May 15, 2008

Tom D.

Site Administrator

In the short first 5 months of this year we have seen a myriad of disasters both natural and man made. Some of these have been years in the making others are just on the spot situations.

For several years now I have been trying to sound the warning that food prices and availability were going to start getting bad and from there to worse. When the first droughts hit a couple of years back I could see that with climate change there was going to be some serious food shortages coming. Droughts in the US, Australia, and Europe all began developing back around 2005 and 2006. In that time frame external pressures have add consternation to the problems. Fuel prices have gone up, bird flu has devastated millions of poultry world wide, ocean stocks are dwindling, blue tongue is running across Europe and mad cow disease is a problem in the US. Add to all of this a rapidly declining economy and it was not hard to see the writing on the wall.

After the fiasco known as the Katrina/Rita recovery it was easy to see that in the US federal ability to provide assistance was minimal at best and a not so funny joke at worst. Yet we have nation of people who have lived the good life for so long, that they can’t see they are being led down the primrose path to destruction.

I am totally astonished at the number of people I hear mumbling about gas prices, food prices, and yet in the very next breath are taking voyages, discussing so called reality TV along with “Dancing with the Stars” and “American Idol.” People have become so engrossed in this paid for viewing reality that true reality is sneaking up on them and they don’t see its ugly long teeth getting ready to take a bite out of their couch bound butts.

Have we, as a nation, as a culture, lost touch with living that we have no lives outside of the fantasy world that has been shoved down our throats? I mean we are so wrapped up in technology that we have negated the very idea for which the telephone was first invented. It was to give sound to communications over longer distances. Today you get a cell phone which now provides excellent mobile communications and what is the most important feature people want…text messaging. Ever look at the cost of text messaging compared to voice communication? It is danged expensive. What ever happened to plain old pencil and paper for text messaging? It worked since the dawn of formalized language and writing first appeared.

We are so tied up in our technology that we have forgotten how to live without it. Well just look and Burma (yeah I know the modern day name is Myanmar) and China. Don’t forget N’Awlins (New Orleans for you non-Loosianians). Add to that also the recent flood and tornado hit areas of the Midwest and South. Do you realize that these people are living survival existence and the majority of them haven’t a clue what it really takes to survive? They expect and have been taught to expect that Joe Fed Man will come down from Washington and give them what ever they ask for. Well wake up, Joe Fed Man is broke, was always broke, and will always be broke. Any money he has comes from tax dollars (legalized highway robbery) and what the Federal Reserve prints up for him to use (the biggest racket in the world – shame RICO laws don’t apply there as well).

Long story short, look around the world then around yourself, when the next big storm, flood, tornado, earthquake, volcano, civil uprising hits your area can you make it or will you be standing in front of a television camera crying why me and where is the government with all its promises to take care of me.

The time is now to learn what was lost during the rise to this technological age, how to grow food, how to dig a well, how to purify water, how to really cook with out electricity and TV dinners in the microwave. Could you make a basic meal of rice, beans and veggies on a fire? Can you sew and repair a torn pair of pants? Do you even remember how to hang dry clothes? Could you walk a few miles to get food if you had to? As urbanites, unless you grew up in the country, all of this is alien to you and you are going to be in a world of hurt (would say manure but that is even in short supply and very expensive).

Turn off your TV, get to your library or use technology for something good, go on line and learn how to be un-specialized. Learn how to do many things like cook, wash, garden, etc. Then when the time comes you will be in a lot better shape to handle the difficulties that are still before us. I am sorry to say that with technology we have become so specialized in our lives that I could probably make a fortune as a private butt wiper. People will undoubtedly pay very good money not to have to wipe their own butts. Just look at what the French pay of a "bidet."

The alarm is ringing but, the coffee ain’t cooking and neither is the bacon and eggs. First we can no longer afford them and second nobody but a few specialist know how to cook them. Like lemmings we are all following the ones in front of us to the edge of the abyss. One after another we sleep walk right over the edge and that is when we will wake up. Solly Cholly it will be to late then. Food prices will not come down any time soon and food supplies will not suddenly rebound.