All this happens while TV's Lou Dobbs dodges bullets outside his New Jersey home....
Meanwhile, the insurance industry continues to hold us hostage

http://www.suburbanempire.com

caustic and oversimplified opinion.... from folks in Vermont.

"I've been making substantially the same case in this column for two years now"

Ah, yes, the "inflexion point" that is perpetually over the horizon.

This column can virtually write itself now, but I did spot more than a few errors. Were you drinking when you wrote this, Jim?

I'm old enough to remember when this was a Peak Oil site.

Ah Jim, the frightening scenario you imagine can only come to countries where the government keeps the lid on too tightly.
The beauty of freedom, both economic and civil, is that it is always exploding in ways new, wonderful, and sometimes scary.

You are moving towards understanding.

By the way, the Democrats have now come up with a funny new strategy for acquiring voters. Details at www.thenothingstore.com

Tony Soprano had it right, in one episode he ranted "The Ven Der Bilt's and Rockefellers were also crooks". The same is true of the plutocrats of today. At least the old paisan mafia had sense of honor and a code.

I do agree with most of your thoughts Jim but I must say it seems that you have a macabre fantasy about violent upheaval. I really think you give Americans way too much credit. We are so disengaged it would take an unbelievable cataclysm to move us from uninformed malaise.

I have always loved Sinclair Lewis's depression era book "It Can't Happen Here". I am not ready to get on board with the Coup D'etat scenario yet... it looks like business as usual out here in the Long Island Suburbs... no one is particularly fired up about anything other than the Yankees.

Meanwhile in NYC Mike Bloomberg spends 100 million of his own money on his mayoral campaign... must be worth all that money to be the mayor.

Maybe a coup is what they want: create an unteneable situation as Mr Kunstler describes and lo and behold suddenly a solution appears. The very thing Americans would have rejected before becomes their saviour-especially after the bitter taste of the false messiah Obama.

How would we know? Well, most military men are socially conservative. If the coup brings an end to things like the new Hate Crimes, then we know that it wasn't a grand mal conspiracy. But if these things continue and accelerate: hate crimes, amnesty for illegals, affirmative aciton-then we know the whole thing was theater directed from the very top.

I'm actually surprised that as bad as the economic crisis is that I don't see any signs of civil disorder so far.

If there is an actual breakdown of civil society I would expect to see it first in the most economically depressed locales- places like the San Joaquin Valley of California and the state of Michigan.

I have been concerned that the downturn would lead to anarchy, but I see little sign of it so far. To me the "news" is how a public that is used to material abundance and has had a considerable amount of that abundance stripped away from it is taking that change in passive resignation rather than violent rage.

Don't know whether that will remain the case indefinitely, but that's what I see right now.

Keep government out of Medicare. Just about says it all. From here in red-state Jesusland, it's fully imploded. Big story of the week was some out of work mechanic sabotaging cars in parking lots and then charging $$$ to get them restarted. Yeah, I know, compared to your typical South-American kidnapping/hostage worries, this is small beans, but the journey of a thousand miles...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gnu64n9fgCmxnHxKfoflwA9_amvwD9BLJIH00

Here in Vermont all seems the status quo, It seems a little much to ask the obese, deep fried Twinkee set to rise up and overthrow anything except that Whopper that has been sitting uncomfortably just south of heartburn for a few hours now.

It's all good even with the rise in unemployment; we know cause Miley Cyrus said so.....

"Hey, Hey, Hey.... it's a party in the U.S.A.!"

for more oversimplified caustic commentary...
http://www.suburbanempire.com

As long as we can afford Prozac, fear not the revolution. The military remains fat and happy so I don't see a coup from that quarter.

I'm with you, J. Though the time-frame for such tectonic-shifts is increasingly difficult to measure, there are certain realities that exist and that will, at some juncture, rip a fissure in the American fabric that will make San Andreas look like a crack in the sidewalk. I point to the issue of DEBT. TRILLIONS upon TRILLIONS in unserviceable debt that our leaders appear to "believe" they can refer to as "capital", just so long as nobody is allowed to pull back the curtain on this the biggest financial hoax in history.

As long as we can afford Prozac, fear not the revolution. The military remains fat and happy so I don't see a coup from that quarter.

Alas, I think you've mistaken the military of the USA for something it isn't. Remember Ike's words to "beware the military-industrial complex?" I'm pretty sure that the military is primarily composed by those who "admire" and "believe in" the Becks and Palins. Nonetheless, their exemplification of "non compos mentis" indicates a higher probability of defending the "gubmint," their arms-suppliers and the jackasses on Wall Street, who facilitate the semi-clandestine redistribution of that money, from their equally incapacitated sub-species, civilian brethren. Regardless, with global food production tanking, the "mushroom forests" will sort things out and I'm not talking about the kind that complement steak or "enhance" perception.

Thanks, JHK, for saying what I've been ruminating on for a couple of years now.

Those of us who are in a "collapse mind-set" will do better than most others when reality decides to crash the party, IMHO. ...Bye the bye, reality will have its' way, regardless of those who would cling to their cherished "normalcy" and "status quo".

Alas, poor assholes, I knew them well. Ummm, but liked them not! Haw! Ssssssssee-ya.

It's an open secret: feminists get into family law to destroy families-and above all, to ruin and impoverish men. After that, the State becomes the Husband and Provider-the man just a cast away drone. Marx and Engels wanted the nuclear family destroyed and their descendants have pushed the envelope secretly and with great skill.

When a boy meets a girl and they "click", it's chemistry: the lock fits the key. But there is nothing moral or immoral here-it's just nature doing what nature does. Just so, Chemistry in the right hands used for moral purpose will be our salvation. Techne is always morally neutral. But Praxis oh Praxis-it knows what to do and why.

Thanks, JHK, for saying what I've been ruminating on for a couple of years now.

Those of us who are in a "collapse mind-set" will do better than most others when reality decides to crash the party, IMHO. ...Bye the bye, reality will have its' way, regardless of those who would cling to their cherished "normalcy" and "status quo".

Alas, poor assholes, I knew them well. Ummm, but liked them not! Haw! Ssssssssee-ya.

Military coup? Ain't gonna happen. This is just more violent fantasy porn.

Meanwhile, back in the real world:

Ford Posts $1B Profit In Third Quarter, Forecasts A "Solidly Profitable" 2011,

Whoops. Really stupid, and I have five minutes before they open to go hire a lawyer. They have "men's" family law offices since, as a man, you are madder and will spend your last dime thinking it is your spouse fucking with you.

The stupidity was a panic related to a loss of faith in Jim (with his outfit) on a little pink box: Non-numerics in the (something) (some number) then, NaN. So, I triple-posted. NaN, hmm, Sodium, ...nitride. A knife blade that makes a festering wound.

Mr Nauseum I forgot to praise. He had "Ad Nauseum", but made into a screen name. I can't see "screen name". Show me screener I see (blue) veiner. Too much Over-the-Line and National Enquirer.

A military coup? James Howard Kunstler must be writing another fiction novel. It isn't going to happen. So stop worrying about that.

The Earth keeps spinning and Nature keeps on living ...

http://www.flickr.com/dmathew1

That's all that matters. The economy can and should die, but it will do so at its own pace.

Peak oil, financial looting, and climate change aren't separate issues. It was fun to read JHK's flip, condensed version of what happened. I'm in rural Canada, shopping weekly in a regional retail hub. What I notice lately is evidence of rampant price wars. Things are too often suspiciously, impossibly cheap. I used to work in a 'partner' company for many of the top US retail chains. I was there as Sears and KMart merged. In retail, things seem to tick along, until they don't. There aren't any signs that things are desperate until the doors are locked. Up here this summer a friend with a B&B hosted a young couple who have built a business around liquidating big box stores' mercahndise after the company goes bankrupt. This is a growth niche if ever I saw one. After the dominoes fall (I predict after the coming lean holiday shopping season) the weakest will fail and the remaining retailers will be free to charge what things are worth. As peak oil affects shipping costs, prices will rise. This, in combination with unemployment and rising debt burdens, will come to a head when people can't make ends meet. Things might well get nasty then.

Lynn
http://www.10in10diet.com/
(My way of helping poor young people eat healthy, and cheap while not making climate change any worse than we have to.)

people seem to be repeating themselves this morning

I'm not promoting a coup d'etat, you understand, but I am raising it as a realistic possibility as elected officials prove utterly unwilling to cope with a mounting crisis of capital and resources.

reminds me of myself, intelligent, sensitive, I see things first, but then find myself out in front and rather alone. Perseverance and God's grace is what I need.

Everybody's comments are appearing twice because there's a red 'numerical error' window and we try again, not knowing that the first try actually succeeded.

Lynn

Jim,

Love your work and essays.

There is no revolution or disorder that can't be handled by military suppression IMO. As mad as I am, I would not now where to start with an "organized revolt"....and the government is too well prepared with the Patriot Act in place, NSA wire tapping and technology such as those provided by the (Calea Act -- www.fcc.gov/calea) and would put it down quickly. They can intercept and listen to any type of communication. Being a technologist, I know how powerful this is for the powers that be.

I also am a believer that the military can and will take over. Our West Point and Naval trained military (Air Force too)leaders would bring order back to the crazy world we live in as we watch the US infrastructure crumble around our feet and save us from ourselves. A MacArthur or Lee type (who really loved this country) would be better than where we are being led and headed in my opinion--as we all continued to get rapped, pillaged, and tar feathered.

A lifelong Republican ( white and 59 ) who almost voted for Obama--and thought McCain's time had passed. Jeb Bush this weekend said that Obama is / would destroy Capitalism. Wow, you should have read the feedback as all mercilessly attacked he and his brother. Wrongo Jeb. and the Hannitys, Palins and Becks are just a baddddd reflection of what our society has become. Not sure who is worse, Beck or Bush.

The next to last comment I will make is that something has got to give as I feel it in my bones. The only other thing I can say, and I tell my wife this all the time is "Nothing happens by accident." From 9-11 on, I have been most suspicious as events continue to unfold toward the Long Emergency......

Jim -

There is a lot wrong with the US, but, on a day to day basis, we are still pretty much a place of laws. Most people obey them with surprising cheerfulness and regularity. Even major assholes tend to stay on the right side of the road most of the time. They might even use their signals!

