I've been doing this blog for just about a year now. To anybody who's been checking in here regularly, it's obvious that my main concerns are environmental -- Montana wilderness, public lands issues, endangered species, among others. Global warming. Our insatiable thirst for oil. I could go on and on.
I sound like a broken record at times I'm sure, but tough shit. I do this mostly for myself. I don't get paid for it, I don't do it as a hired gun for anybody else. I do it simply to speak my own mind, what's left of it, and anybody who is interested in reading it and maybe joining in is welcome to do so. And I'll do it for as long as I have something I want to say. And have the time to sit here and say it.
Which is all a long-winded way of saying that time is something I don't have much of right now. Neither is having much to say for that matter. I'm going to continue posting here, but it may well be sporadic for a while yet. I'm not going to disappear, but there will be occasional periods of silence. Some will no doubt be greatly relieved by that. To you others I will just say that I'm still here. I'm still here even if you don't hear much from me for a while. Keep in touch.
On that note I'm going to close this with a question that puzzles me to no end. Why, for Christ's sake, instead of looking for new and novel ways to keep our damn cars running, and to keep our society and economy galloping and growing to the point of collapse, aren't we thinking about this?
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Putting The Wild First
Looking at a map of Montana we have what appears to be a lot of wilderness. But is it really all that much? We have much of what is called 'island wilderness' but little in the way of connecting corridors or far-reaching ecosystem protection. I'll set that thought aside for the time being though. That's meat for future posts. What is wilderness, the wild, anyway? Why should we humans, here in the 21st century worry about saving any of it, whether it be old-growth forests or grizzly habitat or wild rivers or mountains or deserts or our great swamps and wetlands and oceans?
We're funny creatures. We call raw nature wilderness and then find new ways to subdue it or exploit it. Or we fear it. A part of us still fears the deep dark places and all that may lurk there waiting to snap us up and eat us. We fear the unknown, and to most of us the wilds are the unknown. We pay lip service to wilderness on the one hand, and then on the other we view it as a wasteland, a great blank area ripe for converting into cash, and rub our hands together in anticipation of bulldozing it for profit. Tribal cultures throughout our history didn't have words that meant wild or wilderness. They didn't differentiate between wild and civilized. To them it was all simply home.
The wild, or wilderness if you will, is all of nature. All of it. It's the air and the water and the trees and the rivers and the oceans and the climate. It's everything that lives within it. It's us too. We are the wild in human form, and we are cutting our own throats by the way we live. We've gotten pretty good at trying to subdue nature. We've gotten damn good at exploiting it for our own gain. And many of us still have an irrational fear of it, but wildness can't be subdued. By altering the wild out of fear and greed, or ignorance and arrogance for that matter, we are turning it into something to be truly feared -- a poisoned and polluted and overheated planet, one that has been raped and plundered and pillaged for a long time now. It's starting to kill us off, along with countless other species that are being dragged into oblivion by our activities.
None of this is new. We've known this for a long time now. We're at a turning point in our history, and we need to make many changes. Only relatively recently in human history have we done so much to divorce ourselves from the wild. We pride ourselves on our scientific and technological prowess but downplay, or even totally ignore our biological and spiritual roots. We need to put the wild first. It's our global commons, it's our home, it's our roots and it's our future. It's our being, our soul, or as Emerson called it, the over-soul. To sever our spiritual and biological roots in wilderness to embrace a technological and material world-view is insanity. We'll be little more than soulless automatons. An ugly existence indeed, provided we could even survive that. To reject our wild nature is to reject the heart of our own being. To render the wild, the life-support system of our planet, incapable of sustaining life as we know it, which we are obviously capable of doing, will leave us homeless in the most profound and horrifying sense possible. That is a terrifying prospect.
We're funny creatures. We call raw nature wilderness and then find new ways to subdue it or exploit it. Or we fear it. A part of us still fears the deep dark places and all that may lurk there waiting to snap us up and eat us. We fear the unknown, and to most of us the wilds are the unknown. We pay lip service to wilderness on the one hand, and then on the other we view it as a wasteland, a great blank area ripe for converting into cash, and rub our hands together in anticipation of bulldozing it for profit. Tribal cultures throughout our history didn't have words that meant wild or wilderness. They didn't differentiate between wild and civilized. To them it was all simply home.
