I just would like to remind us, especially in the slipstream of this just-passed holiday weekend, to have tonnes of fun in Life – we’re so lucky to be here – make EVERYTHING out of it – everything you want —

like Lou Reed says . . .

Happy Monday, Everyone —
Joe Valentyn

Here’s some firework pictures I took, one year. Maybe some West Coast kids / people can admire these while we’ve got a burn ban.

My local friends may have seen these already on my Facebook.

Click for a reel of photographs.

=)
Joe

This post is not actually from July 3rd, but for technical reasons (…), I was not able to post it yesterday. =)

This is from a writing I did when I was 18 about going to the fireworks on America’s Birthday — July 4th. I can’t vouch for the quality of my teenage writing, but in the spirit of the holiday, here it is all the same:

Hope you like:

Skipping to the Good Parts: sitting against an electransformer in fresh green grass, rather Freshness manifest as green grass, the latent familiarity of 4th of july flash-boom-wow-ness came back (…). Sentimentality never gets old.

A wee-one was half a block away starring the show for her family outloud:

“I dedicate this one to . . mybestfriend KATY!!ooh,thats.<chromatic-flash>WowyBOOM…OOOH!
“I dedicate th-<BOOM>-Idedicatethisone, to Mom&Dad!!..Happy Birthday!” <swirlyflash,boom(crackles)>..”It feels like its coming At me!!”

I secretly admired Youth-Happening a half-block behind me until my what-am-I-getting-out-of-this spun the twister-spindial of my mind & somehow, against all the oddsmaker’s best reckonings, came out (moderately) cogent: each flashboom as a burst of pure, abstract Independence; a new nation emerging, a bolt of thought striking out to new territory, a willful ignorance of Authority so as to Author one’s own story. & Each image of color-sparkles as the radicals’ Outcome, as history’s snapshot-memento, (…).

The flashbooms were awesomely beautiful in no cheap sense of the words; the memory is of course only a fraction of the experience itself.., but I can never shake the feeling that all my memories are these reconstructable holographic fractals, different facets of which are summoned quasi-consciously, with the commandibility of a mysterious & primitive control-panel (…)

…which reminds me: Whatcha Eatin Under There??

Thanks.

Happy Birthday America.
— Joe

You might or might not’ve noticed, but I use WordPress;

This post is just a redirecting post to a large one, “Happy 4th Of July – Semi-Direct Democracy Discussions From 2010, To Celebrate Our Patrioticism & Kindle A New Tradition.,” that won’t fit in my syndication (RSS) feed. So if you’d like, just click the previous link to visit the large, somewhat important, 4th Of July post.

Thank You.
– Mgmt.

Here is a “semi-direct democracy” chat I gave/had in 2010, inspired by a couple people I had talked to on the internet & the National Citizen’s Initiative For Democracy as I understand it not-founded-but-spearheaded-by former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel. It is ‘semi-direct’ – making The Populus (The People) 1/4th of the branches of government we have today.

If you like, you can read this whole thing:

As a note, the amount of seriousness I have for this is an open ended question – but for the sake of festivities, from political & philosophy chatrooms of 2010 – here it is —

Happy 4th Of July:

Continue reading →

This is a continuation of my last communique on this, titled “Re: Computers.”

‘Culture subsidization’ is simply a generalization of what we already know is Good: the subsidization of the public library.

It is in Our Civilization – The Whole World’s – interest to help People learn & grow as People, using, for this article’s purposes, cultural works like books, applications, audio lectures, movies, music, & documentary videos.

I am saying we need to import all the great ideas of written history into the
foundations of this new Information Age medium – the computer / The Internet –

Books especially.

That is because books carry 6,000 years of culture – the estimated history of writing;

We need to absorb, integrate, & graft books’ & all forms of cultural works’ ideas into this
new communications medium.

That is why I. today, present the strategic moves of both digitizing books & each category of cultural work – not by commercial forces like Google or Amazon, but not-for-profit & government organizations; & 2ndly making them free, thru what we just affirmed – cultural subsidization, like we do in public libraries – letting people learn & grow as people, & Our Civilization to culture – so we make smarter decisions in the future – as opposed to burning fossil fuels in high quantity for a century.

Let’s pay for People’s learning & also their personal growth, via (e)books, audio lectures & documentaries, movies & music, & other cultural works – just like we have for eons with the public library system.

We help pay for education, agriculture, & other basic staples in Life –

Digitizing & subsidizing essentially every book, & also digitizing & subsidizing documentaries, movies, audio lectures, music, applications, photographs, & the like will help us make make smarter choices, live more fulfilled lives, & just make the experience of Life more enjoyable for everyone.

Let’s Pay For Learning & Growth Thru Books, Videos, Audio, & All Cultural Works.

Thanks.
J.V.

As a note: What I’m discussing is *not* becoming too fascinated with computers & their very recent ‘cave paintings’ ((that’s my new lyric by the way, don’t steal it =))), as novel & at times meaningful as they may be – but to drink of the whole of human culture, the true bottomless vintage wine-cellar of Man’s written works thruout history, that whets the tongue most-grandestly. Thanks

4-PART COMMUNIQUE:

HEALTHIEST THINGS I KNOW

FOR THE HAPPIESTNESS OF YOUR HEART, THE #1 WAYS I KNOW ARE: LOVE & OPTIMISM/POSITIVITY.

