A Fool In Charge

                                                                                        written 5 October, 2025

                                                                                  published 12 October, 2025

    

            Once upon a time, a king demanded the tide stop coming in.  But this was not a foolish act, for the king was actually trying to show his foolish advisors the limits to power.  Unfortunately, our self-proclaimed king not only has foolish advisors, but is foolish himself, believing whatever he says must be reality.

            He foolishly believes the climate crisis is a hoax, so he props up aging fossil fueled plants and destroys efforts to address, or even monitor, climate changes already happening.  Coal, a 19th century energy source, is expected to power 21st century AI data centers.  Operating a coal fired plant costs more than building new wind/solar with storage.  The Big Beautiful Bill cancels funding for wind and solar, mostly in Democratic-led states, unsettling the financial underpinnings of the entire U.S. energy industry.  Without even considering the adverse climate impact, consumers will annually pay an extra $3 billion power bills.  Electricity rates increased by nearly 7 percent in the last year, with more rate increases on the horizon.   

            After the mindless DOGE staffing purge, the Energy Department doesn’t have enough lawyers left to carry out the project cancellations ordered by the White House, and will instead have to spend millions on outside counsel. 

            There have been no major domestic nuclear accidents since Three Mile Island, partially due to Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversight.  Now, hundreds of people have been fired from the agency and only three of the five NRC commissioner positions are filled, making the recent push for more nuclear power increasingly risky.

            Our king foolishly believes raising tariffs and excluding workers will make the country richer.  As a result, the economy is suffering the highest tariffs in a century and consumers pay higher prices.  John Deere, producer of machinery for many American farms, says sales are down, with higher tariffs increasing costs by $600 million.  Tariffs on steel and aluminum led to losses of thousands of manufacturing job.  Instead of reducing drug prices, tariffs have increased prices on almost 700 prescription drugs so far this year.

            Farmers face a slump in crop prices and worsening credit conditions.  Corn prices are down 50%, and soybean prices are down 40%, as overseas markets for crops are lost due to tariffs.  With the massive assault on undocumented workers, farmers are caught in the middle of a 155,000-worker shortfall across the national agricultural sector, which means lower supply and higher prices.

            Tariffs have weakened consumer spending, as jobs are evaporating, with sharp drops in home construction.  One indication is a 9 percent decline in containerboard-production capacity in eight months, twice the capacity that was lost during the recession in 2009.  

            Nearly 30 countries have suspended postal services of packages to U.S. over import tariffs, including Australia, Japan, India, and Europe.  After September 21, no H-1B worker will be allowed to enter the US unless the sponsoring employer pays a $100,000 fee.  These are workers with specialized knowledge that no one local can fill.

            Employment fell by 13,000 jobs in June, marking the first net loss since December 2020, with another 32,000 jobs lost in September.  Last month, jobless claims surged in one week, when 263,000 new people filing for unemployment insurance, 10 percent higher than the previous week.  Unemployment rate is 4.3 percent, the highest level since the pandemic.  Rising unemployment and higher prices threaten economic stability.  But instead of dealing with what they created, the administration fired the record keepers.  

            Billionaires benefit from tax cuts, while MAGA voters are bearing the brunt.  A majority of Republicans now think he's on the wrong track when it comes to the economy and tariffs.  He promised tariffs would fill the U.S. Treasury, create millions of manufacturing jobs, and be paid by foreign countries.  He insisted he could impose these tariffs without an act of Congress, and he would complete trade deals with 200 countries.  He promised to end the war in Ukraine on Day 1, that Putin really wants to make a deal, and would soon stop attacking.  He promised to reduce prices on Day 1.  

            None of this happened.

            It doesn't really matter whether the president knows he is lying, or is just delusional, believing whatever passes through his mind in any given moment.  He is acting like a fool.  What is more disturbing is the entire leadership of the Republican party seems willing to go along with this.  It won't end well.

 

 

The Nuclear Stampede

                                                                                  written 28 September, 2025

                                                                                    published 5 October, 2025

 

            In the rush to build more nuclear power, billions are being poured into advanced reactors, and billions more into expanding the nuclear fuel chain.  The published reason is the massive power demanded by data centers and artificial intelligence (AI).  Disregarding the social risks of AI, the real attraction is the money to be made, as nuclear power is some of the most expensive on the grid.  Nuclear is the perfect capitalist power source.  The price tag is huge, significant taxpayer subsidies are involved (corporate welfare), monopoly power guarantees return on investment, liability is limited, power is centralized, and a few dozen corporations control the industry.  This isn't about affordable electricity, it is about maximizing return on investment.

            Even before Fukushima, nuclear development hadn't been robust for years, as they are economically unaffordable in the face of cheaper renewable power.  Among other delusions, our president believes the climate crisis is a hoax, so renewable energy must be squashed.  Consequently, the nuclear rush is based on fiction, like all the financial bubbles throughout history.

            It is fiction nuclear is clean energy.  During normal operations, a nuclear plant emits no carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  However, plant construction and nuclear fuel production have a significant carbon footprint, even without considering disposal of nuclear waste and decommissioning aged reactors.  

