Monday 22 December 2014

"Britain to build first permanent Middle East military base in four decades"

Quote: "Britain to build first permanent Middle East military base in four decades

Foreign secretary Philip Hammond says new facility in Bahrain guarantees Royal Navy’s Gulf presence

Chris Johnston and agencies
Saturday 6 December 2014 10.33 GMT

Britain will set up a permanent military base in the Middle East for the first time in more than four decades.

Four minesweepers have operated from the Mina Salmon port in Bahrain, but the new facility will also be a base for much larger ships including destroyers and aircraft carriers.

Foreign secretary Philip Hammond said the deal with Bahrain would guarantee the Royal Navy’s presence in Bahrain well into the future. He said: “The expansion of Britain’s footprint builds upon our 30-year track record of Gulf patrols and is just one example of our growing partnership with Gulf partners to tackle shared strategic and regional threats.”

Defence secretary Michael Fallon said Britain would now be based in the Gulf again for the long term. The rise of Islamic State and ongoing instability in the region contributed to the decision to establish the new naval base, which is adjacent to a more substantial US facility, home to the fifth fleet. Bahrain will contribute most of the £15m cost of construction, with the UK picking up the ongoing costs.

Chief of the defence staff, general Sir Nicholas Houghton, said the deal was symbolic and strategically important. “Rather than just being seen as a temporary deployment to an area for a specific operational purpose, this is more symbolic of the fact that Britain does enjoy interests in the stability of this region,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“And the fact that the Bahraini authorities and government agreed to fund infrastructure within the country to base our maritime capability forward, both is a recognition from their perspective of the quality of the relationship with the United Kingdom, but also of our interest over time in maintaining the stability of this very important area.”

Bahrain’s foreign minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa said the agreement underlined its commitment to work with the UK and other countries to address threats to regional security.

Lobby groups including Human Rights Watch have criticised Bahrain’s record on human rights. Despite the Arab spring uprisings, Britain, the US and Saudi Arabia have supported the government following widepsread public protests in March 2011. The uprising led to the cancellation of a Formula One race due to take place in Bahrain that year.

John Horne of Bahrain Watch said in May: “There is growing frustration about the UK government’s increasingly visible support for Bahrain; [it] has a long, dark history of enabling state violence in Bahrain and protecting both British and Bahraini officials responsible.”

In 2012 King Hamad pledged to implement the recommendations of an independent commission to examine the roots of the country’s crisis, but reform has been slow."* Go to:http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/06/britain-first-middle-eastern-military-base-bahrain

Quote: "New energy dawns as first LNG tanker arrives at Milford Haven

AFTER six years of planning, protests, court battles, claims and counterclaims, the first LNG tanker arrived at Milford Haven yesterday.
The massive Tembek carrying super-cooled gas from the Middle East to one of two new terminals in the county came in to dock escorted by a flotilla of tugs.
Once fully operational, the liquefied natural gas plants it supplies will be capable of meeting up to 25% of the UK’s current gas requirements.
The ship’s arrival was met by protesters who have fought the £13bn projects, but Milford Haven Port Authority said it could handle LNG shipping safely.
The tanker, which had sailed from Qatar, was moored off Pembrokeshire overnight onThursday, waiting for the tide to allow it to berth at the newly- built South Hook deep water terminal.
It is the largest LNG plant in Europe and is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil and Total.
LNG is natural gas which has been converted to a liquid by cooling it to a temperature of -160°C.
In its liquid form, it occupies much less space than gas, making it easier and more cost-effective to transport.
It will be turned back into gas at the terminals and pumped into the UK network along a specially constructed pipeline running from Milford to Gloucestershire.
South Hook is the larger of two terminals built at the port.
The other, Dragon LNG, a partnership between Malaysia’s state oil firm Petronas, BG and the Netherland’s 4Gas, is expected to become operational later in the year.
The companies say LNG imports will increase the UK’s security and diversity of gas supply while helping to ensure that natural gas remains a competitive source of energy.
But the plants have been opposed by campaigners since they were first announced six years ago.
Gordon Main, founder of campaign group Safe Haven, said there were concerns that sufficient risk assessments had not been carried out into the possibility of a collision or major incident at the port.
Members of the group sounded a World War II air raid siren from an island at the entrance to the waterway to greet the tanker’s arrival.
Safe Haven commissioned its own report which it says shows “that a proper risk assessment of LNG cargo spills to the onshore population” has not been carried out.
Milford Haven Port Authority said a large number of reports and risk assessments had been undertaken.
“We are confident that we can handle LNG shipping safely and efficiently along with all other users of the port,” it said.
Milford Haven MP Stephen Crabb said the project would provide vital gas supplies to the UK.
“Local people have followed the progress of this project with enormous interest over the last four years,” he said.
“For many it has provided welcome new employment and income. For some, it has been a source of concern and anxiety. My hope is that the arrival of the first cargo and the commissioning of the new plant will go some way to providing new assurance to local people as to the safety of LNG operations.
“The cold winter we have just experienced and the Russia- Ukraine gas dispute has highlighted again the tight gas supply scenario we face.
“As North Sea gas production continues to decline, South Hook will provide the UK with another strategic entry point for vital gas supplies and will enhance our energy security.”" Go to: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/new-energy-dawns-first-lng-2119286

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@25.0362959,50.4495874,8z

Monday 1 December 2014

Oppose; "plans for a tunnel to bypass the neolithic site"

If you don't believe this, quote: "I would also point out that the implications of the work of Michael Poynder R.I.P (and many others), and the spiritual and religious traditions of "The Old Religion" which remain extant in our culture (despite the centuries of persecution at the hands of those who have called themselves "Christian"), suggest that there are "good and solid" geological reasons for the placement of many (if not all), of the Neolithic sites in these islands which relate to the movement of water below the surface and the subtle conductivity of the rocks and minerals themselves." Go to; ""The Cerridwen" an Update on the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age Landscape": http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-cerridwen-update-on-mesolithic.html , ""Earth Stars! Michael Poynder (R.I.P), as Promised in "What's that Coming Over The Hill?""" Go to: http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/blog-post.html
.... and ......
"Anyone Fancy a Round of Golf?

Tunnels can be dangerous, one imagines tunnels underwater especially so. Tunnels are not suitable as answers for transport management systems in "our" ("our" if you're "British" that is), areas of significant ancient religious use (Hey a new acronym! A.S.A.R.U -Hmmm ....areas of "SARU"-), which means in effect that in Britain, Brittany* (other parts of France and other N.W European countries), and Ireland, tunnelling (and quarrying), should be approached with the utmost care and with reference to authorities who understand the nature of the "S.A.R.U" of the area.

*"The History of Brittany
People probably lived in the region before 8000 BC. The first known, but unidentified peoples, built the great prehistoric megalithic monuments, known as menhirs and dolmens, that still stand. These were probably constructed between 3500 and 1800 BC, and are located near the town of Carnac and at other sites. When the Celts migrated here they, in all likelihood, intermingled with the prehistoric peoples, and built the region into a confederation of Cymric Celtic tribes." Go to http://www.french-at-a-touch.com/French_Regions/Brittany/brittany_5.htm

Twyford Down

Twyford Down was just such a place (actually although it was "such a place" nothing that happened there was "just").
Modern archaeologists (especially the social and agricultural historians amongst them), may have some understanding of what was lost at Twyford Down (and to be honest it still is a truly painful subject for me to talk about).
However... those who understand that the colonisation of the major landmass areas of these islands only ever took place once in humanity's history* , should also understand that this "Rosy Cross" is a unique tabula rasa for agricultural scientists (because of its "quartered" nature), and as a result it's history represents one of the most complete and easily assimilable works of applied "astrologomal"** science imaginable (or at least it did -never try and teach maths without also teaching spacial awareness-).
Why it now may not be is because of the rape of Twyford. You see, back when the ice sheets first began to retreat and people started to colonise these Islands on a large scale the south of Britain was ipso facto colonised first (given our current post "Flood" planetary orientation***). This meant that places such as The New Forest, Hengistbury Head, Twyford Down and others were the very first to be used as social, religious and agricultural centres. As such this of-course makes them our oldest archaeological "seed libraries", without which; climate data, ecological relationships, social interactions, religion, biology and "astrologomy" cannot be studied .

