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America’s Sweetheart

     Forget Michele Bachmann… how about Nancy Grace for President? – that little firecracker of retribution with the carnivore gleam in her eyes, the pouty lips concealing fangs of vengeance, the wafting perfume of scorn and opprobrium, a very exterminating angel among the lumbering dark hairy beasts of Sodom America. I cringe a little, frankly, when I click through the CNN gauntlet and glimpse Nancy in full dudgeon, her delicate nostrils quivering with rage.  Does she want to kick my ass, too? Who put the testosterone in that girl’s Red Bull?
     All last week it was Casey Anthony 24/7 on the cable news stations – and Nancy Grace’s nostrils were flaring so wide I was afraid her head might explode. But let’s face it: America is fascinated with Casey because Casey IS America. America, just like Casey, is too busy looking for the latest party to take care of its children. But just you wait. The court of public opinion is going to lay a million-dollar book deal on Casey Anthony, and a Made-for-TV movie deal, and a “reality” show on the Food Channel (“101 Meals You’ll Never Have to Serve To Your Annoying Child Because You Killed It”), plus cars, luxury homes, personal watercraft, a wardrobe of phosphorescent tube-tops and hot-girl skirts, and sixteen untapped credit cards that have been prayed over by qualified preachers twenty-four hours a day….
     I’m sure glad I don’t live in Florida.
     Did you ever get the feeling that your country was melting down into a puddle of toxic goop? And presiding over the meltdown, under that sturdy, bomb-proof, gleaming, platinum helmet of perfectly plasticized hair… the stern visage of Nancy Grace, beaming disapproval across every hill and mole-hill of this land. Sometimes I fear Nancy would like to wrap duct tape over America’s head and just throw the damn thing in her fabulous backyard pool.
     I couldn’t help thinking last week that this Casey Anthony verdict business was the odd “tipping point” incident that would finally shove the zombified American public into some mode of animate engagement with the reality that lies beyond reality TV. But so far it’s still just reckless housewives and monster trucks as far as the eye can see across this tortured landscape. I was more than halfway expecting something new and different – like, say, a dispossessed 99er taking a horsewhip to Mitt Romney at some Iowa meet-and-greet. I would pay cash money to see Nancy Grace paddle the fucker with a cricket bat. If the heat is getting to me here in upstate New York, imagine how addled their brain-pans must be in the Heartland! It was 113 in Kansas City yesterday.
     Well, don’t worry America. If you don’t have the energy to flush yourself down the drain, it looks like Europe will do it for you. PIIGS are flying over there. Straight into the black hole of insolvency. They have reached the point where they can’t pay for anything anymore and they’ve run out of tricks for pretending. Something has finally shoved these countries past the financial point of no return and now the political pillars are shaking loose. There is simply too much tension in the money system and, long about last Friday, you could hear the distant sound of something snapping – I think it was a big Italian bank. The whole Mediterranean rim is about to return to the living standard of about 1830. They could be so pissed off, they’ll eat the very tourists who amount to their last remaining revenue stream. Meanwhile, I don’t see how all the other banks survive this evolving cataclysm.
     Including the big US banks, most particularly the so-called Too-Big-To-Fails. President Obama goes before the TV cameras in an hour or so. It had been my impression that he was going to try and throw a scare into his fellow pols over the debt ceiling and all that. But by the time he gets to the microphone, the bourses of Europe will be in full swing. Will he, as rumored on the Web, declare some “executive action” on the debt issue, telling Congress (in effect), “… your services in this matter are no longer required”-? This is a very gnarly moment of history. We are turning a page in the grand fiction of what money is and whether we are capable of governing ourselves.
     We have over a thousand cable TV channels where I live, and none of them puts on a coherent news program on Sunday nights, so weekends have become news blackouts. Talk about the diminishing returns of technology! Have you heard enough yet about Casey and Little Caylee? Do you need to know what Juror X had for breakfast that dark day when the verdict was delivered?  Are you feeling so bad about yourself and your nation that you, too, need a paddling from Nancy Grace? O land of seething woman attorneys, we are a wicked people who deserve to be punished. Bring us our just desserts – but not the low-fat tofu cheesecake, thank you – and deliver us from fecklessness. And folks, remember to hydrate!

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

1,077 Responses to “America’s Sweetheart”

  1. GAbert July 11, 2011 at 9:56 am #

    Revolution? Wrong, try revolutions!
    You may have noticed that the country has been moving through an era of political change. The most obvious manifestations have been the Tea Party Movement and more recently the inability of Congress to agree just how to raise the Federal debt limit. It’s the season of perpetual political posturing; kind of like some massive Go game played out over months and years instead of hours and days.
    http://www.gwabert.com/

  2. kulturcritic* July 11, 2011 at 9:59 am #

    James:
    The question of freedom from last week’s celebrations has become an overwhelming burden to some of us. The kulturCritic
    http://kulturcritic.wordpress.com/posts/master-slave-free-will-or-primal-autonomy/

  3. contemonte July 11, 2011 at 10:02 am #

    Jim, do you own a gun?

  4. popcine July 11, 2011 at 10:03 am #

    Oh, I get it. You’re talking about people on TV, aren’t you?