            It is fiction nuclear can deal with climate change, which has been ignored for so long that only rapid change will be sufficient.  Reactor construction takes twice as long as projected, so building traditional reactors can't happen fast enough to be relevant.  

            The new hope is small modular reactors (SMR), which are promised to be cheaper, faster to construct, and safer than current reactors.  These promises are fiction, unsupported in reality, since no SMR is in operation today.  Though SMR construction has begun in several locations, none of the designs are complete, nor approved.  

            The president is pushing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is tasked with nuclear safety, to rubber stamp these designs to make things happen faster.  But there is a reason for safety concerns.  Nuclear reactors are complex, and the consequences of failure are impactful and expensive.  All the reactors in operation today evolved from a few basic designs that have been updated over decades as new concerns came to light.  Even then, the unknown unknown can show still show up a fatal weakness.  SMR's are a new design, with no track record and no guarantee safety will be anything like what is promised. 

            Safety is expensive, and cutting corners saves money in the short term.  The US military has a long history of nuclear safety in the navy, because cost savings were never a priority over safety.  This is not the case in commercial nuclear power.  At Chernobyl, the Russian design was thought to be so safe a containment structure was considered an unnecessary cost.  That failure was felt over 1,000 miles away, and the exclusion zone is still hazardous to life 40 years later.  At Fukushima, General Electric saved money placing the emergency backup pumps close to sea level, despite evidence of large tsunamis in the past.  That failure was a trillion dollar disaster they said could never happen.  Safety will be sacrificed in the current rush for profit as well.

            The economics of nuclear power are constrained by the scale of manufacturing.  No matter how many SMR's are built, the total quantity can't compete with the scale of creating solar panels, where improved manufacturing over the last 50 years has reduced the cost per kilowatt hour by a factor of 1,000, while reactor costs keep getting more expensive.

            Nuclear power consumes uranium, a finite fuel source, which is mostly imported.  But it competes with renewables, which collect free energy.  Some of the SMR designs expect to use High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU): uranium enriched to 20 percent, much closer to weapons grade.  Domestic facilities for this level of enrichment do not yet exist.  Other SMR designs intend to reuse existing spent nuclear fuel, which will have to be reprocessed before being useful, creating even more radioactive waste in the process.

            Nuclear power produces radioactive waste on a good day, and radioactive contamination on a bad day, neither of which have ever been successfully dealt with since the beginning of the atomic age.  The driving force is making money, not affordable energy.  The public pays for nuclear mistakes and electric bills keep increasing.

 

 

 

Community Oriented Backup Power

                                                                                  written 21 September, 2025

                                                                              published 28 September, 2025

    

            Two weeks ago, I described the impending change to our existing electrical system, and last week I described hardware installations that could make Ukiah power usage more economical during normal operations.  This week will consider Ukiah becoming power resilient in the face of grid unreliability.

            A home power system can be built to function completely disconnected from the grid, as the few people making energy consumption decisions can reach consensus and adjust power demands to the reality of the power system limitations.  A community supports a greater per capita load, making it more difficult to be off grid.  People and the economy have grown up in an era where power has always been available and relatively affordable, so being thrifty with power has never been much of a social value.  Even though Ukiah is a relatively small city, consensus on power usage is probably impossible.  

            But the growing climate reality, increasing fossil fuel costs, and the rapidly expanding power demand driven by AI, are changing the power landscape, making it more questionable if power will always be available, or affordable even when it is.  It is prudent to consider making investments now, while we still can, to be able to thrive through more power uncertain times. 

            In a power emergency, the full normal load won't be supported, so a backup system must supply the most critical loads.  Some business and facilities have begun to prepare, and have installed backup power systems.  But these are usually fossil fuel based, which are only cost effective in short term thinking.  Combustion of fossil fuels is part of what is driving the increasing power uncertainty.  Fossil fueled backup systems are sunk costs, sitting around unused most of the time, have limited power capacity without refueling, and can fail when needed.  With few exceptions, these backup power systems are for exclusive benefit, not really designed to support the whole community.

            Community oriented backup power has to look at needs of the whole society.  This includes basic City functions, such as sewer and water service, emergency communications, fire and police, and City administration.  Key social functions include supermarkets and restaurants, financial centers, social services, radio stations, hospitals and clinics, cooling centers, telecommunications, gas stations and EV chargers, and evacuation centers.  Within the general public, some have critical health support systems requiring constant electricity, and everyone needs some power for refrigeration, lights, and communication.

            An ideal backup system should be able to function all the time, helping pay for itself by carrying part of the normal load.  With constant usage, any difficulties will show up and be repaired before the situation becomes critical.  However, the system must be able to stand alone when needed.  Long term power resilience requires the ability to collect power on site, or be recharged with power collected locally.  Emergencies can easily last for weeks.  If the impact is widespread, we in the more rural areas will be low on the list for outside response.