Ever since about a decade or less ago, when I saw a pair of bunnies on Youtube.com that were somewhat bemusingly named “Healthiness” & “Happiness,” I have been fascinated by these two threads of well-being; I covered the overall best way I know to attain healthiness of the body in my last issuance of this 4-part communique; today’s block will focus on happiness, of of-course the spiritual/emotional heart rather than the cardio-heart.

I really believe in Love – I believe it is probably the single best thing for your personal well-being.

Living in Love will provide you with the best Life, which is best for your body, your spiritual-heart, your cognition, & your soul.

But I am going to focus on Positivity/Optimism, here.

Because there’s one very important belief I have found, since being a teenager: Things are what you make them; for the largest part & with what you do with them. Life is then a collection of all the things we have made it, along with the things we cannot control. This says we should go with the ‘hot hand’ – whoever is radiating that eudaimonic attitude & self-actualized being at this very moment;

But for each of our own responsibilities, over our own Lives, Optimism & Positivity will help us make the most of, & appreciate the most in, Life.

I feel this does the most or nearly the most for making us happiest.

What is Positivity?

Positivity is a way of seeing people & things: you see the best things in each of them; this helps you get the most out of them, & nurture them.

Optimism is a way of approaching things: it is where you believe that “I can do this,” for everything you actually can accomplish.

(I have said it is best to have a “Tempered Optimism,” having spread a belief in Optimism & Positivity for around 10 years or so in popular English philosophy forums: not “I can fly,” but more an unlimitedness – stemming from our I-believe unlimited human potential – tempered by the confidence we have in our abilities based on experience, & based on the content we have planned to execute, or perform: for example, the goodness of our manuscript’s story, should inspire a good deal of confidence in our performance of it.)

Those are the definitions.

How I Learned Positivity

Flash back half my Life, amid the turmoils of depression, at 17 years young:

I chose Positivity over some much more unsavory options, to help get thru a depression from a break up of a long high school relationship with a girl –

&, I can say 15 years later:

Not much has served me better, than choosing to be Positive.

Why Is It So Good?

Well, when you start looking for how good things COULD be, you will find ways that actually get you there – to the ‘place’ where things actually ARE good.

Doesn’t Being Positive Mean Being Fake – I Don’t Want To Be Fake!

If you tell this to a depressed person, some will say “It’s fake, I don’t want to be fake.”

As important as ‘being true,’ ‘having integrity’ can be, if you are severely depressed something is more important than being integrous: being alive.

If you have to answer the very hard question, Would I rather be dead, or a little bit “fake,” but alive, & honestly actually having good times again, maybe even helping others – just by correcting something actually worse: being excessively negative, & by choosing to be Positive/Optimistic?, I hope you choose Life over endless rule-following or perfectionism.

When considering taking on Positivity/Optimism into your own Life, or presenting it to someone else, consider a fruit-bearing tree, transplanted to your yard, takes root – it will grow fine, just like other trees.

. . . Likewise transplanting a belief in Positivity, a supremely healthy thing, into your beliefs, whatever they may be, will itself grow still, & will bear much & great fruit for you – for the rest of your life.

So, if you are depressed, even tho you might have to force it at-first, it becomes natural & produces much happiness & personal growth for you.

* * *

For the rest of us, Optimism & Positivity will help you make the most of your Life’s opportunities, & get the most out of everything that comes into your Life.

Positivity & Optimism also do wonders for your Lovelife & social-life – think of socialitic graciousness, as well as virile displays of power-doing, for example.

* * *

I will close with a couple helpful, inspiring quotes:

One time, A Wisewoman in my Life said to me, “Life is a feast full of starving fools;

Dig in.”

The Bible says similar: “For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.” – Proverbs 15:15.

Eat Up – Life is a Feast =)

Thank You.
Joe Valentyn

P.S. For my part, I cured my depression, mostly thru choosing & making into a natural attitude, being Positivity; but there were a few other things I am going to break from the natural course of this 4-part communique on & share, because they helped me & I hope others heal their hearts/emotions from depression:

Love – Live in Love; if you have just come off a romantic relationship, this may in fact come last, rather than first, but as you may’ve guessed, it is still hugely important. ‘Love is the answer;’ it is the guiding force of Man; Live In Love for maximal fruits in Life.

People – Be Around People – not always to share deeply your problems, fears, & the like, tho that too. But just feeling connected & knowing People do live in happiness, even if they have been thru breakups, losing loved ones, & other vicissitudes is hugely helpful. They can provide some things you may not, if they are a trusted friend, parent, or the like. Push Yourself To Be Around People.

Time – looking back, severe depression seems crazy – it no longer makes any sense to consider killing yourself, etc: *That is why Giving Stuff Time will help you see things clearly – after all, “hindsight is 20/20.”*

Change – Change Your Routines – A rut is what I call it when we get into a habit of doing stuff which is draining, deleterious, or otherwise less than desirable. Change It Up: Do a new, good habit where you used to do a sagging, bad habit. Change Your Routine. You could try new things: go for walks in Nature, go to shows, start to write, watch comedy, reconnect with old friends, vary your experiences in some way that gives you more of what you need/want, while also swapping out a non-great routine. Changing Your Routines from draining or deleterious ones to nurturing, nourishing ones will have a doubly-good effect: in with the good, out with the bad. This may be exactly what you need.

