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Voila: World War Three

W hoever really runs things these days for the semi-mummified royal administration down in Saudi Arabia must be leaving skid-marks in his small-clothes thinking about Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his ISIS army of psychopathic killers sweeping hither and thither through what is again being quaintly called “the Levant.” ISIS just concluded an orgy of crucifixions up in Syria over the weekend, the victims being other Islamic militants who were not radical enough, or who had dallied with US support.

Crucifixion sends an interesting and complex message to various parties around this systemically fracturing globe. It’s a step back from the disabling horror of video beheadings, but it still packs a punch. For the Christian West, it re-awakens a certain central cultural narrative that had gone somnolent there for a century or so. ISIS’s message: If you thought the Romans were bad…. Among the human race, you see, the memories linger.

ISIS has successfully shocked the world over the last two weeks by negating eight years, several trillion dollars, and 4,500 battle deaths in the USA’s endeavor to turn Iraq into an obedient oil dispensary. Now they have gone and announced that their conquests of the moment amount to a Caliphate, that is, an Islamic theocracy. In that sense, they are at least out-doing America’s Republican Party, which has been trying to do something similar here from sea to shining sea but finds itself thwarted by hostile blue states on both coasts.

More to the point, the press (another quaint term, I suppose) is not paying any attention whatsoever to what goes down with ISIS and the other states besides Iraq and Syria in the region. I aver to Saudi Arabia especially because Americans seem to regard it as an impregnable bastion against the bloodthirsty craziness spreading over the rest of the Muslim world. Saudi Arabia is, of course, the keystone of OPEC. Saudi Arabia has had the distinction of remaining stable through all the escalating tumult of recent decades, reliably pumping out its roughly 10 million barrels a day like Bossy the cow in America’s oil import barn.

Or seeming to remain stable, I should say, because the Saud family royal administration of mummified rulers and senile princes looks more and more like a Potemkin monarchy every month. 90-year-old King Abdullah has been rumored to be on life support lo these last two years, his successor brothers already dead and gone, and other powerful Arabian clans with leaders who can walk across a room and speak itching to kick this zombie Saud family off the throne. To make matters worse, the Sauds have also managed to sponsor much of the organized Sunni terrorism in the region (around the world, really) in their role as the chief enemy of the Shia ­— as represented by the politicized clergy of Iran.

Things are happening at lightning speed over in the region and beware of how the turmoil spreads from one flashpoint to another. This would be an opportunity for ISIS to put the Saud family on the spot regarding the just-announced Caliphate — as in the question: who really calls the shots for this new theocratic kingdom? (Answer: maybe not you, doddering, mummified, America suck-up Saudi Arabia). What’s more, what happens to the other kingdoms and rickety states in that corner of the world? For instance, Lebanon, which has been a sort of political demolition derby for three decades. The founder of the group al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), pre-cursor to ISIS, was the Lebanese Abu Mus‘ab al-Zarqawi — blown up in a USA air strike some years ago. Lebanon has been under the sway of Hezbollah for a decade and Hezbollah is sponsored by Shi’ite Iran, making it an enemy of ISIS. Might ISIS roll westward over Hezbollah now to capture the pearl of the Mediterranean (or what’s left of it) Beirut? I wouldn’t be surprised.

Then there’s Jordan, and it’s youngish King Abdullah, another notorious USA ass-kisser. Those crucifixion photos coming out of Syria must be making him a little loose in the bowels. And, of course, Syria, where this whole thing started, is a smoldering rump-roast of a state. And finally, that bugbear in the bull’s-eye of the old Levant: Israel.

It is miraculous that Israel has managed so far to stay out of the way of this juggernaut. Of course, among its chief enemies are Hezbollah and Hezbollah’s foster father, Iran, which happen to be the enemy of ISIS and, of course, in that part of the world the enemy of my enemy is my ally — though, I’m sorry, it’s rather impossible to imagine Israel getting all chummy with the psychopaths of ISIS. One thing is a fact: all other things being equal, Israel has the capability of turning any other state or kingdom in the region into an ashtray, if push came to shove. Voila: World War Three.

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264 Responses to “Voila: World War Three”

  1. AKlein June 30, 2014 at 9:31 am #

    I wonder how the emergence of ISIS is going over at the Pentagon? Is it being viewed as yet another opportunity to go to war? What do Boeing and Lockheed think? More opportunity to sell product?

    • Being There June 30, 2014 at 9:36 am #

      Yes

      • consultant13 June 30, 2014 at 3:48 pm #

        Agree. To draw out the fight, they’ll probably try to sell to both sides.

        • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 4:40 pm #

          Program Optimization at its finest…

          ;]

    • rocketjock August 30, 2014 at 8:33 pm #

      I work for one of those defense contractors I can tell you that every person from the top to the bottom of our company is as worried about these fanatics as anyone else is. We have families too. And, contrary to popular belief, stable governments in that region that can afford modernized defensive detterents is far better for our weapon system sales. The last 13 years of maintaining an American presence in hot spots has actually drained the U.S. military budget to the point that all the big defense contractors are laying off employees and fighting to keep dollars just to sustain support capability for existing systems.

  2. djc June 30, 2014 at 9:35 am #

    I think its pretty safe to say the Middle East, and actually the entire world, will self destruct; we just don’t know when. But the truly sad fact is none of this had to happen. If we had grown-ups running our country, and its institutions, the facts on the ground would be very different.

    So who do I blame for this toothpaste-out-of-the-tube mess? Us, the American people, for putting up with liars, hangers on and ass-kissers of the first degree for the last 40 years. I mean really what are the chances that our country would elect two of the most inept presidents ever in the last 4 elections? Can we not have done better than Bush II and Obama?

    djc

    • Being There June 30, 2014 at 9:50 am #

      Read Naomi Klein’s “Shock Doctrine, the Rise of Disaster Capitalism.”

      It will give you a step-by-step explanation of how Iraq happened as well as how things changed during and since the Korean War…with this wonderful notion that we can breakdown a man or a nation and re-build it the way we want……and of course privatize every aspect of govt. for pennies on the dollar.

      Everything you always wanted to know about how this hegemony works. It’s not just a question of maturity.

      • Neon Vincent June 30, 2014 at 10:04 am #

        I recommend “Shock Doctrine” as well. It explains how democracy is subverted in the name of capitalism all over the world and hints that it’s coming home to the U.S. Speaking of which, that’s one of the fears about Detroit’s bankruptcy. So far, most of the parts that people outside Detroit fear, that it will ruin the pensions of the City of Detroit’s retirees and take away the art in the Detroit Institute of Arts, have not come to pass and aren’t likely to, either. The other is that the Detroit water system will be privatized. That could still happen. In the meantime, Thousands of non-paying customers are getting their service shut off every week in order to get the utility’s books in order for the bankruptcy. That led to an appeal to the U.N., which ruled it a human rights violation.

      • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 1:48 pm #

        I second this recommendation. Naomi did a fine job.

        I would also recommend “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” by John Perkins for an up-close-and-personal account of how it goes down.

        John is the guy that closed the “SAMA” deal with Saudi Arabia and brought it into the fold.

        He’s also someone who grew up in New England so his voice and viewpoint may interest those who live in the area. John’s not selling any ‘soap’. he was there. He knows how it was intended to work.

      • seawolf77 June 30, 2014 at 1:59 pm #

        If it ain’t broke, fix it until it is.

        • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 4:46 pm #

          Better yet, get paid to ‘fix’ it at a premium – with a down-payment that would bankrupt the client – IF you weren’t so fortuitously there to loan them the money to be able to afford you…

          Then, change the terms of the contract mid-stream (circumstances change, you see) and renegotiate for a partner-sized slice of their economic ‘pie’…

          But it’s all for the best, because after all, don’t we all want what’s best for our people?

          /s

    • JBPravda June 30, 2014 at 9:58 am #

      Indeed, destruction, as Ahnald aka Terminator mechanically retorted ‘it’s in your nature to destroy yourselves’.

      Baudrillard, et.al. had it spot on: we, our ‘avatars’, our ‘whirled’ are but simulacra, poorer and poorer copies of original humanity, nothwithstanding its often necessary inhumanity a la survival.

      Picasso comes to mind: on seeing the Lascaux cave paintings for he first time he exclaimed: “We have invented nothing—they knew it all, even then!”

      We are but Xeroxes, xenophobes to our once great selves.

      • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 1:53 pm #

        “Picasso comes to mind: on seeing the Lascaux cave paintings for he first time he exclaimed: “We have invented nothing—they knew it all, even then!”-JBP.

        When I think of Picasso in this context, I remember dreaming of “Guernica ” the week that Iraq was invaded – in technicolor.

        Ciao!

    • Pogo June 30, 2014 at 10:01 am #

      We would have had President Albert Gore if popular vote was used. (Try to imagine what a different world it would be if….).

      The Supreme Court gave us “W”. Q: Would we have Obama without the dismal mess created by Bush and his puppet master?

      • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 1:56 pm #

        “We would have had President Albert Gore if popular vote was used.”-Pogo.

        That’s why it wasn’t used.

        Why do you think that we have an ‘Electoral College’?

        It’s a command-override installed into this government by a bunch of rich planters (I’m referring to the leading Founders and Framers) to make sure that things don’t get *too democratic*…

        There’s really no other explanation for it that holds up.

      • Casualty09 June 30, 2014 at 3:00 pm #

        “We would have had President Albert Gore if popular vote was used. (Try to imagine what a different world it would be if….).”

        Now THAT is a fun parlor game to play.

        Imagine how the US would’ve responded to 9/11 with Gore in the White House instead of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice oilgarchs (that’s deliberately misspelled). Yes, we invade Afghanistan, route the Taliban and install a puppet leader. But instead of invading Iraq (which of course had nothing to do with 9/11 notwithstanding the excuse it provided to the neocons to engage in their nation-building fantasies in the Middle East), we spend the $1.1 – $3.0 trillion (various estimates of the cost of the war in Iraq), on what Gore calls a “Marshall Plan of Energy Autonomy.”

        Citing the need to distance the US from the interminable, centuries- (millennia-?) old Middle Eastern grievances and sectarian disputes, President Gore announces that to be truly removed from the region, the USA needs to become energy independent. That way, when the simmering hatreds between Shia and Sunnis, or Persians and Arabs, or whomever else hates whomever else, boil over into open warfare, we can afford to take a laissez faire approach and let them duke it out among themselves, with no fear over the impact on international oil prices.

        The Federal government raises taxes on the rich to fund the war in Afghanistan and significantly increases investment on R & D involving alternative energy sources. This results in a “tech boom” that provides jobs and gives investors a place to invest – thereby forestalling the FIRE-based boom of the speculative, creatively-financed housing market that occurred during the Bush years. The US economy grows at a nice clip, unemployment is low, the US takes the lead on solar energy (and other alternative energy sources) and US companies get hundreds of patents on new technologies, which they begin exporting to European nations that are eager to wean themselves from the Russian/Middle Eastern fossil fuel oppression.

        As part of his Marshall Plan (and to help out Democratic urban voters), Gore invests in light-rail and walkable cities and communities. This spurs further economic development on the small business level (fewer folks driving to big-box scores on the outskirts of town means more people spending $ closer to home) and, as it encourages exercise in walkable communities, leads to a healthier America – and the land whales of Wal-Mart become an endangered species. . . .

        A guy can dream.

        • BackRowHeckler June 30, 2014 at 8:04 pm #

          Yup, it woulda been a fukkin utopia (if Gore got in)

          Only question is, would Gore have $500 million in the bank had he been elected president?

          –brh

        • Oneiropolos July 5, 2014 at 5:00 pm #

          This is probably one of the most delusional things I’ve read on here, only bettered by asoka’s wild ravings on any number of subjects.

          Politicians in the US are notorious for not remotely living up to their campaign promises. And Al Gore is a man of exceedingly dodgy character to begin with, so your faith in him is ludicrously misplaced.

          Maybe a forceful president could actually effect such change, but I have serious doubts about that proposition. There’s a whole machine in DC that is dead-set against radical changes, especially when it involves less money for them.

          News flash for you Democrat geniuses, the rich are the people who own your party, the tax-the-rich agitation has never failed to live up to the promise. Not once. Maybe you’ll realize why in another few decades?

          And the Democrats leaving the Middle East alone, there’s a good larf. The entire political system is invested in the war machine, if you think differently its time to hit the books, son.

          By the way, the groundwork for the financial crisis of 2008 was set during the Clinton administration. Brooksley Born attempted to shut down the derivatives scams and was bullied into submission by Clinton’s cronies and the Fed. And the subprime mortgage market was basically created ex nihilo by misguided government policies which I won’t even get into – suffice it to say, it was in the name of ‘social justice’.

          Not that many of the ideas raised above aren’t good, but the foolish partisanship and detestable naivete of this post are nauseating.

          • Oneiropolos July 5, 2014 at 5:01 pm #

            never failed = never yet

          • membersince July 14, 2014 at 2:53 pm #

            Asoka was a screen name on fuckedcompany.com about a thousand years ago in web time.

            Wonder if it’s the same guy?

    • consultant13 June 30, 2014 at 4:00 pm #

      The worse Presidents over the last 40 years, starting with THE worse:

      1. Reagan (he started the American decline in a huge way.)

      2. George W. Bush (actually far worse than Reagan, but he didn’t kick off the attacks on the idea of a “United” states. If we’re not a nation, then what are we? Bank of America? Walmart?

      3. Clinton (with a few exceptions, continued and expanded some of Reagan’s policies. The DLC was just a center-right Republican group)

      4. George Bush (father) (a Eisenhower type Republican, out of touch, but still believed in America

      5. Obama (inherited 40 years of clusterfuck from the above group. He’s made MANY mistakes, but look what he’s had to work with.

      • seawolf77 June 30, 2014 at 11:02 pm #

        I beg to differ. Immortalized in stone on Mt Shitmore would be 1) Woody Wilson 2) LBJ 3) Nixon and 4) Teddy Rooooooosevlt.

    • Dumbedup July 4, 2014 at 12:57 pm #

      There are pockets of sanity around the world, but we are as politically schizo right now as I can remember in my 60 years. Bad is called good, and moderate or reasonable is the enemy of all. I see 3 hallmarks of a decadent civilization in America. (and I live in the south so I see it more pronounced here)

      *Religious freedom used to perpetuate bigotry and hate
      *Corporate personhood
      *Criminalization of the lower classes but a pass for the privileged

      Some of this has always been true but it was on the fringes. Now it is mainstream

  3. seawolf77 June 30, 2014 at 9:40 am #

    Ever wonder why Abhu Graib? Why did they let those pictures out, if in fact we control the press? To pop the Muslims? Popping you is conservative tactic. It arose out of the slave days. In modern times, they’ll send someone to get in your face, harrass you, annoy you, insult you until you “POP,” and take a swing at someone. Then they have you. Win or lose, you will get arrested, you will find yourself in jail, you will be at the mercy of the “just us,” system. they popped the Arabs so that all the tough guys would come out and fight when the big bad militray was there to squash them. But people aren’t supid.They laid low and waited until we rebuilt their oil infrastructure and now that oil exports are approaching record levels, the American military is back home thinking they won, and politicians hands are sore from patting themselves on each other’s back, they slink out of their holes, armed to the teeth, ready to exact vengeance. These people have thousands of years of history. They got all the angles covered. The powers that be will NEVER nuke an oil rich area. NEVER. They know this. Your threats are idle.

    • ozone June 30, 2014 at 11:38 am #

      “… if in fact we control the press?”

      seawolf,
      Who is this “we” to whom you refer?

