Nuclear Power and Human Nature

From Omni Magazine, October 1978;

If the world is to step back from the nuclear brink, the United States, which led the way there, must lead the way back; its President must reassert leadership.

The radioactive particle is too dangerous and implacable for fallible humans to fool with.

"Despite the best efforts and intentions of the people of the United Nations," said Jacques-Yves Cousteau, addressing the U.N. in 1976, "human society is too diverse, national passion too strong, human aggressiveness too deep-seated for the peaceful and the warlike atom to stay divorced for long. We cannot embrace one while abhorring the other; we must learn, if we want to live at all, to live without both."

The strange thing is, we all know that and we always have. From time out of mind, our mythology has prepared us. The tales of Prometheus and Pandora, and of Faust, and the notion of hubris in Greek tragedy, are as apt now as when invented. More apt. How, in the Ages of Bronze or Iron, could those lessons have been so perfecty applicable, and so desperately important? It is almost as if the old storytellers had blinked, millenia in advance, at the white thermonuclear flash, and had begun preparing their admonitions.

Pandora opened her box, of course, and Prometheus stole the fire, Perhaps these things are inevitable, given the nature of man and matter.

Pentagon mum on Syria chemical weapons use

I find it quite interesting that people continue to vote for representatives, despite the fact that one after another refuses to speak publicly about issues of public safety. Is this contrary to the idea of democracy?

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/40214709/0/alternet_breaking_news~Pentagon-mum-on-Syria-chemical-weapons-use

Boston Marathon Tragedy and Conspiracy Theories

It is sometimes difficult not to be a conspiracy theorist, and a message from a company today regarding their employees and the impact of the city's reaction gives me pause:

"We're in the process of connecting with our Boston staff, but this is a difficult process given the city's shutdown of cell service."

What legitimate justification does the state have to infringe upon the public's ability to stay connected during a time in which more than ever we need to be able to tell our family whether or not we are safe and well? In addition, Boston police have also been confiscating smart phones and cameras in the vicinity of the explosions, as evidence to be sure.

Then there is the fact that National Guard troops also happened to be stationed at the marathon, despite no publicly-known threats. As much as the attention needs to be focused on those that have been harmed by this tragedy, it is difficult not to notice these odd details that the mainstream state media seem to be ignoring.

At a time in which an ever-increasing portion of the population is becoming more critical of the actions of the state, I find these details far too conspicuous to dismiss. Calling this terrorism simply deflects the attention from those who harm others to the harm done to the state.

Ron Paul Calls on UN to Confiscate Website of His Supporters

I generally do not read much from this source due to a twisted bias that I see in much of their work. My contention comes in that the Web site he wants to own is intellectual property, and I do not believe that an idea can be trademarked or patented. Many of the authors in Ron Paul's circles also believe this, so I am quite surprised that he supports government intervention in this regard, or any given his voting record.

Earlier today, Ron Paul filed an international UDRP complaint against RonPaul.com and RonPaul.org with WIPO, a global governing body that is an agency of the United Nations. The complaint calls on the agency to expropriate the two domain names from his supporters without compensation and hand them over to Ron Paul.

Paul himself is an advocate of free market economics, which promotes the idea of voluntary exchanges. If one party values their property more than similar property held by others, they will demand higher prices. This is not an unreasonable premise, and it happens every day. The owners of these sites value their property at a level which demands significantly higher costs than many others. This is a function of the free market, and Ron Paul of all people should understand, and further respect that.

More: http://patriotupdate.com/2013/02/ron-paul-calls-on-un-to-confiscate-website-of-his-supporters

Eight O’Clock in the Morning

He had to kill several more before he got into the studio itself, including all the engineers on duty. There were a lot of police sirens outside, excited shouts, and running footsteps on the stairs. The alien was sitting before the the TV camera saying, "We are your friends. We are your friends," and didn't see George come in. When George shot him with the needle gun he simply stopped in mid-sentence and sat there, dead. George stood near him and said, imitating the alien croak, "Wake up. Wake up. See us as we are and kill us!"

It was George's voice the city heard that morning, but it was the Fascinator's image, and the city did awake for the very first time and the war began.

George did not live to see the victory that finally came. He died of a heart attack at exactly eight o'clock.

From Eight O'clock in the Morning, the inspiration for the film They Live.