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Showing Original Post only (View all)The Ocean Is Coming [View all]
(Photo: Lance Page / Truthout )
The Ocean Is Coming
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed
Thursday 27 February 2014
(snip)
I believe the minimum wage should be somewhere between $15 and $20 an hour, and that all the so-called business "leaders" crowing against any raise to that wage are self-destructive idiots. Commerce needs funds in the hands of consumers to survive and thrive, and consumers today are barely handling rent. Put more money in the worker's pocket, and he will spend some of it at your store, because he can. The minimum wage has been stagnant for 30 years, and is due for a right and proper boost. If people don't have money, your store won't sell any goods. Get out of your own way and pay your people, so they can have money to spend on what you're selling. This strikes me as simple arithmetic.
I believe the weather is going crazy because there is an enormous amount of moisture in the atmosphere due to the ongoing collapse of the Arctic ecosystem. More water in the atmosphere leads to fiercer storms and higher tides, and every major city on the coast is under dire threat. The ocean is coming, higher and higher each year, so we can either run for high ground, or we can adjust our behavior. The ocean is coming, and it brooks no argument. It is stronger than all of us, and will take what it pleases.
I believe the Keystone XL pipeline, the drought-causing national practice of fracking, the coal-oriented water disasters in West Virginia and North Carolina, the serial poison spills nationwide, the oil train derailments, and the entire practice of allowing the fossil fuels industry to write its own regulations so as to do as it pleases, are collectively a suicide pact that I did not sign up for. The ocean is coming, unless we find a better way.
I believe President Obama, who talks about the environment while pushing the Keystone pipeline, who talks about economic inequality while demanding fast-track authority for the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, is a Hall-of-Fame worthy bullshit artist. I believe the sooner people see this truth for what it is, the better. He is not your friend. He is selling you out.
I believe the 50% of eligible American voters who can't be bothered to turn out one Tuesday every two years should be ashamed of themselves, because this is a good country, but if that goodness doesn't show up at the polls, we wind up in this ditch with a bunch of self-satisfied non-voters complaining about the mess we're in. Decisions are made by those who show up, and lately, the small minority of hateful nutbags showing up become a large majority because they're the only ones pulling the lever.
And that's for openers.
These things are happening nationally, but they are also happening locally, right in your back yard. These are your fights, in your communities, involving your air and drinking water and basic rights. The ocean is coming, boys and girls, and it will sweep us all away with a flick of its finger - rich and poor, powerful and powerless alike - unless we figure out a few home truths at speed and make serial changes to the way we operate on this small planet.
The rest: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/22126-william-rivers-pitt-the-ocean-is-coming
...and: http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/27/the-ocean-is-coming/
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We will be extremely lucky to hold it to 2C (no, not a scientist, but obsessive on topic)
hatrack
Feb 2014
#4
The problem is, E & E is still full of doom-and-gloom and other fearmongering.
AverageJoe90
Feb 2014
#30
I hope everyone on DU sees this and also the names of the folks that have rec'd this BS.
Tx4obama
Feb 2014
#15
Do you have a 'list'? Thanks for reminding me to rec this thread. I saw it and can't see how anyone
sabrina 1
Feb 2014
#27
What a sad day it was for Dems, especially those who rely on SS when they found out that the party
sabrina 1
Feb 2014
#38
As far as I know no one is mobilizing or compiling an enemies list. My comment above...
Tx4obama
Feb 2014
#69
One kick to say thank you for pointing that out. Sorry Will, you have lost me with that.
uppityperson
Feb 2014
#24
Do you disagree that the President's rhetoric is at odds with his actions, to our cost?
winter is coming
Feb 2014
#56
Well, looks like "The Road" it is, death, destruction and cannabalism..
mountain grammy
Feb 2014
#21
Thanks for your reply. What though is the correlation of inflation to minimum wage?
xocet
Feb 2014
#101
Will was speaking in "short speak" meaning for effect and taking short cuts. I love this post!
glinda
Feb 2014
#72
This thread has become an interesting exercise in the power of my Ignore file.
WilliamPitt
Feb 2014
#53
Can you disclose the interactions you've had with G. Greenwald, who is a Board Member
msanthrope
Feb 2014
#126
Next on that script comes the $64 question: "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the
Zorra
Feb 2014
#156
As I posted in reply to you last night, they are NOT on the board of Truthout:
Hissyspit
Feb 2014
#177
He's on the board of AN organization that HELPS raise PUBLIC funds for Truthout. And others.
Hissyspit
Feb 2014
#197
Oh well that's close enough. Any degree of association with the TOXIC MONSTER GG
Warren Stupidity
Feb 2014
#225
I dedicate my k&r to Prosense, without whom I might have missed this OP.
Starry Messenger
Feb 2014
#68
Track is being kept... CAREFULLY. Of that you can rest assured. Revenge is being plotted...
cherokeeprogressive
Feb 2014
#97
K&R, of course. But I think most people will work past the point where the water is over their
jtuck004
Feb 2014
#74
Which shows that William Pitt is in good company with real journalists.
Tierra_y_Libertad
Feb 2014
#98
That's absolutely incorrect, you are bearing false witness, making things up which
Bluenorthwest
Feb 2014
#122
Apparently on the Board to the organization that funds Truthout....according to Hissyspit.
msanthrope
Feb 2014
#193
You mean it's kind of like scoring that takes account of the degree of difficulty of a dive?
Jim Lane
Mar 2014
#261
K&R, just because whenever I see some duers making lists or noting recs of threads, I want to be on
quinnox
Feb 2014
#110
I worked for Obama's campaign in 2008 and 2012, and no, I don't want President Romney ....
Scuba
Feb 2014
#119
"but anyone thinking we've not been sold out suffers from their own strain of ODS"
ProSense
Feb 2014
#161
thanks for watching, and don't forget to tune in to next weeks episode of Flight of the Popinjay. nt
dionysus
Feb 2014
#166
It is beyond refreshing to see people finally laying it on the line honestly.
woo me with science
Feb 2014
#180
concerning rising waters and Arctic collapse - the thread can maybe use this vid:
BelgianMadCow
Feb 2014
#179
So THAT's why the last time I held a sea shell to my ear I heard OH, YES, YES, YES!
11 Bravo
Feb 2014
#196
Kerry: Protecting World’s Oceans Isn’t Just Environmentalist, It’s ‘An Economic Imperative’
ProSense
Feb 2014
#213
The Administration is continuing with its push for expanding drilling on public grounds
cali
Feb 2014
#216