The wild, or wilderness if you will, is all of nature. All of it. It's the air and the water and the trees and the rivers and the oceans and the climate. It's everything that lives within it. It's us too. We are the wild in human form, and we are cutting our own throats by the way we live. We've gotten pretty good at trying to subdue nature. We've gotten damn good at exploiting it for our own gain. And many of us still have an irrational fear of it, but wildness can't be subdued. By altering the wild out of fear and greed, or ignorance and arrogance for that matter, we are turning it into something to be truly feared -- a poisoned and polluted and overheated planet, one that has been raped and plundered and pillaged for a long time now. It's starting to kill us off, along with countless other species that are being dragged into oblivion by our activities.
None of this is new. We've known this for a long time now. We're at a turning point in our history, and we need to make many changes. Only relatively recently in human history have we done so much to divorce ourselves from the wild. We pride ourselves on our scientific and technological prowess but downplay, or even totally ignore our biological and spiritual roots. We need to put the wild first. It's our global commons, it's our home, it's our roots and it's our future. It's our being, our soul, or as Emerson called it, the over-soul. To sever our spiritual and biological roots in wilderness to embrace a technological and material world-view is insanity. We'll be little more than soulless automatons. An ugly existence indeed, provided we could even survive that. To reject our wild nature is to reject the heart of our own being. To render the wild, the life-support system of our planet, incapable of sustaining life as we know it, which we are obviously capable of doing, will leave us homeless in the most profound and horrifying sense possible. That is a terrifying prospect.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Changes
This is a bit of a personal post, but the past few weeks have been a little crazy around my place. And I have one more change in store for myself starting tomorrow morning.
I've lived here in Montana now since 1983. Most of that time has been spent in the Bitterroot Valley, from Sula to Stevensville, and the last six years or so here in Missoula. I've had several different jobs in that time, mostly running printing presses with a few stints of political organizing and self-employment thrown into the mix. All in all it's been a good time. Usually a little short in the money department, but a good time.
For the last four or five years I've been working in a small family owned print shop here in Missoula, and it's been the best damn job I've ever had, which is why I've stayed there that long. I've been able to set my own schedule for the most part, work when I wanted to as long as I could get the work done, and get paid a very reasonable amount of money to boot. Not only is the woman I worked for one of the finest human beings on the face of the earth, she would bring me the latest issues of the Progressive Populist to read when she was done with them. I'm going to miss that. Everybody I worked with there was like that. The only downside was that it wasn't quite a full-time job. I worked two-thirds to three-quarters of a full work week, and I haven't quite been making it. Close, but not quite. So last Friday was my last day there.
I was offered a new job in a bigger shop a couple of weeks ago, and after much gnashing of teeth I decided to accept it. More money, more than I've ever made in my life, along with insurance and other benefits. I resisted for a few days but I couldn't say no. I heard all the arguments from everybody. At your age this may be the last good offer you get. You've got a daughter to support; it's the responsible thing to do. Blah blah blah. Well, I realize all that and it's the main reason I accepted.
But I'm a funny kind of guy. At my age I'm also getting more jealous of my time. I'm real fussy about how much of it I'm willing to sell and who I'll sell it to. These new folks seem to be a pretty good bunch to work for and it will no doubt be fine. Time will tell. Still, the last job was a very hard one to walk away from. My biggest fear is that I'll have to spend seven or eight hours a day surrounded by faithful followers of Brother Rush Limbaugh. That would truly be hard to take. In that case I'll just have to rely on earplugs I guess. In any event I always keep my escape hatch open. I'll give the new boss a probationary period, the same as he's giving me, to see if he meets certain standards that I require from anybody that I'm going to work for. I can leave if I don't like it, and the door is open in my former shop if I need to return there. That's always nice to know.
So. It's onward to a new situation, mixed feelings and all, and I trust everything will be just fine. On that note I'll end this ramble, wish all you dads out there a happy Father's Day, and enjoy an evening with my own kids. Take care.
