War Profitteering for Dummies

More Mark Fiore. Visit his site and view the Drill Baby Drill animation. It's hilarious.

Constitutional Compromise

Click on the link and watch the video.

Quick! Do it now ... Check out Mark Fiore's animated editorials.

Greetings from Sandy Point

Somebody named this harbor after a guy named Dennis Dreyer. I don't know what he did but it was good enough to have his name on it.
Anyhow I jumped on the Jetty Boat this morning and crossed the ship channel to an uninhabited island. On the way back I spotted these brown pelicans resting on some boulders.
There's an osprey that lives high on a pole near a marine science institute near the beach. Locals tell me he lost his mate three years ago, and now he sits up there and screeches in an attempt to attract another mate. I hope he gets his wish.
I've been here a week now, worked two days in new job, and looking forward to another week, my workload will double.
But I'm doing what I like to do, and the island life suits me.
Right now I'm at a coffeehouse on the main road that leads to the ferries, looks like people coming in for the weekend, and some are leaving.
The beach was very nice today, it was pretty trashed out from the hurricane; things such as a computer monitor and a jacuzzi floated onto the shore from farther east but cleanup efforts have restored it to its present state. Right now there is no seaweed or Portugese man 'o wars floating in with the tide.
And some guy (allegedly) faked a drowning in the surf to apparently avoid facing criminal charges, very strange, there have been reported sightings of him.
More on that later...
I parked my travel trailer in an RV park that's about one-third mile from the beach, and only about three blocks from the ship channel, and I've been exploring my neighborhood.
This town has more buildings that have been moved around than anywhere else I've been.
Also, I pumped up the tires on my bicycle and rode to the beach today, and found out how hard it is to ride a bike in soft sand.
My legs will be hurting for sure tomorrow.
But that's okay ... because now I'm on "island time."

San Antonio Against Sweatshops Press Conference

HOPE! CONSTRUCTIVE CHANGE! ENOUGH ECOLOGICAL DESTRUCTION!!

In my limited efforts here in Seguin to help Obama get elected, I feel a cautious hope in all of the African-Americans I encounter--and a genuineness, goodness and wonderful spiritual beauty in these folk.

Here in this city, I have yet to find an African-American who doesn’t wish for the election of Obama and Biden.

Therefore, it gives this pink fellow ... selfish pleasure to work for Barack Obama, and these African-American neighbors and fellow Democrats--and for all U.S. and world citizens.

(Wish I could nip in the bud all this mis- and dis-information--and worse--zipping around on the internet.)

Letterman on McCain

Watch it here and give your TV a break tonight...

Free Will, Conservatarianism, War, … Miscellaneous

Free Will, Universal Health Care, Public Schools, Ecological Economics, Pro-Choice. Desperately poor (poorly educated, poor in spirit, … ) in the U.S.—a country not concerned with sustainable livelihoods and communities, particularly under the “leadership” of george w. bush—don’t enter the military voluntarily and of their own free will! … And when they are sworn in, they’re at the “mercy” of a president who plays power games with their lives (and who did not take his own military service seriously).

Thirty-six percent of active duty military didn’t vote in the 2004 election http://electioncenter.military.com/register-to-vote.html . … That percentage will be up this year. Moreover, a majority of the numerous African-American soldiers will vote for Barack Obama. (And we certainly should vote in solidarity with them!)

The scientific research record shows that market solutions (alone) do not lead us to quality universal preventative-health care in the U.S., or in other parts of the world.

Education was mostly private and disorganized until the mid-1800s in the U.S. During this period development of public education began to take us on the road to more completely address the needs of the poor, minorities, women, the disabled, the disenfranchised.

Capitalism has been particularly extractive, and destructive of our natural resource base through unethical use of energy. We need rapid (though fluid) change to some kind of ecological economic system which moves us toward sustainable livelihoods and communities.

One of our major human failings (after we “left Eden” or being hunter-gatherers) has been our insatiable appetite for energy. As the rest of the world gets our “American-dream”/affluenzic 200,000+ kilocalories per capita/day appetite, we inevitably destroy more of the Land, Nature, Creation. To avoid this destruction, we must emphasize sufficiency over efficiency, recognize we “have enough”, and heed a loud and persistent plea from Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecologists (short- and long-term PEACE-makers) for policy and actions toward conservation.

