Revolution Watch----Employment & Education

Today was another rally. This time in Stevens Point at the University. The concern here is about the cut backs propossed for education at all levels. To me this is an odd one because one would think that education would be important to all citizens no matter their party affiliation.----with the exception of an administration that would like to see youth less educated, maybe a pesantry. Obviously, that is what will happen as it becomes too expensive except for the wealthy.

Now, I know these administrators of the Shock Doctrine propose that business take over and fill the gap because they will be more efficient and direct our masses at professions that make money rather than make individuals who think. Still it is hard for me to see where anyone really gains from this stunt. How about a kindergarden class of 30. Just won't work.

While I understand we are living beyond our means both collectively and individually, education should become a more valuable enterprise than having a nice SUV. Somehow our priorities have to change it would seem.

Another odd one that is hard to comprehend, is in the cutting of spending, we are also going to be ending a significant amount of jobs, many of them previously good paying jobs. This state admnistration seems to think that by giving tax breaks to corporations to the tune of $160 million will create jobs but there is no historical proof of this. Just ask George W as he tried the same stunt for eight years and never created any jobs with his trickle down nonsense, (that would be the same trickle down that his father called Voodoo Economics!) Very discomforting.

If the budget goes through, we will have more unemployed and a degraded education system. Just another step down the alley of a lower standard of living. Must be a better way to get there.

We have an Amaryllis. We have had it for, maybe, 25 years. When we first got it, every year it would put out two huge, elegant, glorious blooms that were something to cause aesthetic jealousy. For the last 10, maybe 15 years it has not showed even the slightest inklings to go forth and bloom.

We have, at times, considered chucking it as away to administer a punitive action. I don't know just whom we would have been punishing, other than say God, but we felt we had a need to get even for not pleasing us. In any case, we kept it, thinking one day it would come to life and bless us.

Someone here in Wisconsin told us to give it a bit of fertilizer at a certain time of the year. I think it was at the time of first watering, in this case in late December. Like usual the long lancolite green leaves burst from the bulb and took off like all the energy available was to be in another display of foliage.

But then out of the side of this bulb comes what is clearly a flowering stalk. At this moment the the buds are massive and the red hues of the flower are busting out all over the about-to-form flowers. There seems little doubt that the fertilizer set it off.

So how does this play out for me. First of all, it is almost spring and it has been well observed that my behavior this winter has been one of sloth. I literally am no different than that lazy bulb that has been setting inactive in the soil. Here is the metaphor. I, like the bulb, am about to bloom, being spring and all. What I need is some fertilizer so that the slothitude will go away and I can create a great inflorescence of creation. At the moment I am on my way to the refrigerator for that sustenance in the form of a cold, luscious beer. So as the spring warms and my green shoots are out, my flowering will all be set off by the nutrients God has put into beer---and maybe a bit later a nice Scotch aged some 18 years. I just love metaphors.

Making Sustainable Bread

So, I'm sitting around the house picking my nose and not getting out because it is snowing like December. It would appear that bravery is no longer part of my charming personality and "Candy Ass" is becoming the word of the day. I wanted to go to the town bakery to fetch up a couple loaves of deluxe bread, but instead I shuffled around the house with my head down trying to muster the fortitude to make the half mile trudge---even though it would be delightful. My knee does hurt, right.

That is when a thought entered my mind. Why should I fight my way through a blizzard so mighty that the average Norwegian would cower by the stove when, in fact, I could make the bread myself. If I am so set on being sustainable, why would I want to lay down good folding money to the tune of $10 when for no more than one buck I could do it.

I recalled that on Ann's family farm, grandma would get up early (too early for me) , mix up the dough in about fifteen minutes, dump it in a big bowl, set it by the fire to raise and then do other things. A couple hours later she'd slap it around, split it and pack it in a couple of tins to rise again.

Once up and running, or blowed up, or what ever one calls it when it rises, off it went to the oven for a hour or so. Bingo, by 11:00 there were two fresh loves, probably 25 cents then, total time worked, one half hour.

I figured, what the hell why not learn. What do I have to lose and I do have something to gain---just one more little piece of knowledge to make me sustainable. To top it off, I just bought a flower mill to grind my own grain---even though it is not here yet. Plus, there is a dude in town that grows hard red wheat and sells it for $8/bushel. We have eggs and the milk is produced locally. The only thing that I really don't know where it comes from is the stinking yeast--and it is not cheap. Reckon I will have to go to a sour dough mix that we can keep for generations at no cost. A number of quarts of our own maple syrup still hides in the cabinet, so we have it all. The truly local, sustainable loaf will be next.

Anyway, here is my bread. More like 2 hours work and $1.50 total but I am learning. I love being sustainable.

