Cracks Appear In The Matrix: Healthcare Film Reveals Geographic Disconnect

Chaos considers the premiere of Michael Moore's newest work, Sicko, to be a watershed moment in the recent history of the Empire. Not too proud to occasionally take an "attaboy," Chaos points out that the US healthcare system has been featured regularly here on the Edge, and many posts have discussed in detail its many failings and lack of potential to change. Nonetheless, the facts presented in Sicko are not, perhaps, of much moment. The visualization of real faces to go with these statistics is in part, what gives the work it's emotional power, along with the stark question posed 2/3 of the way in: "is this what we've become?" In this way, the film's underlying message subtly shifts to that of values--the values of the US public in particular. Sadly, there seems to be little potential for change. Oh, there are quite a few very good ideas to restructure the system (for some of the best, read this), but the lack of will in the Empire today is simply stunning. (For more enlightenment, read this memo from an insurance company executive). Chaos highly recommends the film, for the reasons previously stated, and one more: a sea change in national politics is underway...observe whether this film and a growing consensus that the healthcare system is broken will result in meaningful change or merely nibbling around the edges whilst business as usual continues. Longtime readers will know Chaos' prognostication in this area...

A Couple of Bracing Antidotes

Here is a fine example of the kind of thinking we need more of these days...the first is from The Oil Drum poster ResponsibleAccountable, posted on perhaps the premier liberal blog DailyKos. Chaos will reproduce it in its entirety, but the full post (with comments) can be found here.

"Stop blaming the Republicans for the War in Iraq. Just stop it.

I am so very tired of it. I hear it day-in day-out. And I am sick of it. Stop blaming Bush. Stop blaming Cheney. Stop blaming the lot of them.

The fault lies entirely with you.

It is your fault. All of you. The American people. You refuse to change your habits, you refuse to do anything about the unsustainable lifestyles you are leading. You sack any political leader that dares challenge you to do so.

Yet you refuse to really bother to understand the world as it is, and not as you wish it were, or as your wasted hours in front of the TV surrounded by your trinkets have hypnotized you into fantasizing it is.

What do I mean by how it really is? Well, for one, our food production is entirely based on petrochemical based fertilizers and pesticides and massive supplies of oil to power machinery.

The so-called Green Revolution - that's all it was... pumping oil into our food supply. Pouring massive supplies of stored sunlight onto our crops. Turning millions of energy-slaves onto our farms - a barrel of oil has 25,000 man-hours of work in it. For every barrel you consume you have the equivalent of a dozen men working for you 8 hours a day, all year long.

Without the oil inputs the food supply would collapse... ignoring all other consequences a moment - think about that. The food supply would collapse. Pause and remember what collapse really means.

And world oil production peaked in 2005 and has not been as high again since. Now, it isn't the planet running out of oil that causes us problems - there is still as much left in the ground as we've used to date...

No, it is the fact that the rate at which we can get it out has peaked and from now one we will get an ever decreasing amount of oil out every year. Less oil will be available this year than last. Less next year than this.

Even as demand grows, the supply is declining frighteningly. Mexico - the second largest exporter of oil to the US, after Canada and ahead of Saudi Arabia - Mexico's oil production is crashing. It is falling at more than 10% per year. Almost every single major oil producer in the world is in terminal decline. There is increasingly less and less oil in the world being chased by more and more people. We in America have 5% of the world's population and consume 25% of its oil. That leaves a lot of pissed off people in the world. That's why we fight bloody messy wars to secure access to it.

But we'll get back to that in a moment.

So, the oil supply is declining, yet your demand for it is increasing. This leaves an ever widening gap. Which means shortages. Gap between supply and demand. Shortages. Pretty simple.

Even if there might be ways to mitigate some of this we won't be able to do it. Everything about our economy is so dependent on a complex system of oil inputs that any serious shock to that system will cause a catastrophic collapse. People didn't starve in the great depression so much because of lack of food - it was an inability to get that produce to market as the economy collapsed.