I've lived here in Montana now since 1983. Most of that time has been spent in the Bitterroot Valley, from Sula to Stevensville, and the last six years or so here in Missoula. I've had several different jobs in that time, mostly running printing presses with a few stints of political organizing and self-employment thrown into the mix. All in all it's been a good time. Usually a little short in the money department, but a good time.
For the last four or five years I've been working in a small family owned print shop here in Missoula, and it's been the best damn job I've ever had, which is why I've stayed there that long. I've been able to set my own schedule for the most part, work when I wanted to as long as I could get the work done, and get paid a very reasonable amount of money to boot. Not only is the woman I worked for one of the finest human beings on the face of the earth, she would bring me the latest issues of the Progressive Populist to read when she was done with them. I'm going to miss that. Everybody I worked with there was like that. The only downside was that it wasn't quite a full-time job. I worked two-thirds to three-quarters of a full work week, and I haven't quite been making it. Close, but not quite. So last Friday was my last day there.
I was offered a new job in a bigger shop a couple of weeks ago, and after much gnashing of teeth I decided to accept it. More money, more than I've ever made in my life, along with insurance and other benefits. I resisted for a few days but I couldn't say no. I heard all the arguments from everybody. At your age this may be the last good offer you get. You've got a daughter to support; it's the responsible thing to do. Blah blah blah. Well, I realize all that and it's the main reason I accepted.
But I'm a funny kind of guy. At my age I'm also getting more jealous of my time. I'm real fussy about how much of it I'm willing to sell and who I'll sell it to. These new folks seem to be a pretty good bunch to work for and it will no doubt be fine. Time will tell. Still, the last job was a very hard one to walk away from. My biggest fear is that I'll have to spend seven or eight hours a day surrounded by faithful followers of Brother Rush Limbaugh. That would truly be hard to take. In that case I'll just have to rely on earplugs I guess. In any event I always keep my escape hatch open. I'll give the new boss a probationary period, the same as he's giving me, to see if he meets certain standards that I require from anybody that I'm going to work for. I can leave if I don't like it, and the door is open in my former shop if I need to return there. That's always nice to know.
So. It's onward to a new situation, mixed feelings and all, and I trust everything will be just fine. On that note I'll end this ramble, wish all you dads out there a happy Father's Day, and enjoy an evening with my own kids. Take care.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Here We Go Again
The US Fish&Wildlife Service has decided yet again that what the hell, we don't really need to protect endangered species or their habitat. Only 20% of the original old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest remain, and FWS has proposed to cut that by another 20% to facilitate logging and development which can, and no doubt will, have negative impacts on the remaining populations of the Spotted Owl.
There we have it folks. Industry speaks, waves a few bucks around, and BushCo listens and acts accordingly. Public comment will be accepted until August 13 -- let's all speak out and let these thugs and vandals know we've had enough of this shit.
There we have it folks. Industry speaks, waves a few bucks around, and BushCo listens and acts accordingly. Public comment will be accepted until August 13 -- let's all speak out and let these thugs and vandals know we've had enough of this shit.
Friday, June 8, 2007
The Association Of Montana Bloggers
Colby Natale had himself quite a brainstorm, and the result of it is the Association Of Montana Bloggers. It's a great idea -- I, as well as several other Montana bloggers, immediately jumped on the bandwagon.
Rather than me telling you about it, I'll just simply send you over there to check it out for yourselves. Comment, throw out ideas, suggest other Montana blogs, let Colby hear your feedback on this. Looks like it might be an exciting thing. See you there. Thanks folks. You too Colby.
Rather than me telling you about it, I'll just simply send you over there to check it out for yourselves. Comment, throw out ideas, suggest other Montana blogs, let Colby hear your feedback on this. Looks like it might be an exciting thing. See you there. Thanks folks. You too Colby.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
If Someone Offers To Feng Shui You, You'd Better Run Like Hell
My ex-wife recently came back to Missoula after spending the last six months in California. Six months away from our daughter was a little too much for her. She missed the kid, and understandably so. Of course she is staying with us for a while, which is fine, but it sure does disrupt my own routine around here. Hence, short posts for the most part. I'm trying to keep posts going here, but I cheerfully admit to taking the easy way out and posting short blurbs and links. I haven't had it in me to post or even comment anywhere else for the past few weeks.
