BartBlog

Last week I stayed up late two nights in a row while happily stepping into the vividly-described world of Betty Reid Soskin’s wonderful new memoir, “Sign My Name to Freedom”.  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sign-my-name-to-freedom-betty-reid-soskin/1125684317#/

The last several chapters in Soskin’s book tell us all about her work at the “Rosie the Riveter” Home Front National Park in Richmond CA, and her descriptions of the park and its museum are so enticing that I immediately ran right out there. I caught the bus — and public transportation dropped me off practically right at the museum’s front doorstep, even better than Uber. Plus I get my best reading done on public transit. Plus subways and buses are doing a lot toward preventing climate change from raging too far out of control too soon (please wait until after I die before allowing it to destroy the world!)

Another thing Soskin writes about in her book that thoroughly moved me were her descriptions of the amazingly unified cooperation between every single man, woman and child in America in order to “do the damn thing” and win World War II, making the world safe from German fascism (although unfortunately WW II didn’t manage to keep us safe from American fascism. Sigh.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRTttyZ-MDk

At the end of her book Soskin also points out that if Americans could so completely mobilize and commit themselves in the battle against Hitler, then surely we Americans can also completely mobilize and commit ourselves against an even greater danger — climate change. Think about that for a minute. But don’t think too long. Our last window of opportunity is rapidly closing. Now is the time to act. https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/american-cities-that-will-soon-be-under-water/ss-AAyRWxS?ocid=spartanntp

Like what happened all across America back in the 1940s, we all gotta sacrifice in the face of a huge common danger and act outside of our own individual self-interest in order to save the whole freaking human race.

According to climate-change expert Robert Hunziker, there are currently three (3) ecological monsters heading our way. “The three monsters are: (1) A State Shift in the biosphere [AKA a planetary tipping point from which there is no recovery]; (2) Human-caused greenhouse gases which alter the planet, disrupting the Holocene Era of 10,000 years of Goldilocks’ climate, not too hot, not too cold; and (3) Collapsing ecosystems 100% due to human footprint, inclusive of excessive toxic chemicals galore, worldwide.” https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/07/03/three-climatic-monsters-with-asteroid-impact/

But does all this horrific new information leave us with any hope for the human race at all? Yes it does — but only if we mount an immediate, all-out assault on extinction prevention. And, to quote Rosie the Riveter, “We can do it!” We just have to. There is no other rational choice.

PS: The number-one cause of climate change right now is “war”. Sorry guys but America, Israel, NATO and the Saudis need to hand over all their “war” toys to the scrap drive if the human race is ever to survive. https://consortiumnews.com/2018/07/14/clinging-to-collusion-why-evidence-will-probably-never-be-produced-in-the-indictments-of-russian-agents/

And everyone in America seems to be working overtime to hype up the chances of “war”. All of FaceBook is currently blowing up with hatred of Russia. Hating Russia is not gonna save us. I already lived through the 1950s and do NOT want to do it again. Be careful what you wish for. McCarthyism sucked eggs. No one was “saved” by hating Russia then and it’s not gonna work now either.  http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/war-doesnt-make-sense-anymore/

Plus I also would prefer not to get fried like an egg on my own sidewalk by a Hot War with Russia, China and/or Iran either — just because some greedy warmongering idiots in the media know not what they do.

And let’s also consider all those “liberal” Americans who had the good sense to be horrified by that dangerously trumped-up 1950s Cold War and then horrified again by those pricey and wholly-invented 21st century “wars” on Iraq, Libya, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Honduras, Ukraine and Afghanistan. Unbelievably, they too are falling for all of this new “hate Russia” crap. Perhaps they just can’t wait to get blown up and/or radiated to death by a thermonuclear “war” on Russia — but I can. Isn’t being seriously endangered by climate change scary enough? https://www.globalresearch.ca/immigration-western-wars-and-imperial-exploitation-uproot-millions/5645586

There’s a legend that is often told along the Texas-Mexico border. It’s called “El Niño Perdido,” a story about a lost and abused child — and it’s guaranteed to make you cry if you have any heart at all. Eventually this child became a folk saint in honor of his suffering. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpejsYhqN7M

There is also an old Hispanic legend about La Llorona, a ghostly mother who is perpetually forced to travel the world desperately searching for her lost children. Another version of this story has an evil La Llorona running around the countryside kidnapping hapless Latino children. Sound familiar? https://ghostcitytours.com/san-antonio/haunted-places/la-llorona/

But here in America we have a different legend about children, thanks to Walt Disney. “If you tell a lie, your nose will grow.” Seems like almost everyone in Washington DC these days should also have noses the length of redwood trees because almost every word out of their mouths is a lie — especially regarding the bloody and murderous “wars” on Syria, Yemen, Palestine, etc. But let’s just focus here on the lies told to us by I.C.E.

But before we chat about all these new lies they’ve been telling us recently, let’s take a look at one of their older ones. “Turns out that the kids being held in the Fairfield Detention Center in California are not newly-kidnapped children after all,” I was recently told by a friend. “No, the kids in that jail, mostly pre-teens and teenagers by now, have already been there without habeas corpus or without bail for over two years.” Wha? Isn’t that illegal? No wonder they are lying to us. Sounds like poor Rapunzel trapped in a tower to me.

