2005.10.6=4[#279]:9.4=#(60x4)[US#60] Right to Die, Energy Sino-US. Home estimationl refinancing problems. #1. "Post-American..." 2. Iraqi Mandeans

Right to Die: http://tinyurl.com/7fkoc http://tinyurl.com/9anpb http://tinyurl.com/9b9f2 UK: http://tinyurl.com/dhaeo Ants http://www.antweb.org/ Rabbit fever: http://tinyurl.com/ctsop Iraqi Mandeans: http://tinyurl.com/79n52 Isle of Wright: http://tinyurl.com/aovb2 Energy Sino-US: http://www.pinr.com/ AQ-US: http://tinyurl.com/b4aps China: http://tinyurl.com/afekj Fair cool to mild: Up 8:15, World Saving tel & later its estimator comes. To AAA membership payment, to o.h. tel taxpreparer who says cashout from refinancing over $100,000 could be deducted only once, and next Tuesday for tax return. Forgot xerox copy for refinancing to fax, preliiminary approval for variable interest is wrong. aBi has her photos already. Ying tel near evening, not sure about refinancing tax problem. Jun not home, bed 1:00. #1. "Post-Soviet Lessons for a Post-American Century: (PART ONE OF THREE)", by Dmitry Orlov; Special to From the Wilderness; © Copyright 2005, From The Wilderness Publications, www.fromthewilderness.com: 1/3 http://tinyurl.com/7ny3c 2/3 http://tinyurl.com/ajdfl 3/3 http://tinyurl.com/8tuhq 1/1: "" There are many other similarities as well. Women received the right to education and a career in Russia earlier than in the U.S. Russian and American families are in similarly sad shape, with high divorce rates and many out-of-wedlock births, although the chronic shortage of housing in Russia did force many families to stick it out, with mixed results. Both countries have been experiencing chronic depopulation of farming districts. In Russia, family farms were decimated during collectivization, along with agricultural output; in the U.S., a variety of other forces produced a similar result with regard to rural population, but without any loss of production. Both countries replaced family farms with unsustainable, ecologically disastrous industrial agribusiness, addicted to fossil fuels. The American ones work better, as long as energy is cheap, and, after that, probably not at all. The similarities are too numerous to mention. I hope that what I outlined above is enough to signal a key fact: that these are, or were, the antipodes of the same industrial, technological civilization. "" 2/3: "" There might be a few moonshine-makers left in rural parts of the United States, but most of the country seems to be addicted to cans and bottles of beer, or jugs, plastic or glass, of liquor. When this source dries up due to problems with interstate trucking, local breweries will no doubt continue to operate, and even expand production, to cope with both old and new demand, but there will still be plenty of room for improvisation. I would also expect cannabis to become even more widespread; it makes people less prone to violence than liquor, which is good, but it also stimulates their appetite, which is bad if there isn't a lot of food. Still, it is much cheaper to produce than alcohol, which requires either grain or natural gas and complicated chemistry. In all, I expect drugs and alcohol to become one of the largest short-term post-collapse entrepreneurial opportunities in the United States, along with asset stripping, and security. END PART TWO "" 3/3: "" After the Soviet collapse, there swiftly appeared a category of itinerant merchants who provided people with access to imported products. To procure their wares, these people had to travel abroad, to Poland, to China, to Turkey, on trains, carrying goods back and forth in their baggage. They would exchange a suitcase of Russian-made watches for a suitcase of other, more useful consumer products, such as shampoo or razor blades. They would have to grease the palms of officials along their route, and were often robbed. There was a period of time when these people, called "chelnoki," which is Russian for "shuttles," were the only source of consumer products. The products were often factory rejects, damaged, or past their sell-by date, but this did not make them any less valuable. Based on their example, it is possible to predict which items will be in high demand, and to stockpile these items ahead of time, as a hedge against economic collapse. Note that chelnoki had intact economies to trade with, accessible by train - while this is not guaranteed to be the case in the U.S. A stockpile of this sort, in a walkable, socially stable place, where you know everybody, where you have some close friends and some family, where you own your shelter and some land free and clear, and where you can grow most of your own food, and barter for the rest, should enable you to survive economic collapse without too much trouble. And, who knows, maybe you will even find happiness there. ---------------Conclusion Although the basic and obvious conclusion is that the United States is worse prepared for economic collapse than Russia was, and will have a harder time than Russia had, there are some cultural facets to the United States that are not entirely unhelpful. To close on an optimistic note, I will mention three of these. Firstly, and perhaps most surprisingly, Americans make better Communists than Russians ever did, or cared to try. They excel at communal living, with plenty of good, stable roommate situations, which compensate for their weak, alienated, or nonexistent families. These roommate situations can be used as a template, and scaled up to village-sized self-organized communities. Big households that pool their resources make a lot more sense in an unstable, resource-scarce environment than the individualistic approach. Without a functioning economy, a household that consists of a single individual or a nuclear family ceases to be viable, and people are forced to live in ever larger households, from roommate situations to taking lodgers to doubling up to forming villages. Where any Russian would cringe at such an idea, because it stirs the still fresh memories of