Let Them Drive Escalades!

For many decades US automobile manufacturers have acted like conspiring opportunists mocking American consumers by marketing behemoth, mega-horse powered motor vehicles. The damage these vehicles have caused the environment, public health(including accident deaths and injuries), our collective lifestyle and peace of mind are incalculable. GM, Chrysler and Ford have stifled innovation to maintain the absolute dominance of the internal combustion engine(ICE). Ralph Nader calls it the "infernal, eternal, internal combustion engine", which is, shockingly, an 1880's technology! The auto industry has fought change by every means possible . For reasons of mismanagement and misdeeds, many constituting crimes, the Big Three should be paying reparations, not receiving bailouts! Short of prison, CEOs and directors must be dismissed and the corporations placed in bankruptcy. There the industry would be completely restructured and the US government would hold controlling interest. Nader suggests that with the Big Three seeking bailout loans, Congress can do what seemed impossible--regulate auto manufacturers. This would also ensure that mass transit would become a viable alternative to automobile domination. The passenger vehicle has been "mass transit", but an absurd and bizarre type, probably more an expression of economic ideology than a practical approach to getting people about. Now, facing the dark side consequences of a failed technology, the Obama administration and Congress must act.
I am rarely a driver of or a passenger in an automobile. I am, while I live and breathe, a public transit user! So, when county officials announced recently that local bus routes and schedules would be cutback and fares would increase by fifty-percent, I grabbed my pen and wrote a piece for the local newspaper. Periodic changes discourage transit use. Decision makers should know this; and I assume they do. Why do something that will knowingly result in bus service never advancing beyond the fetal stage? Bus patrons would like to see a master plan that accurately envisions service needs. It is easy to dismantle. It takes will to create. Suddenly, the flippant expression allegedly made by Marie-Antoinette(but actually an older saying) comes to mind, about eating cake, rather "brioche" in the French context, adapted here as a fitting title for a piece about public transit and the poverty of a local system. The decision-making elite might find it humorous? They would rather be seen on a morgue slab than on a bus about town. The issue of rubbing shoulders with the "Great Unwashed" is a stumbling block for the supposed elite. And a social commentator could frame an essay around both class and human rights. Who does and does not get represented in a democratic republic was the elephant at the hearings on proposed changes. Sadly, the hearings were proforma and a charade!
There are no guarantees with bus service; the prospects are unpredictable. Yet, I always manage to get where I have to go. And I marvel! Interestingly, I never make needless or impulsive trips!
Unlike auto users who come and go as they please, I have to plan my trips carefully, for sake of time spent and efficiency. A complete grocery list is mandatory; for I can not immediately return for something forgotten. And I have to coordinate several errands with bus schedules. Over time, I learned how to employ two or more routes to accomplish things in as little time and effort as possible. I have come to know most bus operators and to appreciate their good deeds. They work under very difficult and trying circumstances. Bus drivers by necessity have to be compulsive, in the "compelling" sense of that word, in keeping pace with a dashboard clock. Every run is a race against time. A route is both a maze and an endurance test. Driving buses must be one of the most difficult and demanding jobs in this community; and drivers wonder why they are not better compensated?
Clearly, I have no love for passenger vehicles. I have observed the automobile phenomenon, and what I see is pretty scary! I know I am better off without a motor vehicle! Owning an automobile bestows first class status on some and can suggest (one is led to believe by advertisements) economic standing. For many the automobile represents personhood, itself. We are what we drive, to coin a phrase about food. A car is an owner's alter ego. And after decades of Detroit advertisements, it is no wonder people can not envision a meaningful life without possessing one or more. A person who grew up without a family car is going to have a different slant on what may or may not accrue from ownership. If one has learned to get along without a motor car, he or she can weigh matters more objectively. The possession of any material object brings various stipulations. Maintenance comes readily to mind. And keeping a passenger car going requires considerable time and money. I would feel "saddled" and "preoccupied" owning cars. So, I avoid situations that limit comforts and my sense of freedom and independence.
Over the years, many automobile drivers have told me that cars bring independence. Who am I to presume anything to the contrary? Drivers can do more, but of what? Time spent on ownership is not usually figured into miles per hour calculations. Few drivers know their annual cost totals. An important consideration is the illusory nature of ownership itself, repossession, towing, theft etc. There are ethical and moral questions about owning something with enormous negatives. So, some freedom from guilt(partial because I do live in a car culture) is important. Various freedoms are realized in not having an automobile; and, readers are asked to imagine them. Obviously, a spiriualized independence is not found through the possession of material objects. Interestingly, in small communities, sociability is often a feature on bus routes. There are some transit intangibles, especially for commuters--stress reduction and relaxation in just tuning out! When needed the bus is there; when not, it's out of mind--bringing me a kind of carefreeness that is quite liberating and refreshing. Hey! I have to catch a bus.