The most important way to heal emotionally, I would still say is Positivity/Optimism. When you start to believe you can do so much, you will light like a flame on paper – & this – Optimism/Positivity – is almost-necessary to most fully self-actualize. Positivity presents things in their best light – gives you the best thing about them – & lets you get the most out of them. Purely from a functional standpoint, both are ‘fly,’ haha.

– Joe

P.P.S. I would also briefly add regular, vigorous, or as vigorous as you safely can, exercise & also probiotic cultured foods like kefir or sauerkraut, particularly ones where the probiotic bacteria number in the trillions, not millions or billions, if you can, may help quite a bit.

Sodium deficiency also has been said to be able to cause depression – so you could consider getting the test recommended, or just add a moderate amount more Himalayan or sea salt to taste & see what that does for you.

Thank You.

The previous part, on the healthiest thing I know to attain physical health, is at http://joevalentyn.org/press/2015/06/11/healthiest-things-i-know-part-one/

Amazing how how happy & good for revelry each of these are.

The Cocteau Twins is pretty loopable, too.

Fri-day – Fun-day — Have Fun Everyone =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHE7WZQldkQ&autoplay=0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqBVe4otcoA&autoplay=0

“& i feel fiiine . . . “

This is not a response to the “free trade deal” that recently advanced, but it certainly may apply, as well to a large number of other things.

Also, altho I’ve had this to say for around a year, credit to E. J. Dionne for recently mentioning this/a similar point in a write-up of his recently in The Washington Post:

Bernie Sanders: The new St. Nick

We are a social species – a community – a single group all together – Life is not an Ironman contest for the ‘survival of the fittest;’

& Anyone whose stated mission is to help “99%” of people flourish, is obviously on the side of “Us” – The World.

The fact is, things like economic populism help secure basically-Everyone’s being provided for; & that is much closer to the final purpose of Government – the point at infinity –  the full self-actualization of Government to a Government of Utopia.

Thank You.
Joe

I don’t think there is.

…The End, haha.

Given the magnitude of temperature change we are fairly certain we caused in the last century alone – about 1/9th of an ice age’s worth, according to NASA –

& Looking at these Kyoto Protocol reduction targets:

I am troubled to see we are almost across-the-board reducing carbon emissions 20% compared to the 1990 levels of greenhouse gases.

I used The IPCC’s & Carbon Brief’s numbers, & the Kyoto Protocol targets in the table above, & crunching these numbers, I found that even meeting the Kyoto protocol targets, we would have just under 12 years of emissions left, before we lost a favorable chance at keeping heating under 1.5 degrees Celsius.

We’d have 35 years of emissions left until we lost a favorable chance at holding global warming to under 2 degrees C – again: even meeting the Kyoto targets – which many say is the top number we would want to endure, due to the reckoned afflictions arising from climate change.

All this points at moving our targets DRASTICALLY further, as soon as possible –

Use incentives like subsidies & fines;

Use facts & argument to put the tradewinds of The World at our back – but get it done –

How do you want to answer our kids, & our future, when they look back into the past at us, into history at us: did we rise up, & throw everything we had a threat to The Human Race?

Let’s make that an honest Yes.

Halt As Immediately As Possible.

Thank You.
– Joe

4-PART COMMUNIQUE:

HEALTHIEST THINGS I KNOW

TO GET THE MOST LONGLIVED HEALTH OF THE BODY, THE #1 WAY I KNOW IS: JUICING.

My Grandfather was, & My Mom still is today, obsessed with vegetables – & to a lesser degree, fruit. That is one of the best things I have learned from My Mom & My Grandfather, & I am wanting to spread that Love to you, here & now, if it pleases you.

Your death risk is slashed – 42%! – if you manage to eat 7 servings of vegetables & fruits a day.

That’s amazing.

How Can You Best Get 7 Servings?
I would say, making fresh, preferably organic, mostly-vegetable juice, especially largely from sprouts, is probably the best way.

(Varied salads are a close 2nd, but you’d have to eat 14 cups (the measuring unit) of leafy greens to get 7 servings of veggies, they say.)

Why Juicing?

According to Stanford Medicine Cancer Institute, 1 cup (8 oz) of celery juice contains most nutrients found in 5 cups’ worth of munched-on celery. (I have heard really only the fiber is missing; that means 2 things: for one, my understanding is that you will absorb more nutrients from the freshly juicered vegetable juice & faster, ((because fiber is so difficult to digest,)) but it also means, you need fiber from other sources – i.e. juicing alone is not enough. Salads, nuts & seeds are good sources of fiber.)¹

A smaller amount of fruit – a lemon or lime, for example, juiced fresh into your plant juice – will make it taste great; importantly this makes it much more likely you will drink it often, if it tastes good, thereby slashing your overall risk of death by almost half.

The best thing I have heard tho, I’d like to tell you, is juicing vegetable sprouts – hemp, if it is legal where you are, or watercress sprouts are the top 2 I know of I will give for examples, tho I have never tasted hemp sprouts themselves personally –– only heard of their powerhouse nutrition  –– juicing sprouts like these gives anywhere from 10 to 100X the nutrition, pound for pound, of their healthy adult versions.²

I would have at least 2, &, ideally, I would estimate *4* mostly-vegetable juices a day to be pretty wonderful for your health.