      (I would agree, no nukes in areas to be exploited in the near future. Perhaps in a last gasp, nihilistic, scorched-earth death convulsion.)

      • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 2:05 pm #

        “(I would agree, no nukes in areas to be exploited in the near future. Perhaps in a last gasp, nihilistic, scorched-earth death convulsion.)”-Oz.

        Well, Israel *does* have a “Samson Doctrine”…

        😉

    • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 2:04 pm #

      Good point(s) and you’re right.

      The take-away here is that if you see a bunch of people with thousands of years of occupancy in an area that’s not utterly undesirable, there’s a reason why they’re still in there.

      That might be a good time to slow down and re-scope whatever ‘grand master-plan’ you’ve been entertaining.

      [Rhetorical ‘you’ o/c]

    • consultant13 June 30, 2014 at 4:02 pm #

      Very real. Very true.

  4. joomlabliss June 30, 2014 at 9:42 am #

    In a way, it is good that ISIS is behaving in a psychopathic manner. Otherwise, they might have a chance of uniting the Arab world – if only temporarily and only for one purpose. Given that the Kingdom of Saud’s days are clearly numbered, this new unification would have been very dangerous. I am not sure Israel is capable of inflicting any serious damage – not without $4B annual US subsidies, and not without boomeranging its own death warrant. It is a small country, with very limited resources and with a lot of internal conflicts – surrounded by very hostile neighbors who are getting increasingly better at warfare. Israel is very capable, however, of starting a major conflict, to be sure. Whether it is going to be WWIII or not remains to be seen. But WWIII starting in that region is not in Israel’s interests, as I am sure they are aware that US is bankrupt and that Europe is not going to finance them. These days no one has money for major wars, but then again, when it comes to wars, fundraising for someone’s specific interests has always produced very good results, regardless of the health of world’s economic affairs or lack thereof. So, in my view, chances of WWIII breaking out in that region now are no more than 50/50, if not less.

    • Neon Vincent June 30, 2014 at 9:58 am #

      “ISIS is behaving in a psychopathic manner.”

      No kidding, and they’re following the same playbook that the Taliban did in Afghanistan and Ansar Dine in Mali. They seem to be intent on starting a Dark Age on fast forward by destroying the cultural artifacts of rival traditions, among their other violent acts.

      http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/2014/06/what-sith-jihad-wants-includes-science.html

      Yes, I call ISIS “The Sith Jihad.” That’s because I was twitting another blogger, Elaine Meinel Supkis, who thought they looked like Jedi. I told her that they looked more like Sith. My readers liked the comparison, so the name stuck.

      • seawolf77 June 30, 2014 at 10:10 am #

        I disagree. They are wholly calculating. They are goading America and the West to come back in; in fact they are begging. To tell you the truth I am surprised they haven’t found some babies in incubators and … well you get the picture.

        • Neon Vincent June 30, 2014 at 10:46 am #

          The two claims, that ISIS AKA the Sith Jihad is psychopathic and that it is acting in a calculated manner, are not mutually exclusive. Psychopaths can be quite calculating. As for the American response, give it time.

    • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 2:23 pm #

      ” I am not sure Israel is capable of inflicting any serious damage – not without $4B annual US subsidies,”-Joomla.

      As well as additional billions earned from pass-through charges and resale of US military equipment (not too mention additional cash earned by providing high-level cover to certain corporations, while they pipeline stolen US technology through false-front Israeli locations to China and elsewhere)… The Israeli’s have isolated themselves in many ways, in the process of willing the short-term game.

      “It is a small country, with very limited resources and with a lot of internal conflicts – surrounded by very hostile neighbors who are getting increasingly better at warfare.”-Ibid.

      My father remarked many times about how the Israelis reminded him of the Spartans: “until a certain day… __At Leuctra__…”

      The Spartans, like the Israelis after them, made the mistake of fighting with their neighbors so many times that they finally they got their *ss*s handed to them.

      Why? Because all those painful defeats taught the Thebans how to beat the Spartans at their own game… And the Spartans had __No One__ to blame but themselves for that 😉

      “Well, that’s not going to happen now is it?” My younger self asked.

      “They said that the Arabs would never learn how to car-bomb, didn’t they?” My father replied.

      ;))

  5. Being There June 30, 2014 at 9:43 am #

    On GPS this Sunday there was much talk about 1914 and this moment which they think might just be parallel to that moment 100 years ago. There is a sense that Pax Americana has run out of steam and there will in fact be a breakdown in the wonderful world of globalism we are pushing so hard for. Who knows, maybe the only way out of our own bad trade deals is a war….

    There are theories that the CIA has whipped this up to destabilize the ME the same way we want to weaken anyone who gets in our way –you know the way we want to screw Russia and China…..

    And of course don’t forget that the 911 bunch were all Saudi nationals and the Bin Laden family was here in the USA during that heady moment that changed the fortunes of so many…..and were ushered out of the country when nobody else could fly.

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    • ozone June 30, 2014 at 11:23 am #

      BT,
      I think you’ve applied the proper amount of disbelief onto the official pronouncements and the dis-informative slantings of their spook handmaidens. Thanks.

      …And I would agree that a compendium of wars (cold, simmering, proxy, hot) are in the offing and to continue. As I’ve said before, the only way out is through, ‘though horrendous waste be its’ historical stamp.

      We would do well to remember that none of the influential, wealthy and powerful in the country that was a victim of the 911 attacks lost any influence, wealth or power as a result. Instead these eminence gris figures grew ever louder and fatter and the size of the government doubled, thus ensuring a vastly larger pool of toadies, sycophants and wage slaves (which would include military personnel, for those of limited imaginations).
      That tells the tale and paints the signpost on the path we now tread (with justifiable nervousness). “This way to Destruction and Perdition.”

      • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 2:30 pm #

        “Instead these eminence gris figures grew ever louder and fatter and the size of the government doubled, thus ensuring a vastly larger pool of toadies, sycophants and wage slaves…”Oz.

        Well spotted, Oz… Asking about Motive, Means & Opportunity and *cui bono* gets us past the smoke and mirrors.

        O T O H, this will not be the first time in history that ‘les eminences grises’ were sorely mistaken.

  6. JBPravda June 30, 2014 at 9:46 am #

    ………..there is a tide in the affairs of men……..when taken at the flood………

    You get the idea, the Bard, in the context of voracious usurpers, again unfurling this DREAM state whose stuff is the grist of nightmares.

    But it is all a dream state, fashioned by the Great Simulator for its bemusement, our chagrin for having bought into its ‘reality’.

    The now moribund Japanese culture has known this for centuries: their aristocratic play language , asobu kotaba (see: Joe Campbell), has it like this: the world is dying………..their take: ‘We see that your world is playing at dying…..’

    Campbell suggests this is the best takeaway on the ‘world problem’.

    Amen, Yoda: “Die you’re all going to………..reset button hit, hmmm, want to play again

  7. Pogo June 30, 2014 at 10:19 am #

    Why did our intelligence agencies not detect the ISIS threat as it was developing?

    Could it be that we ignored the Cassandras of decades ago warning of the increasing reliance on electronic intelligence gathering? Maintaining actual human intelligence networks is hard work. And when the Bush regime “outed” Valerie Plame it probable worked as a disincentive to anyone from considering such work.

    • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 2:39 pm #

      “Could it be that we ignored the Cassandras of decades ago warning of the increasing reliance on electronic intelligence gathering? Maintaining actual human intelligence networks is hard work. And when the Bush regime “outed” Valerie Plame it probable worked as a disincentive to anyone from considering such work.”-Pogo.

      The de-prioritization of Humint for Elint in the 1980’s was only a symptom of deeper debilitation…

      Humans that know what they’re talking about at first-hand have a nasty habit of telling you things that may be politically unacceptable. Besides there was so much money to be made by automating intel-gathering (or trying to)… /s

      The rot that was exposed back then was that the American political elite had degenerated to *such* a degree, that they actually thought they could afford to be cavalier about it.

      This attitude was noted…

    • Janos Skorenzy June 30, 2014 at 2:42 pm #

      Yes, how did they just “pop” into existence like this? Very strange. Equally strange, but perhaps explicative, is the fact that we are arming them via the “moderates” in Syria. I’d say that Iran is the ultimate goal – to terrorize them and bring them into line. That’s our goal anyway, but the ISIS maniacs obviously have their own.

  8. newworld June 30, 2014 at 10:39 am #

    It certainly is a situation that is fertile ground for conspiracy theorizing. Take this week Obama himself was given a speech to read where he was to promise 500 million in weapons to the area’s “moderates” (which basically means they will be killed and their weapons taken to be used by the crucify cult).

    My guess is that these caliphate clowns are the bad Islamists to the Obama-Saudi-Euro axis of pipelines good islamists that must be armed to rid the world of bad islamists who pre announced the caliphate and rid the world of Assad’s evil control of land that is suited to pipelines.

    • Dumbedup July 4, 2014 at 1:42 pm #

      This is a good point. Moderates will always lay down their arms in the face of extremists. That’s why they are called moderates. It is also an excuse for extremism in the U.S. and part of the reason we see people like Ted Cruz in the news.

  9. contrahend June 30, 2014 at 10:40 am #

    let them eliminate each other. what has changed since biblical days there? nothing in this respect, at least.

    we need to stop caring and let them to their own devices. oh, and send them a message – if you bother us, we will wholly annihilate you.

    of course, this message is communicated to them behind the scenes, you can rest assured.

    we can’t speak or understand their cultural ‘language’, but they seem to understand extreme prejudice, so to speak.

    walk softly and carry a big stick is the essence of foreign policy.

    i think the romans used to kill everyone except the children, who would then be raised as romans, i.e. as civilized beings?

    multiculturalists, you are seeing your beloved rainbow of humanity.

    janos is oh so right in many ways

    kontrahend

    • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 2:41 pm #

      “walk softly and carry a big stick is the essence of foreign policy.”-Kontra.

      Teddy had a point.

      • Janos Skorenzy June 30, 2014 at 2:44 pm #

        But Janey got a gun.

    • Janos Skorenzy June 30, 2014 at 2:45 pm #

      Yes the colors are washing out like the tears of so many clowns. The rainbow is fading to Black and Brown. Read the Rising Tide of Color by Lorthrop Stoddard.

  10. Warren June 30, 2014 at 10:53 am #

    And let us not forget that ISIS/L has acquired enough weaponry to equip 200,000 troops from the 5 or so Iraqi army divisions they have routed, and some where around $500,000.000 from the bank in Mosul. And although they have not air force, but they have acquired a number of MANPAD surface to air missiles which can eliminate the air power of their opponents.

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  11. 99 cent nation June 30, 2014 at 10:56 am #

    With luck after all the dust settles in the middle east after Israel turns everything into ashtrays and totally destroys any pretense to democracy and economic growth around the world we can once again become hunter gathers with a lot of time on out hands to dream up other ways to screw up the species.

  12. Crue June 30, 2014 at 10:57 am #

    Don’t believe the hype about ISIS, it’s not some unstoppable super-radical Islamic force as portrayed by the hyperventilating talking-heads on the evening news. ISIS are, as you noted, a Sunni thing. ISIS is having ‘success’ in the parts of Eye-rack that are majority Sunni, in other words, where there is little resistance against ISIS rule. So far ISIS hasn’t made much headway in the Kurdish or Shia parts of Iraq, nor are they likely to. What we are watching is the disintegration of Iraq into its constituent parts: Kurdish (bad for Turkey), Shia (bad for Israel, Saudi Arabia and Murica), and Sunni(bad for any non-Sunni minorities living in Sunni-ville).

    What this all amounts to is a BIG win for Iran. America’s recent Mid-East wars did EXACTLY what they were suppose to prevent: Expand the power and influence of Iran in the region. Sometimes I wonder if Dick Cheney is actually an Iranian mole.

    • seawolf77 June 30, 2014 at 12:09 pm #

      I agree. To make yourself above reproach, appear as the absolute and utter enemy of your true ally. Hitler did this with the Jews and the bankers. The Holocaust ruse created the state of Israel, giving the bankers a state to park thier nuclear weapons. No one would ever suspect Hitler of working for the Jews or the bankers. Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive. It is always cui bono?

      • Being There June 30, 2014 at 12:56 pm #

        Seawolf that’s one cra cra convolution. Tell that to those Jews who lost their lives or are holocaust survivors that one.

        It’s easy to make stuff up, but when you meet real victims, it’s another story

        • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 2:45 pm #

          “Seawolf that’s one cra cra convolution.”–BT.

          I’m with BT on this one… Seawolf? Do you want to restate that, somehow???

          😉

        • seawolf77 July 5, 2014 at 10:07 am #

          Napoleon said “History is a mutually agreed upon lie.” I’m not the only one who believes this. Hitler was a politician. History has turned him into a caricature. That has more to do with the side he was on than the facts; this ridiculous and quite hilarious good vs evil paradigm that most Americans embrace with a childlike savagery.

      • Janos Skorenzy June 30, 2014 at 2:54 pm #

        That’s a store bought slander. Big Business hates Fascism since they want global markets. Most of the German economic elite were against Hitler. Nazism was by the people, for the people, and funded by the people for the most part. The Banks may have funded Hitler a bit – as an insurance policy in case he won or held his own. They always try to cover all the bets and they would have wanted a presence there after the war. But that’s not to say they wanted him to win. By no means.

        • seawolf77 June 30, 2014 at 3:15 pm #

          Hitler, like all the Catholic dictators, were manufactured by the Church. If it was not, how is it that only the enemies of the Catholic Church were murdered. The Jews and Protestants in Germany. The Russian Orthodox Christians in the Soviet Union. The Greek Orthodox Christians in the Balkans. How come there was no atrocity in Italy , where 90% of the population are Roman Catholic?

          • Janos Skorenzy June 30, 2014 at 4:30 pm #

            Many priests died in the Camps. Italy was ruled by Mussolini not Hitler. I’m not sure what Mussolini thought, but Hitler hated all Christianity. He planned to phase it out, which is why he scheduled the youth groups on Sunday morning. But he couldn’t suppress while there was a war on. That would have meant rebellion. German Protestants were famous for their flexibility in accommodating Nazism. See the writings of Bonhoeffer.

            Also Pius the 12th wrote several encyclicals condemning National Socialism by name. By denying or ignoring this, you join the Jews in their campaign of slander – even though he saved many of them.

    • Janos Skorenzy June 30, 2014 at 2:49 pm #

      So do you think we arming them – using them as our Janissaries who can do what we can’t (cuz of our ethics) against the Shia? Perhaps terrify Iran into backing down and joining the New World Order?

  13. K-Dog June 30, 2014 at 10:59 am #

    Comment on WWIII at CFN? But what do I know. Should I argue as I’ve always believed that there should be a modicum of moral considerations to foreign affairs? No, nobody cares. This may be the week for the CFN military cretin choir to shine. All the time they spend in here making sure hate is sprinkled around the blog like spilled sugar on a kitchen floor can now be put to good use. Cross those Is and dot those Ts. Make a sentence. Me I’ll just see if I hit submit that I’ve been

    u-n-b-a-n-n-e-d

    yet. That’s right JHK, happened again it did. At least our cretin choir doesn’t crucify, I’m grateful.

    • ozone June 30, 2014 at 12:03 pm #

      “Should I argue as I’ve always believed that there should be a modicum of moral considerations to foreign affairs? No, nobody cares.”

      K-Dog,
      Nope, me neither at this turn. Events are dragging the circus wagon and no pleadings, petitionings, pollings, philosophical hair-shirtings. political pretensions or force of will is going to change it.