And that was food. Essential and straightforward. Imagine how much harder it will be to do complex engineering projects like alternative energy, electrification, public transportation projects... not a chance.

We are talking about nothing less than the end of everything. Remember the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that shocked you so much when you saw it on TV? Picture that everywhere. Across the nation. All the time. With no cavalry coming over the horizon, however late, to save the day.

Try going hungry for a couple of days. Then on the third day, with the stores empty, no money and no transportation... what are you going to do? Think what are you prepared to do when your child is hungry and you have no money and no food to eat? Now think what others might be prepared to do when they are in that spot.

This is the world we face by continuing to consume at the unsustainable levels we are doing.

But you won't do anything about it. You refuse. None of this is new information. None of this is hidden away in secret files somewhere. You are surrounded by the evidence. You have been told it so often in so many ways. But you won't do anything about it. You refuse.

So we, your elected leaders, we have to go out there and kill thousands - hundreds of thousands - of Arabs to secure future supplies of the thick black lifeblood of our current decaying lifestyles. Not personally I might add - thankfully at least you give us your kids to sacrifice on these military adventures, I'll give you that. I just wish you wouldn't complain about it so much.

Don't complain about the press not telling you that the Administration lied to get you into Iraq? They didn't tell you because no-one with any critical thinking skills, no-one here in Washington, no-one... i mean NO-ONE, believed it to be anything other than what it is. A desperate attempt to secure control of energy resources, while we still had some semblance of military pre-eminence. Some believed it was the wrong strategic move and argued so. But the fact you didn't get it is your fault not theirs.

Don't complain about how the Democrats didn't stand up to the Republicans on the war. You wouldn't let them. You voted repeatedly for scare tactics and faux strength manifested in cliched rhetoric and high-school level macho.

Don't blame the Republicans themselves. They just kept giving them more of what you asked for time and again, election after election - both through your votes and through your sitting on your backsides at home not bothering to come out and vote. (Whichever category best fits you)

When Dick Cheney said that the American way of life is non-negotiable, he wasn't being some stubborn ass, or some evil mastermind. He was stating a fact. The American people will not elect a leadership that will make them change their way of life. It will kick out anyone that tries.

So, instead we do what you demand of us: we will kill over half-a-million Iraqi men women and children. We have done. And we promise to keep doing so. We will kill them in their thousands. Millions if we have to.

And if that doesn't work we'll go out there and start killing Persians. We will slaughter them. We'll drop nuclear weapons on large civilian populations if need be. We will do anything not to have to make you change your way of life. This we promise you. Because that is what you demand.

Of course, we'll leave it for someone else to tell you - when all of this has finally failed - when your insatiable thirst for oil remains unslaked - while you still long to remain the overseer to your fossil-fuel energy-slaves - something shocking will happen.

Well, when I say shocking, it shouldn't be of course. When I sit down this evening, to relax with a beer after talking with you, something natural will occur. As I drink, the amount left in the bottle will decrease. If I speed up my rate of drinking the rate of decrease speeds up too. Eventually... fairly soon if I keep drinking at a rapid pace... eventually my bottle is empty. At that point I realise that a bottle holds only a finite amount of beer. It isn't much of a shock to me.

It shouldn't need saying, but perhaps we should repeat it every morning when we wake up: There is only a finite amount of oil on the planet. Once we exhaust fossil fuels they are gone. Forever.

And we just talked about what happens at that point. The picture is a very dark one. A precipitous collapse. A disintegration of everything we know. And a lot of people will die.

Even though we'll have kept killing the Arabs, then the Persians, eventually Venezuelans - heck possibly Canadians too - just as we promised to do.

...well, at least as long as we could keep getting away with it - we may actually be surprised at some point down that road to run into an immovable barrier of world resistance... but that is a whole other topic for another time.

