental destruction in the same way that white people in the South used to claim that the Bible justified slavery. God gave man dominion over nature, and that means man should dominate and destroy nature. But of course other people read in the Bible myriad mandates that we care for nature. It is not ours to own but ours to keep as a gardener would keep for the owner, who is God."

"There's a link between Christian fundamentalist evangelist leaders like Pat Robertson and Sun Myung Moon, who owns the Washington Times and funded the "wise-use" movement -- originally called the Sagebrush Rebellion -- which ultimately propelled both Reagan and Newt Gingrich. There was an unholy marriage during the '80s between the paranoid right, including the fundamentalist Christians, and industrial polluters, who basically began funding the fundamentalist right because it was in their interest to use that movement as foot soldiers in the battle to retain their giant subsidies."

"I think the environmental issue has ultimately got to be a spiritual issue and a moral issue. I believe we are hardwired to destroy the planet. We are hardwired to compete, to consume, and ultimately that biological urge can only be transcended with a spiritual fire. People have got to recognize that the obligation to the rest of the planet is a moral issue and it demands self-sacrifice and it demands sublimating our biological drives, which otherwise guide most of our decision making."

How Do I Feel Right Now?

"The things that will destroy us are: Politics without principle; Pleasure without conscience; Wealth without work; Knowledge without character; Business without morality; Science without humanity, And worship without sacrifice."

— Mahatma Gandhi, Indian spiritual/political leader.

How Do I Feel?

Right now I feel a lot of worry about my two daughters — what kind of future will they face? Is it fair for our generation to totally screw everything up and then bring children into the world?

I am also eaten up with guilt because there is so much to do and I never have time enough to do it all. Saving the world is really hard work because society is so resistant to change. Whenever someone comes up with an idea that's really innovative, it seems like it is argued into the ground, and if a government entity actually tries to implement the innovative idea, then the lawsuits start. All this has a chilling effect — it keeps government bodies from trying to introduce anything that's very revolutionary.

It seems like with jobs, families, and tons of driving, our minds are all turned into numbness. Over the years I have personally met dozens of people who WANT to help the Cause, but their work, health problems, and children's activities all keep them tied down. In fact, as I think of my friends in the environmental movement, many of the super activists don't have jobs and/or families, which frees up more time.

Earlier this week I met a wonderful new environmental volunteer. She wants to help, but she is a single mom and has a child in the band, so most of her time is committed. I strongly commend her for putting her son first — that's always how it should be.

Yet, while most of our energy and time is sucked away, our opponents are able to hire full-time staff and handsomely paid consultants to ram through their polluting or greenspace-destroying agendas. They have it all, and all we have is a small citizen's group of overworked, overburdened, and stressed out volunteers. Yet, we have the things that my hero Gandhi points out above. We have: principle, conscience, character, morality, a sense of humanity, and sacrifice. These are attributes that our avarice corporate opponents, with their slick alligator shoes, alligator briefcases, and alligator underwear, WILL NEVER HAVE!



Daah, of course my company
will pollute the air and foul the
water, but the important thing
is that we'll be bringing in four more
minimum wage jobs to your community.

YOU CAN STEAL EVERYTHING FROM US AS YOUR PURSUE YOUR CORPORATE WEALTH-BUILDING AGENDAS, BUT YOU CAN NEVER HAVE WHAT IS RIGHT.

The following is my number one favorite quote. I do see examples of this all the time, and it gives me hope:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

— Margaret Mead

Vanguard of Capitalism and the Right?

John G. Roberts Jr., the guardian of
capitalism?

The Fun Begins

President Bush made his nomination for the Supreme Court last night and now the fun begins. Both political sides will begin their intense lobbying and arguing, and the Senate will have their chance to grill him.

At first glance, it appears that Judge Roberts is a good friend of Big Business. Unrestrained capitalism is like a cancer consuming and destroying everything in its path, and there will be Justice Roberts serving as a guardian for the very machine that's annihilating us.

Yes, it's true, capitalism is like cancer. To survive, we will need to either keep it on a tight leash, socialize it, or destroy it. But people like Roberts will fight to preserve it, and he will likely say that the boardroom is no place for government (although the bedroom apparently is).

From a Sierra Club statement released today:

“Upon initial review, we are particularly concerned about his decisions in the following cases: his opinion in Rancho Viejo LLC v. Norton, 343 F.3d 1158 (D.C. Cir. 2003) where he strongly implied that Congress does not have the Constitutional authority to protect certain species under the Endangered Species Act, and Sierra Club v. EPA, 353 F.3d 976 (D.C. Cir. 2004), where he upheld a decision by the Bush administration to ignore the public health impacts of toxic pollution from copper smelters.”