When considering whether to start juicing, you might think of it this way: What better thing to invest in than more Life & better Life, for me or my family, or people?

If you DO want to juice, then, this “report” has a good recipe / recipe system for starting off – one that is both very tasty & very healthy:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/13/benefits-of-juicing.aspx ³

The last thing I’ll say is I’ve read what seems like thousands of anecdotes, & there’s scantly a condition I have heard of that people have not testified that juicing is helpful for –

If you like Life, or have a health problem already, I would say most often juicing fresh organic vegetables will help tremendously.⁴

To see results, give it a few weeks or longer.

Therefore, I suggest juicing – meaning juice which is mostly fresh organic vegetables – as the best general thing you can do for your health & longevity.

(((I did say general.)))

Bottom’s Up! — To Your Health.
Joe Valentyn

 
The next part, on the healthiest things I know for happiness – the largest part of emotional health – is now at http://joevalentyn.org/press/2015/06/29/healthiest-things-i-know-part-two/

(1) On salads: I believe moderately indulgent dressings – but still kicking MSG to the curb – & also healthy fish, poultry & eggs are fine on salads. I also believe in (the healthiest you can get) salt, black pepper (peppercorn), butter, sour cream, & even cream cheese, if you’re using it to hook someone on, or lure them to, amazingly healthy foods.

(2): Sprouts are not hard to grow & you can grow them indoors year-round, with a couple easy-enough daily maintenance jobs. They’re 1/10th the cost of buying them at the grocery store, & you can grow organic seeds with organic soil at a very affordable cost.

(3): www.mercola.com in general is a massively good site for health information, in my opinion. Joseph Mercola was an early critic of Vioxx, for example, a drug that killed 60,000 people & in the long run got banned.

(4): I would not use it as my only tool against cancer: check on Dr. Mercola’s advice, in that case in particular;

Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski’s “antineoplastons” may be good;

Also, cannabis oil is renowned to be effective for some/all types of cancer; I will have to do a lot more reading before I have good recommendations, but those are two leads I have found, that I feel reasonably comfortable giving as ideas.

For people with immune-system-related problems, such as you’re developing allergies, have dysbiosis of the gut & therefore acid reflux or other belly issues, or have an infection of some kind, I would recommend lacto-fermented foods made at home, which are up to 200X as strong as even the strongest probiotic pills; they are about as easy to make as hot chocolate. Use starter cultures. Body Ecology is the brand I use.

Take probiotics long enough apart from, if you are taking them, antibiotics.

Thank You.
– Joe

Disclaimer: The FDA has not reviewed these statements. Please consult a reliable health care professional for any health care decisions.

9 out of 10 deaths are from health problems, per W.H.O.;

But only 1% of our budget is spent on medical & health research.

A popular phrase often attributed to “The Father Of Medicine,” Hippocrates, says we should:

“Let food be thy medicine;”

We spend 00.04% of our budget on nutrition research.

“Prevention is the best medicine” is the time-tested, accepted wisdom about lifestyle choices influencing health; we spend 6.8 billion dollars, or 00.19% – about 2 tenths of 1% – researching “prevention” with our budget.

If you did invest in these with proportion to the problem — losing 9/10ths of soul-bereaving losses of family & friends to disease — one of the first things that would be obvious is vegetables particularly are incredibly, miraculously-almost, healthy for us, as a species;

In fact, 7 servings of vegetables & less-so fruits a day were recently found to lower our death risk by almost half – that’s all-causes mortality.

Here’s the crucial part: that is not reflected in our present farming or food subsidies at all —

Less than 2% of our 300 million acres of cropland here in our beautiful America are used for vegetables & fruits –

That has a lot to do with less than 1% of food subsidies going toward vegetables & fruits.

Let me help you:

9 out of 10 people die from health problems.

Vegetables & less-so fruits a day were recently found to lower our death risk by almost half;¹

But we spend less than 1% of farm subsidies on vegetables & fruits.

Further, we forage understanding for the long-haul with only .04% of our budget spent on researching healthy nutrition, the main cure to presently kills 9/10ths of us; & spend only 0.19% of our budget on prevention of this huge problem in general.

This is what I’ll say:

Invest; but do something even more valuable than investing alone:

Listen to the farmers who’ve grown these organic, non-GMO, & environmentally-sustainable foods: understand their successes we can model on, & help solve their challenges they’ve recognized thru years – sometimes generations – of experience.

Listen to the doctors who’ve understood preventative nutrition, exercise, & natural health interventions are essential to our health, not synthetic treatments “as dangerous as being in a war zone”; & who’ve have cultured their ideas to a highly progressed level. Joseph Mercola of Chicago is one such person; he lays out his ideas & research clearly on his website Mercola.com.

& Listen to the researchers, who, at some point, chose health for all, over money for one, that one being them, & researched natural medicines & other natural health interventions, & have put on solid ground the healthiness of Nature’s bounty, the healthiness of food over chemical.

Finally, listen to the bajillions of success stories of juicing & other natural healings of average people, that pharmaceuticals didn’t, couldn’t heal, & in way too many cases caused in the first place.

Let’s Invest In Natural Health, In Our Quality & Quantity Of Life, & Our Descendents’ Future.