  5. lbendet July 11, 2011 at 10:05 am #

    Yes, JHK the mean bad ladies are the ones to watch…While the Cultcha wars continue, either the Casey Anthony case or something else, like anti-Sharia law being voted in….Anything but to allow the US polity to check out how badly they’re being screwed! All I can say is most of the US will wonder how we got where we are going.
    How do you spell US Bank Insurance of Debt? TARP
    Oh, here we go again!
    Thanks to an interview by Max Keiser, I was alerted to a new Clusterfuck deal on the table for the usual financial warfare we now specialize in. If it’s not military warfare, its the financial warfare against the citizenry of the world, but in this case the US. It’s a US investment bank insurance against Greek debt.
    Yes, CFN our investment banks are in fact insuring Greek debt which when Greece collapses means another TARP to the tune of $35 Billion and when other countries in the EU default (PIG), it will come to $63 Billion. That’s right, and the banksters will be able to pay the big bonuses again while the US taxpayers will unwittingly pay for the TBTF investment banks, of course. Just like with AIG, History will repeat itself from 2008 moving us closer to an IMF privatization scheme as well. Disaster Capitalism is on its way to the US of A.
    from an article entitled US Taxpayer’s Share of Greek Debt by Andy Waldock
    [There are only two arguments left to decide in the coming debacle. First, will we have a partial or a complete default? Complete default benefits the Europeans and leaves the U.S. on the hook for the balance. Secondly, when France and Germany come to the U.S. seeking their insurance payouts will our banks be able to afford them. I don’t believe these banks, funded with taxpayer money and using our savings accounts as collateral for making the loans have the resources to cover their losses. Therefore, the taxpayer may be left holding the bag…again.}
    From Wall St. Journal:[This means it now costs an average of $1,725,000 a year to insure $10 million of debt issued by the country. Credit default swaps, or CDS, are derivatives that function like a default-insurance contract for debt. If a borrower defaults, sellers compensate buyers.]
    From Huffington Post, Luna Park: [“US investment banks are insuring Greek debt. Expect another TARP when Greece finally collapses. I’d rather lose everything and wait in a soup line than bail out another bank or have the Federal Reserve create more money to bail out a bank.”]
    Zerohedge has a good article:http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/us-taxpayers-share-greek-debt

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  6. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown July 11, 2011 at 10:06 am #

    JHK, great column this week.
    Nancy Grace is what she is, and gets the ratings for the corporate sponsors. Here in the red state buckle of the Bible belt, folks sure whipped up over that acquittal like nothing I can remember ever seeing before, though, if I were a more morbid person, I’d be starting a pool on how long before the first attempt on Casey’s life by some Nancy Grace-inspired loser. After all, if you of the mindset that shooting a doctor is ok because you think they killed a fetus…
    And, you look for “news” on TV? Not looking in the right place. To quote Colbert, that’s all about the infotainment now.

  7. steveh0607 July 11, 2011 at 10:07 am #

    Maybe Nancy Grace can paddle Congress. We could sell tickets and retire the national debt.

  8. bubbleheadMarc July 11, 2011 at 10:07 am #

    Either that or perhaps Nancy Grace could go into the not-for-profit world with a vengeance by starting a new religion in which the swamp where little Caylee was dumped would be developed into a massive shrine where the faithful could come in pilgrimage to deposit their little teddy bears and bouquets of flowers. Casey could be demonized as the anti-BVM and Nancy could be the Mother Angelica of the new cult. Then religious entrepreneurs could develop and entire strip of support activities along the road there kind of like the hotels and restaurants outside of the Lourdes Shrine in France. Scum-bags of all descriptions could go there to pray to Caylee’s soul for a spontaneous remission of their bad tattoos. Then George Anthony would have a place to go to have his bad tattoo miraculously removed, that is if the pilgrims didn’t take umbrage and stone him like the pilgrims to Mecca ritualistically stone the devil.

  9. Norman Conquest July 11, 2011 at 10:08 am #

    Good column this week Jim! Nancy Grace is downright scary, maybe she should run for office. Meanwhile, the lessons of the tragic dismembering of Greece are completely lost on the typical American slob. Obama is slobbering too, and now claims that Marijuana is bad for us. From here on, perhaps we should treat the whole thing as a comedy, but who’s laughing?

  10. kmhwildlife July 11, 2011 at 10:09 am #

    She is such a shrew. Don Henley had her pegged: “the bubble-headed bleach blond comes on at 5, she can tell you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye”.
    I’d hate to be her when all that bad karma comes back.

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  11. GAZ July 11, 2011 at 10:10 am #

    James….you watch too much television, and that surprises me.

  12. Jack Waddington July 11, 2011 at 10:10 am #

    I keep repeating:- Abolish money and it might all be chaotic for a short while then … it’ll all settle and we’ll each just do our thing and the planet will still turn. Voila; why didn’t we think of this before.
    Jack

  13. Raindogs July 11, 2011 at 10:11 am #

    I’ve always been of the mind that Nancy Grace Bitch Face would be a great punk band name.

  14. welles July 11, 2011 at 10:12 am #

    And folks, remember to hydrate!
    yep, that ’bout sums it up with that dysfunktional ussa, idiots wall to wall, which is y u shud just unplug from the media and ‘isolate’ yourself with permaculture (grow&roll your own), with a renewable, severely scaled down lifestyle that’s not dependent on those folks that love to control u.
    timothy leary was at least partially right…turn on to (insert your favorite medicinal or whatnot here) and Drop Out. take your ball and go home, you’re not playing anymore….
    gawd do i pity the americans that have to live in america, it’s just ungodly. enjoy your plasticized servitude
    peace peaceniks

  15. Joshua July 11, 2011 at 10:14 am #

    I recommend Dershowitz’s article in Huffington to bring a little order to this fest. The system does not cry out for justice for the victim, or, by definition, every defendant would be found guilty. Fact is, the legal system worked just fine. As one juror stated, she could not convict a person for doing something when she did not know what the person did. Or why.
    The mother may be negligent (not a motive for homocide), self-centered (not a criminal offense), and none too bright. Clearly, not a good mother. The prosecution, with its high burden of proof, simply did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman, with malice aforethought, committed murder.
    She may very well lose a case in civil court, as did OJ, where mere preponderance of the evidence is sufficient. In criminal court, she was not declared innocent, just not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. PR and news cycles notwithstanding. I can live with that.
    You didn’t think I was going to write about being first, did you?

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  16. noel bodie July 11, 2011 at 10:16 am #

    I don’t have cable, it is against my religion to pay for TV, so I don’t know who Nancy Grace is, nor did I really know anything of the Anthony case til NPR mentioned last week, sounds like I’m not really missing anything of value. Here is a novel idea instead of all the complaining I hear about cable rates, just call the company and cancel because of cost, if enough folks did I’m sure the rates would come down and in a hurry.

  17. HeadingOut July 11, 2011 at 10:16 am #

    Who is Nancy Grace????? I guess I’ll never know because years ago I canceled TeeVee and started gardening. (Peaches are coming in really nice now.) If not for Jim, I probably would have never heard her name, but by his description I’m mighty glad I don’t have to look at her.