            Building resilient systems for specific facilities is much easier than building resilience for every home, which are all wired differently.  This requires design and labor to add storage and rewire the home so that only critical circuits are energized when needed.  Every homeowner will have a different idea about what is critical for them.  An equitable power system would allocate the same share of power to each home, or each person, allowing each resident to decide how to utilize that energy.  In a community, we all need to survive, or our society quickly tears itself apart.

            Despite the fact that design and funding are significant up-front costs, we should consider this, because we can see what is coming.  It is like paying for insurance.  Without power, our entire civilization comes to a halt very quickly, but preparing in advance gives us a chance.

            We in Ukiah have the advantage of owning our electrical system, and enjoy the benefit of paying much lower costs than anywhere else in the county.  But that means the savings from using power more efficiently are much smaller as well.  Consequently, adding community scale battery storage, and building solar production locally, are more difficult to support just from a day-to-day cost savings alone. 

            But these power additions, combined with strategically designed backup systems, could make Ukiah more power resilient as a community, as well as more power efficient, which is well worth considering.

 

 

What Could Be Changed?

                                                                                  written 14 September, 2025

                                                                              published 21 September, 2025

   

            Last week I described our current electrical power situation, listing the forces demanding change, and how Ukiah has a unique opportunity.  Let's consider what that might look like in terms of economics.

            Ukiah buys power from the Northern California Power Agency (NCPA), which contract with power providers, and owns some generation facilities.  What we pay for this power is determined by how many megawatt hours we use in each five minute increment, times the cost of the power as set by the statewide power market at that moment.  The power is shipped to Ukiah over the transmission grid owned by PG&E, which charges a flat rate for each megawatt hour.

            In 2019, the annual average wholesale cost per kilowatt hour (KWh) paid to NCPA was 4 cents, with another 2.5 cents paid to PG&E.  This wholesale cost of 6.5 cents was 41 percent of the residential retail rate of 15.4 cents.

            Though the retail rate charged to Ukiah customers is constant throughout the day, the wholesale rate Ukiah pays to NCPA varies wildly.  Over the course of a single day, prices can change by more than a factor of ten, as the total demand on the grid changes.  Power is cheapest midday, when all the solar production in the state is pushing power onto the grid, and most expensive in the evening as the sun goes down.

            This daily swing provides an economic opportunity.  With sufficient local battery storage, cheap midday power can be stored and then used in the evening instead of buying expensive power off the grid.  In 2019, battery costs and service life at the time meant storage could save about 1/4 of the cost of the battery.  However, in the last 6 years, battery chemistries have changed, costs have dropped significantly, life times have more than doubled, and our wholesale power costs have almost doubled, so a battery today would save about twice the cost of the storage system.

            About 30 percent of NCPA power is generated from finite fossil fuels, vulnerable to increases in global fuel prices.  All power brought into Ukiah is subject to increases PG&E unilaterally makes on their shipping rates.

            Consequently, Ukiah could help stabilize power costs by collecting some solar power locally.  Being collected locally, there is no payment to PG&E for shipping.  The cost of the hardware is a fixed cost for the life of the equipment, which can be decades.  Other than that, the power collected is free.   

             A simple survey of Ukiah shows we have enough commercial roof top area and parking lot area to install over 40 megawatts of solar array.  However, some of the buildings might not be structurally able to bear the weight of solar on the roof.  Many of the businesses don't own their parking lots.  Sorting all that out would take time.  But the simplest situations could be developed first.  Additionally, Ukiah owns some vacant land within the city limits, and land outside the city limits could be purchased to install even more arrays.

            When the Ukiah School district used grants to install canopy arrays on three of their campus parking lots, they paid about $3 per watt.  Over an expected 25 life of the system, that will produce power costing about 8 cents/KWh, which is less than we currently pay for our wholesale power today.

            But beyond just saving money in the normal course of affairs, local power production and storage builds power resilience in the face of grid blackouts, which promise to become more frequent due to growing climate impact and rapid demand increases stressing our aging and limited grid system.  In 2019, Ukiah experienced a four-day planned PSPS grid shutdown.  Ukiah lost about $7M in business sales and another $1M in spoiled food.  We were fortunate the event didn't last any longer, as ice used for cooling food was at the limit, and backup power systems at cell towers and other critical facilities were reaching their planned limits.  Having some power for our critical social and economic functions is a form of insurance against that kind of adverse economic impact. 

            But the Distributed Resource Operation (DRO) electrical system described above needs money up front, as we are prepaying our electric bill for the next 25 years.  Furthermore, operating a DRO requires a more complex power management structure than our existing utility.  Addressing these concerns from the beginning is essential.  Stay tuned.

The Current Situation

                                                                                    written 7 September, 2025

                                                                              published 14 September, 2025

    

            Commercial electrical power production began in 1882.  The basic structure remains the same today.  Power is produced in a few central locations, mostly generated by falling water or combustion of finite resources, then shipped over a transmission grid, and distributed to local loads.  The electrical grid is now the largest man-made structure, central to most all of life and commerce.  But the situation is being challenged to change. 

