‘Commentary’ Archives
Is 60”'s Co-op Vision Blurred?
“”¦Empty ya pockets son, they got you thinkin”' that What ya need is what they sellin”' Make you think that buyin”' is rebellin”'”¦”* by Frank Erickson Let”'s be clear about one thing; the true working poor, the unemployed poor, and poor people do not shop at our local co-op food stores! Seward Co-op is on steroids. Just slow down! I remember shopping at Seward Co-op in 1992, when it was in the little store front that is now Welna Hardware II on East Franklin Avenue and 21st Street. It was a cute little store. Now Seward Co-op is expanding again on 38th Street next to 35W. They have hired professional smooth talkers to sell their expansion plan to the public. Is this what the original “hole-in-the-wall” food co-op starers from the 60”'s and 70”s envisioned?”“co-ops that look like Lund”'s spreading out over the landscape? There is a lot of talk about equality and very little talk about [...]
Beyond The Great Bdote
By Peter Molenaar For the Dakota, a ”˜bdote”' was most frequently the convergence of two rivers (a place where two waters come together). In today”'s world, “great bdote” refers to the ongoing meltdown of the polar ice caps. Unfortunately, close to 100 million people in Bangladesh stand to be inundated. How many millions of our own people might be reduced to refugee status? Moreover, in what spirit will those with power and guns respond? Is catastrophe inevitable? Actually, some sectors of the ruling class are behaving accordingly. Yet there is a glimmer which suggests that solar energy will ascend to displace coal via market forces. However, these “forces” tend to be finicky. Meanwhile, we dare not sleep before the dawn “beyond coal.” To put it mildly, carbon dioxide emissions must be suppressed immediately. It”'s like putting a man on the moon”¦only infinitely more important. So”¦ (more…)
War”'s definition and justification plague individuals and institutions alike
by Frank Erickson The Catholic Church did a very good thing during the “Gulf War””¦from the New Dictionary of the History of Ideas ”“ “The Catholic Church responded to the Gulf War in a statement that put the very idea of a just war in peril. The theory of just war, they said, “was indefensible and has been abandoned. In reality”“with the sole exception of a purely defensive war against acts of aggression, we can say that there are no ”˜just wars”' and there is no ”˜right”' to wage war.” Beautiful, without even realizing it, the Catholic Church is moving into a realm of seeing “war”'s” non-existence”“they touch on it, but then contradict themselves”¦and I get it, I see why it happens, how the human mind works and how our fear works. How else can it be approached, that when you say “there are no ”˜just wars”' and there is no ”˜right”' to wage war,” you [...]