Let me this communique this way:

Today, in 2015, you would have to work for 45 minutes, at minimum wage, to earn 2 cucumbers – I mean of course organic cucumbers. That is dehumanizing, that is not safe & smart as far as our health – it is outrageous on too many levels;

Let’s turn ourselves right around, & fix our health & inequality problems; let’s make vegetables a staple, affordable, & let’s understand them & other natural, important aspects of health, so we may have, as a country, a success story of our own, to tell our grandchildren someday.

Thank You.
Goodnite.
Joe

(1): I have an article for everyone, not just government, on my recommendations for exploiting this fact to live a long, healthy life. I will post it soon. Thanks.

2015 June: That post is now up, at this location.

This was originally written about a week or so ago.

For the last couple weeks I’ve been talking about drug resistance due to antibiotics, in my circles of friends & family.

Did you know agriculture accounts for about 80 percent of all antibiotics used – & that the continuous low dose used for the majority of antibiotic dosing is what causes bacteria to survive & become increasingly hardy & drug-resistant?

— Here’s what this means for our bottomline: within just the next *15 years*, 100 million people will die, due to antibiotic resistant diseases (according to a new report commissioned by The Prime Minister, David Cameron, of England;)

— If we do not change policies & their executions smartly & strongly.

As much as I am a fan of gradual, meticulous, diversely-experimented-on,-then-rolled-out, political betterment, I also take into account the severity of a threat, & its urgency —

& Tailor my political response to that, beforehand.

— & Here’s what we’re looking at: about 10 Holocausts worth of deaths over just the next 15 years, globally, from diseases we are creating for ourselves.

Let’s really drive this home by putting this wicked, horrific, blight upon our Earth into perspective:

Let me preface the following list by saying I’m sorry to present this part, but, again, hopefully it brings home the point strongly & resoundingly:

If we do not politically change course, in the next 15 years alone we’ll be holding this:

BOB: DEAD.

MADELINE: DEAD.

OLIVER: DEAD.

OLIVIA: DEAD.

OPHELIA, LACY, MIZUKI . . .  DEAD, DEAD, DEAD.

In fact we’re talking about 100 million dead in 15 years, without change —

That’s 7 people.

Scroll down ’til you get the idea:
Continue reading →

We need groups or individuals to see these things thru, to their fruition in legislation & their execution:

Joe Valentyn’s Preliminary Legislative Path For The United States Congress, As Of March 2015

Reprinted from 2015, March 27th

(…)

Congressional Rule Reform:

Fix congressional rules to prevent excess power by the minority.

This is systemic – & systemic means fix now.

Republicans learned this with the recent Democratic filibuster of the anti-abortion provision Republicans fought for.

Campaign Finance Reform:

In my view, freedom should be sweeping but freedom of speech is not freedom of spending — speaking is specifically an exchange for informational purposes whereas spending is specifically an exchange for goods &/or services.

We must distinguish speech & money.

This is a medium-term systemic problem we must fix shortly that is creating financial collapses & other problems associated with a literal oligarchy – this where the founding fathers intended & we present, living today still want a constitutional democratic republic, forbearing gradual progression to a genuinely, in-foresight, better system.

After these congressional legislation systemic-problems, we must at some point address this:

Economic Security Reform:

We de-regulated, I am told, & crashed the economy, millions losing jobs and/or homes. Re-regulation & further regulation – which you like regulation if you like your house to not fall on your head – thanks to building code standards – & your food to not degenerate you but improve your nutrition – thanks to food standards – & your car to not cause an accident with the 7 members of your family in the car –

therefore financial standards & other standards – “regulations” – are the most basic of idea in government: law to stem the tide of grievous death, injury, & the like.

Campaign Finance Reform especially should help us achieve economic protections for consumers —

if only Dodd-Frank could have a full set of teeth.

(I am open to any good ideas about securing our economy – including protections against micro-trading-caused crashes, & any other economic bubbles.)

After these systemic Rule & Campaign Finance fixes, & the Economic/Financial Security fixes, I then, with a more fully functioning legislative system & security of economy, next in legislative priority I with my understanding of things would turn to the next thing:

Climate Change: a mismanagement problem threatening our planet very much; one which we should practice the Father of Medicine’s – Hippocrates’ – advice &, in the case of planetary “disease”, First, Do No Harm – do not solve our so-called “safe”-chemicals-caused problem with more “safe” chemicals; & instead, like the best doctors, we should turn to removing the thorn of the cause, & cease wasteful contributions to climate change.

I would then too focus on this:

Income Inequality: which, from the point of view of growth of our civilization, is simply inefficient: the lion’s share of the population eats cheaply – so they eat poorly; the lion’s share use cheaper tools, giving a worse result & a worse, more-frustrating experience. Every good & service we pay toward has a level of quality, & when the lion’s share of the population consumes lower quality everything all the time, our civilization is cast astray. & That is not acceptable. Do we want 95% to have low quality necessities? No. Greed is a sin. Share The Wealth.

I would add that

1) resolving the systemic issues of campaign finances & senatorial debate rules would avoid very important progressive, American causes like Climate Change & Inequality getting watered down when it comes time, or times, to reckon with them; &

2) another thing I would put forward for consideration is excessive corporate lobbying.