Even with all of the killing you have demanded that we your elected leaders command the troops of our nation to instigate, all we'll have done is put off the collapse, made it later, eliminated any possibility of any mitigation whatsoever, and made the fall oh so very much worse.

So, please. Please. I ask of you one thing - and it isn't: "vote for me for President of the United States of America". I'll do that plenty in the coming months, so let's give that one a miss tonight.

I ask of you one thing: stop blaming psychotic Republicans, or ineffective Democrats, or sinister Cheney, or buffoon Bush, or Machiavellian Rove, or some evil cabal. stop blaming anyone for the war in Iraq, but yourself. It is your fault. And it is time to face up to that.

It's hard. It's painful. But it is time to grow up and see things as they really are. And vote.

Realise you aren't in high-school anymore. It isn't someone else's job to make your decisions for you. Many will step up and offer to do so if you let them - but you won't like those decisions if you do.

Those of you with family, with kids... Do you want any chance of a future whatsoever that doesn't involve losing everyone you know and care about? Then take responsibility. Decide right now to change. Fundamentally. Immediately. If not those children of yours will probably die alarmingly soon. And not well.

Once I am elected President of the United States of America, I will ask one more thing of you. I will put it to a vote.

Quite simply: Do you want us to make the radical changes to every area in public life that will be necessary to completely restructure society to a sustainable model as quickly as possible, to the benefit of the most people possible, and do you want it to start now? Or, do you want us to keep on killing Arabs, then Persians and whoever else we need to in order to buy a couple more years of this unsustainable lifestyle that is making you miserable anyway?

If you choose the former I will do whatever it takes, and pay whatever price necessary, to save what I can of this great nation of ours for the future. If you choose the latter... well I am sure somebody will give you what you ask for...

And that's it really.

Now, no Democrat will say that. I have no interest in a Republican getting nominated, but I reckon if someone like John McCain took a platform like this to try to revive his campaign he'd be a shoo-in. But the R's won't either.

No-one will. But it needs to be said....

...and read The Oil Drum even if you just have time for the daily Drum Beat... I promise you in a few years time you will be very glad you did..."

If that's not enough for you, try this one, courtesy of David Michael Green (author of 36 Signs Your Empire's Crumbling....if you recall). Of course, this person evidently believes that a mere changing of the guard from perhaps the worst president in US history will be sufficient to cure most of the Empire's ills, a position not in accord with Chaos' estimation of the situation. However, some interesting points as to why the US public is simply incapable of democracy at this very moment.

Your Turn To Laugh At The Neaderthals: Ship of Fools

More funny stuff, although actually scary too...reporter for UK's Independent got himself a berth on the National Review's cruise for conservatives. The hijinks are just, well, incredible, as well as the ridiculous attitudes of those in attendance. Think well on this, though, because this is an actual snapshot of perhaps 20% of the US public (Chaos' wild ass guess).

Pirates and Emperors: A Funny Video

Yes yes, Chaos is putting off posting on Michael Moore's Sicko, since it calls for quite a long and detailed exposition and Chaos is not quite yet in the mood...so here's more funny stuff. A clever and oh-so-true video tells us that there really isn't much difference between emperors and pirates, except perhaps that of scale.

Funny Endless Growth Stuff From The Onion

Readers wanting comic relief (because there's an upcoming post about the healthcare system) should check out this uproarious article from the masters of satire, The Onion. Exerpt:
"As we move into the 21st century, it is our responsibility to think of the future of the earth—not for ourselves, but for those who will inherit what my husband and I leave behind when we're gone. If we do not join together and do what's best for this, our only planet, there may not be an environment left in which my five children, and their 25 children's 125 children, can grow up and raise large upper-middle-class families of their own."

Enjoy.

