SIGN OF THE TIMES [and] SLIDING INTO WINTER

SIGN OF THE TIMES

I came across this article today in the Truthout news-site. Hunger is on the rise in the U.S. Because of the rising jobless rate in our low-grade, but persistent depression, brought on by the unregulated greed of the financial industry, and out-sourcing of jobs by large corporations, from this country over the past 20 years.

NEARLY ONE IN SIX CITIZENS WENT HUNGRY IN 2008

http://www.truthout.org/1117093

Washington - As the World Food Security Summit got under way in Rome Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) disclosed that nearly one in six U.S. households went hungry at some time during 2008, the highest level since it began monitoring food security levels in 1995.

Altogether, 14.6 percent of households, or some 49 million people, "had difficulty putting enough food on the table at times during the year", according to the report, "Household Food Security in the United States, 2008".

That marked a sharp increase from the 11.1 percent of households, or 36.2 million people, who found themselves in similar straits during 2007, according to the report whose lead author predicted that the percentage was likely to be higher in 2009 due to the ripple effects of the financial crisis that erupted 14 months ago.

Among the 17 million households that experienced hunger – or "food insecurity", as the report referred to it - during 2008, about one-third suffered "very low food security", meaning that the amount of food of at least some household members was reduced and their normal eating patterns were substantially disrupted. Such households experienced such disruptions for at least a few days during seven or eight months of the year.

The other two-thirds were able to obtain enough food to avoid substantial disruptions by using a number of coping strategies, such as eating less varied diets, participating in government food and nutrition assistance programmes, or obtaining food from community food pantries or emergency kitchens.

And the number of households in which children, as well as adults, were subject to "very low food security" rose steeply – from 323,000 in 2007 to 506,000 last year, according to the report.

President Barack Obama released a statement from China, his latest stop on a week-long swing through Asia, which called the latest findings "unsettling".

"This trend was already painfully clear in many communities across our nation, where food stamp applications are surging and food pantry shelves are emptying," he said.

"It is particularly troubling that there were more than 500,000 families in which a child experienced hunger multiple times over the course of the year. Our children's ability to grow, learn, and meet their full potential – and therefore our future competitiveness as a nation – depends on regular access to healthy meals," he said, noting a number of steps taken by his administration to "revers(e) the trend of rising hunger."

Of the 49 million people who faced hunger on at least one occasion last year, 16.7 million were children, according to the report. That was 4.2 million more than in 2007 and the highest on record since 1995.

"The data released today is not surprising," said David Beckmann, the president of Bread for the World, a national anti-hunger group that also carries out programmes in poor countries. "What should really shock us is that almost one in four children in our country lives on the brink of hunger."

Feeding America, the largest U.S. food-relief organisation, said the USDA's latest statistics squared with its own experience in local communities where it runs some 200 food banks that feed more than 25 million people each year.

"It is tragic that so many people in this nation of plenty don't have access to adequate amounts of nutritious food," said Vicki Escarra, the group's president and CEO.

"Although these new numbers are staggering, it should be noted that they reflect the state of the nation one year ago, in 2008," she said. "Since then, the economy has significantly weakened, and there are likely many more people struggling with hunger than this report states."

She noted that some of the group's food banks, which supply food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency feeding centres, have reported increases of more than 50 percent in requests for emergency food aid over the past year.

"National socio-economic indicators, including the escalating unemployment rate and the number of working poor, lead us to believe that the number of people facing hunger will continue to rise significantly over the coming year," Escarra said.

The official unemployment rate exceeded 10 percent last month for the first time since the early 1980s, while former Labour Secretary Robert Reich estimated the "unofficial" unemployment rate – which includes people who have given up looking for work or who are under-employed – to be as high as 20 percent.

"Research on previous recessions indicates that people who fall into the grips of poverty in a time of recession do not recover financially," Escarra said. "Many of those people are likely to be in need of our services now or in the future."

Food insecurity, according to the new report, correlated closely to households with incomes near or below the federal poverty line of some 22,050 dollars for a family of four, single-parent households, and African-American and Hispanic households.

It found that food insecurity was more common in large cities and rural areas then in suburbs and was most prevalent in the southeastern part of the country.

Under Obama, the government has significantly increased funding for food stamps, emergency food aid, and school lunch programmes. In his statement, Obama said he hoped to provide more support next year.

"The survey suggested that things could be much worse but for the fact that we have extensive food assistance programmes," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday. "This is a great opportunity to put a spotlight on this problem."

Beckmann agreed. "The recession has made the problem of hunger worse, and it has also made it more visible," he said. "Increased public awareness and the administration's commitment give me hope. To end hunger, our leaders need to strengthen nutrition programmes and provide steady jobs that allow parents to escape the cycle of poverty and feed their families for years to come."

We here at A.P.R. see nothing on the horizon that would improve the jobless situation in this country. No real effort has been made by the Obama administration to restore important regulatory powers by the federal government of the financial industry first started by the F.D.R. administration in the late 1930s (to prevent another financial melt-down), but gutted ten years ago (during the Clinton administration!). The incredibly blatant taxpayer robbery of 700 billion dollars, with even more proposed, to prop up the same greedy, short-sighted financial institutions that have caused a global recession, continues apace. No significant federal efforts for job growth have been undertaken.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron." ~Dwight D. Eisenhower, speech, American Society of Newspaper Editors, 16 April 1953

You've seen this quote before here in a previous post. Why is our government spending two to three billion dollars a day on illegal, immoral, and destructive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Wars that were based on lies. Think what that money could be doing in this country, and others. For just 40 billion dollars, or 20 days of war, clean water could be provided GLOBALLY to the people who needed it. What do you think would do more to promote U.S. national security, 20 days of war on defenseless countries, or that?

Federal jobs programmes to develop and implement renewable energy sources on a large scale, shore up our crumbling infrastructure (roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, etc.), and develop high-speed rail links between all our major cities could employ millions gainfully, for many years. And help combat global warming.

"When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered......True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring......A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.
A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Maybe MLK's words have come true. Is it too late?

SLIDING INTO WINTER











This past monday, while running errands around the UAF campus on a cold, dim early winter day,






I came across these inspiring, caring UAF students, camped out in the middle of campus. It was about -32C (-25F) overnight, warming to about -25C by day, and they had been there for four days. Trying to raise money for local shelters and awareness about homelessness, in our community, and all over. It's hard staying warm, just standing around like that! Our hat is off to them, and contributions too. Good on 'ya!