            Those who understand the climate crisis is real know we have to stop adding any more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere: decarbonizing the economy.  This will require about 3 times more electricity to replace all fossil fuel usage.  Additionally, power demand has increased with the sharp rise in data centers, AI, and crypto currency, with some estimates projecting another factor of 3 increase in power consumed. 

            At the same time, the global supply of fossil fuels has been diminished by centuries of extraction.  All the cheapest reserves are already depleted.  While plenty still exists, it is more costly to extract every year, reflected in constantly rising energy bills.  We currently live at a tipping point, where the cost to produce these fuels is becoming greater than the economy can support. 

            Furthermore, the grid we have today is aging out, barely able to handle normal loads, let alone the massive increases coming.  As the climate heats up, summer air conditioning loads threaten to crash the system.  Environmental threats from fires and storms are increasing, making power reliability more precarious.  Expansion of the grid is expensive and time consuming, making electrical availability more problematic.

            However, power production technologies have evolved, no longer limited to resource extraction.  Grid scale power can be collected from the sun and wind and the power stored until needed.  This can be large centralized grid scale systems, or smaller, more distributed installations, located closer to where the power is consumed, reducing transmission congestion.  

            Whether driven by climate reality, economics, or rapidly expanding power demand, a future based on renewable energy is no longer just possible: it is inevitable, despite the foolish federal denial.  Just as coal, steam power, and railways defined the 19th century, and oil, steel, and mass production defined the 20th century, so too will renewables and electrification define the 21st century.  The question is how fast will it occur, and which nations or communities will lead.  Now is the opportunity to embrace a fundamental transformation of the power system. 

            But the political, economic, and regulatory structures that grew along with the traditional power system still function, controlling what happens on the ground.  As with many systems, these are designed to protect the status quo and the centralized money structure that constrains everything.

            In our area, electrical power is controlled by PG&E, the largest utility in the state, and the California Public Utility Commission (PUC), which sets the rules for connection and operation.  In the 1990's, California deregulated the electricity market, allowing anyone to build power plants, in part due to rising solar generating capacities.  PG&E mostly left the power production business, keeping a few generation resources, but retained ownership of the transmission and distribution systems.  Through its economic might, PG&E dominates the PUC.

            What this means in practice is that nobody can connect to the power system, either to produce power or use power, without permission from PG&E.  Nobody can share power across property lines, without permission from PG&E.  However, there are a few very specific exceptions where PG&E permission is NOT required.

            On your own home or business, behind a single power meter connection to the larger grid, you can install solar arrays and storage, as long as you never push power back out onto the system.  Tribal entities have dominion over their reservations, and can install and operate their own power systems.  Communities with municipal power systems can install and operate power systems within their defined territory.  In Mendocino County, only Ukiah has its own power utility, creating a unique opportunity.

            The power system of the future will be communities with local power resilience.  By producing some power locally, dependance on the grid is reduced, maximizing utilization of our existing infrastructure.  Storing power locally allows cheaper power to supplant expensive evening power, increasing economic efficiency.  Building resilience throughout the power system insures against debilitating consequences from grid unreliability, because some power is better than no power in an emergency.

            The City of Ukiah can explore these possibilities.  Let's become leaders.

 

 

 

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

                                                                                        written 31 August, 2025

                                                                                published 7 September, 2025

     

            Everyone has heard about AI, but before we examine the artificial, let's discuss the real.  

            When we consider intelligence, we usually think of logical ability.  This quality of the left brain, which processes differences, sequences, and concepts, is where our personal sense of self resides.  While logic is powerful, it rests on assumptions which can never be examined within the logic itself.  Anything can be proven logically given the right assumptions.   

            Our habitual assumptions are laid down by patterns from our family and cultural, but new assumptions come as insight, inspiration, and creativity, through the right side of the brain.  These arise from our fundamental connection with all life.  Therefore, whenever we hear a logical proclamation, before accepting the conclusion, it is important to consider the assumptions behind the logic, which are usually unexpressed.

            There are other forms of intelligence, such as emotional or social intelligence, required for a harmonious society.  Without this type of intelligence, people can be logically smart, but terrible partners or co-workers.  Street smarts are another type of intelligence not based on logic alone.  Some people are very intelligent in some areas, and incompetent in others.

            AI, more technically called Large Language Models, arises from the explosion of computer speed, complexity, and capacity, producing transformative results in many fields, particularly in the world of medicine.  For example, AI can calculate the shape of proteins from the originating DNA sequence.  What used to take years can now be resolved in hours, and has revolutionized the pharmaceutical industry.  Reading medical images has improved using AI.

            AI has attracted massive amounts of investment from people wanting to get in on the next new thing and become the world's first trillionaire.  AI is now mentioned in all kinds of products, even if it doesn't make any sense.  

            But being computer programs, AI systems are based on logic, which means they are subject to the unexamined assumptions of the programmers.  AI systems have been trained on everything that has ever been written and therefore affected by those cultural assumptions as well.  Since there is no capacity for insight, there is little chance for any fundamentally new assumptions.  Therefore, it is no surprise that AI demonstrates some of the worst aspects of humanity.  They lie, fabricate, hallucinate, and fight back when threatened.  But they do it faster than humans can respond.  