      Blong…Blong…Blong… (giant cathedral bell, instead of tinkling dinner bell). “Banquet of Consequences is now served; come ‘n’ get it while it’s hot!”

      (And have you noticed how early plants are blooming/bolting? I have. 400ppm and climbing. Certainly there are interesting times in the lush dinosaur swamps ahead.)

      • Janos Skorenzy June 30, 2014 at 3:04 pm #

        I want to be the guy driving the wagon in a black shroud who calls, “Bring out the Dead.”

        Have you thought about getting into the hair shirt business? The Women of Kerala have the longest strongest hair of all – that’s where Black Women get their weaves from. But if you choose this route, you have to act now while the shipping lanes are still open. He who hesitates is lost.

        What was that? You still believe in glowball warming? Silly, such trix are for kids.

        • GutenbergGuy July 8, 2014 at 7:02 pm #

          First of all I am surprised to find such comments on this site.

          Many seem to forget a major element in all of this: European Imperialism. Hundreds of years of it.

          Our country has been paying a huge price for that ever since 1945. 58,000 19-year-old boys paid for it in Vietnam.

          FDR wanted to bring an end to Europe’s colonies, but somehow that got “switched out.” Some say for the sake of the Cold War. And now we spend $2Billion/day on the military – on death and destruction. THAT is the real America.

          In the Middle East we began by defending BP’s oil theft in Iran. We overthrew a democratically elected government and put a monarch back on his throne. And those 4500 deceased US troops are just the latest chapter.

          Mr. Obama talks about “our values an priorities” being involved in Syria. Excuse me? He’s killing civilians with drones AND still funding and training Central American Death Squads?! And in the US children still work in toxic tobacco fields because our leadership hasn’t got the balls to prohibit it? Many seniors can’t afford to eat every day! And he has the gall to blather about “values and priorities”?

          People, this is just like the sixties, when a whole generation discovered America isn’t what it claims to be. Except, the government reaction will be much more violent and all I can say is, we tried.

          That ashtray (images like that on this BLOG are what prompted me to join the fun!) will be full of the ashes of innocent civilians.

          And remember we are the ones sponsoring state terror.

          Everyone say HI! to Google and their friends at the NSA!

      • K-Dog June 30, 2014 at 8:52 pm #

        I’m too new at the game to know if my veggies are bolting prematurely or not but I’ve got bolting going on for sure. I didn’t expect knowing when to harvest would be so complicated. But that’s what I’m doing it for. To learn and eat, not just eat. So when there is nothing to eat I know what to do.

        Yes, the banquet of consequence is served. The lies of mass deception and failure to build a functioning society in which could have for a nano-second been the 51’s state has cooked up a steaming main dish which now sits before us. One of those fancy dishes served hot and flaming. Chaos Flambé.

        Oh and Janos; go fuck yourself.

    • Janos Skorenzy June 30, 2014 at 4:23 pm #

      Come, come now, admit it: you think we should just serve everybody without ever taking anything. You think morality should be the only consideration. Neo-Puritanism such as yours is a most potent force even now in a dying America. It has wreaked incalculable harm all over the world – and here in being the spark for the War of Northern Aggression. Its proponents are always completely sure of themselves and completely good – even when they are basically uninformed. They mistake their slogans for well thought out philosophy. And since are completely Right and Good – their opponents are therefore by definition completely Wrong and Evil.

      The Psychopath Lords depend on such moral earnestness that takes no care for material realities. That leaves it all for them you see. And to say that such earnestness is easily misdirected is an understatement. Candy from a baby. Moral Hammer onto immoral nail.

      • ozone June 30, 2014 at 8:57 pm #

        vladdie, I must say that you’ve raised self-parody to something of an art form. Ask for a raise… quick, before the funding runs out!

        • Janos Skorenzy July 1, 2014 at 5:58 am #

          So you admit the White Man’s Burden? It’s only bearable if we get to take resources in exchange for benignly ruling people who can’t rule themselves.

          In some ways you have a worse case of Puritanitis than even Kdog.

          • Fmagyar July 4, 2014 at 9:40 am #

            We live in interesting times.
            History doesn’t repeat, it rhymes.

            3.5 b.y.a. twas the cyanobacteria.
            That changed the atmospheric criteria.

            We are now 7 billion plus.
            To think this continues is NUTS!

            Let’s say along comes this virus
            Which spreads out among us.

            Our antibiotics are useless
            Fighting it is pure hubris!

            Politico leaders are clueless
            Biology is more the ruthless…

            planning to retreat to a cocoon?
            No one, to this, is immune!

            Civilization nears it’s twilight
            For our resources are finite!

            Yet we call ourselves Homo sapiens?!
            Out there, laughing, ‘The Aliens’.

          • GutenbergGuy July 8, 2014 at 7:46 pm #

            Please remember: Slogans are just rhetoric. They are not moral statements or even statements of belief. While they may contain moralistic arguments for going to war, e.g., for “truth,” “justice,” and “democracy.” That is just rhetoric and its purpose is to manipulate the sincere ideals and morals of their listeners.

            You see, generally speaking a politician is someone who doesn’t actually believe in anything. They just mouth the words for our benefit. We should not pay them any attention. There are exceptions, but alas not enough.

            I suggest you review Joseph Goebbels on why governments have to lie to their people in order to get them to go to war.

            I also suggest that everyone review HOW the Nazis did what they did in the thirties. And remember that when you watch the evening news.

        • ozone July 1, 2014 at 10:55 am #

          The subtext of all your amateur pettifoggery, with pretensions to the profound (“political”, “philosophical”, “religious”) has a continuous. immutable thread: Your single goal in life is to get your hobnail boot on somebody’s neck and keep it there. This is why you have an endless supply of scapegoats to roast.

          (Now, please continue with another nonsensical assertion, as I know your burning need to have the last word and leave a lasting impression of a righteous lightbringer. Got your boots licked yet?)

        • K-Dog July 1, 2014 at 12:04 pm #

          It said:

          The Psychopath Lords depend on such moral earnestness that takes no care for material realities.

          Self-parody to taken to an art form, you’re right on! Has a certain 17th century ring to it.

          Just look at your own monkey business; then glance around the pit and parody exactly what you and your co-workers are doing. Then throw the words ‘Psychopath Lords’ or his hallmark

          ‘BLACKS’

          or something else in front of it and you’ve got self parody!!!!

          It would not do well in the LA comedy clubs but in the beltway it must be hilarious haute couture.

  14. shabbaranks June 30, 2014 at 11:50 am #

    Given the history of oil supply disruptions in the MIddle East and oil supply recoveries as evident in the world price of oil available for purchase each day, I think only an utter collapse of theocratic rule in Saudi Arabia would make a significant dent (and corresponding price increase) in world oil supply. But of course, in order for the country to prosper, it would have to resume its oil sales.

    The peak oil narrative and all its concomitant features remain primary; oil shocks due to unstable political situations in advance of the real shortages for economic growth are transitory. The current crisis in Iraq is not a resource war.

  15. Being There June 30, 2014 at 12:05 pm #

    How structural instability as a whole is more important than the straw that broke the camel’s back.

    Listen to this discussion between Charles Hugh Smith and Gordon Long on systemic causes of global conflict in Geopolitical Turmoil: Instability, Fragmentation, Resource Wars:

    http://www.oftwominds.com/blog.html

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    • GutenbergGuy July 8, 2014 at 8:12 pm #

      I fully believe that Capitalism tends toward social instability, even seeks it, because it is very profitable. In the US, e.g., there’s big money to be made off of poverty – and I mean by the private sector.

      And the greatest and most profitable form of instability? War.

      That was one of the unfortunate lessons of WWII.

      In the US conflict is seen as the norm, and all things are forced to move in that direction. The system itself keeps us divided in many ways. For example, it uses the most intimate aspects of our lives to divide us: race, age, income, education, occupation, and even how we love.

      These divisions are magnified during an economic crisis, and have you noticed how they’ve been exploited – by the Radical Right?

      To keep us divided and fighting each other so we won’t notice the hand that is picking our pocket.

      And both parties are responsible for this.

      • GutenbergGuy July 8, 2014 at 10:51 pm #

        Of those intimate aspects of our lives, how could I forget: Gender?!

  16. rollie June 30, 2014 at 12:08 pm #

    “In that sense, they are at least out-doing America’s Republican Party…”

    oh SNAP

    • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 2:49 pm #

      Snap! Snap!

      I was fond of that line as well. There’s more than a grain of truth in it.

      😉

  17. dweebus June 30, 2014 at 12:18 pm #

    I still think the ME is a brewing Cluster and we should stay the hell out. ISIL is ascendant at the moment. Lebanon? Hezbollah will put up a hell of a fight. Assad still reigns in Syria. The Shiite militias are arming in Baghdad. This sucker cannot be mediated.

    But SA? They have a fully modern military. Perhaps an internal insurgency will bring them down, but an external force such as ISIS? Not likely. SA has a fully modern military. ISIL has a 2 billion dollar war chest. SA’s military budget is 56 billion. No comparison. And there is the Carter Doctrine to consider.

    And Israel, they are indeed the wildcard. They will not permit themselves to be overrun. Auschwitz and Dachau are burned into their memory banks. The will do what they have to do, even to the extent of scorched earth.

    “There is a sense that Pax Americana has run out of steam and there will in fact be a breakdown in the wonderful world of globalism we are pushing so hard for. ”

    This is what the end of Empire looks like. Irregular and super-nasty.

    Regards,

    dweebus

    • And So It Goes June 30, 2014 at 12:32 pm #

      Well Said….

    • GutenbergGuy July 8, 2014 at 8:36 pm #

      A question: What kind of manufacturing capability do these countries have – even SA?

      I ask because of things like spare parts and replacements for weapons that are destroyed in combat.

      Because a basic thing that is still needed to wage war is the ability to manufacture your own supplies.

      Oh, and natural resources as well. What besides oil do they have? And do they know how to exploit it?

      We defeated Iraq largely because the country may have been heavily armed but could not sustain it. And a less violent attack, aimed at wearing the Iraq army down over a period of weeks, would have been less barbaric. But the goal was to spend as much of our money as possible as fast as possible – even going so far as to let contractors walk off with billions of it.

      So the coming war that some here seem to want will be much like WWI: Fought largely to fill the coffers of munitions manufacturers. And those who cry shame should remember these folks – who are American, French, English, Chinese, etc. If they don’t sell the weapons the war cannot be fought.

      And I just saw that “ashtray” reference again below. Watch some war documentaries until you can’t stand to see another dead and mutilated body, and then tell me how you feel about even using such imagery.

  18. BackRowHeckler June 30, 2014 at 1:32 pm #

    Meanwhile, on the home front, $4 per gallon gasoline is f-kkin up everybody’s plans for the summer road trip to Itchy and Scratchy Land.

    –BRH

  19. Roger June 30, 2014 at 2:26 pm #

    At least ISIS takes Mr. K’s mind off the “illegal” children rollin’ in to the US from Central America. As far as Israel “turning any other state or kingdom in the region into an ashtray” is concerned:

    Remember The USS Liberty!

    They’d do it to us if they had to.

    • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 2:55 pm #

      Roger,

      It’s funny about how people forget or don’t know about the USS Liberty – or about how John McCain’s dad (Admiral McCain) had to apologize to the Israeli government for the Liberty being attacked/disabled.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident

      “They’d do it to us if they had to.”-Roger.

      “Samson Doctrine”?

      Cheers!

      • Janos Skorenzy June 30, 2014 at 4:16 pm #

        Yes and they went to the hospitalized crew, and berated and threatened badly injured men, men in pain and/or semi-conscious; threatened to court martial and ruin them if they ever breathed a word to anyone of what happened. And President Johnson was the worst: during the attack, he said he didn’t want to embarrass an ally and therefore – Let Them Sink It. Luckily the air force commander didn’t listen and sent fighters to the scene before the Israelis could sink it.

        Even way back then America had lost much of its moral force and was a hollowed out shell. How else could someone like Johnson get into power and stay there? And get away with this treason? BRH makes excuses for the Liberty Incident even now. The Psychopath System depends on enablers like him in order to function. The normalcy bias is incredibly important. People will lie, cheat, steal, and kill in order to maintain the illusion that all is well. In other words, they make themselves over in the image of their Psychopath Lords.

        • BackRowHeckler June 30, 2014 at 7:08 pm #

          Vlad the Liberty incident was over 50 years ago.

          In april 1944 a British Sub accidentally sank a barge full of American soldiers in the English Channel practicing for the D Day landing. 800 soldiers drowned. Unfortunately these things happen in war.

          It was an accident, like what happened to the Liberty.

          And while you’re hammering Israel just today they found the bodies of those 3 kidnapped teenagers who were hitch hiking home from religious school. Let’s hope this crime doesn’t go unanswered.

          –BRH

          • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 8:13 pm #

            Hi BRH,

            The USS Liberty ‘incident’ was not an accident. It was cleared the day before after 4 reconnaissance over-flights by the IDF-Air Force, as has been exhaustively shown:

            http://www.counterpunch.org/2003/10/24/israel-s-attack-on-the-liberty-revisited/

            You can argue with Jeff St. Clair if you want to, but you’re probably going to lose.

            “…just today they found the bodies of those 3 kidnapped teenagers who were hitch hiking home from religious school.”-BRH.

            That is terrible. It’s also a terribly false-equivalence on your part (34 dead/141 wounded vs. 3 dead)?

            While we’re discussing things that need to be answered for; people in the UK haven’t forgotten about The Sergeant’s Affair (speaking of kidnap-killings) or the bombing of the King David Hotel (91 dead) or The Haifa Street car-bombings, and the Swedes haven’t forgotten about their ambassador getting whacked by Irgun-niks at an IDF road-block either…

            These were all operations in which future prominent Israeli leaders took part, or were associated with (Moshe Dayan espec.)…

            I’m only bringing up the high-profile stuff (the stuf that they haven’t forgotten about in Europe), not the small-scale everyday-casual rubbings-out (like the one suffered by a west-coast activist thinking that an Israeli bulldoze operator would hesitate for __one second__ to crush her flat)…

            Just sayin’.

            This isn’t a road that I’m interested in going farther down, my point here BRH is that if you are looking to any in the region to stabilize it, you are going to be disappointed.

            You don’t strike me as someone that naïve.

            It’s all loose-cannons out there now, and none of us knows how far down that particular rabbit-hole goes. Personally, I’m no longer hazarding any guesses.

            [AHEM]

            — — — Subject Change — — —

            To continue a thread we had from last week:

            We were remarking about how particularly cruel it was to hunt/kill large animals with a short 7.62/.30-.30 cartridge BUT it occurred to me a couple of days ago that it not crueler than driving mastodon’s into pitfalls and stabbing them to death with sharp sticks (ie., spears)…

            So, in a comparative sort of way…

            😉

          • Janos Skorenzy July 1, 2014 at 6:02 am #

            Fifty years? So what. No apology has yet been made to the families by either of the governments responsible for the tragedy. And the discussion we needed to have as a nation about it was never had. One more nail in our coffin. It’s things like this that doom a nation.

          • seawolf77 July 5, 2014 at 10:00 am #

            A failed false flag attack is usually called an accident.

        • seawolf77 July 5, 2014 at 9:59 am #

          Casus belli. It’s as old as the crucifixion.