No one should be allowed to have the power that making over $1,000,000* per year wields--particularly in a world with millions of folk making less than $1,000 per year ... and in a world where many species are going extinct because of the consumptive power of humans.

Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. have been involved in our rampant exploitation and destruction of the natural resource base, and continued ignorance in the area of ecological economics. On the other hand, the platform of the Green Party has creatively proposed policies and actions which could help turn this around!

The world is full of grays, fuzziness, squishiness and nuances when it comes to difficult ethical and holistic decision-making. Nevertheless, short and long-term critical thinking toward quality life and a sustainable world does lead many of us to:

-recognize a need for birth control strategies and tactics,

-support women’s reproductive rights and right to choose, and

-condemn the barbarism, savagery and cruelty of torture, capital punishment, and War.


Governmental entities across the world should be the best collective structures for determining who are in need, and for collecting resources and distributing them to the needy. Moreover, WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT, or should be.

Conservatarianism. I only recently noticed the term “conservatarian”. It was used in a “proud to be a conservatarian” manner by someone who works at a Papa John’s Pizza and goes to school at a state/federal supported college.

It seems ironic that this self-professed conservative (adherer to traditional values/practitioner of moderation) and libertarian (advocate of individual liberty & no government regulation) works for a fast-food service business very dependent on our government’s cheap energy and food policy. … Moreover, he cheers the actions of our powerful government and military which took away the rights of thousands and thousands of Iraqis (They were killed or became refugees as a result of our preemptive takeover of a sovereign state.)??

Sadly, “conservatarians” also support our policy to allow only a severely limited entry of these Iraqi refugees into the U.S.. The selfish side of “libertarians” will not respect the “free will” of worn-torn Iraqis’ (Shi’as, Sunnis, Christians, Mandaeans, Jews, Shabaks, Zorastrians) which leads these Iraqis to desire entry into this country in the Americas—a nation whose luck, extractive economy and imperialistic policy has resulted in tremendous power over the lion’s share of the world’s natural resources and available energy.
[Personally, I’m not fond of barred windows, fenced-in yards, gated communities, or border walls!]

It seems to me that a true conservatarian would be a blend of Aldo Leopold and St. Francis of Assisi!?!!


War. War started with the advent of agriculture (“The worst mistake of the human race” Jared Diamond http://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/the-worst-mistake-in-the-history-of-the-human-race ). Of course it’s much, much easier for War to ignite in today’s world--with our voracious appetite and addiction to stuff, and with human population levels well over the earth’s carrying capacity.

Nevertheless, there is no good excuse for going to War.

If anything is truly evil, War is evil. [This includes our current (Iraqi) War against “evil!”]

For the soldiers and their families, and businessmen, and politicians to which the Iraq War and other Wars gave meaning and/or profits, perhaps War and it’s inherent evil was “right”? For many of the thousands of innocents and their family and friends who died or are refugees as a result of the forceful military actions of our powerful nation, War is definitely wrong!!

In Iraq as well as in other Wars, we took the fruits of the labor of many thousands of individuals over thousands of years, and either destroyed them, or “gave” them to others.

War is contagious; War begets War. “Makers of War” teach their younger relatives and friends to “love” armaments and make War.


Past Presidents’ Contribution to My Dad’s Quality of Life. Even though policy might be developed in the wee hours of the night in the offices of a central government, ... as Tip O’Neill was quoted, “All politics is local!”** And family is the “’mostest’ local!”

....................................
My Dad (Alton Martin)--who had been a Marine in the Pacific in WW II--was born during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson and passed away during the current presidency. A general, quick and non-scientific analysis of which U.S. Presidents were more instrumental in providing him and his family(prior to leaving his household) quality life indicate they were--Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter.

Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal WPA and Agricultural Programs (some of which has lasted in Farm Bills up to this current time) provided a basic income and stable flow of cheap grain and other feedstuffs for this small hard-working hog farmer. One of Eisenhower’s interstate highways passed over Alton and Louise’s small hog farm and they were more than adequately reimbursed. Alton’s frugal lifestyle resulted in his sacking away CDs and other interest earners, which significantly increased in value during and after the Carter years. (Toward the end of Alton’s life—during George W. Bush years—I remember him complaining about two issues, … low interest rates, and our always being at War.)