Wanna be a hero? Take up these important causes. Thank you as a citizen

Joe

In the version of the Bible I read, whomsoever Loves God, who you have not seen, but hateth his brother, who you have seen, is wrong.

“Brother” is a euphemism for people – including men loving women, & women loving men:

Including Romance.

. . . Romantic Love is not less than what begets Life;

& Forsooth, is a wellspring of miracles.

Share in its immense worth.

Do not neglect its immense importance.

Spend your last nickels & dimes on your LOVE —

Thank You,
Joe Valentyn

figure i: Anne Hathaway

(The earlier post on this is The Irreducible Infinitude Of Love: A Spry Conversation On Love, Romanticism, Counter-Enlightenment Ideals / Anti-Intellectualism, etc.)

<joe> man, i was just thinking, anne hathaway’s roles have been tasteful as heck: she played Fatima in Les Miserables, very very well, she played Catwoman in Batman, and Agent 99 in Get Smart – i used to love the old Get Smart on Nick At Nite as a kid. that is some tasteful roles.
(…)
<JohnGuru> I think shoe phone was a parody of Dick Tracy’s wrist phone
(…)
<JohnGuru> the origin of the word “dick”
(…)
<JohnGuru> in 40’s slang, a “dick” was a detective
<JohnGuru> in later jargon, it came to mean anybody who was up tight and institutionally repressed
<joe> lol sweet. urban etymologies. i used to like looking up rock & roll’s etymology
<JohnGuru> :)
<joe> oh
<joe> that sense
<joe> lol
<joe> lol
<JohnGuru> haha
<joe> etymologies are great
(…)
<joe> so yeah, what you said re rainforests, & also this court has found anne hathaway to have good tastes *bangs gavel*
(Later…)
<joe> but i am here to prove! lol
<joe> anne hathaway has good tastes – agent 99, cat woman, fatima
<JohnGuru> *nods*
<joe> lol
<joe> romanticism =)
(…)
<joe> romanticism is all about love really.
<JohnGuru> possibly
<JohnGuru> romanticism is a general term referring to idealising as time in history, a place, or a person
<JohnGuru> as/a
<joe> “The Magus Of The North” said something to the effect, ‘i want a woman’s loveletter more than i want a logical proof’
<joe> showing the value of Love over truth, as i’ve been noticing
<JohnGuru> like some people fall in love with the “old west,” and romanticize it
<joe> no, not really
<JohnGuru> oh yes
<JohnGuru> well, I can see that
<joe> that’s one sense<joe> but not as a philosophy
<joe> or its roots & real meaning
(…)
<joe> consider it vis a vis counter-enlightenment ideals, non-reductionism, & even some non-intellectualism
<joe> anti-/non-
<joe> Love as greater than truth/science/knowledge
<joe> is really my thrust
(…)
<joe> with romanticism
<JohnGuru> *nods*
<JohnGuru> sure, those are all good things :)
(…)
<joe> JohnGuru: but romanticism simply comes from romantic love poems, as well as chivalarous knight tales

{ . . .When we talked again, I had one more Cupid’s arrow to send out on this:

from my notes I said:}

“- i just have one question – when you found your wife, your girlfriend, your love interest, did you measure her vital signs – was she “the one” because she had good blood pressure, her pupils weren’t too dilated, her lips weren’t too pink — is that how you chose your Love? — or was it something amazing, beyond human describibility, perhaps something mystical —-”

{John laughed & agreed, in the short time for conversation we had.}

Love is the greatest thing you can get.

Love is the greatest thing you can gift.

Savor every moment of it.

Joe

In Proverbs 15:15, the Bible says: “He that hath a merry heart, have a continual feast.” –Amid our goliath problems we are tackling, politically, I want us to remember to have fun, to celebrate, & to enjoy these days.

For about the wisest person I have ever met, she said one thing that that struck me as ringing resoundingly true: “Life is a feast full of starving fools . . .

Dig in.”

Party Like It’s 1999 & Enjoy Life – These Are Fantastic Times.

Thank You Everyone. Have Fun

I have 3 things to say –

First, on global warming:

Cut emissions – see what happens;

Earth is very biological, with almost biological “organs” of its own:

For example, trees convert carbon dioxide we exhale to oxygen we need –

As a model, when you stop a harmful habit of your body, sometimes it just so happens to heal itself.

Cut emissions — see what happens . . . Maybe Earth will surprise us with its resilience.

Second, 0.000001% of the world own for themselves as much as half of the world own¹ . . .  Don’t kill them – tax them. Incentivize better business models, like employee-owned businesses, & co-ops.

Raise the minimum wage.

Listen to the great ideas people have about fighting inequality.

The third thing, I would like to praise Elizabeth Warren’s policy sensibilities as a hard core (not ‘hardcore’, but themself a core) of the policy I feel is right for our time: the “economic” justice of progressivism, & I feel good knowing she is in charge as much as she is; Bernie Sanders is holding down the fort on a whole frontier of issues concerning our time, I can’t remember the last time I disagreed with him – I am happy knowing he has the gravitational pull he has; Robert Reich & others too are incredible voices for the people, advocating for us with a star-power & in a political situation of $3,200,000,000 bought of lobbying every year, drowning out waves of our petition, protesting, & activism.²³ Thank you so much for doing what you do instead of cashing in on your celebrity.