Your agitating for violence is based on the idea that "things have never been this bad before and that, at some point, the pot is going to boil over." I don't disagree that these are "hard times," but I just don't see how this is going to work out on a practical basis. Unions, which once formed a base from which larger-scale protests might arise, have been mostly eviscerated and no longer wield the power they did even thirty years ago. Hell, except for teachers unions, they hardly ever even strike anymore, so how can we see them taking any sort of "next step?"

So who will gather all "teh crazies" together and let them lose on Goldman Sachs? Beck and Palin? I doubt it. They are currently using all those tea-baggers to garner ratings, popularity...and cash. They and their handlers/promoters/managers are smart enough to know that any violence connected to them will leave a scorched earth from which they wouldn't be able to recover. They can rant all they want, but as soon as a Beck acolyte puts a bullet into someone's cerebrum, it's game over the Cable Boy. Ditto Palin.

Mind you, violence on some level is probably inevitable, but my belief is that it will come on a case-by-case basis in towns and cities around the nation. Larry in Butte will pull out his 30-30 and off a mortgage broker. Bob in Matawan will forget to take his Ativan and he'll clear the decks in his own home.

But what I don't see is this classic "pitchfork crowd" ambling down Wall Street looking for The Monster.

I guess it's Groundhog Day around here with these multiple posts.

JHK, why the grump this morning? You really are grumpier than usual. Did they egg your house again? And what's this constant fixation with body art? Get over it.

Overall, I gotta disagree with your column. Things seem to be more of in some sort of holding pattern right now, probably because elections are literally just over the horizon and the meat cleaver of new (and no doubt improved!) taxation has yet to fall upon us. I think you'll see the insanity start up again once we get past Election Day.

And, truth be told, I thought you'd lay out some dark predictions for Election Day - like your take on the kabuki theater that is NY-23. What a clusterfuck THAT race is turning out to be.

Frankly, we have to await the outcome of the midterms to see where things are headed, at least in the short-term. I'd keep my eye on just how volatile The Almighty Dow can be over the next few days as well.

The next two months, November and December, should be quite interesting, for too many reasons to go into here.

Lastly, the thing that amazes me most is the roaring silence coming from the AG's office. WTF!? Goldman Sachs should be EASILY whacked with multiple RICO suits (et al!) out the fucking wazoo, and all we get is crickets. Crickets! W. T. F.!?

Just how co-opted is our national government by their corporate overlords anyway?

It's an open secret: feminists get into family law to destroy families-and above all, to ruin and impoverish men. After that, the State becomes the Husband and Provider-the man just a cast away drone. Marx and Engels wanted the nuclear family destroyed and their descendants have pushed the envelope secretly and with great skill.

When a boy meets a girl and they "click", it's chemistry: the lock fits the key. But there is nothing moral or immoral here-it's just nature doing what nature does. Just so, Chemistry in the right hands used for moral purpose will be our salvation. Techne is always morally neutral. But Praxis oh Praxis-it knows what to do and why.

Disagree with your comments on our military. And I mean the kind that end up being the great Generals, Admirals, JCOS etc. who graduate from West Point, The Naval or Air Force Academy. They are highly intelligent and patriotic and they have saved our ass and will do so again. The Schwarzkopfs , MacCrystals, and the Cartwrights types are not stupid NASCAR rednecks like populists Palin or Beck who have a type of populist gift of gab they illicit between stupid "Chop-It" commercials.

I never have thought to endorse our military but it is getting close to the better alternative IMO.

Star quality and likable personality.....Jim, you're full of shit. You are a closet admirer of the President, you love the guy. Anybody who opposes Obama gets his fish eye and you, too, feel dissent is unAmerican from the mouths of stupidos. Shame on your ass.

FYI: I think this double-post is due to a warning when I posted the first time. The warning is as follows: "Non-numerics in limit/offset clause (2147483647, NaN)". Whatever the hell that means.

The inevitibiity of it all truly is frightening. It is like watching a crash occur in slow motion and not being able to do a thing about it.

The violence and recrimination that will be heaped on the oligarchs, though very deserved, will be just as big a waste of energy, time, and money as the band-aid solutions being tried to solve the problems that brought about the rage in the first place.

A coup? Not likely. However, Judge David Carter threw out the suit to make BHO show his birth certificate. I know, BHO has already proven to you he is ligit. To me the only real argument that gives me pause the BHO is ligit is that "If there was something to be found, Hillary would have found it."

Being bitter and not wanting to give up my guns, religion or belief that BHO is a real african I thought about why HRC would let it pass. So I asked myself what is better than being POTUS? And also, is there anything more corrupt and less accountable than the US congress??

Then I read about the Copenhagen accords being signed in December and how it is a precurser to a world government. How UN resolutions are being fasioned to preclude criticisum of religions and governments.

I dont know why that would matter as no one pays any attention to UN resolutions (see resolution 242).

So what is HRCs prize? World government with Bill as President of the world and her as first lady. And they have a bigger pot to loot. Bill has more big haired bimbos to share cigars with and HRC gets to run the world.

Yeah, dismiss this as just some racist, wacko teabagger venting. Just hope JHK is still around in 5 years so I can prove I said it first.

JHK. As always I love reading your monday morning musings. However, from where I sit, I see no sign of popular revolt, and this is the worst condition in which I have seen the US worker in my lifetime,half a century. I see a lot of frustration, worry and anger, but nothing past that.

You see Jim, I like to call this thing we are in the Long Emergency. It is coming on too slow to evoke revolutionary response. Sure a few folks will get pissed off now and then, maybe misbehave anough to get noticed and in the news. But I do not see folks going hungry and cold except on the fringes. And it is changing slowly enough that us froggies being heated up dont even notice.

jhk,

i think your predication-warning-suggestion of violent storming of washington is fantasy:

1. the boomer generation's antiwar protests were motivated primarily by the herd instinct, fueled by youthful enthusiam and idealism. antiwar protests, drugs, sex and rock and roll were the "in" thing. now the boomer's herd mentality is to be successful in retirement and the ones who are not settled in their gated golf course faux mansions communities are busy worrying about how secure their retirement funds are. they are too taken watching "dancing with the stars" and too old-creaky-shuffling to get off their DEAD asses for another run at idealism.

2. and just like the boomer's pursuit of the herd, this generation's "in" thing to stay with the herd is bird chirping, texting and weekend beer orgies. the last thing they want is being identified as an "outlier right-wing extremist".

how did hitler rise to power? you are right: history is mercilesss.

Dear JHK:

I've enjoyed reading you for all these years, but this insistence that someone is going to give these GS types some level of 'come-uppance' is getting very old.

Let me state this pretty clearly. It Will Not Happen. With all that is currently known, have any of these people even had a tire slashed or a paint job keyed?

Nope.

And they won't.

As is the case so often, Jim - another tastefully rude essay on the condition of things churning below the MSM surface. GRATZI!

"Sock Puppet"! It was one of my early favorite descriptors for the "Previous Occupant", who was of course, a quite obvious "PINO" (President In Name Only) - the sock over Uncle Dickey's fist.....

But getting to the point - we seem to have a serious hosiery theme going in the Oval Office. Now, going into at least a third 4-year term, it's all about hosiery. How apt! The Little Bush Child was the definitive "Sock Puppet President" for 8 torturesome years.

Presently, it seems that, with admittedly apparent, often strong, sock puppet undertones, we have a variation on the sock theme during the O'Bama occupancy. You've tagged Holder with the "sock puppet" epithet. Right-O.

I submit that the dominant operative theme issuing from O'Bama's Oval Big O is: "WIND SOCK". While it seems pretty clear that BIG MOney has had the Democrat Savior Boy firmly by the ears since, at least, last summer, he is - archtypical of the consummate political species - ready to flop whichever way the wind blows at any given rhetorical moment.

I have a deep-belly sense that you are on to something with your latest dangling of our military elite's potential for an interventive military res-coup of this shilly-shallying water-boy-wonder presidency, which utters soothing assurances to the Peasants, even as it nods (and bows) solemnly to the Big Mo Boyz who financed this president's ambitions. Meanwhile, the tinder grows drier and hotter. The Peasants cannot muster and organize the requisite talent and force (collective will) to overthrow the bloated Juggernaught forces of money/political power, and thus do anything sufficiently corrective and far-seeing. If anything "revolutionary" happens, it most-likely-must come from the military barracks, which combine a sufficiently hard, sharp edge, and a sufficiently powerful magazine of explosives necessary to dislodge the barnacles attached to the wheel and rudder of national power. It will be ugly. There will be blood. It will end badly for: all concerned; and otherwise.

At the end of the play, I think the narrator steps to Stage- Right, Deep, and reminds us that this is what empires do. They run and jump, and grab... and grow and fatten and presume entitlement... and over-extend and metastasize overwhelming corruption, and collapse. 1-2-3-4-5...

Nothing substantially corrective will issue from human offices in all this. Human minds were not "designed" to comprehend, much less cope with, problems of this political, temporal, or environmental scale. George Lakoff has been prattling (linguistics) to this effect, of late. Events and "Nature" are in the saddle, and they will ride us the way they always do - into the historical (and cosmic) compost heap. As, I believe Stephen Jay Gould noted, "Nature bats last".

Best not "go long" on Airport Bond offerings. Agreed.

Always love to read your stuff!

Thanks.

From a conventional non-conspiratorial point of view, a coup may be unlikely because the military has been so weakened by political correctness and feminism. Most military men will tell you, it's the candy asses who get the promotions not the real warriors. Today's military wouldn't allow a man like Patton or McArthur anywhere on the premises. They want grinning fools like Eisenhower. Sure beware the military industrial complex-who would know better than He-who served it so devotedly and was richly rewarded by it?

Strikes me as strange that you have such a good handle on the state of things, yet so naive about how to cure, who the bad players are.

Do you know Goldman Sachs was Obama's largest campaign contributor? He is a crooked Chicago politician the same as Bush was a crooked Texan politician.

I called and faxed my "representatives" trying to stop the original $700 billion TARP ripoff under Bush. When Congress didn't listen to the citizens and used unconstitutional methods to pass it against the people's will, I realized then our government does not represent us anymore.

You have some weird brain glitch apparently causes you to think Obama actually gives a crap about US citizens. He is a professional liar and the voters lapped it up.

And no, you won't see any uprising from the fat, retarded, selfish US citizen. All we care about is getting as many of the "free" handouts and "free" medical care that Obama promises.

Bankers and special interest have bought BOTH parties off. WAKE UP.

