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Nobody Knows Anything

     That sound you hear out there is spaghetti hitting the wall. Everybody wonders: will it stick?  The European Union lobbed a wad of kartoffelkloesse at a Greek wall last week. The thud was impressive, but then the darn thing started sliding down the greasy wall to where a gang of CDS counterparty wolves waited, snapping and slavering for it. And then there was a crowd of curious Germans in the alley, wondering who stole their precious kartoffelkloesse and lobbed it at the Greek wall, anyway. Grumbles were heard but, as yet, no mob action against the flingers of the purloined kartoffelkloesse. 
     Here in the pitiful tweet-sphere that contains the atomized remnants of USA governance, there is no such clarity. We don’t know if that’s spaghetti hitting a wall or the shit hitting the fan. But due to the amazing obduracy of the parties involved, the next sound you hear may just be the wall itself tumbling down, perhaps even the famous wall with the famous street attached.
     All I know is that I dumped a largish bundle of 13-week US treasuries on Friday, a tad shy of the August 4 rollover and moved the hypothetical cash into less freaky hypothetical foreign sovereign instruments. I found a great bid for the T-bills, too. The whole transaction cost me a buck. I wondered: what were these people thinking who bought this crap at just the moment in history when everything is flying into walls and fans?
     Whatever other conclusions can be drawn from the great debt ceiling debate of 2011, the main one seems to be that this country can no longer govern itself. Our reverence for the constitution appears to be inflated along with everything else in the USA these days: gas prices, waistlines, cable TV bills. Even congresspersons themselves seem to hold it in low regard, since proposals for a “super-congress” were floated last week. A lot of sentient folk who follow national affairs actually wondered out loud, “what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
     I took it to mean that our faith in the apparatus of governing has evaporated at the same rate as faith in our promises to pay back stuff-of-value denominated in certificates called dollars, our faith in which also melts into air. One thing for sure everybody knows: this is not a good time of year for financial shenanigans and chicanery. The rough beast called Reality comes back from its vacation in foul and turbulent spirits. Things shake loose when it roars.
     There is widespread and growing agreement that the two major political parties have reached the end of their useful lives. No other serious faction is waiting in the wings to replace them, except the one led by a claque of overfed radio clowns and know-nothing Jesus Jokers with an axe to grind against the wicked hosts of birth control. Seek no further for the answer as to why our political leaders are not serious: there is nothing they can do at this point. In order to conceal the reality of epochal economic contraction, they have run our money affairs off a cliff – and so the next sound you will hear may not be of things hitting walls and fans, but of a sickening crash, as the overloaded carriage of government (drawn by a scrawny coyote) spirals down into the Canyon of Lost Causes.
     We need a financial convulsion to sweep away the accumulated debris of poor choices, false hopes, squandered resources, frauds, swindles, and lies. Such an event can’t help but set off a true political convulsion. Let the banks eat their own tails and strangle to death. I hope somebody catches a photo of Lloyd Blankfein paddling a surfboard due south off Georgica Beach, destination: Fortaleza. I hope he brings a few Red Bulls with him for the trip, and perhaps a whiffle bat to hold off the sharks – if there are any left in overfished deep blue sea.
     I post a few seconds before the markets’ openings this ominous Monday. Gold is already riding high. The rest is largely up to the robots in Lower Manhattan and the zombies in Washington.

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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.

909 Responses to “Nobody Knows Anything”

  1. treuburger July 25, 2011 at 9:26 am #

    First!

  2. HeadingOut July 25, 2011 at 9:27 am #

    A good interview on the subject of “financial racketeers”: http://lewrockwell.com/wile/wile30.1.html

  3. Leibowitz Society July 25, 2011 at 9:28 am #

    The problem is that lots of people know things, but they know that it’s a hopeless situation, at best.
    Visit the Leibowitz Society at http://leibowitzsociety.blogspot.com/2011/07/tectonics.html for commentary and a plan of how to preserve knowledge for the coming Dark Age.

  4. Jack Waddington July 25, 2011 at 9:33 am #

    It seems the debt crisis is making none sense of money. Maybe this is the moment to abolich it for all time. The idea is not as perposperous as it might seem on first glance; it could solve so many problems. Sure it would take a little while to get used to, then slowy we’d realize the stupidity of living with this symbol.
    Jack

  5. mow July 25, 2011 at 9:33 am #

    blech

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  6. Desertrat July 25, 2011 at 9:36 am #

    When I was a kid, I plowed behind a horse. (Yes, I really did. :-)) I got older and began watching politicians. Same view, really. And I can guarantee you that it never improves.
    “No other serious faction is waiting in the wings to replace them, except the one led by a claque of overfed radio clowns and know-nothing Jesus Jokers…”
    James, you may think they lead. They may think they lead. But the ideas of too much spending, too much intrusiveness, too much taxation: These ideas need no leadership. They are the fundamental ideas of what is called the Tea Party.

  7. radman July 25, 2011 at 9:36 am #

    Cue up Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows” as background music and see Jesee’s recent tome….
    http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2011/07/memento-mori-remember-that-you-are-man.html

  8. Dostoyevsky July 25, 2011 at 9:37 am #

    JHK
    It’s going down the gurgler quicker than cheeze doodles down a blimps gullet.

  9. Warren Peace July 25, 2011 at 9:37 am #

    The Onion nails it:
    WASHINGTON—Members of the U.S. Congress reported Wednesday they were continuing to carefully debate the issue of whether or not they should allow the country to descend into a roiling economic meltdown of historically dire proportions. “It is a question that, I think, is worthy of serious consideration: Should we take steps to avoid a crippling, decades-long depression that would lead to disastrous consequences on a worldwide scale? Or should we not do that?” asked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), adding that arguments could be made for both sides, and that the debate over ensuring America’s financial solvency versus allowing the nation to default on its debt—which would torpedo stock markets, cause mortgage and interests rates to skyrocket, and decimate the value of the U.S. dollar—is “certainly a conversation worth having.” “Obviously, we don’t want to rush to consensus on whether it is or isn’t a good idea to save the American economy and all our respective livelihoods from certain peril until we’ve examined this thorny dilemma from every angle. And if we’re still discussing this matter on Aug. 2, well, then, so be it.” At press time, President Obama said he personally believed the country should not be economically ruined.

  10. Tangurena July 25, 2011 at 9:39 am #

    People don’t want to know anything. Just look at how quick folks wanted to blame AlQeda for the terrorist act in Norway. It turns out to be a right wing nut job, but somehow it is the fault of muslims.
    There is widespread and growing agreement that the two major political parties have reached the end of their useful lives.
    Duverger’s Law states that in political systems with a “first past the post” election system like ours, the only stable state is a 2 party system. The only way for a third party to get anywhere is for some upheaval where that third party displaces one of the 2 major parties, and the displaced party sinks into irrelevancy.
    Both the Democratic and Republican parties have become 2 sides of the same coin, and cheering/jeering for one is like those old beer commercials “taste great” vs “less filling” – an exercise in futility.
    We need a financial convulsion to sweep away the accumulated debris of poor choices, false hopes, squandered resources, frauds, swindles, and lies.
    Oh, I’m not sure that will ever happen. The audit of the Fed showed that they were willing to loan out $14 Trillion to keep the banksters in business. They’ll spend any amount of our money to prevent the rich from having to face the consequences of their actions. The phrase that comes to mind is “privatize profits and socialize losses.”

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  11. James Howard Kunstler July 25, 2011 at 9:40 am #

    Replying to Jack Waddington:
    I don’t subscribe to your notion that mediums-of-exchange can be abolished. They are born and die and change over time, but they are necessary. Civilized people can behave more responsibly with them in some moments of history than others. This is a bad time for that, alas. But I must say, you have never made a single credible argument for this monomaniacal claim you make that money per se ought to be abolished. For my money, your brand of credulous idealism should be abolish3d.
    –JHK

  12. DeeJones July 25, 2011 at 9:40 am #

    And of course this begs the question: Will there be any oil to power the fans the proverbial poo is flying towards?
    The inhabitants of the USA are basically insane, and the craziest, most psychopathic ones are running the place – into the ground.
    I mean look around you, just who actually needs a F350 with dualies as a commute vehicle anyway? And yet you see just that. EVERYWHERE.
    Am glad we bailed out of that madhouse, as I have said before, you really can’t appreciate just how insane everything is there until you get out of it.
    As someone used to say: :Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst”.
    And hoping the we don’t get spattered with flying poo…..
    Dee J

  13. newworld July 25, 2011 at 9:43 am #

    “Largish bundle” and I thought you were a writer bouncing around the poverty line. Well congrats sir.
    Get a Canadian visa, the slobs in this country have a sense of entitlement that is metaphysical in nature and size. The slobs on the left have taken to a certain ethnicity’s victim metaphysics like a hog takes to corn, and the right thinks god talks to them, and ain’t nothing good going to come of this.

  14. John T Anderson July 25, 2011 at 9:44 am #

    Jim: Will there be room on Lloyd Blankfein’s southbound surfboard for his cappuccino machine?

  15. Smokyjoe July 25, 2011 at 9:45 am #

    Welllll, The Onion really got rich-boy Cantor down pat.
    And, sadly, Obama. Crack some skulls and lead, for God’s sake, Mr. President. John Boehner should take some freshmen into the cloak room and beat the snot out of them, letting them know that their Tea Party followers will not get a single thing voted if they do not compromise to prevent a default. This is what strong Speakers used to do, crack heads. This pussy cries in public.
    We have no leadership in either party.
    What a lousy time we’re in for. Well, China will enjoy the show, at least. I’m going out for coffee now and pretend I’m Greek.

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  16. Jim from Watkins Glen July 25, 2011 at 9:46 am #

    Another in a series of excellent posts today, describing well what is to many, indescribable. Kunstler is an important member of the reading list, along with Chris Hedges, Bill McKibbon, Jim Hightower, Ralph Nader, Robert Reich, and many others. Kunstler has a journalist’s eye, a novelist’s voice, and a satirist’s edge—powerful stuff. He seems to be saying what I suspect, which is that things are well beyond anyone’s control, and we all merely stewards of a major reset, which will correct the imbalance of so few people controlling so much wealth.

  17. safeinhell July 25, 2011 at 9:48 am #

    I would have been first but I had to look up kartoffelkloesse. Bitch to type. I bet Jim used copy-and-paste.
    SuperCongress eh? I guess the heat drove our representatives into air-conditioned movie houses and they got a minuscule brain wave from “Captain America.”

  18. soak July 25, 2011 at 9:48 am #

    “We need a financial convulsion…”
    —————
    No, we need jobs and financial stability. We need Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment and raise the debt ceiling, with the challenge to meet whoever doesn’t like it in court.

  19. Al Klein July 25, 2011 at 9:56 am #

    I recall hearing that the writer of the Harry Potter books (I don’t know her name) was recently declared to be the first billion dollar author. That scenario seems aprpopriate given our current situation. To wit: the writer of children’s fantasy books is now worth thousands of millions of dollars! As an added fillip, the fantasy centers on magical powers. How timely!

  20. MikeR July 25, 2011 at 10:00 am #

    I think everyone is misjudging the situation. Everyone says that Congress should act like grownups and come to a compromise. I think that enough in Congress (Tea Party) believe that this is a make-or-break moment for our nation. Almost on the level of pre-Civil War. I think they are right. We have been floating in the pot of heating water for so long we don’t realize how red we’ve turned. A few more years of this fiscal insanity and we’ll all be boiled dead.
    Democracy works in strange ways. It has been usurped for years now as both parties have gotten their desires by letting the other party have theirs……to the almost finanical ruin of the country. I think the Tea Partiers get this. I think we could go to default and I’m not so sure it would be such a bad thing compared to more “compromise”.

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  21. banfabian July 25, 2011 at 10:00 am #

    Soon Fabian will show up and ruin this discussion thread with insults and profanity.

  22. kulturcritic* July 25, 2011 at 10:01 am #

    “We need a financial convulsion to sweep away the accumulated debris of poor choices, false hopes, squandered resources, frauds, swindles, and lies. Such an event can’t help but set off a true political convulsion.”
    Right Jim, but it is still too early!!
    http://kulturcritic.wordpress.com/posts/philosophizing-with-a-hammer-smashing-the-idols/

  23. lbendet July 25, 2011 at 10:03 am #

    Good post, JHK,
    After we were taken to the cleaners in 2008, bailed out international banks and failed to secure our economy, I think for most people the illusion of globalism and free markets turned to vapor in front of our very eyes. Any illusions to the solidity of the system turned to quick silver!
    Obviously we are dealing with a rigged market system who’s only function is to make sure that a tiny coterie of people can never suffer any risks they take–and hey the money’s gotta come from somewhere-why not social security and medicare–you know those pesky entitlements we all pay directly for.
    Once that was exposed, there was no going back–but go back they did, since the whole sick system is stuck in it’s keytonic mode.–An economy based on making money on debt and not productive activity. A system that has recently been exposed as one where the rich and powerful corporations, no longer loyal to the nation-state make the laws usurping the power of our elected officials (ALEC), leading to the destruction of government controls and the formation of monopoly TBTFs.
    They’re destroying the EPA at this point, so pollute they can with abandon. Can’t spend money to clean up even if you’re making billions. And let’s not forget no taxation of the rich under any discussion.
    We can’t even get Elizabeth Warren in position to protect the consumers as the banksters threw a temper tantrum and where is Obama going to work after PODUS?
    As the meme that taxing the rich will mean less jobs, after 10 years of lowered taxes they have nothing to show for their claims, but that doesn’t seem to phase these guys. It must mean they have no hope for this country and therefore don’t want to put money down the rabbit hole.
    So now we’ll be sweeping Europe for it’s public assets and as you can already surmise these carpet-baggers will soon be at our doorstep.
    Dylan Ratigan, no liberal looked to history and suggested everyone agree to clean the slate of debts and restart, but the elite want to continue their global class war, so that’s not going to happen. These guys are going full steam ahead to get what they always wanted: All the world’s wealth and resources.
    Good luck to them-don’t think its going to work they way they imagine –hmm who will they owe favors to?

  24. ShabbaRanks July 25, 2011 at 10:08 am #

    Time for the O-man to get serious with the Republicans.. He should announce the following: 1. Since the US is officially out of money, there is no more money for the military. Accordingly US forces in Afghanistan will offer to surrender to the Taliban; 2. All US naval assets in the South China sea are to make port immediately in China and surrender their ships to the Chinese People’s Army. 3. Disband all military facilities in the US located in Republican districts. Let this be the Republican’s Ft. Sumter, 21st century style.

  25. empirestatebuilding July 25, 2011 at 10:09 am #

    There is no real incentive for the politicians to fix the economic system. It is working quite well for their puppet masters and in turn themselves.
    And when the dike finally bursts, these jokers and their benefactors will all be high and dry.
    It is the Little People who will be swallowing the water.
    Same old story… it’s good to be the king.
    Aimlow Joe was here
    http://www.aimlow.com

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  26. budizwiser July 25, 2011 at 10:12 am #

    Dear Mr K –
    I take issue with the premise of your recent BLOG entry – “Nobody knows Anything.”
    You sir, like myself are most likely quite aware of many things – especially relating to the Clusterfuck this nation is dragging the entire world into.
    Perhaps – it would be better to write about why so many of our compatriots feel “too busy” to “know anything” -let alone to act on what they do know.
    I’ve reviewed some interesting material. I even downloaded the documents in original text.
    Many people do know what’s going on, just not what to do about it. http://www.unelected.org/audit-of-the-federal-reserve-reveals-16-trillion-in-secret-bailouts

  27. Hugh Culliton July 25, 2011 at 10:15 am #

    Sorry Radman, but I think Cohen was being far too optimistic. Anyone who might sucessfully address the coming crisis “are neither left nor right, but just staying home tonight, getting lost in that hopeless little screen.”

  28. WestCoast July 25, 2011 at 10:17 am #

    If the U.S. taxpayers can borrow a few trillion and pay the interest to the Fed to rescue the bankers and Wall Street, then the taxpayers can borrow a few trillion more to assure that the money they have put into social security and medicare is paid out.
    Bush Jr. said that “the deficit was just numbers on a piece of paper”…so why does boner and his cohort worry about it now?
    Google search of the year:
    “grow food”

  29. orbit7er July 25, 2011 at 10:23 am #

    Replying to Desertrat:
    “James, you may think they lead. They may think they lead. But the ideas of too much spending, too much intrusiveness, too much taxation: These ideas need no leadership. They are the fundamental ideas of what is called the Tea Party. ”
    The biggest expense of the Federal Government at
    about $1.2 Trillion in total, are all military spending for endless Wars, more nukes when we are supposedly phasing them out, Homeland Insecurity to insure that we are safe from people’s shoes and toothpaste, for 234 Pentagon Golf Courses around the World, along with $20 Billion for 1 year of
    air conditioning tents in Iraq and Afghanistan…
    Somehow the Wars escape all mention in the Corporate Media endless talk about “deficit spending”…
    And the Tea Partiers have been even more supportive of such military waste then their Republican brethren…

  30. GAbert July 25, 2011 at 10:24 am #

    It was the summer before I was to enter the eighth grade. We were living in Cairo where my father worked in the embassy. As we’d just moved to Cairo a few weeks prior I hadn’t met any kids my age t hang out with. So, instead, I hung around my father’s office which was located in some rented space off the embassy grounds. Periodically I would be tasked with going over the embassy to fetch the mail or an occasional hotdog from the snack shop. After just a few days, the marine guards got used to this precocious kid bounding up the steps like he owned the place.
    http://www.gwabert.com/

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  31. noel bodie July 25, 2011 at 10:28 am #

    Regarding boehner and the Koch-baggers, he has no leverage because they don’t want anything, they represent the via negativa. Nihilism. How about the speaker forge and alliance with the dems. Get a majority and isolate the Koch-baggers to the sidelines?

  32. rugger July 25, 2011 at 10:30 am #

    The answer is SECESSION!!! Let the red states form the new nation of Dumbfuckistan.

  33. Dasviking July 25, 2011 at 10:37 am #

    there’s something you’d learn in the ensuing crisis if the ceiling was not raised…..something nobody wants you to learn…You’d find out government is the problem not the solution, and that we’d all be better off with a lot less of it….That’s why Treasury Secretary Geithner says it would be a “catastrophe” not to raise the debt ceiling. It’s why Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says it would be “calamitous.” It’s why Komrade Obama says it would be “financial Armageddon.” They’re all trying to scare you………Everybody thinks people would starve without the big, strong government to feed them…… It’s not true…… We’d be a more productive, dynamic, and wealthy society………. You’d see this happen right before your eyes if a large portion of the government shut down permanently…….But nobody in government wants you to see that…………..

  34. Riddick's Ego July 25, 2011 at 10:39 am #

    If ian807 is at all correct in what was written above I strongly suggest GOLD.

  35. pedal pusher July 25, 2011 at 10:40 am #

    I wanted to shed some light on the history behind this month’s EYESORE OF THE MONTH. The Lamar Building in Augusta GA. dominated the Augusta skyline (such as it is) for decades. In the early seventies the First National Bank of Georgia erected a glass box a few blocks up the street that topped out at some dozen or so feet above the Lamar Building. In the mine-is-bigger-than-yours spirit of Dixie, the owners of Lamar added the ugly penis appendage pictured in EYESORE. It gave their structure sufficient altitude to reclaim the title of the tallest building in Augusta.
    This is a true story – I was there!

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  36. JPB3 July 25, 2011 at 10:44 am #

    I would be curious to know which sovereign you purchased the debt of.
    Personally, I am convinced that strategy is unlikely to be rewarding, because I find convincing the argument that if the UST goes down, all of the current sovereigns are going to go down.
    If you really think the UST is going down, the best strategy is to buy physical gold, a few simple and reliable guns, and loads and loads of ammunition for the guns.
    But, to be clear, I have not done that. For better or worse, I actually think the USG may be one of the last sovereigns standing. As maddening as that may be.

  37. Riddick's Ego July 25, 2011 at 10:46 am #

    The average Amerikan today is clueless and happy about Sunday service yesterday where the sermon was about Grace and Giving (an interesting juxtaposition tot he Tea Partiers “screw you” mentality, praise the Lord).
    Meanwhile, energy assistance for AC is gone statewide about everywhere so people curl up and die. You best deal with this SHTF yourself or you too shall join their ranks, either in reality or at least financially. I pity all the small kids I see being hauled around by the clueless SAHMs (Stay at Home Moms) while daddy sweats in the convulsing labor market. But Jesus shall provide after all…provide a great foreclosure.
    I honestly believe that we are indeed screwed and that sooner or later (knowing Amerikans later) we will wise up but by then we will be screwed totally and any uprisings and protests will be pointless as we descend into a more third world status befitting our indebtedness.

  38. Newfie July 25, 2011 at 10:48 am #

    And the Walls came tumbling down… Amen.

  39. WestCoast July 25, 2011 at 10:56 am #

    Can anyone point to a site where the following mechanism is detailed on one page,
    or in a simple
    chart without arcane language and presupposition of financial terms?
    “How does the fed buy and sell bonds, make interest, make money for its owners and monetize the debt?”
    The Fed website lacks a little something obviously…
    There is plenty of verbiage out there, plenty of emotion, plenty of predictions, opinion etc.
    I just want a simple schematic, flow chart, whatever, to present to a Middle School class.
    Thanks

  40. Cavepainter July 25, 2011 at 11:01 am #

    Once again I’ll remind all you visitors to KF Nation what the ultimate aim is: a world as crowded as possible of people who, except for the ruling minority, are stuck at the lowest level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. In other words, the world as one big refugee feeding center where all are easily manipulated for having no power over when the feeding troughs are filled. That way, a universal sense of desperation will quash concerns such as wilderness experience, wildlife habitat preservation, species diversity and environmental protection. Hence, the cause of “creating jobs” and “saving the economy” will justify opening up all the “locked up” resources in now protected public lands.
    Helps one understand why the drive for unrestricted immigration to the US, huh? You know that theme, right? Open space and wilderness of solitude, plenty of range for hunting and fishing or just communing with nature, all exchanged for an ever expanding menu of ethnic dishes – until, of course, there’s not enough water for washing the dirty dishes and everyone is surviving on an indistinguishable mush delivering (hopefully) minimum caloric requirement.

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  41. TehBigPiktur July 25, 2011 at 11:09 am #

    A Canadian visa? Not a half-bad idea. Wonder if there’s room up there for one more engineer/jack of all trades looking for a home with some reasonably good soil around it. I’m going to look into it just to keep my options open. We are insane here.
    First belly laugh of the workweek: JHK – “I dumped a largish bundle of US treasuries on Friday…got a great bid for the T-bills, too. The whole transaction cost me a buck. I wondered: what were these people thinking who bought this crap at just the moment in history when everything is flying into walls and fans?”
    Got out of the Stock Market this morning. What a relief. I invested a large chunk of cash a couple of years ago in it: after the ’08 crash, it was hard not to make money since ‘most everything that wasn’t already bankrupt was going to come back. A bit.
    I’m still so pissed about the bank bailouts and who’se still in charge of that grift-machine I half hope we do default (watched ‘Inside Job’ this weekend, not a bad bit of documentary moviemaking) Let’s see what’s really TBTF. Obama is a terrible disappointment. Still at war (up to 3 now.) Still Guantanamo. Still no TBTF Bankers in prison. No change.
    Back to widget making. Cheers and see you next week. -Brian

  42. ccm989 July 25, 2011 at 11:10 am #

    The Super Congress is perhaps the worst idea in a sea of terrible ideas. Nobody voted for this and nobody wants it. Why should 6 of each political party set the law? Who appoints these 12? When the government starts appointing itself, it becomes too much like Wisconsin and we all saw how that went. Recall elections are going on now. What Obama needs to do is invoke the 14th Amendment and raise the debt ceiling. Get it done and over with. Since the Tea Party is fixing to impeach him no matter what, Obama might as well use the 14th and simultaneously raise the tax rate on the super rich and close the loopholes too. That will burn the Tea Party’s collective butt but save the country and put off plutocracy for another year or two.
    Right wing nut jobs will go even Crazier than murdering children at summer camp in Norway. Raising the debt ceiling will be their excuse for anarchy. Stay away from public places like baseball games, subways, malls and movie theaters because bombs kill indiscriminately. Hopefully the FBI has infiltrated every domestic hate group out there but there’s probably a few loners who are secretly and gleefully reading doomsday manifestos and planning the end of Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Blacks, liberals and gays everywhere. Because only White “Christians” should inhabit the Earth to serve at the whim of the super rich. Wonder if they’ll enjoy being white slaves?

  43. bossier22 July 25, 2011 at 11:13 am #

    THat makes it seem logical. Are they really that smart though?

  44. ozone July 25, 2011 at 11:18 am #

    “Dylan Ratigan, no liberal looked to history and suggested everyone agree to clean the slate of debts and restart, but the elite want to continue their global class war, so that’s not going to happen. These guys are going full steam ahead to get what they always wanted: All the world’s wealth and resources.
    Good luck to them-don’t think its going to work they way they imagine –hmm who will they owe favors to?” -LB
    It’s not going to work because people [being people] are pretty unpredictable when under duress. Will “they” (average ‘Murkins) allow themselves to be herded into farm/labor/death camps as the various “untermenchen” did under the baleful eye and bloody claw of the Nazi true-believers? That, to me, is the ultimate question, and will determine continuation [in some loose confederation or another] or extinction. Resistance or Death?
    The pain is inevitable; the reaction to it will tell the tale, and whether that tale has the chance to be told to a following generation.

  45. soak July 25, 2011 at 11:29 am #

    “Obama needs a way to address (pay for) debt. The 14th does not address that.”
    ——————-
    No, Congress appropriates funds to pay for debt. But if Congress is incapable, then Obama invokes the 14th Amendment and unilaterally raises the debt ceiling.
    See you in court if you think that unconstitutional.

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  46. drpiper July 25, 2011 at 11:32 am #

    James.
    I’ve been thinking lately this may be our best solution. Other alternatives aren’t seen as possible until the old structures fall. As a nation we go through a form of chapter 11 and come out the other side with a lower standard of living, that is affordable. Very painful, but maybe less so than the current death of a 1000 cuts.
    I guess to sum up our problem, “we’ve run out of wall paper”….

  47. ozone July 25, 2011 at 11:34 am #

    “We need a financial convulsion to sweep away the accumulated debris of poor choices, false hopes, squandered resources, frauds, swindles, and lies. Such an event can’t help but set off a true political convulsion. Let the banks eat their own tails and strangle to death.” -JHK
    I absolutely agree. The only way “out” is “through”. We’ll not get any kind of re-set/different direction by altruistic posturing. It’s the terror of upheaval that gets the paradigm shifted. (Social “betterment” happens in the days of wine and roses through intellectuals’ musings, but true political re-thinking comes from privation and desperation.)

  48. army July 25, 2011 at 11:36 am #

    I think Obama should resign, after all the big problem is…..Republicans just don’t like blacks. As a matter of fact, they don’t like anyone but their elite white rich friends.
    From day one the Rebublicans just couldn’t stomach being lead by a black man. They will destroy the Country, and as a side show make a few bucks for their rich friends while they sink ole Step and Fetch It!
    The TEA Party guys who love to prove their manhood by carrying their NRA Cards, hats, and shootin’ irons complain about being taxed too much while they watched the likes of George Bush spend like a drunk on a Saturday night. They also can’t stand the fact that there’s a black man in office. Most of them are busy looking for Social Security Disability checks or trying to collect unemployment Compensation while they are working for cash. They pride themselves in sending anti-black Obama e-mails on a daily basis. They hate education and teachers, any authority figures, but are the first hogs at the trough when it comes to government hand outs.
    Everyone thought Archie Bunker was a bigot…….he can’t hold a candle to our latest crop of bible-thumping Republicans.
    The rest of the brainless twits in this Country spend hour after hour checking their cell phones, texting, and figuring out how to get a free fix.
    Thank God for the cell phone. It makes people look so fuckin’ important!
    The American people deserve to have tough times. We have turned into a lazy, worthless bunch of hogs.
    It’s easier to lie, cheat, and say…..there’s nothing we can do about it.

  49. Cash July 25, 2011 at 11:40 am #

    Canada is just the healthier horse in the financial glue factory. We have one mother of a real estate bubble up here. We did not learn one damn thing from the real estate collapse in the US. And our household balance sheets are in worse shape than yours in the US before the crash.
    We preen a lot about having come through the recession and financial crisis ok but that’s just us in superiority mode. Your govt deficits are worse than ours but ours are disastrous by any standard. Our banks managed to avoid going tits up but they too got govt assistance. Just wait till the real estate bubble pops.

  50. Steve M. July 25, 2011 at 11:44 am #

    Felix: “It’s not spaghetti, it’s lingiuni.”
    BANG!
    Oscar: “Now it’s garbage!”
    😀

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  51. Patrick the Irishman July 25, 2011 at 11:44 am #

    There are many things wrong with USA but one of the most egregious in the electoral system. Is there ANY country in the world where 2 and only 2 parties have a lock on everything. This is a totally artificial situation and is maintained in numerous corrupt and deliberate ways. Somebody on TV was saying how people are sick of both parties and if they are not careful will both be turfed out at the next election. But that’s absurd and impossible because there is no one else there to be put in.
    Also I think the much vaunted ‘divided Government’ maybe worked well during a time of economic expansion and growth which was the case with some downtimes ever since the origins of the country. This works very badly or not at all during a time of ‘managing contraction’. The US is almost uniquly unsuited for this situation becuase of the ‘divided Goevernment’ credo. Who is “winning” now……….above all the most “undivided Government” i.e. China. But about any country even with a Parlimintary system is way more functional that litterally the Clusterfuck we have here. In that sense the blog is very aptly named. Again kudos to Mr Kunstler a very smart man

  52. Smokyjoe July 25, 2011 at 11:52 am #

    “We have turned into a lazy, worthless bunch of hogs.”
    I tell you, the only answer is to become Greek. In fact, let the cradle of Democracy annex the USA and give us a make-over.
    We’d still be worthless, but we’d be more interesting, and certainly skinnier bums once we switch over to the Greek diet. I’ll admit that saganaki is probably as fattening, ounce per ounce, as cheese doodles, but YUM. And don’t even try to get open flame near cheese doodles.
    If we are not going to pay taxes, let’s at least become colorful about it. I’m going to change my name to Achillios Papahartofylakakopoulos.
    Where the hell are my olives, my pepperoncini, and my Ouzo?

  53. soak July 25, 2011 at 11:56 am #

    When Congress is deadlocked and no budget is forthcoming to pay the debt, that threatens economic chaos and endangers the union.
    You’re not supposed to hold the validity of the public debt hostage to achieve political ends.
    President Obama is entirely within his 14th Amendment constitutional authority to act unilaterally to preserve the nation.

  54. anonymouse July 25, 2011 at 11:57 am #

    kuns – that is crap….we all know that people can live without ‘money’ just watch star trek next generation. they dont use money. everyone has everything they need….jesus just watch a little tv and you would see how the real world is….!

  55. anonymouse July 25, 2011 at 11:58 am #

    …half black. they couldnt stand being bossed by a half-black man.

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  56. anonymouse July 25, 2011 at 11:59 am #

    i dont see anything wrong with the america electrical system. my lights still work…?

  57. soak July 25, 2011 at 12:07 pm #

    “This was one of the biggest routs in U.S. history.”
    —————-
    Thank goodness. Just in time to wake up the sleepy electorate (see 2011 NY26; see Wisconsin 2011) and energize it to reject the TeabaggingRepublicans in 2012. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Tea Party for Obama’s re-election in 2012.

  58. stroea July 25, 2011 at 12:17 pm #

    “Still too early” The Roman Empire lasted about 2000 years (give or take a little) so what’s too early? Maybe after next month’s Social Security check?

  59. metuselah July 25, 2011 at 12:17 pm #

    That’s pretty much my thinking as well.

  60. hmuller July 25, 2011 at 12:22 pm #

    “Super-Congress”?! Now there’s an oxymoron which merits a chortle. How about – performance impaired Congress, learning disabled Congress, integrity challenged Congress.

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  61. Vlad Krandz July 25, 2011 at 12:35 pm #

    His ideas are Black. Blacks by and large think he’s doing a good job. The dissatisfied ones are mad because he hasn’t done enough. Blacks want a Communist Welfare State. Herman Cain, Clarence Thomas, etc are a small and hated minority.

  62. Cash July 25, 2011 at 12:36 pm #

    On the CNN website a headline that says 1 in 5 American men don’t work. As the article says 20% of men are collecting unemployment, are in prison, in the underground economy or living off the paycheques of wives and girlfriends.
    If you want mayhem make sure you have a large number of unemployed, pissed off men, especially young men, and guaranteed you will have mayhem. Many examples in history. Look at the current fun and games in the Arab world. 1920/30s Germany is another recent example.

  63. Dylan July 25, 2011 at 12:46 pm #

    The debt ceiling theatrics do not matter. I think some politicians are somewhat convinced “something” will happen if they don’t raise it but either way nothing will happen that isn’t already happening. The problems this country faces are systemic and too complicated and far gone to be figured out by the folks in Washington. You can see it in their faces, looking panicky and confused. It’s all politics at this point. Perhaps a battle over the debt ceiling will be the first domino to fall but if not it’s just a matter of time before the house of cards comes down. And that’s good, because after the financial collapse maybe regular people can come together and figure out how to exchange money for work and goods and services again. In the meantime, I suggest we all trade in our dollars for the currencies of the future: food, vodka, cigarettes, and ammunition.

  64. Vlad Krandz July 25, 2011 at 12:49 pm #

    When you have different races in the same Nation, you don’t need parties. Parties will compete to get the various Minority Blocs. Democrats always win because they are willing to give away the store. Republicans have proved themselves incapable of learning this. They could only compete by giving up all their principles and betraying their base. Republicans should have become the Party of Whites long ago. But to do that, they would have had to deal with the other taboo: Class. And no one wants to touch that. They would have had to get serious about illegal immigration – and there was just too much good money to be made and saved to do that. So they threw their own base under the bus.

  65. TehBigPiktur July 25, 2011 at 12:49 pm #

    Brilliant! We can replicate the Greek economy of yore right here right now here. If Climate Change happens the way it probably will, Ohio will become hot, dry, and sandy – *prime* olive/pistachio/wine grape territory! Hummus for everyone! I’ll take up the bazouki and earn a living singing mythical tales of F350 monster trucks and cheeze doodles.
    Brianiki Partyallthetimikos

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  66. Vlad Krandz July 25, 2011 at 12:51 pm #

    Go to youtube: there are many clips of Blacks attacking Tea Party events. Get real clown.

  67. insufferable July 25, 2011 at 12:51 pm #

    Its only 12:30 pm and there are so many posts I can’t read them all. But I will give my take on the topic since this topic of a no leadership, not caring about its citizens, and incompetence, debauchary, and other horrible adjectives and verbs, is of utmost importance as the sinking USS Govt slides into the unknown abyss. I am of the opinion that we no longer have a real government. I feel as though there was a coup when Kennedy was killed and we are now the result of it is decades of shadow govt. rulership. Out ability to vote with confidence has long erroded. Our ability to maintain simple freedoms such as driving without a seat belt if we really want to, or smoking whenever, where ever without fear of reprisals among other things may seem small but it was a step in the direction of control in every aspect of our lives. Today they control what we eat, how we think (TV), what we will buy, how much we will pay for it, who we should fear, who we should hate, or love, and generally by following the “political correctness of the times” they will continue to denegrate those who step away from it and cherish and applaud those who follow and toe the line. I believe we are suffering under a fake presidental office, for decades. The parties seem unable to achieve simple goals that were possible at one time. We attack our own citizens in the quise of terrorism.(TSA, Patirot Act) I also believe our shadow govt. manufactured our 911 to sink deeper into the shadow government’s ability to confuse lie and control us in every way shape and form, starting wiht the Patriot Act, wars in the Middle East, and the TSA groping their way into our literal private parts and our figurative private lives. We have been herded into following the “crisis of the day” and recoil in fear and horror wondering “what will happen next” garbage. All in all we are the nation that subconsciously knows the truth about our predicament but decides to believe all the lies and just eat, drug, or drink ourselves into oblivion and compliance. The world is just a reflection of our own inablilty to take the bull by the horns and say: NO WE AREN’T GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE Just stop paying your taxes and see what happens next.

  68. Dylan July 25, 2011 at 12:58 pm #

    Oops, I forgot to provide a link to an excellent Kartoffelkloesse recipe. I have tried it and it was excellent:
    http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/kartoffel-kloesse-potato-dumplings/detail.aspx

  69. Riddick's Ego July 25, 2011 at 1:00 pm #

    Amen insufferable!
    But we collectively have no balls. Not really, despite the gym and pro sports. When will the “One” stand up, shout “I ain’t gonna take this shi* anymore” and proceed to figure out how to retake guvment perhaps by self immolation as in Tunisia.
    We are a nation of wussies one and all.

  70. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown July 25, 2011 at 1:06 pm #

    JHK, great column this week.
    You think peak oil is rough, wait until peak blood hits:
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433362/

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  71. messianicdruid July 25, 2011 at 1:14 pm #

    Amen! If you are doing things because of fear or greed, you are probably doing it for the wrong reasons.

  72. jgalt6 July 25, 2011 at 1:25 pm #

    You are the reason for “no peace, no time, with libtards and leftist fruitcakes”. We do not dislike comrade Hussein because he is black, but because he is a marxist and closet raghead, which even someone with your limited intelligence must have noticed. The Purple People Eater would have been preferable to this Manchurian Candidate under the control of Georgie Boy Soros, the destroyer of nations. As a marxist lover yourself, you undoubtedly belong to the Demoncrat Party, formerly the Democratic Party when it was run by the likes of John F. Kennedy, who would be mortified by the American-hating reprobates who populate it now. Your messiah has increased the national debt more in his 18 months than every President before him, and all designed to destroy the U.S. and redistribute what wealth remains in the manner of his heroes, “Fats” Chavez and the Castros. You and your ilk are the very antithesis of partriots and eventually will pay the price when you make the fatal error of attempting to expand your leftist reign of terror.

  73. Neon Vincent July 25, 2011 at 1:40 pm #

    I see you’re finally taking the debt ceiling debate more seriously. How many weeks have I pointed out that you should?
    You shouldn’t wonder what the person who bought your T-Bills was thinking. Remember that the markets thrive off the greater fool theory, which states there’s always a greater fool than you out there who will buy your equities. It isn’t always true, which is why markets crash, but the supply of fools is very large. As for why he’s a fool, thank what you call “the consensus trance” which Joe Bagaent called “The Hologram,” although the latter is really the instrument of mass delusion and the former is the state it produces.
    As for the two parties becoming dysfunctional and the major visible faction being the crazies, you’ve been saying this for a while. You’re right, of course, but I’m surprised you didn’t call the visible faction “corn pone fascists.” That is who they are, after all.
    Finally, you became the subject of a teachable moment last week, when I showed my classes “The End of Suburbia” in which you have a starring role. Your comment about people in suburbia growing crops on what used to be their front lawn got a big laugh of recognition because of what Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan, has been doing right next door to the college. Score one for you.
    Another thing you mentioned in the movie was that you were worried about the end of the trade paperback industry. One of the important links in that economic sector is vanishing with the liquidation of Borders Books. You’ve just lost the outlet from where I bought “The Long Emergency” last year, so that’s starting to happen, too. How are your sales on Amazon?
    I’ve been blogging about both those topics, along with Detroit’s efforts to deal with the heat wave, car culture being so dominant that pedestrians are being prosecuted more severely than drunk drivers for the same accident, and all kinds of austerity and sustainability news at Crazy Eddie’s Motie News, where I’ve made a prediction and an observation. The prediction is that the coming decade will be all about the interplay between sustainability and austerity. The observation is that blogging about sustainability in Detroit means never running out of material.
    http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/

  74. cheesemoose July 25, 2011 at 1:43 pm #

    Well, at least there’s one reassuring constant in a fast-changing world – James Howard Kunstler is predicting immanent doom again.
    It’s enough to make you put you pour yourself another cup of joe as you settle in with the Business Section and peruse the collapse of Industrial Civilization at your leisure.
    The man has cried wolf so any times now, his weekly jeremiads have the soothing affect of church bells ringing.
    Thank you, Jim, for bringing stability and certainty to an unstable and uncertain world.
    As long as I get up on Monday mornings and see that you’re predicting The End Of Life As We Know It again, I’ll know everything’s alright.

  75. Newfie July 25, 2011 at 1:49 pm #

    “The Roman Empire lasted about 2000 years”
    Uh, not quite… It existed in two forms. It started as a Republic which lasted for about 500 years, until Julius Caesar seized power around 49 BC. It then became the Roman Empire which was ruled by a series of emperors. The Empire peaked 230 years after Caesar, around 180 AD. Shortly after peaking it all but collapsed during the Crisis of the Third Century (which lasted 50 years). Thereafter it managed to survive but steadily declined until barbarians deposed the last emperor in 476 AD.
    So… America has been a republic for 235 years. I personally would not be at all surprised to see some form of dictatorship emerge, perhaps soon. The American Republic now seems to be ungovernable. In any case, the USA probably peaked economically in the 1970s/1980s when the middle class standard of living went into a permanent decline. The onset of that decline coincides with the peaking and decline of US oil production. Various popping debt bubbles have eclipsed peak oil as a matter of great concern but the underlying cause of the global debt problems is probably peak oil as was predicted long ago by the cognoscenti.
    Have a Happy Decline and Fall, y’all!

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  76. soak July 25, 2011 at 2:06 pm #

    “Obama, himself has said”
    —————
    On this point, Obama is showing he is playing chess. He only said THEY are NOT persuaded, leaving open the possibility of unilateral action which the 14th Amendment provides for him.
    It’s how politics is played in the real world, I guess. I usually only make short visits to reality.
    I never said Obama was the Messiah, so I can disagree with him.

  77. loveday July 25, 2011 at 2:08 pm #

    Hey JIm and all
    Au contraire Jim I think the politcos know exactly what they are doing. They are not serious about reducing debt they just want force the destruction of the working classes, just business as usual. Anyone serious about debt reduction would begin reducing in the dept of defense FIRST, not last. The military budget is obscene and clearly shows the priorities of the ruling elite, namely keeping all of their hard stolen loot.
    By the way has anyone seen the information on Andrea Rossi’s cold fusion unit? He is on track to begin producing Ecat cold fusion units for household energy production this fall. He estimates that the electricity produced will cost about 1 cent per kilowatt. I sure hope this technology proves to be as good as is promised. That would probably solve most of the the problems associated with peak oil and pollution. Of course he is having problems with the US patent office because they say there is no such thing as cold fusion. America will be left in the dust because the country just can’t allow the masses to prosper. This new energy source would also end the monetary crisis also by the way.
    Oh well back to watching the socalled debt debate. Good theater if you can stomach the absolute bullshit eminating from DC. Very odoriferous, so get out the hip waders and popcorn this will be good.

  78. soak July 25, 2011 at 2:13 pm #

    Andrea Rossi and Cold Fusion
    http://pesn.com/2011/04/07/9501805_Rossi_Cold_Fusion_Validated_by_Swedish_Skeptics_Society/

  79. jackieblue2u July 25, 2011 at 2:14 pm #

    It’s true about if spaghetti sticks to the wall it is ‘done.’
    Buck Stud : last thread no I didn’t think it required a serious response. It was only half serious !
    I know what you mean tho.
    I was just having fun. more or less.

  80. metuselah July 25, 2011 at 2:14 pm #

    Who care about her? Take a break for the inanities.
    Duncan Crary has a good podcast this week:
    KunstlerCast #165: Landscape Urbanism – Part 2

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  81. Headless July 25, 2011 at 2:16 pm #

    “Nobody knows anything.”
    Fantastic title Jim! That thought occurs to me every time I attempt to make a decision about investment allocations: there are no objective factors to use in the decision-making process; I think what it comes down to, is that the market–any market–will move in whatever direction that will maximize the “take” for Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and the rest of the criminal syndicate. That seems to be the only conceivable data point that would be useful, as the markets do as “They” please.
    Fuck ’em. In the end, pissed off Americans won’t be throwing rocks at Wall Street offices, they’ll be positioning themselves with their hunting rifles in “camouflaged” corners throughout New York and blowing the brains out of the skulls that once pillaged America; I’d bet everything I own that that is going to happen before this is over.

  82. ASPO Article 1037 July 25, 2011 at 2:17 pm #

    First-responders are constantly drilled in the concept: “an emergency exists when conditions are apparent making (fill in as appropriate) likely or even possible if said conditions or discrepancies are left unchecked & corrected”
    The POTUS is truly where the buck stops, and we are flirting with several ongoing situations most likely leading, jointly or severally, to Federal Executive Emergency Orders… Nixon Administration FEEO’s crafted but not issued include Motor Fuel Allocation (rationing) with nice stampa looking like miniature dollar bills complete with Washingtons portrait. Also from that batch of FEEO’s kept in the wings for such times as these:
    Federal control of any and all means of domestic transportation/distribution including Airlines, Railways, Trucking and support facilities and personnel associated with such transportation assets.
    Martial law means the Feds control the water works, the electric and agricultural distribution systems, etc. Keep the guns and vodka… however, the orderly conduct of foreign exchange (to maintain oil imports for one) means certain Federal call-up of all Gold & Silver coins and bullion. Price set at figures reflecting the approximate 30 to 1 ratio seen between Gold & Silver before 1965. (Gold $35 vs. Silver $1.09)
    Federal Executive Emergency Orders are real -many exist on the books, and SHALL BE enacted/enforced by this President or his successor as and if necessary. The boring and predictable name-calling JHK has to put up with seems inescapable… Easy to do behind a cloak of anonymity! Reality; The mechanism of FEEO will be used to preserve the Union of States as Lincoln did in the Civil War, Wilson did circa WWI, and Roosevelt in WWII.
    Financial imperatives will accelerate US departure from the Muslim outposts. US might secure a share in the minerals, but more likely involving a railway building partnership (China) than military presence. Overseas garrisons diminish, US Army/Guard Railway Operations & Maintenance Battalions reform in the States to expedite dormant rail branch line rebuild to assure smooth flow of victuals distribution and modest manufacturing renaissance as trucking shrinks account spiking diesel costs and allocation.
    OK- Back to the Linguini flinging…

  83. bubbleheadMarc July 25, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    Saying that we don’t need money is on a rough equivalent level with ’50s era flying saucer “contactees” saying that “the space brothers don’t need money”. Perhaps this is actually true, who really knows? But then if they exist it is they who got to us first and not the other way around which would tend to indicate rather conclusively that they must be thousands of years more advanced than us, so I don’t think that we’re about to transcend the filthy lucre any time soon. Even if we had a revolution and ended up with a totalitarian collectivism the fact remains that the government would have to issue script of some sort in order to facilitate exchange of goods and services without resorting to the crudity of barter.
    It would be nice if we could reintroduce homesteading and protect housing from the vicissitudes of the economy, land speculation, and finance. But then many forms of homesteading were actually a reward for military service so it’s not as if those programs were entirely free.
    The fact remains that Jim is correct when he asserts that governance is in abeyance and we’re basically fucked. Fortunately I have my standby nihilism to fall back on: in the long run we’re all dead; once you’re dead not only do you no longer exist but it’s actually the same as if you’d never existed in the first place. So why worry? Nothing matters.

  84. Hamrage July 25, 2011 at 2:29 pm #

    “Let me assure you we understand the stakes. We know how important this is for us and how important it is for you,” Mrs Clinton told Hong Kong business leaders.
    Queen Kanute wants to stop the sea. For us? Perpetuate a system that; a) is destroying the planet b) keeps the rich wealthy. Yeah for us. For us the wonders of infinite growth, for us the charade of classical economics. For us the guiding lights of Thatcher and Milton Friedman. When the Chinese start bartering for Iranian oil instead of using dollars, what then Queen Kanute? They gonna be bothered? Nay Mrs Wilkes. And when every one person gets out of their car in the States, 20 Chinese people continue to get into one. And when the oxymoron of Zero Emission Vehicles don’t charge up to visit the coast (where you can see Russia) you ain’t gonna stop the sea Lady.

  85. progress,conserve July 25, 2011 at 2:31 pm #

    Nice weeks work, JHK. Thanks, as always!
    I keep thinking that TPTB in Congress will finally twist enough arms to get some kind of vote on the debt extension.
    And I remain amazed at how the 90% marginal federal tax rates under Eisenhower – a time of prosperity – don’t give the bozos-in-charge some cover for, at least, going back to the tax rates pre-BushII.
    Apparently the TeaPublicans learned nothing at all from the damage they were blamed for – and the seats they lost – back under the Contract On America and Newt Gingrich.
    And yeah – the two party system is IRREVOCABLY BUSTED by corporate influence. How would we go about getting rid of it, though. 535+/- Independents would be better than the nest of prostitutes that we now have representing the US at the Federal level.

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  86. ront July 25, 2011 at 2:32 pm #

    As regards the notion of abolishing money as a medium of exchange, it could never be abolished while the society or humanity continues identifying with a sense of profound separateness and competitiveness with one another. While the consciousness of “yours and mine” pervades, while scarcity creates a things value rather than abundance, while identity is based more on endless wanting and contentment is a quaint relic for the naive, foolish idealists, money will never be abolished.
    But once we get fed up with being at odds with one another and acknowledge the real brotherhood of man, allowing it to assert and express itself, money will become a relic. In a real and loving family, a medium of exchange has no practical application, for self-interest is sacrificed for peace, harmony and whole-hearted generosity.

  87. soak July 25, 2011 at 2:33 pm #

    The president, moreover, can move quickly, but court cases take time.
    “At the point at which the economy is melting down, who cares what the Supreme Court is going to say?” Professor Balkin said.“It’s the president’s duty to save the Republic.”
    I would only emphasize that it is the President’s sworn CONSTITUTIONAL obligation. And he can use the 14th amendment to raise the debt ceiling and do so unilaterally. It is not like it is a daring move. It is a necessary move at this point in history, to save the union. The debt ceiling has already been raised dozens of times. One more for the gipper. I’m sure you know Ronald Reagan’s thoughts on the subject.

  88. metuselah July 25, 2011 at 2:33 pm #

    Geez, that was some seriously mangled typing. Ok, let’s try it again:
    Who cares about her? Take a break from the inanities.
    uhh, that’s better. 🙂

  89. Dasviking July 25, 2011 at 2:39 pm #

    “I remain amazed at how the 90% marginal federal tax rates under Eisenhower – a time of prosperity – don’t give the bozos-in-charge some cover for, at least, going back to the tax rates pre-BushII.”
    Abolish the progressive income tax……. replace it with a flat tax where everyone pays the same rate of income tax on every dollar earned………. Then let’s see how many of those Obama supporters feel about wanting to raise the income tax rate………

  90. MADMAX July 25, 2011 at 2:50 pm #

    stroea: a minor point, I guess, but I believe the Roman Empire lasted about 1000 years, not 2000. I doubt if we will last another 200 years, at the rate we are declining in every way.

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  91. bossier22 July 25, 2011 at 2:58 pm #

    It also coincided with massive 3rd world immigration along with massive military and social spending. This led to the elite divorcing themselves from “American” society and becoming global citizens. Later, victory in the cold war and the booming 90’s led to complacency about looming problems. Many of the same problems were ignored durning the cold war also. the debt crisis, demographic change, climate change, and the end of cheap energy are converging at the same time. just as JHK predicts.

  92. MADMAX July 25, 2011 at 3:00 pm #

    Newfie: I believe that America’s social and economic decline in the 1970’s also coincided with the displacing of men in the workforce by women. Many people will dispute the importance or significance of this, I know, but I believe it was a major factor in the disruption of our economy and civic life.

  93. soak July 25, 2011 at 3:00 pm #

    In times of national emergency Presidents do act unilaterally with executive orders and do things like suspend habeas corpus or round up and put 120,000 citizens in concentration camps.
    The 14th amendment is the constitutional authorization for Obama to act regarding the debt ceiling, in absence of congressional action, to prevent default.

  94. Bustin J July 25, 2011 at 3:01 pm #

    dylan said, “And that’s good, because after the financial collapse maybe regular people can come together and figure out how to exchange money for work and goods and services again. In the meantime, I suggest we all trade in our dollars for the currencies of the future: food, vodka, cigarettes, and ammunition.”
    As… interesting as such a future would be- I suppose- with all the independent metal salvage yards and lead and copper smelters needing work for the ammo… not to mention the gunpowder producers.. and of course, the grain producers, who will I suppose trade grain for fertilizer. Of course they will need guns to protect their crops. That would mean hiring additional men to guard the crops. Which would of course inflate prices for their product as costs increase. They would require more ammo to protect the grain to sell to distillers who would create more vodka. Vodka would be required by hired guns and of course, for bribes and fees of the sort that would come after the government is gone. More cigarettes going into circulation means tobacco farmers have more demand, they’ll require more ammo and vodka.
    Wow, how perfectly suitable this economy is- for Dumbfuckistan. Who wants to live in a country like that? It is Serbia.
    Cavepainter said, “Helps one understand why the drive for unrestricted immigration to the US, huh? You know that theme, right? Open space and wilderness of solitude, plenty of range for hunting and fishing or just communing with nature, all exchanged for an ever expanding menu of ethnic dishes – until, of course, there’s not enough water for washing the dirty dishes and everyone is surviving on an indistinguishable mush delivering (hopefully) minimum caloric requirement.”
    You got it Cavepainter.
    We need politicians and advocates that aren’t uncomfortable handling ten foot poles, and airing out the untouchable political and social hot topics, with an eye for a survival strategy for the future, and not a 6 month plan.

  95. bossier22 July 25, 2011 at 3:02 pm #

    It sounds too good to be true. One can hope.

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  96. jackieblue2u July 25, 2011 at 3:03 pm #

    It is hard to read so many. I try to keep up on a day to day basis, when I can. Otherwise it is really too much.
    2/3 of responses come in the first 4 days, then tapers off, to few on the weekend usually I think.

  97. soak July 25, 2011 at 3:06 pm #

    We are nowhere near decline. Try living in the third world without running water or sewage facilities. We still live in the greatest country in the world and are fortunate to have an intelligent and thoughtful man leading us, instead of the idiot who got us into so many wars. Bush ran up the deficit turning the surplus from the balanced budget Clinton left him, into a good part of the debt we have today.

  98. progress,conserve July 25, 2011 at 3:07 pm #

    Let the record show that the first “Fucktard Torpedo,” of the week was fired by none other than the allegedly polite Soak.
    Fab seems to be making a little more sense without quite as much nasty vitriol. And the facts are more on Fab’s side as regards the 14th amendment. (sorry, ozone, I’ve gotta call ’em like I see ’em)
    “I think inherent in the concept of debt is an expectation of payment. Of course, you might not understand that if are a FUCKTARD. LOL!”
    – soak, to Fab, @ 1:11 –
    Perhaps we need a screenname called bansoak?

  99. soak July 25, 2011 at 3:09 pm #

    If you don’t believe the wording of the 14th amendment gives Obama authorization to act unilaterally, then take him to court for “misusing” the 14th amendment.
    Until you win your court case, the 14th amendment rules! Besides, Obama will be making history. You will be reacting. And while you are reacting, Obama will be making more history. How does it feel?

  100. soak July 25, 2011 at 3:13 pm #

    The conditional “if” means it does not apply to you, or anyone else, unless the name fits.
    It wasn’t a torpedo. It was a depth charge.

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  101. bossier22 July 25, 2011 at 3:17 pm #

    If we go down China will not get away unscathed. Although Soak will probably disagree, I read a statistic this week about China: 600million live on less than $1000/yr, 400million live on $2000/yr And about 80million make over $20,000. So if the west goes down so does their markets. And to those making $2000 or less, it does not mean they will not be able to retire early. It means malnutrition or starvation along with instability in china.

  102. k-dog July 25, 2011 at 3:19 pm #

    The rough beast called Reality comes back from its vacation in foul and turbulent spirits.

    Then the silent suffering intensifies and kartoffelkloesse becomes too valuable to throw at any wall.
    IMHO

  103. Vlad Krandz July 25, 2011 at 3:21 pm #

    Not only that, but when Rowling announced that Dumbledore is gay, the crowd went wild. One is reminded of when Clinton announced that America would be majority minority by 2050. He said it was an experiment and “we don’t know whether it’s going to work out”. Now where exactly in the Constitution does it talk about using the People as Guinea Pigs?

  104. soak July 25, 2011 at 3:23 pm #

    If we’re lucky they’ll show up in a few months.
    ————
    Jeez, not you are insulting first responders, like RT. Government services are more efficient than you think.

  105. loveday July 25, 2011 at 3:29 pm #

    Bossier
    Yes it does sound too good to be true, but I’m surprised Jim isn’t talking about this. This new technology could be a game changer! Oh sorry Jim believes no new technology will save us. Well it is better than constantly moaning over the pickle the world has gotten into at this point. Just think, no more jacking up oil prices just in time for Christmas. HoHo, take that Exon, Chevron, and BP. I would love to be able to buy one of these units so I can disconnect from the grid.
    Rossi thinks it will also be possible to adapt the technology to vehicles, YAY! No more gas 3-4 dollars a gallon, no more smog for L.A. or the world. Come on you guys get excited, this is the best news I’ve heard in I don’t know how long!
    Anyway the company producing the units is in Greece and it’s name is Defkalion. Let’s hope this works and we can get them in the Americas.

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  106. TrollControl July 25, 2011 at 3:30 pm #

    CFNers,
    Don’t reply to trolls directly (that only feeds their need for attention) Reply to me instead.

  107. progress,conserve July 25, 2011 at 3:33 pm #

    “You got it Cavepainter.
    We need politicians and advocates that aren’t uncomfortable handling ten foot poles, and airing out the untouchable political and social hot topics, with an eye for a survival strategy for the future, and not a 6 month plan.”
    -bustinj, to cavepainter, on reducing immigration-
    Nice posts, Bustin, you and CavePainter both.
    And thanks for the opening to something that is very important if humanity is to have much of a chance at a future.
    Send these people some money. They are top-rated by the BBB and the SPLC.
    http://www.numbersusa.com/content/

  108. soak July 25, 2011 at 3:35 pm #

    You are insulting first responders. They have a duty and the provide service. You are implying they might not show up if they don’t approve of the victim. Bad form. First responders don’t behave that way.

  109. asia July 25, 2011 at 3:42 pm #

    Boss,
    Where are you?
    re: China, Yes there are 100,000,00 HOMELESS
    in China, they work but wander to work places.
    Read this in LA Times.
    Ive read of farmers so poor there their children are nude.
    [I forget the names of the few books I have read on this dismal ‘Miracle’ called China].
    Google Images….most polluted cities in China.
    China is hell.

  110. soak July 25, 2011 at 3:43 pm #

    “Send these people some money. They are top-rated by the BBB and the SPLC.”
    From the SPLC website:

    John Tanton is the racist architect of the modern anti-immigrant movement. He created a network of organizations – the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and NumbersUSA – that have profoundly shaped the immigration debate in the United States. A retired Michigan ophthalmologist, Tanton has white nationalist beliefs and has written that to maintain American culture, “a European-American majority” is required. As of 2010, Tanton served on FAIR’s board of directors.

    Doesn’t sound like “top rated” by SPLC to me. You should be ashamed of yourself P,C for misleading people to associate themselves with racist people like Tanton.

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  111. asia July 25, 2011 at 3:46 pm #

    Solari.com
    C.A. Fitts….She worked high up in Govt.
    and talks of the elites ‘dis investing’ in USA.
    I remember 25 years ago when Cars started being made in Mexico.Then Industry shifted to China,
    near slave labor. then saipan [?] and
    Vietman , and US protectorates that really use salve labor.

  112. asia July 25, 2011 at 3:49 pm #

    How many [If you care to count]Posts today from the 2 of them?

  113. Loveandlight July 25, 2011 at 3:50 pm #

    Seek no further for the answer as to why our political leaders are not serious: there is nothing they can do at this point.
    Obviously so, but I still get the “straw man” treatment in a huge and major way when I try to point this out in the comment-sections of lefty blogs!

  114. soak July 25, 2011 at 3:52 pm #

    CONSEQUENCES OF DEFAULT YOUTUBE VIDEO RELEASED TODAY
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4VuICz4whc&feature=player_detailpage

  115. bproman July 25, 2011 at 3:52 pm #

    The times are a tad strange, imagine those Pirates at the top of the National League central.
    Who would of thunk it at the start of this ball season ? Plenty of games left to play, so we’ll see how things turn out. As for the rest of the world, forget about it.
    Remember, just because that rancid e coli processed hot dog is turning green doesn’t mean you have to buy it with more funny money.

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  116. asia July 25, 2011 at 3:55 pm #

    Google ‘Murder rates in Black Males’
    Their unemployment may be 50% or higher.

  117. bossier22 July 25, 2011 at 4:06 pm #

    Thats what i thought. No one is immigrating there.

  118. bossier22 July 25, 2011 at 4:14 pm #

    Global citizen Bill Gates says that the money he donates is better used overseas.

