When someone is described as a “small farmer” or self-describes that way, I picture Tinkerbell in overalls with a pitchfork.

English is very ambiguous.

Here’s where the neoliberals come to steal your water.

Think I’m exaggerating? Read the article.

This is the first push – at least in the Western world – for water to be privatized. It is couched now in innocuous language like “free water for the users who value it more” but what it means is that water systems will be privatized and the prices will be raised to unaffordability for many Americans.

Else, why would it spend half the article or more talking about consumer use of water, when that is only 10% of total water use? The rest is all agriculture or industry.

To be fair the article does spend time discussing agricultural uses of water which are by far the largest, but spending time talking about domestic water use is sort of like worrying about the cruise ship’s bridge windows being broken while an iceberg tears a jagged gash in the hull.

In other words, reducing consumer demand to zero will barely make a dent.

As I said, what this article is really all about the coming push to privatize water and then extract rents from that effort. This is the propaganda vanguard for that push.

Just as happened with charter schools. And prisons. And so many more things in America and the world.

It’s coming, and it’s probably inevitable.

No, seriously.

I criticize Tumblr a lot but that’s because I read it a lot. More every day.

Here’s the things I love about it:

1) Gives me the chance to read and to learn from people I never would’ve otherwise – people who historically have had no voice and no way to express themselves.

2) It’s a great place for righteous rage, which I enjoy. People feel more unrestrained there. I like evidence and good argumentation as much as the next nerdy white guy. But sometimes I like to let it all hang out, or let someone else do the same.

3) It reminds me of the early internet, when it was still a Wild West (in a good way) but before the worst of the misogynists had begun bedeviling and chasing women away.

4) It has a lot of women. And in general I feel more in common with women than I do with men. Criticize me as you will for that, but it’s true nonetheless.

5) Though animated gifs mostly annoy me, I can be exposed to art there that I otherwise would not get to see. It’s not heavily censored so it really is a mélange of just about everything, which fits my broad tastes.

Basically Tumblr reminds me of the early promise of the internet, before it was utterly corporatized (yes, I know Yahoo! now owns Tumblr, and will therefore probably eventually destroy it). It is freakish, odd, and everyone does just about whatever they want there and anyone can use it.

So that’s why I love Tumblr. Really.