Why, you may ask, did I let my ex move into my home? Well, it's like this. We've gotten to be pretty good friends since we split up a few years ago, and we get along pretty well for the most part. Besides, she's my daughter's mom, she needs a place to stay, and I'm in a position to help her out. I think it's only right to take care of the others in my own tribe when it's necessary. I'm just like that.
So no, that's not a problem. What's got me a little bit on edge is that she came in, looked around, and decided that I needed to be feng shui'd again. I immediately broke out in a cold sweat because she stayed with us last summer too and I've been through all this. Been there. I was just starting to get things back to normal.
Feng shui comes from the sages in ancient China, and from what I've been able to gather is a way of arranging your surroundings and belongings in the most natural, auspicious and harmonious way. I have a simpler method -- I usually just stack my stuff up in the way for when I need it, but apparently that wasn't good enough. I needed to be feng shui'd.
Feng shui has been re-discovered in recent years by wives and ex-wives and future wives and girlfriends, and loosely translates into 'I'm going to move into your place for a while and I'm going to get rid of your stuff.' And it works. Boy does it work. I haven't seen hide nor hair of most of my stuff for a couple of weeks now. I can't find it. It simply vanished. Gone. Hell, I can't even find the cat.
I guess for now I'll just have to practice another virtue from the ancient ones. Patience. This too shall pass. My dear ex will be leaving in a matter of weeks and then I can re-arrange my stuff, at least what I can find of it, in a workable manner. I can pile it up, scatter it around, and generally make my space workable again. But I sure as hell won't feng shui it -- I may need to use it again. And who knows. Maybe the cat will even show up.
Why, you may ask, did I let my ex move into my home? Well, it's like this. We've gotten to be pretty good friends since we split up a few years ago, and we get along pretty well for the most part. Besides, she's my daughter's mom, she needs a place to stay, and I'm in a position to help her out. I think it's only right to take care of the others in my own tribe when it's necessary. I'm just like that.
So no, that's not a problem. What's got me a little bit on edge is that she came in, looked around, and decided that I needed to be feng shui'd again. I immediately broke out in a cold sweat because she stayed with us last summer too and I've been through all this. Been there. I was just starting to get things back to normal.
Feng shui comes from the sages in ancient China, and from what I've been able to gather is a way of arranging your surroundings and belongings in the most natural, auspicious and harmonious way. I have a simpler method -- I usually just stack my stuff up in the way for when I need it, but apparently that wasn't good enough. I needed to be feng shui'd.
Feng shui has been re-discovered in recent years by wives and ex-wives and future wives and girlfriends, and loosely translates into 'I'm going to move into your place for a while and I'm going to get rid of your stuff.' And it works. Boy does it work. I haven't seen hide nor hair of most of my stuff for a couple of weeks now. I can't find it. It simply vanished. Gone. Hell, I can't even find the cat.
I guess for now I'll just have to practice another virtue from the ancient ones. Patience. This too shall pass. My dear ex will be leaving in a matter of weeks and then I can re-arrange my stuff, at least what I can find of it, in a workable manner. I can pile it up, scatter it around, and generally make my space workable again. But I sure as hell won't feng shui it -- I may need to use it again. And who knows. Maybe the cat will even show up.
* * *
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Give It A Listen
I'm sure most of you who follow the blogs here in Montana are well aware of the weekly blog radio show, Small Town, Long Streets, that Craig of Montana Politics recently started so this is nothing new to you. But there are a handful of you from other places who occasionally read this who maybe don't know about it, so I'll pass on a little tip -- check it out.
This is interesting stuff. Reading the blogs is one thing, but hearing the voices, hearing the personalities of these folks come through adds a whole different dimension. It's a reminder that those who sit hunched over their computer keyboards and peck out these posts on a regular basis are living breathing human beings too who are simply passing on their thoughts and ideas through the medium of the internet. Hearing them live and in person adds a human touch that is too easy to ignore or forget when all we do is read their posts.
Check out Craig's site where he has the info and link so you can tune in. You'll also find the schedule for upcoming shows as well as archives of the past ones. It's well worth it. Thanks Craig. Good show.
