Monthly Archives: September 2024

The Writer’s Life: The Rise of Autocratic Rule

29 Sunday Sep 2024

Posted by in The Writer's Life

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Prime Minister Forbes Burnham of Guyana (1964-1980)
First Executive President of Guyana (1980-1985)
Photo Credit: Forbes Burnham Foundation (Facebook)

In Chapter Fifteen of my work in progress, I speak about the rise of the autocratic government in Guyana in 1974. In my adopted country, we now face the possibility of re-electing a former President who promises to be a dictator only on Day One. He’s got lots of judicial protection in his favor. On July 1, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”

Without push-back from Britain and the United States, Guyana Prime Minister Forbes Burnham (1964-1980) consolidated his power through rigged general elections. For the American government, during the Cold War Era, the alternative leftist communist government was a definite no-no. Then, on December 14, 1974, as we the people prepared for the Christmas and year-end festivities, Comrade Leader Burnham declared his political party to be paramount above the State and all its institutions. That included the Courts and all pending cases against activists of the opposition parties. Burnham’s ruling political party and the State became interchangeable.

For those of us outside the corridors of power, our lives changed in unexpected ways. Churches that didn’t support the government’s agenda were viewed as enemies of the State. Any privileges the Catholic Church once held in the field of education were lost. Within three years following the declaration of the “paramountcy of the party,” my life was turned inside out.

Who knows what lies ahead for me and my sons should the framers of Mandate/Project 2025 have their way?

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Poem “Intolerance” by Brazilian Poet João Doederlein @akapoeta

22 Sunday Sep 2024

Posted by in Brazil, Poetry

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Brazilian Poet João Doederlein @akapoeta
Photo Credit: Poet’s Instagram Account

My Poetry Corner September 2024 features the poem “intolerance / intolerância” by Brazil’s young poet João Doederlein, writing under the pseudonym @akapoeta, from his bestselling debut poetry collection O Livro dos Ressignificados / The Book of Resignifications, published in 2017.

Born in 1996 in Brasília, the federal capital of Brazil, João began writing poetry at eleven years old. At fourteen, he started his first blog with his own texts. Then, two years later, he created an Instagram account where he began sharing his poems, together with his own illustrations.

While studying Advertising and Publicity at the University of Brasília (2015-2020), Doederlein created the Resignifications project in which he attributes new meanings to words. Based on the personal experiences of his generation, the poet, then nineteen years old, gave more weight to the objectivity of dictionaries with his poetic reinterpretations of nouns (n), adjectives (adj), and verbs (vt). In less than a year, his experiment spread across the internet, gaining thousands of followers on Facebook and Instagram.

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California: Another Year of Excessive Summer Heat

15 Sunday Sep 2024

Posted by in United States

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Rosaliene’s Succulent Garden – Summer 2024 – Los Angeles – Southern California

This summer, June through August 2024, the average temperature for the contiguous American states was 73.8° F (23.2°C) – 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit above average – ranking as our nation’s fourth-hottest summer on record. So says NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. California – together with Arizona, Florida, Maine, and New Hampshire – “sizzled through their warmest summer on record.” Heatwaves are growing more frequent, more extreme, and longer lasting in the U.S. West and across the world as the climate crisis drives increasingly severe and dangerous weather conditions.

To end this summer with a bang, an excessive heatwave arrived on Thursday, September 5th, bringing a record-breaking temperature of 112°F (44.4°C) in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, September 6th, says the National Weather Service. With temperatures in the nineties in our neighborhood in West Los Angeles for five days straight, I was forced to stay indoors – no weekend gardening – until relief came on Tuesday, September 10th.

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Thought for Today: Climate Change Policies at Risk

08 Sunday Sep 2024

Posted by in Anthropogenic Climate Disruption

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Front Cover: Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise by the Heritage Foundation
Photo Credit: The Heritage Foundation

The new energy crisis is caused not by a lack of resources, but by extreme “green” policies. Under the rubrics of “combating climate change” and “ESG” (environmen­tal, social, and governance), the Biden Administration, Congress, and various states, as well as Wall Street investors, international corporations, and progressive spe­cial-interest groups, are changing America’s energy landscape. These ideologically driven policies are also directing huge amounts of money to favored interests and making America dependent on adversaries like China for energy. In the name of combating climate change, policies have been used to create an artificial energy scarcity that will require trillions of dollars in new investment, supported with taxpayer subsidies, to address a “problem” that government and special interests themselves created.

Excerpt from “Chapter 12: Department of Energy and Related Commissions” by Bernard L. McNamee from Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project by The Heritage Foundation, Washington DC, USA, 2023 (pp. 363-364).

Highlighted below are the major proposals presented in Chapter 12 that place our current climate change policies at risk:

  • Eliminate the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) which focuses on climate change and green subsidies and sets energy efficiency standards for appliances. If EERE cannot be eliminated, its budget should be reduced (pp 378-379). [Learn more about EERE at http://www.energy.gov/eere/office-energy-efficiency-renewable-energy%5D
  • End the role of the Grid Development Office (GDO) in grid planning for the benefit of renewable energy developers and defund most of its programs (pp 380-381). [Learn more about GDO at http://www.energy.gov/gdo/grid-deployment-office%5D
  • Eliminate the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) established in December 2021 “[to] deliver clean energy demonstration projects at scale in partnership with the private sector to accelerate deployment, market adoption, and the equi­table transition to a decarbonized energy system” (pp 381-382). [Learn more about OCED at http://www.energy.gov/oced/office-clean-energy-demonstrations%5D
  • Eliminate the Clean Energy Corps, charged with delivering a more equitable clean energy future for the American people, by revoking funding and eliminating all positions and personnel hired under the program (p 386). [Learn more about the Clean Energy Corps at http://www.energy.gov/CleanEnergyCorps%5D

Bernard L. McNamee is an energy and regulatory attorney with a major law firm and was formerly a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He is also the Street Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the Appalachian School of Law. In addition to serving as a Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner, McNamee has served in various senior policy and legal positions throughout his career, including at the U.S. Department of Energy, for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, and for Virginia Governor George Allen. McNamee also served four attorneys general in two states (Virginia and Texas).