*(Edit 12/07/10 at least in a modern "agricultural" sense -and I may be accused of something of the same myself given the slightly "ham-fisted" nature of this edit- as I am advised by the recent discovery of one million year old (approx.) flint tools belonging to Homo Antecessor in Britain. Go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jul/07/first-humans-britain-stone-tools )

**("Astrologomy"= astrology/astronomy, I'm convinced S.A.M -"Stone Aged Man"- would have laughed at the idea of "splitting the sky in two" either that or considered the notion very bad medicine indeed!)" Go to: "What's that Coming Over The Hill?": http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/whats-that-coming-over-hill.html ,

...there is no way "we" can protect this, quote; "A tunnel is set to be built under Stonehenge to relieve one of Britain’s most traffic-congested roads.

Chancellor George Osborne is expected to commit hundreds of millions of pounds to give the long delayed project the go-ahead.

It would end years of debate over the infamous bottleneck on the A303, which runs right past the World Heritage Site in Wiltshire.

It will also provoke furious opposition from campaigners, who fear a tunnel could damage the hugely important 5,000-year-old site, visited only last month by US President Barack Obama.

Traffic jams on the A303, one of the main routes into the South West, have plagued motorists for decades – prompting a local MP to brand it the ‘devil’s highway’." Go to; "Stonehenge traffic jams to be consigned to history as Government dusts off plans for a tunnel to by-pass the neolithic site": http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2798141/stonehenge-traffic-jams-consigned-history-government-dusts-plans-tunnel-pass-neolithic-site.html

Future generations deserve better than a shoddy and compromised response to the Stonehenge sites traffic management issues!


Quote; "AMESBURY, ENGLAND—The site of a Mesolithic camp known as Blick Mead, or Vespasian’s Camp, could be destroyed if a new 1.8-mile-long tunnel for the A303 is dug near Stonehenge. The 6,000-year-old camp is located about a mile and a half away from the monument, and is thought to have been occupied by hunter-gatherers who returned to Britain after the Ice Age. The bones of aurochs, flint tools, and possible structures have been uncovered. “Our only chance to find out about the earliest chapter of Britain’s history could be wrecked if the tunnel goes ahead,” David Jacques of the University of Buckingham told Buckingham Today. A team from the university uncovered the 7,000-year-old remains of a meal of frogs’ legs and a natural spring at the site. To read more about the site, see "Frog Legs Eaten in Mesolithic England ." 

   
Go to; "Blick Mead in Path of Proposed Stonehenge Tunnel": http://www.archaeology.org/news/2841-141219-stonehenge-blick-mead
The U.K Government's Responsibilities.
Quote; "Article 4 of the World Heritage Convention, it is the duty of each State party to "ensure the; identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations" of its World Heritage Sites. 
 Each State is committed to "to do all it can to this end, to the utmost of its own resources and, where appropriate, with any international assistance and cooperation, in particular, financial, artistic, scientific and technical, which it may be able to obtain."
Link to World Heritage Convention" Go to: http://whc.unesco.org/en/conventiontext/
"Geo"-"metry" = "Measuring the ground" Pythagorian geometry's precurser  was Brythonic "spacial awareness" math ("we have no "papyri" fair princess!"),

Friday 28 November 2014

"The Omerta's Deceivers"

Having hyped my notion of an "omerta" concerning The Yugoslavian conflict extending to R.T and Al Jazeera and then for R.T to screen a documentary detailing how (from The Russian perspective at least), The U.S State Dept. and  colluding interests within the European Powers conspired to tear Yugoslavia apart, does not invalidate my assertion (initially voice more than 18 months ago). What it does show is how I like most of us here in The West have underestimated the shrewd game the ex-KGB hand still in power in Moscow has been playing (and -to me at least-, somewhat accounts for his "soft-peddling" concerning The Syrian Crisis**), clearly Putin had predicted NATO's (for it is "The Now Actively Treacherous Oligarchy" that includes the U.S that is really in the European driving seat), actions on the streets of Kiev (and knew more than almost all us poor plebs did about "the moves" the European Union and United States of America were planning to make on The Ukrainians), again in my own defence I draw the readers attention to my comments in the autumn of  2009 on my thread; "What's that Coming Over the Hill?", quote: "I touched on the Polish issue in the last post and it bears more than a mention. The Poles (bless 'em), to whom we owe a great deal, would surely have been better served (as would we), if the E.U's unconsidered expansion to the very borders of Mother Russia had not taken place. The Germans who -virtually- single handedly destroyed the fabric of The United Nations by recognising an independent Croatia (another example of the actions of that ubiquitous and seemingly innocuous European butterfly "Chaossisaboundsis"), having done so then colluded with America (again? go to http://www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/carr/carr.html -Edit 21/11/10-), to point missiles up Putin's nose*.
Who spoke for sanity in any effective way at the time? Maybe you guys can name some names but does the public care? Not until "Polski the human crane" moves in next door.
Meanwhile The Empire marches on.
I tracked down the email for Ukranian President Victor Ushenko yesterday (I managed to translate enough Ukranian online to just about send an email requesting an international relations and trade speech site in English -he's is already a "Twitterer" I believe-).
More on "The Kiev Connection"..to follow....

*Of-course this "European Expansionism" I mention was aided and abetted (some might say "enabled"), by the N.A.T.O bias to the spin on international affairs that was instigated by The German Right (and possibly also the U.S Foreign Office, see link given above).

Dear Victor Ushenko poisoned and Colin Powell*..out of a job...
Having cruised the Ukranian President's website yesterday and finding online translation for Ukranian nearly impossible (possible only for the very smallest bits of text), when I did manage to email I simply suggested an English version of his important speeches (especially those on trade and foreign policy). We should keep ourselves (and be kept), informed of developments in the Ukraine it is an international "key-log" in the fight against oppression."

 However note also in a preceding paragraph, quote: "Ask yourselves how it has come to be acceptable for, for instance; The Russian and American presidents (ostensibly -and in reality- gnashing their teeth over Poland), to cabal themselves during the recent summit in Tokyo, get their heads together on how both to repair the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactor ( http://www.stwr.org/land-energy-water/nuclear-power-no-panacea-critics-say.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihama_Nuclear_Power_Plant http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/earthquake-fire-and-nuclear-l/ -Edited 11/12/10-), and keep the whole affair from the public?" http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/whats-that-coming-over-hill.html

**Edit 01/11/15 This situation has also now changed, Putin having taken time to get some oversight on the crisis is playing his cards close to his chest as he demonstrates that he too can fight an (ostensibly), "humanitarian war" (or "justify his interventionism to the "sheepish-masses" just as often and convincingly as can The West").

 Putin's actions in "annexing" The Crimea are simply a tit-for-tat reaction to U.S attempts to extend its influence by abusing its relationship with The European States (and those same states stupidity in colluding with them), and a long-term strategic aim for Mother Russia because it denies The U.S a possible base in The Black Sea* (go to; "Analysts: Black Sea port in Ukraine still key to Russia's naval interests": http://www.stripes.com/news/analysts-black-sea-port-in-ukraine-still-key-to-russia-s-naval-interests-1.270904:
). 
 That R.T should begin to screen documentaries on; "the true nature of The Yugoslavian Conflict" following the denouement of The First Act of this gripping drama is therefore hardly surprising; the scene has moved on, the wheels are in motion....Our  soft-fascism continues too with "The Omerta" in full-force regarding The Greater Europe for once again both Left and Right Wings in Britain have failed to grasp-the-nettle with regard to European immigration. Quote: "How has Pallas Athena offended us so badly as to provoke us to perpetrate these obscenities? Well for one thing The European Union is too big ( http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/oder.htm ), as Schumacher intimated in "Small is Beautiful";  "a "Greater Europe" will represent an unsupported socio-economic structure and must collapse" (and now the NATO agenda has created precisely the dangerous leviathan necessary to do the demolition work)!
Why should not The Poles (who "don't like" The Germans and consistently produce the lowest turn out of any E.U nation in European elections), The Western Ukrainians (bye bye Crimea!), and the other recently assimilated Eastern European States attend to their own business? Such would surely be both socially and financially better for all of us.
Take the debacle over the Shengen agreement. Really Mr.Major? Your country's citizens got nothing out of that, is Europe only for the businessmen then? It seems so (quote; "The free movement of persons was a core part of the original Treaty of Rome" go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement ). One would think that it would be the job of our country's liberal-left to point out the diminishment of persons that not becoming signatories to The Shengen Agreement represented but noooo as so often where European politics is concerned there was a terrible silence in the oppositional barn." Go to: ""The European Arrest Warrant" Should be Applied to this Bunch!": http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-european-arrest-warrant-should-be.html
 According to both our politicians and the Mainstream Media The British people are faced with a stark choice; either remain in The Greater Europe and go-down-with-the-ship or abandon the vessel completely and take our chances on the open sea! The trouble is a two-state-solution does not suit the monetarised NATO/Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agenda that now drives European politics (one reason Cameron would really like to see us in rather than out of Europe**). Cameron's attempted bi-partisan stance has already had it's consequences for British democracy, quote: "Those forces within the European Union which are pushing for the federally administrated fascism of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership ("TTIP"), and the "Nato-isation" of Eastern Europe have no interest in democracy such as that represented by the exercise of their rights of self-determination by the European Electorate (or anyone else come to that)! That any politician or any commentator should have considered that entering into a vote on independence for the Scottish People without first determining how Scotland (and the rest of the U.K), would cope economically and continue to trade with the rest of The World should the vote be "Yes" is clearly asinine. Or is it? Not if you depend for your power-base on anachronistic institutions which are anathema to the "modern" (community centred), democratic process it isn't! Perhaps Alex Salmond felt powerless against The Eurasian State but does this excuse his seeming lack of ability to go toe-to-toe with The Euro-fascists on the issue of currency union? Certainly the fire-breathing Euro-dragon has become a formidable and heavily armed opponent for any single postulant or squire." Go to; "The Omerta's Blind Spot?: http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/the-omertas-blind-spot.html
 Racists and bigots who wish merely to demonise others and draw attention away from the true causes of the crisis that afflicts us can easily exploit such a polarised situation, this is why the rights of self-determination and the free movement of persons are essential to the health of European democracy.The Americans say: "it's the economy stupid" but is that because they are? The cultural, religious and ethnic problems which beset Europe in The Twentieth Century were to be ameliorated and the previous hurts repaired (eventually), by the integration (at least partially), of the formerly warring European States, surely it is therefore no lie to state that Europe has failed in its endeavours when  war becomes the only solution (and -yet again-, and arm-of-business), as in the cases of both Yugoslavia and The Ukraine***?