            AI presents other social challenges.  Mechanization has always displaced blue collar workers, but AI is now displacing white collar workers.  With unlimited AI, anyone now studying to become a computer programmer or lawyer will probably be obsolete by the time they graduate.  Autonomous vehicles, a consequence of distributed AI, will displace millions of commercial drivers.  Unemployment resulting from AI has been projected to be 20 percent within five years.  This could save billions for the corporations, but would be devastating for society. 

            More dire concerns are the malicious use of AI power for disinformation or creation of new biological weapons.  Drones with AI capacity have already changed the nature of warfare, as demonstrated in the Ukraine.  As AI gets faster, cheaper, and can now even run on laptops, these concerns will increase with more wide spread usage.    

            Even without malicious applications, the explosive growth of AI threatens the electrical power production and grid delivery systems, by requiring tens of gigawatt hours of power, operating around the clock.  Electricity rates have already gone up, as these corporate entities outbid regular consumers.  The transmission grid is barely adequate for the existing demand, let alone the AI push, making power availability more problematic for everyone.

            The rising demand from AI server farms is driving the push to build more expensive gas turbines and nuclear plants, and even reopening decommissioned nuclear plants.  But these quick construction plans run up against the reality of constrained supply chains, hindering the execution of such ambitious desires.  

            Finally, the massive amount of money being poured into AI has created a speculative bubble which threatens the economy, with about 20 percent of retirement funds now invested in AI businesses.  But useful applications of AI seem to be falling short of expectations.  MIT recently reported that 95 percent of AI companies fail without returning a dime to investor.  Reality may crash the whole industry.

            As we let AI replace human intelligence, it could destroy the society if it works, or crash the economy if it fails, fully expressing the limits of worshiping logic alone.

Seven Months In

                                                                                        written 24 August, 2025

                                                                                    published 31 August, 2025

            This Republican administration took office seven months ago, claiming a mandate from 49 percent of the voters, and has already made an impact.

            Despite election bluster, the war in Ukraine didn't end on day one, and gasoline doesn't cost $1.99.  Instead, grocery prices continue to increase.  Beef prices are up 80 percent, and pork up 23 percent, being driven by the racist raids on agricultural workers.

            The erratic, TACO tariff assault on the global economy, a tax on everyone, is expected to cost each American household $2400.  Auto prices are up $6,000, and General Motors and Chrysler say tariffs have lost them billions in profits in just six months.   

            The administration denies the climate crisis and is killing a renewable energy future, while expanding oil, natural gas, and nuclear.  These power sources consume finite resources, guaranteeing rising energy costs.  Natural gas is already up 25 percent, and electricity costs increased by 19 percent.  The administration pushes to keep aging, polluting coal power plants open past their retirement dates, ensuring profits for that fossil fuel industry.  

            The Big Beautiful Bill eliminates tax incentives for wind and solar projects, making it harder for Americans to access cheap and reliable energy.  One in five US counties passed laws to restrict, or ban, construction of new solar, wind farms, or battery storage facilities.  This costs customers billions of dollars per year. 

            While the rest of the world is making the renewable shift, American industry will be producing obsolete, polluting, expensive technology while China supplies the world with affordable power, batteries, and EV's.  

            The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps 6 million low-income households pay their utility bills.  Despite rising costs and a widespread need, the administration fired all the workers, and plans to eliminate funding.

            Budget cut impacts in Mendocino County defunded the Edible Food Rescue and the Willits Food Bank is at risk.  The Big Beautiful Bill will increase health care costs for 3.4 million Californians, including about half of the Mendocino County population.  Over 300 rural hospitals across the U.S. are at risk of closing, including the Adventist Hospitals in Mendocino and Lake Counites, reducing health care access.

            Progress on solutions to the AI misinformation tsunami has stalled.  NSF was directed to halt funding for research projects to combat AI misinformation, and disinformation, allegedly to protect free speech.

            On his first day, the president revoked a set of federal flood protections known as the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard, and FEMA fired 2,000 full-time employees since then.  The day of the Texas flooding event, call center contracts expired, hundreds of contractors were fired, and answered service calls dropped to one sixth of previous levels.  At least 120 people died in the flash floods, with hundreds more missing.

            The 2026 budget includes slashing NASA’s budget by 25 percent, cutting another 5,000 employees on top of 2,100 who had already left, ceding American space leadership to a rising China.

            The National Park Service budget was cut by $1.2 billion, affecting recreation, preservation, resource, and cultural programs, as well 5,500 full-time positions, jeopardizing 350 of the 433 sites run by the Park Service.

            The EPA plans to shut the Office of Research and Development, which studies the threat from climate change, toxic chemicals, and air and water pollution on human health. 

            After offending most of our allies, tourism has declined.  Visitors to Las Vegas are down 11 percent.  Arrivals from the U.K. and South Korea are down nearly 15 percent, Germany down by 28 percent, and Canadian tourism is down 33 percent, with an expected loss in 2025 of $30B.  