This is interesting stuff. Reading the blogs is one thing, but hearing the voices, hearing the personalities of these folks come through adds a whole different dimension. It's a reminder that those who sit hunched over their computer keyboards and peck out these posts on a regular basis are living breathing human beings too who are simply passing on their thoughts and ideas through the medium of the internet. Hearing them live and in person adds a human touch that is too easy to ignore or forget when all we do is read their posts.
Check out Craig's site where he has the info and link so you can tune in. You'll also find the schedule for upcoming shows as well as archives of the past ones. It's well worth it. Thanks Craig. Good show.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Edwards And The Media
You'd think the news media would be interested in more about the campaign of John Edwards than the cost of his haircuts and the size of his home, but no. The quality and depth of the coverage wallows right down there in the muck alongside that about Anna Nicole and Paris Hilton. I've felt for some time that Edwards isn't going to be a candidate that Corporate America and it's bleating flock of reporters will accept, and that they would do their level best to torpedo his campaign before it has a chance to get off the ground, and it appears that that is exactly what they plan to do.
Does it matter that John Edwards and his family are multi-millionaires and live in a mansion or that he gets $400 haircuts? No. Does his success as a trial lawyer and his wealth disqualify him from speaking out against poverty? No. Does any of that disqualify him from speaking out against the war or global warming or speaking out for health care for all or for workers' rights? Not only speaking out, but working for positive changes? Again, no. He has every right and reason, maybe even the duty, to work on these issues. He has the resources to do so, and he may be more qualified than most to get it done. Remember -- he worked as a lawyer for people against abuses and wrongdoing by corporations. He hasn't, as far as I know, worked the corporate side of the fence. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Is Edwards perfect? No. Of course not. Nobody is. I'm not going to look for perfection in a candidate. I'm going to look for who says the things I want to hear, I'm going to have to take it on faith that that person is shooting straight, and if they get elected I'll do what I can to hold their feet to the fire. If we expect someone to wear a hair shirt and live in a cave and spend forty days and forty nights in the wilderness before they can be deemed worthy of leading this country, we'll never see a leader again. We have to go with the best we've got. Right now, in my opinion, John Edwards is the best we've got.
Somebody, and it will be either a Democrat or a Republican in spite of the perennial third-party talk, will be elected President in November of 2008. That's a fact. It's coming up fast and it's up to all of us to get behind whoever we think will be the best choice. Not the perfect choice, but the best of those that are available.
I know my endorsement, or lack of one for that matter doesn't mean shit, but as of now I'm getting on the stump for John Edwards, long shot or not, and the mainstream media be damned.
Does it matter that John Edwards and his family are multi-millionaires and live in a mansion or that he gets $400 haircuts? No. Does his success as a trial lawyer and his wealth disqualify him from speaking out against poverty? No. Does any of that disqualify him from speaking out against the war or global warming or speaking out for health care for all or for workers' rights? Not only speaking out, but working for positive changes? Again, no. He has every right and reason, maybe even the duty, to work on these issues. He has the resources to do so, and he may be more qualified than most to get it done. Remember -- he worked as a lawyer for people against abuses and wrongdoing by corporations. He hasn't, as far as I know, worked the corporate side of the fence. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Is Edwards perfect? No. Of course not. Nobody is. I'm not going to look for perfection in a candidate. I'm going to look for who says the things I want to hear, I'm going to have to take it on faith that that person is shooting straight, and if they get elected I'll do what I can to hold their feet to the fire. If we expect someone to wear a hair shirt and live in a cave and spend forty days and forty nights in the wilderness before they can be deemed worthy of leading this country, we'll never see a leader again. We have to go with the best we've got. Right now, in my opinion, John Edwards is the best we've got.
Somebody, and it will be either a Democrat or a Republican in spite of the perennial third-party talk, will be elected President in November of 2008. That's a fact. It's coming up fast and it's up to all of us to get behind whoever we think will be the best choice. Not the perfect choice, but the best of those that are available.
I know my endorsement, or lack of one for that matter doesn't mean shit, but as of now I'm getting on the stump for John Edwards, long shot or not, and the mainstream media be damned.
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