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I, the Goose, in my 51st year of life, has concluded that humanity is totally screwed up.

I do have the greatest respect for others like me who are trying to "save the world" each in their own way. I have about a half dozen individuals like that listed on the column at right.

In 1997 I had the same ambition and was at it full speed until April 2003 when I started getting tired of charging into a brick wall. Since then, unfortunately, I've been doing less and less activist work. In 2009 my employer cut staff and I've been working long hours, and just trying to survive since that date.

If I had free time, what would I do? My main interest was human overpopulation, so I guess I'd get back to that. Not that I'm trying to tell anyone what to do -- I just know the world would be healthier if there was universal access to contraception. I still think that this one goal can make the greatest difference in the social and environmental well being of the Planet.

But, today shall not be a discussion on Population, for today is Christmas Day.

Christmas

I no longer think much of this day either way. It's just a fun winter holiday. At the risk of being a Grinch, I'll say it's also environmental carnage. People wrap junk in paper. People rip off the paper and have their momentary high. The paper and tons of packaging are then thrown away. People put lights on their homes, and coal-power electric plants spew a little more carbon into the air to provide electricity for those lights. Then there is the cooking and candy — people stuff themselves with junk. This is how we celebrate the birth of Christ, and we are told this is a Christian holiday, even though it's full of traditions and symbols that date back to Pagan times.

Christopher Hitchens

For some reason, I've been really missing the guy this week. The great service he did to the world was to put cracks in people's belief systems. Whether on the political left or right, this world is full of righteous people who believe their dogma is above reproach. Hitchens challenged a lot of things that are simply accepted in our screwed up world, and things that are often seen as "taboo" to discuss. He just "told it like it is" and challenged social norms. He stirred the pot, and he pissed off a lot of people on both sides of the political spectrum. In his dying days he was honest and open about his struggle with cancer. I liked the guy.

Tom Shadyac

You know what, I really love this guy. His documentary, I Am, is still going through my head. Here is the classic story of the super successful movie director who has a near-death experience, gives away most of his wealth, and moves from his two mansions to a mobile home. He gives up being a movie director to teach at a local community college. His message is that to "save the world" we must learn to work cooperatively instead of independently and competitively.  I like the message a lot. I encourage everyone to see I Am.

Facebook

Facebook is an interesting social experiment that has literally changed the entire world. I shall not be posting links to my blog there any more. Why? Simply because no one cares. Oh, except for some of my relatives who are apparently shocked that I have dared to question religion. Well, at least they read my blog. If anything, it planted some doubt and questions in the minds of people who are so sure they know the One Right Way. Most of what goes on with Facebook is mindless banter. The people who were posting all their personal drama did provide entertainment for a while, but then it got old. On the plus side, Facebook is a good way to feel "connected" with your friends, neighbors, and relatives. I suppose.

Signing off for now...

I Am

Wow, I just finished watching the documentary "I Am." It really joins together and affirms things that I've been thinking all along, and many items that I've blogged about.

The point of this movie is that what is wrong with humanity is that we've adopted a separated, competitive mindset, and we need to live our lives more as cooperative, and as parts of a greater whole.

I really like the narrator in the movie -- he had everything, except for happiness. I applaud him wildly and I've subscribed to his email list.

A thanks to Tom Shadyac for creating this wonderful movie. It gives me a new sense of direction at a time when I've completely stalled out.

Why We're So Screwed Up

In writing about the Penn State scandal, New York Times columnist David Brooks provides another piece of the puzzle as to why humanity is so hopelessly screwed up.

Here are a few excerpts from his column:

Some people suffer from Motivated Blindness; they don't see what is not in their interest to see. Some people don't look at the things that make them uncomfortable. In one experiment, people were shown pictures, some of which contained sexual imagery. Machines tracked their eye movements. The people who were uncomfortable with sex never let their eyes dart over to the uncomfortable parts of the pictures.

As Daniel Goleman wrote in his book "Vital Lies, Simple Truths," "In order to avoid looking, some element of the mind must have known first what the picture contained, so that it knew what to avoid. The mind somehow grasps what is going on and rushes a protective filter into place, thus steering awareness away from what threatens."

And there's more:

People are really good at self-deception. We attend to the facts we like and suppress the ones we don't. 

And he concludes by saying:

The proper question is: How can we ourselves overcome our natural tendency to evade and self-deceive. That was the proper question after Abu Ghraib, Bernie Madoff, the Wall Street follies and a thousand other scandals. But it's a question this society has a hard time asking because the most seductive evasion is the one that leads us to deny the underside of our own nature.

The last sentence is well stated and explains our obsession with myth worship (i.e. religion), climate change denial, and debt crises denial.

On a personal level, I know people who simply deal with things by not dealing with them. This is often the case of families who live with an alcoholic. On a national level, our political leaders are also simply playing the fiddle and not dealing with the obvious, serious problems. This is what we call "ignoring the giant elephant in the room," and, man, we humans are good at that.