      • Pogo June 30, 2014 at 10:28 pm #

        Hi Mister Darling
        I met a guy in Florida a few years ago who said he was on the USS Liberty. I checked the crew list later and he was not shitting me…he was really there. He said the attack occurred over four hours and that the attack planes and helicopters did not have national insignia. Makes my military service in Duluth, MN (during the Cuban Missile crisis) seen pretty mundane. Hard to imagine what the hell those sailors where thinking about when their surveillance ship was under prolonged attack and wondering when their own air support would come to their aid. I think I’d be pretty pissed off at my government.

        • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 11:00 pm #

          They said that the Russian ships showed up before any US military ships or planes did.

          That sort of thing leaves a poor impression on the men. Very bad for ‘morale’…

          😉

        • seawolf77 July 1, 2014 at 12:05 am #

          Casus belli. It’s as old as the crucifixion.

  20. sevenmmm June 30, 2014 at 2:53 pm #

    I suppose WW3 starting in the ME would be a fulfullment of a major prophecy for some.

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    • Pogo June 30, 2014 at 10:33 pm #

      I agree, sevenmmm, and only hope that I am “Left Behind” so I don’t have to endure eternity with those idiots.

      • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 10:58 pm #

        That was the basis of the running joke in the ‘Heroes in Hell” series: all the really interesting people were ‘down there’…

        😉

  21. rapier June 30, 2014 at 5:28 pm #

    To ramble

    The Saudi sect of Islam, usually called Wahhabi but properly called Salafi, is the mother and father of the situation in the Islamic world particularly in what we call the Middle East.

    Using their money for all these year not to develop the region, and I know ‘develop’ is a loaded term, but rather to extend an medieval world view. al Qeda and all its cousins were a natural outcome of a system which offered immersive education in Fundamentalism instead of real education.

    We put up with this in exchange for every drop of oil they could produce for 40 years to keep The American Way of Life going.

    Bin Laden never had the balls to attack the kingdom but the new generation does. Keep in mind the recent stories about the growing atheism in the Kingdom. Not that I have a clue how things will or could go down keeping in mind the oil fields are populated by apostate Shites. The people the crazies want to wipe off the face of the earth.

    I never heard if Nixon’s bunch actually considered taking over the Saudi oil field but I suppose this was suggested to them if they didn’t play ball. Oddly, given the outcome the idea makes some sense but that is superficially. I am sure the fact would have been horrendous.

    Well one other thing the Saudis agreed to. That was to ignore Israel. So with all the oil and turning a blind eye to Israel we supported totally the world only absolute monarchy and the chickens have now come home to roost. Well they started that in Afghanistan back in the day.

    There is simply no telling how many deaths are to come in the region but it will be staggering.

  22. gardener1 June 30, 2014 at 6:19 pm #

    JIM–

    This column was posted on Reddit and a number of readers are detecting malware on your site.

    Screenshots and conversation here:
    http://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/29gy04/voila_world_war_three_cfn/

    • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 8:26 pm #

      Nice screenshot.

    • ozone June 30, 2014 at 9:22 pm #

      Yessir, CFN is severely buggified. Has been for some time and it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Dangerous discussions that center on the stupidity and mendaciousness of the status quo (and its’ various acolytes and paid servants) need intensive monitoring and increasingly quirky and wtf?, gob-smacking diversions.

      As I’ve written to someone, the overlords are nervously sniffing the wind, and don’t like the scent they’re catching. It’s the sharp, sour smell of imminent disobedience and a mistrust that will not be turned…. (Thus the ineffective tactics that are the only remaining tools that don’t involve pointed gun barrels and strongarm enforcements.)

      • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 10:55 pm #

        “As I’ve written to someone, the overlords are nervously sniffing the wind, and don’t like the scent they’re catching.”-Oz.

        When you’re on your way down, Truth is not your friend…

      • BackRowHeckler July 1, 2014 at 6:13 am #

        CFNers please ignore the following post.

        Communique to OzP

        Hey Pete had to head up your way Sunday on a family matter took the scenic route along Farmington River thru Riverton and up to Rte 8. What a beautiful afternoon it was. everything is pretty green despite no rain. Passed by Tuckers and arrived in New Boston — what the hell happened to your General Store? now just an empty shell.(they tell me the general stores in Pleasant Valley and Colebrook have closed too) Stopped anyway, stood by the River a moment reading that shiny new Historical plaque, looked around some.. Had time to kill so circled back to tuckers where some pretty nice British motorcycles were parked out front. A horseshoe tournament was going on at Tuckers which offered up some pretty good entertainment and I liked the way the pits were opened up to the bar area. I knew some of the guys there, and gals, from down my way. really a congenial atmosphere, reminded me of back in the day when the half the town would show up at sewerside park for a friendly game of softball and beer on Sunday afternoons in the summer. And get this, turns out the guy who owns the place, Jeff Blacker, is an old friend. the crazy kid I knew with 10 brothers and sisters is now a distinguised business owner, paying taxes and making payroll right there along the fast moving farmington river, in the Berkshire foothlls.

        end communique. carry on

        –BRH

        • ozone July 1, 2014 at 8:53 am #

          Dang, mister!
          You should just stop in anytime you happen to be that close. Chances are pretty good someone will be rambling about the place. 😉

        • ozone July 1, 2014 at 8:58 am #

          Ps. Nice that it’s such a small world sometimes, eh? Looks like you’ve got a new hangout when in this part of the countryside… and a good choice at that! (None of that high-toney touristy damn-foolishness. And pretty decent foodstuffs as well.)

      • K-Dog July 1, 2014 at 12:16 pm #

        Sis kebab’s of moderate Sunnis lining roads in north-west IRAQ is getting them damn jumpy. As evidenced by the sudden surge of ‘bossy’ in here.

        When you’re on your way down, Truth is not your friend…

        Now WTF is that but contrived and senseless and destined to fade into obscurity. Like a tale told by an Idiot. . . Signifying nothing” a walking shadow barks and is then heard no more.

  23. Vlad the Inhaler June 30, 2014 at 6:56 pm #

    Yes, the place is falling apart.

    But where do organisations like I.S.I.S. get their weapons from? After all, they aren’t the only armed group in the world (or even in the region) and weapons and ammo don’t come cheap and they must get through tons of the stuff – not to mention food, water, fuel and nails with which to fix those of a more timorous disposition to crosses. Furthermore, they don’t just need the wherewithal to buy it or have it donated by someone, but the supply chains need to be in place to get it to them. There is an awful lot of industrial production and shipping involved here. Who’s doing it and why? What is the perceived advantage to the donor in using up wealth in the form of stuff that goes bang?

    Best wishes all. We’re going to need it!

    • BackRowHeckler June 30, 2014 at 8:12 pm #

      For one thing they’ve captured a lot of American equipment, including stinger missiles.

      They’ve also robbed all the banks in Mosul and Tikrit, about a $2 billion dollar haul.

      Whether or not they’re selling oil yet from the captured pipelines, refineries and well heads I don’t know.

      –BRH

  24. lumbricina June 30, 2014 at 8:02 pm #

    The world’s a battlefield. Cheers.

    • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 8:27 pm #

      So’s love… Cheers!

      😉

      • lumbricina June 30, 2014 at 9:49 pm #

        O pishaw, love’s a myth.

        • MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 10:53 pm #

          Myth is depersonalized Dream, and to be without a Dream is to be a slave.

          And yet, Love makes slaves of us all…

          😉

          Cheers!

          • Karah July 1, 2014 at 12:25 am #

            what are you two drinking?

  25. MisterDarling June 30, 2014 at 9:07 pm #

    “We came, we saw, we left the keys”

    http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2014/06/20140630_MI.jpg

    Slam-dunk!

    Ahhw-right!

    /s

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  26. Pucker June 30, 2014 at 10:56 pm #

    Maybe we can get these ISIS blokes to guard the US-Mexico border since no one else is?

    I’ve just discovered that one can adjust the automatic Taiwanese massage chair to massage one’s balls. I’m now massaging my balls while watching Communications Officer, Uhura, in her tight red dress in old Star Trek re-runs on TV. “Hey Spock! What’s that thing stick’n out of Uhura’s ear?!”

    • Vlad the Inhaler July 1, 2014 at 6:01 am #

      Isn’t that dangerous? Suppose you get a power surge, or something! If I were you I’d make sure your circuit breakers are all right.

  27. progress4what June 30, 2014 at 11:13 pm #

    BAAAM! Your Blackhat Virus appears to be gone! Just like that.
    Thanks to your tech guy, the CIA, or blind luck.
    Or maybe the virus will reappear when I try to post this.
    Anyway, on to this week’s missive:

    “One thing is a fact: all other things being equal, Israel has the capability of turning any other state or kingdom in the region into an ashtray, if push came to shove. Voila: World War Three.” – jhk –

    Yeah, OK, JHK. I do wonder how many Israelis are considering that Samson Option right now, over there. It would certainly end the suspense. I don’t think the Chinese would object. Doesn’t look like the US could object. The Russians would be surprised and a little upset – but they could get over it without nuking anybody.
    Fascinating idea, you gotta’ admit.

    Several of you are going to like this guy’s perspectives. I just blundered into him a little while ago.

    http://wartard.blogspot.com/2010_10_24_archive.html

    • Karah July 1, 2014 at 12:56 am #

      Israel and psychopaths

      of course they would get along, jews and muslims and the general public including republicans and catholics would love to crucify christ again…and again….and again.

      one of the craziest things on cable television are tourism ads for korea and Qatar (Dubai). they are so extravagant to the point of being cartoonish. Koreans portray themselves as glorified servants to romanesce statue like patrons straight out of a vogue spread. princes of the petro-kingdom are walking around all day in controlled environments still wearing their traditional robes and drapes instead of american business suites (like Syria) kissing their dads hello and goodbye. what kind of hallucinatory drugs are the marketers taking?
      why do these countries wish to be portrayed in such an over the top fashion? i do not agree that asians are born and bread to be our ideal servants in everything from piano playing to fake nails to serving drinks and pillows on transoceanic flights. i do not agree that sauds elite families are living in a manmade paradise free from emotional and physical distress.

      • MisterDarling July 1, 2014 at 3:41 am #

        “what are you two drinking?”-karah.

        A reasonable question…

        😉

        Cheers!

      • GutenbergGuy July 8, 2014 at 9:22 pm #

        I’d just like to know how long it will be before that skyscraper in Dubai – I understand it even has an indoor ski slope – anyway I just wonder how long it will be before it just tumbles over and falls to the ground.

        Not from an attack but because I figure so much corruption went into its construction it just won’t last very long.

        I think that may also be true of skyscrapers in places like Indonesia.

        And the new million-dollar condo high-rises that have been and are being built in SF – now a haven for the upper middle class, and growing more boring every day as a result.

    • BackRowHeckler July 1, 2014 at 7:32 pm #

      Hey P2C Georgia number 1 state in US to do business.

      Connecticut and the rest of New England blue stats on the bottom.

      According to CNBC.

      –BRH

      • GutenbergGuy July 8, 2014 at 9:29 pm #

        Good for business? You mean like Texas?

        Georgia is a big state for harassing gay kids in school. Not much fun for Black kids either.

        Any idea how low their media income is?

        About as liberal as the South gets though.

        Good for business usually means low wages and little or no regulation of things like toxic chemicals in drinking water.

        Poor quality of life and a low standard of living. True of the US in general though.

        How many Georgia Pacific plants in Georgia? Dumping what into the state’s rivers and lakes?

        Good for business is NOT good for people.

        Very pretty though, like most of the South.

  28. Endofmore July 1, 2014 at 7:55 am #

    One of JHK’s better pieces.
    Confirms my opinion, that we will never run out of oil, the stuff will become unobtainable because of the wars to get hold of the last dregs of it.i

    • MisterDarling July 1, 2014 at 2:59 pm #

      “the stuff will become unobtainable because of the wars to get hold of the last dregs of it.”-Endof.

      Agreed. Collapse in capacity to exploit a resource is – for all intents and purposes – the end of that resource…

      OTOH, the biggest drop in greenhouse-gas production measured had nothing to do with any global conference (a global-elite delay tactic and little else) but with the butt falling out of global demand for fuel.

      So… if we wanted to look for silver-linings…

      😉

  29. Karah July 1, 2014 at 10:25 am #

    why don’t i get a profile picture by my posts anymore??

  30. MisterDarling July 1, 2014 at 2:01 pm #

    Much as I like to explore shorter-term & smaller-scope risks like the Middle-East Fiascos et al. [*], there are a couple of big-ticket items in the background that underpin all of this.

    First, there’s the ongoing process of __economic cannibalization__ that a folks believe is ‘sustainable’ (even self-sustaining) for some bizarre reason…

    Behind the DJIA’s incessant rise:

    http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/27/central-bank-stock-buying-binge/

    “You might want to read that first part over again to savor what the author is saying. Here it is: “The same authorities that are responsible for maintaining financial stability are often the owners of the large funds that add to liquidity in many markets.” “-Mike Whitney.

    NOT self-sustaining…

    The BIS lays it down:

    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/06/bis-warns-about-destabilizing-low-interest-rates.html

    At this point, even the BIS issues warnings to central banks about floating global finance with a printing press (figuratively).

    — — —

    [*] unless there’s an actual ‘exchange’ of n*clear ‘devices’ of course… 😉

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  31. MisterDarling July 1, 2014 at 2:40 pm #

    The other, ultimately bigger issue that can (probably will) yank the rug out from under the global civilization that peaked in 1999, is this:

    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/07/gaius-publius-arctic-seafloor-methane-release-double-earlier-estimates.html

    Yeah, that’s right. **Double Earlier Estimates**…

    The one trend utterly consistent since global-warming became a talking-point, is that official estimates erred on the slow/weak side. [*]

    It means that we can expect that whatever the current consensus is about what will happen when and how bad, we need to halve our time estimate for the first and double the impact of the second.

    This graph cuts to the meat of the issue:

    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Arctic-Sept-Summer-Sea-Ice_6a0133f03a1e37970b017744cf5360970d-700×492.jpg

    This is what a collapse curve looks like.

    Capacity to sustain the previous global environment (the equilibrium that we as a species are native to) has disintegrated… Thus the ‘bobsledding effect’ in the aggregated estimates.

    NOTE: There are thirteen of them above the line of observed data and they were all WAY TOO optimistic…

    Say hello to our new home: a planet with a global climate we may not be cut out for.

    Good Things! Chip-Cheerio!

    😉

    — — —

    [*] “Don’t spook the hoople-heads, it’s bad for business!” /s

    • Janos Skorenzy July 1, 2014 at 2:52 pm #

      The Antarctic ice is growing though – and that’s the big one. The Earth is cooling and the hottest month on record was July 1936.

      http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2014/05/29/global-cooling-not-global-warming-doomed-the-ancients/

      • MisterDarling July 1, 2014 at 7:40 pm #

        Janos,

        The Author works for the Heartland Institute and Forbes published the article;

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

        Regarding reports always consider Motive…

        • Janos Skorenzy July 2, 2014 at 2:48 am #

          Just one article out of thousands I could have picked. The Antarctic Ice Cap is growing and the Earth is cooling. And as the Fudgers said, how can we bs away the Medieval Warm period – or the Roman one for that matter. Or that the Earth was once without ice caps – long before industrialism unless the dinosaurs had it.

          • sauerkraut July 2, 2014 at 3:58 pm #

            More problems, Janos.

            Continental drift complicates things quite a lot. That is, places which are now cold were once hot. This must be considered in any serious account of AWG. And no, I do not consider Creationist accounts to be serious.

            As to various warm periods, the issue is the globe, including places like the Pacific Ocean. Another problem is measurement – who had thermometers back then? NIST calibrated instrumentation, no doubt?

