[alanjjohnstone]

And a video to put you off your chicken mealhttp://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/12/video-what-its-be-factory-farmed-chicken<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/YE9l94b3x9U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[alanjjohnstone]

I know we have been going on and on about comedians and politics but i found some of what this American comedian saying to be even more insightful than Brand.http://www.vulture.com/2014/11/chris-rock-frank-rich-in-conversation.html

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It’s hard for me to figure out people voting against their own self-interests. At some point you go, Okay: Is that what they want?

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If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets. If the average person could see theVirgin Airlines first-class lounge, they’d go, “What? What? This is food, and it’s free, and they … what? Massage? Are you kidding me?”

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Or just ignoring race to a fault. You can’t say “the black kid over there.” No, it’s “the guy with the red shoes.” You can’t even be offensive on your way to being inoffensive.

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my kids grew up not only with a black president but with a black secretary of State, a black joint chief of staff, a black attorney general. My children are going to be the first black children in the history of America to actually have the benefit of the doubt of just being moral, intelligent people.

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you got to remember, the women’s movement and the civil-rights movement, even getting rid of Prohibition — it all loosened up the country for the gay-rights movement. Anybody that’s old enough realizes none of these movements has ever been stopped.

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to say Obama is progress is saying that he’s the first black person that is qualified to be president. That’s not black progress. That’s white progress. There’s been black people qualified to be president for hundreds of years…The question is, you know, my kids are smart, educated, beautiful, polite children. There have been smart, educated, beautiful, polite black children for hundreds of years. The advantage that my children have is that my children are encountering the nicest white people that America has ever produced. Let’s hope America keeps producing nicer white people.

 

[alanjjohnstone]

Actually further to my previous comment, this story is on the BBC website about non-legal rights of foetuseshttp://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30327893

[alanjjohnstone]

This US legal decision may be of interesthttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30338231

Quote:

So far as legal theory is concerned, a person is any being whom the law regards as capable of rights and duties…unlike human beings, chimpanzees cannot bear any legal duties, submit to societal responsibilities or be held legally accountable for their actions.'

Following that logic neither would the severely physically handicapped nor the mentally ill could be deemed full human being but i am sure in the complete judgement that question is probably addressed. The right-wing anti-abortionists would also have a problem with this brief definition of a human in their claims that foetuses are people, too. In fact, even children in many regards do not meet this standard. 

[alanjjohnstone]

In many of our environmental articles we can take the general position and state that socialism would seek to predominantly use renewable sustainable sources as the basis for energy but we add the caveat that perhaps nuclear power will be used (and possibly fracking) if socialist society deems it worthwhile.Surely we can say that a socialist society will aim for sustainable food production which will be based upon predominantly agriculture rather than animal husbandry with the added caveat that where geography (and perhaps culture coincides) there may be more emphasis on livestock farming but those will be exceptions and not the general rule. I think i have also mentioned elsewhere the fact that i simply cannot imagine many volunteers to work in the de-humanising abattoirs and slaughterhouses when there is no pressing need. People will have to do their own killing and butchering, something i think will make more vegetarians than anything else.  We do not endorse the current lifestyle choice of boy-racers to have their sportscars over the priority of non-pollution and we support the rationalisation of logistic transport along with the common sense relocation of work-places which means less lorries, less commuting and therefore less roads.  Surely we can speculate with a high probability of what indeed will be likely. We aren't advancing sci-fy scenarios that are not rooted in real life as everybody having personal helicopters as in the Jetsons, simply stating the obvious that in a sharing system we will also share public transport but only better.  I don't believe it is idle utopian blueprinting to suggest certain trends that already are developing today within capitalism will grow exponentially within socialism.

[alanjjohnstone]

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And I have an ace plan for sealing off the Medditerranean and turning it into a genetically modified whale farm (we could use the fur as well).

I was going to simply dam the Straits of Gibraltar and drain the Mediterrean into the Atlantic Ocean and then use the Nile, the Rhone and all the other rivers run through the newly re-claimed land as irrigation for further agricultural land. Probably be too salty soil at first though, come to think of it. Might have to lie fallow for a generation of two. Grazing cattle will usually consume twice as much salt as those fed high-concentrate diets. Part of the explanation may be that lush forages are generally high in potassium and low in sodium . The body has to maintain a sodium potassium balance, which may stimulate salt intake. Salt is an excellent means of delivering ionophores to grazing cattle.