Palin’s Qualifications. One of my right-wing “aquaintances” screams out about “how good Sarah Palin would be as a VP or President, because he has a sister who was mayor of a small town.” Personally, I fail to recognize any critical thinking behind this conclusion!

Of course I see little demonstration of (holistic ecological literacy and) critical thinking on the part of any right-wingers.

………………………………
*Yes, we can debate where to draw the line. And it will always be a gray line.

**Elected officials react to the concerns and issues of their local constituencies in towns and neighborhood communities—and vice versa.

Artist finds inspiration in nature

From Staff Reports

The Gazette-Enterprise
Published February 10, 2008


STAPLES — The painting is titled “Three Sisters.”

It’s a portrait of trees that John A. Roof conjured out of the vast library of details that are stored in his memory.

The trees stand in unison, defiantly against a cloudless sky, rooted in a chasm of darkly hued earth that flows into — or out of — an underworld. That black earth is starkly contrasted with what appears to be molten lava, and then segues into an image of a field of wheat, or straw, or roots that lie underneath a thin veneer of green space.

“One of them, with the red hair, is my wife, Betsy, in the middle,” Roof explains.

Roof was a Boy Scout. He was a cowboy — even competed in rodeos.

He graduated with a BFA in studio painting from Texas Tech University in 1973. His wife also holds an art degree from the same school.

They raised three children, and after they were grown the Roofs bought the old Staples General Store and moved to Guadalupe County.

Betsy is an artist in her own right, whether she cooks tasty hamburgers for hungry customers or weaves new straw seats onto antique chairs, among other things.

John paints. He also restores old furniture. And he shoots photos in the fields of the alluvial valley where Staples exists on the west bank of the San Marcos River.

His late mother, Bonnie Bible Roof, used to always tell him to “wake up,” whenever he tended to do a close reading of nature.

“Nature is an organized confusion that comes together with color,” Roof says in a “statement” on his web site.

“Staples is a very small forgotten village on the San Marcos River. There are unspoiled fields where wheat, corn and maize are grown, and live oaks and pecan trees have flourished since long before the arrival of the white man,” Roof wrote on a Web page.

“To be able to walk alone in these fields, to watch the approaching storms, to hear the movement of the river, and to feel the wind is nothing less than perfection ... I have found my garden.”

According to himself, John A. Roof was born in Coshocton, Ohio on Jan. 14, 1949.

He noticed early in life that he seemed to be outside a circle, looking inward and spending the majority of his time just observing things to the point that his parents thought he had fallen asleep with his eyes open.

“I remember once when I was on a Boy Scout camp out in the winter and it snowed heavily. I sat by the fire all night listening to the snow hitting the ground and watching it glimmer in the firelight as it fell from the sky.” Roof relates to his Web site visitors.

“When daylight came I walked off into the woods and marveled at what lay before me,” he wrote.

Apparently, artistic ability runs in the family.

His grandfather could draw anyone’s face. His mother was an artist.

Roof has a painting by his son hanging in a hallway. It’s a self portrait of himself after he soloed in an airplane.

And Roof’s grandson, Jack, was taught to paint before he could walk.

“My grandson is two years old and goes to daycare. One day he painted a page, then he painted the wall. He painted the desk and then he painted the palms of other kids’ hands. His father told the teacher that he comes by his art honestly,” Roof recalled.

Roof attended junior college in Port Huron, Mich., as a business major for one semester.

“I took an art course to get my grades up, and I never looked back,” he said.

Summers were spent at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, N. M., a 215-square-mile mountain wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo stretch of the Rockies.

He walked the earth and soaked up the splendor of the trees, the sky and the mountains — even climbed a 12,000-foot peak many times to watch the sunrise.

“The colors seen cannot be painted,” Roof discovered.

After graduation, marriage and a career as a retail store manager at Texas Art Supply in Houston, painting took second fiddle to raising family, so Roof resorted to drawing and building furniture.

“We raised three children, and time for art got less and less, but always there was this thing of looking and watching. I was a voyeur of the world around me,” Roof explains in his biographical sketch.

