Mato's Blog

Feline news:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35369688?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_news_asia&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3633712/The-cat-purr-fect-heart-chest-Pet-lover-falls-feline-spotting-romantic-markings-animal-centre.html
http://www.bustle.com/articles/166113-americas-first-cat-bar-is-coming-to-denver-so-get-ready-to-wine-feline
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/best-places-to-work/news/2016/06/08/hawaiian-humane-society-honolulu-boutique-to-host.html What about cat dating sites?

Environmental news:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/05/21/037200/scientists-say-nuclear-fuel-pools-pose-safety-health-risks
http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/05/23/high-heat-global-warming-fossil-fuel-renewable-energy
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/how-soil-microbes-fight-climate-change/
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f906a3717f1c4fae883593fc7f46babe/crippling-drought-central-india-leaves-millions-brink
http://grist.org/food/climate-change-is-making-food-more-toxic/
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/03/value-eco-crimes-soars-26-with-devastating-impacts-natural-world
http://arynews.tv/en/92-children-poisoned-by-weed-killer-in-peru-reports/
https://theintercept.com/2016/05/17/new-evidence-about-the-dangers-of-monsantos-roundup/
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/05/25/bayer-and-monsanto-marriage-made-hell Well researched.
http://www.defenddemocracy.press/glyphosate-found-urine-93-percent-americans-tested/
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/17/farming-is-single-biggest-cause-of-worst-air-pollution-in-europe
http://dgrnewsservice.org/resistance-culture/indigenous/survival-international-ayoreo/
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/36093-conversation-frans-de-waal
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/may/22/southern-africa-worst-global-food-crisis-25-years
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2089321-robot-ranchers-monitor-animals-on-giant-australian-farms/ The next step after industrial and mechanized agriculture — no humans involved anymore. The question remains, how the worlds 470 million small farmers, who mostly struggle to get by but nevertheless produce at least 70 percent of the worlds food, will be affected by such technological developments.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/05/26/the-superbug-that-doctors-have-been-dreading-just-reached-the-u-s/
http://www.treehugger.com/animals/whats-happening-fireflies.html Who cares about fireflies? For sure not the politicians and bankers.
http://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/ecocide/derrick-jensen-democracy-destruction/ A brilliant and sobering analysis.
Is there a way out? From the first days of their lives humans are imprinted by social norms, customs, values, indoctrinated by family and education, brainwashed by advertising, mass media, social media sites.
Human brains are flexible and humans could learn environmental sustainable behaviors in one generation. But who would compose and impose the curriculum, train the teachers, train the journalists to change the content of advertising and media reports?
A democracy of miseducated, misinformed citizens will not turn things around, a meritocracy of ethical, bright, enlightened people eventually could.
Some revolutions fundamentally changed society (French Revolution, October Revolution), but didn’t turn out as planned and didn’t turn out well. Some great teachers changed many peoples minds (Buddha, Francis of Assisi, Thích Nhat Hạnh, to name just a few). Some visionary leaders had modest and temporary successes (Muammar Gaddafi, Fidel Castro Ruz, Bhutan King Dasho Khesar, Cesar Chavez, Salvador Allende).
The evil empire destroys alternative models of society, kills visionary leaders, chooses the teachers and journalists, controls and censors every kind of human communication. Consumerism is the state religion, and the “survival of the fittest” has evolved to “the survival of the rich born, well placed, well connected, most wicket.”
But humans learn — if they ever learn — from catastrophes, and the remaining lucid and ethical citizens have to quietly get ready for the time, when internal contradictions and environmental mayhem have weakened state institutions and instruments of power (police, military).
There will be opportunities. Just wait and prepare carefully.

Economic news:
https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/globalslaveryindex.org-assets/downloads/Global+Slavery+Index+2016.pdf

Imperial news:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/why-hillary-clinton-is-so-disliked/ How about: She is so far from being a decent human being, even by the extremely low standards of politics, that 1. She cannot fake honesty and decency credibly and 2. She’s been living in her bubble for so long that she views these traits as unimportant.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/6-giant-corporations-control-the-media-and-americans-consume-10-hours-of-programming-a-day
http://www.vice.com/read/america-started-the-summer-off-with-a-massive-wave-of-gun-violence
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/06/10/u-s-elites-the-original-gangsters/
Imperial conquest news:
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/05/25/will-russia-succumb-to-washingtons-economic-attack-paul-craig-roberts/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/threatening-russia-u-s-missiles-in-romania-and-poland-europe-on-the-nuclear-frontline/5526068 WW III preparations on fast track.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/343438-drills-nato-russia-estonia/
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/05/19/nato-m19.html
http://johnpilger.com/articles/silencing-america-as-it-prepares-for-war
http://theduran.com/western-journalists-hands-recognize-putin-satire/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/latin-americas-revolution-under-attack/5526891 The empire never retreats.
http://cepr.net/blogs/the-world-in-transition/the-brazilian-coup-and-washington-s-rollback-in-latin-america
http://www.businessinsider.com/rousseffs-impeachment-may-be-about-stopping-a-corruption-probe-2016-5?IR=T
http://sputniknews.com/latam/20160524/1040126596/dilma-temer-petrobras-coup-impeachment.html
https://theintercept.com/2016/06/03/credibility-of-brazils-interim-president-collapses-receives-8-year-ban-on-running/
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/06/09/the-us-is-preparing-to-oust-president-evo-morales.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/cia-continues-to-undermine-african-independence-and-sovereignty/5526841
http://journal-neo.org/2016/05/26/drugs-duterte-the-nature-of-imperialism/ Another eye-opening article concerning the defamation campaign against newly elected Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
http://www.workers.org/2016/05/27/philippine-election-and-u-s-imperialism/
http://www.visionofhumanity.org/sites/default/files/GPI%202016%20Report_2.pdf This is Wester propaganda along the lines of Freedom House, Transparency International, AI and HRW, but it is a comprehensive and useful compilation of Western narratives and argumentations. That my home country takes third place after Iceland and Denmark in the top list of peaceful countries troubles me a bit, I didn’t expect that we fit so well into the imperial plans.
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.at/2016/06/they-died-of-progress.html This is maybe a bit exaggerating. The empire wastes incredible sums for inefficient or barely working weapons systems, but it is not a paper tiger and still can outgun any opponent.
http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2016/820-how-the-press-hides-the-global-crimes-of-the-west-corporate-media-coverage-of-chad.html
I only seldom watch movies, but recently I was reminded about Chile’s President Dr. Salvador Allende, who died in a US-concocted coup, and I fetched the film by Patricio Guzman about Allende from my well sorted archive. This is one of the films I have watched more than once and it touches me still. This is one of the films that motivates and energizes me to constantly point out the criminal nature of the empire, to inform about the evil machinations, the barbarism and savagery, to counter the propaganda, the cold blooded lies, the gut-wrenching sarcasm of Western media workers.
No, I don’t hate, and I try not to let my deep revulsion and abhorrence cloud my mood. I also don’t despair, give up, capitulate. I do what I can to obstruct the imperial plans, knowing that there are millions of people who do the same.

