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The End of Pretend

     If being wealthy was the same as pretending to be wealthy then people who care about reality would have a little less to complain about. But pretending is a poor way for a society to negotiate its way through history. It makes for accumulating distortions which eventually undermine the society’s ability to function, especially when the pretending is about money, which is society’s operating system.

     The distortion that even simple people care about is that the gap between the rich and the poor is as plain, vast, and grotesque as at any time in our history — except perhaps during slavery times in Dixieland, when many of the poor did not even own their existence. We’ve had plenty of reminders of that in pop culture the last couple of years, including Quentin Tarantino’s fiercely stupid movie Django Unchained and the more recent melodrama 12 Years a Slave. But you have to wonder what young adults weighed down by unpayable college debt think when they go to see them, because without a rebellion that millennial generation will not own their own lives either. They must know it, but they must not know what to do about it.

     The pretense and distortions start at the top of American life with a President who broadcasts the message that some kind of “recovery” has occurred in the economic affairs of the country. Either he just wants the public feel better, or he is misled by the people and agencies in his own government, or perhaps he just lies to keep the lid on. To truly recover from the dislocations of 2008, we would have to make a consensual decision to start behaving differently in the process of adapting to the new circumstances that the arc of history is presenting to us. We’d have to decide to leave behind the economy of financialization, suburban sprawl, car dependency, Wal-Mart consumerism, and prepare for a different way of inhabiting North America.

     The dislocations of 2008 when the banking system nearly imploded were Nature’s way of telling us that dishonesty has consequences. The immediate dishonesty of that day was the racket in securitizing worthless mortgages ­— promises to pay large sums of money over long periods of time. The promises were false and the collateral was janky.  It got so bad and ran so far and deep that it essentially destroyed the mechanism of credit creation as it had been known until then, and it has not been repaired.

    Since then, we have pretended to repair the operations of credit by falsely substituting bank bailouts and Federal Reserve “quantitative easing” (QE) or digital money-printing for plain dealing in borrowed money between honest brokers at the local level. The unfortunate consequence is that in the process we have distorted — and possibly destroyed — the value of our money and the various things denominated in it, especially securities, bonds, stocks and other money-like paper.

     The crash of the mortgage racket occurred not just because of swindling and fraud among bankers; in fact, that was only a nasty symptom of something larger: peak oil. I know that many people have come to disbelieve in the idea of peak oil, but that is only another mode of playing pretend. Peak oil, which essentially arrived in 2006, undermined the basic conditions of credit creation in an advanced techno-industrial society dependent on increasing supplies of fossil fuels. Most people, including practically all credentialed economists, fail to understand this. There is a fundamental relationship between ever-increasing energy supplies > economic growth > and credit-based money (or “money,” if you will). When the energy inputs flatten out or decrease, growth stops, wealth is no longer generated, old loans can’t be repaid, and new loans can’t be generated honestly, i.e. with the expectation of repayment. That has been our predicament since 2008 and nothing has changed. We are pretending to compensate by issuing new unpayable debt to pay the interest on our old accumulated debt. This pretense can only go on so long before our economic relations reflect the basic dishonesty of it. Reality is a harsh mistress.

      In the meantime, we amuse ourselves with fairy tales about “the shale oil revolution” and “the manufacturing renaissance.” 2014 could be the year that the forces of Nature compel our attention and give us a reason to stop all this pretending. I’ll address this question in next week’s annual yearly forecast.


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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.

426 Responses to “The End of Pretend”

  1. Htruth December 30, 2013 at 9:38 am #

    Hello Jim, Please stick to the important issues like the color of Santa Claus’s and Jesus’s skin. The public at large is much more interested in what is on the minds of Megyn Kelly and Duck Dynasty heroes than any of your dribble. The matrix is alive and well in America: http://youtu.be/Y8IblNOxfQs

    • Arn Varnold December 30, 2013 at 9:57 am #

      That’s an interesting response and might not be too far from the truth.

  2. Neon Vincent December 30, 2013 at 9:55 am #

    “I know that many people have come to disbelieve in the idea of peak oil, but that is only another mode of playing pretend. Peak oil, which essentially arrived in 2006, undermined the basic conditions of credit creation in an advanced techno-industrial society dependent on increasing supplies of fossil fuels. Most people, including practically all credentialed economists, fail to understand this.”

    Peak conventional oil did arrive on schedule between 2005 and 2008. That’s actually one of the great successes of the movement; the prediction of the timing came true. It’s just that people are looking at unconventional oil in the U.S. and using that as an excuse to disbelieve it. Too bad for them that tight oil will peak by the end of the decade, and that total U.S. production of all liquid fuels won’t reach the secondary peak of 1987, let alone the primary peak of 1971. We’ve hit, not a bumpy plateau in the U.S., which the world is experiencing, but a bumpy decline.

    As for not economists not understanding it, you’re right. In a New York Review of Books article, Paul Krugman revealed that he was the research assistant for William Nordhaus’ landmark paper, “The Allocation of Energy Resources.” He “spent long hours immured in Yale’s Geology Library, poring over Bureau of Mines circulars and the like.” If someone with his experience with the economy of energy doesn’t get Peak Oil, then it’s probably hopeless for most economists to comprehend the issue. James Hamilton of UC San Diego is about it. That’s why I use you as one of my examples of an ecological economist, and Krugman as a conventional economist.

    “2014 could be the year that the forces of Nature compel our attention and give us a reason to stop all this pretending. I’ll address this question in next week’s annual yearly forecast.”

    I’m looking forward to it. Another ecological economist, albeit one I don’t mention to my students, who has already started to look forward to 2014 is John Michael Greer, The Archdruid. On Christmas Day, he made “A Modest Proposal” that the GOP has become a party of closet Satanists and that when one casts their ballots in next year’s upcoming mid-term election, one should judge them accordingly. He also suggested that the GOP come out of the closet about their beliefs and stop hiding their true religious affiliation behind their open devotion to the ideas of Ayn Rand. Of course, this was satire, but that doesn’t mean that by writing fiction, he wasn’t telling a greater truth.

    http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-conversation-with-archdruid-about.html

    • James Howard Kunstler December 30, 2013 at 10:03 am #

      Greer’s essay last week was really outstanding.
      –JHK

    • DrTomSchmidt December 30, 2013 at 11:19 am #

      Thanks for the intro to the Archdruid. Fascinating stuff, will have to add him as another JHK-level blogger.

    • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 12:20 pm #

      “2014 could be the year that the forces of Nature compel our attention and give us a reason to stop all this pretending. I’ll address this question in next week’s annual yearly forecast.”

      It will be interesting to see what new form of pretending is introduced to replace the old. Paying attention to who says what will allow anyone who cares to spot the honest from the dishonest dogs in the pack. I expect the lullaby of technical salvation to be howled on high.

    • JL Eagan December 30, 2013 at 1:18 pm #

      Greer’s essay really nailed something right on target, and pretty much got to the essence of a general idea that has been grabbing my attention frequently for some years now.

      Recently, that stuff has really been front and center in my attention because of the chattering from some people who get loads of public attention, who have been pumping out noise regarding the new Pope Francis as a “radical” Pope, for basically saying some of the same things as Jesus said.

      The way some people have reacted to that has been somehow both ugly and positive, in my view, simply because of the way all that has switched on a very bright spotlight, illuminating a whole pile of cognitive dissonance. There are loads of people who carry around a sanctimonious attitude about proclaiming themselves as Christians, and in particular, devout Catholics, while soaking themselves in Fox News and Republican party political noise, and this might just finally force some of them to face some pretty severe contradictions and conflicts in all that.

      JLE

      • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 2:30 pm #

        Radical as in radically good!

    • mdhaller December 30, 2013 at 2:46 pm #

      Mat 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

      Using this quote by Jesus as my yardstick, I have determined both the
      Republicans and the Democrats are chuck full of Satanists…and associated devils, imps, demons, etc., etc..

    • SteveO December 31, 2013 at 11:29 am #

      Thank you NV, that was a great read.

      I had forgotten about LaVey’s cult. It was big during my last couple of years of religious school. In ethics class, we spent hours discussing the implications of a society based entirely on greed and selfishness. The logical conclusion was that it eventually collapse. I never dreamed I’d find myself living in a world where that had become the model for “society”.

  3. ozone December 30, 2013 at 10:06 am #

    “The pretense and distortions start at the top of American life with a President who broadcasts the message that some kind of “recovery” has occurred in the economic affairs of the country. Either he just wants the public feel better, or he is misled by the people and agencies in his own government, or perhaps he just lies to keep the lid on.” -JHK

    I would opine that it’s selection “d” — All of the above. But, mostly? To keep the lid on for the remainder of his reign. His so-called legacy is fraying fast due to various awakenings and revelations.

    “To truly recover from the dislocations of 2008, we would have to make a consensual decision to start behaving differently in the process of adapting to the new circumstances that the arc of history is presenting to us. We’d have to decide to leave behind the economy of financialization, suburban sprawl, car dependency, Wal-Mart consumerism and prepare for a different way of inhabiting North America.” -JHK

    …And the chances of THAT happening are slim to none (and becoming slimmer by the day). Pretending in the face of predicaments has become an actual, well-practiced strategy!! I find that pretty amazing.

    Having said that, abandoning these idiocies can be done on the individual basis (in the main), and being prepared for their collapse is likely a strictly practical matter.

    Now before we get lost in the miasma of denial and Der Sturmer nastiness, we might want to consider which of these two items makes the modern world go ’round:

    1.) Techno-wizardry
    2.) Letters of credit

    Think carefully before you answer.

  4. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 30, 2013 at 10:09 am #

    But pretending is a poor way for a society to negotiate its way through history.

    History is made, not negotiated. If it’s negotiated, with what or whom is society negotiating its way through history? Reality? I don’t know. With each passing day, it’s becoming ever clearer to me that reality is whatever the consensus says it is. Reality could be anything; it’s like computer code and you can arrange that code any way you like. The possibilities are endless unless you arrange the code for an end, and perhaps that’s one of the few rules of the arrangement; you can’t program in an end, but you can code an inexhaustible array of new beginnings. In this regard, history is pretense. We’re all actors and there is no illusive reality that exists beyond our programmed perception.

    • James Howard Kunstler December 30, 2013 at 11:07 am #

      <>

      You try my Christian patience, Blabby.
      By negotiate I don’t mean bargain. I mean find one’s way.
      Try not to be stupid on this blog.
      –JHK

      • ALexnder December 30, 2013 at 12:51 pm #

        Perhaps you meant to “navigate” rather than to “negotiate.”

        • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 1:06 pm #

          I prefer “negotiate” myself. And reality is not like computer code that can be arranged any way one likes. To say we’re all actors and that no reality exists beyond our programmed perceptions is something only a sick puppy would say.

        • sauerkraut December 30, 2013 at 6:45 pm #

          AL, you might want to consult a dictionary. (consult, as in read, search therein, seek wisdom from, investigate using, and so on; not as in offer advice for money).

      • Lidia January 2, 2014 at 12:04 am #

        In Italian, a shop is called a “negozio”, so it evolved that you would “negoziare” for goods. But the original shops were more like artisans’ workshops, and the words “negare” (to deny or oppose, to lack-intransitive) + “ozio” (laziness, sloth) made the neg-ozio the place you went to busy yourself.

  5. 99 cent nation December 30, 2013 at 10:35 am #

    Money, Money, Money. Its all about money and has been for quite awhile. The things to do to knock the importance of the 0’s and 1’s put out by the criminal organization called the Fed is to close wall street, and close all the business schools cranking out mutant money grubbing robots only interested in how much money they can accumulate. Peak oil will take care of itself and this of course will come with a huge shook to all those gas guzzling vehicles all the fools love to drive around while living the “good” life in the burbs. Not certain that pretense will actually stop except that the blame game will take precedence over every thing except how one is going to get food and water living in places that have not much of either. Looking forward to next week’s article.

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  6. nsa December 30, 2013 at 10:38 am #

    What are you suggesting in this essay, Jim? Stopping the government checks and watching at least half the population starve to death? Drive down the main street of your town and observe the denizens of the great republic…..the botched, the useless, the hopeless, the decrepit, the drug addled, the incompetent, the criminal. Who is going to pay them to do what? Most the work of society is accomplished by 10% of the population……..

    • DrTomSchmidt December 30, 2013 at 11:31 am #

      The work of society includes things in the realm of social capital, and economic capital. You are correct that most people in an industrial or knowledge economy cannot contribute to economic capital. That requires an IQ of, let’s guess, 95 or above.

      But one of the mistakes of postwar policy in the USA was its over emphasis on male modes of meaning. JHK once wrote about how rectilinear buildings are overtly masculine structures, and how modern architecture removes the pleasing feminine curves. Emphasis on economic over social capital was likewise seen in the move from walkable, face-contact cities to economically stratified suburbs of car dependency. This affected our women, whose chief mode of contribution to society was devalued, and so they went off to work in the only game that society DID seem to value, the office. This exacerbated the deficit in social capital.

      We have used the plenitude from fossil fuels to make up for this spiritual and social deficit. That time has come to an end. Those “worthless” people can contribute, but they require leadership, direction, and hope. Provide some.

  7. ozone December 30, 2013 at 10:38 am #

    …There are others who feel that a dangerous amount of pretending is going on:

    “As the financial world stacks illusion upon illusion (that it is part of a capitalist system, that government hand-outs to banks benefit the people, that stock market records reflect anything at all about the real economy anymore), it sinks ever deeper into a warped fantasy world, and it doesn’t mind, because it knows it need not worry, it can take that money and run as long as the illusions last, and in the end it’s the people outside of the financial world that will forcibly coerced into paying the bills.

    It looks like a good deal at first sight for the happy lucky few ones , and chances are they’re not going to wake up until the consequences become apparent and the societies they live in start to lose their social coherence and crumble into nasty stages of violent unrest. And even then they will in all likelihood manage to convince themselves that they of all people will be alright. After all, man is not only an easily fooled, but also a by nature optimistic animal with a great emphasis on the short-term view. Hope springs eternal.

    It is that same attitude that, coincidentally, keeps the unlucky ones, who won’t be either happy or few, from comprehending today what is in store for them tomorrow. They look at the stock market records and tell themselves they too will be fine at some point in the future, because such is the overriding mantra: if the Dow is up, so is the economy. It would be good for them to contemplate the option that in today’s world, the exact opposite is true: that the higher the stock markets go, the worse off they are. Because it’s their money that pays for all of it.” – ilargi, TAE

    Happy New Year! I’ll pretend/acknowledge you’re having a gay old time, if you’ll do the same! (Flintstone approved.)
    ‘Might want to get your proverbial “shit in one sock”, because there ain’t nobody gonna do it for you.
    That is all. End communique.

    • James Howard Kunstler December 30, 2013 at 11:11 am #

      <>
      What do you mean by that?

      <>
      Ditto.

      Anymore cracks like that and I’m tossing you off this blog.
      –JHK

      • ozone December 30, 2013 at 11:23 am #

        I really not sure what you’re referring to.
        The strangely-worded remark for All to enjoy their New Year’s festivities, or the suggestion that we “get our minds right” for the future “difficulties”? (Getting one’s “shit together” is often put in the “one sock” way.)

        Both were said in a (misinterpreted?) frame of well-wishing and mutual concern.

  8. retired guy December 30, 2013 at 10:41 am #

    Great year end article, Jim. You are so right about the underlying cause of the economic problems in the world today. Peak Oil. It is amazing to me how so few economists even seem to be aware of it. I think they can’t acknowledge the peak oil problem because it destroys all of the current economic theories floating around now. The post industrial revolution models that economics is based on can not fit in a scenario that has a non replaceable diminishing resource that is absolutely essential to our modern lifestyle. Even simple theories like “supply and demand” are no longer valid when the “supply” part of the model, “Energy”, doesn’t function as it should.

    The idea that world civilization can “go backwards” and descend into much less sophisticated non-digital feudal societies, is too terrible and difficult for them to contemplate. In that respect, they are no different than my friends and family and others that I meet. If you talk with the average person you will find that they are totally ignorant of the coming catastrophe and eventual deindustrialization of the world. When things finally really fall apart, the public is going to be shocked, bewildered, angry, and terribly frightened. And those feelings won’t be Pretend. Great article, Jim.

    • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 12:57 pm #

      If you talk with the average person you will find that they are totally ignorant of the coming catastrophe and eventual de-industrialization of the world.

      I wish you were wrong.

  9. Greg Knepp December 30, 2013 at 10:41 am #

    Somehow the term ‘crisis precipitation’ enters my consciousness – maybe a hangover from my brief stint as a social worker back in the Great Society days. Apparently things haven’t gotten bad enough to foment revolutionary zeal among the millennials. Perhaps they never will.

    I know many of that generation and I seem to move among them with ease – something that would have been nigh impossible half a century ago when the generation gap was a veritable chasm. These youngsters have no memory of 50s’-60s’ America with which to compare their present circumstance. They are confused and even dismayed by a culture that is offensive and weird, but, lacking a centralized target or a single, obvious cause, they have little taste for open protest. One cannot protest the nebulous. They are truly the “is what it is” generation.

    On a positive note, young people of today are more involved with local issues than people of my generation were, and are not at all enamored of the car culture with all its trimmings.

    • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 1:16 pm #

      The positive note of not being enamoured of the car culture may be a case of not being able to afford a car.

      • Greg Knepp December 30, 2013 at 1:51 pm #

        I’ll credit you that!

        But I’m delighted at how well the young folks seem to be adjusting. It’s as if their collective expectations have shifted. They MUST have the latest hand-held gadget – that’s what keeps them in touch. But they’re not as anxious to own an automobile.

        My daughter refused one as a gift outright! “It’ll cost too much to keep on the road” were her exact words. I was dumbfounded. My stepson left a cushy (though stressful) corporate job at Emory U to sell commuter bicycles in Atlanta.

        Let us not judge these millennials by our standards. They seem less materialistic than my peers at least.

        Out of necessity?… Perhaps.

  10. James Kuehl December 30, 2013 at 10:50 am #

    “Most people, including practically all credentialed economists, fail to understand this.”

    Intelligent people these days seem to miss enormous truths. Two physicians, both more engaged with their laptops than with me of late, asked me what the fix was to the loss of privacy regarding personal medical information. They were incredulous when I said that ship left the dock the day they took the paper out of the locked file room and opened it all in the public square, i.e., the World Wide Web. World leaders seem surprised that their phone calls are so easily intercepted. No longer two ends of a copper wire, digitized phone calls in space don’t require sophisticated bugging technology to tap. We’ve only seen the beginning of the mischief.

    I’m now reading Too Much Magic (requested as a holiday gift). Another good read, putting clear narratives that help sort out seemingly imponderable events.

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    • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 12:11 pm #

      “Intelligent people these days seem to miss enormous truths.”

      The definition of intelligence is in error and has nothing to do with the amount of education one has, their social class, or one’s ability to wear a suit.

      We are a strange society that calls those with enormous quantities of specialized training intelligent when the term should be properly reserved to those who are well rounded and able to synthesize knowledge from many sources to reach insightful conclusions. The misconception I suspect is born from our societies worship of the concept of ‘winning’ being everything.

      As to your statement: “We’ve only seen the beginning of the mischief.” my take on it all is: We’ve only become aware of a tiny part of the mischief.

  11. eugene December 30, 2013 at 10:50 am #

    We’ve always been a pretend nation. We pretended we didn’t invade this country, treated the Indians fairly, ignored the genocide, pretended equality, pretended anyone can get rich in America, if you work hard, you’ll succeed, etc. In fact, America was pretend nation from the get go. I figure most nations are. In fact, the human animal pretends. We pretend we aren’t a violent, brutal animal who, often, kills for the helluva it. We pretend we care about others. We pretend we live by our religious values. We even pretend to care about the future for our children when, other than money, we could care less.

    The reality is the vast majority could give a shit less. We are perfectly willing to do anything we want to whomever we want to get what we want. But it is nice to cover it all with pretense. Makes us feel good about ourselves. We don’t have to feel guilty, ashamed or any of the other nasty emotions.

    • Janos Skorenzy December 30, 2013 at 1:39 pm #

      Most Nations do some version of all that – the Indian ones certainly did before and after we arrived. You have to define you term. A Nation is an alliance of tribes that fuse into a Unity with a common culture. Now with that we can see America is a an anomaly, both in its development and its lack of an ethnic core and common culture. That will be our undoing. Real homogenous nations can last thousands of years, with one regime (dynasty) falling and another rising. We wont see another hundred. Becoming an Empire only worsened our condition and hastened our demise. The aliens who pour in are inassimilable, particularly in our weakened state – even if they wanted to assimilate which they don’t. Assimilate to what? A Nation that can’t even control its own borders? That’s like asking a dying person out on a date.

  12. lsjogren December 30, 2013 at 10:51 am #

    I would agree to the point that one of the early tremors of the “undulating plateau” of Peak Oil was a contributing factor to the financial crash of 2008, but I think we are way too early on the Peak Oil trajectory for it to be dominating the performance of the economy in the short term.

    Unconventional oil and gas sources developed in the US will extend the Fossil Fuel Era of our society for a couple more decades than could otherwise be expected. I am 60. I expect if I live to a ripe old age of the late 80s or early 90s, I will see the very beginning of the drop from the plateau of the Fossil Fuel Era, which will trigger the beginning of the new Dark Ages. I feel sorry for the younger generation, particuarly considering that our political system is not only clueless as to what is coming, but is actually proposing policies (e.g. so-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform) that will make an apocalypse as bad as it possibly can be.

    I feel rather guilty that I will not be around to experience the holocaust that my generation bears a good share of the blame for creating.

    • lsjogren December 30, 2013 at 10:56 am #

      My sister has a close friend who’s an activist in legislating incentives for the adoption of solar energy. He’s a lawyer and I believe became set for life a number of years ago when he won a big case. Being a retired engineer who has followed the development of renewable energy, I am well aware that his efforts are doing nothing positive for mankind’s future, in fact they may be doing harm by encouraging investment in renewable energy infrastructure that accomplishes nothing and results in absolutely no reduction in fossil fuel useage.

      But I don’t speak up, because it would turn a party into a heated argument, and zealots do not question their belief systems.

    • James Howard Kunstler December 30, 2013 at 11:18 am #

      Isjogren writes: “Unconventional oil and gas sources developed in the US will extend the Fossil Fuel Era of our society for a couple more decades than could otherwise be expected.”

      I don’t think you understand: unconventional oil is not cheap oil. It’s so expensive that it crashes our financial arrangements.
      –JHK

      • Karah December 30, 2013 at 9:41 pm #

        I really don’t begin to understand what the financial arrangements are for providing whatever it is we need or want.

        How do you explain something like Powerball?

        How does it make economic sense to charge 50K for one automobile and 10K for another when they both get you around town?

        How is anyone able to build Olympic sized anything and just abandon it to rot without any of the millions of people who used the place or viewing the decay every day not caring about the waste?

        How can someone make 4 million dollars a year reading the news to millions of people on television?

        Why does McDonald’s food stay cheap and the same bulk foods in the super markets go up in price?

    • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 11:39 am #

      If the Fossil Fuel Era is extended for a couple of more decades it will be no party.

      As oil prices rise, there are more job lay-offs and hard times. This reduces the demand for oil because people can’t afford it. In our future this will cause the price of oil to fall at some point because people won’t have the money to pay the high price for it. Extraction of oil will then stop because the funds needed to support the extraction of it won’t be returned due to the low price resulting from economic collapse. Oil extraction will become a bad investment.

      Tight oil only works in a functioning economy. In a troubled economy it is too expensive to get out of the ground. Two decades is an unrealistic hope.