We had some time the following day for a short jaunt into the backcountry. The White Mountains, 70 Km or so northeast of Fairbanks beckoned. This is where the trail system that links a nice set of cabins is located, that many nordic skiers, dog-mushers, and snowmachiners go into throughout the winter.

We had had a nice 16 cm snow-dump at the Chena Ridge Research Centre last week, and we wanted to see how much occurred in the Whites, and how the trails were. When we got to the trailhead at 1pm, things were looking up! I'd estimate a good 30-40 cm snow base here. It sure made for beautiful scenery on the usually ugly black spruce. Because these trails run through the higher terrain at 800 to 1200 metres, when we have a cold-weather pattern, they are often in the clouds. Rime ice builds up thickly on all the tree branches, this combined with the snow from last week, made for quite a nice scene.

We wasted no time getting up the trail to Lee's Cabin, 12 Km southeast from the trailhead on the Elliott Highway. Homer and Mattie sure had a great time running in the -28C cold on the snowmachine-packed trail. I couldn't go as fast as them in that cold, slow, snow, on my waxless classic skis. Still, there was some decent glide on the downhill sections, since the trail was packed down.






The view looking north, about halfway to Lee's Cabin, toward Wickersham Dome shows the nice, thick snow base. I'm guessing they must have picked up double the amount of snow last week, that Fairbanks received. These trails are in prime shape now for any winter adventuring, good to know!



It took me a slow 90 min. to go just the 12 Km in to Lee's cabin. Just near there, the trail forks, this branch, heading east into the heart of the Whites, takes you into the network of cabins in the higher mountains, to the east. We'll be getting in there later this season, for sure.

Sunset comes by 4pm now, and was quite nice, with all the new snow. After a quick food/energy break near the cabin, it was time to head back. Since it was clear, that meant it would be getting much colder than -28C soon, so we were not going to take our time. I had to stop several times to whirl my arms, to force blood into my fingers, since they were getting cold and numb at times.

It took us another 90 minutes to make the return trip back to the trailhead. Homer sure has our admiration. For his advanced canid age of 13, he hasn't slowed down at all. He ran the entire 24 km, more even, since he kept going back and forth, so he probably ran 35-40 km, with no sign of tiring. Keep it up! Mattie of course was just going wild, she must have run 50 Km or more. She never shows any sign of tiring until she runs at least 90-100 Km.

We got back to the trailhead just as darkness was setting in. I managed to snap this picture with my ice buildup just in time.

I tried something new this time. I've seen UAF ski racers use these respirator face masks before when training in the deep cold of -20C or colder. These pre-warm the air above freezing as you inhale.

Inside our lungs, the surface area of air-exchange is very large, and with bitter cold air, a great amount of heat can be lost when breathing hard. Years of this can sometimes make the lungs more sensitive as well, inducing asthma in some people. To prevent that, I thought I'd give the mask a try. It worked great. Normally when working hard in the deep cold, I cough a little, not at all this time. And, after our 3 1/2 hour trip, my lungs felt just as good as when we started. I think this will be mandatory for all my runs and skis when temperatures drop below -20C. It's always nice to find some new way of adapting to the cold, so that we can be as active as we like. Cheers.

WHY WE ARE HERE [and] THE ONLY ONE

WHY WE ARE HERE

In part of our previous post, the "Getting Boulderised" section, we may have mislead you to think we didn't like living in Fairbanks, or that it is an inherently regressive, dark place.

This is definitely not the case, so here are a few reasons why the staff of the Alaska Progressive Review has chosen to remain here, continuing the furthest north stand for peace and justice!

First and foremost, is the presence of the University of Alaska, main campus, situated on the western edge of Fairbanks. Billed as "America's Arctic University", it has over 13,000 students, and most of the common degree programs one associates with a major public university.

The large student body and associated researchers, professors, and support staff, along with former students, does exert a significant, and beneficial impact on the Fairbanks North Star Borough (boroughs are what counties are called in Alaska, and the FNSB is home to about 100,000 people, while the city of Fairbanks has about 45,000).




UAF is one of the leaders in Arctic environmental, biological, and cultural research globally. For example, many of the authors of the definitive scientific assessment of global warming, the U.N. sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), http://www.ipcc.ch/,
are researchers at UAF. Atmospheric scientists, climatologists, statisticians, glaciologists, biologists, and many others.




Your lead author is privileged to be studying there, and finishing my M.S. in natural resources management/forestry, conducting research into global warming's effects on future Alaska wildfire seasons.

Like many public universities, UAF often sponsors thought-provoking and conscience-raising events:

Presentation and Book-signing:
The New GI Resistance
Dahr Jamail
Sunday November 15
Schaible Auditorium (Bunnell Bldg, UAF) 7PM - book signing to follow

Independent journalist and author of "The Will to Resist," DahrJamail, will share stories from the growing number of active dutymilitary personnel who are refusing to participate in what they see ascriminal wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. These GI's arefinding comfort in the discomfort of truth despite the reprimand theyface for their dissent, and many come away from their armed servicededicated to working toward a rapid and responsible end to the occupations.

Jamail's Alaska tour is being sponsored by the UA Foundation Gene Sharp Lectureship on Nonviolent Action and he will be visiting all three UA campuses. Jamail's visit to Fairbanks is being hosted by the UAFairbanks Coalition for Peace and Justice, the Alaska Peace Center, North Star Veterans for Peace, and the Unitarian UniversalistFellowship of Fairbanks. For more information about Dahr and to seehis work, please visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com.


And, we even do have a local peace group, as mentioned above, the Fairbanks Coalition For Peace and Justice, https://lists.uaf.edu:8025/mailman/listinfo/fairbankspeace-l

I have helped staff their booth at our annual Tanana Valley Fair each August, and participated with them in candle-light vigils on the first and second anniversaries of the illegal, and immoral invasion and occupation of the sovereign country of Iraq, a country not threatening this one. Which has cost the lives of at least a million innocent civilians, there, and over 5000 U.S. soldiers, and destroyed their country.

That UAF would sponsor, much less allow, Dahr Jamail, to give his presentation on-campus speaks highly for it, and is the major reason why the A.P.R. remains in Fairbanks!

And although our progressive community is more widely dispersed, and smaller, than places like Missoula, MT, or Boulder, CO, it is present, under the radar, so to speak, of the dominant oil industry/military power centres here. One significant sign that the Fairbanks progressive community is slowly growing and increasing in prominence, is that a new cooperative natural food market, is well on it's way to fruition. http://fairbankscoop.wordpress.com/

This will be a welcome addition to Fairbanks, as natural food stores, wherever they are, serve as a nucleus for progressive culture, in addition to providing healthy, sustainable foods and other products.




