Our Common Community, by Niki Raapana, UK Column, May 2010

theangrycheese.blogspot.com

Many thanks to John for sending us a copy of my article published in the UK Column last month. It's kind of trippy seeing my work printed in a traditional newspaper format. I think it's my first time. And again, our deepest gratitude goes to angrycheese for making it happen. Our friends and supporters in the UK keep us focused on the global ramifications of globalism as well as how we are affected in our local neighborhood. We learned early on in our research that many of the communitarian programs and regulations are first tested on the British people, so it behooves Americans to keep a close watch on developments in the UK.

Communitarians rebuild "good communities" and "shore up the moral, social and political environment." Our studies showed us how the Communitarians design laws that will regulate every aspect of human life. Most Americans remain unconvinced that any government can ever have the power to do that.

I've been told repeatedly that there's just no way the national or global government has the will or the power to become such an invasive figure in private households. The general reaction has always been that I am a conspiracy theorist making wild connections between unrelated issues and programs. But every year more people are arrested for "crimes" that never existed before, and every year the ACL gets new readers who have been harassed by the police, charged with communitarian "crimes" and punished for things they believed were outside government jurisdiction (mainly because U.S. constitutional law forbids communitarian laws)

Amitai Etzioni told us in The Essential Communitarian Reader that a good society seeks to curb antisocial behavior. Being a good neighbor today means working "closely with local authorities, the police and other agencies to control anti-social behaviour that affects our resident's quality of life." Since communitarianism is the final synthesis between all opposing ideologies, their definition of a good society incorporates elements from all the known systems. It may, at first glance, appear to be modeled on communist China or communist Israel, but a closer examination of the underlying principles will reveal elements of the KGB, Gestapo, M16 and the CIA, as well as Baha'i, Catholic, Protestant, Islamic and Jewish social teachings.

Under the new umbrella called Homeland Security, the global brotherhood of domestic spies training citizens in utilizing government sponsored terrorism against undesirables wears a washed up, holier face. While some of these programs have yet to reach into every American home, I don't see that their introduction will cause any alarm bells to go off in antiseptic America. We've become so conditioned to the term "unacceptable behavior" why would we defend anyone accused of it?

What is anti-social behaviour?

Anti-social behaviour is any conduct that is capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to any person, or conduct that involves using or threatening to use our housing for unlawful purposes.

How do I report anti-social behaviour?

If you wish to report anti-social behaviour you should contact us on 020 8357 5000. Temporary housing customers should call 020 8357 4531.

http://www.nottinghillhousing.org.uk/content.aspx?id_Content=50

So, how about that? Our global evolutionary destiny has brought us to the advanced stage where conduct causing a nuisance or being an annoyance is a crime, punishable with jail time. The conversion to a communitarian society has already happened in England, and it happened regardless of whether or not they joined the European Union. Notting Hill Housing just wants to help their residents achieve a better "quality of life."

"We can put you in touch with independent mediators who are skilled in helping and supporting neighbours to reach a solution that is acceptable to both parties."

What a nice way to introduce the Sanhedrin Courts around the world, eh? Talmudic Law has been revived and renamed to fit well within our more evolved communitarian world. And yes, these new communitarian laws are always easily tied into community development plans. This line off the Notting Hill page could have been taken directly from the Roosevelt Neighorhood Plan in Seattle, 1999: "physical improvements, like better lighting in communal areas; community development projects, like diversionary sports activities for young people;"

What "diversionary sports activities" appeal most to young people? Remember last year when a woman was jailed for making loud noises during sex? http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/04/23/noisy-sex-neighbour-arrested-for-breaching-asbo-115875-21300734/

Antisocial Behavior Order: http://abso.com/

The US Revolutionary Communist Party explains The Change They Believe In:

Obama’s notion of change claims to transcend the politics of interest while it steers sharply to the right. What kind of change does America need? Above all, America needs a change of heart: her people need to give up selfishness; all Americans rich and poor, white and black; the hod carrier and the hedge fund operator must give up self-interest; stop always asking “what’s in it for me?”

In a word, with his emphasis on change coming from people giving up group egoism and together pursuing the common good, while practicing old fashioned virtues, Senator Obama is a communitarian. In The Audacity of Hope he invokes the legacy of Ronald Reagan who, Obama believes, recognized America’s need to rediscover the traditional values of the American community: hard work, patriotism, personal responsibility, optimism and faith.