*Not an aim it is impossible to sympathise with especially when you live (as I do), close to an American base on British soil.
 **What posturing! What duplicity! Surely dear reader the man who portrays himself as a "reluctant European" would not have signed-up our National Health Service to the TTIP agenda? Quote: "The UK government has no plans to exclude the NHS, or any other public service, from the free trade agreement which is being negotiated between the EU and US.
Speaking to journalists today, Trade Minister Lord Livingston said the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would not have any impact on the NHS and, therefore, the UK negotiation team will not be pushing for its exclusion.
"The idea that this will lead to privatisation of the NHS is not true," Livingston said, adding that individual procurement groups will make decisions over whether to use US healthcare providers and that should TTIP come into effect, "the NHS will still look like it does today".
The statement serves to clarify the government's stance and comes despite pressure from trade unions and NGOs to veto the inclusion of public services in TTIP." Go to; "TTIP: Government Will Not Exclude NHS From Free Trade Agreement": http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ttip-government-will-not-exclude-nhs-free-trade-agreement-1463454
***What value The Nobel Peace prize when it is given (unearned and undeserved), to those who go on to perpetrate and perpetuate war?



 

Wednesday 26 November 2014

"American "Justice" re: #Ferguson."

If I have one criticism of Rev. Al Sharpton and the others it is this; "How can you fight what is clearly a racist, bigoted and sectarian system without dealing with the "root-and-branch" issues with regard to the judiciary and sentencing structures?" American justice is a joke in the rest of the World but the dear old Isolationist (which despite its "influence" the U.S still is), Stars and Bars doesn't seem to realise this. Why? Well it's not so much the courts (which have their problems but this is true of court systems throughout the World), but the clearly prejudiced nature of the processes which lead to convictions which carry the death sentence and the length of many of the other sentences they pass which might as well be (some might say that "one" would be better-off)!
 It used to be the case (before being cleverly subverted by the extension of its influence), that the U.S would at least be influenced by the more liberal and less hysterical judicial and sentencing policies of "The Old Countries" (we -having instigated the practice-, abandoned slavery earlier and have outlawed capital punishment), but the Jehovah Complex that drives the notion that there is any meaning -or any justice-, in sentencing someone for; two, three, four, five times their natural lifespan (which seems most infantile to the European "reasoning mind"), shows just how much distance really exists between the North American and European cultures. What the practice of passing such ("draconian" hardly covers it), ludicrous sentences displays is a deep insecurity in the American psyche, the attempt being not just to control this but also subsequent generations whose actions against those who claim (so long and loudly), to represent the spirit and philosophy of the Founding Fathers it is feared must be prevented. This policy attempts (esp. whilst  "Republicanism" is wedded to support for the hereditary principle -all very "Democratic"-), to ensure the continuance of the control that a small number of families have over the American people (and enshrine it in the Tabernacle of the Law for a thousand years!). Until The United States finally negotiate these pubescent problems they will remain a powerfully muscled but spotty faced teenager in the School of Law. Perhaps their attempt at "generational authority" is a function of The Frankenstein Complex that has lead the U.S furthest down the road to the creation of slave-life that the practice of genetic modification represents! After all if you can clone people you can make their genes serve the sentences you inflict, then at least "JUSTICE" would be seen to be done (something the instigators of these crimes against humanity crave to fuel their pathological megalomanias)!

Sunday 23 November 2014

"Promoting "The Brand" and the New Media"


"Honey, I'm the original one-eyed chicklet in the kingdom of the blind. 'Cause at least I admit the world makes me nuts."

Do we understand the "New Media"? Is the internet really a place of innovation and creativity? It seems to me that we are too easily fooled by the seductive notion that communication and inclusivity naturally flow from the boundless cornucopia of technological innovation. "You get what you pay for" Silicon Valley may argue (without of-course actually contributing to the debate themselves), and "they" would be right! Talking the talk involves walking the walk but in order to ambulate a grasp of what represents true content is essential! Linked to the corporate structure? Yes, but that's like saying don't use any branded products at all, the responsibility of freedom lies with each and every one of us but our "homo-genius" society teaches individualism not team work. Of-course not all technological innovation is even safe to use but "one" can see the influence such devices have on our culture and discourse! Like nuclear power there are no upsides to; cell-phones, Wi-Fi, mobile-phones etc. they represent a method of thought-control whose influence and authority are reinforced by the collusion of those who wish to remain in denial. Such denial makes compliant sheep who will walk happily to the slaughter but I do not wish to be among them. Do they steal away the spirits.....

.

? Do they damage yours?

"Soul-less" does what it says on the tin, which is why I believe Russel Brand and others should be involved in bringing some true "Soul" (and Blues and Reggae etc. etc.), back to "The Web" and creating on on-line platform for debate and creativity free of the old-empires of "Auntie Beeb" and the rest, investment would be required of course but we can "Crowd-Fund" for goodness sake; "we have nothing to lose but our chains"!

Also see; ""We've got you surrounded!" (The threats to our bodies' bio-magnetic fields)" Go to: http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/weve-got-you-surrounded.html

Saturday 22 November 2014

"A New Cold War"