Winters are cold here, there is no doubt about that. Our average high and low at the Fairbanks airport in January is -19C/-28C (-2F/-18F). And the sun only nudges 2 degrees above the horizon for 3 1/2 hours in the few weeks around the winter solstice. Producing beautiful lighting effects, on our snow-draped boreal forest landscape.

The long winters, sometimes cold (but not always, there are warm spells where temperatures warm up to near freezing between our periods of deep cold), produce a snowpack that gives us some of the best conditions in the World for nordic skiing. A pursuit we at A.P.R. avidly enjoy, and pursue every chance we get.

Nordic skiing trails were developed around the UAF campus as early as the 1930s. There are about 25 km of trails there now, groomed and set for both skating and classic skiing. Across town, just to the east of downtown Fairbanks, lies Birch Hill, the larger nordic skiing centre. It has a world-class set of about 35 Km of trails, and races at different times of the season attract athletes from all over the World. This is probably the second main reason why we like living here!

Today in fact, was the first day I had off, when our snowpack was deep enough for good conditions at Birch Hill.

So, I had to get out and skate about 25 Km, and then switch to my classic skis (the snow was a little stiff today, so the glide for skating was not as good as it could be, at the mild temperature of only -8C), for another 18 Km or so.

The trails at Birch hill wind their way predominantly through stands of birch trees, intermixed with white spruce, and black spruce on the permafrosty north-facing aspects. Some days I'll skate or classic ski 50-70 Km here, when the conditions are supportive.

We have nice, locally-dominated races as well. In late March every year, a 50 Km race called the Sonot Kkhazoot, starts downtown on the Chena River. We all go 10 Km up the Chena to a large hill, ascend that, then ski most of the trails in the Birch Hill nordic ski area, then descend back to the Chena, and slide back in to the start.




There are usually several hundred racers each year for this, and I've done it three times, getting a little faster each time (I'm still taking lessons, and probably will be for the rest of my life!). And since we have much longer days in March, and usually, warmer temperatures, it is a great time to be out enjoying a fast ski with hundreds of others!

And, in summer, all of the trails by UAF and at Birch Hill, serve as running and hiking trails, which we liberally take advantage of. We also have a very strong and large running community in Fairbanks, www.runningclubnorth.org, which we interact with quite a bit, running in many of the races, and in our annual Equinox marathon.

So, we do have some progressive culture in Fairbanks, with more on the way, along with an environment that is conducive for outdoor recreation of almost every conceivable sort. To say nothing of being within a few hours of all the other wilderness activities Alaska has to offer.

THE ONLY ONE

As you may already know, the U.S. is the only one of the 25 industrialised nations without some kind of national health coverage. A.P.R.'s take on the Obama administrations attempt at "health care reform" can best be summed up by this article, from the Counterpunch web-site. http://counterpunch.org/demoro11102009.html

Another Big Bail Out
The Truth About the House Health Care Bill
By ROSE ANN DeMORO

Of all the torrent of words that followed House passage of its version of healthcare reform legislation in early November, perhaps the most misleading were those comparing it to enactment of Social Security and Medicare.

Sadly no. Social Security and Medicare were both federal programs guaranteeing respectively pensions and health care for our nation's seniors, paid for and administered by the federal government with public oversight and public accountability.

While the House bill, and its Senate counterpart, do have several important reform components, along with many weaknesses, neither one comes close to the guarantees and the expansion of health and income security provided by Social Security or Medicare.

By contrast, if the central premise of Social Security and Medicare was a federal guarantee of health and retirement security, the main provision of the bills in Congress is a mandate requiring most Americans without health coverage to buy private insurance.

In other words, the principle beneficiary is not Americans' health, but the bottom line of the insurance industry which stands to harvest tens of billions of dollars in additional profits ordered by the federal government. Or as Rep. Eric Massa of New York put it on the eve of the House vote, "at the highest level, this bill will enshrine in law the monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry, period."

Further, while Social Security and Medicare, two of the most important reforms in American history, were both significant expansions of public protection, the House bill actually reduces public protection for a substantial segment of the population, women, with its unconscionable rollback of reproductive rights in the anti-abortion amendment.

Why then so much cheerleading by many progressive and liberal legislators, columnists, and activists?

* Passage of the bill was a clear defeat for the Republican opposition and those on the right who have so mischaracterized what boils down to modest reform that looks more like a "robust" version of the Medicare prescription drug benefit or the state children's health initiative.
* Proponents of the bill, starting in the White House and running through the Democratic leadership in Congress, with the assistance and support of many in labor and liberal and progressive constituency groups, have so lowered expectations on healthcare reform that with eyes wide shut they can call this a sweeping victory.

To be sure there are commendable provisions in the House bill that bear note. Among the most important are:

Expansion of Medicaid to millions of low income adults.
Reduction of the "doughnut hole" in the Medicare drug coverage law making drug costs more affordable for many seniors.

Increased federal funding for community health programs, such as home visits for nurses and social workers to low income families.

Additional regulation of the insurance industry, mostly targeted to people who are presently without coverage rather than those with existing health plans. Those include limits on insurers ability to drop sick enrollees or refuse to sell policies to people with prior health problems, extending the age that dependent children can be on their parents' plan, and repeal of the anti-trust exemption for insurers.

Extending the same health benefit tax benefits available to married couples to domestic partners.

A progressive tax to help pay the bill through a surcharge on wealthy earners and required contributions from large employers, in sharp contrast with the Senate proposal to tax health benefits on misnamed "Cadillac" plans, comprehensive coverage available to many union members, for example.

But the acclaim now flowing from some quarters would have been better deserved had these provisions been enacted on their own -- not accompanied by the many shortcomings of the legislation. To cite a few:

Healthcare will remain unaffordable for many Americans. The bill does not do nearly enough to control skyrocketing insurance, pharmaceutical, and hospital costs. Indeed, by various estimates, with no effective limits on the insurance industry's price gouging, out-of-pocket costs for premiums, deductibles and other fees by some estimates with eat up from 15 to 19 percent of family incomes by several accounts.

No meaningful reform of the rampant insurance denials of medical treatment the insurers don't want to pay for.

Little assistance for individuals and families who presently have employer-sponsored health plans and face frequent erosion of their coverage and health security. No help for the healthcare cost-shifting from employers to employees.