So, maybe the corporatization of America is continuing. Those with the money and power control the Executive and Legislative branches, and now they are going after the Judicial branch. It seems that the Capitalist Machine we've unleashed years ago just keeps growing stronger, and will soon own everything. They already control and influence the media, they can strongly influence universities, and with their dollars they can even manipulate environmental organizations. Who can stand in the way of these great locusts as they continue leading us to our ultimate end?

Abortion Will Surely Come Up

No doubt "abortion" will come up during Roberts' confirmation hearings. Now my good friends on the Right seem to strongly support the "sanctity of life" by vigorously opposing abortion, stem cell research, and euthanasia. However, it's odd how they ignore far greater threats to life like global warming, pollution, and the poisoning of our environment. But that's okay, because those things are done by companies, and Corporate America should never be touched or challenged!

I, too, find abortions troubling but I disagree with my Right Wing friends on how to address the problem. The difference is that I would like to see abortions eliminated through education and access to family planning resources, while righteous conservatives would like to legislate it. Thus, they want a person like Roberts who will hopefully say, "The courts have no business ruling on abortion, so go ahead and ban it with your state laws!"

This raises many questions that my Righest friends have yet to answer, like who is going to take care of all these unwanted children? And what if these unwanted children grow up to be criminals and even murderers? Plus, with America's population already skyrocketing, what is gained by forcing women to have children they don't want? Couldn't we just focus on prevention?

At this point it is too early to have an opinion on Roberts. But suffice to say, the Right wants a good holy man that will leave Business alone, and will instead go after desperate young pregnant girls, gays, labor, environmentalists, and all those other villians who stand in the way of their hypocritical morality and lust for profits.

God bless America!

Balancing My time

We are only on Earth a short while, and we might as well try
to make something out of our lives.


So, the Story Goes On....

Up until two years ago I did not have exact clarity on my life's mission, but in 2003 I realized that my purpose is to help start a worldwide Sustainability Movement. One of the biggest challenges of my life is trying to do more things than I have time for. What I found is that if I give all my time to The Cause I start getting burnout, so I've had to balance my life with other activities. After having a bad burnout at the end of 2003, I spent most of last year trying to figure out how to manage my time and determining how I could still contribute to my mission and "giving back" to the Planet. The answer, I have decided, is to continue on with the mission, but to take it more slowly and to take some time out to enjoy life.

For six years I was spending at least 20 hours a week on my environmental and population work, while holding a full time job and raising a family. This was making me crazy. In 2004, I came up with a plan that provides more balance in my life. Unfortunately, it leaves less time for front line activism, which is really the work that counts. However, I do hope that in some small way I am helping to lay the groundwork for a great Movement that will continue long after I am gone.

What is the Sustainability Movement?: All people will learn to change the way they live so that their activities do not harm the Earth or reduce quality of life for future generations. In other words, the Sustainability Movement is teaching people how to leave the Earth in as good or better condition than when they came here. I'm not only talking about environmentally, but also socially, culturally, and in every other aspect.

The Plan for 2005 and Beyond....

So, here are my priorities, which really haven't changed much:

God - The top priority is to always put God first, and to live my life in a way that I feel is honorable to Him. This is a personal thing, and quite separate from human-made religion and the corrupt institutions that claim to operate under the Father's name.

Family - My wife, my widowed mother, my extended family, and especially my two daughters must always come first. Children MUST ALWAYS be the top priority, no exceptions. In my opinion, raising, helping, coaching, and unconditionally loving the next generation is our NUMBER ONE reason for being here.

Planet - I've always rooted for the underdog, and in this case it is Earth. Our Planet gives us life, yet we abuse it, neglect it, and disrespect it. My third greatest loyalty is to the third Planet from the sun, which is blessed with incredible beauty and an amazing variety of animal life. Human overpopulation, species destruction, pollution, and global climate change are all horrible plagues on the Planet. I have a passionate desire to defend the Planet because, well, it doesn't appear that many people are.



Time Management

Rather than spending all my time going full speed trying to save the world, I've now broken my personal time up a little more. This is how I divide the limited time I have when not with my family or at my job:

Deep Thinking — I spend a lot of time blogging, which helps me sort out my thoughts, and I participate in several e-mail discussion lists. In addition, I dedicate time for reading the newspaper, online articles, listening to public radio, and watching educational TV. I used to feel guilty about this, since it takes me away from activism. But all of this is important because the New Movement requires tons of time to hash out the details. And the more I learn, the more perspective I gain, and this helps me to better define the Movement. I guess you could say that I am donating my brain to serve as an incubator for new ideas.

Activism — To keep from going crazy, I've cut back on my volunteer hours to 10 hours a week instead of 20. I also try to only attend one meeting a week (it used to be 3 and 4).

Hobby — In 2003 I got back into my computer hobby. I love piddling on my Macintosh computer and reading computer books and magazines. The tinkering and reading totally relaxes me (and gets my mind off the daily sadness of species extinction, green space loss, and global climate change).