Spring ----- Maple Sap & Question Mark Butterfly

Here we are in mid March and the syrup bucket is void of sap. Mother nature refuses to really make a sincere effort to get it on. The day I tapped, it gushed like Ann used to gush over me, just flowed, and I like a fool thought spring was on us. But the following day it went to fifty and then at night to thirty eight. This is the harvest, an empty bucket. It was as if the flow was over, spring fast moving to summer. The following two days the same.


In fact, on the third day this Question Mark Butterfly showed up in my studio wanting to go outside and seek flowers, to make love to. I kept him in figuring that being out that day might seem fun, but the weather people announced cold was coming and it seemed he'd fair better by the fire. At night, I am sure, he found an away place to sit out the rest of winter and then show up later in the spring to look for girls. Strange it was a Question Mark. I had a few of those myself---questions that is.


The next day it went cold and again the bucket stayed empty, staring at me like an spent beer mug that needed filling. Speaking of beer maybe that is my only hope, the only liquid available to me, and an elixir to hold me over until it is time to boil a total off fifteen gallons of sap I have collected to date. Here it is the 22nd and I have but an empty glass.

I'm ready, the noisy Sandhills are back, Robins are about and I am tired of being inside.

Fiddling around town

Yesterday was St. Pat's Day and that should not be taken lightly. Maybe more lightly than, say, if we lived Chicago, but then we don't have the graft and the long string of Daleys. Like any fiddler that plays Irish tunes, it only seemed fitting to go where there was beer and all ilk of Irish patriots, form Hispanics, Polish and the usual selection of the faintly Irish.



So it was off to Clancy's pub to play for beer and eats. Prior to leaving, we received a word gift from another fiddler, maybe as a way of taking notice of our position in life, that would be the position of itinerant musician. I thought we were cool, if not essential, and maybe without peers.

Rick, the fiddler from New Hope, made direct mention of the Day of Humiliation---a gloomy holiday instituted by one Oliver Cromwell. He makes note of an act of Parliament that says, "If any person or persons, commonly called fiddlers or minstrels, shall be taken playing, fiddling, or making music, in any inn, alehouse or tavern, every such person or persons shall be judged rouges, vagabonds and sturdy beggars and punished as such."




Dude! That does not play well for me and my types. But being of sound mind, my whistle playing wife, that would be Miss Ann, and I along with Tony, Jim and Paul headed for the establishment knowing we were mire rouges and sturdy beggars subject to the laws of the Queen.

While there among our people (recall vagabonds, beggars) we played in great volume, but I suspect with little quality due to the noise and confusion created by the participants of the folly known as St. Pat's day. At one time, I noticed I could not hear the Banjo that was, for all purposes, up against my ear. That is not a good sign because usually a banjo, which is akin to a cannon of war, usually has to be covered with a four point Hudson Bay blanket to make it manageable in a large kitchen.

However the comradery of our band made the day of local music enjoyable, not to mention the throngs that tapped their feet and even applauded. The evening was ended when our guitar player was interrupted by a large cardboard Guinness sign that fell on him while playing "Over the Waterfall". In a look of amusement, we decided that we should embrace another Harp's Lager, a plate of corned beef and consider ourselves well established in the realm of rouges, the unwashed masses and itinerant drifters. Up the Queen!

The Revolution and Art

Through history there has always been a relationship between civil disruptions and artists. The artists came in all forms, but even poets, who seem a gentle sort, have played roles. I think it was Neruda who was run out of Chili for subversive activity. As near as I can tell, he mostly wrote about love with women--and all that goes with that. But he was a commie, so what would we expect. Maybe a socialist as he hung out with Allende. The word on the street was he also like to go into long political diatribes, so there you go.

Picasso also did some rather dynamic paintings one of which hangs in the UN building and shows painful suffering caused by the invading fascist from Germany. Because of his presence in the art world his comments were see as an ultimate expression. Even to this day Guernicia symbolizes the struggles of man--I suspect that is why the UN has it.

As artists, I don't know where it leaves us. I remember a friend named Jack Beale who we met in New York who had gotten himself in trouble in Chicago for doing a painting that was shown in the Art Institute. It was during the 60s and Richard Daley was the mayor of the windy city. Jack thought it would be appropriate to do a very large, very realistic rendition of a steaming pile of dog crap sitting on the table. It is not that odd an idea but he had titled it. "The Daley Movement". It didn't go over well with the administration but the public loved it. Damned artists.

This last weekend we spent another day protesting the plans of one Governor Walker here in Wisconsin and I must admit we did not really apply our talents but it did occur to me. Maybe next time. However, some individuals did some exciting work that got my attention. One was a colorful painting of the state of Wisconsin. Attached to the state, or should I say mounted on the state, was a US flagged elephant, humping the bottom of our beloved state. The impression was we were getting screwed. Nice touch.