  119. caseyf5 July 25, 2011 at 4:19 pm #

    Hello lbendet,
    Instead of PODUS I would choose POSTUS (Pieces Of Stinky Turds in the US). We are truly screwed until we reenact the French Revolution in a more modern context. We do not skip the excesses as it will guarantee success. This might save the globe for others but I feel that it will come too late.

  120. Ellecram July 25, 2011 at 4:34 pm #

    Agreed – anytime I see the name of the biggest troll on here I just scroll right down without a second glance – haven’t a clue what was written. It’s much better that way. Everyone should try it.

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  121. trippticket July 25, 2011 at 4:50 pm #

    JHK: “I wondered: what were these people thinking who bought this crap at just the moment in history when everything is flying into walls and fans?”
    Was it really any different 13 weeks ago when you bought that same crap?

  122. george July 25, 2011 at 4:55 pm #

    I have friends and family members, hard-core Republicans [wouldn’t Redundicans be a better name?] to the bone, who believe that Obama and the Democrats [or should we call the Dumbocrats]have created the debt crisis for the express purpose of forcing the American economny into a deep, dark depression that will end with a Big Government takeover of the economy. I’m not kidding, these clowns listen to Fox News, Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh religiously and won’t listen to reason even if you hit them on the head with it. Conversly, I have friends and family members, hard-core Democrats to the bone, who believe the Republicans have “created” this debt out of thin air as a means of advancing their extremist agenda. They too don’t want to hear any facts that contradict their strongly held beliefs. How on earth are we supposed to construct a reality-based solution to our nation’s problems when no-one will listen to reason?

  123. jackieblue2u July 25, 2011 at 5:02 pm #

    I know exactly what you mean.
    I have friends on ‘both’ sides.
    maybe there is a whole other say of looking at it.
    I just really feel TSHTF already and we are feeling the fallout now.
    Yes they won’t listen to reason. Maybe it is that most of them ARE sociopaths, the politicians and lawmakers. And all they want to do is ‘win.’
    at any and all costs.
    Wish I had the answer.

  124. Vlad Krandz July 25, 2011 at 5:18 pm #

    It’s very simple: can you print or create money out of thin air – based on nothing? If you think you can, then you are a Democrat or an ordinary Republican. If you realize that such “money” is a fraud and will lose value and in the process, bankrupt the American People, then you are something better. Alot of Republicans don’t get it, but far more of them do than Democrats.
    As true to its name, it was said long ago that Democracies exist only until the people realize they can raid the treasury. In our case that means Welfare, Social Security, Illegal Immigrants, Endless aid to the 3rd world, Enless Wars, etc.
    When I say Republicans, I mean the ordinary voter. The politicians are by and large just as corrupt as the Democrats. There is no real difference between Neo-Conservatism and Neo-Liberalism. The Tea Party is a great hope but probably destined to be subsumed into the Republican Party. But they have already made a great contribution by refusing to let the Republicans back down.

  125. progress,conserve July 25, 2011 at 5:22 pm #

    Here’s the SPLC website where they give their highest blessing to NumbersUSA.
    “….written extensively on environmental and financial issues, NumbersUSA is the most reasoned of the anti-immigration groups, offering information on the relationship between immigration and the environment.”
    In fact, Beck makes a statement on his web site that NumbersUSA is not intended to bash immigrants or have racial overtones.”
    -The SPLC, concerning NumbersUSA-
    http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2001/spring/blood-on-the-border/anti-immigration-
    Notice that this information from the SPLC is dated 2001 – new information doesn’t affect SPLC viewpoints with apparent rapidity.
    The NumbersUSA link on the SPLC website does not work (coincidence??) – be sure to use this one, instead.
    http://www.numbersusa.com/
    And also notice that NumbersUSA is a top-rated nonprofit by the BBB, and well deserving of consideration for donations – if the future of the US, and/or the world – is of concern to you.
    ===============
    The Southern Poverty Law Center, in my personal opinion, has not been truly concerned with their original constituency (native born US blacks) for many, many years.
    Nor does the SPLC appear terribly concerned with Poverty or Law – as they continue to argue in favor of the immigrants who “take the jobs Americans won’t do,” thus Legally forcing poor native born blacks and poor native born whites further and further into Poverty.
    ============
    At some point, yammering away on the internet becomes insufficient. Put your money where your mouth is CFN – donate to NumbersUSA – or find a better immigration control organization and present it to the CFN readership for discussion.

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  126. soak July 25, 2011 at 5:25 pm #

    “Why bother posting this?”
    —————
    Kind of obvious isn’t it? So people can visually see the CONSEQUENCES OF DEFAULT
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4VuICz4whc&feature=player_detailpage
    in a YouTube video.

  127. soak July 25, 2011 at 5:27 pm #

    At some point, yammering away on the internet becomes insufficient.
    ————-
    On that we can agree.
    I’m out of here for at least 30 minutes.

  128. neckflames July 25, 2011 at 6:01 pm #

    JH Kunstler – I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around someone like you being invested in short term treasuries. If you had bought some gold 13 weeks ago you would have actually increased your wealth.
    Neckflames

  129. ian807 July 25, 2011 at 6:19 pm #

    “…it was said long ago that Democracies exist only until the corporation realize they can raid the treasury by purchasing politicians. In our case that means Goldman Sacks, Bank of America, Endless wars to the 3rd world to support the military industrial complex.”
    There. Fixed that for you.
    Welfare mooches are chump change. The real parasites wear suits and sit on interlocking boards of directors.

  130. soak July 25, 2011 at 6:50 pm #

    COLD FUSION TECHNO MIRACLE?
    Rossi said of the initial cost of electricity produced by his systems in terms of cents per kw-h : ”1 cent per kWh”.
    According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average residential cost of electricity is 9.74 cents per kWh (2009 figures).
    One-tenth the cost is not “too cheap to meter” but it is a significant advance, especially if it makes electricity available to those who currently have no access to electricity.
    Currently 1.6 billion people around the globe have no electricity in their homes. Instead, most use wood, coal or even dung to heat and cook their homes — resulting in indoor air pollution that kills 1.6 million people a year.

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  131. soak July 25, 2011 at 6:57 pm #

    Tonight at 9 p.m. EDT President Obama will address the nation on the stalemate in Washington over avoiding default and the best approach to cutting deficits. I hope he takes advantage of this opportunity to invoke the 14th amendment to avoid default on the debt.

  132. fairguy July 25, 2011 at 7:03 pm #

    I passed by another young woman standing at a corner with a sign “evicted from apartment, looking for work, anything helps”. Something cracked in me although I didn’t believe the work part of her sign. I remarked to my wife : “we all deserve to f***ing burn”. Disruption and misery of biblical proportions awaits a society that progressively caters to the elite at the expense of the majority.

  133. Dolan Williams July 25, 2011 at 7:17 pm #

    James, I have to agree with you concerning the use of money as a very viable means of exchange. I have in my possession a Roman Silver Denarius Circa 50 AD to 180 AD. I also own two Early English pennies from the period of Henry III Circa 1216 – 1217. I’m not a coin freak per se even though I have a few stashed away. I use these coins at times to try and prove a couple of points. One is that sound money has and always will prove a very reliable means of transacting business. The other point is that precious metals retain their value over centuries. Those 3 coins do the trick. Notice that I said ‘sound’ money since they all contain substantial amounts of silver in relation to their weights. The Roman coin was minted before the Caesars decided to create their own ‘stimulus’ plans by inserting trash metals into their coinage. Currently, our money is entirely fiat in nature with the only value being a promise on the part of the U.S. government that our currency is sound. What a joke!

  134. Miss Gayle July 25, 2011 at 7:24 pm #

    The arguments regarding the 14th amendment have been very interesting. Saying the constitution doesn’t grant the President specific power to enact policies regarding it is rather like saying Congress isn’t specifically granted power for the Dept of Education – it’s technically correct to say the Pres isn’t specifically empowered, but, the Supreme Court has a clear and unquestionable of granting the Fed Govt powers it simply does not “really” possess via the constitution. I’ll bet if he actually did it, they would back him. After all, they can hardly start being constitutional literalists now. It’s way too late for that.
    Interestingly, though the President IS the unquestioned commander in chief of the armed forces, is he not? So why not just sign an order shutting down each and every foreign base unless the host country pays all costs in full for it? Why not sign an order stopping all combat action and recalling all national guardsmen, with the regular army guys to follow immediately thereafter? Why has the regular army not been assigned to protect our own borders from illegals, drugs, etc? These things are WELL WITHIN his power, and he was elected primarily on his promise to stop the war and reign in the military industrial complex – yet he hasn’t.
    The fact is that it is giving free “security” to the rest of the world that has bankrupted the US, not social security or unemployment. Imperialism is killing the US, not fulfilling our biblical, ethical and moral obligations to the poor and sick. How about letting the Robber Barons hire their own thugs if they want “security” to force compliance with their economic sabotage of other nations. That would go a long way towards reducing our annual deficit.

  135. sevenmmm July 25, 2011 at 7:32 pm #

    What the fuck is going on?
    What The Fuck IS Going On??
    WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON???
    James knows.

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  136. Solar Guy July 25, 2011 at 7:33 pm #

    Bravo JHK, excellent piece!
    Tripp- Remember reading that article you linked to, and I still want a “one of my hunting wasps will be with your shortly. Permaculture works.” T-Shirt. Also, congrats on your first Solar Module… May it be the first of many… they’re addicting. Just like Gardening. #HarvestTheSun
    Had a horrible Monday today…
    Going to take the EV-ScooterBike home and enjoy the ride…
    And put on my “All Gloom All Doom” Hat when I get back.
    Cheers Clusterfucker!
    PUSH ON. DO GOOD. KEEP SMILING

  137. Miss Gayle July 25, 2011 at 7:36 pm #

    Oops – that should have been “The Supreme Court has a clear and unquestionable habit of enacting policies that are granting the Fed…”

  138. Dolan Williams July 25, 2011 at 7:50 pm #

    Miss Gayle, the truth of the matter is that the United States will never abdicate its expansionist imperial designs. Name me one empire that has ever volunteered to minimize itself. There will be minimization but it will be thru default and/or military misadventures that result in catastrophic losses in both lives and property. I have been arguing for a long time that America will soon fragment along some types of racial and geographic lines and my wife gets awfully sick of hearing me talk about it. As a matter of fact, we are looking to retire and move to a location where we can remain relatively free from the ‘Golden Horde’ that will surely pour out from America’s soon-to-be bankrupted and violent cities.

  139. progress,conserve July 25, 2011 at 8:50 pm #

    “Go away, please- and leave the discussion to adults.” -TrollControl, to auntiesoake-
    Thanks, TC, I’ll try to do better with ignoring the trolls from now on.

  140. Free_Spirit July 25, 2011 at 8:50 pm #

    Would someone please hit the reset button and reboot the system please? It just can’t be any worse.

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  141. loveday July 25, 2011 at 8:57 pm #

    Hey Soak
    So glad to see that people here are still encouraging hope. Sure we are in a bit of a pickle, but I plan to live through these ” interesting times” and I guess Jim and all these people just don’t want to look beyond the oncoming major problems. Problems are coming that’s for sure, people like Andrea Rossi are working towards the future and we have to continue also, for our kids, for ourselves, for our future. My grandma lived through the last great depression, she is a remarkable person, I plan to follow her example.
    Anrea Rossi appears, at least to me, to be putting forward some viable ideas that may possibly enable us to NOT enter into the new Dark Age that Jim has predicted.
    So all of you Clusterfuck Nation characters can continue to snipe at each other and have fun with your doomsday language. As for me I am looking to the future, despite Fukushima, despite the socalled “budget crisis”, despite the whole damn pickle we are in, I plan to do alright. I hope everyone can take encouragement and buck up. Because things won’t be easy, but then again when were they ever?
    Suck it up baby, cause it’s the American way.

  142. progress,conserve July 25, 2011 at 9:25 pm #

    “encouraging hope…” -loveday-
    Nothing wrong with hope, loveday. But false hope brings some things that are worse, following behind it – wasted effort, crushed dreams, and disappointment.
    If the Andrea Rossi cold fusion reactor actually worked as claimed – changing nickle into copper by adding protons to the nucleus – then physicists would be researching, rejoicing, and rewriting the laws of physics – as we speak!
    Those things are not happening.
    Rossi cold fusion, as another poster pointed out earlier, is too good to be true.
    “Good science is always rooted in good data, but the most entertaining science is the stuff that transcends the need for data by rooting itself fantastical claims and a rejection of the idea that data is even necessary.” -popsci-
    http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-01/italian-scientists-claim-dubious-cold-fusion-breakthrough

  143. asia July 25, 2011 at 9:50 pm #

    NEWS FROM MEXIFORNIA:
    California “Dream Act” approved for illegal immigrants? – dubbed the California Dream Act, passed the state Legislature earlier this month and aims at helping illegal immigrants who earned a diploma after…………………………

  144. asia July 25, 2011 at 9:55 pm #

    Yes when his wife saw the misery in Africa she
    decided that helping them would be part of her lifes work…
    Gates in turn does what he can to hire foreigners.
    However this ‘make the world a better place’thing has been going on a long time…Foreign Aid, the Peace Corps.

  145. cheekychews July 25, 2011 at 10:02 pm #

    (from the outside looking in)
    To the good people of the USA … and the dickheads,
    What the fuck are you doing?
    How can it be that the GOP & Tea Party are in control and torpedoing Obama’a attempts to deal with the shit-heap of an economy created by the GOP????
    They’re morons!
    Since the end of WW2 the national debt came down under both Democrat and Republican presidents … until Reagan. http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af227/cheekychews/USGrossFederalDebtsince1945.jpg
    Since 1981 it has burgeoned under Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2 (Republicans). Clinton reversed the trend and Obama inherited a steaming pile of poo from Bush 2 which included war spending, tax cuts for the wealthy and the GFC (fed by Bush 2 and the lack of regulation over the uber-capitalists in the FIRE sector (Finance, Insurance & Real Estate)).
    So I blame Reagan, Bush 1, Bush 2 … and Clinton’s dick (if he had kept it in his pants we might not have had Bush 2).
    The War on Terror has cost $1.2 trillion directly and will cost over $3 trillion going forward. http://costsofwar.org/article/economic-cost-summary
    The wealth gap in the US is obscene. The top 2% of income earners neither need nor deserve a continuation of the Bush 2 tax cuts. The argument that terminating it will stifle the magical job creation powers of these fat-cats is self-serving crap.
    And while you’re at it fix up the corporate tax system ‘cos either your tax system is fucked or US corporations are ratshit at making profits. http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af227/cheekychews/USATaxesIndividualCorporatefrom1940.jpg
    All administrations and congresses since the late ‘70s have consistently failed to address the US energy problem … imports of oil have added trillions to the trade deficit and it is just getting worse. http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical/petr.pdf
    Wake up! http://tinyurl.com/6yp6hv
    What I see from across the Pacific Pond is a nation driven by distorted notions of ‘freedom’, ‘free markets’, ‘god bless the United States’ parochialism and FUD from the bible-bashing conservatives.
    A pox on Republicans and Tea Party numb-nuts!
    Best of luck to all the others who are trying to prevent the Good Ship USA from sinking.
    PS thanks for stuffing Kyoto over the last 20 years

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  146. asia July 25, 2011 at 10:06 pm #

    santa Monica College has requirements for graduating that include courses in
    GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP [SMC.EDU]…..
    It also has 1000+ wetbacks, mostly from Mexico,
    who get $/help from the Latino Center,
    They have Latino Youth Conferences, etc…
    Can you see the Soviet Monikans asking for
    White Youth Conferences?
    And there are few Black students.
    Under 100 at UCLA in the freshman class of thousands.

  147. asia July 25, 2011 at 10:11 pm #

    O yes….the US keeps the seas safe so China Inc can ship its goods worldwide.
    And China does no charity work or foreign aid.
    Im told in the Russian language there is no word ‘charity’ [I read that somewhere]
    And Russians that move here cant believe
    what they can get by asking / stealing.
    For instance theres a whole building owned by the govt thats been taken over by the russian mafia..
    3405 [?] Via Dolce, Marina del Rey.

  148. asia July 25, 2011 at 10:13 pm #

    ‘ Clinton reversed the trend ‘
    According to [Soros x] Jim Rogers ole Clinton
    ‘cooked the books’.

  149. rippedthunder July 25, 2011 at 10:14 pm #

    Hey Prog, the discourse goes sour real fast around here lately. I like to see all the new posters and lurkers comeout but they are drowned out by the likes of *****, and ******, and all the other F””””tards! By thursday there won’tbe buta half doz. left. We lost some of the best because of the noise. This bar has gone to shit!

  150. rippedthunder July 25, 2011 at 10:19 pm #

    Spinnin’ this one for Jackie and all the ladies in the CFN, from the CFN DJ, RT. enjoy
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRqRAZuSQ9M

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  151. bossier22 July 25, 2011 at 10:20 pm #

    I don’t think Henry Ford would have felt the same as Gates does now during the great depression. He was just as interested in getting richer, but the upper class had more love of country than today. Since the mid 60’s the country has been slowly unraveling from the top to the bottom of the social ladder. The mega rich have followed where the social experimenters have led them. To them they are doing what is right.

  152. cheekychews July 25, 2011 at 10:40 pm #

    “According to [Soros x] Jim Rogers ole Clinton
    ‘cooked the books’.”
    Good grief!
    With Republicans rabidly chasing down Clinton while in office and then 8 years in government this claim has been verified where?
    Clinton must be a “Masterchef” … not a cook.

  153. rippedthunder July 25, 2011 at 10:44 pm #

    Hi Prog, I check in but the political and religious stuff is getting to be too much. Shit, Tripp is gone, Wage, maybe Marlin, LLB,. I know they still check JHK on Monday. I know your out there! I still read the blog but the noise is excessive.

  154. soak July 25, 2011 at 10:45 pm #

    P,C you are correct about the data. All good science requires three things: 1) instrumental injunction (you have to be willing to do the experiment; 2) data collection; and 3) communal confirmation (to rule out fraud or hallucination)
    The link you gave with “Dubious” in the title was from an article dated Jan. 21, 2011. After that Andrea Rossi conducted his experiment in the presence of Swedish physicists who verified the validity of the data. This was done in April 2011. If you are a scientist, you are willing to look at the later data that validates cold fusion.
    http://PESN.COM/2011/04/07/9501805_ROSSI_COLD_FUSION_VALIDATED_BY_SWEDISH_SKEPTICS_SOCIETY/

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  155. Smokyjoe July 25, 2011 at 10:52 pm #

    Dear Brianiki Partyallthetimikos:
    ???????? ???! (you rock!) my suddenly Greek friend.
    After crossing the wine-dark waters of the Ohio River after climate change, over the fire where we roast a meal of stolen suckling goat bandit-style, and as we contemplate raids upon the ruins of Columbus, we will spin tales of the Golden Fleece of the American public by Polyphemus the banker-demon.
    The young warriors will not believe us, let alone our tales of the F-350 and the Cheese Doodles, those graven chariots and Ambrosia of the Ancient Ones.
    Get your Greek on!
    ????? ???????? (I am a slacker),
    Achillios Papahartofylakakopoulos.

  156. progress,conserve July 25, 2011 at 11:08 pm #

    “(from the outside looking in)
    To the good people of the USA … and the dickheads,
    What the fuck are you doing?”
    -cheekychews-
    Hey CheekyC – nice post. Let me tell you, the US looks just as nucking futts from the inside as it does from the outside. Where are you, btw?
    I still think this immediate debt ceiling problem will be fixed at the last minute – but that will only mask larger social and economic problems going forward.
    But, sometimes I think to myself, “screw it – go ahead TeaBaggers and kick over the ant hill for good. Better to deal with the problems now – rather than keep kicking the can for our children to finally deal with….”
    I did find the Moyers/Andrew Bacevich interview. We’ve got smart guys here in the States. They just can’t get into leadership and make themselves heard. I’m afraid that as a Nation, we’re completely going off the rails.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlD6Yz18K10
    Some of us are open to suggestions, still.

  157. Cavepainter July 25, 2011 at 11:15 pm #

    You know how it goes; anyone who argues against America going the way of Somalia will be equated with Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer.
    Yes, that’s right; if you dare speak out against our nation allowing its population to grow to such point that no margin remains for absorbing disasters (natural or manmade) will be dubbed racist and xenophobe.
    Oh my, don’t dare suggest that regard for lots of flex room, or wilderness experience, or keeping range enough for meat to remain on the diet counts as “cultural value”.

  158. progress,conserve July 25, 2011 at 11:24 pm #

    “the noise is excessive” -rippedthunder-
    Yeah, again – RT, you’re 100% right. And boy, will I miss you, Wage, Tripp, Marlin, BHMarc, and various others. I sure don’t have to always agree with people to appreciate their viewpoints and to appreciate them as unique personalities.
    ==============
    But now, I’ve got soak going on, and on, and on – concerning this latest nickle to copper cold fusion thing. I’ve looked at the data – there’s nothing there to argue for cold fusion in a logical way. It’s pseudo science, substituting hope for data, in my opinion.
    And I consider it a waste of good JHK bandwidth to discuss Rossi cold fusion any further. Finally, soak needs to understand that words – even agreeable and beautiful words – do not change facts and they cannot change laws of physics, chemistry, and biology.
    So go ahead and call me an anti-Rossi racist, soak. That’s been your favorite insult, lately.
    TrollControl, anyone?

  159. bossier22 July 25, 2011 at 11:24 pm #

    It is strange to see a country commit suicide. Brown just signed the California dream act. California was the jewel of the nation but now it is a basket case. I guess Brown figures he might as well go for the votes the state is down the tubes anyway.

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  160. Neon Vincent July 25, 2011 at 11:46 pm #

    Congratulations, you finally did something useful around here.

  161. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 12:03 am #

    Black vote their color. Everyone knows that – unless they have their eyes closed. Mexicans do too. Don’t know about those White, Blued Eyed Indians who smoke alot of cigarettes – self righteously!
    I enjoy different cultures. Went to one of the largest Pow Wows in the Counry over the weekend in Post Falls hosted by the Coeur d’Alenes. Great. Some interesting blood lines – still alot of pure bloods around. Some quite handsome or beautiful. Do I want them to leave America or die out? No. Some White Nationalists might – but not this one.
    They are very proud of their history and cultures. I want the same for mine. Did you know that the Germans are utterly obsessed with Indians? The reason why is obvious: the yearning for White Tribalism is beyond belief. Yet we accept counterfeits like tatoos and being a sports fan.
    Heard one of the White Indians on the bus the other day talking about his Grandfather: He wasn’t nuthin. He had no Nations in him – just White.
    I don’t think this kid hated his Grandfather – this is just the way he thought: Whites are nothing. This is exactly how you and every other Liberal thinks.

  162. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 12:12 am #

    Portia Rossi saw a UFO when she broke up with Ellen Degeneres. As the chant about Mothman put it: Mothman, Mothman, what do you seek?
    The End of the World or an Omen of Peace.
    Any new sightings of the Georgia Devil?

  163. soak July 26, 2011 at 12:13 am #

    P,C your pessimism, your cynicism, and your faux scientific attitude are uncalled for. You ignore the research into cold fusion at your peril. The Chinese are not ignoring it.

    Chinese leaders believe the country that discovers a new source of energy will hold the key to the 21st century. Cold fusion could be that key, say the Chinese researchers. Described by some as “the holy grail of physics”, the theory of cold fusion proposes that nuclear reactions could take place at low, safe temperatures.
    Early experiments failed to convince the mainstream scientific community and most research in the West was dropped in the 1990s. However, a 2009 report by America’s Defense Intelligence Agency said that new techniques were leading to greater worldwide acceptance that more investigation was needed. “This … could revolutionise energy production and storage, since nuclear reactions release millions of times more energy per unit mass than any known chemical fuel.”

  164. TrollControl July 26, 2011 at 12:14 am #

    You been drinkin’ some “fire juice,” Vladdy? Your racist rants don’t make any sense to sober people. You’re racism has nothing to do with the discussion at hand, OK? Sober up and CONTRIBUTE tomorrow morning-late.

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  165. soak July 26, 2011 at 12:15 am #

    CONTINUED RESPONSE TO P,C THE SKEPTIC

    As China has become the world’s biggest economy after America, it has also become the top energy consumer and the greatest emitter of carbon dioxide. So it is searching for every means to reduce its dependence on coal and oil to fuel an economy that is set to grow by 9.5% this year. Coal still accounts for more than 70% of Chinese electricity generation, with hydropower coming second at just over 20%. Yet giant hydroelectric projects such as the Three Gorges Dam have proved troublesome, while wind and solar power meet just a fraction of China’s demand for electricity.

  166. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 12:16 am #

    He was under pressure to start giving since he didn’t for many years. It’s expected of people like him by his peers. His wife helped with all of that. Imagine if he gave to a White Cause – he would have been branded a pariah. Any charity is good, but Africa is the best. Any charity except White ones that is.

  167. TrollControl July 26, 2011 at 12:17 am #

    CORRECTION: “Your racism”

  168. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 12:20 am #

    Yes – about 500 BC to 500 AD. Some try to carry it longer by using “The Holy Roman Empire” of the Hapsburgs or Byzantium, the Eastern Empire. But these were really different civilizations that sprang from Ancient Rome. And truthfully, the Holy Roman was more of an idea for the most part, most of the time.

  169. soak July 26, 2011 at 12:21 am #

    P,C you ask for ideas, for solutions, and when someone comes up with a possible solution, you pooh pooh it. Shame.

    Scientists believed that deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, could be extracted from seawater and that a huge amount of energy could be obtained from the fusion of deuterium and tritium under extreme temperatures. “After nuclear fusion, the deuterium extracted from one litre of seawater will produce energy equivalent to 300 litres of gasoline,” the agency said. Supporters of Xu’s research put it more simply: water can be turned into oil. Scientists will be sceptical until low-energy nuclear reactions are observed and verified. Nonetheless, China is determined not to be left behind if a discovery is to be made.

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  170. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 12:22 am #

    Dude, you’re just another libtroll.

  171. soak July 26, 2011 at 12:23 am #

    In February, a minor flurry greeted the claim by two Italian scientists, Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi, to have conducted successful cold fusion experiments at the University of Bologna. That may have spurred on official approval for the Chinese theories to be aired at the UN 4th World Economic and Environmental Conference in Qingdao from June 18 to 21. Xu has been invited to make a keynote speech with the working title: “Discovery of cold fusion and cold fission, which will cause a revolution in environmental protection and new energy”.

  172. jerry July 26, 2011 at 12:24 am #

    The clown car is full. The clowns are now passing methane gas from their bodies whereby the clowns will soon pass out and few at the bottom will die. The rest will pile out and gasp for air, but the crowd of on-lookers will come down from the bleachers and crush them because they failed to perform as they were supposed to. The crowd paid their money but the show did not go on as it was planned.
    http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com

  173. soak July 26, 2011 at 12:25 am #

    END OF TRANSMISSION TO P,C THE COWARD WHO IGNORES ME

    China’s president, Hu Jintao, who trained as an engineer and worked in the Chinese power industry on his way to the top, is said to have taken a keen interest in the research. The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan has also been a factor. China immediately announced a safety review of its atomic power plants in response to public concern. Not long afterwards, Xinhua ran an interview with Xu in which he claimed that within a decade alternative energy sources could make existing nuclear reactors obsolete. According to Xu, some of the richest and most powerful companies and institutions in China have committed funds and resources to the research. Christiana Figueres, the top UN diplomat for climate change, said earlier this year that China’s commitment to win the green economy race will leave “all of us in the dust”.

  174. TrollControl July 26, 2011 at 12:25 am #

    You’re drunk- go to bed.

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  175. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 12:28 am #

    Sounds like a formula for ice nine. Even if not, how much energy will it take to turn the water into wine?
    You’re going in the wrong direction. The answer is chlorophyll – the closest substance we know to the “force which thru the green fuse drives the flower” to quote the Dylan Thomas.
    We must stop building our cities and start growing them as in the movie Avatar.

  176. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 12:29 am #

    Who the hell are you to talk to Soak like that?

  177. TrollControl July 26, 2011 at 12:31 am #

    Vlad- Put down the bottle and go to bed. Dream of large white women.

  178. soak July 26, 2011 at 12:38 am #

    Troll Control is another troll who has contributed absolutely zero of substance in the way of solutions to “peak oil”
    This board is consumed by people obsessed by personalities and anti-this and anti-that, instead of substance. That is the real noise here.

  179. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 12:47 am #

    so make her feel that she’s for real.
    treat her like a lady.
    very cool. thanks. i enjoyed that.
    could be the song of the week on cfn !
    jb

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  180. TrollControl July 26, 2011 at 12:51 am #

    I disagree. I see my contribution as calling out people who are off-topic. What contribution does racism have to “peak oil” solutions? But I appreciate the call to contribute to the discussion. Many people on this site like to read and learn and not be distracted by trolls. I am one who would like to learn about peak oil solutions without the noise of drunken racists. I’ll contribute my attempt at keeping things on topic. Good night!

  181. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 12:55 am #

    I enjoyed their posts also. Good guys.
    Intelligent posts.
    I miss them.
    jb

  182. ad_idem July 26, 2011 at 12:57 am #

    Your prophetic views – having history and human behavior/ nature on your side -are all to real a possibility for those paying attention.
    Like you, we must emphatically point out the all-to-real, horrible brutalities awaiting us if we again fail as in 1933. Holocausts are, unfortunately, not relegated to the dust-bin of history just yet.
    Fascism did not die in 1945; it’s been resting, watching, evolving; gathering strength with new hatreds & fears. Now, again it must be called out and shouted down.
    It’s good here at CF; my weekly refuge in country and kin.

  183. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 1:04 am #

    I feel same way. It was like a family for awhile.
    quite awhile.
    Warm wishes to all those who were / are gentlemen and respectful. You know who you are / were. It’s refreshing.
    I enjoy reading but don’t have a way with words.
    Thanks to the ones who don’t snipe at eachother in really degrading ways.

  184. asia July 26, 2011 at 1:04 am #

    The Libs are Huff Post are having a hatefest!!!!
    However the Huffingtons made their $ in OIL in
    East Timor, it was blood money.
    [200,000? killed]
    The lefties at HP dont know or care.
    Huffington also tried to buy a seat with
    50,000,000$ [in 1990s money, I may be off by a few million].

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  185. asia July 26, 2011 at 1:06 am #

    3 Browns…2 as Governor, and the Brown Nation.
    Whats said about booze….
    white before brown or itll go down[?]

  186. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 1:08 am #

    Did you read the Unabomber’s Manifesto? What did you think? I was thinking about it since Breivik read it and then I thought of you. The Unabomber’s radical enviromentalism is much like your’s I think. And his mode of expression is extraordinary: simple and easy to read yet superbly logical and methodical – like a mathematical proof. Not an easy combiantion to pull off.
    Of course I don’t refer to his actions or his morals – which were atrocious.

  187. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 1:11 am #

    Your’re welcome Jackie.

  188. asia July 26, 2011 at 1:11 am #

    Prove he balanced the budget…
    can you cite a credible source?
    If he did ,fine…balanced budget + GATT NAFTA.

  189. asia July 26, 2011 at 1:14 am #

    Southern Poverty Law Center..O Pleeze!
    One more left lawyer starting a ‘charity’.

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  190. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 1:16 am #

    We got rid of Troll. We are stronger together than apart. Our Salt/Pepper Community could generate enough energy to solve the crisis. What is gravity after all but the Law of Love operating at the level of matter? And above that is magnetism, the man/woman mystery.

  191. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 1:18 am #

    If brown is beer, what is the white?

  192. asia July 26, 2011 at 1:18 am #

    IMPERMANANCE
    You miss Wage, who denied the killings of Mao n Stalin?

  193. TrollControl July 26, 2011 at 1:22 am #

    Now you’re getting it, Vlad! “Ebony and ivory work together in perfect harmony.”

  194. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 1:26 am #

    It’s can’t be destroyed – it’s built into Nature even as Yog Sothoth and the other Great Old Ones are. We will return – when the stars are right.
    Of course all fears are irrational right? It’s so much fun to make up and/or use all those prefix phobia words. And incorrect since the most racist areas are typically the ones that have had the most exposure to Blacks or Mexicans. Knowledge not prejudice in other words.
    Just shouted down? Don’t you also mean physical assault as is common by Communists in both Europe and America?

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  195. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 1:30 am #

    Asoka and I are very close. The opposite of Love is not Hatred but indifference. I will be good friends with Asoka in the next world, the world beyond bodies. In this world, the show must go on. We all have been given our parts! What kind of play is without conflict? Who would pay to go see that?

  196. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 1:51 am #

    Stalin once said that Communism could not succeed in America as long as Henry Ford lived. No greater praise was or will ever be given to a man. The praise of the Foe is highly valued in true cultures.

  197. Buck Stud July 26, 2011 at 2:00 am #

    I believe Marlin hasn’t been heard from since, how shall I phrase this, blowing a anti-Muslim load faster than a virgin teenager. For at least one poster, let’s not blame “the noise” for the absence.

  198. Patrizia July 26, 2011 at 2:15 am #

    “Nobody knows anything”
    That happens when everybody knows everything.
    In Napoli, Palermo, Cagliari, nobody sees,nobody hears, nobody knows, because evrybody knows who resp. Camorra, Mafia and N´drangheta are and everybody has something to earn and a lot to lose.
    That is the way you can build the biggest network of criminals that lives on the shoulders of the many who work and believe in “democracy, law and order”.
    If there were less believers and more viewers, may be, we would have hopes.

  199. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 3:48 am #

    Europe in 2029. It’s later than you think.
    http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=10269

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  200. old69 July 26, 2011 at 3:54 am #

    America Lays Off
    From:
    “Are mass layoffs back?”
    http://money.msn.com/stock-broker-guided/article.aspx?post=aeedf27d-af10-42ca-8ab3-edbedcd6063f
    I love it when America lays off people from jobs ! That is so cool ! That is a productive economy at work ! Not like the Eurosclerosis Germany or JAPAN or many others that have to “think twice” to kick out a Mass of Turds that workers generally are. Actually, it is harder and harder to justify keeping almost anyone on a payroll since they are almost All Turds, worthless Freeloaders, that just want cash and don’t want HARD WORK, they don’t want to WORK REALLY HARD FOR THE CASH they are robbing employers. They just want to freeload and hang around and make believe they are working and producing. But guess what ? The companies are going to fire all of you, they are going to lay you off TURD. That is so correct morally and ethically speaking, that is the way a real productive economy operates, keep the workers on the edge, keep them on fire, keep them always worried, let them know and sense constantly, for years on end that they are being given essentially a free salary since what they do is always worthless, is always worth zero, it is always the kind gentle heart of the Employers that just give them that money for free that keeps them alive when they should all just go away and hopefully die or get lost.
    Keep up the good job USA, keep firing people, keep them UNDER THE THUMB, let them know WHO THE MAN IS just in case they forget, go for it man, you can do it, go for it!
    By firing people constantly you keep them on the ball, they have to always invent and innovate and find new ways for companies to make profits, that is economic – social and scientific progress achieved, and the USA is really capable of this. Just try doing that in France or Sweden, see how hard it is, how much resistance the workers oppose, those freeloaders, layabouts that don’t produce anything but scum off the poor employers and rich, the only ones that are truly and really keeping this world going, since Man is a Turd, must constantly be whipped and knocked into discipline, otherwise they wouldn’t do anything but just sleep all day.
    On another note, I saw some footage of the 1969 Rock Festival Woodstock on youtube, two gals and guys were riding horses, there was this song “Long time Coming” playing, really cool. Wow, what a world and place that must have been in that time, who knows what they were thinking and feeling, wow how far we are from that stuff. But the really interesting thing about it is that there were at least 12 references to machines of various types (and a car Porsche), it was more of a celebration of machinery and mechanized agriculture and such than anything else: indeed, the entire Woodstock Generation and stuff was mostly EXCESS CAPACITY ACHIEVED, the Technological Economy bringing free wealth to millions by the use of machines, the consumption economy achieved, that is why the hippies went all for it, finally free with free love, free sex, free everything, and also the machines and technology was at the heart of all the New Rock Music starting from the early 1960s on, like ELECTRIC GUITARS, AMPLIFIERS, the entire deal of electronics and technology once again applied to create new music, new experiences, economies of scale, heck, even LSD was a technology, a new chemical technology that opened the mind (in the prediction of Modified Minds, Instant Singularities, and new designs of neural networks in new brains). Anyways, the entire deal of counterculture, Woodstock and such was mostly a celebration of the success of Technology applied to the economy generating free time and free wealth and making life all Fun and Games available to a young and horny youth. A celebration of consumption and consumerism (even though they made believe that it was “back to nature”, what clowns, they just paid lip service to “nature” (which has always been Man’s Enemy big time and will always be Man’s Enemy notwithstanding this new crappy and fake religion of “nature worshiping” on behalf of greens and environmentalists), it was a celebration of a successful Capitalist and Consumerist and Technological Economy that really made any of that possible, go figure) of the new modern economy generating free wealth for all by the application of Technology and Economies of Scale and such to all productive endeavors. And the USA looked way richer then than now. Strange…
    On another note, I got tired of thinking of work in terms of aggregation of effort, of a sequence of activities that add up and construct something like Skyscrapers and Rockets to Mars, etc. The truth is work is just a ritual, just a behavior of people towards each other and themselves, just activities that don’t add up to anything, don’t create a result, shouldn’t create a result (otherwise there would no longer be any work left for anyone, it would “run out”), work is mostly a process, a repetitive process done over and over again with different combination of elements, new companies, new endeavors but that really doesn’t add up to anything much, nay, doesn’t have to add up to anything since this idea of work adding up is just another one of those linearities our mind is in love with, another one of those simple cause and effect models are mind loves to superimpose on reality believing in our mental models when these are always wrong and fake and make believe. There are no models, out mind is always wrong, end of story. AMEN.

  201. Eleuthero July 26, 2011 at 4:41 am #

    One of the hilarious ironies of the Republican
    insistence on deficit reduction with no revenue
    increases is that I’d bet that a very large
    percentage of the plutocrats that they wish
    to protect are either: 1) From industries like
    the oil industry that get special tax breaks,
    and/or 2) The THIEVES from the investment
    banking and insurance industry who are, as I
    speak, giving themselves bonuses after the U.S.
    public bailed the bastards out.
    The goofy Supply-Siders want us to “grow” our
    way out of the debt problem (a euphemism for
    letting felonious plutocrats keep their booty)
    yet they’ve been quite accommodating to the
    idea of letting all the good jobs go to India,
    Malaysia, China, or anywhere else where they’re
    used to starving peons.
    I’m a DAVID STOCKMAN Republican and, therefore,
    I realize that Supply Side Economics HAS NEVER
    WORKED IN WORLD HISTORY. Why? The rich can
    only spend so much and the rest is used for
    speculation, influence peddling or is merely HOARDED.
    As Ravi Batra showed in the 1980s, as a
    percentage of pay, the rich give far, far less
    than the poor and middle class to charity. They
    don’t promote or contribute to the “trickling
    down” of their wealth to any cause other than
    their shareholders. These are the fuckers that
    would lay off a thousand soccer mom so that they
    can give themselves a 20% raise after their
    corporation LOSES money.
    But my first point is the most germane … the
    rich are now Communists in disguise because they
    realize how sweet it is to SOCIALIZE ALL THE
    LOSSES AND PRIVATIZE ALL THE GAINS. The basis
    of neo-Conservative ideology is the Straussian
    idea that they are SUPERIOR BEINGS and, therefore,
    it’s only rightful that they garner all the power
    and loot from the doe-eyed “little people” for
    whom they have lofty rhetoric … that doesn’t
    make a goddamned bit of sense.
    E.

  202. Eleuthero July 26, 2011 at 5:00 am #

    Uh … right. Please wake me from my
    slumber when the Chinese put COLD FUSION
    to work, okay? Since I’m a heavy sleeper
    I figure that I’ll be asleep for, oh, a
    few hundred years waiting for the Chinese
    to be that inventive … or the end of
    the world, whichever comes first.
    E.

  203. uncle slappy July 26, 2011 at 5:26 am #

    I think he’s got it right, a default to take down China who will be left holding the bag of T-bills. But so will a lot of other countries, namely Japan. But we’ll buy their cars, they’ll buy our airplanes etc…

  204. cheekychews July 26, 2011 at 6:23 am #

    Hi Progress …
    “Where are you, btw?”
    Australia … the land that spawned Rupert Murdoch

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  205. Eleuthero July 26, 2011 at 6:50 am #

    Nah. There’s no grand plan to “take down
    China”. Besides, even S&P, Moody’s, and
    Fitch are all aware that this would be a
    TECHNICAL DEFAULT, not a STRUCTURAL
    “inability-to-pay” default that would last
    a couple of days until one side or the other
    said “uncle”.
    Non-payment of interest for some absurdly
    short period of time (let’s even say ONE
    MONTH) as a “punishment” would be like
    trying to attack an elephant with a few
    handfuls of gnats.
    E.

  206. welles July 26, 2011 at 7:38 am #

    From 321.gold.com : My local newspaper ran a story about the escalating battle between Amazon.com and the state of California. At issue is the collection of sales tax: Governor Jerry Brown signed a law requiring online retailers to collect state sales tax on purchases made by CA residents.
    Before the ink dried on the legislation, Amazon severed ties with its estimated 10,000 affiliates in CA. These are – or were – small businesses that earned commissions on customers who clicked through their website to the online bookseller.

    hahaha, a confederacy of dunces. count me out.
    peace peaceniks

  207. lbendet July 26, 2011 at 7:50 am #

    E.
    re: Republican insistence on deficit reduction…
    They couldn’t care less about deficit reduction. Anyone with a functional brain would know that you need balances. This is their “brand” and they’ve gotten people behind them on this non-existent principle.
    The whole Milton Friedman-supply side ideology has never worked anywhere its been instituted, but that doesn’t stop them from shocking the public and taking everything they can steal–that’s the name of the game.
    They’ve done this stunt many times and they know just how it will end up, that said, I’m sure there are many useful idiots that get elected that have no idea what this is about.
    Your other point about the rich not giving/or carrying a whole economy with their buying is of course an impossibility! How can you compare their numbers against the buying power of the rest of the population. It’s pure fantasy.
    Superior, eh? They’re made of the same stuff we are and when they are exposed to radiation and other deadly substances they don’t care about—they’ll go with the rest of us.
    But I say, what was wrong with the whole country, when they heard in what they believed to be an egalitarian, democratic society that money would “trickle down”–wow, the rich are going to give us a golden shower, alright—then they’ll take us to the cleaners!

  208. progress,conserve July 26, 2011 at 8:21 am #

    “END OF TRANSMISSION TO P,C THE COWARD WHO IGNORES ME” -soak, in ALL CAPS-
    Ask not for whom the Troll trolls.
    He trolls for thee.
    haha hoho hehe

  209. soak July 26, 2011 at 8:47 am #

    P,C since you refuse to address me directly and since you continue to request dialog about “peak everything” solutions, at least dialog with me through TrollControl.
    Are you even concerned about the 1.6 BILLION human beings who have no electricity, and the resulting 1.6 MILLION human beings who die from lack of electricity? Or is your only concern anti-immigration… that they stay on the other side of your imaginary border?
    What is your solution, if you don’t think cold fusion is real, and if you care about those 1.6 BILLION without electricity on the other side of the border?
    Please answer through TrollControl if you cannot show respect, if you cannot bring yourself to address a Black man directly.

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  210. soak July 26, 2011 at 8:48 am #

    Don’t get too comfy. It may be a nap, not a long slumber.

  211. soak July 26, 2011 at 9:03 am #

    Buck, in fairness, Marlin is a victim of main stream media.
    People who are white and Christian are not referred to as “Christian terrorists” but Muslims are constantly referred to as “jihadi terrorists” or “Islamic terrorists”
    Add to that the fact that Marlin’s anti-government, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim philosophy mirrors the Christian terrorist in Norway… well, it is embarrassing.
    The white media likes to portray Norway as a “peaceful” European country. They never mention that Norway is actively engaged in the prosecution of war in two Muslim countries.
    The white media likes to refer to “loners” and “maladjusted” individuals and prefer to not make the link between their anti-government philosophy and their violence. Their morals and actions are called “atrocious” … as if there is no connection between their anti-immigrant racism and their actions.
    The death of white European civilians is mourned and splashed all over CNN.
    The weekly slaughter of non-white civilians in Muslim countries through drone bombers (which the USA officially will not acknowledge are being used) is week after week called “misfortunate” or “unintentional” … really? You build drone bombers, send them on missions, kill civilians with them on a regular basis and then say it’s an “accident”?
    The regular drone bombing and murder of civilians in the middle east is terrorism by White Christian terrorists. But Marlin will never read that in the main stream media.

  212. bossier22 July 26, 2011 at 9:39 am #

    we should acknowledge what we do in war, especially if everyone knows about it anyway. What we are doing is the nature of war. If we believe we are right we should not have a problem with it. When obliterated white German cities, we showed news reels of it. Generally, i don’t think we are accomplishing a thing in afghanistan, without considering issues of right and wrong.

  213. old69 July 26, 2011 at 9:39 am #

    As in Give Them a Problem they will be satisfied. As opposed to or as complementary to Give Them a Function they will be satisfied, as the function is always a Problem Solving mode device, as in the risk you take in trying to solve the problem or not is in the reward of the absence of Pain or something like that.
    All is a risk, all is a bet, all is a Function, all is a Problem Solving mode, but our mind – experience needs problems to execute functions that play the emotional game of winning or losing (play the game and take your chance with the risk or reward outcome), but we should prefer to be bored, or give up from the outset…

  214. soak July 26, 2011 at 9:40 am #

    The Republican plan being offered today (July 26) would lead to a downgrading of the AAA credit rating of the United States. Which is what the Republicans want.
    From day one they have said: “We want Obama to fail” and they have done everything they can to bring Obama down.
    Dozens of times the debt ceiling has been raised under all previous presidents without linking it to budget or spending.
    Now, with this Black president, they are threatening to throw the country into a Depression, rather than pass a simple clean bill to raise the debt ceiling.
    Obama needs to invoke the 14th Amendment. Obama is a war time President and active duty soldiers fighting wars are being threatened by Republicans who will cut their funding. The financing of the “War on Terror” is being threatened by these traitors who want to bring Obama down.

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  215. Omar Bongo July 26, 2011 at 10:09 am #

    Ya vol, Tovarish Nachalnik!

  216. loveday July 26, 2011 at 10:12 am #

    Wow, apparently you don’t know much about the Chinese. China is one of the oldest civilizations on the planet, China was a highly evolved society when the Western world was in the Dark Ages.
    Anyway hearing that the Chinese are becoming involved with Cold Fusion is great news! And really, questioning this technology is smart, however Rossi has a company( Defkalion) that will be producing household units starting this fall. That means a substantial financial investment has been made, in other words people put their money where their mouth is. Like I said I want to buy one for my home. I think that a new energy technology is entirely possible and has been predicted by Gerald Celente of Trends Research a very reputable and savvy trend watcher.
    So cheer up! all you doomers and gloomers! Like I said things are going to be tough, but the good things in life always come at a very high price.
    So long until next week folks.

  217. ront July 26, 2011 at 10:31 am #

    Excellent points made, Hero. The Tea Party has bought the Supply Side Economy myth with its tinkle down of stolen wealth effect. For accuracy’s sake they should change their name to The Pee Potty.

  218. soak July 26, 2011 at 11:10 am #

    E. I detect a hint of skepticism in your remarks. Cold fusion technology is currently in its final stages of becoming an industrialized and commercially viable prototype. The current range of products produces surplus energy from 6 to 30 times more heat than energy consumed during its operation. There are three factories located in Xanthi, China. The first 1MW reactor will be used to partially cover factory energy needs, as well as being a show case model. A national patent has been issued for Italy; the EU patent is on its final stage, while the global patent is pending. Hyperion patents are pending. EU safety certificates are in the process of issuance by the relevant authorities. Product tests will be similar to typical commercially available products with standardized procedures according to Performance; Stability; Functionality; and Safety. Don’t sleep too long, E.

  219. Cash July 26, 2011 at 11:28 am #

    That sounded like a goodbye. I hope you don’t quit on us. You do so have a way with words. You’ve got your own unique style. Your posts are a real antidote to the anger and regret and paranoia and other bad stuff that you see posted here by so many of us.

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  220. progress,conserve July 26, 2011 at 11:34 am #

    Here we have a classic attempt at redirection of argument – as attempted by soak:
    “What is your solution, if you don’t think cold fusion is real, and if you care about those 1.6 BILLION without electricity on the other side of the border?” -soak-
    Thus, does soak make me, personally, responsible for 1.6 billion souls who lack electricity – since I do not *”BELIEVE”* in cold fusion.
    =====================
    If anything, emmigration of the “best and brightest” from those countries WITHOUT electricity – only further dooms those unelectrified countries to continuing and worsening poverty.
    It is quite selfish of the US to continue to impoverish the destitute – by enabling the flight to the US, of those who might best have a chance of solving problems if they would JUST STAY HOME – and help their friends and families – in their home country.
    ==================
    On a *humorous?* note, the rate of death by electrocution was 2.1 per million people, in the US, in 1993.
    So, extrapolating that number for a decade, and allowing the US population to rise to 1.9 Billion, in accordance with soak’s wishes (1.6 billion plus 0.3 billion) gives us 39,900 US RESIDENTS KILLED BY ELECTROCUTION EVERY SINGLE DECADE!!!
    THAT’S THIRTY NINE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED DEATHS DUE TO ELECTRICITY AND GROSS OVERPOPULATION in 10 short years, just in the US.
    VERY LARGE NUMBERS OF HUMANS IN THE ELECTRIFIED UNITED STATES ARE, INDEED, NOT A DESIRABLE THING!
    Join a population control group before it’s too late.
    Do it now!

  221. ront July 26, 2011 at 12:05 pm #

    I am so happy to know that the The Pee Potty is for fiscal responsibility. What is their stance on bringing back excise taxes (hence, manufacturing & jobs) and progressive tax rates that encourage big business owners to invest in real wealth creation and the generous sharing of it?

  222. Cash July 26, 2011 at 12:39 pm #

    And now here’s something as a brief respite from our usual diet of doom and disaster. Tell me this isn’t just wild ass great:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN7O9gM-lvc&NR=1
    Wasn’t that something? Here’s more and even better IMO:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6u4rmZiDVY&feature=related
    Sheesh.

  223. soak July 26, 2011 at 12:39 pm #

    Thus, does soak make me, personally, responsible for 1.6 billion souls who lack electricity…
    —————-
    I never said you were responsible. I asked you what your proposed solution is. I asked you if you even care. Your answer is pretty clear. You don’t care because you are not concerned about solutions. What concerns you is that they all stay in their own damned countries. You have an us-them mentality, instead of recognizing we are all in this together.

  224. Dolan Williams July 26, 2011 at 12:49 pm #

    Heh Cash, thanks for posting that. That chick is just too good to be true. My brother was a professional musician but never ever played the guitar like that.

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  225. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 12:51 pm #

    But it was Ok since they were just “Huns” or Nazis – unlike the Freedom loving minions of Uncle Joe. They weren’t White Christains like we were. Now suddenly We’re not White anymore, nor Christian since Christians can’t be White. In fact, we don’t even exist. And no one will miss the non dissapearance of a people who aren’t even there to begin with – least of all the non people themselves.
    It’s up to us to fight this program of silent genocide. As Rabbi Hillel said, if I’m not for myself who will be for me? We may find allies in strange places: a Black Bishop in England who said the British have a right to be White. And the Liberal Kurt Vonnegut was one of the few who spoke out against the Dresden Holocaust in his novel “Slaughter House Five”.
    To put it in context: a few years after the war, the Academics of Middle Eastern Persuasion or Influence began to tell us that we were all Nazis just waiting to happen. Now that’s gratitude!

  226. messianicdruid July 26, 2011 at 12:57 pm #

    “Obama is a war time President and active duty soldiers fighting wars are being threatened by Republicans who will cut their funding.”
    Strange that you should be defending “O” on this basis. I’d expected you to desire defunding of wars and soldiers, instead of pretending that Republicans will. Both parties say nothing of defense cuts.
    The recent debt run-up is also intentionally ignored. Represented as a brilliant economy-saving necessity, even if it HAD happened, {but it never really happened, so he simply had to do it, even though he never did it} it would have been necessary. But he didn’t have to do it. Because, after all, he is “0”. And everything he has been made to do is because of “W”. Just wait until he gets to do the things he REALLY wants to do and doesn’t have to clean up after “W” any more.

  227. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 1:06 pm #

    All cultures have Elites who deem themselves better – and they may be better sometimes – on average of course. But what makes a good Elite is how they care for the rest of the social body. What man disdains his own stomach or feet and values only his head?
    This Elite is obviously a horrible one. They want to trade their people in for a more docile one. Realistically, by breaking America into many ethnes this is achieved. It wont be harmonious but they will retain power – or so they believe. I’m not so sure though. To have Black feet and a Mexican stomach with a White/Jewish head doesn’t make for a healthy social body in my view. But they’ve gone to far to stop now. They hold the tiger by the tail and cannot let go.
    Let them compete against a real Nation like China and then talk about the strength of diversity. And God help them if there is a War on American Soil.

  228. Cash July 26, 2011 at 1:07 pm #

    Do you think she’s not playing for real? Her name’s Shotaro Nakamura. If it’s for real she’s bloody awesome.

  229. rippedthunder July 26, 2011 at 1:10 pm #

    Sheesh Cash, do we americant’s have to offshore all our inventions? We invented the shred and now the copyrights have been stolen!

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  230. Dolan Williams July 26, 2011 at 1:14 pm #

    Oh, I’m pretty sure she’s playing for real. I live in a suburb of Los Angeles that has a very large number of Asian kids in our schools. You can bet your next paycheck that when you go to a school event you’re going to be listening to Korean and Japanese kids playing various musical instruments and they are really talented. So, I have no doubt that this young woman is a very good musician.

  231. wagelaborer July 26, 2011 at 1:17 pm #

    Seriously?
    All the crap that people spew on this blog, and you get in an uproar because someone calls for an end to the root of all evil?
    Amazing.

  232. Cash July 26, 2011 at 1:29 pm #

    Yeah RT but this was just sublime. One commenter said he wants to eat her guitar. I was transfixed. She can sure make it sing.

  233. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 1:31 pm #

    Christ said, the poor you will have with you always. Their lives are a penance for the sins of their Fathers – or their own in a previous life. If they accept their fate with equanimity, they will win the Kingdom or at least a higher birth next time around. Or conversely, let them work to better themselves in this life if they can.
    In any case, it’s not automatically our responsibility – unless we have put them in poverty by our actions. I admit this is sometimes the case as in the case of NAFTA destroying a million Mexican farmers or the depletion of the Somalian fishing grounds.

  234. rippedthunder July 26, 2011 at 1:33 pm #

    Hey Cash, check out this if you play guitar, just watch from 3:00 = 8:00 , he is not as sweet at the japanese girl but he is the recognized world’s fastest guitarman.

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  235. messianicdruid July 26, 2011 at 1:34 pm #

    “””Obama is a war time President and active duty soldiers fighting wars are being threatened by Republicans who will cut their funding.”””
    This is now a quote of a quote of a quote.

  236. messianicdruid July 26, 2011 at 1:36 pm #

    “All the crap that people spew on this blog, and you get in an uproar because someone calls for an end to the root of all evil?”
    Do you acknowledge any difference between “money” and “the love of money”?

  237. rippedthunder July 26, 2011 at 1:37 pm #

    I knew you were still out there Wage! and too think you come back to chastise the man himself!

  238. rippedthunder July 26, 2011 at 1:38 pm #

    Sorry Cash, I forgot the link,
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BynUZOJc8QI

  239. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 1:43 pm #

    NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING.
    AIN’T THAT TRUE.

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  240. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 1:46 pm #

    Not so sure about the Kingdom stuff, but other than that other than that I like what you said.

  241. soak July 26, 2011 at 1:51 pm #

    Welcome back, Wage. Glad you arrived.
    I’m pretty tired… I think I’ll go home now.

  242. soak July 26, 2011 at 1:57 pm #

    Jackieblue, that is one of the reasons, in addition to my concern for Mother Earth, that I did not want to have children.
    You have to raise children, give them values, and teach them well. I realized I could not answer their questions because I do not know anything. And kids ask the darnedest things. No way I wanted to be saying “I don’t know” all day long to their questions.
    “Does God exist?” “What happens after you die?” etc. I do not know.
    I refused to transmit my ignorance to an innocent child who didn’t ask to be born just to have a little Asoka to carry on the family line I wasn’t interested in continuing.

  243. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 2:01 pm #

    YAY, ok I will stay. I thought I was too goofy and bothering fellow posters. (The ones I didn’t want to bother!).
    ALLRIGHTY THEN. Glad we straightened that out.
    I DO enjoy it here. It’s my Getaway. and the 90* Pool at the apt. here. ocean is 55*. when I was 20’s I was in that every day. NOT now. No way Jose. I mean CASH.
    As long as I don’t try to be intelligent, and make sense of all this stuff, I am ok. Or turn it into a ME page !
    Made my day.
    🙂

  244. wagelaborer July 26, 2011 at 2:01 pm #

    I’m not gone, Ripped.
    My dog died and I had to go to California because my Dad was in the hospital.
    I wasn’t up to reading the blog.

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  245. soak July 26, 2011 at 2:07 pm #

    Sorry to hear of your loss and your father’s illness, Wage.
    When my dad died I had to travel to go to the funeral. I cried, kind of like Boehner does.

  246. soak July 26, 2011 at 2:09 pm #

    I miss Nudge.
    She really helped me to understand the laws of physics and the concept of energy density and EROEI.

  247. wagelaborer July 26, 2011 at 2:11 pm #

    You got that right, Eleuthero.
    The only “charities” the rich spend on are right wing think tanks spewing out anti-worker propaganda, to make people think that slitting our own throats will make our lives better.
    The only investments they’ve made are in factories in other countries.
    And now they’re sitting on two trillion dollars that they cannot invest or spend.
    They’re just too damn rich.

  248. progress,conserve July 26, 2011 at 2:14 pm #

    Trolling ever onward, soak moves seamlessly from redirection to personal attack:
    “What concerns you is that they all stay in their own damned countries. You have an us-them mentality, instead of recognizing we are all in this together.” -soak, to P,C-
    Thus, with a “us-them” label, having spiked any attempt at dialog or compromise on immigration – soak moves on to his next – – –
    Meanwhile, countries experiencing heavy emigration to the US, quietly continue their downward spirals, forever losing their young, inspired, bright, and energetic to one of the largest economies on the Planet.
    A great shame – unacknowledged by the pro-immigrant faction in the US – and by soak, of course.

  249. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 2:18 pm #

    Condolences about your dog.
    You are probably very sad.
    I was when my Cat got sick and went away.
    Really sorry for your loss.
    You ‘HAD’ to come out to CA !
    I HAVE to live here !
    It’s nice where I live, just too many people and too Fast a pace. Born and bread here.
    Don Henley said ‘bloom where you are planted’.
    It’s ok to take breaks from the blog.
    I was wondering about you.
    Really sorry about your pet friend.

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  250. soak July 26, 2011 at 2:25 pm #

    Meanwhile, countries experiencing heavy emigration to the US, quietly continue their downward spirals, forever losing their young, inspired, bright, and energetic to one of the largest economies on the Planet.

    And the USA benefits from their intelligence, their drive, their energy making the USA a better country. A real shame that remains unacknowledged by you. A real shame you want to shut them out, and deny them freedom to pursue their dreams wherever they choose to pursue them.

  251. San Jose Mom 51 July 26, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    “Get your Greek on!” oh yeah!
    Now that have the experience of spending 5 hours in a Greek port, I am a big expert (snort!). Our planned visit was KO’s and because last week Greek taxi drivers shut down the port in Athens, along with the airport.
    Apparently, the problem is that the government used to sell taxi licenses for about $200K. So drivers would take out big loans in order to earn a living. Recently, they lowered the amount to like $10,000. Thus, all the experienced drivers are SOOL. I feel for them but really, if you’ve got 4 huge cruise ships in port with thousands of Europeans, Americans, Asians, etc. wanting rides, what sense does it make to shut down tourism and the money it brings into Greece? Talk about a Cluster****. The police did nothing to open the ports so our captain simply stopped for refueling and then we left for Turkey.
    I wanted to see the Acropolis, but oh well. What I did see of Greek architecture from my veiwpoint off the harbor and I would label it as careless, dingy brutalism. The Germans on board our ship had some really “special” insights on the financial toilet that is Greece.
    We ended up in Venice, where the water taxies were on strike. We worked out other (more expensive) arrangments. Lots of empty storefronts in Italy.
    My international travel career is officially over.
    From now on it’s National Parks.
    SJmom

  252. wagelaborer July 26, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    Oh, yeah, and paying millions to organize the Tea Party and publicize it widely.
    While ignoring the hundreds of thousands of people who show up at anti-war rallies.