Next lie. “We know where all the asylum-seekers’ babies are right now and can easily reunite them with their parents,” I.C.E.’s boss tells us. Pants on fire! All those babies have been deliberately misplaced, possibly forever. Wha? Shades of Red Riding Hood — only with the wolf winning out instead of the woodsman.

We misplace our glasses or misplace our car keys. No one misplaces babies — unless one is a wicked witch like the one that picked on poor Hansel and Gretel or the one that Dorothy dropped a house on. Or unless one is employed by I.C.E.

Next lie: “We can reunite all the babies with their parents by July 10.” So far, only four (4) babies have been reunited with their parents. No “happily ever after” involved here. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/07/can-the-trump-administration-solve-a-disaster-of-its-own-making/564872/

Next lie. “Those brats are here illegally.” And I.C.E.’s nose grows even longer. The rule of law in America states that if asylum-seekers can make it across our borders, they will be here legally. If a Canadian citizen crosses into America while trying to escape the horrors of poutine for instance, that Canadian is here legally. And so are all those poor sweet Hansels and Gretels that are fleeing American-supported dictators in Central America. https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/31/made_in_the_usa_the_real

Next lie. “Those children are all safe and sound.” Yeah. Sure. Tell that one to Jiminy Cricket. Oops. No. I forgot. I.C.E doesn’t have any conscience.

Remember back to that very sad day when you finally found out that there wasn’t any Santa Claus? That everything your parents had ever told you about Santa Claus was a lie? And not only that, but then you also found out that millions of other kids in America, just like you, had been systematically lied to as well? And that the culture of an entire nation has colluded to make YOU believe in cute little elves and Mrs. Santa and chimneys and cookies after midnight and some happy workshop at the North Pole….

And then one day your mean older sister gleefully told you, “Guess what? It was all a big fat lie. There is no Santa. Sucker!”

And we Americans have also been systematically taken in by that other fantasy myth about what is happening in Syria right now as well. “That evil Assad! America is saving the world for democracy! Good guys always wear White Helmets!” I hate to be the one to burst your bubble for you — but none of that particular fairy tale is true either. And the really sad thing about all this myth-bedtime-story-lie about Syria that we’ve been coerced into believing is that we are no longer children. We are adults now. There is absolutely no excuse for us to still believe in Santa Claus — or to still believe that whatever they tell us on the six o’clock news about Syria is even anywhere near true. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/are-al-qaeda-affiliates-fighting-alongside-u-s-rebels-in-syrias-south/

“Mommy, please tell me that story again about Assad being a horrid boogieman in Syria — please, Mommy?” And so Mommy once again tells us just what we want to hear.

“Once upon a time…”

But the actually real truth is that the boogeyman in Syria is actually America. What a joke on us! Or at least it would be if the horrendous death toll in Syria doesn’t keep growing and rising every single hour of every single day — and not just on Christmas. https://www.mintpressnews.com/welcome-to-hadar-a-village-under-siege-by-syrian-rebels-and-israeli-forces-alike/244569/

“But Jane,” you might say, “have you any evidence?” Good grief yes! International news, social media, eye-witness accounts — all of that stuff practically screams out at us “There is no Santa!” And also that “Assad isn’t a dictator either. And Saudi Arabia and Israel are. And you’ve been had. And all this will cost you your future and your self-respect and you freaking belief in the Tooth Fairy too!” http://21stcenturywire.com/2018/06/21/yemen-u-s-involvement-in-uae-controlled-torture-and-detention-centres/

But no. Americans still insist on teaching their children to believe in Santa Claus. “What harm does it do?” No harm at all. Have fun with it — as long as we adults don’t start believing it too. And vast amounts of harm does accrue when we adults still keep believing that America’s “war” on Syria is anything but the sadistic, greedy and tragic misadventure that it actually is. https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/its-time-to-start-getting-enraged-at-what-western-imperialists-have-done-to-syria-a53529c7c0e7

It’s time for Americans to block up the Pentagon’s chemical-factory chimney and put Lockheed’s deadly milk and cookies away. And those are NOT benevolent Boeing reindeer out flying happily over sweet little Syria with sleighs loaded with Christmas presents for all. Those are American F16 bombers carrying billions of dollars worth of deadly “payloads”. Those are American chemical attacks. Those are tons of American weapons found in the hands of ISIS. Over six hundred Syrians are d-e-a-d because of this myth. https://www.rt.com/usa/431529-america-myths-lee-camp/

It is time to get serious about Syria.

PS: It is also time to get serious about America’s reality too. We are currently over TWENTY TRILLION DOLLARS in debt. That would equal enough $100 bills to wallpaper the entire state of Idaho — three inches deep. And at least a trillion of those mysteriously-disappearing dollars have been spent on deep-fat-frying Syrian babies and keeping ISIS afloat. Is this really the way that we want to squander America’s money? Really? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mus0zM0cC8w&feature=youtu.be

I’m truly surprised that hordes of Americans carrying torches and pitchforks haven’t descended on Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court already. But myths are powerful things — nothing to joke around with. And Americans have been totally hooked on this myth. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49689.htm

PPS: A friend of mine just drove me through the heart of the horrific California-Oregon border fire destruction. It looked like a war zone. And if this is what “war” looks like, then America needs to be more careful what it pays for in the Middle East.

Lindsey Graham just gave his same old tired rehashed doggerel speech in Syria that I heard him give in Iraq ten years ago — about how American forces need to stay in (fill in the blank) so that (add some cheesy reason here that involves weapons manufacturers and greed).