tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608953956346177742024-02-19T03:48:26.723-06:00Off the Grid in MinneapolisReflections on the American Dream, and the Changing of an AeonUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger312125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-56251255949843699982022-10-28T10:21:00.000-05:002022-10-28T10:21:28.718-05:00Long time<p> Hello readers. I hope you made it through the trump and covid years safe and sound. </p><p><br /></p><p>I sold the house that was a focus of this blog, and left Minneapolis for my boyhood home.</p><p><br /></p><p>I am writing at Substack now, if you are interested.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://williamhunterduncan.substack.com/">https://williamhunterduncan.substack.com/</a><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-54391770815894928982016-11-25T11:28:00.001-06:002018-02-11T14:38:24.416-06:00On Healing the Earth and People<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As an American citizen, I find that neither the Democratic or Republican parties say much of anything that resonates with me. Most of what they talk about are social issues they intend to do nothing about, as a means to divide us to more easily rule over us; otherwise most of what I hear is just Orwellian for whatever corporations, banks and big donors want, but don't want you to know or understand.<br />
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Politically, I'm an Anarchist. If you share the view of Anarchy of the Democratic and Republican parties, then you probably suppose I want chaos in the streets, mayhem, everyone against everyone else, death and destruction. But that is just projection, because that is what you are increasingly getting from the strict command and control leadership of Dems, Repubs, Corp, Bank and super rich people.<br />
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Anarchy is the Way of Nature. Anarchy is the way nature organizes, evolves effortlessly. Nature is resilient, irreducibly complex and sustainable. Humans at least are material, of nature, of the earth. It follows then there is the capacity within humanity for self-rule, spontaneous organization. I think you see that whenever there is a crisis, many people simply begin to organize a functioning society to meet simple necessities spontaneously.<br />
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Those who rule over us tend to believe however, either we are not of this earth (of God), so the rules of nature don't apply; or the opposite extreme, we are of nature and nothing else, it is all about competition, I can do pretty much whatever I want in the interest of my evolution (basest instincts). And so they feed us these ideologies that we might be separate from our true nature and each other.<br />
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If humanity were able to organize more as nature does, life would be more peaceful. An anarchic people would be self-organizing, core-strong, practicing self-rule. An anarchic people would value cooperation above competition. A truly anarchic people would take care of the earth and each other.<br />
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Organizing ourselves <i>contrary</i> to nature, we build immense, complex but inflexible societies one after another, every one of them collapsing under the weight of that complexity and inherent contradiction.<br />
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We now risk even human extinction, or worse, reducing the health of the biosphere such that we wipe out the majority of species and leave a severely degraded existence for a few wretched survivors.<br />
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Those who rule over us seek to divide us, by preying upon our prejudices, by exacerbating ancient hatreds, by encouraging us to percieve in absolute Good vs Evil, by highlighting petty grievances - while ignoring the overwhelming similarities between us, denying the systemic corruption that oppresses us all.<br />
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There are several tangible things we could do, that transcend race, ethnicity and political divisions, that would allow us to unlock the potential of individuals, strengthen communities, and make of America a true shining light and leader in the world.<br />
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1. Debt Relief<br />
2. Redefine Currency<br />
3. Land Policy<br />
4. Rebuild Community<br />
5. Shift in Consciousness<br />
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A simple list (the fifth one is a kind of summation of the four). Politically unimaginable in America, but the great thing about a Democratic party in a state of collapse, and a Republican party that doesn't know it is dead yet, it's a very creative time to imagine a different America.<br />
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1. Debt Relief<br />
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Don't you think that because money is so central to this society, that a study of economics would be central to a grade school education? Many American kids might be earning money by the time they are 15, yet the vast majority of American adults have no idea what the Dollar is, how it is created, or who owns it.<br />
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Why is that? Because an uninformed people are more easily made debt serfs.<br />
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Banks create money out of nothing, It is a slight of hand magic trick. They "loan" it into existence, as when they issue a mortgage, or they "buy" junk assets from distressed financial institutions and investors, usually for the full value, creating money and a corresponding and then-some amount of debt, or a claim on future production, ie interest. The money doesn't exist anywhere in reality: like some genie, say "poof", a cloud of smoke appears and suddenly it says right there on that piece of paper or computer, X amount of $'s exist - and everyone believes it.<br />
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Making money this way makes for a lot of debt. In fact, the debt can't do anything but increase exponentially over time. Thus, the Dollar is the greatest ponzi scheme ever created. Since 1980 debt has climbed relative to wages, and since 1970, considerably faster than GDP. Do you imagine these trends are sustainable indefinitely? Over time, more and more production, instead of re-invested into society, is consumed in the form of debt payments, until society breaks under the obligation.<br />
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There is a reckoning coming for the Dollar. Those who control the dollar imagine the whole world and all it's people indebted to it. But even total global domination doesn't prevent debt from growing out of control, eventually. Total global domination is not likely to happen, so the reckoning is likely coming sooner rather than later.<br />
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What would benefit regular people most, and the economy generally, would be debt relief. Growth in debt is inflation official bean counters ignore. Debt is eating away at purchasing power.<br />
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Debt Jubilee is a very old concept, mentioned in the Old Testament. A wiping away of debts, a kind of starting over, starting fresh. The ancients recognized runaway debt has a pernicious effect, causing great discord, and eventually, uprising against the creditors.<br />
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Those who own the majority of that debt are the richest among us. The most powerful among us. But it is also owned by pension accounts, IRA, 401K, retirement accounts of all kinds. There are a lot of people invested in that debt, maybe half the society, who are the "rentiers", people "letting their money work for them", which is also living off the production of the lesser half, or rather, most of the rest of the world.<br />
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The economy is swamped by debt, something has to be done or there will be ever greater discord.<br />
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2. Redefine Currency<br />
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The Dollar is the world's greatest ponzi scheme. It is an ever greater claim on future labor/production, which stagnates the economy, eventually collapsing the currency.<br />
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But it is not enough to wipe out the debt, if you just start over the same process of debt creation. The very nature of currency has to be judged. The dollar is like a mechanical hamster wheel that spins ever faster. Over time, regular people are expected to work more for less return. The product available to them becomes ever more shoddy, yet the price increases. The demands of the dollar and debt encourages wasteful, predatory and even parasistic and cannabalistic use of resources. Growth then amounts to more pollution, ever more garbage and a ruination of ecosystems. All talk about the sustainable is just that, as long as the core currency demands the unsustainable.<br />
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Imagine, instead of a debt- and waste-based currency, what about a regenerative one? Instead of propping up a leisure class, a currency that is generated by the very act of production, and ecological healing, empowering all?<br />
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For instance, I have been hiking around the Twin Cities this fall, marvelling at the abundance of Eurasian buckthorn. A non-native, berry producing shrub that grows to about 20 ft, it is a diuretic to mammals so deer and rabbit won't browse the saplings (while they do eat native berry producers.) Birds particularly robins, scatter the seed across the landscape, the seeds are efficient germinators, it grows in dense patches crowding and shading everything else out. It is most noticable in the late fall because the leaves remain green after most of the forest is barren because of the cold.<br />
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Now imagine Joe Schmo spends his day ripping out buckthorn saplings, and by the very act of that labor, he generates currency? Money appears in his account relative to his labor. No one pays him, the money is simply generated.<br />
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Joe and Jill Smith start an organic farm on former GMO industrial corn mining land. Simiarly, they generate money simply by the act of growing vegetables, by producing food. They can also sell product for cash to people like Joe Schmo, but otherwise their labor literally creates money.<br />
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Tyrese Jackson generates money by picking up and delivering produce from local organic farms to urban areas. Maria Gonzalez generates currency by feeding and taking care of those who can't take care of themselves.<br />
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Thereon, throughout all the menial, "chop wood, carry water" tasks of developed, civil society. Taking money creation away from centralized powers, and from those ambitious, ruthless types who strive to rule over us, giving money creation back to "we the people."<br />
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Central to this notion of a regenerative currency, would be about healing. Healing people and the earth. The act of healing and restoring ecosystems would generate currency. Healing, restoration and sustainability would be incentivized.<br />
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3. Land Policy: <br />
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Land policy, such as it is in America, favors monopoly control, by large corporations and banks, agribusiness on ever larger land holdings, and the treatment of most of the land including public and private, inherenty extractive and exploitative.<br />
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Nor are these monopolies held accountable for the pollution they release into the biosphere. This is an "externalized" cost acting as another kind of debt, to be paid by society, by sucker consumers.<br />
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A new currency as described would encourage and incentivize the expansion of wild lands, while facilitating the healthy production of food and necessary materials, while eliminating pollution. If monopolies were forced to pay for their pollution, none would exist.<br />
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The script would be flipped. Favoring individuals and small groups, preventing monopoly, destructive, extractive, predatory behavior.<br />
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The economics of the local would be paramount. Local, responsible, ethical, sustainable, restorative, generative; a people with a close connection, care and concern for the land will protect it.<br />
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4. Rebuild Community:<br />
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Favoring small producers, citizens and small business over monopoly would help restore community. By empowering individuals economically, in relation to the needs of local community, local community is made more resilient and sustainable, healthy. Whatever your skills are, there is a need, and if filling that need generates income automatically, it is empowering people to fulfill their destiny.<br />
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As it is, globalization has hollowed out rural American communities. It has removed income potential, chaining most to low wage service employment and social welfare programs, such that many have turned to meth, heroin and alcohol to "escape." Many escape to the cities, where the forces of predatory capitalism congregate. Agricultural land prices around small communities have been preverted by a combination of monetary policy, the revolving door between corp/bank/gov, and globalist trade rules, putting local land out of reach economically, leading to a sence of helplessness, disconection, depression and dispair.<br />
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There are many who would be restored spiritually, given the opportunity to thrive economically, restoring a sence of community and healing the land and waters around community.<br />
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Some communities can't be saved, others will rebuild, some might spring up where there was none.<br />
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The point is, if trends continue, the whole of the earth will be a rich mans play ground, a mostly destroyed, degraded, polluted, ecologically barren tennant farm and mining camp, if the vast majority are huddled into the cities to live a "virtual" existence. Strong communities are made of strong people with strong ties built with love, care and concern. Such a people are not so easily reduced to consumer, junkie debt serfs.<br />
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5. A Shift in Consciousness<br />
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We are now more than 7 billion people on planet earth. That is by definition, humanity "separated from nature." In a way too, it is humanity succumbing to the most brutal of all ecological rules, overpopulation in the precence of over-abundance; it happens with rabbits, reindeer and rats etc too. But it is also humanity assuming there will always be a technical sollution, or that God will save us, or aliens will...<br />
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The 'solution" probably looks more like unintended mass starvation and war, if humanity stumbles into resource constraints and point-of-no-return biosphere damage. Most signs seem to point to a very dumb human totality going berserk.<br />
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It doesn't have to be that way. If humans are in fact an intelligent species, a radical shift in consciousness is possible.<br />
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America is supposed to be a place where a diverse people come together to structure a society that would benefit all. It was not meant to be the consumer driven seat of global warmongering and economic control, global empire, for the benefit of a new internationale aristocracy. It was not supposed to be utopia for grifters, nihilists and sociopaths.<br />
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It was supposed to be a culture free from the rule of tyranny; a society protecting the right of all, to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.<br />
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America could be the seat of a new kind of consiousness. I still believe, where America goes, the world will follow. This new consiousness would be focused on healing people and the earth, particulary the waters. Aware that a healthy earth will be reflected in healthy people and likewise, that we are All relations, that the way of Life is cooperation.<br />
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We are all of the earth. How we treat the earth is reflected in body and mind. The biosphere is suffering, as are people. Heal the earth and people will be healed. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-9670501298934064562016-11-13T10:55:00.000-06:002018-02-11T14:36:57.673-06:00Reflections, Post-2016 Election<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After the "surprise" 2016 sweep by Republicans nationwide, including the Presidency of the United States of America, by Donald John Trump, I can say at least that I am relieved not to be occupied with passage of TTP/TTIP/TISA trade agreements, war with Russia or the invasion of Syria.<br />
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I'm loving the comeuppance in the media. Telling us what we are supposed to believe doesn't work as well anymore.<br />
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I've been holding my breath, only pointing out on social media, the success of Republicans has less to do with any virtue in them, than the failure of Dems to stand for the middle class, working poor or poor, abandoning them to globalist/monopoly market forces.<br />
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What is a Democrat anymore? What is a Liberal? Whatever they are, we are all about to get a big dose of Republican, whatever that is (retro-grade moneygrubbing and warmongering?)<br />
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I didn't vote for Trump; nor did I vote for Hillary. Good conscience, you've got to be kidding me. Democrats are in denial, wanting to shame people like me, because I am clearly a misogynist, racist bigoted stupid idiot, not to vote for Hillary. "Not ready for a woman president," despite that I voted for a woman who wasn't a war-loving economic elitist.<br />
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I think one of the biggest problems with America is our inherited Western duality, the indoctrinated tendency to see all things in Absolute good vs evil, black and white, light and dark, not as complementary and necessary to each other, but inherently opposed, ever at war.<br />
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Dems still love to mock George W Bush for saying, "you're either with us or you are with the terrorists," But Dems lost this election, in part because Obama and Hillary are not Good, to Trump's Evil, and so Dems did not hold either Obama or Hillary accountable for record income inequality, systemic corruption, a privatized, unchecked, unaccountable military, treating whistleblowers like spies, the total surveillance state, trends toward direct rule by corporation and bank - Dems have no more credibility. What, all this is goood when a Dem presides over it, but evil when a Republican does?<br />
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Instead of focusing on issues, Dems reduced the conversation to a gender, ethnic and race one, trying to ride an unenthusiastic coalition of professional women, black folk, Hispanic/Latino and other minorities, Muslim and LGBTQ, focused not on systemic corruption in economics and politics, the war machine, total surveillance, but on white power, white privilege. Not a winning strategy.<br />
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A lot of white people suffer in this system too. I want to stand with that coalition, but not if it means I have to hang my head between my knees, for my gender/ethnicity/race.<br />
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Dems remain in denial, falling into old divide and conquer patterns, doing it badly. Many are now focusing on the electoral college, as if the electors might flip the vote, give it to Hillary. So that Hillary can preside over a Republican Congress, who only agree on war, and corp, bank and billionaire (monopoly) power? So that you can confirm for all those Bernie and Trump supporters that the system actually is rigged and the establishment will take what it wants no matter what? There is nothing civil about civil war. Hillary didn't lose because everybody who didn't vote for her is a racist bigot woman hater. Acting out of denial is a bad idea, generally.<br />
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Grieving takes healing and time. There are many stages. You can't skip or cheat.<br />
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So what will Trump do? Not even Trump knows. He said a lot of things on the campaign trail, and I don't necessarily believe he believes half of it, not deeply anyway. There are only two things he said that truly matter to most of his voters, that he will focus on the American economy more than the global, and draining the swamp, cleaning house in Washington.<br />
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Hell will have no fury like Trump supporters, if he betrays them by embracing neo-liberal/neo-con principles, embracing the establishment he railed against, reinforcing existing predatory economics favoring monopolies, and the war machine and the total surveillance state continue to expand exponentially.<br />
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But then, maybe Trump voters will be like O and H voters, excusing the most heinous because their "good" guy did it.<br />
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It's early yet, but it appears Trump is surrounding himself with the ususal characters, who will be incapable of doing anything but reinforcing what is heinous about the status quo, predatory/cannabalistic economics, and incessant warmongering. The sheer momentum of the State will likely overwhelm him, he will simply fall in line, and nothing fundamental will change.<br />
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Except that Republicans nation-wide are adept at manipulating the system to entrench themselves. In the next two years they could gerrymander the voter right out of democracy, making America Republican indefinitely. Except that Republican elite are just as dense as Dem elite, and while it remains to be seen whether Dems learn anything from this election, I'm certain elite Republicans won't, offering up nothing but what they have offered up before, over-stepping their "mandate" by about 1000 years.<br />
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Pence leading the transition team, a true inside elitist if there ever was one, assures all the same elite actors will be recommended, while the bureaucracies will not be hampered, as much as filled with true believers in the hoax that is climate change, the holy holy market and the sole-sanctity of the fetus.<br />
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If there are serious market disruptions in the next two years, part of me expects Trump to go full authoritarian. I'm hoping instead he focuses on cutting the legs out from the Military Industrial Complex, the neo-liberal agenda of direct rule by corp and bank, and rebuilding America's productive capacity.<br />
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More, the world needs debt relief. Americans need debt relief. The world needs a reprieve from war. The world needs healing. America needs healing.<br />
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I don't hear much of that coming from either party. I don't expect it from a Trump Administration.<br />
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~~~ Next post I will focus on some tangible things that could be done, to focus America on healing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-86348758627337017652016-11-07T12:21:00.000-06:002018-02-11T14:35:46.210-06:00Election 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When it still looked like Bernie Sanders might secure the Democratic nomination, I gave his campaign $27. I never gave a Pol so much as a penny, before or since. For the first time in my life though, I felt like there might be an opportunity for a course correction for America, some kind of spark of positive change for regular people (when Obama took more money from Wall Street than anyone ever had, I knew Hope and Change was Orwellian for More of the Same.)<br />
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I wanted Bernie to run as an Independent, after it became clear that the Hillary campaign and the MSM colluded to shut him out. That he did as well as he did, despite the near media blackout (what coverage there was, mostly negative), seemed a sign, a tide had shifted. I was convinced - still am - he could beat both Hillary and Trump in a three-way race. Seriously, how would things have appeared in those debates if Bernie were there? If he had declared Independent and continued his campaign, he would have been well past the threshold of 15% required support, to appear in the debates. Bernie is no savior, just possibly the catalyst of a movement of change.<br />
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But Bernie didn't have the stomach for it. And now he is out there campaigning for Hillary, promising at least to challenge her to turn progressive (good luck, Her cabinet will be a Who's Who of neoliberal/neocon globalist elite), while calling Trump the most dangerous candidate for President in at least a generation.<br />
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That last part is debatable at least.<br />
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Donald Trump is most certainly dangerous. In the third debate he said he thinks America should be run like his business. A corporation is a not a democracy, and Trump is the dictator of his corporation. How do you fire a Citizen, tyrant? Would you fire this citizen because I have worked for several corporations and find the culture inhumane and profoundly distasteful? I have a friend who calls all CEO's and billionaire financier types, Pigmen. Pig-Orange Augustus, going to run America like a predatory dictatorship?<br />