There are many types of "cold" just as there are many types of "heat" but to continue to characterise the current antagonism and proxy conflict between The NATO Countries and Russia as; "a new Cold War" is utterly duplicitous (I say "duplicitous" rather than asinine because I'm sure that many of the major players in the bloody soap opera which is The Ukrainian Crisis are well aware that they are exploiting; ethnic, social and cultural divisions which should have been left on The Twentieth Century's battlefields). It is a sham that is easily exposed once the real-politik is examined; NATO was formed in order to take on The Comintern but whatever "one" says about Putin he is no Communist, that is not to say however that the current antagonism between East and West has not developed from the economically determined conflicts of the Twentieth Century (which is also not to say that there were no other reasons for war simply that it is the economic imperative that has prevailed, quote: "It just gets worse..."Newsnight" (say for instance), want some talking heads to discuss The European Union so they get economists, infact with a determination that Karl Marx himself might have admired such journalists and broadcasters invariably chose to consult...economists (however I doubt very much that Marx would have admired the economists they choose). It is "as if" we are no longer members of a society (a "body politic" perhaps but even that is now infected with the "Matrix-like" ability to transform all politicians into "economists"), for the social implications of any event or policy decision are desublimated to the economic realm. "Bani Walid! Mustapha Leak!" (somewhere), but not on the BBC or any other domestic media in the U.K ("He'll be vague, ask for Hague!"). Unfortunately although the U.K population is now able to access good quality news broadcasting services from elsewhere in The World as never before (and the full effect on the U.K population of sudden exposure to broadcasters like, Max Keiser, Abby Martin or Thom Hartmann on Russia Today -"R.T"-, or the excellent documentaries on "Al Jazeera" -for instance-, cannot as yet be assessed), the "omerta" concerning discussion of the true nature of The Yugoslavian conflict and the economic, social and political consequences of "The Wider European Union" that is so rigidly adhered to and enforced by The European Media applies to R.T* and Al Jazeera as-well (whose collusion indicates both the true extent of the omerta's influence and it's source). Russia's behaviour (and that of the westernised arab states), which is similar to that of America with regard to foreign and domestic policy dictates that such should be the case, for just as it is not in N.A.T.O's interest to encourage stability in the middle east it is not in Russia's to encourage the formation of an Eastern European economic and political community (whatever did happen to ours?), Russia's embrace of monetarist values and "laissez-faire" ensures that her foreign policy decisions are taken solely in order to maximise short term profits for a small group of people in just the same way as are those of the member states of N.A.T.O." Go to: "The "European" Omerta." http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-european-ometa.html ).
Observers who insist (because many depend upon), stoking the fires of hysteria with regard to a nuclear stand-off between the old enemies are as guilty of perpetuating Orwellian double-think as are the perpetrators, War (even "Cold War"), is not peace! As in the-meat-grinder of Stalingrad you are likely to be shot by your own side if you refuse to fight. Our former evolutionary and environmental concerns have metamorphosed but are still being driven by capital's "Exceptional Manifest Destiny", however I'm sure Orwell would have appreciated the counter-intuitive nature of the transformation especially as we witness the creation of the faux-hegemonic totalitarian oligarchies he so feared (but they are vital to monetarism's survival and not the product of The International!).

*Quote: "That R.T should begin to screen documentaries on; "the true nature of The Yugoslavian Conflict" following the denouement of The First Act of this "gripping" drama is therefore hardly surprising; the scene has moved on, the wheels are in motion...." Go to: http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-omertas-deceivers.html

Wednesday 12 November 2014

"The European Arrest Warrant Should be Applied to this Bunch!"

Marvelous "Double-Think" going on this week (it's where to start is all), pick & choose "Democracy" from the U.K Govt.! Right we don't want "The European Convention on Human Rights" so we'll discuss that but we do want "The European Arrest Warrant" so we won't discuss that (having openly declared that the E.U Arrest Warrant would indeed be discussed in The House)! We don't support the current E.U structure but we will collude in denying The Scots the chance to vote on an independence that won't break the bank! We now see this Real Politik in all our representational institutions from local government to the United Nations. Monetarism's Social Darwinism is becoming more evident, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership being the vehicle by which the transatlantic neo-con agenda (now the driving philosophy of NATO), is being rammed through the European Body Politic to the borders of Mother Russia herself (and throughout Turkey and -by extension-, The Middle East as-well). How has Pallas Athena offended us so badly as to provoke us to perpetrate these obscenities? Well for one thing The European Union is too big ( http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/oder.htm ), as Schumacher intimated in "Small is Beautiful";  "a "Greater Europe" will represent an unsupported socio-economic structure and must collapse" (and now the NATO agenda has created precisely the dangerous leviathan necessary to do the demolition work)!
Why should not The Poles (who "don't like" The Germans and consistently produce the lowest turn out of any E.U nation in European elections), The Western Ukrainians (bye bye Crimea!), and the other recently assimilated Eastern European States* attend to their own business? Such would surely be both socially and financially better for all of us.
Take the debacle over the Shengen agreement. Really Mr.Major? Your country's citizens got nothing out of that, is Europe only for the businessmen then? It seems so (quote; "The free movement of persons was a core part of the original Treaty of Rome" go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement ). One would think that it would be the job of our country's "liberal-left" to point out the "diminishment of persons" that not becoming signatories to The Shengen Agreement represented but noooo as so often where European politics is concerned there was a terrible silence in the "oppositional barn".
We can however sleazily expel a rabble rousing inciter of terrorism to the whited sepulcre of his native land because the rest of Europe doesn't really want to be implicated in our extraordinary rendition problems (partly because of their own involvement but mostly because there is TTIP and other money involved -"investments" which would be jeaporidised by exposing Britain-)!

*Possibly and perhaps "more sensibly" Turkey also?



Also see:  "Perfidious Albion" http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/perfidious-albion.html "Shady Deals" http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/shady-deals.html "The "European" Omerta." http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-european-ometa.html  "Never Under Estimate the Power of The Dark Side Mr.Secretary" http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/never-under-estimate-power-of-dark-side.html "The Omerta's Blind Spot?" http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/the-omertas-blind-spot.html

 


Friday 24 October 2014

"Thousands with Degenerative Conditions Classified as "Fit to Work in Future""

Quote: ""Posted by "Vegetable Man" (on MediaLens Message Board), October 23, 2014, 6:07 pm

Thousands with degenerative conditions classified as 'fit to work in future'   despite no possibility of improvement

Parkinson's and MS sufferers losing out on benefits

Emily Dugan
Social Affairs Editor
Thursday 23 October 2014

More than a third of people with degenerative conditions such as Parkinson s and multiple sclerosis are having their benefits slashed because the Department for Work and Pensions deems they will recover enough to look for work.

Thousands of those with diseases that only worsen with time - and who have become too ill to work - are being denied full Employment Support Allowance. Instead they are assessed as suitable for work-related activity which is designed for people likely to recover to the point where they can seek employment.

People in The Work-Related Activity Group receive less money and the threat of sanctions if they do not attend regular sessions. Many also have this benefit removed after a year as an added  incentive  to find employment.

Steve Ford, Chief Executive at Parkinson s UK, said:  These latest figures are an utter disgrace and serve to underline just how little the Government cares for those with progressive conditions like Parkinson s. To set up a system which tells people who ve had to give up work because of a debilitating, progressive condition that they ll recover, is humiliating and nothing short of a farce.

 These nonsensical decisions are a prime example of how benefits assessors lack even the most basic levels of understanding of the conditions they are looking at.

When people with illnesses and disabilities are assessed for ESA they are either paid full support, told they are fit to work or, if they are deemed likely to recover, put into a third Work-Related Activity Group to apply for jobs and prepare for the workplace.

Almost 8,000 people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Parkinson s Disease, Cystic Fibrosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis have been put on this third, lesser benefit. Of these, 5,000 were put into the category despite assessors explicitly recognising on reports that their prospect of working is  unlikely in the longer term .

The figures were released by the Government following a Freedom of Information request from a coalition of charities working with people with degenerative and progressive conditions.

Experts say the new data highlights just how poorly those living with progressive conditions are understood by benefits assessors. Atos healthcare has come under staunch criticism for the way it conducts the assessments and has pulled out early of a DWP contract to provide the service.

Over the last five years seven out of 10 new claimants with a progressive condition have been reassessed two or more times on the same claim, which health experts say causes unnecessary stress and anxiety for people who are already unwell.

Mr Ford said:  There can be no more excuses. Those who are severely unwell should not be subject to the ongoing indignity of repeated assessments. The Government must let common sense prevail and ensure that anyone living with a condition that can only get worse is automatically placed in the Support Group, and given the assistance they desperately need.

The five charities behind the investigation - The MS Society, Parkinson s UK, Motor Neurone Disease Association, the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society and The Cystic Fibrosis Trust - are calling for people deemed unlikely to return to work in the longer term to be automatically placed in the support group.

Shadow Minister for Disabled People Kate Green said:  This worrying report suggests too many sick and disabled people aren t being treated with the dignity and respect they deserve under the Tories. Labour has called for fundamental reform of Work Capability Assessment which isn t working for thousands of sick and disabled people. We will look carefully at how the system of assessments works for people with degenerative conditions and ensure it treats them fairly.

Between October 2008 and September last year, 7,800 people with degenerative conditions were put into the work-related activity group. Of these, 3,000 had multiple sclerosis, 800 had Parkinson s, 3,800 had rheumatoid arthritis, 100 had motor neurone disease and 100 had cystic fibrosis.

Ailsa Bosworth, chief executive of the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, said:  To continue to regularly reassess claimants with progressive conditions, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, is absurd and unnecessary. We know that most people with Rheumatoid Arthritis want to work for as long as they possibly can and will only claim ESA as a last resort.