Destiny

It's hard to get motivated these days to do my environmental activist work or anything else. I am feeling that our self-denial is leading to our rapid self-destruction, and our fate is now beyond our control. Half of me still has hope, but the other half feels it is time to simply enjoy the present as best I can and accept the fate of my species. No worries, within a few thousand years Mother Earth will have recovered from the short reign of destruction caused by the big-brained apes. Aside from our concrete bridges, there will be little evidence that we ever existed here.

Sustain-ABLE

As a young teen I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to save the world. One idea I had was to create the perfect government.

I don't know how I got this crazy idea, but instead of debating legislation, all the variables would be fed into a computer, and the device would make the decision, which the government leaders would follow. In my fictional world, the computer was called Computo. By using Computo, the government made the BEST decisions instead of POLITICAL decisions.

Sustain-ABLE

Now, 35 years later, I'm not giving up on my idea of saving the world. Okay, here's my latest idea: What we need is a think tank that would focus on only one task -- creating a sustainable society. Now, the goal is NOT to create utopia, but only to make the world sustainable enough so that we don't destroy ourselves, our planet, and other animal species.

To start, we would give a group of visionaries the task of charting out perpetually sustainable ideas. Every time they ran into a social barrier, they would need to step back and say, "What is causing this resistance?" And then they would need to design a strategy to address that challenge.

Every aspect of society would be "on the table" and the visionaries would do their visioning without budget concerns.

A few ground rules would be put into effect:

• The strategy must include ALL people, and human health must be considered, including mental, physical, and social health.
• Humans must be allowed to live a reasonably comfortable life.
  
• The well being of animal life, I mean ALL animal life, must be factored in.
• Each generation must leave Earth in as good or better shape than how they found it.

As a starting point, the people in the wealthy countries must adopt a more simplistic lifestyle. This would immediately remove massive strain from the Planet. We can all have smaller cars and houses and still be happy. Most importantly, we must all have smaller families.

The think tank would recommend public policies to our elected officials. All recommendations would be based on the long-term, instead of the short-term. If politicians are unable to make their decisions based on the distant future, then we need to find out what forces are blocking them from doing that.

Human behaviors must be modified. How can we end cigarette smoking and religious fanaticism, which are two of the greatest banes on society? How can we get the general public to accept science instead of following the mythology of ancient desert savages?

What other human attributes are essential for long-term survival? Should our dream society be democratic and capitalistic? I'd say that preserving freedom is essential, but we also need to act in a more socialistic way. We all need to contribute to the common cause of creating a clean, safe, and healthy planet for our children, and other animals as well.

We must come to grips with our animalism. A lot of our religious traditions are arrogant -- we must deal with this self-conceived notion that we are better than other animals, or that we have a "soul" and they don't. Once we realize that we are a PART of the great web of life, and not the foolhardy "masters," we will have taken a major step forward.

Could Get Creepy

Admittedly, this entire thing could get out of control. What if we started doing brain procedures to create favorable behavior? What if we socially engineered our children to make them good little tree huggers? We might accomplish our goal, but could lose our freedom of thought. And "freedom" must be preserved throughout this process.

What if we really do create Computo and use Him to make our decisions? Will the masses simply turn to him as a deity? Will we have created our own master, who rules over a healthy, green planet, but sucks our free will away at the same time?

Are the forces at play here so conflicting that survival of humanity is hopeless? Can we carefully decide what tradeoffs and what rights we are going to sacrifice to ensure human perpetuity? Or should we live free and happy now, and not worry about the ruin we our leaving our children? And if the current iteration of humanity is doomed anyway, shouldn't we just live it up and not worry about all the cigarette butts on the street? Can't we have peace in knowing that some other species may evolve to a high intelligence and replace us? Can the apes turn human again?

Certainly, when you review all the conflicting values, it's certainly easier to just worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster and not worry about life past our lives. We raised our kids to be tough -- they can wallow in the sea of crap that we've left them, and they can work it out. Or can they?

The Goose has much to think about, but I'm starting to get a really exciting vision. Stay tuned.

Kitty Purr

I remember when my last cat, Sassy, was dying of feline leukemia. As I held her she was purring and that gave me a feeling that she was getting better. It gave HER a feeling that she was getting better too. I later learned that cats sometimes purr to comfort themselves when they are gravely ill.

Mother America
We are now faced with the global debt issue, global warming, water shortages, and the threat of nuclear terrorism. Oh, and did I mention peak oil?

I have to learn to accept that it's part of our evolution to only react to danger when it's directly in our face. Humans are not good at long-term planning, even though we put our offspring at great risk when we ignore looming threats.

What I'm seeing now in this country is cognitive dissonance, denial, delusions, and lots of religious escapism. I know that most Americans realize that there is something deeply wrong right now in our country, but most people would rather ignore it or rationalize it away.

We LIKE our way of life. We are comfortable. We don't want to think about or deal with the possibility of radical change.

The Scenario
No one intended to bankrupt America but years of deficit spending have caught up with us. When we get to the point where we can't pay our creditors I don't know what will happen, but I can guess that it will create a chilling effect throughout the world economy. Everything will just stop.

Social Security IS a Ponzi scheme. You are correct, Gov. Perry. Thanks for having the guts to say that. There are less and less workers supporting more and more retired people who are living longer. This system is unsustainable and will collapse with a giant thunder.

