Former arms inspector Scott Ritter on Ukraine

 

The Ukrainian Situation: Former top Pentagon advisor Col. Doug Macgregor on Russia-Ukraine war

 

 

Petroleum Addiction's Local Component

(c) by Mark Dempsey

Many people don't appreciate is that our dependency on fossil fuels has a local component. That's right, the design of our cities, when it precludes walking and encourages longer and longer commuting, builds those greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the structure of daily life, setting them literally in concrete. Pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use neighborhoods can cut vehicle miles traveled literally in half (by one third to two thirds, depending on the neighborhood).

"Mixed-use" means that there are transit stops, and transit destinations like offices, and/or shops, even light industry, within residential neighborhoods. Look at any pre-1950 neighborhood to see what this looks like. Are these favored by the [genuflects] market? Yes. McKinley Park, an older mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood, is literally, per square foot, the most valuable real estate in the region.

As another sign we're "riding the horse in the direction it's already going," the state now mandates "complete streets" (streets designed for pedestrians and bicycles as well as autos) for all new development. State planning standards also have retired fast-flowing traffic as a desirable design criterion, and now focus on minimizing VMT (vehicle miles traveled). This is very good news and a sign that public policymakers are paying attention to climate too. The state has been the most receptive government to these observations.

Even the Sacramento Bee's Extra published an editorial today noting that strip malls can be a (mixed-use) source of land for affordable housing. The Bee's editorial praised Peter Calthorpe's designs in this area. Calthorpe designed Laguna West, a mixed-use development sabotaged by its lack of denser housing. Local architect David Mogavero says there are moves underway right now to develop part of Stockton Blvd this mixed-use way. The City of Citrus Heights is also formulating plans to make Sunrise Mall a mixed-use transit-friendly destination. (Note: While you can see plans online for the redesigned Sunrise Mall, it's cheap to draw lines on paper; a bit more to actually build what's proposed.)

A note of caution: One sticking point for most NIMBYs is density. People impacted by demands for services (parks, schools, etc.) from multi-family development aren't happy that these plans don't pay their own way--a sad "side benefit" of Prop 13--and certainly object to a lot of strangers diminishing public services for existing neighbors. Laguna west couldn't build apartments because of density objections (and a lack of apartment construction money). Mello-Roos bonds could fix this, but Brandolini's law still applies: It takes orders of magnitude more energy to debunk the B.S. than to create it in the first place.

At any rate, enough people must be within a comfortable walk of transit stops or neighborhood commerce before either of these are economically viable. Berkeley planner Robert Cervero's East Bay studies suggest 11 units per acre (slightly more than duplexes) is the density threshold above which such economically viable transit and neighborhood commerce begin to work. Without this 11-per-acre density and the pedestrian-friendly mixed-use design, transit languishes and must be subsidized.  People in the 'burbs don't want to increase the gas tax to pay for transit because they don't use (and never will use) transit as it currently exists. Land use must support transit, or you get the designed-to-fail-working-as-designed transit Sacramento  currently enjoys. (JFYI, the Urban Land Institute's Dollars & Cents of Shopping Centers confirms Cervero's research if you calculate a half-mile is not too far for pedestrians to walk to shop or board transit.)

Outlying "greenfield" development encourages commutes too, and the region, which has 20 years' worth of unbuilt infill, needs literally no more of such development for another couple of decades. Such development needlessly adds more GHG emissions to the region.

So why are the various local government even considering approving more commute-generating greenfield development? Answer: Because the land speculators can purchase agricultural land for a few thousand dollars an acre then sell that, once development is approved, for 50 to 100 times what they paid for it. They bought 20-foot-under-water floodplain surrounded by weak levees in North Natomas for about $2K/acre and sold it to builders (Winncrest homes) for $200K per acre. Provide a 5,000% - 10,000% profit for any venture, and I'd say cockroaches will crawl out from under the baseboards to do it. "Developer-friendly" representatives dominate most local governments and the Local Agency Formation Commision (LAFCO).

So, in addition to lobbying our national government for fee+dividend, I'd encourage environmentalists to object to any locally proposed outlying development like the 1,000+ acres near Elk Grove or the South-of-50 development proposed near Folsom.

Where did the author come from?: He spent nearly two decades in the real estate business, and roughly half that time on a Sacramento County Community Planning Advisory Council, so he has a land-use planning education with more than just opinion to back it up. You might also try Duany, Plater-Zyberk, and Speck's Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream for more about the above.

Turns out California actually is "golden"...

Conservatives are united in believing California is a socialist disaster. From Max Taves of the DC Report blog that also publishes investigative reporter David Cay Johnstone's work, here are some facts that say otherwise.

Some excerpts:

Never one to resist attacking California, The Wall Street Journal editorial board ran an editorial titled “California’s Covid Woes.” It obsessed over overcrowded hospitals and long wait times, which it blamed on MediCal, the state’s medical care program for the poor. It is another favorite target of Journal editorial disdain.

Curiously, the WSJ’s attack, which compared California’s Covid record unfavorably with Texas’, never mentioned a crucial fact: California’s Covid mortality rate was 30% below that of Texas and 36% below the nation as a whole.

Of course, there’s little wonder why the Journal editorial board omitted that statistic: including it would vitiate their argument. After all, it’s pretty hard to portray California’s response to the pandemic as a horror when its death rate from this pernicious virus is well below the rest of America.

Here’s what you won’t read in their screeds, starting with what arguably is the biggest lie about California:

Business and Investment

While California is home to 12% of the U.S. population, it attracted 47% of the most sought-after investment dollars deployed nationwide last year, according to National Venture Capital Association data.