[alanjjohnstone]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-science-predictions-prove-too-conservative/Just to draw attention to this statement by Scientific American regards the IPCC

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Checking 20 years worth of projections shows that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has consistently underestimated the pace and impacts of global warming

A report published in 2013 by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) shows that emissions from global livestock production accounts for 14.5 percent (not 9%) of total man-made greenhouse gases in the atmospherehttp://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-s-appetite-for-meat-swells-along-with-climate-changing-pollution/ Livestock-related emissions and associated issues are not in the spotlight of international climate negotiations, partly because of the difficulty of measuring the emissions accurately. The result is a lack of awareness on the subject among global policymakers.When it comes to pigs and poultry their wastes emit another type of greenhouse gas called nitrous oxide, which is nearly 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. China's livestock production contributed to more than half of greenhouse gas emissions in its agricultural activities, releasing emissions equivalent to 445 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2005—the latest data available. That only takes into account direct emissions. When considering carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels in facilities that raise and process animals for food, as well as greenhouse gas emissions associated with feed production and meat transportation, the overall climate impact of the livestock sector would be bigger.(We do have a carbon footprint on grain production but they seem to be highlighted by the livestock industry as in this example –  file:///C:/Users/AP-Lenovo/Downloads/TopPaddock%20-%20Greenhouse%20gas%20emissions%20from%20grain%20production.pdf )We can throw figures and facts about all we want but a gradual transition of the world to a practically meat-free diet is desirable on the long term and people in a socialist society will be debating and discussing such a prospect and how it can be achieved. The defence of meat eating does not require any contribution from the SPGB, the meat industry is quite capable of producing its own defence. What our position should be emphasising is once again to show there exists an alternative to the status quo, which is viable and feasible and rational. The contrary position of uncritically accepting that eating meat is a personal choice decision, and not a social question where we can make a generalised hyopothesis on what should be done based on currently known data, is i think is as faulty as those seeking change to vegetarianism as a lifestyle decision. I see no problem with taking a position (albeit covered with various caveats)  that a world socialist society would in consideration of various environmental concerns aim towards reducing meat eating as much as it could. And reiterate an earlier ethical position from i think the 20s that once we begin to care about and start to value our fellow humans, we will begin to treat animals also with more concern and compassion. I speak, btw, not as a vegetarian, much less a vegan, in case people wonder if i am or not. In fact the more processed the food personally the more i like it…bring on that new Soylent Green …not the people stuff but the goo full of nutrients and chemicals and stuff needed to live.http://www.soylent.me/

[alanjjohnstone]

It is perhaps the case for flexitarianismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-vegetarianismBut i live in a society where eating insects is not a fad but  daily part of diet and eating frogs is not just a joke about the French. And when it comes to vegetarianism, i doubt even the most dedicated will not consume as varied greens as here too…diverse plants and leaves off various trees, and every meal is served with them as side dish for a balance of nutrients, i suppose, since it is often a free resource , picked  off a bush from around a corner. But i lived in cultures where pork and beef were both very scarce on the menu for hundreds of millions of people and instead chicken and goat (usually called mutton) were the usual subsitutes.We cannot expect one size fit all especially across all the different regions of the world ….but i'm betting those tobacco users will struggle to continue their habit  as the cash-crop farming for it disappears. But i'm told you can grow your own, as well as rolling your own http://www.tobaccoseed.co.uk/Growing_Tobacco.htmlBut maybe also maybe back to dandielion tea and chicory coffee as plantation workers desert the fields. After the American civil war 40% left the cotton fields, and those that stayed only did so out of fear and uncertainty, something socialism will not be offering. It took Jim Crow laws to ensure they stayed where they and were also designed to drive ex-slaves back to their home plantations. The Vagrancy Act provided that "all free negroes and mulattoes over the age of eighteen" must have written proof of a job at the beginning of every year. Those found "with no lawful employment . . . shall be deemed vagrants, and on conviction . . . fined a sum not exceeding . . . fifty dollars." The Enticement Act made it illegal to lure a worker away from his employer by offering him inducements of any kind. Its purpose, of course, was to restrict the flow (and price) of labor by forcing plantation owners to stop "stealing" each other's Negroes. i have argued this before on other threads that many common products will become relatively rare luxuries for the occasional feast-day and i think meat will return to its earlier state but some foods will simply disappear…or become very localised and seasonal, just as it was before. Xmas was the only time i had chicken and mandarin oranges as a kid., poooor wee soul…but there were plenty of local gooseberry bushes around and various berries to pick wild …gone now too. And stealing apples from gardens was a sport not a crime…. ramble ramble ramble… the good old bad days