      “I feel rather guilty that I will not be around to experience the holocaust that my generation bears a good share of the blame for creating.”

      • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 11:40 am #

        Your guilt is misplaced and your emotion should be channelled into demand for change and sanity.

        • Greg Knepp December 30, 2013 at 12:31 pm #

          Dig it, K-dog, for all practical purposes (I emphasize PRACTICAL) the nation state is a hologram; it doesn’t matter. To whom, then, shall we address our demands for change and sanity?

          Herein, I believe, lies our dilemma.

          • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 2:06 pm #

            Dig it, you have a point.

            It is true that demands for change and sanity are currently ignored. But such demands may be listened to once the pot begins to boil harder. That there is a problem is now ignored because it is too easy for the uniformed to ignore it. Faith and hope and social acceptability sooth the queasy belly of uncertainty but this cannot last. We currently have a dilemma yes; but this will pass as discontent grows.

            We must be ready to howl loudly when the moon rises and in the meantime a bit of practice won’t hurt. We must be patient in our dilemma and not be discouraged tending our own garden while we wait for moonrise.

    • Janos Skorenzy December 30, 2013 at 1:43 pm #

      Anytime a bureaucrat uses the word “comprehensive” expect the worst. As Huxley said, reality is something the average person can only take in very limited doses. They beg to be Lied to and they are.

      • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 2:10 pm #

        “Comprehensive” coming from a politician smells like a lie is on the lips. I hate it when I have to agree with you.

        • Janos Skorenzy December 30, 2013 at 2:27 pm #

          Tut, Tut, my good Man. Don’t be like that. Ideology is a disease. Be rather, at your ease. We’re all droogs here. Whites have rights not just wrongs. Love yourself and you can love other Whites too. Blacks are far from us genetically, and if you are honest with yourself, you’ll admit how alien they feel to you. Truth that. Trust your feelings Keith, and then the Force will be strong with you. If you don’t you will remain weak and divided against yourself and your brothers.

          In other words, people love the alien because they hate themselves and their brothers. Loving the alien is purported to be the epitome of virtue, but there is no virtue in it if the price is hating those whom it is your Duty to love. Loving the Alien is Easy for the evil. Of course they don’t really, but it is such a convenient fiction in a hypocritical society.

          • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 2:38 pm #

            I see I should have kept my agreement to myself.

  13. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 30, 2013 at 10:55 am #

    When things finally really fall apart, the public is going to be shocked, bewildered, angry, and terribly frightened.

    You’re going to be disappointed if this is your expectation. It will not transpire this way. A contraction due to resource limitations will creep along like a snail with changes so imperceptible hardly anyone will notice. There will be no shock, anger, bewilderment and fear because the wearing away of what once was will be whitewashed by the pretense of what is and will be. The public will unconsciously acclimate to its new reality as it’s done throughout history. Only in movies and books is that acclimation exciting. Outside of those fictitious mediums, the fiction we call reality is dull and unmentionable. Sorry to disappoint. It’s not the first time.

    • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 2:26 pm #

      And you are unfamiliar with the Seneca cliff or how things die. The myth you seek to perpetuate is that which keeps those in power believing that they will make it through to the end and which keeps us all in a sticky ineffectual morass of torpor. When the heart dies the body dies.

  14. K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 11:20 am #

    The democracy of the corporate executive is alive and well and so long as it is nothing will change. The public is trained to deny reality, consume, and know their place. That half of them can no longer consume is irrelevant because apparently the other half still can and business remains good. Corporations still profit.

    Dishonesty has consequences but so far the consequences do not fall on those being dishonest. Until they do nothing will change. Leo Strauss taught that the public needed myths to believe in and the truths of the myths is irrelevant. They only exist for social control. We have myths a-plenty, none of them true, but if you question them you get your phone tapped. This will go on as long as those in power believe they have a future which they believe they do. That is the myth they believe for while they have deceived the public they have also deceived themselves.

  15. Q. Shtik December 30, 2013 at 11:38 am #

    “……..and Duck Dynasty heroes than any of your dribble. – Htruth
    ============

    If you and others here continue to misuse the word dribble in place of the correct word, drivel, in a short while (two or three decades) drivel will fade from existence. Keep up the good work of destroying the richness of our language.

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    • Janos Skorenzy December 30, 2013 at 1:47 pm #

      Yes, this is the real tragedy. Meanwhile the H.M.S Inconvenient Truth is still stuck in the Summer Ice of Antarctica. The Elite continue to dribble their drivel anent global warming. A theory that is proved by everything is not a theory.

      • sauerkraut December 30, 2013 at 7:02 pm #

        Janos: “A theory that is proved by everything is not a theory.”

        What on earth does that mean?
        A theory that is confirmed by everyday experience must be wrong?
        A theory that is tested by everything is something else?

        Sorry, but that sounds just plain insane. Maybe you meant to say something else?

        • Janos Skorenzy December 30, 2013 at 8:06 pm #

          Global Warming is supposedly proved by Extreme Cold and Unusual amounts of ice as was Extreme Heat and and unusual lack of ice.

          • Janos Skorenzy December 30, 2013 at 8:10 pm #

            as well as

          • sauerkraut December 30, 2013 at 8:33 pm #

            Sorry, Janos, but you have it wrong.

            1. We have GLOBAL observations of a warming trend, including a multitude of temperature sensors, dramatic decrease in arctic ice, decrease in mountain glaciers, etc. etc. That is the scientific evidence. Not what you read in the newsmedia. The evidence is an average for the GLOBE, not an average of some hack’s back porch.
            2. We have a plausible mechanism, greenhouse gasses, and the whole science of atmospherics.
            3. We have an excellent correlation between the two, worked out in the greatest detail.
            4. The first thing that anybody looked for was a simple explanation, such as solar cycles. Over the years, each one was discarded because it did not fit the data.

            Look it up. It’s there in layman’s language if you care to look. Better yet, don’t be lazy, learn to use differential equations and Monte Carlo simulations with the time you now spend re-posting dis-information. Then you can see for yourself.

            Anyway, it doesn’t matter if the AGW hypothesis is likely true or likely false. The hypothesis that my house will burn down next year is likely false, but I still buy insurance, because I can easily afford $1000 for insurance but can’t easily afford to replace my house.

          • sauerkraut December 30, 2013 at 9:04 pm #

            I should have spelled out the conclusion.

            Therefore, we should take out insurance just in case AGW is a true hypothesis. The longer we wait, the more the insurance will cost – now it is hundreds of billions per year. So what? What does the Fed feed it’s friends? Could it be as much as hundreds of billions per year? AND FOR WHAT?

  16. The Crapscape has been quantified by your federal government.

    The “Cropscape” has been incorporated into the age of Big Data. Thankfully you can appreciate your tax dollars at work in the following web application.

    Warning: extremely large data sets

    http://nassgeodata.gmu.edu/CropScape/

    • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 12:50 pm #

      Interesting but it needs work. Lots of data but no information to say what we are looking at. I tried zooming in but could not find my carrot patch.

      • You’ll have to make them aware of your activities:

        U.S. Department of Agriculture
        1400 Independence Ave., S.W.
        Washington, DC 20250

        • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 3:15 pm #

          The thought that I would have to make the government aware of my activities is amusing. But true enough; certain government agencies may not have informed the D.O.A. that I had a carrot patch this year. If I want to be on the map I’ll need to do it myself.

  17. Q. Shtik December 30, 2013 at 12:30 pm #

    “The public will unconsciously acclimate to its new reality as it’s done throughout history. Only in movies and books is that acclimation exciting. Outside of those fictitious mediums, the fiction we call reality is dull and unmentionable.” – Blaby
    ============

    I totally agree with your entire post but I would have used the word unremarkable rather than unmentionable.

  18. budizwiser December 30, 2013 at 12:31 pm #

    Will we ever quit “pretending?” I would submit that there is a lot less pretending – but instead – an avalanche of coordinated diabolical fraud.

    Can anyone imagine a private conversation between Geitner and Obama or Summers? These people are “pretenders” – they are ACTORS!

    • budizwiser December 30, 2013 at 12:32 pm #

      Accidentally posted “are” – supposed to be “aren’t”

  19. Hands4u December 30, 2013 at 12:40 pm #

    Thought I’d share a bit from Joseph Campbells’ “Myths to live by” Vik. Press 1972
    Quoting- And from The Book of the Lord Shang (1.8 and 10-12):
    The country depends upon agriculture and war for peace, and likewise the ruler, for his honor… If, in a country, there are the following ten things: poetry and history, rites and music, virtue and the cultivation thereof, benevolence and integrity, sophistry and intelligence, then the ruler has no one whom he can employ for defence and warfare… But if a country banishes these ten things, enemies will not dare to approach, and even if they should they would be driven back…
    A country that loves strength makes assults with what is difficult and thus it will be successful
    A country that loves sophistry makes assults with what is easy and thus it will be in danger….
    When a country is in peril and the ruler in anxiety, it is of no avail to the settling of this danger, for professional talkers to form battalions..

    Sorry, thought this might be interesting when applied to peak oil in the land of pretend (since pretending is a form of “myth-making”) but I have a client needs my attention. More later or just read chapt. 9- Mythologies of War and Peace. Mythe to Live By. Ciao!

    • Hands4u December 30, 2013 at 2:47 pm #

      Sorry I wanted to finish this quote about myths and Pretending…

      …to form battalions. The reason why a country is in danger and its ruler in anxiety lies in “some strong enemy” or in another big state.

      Farming, trade, and office are the three permanent functions in a state, and these three functions give rise to six parasitice functions, which are called: care for old age, living on others, beauty, love, ambition, and virtuous conduct. If these six parasites find and attachement, there wil be dismemberment…
      A country wherer the virtuous govern the wicked will suffer from disorder, so that it will be dismembered; but a country where the wicked govern the virtuous will be orderly so that it will become strong…
      If penalties are made heavy and rewards light, the ruler loves his people and they will die for him; but if rewards are made heavy and penalties light, the ruler does not love his people, nor will they die for him.
      And finally:
      If things are done that the enemy would be ashamed to do, there is an advantage.

      So much for living in a myth or pretending; there isn’t much compassion when trying to determine how much to charge your addicted population when you’re both the producer, and pusher.
      Addicts/Dependents like to pretend, have to pretend! It’s the only way they can deny reality while on their way to work, pick up groceries, children to and from school, mow the lawn, blow the snow heat the house, plow and reap… even die. Humans are great addicts, and don’t challenge our dependency(s) we might become ashamed and feel to weak to do anything about it!

  20. Dražen Divac December 30, 2013 at 1:05 pm #

    Lord Blaby writes: “Reality could be anything; it’s like computer code and you can arrange that code any way you like. The possibilities are endless unless you arrange the code for an end, and perhaps that’s one of the few rules of the arrangement; you can’t program in an end, but you can code an inexhaustible array of new beginnings. In this regard, history is pretense. We’re all actors and there is no illusive reality that exists beyond our programmed perception.”

    =============

    This is a wise, perceptive and profound statement. It reminds me of a passage I read from an excellent article by John Mauldin several months back. Here’s a link with the underscored passage italicized below the link for emphasis. There are so many competing realities, it’s difficult to keep them all straight let alone chart all of them.

    Why Peak Oil Was Wrong, Is US Economic Growth Over?

    I drove back from Barefoot Ranch on Thursday afternoon, taking two good friends – my business partner Jon Sundt of Altegris Investments and Mark Yusko of Morgan Creek – to the airport to catch their flights home. Great conversation makes the drive go faster. After dropping them off, I went by to see my mother, who lives near the airport. She is 96 years old and bedridden, but up to this point has been mentally very sharp. “She’s a little confused today,” said my sister-in-law, who is taking care of her. And she was confused, with her dreams and memories impinging on her reality. From time to time she would be cognizant of the difference between the real and the unreal and try to think about that. This was the first time I had seen her like that, and it was a little difficult. I recalled my father’s getting to that same place for the first time, slipping back and forth between the world that was and the world that is.

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    • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 1:46 pm #

      The wise, perceptive and profound statement is bullshit. Only a solipsist can believe such drivel. Reality is what it is and gymnastics of the mind can not change it.

      Your peak oil article is wrong and is bullshit. We are about to enter the year 2014 and the article discusses graphs which extend all the way out to the year 2040 as if they were fact. Further all the ‘oil fields’ are treated as interchangeable and there is no consideration given to the economics and difficulty of extracting tight oil reserves. The huge tight oil fields which are presented as normal oil fields have not been confirmed, they are nothing more than PR snake oil.

      It is irresponsible to assume that unknown undeveloped technology will suddenly arrive to save the day and the article is full of this wishful thinking.

      From the article: “Ray Kurzweil told me a long time ago that when he was designing his cutting-edge technology products, he always had to assume that new chips and other components would be available in the future; and if he wanted to stay ahead, he had to design products to take advantage of the new chips. He was designing and creating products for which all the parts did not yet exist, but he simply had to assume they would be available in a few years.”

      Your article is not fact but a wishful thinking delusion authored by someone who benefits from keeping the myth of endless growth alive. A charlatan.

      From the article: “There were maybe a dozen scientists who understood the steam engine at the beginning of that revolution. Today, we routinely throw a thousand engineers at relatively trivial problems. Adding another few billion people into the midst of world commerce exponentially multiplies the potential for new innovation and incremental change.”

      Adding another few billion people to watch Dancing with the Stars and whom will be busy and distracted consuming oil, high fructose corn syrup and cheese doodles is not going to exponentially multiply new innovation and change. We are already overpopulated beyond carrying capacity.

      • Janos Skorenzy December 30, 2013 at 1:52 pm #

        Bravo! Say no to the Amnesty. And let the traitor Environmentalists go to Hell. And that means all of the big ones and Archie too. Green is the new Red.

  21. Smoky Joe December 30, 2013 at 1:14 pm #

    Jim, there is a boom in oil production under way in the US. Just give up and admit it. It is also $100/barrel oil. We also don’t know how long we have before these wells peter out.

    Even if these new fields last 20 years, this “revolution” changes everything. It may also result in unstoppable climate change so drastic that we’ll have to try to geoengineer our pitiful way out of it.

    Just stop denying the facts on the ground, or under it. The oil is there: dirty, expensive to extract, but, sadly, plentiful enough to sustain our illusions well through 2014.

    • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 1:49 pm #

      And what about 2015?

      • Janos Skorenzy December 30, 2013 at 1:55 pm #

        Maybe oil is the blood of the Earth. And just as we replenish ours, She replenishes Hers. If so, the question becomes whether she replenishes quickly enough for our needs. Probably not, thus Peak Oil would remain valid even if the current theory is wrong.

        • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 2:15 pm #

          She replenishes from the top down as life decays and slowly through aeons of time. Peat bogs become coal and sea life produces oil. Once shallow seas covered much of the earth and from them the endowment of oil which we squander was born.

        • Hands4u December 30, 2013 at 2:25 pm #

          Even if you were to “bleed” the earth as it continues to “produce” more “blood” “oil” you can’t replenish it by converting it to “spray” that the earth could somehow breathe it back in. No blood in your veins means you’re dead, even if its a clot!

  22. UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 30, 2013 at 2:29 pm #

    -JHK observes:

    “But you have to wonder what young adults weighed down by unpayable college debt think when they go to see them, because without a rebellion that millennial generation will not own their own lives either. They must know it, but they must not know what to do about it.”

    Before it was college debt it was credit card and mortgage debt, and there wasn’t any hint of a rebellion then. So why is the expectation being set for this generation? How are the informed predecessors whom were well aware of the brewing troubles before now, while in their prime, excused from inciting such a rebellion themselves? Or does eloquent social criticism count as activism? Being a gold pumper never counted as behaving in the interest of our society, did it?

    A minor quibble, JHK, but digital streaming makes available a far wider array of pop culture explorations into the tragedies we’re all facing down; generational awareness probably proceeds individual awareness, and individuals certainly know what’s going on but still don’t do shit, save a bare minimum of preppers. In fact, “we’re” barely leaving our homes, gaming consoles, and Amazon Prime subscriptions these days; we have all the ideas delivered to us instantly. And there’s lesser need and little interest for the overly loud or tragically romantic portrayals of human subjugation constantly rehashed in the dwindling Hollywood film industry; we get a much richer and pleasingly sedate experience of all these issues with free-lance blogging and independent documentaries than ever before; nonetheless, the saturation of such saddening narratives do seem to be having little effect on my generation, let alone the elder. The opposite of stimulation toward activism is occurring, just see the prolific postings from the non-active social advocates that frequent this comments section.

    I could be wrong about this. Maybe I’ve missed the early signs of smoke before the revolt. I keep reading from voices whom I consider to be entirely delusional that rebellion/revolution is just about to catch fire. I then test these assumptions as I venture to my campus job and interactions with professors, colleagues and fellow students of various ages. Just five minutes of conversation with these people tells me that any hint of revolution has been thoroughly snuffed. The non-reaction to Ed Snowden in this country convinced me of this.

    Somehow, a paranoia of being spied upon while sitting on one’s ass playing video games or jacking-off to celebrity foibles has been equated with genuine, face-to-face social organizing… go figure. And even the older folks I interact with still seem to buy into the “things are gettin’ better” narrative, so why agitate? In my location, there’s not a single grass roots protest movement or legitimate re-localization effort of any momentum to be found. To engage in such activity is social suicide, so it seems. That is a shame, and I always remember your words when I recall that “life is tragic.” And sometimes societies just simply fail to change their behavior before it’s too late, to poorly paraphrase.

    Anyhow, I look forward to your 2014 predictions, JHK. I suspect *your* one of several prominent bloggers who are beginning to switch focus to changes in the weather, rather than trying to predict the machinations of entirely rigged and unpredictable gold and commodities markets. The crowd that’s focused on economic collapse has unfortunately suffered a loss of credibility of late, whether that’s deserved or not isn’t my own position. I’m glad for the emphasis change, personally, as ecology is really the only thing that matters to my mind these days. Now back to my cheez doodles… *crunch*

    -UFIA

  23. volodya December 30, 2013 at 2:43 pm #

    What do credentialed economists understand anyway?

    All you need to know is in the price of oil. But maybe that’s beyond their ken. According to CNN it’s almost 100 bucks a barrel this afternoon. Anybody with basic facility with a computer keyboard plus a stitch of common sense plus some minimal arithmetical ability can look up historical prices of oil adjusted for inflation and use their own judgement to assess where things are at. It’s not that tough. Or maybe it is if you’re an economist.

    In my humble opinion there’s something else that the price of oil measures besides scarcity. But remember I’m not a credentialed economist. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether that puts me at a disadvantage or otherwise. And what the price of oil measures is the degree of incompetence of the US central bank.

    Maybe the pointy-heads running the Fed think that everyone is dumb but if I was one of those oil producers and I was getting paid in debased US currency I’d want more USD to make up for the debasement. Which should show everyone there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Which is maybe what the oil sheiks are doing. What the Fed printeth, the oil markets taketh away.

    Why do I think this? Because it looks to me that when you look at the price of oil since the 1990s that the price of a barrel has gone up much less when it’s denominated in other currencies. I have two specific currencies in mind. That’s not to say that the central banks managing these other currencies are paragons of monetary rectitude, only that those other currencies aren’t as badly managed as the USD.

    There’s those that laud the Fed for preventing financial collapse. I happen to not be in that camp. After all that’s gone on in the past generation or so a financial collapse would be a necessary corrective. Lehman’s crash sent shockwaves. But maybe not enough shockwaves. Maybe we needed more banks to go under for sanity to reclaim its rightful place in the affairs of the nation.

    I think the Fed was instrumental in creating conditions for 2008, for impeding the necessary scouring of the financial world of the assortment of frauds that we laughingly call capital markets after 2008 and for impeding moves to economic and financial sustainablity.

    I mean just look at the financial statements of major banks. Some have derivatives numbers in the tens of trillions in the notes to the statements. How does that look to you?

  24. Dražen Divac December 30, 2013 at 3:11 pm #

    Anyone want to venture a guess when the statement at the following link was made and by whom? A hint: it’s a blast from the past.

    http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JAEw3NIdZ0o/UfkFsYS7xeI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/wbjjJa2R4Ag/s1600/screenshot_10.jpg

    • gellen with yellen December 30, 2013 at 3:53 pm #

      i’m going to guess the author is the chain-smoking mike ruppert who made the statement in 2006. here’s a great photo of ruppert doing his don corleone impression. or is it his red skelton impression? i can’t be sure, but it sure looks comical.

      http://www.wordpress.peakmoment.tv/journal/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/110522_ruppert_250.jpg

      • Dražen Divac December 30, 2013 at 6:02 pm #

        Close, gellen with yellen, but no cigar. It’s none other than Matt Savinar of LATOC (Life After the Oil Crash) fame and it was written as his blog (now defunct and archived) introduction more than nine years prior. Nine years ago! Since then, Matt’s moved on to bigger and better things. Like astrology. No kidding. Here’s a glimpse of his latest venture.

        http://northbayastrology.com/?page_id=5

  25. sevenmmm December 30, 2013 at 3:17 pm #

    This is a very sophisticated blog, linking money creation with productivity gains by learning to use the power of fossil fuels. As mentioned, the gains are no longer there, and what use to float will now sink.

    If Austrian Economics is anywhere near close to right, the remainder of the story will be short and brutal. Not a made up fairy tale.

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  26. Q. Shtik December 30, 2013 at 3:40 pm #

    “generational awareness probably proceeds individual awareness, – UFIA
    ===========

    precedes

    • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 30, 2013 at 3:44 pm #

      Wrong, shithead…. I thought your Google skills would have helped you solve the mystery of that word’s usage by now.

      Keep tryin’, Q

  27. Q. Shtik December 30, 2013 at 3:57 pm #

    “Wrong, shithead….” – UFIA
    ===============

    http://www.ehow.com/how_2104863_use-precede-proceed-correctly.html

    • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 30, 2013 at 4:01 pm #

      Yes, you dumb-ass Troll. You found the answer but failed to understand it.

      3.Decide whether the verb you need in the sentence is about something taking place earlier in time or about moving forward into the future. If the event happened “before” use “precede” and if happened “after” use “proceed.”

  28. consultant13 December 30, 2013 at 4:31 pm #

    Jim,

    Wishing you and your family a happy New Year.

    Regarding your ebook, The Geography of Nowhere, did you update it? I read it when it first came out and it seems the ebook has been revised.

    Great work. Look forward to more of your observations in this area.

  29. Q. Shtik December 30, 2013 at 5:21 pm #
    • Dražen Divac December 30, 2013 at 6:11 pm #

      I agree. Great post. It’s concise and to the point, not some long-winded tirade like some around here. K-Dog comes to mind. I swear, if I have to see Adam Curtis one more time, I don’t what I’ll do! Vomit, maybe. K-Dog’s like a dog with a bone. Adam Curtis is his bone right now and he has to run around and proudly show it to everyone. “Look everyone, I have a new bone and I’ve given it a name; Adam Curtis.” Jesus, get a life K-Dog. Go work out and get the most of that gym membership before this whole thing comes crashing down. You want to be fit, trim and buff for the Collapse.

      • Janos Skorenzy December 30, 2013 at 8:08 pm #

        Q may be having a crisis brought on by being proven wrong. Let’s be gentle gentiles shall we?

      • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 11:34 pm #

        I’ll give you long winded:

        The hot play now is one of the oldest in America; the Permian basin. A handful of companies with large acreage in the region are making very optimistic assessments of their prospects there. These are based on making long term projections based on a few months’ production data from a handful of wells. We wonder whether data gets cherry picked for investor presentations. We hear about the great wells but not about the disappointing ones. Furthermore, many companies are pointing to higher initial rates of production without taking into account the higher depletion rates which go hand in hand with these higher start-up rates.