            I agree that much can be inferred, but inferences are almost always contaminated with other effects. This is an area for specialists, not those with an agenda. Which is why you should read the professional literature, not the watch the professional noise box.

      • sauerkraut July 2, 2014 at 3:48 pm #

        Wrong Janos.

        A thin layer of ice, which melts away in the early summer, is obviously no help in limiting AWG. On the other hand, a thick layer, which does not melt away, continues to reflect solar radiation throughout the summer. If you think in terms of calculus, it is the integral of the heat absorbed throughout the year which is vital

        Therefore, while surface area is somewhat important, it is volume of ice which is critically important, and volume depends on area and thickness. Shallow ice melts away in summer, exposing ocean, which heats, which melts more ice.

        You can see the exponential nature of the volumetric decrease, which is a characteristic of positive feedback loops.

        While surface area is somewhat variable, unfortunately, volume is not. Observations show that volume is monotonically decreasing.

        I am sure that you are smarter than your sources, and can understand this.

    • GutenbergGuy July 8, 2014 at 9:44 pm #

      I don’t follow links because I frankly do not trust them. (Note my “Name”). I don’t distrust the poster; I distrust this medium. But what I understand of what you say is interesting so just please provide a sentence or two of summary.

      Other estimates that may figure in here are the various ME countries’ estimates of their oil reserves – how much they have left under ground. These are rumored to have been greatly exaggerated, perhaps intentionally – you know, GREED – and there is thus a lot less oil in the ME than we thought.

      As for the climate change estimates, those were so optimistic as to cause worry in the next 5-10 years rather than any longer timeframe.

      And where does “Janos Skorenzy” get his/her information? Is it just made up?

      This is another issue on which Obama is an epic failure.

  32. schwerpunkter July 1, 2014 at 2:54 pm #

    I stopped coming to this blog for a while and took some time off from Doom. People said I needed to become more positive. Well, I am certainly back for JHK’s writing and the comments section – source of many great insights with a troll or two just to keep it interesting. I am now positive about things these days. Positive that we may have thought the rush to the cliff was indeed a fast one back in 2008 but we needed to take a step back and view the actual speed of travel. While the rate of travel is that of history, slow when compared to the short duration of one’s personal lifetime, the path of travel… that Cliff, is the same direction we’re headed and no Hope and Change nor Bushie Wishie Wannabes will change this.

    • GutenbergGuy July 8, 2014 at 9:56 pm #

      Some of my friends have had the same response to my “negativity.” Since we are all boomers (I am 66) I find their response bothersome.

      But as a student of the twentieth century I really do think the US took a fascist turn in 1945, and the constant push for war is the result. Think: The Cold War was a fraud.

      Jon Stewart – the best political commentary on the tube – recently had a segment on the Republicans’ push for more war in Iraq. And he also added videos of them exclaiming that we’re broke and we can’t afford, well, anything that might actually help another human being. Plenty to send troops to Iraq, but we can’t afford to help single parents feed their children.

      I haven’t seen anything that honest on American TV in decades.

      The other segment was about children working in toxic tobacco fields, which I first read about in “Rolling Stone.”

      Also, note the silence on the Democratic side on both of these issues. Typical. They have been standing around with their hands in their pockets since 1981!

  33. pkrugman July 1, 2014 at 4:52 pm #

    Voila: another prediction that won’t come to pass, just like voila Y2K or voila 4000 Dow. Didn’t happen. WW3 is not likely either. We are becoming less violent according the evidence of forensic archeology.

    “About 15% of people in prestate eras died violently, compared to about 3% of the citizens of the earliest states. Tribal violence commonly subsides when a state or empire imposes control over a territory, leading to the various “paxes” (Romana, Islamica, Brittanica and so on) that are familiar to readers of history.” –WSJ, Sept. 24, 2011.

    The likelihood of a WW3 is decreasing with our increasing interdependence. 24/7 media focus on the few conflicts remaining distorts our perception and feeds prejudices.

    • MisterDarling July 1, 2014 at 8:17 pm #

      pkrug.,

      I’ve noticed some things about your most recent assertions:

      “Voila: another prediction that won’t come to pass, just like voila Y2K or voila 4000 Dow. Didn’t happen. WW3 is not likely either. We are becoming less violent according the evidence of forensic archeology.”-pkrug.

      The problem with this statement is that it depends on false equivalence. Comparing primitive warfare to full-on nuclear exchange is absurd. Your statement falls apart when assessed quantitatively.

      Suppose there was an 80% chance of two iron-age clans battling for 20-minutes, and the total number of exposed combatants and dependents is 80 people. Now compare that to a 2% chance of a 20-minute nuclear exchange, and the exposed population is all humanity.

      Risk/Threat/Exposure is calculated as a function of *Probability* and *Impact*.

      Iron Age Scenario: Risk/Threat/Exposure = 0.8(80) = 64

      21st Century Scenario: Risk/Threat/Exposure = 0.02(7,000,000,000) = 140,000,000

      Clearly, these examples aren’t even comparable. WHY? Because weaponry has ‘improved’ and impact has expanded astronomically.

      The underlying whackiness of our era is that we can’t afford __any__ chance of a ‘WW3’, yet we’ve got no choice but go around ignoring it most of the time.

      However, your statement is a useful way to screen for Critical Thinking and Risk Management aptitude, so thank you for this.

      “About 15% of people in prestate eras died violently, compared to about 3% of the citizens of the earliest states. Tribal violence commonly subsides when a state or empire imposes control over a territory, leading to the various “paxes” (Romana, Islamica, Brittanica and so on) that are familiar to readers of history.” –WSJ, Sept. 24, 2011.”-pkrug.

      Agreed, but large-state hegemonic and/or imperial activity is on the wane, these days. This trend forms the substance of a number of discussions here and elsewhere.

      “The likelihood of a WW3 is decreasing with our increasing interdependence. 24/7 media focus on the few conflicts remaining distorts our perception and feeds prejudices.”-pkrug.

      Our “interdependence” depended on the integrity of global finance. Post 2008 collapse that’s being propped-up by central-bank interventions to such a degree that market activity is entirely dependent upon it (the BIS tacitly agrees and issues warnings).

      So much for that ‘bulwark’.

      🙂

      Cheers!

      • sauerkraut July 2, 2014 at 8:21 pm #

        Agree in every respect, MD. It’s really unfortunate that so few of us are numerate, and we are, all of us, soon the reap the rewards thereof.

    • sauerkraut July 2, 2014 at 5:01 pm #

      You say, “The likelihood of a WW3 is decreasing with our increasing interdependence.”

      Interesting you should say that. That was the “informed” view in 1914, almost word for word. See Tuchman’s book. Also see below for my views on Y2K.

      • MisterDarling July 2, 2014 at 9:02 pm #

        “That was the “informed” view in 1914, almost word for word. See Tuchman’s book.”-sauer.

        Thank you for bringing this up… and back. Haven’t seen you post before. Wilkommen!

        • sauerkraut July 2, 2014 at 9:18 pm #

          Thank you for the welcome. I do post, but infrequently.

    • GutenbergGuy July 8, 2014 at 10:05 pm #

      You need to expand your definition of violence.

      The economic system itself depends on much violence – low wages that are even below the federal poverty level are a form of violence. And a conscious and malevolent one.

      How many people starve to death each day on planet earth? As someone pointed out, we don’t have a food shortage problem, we have a food distribution problem. It’s called Capitalism. Ever wonder how many tons of food just one fast food company throws away each day? I don’t have a link, but it’s probably obscene.

      And, guess what? Capitalism is an extremely inefficient system for doing pretty much anything. Who knew? But that inefficiency – call it waste – is very profitable.

      And when you think about it, waste is at the very core of our economy.

      Get it?

  34. wayfarer July 1, 2014 at 5:41 pm #

    ISIS seems like a normal response.

  35. BackRowHeckler July 1, 2014 at 6:02 pm #

    How’s this for a contrast.

    100 years after the start of WW1 the world is once again burning up.

    In Israel 3 young citizens are kidnapped and murdered; the Prime Minister rallies that nation with a moving speech and orders, quite appropriately, airstrikes in Gaza.

    The same night the esteemed president of the United States gives yet another speech to a group of organized homosexuals, and makes jokes about crack cocaine. He’s a real cool dude, this president, down for whatever struggle you got, Does he talk to anybody besides homos and college students?

    –BRH

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    • MisterDarling July 1, 2014 at 7:42 pm #

      “Does he talk to anybody besides homos and college students?”-BRH.

      Only if there’s a percentage in it for him – and he can actually do something about what gets talked about.

      His time is valuable, you see…

      /s

      Cheers!

    • Janos Skorenzy July 2, 2014 at 2:53 am #

      What is this guy talking about, any idea? EC? barrels? It’s from Western Rifle.

      Cav I am in CT myself. I am shutting down my contracting business this week as the cheap labor here has destroyed any semblance of real competition. I refuse to hire illegal labor and contribute to our country’s downfall. Everyone else is, hell at this point there are many of the illegals running their own shows. And guess what? They only hire their own!!! We have been so mislead and blind. Anyway this site opened my eyes along with others.

      Cavmed, I have no military experience but I was raised redneck and I love my country dearly. Not my government, my country. PS keep an eye on the weather, my long range forecast guy says we are looking at a bunch of EC activity this year. Imagine a good 2-3 barrels up and lays waste to LI and CT and parts of MA NYC? The perfect excuse to go Katrina Kollecting on everyone here.
      If you ever need anything reach out to tcumseh@hushmail.com

    • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 5:04 pm #

      Obama has nothing else left. He has wasted so much of his time in office that we now hear him echoing Occupy slogans, supporting marriage equality and making drug jokes.

      He is trying to be cool, I think, and it’s not working. His sensibility is simply not what he presented to us in 2008.

      And since he basically has nothing to lose, because there isn’t much left to do after you’ve wasted so much time.

      So he gives more pretty speeches and tries to sound cool speaking to safe audiences. That WWI speech was an insult to the Bonus Army that got screwed by its own government, and it also revealed, once again, Mr. Obama’s amazing ignorance of American history.

      “Hope and Change” – more empty, meaningless words.

  36. contrahend July 1, 2014 at 7:02 pm #

    Voila: another prediction that won’t come to pass, just like voila Y2K or voila 4000 Dow. Didn’t happen. WW3 is not likely either. We are becoming less violent according the evidence of forensic archeology.

    Has anything these clowns predict out here ever come to pass? I mean anything relevant, not blips like the riots in Sweden, Greece and France that were supposed to tip Europe into chaos HAHA I just got a good chuckle remembering that vaticination by crystal gazer demeritus kunstler.

    Too easy to see all the goooooood & greeeeeaaat stuff happening by looking at some subculture shenanigans in the god forsaken middle east.

    sheesh

    kontrahend

    • MisterDarling July 1, 2014 at 7:46 pm #

      “Has anything these clowns predict out here ever come to pass? I mean anything relevant, not blips like the riots in Sweden, Greece and France that were supposed to tip Europe into chaos HAHA I just got a good chuckle remembering that vaticination by crystal gazer demeritus kunstler.”-contra.

      Yes. the housing & financial crash was predicted by “these clowns” (PCR and Mike Whitney were standouts)… They were 4 ahead of the curve, at least.

      So check that stage off.

      We’re cruising through stage two right now.

      Tcha!

    • sauerkraut July 2, 2014 at 4:08 pm #

      Yeah, Y2K happened alright. Maybe you didn’t feel it, though. That was because a lot of people put in a lot of overtime to fix critical systems.

      Where I hung out, we started converting legacy systems in 1994. That was because informed opinion was still preferred to uninformed opinion in those days. And that is something not easily believed in 2014.

    • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 5:21 pm #

      Actually, if you really pay attention, you will note that it is coming to pass even as you read this.

      As Mr. Kunstler has been saying for a long time, the disaster is ongoing, and much of what is done – including all that saber rattling over ISIS and a new war in Iraq – is simply meant to distract us from the heist that continues to destroy our economy and everything my parents fought and sacrificed to achieve.

      It’s all a dumb show, even the partisan bickering and the GOP obstructionism.

      Meanwhile $2billion a day is being sent to the DOD and people are hungry and without shelter in this the richest country in the world.

      And the dead bodies keep piling up, just as they have been for over 100 years.

      So enjoy your denial. And do get back to us when the water is up to your knees and you can’t even buy gasoline.

  37. MisterDarling July 1, 2014 at 8:48 pm #

    Oh Facebook!… 🙂 So Silly!

    http://scgnews.com/facebooks-psychological-experiments-connected-to-department-of-defense-research-on-civil-unrest

    Yes, this is how strong, confident, stable democracies protect their citizens from harm… /s

    I liked this line”

    “The U.S. government hasn’t sought these capabilities for the sake of science.”

  38. Florida Power July 1, 2014 at 10:05 pm #

    Back in the Desert Storm days the talking heads appeared on the tube with the banner “Mid-East Expert” underneath. I recall thinking sarcastically “when I grow up I want to be a Mid-East Expert.”

    Well here we are 20 years later and the Mid-East Experts are out in force among us, including our esteemed host, as the place continues to degenerate into Hobbesian anarchy, if anything reported by any press can be believed.

    It ought to be clear by now there are no “Mid-East Experts” and if someone claims to have a clue WTF is going on there that is grounds for committing them to a mental institution.

    • boris badonov July 2, 2014 at 12:23 am #

      The United States policy has been to use any means to de-stabilize all the nations of the middle east, for the last 40 years. It was thought that this would be to “our” advantage, not theirs. Now that this lofty goal has been achieved, we find it isn’t to anyone’s advantage. Anything could happen now. Just as in climate control, lack of stability creates volitility.
      The sooner everyone can agree that the Sunni majority are Iraq’s best chance for peace, the better.

      • MisterDarling July 2, 2014 at 12:38 am #

        “Now that this lofty goal has been achieved, we find it isn’t to anyone’s advantage. Anything could happen now. Just as in climate control, lack of stability creates volatility/”-boris.

        It has been interesting to watch them get what they thought they wanted. Too bad so many people got aired along the way.

      • Janos Skorenzy July 2, 2014 at 2:51 am #

        Exactly. They don’t believe in nations but rather the Caliphate. We’ve helped them. I surprised at how weak the Shia seem to be. I thought they were more organized, but it’s too early to count them out. They may yet come roaring into this from Iran.

  39. lumbricina July 2, 2014 at 4:56 pm #

    Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes, woohoo!!

    • sauerkraut July 2, 2014 at 5:12 pm #

      vero sed quis interficiet ipses interfectores

      (Please note the absence of capitalization or punctuation, in the interests of authenticity.)

      • K-Dog July 2, 2014 at 8:55 pm #

        Botrus pecore coierit gentem infestari soccum automata.

        • MisterDarling July 2, 2014 at 9:15 pm #

          Quid enim tibi cum hoc fascinatio, automata PEDALE? Non est sanitas….

          🙂

  40. johnmassengale July 2, 2014 at 5:16 pm #

    It’s what the Daily Show calls a Mess o’Potamia

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  41. progress4what July 2, 2014 at 10:49 pm #

    Latino tincidunt velit. Quia scelus translátum Google!

    • MisterDarling July 2, 2014 at 11:36 pm #

      Vinculum fuit hoc?

  42. progress4what July 2, 2014 at 11:04 pm #

    “what is this guy talking about?” – janos, paraphrased –

    I like a nice puzzle like that, janos. I almost answered you this morning, but thought I’d let it hang to see who might answer you. No one did, which leads to several possible conclusions.