Minimal expansion of consumer choice. The much debated public plan option will be available only to about 2 percent of people under age 65, mostly those now not covered who buy insurance on their own (it may or may not be expanded in 2015). Further, no additional plan options for those in the many markets dominated by one or two private plans, and no additional choice of doctor or hospital within existing plans.

The new limits on abortion extended to poor women.

Ultimately, the combination of the mandate to buy insurance, federal subsidies to low income families to purchase private plans, failure to adequately control insurance prices or crack down on the abuse of insurance denials make the House bill -- and its Senate counterpart -- look a lot like a massive bailout for the private insurance industry.

Don't be misled by the howling from insurance industry which has been spending some $1.4 million a day to steer the direction of legislation. They would have preferred the status quo, but will be more than happy to count the increased revenues coming their way.

As Rep. Dennis Kucinich said on the House floor, "we cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem."

While some people will have improved access, the final accounting will be an even firmer private insurance grip on our healthcare system, with the U.S. remaining the only industrialized nation which barters our health for private profit.

Months ago, the Obama administration pre-determined this outcome by ruling out the most comprehensive, most cost effective, most humane reform, single payer, or an expanded and improved Medicare for all. Single payer proponents were shut out of White House forums, blocked from most hearings in the Senate, and single payer amendments stripped from the final House bill. Yet, through grassroots pressure, single-payer advocates forced consideration by the House of an improved Medicare for all until the very end.

But nurses and other single payer proponents who have heroically fought for this reform for years will continue the campaign, next in the Senate, where single payer amendments are expected to be introduced. The scene will also shift to state capitols, where vibrant single payer movements remain active and will escalate.

Proponents of comprehensive reform will never be silent, and never stop working for the real change we most desperately need.

Rose Ann DeMoro is executive director of the California Nurses Association.

I think everyone knows someone with health care horror stories. My brother Greg in San Diego had a bad surfing accident in 2006, when his surfboard shot up out of the water from a large wave. As it came down, and he came up from the water, the skeg sliced open the side of his head, severing his temporal artery. He would have bled to death, but fortunately, lifeguards were nearby, and were able to keep direct pressure on the wound until paramedics arrived.

His whole ordeal, the ambulance ride, vascular surgery, etc.. cost over $16,000. The charges on his bill were incredible for things like the pain-killers, etc. He doesn't have health insurance. It seems they charge more to people without insurance! Now he has to pay an inflated amount monthly for this unfortunate accident, for many years.

Back when I was 25, in February, 1990, and still learning to alpine ski, I had my first of five near-death experiences, on beautiful Mt. Hood here, near Portland OR.

Whilst skiing at the Mt. Hood Meadows ski area on a day where the snow was very icy, I got out of control and flew off a ledge, hitting a tree in mid-air, and descending through the trees 10-15 metres. Unconscious for a few hours, my first memory returning was laying ensconced in blankets on a sled, while the ski patrol peered down at me. Had some other skiers not heard my weak moaning emanating from a grove of mountain hemlocks beneath a ledge, and investigated, I surely would have froze overnight. This was followed by a 150 Km ambulance ride, x-rays and consultations with a plastic surgeon to plan the fix of my caved-in eye socket around the left eye, and then an arduous five-hour operation, whereby tantalum metal plates were used to re-shape the orbital socket (which also saved the vision in that eye, it had been made blurry by the accident).

Remember, this was in 1990. The total for all this, the ambulance ride, emergency room exam, plastic surgeon consultations, and the operation/hospital stay was $13,000. Of which, I only had to pay my Blue Cross calendar-year deductible of $250.00. Because they covered emergencies fully, at that time. Now, in 1990, federal salaries, and probably most private-sector salaries, were about 1/2 to 2/3 what they are now.

What do you think would be the total for this event, if it happened today? I guarantee you it would be at least 6 to 8 times what it cost in 1990. Even though wages generally have not even doubled since then. So you can imagine the plight of people without any health insurance coverage, or those who have serious diseases like cancer or need organ transplants, that insurance won't fully (or at all) cover. Medical bills like these are the major reason for personal bankruptcy in the U.S.

Is it really ethical, and healthy for us as a nation, to require health care to be a for-profit concern? What do you think? If not, join with progressive movements to press for single-payer health coverage for all, like in all the other industrialised nations.

IDENTITY CORRECTION [and] GETTING BOULDERISED

IDENTITY CORRECTION

Your lead editor first became of the Yes Men a few years ago, after reading of some of their interesting, and important performances.

What are the Yes Men? A band of merry hipsters, hundreds in number, of indeterminate gender, who go around posing as different important figures in large corporations or supporting government agencies. They do some of these performances at large conferences, and present factual, yet completely contrary and/or outrageously outspoken information to what the real figures would present. Highlighting corporate excesses, hypocrisy, and the destructiveness of our unregulated capitalist system, which if left unchecked, will poison the planet and bring catastrophic environmental changes.
http://theyesmen.org/

In their words, they perform:

Identity Correction

Impersonating big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else.

and:

The Yes Men agree their way into the fortified compounds of commerce, ask questions, and then smuggle out the stories of their hijinks to provide a public glimpse at the behind-the-scenes world of business. In other words, the Yes Men are team players... but they play for the opposing team.


http://akprogressive.blogspot.com/2009/09/entering-circle-shamanic-thoughts-and.html

We first alerted you to one of their hijinks in our 9/20/09 article, "Shamanic Thoughts [and] We're Screwed!" Whereby they and a group of collaborating activists created a fictional New York Post, describing a real official N.Y. City report on the effects global warming would have upon it. They then printed HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of copies, and distributed them in NYC! It caused quite a stir, since most people initially thought they were the real New York Post's for that day. Quite a service, of time and money, to put information out that our corporate media suppresses. A.P.R. applauds their devotion to performing this important public service. And we'd like to describe a few of their other performances, which can be found here:
http://theyesmen.org/hijinks

This one is, we think, the most outrageous, funny, but also, downright creepy, from 2007:
http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/vivoleum

Here is what went down:

Exxon's Climate-Victim Candles
Overview
Impostors posing as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council (NPC) representatives delivered an outrageous keynote speech to 300 oilmen at GO-EXPO, Canada's largest oil conference, held at Stampede Park in Calgary, Alberta, today.

The speech was billed beforehand by the GO-EXPO organizers as the major highlight of this year's conference, which had 20,000 attendees. In it, the "NPC rep" was expected to deliver the long-awaited conclusions of a study commissioned by US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. The NPC is headed by former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond, who is also the chair of the study.