  18. ozone July 11, 2011 at 10:17 am #

    “…Are you feeling so bad about yourself and your nation that you, too, need a paddling from Nancy Grace? O land of seething woman attorneys, we are a wicked people who deserve to be punished. Bring us our just desserts – but not the low-fat tofu cheesecake, thank you – and deliver us from fecklessness. And folks, remember to hydrate!” -JHK
    *************
    My gawd; that’s just darkly hilarious and terrifying in it’s inter-connected-ness!
    Guess we’ve just become a Grand Guignol (puppet show) of S&M and “approved” safe-words doled out by the media in an absurd attempt to create a “culture” of crap and consumerism.
    Thanks again, and I would applaud you for watching ANY Nancy Grace spewage, a’tall! That’s pretty nervy in itself.

  19. welles July 11, 2011 at 10:22 am #

    you are one smart cookie, i luv coming across folks that’ve wizened up lol
    peace flunkies

  20. ozone July 11, 2011 at 10:26 am #

    BHM,
    Perfect! What could BE more mod-american?
    Investment opportunity in Teddy bears, no doubt…

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  21. ubs July 11, 2011 at 10:26 am #

    This type of juvenile, irresponsible characters can only flourish because the nanny state insulates people from the consequences of their asinine behavior. I believe the technical term is moral hazard. The solution should be obvious to everyone with above-average IQ. Get rid of all government hand-outs and unproductive bureaucrats. 98% of the FSA members will reform themselves into responsible adults before their television has reached room temperature.

  22. Desertrat July 11, 2011 at 10:27 am #

    Casey Anthony is one of those, “Yeah, I heard about that…” deals. I gather that the state did not prove its case against her; something like that, anyhow.
    La Belle Femme Grace? I happened to see some 30 seconds of her shtick, accidentally. Repetition did and will not occur. But TV is for Indycars, F1, wildlife and collitch feetsball…
    Life is good…

  23. Andy July 11, 2011 at 10:29 am #

    Nancy Grace would make a great paint stripper one look and the paint would crawl off

  24. zombies on toast July 11, 2011 at 10:31 am #

    Just get rid of the damn TV!!! It is making you crazy.
    I haven’t had one for over two years and it is great.

  25. Faun July 11, 2011 at 10:31 am #

    Frankly the notion of “Kunstler” and “paddling” has put me off my feed.

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  26. HeadingOut July 11, 2011 at 10:35 am #

    “PIIGS are flying over there” indeed! Soon they’ll be over here: http://tinyurl.com/66cryot

  27. Krista July 11, 2011 at 10:35 am #

    JHK, I look forward to Monday mornings just to read your blog. Sir, you are brilliant and if I wasn’t a lesbian, you would be so easy to fall in love with. Thank you, thank you for the ‘kicks & giggles’ and for your poignant appraisal of happenings across this shared world of ours.
    As for the Nancy Grace comments, so spot on!!!

  28. den111 July 11, 2011 at 10:36 am #

    “I couldn’t help thinking last week that this Casey Anthony verdict business was the odd “tipping point” incident that would finally …”
    Look forward to you every week JK, but, you declare more tipping points than the the government declares new top Al-Qaeda kills.

  29. cowswithguns July 11, 2011 at 10:37 am #

    I would argue that America is actually the Casey Anthony jury — the quintessential example of technotriumphalist expectations. Faced with a mountain of circumstantial evidence, the jury chose to let Casey off, because — GASP! — there wasn’t a blood cell found on a speck of dust in the woods where the child’s body was found. On TV’s CSI, that’s how it would have went down after all.
    CSI has bred unrealistic expectations in juries.
    Google “the CSI effect” for more info on this phenomenon.

  30. rippedthunder July 11, 2011 at 10:39 am #

    Hey Prog, “Fuck Off Jackass” i thought u waz a “suddern baptist” man. The language is unbecoming of you. Just sayin’. :o)

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  31. empirestatebuilding July 11, 2011 at 10:41 am #

    I keep waiting for the sky to fall because I am bored to death with the status quo. But out by me it is business as usual… and by usual I mean it’s still a fucked up mess.
    Aimlow Joe was here
    http://www.aimlow.com

  32. Freedom Guerrilla July 11, 2011 at 10:42 am #

    Ugh, I am so out of this loop. I just heard of Casey when she was found not guilty. I had to figure out what “they” were talking about and why it was shocking. And, who is Nancy Grace?
    It’s only maddening if you pay attention, and attention is the most important resource today. Don’t give it away.
    Tommy out.
    http://freedomguerrilla.com

  33. rippedthunder July 11, 2011 at 10:46 am #

    Yo Welles, I am livin’ in the USA, but I try not to live the USEUS lifestyle. I can’t change it right now. Too many years in the “system”. That will change soon.

  34. Buck Stud July 11, 2011 at 10:46 am #

    So basically with one click of the remote Nancy Grace is irrelevant. And Spider Derrida could write a book about it.

  35. metuselah July 11, 2011 at 10:47 am #

    “The media is canned and served cold.”
    Once you understand that, you understand why it’s called the idiot box.

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  36. PRD July 11, 2011 at 10:48 am #

    When I told some co-workers (yes, I actually have a job – 20 hrs/week!)I hadn’t even heard about this Casey case until about two weeks ago, they said: “What are you, living in a cave??!” But ask them about the world financial situation, the latest impact from global warming, the oil leak into the Yellowstone River, etc. etc., they’d give you a blank look, and go on to discuss Ahhnold’s love child.
    I’ve been depressed lately, and thought my meds ain’t workin like they used to. Then I realized, you’d have to be insane not to be depressed!

  37. rippedthunder July 11, 2011 at 10:49 am #

    JHK,
    regarding Mitt Romney “I would pay cash money to see Nancy Grace paddle the fucker with a cricket bat.”
    A ROTF classic, I am from MA. but the numbnut Devil Patrick we have now is even worse.

  38. Elrond Hubbard July 11, 2011 at 10:50 am #

    Joshua: “The prosecution, with its high burden of proof, simply did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman, with malice aforethought, committed murder.”
    Precisely. The state has to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt because, while it’s a miscarriage of justice for the guilty to go unpunished, it’s a worse miscarriage when the innocent (I’m not calling Casey Anthony innocent) are punished to satisfy people’s need to see *someone* punished.
    Marcia Clark, of all people, pointed out that in Scotland, juries can return three verdicts: Guilty, Not Guilty, and Not Proven. ‘Not Proven’ sounds like exactly what the jury in this case would have returned if they could. The effect is the same (Casey goes free), but it’s the difference between exonerating her, and declaring that the state didn’t meet its burden.