An "Action" Post: Carolyn Baker, The Spirituality of Collapse

For those who have read the relevant literature (and videos, see Chaos' bibliography...), and have that all-too-common response: "what can we do," here is an article which will address that, perhaps in spades. Beware: Carolyn Baker is a fast-crash doomer who fully embraces the concept of imminent collapse and is articulate enough to be dangerous, in the manner of a Derrick Jensen, let's say. In other words, be careful what you wish for...relevant quote:

"The first thing I'm not going to tell you is that collapse can be avoided or that human ingenuity and technology will come up with something to spare us from it. I'm not going to tell you that there will be some mass movement-some magic http://www.collapse.org/ that will organize progressives into a groundswell of protest, writing letters to Congress, creating blogs and websites, supporting the "right" candidate, and asking for donations. No, what I'm going to tell you is that as a nation and as a planet, we are screwed, fucked, and shit out of luck, or if you prefer Spanish, estamos jodidos."

Read the rest at your peril, or perhaps, enlightenment.

Too Many People Ruin Wineries

From the "the root of the problem is just too many people" department, comes this story about how ever-larger crowds have poisoned the atmosphere of the genteel wine tasting and generally, messed it up for everyone. Just a tiny story, the subject of which is not likely to be of interest to any but snobby New York Times readers and oenophiles, but do recall Dr. Bartlett's primary point about overpopulation. Readers are conditioned to view endless growth in population as beneficial, but in fact, humanity's gigantic footprint is poisoning the planet. This story provides a clue that endless population growth results in negative consequences.

Another Reason to Move to Europe

High speed trains. Ever heard the phrase? No? Well wonder why no more...it's because there aren't any in the Empire (well, maybe a couple of Amtracks from DC to Boston or some such, but outside of that). Not so across the Pond, where this graphic come to us, displaying a good portion of the "continent" overlaid with rail lines, and usable by people at that. What a concept! If the people in the Empire are so smart, why haven't they thought of this? Hmmm...well, here's the accompanying article. If you want more, a couple of days ago on The Oil Drum an expert article was posted on the same subject. Let it never be said that Chaos is immune to synchronicity....

Two Hits By Our Favorite Dystopian Writers

James Howard Kunstler's Clusterfuck Nation, a weekly commentary on subjects covered in The Long Emergency (Peak Oil and the collapse of American suburbia), has a screamingly funny analysis on the modern male modes of apparel.

Joe Bageant, chronicler of the spiraling cultural downshift of the US and expat resident of Belize, discovers the destructive power of human overpopulation in this typically eloquent essay, posted on The Oil Drum poster Cid Yama's interesting blog.

Just a Couple of Thoughts on I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby

Recent happenings, (although Chaos admonishes readers to heed our friend Dmitry Orlov and ignore all national politicians, since they are mere distractions...) specifically the Boy Emperor's commutation of the jail sentence of the convicted perjurer and noted liar Libby, portend the attack of Iran by the US. Why? The commutation indicates that said Emperor cares not a whit for what the rest of the nation thinks, and is inclined to throw caution to the winds and attack yet another nation in the mideast, despite the many disastrous consequences which would most certainly result. Chaos hopes readers who are still residing in this benighted country have gotten their bugout plans at the ready....

Headline of the Day (Hell, the Week, the Month, the Year)

"Paris Hilton's Garbage Sells Big On Ebay"

Is this what we've become? Yes, it certainly is. There is no way to deny it, minimize it, or rationalize it away. Kunstler is correct: the American public lacks the character to do anything more than sit on its fat ass and watch Paris Hilton on TV, after an exhausting day of mindless shopping.

Quote of the Day

"At the age of 25 most people were finished. A whole goddamned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for the presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves" ---Charles Bukowski

Where To Live; One Guy's Opinion

Chaos hopes you haven't been thinking that this topic has been abandoned here at the Edge. Here's one very thoughtful fellow's opinion (Nate Hagens from oft-quoted The Oil Drum):

"The best places in the world will be the ones with a combination of the following things: the most social cohesion (strong reciprocity), the highest renewable infastructure, the smallest amount of energy required for basic human needs (food, water, shelter) (This means high degree cooling or heating locations lose points), a high biomass to human ratio, the best aggregate of human, social, built and natural capital. If you fall in the camp thats worried about nuclear war, a city in the southern hemisphere would be optimal, as they dont share air circulation with the north. A city near water and rail will have big advantages over one just served by air and road."