In the actual speech, the "NPC rep" announced that current U.S. and Canadian energy policies (notably the massive, carbon-intensive exploitation of Alberta's oil sands, and the development of liquid coal) are increasing the chances of huge global calamities. But he reassured the audience that in the worst case scenario, the oil industry could "keep fuel flowing" by transforming the billions of people who die into oil.

"We need something like whales, but infinitely more abundant," said "NPC rep" "Shepard Wolff" (actually Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men), before describing the technology used to render human flesh into a new Exxon oil product called Vivoleum. 3-D animations of the process brought it to life.

"Vivoleum works in perfect synergy with the continued expansion of fossil fuel production," noted "Exxon rep" "Florian Osenberg" (Yes Man Mike Bonanno). "With more fossil fuels comes a greater chance of disaster, but that means more feedstock for Vivoleum. Fuel will continue to flow for those of us left."

The oilmen listened to the lecture with attention, and then lit "commemorative candles" supposedly made of Vivoleum obtained from the flesh of an "Exxon janitor" who died as a result of cleaning up a toxic spill. The audience only reacted when the janitor, in a video tribute, announced that he wished to be transformed into candles after his death, and all became crystal-clear.

At that point, Simon Mellor, Commercial & Business Development Director for the company putting on the event, strode up and physically forced the Yes Men from the stage. As Mellor escorted Bonanno out the door, a dozen journalists surrounded Bichlbaum, who, still in character as "Shepard Wolff," explained to them the rationale for Vivoleum.

"We've got to get ready. After all, fossil fuel development like that of my company is increasing the chances of catastrophic climate change, which could lead to massive calamities, causing migration and conflicts that would likely disable the pipelines and oil wells. Without oil we could no longer produce or transport food, and most of humanity would starve. That would be a tragedy, but at least all those bodies could be turned into fuel for the rest of us."

"We're not talking about killing anyone," added the "NPC rep." "We're talking about using them after nature has done the hard work. After all, 150,000 people already die from climate-change related effects every year. That's only going to go up - maybe way, way up. Will it all go to waste? That would be cruel."

Security guards then dragged Bichlbaum away from the reporters, and he and Bonanno were detained until Calgary Police Service officers could arrive. The policemen, determining that no major infractions had been committed, permitted the Yes Men to leave.

Canada's oil sands, along with "liquid coal," are keystones of Bush's Energy Security plan. Mining the oil sands is one of the dirtiest forms of oil production and has turned Canada into one of the world's worst carbon emitters. The production of "liquid coal" has twice the carbon footprint as that of ordinary gasoline. Such technologies increase the likelihood of massive climate catastrophes that will condemn to death untold millions of people, mainly poor.

"If our idea of energy security is to increase the chances of climate calamity, we have a very funny sense of what security really is," Bonanno said. "While ExxonMobil continues to post record profits, they use their money to persuade governments to do nothing about climate change. This is a crime against humanity."

"Putting the former Exxon CEO in charge of the NPC, and soliciting his advice on our energy future, is like putting the wolf in charge of the flock," said "Shepard Wolff" (Bichlbaum). "Exxon has done more damage to the environment and to our chances of survival than any other company on earth. Why should we let them determine our future?"

Amazing, and inspiring! Then there was this one, where they posed as Halliburton officials at a "Catastrophic Loss" conference in Florida, in 2006 :

Halliburton solves global warming!
Overview

SurvivaBalls save managers from abrupt climate change
An advanced new technology will keep corporate managers safe even when climate change makes life as we know it impossible.

"The SurvivaBall is designed to protect the corporate manager no matter what Mother Nature throws his or her way," said Fred Wolf, a Halliburton representative who spoke today at the Catastrophic Loss conference held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Amelia Island, Florida. "This technology is the only rational response to abrupt climate change," he said to an attentive and appreciative audience.

Most scientists believe global warming is certain to cause an accelerating onslaught of hurricanes, floods, droughts, tornadoes, etc. and that a world-destroying disaster is increasingly possible. For example, Arctic melt has slowed the Gulf Stream by 30% in just the last decade; if the Gulf Stream stops, Europe will suddenly become just as cold as Alaska. Global heat and flooding events are also increasingly possible.

In order to head off such catastrophic scenarios, scientists agree we must reduce our carbon emissions by 70% within the next few years. Doing that would seriously undermine corporate profits, however, and so a more forward-thinking solution is needed.

At today's conference, Wolf and a colleague demonstrated three SurvivaBall mockups, and described how the units will sustainably protect managers from natural or cultural disturbances of any intensity or duration. The devices - looking like huge inflatable orbs - will include sophisticated communications systems, nutrient gathering capacities, on-board medical facilities, and a daunting defense infrastructure to ensure that the corporate mission will not go unfulfilled even when most human life is rendered impossible by catastrophes or the consequent epidemics and armed conflicts.

"It's essentially a gated community for one," said Wolf.

Dr. Northrop Goody, the head of Halliburton's Emergency Products Development Unit, showed diagrams and videos describing the SurvivaBall's many features. "Much as amoebas link up into slime molds when threatened, SurvivaBalls also fulfill a community function. After all, people need people," noted Goody as he showed an artist's rendition of numerous SurvivaBalls linking up to form a managerial aggregate with functional differentiation, metaphorically dancing through the streets of Houston, Texas.

The conference attendees peppered the duo with questions. One asked how the device would fare against terrorism, another whether the array of embedded technologies might make the unit too cumbersome; a third brought up the issue of the unit's cost feasibility. Wolf and Goody assured the audience that these problems and others were being addressed.

"The SurvivaBall builds on Halliburton's reputation as a disaster and conflict industry innovator," said Wolf. "Just as the Black Plague led to the Renaissance and the Great Deluge gave Noah a monopoly of the animals, so tomorrow's catastrophes could well lead to good - and industry must be ready to seize that good."

Goody also noted that Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society was set to employ the SurvivaBall as part of its Corporate Sustenance (R) program. Another of Cousteau's CSR programs involves accepting a generous sponsorship from the Dow Chemical Corporation.

Their latest escapade is getting them in some hot water, specifically, a lawsuit against them filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, because of:
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2009/10/20-0

The Yes Men Pull Off Prank Claiming US Chamber of Commerce Had Changed Its Stance on Climate Change

The business community got a shock on Monday when its leading advocacy group appeared to make a startling announcement. A statement purporting to come from the Chamber of Commerce said the group had dropped its opposition to congressional climate change legislation and would now even support taxing carbon emissions. The news wires quickly picked up the story, and within minutes it was being reported on the websites of outlets including the New York Times and Washington Post. It also made its way onto cable news, including the Fox Business Network. It was all a prank pulled off by the Yes Men.