  39. PRD July 11, 2011 at 10:51 am #

    Oh yeah — I’d never heard of Nancy Grace until this morning, either. Guess I’d better get a TV and quit wasting time in my studio and playing my guitar!

  40. loveday July 11, 2011 at 10:52 am #

    Hey Jim
    Yes quite a show the whole Casey Anthony circus without bread for the masses. Meanwhile Paul Ryan got caught drinking 350 dollar a bottle wine with so called economists. Yah! how good does it get? NO social security for you and me, but good ole Paul gets his top of the line vino.
    Jobs continue to disappear at an accelerating clip and Obama wants to nix anything resembling relief for 90% of the US population that actually did work for a living, and now quietly awaits starvation on the sidelines, in a homeless shelter. How good does it get? It’s the American way baby, so just suck it up!

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  41. budizwiser July 11, 2011 at 10:52 am #

    JK – you ain’t gonna go “all Nancy Grace” on your readers and make them feel bad about watching Sixty-Minutes… are you?
    Ok – Ok so we get it – 57 channels and there’s nothin’ on……
    What is Clusterfuck? What is a nation?
    Its the sum total of mass consternation multiplied by penetrating frustration.
    So what? So nobody has seemed to notice that the European Union has become a massive governmental collective of “bagman” for the financial elite? No one has noticed that current world affairs resemble the plots from a Dicken’s novel?
    Please Jamie, please Lloyd may we have some
    more? Oh please!

  42. Neon Vincent July 11, 2011 at 10:53 am #

    “I was more than halfway expecting something new and different -”
    And now for something completely different, a man with three buttocks! Sorry, couldn’t resist.
    “like, say, a dispossessed 99er taking a horsewhip to Mitt Romney at some Iowa meet-and-greet.”
    So far, the only group of people upset enough to actually do anything like that to GOP candidates have been gay people dumping glitter on the most openly homophobic ones and their spouses. One of them was Marcus Bachmann, which was redundant. The rumor is that he’s so deep in the closet, he can see Narnia.
    “I would pay cash money to see Nancy Grace paddle the fucker with a cricket bat.”
    I really shouldn’t have to rely on longtime reading of you to figure out that by ‘the fucker’ you mean Romney. Without that context, the antecedent is unclear. You’re a better writer than that.
    As for the rest, I tried to avoid the Casey Anthony trial. It’s the kind of thing a village would care about–one of their own behaving badly, which would both provide entertainment and at such a small scale, actually be a source of real worry–blown up to a continental scale. It might make for a good morality play onto which one could project ones darker nature, but it really doesn’t affect anyone outside of Casey and her family and friends. Just the same, it was great fodder for what the late Joe Bageant called “The Hologram.”
    Finally, you seem to think it will be a race between the U.S. banks failing and the political system melting down the economy. We’ll see about that, as the debt ceiling with be reached in only three weeks.
    I haven’t blogged about any of those things yet on Crazy Eddie’s Motie News, except mentioning Narnia in passing (Yes, Vlad, I know what Narnia is), although I will eventually get around to banks and the debt ceiling. Instead, the big news is about Julie Bass’s front yard vegetable garden and the City of Oak Park’s prosecution of her for not removing it. Looks like Jim’s prediction of people growing crops in the front yards of their suburban houses is coming true, and the suburbs are afraid of what that means.
    http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/

  43. mow July 11, 2011 at 10:55 am #

    Nancy’s middle name is Sophistry .

  44. catman306 July 11, 2011 at 11:04 am #

    Thank you, Mr. Kunstler, for unleashing your mighty vocabulary at Nancy Disgrace. What’s require, I’m afraid, is a predator attack with clusterfuck bombs.
    But some is better than none, so thanks again!
    Here’s some alternate conjecture:
    Caylee is still alive. The medical examiner hasn’t provided the evidence of the FBI DNA analysis of the found bones (Quantico, VA lab) in the official Coroner’s report for Caylee Anthony. Why not? Who at the lab, signed off on the analysis?
    Caylee was abducted. Casey was drugged by the gang that did the abduction and doesn’t remember any of it. Her ex-cop ex-boyfriend introduced her to the club where the baby’s abductors met her and arranged the baby heist.

  45. Neon Vincent July 11, 2011 at 11:04 am #

    “You’d have to be insane not to be depressed.”
    Let’s see if I can get to your statement from a couple of cliches.
    “If you’re not angry, then you’re not paying attention.”
    “Depression is anger without the enthusiasm.”
    So, you’re paying attention, you’re angry, and you have no enthusiasm. Almost there, as the paradox of depression not being a symptom of mental illness isn’t resolved. What’s missing?
    “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
    Bingo.

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  46. Neon Vincent July 11, 2011 at 11:07 am #

    “the debt ceiling with be reached in only three weeks.”
    That should be “will” not “with.” It figures I’d make a writing error in a post that criticizes someone else for sloppy writing.

  47. newworld July 11, 2011 at 11:09 am #

    There is a saying on the fringe right, “The day the EBT cards stop working.” It creeps ever closer here in Illinois a blue state. The corrupt in charge have initiated a three prong strategy to remain solvent with perhaps a fourth waiting in the wings.
    Tax increases on the people with jobs, cuts to government employees which amount to a freeze in compensation at best, and stiffing service providers to our welfare state with nearly year long waits in some cases for payment.
    My WAG after watching this response is that the fall will be no such thing, normalcy bias plus financial shenanigans shall float our boat for sometime.

  48. loveday July 11, 2011 at 11:09 am #

    Vince
    That’s right the neighbors didn’t like those unsuitable peppers and tomatoes, so no veggie garden for Julie. Talk about things getting downright surreal! Anyway if she pays the bills at her home what business is it of anyone what she does with her yard. But oh no, peppers offend the nitwit neighbors, obviously unemployed folks got too much time on their hands and no shovel to dig up their own veggie garden.
    Yah I laugh just thinking about what some of
    Joe Bageant’s caustic commentary on the whole clusterfucked state of affairs would be. Deer hunting anyone?

