The description for this short lecture reads as follows: Richard Wolff is an economist who has studied class issues for more than 40 years. In this animation and audio presentation, Wolff explains what class is all about and applies that understanding to the foreclosure crisis of 2007–2011. He argues that class concerns the “way our society splits up the output [and] leaves those who get the profits in the position of deciding and figuring out what to do with them… We all live with the results of what a really tiny minority in our society decides to do with the…
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Global Ethics
Guantanamo human factory farm
It’s not often that one can turn to the Economist for moral guidance, but on the issue of Guantanamo Bay, the British pro-business magazine is right on target. A recent Economist article entitled “Enough to make you gag,” correctly calls the American military prison a “disgrace” that “needs to be closed rapidly. There are now 166 prisoners at Guantanamo, some of whom have been there for more than 11 years, and 90% of whom have not been charged with any crime. Approximately 100 of these prisoners are currently on a hunger strike. In a sane world, this would be a horrible…
Windmill made from washing machine (creative responses)
Using a standard washing machine motor (Fisher and Paykel direct drive), some blades cut from a 200mm PVC pipe, a cheap and easy-to-use charge controller (555 chip), and some other random bits of wiring and fiberglass, Timot put together a DIY windmill power generator that produces enough electricity to charge and/or operate a phone, laptop or other devices. Considering that washing machines rarely last longer than 5 years, and assuming that most families in the developed world possess a washing machine, the conversion of old washing machines to mini windmills could add up to a lot of energy savings. Let’s…
Harris, Greenwald, and elementary logic
An opinion piece written by Murtaza Hussain and posted on the Al Jazeera website last month has given rise to a rather heated and very public dispute between Sam Harris and Glenn Greenwald. The dispute can be found in this vitriolic email exchange, which Harris posted on his blog, this response from Greenwald, published in the Guardian, and this follow-up piece from Harris. All are well worth reading. Those who have skimmed through this material may well wonder why these two well-educated and highly articulate men, who share much in common, can’t seem to agree on anything. What exactly is it that so divides…
Life in a cage
At one extreme end of the spectrum of enlightened architecture, there are the Earthships and other forms of biotecture that are the subject of several earlier posts. These amazing houses, built mostly of recycled material, are eco-friendly, affordable, and aesthetically pleasing. Most importantly, they maximize human potential and freedom in the sense that they enable their inhabitants to live self-sufficient lives, free from the chains of mortgages, commuting costs, and utility bills. Here is a photo of the interior of one Earthship. At the other extreme end of the spectrum of enlightened architecture, there are cages, slightly larger than coffins,…
Israel is losing the propaganda battle
And the best evidence yet comes from a new documentary film called The Gatekeepers, which features interviews with the six former heads of Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency, all of whom speak out on the public record against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. Interviews with the director of the film, Dror Moreh, can be found on both Democracy Now and CNN. From these interviews one can clearly see that neither Moreh, nor the Israeli security chiefs featured in the film, approach this subject from a leftist or ideological perspective. Moreh correctly describes his interviewees as “pragmatists” who are…
The Doomsday Clock and the best sex toy ever invented
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a non-technical magazine dedicated to informing scientists about the real world implications of scientific research and educating non-scientists about the dangers that human civilization currently faces. It began in 1945 in response to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two events which vividly demonstrate the catastrophic potential of scientific research and the need for policies to direct that research away from disastrous ends. In 1947, the Bulletin launched its Doomsday Clock, a metaphorical clock that represents the best guess among concerned scientists as to how close humanity is to annihilation. While…
The true costs of cell phones
A recent study by James Roberts, professor of marketing at Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business, claims that “cell phone and instant messaging addictions are driven by materialism and impulsiveness and can be compared to consumption pathologies like compulsive buying and credit card misuse.” The study, which was published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, suggests that cell phones are also eroding our personal relationships. The published article can be found here (with paid subscription). In addition to these interpersonal effects of cell phone use, there are other social costs to consider, such as the effects it is having on education and classroom instruction, a…
Ronald Wright and progress traps
The title of a recent op-ed by Chris Hedges is “Will we adjust to life on a finite planet or continue devouring our future.” The article features an interesting interview with Ronald Wright, author of A Short History of Progress, which was recently made into a documentary by Martin Scorsese called Surviving Progress (below). The article, the book, and the film are all worth reading/watching. At the core of each is the idea of a progress trap, which, according to Wright, humanity currently finds itself in.
Can we shop our way to a better economy?