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Hillary on the other hand, notwithstanding Bernie's promises to liberalize her, is probably more dangerous than Trump. Russia is the crown-jewel in neo-liberal/neo-con, regime change, global hegemonic doctrine. Five minutes into the third debate and she was beating the war drums. At every opportunity throughout this election, she has raised the spectre of Russian barbarians at the gates, to cover every revelation of the untoward, ugly activity of her campaign, of the revelations of collusion with the DNC and media, of the revealations of her behavior and activity behind the scenes contrary to her public persona - while risking nuclear conflagration and WWIII.<br />
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In that third debate she spoke of Mosul in Iraq and the fight there, then moving on to Raqqa in Syria? To Alleppo then? Damascus? First establishing a no fly zone, which she knows well will kill many civilians, and will certainly provoke Russia to all-out war, as they have military bases in Syria. Except invasion of Syria is an act of war, and we are not officially at war with Syria, nor is Congress likely to declare war. But then, the Chief Executive can now go to war wherever, whenever he or she wants, without declaring war or even speaking of it. More like, the Military Industrial Complex decides, and tells the Executive.<br />
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This nebulous state of war/not war has made for much mischief, and more blowback. When Hillary says America is Great because we are Good, that is just a political mantra to carry her to the "We came, we saw, he died," of her presidency. Surely she is giddy at the thought of sitting at the head of the greatest military the world has ever known. But again, the Military Industrial Complex is not controlled by the three legislative checks on power in Washington, but by the expectations of Wall Street and GDP. Our weapons makers are undemocratic corporations, requiring 12% growth year on year. While most corporations maintain growth by suppressing wages, decreasing benefits, stealth crappification of their products, and manipulating the tax code, weapons makers (war profiteers), Wall Street and Washington conspire to make more war every year. <br />
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Hillary is the candidate of that status quo. And the momentum toward direct rule by corporation and bank. If you think everything is pretty much ok with that, that America under Hillary would stay on a path of increasing prosperity, tolerance and moral exceptionalism, then vote for Hillary.<br />
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Trump is the wrecking ball, who threatens to derail the neoliberal, neocon consensus, while possibly initiating race and gender wars, while dismantling American governance, while handing out the largest tax cuts in history to predatory dicatorial "pigmen" (Animal Farm) - who have been feasting on bailout money and free money from the Fed, but that has dried up mostly - enter the Donald. Probably nothing about the neoliberal, neocon takeover of the world will change, under Donald, whatever his squaking about draining the swamp. Probably under Donald, his Law and Order will just be a heavier boot on the neck of Americans generally, while he and a GOP controlled legislature, do a slash and burn to America's safety net, and old people and the poor can go back to dying in the street like "God" intended.<br />
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So you see, whether it is Hillary's wars or Donald's wrecking ball, 2016 is not like the positive change for regular people and the earth I was hoping for with Bernie.<br />
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More of this status quo, and I expect a monster worse than either of these two, 2020.<br />
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This is clearly the election consumer America deserves, the triumph of marketing, aka separating you from your money by preying upon your fears and insecurities. Total bullshit is to the Trump campaign, what horseshit is to Hillary. That's what America has neen reduced to, what Americans have been reduced to, in this neoliberal, neocon, direct rule by corporation and bank, eternal warmongering former Republic - proud citizens to consumer debt serfs, slaving away ever harder to maintain the gilded lives our elite betters have grown accustomed to.<br />
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What is a conscientious American Citizen supposed to do then, this election? Stock up on canned goods and gunz? It seems to me, to be Democrat or Republican is to be susceptible to group think, participating in mass psychosis, excusing the most inexcusable, unethical, anti-democratic behavior. A Republic needs clear eyed, skeptical, free-thinking citizens of solid character and dignity, incapable of being manipulated, who neither care to rule nor be ruled, who are impervious to group-think.<br />
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Your beloved Dem and Repub parties are competing to sell you out to the highest bidder. Neither serves the people, democracy or the Republic - like the monopolies they are, they serve monopoly control, they are conspiring to take the sovereignty of the people and this nation-state, to empower corporations and banks to control the affairs of all people everywhere, to control the earth, that these American elite may become the neo-Internationale, global, untouchable aristocracy.<br />
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I will never, ever vote for that. ever.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-51546589729802199732016-10-03T13:23:00.000-05:002018-02-11T14:33:41.171-06:00Greenhouse Resolution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last week I was with a friend, fixing an over-heating problem in my car, when I recieved a call from Minneapolis Code Services. It was the lead inspector, who reviewed and rejected both sets of plans I offered to the city, in my application for a permit for my greenhouse. Sept 02 he rejected my second application, I had until Sept 22 to respond, I sent an 8-page detailed response. A rejection of that response would mean an immediate order to tear it down. He was responding within a week.<br />
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"The Building Official said that because you didn't attach it to the house you don't need a permit, if it is under 200 sq ft."<br />
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A year and a half, two sets of plans rejected, $1460 in fines, two hearings I lost, a dozen visits to code services, 100 hours in labor, 100's of hours occupied about it. To recall, I built a greenhouse out of used sliding glass doors, and reclaimed lumber, 2013-2014, for about $800. In the winter of 2015, Code Services tagged it as an illegal addition. I did not apply for a permit before I built it, primarily because I didn't think I needed a permit because I didn't attach the greenhouse mechanically to the house - a point I informed the city about from the beginning, and throughout the process.<br />
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I calculate the sq footage of the footprint @ 162.6'.<br />
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It looks like I get to keep the greenhouse. Which is amazing, because I spent most of the last 18 months thinking I would have to tear it down. Especially amazing, because EVERYONE I told about my situation basically took the attitude that my fight for this greenhouse was futile. How many times did I hear, you can't fight City Hall? I fought City Hall with nothing but my wits, and won.<br />
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Of course, I did not succeed, thus far, in engaging the City in clarifying the rules about greenhouses, as there is no clarity at all about it, in the International Building Codes (IBC), Minneapolis Codes, or Minnesota Provisions. Indeed, code as it is, and as it was interpreted, could potentially force a homeowner to spend $15,000-40,000 to build a greenhouse; with savings on energy and food, you might recover that in about 50-100 years.<br />
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But then, now I suppose, it is legal to build a greenhouse less than 200 sq ft in Minneapolis, without a permit (just don't anchor it to the house with any bolts, screws, brackets, adhesives etc.) Though zoning will still have something to say about where you build it.<br />
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Most of my fines will be rescinded. Unfortunately, $220 is already assessed to the taxes. If I weren't basically broke economically I might just let it go; but there is also the principle of it. I'd also like some acknowledgement from city officials that I was right all along. But I won't push for that. Mostly I'm just happy to be thinking about growing herbs and spinach etc for the winter, happy that I get to keep my greenhouse. With a bit more faith in the power of reason and logic in service to the heart, in love.<br />
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[This is the response to the city, after the rejection of the second plans. Pictures of blueprints etc follows....]<br />
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To: Community Planning and Economic Development<br />
Construction Code Services<br />
250 S 4th St Room 300<br />
Minneapolis MN, 55415<br />
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Dear Minneapolis, City of Lakes,<br />
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I built a greenhouse out of used sliding glass doors and reclaimed old-growth lumber, next to the south side of my house at the above address, 2013-2014. Code Services tagged it as an illegal addition in the winter of 2015, because I had not applied for a permit. I applied for a permit in the winter of 2016, which was rejected due to “insufficient plans.” I reapplied with new plans in the summer of 2016, which plans were rejected as of Sept 02, 2016.<br />
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What follows is a point by point response to the issues listed in that rejection. It should be noted that IBC/IRC codes do not include any reference to greenhouses, and in the absence of greenhouse codes, Minneapolis is relying on porch codes, which are effectively irrelevant to the actual purpose and structure of a proper greenhouse.<br />
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1.<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“The class V foundation is less than the 42” minimum required by MN provisions 1303.1600.”</i><br />
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The existing class V foundation spans the entire front of the greenhouse, 2’w x 2’d, which has proven more than sufficient for stability of the structure, through two winters. No greater stability would be achieved by extending class V to 42”. Existing foundation is more in spirit of a shallow frost foundation.<br />
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Code Services is calling this greenhouse a three-season or seasonal porch, thereby acting as though load issues would be the same. But this greenhouse is considerably lighter than a standard stick-frame porch, snow and people-load (no one on roof, no floor) would be non-existent, which important factors Code Services, IRC code and Minnesota provisions ignore.<br />
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2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>“The structure is not anchored to a proper foundation per 403.1.6 [IRC</i>].”<br />
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If a class V foundation is legal at 42”, there could be no anchoring, so this issue should be negated. This also supposes this structure should have a concrete foundation - post, block or poured - which would be an unnecessary expense, and should not be required simply to satisfy arbitrary code interpretation.<br />
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3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>The foundation is not in compliance with a “shallow frost foundation” per 403.3”</i><br />
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As the first three issues raised are addressing the one issue of foundation, it should be noted that this structure is not in any way attached mechanically to the house: no bolts, screws, brackets, adhesive, etc. Therefore, even if the foundation is determined to be insufficient in relation to code, and even if there were some kind of compromise in the foundation that displaced the greenhouse, it is impossible to say that the greenhouse in any way compromises the structure of the house.<br />
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Compared to say, a garage, the foundation requirements so stated are arbitrary and excessive, insofar as the implicit suggestion that this greenhouse is somehow a greater public safety issue than a typical shallow footed garage.<br />
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It is my suggestion that this existing class v foundation is more than sufficient for the greenhouse in question, making it deeper would serve no purpose, and adding concrete footings or foundation would be an entirely unnecessary effort and expense.<br />
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4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>“the structure does not meet a wall bracing method in accordance with 602.10.</i>”<br />
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The wall bracing methods referenced are about proper sheathing, tying wall studs together. This is emblematic as to how Code Services is ignoring the structure that actually exists: this greenhouse is not a porch. Why would you put sheathing over the glass of a greenhouse? You wouldn’t. This is also ignoring how the sliding glass doors that comprise the walls, still in their original frames, act as wall bracing, tying the studs together.<br />
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This is effectively saying you can’t build a stick frame greenhouse.<br />
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5.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>“the roof rafters are over spanned and spaced, and do not meet table 802.5.1 of the 2015 IRC.”</i><br />
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The existing rafters are 2x4 old-growth douglas fir, reinforced with 2x2 on each side. The span is dictated by the glass. It is true the spans do not meet code minimums, 28”-36” as opposed to 16” or 24” code; but code minimums are assuming this is a porch, with a standard structural roof. Again, none of the load issues should apply for a greenhouse, as snow sloughs off, and no one will be standing on the glass roof. The spanning is dictated by the size of the reclaimed sliding glass doors, and is more than sufficient structurally, based on the weight of the glass.<br />
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6.<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>“materials exposed to the elements must be treated per IRC 317.”</i><br />
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There is treated pine, and untreated old-growth douglas fir 2x4, incorporated in this greenhouse. The superiority of the untreated old-growth to the new treated pine is demonstrably evident in the structure. Even if treating of the douglas fir were an issue, it could be “treated” periodically with a variety of sealants.<br />
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Also in the letter of rejection, there is the recommendation, many times previously repeated, that I should obtain a letter of support from an engineer licensed by the State of Minnesota. It is clear however, much of the reason this greenhouse has not been permitted, perhaps the primary reason, is liability; the City will not permit this greenhouse, because it does not wish to assume liability for it, by permitting it.<br />
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Why would a licensed engineer assume liability for this greenhouse, if it does not conform to code? It is unlikely, though perhaps one would at great expense. One of the reasons I did not apply for a permit for this greenhouse, was because I knew the City would require an engineers assessment, but that no engineer could be found, or none at the “right” price, which is, I built this greenhouse for $800 and do not want to spend a dollar more than I deem appropriate.<br />
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I have no interest in paying an engineer thousands of dollars, so he or she can tell the City what I already know, what I have been telling the City, that this greenhouse is structurally sound. Nor do I have the money. I should not be compelled to pay for an engineer, any more than I should be coerced into spending money on unnecessary concrete or “proper” joist and stud spacing or bracing. Liability, I assume, will only be assumed for the right price.<br />
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Also, repeatedly, I have been told to move the greenhouse six feet from the house. Then I would not need a permit. But that too ignores most of the actual purpose of a greenhouse: this greenhouse insulates the house, the house insulates it; heating costs of the house are reduced, the greenhouse is partially heated by the house; the greenhouse helps heat the house on milder, sunny winter days; I can enter the greenhouse from the warm house instead of the cold outside, improving efficiency of the greenhouse; if the greenhouse were stand-alone it would have to be artificially heated by wood, pellet, corn, fossil fuel etc. <br />
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The city is effectively saying, you can’t have a greenhouse like what I have built, “attached” to your house, unless it is structured like a stick frame porch and costs $15,000-$40,000.<br />
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The City then, and IBC code, open up to the accusation that they are acting as a kind of gatekeeper for the big energy utilities, in the spirit of various attempts nationwide to make off-grid living effectively illegal, such as adding extreme fees to solar generation to negate savings, or the code in Minneapolis that states if you have a utility disconnected you have five days to reconnect, or condemnation proceedings will commence.<br />
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Code too becomes an act of homogenization, everything everywhere begins to look about the same. Over time all structures appear basically the same, with minor cosmetic differences, like some kind of monocultural field of GMO corn, only the wealthy permitted to be creative, while the buildings of the poor and working class degrade, and the middle descend into greater debt servitude to build like everybody else is building (who have access to credit.)<br />
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More specifically, people should not be forced to spend 10’s of thousands of dollars, or go into debt, to build a greenhouse. People should be encouraged, not discouraged, to make their houses more energy efficient, to produce more food on-site.<br />
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If the International Building Code regime is incapable of recognizing this greenhouse as legitimate, then there is something fundamentally wrong with IBC codes, and code enforcement.<br />
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If the City requires me to tear this greenhouse down, I am going to remove the glass, and then challenge the city to call the frame an addition. I will cover the frame with plastic in the Fall, and remove it in Spring. If I am forced to tear this greenhouse down entirely, I will build a collapsible frame that I can install and dismantle as necessary.<br />
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Instead, I believe the City of Minneapolis should write it’s own codes about greenhouse construction, that allow people to install greenhouses inexpensively, using this greenhouse as a model.<br />
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I built this greenhouse to show what can be done, using materials otherwise destined for the waste stream, inexpensively, responsibly, creatively. It is a work of art. The City of Minneapolis should be working with me to save it. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-84643165517035994842016-07-31T12:08:00.002-05:002019-01-29T11:39:48.191-06:00Healing RevolutionsDo I have any readers left? Blessings to those who read this. It has been five months since I last blogged here. The last year and a half I have not written much at all.<br />
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So much has happened. This past winter, I worked 100 hr weeks from Christmas to February, to finance a trip to Senegal West Africa, to vist my love in the Peace Corp. I was able to see the 1-5 millon person city of Dakar; her 500 person village, 20 km off the tar, on a wheel rut road you have to pass through 4 other small villages to get to; I saw the beaches of Saly, and ate 4star French quisine. Greatest vacation ever.<br />
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I quit my job and started my own residential remodeling business. I've found ample work, though one of the toxic legacies of the housing bubble that few people understand, is the grotesquely bloated code compliance regime built up during those heady days, now making life very difficult and maybe even impossible, for small businesses like mine. More on that later.<br />
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My battle with the city about my greenhouse continues. I applied for the permit I was ordered to apply for in<a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/11/father-of-waters.html"> my first hearing</a>, Feb 16. They rejected my permit Mar 29, and then fined me $1460 in three seperate fines within seven weeks, for not pulling a permit. I had another hearing recently to contest those fines, I got a reprieve on the fines, so long as I apply for a permit with better drawings this time. I told them, I can provide you with drawings, but they will confirm your code will not allow for what I built, which is a solid, sound and secure greenhouse. I will probably have to find a structural engineer licensed by the state, to sign off on it, to even get the city to consider granting me a permit.<br />
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In adition, I've received four citations this summer for excessive vegetation.<br />
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So I haven't had much time to write, nor have I felt much like writing. This blog is full of commentary on the American experiment, but trying to make sense of that lately has proved a challenge.<br />
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Watching the media and the Democratic Establishment shut out Bernie and his supporters, has been distressing. Watching Trump go full megalomania in his acceptance speech at the Republican convention, was truly disturbing. It's clear to me he can't tell the difference between a terrorist and a protestor. His constant refrain of Law and Order sounded to me like the unleashing of the security state to kick ass with extreme prejudice.<br />
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Clinton was lauded for her optimism, which I found to be mere lipstick on a pig, but then I'm interested in policy decisions, mostly unmoved by lofty rhetoric. Her promise of continuity with Obama policies must mean more war and worse income inequality.<br />
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Still, the vision as articulated by the Democrats is vastly preferable to GOP doom and gloom, wrecking ball, authoritarian capitalist theocracy. Except for that Dem bit about turning America into a colony of some new Internationale trade cartel (TPP, TTIP, TISA), and war against Russia and maybe China.<br />
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The DNC Convention proved mostly that Hollywood and the Democrats are one. The stuff of make believe. Obama gave a fine speech too, notable mostly for his faiure to mention TPP, the espionage act, indefinite detention, drones, debt or specie extinction, but then real talk is not going to paint a picture opposite the gloomy and ever more rabid pessimism of the GOP.<br />
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Clinton might have jumped 25 points in the polls if she had condemned TPP and its wicked triplicate TTIP and TISA, with strong language, uniting a significant number of Bernie and Trump supporters, burying the Donald. Instead she uttered purely Clintonian doublespeak about trade: "<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 27px;">If </span><genius-referent data-genius-annotator-id="3544823" data-genius-api-path="/referents/10169912" data-genius-referent-id="10169912" data-genius-style-id="referent" data-genius-wrapped-path="/10169912/www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-hillary-clinton-convention-speech-transcript-20160728-snap-htmlstory.html" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 27px; transition: background-color 0.2s;">you believe that we should say “no” to unfair trade deals... that we should stand up to China... that we should support our steelworkers and autowork</genius-referent><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "georgia" , serif; line-height: 27px;">ers and homegrown manufacturers…join us." </span><br />
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The TPP has been referred to many times by Obama himself as standing up to China, we can't let China write the rules of trade in the 21st century. From the neoliberal perspective TPP TTIP TISA are the next natural, logical step in total global hegemony. Few Americans believe this will be good for America or Americans. Obama is as neo-liberal in his economics as neoliberal gets. Speaking of continuity. In fact, these trade agreements were written by corporations and banks, to undermine democracy, to weaken nation states including America, to make them subservient to international trade law, and to disempower citizens.<br />
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If citizens are feeling powerless now, imagine all the important decisions for the water, land, air, immigration etc, defined and enforced by international tribunal? America is already effectively a colony of this new Internationale, with NAFTA, and under World Trade Organization rules. TPP et al will only solidify that, and make trade monopoly the supreme law of the land by fiat.<br />