Sports — After 30 years I started playing tennis again. The mental and physical discipline, added to the joy of being outside on a warm summer evening, is exhilarating. I also love running, and I got a crazy idea this weekend to run in a marathon (maybe!).

Lifestyle Improvement — It's important to practice what you preach. Changing your lifestyle in a way that reduces your environmental footprint and is more sustainable is very difficult. While trying to save the world on a global level, it is difficult to find time to make the changes needed on a personal level. Living sustainability means spending more time finding and preparing organic food, avoiding fast food joints, and tending to a garden. I just started a small garden again after many years, and I intend to expand it each year. Another important lifestyle change is avoiding cars, but walking and public transportation take more time. So, all of this personal change is a big adjustment. One day I would like to live in an intentional community, where I would grow my own food. Other than having a decent computer, I have no interest in anything material, so I think I'd fit in well with such a community.

In Summary ...

Changing the world is far more difficult than I ever imagined because society is extremely resistant to change. It just likes to move forward in the only way it knows, regardless of the long term consequences. And trying to change the thinking and tenets behind capitalism is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT. Capitalism is like cancer, in that it continually grows, adapts, and prospers. That is, until it kills its host. It is difficult and overwhelming to stand up against this force, and, maybe we will lose. However, just as I believe there is a cure for cancer, I also believe there is a cure for capitalism. The way we do business in the Sustainable World will be far different.

The second point is that I spend a lot of time trying to change the world through writing articles, public education, and lobbying to change public policy. But changing the world also requires changes at the personal level. The so-called "American lifestyle" is the most soul-less, hypocritical, and corrupt thing I've ever seen. The goal is to move quickly away from the rotten values that define lazy and spoiled America. Again, this isn't easy. For instance, just trying to find something decent to eat in a grocery store is difficult. If you go into a Kroger the food is 90 percent junk and you can hardly find the organic and vegetarian sections. That's because capitalism doesn't care what you eat — they only care about profit. And apparently, most Americans don't care either (as you can tell from the massive obesity in the U.S.).

The third point is what a great local Sierra Club leader once said, "If it's not fun, it's not sustainable." While saving the World is important, it's essential that you enjoy it in the process. My advice to fellow Canaries is don't become obsessed with saving the World to the point where you neglect yourself. You're only on this Earth once, so take some time to enjoy nature (or at least what's left of it).

Respectfully,

The Yellow Canary

I dedicate today's post to my dear friend Günther, who is one of the greatest Canaries I have ever met.

Infinity & Life

First of all ...

I would like to say that our brains seem far too powerful for our feeble carbon-based bodies. It's like every day people are dying with all this incredible knowledge and insight in their heads. In general, I would say that only a small percentage of one's knowledge is effectively transferred to the next generation. But the fact that we aren't using stone tools anymore is proof that some of the knowledge is sticking.

But there is something beautiful about the vainness of life. It's like the person you passionately love but can never have, or the dreams you always had but never materialized.

Life is vain

But for us writers and poets, vanity is beautiful stuff. Great leaders, scholars, scientists, all die every day. This week we lost Senator Gaylord Nelson, a wonderful environmentalist. And we lost Bessie Smith - an aspiring blues singer of the 1930s who died in a car accident. How beautiful. It's as if we are all charging forward in a great battle, and we all get mowed down one by one.




Just for a Moment ...

Now when we watch aliens on the sci-fi channel we imagine they are a few hundred years more advanced than us. But what if there is a society out there that is a MILLION years ahead of us?

Here is my prediction. Let's say there is a race on another planet that's a few thousand years ahead of us. By then, I believe, they will have entered the "mechanical age." By that, I mean this advanced species will have replaced organics with mechanics. In other words, advanced creatures will dump their fragile bodies and move their consciousness into machines. They will live for hundreds of years, never get sick, and just enjoy being conscious. After a few thousand years, or tens of thousands of years, these beings will find a way to even dump their mechanical life support systems. Then all they will be is "consciousness." See, consciousness is the essence of the Universe. These creatures are already out there, some call them God.

Canary, have you been sniffing glue????

One of the great mysteries is why we have so much of our brain that is unused, or that we seem to have a truly infinite ability to learn. I'm sure some scientist will say that our brain IS COMPLETELY USED, we just haven't figured out what for yet.

In Conclusion

I will have to say that my short stint as an organic creature has been quite a trip. Every day I feel like I'm just watching a video out of my eyes — like all of life is a long movie. There are so many mysteries about life, and to really make things confusing, you have all these religious folks and theorists throwing ideas at you, and you are stuck with the job of sorting them all out. I can see why it's so much easier to just grab on to whatever story your parents tell you and stick with it.

The Canary


Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.

—Sir Arthur Eddington (1882 - 1944)