  253. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 2:34 pm #

    Well I KNOW if God exists, but I ain’t sayin’ !
    I was same about children. Knew I couldn’t have dealt with it. Was dealing with other things.
    Emotional stuff.
    I get it.
    I don’t think this life is so peachy keen. Althought I believe it is for some.
    And mine could be better and I hope to make the changes.
    Hey maybe THIS here now, is what happens ‘after we die’. ! ? ?

  254. soak July 26, 2011 at 2:37 pm #

    Welcome back, SJMom! It’s like homecoming today!
    Glad you didn’t have anything more than taxi problems in your travels. There are some beautiful national parks to see and going off-season helps. One of my favorite places is Carlsbad Caverns, especially when it is really hot outside, to walk around underground for hours viewing the formations.

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  255. progress,conserve July 26, 2011 at 2:39 pm #

    Hey Wage,
    You know how sorry I am about your dog.
    And having your dad in a hospital half a continent away – wow, that’s rough duty.
    Hang in there, darlin’. 🙂

  256. wagelaborer July 26, 2011 at 2:40 pm #

    Thank you, Jackie, I appreciate that.
    The closest I got to Santa Cruz was the Los Gatos mountains, where we went wine tasting on my nephew’s 21st birthday.
    I’m a born and bred Californian also, but I now prefer fly-over country.
    I do miss my dog.

  257. soak July 26, 2011 at 2:41 pm #

    See? That’s what I mean. People like you KNOW. But I don’t know anything. I tend to see a multitude of perspectives and not know which, if any, is right. I admire that you KNOW if God exists. You must be one of those lucky people who was able to figure it out. So far it has eluded me. I must be dumb.

  258. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 2:47 pm #

    Yep !
    I can see that.

  259. Mrs. Soake July 26, 2011 at 2:51 pm #

    Dumb as a rock. Yeah, you got that part right.

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  260. progress,conserve July 26, 2011 at 2:53 pm #

    “Meanwhile, countries experiencing heavy emigration to the US, quietly continue their downward spirals, forever losing their young, inspired, bright, and energetic to one of the largest economies on the Planet.” p,c
    “And the USA benefits from their intelligence, their drive, their energy making the USA a better country. A real shame that remains unacknowledged by you.” -soak-
    No, I freely acknowledge that immigrant labor continues to build into the frenetic consumer economy that IS the United States.
    Logic says that it’s time for immigration into today’s US to slow to “replacement level immigration.”
    Logically, this would cause the growth and power of the US to diminish – something soak calls for in many of his posts.
    Logically, this would allow the growth and power of the third world countries that are the source of US immigrants – to increase, as they retain their “best and brightest,” at home.
    Ignoring logic, and twisting my words –
    Soak trolls onward.

  261. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 3:00 pm #

    I go back and forth. I do think that it’s some kind of awareness thing.
    I always believed in God in This way:
    Like this world is all one big MIND.
    always. still do. and it is Conciousness.
    Connected, like it or not.
    I just think of that as God. don’t even know if it makes sense. to me it does.
    But here is what got me.
    Think of being in a car, or anything where you know you are close to dying, and you think you are going to, but you don’t. cuz you still here.
    What do you think about?
    I know I’ve thought, and started praying like Please God don’t let that car hit us, don’t let me die. I was in a car and the lady driving it passed someone and almost got us into a head on, I was young. You remember stuff like that. Close call.
    I am not religious as in going to church doubt I will ever read the Bible. There is no hope for me!
    Looks to me like Religion IS the cause of so many of the Wars in the world.
    We are all sinners. No one’s perfect. Not even supposed to be.
    I don’t get it either. Just works for me to think this way.

  262. wagelaborer July 26, 2011 at 3:01 pm #

    Maybe they don’t think they’re vulnerable, Lbendet.
    Maybe they have other plans.
    http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2004/08/driving_on_the_.html

  263. soak July 26, 2011 at 3:04 pm #

    See, that’s what I mean. You are smart because you know what is right and are even able to distinguish parts, like when you say: “you got that part right”
    Thank you for your compliment, but I’m never sure which part is right and which part is wrong.
    You must be really smart to be able to recognize all the parts and label certain parts as right and certain parts as wrong.
    I envy smart people like you.
    One thing we are learning this week is the title NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING is not quite correct. There are a lot of smart people on CFN who say they know.

  264. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 3:05 pm #

    Love the Redwoods. to me it’s Heaven on Earth.
    Timeless, I saw the Moody Blues at Mountain Winery. Froze my ass off. so did they. Poor ‘old’ guys. Good to see them tho. Love Justin Hayward, he is a great poet and singer.
    Hey I am close to Santa Cruz but not in it anymore.
    We sure are packed in around here. So many people.

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  265. Dolan Williams July 26, 2011 at 3:08 pm #

    Loveday, it seems that you may have signed off for the week so you may not get to read my response to your comments. It’s interesting that you refer to Gerald Celente since he is the guy who maintains we are headed toward a greater economic calamity than occurred during the Great Depression. I’m an old geezer but not old enough to have lived thru that period but my parents and my brother did. I hate to admit to being a ‘Doomer and Gloomer’ but I really have to wear that tag. I think Celente is absolutely correct in predicting that we will soon be falling off an economic cliff. New means of powering things will occur along with all types of new technologies but remember that new innovations also occurred during the 1930’s. Those things did not alleviate the suffering of the American people.

  266. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 3:10 pm #

    See I am BACK with a Vengeance.
    Wish I had a self cleaning house / apt.
    Going to have to go now and get some things done around here.
    here I go………..

  267. soak July 26, 2011 at 3:10 pm #

    Ignoring logic, and twisting my words –
    Soak trolls onward.
    ————
    P,C whatever I say you misinterpret or rephrase to make me look bad. This hurts my feelings. I’m not going to try to answer you any more. Besides I am not even sure I’m right. I mean I think freedom is good, but you seem so sure you are right to want to control entry. Anyway it doesn’t matter who is “right” because people are going to do whatever they want to do. Always have. Some immigrants arrive. Others decide to leave. And we don’t decide who does what. They do.

  268. soak July 26, 2011 at 3:12 pm #

    I think Celente is absolutely correct in predicting that we will soon be falling off an economic cliff.
    ————–
    Yes, it looks like the collapse might happen next Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.

  269. soak July 26, 2011 at 3:13 pm #

    I’m glad you are back. It’s like homecoming today.

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  270. Dolan Williams July 26, 2011 at 3:22 pm #

    Jackieblue2u, if you think life is not so smooth, just try having kids. My daughter almost died on January 1st due to an overdose. The guy she was supposed to marry turned out to be a child molester who just got out of a Kansas prison where he served 8 years. Not realizing what was up and believing they were going to wed, my wife and I loaned him some money and we obviously got screwed out of that when he went on the lam. Sheesh, I could go on and on but I really don’t want to bore the folks here.

  271. ront July 26, 2011 at 3:42 pm #

    “I tend to see a multitude of perspectives and not know which, if any, is right. I admire that you KNOW if God exists. You must be one of those lucky people who was able to figure it out.”
    Soak, as regards what perspective is right, my understanding thus far is that it all depends upon the situation in the moment. One can try to his best and then see what happens, be receptive to the lessons of life.
    It seems you put a great value on KNOWING that God exists (or does not). Figuring this out will, at best, as I understand it, give one an intellectual belief or opinion one way or the other. I do not see much value in this as there are so many different ideas one could hold about the nature of God or spirituality.
    I recommend, if one is sincerely serious about finding Truth, to seek it, long for it, be receptive when It answers or reveals Itself to you. Also, getting familiar with what is false, illusion, delusional is a great help. Finally, loving and serving God or Truth as you see it, as well as receiving the Love and Guidance from the Self within, even in the smallest ways, is a worthwhile enterprise whether God exists or not.

  272. wagelaborer July 26, 2011 at 3:42 pm #

    Hey, don’t apologize for Uncle Ned.
    Marlin can be very obnoxious, even to the point of pushing me, known for my even temper and calmness, to gratuitous insults.

  273. wagelaborer July 26, 2011 at 3:44 pm #

    Yes, I acknowledge the distinction.
    But I couldn’t comment succinctly by adding “the love of”.
    It kind of goes without saying, anyway.

  274. San Jose Mom 51 July 26, 2011 at 3:48 pm #

    Holy Toledo Dolan! Sounds like you’ve been through trying times….definitely not boring.
    Hope things settle down.

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  275. Auntie River July 26, 2011 at 3:56 pm #

    JACKIEBLUE2U Sez – “This world is one big Mind…and it is all consciousness, connected, like it or not. I just think of that as God”.
    Right on Sister Jackie! Testify! This is exactly how Ned and I think about God. Its All One, all conscious, from the tiny electron to the largest galaxy. And when we pass away, its like the drop of water going back into the ocean.Who knows what that’s all about? In the meantime we might as well try to enjoy and appreciate our time on this magnificent planet…and not ‘ over think’ these spiritual matters.
    And speaking of the Moody Blues, the designated soundtrack for today is the deep and classic ‘Tuesday Afternoon’.

  276. Eleuthero July 26, 2011 at 4:12 pm #

    LBendet said:
    But I say, what was wrong with the whole country, when they heard in what they believed to be an egalitarian, democratic society that money would “trickle down”–wow, the rich are going to give us a golden shower, alright—then they’ll take us to the cleaners!
    ****************************************************
    A “golden shower” is right because Boehner is
    using the elderly, the military … all those
    who have a paycheck coming as a “human shield”
    to defend themselves against the “evil Obama”.
    I consider what Boehner is doing as akin to a
    gangster holding a baby in front of himself to
    avoid being shot by police.
    As you point out, as STOCKMAN pointed out 30
    years ago … the rich have NEVER initiated a
    process whereby their lucre will “trickle down”
    to the “little people”. However, we have a
    NEW problem on our hands in that the TEA PARTY
    is acting like we have to “destroy the country
    to save it” much like the “save-and-destroy”
    operations in the Vietnam War.
    The Tea Party are just another wing of the Republican Party that wants to create an
    artificial problem to make some rhetorical point.
    In this case, they want the emergency raising of
    the debt ceiling tied to a FINAL decision on
    things like a Balanced Budget Amendment which are
    LONG TERM things. That’s pure extortion used as
    a political tactic.
    You saw what happened to the dollar today. It’s
    going to get worse because even if some eleventh
    hour raise of the debt ceiling occurs, the faith
    of foreigners to get SIMPLE THINGS done in this
    country is being badly bruised.
    E.

  277. BeantownBill July 26, 2011 at 4:16 pm #

    Working fusion reactors would solve our energy problems, for sure, but we’d still have concerns about food supply, unsupportable population densities, rising tempuratures, environmental pollution, etc. But eliminating energy issues would be a major step in buying us adequate time to ensure our survival.
    Personally, I’m very skeptical about cold fusion. It was brought to the public’ss attention in 1989 with the Pons/Fleishmann fiasco. Since then several scientists have claimed they witnessed what could only be room temperature fusion, but their claims were proven wrong or unsubstantiated.
    Fusion is one of the, or THE major sources of energy in the universe. This is what powers stars. But the thing is, it is hot energy and it requires temperatures and pressures unimaginably high. Nature tends to take the easiest path, so that if cold fusion was possible, it would be available everywhere, and we don’t see that.
    That’s not to say it can’t happen. Maybe it can. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, and as of yet, the scientific community hasn’t found any evidence of it, although there’s always a few individual scientists claiming they’ve produced it.
    If I was the scientist that found a way to produce cold fusion economically, I’d get a patent and then announce the details of my discovery so that the world could benefit (while I got obscenely rich).
    I do think producing fusion energy is coming, although I have no idea when nor how. By the way, we have been harnessing fusion energy for thousands of years, through the use of sunlight.

  278. messianicdruid July 26, 2011 at 4:18 pm #

    “It kind of goes without saying, anyway.”
    This lack of distinction is why too many good people are poor and too many of the wicked are rich. Granted, they worship mammon; but money is still just a tool. It can be used for good.
    Waddington rages against debt, then confounds himself by blaming our problems on money. Usurous debt is the curse, the destroyer, maker of paupers and friend of thieves.

  279. ozone July 26, 2011 at 4:21 pm #

    RT,
    HEAVY weather comin’ in fast….
    buh-bye
    batten down the hatches!

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  280. Eleuthero July 26, 2011 at 4:25 pm #

    Forget heads, feet, and stomachs, Vlad. The
    way the dollar is going, Asians are buying
    up West Coast property and businesses at such
    a rate that it’s our national SOUL that is
    going bye-bye. You would not believe what
    is happening in the San Francisco Bay Area
    which, if Indians are counted as Asians (which
    they, of course, are), is now around 44% Asian.
    The Bay Area is America’s Yugoslavia because like
    the old Yugoslavia, all these merging ethnicities
    do NOT interact with the pre-existing Anglo
    culture and, indeed, they even try to do all their
    BUSINESS with people of their own tribe.
    This trend will silently continue and foreign
    nationals of all stripes won’t need to best
    American in a shooting war. It’s a fire sale
    and the country is slowly being bought up
    piece by piece.
    Personally, I think it’s a sin when these
    countries (whose slave labor camps and
    shantytowns amid squalor are de rigeur) and
    their ethos get to penetrate our country.
    One of the many reasons I retired early at
    59 was to escape a joyless campus full of
    these earnest automata … who’ve carried
    their FILTHY habits with them and couldn’t
    even bus their trays in the cafeteria.
    E.

  281. Eleuthero July 26, 2011 at 4:27 pm #

    Correction to my last post …
    The line that says “shantytowns amid squalor”
    should read “shantytowns amid gleaming high
    tech highrises”.
    E.

  282. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 4:34 pm #

    r

  283. ozone July 26, 2011 at 4:37 pm #

    u

  284. messianicdruid July 26, 2011 at 4:38 pm #

    “I consider what Boehner is doing as akin to a
    gangster holding a baby in front of himself to
    avoid being shot by police.”
    What do you consider O’s doings to be “akin to”?
    “Let us not forget that this President came into office and ran the credit card to the extent of more than $1,500 billion a year for the last two years. He continued the bankrupt policies of George Bush who did the same damn thing. He has blown money like crazy, yet has utterly refused to face the fact that there is no way he can continue to do what we’ve been doing with these deficits for the indefinite future.
    We were told these deficits were necessary due to a crisis in 2008. But we have also been told the crisis is over. That our economy is recovering. That Wall Street is “healthy.” That the banks are “ok” and “well-capitalized.”
    These are lies and The President knows it! The economy is a damn wreck. The banks are only “solvent” because they’re lying about asset values. And Wall Street is punch-drunk – again – on cheap leverage, headed for yet another utter and complete disaster.”
    http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=190685

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  285. ozone July 26, 2011 at 4:38 pm #

    experienced?

  286. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 4:40 pm #

    Marlin is very polite. He just reminds you of your neighbors. Your inability to see yourself is typical of both Communists and Women in general.

  287. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 4:51 pm #

    Now this is why we need outer space – to test out schemes like this. If it works, bring it down. Or maybe keep it there and just bring the energy down. There are some ideas out there about how….

  288. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 4:57 pm #

    You are a de facto White Nationalist since you value our culture and understand that genes carry memes. Unlike me, you don’t believe it to be intrinsic but only circumstancial, but it is enough. After all we don’t have the power to acculturate these people. With what? Womyn’s studies? Porn TV? Foreign Affair’s Magazine? Why should they give up their ancient cultures for alot of crap? Why change for a Nation that’s clearly dying and wont outlive their children’s youth?

  289. ozone July 26, 2011 at 5:01 pm #

    “I talk to myself because I am the only one with enough intelligence and moral acumen to understand my grandiloquent notions and ultimate truths.” -the multitudinous soak-io[s]
    PoC,
    Since you follow his postings, if you should ever get on to what his game is, please let the rest of us know. I have my own theories, but I’ll keep ’em to myself.

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  290. tucsonspur July 26, 2011 at 5:06 pm #

    Jim, I do know something. I know that it was appropriate that a kartoffelkloesse was lobbed, rather than some goodie from Konditor Meister. The Germans would have really been pissed.
    I’m more than a bit moody and poor of spirit knowing that Moody’s and Standard and Poor may be giving us a ratings downgrade.It’s not only because I think that we already deserved a downgrade, but because these are the same people who continued the high ratings of MBS well after the housing market went south.
    The same edacious jackanapes are still at the helm, and the otherwise toothy Obama has been edentulous when it comes to reform. Fuck ’em all.

  291. progress,conserve July 26, 2011 at 5:22 pm #

    “PoC,
    Since you follow his postings, if you should ever get on to what his game is, please let the rest of us know. I have my own theories, but I’ll keep ’em to myself.” -ozone, concerning soak-
    Ozone – alrighty, will do!
    I’d actually enjoy hearing your theory about soak, or that of anyone else.
    I consider it relevant because Soak posts so much on CFN – and does his dead level best to repeatedly disrupt the discussion thread on several important topics.
    And you know me by now, O3 – ever hopeful and ever helpful – as I try to engage folks on CFN and elsewhere to make things better for:
    my family
    my state
    my country
    my Planet
    I think that if everyone on Earth would really try to do those things – in that order – that we might yet pull humanity back from extinction.
    But I do believe time is getting short.

  292. progress,conserve July 26, 2011 at 5:41 pm #

    “The Bay Area is America’s Yugoslavia because like
    the old Yugoslavia, all these merging ethnicities
    do NOT interact with the pre-existing Anglo
    culture and, indeed, they even try to do all their
    BUSINESS with people of their own tribe.”
    -E-
    Well stated, I’m afraid, E. That’s the visible proof of the failure of modern multiculturalism and the probable future of wide swaths of the United States.
    And that’s if the power stays on and civilian law enforcement stays in the saddle with abundant fossil fuel resources.
    One of the overriding premises of this website is that fossil fuel is finite.
    It was over a year ago that we had a poster saying repeatedly:
    there’s oil enough for 47 years!
    there’s oil enough for 47 years!
    there’s oil enough for 47 years!
    Well, even if that guy was right, it’s now 46 years – which is not that long –
    tick. tick. tick.
    Let’s all remember what happened in Yugoslavia.
    Join a group.
    Work to reduce US population growth.

  293. Alexandra July 26, 2011 at 6:05 pm #

    Once the bulk of what’s left of the US’s manufacturing capacity has been finally offshored to Asia/China et al – to take advantage of the lower labour costs and the better trading environments – as this process comes to its logical conclusion… the ability of the US to import raw materials – ENDS!!
    So nations that can continue to manufacture goods say like CNC machines, IT/tech, automobiles, ships and airplanes and successfully export them, will be able to keep buying resources on the open market, as opposed to say other nations in which the vast majority of the population just sell each other cups of frothy coffee, fast-food-snackery, cheesy-doodles etc in exchange for hair cuts, tattoo’s and nail art – those peeps will eventually have nowt to bargain with at all…
    And the ‘idea’ that technical innovation and creativity can create wealth is as forlorn a hope too, as it assumes that no one else in the world is as technically or creatively savvy… as you are?
    Errrggh wake up Houston, (tis over for NASA)… and the Chinese will soon start hoovering up the minerals lying on the surface of the moon…
    *sniggers*
    No present/future US politician enjoying the fruits of the politico-gravy-train is EVER going to tell the electorate that there is a problem. Instead you’ll be CNN/Msnbc spoon-fed that the global economy is a wonderful thing, that the working population is rising, and that the GDP is ever increasing.
    (So relax CFN’ers and crack open another Bud’)
    Meanwhile the real truth of it is, pensions and comprehensive health care are things of the past, for any country that is accelerating toward bankruptcy, and when the money finally does run out… one end of the supply chain collapses and the others quickly follow – think falling stacked dominos…
    And lets’ face it – the bulk of ordinary (majority) people lean toward the very short term view of life – therefore they cannot accept any reduction in their living standards PERIOD – even if it means destroying their own futures and that of their children’s…
    Oh deary me…
    Any of this sounding familiar Ha-ha-hamerikah?
    Be seeing you…
    PS: I’m off to France, Italy and Spain end-o-next week, so thoughts from there soon maybe?

  294. asia July 26, 2011 at 6:09 pm #

    ‘The Bay Area is America’s Yugoslavia because like
    the old Yugoslavia, all these merging ethnicities
    do NOT interact with the pre-existing Anglo
    culture and, indeed, they even try to do all their
    BUSINESS with people of their own tribe.’
    *****

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  295. asia July 26, 2011 at 6:13 pm #

    THERES BEEN A SIMILAR THING IN WASH. D.C.
    Some of the black middle class was that way from cab licenses the rules were changed or the illegals
    started alot of ‘gypsy cabs’, I cant remember teh details.

  296. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 6:14 pm #

    Grooooy !
    I agree, let’s lighten up & light up (ourselves.)
    Beams of light. Not on fire.
    hey I’m just beginning to see I’m on my way, not to San Jose. The trees are drawing me near I’ve got to find out why.
    Then comes the Actor who is ME.
    Fly little bird up into the clear blue sky.
    Our reasons are the same but there’s no one we can blame. (well sometimes there is).
    I think that it’s Nothing Personal, life that is.
    Don’t take it personally. You probably know what I mean.
    Okay on out into the daylight, Tuesday Afternoon it is ! White Bird must fly or she will die.
    xox

  297. asia July 26, 2011 at 6:19 pm #

    My realtor buddy tells me the tales of the Chinese In Silicon Valley….paying cash for million dollar homes………………………..
    but 10 or more people in the house, with cardboard boxes as toilets in each bedroom.
    ‘NO WAY WILL I SWIM IN A PUBLIC POOL HERE, WHO KNOWS IF THATS THE TOILET AS WELL
    Maybe someday Ill tell the tale of a dry cleaner…
    thats a tale!

  298. San Jose Mom 51 July 26, 2011 at 6:20 pm #

    Eleuthero,
    Perhaps you retired from De Anza. I’ve heard from friends that their caucasian kids feel isolated from the Asian majority. DeAnza transfers a number of kids to Berkeley after they graduate–or so I am told. Ironically, there is not much sense of shared community at the community college.
    Your post made me ponder our church community — obviously a self-selected group. It’s 95% WASP. We have a well-to-do black family and a family that the church is financially sponsoring from Sudan. One very active Chinese family. That’s about it.
    SJmom

  299. asia July 26, 2011 at 6:22 pm #

    Where can I get info on war/genocide in Africa over the 20th /21st century?

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  300. asia July 26, 2011 at 6:28 pm #

    10$ at Intelius can maybe prevent those grifters from worming their way in.
    Or even a Google search on the persons name.
    That he borrowed money was a tip off..
    Book..see The Criminal mind” or ‘The mask of sanity’.

  301. San Jose Mom 51 July 26, 2011 at 6:28 pm #

    I seriously doubt that a family who pays millions for a house in the Bay Area is going to crap in a box. Sounds like an urban legend to me.
    I would, however, love to hear your story about the dry cleaner.
    SJmom

  302. asia July 26, 2011 at 6:32 pm #

    How did leftist Norway produce such a monster?

  303. ozone July 26, 2011 at 6:45 pm #

    Alex,
    Insightful posting on resource “markets” and a people “doing each others’ laundry”. ;o)
    Please keep us apprised on what you find in France, Italy and Spain. We’ll be most interested in what the “man on the street” is seeing and thinking! Thanks in advance.

  304. ozone July 26, 2011 at 6:47 pm #

    Ps. Evesdropping in dingy bars always proves most informative, in my wide experience. ;o)

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  305. ozone July 26, 2011 at 6:57 pm #

    “…And you know me by now, O3 – ever hopeful and ever helpful – as I try to engage folks on CFN and elsewhere to make things better for:
    my family
    my state
    my country
    my Planet
    I think that if everyone on Earth would really try to do those things – in that order – that we might yet pull humanity back from extinction.
    But I do believe time is getting short.” -PoC
    Thanks, I appreciate your efforts, and, yes, it would be nice if just MORE folks would wake up to the straits we’re in. I’m much too cynical to think that pure altruism will make a big difference, but I certainly wouldn’t rain on your parade, ’cause ya never know….
    (As for the previous “subject”, the constant rejection of “scary things”, and blowing of sunshine and lollipops up our poop-chutes is not helpful. That’s “go back to sleep and don’t worry” bullshit that got us in the tight spot we’re in.)

  306. soak July 26, 2011 at 7:13 pm #

    I don’t know. Nobody knows anything. My guess is he didn’t hang out with leftists. He probably ran with the Michael Savage crowd: borders, language, culture. He was anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim. He was a white Christian terrorist.

  307. ozone July 26, 2011 at 7:13 pm #

    Nice respite, indeed!
    My buddy, Jay, shore ain’t as nice to look at, but he’s got “it”, if’n you know what I mean. He’s consistently amazed me as being able to play whatever the hell he hears in his head! (Being there when something original pops into his head and hands is a goosebump-raiser, if you like truly great players.) My next favorite guitar player ‘longside Jeff Beck; and I don’t say that lightly.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXbGBk5pVrI
    This one sounds great too…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW-9RToy6BI&feature=related

  308. soak July 26, 2011 at 7:16 pm #

    Nice thing about replying to you Ozone is the pressure is off. I know you won’t be reading anything I write because you scroll past my posts. So I feel like I can tell you with feeling embarrassed that I like you. You are a good person … as far as I can tell from your posts.

  309. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 7:39 pm #

    Soak doesn’t REALLY care about those other countries – or even the Black Race. The overwhelming passion of the Black Race is resentment and envy. He wants to pull us down. Beyond that, who cares? Isn’t that enough?
    You think the Black Millionaires of Nigeria and South Africa give a rat’s ass about the famine in the Horn of Africa? You’d be wrong. That’s what Whites are for.

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  310. soak July 26, 2011 at 7:46 pm #

    Soak cares about Soak. It’s a love affair.

    “This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.” — Walt Whitman

  311. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 7:50 pm #

    I’m only an expert on Black atrocities. There’s a tremendous amount about South Africa of course. But you want to know about the Mau Mau’s and the transvestite boy warriors of Sierra Leone with their teddy bear back packs.
    Some say the Belgians killed a million or more Blacks in the Congo. It may well be.
    Black soldiers are still eating Pygmies in the jungles of Zaire.
    But one source for all of it? Don’t know about that. There has been so much.

  312. lbendet July 26, 2011 at 7:52 pm #

    E.:the faith of foreigners to get SIMPLE THINGS done in this country is being badly bruised.
    It sure is, they basically feel they can’t trust us and we’re busy running around the world making it abundantly clear that our banksters don’t want to lose a dollar in any of the havoc we’ve wreaked upon the world. Just let us come in there and privatize…
    We the people are in the same boat as the foreigners.
    -______________
    Alexandra made some points I thought were right on target about our inability to create wealth since we have given up manufacturing. We are turning into a third world backwater.

  313. Vlad Krandz July 26, 2011 at 7:58 pm #

    Ever hear the story of the Holy Man and the prostitute? Every night he walked by scorning her in his mind and every night she looked up to him in her’s. In their next life, they exchanged identities since we become what we focus on.
    I’m afraid that I’m going to become you!

  314. soak July 26, 2011 at 8:21 pm #

    Touche! Well played, old chap!

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  315. BeantownBill July 26, 2011 at 8:47 pm #

    Right, but it probably won’t be us (USA)that does it. We’ve fucking killed our space program, the one thing that might have saved us. Maybe private industry will take up the slack.
    Let’s see. We landed on the moon in 1969 and the last time a human set forth there was what, 1973?
    We never implemented the Dyna-Soar, a workable space plane design from the ’60’s (maybe even 1959). Instead we developed the space shuttle, a rather poor design, as a cheaper compromise.
    We’ve all but killed the Webb Space Telescope program, the successor to the Hubble telescope.
    We’ve killed some ambitious space exploration prototypes before they began.
    Where could we be now if for the past 42 years NASA had an annual operating budget of $50-60 billion in 2011 dollars?
    Ah, well, such is life.
    And if anyone here asks so what? or who cares? You are too stupid to reply to.

  316. BeantownBill July 26, 2011 at 8:59 pm #

    I think where we find ourselves today was ordained when we developed a large forebrain and opposable thumbs. Carthage could have defeated Rome, but we’d still be in the same position as we are now, only with the names of countries or empires different.
    Science is an extremely potent tool or way of thinking, and not properly proceeding with caution might just do us in. It is this hubris, this blindness in the face of danger that is the root issue, not nationalism, globalism, political parties, greedy elites or races. Perhaps this is our biggest flaw.
    Or perhaps this is our greatest asset?

  317. soak July 26, 2011 at 9:00 pm #

    Bush (as in George W Bush) destroyed the United States. Manufacturing’s share of the US economy, as measured by real GDP, was stable from the 1940s until Bush took office. During that entire time, the ratio of manufacturing output to GDP ranged from 16 to 19%. Bush ended all that and helped his friends send the factories to China. His rich friends got richer. China got richer. The USA was destroyed by Bush.
    The manufacturing share of the USA economy dropped from 16% in 2000 (when Bush was selected) and dropped to 13% in 2008 when Bush left the country in the ditch.
    For comparison with other developing or developed countries in 2008:
    India (15%)
    Mexico (18%)
    Canada (13%)
    Spain (14%)
    Russia (15%)
    Japan (21%)
    China (32%, thank you W.)
    Korea (25%)

  318. rippedthunder July 26, 2011 at 9:07 pm #

    BLOOOOOOW me away, sum bitch, that was a storm. We had a heck of a blow. The folks east of us got slammed again, maybe another tornado. I’ve been ‘roun these parts for 50+ years and have never seen a streak of weather like this. Is it Global warming and changing weather patterns? Who knows? It is kind of strange though.

  319. soak July 26, 2011 at 9:22 pm #

    Beneficiaries need to know that payments will continue, regardless of the Congressional discussion over an agreement to raise the nation’s debt limit. Without Social Security benefits, unprecedented hardship would befall millions of Americans who rely on these earned benefits to pay for life necessities such as food, medications, utilities, and shelter.” –AARP letter to Obama

    Now that we are one week away from default somebody is realizing that the Tea Party / Republican intent is to balance the budget on the backs of millions of senior citizens and disabled citizens.
    It is about time people start to wake up and vote out the Tea Party freshmen and Republican extremists … if they still have the means to get to the voting booth … and if they are not denied their right to vote through Republican voter suppression techniques.

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  320. rippedthunder July 26, 2011 at 9:38 pm #

    Greetings Auntie, Ol’ Uncle Ned is forgiven. We all have our moments, I’ve gone overboard here before on some of my fellow CFN friends and regreted it later. All things must pass. Shrooms you say! haha, that brings back some memories! I think it does anyway???????

  321. rippedthunder July 26, 2011 at 9:49 pm #

    BTB, I agree, I think cold fusion is a bunch of huha. Electricity finds the shortest route to ground. Basic and simple. If the universe ran on cold fusion the earth would be a VERY cold place to live. We’ll see soon .

  322. rippedthunder July 26, 2011 at 9:55 pm #

    R U Experienced, classic O3 , how did U and Vlad set that up? Do you sit in together? U guys are like Jagger and Richards!

  323. rippedthunder July 26, 2011 at 10:08 pm #

    Howdy o3, ya gotta love the sound of the ol’ Fenders. Strats are cool. I’ve got a 72 Tele. The shredders are impressive but I feel there is no real expression in the playing. That’s just me though.

  324. Cavepainter July 26, 2011 at 10:18 pm #

    I’m astounded by how many posters to this site haven’t yet come to terms with the situation faced by humankind. Mother nature has drawn a line in the sand and it doesn’t demarcate between the worthy and unworthy according to anthropocentric notions of social justice.
    Mother nature doesn’t make any special considerations to humankind any more that she does to the tsetse fly, and certainly not along lines of distinction we might draw between tribal orders. Remember, we’re not dealing with the likes of Mother Teresa, or the Dali Lama, or Desmond Tutu, or any other icon personifying human compassion. Mother nature doesn’t give a rip for weighty abstracts of law that might be arbitrated in an international court — all that is irrelevant from this point on.
    Why? Because a threshold was crossed at sometime in the near past when human numbers exceeded carrying capacity, the consequences of which unfold in messy fashion – lacking the order of, say, a Congressional hearing on national budget.
    Get over it!
    Humans have been programmed by evolution with a particular set of specie specific behavior having nothing to do with skin coloration, religious affiliation, ethnicity, culture, etc. It’s a formulation that got us this far in the course of evolution but now might prove dysfunctional.
    All the species that have “hit the wall” (became extinct) testifies to how random fate is. None of the traits that serve as markers of “us” as opposed to “them” will determine who (or what nation) survives the inevitable die-off. From this point on it is pure coincidence of what spots on earth haven’t yet exceeded carrying capacity (and with global warming prospect all is dicey at best).
    So forget about redistributing populations and/or resources. Doing so will only calibrate down survival prospect for those places that might (just might) retain some prospect of survival for humankind.
    The problem of overpopulation exploded in just the past century. Arguing over who aggravated the situation by overconsumption, imperialism, etc., etc., is now completely irrelevant. All that counts now for dim prospect of spotty survival of humankind is arresting overpopulation where some semblance of balance remains. The US remains one of those spots, let’s not blow it with vain notions of being exempt from the lessons of history.

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  325. progress,conserve July 26, 2011 at 10:23 pm #

    “We ended up in Venice, where the water taxies were on strike. We worked out other (more expensive) arrangments. Lots of empty storefronts in Italy.
    My international travel career is officially over.
    From now on it’s National Parks.”
    -sjmom-
    Hey SJ, and welcome back home. You know what they say, right? “Travel broadens the mind.”
    You must have flown into Europe, taken a cruise ship, and traveled from port to port. There’s a whole lot to be said for that. And certain things pretty much have to be seen by nautical means. The Panama Canal. The Strait of Gibraltar. The Greek Islands.
    After some fairly intense travels in our time, my wife and I have probably graduated ourselves to cruise ships for our international travel from now on, ourselves.
    Come hell, high water, economic collapse, or meteor strikes – being on a ship with full fuel load and a captain and crew dedicated to returning their “cargo that complains” (TM BHMarc) back to the US no matter what – That’s what we’re going to be going for – if we can’t take our own boat.
    ———————
    And yeah, yeah, travel is wasteful – cruise ships are awful – and all that blah, blah.
    ================
    On an unrelated note – I visited a relatively small local grocery store, in another town, over the weekend. They had a sign next to the bathroom light switch that stated, “Our electric bill was $102,847.23 last year – Please turn out the light when you leave.”
    That much power represents a pretty good pile of coal burned by Georgia Power. I was very surprised at the amount – for one small American local grocery store.
    Makes cruise ship travel sound a little bit better.
    And I did turn out that light.

  326. loveday July 26, 2011 at 10:23 pm #

    Hi Dolan
    Ya I did sign off, but mainly because most of these people don’t seem interested in things like a decent future. Sorry, I get a little impatient. Anyway thanks for a reasonable response. Gerald Celente is absolutely aware of what is happening and yes he did predict, or state that he thought a new power source would become available. And yes he does say we will have a complete economic collapse, but that is not the same as the “real economy”, that consists of real people who live or die. They are not made of paper, as most stock markets are. That being said, energy is required to actually produce things that support life, so therefore, a new energy source to produce a living, that is food for people to live on, is actually fabulous!
    Maybe Andrea Rossi’s cold fusion will work out or not. But like I wrote earlier a plant has been set up and it has been put out there in public that this company, Defkalion, will produce household units by this fall. If possible I will buy a unit.
    I get your point, energy wasn’t a problem in the 1930’s depression, however, today energy is a prime driving factor, read Dmitry Orlov, he believes that as oil runs out so will the US run out of ways to keep the country running ( the dollar is really supported by oil, not gold). Well oil is just a power source, if that can be replaced with a new power source this country and the world can maybe keep things bearable for the general population. After all, eating is a really desireable thing, that takes energy input, so if the farmer can plant crops and harvest them without paying 3 to 5 dollars a gallon for gas food prices will probably be affordable. I don’t say they will be, but, it is far more likely.
    Now, I’m really, really signing off for the week.

  327. rippedthunder July 26, 2011 at 10:24 pm #

    So, a guy walks into a bar he has never been in.
    Down at the end of the bar he sees a chimpanzee in a cage.
    He asks the bartender ” What’s up with the monkey in the cage?”
    “It’s kinda complicated, you really don’t wanna know.”
    After about an hour and 4 or 5 beers the guy says to the bartender,”My curiosity is killin’ me, What’s up with the monkey in the cage?”
    “Well if you really gotta know, I’ll show ya”
    He opens the cage, the chimp gets out, the bartender smacks him in the back of the head with a baseball bat and the chimp jumps down on the floor and gives the bartender a blowjob.
    The drunk looks on wide-eyed and says ” WOW thats really somthin!”
    The bartender says ” You wanna give it a try?”
    The drunk says” Hell ya, just don’t hit me so hard!”

  328. soak July 26, 2011 at 10:38 pm #

    Mikhail Gorbachev gets up in the morning and goes out onto his balcony to get some fresh air. The sun is rising. “Good morning, red sun!” he exclaims.
    “Long live Mikhail Gorbachev!” the sun replies.
    Very happy with this, Gorbachev goes about his business. After a busy morning he goes out onto his favorite balcony again, and sees the sun at its height.
    “Good afternoon, sun!” he shouts out.
    “Long live Comrade Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union!” replies the sun. Very pleased, Gorbachev returns to his work.
    That evening, after a hard day, he comes out once again onto his favorite balcony. He sees the sun setting, and with a smile cries out, “Good evening, my little sun!”
    “I am in the West now,” replies the sun, “so FUCK YOU!”

  329. San Jose Mom 51 July 26, 2011 at 10:52 pm #

    I know that we burned a whole lot of oil on our vacation. Our family dynamics are such that had we travelled through Europe by car (of course I would do all the driving), we would have changed hotels all the time and everyone would give me advice on how to drive…yada, yada, yada. If my husband drove, we would never find a parking place or be able to merge onto an autobahn. (German drivers are quite aggressive.)
    I have a “make my day” approach to finding parking spots in crowded cities. My city driving style is not for the wimpy. My specialty is the California U-ie. My teenagers yell NO, MOM, NO!
    I send telepathic messages to other drivers vying for parking spots “I’m driving a 2004 minivan and I don’t give a sh&t.” Even so, I haven’t received a speeding ticket since 1997. No one suspects trouble because I drive a minivan.
    OK I’m blabbering. In summation, if we had driven through Europe, there would have been a whole lot of hollering.
    In my next life, I’m going to be a New York cabbie.

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  330. turkle July 26, 2011 at 11:08 pm #

    “the one thing that might have saved us”
    How so?

  331. turkle July 26, 2011 at 11:14 pm #

    “The Bay Area is America’s Yugoslavia blah blah blah”
    You’re a fool.

  332. turkle July 26, 2011 at 11:28 pm #

    “all these merging ethnicities
    do NOT interact with the pre-existing Anglo
    culture”
    You far overstate your point. Out of all the places in the US, the Bay Area is the most racially harmonious and integrated that I have visited (lived there for 6 years).
    Of course, different ethnicities DO interact with each other, all the time, from all the multi-racial couples you see walking around, to frequenting each other’s businesses, working with each other, etc. If you go to any Silicon Valley business, please take note of all the different people’s races and how they manage to get along just fine.
    I went to the Safeway other day where a polite Indian man worked the lunch counter, a tall white man was stocking shelves, a black woman was at the register, and a Hispanic bagged the groceries. Again, what’s the fucking problem? This is 2011, not 1950.
    I don’t understand where you get the idea that most foreigners or minorities want to close themselves off and not interact with their society. In my experience, it simply is not true for the vast majority.
    Additionally, who is to say that the existing culture is Anglo? It is what it is, not some incarnation of a wet dream you had about Leave It To Beaver, nor should it be.
    Or do you sense that the Great California Race War is one “fried chicken and watermelon comment” away?
    “now around 44% Asian”
    Oh, no, stop the presses! The Bay Area isn’t 95% white people. Somebody call the Race Police.
    Anyways, these Asian people are mostly fine in my experience, generally law-abiding, polite, respectful, and intelligent. And Asians have fantastically good cuisine/restaurants.
    What exactly do you bring to the table, besides a bunch of paranoid whining about people who are different than you?

  333. xhalor July 26, 2011 at 11:28 pm #

    This is it, kids. We are about to split into grotesquely rich and grotesquely poor for a long, long, time.
    Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go do a little jail time for not being able to pay my smoking in public violation. Yes! $229 plus court costs (they make you appear if you don’t have the money).
    Maybe I’ll get to meet Angelo Mozilo.
    Cheers,
    Blythe Sniffington

  334. turkle July 26, 2011 at 11:38 pm #

    “Nobody Knows Anything”
    I am getting bored and annoyed with Jim’s conceit that he is the only one who knows what is going on in the world, which is an absurd posture.
    Peak Oil and Climate Change have been coming on and off the radar for the last 10 years. Many people are aware of these two issues and some deeply so. With the steep rises in gasoline recently, most people are fully aware of our dependency on fossil fuels.
    And almost all Americans with a pulse know that their country is massively in debt and that the financial system is also burdened by huge debts and instability, not to mention outright criminality and fraud. Problems with the viability of pension systems have been front-page news around the world for years, as has the financial crisis in Europe. etc.
    Then there are those who do know but don’t care (the apathetic…count me in).
    And still others know but are keeping their knowledge private to avoid panic (Obama and other higher ups, I suspect) or for personal profit.
    I mean really, Jim, you’re pretty sharp and all, and I like the columns. But you’re not exactly a Cassandra out in the wilderness at this point.
    Hell, Catton covered this shit in Overshoot like 30 years ago. Most other similar books are a footnote.

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  335. jackieblue2u July 26, 2011 at 11:51 pm #

    Yes, having children is very challenging. I oughta know since I did not have any, and am not going to.
    I KNEW I couldn’t handle the stress of it.
    I WAS ONE and I remember it all too well.
    There are alot of con men out there. out for what they can get. they USE people. and women also for that matter.
    Women with kids have to be especially careful who they let into the lives of their children.
    I hope she got off the drugs.
    Alcohol and cigs are the gateway drugs,then Pot.
    Pot is a psychedelic, and meth and crack are very very hard on the body, and the mind. They aren’t psychedelic. They KILL. And they induce paranoia, and can cause one to kill, especially if unstable to begin with.
    I do not care what others say. I also studied this subject extensively. Meth is the worst. Crack also.
    Opiates are easy to O.D. on. so they are dangerous in that way.
    It IS peer pressure that gets them started usually.
    I hope she straightens out.
    Hugs not Drugs.

  336. turkle July 26, 2011 at 11:52 pm #

    To all the starry-eyed dreamers, I hate to burst your bubbles (well I rather like it actually), but space exploration is NOT going to save us from ourselves. And it never could. Space is cold, hostile, and empty and not fit for human habitation. The other planets in this solar system do not have breathable atmospheres, which kinda means that living there en masse is a no go, unless the planet was terraformed. The technology to transform a planet in such a way in a reasonable timescale simply does not exist, nor are the planets around our sun particularly suited for it. Mars would be the only good possibility, but do we have thousands of years to wait (at a minimum)? This isn’t Total Recall, where Mars gets an atmosphere in time to save Arnold from asphyxiation.
    As for other star systems, the closest is over 4 light years away. A light year is the distance that light travels in a year. That is so far as to be practically insurmountable by any known propulsion method available to us. We have not come even close to making something that would be fast enough that travel across such distances would be possible, let alone feasible.
    Oh, and just run the numbers. The amount of people that would need to be exported to “save” the earth from a human population crisis would be in the multi-millions (at a minimum).
    What is the cheap, low-cost, low-energy, safe solution that would magically transport these millions of people out of the earth’s gravity well and to the Martian space dock? This technology doesn’t exist, and it never will.
    People are wishful thinkers (not to mention generally gullible). On that point, I agree with Jim. They see something on Star Trek or some other teevee show and think it is possible. But it ain’t necessarily so.
    No, we were always going to sink or swim right here on this pale blue dot. Space never was and never could have saved us from ourselves.

  337. soak July 26, 2011 at 11:55 pm #

    Welcome back, Turkle. It’s like homecoming today!

  338. trippticket July 27, 2011 at 12:00 am #

    In my opinion cigarettes and alcohol are the worst of the bunch. Cigarettes grip the user with an iron fist of addiction. Took me several tries to finally kick the habit 4 years ago, and I have a pretty strong will.
    Crack and meth are obviously up there too, but not nearly as accessible as the previous two, so I have to dock them a point.

  339. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 12:06 am #

    How do you feel about automobile exhaust? Or all of the damage that is caused by metal finishing? In Los Angeles autopsies have been done on ten year old children with permanent lung damage from breathing the AIR.

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  340. Buck Stud July 27, 2011 at 12:07 am #

    That reminds me of the “Old Snakebite Joke”:
    A rattlesnake bites Johnny on his Johnson.
    “Don’t panic,” says Johnny’s camping pal, “My trusty medical manual’ll tell us what to do.” (The manual prescribes cutting an X on the snake bite, then sucking out the venom.) The befuddled pal keeps re-reading the advice to himself.
    “What’s it say?” asks Johnny, panicking.
    “Says you’re going to die.”

  341. jackieblue2u July 27, 2011 at 12:12 am #

    I know 4 people who are afraid to make left hand turns. they will make 3 rights. one is my husband, when he was driving. other than that he was a really good driver.
    Parking lots were frustrating with him, he would drive right by the close ones thinking he wasn’t gonna get one, then yell at me when i pointed it out.
    I think of myself as not aggressive but assertive.
    and now I find myself parking farther away, because parking lots seem to be unsafe easy places to get backed into, and vice versa.
    I still do those U turns also. When I feel lucky. drives him nuts. The tix are $$$ tho so I really need to cool it.
    Never been to NY, but I could be a cabbie there also, yelling at folks, and getting paid for it.
    New York ain’t for wimps.
    🙂

  342. trippticket July 27, 2011 at 12:15 am #

    Just stopping by to say that what time I’m spending on the forums these days, and it’s admittedly a lot less than I was spending here, is being spent at The Archdruid Report. It’s a moderated board so there’s pretty much zero instant gratification, but it keeps the trolls out. Always fine, relevant discussion there too, without all the vitriol and flame-baiting. This week there are already over 200 comments so it’s an active and educational place to hang. You get 1000 or so a week here, but 4 out of 5 are pointless, hate-filled, or complete scroll-over territory, so think of TADR as CFN with more relevant posts, better advice, and less monkey spunk. Tired of all the monkey spunk. And I’m not the only CFNer hanging out over there.
    Just an invitation to those who are looking for something more serious as the clock approaches midnight…

  343. jackieblue2u July 27, 2011 at 12:15 am #

    I noticed that when I am on road trips I get really ‘spacey.’ and I know it’s from the exhaust.
    Can’t wait to wash it all off me when I get where I am going. Maybe that is what ‘makes’ some people road rage more than others ?
    I was in LA 30 years ago, got off the plane and my eyes started stinging. Stayed in Torrance, couldn’t wait to get back north. That was back then. Can only imagine now.
    Cars are dirty and dangerous. A big responsibility. for sure.

  344. metuselah July 27, 2011 at 12:16 am #

    It is this hubris, this blindness in the face of danger that is the root issue, not nationalism, globalism, political parties, greedy elites or races. Perhaps this is our biggest flaw.
    Or perhaps this is our greatest asset?
    ==
    Yes, it’s hubris, tied in to criminality. It’s the conceit of the criminal mind, thinking it has pulled off a con of the rest of us suckers. In truth, the criminal mind has really pulled a con on itself. Through its criminal acts it has robbed the opportunity for others to further our collective knowledge and advance.
    This is in essence why, for example, racism is criminal, the government is criminal, hoarding is criminal, copyright laws are criminal, monopolies are criminal, and on and on.

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  345. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 12:18 am #

    It was a lot worse before the advent of unleaded gasoline.

  346. Buck Stud July 27, 2011 at 12:25 am #

    Soak and Vlad have formed a mutual admiration society, and Jackie, the recalcitrant motorist, talks about whipping U-turns. It’s homecoming day alright, and the Bizarre Float rolls into Crazytown yet again.

  347. turkle July 27, 2011 at 12:39 am #

    “Can only imagine now.”
    It hear it is better now due to strict California car emission laws.

  348. rippedthunder July 27, 2011 at 12:41 am #

    yo Tripp, I see u could not get off the CFN crack addiction.;o) you are right. I know u are a former smoker. butts are the worst. I quit 5 years ago because of a heart issue. I’m glad I did. If everybody quit and the butts were made illegal the health industry would go belly up. Tobacco is good for the economy!

  349. soak July 27, 2011 at 12:44 am #

    Thanks for the invite, Tripp. How do they feel over there about techno miracles? Closed minds. Complete denial. Harsh on the doomster buzz?

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  350. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 12:45 am #

    Certainly good for oncologists.

  351. rippedthunder July 27, 2011 at 12:53 am #

    if they made tobacco taboo the hospitals would be in dire trouble. There would be a black market but the smoke rates would go way down. Very, very, bad for the health buisness, which is No. 1 in the good ol’ USA

  352. Vlad Krandz July 27, 2011 at 1:38 am #

    Asoka is a remarkable man in spite of his thick lips and penchant for poverty pimping. How many of you White Liberals have gone all around the world living with men of every color and belief?
    When I was young, I knew a guy who been many places. When I got a little older, I realized that he was just traveling to the hippy party spots like Goa, Hawaii, certain Greek Islands and just doing the same party scene. He had never gone anywhere.
    Asoka isn’t like this. The stories he could tell but he doesn’t seem to be a storyteller. Oh well his mind is in a different mode.

  353. Vlad Krandz July 27, 2011 at 1:42 am #

    Kunstler is our Jim Kirk. And you are Dr McCoy: totally focused on the nitty gritty of someone’s colon and totally closed to the beauty and significance of the universe.
    Tripp is Spock – the complete opposite.

  354. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 1:46 am #

    I’ve heard some postulate that if it weren’t for tobacco, the English may have lost interest in exploring that part of North America any further.
    My favorite comment on tobacco is Dickie Smothers relating how this was a gift from the indigenous Americans, “Here White Man. Rot yer lungs.”

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  355. damnyeitsafinepet July 27, 2011 at 1:52 am #

    I was down in Centralia, doing a little book shopping, at Lewis Lucan Books, of course, and LLB recommended the Archdruid Report, too. It’s not nearly as funny as CFN but it does offer a good comment thread w/r/t TLE. Worth a look.
    DYFP
    Cascadia

  356. asia July 27, 2011 at 2:03 am #

    The Dry Cleaner …
    His dad was in the business of selling DC supplies
    and as he saw Koreans come in to the biz [citywide]
    He knew he had to GET OUT as Ktown does business with Ktown and they wouldnt be buying supplies from whites.
    So they sold and he worked as an employee of Koreans….’They had us whites entering thru a different door and bowing to the owner, they spoke in korean but id hear ‘SBA loan’ in their conversation.’
    He was sure glad he saw it coming and got out.

  357. asia July 27, 2011 at 2:10 am #

    To borrow a line from John Hiatt:
    HES TOO DUMB TO HAVE A CHOICE
    BREAKING NEWS…………On the radio…
    Hate crimes on the rise,
    sham marriage ring broken up,
    City is too broke for some daycare,
    Gov signs Dream act[$for illegals but not citizens].

  358. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 2:16 am #

    Me & my El Salvadoran friend (who shall remain anonymous) once had a custom T-Shirt buisness. First, we were undercut by local Mexican shirt makers, but then, the Koreans undercut the Mexicans.
    There was much rejoicing until Luis and I realized that we were out of business.

  359. asia July 27, 2011 at 2:21 am #

    OK………….where on web/wiki can I read about?
    Im sensing Lamestream media is a bit racist..
    70 blonds dead= big news.
    Millions in darfur Dead = no news.
    Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin wrote books..
    circa 1970…One entry in book said :
    ‘I read the NY Daily News Headlines:
    BLOND MURDERED IN THE BRONX
    BELOW in small letters:
    6000 die is earthquake in South America..
    GEE I WONDER WHAT COLOR HAIR THEY HAD!
    Abbie and Jerry were…different!

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  360. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 2:25 am #

    Concrete Blonde.

  361. asia July 27, 2011 at 2:27 am #

    That was ProC’s writing……..
    Pro, Trolkle called you a fool!

  362. asia July 27, 2011 at 2:28 am #

    Where?
    when?

  363. turkle July 27, 2011 at 2:29 am #

    What kind of idiocy is this? Just because you want something to be possible doesn’t make it so.
    The more one learns about space, the less likely large scale exploration and colonization by humans looks possible. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings, but the big lonely universe has a way of doing that to the unrealistic among us.
    Now, robots could be another story. They can go to sleep for 200 years and wake up when they arrive. They also don’t need air and food like us, not to mention they don’t deteriorate in the absence of gravity.

  364. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 2:30 am #

    Here?
    Now?

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  365. turkle July 27, 2011 at 2:30 am #

    My bad….but you quoted it. *shrugs*

  366. asia July 27, 2011 at 2:30 am #

    Me no understand!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Thats a rock group from the 80s, yes?

  367. turkle July 27, 2011 at 2:32 am #

    “Millions in darfur Dead = no news”
    I’m not sure what planet you’re from, but Darfur has made the national/international news many times, not to mention become a cause celebre of many rich and famous people.

  368. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 2:33 am #

    No.
    Yes was a rock group from the ’70’s.

  369. turkle July 27, 2011 at 2:34 am #

    “totally closed to the beauty and significance of the universe”
    Geesus, you are the king of false assumptions and irrelevant insults. Just because the universe is beautiful and significant (I agree) doesn’t mean we can settle out there like motherfucking George Jetson, ya bitch.

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  370. turkle July 27, 2011 at 2:39 am #

    “Hate crimes on the rise”
    These don’t occur very often. The vast majority of people go about their business without harming anyone.
    If you want to get all paranoid and sullen about a few bad apples, that’s fine by me. But you can count me out.

  371. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 2:40 am #

    To the moon, Alice!

  372. Eleuthero July 27, 2011 at 2:42 am #

    WageLaborer said:
    The only “charities” the rich spend on are right wing think tanks spewing out anti-worker propaganda, to make people think that slitting our own throats will make our lives better.
    The only investments they’ve made are in factories in other countries.
    And now they’re sitting on two trillion dollars that they cannot invest or spend.
    ****************************************************
    It’s not like this is historically new. It’s
    just that the high tax rates on plutocrats
    were a “damper” on their imperial ambitions
    from Thomas Jefferson until the execreble
    Ronald Reagan took that damper off.
    The purpose of government in civilized nations
    is strictly to be a GOVERNOR which, as you know,
    has a dual meaning in Webster’s dictionary as
    a DAMPER. When they’re doing their job, they
    keep excesses in check … private and public.
    Government has done a SHITTY job of damping
    private malfeasance since Reagan and we got
    an out-of-control Defense Industry followed
    by many other out-of-control industries like
    banking, insurance, and healthcare providers
    who charge you $45 for a freakin’ aspirin.
    Government is one of those “necessary evils”
    in life but in whose absence we obtain far
    greater evils … which is now as obvious as
    the nose on my face.
    E.

  373. asia July 27, 2011 at 2:43 am #

    You take me literally.
    How about this, How many blacks were killed in USA and Africa in the last week?
    Wheres the outcry over that?
    Id say its more than 80.
    When 80 blondies get killed, Makes World News.

  374. asia July 27, 2011 at 2:47 am #

    Wage is a member of the ACLU, By this line of thought it must be one of the rightwing thinktanks.

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  375. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 2:48 am #

    Yeah, until they piss too many of us off.

  376. Eleuthero July 27, 2011 at 2:48 am #

    MD said:
    We were told these deficits were necessary due to a crisis in 2008. But we have also been told the crisis is over. That our economy is recovering. That Wall Street is “healthy.” That the banks are “ok” and “well-capitalized.
    ***************************************************
    You’re “drinking the kool-aid”, MD. The idea that
    we’re “healthy” is classic propaganda which can be
    maintained because the FASB has declared that the
    banking industry can AVOID mark-to-market
    accounting which allows them to lie through their
    teeth.
    You MUST catch such nuances else you will be
    a doe-eyed victim of all kinds of propagandistic
    chicanery from these felons. Obama, flawed as
    he is, did NOT create this mess but he’s left
    to deal with it.
    His idea to tax the super-rich is superb and will
    recoup monies STOLEN from the American people in
    this “socialize the losses and privatize the
    gains” era. I’m not his biggest supporter but in
    this budget battle he is surely, to my mind, much
    less a liar than the execreble Boehner whom I
    would like to punch in the face.
    E.

  377. Eleuthero July 27, 2011 at 2:57 am #

    Vlad said:
    You are a de facto White Nationalist since you value our culture and understand that genes carry memes. Unlike me, you don’t believe it to be intrinsic but only circumstancial, but it is enough. After all we don’t have the power to acculturate these people. With what? Womyn’s studies? Porn TV? Foreign Affair’s Magazine? Why should they give up their ancient cultures for alot of crap? Why change for a Nation that’s clearly dying and wont outlive their children’s youth?
    ****************************************************
    I deplore Women’s Studies, Black Studies, or
    any other programs that seek to invent excuses
    for why there aren’t that many female scientists
    or why blacks commit violent crimes at 5X-10X
    the rates of other ethnicities. You are aware
    that I don’t believe most liberals are HONEST
    about issues of race and it shows in their
    choice of FRIENDS, whom they have OUTINGS with,
    and where they choose to LIVE.
    Like you, I deplore the fact that Anglos appear
    to have a “death wish” and are actively
    participating in the death of eurocentric culture
    by adopting the WORST aspects of black fashion,
    speech, and decorum as a form of “hipness”.
    Yet that same eurocentric culture created
    virtually ALL of the technologies and conveniences
    that non-Anglos line up to buy by the drove.
    Trust me, Vlad … I follow your debates and
    your detractors frequently. Many of them are
    liberals whose opinions on many matters I
    respect but I do not think many of these same
    liberals reflect on the LACK of “people of
    color” in their own lives and what that means.
    It means they’re fooling their own selves about
    their REAL points of view.
    E.

  378. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 3:01 am #

    I’ve done some consultations. There’s a theory that much of the USA’s currency muddlings (QE1, QE2) may be an attempt to get China to un-peg the Yuan from the US Dollar. Defaulting on the Federal debt? Well, that oughta do it.
    By all means, let’s get all those factories running while the permafrost is melting in Siberia.

  379. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 3:05 am #

    Damn, I forgot to mention, there’s more than one way to fight a war.
    Wishfully,
    Madonna

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  380. turkle July 27, 2011 at 3:44 am #

    How else should I take you, sir, aside from literally?
    With a grain of salt?

  381. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 3:45 am #

    “After all we don’t have the power to acculturate these people.”
    Go here
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining

  382. cheekychews July 27, 2011 at 3:47 am #

    Testing, testing … do HTML tags in a post send it to the moderation black hole?

  383. cheekychews July 27, 2011 at 3:48 am #

    It appears so!

  384. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 3:54 am #

    Not quite. You are in the bitbucket pending peer approval.

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  385. turkle July 27, 2011 at 3:56 am #

    Seventy-odd Norwegians being gunned down on a small island by a crazed, Christian, lunatic claiming to be a Knights Templar is out of the ordinary. In fact, I can’t remember the last time this happened.
    Black people dying in Africa is not. People have gotten news fatigue about Darfur, Somalia, Congo, Jamaica, etc. Or at least they are bored. People are dying there all the time, so it is simply ordinary. They tend to die in such uninteresting ways, too, like starvation.
    Plus, there aren’t as many TV cameras in Africa or local network news stations, for that matter. But I’m sure if you turn on Africa Today or whatever, you can get your fill.
    Seriously though, I think it mostly has to do with access, not racism. What news reporter wants to go deep into the Congo to report a murder or three? You can count me out.

  386. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 4:05 am #

    Maybe, just maybe, this is not what it appears to be. Is it possible that the United Snakes & it’s allies have crippled Al Qaeda so severely that this is the best response that they have for killing their titular head? And how ’bout the patsy? Wish I could spend the rest of my life on the French Riviera.
    Think of it. Not only will we deny you the crime, but we will steal your thunder in the popular media also. Bitchez.

  387. turkle July 27, 2011 at 4:06 am #

    Color me confused.

  388. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 4:11 am #

    Sorry dude. Clearly, I’ve been to too many tactical briefings.