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When Hillary Clinton says "unfair trade pacts", it is impossible to know what she really means. I suspect, like the Chamber of Commerce and many elite donors flocking to the Democratic party, that Hillary will "come around" on TPP. They will paint it up, more lipstick on a pig, cosmetic changes to make it less obvious that some persons are more equal than others, and she will proclaim it fair and sign it.<br />
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That or Obama and the turncoats in Congress, will pass TPP after the election in the lame duck session, and Hillary will do nothing about it but increase hostilities toward Russia and China to distract.<br />
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I would consider that an act of treachery against the Republic.<br />
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So on the one hand, we have a Democratic Party working with congressional Republicans, to make America a colony of a New Internationale, while on the other hand, a GOP that wants to put the hammer down domestically, take a wrecking ball to American institutions and protections, and enforce by militarism a capitalism by oligarch theocracy.<br />
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Either way, the Republic seems deeply in danger. Not by forces without, but by conspiring forces within.<br />
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Meanwhile, I am just trying to make a living remodeling houses, which effort is exceedingly challenged by bureaucrats in city gov, administering International Building Codes (IBC). My three most lucrative jobs in 2016 have all been held up, a total of eight weeks and counting, by petty bureaucratic nothingness. I call it menacing disfunction, because there is no accountability, everyone you talk to will give you a different answer to every question, and there is zero awareness of the economic effect. It is truly an existential problem for me, reducing my income by 10% and counting, which income is already working-poor.<br />
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What do I hear from the Left about that? That because I am an educated white male I must be an oppressor? What does the Right have to say? They say they want to deregulate, but they aren't talking about IBC bedeviling of small business, they are talking about granting the right of Corporation, Bank and Oligarch to exercise "freedom" as they see fit, whatever that means for the health of the biosphere, or the health of America.<br />
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I admit I am beguiled by Trump's vision of dumping NAFTA, of pulling back on hostilities toward Russia, of pulling back on American Imperialism. But I am appalled by his constant appeal to the basest instincts, the megalomania of his prescriptions, and his might is right neo-darwinism. Every time I look at Mike Pence I see SS. While Trump promises a kind of wrecking ball approach to neoliberal economics and neocon warmongering, his tax cuts are a disquised feudalism, death knell to the social contract of social security, medicare etc, even the public lands. His demogoguery is distraction from and empowering of the very establishment he purports to attack. Trump/Pence purity patrols are not a thing I could vote for in good conscience.<br />
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Hillary on the other hand represents a continuity of Hope and Change, which in the main has meant more war and record income inequality, empowering of corp bank gov, including a militarization of homeland security and policing, at the expense of the citizenry. Blue lives do indeed matter, but what's with the black mercenary gear? Does anyone not understand, the military industrial complex, the war machine, is more powerrful and more bloated than it ever has been? If the military is depleted and weak it is not for lack of spending. Where would the Dow Jones be, Obama's vaunted economic recovery, if we cut security spending by a third? That the left has not held Obama accountable for his wars or his economics, is a sign that they will extend the same obsequiousness to Hillary. How can I in good conscience vote for that?<br />
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So in respect to the GOP boogieman behind every corner, the solution to every problem is a hammer/boot on neck, and Dem magical thinking that America is better safer stronger than it has ever been, while both seek to undermine democracy and the Republic? I don't believe either. I am repulsed by both, and have come to expect more war and worse income inequality, no matter which party is in power. All-inclusive totalitarian controls, or boot on neck show of force might is right - pick your poison.<br />
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What if I believe every human is a manifestation of the spirit, a divine being, that womens rights are human rights and every color and every shade and every queer are equal in their right to be free from oppression, to fulfill their potential, their gifts and peculiar genius, empowered with self-agency, in respect to the whole? What if I believe banks, corporations and government arrive at their power by people, and so are subservient in their rights to every human? What if I think the solution to our predicament is not more top-down economic activity, or debt, or war, but a shift in consciousness to include all the world's living creatures, the world itself? Where is my representation? Who represents me?<br />
<br />
Bernie will still be in the Senate, with ten thousand times more people listening to him than there were two years ago. Maybe he can be a kind of check on the Imperial impulse. Maybe not. What revolution continues I don't know. The surveillance capacities such as they are, it is hard to imagine any revolution succeeding but one of peace. Government has a monopoly on force, and they are not averse at all to using it. If government can seek to bankrupt me for excessive gardening and building a greenhouse of scrap material from the waste stream, imagine their response to violence?<br />
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What the world and America needs right now is healing. Love. That begins with you. Learn to love yourself, heal yourself, help heal America and the world. That's the only revolution I care about.<br />
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(I'm not sure what to do about this blog. If you have any thoughts, let me know. WHD.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-61542288848362581202016-02-28T09:56:00.000-06:002016-02-28T11:35:53.993-06:00Sang the Song of Hiawatha<i>Ye who love the haunts of Nature,</i><br />
<i>Love the sunshine of the meadow,</i><br />
<i>Love the shadow of the forest....</i><br />
<i>Listen to the wild traditions,</i><br />
<i>To this Song of Hiawatha.</i><br />
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<i>Henry Wadsworth Longfellow</i><br />
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The circle was getting too big for the room. The room was a large conference room in the Nokomis Community Center, in Minneapolis. The meeting was a gathering of people who want to turn the City Parks Hiawatha Golf Course into a food forest.<br />
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The circle was overflowing, which was unexpected, more than RSVP'd, despite it was nearly 60 degrees and sunny, 30 degrees above normal this time in February, but also a Saturday.<br />
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Most astonishing, the intelligence and talent in the room: teachers, professors, directors of non-profits, CSA farmers, half a dozen trained and professional landscape architects. Fifty people with varying expertise in organizing, teaching, design, plant management. An impressive group.<br />
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All the more impressive, as the likelihood that the Minneapolis Park Board would turn a revenue producing golf course into a revenue neutral food forest, is near zero.<br />
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What is a food forest? You tell me. Food grows throughout? The whole forest is food for something. A forest with an abundance of food for people? Gardens too. Aquaculture. Fungi.<br />
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It's also true the fate of the Hiawatha golf course is uncertain. After flooding in 2014 killed 47 acres of sod, knocking down 23 mature trees, causing an estimated $1.49 million of damage, people have begun to question the wisdom of rebuilding a golf course that suffers perpetual flooding.<br />
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It's also true, usage at the municipal golf courses has been cut in half since 2000, when revenue peaked at $1.85 million. The system lost half a million dollars in 2013. A report in 2013 suggested the course needed a minimum $8.1 million in upgrades. A kind of 'if you build it they will come,' failing to take into account, after the dot com crash in 2000, and the housing bubble, credit expansion and stagnant wages for 30 years, there just aren't that many golfers anymore.<br />
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FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) ponied up $1 million. But at least some of that has been spent just studying the water predicament, as it was revealed in 2015 that the Parks Board had been pumping 1 gal/sec from the course into Hiawatha lake, 1/4 billion gallons per year equivalent, or 7 times what the MN DNR said they could. It seems clear, much of the course would flood every year, at least seasonally.<br />
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It's clear as an idea, the food forest's time has come. <br />
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<br />
<i>Every human heart is human</i><br />
<i>That even in savage bosoms</i><br />
<i>There are longings, yearnings, strivings</i><br />
<i>For the good they comprehend not</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
Like bad, patronizing poetry full of made up "Indian" words, the Minnehaha Creek meanders it's way through Hiawatha golf course, dumping the toxic residue and trash collected on it's path from Lake Minnetonka, through the suburbs, into Lake Hiawatha, before continuing to the Mississippi.<br />
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It was a wetland before it was a lake and a golf course. Purchased by Theodore Wirth, the father of the Minneapolis park system, the "lake" was dredged, and the fill became the golf course. Still the course is on average about 2 ft below the surface of the lake, so the course is soggy much of the year and floods in the wettest.<br />
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In a kind of epic timing, like a curse, the golf course was built in 1929, when the market crashed, and didn't open until 1934.<br />
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Doubling down on absurdity, in 1993 and 1999, in the heady days of Greenspan/Clinton market deregulation, the city spent millions, adding several water hazzards/storm water holding ponds and expensive pumps.<br />
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Just in time for the market to revert to a rich man's game. Rich men don't play muni's.<br />
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But then there aren't a more brash bunch than your typical muni golfers, so the demand to keep the golf course is loud if not particularly broad.<br />
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<i>There he sang of Hiawatha,</i><br />
<i>Sang the song of Hiawatha,</i><br />
<i>That the tribes of men might prosper,</i><br />
<i>That he might advance his people.</i><br />
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<i>"</i>For Christ's sake wouldn't it be better to have these guys doing some meaningful work, instead of riding around on lawn mowers?"<br />
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A 50 acre food forest is no joke. That would require a lot of maintenance. Especially if there are cultivated gardens, greenhouses, aquaponics.<br />
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The educational return would be immeasurable. Seriously, who cares about a golf course if you have the opportunity to show tens of thousands of kids what the city's parks could look like? Where does your food come from? Right here!<br />
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How do you cultivate an appreciation for nature, in the city? The world is being ravaged ecologically by ignorance.<br />
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After 2008, it should have been clear. Food sovereignty should be on everybody's lips.<br />
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When they asked in the circle, what is the word to describe what today is about, the first word out of anyone's mouth was "renewal."<br />
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What that circle revealed, is the circle is expanding. There is a lot more support for this than anyone thought.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-29916215189416076072015-11-17T23:12:00.000-06:002018-02-11T14:29:39.810-06:00Father of Waters<div style="text-align: center;">
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My <a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/10/summons.html">hearing</a> about my failure to apply for a permit to build my <a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/04/my-greenhouse.html">greenhouse</a> was today, Nov 17, at 10am, at City Hall. I walked into that cold, immense, elaborate granite, marble and stained glass lobby, to the father of waters Mississippi sculpture, at 9:30, as a friend called me to ask, "what should we do about ISIS."<br />
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For fifteen minutes I wandered upstairs to the third floor in that cavernous hall, talking about what to do about ISIS. I told my friend, we could start by asking ourselves what have we been doing in Syria, Libya, Yemen? What part have we had in the rise of ISIS, starting with the House of Saud and the war in Iraq, eternal war of terror? At the individual level, I said, if you mean to heal from trauma, you have to look within, to see how that trauma is debilitating you, learn to tell a different story. It works similarly on the societal level, not a looking in with vengeance, or throwing people in jail, blaming of the leading actors/archetypes, but something more like reconciliation of social and global intent, a true hearing not just about the creation of ISIS, but going back to 9/11, and all that has happened since, what has become of America, and where are we going?<br />
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Lots of people taking sides. Paris feels like a watershed. <br />
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The greenhouse hearing was on the third floor. I was waiting for fifteen minutes, going over the few notes I had. I went to the drinking fountains, to discover that neither worked, while the guy seated on a bench down the hall says to me, "It's just City Hall. Why should they work?" When I laughed, he said, "You can buy bottled water in the vending machine down the hall." I laughed again and said it was probably tap water bottled.<br />
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A friend showed up to sit behind me in silent support. Otherwise it was two people from inspections, a man and a woman, the woman my local inspector, a court reporter and the hearing officer. With permit violations, people used to have to go to court, to wait for long periods of time, court also being intimidating. Proceedings were turned over to this civil process, basically a semi-informal, scaled down court room, a hearing just for me.<br />
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I was instructed in how the hearing would proceed, also my rights, then the hearing officer entered the room and everybody rose as if involuntarily, before the hearing officer told us to be seated. After asking my name, he asked about paperwork the inspector brought, to clarify the case before the hearing. Did I acknowledge receipt of the packet? Yes (seventeen pages, someone wrote in black marker pages 1-16 but skipped the number thirteen (there's still a thirteenth page silly), there was even a copy of my letter.) Inspections was asked to proceed.<br />
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The inspector read the report, outlining the pertinent dates and letters, emails etc. I learned that someone did indeed call inspections, to report illegal construction. It's not like I was hiding it. The rest was just recitation of the evidence. I didn't apply for a permit, after repeated warnings and opportunities to apply. When she was finished, I was asked if I had any questions and I said no.<br />
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The hearing officer then asked if I had any evidence I wanted to enter for the record. I said no. Then he laughed, and said, "Is there...I assume there is something you would like to say?" He read my letter, I thought. I said yes, there are some things I would like to say.<br />
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I was trying to follow my <a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/07/two-letters.html">letter</a>, and my notes. I started by saying that I am a builder, I have been a licensed general contractor in the State. That I have collected the material for the greenhouse over time, most of it repurposed old growth douglas fir and sliding glass doors. I said I didn't pull a permit because I wasn't attaching it to the house, that I didn't put a foundation under it - but I also admitted I didn't do my due diligence and ask for a permit, either, and that it did seem to me as far as I know, that I am out of compliance in that regard.<br />
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I said I did not pull a permit also, for economic reasons. First of all, I don't make much money, so I don't want to pay for the permit. Second, if I pulled a permit, I was afraid inspections would require outside assessments that could grossly inflate the cost of my greenhouse from $1000 into the many thousands.<br />
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Then I talked about how I'm trying to take this 1918 house off the grid/on the grid, that I can't afford the permit regime, I'm still under water on the mortgage and the only offer I've had or am likely to have to purchase it, is someone who wants to tear it down and rebuild - so why invest minimal resources on inspections? And why can't I just take video and pictures of what I'm doing, to show a perspective buyer? But then automation and technology are taking away jobs, which is another thing this culture isn't really talking about, I said. Basically, I don't need anyone to tell me how to make my house more energy efficient and resilient.<br />
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Then I read a little from the letter, the paragraph with all the grandiose talk about tyranny and my response to it, and about the predatory nature of institutions late in every empire - we built this infrastructure when we were charging the rich 70-90%, and now their taxes are lower than ever, there's too much debt and government is (like a) starved (leviathan), and I feel like I'm getting it from every direction, I said. <br />
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I have to draw a line somewhere. This is my line, I said.<br />
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The rest of the hearing was basically a reinforcement of the idea of the eternal nature of inspections, the permit system...it's inevitability. This will never end, the hearing officer said, if I don't pull the permit. The fees will compound, you'll be called before me or another again and again. I told him, the greenhouse works great, it even heats the house on warm days on either side of January and February.<br />
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The Inspector said I could keep the greenhouse if I moved it, further than six feet from the house. But then it will not be as affective a greenhouse, as it will not have the house to help shelter and insulate it on cold days. That doesn't matter, she said.<br />
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So you are saying if I pull a permit you are going to make me move it or dismantle it? Yes, she said. So I said, but this greenhouse is designed to go there, it is not designed to go anywhere else. No matter, she said. So I think I told the hearing officer that I won't pull a permit, and he reiterated the inevitability of the permitting process. <br />
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He gave me a thirty-day stay, to pull a permit, but then he changed it to 90 days. So basically at this point, I realize, if I had pulled the permit when they first told me to apply, they would have already ordered it to be dismantled, and as I won't dismantle it or move it, then it would have been removed by force, which I would have been charged for. But if I don't pull the permit they will charge me fee upon fee upon fee. But if I don't pull the permit they can't tell me to move it?<br />
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Here I was just afraid they would cost me more money. But no, they want the greenhouse gone, or made inefficient and out of place. Since when, I'm thinking, did International building codes declare a functioning greenhouse on the south side of your house illegal?<br />
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The inspector assured me during and after the hearing, that she was only trying to give me the best advice. I assured her I'm not trying to be antagonistic. She really does seem to believe it. What sort of fear is this, I think, to be so captive to written code, as if set in stone by the father of waters Himself! She could be advocating to save the greenhouse from the codes, or rather saving the codes from themselves. Instead she is trying to convince me to accept the illogical. I find it difficult to take these people seriously, but you can not afford not to take these people seriously.<br />
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<br />
Sitting at the feet of the father of waters, His security guards nearby, I found myself again talking about the collapse of empire, the inertia and the system and how little there really is you can do to change the course of empire. This is a culture with 5000 years of momentum at least. Just like in every empire, the empire extends so far, "terrorists" eat at the fringe, the center is gutted to pay for the war machine to keep the barbarians at bay, until the empire collapses from within. Here we are, clash of civilization, the wealth of empire flowing to fewer and fewer hands, the war machine gathering momentum...<br />
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People have this idea that civilization is a kind of ever evolving path to the truth. In a thing like building codes, wisdom has accrued over time, collecting in this set of tested and true (inviolable) laws...whereas sometimes I'm more like, law is an ever refined tyranny of totalitarian thinking, arranged to reinforce madness and protect accumulated power.<br />
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It can't be illegal under International building codes, to build a greenhouse on the south side of your house. These people must be mistaken.<br />
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Well, I've got 90 days to figure it out.<br />
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<img alt="Image result for father of waters city hall minneapolis" class="rg_i" data-sz="f" name="Z3l9tyv3OtEK6M:" 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" 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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-63832590177854186142015-11-15T21:55:00.000-06:002015-11-15T22:20:14.856-06:00Winter Greenhouse 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Tuesday the 17th of November, I am <a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/10/summons.html">summoned</a> to Minneapolis City Hall to answer for my "illegal addition" <a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/04/my-greenhouse.html">greenhouse</a>, because I did not apply for a permit.</div>
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In the spirit of that upcoming hearing I built this, this past weekend, out of repourposed lumber.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRsE3i-sK48ocLSnayUf-IqeP7l1nU3Zkm0162GHD8trmLH84z-Q0gK0iti-bznzTEbvi1wAfS8yenzPLTXPSzXDin9orOphFJnl7RZKjClH6-qY4Sd_1hsxJCiCIzIDj4w5pW2gaCPUo/s1600/SAM_1688.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRsE3i-sK48ocLSnayUf-IqeP7l1nU3Zkm0162GHD8trmLH84z-Q0gK0iti-bznzTEbvi1wAfS8yenzPLTXPSzXDin9orOphFJnl7RZKjClH6-qY4Sd_1hsxJCiCIzIDj4w5pW2gaCPUo/s320/SAM_1688.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Three inches of compost from the garden, and a 2.5" top layer of an "organic", "For raised beds" soil (from two corporations that shall not be named.) The back wall is covered with a tarp, the window cut out and taped. I have partially enclosed the surround with 4mil poly, not yet fully enclosed as the weather this weekend was more like spring, 60 degrees outside and perhaps eighty in the greenhouse. I'm enclosing the beds in a greenhouse within a greenhouse, to maximize heat collection. The window can remain open to help moderate the heat in the greenhouse, and heat the house on sunny days above 20 degrees. </div>
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I planted various lettuce, spicy baby greens (mesclun), Arugula, spinach, basil, cilantro, and some red onion plugs left over from the spring. On the top rack I intend to set some cherry tomatoes and maybe beans and peas in black pots (to absorb heat.) If all goes well I should harvest something around the New Year. </div>
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I staggered the beds so they can be racks of garden starts, beginning around March 01. The sun will climb higher and higher after Dec 21, about an angle of 21.5 degrees to the horizon, to about 68.5 degrees June 21. If I built the racks upright, the back of the bottom two racks would be shaded by mid-march. </div>
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More on the detail of the construction, after the hearing. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-20869607246203366622015-11-08T18:11:00.000-06:002018-02-11T14:27:56.178-06:00TPP, Tyranny and Treason<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement is not the New
World Order as imagined by the far right and “conspiracy theorists”
in America, but along with it's corresponding trade agreements
Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trade in
Services Agreement (TISA) encompassing perhaps 75% of the global
economy, is indeed a new world order – considerably more insidious
and venal than the Right or 'conspiracy theorists” have imagined.