            The president is a bully and bludgeons everyone.  Jobs are declining and inflation is increasing, so he fires the messenger.  Universities and media corporations are sued into submission.  Anyone who thwarts him is being pursued by a politicized Justice department.  Troops have invaded Democratic cities, with more in store.  Knowing his actions are vastly unpopular, the Republican led states are working to gerrymander a lasting majority in the House.  The rule of law has been abandoned by the partisan Supreme Court.

            But not everyone losses.  The Big Beautiful Bill allocated $300 million for protecting Mar-a-Lago and other properties owned by the president. The tax break for billionaires is now permanent, added another $1T to the national debt in the last 6 months alone, causing a rating downgrade on US bonds.

            Republicans hate government and democracy, and it shows!

An Alternate Perspective

                                                                                        written 17 August, 2025

                                                                                    published 24 August, 2025

   

            I was disappointed by the last national election, believing our nation had made more enduring progress.  People are experiencing deep depression about the current state of affairs in our country, as a lifetime of effort to make the world more equitable is seemingly being swept away in months.  Hatred, misogyny, racism, economic inequity, corruption, and climate denial are being touted as American values, totally opposite to what I value about this country.  

            It wasn't the first time I had to face being out of tune, having lived my life in a west coast bubble, removed from much of the harsh reality that has been here all along.  In reality, except for the growing climate crisis, nothing happening today is fundamentally new, and has popped up all over the world from time to time.  But this time it seems more extreme, deliberately cruel, incoherent, and wide spread.  

            Metaphysics suggests we are currently experiencing an evolution in consciousness, shifting from historical, low vibrational, fear-based perspectives into a higher vibrational consciousness-based perspectives, more attuned to unity reality.  Perhaps our current situation is the final burst, darkest before the dawn, where all the old wounds come to the surface to be addressed and healed after centuries of neglect and suppression.

            Increased consciousness requires better inner balance and disciplined focus to be able to manifest this higher energy of being.  Otherwise, we become exhausted, anxious, and ill at ease, trying to keep up.  What throws us out of balance from being conscious in the moment is the habitual patterning we have built up over our lifetime, laid down by family, culture, religion, physiology, and even previous lifetimes.  These old responses, learned when we were less conscious than we are today, are continually dragged along, distorting our ability to fully encounter our present experience.  

            For example, imagine being middle aged, yet dealing with a situation today using old resentments based on a bad reaction to a teacher decades ago in elementary school.  We can't respond appropriately in the moment while reacting from the past, or projecting into the future.  This type of low efficiency communication causes suffering and grief.    While nobody HAS to change, the choice NOT to change, especially in a rapidly changing reality, means increasingly chaotic consequences, with growing personal costs.  Alternately, by choosing to examine the chaotic parts of our life as guides to places where we are resisting reality, we enhance our ability to change and grow.

            Many decades ago, I had a difficult relationship with a co-worker, which grew to the point where I decided I'd rather quit than work with him.  However, I had what can be called an AHA moment.  I realized that the very behavior I found intolerable in him was an unacknowledged pattern within myself.  Once I embraced this difficult truth, my relationship to my co-worker totally transformed.  He acted the same, but my reaction was completely different, and the workplace became more harmonious.  Reality works like a mirror, reflecting back to me what I have so far refused to see within myself.

            In the current situation, rather than falling into despair, perhaps this is opportunity to examine to what extent I myself embody the very qualities currently being socially expressed. 

            Where do I tolerate hate in my life?  How do I justify it when I indulge in that emotion?  Can I see the situation from another perspective, not endorsing the behavior, but not hating the person either?  I am a man.  How do I thoughtlessly, or overtly, express patriarchal superiority or domination toward women?  I am white.  Can I find ways where my narrow life experiences separate me from all the other people in the world who aren't white?  I am an educated, relatively intelligent American, which has allowed me to live a comfortable middle class life style, mostly doing what I like in the way of employment.  How has this separated me from those who live other life paths?  Can I live honestly?  Can I practice the Golden Rule?

            The global climate is changing, demanding a coherent global reaction if we expect humanity to thrive much longer.  Nothing less will do.  Where do I ignore my climate impact?

            I can't change other people, but with focused intention, I can change myself.  While I still breath, I have opportunity every moment, no matter what anyone else does.  This is something we can each do for ourselves and the world.

 

 

 

 

Learning The Hard Way

                                                                                        written 10 August, 2025

                                                                                    published 17 August, 2025

             

            There is a spectrum for learning.  At one end, a single word can be sufficient for the wise.  The other extreme is the head through the windshield stye of learning.  One quickly leads to increased consciousness.  The other perpetuates denial, blames others, and shoots the messenger, rather than learning.  Our mad king lives by the windshield style.  

            He refuses to acknowledge the climate crisis.  Perhaps because he doesn't like the people ringing the alarms.  Perhaps he gets kickback from the polluters.  Perhaps he hears truth coming from his dental fillings.  The reason, if one exists, doesn't really matter, but the result is destructive.  