  49. soak July 11, 2011 at 11:10 am #

    The greater error was “three weeks”…
    A decision/deal needs to be made in three days to allow time for the 20 day legislative process.
    If we don’t have resolution by Wednesday, markets will start to react, ratings agencies will downgrade the USA, USA full faith and credit besmirched, blah, blah, blah…
    We have three days, not three weeks.

  50. orbit7er July 11, 2011 at 11:15 am #

    Do not be so fast to count Europe down and out despite their problems with the banksters.
    Europe is way ahead of the US in terms of
    renewable energy and Green Transit which will
    enable it to survive much better than the Auto-Addicted USA.
    My brother has lived in Spain for several years at a time and talking with Spanish friends, besides the
    windmills, solar energy farms Spain has also made
    major expansions of Green Transit since my last visit in 2004.
    The Madrid Metro which did not use to extend to my
    brother’s old condo/apartment now runs there as well
    as other points like the airport.
    Of course they have opened the high speed Rail from
    Madrid to Barcelona.
    Although Spain made some mistaken investments in
    highway expansions to McMansion wannabes in former olive fields, they have also been making
    substantial investments in sustainability like
    Green Transit.
    Even in the US some faltering steps continue despite all the Teabag Party attempts to kill the new sustainable world in its cradle.
    For example Maryland already has approval for
    a new East-West Light Rail that would connect
    Amtrak,MARC and 3 Metro Lines.
    As a model Phoenix-Tempe Light Rail which just opened is loved by riders and has 50% more riders than projected already.
    See below for more details:
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/phoenix-offers-lessons-for-purple-line/2011/06/01/gIQAsG7w5H_story.html
    The younger generation is losing America’s traditional love affair with Auto Addiction and is
    moving into transit oriented communities and embracing towns and cities over suburban sprawl.
    I spoke to 1 woman on my own-time (amazing!) Amtrak train from NY to DC who said her son-in-law is so convinced Green Transit is the future for saving the planet he is going back to school to be an Urban Planner after being an engineer.
    Mr Kunstler’s prescriptions for Rail seem to be
    part of the Zeitgiest and slowly gaining headway!

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  51. dale July 11, 2011 at 11:17 am #

    James….you watch too much television, and that surprises me.
    ———————————–
    Or the wrong television, at least. I do know what Nancy Grace looks like, I probably saw her on the small screen in the corner once or twice while programming my VCR, for real news or entertainment. But I haven’t the slightest idea what she was saying. As for Casey Anthony, what the fuck do I care about some lowlife in FL?
    Seriously Jim….you must be eating to many Cheese Doodles or something. Get a life.

  52. rippedthunder July 11, 2011 at 11:19 am #

    So the CFN DJ posts again
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deeBQZ8Aklc
    If this song don’t give ya the “willies” you are a subhuman larvae. especilly at 2:42 and 3:20

  53. dale July 11, 2011 at 11:21 am #

    The younger generation is losing America’s traditional love affair with Auto Addiction and is
    moving into transit oriented communities and embracing towns and cities over suburban sprawl.
    ————————————
    Well, that might be true. Of course, it could be true in the same sense that most of us are “embracing” staying at home and passing on European vacations. We can’t afford it any longer.

  54. Smokyjoe July 11, 2011 at 11:28 am #

    Jimmie me boy, it’s not all glum over here in Ireland.
    While the developers who made bazillions of Euros in the boom have taken off with the loot and some developments are just going to be torn down again, Ireland plugs along producing lots of food locally on small farms and won’t starve. I’d rather be here than in America when the cheese-doodle trucks stop rolling.
    The big thing over here is not this court case you are going on about (I don’t watch TV so it’s all noise to me) but the closure of emergency services at a regional hospital.
    To keep it open, more radical M.P.s are saying “screw the debt servicing and save the hospital.”
    In other words, it’s a preview for Peak Oil USA, when we finally get tired of the circuses of CNN (kill your TV, Jim..it’s poisoning you).

  55. wgresham July 11, 2011 at 11:34 am #

    Love the Food Network show concept. I think people will indeed watch about anything.
    By the way, it was ONLY 96 degrees (officially) in KC yesterday, although I think it was about 113 when I ran an errand to the mega-box home center place (and was shocked by the 60-degree chill in the vestibule). The asphalt acreage full of pickups and SUVs surrounding it was toasty.

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  56. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown July 11, 2011 at 11:37 am #

    Yeah, Kill your TV. I still have one, but I have trouble watching much of anything other than old movies on TCM. Seems like everything else is one half silly reality show and one half commercials: “here’s some titties, buy our crap”.

  57. helen highwater July 11, 2011 at 11:38 am #

    Hi Sandy – are you the artist who does the great pictures that appear along with the postings on your blog? Today’s is especially good.

  58. helen highwater July 11, 2011 at 11:42 am #

    Jim’s column this week once again makes me grateful for the fact that I don’t have TV.

  59. Omar Bongo July 11, 2011 at 11:46 am #

    “I’ve always been of the mind that Nancy Grace Bitch Face would be a great punk band name.”
    It would be a great name for an orchestra. Unfortunately there are no decent punk bands. 1978 called and wants it’s imagination back.

  60. loveday July 11, 2011 at 11:47 am #

    Boy you got that right, the kids can’t afford a car. Remember a couple of hundred for your first junker car that you could scratch and ding without worrying about it and a couple hundred in insurance for the year and voila wheels. Now it’s a car loan and thousands for insurance. Of course they are gonna catch the bus or train. That is if they want to continue to eat.
    The kids know the score they got buffaloed by Obummer and it won’t happen again. Remember Obummer’s chief of staff says people won’t vote on the umemployment issue, wow what’s he smoking, must be really wicked. The onoly problem is who can they vote for, I

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  61. Omar Bongo July 11, 2011 at 11:47 am #

    its, you moron. The English language called and wants some dignity back.

  62. hugho July 11, 2011 at 11:47 am #

    never heard of nancy grace. Do you mean michelle bachmann? Casey who? Do yourself a favor and leave the boob tube off. Getting addled about the nattering nabobs of a fragmenting culture is really a poor way to use the energy modulated from your mitochondria.

  63. Cash July 11, 2011 at 11:48 am #

    Hi Jackieblue. I saw your message. How you doin’?

  64. loveday July 11, 2011 at 11:50 am #

    Oops sorry. too continue I guess the only one they can vote for who at least appears to have a grip on reality is Ron Paul. As little as most people want to vote for a Repub.