Many on the Right, so obsessed with the idea of a communist or UN
takeover, cannot seem to be aroused by this corporate fascist one,
though it is every bit as destructive to the nation-state, every bit
as nullifying of the Constitution, every bit the subjugation of the
masses by an elite, that haunts the nightmares of the far Right.<br />
<br />
Much of the Left and and Right in America, particularly those who
benefit most by the economics of the day, fail to see this
corporate/banking/finance usurpation of democracy, of the Republic;
seemingly as supportive of the TPP, as they are of the infrastructure
of total surveillance, the privatized War of Terror without end for
all eternity. Is it a coup if everybody in power is in on it?<br />
<br />
The final text of the TPP was released Nov 05, 2015. Upon cursory
investigation, it has been deemed worse than it's opponents imagined.
As if 500 corporate hatchetmen and assassins were put in some
all-inclusive Caribbean resort or Mediterranean spa, told to write a
trade agreement. We've been told for years by everyone from
establishment Democrats and Republicans, to the New York Times, to
the Washington Post to the Wall Street Journal, that TPP will be good
for America, that America needs the TPP.<br />
<br />
Now America has 90 days (86 as of the writing of this) to read,
research and understand 5,500 pages of crypto-corporate/bureaucratic
legalese, that would establish a multi-nation, supra-national court
system, purely for corporations to sue nation-states for perceived
barriers to trade, and lost profits; a system of laws superior in
it's judgement to the laws of all signatory nation-states and their
citizens (one nation out of 12 – TPPland - without a Constitution
or Bill of Rights.) It would be more than probable, that every law
established for the health and welfare of people or the earth, will
eventually be challenged as a barrier to trade. It is no stretch to
see, with government and it's institutions infiltrated by corporate
minions, with globalization and monopoly control become like dogma
that can't be questioned, that no law will be made or enforced, that
might be perceived as a barrier to trade.<br />
<br />
Following are just a few examples of how venal this trade
agreement is.<br />
<br />
The tone deaf slogan of the TPP trade agreement is, “Leveling
the Playing Field.”<br />
<br />
One of the main criticisms of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) was the fact that it forced American wage earners
to compete with low-wage Mexico, which ended up gutting our
industrial base. We see the ramifications of that today, in the
declining life span of less educated whites, who would otherwise be
known as “industrial labor.” When they say "Leveling the
Playing Field," they mean they are reducing trade barriers, so
we can make more consumer goods to trade with these countries. But
that isn't true, because the Dollar is very strong relative to the
currency of these other TPP countries, so it will be good for their
exports, but not ours necessarily. (Unless of course part of the
end-game is to destroy the dollar and make a TPPland currency.)<br />
<br />
"Leveling the Playing Field” in reality means that most
American's are going to have their standard of living reduced, closer
to the conditions in Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Sweatshops in
Vietnam, 2+million slaves in Malaysia, Brunei executes gay people.
Which sounds more or less like the America a few “conservative”
types would aspire/regress to, but not the America most people
imagine.<br />
<br />
On the Labor chapter: here is some typical propaganda you are
going to see about TPP, how workers in Vietnam are going to be
allowed to unionize, and collectively bargain.<br />
<br />
That's great. Now ask yourself, what has happened to union
influence in America, and do you really believe these "unions"
in Vietnam are going to have any influence, esp. as the influence and
power of Americans to define their own fate is significantly reduced
by TPP?<br />
<br />
TPP isn't about lifting up the people of Vietnam, Malaysia or
Brunei, as much as it is making Americans, Canadians, New Zealanders,
Vietnamese, Malaysians and the people of Brunei etc, subject to an
international TPPland monied cartel. There is no enforcement
mechanism, if Vietnam refuses to allow such unions, or allows them
but assures they are a controlled sham. And once TPP is legal, no
“government” is going to protect anyone or any thing, as much as
they are going to assure there are no barriers to trade. They will
exist mostly to facilitate trade, so they can't be sued, to stifle
dissent and to protect property (which will continue to gravitate to
fewer and fewer hands.)<br />
<br />
The fact is, there is no enforcement capability in TPP, to address
labor issues. There is no mechanism to sanction any nation, if it
fails to enforce labor practices outlined as recommendations in the
agreement. The labor chapter amounts to feel-good language to assuage
the bleeding hearts, who are otherwise trusting of corporate intent.<br />
<br />
On the Environment chapter, twenty-five pages of recommendations,
with no enforcement capability, entirely voluntary, not really even a
bare minimum of protections, the "environment" entirely
subservient to the trade imperative and the elimination of any and
all barriers to trade.<br />
<br />
In bureaucratic/corporate speak, like an afterthought, or a
mission statement to lend the appearance of social responsibility.
Veiled language to give the impression of environmental protections,
but really the tacit approval for increased economic monopolization
at the expense of local subsistence or sovereignty, and the
commodification of every last little thing. And with language like,
<i>"the importance of facilitating access to genetic resources
within their respective national jurisdictions, consistent with each
party's international obligations..." </i>well, a Nazi couldn't
have framed it better.<br />
<br />
There is not one environmental law anywhere in TPPland that is
going to stand up to this, long term. Everything sooner or later
would be questioned as a barrier to trade (read, exploitation),
limiting profit.<br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A race to the
ecological bottom.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Copyright Infringement, Article 18.77 Criminal Procedures and
Penalties<br />
<br />
<i>" In respect of willful copyright or related rights
piracy, “on a commercial scale” includes...:</i><br />
<br />
<i>(b) <br />significant acts, not carried out for commercial
advantage or financial gain, that have a substantial prejudicial
impact on the interests of the copyright or related rights holder in
relation to the marketplace."</i><br />
<br />
TRANSLATION: If say, Monsanto copyrights the phrase "Monsanto:
Feeding the World" and someone uses that phrase in some post or
article that is a mockery/negative portrayal/satire of Monsanto, the
post goes viral, Monsanto's stock goes down (or not), the result may
be:<br />
<br />
<i>"Penalties that include sentences of imprisonment as well
as monetary fines sufficiently high to provide a deterrent to future
acts of infringement, consistent with the level of penalties applied
for crimes of a corresponding gravity."</i><br />
<br />
No more Internet memes etc publications using copyrighted material
(and everything will be copyrighted) to question, critique, satirize
authority, no more whistleblowing “trade secrets” that are a a
detriment to the health of people or the earth: aka criminalizing
dissent.<br />
<br />
On the chapter on State-owned Enterprises and Designated
Monopolies: a round-about way of privatizing the water supply?<br />
<br />
As in, multi-national corporation/financier buys local water
rights, commodifies the water and then challenges local government in
TPPland tribunal, that public water price is undercutting privatized
price, TPP-tribunal orders state-owned monopoly to provide water at
the commoditized (market) price, raising the cost of water for
everybody. Or the TPPland tribunal orders America to make payments to
foreign corporation for lost profits, and the price of water goes up.<br />
<br />
Like this ridiculous passage, which is basically saying,
gov-monopoly can sell it at whatever price it wants, or no price at
all - as long as it's the price dictated by the TPPland market:<br />
<br />
<i>Paragraph 1 (b) and (c)<br />and paragraph 2 (b) and (c) <br />do
not preclude a state-owned enterprise or designated monopoly
from:<br />(a)<br />purchasing or selling goods or services on different
terms or conditions including those relating to price;
or<br />(b)<br />refusing to purchase or sell goods or services, provided
that such differential treatment or refusal is undertaken in
accordance with commercial considerations.</i><br />
<br />
Commercial considerations....again, the be-all, end-all of TPP
“trade”.<br />
<br />
The TPP too could be the end of the US Postal service. If a
foreign investor/conglomerate owns UPS or DHL or Fed Ex, they could
sue the US gov for it's subsidized Postal Service in TPP-land
tribunal, requiring the USPS to deliver mail at a price dictated by
the owners of UPS, DHL, Fed Ex – or a judgement for “lost
profits” (most likely attached to the national debt, extend and
pretend.)<br />
<br />
Perhaps too, the end of public education. International for-profit
education corporation opens up satellite schools in every state, sues
for lost profit because they cannot “service” all the children?
(It might sound crazy, but then, what is crazier than a trade
agreement that commercializes every moral, ethical and ecological
concern?)<br />
<br />
On the chapter on Investment, so far the take-away is, this is
like making one nation of 12 nations, without a Constitution or Bill
of Rights, for whom the only “persons” that will matter will be
international corporations, banks and investors.<br />
<br />
There can be no restrictions on investment, in the sense that any
"party" can purchase investments anywhere in TPPland. In
other words, any multinational corporation, bank or financier can
purchase any land or business etc, anywhere in TPPland, the use of
that land/business dictated not by local needs or concerns, but by
the "most favorable treatment," meaning that which is
designated by the TPPland market, and adjudicated by TPP tribunal.
Basically, you can expect as much as any peasant in Malaysia, Brunei,
or Vietnam.<br />
<br />
In other words, setting up the framework for creating a kind of
international land-lord scheme by which Corporations and Financiers
can own anything anywhere in TPPland, but will be governed by their
own TPP court system, not by any local concern. It's like taking the
absent landlord scheme to it's most extreme. We'd all end up
serf/peasants to this TPP cartel, without any recourse to do anything
about maltreatment. It's like a reversion to feudalism, or the
treatment of industrial workers in the 19<sup>th</sup> century.<br />
<br />
It becomes clear, as to enforcement of the TPP, there are a lot of
teeth when it comes to property and investment monies (capital) and
profit expectations, and perceived barriers to trade. When it
involves the environment or labor, you establish committees,
councils, working groups, dialogue, action plans, to arrive at
programmes, cooperation and consultation, to arrive at mutually
satisfactory resolutions aka, a washing of the hands.<br />
<br />
Because the tribunal dispute settlement system is really only for
corporations to sue for monetary remuneration, it defies reason to
imagine any corporation would sue Malaysia because they still have a
slave trade, or they ravage their national ecosystem. Once TPP is
legal, all labor and environmental concerns will be subject to trade
concerns and expectations. Again, a race to the bottom.<br />
<br />
When it comes to corruption, or breach of contract or agreement,
any perceived barrier to trade, and a corporation has or believes it
has lost money or property or potential profit because trade has been
“nullified or impaired,” then the language becomes more harsh:
from consultations to establish contact points, conciliation and
mediation, failure of which leads to a panel (tribunal) arbitration,
and the potential suspension of benefits, compensation, and payment
of monetary assessment, restitution, monetary damages and applicable
interest.<br />
<br />
It becomes clear a corporation can sue for any imaginable slight,
the tribunal likely a pure reflection of corporate intent.<br />
<br />
It begins to look like nation-states will become like Indian
reservations here in America, where the most corrupt sell-outs often
rise to leadership and make dirty deals with corporations who come in
and remove resources while leaving for tribal posterity the polluted
mess. A sad end for a once proud Republic, America.<br />
<br />
The 2008 financial collapse, and the bailing out of the banks, has
been described by many as a quiet coup. This is part and parcel of a
coup known as 9/11, and an ensuing War of Terror, increasingly
privatized military industrial complex, institutionalization of the
total-surveillance police state. Government at every level, and
media, are infiltrated by those who serve the “persons” that are
corporations.<br />
<br />
The model of corporations in America and throughout the possible
TPPland, is not democratic, not employee or shareholder owned, but
top-down dictatorial. Their allegiance is not to labor, ecosystems,
democracy nor the ideal of a Republic, but to profit, to
“shareholder value” and executive compensation, first and
foremost.<br />
<br />
The TPP, along with TTIP and TISA, empowers foreign corporations
to sue nation-states, in TPPland tribunal, to challenge domestic laws
of nation-states, the domestic laws of America, that protect
ecosystems and people from predation by the powerful, protection from
exploitation. If finance/money is indeed a means of making war in
this modern age, then “lost profits” doctrine aka legal
extortion, is a kind of war-making against the sovereignty of people
to define their own fate, by foreign entities. Combined with the
creation of this supra-national tribunal, with powers superior to
nation-states – making even the Constitution and Bill of Rights
subject to the trade imperative - that is aiding and abetting a
foreign interest to the detriment of America. That is a kind of
making war against Americans. An American making war against America
in concert with foreign powers, is treason, and the punishment of
treason is death.<br />
<br />
Negotiating these trade deals may be treasonous. Making them law
may be treason. If you believe in the rule of law, in the sovereignty
of the nation-state, the Constitution of America, our Bill of Rights.<br />
<br />
But the idea is absurd. There are thousands of Americans, tens of
thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, who have written,
supported, advocated for the TPP. It is unrealistic, nay horrific, to
imagine such a punishment, meted out to so many. That would be a
revolution indeed, but more like the French, which gave the world
Napoleon, and the Russian, which gave the world Stalin, not thousands
but millions dead. When such a “purge” begins, it expands
exponentially, out of the control of anyone, least of all any of the
ideals it might have started with. And the resulting power may be as
much or more the tyranny supplanted.<br />
<br />
A healthier model would be that of South Africa and Apartheid:
reconciliation. Not just about TPP, but about an economic model that
has become parasitic and cannibalistic, in its growth imperative and
expectations of consumption, and what it will do to sustain that,
something like a death cult. But not just about TPP or economics, but
about this privatized War of Terror, the surveillance infrastructure
of total tyranny, and 9/11. America never had a fair, open and honest
hearing about 9/11, and has yet to heal from that wound. The horrors
that have been unleashed since, need to be reconciled, not by more
bloodshed, but by shining light.<br />
<br />
That is the true opportunity of TPP. That is good news to <i>share.</i>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-69210814585710070452015-10-19T09:55:00.001-05:002018-02-11T14:26:39.011-06:00Summons<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Image result for whistleblower" class="rg_i" data-src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTySuxh9Zwp7qe-GCoF6J9v7ZzA34O347MY0W_GBxY1abgAdB_q" data-sz="f" name="zXBnvf4mnGLJiM:" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTySuxh9Zwp7qe-GCoF6J9v7ZzA34O347MY0W_GBxY1abgAdB_q" style="height: 273px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 360px;" /> </div>
<br />
I've been summoned to a City of Minneapolis, Administrative Hearing, Nov 17, about <a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/04/my-greenhouse.html">my greenhouse</a>. I suspect it will be much the same as the time the City hired contractors to remove <a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2013/05/eustace-conway-and-gov-predation.html">white pine logs</a> from my garden, that I had intended as garden art. That Hearing was me, a guy from inspections, and a retired lawyer as arbitrator. Off the record. A mere formality, the City doing it's due diligence, to fine me what they want to fine me, and add it to the property taxes, or put a lien on the house. I lost that hearing, but there was no way to win it. Like the saying goes, you can't fight City Hall.<br />
<br />
I would prefer to go before a judge, in a court of law, on the record. But the City doesn't want to shine too much light, that they are after a guy for <a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/07/two-letters.html">not applying for a permit on a greenhouse</a> built from reclaimed glass and lumber most people would toss in a dumpster. That could make for bad press, in this age of viral Internet communications. They want a closed hearing on their terms, quiet, without context. I am wilfully defying city code, which is all anyone needs to know. In fact, I don't believe the City is conscious of me, or what this violation even is, it's just the gears of bureaucracy churning. If I would simply pay the permit fee and have the greenhouse inspected, they would probably rubber-stamp it like nothing happened.<br />
<br />
What is the point of fighting it? Seriously, in the context of the Federal government bombing hospitals and wedding parties, the privatized Military Industrial Complex training Jihadists and assorted killers in the ways of modern warfare, to destabilize whole nations and regions, to fight proxie wars against undesirable governments (govt's that won't become debt slaves to our banks and corporations), without accountability of any kind - what hope do I have fighting this system, this local government branch of American governance, bureaucratic enforcement of International building codes, on threat of fines, jail, condemnation? What does America do to it's <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-18/sad-fate-americas-whistleblowers">truth tellers</a>, those who shine light on the abuse of power, institutional corruption?<br />
<br />
Fact is, there is a lot I want to do here, that would amount to many hundreds/thousands of dollars of fees paid to government and it's contractors, to simply let me do it, and some work I know they simply will not let me do. Like build a thermal mass stove to heat my house. It is not code, so it can't be built legally. But it could reduce my natural gas consumption by 80%. That won't matter either, because if the City can't prevent me from building it, they could order a cease-and-desist/order-to-remove, or initiate the condemnation process. If the Insurance company found out I built such a thing, the increase in the price of insurance would probably wipe out any savings in natural gas payments, and then some. They might refuse to insure the house; what then is the status of the mortgage without insurance? Foreclosure.<br />
<br />
It reminds me of a book by Joel Salatin, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Want-To-Do-Illegal/dp/0963810952">Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal</a>." People like to think we live in a free country. You are free to buy stuff, if you have money. You are free to choose your career, more or less, within the confines of what this society will accept. You are even able to define your own career, if you have the money, and society deems it acceptable. Otherwise, there is a very rigid framework underpinning civilization, and as long as you stay within the bounds, it will feel very much like freedom, like it is your choice. Challenge those bounds, and see what happens. That is the thing that actually unites all Americans - fear of their government. We all know it. It is easier to stay within bounds.<br />
<br />
It is also like the death of creativity. How are we supposed to redefine the rules of society to be better for everybody and the earth, when not only the codes and rules and laws dictate a status quo, there is a vast surveillance machine copying all of our digital communications, tied to a vast humorless militarized police state? It's like totalitarianism 2.0. It is not right up in your face, but step out of line....<br />
<br />
And Americans? How do we respond? Some lost boy shoots up a school, half the country advocates to militarize the culture further, while the other half having next to nothing to say about a privatized military industrial complex contracting for multinational corporations and banks all over the globe, wails to disarm The People!<br />
<br />
Nuts.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile this government has proffered forth a trade agreement, TPP Trans-Pacific Partnership, part of a triplicate of trade agreements, including TTIP (European version) and TISA (purely for the abstract realm of global Finance), that are fundamentally undemocratic, totalitarian, creating a quasi-state made of multinational Corporations and Banks, with it's own judicial system, superior to any Nation-State. If you are inclined to think <i>this</i> society is lock-down nazi/fascist, wait and see what totalitarianism 3.0 globalists are building.<br />
<br />