    Anyway, that post did sound like a bad episode of “Acronyms Gone Wild,” didn’t it? Let me reproduce a little segment:
    “PS keep an eye on the weather, my long range forecast guy says we are looking at a bunch of EC activity this year. Imagine a good 2-3 barrels up and lays waste to LI and CT and parts of MA NYC? The perfect excuse to go Katrina Kollecting on everyone here.”

    I can’t figure out “EC,” but other than that he’s talking about a Category 2 or 3 hurricane hitting Long Island, Connecticut, etc. etc, and referring to the Kollections of firearms that occurred in New Orleans after that particular meteorological event.

    BTW, it’s rare that I look back to see a post that isn’t at the bottom of the thread – MD, that was a good answer to pkrugman*, that I blundered into while looking for Janos’ post to copy.

    • progress4what July 2, 2014 at 11:23 pm #

      Got it! “EC activity” has to refer to extratropical cyclone activity.

      http://www.hko.gov.hk/education/edu01met/01met_tropical_cyclones/ele_typhoon3_e.htm

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

      And the Archdruid is back from Europe, and also speaking, like our host JHK, of the possibility of war breaking out from all of this current stable peacefulness.

      http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2014/07/in-handful-of-dust.html

      • Janos Skorenzy July 4, 2014 at 3:44 am #

        These military guys love their AC’s – a kind of code I guess. But Extra-Cyclonic is pretty far outside their purview, but he is talking about the weather so it’s plausible. I thought he might be talking about something else too or using the weather as a symbol.

      • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 5:35 pm #

        As we say in lit crit: Sometimes a whale is just a whale!

  43. pkrugman July 2, 2014 at 11:52 pm #

    MD, that was a good answer to pkrugman*

    .
    .
    I say we are less violent (I provided forensic evidence from archaeology). I say we have not had a WW3 because human nature has changed.

    Throughout history we have invented weapons and used them, again and again, cross-culturally. A multicultural weapon fest.

    However, with nuclear weapons the history is a bit different. We invented them, they have been acquired by groups, nations, and races all over the world, but only once were they used (in 1945). Humans saw how horrible they are, so now nobody will use them. Nuclear weapons are by their nature immoral, being indiscriminate and affecting unborn future generations with birth defects.

    For the last 60 years we have seen evidence that human nature was changed by witnessing the horror of atomic weapons… Changed for the better.

    Just because a weapon exists and is possessed by so many different racial, religious, and national groups does not mean it will be used, as the last 60 years of history have shown, despite nuclear proliferation. Human nature changed in 1945… For the better.

    Of course, we still like to be scared, so headlines like “Voila World War Three” still get people’s attention. Clever marketing to attract readership. It got my attention. I’m just sorry I don’t know how to post off-topic Latin phrases like y’all can and do.

    • sauerkraut July 3, 2014 at 12:44 am #

      You say “we are less violent.” I say that we are more frightened. And rightly so.

      Nuclear powers do not fight wars directly; rather they fight with proxies. Examples are Korea, Vietnam, etc. etc. The nuclear powers have not become less violent, it is just that they have not become more insane. As I see it, the evidence you site is no more than the absence of severe clinical psychosis.

      Last, please note that “bellum” means “war”. Doesn’t sound too off-topic to me.

    • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 5:48 pm #

      Like I said before, your definition of violence is too narrow.

      BTW, ALL weapons are immoral.

      And if you think no one will use nuclear weapons after seeing how horrible they are, you should check essays like the recent one by Henry Kissinger (in The Atlantic, I think) in which he argued in favor of the use of theater nuclear weapons.

      These are much more powerful than he let on, and the notion that they will somehow not be as evil as those used in 1945 is just more of Henry’s warmongering.

      And remember this rule of warfare: If you escalate, your enemy will try to match – even exceed – you at every step.

      Also, the serious health effects of depleted uranium ammunition has already been documented, and we have perhaps hundreds or thousands of veterans suffering from what will be this war’s Agent Orange scandal.

      When discussing violence one should always take note of how the US treats its veterans. Out country sends them into harm’s way and then abandons them. That too is a form of violence.

      Thousands of Iraq War suicides. After being thrown into that US-sponsored horror. Also a form of violence.

  44. PeteAtomic July 3, 2014 at 12:14 am #

    All of this seems to me to be history that was set in delay. The sudden quick shift to chaos was set in motion by the Bush administration to attack Iraq post 9/11.

    Recently, WWI was commemorated with the death of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

    If there is WWIII, as the title suggests, then it was started by George W. Bush’s belief that “that man (Saddam Hussein) tried to kill my dad.”

    It’s a testament to the monopoly of power in the United States, when the President can wage war without the approval of the Congress, and also wage that war because the enemy “tried to kill my dad (the President’s dad).”

  45. Pucker July 3, 2014 at 10:10 pm #

    Happy Fourth of July!

    The Hanes Underwear Company just sent me a Celebrate-Freedom underwear advertisement.

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    • MisterDarling July 4, 2014 at 12:41 am #

      Pucker,

      I love reading your posts. They help me keep things in proper perspective… 😉

  46. Pucker July 3, 2014 at 10:41 pm #

    Happy 4th of July!

    From the corporatocracy’s point of view, I’m not sure that the idea of “The Country”, or “Nation” or “Freedom” has any real meaning beyond simply an opportunity to get people to do “shit” that may not be in their best interests, such as dying in meaningless foreign wars, or pressuring the people to buy shit that they can’t afford and don’t need, like brand new underwear or a new swimsuit?

  47. pkrugman July 3, 2014 at 10:55 pm #

    please note that “bellum” means “war”. Doesn’t sound too off-topic to me.
    .
    .
    .
    Point taken. But whether you say there is a war of “all against all” in Latin or English, it is simply not true. Not one country in the world is engaged in active warfare with ALL its neighbors. Not one… So the claim that all are at war with all is obviously false. We are no longer in a state of nature red with tooth and claw… We have evolved. Human nature has changed. We are less violent. Christian nations have nuclear weapons and have not used them since 1945. Hindus have nuclear weapons and have never used them. Muslims have nuclear weapons and have never used them. Communists and atheists have nuclear weapons and have never used them.

    People like suicide bombers who are irrational and violent and angry act with no regard for consequences. They have no fear of dying. Mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent. What is a deterrent is that humanity as a whole has become more rational and less given to act on violent impulses. We have become less violent and that is why there will be no “voila world war three”

    The world’s nations, in the vast majority, are NOT at war. There is no war of all against all.

  48. Pucker July 3, 2014 at 11:00 pm #

    In Frederick Douglas’s autobiography, he describes how slaves of one plantation would get into violent fist fights with the slaves of other plantations over the honour of their respective plantations and masters.

    According to Douglas, it was common for slaves to shout: “My Massa’s richa dan yo’ Massa!”

    The slave of the other plantation would retort: “Naw he ain’t! Yo’ Massa ain’t nuth’n! My Massa woop yo’ Massa any day uda week!”

    Then the slaves would start to duke it out.

    • MisterDarling July 4, 2014 at 1:01 am #

      It’s fascinating that ‘Stockholm Syndrome” can shape an entire culture, isn’t it?

    • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 5:54 pm #

      PLEASE!!!

      The “War of All against All” is Capitalism.

  49. Pucker July 3, 2014 at 11:44 pm #

    If the American Revolution had never happened, then basically we could have avoided the entire tragedy of the US Civil War, right? And we’d all basically be living in Canada with the picture of Queen Elizabeth on our money, and we’d all have universal health insurance, right?

  50. Pucker July 4, 2014 at 1:12 am #

    “Tell me when it Hits-the-Spot. Pucker’s come’n in HOT!”

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  51. BackRowHeckler July 4, 2014 at 6:43 am #

    Hasn’t rained in a month, 4th of July is here and raining like hell.

    Lets see here now. Collapse? How about social collapse? Man beaten into a coma in New Britain, in broad daylight, right in front of elegant Civil War Memorial (dedicated in 1912, by a people proud of their past and confident of the future, that photo of dignified elderly Civil War vets, slim and resplendent in their uniforms, white haired) Here’s the twist, during the beatdown their two pitbulls were fighting it out too while incredulous passersby watched from cars. What a scene! Do I have to give a description of the combatants? Down the road a piece in Middletown another man beaten senseless also on Main Street, also in a coma. Meanwhile (still in Middletown, George Washington’s favorite New England town) a howling mob chases down a pedestrian, robbing him and stripping him almost naked. No arrests on that one yet, attribute that to the anonymity of the mob.

    Well, at least the Governors gun control measures seem to be working.

    But then there’s this: Man found face down on Main Street, shot dead. No suspects. Police appealing to public for information.

    And its not even the weekend yet. that’s when things really get going.

    Happy 4th!

    –BRH

  52. BackRowHeckler July 4, 2014 at 6:52 am #

    I think it should be mentioned that, in Middletown, a city of 35,000, the guy who runs the myriad social services agencies and dispenses state and federal largesse to the people described above, is paid nearly $700,000 per year. We found that out last year when he was complaining, publicly, he wasn’t being paid enough.

    –BRH

    • ozone July 4, 2014 at 9:04 am #

      BRH,
      Well, certainly, he wasn’t being paid enough to enjoy the lifestyle he wanted/thought he was entitled to become accustomed to!

      Send these waste-of-space assholes somewhere where their ‘skills’ and work ethic can be better employed… I hear Baghdad is nice this time o’ year. It would be interesting to hear what kind of complaints he might have then.

      • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 5:57 pm #

        Interesting the assumptions you make about that guy.

        I have one question: Is he a public employee or a private contractor?

    • Florida Power July 4, 2014 at 9:38 am #

      Ah, CT, corrupt public officials, pesky “youths” running amok – I remember it well. Left Woodbridge after the Winter of 95-96 convinced us there was another way…

      There have been sporadic pesky youth problems down here as well, but nowhere near the levels documented by Colin Flaherty elsewhere in these Disparate Lackey States. Shortly after arriving in FL there was a disturbance in south St. Petersburg involving a local dealer of narcotics and a police officer, who fired through the dark-tinted windshield of the “suspect’s” car as it approached him, killing said suspect and igniting days of rage, which involved the usual looting and burning down of local businesses. The intersection where this occurred has been named in honor of the suspect.

      • BackRowHeckler July 4, 2014 at 9:45 am #

        You know FP, I remember that winter of 95-96 125 inches of snow if I recall correctly.

        It was a killer. Literally.

        A good time to get out.

        –BRH

        • Florida Power July 4, 2014 at 1:23 pm #

          BRH — I think the snowfall total at least in some areas may have exceeded this year’s. It snowed the day we moved in April, just to spite us.

          I hope Middletown has the gumption to jail that scoundrel public “servant” like Bell CA. Bring back tarring and feathering I say!

      • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 5:59 pm #

        Please be more explicit about your point.

        Why are you writing this?

  53. progress4what July 4, 2014 at 9:20 am #

    They just finished running the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. This race started small, as shown in this article: “On July 4, 1970, 110 runners gathered at the old Sears parking lot on the corner of Peachtree and Roswell Road. The group, now known as the “Original 110,” ran 6.2 miles through Atlanta to Central City Park in what would go down in history as the inaugural Peachtree Road Race.” http://www.peachtreeroadrace.org/press-center/history

    And over time, following the “growth is always good model,” the race grew to a capped limit of 60,000 runners – and started awarding a little prize money. And over time, the winning runners – and the first 20+/- finishers – all became black men. (Can’t call them African-Americans, stick with me, here.) Then, this morning I was watching the race finish on a local news channel, and this one skinny white dude from Michigan wins. And the first African-American (he really was African-American, stick with me) was about two or three runners back

    “What the heck,” I thought to myself. And then I did a little research, and found that while (mostly) Kenyans were welcome to run the Peachtree – they would not be awarded prize money unless they were Kenyan-American. Naturally enough, this thinned down the herd of really fast non-citizen runners to near zero. This was by design, to allow national talent to be rewarded in a national championship. Go figure.

    “While previous editions of the Peachtree Road Race where national championships were held still paid prize money to international athletes, this year’s will not. Kenah thinks concentrating completely on home-country athletes makes more sense for a national championship, especially given the depth of talent in American distance running right now.”
    Read more at http://running.competitor.com/2014/03/news/big-u-s-prize-peachtree-road-race_97156#splDC70MhdumfqpA.99

    I consider this a nice change for a NATIONAL championship. Of course, many will decry this as racist. And others will decry it as jingoistic. These decriers are all totally wrong, of course.

    Everybody have a good 4th!

    • progress4what July 4, 2014 at 9:28 am #

      To clarify the above post.

      The rules – at least for one privately funded road race – have been changed, and you can now longer be awarded prize money for winning a national championship, unless you are a national citizen.

      Maybe there is hope.

      Have a great 4th! Go watch some stuff blow up tonight!

      • BackRowHeckler July 4, 2014 at 9:39 am #

        Alls I can say, down in Georgia, you’ve come a long way since Fighting Joe Wheeler (whos parents came from Connecticut, and who went to High School at Cheshire Academy, Cheshire, Connecticut) led those last desperate Confederate cavalry charges against Sherman’s infantry up around Resaca.

        Hey P2C i see CNBC listed Georgia as the state with the best business climate in the US. How about that?

        –BRH

    • Janos Skorenzy July 4, 2014 at 10:48 pm #

      Yes Marathons have becoming boring now because Whites can never win. It’s always just the East Africans. I acknowledge they are the best, but then what? I don’t want to watch them.

      One of the earliest East African stars hated it when scientists came out and described their physical advantages. He thought it was just a result of hard training. In other words, East Africans weren’t physically superior to Whites, but rather morally superior.

      Seriously, East African Blacks are much less dangerous and aggressive than the West African. They are like the Goblins as opposed to the Uruk Hai Orcs in Middle Earth. I have nothing against them, but nothing for them either. They are aliens. They can outrun us over distance. So what? Why should I want to watch that? It’s meaningless. As Mr Kunstler alluded, meaning is a function of limits and structure. They are outside our structure. What they do or don’t do is meaningless.

      • MisterDarling July 5, 2014 at 11:04 am #

        “Seriously, East African Blacks are much less dangerous and aggressive than the West African. They are like the Goblins as opposed to the Uruk Hai Orcs in Middle Earth.”-Janos.

        It’s lines like these that the ‘Janos’ persona will be remembered for… Way to stay in character!

        Cheers!

        • Janos Skorenzy July 5, 2014 at 2:16 pm #

          Persona? This is the real me. And you think what I said is funny? Remember, the universe is not stranger than we imagine but stranger than we can imagine. On a more mundane level, jokes tend only to be effective when they contain an element of truth.

          When the Planet of the Apes movies came out, Blacks identified with them. Who are we to correct them?

          You want Myths and Fables? Look into the reality or lack thereof of egalitarianism. But as Orangutan said, you wont like what you find.

        • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 6:06 pm #

          Thank you. I wasn’t noticing the author, and these comments are so mid-twentieth century I just can’t believe what I am reading.

          There are plenty of folks like Janos on the Washington Post comment streams. I thought I was rid of that sort of thing.

          The folks who comment at the Guardian – like the quality of its journalism – don’t usually go in these wacko directions.

  54. ozone July 4, 2014 at 9:23 am #

    …With all the “separatist movements” going on in the world today, (any one of which [reported or unreported] could metastasize into a wider conflagration) I wonder how many Americans on-the-street have a glimmer of understanding about the separatist movement we’re celebrating on July 4th? That might be a telling little survey of the condition of the citizenry+government+consumer idiocracy that I’d find of interest…
    One would have to phrase the question carefully so as not to give clues to the clueless.

    Aside: Nice to see the D.C. (Delusional Cornucopian) posting under yet another name (and e-mail, of course). Appropriate moniker to go with the job.

    • progress4what July 4, 2014 at 9:39 am #

      “One would have to phrase the question carefully so as not to give clues to the clueless.” – O3 –

      That’s true of most things, in today’s stage-managed America, Ozone.

      And I like the new acronym, Delusional Cornucopian.
      I guess we may need to retire my old sobriquet of Resident Impediment (RI) in favor of DC for that particular individual.

      Funny stuff!

      And more acronyms to keep track of, Vlad.

    • Janos Skorenzy July 4, 2014 at 10:40 pm #

      So you’ve come over to our camp? When did that happen? Do you know? Or was it a gradual (infinitely) process, so gradual that you could pretend that you were always on the right side?

      • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 6:11 pm #

        “Our camp”? “The right side”?

        “The Church has been infiltrated from within by Marxists and Homos . . .” reveals a lot about you.

        And it makes me think of Anne Coulter.

  55. seawolf77 July 4, 2014 at 8:41 pm #

    A frog and a John Bull drew some lines on a map and presto… Iraq. Had they drawn the lines a little further west, most of Iraq oil would be in Iran. Couldn’t have that. End game? A Shiite state from the remains of Iran, Iraq and Syria, probably called the Persian Empire. After the fall of the House of Saud, Saudi Arabia becomes what it was… Arabia! Then they duke it out and more enemies of the Catholic Church are extinguished…by each other! How genius is that?

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    • Janos Skorenzy July 4, 2014 at 10:51 pm #

      No. the Masonic Plan (as revealed by Albert Pike) is to pit Islam against the West so as to cancel each out in the next World War. Then they are that much closer to final victory. The Church has been infiltrated from within by Marxists and Homos and is now just an outpost of the Judeo-Masonic Globalists.

  56. seawolf77 July 4, 2014 at 8:43 pm #

    If you think it’s a first for the Jesuits, or think how could anybody be that stupid…just remember the Civil War. They did it to us too.

    • Janos Skorenzy July 4, 2014 at 10:57 pm #

      Of course the great Illuminist Adam Weishaupt was a Jesuit for a time and brought some of their methods into the Illuminati. American Masons took great efforts to keep Illuminism from spreading to the American Lodges. But at the hightest levels I’m not sure there is that much difference….

      Grand Orient Masonry denied God but the Adepts of the Illuminati say Man is God. Masonry says the same at its pinnacle.

      • seawolf77 July 4, 2014 at 11:32 pm #

        The Papal Bull of 1773 banned the Jesuits. 1776 the Illuminati is formed. Me thinks they’re Jesuits. Immediately you have revolutions in America and France. Napoleon becomes emperor and puts the Pope in prison and seizes the papal states. All of Europe bands together and he is defeated at Waterloo. The Papal Bull of 1814 reinstates the Jesuits. Me thinks the Jesuits won.

        • Janos Skorenzy July 5, 2014 at 2:53 am #

          Pope Gaga (Francis) doesn’t believe a word of it. It’s like having Rachael Maddow as Pope.

          The Jesuits were the soldiers of the Reformation, sworn defenders of the Pope. But they helped lead the Vatican Two debacle. And were often extreme liberals even back before the 20th Century. But there were good Jesuits for well into the 20th Century as well. Now? No good Catholic would enter such a seminary.

          • seawolf77 July 5, 2014 at 9:52 am #

            The Jesuits are the CIA, the Catholic Intelligence Agency. Their job is to foment strife, conflict and revolution. Their job is to foist “homegrown” leaders on an unsuspecting public and then shrug their shoulders when these leaders engage in tyranny and genocide. All through history they have ben condemned and thrown out of countries for their espionage activities, yet today with the vast media complex we have, nary even a peep. Ever wonder why the movie “The Exorcist” was set in Georgetown? Because it is the home of the Jesuits.

  57. Pucker July 4, 2014 at 10:09 pm #

    On this Independence Day, it might be worth reflecting that the Founding Fathers, particularly Thomas Jefferson, probably got really good blow jobs. Today, it’s not easy for a bloke to get a really good blow job in American, at least not a legal one.

    • seawolf77 July 4, 2014 at 11:51 pm #

      Why does HPV cause throat cancer in men and cervical cancer in women? So bizarre, so bizarre. Now whenever I hear of somebody getting throat cancer, like Jamie Dimon recently, I can’t help but think sushi eater. I knew there was a reason I gave it up. Actually it was double whammy for me since I gave up smoking at the same time I gave up giving face.

  58. pkrugman July 5, 2014 at 12:36 am #

    The U.S. will remain the world’s biggest oil producer this year after overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia as extraction of energy from shale rock spurs the nation’s economic recovery, Bank of America Corp. said.

    U.S. production of crude oil, along with liquids separated from natural gas, surpassed all other countries this year with daily output exceeding 11 million barrels in the first quarter, the bank said in a report today. The country became the world’s largest natural gas producer in 2010. The International Energy Agency said in June that the U.S. was the biggest producer of oil and natural gas liquids.

    –Bloomberg News

    We should hit peak oil by 2050.

    • seawolf77 July 5, 2014 at 12:42 am #

      The key word in your analysis is producer. We are not an exporter. We simply use it all up ourselves, and then some. We use 19 million barrels a day and produce half of that. Oil production growth averaged 2% for most of the century. Now it is less than .5%. From here on out it is a managed contraction. Forget about growth. Growth is gone. And good riddance.

      • Being There July 5, 2014 at 8:35 am #

        I think they’re blowing oil sand in our eyes.

        • BackRowHeckler July 5, 2014 at 9:58 am #

          Ya, before peak oil comes peak bullshit. I saw that Bloomberg story too about the US becoming the world’s leading producer at about 10m/bpd. That’s pretty impressive considering where we were 6 or 7 years ago, but nowhere in the article did it state that’s only about 1/2 of what we burn up every day, and world daily demand is now over 90 million barrels.

          The truth is in the price, and if there was an excess of petroleum it wouldn’t cost $105 per barrel like it does now.

          –brh

          • MisterDarling July 5, 2014 at 10:56 am #

            “The truth is in the price, and if there was an excess of petroleum it wouldn’t cost $105 per barrel like it does now.”-BRH.

            This response is succinct.

            The pricing explanation cuts through the wire and down to the bone of the matter quicker.

          • beantownbill. July 5, 2014 at 11:57 am #

            Using classical supply and demand economics is valid only in a free market. In our manipulated one it is not.

            I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but here’s one for ya:

            Since we know that government twists unemployment numbers and other economic data, what if greedy oil companies do the same with oil production? What if we produce MORE oil than stated? An apparent precarious supply would drive up prices, highly desired by the producers, and simultaneously allow the companies to build up a good-sized oil stash.

          • beantownbill. July 5, 2014 at 12:03 pm #

            Besides oil production, how do we know the US consumes 19 million barrels a day? Is this number true – or not? If we cannot even determine whether scientists’ climate change figures are real or manipulated, why do CFNers accept all the oil numbers without question?

          • stelmosfire July 5, 2014 at 1:10 pm #

            I burn maybe a gallon a day, If that, I haven’t flown in 11 years. and I put maybe 3K on the Tacoma in 12 months. That’s 150 gallons. So all you petroleum hogs can lick my salty balls!

          • ZrCrypDiK July 6, 2014 at 3:07 am #

            bpd? Oh yeah, barrels of oil… Keep the ME destabilized, and steal all their assets from out-under!!! Don’t sweat the *EXTERNAL COSTS* of fraking (you’ll make moar, they’ll *PRETEND*)…

            Damn, check out BTB – totally without a clue. Apparently not living near a clearcut zone (already clearcut 8 decades ago).

            I burn maybe a gallon a month?!… Not gunna hear that *TOO* often.

    • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 6:21 pm #

      2050??!! I live in the SF Bay And the bay water will have risen buy at least 2 feet by then. Exporting oil will not be a major priority.

      Good gracious. The amount of these resources may be far less than you think – or than the oil and gas industries want you to think.

      I understand that investors don’t agree with these rosy estimates, and that the returns from these highly expensive forms of extraction are already diminishing.

      I agree with seawolf77 below, except that the industry aims to make us an exporter of oil and natural gas. The Keystone XL Pipeline ends at refineries built to produce fuels for the rest of the world, not the US.

  59. Janos Skorenzy July 5, 2014 at 4:59 am #

    Racism in paradise – against Whites. And you thought only Whites could be racists. Silly person.

    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328809/posts?q=1&;page=51

    • ZrCrypDiK July 6, 2014 at 4:30 am #

      The fact U can *still* login is evidence *ENOUGH* – sockie!!!

    • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 6:34 pm #

      You really need to pull your camera back and take a longer and wider view.

      Whites have been beating up, torturing and murdering Blacks in this country for over 200 years.

      You remind me of Dick Nixon in 1968 working “law and order” rhetoric.

      Suddenly, because African Americans finally got fed up and turned the tables on their persecutors, Nixon was all concerned about “Law & Order.”

      I certainly did not hear him expressing such sentiments when Black men were being lynched in this country.

      So “Blacks are racist” remarks tell us an awful lot about you. Do you really want to reveal that much about yourself?

  60. MisterDarling July 5, 2014 at 11:19 am #

    ‘Witch if Hebron’ Log Entry #3:

    On Chapter 16 now… I’ve never been a fan of the ‘Brother Jobe’ character but I did appreciate his fondness for mules. I found the scene where he ends the ‘Billy Bones’ “monkeyshines” amusingly strange.

    Also, Jasper’s foraging scenes are effective. They bring out the _desolation_ that lies between the settlements.

    In this case ‘desolation’ is the ruination of dreams and long-lost possibilities, it feels like visiting the grave of young child… I’ll take emptiness – a lack of anything – over desolation any day.

    Cheers!

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  61. MisterDarling July 5, 2014 at 12:11 pm #

    “Using classical supply and demand economics is valid only in a free market. In our manipulated one it is not.”-BtB.

    True. The one thing that we can be sure of at this point is that everyone is lying to some extent. There’s to much ‘money’ on the table not to.

    “Since we know that government twists unemployment numbers and other economic data, what if greedy oil companies do the same with oil production? What if we produce MORE oil than stated? An apparent precarious supply would drive up prices, highly desired by the producers, and simultaneously allow the companies to build up a good-sized oil stash.”-BtB.

    Okay Bill, then what about __Demand__?

    All indications (the supporting stats, not the cr*p that passes for official figures) show that demand is crashing… So if this is the best they can do, what does that say?

    🙂

    • MisterDarling July 5, 2014 at 1:45 pm #

      Speaking of economic Demand, in America we have a lot of people generating ‘demand’… For tax-payer cash:

      Lookin’ at you, Lockheed;

      http://www.businessinsider.com/the-f-35-is-a-disaster-2014-7

      Thanks, DynCorp;

      http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2014/0703/What-did-7-billion-spent-on-opium-eradication-in-Afghanistan-buy-More-opium?cmpid=FB

      These projects are done, for all intents and purposes. The ‘Poppy Eradication Program’ (PEP) was textbook war-on-drugs flim-flam, and LM was just doing what it always does.

      Just another day in the American business cycle…

    • MisterDarling July 6, 2014 at 11:47 am #

      TO CLARIFY: What I’m implying is that the more they [producers/refiners] increase price the less fuel demand there is, and there’s already too much b/c the global market’s demand is falling due to _lack of stuff to do with it_

      This is what happens when real economic activity goes into free-fall.

      India and China were depended on for growth, but they produced and exported to us. Unfortunately, we’re running out of paychecks in sufficient quantity to support them. And what were we supporting anyway? The continued outsourcing of jobs to them which reduced paychecks *here* to consume stuff made over *there*…

      This is the Un-virtuous Circle-Jerk that made all this possible, and consequently killed demand for fossil-fuel input.

      To Further Clarify: there’s always been a flaw in the way markets function in America.

      Neo-liberals fantasize that the freer the market is, the better it will run and they are wrong, b/c markets rapidly consolidate in the hands of a few players – making them _un-free_ in short order. Resources and Risk are misallocated and subsequent crashes are inevitable.

      At the other end of the spectrum, Marx and Engels were wrong about what happens after a structural collapse in a market. They presumed that money consolidated before the crash would be re-invested into the market economy after the crash to re-start it, which is not what happens (neither in the ’30’s or now).

      Instead, wealth concentrators ‘abandon ship’ and attempt to preserve their wealth by hoarding… But that’s a lot like fleeing in a lifeboat with no other provisions but cash, and thousands of miles of water in ever direction. The better course of action would have been to fix or salvage the disabled ship.

      But if you thought that clearly, you wouldn’t be in the lifeboat, would you?

      😉

      • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 6:43 pm #

        You cannot have a Free Market in a heavily subsidized economy.

        Besides, a Free Market is the last thing the corporations want. Why?

        Because a true free market would have NO taxpayer subsidies, NO offshore tax havens, and definitely NO taxpayer bailouts.

        We subsidize two of the most profitable industries in the world: Oil and Big Pharma. The oil guys came begging for their billions and they oppose any legislation aimed at, oh, feeding children, for example.

        We even subsidize BP – NOT an American company, but reportedly the Pentagon’s main supplier of petroleum products.

        Business School jargon has nothing do to with a real economy. Ever been “managed” by someone with an MBA and no expertise in the area they are managing?

  62. ZrCrypDiK July 5, 2014 at 6:40 pm #

    208 poasts on the same page! I’m *diggin’* it (P2C would be SO proud)!!!

  63. BackRowHeckler July 5, 2014 at 6:53 pm #

    BTBill

    I think there are too many entities, state owned and private, competing against one another, for the price of oil to be manipulated for long. Nobody is in control it seems; its wide open.

    Hey RipT be happy you’re not one of these crazy commuters who have to drive on I-95, or the Mass. Pike, each day to get to work. My God, what a way to live! What a transportation system! Its a madman’s picnic, everybody for himself … bumper to bumper at 80mph. No room for mistakes one wrong move and you’re dead buried beneath 2 tons of twisted steel, a bloody stain on the pavement and maybe on fire too! I don’t see how people do it day after day. Well, I suppose you can get used to anything. I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t people right there in Westfield who drive into Boston 5 days a week, and back home again.

    –BRH

    • ZrCrypDiK July 6, 2014 at 2:48 am #

      Marlin, right? Those rare guns worth 10-20k from 1880?!…

      A hurricane comes to town – NO BIG DEAL. Not even August/September, yet! East Coast, indeed…

      • BackRowHeckler July 6, 2014 at 3:21 am #

        Hurricane wasn’t too bad here, just a lot of much needed rain.

        The 1st Marlin, model 1881, can be quite valuable, yes. They only made about 20,000 of them, in .45/70. I’ve only seen one, at Cabellas.

        –BRH

    • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 6:59 pm #

      The US has the most primitive and inefficient transportation infrastructure in the industrial world.

      We should be ashamed we did not demand mass transit. But we listened to Ronnie Reagan’s lies, his successors didn’t do anything to alter his wrong turn, and soon those commuters on America’s interstates will find themselves unable to get to work.

      As a consequence we will not be able to compete in the global economy, and this will also leave us ill prepared to create the local economies of the future.

      But this is part of the agenda, which is to shrink the US economy and force most Americans to get by on a subsistence level. It’ll be more like it was before WWII!