Medical Malfeasance
Everyone wants to stay alive as long as possible, and at the same time most people I see don't really take care of themselves. They don't even follow the two simple suggestions of eating right and exercising. Worse yet, the medical industry keeps coming out with more machines, drugs, and procedures to keep our ailing population alive longer. This results in a multi billion dollar industry devoted to eliminating physical discomfort and prolonging lifespans. It's a sector of the economy that must be carried on the shoulders of our taxes and commerce. It sucks the economy dry as desperate people deplete their savings and get a second mortgage on their homes so that they can stay alive longer. Medicaid, Medicare, and the prescription drug plan are all spiraling out of control and are UNSUSTAINABLE. My advice to all of you is - stay healthy!

Scenarios
Sooner or later terrorists will detonate a dirty bomb in the U.S. with the power of the Nagasaki atom bomb. The blast will instantly vaporize a square mile in a major city and could kill as many as a million people. The social, psychological, and economic impacts would be so devastating that the outcome is unthinkable.

Or, maybe severe water shortages and pollution will simply make us sick and frail, and we'll all move to places with abundant fresh water, until it's used up. We will suck dry Lake Superior, and we'll keep growing our population and we will desperately try to maintain "business as usual."

The End
Just bringing up these topics makes me "negative" and a "doomsayer." Even I hope that some unexpected development in technology or change in human behavior will save us at the last minute. I know the odds are against this, but I still cling to hope.

I must accept the limits of humankind and the evolutionary mechanisms that are built into us — the desire to extend life, the desire for comfort in the short term at the expense of the long term, and the inability to react to distant dangers. These are the attributes that will make us simply another casualty in the Sixth Great Extinction. The end of one of the most complex creatures to ever evolve in the Universe will actually be a good thing, for it will allow the millions of other species to thrive in a safer, cleaner environment.

I must say, the Goose is starting to get goosebumps.

Economelt

The whole premise of my blog is that humanity could be heading in a sustainable direction, but we are screwing things up royally, and self-mutilating ourselves as fast as we can.

Class Warfare

Uh hum, so let's talk about class warfare, since we are seeing so much of it lately in Wisconsin, London, Greece, and the Middle East.

The dilemma is that capitalism is the only thing that truly motivates lazy, slob birds like me. Some people are far better at the capitalist game than others, and the wealth is pulled to the top, like sucking chocolate milk through a straw.

As the rich are enriched beyond all dreams, the "damn liberals," socialists, and other left-leaning weenies start worrying about the losers starving in the streets. We are told that based on Reaganomics, the wealth will trickle down to the poor bastards, likely in the form of breadcrumbs and hunks of chocolate stuck to foil wrappers. Then the Tea Partiers tell us that the government shouldn't be in the "hand out" business — that churches and good hearted people will take care of the poor. But so far, those good people don't seem to be giving little Johnny a warm lunch every day. Instead, we hear moaning about those lazy, deadbeats who need to get a damn job like the rest of us.

Now, granted, there is a flip side to this. See, I the Goose, am no liberal, conservative, or moderate, I'm just a dumb bird. But I've flown over enough neighborhoods to know that when you give people aid, a sense of entitlement DOES occur, and the more you give folks, the more dependent they become.

So, now that I've enraged everyone on both sides of the issue, let me say this: Communism and Socialism are failures because since there is no direct benefit, people are not motivated to give their best. Capitalism is a failure too, because it is all about Darwinism and survival of the fittest, and, well, the slow adopters are left behind (and ain't it funny that the same people who don't believe in evolution embrace it passionately as an economic model). Libertarians want the government to stay out of everything, which is simply handing over the car keys to the capitalists (right, they care about us we are told, as they ship our jobs overseas as fast as they can).

The bottom line is that NO current economic system is sustainable. Which means we all need our victory gardens, we need to barter, and we need to learn how to make our own basic necessities.

The End

The reason that Western civilization is failing is simple — we kept spending more than we made, on both a personal and government level. Everyone wanted a good time, and every politician wanted to get re-elected. Hell, in the U.S. we could have dragged this fantasy on a few more decades, until we were all dead and didn't have to worry about. Our children? Oh, send them to the finest private schools so that they can have some good survival skills. Leave them a wad of dough in your will. Croak feeling good about yourself, as your private nurse gives you another shot of morphine. Be proud of the fact that all you really did for your children was crap on them.

But I digress ... the other economic problem is that we stopped creating real wealth a long time ago. Our manufacturing base went overseas. We bought time for a while by whoring our land away, and then we played it out even further by artificially inflating the value of real estate. We gave houses to everyone we could, and after a while we ran out of GOOD creditworthy people to give a five bedroom house to, so then we started giving homes to the BAD uncreditworthy people. For a time, it worked, but then the entire scheme collapsed. But, no worries, Brother Bush bailed out everyone who was "too big to fail" (and "too big" to be responsible).

And let's not forget those two wars that put a drain on the U.S. treasury, and then the "stimulus" plan, that gave us new lingo to throw around like "shovel ready projects."