Notice there is little to no discussion about TPP in the media. There was no real debate about Fast-Track legislation, which passed in the summer of 2015. You don't believe in conspiracy? It is like the first Democratic debate of 2015, how Bernie Sanders won all the initial polls and focus groups by a landslide. Then the major media Left and Right went on a blitzkrieg declaring Hillary the run-away winner, and low and behold new polls came out declaring Hillary the debate winner (after group-think Dems had been <a href="http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2015/10/so-who-really-won.html?showComment=1444859347410">told what to think</a>.)<br />
<br />
TPP didn't even come up in the debate, except in the context, right out front, of Hillary flip-flopping, supporting TPP then not, painting opposition to TPP in the negative, and then forgotten. The national debate about TPP is not even a debate, it is a white-wash. Hillary even left the door open to TPP, by claiming that it's all about jobs and wages. The discussion is always focused on jobs and wages. But what are jobs and wages in the context of increasing totalitarian controls, less sovereignty, less freedom? Jobs and wages supporting and reinforcing totalitarianism? <br />
<br />
What this is is nothing less than a kind of quiet coup. That is how foolish Americans have become, that they do not see how establishment Democrats and establishment Republicans are all fighting for the same thing, total global domination, total global control, threatening total annihilation to anyone not willing to become debt serfs to multinational corporations and banks. That is why elite on the Left and the Right called Hillary the winner, immediately after that debate, why they talk as if she has a lock on the nomination. Because Hillary won't upset the apple-cart; Hillary is a neo-liberal economic monopolizer and a neo-con warmonger, just like her Republican brethren. The elite on either "side" have nothing to fear from Hillary. Americans generally, if Hillary wins, or any of the Republicans, are going to get the worst of GWBush and Obama: more war, more economic inequality, less freedom. <br />
<br />
I've said elsewhere, there might be war and economic collapse before TPP comes up for a vote, after which Dems and Repubs unite, to pass TPP to "revive" the economy, thereby cementing their status as traitors to the Republic - empowering a foreign power/quasi-state for multinational corporations and banks, at the expense of America. <br />
<br />
We already live in a totalitarian America, more or less direct rule of the corporations and banks, the richest financiers and families. With TPP/TTIP/TISA you would still appear to vote for a legislature, local to Federal governments, but they would all be powerless to do anything contrary to the will of multinational corporations and banks.<br />
<br />
What is there to do then, in the context of successive administrations Right and Left, eviscerating Constitutional protections in the name of "security," Right and Left elite working together to make certain Hillary gets the Democratic nomination, so that Dem or Repub President, we maintain continuity of empire, continuity of totalitarian controls, status quo/business-as-usual warmongering, cannibalistic economics? <br />
<br />
What is needed is a kind of revolution of consciousness in America, and really, for all of humanity. Bernie Sanders talks about political revolution. What he means by that is, regular people coming together to educate themselves about the issues, speaking out. I don't know if he could be an effective President, or even that he wants to be. If he wants to win he needs to humiliate Hillary in the debates, about Libya and her comments about "smart" power, in the context of her sociopathic "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtH7iv4ip1U">We came, we saw, he died...</a>" and her <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hillary-clintons-putin-hitler-comments-draw-rebukes-as-she-wades-into-ukraine-conflict/2014/03/05/31a748d8-a486-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html">equating Putin with Hitler;</a> How can she communicate effectively with Russia and Putin, as President (that alone disqualifies her to be Commander in Chief, IMHO); is there any check whatsoever on this privatized military industrial complex, demolishing whole countries, perpetuating wars of terror; are you Ms Clinton merely a puppet of said machine or do you get off on the idea of wielding it? I don't know if Bernie is willing to do that, or even want's to. Necessarily, I don't hold much <i>hope</i> for political revolutions.<br />
<br />
A revolution of consciousness would look a lot like greater responsibility for the care of the earth. For all the Democratic talk about climate change, that seems, in the context of the mostly unmentionable TPP, like more totalitarian controls, only tangentially about care and concern for climate. That's not much of an evolution of consciousness.<br />
<br />
Such an evolution is not going to come from the top down, any more than trickle-down works as economic policy. A true consciousness shift is going to have to come from the heart, grounded in care and concern for the living earth.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure fighting the City about this greenhouse is anything but martyrdom. But, economically, I can't not do what I want to do here, illegal or not, when it comes to growing my own food or saving energy. Not because I want to fight government, but because I want to prevent government from crashing and burning and chaos ensuing, because government tried to control too much no matter what the cost.<br />
<br />
I've received a summons, I will attend the Hearing and report faithfully.<br />
<br />
WHD <br />
<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-71166233284284336902015-07-02T15:33:00.001-05:002018-02-11T14:24:50.524-06:00Two Letters<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 120%; }p.western { font-family: "Liberation Serif","Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; }p.cjk { font-family: "Droid Sans Fallback"; font-size: 12pt; }p.ctl { font-family: "FreeSans"; font-size: 12pt; }a:link { }</style>
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Early this spring, the City of Minneapolis issued a citation to me for an illegal addition, failure to pull a permit for <a href="http://www.offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/04/my-greenhouse.html">my greenhouse</a>. Several deadlines have passed, and while I have visited the Inspections Dept. three times, I have not complied with the order. </div>
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More recently, the city sent me another citation, demanding I remove all grasses and weeds in the "ENTIRE YARD AND BOULEVARD" taller than eight inches, by July 02, or a
"CONTRACTOR MAY IMMEDIATELY CORRECT THIS CONDITION WITHOUT FURTHER
NOTICE AND ALL COSTS...WILL BE ADDED AS A SPECIAL ASSESSMENT AGAINST THE
PROPERTY."</div>
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I asked, but no definition of "weeds" was offered by Inspections. Half of the wildflowers in my garden, probably more than half of Americans would call them weeds. I do not trust the city contractor to know the difference. </div>
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<a href="http://www.offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/06/spring-peak-garden-update-2015.html">http://www.offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/06/spring-peak-garden-update-2015.html </a><br />
<a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/%E2%80%A6/07/birthday-garden.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/…/07/birthday-garden.html</a><br />
<a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2011/07/garden-tour.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2011/07/garden-tour.html</a><br />
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I delivered copies of the following two letters to the Mayor, City Attorney, my council member, and the Inspections Dept, this afternoon. </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Happy Independence Day :)</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
To
whom it may concern, regarding my failure to apply for a building
permit from City of Minneapolis Inspections, for my greenhouse:</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I
have wanted to build a greenhouse for a long time. For years, I have
been collecting old sliding glass doors, mostly through social
networking sites like Craigslist. In the Fall of 2013 I began
construction on the first half of a greenhouse, on the south side of
my house in Minneapolis. For the frame I used Cedartone treated
lumber; the second half, in the fall of 2014, I used old-growth
douglas fir, I reclaimed from a remodeling project near Lake of the
Isles in Minneapolis, during the housing bubble.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
entire project cost me approximately $1000. Had I used douglas fir
instead of Cedartone on the first half, I could have reduced the cost
to $500. A glass greenhouse that size, purchased as a kit, might cost
$5000, $10,000-$15,000 installed.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In
the early spring of 2015, I received a letter from City of
Minneapolis Inspections, that I was in code violation for an illegal
addition, failure to apply for a permit. I went to the Inspections
Department downtown, to inform myself and to voice my concerns, and
to go on record.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A
<span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Final Notice</b></span> arrived,
when I did not apply for the permit, after which I visited
Inspections again, to clarify my concerns and to ask more questions.
When I did not pay for the permit, an <b>Administrative Citation</b>
arrived, May **, stating there was a $200 fine.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I
did not apply for a permit when I started building the greenhouse,
because I did not believe I needed a permit, because I did not attach
the greenhouse to the frame of the house, thus there was no
structural change to the house. As a former licensed general
contractor, I am familiar with building codes and the licensing
regime. I did not do the necessary research however, nor did I
contact Inspections to tell them what I was planning.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In
retrospect, the greenhouse is clearly in violation of building code,
insofar as it exceeds the 120 sq ft threshold requiring a permit, at
155 sq ft approximately - though there are no building codes specific
to the <i>actual construction</i> of greenhouses.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Primarily,
my concern in not applying for a permit is economic. As a maintenance
man for a small company managing group homes for the profoundly
autistic, my income in 2014 was $33,000 (with median household income
in the state of Minnesota @ $60,700.) I purchased my house in March
2006, as I like to say, 12 minutes before the market collapsed. I am
20% “under water.” I purchased the house @ $154,000; Hennepin
County has had it appraised as high as $169,000; six months on the
market in the summer of 2013, there was one offer @ $109,000. It is a
one-bedroom @ 750 sq ft, 1918 construction.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
City
Inspections has the right to require me to hire an architect or an
engineer to assess the greenhouse. Because there are few codes
regulating greenhouses, there not being much in the way of precedent,
that seemed possible and even likely, which could add thousands of
dollars to the cost of construction.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Secondly,
as this is not a permanent structure necessarily, it is irrational to
inflate the cost as if it were permanent, or a living space. It is
experimental.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Third,
I am a long-time builder: I can build a house, I have built
townhouses, I have torn the roof off houses and added a second story.
I do not need an inspector or an engineer to tell me if my greenhouse
is structurally sound.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Fourth,
in this time, in this digital age, if I am able to document all that
I do in pictures and video, why do I need an inspector to stand
between me and a potential buyer? Indeed, the house is nearly 100
years old, a one-bedroom on a corner lot-and-a-half. The lot is
extensively wild-landscaped, with 200 species of plants and 30 fruit
trees. The most likely buyer would bulldoze the lot and build a
“McMansion” - making any inspections on this greenhouse and
house, a waste of resources. In fact, inspections do not remove me
from liability, if there is a danger to the general “health and
welfare” of the community. So precisely what is the point of
inspections?</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Fifth,
there are a great many things I would like to do to my house, as an
experiment making my house stronger, more energy efficient, more
resilient, using reclaimed materials whenever I can, documenting
everything I do. Aside from the fact that I do not need Inspections
to tell me how to do that, I can't afford to pay for a permit every
time I want to start a project, nor risk excessive and arbitrary
fees, hiring engineers etc. My not being able to afford permits and
fees, should not preclude me from applying my expertise, working on
and experimenting with my house, changing it for changing times.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sixth,
if America is indeed a Republic, or even a Democracy, government
exists to serve me, I do not exist to keep government economically
solvent. To some extent, the expectation that I submit to inspections
on this greenhouse, on my own house, is just the wheels of
bureaucracy churning: “the wheels of fate churn slowly, but they
churn exceedingly fine.” I do not accept inevitability, I do not
acquiesce merely because it is so, I do not pay the fee just because
I am told to. Unchecked government is the foundation of tyranny; in a
time in declining revenue for governments, in a time of peak social
complexity and institutional corruption, it is well documented that
governments and Institutions of all kinds, become predatory and
parasitic, particularly against the powerless.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
My
greenhouse exceeded expectations in 2015. I maintain a big garden,
and a community garden for the autistic, for the company I work for.
My 2015 vegetable starts were the best I have ever grown, the
healthiest. If it is 0 degrees outside and the sun is shining, it
might be 70 in the greenhouse. The greenhouse actually helps heat the
house if the temperature outside is above 30 and the sun is shining.
My furnace didn't turn on after Mar 01 this year. The greenhouse acts
like an insulator, for heat loss in the house, at night in the
winter. I will be able to grow fresh greens all winter, 2015-2016.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I
realize, fighting inspections is a losing battle, insofar as the city
will get it's money “one way or another,” fining me until they
put the payment on my taxes, and then if I don't pay, putting a lien
on the house. Whatever the case, I am documenting all of it, blogging
about it, writing about it.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sincerely,</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
William
Hunter Duncan </div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 120%; }p.western { font-family: "Liberation Serif","Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; }p.cjk { font-family: "Droid Sans Fallback"; font-size: 12pt; }p.ctl { font-family: "FreeSans"; font-size: 12pt; }</style>
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
City
of Minneapolis,</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
On
June 29, 2015, I received a citation from the City of Minneapolis,
Housing Inspection Services, about vegetation in my “yard”. The
letter states that I must remove all grass and weeds taller than 8”,
by July 02, in my “ENTIRE YARD AND BOULEVARD.”</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
My
“yard and boulevard”, which I call my “garden”, is landscaped
with appox. 200 species of wildflowers, wild medicinals, food and
fruit. There are grasses that are edible. I weed regularly. What many
consider weeds, are in fact wild flowers.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
city receives perhaps hundreds of calls each year about my garden,
most if not all negative. The city does not hear from the many who
tell me that they love my garden, and walk by regularly to view it.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I
will comply with the order, to the degree I believe acceptable. I
will clear the boulevard near the corner and the alley; it is a
corner lot. I will pull all tree saplings. I will fence back the
vegetation along the sidewalk, and pull all vegetation growing in the
sidewalk. I will pull any weeds and saplings, but not the wildflowers
or climbing vines, from the alley.
</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I
will document all that I do. If contractors then remove anything by
cutting or spraying, I will document that as well. I have been
blogging about my garden since 2010. There are people across this
country, in as many as 10 different countries, aware of my garden.
Please respect this sanctuary oasis for birds and bugs. Thank you.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
William
Hunter Duncan<br />
<br />
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />
<br />
<br />
Feel free to contact Minneapolis about it. Just add my name ;) <br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/inspec%E2%80%A6/inspections-feedback" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/inspec…/inspections-feedback</a><br />
<br />
Minneapolis City Attorney or Mayor Betsy Hodges (612) 673-2010</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-63448402147852984502015-06-19T15:14:00.001-05:002015-06-19T15:14:39.514-05:00Summer Solstice 2015<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }</style>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Earlier this week,
one of the group homes I help maintenance for the autistic had their
yearly re-licensing inspection. The county inspector dropped a fire
extinguisher she had removed from a closet at the top of the main
stairs, it broke, releasing that fine particulate fire retardant,
filling the upstairs hallway into the bedrooms, into the kitchen and
downstairs into the basement. When I got there two hours later (no
one thought to call me, I only found out because I called the other
maintenance man about another “save big money at …....” fraud
of an assemble-yourself picnic table purchase, trash out of the box,)
the other maintenance man was blowing that hideous noxious fire
retardant dust throughout the house and out the front door with a shop-vac, without
wearing a mask.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Like a perfect
metaphor for government at this point,” I said, to everybody there.
“Making a mess and not there to clean it up,” someone else added.
I feel bad now that I didn't add that banks and corporations do the
same thing, to be fair, but it seemed out of context at the time. It
was a government official who did this, who might otherwise have
quarantined the house and called in the MN Pollution Control Agency
(MPCA) and the Health Department et al, if one of the $12/hr house
staff had done it (we are a private contractor at the mercy of the
taxpayer's government.) There were no government officials to be
found in the clean-up of that debacle.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I've been ranting on
Facebook again, about gov, banks and corporations. People must think
I am crazy, talking about traitors and the most fascist collusion
between corp and gov there ever was, OKA (otherwise known as)
TPP/TISA/TTIP trade pacts. This, after the Minnesota legislature and
Governor Dayton just passed a <a href="http://fmr.org/news/2015/06/15/good-bad-and-dirty-how-environment-fared-special-session">MN State budget</a> that allows nurseries
to sell plants containing pesticides that are fatally toxic to
pollinators, as “bee friendly,” among other hideously eco-fascist
new laws (if fascist is the collusion of gov and corp in violence
against economy and ecology,) like allowing county boards to spray
wild hemp on private property and then charge the landowner for it;
Eliminating the citizen review board at the MPCA; greenlining the
Polymet, 20 years of mining for 500 years of sulphuric acid in
Minnesota waters, copper/nickel mine in northern Minnesota.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Which Polymet mine,
if Minnesota outlawed it, if TPP passes, Polymet would be able to sue
Minnesota for “lost profits.” They are going to get their mine
and give us the pollution, one way or another.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
While gov/corp/bank
continue their manifest destiny, to <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/u2s-bono-partners-with-monsanto-to-flood-african-agriculture-with-gmos/5456393">do unto Africa</a> what has been done
to America, what has been done to so much of the rest of the world,
this mono-cultural totalitarian treatment of people and the earth.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And I'm the crazy
guy?</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Few care about any
of this, in the context of a bowl-cut white guy shooting up an
historic black church/symbol of God and freedom for black people,
killing nine. Or Gov/Corp/Bank, OKA Military Industrial Complex,
antagonizing Russia and China to take up <a href="http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2015/06/an-affirming-flame.html">common cause against us</a>? Or
that fraudulent con, OKA aristocratic pageant OKA Presidential
Election 2016? Or the myriad entertainments? Or the pay-check to
pay-check existence most people live? God damn, the only thing
keeping most Americans believing their standard of living is better
than it ever has been anywhere ever, are their smart phones and tv
programming. War against Russia and China would put an end to most
of that, I suppose.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
What am I trying to
do? Do you think I am trying to start a movement, some revolution,
with all this online ranting? Yeah, what sort of revolution do you
imagine in this disparate, dissolving mega-state empire, with all
it's ghastly tools of mass destruction, it's divide and conquer
methodology, it's history of hidden and not so hidden atrocities in
the name of freedom, democracy and the holy market?