Also there were some clever statements that had a inspiring style and made a message that folks could remember. " Walker is a weasel, not a badger". I wanted to do a follow up of painting showing Bucky the Badger getting it on with the weasel with the caption. "Put it to 'em Bucky". One dude had a big candy sucker like sculpture with the title, "A Koch Sucker"

Then came this guy with the painting "The Scream". Wonderful touch and one has to admit it would get attention. Time for the artist to stand up.

Revolution Watch----Interconnectedness

This has been an incredible time. We have the events in the Middle East, we have the disruption in Wisconsin and other Midwestern states and now we have the tsunami in Japan. Oh ya, then we have the droughts in Australia, China, Pakistan, and Russia and that is not even counting the floods. And we should not leave out the economic disruption of '08, that is the one that just showed up after the $147/barrel of oil arrival.

I found myself thinking about threads, threads of connection that just might tie all of these together. Well, lets see. The economy of the world did dip after the high oil prices and by some accounts there was a connection (Jeff Rubin). Others felt the banksters and economic terrorist that haunt Wall street, Oh, that's right, run Wall street, and most of the world, just got too greedy----but still why the oil price. I call it a connection.

I have also noticed that some thousands of scientist from around the world have made public statements the global warming is the product of man's behavior. It is anthropogenic as they say. It would also seem that as a result of this, something like 375 PPM of CO2 has possibly led to server weather events like the above floods and droughts. Now as near as I can tell the CO2 is a product of our energy use, like that $147 oil.

Then there is the North Africa/Middle East thing. Lets see, is there a chance oil is involved in those events? Well, Egypt no longer can export oil because of their declining production, thus, they aren't able to pay for food for the 50 million poor in their country. Ouch. Libya? 1.7 million barrels a day being sold to fund a US-backed despot. We ask why is there unrest? Damned if oil is not playing a role.

Wisconsin? Lets see. The price of oil goes up in the US of A and the economy slips, and we find our standard of living taking a uncomfortable dip. Around town folks notice things are changing from the normal business as usual (BAU). They just feel it. Something is up.

Of those that notice the change, some just grin and bare it, like, they just play their music, fiddles if you will, and they buy less things, but plow ahead. Others, more confused, start blaming events and more likely, groups of people. In the process, they elect individuals that claim to have answers to their perceived problems. Those answers are to blame groups of people like those lousy teachers and other public workers. These are the ones with unions. " We must close union offices, confiscate their money and throw the leaders in prison. We must reduce workers saleries and take away the right to strike. " This was first said by this German guy, let me think what



was his name? Ya, that was Adolf Hitler in 1933!

There you go. Energy is the culprit, particularly oil. The part I don't like, and there are lots of points I don't like, is the fun is just starting, because there is going to be less and less of that oil from here on out. Let's see, if Japan's nucs go off line, where will they get their power? Fossil fuels? If one melts down, will nuclear plants be scrapped world wide? That damned energy is such a problem. When do you think we will figure that one out?

Revolution Watch---Wisconsin

I live in Wisconsin and I love the place. I write about it in a way that, I believe, demonstrates that. In truth, I also like it for what is going on right now. We are pissed because there is a broad move across the nation to take advantage of the middle class. We as a people (all Americans except the very rich) are being hit over the head by the fact that the standard of living is dropping very quickly---and it is visible.

All of us have seen our incomes hit in one way or another, we have seen friends loose jobs, we have heard of others whose benefits have been downgraded, library have had their hours cut, schools have removed programs and teachers (never football) and the list goes on. All of this is a drop in our standard of living and all of it is being caused, believe it or not, by resource depletion. We are living beyond our means and the bills are coming due---or maybe we will pass them on to our children.

Many people have seen this coming for years but when it shows up, one never knows how it will represent itself, how it will play out. Well, this is one of the plays we are now seeing in Wisconsin and it is not going real well.

The reason is not so simple but I believe it goes like this. There is a process called the Shock Doctrine (Naomi Klein) that was first proposed by Milton Friedman from the Chicago School of Economics. The jest of it is to wait for, or cause, an upheaval in a country, be it economic or political, and then move in and take away freedoms and insert corporations to run everything at a profit. It can be violent and always aggressive (Economic Hit Men) but the idea is to privatize everything and mostly get rid of the governments. It has been done many times throughout the world, Iraq being the most recent (think privatized army). The idea is based on the concept that free enterprise is better at doing everything---ultimate capitalism.,

It doesn't take much to realize the number of deaths this has caused, but human life is just collateral damage in the eyes of capitalism (Remember Atlas Shrugged). One does not have to look too far to see there is an effort here to do just that (Paul Krugman NY Times Sunday 3/6/11)---but this is Wisconsin and all hell is about to break loose---and it should. I will be there.