But what really got us is the fact that the recession meant a sharp drop in tax collections, and to raise taxes in a slow economy would only slow things further, or at least that's what the Republicans said. So, the point being, the collapse caught all the rabid policy makers and golden parachutists BEFORE they had the chance to go to Heaven. So, all these successful, middle aged capitalists are wandering around saying, "What the hell happened?" No one anticipated this, yet the path we've taken in the past three years has been totally predictable.

Big Circle

To add to the fun, energy and food prices are rising around the world, and our global population is continuing to explode, right on target. We have to encourage as many babies as possible because the world is infinite, and you never know when the next Einstein might appear. And it doesn't matter any way because the "good people" will soon be rescued by flaming chariots driven by white unicorns. Men wearing nothing but a diaper and some angel wings will be cracking whips and screaming, "Get on board, 'cause we are headin' for the clouds." Of course, this competes directly with Greyhound's new express service.

In the end, 90 percent of the population will remain in complete denial that the world economy crashed, and even as we eat rodents, rabbits, and neighbors, we'll be reading sacred passages written by Gov. Perry and singing 19th century gospel hymns.

And life will go on, just like it always has. But yet it won't.

Man really attains the state of complete humanity when he produces, without being forced by physical need to sell himself as a commodity. —Che

Goose Visits the Psychologist

This whole thing about the Goose being a prophet wasn't catching on, and finally everyone voted unanimously to send him to the psychologist. Goose kept screaming and swearing he was correct, "I've done all the calculations ... I know, I know, I know!"

The next thing you know Goose is laying on the couch in a room with dark, musty panel. Dr. Snorensky is in a chair writing down notes.

"But I'm not crazy ... it's just that ... well ... peak oil, social unrest, and too many McDonalds. And not to mention Wal-Mart, which will remain open 24 hours even after the economic crash."

"Mr. Goose, calm down, relax."

"Everyone is so self-absorbed in their own little game, and everyone's doing a different thing without seeing the big picture. The television has sucked their intellect out. Then there's these mega churches where they show movie clips and give you 'practical lessons' and send you out the door, and you have just enough time to beat the crowd at Longhorns."

"What???"

"And this Universe is so complex and beautiful, from the big stars down to the cells in our bodies, yet most people don't even think about it or write it off to the 'man in the sky' kind of thing. But, okay, maybe there is a God, but maybe this supernatural being is not a being at all, but rather a force that aids evolution and keeps the Universe in order."

"Are you saying God is dark energy ... dark matter???"

"Yeah, He's that force out there that makes all the atoms work, that makes gravity work, that makes photosynthesis work because, hell, no one has any idea how photosynthesis works, yet half the world is green, except for the parts that were clear-cut."

"Goose, do you need drugs?"

"It's like, I'm laying here now, on a rock that's traveling three times the speed of a bullet, soaring through space. Why can't people understand that just to be alive is a freakin' miracle? Why can't they appreciate this? Let's keep the ancient desert gods out of this. I mean, if you can't see it it ain't real."

"Goose, this is your free introductory session. You're only supposed to answer a few questions, like whether or not you hate your mother and have you ever been a member of the Communist Party."

"It's nuts, I mean, I'm telling people the economy is going to crash, we're going to run out of oil, and all that plastic we dumped at the landfill is going to turn into a creature and come and get us in the night."

"Delirium tremens."

"Who me?"

"No, I just like to say that term. Makes me feel professional."

"Look at all we've learned just in the past 100 years. The question is, can we learn everything there is to know? Does the human brain have limits to understanding? Are we going to blow a circuit breaker when we realize that matter is infinite, time is infinite, space is infinite, and we are just little shits who are addicted to pop culture?"

"Goose, I'm not getting paid enough for this."

"Not that I'm being random, it's just that, I think the world is a beautiful place, with lots of greens and blues, and all we humans know are economic growth and adding more people, to create customers. All we know how to do is consume, and we just keeping wanting more junk because it fills that big gap in our lives, and it makes us less miserable."

"Are you saying????"

"Yeah, we all want more, all do our own things, and eventually the blue marble that we share is going to crap out on us. And it's not fair to the millions of other species that share this place with us."

"Goose, I have to go. Baseball game tonight. Remember, you're just a patient, nothing more. I do this psychology crap to figure out myself, as if THAT'S really helping."

"Let me out. I have to go speak with the people. They need me. They want to hear the Message of the Goose."

"Fine, okay, fine...."

What We Forgot

The recent debt ceiling debate shows just how partisan and uncivil we Americans have become. Town hall meetings are all but impossible because hecklers are planted at each event, and you might even get shot in the head. Welcome to Mother America, the land of the brazen, overweight Tea Party Patriots who drone on about the Constitution, while having no concept of true democracy.

See, the whole democracy thing is about having a rational discourse, listening to your opponent, and then achieving compromise. The recent debacle in Washington was more like watching rabid clowns perform in a low-budget remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

As for the Obama Haters, come on, and give it a break — seeing your worldly self emerge from your Christian facade has gotten old. I've never seen so many people hate on one poor guy, a guy who has the most rotten job in America. And, to my shock, one day people are going to their country club churches to learn about "love," and the next day they are telling the most vile and hateful jokes about the U.S. president. Oh, yeah, there is an exemption in the Bible for hating on the president -- you can read about it in one of those obscure books in the back of the Old Testament. Honest.