        From troutbum2 link to his ZeroHedge article in the next root level comment down.

        Long winded it is and only fair since you wasted our time with a fabricated mirage of self serving propaganda. Adam Curtis has not been mentioned this week by me or anyone else so what’s your point exactly? To mention his assertion that neoconservative aristocratic pseudo-intellectuals would think so abominably of the American public that they would use mass media to push myths, propaganda and outright lies to consolidate their power and advance their agenda? Adam Curtis introduces Leo Strauss in “The Power of Nightmares” as the originator of this agenda. I find that Adam Curtis’s assertion explains a lot and that it explains you.

        As the title of this weeks article is “The End of Pretend” my mention of Leo Strauss is appropriate. The machine put in place to advance the war against terror purrs on and the surveillance state keeps it humming and shiny bright. Deception rules the day and you, a spectre of the dark side, have identified yourself as someone who knows exactly what is going on.

        The mantra of all we need is growth and that technology will roll out the cornucopia to save the day bringing new economic prosperity to the land perpetuates pretending at a time when pretending becomes not benign but dangerous and irresponsible.

        I share not your disdain; I am a friend of man. Unlike you a best friend at that.

        • K-Dog December 30, 2013 at 11:36 pm #

          From troutbum2‘s link to his ZeroHedge article

      • ozone December 31, 2013 at 11:31 am #

        Only a couple questions have I:

        1. Why the obsession with Balkan/Slavic pseudonyms?

        2. Why the strange mixed-name reference to a Croatian basketball feud?

        Living by trickery is not going to prove the most effective strategy when confronted by those who have to face survival realities with a cold honesty and hard lessons learned. You may not think it will ever happen, but, surprise, surprise.
        Okay… out and done.
        (Thanks, K-dog.)

  30. troutbum2 December 30, 2013 at 5:27 pm #

    From an article on ZeroHedge

    According to the DOE data, for Bakken and Eagle Ford the legacy well decline rate has been running at either side of 6.5 per cent per month. When these fields were each producing 500,000 bpd that legacy decline therefore amounted to 33,000 bpd per month per field. With both fields now producing 1 million bpd the legacy decline is 65,000 bpd per month. Production from new wells has been running at about 90,000 bpd per month per field meaning net growth in production is 25,000 bpd per month. It will become smaller as output grows and that’s why ceteris paribus growth in output for both fields will continue to slow over the coming years. When all the easily drillable sites are exhausted – at the latest sometime shortly after 2020 – production from these two fields will decline.

    More Here :http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-29/shale-oil-party-ending-phibros-andy-hall-warns

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  31. Pucker December 30, 2013 at 7:00 pm #

    It seems that some religious scholars assert that circumcision is a form of human sacrifice as per the principle of pars-pro-toto.

    The Wicked Witch is always trying to get Dorothy’s Little Dog “Toto”…..

    Was the doctor “pretending” to circumcise me when I was a baby for health reasons when he was in reality performing a human sacrifice pars-pro-toto to some evil god?!

    I feel violated!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice

    Judaism[edit]
    Current religious thinking views the Akedah as central to the replacement of human sacrifice; while some Talmudic scholars assert the replacement was the sacrifice of animals at the Temple—using Exodus 13:2–12f; 22:28f; 34:19f; Numeri 3:1ff; 18:15; Deuteronomy 15:19—others view that as superseded by the symbolic pars-pro-toto sacrifice of circumcision. Leviticus 20:2 and Deuteronomy 18:10 specifically outlaw the giving of children to Moloch, making it punishable by stoning; the Tanakh subsequently denounces human sacrifice as barbaric customs of Baal worshippers (e.g. Psalms 106:37ff).

  32. Pucker December 30, 2013 at 8:20 pm #

    Castillo in his diary of the Conquistador conquest of Aztec Mexico said that that the Aztecs coveted cheap, worthless green glass beads,which the Spanish would barter for gold.

    Maybe we can just pay ’em off with some Green Glass Beads? Or maybe they’ll go away if we just print up a bunch of worthless Green Backs in the back room?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyVXBbdFo-M

  33. toktomi December 30, 2013 at 8:28 pm #

    To: James

    An off-topic comment cuz I think that it’s subject is of the utmost importance and potentially of the greatest immediate impact:

    Regarding Fed taper, I realize that all the big intellect has the Fed down for QE infinity with the rationale being that without the Fed’s government asset purchases the world ends. That sounds to me like simple denial of the available evidence and naive wishful thinking.

    So far, Fed has not strayed a millimeter from it’s stated plan of June 19, 2013 and neither has it amended its position.

    The plan reads quite simply and its implementation is still on schedule.

    “If the incoming data are broadly consistent with this forecast, the Committee currently anticipates that it would be appropriate to moderate the monthly pace of purchases later this year. And if the subsequent data remain broadly aligned with our current expectations for the economy, we would continue to reduce the pace of purchases in measured steps through the first half of next year, ending purchases around midyear.”

    I would not say QE infinity.
    I would say, “Say goodnight, Gracie”.

    ~toktomi~

  34. Q. Shtik December 30, 2013 at 10:04 pm #

    “…John Michael Greer, The Archdruid. On Christmas Day, he made “A Modest Proposal” that the GOP has become a party of closet Satanists…” – Neon V.
    ==========

    When JHK praised Greer’s essay of “last week” I assume it is the very same one you are referencing…..dated Dec 25th?

  35. lost-in-north-dakota December 30, 2013 at 11:47 pm #

    There is another problem with “shale oil,” that nobody talks about….it appears to be very unsafe to transport using normal crude oil technology. Here is a 30 second video of a derailment about 20 miles west of Fargo, ND, earlier today:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxkUhVswF5U

    Crude oil does NOT explode like this, according to a long-time railroad man I talked to today.

    Remember, it was North Dakota crude that took that town on Quebec off of the map a few months ago.

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    • Arn Varnold December 31, 2013 at 7:40 am #

      Well, that’s not exactly true. The oil they’re transporting is similar to the oil in Canada (the recent incineration of a town and its population).
      It has not been refined and because of extraction methods it is full of gasses and the more volatile components of petroleum.
      It’s far more flammable than oil pumped from a typical reservoir of a typical oil field.
      Which is precisely why it’s so dangerous to transport.

  36. Q. Shtik December 31, 2013 at 12:11 am #

    UFIA,

    After considerable research (including a careful reading of Random House Dictionary and a séance with William Safire and David Foster Wallace) I have concluded the sentence in question should have read “generational awareness probably proceeds from individual awareness.”

  37. K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 1:29 am #

    The end of pretending.

    The distortion that even simple people care about is that the gap between the rich and the poor is as plain, vast, and grotesque as at any time in our history — except perhaps during slavery times in Dixieland, when many of the poor did not even own their existence.

    Jim did not mention spying this week and were there not significant events regarding spying going on I’d not mention the following video. But tying it in is not difficult as it turns out we are now all owned.

    Jacob Applebaum & does the NSA break into your house.”

    Yes they do. And if you belong to a heath club they know that too. It is not hard with GPS; with your phone in your pocket they know where you are and how long it will be before you get home. If you are a high enough value target which can simply mean knowing something you are not supposed to know it can happen to you.

    Far fetched you say? Watch the video and check out the toys. And if you still think you are not important enough consider unarmed civilians who die in every war. Mostly they probably did not think they were important enough to die. There is no logic to these things and secrets will be protected. The status quo will be preserved.

  38. Arn Varnold December 31, 2013 at 4:48 am #

    “…When the energy inputs flatten out or decrease, growth stops, wealth is no longer generated, old loans can’t be repaid, and new loans can’t be generated honestly, i.e. with the expectation of repayment. That has been our predicament since 2008 and nothing has changed. We are pretending to compensate by issuing new unpayable debt to pay the interest on our old accumulated debt. This pretense can only go on so long before our economic relations reflect the basic dishonesty of it… JHK
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Hmm. Capitalism, the god of growth (unregulated/unsustainable), exploitation, usury, and the shiny will be the thing that’s done us in.
    Peak Oil is another irrelevancy, IMO, for the simple reason that oil shale and oil sands are bountiful and exploitable. Yes, very expensive and short life cycle; but somehow profitable enough to keep it going.
    I couldn’t give a toss about the cost in dollars. That’s irrelevant when the cost to the environment is considered in its totality.
    Entire aquifers are being depleted and/or destroyed or both. We are seriously shitting our own nest.
    There is absolutely nothing an individual can do to stop this stampede of the Lemmings; if one can’t see the cliff then that one is blind; it’s right there before one’s very eyes.
    We’re done.
    The only thing individuals can do is to withdraw support of the machine, en masse. We won’t/can’t even muster the foresight to do that.
    Think about it; withdraw support; but until one understands the complete meaning of that, it will remain a meaningless phrase.
    It’s the simplest thing a person can do; no marching, no writing congressmen/women (when has that worked?), just stop.
    That is genuine action.
    Think.

  39. Pucker December 31, 2013 at 7:00 am #

    Is it possible to start an illegal money lending operation without any money? I read that some illegal money lending operations charge interest of between 400% to 1,300%. Theoretically it’s possible: Just borrow the start up money from the U.S. government. Just call it “Aztec Finance”.

  40. BackRowHeckler December 31, 2013 at 7:58 am #

    Its good to see Jim hanging around the blog a little bit and mixing it up with his fans.

    Sweet Irony: That ship frozen in Antarctic Ice is full of scientists conducting research on Global Warming. I remember a few years back Al Gore giving a signature speech on that same subject in NYC when the temp. outside was 5dF.

    Happy New Year CFNers!

    –BRH

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    • sauerkraut December 31, 2013 at 11:52 am #

      Well BRH, you seem to have swallowed it hook and line. As I pointed out to Janos, above:

      1. We have GLOBAL observations of a warming trend, including a multitude of temperature sensors, dramatic decrease in arctic ice, decrease in mountain glaciers, etc. etc. That is the scientific evidence. Not what you read in the newsmedia. The evidence is an average for the GLOBE, not an average of some hack’s back porch.
      2. We have a plausible mechanism, greenhouse gasses, and the whole science of atmospherics.
      3. We have an excellent correlation between the two, worked out in the greatest detail.
      4. The first thing that anybody looked for was a simple explanation, such as solar cycles. Over the years, each one was discarded because it did not fit the data.

      Look it up. It’s there in layman’s language if you care to look. Better yet, don’t be lazy, learn to use differential equations and Monte Carlo simulations with the time you now spend re-posting dis-information. Then you can see for yourself.

      Anyway, it doesn’t matter if the AGW hypothesis is likely true or likely false. The hypothesis that my house will burn down next year is likely false, but I still buy insurance, because I can easily afford $1000 for insurance but can’t easily afford to replace my house.

      So maybe we should consider some insurance for our home, the planet (or the biosphere, if you prefer). That is, unless you can easily replace it.

      • Janos Skorenzy December 31, 2013 at 2:34 pm #

        The warming, such as it was, ended in the 90’s. But the Globalist power brokers and their paid hacks refuse to acknowledge that – for obvious reasons. The Globos want to power down the economy, while remaining on top naturally. To this end, they want to use crap like carbon credits which they can speculate on. Another scam to keep people down and them up. Meanwhile their tool Obama has invested in Brazilian drilling but refuses to allow anything new drilling or refineries here.

        The Hacks have been caught fudging the data. And real Scientists violently disavow their names being used for the kind of cherry picking the Globos specialize in. Obviously the Earth was much warmer than now at many times in the past, well before the dawn of industry.

        The real danger would be freezing since that would lead to immediate famine. Warming we could deal with as long as it was gradual.

        Insurance should serve life – not insurance industries, and not squeeze life out of existence.

        Read Bellamy’s “Looking Backwards” if you want a vision of real change. Socialism must retain Victorian Values! As Phil says, marry ’em young when they are pliable. Liberals condemn him – they want unmarried girls having children! That means welfare and more clients and Power for them. Everybody works in Bellamy’s nowhere.

        • sauerkraut December 31, 2013 at 3:20 pm #

          No, Janos, no.

          The warming continues. Just not in your back yard. It’s the GLOBE that’s warming. Stuff like oceans and arctic ice included.

          You seem to be a little confused about conspiracies. You seem to think that the scientists are in league with the super-rich.

          But think about it – why would the super-rich want to rock the boat? They are doing just fine as things are; indeed, they are putting out all kinds of propaganda about unlimited oil reserves, when it should be obvious to the meanest intellect that it is EXTRACTION, not reserves, that matter.

          Follow the money. Hundreds of millions for climate research, a few billions for carbon markets, and trillions for fossil fuels. Now, who do you really think has a big motive for falsification? The scientists, who are mostly dedicated to the truth (why do you think they work for 1% of what they could easily steal), or the pols and fins (who never lie; just ask them)? And stand to gain 10,000 times more?

          As for insurance, I did not mean paying a money premium for money back if things got ugly. Obviously. What I meant was taking steps to prevent the worst, which might cost money. Or do you seriously think that we can go on killing the oceans and poisoning the land, and never have consequences?

  41. Arn Varnold December 31, 2013 at 8:15 am #

    Sawadee Pee Mai.

  42. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 31, 2013 at 8:48 am #

    It’s far more flammable than oil pumped from a typical reservoir of a typical oil field. Which is precisely why it’s so dangerous to transport.

    Which is precisely why we need the pipeline. Transporting it by rail is inefficient and dangerous. Once again, idealistic Liberals put people’s lives in danger with their self-righteous activism. They’re the Satanists, not the Conservatives. Greer’s got it backwards. But what do you expect from someone who looks like this?

    http://hermetic.com/greer/john-michael-greer.jpg

    And yes, I concede I mistook the use of the word negotiate. It’s not because I’m stupid, which I am of course, but because I read it quickly and responded hastily. Upon further review, I still don’t like the use of the word negotiate because history isn’t something you find your way through or around. It’s something that’s made. It’s not a path. It has no arc. It’s merely an inadequate recollection of the past.

    And as far as being stupid is concerned, well, that’s the reason I come here. To learn. For example, thanks to Pucker, I’m learning all about circumcision. That’s why I’ve remained so silent on the subject thus far, because I didn’t know much about it except to say I know I’m circumcised and had no say in the matter. So thank you Pucker for making me a little less stupid. And no Jim, my intent was not to test your Christian patience, it was an inadvertent attempt to exercise your Jewish impatience, as if it’s not fit enough.

  43. nsa December 31, 2013 at 9:15 am #

    Great news for worthless drug addicts and degenerate free loaders…..pot is legal in WA and CO. Any of you biz types want to hire a pothead? Want a pothead doing your bypass operation? Or piloting the airplane you are on? Or working on your brakes? Or teaching your kids algebra? Or selling the stuff to your kids? It’s totally awesome…..dude…….

    • Arn Varnold December 31, 2013 at 9:34 am #

      Yes to all of the above. Why don’t you go suck some shit some where?
      I’d rather a pot head operate on me than some opiate/meth addicted physician. Go fuck off to somebody who cares about your screed…

      • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 10:17 am #

        Someone who consumes cannabis would not do an operation stoned. They would stand down. A drunk surgeon on the other hand…

        ‘Give me that knife baby, lets do this thing!’

  44. Lord Blaby of Lawson December 31, 2013 at 9:34 am #

    Want a pothead doing your bypass operation?

    I prefer my heart surgeon be an alcoholic. My best friend in high school’s father was an alcoholic heart surgeon.

    Or piloting the airplane you are on?

    No way. It’d take forever to get to our destination. Stoned people drive way too slow and stop for stoplights that don’t even exist. They’re overly cautious, so you throw UFOs into the mix, since many pilots have had UFO encounters, and the trip would take forever, which of course may not be a bad thing if all the passengers are stoned too. It’d probably be an awesome adventure. Flying into the side of a mountain would never be more fun.

    • Arn Varnold December 31, 2013 at 9:39 am #

      You’re just an idiot, as evidenced by your posts.
      Lord Blaby; what a fitting nom de plume.

  45. UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 10:07 am #

    “I have concluded the sentence in question should have read “generational awareness probably proceeds from individual awareness.” The Troll

    Wrong again.

    -UFIA

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    • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 11:34 am #

      “generational awareness probably proceeds individual awareness”

      I think that is a clear expression of an astute observation. It captures the temporal relationship without assuming a cause and effect relationship which you did not intend as this version implies:

      “generational awareness probably proceeds from individual awareness.”

      That bastardization turns what you were trying to say on its head. You were not trying for cause and effect but simply stating the temporal sequence. The grammar police are clearly wrong and are reversing the temporal relationship besides implying a cause and effect you did not intend.

  46. Q. Shtik December 31, 2013 at 12:45 pm #

    “generational awareness probably proceeds from individual awareness.” – K-Dog chiming in with his two cents on the question of the use of the word “proceeds” by UFIA
    ============

    I want to clarify something about writing styles. UFIA likes to write in a convoluted turgid style that belies his age (young). I guess he thinks that makes him look smarter and more believable.

    In the sentence under discussion UFIA chooses to place first in the sentence that which is second (namely, generational awareness) and places second that which is first (individual awareness). I, on the other hand, prefer to write from left to right. That is to say in chronological order……….to place first things first and second things second. Accordingly, if I had written the sentence in question I would have said “Individual awareness precedes generational awareness.” No need to say “probably” either. The instances when generational awareness precedes individual awareness must be infinitesimally small.

    • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 1:19 pm #

      But you confuse his meaning and I have no trouble understanding what he is trying to say. It is fine for you to consider his style turgid but none here are highly polished. Jim puts us all to shame. Maybe you should keep your criticism to yourself and deal with the foibles.

      Consider that every regular visitor we see is actually writing and as time goes by we are all getting better at it. That is a good thing. An optimistic estimate is one in ten readers actually takes the time to make a comment. The actual ratio is probably less than that. Criticism should be gentile and if unwanted not given at all. UFIA has opinions and expresses them. I see him as someone with a glass half full, not as someone with a glass half empty.

    • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 1:22 pm #

      Riiiight… and you took the clause in reference out of context in the first place, never addressing the subject itself. Second, your initial analysis of the claimed error was entirely wrong. You didn’t understand the distinction between the words precede/proceed, and had your originally suggested phrasing been used it would have been wrong. Now, after time to editorialize your own error in a pathetic attempt to save face, you present a sentence construction based on your own thinking that wouldn’t have reflected what I was intending to convey. And truth be told, there were a thousand different ways to have written the sentence, but instead of engaging me on the opinion I expressed, you opted for a petty potshot which backfired. Now I’m supposed to play by rules you make up as you go along? If you had never addressed me, I certainly wouldn’t reply or take-on the the stupid shit you post.

      Once again, your attempt to disrespect someone with whom you disagree using a passive aggressive attack has backfired, and your own attempt to seem smart actually makes you out to be the annoying, cowardly blog Troll you’ve always been. Yet after having been banned a time or two, your penchant for grovelling has enabled your return to this space. Impressive.

      Proof that you’re a troll: Time and again you claim that you simply cannot continue to read, listen, respond to, or engage ideas that you determine to be poorly delivered, for whatever reason, yet you pick a fight when you mistakenly believe it to be easy, then feign indignation when you get punched in the face for the misstep.

      Carry on

      -UFIA

    • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 1:31 pm #

      I also think you miss his point and are stuck in semantics. He is saying something about the human condition. Your statement that:

      “Individual awareness precedes generational awareness.”

      Does not say the same thing as:

      “generational awareness probably proceeds individual awareness”

      Yes the probably could go, but the meaning is quite different. From an ontological point of view I agree with UFIA because mostly we perceive ourselves in relation to society and not the other way around. The exception being those of us who are sociopaths.

  47. Q. Shtik December 31, 2013 at 2:28 pm #

    “Criticism should be gentile and if unwanted not given at all.” – K-Dog
    ===========

    Now see, there ya go. How can I possibly pretend there is no difference between gentile and gentle, especially since I hoed this row once before with you and did it in a lighthearted way.

    My last boss (he was my boss for 8-10 years) literally told me one time that he was “brilliant.” (he had a degree in physics but worked in Finance.) He occasionally used me to proofread his communications before sending them (a smart move). Among his myriad errors was one he made 100% of the time. He spelled tomorrow as tomarrow. I guess you would advise just letting it slide since everyone would understand what he meant.

    • Janos Skorenzy December 31, 2013 at 3:08 pm #

      What was up with the empty post? Is that when you realized you were wrong – as Laplace did as he stood before the Academy and said, “Gentlemen, I must reconsider.” Now I admit Farce has all the charm of a garden slug, but if he’s right, he’s right. Remember, the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son in Catholicism, but only the Father in Orthodoxy (the correct view actually).

      No? Por Favor! Defend your thesis!

  48. UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 2:59 pm #

    “In the sentence under discussion UFIA chooses to place first in the sentence that which is second (namely, generational awareness) and places second that which is first (individual awareness).” -Troll

    Come to think of it, you’re making the definitive claim that I was purposely questioning in my initial remark.

    First, I was supposing that generational awareness, namely ensuing from the consumption of pop culture, follows from (proceeds) one’s personal awareness/experience of such phenomena; hence, my use of probably in the sentence makes sense. Although, it should have been clear that I’m not certain either way. There is a pervading question in social science circles of whether individuals create culture by direct design and thus emerges a generational identity relative to the age in which one grows, or, the other way around – culture shapes the individual in downward fashion.

    I admit to being partial to the notion of self-determinism; therefore, my original purpose was to point out that individuals largely are already aware of the myriad of dire issues ‘they” are facing right now, so the onus to change social circumstances would seem to wrest first upon the individual’s shoulders, not overgeneralized to an entire generation. And individuals aren’t doing much to change anything, from what I see. However, if in fact culture determines social, not to mention personal, outcomes more predominantly than individual inputs, then individuals are essentially helpless where societal power is concentrated to one end of a spectrum.

    Again, I’m not certain about these issues, and my original post questioned why it is that my generation, or any generation for that matter is held solely responsible for or attributed with particular qualities necessary for inciting a given outcome. I don’t believe, as say Chris Hedges, that revolutions happen as coordinatively, benevolently, or as intentionally as imagined. Sometimes there’s no aim to a speeding bullet? And if good things do come of revolutions, then how much of it is pure luck?

    A lot of people talk trash about the millennial generation and the perceived lack of interest for attacking the socio-political issues of their day. I’m merely offering the mirror criticism of the preceding generation(s). How did they fail to recognize their complicity in the creation of such messes to begin with? Do we fault individuals or entire generations? I’d gladly listen to the observations of bigger brains than mine who are able to deftly explain this for me. That’s why I participated in this week’s topic to begin with.

    Q, you already know your mental limitations in that regard. You never *new* anything you couldn’t Google first, so maybe my question of whether culture shapes the individual is answered. Go ‘head and scroll over this one, big guy. Isss a lil’much fer yoo.

    -UFIA

    • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 3:05 pm #

      ahh…I accidentally provided some Troll bait in that one….rest

      pardon the wildly ambiguous meaning ;>)

    • progress4what January 2, 2014 at 11:05 am #

      “First, I was supposing that generational awareness, namely ensuing from the consumption of pop culture, follows from (proceeds) one’s personal awareness/experience of such phenomena; hence, my use of probably in the sentence makes sense. Although, it should have been clear that I’m not certain either way. There is a pervading question in social science circles of whether individuals create culture by direct design and thus emerges a generational identity relative to the age in which one grows, or, the other way around – culture shapes the individual in downward fashion.”
      …..ufia, who needs to graduate ‘ere his mind turns to mush.

      You’ve bollixed up proceed/preceed, ufia.

      Must you now bollix up generation/individual?

      And this post is an experiment on my part, to explore how JHK’s “automatic pagination?” of this thread works out in reality.

      This particular post is posted at the bottom of the first page of comments, and not linked to a particular comment. My guess is that it will post at the bottom of the (newly created) third page of comments.

      Let’s see.

      “First, I was supposing that generational awareness, namely ensuing from the consumption of pop culture, follows from (proceeds) one’s personal awareness/experience of such phenomena; hence, my use of probably in the sentence makes sense. Although, it should have been clear that I’m not certain either way. There is a pervading question in social science circles of whether individuals create culture by direct design and thus emerges a generational identity relative to the age in which one grows, or, the other way around – culture shapes the individual in downward fashion.”
      …..ufia, who needs to graduate ‘ere his mind turns to mush.

      You’ve bollixed up proceed/preceed, ufia.

      Must you now bollix up generation/individual?

      And this post is an experiment on my part, to explore how JHK’s “automatic pagination?” of this thread works out in reality.

      This particular post is posted at the bottom of the first page of comments, and not linked to a particular comment. My guess is that it will post at the bottom of the (newly created) third page of comments.

      Let’s see.

      • progress4what January 2, 2014 at 11:16 am #

        OK – this posted here. And I pasted it TWICE on purpose, to make it longer – in case that impacted the results of this experiment.

        These words of mine, “This particular post is posted at the bottom of the first page of comments, and not linked to a particular comment. My guess is that it will post at the bottom of the (newly created) third page of comments.” will cause some confusion.

        But I doubt anyone other than me will read them.

        Well, maybe Q. And maybe ufia. And maybe K-dog.

        And I’m not a goddam’ govt. agent.

        “There’s no other way to say it. I don’t speak no other languages.”
        …..bubba somebody, singer…..
        …..

  49. Q. Shtik December 31, 2013 at 3:05 pm #

    “Riiiight… and you took the clause in reference out of context in the first place, never addressing the subject itself.” – UFIA
    =========

    Correct. And if nothing else proceeds from the experience, anyone who gives a shit about such things has, perhaps, learned something valuable about the words precedes and proceeds.

    • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 3:06 pm #

      Well, you certainly needed to. Thanks for your….ahem… contributions.

    • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 3:19 pm #

      Could be stated:

      And if nothing else proceeds this experience, any who give a shit about such things have, perhaps, learned something valuable about the words precede/proceed.

      Nice deflection though.

  50. UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 3:41 pm #

    And now we all get to sit back and recognize that there’s no end to Q’s pretending that this didn’t happen this week.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvijyBIgazE

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  51. progress4what December 31, 2013 at 3:43 pm #

    “…you have to wonder what young adults weighed down by unpayable college debt think….” …jhk…

    I often wonder that, myself. My own kids were able to go to in-state public schools and graduate debt-free. But we’ve got family and friends carrying student debt that is 10+ years old. Most of these (who are working) consider the payments low and just keep paying and paying. Whether these loans are ever going to amortize is a good question.

    One thing’s for sure – student debt can’t be cancelled by normal bankruptcy. And this is another great example of regulatory capture.

    Of course, it’s not like there is a great shortage of examples of regulatory capture.

    Happy New Year, ‘ya bunch of Clusterfuckers!

    And thanks for the year’s work, JHK.

    • progress4what January 2, 2014 at 11:41 am #

      This is a test. Posted @ 11:31.

  52. progress4what December 31, 2013 at 3:44 pm #

    There’s a good side discussion of why societies leaders always have to be sociopaths – going on at ADR – for any of you who are interested.

    • progress4what January 2, 2014 at 11:42 am #

      Another test. Precisely 1:32

  53. progress4what December 31, 2013 at 3:49 pm #

    JHK – I’m not sure what Ozone said that caused you to react and threaten to kick him off the blog. I suspect you misunderstood something.

    K-dog, ufia, and Q –
    I’m no English teacher, doubtless to the relief of students everywhere

    • progress4what December 31, 2013 at 4:01 pm #

      oops, posted too early

      But, the phrase “generational awareness probably proceeds individual awareness,” doesn’t make as much sense as either of the two corrections that Q has suggested.

      Speaking of things that don’t make sense – TWO guys picking grammatical nits against CFN’s master nit-picker, and losing the nit-picking contest repeatedly doesn’t make sense.

      Of course, it’s not like there is a great shortage of examples of things that don’t make sense, either.

      Go ahead and attack me too, boys.

      Start your New Year(s) off right!

      Out ’till next year.

      • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 4:40 pm #

        “But, the phrase “generational awareness probably proceeds individual awareness,” doesn’t make as much sense as either of the two corrections that Q has suggested.” -Trog

        Wow, considering he was completely wrong but for a construction he finally presented which abandoned the original context entirely…. yeah, his editing was….better. Aside from that, offer an explanation as to why your assertion is anything other than a random brain fart in support of yer buddy. Explain grammatically, syntactically or otherwise why my sentence was incorrect. You can’t and didn’t even bother to try and find one, neither did he.

        You’re just another Troll, but you already knew this from a Google search, dincha?

    • progress4what January 2, 2014 at 11:43 am #

      Yet another test. Precisely 11:33.20

  54. Q. Shtik December 31, 2013 at 4:43 pm #

    “…so maybe my question of whether culture shapes the individual is answered.” – UFIA
    =========

    Picture an old man slumped over with his chin resting on his chest, lower lip protruding and a string of zzzzzzzzs drifting outward from his nose.

    P.S. It’s rest not wrest.

    • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 4:57 pm #

      Rest… yes, beat ya to that one… guess you missed it. But the Troll bait never fails.

      Picture an old man diligently watching his computer monitor, waiting to respond evasively to any challenge to his pretend authority, staying up til past midnight even, dribbling scotch from his slack lower lip. Smile, we’re watching you.

      P.S. You lost

  55. Q. Shtik December 31, 2013 at 4:49 pm #

    Yearend market wrap up sometime after midnight.

    Happy New Year!

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  56. Methane of Cawdor December 31, 2013 at 5:25 pm #

    Q. Shtik:

    I’ve bracketed my corrections.

    “In the sentence under discussion[,] UFIA chooses to place first[,] in the sentence[,] that which is second (namely, [“]generational awareness[“]) and places second that which is first ([“]individual awareness[“]). I, on the other hand, prefer to write from left to right[,] [t]hat is to say[,] in chronological order[, placing] first things first and second things second. Accordingly, if I had written the sentence in question[,] I would have said[,] “[i]ndividual awareness precedes generational awareness.” No need to say “probably” either. The instances when generational awareness precedes individual awareness must be infinitesimally small.”

    Also, I would have opted for “infinitesimal” instead of “infinitesimally small,” as “infinitesimal” is an adjective meaning “immeasurably or incalculably small.”

    Nice effort, though.

    • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 5:37 pm #

      Sweet. I guess it was all wasted energy after all. Point taken.

      lol

  57. j.louise December 31, 2013 at 6:02 pm #

    The “pretending” is right on the money, and it really is over. Here in Portland Oregon, which is far from wealthy but reasonably middle-class,, every mall Macy’s I went into seemed to have fully stocked ladies coats and clothes on the racks right up til Christmas. If people can’t afford to buy clothes, how long until they can’t afford to maintain a car? We have great public transportation, but no doubt about it–droves of people here are car-dependent. The winding down of Happy Motoring is happening. I can also see homeowners becoming so cash-strapped that they cannot afford to replace their furnace. Or cannot afford the power bill. Just a few years ago I saw Coach handbags everywhere—now I rarely see them. In McDonalds, I rarely see people ordering the Big Mac and Quarter Pounders—they buy the cheap McChicken and the cheapest burgers. On Fridays they’re all ordering the 2-for-1 fish sandwich. The cash-crunch is everywhere you look. Even upper-middle class families are in trouble because many of their adult children are not pulling their weight financially, and those seemingly juicy inheritances do not go far when you add up all the expenses and luxuries people require on a monthly/yearly basis. The money will not last.

    • hineshammer January 1, 2014 at 9:26 am #

      Ugh! You eat at McDonald’s?

      • j.louise January 4, 2014 at 11:43 pm #

        I shop at Whole Foods. Yes, I do go to McDonalds, mostly for beverages. McDonalds is one of many indicators of what is happening with the common people economically.

  58. K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 6:51 pm #

    “But you have to wonder what young adults weighed down by unpayable college debt think when they go to see them, because without a rebellion that millennial generation will not own their own lives either. They must know it, but they must not know what to do about it.”

    No rebellion possible! Take a look at this website. The top video explains how pervasive spying has become and how telephones are turned into passive microphones which surveille you and phone what they hear to the mother ship. That is eighteen minutes in. The reality is surveillance software is much more impressive and the phones of people you meet can be turned into passive microphones on the fly. GPS tracks you so all the phones around you are know and can become passive microphones. Twenty five minutes in is a commercial for surveillance software well worth watching. The conference from which these talks are taken is the 30C3: 30th Chaos Communication Congress which is ended today.

    To Protect and Infect: The militarization of the internet

    Millennials weighed down by unpayable college debt should consider any rebellion with phones and laptops in the trunk of someone’s car before discussing any plans. Can young adults go that long without their phones? Probably not so rebellion isn’t in the cards.

    The second video on the page is the same one I posted last night which has now been buried on the first page of comments. I had actually found that one on Zero Hedge and it will be turning up in quite a few places. If you watch it you will know why. I’ll post the link again.

    Jacob Applebaum & does the NSA break into your house.”

    Yes they do. And if you belong to a health club they know that too. I repeat that phrase again because it rhymes. Millennials would be wise to consider the venue they meet in to plan a rebellion too. Big daddy will be interested. It actually would be quite hard to pull off with cameras everywhere. Most likely any ‘terrorism’ would be stopped before anybody knew what was going on even if all they were planning to do was camp in a park. Merely watching movements of suspicious people can unmask a group.

    • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 6:54 pm #

      Forgot the closing tag in the last link. I’m surprised it works.

    • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 7:03 pm #

      which is ended today.

      Yeah I should not have the is there. But it is what it is.

      • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 7:13 pm #

        “It is what it is.” -Dog

        Excellent motto!

  59. K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 7:11 pm #

    The second link in my last comment has been pulled from youtube. You can still watch the video (second one down) from the first link but probably not for long.

    Better hurry, this isn’t a copyright issue. This is censorship.

  60. UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 7:15 pm #

    Dog… all three worked for me…What gives
    on your end?

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    • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 7:27 pm #

      If I try the youtube links by themselves I get “This video is currently unavailable” for both of them. I never ran into that before and frequently click on the youtube logo in the bottom right corner to watch on youtube.com. I like to do that when I watch a video to see what else is related and available to what I’m watching.

      Note that PRIVACYSOS (the website) says that:

      Please note that by playing this clip YouTube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer.

      As popular as I know I am with the NSA I could give a rip.

  61. Pucker December 31, 2013 at 7:22 pm #

    Happy New Year!

    I hope that you take many scalps in the New Year!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyVXBbdFo-M

  62. UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 7:35 pm #

    Please note that by playing this clip YouTube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. -From the site

    As in a cookie that cannot be cleared using Webroot Security Complete and its system optimizer to clean such things?

    Interesting.

    • Pucker December 31, 2013 at 7:41 pm #

      What’s a “Long Term Cookie”?

      Is it like a “Tough Cookie”?

      • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 7:46 pm #

        Good question….k-dog?

        But wait a minute, isn’t Pucker an agent? Can never be sure.

        • Pucker December 31, 2013 at 8:14 pm #

          When I was a kid my favorite were Chocolate Chip Cookies, but now I prefer Oatmeal Cookies.

          • Pucker December 31, 2013 at 8:16 pm #

            Do I have a “Long Term Cookie”?

            I always wear a rubber…..

          • UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 8:22 pm #

            Holly smokes, you really are an agent, aren’t you? I thought there was something freakishly awkward about the evangelistic, creepy lookin’ smile in the photo.

            So what is it about this blog and the regulars that has the NSA so interested/ threatened?… maybe just help someone as oblivious to the American uprising that just ’round the corner figger it all out, huh?

  63. UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 8:24 pm #

    But i guess holly, can’t smoke…holy smokes…..I’m fukin’ bored

  64. UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 8:33 pm #

    Well, dog…. if you are being surveilled I commend you for maintaining your wits through it all.

    Later

  65. Pucker December 31, 2013 at 8:41 pm #

    I notice that in the supermarket now they sell “Free Range Chickens”, and “Free Range Eggs”, etc.

    I wonder if there’s such a thing as “Free Range Sperm”?

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  66. bob December 31, 2013 at 9:14 pm #

    Why not be content with the status quo, and go along with whatever they come up with?

    • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 11:43 pm #

      Because the status quo is not in your best interest. The status quo needs to go.

  67. UnstoppableFarceImmovableAbject December 31, 2013 at 10:46 pm #

    Wow… OK so I’m about to head out to go party for the New Year and I got this really strange sort of premonition type feeling suddenly.

    So I’ve snickered at K-dog in the past for his constant, seemingly unwarranted, paranoia regarding the whole NSA internet spying and agent provocateur stuff. I new the whole story was generally legit and far reaching, but I guess I doubted the proximity of it all. Silly me. ANyhow, dog thought me an agent for a time, and I blew it off as inflated coincidence; came to believe the dog was just a little nuts but otherwise cool. Well, turns out his suspicions were more than warranted…????

    I was joking earlier when the Pucker character suddenly interjected himself into our banter, and I quipped about his spy-ish-ness and the photo used to represent him resembling one of those televangelist type images. You know that Rev. Billy Graham(?) kinda look. Well, that’s exactly what it is…er…who it is?

    https://www.ernestangley.org/estore/product/faith_in_god_heals_the_sick

    Yeah, so I right clicked on Puck’s photo just for the hell of it..selected view image…opened a JPEG file in another tab…read the caption ernest-angley-40×40.jpg…..Googled the name….found the site above. Wondered if that could actually be the guy posting? He does say a lot of weird religious stuff here, sorta like Janos, but far more intelligent…. in that oddly detached yet lurking sort of manner. Puck says things that let you know he’s paying attention but he never fully responds or holds a conversation. Anyway, I’m sure someone much smarter and more alert than me already pointed this out about our friend Puck, but I musta missed it. Duh!

    Now I’m totally buggin’ like K-dog… thinkin’ everyone here is an agent…. kickin’ myself for blowin’ off steam and talkin’ unnecessary crap. Hell,I even use an internet picktcher of my fave moto GP rider, but I announced this awhile back. Lesson learned….the suspicion about everything and everyone is best left to the quietly noisy recesses of my mind. bye FOREVER, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Now to continue to gettin drunk with a totally stupid story to tell the homiez. Ha! So long 2013.

    • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 11:28 pm #

      Don’t bug out. Something is going on but if you try to hard to figure it out you will wind up obsessing and your own life will go down the tubes. If they throw a stick it does not mean you have to chase it. I’m the boss of me. Don’t let them be the boss of you. If you read a snippet of conversation you have had on the telephone in a comment here remember it could be coincidence. If they think you are bugging out you have made their day. From a personal point of view I’ve seen hard evidence but note that I don’t go on and on about it any more. If the spirit moves me I’ll put out a comment here and there especially if I’m being poked with a stick. But I’m not out to expose well connected trolls like I was a while back. If I did that strange things could start happening to me again. They are well connected. The poking of the stick can go both ways. And the truth is nobody cares.

      Have you noticed the time stamp on comments is never quite right. The time on my computers is always exact but here it is another story. I’ll be checking the time when I hit submit and see how far it is off. My time is now 8:18.

      • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 11:29 pm #

        Correcting for the Pacific time zone it is off by exactly ten minutes.

        • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 11:30 pm #

          This time.

    • K-Dog December 31, 2013 at 11:38 pm #

      If it was really a picture of Pucker the suit would be jet black. The shirt is white enough but they don’t wear ties.

  68. BleatToTheBeat January 1, 2014 at 12:10 am #

    From the BBC…

    “Jahi McMath

    Jahi McMath, 13, had a tonsillectomy this month to treat a sleep disorder but she began bleeding heavily after surgery and went into cardiac arrest.

    Her family says there is still hope for recovery.

    However, the Children’s Hospital & Research Center, which carried out the procedure, wants to turn off her ventilator.”

    So…

    Vlad.

    Would you like to have the honors?

    Happy New Year!!

    • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 4:26 pm #

      Are you kidding? Her comatose body should be carried around the country in triumph by her White Slaves. I’m not kidding: groups of White kids have toured with Black Cripple “friends” to the absolute delight of everyone. Look at him: he’s a Black Crip. My God those White kids are so lucky!

      Some of the sick Cultures of Meso-America worshiped mongoloids. This is the same kind of thing. Admit it: if she was enshrined, you would make a pilgrimage to see her. Blacks are your religion. For some, it’s Jews. Don’t y’all fight now, y’hear?

  69. BleatToTheBeat January 1, 2014 at 1:10 am #

    C’mon y’all!

    Don’t chicken out now.

    What was it Ron Paul said….

    LET THE MOTHERFUCKER DIE!!

    With a sound track, of course.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwsl-SuOEXc

  70. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 2:29 am #

    To BeanTownBill,

    I think you were the only commenter to pay any attention last month (Nov 27th @ 6:17pm) when I discussed the history of when the DOW most frequently reaches its high point during each year. Namely, during the last week of December and most frequently the last trading day.

    Based on this history I “suggested” that the 2013 DOW high would occur on Dec 26, 27, 30 or 31. Well, the results are in. The DOW hit both its intraday and closing highs for 2013 on Dec 31st. The DOW also made intraday and/or closing highs on the 26th, 27th, and 30th which held only until superseded by the following days trading.

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  71. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 2:39 am #

    “Correcting for the Pacific time zone it is off by exactly ten minutes.” – Dog
    ==========

    I calculate 9 mins. but close enough for govt work. This is something I have pointed out several times but no one ever acknowledged. I am going to click submit on this post the split second my computer clock reads 2:29. Lets see what the time stamp says.

    • Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 2:40 am #

      OK, this time the diff is 10 mins.

      • BleatToTheBeat January 1, 2014 at 2:52 am #

        The computer algorithyms now trade in a nanosecond time frame.

        Are you trying to cull suckers?

        Are you fucking for real?

        So at what time do the government interventions happen?

        At what time does Jim Cramer snort too much coke and go fishing with 10 million dollars of “play money”.

        You’re a genius.

        • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 11:04 am #

          You need medication.

          • Lord Blaby of Lawson January 1, 2014 at 12:51 pm #

            Wouldn’t a gym membership be healthier, or an Adam Curtis DVD collection?

  72. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 12:25 pm #

    This sounds pretty sensible to me:

    On August 04, 2013, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, addressed the Duma, (Russian Parliament), and gave a speech about the tensions with minorities in Russia:

    “In Russia live like Russians.

    Any minority, from anywhere, if it wants to live in Russia, to work and eat in Russia, should speak Russian, and should respect the Russian laws.

    If they prefer Sharia Law, and live the life of Muslim’s then we advise them to go to those places where that’s the state law.

    Russia does not need Muslim minorities. Minorities need Russia, and we will not grant them special privileges, or try to change our laws to fit their desires, no matter how loud they yell ‘discrimination’.

    We will not tolerate disrespect of our Russian culture.

    We better learn from the suicides of America, England, Holland and France, if we are to survive as a nation.

    The Muslims are taking over those countries and they will not take over Russia.

    The Russian customs and traditions are not compatible with the lack of culture or the primitive ways of Sharia Law and Muslims.

    When this honorable legislative body thinks of creating new laws, it should have in mind the Russian national interest first, observing that the Muslims Minorities Are Not Russians.”

    The politicians in the Duma gave Putin a five minute standing ovation.

    • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 12:36 pm #

      Sounds like he his not going to put up with product labels printed in three languages with printing so small that none of them can be read.

      Someone should clue him in on one point though. Concerning Muslims taking over America. Muslims are not taking over; fear of them is.

      But hey, nobody’s perfect.

    • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 6:54 pm #

      They have a much bigger Muslim problem they we do. We are envious and are trying to catch up. Don’t want to have a Muslim gap.

      They are doomed unless they jettison the Muslim areas from their empire and deport the millions already in.

  73. Carl Grimes January 1, 2014 at 12:33 pm #

    I believe that this weeks article is an excellent example of one of Jim’s major themes, which is what happens when large numbers of people in a group either can’t or won’t accept the truth.

    • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 1:04 pm #

      But what is happening? We have not yet ceased from pretending.

      Is it the final act of the freak show or will we have to wait until 2015? Seems the forces of nature are ignored with ever more ingenious talent.

      Jim concludes with:

      “2014 could be the year that the forces of Nature compel our attention and give us a reason to stop all this pretending.”

      But Dmitry Orlov says on his blog this week:

      The system is resilient and self-regulating and can go on and on. Until it can’t. But nobody knows when that will be. Not even I.

      Of course the system is really not self regulating and the situation is more comparable to a hot air balloon with a big rip in in its side. Currently altitude is maintained by throwing the sick, the old, the unemployed, and millennials over the side but eventual crash is inevitable.

      Those remaining in the balloon hope that they will be long gone before the inevitable crash. An attitude which has a rank stink emanating from most, but with leaders the stench is reprehensible.

      I’d say place your bets on when the crash will happen but there is no pot to win so I won’t. Resilience is an illusion.

  74. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 1, 2014 at 12:49 pm #

    Thanks for posting that, Q. Shtik. Putin is brave enough to speak the truth and live by it. If he were a candidate in the U.S., I’d vote for him and I haven’t voted in decades. He would have my full faith and confidence. He’s not afraid, or too compromised, to call a spade a spade, and a Muslim a Muslim. Gore Vidal always thought the U.S. should merge with Russia. I agree with him. The U.S. and Russia should merge with Putin President of the new entity. United, we can drive the ever-growing Muslim hordes back to the barren desert where they belong. They don’t respect, appreciate or deserve Civilization.

    • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 1:20 pm #

      Ever-growing Muslim hordes?

      There are less than 2 million Muslims in the United States, representing about 0.5% of the total population. You are a hate mongering myth maker and if you moved to a barren desert we’d be better off.

  75. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 1, 2014 at 12:57 pm #

    K-Dog, can you do us all a favor and quit following your posts with corrections of your previous posts? Please? Pretty please with sprinkles on top? Nobody cares whether your hastily prepared diatribes are grammatically correct. Not even Q. Shtik. If you think Q. does care, you’ve missed the point. In fact, nobody cares what you opine, period. So why do you continue with such zealous passion? It’s not as if you’re going to persuade anyone here or anywhere else. The reason you post what you do is precisely because you have no ability to influence anyone, and the sooner you accept that, the less energy you’ll waste trying to convince yourself of the opposite.

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    • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 1:04 pm #

      No

    • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 1:08 pm #

      An I’ve not missed the point.

      • Lord Blaby of Lawson January 1, 2014 at 1:15 pm #

        You need medication. I say that because obviously the gym membership and Adam Curtis DVD collection haven’t worked for you. In fact, they’ve only made things worse. There’s still time for you, but it’s running out. Hurry while supplies last.

        • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 1:22 pm #

          Figures you’d bring up Adam Curtis, I was expecting you would. He does explain why you are here in significant detail.

          • Lord Blaby of Lawson January 1, 2014 at 1:25 pm #

            I am not here in specific detail. I’m here in vague and ambiguous notions. So Curtis is wrong and so too are you.

          • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 1:34 pm #

            You are splitting hairs, of course your notions are presented as vague and ambiguous or as outright untruths. Like Obama being a Muslim. That is your intent; to dissemble and dilute.

          • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 1:38 pm #

            You wrote.

            So Curtis is wrong and so too are you.