  65. bubbleheadMarc July 11, 2011 at 11:51 am #

    Okay, if we must talk about this, some obvious points come flying out at me:
    [1] Nancy Grace does have cultural significance or Saturday Night Live wouldn’t already have lampooned her several years ago.
    [2] It is also culturally significant that Casey Anthony, who has to be guilty of at least the third count, was let off by this mentally subnormal jury so television addicted themselves that they fatuously imagine that no one can be convicted of any crime with merely circumstantial evidence, so all pervading is the CSI effect at this juncture in history, when in fact it is definitely possible to prove guilt conclusively using only circumstantial evidence. In fact circumstantial evidence is often more damning even than eyewitness evidence so notoriously unrealiable are eye-witnesses. So, merely because she could not be nailed down as guilty on the first two charges is not the same as being exonerated on the lesser charge, which of course leads to the cynical O.J. inspired question of “Are you going to help find the actual killer Casey?”
    [3] We all know that there is no other “real” killer to find. We know this for the same reason that the “real” killer[s] in the O.J. Simpson case are not being sought: they don’t exist and everyone knows that to be the case [that they don’t exist].
    [4] Quite often the prosecution undermines its own case by over-charging the defendant in a misguided attempt to “throw the book at them”. For instance, considering the fact that Anthony was up on first degree murder charges who really gives a rat’s ass whether or not she committed a few misdemeanors by lying to the police? Of course she lied to the fucking police; she’s a murderer or at the very least a killer guilty of manslaughter.
    As much as I find Nancy Grace irritating, taking care of an elderly relative who would be among her acolytes should she ever decide to open that Caylee Shrine on the swampland down the street from the Anthony house, more ridiculous candidates have been fielded in recent years not the least of whom had to be Ronnie Rayguns himself, “The Man Who Sold the World” and fucked small-town America in the bargain.

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  66. bailey July 11, 2011 at 11:54 am #

    Luv ya Jim, you’re spot on with regards to deadly combo of resource depletion and population explosion issues but not in regards to the PIGS.
    Italy owes significantly less than the UK, they’re the second largest exporter in Europe, behind the largest exporter of them all; Germany.They hold the third largest gold reserves, and the UK, the US and the rest put them in w/the PIGS? Nice try, but don’t think so..
    and yes, not unless they charge 8 a barrel can anyone even afford to drill baby drill….
    you outta move…

  67. And So it Goes July 11, 2011 at 11:54 am #

    I’ve had been with out a television for over 30 years.
    Haven’t missed a thing.
    I can recognize TV minds pretty quickly.
    And then my conversation with them ends…
    They have nothing to say..

  68. Omar Bongo July 11, 2011 at 11:55 am #

    “what the fuck do I care about some lowlife in FL?”
    Let’s see. You read a blog post about her. The same blog you religiously read every Monday morning. You then read the comments to see how much other people cared. Then you took the time to sign in and write your own comment.
    So that’s how much the fuck you care. Probably a hell of a lot more than 99% of your fellow Americans.

  69. helen highwater July 11, 2011 at 11:55 am #

    I sent emails to the Mayor and city councillors of Oak Park, Michigan letting them know how ridiculous I think it is to prosecute Julie Bass for growing vegetables in her front yard. I believe everyone should have the right to grow food anywhere they want to on their property. The contact info for Oak Park is readily available on the Internet.

  70. zen17 July 11, 2011 at 11:57 am #

    I’m with the group who never heard of Nancy Grace and am thankful for it.
    Jim, it really is time to turn off the TV and start focusing on what is really important. I’m sure you can get any relevant news you need from the internet.
    Prepare the Body, Calm the Mind and be ready to adapt to the changes that are coming.
    Wandering Sage Wisdom

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  71. mila59 July 11, 2011 at 11:57 am #

    Yes, a number of us live in caves where the “popular culture” stuff doesn’t penetrate. I’ve never seen Nancy Grace although a colleague described her to me at some length last Friday. When you try to raise any issues that are actually affecting our world, people tune out! Phew. I’m not much of a tv person although we have them in the house. In JHK’s defense, I think he needs to watch a fair amount of television to get the zeitgeist of America, so that he can comment on it. Hope that makes some sense.

  72. mila59 July 11, 2011 at 12:01 pm #

    Thank you Elrond Hubbard and Joshua for pointing out these issues. This verdict, as maddening as it may be for some (many) people, demonstrates that our legal system is actually working (!) at least to the extent that the jury is following the dictates of the law, proving a case beyond a reasonable doubt. There just wasn’t enough solid evidence in the case to convict. Better a guilty person go free than an innocent person be convicted and possibly put to death. Circumstantial evidence alone is scary stuff.

  73. Leibowitz Society July 11, 2011 at 12:05 pm #

    The whole “blood and circuses” atmosphere which seems to surround high profile trials points less and less to real justice and to an atmosphere of entertainment where the facts become far less important than appearance. People are already calling for the jury system — the backbone of Western legal thought for a thousand years — to be dissolved because verdicts don’t “go the right way” now and then. When a culture throws out its core institutions to respond to superficial conditions, we’re well under way toward being in a dark age…
    Visit http://leibowitzsociety.blogspot.com for more commentary and thought on our descent into a new dark age.

  74. army July 11, 2011 at 12:09 pm #

    I sit here this morning reading about Nancy Grace, the Food Channel, and etc. and wonder why people are just plain out of it.
    In my local newspaper, the State of Pennsylvania is leasing PA Fish Commission property for Marcellus Shale Drilling. They say it’s a small price we pay to maintain broken dams. Marcellus Gas companies are signing up farmers in our area faster than I can count. The State is issuing drilling permits as fast with no regards to safety, no regards to our water supply, and the long term effects. Our Governor, Tom Corbett (R) is obsessed with contributions from the gas industry. Penn State University is also bought off by the gas industry. They send shills out to promote drilling…….The gas companies are around County Fairs passing out coloring books to brain wash our kids. Kids are enamored with the FRACK-A-SOROUS character! Our Federal Representative Mike Kelly, has a battle going on with Al Shapton on the front page of our local paper. Kelly’s wife is an heir to Phillips Gas. Big Al says Kelly is using his position to enhance his finances.Kelly actually had a TEA PARTY meeting on the grounds of his Chevrolet/Cadilac/Hyundai/Kia Dealership last Spring. Supposedly he made a bundle out of the CASH FOR CLUNKERS program. He speaks for big business. I’m sure he’s worried about my Social Security check. There are so many unemployed Republicans in my area carrying guns and wearing NRA hats it scares me. I’m glad the military showed me how to defend myself. Soon we will eat the rich……..I just finished my cake!
    ARMYTC

  75. Cash July 11, 2011 at 12:14 pm #

    President Obama goes before the TV cameras in an hour or so. – JHK
    Let’s say it doesn’t get done by August 2nd and panic and chaos grips the financial world. Instead of staring into the abyss Wall Street and its foreign counterparts do a swan dive right into it.
    Can you envision not the President but an Army General instead getting in front of the TV cameras? Can you see some US Generals having a meeting with the US President and congressional leaders and telling them that such is the state of affairs that corrupt and incompetent politicians can no longer be trusted and telling them that they should do the right thing and step aside “temporarily”? Dissenters are detained and held in custody for their own “safety” until such time as order is restored and politicians can be safely put back in power. Of course under the guidance and supervision of a military council of “advisors”.

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  76. jrheadrick1 July 11, 2011 at 12:21 pm #

    Rock n roll. Testing, testing, testing.

  77. MarlinFive54 July 11, 2011 at 12:26 pm #

    A few months ago, in S Maine, a mother strangled her little 6 year old boy in a motel room and dumped his body alongside the road. She was arrested shortly afterward. I guess mothers murdering their young children is not all that uncommon in the US. (an extreme example of entropy?) What puzzles me is why did CNN dedicate so many resources to this one single case?
    -Marlin

  78. Gus44 July 11, 2011 at 12:45 pm #

    Hahaha, yeah, it’s all Obama’s fault (Obummer, how clever!). Things in this country were awesome until he was elected. He single handedly destroyed this country in two short years.

  79. Elrond Hubbard July 11, 2011 at 12:48 pm #

    YW, Mila. 🙂 A couple more thoughts: The same place where I read about the Not Proven verdict in Scotland, someone denounced it as a distinction without a difference. As I see it, the main benefit is to give juries an escape hatch from pressure to conform to public opinion and return a conviction against their better judgement, because they fear being ostracized or demonized. It amounts to juries saying, “No shit, Sherlock, we’re not stupid. We might agree she’s probably guilty, but we’d rather not reward the state for doing a half-assed job because that’s bad for everyone and leads to more wrongful convictions down the line.”
    As for BHM calling the jury “mentally subnormal”, what would you suggest? Abolish trial by jury? Do you really think that would fly? Richard Dawkins cites studies that show as a group, juries reliably make more errors than judges do. He points out that this implies a clear strategy: If you’re innocent, you should choose to be tried by a judge; but if you’re guilty and you know it, insist on your right to be tried by a jury, because they’re more likely to make an error (that will go in your favour).

  80. Elrond Hubbard July 11, 2011 at 12:50 pm #

    Leibowitz Society: “People are already calling for the jury system — the backbone of Western legal thought for a thousand years — to be dissolved because verdicts don’t ‘go the right way’ now and then. When a culture throws out its core institutions to respond to superficial conditions, we’re well under way toward being in a dark age…”
    Amen. You said it much better than I did.

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  81. Elrond Hubbard July 11, 2011 at 12:55 pm #

    Re: Marcellus Shale, you should read Stoneleigh’s latest on The Automatic Earth, if you haven’t already, where she gives the extravagant claims for shale gas a good going over. To summarize, lots of shale plays start out looking great only to peter out massively, even to a sub-commercial level (i.e. they become worthless) after 2-3 years. The exception is a few “hot spots” that only become evident after enough wells have been dug in the general area to show which ones play out quickly and which few don’t. The extravagant claims are based on early performance of new wells, and ignoring the fact that most of them don’t perform for very long. I’m sorry to hear you seem to be living in the middle of a fracking mania, and the side effects you will have to live with for who knows how long.

  82. Omar Bongo July 11, 2011 at 12:56 pm #

    This really isn’t about Casey Anthony, Nancy Grace, or the suck channel selection Jim and some of his readers have.
    This is about Jim. This is just drivel, as has been the case for weeks on end now. Just filler. Take whatever was the big thing in the news yesterday (and I mean, literally, yesterday, not last month or last Tuesday) and let your Angry Old Man Disease, hatred of everything American, and your only skill of turning a phrase do the rest for 1000 words.
    You should be ashamed of yourself. Seriously? One of the better known social critics in the country and this and tattoos is all you can come up with.
    There are much more pressing issues and ideas.
    Try the New York Times online if you want news on the weekend.
    Try this:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/world/asia/11petraeus.html?_r=1&hp
    It’s about Afghanistan and the lies that the Generals tell Obama, Obama tells us, and WE, the American people believe because people like Jim, who loves to believe he is some kind of rebel voice, happily get on board and refuse to speak up about this bullshit.
    Afghanistan, Jim? Ever heard of it?
    Let Matt Taibbi write about the Financial stuff. I’m surprised you can balance your own checkbook (and I know you still use one). Cut the shit with the Nancy Grace, NASCAR, tattoos and salad shooters.
    What do you want to do when you grow up? Do something productive with your talent. Stop trying to predict the end of the world at the hands of Florida White Trash.
    The Women’s World Cup team pulled out a gutsy, determined win yesterday against Brazil in the quarterfinals. They were a player down for the final 45 minutes against Marta and Cristiane. Even the American-slanted commentators had given up on them with 10 minutes left in the 2nd overtime. Not me. Because, I had faith and knew these women were a solid squad that could do this thing. That’s what I watched on TV yesterday, and nothing else. I enjoyed every exciting minute of it. I didn’t watch any ads because I have this thing they call a DVR built into my cable box.
    I read a book afterwards and then went out with a bunch of friends for the evening before getting a good night’s rest. That’s what it takes to deal with your negative bullshit every Monday morning.

  83. LaLaLucy July 11, 2011 at 12:57 pm #

    Steve, the sight of Nancy Grace paddling the members of Congress (yes, I think I meant that pun) would indeed be something that I would pay beaucoup bucks to see.