I have to blame it all on gerrymandering, but fully realize that the typical American doesn't know what that is (they are more concerned about the Biggest Loser getting voted off the island). But it's this gerrymandering thing that creates Left and Right congressional districts, and the moderates are all but lost. It's a nasty game.

No, No, No!

As far as political maneuvering goes, it looks like the Republican Party and their Tea Party militia wing are doing everything in their power to sabotage the presidency of the president. So what if they keep us in a recession and millions out of work. The point is that them NASCAR god-fearing folks want the White House back.

Oh, and as far as the debt ceiling goes ... those Tea Party Patriots have no problem with taking little Johnny's subsidized school lunch away, but when it comes to corporate tax breaks and runaway military spending, they appear totally indifferent. After all, it's Obama who invaded Iraq and bailed out the banks, and had an affair with Monica. At least that's how the Texas Board of Education will spin it, and since history and facts are just another illusion to the Tea Partiers, it really doesn't matter anyway.

A Demo What?

My point is that to create a sustainable world, we must have a healthy, productive democracy. This means gathering input from all sides and creating a workable solution. And better yet, a solution that is sensitive to the long-term. This does NOT mean letting a vocal, raunchy, fringe group ramming a hard line position down every one else's throats. Where is the love? Where is the idea that we are all Americans?

It's okay to be a conservative, moderate, or liberal. Each side should respect the other, and "respect" is something we've totally lost in this country. Let's be civil, open-minded, and caring. Let's LISTEN to what the other side has to say. Let's vote in the best interest of our children and future, rather than bowing to the puppet masters.

It's not our political system that is broken. It is WE who are broken. I've seen too many people who have lost their rationalism and decency as human beings. Our country is becoming Road Warrior Nation, a land that is controlled by roaming brutes.

Show some love, baby. Show some compassion. And remember what democracy really is, and not who you are trying to impress. Throw your tea in the bay and join the rest of America. And let us become one again.

Amen, saith the Goose

Death of Idealism

I remember when I had hope. I remember when I cared. I remember when I tried to make a difference. When I saw the futility, I'm not sure. It was in 2004 when a hundred puzzle pieces came together and I suddenly could see what I never saw before -- the whole picture of how the world works. How the power structure manipulates the government. How religion is used to herd the masses. How words, communication, and propaganda are used to mold unquestioning puppets.

So, dear elite WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT? You've taken everything, and you give the people just enough breadcrumbs to keep them from rioting in the streets.

You squeeze dry the environment, and when anyone dares to question you scream JOBS as the saliva drools down your face. You hire information jammers to throw doubt and questions into the global warming debate. Yes, Barney Foofoo at the community state college was paid millions by Big Oil to say global warming is a myth. Let's all believe Barney Foofoo.

Let's never question our religion, and when someone does let's call them little back-slidden heathens. Let's have a prayer rally in Texas -- we already know that's where God lives. Yes, God is punishing America because we gave gays rights and we murdered trillions of babies (i.e. the Supreme Court felt it an invasion of personal privacy to force desperate women to have their unwanted child -- hell, let's spin that one baby. Let's use this as a "talking point" to energize the foot soldiers for corporate America! Yeah!)

Let's gather up all those Muslims, gays, and immigrants, and put them in a rocket ship and shoot them to the moon. Let's not try to figure out why God gave those Muslims so much oil. Let's just pray our brains out, even though any good thing or bad thing that happens is only chance. But if you spin it enough it becomes a miracle. And, besides, there is a picture of Jesus in my French toast, not to mention that cloud shape of God, and then there was that tree in Conyers, GA.

So, at what point did I snap? After all, the world is perfectly sane. After all, I see my elected leaders spend weeks fighting like dogs over moving ONE DECK CHAIR on the Titanic. They agreed to move that deck chair, well, next to the rail, and now they are boasting about how great they are. Guys, guys, guys, I'm sorry but it's too late. I'm still paying for Father Reagan's deficit budgets, and I'm still waiting for His trickle down economics to bring me wealth, and, well, it hasn't hit me yet. Oh, and by the way, I suggest that every highway, airport, and government building named Ronald Reagan be renamed Che Guevara. I just think it has a better ring.

Easter Island is a mecca. The Holocaust didn't happen. The 9/11 thing was an inside job. And President Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya, or is it Indonesia? Just depends on what the Fox News guy had for breakfast.

I can't believe I'd give up all my precious ideals, throw my hands up, and say, "Okay, folks, tried to warn you."

But, Goose, you are no prophet. You are just a guy that is not fitting into the dominant culture. Everyone knows if you touch the pants of a Tea Party officer your warts will instantly heal. Why are you questioning that, Goose? Shall we have the Department of Homeland Security send you to waterboard school? Maybe one of the those friendly countries like Morocco where they torture in exchange for port privileges and a bag of money?