  389. old69 July 27, 2011 at 4:54 am #

    “I recommend, if one is sincerely serious about finding Truth, to seek it, long for it, be receptive when It answers or reveals Itself to you.”
    Hey Clown, THERE IS NO TRUTH, ONLY LIES. OUR MIND IS ALWAYS WRONG.
    Hey San Jose Mommy, Did you ph*k ? Did you your HOT and HORNY teenage girl slut ph*k ? Because if you all did, you sinned and god will beat the living daylights out of you, just like he will beat the living daylights out of everyone. He must hate your guts and everyone elses guts so much because you ph*k. Also, if you did, why did you do that to me ? Why did you punish me ? Didn’t I say that no one shall ph*k from now on, since I can’t ? Isn’t that clear ? You beat me up doing that, you did something very bad to me, you killed me because I am Jealous, Envious, Angry with Rage (because I am a Pussy Whip, Impotent (in all manners, sexual, psychological, physical, you name it) and a Shrinking Violet, Anonymous Coward) that you dare do that. Ok ? Got the message ?
    Hey Bustin J, what is it with you anti-religious stuff ? Are you crazy or what ? And why did you substitute the good old fashioned craporola of Krist and God and Heaven and Hell and the Fundamentalist or Catholic or Muslim or Jewish Crap and Bull Sh*t with another religion, this time worshiping “Nature” ? Don’t you understand that we should kill Nature and beat the living daylights out of it ? Isn’t that clear ? Don’t you know that we must destroy it all and change it all and manipulate it completely by building trillions of skyscrapers, Atom energy, Mind over Matter, Rockets to Mars, Giant Cadillacs, Pollution of all kinds, wild chemicals, and all such nice and beautiful and spiritual items that are not made up of Carbon Chemistry, that avoid Carbon atoms, since CARBON ATOMS ARE THE MARK OF THE BEAST ? Is that now clear to you ?
    You are completely crazy with this religious paranoia of the guy having glue in his mind, wow, and I though that there was something wrong with me, go figure…

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  390. old69 July 27, 2011 at 5:02 am #

    From:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=175880
    From:
    http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/07/nobody-knows-anything.html
    “I recommend, if one is sincerely serious about finding Truth, to seek it, long for it, be receptive when It answers or reveals Itself to you.”
    I (a non existent internet entity that just generates blocks of text) answer:
    Hey Clown, THERE IS NO TRUTH, ONLY LIES. OUR MIND IS ALWAYS WRONG.
    Hey San Jose Mommy, Did you ph*k ? Did your HOT and HORNY teenage girl slut ph*k ? Because if you all did, you sinned and god will beat the living daylights out of you, just like he will beat the living daylights out of everyone. He must hate your guts and everyone elses guts so much because you ph*k. Also, if you did, why did you do that to me ? Why did you punish me ? Didn’t I say that no one shall ph*k from now on, since I can’t ? Isn’t that clear ? You beat me up doing that, you did something very bad to me, you killed me because I am Jealous, Envious, Angry with Rage (because I am a Pussy Whip, Impotent (in all manners, sexual, psychological, physical, you name it) and a Shrinking Violet, Anonymous Coward) that you dare do that. Ok ? Got the message ?
    Hey Bustin J, what is it with you anti-religious stuff ? Are you crazy or what ? And why did you substitute the good old fashioned craporola of Krist and God and Heaven and Hell and the Fundamentalist or Catholic or Muslim or Jewish Crap and Bull Sh*t with another religion, this time worshiping “Nature” ? Don’t you understand that we should kill Nature and beat the living daylights out of it ? Isn’t that clear ? Don’t you know that we must destroy it all and change it all and manipulate it completely by building trillions of skyscrapers, Atom energy, Mind over Matter, Rockets to Mars, Giant Cadillacs, Pollution of all kinds, wild chemicals, and all such nice and beautiful and spiritual items that are not made up of Carbon Chemistry, that avoid Carbon atoms, since CARBON ATOMS ARE THE MARK OF THE BEAST ? Is that now clear to you ?
    You are completely crazy with this religious paranoia of the guy having glue in his mind, wow, and I though that there was something wrong with me, go figure…

  391. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 5:19 am #

    Spyder is like listening to Ornette Coleman. Better be payin’ attention.

  392. old69 July 27, 2011 at 5:40 am #

    We exist in as much as we are a measurement, a reciprocal measurement of another entity measuring us (or we imagine another entity measuring us) as in measurement is information, is the ability to interact with a chunk of new information that comes from the outside and the reciprocal action – reaction, and ever expanding set of actions and reactions, like a wave in a pound of measurements, awareness of others (or other sensations, thoughts, other people or their imagined minds and states and such) reciprocal information exchanges, reciprocal information relationships, that are always instantaneous, but how are they decomposed ? what makes up many, where is the start and end of a chunk of information ? where is the group of items representing an information placed ? what is measuring the very existence of information (as in who is keeping score), the delimitation, how is the barrier maintained, how does information not get confused and become a big blob of undistinguished goo, how is it mathematically delimited, and why not just add other items to create a new information item ?
    But how many items, and when and how do they interact between themselves, but are they one or separate ? and what define the boundary, what is separate and unity, distinguished and a monolithic slab of digits, and so on, what delimits, what is the new delimitation, why just put random items in a bag and consider it one as opposed to many ? and how does the electron know how to stay put and be one monolithic slab of Mass Energy ? why does it agree to be a certain delimitation, and how many measurements are needed to keep the electron stable with itself, so it knows how to stay put in one place in one moment of time ?
    On another note, what makes everyone think that working and jobs is the normal order of things ? Why on earth do “we need jobs” in the first place ? Exactly who defined a civilization according to a constant activity, 8 hours a day that is supposed to be a “job”, “work”, or something that is doing something for someone else ? How many activities do we really need ? isn’t “jobs” just mostly a make believe ? Isn’t it just a power structure ?
    So the entire idea of “creating jobs”, a “healthy economy” and such is flawed from the outset because it does not correspond to any reality, it is a make believe organization of society that we think should operate always. Actually the more unemployment and the fewer jobs, the better, the more successful the economy is becoming since all the talk of innovation, research and development, computers, optimization, automation, technology applied to all productive endeavors has the very simple and only goal of eliminating or streamlining effort for the achievement of any target, therefore jobs, so the less work the more successful the economy is, the healthier, the better, the more productive.
    Oh, I forgot, since we have to impose inequality and impose the fact that “you have to deserve it” and you “have to make a living”, then if you “don’t work”, you don’t get any free salaries and cheap rents, as that goes against a fairy tale model of society someone randomly and quirkily and flukely imposed on us all.
    In mathematics, zero is wrong, it should be eliminated, if there are no numbers, then you can’t put a place holder for something representing no numbers, zero is a metaphysical item, it is something that is going outside of the language of numbers, therefore all of our mathematics is wrong, that is why the infinities appear in quantum electrodynamics.

  393. cheekychews July 27, 2011 at 5:41 am #

    “Prove he balanced the budget…can you cite a credible source?”
    Oh, Asia! I asked you a question first!
    And I see you have moved from questioning data I showed on federal debt to the budget outcome … I don’t care.
    But I can wait for you … and in the meantime I refer you to the following:
    The chart I linked to in my first post shows the national debt increasing during Reagan/Bush 1 and reversing under Clinton. [In case you hadn’t figured it out the tinyurl address in the chart is a link to the source]
    http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af227/cheekychews/USGrossFederalDebtsince1945.jpg
    This little chart shows the budget outcome reversing from an increasing deficit to a surplus under Clinton.
    http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af227/cheekychews/USBudgetResults.jpg
    And here’s a table of the source data … refer to Table 1.3 and go to the period 1992 – 2000 and see.
    http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals/
    After you have digested that see if you can back up your suggestion that Clinton cooked the books.

  394. cheekychews July 27, 2011 at 5:45 am #

    I give you another view of the debt crisis from across the pond.
    http://theconversation.edu.au/us-austerity-politics-playing-on-default-fears-mask-a-looming-problem-2100
    Another article looks at the hands being played by Obama and the Boehner.
    http://theconversation.edu.au/us-debt-crisis-dont-be-surprised-if-republicans-get-a-bit-crazy-2543
    I found this noteworthy – “Hats off to the Tea Party for bringing about that change because regardless of the current crisis, the US is heading for fiscal disaster unless it stops spending more than it taxes.”
    I don’t know that the Tea Party has said anything new … it is A grade motherhood to say a country cannot continue to spend more than it taxes.
    The issue is “what is the spend and what is the tax?”
    It seems to me that the budget mess which has really blown up to grand proportions over the last 10 years has not been caused by the least wealthy citizens, yet they have been hit hard by it. And it seems that the Republicans are playing hard ball in resisting the end of the tax cuts on the top 2% income earners, while demanding further sacrifice by the least wealthy.
    What’s the ethical equation here?

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  395. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 5:50 am #

    Think of your brain as an inviolate smooth expanse of virgin vinyl. Your life experiences cut the grooves in the disc. Your disc becomes your completely unique program for your life.
    …uhh, don’t scratch it too many times or there will be distortion.
    Really,
    Ritchie Blackmore

  396. xhalor July 27, 2011 at 6:00 am #

    OK. One last time,
    Socialism for the rich.
    Free Enterprise for the poor.
    Happy Hanukkah

  397. messianicdruid July 27, 2011 at 7:16 am #

    “You’re “drinking the kool-aid”, md.”
    No, I was contrasting “what we are told” {ie: propoganda} with what we can all see right in front of our eyes.
    Why is it any time one points out the lies of one side they are automatically assigned to {and vilified for supporting the lies of} the other side?

  398. lbendet July 27, 2011 at 7:32 am #

    Wake up, Soak,
    Don’t just blame the Republicans when it comes to these awful trade deals….
    You need to understand that, although I agree with you that “W” was especially bad and not up to the job, we have been going in the direction of exporting our jobs to slave labor markets for many a year, and that each administration starting with Nixon and Kissinger were going in this direction.
    As we speak, Obama is trying to push 3 trade deals that will continue to hurt our job market at home, even if he pays the Neoliberal lip service to the contrary. It’s a big lie and both parties want this. The Democrats are as bad as any Republican. It’s all about our broken political system that allows big money to sway the congressional votes.
    Each of these trade deals are good for the S. Koreans, Colombians (anti-labor deal with the murdering of labor organizers) and Panama.–not us.
    As Dylan Ratigan points out, our business lobbyists are behind all this as they destroy the future of America for their giant profits.
    Call your congressman and Senators to vote no on these bills. They are a disaster and Obama is pushing them. This is the end of US labor and a flattening of wages to match the thrid world. Don’t believe me, you’ll see….

  399. old69 July 27, 2011 at 7:41 am #

    Bustin J says:
    “We ph*k like crazy, she comes 10 ten times like wild animals, etc. there are millions that ph*k like crazy, look at adultism and other p*rn websytes, all having wild fun, but most of all we do it to punish you, to torture you, so you can get ever more angry with Rage, Violence, jealousy, you can become ever more Impotent, Small, a Shrinking Violet, a Failure, ever more crushed, you name it, so there, that is our fun, no go on torture yourself ever more since you will never have any, go on, nut case”.
    I answer:
    Where does the mathematics of pain and pleasure exist ? Who or what is keeping score ? why is what happens at point A important for point B (or what happens at point B) (a point being a delimitation in space and/or time and or any other single one bit digit distinguishing itself from another (but who is doing the distinction, where does this distinction exist, and where is “where” itself, and furthermore where is “exist” itself, or instead of where is it “when” or is it some other category not linked to space (where) and time (when) but a third, then fourth, then trillionth and so on)).
    And why do you put words in my mouth ? Why are you signing in with my handle and writing things so it looks like I am writing them ? Or are you a sock puppet ? And why is Vlad and soak (or asoka) the same person acting like a sock puppet ? Why does everyone put false words in the mouths of everyone else so as to confuse identities (nay all anonymous cowards with no identities, therefore no responsibility, all abstract internet entities with no substance, not made up of matter but Reciprocal Information Relationships, therefore essentially dead, the dead making believe they are alive) ?
    So stop putting words in my mouth San Jose Mommy, and Alexandra and Bustin J, I would never say all of those dirty things you try to make me say, I would never write 99 % of the huge crap you all sign in and make me say. You all use my handle as to let out your real selves, to be finally free to show what you really all are, and namely you all want to kill, hate, punish, you are all crazy.

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  400. old69 July 27, 2011 at 8:05 am #

    GOD I WAS ENJOYING MY ABSENCE
    Well, I explained that the entire idea of work, labor, jobs, economic health, “a healthy economy”, a “functioning economy” are truly undefined, are make believe, are not defined in any meaningful way, the entire “science” of economy and such other “sciences” like law, psychology, sociology are all false sciences, fake sciences, have no inherent laws within them, but are mostly cultural expressions, cultural choices, we invent some laws or some logic or some rules of engagement and them make believe that they are hard laws of reality just like the laws of physics and pretend to call it a science. Nothing further from the truth.
    The item making up the entity being studied can’t study itself and find out its on laws since said item will just invent them and then make believe that they are laws. So, it is like an electron that wants to “study itself”, that can’t be done, the electron can be studied by something outside of itself, by Man – an aggregated ensemble of billions of electrons, protons and neutrons acting like one and discovering the “laws of physics”. But then isn’t that the same as economics, the item studying itself is made up of itself ? Then science doesn’t exist at all and is just an invention and make believe in all cases ? Hmmm, very strange.
    Anyways, the entire idea of “an economy generates jobs” is false, especially when you have so many non-linearities like random free wills always changing the rules of the game in the form of powerful global decisions through corporations, political choices, financial entities and technology being applied to the economy therefore always changing the rules, etc.
    So is the idea that X number of jobs will or should be created etc. How can the number of jobs or what jobs be defined and imagined from the outset ? In what sense is it normal to have a “working population” of 100 million in the USA ? Why is that normal ? What defines normal ? probably, with all the technology applied seriously, you wouldn’t need more than about 30 million jobs top to run and produce all the real necessities of the USA. Jobs are created through a simple action and reaction of forces interacting and sometimes needing other people to increase profits, end of story. Then you have millions of jobs that are defined culturally, artistically, as a pure political – bureaucratic choice, like schools, universities, military, tourism etc.
    Now I didn’t say anything of what you read, I never said anything at all, it is always someone else putting words in my mouth.
    But I was enjoying my absence from these blogs and forums.

  401. old69 July 27, 2011 at 8:09 am #

    GOD I WAS ENJOYING MY ABSENCE
    Well, I explained that the entire idea of work, labor, jobs, economic health, “a healthy economy”, a “functioning economy” are truly undefined, are make believe, are not defined in any meaningful way, the entire “science” of economy and such other “sciences” like law, psychology, sociology are all false sciences, fake sciences, have no inherent laws within them, but are mostly cultural expressions, cultural choices, we invent some laws or some logic or some rules of engagement and them make believe that they are hard laws of reality just like the laws of physics and pretend to call it a science. Nothing further from the truth.
    The item making up the entity being studied can’t study itself and find out its on laws since said item will just invent them and then make believe that they are laws. So, it is like an electron that wants to “study itself”, that can’t be done, the electron can be studied by something outside of itself, by Man – an aggregated ensemble of billions of electrons, protons and neutrons acting like one and discovering the “laws of physics”. But then isn’t that the same as economics, the item studying itself is made up of itself ? Then science doesn’t exist at all and is just an invention and make believe in all cases ? Hmmm, very strange.
    Anyways, the entire idea of “an economy generates jobs” is false, especially when you have so many non-linearities like random free wills always changing the rules of the game in the form of powerful global decisions through corporations, political choices, financial entities and technology being applied to the economy therefore always changing the rules, etc.
    So is the idea that X number of jobs will or should be created etc. How can the number of jobs or what jobs be defined and imagined from the outset ? In what sense is it normal to have a “working population” of 100 million in the USA ? Why is that normal ? What defines normal ? probably, with all the technology applied seriously, you wouldn’t need more than about 30 million jobs top to run and produce all the real necessities of the USA. Jobs are created through a simple action and reaction of forces interacting and sometimes needing other people to increase profits, end of story. Then you have millions of jobs that are defined culturally, artistically, as a pure political – bureaucratic choice, like schools, universities, military, tourism etc.
    Now I didn’t say anything of what you read, I never said anything at all, it is always someone else putting words in my mouth.
    But I was enjoying my absence from these blogs and forums.

  402. old69 July 27, 2011 at 8:12 am #

    Bustin J says:
    “We ph*k like crazy, she comes 10 ten times like wild animals, etc. there are millions that ph*k like crazy, look at adultism and other p*rn websytes, all having wild fun, but most of all we do it to punish you, to torture you, so you can get ever more angry with Rage, Violence, jealousy, you can become ever more Impotent, Small, a Shrinking Violet, a Failure, ever more crushed, you name it, so there, that is our fun, now go on torture yourself ever more since you will never have any, go on, nut case”.
    I answer:
    Where does the mathematics of pain and pleasure exist ? Who or what is keeping score ? why is what happens at point A important for point B (or what happens at point B) (a point being a delimitation in space and/or time and or any other single one bit digit distinguishing itself from another (but who is doing the distinction, where does this distinction exist, and where is “where” itself, and furthermore where is “exist” itself, or instead of where is it “when” or is it some other category not linked to space (where) and time (when) but a third, then fourth, then trillionth and so on)).
    And why do you put words in my mouth ? Why are you signing in with my handle and writing things so it looks like I am writing them ? Or are you a sock puppet ? And why is Vlad and soak (or asoka) the same person acting like a sock puppet ? Why does everyone put false words in the mouths of everyone else so as to confuse identities (nay all anonymous cowards with no identities, therefore no responsibility, all abstract internet entities with no substance, not made up of matter but Reciprocal Information Relationships, therefore essentially dead, the dead making believe they are alive) ?
    So stop putting words in my mouth San Jose Mommy, and Alexandra and Bustin J, I would never say all of those dirty things you try to make me say, I would never write 99 % of the huge crap you all sign in and make me say. You all use my handle as to let out your real selves, to be finally free to show what you really all are, and namely you all want to kill, hate, punish, you are all crazy.

  403. ozone July 27, 2011 at 8:22 am #

    “…you are all crazy.” -Aged86’ed
    Ohhhhhhhhhhhh-kay then.
    Put down the other 50 hits of pure blotter acid and back awaaaaay from the keyboard. Easy now, eeeeasy… let us help you get this nice warm jacket on, then we’ll take a little ride in a long white car; it’ll clear your head… you’ll see.

  404. old69 July 27, 2011 at 8:27 am #

    Jesus Speaks to Little Children.
    From:
    http://forums.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=175781
    Philosophical Problem
    Unemployment, Economic Recession, Jobless growth, you name it, all of these problems are essentially Artistic, Aesthetic, Philosophical, Metaphysical problems, nay, Religious problems essentially: In an economy that is mostly optional based, consumerist, fun and games based since most of the real necessary parts of the economy have been optimized, automated, you name it, what is really left are just mostly rituals to perform, optional rituals, which rituals are chosen as valuable, which are arbitrarily chosen as producing some results(none of them produce results, they are all just imaginary values and results attached to imaginary rituals, repetitive patterns of behaviors and activities and physical and/or informational manipulations – transformations that just repeat a similar sequence of activities over and over again with some slight changes, just like writing these blogs and blocks of text, that are connected to exchanges of money, to transactions, but there are no real necessities behind them like agriculture or manufacturing).

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  405. old69 July 27, 2011 at 8:28 am #

    Just think agriculture in the developed world gives work to 2 % of the working population, manufacturing only to about 20 % at most, so what is left are cultural choices, pure random quirky fun and game choices based on nothing at all but artistic and aesthetical choices like Movies, Music, TV, Internet, Finance, Lawyers, etc.
    Like which rituals are attached to what transactions of money and goods, how are the separate economic circuits connected, from necessary to fluff and fun and games, but since each ritual corresponding to an economic exchange, an exchange of money, a transaction has a counter attached to it, a score keeping system that corresponds to profit and how much you can gain from how little input you put in to play out or produce each ritual, then they automatically become optimized and automated or whatever and then kill the jobs associated with them. Like agriculture, the most important necessity has been optimized to employ not more than 2 % of the population, manufacturing, which already starts to become somewhat optional as the products chosen start to become designs, styles, artistic choices associated with some real necessities, etc. like a simple car and then a luxury car, a simple house but then a McMansion, a simple kitchen and then a high class one full of options and fluff etc. but still tied to necessities, well even in manufacturing only about 20 % of the workforce is employed: the rest is employed in mostly fun and games, options, or some kinds of necessities that become forced and used as weapons to crush (since there are no longer any necessities hiring workers) like health care costs going sky high, House costs going sky high, maybe Water in the future, etc.
    So, the real problem today, the real economic problem is purely cultural, artistic, aesthetic, really philosophical and metaphysical: which rituals and associated symbols are supposed to be valuable (always for no reason at all), what fun and games are worth playing and paying for, who or what decides (aside from the typical marketing based, brainwashing based consensus based decisions where millions are brainwashed that a turd is worth millions of dollars and buy into it, like housing, which is just a box and the prices going ever higher for no reason at all, IPHONE (just a cheap computer), health care, which is mostly routine and well known old fashioned rituals that go sky high because everyone has been brainwashed that there is some kind of scarcity going on, etc)?
    Even the capitalists are mostly naive on all of this, they just operate in cruise control making believe everything is still like the 20th century, production – innovation – jobs, the fairy tale, the previous repeated patterns forever, but they are dead wrong, the game has changed forever, the pattern interrupted, now it is completely unknown what on earth millions of unemployed are supposed to do and in fact work and labor keep people from fighting, keep them from discovering the real bottom line that people are mostly and simply defined as enemies, as fights, as contrasts, as contentions, as repressed and pent up desire to beat the living daylights out of everyone else, but the jobs and rituals should hide this real essence of Man that is a Turd and just wants to fight and hate and beat each other up, but if no rituals are available anymore hiring people, they will fight it off and kill each other.
    But then what is a ritual and what isn’t ? What is a necessity and what isn’t ? As Man is the Infinitely Programmable Machine anything can be defined valid and worthy of doing and anything else not, so in theory you could have a trillion new jobs all based on a trillion new oddball, the more insane the better, the more quirky and irrational the better rituals, repetitive patterns, or even not repetitive patterns, etc. so then there has never been so many potential jobs as today ? Maybe even just watching TV or simply sleeping can be defined a job, maybe all the dead are workers, doing nothing at all is ok, is an accepted profession, just do absolutely nothing 24 hours a day for trillions of years, you better like to get bored, that is the new normal, the new job, just punch the card every 1 trillion years, etc. or maybe war is the new normal, or unemployment and talking about an imaginary economic crisis is the new ritual and job, paid or not, whatever…
    AMEN.
    Quo Vadis, baby ?

  406. budizwiser July 27, 2011 at 8:35 am #

    JK – another jab at the “nobody knows” premise.
    I know this is an old piece – but re-read it for some blood churning dr pepper…..
    Names – people – the who got screwed – where are the pitch forks – err rifles?
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-real-causes-of-the-economic-crisis-theyre-history/2011/06/27/AG2nK4pH_story.html

  407. Dostoyevsky July 27, 2011 at 8:52 am #

    Old69
    There there its alright, put your walking stick down slowly on the table, slowly , slowly, that’s a good boy. Now you sit down on the sofa and take a load off and relax and I’ll fetch your medication.
    Easy does it, only take 4 tablets no more, don’t choke, swallow it all down slowly.
    Well done there’s a good boy now.
    Feeling better? Ofcourse you are! Lie back and close your eyes… breathe deeply… and slowly… in and out… in… and out.
    There all better.

  408. soak July 27, 2011 at 8:52 am #

    Don’t believe me, you’ll see….
    —————
    Lbendet, I do believe you. I hope CAFTA can be stopped.
    I have written to Obama to tell him not to approve the trade deal with Colombia, which has murdered more union leaders than all the other countries of the world combined.

  409. soak July 27, 2011 at 9:06 am #

    To metuselah: Still believe the fix is in? When? For whom?
    To P,C: Still believe a last minute deal will be passed?
    For everyone: Who benefits from default? Who benefits from a downgraded credit rating? Who benefits from higher interest rates? Who benefits from cuts in social programs?

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  410. rippedthunder July 27, 2011 at 9:37 am #

    Yo Vlad, e-mail me your address, Ima gonna sen ya dis t-shirt
    http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/slavery-gets-shit-done/

  411. soak July 27, 2011 at 9:44 am #

    To lbendet: You posted the Hudson interview and he said a default would not be allowed. I called Hudson on that.
    Do you still think Hudson is right?
    The sides are farther apart now. Boehner cannot get a plan passed in a Republican-controlled House. If he does, the Senate won’t pass it. If it does, the President won’t sign it.
    Who is looking most prescient now, Hudson or Asoka?

  412. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 10:19 am #

    The Olde Spider Soixante-Neuf is back!
    http://www.thefreedictionary.com/soixante-neuf
    This is beyond the power of TrollControl to fix.
    We need James Howard Kunstler.
    Calling James Howard Kunstler.
    (or his tech support guy?)
    We have a problem that only you can solve.

  413. rippedthunder July 27, 2011 at 10:37 am #

    OH PROG, I love it when you speak French!
    http://pollyvousfrancais.blogspot.com/2007/05/addams-family-was-one-of-those-1960s-tv.html

  414. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 11:04 am #

    “As we speak, Obama is trying to push 3 trade deals that will continue to hurt our job market”
    -lbend-
    Obama’s problem – like that of any other politician – is that he wants a second term, campaign money, and the approval of others – more than he wants to do what is good for the average citizen of the US.
    And now, there is convincing evidence building that Obama has NEVER cared for the average citizen of the US.
    ==================
    “To lbendet: You posted the Hudson interview and he said a default would not be allowed. I called Hudson on that.
    Do you still think Hudson is right?”
    -soak-
    My personal opinion continues to be that some sort of last minute deal will be reached on this latest debt ceiling debacle. But, here’s the thing:
    IT WILL NOT MATTER IN THE LONG RUN.
    In the long run, the situation of the US is unsustainable. Policies were put in place 1980 forward – accompanied by excellent propaganda – and the Country has been sliding downhill to the point of default ever since.
    The TEA’s and their minions have put their little feet down, right now. Maybe they’ll make it stick and we’ll have a short term default and better policies going forward. Seems as unlikely as space aliens landing on the capitol grounds – but it’s vaguely possible.
    Or the TEA’s will cave – the US will paper over our problems for another few months or a year or two – – –
    But, regarding the LONG-term solvency of the US
    “the hand writing is on the wall…”
    -book of Daniel-

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  415. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 11:06 am #

    I read your link, and agree with the analysis, but not the prescription.
    Ironically, spider nails it better than the experts.
    We are so productive that there is no need for 150 million workers in the US.
    So they blame the lazy, the stupid, the uneducated, etc., for that which is a structural problem.
    We don’t have enough work to be done to give “jobs” to 150 million people at 40 hours/week.
    And increasing productivity will only lead to fewer “jobs” and more destruction of our ecosystem.
    Spider’s solutions-building skyscraper to Mars, etc. will not work either.
    We need de-industrialization, more people working less land, and a sharing of the products of our labor. And a massive birth control effort.
    We need Buddhist economics.
    http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/buddhist_economics/english.html

  416. San Jose Mom 51 July 27, 2011 at 11:41 am #

    Thanks for sharing the “Buddhist Economics” link.
    Thought provoking.

  417. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 11:48 am #

    The debt ceiling hoopla is an example of how we really can’t figure out what the ruling class is up to.
    They are playing chess and we think they are playing checkers.
    We assume that they would not deliberately harm Americans, or small businesses or that they would destroy the environment that we all depend on.
    We have no basis for that belief.
    I remember believing that they would reward Hilary Clinton with the Democratic nomination, for all Bill and her service to the ruling class.
    Wrong. They went with the Black guy with the populist rhetoric.
    Brilliant! They still have people fooled! As Obama eagerly destroys the last of the New Deal, there are millions of Democrats truly believing that in his next term, we will all be saved.
    It’s very possible that Ian807 nailed it, (upthread) and they are planning to more rapidly bring American workers to Chinese wages, fighting China without using nuclear bombs.
    It reminds me of 9-11. The most common reason people give for not believing the evidence of their own eyes, is that “they would never hurt Americans”.
    Really? How many Americans have to end up in the streets, begging for alms, before that belief is abandoned?

  418. Al Klein July 27, 2011 at 11:51 am #

    Old69, your observations are quite compelling. Ultimately most of our our pain is the result of cultural norms which are mostly optional. Ergo, our suffering is self-induced as a result of our interpretation of reality. This is congruent with fundamental message of mahayana Buddhism, which, frankly, looks increasingly rational. The current zeitgeist reeks of misanthropy and masochism. This is reflected in our group attitude. No more “Possunt quia posse videntur.”

  419. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 11:53 am #

    You’re welcome.
    There are prescient people in each generation. Who are ignored.
    Chris Hedges’ latest article is pretty good. He attacks the idea that humans are on a linear trip of improvement.
    Although, as a typical American, I tend to lean that way, I also know that we can equally return to feudalism and the Dark Ages.
    And if I look at certain trends, I can see a very strong push by the ruling class to move us in that direction.

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  420. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 11:57 am #

    Whoops! I meant to say that we assume that they would NOT destroy the environment on which we depend, but we have no basis for that belief.

  421. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 12:00 pm #

    OK, soak, I give up.
    What’s your analysis?
    But, if it’s that Obama is trying to save us from the evil Republicans, never mind.

  422. bossier22 July 27, 2011 at 12:09 pm #

    We spent money that could have been spent on nasa importing poor people from the third world and fighting corporate wars.

  423. bossier22 July 27, 2011 at 12:28 pm #

    nasa is a government program that actually accomplished its mission at one time. It helped stimulate general technology development. It also inspired the nation when we actually had a nation that could appreciate accomplishment. Now its mission is recognize muslim contribution. What a joke.

  424. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 12:28 pm #

    That was ProC’s writing……..
    Pro, Trolkle called you a fool!
    -asia-
    Asia,
    Yeah, I noticed that “fool,” calling. Of course you called him “Trolkle.” That’s funnier!
    Eluthero originated this prose, I copied it, so did you – so actually I’m only a third derivative TurkFool, or whatever. hehe
    “‘The Bay Area is America’s Yugoslavia because like the old Yugoslavia, all these merging ethnicities do NOT interact with the pre-existing Anglo culture and, indeed, they even try to do all their BUSINESS with people of their own tribe”
    -Eleuthero, quoted by asia and P,C-
    So, Turk – that was an interesting counterpoint, and I get your point – but I’m not seeing things as quite so lovely, where I live in Atlanta, GA.
    And YEAH, no doubt, most larger business environments are pretty well integrated. But housing in Atlanta is hugely stratified by race and class. And what asia mentions – small businessmen who only want to deal with their own race – that’s a pretty common phenomenon among the various Asian subcultures and the various South and Central American subcultures around here. Is SF really a whole lot better?
    Turk – you’re a “classic liberal.” You’ve posted some good stuff on taxation and economics. But – you need to try to consider the possibility that classical liberalism has it WRONG when it comes to the eventual success or failure of multiculturalism.
    Think about what “could” happen, even in lovely SF – if the power went out and the police lost control of the situation for a week or so – – – under stress, people will react and stratify by race, class, religion or something – it’s a survival strategy that predates civilization.
    I’m not arguing that the US has a whole lot of options, right now – except to pray for lots and lots of time for multiculturalism to work it’s way through to some sort of resolution while Economic Good Times last.
    And to reduce immigration to “replacement level” until we get our economic, and social, and energy issues – somewhat solved.
    What do you think, Turk?

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  425. soak July 27, 2011 at 12:44 pm #

    I think CENSORED is trying to save us from CENSORED. TPTB will CENSORED and the puppets will CENSORED until the Trilateral Commission and the Council of Foreign Relations CENSORED.
    In other words, don’t ask for analysis and censor the response in advance.

  426. ccm989 July 27, 2011 at 1:04 pm #

    The real purpose of the Tea Party is help the super rich become even more powerful and wealthy. To create a plutocracy. The sycophants of the Tea Party assume that the super rich will take care of them. But that is where the TP’s assumption is wrong. The rich take care of themselves. They have no interest in anyone else. Anyone else is just a future starving serf. The rich believe neither in charity or pity.
    The clock is ticking relentlessly toward Aug. 2nd. Be prepared for the worst. And don’t forget to thank you local Tea Party for being the straw that broke America’s back.

  427. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 1:37 pm #

    That’s close, CCM –
    “The sycophants of the Tea Party assume that the super rich will take care of them.”
    But, IMO, the sycophants of the TEA Party already think they ARE the super rich. The propaganda started before Reagan, perhaps – but those “supply-siders” perfected it to the point that the TEA’s all think of themselves as Entrepreneurs, Investors, and soon to be Wealthy Persons Who Need a Tax Cut.
    weirdly. effective. propaganda.
    Wonder if Fab/Toot could explain how it works without invective?

  428. Dasviking July 27, 2011 at 1:43 pm #

    “C” the tea party is the one ballzy enough to bring this ongoing potential crisis that has been going on for decades to a head…..it’s better to do it today so future generations being spared this madness will look upon this generation as well….hero’s…….time to reset

  429. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 1:53 pm #

    “”C” the tea party is the one ballzy”
    -the viking-
    Maybe, viking. But what about the FACT that the US was most prosperous pre-Kennedy, when the highest marginal Federal tax rates were 90%.
    And I’d think the TEA Partiers would want to consider defense spending and our 100’s of bases and golf courses around the world –
    If they were serious about reducing spending.
    (leaving aside the idea of how the average TEA partier is on SS/Medicare, or soon will be – as they clamor to reduce “entitlements.)

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  430. Dasviking July 27, 2011 at 1:59 pm #

    If you thought outsourcin­g was a problem now, just put that 90% tax rate in place and watch the companies and CEOs leave this country….. FYI, the top 50% of wage earners pay 97% of the taxes already…… without them this country would be gone…….

  431. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 2:22 pm #

    Look, viking – the 90% rate WAS in place – in the 1960’s – when the US WAS prosperous. That’s just an historical fact. You cannot deny facts, can you?
    “FYI, the top 50% of wage earners pay 97% of the taxes already.” -viking-
    You need to change the word “wage” to “income,” man.
    Because most of the top, top income earners do not earn “wages,” on which they pay marginal income taxes and SOCIAL SECURITY.
    Most of the top income earners receive dividends and capital gains – which are taxed at a maximum rate of 15%.
    How do I know this? Because I manage rental properties – and I know how to read (and UNDERSTAND) the effects of US tax law.
    Now, viking, I’d be happy to hear from YOU, about your own income situation. But if you are just going to give me the super wealthy Rush/Hannity talking point answer – –
    then. never. mind.
    thanks.

  432. Cash July 27, 2011 at 2:25 pm #

    He is great. One kickass solo in around the 3 minute mark in Play That Damned Guitar.
    One thing that’s a mystery to me is where music comes from. I love listening to it but couldn’t create it even if my life depended on it. I read somewhere that “Keef” Richards was asleep, dreamt the riff in “Satisfaction”, woke up, got his guitar, recorded it on some rinky dink tape recorder. WTF? How does that happen? Pick any composer. I just don’t “get” where it comes from.

  433. Cash July 27, 2011 at 2:29 pm #

    Man oh man. What kind of neurology does that take?

  434. messianicdruid July 27, 2011 at 2:33 pm #

    “…it’s better to do it today so future generations being spared this madness…”
    The “it” is:
    1. Nationalize the FED, so it is truly a FEDERAL Reserve.
    2. Convert all FRNs (i.e., debt notes) into real interest-free money.
    3. Convert all bonds to real money, except those held by the FED itself. All of their bonds should be confiscated by the US Treasury and cancelled out.
    4. Declare a Jubilee. Then everyone owns their own homes and cars, and there are plenty of empty homes for the homeless. (Private loans may be compensated by the government.)
    Chaos? Yes, of course. Bad? Only for the FED and its owners. As the tower of Babel falls, there will certainly be some chaos. But the alternative is to live in its shadow as perpetual slaves of mattoids unknown to us.
    So while Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum fight over their different solutions to the debt crisis, keep in mind these proposals will NOT work in the long run.
    The Democratic Plan would last longer, but would put the people in greater bondage through taxes. The Republican Plan would cut taxes and reverse the flow of money from the Stimulus packages from recent years. This would cause the greatest Depression ever seen on the Planet.
    There is an actual solution, if anyone is interested. Most people know nothing about it, having never studied biblical law. Even judeo-christians have been taught to despise the law, and hence, they seldom study it and hardly ever understand the little they read.
    But this is the plan that will be implemented in the end. The Babylonian system was always unsustainable; the seeds of its own destruction were sown at the very beginning. Bankers thought that they could take over the world, with usury as their weapon of choice. But at the pinnacle of their success, they will fail through arrogance, pride, and our repentance {changed mind}.

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  435. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 2:35 pm #

    You disappoint me, soak.
    I had strongly agreed with Michael Hudson’s assessment of the situation, (that the ruling class would never not raise the debt ceiling, because it would destroy commerce in the US), until I read Ian’s assessment, which made even more sense to me.
    Then you imply that you also have a view.
    I was very interested in what that view was.
    But not if it was more Obama cheerleading. Especially because I was just watching the link someone provided, in which they pointed out that Obama, at a dinner with neocons at George Will’s house early on, assured the neocons that he planned to go after Social Security and Medicare.
    And that the Republicans were going for $2 trillion cuts, but Obama pushed for $4 trillion. And that Obama was the one that brought up Social Security and Medicare, not the Republicans.
    So if all you’ve got is that Obama is playing chess and trying to protect the little people, never mind.

  436. Dasviking July 27, 2011 at 2:42 pm #

    “Look, viking – the 90% rate WAS in place – in the 1960’s – when the US WAS prosperous. That’s just an historical fact. You cannot deny facts, can you?”
    A whole different set of circumstances today compared to the 50’s and early 60’s…..
    “FYI, the top 50% of wage earners pay 97% of the taxes already.” -viking-
    “You need to change the word “wage” to “income,” man.
    Because most of the top, top income earners do not earn “wages,” on which they pay marginal income taxes and SOCIAL SECURITY.”
    Hahahahaha….ok…i mean income………..the bottom line is follow the money…a country needs money…nurture it…care for it ….don’t abuse it with high taxes so that governments can spend it in ways i or anyone else don’t approve of?…..remember i never was hired by a poor man…….and i bet you never where either
    “Most of the top income earners receive dividends and capital gains – which are taxed at a maximum rate of 15%.”
    So what do they do with all that money from dividents and capital gains???
    How do I know this? Because I manage rental properties – and I know how to read (and UNDERSTAND) the effects of US tax law.
    we need more competitive corporate tax rates in order to be on top again………35% just don’t cut it in a global world
    “Now, viking, I’d be happy to hear from YOU, about your own income situation. But if you are just going to give me the super wealthy Rush/Hannity talking point answer – –
    then. never. mind.
    thanks.”
    I’m just a simple wage earner and tax payer working for a private company thats sustained by capital investments from rich people…i guess ……….

  437. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 2:43 pm #

    You can’t deny facts, can you? (Prog)
    The facts are not only that the US was most prosperous when the 90% tax rate was in effect, but that since the Reagan and then the Bush tax cuts, US industry has moved out of the US.
    How can you ignore 30 years of capital flight?
    How can you continue to spout right wing fantasy economics, when you live in a country being hollowed out by the very wealthy?

  438. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 2:48 pm #

    I forgot to give the link.
    http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7082
    And remember that it is Obama threatening the August Social Security checks of millions of people (the ones you regularly point out go out every month on time), even though Social Security has nothing to do with the federal deficit, Social Security has its own funding, and is still in the black.
    Obama was put in to do what the Republicans were unable to do, and he’s doing it so well that apologists like you don’t even acknowledge it!!!

  439. soak July 27, 2011 at 2:51 pm #

    It is very simple, Wage. To bring Obama down and prevent a second term, they are willing to crash the economy.
    There will be no last minute deal, as Hudson said.
    There will be no going after Social Security and Medicare, and I don’t believe Obama ever said that to the neocons.
    But there may yet be a solution: invoke the 14th amendment and act unilaterally to raise the debt ceiling. Social Security and Medicare will remain intact.

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  440. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 2:52 pm #

    It may interest you to know, Messianic, that even though I am an atheist, I brought up the concept of Jubilee on my radio show.
    Of course, I also brought up the game of Monopoly, to point out that when one person, or 1% of the people have all the wealth, the game is over and its time to reset.
    We can’t continue like this.

  441. messianicdruid July 27, 2011 at 2:57 pm #

    “He was a white Christian terrorist.”
    “Piecing together Breivik’s various posts on the Internet, many media reports have characterized the terrorist – who says he was upset over the multiculturalist policies stemming from Norway’s Labour Party – as a “right-wing, Christian fundamentalist.”
    Yet, while McVeigh rejected God altogether, Breivik writes in his manifesto that he is not religious, has doubts about God’s existence, does not pray, but does assert the primacy of Europe’s “Christian culture” as well as his own pagan Nordic culture.
    Breivik instead hails Charles Darwin, whose evolutionary theories stand in contrast to the claims of the Bible, and affirms: “As for the Church and science, it is essential that science takes an undisputed precedence over biblical teachings. Europe has always been the cradle of science, and it must always continue to be that way. Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I’m not an excessively religious man. I am first and foremost a man of logic. However, I am a supporter of a monocultural Christian Europe.”
    The terrorist also candidly admits he finds no support within either the Catholic or Protestant churches for his violent ideas.”
    Asoka: Will you candidly admit {again} you are full of ______ .
    http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=325765#ixzz1T83heV4q

  442. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 3:01 pm #

    So all those cui bono questions were just rhetoric?
    Check out the link I provided if you don’t believe that Obama said that.
    I really don’t care which puppet is next in the White House. This one has gone after my job.
    And the more ridiculous the whole election charade becomes, the earlier they start the propaganda.

  443. soak July 27, 2011 at 3:02 pm #

    OBAMA’S JOB APPROVAL AMONG DEMOCRATS
    Obama … 78 percent (July 18 to July 24, 2011)
    Clinton . 77 percent (July 20 to July 23, 1995) Carter .. 37 percent (July 13 to July 16, 1979) Johnson . 63 percent (July 13 to July 18, 1967) Kennedy . 77 percent (July 18 to July 23, 1963) Truman .. 76 percent (July 4 to July 9, 1947)
    Obama’s ratings may go up even more, but they already top all Democratic presidents back to 1947.

  444. jackieblue2u July 27, 2011 at 3:03 pm #

    Tripp don’t give a rip what you say or think about him.
    He knows who he is and he contributes alot to this blog, he can come and go as often as he wants.

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  445. Cash July 27, 2011 at 3:05 pm #

    DV, I would argue this: fuck ’em. Who needs ’em. I’ve spent (or mispent) my life in the corporate world and watched those asswipes wreck what was once a productive North American economy. And I shouldn’t act all innocent in this either given that I made my money there.
    I hope they go to China. They’ll soon enough find out what the score is. They’ll find out who has power and who hasn’t and that it ain’t them. I’ll be delighted to watch and laugh while those hard little men in Beijing pick their bones clean.

  446. Bustin J July 27, 2011 at 3:05 pm #

    oldie said, “Hey Bustin J, what is it with you anti-religious stuff ? Are you crazy or what ? And why did you substitute the good old fashioned craporola of Krist and God and Heaven and Hell and the Fundamentalist or Catholic or Muslim or Jewish Crap and Bull Sh*t with another religion, this time worshiping “Nature” ? Don’t you understand that we should kill Nature and beat the living daylights out of it ? Isn’t that clear ?”
    Not at all, Oldie. Although it seems as though Nature has doctrines (in competition with religious doctrines), that is a fiction of human perception. As an athiest, every time I lay down in the daises, I am blissfully aware that the daises are also athiests, as are the trees, the birds, and all the insects and other creatures. I am merely throwing in with my tribe when I reject all anthropocentric doctrines and exalt nature.
    Olde also saith: “GOD I WAS ENJOYING MY ABSENCE”
    I midread that at first, I thought it read: “GOD I WAS ENJOYING MY ABSINTHE”… and suddenly all your posts made sense in this context…

  447. soak July 27, 2011 at 3:15 pm #

    Breivik was raised as a Christian in a Christian culture, and Christian conditioning goes deep, especially when Christians get their hands on young ones early. Breivik, in his manifesto, writes of al Qaeda with admiration, as if he would love to create a Christian version of their religious cadre. Though he only occasionally quotes scripture, and admires the church in Norway largely as a cultural center for Christendom, he is captivated by Christian history. Breivik is fascinated with the Crusades and imagines himself to be a member of the Knights Templar, the crusader army of a thousand years ago. He would like to have a Christian army comparable to al Qaeda’s Muslim militia. McVeigh was fixed on the day of April 19, the anniversary of the Waco siege. Breivik chose July 22, which was the day in 1099 that the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established during the First Crusades. The date, 2083, that is the title of his manifesto, is the date (400 years later) of the Battle of Vienna in which the armies of the Ottoman Empire were defeated and Europe was prevented from becoming a Muslim territory.
    Brievik is a Christian terrorist.

  448. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 3:16 pm #

    Check out today’s Democracy Now for testimony from someone actually reading the 1500 page manifesto.
    http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/27/norwegian_shooting_suspects_views_echo_xenophobia

  449. BeantownBill July 27, 2011 at 3:19 pm #

    This very freaky. You must be my driving twin. When I get into the city, I drive VERY aggresively. I tell my wife that when I grow up I want to be a NYC cab driver.
    We’ve been to California many times. On one of our trips, in 1987, I remember driving in San Diego. I was approaching a crosswalk, and a pedestrian was just stepping off the curb into the crosswalk. She made the mistake of assuming I would stop, because I was supposed to. Bad error. She screamed at me as I whizzed by her 6 inches away. She couldn’t hear me, but I said something like, “What do you expect, I’m from Boston, baby!” In Boston, pedestrians and drivers play chicken games; sometimes the pedestrians win, but when they lose… let’s just say it makes the evening news.

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  450. turkle July 27, 2011 at 3:23 pm #

    You want to talk racial violence? Ok.
    Remember World Wars I and II? Do you recall the race of all the primary players in the European theater? They were all WHITE. But even though they share the same race, they managed to kill almost 80 million of each other (give or take). They even share(d) Western culture, though that means less than you probably think it does.
    And here you are complaining about the supposedly scary brown people who probably haven’t laid a finger on you.
    Heck, this Norwegian nutcase was white and killed a bunch of his own people, even though he was supposedly rabidly against Muslims. Oops.
    “small businessmen who only want to deal with their own race”
    Where is the evidence for this besides your hand waving and vague anecdotes? Any sane business will deal just fine with all customers, whether they be pink, brown, beige, or purple. Their money is the same color. I see this all the time in the Bay Area. Furthermore, you cannot legally discriminate against a customer based on race, and, as far as I know, most businesses would be loath to do it. They could face legal action, not to mention a really bad hit in their reputation.
    And as for the Mad Max future scenarios, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. In the meantime, things are going along fine, and I haven’t been attacked by any roving gangs of minorities lately.
    One of the classical virtues of liberalism is tolerance. That means I accept that other people have different backgrounds, languages, views, cultures, religions, etc. I am perfectly happy to live alongside and with people who are different from me. I’ll even accept the fact that some of these people hold beliefs that I find nonsensical (e.g. religion).
    But it doesn’t mean I condone them (or anyone) committing serious crimes. Whatever gave you that idea? It is a conclusion people like you often jump to erroneously.
    Anyways, California’s problems at this point seem mostly financial to me. Yes, there are racial undercurrents, but from what I can tell everyone here gets along pretty well on a day-to-day basis. It is no Yugoslavia in the making.

  451. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 3:31 pm #

    What’s your point?
    All that says to me is that today’s Democrats are unable to see their own interests and that of the rest of their compatriots in America ahead of their rah rah team spirit.
    Must be the effect of years of TV sports viewing.

  452. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 3:34 pm #

    I remember driving my friend from San Jose to San Francisco one time.
    The entire trip on 280, I drove my usual 55mph, staying in the right lane and watching out for trucks.
    When we got to San Francisco, I made sure that I got where I was going, even though other drivers tried to stop me.
    My friend was white knuckled! She wanted to know why I drove like an old lady on the freeway and a maniac in the city!

  453. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 3:37 pm #

    But I always stop for pedestrians and bicyclists!
    When my daughter lived in Maine, I believe that they referred to Boston drivers as “Massholes”.

  454. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 3:39 pm #

    You lay in the daisies?
    There must be no chiggers where you live!

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  455. jackieblue2u July 27, 2011 at 3:40 pm #

    Better luck next time ! I am asleep so I many never be first.
    all you have to do is type First ! then send, and then post your blog.
    you can do it.

  456. Vlad Krandz July 27, 2011 at 3:41 pm #

    Breivik was a Mason and no major Christian Denomination accepts that one can be both a Mason and a Christian. As you may or may not know, Masons fancy themselves the lost remnant of the Knights Templars. Breivik was apparently involved in a small violent group that fancied itself an activist wing of the long lost Templars. It all fits in a very tortured way in his mind.
    The most interesting thing he said in his video (haven’t waded thru the Manifesto) is that it’s too late to democratically stop the invasion. In this I believe he is correct. So it’s either war or capitualtion. It Europe awakes, fights, and wins – Breivik will someday be seen as a Hero, a latter day Charles Martel. If the West continues to sleep, then it will become Muslim and Breivik will be seen as another crusader who fought Islam – indirectly by attacking Islam’s Liberal allies.
    “Conservatives” or “Liberals” who want the status quo are living in a fantasy. This cannot last. The Muslims will dominate – they’ve done in countless times before. In this Breivik is correct. The unwillingness to act CREATES men like Breivik. You people drove him to madness and atrocity.
    Note: the Church suppressed the Knights Templar but some admit unwisely and for political reasons. There is a twilight world of Catholic Crusader Organizations – most just committed to ceremony and pomp but some with money and influence. Some of these People may have unoffical sympathy for Breivik despite his Masonry.

  457. jackieblue2u July 27, 2011 at 3:51 pm #

    You don’t have to say where you live.
    Most know I live around the Central Ca Coast.
    Where we DO have a growing gang problem.
    and everytime I watch the news, Police are getting laid off. more and more.
    Watsonville is getting worse and Salinas has always had major gang problems.
    Gangsters knock down little ‘ol ladies in parking lots, and take their purses. Isn’t that special?
    Shooting In Target Parking lot. One killed, gf wounded.
    Dammit Target has great tasting popcorn.
    (I used to live in Watsonville years ago.)
    I feel for sure that the hispanic girls dispise caucasian women. One almost sicked her gang of guys on me. Mind you these are ‘kids’ but they kill.
    I don’t know the solution or if their is one.
    Their are parts of California that do not have gang problems. Like Auburn, because the Men up there would just take ’em out and be done with it.
    this sounds heartless but sometimes I feel this way and I know they do.
    If only they had something to do with their time other than Kill people. They won’t. it won’t change. I don’t know. I don’t study this so much.
    Andrew Vachss does, he is online.
    CA has major money problems. Major. Cutbacks everywhere, city workers, police, etc.
    It’s here. TS IS HITTING TF.
    I need to be off and running errands now.

  458. Dolan Williams July 27, 2011 at 3:54 pm #

    Turkle, I live in the Los Angeles area and I have to agree with you about the cultural and racial stability of California in general. As a matter of fact, I’m amazed every day at the diversity of people who live within just a few miles of my house. The fact is that California’s current problems are financial in nature (excluding the horrible traffic). I’m not saying that we could not have terrible social upheavals if the American economy were to melt down but it would all be about the money (or the lack thereof). By the way, both my son and daughter recently lost their jobs and have joined the ranks of California’s unemployed. This state’s economy is definitely in the tank.

  459. jackieblue2u July 27, 2011 at 3:54 pm #

    Yeah I heard that to. But haven’t been there so can’t say. Probably is better, but not enough.

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  460. BeantownBill July 27, 2011 at 3:58 pm #

    Wrong, Turk, although you are correct in saying that we must save ourselves while we are living here on Earth.
    The idea that we can emigrate en masse off Earth and end our problems here is ridiculous. It’s true the numbers don’t work. If we leave 2 billion people here, we’d have to offload 5 billion ( 5,000 million) somewhere. If we did it in 20 years – 7300 days – we’d have to ship out 700,000 people per day, every day, forgetting about other obstacles.
    And yes, there’s really no place to go offworld, at least for the forseeable future.
    Where I believe you’re missing the boat (pun intended), is why we need to have a human-based presence in space. Our solar system has vast resources we can use – huge amounts of water-ice and a wide-range of minerals. These can conceivably be reached with present-day technology. Solar power can be harnessed to provide more energy for Earth.
    Utilizing all this can buy us time while we try to solve our problems on good ol’ terra firma. But the primary reason for flitting around through local space is to insure the survival of the species in the event we kill ourselves off on Earth. I have more hope in our ability to colonize space than in our ability to get along with each other and solve problems here.
    I’m not a stupid, blind technophile adolescent; I believe if we don’t try, we certainly will be doomed.

  461. old69 July 27, 2011 at 3:58 pm #

    HOT and HORNY and Disgusting slut of Alexandra that is always ph*king and enjoying here brains out and all while making me rage with envy, hate, insanity of hate and violence and hysterically angry and wild with anger, grief, sense of failure, depression, you name it found some spelling errors in my previous block of text: So now I have to post it again, now don’t blame me for double posting San Jose Mommy, don’t beat the living daylights out of me because of that slut, please have mercy on my wicked soul condemned to HELL forever, please… (but a universe without GOD is even more terrifying since you can always hope that the mercy of GOD will take us all out of hell, if even for just a few seconds every one trillion years, instead a universe without GOD would have no mercy, it would just blindly punish us forever, for no reason, as it would be a blind force that is dead and not aware of our suffering, go figure)
    GOD I WAS ENJOYING MY ABSENCE
    Well, I explained that the entire idea of work, labor, jobs, economic health, “a healthy economy”, a “functioning economy” are truly undefined, are make believe, are not defined in any meaningful way, the entire “science” of economy and such other “sciences” like law, psychology, sociology are all false sciences, fake sciences, have no inherent laws within them, but are mostly cultural expressions, cultural choices, we invent some laws or some logic or some rules of engagement and then make believe that they are hard laws of reality just like the laws of physics and pretend to call it a science. Nothing further from the truth.
    The item making up the entity being studied can’t study itself and find out its own laws since said item will just invent them and then make believe that they are laws. So, it is like an electron that wants to “study itself”, that can’t be done, the electron can be studied by something outside of itself, by Man – an aggregated ensemble of billions of electrons, protons and neutrons acting like one and discovering the “laws of physics”. But then isn’t that the same as economics, the item studying itself is made up of itself ? Then science doesn’t exist at all and is just an invention and make believe in all cases ? Hmmm, very strange.
    Anyways, the entire idea of “an economy generates jobs” is false, especially when you have so many non-linearities like random free wills always changing the rules of the game in the form of powerful global decisions through corporations, political choices, financial entities and technology being applied to the economy therefore always changing the rules, etc.
    So is the idea that X number of jobs will or should be created etc. How can the number of jobs or what jobs be defined and imagined from the outset ? In what sense is it normal to have a “working population” of 100 million in the USA ? Why is that normal ? What defines normal ? probably, with all the technology applied seriously, you wouldn’t need more than about 30 million jobs tops to run and produce all the real necessities of the USA. Jobs are created through a simple action and reaction of forces interacting and sometimes needing other people to increase profits, end of story. Then you have millions of jobs that are defined culturally, artistically, as a pure political – bureaucratic choice, like schools, universities, military, tourism etc.
    Now I didn’t say anything of what you read, I never said anything at all, it is always someone else putting words in my mouth.
    But I was enjoying my absence from these blogs and forums.

  462. Dasviking July 27, 2011 at 4:01 pm #

    Well ca$h….at this point it probably don’t matter anymore…I thought I’d never say that but we all are slaves to the lender now…..you can finally see it in the panic in D.C……we are living in interesting times my friend buckle up and enjoy this segment of history…….

  463. jackieblue2u July 27, 2011 at 4:01 pm #

    Good One !

  464. Cash July 27, 2011 at 4:04 pm #

    What I notice is that American and Canuck liberals are abysmally clueless about the world and its cultures outside their own countries and, in our case in Canada, outside their own cities. What they seemingly cannot or refuse to grasp is that people from different parts of the world do not all think alike or think the way we do here in North America.
    I’ll pick one example from my own personal experience: one fella from the Philipines used to report to me about 15 years ago so I had a chance to become acquainted with him. One thing he said struck me: he did not understand why it would be considered wrong for a govt official to give jobs to his family and friends as it’s his duty to take care of them if he can. Nepotism in other words. Or, as we might see it, corruption. Forget merit and all that and giving everyone a fair shot at govt jobs or contracts. Lord knows we have a fair bit of nepotism here. But we see it as a no no. Politicians can’t get caught doing such stuff. But, according to him, folks in the old country see this thing differently as such practices are rampant back there.
    What I’ve seen in this place is that after one or two generations people cast off their old national and ethnic and racial affiliations and intermarried and subsumed themselves culturally in the greater Anglo Saxon cultural whole. Which IMO is the key to social harmony and civic solidarity. You don’t generally kill what you see as your own kin or go to war against your own countrymen and fellow citizens.
    What bugs my ass enormously is a policy of official multiculturalism which encourages the exact opposite. And an astounding liberal ninny-ism that can’t call Canada’s culture what it is: Anglo Saxon. We speak English, read English language literature, abide by English common law, vote for a Westminster style parliament etc etc. But to assert to abundantly obvious is to leave liberals bug eyed and gasping for air.
    IMO the sooner we assimilate immigrant newcomers in our society and economy the happier and better off everyone will be. Especially the newcomers. They’ll feel more at home and less as outsiders. What cannot happen is for us and them to keep thinking of them as Korean or Chinese or Indian or whatever.

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  465. ctemple July 27, 2011 at 4:08 pm #

    At times I see JHK less as a social critic, than being like the noir type crime writers of the 1930’s and 1940’s, like Raymond Chandler or James M Cain. They wrote about a dark world of corrupt officals, greed, and violence, full of paranoia and bad endings. That sounds quite a bit like where we are at now, at least to me.
    Caleb Temple

  466. jackieblue2u July 27, 2011 at 4:11 pm #

    That’s good playin’.

  467. old69 July 27, 2011 at 4:27 pm #

    ZERO
    Zero is a metaphysical concept, should not exist, a non number should not be part of the number system, all our mathematics and science and logic are flawed, it is amazing that any of it works at all, since this huge mathematical blunder has been going on for so long and no one noticed !
    Zero means the absence of a number, but then why not invent any other symbol as an absence of a number or quantity, the number system winds down and vanishes to zero but then the concept tries to make believe it is still there even though it is not, a quantity or number, symbolized as zero is still there when nothing is there, only a place holder, an imaginary entity with fake, imaginary properties.
    Interesting enough a non number can be any symbol at all like =)= and can keep on going in any direction according to any rules and any inventions and still be valid (like negative numbers, another logical mistake, another logical blunder, or imaginary numbers, the square root of a negative number and such), valid metaphysically, and as such demonstrates that there are more metaphysical items than particles in the universe, just associate each particle to a new kind of zero and so on.
    But then even 2 is metaphysical compared to 1, since who or what distinguishes 2 from 1, the space between the numbers ? the act of counting ? and many other extrapolations, go on invent it all, go on, it never ends, the universe is saturated with metaphysical entities and mysteries and absurdities, all false, all lies, all wrong. AMEN.
    3, 2, 1, 0, )=)=), ETT$, yhhh , eedd : multdimensional number systems, nay, symbol systems, nay logic systems, nay, language systems, nay decoding systems according to fluke neural circuits in modified wicked brains, NAY NAY NAY

  468. soak July 27, 2011 at 4:35 pm #

    Breivik was a Mason and no major Christian Denomination accepts that one can be both a Mason and a Christian.
    But the Masons do not preclude one being a Christian. In Christian cultures, like Norway, the Bible is central to a Christian Mason Lodge. Albert Pike identified the Bible as part of the furniture of the lodge in his book Morals And Dogma Of The Ancient And Accepted Scottish Rite Of Freemasonry.
    Some Christians claim Masonry is not Christian, based on their own interpretations. But that does not preclude Masons who hold a different interpretation from being Christians.

    Leading Masonic authorities in the 18th and 19th centuries held a distinctively Christian interpretation of Freemasonry. Such leaders as Rev. James Anderson, William J. Hughan, William Hutchinson, Rev. George Oliver, and others had a Christian view of their Craft. Hutchinson, in particular, noted that Jesus Christ was the example for the Master Mason. He stated, “The Master Mason represents a man under the Christian doctrine saved from the grave of iniquity and raised to the faith of salvation. As the great testimonial that we are risen from the state of corruption, we bear the emblem of the Holy Trinity as the insignia of our vows and of the origin of the Master’s order.”

  469. old69 July 27, 2011 at 4:40 pm #

    “One thing he said struck me: he did not understand why it would be considered wrong for a govt official to give jobs to his family and friends as it’s his duty to take care of them if he can. Nepotism in other words. Or, as we might see it, corruption. Forget merit and all that and giving everyone a fair shot at govt jobs or contracts.”
    The guy was right, there are so few areas and so few real justifications for inequality, for treating or giving more to someone else in a Technological Economy that has mostly done away with the concept of merit: maybe only about 100,000 people worldwide in all productive endeavors MERIT more than anyone else because of real talents or skills or whatever, the rest is just make believe power relationships, power structures, arbitrary choices of who gets ahead only because who gets ahead is the friend of someone else powerful and such. At least the guy isn’t a hypocrit and says things as they are: if you are the boss, you choose your friends without making believe that “objective” measurements are operating.
    Anways,so much corruption and so much breaking the rules of the game in the developed world (therefore so many lawyers)exists only because so much cash is hanging around, so many billions of dollars of free cash is hanging all around and everyone who has some power wants to simply grab some, they know the fairy tale of merit and “hard work” don’t make any sense anymore in today’s economy, an EXCESS CAPACITY ECONOMY generating trillions of dollars of free money and wealth, just look at all the trillions the rich and corporations have stashed away, not even knowing what to do with them.