Today, the walls of the home John Roof shares with his wife Besty are lined with the distinctive style of paintings that he calls the “Black Earth Series,” which invariably are begun with a canvas that is painted black.

There are also other paintings and photographs by other artists that he has traded with.

Trees are the focal points in many of the works in the series.

“I try to paint a portrait of the tree, which is what I feel at the time,” Roof said.

“The dirt out here is black. The dirt in Staples is black gumbo. There is upper earth and lower earth. You always have to have support, so I supported the underworld,” Roof said.

That support appears in the form of a single architectural column that serves as a sort of artist’s signature near the bottom of his paintings, noticeable after careful observation of the almost disturbing images of nature on canvas.

However, Roof refrains from explaining his art to admirers of his work.

“I let the viewers of my paintings develop their own interpretations,” he said.

“I’m not a religious person. I’m a spiritual person. I see a lot that mankind is overlooking, including life itself,” Roof explained.

Observers of his art work say that John Roof’s artistic style is distinctly "Roofian."

“My style is my style, and to me that’s the greatest thing,” Roof said. “I wanted to paint works that would sell for $1,000, so I could say ‘see, mom?’

“My goal was always to be in a one-man show, then to be in a national show, and my main goal is to have my grandchildren view my art in a museum of fine art, that gives you immortality on earth,” Roof said. “I want to live forever, and I want to paint forever.”

Standing in line to vote? How bout some music?

Thom Pain (based on nothing)

Thom Pain by Will Eno

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I heard some excerpts of Thom Pain on Public Radio and was so struck by the language I bought the book, a collection of three one act, one character plays written in a style that makes Beckett seem cheerful. It's a short quick read full of great passages such as



"When did your childhood end? How badly did you get hurt, when you did, when you were this little, when you were this wee little hurtable thing, nothing but big eyes, a heart, a few hundred words? Isn't it wonderful how we never recover?"



That's Thom Pain in a nutshell. Now you don't have to read the whole play. But I think you should.


View all my reviews.

But the elected officials say they work right

"El Paso County is on the Watch List due to many recent indictments of El Paso public officials on corruption charges and for obstruction of Black Box Voting freedom of information requests. El Paso County uses the GEMS system, which also puts counties on the Watch List. Waller County was added to the Watch List on Aug. 31 for vote suppression attempts. Collin, Guadalupe, Jackson, Lee, Sherman and Wilson counties are on the Watch List because they will be using the Diebold/Premier GEMS system in November. This central tabulation system is the subject of a product advisory. It has been discovered dropping votes, a defect which will not be fixed by the 2008 general election. The remaining 49 counties are on the Watch List because they have been coerced into dependence on a private vendor for all phases of their election administration -- undermining the entire structure of the county election system. Several of these counties have experienced miscounted elections due to unqualified technicians provided by the vendor. Several counties show symptoms of tampering -- such as mismatched results inside the machine; failure to produce "zero" reports (symptom of vote-stuffing); and vote-flipping (votes marked for one candidate migrate to another candidate)."

Proof of God's Existence

What a tool! Right? So this is what happened to him later...

“Zeroing” Trash … and Connections to Injustice, Discrimination, Disfranchisement, … ?

Through a collaborative city government-business effort, a few recycling containers have been placed at Wal-Mart* (one day a week from 8-noon), and near the rodeo grounds (6 days a week from 8-5, or noon) in our community of Seguin. And as a result of this limited initiative--triggered by public pressure from students and other citizens of Seguin--there may be reduced trash, more reusing of discarded material, and an increase in recycling??

However, I’m not so sure! I’m not certain because there’s been no comprehensive/intensive baseline study of trash flow prior to our limited community effort, and of what the flow is now.

In my own case, a “recyclable-trash to a recycling-conduit” has not changed, i.e., recyclables from our household and farm, etc. continue to head to a recycling system, as it did before our small public effort here in Seguin. However, I am probably expending more fossil energy now than I did before our current options.

Before the Wal-Mart*/Rodeo Grounds options, I loaded up our paper other than newspaper (We do have numerous bins in Seguin for recycling newspaper--and of course various sites which purchase aluminum.), plastics and metal containers, etc. in my pickup prior to scheduled/weekly trips to Medina County or Hays County to assist my daughter, mother or mother-in-law with various weekly projects. I would then place our recyclables in my mother’s or daughter’s recycling-containers and -sites … since Devine and San Marcos have recycling efforts and educational campaigns which are truly functioning, dynamic, and developing.

…………………….
With just a bit of creative and progressive socio-political/economic thinking, we in Seguin could have a robust, low-cost educational and “Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle”-system that would rival Devine, San Marcos, San Antonio, Austin or even Boulder County, Colorado www.govpro.com/News/Article/75549/ www.gazette.net/stories/061208/frednew175811_32364.shtml www.zerowaste.sa.gov.au/other_waste_orgs.php .
(My friend Roland James has suggested several creative and innovative low-cost approaches to reducing, reusing and recycling waste in Seguin in emails and letters to public officials and news media, etc..)

Moreover, with some critical and creative community-thinking, those who are less fortunate than I**—who really have to struggle to make ends meet and have no real time to recycle under the current system, or even vehicles to carry recyclables to the “center” and east side of our city —could be afforded a curbside recycling service at no additional cost (or even a reduced rate) relative to what they are now paying! (Chew on this a bit—and see if you think this might relate to my title of this piece??)

In addition, we could build on a relatively conventional curbside recycling program and take it to another level which could help to remove the socio-economic burden off of the really poor in Seguin—and other parts of the world (We must help some of the truly poor out of forced existence in a squalor of trash, which includes toxic computer/information technology-age parts!) —and provide them with: increased quality educational opportunities (including about reducing trash flow, protection of the natural resource base, and ethical use of energy, and connections of these areas with preventative/comprehensive health care), empowerment , and needed resources.

Every community needs to do critical and creative collective-thinking and work hard toward zero waste/trash!

Our Seguin community particularly needs this!!***

It would carry us a long way toward reducing consumption of the precious natural resource base and reducing our ecological footprint!

And even more important is the fact that--if the socio-political/economic system dealing with trash flow were approached in sustainably**** holistic, ecologically-sound way--it could reduce exploitation of the poor, and disenfranchised and relatively powerless, and help us get on a stable route away from injustice, discrimination, prejudice, and intolerance!!


____________________________
*Wal-Mart supports the “Bush Doctrine” of preemptive consumption (and supports Bush's Republican Party www.brandcurve.com/wal-mart-encourages-employees-to-vote-republican/ www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_584448.html ), and is not de facto a real promoter of “Reduce/Reuse/Recycle”.

**And not as “blessed” with reliable transport/resources/time/power as others who recycle under the current system in Seguin.

***In a Power-Point presentation at TLU in 2007, I suggested this effort might be termed Toward Reducing and Abolishing a Spoiled Habitat (Zero Trash-- and a Clean Sustainable Seguin).

****Sustainable communities are “ecologically sound, socially just and humane”! Terry Gips, 1986 www.pdap.net/files/Proposed%20Philippine%20Organic%20Aagriculture%20Roadmap.pdf

Sins??: Masturbation, Birth Control; Weapon Loving, “Torture”, Capital Punishment, War; Environmental Destruction, Species Extinction

Destruction of life in (preemptive/any) war,

capital punishment,

clearing biodiverse Natural communities and replacing them with our deserts of artificial “development”,

eroding away topsoil (full of life … and life giving) and letting it--and industrial agricultural pesticide and artificial fertilizer run-off--create dead zones in the ecosphere’s estuaries,

robbing and polluting the earth’s waters to the point that we reduce aquatic, marine, terrestrial life,

living a life with a $100,000+ annual salary/200,000+ kilocaloric consumption per day/automobiles/conventional air conditioning … in a world where almost half the human population lives on < $2.50 per day www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats


have to be (mortal and venial*) sins!


“My” Catholic Church has perhaps begun to really take these very difficult problems of humanity seriously. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080418-pope-environmentalism.html

Nevertheless it does have a long way to go in what needs to be a complete revamping of this sin thing.

………………………..
*Or continued “original sinning” by humanity. [Read Brody’s The Other Side of Eden www.curledup.com/eden.htm and Quinn’s Ishmael http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_(novel) ]

What Happened to the Liberal Media?

Could someone please explain why doing away with the Equal Time Doctrine was a good idea?

Some Thoughts about the Election, Etc.