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The harder they try
to hold onto control, the more it dissolves. What am I trying to do?
Survive, like everybody else. To live well. I love my life. I have a
greenhouse, an oasis of a garden, a great job, the greatest
girlfriend ever. All this ranting about traitors and TPP trade pact
treason?
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I like coffee.
Coffee plants thrive in Hawaii, but nowhere in the 48 contiguous
states. I am growing one, as a novelty. I could probably grow more
with the proper infrastructure, at great expense, and not very much
of it. America isn't going to feed it's coffee habit on what Hawaii
and greenhouses can produce. Trade is good.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I am not in favor of
trade in people, or any system of trade monopolized by supra-state,
multinational, private corporations, or any monopolized trade that
comes at the expense of the health of people or ecosystems. I don't
care about 99.9% of the consumer trash available, nor “fresh”
fruit in January that tastes like cardboard because the few sugars
have turned to starch. Trade is fine, if it is mutually beneficial and ecologically responsible.
TPP is good for corporations and their investors, no one and nothing else, it is
the death of nation-state sovereignty and the sovereignty of people,
and the rise of a new aristocracy attached to quasi-states unto
themselves, multinational corporations and banks, a kind of untouchable
supra-state in collusion, controlling the globe.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Crazy. What am I
trying to do? What have I been doing, all these years, ranting about
this and that online, face to face to anyone who could hear it? I'm
trying to articulate what I see in a way that makes sense, so that
others will have the courage to question the narratives we live by,
the narratives we are controlled by. To give people the courage to
construct a new narrative, a new story about what this life and this
earth and this economy are about. To <a href="http://newsroom.unfccc.int/unfccc-newsroom/falling-in-love-with-the-earth/">fall in love with the earth again</a>, how about that for a revolution? <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf">If the Pope can do it</a>, you
can too. LOL. Let that not be construed as support for monocultural
anything. We've already had that revolution. </div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Happy Solstice. </div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-50969781949091503292015-06-10T10:30:00.000-05:002015-06-10T10:30:14.005-05:00Spring Peak Garden Update 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Grape vine climbing a stalk of quack grass, next to an apricot tree.<br />
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Onions with Oregano in a pot<br />
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Beans.<br />
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Peaches.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-23577974015118125742015-05-10T14:23:00.000-05:002015-05-10T14:23:18.322-05:00Mothers Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Plants purchased from the <a href="http://friendsschoolplantsale.com/">Friends plant sale</a> this past weekend. A wide variety of herbs, strawberries, two gooseberry, a serviceberry, two manchurian apricot, and assorted curiosities not commonly found in local nursery’s. <br />
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The focus today is on this boulevard. There are about two hundred sapling elm and maple to be pulled, including quack grass. It is rough work, made more difficult by the delicate spring plant growth; it would be best to pull these earlier in the season, after the earliest rains. But it can be done at any time, though always best a day after a rain. <br />
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Half done. This is the view from the corner, the full length of the boulevard weeded on the sidewalk side. Plus planting a few starts of lemon grass, sweet grass, trout lily, "arctic" strawberries, and leeks - about two hours. I consider it less like work and more like art; it is necessary to the aesthetic and health of this garden. While I weeded, a man dressed in synthetic running gear passed by, nodding to me, then stopping on the other side of the intersection and shouting, "I check out your house every week! I love it!" A beautiful woman walked by later, smiled at me and said, "I love walking by your place."<br />
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Another woman I do some gardening for, called yesterday and said, "Just so you know, I sprayed blue foam poison on the trees in the fence, and the thistles. In case you were coming by, I didn't want you to freak out." It's your yard, I said, basically. <br />
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I did this to my spade, pulling this elm. There were about two dozen like this, along the edge of the sidewalk, elm I have tried to pull in the past, which I ended up cutting off mostly out of laziness. Indeed, there are some now so deep, holding so fast, I cut them a few inches below the soil and hope for the best.<br />
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I get why people resort to poison. Saplings especially, as they are not easy to pull if they are more than a year old. That is the importance of pulling them the first year. It gets easier every year in this garden, as the soil is healthier each year. The woman who spread that poison, would be healthier if she spent time outside regularly, weeding her garden, pulling saplings, planting and harvesting. It is too much trouble, she has no passion for it, she is busy, she would rather watch television. <br />
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Done. There are more saplings throughout the garden, but I will wait until after the next rain, to make it easier. There are other things to be planted, a house project inside, I am needing to finish. There is gardening to be done at that woman's house. She is a mother of two. It is a service I do.<br />
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The wild onions have taken well here, revealed after pulling the mini-canopy of maple. They will flower in a few weeks. A staple of the plains Indians, high in vitamin c. The corner smelled of onions, as many were damaged in the process.<br />
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We have been conditioned to throw poison at every problem. Indeed, it is difficult to participate in this society economically, without contributing to systemic toxicity. Indeed, we are not encouraged at all, to treat the soil, air and water responsibly, but to consume without care for stewardship. They say that cancer is an old people's disease, but that is mostly because they have been immersed in this systemic toxicity the longest, and they haven't lived otherwise with respect for either their body or the body of the earth. And in fact, cancer is no longer just an old person's problem, increasing among younger people. Each of us contributes to that, reaching for the toxic consumer product, before thinking what else might be done that is healthier for oneself, others and for the earth.<br />
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Many people say "mother earth." Few respect her. On this day, this Mother's Day, be good to your mother. Consider, every day is mother's day, like every day is earth day. Be blessed. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-79183641079776317402015-05-04T12:35:00.000-05:002015-05-04T12:51:21.956-05:00Post May Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Asparagus from the garden. The band on my wrist is a thing I wear in respect for a young maiden with leukemia I have never met, Lola: "Until Lola Gets Better."<br />
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This doesn't look like much, but it is a wild banquet. If you were starving after a long winter, this would be quite life affirming. Young wild lettuce, nasty bitter as it ages, but young like this, lovely. Lambs quarter, also, with the pink leaves, which is the underside, as these are drooping a bit. I just watered it, as today, it is about 80 degrees, about 15 degrees higher than the average, this is the west wall and a sunny afternoon bakes this soil. There are prickly pear cactus to the left of this picture, which mid summer other than the wild lettuce, is about the only thing that can handle the conditions.<br />
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Next to it on the other side of the downspout, ferns and nettles. Nettles and lambs quarter are about the healthiest greens anywhere. I'm thinking of making a wild greens soup later*. Otherwise, the sort of weeds people spray poisons on. <br />
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Fiddleheads, of the bracken fern. I already ate two of these; there were five. Like the asparagus, I rarely cook them, but just break them off and eat them raw. Same with lambs quarters. The fiddlehead has a unique earthy flavor on the front end, and finishes like cucumber. <br />
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Here are the bracken fern, on the south wall next to the patio. Warmer here, they are more mature. <br />
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The ubiquitous dandelion. I make a lot of different kinds of wild homebrew, and I have always wanted to make dandelion wine, but I never get around to picking them, as I am otherwise so busy planting gardens. The greens of course are tasty and healthy too (best before it flowers.) They say the dried roots make a nice coffee substitute; I have never tried it.<br />
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A wild, native sand cherry. This one planted itself, or maybe from a pit I spit here, from one of two sand cherry I planted back in 2007, which have both since died of old age. <br />
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With rhubarb and onions.<br />
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This is the north side of the house. Foreground, raspberries. A kid cart I borrowed permanently from my sister, for groceries back when I had no automobile. Beyond that, three mulberry that showed up, which I probably cut at the base the first year, but now @ four years old, probably ready to fruit. Beyond that, two red elderberry, which blooming now fills the entire garden with the scent of their blossoms. Open the north windows and the house will fill with it. Not edible for people, but the berries are an attractive red and hang on all summer into fall, and birds will eat them.<br />
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Hops. They are spreading and will eventually cover both sides of the garage.<br />
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Another young sand cherry, which found it's way here, at the corner between the alley, street and sidewalk. There are five now. None of which I planted. They are an excellent, meaty wild berry. <br />
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A nice bench. <br />
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The bench is under this apple tree. It was in the yard when I moved in. I cut it down then, back when I was still under the spell of lawn grass, but it kept growing back. I moved it four years ago over by the pond; but then three years ago, I moved it here. I have no idea what kind of apple it is. It had three flowers, each of the last two years, but no fruit. This year it has two dozen flowers at least. I'm hopeful. <br />
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This is a black currant. I will trim new growth later this season, and propagate the cuttings. Last year I made a black currant/rhubarb/sand cherry/chokecherry homebrew, which was the best drink I fermented in 2014.<br />
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Wild strawberries, on the east boulevard. <br />
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The neighbor shovels around the fire hydrant whenever it snows, exposing the soil to the cold. I have wondered if that would blight the ground around it, but there are five different kinds of wildflower, quite healthy, circling it.</div>
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Next to the fire hydrant is this black locust. As trees will do, this get's bigger and bigger every year, soaking up more and more of the sun that would otherwise fall on my fruit trees. The spikes on these things are not for consumption. Nor is the city very friendly about cutting down boulevard trees, not even the one's with teeth. This one will eventually shade out the entire front garden.</div>
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Sour cherry tree. About a hundred blossoms, it's first year blooming.<br />
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An apple, foreground. A space for climbing cukes, etc. Beyond that, a sweet Stella cherry, which died back the hideous winter of 2013-14, sprouted with a dozen shoots above the graft in 2014, but I didn't cage the base of it last winter and the rabbits browsed it down to nothing and killed it. To be replaced by a Ranier cherry, as an experiment. <br />
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If you count the mulberries, most of which I will be cutting down to use as bean poles, and the fruit trees I ordered this year, there are 20 young fruit trees in this front garden. There are grapevines along the property line. There are nearly 40 fruit trees in the entire garden.<br />
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My neighbor's most excellent patch of creeping charlie, perhaps the most reviled of all lawn invaders. They did everything right, organic sod, organic treatments, and still...like a woman I talked to recently about thistles in her lawn, I tried to explain that you can't have mono-cultural sheets of grass without poisons, that these pioneer species are just the soil healing itself. Lawn grass is a wasteland. All she wanted to talk about was how someone had given her the thistle poison for free.<br />
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I have grass, in places, and I don't use poisons, but I don't have weed problems either, because I only cut the grass about 2-3 times a year, and the soil is otherwise healthy. The increased biodiversity and wild character, also holds much more water, so my grass doesn't dry out like most sheets of sod, late summer, weakening it and providing an opportunity for weeds like creeping charlie and thistles.<br />
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This part of the boulevard is like a forest in miniature, so many sugar maple sapplings. There are also wild onions, wild ginger, wild shooting star, and a few other wildflowers mixed in. I need to pull the saplings.<br />
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Wild
trillium, west boulevard. A little closed against the heat of the sun. A
little smaller this year, the whole plant, as the conditions are hot
and dry again this spring.<br />
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The view from the corner. This is a patch of black cap raspberries. It is the healthiest patch I have ever seen anywhere in the Midwest. These are like the raspberry canes I saw growing in Oregon, which were more purple than red, and as thick as a silver dollar is round. A guy told me if you left much of that region of Oregon to nature, in twenty years you would need to chop your way through to get anywhere. I don't know about those, but the berries of these make a most excellent homebrew, and jelly. </div>
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Impenetrable without a very sharp machete or a chain saw.<br />
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A maturing frontenac grape vine, which never really fruits because it is in the shade of....<br />
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This Norway maple hovers over my garden like a thief. Two years ago, I tapped it, the sap was sweeter and more prolific than the native sugar maple on this boulevard, but I tapped it again this year and a city worker came by and tried to steal my buckets. No tapping, that's a $4000 tree! he said. This precious non-native maple also reduces the food and fruit production of this garden <i>by at least half.</i> Even in the winter, the many branches block necessary sun from the greenhouse. Again, the city is not friendly about removing boulevard trees, even if I am adding three or four times the biomass in my garden.<br />
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Raspberries, foreground, with a mulberry. The city's Norway maple, lording over my garden. The comparatively modest, native sugar maple on the other side of the Norway maple.<br />
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A wild cherry tree in front of the greenhouse, and a giant silver maple in the neighbor's yard, poised over my little house like Damocles sword.<br />
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Peach tree in the raspberries, blooming.<br />
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The first of the cultivar strawberries. Next to wild violet.<br />
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Next to a young sand cherry, with some healing yarrow. The old dead sand cherry behind that.<br />
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The strawberry patch. I moved them here from the bed in the picture following, last fall. The city trees shade out more and more of this south end of the garden, so regular veggies don't do well in the late summer, early fall. Moving the veggie bed a little further north, hopefully more sun for increased growth.<br />
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Cabbage, cauliflower and romaine. With peas not up yet. A pioneer black cap raspberry on the left, colonizing the wildflower bed. <br />
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Because of the boulevard trees, this is a kind of wasteland, that would otherwise be very productive. I'm thinking of turning much of this area into pond, wrapping water around the wild cherry tree.<br />
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Summer veggie starts, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, melons, etc, plus the house plants: clementine, jasmine, South American morning glory, rosemary. Plus the plants growing in the ground, like leadplant and hollyhock. <br />
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Seed I planted very early. Not doing very well. It has been an exceedingly warm, dry spring.<br />
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Some wild hazelnut seed I am trying to sprout, in the containers in a line. Also, some old frontenac grape vines behind that, which I need to plant, sell, give away, or dump to make room for something else. With all my fruit trees, I am thinking about grafting, as a business opportunity. <br />
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The fish in the pond died this winter, as I let it freeze over for about a two week period in February, creating anoxic conditions that suffocated them. Sad. The liner is a reclaimed vinyl billboard, this being the fourth year without a leak - until now, maybe a small one. That, or it is just so warm and so dry it is evaporating quickly, with the fountain. The yellow flower is a marsh marigold. <br />
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Storm brewing. We need the rain.<br />
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Here were those asparagus, from the first pic in this post. I planted asparagus here in 2006, there were eight crowns, but now only four produce, and not so prolifically. They have been taken over by the raspberries, which are a very shallow rooted plant, while asparagus roots go very deep. Maybe they can co-exist.<br />
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It is early yet in the season. I will endeavor to post regular updates, that you might see this garden evolve. There are around 200 species of plants growing on this 1/8 acre, more than half of that more or less taking care of itself. It is an evolving micro-ecosystem, that I interfere with minimally, a refuge for birds and bugs (and me and my love.) It smells now of blooming fruit flowers, while so much of the rest of the city stinks like hydrocarbons and chemicals. Imagine if the whole city were landscaped something like this? It would be a great deal healthier and more resilient.<br />
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But this does not feed GDP. It does not feed the war machine. It does not feed the corporations that make the poisons that people spread with such blind alacrity. Why are there so many young children with cancer, why are so many women suffering from cancer in their reproductive systems, why are so many children born with some form of autism? And all we can think to do is throw more poisons at the problem? While no shortage of my sod and poison loving neighbors, hate this garden viscerally.<br />
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Many others love what I am doing here. I plan to do a lot more. I will keep you posted.<br />
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* The soup, I plan to rif off one <a href="http://22billionenergyslaves.blogspot.com/2012/04/methane-and-nettle-soup.html">nettle soup</a> proposed by my friend Jason Heppenstall. I also highly recommend his <a href="http://22billionenergyslaves.blogspot.com/2015/04/looking-for-some-answers.html">book</a>. He and I (and many others) are on a very similar path of healing. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-26572044783939606232015-04-28T10:39:00.001-05:002015-04-28T10:40:18.329-05:00TPP and TTIPFeel free to contact your Congressional Legislators in Washington, and let them know that TPP and TTIP Fast Track Trade Authority is unconstitutional at best and treason at worst.<br />
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They vote this week, and it looks like Congress under the radar pretty much, is going to vote for it, because every one who does, knows they will be richly rewarded, never mind apparently, they sold out the sovereignty of America and Americans, to elite foreign and domestic interests.<br />
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<a href="http://www.senate.gov/%E2%80%A6/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm">http://www.senate.gov/…/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm </a><br />