. . . There is a 4th person I’d like to single out:

The star of our time:

“Each Of You.” Everyone is truly impressing me. You can call it ’cause of ’60s revivalism – or The ‘Net – but we are living in a truly amazing time & Everybody is honestly amazing me beyond compare. Let’s Keep All This Good We Got Going – Climate Change Retooling, Inequality Resolving, & All The Enterprises & Issues Of Ours, As Well As Having The Fun & Savoring Of Life For Ourselves. Amazing Job Everyone & Keep It Up!

♡ JV

Too fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpzggAVxLME

Slight update: altho this was the original meaning, I added “at times” for clarity.

Why did we intone that reading someone else’s mail is a federal offense, but searching & even then reading their emails at times became part of our national policy?

Regarding “surveillance,” The Fourth Amendment of The United States’ Constitution clearly states “the right of the people to be secure in [our] papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,” continuing, “and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause.”

(The entire Fourth Amendment Of The Constitution states:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons, or things to be seized.”

Given that video recordings, photographs, audio recordings, computer files, & the like were not known at that time, “the people’s right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure in their papers,” (emphasis mine,) clearly sets a precedent for the legal right of being secure from unreasonable search and seizure of other forms of records: videos, photographs, audio recordings, computer files, & the like.)

We have to ask, then, “When is a search of our papers, effects, & the like reasonable?”

You cannot answer that by saying that “searching every communication of every person is reasonable” —

Just being a person in the world is not a good enough reason to believe we have criminal evidence.

. . . Clearly, 9/11 scared us. I am not saying there are not foreign & to some lesser degree domestic threats that are outside-possibilities which are themselves for us a legitimate concern, still;

But you have to understand something: if we locked everyone in their homes “because they could get hurt too easily outside,” we might increase our quantity of Life, if all our most basic necessities were provided, but “locking everybody in their homes for their safety” would so outrageously drain our quality of Life, the quantity of Life profited would be next to worthless.

We wouldn’t do it! It wouldn’t make sense.

That’s why recording, monitoring, & misusing all our communications may profit us some safety —

I am admitting we will lose some smaller amount of safety, by not authoritarianly monitoring us —

But we’d lose too much quality of Life living under the heel of an all-to-human authority figure recording, monitoring, & misusing all our personal, whimsical, soul-bearing communications.

Ever had a boss – or a teacher – who misunderstood you?

We quite simply do not need totalitarian monitoring, even if we were attacked horrifically on 9/11.

So, for me, while The Patriot Act was in part an understandable reaction to that day, in the end appraisal, it is too much an overreaction.

Let’s Discontinue The Unnecessary Monitoring Of Our Communications & Protect Our 4th Amendment Protection From Unreasonable Search & Seizure – To Regain Our Peace Of Mind In Our Communications & Brainchildren.

Thank You For Everything –
Joe Valentyn

A Very Happy Mother’s Day to the most important people on the planet, very nearly: the matriarch of the family: Moms.

Moms are provide that infinite Love, & influence our growth in so many ways, from setting examples, to teaching what is good about us when bullies on the playground hurt our heart, to practical Life instruction, to sometimes-prescient advice in Love . . .

& Another word in earnest appreciation for Motherliness itself – many of those without children have been Caring, Loving, & Kind. Who doesn’t appreciate a loving village elder, a caring worker, or a kind stranger on the street? That’s part of what makes Life great.

Thank You to all Mom’s for doing the most beautiful-feeling, most rewarding — sometimes it seems most trying — & in the end most fulfilling work on the planet: being Your Kids’ Mom. Thank You.

A Son Of A Great Mom, Himself:
Joe Valentyn.

Thank You.

As a note: this has been getting drafted for about a week; customary apologies for being oblivious to Earth Day being the day after today. In a sense – when we are experiencing a significant change in climate – every day is Earth Day. – Joe

Additional update on the 9th of May, 2015. ((The 16th paragraph of this article.))

We have identified some real problems:

The last Ice Age was only 5 to 9° Celsius different from the normal temperature; & we rose upwards of a whole degree in the last century alone —

The last century caused 1/9th of an Ice Age of temperature difference, you could say.¹

Thankfully, we are well aware of the causes of this incalculably important threat: about 96% of climate scientists agree that this global warming is man-made.²

What can we do about global warming? I do not have all the answers, but I do have some good leads. I need to do a good amount more reviewing before suggesting further, but some hopeful leads that I already have, are as follows:

First things first: if you have a dangerous addiction, there’s no way around it: you have to quit. Drastically revamping our lives by slashing carbon emissions to a small fraction of its current rate is the first step I would recommend, & steps along those lines are the first we have tried, to my knowledge.

The problem is, this change is coming too slow,& further it is said that cutting emissions alone will not be enough to neutralize climate change, by environmental scientists.

As I understand the situation, temperatures & other “vital signs” of the Earth are being perturbed at too fast of a pace by these CO2 emissions – our planet & therefore we will suffer too much damage because cultural & political reductions in emissions are coming too slow.

Now, 1/9th of a Ice Age candidly qualifies as possibly thee most serious thing I have heard in all my years living on this Earth.

I have been saying this for some time now & I am glad others in power are agreeing.

But to me, personally, the step so far taken — burying substances that threaten the whole human kind under the ground rather than properly — actually — reducing emissions — sayable as putting all the eggs of Life itself into one technological basket — must be some kind of cruel political joke parodying as the political part of the solution to this.