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  470. Vlad Krandz July 27, 2011 at 4:41 pm #

    Sure they’ll take your money – but will they loan you any? Or hire you? Now think Turk: if they have to choose between a White Contractor or one of their own Group, which you do you think they will hire? Don’t just shout out the first thing that pops into your head – likely to be wrong in your case. Work on it!
    Ever go into a Traditional Chinese restaurant? Will they serve you (take your money)? Yes. And probably be polite too. But expect that Chinese will be served first. Did the Chinese ever renounce their Race and Culture as “we” (you and your’s) have done? No they have not. That is a White Disease. We’re the only ones who only care about money – to our eternal shame. The Jews helped create this atmosphere, true. But it was for us! They never made any renounciation either.

  471. messianicdruid July 27, 2011 at 4:41 pm #

    “Brievik is a christian terrorist.”
    “Depart from me, all you who do iniquity, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.”
    “Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Gr. anomia).
    Jesus made it clear that there would be lawless Christians. For three years Judas called Jesus “Lord” and may well have performed miracles along with the other disciples. Judas was Jesus’ disciple and friend (Matt. 26:50). Yet he betrayed Him into the hands of the chief priests. Judas was the believer, and the chief priests were the unbelievers, but all of them were lawless in their own ways, as are judeo-christians today.
    The prophet Jeremiah said there were two types of “figs” from the fig tree of Judah. There are good figs and evil figs. The good figs are those that peaceably submit to the judgment of God, and there are those who would rather fight and die {Jer. 24-30}. This was true in Jeremiah’s day, it was true in Jesus’ day, and now we see it again in our day. Jesus said of these people in Matthew 11,
    “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”
    Jesus denounced the belief that the Kingdom of God must be taken by violence and force. Forty years later, God brought judgment and captivity upon Judah, this time at the hand of Rome, and today we are under judgement at the hand of Mystery {hidden} Babylon. It was/is all for the same reasons that we find in the writings of Jeremiah. One would think that the people would have learned, since they claimed to believe the writings of Moses and the prophets, and now the teachings of the Prince of Peace.
    Please, for Jesus’ sake, learn to differentiate between christians and judeo- [antinomian]christians.

  472. soak July 27, 2011 at 4:45 pm #

    Legal experts say if the president were tempted to act unilaterally he might escape without his actions being overturned in court.
    Regardless of how controversial a 14th Amendment maneuver might be, a legal challenge would be very hard to mount and so far, no one has stepped forward to say they would challenge him in court.
    Nor has anyone said they would sue him if he took the alternative, equally controversial, step of using his broad authorities as guardian of the constitutional order to unilaterally raise the borrowing threshold.

  473. Vlad Krandz July 27, 2011 at 4:47 pm #

    SJ are you listening to your wise lil sis? Better get packing – Salt Lake City here you come. You go Girl!
    Good on you Jackie for speaking the unpopular truth.

  474. trippticket July 27, 2011 at 4:50 pm #

    OK, after a few days of obvious hemming and hawing, we just called AT&T to cancel our ISP at home! By midnight we will no longer be entangled with the matrix.
    Here goes nuthin’! [Pinch nose between thumb and finger, close eyes, and…]
    Best of luck to you guys;)

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  475. Vlad Krandz July 27, 2011 at 4:51 pm #

    Yes but we’re talking about what Christians believe – they have the right to say whether Breviak is a Christian – not the Masons.
    Mental agility is not Wisdom. Hint: worldly wisdom is just the higher ocatave of common sense. And worldly wisdom leads to resignation and a kind of despairing peace. And with that, the Lord can work.

  476. Qshtik July 27, 2011 at 4:56 pm #

    I’ve been sitting here today with a schadenfreude* grin on my face.
    *schadenfreude is a German word that translates most accurately into American English as “shit eatin” although it’s not defined that way in the dictionary.
    In case you have forgotten (I haven’t) or never even noticed (I noticed), Tootsie informed us 8 days ago (7/19) at 4:30PM, referring to Ford, that he had “purchased some of their stock today.”
    Ten minutes later at 4:40PM he told us “I already owned some Ford at a higher price point but I doubled up yesterday.”
    I’ll go with the first sentence that says he bought Ford “today” (ie the 19th). Surely in the span of 10 minutes he would remember whether he had bought it today or yesterday. But claiming to have bought “yesterday” would make him look somewhat smarter than “today” since the stock gained nearly 1.5%. This is what he realized during those 10 minutes.
    But putting aside for the moment whether he bought on 7/18 or 7/19 what he did was make the classic error of all would-be Wall Street whiz-kids … he figured he’d “average down.” I’ve done it myself. It gives one the illusion they’ve cut their loss in half. Trouble is, a trend in motion tends to stay in motion so that second batch of Ford might continue to fall along with the first batch, which it has. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, the wiser strategy more often is to “average up.”
    And BTW, I love the use of the term “price point. He “already owned some Ford at a higher price point.” Translation: leave out the fancy retailing language (like my daughter who works for Ralph Lauren uses) and the simple fact is Tootsie bought Ford at a higher price and has been taking a beating ever since.
    But back to the second batch of Ford, probably bought on 7/19. We don’t know what he paid per share but let’s say it was at the midpoint between the opening price of $13.00 and the closing price of $13.09, namely $13.045.
    Well, it is now 8 days later and Ford closed today at $12.37 making for a 5.2% loss. And that’s not to mention the bath on the first batch. If he could manage to lose at this rate compounded every 8 days for a year his loss would be ~91%. The man is a genius … and HE complains about JHK’s market predictions. Bwa ha ha.
    There are at least two conclusions to be drawn:
    . Tootsie is no Wall Street wizard
    . Only fools publicly brag about their trades

  477. soak July 27, 2011 at 4:59 pm #

    Please, for Jesus’ sake, learn to differentiate between christians and judeo- [antinomian]christians.

    MD, which of the antinomian doctrines are you referencing? In the early church, as a species of Gnosticism, antinomian doctrine said that sin is an incident of the body, and that a regenerate soul cannot sin. Later, in the Reformation, as a reaction against the doctrine of good works in the Roman Catholic Church, antinomian doctrine said that man is saved by faith alone, regardless of his obedience to or disobedience of the moral law as a rule of life. Or were you referring to antinomian doctrine that as a phase of extreme Calvinism, in English Puritan theology, said that the sins of the elect are so transferred to Christ that they become his transgressions and cease to be the transgressions of the actual sinner.
    For God’s sake, MD, be specific about your antinomian doctrine. Define your terms. Learn to differentiate between the antinomians.

  478. soak July 27, 2011 at 5:06 pm #

    No, we are talking about Breivik and how he identified himself. His actions, and his choice of date for his actions, speak long and clear that he considered himself on the side of Christians. Breivik chose July 22, which was the day in 1099 that the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established during the First Crusades.

  479. ront July 27, 2011 at 5:06 pm #

    “But, IMO, the sycophants of the TEA Party already think they ARE the super rich. The propaganda started before Reagan, perhaps – but those “supply-siders” perfected it to the point that the TEA’s all think of themselves as Entrepreneurs, Investors, and soon to be Wealthy Persons Who Need a Tax Cut.
    “weirdly. effective. propaganda.”
    This is identity politics at its “finest.” The think-tankers must get a great thrill when they know citizens are voting against their own self-interest, much less, the common good, because of their identifying with the ruling elite or at least being among those who get “in” with them as henchmen or puppets. George Lakoff has written and spoken about this for some years.

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  480. Vlad Krandz July 27, 2011 at 5:15 pm #

    You’re sticking your toe into some deep waters here. Most Liberals don’t really believe their rap because they don’t walk the walk. Passionate BELIEF in racial equality is something that binds their tribe together and makes them separate and better than those loathsome ordinary trailer park Whites. But none of this means they actually like Blacks or even know any. And to the extent they do have contact, they try to limit it to Blacks of their own Socioeconomic group. Yet they cheerfully and even gleefully throw other Whites to the Black Wolves.
    Alot of Blacks mirror this world view. Sure they belive themselves equal (which means better) than Whites, but do they really believe that? Do you think they care about a Black mother killing her child as much as they care about Casey Anthony doing it? With Casey, they get feel superior. If they were really superior (or even equal) they’d be paying alot more attention to their own Mothers and Children.
    The Blacks and Indians were correct about Jessica Lynch. There is a cult of the White Woman, the epitome of which is the Nordic Blonde. Her story was embellished and the other Women Soldiers forgotten. More of the same hypocrisy from Liberals – who controll the Media. How to fix it? It can’t be in my book. Multi-racial Nations end up squabbling and competing themselves to death or else wisely divide.
    Latin America is the same. The people are brown but the media stars are White and fake Blonde. These other groups want to BE us you see – thus hair dyes and extensions etc. This attraction to us helps keep them subjugated – along with AA, welfare, set asides, and of course, ritual violence against throw away Whites. Let them go against the White Elite and see what happens. Needless to say, this is all understodd and condoned by the White Elite. If ordinary Whites try to defend themselves there is often hell to pay. That’s rocking the boat and is not allowed.

  481. ront July 27, 2011 at 5:17 pm #

    We need to bring back the excise taxes along with progressive rates. This will discourage the Big Biz and WallStreeters or send them to live elsewhere to which I say, “Good riddens, Brothers.”
    We also may want to have some leadership people who can explain what the heck is going on, and who can, also, appeal to the honor, generosity, and integrity of the citizens (yeah, it’s still in there, don’t worry). Self-interest is what has brought us to this point. Reintroducing the beautiful concept of self-sacrifice and brotherly and sisterly feelings of love would begin to foster very creative ways to live and work in harmony.

  482. San Jose Mom 51 July 27, 2011 at 5:19 pm #

    When it comes to getting parking spots in San Francisco, if I hesitate, I lose! If I left parking up to my husband, we’d get a really big space down in San Mateo County.

  483. Vlad Krandz July 27, 2011 at 5:20 pm #

    Yes now we are full circle and you are none the wiser. He identied himself as a Crusader, a Knight Templar, a Mason – and not a Christian. He wanted Christianity for other, lesser European Whites. He valued that Culture because it fostered, or allowed for, or at least tolerated what He liked: Science, free thought/speech and the natural religion/brotherhood of Masonry.
    You are refuted.

  484. San Jose Mom 51 July 27, 2011 at 5:22 pm #

    Too many Mormons in Salt Lake City–the world’s most irritating religion. I can say that because my ancestors crossed the plains with Brigham Young.
    SJmom
    Recovering Mormon (27 years)

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  485. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 5:31 pm #

    I read that 20% of Americans think that they are in the top 1% of the income brackets.
    That goes along with the vast majority of Americans who think that they are “middle class”, unless they are actually eating from dumpsters.
    And, sometimes, even then.
    And, as you point out, most believe that they are one lottery ticket away from being rich.

  486. soak July 27, 2011 at 5:34 pm #

    I accept your refutation. I am wrong.
    Equally, I refute that any of the jihadists who use violence are Muslims. Islam is a religion of peace. The Greater Jihad is spiritual, not physical. By their actions they disqualify themselves from being Muslims, regardless of how they self-identify. Isn’t this fun, Vlad?

  487. soak July 27, 2011 at 5:35 pm #

    Have you seen “The Book of Mormon”? I can’t wait to see it one day.

  488. budizwiser July 27, 2011 at 5:41 pm #

    There are only two industries in the US that need massive expansion. Recycling.
    And recycling infrastructure into lower carbon-consuming formats.
    Along with health care and agriculture these practicalities should account for over half of the GDP – but then again – that assumes a selfless population willing to live without avarice.
    To mention these kinds of things – I’m looked upon as childish or immature. To what other ends is any other thought on the subject?

  489. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 5:46 pm #

    I can’t remember the neighborhood, but the best thing is to park at the end of the J Church line, and take the best ride in the world to downtown!

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  490. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 5:49 pm #

    Everyone now tends to think of Americans as selfish and extravagant, but Americans used to be resourceful and thrifty.
    It’s all in the marketing, both of goods and of labeling of people.
    I think that we could be resourceful and thrifty again.

  491. soak July 27, 2011 at 6:11 pm #

    I think that we could be resourceful and thrifty again.
    ——————-
    I agree. And here is how to do it living on $12,000 a year:
    http://w4.telcen.com/simpleliving.html
    Living with little income has the advantage of not paying taxes to support wars being waged in our name.

  492. wagelaborer July 27, 2011 at 6:42 pm #

    I do all that stuff, and it costs me more than $12,000/year to live.
    I have lived on much less, and it was horrible.
    I expect to do it again, but I’m not looking forward to it.

  493. San Jose Mom 51 July 27, 2011 at 6:43 pm #

    I absolutely MUST see “The Book of Mormon, the Musical.” We were in NYC a couple of days after the trip to Europe and I tried to buy tickets a couple of months in advance. No luck…it’s completely sold out. But they are planning a traveling show, and I’m sure it will stop in San Francisco.
    I hate to admit it, but I rather like some of the episodes of South Park.

  494. lbendet July 27, 2011 at 7:37 pm #

    Lower Tases and they will hire:
    Don’t know whether anyone else addressed this but our friends at GE, ya know the big war contractor/media giant who paid no taxes last year, well they are moving their x-ray division to Beijing and sinking $1 Billion to start with with another billion afterwards.
    They will also be “innovating” where they manufacture as well, so the engineers will have to be there as well.
    Oh and that’s after Obama chose Jeffrey Immelt to head-up a jobs task force to create more jobs in the USA!
    So much for the Republican meme about cutting taxes for the wealthy–and no regulation!!
    So much for Obama hiring yet another Republican to help him out a little here. That ought to make Obama look like the adult!
    With this debt ceiling craziness we are living through the theater of the absurd meets the theater of cruelty!!

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  495. messianicdruid July 27, 2011 at 7:51 pm #

    “md, which of the antinomian doctrines are you referencing?”
    Antinomianism is lawlessness. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4 This is not talking about the commandments and doctrines of men. Specific to Breivik: Thou shalt not murder.

  496. lbendet July 27, 2011 at 7:52 pm #

    One more thing for tonight:
    U.$. $TATE$ HIDE BILLION$ IN $ECRET $LU$H FUND$
    By James P. Tucker Jr.
    At this point in time we are told that the states are in terrible shape and ya know they jut want to sell out the public domain as they go through rampant privatization, but there’s another story here goes:
    [The Minnesota state government shut down in July, closing state parks on a normally busy holiday weekend, because of a $5 billion “budget deficit.” At least 10 states have expanded gambling options for casinos, inviting more mobsters into their streets, again because of “budget deficits,” which they blame on the weak economy. However, it’s not “deficits” but states hiding money that causes this pain. Minnesota’s shutdown threw thousands of state employees out of work. Construction projects stalled. Millions of dollars in state revenues were lost. But Minnesota had $2.9 billion hidden from taxpayers in fiscal 2010, which ended June 30.
    Assets exceeded liabilities by $10.9 billion. Another $2.9 billion in “unrestricted net assets” were hidden from public view.]
    http://geraldcelentechannel.blogspot.com/2011/07/u-tate-hide-billion-in-ecret-luh-fund.html

  497. Pucker July 27, 2011 at 9:05 pm #

    Slavoj Zizek in his interesting book “Living in the End Times” suggests that all societies require a “Lie” around which they organize, and the inherent nature of society and socializing require a central “Lie”.
    In other words, society and civilization may require some kind of mass delusion around which it can coalesce.
    On the flight in China from Xian to Shanghai recently there was a group of US high school students in red-colored uniforms (about 30 students) on the flight. Each student wore a large badge around his/her neck which read “Youth Ambassador”, and a separate badge bearing the name of some Chinese person (written in English letters which many Chinese people can’t read, not Chinese characters) with a telephone number to call if the student in question was lost.
    What was interesting was that of the approximately 30 students, they all were black, except for 1 hispanic, 2 Asian females, and 1 plump, blonde, dumpy-looking, pale white girl. There was an exactly equal ratio of male-to-female students.
    It was an obvious case of reverse discrimination. The attempt to create another socializing “Lie”.
    The world’s clearly gone nuts.

  498. CaptSpaulding July 27, 2011 at 9:09 pm #

    Actually Qshtik, I remember schadenfreude described as the joy or pleasure experienced from someone else’s mistfortune.

  499. CaptSpaulding July 27, 2011 at 9:10 pm #

    Misfortune

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  500. metuselah July 27, 2011 at 9:30 pm #

    Breivik was a Mason and no major Christian Denomination accepts that one can be both a Mason and a Christian.
    ==
    http://youtu.be/LBdeCxJmcAo

  501. asia July 27, 2011 at 9:34 pm #

    KCRW now streams AL JAZEERA!
    And has such news as ‘US Chopsticks now exported to China’.
    China uses billions of CS a year. China has almost no trees! Will the US face a treeless future?
    Oh, are you a green? Canadians uses Mitsubishi
    Equipment to deforest rainforest to make chopsticks.
    MC is a major maker of heavy equipment to deforest.
    KCRW also grouses on Islamaphobia, but considering their AlJazeera connection I wont say more.

  502. Vlad Krandz July 27, 2011 at 9:38 pm #

    Neither Masonry nor Christianity contain the doctrine of absolute pacifism. And certainly Islam does not. The question is appropriate violence in all three cases. Most Masons and Christians would abhor his actions and seek to distance themlseves.
    Not only does Islam not proscribe violence, it actively prescribes it. The verses about peace and non coertion are subject to nask or abbroagation in Islamic exegesis by the later, more actively violent verses.

  503. asia July 27, 2011 at 9:40 pm #

    ‘small businessmen who only want to deal with their own race’
    Have you heard the term Nepotism?
    Have you ever lived in a Black neighborhood?
    Or a Jewish one?
    Theres an all ‘Russian Jew’ building owned by the Govt here, The Russian Mafia took it over and moved only their own in, Presumably a bribe taker got the job as head of selecting ‘winners’ of these low income units.
    3405 Via dolce, Marina del rey.

  504. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 9:46 pm #

    “Most of the top income earners receive dividends and capital gains – which are taxed at a maximum rate of 15%.” -p,c, to dasviking-
    “So what do they do with all that money from dividents and capital gains???”
    -dasviking-
    Viking, here’s the most important thing. They do whatever they want to with that money – – and most of them want to earn MORE money with that money.
    So, these days, they take it offshore – right?
    They take it outside of the US.
    ============
    US tax codes have drastically favored the rich, with their dividends and capital gains
    Over the workers, with their wages and bank savings accounts –
    Since Ronald Reagan –
    ===========
    Which would be OK, if you and the millions of workers like you – would simply learn about money and taxes, start voting your own self- interest,
    and STOP advocating for the interests of the super wealthy
    Because – believe me, DasViking – the super wealthy DO NOT advocate for you.
    And they never will.

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  505. Pucker July 27, 2011 at 9:47 pm #

    Don’t you think that it’s weird that the word used to describe the identical set of clothing given to define a particular group of people is the word “UNIFORM”?
    And since they like the idea of uniformity, but reject the idea of equality they create ranks, or grades of UNIFORMS.
    And then the UNIFORM creates this energy, activity within the Hive, a kind of organization, everyone starts marching around. Weird….
    Creepy….

  506. metuselah July 27, 2011 at 9:53 pm #

    Norway: The Rebranding of Terror
    by Kurt Nimmo
    via InfoWars Insider
    Now that we are several days out from the “lone wolf” terror attack in Norway, we can clearly see the contours of a classic false flag event.
    The terror attack in Norway represents a textbook example of a “strategy of tension” event designed to create social and political chaos at precisely the moment that resistance to the financial elite and the bankers is growing exponentially.
    The terror allegedly unleashed by Anders Behring Breivik is being exploited by government as it rolls out the myth of “far right” extremists who use terror and mass murder to accomplish their xenophobic goal of purging a predominately white Europe of dark-skinned Muslims.
    The event in Norway is an important signpost on the manufactured terror trajectory. It signals an evolution of the terror narrative from al-Qaeda cave dwelling terrorists to local terrorists who are indistinguishable from our neighbors, thus more frightening and more difficult to fight against. Instead of an austere Wahhabist fanaticism, the new terrorists are motivated by race and nationalism.
    The new terrorism arrives just in time – as large numbers of Europeans reject multiculturalism, mass immigration, and often question the inclusion of their nations into a dictatorial European Union lorded over by unelected apparatchiks who create laws in secret and answer to international bankers and globalists.
    Millions of Europeans are opposed to bailing out a growing number of countries – Greece soon to be followed by Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and others – hopelessly locked in the maw of a debt scam perpetuated by the IMF, the World Bank, and the European financial and political elite. As demonstrations across Europe – in Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Lithuania, Latvia, and Germany – have shown, large numbers of Europeans oppose and denounce austerity measures cynically designed to lower living standards and decimate social norms.
    Nationalist political parties standing in opposition to the banker scam – such as the True Finns in Finland and other “far right” parties in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands – represent a serious threat to the elite. In order to counter this growing populist movement, the globalists have manufactured the myth of “far right” extremism and the largely bogus threat of xenophobic terror to counter and replace Islamic extremism and terror. They are the binary components of the clash of civilizations paradigm designed to destroy societies and realize order out of chaos.
    ==
    Spot on analysis.

  507. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 10:14 pm #

    “You want to talk racial violence? Ok.”
    -turkle-
    Turkle, I must have REALLY hit a nerve with you, because your reply back to me is almost a complete non sequitur, viewed from the perspective of my original post.
    Because here’s the only thing I said that can be read as even REMOTELY IMPLYING racial violence:
    “Think about what “could” happen, even in lovely SF – if the power went out and the police lost control of the situation for a week or so – – – under stress, people will react and stratify by race, class, religion or something – it’s a survival strategy that predates civilization.”
    -P,C, to turkle-
    I just said to think about it, Turk. I would. We all should. And for you to jump from my request for thinking about it, IMMEDIATELY, to this:
    “….World Wars I and II? Do you recall the race of all the primary players in the European theater? They were all WHITE. But even though they share the same race, they managed to kill almost 80 million of each other…..”
    -turkle-
    I ask you to think about the power going out in San Francisco for ONE week. And you, turkle, are immediately invoking the deaths of 80 million people.
    Somebody seems a tiny, teeny, little, bit, paranoid, Turkle.
    Where do you live?
    What do you REALLY think would happen if the power went out for a week or two, there?

  508. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 10:25 pm #

    “They are the binary components of the clash of civilizations paradigm designed to destroy societies and realize order out of chaos.
    ==Spot on analysis.” -metuselah-
    Chilling stuff, Met. And it all hangs together to a certain extent. Except, how DID the CIA and the Vatican manage to get the unfortunate Anders Behring Breivik to carry out their diabolical wishes by forcing him to kill large numbers of his own countrymen?
    Hypnotism? (nah, too old fashioned)
    Drugs? (nah, too detectable)
    Brain Chip????
    You have a better explanation for the actions of this lunatic, Met?

  509. Qshtik July 27, 2011 at 10:44 pm #

    … event designed to create social and political chaos at precisely the moment that resistance to the financial elite and the bankers is growing exponentially.
    ===================
    I don’t get the drift of the entire article you quoted. I get the impression that the author (Nimmo) is unaware that Norway has its own currency, the krone, and is not a member of the
    European Monetary Union.
    Maybe you can explain what he’s talking about … though I doubt it.
    How could his analysis be “spot on” in your opinion without so much as a single mention of the CIA?
    BTW, I detest the cliche phrase “spot on.”

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  510. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 11:05 pm #

    “I’m not saying that we could not have terrible social upheavals if the American economy were to melt down but it would all be about the money (or the lack thereof).”
    -dolan w-
    Dolan, I hate to have to disagree with you – but if the American economy were to “melt down,” it would not be only “all about the money,” for very long.
    Think no power for a day or two.
    Think police departments without gasoline.
    Think FD’s and EMS without diesel.
    Think about food shortages and no drinking water.
    Civilization is a thin veneer that we take for granted – It now holds awful things in abeyance.
    “By the way, both my son and daughter recently lost their jobs and have joined the ranks of California’s unemployed. This state’s economy is definitely in the tank.” -DW-
    I’m truly sorry about that, Dolan.
    And I don’t know how much you have invested in CA
    Or how much other family you have there –
    But I would be thinking about moving somewhere else, and out of there – and closer to friends and family.

  511. metuselah July 27, 2011 at 11:13 pm #

    You have a better explanation for the actions of this lunatic, Met?
    ==
    Although Anders has many things correct as far as it concerns the diagnosis of the political situation, his answer to the political situation is so contradictory, it makes absolutely no logical sense.
    Anders is an anti Anti-Jihadist. He is poison to the cause of democracy, freedom, enlightenment, ethnic nationalism. Anders, by falling prey to the prevailing culture of notoriety and his lust for blood, has became an unwitting tool of the globalists and everything he claims to detest.
    But Anders is natural product. He is a one in a million iteration of circumstances, but still, he is a natural product of circumstances. However, Anders got to where he got to, because he was allowed to. Anders served their purpose(s) perfectly. Otherwise, he would have been blocked.

  512. metuselah July 27, 2011 at 11:16 pm #

    Norway has its own currency, the krone, and is not a member of the European Monetary Union
    ==
    Sounds like Iceland. And your point is?

  513. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 11:21 pm #

    Metuselah, I was with you 100% up until this part:
    “However, Anders got to where he got to, because he was allowed to. Anders served their purpose(s) perfectly. Otherwise, he would have been blocked.”
    -met-
    Sorry, met, but here’s where I have to part company with this latest iteration of conspiracy theorists as regards this latest tragedy.
    Anders is just a lunatic.
    No society can block all the lunatics.
    Hell, met, here in the States – some of them get elected to political office. 😉

  514. metuselah July 27, 2011 at 11:27 pm #

    No society can block all the lunatics.
    ==
    That’s because you’re not quite aware as to how closely we are all being watched. Watched and analyzed all the time. In real time. 🙂
    They have dossier on me. They have dossier on you. And they certainly had dossier on Anders. They knew his psychological profile, and they knew what he was up to. Probably before he did.

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  515. progress,conserve July 27, 2011 at 11:50 pm #

    “They have dossier on me. They have dossier on you.”
    -met-
    They don’t have a dossier on me, dude.
    I’m not on facebook!
    OK – that was supposed to be funny.
    But, there are 7 billion people on this planet.
    You think they have a dossier on all of them?
    So say I was Breivik. Sure, I’ve got a dossier. But do you really think the national police in Norway, the local police in Norway, the civil and military authorities in Norway
    Who compiled Breivik’s dossier in the first place
    Do you believe all these individual Norwegian agencies were deliberately and completely sold out to the New World Order so as to STAND ASIDE, DO NOTHING, and allow this tragedy to happen in their own country – and to their own countrymen –
    ONLY – ONLY to advance the cause of the CIA AND THE VATICAN.
    If that is what you really believe, Mr. Metuselah
    Consider an important ingredient in sushi, and
    Sea Kelp.

  516. soak July 27, 2011 at 11:53 pm #

    I agree with P,C on this point. There are not enough human beings in intelligence agencies on the planet to watch everyone. I don’t want to sound like Spider, but the statistics of internet traffic are mind-boggling:

    In 2015, monthly Internet traffic will reach the equivalent of 20 billion DVDs, 19 trillion MP3s or 500 quadrillion text messages.

    SOURCE: Video and Mobile Are Breaking the Internet
    http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/01/technology/cisco_visual_networking_index/index.htm
    Even with search algorithms and mainframe super computers, “THEY” will not be watching everyone when there are 500 quadrillion text messages, especially encoded or encrypted messages.
    All terrorists have to do is assign a code to defeat an algorithm. Something like this: “I sent my niece two boxes of crayons” No keywords in that sentence would be considered red flags. But if the terrorists have previously agreed that they will use “crayons” to represent suitcase nukes, they can communicate freely without being detected. Human ingenuity easily defeats technology.

  517. metuselah July 28, 2011 at 12:07 am #

    They don’t have a dossier on me, dude.
    ==
    We’re all being monitored by sophisticated computer software, that flags what it considers suspicious behavior further up the chain of control. Anders would certainty would have been flagged. As is EVERYONE posting on this blog.
    As to Norway’s local police, civil and military authorities, I really don’t know if they’re in loop. I think the top political echelon in these organizations certainly is. Every mafia knows all about the other mafia. In a sense, they’re all one big mafia family, and they know it.

  518. Buck Stud July 28, 2011 at 12:29 am #

    ” Their are parts of California that do not have gang problems. Like Auburn, because the Men up there would just take ’em out and be done with it”
    Jackie providing a dose of Viagra for Vlad.

  519. Buck Stud July 28, 2011 at 12:46 am #

    Enjoyed your post OLD69. And maybe you should give JHK a ten-gallon hat and giant Cadillac for his birthday so we can all stop worrying.

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  520. old69 July 28, 2011 at 2:50 am #

    So then, given the huge amount of crap insanity I write just for the fun of it, because I am bored, then their computers should be flying red flags all over the place for “Me” ? Really ? No way dude, no one controls anything at all, they can’t even control the most suspectful terrorists on earth, nay, they don’t even know where or who he is, let alone control them, etc.
    After 4 months they can’t get “Gadaffi”, after 10 years they can’t win Afganistan, and so many other examples. No, no one controls or knows anything at all, this is just some kind of magical thinking, that “they” (whoever they are, but they don’t exist, it is a figment of the imagination, a conspiracy theory thing) have all this power, they “know”, no not so, no one knows anything.
    This is due to many imagining so much power and knowledge and organization in the hands of the powers that be because they got computers and such. Are you kidding me ? Even reading one sentence of anyone here, or anyplace else, even following just one random person anywhere could be red flagged as suspicious, a red flag, anything at all. No way, Jose’, in fact the real problem is that there is no way to know the real intentions of anyone: it is one thing writing all the crap you can think of on the internet or talking about it on telephones, it is a completely different ball game actually doing those things in real life, etc.
    Heck, no one controls people who buy guns in most of the USA, go figure…
    (aside from the fact that the anti-gun control guys would say that the killing in Norway could have been avoided if some kids had guns with them, so if everyone is armed and has guns, no one would shoot the first shot and such, but Norway and most of Europe is not in love with guns as the USA, so they are defenseless)…

  521. old69 July 28, 2011 at 2:55 am #

    I’ll start looking at the backview mirror in my car, or start observing everyone I see, to verify they are not secret Men In Black of the CIA or whatever following all my footsteps, wow, talk about paranoia, and I though there was something wrong with me…

  522. old69 July 28, 2011 at 6:55 am #

    From:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=176094
    NO SCIENCE ?
    In my previous endeavor, I demonstrated how all of the so called “Human” sciences (economics, psychology, sociology, (history ?!?!) ) are a fluke, make believe, an invention, a fake, a false, a huge pile of lies, etc. This is because the item being studied is made up of a certain numbers of the item studying itself, a superset of itself, but the atomic element making up the set decides to study an aggregate of itself, a circularity: to be clearer, one Man is studying how 100 Men act, move, behave, do what they do etc. Now, studying this means finding repetitive patterns, rules of engagements all saturated with random Free Wills acting and reacting in a mostly chaotic fashion. Obviously this entire material is simply a substrate on which to write the rules themselves, it is a writing system, the system makes up some or any rules and decides to interact accordingly, there are no real “laws of physics”, real “”objective” laws operating, only inventions of the mind (minds, even this is hard to pinpoint down, a mind or an instance of one mind repeated many times, is a society just one person, or many ? one mind or many ? or whatever). So in this case we can clearly see that THERE IS NO REAL SCIENCE OPERATING, end of story.
    In the case of REAL SCIENCE like Physics (biology is not a real science, it is just a configuration of matter given to us by natural evolution that follows truly purely quirk laws of its own, end of story), it is harder to see how this science is fake: but it is. Man, as an aggregation of a few billion protons, electrons and neutrons study how a smaller (or bigger) aggregate of protons, electrons and neutrons behave, act, finds out the repetitive patterns that are exposed under certain conditions, actions and reactions of one chunk of Matter (Man) interacting with another chunk of Matter (the experimental apparatus or whatever).
    But since Man is just an arbitrary configuration, what is really found is simply the laws of interaction of this pure fluke and arbitrary machine of Man with all of its quirky and flukey logic and language, and organization of information in its “mind” and all the pain/pleasure circuits and all of the sensations, etc. with a chunk of matter configured according to what patterns his mind is searching for. In a sense, another circularity, in a sense, another item that is studying itself, or a subset or superset of itself, according to how the distinction between self and outside of self is performed, according to how the delimitation, the boundary of in and out, self and not self is defined and set up, according to how it is imagined in the mind from the outset. So a chunk of electrons and protons is “studying” another chunk of electrons and protons, but both chunks are simply an arbitrary configuration and organization of the elementary particles, are simply a fluke, we don’t study science, we study how this one time quirk fluke of organization and configuration of matter interacts with itself, so even in this case THERE IS NO REAL SCIENCE OPERATING.
    But change the way Man, the object studying the outside world, the objective measuring entity is designed, and you change the science completely, you create a completely new science, since a new Man, and especially a new Mind, new Neural Circuits, new mental designs of brains, new sense organs, a modified mind creates a new science and universe and reality and therefore a completely new and truer science. But science is always a lie, it is just an action and reaction of chunks of matter colliding, a Reciprocal Information Relationship that makes believe that it is objective and absolute: nothing from the truth, Science does not exist, only the imagined world according to a particular organization of the Mind – Brain and sense organs and memory and thought exists.
    Now back to the number systems: so 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, KK, redd, yyuu: you see zero is not there but a whole new host of new symbols KK redd and such, and these can be anything at all defined according to any make believe metaphysical construction you can possibly invent, hence Metaphysics is infinite and never ending, Science and Reality and Matter is limited.

  523. old69 July 28, 2011 at 7:50 am #

    HOT and HORNY San Jose Mommy’s teenage slut of a girl, oozing with desire, always ph*kng like cr*zy, and in the process inflicting a trillion years of the most extreme pain possible (such a slut, go figure) found an era with that block of text. Now I am forced, once again, to post it all over again. Couldn’t she simply mind her own business and enjoy herself as usual, couldn’t should just concentrate on her pleasure instead of torturing me with yet another endeavor, aside from experiencing hell for trillions of years ?
    Anyways, I will post the error in bold, so you can see how slutty she was in trying to find even the slightest error.
    Now don’t beat me up all over again for double posting, please Alexandra, don’t beat the living daylights out of me, oh please, pretty please, have mercy on this old clunker of an evil and wicked soul, please, have mercy on me…
    NO SCIENCE ?
    In my previous endeavor, I demonstrated how all of the so called “Human” sciences (economics, psychology, sociology, (history ?!?!) ) are a fluke, make believe, an invention, a fake, a false, a huge pile of lies, etc. This is because the item being studied is made up of a certain numbers of the item studying itself, a superset of itself, but the atomic element making up the set decides to study an aggregate of itself, a circularity: to be clearer, one Man is studying how 100 Men act, move, behave, do what they do etc. Now, studying this means finding repetitive patterns, rules of engagements all saturated with random Free Wills acting and reacting in a mostly chaotic fashion. Obviously this entire material is simply a substrate on which to write the rules themselves, it is a writing system, the system makes up some or any rules and decides to interact accordingly, there are no real “laws of physics”, real “”objective” laws operating, only inventions of the mind (minds, even this is hard to pinpoint down, a mind or an instance of one mind repeated many times, is a society just one person, or many ? one mind or many ? or whatever). So in this case we can clearly see that THERE IS NO REAL SCIENCE OPERATING, end of story.
    In the case of REAL SCIENCE like Physics (biology is not a real science, it is just a configuration of matter given to us by natural evolution that follows truly purely quirk laws of its own, end of story), it is harder to see how this science is fake: but it is. Man, as an aggregation of a few billion protons, electrons and neutrons study how a smaller (or bigger) aggregate of protons, electrons and neutrons behave, act, finds out the repetitive patterns that are exposed under certain conditions, actions and reactions of one chunk of Matter (Man) interacting with another chunk of Matter (the experimental apparatus or whatever).
    But since Man is just an arbitrary configuration, what is really found is simply the laws of interaction of this pure fluke and arbitrary machine of Man with all of its quirky and flukey logic and language, and organization of information in its “mind” and all the pain/pleasure circuits and all of the sensations, etc. with a chunk of matter configured according to what patterns his mind is searching for. In a sense, another circularity, in a sense, another item that is studying itself, or a subset or superset of itself, according to how the distinction between self and outside of self is performed, according to how the delimitation, the boundary of in and out, self and not self is defined and set up, according to how it is imagined in the mind from the outset. So a chunk of electrons and protons is “studying” another chunk of electrons and protons, but both chunks are simply an arbitrary configuration and organization of the elementary particles, are simply a fluke, we don’t study science, we study how this one time quirk fluke of organization and configuration of matter interacts with itself, so even in this case THERE IS NO REAL SCIENCE OPERATING.
    But change the way Man, the object studying the outside world, the objective measuring entity is designed, and you change the science completely, you create a completely new science, since a new Man, and especially a new Mind, new Neural Circuits, new mental designs of brains, new sense organs, a modified mind creates a new science and universe and reality and therefore a completely new and truer science. But science is always a lie, it is just an action and reaction of chunks of matter colliding, a Reciprocal Information Relationship that makes believe that it is objective and absolute: nothing further from the truth, Science does not exist, only the imagined world according to a particular organization of the Mind – Brain and sense organs and memory and thought exists.
    Now back to the number systems: so 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, KK, redd, yyuu: you see zero is not there but a whole new host of new symbols KK redd and such, and these can be anything at all defined according to any make believe metaphysical construction you can possibly invent, hence Metaphysics is infinite and never ending, Science and Reality and Matter is limited.

  524. old69 July 28, 2011 at 7:54 am #

    From:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=176094
    Another mistake (in bold) again so you can see yourself why I had to post again.
    HOT and HORNY San Jose Mommy’s teenage slut of a girl, oozing with desire, always ph*kng like cr*zy, and in the process inflicting a trillion years of the most extreme pain possible upon me (such a slut, go figure) found an era with that block of text. Now I am forced, once again, to post it all over again. Couldn’t she simply mind her own business and enjoy herself as usual, couldn’t should just concentrate on her pleasure instead of torturing me with yet another endeavor, aside from experiencing hell for trillions of years ?
    Anyways, I will post the error in bold, so you can see how slutty she was in trying to find even the slightest error.
    Now don’t beat me up all over again for double posting, please Alexandra, don’t beat the living daylights out of me, oh please, pretty please, have mercy on this old clunker of an evil and wicked soul, please, have mercy on me…
    NO SCIENCE ?
    In my previous endeavor, I demonstrated how all of the so called “Human” sciences (economics, psychology, sociology, (history ?!?!) ) are a fluke, make believe, an invention, a fake, a false, a huge pile of lies, etc. This is because the item being studied is made up of a certain numbers of the item studying itself, a superset of itself, but the atomic element making up the set decides to study an aggregate of itself, a circularity: to be clearer, one Man is studying how 100 Men act, move, behave, do what they do etc. Now, studying this means finding repetitive patterns, rules of engagements all saturated with random Free Wills acting and reacting in a mostly chaotic fashion. Obviously this entire material is simply a substrate on which to write the rules themselves, it is a writing system, the system makes up some or any rules and decides to interact accordingly, there are no real “laws of physics”, real “”objective” laws operating, only inventions of the mind (minds, even this is hard to pinpoint down, a mind or an instance of one mind repeated many times, is a society just one person, or many ? one mind or many ? or whatever). So in this case we can clearly see that THERE IS NO REAL SCIENCE OPERATING, end of story.
    In the case of REAL SCIENCE like Physics (biology is not a real science, it is just a configuration of matter given to us by natural evolution that follows truly purely quirk laws of its own, end of story), it is harder to see how this science is fake: but it is. Man, as an aggregation of a few billion protons, electrons and neutrons study how a smaller (or bigger) aggregate of protons, electrons and neutrons behave, act, finds out the repetitive patterns that are exposed under certain conditions, actions and reactions of one chunk of Matter (Man) interacting with another chunk of Matter (the experimental apparatus or whatever).
    But since Man is just an arbitrary configuration, what is really found is simply the laws of interaction of this pure fluke and arbitrary machine of Man with all of its quirky and flukey logic and language, and organization of information in its “mind” and all the pain/pleasure circuits and all of the sensations, etc. with a chunk of matter configured according to what patterns his mind is searching for. In a sense, another circularity, in a sense, another item that is studying itself, or a subset or superset of itself, according to how the distinction between self and outside of self is performed, according to how the delimitation, the boundary of in and out, self and not self is defined and set up, according to how it is imagined in the mind from the outset. So a chunk of electrons and protons is “studying” another chunk of electrons and protons, but both chunks are simply an arbitrary configuration and organization of the elementary particles, are simply a fluke, we don’t study science, we study how this one time quirk fluke of organization and configuration of matter interacts with itself, so even in this case THERE IS NO REAL SCIENCE OPERATING.
    But change the way Man, the object studying the outside world, the objective measuring entity is designed, and you change the science completely, you create a completely new science, since a new Man, and especially a new Mind, new Neural Circuits, new mental designs of brains, new sense organs, a modified mind creates a new science and universe and reality and therefore a completely new and truer science. But science is always a lie, it is just an action and reaction of chunks of matter colliding, a Reciprocal Information Relationship that makes believe that it is objective and absolute: nothing further from the truth, Science does not exist, only the imagined world according to a particular organization of the Mind – Brain and sense organs and memory and thought exists.
    Now back to the number systems: so 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, KK, redd, yyuu: you see zero is not there but a whole new host of new symbols KK redd and such, and these can be anything at all defined according to any make believe metaphysical construction you can possibly invent, hence Metaphysics is infinite and never ending, Science and Reality and Matter is limited.

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  525. old69 July 28, 2011 at 8:06 am #

    As in item Z is studying item (Z,Z,Z,Z). So exactly who or what is studying who or what ? Or is it really (Z,Z,Z,Z) that is studying Z ? Or is it simply a set of items Z that are interacting with themselves, and since they are “playing with themselves” (as the teenage g*rl I described above does so often), they are actually inventing their own laws, their own reality, they are inventing and discovering their own laws all by themselves making believe that they are outside of themselves, that they are “objective”. Matter interacts with itself and invents itself, Matter plays with itself and creates its own “Laws of Physics”, go figure.
    Now, we finally nailed down the confusion between the Observer and the Measurement in Quantum Mechanics, give me my Nobel Prize, clowns.

  526. old69 July 28, 2011 at 8:24 am #

    Just read of another kamikaze in Afganistan killing ten. Why don’t we just carpet bomb the whole country back to the stone age ? Why not just kill and bomb them all, all 30 million slobs in that failed country and get it over with ?

  527. mow July 28, 2011 at 9:04 am #

    Section 4 of the 14th Amendment states: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.” Essentially, Democrats are arguing that since the “public debt” cannot be questioned, then the debt ceiling itself is unconstitutional.

  528. soak July 28, 2011 at 9:27 am #

    “Deficits don’t matter” — Dick Cheney
    Cheney must have read the Constitution.

  529. San Jose Mom 51 July 28, 2011 at 10:35 am #

    Please stop the verbal abuse.

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  530. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 10:57 am #

    After 40 years in the barrio, with never a problem, my parents moved to the mountains of California.
    They moved the hell out in 2 years!
    Scary white militia men!.
    The kicker for my mom was when some crazy white woman got into her face and, spittle flying, told her that in San Francisco elementary schools, gay men demonstrated gay sex for children.
    My mom mildly expressed disbelief, and the woman went nuts.
    It was beautiful up there, but the people are creepy.

  531. rippedthunder July 28, 2011 at 11:06 am #

    Don’t make me jump through this computer screen and kick your scrawny ass. Did your momma raise you to be such an ass. If so she should win the blue ribbon. Take another blue pill and put your freakin’ jacket on again. That shit is totally uncalled for.

  532. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 11:09 am #

    You should read “A Paradise in Hell” by Rebecca Solnit, Prog.
    You thought that San Francisco would disintegrate in a disaster.
    They had a disaster, in 1906. She talks about the community pulling together, until the elites sent in the police. She calls it “elite panic”. They don’t like people coming together in solidarity and mutual sharing.
    Same with Katrina. Read this link, about people working together, and the police attacking them.
    http://www.emsnetwork.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=56&num=18427
    Same with the inland hurricane we had here, in my town, 2 years ago.
    No electricity. The kids couldn’t use their cellphones.
    So they got together and shared the food from their freezers, and had bonfires, and had parties.
    The mayor declared a curfew, which worried me, since I work swing shift.
    Guess what? The cops left me alone, although it was dangerous to be driving at night, through streets lined with downed trees and power lines.
    But the kids? They hassled them! Breaking up parties, driving them back into their houses, just generally being jerks.

  533. Cash July 28, 2011 at 11:12 am #

    I’m with you RT. I don’t read his garbage but your post made me have a look.
    Old69 SHUT YOUR DAMN HOLE.

  534. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 11:14 am #

    The reason that my friend sent me the link about the paramedics experience in Katrina is that I had read about FEMA stealing their buses in the local paper, at the time of Katrina.
    The same paper had a right wing columnist screaming that looters should be shot, and I wrote a letter to the editor pointing out that FEMA had stolen $40,000 worth of buses from those people, more than any individual looter could manage to loot, most probably.
    Then one of the victims of the FEMA bus theft wrote about his experience, my friend sent it to me, and that is the story that I linked to.

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  535. rippedthunder July 28, 2011 at 11:17 am #

    Hi Wage, most cops (especially the newer guys)see things like their cars, black and white. Either your OK or your an asshole, no middle ground. They deal with a lot of jerks so they assume you are an asshole until proven otherwise.”To Serve and Protect” yea, right.

  536. metuselah July 28, 2011 at 11:19 am #

    So then, given the huge amount of crap insanity I write just for the fun of it, because I am bored, then their computers should be flying red flags all over the place for “Me” ?
    ==
    And what do you propose they do, move you to a different hospital bed? 😀

  537. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 11:22 am #

    Thomas Jefferson, on common law and Christianity –
    “to wit, that the common law existed while the Anglo-Saxons were yet Pagans, at a time when they had never yet heard the name of Christ pronounced, or knew that such a character had ever existed.”

  538. bossier22 July 28, 2011 at 11:24 am #

    As I have said before, people vote against their self interest because of the overt contempt for them expressed by the left. So many times when i am in agreement with liberals on an issue, I am turned off by their oh so superior intellect and the attitude that they know what is best for you. If don’t agree you are someone to be pitied for your lack of intelligence. A little empathy and tolerance from the left( which they supposed to be famous for) would sway a lot people who vote against their economic interest. As far as sacrifice is concerned, I agree it would be great. While the rich would have to pay more taxes, they would also have to consider the ramifications their decisions have on the country. The poor would have to be better citizens by not having kids they can’t afford and by taking a little initiative for themselves.

  539. TrollControl July 28, 2011 at 11:26 am #

    JHK,
    Why are you letting Old 69 comment like this?

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  540. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 11:27 am #

    True dat, RT.
    One of my co-workers is married to a retired deputy, who worked for 30 years, and never shot anyone.
    Her son is now a cop, and has already killed someone.

  541. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 11:29 am #

    Because he doesn’t call for the end of money?

  542. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 11:35 am #

    I don’t think that people vote against their self interest because of the left.
    I think they vote against their self interest because of the billions of dollars spent to confuse them as to what their self interest is.
    “Conservatives” are told that the enemies are muslims and mexicans.
    “Liberals” are threatened with Palin and Bachman.
    Meanwhile, the ruling class collects the wealth, trashes the environment and plans to scrape the bottom of the country for every last bit of cash they can collect on their way out the door.

  543. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 11:40 am #

    In any case, “voting” is part of the scam.
    The great pretense is that “voting” gives the average American some control over their government.
    Although anyone with eyes can see that this is a lie, more than half of us participate anyway.
    We are 17 months away from the next election, but the pre-game festivities are already in full swing.
    Why? In England, the election season is 6 weeks long. Why does ours last for over a year?
    Elections are a distraction, and a way of channeling anger and frustration into a meaningless exercise in futility.
    It’s like the kid in the backseat with a fake steering wheel. It keeps us busy, but we have no control over what the ruling class does to us.
    They’re taking us over a cliff, while we argue over which way to turn the fake steering wheel.

  544. asia July 28, 2011 at 11:40 am #

    In the 1980s The John Birch Society told a tale ofyet one more ‘Kiss up to Communists’ by folks here.
    In their tale a School here kept writing a city in the USSR as a ‘make friends, sister city’ but could never get a response.
    The city of [50,000?] was a SLAVE LABOR CAMP.
    This didnt teach them to spurn the USSR, Instead
    they wrote another city to befriend them.

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  545. newworld July 28, 2011 at 11:49 am #

    Good news my liberal friends, peace is breaking out in the United States Army. One Pvt. Naser a credentialed pacifist for officially stating that in good conscience he could not kill a fellow muslim (I guess he is not Syrian or an Iraqi) was caught with two other presumably fine chaps with guns and explosives headed to reprise the Ft Hood massacre. No description as to hair or eye color.
    Don’t you anti-whites on somedays get the feeling that deep down all that BS you spout from whatever cult you got sucked into is all just that BS?

  546. Cavepainter July 28, 2011 at 11:52 am #

    On this site the term techno-triumphalism is often used with reference to belief that technology will make overpopulation a non-issue. Economic-triumphalism should be paired with that term as reference to those who cling to belief that overpopulation problems can be stepped around and over by fidgeting with economic theory.
    OMG, our capacity for concocting elaborate denial is stupefying. Worse, that capacity is what will cause our extinction. We’d better hurry up and make the evolutionary leap of getting beyond such predisposition.
    The God complex, in all its multitudinous forms, is one of those elaborated denial theories – enabled us to box all apprehensions away into the beneficent hands of “the almighty”, relieving us of the calorie consuming anxiety.
    As a specie now facing overpopulation we’d damn well better become more objective and reasoning, otherwise we’re done. Without zero population growth in America (meaning, no more immigration and especially including people clinging to ancient beliefs that lead to large families) America will continue toward the state of Somalia or Haiti.
    Harsh reality.

  547. Cash July 28, 2011 at 11:58 am #

    SJMom don’t read his crap.

  548. old69 July 28, 2011 at 11:59 am #

    From:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=176094
    INDIRECTION OF REALITY
    So what did Godel mean by the fact that there is at least one equation in a system that can’t be proved ? That reality needs something outside of itself to perceive itself, reality cannot be a completely abstract mathematical formulation, you need something that pops out of the page, a third dimension where it becomes “real”, so of course no system is closed, all systems are open (another way to say arbitrary, a fluke, random, no deep rules or laws (as in the laws of GOD) behind them otherwise reality would be just a set of equations, completely mathematical and the three body problem would be completely solvable). But how many indirections, how many levels of popping out the page are needed ? an infinite number ? The law of conservation of questions, no matter how many you answer, new ones just pop up again, no solution ? The universe as just trillions of questions and question marks all over the place, in every point of space and time ? And then logic that likes to make fun of itself by trying to answer, nay, invent the answer to any questions, just to hose itself again and create new questions, new models, new partial solutions to that which has no or all solutions and so forth.

  549. old69 July 28, 2011 at 11:59 am #

    A never ending chess game with itself, always trying to find new patterns that should be associated to some kind of profit from investment, in the sense that the new discovery lets us do something else and gain ? But if reality is only pain/pleasure, how does information become sensation ? that is the only clue that it is not an abstract model, you have to “touch” it and “feel” it.
    But the questions are the answers, just play around with all these symbols, no direction, if there is no GOD, then there is no power to refrain us from evil except the reciprocal power of the laws and models of other people (their will power), but there is no reference, only arbitrary power structures, no control, no reference system.
    Cultural Relativism Achieved.

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  550. bossier22 July 28, 2011 at 12:04 pm #

    I see your point that the elite manipulates both sides. i do however sense a superiority complex from the left. And while i do not demonize Mexicans, I do not see how importing more poor people from anywhere serves the best interests or the country right now. We also should not be too pc to admit we are in a clash of civilizations with Islam. We have been for a thousand years. As an admitted right winger, Palin/ Bachman scares me too.

  551. old69 July 28, 2011 at 12:06 pm #

    There is no overpopulation problem, maybe you and all of those lamenting overpopulation are way too many and should get lost.
    Check out:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=174727&start=25
    I don’t want to have to write all of that all over again, I don’t want to repost.

  552. Cash July 28, 2011 at 12:07 pm #

    Man oh man am I ever with you on this. It’s not just their attitude of intellectual superiority but also the towering moral superiority that’s unbearable.

  553. old69 July 28, 2011 at 12:14 pm #

    Read this link, please:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=174727

  554. bossier22 July 28, 2011 at 12:28 pm #

    If they would drop this attitude, the left could steam roll the right with there reliable base.

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  555. Cash July 28, 2011 at 12:29 pm #

    Sounds to me like old Tom had his own ideological axe to grind. Far be it from me to tangle with a towering intellect like his but didn’t common law also develop during the post Anglo Saxon pagan period? And, if this is true, to deny the effect of the overall Christian cultural environment on the development of a system of law is absurd in the extreme. If you want to swallow holus bolus what Tom is saying on this be my guest.
    See AMR’s take on common law in his post 3:03 am.

  556. Cash July 28, 2011 at 12:45 pm #

    One last thing. I said something in reply to your post last week that may have come across as pretty rough. You mentioned the word “crush” and I over reacted. I said something to the effect that I was happy that you put it in the past tense. The reason I said that is that I’ve found crushes to be very painful things even if they were long ago in my teens.

  557. Cash July 28, 2011 at 12:48 pm #

    Buzz off creep.

  558. Cash July 28, 2011 at 12:58 pm #

    I’m with you on this one too. I don’t demonize newcomers either but to leave your national borders wide open with no effective immigration controls is lunacy and a recipe for national suicide.
    In my estimation people readily notice the lunatic jackassery coming from the right but not so much the every bit as corrosive acid dripping from the left. If you don’t get a handle on the idiots on both sides of the ideological divide they will be the end of you.

  559. soak July 28, 2011 at 1:21 pm #

    What I have noticed in the common embrace of violence by the right and the left. They justify their violence. Self-defense is given as a reason.
    For example, during World War II, two nuclear bombs were dropped on civilian population centers. Many on CFN justify that immoral decision based on what they “suppose” might have happened if the bombs were not dropped. But we don’t know what “might” have happened. Japan might have surrendered the next week without the use of the nuclear bombings.
    But when they contrive their justification, they imagine another more horrible outcome if the bombs had not been used. Murder is what it is, pure and simple. There is no justification for mass murder of civilian populations.
    But Cash will argue in favor of that particular violence. Cash will justify the slaughter on men, women, and children, vaporized in a nuclear holocaust.
    I reject both the right and left and all their immoral justifications for the use of violence.

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  560. soak July 28, 2011 at 1:29 pm #

    CORRECTIION
    What I have noticed is the common embrace of violence by the right and the left.

  561. bossier22 July 28, 2011 at 1:53 pm #

    Soak, How many would have died in a direct invasion of Japan. Millions on both sides. Without those bombs a direct invasion of Japan would have happened sure as hell. They estimated a million American casualties alone. Getting it stopped as fast as possible saved lives. I was sent a recent Email of pictures of Hiroshima in 1945 and sixty five years later. It is now recovered into an unbelievably beautiful and modern city. The email also showed pictures of Detroit sixty five years later. It looked like the bomb had been dropped there.

  562. soak July 28, 2011 at 2:06 pm #

    bossier22, thank you for verifying my assertion:

    when they contrive their justification, they imagine another more horrible outcome if the bombs had not been used.

    Murder is what it is, pure and simple.
    There is no justification for mass murder of civilian populations.

    Hiroshima is now recovered into an unbelievably beautiful and modern city. The email also showed pictures of Detroit sixty five years later. It looked like the bomb had been dropped there.

    Karma.

  563. Qshtik July 28, 2011 at 2:19 pm #

    A big article on Permaculture appeared in today’s NYT. Anyone out there who’s communicating with Tripp by email, please forward him this link. I would do it myself but I’m unwilling to give up my anonymity.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/garden/permaculture-emerges-from-the-underground.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

  564. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 2:33 pm #

    Interestingly, I just heard that immigration from Mexico has pretty much stopped, due to the lack of jobs available.
    I have never defended immigration, by the way. I see it as a way to provide cheap labor for the ruling class, and a way to divide the working class.
    As for a culture clash with Islam, wow! Seriously?
    I am not defending any religion. I think all religious people are deluded.
    But which members of which religion are busily massacring people in 5 Muslim countries right now?
    Which religion brought up the Crusades as justification of mass murder?
    Clash of Civilizations?
    Not! The USA, having burned its oil, is now attacking the oil rich countries of the Middle East and North Africa, and claiming “self defense” as its motive.
    This would be laughable, if so many people weren’t dying and being driven into exile.
    This should be unbelieved by you.
    You are on a peak oil site, but you think that oil has nothing to do with the attacks and invasions?
    That’s pretty amazing.

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  565. Dolan Williams July 28, 2011 at 2:33 pm #

    Soak, we certainly don’t know exactly what would have happened had we not dropped those two A-bombs on mainland Japan. But, we definitely know that Japan would never have surrendered and agreed to the requirements of the Potsdam Declaration. How do we know this? Because members of the Japanese cabinet wrote about these events after the war ended. Even AFTER the two A-bombs were dropped, the cabinet was evenly divided over whether to seek peace. They turned to the Emperor for his input. However, there was an ongoing scheme by some of the militarists to kidnap the Emperor and hide him out so he could not throw in his vote. By only the narrowest margin of luck was this prevented. An evenly divided cabinet would have meant the continuation of war.
    If the war had continued, we do know that the U.S. military had various plans for Japan. One was an outright invasion in which our own military estinated our casualty count would be over 1 million. Another was an even harsher plan. By extensive bombing, we would have been able to prevent the distribution of food to Japanese cities from Japanese farmers. Our military estimated that we would have easily been able to starve to death tens of millions of Japanese civilians in less than one year. And don’t forget that General LeMay had plans to continue carpet bombing. There were so few flammable buildings left in the cities, that the plan was to go back to the use of fragmentation bombs. And remember that many many more Japanese civilians died from LeMay’s conventional bombing campaign than died from the A-bombs. I think you can guess what I would have preferred to do.

  566. Qshtik July 28, 2011 at 2:35 pm #

    Boss asking Soak a question but ending with a period rather than a question mark. — Soak, How many would have died in a direct invasion of Japan.
    ===============
    Boss, apparently you haven’t been around CFN long enough to know that you are wasting your breathe with Soak regarding the A-bombing of Japan, not to mention numerous other issues.
    To Soak: Karma shmarma.

  567. Vlad Krandz July 28, 2011 at 2:37 pm #

    Check out Breivik’s video if you don’t want to read the Manifesto. He says that it is too late to stop the invasion by democratic means. Between the Liberals and the Muslims, it is a locked up. So that means war. The sooner the better. Thus his first strike. What is the alternative? Only capitulation. No serious person can imagine the Muslims being acculturated at this point. Why would they when they are winning?
    Ordinary Conservatives are apalled at him – as if he hadn’t done it, there was a chance of turning back the tide. This is delusion born of the normalcy bias – which is another word for weakness. If THEY had done their job, Europe wouldn’t be in the process of becoming Eurabia. And people want to blame him?
    History is not carved in stone – not until the stones are toppled one from another. It is interactive. If by some miracle, Europe was to rise and conquer, he would be remembered as a Hero. If Islam conquers, he will be just a footnote since he didn’t kill any Muslims. If Liberals conquer – ridiculous, they are a disease and have no future. No one will remember that they considered this man a monster. The Muslims will shoulder them aside in another twenty years or so.
    One English writer once said Ireland is sword land to be taken by the strongest. Well all of Europe is now sword land – thanks to the Liberals, (quasi and secret Communists), and “Conservatives” (quasi and secret Liberals).
    Conservatives specialize in making appropriate noises as they follow their Liberal Masters on the Leftward path. Token resistance at its finest.
    And yes, the Jewish Elite played and still play a big role in all this. Perhaps those who say that the Jewish Illuminati don’t care about the Jewish People are correct. None of this can be good for the Jewish People or Israel.

  568. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 2:40 pm #

    Another fact to counter the 30 year old argument that lowering taxes on corporations will create jobs.
    On Democracy Now today, Richard Wolff pointed out that for every dollar paid by a US citizen in the 1940s, corporations paid $1.50.
    Now, for every dollar paid by citizens, corporations pay 25 cents.
    And still they demand more!

  569. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 2:44 pm #

    See AMR’s comment? The one I was commenting on?
    The one that debunked the assertion that common law was based on Christianity?
    That one?

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  570. lbendet July 28, 2011 at 2:45 pm #

    And still they demand more!
    Wage,
    The sky is the limit!
    Once you’re playing the zero sum game it’s about 100% of 100%.
    As Max Keiser points out, all they have to do is pull the plug and the stock market goes down etc. That’s why he calls them financial terrorists!

  571. Vlad Krandz July 28, 2011 at 2:46 pm #

    The woman was right essentially. They absolutely do plan to teach gay sex in school. They are already laying the foundations.
    Google fistgate about the after school classes in Massachusetts. And was Kevin Jennings of GLSEN destroyed? No he’s now Obama’s Safe School Czar. As ever, one cannot trust you. You are either in denial or lying.

  572. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 2:48 pm #

    Yeah, he wasn’t talking about crayons, Soak.
    He wrote a 1500 page manifesto explaining his plans and why, and he referenced US right wing sources.
    And no red flags went up?

  573. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 2:52 pm #

    It shouldn’t be up to US taxpayers to keep the stock market up.
    They sell it to us as a roundabout way to keep our 401Ks up.
    So we pay increased taxes in order to keep the stock markets up, so that dividends will some day trickle down?
    I like Tarpley’s explanation. If you come across a vampire sucking the blood out of a victim, you slay the vampire, and infuse blood into the victim.
    What the US government is doing instead, is transfusing the vampire, and hoping that the blood will somehow trickle into the victim!

  574. wagelaborer July 28, 2011 at 2:55 pm #

    Thanks for illustrating my point, Militia Boy.

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  575. metuselah July 28, 2011 at 3:03 pm #

    What is the alternative?
    ==
    The alternative is to increase awareness of who these “Commies”, these “Fascists”, these “Capitalists”, these “Liberals”, these “Conservatives”, etc., really are. They are all the same. They all serve the same master.
    And now more and more people are starting to understand this.

  576. metuselah July 28, 2011 at 3:23 pm #

    What business does the US have fighting wars on the other side of the globe. There’s only one answer to that, and that is Imperialism.
    The US created Nazi Germany. The US created the Soviet Union. The US created Communist China. And the US created Imperial Japan. These are the facts.
    And the US did this, so that is can create the excuse for its imperial wars on the other side of the globe. It was all part of a grand plan for global US imperial domination. It worked.
    And now what? Look at what you have become.

  577. Vlad Krandz July 28, 2011 at 3:28 pm #

    So you’re implying that anyone who has been attacked or harassed by Mexicans brought it on themselves? Like Jackie? I mean I know Mexicans are big on Communism, but do you really have to go that far?

  578. Vlad Krandz July 28, 2011 at 3:34 pm #

    So as a Communist you’re against violence? Can hypocrisy get any bigger? You people have no moral right to say ANYTHING on this issue.
    In Europe, and increasingly here in America, Communists routinely close down speeches and assualt right wing protestors. And they call this free speech.
    You need to read 1984 and Animal Farm – and understand them this time.
    As Churchill (not Ward) said, when Fascism comes next time, it will call itself Anti-Fascism. Anti-Fa. Get it?

  579. bossier22 July 28, 2011 at 3:36 pm #

    Wage, it is not just us the muslims clash with. Who ever they bump up against wether it be the west, subsaharan africans, hindus or russians there is a conflict. Oh, i almost forgot about Israel. i do buy the oil argument though. We all do or we would not interested in this site. Q, I’m being worked hard today so my grammar is suffering.

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  580. Qshtik July 28, 2011 at 4:23 pm #

    Oooo sore-eee Tootsie! Sonofabitch, what a day. Damn Ford had such a nice gain going for it till around 11:30 AM and then it gave it alll away … and then some. Oh well, maybe you only bought 50 or 100 shares. Maybe you can average down AGAIN tomorrow. wink wink teehehe.

  581. asia July 28, 2011 at 4:28 pm #

    ‘the bomb had been dropped there’
    HONKY ..RAP MUZIK IS DA BOMB DA BOMB DA BOMB
    [sorry i couldnt resist da pun].

  582. soak July 28, 2011 at 4:29 pm #

    Q said: “you are wasting your breathe with Soak regarding the A-bombing of Japan…”
    —————-
    Q is right.
    I draw the line as mass indiscriminate murder of innocent people. I know it’s silly of me.

  583. soak July 28, 2011 at 4:30 pm #

    CORRECTION
    I draw the line at mass indiscriminate murder of innocent people. That’s just the way I am.

  584. asia July 28, 2011 at 4:33 pm #

    Wage, the lamestream media happily reports the
    growth in the ‘latino’ population here is now more from births here, not immigration.
    As far as increase in population here, legally and illegals its millions a year, I doubt theres much of a slowdown.
    You are partly right in seeing why Immigration
    /open borders exist.
    Folks like Cash, PC, Vlad, Boosier see the other reasons.

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  585. soak July 28, 2011 at 4:35 pm #

    Q said: you are wasting your breathe
    —————-
    Mr. Nitpicker Q (except when it comes to mass murder)… you fucked up on the word breath.
    Nobody wastes their breathe (a verb).
    It is a waste of breath (a noun) to continue correctly your misuse of the English language.
    Again, I apologize for the correction, as it appears English is not your native language. (I do remember you saying you didn’t mind corrections because you learn from them.)
    Welcome to America, Q.

  586. soak July 28, 2011 at 4:37 pm #

    CORRECTION
    I am wasting my time correcting typos as well.
    It is a waste of breath (a noun) to continue correcting your misuse of the English language.

  587. asia July 28, 2011 at 4:39 pm #

    Clearly you hate whites or anyone you do ’empathize’ with.
    Discord and violence are all over, I saw blacks mug a young white guy in Santa Monica in daylight
    on the 4th of July.
    I helped the police catch the robbers. they had 5 or 6 stolen cellphones in their car.
    Grabbing Ipods in daylight and racing off in a car.

  588. bossier22 July 28, 2011 at 4:39 pm #

    I was more of a Boosier when I was younger. i couldn’t resist either asia. at least we’re having fun while we are on here. bossier

  589. Bustin J July 28, 2011 at 4:41 pm #

    Soak said, “All terrorists have to do is assign a code to defeat an algorithm. Something like this: “I sent my niece two boxes of crayons” No keywords in that sentence would be considered red flags. But if the terrorists have previously agreed that they will use “crayons” to represent suitcase nukes, they can communicate freely without being detected. Human ingenuity easily defeats technology.”
    You see the circularity there? Human ingenuity easily defeats technology humans create. But will Human ingenuity easily defeat technology humans created? “:)
    methuselah is right. No one can escape the eye of Sauron which is ever (quite plausibly) present…

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  590. asia July 28, 2011 at 4:44 pm #

    ‘all religious people are deluded’
    No doubt the beliefs of the ACLU are sacrosanct..
    ‘Our’ Beliefs sacred, ‘outsiders’ beliefs incorrect.

  591. asia July 28, 2011 at 4:46 pm #

    Can you tell us the facts on Fistgate?
    cali just passed a bill thatd have kids taught the ‘good gays do but not the bad’.
    Are you with a Militia?
    And are Militias constitutional?

  592. asia July 28, 2011 at 4:48 pm #

    What did Obama say about ‘understanding the mindset of muslim terrorists?’
    Is the lamestream media asking folks to understand the killer in Norways mind?

  593. asia July 28, 2011 at 5:05 pm #

    THIS IS WHAT OBMAM SAID AFTER 9.11
    We must also engage, however, in the more difficult task of understanding the sources of such madness. The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others. Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity. It may find expression in a particular brand of violence, and may be channeled by particular demagogues or fanatics. Most often, though, it grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.
    DOUBT IF IT REPEAT IT FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE KILLER IN NORWAY.
    Its all a question of whose oxe is getting gored.
    Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/

  594. Bustin J July 28, 2011 at 5:08 pm #

    Q referenced “A big article on Permaculture appeared in today’s NYT”.
    Notice how the participants (trainees) each paid north of $1000 for the exercise of digging a ditch.
    The problem with Permaculture, especially where it plugs into a system overloaded with people, is that no one is going to invest in it as it does not A) produce food surpluses (production does not “ramp up” until after 10-25 years to start producing for more people than the footprint typically holds or B) produce economic surpluses (unless of course, you are running a teaching business and are pulling in 10-15 students a month at $700 to $1400 a pop.)
    The “save the world” rhetoric is absolutely golden for these outfits. Free advertisement! Only a city-dweller in NYC would believe it. Legions of comfortable suburbanites with bad posture and disposable income will provide these permie schools with income. Hopefully they will take something back to their miracle-gro neighborhoods. But I doubt it.

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  595. asia July 28, 2011 at 5:25 pm #

    Oh Yes, Soviet Monica and El Lay are full of these things.
    I think the catalog for SantaMonica College / Non credit classes will show more of this.

  596. Dolan Williams July 28, 2011 at 5:28 pm #

    These are truly the most absurd statements I have ever heard. The U.S. did not create Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, Communist Russia or Communist China. I suggest that you take a few world history courses. I do agree that the U.S. right now is running around acting like a typical agressive imperialist power but that was not true during World War II.

  597. Dolan Williams July 28, 2011 at 5:30 pm #

    They refer to it as “the bloody borders of Islam.”

  598. asia July 28, 2011 at 5:33 pm #

    ‘Interestingly, I just heard that immigration from Mexico has pretty much stopped’
    YOU LISTENED TO THE MEDIA, YOU HEARD WRONG.

    When the Population there stops increasing, the exodus will slow. Dont hold yr breath.

  599. bossier22 July 28, 2011 at 5:34 pm #

    That is about as honest as it gets.

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  600. metuselah July 28, 2011 at 5:48 pm #

    These are truly the most absurd statements I have ever heard.
    ==
    That’s because you are largely ignorant and only know what you’ve been taught to know, which is the official state propaganda.

  601. soak July 28, 2011 at 5:52 pm #

    I think it was Turkle who mentioned the 20th century World Wars, whites fighting whites, European country fighting European country, Christians fighting Christians, with 80 million dead.
    When it comes to the greatest number of deaths, nobody can compete with Christians.
    What may be disturbing you is that some Muslims are fighting back.
    Overthrow the Shah of Iran in the 20th century and gain a hostile Iran in the 21st century. Karma.
    Where Q is confused is in thinking of karma in western terms of punishment. Karma is a law. The concepts of good and bad don’t apply. For example, gravity is one of the laws of the universe, and if you jumped off a building and killed yourself, we wouldn’t say that gravity was punishing you.

  602. soak July 28, 2011 at 5:54 pm #

    CORRECTION
    When it comes to the greatest number of deaths, nobody can compete with MORALLY-CHALLENGED WHITE Christians.

  603. Dolan Williams July 28, 2011 at 5:56 pm #

    Gee, I guess all those years I spent in graduate schools at U.C.L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills as a history major were totally wasted. And all those seemingly clever professors were just incompetent morons. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

  604. bossier22 July 28, 2011 at 6:03 pm #

    They have always fought back as have we.

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  605. soak July 28, 2011 at 6:03 pm #

    Soldiers, Social Security recipients and government employees are among those facing a cessation of payment if the Treasury is forced to prioritize.
    This is good news.
    When they stop paying the soldiers, how long do you think the soldiers will continue putting their lives on the line in stupid wars?
    Are they patriots or mercenaries?
    We shall see… soon.

  606. soak July 28, 2011 at 6:06 pm #

    The grocery store’s the super mart, uh huh
    Little girls still break their hearts, uh huh
    And men still keep on marching off to war
    Electrically they keep a baseball score
    The beat goes on, the beat goes on
    Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
    La de da de de, la de da de da

  607. progress,conserve July 28, 2011 at 6:13 pm #

    Wage, there’s no doubt that the Katrina response was FUBAR’ed from top to bottom. That article you linked was a pretty good “snapshot,” highlighting how law enforcement helped to add to the misery.
    But Katrina in New Orleans involved a tiny swath of a huge and undamaged country. Mostly, the Katrina victims had to wait out their misery as they waited for water, food, and rescue.
    This excerpt from your link was telling:
    “This was a process we saw repeatedly in the aftermath of Katrina. When individuals had to fight to find food or water, it meant looking out for yourself only. You had to do whatever it took to find water for your kids or food for your parents. When these basic needs were met, people began to look out for each other, working together and constructing a community”
    -emsnetwork.org-
    In a larger scale disaster – say regional, or national, as in some of JHK’s fiction – there would be no food or water arriving from “outside.”
    That’s why I suggest that it is worthwhile to consider how multiculturalism and a already VASTLY overpopulated US – would play out in such a situation.
    My concern is that it would get ugly, rapidly – and then get worse, before turning into disaster.
    And again, I’ll repeat the suggestion that upset Turkle so much yesterday –
    Think about what “could” happen, even in lovely SF – if the power went out and the police lost control of the situation for a week or so – – – under stress, people will react and stratify by race, class, religion or something – it’s a survival strategy that predates civilization.
    Just think about it, folks –
    That’s all I’m saying.

  608. soak July 28, 2011 at 6:14 pm #

    You did not waste your tuition studying history. Metuselah is a paranoid conspiracy theorist.
    He sees somebody he considers evil behind everything that happens. Could be the CIA, or the Vatican, or the “evil jihadists” … but they are all his “enemies” … out to get him.
    They are reading this blog right now. They are building FEMA camps right now. They are planning to take away your guns, and probably your gold. They are evil. Beware. The mainstream press does not report them and few people besides Metuselah really know what is going on. Maybe Alex Jones or George Noory. Certainly the Council of Foreign Relations (“all of them”) are in on it. Beware.

  609. metuselah July 28, 2011 at 6:28 pm #

    Gee, I guess all those years I spent in graduate schools at U.C.L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills as a history major were totally wasted. And all those seemingly clever professors were just incompetent morons. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
    ==
    Did you study the works of Anthony Sutton, Carroll Quigley, Edwin Black. Are you at all familiar with these historians? And if not, why not?

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  610. progress,conserve July 28, 2011 at 6:31 pm #

    “One of the classical virtues of liberalism is tolerance. That means I accept that other people have different backgrounds, languages, views, cultures, religions, etc. I am perfectly happy to live alongside and with people who are different from me. I’ll even accept the fact that some of these people hold beliefs that I find nonsensical (e.g. religion).”
    -turkle-
    That’s a nice explanation of classical liberalism, Turk. But what if this approach becomes impossible because of societal stress and because ANY ONE of those groups that you want to tolerate – will not tolerate YOU?
    Would you accept Christ at the point of a sword?
    Would you accept Allah for a drink of water?
    “But it doesn’t mean I condone them (or anyone) committing serious crimes. Whatever gave you that idea? It is a conclusion people like you often jump to erroneously.” -turkle-
    “people like you” That’s harsh, turk, harsh! ;0)

  611. Dolan Williams July 28, 2011 at 6:31 pm #

    I was watching some Alex Jones videos the other day and it really looked like he was going to have some kind of heart attack or stroke. Maybe he and Rush Limbaugh can perform some type of radio-duo program and if one of them has the “big one”, the other can perform some type of mouth-to-mouth or chest beating procedure on the unlucky one. And thanks for warning me about their plan to steal all my precious coins. I definitely have to start digging deeper holes in my back yard.

  612. metuselah July 28, 2011 at 6:36 pm #

    What an annoying jester you are. Keep hiding in your room, it’s the only place that’s safe for you. Trust me.

  613. soak July 28, 2011 at 6:40 pm #

    P,C said: “…consider how multiculturalism and a [sic] already VASTLY overpopulated US…”
    ———————
    Enough with the racist fear mongering, P,C. The USA has 32 inhabitants per square kilometer and is not “overpopulated”
    Here are some population density statistics for other developed countries (per sq.km.):
    34,000 .. Monaco
    7,013 .. Singapore
    6,360 .. Hong Kong
    1,034 .. Malta
    1,124 .. Bahrain
    488 .. South Korea
    396 .. Netherlands
    32 .. USA
    Enough with the multiculturalism bashing, the immigrant-bashing, and racist organizations like FAIR and NumbersUSA, founded by racist John Tanton.

  614. soak July 28, 2011 at 6:44 pm #

    John Tanton has started 13 groups. Some of them are hate groups. Any group founded by John Tanton should be studied carefully.
    http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2002/summer/the-puppeteer/john-tantons-network

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  615. soak July 28, 2011 at 6:47 pm #

    CORRECTION
    John Tanton has FOUNDED OR FUNDED 13 groups.
    http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2002/summer/the-puppeteer/john-tantons-network

  616. Dolan Williams July 28, 2011 at 6:52 pm #

    I didn’t study the works of any of these folks and any knowledge I have of them is extremely rudimentary. I know that Sutton was forced out of the Hoover Institution after basically stating that the U.S. totally cooked up the Korean and Vietnam wars. Quigley was big into secret societies. Black did some studies related to relationships between early Nazis and Palestinian Jews. Other than that, I haven’t a clue. I think that the general public would view these people as being on the extreme edge of popular viewpoints.

  617. soak July 28, 2011 at 6:54 pm #

    Deeper holes are good! LOL!
    [sarcasm on]
    But if you read CFN long enough you will learn that those holes should hide the really valuable stuff: guns, ammunition, vodka, gold, cigarettes, and some other really, really valuable stuff I can’t remember right now. Chaos is right around the corner, so be prepared to defend yourself from the hoards of dark-skinned looters, thieves and killers.
    [sarcasm off]

  618. Dolan Williams July 28, 2011 at 6:58 pm #

    I heard that the gubmint is going to let old geezers like me off the hook by giving us our Social Security checks whether there is a default or not. Yahoo! They probably think me and my buddies are going to march down to Wilshire Blvd. in West L.A. and burn the Federal building down if we don’t get our pay.

  619. metuselah July 28, 2011 at 7:18 pm #

    You claim to be a history student, and you’re not at all curious of the facts and the details that these researchers uncovered and how these relate to their view of world history? Is the official state propaganda the only thing you find worthy of study?

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  620. Buck Stud July 28, 2011 at 7:21 pm #

    Wage,
    Get a load of this, “Citizen Asia” helping the cops round up the bad guys. LMAO! (M

  621. Buck Stud July 28, 2011 at 7:24 pm #

    ” Clearly you hate whites or anyone you do ’empathize’ with.”
    Memo to asia: the above has Vlad Krantz written all over it and there’s only one Vlad Krantz on CFN, ok?
    Polly wanna an original thought?

  622. Cash July 28, 2011 at 7:35 pm #

    Wage maybe you read it but you selectively ignored the parts you didn’t like.

  623. Dolan Williams July 28, 2011 at 7:46 pm #

    There are lots and lots of historians out there and I certainly haven’t read nor do I intend to read all of them. These people seem to peak your interest and that’s probably because they adhere to various conspiracy theories. Heh, if you are really into that stuff, I say go for it. Maybe you can write some new books in that genre. But don’t try to convince me that the U.S. created Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Saddam, etc.

  624. progress,conserve July 28, 2011 at 7:47 pm #

    Once again soak lies.
    “P,C whatever I say you misinterpret or rephrase to make me look bad. This hurts my feelings. I’m not going to try to answer you any more. Besides I am not even sure I’m right. I mean I think freedom is good, but you seem so sure…..”
    -soak, to p,c @ 3:10 YESTERDAY-
    “Enough with the racist fear mongering, P,C. The USA has 32 inhabitants per square kilometer and is not “overpopulated”” – soak –
    And, as usual – soak is quick to resort to the “RACIST” name calling to shut down dialog.
    And if you remove mountains, deserts, and fossil fuels – the US is already a GROSSLY overpopulated disaster waiting to happen.
    But I’m a “racist” for wanting to talk about it.

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  625. Cash July 28, 2011 at 7:56 pm #

    Bossier this sounds like arguments I’ve made in the past. I assume the topic is whether the nuclear attack on Japan was justified or not. The Japanese had to be stopped and Japanese militarism had to be put in the grave. They murdered and raped many millions in Asia. Many millions suffered terribly (like my Chinese in-laws) under Japanese occupation.
    You’re right, a direct invasion of Japan would have been a far worse cataclysm. I’ve read that the Japanese Army was pretty much intact on the Japanese main islands despite losses in the Pacific and was itching for a fight. They believed that the American people were war weary and that the US army could be defeated and thrown back into the ocean if they invaded. Note that one bomb wasn’t enough to convince the Japanese leadership. It took two. Japan had to be defeated totally and utterly and quickly. To not do so would have been an act of monumental lunacy.

  626. Dolan Williams July 28, 2011 at 7:58 pm #

    Soak, the survivalist people refer to those types of folks as the “Golden Horde” and if you read between the lines what they are saying is that people of color will be the ones that stream out of the cities when TSHTF and they will be hell bent on looting, raping, molesting, stealing and murdering. In other words, America as we have all come to love it.
    I don’t smoke so I don’t need to hide any cigs. I don’t drink vodka but I do drink rum and whiskey so maybe I better dig some bigger holes. The thing is that I have two beautiful female Golden Retrievers that I’m in love with. So maybe I better go down to the butcher shop and get some really big bones and help my girls hide them a few feet down. They’ll be busily licking my face as I dig deeper and deeper and deeper. Oh, better not forget to hide the porno too. LOL

  627. metuselah July 28, 2011 at 8:06 pm #

    But don’t try to convince me that the U.S. created Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Saddam, etc.
    ==
    That’s exactly what they did.
    The facts are there. You refuse to look at them. So don’t come to me with complaints that what I say is absurd. It is absurd to YOU, because you’ve been emotionally captured by the false narrative of government mafia propaganda.
    Unless you can show me that what these researchers have uncovered is false, to me you’re just a mindless parrot, peddling government mafia half truths and outright lies.

  628. Qshtik July 28, 2011 at 8:53 pm #

    Gee, I guess all those years I spent … as a history major were totally wasted.
    ======================
    Yes Dolon, in Obtusela’s eyes your years of study were a total waste. Only he possesses the whole truth and you and the rest of us are just dupes.
    OLD69 long ago proved himself unworthy of my time and I stopped reading his long and repetitive nonsense.
    Obtusela is just as unworthy of my time and attention but his posts are usually short so I have not abandoned him yet. But it is only a matter of time since, really, don’t I already know exactly what he will say in every post?

  629. Qshtik July 28, 2011 at 8:54 pm #

    Sorry, Dolan

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  630. turkle July 28, 2011 at 9:14 pm #

    The research shows that banks and other entities aided some of these rulers in certain ways but “created” is a big stretch, and (more or less) not true.
    For one thing, I think historians in those countries would take issue with your assertion. For another, all these dictators would have disagreed with you. And also, the US government was certainly NOT outwardly supportive of Mao, Stalin, and Hitler, and their actions bear this out. As for private actors like financial entities, the story is different. But when you say “the US created,” that is quite a stretch. Did the US “create” Hitler simply because a few American firms supplied him with financial support under the table? I think you’d be hard-pressed to argue this given all the available historical source material.
    To be specific…
    Mao came to power primarily because his faction won a civil war. And after that I don’t believe he required much support from the US and didn’t get much (any?). In fact, he considered the US an antagonist until the thawing of Sino-US relations under Nixon. There is a good book called “Mao” that covers his rule, and he certainly didn’t depend on the US for very much. He had what amounted to millions of slaves, whom he would starve on a whim. He had complete control of the country.
    The US did NOT create Stalin. What a joke. Please go talk to any respectable Russian historian about this. Again, Stalin was self-driven and came to power on his own. He was ruthless in eliminating his enemies, both imaginary and real, during the lengthy purges he instigated. He did receive support from the US during WWII. But otherwise he certainly didn’t require US backing for his rule.
    Hitler was another actor with a strong sense of self destiny. Yes, US banks and corporations aided him, but his primary backers were German industrialists. And he came to power primarily from his own drive, savvy, and control of the popular Nazi Party.
    Saddam did NOT come to power because of the US. At the start of the Iran-Iraq War, his arms were primarily Russian. You know why? Because RUSSIA was his primary backer up to that point, not the US. The Baath Party was allied with the Soviets. He did receive aid from the US during that war, but mostly it amounted to satellite imagery and some weaponry (notably his chemical weapons stockpile that he partially purchased from the US). But he also got arms from France and other European countries, so the situation is far more complex and nuanced than “The US created Saddam.”
    I guess in summary I’d say, “It is complicated.” To say that the US “created” the dictators you describe is not really supported by the evidence. If you said “supported” or “aided” at certain times, I’d agree with that assertion in some cases. But to argue that the US is primarily responsible for Hitler, Mao, Stalin, and Saddam both minimizes the power currents of fascism and totalitarianism that were the real engines behind these dictatorships. It also gives far too much credit to the influence of the US on the internal politics of these countries.
    That said, there are other regimes that the US certainly did prop up as the primary benefactor, namely many of the South American governments of the 60’s and 70’s. Chile comes to mind, where Allende was toppled by a CIA backed coup.
    Personally, I’d like you to link the books and sites you’re using as your primary source material in each case. I’m familiar with some of it. For instance, “Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler” does show that Hitler received some financial backing from US banks and corporations. But they certainly weren’t his primary support, which came from native German companies like I.G. Farben.
    Any-who, regardless of whether I agree with you or not, it is an interesting discussion.

  631. turkle July 28, 2011 at 9:23 pm #

    I’d say if one is going to assert a non-traditional, non-mainstream view of history, then links to strongly supportive source material are obligatory.
    To simply say, “You haven’t read the right books.” without actually providing any specifics is pretty dismissive and not really very convincing in terms of making a coherent argument. In other words, where’s the evidence?
    I mean, really, the US created Mao? Puh-lease. Find me any standard text on the history of modern China that makes this argument. Any well-recognized scholar of Chinese history would laugh in your face if you told them this hogwash.
    Similarly, Stalin came to power through his own actions and didn’t require US backing. Again, point me to any well-researched, believable Russian history text that argues otherwise, and I’ll reconsider my position.

  632. turkle July 28, 2011 at 9:23 pm #

    OLD69 = TLDR;

  633. messianicdruid July 28, 2011 at 9:37 pm #

    Dennis knows something! I would have expected this from Congressman Ron Paul.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mx4JK4tmnU
    Interview with Congressman Dennis Kusinich of Ohio on June 6, 2011:
    Kusinich: What I want is for us to take control of the money system again by putting the Fed under Treasury and have the government be able to invest money instead of the Fed loaning money to banks–or creating money out of nothing and giving it to banks–which then park it at the Fed and gain interest with no benefit to the economy.
    I want to see money spent to create jobs, rebuild America. We shouldn’t have to borrow this money. I have a different approach.
    Moderator then calls Kusinich “one of the New members of Congress who understands the Federal Reserve. . .”
    Kusinich: This guy [pointing to himself] wants to change the rules so that we diminish the role of the Fed, put it back under Treasury, which the founders intended under Article 1, Section 8. The power to coin money was not given to the Fed. They siezed that power in 1913. I want to set the Fed aside, as far as that’s concerned, regain the power, let the government invest in the economy— . . . Why should we borrow from banks? The Fed is giving money to the banks. We shouldn’t have to borrow money from banks.
    Kusinich wants us to nationalize the Fed by putting it under the authority of the Treasury Department. Then when more money needs to be created in order to support the economy, the government could simply create it WITHOUT PAYING INTEREST, as our Constitution says in Article 1, Section 8.
    Kusinich recognizes that the Fed (actually the bankers who own the Fed corporation) “siezed that power in 1913.” He is referring to the Federal Reserve Act, passed on Dec. 23, 1913 by just 5 senators. All the others were home for Christmas. It was signed into law by President Wilson in February 1914 after he was blackmailed by the bankers who knew of his extra-marital love affair. This Act gave private international bankers the power to create money out of nothing and loan it to the US government at interest.

  634. metuselah July 28, 2011 at 9:40 pm #

    US government was certainly NOT outwardly supportive
    ==
    That’s the point. That’s the conspiracy. They set up Hitlerism. They set up Bolshevism. They set up Maoism. And they set up Imperial Japan. They gave them financing. They gave them technical industrial/military help. And they gave them an open political corridor and invitation to proceed with war. It was all a setup.
    As for Saddam Hussein. He was a member of the Ba’ath Party. The Ba’ath Party is a an islamo-fascist organization, cultivated by Western Intelligence. Same as the Muslim Brotherhood.

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  635. metuselah July 28, 2011 at 9:47 pm #

    I mean, really, the US created Mao? Puh-lease
    ==
    Where did Mao get his financing from? Where did he get his guns from?

  636. Qshtik July 28, 2011 at 9:52 pm #

    OLD69 = TLDR;
    ===============
    Yeah, that plus NAAF
    (Nutty as a fruitcake)

  637. messianicdruid July 28, 2011 at 9:58 pm #

    “Deficits don’t matter” — Dick Cheney
    Cheney must have read the Constitution.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Well, he wasn’t quoting it.

  638. BeantownBill July 28, 2011 at 11:41 pm #

    Asoka, let’s not be disingenuous here. I know you’re pretty smart, but let me try to elaborate on the population density thing:
    Population density is in effect an average figure – some areas are almost unpopulated, like large parts of northern Alaska, some are almost unpopulable like Death Valley, and some are highly populated, like metropolitan New York, which has a population density of 1,100 people per square km. It is in those high density areas that we will run into trouble in the future. And these areas contain large chunks of the population.
    Monaco isn’t really a country, it’s a tiny principality that is a resort/casino area for the wealthy and which doesn’t grow its own food or produce anything; Singapore is really a city-state that until 50 years ago was part of southern Malasia, and is an international banking and trading center which also has no natural resources; and Hong Kong is just a small peninsula that has been a dumping ground for escaping mainland Chinese and has very little native resources. In a SHTF scenario, Monaco, Singapore and Hong Kong will fare very badly and aren’t good examples of why high population densities are ok.

  639. jackieblue2u July 29, 2011 at 12:15 am #

    I guess I missed that response. Now have to go scrolling scrolling scrolling, only to get my feelings hurt again !
    I’m cool. It’s just for fun. My first and only cybercrush. I said it was over cuz I don’t want you to think I’m cyberstalking you. I don’t know how to do ‘jack’ on a computer, nothing to worry about.
    Never shoulda let that cat out of the bag. Sometimes I talk too much.
    It was just a for fun crush. I am ok.
    Haven’t had alot of time to be on cfn, just busy with life and trying to be more active, & get out more, when I can.
    Thanks for being the sensitve but “Good”but not nice ! guy you are !
    🙂

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  640. BeantownBill July 29, 2011 at 12:16 am #

    I’m not a historian and I can’t quote sources, but I was under the impression that the US, either through the government or private citizens/businesses aided the Bolsheviks during the Revolution, when all of Russia was up for grabs. Later, wealthy US industrialists helped bail out Lenin or probably Stalin when there were great famines in Russia. So the US may not have created the USSR, but it abetted its survival during its earliest, critical years.
    The US may not have created the Nazis, but during Hitler’s regime, before lend-lease and Pearl Harbor, America had many Nazi sympathizers, and through misguided, influential bigots like Father Coughlin, Henry Ford, “Lucky Lindy” and Joseph Kennedy, gave the Nazis legitimacy and emboldened them to act as they did in Europe. Roosevelt knew what was happening to the European Jews and did nothing, or almost nothing, thus making the US complicit in the slaughter of 9 million innocent people in concentration camps. Yeah, the “home of the brave,the land of the free, where all men are created equal” Americans.

  641. AMR July 29, 2011 at 12:42 am #

    Jefferson overplayed his hand by declaring that the Common Law was established in an entirely pre-Christian environment. Important precedents were established well after England’s conversion to Christianity, and for that matter centuries after the initial establishment of the Common Law. It’s hard for Americans to conceive of a legal system such as Great Britain’s, based on an unwritten constitution that has evolved over the course of a millennium or so. The English constitution never had a dramatic genesis moment such as the Declaration of Independence or the ratification of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Even the Magna Carta, a big deal in British legal history, was pretty modest and incremental by American standards.
    TJ knew how to have a good political pissing match. His comment about the Anglo-Saxons never having heard of Christ when they established the Common Law sounds like a classic overwrought broadside against his sectarian adversaries. He got himself into a righteous lather from time to time over moralistic rhetoric from the overtly Christian political leaders of his day. From what I’ve heard of the latter they were generally fairly mellow by modern religious right standards but too theocratic by a long shot for Jefferson’s comfort. Jefferson had one hell of a standoff with the Federalists, too; if memory serves, he and John Adams were bitterly and utterly estranged for years until shortly before their deaths, when they had an impressive eleventh hour reconciliation.
    In some ways, Jefferson was the premier raging leftist agitator of his day. It’s reasonable to take his pronouncements on religion with a grain of salt. On the other hand, though, I’d say he was unusually wise about the pitfalls of mixing church and state. He really was in the right place at the right time, as were the Founding Fathers as a group, but we would be politically impoverished as a nation had the conservative factions not had such effective adversaries in the independence debates.
    Jefferson and his allies did a huge service to the new nation by definitively calling foul on the unholy alliance between the Anglican Church, the Crown and Parliament that had marred politics in Britain. From Imperial Russia to the Papal States to Henry VIII, history has shown time and time again that the mixture of church and state is a dangerous one. It encourages bad political actors to justify evil with religious rhetoric and religious leaders to yield to temptations of worldly political power and wealth, corrupting church and state in tandem.
    We can see this today with some politically connected elements of the religious right, which have given moral cover to a jungle-like economic and regulatory environment and abetted entanglements in geopolitical and military disasters abroad. One of the surest ways to get support for monumentally evil or stupid enterprises is to undertake them in God’s name. Recent results include Pat Robertson and company basically pronouncing Jesus a Republican, a suspension of moral judgment in order to take sides in the Israeli/Palestinian minefield because “God blesses those who bless Israel,” and military adventurism in Muslim tribal wars where we don’t know our ass from a hole in the ground. We might still be in Iraq, Libya and that eternal graveyard of empires, Afghanistan, without sectarian support, but some of the last bastions of political support for these wars are among religious right zealots who think we have a dog in the fight because of bin Laden’s imagined allies, the Barbary pirates or the Book of Revelation. American Christians who believe in separate sectarian and political spheres, along with adherents of other religions and the nonreligious, are more likely to recognize that we’re in way the hell over our heads in the Middle East.
    We’ve gotten all that with a ban on the official establishment of religion and vocal countervailing factions. I’d say it’s eminently wise to at least try to maintain a boundary between church and state. Troublemakers are always going to try to cross the line, so it’s better to be forewarned, forearmed and ready to tell them off for debasing religion and politics.
    One matter on which I agree with Jefferson is that the early judges setting common law precedents were not generally acting in any religious capacity. Their religious beliefs may have informed their decisions on some level, but they did a pretty good job of rendering to God what was God’s and to Caesar what was Caesar’s.
    A lot of their reasoning amounted to observations of natural law, the idea being that man was endowed with a moral compass that he might use it. Deep debates have been held about whether moral compasses work in the absence of religious conviction; my take is that a lot of natural law concerns self-evident truths that only the severely disordered would completely deny.
    One thing this sort of reasoning is not is inherently Christian. Certainly not in any denominational sense; in fact, it can be construed as anti-Christian insofar as it empowers judges and juries to tell clerics to fuck off. Properly applied, it puts meaningful checks on bishops and kings, not just lowly commoners. At Common Law, it allows the courts to tell sectarian zealots, “Dude, you’re an Englishman, and there are rules around here.”
    That is not an attitude that sits well with influential clerics. They’d like something more theocratic and manipulable. Unrestrained, they’ll get it.

  642. jackieblue2u July 29, 2011 at 12:44 am #

    OK I found it.
    I never have and I never would meet anyone from on line.
    Well maybe VLAD, haha, kidding !
    Yeah it’s rough, my life, I like the way you put it, like untying knots. Still working on this one.
    Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder ! (I know Not too original.) You mentioned beers and bikerides and being ugly (you not ME !)
    So you’re an Ugly BadAss. Cool !
    I didn’t see where you were maybe harsh like you mentioned.
    I’m fine. I am so over you it’s not funny !
    Yes Serious real time crushes are really hard to get over. I do know what you mean there. Love is forever. So is Lust I think. In real life that is.
    🙂

  643. turkle July 29, 2011 at 12:58 am #

    Who is this royal “they” anyways? Is it the Freemasons? The Illuminati? The reptile aliens from Zeta Reticuli?

  644. turkle July 29, 2011 at 1:06 am #

    You just make this shit up as you go along, don’t you?

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  645. turkle July 29, 2011 at 1:16 am #

    No, no, no.
    Saddam was supported primarily by the Soviets up until the early 1980’s, hence why that country fought with Russian tanks and AKs during the Iran-Iraq War. Iran was the country that the US supported until the Shah was overthrown, after which we embargoed them. We briefly gave Iraq support during the last half of the Iran-Iraq War, but to say the US “created” Saddam is malarky.
    As for Hitler, “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” is a comprehensive account of his rise to power and the subsequent events through 1945. The role of the United States was minimal. Hitler himself and the Nazi Party took over Germany, through democratic political procedures, actually. They didn’t need US help. They were elected. Please read the book.
    Stalin did not need our help to come to power and he didn’t get it. He seized power after Lenin died and exiled or killed his political enemies. He murdered millions of people during his time in power. The US did not create him.
    The US did NOT support imperial Japan. We embargoed them, and they went to war because this caused a severe oil shortage. They bombed Pearl Harbor and invaded the Phillipines. Then we were mortal enemies until we dropped two atomic bombs on them. Please point me to any respectable history book that shows the US had a primary role in supporting them at any point.
    The US was primarily allied with Chiang Kai-shek, not the Communists, hence our support for the Nationalist Chinese in Taiwan. At no point did Mao depend on the support of America, nor was he “created” by the US.
    Crack a real history book for a change instead of regurgitating the conspiracy theory crap you read on the internet, which, I notice, you haven’t even bothered to site. So people should believe you….why?
    I’m just thinking, learn the standard history before you start making things up. There’s a reason that there are certain historical facts that are largely agreed upon, and it has nothing to do with conspiracy theories, the Illuminati, or the CIA.
    Thanks for listening. Bye now!

  646. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 1:25 am #

    Thanks for the elaboration.
    Jefferson was the premier raging leftist agitator of his day?
    No wonder I like him! I’m pretty fond of Thomas Paine, also.

  647. asia July 29, 2011 at 1:28 am #

    Thanks, Yet one more reason soak is ‘scroll past’.
    Monaco, Singapore and Hong Kong , are they food
    exporters?
    How BIG is HK?
    The other 2 are cities pretending to be countries.

  648. asia July 29, 2011 at 1:34 am #

    We could have wiped him out, he did get lots of firepower from US weapons [read Birch material].
    My impression is the Rockefellers etc sensed
    Mao would be useful and LO AND BEHOLD less than
    20? years after WW2, They were in Maos China
    looking to ‘open it up to cola and banking’.

  649. asia July 29, 2011 at 1:36 am #

    ‘people like you” That’s harsh, turk, harsh! ‘
    Harsh it is, so maybe scroll past.

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  650. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 1:39 am #

    I’ve got to say, though, that I consider this police shooting totally justified.
    Unlike NYC, LA or Oakland, when cops fire 50 or so rounds into the backs of unarmed people, our Southern Illinois cop fired one bullet.
    And the guy had a sword.
    And they found his dead wife in the car afterwards.
    So, really, it was justified! And the neighbors of Mobile Home Road have a lot to talk about.
    http://thesouthern.com/news/local/article_b4ab8caa-b8d2-11e0-9dc0-001cc4c03286.html

  651. asia July 29, 2011 at 1:41 am #

    Would you meet me?
    Whats yr facebook [if you have one].

  652. asia July 29, 2011 at 1:43 am #

    Classic Soak:
    When it comes to the greatest number of deaths, nobody can compete with Christians.
    What may be disturbing you is that some Muslims are fighting back.

  653. AMR July 29, 2011 at 1:50 am #

    Christianity doesn’t seem to have been a variable in the development of the Common Law. Even at a time when the Continent and England were both officially Roman Catholic and fairly thoroughly churched, English and Continental law diverged widely.
    Much of the Church-sanctioned law in place contemporaneously to the Common Law was hellishly barbaric. The Common Law at that time could be barbaric, too, but not as consistently. Many of the atavistic legal rampages in late Medieval and early Renaissance England were usurpations of judicial prerogatives by autocratic monarchs; in Henry VIII’s case, they were church affairs, too, after he decided that he was the church.
    Notable pious Christians directed some of the really sick shit in that era. That’s how the legal cretin and literary hypocrite Thomas More became a Catholic saint (to my church’s discredit). He was glad to pervert his nation’s laws for a megalomaniacal tyrant, but not to brook a minor nationalistic heresy provoked by a pedestrian political dispute with a vulgar pope.
    An independent judiciary beholden neither to kings nor to bishops (or, in the case of Bloody Hank, both) was ultimately one of the forces that put the kibosh on this sort of barbarism. This was true both in Britain and on the Continent. Independent parliaments were also extremely important. Church officials had a way of being most un-Christian when the civil authorities lacked the balls or firepower to keep them in line. That’s something for my fellow Americans to keep in mind when faced with the likes of Rick Santorum or Michele Bachmann.
    Were English judges and lawmakers Bible-scissoring deists in the mold of Thomas Jefferson? Not particularly. But nor were they Bible-thumping bigots breaking down the barn door for an Elmer Gantry altar call. Some of them, maybe, but not nearly as many as the religious right insists.
    And as far as our being a Christian nation founded by uniformly pious and prim theocrats is concerned, sweet Jesus on a dinosaur. Some of my countrymen need to leave the creationist museums and get themselves some genuine Satanic book larnin’. We’re fucked if we adhere to their crackpot version of history.

  654. metuselah July 29, 2011 at 1:51 am #

    Turkle, you can’t be that gullible, can you?
    Why is this so difficult to understand: If I pass you one million dollars thru an intermediary, does that mean that it wasn’t me who passed you that million dollars?
    The US was arming and aiding the Soviets, who were in turn arming and aiding the Chinese, the Vietnamese, the Iraqis, etc. And this happened during the height of the “Cold War”. Read Antony C. Sutton’s National Suicide. The Soviet Union was the corporate fascists’ best friend. It allowed them to expand their thievery to a scale unimaginable. Think of it, $1.5 trillion dollars of guaranteed revenue every year, and no one dares question this. People are forced into endless debt and to go without basic services, but the corporate fascist are always guaranteed their war revenue.
    That’s why they’re now building China as the next “Soviet” threat.

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  655. old69 July 29, 2011 at 2:59 am #

    THE WORK OF THE THE FUTURE
    The work of the future will be the “fight”, the fights, the never ending affair of contrasting will powers, will power A against will power B, but even more so person A trying to convince, influence, make or desire that person B do something he wants. The operation of constantly trying to make will power B follow the desires of will power A, the constant play of contrasting (and randomly collaborating sometimes) of two will powers at play. But since there is no way to force will power B, person B to do what person A wants, since person A can go on forever trying to modify, influence, manipulate or make person B go in the direction person A wants but never succeed (but the direction can constantly change, which is another way to create ever more “work”), this effort, this “work” is potentially infinite, this line of “work” is never ending, there could be trillions of jobs like this, and these will be the jobs of the future. And if you are not contrasting will power B, you will contrast yourself and create another will power B in your own mind and fight yourself, go figure.
    The target denied, the resistance to what you want, the opposition to your effort, etc. A fights B, A against B: this is in essence what that old clunker of a brain is programmed to do, the fight, the contrast. It doesn’t matter what the contention is about, it doesn’t matter who is “right” or wrong”, the contents of the fight, the better or worse, the good target or bad target is irrelevant, the only thing that counts is the fight, the contention, the reciprocal resistance, the reciprocal contrasting targets, the constant construction of never ending thoughts, calculations, thought patterns, ideas, a trillion sequence of symbols to justify, represent, convince, make the statement, make the point that target A is better or desired compared to opposing target B, etc. No collective effort here, no aggregation of result here, no “common good” here, just trillions of fights, lawyers, political fights, never ending games and strategies, the stock market, the game, win or lose, you name it.
    Compare all this to building trillions of Skyscrapers and Rockets to Mars, High Speed Trains, Huge Consumerism, you name it (all those things the greens are against) where the collective effort adds up, there is a common good, there is a result everyone can see and appreciate.

  656. rocco July 29, 2011 at 3:00 am #

    James stop your Monday morning reality checks. Our local news keeps us happy by not dealing with police shutting down the street because an old woman was being kicked out of her house by the bank, and she refused to go. Our Mayor wants to buy another fast ferry that will create a daily ride to Toronto with a dream that Canadians will flock to our city once former Kodak World HQ. BUT I found the answer, the media celebrated job creation, A Quaker Lube and Steak restaurant just opened. Loud, huge!,and with cars, car parts, motor cycles all hanging from the ceiling, gas tanks, oil drums. The food extra salt, extra grease, I loved it, eating oil right out front. Have a Zeus blessed day. BTW Thomas Jefferson loved Fox News!

  657. old69 July 29, 2011 at 3:00 am #

    As if the universe is simply a set of elementary particles C and F, C is a chunk of matter or items or elements or entities (notice how many different words you can use for the same thing, that is our specialty, invent trillions of different words and concepts just to keep on saying and doing the same things over and over again) that is a monolithic slab a of aggregated result, a collective item existent as one, a single entity fighting other entities, as a self, and F is the boundary, the interface, the line of delimitation of C1 from C2, the F being the fight, the comparison, the measurement, the opposition to target, the inertia, the point of contention, the point of contrast, the boundary between opposing will powers: so the universe is simply C1 F C2 F C3 and so on (but C1 can be made up of other Cs and even some Fs), all the points of space and time are just a combination of C and F, always changing aggregations, but being defined and existing only in as much as the F points define them, they are essentially defined and exist only through F, the fight. Mind you, these oppositions to targets, this resistance to effort to achieve a given goal is due not only to will powers, but also due to the blind forces of nature opposing, simply dead and blind contrasting forces, particles colliding, the play of forces interacting with no conscious will power associated with it like the earthquake in JAPAN, a blind force that contrasts many will powers just for the fun of it, just because, because Nature is bored. And then there could be varying degrees of intensity of contrast C1 F1 C2 or C1 F2 C2 with F2 being more intense or less intense than F1, and so on and such.
    So this is the work of the future, create as many contention points as possible, create as many fights as possible, or said in another way, fight over everything, the more information and choices and options the more fights therefore the more work, but this work is just infinite effort towards a goal that can never be reached since the barrier and resistance of will power B to will power A is infinite: so an infinite fight and effort never achieving anything, or even if it is achieved, the game just continues to be played with a new contention, a new fight, and the fights are never won once and for all, but just changed, the laws of conservation of “fight” and “contention”, the laws of conservation of F, the number of F points in the universe is constant, but probably ever increasing, and the more F the more work.
    But why did Matter want to wake up and fight itself ? why did it want to create opposing elements and contrasts ? why did it want to define itself according to the interaction (which is always a fight), the constant change of aggregation and new delimitations always changing sets and combinations (new allies, then foes, etc.) which is essentially the fight ?
    Fight, stick em, stick em, fight, this is the essence of that old clunker of the mind – brain. Now tell me that this old clunker of a Mind – Brain is not a TURD, tell me that Man is Not a TURD, go on.
    THE MIND – BRAIN IS A TURD AND MAN IS A TURD, end of story.
    We must create a new design, throw away this old clunker and create a new design for a mind – brain. I can hardly wait to die, oh please, pretty please kill me San Jose Mommy, please kill me Alexandra, get me out of my misery, don’t have mercy on me, beat the living daylights out of me (where is Freud when you need him, isn’t this “masochism” or something like that ?) kill me so I can get rid of this old clunker of a brain – mind of mine, this old failed machine, we need new machines, new entities.
    CARBON ATOMS ARE THE MARK OF THE BEAST, KILL CARBON ATOMS, ELIMINATE THEM FROM THE UNIVERSE (and as such kill all green and nature and biology, how I hate their guts, how I hate the guts of this quirk system and machine, we need new machines made of Iron and Uranium, new contraptions).

  658. xhalor July 29, 2011 at 3:05 am #

    Tell ya what I got out of it. Do you swarthy heathens want the White Lady or the Black Guy?
    Looks like the Washington Monument wins again.
    Ok, Ok. We’re gonna repaint it pretty soon.
    Truly Yours,
    Bootsy Collins

  659. old69 July 29, 2011 at 3:18 am #

    From:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=176094
    But why did Matter want to wake up and fight itself ? why did it want to create opposing elements and contrasts ? why did it want to define itself according to the interaction (which is always a fight), the constant change of aggregation and new delimitations always changing sets and combinations (new allies, then foes, etc.) which is essentially the fight ? But especially why did Matter want to punish itself with arbitrary pain/pleasure circuits forcing it to have targets and goals and directions, forcing it to contrast other chunks of Matter whether through other organisms or the Laws of Physics like rocks and thunder and cold and heat, etc. ? So Matter wakes up, creates an aggregation of something that is a self and feeling pain/pleasure as to give it a direction to go and targets but especially oppositions to contrast, resistance to its desires (and this can be forced only through the dictatorship of pain/pleasure).

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  660. old69 July 29, 2011 at 3:21 am #

    Hey rocco don’t interrupt my line of thoughts, now I have to repost, so please Mommy, it is rocco’s fault that I have to double post, please have mercy on my wicked soul (mercy NOT, please kill me, get me out of my misery, get rid of my old clunker mind brain).
    THE WORK OF THE THE FUTURE
    The work of the future will be the “fight”, the fights, the never ending affair of contrasting will powers, will power A against will power B, but even more so person A trying to convince, influence, make or desire that person B do something he wants. The operation of constantly trying to make will power B follow the desires of will power A, the constant play of contrasting (and randomly collaborating sometimes) of two will powers at play. But since there is no way to force will power B, person B to do what person A wants, since person A can go on forever trying to modify, influence, manipulate or make person B go in the direction person A wants but never succeed (but the direction can constantly change, which is another way to create ever more “work”), this effort, this “work” is potentially infinite, this line of “work” is never ending, there could be trillions of jobs like this, and these will be the jobs of the future. And if you are not contrasting will power B, you will contrast yourself and create another will power B in your own mind and fight yourself, go figure.
    The target denied, the resistance to what you want, the opposition to your effort, etc. A fights B, A against B: this is in essence what that old clunker of a brain is programmed to do, the fight, the contrast. It doesn’t matter what the contention is about, it doesn’t matter who is “right” or wrong”, the contents of the fight, the better or worse, the good target or bad target is irrelevant, the only thing that counts is the fight, the contention, the reciprocal resistance, the reciprocal contrasting targets, the constant construction of never ending thoughts, calculations, thought patterns, ideas, a trillion sequence of symbols to justify, represent, convince, make the statement, make the point that target A is better or desired compared to opposing target B, etc. No collective effort here, no aggregation of result here, no “common good” here, just trillions of fights, lawyers, political fights, never ending games and strategies, the stock market, the game, win or lose, you name it.
    Compare all this to building trillions of Skyscrapers and Rockets to Mars, High Speed Trains, Huge Consumerism, you name it (all those things the greens are against) where the collective effort adds up, there is a common good, there is a result everyone can see and appreciate.

  661. old69 July 29, 2011 at 3:23 am #

    As if the universe is simply a set of elementary particles C and F, C is a chunk of matter or items or elements or entities (notice how many different words you can use for the same thing, that is our specialty, invent trillions of different words and concepts just to keep on saying and doing the same things over and over again) that is a monolithic slab a of aggregated result, a collective item existent as one, a single entity fighting other entities, as a self, and F is the boundary, the interface, the line of delimitation of C1 from C2, the F being the fight, the comparison, the measurement, the opposition to target, the inertia, the point of contention, the point of contrast, the boundary between opposing will powers: so the universe is simply C1 F C2 F C3 and so on (but C1 can be made up of other Cs and even some Fs), all the points of space and time are just a combination of C and F, always changing aggregations, but being defined and existing only in as much as the F points define them, they are essentially defined and exist only through F, the fight. Mind you, these oppositions to targets, this resistance to effort to achieve a given goal is due not only to will powers, but also due to the blind forces of nature opposing, simply dead and blind contrasting forces, particles colliding, the play of forces interacting with no conscious will power associated with it like the earthquake in JAPAN, a blind force that contrasts many will powers just for the fun of it, just because, because Nature is bored. And then there could be varying degrees of intensity of contrast C1 F1 C2 or C1 F2 C2 with F2 being more intense or less intense than F1, and so on and such.
    So this is the work of the future, create as many contention points as possible, create as many fights as possible, or said in another way, fight over everything, the more information and choices and options the more fights therefore the more work, but this work is just infinite effort towards a goal that can never be reached since the barrier and resistance of will power B to will power A is infinite: so an infinite fight and effort never achieving anything, or even if it is achieved, the game just continues to be played with a new contention, a new fight, and the fights are never won once and for all, but just changed, the laws of conservation of “fight” and “contention”, the laws of conservation of F, the number of F points in the universe is constant, but probably ever increasing, and the more F the more work.
    But why did Matter want to wake up and fight itself ? why did it want to create opposing elements and contrasts ? why did it want to define itself according to the interaction (which is always a fight), the constant change of aggregation and new delimitations always changing sets and combinations (new allies, then foes, etc.) which is essentially the fight ? But especially why did Matter want to punish itself with arbitrary pain/pleasure circuits forcing it to have targets and goals and directions, forcing it to contrast other chunks of Matter whether through other organisms or the Laws of Physics like rocks and thunder and cold and heat, etc. ? So Matter wakes up, creates an aggregation of something that is a self and feeling pain/pleasure as to give it a direction to go and targets but especially oppositions to contrast, resistance to its desires (and this can be forced only through the dictatorship of pain/pleasure).
    Fight, stick em, stick em, fight, this is the essence of that old clunker of the mind – brain. Now tell me that this old clunker of a Mind – Brain is not a TURD, tell me that Man is Not a TURD, go on.
    THE MIND – BRAIN IS A TURD AND MAN IS A TURD, end of story.
    We must create a new design, throw away this old clunker and create a new design for a mind – brain. I can hardly wait to die, oh please, pretty please kill me San Jose Mommy, please kill me Alexandra, get me out of my misery, don’t have mercy on me, beat the living daylights out of me (where is Freud when you need him, isn’t this “masochism” or something like that ?) kill me so I can get rid of this old clunker of a brain – mind of mine, this old failed machine, we need new machines, new entities.
    CARBON ATOMS ARE THE MARK OF THE BEAST, KILL CARBON ATOMS, ELIMINATE THEM FROM THE UNIVERSE (and as such kill all green and nature and biology, how I hate their guts, how I hate the guts of this quirk system and machine, we need new machines made of Iron and Uranium, new contraptions).

  662. xhalor July 29, 2011 at 3:42 am #

    Wish I had never heard of Christ. Or Allah. Or Buddha. Or Quetzalcoatl.
    I just need some kale. Got any on ya?

  663. Dostoyevsky July 29, 2011 at 5:16 am #

    Old
    What mind altering substances have you been ingesting or are you suffering from alzheimers???
    You have blogging diarrhea old man..

  664. old69 July 29, 2011 at 6:02 am #

    As in Target Denied, Target Contrasted…
    From:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=176094
    As if the universe is simply a set of elementary particles C and F, C is a chunk of matter or items or elements or entities (notice how many different words you can use for the same thing, that is our specialty, invent trillions of different words and concepts just to keep on saying and doing the same things over and over again) that is a monolithic slab of an aggregated result, a collective item existent as one, a single entity fighting other entities, as a self, and F is the boundary, the interface, the line of delimitation of C1 from C2, the F being the fight, the comparison, the measurement, the opposition to target, the inertia, the point of contention, the point of contrast, the boundary between opposing will powers: so the universe is simply C1 F C2 F C3 and so on (but C1 can be made up of other Cs and even some Fs), all the points of space and time are just a combination of C and F, always changing aggregations, but being defined and existing only in as much as the F points define them, they are essentially defined and exist only through F, the fight. Mind you, these oppositions to targets, this resistance to effort to achieve a given goal is due not only to will powers, but also due to the blind forces of nature opposing, simply dead and blind contrasting forces, particles colliding, the play of forces interacting with no conscious will power associated with it like the earthquake in JAPAN, a blind force that contrasts many will powers just for the fun of it, just because, because Nature is bored. And then there could be varying degrees of intensity of contrast C1 F1 C2 or C1 F2 C2 with F2 being more intense or less intense than F1, and so on and such.
    So this is the work of the future, create as many contention points as possible, create as many fights as possible, or said in another way, fight over everything, the more information and choices and options the more fights therefore the more work, but this work is just infinite effort towards a goal that can never be reached since the barrier and resistance of will power B to will power A is infinite: so an infinite fight and effort never achieving anything, or even if it is achieved, the game just continues to be played with a new contention, a new fight, and the fights are never won once and for all, but just changed, the laws of conservation of “fight” and “contention”, the laws of conservation of F, the number of F points in the universe is constant, but probably ever increasing, and the more F the more work.

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  665. old69 July 29, 2011 at 6:03 am #

    But why did Matter want to wake up and fight itself ? why did it want to create opposing elements and contrasts ? why did it want to define itself according to the interaction (which is always a fight), the constant change of aggregation and new delimitations always changing sets and combinations (new allies, then foes, etc.) which is essentially the fight ? But especially why did Matter want to punish itself with arbitrary pain/pleasure circuits forcing it to have targets and goals and directions, forcing it to contrast other chunks of Matter whether through other organisms or the Laws of Physics like rocks and thunder and cold and heat, etc. ? So Matter wakes up, creates an aggregation of something that is a self and feeling pain/pleasure as to give it a direction to go and targets but especially oppositions to contrast, resistance to its desires (and this can be forced only through the dictatorship of pain/pleasure).
    Matter Decided to Torture Itself.

  666. Dostoyevsky July 29, 2011 at 7:12 am #

    clearly alzheimers

  667. old69 July 29, 2011 at 8:03 am #

    Condensation of History
    I have been left to my own devices, Christ forgive me for I know not what I do. A conscious mind brain is just a chunk of Matter organized in a certain way that cyclically repeats a ritual of existence, there are thousands of chemical reactions from the cells, the blood, the signal of neurons etc. that all add up, aggregate into this thinking device that feels pain/pleasure and acts and reacts accordingly, especially according to a memory of past reactions and events and entities, the memory of the brain mind makes up the real nucleus of consciousness and existence, nay, the identity of the “person”, and so on.
    And in fact, as opposed to “simpler” and “stupider” animals, these are just simple instantaneous reactions to actions, they just have a set of programmed reactions to a set of standard, if even vague inputs, that more or less condemn (or blessed ?) them to react in a standard fashion: they don’t need to “think”, they don’t need elaborate calculations or thought processes, they don’t need to understand the consequences of/and how “others” react, the entire emotional roller coaster of Man and his interaction with all the mirror instances of himself as other people mirror it (in fact the mind is only one and the rest is a infinitely recursion of mirrors and mirror images, and actions and reactions of each mind with others and itself, all pretending in a way to be separate or different, but are just one chunk of the same material).
    But if you can imagine that all of a sudden, just because, just for the fun of it, just because Mass – Energy and Matter and the Iron Clad Laws of Physics are bored and want some action, Matter decides to organize itself according to any particular mind, it just combines all the protons and neurons and electrons in a jiffy to create a person with a history and memory (but it is fake because it is an instantaneous configuration that simply inserted fake memories in that mind) well then that mind would come alive and think that it has always been alive and such. But then, what if Matter just decides to try another configuration, another kind of mind, another contraption that is also alive, but with radically different neural circuits or memories or whatever, even maybe just a stellar plasma, or an organization of water that experiences consciousness and life and pain/pleasure or whatever (an infinite amount of new systems, sense organs, signals, emotions, sensations, you name it, new further extrapolations of pain, pleasure , b(t=?oyhh, eR%&rrtt (as in 1 dimensional space, then 2 then 3 then 4 …) and trillions of other things as extrapolated and such), who knows what that mind would experience, who knows what universe and what new laws of physics that would inhabit ?
    But Man is simply the condensation of a long chain of chemical reactions, fluke actions and reactions of carbon atoms on earth going through all kinds of random processes, and recording some invariants every so often, as in the Crystallization of History, the Condensation of History accumulating in a thinking and conscious mind. The process of natural evolution which has nothing natural about it, but everything random, quirky, fake, false and a huge pile of lies to it, since Matter just decided to lie to itself and go on a field day by evolving carbon based entities that end up thinking.
    So we are in a false and make believe universe, a wicked and evil one, it is time to change this configuration of neutrons, protons and electrons into something different and better, it is time for Matter to go on another field day and invent another thinking – conscious contraption. But we can try by directly modifying our neural circuits, pour wild chemicals inside the mind – brain, beat it up, shove in wild electronic signals (and chips) make it go wild and crazy, make it break all the rules, this Instant Singularity will make that new Mind – Brain enter a new universe with new laws of physics and new experiences trillions of times better, more intense, so far away from anything that we can conceive that even GOD will run away in terror, even the Laws of Physics will run away terrorized by this new mind contraption, this new universe, go for it man, you can do it, go man go.
    Now, please have mercy on my wicked soul, please Mommy don’t beat me up again, please.

  668. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 8:14 am #

    Dos,
    I’ve been watching olde spider soixante neuf for over a year now. He’s been using CFN for mental therapy – but he seems to be getting worse, sadly, much worse.
    I really miss hearing about those busses, 8M – and I’m personally worried for your health and sanity.
    Old Spider, whatever substance or activity you are doing and abusing – you need to cut back or stop. And seriously, man, get some therapy or –
    Sea Kelp

  669. old69 July 29, 2011 at 8:52 am #

    THREAT THEORY
    Everything is a threat, everything is going to hurt you, everything is going to harm you and do you bad, that is the scaredy cat environmentalists, overpopulation, peak oil, etc gang. All with these imaginary threats, all these bad things that will happen to you because of Atom Energy, Pollution, cars, walmart, all the new sicknesses, HEALTH KARE, that huge pile of crap of HEALTH KARE with all of its paranoia, all kinds of diseases everyone has, all the cancers, all the you name it, etc.
    They are all crazy, they are all wrong, life is and has always been simply a wild risk game, you win but then you lose, end of story, all of this trying to avoid consequences, trying to avoid bad things, and then when bad things happen, it is always someone’s “fault”, but mostly your own fault, the self-guilt inflicted because you did this wrong or that wrong, you didn’t go through that medical check up or test, hence you got cancer, now you shall be punished it is your fault, or you acted badly, the boss got mad, now you are laid off, it is your fault, and so many other examples, all self inflicting guilt rides, all someone’s fault, all the necessity to beat up someone, but especially the ideas that mostly lead you to beat up yourself (your wife left you because you did this bad, or that bad, or you name it, a never ending list, the son or daughter mad at you, etc.) well, kill all these environmentalists, all of this “science”, all of this knowledge that is supposed to “help you”.
    None of it will ever help anyone, it only serves to punish and inflict guilt, therefore especially kill nature and the greens and the environmentalists, we need atomic energy, oil, we need ever more pollution, more population, trillions of cars, trillions of skyscrapers, rockets to mars you name it.

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  670. messianicdruid July 29, 2011 at 9:05 am #

    “That constitutional provision in the 14th Amendment that says “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law…shall not be questioned” is followed immediately by a section that says “The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” It doesn’t say “the president.” It says, “The Congress.” Likewise, Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power “to pay the debts” and “to borrow Money on the credit of the United States.” If there’s a way out of the spending and borrowing problem, it’s not only going to be a result of the 2012 presidential election. Congress is going to have to rise to the challenge, too.”
    http://reason.com/archives/2011/07/25/five-facts-about-the-debt

  671. soak July 29, 2011 at 9:21 am #

    Beantown, you have managed to evade the point I was making with facts, by resorting to the usual CFN “imagining the worst, while ignoring the present” when you say the high-population density developed countries and principalities I named:

    will fare very badly and aren’t good examples of why high population densities are ok.

    Thank you for sharing your opinion. That is what you are presenting, an opinion about the future.
    What I am presenting are hard facts about the present which shows having high population density does not equal disaster, like P,C insinuates all the time.
    And both of you are not acknowledging that USA population density is low at 32/sq.km. Places like deserts, and north Alaska have resources to support populations and can be inhabited. We are nowhere near population crisis at 32/sq.km.

  672. soak July 29, 2011 at 9:35 am #

    Time to call out all you naive people who think there will be a “last minute deal” to avoid default.
    The way the citizenry is easily manipulated is to traumatize us. That is what is happening. When the Republicans manage to stop active duty to military personnel, once the soldiers are not receiving pay, maybe we will wake up and stop the stupid wars we are in. Military contractors are going to have to hold bake sales to raise money.
    There will be no deal between Republicans and Democrats. There isn’t even control over 80 to 120 Republicans in the house, who won’t vote for anything FOXNews doesn’t tell them to vote for. Boehner is incompetent. Rachel Maddow has been trying for months to help the Republicans by pointing out Boehner’s incompetence. They left him in and now Boehner does not have the votes for a deal.
    We’ll see what Obama has to say later this morning. What do you want to bet he blamed “Congress” as if it is Congress’s fault, not the Republicans.

  673. soak July 29, 2011 at 9:39 am #

    CORRECTION
    What do you want to bet he blames “Congress” as if Congress is at fault, not the Republicans.
    What he should do is invoke the 14th amendment and raise the debt ceiling unilaterally. The extremist Republicans are out of control and will not agree to any “deal”
    Even if Obama took the Republican proposal and embraced it 100% they would turn around and walk away from it because Obama is for it. They have done that with Republican-sponsored legislation. They want Obama to fail.

  674. Dasviking July 29, 2011 at 9:43 am #

    messy….This is all really futile…..it’s noting but a political circus with 3 rings and you can run through all the semantics and constitutional details but we will never get out of this spiral….we will never get out of the spending and barrowing problem…. for starters have you ever considered the 78 million baby boomers ready to retire yet??……you can tax all the billionaires 100% and still not even scratch the surface of our problems…..as Winton Churchill uttered that trying to tax a nation into prosperity is like standing in a bucket and trying to lift yourself by the handles….a new paradigm is in order and a new slogan in 2012 should be “A NEW DAWN”….in 2008 it was “HOPE AND CHANGE” and what we got is devastation and a president who has been aloft and has been behaving in a way designed to divide us and make us look at each other with skepticism and suspicion….He was negligent on the big problem when he got into office when JOBS should of been priority #1….he overreached his mandate and pursued and concentrated on his HEALTH KARE vision as a pet project…you need JOBS which is the basic root of our very survival and he missed the opportunity…he has managed to escalate our spending in a classic Keynesian manner that he and this party failed to learn from history that it just does not work…SPENDING IS DEAD….Keynesian was a theory to give politicians an excuse… without constrains…an effective way to spend without taxing………the chickens have arrived…

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  675. soak July 29, 2011 at 9:51 am #

    Statutes are in conflict. Legal appropriations say spend the money. The debt ceiling says don’t spend the money.
    The Obama administration should have filed a lawsuit requesting a declarative judgement that the debt ceiling is unconstitutional.
    The Republican extremists want to bring down Obama because they believe he is a Muslim born in Kenya. We should not be negotiating with Republican terrorists who want Social Security to fail, who want Medicare to fail, who want to bring down the government.
    Unemployment is about to jump from 9% to 15% with massive layoffs in hospitals, schools, defense contracts, FAA (airports), etc.

  676. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 9:57 am #

    Question for the scientifically minded.
    I don’t use the air conditioning, so as to save the planet from fossil fuel burning.
    On weekends, when my husband is home, he wants to use it. He argues that during non-peak times, it’s OK to use electricity, because they are producing it anyway, and if we don’t use it, it will go to waste.
    Is this true? Is a certain amount produced 24/7? And does it go to waste if not used?
    That is not how I had pictured it, but, on the other hand, I can’t really picture them shutting down the nuclear reactors for weekends, either. And they don’t seem to have any storage capacity for non-used energy.
    Does anyone know?

  677. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 10:09 am #

    Congress is tasked with appropriating funds to run the government, and with deciding how those funds are to be spent.
    It is also supposed to publish an accounting of where those funds were spent yearly.
    There doesn’t need to be a debt ceiling or a balanced budget amendment. Congress is supposed to decide such things on its own.
    A country that allows its representatives to spend money without accountability, or even notification, that meekly accepts the idea that “National Security” demands that the citizens have no idea what the government is doing with their money, that allows the military to terrorize the world, while citizens are pauperized, and that believes that the President is Emperor of the World, as well as King of America, is a country well past rationality.
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28701.htm

  678. soak July 29, 2011 at 10:20 am #

    Wage,
    Turn on the air conditioning and allow your husband to be comfortable in these few weeks of heat. The power grid doesn’t really have a means to store energy.
    The bottom line is: be nice to your husband and turn on the air conditioning.

  679. Dasviking July 29, 2011 at 10:26 am #

    Wage…….hahahahaha why would the rebublicans want to upset their polo playin wall street buddies???
    “The debt ceiling needed to be quietly raised. Instead, the Republicans started a fire and then threw gasoline on it……Consequently, world financial markets, currency markets, commodity markets, central banks, and mutual fund money market and bond funds are on pins and needles.”

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  680. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 10:41 am #

    What happens to the unused energy?

  681. Cash July 29, 2011 at 10:55 am #

    Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder – JB
    What you say is funny (good jokes never get old) but also true. Crushes are awful and I think especially when the affection is mutual. They end in a pit of misery. I’m thankful that there’s a subset of girls and women that fall in love with their ears more so than their eyes or I’d have been really lonely. As it is I’ve been fortunate. My wife isn’t merely pretty, she’s luminescent. Out of my league.

  682. soak July 29, 2011 at 10:57 am #

    “…why would the rebublicans want to upset their polo playin wall street buddies???”
    Simple. To crash the economy and bring down Obama.
    They hate that a Black man is ruling over them from the White House.
    No need for complicated conspiracy theories with shadow governments and invisible puppet masters when a reasonable simple explanation exists.
    “Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate”
    — Occam’s Razor

  683. soak July 29, 2011 at 11:06 am #

    Wage, there are more important things to worry about today, but here goes: There is no “unused energy” because, at all times, the net power output being generated at any instant by all the power stations feeding a distribution grid must always be exactly equal to the sum of all the power being demanded by all the loads connected to that grid PLUS the sum of all the power used to overcome the resistance of the grid’s wires.
    Please, just turn on the air conditioning. I am beginning to worry about domestic bliss being disturbed over arcane questions of grid distribution, supply voltage and supply frequency.
    It’s like P,C says: family first, then nation, then earth. To know how to act locally you need to think globally, but when in doubt choose to maintain domestic bliss.

  684. lbendet July 29, 2011 at 11:10 am #

    Soak,
    That is indeed a part of the agenda, but check out an excellent article called ALEC Exposed: Milton Friedman’s Little Shop of Horrors by Mary Bottari.
    This will give you a picture of what this is all about and it’s been going on since Kennedy was elected to the presidency:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-bottari/alec-exposed-milton-fried_b_901029.html
    [Milton Friedman famously said: “Only a crisis — actual or perceived — produces real changes. When the crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.” Think of ALEC as Milton Friedman’s little shop of horrors where legislators across the country can easily access the “ideas laying around.”]

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  685. soak July 29, 2011 at 11:25 am #

    lbendet, you still hanging with Michael Hudson? In the interview you posted for me Hudson said an agreement would be reached before Aug. 2 to prevent default. You still agree with Hudson?

  686. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 11:42 am #

    Don’t you worry about my domestic bliss, soak.
    I am willing to be persuaded to change my mind and my behavior, but it has to make sense to me.
    I appreciate your trying to explain it, but it still doesn’t make sense.
    It just all works out perfectly? No matter what the demand is?
    How can that be?

  687. rippedthunder July 29, 2011 at 11:42 am #

    Hi Wage, There are energy storage facilities around the country, not as many as there should be, If we can ever transition to wind and solar we will need a lot more of these. This is a great place for recreation. During low load times water is pumped up the mountain, during high demand the water is released through a hydro tubine and the energy is reclaimed.
    http://www.firstlightpower.com/generation/north.asp
    as soak says the grid pretty much has to balance generation and load, but if one area is in low demand chances are somewhere else is in high demand. There are also jet turbines which can be fired up for instant load compensation.

  688. Qshtik July 29, 2011 at 11:43 am #

    I always knew BIG GOVERNMENT had to be shrunk(en?) but I could never figure HOW that might occur. Maybe this debt ceiling crisis is the answer.
    Let’s fail as a country to pay our bills and then maybe people and politicians will understand we are living beyond our means. Interest rates near zero on the bills, notes and bonds that comprise the national debt are absurd. In fact, to routinely run a country on borrowed money is absurd just as it is for a family. If you and I have to pay 20+% annual interest on outstanding credit card balances why shouldn’t the government?
    Let’s do what Grover Norquist suggests — shrink government till its small enough where we can drown it in the tub.

  689. soak July 29, 2011 at 11:46 am #

    Thanks for the link, lbendet.
    Dump ALEC!
    http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/632/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7281

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  690. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 11:47 am #

    That is an instance in which I am keeping an open mind.
    I still believe that Michael Hudson is correct, but Ian’s analysis also makes sense.
    Your theory, however, that the Republicans are willing to destroy the world economy in order that a different puppet be elected in 17 months?
    Not so much.

  691. rippedthunder July 29, 2011 at 11:49 am #

    Here ya go wage, another link. http://www.firstlightpower.com/northfield/default.asp

  692. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 11:54 am #

    Thank you, ripped, and that is a great way to store energy when we switch to renewables which are intermittent.
    I can see that they can vary the output of coal fired plants, but what about nuclear?
    And do they put out less energy on the weekends?
    Is it OK to use air conditioning on the weekends?

  693. rippedthunder July 29, 2011 at 12:03 pm #

    Any plant that relys on a steam boiler such as coal,natural gas or nuclear, take a certain amount of time to power up and down so they pretty much run them at a steady state. Here in the northeast we get a lot of power from Hydro-Quebec, thanks Cash! Anyway hydro is very controlable. They just turn the water on or aff as needed, adding or removing turbines to compensate. Use the AC, don’t sweat it!

  694. soak July 29, 2011 at 12:10 pm #

    Wage, I don’t know what else to say. Electrical storage is being developed at the Illinois Institute of Technology with a new battery system.

    The new ZBB EnerStore V3 Zinc-bromide flow battery will be integrated into the Perfect Power microgrid to provide critical system backup, load-shifting, peak load reduction, improved integrated of distributed renewables, and to offset the addition of new electric vehicle charging stations by charging the battery with off-peak power for use during day-time peak charging periods.

    Obama is supporting this technology.

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  695. Qshtik July 29, 2011 at 12:12 pm #

    It just all works out perfectly? No matter what the demand is?
    How can that be?
    ==================
    Wage, not many people know this (it’s all top secret shit like what goes on at Area 51) but, just like the strategic oil reserve, the US has a gigantic lead/acid battery installed underground in northern Kentucky – it looks much like a car battery – where excess energy is stored. Do a Google Earth and you may be able to spot the two posts protruding from the ground about a half mile apart. They are disguised as grain silos.

  696. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 12:27 pm #

    I’m pretty sure that we only have coal and nuclear in Illinois, so that’s what troubles me.
    But I am the one who will suffer if I don’t use the air conditioning.
    Last year, we didn’t bother putting it in the window.
    This year, I insisted that my husband put it in, so that my dog would be comfortable. Now that my dog died, I’m not using it.
    But if I don’t use it, next year he won’t bother, I’m sure.

  697. Qshtik July 29, 2011 at 12:33 pm #

    Ooops. FORD down AGAIN, but not as bad as it was in the first few minutes of trading. I know how that feels Tootsie … makes you want to tear your hair out … especially since you so foolishly announced your trades publicly. Oh well, maybe things will improve by the close.

  698. soak July 29, 2011 at 12:38 pm #

    Wage, if you want a cheaper alternative. Put a window fan into a window not near you, blowing out, to suck the hot air out the house, forcing a little bit cooler air to come in through other windows.
    It isn’t air conditioning but it doesn’t use as much electricity and lowers the temperature a few degrees. Illinois does not have year round 100 degree temperature. You only need a stop gap measure.

  699. soak July 29, 2011 at 12:41 pm #

    Wage, aren’t you near Champaign? It is only 91 during the day and 72 at night. Using a window fan, closing other windows except the window near you creates a cooling ventilation.

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  700. soak July 29, 2011 at 1:05 pm #

    Using an EXHAUST window fan AT NIGHT, closing other windows, except a window near you, creates a cooling ventilation in the house.
    If it’s any consolation, Aug. 5, 6, and 7 will only be 85 in Champaign, and soon Fall will be here.
    Or turn on the air conditioner for these few days when it gets too too hot. Think of it as a health issue to avoid heat stroke.

  701. Cash July 29, 2011 at 1:10 pm #

    I am so over you it’s not funny ! – JB
    Ouch! I’ve been dumped!
    🙂

  702. soak July 29, 2011 at 1:19 pm #

    To answer my question: who benefits from default. The banks will benefit.
    Many Social Security recipients have direct deposit and have set up automatic bill arrangements that pay out just before or after the payment date.
    If payments don’t go out Aug. 4, millions of people might overdraw their bank accounts.
    The average bank charges an average of $30 to $35 per overdraft.

  703. Cash July 29, 2011 at 1:22 pm #

    An interesting exercise might be to imagine that Charles Martel had been defeated at Tours and Muslim expansion into Europe had continued. How would European, especially Common Law, legal regimes have developed if, instead of a cultural and religious backdrop of Christianity, we had a religious and cultural environment of Islam. Maybe a Europeanized or semi paganized Islam but Islam nonetheless. What ifs and alternative histories can be hazardous particularly the further one goes in the past. I bet if we could bring back Julius Caesar, Jesus, Mohammed and other luminaries that they would give accounts that vary widely to our own accepted histories. Nonetheless such an exercise might help illuminate the issue at hand.

  704. Dasviking July 29, 2011 at 1:36 pm #

    GE moves X-Ray unit to China to tap emerging markets…………nice move as GE didn’t pay any taxes on 14.5 billion profit last year…..they actually got a 3.5 billion credit from the government……how nice

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  705. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 1:47 pm #

    “GE didn’t pay any taxes on 14.5 billion profit last year…..they actually got a 3.5 billion credit from the government” -das viking-
    There you go, viking, now you’re using your head.
    While we (as a nation) are squabbling over whether our super rich should pay 33% or 35% (? pre “bush tax cut rate?) on their – largely nonexistent – earned income –
    The REAL money is flying out of the country to China – and the US taxpayers are subsidizing this particular flight, to the tune of $3.5 billion.
    amazing.

  706. Cash July 29, 2011 at 1:54 pm #

    GE moves X-Ray unit to China to tap emerging markets – DV
    I would’ve expected nothing less.

  707. Cash July 29, 2011 at 2:02 pm #

    The REAL money is flying out of the country to China – Pro
    And that’s the REAL issue wrt this debt ceiling crisis. The economic wherewithal to fund your govts left your country when you offshored your economy to China.

  708. Dasviking July 29, 2011 at 2:14 pm #

    But isn’t Obammy in bed with Jeff and GE??….Jeff is the head of the presidents council on jobs and competitveness??….so I guess Jeff wants to be competitive and pay no taxes…..have his kake and eat it too…..but maybe Jeff wanted to send a message to Walker and Wisconsin and the Unions…….but wasn’t Obammy in bed with the Unions too??……….what a tangled web the former community Organizer has gotten himself into not knowing how business works…….

  709. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 2:20 pm #

    “The economic wherewithal to fund your govts left your country when you offshored your economy to China.” -cash-
    100% concur, Cash.
    And US tax and tariff law facilitated and enabled this offshoring, in large part, correct?
    So, Cash, do you think this whole problem – was a deliberate attempt by the TriLats/Bilderbergers/whatever – to destroy the Nation that was once known as the United States?
    Or is just a bunch of “big swinging dicks”* in politics/government/big business – who have tried to enrich themselves and there companies.
    In other words – is a a grand conspiracy, or just American free market capitalism in action?
    (*Trade Mark – Cash)

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  710. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    “But isn’t Obammy in bed with Jeff and GE??”
    -das-
    Das, a lot of people are going to take “obammy” as either a muslim slam or a anti-black slam – and ignore you or attack you.
    Beyond that, though – who’s Jeff? And I think you’re overstating the importance of Obama’s personal relationships to this GE thing.
    I don’t know when the tax laws were put in place that are now benefiting GE and the multi-nationals.
    But I do know that it was before 2008.
    So on offshoring we’re going to have to blame one of the Bushes. Or else Bill ‘Free Willy’ Clinton.

  711. lbendet July 29, 2011 at 2:28 pm #

    Wage,
    I just caught on that your dog passed on. Just want to send my condolences.
    My guy and I are not taking vacations anymore because of our elderly cat–some day trips, but nobody else even vet technicians are going to have the patience to feed him.
    He’s still a live-wire but has many health issues, so after having to cancel trips in the last two years we said let’s not go through this again. We’ll enjoy the quality time we have left with him.
    _____________
    Soak, thanks for that link–not that it’s really going to make a difference.
    In answer to your question on whether Hudson is right, I guess it all depends on how real Obama is. My guess is it will get done, since treasury bond holders will be stuck with valueless bonds. Big business wants it done and of course the banksters need it to pass.–who knows.

  712. Dasviking July 29, 2011 at 2:51 pm #

    Pro….who’s Jeff?…Jeffery Immelt CEO of GE…Bush 1 who had worked to fast track the signing prior to the end of his term ran out of time and had to pass the required ratification and signing into law to incoming president “free willy”…CAFTA was Bush 2….with that being said the American worker got the shafta…….

  713. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 3:02 pm #

    “CAFTA was Bush 2….with that being said the American worker got the shafta…..”
    -das viking-
    And don’t forget NAFTA –
    The first and biggest Shafta.
    We’re poets and we know it!
    You and I have come to surprisingly sudden agreement, here, Mr. Viking. If I can summarize, we are saying that:
    Tax Policy in the United States Should Be Designed to Benefit Workers First – Before Benefiting the Rich and Their Multi-National Corporations.
    So where do we go to get those Bush-Era Tax Cuts rescinded – as a good first step?

  714. Cash July 29, 2011 at 3:02 pm #

    Firstly whether you call them Trilats, Bilderbergers or just big swinging dicks these guys just aren’t that bright. They have some personal attributes or character traits that suited them to high corporate office. But bright they aren’t. Trust me, I’ve seen this “elite” in action.
    I mean what the fuck kind of business plan is it to offshore so much of the US economy to reduce wage costs? Who are they going to sell to? The unemployed/underemployed American? Or the slave wage Chinese? So now, big fucking surprise, you’ve got a gigantic financial crisis. This was a plan concocted by jackasses.
    If this is a conspiracy it’s the dumbest piece of shit in history. To devote so much time and energy, first to wreck the economy you’re trying to sell into and then to wreck the currency you’re trying to steal.
    These guys do not give a fuck about the United States. They won’t TRY to destroy it. Their dim reptilian brains don’t have the wit. The malice maybe but not the wit. They’ll destroy it through pure idiotic inadvertence. They are just trying to enrich themselves. And they DO NOT give the tiniest fuck about their companies. The company is just a cow to milk money from.
    Another thing that drives me absolutely apeshit: what these monkeys look at is wage costs. Not tax rates. You can reduce corporate tax rates to zero and it won’t make a stitch of difference.
    How do I know? From experience. The second you mention the word “tax” to a CEO or CFO their eyes roll back into their heads and they lose consciousness. They don’t know shit about tax and they do not give a fuck about tax. Tax is a theoretical realm, the province of geeks and nerds and not real men like them.
    These Republican dickwads are there to provide political and ideological cover for their bonehead masters in business and on Wall Street. Free market my ass.
    The best and the brightest go into medicine and the hard sciences. The shitheads go into business. And we’ve let these shitheads run this fucking world into ruin.

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  715. BeantownBill July 29, 2011 at 3:06 pm #

    Yes, you are right that I gave my opinion – but isn’t any discussion about the future merely an opinion, even if a future event seems likely to occur? I was ignoring the present because the discussion, I thought, was about what may happen if we extrapolate the present into the future. In reality, neither you or I have nothing but an opinion about this.
    Two can play the definition game. What determines whether or not a geographical area is of “low” or “high” population density? For that matter, what defines an “overpopulation crisis”? Until we agree on basic definitions like these, we really can’t discuss this issue.

  716. metuselah July 29, 2011 at 3:09 pm #

    I mean what the fuck kind of business plan is it to offshore so much of the US economy to reduce wage costs? Who are they going to sell to?
    ==
    You’re not paying attention. See: July 29, 2011 1:51 AM
    It’s a business plan based on endless war and guaranteed income/profits.

  717. metuselah July 29, 2011 at 3:26 pm #

    Scientist who warned of threat to polar bears is suspended
    A U.S. wildlife biologist whose observation in 2004 of presumably drowned polar bears in the Arctic helped to galvanize the global warming movement has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for scientific misconduct over the veracity of that article.
    .
    .
    The Globe and Mail – http://goo.gl/494WB
    ==
    Nothing to see here. Move along.

  718. Elrond Hubbard July 29, 2011 at 3:27 pm #

    “So where do we go to get those Bush-Era Tax Cuts rescinded – as a good first step?”
    My understanding is that the Bush-era tax cuts don’t need to be rescinded, as they will sunset automatically in December 2012 (don’t quote me on that date, though). Unless, that is, the Republicans, who love their country so much they’re dedicated to dynamiting its full faith and credit in the eyes of the world, manage to extort another extension out of the Democrats — an all-too-likely prospect. So your best bet for rescuing that much fiscal sanity from Laffer Curve Fairyland is to get to work putting the fear of God into the Democratic caucus in something like the way the Tea Party lunatics have done to their counterparts on the right. Maybe then Congressional Democrats will at last grow a spine.

  719. BeantownBill July 29, 2011 at 3:30 pm #

    As per my recent last post to you, since August 2nd is in the future, your statement that there won’t be a deal by then is just an opinion. Personally, I have no opinion on this, and since the deadline is only 4 days away, I prefer to sit back and watch the drama unfold.
    I do have an opinion on the aftermath of 8/2: A default will not be allowed to happen; somehow, in some way, either Congress or Obama (acting unilaterally) will resolve that issue. To me, there’s a 50% probability that in the end, interest rates will go higher, either as a result of a de facto rating agency downgrade on US government debt obligations, or because the rest of the world is shaken by our struggles and demands higher rates for their perceived higher risks.
    By the way, I’m not sure, but it seems to me that the government has enough funds on hand to pay its bills for awhile, just not enough to carry through the whole fiscal year. So if no action is taken by 8/2, it doesn’t mean that the government is automatically in default. As they say in negotiations, there are deadlines and there are deadlines. The real deadline is when the government has no money left to pay its bills and the creditors are demanding payments.

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  720. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 3:35 pm #

    “…why would the rebublicans want to upset their polo playin wall street buddies???”
    -das viking-
    “Simple. To crash the economy and bring down Obama.
    They hate that a Black man is ruling over them from the White House.”
    -the resident racist-
    Thus does soak demonstrate that he was likely NOT living in the United States in the years 1992-2000.
    Without regard to skin color – the national Republicans, under Newt Gingrich, tried to pull the EXACT same “Shut Down the Government” stunt on William JEFFERSON Clinton that they are now trying to pull on Barak Obama.
    Anyone who was in the States and had a political pulse will remember that Clinton – the consummate politician, played the game of political brinksmanship very well – and the Republicans wound up with most of the blame for that “government shut down,” at that time.
    We’ll see whether Mr. O knows how to play with Republicans – over the next few days.
    ====================
    Parenthetically, Gingrich and Clinton went on to develop a wary respect for one another after that. They were working on a political deal that would have been a genuine long term cure for Social Security and Medicare when – – – instead of today’s cobbled together mess.
    When the First Member slipped free of Bill’s trousers.
    He did not have sex with that woman.
    Unfortunately, he had sex with her dress.
    Thus making the SS/Medicare deal fall apart.
    And leading to the election of Bush in 2000.
    Is is possible that the downfall of the entire United States is due to one errant “Free Willy?”
    http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2008/05/29/the-pact-between-bill-clinton-and-newt-gingrich

  721. rippedthunder July 29, 2011 at 3:36 pm #

    Who are they going to sell to?
    Cheezdoddlers and Nascar Fans? 150,000,000 people on the govenment tit. If you are solid middle class you are taking it in the shorts! Go to work, toe the line, pay your damn taxes, and shut the fuck up! When it comes time to retire your stupid greenback will be worth about $0.02. Sorry, I am kinda grumpy today. Lack of sleep and all the associated bullshit!

  722. soak July 29, 2011 at 3:39 pm #

    Nice try, Beantown. My saying default is going to happen is based upon fact. The Boehner plan would require a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution before raising the $14.3 trillion debt cap for more than a short time. Since amending the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority, it’s guaranteed to fail and guarantees default.

  723. soak July 29, 2011 at 3:42 pm #

    Thus does soak demonstrate that he was likely NOT living in the United States in the years 1992-2000.
    —————
    I can confirm that. I was living in the third world without access to USA news media during those years.

  724. rippedthunder July 29, 2011 at 3:44 pm #

    Perhaps a return visit would not be out of order?

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  725. rippedthunder July 29, 2011 at 3:48 pm #

    Yo Soak, you fell right into that one. I’m tellin’ ya, you’d cross the street to step in dog shit!

  726. soak July 29, 2011 at 3:53 pm #

    Perhaps a return visit would not be out of order?
    ————–
    RT, I’m working on it. It is better there.
    http://www.naturalnews.com/029005_Vilcabamba_Ecuador.html
    The USA may be going downhill fast. I am getting my ducks in order to escape from the USA. I just hope it’s before P,C gets the borders sealed up.

  727. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 3:59 pm #

    I’m south of Champaign. I do open the windows at night, and turn on the fans. It cools the house somewhat.
    During the day, I close the windows and the curtains, and turn a fan just onto me. Then I lounge around with a book or my computer, and enjoy the breeze.
    It works for me.

  728. BeantownBill July 29, 2011 at 4:06 pm #

    Cash, amazing! It’s as if you took the words right out of my mouth. I most enthusiastically agree with you. I, too, have dealt with very rich and powerful business types. I believe any native intelligence they may have is overshadowed by them getting off on their own power – to the point where greed and need to control take precedence over good judgment.

  729. soak July 29, 2011 at 4:07 pm #

    Wage, did I miss something? Are you working night shift now? Or did they finally invent an excuse to lay you off? I have to admit lounging around with a book or computer during the day sounds good. I just wondered if you are still doing ER work.

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  730. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 4:09 pm #

    Thank you, lbendet. She seemed to be more miserable her last week, and then she kind of gave up.
    I understand about no one else wanting to take on elderly animal duties.
    We were turning her and changing her bed every 2 hours, carrying her outside twice a day to wash her off, making special food for her, sitting by her so that she wouldn’t be lonely, you know the drill.
    Best wishes to you and your cat.

  731. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 4:17 pm #

    I work the swing shift, but I’m part time.
    I work enough to pay the bills, and consider the rest of my time early retirement, since the ruling class is determined to destroy my real retirement.
    By the way, Dasviking, the “Baby Boomers” are not all retiring now.
    The first ones retired this year. There will be another group retiring every year for the next 20 years, in 2031, by which time the first ones will be mostly dead.
    Scaring you with 78 million imminent retirees is a lie and a scam, to screw you and everyone else out of a decent retirement.
    So far, it seems to be working on many people. Good job, propaganda marketers!

  732. San Jose Mom 51 July 29, 2011 at 4:17 pm #

    I hope you are right Beantown. The whole thing makes me very nervous. My son had a bad dream last night that a nuclear bomb went off in an American city. Hopefully that wasn’t a Jungian symbol for the US financial system.

  733. Dolan Williams July 29, 2011 at 4:19 pm #

    Wagelaborer, I live just south of sunny L.A. and pretty close to the beach. The ocean breeze is really great, especially when you are working like a dog burying all your precious metal coins in your back yard. My Goldies lie on my patio and watch me work up a sweat doing all kinds of yard work. I can see their fur move slightly in the ocean breeze. Whoever made up that term, “working like a dog” probably never owned one. I feel badly about your sick cat. Somebody poisoned by cat years ago along with a bunch of animals belonging to my neighbors. I still haven’t gotten over losing that cat and I still can’t bear looking at old pictures of him because I start crying all over again. I spent a fortune on that cat because he used to get in fights all the time and I would have to get him patched up. I would give anything to have him back sitting in my lap (although my Golden Retrievers probably wouldn’t like that a lot).

  734. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 4:22 pm #

    They are selling to people in other countries, Cash.
    There are a lot of people in other countries who now make enough money to buy that which Americans can’t afford.
    Last month’s Monthly Review had a chart of US corporations, contrasting 1990 and 2007.
    It was pretty amazing. We all know that they have off-shored their manufacturing, but their markets have shifted markedly also.
    Some of the corporations are now selling way more than half of their products outside the US.
    So, yes, they are ready to jettison a whole lot of Americans. That is what we’re seeing happen right now.

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  735. asia July 29, 2011 at 4:27 pm #

    Unleashed is unLOVED [and applies for cats, too].
    Sick people letting cats roam, they kill 100,000,000
    birds a year in just the USA.
    Yr cat was regularly fighting yet you let it roam.

  736. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 4:28 pm #

    Thank you, Dolan. It’s actually lbendet that has the ailing cat, though.
    I grew up in LA, and used to get very annoyed when I complained about the summer heat and people would say “But it’s a dry heat”.
    Yeah. Like an oven!!
    But now that I live in the Midwest, I know what they mean. There is no point in sweating, because the air is so wet that it doesn’t evaporate, it just drips into your eyes.
    I’m just hanging on until the fall.

  737. Dolan Williams July 29, 2011 at 4:30 pm #

    I think you and Cash are right about those types of people. I am currently working for a huge multi-national corporation and I worked for a previous one back in the 80’s. Little did we know that our CEO was planning a scheme with the board of directors that would give him a big chunk of money each time one of our buildings or any of our corporate owned land was sold. Anyway, suddenly various sites and buildings started getting sold off and needless to say, our top guy then retired. I don’t think there was any great conspiracy going on. Just a guy who planned to throw everybody who worked for him under the bus and then run to the bank with his millions in loot. Shortly after this incident, the pink slips started flying and I received one along with a whole bunch of other folks. The company was later acquired by the large multi-national that I currently work for and by a billion to one shot I’m back in the same building and on the same floor that I occupied in the 80’s. How I got here is a very long story and so bizarre that I won’t go into that now. It ended up being one of those billion to one quirks of fate.

  738. wagelaborer July 29, 2011 at 4:34 pm #

    Actually, SJ, it may not be Jungian.
    They keep threatening that the next “terror” attack will be nuclear.
    And they have that “missing” nuclear bomb, the one that they misplaced after the “accidental” loading of nuclear bombs instead of non-nuclear bombs.
    I talked to an ex-Air Force guy, who had been stationed at Minot Air Force base, and he affirmed what I had thought – that kind of mistake can’t just happen. There aren’t two piles, one nuclear and one not, and you can’t accidentally just grab the wrong ones.
    Anyway. If they decide they need another “terrorist” attack, I think it will be nuclear.

  739. Dolan Williams July 29, 2011 at 4:42 pm #

    I had my cat fixed after it became obvious that his fighting was getting him in too much trouble. He was poisoned about 4 years later. My wife and I acquired this cat simply because he came to our door as a kitten and refused to leave so we fed him and took care of all his medical needs. We couldn’t bring him indoors because my wife is terribly allergic to cats so he lived in our garage and I made a little sleeping area for him in there. Maybe I should have taken him to the local shelter but my wife and kids loved him. I would never let a cat roam around now but 30 years ago, very few people knew about the massive loss of song bird life that takes place worldwide and I was one of those people who was unaware of this. When I was a kid living on a farm, my mom and dad had a lot of cats living in our barn. They did a good job of keeping the mice and rats from overruning our place.

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  740. BeantownBill July 29, 2011 at 5:09 pm #

    Well, the SHTF time has to happen someday, but I’m thinking it won’t be because of this. What I did was to hedge my opinion by withdrawing one month’s expenses worth of cash out of my checking account to keep around for an emergency. If something bad does come of this mess, a bank holiday could come over a weekend, or anytime with little or no notice. It will not have hurt me to do this if I am right and nothing untoward occurs.

  741. Dolan Williams July 29, 2011 at 5:29 pm #

    BeantownBill, I think that’s a very good idea. I was in my local bank this week and the banker there gave me a free safety deposit box and encouraged me to put all my valuables into it. He even suggested that I could place antique guns into the box. I thought that was a little weird. I would suggest that everybody have some emergency money that they keep stashed OUSIDE of their bank. Gerald Celente tells a really interesting story about how difficult it was for him to get his money out of his bank in New York City right after 9/11. It almost required an act of Congress on his part and he was really unsettled by that. I think Celente now hides his gold (and he has some) and his cash someplace away from the banking institutions. So your decision was a wise one.

  742. rippedthunder July 29, 2011 at 5:32 pm #

    Hi Soak. I wish I could join ya. I have too many irons in the fire ‘roun here just now. I would scoot in a second but me an da ol’ lady don’t see eye to eye on this stuff. She is ol’ school and thinks I am somewhat of an alarmist. If’n ya ask me this country is goin’ south faster than a goose in November.

  743. San Jose Mom 51 July 29, 2011 at 5:47 pm #

    A missing nuke from Minot? Shoot, I didn’t read anything about that. When it happened, the whole story seemed too crazy to believe.

  744. BeantownBill July 29, 2011 at 6:03 pm #

    The Feds barred entry to some, if not all, safe deposit boxes in the ’30’s. Some people got the boxes’ contents back only after 35 or even 50 years.

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  745. Qshtik July 29, 2011 at 6:08 pm #

    In answer to your question on whether Hudson is right, I guess it all depends on how real Obama is. My guess is it will get done, since treasury bond holders will be stuck with valueless bonds. Big business wants it done and of course the banksters need it to pass.–who knows.
    ====================
    WOW! You can’t get more wishy washy than this^. Never thought I’d see somebody sit on the fence or get on either side of the fence simultaneously but you have managed to do it.
    . it all depends
    . My guess is
    . who knows. (

  746. Dolan Williams July 29, 2011 at 6:15 pm #

    That’s exactly why I’m not putting my real valuables into that free safe deposit box. I don’t trust those guys. I’ve dealt with this same banker before and he has the demeanor of a used car salesman whose old lady just hit him up for late child support payments.

  747. Dolan Williams July 29, 2011 at 6:25 pm #

    Chris Mayer who may be familiar to those folks who regularly read ‘The Daily Reckoning’ recently captured these gems from the press:
    From Bloomberg, 8/6/10:
    Christina Romer, who chairs the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, said the U.S. needs stronger job growth to lower the nation’s unemployment rate.
    Really? Stronger job growth? Now why didn’t I think of that?
    From the USDA, 4/6/11, regarding their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP):
    It is estimated that at least 8,900 full-time equivalent jobs are created from $1 billion of SNAP benefits.
    $112,359 to create one job? Sounds about right for the U.S. government…
    From Newsweek, 11/5/10:
    The renewed willingness and confidence to spend money we don’t have is vital to the continuing recovery.
    Here I thought that credit-card mentality is what necessitated the recovery!
    And this gem, from the Wall Street Journal on 7/1/11:
    “If we can figure out how to pass our costs to our customers, we’d have a very successful company…” (American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey)

  748. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 6:28 pm #

    “Never thought I’d see somebody sit on the fence or get on either side of the fence simultaneously but you have managed to do it”
    -q, to lbend-
    Q, what exactly is it with you and your fetishistic love of simple declarative statements. Most of the real lasting damage in the world has been caused by people who never doubted themselves.
    Hitler. Stalin.
    BushII?
    ============

  749. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 6:29 pm #

    Excuse me:
    ALL of the real lasting damage in the world has been caused by people who never doubted themselves!

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  750. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 6:31 pm #

    Excuse me:
    ALL of the real, lasting damage in the world has been caused by people who never doubted themselves!

  751. asia July 29, 2011 at 6:45 pm #

    Factoid, Adlai Stevenson way back in the 50’s was urging Cat owners [or more than asking putting a bill in?] to keep cats indoors.

  752. asia July 29, 2011 at 6:49 pm #

    P,C gets the borders sealed up.
    ??????????????? P,c..what are they?

  753. soak July 29, 2011 at 6:49 pm #

    I find it interesting that on CFN for years people have been talking in the most pessimistic terms about TSHTF and how incompetent government is.
    Now when we are a few days away from default, suddenly those same CFN posters are saying a deal will be made, Congress will find a way.
    Such an expression of optimism and faith in government on CFN!
    It is touching actually, the naive faith expressed here that there will be no default. And it makes all the doom and gloom posts of the last few years suspect.

  754. soak July 29, 2011 at 6:52 pm #

    That’s right asia. P,C wants to made the borders immigrant-proof.
    I have to act quickly because I want to escape by crossing the border. I want to take millions of immigrants with me.
    But if P,C manages to close the borders, my plan will not work.

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  755. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 7:00 pm #

    Regarding safe deposit boxes –
    Yeah, you should NEVER put anything in one that you might need if TS ever got anywhere close to TF in your region. We do car and real estate titles in ours – mainly because they are duplicated all over the State of Georgia by various agencies.
    Now, a 500 pound, fire-proof safe, bolted to a concrete slab in one sheltered corner of a basement – that might have a thing or two in it.
    If it really could be found. hehe
    =================
    And a weird (to me) safe deposit box story.
    My mom was very organized and left detailed written instructions for me to find after she passed away. About third on her list to me was, “Go to the bank first thing in the morning and clean out my (her) safe deposit box.”
    Now, I’d never been inside her bank. It closed following a merger. The safe deposit boxes were (I found out later) removed from the vault using lifts, jacks, and rollers. They were fork-lifted onto a “guarded” flatbed truck and moved to her new bank branch – unopened.
    But I walked into that bank the next business morning following her death with a key, ID, and a briefcase.
    I did not remember ever having completed a signature card at that bank – but I signed where the bank officer told me to – and cleaned out that box, quick as a flash.
    My wife was with me. We felt like Bonnie and Clyde by the time we made it back out of the front door of that bank.
    It was all I could do to keep myself from breaking into a run to the car and peeling rubber out of the parking lot.
    ===================
    And regarding my earlier double post.
    Sorry about that.
    I hit STOP to add an extra comma.
    The double post was the eventual result.

  756. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 7:24 pm #

    “That’s right asia. P,C wants to made the borders immigrant-proof.
    But if P,C manages to close the borders, my plan will not work.”
    =======
    I’ve always thought the comparisons of the US borders to the Berlin Wall were overdone – but Soak just brought more clarity to the issue.
    If a society is truly free – it should be very easy to get out of it AND fairly hard to get into it.
    ==========
    “I have to act quickly because I want to escape by crossing the border. I want to take millions of immigrants with me.”
    -soak-
    Soak can go ahead – I guarantee that the US authorities will NOT try to stop him and his horde of millions going out.
    The Mexican and/or Canadian authorities will be a different matter, as he tries to enter either of their countries, of course.
    Those two countries already HAVE good border security. The US is slowly catching up to them and implementing good practices – in this regard.

  757. lbendet July 29, 2011 at 7:34 pm #

    Q,
    Oops, I forgot I wasn’t having a private conversation with Soak–Pardon Moi.
    Call it wishy-washy and it is indeed, but that’s because I’ve got no idea what’s gonna happen. Do you?
    Unfortunately I have no way of knowing what game is being played out here except that the destruction of the public commons will commence. It’s all very much the Milton Friedman disaster capitalism at work.
    What I do know is that you are happy with a smaller government. In principal I am not, but this one is such a corportist disaster–it hardly resembles a real government working for and by the people anymore.
    Perhaps as the center falls away states will become powerful partners with the corporations (ALEC) and various forms of govt will take hold. Take a look at some of the things going on in Wisc. and Missouri. They have contingency plans during an “emergency” when the govornor can supplant an elected official and replace them with an appointed one.
    Now that’s scary.
    But one scary story at a time, for now it’s how this debt ceiling that got hijacked will play out. Who will blink?

  758. lbendet July 29, 2011 at 7:35 pm #

    I tried to respell governor, but too late-so don’t get nasty, Q

  759. Dolan Williams July 29, 2011 at 7:42 pm #

    Way back in the 50’s? Is that something your mommy and daddy told you about or did you see it on a cable channel? By the way, does your mommy and daddy make sure you lock all the windows and doors to guarantee their kitty stays inside? Say, how old are you? 14 or 15? And when you helped the police catch all those bad robbers in L.A., were you riding your bike or your skateboard? Police like that sort of thing. They might even let you ride around in their police cars like my nephew used to do back in the 80’s. But don’t chew candy and spit on the inside of their windows cause they don’t like that sort of thing.

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  760. soak July 29, 2011 at 8:34 pm #

    Obama just negotiated with 13 major car manufacturers (90% of the market) to require 54 miles per gallon average over the fleet of the automaker (trucks, SUV, economy, etc.)
    There may be a debt crisis, but it has not stopped Obama from governing.

  761. messianicdruid July 29, 2011 at 9:42 pm #

    There may be a debt crisis, but it has not stopped Obama from negotiating.

  762. myrtlemay July 29, 2011 at 10:58 pm #

    Can’t help but agree that this business in Washington is simply a dog and pony show on what’s really going on. The fact is that you can’t run a credit card up forever without at least paying down some of the principle. We haven’t done that, for a very, very long time. Our leaders, despite what they might pontificate, have no intention of giving up the war booty, which have secured their asses in many ways.
    They enjoy giving us seniors the razz, but the fact of the matter is that there is plenty of money to pay S.S. Medicare is probably in for some major trouble – unavoidable in the immediate future. As for Medicaid, I have no idea how the government is going to continue to pay it. The money is just not in the budget.
    In simple terms, I may want a 2012 Cadillac, but if I can only afford a l993 Dodge Neon, most dealerships would laugh in my face if I went into their showrooms to buy a new Caddy.
    By the way, I’d also like to look and feel the way I did back in say, 1975. It ain’t gonna happen. Too bad, so sad.

  763. myrtlemay July 29, 2011 at 11:05 pm #

    I voted for him both in l952 and l956. He was a man way ahead of his time. The public was just too stupid to understand his message. Kinda like now. Good thing, I guess, that he isn’t around to see what morons we’ve all become since then.

  764. progress,conserve July 29, 2011 at 11:19 pm #

    “Is this true? Is a certain amount produced 24/7? And does it go to waste if not used?
    That is not how I had pictured it, but, on the other hand, I can’t really picture them shutting down the nuclear reactors for weekends, either. And they don’t seem to have any storage capacity for non-used energy.”
    -wage-
    Good questions, wage. And you generated some good discussions and answers. Power companies try to run their cheapest and most efficient power sources 100% of the time. That means nuclear and coal for most of us – as baseload power.
    There is never “unused” power available in the system. Because it’s a grid, every time an AC (for example) is switched on somewhere in a region – nuclear energy is being consumed or some sort of fossil fuel is being burned to power it.
    (hydropower is used for peak power only in the US – so the hydro is necessary only when enough AC’s are on so that the nuclear and fossil sources are already maxed out.)
    Weird thing – After being on this blog for a year I have given up on a lifetime of power conservation* – especially as regards AC. And my bill went up some – but not nearly as much as I thought it would. I suspect that part of the reason is that running the central AC more, causes the refrigerator, the freezer, and the dehumidifier to run less.
    *Why did I give up on conservation. Because it hasn’t made a difference in the 37 years that I have practiced it.
    And because the US population is increasing to the tune of 3 million souls a year – efforts at conservation are pointless – maybe even counterproductive – in the face of this increase.
    Maybe it’s time for me to turn into a TEA Partier, crash the National Debt, help burn up all the fossil fuels, kick over the ant hill – and hope a better day will somehow dawn in the future.

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  765. myrtlemay July 29, 2011 at 11:27 pm #

    Probably gotta go now. Daughter is due in soon to give me my meds. I hate the damn things! That’s one of the reasons I don’t post as often as I used to. These pills make me feel really drugged and dumbass groggy – and, WTF, they made me give up grass. JFC, what a crazy, god-damned world we fucking live in.

  766. asia July 30, 2011 at 12:01 am #

    Vlad……….Africas population to increase by a BILLION! Black Power!
    from Int Business Times:
    However, contrary to popular belief, the earth isn’t running out of resources to accommodate its growing population.
    [serious cough]
    Agricultural scientists almost universally agree that the earth has more than enough arable land to feed people. The following link shows that if the world’s population was packed in the same population density as New York City, the entire global population would fit in the state of Texas.
    Nevertheless, starvation and overcrowding are common occurrences in developing countries because of technological backwardness, resource mismanagement, corruption, and many other factors.
    To help meet the coming global demographics shift in all parts of the world, mankind needs to “tackle some tough issues ranging from the unmet need for contraception among hundreds of millions of women and the huge knowledge-action gaps we see in the area of child survival, to the reform of retirement policy and the development of global immigration policy,” said Bloom.

  767. asia July 30, 2011 at 12:03 am #

    VLAD…
    In Africa alone, the population is expected to grow 1.1 billion, or 49 percent of the global projected growth, by 2050.
    [yikes]

  768. asia July 30, 2011 at 12:06 am #

    I predict the Chinese will kill off the Afrikans.
    [I dont want this to happen but knowing how resource hungry they are, THEY HAVE TO IMPORT CHOPSTICKS FROM THE USA SINCE CHINA HAS ALMOST NO TREES].

  769. asia July 30, 2011 at 12:08 am #

    I thought you had dropped off this crazy site.

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  770. asia July 30, 2011 at 12:12 am #

    More from the experts at the Biz Mag:
    The global population is expected to top seven billion in 2011. By 2050, it’s expected to exceed nine billion. By 2100, it’s expected to rise to 10 billion.
    The figures were cited by a Harvard School of Public Health press release about a review article of Professor David Bloom published in Science.
    (Photo: REUTERS / Nir Elias )
    Job seekers attend a job fair in Fuyang February 11, 2009. Fuyang is home for about two million migrant workers out of a total population of nine million, according to local media. The global economic slowdown is taking its toll on China, especially the rural migrant workers who have long streamed into the cities to build office towers, clean streets and staff factories, with a senior official saying last month that about 20 million migrant workers have lost their jobs because of the economic downturn.
    The global population growth is expected to be highly uneven geographically.
    In certain developed countries like Japan and Germany, it’s expected to stay flat or even decline.
    In the coming decades, these countries could face a demographics crisis as society fails to produce enough adults to care for the elderly.
    [note the fear mongering at the end…fear level or shrinking populations]

  771. old69 July 30, 2011 at 5:08 am #

    NO SOLUTION.
    Does anyone really think that any problem can be solved ? Does anyone really think that there are any possible “solutions” to any problem ? Well, I got news for you, there are NO SOLUTIONS to any problems, end of story. We are destined to fail BIG TIME in all possible endeavors, we are failed from the outset, failed even before we being, we have failed, end of story. Aside from the fact that there are an infinite amount of problems that don’t even pretend to have a solution, and we all know it, even though we keep on trying to fool ourselves and make believe that we are achieving and trying to solve the problems, we are progressing in our path to the solution. But problems don’t exist from the outset, we just invent them, we just make believe that we have to solve problems, that there are problems, that we must go from A to B, when in most cases, who cares, stay in A, it doesn’t matter, etc. For example, in what sense for is housing a problem ? why is real estate a problem in the first place ? why is it important for “housing starts” to go up when we already have 15 million empty homes all across the USA ? The problem of real estate and housing has been solved many times over with all those empty houses, but we insist on the fact that “housing prices” must go up, the starts must go up, etc. We need more houses, even though the problem is solved. What sense does that make ? None, because housing is just a proxy for a power relationship between who has the house and who doesn’t, so that who has it can crush who doesn’t etc. A fake make believe problem created by a huge pile of crap that people have in their brains according to a huge pile of crap of ideologies of profit, money, forced inequality, the desire to be better and for people to do what the stronger wants, etc.
    Any target point T you can possibly imagine or invent, any target T that is any possible combination of Matter, Mass Energy, people, processes, behaviors, you name it can be seen as a desirable “solution” as a desirable “state” of affairs, as a goal to reach hence, since these are infinite since you can define and make up any possible T (nay, even change it on the fly, nay, even always change it just for fun) then the path P should be the “solution” to the general problem of going from the start point S -> path P -> target point T. But since the start point S can be any possible, then there are already an infinite aoumnt of problems without any solution (unless you lie to yourself and make believe you solved it). Then what ? Even if you could solve any problem, you would just invent another, you would make up some other, just because, for no reason, because Man is a problem saturated entity, is defined according to problems, especially problems that have no solution, so that he has a content and a function on which to concentrate his old clunker of a mind on, so therefore, no matter what, he will impose, create, invent, make up, force (as in health problems, as in those sicknesses (undefined concept anyways, all is a sickness or not, as in is it psychological or physical ? who knows ? and such)), you name it, any possible new problem, or an infinite array of ever newer, impossible to solve problems just out of boredome, just because Man is a problem saturated entity, is defined according to his problems, needs problems to exist, but especially needs problems that can never be solved to exist but pretend to be able to solve them. The law of conservation of problems, no matter what, ever new (and possibly ever more) problems will always pop up in his mind, in society, within the process and interactions of groups of people (all possible conflicts, people fight over everything for any reason), etc.
    For example, that pebble on the other side of the street is 1 mm too close to the curb, that must be changed to 2 mm, just because, because the mind forces itself to have problems when there are none, only this huge pile of crap of the mind that is always wrong no matter what.
    Specifically, does anyone really think that the 10,000 billion dollar USA debt can be paid back in any meaningful way ? Exactly what work processes, what endeavors would create enough activity and jobs, etc. to make it possible to pay back such a large amount of cash ? I have no idea, and in fact this problem will never be solved, the USA is already bankrupt, in default, a failed entity, kaput, end of story, broke, finished, no matter what anyone thinks. The solution is often in the words “the economy must grow”, but if you really look at it ask yourself For example how many more cars (or computers, TV, (but health care can increase ! all people become sick and crazy, yeah, that is cool)) can be sold in the USA ? they are already selling almost the same numbers they sold before the recession, in 2007 14 million, in 2010 10 million, now about 12 million, so now what ? Does that change anything ?
    No, there are no solutions to any problems, no matter what, the USA, EU and JAPAN are going down, steadily but surely, their time is over, these are slowly dying economies ad entities with no possible future, old countries with old people with old ideas governing them, they are doomed.
    Now I hope this website looks even more Funny after my blokcs of text.

  772. old69 July 30, 2011 at 5:14 am #

    NO SOLUTION.
    Does anyone really think that any problem can be solved ? Does anyone really think that there are any possible “solutions” to any problem ? Well, I got news for you, there are NO SOLUTIONS to any problems, end of story. We are destined to fail BIG TIME in all possible endeavors, we are failed from the outset, failed even before we being, we have failed, end of story. Aside from the fact that there are an infinite amount of problems that don’t even pretend to have a solution, and we all know it, even though we keep on trying to fool ourselves and make believe that we are achieving and trying to solve the problems, we are progressing in our path to the solution. But problems don’t exist from the outset, we just invent them, we just make believe that we have to solve problems, that there are problems, that we must go from A to B, when in most cases, who cares, stay in A, it doesn’t matter, etc. For example, in what sense is housing a problem ? why is real estate a problem in the first place ? why is it important for “housing starts” to go up when we already have 15 million empty homes all across the USA ? The problem of real estate and housing has been solved many times over with all those empty houses, but we insist on the fact that “housing prices” must go up, the starts must go up, etc. We need more houses, even though the problem is solved. What sense does that make ? None, because housing is just a proxy for a power relationship between who has the house and who doesn’t, so that who has it can crush who doesn’t etc. A fake make believe problem created by a huge pile of crap that people have in their brains according to a huge pile of crap of ideologies of profit, money, forced inequality, the desire to be better and for people to do what the stronger wants, etc.
    Any target point T you can possibly imagine or invent, any target T that is any possible combination of Matter, Mass Energy, people, processes, behaviors, you name it can be seen as a desirable “solution” as a desirable “state” of affairs, as a goal to reach hence, since these are infinite since you can define and make up any possible T (nay, even change it on the fly, nay, even always change it just for fun) then the path P should be the “solution” to the general problem of going from the start point S -> path P -> target point T. But since the start point S can be any possible, then there are already an infinite aoumnt of problems without any solution (unless you lie to yourself and make believe you solved it). Then what ? Even if you could solve any problem, you would just invent another, you would make up some other, just because, for no reason, because Man is a problem saturated entity, is defined according to problems, especially problems that have no solution, so that he has a content and a function on which to concentrate his old clunker of a mind on, so therefore, no matter what, he will impose, create, invent, make up, force (as in health problems, as in those sicknesses (undefined concept anyways, all is a sickness or not, as in is it psychological or physical ? who knows ? and such)), you name it, any possible new problem, or an infinite array of ever newer, impossible to solve problems just out of boredome, just because Man is a problem saturated entity, is defined according to his problems, needs problems to exist, but especially needs problems that can never be solved to exist but pretend to be able to solve them. The law of conservation of problems, no matter what, ever new (and possibly ever more) problems will always pop up in his mind, in society, within the process and interactions of groups of people (all possible conflicts, people fight over everything for any reason), etc.
    For example, that pebble on the other side of the street is 1 mm too close to the curb, that must be changed to 2 mm, just because, because the mind forces itself to have problems when there are none, only this huge pile of crap of the mind that is always wrong no matter what.
    Specifically, does anyone really think that the 10,000 billion dollar USA debt can be paid back in any meaningful way ? Exactly what work processes, what endeavors would create enough activity and jobs, etc. to make it possible to pay back such a large amount of cash ? I have no idea, and in fact this problem will never be solved, the USA is already bankrupt, in default, a failed entity, kaput, end of story, broke, finished, no matter what anyone thinks. The solution is often in the words “the economy must grow”, but if you really look at it ask yourself for example how many more cars (or computers, TV, (but health care can increase ! all people become sick and crazy, yeah, that is cool)) can be sold in the USA ? they are already selling almost the same numbers they sold before the recession, in 2007 14 million, in 2010 10 million, now about 12 million, so now what ? Does that change anything ?
    No, there are no solutions to any problems, no matter what, the USA, EU and JAPAN are going down, steadily but surely, their time is over, these are slowly dying economies ad entities with no possible future, old countries with old people with old ideas governing them, they are doomed.
    BOY, DOES THIS WEBSITE LOOK FUNNY!

  773. old69 July 30, 2011 at 5:30 am #

    NO SOLUTION PART 2
    But especially, does anyone really think that such impossibly complex problems, like the Chinese economy, Africa, poverty, economic growth, jobs, you name it really can possibly have any solution ? These processes are so non linear, random, such a huge quirk, so impossible to decode, manipulate etc. that it is really absurd to think that there is a solution and process that can “make the economy grow” or a process that can “create jobs”, etc. These problems have NO SOLUTION no matter what, they have no cause and effect, no linearity associated with them, but especially, they are saturated with Free Wills of people acting and reacting acording to the most random quirks imaginable, all conflicts, fights, etc. And most of all, all of the economic models take the standard growth that the USA, EU and JAPAN had from 1950 to 2000 as a law of physics, as a given, as an invariant, but that was a one time quirk, worked only once, with that level of technology, that level of constant invention and innovation, that gradual linear process where everyone bought their first car, house, furniture and slowly got richer and the economy grew, etc. Now that game is over, finished, can’t be reset in any way. Humpty Dumpty is Broken and can’t be fixed again, end of story.

  774. ozone July 30, 2011 at 8:02 am #

    I find it quite amusing to witness shows of support for Obama (i.e. the “office of the president”). If one approves of his efforts, then one must approve of those that direct his efforts; doesn’t that follow?
    Here comes the oligarchy; the caste that our president represents. All the rest is posturing and legerdemain. Not that it will matter much, but Obama needs a serious challenger from his own “party” to enunciate the realities of our predicaments. It might help the few awakened fence-sitters realize that preparation is not optional.

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  775. ozone July 30, 2011 at 8:11 am #

    Cash,
    I’m enjoying your colorful spleen-venting! Nicely put.
    Welcome back to the madhouse, MM. Clusterfuck it be… and a little mortality poking at us is always an important mind-clearer. It’s disturbing my sister, at present; gotta do sumpthin’ about that; she’s too young to be giving up just yet.

  776. Newfie July 30, 2011 at 8:13 am #

    “Every society clings to a myth by which it lives. Ours is the myth of economic growth. It’s totally at odds with our scientific knowledge of the finite resource base and the fragile ecology on which we all depend for survival.” – Prof. Tim Jackson (U. of Surrey, UK)

  777. soak July 30, 2011 at 8:46 am #

    newfie said: “Ours is the myth of economic growth.”
    ————–
    The myth of growth is a CAPITALIST myth which is unsustainable. Capitalism has failed in the 21st century. Capitalism inevitably creates its own income inequality downfall. CAPITALIST USA is growing at 0.4%. FAILURE.
    The future is COMMUNIST. Communism inherently strives for income equality. To the extent communism achieves income equality, it will be sustained. Communism has succeeded in the 21st century. COMMUNIST CHINA is growing at 9.5%. SUCCESS.

  778. MoneyMouth July 30, 2011 at 9:06 am #

    Uh, I don’t mean to be argumentative, Soak, but haven’t you noticed that China IS capitalist these days? BIG TIME!!

  779. asia July 30, 2011 at 9:22 am #

    Cut Throat Capitalism, the Billionaires and peasants.

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  780. asia July 30, 2011 at 9:24 am #

    This is soakies most ridiculous post to date that I have read.

  781. asia July 30, 2011 at 9:31 am #

    No soakie NKorea is communist..where the people are so small / starved for many years the Country didnt go to the Olympics.