An Atos Healthcare spokeswoman said:  Our healthcare professionals are trained in the assessment of chronic and progressive conditions such as Parkinson s and understand that, sadly, some people s conditions will only get worse over time. In line with Employment and Support Allowance policy we are required to assess an individual s level of function at the present time, rather than what may happen in the future.

A DWP spokesman said:  It s not fair to write someone off as unable to work if they are at the early stages of a progressive condition - and many people welcome support to prepare for work if they feel able to. If the effects of someone s condition are considered severe enough based on their application and evidence, they will not be required to attend a face-to-face assessment. Our reforms support people into work where they are able, instead of writing them off.

Case study

Chris Haigh, 57, from Southport, was diagnosed with Parkinson s in 2005. His wife Karen, 54, says he was traumatised when he was told to look for work.

 We d filled out a few forms and we were waiting for Chris to be called for a medical exam. But instead only two weeks after sending the forms off we got a call from DWP to say that Chris would be put in the Work Related Activity Group. I could physically see his whole body slump as the call went on. We were told his current benefit was going to stop in November and he would be reporting to the job centre to apply for work. How can you make a judgement about something that serious without seeing someone?

 Chris stopped working at the end of 2005 having been diagnosed with Parkinson s earlier in the year. He had been self-employed repairing washing machines and tumble driers and had noticed the symptoms 18 months before he was diagnosed. The loss of dexterity made it impossible. I ve watched his condition progress. He has mobility problems and can t walk far and he suffers from a tremor internally as well as externally which makes him exhausted. He also has stiffness which means he sometimes can t move at all and he s on an awful lot of medication.

 The person at Atos who did the assessment was a nurse, not even a doctor, and she claimed on the form to have met him before but she never had. We contacted our local MP and within 48 hours of him contacting DWP the decision was overturned. Someone from DWP even called to apologise for the two weeks he waited he was very unwell because anxiety and stress exacerbates the condition.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/thousands-with-degenerative-conditions-classified-as-fit-to-work-in-future--despite-no-possibility-of-improvement-9811910.html


Still I'm sure the miracle of non-voting will rid us of Smith and his acolytes."

Re: Thousands with degenerative conditions classified as 'fit to work in future'

Posted by "gloriousrevolution" on October 23, 2014, 7:01 pm, in reply to "Thousands with degenerative conditions classified as 'fit to work in future'"

    "This all makes a lot sense to me. There are hundreds of people with degenerative conditions already employed in Parliament today and the Cabinet is litterally bursting with the buggers, so I'm all for it."

Re: Thousands with degenerative conditions classified as 'fit to work in future'

Posted by Gerard on October 23, 2014, 7:54 pm, in reply

 "It's not just degenerative conditions of-course! There are indeed thousands like myself who suffer because modern Conventional Neurological and Orthopedic Medicine is simply not up to the job. You may assume that I will now rant on about Complimentary Medicine however whilst it is true that I do indeed study and practice Complimentary Medicine "at home" and utilise qualified Complimentary Practitioners when appropriate (& when both available & affordable), one of my biggest "beefs" with the system is that many G.Ps, doctors and consultants are not even competent within the parameters of their own fields of Conventional Medicine! Parasthesia for instance (from which I suffer), is the bete noire of not just the practitioners of Conventional Medicine but also "the Sheepish Masses" and the politicians as-well. Parasthesiacs like myself have been deliberately demonised by the establishment institutions for years but it has got much, much worse recently. I could go on for hours about medicine, spinal-cord injury and the state of the planet however suffice to say (for now), that I believe that the particular prejudices I refer to are at the very core of the problem that faces our Welfare State. There is a terrifying sectarian virus that pervades our body politic (for which "half-measures" will no longer suffice), that if we do not now deal with the causes of will undoubtedly be the end of us all."

  
Quote: "UK benefit fraud accounts for less than 1% of total budget"
Go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6D7X00xzvc


Sunday 19 October 2014

"Troll Wars"

The following are posts to the MediaLens message board on the subject of so-called "trolling" on behalf of industry, specifically in this case the nuclear industry...

Quote: "

The Thorium guys are trying to "Hammer" me again ("Troll Wars" continues)!


https://twitter.com/Thorium_232 "Loving THIS place!"?

https://twitter.com/ThoriumFuture Quote: "Climate change is now a fact of life & will get far worse, we need as much energy as possible to prevail, be brave, adapt and enjoy the coming thorium age"
With a picture of....




(Edit 13/09/16 All images and avatars have now been changed) 


I told them "If I were you I would consider my actions very carefully before attempting to wield "Mjolnir""! 


They were trying to flog the "we need thorium reactors because of methane release" idea by stoking the fires of hysteria  (which to me smacks of a certain amount of desperation on the part of the industry).


"internet trolls will face up to two years in prison" ("Troll Wars" cont.)
in reply to "The Thorium guys are trying to "Hammer" me again ("Troll Wars" continues)! "
It also looked very much like one of these guys had actually used their industry pack to change their profile after I blocked one (they're given a game plan -suggested avatars user names etc.-, a basic course in psychology and a number of followers; they are then tasked to "troll" a user/avatar or hash-tag etc. by their their employers (or are they technically "self-employed"?)-). They were nasty, pejorative, abusive and juvenile (even infantile), it was a genuinely unpleasant experience dealing with them.
What pray tell do we think is suitable punishment for this kind of "trolling"? Perhaps in this case the greater censure should be applied to the instigators rather than the perpetrators.


 

Nuclear Power's Carbon Footprint? go to: http://coalitionagainstnukes.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/NuclearPowersCarbonFootprint.pdf









Tuesday 7 October 2014

"Arafel"

Quote: "As Leto Atreides II the God Emperor disentegrates, his last words to Siona Atreides and Duncan Idaho are, "Do not fear the Ixians, they can make the machines but they can no longer make arafel. I know I was there." After Leto Atreides II dies, Siona explains to Duncan Idaho that arafel is "the cloud-darkness of holy judgment."

Later, Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade discovers the word "Arafel" inscribed in stones of the ruins of Sietch Tabr . It turns out to be a riddle: Arafel = the cloud-darkness of holy judgment at the end of the universe. She then deduced that the Fremen day began with night and following the idea of the darkness of Arafel, she found the Fremen carving of the setting Arrakeen sun. From there, Odrade followed a series of clues until she found a secret chamber containing an undiscovered spice hoard of Leto II and, more importantly, a message from "the Tyrant " to the Bene Gesserit of her own day asking; "With whom do you ally? What is survival if you do not survive whole? Why did the sisterhood not build the Golden Path? How will you meet your end? As no more than a secret society"?*
Arafel appears to be associated, by implication, with Kralizec "the typhoon struggle;" "the battle at the end of the universe"".


*Semi colon and list mine quotes direct from pages 327/328 & 329 "Heretics of Dune" Frank Herbert.


Quote: "Behind the scenes Edit

The word is Hebrew . In modern Hebrew arafel simply means "mist" or "fog." In the Bible however it has a more potent and evocative meaning. The normal Hebrew word for darkness is choshek; the Hebrew word for "cloud" is 'anan. Arafel , however, actually does mean something like "cloud-darkness" as Frank Herbert has Siona explains it in God Emperor of Dune . Perhaps most significantly, this thick darkness/cloud darkness is quite closely linked with the presence of God .

Arafel occurs 16 times in the Hebrew Bible and in all but one occasion it is directly associated with descriptions of Divine habitation and Divine visitations of the Hebrew God "YHWH" (I've removed the vowels out of respect for Jewish tradition which does not pronounce the "Divine Name"). YHWH is said to shrouded by arafel, "...the Lord has said he will dwell in thick darkness (arafel)" (1 Kings 8:12); "Clouds and thick darkness (arafel) surround him (Psalm 97:2. ) According to the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, When YHWH appears to the Hebrew people on mount Sinai/Horeb (to affirm the covenant, and reveal the 10 commandments and the rest of the law) he does so amidst fire, thunder and lightning (Ex. 20:19), as well as "darkness, a cloud and arafel (i.e. "thick darkness")" (Deut. 4:11 NRSV). That the arafel is visually impenatrable is implied first by Moses' insistence that because the people saw no visible form of YHWH, they must be careful not to make any graven images (Deut. 5).

The connection of arafel with YHWH's theophany at Sinai and the giving of the law form a natural association with "holy judgment." However, in the Hebrew prophecies, arafel, the "thick darkness"/cloud-darkness," is explicitly associated with warnings and predictions of "holy judgment", . (Deutero?) Isaiah writes, " For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness (arafel) the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you" (Isa 60:2 NRS). Jeremiah warns, "Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness... while you look for light, he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness (arafel)" (Jer 13:16 NRS). the prophets Zephaniah and Joel predict a future day of judgment called "the day of YHWH." Zephaniah 1:15 "That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness (arafel)," (Zep 1:15 NRS). Joel words are similar to Zephaniah, "a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness (arafel)! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come" (Joe 2:2 NRS). " Go to: http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Arafelhttp://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Arafel

Saturday 4 October 2014

Mycology and Bio-Remediation

..or; "Why Should #Fukushima Become a Japanese "Bearded-Lady"?" (see bottom page)

Quote: "Funky Fungi

Picea Glehnii is a spruce tree, on it lives a fungus called Penicillium Damascenum; a seed-epiphytic fungi, between them (I believe), they produce a substance known as citrinin, this substance helps prevent "damping off" a fungal condition which affects the roots of the spruce.
Now as we know many of our native hardwood species are threatened by one or other of the Phytophthora genus fungi (primarily Ramorum). I have researched the efforts which are being made to deal with the Phytophora outbreak but so far conventional methods are not providing the answer, I therefore contacted "The Woodland Trust" and suggested that "thief for thief" research into epiphytic/symbiotic methods could provide one.
Thing is, I first saw mention of Penicillium Damascenum in the top left-hand corner of a page in "Gardener's World"*!

(I met an American G.P -at www.shroomery.org - who prescribes home cultured; edible, medicinal and psychoactive fungi and mushrooms to his patients.)." Go to:  http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/whats-that-coming-over-hill.html


Quote: "

What is Radical Mycology?

Radical Mycology is a movement and social philosophy based on accessibly teaching the importance of mushrooms and other fungi for personal, societal, and ecological health. Radical Mycology differs from classical mycology in that classical mycology generally focuses on taxonomy, identification, mycophagy (eating mushrooms), and the more personal benefits of working with fungi while Radical Mycology is about using fungi for the benefit of larger communities and the world.
As a concept, Radical Mycology is based on the belief that the lifecycles of fungi and their interactions in nature serve as powerful learning tools for how humans can best relate to each other and steward the world they live in.
As an organization, the Radical Mycology project organizes the Radical Mycology Convergences and disseminates free literature and other media on the uses of fungi for food sovereignty, medicine creation, ecological restoration, mycopermaculture, community building, and creating resilient/sustainable lifestyles. The Radical Mycology project started in 2006.

Why are Fungi Important?

We see the cultivation and application of mushrooms and other fungi as a practice that has numerous implications for improving the quality of life for the Earth’s inhabitants. The world of mycology is always expanding and the practical integration of fungi into modern life is constantly taking new forms. But, in sum, here is a short of list of some of the more inspiring uses of fungi:
  • Mushrooms are a nutritious, healthy food source that can be grown off many agricultural and urban waste products. Mushrooms can be grown off of paper waste, coffee waste, and many weed plants including Scotch Broom and Water Hyacinth (one of the fastest growing plants in the world). A global understanding of mushroom cultivation could easily help end world hunger.
  • Many mushrooms are potent medicines able to reduce tumor rates, boost human immune system vitality, and reverse dementia. Fungi, like other natural medicines, provide a powerful preventative alternative to the destructive and harmful practices of allopathic medicine.
  • Decomposing mushrooms can break down toxic and persistent chemicals, clean polluted water, and potentially break down plastic.
  • Mycorrhizal fungi can be cultivated to build top soil, enhance soil ecology, support plant health, and reduce fertilizer consumption.
  • Entheogenic (psychedelic) fungi can help transform the human perception on the purpose of life; potentially opening the willing individual to embrace an understanding that all life must be valued and protected. Further, we hope that the individual will take these insights to heart and make tangible change in the world and not see these insights as the last step in the process of transformation.
  • Some fungi ferment foods, making them more nutritious and easy to preserve. Fermented foods enable a person to live off the grid while preserving traditional food ways.
  • Mushrooms and fungi integrate into permacultural systems to create perpetual food systems, helping enable a person to live off the grid.
  • Mushrooms can be made into dyes, paper, clothing, and pigments leading to increased self sufficiency though the production of natural products.
  • Mushroom identification and wild harvesting hones one’s awareness and understanding of forest ecology while providing for sustenance. Identification of endangered fungi and lichens can be used to help defend forests from clear cutting.
  • Mushrooms can potentially be used to build (or at least insulate) living structures.
  • Yeasts and other microorganisms can create methane and other fuel sources through their natural fermentation processes.
Here we have fungi offering tangible solutions to issues of food scarcity, water quality, chronic disease, pollution levels, soil health, emotional/psychological/spiritual health, housing and more. Beyond all this, the acceptance of fungi into one’s daily life can manifest a perspective on the world that recognizes the interdependence of life as one learns how fungi literally connect the organisms of the world and maintain the health of whole ecosystems.
Based on the above, one should ask themselves why are we taught to fear or ignore fungi in western cultures.

Why “Radical?”

The use of the word “radical” to describe our approach to the science and culture of mycology is based on several factors. First, we see the use of fungal species for environmental betterment as an extension of radical/deep ecology, which considers all of the Earth’s inhabitants as having an inherent value and interdependence. Second, through the use of fungi to improve personal, societal, and environmental resilience, we are working to shift perceptions about mushroom and mycology as a fringe subject to something central and critical to all life processes and solutions to global issues. Third, the word “radical” comes from the Latin “radix” which itself means “root.” Many of the applications of mycology and the lessons that can be learned from their biology literally get to the root of global problems in a solution-oriented approach. Issues such as food shortages, water purity, soil fertility, pollution reduction, and democratic organization can all be addressed and informed through the directed use of fungi. Finally, as stated above, the techniques and concepts we highlight in the Radical Mycology website and Convergences are rather cutting edge, and in this sense “radical” or extreme in comparison to the traditional interactions of humans with fungi.

The Context of Radical Mycology

As the years progress, one can more readily see the impacts of pollution and environmental destruction increasing alongside a need to find appropriate and effective strategies to address them. Climate change, increased rates of disease, reduced access to clean water, and the mass extinction of species are just a few of the issues underlying a need to find alternative solutions to meeting basic human needs while sustainably stewarding the planet. We at Radical Mycology do not believe that fungal remediation or the creation of a more mushroom literate society is the sole solution to such problems. The true solution to these issues comes from eliminating the conditions that enable them to exist (e.g. economic structures that require growth at all costs, poorly designed industrial systems, over-consumptive societies, and political climates that disable the individual from having their concerns truly heard). We do not believe that mushrooms alone can save the world. We support a diversity of tactics in addressing any given challenge. That said, we do believe that the fungi are powerful allies in the struggle to help restore the planet from the social and ecological challenges that it faces. We see the cultivation and application of fungi as a solution-based approach to countering the destructive practices of governments and industries that should be used in conjunction with more front-line tactics such as projects to educate and increase awareness, direct action campaigns, and even legislation reform. We believe that the uses of mushrooms and other fungi are incredibly important tools for the change-maker tool box. And, unfortunately, are some of those that are most often overlooked.
One of the things that distinguishes the Radical Mycology project from some of the other aspects of the world of mycology is that the mycological work that we support is based on an anti-oppression ethos and doesn’t rely heavily on globalized, industrial, and destructive economic models. We also see learning skills such as mushroom cultivation, mushroom hunting, medicinal mushroom processing, and the consumption of entheogenic fungi as tools that help us live outside of such destructive systems. We seek to build a Radical Mycology movement that is a part of a larger social, political, and environmental justice movement in the modern context of constant change.  We hope to add to the discussion on how to move away from practices that are counter productive to supporting life and to begin making tangible, positive changes toward a healthier and more holisitic world.