[alanjjohnstone]

In my catch up of the news, came across this, as just to confirm my previous comment. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/03/eating-less-meat-curb-climate-change

Quote:

“Preventing catastrophic warming is dependent on tackling meat and dairy consumption, but the world is doing very little,” said Rob Bailey, the report’s lead author. “A lot is being done on deforestation and transport, but there is a huge gap on the livestock sector. There is a deep reluctance to engage because of the received wisdom that it is not the place of governments or civil society to intrude into people’s lives and tell them what to eat.”

[alanjjohnstone]

This analysis of the PKK by the Anarchist Federation may be helpful in understanding just who they are, were and will be.. http://libcom.org/news/anarchist-federation-statement-rojava-december-2014-02122014

Quote:

What we are saying might not be popular at the moment, but we feel that our analysis will be borne out by unfolding events

Oh, deja vu…We have been there so often ourselves.  

[alanjjohnstone]

i think one point should be high-lighted, that the UKIP politics are being validated by all the mainstream parties, despite their caveats and attempts to distance themselves from UKIP, so there fore the public perception is that UKIP are basically correct and so also the more honest and probably the more likely to fulfil their promises. It has always been reported in the polls that those high anti-immigrant prejudice are in areas of low-immigration…the fear of the unknown and the ease to speculate negatively to influence opinion. I agree that if given the ressponsibility of governing they will do what all political parties do…adapt to reality, as have the Green Party.But the question then will be, will the disillusionment be a spring back to the "left" or a push for an even more extreme "right" of the Golden Dawn order.I am surprised that the pro-EU factions have not been appealing more  to all those ex-pats in Europe (and also all those holiday home owners in Spain and Portugal with future plans to re-locate or have  rental income from them) and mobilising their postal votes. For every EU migrant in the UK,  there is a UK ex-pat in the EU. And if the UK withdrew from the EU all those pensioners guaranteed the annual increase will face the threat of losing that if they opt to stay in their EU country of choiuce, just as we, non-EU ex-pats suffer a frozen pension (except for some few strange exceptions). 

[alanjjohnstone]

The issue about vegetarianism these days is not the moral case that can be solved by individual choice but the environmental one which will require social decisionsabout food production methods being made. The blog has been posting a few articles on the problem recently. http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/search?q=vegetarianism

[alanjjohnstone]

Listened to a Chomsky interview and he didn't really credit the ending of the Vietnam War with protests or the moral outrage of the crimes being committed but simply the elite decided it was too costly a venture to continue.Obviouslly i am sure there were sections of the ruling class were benefiting and were against ending it, but others who were not benficiaries managed to have their way. So it isn't just if wars serve the ruling class…but what part of the ruling class. We already see some evidence of the re-allignment of the corporations in the environmental campaigns. Same with the present immigration debate in the US. Some are pro, some are anti. I can't see the insurance companies being happy wirh the increased risk of natural disasters that premiums won't match the pay-outs and indeed they have published many of the findings about all the extraneous costs climate change will result in. I suppose there is an opportunity of a PhD awaiting someone from a dissertion on inter-capitalist rivalries.   

[alanjjohnstone]

One for your diary 11th DecemberBrand appearing on Question Time with Faragehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04v85qt

[alanjjohnstone]

http://blogs.ft.com/the-world/2014/11/podemoss-spending-plans-lack-financing-ideas/

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