Uncategorized news:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-slavery-idUSKCN0YA1GQ
http://www.vice.com/read/spotlight-riccardo-bononi-v23n3
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2016/06/disseminating-zionist-fascism-libelling-art/
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2016/06/schoolgirl-leanne-betrayed/
https://decentralize.today/rebel-cities-towards-a-global-network-of-neighbourhoods-and-cities-rejecting-surveillance-6a92e68243a8#.udvylp2nd In the village where I live there is since the beginning of time an indigenous surveillance system in place, consisting of housewives and retires with lot of idle time who notice every move and even the tiniest changes. The data mining is done by gossiping. When occasionally foreign beggars or migrants (its only 12 kilometers to the border crossing) stray off into this remote place people instantly call the local police to collect the aliens.
This is not very different from Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon and there are for sure many isolated rural communities in many countries with similar features. This is tightly knitted, restrictive, narrow minded, but also secure, caring, cooperative. I didn’t lock the doors for many years and only started to turn the keys in the evening after the million migrant trail started last year and suddenly unfamiliar faces looked across the garden fence.
From here one could of course start a discussion about our responsibility to help the needy, about sharing, and about the possibly undeserved privilege of living in a country who hasn’t got yet the IMF austerity treatment.

News from cat’s paradise:

One could of course start a discussion about the privileged lives of Mato’s cats, who get all the food they want, have comprehensive healthcare, and can either explore the mysteries of the forest or retreat to a warm and dry place when the weather is bad.

The weather was bad in the last weeks with torrential rain, hail, and storms. The small nearby town across the border was devastated by floods and 7 people drowned. Two neighbors had their basements flooded and all volunteer fire brigades in the area were in action around the clock for several days.

My 24 rain water barrels with 4.000 liter capacity are full. In addition I put out all available buckets and they are also completely full, even the biggest ones, which means that it had rained at least 48 centimeters in only three days.

My basement is dry and the garden is ok, which could be a result of my longtime efforts to increase the humus layer. Humus soaks up water like a sponge and an intact soil is the best possible water storage.

I see the difference between permaculture and industrial agriculture when I look to the adjacent field in the north, which is now a swamp, and I only wonder if the farmers yield will be satisfactory this year.

The water storage capacity of the forest is also formidable. After the rain there was for a few days a small creek between the field and the small road along the garden fence only fed by the soaked up water in the forest.

Not all is well in the garden because some of my apple trees have no fruits but this is the result of an unusual and unexpected cold spell at the end of May. The strawberries though are prospering and I collect every day a bowl of fruits. The siberian blueberries (lonicera kamtschatika) are doing well this year for the first time and provide a cup of blueberries every day. Maybe they like the crazy weather. Grapevines are growing like mad and if July and August will be sunny I will have another record harvest.

The forest right across the garden fence is now a lake with submerged bushes and only the trees raising from the water. This makes our walks in the forest a bit complicated because we have to bypass the lake in order to reach our usual walking tracks. The cats don’t like to swim. Linda once took a bath in a nearby forest lake and Lucia bathed in one of the garden ponds, but that was involuntary.

Princess Min Ki feels her age. She now only seldom climbs up a tree and there are some fences and trellis in the garden which she cannot mount as easily as in former times. During our forest walks she also keeps distance from Gandhi Jr. and Linda, who both are bigger than her.

Two years ago Princess Min Ki informally resigned as leader of the family and since then there is no apparent leader, no hierarchy, no pecking order, no alpha, beta, gamma females. The cat family is egalitarian, with me being the only remaining authority.

For me Princess is still the leader, she is a clever cat, always acting reasonable and rational. Lucia and Linda are also quite intelligent, but they are only two years old and lack life experience.

When I sit together with Princess Min Ki or when she is beside me during the forest walks I ever so often recite a little rhyme and she looks at me approvingly as if she has understood it. I know that her frontal lobe is not big enough to process words, but cats have an excellent memory and she most likely can remember the sound sequence and has understood that it is about her.

Princess Min Ki, leader of the family
Be my sweetheart, be my lovely little darling
Come with me

Well, this would need some work to expand it to song lyrics or to a poem, but for the Princes and me at the moment it is just right.