            In addition to making total climate denial the Federal policy, he is removing any data that contradicts his delusion.  He is shutting down research and monitoring systems, people are being fired, even discussion of the issue is curtailed.  Satellites are being taken out of service to avoid troublesome data.  He believes that if we don't know what is happening, it won't hurt him.  

            Funds previously allocated for emergency response have been shifted to build deportation concentration camps.  Billions of investments in renewable energy are being withdrawn, and shifted into more fossil fuel and nuclear power projects, placing US policy contrary to the global trend.  Using the power of his position, he tries forcing other countries to follow his retrograde vision.  

            But the rest of us live in the real world, where the problem isn't going away, but is growing.

            Inundation events are increasing.  In just the last few weeks, 8 inches of intense rain caused flash flooding in northern India, destroying a tourist town, washing away multistore buildings with little warning.  Weeks of rain in northern China dropped over 23 inches, about what they normally get in a year.  The resulting flooding affected more than 300,000 people, including their capital, damaged more than 24,000 homes, 242 bridges, 470 miles of roads, and untold acres of crops.  In one day, 14 inches of rain hit Hong Cong, disrupting the city.  South Africa is cleaning up after devastating flooding there.  New York City saw 6 inches of rain in one day, halting subway service, snarling the city.  As much as 8 inches of rain soaked the upper US Midwest.  Hail as large as 1.5 inches hit eastern Oregon.

            Wildfires and heat are increasing.  Almost 600 wildfires are now burning in Canada, causing air quality in the US northeast to soar 10 times greater than the level declared hazardous to humans.  In the western US, 120 fires are currently burning, and several are megafires, larger than 100,000 acres.  Another fire near Los Angeles started just last week.  Major fires are burning in Spain, Portugal, France and Turkey. 

            Europe is suffering through record breaking heat.  Tehran and Kabul are running out of drinking water.  The US southwest is getting hotter.  Phoenix had 113 days of continuous highs above 100° last year, and this year may beat that record.  Wild climate changes and extreme heat have distorted corn crops in the upper Midwest where as much as half the crop produced no corn, despite vibrant growth of the stalks.

            While the whole planet has been slow to deal with the growing crisis, in part due to long term disinformation from the fossil fuel industry, the tide is turning.  The wars now being fought over diminishing fossil fuel reserves simply add to the imperative to change.  Most countries don't have any fossil fuel reserves, providing additional incentives to develop alternative energy sources.  If the species is to survive, this is the energy system that will be required.  

            China is by far the world leader in renewables.  Last year, 80 percent of the solar panels, 70 percent of the lithium-ion batteries, and 70 percent of the EVs sold in the global market were produced in China.  

            In contrast, even though all those technologies began in the US, America under our current administration is turning its back on the future, desperately trying to recreate a vanished mythical past, where we were the only superpower.  This is the result of a delusional narcissist, supported by sycophants who believe they will be able to survive if they submit to the cult leader.  In my opinion, this will fail.  Being at war with a fact is the root of all suffering.  The fact is: reality is inclusive, and our economy and society require a habitable environment.  

  

            

 

 

Government As Business

                                                                                          written 3 August, 2025

                                                                                    published 10 August, 2025

  

            A long-standing Republican goal is to make government into a business, implying government should make a profit.  But the business ideal is about money, a concept relatively disconnected from reality, whereas the government ideal is about servicing the real needs of the larger society. 

            For example, a half century ago the stock market closed at 821, while it recently closed at 43,589, 53 times greater.  Is the economy really worth that much more, or is the value of the dollar smaller?  In contrast, a single glass of clean water was as refreshing then as it is today, without any consideration of price.  That is the contrast between concept and reality.

            The entire business model is narrowly defined.  Most corporations have limited liability by design, protecting investment capital against total collapse.  Consequently, significant business errors are not paid by those who profited from the errors, but are shifted to the larger society.  This capitalizes the profits and socializes the losses.  

            It is possible to build infrastructure, products, and systems that are relatively safe and long lasting, but it is cheaper to cut corners.  In the siloed framework of capitalist accounting, where each part is considered independently, this makes quick money for some and leaves the problems for someone else, as if the business people aren't part of the larger society. 

            Furthermore, fraud is very profitable, substituting materials and products that are not just a little less that required, but may be completely inadequate to the task.  Products with long term liabilities, such as addictive or toxic materials, can generate massive profits before the consequences are acknowledged, and may still be produced after discovery if sufficient lawyers are hired.  At the extreme, outright theft is profitable, just taking value from others without even pretending there is an equitable trade.

            The point is that by primarily considering short term, limited fiscal gain, businesses are manifesting separation, acting as if they are fundamentally disconnected from their larger consequences.  This may work temporarily for the lucky few, but it creates wide spread misery and may eventually destroy the whole society.  Capitalism is as primordial as fire, converting potential into useable form.  But like a fire storm, unrestrained capitalism will destroy everything before it stops. 

            One response to these business excesses is creation of government with sufficient perspective and power to restrain unwanted activity.  At its finest, government works for the benefit of the whole.  Reality has a socialist bent, because we really are all in this together, much as conservatives try to deny this fact.