Jim, Interesting stuff, no doubt. If the unionists, leftists, communists and other American dissidents hadn't been practically eradicated in the US before and after the 2nd World War than maybe your thesis of an uprising might make more sense. Think about it, the American Dream has been sold to everyone, none excluded. All you had to do was give up any notion of class struggle, any political thought that resembled Marxism or it's off shoots and you too were part of the Dream.

Who would lead this revolt? Arm toting right wing nuts? Army officers? Not usually the groups that go out into the streets with revolt in mind unless you're thinking of Latin America. But wait, that was us organizing that work wasn't it? I don't think Americans have the stomach for struggle anymore, at least not yet. Things will have to get a good deal worse. We've been taught to believe that if you're a failure it's your own fault. We'll have to over come decades of instilled thought process.

The notion of a military coup is certainly not out of the question, especially when the next leg, DOWN, of the ongoing depression takes hold and the Dow drops below 6600. The wheels come off at that point, and we'll start seeing the real character of the American public. Right now we have minor unrest in a portion of the lower income groups who are always the first to lose their jobs in recessions, and a moderate percentage of the middle class is also under or un employed: but the latter still have HOPE.
But wait until the real unemployment rate (that includes discouraged workers) hits 30% (the Shadowstat.com group calculates it at around 18% the last time I looked). And wait until HOPE is shown to be a pipedream. At that point, we'll likely see many more banks shutting down, and limitations on ATM withdrawals, in addition to huge numbers of people on the street who can't buy food, housing or heating (think Argentina 2000-2004). The government will then REACT in some way. That reaction will determine whether we end up with a military coup, a fascist dictatorship or a balkanization of the former US (with regions pulling out of the "association") due to economics, taxes, etc. Either way, I doubt that the US will be recognizable 24 months out.
And that's my optimistic scenario.

WARDOC

"Sock Puppet"! - one of my first favorite descriptors for the "Previous Occupant", who was of course, a quite obvious "PINO" (President In Name Only) - the sock over Uncle Dickey's fist....

I submit that the dominant operative theme issuing from O'Bama's Oval Big O is: "WIND SOCK". While it seems pretty clear that BIG MOney has had the Democrat Savior Boy firmly by the ears since, at least, last summer, he is - archtypical of the consummate political species - ready to flop whichever way the wind blows at any given rhetorical moment.

I have a deep-belly sense that you are on to something with your latest dangling of our military elite's potential for an interventive military res-coup of this shilly-shallying water-boy-wonder presidency, which utters soothing assurances to the Peasants, even as it nods (and bows) solemnly to the Big Mo Boyz who financed this president's ambitions. Meanwhile, the tinder grows drier and hotter.

The Peasants cannot muster and organize the requisite talent and force (collective will) to overthrow the bloated Juggernaught forces of money/political power, and thus do anything sufficiently corrective and far-seeing. If anything "revolutionary" happens, it most-likely-must come from the military barracks, which combine a sufficiently hard, sharp edge, and a sufficiently powerful magazine of explosives to dislodge the octopi and barnacles attached to the wheel and rudder of national power. It will be ugly. There will be blood. It will end badly for: all concerned; and otherwise.

At the end of the play, I think the narrator steps to Stage- Right, Deep, and reminds us that this is what empires do. They run and jump, and grab... and grow and fatten and presume entitlement... and over-extend and metastasize overwhelming corruption, and collapse. 1-2-3-4-5...

Nothing substantially corrective will issue from human offices in all this. Human minds were not "designed" to comprehend, much less cope with, problems of this political, temporal, or environmental scale. George Lakoff has been prattling (linguistics) to this effect, of late. Events and "Nature" are in the saddle, and they will ride us the way they always do - into the historical (and cosmic) compost heap. As, I believe Stephen Jay Gould noted, "Nature bats last".

Always love reading your reliably, tastefully, rude stuff!

Thanks.

Fantasy apocalypticism is the stock and trade of the American political imagination. It is not surprising to see it again today in Mr. Kunstler's post. If you think we haven't been down this path before, read Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward," published in 1888. Bellamy also predicted -- and in fact advocated -- a military state that governed without popular mandate. Bellamy's political party -- the Nationalists -- even made some electoral headway in California in the 1890's. But that's as far as it went before it fizzled, and I see no reason to expect a resurgence even now, when half the classifed advertisements consist of foreclosure notices.

Revolution, no. But what we are seeing is a new wave of community organization -- and by that I mean eco-communities of one kind or another. Cohousing groups, ecovillages, and even a few communes -- these are popping up all over the place. One of the best examples is Ecovillage at Ithaca, not far from where Mr. Kunstler. I've been advocating for a quite a while that he make a road trip to Ithaca and check it out. You'll see the real revolution -- and a peaceful one -- taking place.

And then there's our effort here in Utah: The Utah Valley Commons. We're a cohousing group in formation. If you're anywhere in the vicinity, check us out: we are actively recruiting members with an interest in permaculture, strawbale construction, and cooperative living.

Charles W. Nuckolls
Utah Valley Commons
www.utahvalleycommons.com

LOL, this commentary section is even moron wacko than normal, or is that normally, normalcy, whatever----

Now a potential military coup? What's next, a takeover by benign, watchful aliens? All brought to you by a guy that believes in the official version of the 911 conspiracy---consider the source, folks!

Let's add the warning to this version:

"Non-numerics in limit/offset clause (2147483647, NaN)"

nano nano Jim, get some IT help, soon!

I have a deep-belly sense that you are on to something with your latest dangling of our military elite's potential for an interventive military res-coup of this shilly-shallying water-boy-wonder presidency, which utters soothing assurances to the Peasants, even as it nods (and bows) solemnly to the Big Mo Boyz who financed this president's ambitions. Meanwhile, the tinder grows drier and hotter.

The Peasants cannot muster and organize the requisite talent and force (collective will) to overthrow the bloated Juggernaught forces of money/political power, and thus do anything sufficiently corrective and far-seeing. If anything "revolutionary" happens, it most-likely-must come from the military barracks, which combine a sufficiently hard, sharp edge, and a sufficiently powerful magazine of explosives.

Nothing substantially corrective will issue from mortal offices in all this. Human minds were not "designed" to comprehend, much less cope with, problems of this political, temporal, or environmental scale. George Lakoff has been prattling (linguistics) to this effect, of late. Events and "Nature" are in the saddle, and they will ride us the way they always do - into the historical (and cosmic) compost heap. As, I believe Stephen Jay Gould noted, "Nature bats last".

Always love reading your reliably, tastefully, rude fulminations!

Thanks.

You have restored my faith in the ability of Americans to use the English language.

For years I have shuddered at the widespread use of normalcy. Now you use normality. Excellent, even if we are nowhere near it.

James: I agree that Americans will need quite an event to get them moving. But the military making a move is not as far fetched as I once thought. My son goes to the Naval Academy and twice over the past 4 months the subject of the Officers responsibility to the Constitution and the American people has been brought up in a class room situation. Both times by a teacher. The discussions took the entire class period. I will not go into what my son told me, however if this topic is being raised at the Naval Academy, not a particularly political organization what is going on at more active branches of the Military. The Midshipmen are not a bunch of wild eyed yahoos,nor are the Cadets at West point. It is not the masses in the streets that have the potential for sudden change it is the Officers that owe their allegence to the Consitution only.

I'll look foward to this, I think it will be exciting. It will be like playing Grand theft Auto San Andreas, only cooler. Thanks for all those good books, and the CFN is Great. good luck Jim

Jim, et al,

Count me among the "apologists" confounded and confused by the "gibberspeak" that greeted us when we tried to post our thoughts this morning.

I thought I was being told to hammer it down into a smaller bolus - so I kept re-submitting chopped versions, until I finally collapsed in weary defeat. How apt.

Treecraft

Which "cadre of concerned officers" would it be who is going to save us from the "fucking nonsense"? The same ones who are requesting 40,000 more troops for the fucking nonsense of sending them to Afghanistan? They would have to bring them back here for a coup, not send more over there.

Anyway, nobody in the U.S. military above maybe the rank of captain gives a shit for anything except his own career.

Then, too - "Metzengerstein" is on to something credible too:

"Nobody above the rank of Captain seems to give a shit about anything except his career."

There does seem to be credible evidence in recent history to support this appraisal of the officer corps. No one of a paygrade higher than Captain has been notably willing to show any guts with regard to calling bullshit on any part of the apparatus.

The die is cast. It's doo-doo all the way down.

HOPE ?

Nope.

Treecraft

Neil Lori Montclair NJ maverick17761784@yahoo.com

Team Obama aka the democrats are doing such a lousy job that they appear to be akin to the Weimar Republic in Germany aka the Republic before fascism. Team Obama is printing too much money {just like Weimar}

Also Obama favors the rich/investor class over the working class.

This nonsense will not last forever. The problem is that the new powers that be might be even worse then the pieces of shit ruling us now. Imagine that!!!!!! Think about it!!!!!

Gore Videl also recently predicted a military takeover. Interesting times.

Fascinating to see how JHK's post today has got peoples' imaginations fired up, speculating on when or whether some sort of revolution in the USA might take place and who might instigate it. The two main contenders seem to be the military and the pitch-fork waving right wing-nuts.

Being a devoted fan of the late Robert Heinlein, his work made me think we shouldn't overlook the potential for the military to con the right wing nuts into a conspiracy to overtake the country politically by force. Then the military would take control of the Palins and Becks, making them just figure heads along with the religious zealots, who we know hold huge power over most of the right wing. As we are frequently admonished, God is on THEIR side after all.

Heinlein wrote a book called Revolt in 2100 that is a worrying look at just such a conspiracy and how ill prepared people were to defend themselves.

Let's hope nothing like this does come to pass, but I'm sure not dismissing the idea.

Great work today, Sir, despite the technical difficulties. Now I will try to post only once.

Unthinkable is the word, though historically it doesn't necessarily look unlikely.

Well, well, well, seems like a hornet's nest has been stirred, perhaps a leftover candy spike from the Halloween weekend. Boo Hoo!

Anyway, I never have commented on JK's blog, but I do read him on a regular basis. And I rarely comment on my thoughts about the world goings on, except to my wife, as I try and keep my politics, religion, and sex life private lest anyone take me away somewhere. But today, I made an exception and threw my hat in the ring.

On 9-11----Like everyone, I remember everything about that day and the few days after. After 24 hours, the media came out and said it was Bin Laden----showing that picture of him in his Arab garb with a cane in one hand and an old old rifle in the other as he was trying to make his way down a slight hillside. I thought" and this guy blew up the World Trade Center and tried to blow up the Pentagon? And then within the same breadth, our Government was saying that they (Bin Laden) had been planning it for over 5 years. Hmmm... I thought how could this "plot" go undetected for 5 years in the making then say with some confidence in almost the same breath and nail the villain? NOT LOGICAL. Sorry.