the failed Soviet experiment at collectivization and forced communal living, many Americans are adept at making fast friends and getting along, and generally seem to posses an untapped reserve of gregariousness, community spirit, and civic-minded idealism. Secondly, there is a layer of basic decency and niceness to at least some parts of American society, which has been all but destroyed in Russia over the course of Soviet history. There is an altruistic impulse to help strangers, and pride in being helpful to others. In many ways, Americans are culturally homogeneous, and the biggest interpersonal barrier between them is the fear and alienation fostered by their racially and economically segregated living conditions. Lastly, hidden behind the tawdry veneer of patriotic bumper stickers and flags, there is an undercurrent of quiet national pride, which, if engaged, can produce high morale and results. Americans are not yet willing to simply succumb to circumstance. Because many of them lack a good understanding of their national predicament, their efforts to mitigate it may turn out to be in vain, but they are virtually guaranteed to make a valiant effort, for "this is, after all, America." ""END #2. "Iraq chaos threatens ancient faith", by Kate Clark; BBC News, Damascus; Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 06:47 GMT 07:47 UK: http://tinyurl.com/79n52 "" Mandean priests fear their creed could disappear completely There are fears for the future of one of the most ancient, as well as the smallest, communities in Iraq - the Mandeans. Their religion, Mandeanism, comes from the same general background as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They share many of the same prophets, but particularly honour John the Baptist. This is a religion almost solely confined to Iraq, but since the US-led invasion in 2003, many Mandeans have fled the country and now more than half of them live outside its borders. The refugees speak of kidnap, murder and attempts at forced conversion. [[ MANDEANISM FACTS The only surviving Gnostic religion from late antiquity About 20,000-50,000 adherents Centred in southern Iraq and SW Iran, but many living abroad Focus on John the Baptist as central figure in faith One woman, Ibtisam Sabah Habib, said there had always been some threats and pressure to convert to Islam, but under the previous Iraqi regime there had been limits. ]] "Now, there are no rules and no government," she said, describing how an armed gang of Islamic extremists had got into her house, killed her father and stolen all their money. "They would telephone us at home, threatening us and trying to convert us. Then they tried to kidnap me. "It was our neighbours who saved me. They're Muslims - not all Muslims threaten us. But the extremists are very strong now - our neighbours couldn't protect us all the time." Warning Ibtisam was speaking from the safety of Syria, where she has fled with her husband and children. Mandeans have traditionally been protected under Islamic law, as believers in one god - like Jews and Christians. It was our Muslim neighbours who saved me but the extremists are very strong - our neighbours couldn't protect us all the time Ibtisam Habib But since the war in Iraq, they have found themselves targeted by Sunni and Shia Islamic extremists, and by criminal gangs who use religion to justify their attacks. One leaflet which Mandeans said had been distributed to homes in Baghdad gave this warning to both them and Christians (who form another of Iraq's minorities): "Either you embrace Islam and enjoy safety and coexist amongst us, or leave our land and stop toying with our principles. Otherwise, the sword will be the judge between belief and blasphemy." "They don't accept us," said Madeha Miran Daftah, who fled to Syria after her son was murdered and his corpse mutilated by people claiming to have killed an unbeliever. "We don't know what to do now. We lost everything in Iraq. We used to feel it was our country, but things are different now." One of her surviving sons, 24-year-old Shawq, who was kidnapped and tortured, said he could not imagine ever returning home. "I just want to live, not die like my brothers." 'Persecution' Another woman, Shada Hanal, said she used to work as a teacher until she was sacked for refusing to wear the Islamic headscarf. Then her brother-in-law was attacked in his shop. "His attackers beat him up and stole everything," said Shada. "When we went to seek justice, the judge said the Muslims had the right to steal from us. He said we were a sin in the world." The scars of torture remain visible on Shawq's body Individuals from all religious and ethnic groups are suffering criminal and religious violence in Iraq, but the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, has said Mandeans are particularly vulnerable. "We're very concerned about them," said a UNHCR spokesman, Peter Kessler. "There is so much discrimination against them and even persecution, and the numbers coming out of Iraq have been enormous compared to their population there, which is so small." Mandeans have their own language - Mandean - which is from the same family as Arabic and Hebrew. Their central religious ceremony is baptism in flowing water, first in childhood, then marriage and at any time an individual wants to be cleansed of sin or make a life change. Just 13,000 Mandeans are now left inside Iraq. As the community there shrinks and people seek refuge outside, becoming a thinly scattered diaspora, many people are worried that their religion may not survive. Maajis Saeb, a Mandean priest, says there are not enough men of religion to serve the various diaspora communities. Luay Zahran Habib, a researcher in Mandeanism, is even more pessimistic: "Mandeanism may be finished in a few years' time if we're not gathered together somewhere, because it will be difficult to find marriage partners and perform our ceremonies. "It's not that we want to leave Iraq for no reason. We just need a safe place." ""