There are 7 billion ants running around in 7 billion little directions. As the Somalians starve, yet again, and as the dictator of Syria picks out a new suit, and as the Israelis tell us they are noble and as the Palestinians tells they are noble, and as Italy and Spain beg for money from the European Union, well our little brains get overloaded and fried. Or maybe it's all the video games and fast food? Or maybe all that reality TV and pop culture. Or maybe it's the fear of questioning the righteousness of Rupert Murdoch and all those Godly mega church pastors in Texas.

So, I slide, slide, still wondering when the asteroid is going hit us or when the Seven Horsemen are going to ride through my backyard, followed by the Pentecostals, and seeing Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix resurrected. I mean, finally, what took so long? And to think that drugs can mess you up -- they just put you down for a while.

And, if you think I'm blabbering, try watching one of those Sunday morning political shows, or to see some serious blabber, go to a "conservative style" Baptist church, where the pastor screams, "If you die in a car wreck on the way home today, do you know where you're going?" Hmmm, fertilizer for a few surrounding plants, maybe? I know, not a lot of pizzazz with that response, so let's steal a religion from the ancient Egyptians and make people feel guilty if they don't follow it. Yeah, I know.

So, it was on this cold, winter day, when the leaves were blowing around, and I just stood there watching this plastic bag, whipping around like in the movie American Beauty. Yeah, that's when I lost my idealism because people are producing way too much plastic, and it's going to take 500 years to rot, and all the while it's going to be letting out hot methane, which will cook the world, and all the billions of people will become billions of bubbles.

And it was then, just then at that moment, that I lost my idealism. I stopped fighting. I stopped caring. I decided to just step back and watch this human freak show and let it end, the way that I knew all along, way deep down, how it WOULD end.

To my children, I am so, so sorry. To my pets, I am so, so sorry. To the cat I ran over in 1980, I am so VERY sorry. To the beautiful planet that I have had the honor of living on, I am so, so, sorry. I really did try for a while. I really, really did.

Sincerely,

The Goose

Talking Donkeys and White Sticks

I haven't written a blog entry in five months. Mainly, because I now see that humanity is on an unpleasant course and there's little I can do about it. As our world economic system melts down and as our environment disintegrates, I now see that people will cling to their flags, crosses, or other icons and hold onto them tightly as humanity is flushed down the toilet.

What we are witnessing in this world is both a breakdown of our civilization and the loss of our ability to THINK. The partisanship that now rules in Washington is sickening. Every politician babbles what he or she thinks their constituency wants to hear, with little regard for the spirit of communal living and mutual survival. The Tea Party, in particular, is this goal-less, mindless rancor of nothingness — the rantings of angry people who do not want change. Yet change is rolling over them like a bulldozer.

We live in the age where people watch newscasts that are designed to tell them what they WANT to hear. The mindless masses which "reality" TV that is masterfully staged and scripted. And this forms the basis of the New America, where the Truthers, Birthers, Holocaust Deniers and other conspiracy theorists make themselves believe whatever they want, no matter now ludicrous.

Now, you can pick up the Holy Bible, turn to Numbers 22:31-33 and read about a talking ass, I mean, yeah, a donkey that talks. And people don't even question that, and I feel like I'm the only person who is going "what the heck?" And then I'm sitting in traffic and counting all the people who put white sticks to their mouth and voluntarily inhale toxic smoke into their lungs. And I'm thinking, "Are these people just totally insane, or is it just me?"

Thus, my point is that religious fanatics and cigarette smokers are the two groups of people that depress me the most because they show just how far gone our civilization is. How can we ever have a chance of saving ourselves if a large portion of the population accepts that donkeys can talk and that it's okay to suck smoke into your lungs? Is the world just that zonked out? Mentally fried? I mean, "hello," is anyone home?

Tragedy of the Commons

In addition to the total breakdown of critical thinking the second force that is destroying us is what ecologist Garret Hardin calls "The Tragedy of the Commons." In a nutshell, a tragedy of the commons occurs when people share a common resource and ultimately deplete or destroy it. No one really intends or even wants to destroy it, but they ultimately do so because short term selfish interests ultimately outweigh long-term communal interests. This is exactly the phenomenon we are seeing with global climate change and the fouling of our oceans.

A perfect example of "Tragedy of the Commons" is our U.S. Congress. On one side, you have a group of politicians who want to provide more rights for labor, more social services for the poor, and more environmental protection. The other dominant political party wants a strong military and a favorable climate for Big Business. Both parties load the federal budget up with giveaways, tax cuts, and subsidies for their favorite causes. In the end, the budget never balances and the nation sinks into greater debt. We've now reached the point where most of our tax money is going to pay interest on loans, instead of back into the economy where it could create jobs. Our decades of greed have made the federal government sick, and the economy is ailing as well. We are now slithering around in our own feces, and our elected officials continue to scream the same, pointless rhetoric like "cut taxes," "create more jobs, " etc... And even though the same old strategies are known to fail, every politician is afraid to step out of the box, for fear of losing the next election. This, my friend, is the "tragedy of the Congress."