Chaos can't add to that, right now.

One American Who "Gets It"

Prepared Statement of Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-6-MD)
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
Hearing on Energy
June 15, 2007

I appreciate the opportunity to testify today before the Members of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission concerning energy.

The Commission has been charged to examine and report to Congress about energy considering: “The effect of the large and growing economy of the People’s Republic of China on world energy supplies and the role the United States can play (including joint research and development efforts and technological assistance), in influencing the energy policy of the People’s Republic of China.”

Energy is a topic of intense interest and concern to me. I have been studying energy, and in particular oil, for the past 40 years. I believe that energy will be the dominant issue affecting our nation and our world in the 21st Century. In 8,000 years of recorded history, we are 150 years into the Age of Oil. This period of 150 years has lulled Americans, but not our counterparts in China, into a false sense of complacency.

I am among few people in America and the West who believe that we’re about half-way through the Age of Oil. I say that, although all petroleum experts acknowledge that the world will peak in oil production – reach a maximum – with declining production at ever increasing costs after that time. Most petroleum experts reviewed in a March 27, 2007 GAO report that I commissioned project that for all practical purposes peak is imminent – that it will occur before 2020. Global peak oil might not be a problem if demand were not increasing exponentially about two percent per year. Because demand is increasing and the U.S. is the most oil dependent economy in the world, GAO projects the consequences of peak for the U.S. will be devastating. After the world peaks in oil production we’ll continue to use oil for about another 150 years – but in declining amounts, instead of the increasing amounts that we’re used to.

Most people in the world and certainly most Americans are ignorant of peak oil. The Chinese are not. Peak oil was first publicly identified as a phenomenon by American oil geologist M. King Hubbert in a speech on March 8, 1956. He had noticed that all oil field production follows a bell curve. It increases, reaches a peak in production and declines thereafter. He reasoned that if you added up all of the peaks from many fields, you could calculate the peak for larger regions, countries and the world. In 1956, he projected that the U.S. lower 48 states would peak in production in 1970. At that time, the U.S. was the King of world oil production -- the biggest oil producer and consumer in the world. Hubbert was vilified. But he was right on. The U.S. peaked in oil production in 1970. Hubbert predicted the world would peak about now. If Hubbert was right about the U.S. and the U.S. is a microcosm of the world, why wouldn’t he be right about the world? In fact, 35 of the 48 major oil producers in the world have peaked in oil production.

I led a delegation of nine Members of the House Armed Services Committee on a trip to China over the New Year that focused on energy. Without exception, every Chinese official that we met began our discussions by telling us that they were planning for “post-oil.” Post-oil. The Chinese are planning for global peak oil in 2012. They are planning now for a world without oil as a major energy source. I wish our government leaders and Americans understood the necessity to prepare for a post-oil world.

The Chinese understand that the Age of Oil will be a blip in world history. Global peak oil will not be the end of oil – but it will be the end of cheap oil and cheap energy. Because we have built a lifestyle and a civilization in the United States that is totally dependent upon cheap oil and cheap energy, peak oil poses a challenge that our country must overcome.

I referred earlier to a report that I commissioned by the GAO. This was the fourth federal government report warning about peak oil. The Department of Energy commissioned two reports about peak oil by a team led by Robert Hirsch so they’re known as the Hirsch reports. The first Hirsch report was released in February 2005. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers commissioned a report released in September 2005. I also recommend the Commissioners read a an incredibly prescient speech about energy given by Admiral Hyman Rickover, the father of the nuclear navy just about 50 years ago on May 14, 1957. All of these reports and the Rickover speech are posted on my website at www.bartlett.house.gov/EnergyUpdates.