We here at A.P.R. are inspired and captivated by these activists, using creativity, and real, factual information, to shine a light on hypocrisy and publicise important issues. They have a movie out, which we have not seen yet (it probably won't show in Fairbanks...), but will at our first opportunity. http://theyesmenfixtheworld.com/

Visit their web-site, http://theyesmen.org/, see the movie if you can, and join us in encouraging and supporting their highly important activities!

GETTING BOULDERISED

A few months ago, I was asked if I wanted to attend a winter weather forecasting workshop in Boulder, Colorado, put on by the Meteorological Services, Canada, in conjunction with our NOAA/National Weather Service. I was initially not enthusiastic, as it meant I would only have five days back at the Chena Ridge Research Centre with Mattie and Homer, after returning from my California/Florida trip.

However, once I got there, I was in for a treat. Boulder is probably the original "latte town", home to the large, University of Colorado, main campus. This is a disparaging term some conservatives use for progressive, public-university dominated cities like Boulder, CO, Missoula, MT, Berkeley, CA, Eugene, OR, Athens, GA, Burlington VT, and many others. Because they try and polarise the more blue-collar types outside of them in their states, to make them think the people of these college-towns are selfish and elitist. When it is just the opposite.

"Latte Towns" all share these characteristics: A large public university is located immediately in or closely adjacent to a small city. The large body of educated people associated with it who live, study, and continue living in it after graduating (if they can find jobs!) shifts the prevailing culture so that they become more progressive, sustainable communities. Focusing local activism on environmental, and socio-economic/political issues. This also leads to large diversity in cultural activities, concerts, art galleries, funky, interesting multi-ethnic restaurants, and a stronger sense of community. Unfortunately, Fairbanks doesn't qualify as one, because our University of Alaska campus is on it's outskirts, and so it's influence is limited on the prevailing military/oil industry/tourism culture here. North Dallas we like to call it sometimes, alas.

It's always refreshing then to take a break from taking a stand for peace/justice in Fairbanks, and spend time in a place were we feel culturally at ease and supported. I still feel that Missoula, MT is the place I felt culturally most at home with. As it is a hotbed of environmental and political activism, with enough wilderness and outdoor activities available close at hand, for quick refuge from the stresses of modern living. My years there in 1990-98 are what really helped expand my social conscience, meeting so many concerned, and active people engaged in meaningful activities to promote peace and justice.

The biggest drawback to living in, or wanting to live in a "latte town" is this: Because they are special, sustainable, and progressive, with a strong sense of community, more and more people want to live there. This drives up prices, leads to rapid growth, and a very tight job market. Which is why I had to leave Missoula, in 1998. While living in Missoula, around 1992-93, it became apparent that this was happening there. I used to tell people then, "Oh God, Missoula is going to become Boulderised!".

And it did, by 1996, the large beautiful Victorian houses on the sugar-maple lined streets near the Univ. of Montana were selling for 600K. In 1990, when I first arrived, one could be had for 80K! And the population had almost doubled there between 1990 and 2000.

I remembered this when I arrived in Boulder, thinking it would be just a massively crowded and incredibly expensive place. I was pleasantly surprised. It still is three times larger than Missoula, almost as large as Anchorage, with a population close to 200,000. And it has heavy traffic, and numerous noisy freeway-like expressways. However, it became expensive in those idyllic Mork and Mindy days of the late 1970s-early 1980s, so much of the development was done with some forethought. Instead of single-family homes on large lots, much of it was in the form of condos and townhomes, linked by bike trails. So I could run to different areas of the city, even up to the foothills, without having to be on the busy streets for very long. And, needless to say, there were multitudes of good restaurants, brew-pubs, and interesting ethnic stores in the downtown area.


There is a beautiful park on the southwest portion of town, up against the base of the Rocky Mountains, called Chautaqua Park. Containing many KM of trails which can take you from the base at 1900 metres, all the way up to 3000 metres or so, into the forested mountains. Anomalously warm weather greeted us all on our first day there (imagine that!), sunday 10/18, with temperatures near 30C, about 8C above average.

It gradually cooled off after that, and after the first week our our workshop, I had to get on those trails! On that sat., the 24th, I did a nice 30 KM semi-fast pack where I had this picture taken. Running about 12-14 KM on the flats and downhills, and walking the steeper uphills, due to the altitude. It was fairly warm still though, 18-20C, except at the very end of the day, when an upper-trough came through, and westerly winds of 120-140 KPH came roaring through, and I thought I'd meet my end from flying tree limbs.

Sunday the 25th though dawned calmer, but cooler. I decided I had to see Rocky Mountain NP. http://www.nps.gov/romo/index.htm

From lush valleys to craggy peaks

This living showcase of the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains, with elevations ranging from 8,000 feet in the wet, grassy valleys to 14,259 feet at the weather-ravaged top of Longs Peak, provides visitors with opportunities for countless breathtaking experiences and adventures.

I had to go through Estes Park first, to get there, a large town at it's base, with apparently very rapid growth, judging by all the newer condos/townhouses I saw there. I drove in to the Storm Pass Trailhead on the Bear Lake Road (trailhead elevation 3000 metres!), and hiked about 8 km in to Emerald Lake, here to the left, at 3500 metres! An amazingly beautiful spot, the equal of anything we have here in Alaska! It was cold and windy here, about -5C with a stiff 40 kph west wind. The sun would come out between snow showers and light up the crags briefly. Had to be fast with the camera!


Leaving the park late in the afternoon, I drove south on beautiful CO Highways 7 and 72 through Meeker Park, Nederland, and Coal Creek Canyon, at elevations of 2500-3000 metres, returning to Boulder at 5 pm in the evening. There had been a little bit of snow that day, and I had to get in some more trail time there at Chatauqua Park. This is looking back north over Boulder, with the front range of the Rockies to the West. Man, it would sure be something to live in one of those nice old houses, a few blocks from this park!


One of the main draws to the trails around Chautaqua is that they provide access to the Flatirons, these large, imposing rocks rising 100-200 metres vertically. Rock-climbing and hiking around them are highly sought-after. They were always beautiful in the different lighting, at different times of the day. I just spent another 90 min. or so racing around those trails that sunday, getting in some last-minute pictures, before darkness set in.