Communitarianism flows from belief that we all share a common good. What’s needed to achieve the common good, communitarians insist, is sacrifice.

But some parts of the community have to show the way in giving up their selfish, anti-communitarian habits. For communitarians, the first responders must be the poor. For black communitarians like Bill Cosby and Barack Obama it’s chiefly the black poor.

Obama insists that the key to change is not resistance to oppression; not a battle against the exploitation of workers; or against institutional racism, or the domination of unaccountable financial elites; or the interests promoting gentrification.

These all fade away compared to the need for community self-help, strengthening the community by building strong families; by the need to convince the African American poor to pull up their socks. And stop engaging in anti-social behavior. Speaking recently to a group of black legislators, Obama said, “In Chicago, sometimes when I talk to the black chambers of commerce, I say, ‘You know what would be a good economic development plan for our community would be if we made sure folks weren’t throwing their garbage out of their cars.’”^{1 {links & photo added~ niki}}

Maybe the entire world should get rid of their funny little governments and replace them with more sustainable CONSEGs (Communitarian Security Council):

http://sustainable-everyday.net/active-welfare/brasil/?p=24

Summer arrives on the Wayside

local moose taking a walk across Town Lake

Chitina old people and little children

this moose has 2 cute babies!

The Search for Mt Tillman

We printed several of the 100+ year old Alaska maps I bought on CD. They're a lot of fun to look at and will be hanging in the 20 foot gertee if I ever get it built! I noticed several of the maps include a 16,600 feet Mount Tillman alongside Mt Drum, Mt. Sanford, Mt Wrangell and Mt. Blackburn.

Anyone who's followed my posts over the past few years has seen pictures of the last four mountains because they're right in my backyard. I didn't have internet down here in Chitina tp do any research until tonight, so I've been asking every geologist and environmentalist coming through here (this is a major destination for the sustainability-stewardship crowd) if they've ever heard of Mt Tillman. The answers have been as fun as my own speculations about what happened to the fifth volcano on the maps in 1898.

Author Walter Borneman tells us in Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land that it was Lieutenant Allen who made the map with Mt. Tillman on it.

Wikipedia has a bit about it on it's page about Samuel Tillman:

In 1885, when Henry Tureman Allen was exploring the Copper River in the new U.S. territory of Alaska, he named a discovered peak after Tillman, his academy professor, but the discovery proved to be one major error in the survey, Allen mistaking either Mount Wrangell^[25] or Mount Sanford^[26] for the non-existent Mount Tillman.

The maps I have that include Mt Tillaman were produced by the US Army under General Ambercombie and other credible (and copyrighted sources) as late as 1898.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory says Tillman is a synonym for Mt Wrangell.

National Geographic tells a much more extensive story about Mt Tillman written in 1902. Apparently Mr Robert Dunn of New York settled the question once and for all in 1900.

One government employee I spoke with automatically discounted the existence of Mt Tillman on any maps and acted as if it was impossible that there was ever a map with a 5th mountain on it. He barely glanced at the copies I showed him and went off on a litany of all the places I could find good maps that would show me what's really there. Most locals have guessed that since it was a volcano it probably blew up (like Mt St. Helens) and others think it was moved somewhere else. A few people suggested HAARP had something to do with the disappearance.

I'm thinking of naming my video of the summer The Search for Mt Tillman. It's going to be mostly a nature film. I've got some good footage of one local moose swimming in Town Lake with her 2 babies. It's a little scary when the moose come tromping through my front yard like a herd of horses, but the tourists love it.

Hoping to get big gertee up by this next weekend. Had to wait on more strong rope because Chitina winds are some of the worst in Alaska. I'd hate to have to watch a bunch of environmentalists drinking espressos go flying away on a big wind gust...inside one of my gertees looking like a hot air balloon. And what a surprise to learn I love lattes and breves and plain old espresso. Some German tourists told me I make the best coffee in Alaska... the locals say my coffee tastes like shit. Guess who I'm catering to. :)

Watching a bunch of videos sent my way, and will take notes on a few fo them and give my reviews later. I'm learning a LOT of new things and confirming a lot of old assumptions. But obviously I don't have a lot of time to blog lately. Hope everyone is having a good summer and isn't missing my posts to awful much. It's a good thing I don't have regular access and place to whine about how hard I'm working, eh?