Obama/Biden and the Democratic Party are clearly the best choices in this November election!

[However, I wish they'd be even more progressive and energetic in efforts to develop policy and action that will move us toward: really dealing with global climate change (recognized as the major local and global concern by scientists specializing in this area, and as a major concern by most leaders and a majority of people of the world), local and global conservation of energy and the natural resource base, targeting the truly poor in the world with education and empowerment, health care, and power over resources, and changing our pro-war mindset and severely reducing this "military-industrial" complex of ours.].

Nevertheless, the misinformation, disinformation and lies spewed and fomented by Republicans and (psuedo)conservatives*/right-wingers, including the attractive (to many???) Sarah Palin with her entrenched (but very destructive) simplistic and "Fundamentalist" beliefs, are obviously compelling to many!!??!! (I do recognize that this is a political campaign--and there is misinformation/propaganda/plenty of spin on both sides. Nevertheless, McCain** has really sold his soul in hopes of winning the Presidency--and his campaign has truly been unethical in this area of lies and deceit.)

A wonderful friend, Alicia Helton, up the street had a good letter in the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise this week (see below***). And then this morning on C-Span I heard author John K. Wilson interviewed extensively about his book, Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest www.ontheissues.org/Improbable_Quest.htm.

I think Alicia's letter and Wilson's book are worth reading.

..................................................................
* Don't ever call yourself a true conservative unless you're truly for: short and long term conservation of the Land & Natural resource base, ethical use of energy, and ecological literacy.

** I used to point out in a lecture on energy and energetics, that re. ethanol, McCain was the only one of the candidates (including Gore and Bradley, and of course Bush) in the 2000 campaign who was principled in not supporting ethanol subsidization--because the science showed it didn't make sense. (Gore was wishy-washy, Bradley flip-flopped from his position as a Senator because he wanted the Iowa/Farm vote, and of course Bush "didn't have a clue."

***"First I got an email stating that Barack Obama is not really a citizen of the US and not eligible to be President – probably based on the fact that nobody can ever remember exactly when Hawaii became a state. (It was 1959, and Obama was born in 1961.)

Next somebody left a printed copy of an anonymous email clipped to my garbage can. (I’ve had an Obama sign in my yard since February.) The message accused Obama of replacing the American flag on the tail of his airplane with the Obama symbol.

Last week a man saw my Obama button and asked, “Are you going to vote for a Muslim for President?” I wish I had said, “Yes, why not? This is America where we don’t discriminate based on religion.” Instead I fell back on facts: “Obama belongs to the United Church of Christ,” and “He went to elementary school in Jakarta with Muslim kids, but it was not a Muslim school.” The man was polite but did not believe me.

Yesterday an email from the “Swiftboat” website contained a video that uses partial quotes to try to show Obama disrespecting the Bible and Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. Only the fine print identifies the video’s producers as the same people who torpedoed John Kerry with lies and innuendo in 2004. They are open about using any means necessary to keep Obama from being elected.

Then last night we heard the Republican Vice Presidential candidate repeat what public records show to be outright lies about her own record and about Obama’s. Once again Republicans are campaigning with manipulation rather than persuasion and lies rather than actual differences on the issues of governing.

At www.barackobama.com/fightthesmears you can see photos of the campaign jet with both the Obama symbol and the American flag prominently displayed. You can hear and read about Obama’s positions on the issues, his faith, family, white grandparents, African cousins, and find explanations and refutations for all the ugly, personal, by-and-large bigoted stuff people are saying behind their hands.

Good people see and hear these awful rumors. So much has gone so wrong so quickly for so many that it’s hard to know what to believe. Let’s get the fear and the racist nonsense off our chests so we can turn to honest debate about how to save the planet, the country, and each other."
Sincerely,
A. R. Helton