Radical Mycology’s Humble Beginnings & Promising Future

The Radical Mycology project began as an idea between two friends (Maya and Peter) 7 years ago when they met while working on volunteer projects related to ecological and social justice. Weaving the seemingly unrelated fields of mycology, environmental justice, systems theory, and social organizing together, the two developed a novel perspective on using fungi to help create a better world that was framed in a social and political context. They realized that the importance of fungal ecology was missing from many environmental justice dialogues such issues of forest protection and global pollution and how crucial the science of mycology is to fully developing these debates. They also realized that there was also much to learn from the fungi and their mycelial networks for how to best structure society into a more cooperative and egalitarian model. On all levels, it seemed, the fungi exemplified many successful and sustainable models that human activity could learn from. Discussions between the two soon evolved into an entire social philosophy based on the value of seeing the fungi as teachers and allies in the global struggles of creating a more healthy and just world.
In time, Peter wrote a zine (or booklet/pamphlet) entitled Radical Mycology that encapsulated these ideas so as to share them with other mushroom enthusiasts and socially-conscious individuals. The zine quickly became quite popular and the positive feedback it received eventually inspired Maya and Peter to organize the first, second, and upcoming third Radical Mycology Convergences (RMCs). Modeled after the networked and collaborative structure of mushroom mycelium, the RMCs are donation-based events that teach the skills of low-cost mushroom cultivation and bioremediation while building a supportive community of like-minded mushroom enthusiasts and environmental justice supporters.

Radical Mycology’s Mission & Goals

The Radical Mycology project is a volunteer-based organization dedicated to educating the world on the benefits of the fungal kingdom for personal, societal, and ecological well-being.
The goals of the Radical Mycology project are:
1.     To develop a more educated and respectful understanding of the fungal kingdom in humans (especially in western cultures).
2.     To provide free, accessible, and concrete information on the uses of fungi for social, ecological, economic, psychological, and medical justice.
3.     To promote the use of fungi in more holistic, sustainable, and resilient lifestyles.
4.     To promote the values, ethics, and concepts of radical/deep ecology, permaculture, and systems theory through the metaphors inherent within fungal biology.
5.     To find, develop, and disseminate tangible solutions to pressing global issues such as food scarcity, chemical pollution, economic disparity, and the rise in chronic illnesses through the cultivation and application of fungi.
6.     To develop safe and effective remediation protocols for emergency disaster response using fungi and other organisms.
7.     To provide the means for easy, friendly, and supportive networking among bioremediators and mycologists of all backgrounds and skill levels.
8.     To encourage the development of a more science-literate popular culture, thereby creating more citizen scientists who are well-equipped to analyze and address world issues involving the hard sciences of chemistry, biology, and ecology in an informed and educated manner.
9.     To promote the growth of native fungal species to encourage genetic diversity and strengthen local food and soil webs.
10.   To combine all of the above into to a force that will create significant and positive societal change.
Our current efforts to accomplish these goals center on the development of this website into a networking and information database as well as hosting Radical Mycology Convergences and other events to teach the skills and concepts presented on this site in-person. We also support individuals and local groups whose practices and interests are aligned with our own. Our work seeks to make the world a better place and is based on a social and economic analysis that is against any form of destruction of the planet or oppression to its people and for collaborative and just alliances among the Earth’s inhabitants." Go to: http://radicalmycology.com/about/mission-goals/

 An unlined oil waste pit in the Amazon rainforest.


Quote: "Oil companies have left a huge mess in the Ecuadorian Amazon. There are over 1000 unlined waste pits seeping toxic chemicals into the soil and water throughout the rainforest, contaminating the land that many indigenous people and other Ecuadorians live on. Oil companies, such as Chevron, have done everything in their power to avoid paying to clean up the mess.
This is what inspired three women to start the Amazon Mycorenewal Project, a bioremediation plan using microbes to clean up toxic waste, and work with Ecuadorian locals. We spoke to Project Coordinator Lexie Gropper about what they are doing and what they hope to accomplish.
What is the Amazon Mycorenewal Project? Why was it started?
The Amazon Mycorenewal Project (AMP) operates as a 501(c)3 sponsored organization, championed by a diverse group of volunteers who are collaborating to develop biological solutions to environmental pollution. In 2006, three women combined their diverse knowledge and researched natural methods for remediation of petroleum contamination. Based out of the Sucumbios province of Ecuador, AMP’s current research involves designing and testing biological filtration systems aimed at reducing and decomposing petroleum contamination before it enters aquatic ecosystems. Often called the “lungs of the Earth,” one of the world’s most biodiverse regions per acre, the Ecuadorean Amazon has a history of industrial resource extraction and leaving behind expansive crude oil contamination.
What is bioremediation? Describe a little about how the renewal project works.
Remediation aims to ameliorate toxicity and reduce the impact of contamination on degraded landscapes. Conventional remediation tends to be quite expensive and halts after reducing the visibility of exposed pollutants. Conventional remediation in terrestrial systems often involves relocating or burying the contamination; however, neither is considered an authentic remediation technique. In contaminated sites in Ecuador, buried petroleum rises to the surface or leaches into ground and surface water when it rains (which is daily in a rainforest!). Conventional remediation practices used for contaminated water systems typically add chemicals, such as dispersants, to clean the watersheds. In the remediation of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, chemical dispersants sank oil to the bottom of the ocean, until it was invisible to the surface –deeming the remediation complete.
The beauty of bioremediation is that it doesn’t hide the contaminants away from view, but actually works with living organisms to biodegrade chemical compounds into benign molecules that are non-toxic to ecosystems. Bioremediation is based upon the wisdom of nature, and harnesses the processes of numerous organisms that function as filter feeders or decomposers in natural systems. Pachamama transforms and recycles nutrients to nourish all of her inhabitants; hence, there are no waste products in nature! AMP is building relationships with biological communities in the Amazon to mimic these decomposition and recycling processes. We are amplifying the combined abilities of native fungi, plants and bacteria to physically decompose toxic chemicals and bind heavy metals, thus purifying soils and water.
Tell us about your unique approach to bioremediation. How does the biofiltration
system work?
Many bioremediation applications commonly only use one trophic system like either mycoremediation (fungi), bacterial remediation (bacteria), phytoremediation (plants). However, AMP is utilizing the combined capacity of these approaches; our biofiltration system redirects water to flow through fungi, bacteria, and plants sequentially. Fungi play a pivotal role in our designed filtration systems, just as they do in nature.
Among many roles, decomposer fungi recycle plant litter and organic matter into bioavailable nutrients for bacteria, plants, and animals. First, decomposer fungi release enzymes that biodegrade lignin, a structural component of wood. Then, they transform this decomposed lignin into available sugars. Lignin is a polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH); a carbon based compound, with long chemical chains and recalcitrant structures that are difficult for most organisms to decompose. The chemical structure of petroleum is also a PAH; this enables the fungal metabolic enzymes to break down recalcitrant petroleum compounds into bioavailable sugary food sources.
Bacteria play an important role in the decomposition process, too, as they are voracious carbon consumers. In addition, plants can hyper-accumulate (bind) heavy metals into their plant biomass. After utilizing plants, microbes and fungi to reduce petroleum contamination in our designed system, all biological components will then be composted and planted with hardwood trees to continue the nutrient cycles within the ecosystem.
What kind of organisms are you using?
When experimenting with living organisms in situ (on-site location and not constrained to a laboratory), we strive to work with the local organisms, as to not introduce invasive species to sensitive watersheds. AMP is working with native fungi, plants, and bacteria found growing in and around the oil-contaminated sites. These organisms have evolved to tolerate high concentrations of crude oil, therefore they are petro-tolerant (able to withstand petrol) or petro-philic (eating and living off of the petrol).
Describe some of the challenges you face as you implement a renewal project in another hemisphere.
As foreigners, we aspire to earn the respect of the local inhabitants of the region, as well as raise support for the longevity and implementation of our research. However, as a volunteer-based project, it is difficult to maintain volunteers for long periods of time in another country.
Research about biofiltration is applicable worldwide as resource extraction seems to show no boundaries. But, it can be challenging to obtain funding for laboratory testing when we’re working in another hemisphere because many donors tend to support projects from their local bioregion. We only have a few days left in our campaign. Our campaign will support laboratory testing of petroleum contaminated water pre- and post-exposure to our system. With further testing and modification, AMP will design a biofiltration system that is scalable and replicable for use with communities afflicted from resource extraction worldwide.
Who are your Ecuadorean partners? How is AMP working with the local people to clean up the rainforest? How are you working with the Ecuadorian government and universities?
AMP is continuing to develop relationships with local people in hopes that local inhabitants will continue this bioremediation research and further implement efficient cleanup. AMP has taught remediation courses to local and international people, as well as hiring local people to assist in the installations. We have been collaborating with universities to further develop our experimental design and quantitative analyses; this will allow local students and professors to get more involved. We have given bioremediation presentations to the Ministry of Environment and oil companies in hopes of expanding our networks to augment the implementation of natural and effective remediation techniques.
It is important for our project to have the support of the local people. We believe that the indigenous and local people should be empowered to decide the ultimate fate of the land. AMP aims to provide techniques for reducing oil contamination before it enters aquatic systems and ameliorating the impacts of previous and current methods of oil extraction. At the same time, AMP does not want to put a band-aid on oil pollution,unintentionally supporting the continuation of oil exploitation, or greenwash industrial extraction methods without addressing the root cause of the problem.
What are your ultimate hopes & goals for AMP? In an ideal world, what will you accomplish?
It is AMP’s overarching goal to train local people and remediation crews and perform research and implementation of bioremediation technologies. We plan to design modular filtration systems that are simple enough to be replicated to numerous unlined oil pits throughout the region. However, it would be ideal for our systems to be applied to the point-source of the contamination to experience the greatest remediation impacts. Therefore, it may be industrial or governmental systems that will ultimately apply these bioremediation methods at a larger scale.
In an ideal world, bioremediation would become more integrated into conventional remediation protocols, with trained first responders able to apply bioremediation technologies to augment disaster response. Until then, AMP intends to strengthen our networks to disseminate information and encourage motivated people to step into the role of a bioremediation responder, when necessary. We plan to publish our protocols, designs, and results of our experiments in open source journals, to serve as a resource for individuals and communities worldwide. What a world it would be to see anthropogenic waste products commonly transformed and recycled into nutrients to support the biodiversity of the planet!
We invite all people and networks to work with us as we gather data and implement experiments together. Please help build momentum and spread the word about AMP to your community." Go to: http://www.pachamama.org/blog/amazon-mycorenewal-project-teaming-up-with-ecuadorian-locals-to-clean-up-oil-contamination

