Green News and Opinion

Writing under the name "Zola", Mato has written 15 articles, made 22 comments at other people's blogs, set up two diaries.

I also write at OpEdNews.org, but I want all my readers to know that Mato is doing this. We need LOTS more Greens with cameras out there. Think about it. If a Green had shot the MaCacCa comment on video, the words "Green Party" would have been uttered dozens if not thousands of times on TV over the next two days. Finding ways to get our message to the people seems like the biggest challenge. Mato has found a way to reach the readers of OpEdNews.org. I write there, at American Chronicle, Green Commons, Chlorophyll, but the most effective in terms of reaching and getting locally involved people was the "Community" blog associated with the Herald.

In a real community blog, at worst a portion, prime real estate in the middle of the screen, gets committed to the owner of the site. Non owners have access to some of the site's features, but can't be given access to do anything internal. It's as if we are allowed to place content on the owner's desk and he uses his editor's eye to decide where to put what.

Their stuff, the stuff they want to sell, gets loads of attention, and access to the innerds to tweak stuff, like remove a post, find an email address so yoiu can be contacted if there are concerns, and finally to promote one story by laying out the site in one or another way.

We "content providers" or "subscribers" are allowed to initiate a thread on the sideline, not in the middle. When you click on my link to make a comment about it, the entire page is filled with your comment. But if someone does not click on the link, they will never know the conversation.

What a really free service would allow is the ability to register a name and password not linked to an email address. Then, every regular commentator would have a page they can "decorate" like in "Second Life"...like, if you want an Escher print, and I do, I would have to write at least two hundred posts on my blog. Then, I can "hang" the print in my "Virtual Green House" with rocking solar power, recycling and reusing and composting everything.

That, ultimately, is our children's grand children's future, if not earlier. Recycling everything because raw materials drawn from the earth have polluted the air so severely that people die daily during the spring, summer and fall. A future where prices are unstable, work is often make-shift work, and the best off hire guards to keep the masses behind gates and guns.A future of eating food we would today throw away because it was bruised, or just a bit off in smell. We will eat them. We will eat what we grow, because the cost in cash and in pollution to run mega-farms will have ended. Seeds would be a sought after commodity, as that is where the diversity will come from.

Anyway...Mato Ska! Right. Sheesh.

OK, here are some of the articles he has published at OpEdNews.org:

A Successful Nation-Building Strategy Under Construction in Kurdistan
There are many peoples in the region of South West Asia that have been relegated to the status of national minorities due to the partitioning of the region after the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire after its defeat in World War One. But, no people have been so systematically abused by the nations in which they inhabited as the Kurds.

The Transition to Renewable Energy

For all the hoopla about Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" and given Senator Gore's own background in the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federal Government, there is little in the way of concrete policy proposals that have been introduced as a cornerstone of a new energy policy.

The Missing Conversation and the Road Forward- a Green Perspective

There remains a future to define that is just now emerging and becoming evident. But, if we go back and try to resurrect old models, we will surely miss our opportunity to have influence. The road is forward.

The Need for Change in Iran Versus War

We stand unequivocally united in moving forward together and seeking a better future for our children, so that all might live in peace and provide mutual support for all the citizens of the world.

DRAFT PEACE PLAN FOR SOUTH WEST ASIA

The foreign policy of the US Government ought to be focused on facilitating peacemaking and ending its military actions against the nations and peoples of the region.

The Kirkuk Referendum

Is there any more just solution for a people who have endured so much suffering at the hands of both the Sunni and Shi'a? Is there a people who have endured a more oppressive occupation by the Syrians, the Turks, the Persians and the Arabs for so long?

Public Education: Reform -- or Revolution?

Have American public schools passed the point of no return?

The Third Party Project

Third parties arise because the two-party system isn't up to the task of providing representation for the people.

Supporting Palestine, Opposing Jihadists

The definition of Islamists as anti-imperialist lies at the root of the continued efforts to promote their political organizations as revolutionary or progressive or better then others. We cannot continue to obscure the analyses regarding the strategies of people in the region for liberation.

THE ROAD IS FORWARD – WE LEARN AS WE GROW

We travel the road less traveled to gain the victories that are more difficult to accomplish. The road to victory is forward. The Democrats have no leadership, the Republicans have only mis-leadership. It's past time to build our own ship.

There is No Peace in Escalation

As Americans whose government is currently engaged in a ruthless and reckless exercise in Iraq, it is time for us to begin the process of formulating a package of policies that lead in the direction of peace.

Paging Oliver Cromwell

This is a legal and Constitutional crisis that must be fought first and foremost in that arena. Through the courts and in the COngress will be the appropriate arenas for action. That doesn't mean back off. That means move forward with audacity. Tourjour l'audace!

Are Third Parties the Answer?

"Power concedes nothing without a struggle." -- Frederick Douglass.

Water Planning in the South West

In the Middle Rio Grande region of New Mexico water planning is taking on a significant character that is open and inclusive. Proposals dealing with issues ranging from water quality to conjunctive management of surface and ground waters, and from establishing funding sources for water programs to increasing water supply and decreasing water demand have all been incorporated into the recommendations.

Saladin Lives!

What is happening in the Middle East is not merely sectarian strife, but an expression of the conflict between different national forces.