Next Stop Armageddon

Hurricane: Next Exit
Originally uploaded by postmail

An Art League's PURPOSE

What is the purpose of an Art League? Most of them are non-profits- and are not really there to get rich. So what is an Art League created for? According to the Seguin Oakwood Art League's by-laws, it's "To create a public interest in art, to sponsor public displays and workshops, and to help artists work together for mutual advancement". Right now, this Art League's members are not together on the definition of what "mutual advancement" means. We all agree that it's for the camaraderie of people who have an interest in the same things that we do. We also agree that it's to help each other learn new and better techniques to improve our work and grow with. Some feel that if we sell our art, then that's nice and we're lucky, but that selling our work is not really the purpose of a non-profit art organization. Others, myself included, want to seriously promote the Art League to create a larger public interest in the group, increase it's membership substantially, giving us better opportunities to learn and grow from, and generate more sales for all. I don't think that the act of selling your art work is cheapening your creative vision, unless you're slapping out work that you're calling art just for something to sell. If you're creating your best with each piece you produce, then, you're staying true to your heart and you alone must always judge your own intentions. So, how can our Art League fulfill it's purpose in Seguin?
We need to:
1. get a building to use as a gallery and to have our meetings, demonstrations, and receptions, etc, where we have control over the hours that it's open making it more accessible to the public.
2. an active group where all work together. Not a few consistently doing the work for the many.
2. to promote our workshops more with the community - children's and adult art classes, etc, to bring others into the group.
3. to sponsor city wide events for the public to bring the group to the attention of all.
4. a president who will actively generate and listen to ideas for growth and then act on them with the consent and support of the group.

An Art League is suppose to inspire and enthuse people. You should be able to walk into it and FEEL the energy and excitement and let it carry you away - if only for a little while. And when you pass out of it's doors, you should feel refreshed and renewed. Let's get together and make Seguin's Art League shine! We can do this!!

Today's Quote
What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul. -Yiddish proverb

In This “Apathetical, Disenfranchised, Ignorant, Busy, Chaotic, Warring” World: WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT! (We Should Accept/Take This Responsibility)

[The government (which could involve structured living systems progressing toward quality life for all life
for a long period of time) is a messy imperfect work in progress!]
........................................................
I don’t think Reagan was the worst president there ever was. (George W. Bush is, however, a major candidate for this position.)

Nevertheless, as Tom Friedman pointed out on Charlie Rose last night in the promotion of his latest book, Hot, Flat and Crowded, … President Ronald Reagan did do some long-lasting harm to the U.S. and the world community:

• 
  Reagan and his followers encouraged a lack of confidence in government.
• 
  Ronald Reagan was “anti-tax”, and he promoted the false hopes of “the invisible hand,” and voodoo and trickle-down economics, for taking care of living individuals and the biosphere.
• 
  Ronnie lacked the ethic of conservation of the Natural world.
• 
  Reagan tore down Carter’s White House solar panels, and--through the Reagan administration’s lack of leadership in the area of ecological literacy and movement toward a conserving, Green economy—Ronnie Reagan set us back many years in our quest for quality life, sustainable livelihoods, and sustainable community for all for a long duration.
• 
  Reagan and his “revolution” are responsible for serious environmental destruction, degradation and pollution

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I get aggravated at my lack of progress in convincing my local community that we should be educating toward and realizing: the reduction of, reuse of and recycling of “waste”. [We need to critically think, and realize that the haves and the powerful in this community make it difficult for the have-nots and less-powerful to do this reducing, reusing, and recycling. The workings of our current waste management system in my local community is just another example of non-recognition of, discrimination of and prejudice toward (and perhaps exploitation of) … the poor and de facto disenfranchised who live here. … But I personally truly have not been very effective in realizing significant socio-political/economic (ecological) change in my own community.]

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As I just stated, I really haven’t been very successful in moving the local community we inhabit toward sustainable policies, practices and livelihoods. And I must know that I'm just not devoting the quality time and energy needed into this effort in order to be successful?

And now I’ve agreed to travel to Guatemala next month to discuss integrated pest management practices, and sustainable agriculture, livelihoods, and community with campesinos in the region around the Lago de Atitlán!??!

¡La vida buena! ¡Una vida tan loca! Some of us gringos really have it made!

“Bless me Father for I have sinned. It’s been many years since my last confession. … .”

Save Our Springs Finally Gets a Break

Big news in the Central Texas water wars. In December 2004 Barton Springs watchdog group Save Our Springs was slapped with a $300,000 judgment against it signed by "Judge" Bill Bender of Seguin, eventually forcing SOS to seek bankruptcy protection. But this week another Judge threw out Bender's decision finding that he was disqualified from hearing the case. Read more about it here.