Quote: "Some may have seen a recent BBC science series called "The Brain a Secret History" on which the presenter Micheal Mosley was given crystal psilocybin-psilocin*, which is currently being tested as an anti-depressant**. Is this otherwise Class A Drug going to be extracted or synthesised and then marketed and prescribed? As with cannabis our society has a schizophrenic attitude towards psychoactive fungi.

* http://itech.dickinson.edu/chemistry/?p=916
**He was then placed in a "C.A.T" scanner ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_computed_tomography ), not something I would have done (I have personal experience of the C.A.T-scan procedure -never again!-).

Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xhgkd

Quote: "Researchers Extol The Medical Benefits Of Magic Mushrooms.
Not only that, but the researchers at John Hopkins say they’ve found the perfect dosage. Sadly, this looks to be one of those cases in which society lags behind science. Via Yahoo News:

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have been studying the effects of psilocybin, a chemical found in psychedelic mushrooms. Now, they say, they’ve zeroed in on the perfect dosage level to produce transformative mystical and spiritual experiences that offer long-lasting life-changing benefits, while carrying little risk of negative reactions.

The breakthrough could speed the day when doctors use psilocybin–long viewed skeptically for its association with 1960s countercultural thrill-seekers–for a range of valuable clinical functions, like easing the anxiety of terminally ill patients, treating depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and helping smokers quit.

The Johns Hopkins study involved giving healthy volunteers varying doses of psilocybin in a controlled and supportive setting, over four separate sessions. Looking back more than a year later, 94 percent of participants rated it as one of the top five most spiritually significant experiences of their lifetimes.

More important, 89 percent reported lasting, positive changes in their behavior–better relationships with others, for instance, or increased care for their own mental and physical well-being. Those assessments were corroborated by family members and others." Go to http://www.disinfo.com/2011/06/researchers-extol-the-medical-benefits-of-magic-mushrooms/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+disinfo%2FoMPh+%28Disinformation%29&utm_content=Twitter 2

Also see: http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/mycological-environmentalism-under.html
 http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/mycolgical-environmentalism.html
http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/why-you-cannot-trust-bbc-or-those-who.html
&
 http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/toxic-clean-ups-radiation-and-project.html

Quote: " Much of the construction industry depends on fossil fuels, creating a big carbon footprint. As pressure mounts to make construction “greener”, experts have started to design houses out of hemp and straw, and bricks made of mushrooms.
From a distance, it looks like something out of a desert landscape, ancient and handmade.
The closer you get, the more you see something much more modern in the curves of this tower, assembled from 10,000 bricks.
But it is only when you examine one of those bricks close-up that you get a sense of what the future might hold. Using bioengineering, this structure has been made from mushrooms.
“This is a hybrid of what I call an ancient technology of mushrooms and a totally new technology of computation and engineering,” says architect David Benjamin.
The mushroom – or mycelium, the vegetative part of the fungus – is an ideal material, Mr Benjamin explains.
These bricks score high marks for sustainability because they were “grown” with no carbon emissions and no waste.
The 40ft (12m) structure he is referring to currently sits in a courtyard at MoMA PS1, an art gallery in New York.
The mushroom brick is “grown” by mixing together chopped-up corn husks with mycelium.
The mixture is then put into a brick mould and left to grow for five days. The result is a brick that is solid, but lightweight.
The “mushroom tower” is then assembled using a custom algorithm to lay the bricks layer by layer.
This method lets builders use local materials like agricultural waste, and also makes the bricks biodegradable.
These particular bricks were created from materials in the New York area. But the method can travel. In places where rice is abundant, people can use rice hulls in the mixture with mycelium to create bricks.
line
How the mushroom house was built
For "organic" construction such as the one, builders use agricultural waste
  • Old cornstalks and parts of mushrooms were collected
  • The organic material was put into a mould and then allowed to set as bricks
  • The bricks were arranged to create the structure
  • Some of the blocks at the top of the building were covered in light-refracting film
Mr Benjamin’s belief in the power of biotechnology is evident in the name of his architectural firm, The Living.
“We want to use living systems as factories to grow new materials,” he says. “Hopefully this will help us see cities more as living breathing organisms than solid, static, inert places.”
Meanwhile another architect has also been growing “bio-bricks”, using a different process.
Ginger Krieg Dosier is the creator of a brick made with sand and bacteria, filled into a mould and then fed with a nutrient solution. Five days later, the bricks are removed and ready to use.
The chemical reaction caused by this mixture “bio-cements” the grains together to create a solid brick.
This quest for the bio-brick took Ms Dosier from the world of architecture to science, where she consulted with microbiologists and chemists in order to come up with a formula.
Building made of "green" materialsBricks made from mushrooms are biodegradable

“Even as a child, I have been fascinated with how nature is able to produce durable and structural cements in ambient temperatures,” she says.
Her brick is now being used in a pilot project to make paving.
She worked for a while in the United Arab Emirates – where sand, of course, is plentiful – but has now relocated her company, BioMason, to North Carolina.
The work of Mr Benjamin and Ms Dosier point to a new level of innovation which some say is much needed in the building industry.
“While they are experimental, it is very exciting to see these types of leapfrog technologies that take cues from nature to find creative alternatives to some of the oldest conventions in design,” says Jacob Kriss from the US Green Building Council.
The council is responsible for a rating system called LEED, which rewards sustainable design in buildings. Mr Kriss says the building sector is responsible for almost 40% of carbon dioxide emissions in the US.
“There is an unquestionable imperative to green our stock of both new and existing buildings,” Mr Kriss says.
“It is these types of innovations that can help us turn the corner to create resilient, healthy, high-performing structures that are better for the planet and the people who use them every day.”
Source – BBC News Magazine " 
Go to:  http://permaculturefreepress.com/?p=589

*Quote: "The Woodland Trust also favours a different approach. The organization is investing £1.5m in a seed bank. The idea is to grow trees that are fully traceable and therefore free from foreign disease.
Austin Brady, director of conservation and external affairs, said: "Our native woodland needs to build its resilience to disease and pests. By starting from the beginning of the supply chain we can ensure that millions of trees will have the best possible chance of survival in the long-term" Go to: "Garlic injection could tackle tree diseases" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29522647

It's not just fungi of-course, certain reeds and grasses bio-accumulate both chemical and radiological toxins and I am certain that we will find that the same is true of some of the seaweeds, this will be the way we clean the oceans. Can we imagine a stable organic "gelly" we could pack into flasks and blast at the Sun? Something that would "capture" the radio-nuclides and help avoid dispersal should there be an accident? See..
"Toxic Clean-ups, Radiation and "Project Abaris"" Go to: http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/toxic-clean-ups-radiation-and-project.html

Also See;  http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/plastic-from-trees-british-company.html, http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/plastics-bio-fuels-synergisms-synthesis.html & http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/plastics-bio-fuels-synergisms-synthesis_30.html