The other issue I found perplexing was "why provoke the world's mistiest war machine" onto your turf and start a war. Huh? Why not wait and get a nuke and really do damage? NOT LOGICAL. In fact, stupid. Is this the way you would try and take down a mortal enemy, the Infidel? Now I do not know "who done it" or why, but it is intellectually stimulating and thought provoking to say the least. Now 9 years later, they may have hade and do have a winnable hand.

Government Sacs. Well, what can I say about these guys except they made the mess along with so many others participated and others who "let it happen" and got away with it. Now the Feds are using the same guys to try and undo and pay them $$ billions to do so. But who better to do it?

And to placate the common man, we are now catching some bad guys while being very politically correct. One Jew--Madoff. Now a Sri Laken, Raj Rajaratnam, an IBM WASP and some more carefully crafted rainbow choices. No Hitleromics in the 21st Century!

Pallin and Beck—they’re both making millions. Good for them.

On a "military coup d’état. Never thought I would say it was possible. The definition --- "a sudden and decisive action in politics, esp. one resulting in a change of government illegally or by force."

Guess we will all have to wait and see.

Yes, Treecraft, it was Matthew Hoh, an EX-Marine CAPTAIN, who most recently showed the courage of his convictions and not only spoke out but put his livelihood on the line.

And I don't know what you call recent, but it was partly a comment from a Vietnam veteran that inspired the above post, to the effect tht "major officers were not to be trusted," but captains and below seemed to care about their people. The last honorable general was Ike. Maybe. I suppose Curtis LeMay might have had some integrity, but of course he was moonbat crazy.

What if there's already been a coup? Or maybe several? Maybe coups in this country are much more common than we know. Maybe Obama was installed by a coup. Whose side is he on, anyway?

A lot of the gripping around here has to do with his mealy-mouthed democracy "inaction". He just goes to the gym a lot, wags the occasional finger at a gray-suited looter, makes an inspirational tele-prompting from the Lincoln pulpit, then, after all that hard work, slouches back to his master's side, where he is rewarded with a soothing chin scratch and a hearty "good boy".

Maybe our elites don't do "tanks in the street" coups.

That's very crude and vulgar and unnecessary.

I think it will be more of the same, except more.

Yes, the gods are unhappy. Mother Nature is unhappy. Santa Claus is unhappy. The smiley face at Walmart is - umm - shall we say turned from upbeat icon to oxymoron. A coup d'etat by a branch of our military? Possibly. A collapse of industrial civilization within the next twenty years? Most likely.

How can you tell when a politician is lying? When he (or she) moves the mouth. Mouths have been moving a lot lately and little truth or useful information has been coming out of those mouths lately that would be of much benefit to the average American especially in the light of what is coming.

The Halloween Pumpkin, the Thanksgiving Turkey and the Santa Claus are icons, three of the thousands and thousands of icons that front the consumer society. Icons that are bombed at the population 24 hours a day, seven days a week by the gods of Globalization.

Globalization is the grand experiment of the twentieth century that has failed. The idea that all 6.748 billion people under one sky can burn natural resources like no tomorrow to become one mammoth, gargantuan industrial civilization with all the trappings of modern life including personal autos, large homes, flat screen TV's, college educations - the works. The idea that "economic growth" can just continue forever, without bounds, consuming ever more water, food, resources and land for an ever increasing population.

The politicians and the bankers just love globalization and its many icons - the Santa Claus, the Golden Arches, the Pepsi, Coke, Ford, Mercedes, the football teams, the airlines and on and on and on.

So were are the bankers doing these rather rash things they doing until recently? Why were they underwriting loans to just about anybody that had a pulse? Well, first they were just as mesmerized and addicted to the Ponzi scheme of globalization as just about every modern American citizen (and the citizens of most Western countries) were. Secondly, they knew that almost every industry that made any actual product worth having had been "offshored" to China or some other "low cost" part of the world - in the name of Globalization - and therefore, in order to make any real money they would have to primarily "invest" in real estate and all its derivatives.

Everybody that was anybody know, way back in 2005, that the price of real estate is like the arrow of time, it only moves in one direction, and in the case of real estate that is up. So, since we had no real manufacturing base left in this country any more then real estate became the last great bubble.

Why did the real estate bubble pop, anyway? This goes back to the real problem underlying the concept of Globalization and why it will not work - at least in the way it is configured.

The real estate bubble burst because Globalization itself has started to tremble and creak like so much old infrastructure that surrounds us. Basically, unfettered capitalism that is Globalization has hit absolute limits and growth cannot continue under any circumstances. As they say, the party's over.

What are these limits you ask? Basically they are set by the laws of thermodynamics. We industrialized humans are sitting on this planet of finite size running a global economy primarily on a fossil energy source that is not replenishable on any time scale we can imagine. As more and more people jump on the bandwagon of globalization the demands from the finite earth become ever greater. Something has got to give. And give it has!

Globalization is in the process of taking a big tumble. It has failed and failed miserably. The crash will be spectacular. This period of history will be remembered for a really long time - just like the fall of the Roman Empire. People in the distant future - assuming any survive - will be wondering "what were those people of the 20th century thinking? What Kool-Aid were they drinking?".

The "Low Battery" light is flashing furiously on the dashboard of Globalization. Everywhere there are shortages on the horizon. Food, water, topsoil, copper, oil, gas, uranium, you name it. And the climate is changing and the skies and ground are getting filled with pollution - the oceans are dying.

Our politicians are really lying. So are our news anchors. They are lying like no tomorrow (is there a tomorrow?). We know the bankers are up to something no good because they are breathing. We know the politicians are lying because they are talking. They are all collectively assuring their fellow Americans that even though we are in a "rough patch" right now all is getting better soon. Maybe even in time for Christmas. They say there is a "recovery" coming from sea to shining sea and after a little delay the unemployment rolls will start to shrink and Americans will be back at work. It will be business as usual, just don't fret and have faith in us and please, please, get out your credit cards and hit the stores! Santa Claus says so!

Jim,

Please fix your site's comment software. I just lost a long, well-thought out post. How to summarize.

Hmmm... Well, I think a solid case can be made that a military coup would be a mere formality. We've essentially been run by a civilian/military cabal since we formally embarked on becoming an empire spurred on by Admiral Mahan's writings.

We've already been lurching around for the past 10 years under variants of corn-pone fascism, military dictatorship. The system of the Democrat/Republican War Party is all of the above. Why do you think our President's always defer to, "the generals on the ground", to defy the overwhelming majority of our citizenry who want to end these wars and occupations? I thought the President was commander-in-chief. Evidently, he isn't. He is, (whether it is Reagan, Bush, Obama ...), either a stooge or a part of the military cabal. It is likely the Bush Dynasty is a major part of the cabal and Obama is merely a stooge, and Clinton eagerly played either part perfectly for his personal and political benefit.

There is an alternative out there. Why JHK doesn't acknowledge it is interesting. This movement represents a renaissance in our nation's roots founded in the notion of peaceful self-governance, individual freedom, and peaceful arbitration of infringement of individual rights with the rule of law. It has coalesced around Ron Paul and the Campaign For Liberty. Some of the primary intellectuals in this anti-war, anti-empire pro-self-governence movement are Justin Raimondo, Ivan Eland, Lew Rockwell and Thomas Woods.

Many on the, "right", and, "left", are scared of this movement. Some try to ignore it altogether. Some try to slander Ron Paul by associating him with the very red-state fascists that Lew Rockwell long ago described and renounced. Justin Raimondo has recently done very good work renouncing the open-carrying zealots making waves

This movement does not rely on kindergarten level notions that are political gimmicks - things like a political spectrum as the primary decision making compass for the sheeple, fiat declarations of legitimate voices annointed as experts by an invisible elite, slander whether associative or explicit ...

This movement is powered by ideas and well-reasoned argument. It is an alternative to our current system that already includes JHK's scenario. I believe that more and more liberals will catch up with the classical conservatives in renouncing the partisan nimwittery of our current system, and focus on ideas firmly rooted in true local self-governance. As this happens this movement will grow bigger and stronger. This represents our best chance to dislodge the civilian/military imperialist order from the halls of power they have held quite firmly since the days of Mahan and McKinley.

I encourage all of you to spend some time reading and, "YouTubing", Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, Thomas Woods and Justin Raimondo and his colleagues over at Antiwar.com. Listen to the ideas and give them a lot of thought. We just might return to self-governance sooner than you think.

Here is a starter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IhJxEHEqjg&feature=player_embedded#t=109

Yes, the gods are unhappy. Mother Nature is unhappy. Santa Claus is unhappy. The smiley face at Walmart is - umm - shall we say turned from upbeat icon to oxymoron. A coup d'etat by a branch of our military? Possibly. A collapse of industrial civilization within the next twenty years? Most likely.

How can you tell when a politician is lying? When he (or she) moves the mouth. Mouths have been moving a lot lately and little truth or useful information has been coming out of those mouths lately that would be of much benefit to the average American especially in the light of what is coming.

The Halloween Pumpkin, the Thanksgiving Turkey and the Santa Claus are icons, three of the thousands and thousands of icons that front the consumer society. Icons that are bombed at the population 24 hours a day, seven days a week by the gods of Globalization.

Globalization is the grand experiment of the twentieth century that has failed. The idea that all 6.748 billion people under one sky can burn natural resources like no tomorrow to become one mammoth, gargantuan industrial civilization with all the trappings of modern life including personal autos, large homes, flat screen TV's, college educations - the works. The idea that "economic growth" can just continue forever, without bounds, consuming ever more water, food, resources and land for an ever increasing population.

The politicians and the bankers just love globalization and its many icons - the Santa Claus, the Golden Arches, the Pepsi, Coke, Ford, Mercedes, the football teams, the airlines and on and on and on.

So were are the bankers doing these rather rash things they doing until recently? Why were they underwriting loans to just about anybody that had a pulse? Well, first they were just as mesmerized and addicted to the Ponzi scheme of globalization as just about every modern American citizen (and the citizens of most Western countries) were. Secondly, they knew that almost every industry that made any actual product worth having had been "off-shored" to China or some other "low cost" part of the world - in the name of Globalization - and therefore, in order to make any real money they would have to primarily "invest" in real estate and all its derivatives.