Ishmael

I shall end my post with a quotation from my favorite book, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. The point is, we are trapped inside an elaborate cultural system that gives us comfort at the expense of destroying the world for future generations. Already, our children will not enjoy a world that was as good as ours. Where is our GUILT???? Where is our SHAME??? Most people have none. They simply deflect reality with some story contrived by an ancient goat herder, go into denial, adopt a conspiracy theory, or simply just get lost in front a television. And, thus, we die a slow death by our own, lazy hand.

Chapter 1-6:

... Ishmael thought for a moment, "Among the people of your culture, which want to destroy the world?"

"Which want to destroy it? As far as I know, no one specifically wants to destroy the world."

"And yet you do destroy it, each of you. Each of you contributes daily to the destruction of the world."

"Yes, that's so."

"Why don't you stop?"

I shrugged, "Frankly, we don't know how."

"You're captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live."

"Yes, that's the way it seems."

Freedom

We are blessed with many gifts in life, but the most wonderful gift of all is our freedom. Imagine living a life where you are a slave or you are controlled by a government. Your life would hardly be worth living.

Mideast

Right now citizens in a half dozen countries are demonstrating for their freedom. They are fighting against autocratic governments. It is shameful that the U.S. supported many of these governments when we ourselves are a democracy. Shouldn't we want others to enjoy that which we cherish most? Or is it more expedient to support regimes that help keep the oil flowing? Small wonder that so many Arabs hate us.

With freedom comes self-respect, dignity, and a voice. That is what my fellow humans in the Mideast are wanting. I greatly admire and respect them for standing up to oppressive dictators.

Responsibility

With freedom comes responsibility. Those who are free must show maturity, and critical thinking skills, and they must respect order. While I find the Westboro Church beyond disgusting, I am proud of the Supreme Court for protecting their right to demonstrate at the funerals of fallen soldiers. I'm far more proud of the motorcycle riders who surround the Westboro folks and exercise their freedom as well.

Religion

Everyday I am thankful that I am free from religion. I was told that God gives us a "free will." Ha! The fact is that many religious people indoctrinate their children at a young age. If you really wanted to give your child "free will" you would educate them on the various religions and let them make their choice.

Most religious people are darn sure that their religion is the "right" one. Oh, it also happens to be the one they were born into. Coincidence? Nope. The point being, true freedom means escape from the rigid dogmas that attempt to enslave us. True freedom is being able to think freely, rather than having some preacher think for you.

Corporations

We are all slaves to our jobs. Many of us don't want to work -- we'd rather be at the beach. True freedom is when you are not enslaved to a corporate master. You can escape the yoke of an employer in many ways, such as becoming self-sufficient financially, entrepreneurship, or living on an island.

Summary

The freer you are, the happier you will likely be. Many people are slaves and don't even realize it. They go to church three times a week because they've always done it, and secretly they may prefer to just stay home and chill out. They go to work each day to pay for all the crap they've purchased -- you know, the stuff all those commercials told you to buy. Or maybe you are trying to get out of debt from those seductive credit cards. Yeah, debt makes you a slave as well.

True freedom is when ... well ... you are truly free. When you can run wildly through a green meadow, without worrying about anything. Freedom is when you can choose your own political leaders. Freedom is when you can choose your own religion without your family disowning you or some cleric ordering your death. Freedom is skipping a night flossing without feeling guilty. Freedom is freedom.

Roadblock

I haven't blogged much lately. Last month I learned that my comments on religion were offending some family members. So, what's a poor goose to do?

My only point is that if you start believing things on "faith" rather than "fact," that's nice, but it puts you on a slippery slope. The problem is that you have to start discerning what you blindly accept and what is factual. When you start blindly accepting things that can't be proven, you begin losing your grasp of the factual. You drift into a netherworld were "truth" and wishful thoughts intermix.

My one and only religion is called "reality." I admit that it stinks. No flaming chariot is going to whisk me away to Beulah Land. I do not have a mansion waiting for me, and I won't be walking on a street of gold. There is zero scientific evidence of a Heaven or Hell. I've heard people say that these places are in another dimension or behind the sun. Well, please show me any evidence and I'm on board.

The problem becomes serious when "faith" in unproven phenomenon is carried into the public policy arena. When lawmakers make decisions based on their "faith," rather than what is logical and best for the citizenry, humanity takes a step backwards. In fact, ANYTIME that religion and politics get in the way of science, the human race loses.

Manifestations

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, you also have people making decisions based on "faith." If a woman commits adultery, some men may throw battery acid on her face, permanently disfiguring her. Or maybe honor kill her by stoning or strangling. These people have "faith" that they are making their god happy. In the western world, "faith" usually does not lead to such atrocities, but it does lead to many illogical decisions.

In the U.S. there have been cases of mothers suffocating their babies because they "had demons in them." And, in the U.S., a president banned stem cell research based on reasons that stem from "faith."

I do not think "faith" is good at all, and can only cause irrational behavior. If you only act on what you can prove, you are likely to behave more rationally.

Critical Times

We are now at the most critical juncture in all of human history. The decisions we make as a collective whole will determine our survival. The social and environmental problems that we face are massive. We can have "faith" that our deity will come to rescue us or we can start addressing our challenges.

Our society totally lacks critical thinking skills, and this is a result of both poor education and religious indoctrination. We tend not to take responsibility for the world around us because we have "faith" that it's all a part of God's plan. But this type of thinking is simply a lazy cop-out and a shirking of responsibility.