            I don’t think the ‘too’ adds anything it flows better this way:

            So Curtis is wrong and so are you.

          • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 1:41 pm #

            And I suffer from run-on. Two sentences or at least a comma would have been better.

            I don’t think the ‘too’ adds anything. It flows better this way.

        • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 2:47 pm #

          How do you know I have a Adam Curtis DVD collection. You know I did not watch them online, I’ll give you that. But that does not mean I have them on DVD.

      • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 1:18 pm #

        Ooops,

        And I’ve not missed the point.

        • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 7:07 pm #

          Have you read Looking Backward by Bellamy? Here is an American Socialism, clean and peaceful. None of the foreign names, long overcoats, or hairy, bearded, bomb throwers that Ozone loves so much. Too boring, right? No juice! You want action!

  76. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 1, 2014 at 1:23 pm #

    Someone should clue him in on one point though. Concerning Muslims taking over America. Muslims are not taking over; fear of them is.

    Where have you been for the past several years? Chasing imaginary squirrels? The President of the United States is Muslim. What more proof do you need? Get a clue, or in the least some medication.

  77. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 1:45 pm #

    I agree. Great post. It’s concise and to the point, not some long-winded tirade like some around here. – Dražen Univac commenting humorously on Q.’s blank post.
    ==========

    For the benefit of Janos who is curious as to whether my blank post carried some profound message……..I hate to disappoint you. Here’s the story:

    Our host, JHK, chided/warned a couple of commenters early on Monday about stupidity (Lord Blaby) etc. Jim appeared to have attempted placing one or two excerpts from the offensive comments within brackets. He chose to use the “less than” and “greater than” math symbols as brackets. Those symbols appeared but with no words between them. Understand………this is my speculation.

    But, I have learned that those particular math symbols seem to have been reserved by the system only for use in creating italicized and bolded words. If you try typing those symbols for any other purpose they, and the words they contain, will not appear. If you are more computer savvy than I am there IS some way to make the symbols appear but not the words they contain. Thus, somehow, Jim’s brackets appeared but nothing within them.

    I wanted to run a test on what I have just described. I wrote ‘this is a test’ and bracketed it with the aforementioned math symbols. I clicked submit and nothing appeared.

    • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 1:57 pm #

      How to type symbols, accents, special characters, and weird punctuation

      You want to look at the ‘In HTML:’ line.

      ⟨ ⟩

      • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 2:00 pm #

        < Those were angle brackets. I really wanted less than and greater than symbols. >

        Don’t forget the semicolons on the end. It is easy to do.

    • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 6:59 pm #

      Oh. What about the proceeds? Where I come from profit precedes labor. That’s why I’m reading Looking Backwards again. To turn myself around.

      Oh and I did thank you for the Down info when you first posted it.

  78. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 2:19 pm #

    “He does explain why you are here in significant detail.” – Dog
    ===========

    I hate having to explain or justify why I post corrections to other’s comments. Doing so is not related to the beliefs or ideology of the commenter……it is simply my desire to see these commenters do a better job of expressing themselves.

    A perfect example is the excerpt from Dog above which Blaby instantly recognized and spoofed for its poor sentence structure. Grammarians have a name for this. I’m not sure what it is….a “split infinitive” perhaps?

    I hope and pray Dog sees that the sentence should have read “He does explain in significant detail why you are here.”

    • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 2:37 pm #

      The way I wrote it is the way people actually talk. I like yours better, but this is a case of six of one or half a dozen of another. I doubt the way I wrote it breaks any grammar rule. He was not spoofing me for my sentence structure. He was spoofing me for other reasons.

  79. K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 2:24 pm #

    “The pretence and distortions start at the top of American life with a President who broadcasts the message that some kind of “recovery” has occurred in the economic affairs of the country. Either he just wants the public feel better, or he is misled by the people and agencies in his own government

    Misled indeed, some of those agencies have a profound disrespect for the American people.

    NSA calls the iPhone using public ‘zombies’ who pay for their own surveillance.

    There are reasons why his approval rating drops like a stone. It is now below 40%. He is a boy in a bubble; à la Michael Jackson.

    A “recovery”, I don’t think so. The lies have become mendacious.

    Employment-Population Ratio

    • Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 2:40 pm #

      Dog, let me start off the new year by saying, first, that I agree with the message of your comment.

      Then, allow me to point out how greatly improved one of your sentences would be by simply inserting two hyphens:

      NSA calls the iPhone-using-public ‘zombies’ who pay for their own surveillance.

  80. San Jose January 1, 2014 at 3:03 pm #

    Feeling a bit uneasy about medical insurance today. Our family signed up for the California version of Obamacare in advance of the deadline. We’ve tried to confirm that we are covered, but have been unable to do so. Apparently, we are going to get a bill on January 6th.

    Wishing for a healthy 2014!

    San Jose Mom

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    • Dave January 1, 2014 at 3:18 pm #

      Why wouldn’t you accept the coverage offered by your husband’s employer and avoid the ACA rigamarole as much as possible?

      • San Jose January 1, 2014 at 4:20 pm #

        My husband is retired from Intel. The coverage for a family of four costs $2,800. a month through the Intel retirement program.

        • Dave January 1, 2014 at 4:27 pm #

          You describe yourself as “Mom” so I’m assuming you are still of child-rearing age. Is that correct, especially since you’re seeking family coverage? If so, how much older is your husband than you? Just doing the math, if he’s similar in age to you, isn’t that too early to retire? And if he retired early because you’re fabulously wealthy after a highly successful corporate career, what’s the big deal about paying $2,800/month? How much less will it be for the same exact coverage through the California exchange?

          • Karah January 3, 2014 at 9:21 am #

            Employer healthcare coverage does not have to be a family plan.

            She can apply separately for Obamacare.

            Her college age son will automatically have healthcare through the university clinic.

    • beantownbill. January 1, 2014 at 7:51 pm #

      Jen, i read an article earlier today about people enrolling for Obamacare before the deadline, needing medical care now and finding out they aren’t covered until they pay their first bill. It seems you may not have coverage until at least January 6th. For preventative measures, if I were you, I’d call both your insurer and your health care provider to learn what their policies are concerning the first bill payment. Or you can decide to gamble, hoping you won’t need medical care for another several days. I don’t know how the state of California is going to handle this issue. Some hospitals and insurance companies may not deny coverage. In any event, you ought to contact them to find out where you stand.

      • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 11:23 pm #

        I heard the same. Show them some money and they’ll figure out the exacts later.

  81. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 4:20 pm #

    “You want to look at the ‘In HTML:’ line.” – Dog giving Q. HTML instructions
    ==========

    I don’t know what you mean. Where do I find an ‘In HTML:’ line?

    • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 8:38 pm #

      Follow the link. I lifted ‘In HTML:’ right off the page. I just tested the link to make sure it works, it does.

  82. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 4:46 pm #

    ;

    • Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 4:48 pm #

      ^This was another failed test.

      • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 11:21 pm #

        Mon Dieu!

  83. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 5:14 pm #

    The latest from Fred:

    http://www.fredoneverything.net/Sowell.shtml

    • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 7:50 pm #

      Haven’t I been saying exactly the same thing for years? It’s not working and it’s not going to work. And the more the Elite and the Blacks savage Whites, the more we will hate both of them.

      • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 8:35 pm #

        After reading that one could think you are Fred. My bet is on you are not.

        • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 10:45 pm #

          that you are not

    • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 8:43 pm #

      I’m not sure Fred remains an expert. I’m not saying he is wrong but he has been in Mexico and living off tequila and memories for a while now. I’m sure a current picture of him would show a nose that is much more red-purple in color.

      • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 10:54 pm #

        The Tide is turning. The Folk are awakening. It must be hard on you and your ilk. We are going to win one way or another, by hook or by crook. Consider things you hate: “Nazis”, Corporations, The Government. One of these things doesn’t fit. They hate us. The Anti-Fas are fine. The Anti-Fas demonstrate for Mexican workers on Home Depot property. They get light sentences if any for their violence. They ARE the Government as it appears on the street. The Antis don’t know any of this of course. Like you they think the Corporations and Government are racist. But it’s just not reality and you can’t make it be so. Blacks are put ahead of Whites at every turn. One has to blind not to see that. That so few of them can take advantage of this is just a testimony to what I’ve been saying.

  84. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 5:17 pm #

    Rose Bowl time….

    • K-Dog January 1, 2014 at 8:44 pm #

      Fred nose time.

  85. Ray Czechowski January 1, 2014 at 5:19 pm #

    There’s some great new products out there. Such creativity and imagination. For example, I received one of these as a Christmas gift this year. I didn’t request it. In fact, I don’t even know who it’s from. I received it anonymously from UPS. It came in a gift-wrapped box nestled inside a larger packing box. The note was typed and said “You’ll be needing this.” Cryptic and cool. Thank you to the person or persons who sent it. Now, what to do with it? I don’t know where to start, or even if I should start. It didn’t come with instructions. I guess whoever sent it figured it was self-explanatory but I’m drawing a blank. I guess in time, its point or purpose will come to me. Or maybe it’s just symbolic. It’d make a nice wall piece and a hell of a party favor, so I suppose that’s what I’ll do with it until further clarification of its intent and purpose.

    http://zombiehammer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/zombiehammerTraumahawk.jpg

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    • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 7:03 pm #

      The best would have just been boxes inside of beautiful boxes. All space and no substance. Maximum utility as Lao Tzu. Inside the Holies of Holies was just nothing. An “empty” room full of God.

      • beantownbill. January 1, 2014 at 7:54 pm #

        Boxes full of nothing won’t help if you are attacked by a ravening group of starving people looking for food by invading your home.

      • beantownbill. January 1, 2014 at 8:11 pm #

        My wife grew up in Mattapan and graduated from the Jeremiah Burke High School. When I asked her if she had any conflicts with the Blacks there, she said the Whites and Blacks kept each to themselves, so there were no problems. I believe the real problems started with forced busing, but by that time my wife had moved out.

        Today, I sometimes have to go to J.P., or the hospitals, and I have to go across Blue Hill Avenue. It still gives me the Heebee-Jeebies when I drive through at night. I hate it when I have to stop at a red light there. I’m thinking that from now on I’ll take my 2 friends, Smith & Wesson along for the ride.

        • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 10:36 pm #

          Some will say I corrupted you. Some will say I created you. I say I merely chiseled away the extraneous to reveal what was already there.

          Those are fine friends. Your co-ethnics in New York City don’t have that right – thanks to your co-ethnics in New York City. Bloomberg is half crazy but stop and frisk is the only thing that made the City half safe. It’s against the Constitution but as Adams said, it was never meant for everyone but only godly people. Our Rights cannot be preserved in the face of this onslaught. And even if they are, they become meaningless without the right of free association – without which the pursuit of happiness is impossible and our very lives are put in danger. Liberty alone doesn’t cut it.

    • beantownbill. January 1, 2014 at 7:34 pm #

      It is a nasty-looking tomahawk to be used as an offensive weapon, and possibly for self-defense when the SHTF. Whoever sent it was looking out for you.

      • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 7:53 pm #

        And never forget how the Blacks drove the Jews out of Roxbury with terror.

        • beantownbill. January 1, 2014 at 7:59 pm #

          Well, you know how people are, many of them could see the handwriting on the wall, and left earlier. I had several cousins living in Mattapan who sold their homes and moved out to Stoneham and Randolph. Poor Randolph, it’s now turned into a crime-ridden pit. It’s like the hordes are slowly following them.

          • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 10:25 pm #

            Yes, they will always follow us – to other planets if we let them. We have to build a Wall. But first the Wall must be built inside ourselves. Your people perfected the art of living alone with others. Others are around but not seen as real or fully human. We must learn the same art until we can rebuild our Nations again.

          • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 10:45 pm #

            Alas poor Randolph. His red nose is that of an Irish drunk. The Spooks wait for closing time and then pounce on the besotted revelers. Sometimes they get more than they bargain for though. A horror of public intoxication is a Jewish virtue I admire – apropos of nothing.

  86. beantownbill. January 1, 2014 at 8:22 pm #

    I just want to wish CFNers a great 2014 (who would have thunk that we’ve made it to 2014. I’m still trying to get my mind around that. Last time I looked, it seemed that it was 1967 and the Summer of Love).

    Marlin, O3, RT and any other New England CFNers, get ready for the storm. Last I heard, my area is getting 10-15 inches. I’m prepared to bunk in and drink enough Amaretto to not care how much snow we get.

  87. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 8:48 pm #

    “Inside the Holies of Holies…” – Janos
    ==========

    Should be Holy of Holies.

    • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 10:39 pm #

      You shall precede me to the grave but not into Heaven. You haven’t sought your treasure where no moths and rust could corrupt it. Other men shall make merry with your gold and silver.

      http://www.turnbacktogod.com/read-me-or-rue-it-ebook-on-purgatory/

      We make Purgatory if we are very lucky. The tortures are beyond description but we’ll be happy since Heaven is assured.

  88. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 10:39 pm #

    “Rest… yes, beat ya to that one… guess you missed it. But the Troll bait never fails.” – UFIA
    ============

    To all readers here…..whenever you spot what you believe is an error (spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc.) in one of MY comments be advised it is not an actual error……rather, just like UFIA’s, it was inserted deliberately as “troll bait.”

  89. beantownbill. January 1, 2014 at 10:41 pm #

    @Janos:

    The Chinese even more so than us Jews live alone within American society. At least with my people I feel we are both part of and separate from society. With the Chinese, I always feel they are hiding something from us, and I never seem to know what they are feeling. Just my experience.

    • Janos Skorenzy January 1, 2014 at 10:59 pm #

      They despise us for letting them in. Such weakness! Did you see that article I posted about the Black Scientist in China? He married a Chinese, and wants nothing to do with his own inferior race. He converted to Judaism too. Shazam! Now there’s a man who knows which side his bread is buttered on. Chabad has a few Temples there already. Just like some Jews moved out of Roxbury, some are moving out of the dying West to China.

      • beantownbill. January 1, 2014 at 11:08 pm #

        I read that although China has Jews, they number only a thousand or two. Now there’s a potent combination, by your own statements. Imagine the offspring of a Chinese and a Jew. Actually, my nephew married a 3rd generation, pure-blooded Chinese and has a son who is two years old. I think it will be interesting to watch him growing up and seeing what he becomes as a person.

  90. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 10:52 pm #

    &ltthis is a test&gt

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  91. beantownbill. January 1, 2014 at 11:00 pm #

    @janos:

    Nah, you didn’t corrupt me. I’m nowhere near as extreme as you. I make my judgments one individual at a time. I’s just as Bill Belichick says, ” It is what it is.” Too many people have become statistics in the areas I mentioned, and to ignore that is foolish.

    However, I also judge the bad guys one person at a time, or as a specific group of aquaintences/friends who may be bad actors. Taking humanity as a group, a certain percentage of all people shouldn’t be allowed in polite society, regardless of race or ethnicity. You know that in the future there will be prison planets or space stations ala the Australia of old. And that isn’t a bad thing, because we don’t, I think, want to eliminate the willful and the bold from our genetic heritage. We just don’t want them perpetrating violence and crime upon us. These types of persons are Black, White and Yellow.

    • Janos Skorenzy January 2, 2014 at 12:07 am #

      I figured you’d backtrack once I pointed to it. But what you said you said. It’s on record – for eternity. Gotcha! Lo the Devil laughs with glee! You and I both know that in your heart you know more Blacks, far more, are bad.

      Poor Britain is shivering in terror. Some high E.U negotiations are finished and now hundreds of thousands of Roma are expected to begin arriving. Those people are a nightmare, but according to political correctness, they are just folks. So people have to pretend they’re fine with it while making preparations to move, etc. Others really believe and will only find out when the Gypsies or Blacks move right next door. How do you deal with it as a Realtor? Just kidding. Those are the big secrets, eh?

      • beantownbill. January 2, 2014 at 1:14 am #

        I dealt a lot with Gypsies for a brief time about 35 years ago. Boy, what a piece of work they were. I had to make sure my every body part was still attached after being with them. At least the ones I knew had larcenous genes like you wouldn’t beleive. I never met a group of people I mistrusted more. But in a strange way they were honest because they made it obvious, with no attempt at subtlety, that they would try to take everything from you that wasn’t tied down. It was weirdly exhilarating, albeit exhausting, to be around them. That is one group of people I can understand that others may not want as neighbors.

        Really, what a fascinating culture. You have to have an open mind to associate with them.

        • Janos Skorenzy January 2, 2014 at 2:00 am #

          I saw a great clip where they unleashed a professional pick pocket on the Roma, in Rome I believe. The Roma guy got his wallet but somehow the thief got the Roma’s watch right off his wrist. The Thief called him back and showed him the watch. The Roma (plural – they work in groups) roared with laughter and appreciation. It was like two martial artists working out.

  92. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 11:09 pm #

    <this is a test>

  93. Q. Shtik January 1, 2014 at 11:13 pm #

    < this is another test >

  94. beantownbill. January 1, 2014 at 11:23 pm #

    @Janos:

    I, like most Jews, aren’t addicted to alcohol, but I’ll tell you, I’ve had my share of public intoxication. I am a mellow, funny and pleasant drunk, not a mean one, so I don’t mind that I’ve been drunk at public places. I’ve, to my knowledge, never offended anyone by being drunk.

    I remember being really intoxicated at a wedding reception for a relative of my wife. The bride and her family were WASPs and very straight-laced, but nice people. I got so drunk I couldn’t keep my head raised and ended up slouched with my head on the shoulder of the mother-in-law, who knew me from Adam. I was polite, but probably semi-incoherent, yet the woman was very gracious. I bet I showed her about stereotyping Jews.

    • Janos Skorenzy January 2, 2014 at 12:09 am #

      You bad apple you! And you seemed like such a nice boy…. Glad your Bubby can’t see you now.

      • beantownbill. January 2, 2014 at 12:58 am #

        Why, you’ve hit it on the head. She would probably pour me a big hit of applejack. Or vodka. She was a tough, old Russian Babushka. Or Polish, because in the old days who knew where the borders werein any given year?

  95. Janos Skorenzy January 2, 2014 at 3:56 am #

    There aint but one answer. Succession. The Kdogs aint a gonna stop their Robin Hood ways of takin’ our money and givin’ to drunks, punks, and pregnant minorities.

    http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2014/01/01/parting-company-n1769958/page/full

    Kdog’s mad because Obama aint givin ’em enuf while givin the Corpsies too much. I’s agree with that last point.

    http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2014/01/01/parting-company-n1769958/page/full

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  96. Janos Skorenzy January 2, 2014 at 4:15 am #

    Now for the rest of the story. That ship down near Antarctica? It’s full of Globowarmthinkers. They went down there to document what isn’t happening, namely the melting ice. Same thing happened a few years ago: an expedition on the continent needed to be rescued from severe cold and snow. They were amazed at how cold it was. They thought they were going to see large lakes from all the melting.

    The Sour Krauts will not learn. They insist on banging their head against a brick wall hoping the wall will break first. It wont. Reality is Conservative and only the Conservative will survive the die off. Nature and Nature’s God keep trying to tell them with various Ayat (Arabic) or Signs. She and He have sent heavy snow storms to various Global Warming Conferences even in early winter. The one in London was particularly humiliating due to the large windows in the conference hall.

    http://vault-co.blogspot.com/2013/12/globowarmthinkistsexpedient-food.html

    • sauerkraut January 2, 2014 at 12:58 pm #

      Well, Janos, I see that you have not replied to my rebuttal (upstream). Why don’t you go and try?

  97. BackRowHeckler January 2, 2014 at 7:50 am #

    How about the new Mayor in NYC, Bill DeBlasio? He’s a piece of work, isn’t he? He want to increase bennies for everybody but at the same time hammer down Wall Street. Well, who’s gonna pay for those bennies? New York Libs are getting exactly what they deserve.

    New Mayor in New Haven, black woman, a new beginning, a new day etc. etc. What’s new? A few hours before the swearing in two people were shot to death right on the street. Some new beginning.

    –BRH

  98. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 2, 2014 at 8:55 am #

    Thanks for bringing that to our attention, BRH. Have you looked at this clown’s bio? He’s cut from the same cloth, extruded from the the same vat, as Obama. They are similar in so many respects.

    1.) Both have changed their names during their life to suit the zeitgeist. De Blasio was born Warren Wilhelm, Jr. He changed it legally to Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm in 1983 and then he legally changed it again to Bill de Blasio in 2002 but had been referring to himself as such for many years before making this last legal change. I wonder what he’ll be calling himself next?

    2.) Both he and Obama graduated from Columbia, that bastion of Liberalism. Warren also attended another Liberal stronghold, NYU. He is the quintessential Liberal, at least on paper.

    3.) Like Obama, he’s a self-described community organizer and his resume supports it. In fact, I’d say his community-organizing resume is far more impressive than Obama’s. According to Wikipedia, “in 1988, de Blasio traveled with the Quixote Center to Nicaragua for 10 days to help distribute food and medicine during the Nicaraguan Revolution. De Blasio was an ardent supporter of the ruling Sandinista government, which was at that time opposed by the Reagan administration.”

    Of interesting note, the community organizer couldn’t keep his children away from drugs. His daughter is an avowed substance abuser. Maybe if he focused more on his family and less on his public image and personal aggrandizement, Chiara (his daughter’s name, I kid you not) wouldn’t have picked up the crack pipe. His son’s name is Dante. So, we have Dante and Chiara. Gee, that’s not too pretentious and perfectly predictable, is it?

    Apparently, like Obama, he doesn’t affiliate himself with his rogue birth Father. Daddy was an alcoholic, and from the description of him, he sounds like the character Freddie Quell in the movie The Master. Daddy suicided himself in 1979 when he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. If only more people would take this route, perhaps we could right the sinking healthcare ship.

  99. progress4what January 2, 2014 at 9:32 am #

    Hey Backrow –

    Are you standing in this line? It looks like a group of law-abiding citizens – not a gang-banger among them.

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12/31/looks-like-weimar-germany-the-viral-photo-out-of-connecticut-thats-giving-some-gun-owners-chills/

  100. progress4what January 2, 2014 at 9:37 am #

    Regarding Vladamir Putin’s Doma speech –

    Apparently, he didn’t really say those things that Q’s link attributed to him.

    http://www.hoax-slayer.com/putin-duma-speech-sharia-law.shtml

    Although Putin shows more intelligence and guts than any US regional president since Jeff Davis. hah!

    “We must create the conditions for immigrants to normally integrate into our society, learn Russian and, of course, respect our culture and traditions and abide by Russian law. In this regard, I believe that the decision to make learning the Russian language compulsory and administer exams is well grounded. To do so, we will need to carry out major organisational work and introduce corresponding legislative amendments.” ….v. putin….

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  101. progress4what January 2, 2014 at 9:42 am #

    And it appears that we are about to roll over to a new page of comments – forever marooning the previous two pages in the mists of the unsearchable internet – a sort of purgatory of no return.

    K-Dog, I see you finally admitting some frustration with this. I wrote JHK about it (because he threatened to ban me about another matter) and he said he didn’t have time to “fuck around” with changing/managing the comment thread – or words to that effect.

    On another subject, K9, do you still think I’m a government agent, even after our email exchanges?

    • K-Dog January 2, 2014 at 11:13 am #

      It is a federal crime to be in possession of a lobster below a particular size limit. It doesn’t matter if you bought the critter at a grocery store, if someone gave it to you, or if it is dead or alive. If it is dead, it does not matter if it died of natural causes or if you killed it in self defence. You can go to jail because of a lobster.

      • Karah January 3, 2014 at 8:32 am #

        Okay….and…what would prevent the criminal from immediately boiling and disassembling the parts in order to prevent accurate measurement and discovery?

        How can I possibly be certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that my lobster bisque is federally kosher?

        • progress4what January 3, 2014 at 3:04 pm #

          Under the law the lobster has to remain whole (with tail attached to carapace) until it is OFF the catch-boat.

          And once the carapace is removed and discarded, there is no way to prove that a lobster was undersized or not.

          I know these guidelines apply to Florida Spiny Lobsters – from hard personal experience, over many years.

          Is it different for other lobster species? Anyone know?

          • Karah January 5, 2014 at 11:42 pm #

            I prefer shrimp, crab and oysters.

            SAVE THE LOBSTERS!!!

            SAVE THE WHALES!!!

            SAVE THE SHARKS!!!

  102. progress4what January 2, 2014 at 10:17 am #

    And yeah, what the Roma (and the Muslims, etc.) and the waves of incoming non-British and non-French immigrants to England and France are going to do –

    I don’t know how any rational argument can be made that British and French culture aren’t going to be completely changed, and ultimately destroyed, over the next 100 years.

    It would be interesting to see inside the head of a Tony Blair; what mental gymnastics could POSSIBLY justify this?

    Possibilities:

    1. An artsy/fartsy “liberal?” idea that all humans will live in peace, like the Biblical lion and lamb – given enough time.

    2. A (very un-CFN like, btw) idea that the lights will always stay on and the food trucks will always keep running – so that modern law enforcement can always keep the peace and “protect” the national culture.

    3. Pure pig-headed shortsightedness – the idea that immigration solves this CURRENT generation’s financial problems – and to Hell with future generations.

    4. Bribery – by those verdamned Bilderburgers and One-world government lovers – to DELIBERATELY destroy any coherent Nation that could ever rise to challenge what’s being engineered world-wide.

  103. progress4what January 2, 2014 at 10:55 am #

    “First, I was supposing that generational awareness, namely ensuing from the consumption of pop culture, follows from (proceeds) one’s personal awareness/experience of such phenomena; hence, my use of probably in the sentence makes sense. Although, it should have been clear that I’m not certain either way. There is a pervading question in social science circles of whether individuals create culture by direct design and thus emerges a generational identity relative to the age in which one grows, or, the other way around – culture shapes the individual in downward fashion.”
    …..ufia, who needs to graduate ‘ere his mind turns to mush.

    You’ve bollixed up proceed/preceed, ufia.

    Must you now bollix up generation/individual?

    And this post is an experiment on my part, to explore how JHK’s “automatic pagination?” of this thread works out in reality.

    This particular post is posted at the bottom of the first page of comments, and not linked to a particular comment. My guess is that it will post at the bottom of the (newly created) third page of comments.

    Let’s see.

  104. progress4what January 2, 2014 at 11:02 am #

    At the present time (10:48 +/- ten minutes) comments by yours truly are at the top of both page 2 and 3 of this thread.

    Pure coincidence, I swear.

    Now I will post this at the bottom of the thread.

    After that, I will post a comment on the first page, except LINKED to one of ufia’s preceding comments that proceeded from his earlier thought concerning whether generations proceed or precede each other in thought – or whateverthehell he was trying to say.

    All I’m trying to determine is whether a comment at the top of the 2nd or 3rd page can be “pushed down” from the top – by linked comment from earlier pages.

  105. BackRowHeckler January 2, 2014 at 11:15 am #

    We got a pretty nice snowstorm going here. And tonite the temp is falling to -9dF.

    P2C, I didn’t have to get in that line at the State Police. I never went for those type guns; AR 15s or 9mm pistols. I had enough of that in the military anyway. We shoot lever action Marlins and Winchesters, and Ruger and Colt single action revolvers, which is still a lot of fun and doesn’t freak people out as much

    For example, I have a Winchester model 92 manufactured in 1912 and it shoots as good as the day in came out of the factory. The things is beautiful to behold, really a piece of industrial art. They really knew how to make stuff back in the day. Of course, it doesn’t match up with a cell phone with 500 apps.

    =BRH

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    • progress4what January 2, 2014 at 11:29 am #

      “We shoot lever action Marlins and Winchesters, and Ruger and Colt single action revolvers, which is still a lot of fun and doesn’t freak people out as much” ….brh….

      Well, cool that you didn’t have to register, then.

      That Blaze article made it appear that ALL weapons would be registered. Either that was by intent – or I didn’t read it closely enough.

      And I like the older weapons and heavier calibers. I’ve said before that I consider .223 NATO about useless for out in the woods where I live, hunt, and plan to defend my family.

      Although – I’ve got to say – a modern Glock-style automatic pistol is a lot easier to strip, clean, and reassemble than most earlier handguns, even revolvers.

      You ever take down a Model 1911 all the way?

      Damn, but those things have a lot of parts and springs.
      Tiny ones, too.

      • progress4what January 2, 2014 at 11:35 am #

        semi-automatic

    • Janos Skorenzy January 2, 2014 at 10:29 pm #

      Your day of reckoning will come too. And then comes confiscation. And then extermination – not of the guns, but the former owners. Hopefully these are the troops that we will face:

      http://news.yahoo.com/marines-delay-female-fitness-plan-half-fail-203830967–politics.html

  106. BackRowHeckler January 2, 2014 at 11:27 am #

    Yes, its the Gypsy Apocalypse!

    Looks what’s happened in Italy. And Great Britain will be even easier pickins. They’ll devour that place like locusts thru biblical wheat. Look for a Muslim vs Gypsy match up for the lions share of English welfare payments. It’ll be close, bit my money is on the Gypsys.

    –BRH

  107. progress4what January 2, 2014 at 11:58 am #

    ” It’ll be close, but my money is on the Gypsys.”
    ….brh….

    Yeah, mine too – in that scenario.

    The Roma seem to best embody the zeitgeist of our particular age, anyway.

    Blend in, smile, appear to go along –

    And steal everything that’s not nailed down.

    Then use a crowbar for what is nailed down.

    Sounds exactly like Bankfein, Dimon, and the banking/Fed crowd that JHK is always railing against, doesn’t it?

    • Janos Skorenzy January 2, 2014 at 10:37 pm #

      Yes the Jews are a lot like the Gypsies despite the differences in wealth, power, and IQ. Same strategy at different ends of the spectrum.

  108. Q. Shtik January 2, 2014 at 12:22 pm #

    “Are you standing in this line?” – Prog questioning BRH
    ============

    I hate to disappoint youse guys…..that’s the line for the DeCaprio movie Wolf of Wall St. If you count carefully you can see me…number 87 in the line.

  109. Q. Shtik January 2, 2014 at 12:49 pm #

    <B>this is the BIG test for bolding</B>

    • Q. Shtik January 2, 2014 at 12:50 pm #

      Nope, I still can’t achieve bolding.

  110. progress4what January 2, 2014 at 1:08 pm #

    This text is bold
    This text is strong
    This text is emphasized
    This text is italic
    This text is small
    This is subscript and superscript

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    • Q. Shtik January 2, 2014 at 1:30 pm #

      On my monitor only italics appear. Sentences you say are bold, strong, small, subscript and superscript appear no different than any other regular text.

      Note: My op sys is Windows 8 and my browser (if that is the right terminology) is Internet Explorer.

      • progress4what January 2, 2014 at 1:54 pm #

        OK it’s a little strange that only italics appear, and you don’t see the bold text. Referring (again) to this post:

        This text is bold
        This text is strong
        This text is emphasized
        This text is italic
        This text is small
        This is subscript and superscript

        And I’m running Firefox.

        • progress4what January 2, 2014 at 2:01 pm #

          This is strange. I just opened CFN in IE – and I see what you see, Q.

          However, in Firefox I ALSO see the first two lines as “bold.”

          Strange. Probably some sort of HTML issue related to JHK’s specific blog software. Although K9 will say it’s government agents and NSA will take credit for it from Langley.

          Strange. And, oh yeah –

          All I did to get “bold” and “italic” to appear on my laptop running Firefox – was to copy/paste from this webpage.

          http://www.w3schools.com/html/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_formattingch

          A reading from HyperText of Markup Language.
          Here endeth the first (and probably last) lesson. ;0)

  111. progress4what January 2, 2014 at 1:12 pm #

    Apparently, JHK’s HTML doesn’t support “small,” and “superscript.”
    Whereas “subscript,” is achieved automatically.
    Where’s O3, btw.

    And now, Q, if you’ll admit that that many WASPish looking guys never lined up for a movie, sans females, in the history of America –

    I’ll show you how to “bold.”

    • Q. Shtik January 2, 2014 at 1:34 pm #

      OK, I confess. The movie-line thing was a joke.

  112. Q. Shtik January 2, 2014 at 1:22 pm #

    “I’ve bracketed my corrections.” – Methane of Cawdor supposedly making many “corrections” to a paragraph by Q.
    ===========

    Meth, if ever there was art involved in punctuation it happens with the use, non-use and/or placement of commas. There are few absolutes. One such would be “Eats shoots and leaves” vs “Eats, shoots, and leaves” where meaning is completely changed by the presence of commas.

    My use of commas is not scientific. If I think a pause improves understanding I insert a comma. If I think a longer pause is required I will enter three or more dots…like this.

    As to “infinitesimal” rather than “infinitesimally small,” I take your point but in thinking about it I decided “infinitesimally few” would have been even better.

  113. Dražen Divac January 2, 2014 at 2:17 pm #

    Thank you Lord Blaby for that excellent recap on the new Mayor of New York City. Great insight. Also of note is Bill Clinton swearing him in. What’s that all about? Isn’t it a local election? Yes, it is, but increasingly local politics are becoming more nationalized. Especially New York City.

    Blacks go out of their way to prove the stereotype, even when they’re of mixed blood, hence de Blasio’s daughter’s drug addiction. This man is a traitor to his race.

    Does anyone have any confidence that de Blasio won’t regress New York City to pre-Giuliani days? What Giuliani accomplished was nothing short of a miracle and you only get so many of those. This numbskull de Blasio who has forgotten what color he is will legislate New York City back to its stone age of the 60s and 70s where robbery, drug abuse, prostitution, and murder were commonplace and in plain sight. And it will be called progress. What would Fred say?

    http://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/321316_392692210824734_1537760413_n.jpg?w=600

  114. ted talks January 2, 2014 at 2:57 pm #

    i can’t believe my eyes. it really is back to the future, or is it forward to the past? i’m not sure which, but i am sure it’s fucked up. this commie bastard warren bill de blasio wilhelm is also the muslim mayor and a coddler of terrorists. how did this guy get elected? he will turn new york city not only into a ghetto that will put warsaw circa wwII to shame, but a war zone. in five to ten years, nyc will look like gaza. janos, is it too late? i think it might be. do you have plans to move to russia?

    http://cbsnewyork.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/muslim.jpg?w=620&h=349&crop=1

    • Janos Skorenzy January 2, 2014 at 6:36 pm #

      Whites may indeed be driven out of North America. I’ve had a vision of us fleeing across the Bering Straits to Siberia where we’ll become the sword arm of the Russian Federation against the Chinese as the Cossacks are against the Muslims in the Southwest.

  115. K-Dog January 2, 2014 at 3:55 pm #

    Christmas is over and the gift giving season is now gone. Oh doggone! It is too bad Der Spiegel did not publish this fifty page catalogue in time for Christmas shopping. Well maybe next year; it is always hard to find that perfect gift for the dog who has everything as I’m sure you know!

    And for those who found new iPhones under the tree you may want to know the NSA has fully owned them since 2008. Be careful what you say and where you go. Someone may be listening and watching, even if the phone is off. But if it is off, observant dogs may notice the battery drain. Intrusive perhaps but comfort yourself knowing you are doing your part to save the economy and keep government dogs employed!

    The battery will only last a day when the phone is off when you are being fully surveilled. But if you drop off the dogcatchers radar it will last four days. Of course if you are a heavy phone user you probably won’t notice the difference. Different models of iPhones may vary in their battery drain times. I only know about one.

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  116. progress4what January 2, 2014 at 4:07 pm #

    K-dog –

    Whether the device is on or off, I will practically guarantee that a triple wrapped layer of heavy-duty Reynolds Wrap will stop all real-time electronic monitoring.

    Add a layer of sound-deadening insulation to the Reynolds Wrap and you could be sure that it wasn’t recording conversations and background noise for later replay.

    You guess we could get a patent and market this idea together?

    What would we call it?

    The Surveill-Stopper? The Spy-Zapper? The Spook Sequester?

    All I ask is half the profits.

    • K-Dog January 2, 2014 at 5:22 pm #

      A cookie tin also works and is much easier to open and close. I have one I’m thinking of spray painting after which I can then stencil ‘K-Dogs iPhone’ over it. Lining it with fabric over steel wool padding would be a nice touch too. A marketable product would be small enough so there would be no dead space in the can so that it could fit in a pocket or purse. On the other hand the can I have is big enough so it is not easily misplaced.

    • Janos Skorenzy January 2, 2014 at 6:38 pm #

      All those nuts with their tin foils hats – right as usual. Who are the nuts, the tiny minority or the vast majority ruled by sociopaths?

    • K-Dog January 3, 2014 at 12:54 am #

      A truly diabolical software program would use the mic and store a surveillance session recording in flash memory until a radio link were restored. Hours of conversation could be be saved in the phones memory and then uploaded in only a few minutes when the wrapping were removed. Millennials planning a non-violent protest against student loans would think themselves safe with tinfoil wrapped phones not knowing that sound can go through the wrapping. Then they would be taken unawares when they began implementing their plans.

      • progress4what January 3, 2014 at 2:58 pm #

        The Prog-Dog Spook Sequester i-Device and Telephone Wrapper

        I’m telling you, K-Dog, we’ll make MILLIONS!!

  117. JRM January 2, 2014 at 4:27 pm #

    JHK said: “…. The unfortunate consequence is that in the process we have distorted — and possibly destroyed — the value of our money and the various things denominated in it, especially securities, bonds, stocks and other money-like paper.”

    Great harm has indeed been done to trust in the system and to myriad linkages gluing “the economy” to money-as-we’ve-known-it. But this needn’t be as terrible a horror as it seems(?). And to begin to consider why that is might begin with asking what is the “value” being spoken of in the above quote. Has great harm been done to the value of the intricate mechanisms of finance, currency, banking, credit…? Certainly. But to “the various things denominated in it” (money-as-we-have-known-it)? To the abstract and quasi-material (real) things? Not quite so much. Take houses and shovels and sheet glass and seeds and soil…. Are these really less valuable now than before the damage was done to money and finance?

    Our economic lifeway has been in radical need for radical revision anyway. And maybe making it all a little less abstract — or less about abstractions piled upon abstractions piled upon…. Maybe the safe ground upon which to rebuild is the very soil itself, and neighborhood relations. And so forth.

    I found Jonathan Rowe’s essay, “Cooperative Economy in the Great Depression” useful in thinking in this direction (free online). When the “casino economy” failed back then what mattered most was access to direct self-provisioning on the local community scale. As the Casino continues to collapse, as it likely will, let us keep this in mind. Money is made of paper (and ones and zeros) after all. You can’t eat it!

    • JRM January 2, 2014 at 4:42 pm #

      I said “To the abstract and quasi-material (real) things? Not quite so much.” This was all very poorly stated. Sorry! I meant to emphasize the value held in actual, real things. Including but not limited to quasi-material things like informal institutions, formal institutions, neighborliness, etc…. And material “real things” are tools, shelter, soil, etc.

      • K-Dog January 3, 2014 at 1:06 am #

        But can the body live without blood to nourish the organs. I think not. The organs of houses, shovels, sheet glass, seeds and soil need the blood of money to nourish them or the body of the economy dies. And with the death of the economy the parasites which live in the gut, the humans, die too.

        • JRM January 3, 2014 at 2:53 pm #

          My point is that while the debt-based currency-finance-credit… system is indeed fragile and collapse-prone, the capacities to use our tools, bodies, soil… to produce what we need continue to exist following financial breakdown or currency ‘value’.

          And the further point is that the only thing preventing us from making apt use of these real resources … amounts to a system of agreements. Money is a system of agreements, as Charles Eisenstein and David Graeber have helped us to understand.

          When the OLD set of agreements no longer work for us, we CAN choose another set of agreements which might actually work in the NEW set of conditions and circumstances. We needn’t die of starvation or kill each other off.

          This requires us to think and talk and stuff. And be creative and imaginative.

          After all, no one has ever lived in THIS world before. Ever.

      • K-Dog January 3, 2014 at 1:08 am #

        And without humans dogs do not eat.

  118. bob January 2, 2014 at 5:40 pm #

    Industrial civilization is teetering ever more violently on the tipping points of collapse.
    Nature’s operating system is programmed for balance.
    Industrial civilization is programmed for growth and profits.
    The stresses and strains in this fundamental conflict of humans vs. reality are being experienced with increasing climate volatility ,income disparity and debt and a shrinking resource base.

    • Janos Skorenzy January 2, 2014 at 6:41 pm #

      The collapse proceeds in stages. We just reached a new one today when an illegal immigrant gained the right to practice law in California. As goes Cali goes the Nation. Wait until being actually bilingual is a requirement for Federal Jobs – millions of Whites will be ruined.

  119. rube-i-con January 2, 2014 at 8:34 pm #

    The End of Pretend

    what a joke, this isn’t even the end of the beginning. all your information are ours.

    péace peaceniks

    • K-Dog January 3, 2014 at 12:58 am #

      Are you saying that we are only pretending that this is the end of pretend?

  120. ajmuste January 2, 2014 at 11:40 pm #

    “Wait until being actually bilingual is a requirement for Federal Jobs – millions of Whites will be ruined.” — Janos

    Spanish is easier to learn than English. Millions of hispanics have learned English, so it shouldn’t be difficult for whites to learn Spanish. For certain positions, job preference should be given to those who are bilingual over those who only speak one language.

    Great that illegal immigrants who study and learn and get an education are able to become professionals in the USA. Great country! Beautiful multicolored nation… E Pluribus Unum. Out of many… one nation. Beautiful!

    I’m in a good mood because today is the first day to have a free cadillac insurance policy that is mine and not employer-based, thanks to Obama.

    Under Bush there were lifetime caps, big deductions, co-pays, and double-digit premium increases (with higher premiums due to “pre-existing conditions”), with risk of losing everything through medical bankruptcy. Now, with Obamacare, I have a good health insurance policy for one tenth the cost of the private junk plan I had… with rights like they cannot cancel my policy due to losing a job, or getting sick.

    Republicans voted over 40 times in Congress to take away the health care rights I now enjoy. The change from the Bush years is huge. Obamacare is change I can believe in.

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    • Karah January 3, 2014 at 9:07 am #

      I believe your positive mood has more long term healthcare benefits than any insurance plan.

      Speaking of money…

      People in a capitalist society believe that if something is expensive, more dollars are invested, it must be a better system. Ironically, people also put faith in the SALE price of “premium” items. If something is originally valued at 20% over the current price, then the purchaser must be getting some kind of better deal. We see how perceived values played out in the housing bubble. The whole point of the system is to get you commit to buying something and keep money in circulation, whatever you have in your wallet at the time flowing to big banks, because people never get wealthier or more of anything in life by giving away anything and discouraging spending. A false sense of generosity and prosperity pervades the culture that spends, especially during the holidays. We have a year to see how all this money flowing into insurance exchanges will improve the healthcare (capitalist) system.

    • nsa January 3, 2014 at 9:59 am #

      Want to legalize 15 million more of these hispano freeloaders? Hasta la vista whitie…….

      • Arn Varnold January 3, 2014 at 11:24 am #

        Oh, another little, nasty, racist fuck.
        Crawl back under the rock from which you came.
        We don’t want or need your kind.

        • K-Dog January 3, 2014 at 1:15 pm #

          They are only freeloaders until he wants to save $3000 in labour putting a new roof on his house or until he wants a cheaply picked salad.

        • Janos Skorenzy January 3, 2014 at 2:37 pm #

          So you want to legalize them? In this economy? Care to justify that libtard?

          • Arn Varnold January 4, 2014 at 5:48 am #

            Sure, kill yourself, and that’s one more open job.

  121. BackRowHeckler January 3, 2014 at 9:42 am #

    Odd, isn’t it, after the two terrorist bombs in former Stalingrad, Putin didn’t appear on television wringing his hands, whimpering “Why do they hate us?”, promising outreach programs for Muslims, more scholarships for Muslims, warning Russian citizens not to commit any ‘hate crimes’ against Muslims, directing the Russian Space Program to make Muslims feel good about themselves, fly to Saudi Arabia and genuflect before the King, talk about Muslim contributions to Russian culture, travel to Cairo and give a grovelling surrender speech, offer to build a Mosque next to the bombed out train station.. Are the Russian people hammering Putin at every turn, eager to kick him out and replace him with a Muslim from Chechnya? Strange indeed.

    Did you ever wonder why Russian embassies are never overrun.by Muslim fanatics. Here’s a clue. A few years ago Somalian pirates made the mistake of highjacking a Ukranian frieghter off the coast of Africa. Putin dispatched Russian marines. The ship was quickly taken back. A few days later a poker faced spokesman from the govt. announced that 14 pirates had been captured but seem to have disappeared. Nobody knows what happened to them.

    –BRH

    • stelmosfire January 3, 2014 at 10:18 am #

      Well Marlin if I had to guess i would say a 7.62 and cement overshoes for the perps. Can you say fishbait
      http://www.military.com/video/operations-and-strategy/attack/russian-navy-vs-somalia-pirates/1266773365001/
      9 degrees here and headed to ten below. It was a balmy 12 F this morning at about 6 am. Even the plow does not like this crap.

    • Janos Skorenzy January 3, 2014 at 2:39 pm #

      Well you advise is exactly what they want to do to us. Never imagine that Communists are against guns or violence. This is still the transitional stage.

  122. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 3, 2014 at 10:26 am #

    Excellent analysis, BRH. Truthfully, and no joke here, I would like to see crucifixion resurrected as a form of retribution and deterrence. The roads to Moscow and St. Petersberg can be lined with the crucified remains of hardened criminals and serve symbolically as a reminder of the risks of foul play. Also, you forgot to add to your list Russian flying schools training foreign national (euphemism for Muslim) terrorists as they’re still doing in the U.S. more than ten years after 9/11.

    9/11 Flashback: US Flight Schools Still Unknowingly Training Terrorists (Muslims)?

    After the attacks, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) established the Alien Flight Student Program (AFSP), which is designed to prevent flight schools regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration from “providing flight training to a foreign student unless the Secretary of Homeland Security first determines that the student does not pose a threat to aviation or national security.”

    But the new GAO report says that the AFSP database is woefully behind and some of the more than 25,000 foreign nationals who were in the FAA airmen registry were not found in the AFSP database, “indicating that these individuals had not applied to the AFSP or been vetted by the TSA before taking flight training and receiving an FAA airman certificate.”

    • Janos Skorenzy January 3, 2014 at 2:42 pm #

      That would be disrespectful to Christ. Why not just draw and quarter them, putting the quarters in the four quarters of the Nation and the heads on London Bridge or the equivalent (but which?) American bridge.

      • Lord Blaby of Lawson January 3, 2014 at 2:53 pm #

        I’ll settle for that. You’re right about it disrespecting Christ. I was thinking if they so badly want to be martyrs, well, here’s the best way to become one. No half-measures, but I like your suggestion. It’s an adequate substitute. For the bridges, let’s have a representation from the West and East coasts. How about the Golden Gate and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge? New York City has too many to choose from and one doesn’t prominently stand out.

  123. ajmuste January 3, 2014 at 12:56 pm #

    BRH, Stelmosfire, and Lord Blaby seem to approve of the violent communist repression represented by Putin. But is it effective?

    Obama has taken the approach of respecting civil rights (calming effect).

    Putin has taken the approach of “total destruction” (stirring up a beehive).

    So let’s look at the fruit of those approaches. What happened in 2013?

    Obama had one terrorist attack (April 15) with three killed. Americans do not live in fear of more attacks from organized campaigns like 9/11.

    In 2013 Putin has had multiple attacks with dozens killed and Putin’s Russia is the target of organized terrorist campaigns. Russia lives in fear of more attacks, not from individuals like in Boston, but massive attacks from larger, well-organized groups who carry out ongoing campaigns like those that drove the Russians out of Afghanistan. Russia did not learn from that defeat.

    Putin could learn from Obama that dialogue and reason means fewer deaths and less fear. Obama is ending the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama has the support of American Muslims.

    http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=AM0109-335

    Putin is a tyrant whose repression of Muslim states is wrong. Putin will live to regret Russia’s invading and occupying Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan. Putin will regret his decision for violent repression instead of offering respect like Obama did. Obama’s human approach has paid off.

    Under Putin Russia is already suffering the consequences of Putin’s bad policies. Expect more bombings with thousands of Russians killed.

    • BackRowHeckler January 3, 2014 at 1:03 pm #

      You sound like a PR shill for Al Quada

  124. BackRowHeckler January 3, 2014 at 1:00 pm #

    Speaking if things maritime, and in line with this weeks blog about ‘pretend’, I’ve learned, in the Navy Times (same publisher as USA Today) the main problem of today’s USNavy. Not enough warships? Shortage of diesel fuel? No qualified recruits? Lack of strategic Planning? Wrong on all scores. No, according to the lead editorial in this weeks issue, the Navy’s main problem is there are not enough Black Female 4 Star Admirals. I’m not bullshitting you; look it up yourself. There is only 1, and that’s not nearly enough. And it turns out when another Flag Officer stated he didn’t think she was qualified, he himself faced a court martial and was kicked out.

    Maybe they should look for some down at the AFDC office.

    I think maybe I’ll let my subscription to that publication lapse.

    –BRH

  125. Q. Shtik January 3, 2014 at 2:23 pm #

    “today is the first day to have a free cadillac insurance policy” – ajmuste (aka the commenter whose name must never be spoken)
    ==========

    I take it ^that^ means you got first rate coverage and it was subsidized because you fall below some Obamacare income threshold. Your statement is consistent with your oft-expressed love of socialism where those that have pay the way for those who don’t have. In your mind, I suspect, it matters not why some have and some don’t.

    My own coverage for 2014 is roughly the same as in 2013 but the cost went from $0 to $2,040 annually. This is one of the ways in which the government extracts from those who have, to pay the way for those who don’t.

    Another new source of funds for the government to redistribute (which I believe the average person is unaware of but will learn about by April 15th when they do their taxes) is a change in the threshold for claiming medical expenses from 7.5% of adjusted gross income to 10%. On a nationwide basis this is effectively a huge tax increase on the shoulders of the medically un-well who happen to have sufficient income that they itemize deductions. It matters not for those whose low income results in paying zero tax regardless of medical expenses.

    I wonder if there is, in your mind, ANY element of a normal life (such as food, clothing, housing, entertainment, electric utilities, a haircut), that you DON’T feel should be provided by those who have to those who don’t have. ANYTHING?

    We had 6″ of snow here in central NJ. I am 73 years old. My house is on a corner so I have two walkways to shovel. I also have two separate driveways. It’s a big job. My wife and I did it. She’s 64. My kids always remind me that I’m a prime candidate for a snow shoveling heart attack. Should the government provide for snow shoveling for persons over a certain age as they do for Medicare at age 65? Or maybe they should provide for snow shoveling ONLY for low income people 65 or older. What do you think?

    Ooops, I just realized the answer to my own question. Let the heart attacks happen as they may but have the resulting medical expense covered under Obamacare.

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    • Janos Skorenzy January 3, 2014 at 11:55 pm #

      Buy a snow blower why don’t you. You could charge to do your neighbors. A nice little seasonal business.

  126. progress4what January 3, 2014 at 2:41 pm #

    “Oh, another little, nasty, racist fuck.”
    …..arn goes ad hominem…..

    Aren’t you in Formosa, or somewhere similar in the East?

    Why do you even care?

  127. progress4what January 3, 2014 at 2:52 pm #

    “I think maybe I’ll let my subscription to that publication lapse.”
    ….brh….

    Be sure to write them a letter explaining WHY, brh.

    I joined AARP when I turned 50. That was before I found CFN and alternative news and found out how truly fscked up AARP’s politics were.

    I had an 8 year membership, which was the best in $/year. It expired 3 days ago. I have no intention of renewing. And I’d been waiting for a “Please Come Back” mailout to write back to AARP (postage free to me) to tell them exactly WHY I’m never going to renew.

    So far, nothing from them. I guess they think I’m dead.

    Anyway – I wish now that I’d written them a year ago demanding a refund.

    Maybe they would have paid a little more attention.

    I’ll probably join this outfit, now. http://amac.us/

    Anybody know of a better alternative?

  128. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 3, 2014 at 2:57 pm #

    Be sure to write them a letter explaining WHY, brh.

    It would be a complete waste of time. If it’s owned and run by USA Today, that means it’s controlled by Jews and that’s the reason for pushing stories and agendas like the one BRH cited. The article couldn’t be more wrong. One female Black Admiral isn’t “not enough.” It’s one too many. It’s a sacrilege and a blasphemy. It’s an example of just how far the U.S. has slipped as a country.

  129. progress4what January 3, 2014 at 3:18 pm #

    “Your day of reckoning will come too. And then comes confiscation. And then extermination – not of the guns, but the former owners.”
    ….janos….

    Yeah, maybe Vlad – but I doubt it.

    For one thing – the NRA and the gun/ammo manufacturers are too deeply entrenched in American politics. And they don’t advocate for some abstract concept like “Freedom,” oh no.

    They advocate for pure – By Gawd – Capitalist Greed!

    I think my guns and ammo are safe.

    =================

    And think about K-dogs and my invention, as an example. Right now we’d be just a couple of wack-a-doodles, seeking to defeat the surveillance State, by keeping our phones under our tin-foil hats.

    But – BUT – If we get thing dressed up in pretty packaging, hire a PR firm for marketing and a lobbying firm for Congress – –

    Why – all of a sudden we could be the next American Capitalistic Success Story.

    Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates – move your asses over! The K-Prog Express is coming through!

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/25/successful-people-obstacles_n_3964459.html

  130. rube-i-con January 3, 2014 at 3:22 pm #

    you people are all way too caught up in united states american culture

    peace peaceniks

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    • progress4what January 3, 2014 at 5:03 pm #

      Gee, rube, I wonder why that would be. sarcasm on/off

  131. BackRowHeckler January 3, 2014 at 3:41 pm #

    Hey P2C, turns out you and I are the same age. So far I’ve avoided joining any orgs. like AARP … seems like what they are are insurance companies posing as something else. AARP went in whole hog for the Affordable Care Act; I wonder if they regret it yet?

    We have this intense cold right now, close to 0. That’s as cold as it gets round here. There’s a stillness, but any slight breeze and the trees crackle like they’re on fire. The sky is pale blue. Looking out over the valley I can see woodsmoke rising from chimneys … people stoking up their fireplaces and woodstoves with split maple and oak.

    –BRH

  132. ajmuste January 3, 2014 at 3:42 pm #

    Putin opposes the idea of allowing Russians to buy guns freely for self-defense purposes.

    MOSCOW, April 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he opposes the idea of allowing Russians to buy guns freely for self-defense purposes.
    “I do not support the idea of free arms distribution in Russia,” Putin told Rossiya 24 television adding: “It is dangerous to artificially stimulate this process.”
    The idea came after a shocking massacre in downtown Belgorod, southwest Russia, on Monday afternoon, which left six people dead.

    • Q. Shtik January 3, 2014 at 3:58 pm #

      Statement by the press:

      Putin said on Saturday he opposes the idea of allowing Russians to buy guns freely for self-defense purposes.

      Quote from Putin:

      “I do not support the idea of free arms distribution in Russia,” – ajmuste
      ============

      I don’t know about the Russian language but in American English these two sentences have very different meanings.

  133. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 3, 2014 at 4:04 pm #

    I take Putin’s statement to mean he’s a consummate Capitalist and has embraced the concept of profit fully. No product and/or service should ever be free. You have to cover costs and profit (return on capital) is part of that cost. Putin’s a shrewd and wise businessman.

  134. progress4what January 3, 2014 at 4:54 pm #

    “Be sure to write them a letter explaining WHY, brh.”….prog….

    “It would be a complete waste of time. If it’s owned and run by USA Today, that means it’s controlled by Jews and that’s the reason for pushing stories and agendas like the one BRH cited.”….LBoL….

    Soo – what do you advocate doing, LBoL? Sounds like nothing.

    Which makes you a shill for the things and forces you decry.

    ==================

    And exactly why would “Jews” want the US Navy diminished as a fighting force, anyway? Isn’t Israel somewhat dependent of US force projection?

    Nope, I think what we have operating is USA Today/Naval Times editorial decisions – designed to placate their ultra-liberal staff members and writers and attract the attention of ultra-liberal advertising firms.

    They’ve all lost sight of the fact that their actual subscribers, like BackRow, could give a rat’s ass about Political Correctness.

    Write the letter, BackRow!

    Better yet, write a letter stating that real force readiness has NOTHING to do with the color and/or gender of Flag Staff – and demand that that letter be published.

    Then, go to some on-line veteran’s forums and share your insights about all of this. Naval Times might ignore one letter. You guess they would ignore 100 letters.

    And, would thy ignore 1000 cancellations? How about 10,000?

    • Janos Skorenzy January 4, 2014 at 12:06 am #

      There seem to be two groups of Globalists in the West. The Neo Cons controlled by Israel and the U.N/CFR crowd. Both are very powerful but Obama seems more in the U.N camp. Some key people may be in both allowing for communications between them. So the U.N types like Obama want America as weak as possible while the Neos want it strong for Israel. Both sides want to disarm Americans. I grant you on this issue Conservatives have held the line pretty well. The NRA are considered to be liberal sell outs by serious gun people.

      Other Globalist contenders: Russia, China, and Islam.

  135. ajmuste January 3, 2014 at 6:15 pm #

    Russian Law says:

    “Licenses are issued by local police departments at one’s place of permanent residence and each license is issued separately for a specific type of weapon—hunting rifled-bore, hunting smooth-bore, and sporting firearms. Licenses have unified federal numbering and their specific series and numbers are assigned to particular Russian territories.”

    Don’t even think of buying an assault rifle or a semi-automatic weapon in Russia. Russian citizens can buy smooth-bore long-barreled firearms and pneumatic weapons with a muzzle energy of up to 25 joules. The use of long-barreled weapons for purposes of self-defense is prohibited.

    Licenses are only for five years. Putin likes that provision.

    Can you imagine the uproar if Obama tried to control guns by licensing them like that (and issuing licenses only through police departments)? The NRA would have a fit.

    But that is what Putin wants: a civilian population largely unarmed.

    Russia in 2012: 6.3 million nonmilitary weapons (population of 142.5 million)

    USA in 2012: 310 million nonmilitary firearms (314 million populaiton in 2012)

    6.3 million armed in Russia. 310 million armed in the USA.

    The United States owns more guns per resident than any other nation in the world. Obama supports the 2nd amendment. Obama has never tried to disarm the American public. He does support background checks to determine if someone is criminally insane, but so do 90% of all Americans, including 74% support among NRA members.

    http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2013/apr/04/lee-leffingwell/lee-leffingwell-says-polls-show-90-percent-america/

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    • BackRowHeckler January 3, 2014 at 6:41 pm #

      I’ve got a few Mosin Nagants. A few years back Cabelas was selling them for $100 apiece. Damn sturdy gun. Good shooters.

      –BRH

  136. ajmuste January 3, 2014 at 6:38 pm #

    “And, would thy ignore 1000 cancellations? How about 10,000?”
    –Prog [referring to The Navy Times]

    This sounds suspiciously like a boycott, a consumer exodus, which is what Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have advocated as a response to racism, which is what Cesar Chavez advocated as a consumer tactic.

    But in this case Prog and Lord Blaby are advocating a boycott against a US military-themed publication, THE NAVY TIMES, just because of its views on female black admirals.

    What kind of person would take offense at a female black becoming an admiral, or take offense at a publication that advocates more female blacks in high positions? What kind of person would consider a black female to be not qualified, or think a black female admiral indicates the USA is “slipping” as a country?

    Perhaps someone would advocate a boycott if they are fearful, bitter and cynical; someone who has not changed since Jim Crow times; someone incapable of recognizing the greatness of the USA in 2014. Someone who pretends it would be better if we went back to racial segregation and the anti-gay and anti-semitism attitudes of the USA military in earlier times. Someone who cannot accept that blacks, Jews, and gays serve proudly in the United States military and serve just as competently as previous generations of soldiers.

    • BackRowHeckler January 3, 2014 at 6:46 pm #

      You sound alot like Asoka.

      Is that you, Asoka?

      • progress4what January 3, 2014 at 7:03 pm #

        It’s him, all right.

        But we’re not supposed to refer to him by that name.

        I think. ? .

        Would you care to clarify this situation, JHK.

  137. progress4what January 3, 2014 at 6:52 pm #

    “But in this case Prog and Lord Blaby are advocating a boycott against a US military-themed publication, THE NAVY TIMES, just because of its views on female black admirals. ”
    ….the resident impediment….

    At least get it straight, “amjuste.”

    Lord Blaby advocates doing nothing, because “Jews” run USAToday.

    I advocate that BRH write a letter to the editor of Naval Times, because of his belief that force readiness of the US Navy is being compromised by political correctness. (you can clarify, BRH, I don’t mean to try to read your mind and speak for you.)

    Meanwhile, amjuste, (AKA the poster who must not be named) obfuscates the issues – and says that the only opinions worthy of expression – must yew to “amjuste’s” vision of truth.

  138. progress4what January 3, 2014 at 6:56 pm #

    yew – a tree species with bark useful in breast cancer treatment

    hew – “amjuste’s” feeling that everyone should hew to his opinion

    Two different things. It was a typo.

  139. ajmuste January 3, 2014 at 8:04 pm #

    Prog, my reading comprehension is fine.

    It is true that you “advocate that BRH write a letter to the editor of Naval Times” and it is true you went beyond that and suggested people cancel their subscriptions. Those are two different actions.

    You specifically said:

    “And, would they ignore 1000 cancellations? How about 10,000?”

    You did advocate canceling subscriptions in addition to letter writing. No use trying to run from your words.

    You falsely claim I believe everyone should hew to my opinion, which is ridiculous. I love the fact that we can disagree on CFN.

    I am sharing my opinion. You and everybody else shares theirs. Nobody expects all others to hew to their opinion. CFN is about sharing, not obfuscating the issues.

    The poster who cannot be named was banned some time ago. I agreed with some of what he posted. He claimed to live in a mud hut, if you believed him. I am not the poster who cannot be named. Please don’t obsess on this, because JHK has already indicated his displeasure with what you do here by disappearing some of your posts which made reference to that long-gone person.

  140. ajmuste January 3, 2014 at 8:56 pm #

    BRH: “You sound alot like Asoka. Is that you, Asoka?”

    No, Marlin. Like you I am an American patriot and live in America, not Ecuador. Like you I am a meat eater, not a vegan. No resemblance.

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  141. Pucker January 3, 2014 at 9:02 pm #

    There’s a mongaloid kid work’n the deep fat fryer this morning at the McTits. It must be a sign of impending doom and collapse.

  142. progress4what January 3, 2014 at 9:12 pm #

    “But in this case Prog and Lord Blaby are advocating a boycott against a US military-themed publication, THE NAVY TIMES, just because of its views on female black admirals. ”
    ….the resident impediment….

    Here’s where your reading composition is off, RI. LBoL advocates passive acquiesence to the Naval Times/USA Today editorial policies. I advocate resistance. You misunderstood – and now you’ve confused the issues. Maybe LBoL will tell us that he has some better idea than passive acceptance of a vast conspiracy – but that’s all he’s said so far.

    And if you are not “the poster who must not be named,” then you’re his twin – with the same politics, typing style, and deliberate obfuscation of ideas.

    If JHK wants to protect “you” by banning those who call you on it –

    then that’s his choice. But, I don’t think JHK would do that.

    Which is why I, again, ask JHK to clarify his desires, here.

  143. ajmuste January 3, 2014 at 9:37 pm #

    “Here’s where your reading composition is off, RI. LBoL advocates passive acquiesence to the Naval Times/USA Today editorial policies. I advocate resistance. You misunderstood – and now you’ve confused the issues.” — Prog

    Point taken, Prog.

    I apologize if I have caused any confusion.

    ~~ ajmuste

  144. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 3, 2014 at 9:41 pm #

    We are not going to have arguments with these people.

    While you’re writing letters, I’m making love to my beautiful wife.

    You have a lot to learn for someone your age.

    • progress4what January 3, 2014 at 10:05 pm #

      So, your total approach is passive acquiescence to the editorial board of The Naval Times, then – masked by racist, sexist blather and bluster?

      Will your beautiful wife not be there, later?

      Can you be that much of a newlywed, for someone your age?

  145. Q. Shtik January 3, 2014 at 10:51 pm #

    “There’s a mongaloid kid work’n the deep fat fryer this morning at the McTits.” – Puck
    ==========

    Apparently, Puck, you’re not aware that it is politically incorrect to refer to someone with this affliction as mongaloid, retarded or fucked up. The acceptable term is developmentally delayed.

    And we don’t say “tits” in polite company either. They’re either boobs or fun bags.

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    • BackRowHeckler January 3, 2014 at 11:30 pm #

      And after pondering that last sentence, Q, I turn my attention to the 4th quarter of the Cotton Bowl.

      • Pucker January 4, 2014 at 4:24 am #

        “CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say no one was injured when a deep-fat fryer caught fire at a McDonald’s restaurant in Cedar Rapids.

        Firefighters responded around 11 a.m. on Friday, but the fire was out when they arrived. Officials say an employee threw flour on the fire, unplugged the machine and pulled it away from the wall. Customers and employees were evacuated.

        Officials say an initial investigation indicates the fryer, which is used for cooking fish and chicken, may have had an electrical malfunction. The fire didn’t ignite any grease.”

  146. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 4, 2014 at 12:03 am #

    masked by racist, sexist blather and bluster?

    Without a name attached to this quote, one would assume it was Arn who authored it.

    You say you’re resisting by writing letters. That’s not resistance; it’s groveling. You don’t grovel with those who were once, and should be again, your servants rather than your masters. Find another publication to read, or start your own if you feel so compelled to write. Don’t whine to a stacked deck editorial board whose purpose is to destroy your race. What kind of warrior are you anyway? Janos must be choking reading this latest. Where have all the cowboys gone? They’re now a bunch of letter-writing fags, that’s where.

  147. Janos Skorenzy January 4, 2014 at 3:39 am #

    Hitler: a fine artist.

    http://www.tomatobubble.com/hitler_artist.html

  148. Janos Skorenzy January 4, 2014 at 3:45 am #

    Just learned a new word: blonking, meaning “Blacks on camera” or to get Blacks on camera – even or especially where they don’t belong.

    http://www.westernspring.co.uk/the-hobbit-the-negrification-of-middle-earth/#comment-21584

  149. Arn Varnold January 4, 2014 at 5:44 am #

    Aren’t you in Formosa, or somewhere similar in the East?

    Why do you even care? P4W
    ~~~~~~~~~~~
    Mostly I don’t. But I’ll always love my country; it’s the fucking government and politicians I hate.
    I will never accept bigots/racists, because they’re the fulcrum of what’s wrong with most of humanity. And it’s especially pernicious in the states; people die because of it every day.
    It’s why I’ve hardly posted here lately.
    i feel very badly for JHK. He’s burdened with more than his fair share of wacko/sicko assholes.
    If this were my site, I’d shut the comment down completely; it’s beyond me why he tolerates it.
    But, that’s not my call…

  150. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 4, 2014 at 9:26 am #

    Just as Warren Bill de Blasio Wilhelm Reich VIII is the Muslim Mayor of NYC, Obama is the Muslim President of the U.S. Here’s more proof of Obama’s allegiances. He handed Iraq to Iran on a silver platter and he’s saved the Assad regime, an ally of Iran, in Syria from annihilation. Obama has been doing Iran’s bidding since he’s been in office. Yet more proof he is the first Muslim President of the U.S. and more than likely he won’t be the last at this rate.

    Allawi cites ‘dictatorship,’ Iranian control in Iraq

    Iraq’s former prime minister says the United States is ignoring an “emerging dictatorship” in his country, telling The Washington Times that Iran is “swallowing” Iraq and dictating its strategic policies.

    Ayad Allawi, who served as prime minister from 2004 to 2005, accused Iran of meddling in Iraqi politics to the point that Tehran “is becoming the dominant feature of Iraq,” and claimed that some U.S. officials “concede secretly” that “Iran won, got the best advantage of what happened in Iraq.”

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  151. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 4, 2014 at 9:48 am #

    Yes Janos, Hitler was a fine artist. Critics ridicule his creations and call his work second rate, but I don’t think that’s being objective or fair. They allow vengeance and hatred to obscure their judgment and thus succumb to the same behavior they so adamantly decry. Here’s one of my favorites. It’s sublimely satisfying, but there is something that perplexes me about it. What is the ambiguous structure or object on the distant horizon? It’s not insignificant, but it is purposely obscured and vague. Any ideas? I’ve pondered it for quite some time and can’t come up with an explanation. It’s a mystery like the Holy Trinity. Maybe you can take a crack at it Janos and give us your impression.

    http://aryanism.net/wp-content/uploads/Hitler-2.jpg

    • K-Dog January 4, 2014 at 12:57 pm #

      As a boy Hitler showed talent for drawing and this ability was noted by his high school instructors. But in high school Hitler was a contrary and lazy student and he flunked out. Fearful that he would have to work for a living and submit to authority Hitler put all his dreams into becoming a great artist.

      In October 1907 without a high school diploma, lacking social connections, and not appreciating how much of a misfit he was in life Hitler attempted to enroll in the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts but was rejected. His art has a sublimely satisfying but perplexingly cold feel. Lost in himself, buildings and landscapes he expressed well but people he could not express. Having no appreciation for the human form Hitler was told he had ability in the field of architecture but not in fine art. His paintings are all about buildings and landscapes but nothing else. Fine art at that time and place was centered on capturing the human form and emotion, portrait painting. Portrait paintings to capture and preserve the social order Viennese high society. He was rejected from the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts for good reason. Hitler lost in himself as he was could not do portraits; a talent that requires empathy as a basic ingredient.

      In hindsight however it would have been far better for the world had he been admitted as an art student. Perhaps you find his art fine yet perplexing because like Hitler you too are lost in yourself Lord Babble. If you want to get into an art school I’ll gladly write you a letter of recommendation, and I don’t care if you know that the paint goes on the fuzzy end of the brush.

      • K-Dog January 4, 2014 at 12:59 pm #

        social order of Viennese high society.

    • Janos Skorenzy January 4, 2014 at 2:46 pm #

      It’s probably Odin beginning to manifest himself to protect his son Balder/Christ. And above Odin is the All Father, the unmanifest Godhead or Brahmin.

      Love is not enough. There must be power. Christianity has been reduced to love and love without power is sentimentality – like worshiping crips and mongoloids. The devotees compensate for their weakness by supporting brutal dictators.