Everybody that was anybody know, way back in 2005, that the price of real estate is like the arrow of time, it only moves in one direction, and in the case of real estate that is up. So, since we had no real manufacturing base left in this country any more then real estate became the last great bubble.

Why did the real estate bubble pop, anyway? This goes back to the real problem underlying the concept of Globalization and why it will not work - at least in the way it is configured.

The real estate bubble burst because Globalization itself has started to tremble and creak like so much old infrastructure that surrounds us. Basically, unfettered capitalism that is Globalization has hit absolute limits and growth cannot continue under any circumstances. As they say, the party's over.

What are these limits you ask? Basically they are set by the laws of thermodynamics. We industrialized humans are sitting on this planet of finite size running a global economy primarily on a fossil energy source that is not replenishable on any time scale we can imagine. As more and more people jump on the bandwagon of globalization the demands from the finite earth become ever greater. Something has got to give. And give it has!

Globalization is in the process of taking a big tumble. It has failed and failed miserably. The crash will be spectacular. This period of history will be remembered for a really long time - just like the fall of the Roman Empire. People in the distant future - assuming any survive - will be wondering "what were those people of the 20th century thinking? What Kool-Aid were they drinking?"

The "Low Battery" light is flashing furiously on the dashboard of Globalization. Everywhere there are shortages on the horizon. Food, water, topsoil, copper, oil, gas, uranium, you name it. And the climate is changing and the skies and ground are getting filled with pollution - the oceans are dying.

Our politicians are really lying. So are our news anchors. They are lying like no tomorrow (is there a tomorrow?). We know the bankers are up to something no good because they are breathing. We know the politicians are lying because they are talking. They are all collectively assuring their fellow Americans that even though we are in a "rough patch" right now all is getting better soon. Maybe even in time for Christmas. They say there is a "recovery" coming from sea to shining sea and after a little delay the unemployment rolls will start to shrink and Americans will be back at work. It will be business as usual, just don't fret and have faith in us and please, please, get out your credit cards and hit the stores! Santa Claus says so!

Time for a little levity if you don't mind.

Achmed the Terrorist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1aSMhAAWg8&NR=1

And Bubba J

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iMd8Pm-2EE

Yeh, we're all holding our breaths over here. And the generals wouldn't necessarily line up with the insane Right; they might present a liberal face in order to broaden their support base, counting on the knuckle-draggers to salute anything that wears a uniform and hand grenades. Caesar and Napoleon would both be considered liberal in the presen-day Usanian context.

But on to important matters: the notion that Harding coined "normalcy", like the notion that the Chinese never used gunpowder in war or that everyone in antiquity believed the Earth was flat, is one of those schoolmarm truths that may remain with us forever. For the record, the first citation for "normalcy" in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1857.

Not such a far-fetched scenario Jim. The military coup idea, that is. One I have thought less unlikely/increasingly possible for a while now. The Romans certainly gave it their best shots -- I don't think it'll work out any better for us than it did for them.

Yes, there's currently some little snafu with the comments software, but if you go ahead and post & then re-open the page in a new tab or window, you'll see that your post has been recorded.

Jim,

Your mySQL database is corrupt, and you should run a repair on the bad tables (which should be output in your log file) before it causes corruption in other tables and can't be recovered (which will in turn crash this site).

I think that we were closer to a military coup in 2004 than we are today. My suspicion was that Rumsfeld's resignation in 2004 may have been because his internal putsch for control of the Pentagon failed, and Bush was presented with an ugly set of options by the JCoS - either Rumsfeld resign, or they would expose what was going on.

Today, the Dow is up to nearly 10,000, meaning that for many people their 401Ks are no longer underwater, and even though there is a lot of nervousness about the market, they figure that they can get out before things go sour. The "poor" are getting by in the shadow economy, in many cases playing the equities market (or the bullion market), buying and selling what they can (not necessarily legally acquired) on eBay or Craigs List, and in many cases working outside the boundaries of the IRS.

Most people see this as just a particularly nasty recession, and believe that it will actually start to improve by mid-2010 if not sooner, if they can wait it out. As bad as 10+% unemployment is (and assuming that the real number is probably closer to about 18%), that still means that the vast majority are employed, if not necessarily full time.

I don't think anything major is going to happen for another year and a half to two years. Given the CRE market that's now sitting on the books, given the number of banks that are marginal to fully bankrupt but still standing because there's no money to take them down, given the likelihood of a possible re-takeover of the House next year by the Republicans, along with an almost certain downward leg in the market any day now, we're almost certain to get worse again by Spring 2010.

My scenario is the emergence of more Wacos, probably by Winter 2011 - people who've been out of work for a couple of years, who have essentially lost everything, and who sign up with whatever paramilitary or similar group that's closest or at least closest to their particular beliefs for three squares and a chance to get back at the Man.

But we're a long way from being there yet. Right now, people are still getting by playing the stock market, selling pot and running boiler-room ops. With so many married women in the marketplace as well, there's a greater likelihood that at least one of the two is bringing in income, while if you're single and young, there's always the parents' basement bedroom. It won't be until both husband and wife lose their jobs, until the parents of the GenY kid also get their pink slip and the stock market collapses under its own weight that attitudes will change.

First time reply here!
Alway look forward to you weekly insights.
I with cancer, should be the one to handle last weeks semtex in the lobby of Goldman Sach, but know I would only get a few worker bees, and the king/queens bees in the high office would not get anything but a warning and gov't money to set up better security!
As long as this pathetic/apathetic population of the USA indulge themselves at the coloseum's weekly and do nothing else except tune into Sarah's lates dribble, or Glen Beck's logic, then we are all fucked!
Check out zeitgiestmovie.com, it is what the young intelectual's graduating with econ degrees from your eastern universities are regarding as "truth".
As a member of the group you call "old hippies waiting to die" I survived Viet Nam, with three purple hearts, lost my farm to Paul Volker economics and Reganomics of the eighties. I am prepared as much as one can be for this next upheaval!
One question for you Jim: how much ammo do you have on hand, and how good are you at the killing game? I have been to battle, experienced the big ugly, do any of you really have any idea how ugly it is? Or as I suspect, you have only fantasies of something good comming from it! Its all good, huh! Well we will see about that probably sooner than most think!

Just what does anyone think a military dictatorship could accomplish?

We're still running out of the oil that funds "our lifestyles", we're still dealing with the beginnings of the massive disruptions of climate change, we still have a system in which the rich suck every last dollar out of the poor, we still have lost topsoil and polluted water, collapsing fish stocks, an agribusiness food model that depends on cheap oil, seeds more and more controlled by one demonic company, etc., etc., etc.

I fail to see what any military officer, wise, patriotic, downright Jimmy Stewart-like, could do to keep the whole thing from collapsing.

More likely, like Dimitry Orlov points out happened in Russia, millions will die without taking revenge, others will struggle to eat, the rich will do just fine, thank you, and we'll all go back to the previous century's way of life, before 3 Hummer families lived in McMansions 100 miles from their jobs. Living near and walking to, work, neighborhood schools, vacations spent within trainriding distance, eating foods in season - you know, the horrible lifestyle JHK believes that people will kill bankers to avoid.

First of all, thank-you for channeling the frustrations - and imaginings - of an unknown reader so astutely, so accurately, and in such an entertaining and engaging manner. Secondly, I would like to believe that Americans, when pushed to their limits, would rise up en mass against the corporate greed that holds them in check. But it seems this would have happened before now.

When I survey the rape of the American psyche that transpired over the past nine years, I wonder: have We, the People, become the victims of domestic violence? Just as a battered wife stays in her place, does not question her husband, does not try to protect herself or flee the abusive situation, have we become so accustomed to the abuse of our perceived authority figures that we are unable to entertain notions of standing up for ourselves? We must remember that we pay the salaries of the people who abuse us. We can choose to cut off our financial support, thus rendering the batterers impotent. But this sort of revolution is even harder to imagine than the sort with arms. The people who would most benefit from a revolution are too busy feeding their families to start one. Those who can afford to fight don't care enough about the cause to do so. They are comfortable and complacent - as long as they have their numbing substances of choice on hand.

I have become disheartened. 'What then must we do?'

Going as far as planting seeds of destruction into the minds of dimwitted conspiracy theorists is a little over the line. Especially when it comes to mentioning specific types of explosives. If the government was to self-destruct then it is out of our hands. We would be better off worrying about the possibility of a hostile alien takeover. The message Americans need to learn is how to be independent and not dependent on a failing system. However, no amount of shouting will convince those who are deafened by the sounds of their own desires. Technology will not save us. We have made intellect our God; which, of course, has powerful muscles, but lacks personality. We can not delude ourselves, even JHK, that there is no suffering in the world. It is easy to become confused and be convinced your actions are right and carry no consequence. The world is full of ignorant people and some these people have money, influence and power. But each one of us is held accountable for ourselves and no one else. No one can help you, but you. This is the human condition that separates us from other living things and not our so-called "mastery" of our environment.

Egads, visions of the future are rather bleek.
Too bad technology is in the hands of a nerdy computer geek.
It's going to be difficult to give thanks without any turkey meat,
as family farms fail because of Wall Street.
Everyone gathers at the local watering hole bowl
and gambles for their pro team gobbling wings that are hot.
Does anyone really work anymore, it seems NOT.
Don't worry be happy with what you've got.
Soon you'll be looking straight in the eyes of a robot.

Oh the stuttering comment section here at the clusterfuck! Double your opinion, double the fun!

Late edition of Suburban Empire takes on the new "Towne Center" style mall (as they exist in Vermont) and asks why developers can't play with others.....

http://www.suburbanempire.com

Biting commentary.... recklessly oversimplified.

Year after year JHK rails against Walmart. This week he also mentions Walmart. But contrary to peak oil, or whatever other macroeconomic theory being proposed, and contrary to claims that we are in a Depression, Walmart marches on.

Eduardo Castro Wright, chief executive of Walmart’s US stores, has estimated that urban markets where Walmart is under-represented could yield billions of dollars of new sales.

Personally I am in favor of Walmart (and other big box stores) disappearing ... if they do not provide a living wage and generous benefits for their employees. Walmart has an abysmal record in that regard.

Walmart has long faced political resistance to its plans in the largest US cities, largely orchestrated by the UFCW grocery workers’ union and its political allies.

Walmart, the largest US private employer, is strongly anti-union.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

I AM ON THE SIDE OF THE UNIONS.

Weeelll, we are all so happy for you Asoka. No, really. Really.