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<a href="http://www.house.gov/representatives/">http://www.house.gov/representatives/</a><br />
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For reference, <a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/">Naked Capitalism</a> has had some excellent coverage on this, particularly an article by Lambert Strether, on the enshrining of <a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/04/tpp-toward-absolutist-capitalism.html">Absolutist Capitalism</a>.<br />
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The Trans-Pacific Partnership will effectively criminalize any local control over the land, air, water, and public health and welfare. All Federal, State, and Local laws and ordinances will be held subject to international trade law, as defined by an international tribunal of corporate attorneys appointed by multinational corporations. It will allow multinational corporations to go ANYWHERE in any signatory country, including America, and say, we want to mine, plow, drill, log etc, and if State or Municipality says no, they will sue for profits lost, and win. Legal extortion, for the corporate set.<br />
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It is unbelievable that Congress is for this, but then Congress has no idea what it is about anymore, except maintaining American empire, and their status in it. If America had any sense of itself anymore other than a consumer paradise, Americans would put every one who votes for this bloody trade pact, to washing public toilets for a decade or more, or some such equivalent.<br />
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If you think Baltimore is a mess, wait about a decade after TPP passes, and America has been hollowed out even more, it's populace even more economically insecure, preyed upon from every gov/corp/bank angle, with the TPP and TTIP empowering an increasingly untouchable and wealthy Washington and Wall Street elite. <br />
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If they pass it, at least you can say you stood up and said no.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-19380621484250266092015-04-13T21:31:00.000-05:002015-04-13T21:31:31.678-05:00Shelter from the Storm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-72036040173745748102015-04-13T09:17:00.001-05:002018-02-11T14:22:17.409-06:00My Greenhouse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKiWKyEM58R0GdZWzlILug-mcKG_aJ6WGiAPlWI9N34t-Iw7V1BCNWTHncpCmzMKoAqh1otCCssfSU4WMM40rhaSq8Nf1qT69SUzempbX_yn_M4XpdB0P4LHW5y8ic6Bmc9lUKaw14lxE/s1600/IMG_20150328_180015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKiWKyEM58R0GdZWzlILug-mcKG_aJ6WGiAPlWI9N34t-Iw7V1BCNWTHncpCmzMKoAqh1otCCssfSU4WMM40rhaSq8Nf1qT69SUzempbX_yn_M4XpdB0P4LHW5y8ic6Bmc9lUKaw14lxE/s1600/IMG_20150328_180015.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
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My greenhouse. First introduced in my <a href="http://www.offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/03/spring-update.html">Spring Update</a> post, March 29, 2015; which the City of Minneapolis, Inspections, is calling an illegal addition, because I did not consult the city, not applying for the requisite permits. <br />
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This was the first stage, started early last spring 2014. <br />
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The roof and east, south and southeast walls were enclosed with glass, and rigid
acrylic, the west wall remained open through the summer.<br />
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Spring 2014 plant starts. <br />
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This picture shows distinctly the two different stages (taken yesterday, with the pond foreground, it is early spring with little green growth outside the greenhouse.) The first stage I built with a cedar tone treated lumber, which I paid about $450 for. The second stage frame is reclaimed old-growth Douglas Fir, I removed from a house near Lake of the Isles, when I was in remodelling during the housing bubble, 2004-2007. The glass is mostly reclaimed sliding glass doors, I have collected through Craigslist mostly. The bulk from one job, bartered in exchange for tearing off two layers of siding on a house, and installing some windows and doors. I spent about $1000 to build this. I wish now I had used reclaimed Douglas Fir for the entire frame, as I have enough. A 155 sq ft glass greenhouse for $500 approx?<br />
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The roof is constructed with 2x4, with a 1/4in spacing between joists, greater than the width of the glass sheets; with 2x2 (or equivalent) screwed to each side of the inner joists, the glass is resting on. I used carpet tape and foam sill seal as waterproofing, between the glass frame and the joist. The upper level glass is laying horizontally across the joists, overlapping the glass below like a shingle. As you can see, the dimensions are dictated by the glass; that sheet of glass in the upper left (northwest) corner is from a window that had the right width to fill the space, but was longer than the sliding glass sheet next to it. </div>
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For the walls, I left the sliding glass doors in their frames, inserting them into custom pockets of 2x4 framing (the roof glass, I removed from their frames.) Normally in stick-frame construction, you would rest the joists directly above each wall stud. But because there is a roof overhang on each end, the spacing doesn't match up, dictated as it is by the glass dimensions. No matter, the roof load is not significant, even with heavy snow. The roof pitch is about 22.2 degrees. I would have raised it higher to put less downward stress on the glass, but the angle was mostly dictated by the roof line above the sunroom/front entry. </div>
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The greenhouse is not attached to the house in any way. It is one separate structure effectively resting against the south face of the house. </div>
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The door is sliding glass I hung from hinges. In the winter I will keep it closed, seal it, and enter the greenhouse from the house, through the sunroom. <br />
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There is about a one inch gap between the roof glass and the top plate. I stuffed battened fiber glass insulation in the gap, which I can remove in the summer for venting. I once criticized (gently) a friend who used blow-in foam insulation in a project of his. Hypocrite. LOL. <br />
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Again, the greenhouse is not attached to the house, by any bolt or screw or strap etc. The gap between the house is filled with more spray foam, and some fiberglass. I filled this west wall upper corner, with plywood on both sides and a rigid foam sheet between, because I thought it would help conserve heat in the winter. But it also blocks critical late afternoon sun in the spring and fall especially, so I think I will cover it with acrylic or poly-carbonate, and build removable insulating panels I can place there in the evening in the winter.<br />
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The 2x4 + 2 2x2 joists. At the peak, there is about a 6 inch gap between the glass and the wall of the house. I covered it with two, 12in wide sheets of plywood, covered with shingles, panels I can remove in the summer for venting. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEoOtwchP5Ga0mL4LlEdYhVfMfXVOPJ9R90HmyJsrWJ9InqcL7JCFDSrVFK1VwYlUzt0kk1iOxv1t8Dj0xqB2hiByZ6Nmu9LaQ2vShnKMMEDhEDqbgorMUKeF7DmeNygyzyOk1p1zJy5M/s1600/IMG_20150412_104005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEoOtwchP5Ga0mL4LlEdYhVfMfXVOPJ9R90HmyJsrWJ9InqcL7JCFDSrVFK1VwYlUzt0kk1iOxv1t8Dj0xqB2hiByZ6Nmu9LaQ2vShnKMMEDhEDqbgorMUKeF7DmeNygyzyOk1p1zJy5M/s1600/IMG_20150412_104005.jpg" width="330" /></a></div>
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Here the two stages of greenhouse come together. I dug a trench 4.5 feet below this, deep enough to insert a 4x8 sheet of 1-1/2in rigid foam, the hole backfilled with a heavy sand mix, with a footing, class-five crushed limestone 2ft deep and 18in to 2 ft wide, the full length of the south face of the greenhouse.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaueyEXfRYfxIJV7Fg5PRB2nGYWeF9P8vGjL_yQsFi-hhcbIoCd0tY3gly0BiBvOkOPM0RNjtr2S5R9m99l0940aFYDH_t8UIxWa4423lL6LkbELwfQDTPKsmRJhDFRXA1jH3zFB60eO8/s1600/IMG_20150328_175916.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaueyEXfRYfxIJV7Fg5PRB2nGYWeF9P8vGjL_yQsFi-hhcbIoCd0tY3gly0BiBvOkOPM0RNjtr2S5R9m99l0940aFYDH_t8UIxWa4423lL6LkbELwfQDTPKsmRJhDFRXA1jH3zFB60eO8/s1600/IMG_20150328_175916.jpg" width="330" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3XdtI3YWrEJ_-mWqTb_bj5r11grbhSrTsSwJEElgGdAKnmXZJ_cLjS0kn5XUFxPCwM8jGiSU8qKxII-0osmeNellAZiT8ymyxYdIeFp4DSQ7RibxdFhZDIVKHsFROGbHa2tI4Mg5GrJg/s1600/IMG_20150412_103827.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3XdtI3YWrEJ_-mWqTb_bj5r11grbhSrTsSwJEElgGdAKnmXZJ_cLjS0kn5XUFxPCwM8jGiSU8qKxII-0osmeNellAZiT8ymyxYdIeFp4DSQ7RibxdFhZDIVKHsFROGbHa2tI4Mg5GrJg/s1600/IMG_20150412_103827.jpg" width="330" /></a></div>
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2015 plant starts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhInPWTYSOY6gx4zLXamAmvJghVjV5QLMxUV5vn8VHj1pf3r6Go7Ovk1-TOHsS4IuX9QV0u09TgukwPONdA1-xnauShHvNngrm6pIEMt7VE6scMVxmJ_gBpfxNi5AG6dymWvWoEFfNd9kU/s1600/IMG_20150412_123529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhInPWTYSOY6gx4zLXamAmvJghVjV5QLMxUV5vn8VHj1pf3r6Go7Ovk1-TOHsS4IuX9QV0u09TgukwPONdA1-xnauShHvNngrm6pIEMt7VE6scMVxmJ_gBpfxNi5AG6dymWvWoEFfNd9kU/s1600/IMG_20150412_123529.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrBMCJ0rtkbrs8gXzUbHAjDKlXHDUy7mVXjE-SBxCkVs1gTZxThNHbIV2NtIJsyMhPrVlzRXoU-7tLVZuIP0OEzWAOp-DpeZQIt5DMkuNTzLVW2ycwpGL8q-uk8ygjLFbhRHsyOQ47jBA/s1600/IMG_20150412_123535.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrBMCJ0rtkbrs8gXzUbHAjDKlXHDUy7mVXjE-SBxCkVs1gTZxThNHbIV2NtIJsyMhPrVlzRXoU-7tLVZuIP0OEzWAOp-DpeZQIt5DMkuNTzLVW2ycwpGL8q-uk8ygjLFbhRHsyOQ47jBA/s1600/IMG_20150412_123535.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
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Winter Solstice, the sun is just above that chimney. There are too many trees in the way for a proper winter greenhouse, reducing it's efficiency when it needs the sun most. But alas, I am in the city, and can not go about cutting down boulevard trees. As for winter greenhouses for most of my neighbors? The Minneapolis city grid has almost every house in most neighborhoods, in the shadow of it's southern neighbor, most of the winter, spring and fall.<br />
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The view from the sunroom.</div>
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From the bedroom. The summer plants, the tomatoes and peppers and eggplant, are enclosed in a greenhouse within a greenhouse. When the day is sunny and above 40 degrees outside, I can leave the windows open and the greenhouse heats the house. Two nights ago I left the windows open, the temperature outside hit a low of 48, the thermostat set at 64, it was 74 at peak and 67 in the morning. It was 75 outside yesterday, with a normal high of 56. I propped open the greenhouse door much of the afternoon. It peaked at 76 in the house. A thunderstorm rolled through late evening, it was 58 outside at midnight, the windows were open to the greenhouse and it was 73 in the house. This morning it was 46 outside, 67 in the house, with the windows to the greenhouse open all night.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmkN-AoFwxpG0cHfgE_3_4Pxw9ABxnXllctEQjo3AIqpo6YRHpN20NS4_0V5c-yCNtQQTtSmQKdWD8mVgBuH9wKdOXzX36_Ys_4JrpV_FtlKlWjMfegLwRVoqan1gkK_ADfSvRYkJN-A/s1600/IMG_20150412_103602.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTmkN-AoFwxpG0cHfgE_3_4Pxw9ABxnXllctEQjo3AIqpo6YRHpN20NS4_0V5c-yCNtQQTtSmQKdWD8mVgBuH9wKdOXzX36_Ys_4JrpV_FtlKlWjMfegLwRVoqan1gkK_ADfSvRYkJN-A/s1600/IMG_20150412_103602.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
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April 13, the greenhouse is considerably greener than the garden. There are plants in the ground in the greenhouse, as tall as they would be, mid-june outside. The greenhouse is a work in progress. Many changes to come, of my own design.<br />
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Minneapolis City Inspections has received hundreds, perhaps thousands of complaints about my house, mostly about the garden. They don't hear from the people who walk by and tell me how much they love my garden and greenhouse. April 15 is the deadline to file for a permit. I will go to the City Attorney, Monday, and see what the consequences are for not paying for a permit. The question is, is defying the code more or less costly, than pulling the permit and risking the Inspector requiring an expensive list of unnecessary "fixes"?<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-72479539667732842212015-04-09T09:59:00.000-05:002018-02-11T14:20:00.723-06:00SoapboxSometimes someone says something to me and I see the world differently.<br />
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Like when a man said to me recently that I could become like Tom Bombadil. The urge is strong, it always has been, to live at the intersection between civilization and wilderness, or what there still is of wilderness in America. The end of the road (in a country where there are roads almost everywhere.) Grow food, build greenhouses and off-grid housing, brew fruits of the garden and wild, spend much of my time in the woods, hunting and foraging, otherwise singing and dancing and enjoying this wondrous earth. I've lived like that before, I grew up in the woods, I miss that, perhaps more than anything about my life in the city. I love my life in the city, but sometimes I do wonder about what I'm doing in the city.<br />
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This blog seems to have lost the thread of it's genesis. The blog began with the fact that I was living in this house in the summer of 2010, without any of the utilities on, without any money or a job, with an idea about taking the house officially off the grid. There's been little progress on the Off-Grid plans. Mostly since, I have been ranting about this or that, sometimes saying something thoughtful or creative, mostly just evaluating the issues of the day as I saw them, as from a soapbox. I have also written about the gardens, but otherwise I haven't said much about the house, other than some of the details in my on-again, off-again troubles with city bureaucracy. <br />
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That trouble seems on-again, about that greenhouse I showed you <a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2015/03/spring-update.html">last post</a>. <br />
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They are saying the greenhouse is an illegal addition, because I didn't apply for a permit. I didn't apply for a permit, because I didn't want to spend the money, and because I wanted to build the thing as inexpensively as possible. Letting an inspector in is almost certain to inflate the cost considerably; and besides, I don't need an inspector to tell me whether I am capable of building a structurally sound greenhouse. Besides, I have a lot of projects in mind, that I can do inexpensively, most of which would require a permit, some of which projects Inspections would call illegal; I can't afford to pay the city to permit me to make my house stronger, more energy efficient, more comfortable and resilient - not with my underwater mortgage, on my meager salary maintenancing houses for the autistic. There is also the argument, in this age, if I document digitally everything I do to the house, that any pending buyer might consult, or anyone spending time here, what do I need the City to approve it for?<br />
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They sent a <i>Final Warning</i>, on threat of "legal action." I went downtown and told them, after I received the first notice, I don't want my $800 greenhouse to turn into a several thousand dollar debacle. I think this time I'm going to skip Inspections, and go straight to the City Attorney. So I have a (potential) mediator who knows what bad press can cost the City. One in that office kept Inspections from coming into my house with a swat team, <a href="http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2011/05/resolution.html">in the summer of 2011</a>, because I didn't have the natural gas hooked up. Budget constrains now what they are, I'm not sure what maniacal tendencies I might incite if I try to engage Inspections directly, in their protecting of Public Health and Welfare (getting their money one way or another.)<br />
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That I should have to engage Inspections at all, is somewhat offensive to my spirit. I'm not sure how the City Attorney is going to react to my argument that inspections aren't necessary (probably with a repetitious shield of "it's the code.") I suspect by legal action they mean they are going to assess the Fees to my property taxes, if I don't comply. But then, these days, you never know what kind of treatment you might get from your government; and with a monopoly on power, not a few bureaucrats are drunk with it. <br />
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Anyway, you might imagine why I am thinking about living somewhere else, far from the city.<br />
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It's at times like these, I'm grateful for my soapbox. Even if all I have been doing with it lately is posting mostly pithy comments about articles I post on Facebook. <br />
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Except the context of what was said to me recently, that changed my world, was that I <i>sound</i> like I'm standing on a soapbox. Someone has to do it, I said. But I know what she meant. I don't want to be that guy, standing above, on the corner shouting about what's wrong with the culture, absolutely. There is too much wrong with the culture to do much of anything about it. It will run it's course no matter what I shout about. <br />
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At the same time, some things need to be said. Some things need to be talked about. Like a Facebook friend who likes to put all Muslims in a box labelled "evil", with Obama as their Chief. He wrote a long screed recently, about which I called noxious and mean spirited, that his language made me think he was engaged in a "Holy War" that would destroy civilization. To which another of his friends, Tuffy, replied:<br />
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"Sounds like that guy Duncan has had too much "kool-aid". For a better, more clear definition of "holy war", he should probably join ISIS; they will explain it to him."<br />
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To which I replied: "LOL, Tuffy. Sing and dance, get drunk, get high if you like (I recommend cannabis as it can chill you out ;) Otherwise, yeah, "kool-aid" - speaking of ISIS, do you mean that thing so much a product of America and Europe's imperious war machine, or what happens anytime you reach such a high population, and can't provide jobs to or even feed the majority of people (and you've been manipulating them with misinformation for generations), or the very dark and hideous shadow of that monotheistic cousin, or the goddess? War is never holy."<br />
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Somebody has to say it.<br />
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`<br />
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I don't want to go to war with the City. Meanwhile, forthcoming, updates on that; and I will write a little more about the greenhouse, and about the gardens I am building, here and off-site.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-20175263130586596562015-03-29T11:33:00.000-05:002015-03-29T11:53:41.729-05:00Spring Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My greenhouse, work in progress. Constructed mostly out of second-hand sliding glass
doors, and old-growth douglas fir I pulled out of a house on Lake of the
Isles during the housing bubble. Eventually, fish tanks and greens
year-round. 40 degrees outside and sunny yesterday, I opened the windows
to the house and the house stayed @ 69 with the thermostat set to 65. I
was in a t-shirt and jeans sweating, starting the tomatoes and peppers
and herbs, singing like a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9vHS6JdHog"><span style="color: #0000ee;">thrush</span></a>, people walking by on the sidewalk all
bundled up.<br />
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<div class="_5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">
The city of Minneapolis is calling it an illegal addition.<br />
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <br />
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Also, a few thoughts on my recent vacation in Oregon: I loved it, the state is
beautiful, and I met a lot of great people; Minnesota on return feels
like a frozen stick in the mud; the Oregon forest however seems to be
logged according to the same corporate efficiencies that have ruined
farming in the Midwest, the vast majority of the forest perpetually
immature, not older than 30 years - but where are all the jobs? Many of
the coastal towns that used to thrive on logging, are barely hanging on
with tourism, and yet the forest seems logged more aggressively than
ever. Where is all that money going? The usual places - up the totem
pole so to speak. America doesn't own the land of America anymore, Big
(multinational) Ag does. <br />
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So much of Oregon is so very green. I met a man there, raising search-and-rescue bloodhounds, building a kind of wilderness retreat for "troubled" youth. He has applied for grants; if successful, he said he would hire me, I could become like <a href="http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Tom_Bombadil">Tom Bombadil</a>, build a Shire. LOL, skipping through the forest, singing, making magic. Growing food year-round. Gathering truffles and assorted fungi, berries. I could gather blackberries for a month out there and ferment enough to sell. Building yurts and greenhouses.