The highlight of my time there, beside learning very useful and important information about winter weather forecasting, and meeting and interacting with the Canadians, was our big snow storm from 10/27 to 10/29. We all saw it coming in the numerical forecast models for several days before-hand, in class, and it was the topic of much debate. We had a snow-forecast contest. Of all the students, my forecast of 51 cm for the event was closest. But we received 60 cm! Here is right outside our building that the conference is in, thu. morning 10/29 as the snow was starting to wind down. Beautiful, and refreshing. Temperatures started out near freezing intitially on the evening of 10/27, and the snow was heavy and slushy. But by mid-day of wed. 10/28, it was -2 to -3C, and the snow was a nice light powder, with a 14:1 snow to liquid ratio.

My classmate Charles Creese, from Trenton, Ontario, and I knew we had to make the most of this. We rented nordic waxless classic skis that wed., and after class that day had a beautiful night ski around the trails in Chautaqua Park in 45 cm of powder. The next day, thu., after class, there was 15 cm more, and we hit the trail a little earlier, around 1730, when there was more daylight, and got some great pictures in:














All that heavy wet snow, followed by the powder, was caked on to those huge Flatiron rocks, and was draped over the Ponderosa Pines and Douglas Fir. Some of them had torn limbs from the heavy weight of all that snow.

'We skied in just about 8 km on the Mesa Trail, then took off our skis and walked a little further up a steep rocky section, where we found some great evening photo-ops, around 1815. It was getting dark then by 1830, so we had to act fast.

The dim lighting and heavy snow was really interesting on those rocks, as well as the heavily-loaded trees.


Almost surreal-looking, to be sure. Those rocks are 200 metres high. A northerly light breeze at times caused a few avalanches off the trees, one of these was really powerful. The wind gust coming from it (it was about 20 metres away from us, thank god!) was quite strong. Good thing it didn't come down on us, it would have been painful.

While we were there, a manic-looking lad of about 20 or so came down the trail. He had seen a mountain lion a kilometre back, and they stared each other down, about 15 metres apart! Fortunately, the lion retreated, they rarely attack adults. If one appears imminent, the suggestion is to make yourself look as large as possible by extending your arms and jumping up and down. But our Univ. of Colorado student didn't have to do that.

All in all, visiting Boulder, CO and all it's "Latte Town" amenities was highly refreshing, and that area of Colorado, which I had never before seen, is now one that I look forward to returning to. As well, our friends Matt Klick and Lalida Crawford had just moved to Denver last summer, and I got to visit them in their beautiful, interesting, funky, Berkely neighborhood on the northwest side of the city. It's mix of nice older homes and good restaurants in close proximity reminded me favourably of West Seattle, or parts of Southeast Portland. Good stuff!

CAPITALISM'S DIRTY WARS/(SECRETS)

It has been many years since your lead editor has come across information, which is so shattering, and important, as to fully capture my attention for many days. And which requires sharing, to as wide an audience as possible. Not just through this article, but in my day to day life, interacting with friends, and other interested people.

What is this information? It is a book, published in 2007, The Shock Doctrine-The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, written by a Canadian, London-trained economist, Naomi Klein.

http://www.amazon.com/Shock-Doctrine-Rise-Disaster-Capitalism/dp/0312427999/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256613012&sr=8-1

Here are what a few leading progressive voices have to say about it:

"Naomi Klein is an investigative reporter like no other. She roams the continents with eyes wide open and her brain operating at full speed, finding connections we never thought of, and patterns which eluded us. This is a brilliant book, one of the most important I have read in a long time." HOWARD ZINN

"Naomi Klein is one of the most important new voices in American journalism today. She has turned globalism inside out, and given us all a new way of looking at our seemingly unending disaster in Iraq, and a new way of understanding why we got there." SEYMOUR M. HERSH

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x369448

Here is the book description, from the publisher:

"At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq's civil war, a new law is unveiled that will allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves. Immediately following September 11, the Bush administration quietly outsources the running of "The War on Terror" to Halliburton and Blackwater. After a powerful tsunami devastates the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts. New Orlean's residents, still scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals, and schools, will never be reopened.

These events are examples of what Naomi Klein calls "the shock doctrine": the use of public disorientation following massive collective shocks-wars, terrorist attacks, natural disasters-to push through highly unpopular economic shock therapy. Sometimes, when the first two shocks don't succeed in wiping out all resistance, a third is employed: that of the electrode in the prison cell or of the Taser gun.

Based on breakthrough historical research and four years of on-the-ground reporting in disaster zones, The Shock Doctrine explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Disaster capitalism-the rapid-fire corporate reengineering of societies that are reeling from shock-did not begin with September 11, 2001. In this courageous new book, Klein traces the intellectual origins of disaster capitalism back to the University of Chicago's economics department under Milton Friedman, whose influence is still felt around the World. The Shock Doctrine draws new and surprising connections among economic policy, "shock and awe" warfare and the covert CIA-funded experiments in electroshock and sensory deprivation [begun in the 1950's, eds.] that shaped the torture manuals used today in Guantanamo Bay.

As Klein shows how the deliberate use of the shock doctrine produced World-changing events, from Pinochet's coup in Chile in 1973 to the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, she tells a story radically different from the one we usually hear. Once again, Naomi Klein has written a book that will reframe the debate."

When I was in Mr. Wilson's fourth grade class, at Euclid Elementary, in San Diego, in September, 1973, we had a "current events" period every friday, for an hour. Each student was required to bring a newspaper or magazine article, read parts of it aloud, and moderate a discussion with the rest of the students about it. I always liked that part of our school day. On 12 September, 1973, I brought in a very small, one-column article, of about three paragraphs, from the San Diego Union, our main newspaper. It was entitled "Coup in Chile", and briefly described the chaotic and terrifying events of the previous day, which occurred, in that poor country (and which Naomi Klein documents in great detail, in The Shock Doctrine).

I was too young to really understand then what had happened there, and why, and my mother, who for many years was an anti-war/peace activist, tried to explain to me. Over the course of the years to come, as I grew into adulthood, my mother kept me abreast of what was happening in South and Central America. How vicious, fascist, right-wing governments took and maintained power, with aid and support from the U.S., in the 1970s and 1980s. These governments tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of suspected "leftists" in their respective countries, people whose only "crimes" were that of supporting trade unions, worker's rights, ending torture, and working for basic human rights (or even just being indigenous). She used to give me copies of Amnesty International reports from people who had survived imprisonment and unspeakable torture, in these countries.