But you know, I was conversing with a real live human today, and she mentioned her shared loathing of WalMart, but not because of WalMart's position on unionization, but because of, and I paraphrase, "driving out the little mom & pop shops".

I mentioned that yes, WalMart did manage to drive a rather significant number of small businesses out of business, but it is important to remember that WalMart succeeded in part because consumers wanted to pay less for all the shite they sometimes needed but mostly just wanted. Wanted.

Was it evil for Sam Walton et al to create the monster we know as WalMart (as opposed to the squid of Goldman Sachs) in response to consumer demand for lower prices? It's all perspective. Or one could argue (albeit disingenuously if you understand capitalism at all) unintended consequences.

No, we are literally getting what we paid for and Sam, the Chinese and lord only knows who the f**k else are/were more than happy to sell it to the short sighted greedy little cretins that populate the CFN. The ignorant f*cks played right into the hand, along with easy credit, of disguising an essentially zero increase in wages for damn near three decades. New math my a$$, it's plain old f*cking stupidity.

Jimmy likes to prattle on about coups, torch wielding mobs run amok in the Hamptons and other idiot bastard urban myths. Maybe some big name a$$wipe gets "retired" Bladerunner style. Or maybe not. No, I think a more likely scenario is the haves and have nots of the working class going after each other throats over unions bleeding taxpayers dry with gold plated wages, benefits and retirement packages. I see people getting injured or dying during public safety sick-ins because the rank and file can't wrap their minds around the reality of an unemployed tax-base that can no longer afford cat food for grandma, cheez-doodles or Pabst much less the property tax bill. I see garbage going uncollected, schools sitting idle, on and on and on because of a failure to communicate the new reality to the 20th century mindset of labor. Globalization and Neanderthals - what a combo.

Yes, we are going to have class warfare and it will be a continuation of the sun-dried tomato and basil french bread and Cirque du Soleil for the moneyed classes to watch as they count their TARP bailout bonuses. That is to say, us versus us.

America, you've been f*cking played hard. Losers.

We're all Ma, Ma, Max Headroom now. Now.

Holy Multiple Posts Batman. Jimmy, really, you gotta pony up some fiat currency; bum rush the TARP window or something get this sumbitch fixed. Fixed.

Or upgrade from that Commodore-64 you host this thing on.

Isjogren, i am interested, where are you from. and how can you say you don't see any sign of civil unrest?

i and others see and feel it all around us, on the west coast, big cities. people are filled with rage worse than ever and taking it out, on one another, mostly in their cars. i wish 'they / we' would take it out on the criminals who caused this situation, instead of eachother.

another thing is there is much more crime, robberies, gangs are growing and more murders for no reason. it is rediculous but real and sad and maddening.

i mean things ARE REALLY bad now, and i can say from experience that they are worse in Santa Cruz CA than they are in Los Banos which is in the San Juaquin Valley.

i can imagine tho that Merced,Fresno and Bakersfield, further south, have more gang problems,and 'civil unrest' because of the state of the economy, and they are both more densely populated.

i just wonder where you live that you don't see it / have it. i'm coming there.

i think, unfortunately that JHK is on the truth track, I've followed this guy since 85. of course it would be a good thing if he was 'wrong'.

time will tell. and it's not that far away.

melinda

As profitable as 9/11 was, I'm surprised Goldman hasn't sent a gang of pitchfork raiders to raze their own headquarters. Who needs uncontrolled terrorists when you can profit by creating them! It won't be surprising when the violence erupts, but where I disagree with Jim is the source. It won't be pissed off unemployed domestic terrorists. That's who will get the blame of course. It's just too profitable for the Fed or Goldman or JP to act first.

Greetings:

The slow grind of violence is occurring. Shootings in our medium city continue, deaths are now weekly. Speak to any cop, ems or firefighter and they can tell you the slow decline of decent behavior. The taking of one's life continues but the press does not report these things, but agains speak to first responders. The rest of us are sleeping or we see it,but feel powerless against it. The peak oil sites tell us to move out west,but 99% of us cannot leave. Halloween season we saw Clock work Orange, thats how we shall descend, not rapid,because rapid requires a response. Not to worry right wing religious conservatives will re take the white house again,and a new Hilter will rise. Oh I must hurry a peak oil sites is telling to buy food right now, last minute deal, the end is tomorrow( and tomorrow).

I still struggle to see any sort of collective or cohesive social response to the situation on any meaningful level. Any social unrest or violence will be basically self-inflicted. As usual, funny looking people will be targeted, but not before people do themselves in or their families and other hapless bystanders. America's population is so isolated and stratified that it could never muster the will to do more than some halfhearted racebaiting and any sort of protest will be as fleeting as a prison riot, and the participants will all be tatted up to play their parts. Again, this will happen when the government checks quit showing up, not because the population has come to grips with the realization that we've been in a permanent, 40 year decline.

Before we are all sent off to our regional Ghost Mall FEMA Camps, you might see a well-meaning and close to retirement military guy or two throw himself under the bus, but most of them will retire to their hardened bunkers in the Intermountain West. One or two might even get on Youtube with their shiny medals from blowing the shit out of some Middle East goat farms and get a few of Oath Keepers excited. But mostly it will give license to closet ammo hoarders and wannabe skinheads to go apeshit.

Fantasy apocalypticism is the stock and trade of the American political imagination. It is not surprising to see it again today in Mr. Kunstler's post. If you think we haven't been down this path before, read Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward," published in 1888.

Bellamy also predicted -- and in fact advocated -- a military state that governed without popular mandate. Bellamy's political party -- the Nationalists -- even made some electoral headway in California in the 1890's. But that's as far as it went before it fizzled, and I see no reason to expect a resurgence even now, when half the classifed advertisements consist of foreclosure notices.

Revolution, no. But what we are seeing is a new wave of community organization -- and by that I mean eco-communities of one kind or another.
Cohousing groups, ecovillages, and even a few communes -- these are popping up all over the place. One of the best examples is Ecovillage at
Ithaca, not far from where Mr. Kunstler. I've been advocating for a quite a while that he make a road trip to Ithaca and check it out. You'll see the real revolution -- and a peaceful one -- taking place.

And then there's our effort here in Utah: The Utah Valley Commons. We're a cohousing group in formation. If you're anywhere in the vicinity, check us out: we are actively recruiting members with an interest in permaculture, strawbale construction, and cooperative living.

Charles W. Nuckolls
Utah Valley Commons
www.utahvalleycommons.com

Sadly Jim you are starting to sound more like Bill O'Reilly every day; neither one of you trusts the government and you both advocate looking out for yourself because nobody else will. I am not arguing your politics are anywhere similar, but it is interesting to see that people on both sides of the fence are both arguing that the government cannot be counted on.

'both sides of the fence.'
it's not all black and white.
there are more the 2 sides, gray areas.

what i know is what i SEE. in real life, on the west coast and inland in ca. there is violence
everywhere, but more in the densely populated
areas.

i wish the intelligent people on this site could
move out here and be a positive influence.
but i believe that the violence will be everywhere and sooner than later. people ARE broke and homeless.

i saw the boom and the bust. i was here when it
crashed in 06. i live where all around me there
are forclosures and houses that friends bought for
450K, resold for 126K, people got screwed, and some had to walk away and some just did. and i do not blame THEM. the fault lies with the people 'at the top' who knew better.

and the man who was writing about the drones be reprogrammed, you can bet your life that is what
the people we are at war with are working on right now. we have always relied on our brawn, but not our brains so much, while they have to be creative with their thinking, and they ARE. that is why this 'war' is different from others.

we have lived a disneyland life, took it for granted, and we are naive, not all of us, but you know what i mean, and the intelligent ones of us are outnumbered by complacency in others, etc.

i guess 911 wasn't enough of a wake up call.

i don't have the best way with words, but i try.

i said to a friend 15 years ago that we are turning into a 3rd world country. now look.

jim is more right than he is wrong, and i give him huge credit for caring and trying to understand and get it across to others.

what is happening is a downhill slide for sure,
i see it and feel it all over california. i am afraid of the gangs here more than anything.
in spite of everthing else.

okay i am done for now.
melinda

Anyone who thinks this isn't a possibility has no clue about history. Of course it doesn't take a literal coup d'etat -- that's not how the nazis did it -- but who knows?

The important factor is the combination of wealth disparity with willingness to believe empty rhetoric. Just continue to add recession and stir.

John Michael Greer has been thinking about this for a while and wrote an excellent piece on it last week over at 'The Archdruid Report'; Sharon Astyk has also mentioned it more than once. It's a perfectly sensible prospect to entertain.

Here in the UK, we have the BNP fascist party who are very big on peak oil. They love it; they know it represents their chance. They're just waiting to run to the rescue when the rest of the national parties are shown truly inadequate.

So now we'll see.

James, I have to say that I don't believe you have thoroughly read the Obama-Bernanke-Summers-Geithner Play Book very well.

What is in there is a key play to run the dollar down to the lowest level goal post, and then declare a touch-down. This is the plan. By doing this, these Kool-Aid drinking Reagan fans of supply-side and trickle down economics can be expedited. They actually believe, but don't want to say publicly, that they want to follow the Chinese form of economics, which is to push wages lower and lower when necessary in order to compete. China won't raise the value of their currency, so the US must push it down to their level.

These beguiling blowzy bureaucratic bobbleheads running the executive branch feel that they can, once again, resurrect the industrial Phoenix from the Detroit, Pittsburgh, etc ashes just by crashing the dollar and depressing wages, even though there is little of an industrialized nation to bring forward and compete with the globe's largest industrialized tour-de-force.

Maybe there will be a massive public uprising, but it will be too late. The ammo toting beasts will be forced back into their homes to watch The Biggest Loser.

http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com

I would rather have the military controlling the levers of power in Washington, or Ottawa for that matter, than see a nation fall into the hands of the proto-fascist thugs that make up the bulk of America's and Canada's modern conservative movement. At least a military dictatorship could organize large armies of unemployed and marginally-employed people and give them useful work rebuilding our decrepit passenger rail systems or converting vacant industrial land in Toronto and Chicago into farm land. It beats having Capitol Hill or Parliament Hill occupied by brown-shirted ex-Republicans, ex-Conservatives singing "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" while the world is burning.

Mr. Kuntzler,
Nope. The military has already beat you to the coup d'etat scenario. There is a war college graduate Master's thesis out there called 'The Coup of 2012' That describes exactly what you are talking about. It won a big award if I recall. I'll see if I can find the details again since the thesis was written at least five years ago.