  782. MoneyMouth July 30, 2011 at 9:49 am #

    Well said, Asia!

  783. soak July 30, 2011 at 9:53 am #

    If you look closely, you will see the Chinese Communist Party is the ruling government party. They are strategically using capitalism (appropriating USA wealth) to improve the lot of their own people. They have not become capitalist. In China’s flyover country where small cities (2 million) predominate, communism is even more evident.

  784. old69 July 30, 2011 at 10:39 am #

    HELL REVISITED
    What I don’t understand is why does GOD hate our guts so much ? Why is he never satisfied ? Why is the resistance or opposition of our Will Power to his and his laws so terrible that he has to beat us up forever ? Any normal person would get bored after some time to keep on punching another in the face (or maybe not), to keep on torturing, extreme pain forever, but for GOD it is never enough. Why ? This constant monolithic slab of pure pain is associated with GOD getting even with us, getting back at us, finally letting go all his rage against us (sounds so similar to Man, but Man was made in his image). But he has to use logic, funny how some information in his mind must be connected to pain, no answers, just questions. The mathematics of will powers opposed, targets denied and pain jut doesn’t match up, it is all upside down, incomprehensible.
    And also, why can’t we think “straight” when in extreme pain ? why does our thought system break down when sensations are coming in ? Or is thought just the reply to sensations, the mathematics and logic of how to avoid pain sensations and last as long as possible, well then thought is a slave to pain/pleasure circuits, there is no objectivity in thought, it is just following a predetermined path of the least resistance and least pain. The quirk path of pain/pleasure natural evolution decided, just because, because it was bored, wanted to make up some shit. Well, how can that be “scientific” and “logical” and “objective” ? No way, jose, thought should be able to think clearly no matter what your circumstances else thought is just a piece of crap, useless piece of crap that falls down as soon as pain is provoked. Therefore we need new mind machines that render thought independent of pain/pleasure circuits, that render thought completely objective and scientific, that create thought paths and thought patterns and formulas and sequences of symbols that make thought go where it never goes since it is completely comdemned and forced to follow the dictatorship of pain/pleasure circuits, the predetermined program of simple counters, simple numerical targets such as “the mind – body – life must preserve itself and last as long as possible”, “you must find all the strategies to avoid pain”, etc. This kind of thought doesn’t let you just throw yourself from a building, just for the fun of it, just because, thought is in prison, is in a dictatorship, FREE THOUGHT. Also, this kind of straight jacket thought is put in doesn’t let you do millions of new things and experiments because of the fear of pain, etc. You can think it but don’t want to really experience it, like I can hardly wait to go to hell and experience extreme pain, because the sensation kills the thought and idea, but thought and ideas should be independent of consequences and sensations and pain/pleasure, real true FREE THOUGHT. Disconnect thought from necessities and pain/pleasure and consequences.
    We need New minds, new contraptions, free thought.

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  785. wagelaborer July 30, 2011 at 11:03 am #

    Speaking for myself, I think TSWillHTF. Nothing to do with the government. It’s a failure of rapacious capitalism.
    I don’t think that the government is incompetent, I think it’s owned by the ruling class.
    I think that a deal WILL be made, if the oligarchy wants one made.
    The only doubt in my mind about what the government will do is the doubt about what the REAL plan is, among TPTB.
    So, like lbendet, I’m waiting to see what will be done.
    Eventually, we’ll see what the plan is. The only thing that I’m totally sure of is – it won’t be good for us little people.
    Oh. And China is not communist. You know that. There is no ruling class or Party in communism.

  786. wagelaborer July 30, 2011 at 11:06 am #

    Actually, what we’re seeing playing out here is likely a fight among sections of the capitalist class.
    Some of them will suffer will a default. Some will profit.
    One section will win.
    But it still won’t benefit us.

  787. Qshtik July 30, 2011 at 11:13 am #

    I’ve got no idea what’s gonna happen. Do you?
    =================
    No. And that is why you won’t find any posts from me expressing an opinion on the subject. I hope we are not all expected to enumerate everything we do NOT know or have an opinion about. My posts would exceed OLD69’s a thousand times over.
    Back when Vlad’s first name was Jaego he used to get exasperated with me for not voicing a firm position on some issue near and dear to his heart. And I would reply “that is because I don’t know.”
    Concerning the debt ceiling, I’ll make this wild guess: My next SS check will be direct deposited to my account on its due date, August 24.

  788. wagelaborer July 30, 2011 at 11:20 am #

    Hi, Myrtlemay. Glad you’re still around.
    Some things take a long time to percolate into public consciousness, like the cats killing songbirds-thing.
    Way back in the 50s, a panel advised Eisenhower that we should switch to solar power for our electrical energy needs.
    How’d that work out for us?

  789. Qshtik July 30, 2011 at 11:26 am #

    I think that a deal WILL be made, if the oligarchy wants one made.
    ==================
    You can’t go wrong with an opinion like this^ one.
    If a deal is made it’s because “the oligarchy” wanted it to be made and if they don’t make a deal it’s because the oligarchy didn’t want one to be made. That clears up everything Wage. Thanks for your input.

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  790. wagelaborer July 30, 2011 at 11:45 am #

    Most countries in the world produce enough food to feed their people now.
    The problem is class division, in which the food doesn’t go to the poor.
    Ireland was exporting food while millions starved, and that pattern continues today.
    http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/backgrdrs/1998/s98v5n3.html

  791. wagelaborer July 30, 2011 at 11:49 am #

    And, speaking of hypocrisy-
    “MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell has banned tea party Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) from ever appearing on his show again.
    Walsh has refused to vote for raising the nation’s debt ceiling, saying he would not place “one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids.”
    But it turns out that Walsh actually owes more than $100,000 in child support.”

  792. asia July 30, 2011 at 12:20 pm #

    The people there dont want communism. How many are members of the CP?
    Its been described as ‘Anarchy and Feudalism’.

  793. Qshtik July 30, 2011 at 12:47 pm #

    In simplest terms there are two choices:
    . Do NOT increase the debt limit and as a result incur some degree of financial chaos in the present.
    . Increase the debt limit and insure a greater degree of financial chaos in the future.
    It is in the nature of humankind to reject unpleasantness in the present and, if it is even remotely possible, push it off to the future. The current over-used cliche for this state of affairs is “to kick the can down the road.”
    No matter the precise details and timing of what transpires before, on, or in the weeks shortly after Tuesday August 2nd the result will be bullet #2.
    This is an opinion of which I am certain.

  794. ozone July 30, 2011 at 2:15 pm #

    “It is in the nature of humankind to reject unpleasantness in the present and, if it is even remotely possible, push it off to the future. The current over-used cliche for this state of affairs is “to kick the can down the road.” ” -Q.
    Q.,
    Truly.
    These days I’m preferring the phrase “extend and pretend”, because there’s less of a “cutesy” image attached. You can see the little kid in his jeans and Red Ball Flyers giving that can a good rattling smack as he ambles down that road. Perhaps it’s almost time to dispense with cute AND sports metaphors for large, intractable problems? (Especially by politicos! Geez, talk about a veritable desert of imagination and eloquence…)
    Not really important, but I’d have to agree that the over-usage is beginning to grate, right along with the mountains of Orwellian double-speak that loom over all public discourse in these days of anxiety and product-placement.

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  795. myrtlemay July 30, 2011 at 3:18 pm #

    I like reading the comments on this site, and JHK of course. I dislike the ugly comments and the unnecessary profanity. Pretty juvenile. My circumstances have changed. I’m literally “out” for half the day…on meds. At this stage in my life, I’ve grown used to life turning on a dime on you. Quickly. One of the few good things about getting old is you tend to accept life’s little darts thrown at you with a quiet acceptance, wtf kind of serenity.

  796. Cash July 30, 2011 at 3:21 pm #

    Totally agree with ya there. There’s an old saying in finance which I’m sure you’ve heard, your first loss is your least loss. Kicking the can down the road will just make things worse. Bond markets and other markets are ok for the longest time while problems like US govt debt fester. And then they freak out and there’s a panic.
    And they will for sure panic. These things are not run by geniuses. The guys that run them have some mathematical ability. But whatever Big G gave them in mathematical ability he apparently took away in other areas. They say they have to pay big bucks to these donkeys so they get the “best and the brightest”. What a joke.

  797. Cash July 30, 2011 at 3:28 pm #

    Hi Myrtlemay. Good to hear from you. OK my profanity is juvenile. Guilty as charged. I’ve got to spew though or my head will explode. Sorry to hear about your health situation. I do hope you get better. I could say something like I’ll pray for you but the more I see of life I get to thinking that if there’s a man in the sky he’s probably more like a kid and we’re his ant farm.

  798. myrtlemay July 30, 2011 at 3:29 pm #

    Earlier this year (or was it last year), someone posted on this site a speech from Admiral Hyman Rickover who very accurately predicted the energy crisis over 50 years ago. And some damned good ideas on how to moderate our use of petroleum. I think he might have mentioned solar. I’d never heard of it before. Damn, that guy was a prophet. If only we’d listened.

  799. Cash July 30, 2011 at 3:33 pm #

    Hi Ozone, Glad you liked it.

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  800. Cash July 30, 2011 at 3:40 pm #

    WTF, they made me give up grass. JFC, what a crazy, god-damned world we fucking live in. – MM
    So they make you give up a naturally growing herb that makes you feel better and gives you a better appetite and they tell you to take pills that put you out of commission. The law is an ass and the medical establishment is full of shit.

  801. myrtlemay July 30, 2011 at 3:45 pm #

    Greetings, Cash. Thanks for the good wishes. I agree with you and “Q” about choice #2 being the probable outcome. It’s hard to imagine it any other way, really. TPTB don’t want to be seen inflicting any pain, they want to be re-elected, and hope they can paper over this shit until after the get back in office. Until then, it’s all lip service.
    There are a few in Congress who do seem to show some balls (or they’re good actors ;)) . There may even be a few who aren’t completely in bed with the banks and Wall Street. Truth is, the public will be greatly pissed off when TSHTF. Even moderately successful business owners KNOW that part of doing business is that someone will get pissed off at you – big time for something. Lying and double dealing tend to piss most people off. Go figure.
    Politicians are usually lawyers and not what we consider to be the bourgeois merchant class. Thus, they are wimpish sheep who do what’s politically expedient. And they don’t mind lying about it either.

  802. Cash July 30, 2011 at 3:50 pm #

    So you’re well steeped in the absurdities and the lunacies of corporate life. And Dilbert is right, the HR director really is a black winged demon.

  803. soak July 30, 2011 at 4:16 pm #

    asia, it is not so important how many are formally members of the Chinese Communist Party. What is important is what the CCP controls. Besides the economy, one of the things the CCP controls is the Peoples Liberation Army. The PLA is the world’s largest military force, with approximately 3 million members.

  804. soak July 30, 2011 at 4:26 pm #

    Q said: “Increase the debt limit and insure a greater degree of financial chaos in the future.”
    ———-
    You got it backwards Q. The unrest in the market, interest rates, bond holders, rating agencies, etc. is because there is a debt limit.
    Raising (or eliminating) the debt limit, provides a greater degree of financial STABILITY in the future, not chaos.
    I am tickled to see how optimistic you are that a solution will be found. Such faith in government!
    I am also pleased you have provided two concrete dates in the near future to test your claims:
    Aug. 2 you say there will be no default.
    Aug. 24 you say there will be a Social Security direct deposit to your account.
    Again, I am pleased you don’t really want to follow Grover Norquist and shrink the Social Security Administration and drown it in a bathtub.
    What you seem to want is a timely direct deposit from a smoothly functioning government.

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  805. digbycookies July 30, 2011 at 5:55 pm #

    FYI – The Archdruid Report has a good article on the state of education dated July 27th.

  806. Qshtik July 30, 2011 at 6:38 pm #

    Oh well, maybe things will improve by the close.
    ==============
    Damn!! They didn’t improve by the close. In fact they got worse. Ford down another .89% for the day.
    Looks like when Tootsie announces he’s buying that’s as good a signal to sell as you’ll ever get.

  807. metuselah July 30, 2011 at 6:59 pm #

    I drew the support lines for you:
    http://chart.ly/459iv7m
    It looks very ugly to me. If you get a bounce up, SELL!

  808. metuselah July 30, 2011 at 7:17 pm #

    Btw,
    The financial Status Quo, already discredited in the eyes of most well-informed observers, will eventually lose all credibility, and global stock markets will languish as participants abandon them.
    If this sounds farfetched, recall that 70% of all shares traded in the U.S. stock market are exchanged in opaque “dark pools” operated by Wall Street and “too big to fail” banks, and high-frequency trading executed by “black box” algorithms account for the majority of the remaining 30% of publicly traded shares. This means that some 90% of stock market activity is hidden from non-insider investors.
    oftwominds: The Coming Global Instability, Part II
    http://goo.gl/R76RY

  809. progress,conserve July 30, 2011 at 8:28 pm #

    Tax policy in this country is nuts.
    I, as an investor, have income that is called “unearned.” Mine in particular comes from dividend income on stocks and rental income on real estate. After all the deductions, depreciation, and write-offs (which are considerable), the absolute MAXIMUM that I can pay is 15%.
    Meanwhile, the guy that I hire to cut the grass, or the self-employed real estate agent that I hire to do the management – pays both halves of social security and medicare on all of his income – right ow that totals to 13.3%.
    Plus, PLUS – my self-employed contractors pay regular Federal income tax ON TOP of the SS and Medicare taxes. And these rates go from 10% to 28%, and UP, depending on how financially successful the guy is that year.
    Meanwhile, an investor can make MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars per year in dividend, rental, or capital gains income – and the most he EVER pays is 15%.
    Meanwhile we squabble about raising marginal tax rates on the “wages” of the super wealthy.
    Folks – Generally, the superwealthy don’t earn much, if any, “wage” income, in the first place.
    And they don’t “invest” very much of it to “create” “jobs” in the “US,” very much, either.
    ===============
    I’m home for the evening with baby sitting duty and feel like having a CFN argument over some NEW material.
    Anybody game?
    It doesn’t have to be about tax policy, if no one is interested in that, right now.
    And welcome back, MyrtleMay – I’ve missed you.

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  810. Cavepainter July 30, 2011 at 8:31 pm #

    I’ll accept whatever label you choose to slap on me, but I contend that immigration into America should discriminate against beliefs that do not comport with a modern understanding of natural phenomena or which defy our secular laws regarding gender equality.
    It seems ironic that we permit into this country people who come here for the very purpose of advantaging from our 21st Century science based infrastructure, public services, and all the privileges inherent in our modern European form of government and legal system, yet they continue to conduct their personal lives according to religious beliefs reflecting outlook outdated by hundreds of years and which subordinate women to rule of men under which they are just brood mares and chattel.
    Doesn’t it seem a pathological contradiction for people to conform to wearing religiously prescribed clothing that originated before sewing machines and which, by standards of practicality, are altogether unsuited beyond the climate of its origin, yet they walk about using cell phones? C’mon, maybe the garments were practical when the women squated outside the tent to pee in the desert sand, but really……!
    Our obsession with PC has disposed us to not exercise reasoned judgment about who gets admitted into our nation and how. In consequence, we are being swamped with people who practice beliefs of an age when human population was a slight percentage of what it is today.

  811. progress,conserve July 30, 2011 at 9:51 pm #

    Cave –
    If present trends continue – there is ZERO doubt that immigration into the United States will have to be stopped – – – someday, and somehow.
    The question, of course, is whether US immigration will be stopped before the the extinction of human life on planet Earth.
    I’m seeing little reason for optimism, right now.
    =================
    Your argument, cavepainter, well reasoned and well intentioned though it is – is part of the reason that we in the US can’t get to LOGIC as regards stopping immigration.
    Essentially, you are making a religious argument. Some immigrants (let’s call them Muslims, per your post) wear funny clothes and don’t treat their women as equals.
    Now, let’s consider that every schoolchild in America has been taught the story of Plymouth Rock Pilgrims, and their quest for Religious Freedom – and has drawn them, using Crayola Crayons, in their funny black and white Pilgrim clothes.
    And let’s also consider that some percentage of the Christian Religious Right in the US would be DELIGHTED, to not treat their women as equals – if they could just figure out how to pull off the legal maneuver – and invalidate the US Constitution – to make this discrimination legal.
    So, cavepainter – stopping Muslims, just ’cause they’re Muslim – is going to be nasty racial/religious distraction for the immigration debate in the US.
    The only argument that is finally going to HAVE to work, someday – is going to be an argument for “Replacement Level Immigration,” only – without regard to race, creed, or whatever.
    For anyone with a true understanding of the focus of this CFN website, which is based on “Peak Everything” –
    an argument for replacement level immigration into the US, should be very easy for anyone to understand – and impossible to logically refute.

  812. Qshtik July 30, 2011 at 9:52 pm #

    Cave, if dressing “sensibly” were a criterion for citizenship in the US they would have to deport half the male population of the town I live in.
    We have a large Jewish population and many of them are orthodox. On any given day, but particularly on Saturday (the sabbath) when they are not permitted to drive you will see the males of the sect walking about in black suits, black hats and with long thick beards regardless of the weather. Today it was 94 degrees and a few days ago it hit 102.
    I observe them in head-wagging disbelief with my eyes rolled back in my head. Surely it’s only a matter of time before one of them dies of heat stroke while walking to Temple.
    But don’t get me started on the subject of religious laws, practices and customs. It’s a bazaaro world out there.

  813. myrtlemay July 30, 2011 at 10:13 pm #

    “And welcome back, MyrtleMay – I’ve missed you.” -Pro
    Thanks. I appreciate that. It’s nice to know that you can agree on some things with folks and spar on some others and still know the other guy’s probably not such a bad egg. You ain’t. And I ain’t either.
    Keep arguin, and I’ll keep agreeing or disagreeing – and let you know! 😉

  814. digbycookies July 30, 2011 at 10:17 pm #

    Holy Mackerel!
    Who dragged you out from under the bar stool to be beginning your yapping!

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  815. San Jose Mom 51 July 30, 2011 at 10:21 pm #

    Qshtik:
    How are those crazy, slobby, next-door neighbors of yours doing?

  816. Qshtik July 30, 2011 at 11:15 pm #

    How are those crazy, slobby, next-door neighbors of yours doing?
    ==============
    They are educated and not crazy but the slovenliness continues unabated. Hardly a day passes that I don’t gaze on their house and mentally tote up the myriad repairs and yard work chores that would be needed to put it in minimum respectable condition.
    In all honesty I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these days the whole structure just collapsed in on itself like in the films you see of WTC Bldg #7.

  817. metuselah July 30, 2011 at 11:21 pm #

    But don’t get me started on the subject of religious laws, practices and customs. It’s a bazaaro world out there.
    ==
    Please, they are not Jews. Those Litvaks/Polacks you see dressed in their 18th century garb are not Jews.
    There’s no dress code in Judaism. No dress code for weddings. No dress code for funerals. No dress code for regular days. No dress code for shabbat, or any other holy days. No dress code, period.
    Really what they are is a cult of goy Litvaks/Polacks pretending to be Jews, and doing an incredibly very bad job at it. It is now widely understood in Israel that these are impostors and that they have no love for the people of Israel, and no love for the land of Israel. The only thing that’s important to them is their idiotic and completely alien cult rituals. I can tell you that in Israel, these people are hated even more than the arabs. My guess, it’s only be a matter of time before these impostors will be vomited and expelled from Israel, together with the arab imperialists.

  818. Qshtik July 30, 2011 at 11:31 pm #

    Notice how the participants (trainees) each paid north of $1000 for the exercise of digging a ditch.
    ==============
    Yes, I noticed. Rabid Capitalism seems to be firmly entrenched even in the “Permies.”

  819. Qshtik July 30, 2011 at 11:40 pm #

    Please, they are not Jews. Those Litvaks/Polacks you see dressed in their 18th century garb are not Jews.
    ================
    Of course I know that. It’s perfectly obvious they’re all CIA operatives and/or stooges of the Vatican.
    😉

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  820. San Jose Mom 51 July 30, 2011 at 11:58 pm #

    When we went on vacation, my mom would hide her jewelry in the bottom of a Rice Crispies box.

  821. metuselah July 31, 2011 at 12:19 am #

    Of course I know that. It’s perfectly obvious they’re all CIA operatives and/or stooges of the Vatican.
    ==
    Follow the money. And the money leads to the Vatican.
    Why, next time you see these people, instead of rolling your eyes, why don’t you ask them how is it that they support themselves. Where is the money coming from. Curious minds want to know.

  822. asia July 31, 2011 at 12:20 am #

    gawd you are funny [for a vatican cia mole]

  823. Cavepainter July 31, 2011 at 12:28 am #

    I’ve risked posting before the fact that the Land of Israel/Palestine can sustainably support only about 2% of its existing population. That is, with its natural native productive capacity. However, both the Israelis and Palestinians are adding population as fast as they can through high birth rates and, in the case of Israel, with immigration.
    With collapse of American empire Israel will be abandoned no different from how Cuba was abandoned by Russia. Israel though, possessing over 300 nukes, will still be able to leverage resources from other countries. The Palestinians will simply be left to wilt away because erstwhile sponsors will be struggling to manage their own survival.
    Israel knows the reality – that a die-off is near – and wants to secure itself from it, so in the meanwhile continues the charade of attempting to achieve a two nation solution while carrying on an aggressive program of sequestering the region’s vital resources (water, in particular).
    I wish America would come to the same recognition that the age of patron and client nations has ended; that now we need to secure our borders against the inevitable tsunami of refuge seekers

  824. metuselah July 31, 2011 at 12:29 am #

    These impostors are the Litvak equivalent of the black Chicago “Jews”.

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  825. metuselah July 31, 2011 at 12:45 am #

    Land of Israel/Palestine can sustainably support only about 2% of its existing population.
    ==
    Where did you get this nonsense from? Did you make it up yourself?
    Anyway, the die-off will mainly be in the US petro-dollar and the Vatican’s central bank warfare/welfare model. Israel will manage just fine without these. In fact, Israel will thrive without these.

  826. truthteller July 31, 2011 at 2:24 am #

    {I mean what the fuck kind of business plan is it to offshore so much of the US economy to reduce wage costs? Who are they going to sell to? The unemployed/underemployed American? Or the slave wage Chinese? So now, big fucking surprise, you’ve got a gigantic financial crisis. This was a plan concocted by jackasses.
    If this is a conspiracy it’s the dumbest piece of shit in history.}
    Right the hell on, Cash! Amen! Someone finally says it! 🙂
    Wage slaves living on minimum wage are not going to fund the ultra-wealthy lifestyles of American corporate executives whose business models are based on highly “disposable” income. The people who run businesses based on “necessities (energy and food) still might make a decent living for a while yet, but the corporations banking on the next generation of whatever tech gizmo they have lined up next (Apple, RIM) or cell phone companies, cable/entertainment companies such as Verizon, AT&T, etc. not so much . . . fuck the fifth generation iPhone . . . I never bought the FIRST generation 🙂 I have the free flip-phone that Verizon gave me for signing up for their minimum-minutes plan 🙂
    When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, people are going to forego Netflix and enjoy eating and sleeping in a dry spot with their family nearby. That’ll be the new luxury in the 21st century.

  827. xhalor July 31, 2011 at 4:41 am #

    It’s early Sunday morning in L.A. I’m pissed out of my skull and yeah, I’ve read all of your frickin’ frackin’ posts. I’ve come to one inescapable conclusion, it’s time for an art break. You can thank me by paying my IRS “overhang”.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swQ1h_As22Q

  828. Patrizia July 31, 2011 at 4:56 am #

    You are right.
    Whoever did it is not even so intelligent.
    All has come to a postponing the moment of truth, a few months, so that a little bit more can be saved…how?
    Buying gold, silver, investing in the East markets may be.
    Forgetting that we still ALL live on this earth, that a few pounds of gold can help you to survive better a little bit more.
    When everything collapses, what will happen of all the gold and the silver?
    I think the biggest revolution would be that bakers and farmers would produce JUST for themselves and exchange goods with goods.
    How would the banksters and financial guys and all that scum be able to survive?
    The only thing they are able to do is exchanging papers and gambling with promises..
    What cand they give in exchange for a piece of bread?
    What are they able to do?
    Nothing.
    The poors will be rich and the rich will starve, because they cannot eat their gold and silver and copper.
    That would be the GREATEST revolution of all times.

  829. xhalor July 31, 2011 at 5:06 am #

    I heartily concur. I hate to throw a wet blanket on the party, but you may want to recalculate with an unincluded varibale:
    w = the guys with the guns

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  830. bubbleheadMarc July 31, 2011 at 8:34 am #

    My condolences on your being forced to give up da kine. Also, thanks for mentioning the speech on energy from 1957 given by Admiral Rickover to a group of physicians. I looked up his speech and it is indeed prescient. Regarding wind and solar power he claimed that those sources of energy would always be inadequate. He also went on to endorse the widespread use of nuclear power provided that the waste could be safely disposed of, a requirement which has not yet really been met to any convincing degree. He also mentioned the curious idea of installing overhead trolley power lines to feed electricity to electric automobiles!
    Checking out the Wickipedia article on him I was not surprised to read that he had great difficulty getting selected for rear admiral. Apparently he had insulted the intelligence of many senior officers who had advanced to flag rank before him, and thus were in a position to interfere with his further advancement from the rank of Captain, and this in spite of the fact that he was no longer a line officer at that point, but an engineering duty officer. In the event he eventually did make full admiral [4 stars; one thick stripe with three regular width stripes on the sleeves of the dress blue uniform] in 1973 during the Nixon administration.
    He had some interesting opinions about agriculture such as “…maximum productivity per acre is only achieved by intensive manual cultivation.” And, describing people reduced to agricultural beasts of burden: “Civilizations must wither when human beings are so degraded.” [from an impression he formed from watching Chinese coolies during an early trip to the far east].
    From a personal trivia standpoint I was surprised to read that he’d converted to Anglicanism from his parent’s Judaism. This reveals a curious conformist streak in his personality as the navy chaplain corps had always been dominated by high ranking Episcopalian priests. He was buried out of the Episcopal National Cathedral by an admiral in the navy chaplain corps, and buried at Arlington, in 1986, three years after the navy added marijuana to its urine drug screening program, a dark day indeed for the likes of Myrtlemay and her ilk!
    In his speech he repeatedly states that automobiles have the lowest energy efficiency of any mode of transportation with a rated efficiency only 20% that of diesel railroad locomotives, or about 5%. He also repeatedly warns that low energy societies regress back towards the developmental stage of agricultural peonage.
    So thanks for pointing that out so I could go read the speech online at The Oil Drum.

  831. progress,conserve July 31, 2011 at 11:41 am #

    Post # 923
    Things have slowed down this weekend.
    Not sure if CFN will make it to 1000 posts this week. Of course we’ve had slightly less of 8M’s absurd multiple posting – and maybe slightly fewer short – “yes you did/no I didn’t/you’re a f*cktard” types of exchanges.
    Cash – your post back to me regarding “the conspiracy of the stupid?” that has ruined the US – was very good. I noticed several posters complimented it and agreed with it. Count me in that number.
    That’s part of why I keep saying this website tilts left. I think the RW in the US is very pro-business – to the point that a posting like that of Cash’s on a relevant WSJ comment thread, for example – would have generated some heated attacks.
    Cash – it is interesting that you believe in a version of the organized Kennedy 1964 conspiracy – yet you don’t believe that the ruin of American industry and the economy – is some similar sort of *organized?* conspiracy.

  832. progress,conserve July 31, 2011 at 12:02 pm #

    Regarding Hyman Rickover –
    Marc, I believe that any visionary and productive thinker, which Rickover certainly was, is going to produce many ideas which stand the test of time – and many ideas that do not.
    And other ideas will be taken to an extreme. Thus, this idea of Rickovers, “He also repeatedly warns that low energy societies regress back towards the developmental stage of agricultural peonage…,” certainly has logical validity.
    But this idea also manifests itself in the RW Corporate mentality of Always Bigger/Faster, Drill, baby, Drill. This extreme of thought leads to an idea that TODAY’s economy and energy use is worth sacrificing tomorrow’s future.
    For example, I’ll bet that some of the Republican resistance to raising CAFE fuel economy standards has rested on the idea that burning maximum gas TODAY – must not be discouraged – even in the face of finite oil supplies –
    because burning gas TODAY, even at high rates and for no particular reason – is an important part of the Sacred Economic Output which must Always Be Maximized.

  833. wagelaborer July 31, 2011 at 12:21 pm #

    Well, I disagreed with Cash.
    Harper’s Index had an item showing that the Fortune 500 companies were selling more than 50% outside of the USA.
    I think that they’re discarding the US consumer like so much plastic trash.
    And not only do I think that the secret team in the US military-spy complex killed JFK, I think they killed RFK and MLK, AND pulled off 9-11.
    But I don’t think that the destruction of the US economy and the impoverishment of the US worker is a planned conspiracy.
    I think that it is a result of capitalism run amok, and a government bought off over 30 years ago, leading to no effective countervailing cap on their power.
    Too bad that this amazing continent, so rich in resources, was turned into an impoverished, polluted wasteland in 200 years.
    Heckuvajob, guys.

  834. wagelaborer July 31, 2011 at 12:56 pm #

    And they are intensifying their exploitation of the richest continent on this planet – Africa.
    http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/31-1
    Those billion people who live without fossil fuels today? They would be the ones who survive after the crash, but they’re being killed now for their lands and minerals.

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  835. old69 July 31, 2011 at 12:59 pm #

    CEMETERY
    My brain has been going crazy lately (as usual), I don’t know why god dealt me this hand of cards, but anywho’s this is the deal: why is there change in the first place, why is any configuration, any block of text, any person and situation “better” or “superior” or “desirable” anyways ? (then don’t change or assume any position anybody else has or go backwards and forwards in any direction to deny your path, confusion abounds, that is a good sign) what is keeping score ? who is measuring it ? why is it measured ? why is the measurement itself measured, who measures the measurement and such (a never ending array of connections, thoughts, metaphors, as in anything can describe anything else since it is all simply information in the mind with suggested associations to imagined pain/pleasure and such, that is why these blocks of texts can go on forever, the combinations are never ending and make believe you win by them so you feel good).
    Why is the block of text that San Jose Mommy writes different from mine ? how can you measure the distance and difference between any of mine and any of hers ? How many numbers, how many measurements can define the distance, let us define distances, numbers that distinguish blocks of texts, their distance, let us imagine paths that a block of text can tansverse to reach another, let us measure the difference between one brain and another, how many measurements, what is the target number, are they different at all ? or is the number just as small as the number of problems we can really solve (the same problems we solve over and over again (just like the same chemical reactions the cells perform over and over again), just 10 or 20 at most, and only because they are simple and linear compared to trillions of problems that can never be solved). So constant change, state B is better than state A, even if any measurement can affirm the opposite as in all mental models contrasting between people demonstrate that the measurement is arbitrary. Someone said that they “don’t read my garbage”, but on what metaphysical, common ground stage is garbage defined ? If one person says it, is it valid in all points of space and time ? this idea that a person is occupying a metaphysical stage valid in all points of space and time opposing other mental constructions, the war going on on this stage.

  836. progress,conserve July 31, 2011 at 1:10 pm #

    Wage,
    I linked back up to Cash’s original post so anyone interested could take another look at it.
    Here are some excerpts:
    Corporate business leaders “….have some personal attributes or character traits that suited them to high corporate office. But bright they aren’t.”
    “These Republican dickwads are there to provide political and ideological cover for their bonehead masters in business and on Wall Street. Free market my ass.
    The best and the brightest go into medicine and the hard sciences. The shitheads go into business. And we’ve let these shitheads run this fucking world into ruin.” -cash-
    Take another look at it Wage. You see the American consumer being “discarded like so much plastic trash…” Nice metaphor, BTW.
    Cash just provides a cogent and realistic explanation for the reasons that this has happened.
    ===============
    Now, on conspiracy – I’ve seen Cash mention his belief in the JFK conspiracy in a favorable light, I think – but I’ll let him speak for himself.
    On your grand trans-generational conspiracy that killed MLK, the Kennedy brothers, and caused 9/11 – Wage, I keep giving it an honest look every time you mention it. But I just can’t make myself buy into it.
    I wonder what you thought about Methuselah’s defense of his idea that the Vatican and the CIA are behind Stalin, Mao, Hitler – and pretty much everything bad that has ever happened that has negatively impacted Israel and/or peace-loving peoples, everywhere.
    Do your guys work for his guys?
    Do his guys work for your guys?
    Are they two different sets of guys with the same aim?
    Are they two different sets of guys who will someday split up the world or annihilate each other while trying?
    I’ve said before that we would probably have to stay off this “conspiracy topic” in person.
    But here in the open internet – tell me what’s on your mind.

  837. jackieblue2u July 31, 2011 at 1:13 pm #

    Everybody knows that the good guys lost,
    everybody knows that the cards are stacked,
    everybody knows that the deal is rotten
    good old joe’s still pickin’ cotton
    everybody knows.
    Concrete Blonde does a version also.
    Love the song, not the reality of it tho.
    Tells it like it is.
    Tell it like it is, another Great Song.

  838. asia July 31, 2011 at 1:29 pm #

    China, George Soros and many others have their eye on Africa.

  839. wagelaborer July 31, 2011 at 1:36 pm #

    My guys work with his guys when it benefits them.
    For instance, the Vatican and the US military worked together to get Nazis out of Europe via the ratline after WW2.
    The CIA worked with fascists in Europe to set up the left behind groups, to harass leftists and set up false flag attacks to scare people into repression. Google Operation Gladio, for one.
    I don’t think that Hitler, Stalin and Mao were backed by my guys. Hitler was financially and otherwise supported by US and other capitalists, though. That is established fact. Herbert Hoover did organize food drives for the Russians, devastated by WW1 and the civil war that followed, as 14 countries invaded the new Soviet Union and tried to reverse the revolution. Mao? I don’t know where he gets that.
    My guys started during WW2, with the OSS, and carried on afterwards with the funding of the CIA, starting in 1947 (before that they were funded by Wall Street and illegal drug running only), and the beginning of the military-industrial complex.
    Fletcher Prouty refers to them as the “secret team”. I’m sure that Allen Dulles and Frank Wisner (related through marriage to Sarkozy of France) were part of it.
    Obviously, the Vatican is involved in some intrigues. We saw that with Opus Dei and the Vatican Bank scandal, one of whose villians was given sanctuary in Arizona. But I don’t believe that they are “behind” the entire thing. They just are entangled in international finance and political intrigue and terrorism.

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  840. jackieblue2u July 31, 2011 at 1:41 pm #

    That would be Cash’s BADASS. haha.
    You know here on the internet where we can talk freely, but shouldn’t, about some things, like these, I think some of the things that happen aren’t as portrayed on the news. Aren’t even close to what really happened.
    I don’t think that Everything Is A Conspiracy.
    To me 911, I don’t know if others are responsible, other than al Q. Seems they would have to be. Too many fugitives got thru those gates, and this was an elaborate plan. Many people involved.
    It doesn’t add up to me. A bunch of guys with boxcutters.
    But I don’t know, and never will know the truth about that.
    Now that I dumped CASH you are my Target !
    Kidding and just funnin’ around.
    I always liked yours and his posts, and a few others, but now I can’t go getting a crush on sj mom. not my type ! or myrtlemay, yay she’s back.
    on her back tho. sorry for that MMay. Pills over Pot. Criminal. Nothing works better for some pain that Pot.
    taking a road trip today, my most un favorite thing, but a must.
    hold the fort down !

  841. jackieblue2u July 31, 2011 at 1:42 pm #

    Above was for you ProCon.

  842. nameta9 July 31, 2011 at 1:51 pm #

    Even matter moves constantly, wants a better configuration, always wants to attempt something new, wants to try its hand at possibly gaining from a new configuration as in the myth of profit, gain, getting more, improving etc. Absolute zero temperature which means no movement or change anymore is against the laws of physics that want a new configuration always, but they are all the same, equivalent, it makes believe it is gaining. So everything represents the death of a configuration, every configuration that has past is dead, is gone, the universe is a giant cemetery with a never ending array of dead configurations that once were. For example that electron on that star a few hundred light years away that was present near the core of the star in the stellar plasma 3,235 years ago travelled from point A to point B in a picosecond. So we must have a tomb and a cross to mourn and remember the electron when it was at point A, we need a cross to cry over the fact that it moved from where it was, from what it was, then how many crosses do we need to mourn and remember all the dead configurations, past configurations the universe had ? We need a giant cemetery, everything is a cemetery mourning the past, the dead, everything dies always, etc.

  843. metuselah July 31, 2011 at 2:11 pm #

    Mao? I don’t know where he gets that.
    ==
    The Soviet Union was the conduit to the Red Chinese and Vietnamese. While American soldiers were dying in the jungles of Vietnam, the US was supplying the Vietnamese via the Soviet Union. In a sense, throughout the “Cold War” the US was fighting with itself. This only makes sense if you understand that the whole point of these conflicts is not ideological, rather it is meant to enrich the banks/corporatocracy via guaranteed income/profits/debt of a bloated war machine.
    Anthony Sutton has a very good book on the details of this, titled National Suicide. There are also several videos on YouTube where he discusses this issue in various interviews.

  844. BeantownBill July 31, 2011 at 2:11 pm #

    I know I shouldn’t be encouraging you with a reply, but I’m going to do so, anyway. I just want to leave you with the true secret of the universe:
    Nothing is important.

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  845. wagelaborer July 31, 2011 at 2:29 pm #

    Of course I don’t believe that these conflicts are ideological. Is it really worth millions of lives to oppose a planned economy, vs a free market economy? Does the US give a shit about Muslim fundamentalism? Then it wouldn’t support Muslim fundamentalists for 60 years, including now, in Libya. But I don’t believe that the US controls both sides, either.
    The US supported the Kuomintang, not Mao. That is one of the earliest places where the CIA got involved in drug running, helping their right wing buddies fight the commies.
    The Golden Triangle used to supply the world with heroin, back when the CIA and the KMT were running drugs out of Burma, and using the proceeds to attack China.
    Now, of course, most of the world’s heroin comes from Afghanistan, where US troops are currently operating.
    I guess prog believes in coincidence theory. It’s just a coincidence that the drug flow happens to coincide with US influence and occupation.
    So, no, I don’t believe that the US supported Mao.

  846. soak July 31, 2011 at 3:17 pm #

    I cannot believe our “leaders” are talking about cutting spending at this time. When you are deep in debt is the worst time to cut spending.
    The USA was deep in debt after WWII. We didn’t cut spending. That doesn’t make any sense. What we did (well, Eisenhower) to pay off the massive debt from WWII was to increase entitlements and increase government spending. For example, entitlements like the GI bill to give education to soldiers. For example, massive government spending like the national interstate system Eisenhower authorized to generate jobs.
    When you are in an economic recession is the worst time to cut spending because aggregate demand in a recession is not always enough to spur full employment. Outside structures, such as governments, can influence the economy to create jobs and regulate business cycles.
    Look at the 1950s! The result of more spending and more entitlement payments to stimulate the economy. The 1950s are the proof that Keynesianism works.
    We should be INCREASING Social Security payments, INCREASING jobs programs, INCREASING government employment and INCREASING opportunities and subsidies for education. Then we can return to the 1950s and 1960s style economy again, with low unemployment.

  847. soak July 31, 2011 at 3:33 pm #

    Mike Mullen said: “here we are, halfway around the world, fighting our country’s wars, and I’ve got to worry about a paycheck.”
    .
    CORRECTION: WHAT MIKE MULLEN SHOULD HAVE SAID
    “here we are, halfway around the world, illegally occupying foreign countries, killing civilians, creating new enemies, increasing chances of another terrorist attack on USA soil, and I’ve got to worry about a paycheck.”

  848. metuselah July 31, 2011 at 4:29 pm #

    The US supported the Kuomintang, not Mao. That is one of the earliest places where the CIA got involved in drug running, helping their right wing buddies fight the commies.
    ==
    Wage,
    During the chinese civil war, both sides, the commies and the nationalists, were supplied by the US with weapons (the commies via the USSR), and both sides were using drugs as a means to pay for these weapons.

  849. soak July 31, 2011 at 4:36 pm #

    At the Hollywood Senior Center in Portland, Ore., optimism was holding up among the low-income seniors who rely on Medicaid and other social-assistance programs to survive. But executive director Amber Kern-Johnson said the idea of federal dollars drying up seemed unfathomable to the center’s clients. “Many of them just don’t believe something like that could happen,” Kern-Johnson said.

    A sentiment shared by the new-found CFN optimists (and Michael Hudson) who are also sure a default will be avoided.

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  850. ront July 31, 2011 at 4:37 pm #

    The following message, although given out in the early 30’s in Hollywood, CA by Meher Baba, remains relevant and true. I came across this today while doing some research for a meeting, and felt that maybe some of its would find some receptive ears on this forum of thoughtful open-hearted people.
    “Since arriving in America, I have been asked many times what solution I have brought for the social problems now confronting you – what did I have to offer that would solve the problems of unemployment, prohibition and crime that would eliminate the strife between individuals and nations, and pour a healing balm of peace upon a troubled world?
    “The answer has been so simple that it has been difficult to grasp. The root of all our difficulties, individual and social, is self-interest. It is self interest which causes corruptible politicians to accept bribes and betray the interests of those whom they have been elected to serve, which in turn causes bootleggers for their own profit to break a law designed, whether wisely or not, to help the nation as a whole. This in turn causes people to connive for their own pleasure in the breaking of that law, thus causing disrespect for law in general and increasing crime tremendously. Self-interest in other forms causes the exploitation of the great masses of humanity by individuals or groups of individuals seeking personal gain, which impedes the progress of civilization by shelving inventions which would contribute to the welfare of humanity at large, simply because their use would mean the scrapping of present inferior equipment; which, when people are starving, causes the wanton destruction of large quantities of food, simply in order to maintain the market prices; which causes the hoarding of large sums of gold when the welfare of the world demands its circulation.
    “But the elimination of self-interest, granting even a sincere desire on the part of the individual to accomplish it, is not so easy and is never completely achieved except by the aid of a Perfect Master. It is because self-interest springs from a false idea of the true nature of the Self, and this idea must be eradicated and the Truth experienced before that elimination of self-interest is possible.
    “I intend, when I speak, to reveal the One Supreme Self which is in all. This accomplished, the idea of the Self as a limited, separate entity will disappear, and with it will vanish self-interest. Cooperation will replace competition; certainty will replace fear; generosity will replace greed. Exploitation will disappear.”

  851. nameta9 July 31, 2011 at 4:47 pm #

    Why even change the universe with this new block of text ? a new configuration, a new creation, a new effect, a new event is preparing to interact, this text brings yet another new event, another change that should be better or worse, always change, who is right ? No one is right. What measurement, if it is hard for something to move slowly then a small distance becomes the large distance and such.
    How to connect the suggestions and imaginations of pain/pleasure events to symbols and memories and events we imagine and think, and if we didn’t connect the symbols to the only thing that makes them exist, the pain/plesure effects, then how many new symbols can be created, or maybe if we invent trillions of new pain/pleasure consequences (even if they don’t exist in our puny experience and world) to trillions of new symbols, then what ?
    That was the continuation of cemetery from no science on i love philosophy …

  852. progress,conserve July 31, 2011 at 4:48 pm #

    “My guys work with his guys when it benefits them.”
    -wage-
    OK, Wage – I acknowledge the historical accuracy of many of the things you mention. And I’m sure Met is correct that SOME American capitalists backed Hitler and Mao – directly, or thru back channels. But, hell, that’s what capitalists and governments DO – they work to hedge their bets and back every side in a conflict. The capitalists just want to make more capital – the governments want to be sure they’ve got “*friends*” in the new government of whatever side wins.
    But, question to Wage – what is the POINT of it all? Same question to Met, come to think of it.
    You’re response (and some of Met’s stuff) makes it sound like the whole point is just to make MORE money.
    What’s the REAL point – summarized, if you please, in a short succinct paragraph – or a few bullet points.

  853. nameta9 July 31, 2011 at 4:50 pm #

    As in,
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=176094
    CEMETERY
    So everything represents the death of a configuration, every configuration that has past is dead, is gone, the universe is a giant cemetery with a never ending array of dead configurations that once were. For example that electron on that star a few hundred light years away that was present near the core of the star in the stellar plasma 3,235 years ago travelled from point A to point B in a picosecond. So we must have a tomb and a cross to mourn and remember the electron when it was at point A, we need a cross to cry over the fact that it moved from where it was, from what it was, then how many crosses do we need to mourn and remember all the dead configurations, past configurations the universe had ? We need a giant cemetery, everything is a cemetery mourning the past, the dead, everything dies always, etc.

  854. progress,conserve July 31, 2011 at 4:57 pm #

    Same question for you, too, nameta9/olde/8m/spider/69:
    What’s the REAL point – summarized, if you please, in a short succinct paragraph – or a few bullet points.

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  855. progress,conserve July 31, 2011 at 5:03 pm #

    “Now that I dumped CASH you are my Target!”
    -jackie-
    Cool! Bring it on, darlin’.
    “Kidding and just funnin’ around.”
    -jackie-
    Yeah, me too. But kindred spirits often find one another, ya’ know?

  856. San Jose Mom 51 July 31, 2011 at 5:28 pm #

    Reminds me of what Krishnamurti said when someone asked him how he manages to stay serene:
    “I don’t mind what happens.”

  857. TwoClydes July 31, 2011 at 5:36 pm #

    In an interview this weekend, a well-known financial analyst who formed the silver liberation army, suggests that retail gasoline will triple in the next few years in the USA – specifically, he is claiming it will be at least $10 per gallon soon. No doubt there would be prices spikes on the way, but would such heavy demand destruction, i.e. within a year 10-20 million Americans could no longer afford fuel, insurance, car payments, repairs et cetera, would that huge demand retirement from the gas market provide enough capital for new oil exploration, or would it knock the price of oil way back down to sub-$50 as Mr. Kunstler has argued in numerous interviews? Or more practically, having driven the peasants back to horse riding and bicycles, would the ultra rich all just have their own super-tanker parked at the shores of their summer mansions?

  858. AMR July 31, 2011 at 6:32 pm #

    That’s a fascinating premise for a counterfactual history. My first inclination is to have England become the high water mark for the northern expansion of Islam. I envision England as the invaders’ version of Afghanistan, a remote, idiosyncratic place inhabited by a people fiercely loyal to their own traditions and committed to a very effective war of attrition against the invaders. I imagine that even had the king been captured and forced to swear fealty to Islam on pain of death, a great many of his subjects would have remained Christian, and that efforts to force Islam on the public at large would have backfired forcefully on the invading zealots.
    To stick more closely to your premise, what would have happened to British law and politics had Islam become de facto the dominant religion? The main effect I can imagine is a greater emphasis on the divine right of kings or similar autocratic philosophies. The question then becomes one of whether the autocratic outbursts would have been worse or more prolonged than they in fact were in a Christian milieu.
    I’m not sure that they would have been. As it was, a number of British monarchs were allowed to go apeshit. Parliament and the courts didn’t consistently force the Crown to obey the law, understandably so since only on occasion did non-Royalist factions field a strong enough military force to fight the Crown. Still, one of the hallmarks of British political and judicial thinking has long been an unwillingness to grovel to religious authorities. This tradition was absent in much of Continental Europe until the 19th or 20th Century, and even then was more sporadic than in Great Britain.
    So when I hear the argument that Northern Europe developed open societies on account of its Protestantism, I’m inclined to reverse it and argue that Northern Europe became Protestant because Protestant church structures were more consistent than the Catholic structure with their political philosophies. Many of Germany’s princes were glad to have Martin Luther give them theological and moral grounds to stick it to the Vatican. They were sick of popes using their principalities as piggy banks for architectural extravagances in Rome. The British also had a low tolerance for political donnybrooks with the Holy See disguised as moral battles. Their politicians weren’t pious (or falsely pious) enough to let a rival sovereign power boorishly use a religious trump card against them in worldly geopolitical disputes.
    There are corollaries to enduring Anglo-Saxon secular politics and open society in Muslim parts of the Mediterranean. A prime example is Libya. I am convinced that even if Libya were thoroughly Christianized it would still produce belligerent autocrats in the mold of Hannibal, Pasha Yusuf Karamanli and Muammar Qaddafi. There must be something that transcends religion in Tripoli’s political culture for it to produce such a long lineage of privateering pains in the ass. Salt of the earth, indeed.

  859. AMR July 31, 2011 at 7:02 pm #

    That sounds like a People to People group. I was recently on a flight from LAX to Dulles with a People to People group returning from Australia. Like the group you encountered, the group on my flight was mostly black; all of the chaperones I saw were black, as were about 14 of the 17 students (numbers approximate).
    Is racial discrimination involved? Maybe so, but that isn’t a full explanation. I was seated next to a group member, a rising ninth grader from Annapolis. He mentioned the name of his school, but I don’t remember it offhand and can’t speak to its specific demographics. I’m not sure whether his school is in Anne Arundel or Prince George’s County. I do know, however, that PG County has a large black population, much of it middle class, and that its black community has relatively little social pathology compared to many black communities in the US. Parts of PG are a bit rough, but they pale in comparison to Baltimore City. Having a lot of immigrants around (including a large Ethiopian contingent) helps.
    I’d add that if this Maryland group’s composition was skewed by affirmative action, that’s one of the least problematic applications of affirmative action that I’ve encountered. This is because exchange programs such as People to People aren’t responsible for assessing professional or academic competence.
    I know that there are some racial theorists in CFN who will protest that I’m being too kind to my black inferiors. Whatever. I call it as I see it, and I’ve been around black people enough to know that they aren’t the monolithic rabble of violent hood rats that Vlad and company so often describe. As much my saying so will worry Vlad, Zizek’s subjects don’t need to tell elaborate lies for me to feel safe and comfortable on a bus full of black people.

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  860. bubbleheadMarc July 31, 2011 at 7:54 pm #

    Yeah, I’m sure that the mentality of the oil companies, if not the entire corporate world, is to sell all the oil since that is what they do, just as a dog licks it’s balls because it CAN, as it were. And of course is a clearly superior alternative were placed on the market and especially if it could be produced for less money than the soon coming to a gas station near you hyper-inflated gasoline of the near to mid future, then it would be a capitalistic tragedy for them if they had neglected to sell all the oil while it was still actually desirable. After all, the petroleum in the ground could conceivably be rendered undesirable by super abundant bio-diesel derived from salt water algae, and I’m not having any of this “it will never work” horseshit, because the concept demonstrably does already work, but is most a function in terms of marketability of the relative price between the two fuels which has not yet perhaps developed to it’s fullest eventual potential. So I think that there is an element with the oil companies of “make hay while the sun shines”. And then of course there are relatively more advantageous methods of nuclear generation which have heretofore not been given their proper due such as thorium-liquid sodium cooled reactors.
    In the long run I see us being screwed more by environmental degradation than lack of energy per se. ‘Nuff said.

  861. TwoClydes July 31, 2011 at 8:50 pm #

    Since environmental programs and regulatory cuts ar likely to emerge with the new US debt ceiling and budget cutting, once House Speaker John Boehner moves on to his next conquest, potential positions such as Sierra Club front man, head of the UN, or World Bank president. But, with Victor Neuman of Young & The Restless at peak wealth retirement fund position, Boehner will become appealing as the new Victor Neuman.

  862. BeantownBill July 31, 2011 at 9:16 pm #

    I haven’t reached that level of enlightenment where nothing truly bothers me.

  863. asia July 31, 2011 at 10:07 pm #

    ‘well-known financial analyst who formed the silver liberation army,
    Who?
    Name?
    More info?
    also isnt Gas 8$ a gallon in Australia?

  864. jackieblue2u July 31, 2011 at 10:07 pm #

    In Mexico they have a day where they celebrate the dead.
    Makes life more real I’d say.

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  865. progress,conserve July 31, 2011 at 10:38 pm #

    “…a large black population, much of it middle class, and that its black community has relatively little social pathology compared to many black communities in the US. Parts of PG are a bit rough, but they pale in comparison to Baltimore City. Having a lot of immigrants around (including a large Ethiopian contingent) helps.”
    -amr-
    Nice post, AMR, all of it. I’ve got a feeling that examining social class in the US is an even touchier subject, than is examining race.
    But it’s a examination that needs to be made.
    And I’ve got a feeling that the “average” American is prone to believe that social class correlates perfectly with economic class – which is simplistic, or even untrue.
    Your Ethiopian immigrants in Prince George County, are likely to be demonstrating this.
    One question will be – what will happen to their children and grandchildren? And how/why will their second and third generations PERHAPS succeed, when so many native born citizens are failing to thrive?

  866. jackieblue2u July 31, 2011 at 10:39 pm #

    Me neither. Sounds weird to me.
    I am not a robot.
    I read Krishnamurti years ago. The more I read him the more I actually couldn’t understand wtf he was trying to say. it’s been a long time tho.

  867. TwoClydes August 1, 2011 at 12:25 am #

    Max Keiser, of MaxKeiser.com, Rigged Market Capitalism, and his show is On The Edge. He recently interviewed on RT network.
    Aussie rate of $8 likely for 4.5 litres, imperial gallon.
    Keiser, an American by birth and early profession, recovered his ethics from the Wall Street gutter, and moved on to do something productive with his extremely diverse talent. He focusses on peak oil, vanishing capital and financial fraud, and he interviewed James Kunstler earlier this year On The Edge.

  868. soak August 1, 2011 at 1:12 am #

    The main stream media is reporting “a tentative debt deal”
    There is no deal. There is a tentative plan which has to be passed by both houses of congress before it can be called a “deal”
    Right now their is little support to pass it. Entire caucuses are in opposition. One Senator is threatening to filibuster the “tentative deal.”
    We are 48 hours from default and no legislation has been passed by both houses to prevent default. They don’t even have legislation written, much less voted on.
    Default on Tuesday is on schedule.
    JHK, don’t get sucked in by main street media headlines that a “deal” has been reached. The party leaders are not the final deal makers. Congress is. And Congress has not voted to pass any “deal.”

  869. soak August 1, 2011 at 1:16 am #

    CORRECTION
    Right now (Monday morning, August 1) there is oppostion among representatives to pass any party-leader-negotiated “deal.”
    USA default is on schedule for Tuesday.

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  870. soak August 1, 2011 at 1:20 am #

    CORRECTION TO THE CORRECTION
    Right now (Monday morning, August 1) there is opposition among representatives to pass any party-leader-negotiated “deal.”
    The first default in USA history is on schedule for Tuesday.

  871. asia August 1, 2011 at 1:27 am #

    Krishnamurti ‘didnt care about anything’…
    but tried to hide his bald spot by combing a little hair over it [dumb].
    And Meher Baba ‘told him off’.

  872. asia August 1, 2011 at 1:29 am #

    no car= no work=no money=revolution

  873. San Jose Mom 51 August 1, 2011 at 1:31 am #

    I’m a mere ant compared to Krishnamurti’s spirituality. But anyhow, I repeat that quote in my head to take the edge off my anxiety.
    All I want is to have a warm bed, an understanding word, and to be all-powerful.

  874. jackieblue2u August 1, 2011 at 1:35 am #

    Maybe that’s not enlightenment, just catatonic.?
    Or Sociopathic.
    Could be enlightenment tho.
    Good Luck with that.

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  875. soak August 1, 2011 at 1:36 am #

    REPUBLICAN PLEDGE TO AMERICA

    Keeping another promise made in the Pledge, under the new House rules, no bill will be voted upon without being available online for at least three calendar days. The rules package reads, “it shall not be in order to consider a bill or joint resolution which has not been reported by a committee until the third calendar day…on which such measure has been publicly available in electronic form.” This will ensure members, the media, and the American people have an opportunity to read the bill before any vote.

    Honoring their pledge would take us into August 4 default time, before any vote is possible on any supposed “deal” … if they get the legislation written on August 1 (today).

  876. jackieblue2u August 1, 2011 at 2:04 am #

    Yep I know what you mean.
    It says 1 35 am. It is 10 35, where I am.
    Since I don’t pay all that much attention sometimes, most of the time, I wonder what time zone you are in ? First I put what time zone you are ON ! That’s where my heads’ at today.
    It was a long week, my older bro who has been sick cuz he smoked and had psych problems, well he passed away today at 11 am. He had a sad troubled life, and now he is at peace. I am not religious, but I believe that.
    There are a few seriously good ‘thinkers’ on here, and you are one of them. IMO.
    I am not, I enjoy it tho, and there are some true characters.
    and I love Myrtle Mays’ take on things, and others. I just don’t know what to think. Just trying to figure it out. But it Feels like things and people are really coming undone. Especially in the cities. and on the roads.
    I DO think about all the financial troubles, (greedy rich bastards) and I love Cashes’ take on it all. Intelligence matters more than looks IMO.
    If it comes down on Tuesday and people don’t get the SS checks, it’s goin’ down hard and fast.
    I am going to try and get some sleep soon…..
    .

  877. jackieblue2u August 1, 2011 at 2:06 am #

    So True !

  878. jackieblue2u August 1, 2011 at 2:11 am #

    Completely agree.
    Congratulations on quitting tobacco !
    Happy Gardening to You !

  879. jackieblue2u August 1, 2011 at 2:16 am #

    Sorry.

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  880. jackieblue2u August 1, 2011 at 2:22 am #

    That’s pretty funny tho.

  881. jackieblue2u August 1, 2011 at 2:24 am #

    You know that is truly creepy sick stuff he is spewing.
    Wonder why he ‘gets’ to stay on here.
    I mean seriously demented.

  882. jackieblue2u August 1, 2011 at 2:33 am #

    Excellent post from CASH. he even swears with class. And makes great points.
    Well I am never first, but close to last again.
    good night now for real. lights out…..computer off. brain off.
    night.

  883. wagelaborer August 1, 2011 at 2:33 am #

    Uh, duh. Yeah.
    Short and succinct. They want money and power. They can’t ever get enough.
    There’s something wrong with them, and our system rewards their psychopathy.

  884. wagelaborer August 1, 2011 at 2:36 am #

    lol.
    You’ve probably seen this, but it bears watching again-
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPVuHP3OXk0

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  885. myrtlemay August 1, 2011 at 3:29 am #

    Right. The main reason FDR got SS passed in l935 was to get some of the oldsters OFF the payroll – to make room for the young folks with wives and kids. Even in the forties, S.S. was a very small stipend, nothing to dance a jig to every month. It simply meant that one would afford a quart of milk, a dozen eggs, some flour, and perhaps a bar of Lux soap and toilet paper for the month. In addition, it got younger people into the job market where they were formerly shut out (by the oldsters). Nobody intelligent ever expected S.S. to provide them with the same standard of living they had when working. And it doesn’t now. That itself hasn’t changed.

  886. myrtlemay August 1, 2011 at 3:41 am #

    You’re much too generous in assessing any “intelligence” to my postings. But thanks, anyway! I will offer this to you, among my many pearls of wisdom: Try to do the greatest good for yourself and others without inflicting harm. Remember that you, others, and I are human, we can and will continue to make mistakes, regardless of how smart or dumb we are at any given time. I try to roll with it. I don’t sweat it too much. I realize I’m just not that important in the grand scheme of things.
    Lastly, my dear, life will look completely different for all of us ten years hence. Courage, conviction, and fortitude will see us through the darkest times, and make us appreciate the merriment which we will, no doubt, celebrate in a world that is no longer dependent on an unsustainable path. Cheers, and good night! MM

  887. Alexandra August 1, 2011 at 9:32 am #

    So the US’s rickety-n-dented can of an economy gets kicked down the road some more, global currencies stabilise, gold/silver prices lower a little, and euro politiko’s all hail and back-slap O’Bammy… for his 11th hour heroism…
    *sniggers*
    (And suspended reality, infinite consumption floats on)
    Until the PAGE contracts kick in real soon, and those pesky Chinese go bitch slap the ‘system’…
    Meanwhile all OECD cash savers and pensioners are rewarded with ever higher key essentials inflation, which means much less of what you really need, and want for critical healthy survival…
    (Unless yous be a smart-arse 24/7’er on a real, live Farmsville plot discreetly off-grid)
    One has to wonder as to how much farther this elastic-band of average peeps exploitation can be credibly stretched until it finally snaps back with a wearingly painful… ZZZZING??
    But I guess as long as ‘tribally’ they’re encouraged to feel and believe that they’re all in this together, keep calm and carry on… the psycho state of the normalcy bias reigns supreme…
    So the magic wizardry of behind the curtains trickery can play on, and on… and on… and ever on…

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  890. Admon3m3m August 20, 2011 at 6:57 am #

    Moda mare uomo 2011: i costumi Calvin Klein

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  895. Althea8w August 24, 2011 at 4:47 pm #

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  896. Althea8w August 24, 2011 at 4:49 pm #

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  898. Eleanore89 August 25, 2011 at 6:26 am #

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  899. Beatrice7k August 26, 2011 at 3:02 am #

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  900. sumin4ayh123 August 26, 2011 at 5:16 am #

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  901. Eleanore89 August 26, 2011 at 6:48 am #

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  902. Eleanore89 August 27, 2011 at 12:22 am #

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