The Supermarket End Is Near

This is the original piece submitted to a local newspaper in early Summer 2006; and referred to in the 12/6/08 posting.


The supermarket phenomenon is unsustainable and possesses a point-certain for collapse. Its fate is directly tied to crude oil and natural gas reserves and the growing worldwide resistance to U.S. militarism and economic hegemony. The supermarket is at every level of operation, from corporate agriculture, transportation, facility construction and maintenance, totally dependent upon(and wildly wasteful of)vast amounts of energy. As reserves diminish, rising energy costs will bring an end to the supermarket extravaganza! It is patterned after the "post exchange"(PX)outlets on military bases during World War II, serving the needs of millions of personnel stationed worldwide. The first supermarket in my boyhood hometown was called "PX Market", and was probably owned by returned GIs. To this day, the supermarket still owes its existence to U.S. hegemony that took hold when the nation emerged victoriously from the war as the leading neocolonial power. In an earlier era, the modus operandi for exploitation of so-called "undeveloped" countries(with their peoples of color)for cheap labor and the plunder of their markets and natural resources was called colonialism--the direct physical occupation of a nation. The former British system in India was the classic model. Today, the "developing" nations are indirectly occupied through financial means and military intimidation. Loan debt and structural adjustments imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank destroy national sovereignty, create and perpetuate poverty and hunger. Coercive "Free Trade" agreements support American corporate interests, purely and simply. Threats of trade sanctions,regime change and pre-emptive wars keep these countries under the U.S. thumb, and facilitates the steady supply of food stuffs from around the Empire " to supermarket shelves. Perhaps the supermarket inventory, the ill-gotten cornucopia from hither and yon, is a pay-off, part of the Quid Pro Quo, for our support of U.S. foreign policy and ignoring its concomitant crudities. In large part, what we find on market shelves could be called "booty" because its procurement is made possible by U.S. domination and perpetual wars against alternative economic and political systems. But, it should be remembered that all empires eventually come to an end. U.S. power is already well into its decline. The U.S. dollar is over-valued because a long-standing agreement ensures that Saudi crude oil sales are in that currency. When the House of Saud falls, and it will, the new regime will conduct sales in Eurodollars. This will instantly devalue the U.S. dollar and bring Wall Street down, for keeps. Because the United States is now a debtor nation, the government will not be able to bailout Wall Street, as it did in the Great Depression. With such an event, most everyone will be standing in soup lines, and supermarkets will have already gone out of business. One of the great movements of our time aims to create sustainable lifestyles by minimizing dependency on non-renewable resources, such as fossil fuels, and by making as small a human footprint upon the environment, "the earth-entire", as possible. I am thinking of the intiguing Gaia Hypothesis(or Theory),that the earth in its totality is very much a living entity. Any negative impact in one area can endanger the whole, the globe's fragile equilibrium. Since the supermarket is by every measure unsustainable and with its close connections to U.S. neocolonialism and militarism, why should we continue our patronage, of what is largely an absurd corporate scheme? Is it not time to objectively evaluate our grocery shopping and eating habits? If we do not take the initiative now, decisions will be made for us when the supermarket phenomenon comes to an ignoble end.

The fall of the supermarket

The supermarket is empire glorified, offering the spoils of world dominion at subsidized costs and ignoring the consequences of dietary indulgences, of eating too much booty. The cornucopia of gourmet, exotic foods and the gluttony it encourages has resulted in a nation populated by the overweight and obese, with the various degenerative health conditions that develop from undisciplined eating habits. What and how much an individual consumes at meals and in between them does matter. The visual proof is everywhere. In this regard, hegemony has its bad karma as can be seen on Main Street and all round. To coin a rather dramatic-sounding cliche, the supermarket is neocolonialism on steroids! As goes the empire, so goes the supermarket. A monument to globalization, the supermarket owes its existence to all that our military protects: "free trade" and the control of the financial markets. (There are more than 700 U.S. military bases around the world!) My local, so-called, community co-op market, Briarpatch, to which I have belonged for thirty years, is now an upscale and glitzy supermarket, but holds on to the co-op mantle for public relation and tax benefits. Brairpatch(Grass Valley, CA) started operations in the mid-1970s in a small warehouse located at an airport some distance out of town. Soon it moved to an old, rather neglected building in a hilly, residential area still quite off the beaten track, yet closer for most would-be shoppers. The venture had become the proverbial "corner grocery store", well, the rural, counterculture version of it. Then, the enterprise moved and for about fourteen years was in a more commercial, centralized location. But, one person with steadfast determination brought into existence a custom-built, supermarket citadel. I disrespectfully labeled it "Fort Briarpatch"(with its dominant, hilltop location.) Unfortunately, Briarpatch is currently $3 million in debt, at the very moment that the national economy is in free fall! Sadly, to help service the debt, the decision was made by Brairpatch management to promote "delicatessenism": ready to eat, rich gourmet foods designed for the affluent, fleet of foot, the trend-setters and the ostentatious movers of a suburban community. Also, it is a commercial response to the regrettable fragmentation of family and culture, the end of the joy of cooking era, with its dining table celebrations. With a rapidly growing population of singles who often eat(and drive) alone, the deli is a cash-cow for today's supermarkets. Briarpatch and other co-ops want a piece of the action. It comes at the cost of several values that brought the co-op movement into existence. For one, the importance of providing healthy food. The deli model has replaced cafeterias and represents an ever-increasing competition to formal restaurant dining and is simply another manifestation of the fast food industry. In looking back on my childhood, I ask, whatever happened to the cafeteria? I have(with few exceptions)fond memories eating in school and commercial cafeterias. The sociability that existed in those settings is sorely missed. And I could not have survived college without the upscale(big city)version, a hangout for an aspiring radical, intelligentsia. It seems to me now that all cafeterias were without the class-consciousness that prevails with restaurant dining. The ambiance is not stiff and pretentious. Of course, kids are more comfortable in casual settings. Ronald McDonald knows this. For me, it was exciting seeing offerings rather than reading, usually, unintelligible menu abstractions about them. Today, the only cafeterias that I am aware of(beside some school holdouts)are located in churches and soup kitchens and are for those who have fallen on hard times. More than 900 million people around the world go to bed hungry every night. Yet, here in Babylon, the homeland of empire, overweight and obese people form a majority, or so it appears--for I never forget the unsightliness of obesity. Twice I submitted a piece entitled, "The Supermarket End is Near" to the local newspaper, for the "Other Voices" column . It never went anywhere with a paper that relies heavily on supermarket advertising! Surprisingly, it was printed in the Briarpatch Newsletter, but not without complaint. With the economic and national security teams just named by Obama, one can predict with some certainty, that the rich will prosper in his administration even more than they did in the Clinton era, and that "change" will be elusive, at best. With so many former functionaries in the new administration, it is shaping up as a third Clinton term, of sorts. My prediction in the 2006 piece mentioned above, was dead-wrong--or so it seems? I stated that in being a debtor nation, federal agencies would not be in a position to bailout corporate America come the next depression. In the last year, eight trillion dollars of public monies have gone to the private sector, primarily, Wall Street. And the big three auto manufacturers are in Congress today asking for their share, $34 billion, for starters! The bailout funds are not simply life-support measures. They further the bloodless, corporate coup d' etat that has been going on for decades, now. Every day the situation with Obama's nominations require me to make draft revisions to what I am currently trying to post. Three or four days ago, I wrote that Obama would have to be a masterful manipulator, such as Lyndon Baines Johnson, to manage the Clinton thoroughbreds he has reunited, that he could quickly become, in the political context,"toast". Today, I realize that his "war cabinet" is actually his "dream team", the best people to implement his conservative, militaristic objectives; I might add, with his own cocktail of steroids. However, the sum total of power now held by the Clinton expatriates, their resumes of experience and all the power at their disposal, they could upstage Obama and dwarf his stature as President. Really now, who would be in charge? What I have felt for a long time, is that Obama's long association with what I surmise as a rather conservative University of Chicago, only adds to my worries. To date, his political temperament seems to be that of a committed conservative, at best a centrist leaning heavily to the right. He is, perhaps, another privatizer, like Geo W.,Clinton, and going back to Reagan, Carter and Nixon. Fortunately for my peace of mind, I never voted for anyone of them! He supports capital punishment(a dead-give away to one's political disposition), the occupation of Palestinian territory and by his silence Israeli atrocities. He will intensify the military assault upon Afghanistan. He continually speaks about improving conditions for the middle class, but is silent on the plight of the poor. He will not, as he previously promised, call upon the rich to pay their fair share of taxes. He voted to fund the continuing occupation of Iraq. Again, many of the Clintonistas he is selecting for key administration positions are the very people who have brought on the crises we are facing today! And his selections exclude liberals and progressives! It is altogether possible that the Right has pulled off one of it swiftest ploys--using an African-American to continue the conservative agenda. Well, I have strayed from the topic of supermarket demise, or have I? I would argue that with Obama in the White House, the supermarket phenomenon will limp on for a time, as will the Empire.

