borders

the puking buddha and i were ruminating over the recent election triumph scored by...

this seemingly clownish politician whom quite a few people dismissed ( and many still do...we will get to that in a bit ) as, if not unelectable, than as incompetent...well...that is unproven however what has happened is he has been given a mandate to take great britan out of the european union in probably any way he sees fit including the "no deal" option...whatever that might be...so the question for me is why? this is not going to help london's position in europrean finance...probably it will cost them economically in any number of ways ranging from mild to horrible depending on what they can make of their exit...i am reasonably certain there are people in england who know this and a substantial percentage of the voting population who don't care...yet anyway...since everyone is at least marginally concerned about there economic well-being what would make people disregard that? i am thinking a source of greater fear than penury...so what fear is it that drives so many brits to want out? the same fear that is driving a resurgence of ugly right-wing extremism all over...fear of open borders and refugees...humans are clannish creatures who want to be with people who look and talk and, within reason, think like they do...the whole pretense of economic issues is a cover for fear that the empire may be coming home to roost and that the channel isn't a buffer anymore...they want to keep "the other" out and if that means a hard border in northern ireland so be it because we are about to be overrun...france...belgium...the netherlands...poland...name a country and immigrants and refugees are an issue...

the israelis...who have learned all the wrong lessons ( albeit somewhat understandably ) from their terrible mid 20th century experiences have pioneered the idea of walls to keep "the other" out...

this clown and his "base" are in agreement with that thinking...

he jabbers about walls as well and it is the same fear here as on the other side of the ocean..."the other"...and the other isn't going to decrease in size...despite the denial and belittlement of "activists" the climate is changing and it is generating refuges fleeing the impacts...the deniers dissemble about this and cover with "political" reasons....but they think we are fools and they have an agenda...the number of refugees from climate disaster is only going to increase and, as it stands, the response to those refuges is going to be violently ugly unless we manage to overcome our clannish human nature...i am not sanguine...and the conflicts are not limited to externals either...there is disputation over response in virtually any country you care to name...in britan's elections last thursday for instance, the scottish nationalist party won forty-eight out of fifty-nine seats in the scottish parliament...boris will try to marginalize this but scottish separatism is largely based on scoland's desire to remain in the european union...the picts have never loved the brits and the act of union may not be worth the paper it is written on in the long run...boris has few fans north of hadrian's wall...dissolution may well be the paradigm...and there has already been a civil war here...long term, the notion of "one nation, indivisible" is pretty much illusory...in 1981 joel garreau wrote a book titled "the nine nations of north america"...i sat down with a relief map and a red pen and came up with fourteen...there is homogeneity of culture on the continent but it is regional, not universal..."the other" is right here at home and if you pay attention the cracks in the facade are getting bigger...there is enough wealth about that we could likely find a way to care for all of us on equitable terms...but the "haves" would, of necessity, need to give some things up...again, i am not sanguine...humans are humans...this isn't going to end well.

winter of discontent

“let it, however, not be spring, nor summer, nor autumn…but winter, in his sternest shape…this is a most important point in the science of happiness…and i am surprised to see people overlook it, and think it a matter of congratulation that winter is going; or, if coming, is not likely to be a sever one…on the contrary, i put a petition annually , for as much snow, hail, frost, or storm of one kind or another as the skies can possibly afford us...surely everybody is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a winter fireside: candles at four o’clock, warm hearth rugs, tea, a fair tea maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies on the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without” thomas de quincey. “confessions of an english opium eater”___________________________________________ The thermometer in the back yard has moved since yesterday afternoon…it has edged up a degree or two…I am not content…it is not natural…it is anomalous ...it is surely something of an index to deeper issues that will deepen in the anthropocene ( deniers scoff here )…old tom was an addict who had serious ulterior motives in wishing for foul weather…no one dropping by to interrupt his tea and laudanum…I have ulterior motives for wishing for a winter as well and, while I no longer share some of tom’s reasons, the outlook is still much the same…I am looking towards spring and confused plants, the possibility of drought, and some fears of insect infestations because of a mild winter that didn’t kill enough larvae…a massive overshoot in japanese beetle and cabbage looper populations…ther has been a summit in paris about “climate change” and, as usual when politicians are in control, a lot of platitudes were spouted, the agreement was “hailed” ( got an email from old barry saying exactly that…but he’s a politician…what else would he say but “we done good”…I see ”business as usual” with some sop bandaids..they are all whores )…via campesina disagrees vehemently: http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/-climate-change-and-agrofuels-mainmenu-75/1934-cop21-the-curtain-falls-on-a-masquerade i am inclined to agree vehemently…still hoping for a winter…in serious doubt…things are not as they seem…politicians always lie…one of the very few absolutes I will countenance.