  152. meadowlark January 4, 2014 at 11:49 am #

    love your annual forecasts =]

  153. ajmuste January 4, 2014 at 12:23 pm #

    “love your annual forecasts =]” –Meadowlark

    Speaking of JHK’s annual forecasts, how did his Dec. 2012 predictions come out?

    – Dow 4000

    Did not happen.

    – Gold $2500 by 12/31/2013 (and headed higher) after a Q-1 deleveraging swoon. Silver $125. Uncertainty trumps greed and fear.

    Neither one happened. Greed still trumps uncertainty.

    – Two-way Stagflation — massive asset deflation combined with high energy and food costs. Americans go broke fast, go hungry, go nowhere.

    Not happening. Real estate evaluation is on the increase. Energy and food costs are stable. A gallon of gas actually went down in price. Dec. 2012 gasoline cost $3.39. Now it is $3.27.

    – California, Illinois, and New Jersey beg the broke federal government for bailouts. The federal government pretends to bail them out. Austerity has a field day.

    Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. None of those states begged for bailouts.

    – Despite willingness to do so, the Federal Reserve can no longer “print” money to overcome the deflationary contraction of wealth. They are finally “out of ammunition.” They will try nonetheless. Consequently some nations will stop accepting dollars for trade, possibly the Middle Eastern oil exporters. That would be very bad news.

    Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Fed is still printing money. Dollars are still accepted for trade. Including Middle East oil exporters.

    – Shale oil and gas production stop increasing, possibly turns around to decline. The event hugely demoralizes “energy independence” cornucopians.

    Wrong. U.S. crude oil production exceeded an average 7 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in November and December 2012, the highest volume since December 1992.

    – Gasoline shortages return to the USA on a scale last seen in the 1970s. Cause: broken oil market allocation system. Some regions suffer more than others.

    Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

    Pretty hard to get EVERY prediction wrong, but JHK managed.

  154. ajmuste January 4, 2014 at 12:35 pm #

    2012 production set records. 2013 broke those. JHK was wrong about 2013 being the year decline begins.

    U.S. crude production climbed a record 18 percent in the past year (2013) to a 25-year high of 8.075 million barrels a day in the week ended Dec. 6, the Energy Information Administration said yesterday. The boom has reduced domestic demand for foreign oil.

    Predictions of decline in 2013 were wrong. Might want to ease up a bit on the Cornucopian bashing. They have been right more than JHK.

    • K-Dog January 4, 2014 at 1:01 pm #

      You are deluded.

      • Janos Skorenzy January 4, 2014 at 6:07 pm #

        Were you able to determine if Prog is an agent or not?

    • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 12:45 pm #

      Cheap oil like the Mohicans is going to go away. There’s not going to be a hydrogen economy or anything else to replace it and when oil is gone we are screwed because no preparation is being done to deal with its loss.

      To survive we would have to re-size, rescale and down-scale everything we do in America and since the issue is fundamental social change I don’t know that you have anything valuable to say about it since you claim to have bugged-out to South America.

      We would have to live closer to were we work. Live closer to each other, and produce our food locally. Nothing we are doing is preparing us for our future and your hat trick of suggesting energy independence by playing games with statistics as to where oil comes from is a sham. The domestic supply won’t save us. It is a finite resource and most of it will never be taken out of the ground before the economy of tight expensive oil collapses.

      Please do us all a favor, learn Portuguese, your new national language and go away.

  155. Janos Skorenzy January 4, 2014 at 6:13 pm #

    http://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2014/01/04/yup-18/

    Yup. Ypu. Uyp. Upy. Puy. Pyu

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  156. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 5, 2014 at 9:11 am #

    It’s probably Odin beginning to manifest himself to protect his son Balder/Christ. And above Odin is the All Father, the unmanifest Godhead or Brahmin.

    Wow, Janos! Now that is deep. I read your crack at an explanation as I viewed the painting and at first I just kept scratching my head and saying to myself, “what?” But after about the tenth bong hit I’ll be damned if that isn’t exactly what it is. It became crystal clear. Odin and the All Father appeared before my very eyes, or before my third eye. The hits allowed me to see; they removed the cataracts from my third eye and the light shone like it hasn’t in years. I felt both powerful and loving; in otherwords, I felt complete and one with the All Father. Later i came down and don’t feel quite the same way, but at least now I know what it is.

    Considering your discovery and revelation, I believe this painting should be named, or renamed, Balderdash. Thanks for your impression, Janos. I knew I could count on you to nail it.

    • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 12:26 pm #

      I’m finally able to see the painting. Your Aryan website was shut down for a while yesterday babble. Now the abomination you wish to pollute this blog with is up again.

      This is a rare exception to almost endless paintings of buildings and landscapes. Better have a few more bong hits there babble. the interpretation is rather obvious and you missed it. Though ten bong hits is pretty far over the top. I think you are pulling our leg. The woman is Klara Hitler and the baby is a self portrait of the despot himself. He is comparing himself with Jesus Christ. Adolf Hitler had a very close relationship with his mother and he was crushed by her death in 1907. The Jewish doctor who cared for Klara while she was dying of breast cancer noted that Hitler took the death very hard. Hitler showed gratitude to the doctor by allowing him to immigrate to the United States with his family in 1940. He grieved for his mother all his life.

      The ambiguous buildings in the golden mist are none other than an early vision of Welthauptstadt Germania.

      • Janos Skorenzy January 5, 2014 at 3:34 pm #

        Hitler allowed all the Jews to leave. The ones who refused were the ones who got interred. After the war they were going to be sent to Israel or wherever they wanted. That was the final solution. Tens of millions of Germans had to leave the Volga regions – and millions were killed by the Slavs on the way. Where are all the movies about this final solution?

    • Janos Skorenzy January 5, 2014 at 3:24 pm #

      You need to relax. Isn’t that what pot is supposed to do? You must have got some laced with pcp. I didn’t ask you to try and see what I described. It was merely my imagination giving form to the mist. You can be a real creep sometimes.

  157. BackRowHeckler January 5, 2014 at 12:32 pm #

    What the hell is this? AlQaeda fighters have retaken Fallujah!

    I was somewhat surprised this Sunday to see a front page article in the NYT decrying the power vacuum in the Middle East since US disengagement, and the resultant chaos.

    Looks like the big ‘reset’ with the Muslim World (Circa 2009) isn’t working out too good. Do you recall the hope, the enthusiasm, the rosy predictions of world peace when the Messiah was elected in 2008? On that basis a coveted Nobel Peace Prize was awarded. There was self congratulatory backslapping all around.

    Really who cares? We have alot of other sh-t to worry about anyway.

    –BRH

    • Janos Skorenzy January 5, 2014 at 3:26 pm #

      What an attitude! We have to go back. They’re calling up veterans like you – they’re going to call it the old Whitey Brigade.

  158. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 5, 2014 at 12:54 pm #

    The ambiguous buildings in the golden mist are none other than an early vision of Welthauptstadt Germania.

    That’s an interesting explanation, K-Dog. It could be that. But it could also be Hector “Tio” Salamanca’s wheelchair bell. You have to admit they look awfully similar, meaning comparison of images of the main building in depictions of Wethauptstadt Germania and Hector’s infamous yet trusty bell. Afterall, Hitler was the original Breaking Bad and if you’ve researched Vince Gilligan at all, you know Walt was the Anti-Christ. Either way, it’s a great painting. I’m glad we can agree on something and we’ve found some common ground. I know that’s difficult for a devout contrarian such as you who seems only capable of love without power. Thank you for rising above your hatred and prejudice.

    http://www.everyjoe.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/hector-ringing-bell.gif

      • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 4:56 pm #

        Mark Margolis is a great actor. I’ve always liked his work.

      • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 5:23 pm #

        I interpret this to mean that technology can oppress. I wonder if the artist meant to portray this idea or if it is a coincidence.

    • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 4:51 pm #

      No Hitler contributed his CO2 to climate change in the earth pit with the help of a bit of gasoline outside his bunker long before Walt learned how to make the blue ice. Before Walt was born even. The painting is unrelated to Breaking Bad.

      I can’t agree Walt was the Anti-Christ. Walt had issues with power and control which lead to him getting out of control yes, but on the Anti-Christ scale Tuco Salamanca Tio’s nephew ranked far higher for instance. Walt had issues and let legitimate anger get way out of control. He got stuck in anger and could not move on. Walt and Tio had a lot in common as evidenced by Walt’s later treatment of Mike Ehrmantraut but to be a true Anti-Christ one must move beyond simply being evil to get a job done and truly embrace pain and suffering. They must stand out from the crowd and revile in committing evil acts. I don’t think Walt ever went that far. In the end Walt was a man caught up in his own bullshit, that’s all.

      Tio Rings the bell

      How did you know I was a Breaking Bad fan. Giving me one of those blue barrels of Benjamins would make me go away you know. Then you could have this blog all to yourself.

      • Janos Skorenzy January 5, 2014 at 7:09 pm #

        Walt Disney warned us about the Jews taking over the film industry but we didn’t listen.

        Walt in Breaking Bad got back at the Jewish couple who screwed him over.

    • SpeedyBB March 6, 2014 at 3:29 pm #

      Looks like Salvador Dali in the hospital, persistently ringing the bell to fetch the doctors until it finally shorted out and caught on fire. His burns were really surreal.

      I note that even my hard-shell Baptist niece in Texas and her even-more-impenetrable veterinarian husband have started to talk about a post-oil scenario (something laughable just a few sweet years ago). Of course their plans orbit an axis of guns, goons and gold (to borrow a meme from the Marcos era) though without the gold. Still haven’t talked her into holding metallic silver.

      From twelve time zones away (Parakansalak, West Java, between volcanoes) the situation in yon wan republic looks peculiarer and peculiarer. More and more out of touch (or is that just me) (no it’s not – the John Kerry comment was, as usual, devastatingly accurate).

      K-Dog’s timing may be tilted toward the pessimistic side but looks a lot more grounded than any other scenario. At least until our ethereal brothers from Saucerville decide to move in and take over.

      Is the U.S. of A., with those 11 aircraft carrier wandering the waves, looking for a fight, not simply a baffled and resentful case of “all dressed up but nowhere to go”?

  159. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 5, 2014 at 1:28 pm #

    K-Dog, your explanation of the painting I linked to seems more appropriate for this painting with the exception of the ambiguity in the mist on the horizon. Are you sure you were looking at the right one?

    http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/allthingstuscany/tuscanyarts/files/2010/07/madonna-and-hitler.jpg

    • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 4:59 pm #

      But Hitler did not paint that one.

      • Lord Blaby of Lawson January 5, 2014 at 5:09 pm #

        So? God didn’t write the Bible.

        • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 5:33 pm #

          You blasphemer. The artist whoever it was has to be down on religion to have linked Hitler with the Madonna. That was the intent of this painting. Some may find it amusing, some may not, but it is most likely a personal expression of an internal state of the artist which does not express any great truth. As I see it that way for me it belongs in the book of who cares.

          Did you do it?

          • Lord Blaby of Lawson January 5, 2014 at 5:38 pm #

            God did not write the Bible, but he inspired it. The Bible is a reflection and embodiment of God. Same applies to this painting. Hitler may not have painted it, but he inspired it and so therefore it is a reflection and embodiment of Hitler.

          • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 6:20 pm #

            That is wackadoo.

  160. Lord Blaby of Lawson January 5, 2014 at 4:58 pm #

    You need to relax. Isn’t that what pot is supposed to do?

    Woe, take a chill pill my main man. You’re the one who needs to relax with a reactionary comment like that. Someone compliments you and you go on the defensive? That’s not an example of powerful love; it’s an example of weak hatred and pettiness.

    I never said anything about pot. It was cloves in the bowl and the water was laced with essential oils.

    Speaking of pot, according to David Brooks it’s a silly adolescent drug and should only be marketed to that demographic because mature adults aspire to greater things…like lying, cheating, theft and murder.

    Weed: Been There. Done That.

    For a little while in my teenage years, my friends and I smoked marijuana. It was fun. I have some fond memories of us all being silly together. I think those moments of uninhibited frolic deepened our friendships.

    But then we all sort of moved away from it. I don’t remember any big group decision that we should give up weed. It just sort of petered out, and, before long, we were scarcely using it.

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    • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 5:13 pm #

      That was an idiotic article written by someone who thinks that by having tried it as a teenager he then knows all about it. His ignorance is astounding and reflects the basic state of man. Man is hubris who thinks that with wings of wax he can fly to the sun. I’m glad I’m a dog.

      The ‘End of Pretend’ will happen when circumstances present themselves which force man to learn humility and the suit and tie wearing crowd learns that just because they have an opinion and have power what they wish to think may not be true. Reality is a harsh mistress who does not suffer fools; currently she finds them amusing and that is the only reason they are still around.

  161. Q. Shtik January 5, 2014 at 5:38 pm #

    “They must stand out from the crowd and revile in committing evil acts.” – Dog
    ===========

    revel

    • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 6:26 pm #

      Wham bam, you are right. Thank you for getting my meaning because what I wrote expresses the exact opposite. Most of my mistakes are coming from trusting spell check too much. I appreciate and revel in your gentle correction.

  162. Q. Shtik January 5, 2014 at 5:41 pm #

    The Chargers beat the Bingles today.

    • Q. Shtik January 5, 2014 at 5:54 pm #

      I’m looking forward to the Seahocks game next Saturday.

  163. progress4what January 5, 2014 at 5:57 pm #

    Regarding David Brooks marijuana article –

    The man does come across as a sanctimonious prick, sometimes.

    This is one of those times.

    “This article is being passed around Facebook and there seems to be general agreement that David’s friends likely continued to smoke weed but stopped including him to avoid his condescending judgement. ”
    …..amy in boston…..

    • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 7:10 pm #

      And he does not seem like the kind of guy who knows that you are supposed to pass it along.

  164. progress4what January 5, 2014 at 6:05 pm #

    Backrowheckler –

    That article and editorial in Navy Times was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. For some reason the editorial is now blocked behind a paywall – but here’s a link to the article and an excerpt.

    “Some of her contemporaries have privately grumbled that Howard has gotten ahead because of her gender and race. These resentments came to light in 2013 after a Navy report cited one of her peers, Rear. Adm. Chuck Gaouette, for telling others that Howard “may not have had to cross as many hurdles in the same fashion to get where she was at,” and her race and gender may have sped up her selection for vice admiral, according to the Navy’s investigation.

    Gaouette, who was fired from command of the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group mid-deployment in 2012, admitted his comments were “petty” and said he’d apologize to Howard.”

    http://www.navytimes.com/article/20140104/CAREERS03/301040005/Howard-s-path-Navy-history

    Also, Navy Times seems to have a pretty free-wheeling letters to the editor section. You ought to think about writing to them – despite LBoL’s feelings of sad and abject helplessness. hah!

    • Janos Skorenzy January 5, 2014 at 7:16 pm #

      So you think she’s legit? And we need more Black female Admirals and Generals, right?

  165. progress4what January 5, 2014 at 6:17 pm #

    “Giving me one of those blue barrels of Benjamins would make me go away you know. Then you could have this blog all to yourself.”
    ….k9 to Lb…..

    HEY! Don’t forget my cut, for collaborating with you on the Espionage Evictor. Or maybe we’ll call it the Cellphone Condom.

    My laptop has been acting flaky ever since you and I emailed each other, btw. You guess your “buddies” have been poking me?

    Come to think of it, though, my laptop was acting flaky long before our email exchange. And I’m still missing my spacebar – and have to space by rubbing the keyboard in the center of the spot where the spacebar used to be.

    And the worst of it is, now I have trouble typing on a normal keyboard, one with a regular spacebar.

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    • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 7:00 pm #

      A barrel would let me start the business and I would cut you in. I like that name. Of course the small print in any agreement that comes with the barrel world probably not allow me to start such a business but if I could I’d cut you in. I’d have to confine myself to solar heating panels or something else that would be green to make more green and which I’d also find agreenable.

      I’d want to have it all done up nice and legal and not have to roll the barrel away across the New Mexico Desert and have to buy an old pick up truck off a Navajo with a bundle off the top like Walt had to do.

      I don’t want to have to disappear but merely agree to maintain a low profile and refrain from comments on the web. A letter from the IRS making it exempt from taxes would also have to be in the mix. If I had to roll it across the desert I’d wind up getting droned by our friend at Holloman AFB. You know, the one with the mud hut. Then the barrel would be stolen and buzzards would have dogmeat for lunch.

      No, the transfer needs to be done in a large down-town bank and I’ll take the empty barrel home. I’m sure it will be good for something.

      Rolling the Barrel

      To begin my life of obscurity I could agree to go to Europe for a while if as part of the agreement GCHQ agrees not to ‘hound’ me.

      • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 7:18 pm #

        Of course the small print in any agreement that comes with the barrel would probably not allow me to start such a business

        That was close. I almost got ‘Q’d again.

        Agreenable instead of agreeable was on purpose.

  166. rube-i-con January 5, 2014 at 6:42 pm #

    There’s not going to be a hydrogen economy or anything else to replace it and when oil is gone we are screwed because no preparation is being done to deal with its loss./i>

    it’s obvious you don’t think before you speak. are you really, really sure that NOTHING is being done?

    no corporations are working on any potential replacement? no scientists, universities, research institutes, individuals, governments?

    how do you know about a hydrogen economy if nothing’s being done about oil drying up? sounds contradictory to me.

    as usual, kdog hyperventilates and fatalizes the state of affairs, glibly glossing over decades of progress and effort.

    peace peaceniks

    • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 7:05 pm #

      I know there will not be a hydrogen economy because I am as scientifically literate as Walter White is. I’m not someone who confuses that which belongs in Comic Books with reality.

      • stelmosfire January 6, 2014 at 7:47 am #

        Can we talk about Potassium? K

    • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 7:06 pm #

      How are the solar panels on the mud hut working?

      • stelmosfire January 6, 2014 at 7:51 am #

        Not to good today. It is heavily overcast and tonight it will be 0. such is the life in New England. After the snow we just had we are in for a serious ice disease.

    • K-Dog January 5, 2014 at 7:28 pm #

      Yes something is being done; FEMA camps. Being as there is no replacement other than a massive retooling of the economy and fundamental changes to the way we live and do business in America that is the only option. Nobody wants to do what is necessary and relying on corporations and business to rise to the occasion is loony-tunes. If you did not think this was true yourself you would not be pretending to be in Brazil.

  167. Janos Skorenzy January 5, 2014 at 7:26 pm #

    The Cosmic Evil of Lesbianism.

    http://clashdaily.com/2014/01/lunatic-lesbians-normal-penis-vagina-always-rape/

  168. progress4what January 5, 2014 at 7:59 pm #

    “So you think she’s legit? And we need more Black female Admirals and Generals, right?” ….janos….

    Legit? Probably. I’d base that on the probable fact that the Navy doesn’t generally give command of a ship to people who haven’t proven that they can handle it. And, just from my own experiences, I’m pretty sure a sea command would reveal an incompetent or illegitimate officer pretty quickly. Maaaybe, they could have her as a figurehead and have a superman as her XO – but I’m not sure that would work for long. just my $.02.

    As far as needing more black female admirals – I interpreted the article differently from BRow in that regard.

    Now – do I think female (black or otherwise) naval officers, warriors, firefighters, cops, etc, etc – are as likely to be as abundant or as effective as males in identical situations, especially moving into a future of severe decline.

    Probably not – given enough time and enough severe societal stress.

    But that’s another question.

  169. progress4what January 5, 2014 at 8:07 pm #

    “Yes something is being done; FEMA camps. ” ….k9….

    Even if the worst of the FEMA camp/stockpiled coffins/etc rumors prove to be 100% true – I’ve decided to stop worrying about it.

    Those things are not intended for me. If I go into one it will be because of a wrong place/wrong time sort of incident.

    Now – if I were an inner city gang-banger, with no skills except watching TV, and no resources beyond a predilection to violence or helplessness during stressful times –

    Then I’d be much more concerned about those FEMA camps and things.

  170. Janos Skorenzy January 5, 2014 at 9:19 pm #

    The Nation has failed. Time to fall back to the Tribe.

    http://www.radixjournal.com/journal/becoming-the-new-barbarians

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  171. progress4what January 5, 2014 at 9:27 pm #

    “Your attitude would be forgivable if it was based on race. But it is just indifference and class superiority.” …..janos….

    I’m not sure my attitude should be considered “forgivable,” regardless of what is is based upon. I just consider it the attitude of someone who plans to survive and thrive if possible – or die trying.

    And I had to look this one up; so points to you! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulak

    And I might be a kulak-analog, IF US history were going to repeat Russian history. It will not, of course.

    And – I thought my vision of FEMA camps as being disproportionately designed for “urban youth” would be something that the AmRen crowd would have already considered. No?

    • Janos Skorenzy January 5, 2014 at 10:22 pm #

      Amren doesn’t deal with it. Alex Jones does and Western Rifles do. The Camps are for enemies – old Americans, Vets, Patriots, Christians – traditional Whites in other words.

  172. progress4what January 5, 2014 at 9:53 pm #

    Fall back to the tribe, you say? Enough of a collapse and that’s all any of us will have. But I think Donovan is off the mark, here. This excerpt from one poster sums it up:

    “Donovan is arguing for pocket isolationism. I’m not. I’m arguing for racial and ethnic solidarity based on proven models. Donovan is guessing when he says “shoot for 150 people.” Why? Why that many or that few? Does he even know? Why didn’t he give any specifics beyond that?

    Q: How does it help is to break off into isolated groups?

    A: It doesn’t. It’s actually worse when you consider how Leftist Western Governments treat whites”

    • Janos Skorenzy January 5, 2014 at 10:34 pm #

      Well 150 isn’t a tribe in the full classic sense. It’s more like a clan. But small steps. We’ve lost everything and have to start from the bottom. A Tribe is a union of Clans. A Nation is a union of Tribes.

      Why that number? Probably to keep it all personal. He see men as utterly alienated by huge systems that cannot fulfill them even if just neutral. Now they are actually against us. In one essay, he recommended the show “Sons of Anarchy” – a Bike Club, as an example of a tribe. I watched it and ended up loving it. Some of it spoke to me – not the criminal and sleazy parts, but the existential elements. One guy tried to break away from the club to please his wife. He was working from 6 to 6 at her father’s lumber mill – and was miserable. He needed the Tribe and Their ways of working and being. They had a legitimate business (mechanics) which also covered their illicit activities. A much more organic rhythm and of course you are working with your friends. They aren’t going to can you if you have some personal business that keeps you away for a few days.

  173. Q. Shtik January 6, 2014 at 12:12 am #

    Fred’s latest…….published Jan 5th but dated Jan 6th.

    http://www.fredoneverything.net/Illusions.shtml

    • K-Dog January 6, 2014 at 2:02 am #

      I liked that one. I especially liked this part.

      “I have read that the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist (sic) Party consists of eight engineers and an economist.”>

      They have the right ideal but they could do without the economist.

  174. Q. Shtik January 6, 2014 at 12:26 am #

    “The too maybe we could make out like King Rat à la James Clavell.” – Dog
    ============

    I recall the movie staring George Segal. Hard to believe it came out 48 years ago. Time flies.

    • K-Dog January 6, 2014 at 1:52 am #

      I read the book many years ago. One day I sat down and started reading Shogun when it came out and did not stop until I was finished. I liked it so much I decided to read everything Clavell ever wrote. Tai-Pan was also good. Men of action, passionate exceptional and fearless about living. Men who would not compromise themselves for anything.

      While I was reading Shogun Ms. Dog called me before she was Ms. Dog and wanted to see me. I said I could not see her until I finished the book. It was over a weekend.

      • ZrCrypDiK January 6, 2014 at 7:54 am #

        The TV series Shogun *SUXOR’D*!!! 🙂

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