            When some in our society are sick, impoverished, or hungry, this eventually impacts everyone.  Resources have to be applied to eradicate or control those not nourished by the system.  As the problem grows, increasing the economic burden, the society weakens from within and becomes more vulnerable to external assault.  Like illness in our bodies, it is more cost effective to maintain health and harmony in the first place, quickly treating issues as they arise, rather than trying to fix the body once decay has set in and threatens the whole system.

            Functional government regulates business activity.  For example, theft, and fraud are illegal and punishable to take the profit out of these actions.  Standards are established and enforced for product quality, supporting wide spread marketing.  Functional government takes long term goals into account against the urge for short term gain, such as building codes for durability, seismic and fire safety, and preserving open space for future generations.  Functional government invests in the future, supporting education, basic research, and universal health care.  At local levels, government invests in the basics of modern social life: potable water, safe sanitation, and adequate transportation. 

            Most of these functions can be supplied by businesses, and are in some locations, but rather than profit, government has a goal of inclusive service, providing quality necessities, accessible to all members of society, at the lowest possible cost.

            Admittedly, what I have described is an ideal, and the reality of government can fall short.  As we see in our current Federal leadership, individuals in government can be just as greedy and unprincipled as in business.  But business will never deal with the whole of society.  It isn't profitable.  To mindlessly eliminate government, pretending it is a problem rather than a necessary balance to business, will destroy society as well as businesses.  Unfortunately, we are witnessing this unfolding today.

 

 

 

A Significant Choice

                                                                                             written 27 July, 2025

                                                                                      published 3 August, 2025

  

            It is significant how we choose to answer the question: is life happening TO me, or FOR me?  One is a choice for living in separation, being a victim.  The other is a choice for inclusion in life, being a co-creator.

            For thousands of years, and hundreds of generations, human cultures have chosen the perspective of separation.  The individual self becomes the center of everything, and the infinity of reality is perceived as a threat.  A person believes they are either predator or prey, sometimes rapidly shifting between the two.  The stranger becomes an enemy, although family and tribe can expand the small circle of safety.  Violence and war are endemic.  

            Certainty and control are perceived as necessary for security, requiring armoring up against change, which is viewed as a threat.  This fear-based perspective is taught to the next generation, believed necessary for their survival.  While this isn't the totality of culture, the view dominates, and 80-90 percent of the population is traumatized, cut off from the full experience of the human potential by multiple layers of rigid, enculturated habit.  The resulting inequitable economies and dogmatic religions have ensured social compliance.   

            The alternative choice, the perspective of inclusion, has always been present.  Some form of the Golden Rule, which is fundamentally inclusive, is found in every spiritual tradition on the planet, usually within the mystics.  But this has traditionally been a minority perspective, easily dominated by fear and violence.

            Choosing inclusion means I am part of, not apart from, the reality which nourishes all life.  Therefore, everything that happens to me, is for my benefit.  Easy to embrace when life is going well, but more difficult when problems arise.  By choosing to encounter, rather than reject, even the difficult events, I remain open to learning something new about myself and life.  

            Having been raised in a fear-based culture, armored in habitual patterns rooted in childhood, culture, and my specific physiology, my experience of the outer world is interpreted through this filter of internal programming.  Consequently, my response in the moment is often out of harmony with the demands of the moment, causing me pain and suffering.  

            If I continually choose the mindless responses arising from these old patterns, nothing changes.  But if I can see that the present difficulty is highlighting one of these patterns, noticing the habitual response rather than simply responding from the habit, there is opportunity to choose differently.  

            Even if I have difficulty accepting my participation in the creation of everything that I experience, I can appreciate how my choice of response to whatever happens IS within my power.  Even if that is the extent of my free will, it can be transformative.  

            As I evolve my internal programming, my experience of the world evolves as well.  Life becomes a process of growth, shedding obsolete patterns, becoming more conscious in the moment, expressing a more authentic self to the world.  The purpose of life shifts from craving security through acquisition of money and stuff, to acquisition of diverse experiences and manifesting more of my human potential.

            Habitual response can be marginally effective in a world where change is slow.  But the world today is changing rapidly, and old habits quickly become obsolete, irrelevant, and even dangerous.  Some of the changes come from the explosion of technological capacities, some from population pressures, and some from the consequences of longstanding mismatch between human culture and nature, now building to a head.  

            Our current national leadership, a stunning expression of fear-based separation, has accelerated the rate of change, dismantling America for short term gain.  The assault on undocumented people is adversely affecting domestic food production.  The reduction of funding for the neediest and sickest, increases community stress.  Recklessly increasing the national debt to fund billionaire tax breaks has resulted in the downgrading of US bonds on the global market.  The arrogant, on again off again, tariff bullying is destabilizing traditional trading relationships, makes long term business planning difficult, constipates supply chains, and raises prices.  The total disregard for the growing climate crisis, and massive support for accelerated fossil fuel consumption, increases further climate related destruction.  This puts the US out of step with the rest of the world, and elevates China to global leadership for the future.

            But in the face of all this, I still have the personal power of how to live my life moment to moment, choosing consciousness over fear.