The $156 billion of venture capital invested in California firms in 2021 was a 79% increase over its 2020 haul. And the 2020 sum was a 29% increase over 2019.

Far from a state in economic decline, California attracted more capital last year than at any point in the NVCA’s data set going back to 2005.

California is the most populous state so those total figures could suggest the state fell short in these investments when examined per person. But no. California got nearly four times its share per capital of all such investments in America.

Income, Wealth and Poverty

The typical California household took home more than 45 other states; 22% more than American households overall. The nearly $15,000 in extra income has not, however, deflated the state’s poverty rate. It is persistently high at 11.8%, yet still below such darlings of conservatives as Mississippi (19.5%), Louisiana (18.8%), Arkansas (16%), Alabama (15.6%) and Oklahoma (15.1%), federal data show.

A state study in 2019 found that while California is 12% of the American population, its residents own 17% of American wealth despite its high taxes and environmental protections. Of course it’s hard to get rich in states that don’t provide the commonwealth benefits that foster wealth creation and high-paying jobs with benefits such as quality research universities that Californians have long supported.

Crime

You were more likely to get killed in 27 other states than in California, the federal Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported for 2020. Interestingly, you were far more likely to get killed in Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky than the Golden State. The highest rates were in Louisiana and Mississippi, more than triple the California rate, while the rates in Arkansas and Missouri were more than double the California rate.

...

Longevity

CDC data show that Californians live longer than the residents of all but one state – Hawaii, another state conservatives love to bash. Life expectancy in California is 80.8 years, more than six years longer than in bottom-ranked Mississippi and West Virginia, both beloved of conservatives. Hawaii bests California by about two months of extra life.

These are among many inconvenient facts for conservatives about how California, with its high taxes and environmental protections, outperforms America overall and the Southern, Midwest and Rocky Mountain states where conservatives have the most sway.

Matt Taibbi and Paul Jay (TheAnalysis.news) on Ukraine

 Taibbi was a resident of Russia for the '90s, so has a bit of an inside view. He characterizes the conflict as a no-win, and Paul Jay notes it's similar to the Savings & Loan crisis--which was no good for bankers or borrowers, but great for a few banksters.

Russell Brand's Ukraine Comments + a tweet from Matt Stoller

 

The most hawkish sector in the U.S. is not the military, the politicians, or even defense contractors.

It's the media. Not even close. Most of our politicians have been fairly prudent, but the endless lobbying for nuclear brinksmanship is coming from NBC/CBS/The Atlantic, et al.

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) March 6, 2022

 

...and I chalk that Media belligerence up to the viewing public's demand for drama...the more the better.

The Tools, a summary

It's been a while since I read The Tools, a self-help book by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels. I've summarized the tools below:

1. The Reversal of desire: a. "Bring it on" b. "I love pain" c. "Pain sets me free" (Repeat until you feel you've thoroughly converted all the pain to energy) Higher Force: Forward Motion (pain is the barrier to freedom).

2. Active love: a. Feel an "unstoppably loving force that wants to give itself away" concentrated inside your chest. b. Focus on someone who has triggered your anger. Send all the love in your chest directly to them, like completely expelling a deep breath. c. Feel it enter that person's solar plexus, giving you the sense you're one with them. Relax and feel surrounded by infinite love, which returns the energy you gave away. You'll feel filled up and at peace.

Use it on those who anger you, whenever you relive a personal injustice, or to prepare yourself to comfort a difficult person. Higher force: Outflow (the freedom to escape the maze of the past, the freedom to go on with life)

3. Inner Authority. Use this when you feel performance anxiety, before and during such events, even when you anticipate them. This makes peace with your "Shadow" - the part of yourself you reject and/or conceal.

a. Standing in front of the audience (real or imaginary) see your Shadow off to one side, facing you. Ignore the audience and focus on the Shadow. Feel the bond between you and your Shadow. As a unit you're fearless.

b. Together, you and your Shadow forcefully turn toward the audience and silently command them to "LISTEN!" Feel the authority when you and your Shadow speak with one voice. This uses the Higher Force of Self Expression, and that force speaks through us with unusual clarity and authority.

4. The Grateful Flow (higher force: gratefulness): a. Feel grateful for what you'd normally take for granted (eyesight, hot water, etc.). Mention at least five items. b. Feel the gratitude flowing upward from your heart. This initiates the flow (that continues) of gratitude. c. "As this energy emanates from your heart, your chest will soften and open. In this state, you'll feel yourself approaching an overwhelming presence, filled with the power of infinite giving. You've made a connection to the Source." Use this when attacked by negative thoughts, whenever you're "on hold." Turn specific times (waking up, going to sleep, mealtimes) into cues to revive the flow. This is another exit from a kind of prison: the Maze.

5. Jeopardy (higher force: Willpower). This contradicts the notion that some "magical something" will exempt you from using tools 1 - 4. This illusion leads people to quit using the tools.

Imagine yourself on your deathbed. Having run out of time, this older self screams at you not to waste the present moment. You feel a deep, hidden fear you've been squandering your life. This creates an urgent desire to use whatever basic tool you need at the moment.

From the last chapter: "What if every bad thing that's ever happened to you--including every problem you've ever had--was there, in your life, to get you in touch with abilities you never knew you had? And what if there were specific procedures that led you directly to those new abilities?"...."faith is the confidence that higher forces are always there to help when you need them."

Invasions and "Invasions," Panic and Provocations

This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO, which would mean US/NATO forces right on Russia’s border

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) February 24, 2022

Invasion panic has gripped not just the Ukraine, but also Arizona. From The Intercept: Arizona Attorney General Manufactured an "Invasion" at the Southern Border: