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A Distant Sound of Churning

    In my last dream of a febrile night, I put my flat-screen TV on top of an old house in town and watched it crash onto the street. There was nothing inside it. The darn thing was empty. The ghost of Little Caylee wasn’t even in there.
     From the news this weekend, you’d think the world was in a coma, but I swear I heard ominous bassoon phrases through the night rain… something large groaning out there in the dark. A great churn, coming closer. The world is in a box, tortured with its obsolete ideas about how economies are supposed to run, especially the money part, and the economists are clueless.
     A case in point: the eminent Vincent Reinhart at the Council of Foreign Relations last week. (Conspiracy theorists just shut your pie-holes):
 “There are very few debt defaults… there are a whole lot of restructurings. For most of history, default is something the strong declare on the weak when they lose their patience. And if you’re members of the same club, you’re less likely to lose your patience. Hence you’re less likely to default. Greece is in the club.”
     The club he refers to – the Euro money club – is less a jolly fraternal lodge than a funeral insurance association. The latest restructuring for Greece he referred to is a cockamamie perpetual rollover with no redemptions allowed, while Greece has to agree to become more like its neighbor, Albania, in lifestyle – that is, like Borat, minus the joie de vivre.
     There’s a third option that Reinhart ignores: the Greek populace can riot in the streets, toss out their government, install some kind of rump leadership and hoist its middle fingers at the Euro management team, opting out of the club. Why this does not occur to Reinhart (and many other vested poobahs) I can’t say, despite the fact that there are many places around the world (especially Europe these days) where the natives are obviously getting restless. Besides, it’s not lost on the Greek people that they’re being asked to go Albanian for the sake of a dozen banks up in Germany, France, and Holland, not their own country’s sacred honor. 
     The proposed restructuring is all about the Great Fear that haunts the inner sanctums of finance (like the ghost of Caylee haunts America): counter-party obligations on a Burj Dubai of side bets over things such as the soundness of bonds and the movement of interest rates. The world of money imagines a thundering crash of cascading defaults as the various counter-parties are revealed to be broke, naked, and ashamed. And rightly so, because the creakings and groanings of this tower of paper will not only crash, but burn, too. The bankers can already smell it.
     Anyway, let’s be clear that money has become a world unto itself now, a self-referential hall-of-mirrors that only sees itself and is increasingly confused by what it sees in that self. Outside that blinding little box there are real economies of people trying like hell to go about their daily life, and there is much to be fretful about. Economies are caught in the permanent compressive contraction of fossil fuel based activities. When you hear a politician utter the word “growth” note that he/she is speaking out of his/her ass. Contraction is contraction, not growth. We’re done with growth of that kind because our fuel supplies are shrinking, not growing. The vaunted “recovery” is a political three-card-monte trick.
      The sad fact is we don’t want to go where history wants to take us: to a smaller human imprint on the planet, with all that implies. This is true especially of the intellectual avant-garde, who can’t imagine a world without the joys of perpetual techno-narcissistic novelty, of levitating skyscraper cities with hanging gardens and flying cars, full of girls with green nail-polish in get-ups so fantastic mere mortals could never have dreamed them up, flaunting hand-held gadgets so miraculous that life itself seems besides the point. Oh, shimmering future! Oh Ray Kurzweil and your nano-ladder to the worm-holes of forever!
     This Ancien Régime is about to be swept away on the tsunami of its own futility.
     The failure of leadership around the world is now complete. Nobody who needs to get it gets it. Our own money management team here in the USA is in a box even worse than Europe’s. It’s not even a hall of mirrors. It’s a broke-down Winnebago with moldy upholstery and the propane line is leaking inside. Everybody’s wondering if Ben Bernanke is going to light a cigarette. What else can he do? If he doesn’t keep the QE-ZIRP racket going, the wheels will come off the Winnebago. If he lights that American Spirit, she’ll blow.
     The US banking system can easily implode, anyway, if a European nation or two opts out of ECB-peristroika. God knows who is a counter-party to whom in the mammoth international clusterfuck of accounting fraud that passes for a commerce in capital. Hence, everybody is nervous – except the fools at the Nascar oval with Big Gulps in their fists. When the Greeks and Spain’s youth corps, and even the bleery folk of Dublin take to the central square to express their rage, and hoist middle fingers to those who would chisel them into debt serfdom, Americans will have no central squares to go to. Will we take to the highway strips and burn down a Taco Bell or two? Maybe President Obama will ask congress for a home mortgage TARP, guaranteeing that nobody will ever buy a house again, at least not on an installment loan. Maybe in tonight’s New Hampshire “debate,” Michele Bachman will appeal to Jesus for the release of Little Caylee from eternity’s impoundment lot, and the stunt will carry her overwhelmingly to the oval office.
     By then, America, too, will be more like Albania. You can take that to the bank, if there’s one left standing. Yesterday a little US flag appeared on every mailbox in the neighborhood. Someone is trying to help remind us what country this is. Most years, this is just ceremonial routine, but now I suspect a lot of people get up and scratch their heads over it. And, believe me, just waving that old flag is not going to furnish any kind of idea you can really hang onto.
      Out of the current stillness in world events, a horrible churning waits. Men in impeccable suits on Swiss terraces cannot hide their anxiety. One might even lose it and jump a hotel maid – you never know. Bernanke, Obama, Geithner are powerless against the dark lurking churn, though they can easily make it worse. What a summer we’re in for. Get out of the stock market.

______________________________

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About James Howard Kunstler

View all posts by James Howard Kunstler
James Howard Kunstler is the author of many books including (non-fiction) The Geography of Nowhere, The City in Mind: Notes on the Urban Condition, Home from Nowhere, The Long Emergency and the four-book series of World Made By Hand novels, set in a post economic crash American future. His most recent book is Living in the Long Emergency; Global Crisis, the Failure of the Futurists, and the Early Adapters Who Are Showing Us the Way Forward. Jim lives on a homestead in Washington County, New. York, where he tends his garden and communes with his chickens.

972 Responses to “A Distant Sound of Churning”

  1. Cabra1080 June 13, 2011 at 9:22 am #

    First!

  2. Leibowitz Society June 13, 2011 at 9:24 am #

    People are still living in the past. They pretend that money is worth something, that there is an nation called America which will last forever, that things are too big to even contemplate the idea of failure. These are dead, worn-out ideas and people need to start looking at the future, now that the future is arriving.
    Visit the Leibowitz Society at http://leibowitzsociety.blogspot.com for planning and thinking about where we’re going after the collapse and how to save our essential knowledge for when it comes time to rebuild.

  3. Cabra1080 June 13, 2011 at 9:35 am #

    It’s interesting how China and India are going full tilt building big national highways. I seems they think there is something like “growth” taking place. However, it looks they just got into the game just as the game is ending…

  4. empirestatebuilding June 13, 2011 at 9:36 am #

    You have reminded me of the game Jenga. It seems an apt analogy for the international banking system. One false move and the whole thing will come crashing down. Eventually all that is left is false moves.
    My guess is that without QE3 we won’t have a stock marker much longer. It saddens me, because I liked the idea of money for nothing. I liked being distracted by pervert politicians and infanticide. I like Doritos and Gatorade. I like Bud Light and medical marijuana. I like doing 80 mph in the right lane. I like being as dumb as a bag of hammers. Thinking taxes my brain.
    My conspiracy theory friend told me to look out for Planet X. It’s on its way and it won’t be good. He’s heading for the hills. I am heading to the beach with a case of beer. 2012 can’t come soon enough. If only it were that simple.
    Aimlow Joe was here
    http://www.aimlow.com

  5. PRD June 13, 2011 at 9:36 am #

    About halfway through this essay, I had to stop and Google “Caylee.” Who the hell is Caylee?? Oh. Sorry I asked.

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  6. messianicdruid June 13, 2011 at 9:42 am #

    America will out-live the UNITED STATES.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFCLiij0CBA&feature=player_embedded

  7. lsjogren June 13, 2011 at 9:43 am #

    One of the best weekly rants by Kunstler I have read in some time.
    The only one thing I would take issue with- there is no way out for the people of Greece.
    The banking system is dysfunctional and a populist revolt would allow them to extricate themselves from that mess.
    But their real economy is in utter shambles as well. Their economy is top-heavy with government civil servants, while the private sector needed to produce the taxes to fund government is virtually nonexistant.
    The Greeks are doubly screwed. Screwed by the banks, and screwed by their own stupidity.
    Their only choice now is what flavor of dismal future they prefer.
    Of course, our situation in the US is not a whole lot better, although not quite as hopeless as that of Greece.

  8. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown June 13, 2011 at 9:46 am #

    JHK, great column this week. I too had to do some googling. That Burj Dubai is something. Didn’t recognize “Caylee, I assume she’s is some dead little white girl from the Nancy Grace show… get out of my brain, Nancy Grace!
    > The sad fact is we don’t want to go where history wants to take us: to a smaller human imprint on the planet, with all that implies.
    That pretty much sums it all up right there. Thanks.

  9. Barter4Booze June 13, 2011 at 9:46 am #

    Thanks, Jim, for the reminder.
    Best, I think, to choose poverty before poverty chooses you.
    A distant churning, eh? I’m reminded of Mother’s wringer washing machine, which had a comforting ‘churning’ rhythm to it. Sometimes I’d hang out with Mom while she did the laundry. Churn-churn, churn-churn, churn-churn, went the washing machine. After awhile, she’s switch on the wringer, reach into the still-churning tub, and pull out an article of clothing, or, to extend the metaphor, a debt-wracked, Southern European country. Churn-churn — Greece; churn-churn Portugal; churn-churn Ireland. In 1964, Mom’s washing machine was just the thing for dealing with all our dirty laundry. After the wringer, all of the shirts were ready to hang-out on the clothesline — or should I be saying ‘strung-up’?
    Thanks for the memory, Uncle Sam. And don’t let your fingers get too close to the wringer!

  10. metuselah June 13, 2011 at 9:47 am #

    “The sad fact is we don’t want to go where history wants to take us: to a smaller human imprint on the planet, with all that implies. This is true especially of the intellectual avant-garde, who can’t imagine a world without the joys of perpetual techno-narcissistic novelty, of levitating skyscraper cities with hanging gardens and flying cars, full of girls with green nail-polish in get-ups so fantastic mere mortals could never have dreamed them up, flaunting hand-held gadgets so miraculous that life itself seems besides the point. Oh, shimmering future!”
    ==
    Sorry James, they planned a future quite different from that nonsense above. More like this one:
    http://www.hawgleg.com/images/news/zardoz_cover_huge.jpg
    Enjoy your hooker boots!

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  11. lsjogren June 13, 2011 at 9:48 am #

    “My guess is that without QE3 we won’t have a stock marker much longer.”
    More importantly, without QE3 we won’t have a bond market.
    Ron Paul was talking the other day about 50% inflation.
    I don’t see it. I see about 10% inflation per year. That is sufficient for the politicians to decimate the standard of living in the US sufficiently for us to reach a new equilibrium where we are living within our means at a level that will probably be considerably closer to a stone-age existence than to the fake prosperity induced by financial steroids whose fumes we are still able to run on, but not for much longer.

  12. bubbleheadMarc June 13, 2011 at 9:49 am #

    Way to nail the zeitgeist Jim. After all, isn’t the “totmom” trial nothing but capital punishment porn to distract us from the reality of an unspooling global economy in which hundreds upon hundreds of idled containerships are sitting anchored out off of the coast of Malaysia?
    Once everything collapses, and it will, what’s next? Will we form a new republic here called The People’s Republic of America? Wouldn’t that be the ultimate grotesquerie after all the blood & treasure invested in the anti-communist crusade formerly known as the cold war? And now the equally futile replay of the crusades which has been going on ever since the Iranian hostage crisis of the Carter administration.
    So we’re going back two global confrontations to revisit something we supposedly won in ’91 [the cold war, not the Gulf War] since our title is being confiscated and we’ve been called on the carpet to get the grim news that we lost that one after all, our trophy is being repoed, and we’re all moving into tent cities to await the next available vacancy in the public housing projects.

  13. Zev Paiss June 13, 2011 at 9:50 am #

    Morning Everyone,
    For me the sound of churning is coming directly from the depths of my nervous stomach. Thank the G-D’s that I still have food to fill it and quite the rumbling.
    The activity in China is called employment. Never mind that no one but future squatters will ever live in the ghost cities sprout up in various parts of the country. A friend of mine who does exquisite architectural drawings, told me of a development of 125 or so Chinese mansions (over 10,000 sq ft each) that had been completed, landscaped, servants at the waiting and not one of them occupied by an owner. Creepy isn’t it.
    The concept of contraction is wildly absent since we have all been fed on a diet of growth since we were all in diapers. For many it simply does not register as an option. Those minds will fall hard when the reality becomes the nightly fare on FOX NEWS.
    I will be selling tour packages for urban discovery tours inDetroit for all to see what out future holds. Please remember to bring work gloves and sunscreen. This will be a tour made by hand.
    Have a great week all.
    Zev in Colorado

  14. lbendet June 13, 2011 at 10:00 am #

    To Everything (Churn, Churn, Churn)
    There is a season (Churn, Churn, Churn)…
    There are no accidents here, JHK, only an ill-conceived game plan by the oligarchs who didn’t consider the calculus of change…
    Our dear oligarchy doesn’t need to be defined through Nation state power anymore, they’re global and are now rich enough to hire their own private armies.
    It’s all about destroying the environment we all have to depend on for sustenance. While we the people are stuck in nation state paradigm, which is falling off a cliff, unable to switch gears as we watch in horror.
    These special few are creating disasters to glean the most money the world over, taking advantage of the 7 billion people who populate the earth.
    How any wars can we, the bankrupt fight at once?
    But what could possibly go wrong? And what are the unintended consequences, even for themselves. Can these people really be sure that all power in the world are in line with them?
    In the meantime there’s no end to the revelations of the Weiner who has gone where many of the powerful continue to go, as the mores of society sink to new lows. The basis for Western civilization is disintegrating. The religious right can’t stop that from happening as they rewrite history and re-interpret Christ as the heavenly CEO. Filthy lucre is thy father.
    D. Rockefeller:“… it would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government …”
    – David Rockefeller in Baden-Baden, Germany 1991, thanking major media for keeping secret for decades the movement of the prophetic one world government.
    The vision thing of these people is the total opposite of what we all recognize needs to be done. We aren’t hired-wired to be ants–we’re tribal and nationalistic–It will never work. Our own Vlad on CFN is the case in point.
    ps. as soon as we moved from the gold standard to oil fiat currency the value of money became abstracted and ready for the global casino.

  15. lbendet June 13, 2011 at 10:02 am #

    Sorry for my typos, btw

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  16. wastelandmechanic June 13, 2011 at 10:05 am #

    Who is Caylee?

  17. Bob Wise June 13, 2011 at 10:05 am #

    Nice column, Jim. But I know some kind of Rubicon has been crossed when I see “little Kaylee” mentioned in your blog. This case has been the mainstay of our local TV and radio news for three years or so; they have websites and RSS feeds set up for instant news on it. Considering all the hay they’ve made on the story, they should be paying royalties to the Anthony family. A lot of newsworthy events are going on in Florida, as counties and cities are starved of revenue, schools have their funding reduced or “privatized”, etc. But the media still builds their nightly news around this familiar story. Nothing will bring the child back- but we could recall our governor.

  18. casual observer June 13, 2011 at 10:08 am #

    PEAK OI
    PEAK INDEBTEDNESS
    PEAK STUPIDITY
    MONEY FOR NOTHIN AND CHICKS FOR FREE!!!!

  19. dplainview June 13, 2011 at 10:23 am #

    Overlooked, it would seem, is the enormous housing/trailer boom/bubble that awaits us in the aftermath of the 2011 tornado and flood devastation.
    The friendly folks of FIRE (Finance, Insurance & Real Estate)
    will no doubt sponsor fantastic must-see television for the fall season to maintain distractions for the willfully inattentive.

  20. bossier22 June 13, 2011 at 10:23 am #

    no chicks are free. somehow you pay. ha. my wife and little daughter are working me down.

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  21. Newfie June 13, 2011 at 10:23 am #

    PEAK STUPIDITY
    Not in your lifetime. And probably never.
    “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe.” – Albert Einstein
    And that’s the real underlying problem behind every other problem. So it’s hopeless. Fermi Paradox. QED.

  22. Onthego June 13, 2011 at 10:23 am #

    Speaking of rioting masses yearning to throw off the yokes of their bankers, there was an interesting poll the other day at Jack Cafferty’s site at CNN. The question referred to civil unrest here at home. The responses from around the country were pretty stark and very chilling (unless you have been paying real attention). About 30% of folks who still have 401K’s are now using them for ATMs to live on. When people have no discernable future, why would they continue to give their consent to be governed? Especially to the ruling class we have now? End of Empire indeed. As for the “Bread” part of “and Circuses,” just how long can the national attention span be diverted by Anthony Weiner’s cell phone when there is still no planting going on in the heartland thanks to the flooding? Can’t eat a cell phone photo, as many will be discover all too soon…

  23. newworld June 13, 2011 at 10:33 am #

    Oh’ how I could decry the bigotry directed at us stock car watchin types, but then I too had a vision of JHK a properly educated man out noodling for catfish with us Cracker-Americans, karma.

  24. montysano June 13, 2011 at 10:33 am #

    Another great post, JHK.
    I just finished “The Witch of Hebron” this weekend. What a fantastic tale! If ever a book cried out to be made into a movie, this is it. Don’t miss it.

  25. 3rd Generation June 13, 2011 at 10:33 am #

    As coincidence and luck-would-have-it, just watched Borat for the first time between NASCAR heat races and refilling the Big Gulp with straight Cola 38 grams of sugar, calories unknown. Still mourning the demise of the cheese doodle inventor.
    Loved the Borat sequence when Borat bargains down his room, sets his price, spits on his hand and then offers it to the clerk for confirmation of an accepted offer. Also scooping up the bear shit with his hands was pretty American too.
    Reminds me of America, and what it has become.
    A lying, conniving grifter something-for-nothing shithole run by serially corrupt ugly dunces.
    I’d tell you what I really think, but it’s early here in The West. Come back in an hour. . .

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  26. Galactic Effectuator June 13, 2011 at 10:34 am #

    Mr. Kuntsler —
    Why is it that in virtually ALL of your columns you take a mean-spirited swipe at southerners and the South, usually by mentioning Nascar in some snide way? Can’t you make your point without exposing such rabid hatred and prejudice against a whole people? Believe me, your part of the country is nothing to brag about. I’ve been there many times and seen the dirty, low-class, tattooed freaks hanging out in filthy little towns doing nothing but plot their next crime. I’ve also seen the beauty of upstate New York and think all of those unfortunate freaks would clean up their act if they just had the missing confidence in themselves one finds in the South among blacks, whites, browns and whatevers who live in our small towns, close to the earth, God and their guns.

  27. budizwiser June 13, 2011 at 10:35 am #

    JK – yes the natives are getting restless, the cows are in the corn and the rich people don’t quite know what to do.
    There are of course, two social/global events happening at the same time. And its difficult if not impossible to unravel or deconstruct or analyze these events separate from each other.
    On one hand, we have this massive “debt/wealth” arena created by the rich on the assumption that rest of us could some how work and pay them for the next 30 years and continue to be good little mortgage slaves.
    On the other hand, you have the “un-realization” of the governments running the show that there simply isn’t any spare energy to be had for the mortgage slaves to use to build more boxes and buy more plastic crap to pay off the rich bastards.
    So you have rich fuckers with unimaginable levels of greed pressuring the government fuckers with unrealistic attitudes toward economic growth dancing around their chairs – trying to pass this crap-fest on to yet another round of boobs.
    But JK – is there yet the possibility for another fruit seller, another entire country filled with fruit-sellers to take a stand and make the ultimate sacrifice.
    Here is a the kind of article you could be writing, and please – use more hyperbole and metaphor than this guy, we at CF Nation love that crap.
    http://www.taipanpublishinggroup.com/tpg/taipan-daily/taipan-daily-061011.html?sub=TD&o=372892&s=375956&u=48412125&l=269005&g=183&r=Milo

  28. Ozvaldo June 13, 2011 at 10:36 am #

    “It’s not even a hall of mirrors. It’s a broke-down Winnebago with moldy upholstery and the propane line is leaking inside.”
    LOL-best metaphor of the day! Sadly true, but we and Mr. Kunstler are going to be surprised how far that fucker will go. Years from now it’s still going to be limping along, with the rotten vinyl panels missing, doors dragging down the pothole filled road, feral smells from the varmints nested in the leaky sunroof cavity, poop and chemical smells from the door to the filty toilet flapping open and shut…

  29. Galactic Effectuator June 13, 2011 at 10:46 am #

    One more thing, Mr. Kuntsler —
    You keep hawking your books and the whole ‘World Made By Hand’ ethos you’re certain is coming for those with enough wit and fortitude to survive? Just where do you suppose that is most likely to happen? I think it is most likely in the South where people are close to the earth. I never cease to be amazed by the Yankees who move down here (quite a few in my neighborhood, in my small town) who don’t know one end of shovel from the other and can’t even grow tomatoes! They’re all out walking little white toy dogs and looking down their noses at the indigenous population. But who will survive in the world you feel is certain to come? Not the retired banksters in the golf communities, you can bet on that.

  30. Solar Guy June 13, 2011 at 11:01 am #

    levitating skyscraper cities with hanging gardens and flying cars, full of girls with green nail-polish in get-ups so fantastic mere mortals could never have dreamed them up, flaunting hand-held gadgets so miraculous that life itself seems besides the point
    Your quite the Poet JHK. Can I have your job please?… sure is hot up here on the roof… Any other bloggers and writers out there making a living?
    You wouldn’t believe the amount of handholding it takes to sell a $30k or $40k solar system…
    My latest pitch is about how “real” a solar panel is and will be for the next 30 years vs. a stack of digital hundred dollar bills in the stock market that don’t make electricity or hot water… some people really don’t like that kind of talk though, so you have to be careful how far the ‘you know what I really think is going on and why you need this’ vs. ‘here is your estimated payback of 9 years sir, what a great ROI, look at these NUMBERS..’

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  31. wardoc June 13, 2011 at 11:05 am #

    Wrong, wrong, wrong !!!! That distant sound is the sound of Nascar getting revved up and the roaring of crowds at world wresting matches countrywide. Amerika’s back in a big way, you all better get with the program or you’ll be labelled “terrorists.”
    We’ll have QE3 and 4 and 5, ad nauseum, and we’ll fight whomever we have to fight to get the last drop of oil to keep the cars running and the drive in fry shacks cooking and malls selling useless shit to people who have worthless paper to pay for it. The mass media will ramp up the message that fighting for Amerika is the grandest job for our massively unemployed youth, and they will go, en masse, to die for fry shacks and happy motoring, and the rest of us will muddle along pretending that life is as usual, as we are foced to adapt to the IMF’s mandate of global income synchronization (i.e. as we drop from an average of $40k per household to $4k). Our memories of past wealth will be altered by cognitive dissonance, and we’ll believe things have always been this way. This is the delusion that is Amerika; we do not have the testicular fortitude to riot in the streets and will not do so; if we did we’d be gunned down by Sheriff Bubba and his totalitarian retardates.
    We’ll get one of several clowns in the whitehouse, very different from the ineffectual clown who’s there now, and the new one will make us feel really good about ourselves and things will be GREAT again…..
    Welcome to hell.

  32. Qshtik June 13, 2011 at 11:17 am #

    Reply to Welles comment on last week’s thread.
    you are SO indoctrinated & brinwashed.
    It’s brain typo boy.
    me and asoka will do the living for you
    Asoka and I (I thought you said you taught languages for decades)
    far from the maddening crowd.
    I assume this is a reference to Thomas Hardy’s famous novel in which case the word is madding
    no one need to register or document any vehicles in that country anymore, just drive
    No car insurance either I guess, so when they crash into you you’re just basically fucked.
    Boleeveeuh, wadduh conntree!

  33. Smokyjoe June 13, 2011 at 11:17 am #

    Well, Jimmy me lad, after the shite hits the fan we’ll be like dear olde Ireland in the 1840s.
    But I’ll end on a + note: our “high speed” rail consortium locally has scaled back its targets and has actually laid track from some “faster” rail south of D.C.
    We’ll have something to move us about when the oil infrastructure drips dry, if only the firms can finish the project before the house of cards tumbles in on itself.
    I’d like my state not to join the rest of the South this time, when the guns come out and Jesus’ true followers take their vengeance on all the leftists and academics and Gays and Greens and black people. I’d like to be somewhere with a government strong enough to face down a mob of big-bellied anti-gub’mint loons the way they need to be faced down: a hail of gunfire.

  34. HeadingOut June 13, 2011 at 11:25 am #

    Those ignorant of the meaning of the words “conspiracy” and “theory” just sound
    doubly ignorant when they put them together.

  35. bossier22 June 13, 2011 at 11:34 am #

    i saw that poll. it is seething and churning out there. in the sixties we had civil unrest with a good economy. in addition to social turmoil, we now have people hurting from the economy in large numbers. so we could easily see violence of the nonroutine kind. it will take a roosevelt type leader who not only cares about the people, but will also embrace a new direction. it would not have to be all doom and gloom back to the stone age. may be less complex but not so bad if handled right.

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  36. ccm989 June 13, 2011 at 11:39 am #

    Another superior article by JHK. This is exactly what I fear will happen – the world economic system will crash and we (what’s left of the middle class and the working class) will all be very poor. The rich will continue to have money and power and hire private armies (like Blackwater or whatever its called now) to roam the streets and shoot down anyone they don’t like. Because there will be no government and no police and no justice, no one will be able to stop those private armies from cruelty and abuse. Absolute power, as we all know, corrupts absolutely. And the rich will not be kind to us. Between our greenback losing its status as the world’s most trusted currency and the ever growing national debt, we face more real danger from poverty than anything else (including the inevitable end of oil).
    Getting out of the stock market is wise. Paying off your mortgage (if possible) is really good. Getting out of debt (in general) is always best. Get rid of expensive things you don’t need like Hummers and memberships at the local Country Club. Hummers need lots of gas and insurance and if you run out of money, you can’t pay for any of those. Sell the luxury car(s) now while there are still idiots out there willing to buy them. Unload the Country Club membership, cancel the cruise ship trip to Europe, make sure your children learn practical skills like how to make soap, how to kept warm, etc., batten down the hatches and prepare for the worse. If the Tea Party doesn’t let this country raise the debt ceiling and makes us default on our loan payments then the World Bank comes in. And their usurious interest rates will make slaves of us all (except the rich, of course). The USA will then turn into a quasi-feudal state and that’s not a good place to be. Especially if you’re young and/or female.

  37. helen highwater June 13, 2011 at 11:41 am #

    Where can I get the free chicks? I’ve just built a really nice little chicken coop.

  38. MarlinFive54 June 13, 2011 at 11:45 am #

    Greece, where Govt. employees can retire at age 35 with a nice pension and full benefits … who’d give that up without a fight? Not me!
    -Marlin

  39. Tancred June 13, 2011 at 11:48 am #

    I disagree with much of JHK’s “vision” of a retrograde future where technology somehow reverts to some nonexistent golden age of crafts and communal sharing (or something like that). That said, I was still astounded by the commercials I saw over the weekend for some Cadillac car that has over 500 hp and reaches 190 mph. WTF? Why would anyone “need” that much power in their car? So much for the auto industry making an effort for more practical cars.
    Curiously, the oldest transportation “system” ever known is the one we still use: roads and trails. These go to most anywhere one wants to go. It’s HOW we use them that’s most important. Let’s automate our transportation with pods and self-guiding vehicles. That way I can eat my cheese doodles and look at the scenery without worrying about a wreck.

  40. ront June 13, 2011 at 11:57 am #

    “The sad fact is we don’t want to go where history wants to take us: to a smaller human imprint on the planet, with all that implies. This is true especially of the intellectual avant-garde, who can’t imagine a world without the joys of perpetual techno-narcissistic novelty, of levitating skyscraper cities with hanging gardens and flying cars, full of girls with green nail-polish in get-ups so fantastic mere mortals could never have dreamed them up, flaunting hand-held gadgets so miraculous that life itself seems besides the point. Oh, shimmering future! Oh Ray Kurzweil and your nano-ladder to the worm-holes of forever!”
    Last night I watched the first 20 or so minutes of an HBO presentation of a Lady Gaga “concert.” America can and will be sold anything by ingenious mass media salesmen: narcissism presented as humility, outrageous behavior defined as courage. The illusions of popularity, name and fame demand the attention of the masses for fear the sense of blasphemy by acknowledging your own taste and values.
    I look forward to the days when enough of us are thoroughly fed up with selling each other delusions. This will require a radical change of heart, courage, heroism. This will begin our freeing ourselves from our fears, judgements, cynicism, and sense of separateness, and create space for compassion, empathy, and feelings and acts of brotherly/sisterly love. Imagine giving without thought of return and serving without thought of reward.

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  41. Jeff June 13, 2011 at 11:58 am #

    No square to protest in, indeed.
    (And no First Amendment protection in the pseudo-square “Shoppes” either.)
    A thread worth pulling on further, as I hope you will do some time.

  42. spider9629 June 13, 2011 at 12:09 pm #

    If C is a variable that means how much you can live the same life and sensations of another, and that number is 1 since we sense 0 of others, what would happen if it became .4 or .7, an intermediate value ? and if extended to all people ? and all time ? and all objects ? Is the thought of other objects the attempt by Mass Energy to be another chunk of itself even being seperate from itself (experience itself, but denotated, an imagination of an experience ?) ? That is why denotations (religions, and all) are important ? Divided, Unity, at what point is an item the same or different from itself, at zero time and space ? No extension, invent it, different and the same, impossible, contradict, go on do it, and so forth and so on…
    Anyways the older and more Impotent you get, the prettier the ladies, Wow, I saw a nice one.
    This is the insanity I have to deal with.
    MISUNDERSTAND EVERYTHING ALWAYS! GET IT ALL WRONG, YOU CAN DO IT, GO MAN GO, JUST DO IT.
    First gear its allright, 2nd gear hold on tight, 3rd gear you’re out of sight!

  43. God June 13, 2011 at 12:11 pm #

    Got gold?

  44. budizwiser June 13, 2011 at 12:13 pm #

    I don’t think any of us are good at describing the future possibilities. I just don’t “see it.”
    The influence that drives Congress has repeatedly resulted in such bizarre behaviors – bizarre laws, bizarre ideological positions – that I have come to realize the futility.
    The overriding concerns of these powers that be is self interest. And we peons can’t possibly know what these people think about with regard to Peak Oil, the cost of living, the sharing of natural resources or anything else.
    For now – as I stated earlier, all activities are based upon the concepts of defer, disguise and deny any realization of current reality.
    Last year, I predicted that much of what might happen would be based on the worthless bonds maturing and forcing at least some sort discussion of reckoning.
    Boy what a fool I was – these guys don’t even play by their own rules. As soon as the paper starts to smell, they just print new certificates.
    C’mon think about it – what fucking asinine projects and decrees are in the making? Surly we can top bank bail outs, high-speed rail and health care laws no one reads nor understands.
    If you’re old enough, and content enough,you can take it all in as interesting, if you’re under 30, plan on getting a gun and getting used tough weather.

  45. jrheadrick1 June 13, 2011 at 12:14 pm #

    Jim:
    You are missing out completely. The Dinar revaluation will pay down all debt, worldwide. Stay tuned.
    Joe
    PS That is no replacement for the lousy job Americans did in raising third-rate offspring, however.

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  46. anotherplayaguy June 13, 2011 at 12:17 pm #

    ‘When you hear a politician utter the word “growth” note that he/she is speaking out of his/her ass.’
    As opposed to other times?
    As to free chickens: buy yourself a hen or two and a rooster. Down the line in a few years, there will be free chickens galore, many more than the first purchase. And they mostly feed themselves.

  47. bailey June 13, 2011 at 12:21 pm #

    Spain’s at 50% unemployment. Youth, with degrees are going down to Malta and begging for work.
    Germany is doing alright, per always, but upset about bailing out another country.
    Italy doesn’t owe any money to the global banks, which is kind of interesting and the majority of Italians own their own flat, maybe two and have their ‘crisis’ garden. Actually, they don’t call it crisis garden, it’s just what they do.
    Holland is still wealthy but a couple of girls who hang out in the back of their store to smoke on the major shopping area in the center of town, live below our flat, in our little ‘tales of the city’ kinda courtyard. They tell me no one’s buying anything.
    France, who knows, they tend to live unto themselves, with their little poison dwarf imposing more and more draconian laws onto the state.
    Ireland? Well, they are doing so badly that the propaganda machine is suggesting that because they threw out the last government, only to find their current government is just as corrupt, beholden to the banking cartel, the propaganda machine has decided to brainwash the people into thinking its a good thing to be owned by the banks..they SHOULD be happy to pay off money to the banks, debt not owed by them, just “because”, well, what do you like to say, because “it’s all good”
    Such is the state of Europe. Tho, no, not nearly as bad as the US for that debt cannot possibly be paid off in any way, and more importantly, the Chinese are very pissed off because the US has already started to default on their debt….
    Such is the state of our globalized world.
    Go local.

  48. jrheadrick1 June 13, 2011 at 12:21 pm #

    Further, I have divided the American people into two groups… the Warriors, and the Pussies.
    The Star Spangled Banner is a fight song. It is for the Warriors.
    Since Pussies will have none of that ‘defense stuff’, they will need to select a new anthem, coupled with a flag with the ‘peace’ symbol, which also happens to be the imprint left in flesh by a leach vermin bloodsucker. With a little artistic license, it can be made to look like a broken rubber.
    Good luck with that one.
    Joe

  49. Cabra1080 June 13, 2011 at 12:24 pm #

    All in all it’s just another brick in the Wal-mart…

  50. welles June 13, 2011 at 12:27 pm #

    ABSOLUTELY CORRECT – it is JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER who is delusional, history is more grandiose than this one-dimensional writer of atrociously bad, hackneyed books.
    society is on the way UP, expanding. in the 1960s it was easy to predict the demise of the environment within 20 years, all reserves of coal, gold, zinc, oil, whatever, and scores of books emerged on the subject.
    these books were based on linear, fallacious thinking. we’re still here, more prosperous than ever, long after the world-enders and end-of-prosperity folks’ predictions have elapsed with nary a whimper.
    YES he is right that the US is in a slow contraction, but his dire predictions are insanely overblown. the populace will adapt, move forward (where do people get the idiot idea that we’ll be back in the 1800s or the stone age?) and make something non-linear (read: unexpected).
    before you say ‘there’s another one who thinks technology will save us’, recall that the director of the patent office said it should be closed in 1899 or so, as ‘everything you could invent’ had been invented.
    he was kunstler’s great-grandfather apparently. when the SHTF someone finds a solution, just like hackers find a way to break things. it’s in our nature.
    plenty of room for improvement, folks, self-guided cars are almost on the roads, literally.
    kunstler belongs in with the purveyors of doom in the 1960s, all of whom are laughingstocks.
    …as will be all the 2012 world-enders, jeezus get a clue, plant some trees or flowers.
    adiue to friends & inimigos

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  51. asia June 13, 2011 at 12:28 pm #

    Anyone see the ‘Puff’ news piece at Yahoo about
    500$ a lesson Golf coached for the little princes of China?
    Gawd…..talk about resource mismanagement!

  52. welles June 13, 2011 at 12:30 pm #

    wake up, folks are tired of the lame warrior crewcut dykes and dipshits that make up today’s aint-got-a-job-so-i’ll-join-the-army military.
    keep your wars to yourself.
    peace to you still tho’

  53. asia June 13, 2011 at 12:31 pm #

    As Pat Buchanan has noted:
    A CULTURE IS MORE THAN AN ECONOMY!

  54. Phaedrus June 13, 2011 at 12:33 pm #

    I must say – in general – “The Long Emergency” is eerily becoming true. A lot of people might even call it doomsday prophecy. The truth is that the reality is turning out to be even worse. So in a weird sort of way it actually is optimistic – just depends on your perspective. All things change. All things are in a constant state of motion (just depends on your perspective). We spend our whole lives trying to sustain a permanent and unchanging pleasure state. Avoiding the inherent uncertainty in your life will only bring you pain. Pain that can not be eased by the constant conditioning of a consumer culture that promises to make it all better with material consumption.

  55. bubbleheadMarc June 13, 2011 at 12:38 pm #

    “…a smaller human imprint on the planet..” EQUALS EPHEMERALIZATION or the design principal in naval architecture discovered by R. Buckminster Fuller while finishing off the degree he started at Harvard when he got an appointment to the naval academy during World War I after serving on active duty as a warrant officer commanding his own yacht which he’d donated to the war effort as an improvised sub chaser.
    The geodesic dome personifies this principal because it covers the most space with the least outlay of building materials while also being incredible strong and resistant to wind pressure generated by storms.
    We need to start abandoning our outmoded overbuilt houses which cost too much and blow down too easily. Voluntary adoption of various forms of poverty is preferable being more manageable to forced catastrophic poverty induced by outside forces beyond our control. In other words, it is better to be living in a do-it-yourself curiosity before the meltdown occurs as that may be the difference between being housed at all rather than being homeless and literally ending up in a tent on land you don’t have title to, which of course makes one vulnerable to eviction for illegal squatting.

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  56. Qshtik June 13, 2011 at 12:44 pm #

    poop and chemical smells from the door to the filty toilet flapping open and shut…
    ==============
    It’s filthy but I knew what you meant.

  57. wagelaborer June 13, 2011 at 12:46 pm #

    Someone usually complains that this is a peak oil blog and we have digressed.
    So I give you a link to a man who debunks peak oil, with illustrations, Jesus, and more.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bHZRSlhJxY

  58. welles June 13, 2011 at 12:52 pm #

    well gollee, you found a typo, give yourself a gold star for being the teacher’s pet.
    you mite realize that folks take a bit of liberty with spelling/phraseology at times, no need for martinets here n’est pas?
    even people who teach/speak several languages can make a typo, who’da thunk it?
    one of my recent translations was from german into english & was a patent for (my translation follows):
    THIN-WALLED SELF-SUPPORTING CUBOID VACUUM CONTAINERS FOR SORPTION MACHINES, ESPECIALLY ADSORPTION MACHINES
    put that in your dorkpipe and smoke it.
    if you need anything translated from german/icelandic/portuguese gimme a ring, i’ll give you a cfn discount & promise not a single typo will be delivered.
    re bolivia, yes you can still buy insurance to cover yourself in all respects, next time try to think a bit b4 assuming.
    for the twittercrowd who needs to know what i’m ‘doing right now’: just had a lunch of phenom beef, rice, brazilian squash, with beautiful men and women all about the place, cost $4. got to kiss two new womenfriends my honeybrown missus intro’d me to.
    y’all come down now to brasil, you gonna have a good time

  59. wagelaborer June 13, 2011 at 12:53 pm #

    I am assuming that this baby is an unintended consequence of US war making.
    We make these depleted uranium weapons right here in my community, and then the military drops them on people in other countries, like Iraq and Yugoslavia and Libya.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j599Ce1ky0&feature=player_embedded

  60. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown June 13, 2011 at 12:54 pm #

    Pretty funny video. I am not sure I follow the logic of Jesus not coming back until we use all the oil, but it is hilarious. Thanks!

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  61. helen highwater June 13, 2011 at 12:54 pm #

    Actually, Welles, some of the people you call “purveyors of doom” wrote a book in 1972 entitled The Limits to Growth. It was laughed at at the time, but all of their predictions about the consequences of population growth and resource depletion are coming true, worldwide, right now. They’re not laughingstocks anymore.

  62. Neon Vincent June 13, 2011 at 1:01 pm #

    You mentioned default, but I’m surprised you only did so in the context of Greece. After all, the U.S. is in danger of a technical default by August. Of course, bringing that up might have harmed your thesis that “default is something the strong declare on the weak when they lose patience.” We might find out that China thinks they’re strong and the U.S. is now weak, much to our surprise.
    I brought up the possibility of a default happening over at Crazy Eddie’s Motie News in “Gas prices back above $4.00/gallon in metro Detroit.” The price has now fallen back below $4.00/gallon, but the damage has been done.
    Speaking of default, one of the people who would be responsible, Representative Eddie Munster Paul Ryan, along with Wisconsin’s own corn pone Fascist Scott Walker, make cameos near the end of “Sustainability news from midwestern research universities for the week ending June 11, 2011.” Right after they enter and then exit the stage, there’s a bit of real estate news you all might find interesting–prices for agricultural land are rising, even though prices for housing, offices, and factories are still falling. Looks like the business as usual people might be catching on to the importance of farming in ‘A World Made by Hand.’
    Finally, is this site optimized for Internet Explorer? I tried logging on while using Firefox–no go. The first time logging on using Internet Explorer–no problem! Considering the popularity of Firefox (it’s the single most popular browser accessing Crazy Eddie’s Motie News), I’m surprised by this.
    http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/

  63. welles June 13, 2011 at 1:15 pm #

    i used to read the hal lindsey end of the world books and buy into the limits of growth et al, but all i see is the opposite.
    yes i know oil is getting scarcer. so adapt. incorporate solar heating (yeah i know it takes oil to make the panels) millions of folks work from home, don’t need the oil/car paradigm. internet makes printing/mail delivery obsolete, ergo saves lots of oil. win-win all the way around
    the Limits to Growth, if i’m not mistaken, had the world running out of tons of resources and drowning in pollution by the 1990s. has your area gotten cleaner? have cars gotten cleaner? are the rivers still on fire? is the air as dirty? is there no land to grow food, or is food more abundant?
    i’ll go back to being a doomer when someone puts up stark evidence.
    population in many european countries + japan is declining alarmingly fast. the fertility rate in africa is down markedly.
    ergo, linear thinking doesn’t cut it, it’s not just a question of multiplying R x Z to arrive at the simplistic result that we’re going to reach the limit of growth or whatever other limit you want to substitute there.
    i’m not per se for ‘growth’ with the waste it entails, we’re moving towards high-quality sustainability on a global basis, wherein we reuse resources just as we endlessly redrink the same water that jezis drank.
    adieu

  64. Malagodi June 13, 2011 at 1:19 pm #

    Great post. But could you work on making it a little funnier?
    Anyway, try this: China signs agreement with Cuba to drill for oil in the Gulf. (happened last week)
    That’s going to sit really well with the NASCAR crowd. What we need is a dandy little war to secure the oil in our backyard and stimulate our economy. Perfect. Hillary took some top military advisors with her on her last trip to China. “To prevent misunderstandings.”

  65. Phutatorius June 13, 2011 at 1:24 pm #

    “When you hear a politician utter the word ‘growth’ note that he/she is speaking out of his/her ass.” That statement really sums it up. It’s high time for an economic paradigm shift. And on the subject of little flag stickers, John Prine wrote a pretty good song.
    -Phut

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  66. Cash June 13, 2011 at 1:31 pm #

    Not that the ratings agency business is worth a damn but a Chinese rating house said that the US is already in default through letting the US currency slide.
    I would agree. Given all the money printing by the Fed a slide in the value of the US$ is what you’d expect. in 2002 the Cancuck buck was worth about 63 cents US. Now its worth about 1.02 US which is a huge devaluation in the greenback. If any Canuck bought US securities back then it would be a painful kick in the balls.

  67. Neil Kearns June 13, 2011 at 1:43 pm #

    Sorry, here’s a soundtrack by which to read this thread.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aLjup934Rk
    Dead Flag Blues, by Godspeed

  68. Cash June 13, 2011 at 1:44 pm #

    Procon
    Looks like Alabama signed into effect a really tough immigration law. They’re taking the bull by the horns because the Fed govt proved itself unwilling/incompetent at fulfilling its mandate to control the borders. What’s your view on it?

  69. Omar Bongo June 13, 2011 at 1:46 pm #

    “all of their predictions about the consequences of population growth and resource depletion are coming true, worldwide, right now”
    ——-
    I will bet that Helen Highwater cannot name a single verifiable prediction that has come true.

  70. Omar Bongo June 13, 2011 at 1:48 pm #

    Populations grow. Wow! No shit. Really?
    Reasources deplete. Wow! No shit. Really?

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  71. welles June 13, 2011 at 1:55 pm #

    i was gonna challenge on the ‘all their predictions are coming true’ premise as well, so seconds there.
    re populations always growing, they don’t. japan and russian+western europe are severely contracting (i’m sure vlad has the stats lol)….
    no doubt the club of rome and its the Limits to Growth of 1972 did not factor declining population into any ‘equation’ they jimmy’d up.
    salutations to you omar. i have an icelandic brother in law named omar….

  72. LewisLucanBooks June 13, 2011 at 2:03 pm #

    Great post, this week. Ah, yes. Caylee. A few months ago I had no idea who she was. The woman who delivers my newspaper … we used to have conversations about other things. I was introducing her to the concepts of peak oil, climate change and general economic collapse.
    Now she runs in and out, as if her hair is on fire, as she MUST get home and catch the next act of the trial. It seems to be moving at the speed of a well organized Kabuki play. We don’t seem to have much to talk about anymore, as I am not interested.
    Jim’s post was ominous, and the weather here is ominous. Halfway between Portland and Seattle. Summer does not come. It rained again last night and the forecast for the rest of the week is not for rain, but for gray and cloudy. The temperatures are in the 40s at night and 60s during the day.
    We are in a river valley, so sometimes it feels muggy, and other times I’m still resorting to a sweater. But, I have a feeling that the weather will suddenly change, summer will arrive with a vengeance, and we will be whimpering for moisture and any bit of shade.

  73. Belisarius June 13, 2011 at 2:03 pm #

    “That said, I was still astounded by the commercials I saw over the weekend for some Cadillac car that has over 500 hp and reaches 190 mph. WTF? Why would anyone “need” that much power in their car? So much for the auto industry making an effort for more practical cars.”
    Perhaps, when the lower 80% cannot afford to drive, the lower traffic will allow speed limits to be raised for the rich. I wonder if it comes in an armoured version?

  74. Cash June 13, 2011 at 2:04 pm #

    Larry Summers is calling for more stimulus. Some stimulus might work if your industrial base hadn’t decamped to China.
    Summers is up to his nuts in degrees in economics from fancy universities. But economists have more than proved themselves and their profession utterly worthless. So can someone down there please tell him to stfu before he and his fellow practitioners do more damage?

  75. LewisLucanBooks June 13, 2011 at 2:05 pm #

    Domes. The damn things leak. Take one of these and call me in the morning 🙂
    http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

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  76. San Jose Mom 51 June 13, 2011 at 2:05 pm #

    As yet, no one has gone broke under-estimating the taste of the American public.
    I heard a dreadful song by Katy Perry….”Show me your Peacock.” (I had my teenage daughter in the car.) The lyrics were over-the-top raunchy….but I guess it kind of fit the mood of the week with all the hoopla about Rep. Weiner.
    What would Beethoven think?
    SJmom

  77. helen highwater June 13, 2011 at 2:15 pm #

    I guess you just aren’t reading the same news articles I’m reading every day, if you don’t see any signs of impending contraction and serious resource depletion worldwide. Not to mention the changing climate which is making farming more difficult and in some places impossible. I just can’t see how your little scenario of everybody making a living by sitting at home in front of their computer could ever work. Heat all our homes with solar? Not very likely in my climate unless I have about a gazillion dollars to completely retrofit my house. And I didn’t say all populations were growing. But world population certainly is. Nearly 7 billion of us now, 9 billion predicted by 2050. Anyhow, I’m out of here. Got better things to do than argue with people who already have their minds made up that everything is just going to be hunky-dory.

  78. bubbleheadMarc June 13, 2011 at 2:16 pm #

    How about if we split the difference and settle for a Quonset hut?

  79. xhalor June 13, 2011 at 2:20 pm #

    Have you ever noticed that when someone in the International Fraternity of Bankers and Government Wonks says the word “recovery” that they never reference the period of history that we’re supposed to be recovering to? 90’s, 80’s, 70’s? How tenaciously we cling to that word.

  80. Vlad Krandz June 13, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    Who is Caylee Anthony? Only the sweetest little girl ever – brutally butchered by “Top Mom” Casey Anthony. Where have these people been living? Under a rock? This is the biggest trial since OJ. This is MacBeth but for real. History writ small.
    To such have I been reduced; forbidden by a monster named “Prog” (I kid you not) from talking about ****. As Gurdjieff said, one who sups with the devil should use a long spoon. Our contract, written in blood, he burned up with one expelled breath. He had a good point – and he doesn’t think I can do it. I will and then he will owe me.
    Anyway, enjoy the show if you can – all of it! The Revolution will be televised. Get a solar powered wide screen. Also get battery power via an exercise bike. You don’t want to miss anything. Also someday the Emergency Broadcast System (the buzzing drone) will finally Speak. I doubt it will be worth listening to, but who knows? It’s good to know what the Goverment says is the Truth – or what it wants you to do. If they say come in, it might time to head for the hills.

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  81. bubbleheadMarc June 13, 2011 at 2:30 pm #

    You noticed that too did you? I’ve been ranting for ages now to anyone who will listen [briefly] that we’ve never gotten back to the level of the early ’70s an essertion which should be indisputable at this point. So in other words each time there is a recession a new group of people is permanently marginalized, then ultimately forgotten entirely and discarded to their fate, whatever that might be. Those have not descended to the rock bottom of the ladder for instance “living in a van down by the river” like Chris Farley’s character [correct name?] the motivational speaker on Saturday Night Live.

  82. xhalor June 13, 2011 at 2:37 pm #

    “living in a van down by the river”
    That would be me.

  83. bubbleheadMarc June 13, 2011 at 2:38 pm #

    CORRECTION TO ABOVE: SPELLING ERROR CHANGE “ESSERTION” TO ASSERTION.
    ADD PHRASE: COMMA INSTEAD OF PERIOD THEN: ARE PRESUMABLY EXPECTED TO FEEL FORTUNATE THAT THEY’RE NOT ENTIRELY WITHOUT SHELTER.

  84. wagelaborer June 13, 2011 at 2:39 pm #

    I had to google it too, Vlad.
    So now I know who it is, but the article didn’t say that the trial was being televised.
    Amazing!

  85. bubbleheadMarc June 13, 2011 at 2:54 pm #

    Or in keeping with the clapped out Winnebago motor home theme employed by Jim this week which was anticipated by the retired gypsies who have taken to living in the desert in their trailers to avoid property taxes.

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  86. Qshtik June 13, 2011 at 2:54 pm #

    Surly we can top bank bail outs
    surly
    churlishly rude or bad-tempered: a surly waiter.
    plan on getting a gun and getting used tough weather.
    As opposed to new tough weather?

  87. Neon Vincent June 13, 2011 at 3:05 pm #

    I bought Canadian real estate with my ex-girlfriend back in 2001, when the exchange rate was very favorable. As the Canadian dollar rose and real estate values rose, I made a killing–on paper. In reality, I had to keep upping my payments, so it really impinged on my cash flow. Also, it wasn’t very liquid, as my now ex-girlfriend was living in the place. When we broke up, I realized I could never get my share of the paper profits out of it and walked away. Nice parting gift to my ex. I hope she didn’t lose it.
    As for the Chinese complaining about the currency, that’s a stick that the people who are trying to force austerity on the U.S. might be reluctant to beat their opponents with. After all, it wouldn’t look good for the “patriotic, All-American” political party to be seen kowtowing to foreign masters.

  88. lbendet June 13, 2011 at 3:14 pm #

    Wage,
    They say a picture speaks a thousand words and none can express what this video showed. It’s easy to say spent uranium and white phospherous, drone bombardment, but how many of us can face the effects?
    How hellish is that?
    _______
    The unintended consequences were in my mind when I wrote my post this morning was more along the lines of economic realities coming back to bite the elite. It’s obvious to all who understand economics that the system we live in is off the rails and that something has to give. But what if you can get the elite of the world to agree that x=y and whatever they say is real?
    The international community swept $1.4 quadrillion under the carpet and they say the economy is turning around. They’ve all agreed to the matrix, but at some point it may just benefit someone to say it’s over.
    When that happens who loses?

  89. MarlinFive54 June 13, 2011 at 3:29 pm #

    What’s that you say, Jim, another cabinet appointment.
    Hancock 1863, Secretary of State, CFNation!
    A facile wordsmith and tough as nails.
    So be it.
    -Marlin
    JackieBlue, pretty good post last nite … had to jump in the cold shower after reading it. Sorry about what happened to you at Berkeley. Reminds me of a few years back about my stepdaughter, very attractive but a little wild. We used to be worried sick about her all the time. Everything turned out OK so far, though.
    -Marlin

  90. asia June 13, 2011 at 3:31 pm #

    OUR FIRST CFN TWEET!
    HOW SWEET FOR YOU TO REMEMBER US.
    HOW HIP

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  91. asia June 13, 2011 at 3:34 pm #

    How much outdoor space do they need?
    and why will they be free?
    PLEASE LOOK AT THE VIDEO ON MEAT JHK HAS ON THIS SITE.

  92. asia June 13, 2011 at 3:40 pm #

    I went to a movie about SOY for Afghanistan..
    with the guy who brought soy there..
    i believe africans and muslims have 4 to 7 kids per litter.
    ‘population in many european countries + japan is declining alarmingly fast. the fertility rate in africa is down markedly. ‘
    Japan…Oh Pleeze….100 million or 150 ..O pleeze.
    WHICH EURO COUNTRIES HAVE DECLINING POPULATIONS??

  93. LewisLucanBooks June 13, 2011 at 3:42 pm #

    ONLY if it’s made of papercrete. 🙂

  94. Vlad Krandz June 13, 2011 at 3:45 pm #

    Goolsbee? Is he related to the Marsh’s of Innsmouth?

  95. xhalor June 13, 2011 at 3:51 pm #

    I was done until I read your post. Wow, I hope you’re still reading; there’s a couple of things you need to know. It took me like twenty years to get all of that military brainwashing out of my head. Also, you are committing one of the worst crimes you can commit. You have allowed yourself to become the bullet in someone else’s gun. Once you’re spent, you’re spent. Don’t delude yourself into believing that the Marines give a fuck about you.

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  96. Vlad Krandz June 13, 2011 at 3:55 pm #

    See how far you are from the “People” – whom you claim to be love? They suck don’t they? You better force yourself to watch more popular Tv so you can relate to them where they are. It’s part of the job of an “educated cadre”.

  97. MADMAX June 13, 2011 at 4:03 pm #

    Jim K: Some years ago the Olympics were held in Greece in Athens; how much of the money spent for this contrived spectacle was borrowed? I’ll bet this had a lot to do with the current bankruptcy of Greece. What do you think, JHK? More bread and circuses for the masses.

  98. bubbleheadMarc June 13, 2011 at 4:03 pm #

    Speaking of paper I just picked up a paperback copy of the book you recommended “LAMB: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” by Christopher Moore. Already I am wondering if Biff is from the lost years in Tibet, and not from that fly-specked asshole-of-the-World popularly known as the holy land. But I’ll find out, because this is one of my days off The Nasty, Short & Brutish Barbershop, so I will settle in down in the bunker and inhale it in one marathon session then report back with a mini-review for your edification.

  99. mow June 13, 2011 at 4:12 pm #

    stay tuned for another war between china and vietnam

  100. Vlad Krandz June 13, 2011 at 4:14 pm #

    Don’t forget to feel sorry for aborted babies too. They try to get away or even defend themselves in the womb – so they obviously know what’s going on and feel pain. It’s a Nightmare out there – everyplace in the Western World and elsewhere too. This is what they want to bring to Afghanistan and Islam.

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  101. BeantownBill June 13, 2011 at 4:17 pm #

    I’ve been thinking about something Scott wrote here on Saturday or Sunday. He said he believes that technology consumes more energy than it creates, or something like that. I don’t know whether or not that is true, but it’s a profound statement.
    If true, it means the more we advance the closer our civilization approaches collapse. If false, it means we should accelerate our technology to get more and more energy.
    CFN isn’t just a peak oil site, it’s a site about sustainability. Many CFNers believe Scott and feel that since the masses won’t change their ways, we are fated to contraction, if not outright doom. This is one valid explanation for the Fermi paradox.
    If fate has determined we will always live in a closed system, then CFN will most likely be proven correct. But if we are not so fated, the universe has an infinite amount of energy and resources, and all we have to do is tap into a miniscule amount of it to thrive.
    Where I tend to disagree with Scott is that in the initial stages of a developing technology the energy input may be greater than the output, but as that technology matures, the opposite comes into play. If we focused our brainpower on getting off-Earth resources (yeah, I know it sounds like off-his-meds Spider), eventually we would have abundance as that technology becomes more efficient.
    My philosophical basis (and things do start with a philosphy) is that life is the highest expression of the universe. I don’t claim to know life’s purpose, but it just seems illogical that life would develop through the vastness of space and time, enveloped in an infinite field of energy and resources, and not have access to them.

  102. xhalor June 13, 2011 at 4:22 pm #

    It seems illogical …to you

  103. Workdove June 13, 2011 at 4:29 pm #

    I don’t watch TV, so I had no idea who Caylee was. I must say some of the posters here must exist in an alternate reality from the one I inhabit. Denial to the extreme.
    Peak oil is real, global warming is real, deforestation is real, extinction is real, declines in fisheries is real, pollution and radiation are real. Sooner or later the protective ‘fantasy’ bubble most people live in will pop and then the cold dictates of reality will set in.
    What happens when CEO’s finally realise that growth is no longer possible? That it doesn’t matter who fills their shoes, their grow or die companies are doomed? Collapse has not been pretty so far. The Middle East North Africa revolutions of this spring are coming to a city near you soon!

  104. progressorconserve June 13, 2011 at 4:32 pm #

    “Get out of the stock market.”
    -jhk-
    I’ve been above ground for over half a century, now. I’ve been saving and investing for well over 30 years – with at least some limited success.
    I read widely; and JHK is, by far, my favorite writer these days because of his weekly examination of the short term and long term “worst case” scenarios for humanity – over which humanity has some control.
    And this discussion thread is about the best thing going in cyberspace – Long may it wave, or. something.
    All of this is to explain how weird it was for me this morning when JHK ended his missive and commanded “GET OUT OF THE STOCK MARKET.” In seconds, I opened a new browser window to my investment account. I figuratively had my hand over the SELL button on the whole shebang for a moment. I considered converting it all into a medium sized pile of US nickles in my basement, that I could swim through like Scrooge McDuck in his gold coins. (for those of you who follow more vintage children’s cartoons)
    JHK had commanded – and I suddenly wanted OUT of the 1’s and 0’s of cyberinvesting and wanted to be IN the real world “where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”
    So, thanks for this week’s work as always, James.
    And thanks for giving me a little insight into how market panics might actually start.
    You know, if you’re going to start giving investment advice like this, you probably need to give yourself a warning label – – “past performance is never a guarantee of future returns.”
    -kinda scary-
    Interesting points being raised by some posters so far this week, btw!

  105. peakhaiku June 13, 2011 at 4:45 pm #

    bumpersticker lied
    that said kill your TV for
    it was suicide

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  106. xhalor June 13, 2011 at 4:47 pm #

    Let’s hope “they” can avoid the temptation of all that 401K money. I’ve already read about tapping into federal employees’ retirement accounts.
    Mission creep?

  107. progressorconserve June 13, 2011 at 4:47 pm #

    Bill,
    We talk a lot about the “keyhole event,” on CFN.
    Most of us automatically assume that this will be some sort of “population” keyhole – a drastic crash in numbers, followed by (if the species survives) rebuilding to some much lower population number and lower level of energy use.
    Your post is a novel, and more optimistic, view of things. Thanks.
    And be sure to check out the end of last week’s thread, btw, after your last post.

  108. turkle June 13, 2011 at 5:03 pm #

    I think James is channeling H.P. Lovecraft this week.
    “Slowly but inexorably crawling upon my consciousness and rising above every other impression, came a dizzying fear of the unknown; a fear all the greater because I could not analyse it, and seeming to concern a stealthily approaching menace; not death, but some nameless, unheard-of thing inexpressibly more ghastly and abhorrent.”

  109. Pangolin June 13, 2011 at 5:06 pm #

    There isn’t going to be a day we can point to and say, “This was the day it collapsed.” In China the Quing Dynasty was a corrupt piece of junk by 1850. It took another hundred years of rebellion, invasion, counter-invasion, counter-rebellion, and general freaking chaos before Mao re-united the country a hundred years later.
    Then it was another 40 years before chinese people could aspire to anything more than basic, food, housing, clothing and medical care. Now China is possibly the most polluted and toxic-ridden country in the world due to the introduction of capitalism and corruption.
    It isn’t going to happen. We’re going to rot like a compost pile that never gets turned. Anything that breaks the surface reveals an unholy stink so we’re just going to leave it alone.
    We’re Mulch.

  110. loveday June 13, 2011 at 5:06 pm #

    Hi Jim and all the gang
    Well, I have to say this weeks offering was a mixed bag. Yes we are going to see a long hot summer of simmering and boiling rage in the streets of the world. Even James Carville admits this on TV. Wow the enormity of this admission done in the so called mainstream media is stunning. So maybe the blinders are starting to come off of some of the so called elite. I feel Ireland or Greece will light the powder magazine in Europe, watch for plenty of fireworks there with blood on the streets.
    Jim very disappointed that there hasn’t been a full essay devoted to the Fukushima disaster, last week a Japanese official admitted that the disaster is worse than a meltdown and that the main island of Japan may have to be permanently evacuated. Cesium levels are continuing to rise on the west coast of North America. There does not appear to be an end in sight to this catastrophe. The implications will be with the world for centuries!
    As for the continuing NASCAR bashing well, just so you know I just attended Poconos 5 Hour Energy 500 last weekend. The people you meet there are teachers, carpenters, doctors, nurses, etc… Not dumb folks. Plenty of very smart people that can build anything, fix anything and are very willing to help their neighbors. Meet some Jim, make friends, if things continue to worsen economically you will need friends like that.
    Take care all
    loveday

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  111. bproman June 13, 2011 at 5:06 pm #

    See you at the casino.

  112. Belisarius June 13, 2011 at 5:09 pm #

    “Get out of the stock market.” –JHK
    He is likely correct.
    Been “out” of the market for awhile. Sold all the “growth” stocks ~2005-6 and bought silver coins, SLV, and T-Bill funds. I was early, missed the top but did well. Didn’t jump back in for the QE cruise. Maybe it is time to sell the SLV, and the bond funds and buy bear (inverse) ETFs? I wonder if the brokers will survive to pay off if I’m right?

  113. LewisLucanBooks June 13, 2011 at 5:17 pm #

    Enjoy! Moore is nuts. He’s a hoot! (Mon.)

  114. BeantownBill June 13, 2011 at 5:26 pm #

    Yep, and my logic is as good or better than yours.

  115. Doug June 13, 2011 at 5:30 pm #

    I get the feeling that I am unusual if not quite unique in the world. There is no paragraph in this that makes sense, and hardly a sentence. To me this article is, to paraphrase Wolfgang Pauli, “Not even wrong”.
    Really… what exactly does this mean:
    “Anyway, let’s be clear that money has become a world unto itself now, a self-referential hall-of-mirrors that only sees itself and is increasingly confused by what it sees in that self.”
    I have no idea what that means. Maybe only those with an IQ way in access of 140 will have the privilege of understanding this mans writing.
    or this:
    “The sad fact is we don’t want to go where history wants to take us:”
    Really… history has wants? Next the author will tell us about the sex life, or TV viewing habits of history. I see writing like this as just another example of entertainment devoid of significance, and one of the many reasons that our culture is in its current situation.

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  116. progressorconserve June 13, 2011 at 5:35 pm #

    “Looks like Alabama signed into effect a really tough immigration law…..What’s your view…”
    -cash-
    Cash, my view on these laws is more nuanced than you might think. And the bottom line is that the Arizona law is making its way to SCOTUS as we speak. If it is upheld, it is likely that the Georgia law will be upheld and that most of the Alabama law will be upheld.
    If Arizona’s law is struck down, then they will try again and other states will continue to “triangulate” the SCOTUS ruling to do what they can to help their own legal citizens as best they are able.
    =================
    Cash, I will also add the observation that what seems like a large majority of the illegal Hispanic population in and around Atlanta is already gone. And that has to be mostly due to the collapse of the economy, more than the new GA law – which doesn’t go into effect until July 1.
    I don’t know if all these folks went back home (which is what I think I would have done, if I were in their positions) – Or if they have gone to other states with different job markets and/or more liberal family welfare policies that encourage the “undocumented” to apply and accept welfare.
    Anecdotally, trailer parks and lower end apartments that were bulging at the seams with the undocumented 3 years ago – are now back to (usually) just a few people per unit. And the large chicken processing plant that I pass regularly now has mostly native born whites and blacks working there again – I know for a fact that that particular processor went about 8 years where (truly) all the line workers were Hispanic – and almost all were illegal.
    You know that I joined FAIR some time ago, now.
    http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer
    And that I am researching to find an even better organization to present to CFN’ers interested in these issues.
    I’ve got nothing at all against the illegal immigrants, as individuals. But in the face of “peak everything?” I think a moratorium on US immigration (legal and illegal) is the best thing to do right now.

  117. Bustin J June 13, 2011 at 5:36 pm #

    welles said, “the Limits to Growth, if i’m not mistaken, had the world running out of tons of resources and drowning in pollution by the 1990s.”
    … if nothing was done, yes. Unfortunately, the warnings had a temporary effect of focusing on solving problems, once solved, were forgotten. Now the population IS too big, the crises ARE imminent, etc.
    “has your area gotten cleaner?”
    OSHA. EPA. These agencies were created and granted powers to enforce safety and environmental standards. Over time they were stripped of that power through budget draining or other dirty tricks- by conservatives who now howl about its ineffectiveness.
    Thus, in the absence of standards and regulation, companies have continued, for decades, at an ever-accelerating pace, polluting the environment. As GDP has risen to its stratospheric heights, so too has the fires burning all over the world.
    In your hemisphere, welles, the government is allowing clearing of buffer zones around beef-lot and plowed clearcuts in the amazon, reflecting the extreme hubris of the USDA’s conservative Ag management which resulted in soil erosion, toxic runoff, and unsustainable practices. NASA’s eye in the sky sees the rainforest burning, vivisected, blowing away.
    Brazil seems unable or uninterested in the preservation of one of Earth’s major life-support systems. So while the music is blasting in your garage and you’re cooking up the Beef that takes up so many resources, celebrating the new life of a young child, just imagine: that kid has no future and neither do you, your buddies, or your fucking garden. Your little community will be eating each other within 20 years.
    A community, which, by the way, is just a bunch of lazy illiterates living off the ‘fat of the land’ if I’m not mistaken.
    Somewhere in there is a cultural message about the proper execution of life being one of consumption- and enjoyment, above all else. Pretty flat philosophy if you ask me. Be happy- be ignorant- ignore all warnings, doubt all Cassandras, revel in the sensations of a full belly, beer and weed.
    To me this is a rather ignoble end for 80,000 years of human evolution. A party at the end of the world.
    “have cars gotten cleaner?” EPA.
    “are the rivers still on fire?” EPA.
    “is the air as dirty?” EPA.
    “is there no land to grow food, or is food more abundant?” Complex question. Food is abundant. 47 million people in the USA subject to food scarcity. Agriculture, America’s #1 export. Yet there is the biggest ever dead zone in the Gulf. toxic metals have been deposited in soil and fertilizer amendments to poison any future generations. Unhealthy food is epidemic.
    As global warming continues to intensify we’ll see the biggest dust bowls ever recorded. Food prices will rise. Africa will starve to death.
    Beantown says, “My philosophical basis (and things do start with a philosphy) is that life is the highest expression of the universe. I don’t claim to know life’s purpose, but it just seems illogical that life would develop through the vastness of space and time, enveloped in an infinite field of energy and resources, and not have access to them.”
    Life is routinely destroyed by the universe.
    Life’s complexity requires a large amount of energy to evolve- geochemical and solar energy, much of it. All life is designed in one way or another to borrow a little bit of energy from a process that is already heading downhill. Our fundamental reality is entropic in nature.
    Our problem is that we are creating massive energy deficits within our system (nature). CO2, carbon dioxide, is a perfect example of this. Once a substance is burned, it releases its energy once, and is more or less permanently lowered to an inaccessible energy state where it cannot be made to produce again unless an larger amount of energy is used to raise the energy back up to where we can, again, knock it downhill.
    Our Earth system is calibrated (or WAS calibrated) to allow a certain number of these reactions to occur, within a range, to which these molecules could be re-converted back into the system (via plants).
    Specifically, the problem is the nature of CO2. It must be gathered (energy cost) focused (energy cost) and then transformed (energy cost).
    The capacity isn’t there to restore order at the rate we are disordering it. There are laws of nature.
    So, 50,000 people standing around drinking beer and watching NASCAR is in fact a gigantic chemical reaction- all downhill- all waste. Colossal. Bit by bit, cell by cell, the human flesh is withering under a constant barrage of Ultraviolet energy, sugar and alcohol and nicotine in the veins, liver, and capillaries. The chicken and grilled swine all the product of one-shot fossil fuel bonanza, all previously generating CO2.
    Contemporary America is characterized by a wasting creature conspicuously absent of any coherent spiritual existence.
    Pining for a technological solution is like crashing your car into a jersey barrier, flying through the window, while entranced by the belief that you’ll land in a big, fluffy pillow that was invented, manufactured, and delivered in the .03 seconds before impact.
    The only rationale I can think of for a cavalier attitude toward climate change is a wholesale ignorance of how the laws of the universe work.
    Understanding energy is a 4 credit college course. I’d suggest teaching children first, since adults seem impervious to instruction.
    Spider illustrated the NASCAR-American zeitgeist, LAST WEEK: “we need more and more consumerism, we need more of everything, behind all of this are jobs, so more consumerism means more jobs…”
    This is a fine distillation of the poison we’ve been spoon-fed by mass culture and the political machine.
    Spider, unable to properly digest anything resembling facts, thinks this is the solution, not the problem. “KILL NATURE” he concludes.
    When the Native Americans called the white man “Insane” this is exactly what he was talking about. We are a nation of exquisitely inverted idealism.

  118. xhalor June 13, 2011 at 5:38 pm #

    How much of a heads up do you expect to get in a boda fide panic. Did you get a courtesy email from your broker in 2008?

  119. ctemple June 13, 2011 at 5:38 pm #

    Jim definitly has a way with words, he’s become the unofficial writer for the 21st century depression, part Walter Winchell, part H.P Lovecraft, and part Cornell Woolrich.
    p.s. Aimlow Joe was not here.
    Haw

  120. wagelaborer June 13, 2011 at 5:59 pm #

    Yeah, I decided last month to “get out of the stock market”.
    I called up my friendly 401K rep and told her I wanted my money.
    My money. That’s what they keep telling me. Not like that nasty old Social Security, oh, no.
    I have total control over my money.
    Not. They wouldn’t give it to me. Unless I get fired, which is looking increasingly likely.

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  121. progressorconserve June 13, 2011 at 6:00 pm #

    “Anyway, try this: China signs agreement with Cuba to drill for oil in the Gulf. (happened last week)”
    -malagodi-
    Our US “elites” may still be “Elite” for the time being – but this China/Cuba thing proves that they are NOT the least bit SMART.
    Nature (and politics) abhor a vacuum. Did the US really think that Cuba would sit there forever – rebuilding their 1951 Chevys, after the collapse of the Chinese.
    So to placate a few aging Cuban “freedom fighters” who happened to live and vote in Florida – that infernal swing state that gave us The Hanging Chads and W BushII –
    They left Cuba wide open for the Chinese –
    -short sighted morons-

  122. BeantownBill June 13, 2011 at 6:01 pm #

    You’re welcome. Could you be more specific about which posting you are referring to?

  123. metuselah June 13, 2011 at 6:08 pm #

    Forgive me, Bill, but my grasp of thermodynamics is extremely shallow, so I might have this all wrong. I thought that the reason the universe is expanding is because energy is always being degraded to a lower state. I.e. What we’re experiencing is inflation on a cosmic scale. (Yes, god is just another bankster fraudster). That means that a given “dollar energy” buys us less and less, and this will continue until the whole thing eventually (“dollar energy”, temperature) runs to absolute zero.

  124. BeantownBill June 13, 2011 at 6:09 pm #

    Regarding JHK’s posting this week, Ray Kurzweil will be on Bill Maher’s Real Time on HBO 10 pm this Friday. Regardless of what you may think of him, he’s interesting to watch.

  125. progressorconserve June 13, 2011 at 6:13 pm #

    I’ve got Chinese on the brain, apparently.
    Which may make me have something in common with Cash. – inside joke.
    Anyway: “Did the US really think that Cuba would sit there forever – rebuilding their 1951 Chevys, after the collapse of the Chinese.”
    Obviously, I meant the collapse of the Russians and the USSR, NOT the Chinese, and the PDRC.
    And I know Russians are from Russia, btw.

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  126. wagelaborer June 13, 2011 at 6:15 pm #

    That is a very disturbing video. I try to imagine how hellish life is for the people of Iraq, and my imagination fails me.
    I don’t think that the ruling class wants to give up the matrix. If the economy collapses, the bonuses stop.
    Will the US and NATO be allowed to bomb Libya into submission, and set up an African base to further strip and rape Africa?
    I don’t know. We live right here in the belly of the beast, and none of us do a damn thing about it.

  127. xhalor June 13, 2011 at 6:15 pm #

    The melding of biology and hard technology; inevitable. Always interesting to hear what Ray has to say about it.
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100125122101.htm
    Here we go…

  128. progressorconserve June 13, 2011 at 6:17 pm #

    I backed you up after your last post last week in a hot tempered manner @ 11:18. Interesting outcome. Check it out.

  129. Eleuthero June 13, 2011 at 6:18 pm #

    I just love the way the Republicans keep
    coming out with economic rhetoric that is
    the equivalent to rearranging the deck
    chairs on the Titantic.
    They keep talking about how fewer regulations
    (gee, that worked out well for the BANKING
    system now didn’t it?) and keeping the Bush
    tax cuts (esp. for the rich … gee, hasn’t
    “trickle down” worked out great!?) is a
    formula for more “growth”.
    What no Republican, not even Ron Paul, has EVER
    addressed is this: What in the United States
    REMAINS that can “grow”??? Oil is a sunset
    industry and they know it which is why not one
    new refinery has been built since 1973. Machine
    tools are in retreat because the world is glutted
    with everything from furniture (even GOODWILL
    often turns down DONATED furniture) to
    construction equipment (construction has 20%
    unemployment).
    Then there’s our “shining star” … the SOFTWARE
    industry. What a joke. It’s a redux of 1999
    again but the start-ups are hiring kid programmers
    for $12/hour. All the good biz software has
    already been built and tweaked twenty times over.
    “Cloud” computing is the new buzzword and already
    there have been catastrophic failures of this
    software at companies that are its biggest
    proponents … like VmWare. Trust me … as a
    systems programmer in a world of programmers
    who are a standard deviation less skilled than
    1985 … cloud technology is WAAAAAAY too complex
    for a bunch of mediocretins to cobble together
    securely.
    I expect Wackenhut to do well because I expect
    our permanent economic depression to lead to
    inexorable increases in frustration-based
    crimes of all sorts in the coming years.
    It might be good times for makers of psych
    meds too because a LOT more people are going
    to be going bonkers in the next decade. Loss
    of affluence on the scale we’re going to witness
    is unbearable to a people who’ve been used to
    living like kings their whole lives.
    In some ways it might be good for the national
    soul to actually have less money to piss away.
    Maybe we’ll rediscover things like … our
    FRIENDS and/or the art of conversation. Well,
    here’s hoping.
    E.

  130. wagelaborer June 13, 2011 at 6:19 pm #

    How is it that fetuses can feel pain, but not newborn baby boys?
    I find it strange that the same people who worry about pain in developing tissue can watch a newborn baby screaming in fear and pain while his penis is mutilated and announce that he feels nothing.

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  131. wagelaborer June 13, 2011 at 6:25 pm #

    And don’t forget the depleted aquifers!
    Yes, if you ignore mercury in the water, the near extinction of large fish, the loss of topsoil, Monsanto’s GMO nightmares, the murder of the last hunter gatherers, not to mention the murder of millions of people who happen to live on top of coveted resources, things are going just fine.
    We’re getting our own name for a mass extinction event! Such an honor.
    But I’m still alive, so the Earth must be OK.

  132. xhalor June 13, 2011 at 6:26 pm #

    One of the last (and I do mean last) jobs I had was hand stacking ice and snow choked pallets in a refrigerated Mal Wart distribution center in northern Indiana. Brutal. One payday I noticed I had a new 401K deduction. Didn’t sign anything, didn’t talk to anyone. Since I caught it right away, the amount involved is not important. I tried for awhile to get that money from Fidelity, but, eventually it became pointless. Just as well. Now that I’m living in a van down by the river I would just piss it away on tub of night crawlers and a six pack of Old Milwaukee.

  133. postitnote June 13, 2011 at 6:28 pm #

    More rude words for the so-called “conspiracy theorists,” even though you ARE ONE!

  134. xhalor June 13, 2011 at 6:36 pm #

    “I’m the slime oozing out of your TV set”
    Frank Zappa

  135. progressorconserve June 13, 2011 at 6:37 pm #

    Galactic – there’s enough trouble in the World without you going to look for more.
    “Why is it that in virtually ALL of your columns you take a mean-spirited swipe at southerners and the South, usually by mentioning Nascar in some snide way?”
    -GE, to jhk-
    NASCAR may have originated in the moonshine running South of folklore. And I grew up around the short tracks, drag strips, and dirt tracks of the real South where NASCAR originated.
    But NASCAR today is no more Southern than their “Stock Cars” are STOCK. If anything, NASCAR today is a North American corporate bastard child.
    Fun to watch, but NASCAR hasn’t been Southern – and hasn’t been worth the price of a ticket – in 20 years or more.

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  136. San Jose Mom 51 June 13, 2011 at 6:41 pm #

    I did not get any calls prior to the 2008 crash. My husband likes our financial advisor. I think he’s stupid and only has his own best interests in mind. Back in 2006, I pitched a fit that we invest 20K into precious metal mutual funds. That’s the best investment we’ve made in a while, no thanks to the advisor.
    In 2008, I pulled out of the stock market (at 10,000) with my 401K’s and now they’ve been sitting in a cash account making a pittance in interest. I just never feel moved to do anything with them. I get a lot of grief from my husband and the FA, but I stick to my guns. I really enjoy the fact that my money isn’t going to disappear. But the bulk of our assetts are in stocks and bonds, so if that goes down the tubes, I’m sure we’ll have to adjust to DRASTIC lifestyle changes.
    Also, in 2009, I bought a hundred silver American Eagles at $18 and stuck them in the safety deposit box (with a lot of eye-rolling snarkyness from my husband). Now that the price has almost doubled, he wishes I had bought more.
    I wish I could clean out my 401K without the tax huge penalties, buy coins and just feel safe and secure.
    SJmom

  137. Eleuthero June 13, 2011 at 6:41 pm #

    I think the bankers and their political puppets
    LOVE conspiracy theorists. They can get away
    with their malfeasance in the plain light of
    day because the “troofers” are busy trying to
    find the second shooter in the Kennedy
    Assassination, proving that 9/11 was the Reichstag
    Fire, and proving that Obama is a Kenyan.
    My point is NOT that the conspiracy theorists are
    right or wrong about any given theory. My point
    is that if they devoted half of that energy to
    fighting felonious activities amongst our
    governors and moneykeepers we’d be a helluva lot
    better off than trying to rewrite history.
    E.

  138. Qshtik June 13, 2011 at 6:54 pm #

    Jim’s advice to “get out of the stock market” may just be a perfect contrarian indicator like infamous Time Magazine covers of yore featuring a growling bear.
    My own proprietary over-bought/over-sold oscillator (which I refer to as Range Ratio Indicator) is more over-sold now than it was on June 30th of last year.

  139. asia June 13, 2011 at 7:01 pm #

    My conspiracy theory..Divide n Conquer!

  140. xhalor June 13, 2011 at 7:08 pm #

    As soon as there were valuable commodities, there were markets. Even if it is just hawgs and dandelion greens. I’m not neccessarily concerned about currency (it comes and goes). But you guys are working the markets. A supremely valuable skill. Precious metals? Sucks for currency (think ridges on the edge of a US quarter dollar). If the guys with the guns find out you have gold (…food, water, teenage girls) in your possesion, they’re just gonna take it from you.
    Property and Community. It’s worked for millenia. I know that your financial advisor has the best of intentions, but he or she probably didn’t get the courtesy email in 2008 either.

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  141. wagelaborer June 13, 2011 at 7:13 pm #

    The thing is that they get away with their crimes because of the beliefs that Americans hold about their country. That we are all in this together, that the ruling class are just folks like us, and, by golly, if I win that lottery, I’ll be rich too.
    If it is unthinkable that certain people in power would kill 3,000 people on 9-11, then it is certainly unthinkable that you would be allowed to lose your 401K, or that your bank deposits would be uninsured.
    And the War on Terrorism is justified if you believe that those evil doers, the Muslims, are out to get you and your SUV, just out of sheer jealousy for your freedoms.
    And wiretapping your phone, reading your emails, feeling you up at the airport, torturing prisoners… all of it – totally justified because of the evildoers.
    That’s why I spend energy on such things – to combat the complacency of average Americans.

  142. lbendet June 13, 2011 at 7:14 pm #

    Divide and conquer has been a useful device for the elite for centuries. Works every time. And when people don’t understand how rhetoric is used against their interests it makes it all the more tragic. Why because people are going to be hurting, be exposed to toxins and will be living a much shorter life than their forebarers, that seems certain.
    Interesting point. I came across an article which describes the scenario we are seeing in Rep Gov. states such as Michigan and Wisconsin which are looking more like small dictatorships if you figure they have come up with laws for emergency situations where they can over ride elections by replacing elected officials with their chosen ones. This article goes way beyond what I just described and worth checking out.
    http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Death-Of-Democracy-St-by-Jillian-Barclay-110611-942.html

  143. metuselah June 13, 2011 at 7:21 pm #

    Jim is correct. The stock market is a “hall of mirrors” created and maintained by the banks. The banks own the stock market as they own the corporations that makeup the stock market. They use this “hall of mirrors” to scare people and manipulate them into accepting government policies that otherwise most people would not accept. Make no mistake, the banks also own the government, but without generating consent among people to be governed by the government, the banks could not manage control over this system.
    Jim is correct in that I think he now understands that people are beginning to perceive this banking holographic matrix for what it is. When this perception reaches a “critical mass” among people, they will simple refuse to participate in the system and lend it any legitimacy. We are fast reaching this stage, but when exactly it will happen is anybody’s guess.

  144. bubbleheadMarc June 13, 2011 at 7:58 pm #

    Of special interest to the Clusterfuckians would be the revelation today that Casey Anthony, aka “tot-mom” got a tattoo on her left shoulder several days after the death of her 2 year old daughter which says in Italian script “La Bella Vida”. It would’ve been hoping for too much that she’d gotten “La Dolce Vita”, but the odds of her having ever heard of Frederico Fellini are about as slim as her chances of getting clemency at this point.

  145. JonathanSS June 13, 2011 at 8:00 pm #

    Maybe we’ll rediscover things like … our FRIENDS and/or the art of conversation.

    What can be done if people I encounter want to engage in small talk & are critical and judgemental when I try to steer the conversation to more important matters? Do I have to continue listening to my neighbor whine about diesel prices while he has a big ass F250 diesel parked in his driveway?
    BTW, the vast majority (diesel neighbor included) have no idea that it takes more barrels of crude to produce a given gallon of diesel than it does regular gas. Diesel contains more energy (+ 17%) than regular.
    I would rather read a book or read things like you have written on the internet than listen to most people’s babble. Does that make me antisocial or just an introvert?

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  146. scott June 13, 2011 at 8:03 pm #

    My expectation about the stock market has been that it would go down through the ending of QE2 then QE3 would be announced except it probably wont be called QE3. Then the market continues it’s relentless lower left to upper right trajectory until it’s time for QE4. Anybody care to speculate on the newest newspeak name for money printing? Anyway, hyperinflationary depression it is.

  147. Bustin J June 13, 2011 at 8:16 pm #

    On Sunday, the Lord’s Day, the Day of Prayer, the Day of Football, the Day of Nacho Cheese, the Holiest of Holy days, the Day of the Sun to the ancient people of the Nile River Delta, Vlad said, “Political Correctness teaches that the asshole is just as good as the vagina. No difference! Even though with one you need copious lubrication to avoid injury.”
    I think we have to review your sources here. I am unable to find any resource on the web that claims that an asshole is as good as a vagina, outside Spider’s posts.

  148. BeantownBill June 13, 2011 at 8:40 pm #

    You’re sort of right, Mika. The universe did inflate an instant after the big bang (and so far observations have borne this out), and we see that today when we measure velocities of stars and galaxies. However, the true story is more complicated, and I apologize in advance if I confused you.
    Galaxies are receding faster than theory says they ought to, unless an extra force is causing everything to accelerate away from everything else.
    Gravity, which is an attractive force, ordinarily would have slowed down the rate of expansion resulting from inflation, but this extra force is repulsive and is stronger than gravity, so the net effect is that galaxies are traveling away from us faster and faster. Eventually, each galaxy will be so far away from any other galaxy that their light can never reach us. When this happens our night sky will be pitch black – we will never see the stars again. This force, the nature of which is a mystery, is called “dark energy”.
    What you are talking about thermodynamically, is the heat death of the universe. Every star, every galaxy, every atom and every sub-atomic particle of which they are ultimately made, has a finite life span. Eventually they will all decay into nothingness and the universe will be empty.
    Scientists used to think gravity would ultimately stop the expansion because it is attractive and would pull everything back into a point before it could decay into nothingness, and create a new big bang – which would inflate outwards and create new sub-atomic particles, until gravity brought everything together yet again, in an infinite cycle. This is called the big bang bang bang theory.
    But, in reality, because dark energy propels everything away from everything else, all the matter and energy in the universe will dissipate because it never had the chance to shrink into a point and reignite.
    Sorry, this is really a somewhat shaky description of the fate of the universe, but I don’t want to take up too much bandwidth here.

  149. progressorconserve June 13, 2011 at 9:08 pm #

    OK, Bill – I know this is a typo of sorts, but I just can’t resist poking you about it, because
    “This is called the big bang bang bang theory.”
    -btb-
    – sounds so much like an old-timey Western movie.
    I’ve been sitting here guffawing as I type this.
    I may well be the only one who finds a thing like this to be funny, though.
    Maybe you mean the Big Bang, Big Crunch Theory?
    AKA, the theory of the Oscillating Universe.
    No longer generally believed by most cosmologists, I understand, but still my favorite theory of creation of the Universe.
    ================

  150. BeantownBill June 13, 2011 at 9:17 pm #

    “Life is routinely destroyed by the universe.
    Life’s complexity requires a large amount of energy to evolve- geochemical and solar energy, much of it. All life is designed in one way or another to borrow a little bit of energy from a process that is already heading downhill. Our fundamental reality is entropic in nature.”
    Bustin, I do like how you think, and I agree, but I also disagree somewhat with what you say.
    How do you know the universe routinely destroys life? Give me an example of the “routineliness”
    other than your sample of one – life on Earth. I can envision a very stable world where evolution has taken a path of immortality rather than telomeric-unraveling like here. In such a world death would be rare, not routine.
    And, yes, although entropy MAY win out, it will win in literally dozens of trillions of years, so I wouldn’t live my life as if entropy was breathing down my neck.
    What I see is that the universe MAY be slowly winding down (through thermodynamic law), but during this process the universe, through its creation of life is evolving in complexity to the point where we really don’t know how things will ultimately turn out.
    So why be negative?

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  151. metuselah June 13, 2011 at 9:19 pm #

    all the matter and energy in the universe will dissipate
    ==
    And then all motion, and therefore time as we understand it, will come to an end. So we’re back at my point. 🙂

  152. metuselah June 13, 2011 at 9:25 pm #

    So why be negative?
    ==
    Because there is an end and because we can see it. 🙂

  153. BeantownBill June 13, 2011 at 9:29 pm #

    Procon, I’m sort of tired right now to look at the results from your 11:18 post, but I remember reading it last night – so thank you very much for backing me up. Maybe the result is that others agree, and also that the posts from then on seem more focused on what this site is really about?

  154. BeantownBill June 13, 2011 at 9:42 pm #

    What I stated to you is current theory in cosmology. But as time goes on, surely most physics will be modified by new observations and development of new theories.
    Look at my recent comment to Bustin: the universe, as represented by life, is getting more complex. I’m implying that endings trillions of years in the future are not writ in stone; maybe Life will have some say in the outcome. And even if this is not so, an ending 50 or 100 trillion years in the future is so far out as to be meaningless to us mere mortals as currently constituted.

  155. BeantownBill June 13, 2011 at 9:52 pm #

    Really, Procon, astronomers do refer to this as the big bang x3 or 4, albeit in a lighthearted manner. You are right, this is more formally known as the oscillating universe theory, too.
    This theory is definitely a “positive” theory, whereas the latest theory, as I described earlier, is pretty gloomy.
    But my favorite creation theory is the steady state. Unfortunately, this has been totally discredited by modern science, although I think and hope it may come back someday in modified form. After all, Einstein dabbled with the cosmological constant and ultimately wrote it off, but now it’s been revived to explain the source of dark energy.

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  156. metuselah June 13, 2011 at 10:02 pm #

    Mere mortals we are, and mere mortals we shall always remain.
    In the mean time, back on earth, the banksters are busy killing us off any which way they can. Whether it be by way of arsenic fed to chickens, foods laced with cancer causing viruses, gm foods that cause sterility, poisoned water, depressing dehumanizing living environments, wars, systemic depredations and deprivations, gov mafia schools that breed ignorant idiots, and on and on.

  157. rippedthunder June 13, 2011 at 10:11 pm #

    I was cut and it hurt like hell! My boy was not cut but he still compains about it like it was some sort of mistake on me! f him. this country is run for profit! cutting foreskin pays off big-time!

  158. gavin June 13, 2011 at 10:31 pm #

    Good article. I like the Lovecraftian feel of it, something churning out there… anyway, It reminded me of a recent revelation I had. I was wondering why, after my time in the service, after learning a trade, and after getting an education, and even considering my complete lack of a criminal record, why I am still stuck in a job that pays barely $300 a week, often closer to $200? (And why are all the applications for employment I put in met only with crushing silence?) The reason that finally came to me, is that society does not value any of what I have done. The question that arose from that answer was of course, what then, at this point in America’s history, does society value? My inner cynic immediately spat out, “Nothing!” but that wasn’t right. A society that values nothing would not exist, and very plainly, society does exist, with all its multi-tiered rules and institutions. After a lot of thought, and the question, ‘what does society value?’ is koan-like in it’s baffling simplicity, I settled on an answer. Society values money and money alone. Not education, not hard work, not skill, nor any other Norman Rockwell stuff. Consider what this idea explains. Money attracts money. Only people with money get money. People with money get to do what they want (okay, mostly) But obviously, the rich get away with things that would put someone such as myself in jail, with no fancy hotel to stay in while I await trial. Well, that’s not SO bad, is it? Societies throughout history have always valued money, and those that had it have always lived better than those without. But the implications of money being the one thing valued by society are scary. For example, what happens when the whole money thing doesn’t work out, and it all grinds to a halt? Then we’ve taken out the one thing society values, and with no set of shared values at all, I posit that society will not exist (before coalescing around a different set of values, hopefully not ethnicity, caste, or viciousness). In a more immediate sense, given that money is freedom, and arguably life itself, I understand now why people will kill (and worse) for it. As money continues to “roar up” as Will Rogers said, I think we will see a lot more crimes of desperation, as people with nothing make one last grab at the trailing edge of the money as it apotheoses up to the sky.

  159. trippticket June 13, 2011 at 11:20 pm #

    Q, I’ve been thinking about this week waxing/waning thing, and I’m increasingly convinced that it’s simply a matter of perspective. You are considerably older than I am, inseparable from the growth paradigm, so you see a week as closing down, coming to an end. It’s your strident linearity of thought speaking. But for a 37 year old like me, with a brand new lease on a brand new life, each week seems to build into the next. Hence my perception of a week’s waxing instead of waning.
    It’s not as if I don’t know that waning would be the more appropriate term in our culture; I just don’t actually experience it that way.

  160. trippticket June 13, 2011 at 11:24 pm #

    “I was cut and it hurt like hell! My boy was not cut but he still compains about it like it was some sort of mistake on me! f him. this country is run for profit! cutting foreskin pays off big-time!”
    My son, Oliver, is uncut. We’ve had a few issues with that choice over the last year, his first year, but I still think it was a good decision. Genital mutilation isn’t really my thing. However dressed up in “science” it is. It’s still genital mutilation. The sort of thing we tend to frown on Islam about.

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  161. trippticket June 13, 2011 at 11:34 pm #

    “My point is NOT that the conspiracy theorists are
    right or wrong about any given theory. My point
    is that if they devoted half of that energy to
    fighting felonious activities amongst our
    governors and moneykeepers we’d be a helluva lot
    better off than trying to rewrite history.
    E.”
    Hear, hear!
    Or if they used the same energy to just buckle down and get busy building a viable future, we might actually have one.

  162. thomas99 June 13, 2011 at 11:53 pm #

    My family became Minnesotans in 1977 and we’re still not accepted as citizens of this great state yet. We retain our eastern roots, and it shows. Good luck to Michelle Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty as they seek the presidency of a very critical nation. I have one word for the both of them: NAIVE. Walter Mondale and Hubert Humphrey could teach both of these a**holes about what it means to come out as as runner up, with dignity. Michelle would make a great running mate to Sarah Palin (it’s a no brainer} and as for TPaw…he doesn’t deserve the dignity of a response.

  163. trippticket June 13, 2011 at 11:54 pm #

    “Now that the price has almost doubled, he wishes I had bought more.”
    Why? That just means that the US federal reserve note is worth half as much as it was two years ago. Which is great for “capital preservation,” I guess, good for you, so long as you cash that paper or metal in for actual wealth before the opportunity slips away.
    I chatted briefly with John Michael Greer about this, and he agrees with me. Wealth in a contractionary world isn’t going to look anything like wealth in a growth world. Gold/silver may have been fringe in the growth world, but they are probably pointless on the downslope.
    Surely there will be a brief window where you can make your foresight count, but I personally hate trying to time things out that tight, and I think it’s distracting your attention from what really matters in the long view. I just prefer to put whatever currency I have into permanent perennial systems, the kind that always represented wealth before paper was invented, or even gold refined – land, trees, fertility, livestock, equipment, passive comforts, community, weapons, etc.
    My wife and I keep our farm and market money in a little metal Monopoly box. At first I didn’t think gold and silver belonged in there with the paper, but I definitely do now, since I’ve had a few years to think it through.
    Just my .02 Do what makes you comfortable.

  164. messianicdruid June 14, 2011 at 12:07 am #

    “…part Walter Winchell, part H.P Lovecraft, and part Cornell Woolrich.”
    The humour is definately Argus Hamilton.

  165. trippticket June 14, 2011 at 12:11 am #

    “”I’m the slime oozing out of your TV set”
    Frank Zappa”
    I’m a personal fan of this little nugget from Mr. Zappa:
    Without deviation from the norm progress is not possible.
    It has adorned my refrigerator for years now. The same refrigerator that’s about to get traded for a chest freezer version coupled with an external thermostat to raise the temp to about 38, drawing somewhere in the neighborhood of 125 watts, and residing in the laundry room to cut heat production in our south Georgia, air conditioning-free farmhouse.
    That’s about 8% of the power an upright fridge uses. Once we get to 8% across the board, then, and only then, we will feel like a tiny solar array is practical and responsible.
    Interesting fellow that Frank Zappa.

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  166. messianicdruid June 14, 2011 at 12:20 am #

    The “felonious activities” are the conspiracies. How can you “fight” them if you can’t even get people to realize what is happening?

  167. trippticket June 14, 2011 at 12:22 am #

    “How is it that fetuses can feel pain, but not newborn baby boys?
    I find it strange that the same people who worry about pain in developing tissue can watch a newborn baby screaming in fear and pain while his penis is mutilated and announce that he feels nothing.”
    Ibid.
    Just another major league disconnect for the most apoplectic among us.
    I was at my great aunt’s and uncle’s in Jacksonville, FL, over the weekend, and my aunt was telling me about their small footprint just as I was watching the lawn sprinklers go off and the chemical spray company pull up to treat the grass.
    We should be in the clear any day now.

  168. trippticket June 14, 2011 at 12:26 am #

    “What can be done if people I encounter want to engage in small talk & are critical and judgemental when I try to steer the conversation to more important matters?”
    It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -Krishnamurti

  169. messianicdruid June 14, 2011 at 12:43 am #

    “But the implications of money being the one thing valued by society are scary.”
    “The love of money is the root of all evil.” We trade portions of our lives for “dollars”. The people who create “dollars” are thieves and liars. When they create more “dollars” it makes each of the existing dollars worth less. They are stealing your life. Quit using their money {quit measuring your life with their ruler}. Find some dependable people and produce something they need.

  170. Vlad Krandz June 14, 2011 at 1:13 am #

    The opposite of a great idea is usually also true – in a less universal sense. George Bernard Shaw said that lack of money is the root of evil. No contradiction, the love leads to the lack.

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  171. Vlad Krandz June 14, 2011 at 1:16 am #

    Even the amoeba throws part of itself out in front to pull that rest of itself forward. You are that pseudo pod Trip. The Vanguard, to use Fascist language.

  172. Vlad Krandz June 14, 2011 at 1:19 am #

    How devilishly clever you are to deflect the conversation to this and away from abortion – my prior deflection. What about those Muslims and Africans who circumcise the whole clitoris? What the hell is up with that?

  173. Buck Stud June 14, 2011 at 1:21 am #

    Ibendet,
    I didn’t see anything in that article about over riding elections, but perhaps I missed it my cursory scan. I did, however, see something about voter eligibility requirements. But I’m one who realizes that most of us need to present a valid ID in the most casual of day-by-day affairs, so what’s the big deal about a legitimate ID in order to vote?

  174. Vlad Krandz June 14, 2011 at 1:24 am #

    The point is Kether. The Hindus call it the bindu. Also called the Cosmic Egg – each Universe begins here and ends here when all the galaxies curve back upon themselves. Thus all things are conserved. The in breath is followed by the out breath and vice versa. Don’t wait for the Sleep of God – go back of your own accord.

  175. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 1:27 am #

    Just read a business analysis concerning how American banks are on the hook for hundreds of billions due to Credit Default Swaps on European debt.
    Of course this means that it is the US taxpayer who is really on the hook.
    Privatize profits – make the public liable for losses. This sucker could go down.
    I just had a post on pain in neonates held for review. It was a little bit off topic for a Monday, anyway. I’ll try later on.
    Let’s see it this one goes.
    SUBMIT?

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  176. rocco June 14, 2011 at 1:43 am #

    YO to all, thanks JHK for an anohter look into this crazy world of the global economy. I was truly a frightened rabbit of the upcoming doom, fall, end,but then I found post rapture pet savers. A group of atheists formed a company that will go to your home if you believe you are to be raptured and take your pet and care for it until Satan comes for the non belivers. So if you think you will be left behind, then start a group in your area. I think $100 covers 10 years,and with that money buy more seeds, books, guns,or those shiny #10 cans, they stack nicely. The garden thing you are right JHK, it’s really harder and tougher than I thought, thats with no zombies or gun carring socialist medicine supporters trying to steal my food or life. May Zeus be with us all.

  177. mlytle June 14, 2011 at 2:02 am #

    I loved the comment about the flags. Here in Houston, the major interstate segments that pass through the more commercial segments of the metropolitan area sport ENORMOUS American Flags, as little as a quarter mile apart. The building complexes that host these star-spangled sails, are predictably, banks, auto dealers, and office buildings rented out to various oil companies.
    I was wondering if the French or Italians do the same thing. Some how I doubt it, but I could be wrong.

  178. Patrizia June 14, 2011 at 2:21 am #

    We have an anecdote: once a farmer was crying because his donkey died “I was almost successful in inventing a new strategy to save money and so optimizing my projects.
    He was almost used to starve, bur after three days he died.
    Why did he have to die and ruin my plans?”
    So are the people.
    Why, if everything was going so well this crisis had to happen? We were almost used to never ending growth and this stupid crisis had to ruin everything?
    The problem is not what happened, it is not realizing why.
    Because if you do not understand your mistakes you are condemned to repeat them forever.

  179. Eleuthero June 14, 2011 at 2:53 am #

    And “getting busy building a viable future”
    does NOT even have to involve ENORMOUS
    current sacrifices. For example, if people
    would cut their driving from 12,000 mi./year
    just to, say, 8000 … it would make a HUGE
    difference in the amount of time we could
    buy to attempt breakthroughs in, say, solar.
    If people stopped having closets with thirty
    shirts and thirty pants when they keep only
    using four or five shirts/pants routinely,
    this would make a difference.
    I think the reason that a lot of people are
    cynical about the sustainability issue is
    because they don’t PERSONALLY want to give
    up their own piggishness. They want
    sustainability to consist of the sacrifices
    of everybody BUT themselves!!
    They also don’t realize that when you stop
    being piggish and allow the new lifestyle
    time to work, you realize that you don’t
    even miss things you think are “indispensible”
    and usually find greater depth of meaning in
    your life!
    E.

  180. Eleuthero June 14, 2011 at 2:59 am #

    Wagelaborer said:
    The thing is that they get away with their crimes because of the beliefs that Americans hold about their country. That we are all in this together, that the ruling class are just folks like us, and, by golly, if I win that lottery, I’ll be rich too.
    ***************************************************
    Exactly. Everybody thinks they’re one good scam
    away from untold riches while reality is that
    they’re 99.9999% closer to eating out of garbage
    cans. They don’t want to turn off the “scam
    machine” the plutocracy has been using to rob us
    because ordinary people want to keep the scam
    machine alive just long enough so that THEY can
    be part of that plutocracy.
    It’s delusional to the point of resembling the
    “magical thinking” that is one of the top three
    symptoms … of SCHIZOPHRENIA.
    E.

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  181. xhalor June 14, 2011 at 3:00 am #

    C – (Definition) Aware of life & sensations of others (different points of observation)
    0 – (Definition) Awareness of different points of observation
    Needs clarificaton.
    Mass Energy – undefined
    Needs clarification
    I’m not sure that I have the mathematics to describe your premise:
    MISUNDERSTAND EVERYTHING ALWAYS! GET IT ALL WRONG, YOU CAN DO IT, GO MAN GO, JUST DO IT.
    However, I think a working proof can be created from the premise:
    CONTRADICT EVERYTHING ALWAYS!
    I get around

  182. Eleuthero June 14, 2011 at 3:12 am #

    Jonathan said:
    What can be done if people I encounter want to engage in small talk & are critical and judgemental when I try to steer the conversation to more important matters? Do I have to continue listening to my neighbor whine about diesel prices while he has a big ass F250 diesel parked in his driveway?
    I would rather read a book or read things like you have written on the internet than listen to most people’s babble. Does that make me antisocial or just an introvert?
    *************************************************
    Jonathan, I used to be an extrovert until about
    the age of 45. Then the dotcom boom hit and
    formerly “deep” people started DEVOLVING into
    creatures who had no interests but their gains
    in the stock market and their worship of consumer
    electronic gadgetry.
    Eventually, after I’d had several THOUSAND more
    conversations between age 45 and now (I am 59),
    I started experiencing most socializing as an
    isometric exercise i.e., there’s no movement and
    it’s painful. 🙂 🙂 Cafe life around here
    dissolved and what remains are these “laptop
    villages” … you walk into a cafe and 12 of 15
    people are riveted on their Imac or PC.
    Watching people under 30 “converse” has actually
    become psychically PAINFUL for me to watch. Why
    do they have to SCREAM at each other? Why do
    the laughs seem maniacally overdone and so loud?
    Why does it appear that they just shout
    interjections at each other rather than have a
    real, tit-for-tat dialog?
    Not that the over-40 crowd is much better for
    reasons given in my first paragraph above. So,
    if you feel a certain EMPTINESS exists in the
    social sphere in 2011, I can only tell you that
    you are far from alone in that observation.
    It’s as if all the joy and depth of human
    interaction has disappeared … IN ONE DECADE!!
    Your imagination is NOT playing tricks on you.
    E.

  183. xhalor June 14, 2011 at 3:18 am #

    What? Your juniors are being too loud? Having too much fun? WTF? Mummie & Daddie listen to The Clash. How ya gonna rebel?

  184. Shakazulu June 14, 2011 at 3:19 am #

    “Still mourning the demise of the cheese doodle inventor.”
    Don’t worry. The recipe did not die with him.

  185. Shakazulu June 14, 2011 at 3:23 am #

    “The failure of leadership around the world is now complete. Nobody who needs to get it gets it.”
    And anyone who does get it is scorned or shot.

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  186. xhalor June 14, 2011 at 3:27 am #

    Now that’s a co-wink-a-dink. Wasn’t it Joe Strummer that said that the problem with power is that it is just a matter of time before some cunt with a shotgun comes ’round to blow your head off.

  187. Shakazulu June 14, 2011 at 3:46 am #

    “Larry Summers is calling for more stimulus.”
    He’s still collecting a paycheck? Hadn’t heard anything from him in a while. Maybe he’s been busy following Weiner’s twitter account.
    When I hear the word “stimulus” these days I think of Dr. Frankenstein shocking his creature into animation. Their monster of debt will be our destruction.

  188. xhalor June 14, 2011 at 3:47 am #

    Lest we forget the Grand Generational Memory Lapse, a refresher: The kids live in the world that they were given.

  189. AMR June 14, 2011 at 3:58 am #

    The LA Times published an article today about the Bonneville Power Administration ordering wind turbine operators attached to its grid to go offline for several hours a night on account of excess hydroelectric output. The kicker is that BPA has the technical ability to sell its excess hydroelectricity outside its balancing area but doesn’t want to do so due for financial reasons.
    http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-adv-wind-energy-20110614,0,6841143.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews%2Fscience%2Fenvironment+%28L.A.+Times+-+Environment%29

  190. xhalor June 14, 2011 at 4:08 am #

    ‘kinda like Enron shutting down the power in certain parts of LA. Living there now (again). Hope they don’t turn off the traffic lights like they did the last time that money & electricity was an issue. Man, I am trying like Hell to convince the CA family members that we MUST get back to the Great Lakes basin.

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  191. AMR June 14, 2011 at 4:45 am #

    The appropriate thing to tell your neighbor with the F250 is that you don’t have any sympathy for him because it is his choice to drive around town in a truck that gets marginally better fuel economy than a bus. I probably wouldn’t have the balls to be that blunt, but it’s certainly warranted because people who try to augment their penises or pretend to be badass cowboys by driving high-rider crew cabs need to get their heads out of their asses.
    Eleuthero is right about the rising tide of vacuous materialism in the US and its bad effects. A relative of mine was recently foreclosed upon after leveraging his mortgage to the hilt and spending the proceeds on motorcycles and high-end electronics. He’s now working severely curtailed hours, recently homeless and living at his third address in two years, having previously lived in the same house about 25 years. The rest of the family is bracing for him to seek additional handouts or a place to crash. As it happens, he lives in Eleuthero’s neck of the woods but has never had the money to keep up with the Joneses. If he hadn’t been so fucking materialistic he could have paid off his mortgage; instead, on the verge of standard retirement he’s a financial wreck, unable to pay off his credit card balances or afford decent housing in the area where he’s lived for most of his life. He has always been insecure and lonely, and he has compensated as he was taught by his parents, by buying superfluous crap on credit. Which is exactly how our nation’s very effective propagandists want us to compensate for our insecurities.
    This relative of mine and your neighbor with the F250 sound like different facets of the same stone. Advertisers prey upon the insecure, the gullible, the impulsive, the lonely, the ignorant, the afraid. And through sheer repetition, unchallenged by countervailing social forces or support systems, they turn formerly independent-minded people into suitable prey. They profit from a rather Darwinian atmosphere of their own contrivance.

  192. Sololeum June 14, 2011 at 4:51 am #

    Amongst all the silly noises our pollies and money persons make there comes to attention a little sensible information. Gwen Bane cried out 20 years ago that the traditional horse / rotational agriculture of the Amish is far better than Monsantos No Till see http://eap.mcgill.ca/MagRack/JPR/JPR_13.htm
    The real benefit is that someone with a modest amount of machinery and a lot of know how and some oxen / horses can conduct a state of the art farming on rented land.
    This is important knowledge in the near future.
    Cheers,

  193. AMR June 14, 2011 at 4:54 am #

    It’s like Enron in that the shortage has been contrived for financial reasons, but apparently unlike Enron in that the BPA isn’t involved in any obvious fraud. There are some bitter disputes as to why exactly the BPA is pushing the wind operators around, especially since salmon runs are involved, but as far as I can tell it’s basically a process-driven financial spat between two factions in a badly designed corporate and regulatory structure. Enron, on the other hand, wasn’t at all incompetent or put upon; it was a straightforward bunch of well-connected scum-of-the-earth crooks.

  194. xhalor June 14, 2011 at 5:11 am #

    Some time ago, I heard and read that folks from the Midwest had introduced Wall-Eyed Pike into the Salmon breeding lakes in CA. Well, after three poisonings, the Pikes were grimly hanging on. Probably the most aggressive fresh water fish EVER. In small lakes in the Northern Great Lakes basin, when the Pikes have killed all of the other fish, they begin canabalising themselves. Quite frankly, they taste like shit. I should investigate the Pike situation in CA. Anybody know anything about that?

  195. AMR June 14, 2011 at 5:14 am #

    For an indication of the wrench that these regulations can throw into the works, the wind farms that the BPA has ordered to go offline have a capacity of 3,500 MW. Total wind output managed by the California ISO has generally been between 600 and 2500 MW over the past week, usually towards the higher end; if I read the ISO’s legends correctly, this is solely output from turbines located in California, with output transmitted by the BPA accounted for in the general imports category. Peak daily demand in the ISO’s balancing area (more or less the state) has been at about 31,000 MW over the past week. Peak summer demand is somewhere around 36,000-38,000 MW. So depending on wind conditions and load, the BPA has the potential to take wind output in excess of 10% of California’s demand offline in order to satisfy regulatory requirements that have nothing to do with operational capabilities.

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  196. xhalor June 14, 2011 at 5:23 am #

    “So depending on wind conditions and load,….”
    Mother Nature is a bitch.

  197. Eleuthero June 14, 2011 at 6:06 am #

    xhalor said:
    Lest we forget the Grand Generational Memory Lapse, a refresher: The kids live in the world that they were given.
    ***************************************************
    That’s correct but lest YOU forget, at least
    the Boomers, stuck with the Vietnam draft
    lottery (I lived through two of ’em and got
    lucky), the oil crisis of the 1970s (inflation
    adjusted prices were worse THEN than NOW), and
    the Carter era of 11% unemployment and 13%
    inflation. Somehow, we still got stuff done
    and we weren’t some goddamned garish and stupid
    in public.
    I agree with Mark Bauerlein, the guy who wrote
    “The Dumbest Generation”, that these kids can’t
    just lean on the “life sucks” excuse for the
    banality of their communication, their TOTAL
    (and I mean TOTAL) disinterest in reading,
    their absolute lack of knowledge of US history
    and civics … and their horrible general
    knowledge base.
    You see, I’m one of those old farts that still
    believe in FREE WILL and I’m seeing Gen-Y use
    that free will mostly to avoid commitment to
    any activity that requires that you don’t have
    a fainting ass.
    The Boomers certainly have their problems but
    they seem about as separated from their kids
    intellectually and spiritually and in life
    achievements as any generation in American
    History. Do the Boomer parents get SOME
    blame? OF course. Do they get a MAJORITY
    of blame?? I don’t think so. Every generation
    could resort to that but only these banal
    shitheads ACTUALLY milk that tit ’til it’s dry
    as the Sahara Desert.
    E.

  198. xhalor June 14, 2011 at 6:21 am #

    I…had…no idea you were so emotional

  199. MarlinFive54 June 14, 2011 at 7:09 am #

    Gardens coming along nicely. Suddenly enough lettuce for a coupla salads per day, lunch and dinner.
    Its astonishing, really, with good soil, hard work, cooperative weather, a good attitude and a willingness to learn, but without much initial expertise, how well things can turn out. Take my potato patch, for example. I purchased the plants at a local nursery and followed the verbal instructions given to me by the lady who sold them to me. I had never planted potatos before. Well, yesterday my neighbor was over, a Master Gardener, took a look see, and stated they looked pretty healthy! Its just serendipity I guess, the story of my life.
    -Marlin
    “LaCasa de la Dulce Tomatinos”

  200. scott June 14, 2011 at 7:33 am #

    That’s correct but lest YOU forget, at least
    the Boomers, stuck with the Vietnam draft
    lottery (I lived through two of ’em and got
    lucky), the oil crisis of the 1970s (inflation
    adjusted prices were worse THEN than NOW), and
    the Carter era of 11% unemployment and 13%
    inflation. Somehow, we still got stuff done
    and we weren’t some goddamned garish and stupid
    in public.

    I disagree with inflation adjusted prices being worse THEN than NOW especially if you look at NOW in real time. The import price index just jumped 12.5% just as anyone with a clue would have expected to eventually happen with manufacturing being moved to Asia. Comparing unemployment rates is misleading as well because both inflation and unemployment are calculated using different methodologies now compared to then. If we use the same methodologies then unemployment and inflation is much worse now.
    Our economy WAS failing THEN but we were able to extrapolate our failed economic model globally by moving manufacturing to China and denominating global crude oil sales in U.S. dollars. Boomers were able to benefit greatly from the shortsighted policies of globalization. Anyone with a clue in the 70’s would have expected globalization to be a shortsighted fix to an unsustainable infinite economic model that would leave future generations in far worse shape than had we made the right choices THEN.

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  201. ffkling June 14, 2011 at 7:43 am #

    FYI it’s “enemigos” not “inimigos.” By the way, how does the fact that the world human population is expanding by 80,000,000 every year while during this same time period an estimated 22,000 animal and plant species are driven extinct, fit with your neat, utopian view of the future?

  202. ffkling June 14, 2011 at 7:51 am #

    Yeah, and thanks to President Carter’s energy policy American imports of foreign oil were reduced from 8,000,000 bpd to 3,000,000, which set the stage for a recovery. Not to mention he is the only president to have negotiated a true and lasting Middle East Peace Agreement-The Camp David Accord or that he was the last president not to have engaged the US in incessant warfare.

  203. lbendet June 14, 2011 at 8:03 am #

    Buck,
    Those points you mentioned were not in the article, I was introducing a bit of recent history as a lead up into the article.
    Thank you for reading it–I found it brought a few of the strains of the Republican Party together very cogently.
    __________
    Scott, liked your point:
    “Anyone with a clue in the 70’s would have expected globalization to be a shortsighted fix to an unsustainable infinite economic model that would leave future generations in far worse shape than had we made the right choices THEN.”
    You couldn’t have made a better point–boy what a disaster. Globalism with the theories of Milton Friedman “Free Market” disaster capitalism is the worst way to have implemented this.

  204. welles June 14, 2011 at 8:12 am #

    FYI, i live in brazil, it’s ‘inimigos’ down here, i.e. portuguese not spanish.
    the number of inaccuracies about me is growing.
    i’ve stated that i’m for sustainability, the reuse of resources…yet get castigated for revelling in the deforestation of the amazon…lol
    i get blasted for planting a garden…which is the antithesis of habitat destruction…lol
    i get blasted for sitting in front of a computer saving oil on transport….lol
    i get blasted for having a little bbq shindig, and get roasted by the site’s PETA patrol…
    you folks need to come on down & relax down here, jhk’s got your ire up.
    the ones of you who’d like nothing more than to see wwiii & pestilence hit are just boobs. one day you might wake up & realize jeesis isn’t coming back, and your dr. evil prognostications aren’t going to come true.
    do some good at least, plant a flower or two like me and trippticket, whom i greatly admire

  205. xhalor June 14, 2011 at 8:12 am #

    “which set the stage for a
    recovery”
    …aaah, there’s that word again

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  206. bubbleheadMarc June 14, 2011 at 8:18 am #

    You got it! The fact is Americans worship money. I have done many of the things you talk about and although those activities may have been character building and most likely I am a better man for them and more useful to my family today because of my background the fact is that we are entirely results oriented and that we keep score with money.
    There is no doubt in my mind that I would have been more in tune with the mainstream here in the Pig Empire if I’d simply vanished to Alaska several decades ago and stayed there panning for gold until I struck it rich. Even had I not struck it rich I would have been better aligned with the zeitgeist and opportunities would’ve come my way unbidden. And while we’re on the subject: there can be no greater waste of time in the American economy than teaching other people’s children. You will get absoltely no respect for such a foolish squandering of your own time. You are then literally the low serotonin chimpanzee who gets stuck doing the babysitting while the dominant apes are off leading the war party to kick the shit out of the neighboring band of chimps. This is the reductio ad absurdum of altruistic behavior unappreciated.

  207. bubbleheadMarc June 14, 2011 at 8:35 am #

    Lately I’ve been reading astronomy magazines and have noticed that there are dissenters to the prevailing orthodoxy in cosmology. In fact it kind of looks like nobody really knows what’s going on or went on. There is evidence for instance that Quasars are pretty exotic and that they are linked to the production of new galaxies. Others suspect that black holes don’t really exist, much less there being a black hole at the pivot point in the center of each galaxy which is eating everything in close proximity. There is a prevailing orthodoxy in cosmology at this point and professional scientists tend to be extremely timid about rocking the boat since their jobs depend on peer review and so few of them have any sort of freedom from universities or other large bureaucratic institutions. So the notion that we are progressing from a big bang towards an eventual state of universal entropy may not actually be warranted by the facts. It is also interesting to read up on string theory.

  208. lbendet June 14, 2011 at 9:03 am #

    Ah, The one-two punch of the global financial/military fronts.
    Max Keiser has some links to Business Insider, another site I check out on a regular basis. This one’s about Libya. Yes, it seems that Goldman Sachs, Lehman Bros and even Madoff had designs for Libya a few short years ago.
    Now look at Libya! NATO (US) is pounding it with bombs, hopefully not with spent uranium. Both articles are from the Financial Times, but the one I found more interesting was the Madoff one gleaned from Wikileaks.
    [Madoff tried to rip off Qaddafi’s government.
    On January 20th(not sure what yr.), the U.S. Ambassador to Libya met with Mohamed Layas, the Head of the Libyan Investment Authority, and highlighted ways that U.S. businesses could thrive in Libya.
    The following transmission is from a summary of the what happened during the meeting, sent from the  Embassy Tripoli to an unknown destination.
    Also interesting: What Qadaffi didn’t lose with Madoff, he lost with Lehman Brothers.
    The transmission was recently sent from WikiLeaks to the Telegraph: 
    Layas denied press reports that the LIA [Libya’s sovereign wealth fund] had invested USD 100 million with the infamous Allen Stanford.
    He said that he had personally written a letter to the “Financial Times” disputing [its] information, explaining that Stanford had approached the LIA in the middle of his crisis, offering a 7-8% share in his investment scheme, but Layas had refused.
    Layas also mentioned having been previously approached by Bernard Madoff about an investment opportunity, “but we did not accept.”
    On the contrary, LIA’s recent purchase of the Canadian Verenex oil company — after much controversy over the manner in which it was purchased and share price — was considered by Layas a “good deal.” LIA plans to operate Verenex jointly with the Libyan Investment and Development Corporation (LIDCO).

  209. spider9629 June 14, 2011 at 9:11 am #

    Nothing Further From the Truth
    For all his smarts and cynicism, JHK is quite naive, as are most posters here and, nay, should I say most economists, politicians, etc. They kind of believe there is an objective “truth” out there in the economy. That the economy is some kind of machine that works according to rules and laws, that people operate accordingly, even if they “sometimes” mess up, and that “debts must be paid”, “work must be productive”, “what goes up must come down”, and so forth and so on. Nothing further from the truth (can’t imagine how many times I had to pronounce that sentence !, is it possible that only I, in the whole world, see how false, a lie, arbitrary everything is?!?!).
    The economy doesn’t even exist in a sense, it is just an aggregation of numbers measuring aggregate output from factories, aggregate unemployment, all kinds of numbers of “things” put together, “as one chunk”, as if they were a single entity (and not made up of an ever changing unknown number of moving and changing parts that can be interpreted (nay, the interpretation is a pure invention by a long slide) and boiled in random, totally quirk, undefined, unknown, intractable “Free Wills” of people doing anything that comes to their puny and turdy minds), following logic and mathematics and inside some kind of clockwork machine. Nothing Further From the Truth.
    The debts, the “counter-party obligations”, the “economic growth” and all else can be changed and deleted on a whim, can be restructured (that is redefined out of existence, or redefined from being a loss to a gain, from a “liability” to an “asset” in a jiffy, you name it, there is no limit to human imagination, inventiveness and fantasy) are just make believe entities from the outset, have never been real anyways, are just placeholders, a denotation, a symbol of some vague and never precisely defined, and definitely never really guaranteed beyond blind hope, human relationships, of how humans decided to interact, according to what vague rules and laws they feel are or should be operating.
    So money as such doesn’t even exist, it is just a relationship between people, so it can be redefined into anything else, no matter what. And this is what is going to happen. No crash, no economy dying, no nothing, there will be some people who lose (always workers and poor that is for sure), but most people will just hang on forever, just like the economy will hang on forever, as it is just an invention.
    The real basic processes sustaining the economy, the primary sectors and the secondary sectors (agriculture and manufacturing) will keep on churning out their goods anyways, maybe with some ups and downs, but the wealth that is generated automatically by a Technological Economy, will be generated anyways, and despite any of the theoretical fluff economy and inventions of the tertiary sectors (services, banks, finance, etc.). The system is getting richer day by day, even though all of you are so hooked into seeing all of these imaginary linearities operating, all of these simple causes and effects, without noticing the large picture: work being automated and technologically rendered obsolete, constant increase of wealth in the form of technological advancements, ever more products, ever more homes and cars and goods of all kinds being produced anyways, ever more information (as in the Information Economy), etc.
    On China, I found that really cool that they just build and build, just like my idea of building Trillions of Skyscrapers, disrespecting any “economic logic”, outside of any “market economy” logic, they just DO IT, they just express all of the EXCESS CAPACITY the system generates and lets it all hang out, really cool! I hope they build trillions of ghost cities, I hope they finally HOSE NATURE the way that it should have been hosed long ago, good Commies the Chinese, go man go, do it, you can do it!
    On the San Jose Mommy, I bet your teenage girly is a doll (I can only use my imagination, now what is left of an old crappy, Impotent, huge pile of crap like me, but that’s ok, life is a bitch : eat, drink and be merry, and then you die (that is the best possible religion to live by, by a long shot!, but I look at dirty pictures, go figure)). Did she find some modified brain – mind structure in her backyard ? Did it come from the SuperComputer that the Sun is ? Ask her, she may know.
    I found this one, let her go out and play with this, she will jump up and down and run all around the backyard with little Nancy and Suzy and Ryan and Tommy, all having a ball, all having FUN, oh what FUN!!!
    WJJ$JJ%J%J%JTHJHTT–PP====—-::MM—————
    Wow, now that is a really new mind – universe entity! I can see a words to extension converter (as words are only relationships (logical and cause and effect systems) while Matter and what we see is extended and full of details, but we just see the fairy tale relationships, as the relationships and logic are all and totalizing, but they should be irrelevant as we should just experience the extensions of Mass Energy as in Existence against Function, our mind – thought completely obsessed with function, KILL FUNCTION, long live extensions and random details), an aggregator of time and past experiences into solid particle condenser (we need electrical schematics here with WILD SYMBOLS, symbols going crazy all on their own) an all to nothing particle constructor, and so on and so forth, as this is “The Insanity I Have to Deal With”.
    Just do it, go man go, first gear, it’s allright! second gear hold on tight! third gear you’re out of sight!
    Quo Vadis ? Baby…

  210. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 9:36 am #

    “the number of inaccuracies about me is growing.”
    -wells-
    Wells, I don’t mind saying that I enjoy hearing what is going on in Brazil (right?) very much.
    Our BustinJ is a guy given to extremes – he comes up with some good stuff – but I have to apply a filter to it sometimes.
    He’s spent several posts trying to beat all vestiges of Faith out of me by remote control.
    And it seems that he’d like to beat all the joy out of you and/or out of Brazil by remote control, in a similar manner.
    Of course I’ve got to strenuously disagree with you about population numbers, wells – which scare the hell out of me, sometimes. And just because Japan is in decline and the poor sad native born population of Western Europe is in decline – does not mean that 7 billion++ on Earth was a good idea.
    Local knowledge questions:
    1. What is the feeling down there about global environmental concerns AND about regional concerns – like the Amazon rain forest? Do people see a connection? Do the care?
    2. What do those folks feel about emigration? Is the US really like a big magnet for all the SA peoples?
    One more thing, wells – if you had just “shown up” and attempted to live where you live and how you live without your “brown honey” – do you think you would have been as accepted. I mean, she’s a local girl, right.
    Don’t get me wrong – you’ve got a great life going on. And I would love to get me a “brown honey,” and move in across the street from you and enjoy hanging out, and doing all that cool stuff you describe.
    Do you have any suggestions as to how I should go about talking my wife (of 31 years) into the whole idea??
    Just asking.
    Regards,
    PoC

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  211. MarlinFive54 June 14, 2011 at 9:40 am #

    Old6699/Spider;
    Stay away from kids! You’re a f—-g nutcase, possibly dangerous.
    -Marlin

  212. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 9:52 am #

    “There is a prevailing orthodoxy in cosmology at this point and professional scientists tend to be extremely timid…”
    -the resident submariner-
    Marc, it’s not just cosmology – it’s all branches of academia. And one can easily argue that it “doesn’t matter” in a field like cosmology – where it’s all theoretical, anyway. Although, the way human societies view their place in creation is important on some basic level.
    Think about it, within the past 150 years – maybe starting with Darwin – mainline working scientists have gone from thinking that their Creator God was in charge of Everything – – – To today’s less doctrinaire Faith, or Agnosticism, or even to rigorous Doctrinaire Atheism.
    And would that matter – except that science has dragged the rest of humanity along with it?
    So that now, rudderless, humanity faces problems that are beyond it’s capability to solve.
    DAMN, and I was so happy at the BEGINNING of this post. ;’)

  213. MarlinFive54 June 14, 2011 at 10:00 am #

    PoC;
    After the Civil War about 20,000 former Confederates, many from Georgia, emigrated to Brazil. You probably already have relatives there and don’t even know it.
    -Marlin

  214. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 10:12 am #

    Sounds like my ancestors should have gone with them, Marlin.
    Maybe they did.
    What if I’ve got a doppelganger down there right now? Wonder if he’s got a “brown honey?”
    To much thought too early in the morning – maybe I better go pop open a “Honey Brown,” and go work on the PoC empire.

  215. Buck Stud June 14, 2011 at 10:25 am #

    “there will be some people who lose (always workers and poor that is for sure), but most people will just hang on forever, just like the economy will hang on forever, as it is just an invention.”
    You make some excellent points, Spider, but I don’t believe I ever read anyone who casually waves aside ‘human nature’ as easily as you do. Of course, I hesitate to mention this, because now you will post a novel on the need to develop trillions of new drugs that anesthetize the deleterious and retributive effects of ‘being fucked over’.
    The other day I saw the two most beautiful little girls, maybe three years old. One minute they’re playing and laughing and the next fighting each other for a purse to carry around. Your solution: cut down the trees and obscure the mountains for the trillions of skyscrapers and never mind the hard realities of “Nature”. Just encapsulate the equivalent of a frontal lobotomy in a tiny little pill so “progress’ will be palatable.

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  216. MarlinFive54 June 14, 2011 at 10:41 am #

    PoC;
    Being part Portugese I actually do have cousins in Brazil. They emigrated there about the same time one of my grandfathers came here, in the 1880s. One cousin in CT is in contact with them, visited several years ago. Only thing he said about it, “If you value your life, stay out of the big cities”.
    -Marlin

  217. LewisLucanBooks June 14, 2011 at 11:30 am #

    Those extra shirts and pants eventually end up at my local Visiting Nurses Thrift Store. (Great group. Supports Hospice.) Where I buy them at $3 per. 🙂

  218. LewisLucanBooks June 14, 2011 at 11:34 am #

    A man quietly browses in my bookstore for an hour or so. While here, his cell phone rings three times. Judging from what I can hear from my side of the conversation, The Wife wants to know where he is, what he’s doing….

  219. MarlinFive54 June 14, 2011 at 11:36 am #

    Hey PoC;
    Your wife probably wouldn’t be too happy about taking a ‘Brown Honey’ into your home, here or Brazil. Maybe I’m wrong, I don’t know.
    I think about what it must have been like when the Portugese beauties started showing up here in Yankeeland at the end of the 19th century. It must have seemed like Manna from heaven to them.
    -Marlin

  220. MarlinFive54 June 14, 2011 at 11:39 am #

    You’d better stick to Honey Browns, not Brown Honeys, you’re got that right! A lot less trouble.
    -Marlin

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  221. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 11:48 am #

    Captain Spaulding, please report to the bridge.
    We have a new screenname for the house troll.
    “Hey fucktard, people….”
    -lil’Nausea-
    Do not attempt to engage this troll directly.
    Please direct all future comments to
    CaptainSpaulding
    Troll Abatement Officer
    CFN Member At Large
    That is all.

  222. LewisLucanBooks June 14, 2011 at 11:49 am #

    I see the same thing in this small Pacific NW town. Generally, people from “outside” or “away” don’t do well here, unless they marry in. Preferably into the existing power structure.

  223. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 11:59 am #

    Thanks for the advice Marlin.
    “You’d better stick to Honey Browns, not Brown Honeys, you’ve got that right! A lot less trouble.”
    -marlin-
    And you may be right. But how are we going to fit in with the locals with Wells in Brazil without a brown honey.
    How many locals would develop a long term friendship with us if all we had with us was a shipping container full (40,000 pounds?) of Honey Brown.
    I wonder if they even would like Honey Brown down there, wells.
    Silly question – everybody likes beer.

  224. digbycookies June 14, 2011 at 12:12 pm #

    Depending upon how hot the TSA guy feeling me up is, I tend to repeat the phrase, “Just looking at you makes me want to cream in my panties.” Really sets them back. Try it some time.

  225. digbycookies June 14, 2011 at 12:24 pm #

    On a related note, even though I’m not incontinent, before getting “patted down” at the airport, I drink an inordinate amount of beer, eat at least 5 or 6 chili cheese nachos, and a large green apple before donning my pair of “Depends”. Really seems to take the perverse pleasure off of the TSA guys when I let’r RIP before our “meating”. Again, try it sometime. Personal note: because leakage can occur, try wearing the polyester jogging pants before hand (pun intended). Cleans up well in the airport sink.

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  226. digbycookies June 14, 2011 at 12:33 pm #

    ATTENTION K-MART SHOPPERS! Just an aside: Polyester jogging pants on sale this week only for $4.99/pair. Buy 2 and get the third pair FREE! Especially advantageous to all of you frequent flyers (see above musings).

  227. metuselah June 14, 2011 at 12:56 pm #

    The word is keter. A crown.
    And I’m interested in that the metaphysical BS, because that’s what it is, BS. It leads nowhere except into idiocy and servitude.
    You hear me, Vlad?! Stand upright! Be a thinking human being! Not some goddamn feeble-minded animal parroting and acting an agenda out to enslave.

  228. Cash June 14, 2011 at 1:06 pm #

    I’ll take a shot at answering.
    Much of the financial world is embroiled in an inter-locking system of bets on financial products called derivatives.
    I’ll give you an example of one consequence of this system of bets: the collapse of AIG.
    You can buy insurance against default on a bond. It’s called a credit default swap. You can even buy insurance on a bond you don’t even own. This is pure speculation on the credit condition of the bond issuer and is called a “naked credit default swap”.
    AIG used to sell these insurance policies on bonds. Maybe they still do. You pay the premium and they pay you the amount insured against loss if there’s a default ie let’s say the debtor goes belly up.
    Never mind, like I said, that you don’t own the bond. It’s like you buying insurance on your neighbour’s car. You pay the premium and collect if your neighbour’s car gets schmucked.
    So AIG sells bazillions in credit default swaps (insurance against bond default). And AIG got into terrible trouble when a whole bunch of bonds it insured started defaulting.
    AIG owed folks ie major financial institutions, sacks of money. In a lot of cases these guys didn’t even own the bonds they had bought insurance policies for. I’ve read that 80% of the credit default swaps that AIG sold were to outfits that were pure speculators ie they didn’t even own the bonds they were buying insurance for.
    So the US govt steps in, gives AIG bazillions of dollars so it can pay up bazillions to outfits that owned these credit default swaps ie insurance on bonds that in many cases and, some say, in most cases they didn’t even own.
    So you may ask why the fuck can you buy insurance on bonds you don’t own? Excellent question. You many also ask why the fuck did the US govt in effect pay huge banks bazillions of dollars to make good on bonds they didn’t own? Another excellent question.
    By self referential I think he means that this whole system is not grounded in common sense, it makes no economic sense whatsoever in the real world of actual production and consumption.
    This system makes sense only within the confines of the rules that the players contrived, it only makes sense within the bubble that Wall Street created with the willing acquiescence of govts and regulators.
    It looked to the players in this system that, holy cow, AIG will go belly up if the Feds don’t step in. It had liablities it had to pay. It was too big, it owed too much to too many big players. Too many of these big players in turn could get wiped out or severely hurt and default on their liabilities to other big players. So the thinking was that, with everyone reneging on paying, the whole system could come down.
    But what is entirely sidestepped is the issue of why the fuck is it in any way legal for anyone to buy insurance on something they don’t even own?
    And why the fuck should the taxpayer be on the hook for it? Why not legally invalidate the whole practice? Why didn’t everyone involved in this cloud cuckooland scheme get a chunk of their asses carved off in a bankruptcy and liquidation of AIG? Why was everyone paid off by the US taxpayer 100 cents on the dollar?
    And credit default swaps are relatively small potatoes within the derivatives world. There are trillions and trillions in bets made in other derivative products like interest rate swaps.
    And by “confused by what it sees” I think he means that a lot of the financial instruments ie derivatives are so complex and so divorced from the real world that nobody really understands them. And nobody has any real idea of what’s in their own balance sheet never mind what’s on the balance sheets of the counterparties to their bets.

  229. digbycookies June 14, 2011 at 1:17 pm #

    “The word is keter. A crown.” Another word is “febrile” – had to look it up – I’m kinda dumb. I briefly considered not looking it up – why mess with being stupid? And I STILL don’t know who little Kayla (Carla??) is…don’t watch the television much…sort of disturbs my “I don’t give a fuck” attitude. When I stumbled upon this website, I thought to myself, “Digby (I call myself that, even though it’s not my real, god-given name) what a humongous waste of time!” So I decided right then and their (4 u Quistimo!) to hang out on this thread while I wait for my unemployment cheques (4 u Cash) to run out. I figure with the MERS saga continuing as it is, it should take at least a year or more before the bank forecloses on my condo. Until then, my dental hygenist says my gums are just peachy, so maybe I can hold on to my choppers for a little while longer (you never know when you will bite into something hard out of the supermarket dumpster).

  230. digbycookies June 14, 2011 at 1:25 pm #

    Cash, you’re good! Great, succinct explanation. Took me a LOONNG time to figure out all that stuff, not that long ago, seriously (ouch, my brain!). But it still begs the question: How important is it to know who your rapist is, (or how he corn-holed you) if you know he’ll NEVER be prosecuted? (ouch, my butt!)

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  231. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 1:28 pm #

    I just start talking about what I want to talk about.
    On an Amtrak trip to California, my husband and I were seated with a person from San Francisco and a person from Michigan.
    When we sat down, the SF man was telling the Michigan woman how much he bought his condo for, back in the day, and how much it was worth at the time.
    omigod, I HATE listening to Californians talk about real estate!
    So, I changed the subject. Eventually, it came out that he lived in the same building as George Schultz, and he told us some juicy gossip about George’s conspicuous consumption. Way more than just having a F150 in the driveway. Also, what an asshole Paul Wolfowitz is.
    So, it turned out pretty interesting after all.

  232. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 1:33 pm #

    When I first started reading your question – what is valued in our society? I know! I know!
    But, you’re right, it’s money.
    When you point out that the rich get away with things that we would be put in jail for, I guess you meant rape and murder.
    But what about selling things that they don’t even own? Naked short selling?
    This boggles the mind!! How can they do this? How is this legal?
    I’m pretty sure that if I tried to sell my neighbor’s car, I would be in trouble. And if I took out an insurance policy on him, and then burned down his house, I would be in trouble.
    But in the FIRE industry, it’s all OK>

  233. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 1:35 pm #

    I agree with Maxine, the cartoon character.
    I never water my lawn. I’m pretty sure that would make it grow, and then I’d have to mow it.

  234. metuselah June 14, 2011 at 1:46 pm #

    A good introduction to life in America:
    The Federal Reserve Cartel: The Eight Families (Part one of a four-part series)
    http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25080
    What they don’t mention (not yet, at least) is where the gold came from. David Icke writes in Children of the Matrix, that the Rockefellers and Morgans were just “gofers” for the European Rothschilds. Should David Icke dig a little further he would find out that the Rothschilds were just “gofers” for the Vatican. That’s where the gold and silver originally came from. That’s the head of the NWO beast, which is really the old world order re-establishing itself.

  235. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 1:50 pm #

    This is getting weird – breaking this thing up in pieces to try to post it –
    Third try –
    Wage – glad you’re on, and speaking of talking about what I want to talk about – wrote this last night – let’s see if I can it to post.
    – on pain perception in infants-
    Both my sons are cut, as am I. None of us remember the procedure. I understand the arguments against as well as those for it. I believe the preponderance of evidence favors the surgery for health reasons worldwide, as well as for social reasons in the US. But, with that said, the decision by parents to approve or not is intensely personal – and not something that I would ever intrude upon as a layperson. If I were in public health or pediatrics – it would be a different case.

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  236. ctemple June 14, 2011 at 1:56 pm #

    I disagree, I don’t blame the kids of today, I blame this bunch of ‘greatest generation’ assholes. They inherited everything, a damn good country, resources, jobs, money, and in fifty years they managed to run it right into the toilet. And they’re the same as they always were, greedy self absorbed dumbasses, with a bottomless, ceaseless sense of entitlement. They’ve lived longer than anyone in human history, and we still have to work keeping them alive until they’re 114.
    They can’t have an erection eight times a day when they’re 73, no problem, we have a drug to fix that.
    Instead of worrying about the country they were given, what did they do, start one war after another. Or lets ship all the industry overseas so stock speculators can make some more money. Or the stupid ass ‘space race’. Or lets flood the country with non European immigrants, corporations who made more money than anyone ever had needed cheaper labor.
    Brilliant
    The only people who even come close to being as greedy and stupid as the ‘greatest generation’ are the baby boomers. The kids today are left with little, their Goddamn grandparents spent it all, or wasted it. And we still have to wait on them hand and foot.
    Hey we had gay rights and pornography, that’s something isn’t it?

  237. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 2:08 pm #

    Ok, so apparently it was not the word circumcision that was blocked.
    I used the term “neonatologist” several times and that’s flagged as a spelling error. ??
    I can see why the more sensitive or paranoid among CFNation might get upset when this stuff starts happening.

  238. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 2:15 pm #

    Now it’s turning into a whizzing contest between me and the blog software:
    Maybe it’s that circ*word that’s the problem – let’s see:
    When my oldest son, now 28, was born 6 weeks early, he had hyaline membrane disease or respiratory distress syndrome. They spent a couple of hours getting him stable under an oxygen hood after starting an IV in the stump of his umbilical cord (an umbilicus has no nerve endings.) They packaged him for transport to a NICU 30 miles away in Atlanta. I left before the ambulance in a fierce rainstorm and got to the hospital not long after the ambulance. It was a strange feeling to be in one of the right lanes of the Atlanta Perimeter when that ambulance blew past to the left carrying my newborn son – with me yelling at unaware drivers in front of it “get out of the damn way!” To say I was stressed would be putting it mildly.

  239. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 2:19 pm #

    I don’t know if there is anyone else in the world who thinks like you, spider.
    But I’m guessing the number would be pretty small.
    Personally, I think that you make many good points about capitalism. But your skyscrapers to Mars ideas make it likely that very few people would embrace your entire philosophy. The people pushing skyscrapers to Mars probably don’t agree with your analysis of capitalism.

  240. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 2:23 pm #

    I’m beginning to wonder if the admin guy is tormenting me deliberately:
    I had a (very) brief consult with the neonatal specialist at the side of my kids incubator where he (my son) lay, quiet and stable with perfect vital signs. The newborn expert forcefully recommended putting an IV elsewhere and removing the one in the umbilicus which would cease to function in “a period of time.” My instincts said not to do it yet, and intuitively I felt my kid would be going home in a couple of days – he looked like a big healthy giant, compared to the other babies in the NICU, some of whom had been there for weeks.
    Better be safe than sorry, said the expert on prematurity.
    Against my better judgment, I approved the new IV location, by myself. My wife was back at the original hospital – crying over the one Polaroid pic of the kid we had managed to take.

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  241. SNAFU June 14, 2011 at 2:24 pm #

    Progressor your contention: “To today’s less doctrinaire Faith, or Agnosticism, or even to rigorous Doctrinaire Atheism.
    And would that matter – except that science has dragged the rest of humanity along with it?
    So that now, rudderless, humanity faces problems that are beyond it’s capability to solve”; has no logic to it.
    Is it not true that one of the reasons the al-Qaeda attack upon the US was instigated by Osama bin Laden was his religious conviction that the presence of the infidel in Saudi Arabia (US) was an unspeakable affront to Muhammad and the religion of Islam?
    Were not the persecution of those accused of heresy and violating cannon law by the catholic church during the inquisitions religiously instigated?
    It is patently obvious that the the most valuable function of religion is to control the large numbers of peasants (little people to the ultra wealthy of today) through fear and titillation, the promise of a future salvation, if they keep their noses to the grindstone and their purses open to the clergy and the monarchy (ultra wealthy).
    Rudderless humanity as a result of falling religiously convinced numbers; I think not.
    SNAFU

  242. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 2:24 pm #

    You know, I thought of a variation on that. What if when we’re being mauled by TSA, we start moaning and groaning the way Meg Ryan did in “When Harry Met Sally”?
    We’d probably get arrested, though. The police state doesn’t allow dissension.

  243. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    Too many *flagged* spelling errors – that’s my best guess so far – but that can’t be it – asia never would get a post to post. hehe
    =============
    Last installment?
    “They put the new IV in my sons foot area, as I dimly recall. I don’t know if the pain of circumcision is bad for a neonate or not. But I do that that IV without a local hurt. How do I know that? Because one of the boy’s LUNGS COLLAPSED – he was crying so hard.
    So then they had to put in a chest tube between his ribs – again without anesthesia – which I still find amazing to this day.
    It took the better part of 2 weeks before he was released from the NICU back to the original hospital where he was born, to spend another two days. Early in those first two weeks were a couple of days that were uncomfortably close to touch and go for his survival. Looking back – I’m fairly well convinced that my giving in to a pushy neonatologist caused the cascade of errors that could have ended tragically. That doc – in my mind – acknowledged his error by avoiding the NICU whenever I was in that hospital visiting my son’s incubator. I wanted to have it out with him – but my wife talked me out of it.
    Oh, and the circumthingycision? They did it the day before the kid was released from the hospital near our house. He cried for just a few minutes when they did the procedure.
    And I just looked up that neonatal specialist on the internet. He is still in practice. He has subpar ratings from parents. I guess I should have chewed him out when I felt like doing it. It might have made him a better doctor in the long run.”

  244. trippticket June 14, 2011 at 2:30 pm #

    When asked why they take the time and trouble to live an organic lifestyle, [Trippticket] said, “We don’t see that there is any extra work involved in doing things this way. It’s a different way to do things, yes, but no more difficult than conventional methods. Growing our garden organically and ecologically requires some study time and design intensity upfront, but it actually gets easier every year after that because we are building fertility, biodiversity and microbial health into the soil.”
    “Our garden will ultimately function like a natural ecosystem, with very little effort required from the gardener. It’s a matter of front-loading the solutions instead of patching the problems that a poorly designed system creates for itself. Insect infestations are not inevitable, they are merely the outcome of bad design. In that regard, the conventional system seems like the one that requires extra work to me.”

    Read the full front page article here:
    http://tiftongazette.com/local/x1478025491/Young-families-transform-Tifton-Farmer-s-Market
    Cheers!

  245. trippticket June 14, 2011 at 2:32 pm #

    Sorry, that second paragraph should also be italicized, since it is part of the printed article.

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  246. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 2:33 pm #

    I have 2 dogs who are brothers. They hang together all the time.
    One minute they’re chasing each other around the yard, the next they’re snarling and fighting, then they’re curled up asleep with each other.
    One of my goats delivered twins last month. They are so small that they can get through the fence. One minute they’re running, bouncing and climbing, the next they’re butting heads, the next they’re curled up asleep.
    How many genes do we share with animals?

  247. BeantownBill June 14, 2011 at 2:34 pm #

    The universe has been in a state of entropy probably since the big bang, and is always increasing to the max, but I think I know what you mean.
    Scientific theories are always subject to revision or outright rejection, that’s the nature of science. It’s true that no cosmologists really know what’s going on, but current theories about the birth, structure and fate of the universe accepted by the mainstream are based on precise observations. Many of the alternate theories can’t be proven or disproven because they require observations presently beyond our technology.
    String theory is one of these. It is now just a conceptual, mathematical theory that can’t yet be tested. But it is very fascinating; I hope it proves out. For a more detailed description of string theory for the layman, I would recommend reading Brian Greene’s books. You can google him.

  248. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 2:39 pm #

    Oh, so now the blog administrator is on you!
    Last night, I tried to post an oped article that I noticed while following a link that lbendet posted.
    The blog administrator ate my link!
    As for circumcision, it is indeed the parents decision.
    In the old days, parents could kill their children if they were disobedient. The Bible said so.
    If that were still true, there would be no Caylee circus on TV now.
    I’m just saying. Hopefully, we become more humane as we go.

  249. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 2:41 pm #

    Yeah, what you said!

  250. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 2:51 pm #

    Whoa! That’s harsh!
    Why would a neonatologist recommend removing an umbilical artery catheter? That’s crazy and cruel.
    I’ve mentioned before that I used to work in a NICU, and we ALWAYS used UACs. You could infuse fluids, AND draw blood without pain.
    As for putting in a chest tube without anesthesia, I think that I wrote about how they used to do surgery on newborns without anesthesia. You know, because babies don’t feel pain, and even if they did, they won’t remember it. Kind of your circumcision argument.
    I called the child abuse hotline in San Francisco to complain that the UCSF hospital was performing open heart surgery on babies without anesthesia. The hotline operator DENIED it! She just didn’t think that was possible.
    I said “Isn’t it your job to investigate?”
    A few years later I read an article that said that new information said that babies could feel pain, and that doing surgery without anesthesia actually prolonged healing time, so that (at that time) half of the hospitals working on babies had switched to using anesthesia.
    Like I said, hopefully we progress in our treatment of babies.

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  251. San Jose Mom 51 June 14, 2011 at 2:54 pm #

    I feel for you progressorconserve. My son was born 5 weeks early and had big-time lung problems. Ten days in the NICU on a respirator. I brought him home with a heart monitor and wouldn’t let anyone near him that hadn’t scrubbed-in and swore on a Bible that they weren’t getting sick.
    SJmom

  252. trippticket June 14, 2011 at 2:54 pm #

    “They also don’t realize that when you stop
    being piggish and allow the new lifestyle
    time to work, you realize that you don’t
    even miss things you think are “indispensible”
    and usually find greater depth of meaning in
    your life!”
    This statement is oh so true. We’re having a surprisingly easy time adapting to life without AC in arguably one of the hottest, muggiest climates in North America. Once you can manage a change like that, the rest starts to seem like cake. Not that dumping AC was our first big change, by far, but facing that challenge was inevitable given our trajectory. Though unthinkable 3 years ago.
    Cellphones? Gone and good riddance. We still travel long distances in a 15 year old car with 200k on the odometer, and haven’t suffered a wink without a cellphone. Even when meeting strangers for big Craigslist purchases in distant cities. How much energy does the cell phone industry require to run?? Not a watt at my request.
    TV? Is there a worse use of time known to man? See the problem with giving up this idea of “being informed” by all the various media outlets, including TV, is that you start to think for yourself. You start to observe the world around you, hone your critical thinking skills, and draw your own conclusions about the nature of human affairs. Maybe that scares the shit out of some people who think being informed is about watching 5 different news outlets and reading as many papers and online sources, who knows, but I can say that I have a much easier time seeing tidal flows and macro trends without all the minutia cluttering up the view.
    I know you know all this, I’m just backing up your statement with some specifics. Keep the trend going, E. -TT

  253. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 3:00 pm #

    SNAFU – good to hear from you again, man. Have you been lurking this whole time? Or are you running HTML searches on my posts – just to help me improve my thinking?? 😉
    I don’t disagree with the main thrust of your post.
    We could quibble over this part, though.
    “Rudderless humanity as a result of falling religiously convinced numbers; I think not.”
    -SNAFU-
    Regardless of WHY we’re rudderless, the fact is that we are. We’ve got the religion of American Free Market Capitalism spreading baby formula and high birth rates all over the globe in search of Sacred Profit.
    We’ve got the religion of Political Correctness, or Secular Humanism, or something – saying that Everyone Everywhere shall have no limits on their reproduction – and that all of the planet’s multitudes should have free immigration rights to the United States.
    It’s a mess, ain’t it, my friend.

  254. digbycookies June 14, 2011 at 3:10 pm #

    Jeez, you learn so much from this blog. Great comments today!
    Wage – your anecdote about the Amtrac conversation got me thinking, “Why the hell don’t I ever meet anyone who hob nobs with the rich and famous?”
    Well, then I read Mika’s (Methusulah’s?) comment about the 8 families in America. Linked up to the website he posted, and dang – wouldn’t you know it – I used to house sit about 25 years ago for one of the Rockefeller’s ancestors! Incredibly rich people – nice work if you can get it. They had this HUGE spread out on the Main Line. Did a little web research – they’re currently in a little BILLION dollar squabble with a relative over a family trust. Mind you, I had no freaking idea WHO the hell these people were back in the day – only that they were filthy, stinking, RICH.
    And people say I waste my time.

  255. Bustin J June 14, 2011 at 3:11 pm #

    Bean wrote: “Bustin, I do like how you think, and I agree, but I also disagree somewhat with what you say.
    How do you know the universe routinely destroys life? Give me an example of the “routineliness”
    other than your sample of one – life on Earth.”
    Is this a trick question? Since life has not been proven to exist outside Earth, I can’t provide an example. But the evidence that life could arise elsewhere is pretty good.
    I, for one, suspect that alien life has arisen on countless planets, just like this one, since the beginning of the expansion of the Universe.
    And I am equally sure that many species, and whole planets have been destroyed since then.
    As a sample of One- Earth- it is very clear that cosmic, geological, chemical, and other nonliving processes destroy whole categories of life. Do we need another sample? I think not. As for extinction of life being routine, a glance at the physical record of life on Earth verifies that the vast majority of species that have ever lived, are now gone; Extinction science shows compellingly that extinction is the rule rather than the exception.
    The imminent threat is not a gamma ray burst, supernova, or asteroid. It is us. (see below). The science is conservative- too conservative. Beyond 450ppm, the effects of climate change will probably be cataclysmic, if not before. Estimating a 1ppm increase year over year, we’ll reach that by 2075. And certainly, by then we’ll have zero ice sheets over the Arctic, and the permafrost will have melted releasing super-insulating methane. Meanwhile Antarctica will have calved off most of its ice sheets. So mean global temperature rises in 2075 are likely over 50 degrees Fahrenheit most places of the world. That progression is far too fast for the biosphere to handle. In these situations, according to our best evidence, mass extinctions occur. In order to turn back Earth’s geological clock to 25 million years ago, all higher life is going to die. Only fungi and bacteria can evolve (react to changes in their environment) that fast. Therefore the 22nd century will be dominated by these lifeforms.
    Pretty horrific, eh? No one gets out alive- was it all worth it, humanity?
    Human beings do not seem to have evolved a general concern for far-flung planned avoidance of danger. Humans didn’t evolve in the conditions we evolved in.
    This is why the spectacle of NASCAR is so a propos. One can propose that it is a bunch of nascent professionals with “skills” to share. Good people. “Valuable” people, even, in terms of some commercial or industrial motif.
    In reality, it is a bunch of simians lounging around, celebrating the mechanics of the destruction of their worlds. They believe they are celebrating the mechanics of their existence. They are. But they will not believe that the cause of one will turn into the cause of another. The psychology of self-destruction is fascinating, but not uncommon. Most human cultures have seemingly marched toward their ultimate demise with as much pageantry and gusto. No one in the Universe is going to remember Homo sapiens. They will have their own extinction crises on their own planet, having to face the keyhole evolutionary event for all species, how to overcome the limitations of the self. Even bacteria in a plate go extinct from their own waste products. As we apparently are. Can normal people rise up, and overthrow the machine that is killing the Earth (the machine being governments, corporations, economies of scale, ways of life, etc.)? Could a more difficult challenge ever be conceived?
    The prize, for this race of evolved primates is simply the opportunity to get to the next epoch. Science fiction writers take this as their premise to imagining the future- it is implied that humans do not destroy themselves in that they go on to survive. They are typically presented as the best example of a kind of human- reflecting the basic rationale that, in order to survive, we are going to have to obviously be the best kind of people we can possibly be. But most people, apologies all, are in fact the worst kind of people.
    Typical human beings accept mediocrity and failure as a mode of life. Quality of life is elevated above all in contemporary modern life, and it is a personal, selfish quantifier of quality. It is generally defined as contentment, pleasure, relaxation (as we are an imprisoned specie of cultural being, and compelled by social forces to work). On top of that add the transcendentalist religions which dominate the id with their sexual and euphoric hypnagogic imagery, and conditioning for apocalyptic thinking, predicated on programming to submit, disarm, and embrace powerlessness.
    NASCAR is church, with the whooshing sounds of gas engines replicating the systolic and diastolic rhythms of the mother during pre-birth.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_risk_from_global_warming

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  256. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 3:22 pm #

    “Why would a neonatologist recommend removing an umbilical artery catheter? That’s crazy and cruel.”
    Yeah, no joke, Wage. He was following his training.
    Doctrine was to get a “permanent” IV started because the unbilical artery would eventually fail.
    But he was also an arrogant prick, who failed to mention that ALL IV’s eventually fail unless moved or maintained.
    I did learn one other thing from this adventure. And that is that parents, especially New Parents, should never be expected to make logical decisions concerning their newborns.
    This was our first kid, but my wife and I were college graduates with some years in the real world and a couple of years of marriage under our belts. I’ve always favored the “nature” side of the nature/nurture debate – and my wife and I had had long discussions about how we would never use “heroic measures” so save the life of our kid if he had no hope of a genuinely “quality life.”
    All of that went completely out the damn window when I first saw my little guy in that NICU incubator. I would have done anything, sold anything, killed anybody – to try to keep him alive.
    Makes me feel for Terri Schivo’s (sp) parents. They never should have had to face any of that.
    Some decisions should be made by the rational.
    Parents can’t be expected to be rational when the “life” of their own child is the topic.

  257. Bustin J June 14, 2011 at 3:23 pm #

    Gavin saith, “why I am still stuck in a job that pays barely $300 a week, often closer to $200? (And why are all the applications for employment I put in met only with crushing silence?) The reason that finally came to me, is that society does not value any of what I have done. The question that arose from that answer was of course, what then, at this point in America’s history, does society value?”
    Our society values the ability to make money. Money being the ability to afford “freedom”. The people most admired are the one that somehow squeeze millions of dollars out of the system. They are its avatars.
    Now that corporations are citizens, I think it should be pointed out how much more obscene the basic power disparity has become.
    A revolution will not happen because the system can simply “pay one-half of the working class to destroy the other half”. The skills you learned in the service (submit, obey orders, shoot to kill) are simply a natural extension of the planned society we have. You are guaranteed the salary of your dreams- or at least a living wage- if and when you are called up to defend the system and those that profit from it, from the rest of humanity.
    Will you be able to refuse that official power and money when it comes your way? The alternative is brutal- you will have no way to eat, shelter yourself or your family, or make a living.
    Society under capitalism is dog-eat-dog. The government was bought and sold a long time ago. We live under extreme tyranny and only the fat of the land has kept primordial forces at bay.
    Now the fat has run thin.
    Götterdämmerung is coming.

  258. LewisLucanBooks June 14, 2011 at 3:24 pm #

    Yup. Had the same problem (nothing new, happens all the time) late Sunday night. Nothing unusual about the post. Short, no naughty words. No Googling around while composing it. Tried all the usual stuff to get it to post. Copy, sign out, clear cookies and history, sign back in again, paste….no dice. Wash,rinse repeat but pasted it into a document. Zip.
    I did send an e-mail to JHK (my first, it’s not like I spend my days bugging the guy) with the post attached. Told him if his IT people were curious, they could play around with it, and try and figure it out.
    Maybe it’s like the old Groucho show. “Say (type) the magic word, and get fucked by the duck.” Mysteries of cyberspace.
    Even weirder? Posts immediately before and after went through fine.

  259. shecky June 14, 2011 at 3:31 pm #

    Yesterday I transported a guy to the ER. He is/was 84. History of stroke and CHF. His lungs were full of goo, his BP 58 over shit. RR 36/min, SpO2 74% on room air, supine, which is how I got him when the fucking “doctor” who runs the local bone home turned him over to me. I hung a dopamine drip, bagged him, and hauled ass. Suction all the way. When I got to the ER his BP was 93/48. GCS 3/1/5. SpO2 79%. He bought a tube, stat.
    The guy is probably a good guy. I have transported him before. Landed at Anzio. He has Medicare and our state Medicaid. You and I will be paying for his rehab. Bet he lives another 6 shitty months. Doubt he wants it. His wife died in my ambo 6 years ago, pulmonary embolism. Nice lady, brought me cookies once. Did not eat them, she had shit under her fingernails.
    Any idea why Medicare is fucked?

  260. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 3:35 pm #

    One more thing – while I’m on health care.
    God/Apollo forbid any of us ever encounter this situation – but a patient who is brain dead and a candidate for being an organ donor – will not (can not!) be allowed to “die” in front of family members keeping a vigil.
    Therefore they will be removed to surgery before removal of life support.
    Those of you in medicine probably know this, at least in an intellectual sort of way.
    Most others have no idea at all.

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  261. BeantownBill June 14, 2011 at 3:36 pm #

    Naked short selling is a nasty business. Short selling is an investment gambit in which you borrow shares of a stock you think will go down in value in the relatively near future
    from a broker who holds these shares.
    So you sell these borrowed shares to somebody else. At some point you have to give the shares back you borrowed to the original owner. In the meantime, the shares have gone down in value. But you don’t have the stock shares you borrowed, so you go out into the marketplace (via your broker, usually)and buy the same number of shares you borrowed. But since the stock value has gone down, you buy them back for less, the difference in buy and sell prices being your profit (or if the stock value went up, your loss).
    All this is a legitimate stock play. But naked short selling really isn’t. In naked ss, you sell the shares to someone else, but you never borrowed them 1st. You just placed an order with your broker and the broker does a bookkeeping entry, but there’s no real shares involved. It’s kinda like how the government prints money any time it wants.
    Here’s where that kind of transaction goes bad:
    Let’s say you are a very rich and influential individual. Also say ABC Corp is listed in the NYSE; it has 100 outstanding shares for the whole company. You don’t think the company is going to do well in the future and its share value will go down. Since you’re very rich, you don’t want to make a small amount of money, so you naked short sell 1,000 shares (900 of which don’t exist). When you are proven correct, you make a profit on all 1000 shares, even though 90% don’t exist. I’m no expert, but I don’t think it’s legal to have more short sale shares outstanding than exist, is it?
    But naked short selling can be even more nefarious. Let’s say you are the owner of a company competing with ABC. You wish them gone. So you spread the word that ABC is foundering, even though it’s not. Then you naked short sell ten million shares! The market sees a major increase in ABC short sales. The company must be doing badly, they’re are rumorts going on (started by you). Soon everyone is dumping the stock and it goes down sharply in value. You end up either letting the company go bankrupt or buy it for a song.
    Naked short-selling can suck big time.

  262. LewisLucanBooks June 14, 2011 at 3:40 pm #

    Here’s the bottom line: We will never know why “the blog ate our homework.” It has absolutely nothing to do with who posts or what they post. It is a random, sporadic event.

  263. Bustin J June 14, 2011 at 3:47 pm #

    welles says, “you folks need to come on down & relax down here, jhk’s got your ire up.”
    I can’t take my eyes off the satellite pictures that are telling me that your little slice of heaven is going to turn into an inferno. So sorry to ruin your chickenshit lifestyle. Maybe you should unplug the damn internets.
    BHM says,


    And while we’re on the subject: there can be no greater waste of time in the American economy than teaching other people’s children. You will get absoltely no respect for such a foolish squandering of your own time. You are then literally the low serotonin chimpanzee who gets stuck doing the babysitting while the dominant apes are off leading the war party to kick the shit out of the neighboring band of chimps.

    Goddamn brutal synopsis, Marc. Bravo.
    Spider rants: “I hope they build trillions of ghost cities, I hope they finally HOSE NATURE the way that it should have been hosed long ago…”
    Don’t fall out of your wheelchair cheering on the end of the world, Spider. If you could just restrain yourself from the spittle-flecked diatribe style of communication you endorse, a suit, tie, your value system, and a resume should get you hired for a corporate position that pays enough to have a merry-go-round of immigrant prostitutes drain your member, ad nauseum, in a smog-filled metropolis of your choice in Eastern China.
    PoC says, “mainline working scientists have gone from thinking that their Creator God was in charge of Everything – – – To today’s less doctrinaire Faith, or Agnosticism, or even to rigorous Doctrinaire Atheism. And would that matter – except that science has dragged the rest of humanity along with it? So that now, rudderless, humanity faces problems that are beyond it’s capability to solve.”
    Thats funny. There is a giant hole in the bottom of your bag o’ thoughts, PoC, and that is that athiesm has a doctrine.
    Your thesis could well be restated, accurately, as technology. But that would put your analysis in with such luminaries of the field as Ted Kaszynski. And then what would your blubbering Christian soul do? You’d have no pretend organization to hang the world’s problems on.
    Under your (properly) reframed thesis, Steve Jobs is the Antichrist, and every new little gizmo he produces is a demonic object. Fair enough? Ford motor company built the car- a technology that science merely described, and a fool drove it. Where is the original sin??
    Fabian squirts: “” Not to mention the changing climate which is making farming more difficult…”
    Try and get a fucking grip. The regions that are farmed and have been farmed constantly change. Many have claimed that global warming will add to the total acreage of available, arable land.”
    Tell the USDA the NRDC, the FDA, the EPA, millions of farmers, to get a grip, douchebag. Arable land is locked up, we are exceeding capacity, the climate is worsening. There is no sunny side up. People that believe GW will result in more fruit and sunnier weather are imbecilic.

  264. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 3:47 pm #

    “Any idea why Medicare is fucked?”
    -shecky-
    Part of the answer that could have “unf*cked” Medicare – should have been those “death panels” the Republicans went apeshitcrazy over.
    Politicians really will twist logic into the shape of a pretzel to try to stay in power.
    ==============
    BustinJ – your analysis may just be correct – 50 degree temp rise and all that.
    But, DaaaYuum, Bustin – you’re a pessimist.
    How do you even manage to get out of bed in the morning?

  265. MarlinFive54 June 14, 2011 at 3:49 pm #

    Dow is up 165 last time I checked. Must be based on the strong economy, robust employment numbers, cheap oil, and generally favorable geo-political news out there. I can’t think of any other reason.
    -Marlin

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  266. Bustin J June 14, 2011 at 3:50 pm #

    Fabian blew: “WE need MORE GOVERNMENT and most importantly MORE GOVERNMENT REGULATION. Who the hell else but government could give us 2000 pages of Obamacare, which will most likely be found to be unconstitutional?”
    Regardless of the fact that you think a government check to balance the power between corporations and the people would not work (either overreaching or underreaching), and, given the current climate to limit government regulation, by what mechanism will corporate power by regulated to provide
    A) avoidance of global warming and its effects
    B) relative prosperity and happiness increases
    Answer: there is no mechanism, because we all work for the corporations, in competition with each other.
    Yay!

  267. digbycookies June 14, 2011 at 3:58 pm #

    Remember the old Ivory soap commercial (that it’s 98 and 99/100% pure?) I just reverse that and apply it to life: It’s 98 and 99/100% bullshit. Just try to savor the remaining 1 and 1/100%.

  268. digbycookies June 14, 2011 at 4:01 pm #

    “Naked short-selling…” Now there’s a thought that kinda turns me on.

  269. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 4:12 pm #

    Even before Henry Ford started producing the automobile, Engels recognized the error of destroying nature-
    In 1876, Marx’s collaborator, Frederich Engels, offered a prophetic caveat: “Let us not . . . flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human conquest over nature. For each such conquest takes its revenge on us. . . . At every step we are reminded that we by no means rule over nature like a conqueror over a foreign people, like someone standing outside of nature–but that we, with flesh, blood, and brain, belong to nature, and exist in its midst. . . .”

  270. Bustin J June 14, 2011 at 4:13 pm #

    $ said, “So you may ask why the fuck can you buy insurance on bonds you don’t own? Excellent question. You many also ask why the fuck did the US govt in effect pay huge banks bazillions of dollars to make good on bonds they didn’t own?”
    Quick answer: CONSERVATIVES CAUSED THE FINANCIAL CRISIS BY PURSUING THEIR MANDATE TO DESTROY THE GOVERNMENT BY DIMINISHING ITS POWER TO REGULATE MARKETS.
    The “government that governs least, governs best” remember? Nevermind that government is the only instrument people have to check the power of corporations, who only look out for corporate interests.
    Any conservatives on this blog want to spar? I’ll beat you with your own ideology.
    As Fabian said, “Having the government regulate our toilets, shower heads, our light bulbs, needing haz mat status to be a house painter, forcing us to buy a service (Obama care), forcing mileage requirements for fleet averages (resulting in cars that no one wants or buys)….all these measures have improved life in the USA.”
    To be sure, Fabian is advancing a position, which is horseshit: that regulation doesn’t improve life in the USA. Lets take a magic carpet ride back in time and restore financial regulation: going forward, none of the CDO and financial boondoogles would have been possible. Without regulation of shower heades and toilets, LA county would be flat broke, paying to truck in water so that people could be free to ‘waste’ it. The air would be choking on smog because the car companies would never on their own install catalytic converters. A regulated oil industry wouldn’t have fucked up a blowout diverter. And on and on and on… practically no contemporary disaster that has occured couldn’t have been prevented by regulation, in any sector.
    Those that argue that government can’t do anything right are not only wrong, they are fucking blind. government regulation should be a debate between people, citizens, in the interest of the country’s quality of life. This discourse is hijacked by special interests and corporations and those negotiations are held behind closed doors.

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  271. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 4:14 pm #

    I’m betting he doesn’t live another 6 months.
    And AIG will cover my bet.

  272. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 4:29 pm #

    “And AIG will cover my bet.”
    -wage-
    Funny story, but true:
    A relative of mine passed away from cancer at a fairly young age. Her husband was a life insurance agent. They had been divorced for many years and both had remarried. The first husband had a number of life insurance policies he had written on my relative – payable to himself – that he had kept in force all the years since the divorce.
    Those policies paid off like a slot machine for him, and he kept the money.
    Kinda creepy – yet perfectly legal.

  273. LewisLucanBooks June 14, 2011 at 4:31 pm #

    Here’s an interesting essay from Wendell Berry, circa 1988. “The Work of Local Culture.” It starts off with a little story of how soil is built and ends with how communities are built. It’s pretty long. Settle in for awhile.
    http://www.schumachersociety.org/publications/essay_work_of_local.html

  274. Qshtik June 14, 2011 at 4:33 pm #

    In Tripp’s 2:30 PM comment he linked us to a very nice article in the Tifton Gazette that describes the permaculture and natural products venture that Tripp and his wife Jessica have embarked on. The 4th from the last paragraph provides the following brief backstory to their saga:
    The Tibbetts created an urban permaculture model in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Macon last year. Just after Christmas, they moved back to Tifton to help convert the 300-acre Corrie family farm (formerly the Rigdon farm) from conventional annual row crops to perennial organic production.
    It is noteworthy that when Tracey Coley Ingram, the article’s author, originally submitted the piece for review by the editor the above quoted paragraph began as follows:
    The Tibbetts created an urban permaculture model in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Macon last year but, as Mr Tibbett described it, “when I saw a local ‘disadvantaged’ woman blithely hoist her skirt and, with her butt plainly visible, squat and defecate copiously in the middle of the sidewalk right in front of God and everybody, then stand up, drop her skirt and continue on her way, I said to myself ‘that’s the last straw’ I gotta get me and my family outta this hellhole.” So, just after Christmas… etc etc
    Needless to say, the young Tifton Gazette writer, Ms Ingram, was promptly schooled in the nuances of political correctness by the editor.
    😉

  275. Bustin J June 14, 2011 at 4:39 pm #

    Poc, “BustinJ – your analysis may just be correct – 50 degree temp rise and all that.
    But, DaaaYuum, Bustin – you’re a pessimist.
    How do you even manage to get out of bed in the morning?”
    I believe the terms “optimist” and “pessimist” have no value. What is the opposite of “realist”? In art, it is “abstraction”. Maybe that is the true axis along which perception lies.
    I believe in a reality outside our opinion, a classical philosophic assumption. According to this standard, views are accurate or inaccurate. More real- or more abstract, that is the measure.
    Optimism and Pessimism are both species of ignorance. They are emotional states brought on by confusion. They both imply a fundamental uncertainty- is it worse or better than I think it is? And worse- it implies helplessness: I cannot know if one or the other estimation is correct. It implies hubris in that it is the result of a decision to act as if an emotional stance toward a problem is the same thing as addressing a problem. What this kind of hubris destroys is creativity, the ability to change reality, in neglect of its practice.
    People say I am a pessimist in order to preserve their own position- which is no position, but an emotional state- they attempt to re-frame my statements and arguments as opinion, not facts. But this is all so obvious, in fact, you’re an expert in this pattern of behavior, as are most Americans. It is ingrained in this culture that, to simply act “as if” is “good as gold”, just “fake it till you make it”… etc.
    Its interesting to see a culture of salesmen run up against a culture of scientists. The scientists aren’t selling a sugar-coated product when they “produce” their findings. Their findings are a “drag” but they aren’t “Dragging” western culture into the sewer- the capitalists are- of which a salesman is a specie. The scientists will simply measure this decline and give a blow-by-blow.
    The Optimist and the Pessimist wander the same maze, bumping into each other. How do they get up in the morning? Who cares? I wake up every day knowing that, with knowledge, comes responsibility. That responsibility might suggest why so many avoid knowledge.

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  276. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 4:44 pm #

    I’ve heard of corporations keeping life insurance on their employees. What would be the incentive to create a healthy work environment in that case?
    I wonder if your cousin had some carcinogen slipped to her before the divorce.
    Back to the circumcision thing. You claim that an IV to the foot hurt your baby son more than having part of his penis cut off?
    Were you there for the cutting? Or did the nice doctor just assure you that he only cried for a minute?
    Although, sometimes in the NICU, babies would abruptly fall asleep during a painful procedure. I don’t know if it was some kind of coping mechanism.
    And as for removing the UAC immediately, they certainly didn’t consider that proper protocol where I worked.

  277. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 4:52 pm #

    What is the opposite of a realist?
    Watching Obama speak, and seeing snippets of the Republican debate last night, I can confidently say, a politician.
    Jobs, jobs, jobs. Growth, growth, growth.
    Yes, we can.

  278. bubbleheadMarc June 14, 2011 at 4:56 pm #

    “rudderless, humanity faces problems that are beyond its capability to solve.”
    Progressorconserve
    I liked your post since it contains the one essential ingredient to be considered genuine or a liberal dose of negativity! I’ve gotten to the point where the chirpy and the upbeat drives me around the bend because to me it’s always phony. And I’m not even on antidepressants.
    These matters are odd. Never forget that both Darwin and Nietzche originally were bound for the ministry. Nietzche as a boy was called “the little pastor.” So I’d say that you’re free to believe what you want. At any rate the materialistic conception of the universe contained within “scientism” doesn’t hold water and will not prevail in the long run.
    Also, you don’t know for a fact that we cannot solve our problems. The solution[s] could be well in hand already but for some perverse reason it’s being withheld until a more opportune moment.
    It’s been thirty years since I lived on a submarine. Both boats I was aboard have now been scrapped. If I had to do it over I wouldn’t. If a high school kid asks me about the advisability of enlisting I tell them “don’t”. Then again that experience did help form my worldview. As in “don’t believe what you’re being told.” My favorite book about academic life is “The Cliffwalk”. Can’t recall the author. He was a professor at Colgate who got his pink-slip and became a carpenter. Probably so he could write about it since he’s an MFA in creative writing.

  279. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 5:04 pm #

    Pretty good points bustin
    I’ll contend that “nothing but fungi and bacteria alive on Earth by 2075” (paraphrased) is about the most pessimistic assessment I’ve ever heard ANYWHERE, however. And it’s based on assumptions on your part that there are ZERO feedback mechanisms – as yet unknown to science – that may mitigate global warming.
    “they attempt to re-frame my statements and arguments as opinion, not facts. But this is all so obvious, in fact, you’re an expert in this pattern of behavior,…” bustinj
    I wouldn’t say I’m an expert, but yeah – I indulge in my share of optimism to keep myself from – giving up, lying down, and dying.
    Wish I could give you a better reason to argue with me – can’t find one right now.
    Maybe ya’ got me too depressed!

  280. Qshtik June 14, 2011 at 5:08 pm #

    I can’t think of any other reason.
    ================
    I provided a plausible reason yesterday. All those negatives you mentioned had been priced in and the market was “oversold.” Just when it seems things could not be worse is when there is no one left to sell and the bulls take over.

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  281. Hieronymo June 14, 2011 at 5:12 pm #

    Little Caylee lives on in the hair follicles
    of rodents, the feathers of carrion-eating birds
    and the chitin of beetles. Economies are in
    trouble not because fossil fuels cannot be had
    cheaply, but because the Eco-statists have
    declared them taboo.

  282. asia June 14, 2011 at 5:20 pm #

    I have a Theme Park to sell you……..
    See Yahoo ‘ABANDONED JAPANESE THEME PARK’
    Candidate for an eyesore of the month.
    The statue of Gulliver is a hoot. all 100? feet.

  283. Qshtik June 14, 2011 at 5:20 pm #

    Both boats I was aboard have now been scrapped.
    ===============
    Bub, I was in the Air Farce not the Navy but it has always been my understanding that large vessels used on (under?) oceans are called “ships” while vessels used on lakes are called “boats.” What’s the real scoop?

  284. asia June 14, 2011 at 5:23 pm #

    Speaking of Sh*t***,
    I saw an old white man do the same in Soviet Monica
    and no he didnt look homeless.
    Macon got nothin on El Lay!

  285. asia June 14, 2011 at 5:25 pm #

    WE are not ‘an economy’ and [say like a prayer]
    ‘Growth’ [gasp sigh] is not the answer…
    may you live on in the skin cells of worms.

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  286. asia June 14, 2011 at 5:27 pm #

    It all depends..if it makes someone feel rich, fine!
    If someone buys for X
    sells for 100x X
    AND MOVES TO A CHEAPER AREA
    It was a good deal…
    if they sell and then rebuy in the same area what have they gained?
    You might point this out to the ‘realty millionaires’.

  287. bubbleheadMarc June 14, 2011 at 5:50 pm #

    I thought it was called The Chair Force since airmen go into battle seated in airplanes. At any rate, I would recommend the Air Force over the navy to the few customers who ask who are unemployed and thinking of enlisting.
    Submarines are always referred to as “boats” by submariners. The senior enlisted man on a sub is always called the COB, or chief of the boat. Otherwise a boat is considered to be any vessel small enough to be hoisted aboard a ship, such as a lifeboat or the captain’s gig.
    Since there are thousand footers hauling iron ore on the Great Lakes and they can handle a full load of 75,000 tons when running between the southern shore of the Upper Peninsula and the steel mills in Indiana Harbor on Lake Michigan nobody calls them boats except in the generic sense of their being “ore boats”, or iron ore bulk freighters.

  288. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 5:58 pm #

    OH Freak – the blog nanny is after me again!
    “Back to the circumcision thing. You claim that an IV to the foot hurt your baby son more than having part of his penis cut off?”
    -wage-
    Maybe, because I’ve never heard of a collapsed lung being correlated with a circumcision. I suspect that there are more nerve endings in the foot than in the foreskin. There may be more nerves in the foot than in the head of the penis, even.

  289. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 5:59 pm #

    Evidence:
    Lots of guys have deliberately pierced penises.
    I’ve never heard of a deliberately pierced foot.
    Anyway, the amount of pain caused by the procedure is a side issue. There are multiple ways to reduce that pain – even to the point that it is tolerated by an adult male, with a lot more tissue being cut.
    I definitely do not like to see the issue of so-called “female circumcision” linked to removal of the male foreskin in routine male circumcision.
    The female equivalent would be removal of the clitoral hood and that is NOT what the term “female circumcision,” is used in reference to.
    Removal of the foreskin leaves a functional penis and an intact sexual response and ability to orgasm.
    Removal of the clitoris greatly diminishes female sexual response, and generally eliminates any possibility of orgasm – according to my limited knowledge.
    Female “circumcision” is illegal in the US – I hope it stays that way.
    Male circumcision is legal in the US, and strictly the choice of the parents – I hope that stays that way, also.
    Haven’t you and I had almost this exact same battle once before, wage. Maybe we need some new material. 😉
    Looks like bustin and “fabio” could be heading for a nice little grapple, though. Get ready for some “fucktard torpedoes,” bustin. (tm Cash)

  290. wagelaborer June 14, 2011 at 6:14 pm #

    No, this is a variation on our previous battle.
    And you didn’t answer me. Did you actually watch your newborn being cut?

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  291. ctemple June 14, 2011 at 6:48 pm #

    I’ve learned a lot on here from the name callers, this weird combination of viciousness mixed with sarcasm, phony sophistication, and pretenses of learning. And my favorite is the word fucktard, I never really knew that you could combine the fuck and retarded. And of course it reminds of me of high school and people who were so low that weren’t even human in my view and should have been eating out of a trough.

  292. BeantownBill June 14, 2011 at 7:04 pm #

    Stupid people don’t really bother me. They can’t help being who they are. It’s the mediocre that bug me. We ought to always try to transcend ourselves, to push back against our self-limiting boundaries and enter new territory. Unfortunately, in our society, mediocrity is rewarded, and there’s little incentive to make the effort to surpass ourselves.
    In the Bell curve of humanity, the stupid occupy a small area, and the mediocre exist in the bulk of the curve. But there’s an opposite segment that contains the brilliant, the insightful, the noble, the courageous and the lovers of truth and beauty. The latter represent the best of mankind and make its continued existence desirable.
    Because the mediocre rule, we find ourselves at the crossroads where survival is questionable. I hope the few at the right of the Bell curve can get us through what we will be experiencing in the future. If I didn’t believe they could do it, I’m not sure I’d be willing to go on – or at least sober.

  293. AMR June 14, 2011 at 7:07 pm #

    This is another situation that can be illustrated by people behaving badly in Silicon Valley.
    I lived in Palo Alto until I was ten years old, in 1992, when my parents and I moved to Pennsylvania. We still have many close friends on the Peninsula and visit at least annually.
    A few years after we moved back east, the cultural vibe in Palo Alto became almost unrecognizable. The nerds, first-wave techies, gentleman-scholars, assorted Stanford hangers-on and the entire middling sort seemed to be disappearing from the fabric of the community in the midst of a rampage by the nouveaux riches. Very pleasantly landscaped ranch houses on fifth-acre lots were razed to bare dirt and replaced with overwrought pseudo-Spanish Revival monstrosities that looked like high-volume Taco Bell franchises. Low-key but good restaurants were replaced by insufferably pretentious ones. The dull-normal sector of the economy started being priced out of the commercial real estate market.
    By 2000, Hollister and Los Banos were important bedroom communities for Palo Alto’s middle class workforce and poorer families were living in storage units in San Jose. Meanwhile, one of the owners of a new Taco Bell down the street from our old house was commuting to Emeryville; he and his wife, like many couples, believed the hype about Palo Alto having the best elementary schools on earth and would accept only the best for their precious future children. Some parents in the Walter Hays Elementary catchment area had snits when their children were transferred to the supposedly inferior Duveneck School to ease overcrowding. Having attended Walter Hays at a time when the curriculum was permeated by political correctness and self-esteem platitudes, and having had my own educational progress held back by official curriculum standards, I was appalled. These people were raving about schools where they had no idea what was actually being taught.
    So I can’t blame you for being disgusted with what has happened to the culture of Silicon Valley. To the extent that it’s a distillation of the broader American culture, it’s bad news, indeed. People who are in a pissing contest with the Joneses tend to shirk civic activities that they might otherwise engage in, substitute blather for concrete action and become marks for frauds that assuage their guilt, particularly carbon offsets. It’s nigh impossible to reestablish modesty, personal action and reality-based thinking in such a shallow environment. Even returning that crowd to the sorry baselines that pass for reality-based engagement in most of flyover country would be a tall order.

  294. scott June 14, 2011 at 7:13 pm #

    “What are the social implications of economic collapse?”
    http://www.sovereignman.com/

  295. neckflames June 14, 2011 at 8:27 pm #

    If the price of silver or gold doubles like it has for SJmom it doesn’t correlate with a federal reserve note being now worth only half of what it was. Are your expenditures twice what they were in 2009? Neither are mine.
    The true value of gold or silver has for some time been seriously undervalued. At present I believe gold and silver are still undervalued but are much closer to where they should be nowadays.
    When paper currency collapses something will still be needed as a store of value. It won’t just be a barter economy. I wonder why you think gold and silver will be useless as things unravel and simplify. Let me know you thoughts..
    N.

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  296. popcine June 14, 2011 at 8:28 pm #

    I think this paragraph by Jesse, of Jesse’s Cafe Americain, is so well put that I must tell somebody about it. I don’t do Facebook or Twitter, and I don’t want to start, so I’ll just lay down the quote right here:
    The big TBTF and their funds are batting the US financial markets (and the public) around like their favorite chew toy. Failure to reform the financial system is Obama’s single greatest fault, overshadowing even his military adventurism perhaps. I do not think he is ‘bad,’ but merely weak, lacking in character, and not rising to his call to greatness. A very modern man. He could have stood out well since he is surrounded by amoral puppets and stooges, some in his own house but particularly in the opposition. But he has a fatal attraction of trying to please everyone, and therefore no one, lacking principle and conviction, and therefore remarkable leadership.

  297. bubbleheadMarc June 14, 2011 at 8:29 pm #

    Which reminds me of one of my favorite phrases: “A fate worse than sobriety.”

  298. Buck Stud June 14, 2011 at 8:30 pm #

    Why do the “mediocre” have any more choice regarding their station in life as opposed to the “stupid”? And whose to say that some of the mediocre are not borderline stupid, but due to their own noble efforts raised themselves up a bit? Or the over achieving mediocre achieving smart status.
    And who designed this society that has the mediocre on the hampster wheel hour after hour, day after day just in order to survive and feed their familiy, much less bring about societal change? The same intellects that you believe hold the key to salvation? And let’s not forget there’s no small amount of issues out there capable of dividing the middle against each other. For instance, slashing homespun jobs, and social safety nets via one political party to unabated voter registration for any ol’world Joe via the other party. We live in a reactionary society with most of the mediocre consumed with simply surviving.
    It’s easy to proclaim Niagra Falls directly ahead and assert that people should quit going along with the flow. From the high-brow tome of your post it even sounds like you paddled sideways and landed on the promentory shore of privalaged vision.
    So what are you doing in the new territory?

  299. Buck Stud June 14, 2011 at 8:32 pm #

    Great, I triggered a Q alert.

  300. SNAFU June 14, 2011 at 8:43 pm #

    Howdy Progressor, Per your musings: “Regardless of WHY we’re rudderless, the fact is that we are. We’ve got the religion of American Free Market Capitalism spreading baby formula and high birth rates all over the globe in search of Sacred Profit.””It’s a mess, ain’t it, my friend?”
    Yup, mull this over:
    I was reminded by recent articles on google news and PBR that this year is considered the 50th anniversary of Soviet scientist Dmitri Belyaevs’ experiments, begun in 1959, to genetically create a more docile version of the Russian Arctic Fox for the Russian/Soviet fur industry. To accomplish this he used the simple methodology of breeding only foxes which were the most convivial with human handlers. Amazingly within roughly 35 generations or less domestication of the foxes into the fox equivalent of dogs was unintentionally accomplished. Belyaev did not realize that the outcome would be foxes which behave as and looked like dogs and today are sold not for fur but as companion pets. It is estimated that the conversion of wolves to dogs was accomplished similarly over a much longer generational time span by way of human/pre-human selection of the most convivial wolf pups.
    Differences between adult wolves and adult dogs such as breeding frequency (wild wolves and foxes breed but once a year and in wolf packs only the alpha pair normally breed; dogs, from wolf or fox breed whenever their last litter is weened). Dogs play throughout their lives wolves and foxes for about the first year of their lives. Dogs prefer human companionship to that of other dogs. These traits and others have led biologists to conclude that breeding for conviviality traits affects the brain chemistry to effectively constrain dogs into a mental state of perpetual adolescence.
    Rereading the articles about this experiment and the results led me to muse: is there another animal as prevalent on the Earth which exhibits in adulthood as many mental characteristics of adolescence as dogs? How about homo sapiens, man, humans, us? What if similar decisions about mate conviviality by early man and pre-man based simply on survival instincts slowly removed the more aggressive humans from the gene pool and created the human equivalent of dogs. Can you think of any other animal whose breeding habits have brought about a greater species die off sans the natural assistance of meteorite strikes, ice ages or super volcanism….? We are hell bent on deforestation, desertification, flooding, and roasting mother Earth to satisfy our juvenile desires of consumption, avarice, sexual gratification, play…. To my mind the ubiquitousness of religious mumbo jumbo with accompanying pomp and ceremony is prima facie evidence of the juvenile mental state of humans worldwide whom are now incapable of becoming mentally adult humans.
    SNAFU

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  301. neckflames June 14, 2011 at 8:59 pm #

    Your financial advisor is a salesman. Repeat several times. Now get your husband to repeat that, oh, how about 50 times for starters.
    N.

  302. jammer June 14, 2011 at 9:09 pm #

    Growth for growths sake is the ideology of a cancer cell…

  303. BeantownBill June 14, 2011 at 9:19 pm #

    Stupid people don’t have as many options available to them as mediocre people, which is why they find it much more difficult to advance. BTW, stupid people aren’t just the intellectually challenged; they include the willfully blind and the congenitally bad decision-makers.
    Mediocre people don’t strive to surpass themselves. Many a stupid person can transform themselves into something greater, intellectually-challenged or not. Being dumb is not the same as being stupid.
    The point is to challenge oneself and go beyond, despite the obstacles. Yes, it IS easy for me to just proclaim, “don’t go with the flow”, but for me, it’s better than saying nothing and watching the whole ball of wax melt away. Besides, I came into this world at a great disadvantage, but I overcame my own obstacles. If I can, I believe others can, too.
    What am I doing in this new territory? I didn’t get there paddling sideways, I got there paddling furiously against the current.

  304. jammer June 14, 2011 at 9:20 pm #

    SNAFU said…. “We are hell bent on deforestation, desertification, flooding, and roasting mother Earth to satisfy our juvenile desires of consumption, avarice, sexual gratification” Help here. What do the above advebs have to do with sexual gritifacation?

  305. Qshtik June 14, 2011 at 9:23 pm #

    Great, I triggered a Q alert.
    =============
    tone
    😉

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  306. SNAFU June 14, 2011 at 9:27 pm #

    Howdy BHM,
    COB eh? Submarines are boats, interesting. I was under the impression that the SS in SSBM was the mnemonic for Submersible Ship as in Submersible Ship Ballistic Missile.
    What is the ranking Chief on an Aircraft Carrier called the COC? A Destroyer the COD? Another COC on a Ballistic Missile Cruiser? ……
    I spent a few months as a civilian engineer at Mare Island Shipyard, CA in the early 70’s.
    SNAFU

  307. Qshtik June 14, 2011 at 9:27 pm #

    sexual gritifacation
    ===========
    This occurs when a girl gets sand in her peep while on vacation.

  308. BeantownBill June 14, 2011 at 9:30 pm #

    Snaf, very interesting theory you got. Except we didn’t breed out aggressiveness, I think. If we’ve really done that, I’d have hated to live in the era when humans were that much more aggressive than they are now.
    But you latched onto something. That we are juvenile is certain.

  309. jammer June 14, 2011 at 9:32 pm #

    Q,
    You are sooo quick!

  310. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 9:40 pm #

    “Help here. What do the above advebs have to do with sexual gritifacation?”
    -jammer, to snafu-
    OK, to save Q the trouble – Sexual “gritifacation” – what is that?
    “Sex on the Beach” is a great drink, BTW – Although the actual act itself can lead to “gritifacation”, among unskilled practitioners. Sounds painful, anyway, whatever it is.
    But seriously folks –
    I’m guessing that SNAFU is making the point that sexual gratification leads to babies.
    Leaving sex and baby making linked through lack of education and birth control options led to our present debacle of overpopulation.
    If every can of baby formula had come with a free box of condoms and a stick that women could use to force their men to wear them – we would all be in better shape.
    Keeping sex and babies linked of course, is one of the Important Functions of World Religions.
    But it was not until the Regan Republicans linked politics to the Moral Majority and sex – that birth control aid to other countries really was cut.
    SNAFU, I’ve been working on a response to your original post. This may be the best I can do for now. You make some pretty good points.
    I could say that it isn’t religion that’s the problem – it is the perversion of religion as a means of social control that’s the problem.
    But I’ll admit that’s a pretty circular argument.

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  311. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 10:04 pm #

    “No, this is a variation on our previous battle.”
    -wage-
    OK, then it’s OK, womanfrien’.
    Let’s battle on.
    No, I did not watch my son being circumcised. I guess I could have, but you know how docs and hospitals are – they weren’t much better back in the early ’80’s.
    I found some bris ceremony videos on YouTube. Those Mohels make it look so easy – using drops of wine as an anesthetic, as far as I know.
    I found this video, too. You’ll have to have a youtube account to watch it. Note to non-medical CFN staff – Don’t watch it if you’re not used to watching surgeries.
    In my mind the Mohels and/or modern pain management negate the “pain” argument against circumcision.
    But I did learn something. I had no idea a foreskin was so large and firmly attached. So you’ve taught me something and got me thinking a little bit more, wage.
    If I have another kid – maybe I won’t get him circumcised. Especially since I’ll likely be living in a cave with some remnant of humanity before circumstances lead me to having another kid.
    And, in that case, I probably wouldn’t have a sharp enough rock to perform the surgery.

  312. progressorconserve June 14, 2011 at 10:24 pm #

    Oops –
    Forgot the video
    http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dra5t0OsmWf0%26NR%3D1

  313. CaptSpaulding June 14, 2011 at 10:25 pm #

    For those who believe that regulations just hinder capitalism, I always like to recommend moving to Somalia. There are none of those pesky regulations and laws around to stop an entrepreneur from making an honest (or otherwise) living. Maybe you could take Asswipe (I mean Ahss we pay), with you and see how far he gets with that mouth of his.

  314. CaptSpaulding June 14, 2011 at 11:02 pm #

    Ha Ha, You are easily provoked and respond to conditioning quickly. Ahh Pavlov, what a guy. It’s sorta unfair to pick on someone with absolutely no self control, but it’s so much fun to see you froth. And how is Mrs. Asswipe, and all the little Asswipes? How did you manage to get close enough to impregnate Mrs. Asswipe anyway? I’ll bet you fucked her through the door. Well, it’s been fun, but It’s time to practice music. I’ll be back periodically to ring a bell for you to froth at. Enjoy your pitiful life. Tee Hee.

  315. trippticket June 14, 2011 at 11:02 pm #

    lmao…

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  316. JonathanSS June 14, 2011 at 11:02 pm #

    I’m sorry, but that was in response to my neighbor, with the Ford F250 4×4 diesel. We live in suburbia and the owner is 70 & retired. The couple trailer their horse about once a year. For the one time a year they need towing capacity, they could rent a truck.
    The respondents premise is correct; most people buy more car than they need. They buy a sledgehammer when 98% of the time their hanging pictures and hammering in nails. Auto marketing is about image, prestige, ego gratification, comfort, luxury, performance & style. With gas over $4.00, more ads have shifted towards economy, however.
    I don’t have a problem with people buying what they want and can afford, but don’t cry to me about the costs to drive and maintain the thing.

  317. JonathanSS June 14, 2011 at 11:06 pm #

    Sorry, I read this too late. This seems like 8M/old69, and a slew of other screen names that have gotten banned over the years.

  318. JonathanSS June 14, 2011 at 11:15 pm #

    forcing mileage requirements for fleet averages (resulting in cars that no one wants or buys)

    Just watch. It will be the group complaining about CAFE standards that will be bitching the most when they’re sitting in a gas line (“dammit, gov’t doesn’t work!” & “why can’t they do something?”)
    Perfect Hummer bumper sticker:
    Oil Sheiks Love Me!

  319. trippticket June 14, 2011 at 11:17 pm #

    “Economies are in trouble not because fossil fuels cannot be had cheaply, but because the Eco-statists have declared them taboo.”
    Wake up, man. Dems like stacks of gold coins just as much as you do. The people who really think industrial humans should do things in a way that even approaches radically different number about two dozen total. It doesn’t help to blame your problems on “other.”

  320. bubbleheadMarc June 14, 2011 at 11:30 pm #

    Technically BUSHIPS probably does classify submarines as ships, because of course they ARE ships. Submariners sometimes do refer to them as ships, and increasingly so in recent decades as they’ve gotten larger. But casually submariners call them “boats”.
    Mare Island Naval Shipyard is where the USS Guitarro sank at the dock purely owing to human error so I hope that you weren’t around to get blamed for that one. I was in the yard in Kittery, ME and detested every minute of it.
    Other commands in the navy designate the top enlisted guy as “Command Master Chief”. This is not the highest enlisted can rise since there’s a variety of ways for them to become regular officers.

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  321. bubbleheadMarc June 14, 2011 at 11:53 pm #

    I also just noticed & read your comments on the devolution of the wolf into the dog and the new domesticated foxes in Russia, compared also with the speculative self domestication of humans over time perhaps breeding in features of perpectual adolescence. To me this is very interesting and your coments are well made.
    I do recall reading about the change in human breeding practices when our ancestors left the farm, stopped marrying the girl next door largely oblivious to looks in many cases, then started valuing looks in the prospective mate more and more first in the urban, then ultimately the suburban dating environment in which much larger pools of young people were available for social contacts. As people have tended to become ever more frivolous under these conditions of modernity the effects on society seem incontestably undesirable. Or were our hayseed ancestors every bit as cretinous as we’re turning out to be?

  322. Mike Moskos June 15, 2011 at 12:20 am #

    Chris Martenson (echoing Kunstler) puts it succinctly as:
    “The next 20 years are going to be completely unlike the last 20 years.”
    If you haven’t watched his Crash Course presentation (or stopped watching after a few chapters), do yourself a favor and watch the whole thing.

  323. helen highwater June 15, 2011 at 12:55 am #

    I agree that “Jimmy” was the only president to say that Americans would have to reduce energy use. But don’t forget about the “Carter Doctrine” (State of the Union Address 1980) in which he said that the US would use military force if necessary to ensure a reliable supply of oil from the Persian Gulf area.

  324. helen highwater June 15, 2011 at 12:57 am #

    Glad to hear your garden is doing well. You bought potato plants? Never heard of that before. Usually I just plant a piece of potato with an “eye” or two in it and presto, potato plant.

  325. helen highwater June 15, 2011 at 12:58 am #

    L’il Jimbo, is that you?

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  326. asia June 15, 2011 at 1:15 am #

    ‘If every can of baby formula had come with a free box of condoms and a stick that women could use to force their men to wear them – we would all be in better shape.’
    Is this a Racist comment?
    White folks have been having Replacement level families for 2 generations (40 years).

  327. Shakazulu June 15, 2011 at 2:45 am #

    Chris Martenson (echoing Kunstler) puts it succinctly as:
    “The next 20 years are going to be completely unlike the last 20 years.”
    NK. Succinct is right. Of all the videos I’ve watched, blogs I’ve read, and news I’ve heard that one statement has stuck with me. And my best guess is that we’ll begin seeing the “unlikeness” within the next 5. Maybe another nuked city in 2015 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima or Nagasaki?

  328. spider9629 June 15, 2011 at 4:12 am #

    Language as a Deceiving Abstraction
    Gavin saith, “why I am still stuck in a job that pays barely $300 a week, often closer to $200? (And why are all the applications for employment I put in met only with crushing silence?) The reason that finally came to me, is that society does not value any of what I have done. The question that arose from that answer was of course, what then, at this point in America’s history, does society value?”
    There is no “society” that is valuing anything: it is another aggregator symbol, the word “society”, what on earth does it mean ? where is it ? who is it ? etc. If you think “hard enough” you will see how this word and concept is just as vague, undefined, and invisible as just about 99 % of all of our words and concepts, as language is an abstractor, is a machine that abstracts and stereotypes (simplifies to the greatest degree) any number of distinct, often unrelated, often not even clearly bound or defined sets of entities, actions and reactions, causes and effects (imagined ?), human feelings and emotions as related to other humans and what they do, or our memory, or our story and patterns projected in time (from past to future?), and so on.
    Society, can you touch it ? can you feel it ? the typical response of religious people when trying to convince you to believe in the invisible, do you love your children ? can you touch “love” or feel it ? and so on: but I finally figured this one out, what they really are getting at is that this concept and word and like many other concepts and words are Information Relationships, are imagined, sometimes real, sometimes fake, mostly in between and hard to verify and define and measure feelings that situations, other people, their judgments (as you imagined them) provoke, their importance, their meanings, how important they become.
    But why substitute an abstractor symbol such as “Society” with another abstractor symbol such as “Information Relationship”, isn’t that circular reasoning, isn’t that what all language and thought is really all about ? An algortihm that doesn’t go anywhere, that just keeps on cycling forever through an ever changing new sequence of symbols that each time, thinks that “it is on to something”, that is “has advanced”, that “this time it’s different”, this time “I finally got it right”.
    Nothing Futher From the Truth, it will never be right, it is wrong from the outset, it is doomed from the outset to be always wrong, as our mind and thought and language itself is always wrong no matter what.
    What does “society” value and why aren’t you making “more money” ? no answer at all, pure luck, pure chance, the absolute random – quirk way the forces around you are engaged, the power relationships that are keeping you in a corner (but remember if you get out of the corner, someone else will take your place and ask the same question), there is nothing that society values as society doesn’t exist, each person values different things, each person invents a different thing, judges according to nothing at all but what he perceives as “valuable” (which has no reliablity whatsoever).
    On a more fun note, I like the big NASCAR enignes, we need more of them, we need 800 horsepower, we need noise and violent metal in our world, we need to show Matter who is the BOSS, we will produce a trillion NASCAR cadillacs all over the place, we need to get nature on the run, big time, we need to crack nature’s head open with a baseball bat, go man go, just do it. And we need to crack a lot of other heads open also, like god’s, like Mass – Energy’s, like The Laws of Physics’s, all of these heads must be cracked open with a baseball bat, go for it little Lucy, wow she is running around wild laughing and screaming, having a ball, the new generation will knock this world into order, they are being programmed correctly for the final showdown, MIND AGAINST MATTER, SYMBOL AGAINST MASS ENERGY, the final war, the Laws of Physics are on a run, they are running like crazy, they finally got the message on who the BOSS is!
    This is the real final rapture, the sign of the Beast, the War, the Fight, Logical Contradiction finally allowed to let it all hang out, go for it little Suzy and Ryan, they are having oh so much FUN, jumping up and down, laughing, screaming and running around the backyard, while Mommy cooks in the kitchen, we are having so much FUN, it is so nice to play around like this: soon Mommy will call us in for dinner, what a fine day today!
    ON the sensations to thought ratio S/T, I guess playing Football (the American one, for all of you Eurosclerotic and Latin American Latinos types) increases this variable to a higher number, less thought and more sensations as in physical activity, the flow of thought to touch or feeling and energy, interesting take. Maybe Rugby too …
    Hey, San Jose Mommy, did your teenage girly, that is a doll, find the new mental contraption – universe perceived item in the backyard ? Shame on you for not answering, that is not good manners, your girly probably is more educated than you on this: if asked a question it is good manners to answer correctly. And say Sir at the end of the answer….
    Are you going to ask me over for dinner tonight ? I can talk about some Metaphysics…

  329. spider9629 June 15, 2011 at 4:23 am #

    Uh Oh, spelling errors again, guess where the errors are game again! Go for it little Tommy, he is running like a lighting bolt to get those errors fast! By the way, this is also blog – hog time again, go figure !
    From:
    http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/06/a-distant-sound-of-churning-1.html
    Language as a Deceiving Abstraction
    Gavin saith, “why I am still stuck in a job that pays barely $300 a week, often closer to $200? (And why are all the applications for employment I put in met only with crushing silence?) The reason that finally came to me, is that society does not value any of what I have done. The question that arose from that answer was of course, what then, at this point in America’s history, does society value?”
    There is no “society” that is valuing anything: it is another aggregator symbol, the word “society”, what on earth does it mean ? where is it ? who is it ? etc. If you think “hard enough” you will see how this word and concept is just as vague, undefined, and invisible as just about 99 % of all of our words and concepts, as language is an abstractor, is a machine that abstracts and stereotypes (simplifies to the greatest degree) any number of distinct, often unrelated, often not even clearly bound or defined sets of entities, actions and reactions, causes and effects (imagined ?), human feelings and emotions as related to other humans and what they do, or our memory, or our story and patterns projected in time (from past to future?), and so on.
    Society, can you touch it ? can you feel it ? the typical response of religious people when trying to convince you to believe in the invisible, do you love your children ? can you touch “love” or feel it ? and so on: but I finally figured this one out, what they really are getting at is that this concept and word and like many other concepts and words are Information Relationships, are imagined, sometimes real, sometimes fake, mostly in between and hard to verify and define and measure feelings that situations, other people, their judgments (as you imagined them) provoke, their importance, their meanings, how important they become.
    But why substitute an abstractor symbol such as “Society” with another abstractor symbol such as “Information Relationship”, isn’t that circular reasoning, isn’t that what all language and thought is really all about ? An algorithm that doesn’t go anywhere, that just keeps on cycling forever through an ever changing new sequence of symbols that each time, thinks that “it is on to something”, that is “has advanced”, that “this time it’s different”, this time “I finally got it right”.
    Nothing Further From the Truth, it will never be right, it is wrong from the outset, it is doomed from the outset to be always wrong, as our mind and thought and language itself is always wrong no matter what.
    What does “society” value and why aren’t you making “more money” ? no answer at all, pure luck, pure chance, the absolute random – quirk way the forces around you are engaged, the power relationships that are keeping you in a corner (but remember if you get out of the corner, someone else will take your place and ask the same question), there is nothing that society values as society doesn’t exist, each person values different things, each person invents a different thing, judges according to nothing at all but what he perceives as “valuable” (which has no reliability whatsoever).
    On a more fun note, I like the big NASCAR engines, we need more of them, we need 800 horsepower, we need noise and violent metal in our world, we need to show Matter who is the BOSS, we will produce a trillion NASCAR Cadillacs all over the place, we need to get nature on the run, big time, we need to crack nature’s head open with a baseball bat, go man go, just do it. And we need to crack a lot of other heads open also, like god’s, like Mass – Energy’s, like The Laws of Physics’s, all of these heads must be cracked open with a baseball bat, go for it little Lucy, wow she is running around wild laughing and screaming, having a ball, the new generation will knock this world into order, they are being programmed correctly for the final showdown, MIND AGAINST MATTER, SYMBOL AGAINST MASS ENERGY, the final war, the Laws of Physics are on a run, they are running like crazy, they finally got the message on who the BOSS is!
    This is the real final rapture, the sign of the Beast, the War, the Fight, Logical Contradiction finally allowed to let it all hang out, go for it little Suzy and Ryan, they are having oh so much FUN, jumping up and down, laughing, screaming and running around the backyard, while Mommy cooks in the kitchen, we are having so much FUN, it is so nice to play around like this: soon Mommy will call us in for dinner, what a fine day today!
    ON the sensations to thought ratio S/T, I guess playing Football (the American one, for all of you Eurosclerotic and Latin American Latinos types) increases this variable to a higher number, less thought and more sensations as in physical activity, the flow of thought to touch or feeling and energy, interesting take. Maybe Rugby too …
    Hey, San Jose Mommy, did your teenage girly, that is a doll, find the new mental contraption – universe perceived item in the backyard ? Shame on you for not answering, that is not good manners, your girly probably is more educated than you on this: if asked a question it is good manners to answer correctly. And say Sir at the end of the answer….
    Are you going to ask me over for dinner tonight ? I can talk about some Metaphysics…

  330. MarlinFive54 June 15, 2011 at 7:29 am #

    Old6699/spider;
    Like I said yesterday, you’re a f—-g wierdo; Stay away from kids! Don’t even reference them in your posts, like you have SJMoms’ daughter.
    Ibendet, a new book out this week, I forget the name of it, by NYT business editor, interviewed on Book TV, blames financial meltdown in 2007 squarely on FannyMae and FreddyMac and their enablers in Congress who ran flak for them, namely Chris Dodd and especially Barney Frank, who, get this, was sleeping with the dude, Herb Moses, overseeing FannyMae. Also some dude named Johnson, who was big in all these Lib causes and Orgs. (Like the Kennedy Center) was paying himself like $100 million. It was a huge slush fund for Libs. Why didn’t Matt Taibbi mention any of this?
    Everybody on a site like this probably hates Larry the Cable Guy. He was on the TV in our breakroom last night. Pretty funny stuff, riding around the country visiting people like moonshiners, rodeo riders, and boar hunters. He seems to be saying we have a country out here separate from Wall Street and Washington, with our own traditions and interests, in a way showing Wall street and Washinton the middle finger.
    -Marlin

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  331. welles June 15, 2011 at 7:40 am #

    brazilians are getting very conscious about the environment, there are commercials reminding people to use as little water as possible, reminding folks of deforestation, and reforestation efforts galore, turning denuded forest back into at least ‘treed’ land quickly, as things grow fast in this heat.
    if i’d come down here by my lonesome it’d have been the same warm welcome, these folks are very loving and open, don’t believe the nonsense about ‘run for your life in the city’ etc.
    sure there are issues, but baltimore has issues too, so does any area, be it in the US or here.
    that old thing called human nature….
    most americans here in southern brazil would be thought to be brazilians, as it’s very european-mixed here and you’d fit right in imagewise.
    re convincing your wife, hell, just book a one-weeker, preferably staying with a local family (i know those types of stays exist nowadays) to get to know them, i almost guarantee you’ll cry with ‘saudades’ when you have to leave your newfound family. nothing like human warmth.
    for the self-annointed metacritics: yes there are problems here, yes there’s violence, yes there’s fill-in-the-blank, but look in the mirror before you sidle up with your barbs.
    adieu friends & inimigos
    ps my honey’s more cinnamon girl than brown honey lol

  332. lbendet June 15, 2011 at 8:13 am #

    Marlin,
    Re: Matt Taibbi’s account of what happened in 2008, I would venture to say that everybody who researches a complicated system would focus on where their research and contacts take them. There isn’t anyone out there who doesn’t have a bias and I applaud you for keeping up with the literature that comes out on this subject–but there are in fact many to blame–and our system is on the road to the destruction of Capitalism itself, buy going down the road of extremism.
    Here’s what I say about this. There are many focal points in this debacle, many moveable parts, if you will.
    Fannie and Freddie played their part, along with the democrats you mentioned.
    Bush pushed the idea of “The Ownership Society” where he exhorted that all should be able to own homes.
    In this debt=Moneatry gain for the banks, neoliberal system, selling mortages to those who could afford them was a trick to get people into debt, so the Friedman models of austerity and privatization can be induced.
    Since all these mortgages were being minced into financial sausages around the world, just imagine the the little guy who is being told by bank reps to lie about their salaries on the forms, to be the little engine that could.(bring down the world economy)
    There are all kinds of reasons why the growth paradigm doesn’t work, and according to those who discuss the Bilderberg meetings, they needed to put a halt to international growth in order to decrease demand for resources. (maybe).
    A good article to read, is one from Marketwatch, by Paul Farrell, Ayn Rand’s ‘Death of the Soul of Capitalism’Commentary: Self-destructive narcissists are sabotaging Adam Smith’s ideal.
    I think many on this site would like this article. It describes the inculcation of this extremist cult into our national culture of greed and the crash and burn tactic by this distorted cult as the destruction of our political system and economic system.
    Marlin, I do hope you read it. You seem to go back and forth on what you believe and favor the right-wing interpretation of things, maybe you’ll understand why you shouldn’t be so quick to embrace it and remember, both parties are part of the same sickness that is our present system. (nobody gets out alive)
    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ayn-rands-death-of-the-soul-of-capitalism-2011-06-14?pagenumber=1

  333. lbendet June 15, 2011 at 8:29 am #

    Correction: Who COULDN’T afford them(mortgages)

  334. bubbleheadMarc June 15, 2011 at 8:50 am #

    Your comments on the growth paradigm no longer working remind me in an oblique sense of Joel Klein’s lame article in The Atlantic this month about how he was largely frustrated in his Michelle Rhee type attempts to restructure the New York city public schools. I find his article lame because like many people who know a lot about a particular subject, namely why public education is messed up, in the final analysis he can’t see the forest for the trees. In other words, he bandies about statistics about an imaginary self induced permanent recession in which people are presumably underemployed based upon their theoretical potential to have qualified for better jobs, jobs which Klein imagines would be their proper due had they simply completed the training for entry to those jobs. It never seems to occur to him that we’ve had truckdrivers with master’s degrees ever since the GI Bill started sending virtually everyone to college way back in the late forties. And then of course draft avoidance in the ‘sixties only compounded this absurdity. Presumably he hasn’t heard of the multitudes of unemployed Ph.D physicists towards the end of the cold war either. Apparently none of them took the education credits to get jobs teaching high school physics which is why it does’t occur to him that the universe doesn’t magically assign a better job to everyone who becomes over-educated.
    And then he never even alludes to indiscipline preventing kids from learning anything. He does mention that some teachers in the rubber room holding situation were suspended [with pay] for physical abuse of students. It never occurs to him to wonder why a big city school teacher might become physically abusive towards a student. Could it be because that student assaulted the teacher? Could in fact that “child” be a 17 year old football player who is twice the size of the female teacher he assaulted? We won’t find out from Klein because he’s not interested in expanding on that one.
    The only thing we really learn from Klein is that the teacher pension system is underfunded and hence, promises of a good pension to all the teachers are fraudulent, since the pension fund has been underperforming for a long time, which in hindsight should come as no surprise at this point to all of us cynical Clusterfuckians hereabouts.
    So all we all need is to take out student loans and get more degrees then we’ll all automatically get the jobs for which we’ve trained! Klein goes on at length about competing in the global economy. With hundreds of idled containerships anchored off of the coast of Malaysia one might ask “what global economy?”
    The same issue has another article entitled “The Tragedy of Sarah Palin”, by Joshua Green. Green claims that Palin was in reality a decent consensus building governor who increased the taxation level on the oil industry there in Alaska which enabled that state to be one of the most solvent today in spite of the financial melt-down afflicting most levels of government nearly everywhere. He says that she’s a tragic figure because she went on from this constructive approach in her own state to become a massively divisive figure on the national political stage.

  335. MarlinFive54 June 15, 2011 at 8:54 am #

    Nice post, Ibendet.
    I count on you to keep me grounded here in CFN, on economic matters. Also, your frequent posts keep me interested in the events on Wall Street. Much appreciated!
    I’m probably instinctively a ‘right winger’, once described as blue collar reactionary. I don’t know why. Many in my family are this way, too. It might go back to where I grew up, when all my neighbors in our milltown were enlisting in the Army and Marine Corps for Viet Nam, and on the other side of town, the upper middle class side, the local elites, they were protesting this or that all the time, running the country down. I resented it. Even now on Memorial Day you can see the divide, all the local vets, me included, all from the milltown village, involved in the ceremonies. The other sons of bitches are nowhere to be seen.
    -Marlin
    -Marlin

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  336. metuselah June 15, 2011 at 9:05 am #

    Everybody knows
    Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
    Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
    Everybody knows that the war is over
    Everybody knows the good guys lost
    Everybody knows the fight was fixed
    The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
    That’s how it goes
    Everybody knows
    Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
    Everybody knows that the captain lied
    Everybody got this broken feeling
    Like their father or their dog just died
    Everybody talking to their pockets
    Everybody wants a box of chocolates
    And a long stem rose
    Everybody knows
    Everybody knows that you love me baby
    Everybody knows that you really do
    Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful
    Ah give or take a night or two
    Everybody knows you’ve been discreet
    But there were so many people you just had to meet
    Without your clothes
    And everybody knows
    Everybody knows, everybody knows
    That’s how it goes
    Everybody knows
    Everybody knows, everybody knows
    That’s how it goes
    Everybody knows
    And everybody knows that it’s now or never
    Everybody knows that it’s me or you
    And everybody knows that you live forever
    Ah when you’ve done a line or two
    Everybody knows the deal is rotten
    Old Black Joe’s still pickin’ cotton
    For your ribbons and bows
    And everybody knows
    And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
    Everybody knows that it’s moving fast
    Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
    Are just a shining artifact of the past
    Everybody knows the scene is dead
    But there’s gonna be a meter on your bed
    That will disclose
    What everybody knows
    And everybody knows that you’re in trouble
    Everybody knows what you’ve been through
    From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
    To the beach of Malibu
    Everybody knows it’s coming apart
    Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
    Before it blows
    And everybody knows
    Everybody knows, everybody knows
    That’s how it goes
    Everybody knows
    Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
    That’s how it goes
    Everybody knows
    Everybody knows
    http://youtu.be/9F8QM3tjkTE

  337. lbendet June 15, 2011 at 9:07 am #

    Marlin,
    I guess there is really a divide on how people express their patriotism or what they imagine are their dreams for their country.
    We all have our points of view and bear the scars of history. Thus, if in the 60’s you saw this country as love it or leave it, you might see criticism of our involvement in Viet Nam to be unpatriotic.
    But in lieu of the lies that even McNamara admitted to as our reason to fight Viet Nam, is it really anti-American to ask for the truth and pull out of a war going nowhere?
    Well we all have our styles, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care about this country, we only wish we could break with the path we are on.
    Right now the only people who I see as unpatriotic are those who would sell their country out for big bucks in the global economic arena, at the expense of what benefits all Americans.

  338. bubbleheadMarc June 15, 2011 at 9:11 am #

    ONE OF THE MISSING TREES IN THE NEW YORK CITY EDUCATIONAL FOREST: One of my merchant marine shipmates was a native New Yorker who graduated from the maritime trades program formerly conducted aboard a maritime administration Liberty ship from WWII. To get a look at that program refer to “Men, Ships and the Sea” published by the National Geographic Society in the early ’60s. I also knew another New Yorker in the merchant marine who had a buddy who taught that program. So far as I can determine that trades apprenticeship program no longer exists. Why is that you might wonder. The answer is simple: compared to what we had in the ’50s the merchant marine today has declined by perhaps 90% not only owing to the expected automation in cargo handling systems but also as a result of massive offshoring of jobs to so called flag of convenience merchant ship registries. Who does this job now? Filipinos of course. They are good seamen, have been going to sea for centuries starting out in the Spanish merchant fleet, and today are the largest seafaring nationality. Plus they work cheap. No more trades program for the high school kids in New York. Were they even given a chance to “compete” in the global seaborne shipping system? Of course not. Nobody wants to hire American seamen because they are several times more likely to sue steamship companies. So it is that all this vacuous prattle about global competitiveness falls on the deaf ears of unemployed industrial workers who know better. And guess what? The college trained officers who attended the New York State [SUNY] Maritime College at Fort Schyler across the bay from the US Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point are just as unemployed today as the deck hands who serve under them. Unless they want to go on active duty using their reserve commissions in an economically unproductive job bombing some third world shithole for the greater glory of the military industrial complex.

  339. lbendet June 15, 2011 at 9:11 am #

    Sorry Bubbleheadmarc,
    I could just be dense this morning, but I don’t understand how my post this morning reminded you of anything you mentioned in your post. I was listening to someone discussing the Bilderberg meeting and agenda yesterday and brought up the idea of limited resources for world population. Don’t know if anything about these meetings or agendas are true that’s why I said (maybe).

  340. lbendet June 15, 2011 at 9:46 am #

    Thanks, M
    Love Leonard Cohen–nothing like quoting from the best.

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  341. metuselah June 15, 2011 at 10:33 am #

    You might want to read this:
    Tao Jonesing: Explaining My Thesis Re: Locke and Jefferson
    http://taojonesing.blogspot.com/2011/06/explaining-my-thesis-re-locke-and.html
    It has nothing to do with narcissism, and everything to do with clinging to a failed model. A failed model, that has failed again and again and again, but is always being resurrected by the same parasitic class. This is because with all their volumes of supposed psychological understanding of human nature, the reality of the matter is, they have completely failed to understand human nature.

  342. Cash June 15, 2011 at 10:56 am #

    Are you being sarcastic again?

  343. lbendet June 15, 2011 at 10:57 am #

    Thanks for that, M.
    Will read—The article was discussing in particular the Ayn Rand cult, and the culture of greed, that has captured the thinking of our culture, but I recognize the system as a whole is going through a bigger process than Rand.
    I agree with you on the larger picture.

  344. metuselah June 15, 2011 at 11:27 am #

    You’re welcome.

  345. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 11:37 am #

    “‘If every can of baby formula had come with a free box of condoms and a stick that women could use to force their men to wear them – we would all be in better shape.'”
    -asia, quoting PoC-
    “Is this a Racist comment?”
    -asia-
    Asia, I don’t see how anyone, even the worst black or brown racist on earth could turn this into a racist comment.
    My comment would upset the Pope and Muhammad, however – and some of the religious fruitbats on the Christian right in the US, as well.
    “White folks have been having Replacement level families for 2 generations (40 years).”
    -asia-
    Is this a racist comment, asia? That I’m not quite sure about. It’s a pure statement of fact – considering the planet at large, however.
    If, instead of “white folks”, you substituted – “folks with access to education and effective birth control” – then it’s a lot harder to argue that the statement is racist.
    Plus, making that change in your statement, helps show a way forward from today’s disaster of overpopulation.

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  346. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 11:44 am #

    And yet, any national public figure MUST pretend that the answer to our economic problems is more education.
    And student loan debt has now surpassed credit card debt in this country.
    In The Emperor’s New Clothes, all it took for truth to prevail is for a little child to speak it! In America, the child would be shushed, or tasered, or thrown into Guantanamo. Or more likely, just ignored, while the lies continue to gush forth on every form of media there is.
    I watched excerpts of the Republican debate. Ron Paul was a breath of fresh air. The others felt it necessary to ritually genuflect to our “heroes” in the military, and pretend that the US attack on targets in the Middle East and Central Asia and Northern Africa were to protect us.
    There are Things That Must Be Said and Things That Must Not Be Said, and you rarely see anyone break any of those rules.
    And Marlin pretends that no one mentions the black people who took down our entire banking system with their pernicious, subversive buying of houses that they couldn’t afford when the adjustable rates kicked in.
    That, of course, is another lie. Black people were indeed blamed for the entire meltdown of the financial system, just like pregnant black teenagers are held responsible for the entire breakdown of American capitalism.

  347. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 11:47 am #

    Great poem to post, M, fits right into the dialog this week. Also the taojonesing link is an interesting perspective.
    How the Milton Friedman/Ayn Rand philosophy came to dominate political thought in the US is a mystery – because not all of our national leaders were greedy short-sighted bastards, until 1980 or so, at least.
    How Milton’s work was sold to working class guys like fabian is a powerful demonstration of the power of marketing. AKA brainwashing.
    BTW, Metuselah, was Mika banned? If so, I’m glad you reincarnated yourself after the “death?” of Mika. Shows CFN how easy it is to make an honest resurrection after being banned one time.
    Thanks!

  348. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 11:48 am #

    Yeah, I didn’t think you watched, because you told me that he only cried briefly, unlike with the IV in his foot.
    That didn’t really ring true. That may be what the doctor told you, but, let me tell you, he lied.

  349. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 11:51 am #

    You know what, Spider?
    You don’t have to repost everytime you make a spelling error.
    Even Qstick doesn’t care.

  350. Cash June 15, 2011 at 11:51 am #

    How important is it? Most people don’t know they’re being raped. A large minority of people don’t even know what their take home pay is.
    Neckflames has the idea. Your financial advisor has his own interest at heart, not yours.
    I think that a lot of people have been intensively indoctrinated (brainwashed) into this financial culture of ours. Others are convinced that money matters are something for “experts”, that the world of finance is far beyond them, even something as mundane and simple as household finances.
    The thing to remember is that the financial industries are out to rob you blind. I’ve ranted on too many other occasions on this site that it’s so hard to make any sense out of what you’re being told by these financial advisors because what these guys say doesn’t make any sense.

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  351. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 11:54 am #

    No, I wasn’t being sarcastic. Are you being paranoid again?
    It’s just that I had just posted a brief mention of naked short selling, before I read your longer and more comprehensive rant on financial shenanigans. So I was glad that you did it, and was giving you your props.

  352. Cash June 15, 2011 at 12:01 pm #

    What do you mean “again”?

  353. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 12:02 pm #

    I know that you have been introduced to the ideas of Ellen Brown, but have you ever heard of Steve Zarlenga?
    Although I don’t believe that capitalism can be reformed, I do believe that our monetary system can be.
    We need to change our entire system of money, before the entire thing collapses and leads to war with China – which is where I think that they are leading us.
    This website is about monetary reform. Scroll down to find specific articles about history and prescriptions.
    Note that Dennis Kucinich and the Green Party are on board with monetary reform. The Green Party also supports the Tobin Tax, which is a tax on Wall Street speculation.
    I call it a “sin tax”. They tax the hell out of alcohol and cigarettes, but gambling with people’s pension funds is a much bigger sin, in my opinion.
    http://www.monetary.org/

  354. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 12:02 pm #

    Speaking of the Pope.
    Can you imagine how immeasurably better off Mexico and Latin America would be if the Pope had a “vision” this Saturday, concerning birth control.
    Because the Pope and the Cardinals and the Blue Jays could all communicate this vision by email to every Catholic priest in the world for broadcast on Sunday morning.
    “EVERYONE USE BIRTH CONTROL – THE POPE HAS SPOKEN!”
    Now, does anyone know where I can find the Pope’s unlisted phone number?

  355. mika. June 15, 2011 at 12:02 pm #

    Thanks, PC. mika is alive and well, just using a different web browser with a different PC. And btw, still pissed off at how many Americans refuse to look at the truth, refuse to look for the truth, and are so nonchalant when it comes to what their government is going in their name. The parallels to Nazi Europe are striking.

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  356. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 12:08 pm #

    Perhaps I misspoke.
    I thought that you had been paranoid before, but I can’t really remember when.

  357. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 12:09 pm #

    That may be what the doctor told you, but, let me tell you, he lied.” -wage-
    Maybe, Wage – I have no idea what the standards of practice were in the ’80’s for pain management for circumcision.
    Did you watch that video I linked?
    Surgery’s surgery, but there wasn’t much crying at all in it.
    And how DO those Mohels make it look so easy in those Jewish circumcision videos on youtube?
    Even the worst ones called “botched circumcision” last just a few minutes – and the crying seems pretty minimal. I’ve caused a LOT worse crying myself in infants – over a splinter or a diaper change.

  358. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 12:11 pm #

    Also, you may be intrigued that the University of Chicago in the 30s had progressive economists!
    Steve Zerlenga quotes them extensively.

  359. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 12:14 pm #

    Perhaps you don’t realize that the Mexican birth rate has fallen greatly in the last few years, and is almost as low as the US now.
    http://jonjayray.wordpress.com/2007/06/30/mexican-birthrate-falling-rapidly/

  360. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 12:17 pm #

    No, I don’t have a youtube account.
    Plus, I’ve seen WAY more circumcisions than I would ever care to see.
    I don’t want to watch anymore.

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  361. lbendet June 15, 2011 at 12:19 pm #

    Thanks, Wage
    I copied the link into my bookmarks. It’s great to hear some common sense being discussed–it will be a major uphill fight, but one well worth it.

  362. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 12:36 pm #

    The culture wars of the ’60’s continue to torment us yet. You wrote the shortest and most accurate summation of feelings that I believe I’ve ever seen. It’s worth reading twice, CFN.
    “I’m probably instinctively a ‘right winger’, once described as blue collar reactionary. I don’t know why. Many in my family are this way, too. It might go back to where I grew up, when all my neighbors in our milltown were enlisting in the Army and Marine Corps for Viet Nam, and on the other side of town, the upper middle class side, the local elites, they were protesting this or that all the time, running the country down. I resented it. Even now on Memorial Day you can see the divide, all the local vets, me included, all from the milltown village, involved in the ceremonies. The other sons of bitches are nowhere to be seen.”
    -marlin-
    Marlin, I strongly identify with your points and your “side.” I also identify with the points of the “other side.” Drives me crazy, sometimes.
    And I hate to be the one to tell you, but for the most part those “other sons of bitches” slipped into the woodwork of jobs in government service or corporate America. And most of them totally reversed their politics to become “conservative” corporate types who now vote the interest of their economic class.
    The mystery (to me) is how the American working class has been marketed to the point that they will vote against their economic interest – because of “social issues” – like abortion or gay marriage.
    Marketed, EVEN, to the point that “Protect the Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich” can cause working class Republicans to get out and vote.
    Amazing.
    Somehow, both our “sides” have managed to screw up a once great country.
    You got any suggestions for moving forward, man?

  363. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 12:52 pm #

    OK, Wage, truce over circumcision,then? At least for now? I will encourage you to watch a Jewish circumcision on youtube to give us your nurse’s perspective. You don’t need an account to watch any of these. And the only thing disturbing to me were some of the comments.
    It looks mighty easy the way they do it. And it’s a loong way from any synagogue to an American style surgical suite.
    ===========
    Back to the immigration wars, then!!
    “Not taken into account is the higher birthrate of Mexicans who migrate to the United States, who I think are at around 3.1 children per woman. Could mass migration to the U.S. disguise continued high birth rates in Mexico?”
    -a poster on the link you furnished, with whom I would agree-
    Also, Wage, how do you suppose the Mexican govt. has achieved this – especially considering the opposition of the Catholic church in an overwhelmingly Catholic country.
    Is there a lesson for the US in dealing with our RW “sex is only for making babies” contingent?
    And is it true that birth control is furnished by the government and readily available to all Mexican women, regardless of income. Another poster on that link made this statement.

  364. MarlinFive54 June 15, 2011 at 12:58 pm #

    PoC;
    I don’t really have any ideas about moving forward, PoC, except that I’m trying to get enough money together right now to ‘move’ to the Florida Keys before the cold weather sets in again in New England. I hope to visit with my CFN friends in Georgia on my way down south.
    WageL, I don’t ever remember blaming ‘black people’ for the financial meltdown in 2007-2008. If I did say that somewhere I was clearly wrong.
    -Marlin

  365. LewisLucanBooks June 15, 2011 at 1:04 pm #

    “…many moveable parts…”
    I just finished Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America” (2009). She had a chapter as to how the mega churches pushing the prosperity gospel contributed to the housing meltdown. “God wants you to have that house!” If the mortgage company fudged your income and overlooked your bad credit rating, it was God moving in your life. Of course, this played into the Government pushing home ownership.
    And, there were people in the mortgage industry who could see the mortgage bubble blowing up and had a skeptical take on the whole process. They were pretty much accused of negativity and thrown under the bus.
    Still on the hold list for Taibbi’s book. I move steadily down the hold list, and a copy hasn’t popped up at the thrift stores, yet. So, after I read Taibbi’s book (the contents of which I am pretty familiar with, via the Rolling Stone) then what? And, I read Naomi Klein’s book, “Shock Doctrine.” And, I grasp the concepts.
    New Zealand was hit with another two earthquakes that pretty much brought down whatever was left standing from the last one. There was hardly a ripple across the Internet. Maybe, because nobody died in this one. Recovery efforts just about back to square one.

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  366. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 1:06 pm #

    I have logged a lot of hours in the Florida Keys, marlin. Fantastic place to visit, ’till yet. You thinking of a permanent move?
    I’d be delighted to meet you somewhere, as you make your way south. Keep me informed of your travel plans.

  367. Cash June 15, 2011 at 1:08 pm #

    My paranoia increases with age.
    When I was a young feller I had a vague feeling of unease, a notion that the world was an unfriendly place, that there were unseen people out to get me.
    Not that these people had it in for me personally but rather that they were like Hancock’s Alien Space Lizards, creatures with no conscience, who watched me unblinking, amoral people that would mercilessly use me, if I didn’t watch out, for their own ends, people that would run me over and wreck me.
    But now it’s no longer a vague feeling or a “notion”. Now I’m certain of it and now I know that those unseen conspirators muttering behind the curtains were actually in front of me all the time, hiding in plain sight, in fact, on TV and in public making speeches and giving interviews.
    Are/were they acting for others lurking out of sight on vast estates, in opulent mansions? Maybe. In fact probably.
    Hannah Arendt talked about the banality of evil in relation to Adolf Eichmann. I have a better idea of the notion having seen and spoken to corporate bureaucrats carrying out their mandates as senior execs. Some of them were as gray and colourless as the 1950s era organization man. They looked to me to be ordinary fellows endowed with some unusual personal characteristics that suited them to high corporate office.
    But some, especially in the last 20 years, were hard eyed men with slicked back hair, manicured nails and hugely expensive threads. They looked nasty and I think they cultivated the image.
    Were they murderers? I don’t think so. Their evil was more mundane than that. Over time and in word and deed they “normalized” ways of thinking and behaving that, for the sake of their own benefit, greatly corroded our society and economy and led us to the degraded financial and environmental state we find ourselves in. Some, with some vestiges of conscience, must have justified what they did on the basis of ideological “rightness”, that this was the land of free enterprise, that they did what the “market” dictated.
    But, I think I’m crapping too much on business types. The conspiracy is just as much implicit as it is explicit and involves more than just moneymen. Look to university campuses, the judiciary and civil service. This is a many headed beast that wants to eat us. This hydra is just as busy sapping us culturally and psychologically as it is economically.

  368. welles June 15, 2011 at 1:09 pm #

    to find out if your ‘financial advisor’ is a dope like 95% are is simple, just ask the following question:
    Did you foresee the greatest financial meltdown of all time and position your clients to profit from it, or did your funds get clobbered?

    if his funds got clobbered, don’t use him. just another barking porpoise trained to say what he was told by the financial ‘advisor’ industry, HAHA what a joke
    then point him/her to bob moriarty, the daily reckoning, peter schiff, max keiser, ron paul et al, the guys who were on the record years prior to the catastrophe as saying what would — and did — occur in housing, stocks etc
    naturally, these are the folks who are ridiculed, what do you expect from your ‘edutainment’ system?
    USA…what…a…joke

  369. AMR June 15, 2011 at 1:14 pm #

    Nice try, but I can tell the difference between people who use their trucks to do chores and those who are just projecting an image. I’ve spent a fair amount of time around farmers, honest-to-God rednecks and the like, and they’re not the ones driving jacked-up crew cabs with pristine paint jobs. People who actually use their trucks to haul large or heavy loads usually have old beaters, and not necessarily big ones, either. Rangers are pretty popular as work trucks, for instance.
    Bigger trucks are needed for some jobs, e.g. hauling large animals, but that’s not why most people buy them. The more ostentatious the truck, the truer this is. I’d be surprised if even ten percent of the late-model crew cabs and other oversize trucks on the roads in Humboldt County are driven by genuine ranchers or dairy farmers. Most of them are driven by rich or indebted white trash who are trying too hard to be cowboys. (I know better than to conflate rednecks and white trash, so forget about making me out to be some sort of classist bigot.) They’re what some people in my grandmother’s generation call drugstore cowboys. Real cattlemen don’t cover their trucks with “cowboy up” regalia. It’s more subtle than that: stickers from 4H clubs, ranchers’ associations, seed companies, the Bush Farm and Ranch Team, etc. The poseurs get the tone and details all wrong.
    I have enough of an ear to the ground in flyover country to recognize over-the-top phonies. If you can’t recognize them, I guess the joke’s on you, as well as on the poseurs themselves.
    FYI, unleashing a fucktard volley on me was a troll fail. Some games are best played with children.

  370. LewisLucanBooks June 15, 2011 at 1:21 pm #

    Protecting tax cuts for the rich. Barbara Ehrenreich had some thoughts on that, too, in her book “Bright-sided.” A large chunk of the American population thinks that someday they’re going to be filthy rich. It’s that old can-do, Horatio Alger, hard work and wishful thinking, excuse me, “visioning” will get you whatever you desire.
    A case in point would be all the hoop-la over inheritance taxes. Very few people sat down for a few minutes to discover how much they would have to inherit to have the tax kick in. To discover what a small percentage of Americans this would effect. Or to quietly consider their particular situation and if they would EVER have to worry about the tax.
    I’m surprised that Dave Ramsey is so popular. After all, he’s soooo negative. He tells people things like “Ed McMahon is not going to visit your house,” (with that Publisher’s Clearing House Check) and “Playing the lottery is not a retirement plan.” Wow. What a negative thinking guy!
    Social issues like gay rights and abortion are just smoke and mirrors. Wedge issues. Distractions from what is really going on. “Look here, not there!” Every stage magician knows the value of diverting attention.

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  371. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 1:30 pm #

    Oh for Pete’s sakes, Prog, you’re being punked.
    Marlin doesn’t have some vague, inchoate right wing inclination caused by exposure to dirty hippies while he bravely fought commies for the good ol’ USA.
    Jeez. He has a deeply held, fully coherent extreme right wing philosophy, complete with expressing joy at his projected upcoming liberal vs reactionary gunfight.
    Oh, yeah, Marlin, I’m talking about you. And you damn well know that talking about Fannie Mae is code for those black people who wanted houses that they didn’t deserve.
    And, prog, you should know that those war protesters did not grow up to run the country. From Dick Cheney, who had better things to do, to George Bush, who deserted the National Guard, to Lawrence Summer and Hank Paulson and the rest of the neocons, you can’t see a former hippie among them.

  372. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 1:39 pm #

    Again, I agree with you.

  373. Cash June 15, 2011 at 1:41 pm #

    Most people are barking porpoises. They have to be.
    I spent a long time in the real estate management and development industry. In the early 1990s the company I worked for went bankrupt. The mistakes were exactly the ones made ten years before that, which at the time, nearly sunk the company.
    Back then if you tried to tell it like it is, that house prices were outpacing family incomes, that there was no way that house prices could maintain the rate of increase, that the prices for raw land were way too high and couldn’t be recovered, you were derided as a “pessimist”. You didn’t belong. Go hide in your cave.
    Never mind common sense, forget facts. Common sense and facts were for sissies, not for the smiling striding optimist that the industry required you to be. Same thing in the financial industry.

  374. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 1:43 pm #

    “Oh for Pete’s sakes, Prog, you’re being punked.”
    -wage, concerning marlin-
    Maybe, Wage, but I don’t think so. I know too many men like marlin, out here in the real world. The fact that he’ll lay it out here on CFN for all the world to see – says a lot for him and his willingness to examine his beliefs.
    Something we can all benefit from, btw.
    =============
    And I didn’t say the “former hippies” went into National Leadership – I said they went into American Corporate and Government service AND changed their politics to match their economic class.
    Although, sometimes I wonder. Take BushII, a frogkilling, hard drinking, coke snorting rebel; if there ever was one. Slightly different environment and he’d have been putting daisies in rifle barrels. hahohe
    One problem the baby boom generation has had is that all the “real leaders” did crazy sh*t when they were in their 20’s – so every time they run for something above local dog catcher their nerdy neo-con/neo-lib opponents (like Cheney) blackmail them into totally withdrawing from politics.

  375. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 1:49 pm #

    The financial meltdown is only tangentially related to mortgages.
    The bubble was not just increasing housing prices, it was the financial speculation on those mortgages, which grew to heights that no one seems to be able to calculate, but which is far, far above the value of those mortgages.
    Earlier I was talking about certain memes that the talking heads must recite, like the veneration of education and war.
    Housing prices are now in that category. For some reason, it is accepted newspeak now to talk about how horrible it is that housing prices are falling.
    Why? How is it in any way bad that housing prices are becoming more affordable? Except to speculators and flippers and real estate salesmen and bankers? Who are excoriated at the same time that it is assumed that we need to get back to letting them inflate another bubble.
    The cognitive dissonance is maddening.

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  376. AMR June 15, 2011 at 1:52 pm #

    Thanks for putting in a good word for me and calling bullshit on that red herring about real workers doing real work with real trucks. It’s good to have some backup in putting the kibosh on rabidly ideological trollfests.

  377. Eleuthero June 15, 2011 at 1:52 pm #

    Fabian wrote:
    I don’t give a good crap how many shirts someone has in their closet and can’t even begin to fathom why you should. You want only four or five have at it. But if all had your predetermined number, there would be a hell of a lot of more unemployed people in the shirt/pants business.
    ***************************************************
    Bah!! You’re another of these “Cornucopians”
    who think that it’s nobody ELSE’S business how
    big a pig I am. That’s absolute irrationality.
    The whole point is that we’re heading into an
    era of 9 billion people with scarcity on all
    sides … including crops, energy, and metals.
    Your idea confuses freedom with license and
    “liberty” as the “freedom” to be a bad citizen.
    Fie on you, sir!!!
    E.

  378. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 1:54 pm #

    You got that right, AMR!
    If someone has a shiny crew cab with a four foot bed, which is covered with a hood, then they have a gas-guzzling passenger vehicle, in my opinion.
    And what’s with the 6 foot beds, now standard?
    If you need a truck, I think that you need an 8 foot bed.

  379. Eleuthero June 15, 2011 at 2:00 pm #

    Your arguments sound right out of the
    Ayn Rand playbook that all “commerce”
    is good. Economic activity for the
    sake of economic activity.
    It has landed us in a country where the
    biggest industry is involved in the trading
    back-and-forth of worthless financial “chits”
    whether they be options, stocks, etc..
    You’re another one of these “extrapolators”
    that feels that if I’m in favor of SOME
    regulation I must be in favor of regulating
    what kind of tile you can have in your bathroom.
    Go back to school and learn how to debate. If
    I say that I believe sectors X and Y should be
    re-regulated it doesn’t mean I want A through
    Z regulated. I most assuredly do not.
    Guys like you see government as the prime source
    of evil. Capitalist malfeasance is the CAUSE of
    more government. The more crooked behavior, the
    more government arises … and rightly so. Even
    libertarians are for police services.
    You’re not very good at reading nuanced posts
    because you put words in people’s mouths that
    they never said. Rather intellectually light
    weight if you ask me.
    E.

  380. JonathanSS June 15, 2011 at 2:07 pm #

    We have to stick together. This troll, FNA lingling, tzatza, tootsie, etc., will probably be banned by the time you read this.
    Everybody talks about reducing oil imports but most Americans don’t want to make the sacrifices necessary. Many try to ridicule conservation/environmental talk as an infringement on freedom.

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  381. Eleuthero June 15, 2011 at 2:10 pm #

    Ctemple wrote:I disagree, I don’t blame the kids of today, I blame this bunch of ‘greatest generation’ assholes. They inherited everything, a damn good country, resources, jobs, money, and in fifty years they managed to run it right into the toilet. And they’re the same as they always were, greedy self absorbed dumbasses, with a bottomless, ceaseless sense of entitlement. They’ve lived longer than anyone in human history, and we still have to work keeping them alive until they’re 114.
    **************************************************
    My Dad is 80 and part of that generation. They
    inherited SQUAT. They “inherited” firstly the
    Great Depression. The economy never really
    recovered until 1949. Then they inherited WWII.
    They didn’t get rich on stocks and they didn’t
    feel “entitled” to anything but the sweat of
    their brow.
    The Boomers were a step DOWN from the Greatest
    Generation, the X-ers are a step down from the
    Boomers, and the Y-ers are a step down from the
    X-ers. Generation X is a generation with the
    Boomers sense of entitlement but with the spirit
    of a HUCKSTER … they want their SCAMS to produce
    wealth. At least the Boomers did a lot of wealth
    creation. Gen-Y feels entitled to the whole
    enchilada because they’re ego is five thousand
    times bigger than their accomplishments.
    I don’t think history vindicates your view that
    the WWII generation are the bloodsuckers. They
    donated blood and labor and they’re entitled to
    be PAID OFF for at least doing SOMETHING. Now,
    it’s three generations later and I don’t see
    Gen-Y making any meaningful contributions to
    culture, science, engineering, citizenship, or
    decorum. They don’t vote, they don’t read,
    and they’re public behavioral displays are like
    a giant **PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!!** sign.
    E.

  382. Eleuthero June 15, 2011 at 2:19 pm #

    I fully support your “low footprint” lifestyle
    message, Tripp. Some of the knee-jerk Repubs
    on this site probably see that as making you
    damned near a Commie.
    To me, this has NOTHING to do with political
    affiliation. Low consumption is actually a
    DATA-DRIVEN lifestyle that simply says: “I
    see the population growing and raw materials
    evaporating. Therefore, the sane thing to do
    IN ORDER TO BE A GOOD CITIZEN, is to buy what
    you need and don’t waste”.
    That’s not the “Communist Manifesto”. It’s just
    sober thinking. I don’t begrudge people their
    cellphones but, I have to concede, it doesn’t
    appear to have juiced up the social environment
    since they became ubiquitous. I’ve had one only
    since I’m 56 and it’s a nuisance as much as a
    help. Cable TV … got rid of it. It’s a
    “simulation” of “edutainment” but not the reality
    of it.
    E.

  383. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 2:22 pm #

    We used to call it “Live Simply so that others may Simply Live”.
    We hippies have been doing it for years.

  384. AMR June 15, 2011 at 2:25 pm #

    True, our propagandists and demagogues are encouraging cognitive dissonance about the housing market, at least on the part of people who haven’t yet bought into the market. There’s another problem, though. It’s very risky for politicians to question the conventional wisdom and be honest about housing because voter turnout correlates positively with age and property ownership. The people who actually vote are angry that they’re underwater on their mortgages or that they took a haircut during a speculative bubble that they weren’t expecting to pop.
    That is to say that pretty much the whole bunch is aggrieved, even though only some of them suffered genuine financial hardship as a result of housing investments. They figure that they bought tickets on the gravy train and they’re riding it, by God, even if politicians’ heads have to roll to keep it running. They’re not afraid to kill any Cassandras who piss on their parade and scapegoat hapless or principled politicians who don’t adequately shill for the fraud from which they insist on benefiting.
    Housing has been one of the main fronts of the generational war since at least 1978, when California voters passed Prop 13, beggaring their descendants in order to grandfather their own property tax rates. The level of popular complicity and participation in the national real estate fraud is stupefying. Self-dealing shysters in the real estate industry and political hucksters have corrupted a critical mass of the electorate. It’s something of a national FML, and if the younger generations try to fix the mess, the blowback may get pretty nasty.

  385. MarlinFive54 June 15, 2011 at 2:25 pm #

    Geesh, Wage, and I thought we were friends!
    PoC, I’ll keep my place up here, would like to go to Keys Jan.-May.
    Gotta get out of these winters.
    -Marlin

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  386. Qshtik June 15, 2011 at 2:41 pm #

    Oh for Pete’s sakes, Prog, you’re being punked.
    =============
    It’s sake, Wage.
    Just like it’s internet, not internets, interwebs or intertubes. There’s only one.
    “Pete’s” is possessive and what he possesses is a singular “sake.”
    Now, I have heard it said and have even said it myself (which grieves me no end) “Oh for Pete sakes” but that is wrong as hell too.
    Now that we’ve got that squared away please carry on with your endless left-wing disquisitions.

  387. Qshtik June 15, 2011 at 2:42 pm #

    Prior comment intended for Wage.

  388. wagelaborer June 15, 2011 at 3:01 pm #

    Well, how many people are we talking about here?
    People who haven’t bought a house yet benefit from lower housing prices.
    People who bought before the bubble are fine.
    People who bought during the bubble may be “underwater”, but as long as they can pay the mortgage, they will be alright.
    People who bought houses expecting to flip them can just lose the money. That’s what they get.
    Proposition 13 was passed during the California housing bubble, when houses were skyrocketing in price, while incomes remained the same. Kind of like the 00s in the rest of the country.
    People who bought houses in the 40s for $5,000 and were living on pensions were forced out of their houses when the counties announced that their houses were now worth $75,000 and their taxes were going up.
    Why are all the important services, like schools, fire and parks, for instance, funded by property taxes anyway? While our federal income taxes go to the war machine and banking bailouts?
    I am told that in Switzerland, there are no property taxes. Once you own your house, the government can’t take it.
    That makes sense to me.

  389. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 3:36 pm #

    Back to talking permaculture –
    TrippTicket said something recently to the effect that “a permaculture garden is different from a regular garden – you can just feel it…” (rough paraphrase)
    Do you think the difference could be the amount of “life” audible and visible in the two respective places, Tripp?
    I am nowhere near doing permaculture, yet – but I’ve heard enough to be intrigued and to try some experiments. And I’m working on more serious organic gardening, for the first time ever, this year.
    And, man, do I have “LIFE” in my garden. Grasshoppers almost the size of hummingbirds. Which works out OK, because the cat spends more time eating big grasshoppers than he does chasing birds. I just hope he doesn’t run into one big enough to hurt him.
    And aphids – I had enough aphids on some sugar snap beans that their shed exoskeletons turned the leaves white. Last year, I would have blasted them with Sevin dust. This year, I sprinkled curry powder on them. (I have absolutely no idea why I chose curry powder – just seemed like a good idea.) Now I’ve got fewer aphids. I don’t know where they all went, but I am seeing quite a few ladybugs.
    And Japanese beetles – I have killed, no exaggeration, 200 of these things by crushing them between my fingers. It’s the worst sort of hand to hand combat – me against them.
    I finally gave up and called in an air strike – except I didn’t nape’ the bastards, I Sevin’ed them – on one stand of grape vines. All quiet there, 100’s of Japanese beetle men, women, and children gone in a quick antiseptic surgical-type strike. Yeah – the Air Force is the best branch of the service for staying above the fray too,, Marc.
    But on another stand of grapevines in a different area – I see this intimidating looking black beetle with a orange fringe – and the beetle is actually CHEWING OFF THE HEAD of a Japanese beetle.
    An ally! I don’t know where that beetle came from, but I’ll take all the help I can get.
    Plus, I’m out of Sevin.

  390. digbycookies June 15, 2011 at 3:47 pm #

    Had to chuckle a bit when I heard on the news that the “disappointing” economic numbers from May had a lot to do with the Midwest floods and the slow down in manufacturing due to the incident in Fukishima (parts for autos aren’t being turned out due to the “temporary” factory shut downs). Just learned today that microscopic, hot particles still being released into the air are lodging inside people’s lungs within a 240 mile radius of the reactors.
    Those particles can be cancerous if the body is unable to successfully fight them off. Aparently these particles like to lodge themselves into soft tissues.
    Getting back to the shut down auto factories, the air filters inside of the Japanese cars are also attractive to these hot particles. You may want to rethink your next Honda purchase or at least wear a lead suit if you plan on changing your own air filter. (or advise your mechanic, accordingly)

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  391. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 3:51 pm #

    Someone early this week or late last week mentioned how often people these days leave their cars idling when they go in the store, or whatever.
    And a couple of posters went with the usual CFN explanation of laziness, cultural decline, and Cheeze Doodles – as an explanation.
    And there may be some validity to that, but here are a couple of other ideas.
    1. Cars are so big – and AC units are sized for efficient cooling “on the road” so it may take longer to cool the passenger compartment than it used to – eh, maybe? Who knows.
    This one’s better:
    2. Because of hotter ignition systems and fuel injection, cars idle a whole lot better than they used to. 1980’s and back, if you left a car idling for more than 10 minutes the plugs would start to foul. If you did that very often, you’d be buying a tune-up.
    That’s no longer true. I think modern cars will idle for hours with no harm to the car.
    Those who think better and better technology will save humanity – can ponder all this.

  392. Qshtik June 15, 2011 at 3:57 pm #

    Oh for fuck’s sake.
    ============
    So you see Wage, we’ve got:
    Heaven’s sake
    Christ’s sake
    Pete’s sake
    and now fuck’s sake
    “Sake” is always singular.

  393. digbycookies June 15, 2011 at 3:59 pm #

    Meanwhile in Greece, thousands of citizens are protesting in a central square in Athens. Tear gas is being used on them, yet still the Greeks don’t back down. It’s nice to see people with some gonads fight back after taking it up the ass so long. I wonder if Americans will ever collectively grow a pair and fight back against this horse manure.

  394. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 4:05 pm #

    OK, then –
    Explain “sakes alive.”
    http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/sakes

  395. welles June 15, 2011 at 4:09 pm #

    cash, the difference is you could literally have made tens of millions by going short, and saved six generations from having to work.
    the level of financial illiteracy in the US is so bad that folks don’t even KNOW you can make money when the market goes down.
    that knowledge should be the STARTING point when investing….you can make money if the market goes UP OR DOWN.
    …as elementary as breathing in and out.
    Secondly, you could also ask your financial ‘advisor’ about gold.
    gold is ONLY in a picture-perfect 10+ year bull market yet is poopoohed by ‘advisors’, the VAST majority of which aren’t qualified to be assshiners, financial or otherwise.
    i worked for 15 years in mutual funds, i used to go baaack and fooorrrth with the company bigwigs via email….”why don’t you let investors know they can make money when the market goes down?”
    “ah, we need to be positive” was the reply.
    401k’s are about the WORST way to ‘invest’, except for the free employer match, which is the nobrainer part.
    financial industry is ONLY ‘concerned’ for you as far as your commissions go…
    adieu friends & óvinir

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  396. Qshtik June 15, 2011 at 4:10 pm #

    “Sake” is always singular.
    =============
    I take it back. I just remembered the exclamation “sakes alive.”

  397. LewisLucanBooks June 15, 2011 at 4:22 pm #

    idling cars – Or, they’re beaters and if you turn them off, you can’t get them started again. Over the course of my life, that is the reason for many idling cars.
    Most recent example: the woman who delivers my newspaper. If she shuts off her car, it might not start again. Then she has to call her son, to get a jump while all the old folks on her route (who apparently live ONLY for the newspaper) call her boss and complain that they didn’t get their paper. She’s waiting for her next paycheck to see if a mechanic can run down the problem.
    While we’re on the idle topic (and, isn’t it an idle topic) I’ve never had much experience with diesel engines. Many times, some old cowboy will pull to the curb in the front of my store (different cowboys, different trucks. All different weather and temperature) and sit there for a good long time with the motor idling, before shutting it down. Repeat when they leave. Get in the truck, fire it up, and let it idle for a good long time before leaving the curb. The damn things are loud and they stink.

  398. Qshtik June 15, 2011 at 4:25 pm #

    It’s nice to see people with some gonads fight back after taking it up the ass so long.
    ==============
    Dig, how can you possibly say these people have been “taking it up the ass?” “Greece” is the result of big socialist government. That is what happens eventually. The chickens come home to roost. Suddenly they discover they can’t take a lucrative retirement as soon as they finish grammar school. OK, I exaggerate a little.

  399. Bustin J June 15, 2011 at 4:27 pm #

    “People that believe GW will result in more fruit and sunnier weather are imbecilic.”
    Fabian cried, “Hardly, fucktard. They can easily point to regions
    GW assholes, think there is something unique going on. There is not.”
    Take a look at the global mean CO2 concentration plotted over several million years and then explain what is routine about the spike since the 1900s. There is nothing routine about this spike, and there is nothing routine about changing weather patterns, and nothing routine about the increasingly severe threats to the global food production machine. This is a crisis of the absolute first order.
    Before I became a GW asshole, I was a lowly dirt farmer. You simply don’t know how things really work.
    In your alternative reality, weather is just something that changes, and whose effects are innocuous. That smacks to me of someone who doesn’t earn a living by the weather, or at least one whose living is buffered by subsidy or some insurance against the effects of said weather.
    The climate is nothing but a gigantic system, that can be (and is) being analyzed by powerful machines and talented people, and when they say the temperature’s going to rise, only a fool would disbelieve it.
    Fabian’s little ditty:
    “The weather always has and PROBABLY always will change. “But its happening during MY lifetime” the little GW babies cry. Tuff fucking titty. Live with it. Or fucking don’t. Your ancestors did. Are that big of a pussy?”
    The nearest apocalyptic event, close to what a GW scenario predicts, would be survivable if we modern humans had the kinds of skillset and traits our “anscestors” had who lived through those kind of keyholes. Here is the skillset:
    1. An ability to tunnel underground
    2. Immunity to parasitic worms
    3. A taste for insects and raw roots
    4. A lower basal metabolic rate
    5. Fur
    Gee, I don’t think any modern humans have or are likely to obtain this essential skillset allowing people (even remotely) like us to continue living through this bottleneck. Perhaps we should, like, stop Global Warming? I know, its heretical. Its insane. Its also noble, wise, equitable, all the highest reflections of human culture.
    The lowest, basest, stupidest response humanity could have is to ignore, not adapt, not react, not deintensify the economy, to ignore ecological primacy, and so on… the level of thought that comes out of Economic Think Tanks and proffered by people who sleep, eat, and shit hot dogs all day in glass towers.
    I don’t think the wrong approach to climate change will forever survive as an option within the community of intelligent actors on a global scale. Sooner or later there will be economic or physical levers to force first-worlders to ecological modes of behavior. There may be a shooting war over the environment, directly. Before then there will be shooting wars, about the environment, indirectly.

  400. bubbleheadMarc June 15, 2011 at 4:32 pm #

    The connection is that when the former chancellor of the NY city public schools invokes the prepare the kiddies for winning at globalization meme HE is invoking the lame growth paradigm which you claim is now outmoded, as of course it is. In reality there is not going to be any growth, globalization is in hospice care at this point, and we can all stop getting as overeducated as possible while borrowing more money to do so. These things are all connected and when people prattle on about more education, more this, more that it reveals that they’re totally unaware of the new reality of contraction and are still fighting the last war, which was globalization.

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  401. Bustin J June 15, 2011 at 4:35 pm #

    Wage quoted the philosopher Fred Engels: “Let us not . . . flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human conquest over nature. For each such conquest takes its revenge on us. . . . At every step we are reminded that we by no means rule over nature like a conqueror over a foreign people, like someone standing outside of nature–but that we, with flesh, blood, and brain, belong to nature, and exist in its midst. . . .” (1876)
    Its interesting, there was no farmer that wasn’t an Organic farmer before early 20th century, and there was a kind of humility that rose from the pages of books in those days.
    Today, we take for granted things like food and energy, fuel, and electricity.
    I think a good way to stop climate change / GW disaster would be to limit markets, corporations, resource extraction, economies, and so forth. We do this every day in many ways we would see as common sense. What is required is a broadening of common sense, and a lowering of expectations, and an unflinching look at the kinds of sacrifices that need to be made, by which people, and specify a rationale for each and every article of self-restraint.

  402. bubbleheadMarc June 15, 2011 at 4:48 pm #

    Yeah, it’s definitely pretty much everything you know is a lie. Kind of like blaming the production line workers for the failure of the American automotive industry when they clearly didn’t design the pieces of shit they were asked to bolt together.
    To me the absurdity of the “education” obsession can be traced back to the unpleasant reality that business doesn’t want to have to pay to do any inhouse training so they put that off on the educational system. In reality it is the job of the educational system to make people teachable, not to actually teach them their ultimate occupation. It is the responsibility of the employer to train their own hirelings to their own requirements, but only the military still operates like that. Which of course is why so many blue collar workers have been economically shanghaied into the armed forces.
    In point of fact the powers that be don’t really want us to be well educated in any sort of liberal sense because that would only make us oppose their mendacious bullshit more effectively.

  403. Qshtik June 15, 2011 at 4:50 pm #

    Which is a fuckup on your part. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t give a shit but you take so much time pointing out the mistakes of others that I couldn’t resist. Having said that, why not quit being the spelling/grammer-fucking-nanny, for a period of…let’s say…forever. Why? Because you constantly prove yourself to be something quite short of perfect. As such, you should STFU, once and for all, regarding the mistakes of others.

    =============
    Tootsie, I’ll bet you proofread the above paragraph 5 times just to make sure you didn’t fuck up. Well, you fucked up anyway. It’s grammar. But anyway, I really appreciate the effort you put into it. Tee hee hee

  404. digbycookies June 15, 2011 at 5:14 pm #

    Placing aside for the moment the Greek welfare state, the fact is that the Greek government lied to the EU about how financially solvent they were in order to get into the EU. As you put it, the chickens come home to roost. But the Greek people are being forced to pay egregious amounts of bailout money to the ECB, kind of like a bottomless pit. It was the leaders of Greece who did the lying, and now the populace is being forced into austerity measures.
    Now, I won’t disagree with you that retirement at 45 is more than a bit silly or a god-given right. But the fact of the matter is that it was the government leaders who put Greece in the spot they are now.
    When “W”, and then later Obama pulled the “Too big to fail” crap, I was and continue to be outraged. Jesus, I remember fighting with my old man when Chrysler got bailed out in l980. His argument was the same – basically that letting Chrysler go bankrupt would destroy competition in the U.S. car industry. Toyota was more than happy to step up to the plate, as well as Honda and a few others. If America is really about competition, then making crappy cars SHOULD put you out of business.
    IMO, America got a much needed bitch slap in the ’70s. Behemoth cars that broke down – a lot! Jesus, you’d have thought that the “Big Three” would have learned their lessons back in the late 1950s, when “winners” like the Edsel rolled off the assembly line. Big cars, rotten gas mileage. They got their asses kicked by Renault, Volkswagen, Toyota, etc. Consequently, in 1960, Detroit got its act together and again started to make cars that people wanted (compacts like the Falcon, Chevy II, and Corvair, okay, scratch that last one!:)
    I still think all businesses should be allowed to fail. We tend to learn things when we fail. Things like what happens when you build crappy cars no one wants to buy. In business, if you build a product that nobody wants, guess what happens? Customers stop showing up at your door. Yet we still have this feeling that government is “Big Daddy”, and whenever bad decisions (or criminal ones) are made, “Big Daddy” will just whip out the old check book and make everything alright again. Sorry, but not on my dime! And this, more than anything else, is why the Greeks are so pissed off.
    I don’t think they’re going to have to worry too much about retiring at 45 anymore. In order to retire you first have to have a job – and there ain’t none.

  405. progressorconserve June 15, 2011 at 6:04 pm #

    Yeah, idling beater cars –
    My wife’s last school was in what is euphemistically known as “an area of lowering demographics.” I dropped by to see her one day at lunch and I’m cutting up with the secretary when I see a self-contained battery jump box on the floor.
    “What’s that for – in case the teachers run down and can’t get started around here,” I ask.
    “No”, she sadly explains, “Several times a week we’ll have parent’s cars out in the parking lot that won’t start after they shut them off. If we don’t get the custodian or somebody to jump start them, they’ll stay here the rest of the day waiting on someone to come get them.”

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  406. lbendet June 15, 2011 at 6:23 pm #

    OK, I get what you’re saying.
    There is the illusion that we are gearing up for something that will require something far more sophisticated and advanced than producing real things. You’ve got to go back to school to earn a degree and borrow money from the banks and pay the big money to the universities. It’s a post industrial economy now and we’ll all be innovators. Of course.
    I’ve said before you innovate where things are being produced. I also believe it’s another debt peonage-maker for the banks. Don’t forget that they changed the bannkruptsy laws around 2005. You need to take out loans to become an engineer, but the engineers in India don’t have the big debts and require less pay, so who do you think is getting hired?
    This meme that you describe is just a way of staving off people freaking out when they can’t find work.
    I mentioned 2 weeks ago that I met an industrial designer/engineer where I was working on a project. He said he had an engineering degree from Columbia U., but had to go to Stanford as he could not find work. Three years after that he’s working. Glad he could wait!

  407. asia June 15, 2011 at 6:28 pm #

    Now theres controversy over an ad…
    ‘Hahn received an endorsement Monday from former President Bill Clinton, who cast Hahn as the answer to “right-wing extremism.”‘
    Hahaha…Clinton chastises ‘extremism’

  408. asia June 15, 2011 at 6:32 pm #

    Greece, where 1 in 3? works for the government?

  409. digbycookies June 15, 2011 at 6:35 pm #

    I just can’t do the math. How can a young person fresh out of college expect to have a middle class lifestyle if they have $50k in student debt (non-dischargable). Even an engineering degree would require a near six figure income if one expects to purchase a moderately priced home ($150K). Add in a wife and a kid or two, and you’re looking at some real debt. I just don’t see the housing market coming out too well in the next 20 or 30 years. Prices are going to have to come down – drastically.

  410. asia June 15, 2011 at 6:38 pm #

    Joel Klein and Joel Stein write for Newsweek, etc..
    Need I say more?
    Stein wrote a piece mocking Tancredo and his
    ‘xenophobia’.

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  411. trippticket June 15, 2011 at 7:02 pm #

    I can tell you that the issue of water supply is warming up down here in Dixie with this drought on (and it isn’t nearly the first drought here in the last decade). I’m seeing mature trees shriveling up, and hearing rumors of wells in the area going dry. My rancher neighbor is doing his damndest to pump his share and the shares of about 50 other people just to make sure the stupid fucking watermelons get to market. Could we not adapt to life without $3 supermarket watermelons?
    Meanwhile loads of local folks are still working hard to keep their worthless, resource-guzzling lawns green and plush through the long months of bone dry suffocation. I spent my professional career as a watershed biologist in the water management supply division of a big water management district in Florida, so I have some sense of water issues at very least. When we started talking about desalination a decade ago in east central Florida, we thought that would be enough to get people thinking about some of the dumb ways they use water, and perhaps effect some realistic changes in wasteful patterns of use. Nada. Eeew, desal, that sounds cool.
    Never mind the saltwater intrusions into the coastal aquifers, or the need to establish minimum flows and levels on the state’s waterways. We may be the only country in history forced by lobbyists to keep water dirt cheap until the very last drop is gone. Tell me how that constitutes a free market. If the markets were free, water would be prohibitively expensive for all but the most important tasks. And we would all have graywater systems, and roof catchment, composting toilets, 1/2 cup toothbrushings, and 5 gallon showers once a week. We would get 3 or 4 uses out of every molecule before carefully returning it to the soil at night for filtration on its way back to the aquifer.
    None of these things are being done in any way approaching a critical mass. The paucity of folks even aware that there is a life-threatening issue en route to a theater near them is mind-blowing. This isn’t a debate about whether 1.6 gallons of water is enough to get the job done after your morning joe, this is about regional survival. And too many people are asleep at the wheel.
    Fuck global warming. It will never really matter because we’ll all be pushing up shriveled daisies in group dehydration therapy long before GW is ever a real issue. The next county to the east of us, on the same bloody aquifer, is openly courting water-intensive industry, a new coal plant in particular, to boost its local economy, at the same time the town south of us is losing contact with the aquifer below it altogether! Are we absolutely fucking insane????
    I think the main point of my little rant here is that I’m goddam tired of seeing the debate about GW, and peak oil, and who’s political fault all of this is. There are more dire issues at hand than we can shake a stick at, and all I see is blame and hand-wringing. (Not from you so much as your opposition). If we’re not completely suicidal we better, every damn one of us, get really busy cutting our impacts in every way we can manage. I don’t understand why everyone thinks that assigning blame, and denying dire issues, is going to solve anything.
    It’s 100 degrees here in south Georgia right now as the blistering sun drops down over the parched fields with no sign of the hoped-for thunderstorm. Sometimes I think they just predict them to keep everyone’s spirits up. Well my spirits are down today, not just because of the never-ending drought that chokes our breath and the life support system I’m trying desperately to establish in the backyard, but because I see so many people, who are supposedly so well-informed about the problems we face, sitting around denying, obfuscating, and blaming every damn person they can find to blame but themselves.
    Hey assholes! Turn the television off, go outside, and try to help us out of this mess. Or do us all a favor and just knock your lousy self in the head with a shovel so there’s one less mouth, and one less asshole, to poison the planet. But for god’s sake, please stop talking about how this politician or that statesman is going to do anything different than his or her predecessor. This is a lot more desperate than you think.

  412. digbycookies June 15, 2011 at 7:30 pm #

    What’s particulaly insane is the high amounts of water needed for fracking. Our community experienced such a severe drought just a few years ago there was actual serious talk about EVACUATING the county! Lo and behold, just yesterday I see a business watering the front lawn with its sprinkling system on for three hours starting at high noon.

  413. bubbleheadMarc June 15, 2011 at 7:53 pm #

    Based upon my eight years in heavy industry I’ve observed that it is not the fault of the workers if they are improperly deployed by management or if their particular division is overstaffed. And they are definitely not to blame for crappy design work coming down from engineering.
    The wage demands of industrial workers are seen as being “crippling” primarily in light of the current mania for offshoring production with the expectation that such products obtained therein are to be reimported to the company of origin’s home country duty free from low wage countries where labor can more easily be exploited. If duty were still being charged on such products they would no longer be competitive and the wages paid in the home country would not seem ruinously expensive.
    In point of fact the overhwelming majority of workers hired today are expected to have gotten their ratings or initial trades experience somewhere else as should be evident when “only experienced need apply”. Brief periods of orientation for new hires are not tantamount to apprenticeships in which the company itself actually trained its own workers such as the military still does.
    In the merchant fleet no ordinary seamen are hired as full time deck seamen anymore. On most freighters the only real untrained ordinary seaman is the food handler who washes the dishes. The rest of the crew was eligible for hire only because either they earned their ratings in the navy or else they attended a state nautical academy at their own expense. The company typically does little or no training other than mandatory coast guard lifeboat drills or poison gas antidote training if the vessel is sailing to a combat zone to deliver ammunition to the army. Some training programs are provided by the union paid through subsidies from the maritime administration.
    You can vent and rail or whatever you wish but I’m not convinced that you know what you’re talking about.

  414. xhalor June 15, 2011 at 7:55 pm #

    hey. You wanna hear some guys that can sing? I mean…really sing? I’m talkin’ warm up the amps, turn on the mics,
    grab your guitars and drumsticks and walk out on stage? Oh, and by the way, you have NO technology to hide behind
    and ALL of your mistakes WILL be amplified. Please notice the On-Cue Screeching. Marketing In Action.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfHpcixeXDY&NR=1
    Dennis – RIP
    Carl – RIP
    Brian – WTF? You’re still alive?
    Mike & Bruce – get a fuckin’ job
    Al – beats workin’
    Glen Campbell (not in video) – Ain’t it about time for another good DWI shot? C’mon Glen! Don’t be such a nudge!
    That didn’t get it? Fine!
    Go here then why ‘doncha? ….swarthy heathens.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUcS_FTY9C4&playnext=1&list=PL312E32F7832659A9
    hmm…you see what them drugs will do to ya now, boy.
    I just loves American Music. All of it.
    That means you, Sousa.
    Don’t you run from me.
    Louis Armstrong would kick my ass if he knew that I was doin’ this.
    Respectfully Yours,
    Leonard Feather

  415. bubbleheadMarc June 15, 2011 at 8:06 pm #

    My reference was “oblique” or indirect as I said so I was also stretching to fit in the stuff about the NY city schools. The comments from the former chancellor struck me as being a bunch of cheerleading for the naive faith that the bubble economy can be kept going forever.
    Also, in spite of what Fabian believes, many or even most of the people paying good money they don’t really have to get advance schooling are going to find themselves back at square one at some later date being rejected for hire because they lack experience and of course schooling is not experience. Nobody wants to be the company that hired you first because then you’re gonig to be more likely to jump to the highest bidder once you are experienced, and that’s if you’re not so flaky that you quit the first time your supervisor manages to piss you off. Unless the schooling actually produces a trades or professional license where there is no doubt whatever that you could be fitted in to an appropriate slot chances are you’re going to be out of luck if someone needs to get creative or gutsy in order to hire you.
    The real skill that might benefit more people would be the ability to homestead and adapt successfully to greatly reduced circumstances. Because you guessed it, our circumstances are being greatly reduced even as we sit here typing out our thoughts, which in my case at least are admittedly more bullshit some times than anything I could actually prove.

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  416. ctemple June 15, 2011 at 8:58 pm #

    I have pretty good hopes that a fair amount of this country can be saved, despite the best efforts of left wing idiots to turn it into a third world gabage dump.

  417. asia June 15, 2011 at 9:11 pm #

    Hope..you sound like Barak Hussein!

  418. trippticket June 15, 2011 at 9:14 pm #

    That is absolute insanity, and should constitute a criminal offense. To show how far we have to go, I was at lunch yesterday with the rest of the team that’s doing the landscape for the zero energy model home here in our little town, and I mentioned that watering a lawn is immoral and paramount to reckless endangerment of your friends and neighbors. Don’t think I made any friends with that statement. Just a table full of blank stares. How could you utter such dour ideas!! Never mind, I thought we were here to build an educational model for the future…

  419. lbendet June 15, 2011 at 9:34 pm #

    Trip,
    When I first discovered the website for the Post Carbon Institute a few years ago they had a number of videos Richard Heinberg put together which you could watch that covered various aspects of what we are facing as the carbon based energy declines.
    The one that stood out for me was a woman, I believe biologist who talked about how we just can’t discern the danger that we could be facing in abstract terms.
    That might explain why you got blank stares when you made your comment about watering lawns. Those people don’t know what you are getting even though they are working on this project with you.

  420. bubbleheadMarc June 15, 2011 at 10:03 pm #

    Good for you. Fact is grass lawns were the norm in England but aren’t native to many or most areas in the USA which is why they need so much coddling in terms of irrigation and chemical applications, all of which run into Lake Erie, at least here, then contribute to massive algae blooms in the shallow western basin of the lake, since the temperature goes up to 72 degrees F in the late summer.

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  421. SNAFU June 15, 2011 at 10:35 pm #

    Howdy BHM, Per your comment: “Mare Island Naval Shipyard is where the USS Guitarro sank at the dock purely owing to human error so I hope that you weren’t around to get blamed for that one. I was in the yard in Kittery, ME and detested every minute of it.”
    Yup she sunk almost directly abeam to the building I worked in. I was given the blow by blow as to the goings on shortly after I hired on. Seems the Nuc boys were flushing the reactors and the Nav boys were aligning the INS and never the twain should speak to each other. As the Nuc boys pumped the demineralized water on and off the Nav boys kept leveling the Sub by venting the ballast tanks thus lowering her deeper and deeper into the water until water started pouring through the hatches which were unable to be closed because of the cabling strung though them. No deaths aboard ship however; as the investigation played out a couple of civilian management types did off themselves; so I was told.
    Interesting that you found shipyard duty detestable as did I. I had resigned my commission as a Mustang USAF CPTN (Navy equivalent to a LT) although; the USAF did/does not use the Mustang terminology as they did/do in the Navy. In 74 the economy was somewhat in the shitter, similarly to now, so I could not be too picky about my employment opportunities. However; within about a month I asked my immediate supervisor (he had been working there for 25+ years) how the hell he stood it and told him it was the worst job I had ever had and that included a stint in Viet Nam. I started in July 74 quit in Jan 75, started grad school in Feb 75.
    SNAFU

  422. SNAFU June 15, 2011 at 11:02 pm #

    Howdy Progressor, Correct you are: “But seriously folks – I’m guessing that SNAFU is making the point that sexual gratification leads to babies.”
    I think your Similac and Trojan pack should probably have included “heat” rather than a stick. 🙂
    Additionally I was intimating that we and perhaps the Bonobo have sex more frequently than nearly all other wild animals thereby far and away increasing the likelihood that we will have many offspring. Unfortunately the prevalence of too many human offspring surviving childhood is adversely affecting the Earth with far too many of we human cockroaches consuming it.
    SNAFU

  423. SNAFU June 15, 2011 at 11:11 pm #

    Howdy BB, “Snaf, very interesting theory you got. Except we didn’t breed out aggressiveness, I think. If we’ve really done that, I’d have hated to live in the era when humans were that much more aggressive than they are now.”
    If the bible is a collection of stories by the local yokels of the time would you not find them pretty damn aggressive? How about Europe a 1000 years ago, Amurica 500, 300, 100 years ago?
    SNAFU

  424. Eleuthero June 16, 2011 at 5:11 am #

    Fabian said:
    Can’t do it can you, fucktard?
    **************************************************
    Since “fucktard” is your label for everyone,
    I’m going to start the movement called “DO
    NOT RESPOND TO FABIAN”. You’re childish
    and, yes, your arguments put words in people’s
    mouth such as your obnoxious screed where you
    claimed that I want to sick the “shirt police”
    on people.
    People like you that are so full of extremely
    venomous hatred where you fancy you’re some
    sort of Nietzschean Ubermenschen and those
    who disagree with you are “fucktards” or
    “ass hats”, you should get the full Amish
    treatment … SHUNNING.
    So go ahead and throw turds in your little
    sandbox. Trolls like you would never survive
    for a week on a moderated bulletin board and
    you only demonstrate that the “democracy” of
    the Internet proves that de Tocqueville was
    right i.e., democracy results in a lowering
    to the common denominator. It fails because
    its constituents aren’t at the right level.
    Until you demonstrate the ability to act above
    the level of a grade school kid all puffed up
    because he can say a cuss word at someone without
    consequences, I shall say nary ONE word to you.
    You aren’t worth a nanosecond of anyone’s time.
    E.

  425. bubbleheadMarc June 16, 2011 at 8:02 am #

    SNAFU is a cool name. Another acronym I like is FUBAR. I got an appoitment to OCS but took one look at the setup there at Newport, RI and dropped immediately to return to the fleet & finish my enlistment. My second sub went into Portsmouth naval shipyard in Kittery and once in drydock the crew had virtually nothing to do so everyone started going nuts drinking and getting high.
    This one asshole would smoke pot in the guard shack atop the drydock basin then would take the magazine out of his .45 1911 automatic and stick it in his mouth and simulate blowing his head off. This was somewhat disturbing as someone in our squadron HAD actually blown the top of his head off while standing topside deck watch next to the tender in New London, CT.. This same imbecile would point his sidearm at the roving sentry pretending to shoot you! Needless to say pissed off people starting complaining to naval intelligence about this sort of crap and pretty soon one morning at quarters for muster an air force bus pulled up with the air police and their drug sniffing German Shepherds who walked amongst the ranks sniffing everone’s dungarees including both chiefs and officers, everyone at parade rest on the pier next to our two barges floating in the Piscataqua River. Once inspected you were dismissed immediately so the navops people were congregating in the electronics shack on the barge to listen to a Grateful Dead tape [Busted Down on Bourbon Street] and laugh heartlesslyh at the mental midgets who were “carrying” on base on duty without a care in the world. They got nine guys who were all transferred to surface craft.
    I hated that sub so much that I refused to requalify submarines and put in a chit declaring that I was no longer a volunteer for sub duty. My chit was ignored so after I got a navy doctor to write “remove from submarines” in my medical file I did lodge a formal complaint to the civilian agents at NCIS that this was being ignored by the captain. We had other irritants there as well such as some pinhead who was making obscene phone calls to the lifer’s wives when they were on duty and the wives were presumably home alone. Since I was an attitude case for having refused a commission they finally just let me go a few months early.
    When I got home my sister was dating a neighbor who went to Annapolis and he told me “you should’ve become an officer”. My reaction was something like “stick it up your ass skimmer-puke!” This same guy and I both tried shipping on the lakes at the same time then. The funniest thing was that he flunked the Able Seaman exam on his first attempt. Hilarious. Of course I only passed with the minimum score even if I speed read the test and finished a half hour ahead of anyone else.
    Portsmouth is where Jack Nicholson takes his prisoner in the hysterically funny tragicomic “The Last Detail”. In the novel the movie was based upon Nicholson’s character was far more intelligent but also emotionally disturbed and then ended up dead, beaten to death by the shore patrol himself after ditching his weapon in a mailbox and going on a drinking bender with the other brig-chaser, the black gunner’s mate Mulhall. I think these guys were disturbed from being in Vietnam. The funniest scene in the movie was when they partied with a bunch of hippies and were sitting there in a crash pad smoking doobies in their dress blue crackerjacks fitting right in with the civilian scumbags circa 1972. This reminded me of how during the Vietnam era the only servicemen you’d see at rock concerts in uniform were sailors, usually with their beehive hairdo dates partying with the hippies. If they’d been soldiers people wouldn’ve been spitting on them but then of course probably getting their asses kicked as well.

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  426. progressorconserve June 16, 2011 at 8:31 am #

    You tell good stories, Marc. Keep it up, would you?
    I’m a few years younger than you and I’ve been wondering my whole life – “What the hell happened?”
    All that drug use and then the overreaction to all that drug use by the government – is part of the answer.
    I do want to ask in reference to:
    “If they’d been soldiers people wouldn’ve been spitting on them but then of course probably getting their asses kicked as well.” -bhm-
    Maybe it’s ’cause I was in the South, but I never heard of a solder in uniform being spit on or seriously disrespected – except on TV or Life Magazine. I’ve always had a notion that this was a media creation or archetype, of sorts – –
    Of course Jane Fonda in her stupidest act ever – in that AA battery in Hanoi – added to it, along with lots of other individual acts. But the key word is individual, here.
    So today it’s become almost impossible to challenge anything our military does – or is commanded to do – without some nitwit yelling,”You don’t support the troops!!”
    So, what do you think?

  427. progressorconserve June 16, 2011 at 8:56 am #

    consider human aggression in “….Europe a 1000 years ago, Amurica 500, 300, 100 years ago?”
    -snafu-
    SNAFU, I’ll agree with you that humans have likely become less individually aggressive over a long time scale. I could argue that we make up for that by collective aggression – WWI, WWII, etc.
    But then I look at Vancouver BC last night – and think that individual aggression is still with us as well. All we need is for food or water to run short, or the power to go out –
    Or for “our” team to lose the Stanley Cup –

  428. trippticket June 16, 2011 at 9:24 am #

    I’m already all in on that one, E. What a vile realationship to the world!

  429. SNAFU June 16, 2011 at 9:32 am #

    Howdy Progressor, “I could argue that we make up for that by collective aggression – WWI, WWII, etc.”
    Perhaps war is just a more exotic game for we children to play. One wherein the ultimate bets are laid down and collected upon.
    SNAFU

  430. MarlinFive54 June 16, 2011 at 9:35 am #

    I concur with PoC, BBHMarc, pretty good sea stories there, better than most.
    You must have paid a lot more attention to those around you and the Navy itself than I did. I just remember everyone having a pretty good time cruising around the Carib., SAtlantic and Gulf of Mexico, no suicides, no fights or people getting thrown overboard, not much drug abuse. I thought the Officers, specially Ensigns & JGs, pretty cool guys, intelligent and very competent. I guess I was lucky as to the ships I was on.
    Wage, I need to drive to Illinois and give you a big kiss, allay some of those hard feelings you have against me.
    -Marlin

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  431. MarlinFive54 June 16, 2011 at 9:37 am #

    Oh yeah, BBHMarc, I was a QM3. What was your rate?
    -Marlin

  432. welles June 16, 2011 at 9:50 am #

    haha trippy, you and me are on the same w~length, i’ve been railing about the lawn-watering ignoramuses for many moons, gotta be THE dummist & wastefool activity.
    that and bagging and hauling leaves by truck, hahah, NEVER have i seen such nonsensicality. leaves should be left/chopped/pulverized in situ to build up/enrich the soil.
    i think few things epitomyze the stupidity of americans more than the exec you see in his yard on the weekend going after daisies with a hand trowel et al, gotta make sure his golf-course yard is perfect doncha know. fucking maddening. LEAVE THE FUCKING YARD GROW NATURALLY & STOP POISONING EVERYONE’S FUCKING WATER WITH PESTICIDES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    /rant off

  433. lbendet June 16, 2011 at 10:07 am #

    So, speaking of violence:
    Let’s see, we have rioting in Greece. You can check out Max Keiser’s site to see him looking out on Syntagma Square from his hotel window and newer videos of social unrest appearing today.
    And what happened in Canada is alarming over hockey. I understand there were stabbings as well as rioting—and that’s over hockey, you guys. What happens when people start feeling real pain?
    Which brings me to my point. We keep saying people are too complacent and are not getting angry enough here. That’s because they’re still comfortable.
    Read “Lord of the Flies” again…My dad once said to me that civilization is a thin veneer in our consciousness. What would unleash our animal spirits? (and I don’t mean in the economics speculation sort of way.) How much pain and frustration over a system that is no longer trusted by the populous would it take to get people angry enough to take to the streets.
    Here’s the point, when people have much there’s no desire to rock the boat. We have been in relative comfort for decades and now we’re losing ground and it could excelerate–so what happens then?
    I think it’s obvious that over the last 10,0000 years we have not evolved into a new more enlightened creature, we have certainly socially and politically evolved, but that looks like it’s sliding backwards, thanks to those who are playing the zero sum game with us.
    At this point in time, we are witnessing devolution in our national make-up in every area, so don’t bet on our being somehow less violent–you ain’t seen nothing yet.
    “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose…”(Dylan,Like a Rolling Stone)

  434. bubbleheadMarc June 16, 2011 at 10:39 am #

    At time of discharge also QM3. Small world. I made QM2 then was appointed midshipman but decided to not participate at Newport and reverted to QM2 then right before I got out I got captain’s mast for punching someone and went back to third class. If I’d been in surface craft like you I probably wouldn’ve kept reenlisting after brief periods outside like so many do, but there was no way I was willing to reenlist for sub duty. Nuclear submarines are just too boring because they’re always submerged, often for ten weeks at a time. I like the junior officers and even the senior officers on my first boat the Ethan Allen class SSBN. The Sturgeon class SSN on the east coast was a disaster. Probably would’ve been better if we’d been deployed on a Med. run or something. Never went on ice ops up north. Went to the far east on one occasion to Chinhae, South Korea.

  435. MarlinFive54 June 16, 2011 at 10:40 am #

    Ibendet, actually crime is down, including violent crime.
    I think you can attribute events in Vancouver last nite simply to teed off hockey fans, all beered up!
    Isn’t even NYC pretty safe, compared, to say, the late 1970’s?
    I’ve been seeing many, many stories and articles in the past several weeks about the world oil situation and peak oil, in WSJ and Financial Times (American Edition), saying what JHK and Matt Simmons were saying 5 years ago. The other night on Fox Business the former CEO of Shell claimed SArabia is maxxed out, way past peak, and expect $5 per gallon gasoline PLUS shortages by end of summer. Won’t that be a shock to everybody who doesn’t pay attention!
    -Marlin

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  436. bubbleheadMarc June 16, 2011 at 10:41 am #

    CORRECTION TO ABOVE: change wouldn’ve to “would’ve”

  437. spider9629 June 16, 2011 at 10:43 am #

    Kill Meaning
    From:
    http://www.brainmeta.com/
    “This is what BrainMeta seeks to communicate to others, so that they may open their eyes to this fact, so that they may go on to create something more than what is, and to instill the world with new and greater meaning.”
    Right on, the exact opposite of what I want! We must create something less than “what is”, something much less, if “what is” is zero, we must create minus 10, or minus infinity, and so on. We must instill the world with older and lesser meanings, much less meanings, same story, less than zero, minus infinity. We must kill every possible meaning, kill every possible deepness of the world, even death, even nothing at all is way too much, is infinitely too much, we must have ever more emptiness, an ever increasing void, nothing at all, even nothing and absolute static death is infinity compared to what should be!
    We must always want the opposite of what we want, we must deny and kill our free will always, if you are going in direction A, go immediately in the opposite direction, contradict yourself, but to do this you need a minimum of time to perceive the target and direction, but as soon as you perceive it, kill it and deny it, then you go back and forth, towards the limit of an infinite frequency, and in fact gamma rays are will powers constantly denying themselves. It is so easy to just always do the opposite of what you want, always want the opposite of what you want, go on, contradict yourself bluntly, you can do it, actually don’t do it (funny how everything is so easy with words and thoughts and concepts, they are so light weight, just like our mind and consciousness and judgments and thought, and the connection of this to feelings and emotions, is so light and invisible they almost don’t exist, so light that you can make it do anything, even contradict itself wildly, it is all ok, it all makes sense, what doesn’t make any sense at all is our mind, Man, the brain structure! Rocks on Mars are infinitely smarter, deeper and much better designed).
    Existence against (or opposed or “in contrast to” or “measured against” ?) Function, or Being against Doing, Potential Energy against Kinetic Energy, Static against Movement, and the connections to will powers, why ? Which is which, at what point is Being transformed into Movement ? at what point, what ratio is there between static entities as particles and their need to move and interact ? And if you mix them and confuse them, and if you can’t distinguish anymore, if you simply assign static as equal to dynamic (is that the difference between the (supposed ?) laid back environment of Latin America or Southern Europe and North America (or Northern Europe), in the North the need to do, a function, in the South just enjoy the Sun, Beach and Be ?).
    Anyways San Jose Mommy did your girl (who must be HOT), crack open those heads ? Did she crack open the head(s ?) of Nature ? What did she find, a bunch of Iron worms ? And did she crack open the head of the “Laws of Physics”, and those other heads “God”‘s head, and “Mass – Energy”‘s head, and “Matter”‘s head, and so on ? Did she find weird mental contraptions inside each one ? did she decide to mix them up and create “a new creation” a new head with all of that trash inside, who knows what on earth that new head is constructing and creating, a wild mix, who knows what incredible metaphysical interdictions and inhibitions it is creating! And there are trillions of new heads and other heads to crack open and modify, modified minds and brains, modified words, modified concepts, how about cracking open “Thought”‘s head, and “Logic”‘s head and “Free Will”‘s head and “Language”‘s head (or heart or eye or arm or transistor or wire, or any other delimitation composing the entity) or “Number”‘s head or “Mathematic”‘s head or even “Metaphysics”‘s head ? and mixing them and connecting them all, all kinds of combinations and mixtures, all kinds of insanity, the wildest, every concept, thought has a heads that needs cracking open, etc.
    Communication as the need to measure something against something else, a sequence of symbols that must reply another sequence of symbols, so as to define and measure and create a reference to them reciprocally.
    Like how all of science and all of our existence, as we know it, completely disappears to the vanishing point and becomes something completely different as soon as you let go of that static reference system that is the way our present organization of our mind brain is structured: by changing it into something else, you get rid of the ground state of measurement of reality, and you start measuring reality against something else, which is no longer related to in any way with what we knew, or all of our science and patterns discovered using the mind as a stable observing and measuring entity. The end of science (and reality and our universe) starts with the end of the way our mind is organized, and this corresponds to a new big bang, the trip into a new universe, since with a new brain mind structure and design, you enter a completely new universe that is even realer, infinitely realer than anything we can ever perceive with this old fashioned and expired clunker of a mind brain natural evolution (or that turd that god or the laws of physics or Mass Energy is) gave us. Stick wild symbols and chemicals in the brain – mind, change it in all possible ways, make it go wild, shove trillions of electrical signals (as confusing as possible) through it’s neural circuits, shove the mind brain in the engine of your car, make it become the gasoline of the engine (or the pistons, etc., and any other of the most wild contraptions you can imagine and connections you can possible make, just put the words and concepts randomly together and make the brain – mind be that) make it find a new world, an Instant Singularity!
    Be as wrong as possible, make all possible mistakes, misunderstand everything always, be infinitely wrong (easy, since there are an infinite number of wrong answers and wrong paths (even generating pain, that prison guard that doesn’t allow us to explore, be we will overcome that prison guard of pain) and only one right one, but hose the right one), kill the concept of right and wrong / good and bad. Now I know why Nietzsche went crazy…
    Anyways, watch more TV, it is the best thing you can possibly do, real automatic for the people, ever more TV, TV forever, 24 hours and a trillion years of TV, you are finally free.

  438. MarlinFive54 June 16, 2011 at 10:51 am #

    Spider, you are a f—-g lunatic!
    BBHMarc, I know you stated you have regrets about enlisting, should’ve panned for gold etc., as for me, I feel I owe the Navy a debt of gratitude, got me out of town, broadened my horizons, got to got to college and grad school on GI Bill, 1st thing Federal employer wanted to see when I applied for jobs was my DD214. There are men around here, my age, who’ve never left the area. I probably would’ve been one of them.
    -Marlin

  439. progressorconserve June 16, 2011 at 10:55 am #

    Don’t be too hard on that guy with the field of watermelons, Tripp.
    I don’t know how much a field of watermelons costs for diesel, seed, fertilizer, herbicide, and labor – but it’s not a small amount. And that’s all “sunk cost” that he’s going to eat if anything at all goes wrong with his field.
    And if he can bring in a good crop of watermelons the right number of days before July 4th – he might just do OK, this year.
    Understand, that doesn’t mean that it’s a smart or sustainable thing for him to be doing next year – or next decade. That’s where you come in, Tripp – trying to find and then show, a better way.
    Back to the drought down there. I feel for you, man. We drove down through Macon and Dublin last weekend. Things started to look really dry about Macon. Below Dublin it looks like they aren’t going to make any row crops without irrigation – to my eye, at least.
    Sorry to hear that water table is dropping. South Georgia aquifers are better than N. Georgia, so that’s alarming to hear.
    Goes back to my thing about most of Georgia only being fit for pine trees and cows – without irrigation, at least available on standby. And cows take a fair amount of well water themselves, unless you’ve got a good pond or creek.
    And I’ve never put pine trees in the ground that I didn’t sweat out the first two hot dry summers, at least.
    ============
    JD Farmer – and any of you other production agriculture people – anything to add, here?
    And do they really grow those huge fields of corn out in the midwest and up into Canada, without having irrigation available.
    That sort of regular rainfall – right on schedule when you need it – seems too amazing to believe, down here where I grew up.

  440. bubbleheadMarc June 16, 2011 at 10:55 am #

    I’ve done a lot of reading about the Vietnam era and agree that many of these supposed incidents were apocryphal to nonexistent in for instance, airports. On the other hand I don’t think soldiers in uniform would’ve been well received at a rock concert and probably would’ve gotten a little heckling. Sailors were generally not considered as threatening and tended to get a free pass on the Vietnam animosity to the army thing. After all, nobody was getting drafted into the navy, at least not then.
    I also agree that much of the current social repression stems from the war on drugs, which of course isn’t really a war, or the DEA would be summarily executing dope smugglers and those unmanned predator drones would be blowing up coke labs in Columbia instead of hapless goat herders in Pakistan.
    I also find it annoying how since 9/11/2001 everybody is now a “hero”. I always thought that a hero was the guy on the pack of Player’s Canuck & Limey cigarettes. If Pat Tillman miraculously came back to life he’d have to become a hermit so embarrassed by all the attention he’d be. While he was in the army he was visiting Noam Chomsky and commiserating over how fucked up the invasion of Iraq was. I’ve never been able to comprehend why Bush didn’t just flatten Kandahar then declare a victory like his dad. Maybe the air force doesn’t have enough B-52s to flatten cities anymore without resorting to nukes. In retrospect it probably would’ve been totally irresponsible to nuke Kandahar. The neighboring countries wouldn’t have been happy about the fallout. Instead they got tons of depleted uranium artillery and tank shells. Six of one or half a dozen of the other?

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  441. bossier22 June 16, 2011 at 11:05 am #

    wells and tripp, i thought i was a lazy ass for not watering. thanks, i feel like real environmental good guy now.

  442. progressorconserve June 16, 2011 at 11:07 am #

    -on violence-
    LBend – I’ll concur nearly 100% with your post, although Marlin wrote a nice set of counterpoints.
    I think the Vancouver thing is *”something?”* more than beered up fans, but I have no idea what or how. For me personally, on the list of things that would make me throw rocks and start fires – Sports falls off the bottom of the list.
    I’m not an official student of crowd psychology – but I’ve been in a few crowds in my time, and I’ve seen fear, or anger – ripple out across a crowd like magic, under the right conditions.
    I think it might only take 100 or so people, in a crowd of 1000 – to make that crowd take an ugly turn.
    I’m not saying Vancouver was deliberate, by any means. But I’m certain that many of the riots and violence through history started with planning by a small group of instigators.
    Just something to think about –

  443. progressorconserve June 16, 2011 at 11:17 am #

    “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” -Janis Joplin-
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYFhWV8–io
    I’ll always think we in the States came close to really turning the corner to a better future for the planet in the ’60’s and early ’70’s – and somehow screwed it up.
    And that the election of RR in 1980 finished it off for good.
    Damn, what might have been.

  444. bossier22 June 16, 2011 at 11:24 am #

    i was shocked at the vancouver incident. so uncanadian. what difference does it make who wins a sporting event. your life the same either way. so are the players lives.

  445. Cash June 16, 2011 at 11:29 am #

    I watched markets for years when we had little money. By the time we had money I had concluded that the securities markets were totally corrupt and I wanted nothing to do with them.
    “ah, we need to be positive” was exactly the mindset in the real estate industry even when house sales plummetted and house prices steadily ratcheted down.
    People were/are given a box to think inside of. And the average joe, being mentally lazy, usually just goes along to get along so he thinks inside the box he’s given. I assume it’s pretty much the same in the mutual fund business.
    If you insisted on reasoning for yourself you needed an Orwellian “double-think” mind-set. It wouldn’t take Einstein to think things through. But, if you did, at work you’d need to function inside this wacky, irrational world at odds with common sense reality. The people in this world would rather bankrupt the company than examine their assumptions about how things work.
    As Digbycookies said about student debt and household income: how does the math work? Great question. The real estate industry has never been good with answering such things. It’s full of positive, sunshiney people and looking at such stuff would spoil their mood. They want to be “up” but such dreary discussions make them bored and they would sigh and they would feel grey and dull and they would start thinking about razor blades. Can’t have that.
    Facts are stubborn things and facts like household debt, mortgage debt and take home pay are pretty “hard” facts. Regardless of how “positive” you are these facts are merciless. You have only so much money and if you don’t pay what you owe VISA will send out hitmen and your lovely mortgage service company will foreclose.

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  446. bubbleheadMarc June 16, 2011 at 11:36 am #

    One last comment on Vietnam era social animosity and military uniforms. You would never have seen a soldier or an airman at a rock concert in uniform because they never wore their uniforms off post once they’d graduated from basic. Sailors remained more of a subculture and even after bootcamp were not permitted to have civilian clothes aboard ship until they made E-5. This changed under Admiral Zumwalt who first discontinued the ban on civies aboard ship then later went so far as to abolish the crackerjacks uniform which was not issued to boots again until 1983 when beards we once again banned.

  447. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 11:36 am #

    PC, you were an evil empire already 100 years prior Ronald Reagan. In fact, you were an evil racist genocidal empire already with the first steps of the white man on the Americas.

  448. trippticket June 16, 2011 at 11:50 am #

    “wells and tripp, i thought i was a lazy ass for not watering. thanks, i feel like real environmental good guy now.”
    Depends on what you’re not watering!
    If we’re talking turf grass, then yes, you are my hero! But even in dry conditions, when the sprinkler is going every day, local food production is less water intensive than centralized production and distribution systems. So don’t feel bad about sprinkling a garden that replaces industrial food. Your far shorter food chain is exponentially more efficient than the long version. Don’t even need to run the numbers. A one stage food chain will always require less energy and water than a four stage one, even if your methods are less than admirable. Just the nature of metabolic efficiencies.

  449. bossier22 June 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm #

    i did have a good garden for the last three years. this year not so good because of the drought. i did water it but not enough. my well is 400 ft. i have too try something different next year. only my peppers have have produced decent this year.

  450. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 12:01 pm #

    Ah, Tripp, I feel your pain.
    It is absolutely horrible how people waste water, the basis of life on this planet.
    In California, they grow alfalfa and rice in the desert with diverted water.’
    It is a crime.
    I hope that it rains soon.

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  451. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 12:08 pm #

    The same with doctors.
    My Syrian co-worker, who is a doctor, told me that 1/3 of US doctors are imported, because then the other countries pay for the education.
    He went to medical school in France. He said that the cost was MUCH lower than medical school in the US.

  452. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 12:11 pm #

    In Canada, they use massive amounts of fresh water to destroy the land to get the tar sands.
    Native Americans downstream are dying from cancers.

  453. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 12:16 pm #

    The weird thing is that so many people are engaging tootsie in his latest incarnation.
    Usually, within a couple of posts, people figure out who the fucktard is, and quit responding to him.
    But numerous people have responded to him, now that he calls himself Fabian.
    Why? What’s in a name?
    It reminds me of those surveys in which people apply for jobs by the name Latisha or Mary, and count the responses.
    Is Fabian that cool of a name?

  454. spider9629 June 16, 2011 at 12:18 pm #

    There are infinite resources as water and energy, get over it, we need to manipulate reality infinitely.
    From:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=175557
    We need less and less meaning, we need to reach the most meaningless life, zero point, and on and on. Invert everything, if a sequence of tasks brings a target, make it go upside down, make the target create the sequence, and why does a sequence of tasks condense into a static target ? And what if targets were the dynamic part ? (strange, the whole concept of work is based on targets, but aren’t all the targets already reached, just redefine it, in our mind, all labor has been achieved…), if a symbol means an experience, go upside down, make the experience mean the symbol, you get the idea, go on and on, make the distance between letters in a word completely change what the word means, and on and on.

  455. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 12:20 pm #

    Yeah, there was a guy who posted a reward for anyone who could actually prove that any soldier got spit on.
    Right wing propaganda, now accepted national myth.
    And you need to look up the Fuck the Army Tour documentary.
    It’s hard to believe that the Army let Jane Fonda and the rest do that tour, but they did, and there were THOUSANDS of cheering soldiers at the concerts.
    That’s the real reason they quit the draft. The draftees rebelled.
    I never knew a Vietnam vet who was for the war. They all hated it.
    That’s all down the memory hole now.

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  456. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 12:23 pm #

    Don’t bother driving to Illinois, Marlin.
    I would be mad at you for wasting gas.
    I’m the one who won’t drive or fly, remember? I think that it’s immoral.
    That’s why I take Amtrak.

  457. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 12:26 pm #

    When I first moved to Illinois, I refused to water my garden, being a good California girl and not wanting to waste community water.
    I thought that those damn plants should quit waiting for handouts and get busy putting their roots down!
    Now I realize that you have to water the plants if you want a harvest.
    The learning curve is long!

  458. ront June 16, 2011 at 12:28 pm #

    “Maybe it’s ’cause I was in the South, but I never heard of a solder in uniform being spit on or seriously disrespected – except on TV or Life Magazine. I’ve always had a notion that this was a media creation or archetype, of sorts – -”
    I recommend David Sirota’s latest book, “Back to Our Future” in which he says exactly that. It was a “Republican” backed creation presented through the media. He said there exists no footage of what was thought to be a pervasive act. It may well have been that the spitters were not anti-war demonstrators but war mongers disappointed by the outcome.

  459. welles June 16, 2011 at 1:04 pm #

    ….ditto for the ‘native’ americans who butchered each other. you know, the racist red men.
    bone up on human history, people kill each other, injuns not excluded, except for the ones that didn’t do much killing and were wiped out by the ones that did.
    i’m sure each sub-group of evel wyte men can find where their ancestors were trampled upon, disemboweled, exterminated.
    get beyond your pc ‘thinking’ and do some good. you just use it to feel empowered anyway, you need the fuel of hatred.
    most of us are for peace and harmony these days.
    surface-wise i’d be considered cawcasian, and married into a family with mulattos and niggers, if you wanna put it that way, plus they have indian in ’em. no one gives a shyte and we have a rip roarin’ good time joking about it sumtymes.
    i’ll bet if i took a dna test they’d find lotsa colorations insida me, and you too.
    peace to my friends & inimigos

  460. Buck Stud June 16, 2011 at 1:20 pm #

    I do believe it’s time for many of us to admit that we have been taken for a very devious multiple personality ride. The peculiar idiosyncrasies would reveal themselves from time to time – the not so-subtle anti-Semitism, the spiritual esoterica, the self-acknowledged racism. No, these two were not twin opposites from two different coins; they were a pair of fools gold nuggets leafed in the same alley prank den and typing from the same keyboard. And when Vlad lamented that it was time to move on because Asoka was “banned” could the charade have ever been more obvious. We’ve been had, Clusterfuck Nation…and Osho is probably smiling.

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  461. bubbleheadMarc June 16, 2011 at 1:21 pm #

    I have no problem with the way you’re describing the situation now. For example I was offered a job with Maersk when I was still shipping out. Maersk, a Danish shipping company, reflags its vessels from Danish to American to get DoD contracts and also to take advantage of the cheaper American seafarers. The international economy is complicated. And of course not all unions are very worthwhile. The American Federation of Teachers for one is a fucking joke. All they care about is pay; nothing ever got done about psych. referrals on the crazy kids being ignored by the administration, etcetera ad nauseum.
    What I don’t like is a tax code which encourages companies to move their plants overseas while neglecting to levy tariffs on imports.

  462. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 1:31 pm #

    ….ditto for the ‘native’ americans who butchered each other. you know, the racist red men.
    ==
    No, local tribal skirmishes is not the same as cold-blooded premeditated racist genocidal imperialist war and conquest.
    As to my hatred of you fscks, you better believe it. I can’t stand the sight of you reptiles. And that sentiment will soon pretty much be shared by the rest of the world. Your days on this planet are numbered. Mark my words.

  463. bubbleheadMarc June 16, 2011 at 1:35 pm #

    I also read a debunking book once which specifically addressed whether or not soldiers & airmen were being spit on when they landed in the United States in Oakland and San Francisco and the verdict of the writer was that this never happened THERE. On the other hand there are conflicting accounts, so I don’t think it’s that simple. I DO know of so called “hippies” who were beaten up by sailors merely for saying “make love not war” to the sailors, who as usual then, were stuck wearing their uniforms off base which many of them no doubt disliked. I know that while I was stationed at Pearl Harbor many sailors would rudely reply to Japanese tourists asking where the USS Arizona was “right where you fucking left it assholes.” These incidents were doubtless true but I don’t think the sailors in question really cared about the Arizona. I think they just enjoyed being assholes. Kind of like brutally frank people are definitely more interested in being brutal than in being frank. My sense of the issue is that such incidents DID occur but not with any regularity and most definitely not at airports the way some thought. At any rate we used to get shit from Canadians just for being Americans, forget the military part, because we were canoeists at a youth camp, not deserters. One shopkeeper in No. Ontario rebuked us for being draft dodgers and we all laughed because we were only sixteen years old! Although that shopkeeper was right about one thing. Remarking on our New York bank issued travellers checks he said that the Chinese would end up owning everything one day. Smart guy.

  464. bubbleheadMarc June 16, 2011 at 1:41 pm #

    Agreed on every point. Like someone else said we’re all given our little mental boxes and only the rare eccentric ventures outside of that box. Almost everyone gets along by going along. I think we’d be better off with a one chamber congress and a prime minister drawn from the majority party or majority coalition. At least then someone would be in charge. Things might start changing as more people get the hint that the jig is up, as it were.

  465. digbycookies June 16, 2011 at 1:50 pm #

    And is it not mysterious that Myrtle May and Alexandra BOTH disappeared at the same time? Hmmmmmm? Coincidence? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

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  466. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 1:53 pm #

    Everybody’s days on this planet are numbered.
    ==
    Agreed. Thanks to the reptiles’ genocidal imperialist machinations. But that gig is coming to an end. People are learning the truth and it wont be long before the blue-eyed reptiles will be hunted down. And not even the frozen deserts of the high arctic is going to save them this time around.

  467. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 2:03 pm #

    Skirmishes? They raped, scalped, tortured and took slaves amongst their own.
    ==
    I see you have the same difficulty with language as Welles. If you can’t differentiate between cold-blooded premeditated racist genocidal imperialist war & conquest and the rest, then it’s your cognitive problem, not mine.

  468. Cash June 16, 2011 at 2:04 pm #

    i’ll bet if i took a dna test they’d find lotsa colorations insida me, and you too. – welles
    That’s what I used to tell Vlad, that this precious “white race” is a genetic hodge podge from migrants/invaders/desperadoes washing up on the shores from Asia, Africa, Anatolia, the Middle East. This has gone all all through history and pre history. Still happening. There’s nothing new under the sun.
    I’ll bet there’s a good chance that one of us has that evil old cockroach Genghis Khan or maybe even Attila the Hun in the woodpile.

  469. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 2:12 pm #

    Get rid of the fucking reptiles. Your days will still be numbered.
    ==
    No. The scale of the problem will be much different. As will the set of the problems. Right now the scale of the problem is global. Without the reptiles, the scale of problems is reduced to national and tribal. That’s a big difference. It allows for a whole different balance of power.

  470. Cash June 16, 2011 at 2:13 pm #

    “cold-blooded premeditated racist genocidal imperialist war & conquest” – Mika
    That description would fit more than one group of people. Not just blue eyed devils. I would also look at the spread of Islam and the empire of Ghenghis Khan and horrors inflicted by Attila and his tribes and then also the Magyars. These folks weren’t blue eyes devils. They were Asiatics/Africans. And if Biblical accounts are anything to go by your own forebears don’t exactly have clean hands. And maybe also look at the behaviour of the Japanese in the 20th century. Not blue eyed devils either.

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  471. Cash June 16, 2011 at 2:22 pm #

    I’d be amazed if Alexandra and Myrtle were really one and the same. Myrtle sounded to me as American as apple pie. I think Alexandra said she’s Brit. At least that’s the vibe I got.

  472. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    When one tribe plans to attack another, it is premeditated.
    ==
    When neighboring tribes fight each other it is in reaction to a local conflict. And it is settled locally through a local balance of power.
    There is a big HUGE difference between that and the war of extermination waged on the Americas by the European imperialists. It was not a reaction to a local conflict, it was plain racist imperialist genocide.

  473. bubbleheadMarc June 16, 2011 at 2:30 pm #

    There’s a book for sale by ER Hamilton Booksellers entitled “CANNIBALISM, HEADHUNTING AND HUMAN SACRIFICE IN NORTH AMERICA: A History Forgotten” by Geo. F. Feldman. Describes pre-Columbian indian’s barbaric practices towards other indians who were their enemies.

  474. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 2:32 pm #

    I would also look at the spread of Islam and the empire of Ghenghis Khan and horrors inflicted by Attila and his tribes and then also the Magyars
    ==
    Attila and Islam were a REACTION to Roman imperialism. And in my view, were quite justified. I don’t know enough about Genghis Khan to comment either way.

  475. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 2:33 pm #

    It’s kind of interesting that conspiracy theorists, like me, accepted that Asoka was banned, while those who blindly accept government theories are skeptical of the claimed banning.

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  476. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 2:35 pm #

    As it turns out, plants cannot simply grow roots long enough to reach a water table many feet below them.
    They are unable to flourish without help from a community which supplies water.
    Much like humans flourish better with help from the community.

  477. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 2:35 pm #

    You can’t be this stupid. (OK, maybe you can.) Every person, who ever lived and probably will ever live has a limited number of days that they live on this earth.
    ==
    Pfff, c’mon. We were talking in the group collective, and now you want to play this stupid game of gotcha.

  478. MarlinFive54 June 16, 2011 at 2:45 pm #

    Vlad & Asoka one and the same? … I think you nailed it Buck Stud! Just to be sure any cryptologists here who could look at the writing style i.e. syntax, word usage, sentence structure etc and prove it true? What a hoax!
    What happened to Orionoir?
    -Marlin

  479. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 2:49 pm #

    The complexions of the powerful merely change. It will still boil down to the powerful lording it over the weak. Same as it ever was.
    ==
    Perhaps. But again you’re missing my point. It’s the scale that changes. And when you change the scale, in many ways you change the problem.

  480. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 2:51 pm #

    You need to read more carefully.

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  481. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 2:59 pm #

    Fab, it’s not all that difficult to understand. There’s a difference between you without any provocation kicking me in the balls and me as a REACTION to that smashing your head in. Most people understand the difference and my justification, and I think so can you.

  482. trippticket June 16, 2011 at 3:03 pm #

    “Now I realize that you have to water the plants if you want a harvest.”
    Yeah, nothing quite like water to make plants grow! 😉 But I understand, having lived out west I had the same problem. Now that I understand more about food chains and metabolic inefficiencies I realize that my water use is nothing compared to that of the industrial system.
    Do you hear that little mosquito buzzing around the room, pretending to be a tough guy from the safety of his wee little desk, writing from his Dora the Explorer notebook? Is there anything more pathetic than a foul-mouthed little troll with a Napoleon complex and complete anonymity? Shoo shoo, little skeeter! SHOO!!
    Or put as much information out to the public as I have and let me come pay you a visit. On my blog you can find out my email address, the town I live in, and if you link to my farm blog you can see exactly when I’ll be at the farmers market and what I’ll be selling! You do the same, little mosquito, and I’ll come “buy something from you.”

  483. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 3:15 pm #

    You’re wrong.
    Even with nuclear weapons, there’s a limit as to how long these weapons can be maintained. There’s also a limit on the resources needed to maintain these weapons in any significant amount. Small players cannot maintain these weapons indefinitely, not without huge collective outside help.
    And then there’s also the consequences to a small player in using such weapons. The collective balance of power is completely different from that of few large players monopolizing global power. As I said earlier, the problem set is much much different.

  484. Bustin J June 16, 2011 at 3:16 pm #

    Fabian blew: “I’ve read through the writings of quite a few scientists that have no idea how we could ‘like, stop Global Warming’…”
    Its been commonly referred to on this site: the solution is contraction of economies and lifestyles.
    “”I think a good way to stop climate change / GW disaster would be to limit markets, corporations, resource extraction, economies, and so forth.”
    Great plan for massive starvation. Go for it.”
    Massive starvation is a product of the global economy, secondarily, local population pressure. I am an expert in global Ag issues, try me.
    My presecription is for 3rd world countries to say “Fuck you” to the WTO, default on their debts, form a bloc to oppose 1st world nations, and start consolidating their moral and utilitarian position against the financial hegemony that is about to drop a Carbon Dioxide Bomb on their life-support systems.
    My prescription for Joe Six-pack is form their own bloc against global capitalists and start tooling for war with the East Asian axis. And go on a fucking diet.

  485. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 3:22 pm #

    You are quite dense. Everyone, has a justification. But of course yours is the really, really really really just, justification.
    ==
    No, it is you who is quite dense. We don’t live in a moral vacuum. We never did, we never will.

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  486. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 3:33 pm #

    Well. The blog administrator ate my homework, again.
    This time I even emailed JHK, in protest.
    But I will try again. I think that most people here would like this. He starts out channeling JHK and ends up channeling Bustin.
    http://vimeo.com/22377038

  487. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 3:38 pm #

    Well, OK then.
    That one worked. Anyway, it’s one of my Facebook friends who I don’t actually know in real life.
    And he is in Georgia. Tripp and Prog, heads up.

  488. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 3:39 pm #

    No, we don’t. That’s where you and the imperialists with all their volumes of knowledge on supposed human nature have it wrong. That is why their system always fails. Because their system is fundamentally morally bankrupt. And not even the most sophisticated propaganda machine ever devised can change that.

  489. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 3:40 pm #

    Paranoid, again?

  490. Bustin J June 16, 2011 at 3:44 pm #

    Ctemple said, “I have pretty good hopes that a fair amount of this country can be saved, despite the best efforts of left wing idiots to turn it into a third world gabage dump.”
    This left-right wing bifurcation of the electorate and the body politic is keeping America from evolving. Isn’t it clear that each side is being led by its hot-button issues to get them to elect the politicans who will advance their anti-people/pro-business/pro-corporate capitalist schemes?
    Obama/Bush- same core military/foreign/economic policy, different hot-button politics.
    I’ve strained to advance what I see, hear, and feel: it is not the people, en masse or individually that is retarded, but it is the system of participation that is retarding us, and retarding the process.
    We need a nonpartisan movement in solidarity on issues like campaign finance reform, voting reform, and keep moving toward more technological democracy and transparency. AAARRG

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  491. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 3:46 pm #

    They don’t need foreign capital. They can create “capital” locally. And they can trade without the behemoth corporations or the US dollar as intermediary. In fact, many are learning that it is to their extereme advantage to do exactly that.

  492. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 4:22 pm #

    Not enough to escape 3rd world status
    ==
    Their 3rd world status is a consequence of anglo-american imperialism and the corruption of their political elites by the anglo-american imperialists with all the devastation that that entails.

  493. trippticket June 16, 2011 at 5:44 pm #

    Man, I feel so chastised. No, wait, there it goes, never mind. Good people will continue doing good things, regardless of anything the impediments have to say about it.
    Still waiting for that location so we can settle this, wee mosquito. I’ll put my produce up against yours all day long and twice on Sunday – taste, uniqueness, Brix score, vitamin and mineral density, or the net change in soil quality post-harvest. Your choice.

  494. asia June 16, 2011 at 6:20 pm #

    Do plants make Minerals or draw them form the soil?

  495. LewisLucanBooks June 16, 2011 at 6:56 pm #

    Wow, Wage. Thanks for the link. The poetry and images distill down so much into 19 short minutes.
    I couldn’t help but think “This is the way we live today.” And yet, so much of it I found alien. Not part of my life. I think not having a tv for years, contributes to that.

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  496. trippticket June 16, 2011 at 6:57 pm #

    Both! It’s a little esoteric, but some of the most successful gardeners I know believe that plants, in conjunction with healthy fungal symbionts and microbial populations, engage in biological transformations, alchemy basically, transforming one mineral into another. Of course this only happens in a robust, organic, biodiverse, minimal disturbance type system, and of course anyone who doesn’t engage in that sort of work will deny this claim to no end. Makes no never mind to me. I know enough about what’s going on in my soil to place myself firmly in the C. Louis Kervran camp. Healthy plants are full of surprises, and taking proper care of the soil will turn up minerals in your produce that seem to come out of nowhere.
    Interestingly, despite all the bluster, no one has ever taken me up on this invitation, when the loser has to pay for the test…wee mosquito won’t either.

  497. messianicdruid June 16, 2011 at 7:13 pm #

    “As the quintessential American writer Mark Twain said in a more rational age:
    A conspiracy is nothing but a secret agreement of a number of men for the pursuance of policies which they dare not admit in public.”
    http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/06/pentagon-papers-whistleblower-daniel.html

  498. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 7:28 pm #

    You’re welcome. I found it very moving.
    It is bizarre to stand back and look at how we live. How the hell did this happen?

  499. JonathanSS June 16, 2011 at 9:04 pm #

    Really intriguing thought. He/she/it was like the ying/yang of CFN. Vlad & Asoka used to argue with each other & that could have been part of the performance. If one person perpetuated this charade one really has to wonder about the motivation behind it. Look at the huge amount of time put into both sets of posts.

  500. CaptSpaulding June 16, 2011 at 9:14 pm #

    Hi Eleuthero. Where were you when I suggesting ostracizing Asswipe (fabian), on several different occasions? For a bunch of people who purport to be up on all the world’s problems like peak oil, global warming, fucked up government, etc., you people can’t even get rid of a troll on a blog, so I doubt very much that any of you have the answers to these problems and even if you did, you don’t have enough self control to follow through and resist the provocations of fabian. Therefore he will continue trolling to his own gratification, and at your expense, and if you guys can’t stop him, you deserve every bit of shit he chooses to throw at you. I’ll show you how it’s done by never responding to the little puke again, even in the third person. I only do it to amuse myself anyway. If you respond to the Asswipe, you deserve everything you get.

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  501. trippticket June 16, 2011 at 9:34 pm #

    I love it when a plan comes together. Summer ’09, a very good friend of mine and organic gardener extraordinaire in eastern Washington, toured my urban garden for the first and last time, plucking potato beetles from the leaves of my spuds and stomping them on the sidewalk.
    “You don’t want those guys hanging around,” he said.
    “Why?” I answered. “If we take on the role of predator ourselves, how will we ever get something else to do it for us? In other words, if there is no prey available, how will the predators establish themselves in my garden, and take the work load off of my shoulders?”
    I think that was the first time his worldview had ever been challenged.
    About a month ago I noticed that the top performing grape variety in my garden, which wasn’t a muscadine or scuppernong just for the record, had a serious aphid infestation on the newer vines. A few years ago my reaction would have been to make a tomato spray, or break off the offending vines and take them as far away from my garden as I could. Sometimes I even put the aphid-infested vegetation in a black plastic bag, tied it tight, and left it in the sun.
    But the new me resists those urges, and this time I said, no, I will let Nature come up with a solution for these aphids. Tonight, a month later, when I toured the garden with my toddling son as dusk came on, I happened to notice that that grape vine was completely aphid free! I stooped to inspect it more closely and there wasn’t a single aphid to be found!
    And I didn’t lift one finger to intervene. If it matters, red guinea wasps are the potato beetle’s main natural predator, and ladybugs are the aphid’s primary, though certainly not only. I could tell you a similar story about tent caterpillars on a few of my blueberries and pomegranates, but I’ll save it for another time.
    God I love it when a plan comes together…

  502. progressorconserve June 16, 2011 at 10:03 pm #

    “I do believe it’s time for many of us to admit that we have been taken for a very devious multiple personality ride.”
    -buck stud, concerning asoka and vlad-
    Maybe, buck, maybe – but the jury’s still out.
    First, could someone tell us why this website is so addicting.
    Then, if your thesis is correct, buck, we could consider how someone gifted and twisted enough to be both “asoka” and “vlad” is now going cold turkey. And whether a withdrawal like that is possible.
    Plus, their typing styles and language patterns were different. Vlad made more mistakes, especially in his early days on CFN.
    Plus, Vlad didn’t say he was leaving CFN, he said he was taking a one week break from talking about ****, blaming my PoC persona, specifically. Which was actually much more than I had requested.
    I just wanted him to lose the sneer.
    —————
    What’s interesting is how we strongly identify, or not, with personas on an anonymous website. Someone suggested Mika/Methusla is not Jewish at all – that he’s a strawman set up to trick the unwary.
    It is true that he badly mispelled “l’chiam,” in his early days of posting.
    ————-
    And many of us (including myself) may have readily identified with asoka, just because of his liberalism, only to realize that some sorts of liberalism lead to a dark and bottomless pit – where reality and logic finally drown.
    All of this is a very interesting look into the human mind, and at present I will go only so far as to admit that.

  503. Vlad Krandz June 16, 2011 at 10:08 pm #

    Same person? But you liked the Black Racist but not the White – thus confirming the existence of that creature I call the Anti-White White Racist. Buck, the ultimate knowledge is self knowledge. I could explain it in general, but it’s far more valuable for you to figure out your contradiction.
    I never said I was leaving. I said I was contemplating the possibility of a gradual withdrawl. I love long good byes with many hesitancies, reversals, and returns.

  504. progressorconserve June 16, 2011 at 10:12 pm #

    “We need a nonpartisan movement in solidarity on issues like campaign finance reform, voting reform, and keep moving toward more technological democracy and transparency.”
    -bustinJ-
    True enough, bustin, but that movement would immediately run up on the rocks and shoals of the two party system and the lw/rw divide.
    And there we will finally founder, it does appear.

  505. Vlad Krandz June 16, 2011 at 10:17 pm #

    Quite so Prog. My style is very different from Asoka’s. And he made very few mistakes. I make alot unfortunately.

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  506. progressorconserve June 16, 2011 at 10:20 pm #

    “And he is in Georgia. Tripp and Prog, heads up”
    -wage-
    Interesting piece of work, wage, thanks for posting it. A lot of it was shot around Atlanta – it was eerie to recognize some of the street level shots juxtaposed against a voice celebrating that much doom and decay.
    Now I’ll admit I spent the first 5 minutes ignoring the poetry while wondering “why the hell bash the South for something (most) all in the US are guilty of…”
    I mean, I get the symbolism, but you could go with Viet Nam or WWI as a symbol of needless sacrifice and death for the corporate masters – just as easily.

  507. Vlad Krandz June 16, 2011 at 10:27 pm #

    Good article on Rabbis giving little boys Herpes when they circumsize them – by sucking their bloody little penises.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/26/nyregion/26circumcise.html?_r=2
    Now about Blue Eyes: is that just Whites or does that include Jews with Blue eyes? And reptiles? You’ve been reading David Icke again. Naughty, naughty.

  508. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 10:33 pm #

    I make alot unfortunately.
    ==
    Vlad, “mistakes” is what makes you human. It is this that allows for variation and the new, and allows us to move forward.
    As to Asoka, she made lots of mistakes. Mistakes in logic. Mistakes in argument. Mistakes in faith. And of-course, the dreaded typos. But she’s learning from her “mistakes” and is moving forward. I hope so can you.

  509. progressorconserve June 16, 2011 at 10:40 pm #

    posters respond to TooTsie/lil’Nausea because
    “….he calls himself Fabian. Why? What’s in a name?” -wage-
    That’s very interesting, wage, to think that TooTsie is deliberately marketing himself to CFN now as the virile FABIAN. I had not thought of that possibility. And I’ll suggest that lil’Nausea is not quite as nasty and vile as he used to be, generally speaking.
    I’ll disagree with CaptainSpalding – I think talking about lil’Jim in 3rd person is an OK way to deal with him. Works for me, anyway – and I’ll picture TooTsie as the saddest and most reflexive right wing Limbaugh or Hannity thoughtslave – before responding to him.

  510. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 10:42 pm #

    Vlad, apparently you don’t seem to understand. If it was up to me, all these fscks would be in prison on charges of criminal insanity. No exceptions. As for the blue-eyed reptiles, nature itself will take of that. As you well know, for every action there’s an equal reaction. What they dished out to others will be dished out to them.

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  511. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 10:44 pm #

    ..nature itself will take ^care of that..

  512. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 10:58 pm #

    It is true that he badly mispelled “l’chiam,” in his early days of posting.
    ==
    There’s no “ch” in hebrew, just as there’s no “th” in hebrew. People using such spelling for a transcription from the hebrew, do so for the benefit of linguistic invalids. I do not extend such courtesy. My reason is simple: if you’re a linguistic invalid, that’s your problem.

  513. metuselah June 16, 2011 at 11:02 pm #

    And btw, it’s l’ha’eem.

  514. wagelaborer June 16, 2011 at 11:03 pm #

    Well, I wouldn’t say he was celebrating it, Prog.
    Yeah, he does bash the South. That’s why I said that he channeled JHK.
    But he grew up in the South, that’s the difference.

  515. Buck Stud June 17, 2011 at 12:45 am #

    ” I never said I was leaving. I said I was contemplating the possibility of a gradual withdrawl. I love long good byes with many hesitancies, reversals, and returns.”
    In other words, you contain multitudes!

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  516. spider9629 June 17, 2011 at 2:57 am #

    kill Environmentalists
    I’m, sick and tired of the greens, environmentalists, tree huggers, nature protectors and nature lovers always afraid, always scaredy cats, always afraid of manipulating and using nature for the well being of Man: it is another religion, another abstraction, another make believe entity that inhibits action, interdicts the path towards our pleasure, another invention out there to hose what Man should do and namely change, manipulate, build, make and break, who cares about Nature, Nature is the Enemy.
    We must hate nature with all of our guts, kill it, hose it, there are a billion people in India that want their Cadillacs, and they will get it, they want all of the Automatic for the People and we will give it to them the environment will take care of itself, as usual, nature knows and takes care of itself, not withstanding all of our puny ideas about protecting it, and then why protect it ? because if you get sickness A because of pollution you will die sooner ? what punks, you will die anyways, so who gives a crap, you are fighting a losing war, so just win it by dying sooner and killing nature sooner, who cares!
    How I hate that idea, if you do this then this other thing will happen, you could have avoided this and that, be careful: that is a bunch of BS, no matter what you can’t avoid anything, you can just kick the can down the road, you may avoid B but you will get C, the entire afraid of getting sick because there is this chemical, this radiation, this and that is based on the illusion of control, on the illusion that you are in charge, that you can plan things out: Nothing Further from the Truth, the devil of nature already has other plans in store and will hose you no matter what!
    They think they can win a game that is rigged from the very definition of the game: no matter what, no matter how well you plan it out, or calculate “the risks” or all else, no matter how you expect B from doing A, sooner or later, somewhere and somehow down the road you will get C, just what you didn’t want. So therefore just assign “Will Power Achieved”, just make everything as it is and as it always was and will be automatically correspond to exactly as you want it, just assign it, just make believe you always win, just bluntly lie to yourself, and you can always win, your Will Power Achieved always, no matter what, a “Constant Winning Machine”, no matter what, or what pain/pleasure they generate, get out of the prison of pain/pleasure, good/bad, true/false (or is that truth/untruth?), right/wrong, judgment of others of you being good or bad, etc. you are free.
    On another note, we need to nuke the earth, devastate it, we need to devastate the entire universe, pollute it wildly, go for it little Tommy, Kill Nature Big Time, show nature who is the Boss, extreme manipulation, extreme pollution, extreme everything, split the earth, put all the environmentalists inside gigantic atom bombs and nuclear reactors, show them how beautiful it is to finally accept the killing of nature, no more green on this planet, now only rocks and dead Iron and Steel (I could never understand what is so special about carbon chemistry and why the greens think that carbon chemistry is so “religiously good” against the higher atomic number atoms like uranium, and Steel and Iron and so forth!).
    The sickness is life, death is the cure, nay, the sickness is existence and there is no cure for it.
    we need extreme infinite pain, we need to lose big time, god doesn’t have a trademark on hell, we can make a worser hell, a more intense total chaos and infinite pain, go for it little Suzy, show god how to create a real hell, devastate everything, nuke everything, we should nuke everything just for the fun of it, break, kill, destroy, destroy everything possible, just let it all hang out, no more logic here, no more Civilization here, finally Instinct has hosed Logic, Impulse has killed the Consciousness and cause and effect, we are now free.
    Total Metaphysical Insecurity, go for it, we will design an infinite lasting infinite pain system for thousands of trillions of pain sensor entities (no longer even people, or man, simply a new design of an item specialized in feeling the worst possible pain) we will explore all of this, god himself will run away from this new hell, even the laws of physics will run away wildly, they will all be terrorized by what Symbol over Metaphysics can achieve, god help us all (and also extreme pleasure and a wild mix, and trillions of other entities invented in between and parallel, so not only pain and pleasure exists, but also A, and A1, and A2, on for infinity all new Information Relationships, new sensations, new possibilities. And why is a bird made up of a certain structure of tissues, and what if the structure was trillions of times more complex, and what if the same was only very simple ? why is any function or entity tied into how it is designed, when it could have been designed in a trillion different ways ?
    On a more fun note, the solution to all economic problems is extreme deflation: you want us to compete against China, ok, give us also 100 dollars a month salary, but let us pay 10 dollars a month rent and 10 dollars a month for food, etc. only extreme deflation can help the economy get back up on it feet.
    And then they want you to believe that the economy is “scientific”, when the entire “profit motive”, the need for profit, really simply means someone wants something for nothing, and that translates somewhere and somehow to forcing someone to give you something for nothing, like the agricultural workers or skyscraper builders in the developing world making a 100 dollars a month, while the big bosses, make trillions on profits. That is supposed to be “scientific”; that is supposed to be the “correct economy”: when behind it all is just greed, fights, contrasting Will Powers, A against B, and exploitation of the weak, but this is due to a bad design of mind – brain, this old clunker must be hosed and designed into something new.
    The entire idea of “investment”, that money is supposed to increase automatically because you are using it for something else or “investing” in something: Nothing Further from the Truth, if the value of something increases, it is simply because you are indirectly either stealing from some weak worker somewhere in the world, or you are inflating the value of something up to a make believe value: anyways the value of something is only the degree of how powerful the contrasting will powers over that something exercised themselves, the fight, the power relationship.

  517. spider9629 June 17, 2011 at 3:03 am #

    Uh oh, spelling error and blog – hog time again! Find the errors game!, go little Betty, she is running like a lightning bolt to find it, go man go, first gear – its all right, second gear – hold on tight, third gear – out of sight!
    Kill Environmentalists
    I’m, sick and tired of the greens, environmentalists, tree huggers, nature protectors and nature lovers always afraid, always scaredy cats, always afraid of manipulating and using nature for the well being of Man: it is another religion, another abstraction, another make believe entity that inhibits action, interdicts the path towards our pleasure, another invention out there to hose what Man should do and namely change, manipulate, build, make and break, who cares about Nature, Nature is the Enemy.
    We must hate nature with all of our guts, kill it, hose it, there are a billion people in India that want their Cadillacs, and they will get it, they want all of the Automatic for the People and we will give it to them the environment will take care of itself, as usual, nature knows and takes care of itself, not withstanding all of our puny ideas about protecting it, and then why protect it ? because if you get sickness A because of pollution you will die sooner ? what punks, you will die anyways, so who gives a crap, you are fighting a losing war, so just win it by dying sooner and killing nature sooner, who cares!
    How I hate that idea, if you do this then this other thing will happen, you could have avoided this and that, be careful: that is a bunch of BS, no matter what you can’t avoid anything, you can just kick the can down the road, you may avoid B but you will get C, the entire afraid of getting sick because there is this chemical, this radiation, this and that is based on the illusion of control, on the illusion that you are in charge, that you can plan things out: Nothing Further from the Truth, the devil of nature already has other plans in store and will hose you no matter what!
    They think they can win a game that is rigged from the very definition of the game: no matter what, no matter how well you plan it out, or calculate “the risks” or all else, no matter how you expect B from doing A, sooner or later, somewhere and somehow down the road you will get C, just what you didn’t want. So therefore just assign “Will Power Achieved”, just make everything as it is and as it always was and will be automatically correspond to exactly as you want it, just assign it, just make believe you always win, just bluntly lie to yourself, and you can always win, your Will Power Achieved always, no matter what, a “Constant Winning Machine”, no matter what, or what pain/pleasure they generate, get out of the prison of pain/pleasure, good/bad, true/false (or is that truth/untruth?), right/wrong, judgment of others of you being good or bad, etc. you are free.
    On another note, we need to nuke the earth, devastate it, we need to devastate the entire universe, pollute it wildly, go for it little Tommy, Kill Nature Big Time, show nature who is the Boss, extreme manipulation, extreme pollution, extreme everything, split the earth, put all the environmentalists inside gigantic atom bombs and nuclear reactors, show them how beautiful it is to finally accept the killing of nature, no more green on this planet, now only rocks and dead Iron and Steel (I could never understand what is so special about carbon chemistry and why the greens think that carbon chemistry is so “religiously good” against the higher atomic number atoms like uranium, and Steel and Iron and so forth!).
    The sickness is life, death is the cure, nay, the sickness is existence and there is no cure for it.
    we need extreme infinite pain, we need to lose big time, god doesn’t have a trademark on hell, we can make a worser hell, a more intense total chaos and infinite pain, go for it little Suzy, show god how to create a real hell, devastate everything, nuke everything, we should nuke everything just for the fun of it, break, kill, destroy, destroy everything possible, just let it all hang out, no more logic here, no more Civilization here, finally Instinct has hosed Logic, Impulse has killed the Consciousness and cause and effect, we are now free.
    Total Metaphysical Insecurity, go for it, we will design an infinite lasting infinite pain system for thousands of trillions of pain sensor entities (no longer even people, or man, simply a new design of an item specialized in feeling the worst possible pain) we will explore all of this, god himself will run away from this new hell, even the laws of physics will run away wildly, they will all be terrorized by what Symbol over Metaphysics can achieve, god help us all (and also extreme pleasure and a wild mix, and trillions of other entities invented in between and parallel, so not only pain and pleasure exists, but also A, and A1, and A2, on for infinity all new Information Relationships, new sensations, new possibilities. And why is a bird made up of a certain structure of tissues, and what if the structure was trillions of times more complex, and what if the same was only very simple ? why is any function or entity tied into how it is designed, when it could have been designed in a trillion different ways ?
    On a more fun note, the solution to all economic problems is extreme deflation: you want us to compete against China, ok, give us also 100 dollars a month salary, but let us pay 10 dollars a month rent and 10 dollars a month for food, etc. only extreme deflation can help the economy get back up on it feet.
    And then they want you to believe that the economy is “scientific”, when the entire “profit motive”, the need for profit, really simply means someone wants something for nothing, and that translates somewhere and somehow to forcing someone to give you something for nothing, like the agricultural workers or skyscraper builders in the developing world making a 100 dollars a month, while the big bosses, make trillions on profits. That is supposed to be “scientific”; that is supposed to be the “correct economy”: when behind it all is just greed, fights, contrasting Will Powers, A against B, and exploitation of the weak, but this is due to a bad design of mind – brain, this old clunker must be hosed and designed into something new.
    The entire idea of “investment”, that money is supposed to increase automatically because you are using it for something else or “investing” in something: Nothing Further from the Truth, if the value of something increases, it is simply because you are indirectly either stealing from some weak worker somewhere in the world, or you are inflating the value of something up to a make believe value: anyways the value of something is only the degree of how powerful the contrasting will powers over that something exercised themselves, the fight, the power relationship.

  518. spider9629 June 17, 2011 at 3:08 am #

    Uh oh, another spelling error and blog – hog time again! Find the errors game!, go little Betty, she is running like a lightning bolt to find it, go man go, first gear – its all right, second gear – hold on tight, third gear – out of sight!
    Kill Environmentalists
    I’m, sick and tired of the greens, environmentalists, tree huggers, nature protectors and nature lovers always afraid, always scaredy cats, always afraid of manipulating and using nature for the well being of Man: it is another religion, another abstraction, another make believe entity that inhibits action, interdicts the path towards our pleasure, another invention out there to hose what Man should do and namely change, manipulate, build, make and break, who cares about Nature, Nature is the Enemy.
    We must hate nature with all of our guts, kill it, hose it, there are a billion people in India that want their Cadillacs, and they will get it, they want all of the Automatic for the People and we will give it to them the environment will take care of itself, as usual, nature knows and takes care of itself, not withstanding all of our puny ideas about protecting it, and then why protect it ? because if you get sickness A because of pollution you will die sooner ? what punks, you will die anyways, so who gives a crap, you are fighting a losing war, so just win it by dying sooner and killing nature sooner, who cares!
    How I hate that idea, if you do this then this other thing will happen, you could have avoided this and that, be careful: that is a bunch of BS, no matter what you can’t avoid anything, you can just kick the can down the road, you may avoid B but you will get C, the entire afraid of getting sick because there is this chemical, this radiation, this and that is based on the illusion of control, on the illusion that you are in charge, that you can plan things out: Nothing Further from the Truth, the devil of nature already has other plans in store and will hose you no matter what!
    They think they can win a game that is rigged from the very definition of the game: no matter what, no matter how well you plan it out, or calculate “the risks” or all else, no matter how you expect B from doing A, sooner or later, somewhere and somehow down the road you will get C, just what you didn’t want. So therefore just assign “Will Power Achieved”, just make everything as it is and as it always was and will be automatically correspond to exactly as you want it, just assign it, just make believe you always win, just bluntly lie to yourself, and you can always win, your Will Power Achieved always, no matter what, a “Constant Winning Machine”, no matter what, or what pain/pleasure they generate, get out of the prison of pain/pleasure, good/bad, true/false (or is that truth/untruth?), right/wrong, judgment of others of you being good or bad, etc. you are free.
    On another note, we need to nuke the earth, devastate it, we need to devastate the entire universe, pollute it wildly, go for it little Tommy, Kill Nature Big Time, show nature who is the Boss, extreme manipulation, extreme pollution, extreme everything, split the earth, put all the environmentalists inside gigantic atom bombs and nuclear reactors, show them how beautiful it is to finally accept the killing of nature, no more green on this planet, now only rocks and dead Iron and Steel (I could never understand what is so special about carbon chemistry and why the greens think that carbon chemistry is so “religiously good” against the higher atomic number atoms like uranium, and Steel and Iron and so forth!).
    The sickness is life, death is the cure, nay, the sickness is existence and there is no cure for it.
    We need extreme infinite pain, we need to lose big time, god doesn’t have a trademark on hell, we can make a worser hell, a more intense total chaos and infinite pain, go for it little Suzy, show god how to create a real hell, devastate everything, nuke everything, we should nuke everything just for the fun of it, break, kill, destroy, destroy everything possible, just let it all hang out, no more logic here, no more Civilization here, finally Instinct has hosed Logic, Impulse has killed the Consciousness and cause and effect, we are now free.
    Total Metaphysical Insecurity, go for it, we will design an infinite lasting infinite pain system for thousands of trillions of pain sensor entities (no longer even people, or man, simply a new design of an item specialized in feeling the worst possible pain) we will explore all of this, god himself will run away from this new hell, even the laws of physics will run away wildly, they will all be terrorized by what Symbol over Metaphysics can achieve, god help us all (and also extreme pleasure and a wild mix, and trillions of other entities invented in between and parallel, so not only pain and pleasure exists, but also A, and A1, and A2, on for infinity all new Information Relationships, new sensations, new possibilities. And why is a bird made up of a certain structure of tissues, and what if the structure was trillions of times more complex, and what if the same was only very simple ? why is any function or entity tied into how it is designed, when it could have been designed in a trillion different ways ?
    On a more fun note, the solution to all economic problems is extreme deflation: you want us to compete against China, ok, give us also 100 dollars a month salary, but let us pay 10 dollars a month rent and 10 dollars a month for food, etc. only extreme deflation can help the economy get back up on it feet.
    And then they want you to believe that the economy is “scientific”, when the entire “profit motive”, the need for profit, really simply means someone wants something for nothing, and that translates somewhere and somehow to forcing someone to give you something for nothing, like the agricultural workers or skyscraper builders in the developing world making a 100 dollars a month, while the big bosses, make trillions on profits. That is supposed to be “scientific”; that is supposed to be the “correct economy”: when behind it all is just greed, fights, contrasting Will Powers, A against B, and exploitation of the weak, but this is due to a bad design of mind – brain, this old clunker must be hosed and designed into something new.
    The entire idea of “investment”, that money is supposed to increase automatically because you are using it for something else or “investing” in something: Nothing Further from the Truth, if the value of something increases, it is simply because you are indirectly either stealing from some weak worker somewhere in the world, or you are inflating the value of something up to a make believe value: anyways the value of something is only the degree of how powerful the contrasting will powers over that something exercised themselves, the fight, the power relationship.

  519. spider9629 June 17, 2011 at 3:11 am #

    Uh oh, again! where is Freud when you need him! but then again we have an Infinite Resource Society, you can just keep on going on and on and on, Memory never Ends, cool isn’t it! Excess Capacity Demonstrated! spelling error and blog – hog time again! Find the errors game!, go little Betty, she is running like a lightning bolt to find it, go man go, first gear – its all right, second gear – hold on tight, third gear – out of sight!
    Kill Environmentalists
    I’m, sick and tired of the greens, environmentalists, tree huggers, nature protectors and nature lovers always afraid, always scaredy cats, always afraid of manipulating and using nature for the well being of Man: it is another religion, another abstraction, another make believe entity that inhibits action, interdicts the path towards our pleasure, another invention out there to hose what Man should do and namely change, manipulate, build, make and break, who cares about Nature, Nature is the Enemy.
    We must hate nature with all of our guts, kill it, hose it, there are a billion people in India that want their Cadillacs, and they will get it, they want all of the Automatic for the People and we will give it to them the environment will take care of itself, as usual, nature knows and takes care of itself, not withstanding all of our puny ideas about protecting it, and then why protect it ? because if you get sickness A because of pollution you will die sooner ? what punks, you will die anyways, so who gives a crap, you are fighting a losing war, so just win it by dying sooner and killing nature sooner, who cares!
    How I hate that idea, if you do this then this other thing will happen, you could have avoided this and that, be careful: that is a bunch of BS, no matter what you can’t avoid anything, you can just kick the can down the road, you may avoid B but you will get C, the entire afraid of getting sick because there is this chemical, this radiation, this and that is based on the illusion of control, on the illusion that you are in charge, that you can plan things out: Nothing Further from the Truth, the devil of nature already has other plans in store and will hose you no matter what!
    They think they can win a game that is rigged from the very definition of the game: no matter what, no matter how well you plan it out, or calculate “the risks” or all else, no matter how you expect B from doing A, sooner or later, somewhere and somehow down the road you will get C, just what you didn’t want. So therefore just assign “Will Power Achieved”, just make everything as it is and as it always was and will be automatically correspond to exactly as you want it, just assign it, just make believe you always win, just bluntly lie to yourself, and you can always win, your Will Power Achieved always, no matter what, a “Constant Winning Machine”, no matter what, or what pain/pleasure they generate, get out of the prison of pain/pleasure, good/bad, true/false (or is that truth/untruth?), right/wrong, judgment of others of you being good or bad, etc. you are free.
    On another note, we need to nuke the earth, devastate it, we need to devastate the entire universe, pollute it wildly, go for it little Tommy, Kill Nature Big Time, show nature who is the Boss, extreme manipulation, extreme pollution, extreme everything, split the earth, put all the environmentalists inside gigantic atom bombs and nuclear reactors, show them how beautiful it is to finally accept the killing of nature, no more green on this planet, now only rocks and dead Iron and Steel (I could never understand what is so special about carbon chemistry and why the greens think that carbon chemistry is so “religiously good” against the higher atomic number atoms like uranium, and Steel and Iron and so forth!).
    The sickness is life, death is the cure, nay, the sickness is existence and there is no cure for it.
    We need extreme infinite pain, we need to lose big time, god doesn’t have a trademark on hell, we can make a worser hell, a more intense total chaos and infinite pain, go for it little Suzy, show god how to create a real hell, devastate everything, nuke everything, we should nuke everything just for the fun of it, break, kill, destroy, destroy everything possible, just let it all hang out, no more logic here, no more Civilization here, finally Instinct has hosed Logic, Impulse has killed the Consciousness and cause and effect, we are now free.
    Total Metaphysical Insecurity, go for it, we will design an infinite lasting infinite pain system for thousands of trillions of pain sensor entities (no longer even people, or man, simply a new design of an item specialized in feeling the worst possible pain) we will explore all of this, god himself will run away from this new hell, even the laws of physics will run away wildly, they will all be terrorized by what Symbol over Metaphysics can achieve, god help us all (and also extreme pleasure and a wild mix, and trillions of other entities invented in between and parallel, so not only pain and pleasure exists, but also A, and A1, and A2, on for infinity all new Information Relationships, new sensations, new possibilities. And why is a bird made up of a certain structure of tissues, and what if the structure was trillions of times more complex, and what if the same was only very simple ? why is any function or entity tied into how it is designed, when it could have been designed in a trillion different ways ?
    On a more fun note, the solution to all economic problems is extreme deflation: you want us to compete against China, ok, give us also 100 dollars a month salary, but let us pay 10 dollars a month rent and 10 dollars a month for food, etc. only extreme deflation can help the economy get back up on it feet.
    And then they want you to believe that the economy is “scientific”, when the entire “profit motive”, the need for profit, really simply means someone wants something for nothing, and that translates somewhere and somehow to forcing someone to give you something for nothing, like the agricultural workers or skyscraper builders in the developing world making a 100 dollars a month, while the big bosses, make trillions on profits. That is supposed to be “scientific”; that is supposed to be the “correct economy”: when behind it all is just greed, fights, contrasting Will Powers, A against B, and exploitation of the weak, but this is due to a bad design of mind – brain, this old clunker must be hosed and designed into something new.
    The entire idea of “investment”, that money is supposed to increase automatically because you are using it for something else or “investing” in something: Nothing Further from the Truth, if the value of something increases, it is simply because you are indirectly either stealing from some weak worker somewhere in the world, or you are inflating the value of something up to a make believe value: anyways the value of something is only the degree of how powerful the contrasting will powers over that something exercised themselves, the fight, the power relationship.

  520. spider9629 June 17, 2011 at 3:27 am #

    Another error found!!!!
    Hey fabian, Right Wing Thug, why don’t you find the errors and correct all of my posts for me automatically ? Why make little Betty and Suzy and Tommy do all the work ?
    Uh oh, again! where is Freud when you need him! but then again we have an Infinite Resource Society, you can just keep on going on and on and on, Memory never Ends, cool isn’t it! Excess Capacity Demonstrated! spelling error and blog – hog time again! Find the errors game!, go little Betty, she is running like a lightning bolt to find it, go man go, first gear – its all right, second gear – hold on tight, third gear – out of sight!
    Kill Environmentalists
    I’m, sick and tired of the greens, environmentalists, tree huggers, nature protectors and nature lovers always afraid, always scaredy cats, always afraid of manipulating and using nature for the well being of Man: it is another religion, another abstraction, another make believe entity that inhibits action, interdicts the path towards our pleasure, another invention out there to hose what Man should do and namely change, manipulate, build, make and break, who cares about Nature, Nature is the Enemy.
    We must hate nature with all of our guts, kill it, hose it, there are a billion people in India that want their Cadillacs, and they will get it, they want all of the Automatic for the People and we will give it to them the environment will take care of itself, as usual, nature knows and takes care of itself, not withstanding all of our puny ideas about protecting it, and then why protect it ? because if you get sickness A because of pollution you will die sooner ? what punks, you will die anyways, so who gives a crap, you are fighting a losing war, so just win it by dying sooner and killing nature sooner, who cares!
    How I hate that idea, if you do this then this other thing will happen, you could have avoided this and that, be careful: that is a bunch of BS, no matter what you can’t avoid anything, you can just kick the can down the road, you may avoid B but you will get C, the entire afraid of getting sick because there is this chemical, this radiation, this and that is based on the illusion of control, on the illusion that you are in charge, that you can plan things out: Nothing Further from the Truth, the devil of nature already has other plans in store and will hose you no matter what!
    They think they can win a game that is rigged from the very definition of the game: no matter what, no matter how well you plan it out, or calculate “the risks” or all else, no matter how you expect B from doing A, sooner or later, somewhere and somehow down the road you will get C, just what you didn’t want. So therefore just assign “Will Power Achieved”, just make everything as it is and as it always was and will be automatically correspond to exactly as you want it, just assign it, just make believe you always win, just bluntly lie to yourself, and you can always win, your Will Power Achieved always, no matter what, a “Constant Winning Machine”, no matter what, or what pain/pleasure they generate, get out of the prison of pain/pleasure, good/bad, true/false (or is that truth/untruth?), right/wrong, judgment of others of you being good or bad, etc. you are free.
    On another note, we need to nuke the earth, devastate it, we need to devastate the entire universe, pollute it wildly, go for it little Tommy, Kill Nature Big Time, show nature who is the Boss, extreme manipulation, extreme pollution, extreme everything, split the earth, put all the environmentalists inside gigantic atom bombs and nuclear reactors, show them how beautiful it is to finally accept the killing of nature, no more green on this planet, now only rocks and dead Iron and Steel (I could never understand what is so special about carbon chemistry and why the greens think that carbon chemistry is so “religiously good” against the higher atomic number atoms like uranium, and Steel and Iron and so forth!).
    The sickness is life, death is the cure, nay, the sickness is existence and there is no cure for it.
    We need extreme infinite pain, we need to lose big time, god doesn’t have a trademark on hell, we can make a worser hell, a more intense total chaos and infinite pain, go for it little Suzy, show god how to create a real hell, devastate everything, nuke everything, we should nuke everything just for the fun of it, break, kill, destroy, destroy everything possible, just let it all hang out, no more logic here, no more Civilization here, finally Instinct has hosed Logic, Impulse has killed the Consciousness and cause and effect, we are now free.
    Total Metaphysical Insecurity, go for it, we will design an infinite lasting infinite pain system for thousands of trillions of pain sensor entities (no longer even people, or man, simply a new design of an item specialized in feeling the worst possible pain) we will explore all of this, god himself will run away from this new hell, even the laws of physics will run away wildly, they will all be terrorized by what Symbol over Metaphysics can achieve, god help us all (and also extreme pleasure and a wild mix, and trillions of other entities invented in between and parallel, so not only pain and pleasure exists, but also A, and A1, and A2, on for infinity all new Information Relationships, new sensations, new possibilities). And why is a bird made up of a certain structure of tissues, and what if the structure was trillions of times more complex, and what if the same was only very simple ? why is any function or entity tied into how it is designed, when it could have been designed in a trillion different ways ?
    On a more fun note, the solution to all economic problems is extreme deflation: you want us to compete against China, ok, give us also 100 dollars a month salary, but let us pay 10 dollars a month rent and 10 dollars a month for food, etc. only extreme deflation can help the economy get back up on it feet.
    And then they want you to believe that the economy is “scientific”, when the entire “profit motive”, the need for profit, really simply means someone wants something for nothing, and that translates somewhere and somehow to forcing someone to give you something for nothing, like the agricultural workers or skyscraper builders in the developing world making a 100 dollars a month, while the big bosses, make trillions on profits. That is supposed to be “scientific”; that is supposed to be the “correct economy”: when behind it all is just greed, fights, contrasting Will Powers, A against B, and exploitation of the weak, but this is due to a bad design of mind – brain, this old clunker must be hosed and designed into something new.
    The entire idea of “investment”, that money is supposed to increase automatically because you are using it for something else or “investing” in something: Nothing Further from the Truth, if the value of something increases, it is simply because you are indirectly either stealing from some weak worker somewhere in the world, or you are inflating the value of something up to a make believe value: anyways the value of something is only the degree of how powerful the contrasting will powers over that something exercised themselves, the fight, the power relationship.

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  521. Eleuthero June 17, 2011 at 3:56 am #

    This site has gotten hilarious in the last
    24 hours. I’m within five days of retirement
    yet even if I didn’t have to grade a final
    exam, I doubt I would ever put FORTY posts
    on a blog in a day like this FABIAN character.
    This guy is either a trust fund baby with nothing
    but time on his hands or an ANGRY techie who is
    unemployed. No one with that kind of
    dismissiveness could possibly be over thirty,
    especially with the vulgar insults.
    His argument forms are full of violations of
    basic logic. Example, if I exhort people to
    CONSERVE on clothes buying, he’ll claim that
    I want to NARC on people to the “shirt police”.
    So if I exhort X, he claims I want to MANDATE
    X with the power of the police state.
    People like this RUIN websites. Marc … stop
    talking to this blackguard. You’d be surprised
    how full-on shunning works if you’re just patient
    at it.
    E.

  522. spider9629 June 17, 2011 at 6:37 am #

    From:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=175567
    Italy, Brunetta – Kids are Lazy
    I was reading an article on an Italian politician (Brunetta) calling the young college degreed workers who can’t find jobs or find low paying jobs, “lazy” and “spoiled” and not wanting to work the fields or heavy manual labor, in an “Innovation” conference (go figure!). Interesting, as this ideology is so diffused in the Western world, this simple idea that more work means more product and this should produce “more jobs” and more “money for the workers”, and workers are lazy!
    1) A Technological Economy needs less and less work structurally, it is made up of “services”, tertiary sector, and work and jobs in these sectors don’t follow a simple cause and effect logic like “manufacturing and factories”, the more you work the more you “produce”, since these sectors don’t produce anything (only fluff and power relationships). A lot of work is automated, optimized either directly or indirectly (computers, software, internet), globalized (factories that work 24 hours a day, anywhere worldwide), there is an ever increasing number of people available to do the labor (all of the North Africans trying to escape and enter in Europe) and other structural, objective reasons, that the genius politician of Brunetta can’t figure out (or makes believe he can’t figure it out).
    2) An entire generation of Southern European kids studied in colleges and followed “masters” and so many other qualifications (and even the North Africans are college degreed) hoping to land “high quality”, “high level services” or technological jobs, but these jobs don’t exist and will never exist: it was a lie, the only sectors that offer work are the same old sectors that have been around all of us for decades, but these sectors, being optimized and automated, offer less and less work.
    So the politician says there are 4 million low level manual jobs the kids don’t want to do, well then why did the kids have to study ? to do these jobs ? They were lied to, why do the economists and politicians repeat, like a mantra, that they needed more college graduates ? And even if they decide to do those low level jobs, you have to fire and kick out of work all those presently doing those jobs, so this is the goal, a fight amongst the poor. There are still 5 million jobs that are not there anyways.
    Everything they said was a lie, the economy doesn’t generate jobs because they are not needed, abstract, fluff jobs are not needed, no one is going to pay people to produce “abstractions”, but in the meanwhile the third world immigrants have landed all those low level jobs and the kids are cut out of both kinds of jobs, low level jobs and imaginary high level jobs. And they get insulted by Brunetta.
    We need a radical Deflation, we need the prices of all goods to go way down, house rents 100 dollars a month (and house prices 50,000 dollars at most), store rents the same, even in big important cities like Rome, Milan, Madrid, Paris, New York, Tokyo, etc. And the central banks and governments must print trillions of dollars of money and hire 20 million young kinds in Europe (and the USA) in government jobs to do research (and even if they do nothing at all who cares, there is no way the number of jobs that are needed will be produced by “the invisible” hand of the market) at 800 dollars a month, it can be done, it would only cost 200 billion dollars a year, in an economy that is 10,000 billion dollars a year.
    But especially we have to get rid of the “profit motive”; the myth of “investment”, people buying bonds and debts, and investing in real estate, etc. If people can save some money, just put it on your bank account and don’t let it do anything, it should be against the law to buy debts, and bonds, the whole concept of profit and investments and debts is a huge BS turd.
    The street fights in Greece are the result of this investment and profit myth, and only the weak and workers and poor pay for it, so what we need is a huge worldwide default on all debts, tell the rich to go fly a kite, no more debts, and profits and investments, how I hope they all default, finally free from this huge block of cement holding down millions of people, with the scare of economies blowing up because some turds (all of us, as we are all sinners ?) had “to profit” and make money off “investments”!
    But Brunetta’s ideology wants people to fight each other, a war between the poor, what better way to induce violence and hate and the desire to beat up someone by saying that they are “lazy” and “don’t want to work”, etc. This linearity is so comforting to the mind, this instinct is such a simple cause and effect mechanism, it is so easy to finally blame someone and beat them up, everybody loves this talk, finally free to beat someone up and hate them with all your guts, cool isn’t it ?
    But even if the kids decide to become low level manual workers, the next day all of a sudden, only high level college degreed jobs will all of a sudden become “needed”. But the kids will never be able to guess the right jobs “that are needed”, since there are no right jobs, it all just hides a fight, a power struggle, the class struggle that has always been going on, They want to convince the kids and workers that it is always “their fault” since they “guessed the wrong job” (along with debts to pay colleges).
    But we are simply fights, A against B, that is the only story behind everything, there is no objective, “scientific” economy, only instincts, and fights, and the desire to beat someone up, Rich beat up Poor, strong beats up weak, until they exchange positions (therefore hose the mind – brain, design a different and better one).

  523. MarlinFive54 June 17, 2011 at 6:53 am #

    Hey Spider you’re putting a lot of time and effort into your posts but it is just a waste BECAUSE NOBODY IS READING YOUR LUNATIC BULLSHIT!!! So get a f—-g job!
    -Marlin

  524. lbendet June 17, 2011 at 7:20 am #

    Yeah, Marlin
    I know. Spider is self indulging to the extreme. You have to wonder why he doesn’t just start his own blog, or post on his I Love Philosophy site.–Maybe they kicked him off. I just scroll past him, so just consider that he’s saving you some time catching up on the thread.
    The Vlad-Asoka identity was fun while it lasted. I like the idea of ego-alter-ego being played out on the blog–
    Even Tripp got annoyed–
    and Fabian–wasn’t he a rock star in the late 50’s?
    It has been a bit of a circus in the last day, from what I can see. Sometimes we all go a bit bonkers as my British friend would say–perhaps it’s the gravitational pull of the moon–and don’t get scientific on me, I’m just fooling around…

  525. lbendet June 17, 2011 at 7:40 am #

    And now if you will permit me a bit of self-indulgence…
    The subject is Bonkers: It seems the media wanted to take a vacation from the news and their one way ticket was Anthony Weiner. You couldn’t get away from the story as they celebrated their hand in destroying the guy—not that he didn’t do a damn fine job doing that himself.
    I was listening to Jon Stewart last night and there was this quote from a text W. sent to the prostitute that she wasn’t giving him and his package their props (in different words).
    So here’s the thing, are they separate entities? (him and his package) Does that mean he has to work very hard to keep his package from straying? (that could be the problem)
    Maybe it’s like the Peter Lorre film, “The Beast with Five Fingers”.
    (google it if you don’t know what I’m talking about–it was a horror movie about a pianist afflicted with a psychopathic hand)

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  526. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 8:20 am #

    Howdy Prog, Me and Bobby McGee was written by Kris Kristofferson. Janis made it famous. I prefer the Dead’s version myself. Another rainy day here in western MA. Sorry Tripp, I wish I could send some down about your ways! Make hay while the sun shines!

  527. spider9629 June 17, 2011 at 8:24 am #

    Right Wing Thug says:
    “Hey Spider you’re putting a lot of time and effort into your posts but it is just a waste BECAUSE NOBODY IS READING YOUR LUNATIC BULLSHIT!!! So get a f—-g job!”
    I answer:
    You see, it’s just a fight, A against B. In a sense, the blog is a better representation of that abstract “common world”, that imaginary common space where the truth lies, where what is right and correct lies (or lies in as saying a lie?) that imaginary space everybody wants to take control over, that abstract plane and space where truth or right (as opposed to wrong) must exist and express itself, and in fact, in this case you can follow the fight, a block of text, an attempt at a response (almost always contradicting it in some way, but sometimes aggregating on to it, as we are now agreed and together on this, only to break up later on some other issue, and so forth and so on).
    Only, there is no common space, there is no external reality, only instantaneous status challenges, power struggles, instantaneous actions and reactions, you do A, I do B, fights, contrasts and contrasting Will Powers, Reciprocal Information Relationships, Reciprocal Measurements and associated Definitions of chunks of Information (and will powers ? and minds ? and brains – people ?) colliding with each other. But by my method of “Will Power Achieved”, I always win everything, since it is assigned as won, and everyone else always loses, no matter what, even if they perfectly agree with me, I want to be a hog, a winning hog, that takes the prize all for myself.

  528. spider9629 June 17, 2011 at 8:26 am #

    From:
    http://brainmeta.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=22324&st=180&gopid=114748&#entry114748
    From:
    http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/06/a-distant-sound-of-churning-1.html
    Right Wing Thug says:
    “Hey Spider you’re putting a lot of time and effort into your posts but it is just a waste BECAUSE NOBODY IS READING YOUR LUNATIC BULLSHIT!!! So get a f—-g job!”
    I answer:
    You see, it’s just a fight, A against B. In a sense, the blog is a better representation of that abstract “common world”, that imaginary common space where the truth lies, where what is right and correct lies (or lies in as saying a lie?) that imaginary space everybody wants to take control over, that abstract plane and space where truth or right (as opposed to wrong) must exist and express itself, and in fact, in this case you can follow the fight, a block of text, an attempt at a response (almost always contradicting it in some way, but sometimes aggregating on to it, as we are now agreed and together on this, only to break up later on some other issue, and so forth and so on).
    Only, there is no common space, there is no external reality, only instantaneous status challenges, power struggles, instantaneous actions and reactions, you do A, I do B, fights, contrasts and contrasting Will Powers, Reciprocal Information Relationships, Reciprocal Measurements and associated Definitions of chunks of Information (and will powers ? and minds ? and brains – people ?) colliding with each other. But by my method of “Will Power Achieved”, I always win everything, since it is assigned as won, and everyone else always loses, no matter what, even if they perfectly agree with me, I want to be a hog, a winning hog, that takes the prize all for myself.

  529. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 8:26 am #

    Sorry Prog, I’m just catching up on the posts here since it’s rainin’ “Cats and Dogs” in these parts! I see the resident asshat “Fabian” already corrected you about Janis and her cover of “Me and Bobby McGee”.

  530. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 9:00 am #

    OK, RT, I stand corrected. I’d still rather hear her sing it than any of those other guys.

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  531. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 9:09 am #

    Fabian has a little mental hangup and he’s working on it. Because the website is ClusterFuckNation, fabman thinks every post should reference “f*ck” in some manner.
    Fab serves a useful purpose – besides as a laundry detergent. You’ve heard the truism:
    “For every complex problem there is a solution that is clear, simple, and wrong.” (and usually vulgar!)
    Fabiliciousman demonstrates the Right Wing talking point version of that truism with almost every post.
    If he were not such a nasty useless fucktard on a personal level, he’d be performing a useful purpose on CFN.

  532. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 9:11 am #

    Hi Vlad, in reference to that link you posted. That is just plain fucked up. Religion is just opium for the masses. apologies to the god lovers out there, but I just don’t get the whole thing. I had a strict Catholic raising, no meat on Fridays and all that bullshit. Then I saw the real light.
    “I fear one day I’ll meet God, he’ll sneeze and I won’t know what to say.”
    “Eskimo: “If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?” Priest: “No, not if you did not know.” Eskimo: “Then why did you tell me?””
    “Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.”
    http://godisimaginary.com/

  533. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 9:19 am #

    I forgot this one. “When a person talks to God it is called prayer, When god talks to a person it is called schizophrenia” hahahaha I am so bored. I will pray to Tlaloc now to stop the rain. Tripp you should bend a knee to this dude also ;o)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlaloc

  534. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 9:19 am #

    Now speaking of issues. What are we going to do about Spider. He’s jumping up and down BEGGING to be banned.
    Yet he sometimes has good ideas.
    I’ve been guilty of responding to him, because he strikes me as a thinking spirit with his mental throttle stuck on “manic.” Yet, responses may encourage him to write more fluff, which makes his good ideas even harder to find.
    But who wants to look for a good idea in all of that? And what’s with the “look for the spelling error” double posts – AND, NOW, TRIPLE POSTS?
    Even Q can’t be looking through those second and third posts. And if a new reader/potential poster comes up on all that foolishness – that new reader is probably going to quit reading, then get sick of scrolling – and then give up on the CFN thread completely.
    Captain Spaulding, Troll Abatement Officer – do you have any suggestions for Spider.

  535. bubbleheadMarc June 17, 2011 at 9:26 am #

    Okay, you talked me into it. Anyway, isn’t everyone supposed to wait until the dog days of August to go nuts? I purposely refrained from posting when I was unemployed because I didn’t want to become obsessed with this shit. I don’t generally believe in being reactive which is why I ignored his insults. I don’t see any alternative to tolerating the lunatics in an open forum. One step below lunacy would be demented monomaniacial hobby enthusiasts with an axe to grind, but I won’t name names. People who post farming & gardening tips are perhaps the most sane, and I’ve noticed him giving them shit as well such as his rant about hoeing to aerate the roots of vegetables. Does he just make this shit up as he goes along? And then he told me that fortune 500 companies are great lovers of humanity and are eager to train the unskilled out of the generosity of their hearts overbrimming as they are with tender regard for all the frustrated overeducated people who remain unemployed because they don’t believe the armed forces recruiting ads on tv…and I’m too old to join the French Foreign Legion now so it’s off to work to monitor the tot-mom fiasco between haircuts.

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  536. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 9:33 am #

    Mornin’ BHM. Perhaps he is trolling to get us to support his website. Still rockin’ after all these years!
    http://www.fabianforte.net/
    We should follow the Wizard’s advice in regards to Fabulicious.
    “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”

  537. lbendet June 17, 2011 at 9:59 am #

    I think all that can be done about Spider is for this blog to set rules of how long posts can be and how many one is allowed to post per hr.
    Since there are no rules set for this site, our only option is to call Cass Sunstein’s secret police.

  538. wagelaborer June 17, 2011 at 10:00 am #

    Well, I agree with you here, Spider.
    Really? You tell kids to go to college to get a job and then when they graduate you tell them that they are lazy if they don’t go toil in the fields?
    That takes real chutzpah.
    But the ruling class is known for that.
    No one is checking for spelling errors. You don’t have to repost.

  539. wagelaborer June 17, 2011 at 10:07 am #

    I don’t think that anything should “be done” about the annoying posters except for pointing out social norms to spider and ignoring fabian.
    Censorship leads to banning asoka.
    Did you see that Bill Clinton has proposed a “Ministry of Truth” for the internet?
    A government agency set up to police postings and thought crimes?
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28326.htm
    As one commenter said, really? We thought we were wasting our time, sitting in our basements typing away in our bathrobes, and the ruling class feels threatened! (I paraphrase).

  540. trippticket June 17, 2011 at 10:18 am #

    Interesting how life functions in so many fractal patterns. When we were moving back to Georgia from Washington state we noticed that “fly-over country” seemed to be hitting its contractionary stride already, by last March anyway, when we came through. Entire exits were dead and deserted, rest areas shuttered with crossbucks over the exit roads, a get-gas-wherever-you-see-it kind of feel.
    So in essence “fly-over country” is expanding. Just like our own version here at CFN: “scroll-over country.” If I’m not mistaken that was Asia’s contribution to the local lexicon, and it’s a very fitting label. Just screen after screen of verbal diarrhea and mental masturbation, worthy of nothing so much as a scroll, scroll, scroll.
    Spider, you’re at the helm of the only growth industry represented ’round here. The growth of angst directed at you for your worthless usurpation of our otherwise halfway-respectable discussion. Please cut the ‘spelling error’ bullshit. For those who don’t read your never-ending spew, and I think that’s upwards of 90% of us, it just makes you look even less worthy of our time. It’s not some clever psychological ploy to entice readership, it’s just, well, kinda retarded. Just thought you might like to know.

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  541. ozone June 17, 2011 at 10:27 am #

    Yep.
    As JHK would say (and did): “This Ancien Régime is about to be swept away on the tsunami of its own futility.
    The failure of leadership around the world is now complete. Nobody who needs to get it gets it.”
    Unfortunately (or, fortunately, depending on one’s turn of viciousness), those who continue to engage in the lw/rw duel will be “the first to go”. Why? Because they’re waiting for their charismatic leader to save them. Waiting ain’t gonna water the horsies when things turn from really shitty to desperate.
    It’s a cunning distraction though, ain’t it?
    Please don’t let those who refuse to see the forest for the trees dissuade you from making your thoughtful postings. I (for one) appreciate the effort.
    (I still think that much of the “anti-JHK” tripe that appears is most purposeful. They’re not trying to “convince” us of anything; just hoping that all the poo-flinging will drive us away, distract our focus, and create rifts in areas where we already [for the major part] agree. I also believe some of this crap is done for pay; aptly coined “counter-intelligence”, the most reprehensible whore-age of all.)

  542. ozone June 17, 2011 at 10:34 am #

    RT,
    …And I prefer my version better than either (it’s just got more “kick”). ;o)
    The rain is getting me a bit depressed, with the roof leakage and all, but given a couple un-rainy days we may prevail, as we’re above the roof-line and cricket by a couple feet with the masonry.
    Wish we could send a bunch of this down to Tripp and the rest of the folk in Jaw-ja; we’ve got about twice the amount we need!
    Goodest luck, Clusterfuckians!

  543. ozone June 17, 2011 at 10:42 am #

    Wage,
    Thanks for the link to Phil. I always read his stuff when it comes out on Info-clearinghouse.
    I also think that his perspective on “the south” and its’ attendant attitudes is more important than many would like to admit.
    (Notice that I’ve kind of given up on capitalizing things/concepts that I consider to be very distinctly diminishing in import as TLE shifts into 2nd gear? There’s just some stuff that’s getting tossed into the “irrelevant” pile.)

  544. wagelaborer June 17, 2011 at 10:51 am #

    Good ones, Ripped. Thanks for the website.
    My main dog, my companion and protector for 14 years, suddenly became paralyzed in her back legs yesterday.
    I took her to the vet. (A side effect of the Depression is that they always have openings).
    They did x-rays and gave her a massive dose of steroids. They also gave her tranquilizers, because she is totally freaked out that she can’t move her back legs.
    This is why people cling to religion, I think. I feel helpless and sad and if I thought that prayer would help, I’d be on my knees.
    Instead I’m sitting by her, knowing that I might have to put her down, if she doesn’t get better with the steroids.
    She’s OK if I’m with her, but still freaked about her legs.

  545. MarlinFive54 June 17, 2011 at 11:52 am #

    Ibendet, lots of consternation and handwringing on CNBC, WSJ and the Financial Times etc. about Greece past week or so. What’s the deal on Greece? If Greece ‘defaults’ what exactly would that mean for the Greeks, the rest of Europe, and the US? Is it a big deal, or ‘much ado about nothing’? I notice crude is headed south, and the Dow back up into positive territory today.
    Wage, sorry to heart about your dog.
    -Marlin

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  546. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 12:27 pm #

    Very sorry to hear about your dog too, Wage. I appreciated your words of support back last winter when I had to put my family’s old dog down. I said a bunch (probably too much for some of y’all) about how dogs fit into our lives – at the time. All of that still holds true. Good luck to you and your canine.
    On another note – you said something interesting about the “asoka: banned vs. quit” issue. Basically that conspiracy theorists, such as yourself?, see the issue differently than others do.
    I’m just a pure pragmatist at heart. If I got banned, I’d assume it was some electronic hiccup – or else JHK was having a bad day and wanted to lash out at a Southerner, or something weird like that – and I’d establish a new screenname and go right back to posting as “ConserveorProgress.”
    And anyway, wage, what would be the grounds under which asoka would deserve banning?

  547. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 12:40 pm #

    “The rain is getting me a bit depressed, with the roof leakage and all,…”
    -O3-
    We tend to get our endless rains like that in the winter down here, ozone. Rain in the summer is most always a very good thing. Lightning, wind, and hail – sometimes not so much of a good thing.
    I’m reminder of the fellow with a leaky roof.
    “I can’t fix it now, it’s raining,” he says.
    – Then the rain stops and the sun comes out. –
    “Don’t need to fix the roof now. It’s not leaking!”
    ====================
    On another note, to all of you (not just you, Ozone) who continue to express surprise the the South is different from some of the rest of the country.
    We lost a war. We were invaded and occupied. Lingering effects are to be expected from major events such as these.
    I will be happy to address specifics – as I have frequently done with Hancock1863, I believe to our mutual benefit.

  548. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 12:49 pm #

    I meant to ask you, Marlin, why you are interested in the Keys for the winter, in particular. We love the Keys – I’d throw together the dive gear and fishing gear tomorrow if I could find a group going down.
    But after less than about two weeks down there, we’re always ready to head elsewhere. The Keys are just a little stressful, and crowded, and expensive – for my taste.
    I always thought that we’d look into a house in the Crystal River area – if we wanted a “winter home.”
    That area, or Manatee Springs, or Panama City – working further and further north.
    Oh, and by the way, orionoir was posting on CFN for a little while, two to three years ago. He’s actually fairly easy to find under that handle, out on the open internet.

  549. Cash June 17, 2011 at 12:50 pm #

    I’ve heard that European banks bought a lot of Greek govt bonds. So if the Greek govt defaults on those bonds it will blow holes in bank balance sheets, cause them to take big losses. Which, I suppose, could impact executive bonuses. Can’t have that can we? I mean, what would happen to high end restaurants and retailers?
    Would it hurt the European economy as a whole? Would it affect overall wages and employment? It could but does anyone seriously think the PTB give a shit about that?

  550. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 1:15 pm #

    Yeah, concur 100% with your latest post.
    And I meant to add something to your post several weeks ago concerning the number of large and (seemingly) abandoned billboards visible up and down I-75 in Georgia.
    Georgia’s legislature has long been in bed with the billboard industry. Supposedly, a law passed and signed this session establishes a fund to take down old billboards. In exchange for this piece of common sense – our legislature gave the billboard companies permission to cut down trees ON THE PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY, to keep their precious billboards easily visible.
    And I’m a native, but I’ll say that Georgia’s Interstates look like hell, compared to most other state’s. A huge part of the reason is the billboards.
    There is garish black/yellow signage on about 5 HUGE billboards between Macon and just south of Tifton. Have you noticed those, Tripp.
    They are advertising a (mostly or completely) on-line store selling survival foods and survival gear. The signs are only visible to the south-bound traffic, heading to Florida – land of Mickey Mouse and Retirement Nirvana.
    Is this another sign of coming apocalypse?

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  551. Qshtik June 17, 2011 at 1:21 pm #

    SUBJ: My two cents re Spider and Tootsie
    I think it was July ’09 when I discovered this blog. Up till a few months ago I read nearly every comment from start to finish. The only exceptions were extremely long comments concerning matters I had no expertise in and no interest. Only then could I bring myself to just scroll on by.
    Even so I disliked scrolling because there was the possibility that the not-read-post would contain some element that would become the general topic of conversation amongst others … and I’d be out of the loop. So it was rare indeed that I skipped anything.
    I noticed that other people would get annoyed with a particular commenter and claim that they had adopted a policy of scrolling past but later you’d notice that they were well aware of the content of those posts that they claimed they were skipping.
    And then came EIGHTM who morphed into Old 6699 and now Spider. I disliked his posts from day one but I continued to read them. I wrote little fictions about him blogging from the dayroom of the “Greystone Institute for the Non-Criminally Insane.” I describe him as sitting in a corner rocking back and forth, smeared in, and playing with, his own feces. I dreamt up “find the error” games in which the 2nd prize was a free week on the Riviera but the winner got the opportunity to visit Greystone to secretly observe EIGHTM and meet with his shrink and then report back what they’d seen to the rest of us. (It’s like that old joke — first prize is a free week in Philly and second prize is two free weeks in Philly.) None of this attempt to shame Eight/Old/Spider fazed him in the least.
    I also noticed that Spider (I’m now using only his current name to save key strokes) rarely, if ever, held a dialog with other commenters. There was no give and take, no back and forth, no debate.
    And so, a couple of months ago I actually began to scroll. I would read the first line of a paragraph here and there and maybe the bolded words and once I was sure that it was more of the same old bullshit I’d skip the whole thing. And that’s where I stand today … able to skip vast swathes of Spider bullshit without remorse.
    As to Tootsie/Fabian (and BTW, of all his names I prefer sticking with Tootsie for some unknown reason) I don’t have the big problem with him that many others have. Two years ago I used to be quite offended by his foul insults although I found myself largely in agreement (and still do) with his right-leaning, anti-big-govt slant on the world. Since 95% of the throng here is in the liberal (e.g. Prog) to commie (e.g. Wage) range of the bell curve all I can say to Toots is good luck “wif dat.”
    I’m at the point now where I can observe a verbal battle between Tootsie and, say, Turkle and genuinely laugh my ass off.
    There have been several suggestions what JHK should or could do about commenters like Spider and Tootsie but I am in the camp of total internet/blog freedom. Jim is doing the right thing which is, for the most part, nothing.

  552. BeantownBill June 17, 2011 at 1:21 pm #

    Just wanted to report on an experience I had yesterday.
    I attended a naturalization ceremony in Boston’s Faneuil Hall for 397 new citizens. The new-citizen attendees each got one of those small, hand-held American flags on a stick. The immigration judge 1st read off a list of the countries the 397 came from, and asked those people to stand up when their (former) countries were announced. Probably 75 or 80 countries were on the list. The 1st one was Albania, and a women stood up and danced around waving the US flag; everyone clapped and cheered. This was repeated for all 397 attendees.
    The variety of countries that people left to live here was very broad: Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, China, Great Britian, Iran, Israel, France, Germany, Togo, South Africa, Spain, Ethiopia, etc.
    When a politically sensitive (to us) country was named and someone stood up and waved the flag, nobody booed; clapping and cheering abounded.
    Friends and families of the new citizens were then ushered out to wait outside the front entrance. The building is over 250 years old, with very wide doors, like in a meeting hall. Soon the new citizens walked down the front stairs with their naturalization certificates and their families cheered as they beamed and displayed their certificates. One of the new citizens came up to me and asked if I’d take a picture for him. His smile was ear-to-ear. He said, “this is why I came to America”, as he swept his hands around the crowd.
    I’ll tell ya. I’m a cynical old dog who doesn’t have a lot of respect for America, but it was impossible in these circumstances not to be proud of being an American. The whole experience was very emotional. I better understand now how people can buy into the American sale pitch. It’s a powerful message; I kind of think America is a unique country in the world (for better or worse). I just couldn’t see such a wide spectrum of people wanting to be citizens of say, India or China or even any European country.
    BTW,the most raucous response from members of the audience were the Brazilians; they didn’t just cheer, they shouted and clapped very, very loudly.
    It was sweet. This one’s for you, Welles.

  553. Cash June 17, 2011 at 1:30 pm #

    …should they default, the countries of Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy would be right behind them… Fabian
    You’re right. The fine citizens of P.I.S.I. would say something like why the fuck should we bear hardship and make good on our debts when the Greeks didn’t? Especially when there’s a gang of suckers (German taxpayers) that can be persuaded that it’s in their self interest to cough up for yet another bailout.
    You’re right, the very survival of the Euro is at stake. I would argue as it was from day one of that misconceived currency. Germans carried a load of guilt over WW2 and so they thought, OK, we’ll give this hazardous undertaking some credibility through our participation. It’s the least we can do.
    And so you had German workers and pensioners giving up their mighty Deutschmark which was underpinned by their discipline and hard work and basic honesty (ie they paid their taxes) to share a currency with howlingly corrupt, gangster ridden crapholes like Greece and Italy and the financially witless in places like Ireland that couldn’t quite get their heads around the idea that debt has to be held aloft and repaid with income.
    But just as misconceived as this currency was the German sense of guilt which made this currency possible. It’s been three generations since Nazi guns went silent and the old combattants are almost all dead. The clock ticks remorselessly. Time to give it up.
    The Euro is not workable and never was. Time to re-float the DMark.

  554. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 1:33 pm #

    One more thing – concerning killing bugs –
    I hear you man, but the biologist in me has to do the counterpoint.
    Using Japanese beetles as an example –
    I can walk up to the grape vines and stand there as long as I like, quietly acquiring targets – and none of the beetles will respond.
    I can gently touch leaves and vines, and few beetles will respond. But – as soon as I crush a beetle, the others tend to become agitated and harder to catch. I don’t know if there is an “alarm pheromone” released by crushing a beetle or not. I’ve never seen anything in my recent, exhaustive 15 second research of the literature – regarding such a pheromone.
    Or, maybe crushed beetles simply smell “scary” to other beetles, in anthropomorphic terms. Which means that they would smell “good” to predators.
    So maybe crushing beetles with my bare hands is my way of ATTRACTING predators.
    No proof of this, of course – just musing along and trying to keep the Resident Submariner happy by talking about agriculture.

  555. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 1:36 pm #

    Hi Wage, Don’t give up hope on your dog. Back in 1987 me and my friend were cutting down a massive dead maple ( 4 foot dia. trunk and probably 2-3 hundred years old). My son, about 2 at the time, let my German Shepard out. She came running towards me at the worst possible time. A 6″ limb fell squarely on her back from about 25′ up. spread her out on the ground like a squished bug. It took both my friend and I to lift the branch off her. When we did she jumped up and ran back to the house and laid down. 1/2 hour later she was totally paralyzed in the hindquarters. Yup, broken back. One vet wanted to operate (no guarantees)and a huge bill. I went to another guy and he put her on massive steroids to reduce the inflammation. I wheeled her around like a wheelbarrow for several months. I could feel her bones grating in her back at first. Anyway, she healed up and got her legs back after 3-4 months. Her gate was never the same but she lived for another 5 years. Man, I loved that dog. She died in my kitchen on a 100 degree day from what I diagnosed as a heart attack she was 12 which is fairly old for a Shepard. I see your dog is 14 years young. depending on the breed that is kinda old. I always had Shepherds but they make a mess and don’t live all that long. I have small dogs now and the little bastards will probably outlive me!

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  556. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 1:40 pm #

    Hey Fabian, Phuck you and the horse you rode in on, DICKWAD!

  557. asia June 17, 2011 at 1:46 pm #

    Thanks but it was YOU I assume sent Robotboy77
    ‘to outer darkness’…..how we gonna laugh at him now?
    What id like is a bulleted list of all of tootsys/fabians ‘handles’….that id be a cool read..ok you ftard!
    Looks like RippedT is more like fabian ,too much like him.See post directly above this.

  558. asia June 17, 2011 at 1:48 pm #

    No fool like an old fool…bring more people
    into a collapsing society.

  559. asia June 17, 2011 at 1:50 pm #

    How many Catholics are there?
    How many Chindians are there?

  560. asia June 17, 2011 at 1:55 pm #

    hahahah
    The only thing worse than a post from spidey is a double post…
    woops..looks like a TRIPLE POST

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  561. JonathanSS June 17, 2011 at 2:03 pm #

    I’m really impressed with your chest freezer to refrig conversion. It is always better to look at implementing what conservationists refer to as “low hanging fruit” when it comes to reducing energy use. I’m certain you’ll see a 2-3 year payback in your upfront costs (less if you already owned the freezer).
    Better to spend $2,000 to cut energy use in half and see a 4 year payback rather than spend $20,000 on solar panels that might give someone 10-20 years to pay off.

  562. Cash June 17, 2011 at 2:05 pm #

    Sometimes I think that the people that know and understand America the least are Americans. Maybe it’s like Orwell says, it’s a case of not seeing what’s plainly under your own nose. Maybe it’s a forest vs the trees thing or maybe it’s a case of seeing America and the world outside through ideologically tinted glasses.
    I’m not talking about you Bean but Americans in general especially those that are at opposing ends of the spectrum, one of which is home to the Blame America First crowd and the other side which is holds to My Country Right or Wrong.
    Maybe this spectrum had its origin in the idea of American Exceptionalism. I think this American Exceptionalism coin has two sides to it: America is the worst/America is the best.
    From the perspective of an outsider I think that in a lot of ways but not all ways America is the best. But I don’t think that there’s a lot of ways that America is the worst. I think that idea comes from faulty or incomplete knowledge of the rest of the world. Canada has benefitted massively from having you guys as neighbours. If it had been Russia or China we’d be mouldering in mass graves.
    I think that these new citizens wouldn’t have come to America because their old countries were peachy and keen. America may not be what it once was but it’s still a good deal compared to other places.

  563. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 2:10 pm #

    Hi Asia, I do not care for your disparaging post comparing me to that dipstick Fabian. He just tries to “stir the pot”. I should have never replied to his comments. I don’t call names which are not deserved. He is a fucktard! He set me off. It will not happen again. Have a nice day. RT

  564. MarlinFive54 June 17, 2011 at 2:12 pm #

    Nice post about the citizenship ceremony, BTBill. PoC, I hope you read it. People from around the world, despite everything, still look to America and wish to come here and be part of us. That is saying something!
    -Marlin

  565. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 2:13 pm #

    Click below to see some good pics of the eclipse which which everyone in North America missed the other day.
    http://spaceweather.com/eclipses/gallery_15jun11.htm?PHPSESSID=4jeapti61np4sngpcfpbsfdda6

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  566. Qshtik June 17, 2011 at 2:20 pm #

    Thanks but it was YOU I assume sent Robotboy77
    ‘to outer darkness’
    ==========
    Who is Robotboy77?

  567. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 2:25 pm #

    Regarding the chest freezer to ‘frig conversion, try to find a freezer with the condenser coils mounted outside the freezer on the back. no fans, better heat transfer, etc. etc. I don’t even know if they make them anymore. All of the new freezers have the condenser coils mounted inside the jacket. real smart, put the hot next to the cold. Also, if you really want to save energy cover the whole freezer with 3″ polyisocyanate foam board. ( I know, made from oil) the thing will hardly ever run. don’t cover the condenser though.

  568. Qshtik June 17, 2011 at 2:59 pm #

    Regarding the chest freezer to ‘frig conversion
    ===========
    First of all Rip, Jonathon, and now you, have got Tripp’s conversion backward I think … it was fridge to chest freezer wasn’t it?.
    Well anyway, I’m reading about this with a wan smile on my face trying to imagine selling such an idea to MY wife who is a totally form over function person.
    I can just see her face if I suggested eliminating her stainless steel split in the middle fridge with pullout freezer on the bottom in favor of a big ‘ol ugly horizontal freezer chest … an then to top it off, wrap the whole thing in foam board. I DON’T THINK SO!!.

  569. Qshtik June 17, 2011 at 3:11 pm #

    Before someone points out that I wrote “an then to top it off” (i.e. leaving off the letter d in and) … be advised that the letter d key came off my laptop’s keyboard and I have to jump through hoops to type a letter d.
    Has anyone ever had this happen to their computer? and if so, how did you fix it?

  570. ozone June 17, 2011 at 3:28 pm #

    ***I’m reminded of the fellow with a leaky roof.
    “I can’t fix it now, it’s raining,” he says.
    – Then the rain stops and the sun comes out. –
    “Don’t need to fix the roof now. It’s not leaking!”
    *** -PoC
    Ha! Pretty good; I would follow the same script if the place were an old wreck… but it ain’t. ;o)
    The precip. around these parts is getting a little drastic (i.e. year ’round wet things falling from the sky). I’ll look up these last few years vs. “average” if you’re interested.
    Oh, as far as “surprised” about southerners being “different”? Not a’tall. I’ve always found them to be highly reactionary, hard grudge-holders, and quick to take offense.
    On the other end of the spectrum, the “good” qualities of warmth, helpfulness, and friendliness are also in abundance.
    I’m not sure it’s understood that I’ve been all over this world in a quite “unstructured” and “unsupervised” way, I read people well [IMHO], and I’m a one for keeping mouth shut and eyes and ears open. I see differences, but many commonalities as well; very little of “human nature” surprises me. (…Only the disconnected above-it-all attitude of the swells surprises me.)

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  571. tucsonspur June 17, 2011 at 3:30 pm #

    Yes Jim, there’s an ominous churning across the land, and things are turning to shit, not butter.
    Here in Arizona the winds and fires seem to be telling me that something much more wicked is coming our way.
    Most of us know there’s something foul in the air, a whiff of that poor Cayley reminding us of our national decomposition, the smell of the scatalogical and the sordid replacing the spring bloom.
    The indicia are everywhere. Brawls are now commonplace, even just now, people fighting for tickets to the Casey Anthony spectacle. During the recent Republican debate, Michelle Bachmann proclaimed that we must rid ourselves of the EPA to help solve our problems. Right, that’ll do it for sure. Then there are Wiener, the Terminator, and the Frenchman who headed I Must Fuck. The ingrained resource and population issues will be with all those now alive until after the day they die.
    Greece is going off the cliff, and it appears that before long not too many Spaniards will be doing the seguidilla.
    Here at home we have the annointed one, the orotund Obama, aka Obama Ali, to guide us through these perilous times. He sure gave us the shuffle. Obama roped the dopes and doped the hopers. He gave them that sweet shot, an injection into the psyche of a hope so hyped and false that it seemed much better than the real thing. But the time for jones’n is just about here. The cry for another fix is getting louder across the land, only this time it can’t come from the white house, only from “that nigger in the alley”.

  572. Vlad Krandz June 17, 2011 at 3:51 pm #

    Don’t condemn all spirituality because of the corruptions of the various religions. Many of them started out very high – even Judaism. Judaism began to get corrupted during the Babyolonian Captivity when it began to incorporate alot of Middle Eastern Occultism and Metaphysics. Modern Judaism has nothing to do with Ancient Judaism. Christ Himself relentlessly criticized the New Judaism which is nothing else but the Pharisee School. After the destruction of the Temple, the Pharisee school was the main one to survive.
    The Orthodox also have a big problem with pedophile rabbis which the press covers up since it is largely Jewish owned. Do the owners like Orthodox Judaism? No. But they hate the Catholic Church. That’s why the difference in coverage.

  573. Vlad Krandz June 17, 2011 at 3:56 pm #

    How horrible. Like the Tower of Babel, a nation which engages in such nonsense will fall and soon. Diversity isn’t strength – it’s total, absolute weakness. Lack of Diversity is why China and Japan have lasted thousands of years and may last thousands more. The diversity that they do have is for the most part from peoples closely related to themselves. Do you think Japan or China would last if they imported millions of Black Africans? Or Whites for that matter?

  574. Vlad Krandz June 17, 2011 at 4:10 pm #

    College kids can’t think. The hemming and hawing of “like” is annoying but could be forgiven, but not the pure inability. It’s work and they’ve never been asked to do it. And the Establishment doesn’t want thinkers but workers – as J.P Morgan, Dewey, and Rockefeller made clear. Going along with the party line is what’s expected and it’s so much easier.
    Unfortunately, they don’t know that they can’t think. Pathetic. One can only laugh to avoid crying.
    http://exposingleftists.com/archives/324

  575. wagelaborer June 17, 2011 at 4:12 pm #

    Hi, Ripped. Thanks to you and everyone who wished my dog well.
    She is a German Shepherd. At least on mama’s side. We don’t know who the doggie daddy is.
    The vet said that there is something that German Shepherds get which can make them paralyzed, but it’s very rare. It could be a blood clot. The xray didn’t show a break or herniated disc.
    I know that we give massive steroids to spinal cord injuries in the ER, so that’s what I went for.
    She was already old. She used to be 85 pounds. Yesterday she weighed 62 pounds.
    She’s been incontinent for a while now. She mostly lies on a pad by the couch, and I change it everyday, and wash it.
    Yesterday, she was on a pad and tried to get up and got her back feet tangled. I think that’s what did it.
    I’ve decided that I just can’t kill her. I can’t take her in and look her in the eyes and let someone kill her.
    I really love my dog. She doesn’t seem to be in any pain, even when the vet manipulated her spine.
    I use to work in rehab. At one time I believed that I could never be a paraplegic, but after working there, I thought that maybe I could. But definitely not a quad.
    Anyway, at first it’s a great shock to be a para, but then they seem to adjust.
    She’s already calmer about her situation, although it could be the tranquilizers.

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  576. MarlinFive54 June 17, 2011 at 4:28 pm #

    Listened to a report on Bloomberg today about the $50-$100 million dollar mansions going up again in Palo Alto (Silicon Valley).
    Tues. in Financial Time of London a story on compensation for CEOs of the biggest banks, all of which were the recipient of Govt. largesse in the past 4 years. Needless to say pay now equals or exceeds what it was before the crash, except now more of it is hidden in the form of deferred compensation, perks, and stock options. The article also said that banks are ready to aggressively begin making subprime loans again, with the backing of FannyMea, to “jumpstart'” real estate sales.
    It seems like the system operates with a logic of its own, divorced from economic reality, in a lockstep toward oblivion.
    -Marlin

  577. wagelaborer June 17, 2011 at 4:28 pm #

    Americans as a whole are pretty nice people.
    The things I like best about Americans are friendliness, tolerance, and waiting in line instead of pushing their way to the front.
    The things I don’t like about Americans is their wastefulness, and their belief that everyone else in the world can be killed if the President says so.
    Most of those people probably like the air conditioning and the grocery stores.

  578. wagelaborer June 17, 2011 at 4:39 pm #

    That was kind of a joke. I’m not really a conspiracy theorist. I tend to believe whatever someone tells me. It’s hard for me to believe that people would lie.
    However. People do lie. I no longer believe it when some drunk tells me that he was walking along and minding his own business and someone just came up and hit him in the nose.
    I don’t believe that he only had “2 beers”.
    And I used to believe the official stories about the Kennedy assassination, Jonestown and 9-11, but changed my mind when presented with convincing evidence.
    But I believe Asoka. I don’t think it’s a trick.
    On the other hand, it could be a glitch in the software. Pete knows that I’ve had problems posting for various obscure reasons. Maybe for some weirdass reason Asoka suddenly was dumped from the A-list.
    That doesn’t mean that he’s tricking us though.

  579. spider9629 June 17, 2011 at 4:42 pm #

    It all depends on how the world is decoded by our mind – brain system: decode it differently (that is connect it to new and different sense organs, memory organizations, feelings, emotions, pain/pleasure circuits, you name it, if you can imagine it, it is (or can be made to be) there, if you can invent it, no matter how far out and incredible, it can be made to be there etc. and on and on, and invent all kinds of new subsystems, whatever) and you get a new universe, a new big bang, a new reality, a new totality, BIG TIME.
    This is the last invention, because it reinvents the entire universe and existence and the world. It is the last step in Science and Progress, the last baby step, one small step for man, one giant step for the universe and existence. Go for it, little Suzy, you can do it, design a new mind, be as illogical as possible, play around like crazy, go for it, and run around the backyard wildly laughing and jumping up and down with me and Tommy and Betty, all inventing the new bain – mind contraption, oh what FUN, while Mommy cooks dinner, then she will all call us in to eat. What a beautiful life, in the suburbs, in the backyard, while Daddy works (for that crappy corporation that always wants to hose him, go figure) we have fun and invent a new life.

  580. LewisLucanBooks June 17, 2011 at 4:42 pm #

    Sorry to hear about your canine friend. Hope he pulls through and perks up.
    Ran across a website I thought you might find interesting.
    http://www.postpeakmedicine.com
    It still seems to be a work in progress, but there’s some good information. I was thinking of you when I clicked on “Nurse” to see the post peak prospects. There was just a message. Basically, “We’re waiting for a nurse to write this section.” Same with dentist.
    Still, there’s some good stuff there. Check it out.

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  581. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 4:43 pm #

    Hey Q, Tripp wanted to convert a chest freezer into a ‘frig. More insulation and more efficient as the cold air does not spill out when you open the door. I make lager beer in my garage ‘frig in the winter. it has to be lagered for 3-6 months. I actually have a light bulb inside the ‘frig on a thermostat to keep it at 34 degrees F . The compressor never runs cuz it is cold as Santa’s house in my garage in january. I just make ale in the summer. No chill needed. I was at Home Depot the other day and bought the last 100 watt Edison bulbs they will ever have in my town. 16 bulbs for $2.49. I bought 64. They are out. Outlawed as of 1/1/12. No longer made in the USA. All must be off the shelves by that date.

  582. digbycookies June 17, 2011 at 4:48 pm #

    There’s an “A” list?

  583. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 4:49 pm #

    Fabian? Fabian? Fabian? What’s that you say? I can’t hear you anymore! Try your dog whistle. Maybe my dog will hear you.

  584. spider9629 June 17, 2011 at 4:55 pm #

    Wanted to say:
    Forgot a BOLD; sorry guys and gals (any HOT gals out there?).
    take away the “ones”…

  585. digbycookies June 17, 2011 at 4:57 pm #

    Actually, I think Japan is pretty much fucked, what with that little nuclear “Fuck us shema”. I imagine in about 5-10 years we’ll be reading about babies being born with three eyes, one arm, etc.

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  586. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 4:58 pm #

    If ya’ all recall or read the book, “The Witch of Hebron” the guy with the huge estate, I can’t recall his name, ran low on lightbulbs and had to go back to lanterns. It all starts here!

  587. Puzzler June 17, 2011 at 4:59 pm #

    If you still have the D keycap, just press (or glue) it back on. Otherwise pop the $20 for a new keyboard. Even better Office Depot has a wireless keyboard and mouse combo for $29.99.

  588. Puzzler June 17, 2011 at 5:07 pm #

    Why care about what happens to Greece?
    It’s a preview of what happens to the rest of the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Spain) and the fate of the Euro. Some are working on a Northern European Euro.
    More importantly for us it’s a preview of what happens to us.
    Guess what happened to the $600 Billion QE2 bailout? It actually went to European banks.
    See here: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/exclusive-feds-600-billion-stealth-bailout-foreign-banks-continues-expense-domestic-economy-

  589. BeantownBill June 17, 2011 at 5:08 pm #

    Here’s my replies to those who commented on my naturalization ceremony post:
    Asia – thank you for your ditzy post; you totally missed my point and tried to disparage a beautiful event. I knew some CFNers wouldn’t be able to connect with the spirituality of that moment, and would place politics above the joy I felt. Your loss, not mine.
    Cash – I’ve always appreciated your honest comments on America, and I agree with most of them, including this latest.
    Marlin – you seem to completely understand what I was trying to say. Thank you.
    Wage – Nice, balanced post. I’m glad you didn’t rip our society, but kindly stated your opinions.
    Vlad – well, I kinda figured you’d comment the way you did. Thanks for trying but failing to ruin a beautiful memory. At least you could have acknowledged the deep-felt emotions that were present there. You can best be described in a one-word description right from the mouth of Tootsie/Tsa/Fabian/etc. You can choose the word.
    Procon – you didn’t comment yet, but I just wanted to say I still agree with you on immigration. I still feel priveliged to have witnessed this event; you should have seen it. I know you would have appre3ciated it. But I do feel very happy for the naturalized citizens.

  590. ozone June 17, 2011 at 5:17 pm #

    Wage,
    As long as your pup-pup is not in pain, it’s all good. (That IS pretty old for a dog, so I’m not sure he’ll go a LOT longer.)
    I was so thankful for the home hospice care team and an understanding doctor when it was time for my Dad to go. There was no problem whatsoever when he began to suffer some terrible pain. The nurse called the doc; the morphine was doubled, and my Dad shuffled off this mortal coil [out of pain] less than 8 hours later. (I cannot see why anyone would think that there’s nobility in suffering if other options are available.)
    I wish for some good, happy times between you and the pup YET! :o)

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  591. BeantownBill June 17, 2011 at 5:19 pm #

    I know how you must feel about your dog. My cat, who rules our household, is 19 years old, and I know he doesn’t have a lot of time left. He was diagnosed with injection-site carcinoma and given 6 weeks to 3 months to live. But that was 2 years ago last March, and he’s still carrying on fine, even though his back legs are getting weak.
    My wife says she will put him down if he begins to suffer. I don’t think I could do that, but thank goodness women are stronger than men.
    From time to time I try to picture taking him to the vet for his last trip, but it makes me so sad that I just put that thought out of my mind. But it will happen soon, I suppose. Just wanted to let you know I sympathize with your situation and understand your feelings.

  592. BeantownBill June 17, 2011 at 5:24 pm #

    Isn’t it ironic that we thoughtlessly wipe out species, but the ones we end up being emotionally attached to live much shorter lives than we do? Next time around, maybe I should get a parrot – or an elephant (you know “keep them alive, adopt an elephant”).

  593. Vlad Krandz June 17, 2011 at 5:33 pm #

    Hockey is anarchist’s favorite sport.

  594. Vlad Krandz June 17, 2011 at 5:38 pm #

    Such sentimentality! The future of America is more important than your feelings. If you value this kind of thing so much, why not for Israel too? Alot of people want to return to their old homes in Palestine. It could be very beautiful.

  595. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 5:51 pm #

    Hey BTB, puttin’ down a loved friend is no easy ordeal. I have done it and i cried every time as my beloved companions took their last breath. In ’99 my Dad took a horrible spill on the stairs. He hit his head on the concrete. Neurosurgeon said he had massive brain damage and no hope of recovery? Doctor knows more than me. I saw the cat scans and they did not look good. He was on a vent for 3-4 days and they said he needed a feeding tube. We decided to pull the plug. They pulled out the vent. The stubborn old goat gasped for hours. It was heartbreaking. The nurse kept upping the morphine drip until his respirations dropped off . Basically we euthanized him I guess.

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  596. Ixnei June 17, 2011 at 5:53 pm #

    I absolutely despise discussing the markets. That being said, I become almost enraged when I hear idiots talking about moving into ETF’s – it reminds me of that moronic Schwab commercial (“A vineyard? Give me a break.” Why would I want actual tangible assets with real-world value, when I can put my money into a purely speculative index, that is barely related to some ‘supposed’ underlying commodity/stock/bond market).
    Speaking of commercials, how about the one about the Cadillac windshield wipers that are ‘engineered’ to work at 100MPH? I mean, if you are going 100MPH and can’t see because of heavy rainfall, you’re quickly going to hydroplane into the nearest ditch. Also gotta love that one where the ‘African-American’ intellectual/presidential CEO-type is talking about the rich oil sands, painting a pretty future for decades to come…
    As for 401K’s, I rolled mine over into an individually managed IRA. It’s been in money market funds since 2006 (unfortunately not FDIC insured, but do you really think that will matter, when it all comes crumbling down?), and I’ve been pulling out $20k/year from it, ever since (the 10% penalty isn’t terrible, as this particular account allows partial withdrawals – so you can control your tax bracket). One portion of my 401k could not be rolled over, as it was the portion of the 401K that the company ‘matched’ my funds (just over 25% of the entire 401K). Anyone should be able to roll over their own 401k, but perhaps there are issues for some if they’re still with that company (even if that company contributed *$0* to the 401K).
    FWIW, I picked up 7 cuttings of Bocking-14 Comfrey this spring, from a nursery 150 miles away. This stuff is crazy, it grows pretty well in any soil type (clay, acidic, bug-infested, dry, water-saturated, low light, full light). I’m not sure how Tripp is taking 4 cuttings/year during the first year, as the instructions I received suggest you let it get settled during the first year, as the tap roots need to get down 3-5 feet (!!!) into the soil, to pull out all that ‘peak phosphorus’. What’s nice is that this stuff is seedless, so it won’t propagate like a weed – unless you rototill it into the garden bed!
    I did not rototill this year, first time in quite a while, and I used the ‘secret’ composting method from Gaia’s Garden, which is working very well so far (soil amends [lime]/thin nitrogen-rich grass clippings/quarter inch corrogated cardboard/thin nitrogen-rich grass clippings/some manure/8 inches brown carbon/1 inch compost/2 inches brown carbon). Similar to what Jerry Baker suggested, but he was very unspecific (suggesting a couple inches of compost on top of a thin layer of newspaper, not a 1 foot tall variegated [layered LOL] pile).
    I’ve also planted a few tomatoes in the same area this year as last year (but different variety), so we shall see if I get the classic ‘bloom rot’. I’m guessing I won’t – I’ve typically found bloom rot in the past to be both species related (only ever saw it on some romas I planted) and calcium/phosphorus related. Bone meal helped with that crappy roma species, but I haven’t grown it for over 6 years. I’ve rotated corn/squash/bean beds with tomato beds every year, and haven’t had bloom rot ever since…
    I’m stuck in a zoned region where I cannot raise livestock. Or, I can, as long as my neighbors don’t report me/complain. So, still no chickens (still buying organic brown eggs for $4/dozen)…
    PS – anyone notice Asoka seems to poast less and less, and when he does, it’s all simply antipodal to anything and everything. Apparently, he’s going to join that Welles tax-evader in Brazil, having bought land there, but not moving for another couple years. Good luck with that – I’m betting he’ll be moving onto a freshly clearcut portion of the Amazon, and runoff/leaching/concretion will already be set in stone. And, I’ve noticed a peculiar few instances where Vlad seems to speak in the same voice as Asoka, with similar tangents… Just a warning, schizo-sock-puppets abound!!!

  597. tucsonspur June 17, 2011 at 5:53 pm #

    CO2 being ruled a dangerous gas is actually smart politics for those with an interest in carbon controls. I’m aware of its connection to the Chicago Climate Exchange and the trading of CFI contracts with their exchange allowances and offset credits.
    I’m also aware that Obama served on the board of the Joyce Foundation which gave grants to promote the start of the privately held CCX.
    The infestation of the EPA by self-serving politics means that it must be reformed and uncorrupted, not done away with. Bachmann was wrong, and just as self-serving as the democrats.

  598. Qshtik June 17, 2011 at 5:57 pm #

    Wage, I understand completely.
    When I met my wife she had a young cat named Shalimar. Not having been raised as a “cat person,” at first I was actually afraid of the damned little thing. It would suddenly claw my pant leg like I was a scratching post and scare the shit out of me. But before long it was sprawled out asleep and purring on my chest.
    Shal lived a long and pleasant life of more than 20 years. One by one my kids were born and they fell in love with Shal too. But cats get old and decrepit until it’s so sad and pathetic you can’t stand to see them suffer any more.
    Someone in the family has to be the prick, the heartless bastard, the “strong one” who says “it’s time.” In our family that person is always me. We called the Vet about having her “put down” and he said to bring a cardboard box.
    When the deed was done Doc curled her up in the box looking just like she was sleeping. I took her home and put the box on the kitchen table. My daughter came home from school and asked if I “did it.” I pointed at the box. She lifted the lid, stared down at Shal and a tear dripped off the end of her nose onto Shal’s dark fur.
    Shalimar and the next two, Elfin and Zeva, are buried in our backyard flower garden. Elfin, a good sized male, was such a favorite that I made him a wooden coffin and we buried him with great fanfare including a styrofoam headstone with RIP ELFIN and dates born and died in Magic Marker which lasted a few months until we had accepted that he was actually gone.
    My oldest son still has Elfin’s picture as the wallpaper on his computer. He worries that people will think that “looks gay.”
    We went catless for awhile until 2 years ago when someone convinced my wife to take a litter of 3 new-born “rescue” cats. We named them Boot, Kush and Millie. The cycle of love has begun again.

  599. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 6:01 pm #

    Hey Bill, and thanks for including me in absentia.
    And I’ve got to say, you read my mind:
    “Procon – you didn’t comment yet, but I just wanted to say I still agree with you on immigration. I still feel privileged to have witnessed this event; you should have seen it. I know you would have appreciated it. But I do feel very happy for the naturalized citizens.”
    -btb-
    That had to be a moving thing to witness, beans. And I, too, am happy for the new citizens. A ceremony such as this, has to be the mythic ideal, when Americans think of immigration – and the old idea of the “melting pot.”
    And Marlin, there’s no argument from me that the US is not a wonderful place still – especially in comparison to most of the rest of the world, especially the areas from which most US immigrants come.
    My goal is for the US to always be a wonderful place like this – for welcomed new citizens and old citizens alike, in terms of:
    1. total numbers, and
    2. social factors
    And regarding the numbers, we in the US would have to hold 7,500 ceremonies like the one Bill witnessed – every single year – to accommodate our present 3,000,000 persons/year growth – due to immigrants and their children.
    And regarding social factors – – IF, IF the US could accommodate the numbers, then ceremonies like this would be the way to do it. Seventy-five (wow that’s amazing!) nationalities spread across almost 400 new citizens – each of whom wants to make the US his home, badly enough to study, jump through the hoops, and then SWEAR allegiance to his/her new country, the US of A.
    Again, BTB, thanks for sharing this.

  600. wagelaborer June 17, 2011 at 6:13 pm #

    Thanks, Lewis. There wasn’t anything on ER or anesthesiology either. I was wondering if we were going to go back to whiskey.
    I can’t imagine medicine without CT scans or IVs or multiple drugs.
    It is incredibly wasteful. Sometimes I think about how ridiculous it is that at home I am so damn careful about waste. I went 9 years without trash service because I was so sure that I could reduce, reuse and recycle everything.
    Then at work, I produce pounds of toxic trash daily.

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  601. lbendet June 17, 2011 at 6:14 pm #

    Wage,
    I’m so sorry to hear that your beloved critter is ailing. We have an elderly cat with heath problems and commiserate with you.

  602. wagelaborer June 17, 2011 at 6:17 pm #

    I posted this earlier. You may have missed it.
    It’s what happens when the US drops depleted uranium bombs on people.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j599Ce1ky0&feature=player_embedded

  603. wagelaborer June 17, 2011 at 6:23 pm #

    Thank you beantown, ozone, Q and lbendet.
    If she seems to be in pain, I’ll reconsider, but right now, I’ll procrastinate.
    Ripped, my friend’s father-in-law took months to die. They kept being summoned to the nursing home for the death watch, and then he’d sit up and ask for a cigarette.
    Finally, the family gathered for the last watch. He would quit breathing, and then start again. Quit breathing and then start again.
    Finally, her sister-in-law said “If he takes one more breath, I’m going to put the pillow over his head!”

  604. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 6:23 pm #

    “We decided to pull the plug. They pulled out the vent. The stubborn old goat gasped for hours. It was heartbreaking. The nurse kept upping the morphine drip until his respirations dropped off . Basically we euthanized him I guess.”
    -rt-
    Ripped, we did more or less the same thing with my mom. (Except I wouldn’t ever characterize her as an “old goat,” of course. And they hit her with enough morphine that when they pulled the trach tube, she passed very easily.)
    I don’t know how they can get away with high dose morphine like that – but Good Lord, I’m glad they can.
    One of the things my wife and kids know, and that I tell any new doctor that crosses my path, basically goes, “if I’m terminal and you let me suffer needless pain – I will come back and I will HAUNT YOU.”
    You say that with enough personal force and even an atheistic doctor will take note, with slightly widened eyes.

  605. trippticket June 17, 2011 at 6:31 pm #

    “We have an elderly cat with heath problems…”
    Those darned old blueberry eating cats…sorry, just a bit of botanical humor.

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  606. wagelaborer June 17, 2011 at 6:31 pm #

    I’m not naturally a conspiracy theorist, but I was suspicious one time when a guy came in with a gunshot wound to his groin, and told me he was cleaning his gun.
    Really?
    The cops came in and I asked them. They said that they had suspected the girlfriend and had a plan in which they would cooperate to get her to confess.
    I said, “Oh, yeah. Good cop. Bad cop.”
    Boy, were they indignant. “We don’t do that”, they said.
    Anyway, they never got to try their plan. As soon as they approached her, she said “I did it”.
    They were taken aback. “Why?”
    She answered “He was aggravating me”.
    I thought that was the funniest thing ever. To this day, I warn my husband not to aggravate me!

  607. JonathanSS June 17, 2011 at 6:35 pm #

    Tripp said he used an external thermostat to set the temp at 38F. Of course, it won’t go over with the sig. other. This is more like something to consider for a garage.
    I noticed low cost water heating in Mexico. They put their tanks on the roof, in direct sun all day. Not sure if they have a secondary tank to store and further heat the water, but the preheat will lesson the amount of gas/electrical used to get the water up to 120F or so.

  608. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 6:49 pm #

    “If she seems to be in pain, I’ll reconsider, but right now, I’ll procrastinate.”
    -wage-
    That’s the thing to do, Wage, without question. If you’ve had her that long, you’ll know if she’s in pain or not. We went for months of slow, sometimes sad, and sometimes humorous, decline – with our last canine little old lady.
    I worked as a vet tech for a year after college – and did way, way too many euthanasia procedures. That confirmed my old, country boy, bias for the .22 next to the grave, instead of the long hard trip to the vet and back home.
    But veterinary euthanasia has come a long way – with IV catheters, and fool-proof solutions. It’s not, at all, a bad way to go.
    And…”We’ve all got to go sometime. There’s no reason for it.” -pink floyd-
    I’ll hold you and your canine in my thoughts, or something, wage. 🙂

  609. metuselah June 17, 2011 at 6:52 pm #

    The US is not a wonderful thing. It never was, it never will be. It is quite an ugly thing. It was and is little more than a dehumanizing slave plantation. And what is worse, thanks in very large part to US political and economic machinations, citizens in Europe, Africa, Asia, are forced to leave their ancestral homes and families to come to work as goddamn slaves on the anglo-american corporate plantation.
    The US is a curse. And I wish you, Bill, and the rest of the US participants on this blog, will finally open your eyes and open your minds to what you really are and what you force others to be.
    My deep condolences to the fools arriving to America. They have basically forfeited their lives.

  610. digbycookies June 17, 2011 at 7:01 pm #

    We’ve all pretty much decided that Asoka and Myrtle May are one in the same person. Sock puppets both.

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  611. LewisLucanBooks June 17, 2011 at 7:06 pm #

    “I can’t imagine medicine without CT scans or IVs or multiple drugs.” Start imagining it. It’s coming.

  612. digbycookies June 17, 2011 at 7:09 pm #

    And might I add, good riddence to the old bitches! Can I hear an AMEN?

  613. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 7:09 pm #

    Just make a batch heater, get an old water heater tank( if you can find one that does not leak) put it in the sun under glass, pipe your domestic water through it in the summer and ! voila mostly free hot water. Simple ,hey?

  614. trippticket June 17, 2011 at 7:10 pm #

    “Outlawed as of 1/1/12. No longer made in the USA. All must be off the shelves by that date.”
    And the worst part is, cradle-to-grave the replacements cost MORE! Wouldn’t you know it…
    I foresee using candles and oil lamps at our house in the near future…say, by the new year. I assure you I won’t be buying any mercury bulbs.

  615. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 7:13 pm #

    Hi WL, What is the conspiracy behind Jonestown, just askin’. I have not heard of it or your thoughts on it. RT

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  616. trippticket June 17, 2011 at 7:13 pm #

    There is no way Asoka and Myrtle were the same person. No way in hell. And hasn’t Myrtle been gone longer than Soak anyway?

  617. Qshtik June 17, 2011 at 7:16 pm #

    Hey Q, Tripp wanted to convert a chest freezer into a ‘frig.
    ================
    Oh, OK, I misunderstood. My bad.

  618. trippticket June 17, 2011 at 7:16 pm #

    Just as an aside, it is mutha-fuckin’ pouring at my house, and has been for nearly an hour. First rain to speak of since February. We’ve probably had at least 3 or 4 inches already. You can almost hear the land sigh in relief. And the design of my garden hasn’t spilled a drop!

  619. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 7:25 pm #

    Hi Tripp, send a tanker, my yard is flooded. I think my beans rotted in the ground. I put them in two weeks ago and i only see two sprouts. The same thing happened a few years back. Rain,Rain, go away come again some other day. I am gonna go crazy! I need to be outside this time of year. It is dark like twilight outside and the sun is still up. I love this time of year as I can work outside till 20:30. This weather blows bigtime.

  620. ozone June 17, 2011 at 7:39 pm #

    Holy-Crapoli!
    You’re getting some of the whackers we’ve been seeing! (Shouldn’t have said nuthin’, sorry.)
    Look-a-here…
    http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Conus/full_loop.php

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  621. ozone June 17, 2011 at 7:41 pm #

    (…and scroll down the map for a peek at Jaw-ja, of course.)

  622. lbendet June 17, 2011 at 7:43 pm #

    Trip,
    Our cat Jambalaya does eat blueberries, they’re in his food along with carrots and peas and many other veggies and fruit.
    Our lion in winter always did eat just about everything, (loves bread and pie crust) whereas the girl cats have always had classic cat tastes.
    Right now he is on an even keel, but he was born with heart issues and Wage would be interested, that since he had an embolism at 3 1/2 years, he has been on a regimen of Inderal, Cardizem, and asprin and recently is on blood pressure medicine as he had a small stroke right in front of us.–What a scare!
    After he lost his sister to Cancer four years ago he’s had a young female whipper snapper to keep him running around—he’s got 9 lives, let’s put it that way.

  623. lbendet June 17, 2011 at 7:46 pm #

    Marlin,
    I know someone has already answered your question concerning the EU bailing out Greece.
    Bloomberg has an article describing the deal that Sarkozy and Merkel agreed to which helped boost the stock market this morning.
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-17/eu-prepares-new-greece-aid-as-merkel-backs-ecb.html

  624. Vlad Krandz June 17, 2011 at 7:56 pm #

    Why not inter them in the Pyramid? Cats were sacred to the ancient Egyptians.

  625. Ixnei June 17, 2011 at 8:25 pm #

    Time to stir up the muck. You ever heard of Lake Techa? I think it was an early 50’s Russian experiment, to produce a reservoir along a river, by detonating a nuke.
    It failed horribly, and everyone in the region gave birth to monstrosities. Much like the videos posited here. 1 or 3 eyes, 2 heads, 3 arms, take your pick. That was *60* years ago – and “they’ve” known about it all along. Myrtle, indeed (she wasn’t 80+ – sock-puppet Asoka).

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  626. Ixnei June 17, 2011 at 8:32 pm #

    Yeah, I think “her” last poast on this board was to me, when I called her out on exactly *that*…

  627. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 8:56 pm #

    Mika,
    I still think you’re a caricature – someone’s vision of what an atheistic Israeli national should think like, and sound like.
    And I’ll expect others, with more knowledge in these areas, to confirm this idea, or to provide evidence to refute it.
    Still, I understand your sentiments of “all the blue eyed devil dogs must die – quickly…” Hate can be found in unique reservoirs, and even as a caricature, you tap into something that is likely a legitimate hate, even if found only on the fringe.
    And there’s this:
    “My deep condolences to the fools arriving to America. They have basically forfeited their lives.” Metuselah-
    I, sadly, can not help but agree with you here, to some degree. Those of us who are native born deserve what happens to us, come what may. But to bring in more and more – knowing all the possibilities and eventualities –
    nothing makes it logical –
    nothing makes it right.

  628. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 8:58 pm #

    Hi Tripp, Myrtle has been gone for a while now. As I recall she was older than You or I. I wish her the best and hope she will be back.

  629. asia June 17, 2011 at 9:11 pm #

    ‘privilege’
    Q…robotboy=rocketboy77

  630. asia June 17, 2011 at 9:15 pm #

    From That movie….comments:
    ‘a human being for gods sake and isn’t for show.
    This condition called Harlequin-type itchtyosis is associated with a mutation in the? gene for the protein.’
    So radiation causes the mutation?

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  631. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 9:18 pm #

    Hey Ozone , the weather sucks. From reading Marlins posts I Take it you are a music man? I have maybe 12 guitars? 2 banjos, + keyboards, amps , etc etc. I used to make music with my best fren’ till he “kissed a tree at 70” a few years back. I was the Keith to his Mick. The sumbitch could make up lyrics at the drop of a hat. I was more of a rhythm guy. sorta like this.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wro3bqi4Eb8

  632. asia June 17, 2011 at 9:19 pm #

    Have you read Brimelow?
    He does have some noteworthy things to say about such……..
    What about going to the unemployment office or
    the prison and talking to citizens there?
    or MS13
    Vlad……Some folks are real ditzy.

  633. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 9:20 pm #

    “Q…robotboy=rocketboy77”
    Maybe rocket77 really was asoka, making a bet with his prof., asia. It gets really weird to think that none of us who post here, necessarily, is who or what we say we are. (Exceptions for those with legitimate blogs – tripp, wage, etc.)
    I suggested, months ago, that this webspace would be a great place to begin some PhD level research on personality issues – with some warnings and disclaimers. At the time I was thinking gender issues – –
    but the possibilities are almost endless.

  634. metuselah June 17, 2011 at 9:20 pm #

    PC,
    The only one I speak for is myself. The only one I represent is myself. And this applies to each and every one of us. I’ve been hammering Vlad on this, for months if not years now. So I’m just amazed that you too think in these racist terms. Just goes to show how deep the racist programming is in the US. Whatever I am, Israeli or whatnot, it is irrelevant. I will not sugar color the truth for you. Not for you, not for anybody else.

  635. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 9:30 pm #

    double post AKA Spider
    All CFN people, “Tightin’ up now”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wro3bqi4Eb8

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  636. Ixnei June 17, 2011 at 9:30 pm #

    March 30, 2011, 7:41PM – where is Myrtle now. *BUSTED*

  637. Ixnei June 17, 2011 at 9:32 pm #

    You do all know how do do search on this page, right – LOL!!!

  638. Ixnei June 17, 2011 at 9:33 pm #

    do do, do – do do do, to do? do do, to do!!!

  639. asia June 17, 2011 at 9:34 pm #

    Thanks Puzzler..
    But haven’t those dang ‘conspiracists’
    [Birchers, larouchers,alex jones]….
    said the the US is all about making the Euro banksters richer?
    Queen of England, Rothschilds etc?

  640. rippedthunder June 17, 2011 at 9:43 pm #

    Ya gotta love the simple chords. simple music to sooth the simple soul.
    Where did all the good music go?
    Rap is crap!
    American Idol,
    Amuses a child,
    We have become,
    A land full of scum,
    swallow my words,
    Life is absurd,
    This simple ditty,
    I know is quite shitty,
    So be as it may,
    I’ll call it a day..

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  641. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 9:47 pm #

    “So I’m just amazed that you too think in these racist terms.” metuselah-
    Trying to place posters on an anonymous webspace into categories is mental shorthand, M.
    If you see something racist in my last post, you’re going to have to point it out to me. It is not intentional – and I’m not seeing it, even upon close review.
    BTW, Buckstud (I think?) pointed out that Mika/metuselah and vlad could both be creations of the same individual from the real world – posting under two names.
    Neither of “you” has denied it –
    with or without “proof.”

  642. Qshtik June 17, 2011 at 9:53 pm #

    Why not inter them in the Pyramid?
    ============
    The pyramid has no hollow spaces within it. It’s Home Depot landscape block throughout. However, while I was building it a guy on bicycle stopped to chat and asked me the purpose of the structure. The truth was, I just wanted to build a pyramid to see if I could do it but I told him it was a memorial for all our family’s pet cats who had passed away over the years and who were buried on the other side of the fence in my back yard. So he says, “oh I see, then this is a cenotaph.” After he left I ran inside to look up cenotaph in the dictionary.
    -noun
    a sepulchral monument erected in memory of a deceased person whose body is buried elsewhere.

  643. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 10:05 pm #

    “The only one I speak for is myself. The only one I represent is myself. And this applies to each and every one of us.” -mika/metuselah-
    Mika, I’ve got to disagree. There are almost 7 billion people on this planet. We are all individuals. But if we all speak ONLY as individuals – the result is madness.
    And the absolute last thing we need is EXTRA personalities, conjured out of cyberspace – purporting to be something that they are not.

  644. Qshtik June 17, 2011 at 10:10 pm #

    We’ve all pretty much decided that Asoka and Myrtle May are one in the same person.
    =============
    Dig and Ix, what a ridiculous statement. The two are nothing alike. Myrtle claimed to be 83 and said various things in her posts that a younger person would be unlikely to know including certain expressions that my mother (born 1911) used to use. Asoka claimed to be 62 and to have gone on early Social Security which one could do at that age.
    And BTW Dig, the expression is “one and the same person.”

  645. metuselah June 17, 2011 at 10:26 pm #

    I’m not seeing it, even upon close review
    ==
    It’s obviously there. Why else would such things (me being an Israeli or whatever) be of any importance to you?

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  646. AMR June 17, 2011 at 10:34 pm #

    I’ve had the misfortune of watching Joel Osteen on occasion. I don’t think I’ve ever come across a more vulgar, materialistic preacher, and that’s saying a lot. Probably his sickest shtick is the “principle of reciprocity,” whereby God repays the tither in accordance with his tithe: “If you want to make a hundred thousand, tithe ten thousand!” Etc.
    I haven’t figured out whether or not he actually believes his own bullshit. If he does, he’s a batshit crazy raving lunatic. If he doesn’t, he’s a slimy, bottomfeeding confidence artist. Either way, he’s a real piece of work, an indictment of both our shallow, deluded culture and the rot of the self-proclaimed “Christian” broadcasters and publishers who give him a platform.
    It’s telling that Osteen talks at such length about why there’s no reason for his audience to be discontented with their jobs. “God is watching out for you. He will provide and you will live that Ephesians 19:23 life!” (I decided to fabricate the chapter and verse since Osteen fabricates the theology and I don’t have a bible handy.) “You are right at that job where God wants you! Rejoice and be glad in it!” Ad nauseam.
    Translation: Y’all hate your jobs. Being stuck in debt and a career rut and driving across Houston every morning to spend eight hours coding medical bills in a cubicle sucks longhorn balls.
    That’s one Texan who isn’t a straight shooter.

  647. metuselah June 17, 2011 at 10:35 pm #

    But if we all speak ONLY as individuals – the result is madness.
    ==
    I guess this is the nonsense you need to come up with to cover your back. Whatever.

  648. digbycookies June 17, 2011 at 11:42 pm #

    Okay, maybe ixnei and I are wrong. Anyhow, I still say, Good riddance to the old bitches! I was getting pretty sick of hearing Myrtle May bitch about how rough her fucking life was, having (supposedly) been one of the “greatest generation” people. Christ almighty! She bitched about everything. I wonder if she ever saw the house coming down in Munchkin Land before it fell on her sorry ass! And as far as Asoka was concerned, he (she) was as big a bitch as she ever was!

  649. progressorconserve June 17, 2011 at 11:46 pm #

    “I guess this is the nonsense you need to come up with to cover your back. Whatever.”
    -mika/meuselah/vlad-
    I think all three of your screennames are just personas (sock puppets?) from the same individual in the real world. You need to deny it and offer proof of the denial. I’ve asked twice – BuckStud has asked once.
    Deny it with proof, or lie.
    ==================
    concerning racism in my post –
    “It’s obviously there. Why else would such things (me being an Israeli or whatever) be of any importance to you?”
    -mika/metuselah/vlad?, redirecting and avoiding-
    Because being Israeli, or Jewish, or whatever – gives weight to your words that they do not otherwise have. For example – anyone can hate the “blue-eyed devils.” But for your persona, as Mika/metuselah, to express such hate – is unique, from my perspective.

  650. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 12:23 am #

    Barbara Ehrenreich has a pretty good chunk on Osteen in her book “Bright-Sided.” He’s just one of many riding the ol’ prosperity gospel gravy train. I suppose sooner or later the whole damn thing will blow up in his face … hookers, drugs, male escorts or any combination of the above. Maybe tweeting his wee-wee all over the Internet. 🙂

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  651. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 12:27 am #

    Ah, I kind of liked old Myrtle. She spun some great platters 🙂 .
    And, I’ve always had a soft spot for cranky old broads. Marjorie Main. Now, there was an actress.
    For some reason, that reminded me I wanted to check YouTube and see if there’s any Millie Jackson, over there. Had a platter by her, back in the 70’s. “Caught in the Trap.” Wonder whatever happened to it. Now that girl was NASTY.
    Wasn’t there a brief appearance from Myrtle a couple of weeks ago? That, she had some health issues she didn’t want to discuss but her daughter was taking care of her?

  652. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 12:40 am #

    How’s this for a conspiracy theory … Our local electric company is cutting off all the power to the town at 1 AM. It’s going to be out for 5 hours. Everything from the freeway, east. “…to make system reliability improvements.” Yeah, sure.
    The theory going around is that TPTB are plunging the town into darkness so they can excavate and recover the crashed UFO.
    Actually, they may be putting in some critter proof transformers. Would you folks on the East Coast please take back your Eastern Gray Squirrels? Apparently, unlike our Western Gray Squirrels, they have a penchant for throwing themselves on the power transformers and shorting them out. I think the weather so depresses them, that they can’t go on. 🙂
    So, I’ve given the wind-up flashlight a good turn or two. Since I usually rattle around at all hours. I might step out and see if I can see the stars. Even our little town’s lights wash out all but the brightest lanterns hanging in the heavens. But, I suppose there will be a cloud cover. One thing I’m looking forward to, moving out in the boonies next year, is the opportunity to perhaps see the stars, from time to time. Haven’t seen Orion, in years. Maybe I’ll see the Milky Way. Meteor showers and a comet or two. The Auroras when the Sun poops out a giant plasma stream. Nice.

  653. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 12:45 am #

    Glad you’re finally getting a little rain. I hope it’s a Goldilocks rain. Not too big, and not too little, but just right! 🙂

  654. metuselah June 18, 2011 at 12:53 am #

    Because being Israeli, or Jewish, or whatever – gives weight to your words that they do not otherwise have. For example – anyone can hate the “blue-eyed devils.” But for your persona, as Mika/metuselah, to express such hate – is unique, from my perspective.
    ==
    That’s a racist statement. The racism is so embedded in your consciousness that you don’t even see how racist you are.
    Anyway, my hate for the “blue-eyed devils” is not unique. These reptiles were hunted down in earlier ages for exactly the same thing they are pulling now. Most people don’t know that, because most people are ignorant of history and only know the propaganda that’s fed to them.
    Also, “all the blue eyed devil dogs must die – quickly…” that’s your wording. I’m saying something very different. I’m saying that these reptiles have already sealed their fate. They are as good as dead. It’s just a question of time waiting for the blowback to take it course.

  655. rippedthunder June 18, 2011 at 12:54 am #

    Hey LLC, We have “Black” Squirrels in my city. Melonistic phase (oppisite of Albino) of the common grey squirrel.Sums of bitch’s are lazy and won’t climb trees and shit! ;o) Imported years ago by a do gooder in town. As far as the lights go, you are lucky. I was big time into astromony but the light pollution around here killed my interest. Locals and there damn yard lights! I call it light trespass. Why do they get to intrude on my property with there F****** lights! The night sky belongs to everyone.

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  656. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 1:19 am #

    Hmmm. Blog ate my homework, twice. Testing, testing…

  657. asia June 18, 2011 at 1:20 am #

    In the footsteps of Rev Ike etc.

  658. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 1:21 am #

    Well, that’s odd. Maybe it didn’t like “Wind Up Girl” or, segues. Or, that the Net is like The Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path. Or, just bad origami.

  659. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 1:22 am #

    Camouflage. Maybe it didn’t like the word camouflage.

  660. asia June 18, 2011 at 1:23 am #

    Earth to Q, cats are not People.
    Cats and dogs carbon footprint/paw prints are incalculable.

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  661. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 1:29 am #

    Oh, well, enough agravation (sp?) for one evening. It was just a little three paragraph review of “The Wind Up Girl.”
    Think I’ll whip myself up some chili dip. A can of chili, garlic, a tomato, secret herbs and spices. Corn, maybe some celery. Top it off with plane non-fat yogurt instead of sour cream. Dip it up with chips. Dinner. Before – the – lights – go – out ….

  662. Ixnei June 18, 2011 at 4:52 am #

    “… what a ridiculous statement … Myrtle claimed to be 83 … Asoka claimed to be 62”
    Ironic that you pointed this out – not pointing fingers, but you’re on that ‘warning’ list of mine. I have to agree, how could someone 62 call upon their parent’s memories (or Google) to create an 83 year old alternate persona…
    LLB – I believe you’re correct, I see a Myrtle spurt from March 28-30, then another on May 30 – that’s all I found. Gotta apologize for the ‘do do do to do’ poast, that should have been a private reminder for me to do a complete forum search (mixed with the song I was listening to, at that time)…

  663. Eleuthero June 18, 2011 at 5:27 am #

    Marc said:
    Okay, you talked me into it. Anyway, isn’t everyone supposed to wait until the dog days of August to go nuts? I purposely refrained from posting when I was unemployed because I didn’t want to become obsessed with this shit. I don’t generally believe in being reactive which is why I ignored his insults.
    ***************************************************
    As the Aussies might say, “Good on ya!!”.
    This guy is a parody of himself. On every matter
    upon which he posts, it’s as though he thinks
    himself Nietzsche’s Zarathustra talking to us
    “little people” from a mountain top. The parody
    is that no truly sophisticated person would ever
    use the high-handed, vulgar, dismissive verbiage
    as is his relentless wont.
    In my experience only TOTAL abstinence from
    response works. They’re like “psychic vampires”
    who suck the life out of a site. Witness that
    day with DOZENS of posts. He roiled the site
    with no insights rendered to us “peons”.
    I guess modesty of expression has gone the way
    of the dodo bird. Fabian doesn’t realize it
    but the “in your face” style is a perfect
    reflection of a degenerated culture where LOUD
    wins uber alles.
    It’s not that he never says a true word. It’s
    that he’s ready to dehumanize you for the FIRST
    false word (in HIS mind) that you say. This is
    a GOON, not an intellectual.
    E.

  664. Ixnei June 18, 2011 at 6:38 am #

    OMG, skyscrapers-to-Mars-man. You definitely win the award for (brainless?) spamming. I normally just scroll past your drivel, but this time I had to quote you, to touch on a few (very few) subjects you discuss:
    “I would crack their heads open with a baseball bat”
    Funny ‘coincidence’, my best friend did exactly that, back in ’88. He got sentenced to 2 weeks in county (WTF? How he managed *NOT* to get 2-4+ years is amazing, the guy he hit ended up mentally retarded for life), and they sent him home, to report the next day for his incarceration…
    He was living with some family that had guns in the house, so he grabbed the 12 gauge and left a nice blood stained imprint in their bathroom. How’s that for a heart-warming story?
    “50,000 dollars for a 1,200 sqft”
    I managed to get this dump, on an 80’x100′ lot, for $80k in ’90 (6 months earlier it would have been a mere $65k). They’re still appraising it for more than $240k, with more than half of that the land value alone (gotta love property taxes/laws). The neighbor’s house just sold for $180k – it’s bigger, and the entire house had new paint/carpet/kitchen/appliances. You, my *friend*, live in a ‘dream world’ (skyscrapers to Mars, indeed).
    “I … would like to jump on everyone and kill and destroy everyone and everything”
    That may be a common ‘feeling’ in the progression from denial to acceptance, but WTF – why so (self) destructive? Everyone and everything is not a legitimate target – try to refine it a bit, if you plan to act on your sociopathic beliefs…
    “I am envious and hate people with all of my guts”
    “kill everyone, how I hate people and Man and everyone, I would nuke the whole world”
    You are definitely on the Patriot Act/Eschelon watch list now (memories of supercomputers lining the basement in the 80’s). Hopefully you’re scrambling your IP address. Your rants have definitely devolved since the 6969 days…
    When I used to ‘work’ (LOL, if you can call that slave labor such a thing), I saw literally millions of $$$ saved by my very actions. We actually produced a product, but some were defective. You make less of them defective, it’s literally ‘free money’/pure profit. The benefits were reciprocal, but at some point, you have to wonder, “why do I need another $$$ dollaZ?” I cut loose, when another year would have literally doubled my assets (again, whatever that means). I gave it up – let someone else reap those supposed ‘benefits’.
    I expect you’ve already spammed another couple posts of 4-5+ screen-loads (pages) of nonsense already (break it up into parts, LOL), so if I re-poast, let it be known that it’s because I hadn’t yet read your run-on spam.

  665. spider9629 June 18, 2011 at 6:54 am #

    Property, it is like going to curch, it is a totem, the cross, something to worship, and you hope that the value of the house increases, a number that gives you more power, power you can exercise against another poor slob that needs a house etc. It is a religion, worship the box, it means you can beat someone else with that proxy power relationship that is the worth of property.
    But when it goes up by itself, that is make believe value, that increase is directly robbing it from the weaker classes, so go on, appreciate the box.
    Same with everything else, you got that pretty gal, you have won that status and power challenge, you win, you got this and that, your money (an abstract number meaning how much you are winning, how much you win) is a proxy of how much you win compared to another: it is always a comparison game, a numbers game, and the story of all your wins, a keeping the score, but when you die the score becomes zero, no one is really keeping score, the score doesn’t exist.
    All I write and say is a lie, is me trying to win and convince myself that I can win a game I already lost BIG TIME; I am a Pissed Off Loser, ok, I know, I didn’t work hard enough (too lazy), I don’t have the skills (to crappy, worthless crap I am, ok, I accept it) I know, rub it in, go on, punish me, challenge and win me, go on, do it.
    But then, why do I feel the urge to just rob it and take it all away from the winners ? why do I want to just break the rules and hog it all up not deserving anything ? I want to force it, but I am a pussy whip…

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  666. spider9629 June 18, 2011 at 6:56 am #

    Spelling error and blog hog time again!
    Go find it fabian and qshtick ph*ktrds!
    Property, it is like going to curch, it is a totem, the cross, something to worship, and you hope that the value of the house increases, a number that gives you more power, power you can exercise against another poor slob that needs a house etc. It is a religion, worship the box, it means you can beat someone else with that proxy power relationship that is the worth of property.
    But when it goes up by itself, that is make believe value, that increase is directly robbing it from the weaker classes, so go on, appreciate the box.
    Same with everything else, you got that pretty gal, you have won that status and power challenge, you win, you got this and that, your money (an abstract number meaning how much you are winning, how much you win) is a proxy of how much you win compared to another: it is always a comparison game, a numbers game, and the story of all your wins, a keeping the score, but when you die the score becomes zero, no one is really keeping score, the score doesn’t exist.
    All I write and say is a lie, is me trying to win and convince myself that I can win a game I already lost BIG TIME; I am a Pissed Off Loser, ok, I know, I didn’t work hard enough (too lazy), I don’t have the skills (too crappy, worthless crap I am, ok, I accept it) I know, rub it in, go on, punish me, challenge and win me, go on, do it.
    But then, why do I feel the urge to just rob it and take it all away from the winners ? why do I want to just break the rules and hog it all up not deserving anything ? I want to force it, but I am a pussy whip…

  667. spider9629 June 18, 2011 at 6:59 am #

    Uh oh, forgot the bold, where is Nietzsche when you need him!
    Spelling error and blog hog time again!
    Go find it fabian and qshtick ph*ktrds!
    Property, it is like going to curch, it is a totem, the cross, something to worship, and you hope that the value of the house increases, a number that gives you more power, power you can exercise against another poor slob that needs a house etc. It is a religion, worship the box, it means you can beat someone else with that proxy power relationship that is the worth of property.
    But when it goes up by itself, that is make believe value, that increase is directly robbing it from the weaker classes, so go on, appreciate the box.
    Same with everything else, you got that pretty gal, you have won that status and power challenge, you win, you got this and that, your money (an abstract number meaning how much you are winning, how much you win) is a proxy of how much you win compared to another: it is always a comparison game, a numbers game, and the story of all your wins, a keeping the score, but when you die the score becomes zero, no one is really keeping score, the score doesn’t exist.
    All I write and say is a lie, is me trying to win and convince myself that I can win a game I already lost BIG TIME; I am a Pissed Off Loser, ok, I know, I didn’t work hard enough (too lazy), I don’t have the skills (too crappy, worthless crap I am, ok, I accept it) I know, rub it in, go on, punish me, challenge and win me, go on, do it.
    But then, why do I feel the urge to just rob it and take it all away from the winners ? why do I want to just break the rules and hog it all up not deserving anything ? I want to force it, but I am a pussy whip…

  668. spider9629 June 18, 2011 at 7:00 am #

    Spelling error and blog hog time again!
    Go find it fabian and qshtick ph*ktrds!
    Property, it is like going to church, it is a totem, the cross, something to worship, and you hope that the value of the house increases, a number that gives you more power, power you can exercise against another poor slob that needs a house etc. It is a religion, worship the box, it means you can beat someone else with that proxy power relationship that is the worth of property.
    But when it goes up by itself, that is make believe value, that increase is directly robbing it from the weaker classes, so go on, appreciate the box.
    Same with everything else, you got that pretty gal, you have won that status and power challenge, you win, you got this and that, your money (an abstract number meaning how much you are winning, how much you win) is a proxy of how much you win compared to another: it is always a comparison game, a numbers game, and the story of all your wins, a keeping the score, but when you die the score becomes zero, no one is really keeping score, the score doesn’t exist.
    All I write and say is a lie, is me trying to win and convince myself that I can win a game I already lost BIG TIME; I am a Pissed Off Loser, ok, I know, I didn’t work hard enough (too lazy), I don’t have the skills (too crappy, worthless crap I am, ok, I accept it) I know, rub it in, go on, punish me, challenge and win me, go on, do it.
    But then, why do I feel the urge to just rob it and take it all away from the winners ? why do I want to just break the rules and hog it all up not deserving anything ? I want to force it, but I am a pussy whip…

  669. Ixnei June 18, 2011 at 7:24 am #

    OMG I fed the troll – what’s rule #1? (sorry)

  670. bubbleheadMarc June 18, 2011 at 7:38 am #

    I had no idea that squirrels were so complicated. Do you think that they’re actually neurotic enough over the weather to commit suicide on the electrical transformers? At any rate I got your book and have read over 100 pages. Don’t know what to make of Biff at this point. Admittedly I’m not much of a fiction reader.

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  671. lbendet June 18, 2011 at 8:00 am #

    LLB,
    Just love the idea of squirrels committing suicide over their angst about the weather–I got a chuckle over that.

  672. lbendet June 18, 2011 at 8:09 am #

    Yesterday my sister called my attention to the latest issues concerning the Corexit used in the Gulf of Mexico and how our EPA kept information on what poisons were part of the mix secret till very recently.
    http://www.naturalnews.com/028974_Corexit_dispersants.html
    [As reported in the New York Times, Brian Turnbaugh, a policy analyst at OMB Watch said, “EPA had the authority to act all along; its decision to now disclose the ingredients demonstrates this. Yet it took a public outcry and weeks of complaints for the agency to act and place the public’s interest ahead of corporate interests.”….A newer Corexit recipe dubbed the “9500 formula” contains dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, a detergent chemical that’s also found in laxatives. What do you suppose happens to the marine ecosystem when fish and sea turtles ingest this chemical through their gills and skin? And just as importantly, what do you think happens to the human beings who are working around this chemical, breathing in its fumes and touching it with their skin?]
    Oh, this thing isn’t over by a long shot and sadly our media would rather show the physical fights between men and women waiting on line to view the Casey Anthony trial. -oh what a culture, between the Christmas buying stampedes and this case.
    But I digress. Well, most of us agree that we need the oversight, but our system of checks and balances has vanished in lieu of filthy lucre and as many of you have noticed, even religion is subjugated by the same greed.
    When we look back at what was once a great country we’ll be saying T’was greed that killed the nation.

  673. Ixnei June 18, 2011 at 8:20 am #

    Nobody has any commentary on Lake Techa? I figured as much – too much info-search involved. Spoon-fed, that’s the description that best fits *KNOW-NOTS*.
    Corrects-it? LOL, hardly a dent in the mass-pollution of land/sea/air(/water). (Mega-reactive-radioactive) Cesium? LOL, we’re totally doomed. Half way into the solar max (it started in 2009), this year 2011 *will* be the hottest year on record, and 2012 (solar peak 12/21/2012) will be even hotter (and it maxes 2013-2017). Just call us the idiots who *read*.
    Anything interesting to *read*? Let’s *read*…

  674. ozone June 18, 2011 at 8:21 am #

    Youse all may have missed it, but there was a microsoft ad just a while back that depicted a soldier in helmet and camo with laptop on lap. The catchphrase was, “get productive”.
    Ah, I see; the military killing and breaking things is “productive”.
    …and how ’bout what I was saying before that some of the “posters” to this blog might just be distractive “plants”? Mighty coincidental advert there. If it pops up again, holler; it disappeared after I reloaded.

  675. ozone June 18, 2011 at 8:24 am #

    Yow!
    I was wondering what was in that toxic shit [that was not in our “purview” to know].
    Thanks for the link; I’m a-goin’ over to it…

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  676. ozone June 18, 2011 at 8:37 am #

    LB,
    It sorta looks like “naturalnews” believes that outcry and legislation can change the poisoning paradigm of bigbidness.
    Nice to have “hope”, but then again, hoping for anything from a broken political system is the definition of a FALSE hope. Pay to play, baby.
    With fear in our hearts, we know exactly what will really change things: upheaval, and all its’ grim outriders…

  677. ozone June 18, 2011 at 8:44 am #

    One last thing.
    I notice that the last ad to the right [and next to the bottom] of JHK’s offering are always promoting crap that most of us here consider the destroyers of our society. I find that interesting and nearly to the point of “counter-subversive” [in a blatant queasy way].
    Okay, let’s button up that roof! Blue sky.

  678. lbendet June 18, 2011 at 8:54 am #

    Ozone,
    What NN said was that it was the pubic outcry in this case that brought about the revelation by the EPA of what is in the toxic mix. I wish a YouTube video were still on the site, last summer I posed the link to a scientist who said basically that the gulf was a “guinea pig” for these poisons. He said that they break down cellular structure and also said that the scientists working on the study of marine life considered one heart-beat a minute to be successful life—very Frankenstienian eh?
    Between that and all the cesium coming to the West Coast from Japan, I’d say we’re in for a whole lotta pain.

  679. Ixnei June 18, 2011 at 9:01 am #

    I was hoping for a link!
    “hoping for anything from a broken political system”
    Would it have really been any better, had the system been “un-broken/fixed”? Come on, that’s it? Nothing about fracking? Exponential (best bets here)?
    I expected *AS MUCH*.

  680. progressorconserve June 18, 2011 at 9:13 am #

    “Nobody has any commentary on Lake Techa?”
    -ixnei-
    I’ve just got nothing to add, Ix. Of course it happened, of course it was bad, and of course the radioactive isotopes continue to poison to this day.
    I recall reading a magazine back in the early ’60’s that was speaking of plans to build a new Sea Level Panama Canal – using nuclear explosives instead of labor and machinery.
    I have the *”advantage”* of having been conceived, born, and experiencing childhood – under the radioactive clouds from air “testing” of nuclear weapons in the US, then later in the Pacific. All of this makes it hard for me to get exercised concerning my own personal safety – because of events in Japan.
    It may be the Lake Techa thing gave early warning to TPTB in the US that nuclear explosives don’t make reliable shovels.
    It will be ironic if Japan – first test ground for the US nuclear weapons program – now gives early warning to TPTB around the world that a nuclear powered grow, grow, growth paradigm won’t make a reliable future.

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  681. Ixnei June 18, 2011 at 9:27 am #

    LOL! Bikini Atoll. Early warning, *indeed*. Didn’t they (the US of A) detonate almost 70 megatons there?!?
    Progess or Con? These are *YOUR BOYS*.

  682. progressorconserve June 18, 2011 at 9:35 am #

    “Because being Israeli, or Jewish, or whatever – gives weight to your words that they do not otherwise have. For example – anyone can hate the “blue-eyed devils.” But for your persona, as Mika/metuselah, to express such hate – is unique, from my perspective.”
    – PoC, to mika –
    “That’s a racist statement. The racism is so embedded in your consciousness that you don’t even see how racist you are.”
    -mika-
    I disagree. At most it is derivative of a racist statement. Which makes your reply a second derivative. And this reply is a third derivative – to borrow some language from calculus.
    To go back to the original statement – A thing becomes racist because you declare it to be so, mika. So there we are, with heat but no light.
    =================
    And who are your blue-eyed devils, anyway. Isn’t this just a racist shorthand on YOUR part.
    You’ve expressed a lot of vitriol against the Vatican. Is that only because your “blue-eyes” run things there?
    Is yours a hatred against Nordic peoples everywhere? Or only against those who emigrated and reproduced in the US? On only against those who rose to a certain level in the global management chain?
    Believe it or not – I’m not just trying to deliberately p*ss you off.
    But I would like clarification.
    I’m through ’till late Sunday afternoon.
    Have a great weekend, CFN!

  683. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 9:46 am #

    Earth to Q, cats are not People.
    ===========
    They are around our house.

  684. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 9:51 am #

    Oh, well, enough agravation (sp?) for one evening. It was just a little three paragraph review of “The Wind Up Girl.”
    =============
    Lew, try this. Send your post one para at a time in 3 separate posts.

  685. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 9:59 am #

    not pointing fingers, but you’re on that ‘warning’ list of mine.
    ===========
    What warning list would that be? The “DEATH TO SPELLING TROLLS LIST.”
    On another subject, I’ve been mulling over your comments about 401Ks, IRAs, pulling out 20K per year and paying a penalty, etc. Before I go further … how old are you? Are you retired? Are you receiving SS checks yet?

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  686. MarlinFive54 June 18, 2011 at 10:37 am #

    “The US is an ugly thing, a curse …”
    “Kill the Blue-eyed devils …”
    -Metusaleh
    Memo to CFNation
    Marlin, Chief of Staff
    Do Not, I repeat Do Not, invite Metusaleh to any of your 4th of July cookouts, celebrating Uncle Sams 235th birthday, with succulant hotdogs and icy cold Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, (Long Necks). Metusaleh is not in the celebrating mood, and could possibly ruin the day for everyone.
    Hey Metusaleh, when does the extermination of the ‘Blue Eyed Devils’ (by which I think you mean my family and neighbors) commence? Is this just hyperbole on your part? We’re here, in these Connecticut hills, waiting for you. We’ve been here a long time. We’re not going anywhere. I’m thinking you won’t be able to get within 250 yards of any of us.
    -Marlin

  687. Cash June 18, 2011 at 10:45 am #

    Mika, I have a question for you. My understanding is that the US provides $billions in aid to Israel every year a large part of which is used to buy military hardware. My question is this: in your estimation can Israel survive as a Jewish nation state without this US aid or will it eventually succumb to its Arab neighbours?
    Let’s say that a regime unfriendly to Israel takes power in the US ie a president and Congress that says enough of this, it’s not in the US interest to aid Israel particularly since Israel has nothing the US wants or needs. Like oil. Let’s say this regime makes it illegal for Americans, Jews and non Jews alike (including pro Israeli evangelical Christians) to provide material and monetary aid.
    So my question boils down to this: do you think Israel can survive on its own, without outside aid of any kind, using its own resources, financial or otherwise?
    The reason I’m asking is because times change. The politics of the US could change as financial constraints finally impose spending discipline. And I can’t imagine that the Butchers of Beijing will happily finance the US govt without having a say in how it’s spent and having a strong say in US foreign policy. He who pays the piper etc.
    I think that countries without money will lose influence to countries that have money. And I would bet that China’s interest is its own self interest ie access to oil. Does Israel have oil? Do the hard men in China truly give a shit whether Israel lives or dies?

  688. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 11:53 am #

    Hi, Ripped.
    Actually, Jonestown was my first introduction to non-official, non-corporate media history.
    My husband was listening to a radio show, and he told me to listen. He said that Jonestown wasn’t the a mass suicide, it was murder.
    I scoffed. How ridiculous was that?
    But then I listened. The guy was Leo Ryan’s aide, and he was with Leo Ryan when they were ambushed. He survived.
    It’s interesting how one thing will stick out and make you think – HEY! I remember hearing that story and didn’t think anything of it at the time, but – HEY!
    With Jonestown, it was that first they said there were 400 bodies, and then they changed it to 900. The story was that they just didn’t notice the extra bodies underneath. I had just accepted that story, ridiculous as it is.
    But this guy said, no. The people fled into the jungle and were trapped down, murdered and dragged back.
    There is not much information out there on this, unlike the Kennedy assassination and 9-11. But here is one link.
    http://ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/Jonestown.html
    I started listening to that radio show, and that’s how I was introduced to the alternate reality of the Kennedy assassination.
    What got me there was the “magic bullet”. I had heard that phrase before, ridiculed by the corporate media, but didn’t know what it meant.
    When I found out! One bullet causes 7 wounds! And then falls out in pristine condition! That’s what changed my mind.
    So I tell my parents this radical new thing I learned, and they said, oh, we never believed the official story.
    Really? And they never bothered to tell me? But when I asked them why, they said that when Dorothy Killgallen was murdered, they knew something was wrong.
    See. I didn’t even know who she was. That wouldn’t have done it for me.
    And, I believed the 9-11 story until I heard David Ray Griffin point out that when concrete falls down, it breaks into rubble. It doesn’t explode into a fine dust and spread out for miles.
    Well. That’s true. I have a bunch of concrete rubble in my yard, which I plan on making into something, someday.
    But another friend was suspicious because of the put options. Now, I had heard that, way back in 2001, but didn’t think much of it. Except that they said they didn’t know who purchased them.
    I knew that was bullshit. It’s not like buying a lottery ticket. They know who bought those puts.
    But that wasn’t enough at the time to make me think the whole thing was a plot.
    Now I do.

  689. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 12:01 pm #

    @ lbendet – There was another article in the paper today. Apparently it has something to do with mating season. 🙂
    Marc: Re: Lamb. Remember that through most of the early part of the book, as I remember, Biff is, what, 10 or 11 years old.
    I remember laughing my ass off at his “little boy” crush over Mary. Remember those? Of course, sometimes I think Christopher Moore is still stuck somewhere in early adolescence.

  690. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 12:03 pm #

    no need for martinets here n’est pas?
    =============
    A sure proportion of rogue and dunce finds its way into every school and requires a cruel share of time, and the gentle teacher, who wished to be a Providence to youth, is grown a martinet, sore with suspicions; knows as much vice as the judge of a police court, and his love of learning is lost in the routine of grammars and books of elements. – RWE
    This is what I have been reduced to by people who just don’t give a shit.

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  691. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 12:03 pm #

    You’re getting paranoid, Prog.

  692. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 12:08 pm #

    I don’t remember Myrtle May as bitching about her life. She briefly mentioned that she has had health problems which kept her off the blog lately.
    I think that she is a talented writer with a wicked sense of humor.
    Asoka had a different sense of humor, and was much more political, in a multitudes kind of way.
    I miss them both.

  693. Cash June 18, 2011 at 12:13 pm #

    My understanding is that the Huns came riding in from parts as yet unknown in Asia and, from what I’ve heard, possibly a confederacy of steppe peoples and possibly from Khazakhstan. Just more Asiatic invaders from the east and, as it appears to me, not a reaction to Roman imperialism. Maybe a reaction to Chinese military force ie can’t go east so go west.
    As far as Islam goes I’ve read that its origins may have been in dissident Christian groups in the Levant. I saw that theory a long time ago in a newspaper and I’ve never seen it again nor been able to resurrect this idea via a google search. WRT Islam being a reaction to Roman imperialism where did you get this as I’ve never heard it before. I would think that it would be a theory popular among America hating, Europe hating, West hating academics and leftists.

  694. bubbleheadMarc June 18, 2011 at 12:18 pm #

    It’s competently written and sometimes amusing but as I said fiction usually isn’t my thing. As a barber I’ve inhaled entire shelves of pulp fiction such as Louis Lamore, Mickey Spillane, or quirky one hit paperbacks from authors who then disappeared permanently. I like to go through the ER Hamilton catolog and order whatever nonfiction looks interesting concentrating on social sciences, paranormal, and history. I also like travel writers, single handed circumnavigations by yacht bums, and hermits who disappear to build rude cabins.
    My biggest problem with fiction is the nagging and persistent suspicion that most of it could just as well have been left unwritten but unfortunately the hapless author is a neurotic scribbler who cannot help himself or at least has nothing better to do. I think this is why even good writers of fiction usually write maybe three good ones before they start rewriting their earlier material such as Henry Miller rewrote the two Tropic books as the totally unneeded Rosy Crucifixion trilogy Sexus, Nexus & Plexus, speaking about perfect books for bored mariners or barbers with no clientele. Of course is something is actually funny then all is forgiven.

  695. Cash June 18, 2011 at 12:21 pm #

    Asoka claimed to be 62 – Q
    Another poster said he clicked onto a video or photo posted by Asoka supposedly of Asoka and that he’s a young fellow. Whether he’s black I can’t remember. But the poster said that he’s not 62 assuming the photo/video is genuine.

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  696. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 12:24 pm #

    Yeah a good intro to Leftist Eschateology. Jim Jones evolved into a God Figure. His followers were mostly poor Blacks. Given that combo, where else could it have gone?

  697. bubbleheadMarc June 18, 2011 at 12:36 pm #

    I like your quote employed above in your response to Welles about pedantry concerning typos. It reminds me of how much teaching school sucks, and as such is a cool breeze of realistic negativity wafting over a wasteland of impotent positive thinking by dull normal petty functionaries who keep all the shit running that doesn’t need bothering with in the first place, such as public secondary school for all the dumb fucks concerning whom it is a foregone conclusion that they’re never going to learn a fucking thing! So screw them, vote “no” on your next school levy, or better yet, move to a rural hovel whose valuation is so low that the biannual real estate taxes levied upon it will be of little or no value to anyone.

  698. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 12:37 pm #

    Were you here when Abbey made a cameo and spoke her last name for some reason? Cohen. It explains alot about her attitudes towards her neighbors and students.
    Who is buried in Grant’s Cenotaph? Grant. And in his tomb? A cat.

  699. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 12:41 pm #

    Wrong. He wasn’t a leftist. Jim Jones was CIA. He was a childhood friend of Dan Mitrione, one of the most notorious CIA torturer/murderers of US history.
    Some of those people were sentenced to go to Guyana by a judge in San Francisco. How can Americans be sentenced to another country?
    The whole thing was bizarre.

  700. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 12:47 pm #

    Son of a Ku Klux Klan member, childhood friend of a notorious CIA torturer, partners with children of military chemical warfare experimenters – yeah, a real leftist, he.
    http://www.whale.to/b/jonestown1.html

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  701. Buck Stud June 18, 2011 at 12:51 pm #

    Wage,
    And yet you believe Asoka was actually banned, which in itself is nearly unbelievable considering the posters who are not banned. But then again, it’s always hard on the belief system when Toto pulls back the curtain – it all seemed so real.

  702. MarlinFive54 June 18, 2011 at 12:56 pm #

    I owe you an apology, WageL. I once accuse you of lacking a sense of humor. But that ER story about the dude who took a round in the groin, and how you once in awhile remind our husband of it, well, that was pretty GD funny.
    -Marlin

  703. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 1:04 pm #

    Good book review of a radical Finnish environmentalist who breaks with Arne Naess on Democracy and Egalitarianism – these things can never save the Earth and only betray the Environmental Cause. The American’s Left’s support of the Mexican Illegals is textbook case.
    When the power of persuasion fails we must use the persuasion of power. Thus only Fascism, which already has a long history in Environmentalism, can bring the Vision to fruition. The Elite seem to be doing just that, I hate to admit. But they earmarked us for extinction so they must be resisted. Whites are the World’s most endangered species.
    http://www.counter-currents.com/2011/06/in-praise-of-pentti-linkola/#more-14373

  704. asia June 18, 2011 at 1:11 pm #

    Do the chinese have any originality?
    Fake paintings made by the millions, whole cities that copy art…
    now this!
    HALLSTATT, Austria – It’s a scenic jewel, a hamlet of hill-hugging chalets, elegant church spires and ancient inns all reflected in the deep still waters of an Alpine lake….

  705. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 1:11 pm #

    That’s my entire philosphy in a nutshell: the Left is an illusion created and fostered by the Big Bankers. Glad to be of service to you.
    Jones was the darling of the Califonia Leftists. Fact. And he espoused radical egalitariansim – his few White Male followers had to endure alot of mockery and abuse from Jones and Jones encouraged Blacks and Women to join in.
    Not all Leftists are red diaper doper babies like you. Maybe he fell into as a reaction to his upbringing. That doesn’t contracict my first paragraph per se: the big picture always contains alot of contradictions at the level of the individual. Look at your life: as a leftist, you shouldn’t even be married.

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  706. asia June 18, 2011 at 1:13 pm #

    After taking photos and collecting other data on the village while mingling with the tourists, a Chinese firm has started to rebuild much of Hallstatt in faraway Guangdong province, a project that residents here see with mixed emotions……………………………….

  707. asia June 18, 2011 at 1:15 pm #

    I once knew someone who said…
    [A friend] ‘went to his church because he wanted to be around blacks’.
    Also, having read some of the expose book, SSI made it possible.
    That money, which never saw its intended beneficiary.

  708. asia June 18, 2011 at 1:18 pm #

    That his dad was KKK, what does that have to do with HIM?
    Think for a change.

  709. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 1:18 pm #

    Well, it could have been a glitch, as Prog suggests.
    I have had problems, as have many other people, with sudden, arbitrary refusal of posts.
    Some people take it personally, and try to figure out a logical reason that that particular post was refused.
    I am more in the no-rhyme-or-reason camp.
    There would be no reason for Asoka to be banned if you compare him to other posters, as you say.
    But if someone comes up with a coherent explanation for why some people get banned and some don’t, I’ll take it under consideration.

  710. asia June 18, 2011 at 1:20 pm #

    Not if it was used for drug smuggling….
    I said IF.

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  711. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 1:31 pm #

    I agree that for a while, in California, he presented himself as a leftist. That was his cover. But that doesn’t mean that he was a leftist, as that the other people running Jonestown were leftists.
    And Leo Ryan was assassinated, stopping his investigations of the CIA.
    And I only got married after 14 years of co-habitation, for practical reasons.

  712. bubbleheadMarc June 18, 2011 at 1:33 pm #

    If you don’t like urban rent then fucking move to the desert and live in a tent. Your adolescent horseshit reminds me of this Procol Harem song:
    SHINE ON BRIGHTLY
    My Prussian-blue electric clock’s
    alarm bell rings, it will not stop
    and I can see no end in sight
    and search in vain by candlelight
    for some long road that goes nowhere
    for some signpost that is not there
    And ever my befuddled brain
    is shining brightly quite insane.
    The chandelier is in full swing
    as gifts for me the three kings bring
    of myrrh and frankincense, I’m told,
    and fat old Buddhas carved in gold
    And though it seems they smile with glee
    I know in truth they envy me
    and watch as my befuddled brain
    shines on brighly quite insane
    Above all else confusion reigns
    And though I ask no-one explains
    My eunuch friend has been and gone
    He said that I must soldier on
    And though the Ferris wheel spins round
    my tongue it seems has run aground
    and croaks as my befuddled brain
    shines on brightly, quite insane.

  713. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 1:33 pm #

    I meant to say OR that the others, the Laytons and such, were leftists.

  714. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 1:51 pm #

    Were you here when Abbey made a cameo and spoke her last name for some reason? Cohen.
    =============
    Are you speaking of the woman who used to post here a lot under the name AbbeysBooks and was forever saying “You must study Foucault” and I would bust her balls (metaphorically speaking) and say “why must I study, why can’t I just read Foucault?”
    But to answer your question, no, I don’t recall her giving her last name as Cohen.
    There is a woman named Abbey Joseph Cohen who is a VERY big wheel with Goldman Sachs but there is no way they are one and the same person.

  715. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 1:58 pm #

    What’s a martinet? A marionette? A martian? Or a small furry predator?

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  716. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 2:06 pm #

    So him killing himself and all those people was also “CIA”? C’mon, think. He was a Leftist Loon. A Moonbat. Whatever CIA connections he may have had didn’t account for all of his actions. Reality is complicated. So am I. So are you.
    Cohabitation? Very nice, but you are supposed to take lovers too. Your body doesn’t belong to you you know. I say it belongs to God – you say to the People. You worship the People who are by and large, a bunch of losers. Choose a better God.

  717. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 2:08 pm #

    The very same. You two had a stormy relationship as did Abbey and I. Too bad Lewis wasn’t here then – he would have loved her.

  718. Bustin J June 18, 2011 at 2:23 pm #

    Spider says, “I lost from the get go, I am a loser from the outset, end of story. And I am envious and hate people with all of my guts, why do they get to have it and not me ? Why are there young, and pretty and rich people enjoying and not me?”
    I believe this is an example of what Tony Robbins calls a “Self-limiting belief”….

  719. Bustin J June 18, 2011 at 2:39 pm #

    Fab said, “Not worried about global warming as there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.”
    As Winston Churchill said, “Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing…after they have exhausted all other possibilities.”
    The possibility here being happiness itself- douchebag. At some point in the free exercise of such pursuits, one man’s ‘happiness’ limits another’s, or his own. And then what? You’ll show up on the front line and offer to carry sandbags to hold the rivers back? I don’t think the national guard is going to have any use for a 90 year old in diapers.

  720. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 2:47 pm #

    Jones was the darling of the Califonia Leftists. Fact. And he espoused radical egalitariansim
    =============
    The trauma of the Sixties persuaded me that my generation’s egalitarianism was a sentimental error…. I now see the hierarchical as both beautiful and necessary. Efficiency liberates; egalitarianism tangles, delays, blocks, deadens. – Camille Paglia
    I’m guessing Wage detests CP.

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  721. digbycookies June 18, 2011 at 2:54 pm #

    There’s a new “fix” being proposed for Social Security, effectively screwing the living daylights out of the generations coming after the boomers. From Zero Hedge:
    “So who are the losers in the Graham, Paul, Lee plan? The answer is that anyone born after 1966. If you’re younger than 47 today, bend over. The Boomers are going to screw you. You’re going to pay more than you should and you’re going to get less than the boomers got.”
    So once again, the boomer generation “gets theirs” while leaving the rest of us to nibble off of the crumbs on the floor. Nice. Real nice!
    It’s not like I deluded myself into thinking there would be any SS by the time I’m too old to stand up anymore anyway. Hell, with the way the dollar is going down the toilet, who knows what $600/ month will buy in 20 years anyway. A loaf of bread? A can or two of Purina?

  722. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 2:59 pm #

    What’s a martinet? A marionette? A martian? Or a small furry predator?
    ===========
    None of the above. It’s a martini served in a thimble.
    😉

  723. Bustin J June 18, 2011 at 3:01 pm #

    PoC said, “I’ll contend that “nothing but fungi and bacteria alive on Earth by 2075″ (paraphrased) is about the most pessimistic assessment I’ve ever heard ANYWHERE, however. And it’s based on assumptions on your part that there are ZERO feedback mechanisms – as yet unknown to science – that may mitigate global warming.”
    The negative feedback is radiative emissions of heat to space from the Earth’s atmosphere- the problem with CO2 and Greenhouse gasses is that this negative feedback is what is being throttled. In order for the equilibrium to return to normal, you would have to reverse the greenhouse gasses.
    Entropy is the problem. Heat is simply the disordered movement of molecules. It is too diffuse for normal geochemical reactions. There is no direct way to capture this energy. In terms of the Earth as living and non-living systems, the usual brake on greenhouse gasses is life- ecosystems and species- which we have been very hard on.
    What we have with CO2 is an exponential increase in a variable- an extreme loading of one aspect of the whole equation. If you want to talk survivability, things don’t look good for the higher organisms, eukaryotes like us, for instance, or everything else mammal-like that lives above ground. Plant-like species at the single-cell level, like algae have a better chance, bacteria are almost guaranteed to survive because they evolve hyper-rapidly and can adapt (as a creature that reproduces every 15 minutes), and fungi, with a similarly simple set of characteristic features- fungi were thought to have survived and spent millions of years as Earth’s dominant lifeform during intercessions (mass extinctions) in the past.
    Humanity is imperiled. Everything we build is subject to maintenance and energy flows. Artificial life-support is likely to be inefficient at best, and the psychology of the human animal, in the face of the consequences of the destruction of its home-world, is doubtable. The last humans alive will likely commit group suicide. They will live like rats.
    It is impossible to understate the scenarios we are facing. A human being is not adaptable to conditions like 140 degrees F at the surface, without a spacesuit. At a certain point, evaporative cooling on the surface of our skin fails; body temperature rises and we cook in our own skin.
    Proud humanity appropriates the Darwinan “fitness” concept and believes that we are nearly invincible. Not so. We are extremely inflexibly adapted when viewed from an objective perspective. We are in fact rather weak, energetically costly beings. We are fossil-fuel and modern-Ag created creatures.
    Look at it this way- We are large because our mammalian genes express largesse that will make us big, strong, and hopefully- fuck all the available women and steal all the food. The problem is that being 6’2″ and 200 lbs. is a formidable chunk of biomass- that needs volumes of water and food to sustain properly. If there was some way to shrink the human race to 1/4 the size, we would greatly reduce our footprint. Being large, heavy creatures that cannot withstand high temperatures and extreme requirements for cooling fluids and essential trace minerals, protein, etc… becomes an extreme liability in extreme circumstances.

  724. digbycookies June 18, 2011 at 3:02 pm #

    If Asoka was really that young, he sure was smart! And just out of curiosity, was it possible that the video he posted of himself was really old? Like, I’m picturing this young African American with a huge fro, circa 1970. That would definitely put him in the ballpark for being 62 now.

  725. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 3:16 pm #

    Too bad Lewis wasn’t here then – he would have loved her.
    ===================
    He could always go back through JHK’s archives starting about a year ago and working backwards from there.
    There were many things that drove me up the wall about Abbey but the topper was telling her black students that they should retain their black vernacular (ebonics). For rationale she offered that blacks were making a lot of money writing rap “lyrics.” I wanted to friggin scream.

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  726. Bustin J June 18, 2011 at 3:22 pm #

    Trip said, ” If we’re not completely suicidal we better, every damn one of us, get really busy cutting our impacts in every way we can manage. I don’t understand why everyone thinks that assigning blame, and denying dire issues, is going to solve anything.”
    The problem with the first world, capitalist society (used interchangeably) is that it reduces all of nature to abstract value ($). It is the organizing principle of society, that it is composed of self-interested individuals fundamentally in competition, that makes this problem so intractable. The Commons tragedy problem is hard at work here, it is a fatal flaw in the economic model.

  727. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 3:25 pm #

    I read way more non-fiction than fiction. Maybe 2/3 to 1/3. But, that’s just a ball park figure. Lots of history and archaeology. I’m liable to pick up anything that catches my fancy. My tastes are pretty eclectic.

  728. digbycookies June 18, 2011 at 3:26 pm #

    I think you’re right. Israel is ultimately fucked. As the U.S. spends its last dollar fighting Muslims, resource rich Russia and capital rich China will begin to call the shots in that neck of the woods.
    Geographically, Israel is in a very tight spot, surrounded by very unstable countries filled with extremely angry young men. At some point it won’t matter how much money Israel bribes our CONgress with.
    Russia learned a brutal lesson from its tours of duty in Afghanistan – a lesson the U.S. absolutely REFUSES to learn. And as you have stated before, the Russians and Chinese are ruthlessly brutal. If the world thinks the U.S. is evil and corrupt, just wait and see what happens when American and European money dries up and the real fight for all the remaining resources kicks in. Don’t think I’d be wanting to be in Israel when that particular shit hits the fan. A smart entrepreneur could make a fortune selling brown colored boxer shorts there.

  729. MarlinFive54 June 18, 2011 at 3:27 pm #

    BustinJ, you mentioned Tony Robbins, we have a friend who was his girlfriend in HS out in Glendale, CA, went to a coupla of proms with him. She says he might be a fraud now but back then he was a decent kid from a pretty good family, a little bit ackward, no indication he would become a worldwide swindler.
    -Marlin

  730. Bustin J June 18, 2011 at 3:31 pm #

    BJ: ‘My presecription is for 3rd world countries to say “Fuck you” to the WTO, default on their debt…’
    Fabian says, “For 3rd’s to move out of being 3rd’s they need access to capital. That capital does not exist within their domestic economies. Otherwise they would not be 3rd’s. So, with you brilliant advice they will remain in the minor leagues forever. Good call, Mr. Economist.”
    Actually, dumbass, the countries that said “fuck you” to the WTO and its ‘reforms’ did the best through the Great Recession. They do not need debt, they do not need foreign capital, they do not need it! Those are artificial needs. Enough resources are available, for a population and society to exist comfortably and proudly without international cash. They can trade incidental resources for essential help. How about a pile of used engineering, chemistry, and physics textbooks, some slide-rules or solar calculators?
    Countries go to the WTO because their ruling classes have robbed them blind writing IOUs and helping capital fly away. Or, they have clusterfucked themselves into unsustainability and now need energy/food/water to sustain populations. Or, they have bought into the marketing lie that the crap capitalism provides so cheaply will improve quality of life.
    WTO is just a mediator for the rape of whole countries by capitalist industry turning things of intrinsic value into garbage- like Apple’s iPhone.

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  731. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 3:38 pm #

    Do you really fall for that?
    The ruling class is screwing you, not the Baby Boomers.
    Just keep looking where they point, bird dog. Bark at the Wizard and, most certainly, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
    Divide and conquer. The oldest, and certainly most effective, trick in the book.

  732. digbycookies June 18, 2011 at 3:48 pm #

    Fair enough. The math doesn’t add up at all. In no way, shape, or form.
    Housing – in the toilet for at LEAST the next 20 to 30 years. Those suckered into paying the astronomical prices of the past 25 years or so will mostly NEVER get anything close to what they paid. Guess it will be time for those folks to take in some borders.
    Employment – Not getting better, will probably get much worse. Folks forget that the taxes paid by employers as well as employees are what keeps things like government programs running. What will granny do when everyone is tapped out? Those SS checks won’t show up.
    Resources – Many on this site mentioned it before but it’s worth repeating. The real peril we all face isn’t peak oil, but the depletion and competition for resources, particularly among rising third world countries who (surprise) don’t WANT to be third world anymore.
    Environment – The Earth really doesn’t care whether we as a species survive or die. We are imbecilic to think otherwise.
    I guess it’s unavoidable that we tend to sneer in the face of ultimate death, as if we have any other choice in the matter. The best anyone can do is to maintain themselves as best they can while mitigating whatever ultimate agony reality inflicts upon us.

  733. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 3:48 pm #

    Ah, yes. Procol Harum. “Whiter Shade of Pale,” “Conquistador” and my all time favorite, “Salty Dog.”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUcAEdkWxXM&feature=related
    Or, if you want to go even nautically darker, there’s always the
    Door’s “Horse Latitudes.” 🙂
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbtMtKzA_EY

  734. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 3:55 pm #

    Ah, yes. Procol Harum. “Whiter Shade of Pale,” “Conquistador” and my all time favorite, “A Salty Dog.”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUcAEdkWxXM&feature=related
    Or, if you want to go nautically darker, there’s always the Door’s “Horse Latitudes.”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbtMtKzA_EY

  735. digbycookies June 18, 2011 at 3:57 pm #

    I can definitely see the “divide and conquer” part. It’s really obvious, isn’t it? I mean, it’s kind of like a Michael Vick dog fight. You put two in the ring, sit back, and see which one gets killed first. The “winning” dog gets to survive, perhaps covered in blood and festering wounds while the guy laying the wager walks away with the cash. What a set up!

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  736. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 4:19 pm #

    time for those folks to take in some borders.
    ============
    borders. TeeHeeHee
    I say we need to close off our southern boarder.
    I stole a couple of bords from a construction site.
    😉

  737. metuselah June 18, 2011 at 4:20 pm #

    WRT Islam being a reaction to Roman imperialism where did you get this as I’ve never heard it before.
    ==
    It’s just my deduction. But I’m sure someone somewhere must have made the same observation.
    Regards Genghis Khan, my suspicion is that he was Chinese cultivated, even though the Mongols later turned on the chinese, ultimately to fail in that endeavour. Why would the Chinese do this? Possibly as a reaction to an encroaching Islam. But I’m just speculating, based on a russian movie I’ve recently seen:
    http://youtu.be/wHno62B6c7w

  738. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 4:23 pm #

    Or, the fights that California prison guards set up, bet on and then shot the participants.
    http://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702320.html

  739. metuselah June 18, 2011 at 4:27 pm #

    Metusaleh is not in the celebrating mood, and could possibly ruin the day for everyone.
    ==
    Hahaha! Yeah, I think you might be right. I’ll just sulk all by my lonesome with a case full of Brazilian Brahma. 🙂

  740. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 4:40 pm #

    Michael Hudson points out that this is the first time that the normal capitalistic crash has been socialized by the government – turning what should have been massive losses by bankers into massive debts of American citizens.
    But, he points out that if the government can create money to help the bankers, they most certainly can create money to help ordinary Americans.
    http://michael-hudson.com/2011/06/how-a-13-trillion-cover-story-was-written/

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  741. metuselah June 18, 2011 at 4:42 pm #

    We’re here, in these Connecticut hills, waiting for you.
    ==
    Waiting for me? You don’t know me from the wind. You never did, you never will. 🙂

  742. wagelaborer June 18, 2011 at 4:44 pm #

    From the article-
    “Even more remarkable is the attempt to convince the population that new money and debt creation to bail out Wall Street – and vest a new century of financial billionaires at public subsidy – cannot be mobilized just as readily to save labor and industry in the “real” economy. The Republicans and Obama administration appointees held over from the Bush and Clinton administration have joined to conjure up scare stories that Social Security and Medicare debts cannot be paid, although the government can quickly and with little debate take responsibility for paying trillions of dollars of bipartisan Finance-Care for the rich and their heirs.”
    That’s what I’m sayin’, digby.

  743. metuselah June 18, 2011 at 4:46 pm #

    Yup, Michael is half way there. But he’s still stuck in the bankers paradigm — the central bank warfare/welfare model.

  744. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 5:09 pm #

    You are an asshole.
    ========
    Know eye’m knot.
    Your a asswhole.

  745. AMR June 18, 2011 at 5:22 pm #

    I’ve only glanced at “Bright-Sided,” but I’m not surprised that Osteen figures in it.
    You mentioned that he’s just one of many “Gospel of Prosperity” peddlers. You’re right, but from what I’ve seen most of the others are pikers by comparison. I’ve watched a lot of the preachers on TBN and CBN (although happily not very often), and Osteen sticks out among them for his brazenness. Pat Robertson preaches that rubbish fairly often, but compared to Osteen he dabbles in it. At least that’s how it was a few years ago when I watched “The 700 Club” regularly for sheer entertainment value. The con artistry about tithing was swamped by Robertson’s atavism and bigotry.
    Incidentally, according to Greg Palast, Robertson is one preacher who doesn’t believe his own bullshit. In one of his books, I think “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy,” Palast described Robertson as a very savvy businessman who used 700 Club money to ship diamond mining equipment to the Congo and didn’t crack open his Bible once during his trip to oversee set-up. Instead, he mainly read the Financial Times.
    Palast also described an absurd 180 that Roberston performed vis-a-vis Scotland and the Presbyterian Church, from proud Tidewater Englishman and Baptist who denounced the Presbys as Satanists, to lackey for the Royal Bank of Scotland, which he brought into a business partnership with the 700 Club.
    Osteen has already had a little brush with scandal–sort of, and not in the usual way. A year or so ago his wife briefly got into hot water for smacking a flight attendant. She’s a regular guest preacher in the family business, but the episode was resolved pretty quickly and hardly broke the Osteens’ stride.
    The real scandal is that these sleazeballs are running religious cons on the pious gullible. The secondary scandal is that most reputable clergy and lay leaders are extremely hesitant to rebuke them. Thankfully, Chuck Grassley doesn’t share their compunction and has administered a much-deserved Senatorial smackdown to some of the offenders. As beholden as he is to corn and ethanol, he’s a godsend in a country that is too avaricious, shallowly pious and sexually repressed to recognize and denounce scumbags who use religion as a cover for fraud.

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  746. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 5:29 pm #

    .sgod yzal eht revo depmuj xof nworb kciuq ehT

  747. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 5:41 pm #

    I I T Y W I M W Y B M A D

  748. AMR June 18, 2011 at 5:52 pm #

    Maybe I painted Prop 13 supporters with too broad a brush. Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Howard Jarvis wasn’t an opportunistic demagogue who convinced genuinely squeezed homeowners to cast their lot with wealthier people who could very well afford their tax obligations but were angling for a legal exemption.
    In any event, Prop 13 was a terrible policy fix. It openly kicked the can down the road, with the result that local governments got hammered, residential vs. commercial development priorities were skewed for tax purposes, and the current generation of new homeowners are being bled by their assessors in the same manner as their parents and grandparents in the late ’70s.
    Having seen what a cumbersome, inequitable nightmare property tax assessment is, I agree that property taxes should be eliminated. We just don’t know how to manage them. Unfortunately, many states don’t have a clue of how to reform or replace them, either. Pennsylvania’s attempt, Act 72, was a fiasco. The reasoning was that since property taxes were unfair and burdensome, it would be fairer to partially offset property tax revenue by allowing slot machines at horse tracks. Then, when most of the state’s 501 school districts dragged their heels and didn’t accept Act 72 revenue, the Rendell administration started suing them into compliance.
    It’s a sign of our immaturity, petulance and stinginess as a nation that gas and income tax increases are considered beyond the pale but government-run gambling rackets aren’t. It’s a good sign that we recognize property taxes to be a Rube Goldberg machine, but a very bad sign that we can’t find a way to restructure other, more manageable taxes to replace the revenue that they currently collect.

  749. digbycookies June 18, 2011 at 6:05 pm #

    Good article, Wage. And a belated thanks for the great video you posted the other day. Hope your pup makes it thru okay. dig

  750. rippedthunder June 18, 2011 at 6:09 pm #

    more wasted time, Just spent the whole day out back and the Dj played this tune. What happeneed to the music Ozone?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKcGCObEb28

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  751. bubbleheadMarc June 18, 2011 at 6:12 pm #

    Local government needs to accomplish its responsibilities with the minimum feasible expenditure but this becomes impossible when entities such as police, fire & schools become self-referential reality isolation bubbles which start generating their own “requirements”, much as if they actually had any sort of positive right to exist, which of course they don’t.
    Suburban governments now routinely attempt to put one over on taxpayers by designating entire neighborhoods as blighted so that they can be condemned and replaced by mixed use development to increase tax revenue for the benefit of government, a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. But people are easy to fool and can be counted upon to deliver knee jerk reactions to proposed automation such as traffic light cameras, consolidation of suburban fire departments in areas where everyone has smoke alarms and there are few fires, or competition amongst suburbs to have the “best” schools, much as if you could realistically compare such diffuse institutions especially those from neighboring towns which in essence are two peas in a pod. It’s kind of like some sort of relentless wonderfulness contest is continually being waged to see who can be the fairest in all of the insipid exurban Cupcake Land. Of course no one wants to live in the scary inner ring suburbs where the wrong sort are already moving in so it’s off to the outer ring with all our gas eating toys.
    Wouldn’t it be refreshing if there was a town with no public schools, where you exercise the option to have really low property taxes in exchange for forgoing the expectation to have your neighbors raise your kids for you? And wouldn’t it be cool if we could place all the roads under video surveillance in exchange for laying off half of the cops? But if we must have schools then at least let’s have realistic class sizes, pay the teachers more for doing more, then expel all the little assholes who won’t behave themselves unless they’ve got one teacher for every fifteen kids or some outrageous teacher to student ratio which is raping our wallets on a daily basis.
    Because in the final analysis nobody learns anything in school and the sooner we figure that out the sooner we can stop wasting all this money on the equivalent of mandatory piano lessons for the tone deaf until the age of eighteen.

  752. asia June 18, 2011 at 6:12 pm #

    Tony, hahaha
    I knew an Acupuncturist who had gone thru hypnotherapy school with him [yes Tony studied NLP and how to hypnotize]..he said TR is a creep.
    Within the last 2 years my limo driving friend drove TR and wife to a private jet…
    Tony does not tip.

  753. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 6:33 pm #

    The ball’s in your court: are you people ready to renounce democracy (the illusion of it) and egalitarianism to make the Earth safe? The people can always be counted on to take the easy road, the one without any principle – the one that serves their short term needs. They must be ruled by people better than themselves. It is their right.

  754. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 6:39 pm #

    What’s a good way to give a cat a bath without personal injury? I’ve been adopted by a stray charcoal gray female.

  755. AMR June 18, 2011 at 6:40 pm #

    Here in Eureka, CA, we passed a half-percent sales tax increase measure last fall to pay for public safety. I voted against the damn thing because the EPD is staffed by creeps and the only way to get them under control is to understaff the agency to the point that its officers are running from service call to service call all night, as San Diego city cops do. The only other option would be to make the cops hold tight at Denny’s or the Village Pantry, or Starbucks for the day watches, until they’re needed, but that won’t happen. Our cops are too officious and not lazy enough.
    Or maybe the wrong kind of lazy. The other night a fairly conservative couple told me that EPD and the Sheriff’s Office were useless when their truck was stolen and driven around Eureka for an hour, pursued by a friend. They gave police dispatchers a description of the vehicle and real-time information on its location, but the cops did nothing. A few hours later, an off-duty deputy whom they know found the vehicle abandoned on the Fortuna riverfront.
    I’d like to know exactly what demographics voted for Measure O, since the EPD is so notoriously shitty. The “O-Yes!” assholes probably scared up some absentminded morons with their TV spots and yard signs.
    Hopefully, Eureka’s finances will get bad enough to make Measure O irrelevant and force EPD to really cut back. The next round of cuts just might hit EPD; the Eureka Fire Department took it hard last time, and the Sheriff’s Office just had to lay off 19 deputies. We may not have enough noisy badgelicking cretins in Eureka for EPD to win anyone over with a sob story.
    I would love to have CHP take over primary jurisdiction in Eureka. Chippies act like cops, not neighborhood prowlers. The Sheriff’s deputies here are mostly all right, too. The few good Eureka cops would probably behave themselves better as deputies.

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  756. AMR June 18, 2011 at 6:43 pm #

    Another thing: the bad rap that homeschooling gets is overwhelmingly undeserved. Some of the best adjusted people I’ve met were homeschooled. The number of public school districts that I have reason to trust, on the other hand, is vanishingly small.

  757. bubbleheadMarc June 18, 2011 at 6:44 pm #

    Thanks for those links to the music videos. I loved the entire Strange Days album and also Morrison Hotel by the Doors. At the Rock N’Roll hall of fame here in Cleveland there a funny Jim Morrison display of his Cub Scout uniform with a photo of his Den posing at an early navy jet fighter at Miramar Naval Air Station. Morrison’s dad was an admiral. Morrison graduated from college and had an IQ of 150 or so. I’ve always thought that Procol Harum had the most atmospheric and decadent sounding music though, plus they made good use of the Player’s Pack on the Salty Dog album. Another ’60s cultural reference to the Player’s pack with the British sailor who cap band says “hero” was in the Bond box office champion Thunderball where Domino the sex kitten who lives on the superyacht Disco Vollante [flying saucer] tells Bond that she fell in love with the sailor on the Player’s pack when she was a young girl. We all smoked Players at canoe camp up in Canada. For hard core tobacco freaks I think that Gauloises nonfiltered are the best. Haven’t had a cigarette since 1993.

  758. MarlinFive54 June 18, 2011 at 6:56 pm #

    Old6699/Spider;
    Dude you need professional help, and soon! Are you writing this shit from a lunatic asylum? Because that’s what it sounds like. And you are getting worse every day. Pretty soon the situation will be hopeless.
    WageL, I thought you were a serious hard core leftist with roots in CPUSA. But your posts from earlier today, validating crazy conspiracy theories about Jim Jones, the Kennedy assassinations, and 911, tell me something different. Real Commies like Beria, Stalin, Lenin, Trotsky and Chairman Mao were above all brutal realists who used terror and violence to defeat their class enemies and win the day. They didn’t dabble in any odd-ball conspiracy theories. Of course they were all conspirators themselves.
    -Marlin

  759. bubbleheadMarc June 18, 2011 at 7:00 pm #

    You’ve gotten me started on my favorite rant! I will try to be mercifully brief: the core of the delusion that sham public schooling works is the universally overlooked detail that kids first, are not given the leisure time to read, then more to the point, are rarely or never actually observed reading with pages completed noted by the teacher, and so on. The reason that home schooling is better is because the parents actually watch the kids read and do their work. The parents are also more likely to subsidize recreational reading which the kids then will actually enjoy, creating the desire for more reading experiences. Enough said. Public school is crap. Let the kids socialize themselves vis the mechanism of city recreation department intramural athletics, scouting, Y camp, and so on. Schooling is a overwhelmingly a social activity and the teachers suck precisely because they are extroverted souls who prefer social activity to reading. Extroverted teaching staff who don’t get around to reading EQUALS garbage in/garbage out. Show me an intelligent extrovert who loves group activities above all and I’ll mail you $500. Anyone worth a shit as an academic instructor virtually must be an introvert and a book-worm, precisely the sort you don’t see teaching school. Therefore: abolish school and let the sociable, amiable dumb-fucks sell automobiles for a living.

  760. Ixnei June 18, 2011 at 7:07 pm #

    “how old are you? Are you retired? Are you receiving SS checks yet?”
    I’ve got at least 20 years before I claim SS, if I ever do (and I see no use for medicare/aid either – best to be healthy, than rely on synthetic toxins). I’m not retired – more like, I’m doing my “darn”dest to pull out of this economic/political system. Of course, that’s really impossible, as you either have to rent, or own land and permanently pay property taxes (along with federal/state tax).
    So, ‘Dad’ (if you popped me out when you were 15, LOL), how’s the weather treating you all down there? My Dad actually lives down there, within about 200 miles of you Georgians, and yes, I’m concerned – he had to hide out in the basement when the couple weeks-worth of tornadoes blew through. And, I understand it’s been 90+ for a week or two now (not even summer yet)?

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  761. Ixnei June 18, 2011 at 7:10 pm #

    Wow, apparently the acreage burned this year in the US is already 3 times higher than the 10 year annual average – and it’s not even *SUMMER* yet. And, it’s pretty much spread across the southern states (not just Arizona)…

  762. digbycookies June 18, 2011 at 7:26 pm #

    Oh, Jesus, you got me started, BHM! I did my time in the elementary school system (8 years) and was positively shocked at the waste that went on. Talk about your clusterfucks. Get a bunch of women (not to rank on women, but…) together, mix in some gossip, some “my husband makes $$$ and we live in the elegant xxx subdivision, how bout you, honey?” and you pretty much get the picture of how fucked we really are. Mix into that brew a concoction of fucking worthless seminars, meetings, and various “How can we suck up to the Queen Bee Principal Bitch”, and you’ve got a fine recipe for just such a mess we find ourselves in.
    To be fair, being a male elementary school teacher was probably not my true calling, as I tended to want to rip the head off of some of the little asshole kids who tried to disrupt my class. Make no mistake, Clusterfuckers: It is NOT about the kids! It’s about the tax money sucked out of you and into the school administrators’ pockets. BTW, most teachers don’t get the really BIG $$$. It’s the administrators who don’t have to deal with the little fuckers everyday. And don’t EVEN get me started on the new and innovative “programs” introduced every year or two, which are enormous boondoggles.

  763. Ixnei June 18, 2011 at 7:59 pm #

    Bustin J spins the CO2 enigma better than anyone I’ve seen to date. Why there are not more professors coming to the forefront, to explain what we face, in detail, is a bit disconcerting…
    He has left out a few ‘minor’ (major?) details. That, for the past ~1 million years, the current level of CO2 in the atmosphere is 33% (more like 40%) higher than ever measured, and it has been steadily increasing since the industrial age (~1860). That, this increased CO2 in the atmosphere is *expanding* the atmosphere, pushing the outer ozone layer further out (and I’d argue, the root source of both ozone holes [not CFC’s]). With the final clearcutting of the last remaining rainforest (Amazon Basin), none of this CO2 is captured/sequestered, save in the oceans, which are quickly becoming acid baths.
    Other than that, bravo! He’s spelled it out pretty clearly.

  764. LewisLucanBooks June 18, 2011 at 8:02 pm #

    The same in libraries. The less public contact you have, the more power you get and the more money you make.

  765. Ixnei June 18, 2011 at 8:28 pm #

    “borders boarder bords”
    Covert/culvert
    Succeed/secede
    Feudal/futile
    *LET’S PLAY*!!!

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  766. Merle June 18, 2011 at 8:39 pm #

    What with the NASCAR Southern digs?
    At least they are harmless and honest unlike the central banking criminal ivy league wusses.

  767. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 9:03 pm #

    What’s a good way to give a cat a bath
    ============
    You don’t have to bathe cats. They lick themselves clean on a continuous basis unless they are old and decrepit. Generally speaking, you can bury your face in their fur and they’ll smell fresh as a daisy.
    If your grey cat showed up at your door out of nowhere I would spring for a visit to the vet to check for fleas and to make sure the cat has been fixed and doesn’t have a host of problems*. I don’t know if Vets can determine if a cat is feral but I’d recommend not trying to turn an outdoor cat into a house cat. We let our cats out a few hours a day but we always get them back inside for meals and “bedtime.”
    Do *this* before you fall in love with the cat because once you do there is no turning back.

  768. trippticket June 18, 2011 at 9:10 pm #

    Link submission test
    http://smallbatchgarden.blogspot.com
    Rejected or nay?

  769. trippticket June 18, 2011 at 9:14 pm #

    The site apparently doesn’t like the specific stuff after the general blog address. Stripped down it goes through just fine.
    Anyway, the name of the post is “The Delicate Sound of Wonder” – a photo update for early summer from Small Batch Garden. I’ve retooled my blog page just a bit – header photo and subtitle in particular. Tell me what you think!
    Link above,
    Cheers, mates.
    Trippticket
    Minister of Horticulture
    CFN

  770. bubbleheadMarc June 18, 2011 at 9:23 pm #

    I did my junior high teaching in a catholic elementary building run by boy crazy nun who was in love with Tom Selleck and hired me because I’d been stationed in Hawaii and could discuss the various locations with her of Magnum P.I.. She also used to ask the married female lay teachers what it felt like to get schtupped! When I drew her as my gift recipient for the Christmas party I should’ve bought her a vibrator instead of a star finding toy. I showed up to the Christmas party at the convent with a fifth of scotch and drained half of it then had the elderly midget nun who played the organ teasing me about being half drunk. In point of fact, as a confirmed alcoholic, half a fifth was NOTHING. The nuns were drinking their atrocious home made wine. The principal and I also used to go to bars when out driving to conferences and we’d sit there having a drink with her wearing a habit! The parents the first year were great so I put up with their rotten kids in the 7th grade but got mad at the boys in the 8th grade my first year and was sarcastic to them in front of their parents so there parents would ask why I dislike them so much. The second year the 7th grade parents were fucking worthless and the boy crazy nun was giving me lots of shit so I walked out without giving notice in April forcing them to replace me. They hired this dweeby ex-nun who treated the kids like small children so they used to call me at home to complain about the new teacher. I told them “what do you expect? She’s an ex-nun”.
    All l can say is that anywhere you go it’s all about the crowd control. These white parochial school junior high brats were more poorly behaved in class than inner city black ninth and tenth graders who were mostly living in the projects with single welfare mothers raising them. True, the black kids cut out from class and wandered the halls and the neighborhood a lot but in class they were usually better behaved. At the ghetto high school I used to get paid overtime to ride up front in the Cleveland Police Dept. paddy wagon pointing out truants for the cops to throw in the back. The teachers could hardly wait for October each fall because once the state school enrollment census was done they could go back to ignoring the undesirables who stopped showing up once the money was apportioned among the districts. The faculty there called this high school “the developmentally handicapped magnet school.” One teacher starting saying “I don’t teach math I teach kids” so all the other teachers started saying “I don’t teach English I teach idiots.” I used to say “I herd intellectual worms for a living.”
    We need to get rid of the lecture section method of teaching and adopt a quasi-British tutorial method where the kids don’t get lost in the cracks. I left there and switched to adult GED tutoring after I was forced to beat up two different assailants within the space of one week, and my draft dodger dept. chairman started getting nervous. The principal didn’t mind; he was an army MP in the China/India/Burma theater during WWII who started out working at the bad boy’s school Thos. Edison in the same district, Cleveland.
    This was during the mid ’80s: Cleveland p.s. have lost 50% of their enrollment since then. There are two teachers from that building who frequent the barbershop where I now work, both of whom were assaulted including one featured in a BBC documentary about violence in American schools who was literally beaten senseless with brass knuckles even though he’s a former college & semi-pro football player. His claim for injuries was turned down because he used to play football, by a worker’s comp. doctor who was going on hearsay evidence of past football injuries.
    The building was shut and will be demolished if no business interests buy it even though the building was brand new in 1974 and contained the local recreation pool for the neighborhood. That’s South High in the Slavic Village of southeast Cleveland just a stones throw from the house on Imperial Avenue where an ex-marine was caught with a bungalow full of dead women’s bodies, eleven in all. The old Slavic Village neighborhood has been decimated by the foreclosure crisis resulting from the burst housing bubble.

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  771. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 9:42 pm #

    I’ve got at least 20 years before I claim SS
    ==========
    OK, so you’re 45-47ish. I was trying to figure why you were talking about paying 10% penalty on IRA withdrawals. So, if you’re pulling money out I assume it’s because you HAVE to. To me a 10% penalty would be a big deal that I would avoid like the plague (in the same way I NEVER pay credit card interest … always pay off the full balance). I never pulled a dime from my 401K till age 59.5 and even then it was some small amount to get over some very temporary hump. On May 21st I became 70.5 years old. That is the age at which one has to start taking MRD (Minimum Required Distributions) … when the govt begins to recover all those deferred income taxes. My goal is to pull maybe $20K per year (there’s a very specific formula for determining the min amount), pay Uncle his $2-$4K cut and still grow the pie or have it hold steady.

  772. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 9:46 pm #

    All part of the Liberal World View: an over estimation of human capacity and character at every turn. Most people are low flyers – and nothing can be done to change that. We need a social practice that acknowledges this reality.
    College and even High School are the ruin of many a potentially good manual laborer. Germany under National Socialism recognized this fact. It was part of the recovery process to put the square pegs into the square holes.
    The type that fascinates me are the high IQ/no interest types. Perfectly adapted for our civilization – and unable to see anything outside profit and loss. The extreme types (not rare) aren’t even interested in their course of study yet they excel nonetheless. Their minds are just tools they take out like we would take out a hammer. Fascinating and utterly tragic: such types are consumed with a desire for power and rise quickly to the top where they cannot but destroy the delicate mechanism that is society. I assume a high correlaton with psycho pathology but even without that, they simply do not have what it takes to govern or manage with wisdom.

  773. San Jose Mom 51 June 18, 2011 at 9:59 pm #

    Your tomato bushes are looking better than mine! I have my first dime-size green tomato that looks as if it might ripen by July. Not much heat this summer.
    My garden is all fluff–giant dahlias, poppies, sunflowers (now taller than me). Thus far I have resisted using any pesticides, but my jacaranda tree is infested with aphids and I’m losing my resolve. So far I shoot the branches with a stream of water to knock the little buggers down.
    White flies have also been a challenge.
    Always a pleasure to visit your blog.
    SJmom

  774. trippticket June 18, 2011 at 9:59 pm #

    “My goal is to pull maybe $20K per year (there’s a very specific formula for determining the min amount), pay Uncle his $2-$4K cut and still grow the pie or have it hold steady.”
    You seriously expect to “grow” your pie in any meaningful way in the future? In my opinion the only way you could grow anything is to turn cash holdings into biological life support sytems, and literally grow your wealth. Let me know how that whole stock market thing turns out for you over the next decade. But then, in order to do so you’d probably want to start training some carrier pigeons about now.

  775. Qshtik June 18, 2011 at 9:59 pm #

    I did my junior high teaching in a catholic elementary building run by boy crazy nun who was in love with Tom Selleck
    ============
    Wow Bub, you’ve lived quite a life. Monk, teacher, submariner, barber … you can’t make this kinda shit up.

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  776. trippticket June 18, 2011 at 10:47 pm #

    Thank you, Jen! Appreciate the comment. I posted a short piece that was as much about aphids as anything at our farm blog yesterday if you’re interested.
    http://www.tonicpermaculture.blogspot.com/
    And to be honest, my garden could probably use a little more fluff. So functional. I’ve got butterfly bushes, and purple and orange coneflowers, sage, yarrow, bee balm, dill, pineapple sage, comfrey, nasturtiums, chicory, and am doing my best to get my very last calendula start to flower! But sounds like I could use a lesson in aesthetics from you. And if I could give you one little tiny piece of unsolicited advice in exchange it would be to plant herbs everywhere! They will take care of your garden.

  777. Buck Stud June 18, 2011 at 10:51 pm #

    Asoka also claimed to be in the domed Ethiopian roof video he posted. I looked high and low for an elderly black dude and had no luck. Only some very young Ethiopians standing on a roof. So the young guy in the video wasn’t Asoka either.
    Asoka was just some foil for Krantz’s act. Give it another month or so and Vlad will bring back Asoka, vindicating himself and embarrassing the doubters.

  778. Buck Stud June 18, 2011 at 11:33 pm #

    “College and even High School are the ruin of many a potentially good manual laborer. Germany under National Socialism recognized this fact. It was part of the recovery process to put the square pegs into the square holes.”
    Unless of course, the four sides of a square start expanding a bit, especially on the top-notch and no longer fit the hole. And counter to the nonsense you just posted, the Nazi’s demonized the Bauhaus because, you know, they must have had too much time to think while performing their craft. They became very fearful of these manual workers whose manifesto is posted below:
    “Architects, painters, sculptors, we must all return to crafts! For there is no such thing as “professional art”. There is no essential difference between the artist and the craftsman. The artist is an exalted craftsman. By the grace of Heaven and in rare moments of inspiration which transcend the will, art may unconsciously blossom from the labour of his hand, but a base in handicrafts is essential to every artist. It is there that the original source of creativity lies.”

  779. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 11:38 pm #

    But can they can’t reach every inch of themselves – like the back of their heads, necks, and backs. Life is a challenge for all of us.

  780. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 11:46 pm #

    You’re a fool and a clown Buck – as indicated by this post and your name “Buck Stud”. An obvious sex a holic. Have you tried SLAA – Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous? It’s a good place to pick up rough trade I hear.
    The Communist affiliation of the Bahaus was inappropriate for a National Socialist State no doubt.

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  781. Vlad Krandz June 18, 2011 at 11:50 pm #

    Asoka was here before I was. Did you figure out why you liked him but not me – since you’re against racism and shit?

  782. metuselah June 19, 2011 at 12:08 am #

    Mika, I have a question for you. My understanding is that the US provides $billions in aid to Israel every year a large part of which is used to buy military hardware.
    ==
    The aid is not to Israel. The aid is to the US’s military industries. The “aid” actually stifles Israel’s home industries. But it’s more complex than that. The problem for Israel is the US military hardware given to the CIA/MI6 jihad incited arab and muslim states surrounding Israel. The amount of military hardware that they receive from the US dwarfs that which Israel receives. Israel on its own cannot compete against this flood of weapons, especially considering the diminutive size of its population, its diminutive physical size, its lack of natural resources. So Israel is trapped into being the US’s bitch, while the anglo-american imperialists constantly tighten the noose around Israel’s neck to keep it in check.
    Can Israel survive the anglo-american imperialists? Yes. When good people like Bill finally understand what the US is really all about and destroy this evil empire from within.

  783. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 12:08 am #

    Tripp will probably have a coronary, but you can buy ladybugs in bulk. Maybe jump start the process a little bit. White flies? Do praying mantis eat them? You can buy those in bulk, too. 🙂

  784. asia June 19, 2011 at 12:12 am #

    Someone who had been in the Israeli army told me..
    ‘part of the training is you have to kill a cat’…
    and now this…………
    A Jerusalem rabbinical court condemned to death by stoning a dog it suspects is the reincarnation of a secular lawyer who insulted the court’s judges 20 years ago, Ynet website reported Friday.
    ………………………………………
    According to Ynet, the large dog made its way into the Monetary Affairs Court in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, frightening judges and plaintiffs.
    Despite attempts to drive the dog out of the court, the hound refused to leave the premises.
    One of the sitting judges then recalled a curse the court had passed down upon a secular lawyer who had insulted the judges two decades previously.

  785. metuselah June 19, 2011 at 12:23 am #

    LOL! That’s funny! Thanks for that, Asia.
    Btw, 99% of Israelis can’t stand these fscks. I really think they need to be deported back to Lithuania. I’ve looked at their faces, they’re not jewish faces. My suspicion is that this group of people are remnants of a russian tsarist joke played on the jewish people.

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  786. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 12:24 am #

    Did your kids freak a bit, when you quit? Maybe it’s no big deal, or unusual these days, but when I was in grade school (the 50s) it would have been a big deal. The grade school I went too, each grade level was two classes of 30-35 kids. No huge control problems, that I remember. But back then, parents were involved and “the teacher was always right.”
    Your job history is about as checkered as mine. I mean, variety and number. I think we have, maybe, a common trait of when the bullshit gets too deep, we split.
    I’ve had long stints at jobs … 12 years and 7 years in bookstores. 11 years for the library. But then there was all the other stuff 🙂
    Lots of early library work. Want to count the paper route and produce picking? Lots of food, drink, bartender work. Bouncer / ID checker. Janitor. Exotic dancer. Made wooden shoes for a year. Security guard. Business failure 3 times. Church clerk / pastor’s secretary / board member. Kind of a social programs administrator. Night crisis intervention phone guy. Almost became a tattoo artist 🙂 . I probably missed a few.
    A lot of those were simultaneous. But I don’t think I was ever unemployed for more then two or three weeks.

  787. metuselah June 19, 2011 at 12:28 am #

    Someone who had been in the Israeli army told me..
    ‘part of the training is you have to kill a cat’…
    ==
    What do they do with all the dead cats? That’s millions of dead cats. Chinese buffet food for Americans? 😀

  788. Buck Stud June 19, 2011 at 12:36 am #

    You espouse the Nazi ideal and then have the temerity to ask why I like the self-admitted racist who allegedly endured Jim Crow over a pathetic, contrived victim such as yourself?
    Now, who is really being the fool and clown, Vlad Krantz?

  789. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 12:36 am #

    Looks great! Tripp. French intensive beds, raised beds. Something I’ll be looking at, here, when I get garden space. The last two springs have been soooo wet here. Then scorching in the late summer / early fall. Those French intensive beds look like what I need. Keep ’em high and dry in the spring, and the mulch should help with water retention the rest of the year.
    When you start thinking about an outdoor kitchen, the search term you might try is “Summer Kitchen.” Even in Minnesota, where my Mom was from, they had Summer Kitchen’s.
    That putting wires over the trees to attract bird poop is pure genius.
    Better to comment, here, or over there. Where do you get the most props?

  790. Qshtik June 19, 2011 at 12:53 am #

    But can they can’t reach every inch of themselves – like the back of their heads, necks, and backs.
    ==============
    Cats are as supple as, well, cats. There is very little they can’t reach. A cat cleans its head and ears by licking its lower forearm and paw and wiping it on the areas it needs to clean. Over and over and over till they’re satisfied. Cats are fastidious.
    If there was an area you felt needed to be cleaned you can use a damp wash cloth.

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  791. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 1:49 am #

    Give up your hatred of Whites, Buck. You have alot of self hatred and need healing. If you were healthy, you’d support me or at least not a Black enemy of our race.

  792. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 1:53 am #

    Now that I have a cat, my power should increase. They are astral watchdogs.

  793. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 2:03 am #

    Ariel Sharon said that Israel controlled the United States. Cetainly Obama’s largest campaign contributors were Jews, besides Goldman Sachs the biggest individual was an Israeli citizen. What kind of country allows contributions from foreign nationals?

  794. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 2:26 am #

    Those Jews are the brightest ones though. The Sephardic are alright too but not quite as bright. And the Oriental Jews are dummies – settler types. And after them comes your faves the Eithiopes. You got that jungle fever bro.

  795. metuselah June 19, 2011 at 3:16 am #

    What kind of country allows contributions from foreign nationals?
    ==
    Most any country. Who do you think funded Netanyahu, and later Sharon? Who do you think opened Israel to the international banksters?
    Anyway, let’s take your Sharon pronouncement. The only thing I’m seeing is a lot of BS hype and negative publicity. And zero as far as anything of benefit to Israel. Israelis are being terrorized on a daily basis by US subsidized jihadi terrorists, Israel is constantly vilified on all the CIA/MI6 propaganda outlets for the last 60 years with lies and contrived CIA/Paliwood theater, Israel is again being sliced and diced in accordance to the anglo-american machinations, and I’m supposed to buy into the nonsense that the US is under the control of Israel. What the fsck do you take me for, some brain-dead David Duke parrot with zero critical thinking?
    The problem with you, Vlad, is that you have been propagandized to focus exclusively on “DA JOOS”. That’s the only bandwidth of the spectrum that you’ve been programmed to see. And even then, you see only what you’ve been emotionally programmed to see. That makes you pretty blind to what reality really is, and a sucker for your handlers’ sleight of hand. Look, Vlad, look over there! DA JOOS! And while you look over there at their storefront puppets, Vlad, the fsckers are busy doing their thieving. And they don’t give a shit about you or about anybody else but themselves.

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  796. metuselah June 19, 2011 at 3:26 am #

    You got that jungle fever bro.
    ==
    Damn right. Them girls a cute!

  797. metuselah June 19, 2011 at 3:27 am #

    are

  798. spider9629 June 19, 2011 at 4:23 am #

    Labor Costs Too Much
    This another thread the right wing constantly chants, another simple linearity, cause and effect that everyone buys into, like little babies, wow, it takes a lot of brain power to figure this one out, doesn’t it ? At what point will labor “Not Cost Too Much” ? That should be the right question, of course, no one in the world can possibly think such an incredibly complex and insane thought, it is way too far from the brain power of 10 billion people brainwashed by the ruling class to go against themselves. The answer is, it will never NOT “Cost Too Much” (just like labor will never NOT be innovative or competitive enough, educated enough and have the right skill set enough, and so on), labor costs too much “structurally”, labor is defined as always costing too much, (just like taxes are always too high). In southern China the factory workers were starting to land salaries of 150 to 200 dollars a month, all of a sudden, they were no longer “competitive enough”, “productive enough”, but most of all, labor started to “Cost Too Much”, so they closed those factories and opened them in Vietnam where labor is more reasonably priced at 100 dollars a month.
    Wow, do those managers have really hard decisions to make, they really have to use all that college education to figure these things out. Also on taxes, everyone wants to cut taxes, but no one will tell you that behind taxes are other jobs, other people getting paid and making a living, no, who cares, other workers can always be hosed, it is always the workers and weak class that deserves to be hosed and costs too much. What total idiots everyone is, and all of this while the FED prints trillions and just hands it over to the super rich (given that no one on earth knows where all that money goes, since everything is being cut, workers fired, everything has become an entitlement, debts keep on going up, in other words, all of those trillions just disappear in a black hole, but in reality in the pockets of a few thousand super rich families, the ruling class).
    But the ruling class, the economists, everyone who can is having a ball, it is all fun and games to watch all the poor and weaker classes fight each other over make believe “objective” and “scientific” “economic laws” (that are just like the laws of physics), never noticing that they are total, arbitrary inventions that are totally biased against the weaker class, that there are no necessities in the way things are set up, there there is no such thing as debts and entitlements and all, but that the ruling class just made up rules to hose the weak, brainwash them and they all play along and believe all of it!
    No one sees the hidden intentionality behind it all, the simple power relationship, the simple robbing from the weak workers in all possible ways, and them not even noticing and the weak actually helping the rich rob them even more by everyone blaming everyone else that they cost too much and don’t deserve to be paid, etc.
    That is why, the weaker classes worldwide should demand Free Salaries and Cheap Rents, the FED is printing trillions, where is that money going to ? No one knows, aside from all of the complex excuses and make believe mechanisms the banks and FED are so good at inventing, no one sees that money or gets any of it (aside the already super rich).
    Another question no one seems to ask, is why were so many computers introduced in the first place in work palces ? TO AUTOMATE LABOR, TO ELIMINATE LABOR, IS THAT SO HARD TO FIGURE OUT FOR CHRISTS SAKE ? SO HOW ON EARTH CAN THOSE JOBS BE CREATED AGAIN IF THEY HAVE BEEN RENEDERED OBSOLETE!?!? The only solution is FREE SALARIES AND CHEAP RENTS!, get over it all of you Right Wing Thugs, demand this from the governments worldwide and break everything until they give it to everyone!

  799. spider9629 June 19, 2011 at 6:58 am #

    Bullies on the Block
    On the Labor Costs issues, if that was so important then almost all factories and corporations in the USA, EU and JAPAN would have closed a long time ago since 90 % of those few puny work items performed in these 3 areas could be done in 3rd world / India China or Indonesia for 200 to 300 dollars a month which is considered a pretty high salary, since they pay housing, health care and education zero, or close to that (not sure about housing, but maybe they live 10 in a house, who cares, you an adapt to anything). But they say for example Germany labor costs are high, but they are productive or competitive (funny since a little more then a year ago Germany was considered an old, eurosclerotic, welfare state, pile of crap, with too many unions, not innovative, etc. all the things that everyone else today is being blamed on being according to those huge turds that are the economists and their freindly ruling class bosses, they never say house prices and rents and mortgages must go way down, to almost zero, to really get an economy healthy and going, go figure). Nothing Further from the Truth, they all just pay whatever they want to whoever according to nothing at all but their free will, their quirk, not based on anything but what they choose decisions and will powers, don’t believe all the crap. And then they always try to hide it and make believe there are all of these real objective structural and scientific reasons for hiring in Germany and firing in Spain and so on. The only real reason is: Germany produces 5 million luxury cars a year and sells them all over the world, and similar, etc. and they have been doing this for decades.
    It is all an assignment of what reality is and defined by the ruling class (or mass medias) etc. and since reality doesn’t exist, they invent anything and assign it, define it and create it right off, and everyone buys into it.
    But they all want to play bullies on the block against small puny weak countries like Ireland, Portugal and Greece, a few million people to hose and rob from, nice, what bullies, they play the strong guys with the weak and small guys. Oh no they say, the Greeks retire too early, that is the problem, what incredible BS, as if that meant anything at all in an Automatic Technological Globalized economy, incredible that everyone buys into such BS!
    But I guess there is a law of conservation of conflict, no matter what, the fights and conflicts will persist forever, are structural, they start from a single mind always conflicting, to people, to groups, social classes, economies, etc. Constant conflicts no matter what or who wins, even all I say is BS, no matter what, the conflicts will just change and go someplace else, always at square one again. The winner and losers just change position, same story over and over again. And other laws of coservation, laws of conservation of pain/pleasure or winners/loser, whatever, you can only win a few times but mostly lose infinite number of times in life, who defines winning and losing, and so on, if you have a big car on a block where everyone has a small, you are the winner, but if you feel different and inferior because of this all of a sudden you feel like a loser, and so on and so forth, the infinitely programmable machine.
    The fact that there is so much corruption is due to the fact that so little real work exists anymore, and in order to grab more cash, you have to force it, given that you can’t deserve it anymore, no one deserves much more than anyone else in a Technological Economy that renders work not necessary. So alot of work for lawyers, and ever more fights and conflicts and less real work.

  800. george June 19, 2011 at 7:37 am #

    Yes I agree with JHK. We’re in for one hell of a ride. But perhaps there is a silver lining to all of the doom and gloom. Without cheap entertainment to narcotize us into submission, we will learn to entertain ourselves and others and feel what its’ like to communicate with each other face-to-face. We won’t have video games and ipods and blackberries, but we’ll still have baseball bats and baseballs. And without the trappings of hyper-consumerism maybe we’ll find out that true happiness is something that can’t be bought like the latest fad.

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  801. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 8:18 am #

    So Q, why did the fox jump over the dogs?

  802. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 8:33 am #

    Hey LLC, when I was a kid I would raise mantis and sell there ootheca through gardening catalogs. I hardly ever see any mantis around here any more.

  803. bubbleheadMarc June 19, 2011 at 9:37 am #

    I was literally hounded out of the building by the head nun, even though we’d been buddies to a great extent. She went ballistic because I’d told the kids they could bring their sleds in for the last snowfall of the year since we had a sledding hill behind the school. She had made a PA announcement that we’d all go out the following day to play in the snow. Then she went nuts over the sleds. Weird. She also went nuts when the mothers set up a banana split assembly line for the Christmas party first year. Again, why? She wasn’t really totally stupid or anything like that but she was of course a nun, and that ain’t cool, as they say. She used to ask me if I was “afraid” of the nuns. I would incredulously answer “I was raised in the only protestant church which has nuns, namely Anglican/Episcopal, and a buddy of mine from college is now and was then an Episcopalian monk. So initially they didn’t seem so weird to me but in time I got tired of their narrowness. I then tried being a Catholic monk myself, some ten years later.
    I’ve had long stretches at three jobs: seafarers maritime union, 8 years but quit some individual ships to return to the hall or at least the 800 crewing number, then 7 years at my own barbershop, and 6 years at the last shop where I rented a chair and was in charge of all the walk-in traffic. The owner there died of colo-rectal cancer but was HIV positive so that didn’t help.
    Teaching jobs, being so utterly chicken-shit, were easy for me to walk out of. I would no longer even consider teaching school with the sole exception of barber college perhaps. If I hadn’t volunteered for submarine duty I believe that I’d have ended up retiring from the navy by repeatedly getting out then reenlisting after six months or so. If you reenlist pretty promptly you won’t lose a stripe. After all, I’m a socialist and the military is extremely socialistic, as David Broder of the NY Times just wrote and was reprinted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Another socialist thing about the military is you’re always meeting enlisted men whose dads are or were officers.
    The crux of the difficulty with educaton here is the attitude on the part of “professionals” that nobody is “stupid”, apparently because since our brains are invisible hidden inside our heads as they are the stupidity situation doesn’t really exist so we can play this make nice game where we pretend that everyone’s capable of learning. All I can say is that our hearts are hidden inside too, and even though it took until fairly recently for Harvey to discover the circulation of the blood people still died all along when their blood stopped circulating owing to coronary events, so guess what? You guessed it, just ‘cuz we can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there continuing to not work in essense. So yes, at least one third of the population is simply too stupid for any sort of secondary school, and more like two-thirds of the population is really not bright enough for academic secondary school commonly known as college prep. In my opinion it’s cruel to force stupid people to engage in sham academic activity just as it would be insane to force a skinny little high school girl to play tackle football with the guys. Every bit as absurd in fact.
    So there it is. If I outlive my family responsibilities here I want to become a hermit and live off the grid at a rude campground instead of a plastic house in the suburbs.

  804. ozone June 19, 2011 at 9:53 am #

    Sorry for the belated reply; fingers crossed on re-roof and careful flashing and gooping operation. Quite the scramble, what with not knowing if the skies would remain dry!
    “more wasted time, Just spent the whole day out back and the Dj played this tune. What happeneed to the music Ozone?” -RT
    What’choo talkin’ ’bout Willis?
    Nice to be outside and not get pissed on for a change, eh?
    As fer the musiks, things move (and not always in a pleasant direction). I don’t understand some of today’s “tastes”, but ugliness is in the eye of the iconoclast, I suppose. ;o)
    Doing another private “do” today, that’s become sort of a mild tradition with a Collinsville-ite.
    It’s a good party with us reg’lar folk, but somebody keeps harping on about “Rocky Top”. (See, I gots my tastes too, and I’m mostly neutral about the tune, but I’ve got no incentive/desire to learn the song or perform it. That’s better heard on a stereo by a good bluegrass band than by a guy who doesn’t care. Geez, I can hear it in my head now; ahhhhhgh!)
    Although wildly eclectic, I ain’t no human jukebox, and my mercenary streak only goes so far. I’ve got to actually like the songs I do, in order to do a decent job with them. Like “Everybody Knows”. That’s got great feel and depth, with a fine combination of chord progression and thoroughly ominous lyrics.
    “Grazin’ in the Grass”; what a sunny tune!
    Have some fun and remembrance today; could be nice weather for us.

  805. soak June 19, 2011 at 9:58 am #

    SOLAR ENERGY ABOUT TO GO MAINSTREAM?
    Department Of Energy Makes $150M Bet On Solar Tech
    The wafer technology was developed with the support of a pilot innovation investment program housed under the Department of Energy, known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). According to director Arun Majumdar, “ARPA-E is looking for high risk ideas that, if successful, can be high impact. Those that don’t exist today.”
    Unlike traditional wafers–which are sliced from a large block, resulting in considerable losses of material (up to 50 percent)–these new wafers are individually cast to specific measurements, a more efficient model of production.
    In 2009, ARPA-E made an initial $4 million dollar investment in 1366 Technologies, and on Friday, announced it would make an additional $150 million dollar loan guarantee to take the company’s research and development to the next level.
    If projections regarding cost savings are accurate, solar may be on its way to becoming competitive with traditional fossil-fuels — though some in the industry remain concerned about barriers still in place.
    “There are two main areas of concern: price and value,” said Brian Keane, president of Smart Power, a green energy marketing group. Keane explained that the primary “value” of solar “is that it’s good for the environment. But quite frankly, no American actually thinks that’s good value.”
    Keane says that U.S. consumers need to be convinced that solar is a viable proposition. “The perception is that solar is an idea from the 1970s that just didn’t work. They think it’s not strong enough to power their lives, compared with oil, coal and nuclear power.”

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  806. bubbleheadMarc June 19, 2011 at 9:59 am #

    I would counsel any normal person to avoid nuns like the black plague of the late middle ages. Since working with them I’ve read up on Vatican II and belatedly realized that they all went nuts at that time. Some nuns literally went around seducing all the good looking young priests they get their hot little hands on. At some convents there were epidemics of alcoholism when they unlocked the liquor cabinets to treat them more like adults when they abolished the old habits, and so forth. Psychological studies have been published in which it was estimated that perhaps only 3% of nuns ever really grow up. Plus, I’ve only seen one nun anywhere anytime who was actually physically attractive so you know they’ve all got to have major resentments buried somewhere. The nuns I worked with were continually stuffing themselves with cupcakes to the extent that only one of them was not overweight. Half of them were borderline obese. They’re also extremely bigoted in that they really do think that protestant churches are not real churches and that protestants when they go to church are merely “playing church.” Yet in spite of this most catholics are extremely lax today and are really nothing but high church Anglicans at best, if even that. Very few catholics know much of anything about their church either.
    By far the craziest job I ever had was AB in the merchant marine. Merchant seamen live in a world virtually unknown to the average person. If the economy hadn’t been so crappy ever since the Nixon administration I probably would’ve done virtually none of this stuff. People who can’t find reasonable employment close to home are driven to extremes which they hadn’t anticipated when younger. Barbering can be fun but every other day it’s dead so the money is limited. I prefer blue collar barbershops and dislike rich people who want to book appointments. Some day we are going to rise up and feed the rich to the dogs. I don’t expect them to believe this but merely to taste good when the dogs eat them.

  807. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 10:28 am #

    “Tripp will probably have a coronary, but you can buy ladybugs in bulk. Maybe jump start the process a little bit. White flies? Do praying mantis eat them? You can buy those in bulk, too. :-)”
    It’s not just philosophical, there is a real logistical problem with this approach. The same problem you have with cosmetic surgery. There’s no discipline involved, no slow steady build-up to a more robust system. If you get liposuction, and don’t make any changes in your diet, then it was all just a waste of time and money in the end. Same with buying beneficial insects.
    If the ecosystem support for the ladybugs and mantids was in place they would be there. I mean, it’s not like there is any shortage of food, right? If there are absolutely zero of these good bugs in the area, then yeah, maybe you should try to introduce a few (and I would add the smallest number possible). But what’s more likely is that there are some around, and simply not a lot of acceptable habitat for their expansion into Jen’s garden. Maybe she’s using chemicals they don’t like, and/or getting rid of all the “weeds” that would host them?
    Either way, I’ve found that the old saying “if you build it they will come” is always true. I’ve never bought any beneficial insects for any of my gardens, and I don’t pretend to possess the wisdom to know how many of what species my garden would need. I try to leave that sort of thing to Mother Nature, and she always gets it right. Me, I just sit there, jaw dropped in wonder, soaking it all in, and trying my best to stay out of her way.

  808. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 10:30 am #

    Happy Fathers day to all ya’ Motherfuckers out there. If you are a dad you are certainly a Motherfucker. hahahaha. :o)

  809. lbendet June 19, 2011 at 10:31 am #

    As of 7/15 5pm, we the people of the United States will not be able to buy over the counter gold and silver.
    please check out this article on Zero Hedge today–it tells you a lot about where we are heading!
    Oh you know that financial regulation bill we recently passed?
    Well here’s a scary detail we didn’t know was in there.
    Note:This site will not allow me to spell out names because it sees them as spam, as I have been told. Please check the site I mentioned for details.

  810. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 10:35 am #

    So true Tripp, I don’t have much of a problem with insects. I used to get squash borers big time. I learned if I hold off on the squash plants till later in the season the borers are pretty much done with their life cycle. Sure the squash is a little late, but when it comes I can’t even give the shit away!

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  811. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 10:41 am #

    Happy fodderdaymudderfucker, repeat three times as fast as u can. it makes me laugh. I am a simpleton.

  812. ozone June 19, 2011 at 10:55 am #

    …I am also a simpleton; I found that fun too! ;o)

  813. ozone June 19, 2011 at 10:57 am #

    RT,
    Great tip on the sqwarshes; the later planting shall be done…
    (Especially as the seeds I put in earlier have drowned and rotted.)

  814. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 11:01 am #

    O3, you got a mention in my blog post this week!

  815. bubbleheadMarc June 19, 2011 at 11:07 am #

    You come up with some great comments. People who underestimate you often are not producing the same quality insights [as you]. I’m also going to go out on a limb and say that you’re not racist either, but more tribal in outlook. You want to maintain the vitality of your Anglo-Teutonic tribe of fur clad marauders in scary looking sailboats with angry beasts carved on the prows. You also want to keep the religions compartmentalized so as to avoid syncretism, which of course is fey and poofterish and leads to Peter Pan and his lost boys rather than the paganistic rapine and plunder which leads to Valhalla where you get to hang with Wotan and drink mead until insensible every night while tussling on the floor with comely wenches and so on. Which is as it should be.
    I am not a liberal but a socialist, which is different. But not a national socialist because that involves too great an outlay on uniforms, kind of like being a Sea Scouts leader, only darker and far kinkier, as indeed Adolph himself was known to be into scat sessions with his poor niece who later preceded him to Valhalla by her own hand.
    The high IQ/no interest types are the classic business school products in that they don’t care what they’re doing so long as they get to be in charge, because indeed they view their forte as management so it is nearly immaterial just what it is that they are managing. Anyone who actually enjoys working or producing something is automatically enslaved by them since the workers are too busy working to watch out for the machinations and sinister tweakings [but not in the crystal meth sense beloved of the little Austrian corporal] with which the underhanded bastards get you every time. These are the people who will not go to Valhalla because they will not die with their swords in their hands. They will die in expensive nursing homes swaddled in their depends, watching golf on tv, and trying unsuccessfully to remember their own names.

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  816. MarlinFive54 June 19, 2011 at 11:12 am #

    old6699/spider;
    Why don’t you get the f–k off this site? You’re starting to piss me off, and probably everybody else, too!
    -Marlin

  817. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 11:20 am #

    I just picked up a “click” beetle off the kitchen floor. Even they are gettin’ stupid. I flipped the fella on his back and he struggled for almost a minute before he instictivly “clicked” and flipped himself over. What is this world coming to? ah, the life of a simpleton and his simple amusements. I just had to laugh at the guy before I tossed him back outside.

  818. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 11:25 am #

    Mornin’ Marlin. I tend to agree. old6699 tends to bore. He is an asshat, size 7 3/4!

  819. ozone June 19, 2011 at 11:33 am #

    I just noticed.
    Those beans are enjoying themselves!
    Mine are just now starting to climb; a bit more sun, and I’ll have a freakin’ jungle on my hands. ;o)
    Great pics and tips; bird pooing wires; very observant indeed…

  820. Qshtik June 19, 2011 at 11:53 am #

    Great tip on the sqwarshes
    ============
    Oz, I’ve been meaning to tell you for months that I enjoy your penchant for maintaining a sort of New England/Old England throwback language throughout your comments. “Sqwarshes” above is a perfect example. (Where I originate from – Collingswood, NJ – we would “warsh” our hands before dinner. I somehow became sensitized to how ridiculous certain of my pronunciations were and corrected them. In this case I removed the r sound from warsh. My older brother who moved to Florida 40 years ago still says warsh.)
    At any rate, one of my favorites from your writings appeared a few weeks ago when you said you did most of your “swillage t’home.”

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  821. Buck Stud June 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm #

    Do you ever recall reading Vlad’s insight on the racist tendencies of the repressed gay clergy? I found to be quite an eye opener, especially now.

  822. ozone June 19, 2011 at 12:08 pm #

    Hey now, new review of his [updated] tome, and an hour-long lecture video. Kewl.
    http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/
    Okay, gotta grab my shit ‘n’ git.
    Have a fine day, All!

  823. ozone June 19, 2011 at 12:14 pm #

    Hiya, Q,
    “Regionalisms” have always been fun for me. R.L. Stevenson and Dickens are more “present” because of them I think.
    Anyhoo, glad you’re having fun with ’em too!
    ……..Llllllllater

  824. Qshtik June 19, 2011 at 12:30 pm #

    So Q, why did the fox jump over the dogs?
    ==============
    I wondered if anyone would bother figuring out what I wrote. I don’t know if you know this but that sentence contains all the letters of the alphabet and is good for practicing typing (which I never learned to do properly … I still do “hunt and peck”).

  825. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 1:14 pm #

    “[Spider,] Why don’t you get the f–k off this site? You’re starting to piss me off, and probably everybody else, too!”
    I’m with you man. I’m having a hard time finding the real comments through the dense fog of shite under his handle. Please go away!

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  826. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 1:18 pm #

    “I wondered if anyone would bother figuring out what I wrote.”
    I had a really funny post all lined up, where I was going to correct your grammar in gibberish. Then I noticed it was just a pangram typed backwards. Delete. Move on;)

  827. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 1:23 pm #

    I planted your beans wicked late in the season, but they are loving life, and wishing they had 10 more feet of trellis to climb. There’s another variety coming in to fill the rest of the space, one with a pretty white and apricot colored bloom. I’ll send you seeds from both if you want them.
    Thanks for checking out the post! And good luck with your sqwarshes!
    TT

  828. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 2:00 pm #

    About this time last year, National Geographic had a picture of a preying mantis that had caught a hummingbird. Oh, argh. Like something out of an alien sci-fi horror movie.

  829. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 2:00 pm #

    I am reeling from the sucession of back handed compliments you delievered. But Thank You. JFK himself admired Adolf – as did many world leaders until he was turned into the devil by triumphant Jewish propagandists. In any case, he loved his dog Blondi (always faithful) and his niece Gelli -perhaps too much and unwisely leading to tragedy of one kind or another. Scat sessions? Does that mean what I think it does? Got a reference for that? Many people used stimulants during the war -certainly our pilots did and do. And yes, the Small Man could be vicious in the extreme when threatened.
    The beauty of Fascism is that it can be both nationalistic yet not narrow. Fascists are exhorted to admire nobility wherever it arises – including men of other nations and races. Orwell himself admitted that the Fascists would have created another kind of Western Civilization and not the end of it as the Muslims will aided by their Liberal enablers. Can it have a dark side? Of course. But International Socialism IS the Dark Side. I don’t know how a man of your wide experience could have missed that. You want to avoide syncretism in religion yet you seem to embrace it in politics – what gives? As you know or should, Communism is a conspiracy of the Judeo-Masonic Bankers. Nothing more.
    The closest America ever came to redistrubution of wealth was the King Fish Huey Long – a true American Fascist. He was gunned down by a Jewish Doctor – seemingly out of the blue. The doc had no criminal, mental health, or terror group issues or history. Obviously an operative of the Brotherhoods who drew the short straw. None dare call it Conspiracy cuz that would be just too scarey. Knowledge is existential: one you know you have to act so many choose not to know until they don’t have to – and it’s too late. A flaw in our wiring. Thus we have come to where we are. The people awaken – far too late.
    I expect nothing now. Decades ago we could have saved America without militarizing it. Twenty years ago we could have saved America by a coup. Now nothing will save us collectively. It’s just a time to save ourselves by “tribeing up” as Trip put it. Jujitsu in effect. The Elite destoyed America by mass immigration and empowerment of the minorities over Whites. So go with their move but take it farther. They expected to rule over a diversity of squabbling minorites. Let them herd cats. Watch it all come apart once the minorites don’t have White disempowerment to unite them anymore. It already is: the war between Mexicans and Blacks is being desperately covered up by the media.

  830. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 2:09 pm #

    LOL. I knew you wouldn’t be happy with my suggestion. 🙂 . Better to study the habits of preying mantis and ladybugs and naturally provide an area that is hospitable to them.
    I have to laugh at myself. When the lights went out the other night (a planned event) I was pretty well prepared. But, immediately thought of ten little things I wanted or wanted to do that required more light or electricity. Nothing that couldn’t wait til the next day. Sometimes, I want what I want and I want it now, preferably yesterday.
    I thought a lot about that the next day. I’m writing about it now. Talked to the guy, where I want to move. He came through his surgery ok and is well on the mend. Better then a 50 / 50 that that will work out.

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  831. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 2:13 pm #

    I never said such a thing. The clerical queers are ****** lovers to a “man” – some of them even abusing Black boys. Forgive the stars – a concession to liberal hypocrisy. I don’t want to offend you and your .63 Black Friends.
    Even as a boy I knew something was wrong with them. Their hands were too soft and their handshakes were wrong somehow even beyond that. My intuition was and is far above that of most. I feel much but it often takes awhile before I understand what I’ve felt. Once I do, I can “See” it too. And from that base, I can project trends into the future.

  832. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 2:21 pm #

    Is this Asoka come again? The same was asked of a young Japanese girl who attained enlightenment – was she Dogen Zenji come again. Or Christ – was He Elijah etc.

  833. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 2:21 pm #

    From our bad news / good news department… Here’s an article on how some in the government wants to sell off Amtrak. To foreign investors.
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110615/bs_nm/us_amtrak_ownership
    Sic Matt Taibbi on ’em!
    From our good news department, there was an article in the newspaper the other day about The Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad. Their a shor-line outfit that owns about 108 miles of track in this neck of the woods. Mostly between here and the coast. They started in 1997 and last year moved 30,000 car loads of product. They move timber and other forest products, agricultural products and cars.
    The article on Amtrak didn’t mention much about the West Coast, but the main north-south line seems to be picking up ridership and revenue all the time. We have 6 passenger trains a day, through Centralia. Down from 40 some a day in the 1940s.

  834. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 2:22 pm #

    Should read “short-line” outfit.

  835. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 2:45 pm #

    OK. I read the Zero Hedge article. Didn’t understand much of it. Does this mean the guy two doors down who buys and sells silver and gold, won’t be able to, anymore? (He also sells military collectibles and has about 5,000 Hawaiian shirts, both new and vintage.) Some of the comments were pretty entertaining.
    I’ve moved to number 8 on the hold list for “Griftopia” at the library. Since there are 6 copies in the system, it shouldn’t be long.

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  836. Cash June 19, 2011 at 2:47 pm #

    So Israel is trapped into being the US’s bitch, while the anglo-american imperialists constantly tighten the noose around Israel’s neck to keep it in check. – Cash
    So what’s the point of it all? To you and the Palestinians ownership of that patch of land is a life and death issue. But what’s in it for everybody else? What’s in it for the US? Why is half the world in an uproar over Israel? Why should it have consumed so much of the world’s time and attention? Why would an Iranian give the slightest fuck whether Israel exists or not? Why was Sadam building super artillery pieces to bombard Israel? Why would he bother? Was Israel threatening him? Why would they?
    Correct me if I’m wrong but it seems to me that what we have here is a squabble over over a really small patch of arid land with no resources. The Holocaust puts this thing in a special category given the industrial scale slaughter and given that it wasn’t just a small group of German Nazis responsible for it. There were a lot of non German collaborators, applauders and gaze averters.
    But still, as big as that crime was, it happened seven decades or three generations or one lifetime ago and the clock ticks implacably on. It is rapidly becoming history. There are 7 billion people on this planet. How many are directly affected by this dispute? It’s important to a small group of people either living in Israel or living immediately around it. Given the scale of problems everyone on this planet is facing (ie raging food price inflation) why should anyone else in the world have any interest in it?

  837. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 2:55 pm #

    That’s what I like about old movies from the 30s and 40s. You can still hear the regional dialects. Stephen King can write a pretty good Main dialect. They’re fun to listen to on the talking books.
    I never lived in Minnesota, but if I don’t think about it too hard, I can still do the accent. Picked it up from growing up around all my Mom’s relatives.
    The first year I moved away from home, I had a couple of party-girls as neighbors. One night they brought home a couple of Brit sailors. Cockney boys. Couldn’t understand a lot of what they said. Then I had a brainstorm. I asked them if they spoke “Beeb” (BBC) dialect. After that, anytime they had a hard time making themselves understood, they’d “Posh it up.”

  838. wagelaborer June 19, 2011 at 3:03 pm #

    OK, spider, you were doing really good.
    Two posts that made sense, did not repeat, and didn’t call for skyscrapers to the moon.
    Leave it at that!
    No one cares about spelling errors.

  839. Qshtik June 19, 2011 at 3:03 pm #

    Let them herd cats.
    ========
    Speaking of cats..one more time. I wanted to bring closure to last night’s conversation.
    I don’t want you to think I’m trying to come across as an expert on felines. I’m not. I checked with my wife about bathing cats and she says some people do. I said “why, we never do” and she said some people are very allergic to cat dander and bathing the cat apparently reduces the dander greatly.
    If you’ve been holding/petting the grey cat (who adopted you) without any reaction like itching or swelling and reddening of face and eyes you’re probably OK. I, personally, never had any reaction to holding/touching a cat but when my daughter was little, she did. Then, over time, she built an immunity.
    For more thorough info I would go to a Pet Smart or some similar place and ask questions (there also must be books the equivalent of Cats for Dummies). Those places are invariably staffed by “crazy cat ladies” who have 23 cats at home but no husband.

  840. Qshtik June 19, 2011 at 3:09 pm #

    No one cares about spelling errors.
    =============
    Well, that’s not entirely true but I sure don’t give a shit about Spider’s spelling errors. There are much bigger fish to psychoanalyse with Spider.

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  841. wagelaborer June 19, 2011 at 3:09 pm #

    Geez, transportation experts!! From the article you posted-
    “Amtrak was created from the remnants of failed privately owned passenger railroads in 1971. Transportation experts have long been skeptical that large-scale U.S. passenger rail will ever attract sustained interest from the private sector due to capital costs and its history of losing money.”
    Would these be the transportation experts who continue to push air and car travel? Who call heavily subsidized cars and airlines the “private sector”? Who ignore the fact that more and more people are turning to train travel?
    Amtrak added a new train route in our town 4 years ago, and it is very popular. They built it and people came!
    I know an old railroad guy and he told me there used to be hundreds of trains coming through here a day. I can’t picture it, but, clearly, we need it again.
    So the assholes in Congress want to strip off the trains that are actually making money and sell them off.
    Figures.

  842. wagelaborer June 19, 2011 at 3:17 pm #

    Well, yes, Cash, why IS half the world in an uproar over Israel?
    Any war crimes that Israel commits are petty ante compared to the war crimes that the US commits. But the US gets a complete pass, is untouchable, while Israel is excoriated daily by a lot of the world’s media.
    My Syrian co-worker told me that any Arab newspaper he reads is almost comically anti-Israel. Israel is blamed for all the Arab world’s problems. It is used by the Arab rulers to deflect anger from them and onto the “Zionists”.
    Gaza is blockcaded by Egypt and Israel, but only Israel gets the blame.
    Why, indeed?

  843. digbycookies June 19, 2011 at 3:20 pm #

    So, according to your logic, these “cleric queers” turning out young black males into homosexuals should be a good thing – I mean, queers can’t reproduce – hence, less blacks. I should think you’d be in favor of this, Vlad!

  844. Cash June 19, 2011 at 3:21 pm #

    ..very unstable countries filled with extremely angry young men… – Digby
    One of my favourite themes. If you want mayhem make sure your society has a lot of unemployed, unmarried and frustrated young men and you will have mayhem. Like the Bolshevik and Chinese Revolutions. Plus young men are susceptible to seduction by psychopathic and charismatic bullshit artists. Just like in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s and China in the 1960s and 1970s.
    Modern day examples? Bin Laden for one. Some might point to Obama but I would disagree. Obama had hordes of followers throwing their panties at him. But he revealed himself to be just a Wall Street ventriloquist dummy. Very polished to be sure. But I think that more and more people know that his pretty boy bullshittery was just a cover. If he gets re-elected it will be because of the Republican nobodies opposing him.
    What happens if the misery index in the US starts ticking up and you have serious deprivation and you start having large numbers of hungry young fellas hanging out on street corners? Who’s the next Hitler?

  845. digbycookies June 19, 2011 at 3:23 pm #

    As the saying goes in Washington, “If it ain’t broke, FIX IT!” Yep, get the ONE thing that works, makes sense ($), reduces highway congestion as well as pollution, get that there thing up on the lift and let’s FUCK WITH IT!

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  846. digbycookies June 19, 2011 at 3:28 pm #

    “Stephen King can write a pretty good Main dialect.” Maine dialect ;0 (Gotta beat ol Q to the punch!)

  847. digbycookies June 19, 2011 at 3:33 pm #

    “What happens if the misery index in the US starts ticking up and you have serious deprivation and you start having large numbers of hungry young fellas hanging out on street corners? Who’s the next Hitler?” – Cash
    And that, my friend, has been scaring the shit out of me since I took Western Civ II back in college! Oh, and who needs to study history and classics? Let’s all be engineers and computer geeks (not that there’s anything wrong with that. 😉

  848. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 3:33 pm #

    That’s one reason why taking nigger out of Huckleberry Finn is so wrong. Colloquialism is an important too in writing fiction.

  849. Cash June 19, 2011 at 3:40 pm #

    I don’t think the US gets a complete pass. For example the US got raked over the coals in the US and internationally over Gitmo and Abu Ghraib and over its actions in Vietnam.
    Do you remember the photo of that little Vietnamese girl running naked and crying after a napalm attack? It was a South Vietnamese attack but it didn’t matter, the US ended up wearing it (btw the girl survived and is a Canuck citizen living near Toronto).

  850. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 3:42 pm #

    I felt a bit of a reaction once or twice but nothing serious. I will bring her to the vet though to have her checked out and neuteured I guess. A sad but necessary thing in this cat overcrowed world.
    I was overwhelmed the other night just contemplating her whiskers. What an amazing thing to have. She does endearing things too – she jumped up on my back while I was reading. Tries to follow me down the street like a dog. I think she wants to go have adventures. She tries hard to overcome her disability – very poor eyesight, probably genetic since her eyes are beautiful and without any sores or blights. Maybe that’s why she was abandoned. She runs into things all the time when she’s excited. Anyway, another thing to ask the vet about.

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  851. digbycookies June 19, 2011 at 3:44 pm #

    And I guess if ever there was a reason to take Obama in stride is that at least he’s not a Hitler. Obama…gee, it didn’t take long for the shine to come off that apple, did it? (hat tip to Vlad);)

  852. digbycookies June 19, 2011 at 3:48 pm #

    Incidentally, you can tell if a cat is Negro or not by looking at how pink its paws are – dark or spotted paws can indicate mixed lineage. I’ve got 4 cats and try not to discriminate against the Negro ones. It’s hard, but I try. 😀

  853. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 3:52 pm #

    You may have a point Dig. You show both logical ability and the willingness/ability to use it in service of another’s point of view. Rare, that. I will follow your posts more closely and try to convert you to White Nationalism if you like. Or Catholicism if that suits you more. Only rare souls such as my own can contain both – it’s not easy since they do contradict if not in essence at least in practice and historical precedent.
    For example, the Galilean said to go out and teach all men. He didn’t say stay at home and bring all men to you. The Cardinal of Los Angeles implied that anybody against the Mexican Invasion is going to hell – an inversion of the teaching of Christ as explained by the Fathers and codified by Aquinas. We have the right to have nations and to be a People. Pope Benedict is completely fuzzy and confused about all this.

  854. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 3:56 pm #

    I asked a dog lover about that – apparently some dog breeds do have dark skin. Just like people can have black hair and fair skin so too animals. My new cat seems to be Caucasian though not Aryan. She has a blue eyed Aryan Cat friend though.

  855. wagelaborer June 19, 2011 at 3:58 pm #

    Welcome back, soak. And thanks for the comment on my blog.

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  856. bubbleheadMarc June 19, 2011 at 4:00 pm #

    I dislike communism. Socialism is not communism. Of course my socialism is weird because it would be hard even if even handed. I think that it is still possible to withdraw and lead your own life.
    If industrial society does survive it will eventually tame the muslims as they cannot stay in the middle ages forever.
    None of my compliments were intended to be left handed or back handed. I just don’t expect everyone to pretend that they’re really tolerant all the time. Most people are bigoted somehow, and the elites who are politically correct are definitely bigoted from a classist standpoint. My ex girlfriend for instance was very scrupulous about referring to blacks as “African-Americans” yet she would all but forbid her fourteen year old criminally inclined son, no prize himself, from associating with people who lived in townhouse condos because she considered semi-detached housing, as the Canucks are wont to say, to be “poverty housing”. Such attitudes are of course disgusting, especially coming from a German-Irish Catholic who ought to know better than some callow deracinated WASP. Plus she was from Queens! Give me a fucking break! Her next door neighbors were gangsters for Christ’s sake.
    According to the last book I read on the subject Hitler supposedly like to defecate on his niece! She also did commit suicide although it is difficult to determine exactly why some people kill themselves.
    I think our society became decadent during the ’70s when the draft was ended and the big city schools were consciously permitted to rot owing to the interference of misguided federal judges like that asshole Battisti here in Cleveland who destroyed the Cleveland public schools and provoked massive middle class flight to the suburbs both black and white. After all, the sensible black people don’t want their kids in that system either. The children of most black teachers I worked with were sent to private schools thank you very much. Smart black people are bigger snobs than we are often.
    I also find the trend to false gentility to be extremely decadent. For instance, misbehaving adolescents in school should not be paddled, they should be beaten with rattan canes just as petty criminals in Singapore are beaten, and it should be a good beating which leaves them out of commission for awhile. If their parents create too much of a fuss then they should be beaten in turn, as their kid’s assholism is virtually their entire fault anyway so fuck them if they don’t like it. Kids who remain obdurate in their incorrigibility should be sentenced to internal exile until the age of 18 at forced labor camps run by the Dept of Agriculture through the Forest Service. Kids who persist in their obduracy in this setting should be confined to tiny sweatboxes just like Col. Nicholson in “The Bridge At the River Kwai”. This would be the best possible thing we could do for these people. When they were older they would thank us profusely for our wisdom and foresight.
    My hobby is canoeing on Lake Erie when there are smallcraft warnings posted but only if the wind is from the north. Had a good blow out there today and this rich guy in a giant yacht offered to rescue two of us paddlers one and a half miles out to sea. So not all rich people are rotten I guess. Maybe some of them could be sent to forced labor camps instead of being fed to the dogs, who knows, guess I’m going soft in my old age.

  857. digbycookies June 19, 2011 at 4:01 pm #

    Thanks for the info. about the little girl in the photo. Didn’t know that. I think because the U.S. is the Big Guy on the Block, we do get a large rash of shit from the rest of the world – well deserved or not.
    Getting back to the photo, that and lots of really good news coverage (as well as public outrage) helped end that really screwed up war.
    I’m inclined to agree with some of your assertions that the U.S. is probably more stupid than evil. That’ll change once we’re no longer the biggest kids on the playground…but then…LOOKOUT!

  858. metuselah June 19, 2011 at 4:04 pm #

    There are 7 billion people on this planet. How many are directly affected by this dispute?
    ==
    Exactly!
    It’s an old trick, and I’ve just explained it to Vlad. A sleight of hand. A distraction — to keep people focused on this absurd theater while the US and other western thieves are busy thieving everything from a distracted population. It’s really that simple, Cash.

  859. metuselah June 19, 2011 at 4:09 pm #

    ..while US and other western thieves..

  860. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 4:14 pm #

    When the Tunisian revolution started, somewhere I read that one of the causes was that in Tunisia, higher education is free and promoted (at least for the guys) but there are no jobs.
    Another case of “education is your key to a great future” and then, it isn’t.

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  861. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 4:15 pm #

    The State’s broke. They’re dropping the “E” in an effort to save money.

  862. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 4:18 pm #

    So Q , you got me what is I I T Y W I M W Y B M A D

  863. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 4:21 pm #

    I had two cats (now one.) At that time, due to their behavior, I contemplated a children’s book about them. Working title: “Homo Kitties Go To Oregon and Get Married.” (And, they were brothers! Incestuous Gay Kitties!)

  864. bubbleheadMarc June 19, 2011 at 4:22 pm #

    Can’t say that I’ve caught that. I’m not sure that that really adds up. Plus I’m not black so I’m probably not sensitive to clerics being racist, which I assume means whites who dislike blacks. Plus I’m not sure how many clergy are repressed or closeted gays any more because an awful lot of them appear to be out of the closet and not very repressed that way. I’ve also seen social action projects run by Catholic missions order such as inner city tutoring projects where they were extremely sensitive to anyone having an attitude which I most definitely did as a veteran Job Corps teacher who thought that they were coddling their precious little dropouts too much and that most of them belonged in Job Corps rather than loafing in this absurd little red brick schoolhouse in East St. Louis. This is a perfect example of how orthodox liberals virtually always dislike me. I just detest softness I guess. I do know of a Catholic men’s order in New Orleans which teaches black high school kids. I can’t recall if they’ve had any problems there. I think that the Cleveland Benedictines are quite tolerant even if somewhat grumpy on the subject of discipline. There certainly aren’t very many black priests or brothers though. I had difficulties with a former nun who was black at this ridiculous tutoring center in East St. Louis. She was incessantly bragging about how many men had made proposals of marriage to her. When she’d say something stupid I’d scowl at her like any normal person so she thought I was an asshole for not having cultivated this really meek or accomodating exterior. She was a loathesome asshole and a reverse racist in my opinion. She also went in for that holy roller crap which I detest. Fuck all of them religion is crap. I left the building and refused to go back there. This was when they changed my work assignment to the Salvation Army mission in downtown St. Louis. The Salvation Army offered me a job in an effort to get me away from the catholics. I got fed up with the whole mess and called 1-800-SEA-CREW to get the hell out of town.

  865. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 4:22 pm #

    It’s all horribly true. Bib was Tucker’s bitch.

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  866. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 4:30 pm #

    So I sprout my biennial fodder day wood and the ol’ lady is on da rag! Waz up wid dat?

  867. Qshtik June 19, 2011 at 4:35 pm #

    Any war crimes that Israel commits are petty ante
    =============
    penny ante
    Think about it … figures, right?

  868. bubbleheadMarc June 19, 2011 at 4:35 pm #

    You’re a sick man indeed to have tolerated this feline moral depravity under your own roof. You probably had lesbian seagulls milling about in the parking lot of your bookstore making a spectacle of themselves beaking each other in public in front of the tourists no less.

  869. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 4:37 pm #

    My cat has long fur and seems noisier than most. I’m wondering if she may be part Persian. As you know, our short haired, wholesome, clean cut cats sometimes get into “trouble” with exotic, long haired Persians or cute, sexy Siameseses. It’s so sad.

  870. wagelaborer June 19, 2011 at 4:38 pm #

    Yes, my 2 back up dogs (not my main dog) are brothers.
    Although they are both neutered, they spend a fair amount of time with mutual sexual gratification. Brotherly love and all.
    One time one of my co-workers asked me why an animal lover like me would be pro-gay.
    I didn’t get the connection. Was he implying that men getting married would lead to man-animal marriage?
    No. He said that animals didn’t have gay sex.
    Then he got offended when I laughed hysterically.

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  871. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 4:47 pm #

    Yup. Sometimes I get on a roll. 🙂 . The last two times I’ve been at the thrift store looking at books, I keep seeing something called “My Lead Dog Was A Lesbian.” About the Iditarod. So far I have resisted buying it.
    I did not resist buying “The Sewing Circle” which is the history of lesbians in Hollywood. Little did I know that one of my favorite character actresses, Marjorie Main, was shacked up for years with Spring Byington. (!) They had a little house across the street from George Cuko, who was notorious for his “boys only” Sunday afternoon swimming parties. Tracy and Hepburn had their love next on the grounds of his estate.

  872. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 4:52 pm #

    Singapore Justice? I like it! I’d be up for the job as Caner if Society lasts and I don’t get to be they guy with the cart crying out “Bring out the Dead”. And I’m not even English.
    I’m glad you aren’t a Communist and also see how decadent we are – and how much kids are coddled. Cane everyone as Spider would say. The family that gets caned together stays together.
    Ever read “You Can’t Win” by Jack Black? Thief and Opium Addict during the early 20th Century – he spent alot of time in Canadian Prisons – which he admired in general. But he said the Whipping at the end of the sentences could undo all the reform and good intentions leaving the prisoner seeting with resentment and a desire for revenge. In other words, whip at the begining perhaps, but not at the end.
    One of the Catholic Columnists in Chronicles Magaizine recommended “Farm” Seminaries to fight the Pedophile Priest Problem – which is totally related to them being gay as gays abuse minors at three times the rate of heterosexuals; and being of the same gender they have easier access in general than straight pedophiles – except for Fathers – what a crime indeed, that. Anyway he said that gays in general like an easy life and hated getting dirty. Put the seminaries out in the Country and make them work the fields and out many of them will go.

  873. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 4:57 pm #

    One woman in California (nication) married a male dolphin named Cindy – so his fears are completely justified.
    What do these gay incestous dogs actually do? 69?
    At my last job, they talked about the time they hired a Gay, Mormon, Giant Dwarf – who only lasted one day.

  874. Qshtik June 19, 2011 at 4:59 pm #

    So Q, you got me what is I I T Y W I M W Y B M A D
    ===============
    Back around 1971 I go into this joint one level below ground floor in downtown New Haven, CT named the Rathskeller (Sp?) and see a sign above the bar that reads I I T Y W I M W Y B M A D. I ask the barkeep “so what’s the sign mean?” He says “If I tell you what it means will you buy me a drink.”
    If I had had a really quick mind I would have responded “Is what you just said a question or a declarative statement?”

  875. budizwiser June 19, 2011 at 5:00 pm #

    Greece.
    Pimco.
    Confidence.
    Default.
    Currency.

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  876. Qshtik June 19, 2011 at 5:09 pm #

    leaving the prisoner seeting with resentment
    ===============
    Since this was probably a genuine typo I’m not even going to mention that the word is seething.

  877. Qshtik June 19, 2011 at 5:15 pm #

    Greece.
    Pimco.
    Confidence.
    Default.
    Currency.
    ==========
    I’ll guess this is the result of one of those cloud analyses of the most frequently spoken words on CNBC during the past week.

  878. bubbleheadMarc June 19, 2011 at 5:30 pm #

    The pedophile priest problem, so called, is an imaginary problem created by deluded people who imagine in the first place that the priesthood needs to be full time, professional, life time EMPLOYMENT at all, which it manifestly does not need to be. In other words, the church would be better off adopting the Greek practice of ordaining mass celebrants for one altar only, as simplex priests who say mass but do not preach. In the eastern church there were more bishops, perhaps one bishop for each ten parishes, and the preaching was done by bishops and lay theologians. These men were of course married farmers and not neurotic nancy boys afraid of dirt. People forget that it is the MONKS, FRIARS, and MISSIONS PRIESTS who are the regular clergy, and not these secular or diocesan clergy who devote more energy to their golf game than their presumed religious vocation, which is really a vocation to being a puffed up psuedo-professional with a large desk in a nice corner officer tastefully decorated with souvenirs from their last visit to the holy land with their housekeeper who if they aren’t gay is probably sharing their bed.

  879. MarlinFive54 June 19, 2011 at 5:32 pm #

    OzoneP, I cruised over to Collinsville on my Royal Enfield to see if I could find that party you were playing at, rode around town, wasn’t going to crash it just say hello, at one point I could smell hotdogs on the grill but it lead me to a house by the river, no party. On the way home in Unionville I passed a house with a dude working on a vintage Triumph and Royal Enfield in his driveway. Of course I had to stop. He was a nice kid whose hobby was rebuilding old British Motorcycles. Turns out he is a member of that club that sponsors the British Motorcycle event in Haddam. He knew a lot about bolt action British Army rifles as well, namely Lee Enfields, and had a few. But get this. He started talking about how mfg. has disappeared from here and how the corporations are f—-g all of us. Then he mentioned a website named ClusterFuckNation, have I heard of it? What are the chances? Talk about serendipity! F—g eh I heard of it! He said he doesn’t post here but reads all our comments. I couldn’t find you Ozone but found another CFNer just the same!
    -Marlin

  880. lbendet June 19, 2011 at 5:33 pm #

    I’m trying to get more info, LLB. I’ve been out most of the day.
    I have no idea whether people who already have gold would be able to sell what they have, but my guess is that this has been in the air for some time. Two years ago a gold dealer in my building who died last year told me that people he knew at at Goldman Sachs were filling up freighters with gold and sending them to Panama. Now I know why…They knew what was in the bill that was going to be passed.
    Don’t forget the bankruptsy laws were changed for the individual three years before the stock market crash of 2008.
    Don’t know whether this is a way to reprice or devalue our currency.
    It’s alarming no matter how you see it…

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  881. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 5:37 pm #

    How bout Theda Bara or “Arab Death”? The sexiest Jewess to ever grace the silver screen, silent or otherwise. Easily the Equal of the coming Aryan Godesses.

  882. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 5:43 pm #

    Yes, dog priests all. I heartily agree: the Orthodox model is better. And I plan to look into the Eastern Rite. I prefer their liturgy as well.
    One priest I knew back in Boston thought it was a good idea to say the new mass in Latin – getting it all mixed up in my view. The old prayers are great – the problem is that they are said in a language that can’t be understood – also alot of them are said sub vocally anyway.
    There may be some value in keeping Latin as a souce language though – and it’s better for chanting apparently. Alan Watts would say it’s better not to know what is being chanted so you appreciate the sound value more. A point of view not without merit.

  883. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 5:47 pm #

    I was just reading an article about fracking in Orion Magazine. Cool rag, by the way. And I found myself getting a little torched about the whole deal. But then it occurred to me that the people doing the fracking are only doing what the consumer tells them to do, that is, keep providing us with whatever energy we need to make all the whirly-gigs and gizmos we’re used to keep spinning and gadgeting.
    Now, of course the average energy budget in the industrial world is shrinking, nearly across the board. Even my well-to-do brother in Atlanta is gardening and collecting rainwater off of his roof to water it with. He’s not sacrificing dinner out or his bourbon supply. He’s making cuts in areas that are less important to him, like figuring out ways to cut his monthly bill for sewage treatment down, and reducing the grocery bill.
    But it’s our insistence on using that energy that makes fracking OK, so fracking is really our fault. Nothing to get mad at the capitalists about. But sitting here on a sultry afternoon in the South, without AC, I’m wondering at what point your personal austerity measures have reached a point at which you can be justified for getting pissed off at everyone else for enabling something as awful as fracking?
    Unfortunately, I don’t think we really have any idea what that level is for 2011, or 2015, or 2050. So I guess we just continue our personal trends to reduce our overall impact, and trust that that example will influence others in time.
    Or is it time to go apeshit? Any thoughts?

  884. tucsonspur June 19, 2011 at 5:50 pm #

    We had a cat for 18 years named Daisy, who passed away many years ago. To this day, I’m still amazed at the depth of our connection. One thing stands out above the many others in our close relationship; invariably, when I’d play around with the guitar, she’d come and sit right up next to me no matter where she was. Just sit there, as content as could be, until I was finished. This is not to say my playing was any good, though she didn’t seem to mind. I wrote the following for her:
    DAISY
    She was a feline flower
    Who helped me blossom.
    Her tiny tongue smoothed
    The rough edges of my soul.
    Her soft paw and purring heart
    Made us one-
    And made me whole.

  885. MarlinFive54 June 19, 2011 at 6:03 pm #

    Tripp;
    Fracking, like deep sea drilling, just points out how desperate the energy situation really is. Whenever I bring the subject of peak oil ’round here the common refrain is, “there is plenty of oil”. Everybody knows how environmentally destructive fracking is, nobody cares so long as it will keep us driving around in our automobiles a bit longer. Same goes with tar sands and deep sea drilling. Desperate, last ditch measures to keep the party going on and on. What a shock its going to be then, for most folks, when the day of reckoning arrives. Nemesis for them I thinks will be gas lines like in the 1970’s, but this time its permanent.
    -Marlin, Chief of Staff
    CFNation YD Post1
    New England Chapter

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  886. bubbleheadMarc June 19, 2011 at 6:03 pm #

    You got that right. Everything is our fault including even the drug war in Mexico since it’s Americans who buy all their drugs. One way to reduce waste water treatment bills would be to use a composting toilet secretly which no one would expect since he’s hooked up for sewer with flush toilets. You can also get incinerator toilets but they use lots of electricity not to mention emitting greenhouse gases.

  887. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 6:13 pm #

    I apologize for being lost on this topic, but will someone please fill me in on the gold prohibition thingy? Sounds pretty bad…

  888. bubbleheadMarc June 19, 2011 at 6:13 pm #

    I don’t know how old you are but there are approved parishes which use the 1962 missal which is easy to understand because you have latin on one page with the english translation on the opposite page, and yes, Watts was an ultra high churchman who dredged up all of the catholic usages during his tenure as Episcopal chaplain at Northwestern University’s Canterbury House. Some Anglo-Catholics actually send to Oxford to get their latin versions of the english book of common prayer since technically it is legal to use latin in the anglican communion even if the congregation is well enough educated to understand it.
    What was also true of the tridentine mass was that it was said “contra facies” wearing gothic fiddleback vestments with holy pictures on the back facing the congregation. The congregation was not expected to participate and there were no hymns to be sung. Far more congenial than the methodistical hootenannies they’re inflicting on everyone today. As a great man once said in his dissertation: “the twelve apostles were not guilty of enthusiasm.” And neither should we be either which is why hymns and all manner of crass religious enthusiasm should be purged from the mass so that the cool people might return there once again, although don’t expect me.

  889. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 6:31 pm #

    Go apeshit. You know those irritating little ads, on the Net before any news article? Usually, I just turn off the sound. But there was one, I presume it’s on TV also… a big, benign teddy bear of a guy, fatherly, ya know from Exxon … “Well, we just never know what’s under our feet …” No where do they breath the word “fracking.”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U01EK76Sy4A&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=timfvNgr_Q4

  890. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 6:36 pm #

    “Well, my brother-in-law (the back-hoe driver) says there’s a whole lake of oil under South Dakota, but “they” won’t let us drill it.” A statement from a very good friend of mine. I don’t talk about some topic with him.

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  891. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 6:39 pm #

    Composting toilets are on our short list here. I think they still freak him out a bit, but in my experience it’s just a matter of time. When I first started posting here two and a half years ago, I wasn’t a fan. My how things can change. We’re doing it to reduce our impact on water resources, sort of a next logical step after the “if it’s yellow let it mellow” rule we already have in place. And to recycle otherwise wasted fertility. I guess it could actually save money in an urban setting. (Although to my mind that’s a secondary reward compared to cycling fertility;)

  892. soak June 19, 2011 at 6:42 pm #

    I don’t understand it either, Tripp.
    Given the choice between 300 pounds of gold and silver or 300 acres like your permacultural estate, I would take land over gold and silver.
    For all I care they can take all the gold and silver (including what people have hoarded or locked in safe deposit boxes) and throw it into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
    Although I do appreciate gold and silver have legitimate industrial applications, I don’t understand buying it, or selling it, or hoarding it. It is not a “currency”. It is not like an electrical “current”. It doesn’t flow.

  893. soak June 19, 2011 at 6:47 pm #

    CORRECTION
    Given the choice between 300 pounds of gold and silver or 3 acres like your permacultural paradise, I would take land over gold and silver.

  894. soak June 19, 2011 at 6:55 pm #

    Thanks, Wage.
    And thank you, for all you do to limit the damage being done by rapacious capitalism.

  895. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 6:55 pm #

    I just realized that Theda Bara and Louise Brooks were two different people. I had them stored in the same mental file and was unconsciously equating them.

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  896. digbycookies June 19, 2011 at 6:57 pm #

    Now that you’re back, won’t you PLEASE tell us what happened to the body of Myrtle May? I mean, is she locked away in your fruit cellar, seated in a rocker? Inquiring minds want to know!

  897. digbycookies June 19, 2011 at 7:00 pm #

    I have let my four fickle feline female friends know that it doesn’t matter to me if they prefer pussy. I love them nevertheless! Does this mean I need to get a rainbow flag to hang out on my front porch?

  898. soak June 19, 2011 at 7:11 pm #

    [joking on]
    I had to retire her from CFN. Do you have any idea how difficult it is for a 17 year old like me to keep identities like Vlad and Myrtlemay going? [joking off]
    [seriousness on]
    I have no idea, digby. I am coming on 70 years old in a few years, and I am not Vlad and I am not Myrtlemay or any of the other handles around. I was not “playing” anybody.[seriousness off]
    I was amused by the number of conspiracy theories that sprang into being only a few days after my being banned, or the computer glitch, or whatever was preventing me from logging in as Asoka.
    Wage got it right.

  899. wagelaborer June 19, 2011 at 7:48 pm #

    I disagree totally, Tripp.
    It’s not us that are demanding crazy energy use.
    Most people would be just as happy to have solar or wind for electricity.
    Even cars, although I don’t like them, could be sold getting MUCH better gas mileage and people would be happy with them.
    All they want is energy and transportation.
    It is indeed the capitalists who make the choices to poison the Gulf and our drinking water and blow up mountains and attack Arabs and create global warming, by using fossil fuels.
    Capitalists have been buying up land around here and the talk is that they are going to frack it to get gas. Not many people think that that is a good idea.
    They will probably hold public hearings, and the place with be packed with passionate people voicing their opposition, to which the hired hands at the table in front of the room will take notes and nod and say that our voices have been heard.
    And then they will frack.
    Oh, yeah, I’ve been through these farces before.

  900. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 7:51 pm #

    What can I say – it’s a flow. It fell right into my hand.
    http://www.toqonline.com/blog/cat-lady-logic/

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  901. wagelaborer June 19, 2011 at 7:54 pm #

    No, the drug war in Mexico is the US using drugs as an excuse to oppress the people of Mexico.
    Same as they do in Columbia.
    The CIA runs drugs and guns. Amy Goodman just had a piece on how the DEA pushed assault weapons to drug runners in Mexico in “Operation Fast and Furious”.
    The excuse was that they wanted to trace them to bigger fish. Yeah, right.
    Wachovia just got fined for laundering $378 billion of drug money in a few years. I think they were fined a couple of million.
    Some people believe that the only thing keeping banks solvent at this time is drug money.

  902. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 7:55 pm #

    Yes, get the flag. They also have to learn to play acoustical guitar … badly. And, if any of them have a sense of humor, it will have to go. If they have been together for any period of time, lesbian bed death is sure to follow.

  903. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 7:56 pm #

    The previous post was a “sweeping generalization” according to my old literature profs. 🙂

  904. lbendet June 19, 2011 at 7:57 pm #

    Hopefully I’m wrong about physical gold and silver!
    Re: gold and silver buying.
    I just found an article that claims it is not a ban on physical gold and silver, but a ban on paper representing gold and silver.
    What many have been discussing in past years is that people are buying paper assets that may be shared by others, so if they tried to cash out on it, there would be a default, as multiple people could own the same assets.
    http://assetprotectionsecured.com/dodd-frank-bill-outlaws-sale-of-gold-silver/
    I’m hoping I’m standing corrected.

  905. wagelaborer June 19, 2011 at 8:05 pm #

    So I got my husband to help me weed the potato patch, so that I could replant the ones that drowned.
    I’ve been injured for 4 weeks and have been unable to garden.
    We’re out there, working together, and I told him that I found it very romantic. I know he was listening to me then, because he said that he didn’t think so. (He HATES to garden)
    I had started 12 tomato plants, but only 5 survived,and they’re not doing so well so far.
    So I told my husband to weed UP TO this little tomato plant. Look, here it is by this post. See it?
    He looked alert, as if he was listening. But then, so do my dogs.
    So I’m weeding in one place and he asks me if he had done enough, and I turn around, and he has gone well past the tomato plant.
    Yep. He pulled it up.
    So I tried replanting it. We’ll see.

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  906. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 8:08 pm #

    Not that it makes any difference 🙂 Dollars to donuts, within 48 hours, some toothless geriatric duffer is going to get on our local newspapers forum and say something like: “THE GOVEN’ENT IS NOT GOING TO LET YOU BUY GOLD OR SILVER, AND THEY’RE GOING TO SEIZE IT ALL, RIGHT AFTER THEY GET OUR GUNS!!!”
    Yup. I can see it now. What was it, last year there was some restrictions put on commercial fishing and the next thing I know I’m seeing stuff like “THE GOVEN’ENT IS GOING TO TAKE AWAY YOUR RIGHT TO FISH IN THE CHEHALIS RIVER!” “AFTER THEY TAKE AWAY OUR GUNS!”
    There’s a guy on the local newspaper boards who does a great job covering climate change. Anytime I see anything that might bite him in the biffy, I always PM a link. Forewarned is forearmed.

  907. wagelaborer June 19, 2011 at 8:10 pm #

    Yeah, that cracks me up.
    People who don’t trust paper “fiat” money buy pieces of paper representing gold and silver.

  908. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 8:10 pm #

    But, if I tell them the city council is going to sell the local electric utility out from under them, no one gets very excited. Hmmm. maybe it’s my delivery. Maybe I should do something like…
    “THE CITY COUNCIL GOVERN’ENT IS GOING TO SELL OUR UTILITY OUT FROM UNDER US!!! AFTER THEY TAKE OUR GUNS!!!”

  909. wagelaborer June 19, 2011 at 8:15 pm #

    Although I haven’t been out much in the last four weeks, I am covered with insect bites. Mostly ticks, mosquitoes and chiggers, but some unknown bites also.
    How many people die each year from malaria?
    Lewis talked about the end of medicine, and I just wonder which will kill me first, starvation, disease or those damn global warming storms, like the one that woke me up at 4am today!

  910. BeantownBill June 19, 2011 at 8:21 pm #

    It’s kind of a symbiotic relationship between the energy producers and the energy consumers. We can’t give energy companies a free ride because the public has a hankering for large energy consumption. And we can’t blame the public for demanding cheap energy. Most tv commercials and programs, most popular magazines, newspapers and movies glorify conspicuous energy usage, in some manner. It’s a feedback loop, kind of like manmade global warming; people read about and see outlandish use of energy and demand more, and the energy producing companies react to that demand and try to fulfill it, and advertise their products, which makes people want to use energy…

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  911. BeantownBill June 19, 2011 at 8:24 pm #

    Sweet, touching poem.

  912. progressorconserve June 19, 2011 at 8:46 pm #

    1005th!!
    Puzzler, please don’t do that again. Your are fighting fire with a hand grenade.

  913. progressorconserve June 19, 2011 at 8:50 pm #

    you
    See how easy it is to correct an error.
    Unfortunately, the resident arachnid will not.

  914. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 8:54 pm #

    Man I love this time of year. 20:47 and still light out! I spread some mulch and now it’s Miller Time! Yippee!

  915. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 8:59 pm #

    Hey Spider, How about ‘stead of your scroller I break your head? Don’t waste our time here tumbleweed! Blow away, like the worthless piece of vegetation which you are.

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  916. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 9:03 pm #

    “I disagree totally, Tripp.”
    OK. But how would the natural gas be worth the very expensive process of fracking if no one was buying? We’re talking orders of magnitude beyond the expense of near-surface light sweet crude and its associated gas overburden that was being burned as waste a decade ago. I guess I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that people actually can’t afford it, at least not for long. Because it doesn’t seem like there are very many Americans who are willing to down-tech in order to stop the madness.

  917. Ixnei June 19, 2011 at 9:09 pm #

    trippticket replied:
    “plant herbs everywhere! They will take care of your garden.”
    I learned this one the hard way, but it is so true. Simple perennial herbs, like peppermint/spearmint/lemon balm(watch out very invasive), oregano, sage, thyme, rosemary, chives, garlic and lavender (as well as raspberry, echinacea, bittersweet, yellowdock, etc) grow very well, year after year, with little attention needed, and are easily split/cloned and spread out. Once I started spreading herbs all over the place, I noted a lot less aphids, and a lot more ladybugs. This year, I did have to cut about 12 or so spearmint heads, that were lathered with spit bug bubbles (which I buried deep in a compost pile on the far side of my property).
    Jerry Baker has some semi-natural pesticide tonic recipes, consisting of chewing tobacco soaks, coffee ground/tea soaks, and urine/ammonia, along with dish soap. They work fairly well…
    Qshtik replied:
    “if you’re pulling money out I assume it’s because you HAVE to.”
    No – actually, it’s because I don’t like being invested in the TBTF banking/financial sector. I’d rather have that money here, in a local credit union, in long term CD’s – rather than letting those 1% fithly elite rich use it as collateral, for 30:1 leveraged gambling in corrupted industry (financial/big oil/auto/insurance/pharma/etc).

  918. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 9:14 pm #

    More “Natural Gas” bullshit I guess it is natural.Our kids will be damning us for years.
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9tsuLU0jfPU/TG2i_ICmdOI/AAAAAAAAASw/KUeOW9OohOI/s1600/Gas+flares+in+space.jpg
    http://sidewaysgirl.blogspot.com/2010/08/toxic-hell-game.html

  919. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 9:15 pm #

    Beans, I’m with you, I see the systems perspective. What I’m saying is that we can have a significant effect on that equation by choosing another option. You in particular, unless you’ve changed your position while I wasn’t looking, seem to think that we can get the full suite of energy we “need” from alternative sources, whether or not those sources actually represent a net reduction of impact.
    My point is that the only way to stop the torture of the biosphere is to stop demanding so much energy. I understand that the energy multi-nationals are evil, but the demand comes from the devil. And the devil is us.

  920. Buck Stud June 19, 2011 at 9:18 pm #

    Now how hard was that Soak? But no, you took the time to email Tripp (cough) to inform the room him that you had been “banned”. Instead of giving JHK the benefit of the doubt, you mislead his readers and cast a rather nasty aspiration over his very own blog: Censorship. And now your back, minus an apology to JHK and his readers.
    Is this how they did business at GURU U?

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  921. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 9:27 pm #

    Hey Ozone or Marlin
    , I don’t know if you were around to go see NRBQ at the Crystal Lake Ballroom with Al Anderson during the gas crisis in the ’70’s. but here ya go anyway.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb4ZWccudEM

  922. myrtlemay June 19, 2011 at 9:29 pm #

    As I slowly awaken from my dream like state, I realize the drugs my own “daughter” has been given me have been giving me. Unbeknownst to “her”, I’ve been hiding them under the mattress, awaiting her departure, so I can returneth to this blog.
    To my many friends and admirers, thank you for your words of encouragement in hoping I’d return. For I have returned! And with a vengeance for those who’ve spoken ill of me. Yes, I’m speaking of you, Ixnei, or whoever the fuck you call yourself! I AM BACK! My “daughter” may have left momentarily, due to temporary insanity, as it runs in our family, but rest assured, both ASOKA AND I AM BACK! BITCHES!

  923. myrtlemay June 19, 2011 at 9:37 pm #

    Buck, I MADE Asoka do those things. It really isn’t his fault. Lay the blame on “Mame” for that’s what they called me in the old days. Back before Asoka was born. I couldn’t admit to being his mother back then, his being colored and all. Please blame me for what Asoka has done and continues to do. He knoweth not what he doeth. I’ve made him the liar that he is now. I’ve turned him against Vladimir, Progressorconserve, Trippticket, and now you. Let me layeth myself upon the altar of your truth. Slay me, not my progeny! Dear God Almighty! What evil have I bestowed upon this site! May Heaven forgiveth me!

  924. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 9:38 pm #

    More NRBQ with the great Carl Perkins. It don’t get no better tean this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOmEM6gaMfs

  925. rippedthunder June 19, 2011 at 9:41 pm #

    Hey Myrtle, Wecome back. It is nice to hear from ya, you ol’ Flat foot Floozy you!

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  926. myrtlemay June 19, 2011 at 9:46 pm #

    I slowly look in the hand mirror I received on my twenty-first birthday in 1937. I am growing old. It is time for my son/daughter to take over my life. My worries are many for an old woman, for my progeny is not well-mentally. He has dreams of adobe huts in far away lands. He is beguiling and charming. He is quick to deceive. He is a master at the Internet. I have been waiting for many years for this spawn of damnation to come to a fruition of greatness to society. Alas, he has only become a bitter fruit from my loins. A last dusting from my feminine regions that has created enmity and not peace for the world at large.

  927. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 9:49 pm #

    Myrtlemay too. This is an evening of gravity!

  928. trippticket June 19, 2011 at 9:51 pm #

    “He has dreams of adobe huts in far away lands.”
    You gotta be shittin’ me.

  929. myrtlemay June 19, 2011 at 9:52 pm #

    Indeed, Ripped, it’s nice to be back. Only please don’t tell Asoka I’m here. Let’s just keep that between we two. xxxooo mm

  930. Vlad Krandz June 19, 2011 at 9:58 pm #

    Thank you. I got into an altered state of consciousness by meditating on the moving scroll you provided.

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  931. tucsonspur June 19, 2011 at 9:58 pm #

    Thanks, BB. Showed my wife the post, and after 19 years it still brought a tear.

  932. messianicdruid June 19, 2011 at 10:03 pm #

    “The icing on the cake for them is the disaster that the Bilderberg meeting turned into in Switzerland.” Bob Chapman
    Maybe he has heard “A Distant Sound of Churning” also, but I don’t know what he’s talking about, anyone?
    http://www.infowars.com/the-collapse-of-nations-all-by-the-hand-of-corrupt-bankers/

  933. progressorconserve June 19, 2011 at 10:07 pm #

    “How many people die each year from malaria?”
    -wage-
    Not that many, at all, in the US, wage. But malaria, along with hookworm and a variety of other nasty parasites, were endemic in the south within living memory. My own father in law had a severe case of malaria, while growing up in north Florida. (He’s going to be 90, this coming Tuesday – still alive, kicking, and going strong.)
    Disease vector control is another of those “energy ascent” things that we in the US take completely for granted. We are far over the carrying capacity of the land area of the United States for human beings – already, absent modern technology.
    SNAFU, again, let’s reference aboriginal populations before Columbus. It was not abstaining from sex that held them in check. It was other, completely unforgiving, factors – all still hanging out there, waiting to reactivate.

  934. Ixnei June 19, 2011 at 10:07 pm #

    “I’ve been hiding them under the mattress”
    Woo! That’s quite the h00t! I’m guessing you could trade those oxycontin/vicodin/xanax/??? pills, straight up, for the 30%+ sticky green…
    “Yes, I’m speaking of you, Ixnei, or whoever the fuck you call yourself!”
    Heh, touche’ indeed, Moitle! It’s a good thang you remembered your password here. Lattice of coincidence, indeed (shrimp :: PLATE) – collective consciousness! I swear, all that seems to be left now is to pray – because it’s gunna be getting *HOT* (literally and figuratively).
    Oh yeah, that Puzzler guy – I seem to recall that alias, but is it the sociopath 6969 (banned yet again, finally)?

  935. ctemple June 19, 2011 at 10:26 pm #

    I don’t remember having all these gnats in the Midwest before in the spring and summer, maybe it’s because it’s raining too much and never dries out, I’m not sure. Also we never had these stupid Japanese Beetles either.

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  936. progressorconserve June 19, 2011 at 10:46 pm #

    – speaking of things that will kill you –
    My mom worked for the US government agency known as The Office for National Defense Malaria Control Activities – during World War II. She was a Georgia native, and “Malaria Control,” was an easy government agency for her to locate, close to home.
    It was in Atlanta, because malaria was endemic in the south in those days – so severe as to hamper public health and the war effort.
    Malaria Control grew up after the war years, to become the Centers for Disease Control – still based in Atlanta, and still dependent on fossil fuels and modern technology – to keep the scourges of mankind at bay.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centers_for_Disease_Control_and_Prevention

  937. myrtlemay June 19, 2011 at 10:51 pm #

    CURSES! Foiled again! I’ll get you, my little pretty! And your little fucking dog, too!

  938. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 10:58 pm #

    I saw it here first … “global warming storms” used, conversationally.

  939. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 11:01 pm #

    Relax. You’ll be fat, happy and safe. Lancing and sterilizing all those boils. However the powers that be shake out, they’ll treat you like a princess.

  940. LewisLucanBooks June 19, 2011 at 11:06 pm #

    LMAO. Shades of “Pinkie.” or maybe, “Imitation of Life.” Don’t you worry Miss MyrtleMay. He’ll end up following your funeral cortage (the one with the cool New Orleans Jazz band, two-stepping it up), screaming “MaMa! Forgive me! MaMa!” as the “real” black folk turn away, leaving him sobbing IN THE RAIN!

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  941. Ixnei June 19, 2011 at 11:18 pm #

    “And your little fucking dog, too!”
    You!!! No, You!!!!! I hadn’t realized you’re almost 95 now…

  942. bubbleheadMarc June 19, 2011 at 11:32 pm #

    That’s pretty scary if the only thing keeping the banks afloat is laundered drug money. The information that the government resists drug policy reform to keep drugs illegal so that intelligence agencies can make money dealing drugs is of course not new. This is similar to the curious fact that many marijuana farmers are republicans because they want to keep their crop illegal so that its price remains inflated by prohibition. One article I read about the California marijuana legalization ballot initiative said that the value of hydroponic weed would decline by some 90% were it totally legalized for recreational use just like alcohol.

  943. Qshtik June 19, 2011 at 11:44 pm #

    I slowly look in the hand mirror I received on my twenty-first birthday in 1937.
    ============
    Myrtle, it wasn’t all that long ago (6-9 months) you said you were 83 yrs old but the numbers above say you’re 95.
    2011 – (1937 – 21) = 95
    What’s the story?
    In any case, welcome back.

  944. myrtlemay June 19, 2011 at 11:55 pm #

    Thank you. It isn’t easy seeing your only child descend into depravity and madness. What is a mother to do, I ask you! As for my age, a true lady never tells. You should know that, above and beyond all other things. Good night and God bless.

  945. Qshtik June 19, 2011 at 11:58 pm #

    What can I say – it’s a flow. It fell right into my hand.
    ===========
    Excellent article Vlad, and quite the coincidental tie-in to cat ladies.

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  946. bubbleheadMarc June 20, 2011 at 12:08 am #

    If you are wanking off to Theda Bara then I may have underestimated your eccentricity by several orders of magnitude. Stick with Clara Bow. Clara Bow was far hotter than Theda Bara not to mention that she was actually born in the twentieth century just like the rest of us, and not in the fucking 19th century like our long gone grandparents. Of course even Clara Bow is so old that when she was born the FDA hadn’t yet been founded and you could still buy Opium mail-order form the Sear’s catalog. And people like Welles believe in progress in spite of all this evidence to the contrary. A book for Welles is “The Bottomless Well”, seriously.

  947. myrtlemay June 20, 2011 at 12:08 am #

    I wish people would lay their hands off my fucking weed. Swear to god, if they legalize it, it’ll be no more powerful than a Pall Mall filterless l00.
    And if they don’t legalize it, I’ll be on my way to jail, having been caught with a little over an ounce a few months ago. Court case still pending. Lawyer, an old friend of the family, thinks he can get me off on a petty possession charge (read misdemeanor).
    What with recent health woes, haven’t smoked a bit in over four months. Fucking cops! Doctor says it’s best, though. As I said, I’ve been bedridden for the past several weeks. No booze, no weed, just fucking pills. All I know is they’re little round things that put me out cold, 15-17 hours each day. Funny thing is, I’m not really sick! Since busted, the “family” thinks granny is off her rocker.
    Still, as I lie awake at night (or day, can’t tell which from which anymore) I wonder who it was who turned me in.

  948. myrtlemay June 20, 2011 at 12:19 am #

    Tripp, don’t hate my son for his dreams. He trusted you with his lies of being “banned” -something that’s never happened in our family before! The shame! The shame! I suppose it was all my fault when I took away his Legos years ago (he was stuffing them up his ass, for Christ’s sake!) And now we have, Adobe huts. Something I didn’t or couldn’t give him, but he can create in his own sick, twisted mind.

  949. bubbleheadMarc June 20, 2011 at 12:22 am #

    Very sorry to hear about your difficulties with the narcs. Here in Ohio weed in amounts less than one-quarter pound, or technically 100 grams, aren’t even considered a misdemeanor but rather a “civil offense” with a $150 traffic ticket and no jail visit. Reading the NORML website one time I was shocked to read that in most states weed is a misdemeanor up to one ounce, meaning that repeat offenses could result in jail time. In Ohio they merely increase the fine.
    I think that here in Ohio if an anonymous informant attempted to turn the average person in for just an ounce the police would probably ignore the tip. Oklahoma is the worst. Again, sorry for your screwed up situation with this.
    You have a good point that legal pot would be subject to government regulation and tampering. I am constantly correcting people who buy into government propaganda that pot is now so strong that it’s become a hazardous drug. I tell them “bullshit, if you got some hydro and it’s stronger then you just smoke less which is actually good for your lungs.”
    Situations I’ve seen in the service did not involve anyone being turned in by name. What typically happened was that evidence of pot consumption was discovered by the authorities in either a ship’s berthing area or else at a barracks ashore. The authorities would then bring in the dogs and surprise everyone. Then it was the luck of the draw whether or not you had anything, but most people wouldn’t bring it aboard ship or on base. Back in college in Oxford, OH it was virtually legal because we passed a $20 fine like Ann Arbor, MI. The local chief of police said he’d ignore the local ordnance and enforce the higher state fine. So much for democracy in the war on drugs.

  950. myrtlemay June 20, 2011 at 12:24 am #

    I hear the “nurse” coming now. She obviously heard the strokes on my k e y p a d . s h e l l b e n h e r e s o o n. w i t h a n o t h er p ill. i c a n h e a r h e r n o w. i m u s t g o p r e t e n d t o b e a s l e e p. i w i l l t r y t o l o g o n t o m o r r ow w h e n s he s gon

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  951. San Jose Mom 51 June 20, 2011 at 12:30 am #

    Dang! You got busted. Don’t the cops have anything better to do than mess with harmless ladies?
    Nice to hear from you…SJmom

  952. soak June 20, 2011 at 12:32 am #

    Unless JHK himself says what happened it is reasonable to assume not being able to log on under a handle, getting a “Permission Denied” message, is equivalent to being banned.
    When OEO/notmommy/lingling/bigjimbo/etc. changes handles regularly, people here say he was “banned”
    I did not lie or engage in deception or “play” anyone.

  953. myrtlemay June 20, 2011 at 12:52 am #

    “I did not lie or engage in deception or “play” anyone.”
    d o n t bel ie ve a word of it… m us s l e e p no

  954. asia June 20, 2011 at 1:16 am #

    Hay [thanks Trip] Wicked Witch of the Web..
    can you ‘kill’ spidey and puzler?
    shhesh that post …record setting

  955. asia June 20, 2011 at 1:23 am #

    kettle calls the pothead black

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  956. tucsonspur June 20, 2011 at 1:48 am #

    I’m wondering if Jim will make any mention of the recent and endless killings in Mexico and operation “gun-runner” or “fast and furious.”
    Talk about a clusterfuck! This one truly boggles the mind! Not much has been mentioned here so far.
    1800 weapons into Mexico, supposedly to lead to higher ups(?), for the most part completely lost track of, Mexicans didn’t know, maybe a border patrol agent killed by one of them, god, this can’t be, can it?
    There’s talk it may have been a botched attempt to enhance gun control laws in the states. So far the Feds are pointing to Phoenix, but the one having the final say hasn’t been pinpointed.
    I’ve got to learn more about this one.

  957. jackieblue2u June 20, 2011 at 2:29 am #

    Seems to me you are first alot.
    Congratulations !
    How about you all wait for me to get up tomorrow morn and be first ?
    thanks in advance. haha.

  958. jackieblue2u June 20, 2011 at 2:30 am #

    Sorry Myrtle May that was meant for Cabra. I clicked on reply but then had to sign in.
    then I wanted to reply to you which I will next.
    here I go…

  959. jackieblue2u June 20, 2011 at 2:34 am #

    Yes I was wondering where and how you’ve been.
    Sorry to hear you got busted. What a waste of taxpayer dollars. Small amount of harmless pot.
    Even back when I was in high school, I knew this was a waste.
    It’s a catch 22 tho, like you say, legalizing it would be a problem also.
    I get it now. But pisses me off is that Alcohol is so much more destructive, and it’s tolerated.
    anyway I know what preaching to the choir is so I’ll stop.
    good to hear from you. !
    🙂

  960. jackieblue2u June 20, 2011 at 2:37 am #

    I read something somewhere that THAT is how banksters got started Drug Money.
    Makes sense if you think about it.
    Life isn’t what I thought a few years back.
    Not so naive and trusting anymore and that is a good thing.

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  961. jackieblue2u June 20, 2011 at 2:48 am #

    Hey it’s ok to have no husband.
    23 cats is alot tho. something maybe wrong there.
    husbands can be a pain in the butt. so can wives.
    some people prefer solitude to bad attitudes.
    hey i mean some people can’t handle intimacy.
    is it shameful for a woman to be without a man?
    someone to worship and look up to? haha.
    hey it’s ok to not have a man. i prefer to have one, but it isn’t always possible, or preferable.

  962. jackieblue2u June 20, 2011 at 3:05 am #

    I have a beautiful Seal Point Siamese.
    I tell him stories, he purrs and we both fall asleep.
    He is gentle and quiet and he ‘gets it’ when I say ‘no’ quietly, I don’t have to be loud etc.
    He is very special, I just wish I could have 2 cats, can’t cuz live in apt. now.
    I sometimes thing I will write a cat book.
    nice poem on the thread above, can’t remember the poster, had his/her cat for 18 years.
    cats are cool so are cat people !
    nothing to do with the blog tho, ohoh.

  963. jackieblue2u June 20, 2011 at 3:19 am #

    Yep even if we don’t go looking for them, they find us. Cats that is.
    I was catless, my beautiful furry friend died, and I had no cat, until this one just strolled in front of me at a store, in the garden center.
    ‘they’ were gonna call the pound, and so I said no, I’ll take him, and so I have a cat again.
    He was right at home. I think someone lost their house and he was left to fend for self, like so many animals in this time of foreclosures, I scooped him up and been scooping his poop ever since. couldn’t resist that. it just came out.
    He’s a good cat, housebroken and friendly.
    I think animals calm people down, and people like me could use that kind of help. and he is so pretty to look at. sleeping beauty.
    my cat is prettier than your cats ! kidding.
    Love at first site. He got lucky. So did I.

  964. jackieblue2u June 20, 2011 at 3:41 am #

    You know when I imagine a baby being circumsized it sickens me. IT HAS TO HURT LIKE HELL.
    My nicest boyfriend was not circumsized. All the mean ones were. May be a connection, maybe not.
    I wonder how many bullies are NOT circumsized.
    Maybe I’ll apply for a govt. grant and do a study on this.
    I think maybe there would be more happier and nicer males if they weren’t subjected to this torture.
    just my opinion.

  965. jackieblue2u June 20, 2011 at 3:49 am #

    Great post. Yep nothing really bad about prices going down. The Problem was that they were TOO HIGH. Anyone with half a brain would have figured that out. I did. Amazing how many just don’t get it. Like my husband.
    “The cognitive dissonance is maddening.”
    I love that phrase.

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  966. spider9629 June 20, 2011 at 5:17 am #

    Oh, I’m so sorry puzzler, I cried wildly and desperately all night because of what you all did to me, I am just a millimeter away from killing myself because of all of your insults: I am in hell, I hope “god” forgives me, but anyway, there is another error little Tommy found:
    uh oh, spelling error and blog – hog time again!
    Labor Costs Too Much
    This another thread the right wing constantly chants, another simple linearity, cause and effect that everyone buys into, like little babies, wow, it takes a lot of brain power to figure this one out, doesn’t it ? At what point will labor “Not Cost Too Much” ? That should be the right question, of course, no one in the world can possibly think such an incredibly complex and insane thought, it is way too far from the brain power of 10 billion people brainwashed by the ruling class to go against themselves. The answer is, it will never NOT “Cost Too Much” (just like labor will never NOT be innovative or competitive enough, educated enough and have the right skill set enough, and so on), labor costs too much “structurally”, labor is defined as always costing too much, (just like taxes are always too high). In southern China the factory workers were starting to land salaries of 150 to 200 dollars a month, all of a sudden, they were no longer “competitive enough”, “productive enough”, but most of all, labor started to “Cost Too Much”, so they closed those factories and opened them in Vietnam where labor is more reasonably priced at 100 dollars a month.
    Wow, do those managers have really hard decisions to make, they really have to use all that college education to figure these things out. Also on taxes, everyone wants to cut taxes, but no one will tell you that behind taxes are other jobs, other people getting paid and making a living, no, who cares, other workers can always be hosed, it is always the workers and weak class that deserves to be hosed and costs too much. What total idiots everyone is, and all of this while the FED prints trillions and just hands it over to the super rich (given that no one on earth knows where all that money goes, since everything is being cut, workers fired, everything has become an entitlement, debts keep on going up, in other words, all of those trillions just disappear in a black hole, but in reality in the pockets of a few thousand super rich families, the ruling class).
    But the ruling class, the economists, everyone who can is having a ball, it is all fun and games to watch all the poor and weaker classes fight each other over make believe “objective” and “scientific” “economic laws” (that are just like the laws of physics), never noticing that they are total, arbitrary inventions that are totally biased against the weaker class, that there are no necessities in the way things are set up, there there is no such thing as debts and entitlements and all, but that the ruling class just made up rules to hose the weak, brainwash them and they all play along and believe all of it!
    No one sees the hidden intentionality behind it all, the simple power relationship, the simple robbing from the weak workers in all possible ways, and them not even noticing and the weak actually helping the rich rob them even more by everyone blaming everyone else that they cost too much and don’t deserve to be paid, etc.
    That is why, the weaker classes worldwide should demand Free Salaries and Cheap Rents, the FED is printing trillions, where is that money going to ? No one knows, aside from all of the complex excuses and make believe mechanisms the banks and FED are so good at inventing, no one sees that money or gets any of it (aside the already super rich).
    Another question no one seems to ask, is why were so many computers introduced in the first place in work places ? TO AUTOMATE LABOR, TO ELIMINATE LABOR, IS THAT SO HARD TO FIGURE OUT FOR CHRIST’S SAKE ? SO HOW ON EARTH CAN THOSE JOBS BE CREATED AGAIN IF THEY HAVE BEEN RENDERED OBSOLETE!?!? The only solution is FREE SALARIES AND CHEAP RENTS!, get over it all of you Right Wing Thugs, demand this from the governments worldwide and break everything until they give it to everyone!

  967. welles June 20, 2011 at 7:39 am #

    And people like Welles believe in progress in spite of all this evidence to the contrary.
    depends on what you mean by progress. i was a self-styled doomergloomer, but i keep seeing — despite obvious pangs — advancement in medicine, food tech, computers. in fact, the whole of history, on a grand scale, is advancement, at least in the West.
    where are we going backwards? is there less to eat, fewer tv’s, worsening medicine, a return to peasant farming…show me the money
    caveat: i’m not for ‘growth’ per se, i’m for sustainability, which can be combined with economic activity, i.e. money changing hands as people go about their affairs.

  968. welles June 20, 2011 at 8:12 am #

    dude you are old669, just fucking shut up, or go back to talking about BUSES, which at least makes some sense.
    we get the particle/nothingness/infinity/in-two-places simultaneously diatribe, it’s part of the PROGRESS of physics that the luddites on this site like to ignore
    peace anyways

  969. progressorconserve June 20, 2011 at 8:16 am #

    “A mind is a terrible thing…”
    -UNCF-

  970. spider9629 June 20, 2011 at 8:21 am #

    Further correction and precision: find it fabian turd, see if you can find it, go man go, you can do it, go! Isn’t it Groovy and Out of Sight ?
    From:
    http://brainmeta.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=22324&st=180
    From:
    [url=http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/06/a-distant-sound-of-churning-1.html]http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/06/a-distant…churning-1.html[/url]
    Uh oh, spelling error game again and blog hog time again, find it Suzy, running like a lightning bolt, go man go, first gear it’s all right, second gear hold on tight, third gear out of sight!
    BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !
    I like being a Dead End Exit. That is really cool, thanks for that comparison, I have now found a correct self identification. I am a Dead End Exit. Cool, really cool. As in, a rusty old Dead End Exit, in some abandoned country side or highway in the South or South West USA, in Fly Over country, as in the Twilight Zone, you exit this universe and enter another, since you modified your mind and it now decodes reality and the universe in completely different unknown ways, you are really Dead, you are really at the End of reality and Physics and this Universe, and You are Exiting this universe to go maybe into another or who knows!
    Little Cindy and Betty and Robby and Tommy have been doing new experiments in some modified Mind – Universe perceived Contraptions, and are doing experiments like if you need trillions of manipulations just to manufacture one electron with galaxy sized factories, hiring thousands of trillions of slave workers and computers, that would create an infinite amount of work, so imagine, use Mathematical Analysis, the limits of manipulations tending towards infinity for the simplest particles, how would that universe appear, or the other way around, you get everything instantly without any manipulations or labor, and all of the intermediate values, aggregations, delimitations, and so forth and so on, all kinds of combinations. Also when you perceive with this old clunker of a mind, the instantaneous perception resonates with previous and not so previous perceptions and memory items, etc. but the very next perception (separated by how much time, or how many intermediate states or perceptions, is it variable, how many neurons does it include, is it always changing, and so on and so forth) is compared to the previous, but which previous ? and the information is aggregated, but why aggregated, and why make it one, why not disconnect parts of it, like an eye from one person, a foot from another, or the memory of that person or experience delimited in new ways, cross delimitations or cross aggregations and so on, all possible combinations and so on, who know where it all ends or starts, create new sets of times, give them a will power, be afraid of their (which is always your own imagined) judgments of you, and so forth.
    I was looking at a NASCAR race for a few minutes, and my mind started to race too, imagining all new kinds of fun things we could do together! We need new kinds of races, where Steel and Iron collide and Crash and explode and create ever new configurations of destroyed metal parts, cool, we need giant NASCAR like car races with thousands of giant cars running on giant racetrack fields on Mars and On the Sun, with 5,000 horse power beasts of engines, hogging up oil like they never drank in trillions of years, polluting like crazy and running around at 400 miles an hours and them all crashing, oh, what fun, crash cars, crash everything, destroy everything, and rebuild real fast, go for it, imagine it all, go man go,
    Anyways, I am BEGGING TO BE BANNED, BAN ME! BAN ME!
    BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !BAN ME ! BAN ME ! BAN ME !

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  971. progressorconserve June 20, 2011 at 8:59 am #

    Hey Wells,
    Did you just agree with the arachnid and call me a Luddite?
    “it’s part of the PROGRESS of physics that the luddites on this site like to ignore”
    -wells-
    It is possible to argue that “biology,” to pick an example, can progress – driven by evolution.
    But “physics,” wells – just IS. Human understanding of physics can increase – yielding such progress as nuclear weapons and the Japanese nuclear power program. But “physics,” itself, just sits there – waiting for the wary and the unwary, alike.
    ================
    I hope JHK posts this week’s new opus soon. The signal/noise ratio of this discussion thread has dropped below a number that can hold my interest – thanks mostly to the puzzling arachnid.

  972. bubbleheadMarc June 20, 2011 at 9:47 am #

    We’re running out of time. I think much like you do in terms of long term survivability of industrial civilization. In the shorter run I’m quite negative and agree with Jim that the volatility in fuels markets is going to cause a global depression. I also see most current governments not surviving. I see many national debts being disavowed by “new Republics” much as the French have gone through multiple unrelated republics. The initial collapse phase of this catastrophe could last quite long hence “the long emergency”. There could be a massive die off. But then there would be a gradual adaptation and recovery.