Here is the link to Lt. Col. Charles Dunlap's 1992 graduate Thesis:
www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/research_pubs/p087.pdf

So the Hate Crime bill passed last Wednesday. As of now, Whites are officially second class citizens with Blacks, Latinos, Muslims, Jews, Gays, Pervs, etc all having Civil Rights that Whites don't have. The Anti Defamation League is rejoicing after leading the battle for over a decade. The next step will be a massive education campaign for District Attorneys and Lawyers on how to prosecute hate crimes. What great timing-as if the country isn't divided enough. Wait until they start putting ministes and priests in jail for preaching the gospel-while Orthodox Rabbis are left alone.

Shogunole:

Congrat's , you got it. Refering back to my earlier post. The two classromm discussion that my son was involved with at the Naval Academy did not touch on a military overthrow of the government. What the conversation revolved around was the Military's role in a general break down of civil order. In both cases teachers brought up the topic and cited info fom a number of sources, one being the War College. In both cases the teachers said the chances for a civil break down was over 80% within 5 years. The main cause of the beakdown centered around the devaluation of the U.S dollar and massive energy shortages.
My son as well as the other midshipmen have a better understanding of political and economic events than 90% of the general U.S. polulation.
They have a good understanding of the current energy situation, the overwellming problems with Mexico's oil production and the impact on the U.S. Remember these people do not owe their allegance to the U.S government nor the American people.

A FRAGMENT ON SLAVERY. JULY 1854

If A can prove, however conclusively, that he may of right enslave B, why may not B snatch the same argument and prove equally that he may enslave A? You say A is white and B is black. It is colour, then; the lighter having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule you are to be slave to the first man you meet with a fairer skin than your own.

You do not mean colour exactly? You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule you are to be slave to the first man you meet with an intellect superior to your own.

But, say you, it is a question of interest, and if you make it your interest you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest he has the right to enslave you.

-Abraham Lincoln

meanwhile......the flood tide grows
this is from yahoo

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Some 700 million people worldwide, or more than all the adults of North and South America combined, think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence and want to permanently move to another country, a poll showed Tuesday.

Residents of sub-Saharan African countries were the most likely to want to move abroad permanently, the polls conducted in 135 countries between 2007 and this year by Gallup showed.

On average, 38 percent of the adult population in sub-Saharan Africa, or around 165 million people, said they would up stakes and head for another country if they had the chance.

The most popular destination was the United States, where nearly a quarter of the 700 million -- around 165 million people -- said they would like to settle.

In joint second were Britain, Canada and France, each being named as the preferred destination of around 45 million people.

A great book that fits the present time:

JB by William Gaddis.

A school kid corners the market using the school pay phone.

Jim, I can think of only one thing that might bring about the anarchy you so wetly dream of: The assassination of the POTUS by some "Korn-Pone" nazi skinhead type.

Think about it. Do you recall the Rodney King riots? It wasn't just in LA, just about every major city with a large black population had riots too. Atlanta, DC, Chicago, NYC, SF & Seattle too. I was in SF at the time, you could hear this ROAR from downtown market st from where we lived. My sis in Boston could hear the same thing. Co-workers in Oakland said it was pretty bad there. The police just stayed away from it and let it burn itself out. It was really terrifying. And it lasted just a few days.
What do you think might happen now?

But I don't know if the military will be able to step in an keep order this time around, they are already stretched too far in the Mid-East.

Anyway, I thought I'd remind you of the past, after all, if you don't know your history, you are bound to repeat it (to paraphrase).

Melinda, I used to live in Sanna Cruz, it must be pretty bad if its like you describe it.

p.s. in your link to "especially dumb letters...", I really don't see why you included the first two, they seem quite reasonable to me.
If you consider these "dumb", then perhaps its you that has a problem.
I have read much worse things here in your comments section, some especially childish responses by the former eieio-zzzzaa-whatever-the-fuck-they-call-themselves-now.

Ciao
DJ

God am I sick of all this "There is gonna be blood" crap! Dude, your just a flat bore. This blog is all used up! Now were gonna have a military takeover? Maybe 100 years from now. Don't worry Jim, you will be gone by then. It seems that week after week you keep writing the same article, but with ever more creative writing styles! How exciting! Here, I'll write next weeks article for everyone now to save time.
The oil is gone!
The money is gone!
Someone is gonna kill someone!
I like trains!
I hate myself!
blah, blah, blah, bore me!

Well, it was nice while it lasted. The average civilization last 228 years before MAJOR changes start to self destruct the core.

History always repeats itself. The US unfortunately is no different. But to half a mixed race mixed religion with protected rights in a society for all....in a Democracy.....would be a precursor for continued success IMO.

But this latest heist from the same group that ruined Germany is BACK...........................

Max H

so what ok you are smarter than jhk ! and me cuz I learn from him.

you sure waste alot of your own time reading and
responding to his page, putting him down. maybe get your own site & go for it. eh ? oh well, your post is funny.

and Jaego, I love the way you put it. T A .
That was an excellent book I never forgot.
I can see this playing out in the world as you
say.

and yes, SCruz has changed with the times, especially certain parts. and in general. just
the rat race like so many other places, and
SO many people driving around like they are the
only ones on the road. The liberal ucsc college
controls politics. downtown is dangerous, and the
areas surrounding it, at night, you can get stabbed by the local gangs. and it is mex against whites. and blacks against whites and mex. not safe at night so much anymore. downtown that is.
Serious meth & gang problem. violent people on meth. not so good. the past sure was safer.

of course you know the climate is what most are
there for.

keep up the good work JHK. I appreciate it. I don't think you read these, but anyway I wanted to say it.

COAST TO COAST RADIO
last nite someone named Craig was talking,saying CHASE is the worst bank..taking US $ and funneling it to china
that the dis investment in the USA is growing

someone called and say ' yr a doomer'
he said ' ive been studying this for a long time'

coast to coast2

also Craig was saying JEB has his eyes on the whitehouse
GOD HELP US

Not to pile onto this convesation - but, this talk of revolution is quite dreamland. I mean, Zombieland. Many of us wish for huge change, see the world as getting totally screwed up, this country going down the wrong path politically, socially, economically, etc. It is not that revolution would not be what I'd want to live to see (even perhaps if I only saw 72 hours of it before being taken out by a 10 year old sniper who played video games), it's that the American population are ill willed at any change and the system has learned from 1968 and has the resources to quell any - hey, is that Dance With The Stars? What was I saying...? Oh, we're fat and sassy on the consumer goods. These are not going to run out for us here (what happens to the world's poor is another story). The truest sign of stress on this society is that people are thinking and talking about this. That we can't see things going on because we are plotting into a section of history that has no history. It does not mean the world will end. It will be replaced by something else, and that thing, I am afraid will look more like McWorld than Russia 1921.

U.S. MUSLIMS CONDEMN ATTACK AT FORT HOOD

http://www.cair.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?ArticleID=26126&&name=n&&currPage=1

Hilarious send up of the inanity of Glen Beck by John Stewart. JHK better be careful or someone will be doing this about him someday.

http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=3847878&ref=fpb

John Stewart is a comedy program that provides real news.

Glen Beck is claiming to the the "fusion of entertainment and enlightenment" that provides comedy.

Jaego Scorzne:

I have to reply to your stupid racism.

At the current rate of human interbreeding, we are quickly headed for a "Starbucks" humanity in the not to very distant future. By this I mean that there will no longer be a "pure" white or black race, but instead there will be a vast multitude of coffee colored peoples. There will be the 'dark-roast' peoples of the equatorial regions,and the 'cafe-latte' persons of the northern regions (perhaps with a topping of whipped cream). Finally racism will die.

But of course that doesn't mean that we will all of a sudden "get along", there will still be religion to hate each other over, which I feel is the most silly thing, something all made up by Man, God in His own image. Might as well worship the Easter Bunny in all his chocolaty goodness.

But at least we won't have stupid racists around anymore, YOU my fiend will become extinct, like the dinosaur you are.
So long....

dj

um um um..our dear leader Barak hussein obama

“We don’t know all the answers yet. And I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts,” Obama said in a Rose Garden statement otherwise devoted to the economy.
“What we do know is that there are families, friends and an entire nation grieving right now for the valiant men and women who came under attack yesterday,”
Yet the hypocritical President, who back in July claimed a WHITE cop was racist and stupid for arresting Henry Gates is now telling Americans “don’t jump to conclusions” about Hasan.
and he talked for 2 minutes about other things before saying this,,,,2 hours? after the shooting.

dont jump to conclusions

Somewhere in the 60's we replaced:

E PLURIBUS UNUM

with

E PLURIBUS PLURIBUS

Without going into details, I leave it as a puzzle to see if it works. If diversity at the social level leads to confrontation, does that mean that the lack of diversity at the racial level (one panglossian race) would lead to a better society?

Asoka said to Jaego: "If you don't think this diverse country can get along, then maybe you'd best look elsewhere, because diversity (and the strength it provides) is here to stay."

Jaego, I may have jumped to conclusions. I just realized you may not be an American. In that case, let me explain why your desire for a white separation is not feasible in America.

You see, in the United States we have a Pledge of Allegiance which states we are ONE NATION and that we are INDIVISIBLE.

So, your idea of a separation of Whites from other races is inherently un-American. Which is why it occurred to me you might not be American, and not understand what it means to be American.

True Americans welcome diversity. It is our heritage. We are a nation of immigrants.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

And they came: Irish, Poles, Czechs, English, Scottish, Germans, Greeks, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, etc.

They came in droves and established the precedent.

Open doors for immigrants, that is what makes our identity multicultural. Those doors cannot and will not be closed.

Well, USA already got Petreus. Sounds a lot like Julius ;)
It increasingly looks like the only way out.

Snap, crackle, and pop as the human herd still likes huddling in large concrete arenas to watch a few modern day empire gladiators play some sort of prescheduled live competition event. How many hours of non work can this society waste while consuming genetic and chemically modified nitrates peddled as food? What's that smell? Of course the statistical analysis is just more new and improved high tech mind candy for those hypnotized to the current way of living with limited fossil fuels.

"'At the current rate of human interbreeding,' human flesh will expand in all directions at the speed of light!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sort of like a cancer tumor. 'cept at the speed of lard. On a medium-warm day.

