Esoteric Meandering Shouting Into the Void

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

The unfortunate truth about history is that the events of the past are written by the victors. Case in point a world history lesson on the United States about the Revolutionary war has the colonist as the hero’s fighting and eventually winning independence from a tyrannical King in England, do you think the same story was told in England especially in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.

One pivotal event was the Boston Tea Party.

The Colonist Version

“Taxation without representation is tyranny,” British colonists protested when Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765. Even with the tax, British tea from India was still cheaper than inferior Dutch tea, but it was the principle involved that prompted the dumping of 342 cases of this disputed commodity into Boston Harbor in 1773.

The British Side

At considerable expense, Britain had won France’s North American territory in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). Britain faced a large postwar debt and the responsibility of additional land to protect and govern. Highly burdened by taxes themselves, the British were merely asking the colonies to bear the expense of their own administration and defense. As each proposed revenue bill met with opposition, it was repealed, Parliament being anxious to appease the colonies. Such “leniency” only encouraged additional disobedience, which was skillfully orchestrated by colonial propagandists. 

That sounds completely different doesn’t it. The colonists are represented as petulant children that were unwilling to contribute to the crown for graciously protecting them and securing them more land.

Think what a different story would be told if the Third Reich had succeeded in WWII.

The current crisis in Israel and the West Bank is multi-faceted and depending on who you listen to influences your view if who is the bad guy. My view is that Hamas is the bad guy, not the Israel citizen and Palestinian citizens, the horrific attack on 10/7 was planned & perpetrated by Humas no question and Hasas in not Palestine. Just like the Taliban was not Iraq or Afghanistan. Now the Israeli response is just as appalling because it has been targeting, intended or not, the citizens of the west bank not strategically the leader of the Hasas or the individuals that planned the actions of 10/7. Bibi Netanyahu isn’t a good guy in this situation because his actions over the past years as Prime Minister refusing any kind of 2 state solution has only intensified the militancy of both Israel and Palestine.

I don’t know if there will every be an equitable solution, arguably the U.N. stated the problem by willy nilly drawing boundary lines of the former English colony of Palestine.

I would love to be a time traveler and jump to the 22 or 23 century see if this biblical land dispute is ever resolved.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

There are times when I am not 100% sure that all the advancements MAN has made are all for the best. In reality if you look at Earth as a living object our rise and advancements have only resulted in the destruction of the environment in which we live. Point in fact for every monumental construction a dismantling of natural resources occurred. The Great Pyramids are one of the 7 wonders, but no one thinks about where all the stone came from to construct them.

To this point in our evolution even the revolution of power has been at the expense of natural resources, yes as a (thinking) species we became aware that there were other ways for harnessing power without consuming a resource. Great minds imagined that with the correct gearing wind energy could be exploited to pump water or grind wheat and for centuries it was. Sadly, this wasn’t fast enough for the impatient man so utilizing the same action the wind had provided more consistent means of production were invented. These advances made life easier for man, but this was where consumption of resources began. First came the revelation that burning wood created heat, great for cooking and not freezing to death but also that water when boiled created steam that could turn a turbine just like the wind or running water had done.  Hurray for MAN.

Again, this method wasn’t efficient enough for the advancement of civilization, although for millennia it was. Eventually wood was supplemented with oils, early on derived from plants but eventually from petroleum pulled from the earth. The first big energy transition was from wood and charcoal to coal, beginning in the iron industry in the early 1700s. By 1900, coal was the primary industrial fuel, taking over to make up half the world’s fuel use. Thus began our contribution to pollution, and we have only increased industrialization, burning more carbon and pumping it into the atmosphere.

When the first humans burned wood and saw smoke, they had no realization that the biproduct of that fire other than heat warming them. In retrospect it wasn’t harming them, unless it got out of control, because the scale that small groups exploited the resource had minimal impact on the environment in which they lived. That changed as nomadic tribes became larger, more stationary settlements, I believe that in the beginning they were very aware that their resources were limited. As time advanced and settlements became cities that recognition, by the masses, because less because of the illusion of abundance. It’s absolutely reasonable to presume that the elders knew that there was a limit to some resources but some, they assumed, were nearly unlimited.

It’s now the 21^st century and we have industrialized nearly every land mass on the planet, our numbers have nearly exceeded that of the resources required to sustain us. (That isn’t completely true because there is enough food to feed every mouth, but some nations discard more than they consume, but that’s another rant.) Finally, we have acknowledged, well most of us, that burning of carbon is creating more issues and could result in our downfall. Climate change has happened in the past but our continual pumping of carbon into the atmosphere is contributing to that change. Many on the side that believes we are responsible for this say we are killing the planet, but I don’t believe that. Earth, the Gaia hypothesis says that Earth is a living system, was around before us and will be here after we are gone, we are a virus that is killing itself. I said at the beginning of this rant, “if you look at the earth as a living object”, well I truly believe it is and we are just a blip in her existence, we should preserve and resect her presence and just maybe she will continue to let us continue our existence.      

Back to my esoteric rambling… never know day to day where my mind will go.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

I am so torn between thoroughly enjoying watching the current iteration of the republican party step on their own d*@#s and the insane truth that none of their base thinks there is a problem.

While the Governor of California Gavin Newsome adeptly pointed out that neither of them would be on the Presidential ballot in 2024 and subsequently pointing out all the accomplishments that the current administration has had Florida Governor Ron DeSantis kept inflating his ‘moral superiority’ and interrupting. My takeaway was that for once the Democratic representative did not acquiesce to the incessant interruption from his opponent to continued to talk over Gov. DeSantis.

Since this was a debate on Fox News and Sean Hannity was the moderator, this was undoubtedly the first time Fox viewers had heard anything about the accomplishments of the Biden administration. Fairly curtain that it won’t change any minds but at least the facts got out on the network.

Meanwhile huge infrastructure projects are starting in states like Florida and Colorado that are generating jobs. In prefect hypocrisy that is the GOP, representatives that voted against the infrastructure bill are taking credit for the boom in their districts. Again, in a perfect move by the Biden White House the President has been there to praise the projects and deftly point out that the representative now taking credit for the project voted against it even calling the legislation that is creating jobs in their districts an abject failure. Good job Joe no one since Al Franken has had the gumption to call out the Republicans on their hypocrisy.

Another high point in this weeks GOP House stepping in Dog Shit was when, much to their surprise, Hunter Biden agreed to testify under oath in the open house hearing. In typical GOP fashion that was roundly rejected because they want t closed door hearing. Their reasoning is that in the light of day the real truth cannot possibly be revealed, only in closed door, with no press and no witnesses, can the REAL Truth be uncovered. That seem to me that their mission isn’t the truth but something else.

This has to be the tactic that the Democrats have to use, instead of letting the GOP take credit for things they voted against pointing it out. In the House races use the Congress Persons Voting record against them especially if they are in a state that is receiving huge benefits for the Infrastructure Bill and/or the Chips and Science Bill. The GOP lies so often and with zero regard for their constituents that the Democrat running in that district can not be afraid to call them out on it. It is past time to play nice, if the GOP candidate is lying, call them out on the lie with the facts and prove their dishonesty. This is something that the liberal side of the government hasn’t been willing to do. The professed ‘Conservatives’ are happy to make up lies in whole cloth and challenge anyone to dispute the lie and for the past 40+ years the democrats have been on the side of ‘the truth will come out’. Well guess what, unless we shout the truth as loud as they shout lies no one will hear the truth.

Shout the Truth from the Roof Tops and let the Trumpublican Party continue to step in their own d*@#s.