Particularly vicious were the governments of the "Southern Cone" of Latin America, in the 1970s and '80s, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina. Many movies and books have appeared since then, documenting the tragedies that occurred in those countries, and throughout this hemisphere. I had always assumed, from the articles/reports I had read, that pressure from U.S.-based multi-national corporations was the reason our government supported these murderous governments (who can forget the murders of Catholic priests, archbishops, and nuns, in El Salvador in the late 1970s/early 1980s, because they spoke out). But Naomi Klein's research documents that this was not the full story. That not only were these governments aided by ours to keep and maintain power so that corporate-friendly policies would be maintained, this was done with the expectation that these countries would be re-made, with completely unregulated, free-market-based economies. By any means necessary, including torture, and murder, to intimidate the peoples of these countries to accept policies that would never have been allowed under a democracy.

What kind of policies were these? Complete de-regulation of all sectors of the economy, complete privatisation of all formerly-government-controlled sectors such as power generation, water purification/distribution, mining, social services, and transportation. Which when undertaken by these countries, led to massive unemployment, inflation and extreme hardship. Poverty rates increased greatly in all these countries when their repressive governments forced these policies upon their terrorised populations. The repression was not just confined to their respective countries either. A vicious terrorist attack occurred on the streets of Washington D.C. in 1976. Orlando Letelier had been Chile's ambassador to the U.S., under Salvador Allende's administration, from 1970-73. When Gen. Augusto Pinochet led the right-wing coup there, and took power, after 11 September, 1973 (the first 9/11!), he fled the country, and eventually wound up in Washington D.C., working for a human-rights organisation, and began writing articles and giving speeches to expose the repression under Pinochet's regime.

On 21 September, 1976, as he was driving through the heart of the embassy district of Washington D.C., a bomb planted under his car seat exploded, severing his legs, and killing instantly his 25 year old passenger, Ronni Moffit, a colleague of his. Orlando died before reaching the hospital. The FBI investigated and traced the bomb to a member of the Chilean secret police, who was convicted and imprisoned for the attack. The assasination team had been admitted to the U.S. on false passports, with the knowledge of the CIA.

The Shock Doctrine, besides describing the sad and terrifying repression that occurred in Chile and Argentina, during the "Dirty Wars" of the 1970s/80s, then also describes how governments in other countries were forced to enact massively unpopular deregulation and privitisation policies, which impoverished their populations.

I had never fully understood what had happened after the Soviet Union collapsed, in 1990-91, and how they made the transition to a capitalist economy in the years following. Klein describes in detail how Mikhail Gorbhachev, while he was still in power in 1989-90, actually had wanted to have his country transition to a benevolent social democracy, in the model of Norway, Sweden, or Finland. But, because of great economic difficulties, and the need for emergency loans from the World Bank, and International Monetary Fund (IMF), he was forced to rapidly enact shock doctrine policies in his country. The results are plaguing Russia to this day, the highest death-rate from alcoholism in the World, massive unemployment, and a decreased life-span, especially for men. This was very sad to read, as Russia is a country rich in history and natural resources, and if it had been allowed and encouraged to develop a Social Democratic government, it could have become an inspiration to the World, and it's 200 million people would have had much better living conditions.

Klein also describes what happened in South Africa after Nelson Mandela was freed from prison in 1990, to lead the African National Congress in it's peaceful transition to majority rule, ending the apartheid minority white-ruled regime. Mandela and the ANC had wanted to enact massive public-works programs to build housing for the millions of impoverished blacks living in shanty-towns outside the major cities, as well as to increase government spending on other employment-creating programs. But, because their economy was facing collapse at that critical time, they were forced by the IMF and World Bank in the early 1990s to enact massively unpopular and destructive economic policies, aka, the shock doctrine. The results continue to this day. There are actually fewer households with electricity now, in South Africa, than in 1994, and none of the promised millions of new, modern, housing units with basic sanitation, have been built for the millions of shanty-town residents.

The Shock Doctrine spends the greatest amount of time documenting the immoral and illegal attack on Iraq by this country, expanding upon the ideas presented by Greg Palast, in his ground-breaking expose, Armed Madhouse.
http://www.amazon.com/Armed-Madhouse-Baghdad-Orleans-Sordid-Secrets/dp/0452288312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256873012&sr=8-1

In this book, Palast, after posing as an oil industry spokesman, and interviewing numerous people in the US government and in powerful positions in major oil companies, lays out the reasons for the Iraq invasion. Namely, that it was undertaken, not for the direct acquisition and control of Iraq's oil, but to remove Sadaam Hussein's control over it, with Saudi Arabia's blessing. Because Sadaam Hussein had been manipulating Iraq's oil production and exports against the wishes of OPEC, and was causing turbulence in the oil market price.

Klein goes further though, documenting that another important goal was to create a "free-market" paradise in the Middle East, where unregulated capitalism would allow foreign corporations to get in on re-developing Iraq's infrastructure, and aiding in restoring and maintaining it's oil industry and production (which under Hussein's government had been nationalised).

So, the illegal, and immoral invasion and occupation of that sovereign nation, which posed no threat to this one, or it's neighbours, and led to the deaths of at least a million innocent civilians, and caused 3-4 million more to flee to neighbouring countries, was also undertaken to enforce a "shock doctrine" upon it. Klein describes in great detail the policies of deregulation and privitisation which were rapidly enacted in 2003-04, after the US began ruling the country. Hundreds of thousands of government employees in Iraq were fired, local corporations and construction companies were shut out from providing supplies and labour for the country's reconstruction, and attempts (ultimately unsuccesful) were made to privatise it's national oil company.

These were the policies that led to the resistance movements there, and which continue to this day, and are why there is still unemployment of 50 percent or more there, along with only sporadic access to power and clean water in most of it's cities. It's heartbreaking reading, because the suffering in Iraq is so palpable, and un-necessary. And the criminals that caused it are walking around free and prosperous, in this country, because our corporate-controlled media will not allow information like this to appear.

So, we at A.P.R. urge you all to get a copy of The Shock Doctrine, read it, and spread the word (and the book).
http://www.amazon.com/Shock-Doctrine-Rise-Disaster-Capitalism/dp/0676978010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256873896&sr=1-1

Your understanding of our capitalist system, and how it is maintained and spread will be greatly enhanced. Only by opening our eyes to the causes of the massive social, economic, and political injustice that are present in this world, can we begin the process of changing it. Cheers.