Common Sense

It is generally agreed that so-called common sense is a rare commodity today. When faced with some seemingly obvious choices the results are often mind boggling, how can that "lateral arabesque" be taken for a way to proceed? Obfuscation is such a common way to go that it is assumed as logical (?), how can problems be solved with this modus operandi?

When the need for high technology savvy is mixed with the need for common sense things become even more difficult. I'm not saying that there isn't a marriage of the two, but my sense is that just as common sense is not taught, that an added problem is that it certainly is not taught combined with high technology problem solving.

This is even the case living in the country where farm machinery has become "high tech" and demands off-the-farm solutions and interventions. One supposes the marriages of technologies are a fact of life, but their solutions are not. It used to be that even the less than inclined could work on a car or pickup; today it is next to impossible. It seems that "higher education" (eg. vocational colleges) are in for some challenges. We can't be dragging our equipment off fifty or sixty miles, or pay for house calls, and we are not all going to be state of the art mechanics. Where are the compromises going to be?

Maude Victoria Barlow

We need saints now-a-days, especially those who deal with what Maude Barlow calls "underlying causes." Her recent interview on Alternative Radio pointed out that the present candidates for President of the United States are totally deficient in dealing with these causes, including critical infrastructures of all kinds, and especially w a t e r; and this includes President Obama, of course.

Let me just share a few resources on this outstanding Canadian woman: first, her facebook:

www.facebook.com/maude barlow. A recent publication: "Blue Gold: World Water Wars." & a slogan: "Water, water, not a drop to drink." Can we afford not to pay attention to our saints? Rachel Carlson, Vandana Shiva and Dr Helen Caldicott, to mention a few. I doubt it.

Earth Day is upon us again, and little is said in the press and media. I've called it our most important day of the year earlier in the Blog. We minimize it and its many concerns at our ultimate peril. In just trying to get the local town people involved I was faced with the attitude that "that is not my department." A reminder that the environment is every body's department was met with silence. What would have happened if water had been mentioned?