Collapse

Continuing on from "Just keep on shovelling", and factoring-in Jared Diamond's book Collapse, let's ask ourselves some questions:

What do we mean by:

[1] Ecosystem / Food chain collapse

[2] Economic (Capitalism's?) collapse

[3] Population collapse

[4] Civilisation collapse

Hopefully, from the comments I'll be able to discern what the next blog item in this thread should be.

Also, perhaps someone will suggest what sort of domino effects might be lurking and what other factors might impact on any of the above items.

And if this blog post is just too bloody daft, it's OK to tell me that as well.

St Jude goes deaf, reads local paper.

Saw this ad in the local paper's classifieds:

"Thank you St Jude for answering my prayers. Michelle, Glenbrook."

From this I deduce that St Jude heard Michelle's prayers and that he answered them; but she felt that he could not hear her prayer of thanks, and so, somehow knowing that St Jude was an avid reader of the local rag, she placed the ad.

Makes perfect sense to me...

It's democracy, Jim, but not as we know it...

I made the comment elsewhere in this blog that democracy is a sick joke. I have been taken to task about that statement and so I pose these questions:

Is it a democracy if it's structured in a way that the two major parties can and do collude to freeze out any emerging third political force?

Is it a democracy if the rich and powerful can and do manipulate the media and even our education system?

Just keep on shovelling...

When debating sustainable lifestyles, resources depletion, lowering carbon emissions, etc., there are two elephants in the room, and they are (1) the size of the planet's human population and (2) the idea that economic growth must be maintained.

There seems to be no way that any meaningful dialogue can be had on either topic, so I guess we'll just go on shovelling fuel for this runaway train ... right up until the train wreck happens...

And so we're left with whacky "positive" postulations clutched-at by Prozac-popping desperadoes who are unable to cope with the impending doom of their much loved offspring... or that good old psychological cop-out, denial...

I'm starting to think it's the height of hubris to suggest that humans are the most intelligent life form on this planet. That clearly cannot be an evidence-based assumption.

Oh Rocco...

Cartoonist Rocco Fazzari nails it perfectly.

The symbology is breathtakingly spot-on.

The Fairfax op-ed article by Peter Hartcher, for which this cartoon is an illustration, is well worth a read >>>

Whatever it takes...

Solidarity. Commitment. Determination. Staying-power. Bloody-minded bastardry.

Got your attention yet?

Good.

What am I on about?

People Power. Or more precisely, Women Power.

Women are still not getting equal pay for equal work in this country.

46% of the workforce is female.

Do women understand the economic and political power they could wield if they acted as one in a fully-committed campaign?

Do women understand that if they acted in solidarity to withhold their labour, i.e. go on strike, they could have such a huge economic and political effect that employers and the government would have to cave in to their demands for equal pay within a matter of a few days?

All it takes has been spelled out in the first line of this post.

GO GIRLS !!! YOU CAN DO IT !!! RISE UP !!!

Cutting through the crap...

About a month ago, SBS TV screened John Pilger's movie The War You Don't See. I recorded it of course, and have watched it several times since.

As a result I became aware of Mark Curtis's book Web of Deceit and, as a result of that, another of Curtis's books, Unpeople. In these two books, Curtis lays bare the duplicitous nature of British foreign policy over the last sixty years. Curtis deconstructs Britain's foreign policy with the same tenacity for exposing the truth as William Blum does with regard to US foreign policy.

Do yourself a favour. Watch Pilger's movie and read Curtis's and Blum's books (see the book list in the sidebar.)

Flash dancing?

This blog doesn't normally go in for a whole lot of dancing, but today is special because:

[1] Google made me look up Martha Graham.

[2] Tonight's TV news featured a flash mob dancing outside Buckingham Palace.

Lisa Tamati - Superwoman

I'm in awe. This woman is unbelievable. Full story >>>

Wrong on the internet

For more cartoons by this artist, go to http://xkcd.com/386/