I would be very inclined to relocate, especially if my love decides to stay there, as she seems inclined to :( The difficulty is this house, and garden, which to date no one has offered to buy (and I don't know that I'm willing to sell), except to bulldoze the lot and the greenhouse and all the fruit trees and gardens, and build a mcmansion. I might rent it too, but it would need a lot of work to prepare it, and city governance and the mortgage would make renting otherwise difficult. A day rental? But I would have to pay people to maintain it. My love might decide to go overseas, too, in which case I would not have my <a href="http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Goldberry">Goldberry</a> to follow to Oregon.<br />
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What to do, what to do? Meanwhile, I do what I diddily do dong dillo ;)</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-46735316957767224322015-02-13T14:35:00.000-06:002018-02-11T14:17:59.003-06:00War ProfiteeringThe death of Kayla Mueller, and the consequent media spectacle, with the near immediate request by President Barack Obama to authorize <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/opinion/obama-seeking-an-expansive-war-authorization-congress.html?smid=tw-share&_r=2">war against ISIS</a> anywhere in the world, puts into stark relief the extent to which war is embedded now as a significant part of GDP in America*. In a time of glaring "inequality", when the economic "recovery" is a contrast between those who are invested in Wall Street and everybody else, the direct beneficiaries of TARP and QE taking over America in a kind of quiet coup, what we have got since the fall of the World Trade Towers is a kind of global untouchable aristocracy encouraging conflict on every front. The economy poised at a kind of knife edge, any cut in military expenditures, with American growth anemic, European instability, Russian sanctions, a Chinese debt bubble, Japanese money printing madness, and global demand deflation, could result in de-growth for America and global economic depression. To deflect the people from the malfeasance and outright mismanagement of global economic affairs, and really outright plundering of national treasuries, war is ever the answer, the ultimate imperial distraction.<br />
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Good thing for GDP bean counters, the increased economic activity of the war profiteers, that America is increasingly hostile toward Russia, Syria, ISIS and North Korea. Little did Kayla know how "useful" her healing hands would be.<br />
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As part of my job, maintaining housing for the profoundly autistic, I was painting a wall I had repaired, while one of the staff, a young father of about 27, watched CNN and Fox coverage of the death of Kayla Mueller. I asked him what he thought: "It sounds terrible," he said, "but my first thought was, I wonder if she really existed." I replied that it seemed like she did, that she was a kind, pretty, generous, thoughtful, loving, self-less young woman, who very much wanted to bring healing to the world, and that there would certainly be people in America who would not necessarily be sorry that she is dead.<br />
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Classic psy-ops/perception management. "Never waste a crisis." I don't think the leadership of America realizes to what extent it has trickled down into the consciousness of Americans, the concept of government and media manipulation, how everything about war and the economy is never quite as it seems. When did Kayla die? How? How was it that she was taken captive before ISIS became news; as hideously brutal as they have seemed, that she was treated with "the utmost kindness," even gaining weight, and yet there were no demands? <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/10/us-mideast-crisis-hostage-idUSKBN0LE1WV20150210">She wasn't news until she was dead</a>. She was kidnapped in August 2013!<br />
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Maybe she died in a Jordanian airstrike, maybe she died a long time ago. Maybe she died in a recent combat skirmish, ISIS vs ?, and "her captors couldn't keep her safe." Whatever, the next day Obama asks Congress for military authorization to go to war against ISIS, anywhere in the world. <br />
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Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, said recently that the US invasion of Iraq created ISIS. That is only part of the story. <a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/11/26/wes_clark_and_the_neocon_dream/">Destabilizing the Middle East</a> has been American foreign policy, if unspoken, at least since the mid-Nineties. With recent revelations suggesting Saudi involvement in 9/11, it <a href="http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20150206/1017869785.html">begins to look like</a> ISIS as well as Al Qaeda, were cultivated in a joint venture by American neo-cons, and Saudi princes. ISIS is much a result of American meddling in Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan and Iraq (etc). Combined with Middle East over-population, high unemployment, and legions of disaffected young men educated only in the finer points of hard-core conservative Islam, it was a potent means of making war profiteering extremely lucrative, indefinitely.<br />
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It's no secret, a cabal of geo-political Neo-Cons, and economic Neo-Liberals, have aspired after an imperialist Pax-Americana based on debt and a monopoly on power, global hegemonic domination, since at least the Clinton era, and really since Ronald Reagan, and the rise of Chicago School supply-side, trickle-down economics. Full-spectrum dominance, according to the military. Groups like the Council on Foreign Relations, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century">Project for a New American Century</a>, have advocated openly for such a Pax-Americana, and any serious evaluation of American realpolitik reveals, continuity in the building of a total surveillance infrastructure, eternal war profiteering, and the empowering of multinational banks and corporations, is the ideological (if unspoken) foundation of both major political parties in America.<br />
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Indeed, it is as if we are on Imperial auto-pilot, like total war is as inevitable as the passing of the seasons. This is obvious to even the most casual observer, and yet a film like American Sniper, and the death of Kayla Mueller, reveals how easily so many in America can be swayed. The American people still perceive the measles virus a greater threat than an untouchable class of war profiteers seemingly destined to initiate Armageddon/Apocalypse/WWIII. Is a virus that has killed fewer people in America than the vaccine the last twenty years, a greater danger than banks and military contractors and their executives and shareholders guiding American foreign policy?<br />
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Then again, it bears to return to the question, who profits? Of course there are those making millions, tens and hundreds of millions, billions, profiting from war in the name of peace and freedom and democracy; at the same time, many corporations profiting from eternal war are traded publicly in the stock market. That means, hedge funds, pension funds, mutual funds, IRA's, 401k's, university endowment funds (unless there is some specific covenant restriction) profit directly from war. Which means something like 50% of Americans profit directly from war, and many of the rest profit indirectly, if only that the economy keeps humming along, the government keeps paying it's employees, handing out benefit checks, etc.<br />
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There are few things more morally repugnant than profiting off war. Especially now, when a global conflict, WWIII, would be universally damaging, would likely destroy much of global infrastructure, much of the capacity of humans to maintain a global economy. Especially as the rich and powerful of the world, more connected to those who are making the decisions about war, are more able to <a href="http://twoicefloes.com/tighten-those-chin-straps-folks-because-here-comes-a-rapid-unscheduled-disassembly-rud/">position themselves to profit</a> in the aftermath, in the same way we have seen the exponential minting of billionaires, in the aftermath of the global economic crash of 2008.<br />
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What would Kayla say, about her life and death used as a means to benefit war profiteering? I think if she had known how much the conflict in Syria is a product of American imperialism, she might have found any number of places in the world where there is the opportunity to ease suffering, without running the risk of becoming a propaganda tool of warmongers. Which is a direct message to anyone inclined toward healing: if you want to bring healing to the world, start with yourself, by questioning everything you are told about America's wars. If you want to heal the world, heal America.<br />
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*Most of the "military expenditures as % of GDP" information to be found, is grossly inadequate, and make the US numbers seem small compared to much of the rest of the world. They do not take into account how much of the economy is ancillary to the military, the contractors involved, the suppliers etc. Nor do they take into account those agencies not specifically military in name - CIA, NSA, FBI, DHS etc - but very much about the State maintaining full spectrum dominance. And Washington and Wall Street and the Federal Reserve are become like a supra-national State unto themselves. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-71412897385851956312015-02-03T10:52:00.000-06:002015-02-03T10:52:59.144-06:00What Is There To Say? I was ranting on Facebook recently. Earlier that day, I had driven 150 miles through the city and the suburbs, for my job maintaining houses for the profoundly autistic. The last few miles, through Minneapolis during rush hour, cursing urban planners, "if the plan is to get us to sit at the lights as long as possible..." When I arrived home, I thought I would take a nap. Three hours later I was still on Facebook, ranting. Later that night I posted a <i>mea culpa</i>.<br />
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It wasn't just Facebook, with my ranting. I was on other sites simultaneously, back and forth, reading this and that, commenting, back to Facebook with a plan to share what others had posted, back and forth, site to site. I wanted to post a dozen articles I read elsewhere - see, see what I have been saying! But I restrained myself. I don't mean to act like a mad man. ODD, what? LOL<br />
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Seriously though, if the country had any heart left, we would think about violence less, and more about how institutionalized the country has become, how dependent we have become upon institutions for our survival. By institution I mean any collective group ordered according to a strict hierarchy: Corporations, banks, health care, food production and delivery, water delivery, fuel, military, law enforcement, education (public and private), government in all it's myriad forms.<br />
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Institutionalized. It seems to me, consumer, whatever the case for the great achievements of the modern age, institutions are increasingly efficient at de-humanizing people. The corporation as a person? If to dehumanize is to be sociopathic, the three most sociopathic persons I ever worked for were two S & P 500 corporations and one of the biggest banks. Government? Does government make you feel like the sovereign citizen of a Republic? Like an equal voice in a Democracy? Government is better at sustaining itself than it is at checking the will to power in corporations or banks or individuals. The will to power rules. Who rules what? Whom? <br />
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What is Washington DC? Republicans decry the dictatorial powers Obama assumes with Executive Orders, and then prostrate themselves with delight, handing him the divine right of kings, with TPP and TAFTA trade pacts, or drone bombing whatever "terrorist" or "violent extremist" the President decides has to die. What is a beltway Democrat? A neo-liberal, neo-con true believer in the power of the State to hand over the reign of power to corporations and banks, warmongering her way to prosperity? Obama asks Congress for another war in the Middle East, he taunts Russia, and the primary message out of the levers of power is summed up in gladiatorial drama to distract the masses from their economic troubles, <i>American Sniper</i> to draw on American Christian mythology of Armageddon to feed the military machine and globalist demands for world domination, and oh how we love the middle class. <br />
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An "investor" told me recently he has claimed 12% annual gains the last six years, in bonds and stocks. That's QE, international banker money, building asset bubbles for investors. Trickle Down? When? Who among the non-investing (because they don't have any money to invest) middle class, the working poor, have seen even 1% gains, all of the last six years combined, the last 40 years? How many have seen their wage decline? <br />
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I don't blame that investor. He's just a "middle class guy" who was a good local business man, who grew up poor with a working class single-mom, born during WWII, a true believer in the American dream. What he achieved, most people want for their family. He just doesn't see how fewer people have access to that dream every day. <br />
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Meanwhile, the American Dream is become like the dream of every one who has ever desired to rule the world. Radar exists to see into any building, where the people are, what they are doing; we are building the infrastructure to track license plates, to keep a record of everyone's travel; they can track you with your phone or new car; we have the drone technology to track any movement; every digital communication can be recorded and saved; we have the ability to access anyone's digital life - there is no firewall that cannot be breached.<br />
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That doesn't bode well for freedom, for anyone. <br />
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What is there to say, when even the keystrokes of this computer can be watched, monitored, recorded by government or gov contractors (corporations), anyone with the skill and the tech?<br />
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Whatever it is, speak up :)<br />
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What was this blog supposed to be about? A friend messaged me on Facebook recently, saying I sounded angry and cynical, and that he was worried about me. He admitted he might be projecting, feeling his own sense of being overwhelmed about the state of the world. I assured him that if I merely sound angry and cynical, I need to take a look at that; because that is not what this blog, or any of my online activity, was supposed to be about.<br />
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A woman I love told me, if she had met me through my writing she would have thought I was an asshole; she added that my writing sometimes made her feel stupid. I told her that a lot of people do that, they encounter an unfamiliar or uncomfortable idea and they shut down, and then criticize themselves for not being smart enough. But how do people change when they need to, or learn about what they don't understand, if they don't ask questions?<br />
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I've since re-read some of the writing in this blog, and have cringed. I think a lot of the time, I sound exasperated, like I can't figure out why people don't get it. I think some of the time I sound ignorant. I think some of the time I sound crazy. A lot of it is not attractive or constructive. Bad form. Not worthy. <br />
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I didn't post much in 2014. I was distracted by love; and overwhelmed like a lot of people, with economic concerns, with the volume of information, with the tragedy of so much of the news. I needed a re-set.<br />
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I started this blog, because I was squatting in this house without utilities or money, and no job. I had blown up my middle class life, returned destitute, with a dream to take the house off the grid, to make a model of it, for a time when people need it.<br />
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I'm still on that path. It's not easy. But there is the shell infrastructure of a greenhouse installed, plans for a rocket mass heater and solar heating. A bio-gas burner. Fish tanks. More brewing. More singing and dancing. LOL<br />
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I'll keep posting. Thanks for reading.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-8220775688943481902015-01-21T10:13:00.000-06:002015-01-21T10:13:04.659-06:00On the 2015 State of the Union<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }</style>
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Jodi Ernst is white bread tone deaf. John Boehner looked like a
greedy mean spirited prick; that and how fitting the elitist he has
become, he only presented the President to Congress. Joe Biden looked
like there's a reason he creeps out a lot of people. The President?<br />
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The President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein
Obama, undermined everything he said, when he asked Congress to pass
[fast track] trade authority for the Atlantic and the Pacific, to
enact as law, before the American people are able to read it; which,
if the rumors are true and it would cede judicial precedence to a
foreign, supra-national court, that would be the constitutional
nullification of America as a sovereign nation-state.
Unconstitutional at best. Treason at worst.<br />
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He asked Congress to authorize another war in the Middle
East.<br />
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He juxtaposed and conflated “terrorism” and “violent
extremism”, which is a direct message, a declaration, that any
violent challenge to the continued centralization of power,
particularly manifest in the military and total surveillance,
corporations, banks and government, will be treated with the same
logic doled out currently to “terrorists."<br />
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In other words, in the event of these trade pacts "fast tracked," allowing corporations, financed by banks, to go anywhere, in
any signatory country, monopolize, mine, log, plow, pollute, ruin, take public and private land more
or less as their legal system decrees necessary to the health of the economy: there would be nothing legally that could be done to
prevent it; fight with weapons, to protect your
health or the health of your family and community, the air, water, and land,
they will drone bomb you and everything in between. Get that, “9/11
generation”?<br />
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He lied about one thing for sure. He would totally run for
president of the world. (Note to world: he used the words "terror" and "vicious" in the first paragraph.)
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1160895395634617774.post-4400612694313960422014-11-05T11:44:00.001-06:002014-11-05T12:32:05.521-06:00Reflections on the Morning AfterMany are calling the American midterm 2014 elections a Republican rout, a repudiation of Obama and the Democratic agenda. More like, Democrats have no agenda, nothing to say of any consequence, and a little Republican something is better than Democrat nothing. Never mind, that Republican something is tax cuts for rich people, gutting of environmental protections, dismantling of programs for the poor, MORE WAR and shows of force domestically, the dismantling of the Republic in favor of multinational corporations and banks. But then, that is what Americans have got from their government Left or Right, for 40 years, so what kind of rout is this really?<br />
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What will the Republicans do with their "rout"? 2015 will see bill after bill, from massive tax cuts for rich people, the gutting of the EPA, outlawing abortion, opening the Keystone XL pipeline, dismantling Obamacare, probably every bill structured in such a way that Obama will not sign it. Consequently, nothing will be done, and 2016 will be all about new elections and Billary vs the Bushes, aristocratic cock fighting, two years of worse gridlock than we've seen. About the only thing we can be certain of, coming from this government, is MORE WAR.<br />
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Americans generally seem to have taken a hard right turn, what with them voting Republican at the states level too, even in Dem-leaning states. Which is more a symptom of the poor and Dem working-class not showing up to vote, in the absence of a Liberal standard bearer (to chant mindlessly for.) What will Billary's slogan be? Hope? Change you can believe in? Americans have seen their wages collapse, faced with rising debt and high fuel costs (which the Fed doesn't consider in their CPI/inflation hoodooo); in all the time since electing Mr Hope, we have heard little but economic misinformation from Washington, recovery this and recovery that, which has felt like stagnation or worse to anyone not tapped into QE free $Trillions$ from the Federal Reserve. That, and what incompetence! The CDC is like the poster child of the disfunctional government agency, all-official in appearance only, more about managing perceptions, than viruses and bacteria. That and ISIS, that hideous step-child of American foreign policy; what evil genius, the Republican establishment, to double-down on all the policies that exacerbate violent, radical Islam, in the name of fighting existential evil. Americans are duped; more war will only serve to destroy America <i>as empire</i>. By voting Republican, it is like Americans have said YES to the geopolitical show of force, YES to war. <br />
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Here in Minnesota, "energy independence" was on the lips of everyone running for office on the Right. That suggests too, many Americans believe we are at the verge of a new golden age of fossil fuels, the only thing standing between America pumping TWICE what we pump now, is Democrats captured by radical environmentalism. LOL. Never mind we are drilling like mad pretty much everywhere we can, and we are still 8 million barrels a day short, and the economics at $80/brl or less don't work - that is how misinformed Americans are, that we can be told it is the fault of Democrats that oil isn't $30/brl and we aren't drilling TWICE what we are, and we believe it. At least Minnesotans didn't fall for it, keeping their do nothing/say nothing Dem Gov and US Senator.<br />
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Indicative: neither party here in Minnesota, nor the media, ever mentioned the fact that mining for copper/nickel in northern Minnesota, will lead to 200-500 years of sulphuric acid in the waters - for 20 years of mining (though that is a fact admitted by the Canadian company that wants to do the mining, PolyMet.) All I heard from every candidate on either side, was that the mine should happen, as long as we do it "responsibly" of course. Which speaks to the national mood, and the Republican "rout". Americans want a "healthier" economy. We don't care how. If war will do it, fine. If mining will do it, fine. If drilling wherever will do it, fine. If letting the banks and corporations do whatever they want, fine. Consequences don't matter, future generations don't matter; we want a better economy NOW! <br />
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Nothing will improve the economy, however, until something is done about the Federal Reserve; fiat, fractional reserve currency; and the banks. Debt costs are drowning the real economy. That and increasing corporate, multi-national monopoly. That and strained resources globally, and technological elimination of jobs. But these are issues most Americans heard NOTHING about this election. Nor will they hear about it next election. When Billary runs, poor and Dem-leaning working class turn out in hordes, and the Dems ROUT!<br />
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Back and forth we go, where it stops nobody knows. <br />
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The simple fact is, America <i>as empire</i> is dying; a gutting of the
empire is taking place. What will be left of America, when the empire is
gone? Democrats or Republicans, the collapse of America <i>as empire</i> will
proceed apace. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4