sticking with gardening

i know- i was going to share lots of stuff i learned about gardens and links and whatnot- and i still will. but this isn't that post. this post is being written after some thinking over the weekend. it's what happens to me after i read- probably a dangerous thing :) i am not going to write about distractions anymore. it is a waste of my time. i agree with the gentleman whose post i linked to yesterday- it is a daily time waster to write about the distractions. the elections, the media, the erosion of civil liberties- all time wasters- because in the end- the fascists have already won. why do i say that? taking a look around- any number of 'news stories' even from the msm in this country- you notice that america is not america. it isn't. and it won't ever be again. we don't have the time to save it.

this having been easter weekend- i decided to finish reading chris hedges' book 'american fascists: the christian right and the war on america' for a little light reading. he didn't bash christians in the book- just so the religious folks don't get their panties in a wad- he talks about the fundamentalists- you know- the falwells, dobsons, robertsons, parsleys, etc. i know about the fundies- they are solely interested in making money and gaining power. the underlings were the ones i was curious about. why- on god's green earth do they believe? i wonder no more. christianity is no different than any other religion- in that it exists to replace itself. the mandates are to go out and convert people- and raise your children to be christians. and the fundies use cult brainwashing techniques and target vulnerable folks. no surprise there. but why are there so very many?

it perplexed me. are there so very many folks out there searching for something? and then you read the news and it becomes clear. i think chris sums it up fairly well- feel free to add in the tanking economy, the erosion of civil liberties, the fact that we have gulag prisons and torture innocent people, the fact that we have invaded a sovereign country for profit....

"it is a sad reminder that something has gone terribly wrong with america, with its inhuman disregard for beauty and balance, its obsession with speed and utilitarianism, its crass commercialism and its oversized suvs and trucks and greasy junk food. this disdain for nature, balance, and harmony is part of the deadly numbing assault against community."

the book is a good read. he describes exactly what we see today. from survival acres:

"It’s called ecocide and it encompasses every living thing on Earth, and it is all our fault. We cannot blame this on anything other then ourselves, and our base nature. This has now led to our peak as a civilization and to our collapse. An assessment of all of the conditions now present throughout the globe presents this fact as being irrefutable. It is not popular view, but then how could it be? Popularity also relies upon the same two vices of greed and gluttony."

our way of life is simply not sustainable and we know this. the corporates that have globalized and taken over the planet do not care. they will have made their profits and the fact that millions- perhaps 2/3 of the planet- will die- matters not to them. and who we elect as our next president isn't going to make much difference. we fight amongst ourselves over the 3 'candidates' we have to 'vote' for- and the whole system is rigged- so this whole thing is just one big distraction to make us believe that we still have a democracy. democracies don't dismantle civil liberties and replace them with a unitary executive. it's a smoke screen- so by all means- continue to snipe and trade barbs and attempt to smear the other candidate. obama versus clinton and mccain versus ? you are still going to end up with the same types of people in the congress and government as a whole. and the federal judges already appointed- are there to stay.

these folks are my fellow americans- and the reason i want to become a hermit:

"I'll be the first to admit: I'm a political junkie largely because I'm addicted to the show. And who doesn't crave the distraction in times like these, with wars and recession and whatnot. That's why television entertainment (where I work) is considered recession proof. We offer escape. Like politics used to. But the "sideshows" don't play like they used to. For that, we need characters we're free to love to hate."

"I won't get upset about Hillary being called a loser. Why? Because I already have plan B figured out.

I got really emotional about it before I realized that I would vote McCain and a straight top to bottom GOP lineup if Hillary isn't the nominee and leave the party if Florida isn't counted."

we are a country who has to be constantly distracted or at war with something all of the time. doesn't matter if it's war in iraq, war against secularism, abortion or gays, war against the right or left- we have to be fighting something. right now- it seems we are fighting each other in order to keep a grasp on a way of life that is not sustainable. we don't want to give up our retirements to florida or our resource using suvs or mcmansions. we want to have the luxury of tooling around the world taking pictures of the tourist traps to prove we are in the know. why? because the folks who went before us got to. whatever. we are a country of adolescents- and spoiled ones at that. and i am tired.

so- continue railing and fighting and distracting- i intend to take up gardening and attempting to restore balance and harmony and nature in my little section of the world. i have already mourned my loss of country. now, i just want to survive it.