Do we do important things halfway? When our entire species is threatened?

We’re better than that. We are saner than that.

The best I can offer at this time, is a solution that could be our saving grace in our multi-pronged solution to this species-wide threat.

I came across this by way of a Dr. Savory’s speech, & was I’d like to say reminded of this solution by Dr. Mercola; this solution is called “soil carbon sequestration,” & it involves a form of traditional fauna grazing to return carbon to the soil . . . At a cursory reading, when implemented in proportion to the seriousness of Life on Earth being threatened, it can potentially offset ALL of our carbon emissions within a few decades — according to Dr. Savory.³

If this or other similarly environmentally-friendly practices are verifiable science, then there is no greater need on this planet, than to research & develop the practices & technologies that will let us live this way: more in alignment with Nature, still enjoying ourselves but within our environmental “budget”;

To we ourselves make grassroots cultural waves, to spread the word, & be the changes we seek in this world;

We are gonna need political standardization & implementations — with diamond-saw teeth — taking our case to the people & in a groundswell overcoming the resistance to Earth sustainability;

& Finally we will need good journalism to mediate the R&D people& the politicians, & the people; to inspire us, & to share good ideas, practical ideas.

All of these working together in a continuous flow are needed, in my current judgment, to erect our safety & security in our environment, on our home planet:Our One & Only Mother Earth.

That’s that for climate change.

The other problem I’ve been wanting to talk about is our wealth bags.

The richest 400 moneygrubbing Americans have more than 155,000,000 Americans combined; literally half of America!⁴

Globally, things are worse: the richest 85 people in the world literally have as much as the poorest 3.5 billion; again, half of the world.⁵

Now, “inequality” – when we say income or wealth inequality – isn’t exactly the problem; we believe you should have the fruits of your labor, & some of us labor more, so those people should have more ‘fruits.’

But, take that global wealth inequality statistic – does anyone really believe those 85 people worked 41 million, 176 thousand, 141 times harder than the average person in half of the world worked? —

Then why do they have 41,176,141 times the fruits of the average person, of half the world?

We see the problems this causes – we recognize them nationally: campaign finance, even at the misty height of The Supreme Court, is surrendering to absurd ideas like “money is the same thing as speech”, & “businesses are people, too” – much like the pre-amended constitution calling 3/5ths of a person an African-American person. These are fundamental errors in possibly the most basic thing we do: a count of the number of people.

This excess corporate influence on our legal system is breaking a fundamental pact of The American Government – free & fair elections.

& What’s worse: in our daily lives, 1/5 youth – in the richest country in the world – literally live as poor people.

This upsets me too much, I cannot continue to responsibly speak, so I will pass this on to our other speakers.

* * *

Alright: I literally had to take a few minutes, but I will just say this:

I understand climate change & inequality as colossal problems, ones that we must deal with like Goliaths – but, we have strength in numbers, & we are extremely active, after George W. Bush & The Great Recession — so I am optimistic we will win out.

Once we fix some of these systemic problems, like the senatorial debate rules, & unfair campaign finance rulings, that are preventing much from being passed, & are keeping great people out of office — & some suboptimal leaders in — I would then like to, with our full force, turn to climate change, outlined above, & income & wealth unfairness; that way, we will NOT have this 2nd darkcloud hanging over us – one which I fear:

“Oligarchy” — government of the people, by the rich, for the rich — is the other darkcloud I fear becoming associated permanently with America’s historical grandeur & radiance.

Let us avoid tarrying our great nation’s & the other great nations’ names, who are suffering this same sufferance;

Let’s lift this unsightly blight from our nation by solving systemic problems so that we can make progress, together, solving the challenges of & by Big Business,& work on all our other good & necessary enterprises in this, my home sweet home, together.

Thank You Everyone. I Appreciate It All.

Joe Jerome Valentyn

we join up here again,
my special ring of friends,
’cause i have something to show you,
take a look & listen . . .

as i now shall leaf a little,
thru the pop-up book,
from which cartoon bluebirds release,
& a string section pulls us

yes, follow a little leaf
down from the heavenly canopy –
like the confetti of the earth,
for what’s about to happen to these . . .

blades of grass flop,
as over a bunny does hop,
& a teenager resting on his arm,
draws with dandelions on his dear

it’s then a tapefluttering opera begins,
as he produces an engagement ring,
– thru some quirk of cupidity,
her eyes sparkle like diamonds, too. . .

her heart at once bleeds & falls into ecstasy,
((follow your heart, go where Love leads))
& because it made sense to,
she chose to live in his home

her nod & “Yes.” made the flowers all sing,
he says “this is my wildest dream,
nothing could bring me more happiness,”
as on the ground, that leaf – it landed . . .

now in that same spot they’re hiding their Easter eggs,
for the gigglebox the stork did bring – yes,
now everything is in Spring,
there’s a family of 3, all happy

yes, at home, it tickles he,
his boy wears blue, his wife wears pink,
he even put up mirrors on the ceiling,
– kiddo you can’t come in, we’re making gifts for Christmass

– & now maybe forever more,
there’s a bucket of sand with a playskool spork,
there’s hot cocoa ready to pour,
& confetti of leaves & floppy ears of the Earth’s grassy floor.