What concrete steps can we observe that China is taking to prepare for peak oil and post-oil? They have a five point plan. 1. Conservation 2. Increase the proportion of domestic sources of energy. 3. Diversify sources of energy. 4. Limit negative impact on the environment 5. Engage in international cooperation. These are exactly the correct steps and steps that the U.S. should be undertaking.

I have attached to my testimony two charts. The first is called The World of Oil. It depicts countries based upon the proportion of oil reserves. The second chart illustrates that China is scouring the world and buying up oil assets. They are also aggressively building a blue water navy. They don’t need a blue water navy for Taiwan. American government officials have told me the Chinese don’t understand that in a world market, energy is fungible. I don’t find this argument at all persuasive. I think China is preparing for a world where resource nationalism, not market forces govern the allocation of energy. China is preparing for cooperation or confrontation to address a post-oil world.

The U.S. is not preparing at all.

America and the world will transition from fossil fuels, including oil, to sustainable, renewable sources of energy. We can choose to do it on our timetable or we can be forced to transition by geology. What America needs to do to avoid a really bumpy ride from peak oil, and this will require Presidential leadership, is to develop a program with three attributes: the total commitment of World War II; the technology focus and intensity of the Apollo program to land a man on the moon; and the urgency of the Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss these points in more detail. Thank you very much.

Chart To Silence The Whiny American Public

Of course, Chaos is not naive....no one will be silenced, and the infantile complaining, blaming and fingerpointing will continue as long as gasoline prices continue to "skyrocket." At least this chart (click on it to enlarge) ought to give someone in this benighted country something to think about, to the extent that "thinking" continues to be a viable way of facing tough issues, which is doubtful. Well, then...

One Nation...Under Surveillance

The State of the US Economy, Circa 2005

This long and detailed lecture by Martin Wolf, eminent economist and financial columnist for the London-based Financial Times will, if you care to digest it all, scare the pants off you if you have any interest in the future of the US economy. Even more frightening is the fact that this lecture was given in 2005; subsequent passage of time has exacerbated the trends discussed back then. Key message: the US dollar is due (perhaps long overdue) for a sharp decline, being propped up by the rest of the world and in particular, certain Asian countries whose economic development is driven by manufacture of cheap exports for the US. Certain trends can now be seen with more clarity, such as the movement of oil-producing countries to accept payment in Euros rather than dollars (Russia comes to mind, which should keep anyone awake at night), as well as foreign countries buying up the physical assets of the US. In sum, the Empire is no longer master of its own fate; indeed, it has ceded control to the rest of the world. Not good.

Toxic Environment: American Culture

Click on this link to read about Adbusters magazine's feature on the poisonous culture which surrounds those of us in the Empire today. (The magazine, for the previously unaware, focuses on the media as the corrupting agent; Chaos would argue that the media simply reflects the vacuity of the people living in this country--another example of liberals' inability to imagine or say that the vast majority of people are unconscious sheep). Many studies are cited here; for example, rates of depression, anxiety and drug problems among recent Mexican immigrants increased the longer they stayed here. The study's author concludes: "socialization into American culture and society [will] increase susceptibility to psychiatric disorders." Interesting stuff, and not available on CNN.

Behold These Words, And Despair

Cindy Sheehan, mighty voice of the anti-war movement, recently resigned from it. Her words, as always, are both insightful and impossible to argue with (unless you still believe that George Bush has your back), so here they are: (note the impossibility of accomplishing anything meaningful in this country due to the relentless partisanship of both political parties)(emphasis Chaos'):

"I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.

I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.

The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."

I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?

I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey’s brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.

The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried every since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.

I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won’t work with that group; he won’t attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.

Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children’s children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.

I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.

Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.

This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.

Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

It’s up to you now.

Unique Cyclone Threatens Oman, Persian Gulf

Never seen this before, not ever....there's oil production facilities out there, right? Check out this link, perhaps wonder why it wasn't on today's CNN.