Below is an interesting TED lecture by Stacy Mitchell that deals with one of the most important moral and political issues of our time–the corporate control of our economies and societies. In most capitalist economies, the trend over the past several decades has been towards greater consolidation, where the goods in question–whether food, retail, banking, healthcare, or the media–are being produced or delivered by fewer and fewer larger corporations. There are of course major social and environmental costs associated with this trend and increasingly many people, it seems, are realizing that the corporate capitalist system they are living in is not…
African National Congress endorses Israel boycott
Here’s an interesting experiment: Google the sentence “African National Congress approves Israel boycott.” You’ll see from the results (at least as of January 115, 2013) that the only sources with any information on this story are those related to the BDS movement or a few Israeli news organizations. Here are related pieces from The Jerusalem Post, Jewish News online, and the Jewish Journal. Remarkably, there is virtually no coverage of this story in the mainstream media in the West. And yet it is highly significant that the ANC, South Africa’s ruling party, voted in December 2012 to make boycotts, divestment and sanctions…
Birthright Israel
Following the UN vote to grant Palestinians non-member observer state status at the UN General Assembly, Israel immediately announced plans to construct settlements in the E1 area, which would cut off East Jerusalem from the West Bank and effectively destroy all hope for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As this article from Philip Weiss makes clear, talk of a one-state solution is now becoming more common and more frank. The real questions that seem to be emerging from the rubble of this conflict concern the nature and boundaries of the only viable state that will remain in that area.…
The Israel lobby in the UK
The US and Canada are not the only countries with influential lobby groups working to ensure that the majority of politicians support Israel no matter how illegal or immoral its policies may be. One of these groups in the UK is the Conservative Friends of Israel, which claims on its website to have 2,000 activists and 80% of Tory MPs as its members. It sponsors trips to Israel for these Conservative parliamentarians and candidates and campaigns hard to get them elected in their districts. In this article in the Telegraph, Peter Oborne describes how the CFI has helped to push the…
The ten myths of Israel
Ilan Pappe, the Jewish historian and professor at Exeter University in the UK has complied an insightful list of the ten dominant myths surrounding Israel, myths that impede the understanding and resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The ten myths are as follows: Myth 1: Palestine was a land without people, waiting for the people without a land Myth 2: Palestinians resorted to acts of terror against Jewish settlers prior to the creation of Israel Myth 3: Myths around the creation of Israel Myth 4: Israel was a benign democratic state prior to 1967 Myth 5: The Palestinian struggle has no…
Canada’s support for Israel
First the bad news. At the recent vote for an upgrade to the status of the Palestinians (to non-member observer state) at the UN General Assembly, Canada went out of its way to demonstrate that it is as strong (if not stronger) a supporter of Israel and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as is the United States. It also made it clear to the world that the Canadian government could not care less about the morality or legality of the occupation, world public opinion, or Canada’s reputation as a good global citizen. Following the lop-sided vote, in which Canada…
South Korea’s support for Israel
While diplomatic and trade relations between South Korea and Israel have a somewhat checkered past, the two countries have grown much closer during the current administration of Lee Myun-Bak, which is currently negotiating a free-trade agreement with Israel. And as Israel’s relationships with neighboring countries—especially Turkey—deteriorate, South Korea seems eager to step in and pick up the lost business opportunities, especially in arms sales. According to this article in the Jerusalem Post, South Korea is already conducting arms trades with Israel and Seoul is now planning “to make Israel one of its main arms suppliers alongside the United States.” In…
Understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
What follows are responses to some of the questions that arise in discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some of these questions reflect biases that impede the understanding of the conflict. 1. What is the official position of Hamas regarding a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? As you can read in this Wall Street Journal article, the official position of Hamas as of 2009 is to accept a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders (roughly 20 % of historic Palestine), which is also the international consensus on how to resolve this conflict. 2. Hamas’ founding charter called for the destruction of…
How to stop Israel
With the latest cycle of violence in Gaza thoughts naturally turn once again to the important question of how to bring an end to Israeli aggression, the Israeli stranglehold on Gaza, and the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories. There is obviously no realistic military solution to this problem, and a diplomatic settlement is virtually impossible given the position of the U.S. government, which would veto any attempt of the UN security council to constrain or even criticize Israel. One alternative approach is for people of conscience from around the world to put pressure on the Israeli government by boycotting…
Spinning the latest assault on Gaza
As reported in the Guardian’s Middle East blog (a source for updates on the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict), the basic facts of the conflict as of Nov. 14, the first day of the conflict, were as follows: • Israel killed Hamas military leader Ahmed al-Jaabari in an airstrike on his car in Gaza. Israel followed the assassination with sustained air and naval strikes across Gaza, concentrating in the north. Hamas vowed to avenge the act. • Israeli officials said the offensive, called “Pillar of Defense,” was meant to stop the launch of hundreds of rockets on civilian populations in southern Israel in recent months.…
How the Dutch got their cycling paths
The story of the amazing bicycle paths in the Netherlands serves as an excellent role-model for anyone challenging the dominant form of urban transportation as it does away with common objections against promoting cycling, namely, that it is impractical or unpopular. The short video below outlines exactly how the Dutch got their cycling paths. There is no reason to believe this couldn’t be accomplished elsewhere. The official description of the video reads as follows: Road building traditions go back a long way and they are influenced by many factors. But the way Dutch streets and roads are built today is largely the…
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