Faith & Science

The Muslim world is fanatical in their religion and devout in their "faith." However, "faith" flies in the face of science. What contributions have Muslim nations made to modern technology? None. The greatest advances come from nations that embrace science. Centuries ago, western Europeans were also devout in their faith, and put their imaginary beliefs above all reason. We call that period of history the Dark Ages. It was the Renaissance that pulled western civilization out of the darkness and into the modern age.

"Faith" is the opposite of the scientific method. Science does not make judgments and only knows what CAN BE KNOWN through systematic testing. Truth is not an absolute, but one can take the preponderance of evidence to make a strong assumption.

Leprosy

Leviticus 14 of the Holy Bible provides a detailed ritual for the healing of leprosy. Well, guess what? It doesn't work at all. Is that simply because the people going through the ritual don't have enough faith? Fortunately, thanks to modern science, this disease is easily curable. Does that mean people who take drugs to cure leprosy have more faith? The logic is absurd, yet this is the sort of thinking that "faith" promotes.

Conclusion

Now, let's get back to a main goal of my blog, which is to promote sustainability. We have terrorism, drug cartels, human overpopulation, rising food prices, social unrest, crime, and the list goes on and on. Do we just ignore these problems because we "believe" it's all part of a grand plan, or do we roll our sleeves and get involved in some cause? I suggest the later.

Believe me, I spent most of my life in church and held a variety of leadership positions. While there are some "practical life lessons" given in church, for the most part I realized I was accomplishing nothing. I've come to think of organized religion as similar to Wall Street, which moves a lot of paper around but doesn't produce anything that is of use to society. Wall Street produces wealth from debt, and religion produces warm fuzzies from faith. But reality is inescapable, and sooner or later it catches up to us.

So, if I am offending people just because I am unable to believe in things that can't be proven, please forgive me. I realize religion is a sensitive and emotional issue, and that for the most part it is taboo to challenge it. I am not pushing my opinion on anyone — I am only stating that "faith" causes irrationality and I see it as a roadblock to a peaceful and sustainable future. Our future must be governed by logic and reason, and if it isn't we will likely nuke ourselves or do irreversible environmental harm to our planet. Does anyone really want that?

— Gooseboy

Visionaring Through the Dust

The progressives will march forward, despite the push-back from the world's two great fundamentalist nations — Iran and the United States.

Our first challenge is to transfer our energy system from burning dead plants to capturing energy from our Sun. Meanwhile, the Second Amendment guardians will ensure that psychos have access to the most deadliest and effective killing weapons, so that the slaughter of politicians and innocent people can continue.

Next, our challenge is to get rid of highly polluting aircraft and create a system of bullet trains around the nation. During this time, the GOP will simply undo all the progressive actions of the Democrats, and call that "progress."

We must also learn to manage our consumption and exploding population growth. We must learn to protect our oceans, lakes, and forests. All the while, Fox News and other millionaire-backed propaganda machines will divide our country and sow seeds of hate and mistrust, all in the name of ratings and personal agendas.

Homes will be built "green," and we will conserve electrical power using smart grid systems. Meanwhile, drooling pastors will rebuke companies who tell their customers, "Happy Holidays."

Electric cars will take over the roads. More funds will be devoted to education and public transportation, and less money will go to the U.S. war machine, which now garrisons troops in 140 countries, with the ultimate motive of securing the supply of dead plant oil.

The Tea Partiers will scream on about "getting back to the Constitution" while marching on in the name of division, elitism, and xenophobia. And during this time, more efficient and cheaper solar and wind systems will be built. We'll also increase the efficiency of our appliances.

As almost every religious denomination in America continues to shrink, the visionaries of a sustainable society will march forward. The white religious crowd will remind us how moral we were in the 1950s, but they will forget to mention the Jim Crow laws.

Some will wait and do nothing, saying that their divine entity will come to rescue them. Others will deny global warming, as if simply denying it will make it go away. They will listen to the Exxon-Mobile puppets, who tell us that the Earth is actually getting colder. Hell, that sure beats doing something.

Oil prices and food costs will soar, Mother America will crumble under the weight of her military budget, and little birds will drop from the polluted sky onto the polluted Earth.

The moderates will be labeled as liberals and promptly shot. And, God knows, we can't dare say that the rabid talk show and TV show entertainers created a hostile environment. For that might hurt someone's feelings. It's simply better to let people take a few bullets now and then, rather than to, well, piss off the NRA.

So, in our totally dysfunctional, screwed up society, I believe that the progressives will win. The secret is to not get lost in all the disoriented, conflicting, hypocritical God-Gun culture. And rather, we must all focus on the goal of making the world better.

The detractors will brand us, persecute us, and even try to destroy us. For we bring change and new ideas, which may financially harm those who benefit from the status quo. And those with the status quo have the money, and can afford to hire PR agencies to twist and distort reality, until the gullible American public is marching in lockstep behind them.

But we will move on. We are the progressives and the ones who dare to dream. Sorry if my story doesn't match your story. I really don't give a damn.

— The Goose