getting started

Concerned about the current political situation and to discipline myself to write on a regular schedule, I thought that blogging would keep me on track. A blog is a journal, and keeping one has always appealed to me. Interestingly, seventy years ago George Orwell began his journal, the year was 1938. Of course, I have no illusions here. (By the way, ANIMAL FARM, is an important reference book when considering problematic social and political happenings.) But, I digress! I plan to post twice weekly, perhaps on Mondays and Thursdays? Subject matter will vary among several preoccupations, including cooking, horticulture and all things political. With the 2008 General Election just behind us, with President-elect Obama piecing together his administration and with leaks and rumors coming forth everyday, who needs the "soaps"? His appointments speak forcefully on what we can expect from his administration. And to date, the choices that have been announced are not providing me much comfort. There seems to be a recycling of Clinton administration operatives. So, I am still looking for the "change" Mr. Obama promised. For starters, Eric Holder, for Attorney General, with his connection to Chiquita, the pardon of a very rich gangster at the end of the Clinton presidency and backing harsher drug penalties, would never be on my short list! Obama's first announcement, the selection of Rahm Emanuel for White House Chief of Staff was not a propitious beginning. One could argue, perhaps, that if Obama is his own man and not beholden to others and the corporations, he could become an instrument for change, that who he picks as figureheads for various federal agencies does not matter. At best, this might be wishful thinking on my part. But, it seems that with corporate rule no president or even congress can turn this country around. What worries me greatly is that the Bush administration has deliberately bankrupted the nation. And even if Obama wanted to improve the commonwealth, there would be no monies available for change and the social programs required. In the mid-1930s, Democrats had huge majorities in both houses. Democrats have relatively small majorities in the new congress; and, with so many Democrats as closet-Republicans, there is little to cheer about. As for the Big Three automakers, they deserve to fail. They must fail, if the environment is to be salvaged and if a much needed lifestyle change is to come about. In subsequent postings, I will discuss public transportation and the need to rein in the private passenger car. There is a strong bias when it comes to considering alternatives to the internal combustion engine( ICE), and that preference is the electric vehicle. A major concern is that its promotion is yet more ideological hype.The battery required to match ICE performance(the driver's apparent need for long-distant commuting and fascination with speed) is framed in an unattainable technological context(similar to the idea of travel to Mars and the unified field theory). Most of our problems are created by technological innovations! Battery design draws heavily upon rather rare and expensive natural resources; acquisition of cobalt and other resources create geopolitical problems. Then, there are ecological issues, including sustainability. When considering energy sources, I have to ask, whatever happened to vegetable oil as fuel? For starters, it is not expensive. Also, beating down the competition would be difficult. Many small businesses could manufacture it. And as with nuclear fuel, how are battery end-products handled? Huge piles of discarded automobile tires are something we have all seen. And we also know the image and reality when scrap tires burn. Hydrogen fuel is high-tech and expensive; but to its credit, like vegetable oil, its manufacture is decentralized and more competitive. However, the matter before us precludes fuels. There are simply too many private passenger vehicles. As with individuals in any animal species, beyond a certain population number various ecological systems break down. Unfortunately, the U.S. developed alongside the automobile, to the point where there is no real solution, save a complete restructuring of towns and cities and how they connect to one another. The residential patterns are based on motor vehicle transit. Public transportation is problematic in broadly decentralized suburban and, certainly, in rural sectors. These sectors are now, and probably always have been , largely populated by people wishing to escape the "great unwashed" urban immigrant populations. "White flight" is a major phenomenon in the community in which I reside. And the color line is still central to our national divide. The twin cities of Grass Valley and Nevada City have very small city limit areas; but, a vast territory beyond those limits carry the place names. Many residents drive ten or twenty miles round trip merely to shop for groceries! Sprawl is a consequence, obviously, of the domination of the passenger automobile. People continue to go further out from community centers simply because they can. Of course, in the short run that is not sustainable. The dark side of private vehicle technology outweighs benefits when numbers surpass an optimum level. And for the automobile, the number is quite small. When there is no easy solution to the dark side problems,(gridlock, environmental destruction, death and injury and the deterioration of meaningful and healthy lifestyles), great catastrophes are inevitable. Truth be told, there are too many homo sapiens! A six billion human population is not sustainable, either. The pre-industrial world population was about two billion! Fossil-based energy has made the increase possible. Crude oil and natural gas are non-renewable. Without sufficient quantities about four billion people will perish from starvation, disease, warfare and consequences of climate change(brought on by too great an addiction to fossil fuels). And people in my community, today, were talking about gasoline prices falling below two dollars a gallon! As if the cost of gas is the end-all of our existence. Well, perhaps in a real sense, it is! A recently published book covers the subject of Earth without a human population. I have got to get myself to the library and request an inter-library loan to read it. (Funding is so meager in this town and county that no copy of a recently published book is ever available, locally. I will have to pay a dollar for the import of a loan copy!) Blogging has reinforced the realization that this writer is draft-oriented, that several to many drafts are needed to get my thoughts in order and communicative. Computer composition demands a fluency of thoughts and quickness for sentence arrangements and connections that are not always attainable, especially with someone with an innate aversion toward machines. Nevertheless, I will persevere.