"Even the '"Korn-Pone" nazi skinhead type[s]' are bright enough to know killing Pinocchio leaves the puppeteer intact..." Really? Perhaps some of them are, but 99% of them have IQ' in the lower digit range. Thier hunting dogs are probably more smarter (hee-haw!)
"On the other hand, you do have Sarah Schiklegruber er, Palin, der Cougar-Furheretter in training. Sieg High-heels! Or is it sieg thigh-highs - I can never remember. Maybe she'll bring back the good old S&M days - leather, bamboo canes, enchiladas shoved er, never mind."

It is a wonder how Palin gets the right wingers all hot & drooling. But perhaps the above by my good fiend (miss sp intentional) Max Legroom is an indicator.

"There will be the 'dark-roast' peoples of the equatorial regions,and the 'cafe-latte' persons of the northern regions (perhaps with a topping of whipped cream). Finally racism will die."

Aren't you meaning to say "Finally diversity will die." Eliminating differences IS eliminating diversity. Cognizance of distinction will never cease. New silencing label : shadeism.

Everyone here has not the slightest clue as to the errors in all of their discourse. Including JHK. And this is why we cannot arrive at any way to protect ourselves or stop this madness. I am labeling this present situation in the western world as madness.

And to let these people into our military while we are fighting in their homelands? Stupid is as stupid does. This is not the first tragedy. And there will be more. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting things to be different.

Sorry I meant to say that Toynbee describes this behavior as universal in all civilizations in disintegration. The enemy is recruited into their military and taught how to use the latest in weaponry.

So they can do what with it?

To Jaego, who is worried about the hate crime bill:

Actually, below is an instance where hate crime law is going to be used by a prosecutor in Buffalo for a case where a white guy with a black girlfriend (I know that makes you cringe) was beaten nearly to death by a dozen black guys or so.

Would you disapprove of using a hate crime law in this instance?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/07/new.york.beating/index.html

Jaego, in googling both Houellebecq and Foucault to see what came up,I have been reading what came up for a couple of hours now. You were the only one I could think of that would appreciate what came up.

It's pretty visionary to say the least that I can say.

Anyway here is what came up: http://tinyurl.com/y9u26fl I don't think you will be disappointed.

ASOKA said: ""Open doors for immigrants, that is what makes our identity multicultural."

MESSIANICDRUID said: "So, why is it important {even imperative} for you to preach the watering down of white culture?

IOW, what is wrong with the Irish, Poles, Czechs, English, Scottish, Germans, Greeks, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, celebrating and following their respective cultures..."

I am all for celebrating White cultures and Asian cultures and Black Cultures and Hispanic cultures. I don't want to "water down" anybody's culture.

My whole point is that this is a multicultural country because it was founded by and built by immigrants from Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. That diversity has given America its strength, as the Nazis and Japanese found out in World War II.

Now I want more Mexicans and more Muslims in the United States. I want the immigrants to continue to arrive because that makes the country stronger.

I don't want any culture to be "watered down" by government action. But just by people falling in love the White race is going to become a minority very soon. Minorities should be protected and preserved. Whites may need affirmative action help eventually, so they can compete with the majority.

America, and the American people won a victory today. One step closer to quality, affordable health care in a bipartisan vote the House passed a health reform bill.

No other President has been able to get health care reform, but Obama was experienced enough to provide the vision and motivation needed to achieve bills in both the House and the Senate.

YES WE CAN!

There is nothing more personal to people than their health care. No more Republican doughnut hole!

No more 46 million people uninsured!

And the budget deficit will decrease according the the Congressional Budget Office scoring of the bill.

It is a win-win. Yes we can! Change you can believe in.

If you lose your job, you will now not lose your health coverage.

Thank you, President Obama!

If you are a woman, you cannot be denied health care coverage because you were raped or pregnant or whatever.

Health care will no longer be denied for pre-existing conditions.

You now have a choice. Keep what you have if you like the health insurance you have. Nothing is mandatory. Nobody is being forced to take "government-run" health care.

Business will now prosper, especially small businesses. The deficit will decrease.

The gross national product will improve.

Employment will increase (because small business provides most employment).

Asoka said to Jaego: "If you don't think this diverse country can get along, then maybe you'd best look elsewhere, because diversity (and the strength it provides) is here to stay."

Jaego, I may have jumped to conclusions. I just realized you may not be an American. In that case, let me explain why your desire for a white separation is not feasible in America.

You see, in the United States we have a Pledge of Allegiance which states we are ONE NATION and that we are INDIVISIBLE.

So, your idea of a separation of Whites from other races is inherently un-American. Which is why it occurred to me you might not be American, and not understand what it means to be American.

True Americans welcome diversity. It is our heritage. We are a nation of immigrants.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

And they came: Irish, Poles, Czechs, English, Scottish, Germans, Greeks, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, etc.

They came in droves and established the precedent.

Open doors for immigrants, that is what makes our identity multicultural. Those doors cannot and will not be closed.

Asoka,
What would be the ideal population number for the USA?

Yo, bahmi, lazy bum here, writing to gullible bahmi.

Can you, or anyone, prove that George Bush or Barack Obama, or the Rothschild family, or David Rockefeller or Zbigniew Brzezinski or anyone else is a member of a secret society called The Illuminati, or that such a society even exists today?

Or are you a lazy bum who just accepts what conspiracy theorists say without bothering to get any proof to substantiate the claims?

Asoka,

Cheap labor is why slaves were imported. It didn't work then either, except for a brief moment intime. It is the cause of all our racial problems today. Greed from people who wanted to live a feudal life in the south. Hunting, horses, whoring, etc. Their inability to project the consequences for their progeny led to the Civil War and all the rest of it even unto today. Seven generations is much too short a prediction for god's vengeance.

Unto the seventh generation is a precursor of the modern scientific cause and effect or correlation at best.

However cause and effect is being laid to rest also. There is no history. No progress. No thread of transcendence running through it. Just nothing.
Awful to contemplate.

Houellebecq and Foucault discuss cloning, elimination of sexual reproduction, illness, genetic imperfections, and replication of self into the future. And endless spiritual life. We are now about 20 years from being able to do this. And it will be done if only because it will be profitable for some.

There is no possibility for happiness in a technological and controlled world. Sex is the toy they have given us for our amusement and pleasure. And Houellebecq graphically illustrates this (why bourgeois France who indulges, hate him) and how quickly pleasure dissipates after age 40 or so in favor of young bodies. Pleasure and desire have been separated, so no happiness is possible.

Unless the spiritual life is chosen without contradictions. Asoka go out into the woods and toss your computer away. I lived that way mostly for a little over a year. It is difficult. Just to wash your face with warm water in the morning it takes a lot of time if you prefer warm water in the winter. But your mind does get cleaned out. Of course if you read Wittgenstein your mind will feel scraped clean too.

I really don't have anything to say. What is it possible for me to say?

Good to see you Cthulhu my Lovecraft friend.

Creeping Chaos is ever flowing like mercury into every nook and cranny, isn't it?

On BHL and Foucault:

The oddity in Levy's argument is that in its well justified focus on radical Islam, he acknowledges, only in passing, the impact of the conspiratorially anti-modern turn of what might be called the Foucauldian left which took hold in the aftermath of the 1960s. He discusses Foucault in the context of French intra-left debates, but never as a precursor to 'the backward falling corpse.' For Foucault, disillusion with the USSR, as with Virginia Woolf who finally discovered that Hitler wasn't a nice guy, meant that it was their own liberal societies which were truly fascist. Woolf, and more systematically Foucault, sniffed out fascism everywhere in their own relatively tolerant societies. Foucault was the master of discovering 'little everyday fascism.' Similarly the leftist philosopher Louis Althusser, who had experienced what he saw as freedom in a German POW camp during WWII was dedicated to exposing 'that most frightful, appalling and horrifying of all the ideological state apparatuses . . . namely, the family.' For this cynical left, which barely makes an appearance in The Left in Dark Times, the achievements of liberal societies have only made matters worse. In the words of Jacques Derrida, one of the deconstructionist champions of the cynical left, 'no amount of progress warrants us to ignore the fact that never, in absolute terms, never have so many men, women and children been enslaved, famished or exterminated on earth.' No evidence is necessary since, as with the communists and fascists of old, liberalism is clearly the primary source of evil in the world.

I can't say it any better than this.

http://tinyurl.com/y92ajgr for the entire essay.

Much of what we read devolves from a perception that societal chaos is somehow driven by societal misfunction. I would at least offer that the internalization of this anonomie comes in fact from a loss of internal connection to universal sensibility. The books of Colin Wilson take us from his original existentialist view of
the near suicidal tack of many in modern society in The Outsider to its fictionalization in The Mind Parasites followed by what appears as almost an optimistic recipe book in Super Consciousness .

I suspect that by our acceding to the physical world as both the source and cure for our plights, we end up in a feedback loop out of which we cannot get. Insane sub-components such as those of the "suicide bomber" or the "Madoff/Goldman" fascination with the accumulation of fiat money or even the positing the equivalence of the white trailer trash culture with white literary/intellectual greatness are a substitute religion on the road to nowhere.

Max your phony anger and cussing are downright funny!

OK... classic liberals created the Constitution with its 2nd amendment right to bear arms.

Feel better now?

Identifying double-binds is Bateson's expose of Orwellian brilliance. The schizophrenagenic mother is the master of this form of communication. The child is constantly put in double-binds.

Talk to me, you never talk to me.
Don't say that to me. That's not something I want to hear.

Silence is forbidden and saying is forbidden. With one of them you lose and with the other you can't win.

Got it.

Oh, JS, you see me thru your reverse mirrored glasses (where all you see is your own eyes ataring at yourself).
I am not espousing genocide.
What I was saying is that the various races will just fuck them selves into oblivion thus resulting in a coffee colored race. This is what I anticipate.

Look at old scumbag Strom Thurmond, even he couldn't help but dip into the cocolate box, its THAT good.

Now go fuck youself.

DeeJaay

http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/esi/2002/CivilLiberties/Projects/Origins.pdf

The article is darkly excellent, like a Cormac McCarthy novel. The link above is to a paper that was written in 1992 as an entry in an essay contest sponsored by Colin Powell for his staff officers. It posits a military coup in 2012 as America chooses political paralysis and ungovernability by electing ineffective leaders.
Robert a. Heinelin used a coup by angry returning veterans of a pointless war as the storyline explaining the world of "Starship troopers," as I recall. The best sci-fi has solid predictive value.
What Mr. Kuntstler writes makes sense, and I believe, as I've told others, that many of us will outlive the Republic. (Not that I will be happy to see it, either.)
-ssgconway