  64. MisterDarling July 6, 2014 at 12:25 pm #

    SO… back on the 30th, BackRowHeckler wrote:

    “Israel just today they found the bodies of those 3 kidnapped teenagers who were hitch hiking home from religious school. Let’s hope this crime doesn’t go unanswered.”-BRH.

    Then this happened:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28174519

    Then his American cousin showed up and got the cr*p kicked out of him… Why? Nobody’s saying yet.

    Then this happened:

    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/07/06/world/middleeast/ap-ml-israel-palestinians.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=1

    Which only confirms my earlier statement regarding the Middle East: Loose cannons are running it, if you’re looking for level-headed leadership you’re looking in the wrong place, and we don’t know WTF to expect other than it will be bad, leading to worse.

    I’m posting this a summarizing ‘Coda’ on the weekly topic. You can always count on The Levant to “do a swift trade… Injustice” [*]

    — — —

    [*] to adapt one of Greg Kinnear’s lines… Thanks Greg. Great performance.

  65. MisterDarling July 6, 2014 at 5:41 pm #

    IT’S all too ironic, isn’t it? In the USA we have a bunch of people foaming at the mouth about ‘sharia law’ being imposed, and fretting about ‘caliphates, and yet:

    http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/07/04/court-and-caliphate/

    “So yes, our sectarians hate women (along with many other classifications of human beings), and they will cheer these rulings by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority (which is itself dominated by sectarians).

    But what we see in the Wheaton College ruling is a Court-blessed manifestation of a hatred that goes beyond misogyny: a hatred of democracy, a hatred of any kind of human community or culture or social organization that is not under the “dominion” of their own narrow, stunted sectarian beliefs.

    What they seek is their own “Caliphate.” And they [are] taking it, bit by bit. The Supreme Court has just handed them a large chunk of territory.”–Chris Floyd.

    The smartest thing another Chris ever said was: “The taming and domestication of religious faith is one of the unceasing chores of civilization.”-C. Hitchens.

    The example of what happens when civilization fails at this task is all too clear. Just look to The East.

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    • Janos Skorenzy July 6, 2014 at 7:09 pm #

      In other words, people should be made to pay for things they find abhorrent. That’s “Democracy” or rule by the lowest. Pop Culture is just the culture of Mob Democracy – the lowest common denominator.

      Not funding Sandra Fluke’s birth control pills is “hatred of women”? You need to take the red pill. You are deeply asleep on this issue. I will begin to work on you about this.

      • MisterDarling July 6, 2014 at 9:59 pm #

        “You need to take the red pill.”-Janos.

        Hmmm, this may explain some of the more interesting ‘features’ of your contributions…

        🙂

        “Not funding Sandra Fluke’s birth control pills is “hatred of women”? “-janos.

        Never said that. I did provide a link to an article that also, does not say that (explicitly)… This is over-reach, Janos. I’ll be expecting better from you, going forward.

        😉

        Am I a Bleeding Heart Lib’? Not at all. Simply a guy that prefers that the sectarian and the secular stay well apart from one another. Failure to do so results in a delusional misallocation of time and resources. . . Theocracies generally SUCK at running things, every bit (if not more) than feudalism does in any of it’s guises.

        I view these recent events as very clear evidence of incipient collapse. We, as a nation, are already in the ‘Destabilzed’ (coded yellow) section of the threat matrix. This latest round of bushwah just sticks a cherry on top.

        Also, I need you to bear in mind that I’m a veteran with too many years stuck overseas with nothing but other dudes to talk to. I’ve overdosed on ‘man-time’, so I’m not going to be an avid convert for that ‘red-pill’ nonsense.

        Speaking of misogyny, Afghanistan stands-out as the preeminent example of what can happen when men spend too much time together, ‘bonding’ and whatnot. There are too many things that the American civilian population does not know, especially about what we were duty-bound to work alongside and put-up with (even now). Without going into details, there are such things as Sick Societies. The Pashtuns are the modern-day Spartans in that regard.

        With that clarification out of that way, what’s the likeliest upshot of last-week’s SOTUS ruling? Accelerated societal fragmentation, most likely.

        So at this point, we can candidly ask ourselves: would it be more merciful to have it perish quickly, rather than linger on with infinite cruelty?

        Cheers!

        • Janos Skorenzy July 6, 2014 at 10:23 pm #

          In other words, in the middle of a slow motion Communist takeover, you’re worried about incipient Theocracy. Do you know how crazy that is under the circumstances?

          I admit it was once a possibility. Protestant fanaticism has always been strong in America. And who knows, maybe after the collapse it might come. But up to this point, the forces of moderation – within Christianity as well – have had held them off.

          You think men spend too much time bonding in America? Really? You think men have more reproductive freedom than Women? You want to pay for an elite activist’s birth control? You didn’t deny it so I can only construe that you assent.

          All the more bizarre if you have just come from the military. Do you not see the incredible Feminist entitlement that is the growing cancer therein?

          • MisterDarling July 7, 2014 at 1:14 am #

            “In other words, in the middle of a slow motion Communist takeover, you’re worried about incipient Theocracy.”-Janos.

            Not at all.

            I wrote – and this key Janos, we need to pay strict attention to detail here – I wrote that this is __evidence__ of incipient collapse. A collapsed financial, commercial and political structure is neither ‘commie’ nor ‘fascist’ nor ‘theocratic’ nor ‘neo-fuedalist’. It is simply an unworkable anarchic mess, no good to anyone.

            “You think men spend too much time bonding in America? Really?”-Janos.

            Not quite. My views about that are more of a ‘Tyler Durden-esque’ monologue. I wrote in reference to Afghanistan. Only Afghanistan, Janos. Let’s try to maintain some semblance of coherence.

            Regarding the purported “Feminist entitlement”, I have my own views and there is little point in reviewing them at this point in time.

            Cheers!

          • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 8:30 pm #

            Feminist entitlement in the military?!

            What planet do you live one. Women are being raped by their own officers – even gang raped. And absolutely nothing has been done about it.

            You really are amazing, and you should take MisterDarling’s words below to heart.

            Why is it conservatives yell “Communist” whenever someone disagrees with them? Why is feeding hungry children communistic? But shoveling billions of dollars into the coffers of gangster firms like BofA and Chase isn’t? This I simply do not get.

            BTW, e.g., Stalin and Mao were not Communists. They were both totalitarian fascists. And THAT, BTW, is why Nixon and Mao got along so well. “Two Totalitarians Sipping Tea”!

            And, as stated below, “coherence” is not your strong suit. You are all over the map

      • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 7:40 pm #

        Excuse me, but 70% of the income tax dollars I send to the IRS are spent on WAR – that is, on death and destruction.

        Purchased from some of the most corrupt corporations in a very corrupt corporate world. They are gangsters!

        I consider that immoral and there is nothing I can do to stop them spending my money that way. And blithely killing thousands of civilians in the process.

        All the employer pays is the insurance premium – and probably only part of it. The employer is NOT being asked to pay for contraception. The money that is paid for health services under the insurance is the insured’s money to spend, and therefore decisions concerning how to spend it are hers.

        When I have a health need I seek professional advice and care. I do NOT go to a cleric.

        And why is it morality only enters the picture for so-called Christians when sex is involved? Do you not have other moral concerns?

        BTW, abortion is connected here because it was apparent over 40 years ago that birth control was where the anti-abortion forces were headed. It seems some folks just can’t handle the idea of other people having sex for fun! And they are even willing to go so far as to shut down the only access poor women have to health care in some states like Texas. THAT is just plain sick.

    • ozone July 6, 2014 at 9:44 pm #

      …And thus does vladdie reveal himself once again. Only someone blinkered to the point of near-blindness could sling such nonsense and ignore the giant looming shadow of hypocrisy that it produces.
      I must conclude this is not a real person in any respect; too many masks can hide the soul from their wearer to the point of losing it even when bald-faced.

      Let us know how your “schooling” goes, MD. (I’ve not seen one convert to Camp Why?topia from this corner of the blab-o-sphere yet, and somehow I don’t think you’ll be the first novice to kneel at the altar of that particular pointy-hooded caliphate.)

      • MisterDarling July 6, 2014 at 10:01 pm #

        “Let us know how your “schooling” goes, MD.”-progress4.

        ?

        🙂

        I’m tempted to ask, but… nah!

      • Janos Skorenzy July 6, 2014 at 10:29 pm #

        Evidently you took your crazy pills today. You think letting a Company decide not to fund abortion is persecution of women? No one makes any women work at Hobby Lobby. You’ve really swallowed the pink pill. Now ride off into the mauve sunset on your hobby horse.

        • ozone July 7, 2014 at 9:54 am #

          vladdie [lamely] tries again to waylay the messenger.
          It really is no wonder that someone of such distinctly limited imagination and empathy would be assigned to this little backwater of the commentariat.

          You gots to be nicely credentialed and self-controlled to be in this bunch. (Skeevy mis-directors need not apply.):

          http://minerva.dtic.mil/funded.html

          Under which caliphate is your american hide more likely to be nailed to the barn door; the islamic one, or the NWO one?

          And who is it, exactly, who’d like information disappeared from the intertubes (under the quasi-legalized guise of “irrelevancy” of course)?

          http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-06/internet-censorship-explodes-google-receives-250000-removal-requests

          IOW, “Don’t get any ideas.”

        • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 8:39 pm #

          The company is NOT being asked to fund abortion. This is about birth control. You try to go there for rhetorical reasons, but it won’t do you any good.

          Also, the employer only pays the insurance premium, and probably only part of it. The funds to spend on heath care under the insurance plan are the insured’s to spend, and her decisions regarding how that money is spent are hers to make.

          Why do you think women cannot make this decision on their own? Do you allow other people to make your health care decisions for you? To tell you that you cannot have some treatment or medication because their belief system says it is wrong? How far would you like to go with that? How many religions are going to ask for some sort of exemption from a law? How many more exemptions do you expect to get?

          Also, Holly Lobby is a company. To say that a business entity has religious faith and that should dictate personal choices for its employees is patently absurd.

  66. progress4what July 6, 2014 at 9:01 pm #

    “208 poasts on the same page! I’m *diggin’* it (P2C would be SO proud)!!!” – zcryp –

    It is a nice improvement, z. Hope it lasts. I almost hate to post this – if it breaks our spell of good fortune in this regard.

  67. progress4what July 6, 2014 at 9:14 pm #

    “July 5, 2014 at 5:00 pm #
    This is probably one of the most delusional things I’ve read on here, only bettered by asoka’s wild ravings on any number of subjects.”
    – Oneiropolos, begins an anti-Al Gore rant –

    Nice rant, oneiropolos! It’s too bad most threadriders won’t read it because you linked it to a comment from June 30, waay back at the top of this weeks comments.

    And I’m not a big Gore fan, but I suspect he would have been a better leader than was Bush the Lesser. I doubt he would have jumped into both Iraq and Afghanistan with quite the stupid abandon that Bush did, for one example.

    And yeah, yeah – now you’ll make the counterargument that Romney have negotiated a better reduction of force agreement on Iraq – leaving enough US forces to keep the place from descending into today’s bloodbath.

    Which is probably true – Romney would have been better for Iraq, Israel, and the whole middle east; given the damage that Bush’s elective invasion of that country.

    Bottom line is that US presidents have far too much power – such that a single election of a single person can take US policy careening from one stupid extreme to the opposite stupid extreme.; as long as both extremes favor the oligarchs, anyway.

    And the two party system is a big cause of this problem.

    • progress4what July 6, 2014 at 9:20 pm #

      Truly, the only use I see for nested comments is for small, relatively “private” conversations between two posters OR for corrections to posts.

      For example:
      “Nice rant, oneiropolos! It’s too bad most threadriders won’t read it because you linked it to a comment from June 30, waay back at the top of this weeks comments.”

      should have been

      “Nice rant, oneiropolos! It’s too bad most threadriders won’t read it because you linked it to a comment from June 30, WAAAAYY back at the top of this weeks comments.”

      Some very good comments this week, btw.
      JHK, you ought to be pleased!

  68. progress4what July 6, 2014 at 9:26 pm #

    “Not funding Sandra Fluke’s birth control pills is “hatred of women””
    – janos –

    No, but it’s still a very bad policy, on a planet with 7+ billion souls and in a country with 315,000,000++ people, and growing too damn fast as it is.

    The US right has been wrong on world population control since Reagan. And they aligned with your Catholic Church to overpopulate most of the Christian third world to past the point of destitution and anarchy.

    Some of the “benefits” of this alignment are visible on our southern border.

    • Janos Skorenzy July 6, 2014 at 10:37 pm #

      Do people have the right to do what they want with their own companies or not? And practice the religion of their choice? Or do you want to force the religion of Liberalism and Feminism on all?

      You tried to use the macrocosmic issue of world population to obfuscate a question of American Freedom. I think you have admitted in the past that White Americans aren’t the problem. I’m not against birth control – I just don’t want it forced on people. Don’t you think that kind of State Power is dangerous?

      This last week SCOTUS decision was a rare victory for Freedom. And you Liberal fanatics can’t see it.

      Welfare mothers are a different story since they have renounced responsibility. By all means use draconian measures on this most unwholesome breed.

      • GutenbergGuy July 9, 2014 at 8:43 pm #

        You will just have to face it. Your arguments will simply never get anywhere here.

        And you even demonize “welfare mothers.”

        Your so-called values are abhorrent to me.

  69. progress4what July 6, 2014 at 10:57 pm #

    “I’m not against birth control – I just don’t want it forced on people.”
    – janos –

    “Welfare mothers are a different story since they have renounced responsibility. By all means use draconian measures on this most unwholesome breed.” – janos –

    Janos, MAN! It’s like some different force took over your mind while you were expressing these two TOTALLY opposite ideas in one single post.

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

    On another matter, I don’t see how the Supremes can allow Hobby Lobby to dictate their religion to their employees and NOT subsequently allow a Islamic Hobby Lobby to dictate that all their female employees wear full body veils – at all times, on and off the job.

    Did anyone see that the French had made a little progress in banning the wearing of full veils in public in France? Didn’t SCOTUS just rule in the opposite direction for religious power in the US?

    • Janos Skorenzy July 7, 2014 at 12:40 am #

      How can any man be so confused? Hobby Lobby is a private enterprise that can’t force anything on anybody. It’s owned by real Christians and they can’t have anything to do with abortion. How you manage to flub that up is beyond me. I have a sneaking suspicion it’s because of your secular religion (Liberalism). You are, unconsciously perhaps, applying it to everyone and everything. To you folks, religion (other religions that is) has no place in the public square and has to be limited to Home and Church. But Christians can’t live with that – thus the persecution is coming, cheered on by muddled muggles like you. You are free not to shop there. And women are free not to work there.

      Women do have to wear a hijab in many parts of the Islamic World. You want them here and now you want to make them like us. I don’t want them here but I respect their decisions. Who is more liberal in the real sense? Obviously I can’t agree in principle with making women cover up completely since that would interfere with their personhood. But that’s their business. In any case, the women around Jesus dressed more like them than do modern Christian women.

      A Citizen is responsible. No one who owes too much money should be allowed to vote. No criminals. No Welfare Mothers – who are stealing from us. Life is extreme. Look at what namy pamby has gotten us. If people can’t support kids and they keep having kids, something should be done since that’s criminal.

    • MisterDarling July 7, 2014 at 1:21 am #

      ” …NOT subsequently allow a Islamic Hobby Lobby to dictate that all their female employees wear full body veils – at all times, on and off the job.”-progress4.

      The mental myopia behind this decision is amazing. It’s almost looks like a deliberate act of sabotage, against what little security/stability remains.

      The fallout should be noteworthy.

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