  84. Elrond Hubbard July 11, 2011 at 12:59 pm #

    The fight over the debt ceiling makes me think that if countries were people, the USA would be Krystof Azninski, my favourite Darwin Award winner of all time.
    http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1996-07.html

  85. loveday July 11, 2011 at 1:07 pm #

    Helen
    Yup, people should be able to grow food on their own property wherever they want. But this practice is being openly discouraged by the guvmint. Wonder why, could it be that people who can grow their own food won’t be entirely dependent on the said guvmint? Maybe they can even think for themselves? Heavens above and all the saints, can’t have that. Pretty interesting, I will watch this case to see if she can mount an effective push back to this type of nonsense, unsuitable tomatoes my ass.
    Gus
    Of course Obummer isn’t singlehandedly to blame. He just reneged on every promise he made in order to get elected, then happily went on to protect all his high dollar contributors on Wall street. I’m not partisan, no point to it, the political class is protecting their self interests, both parties( please pay attention- all those in Congress are very well off they want keep it that way). That’s very clear. Right now Obummer is engaged in a shakedown of all these corporations and financiers so he can keep his cushy job. How many vacations and golf trips has the guy been on? Plenty, him and the wife have a pretty good little scam going, hey baby the American way. So just suck it up!

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  86. Bustin J July 11, 2011 at 1:16 pm #

    Marlin said, “A few months ago, in S Maine, a mother strangled her little 6 year old boy in a motel room and dumped his body alongside the road. She was arrested shortly afterward.”
    There is nothing to that case- it is open and shut. Anthony was a drama of Rumsfeldian “Things we know, things we don’t know about things we don’t know… (etc).
    “I guess mothers murdering their young children is not all that uncommon in the US.”
    Whenever you mention entropy it makes me cringe.
    “What puzzles me is why did CNN dedicate so many resources to this one single case?”
    She is hot. Specifically, she is hot in the way that the Sexy Witch costume-model is hot on the store shelves before Halloween.
    She is the prototypical femme fatal. Mysterious, illogical, beautiful. It tickles a man’s sense of risk, self-preservation, at the same time as it tickles his member. She combines in one image the two sides of woman.
    OR, for women, she represents the wolf in sheep’s clothing. I think many women acknowledge, understand, and realize there are psychos among them who are nonetheless under the radar, hidden from view by the facade of social graces.
    Many psychos, people who have done horrible things, criminals and so forth live and work among us. They glide by in large, late-model SUVs with tinted windows, peer out of wraparound sunglasses and wonder what it would be like to be a normal person.

  87. Metzengerstein July 11, 2011 at 1:22 pm #

    I was more than halfway expecting something new and different – like, say, a dispossessed 99er taking a horsewhip to Mitt Romney at some Iowa meet-and-greet.
    Now, THAT would be TV worth watching!

  88. Steve D July 11, 2011 at 1:22 pm #

    Hahaha! Great piece Jim anyway true it was hot enough here yesterday to scramble what remains of everyones brains here in the Paris of The Plains.
    Us sophisticates though do continue to watch in awe as the tattoo etched crowd continues to extend it’s reach and influence into a city that used to be one of the country’s best kept secrets.
    Wish us luck!

  89. rippedthunder July 11, 2011 at 1:23 pm #

    Hi Marlin, man it’s hot up here. I gotta get outta the sun for a coupla minutes. They say in the USA about 200 kids are murdered by their moms each year. The majority never make more than the local papers. Go figure. I guess maybe they were ugly kids and nobody really cared. I saw on the teeblee that the asshole Springer offered the Anthony family $1,000,000.00 dollars to go on his assinine show. Talk about bread and circuses! Hey, look over there! Your world is falling apart, but who cares, the antics of the lower class are here for your entertainment.

  90. RedGypsy July 11, 2011 at 1:26 pm #

    “Blame Canada!………..”

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  91. Vlad Krandz July 11, 2011 at 1:26 pm #

    Remember how the Blacks cheered and danced with joy when OJ was found innocent? Of course some of them were willing to admit he was guilty – but so what? He was Black, Entitled to walk just like any other Black.
    Yet they didn’t care when he got locked up last time. Now they had Obama.

  92. Vlad Krandz July 11, 2011 at 1:30 pm #

    In one case in Ancient Greece a voluptuous woman was charged with killing her husband. The lawyer, after having tried everything finally just ripped her bodice open exposing her breasts crying “Would you destroy such beauty”? The jury saw the light and gave her a pass.

  93. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown July 11, 2011 at 1:31 pm #

    Re: Julie Bass. 90 days in jail? WTF? Seems ridiculous. I can only wish some of my neighbors here in E. TN had yards that looked this nice. No Camaros on blocks, no old brokedown fishin’ boat, etc. etc.
    http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a86/Pritchard71/with-mulch-4.jpg

  94. welles July 11, 2011 at 1:32 pm #

    You should be ashamed of yourself. Seriously? One of the better known social critics in the country and this and tattoos is all you can come up with.
    jhk’s been tapped out for a long tyme now, it’s been this way a long, long time, the tattoos, cheez doodles, nascar targets, rednecks suck et al, he’s a one-trick pony headed for the glue factory, there are others out here — notably trippticket & the one that’ve buggered out of the cuntry (yes i am biased who isn’t) — who actually have something to offer as far as DOING something.
    jhk is just as politicized (he’s caught on ‘left’ side of the ‘left-right’ illusory matrix, just cannot criticize obama to any degree but loves castigating the ‘right’) as the folks hi pillories down south.
    he’d prolly be a great conversationalist on what he’s doing in his garden — do you have one jimmy? — but he’s quite busy using up Peak Oil, what folks call limlibism.
    i do though seriously proscribe (?) to his walkable-dense-community-cum-commercial-district preferred way of life, it’s more logical & has lots going for it in social fulfillment.
    peace peaceniks

  95. Omar Bongo July 11, 2011 at 1:34 pm #

    “Now they had Obama.”
    *****
    Yes, thank you Resident Racist. Or, umm, I can’t figure out if you are really that ignorant and that racist or if you are kidding and just stupid enough not to realize that that whole shtick ran out of funny circa 1997. In other words, use your keyboard skills somewhere else.

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  96. Vlad Krandz July 11, 2011 at 1:35 pm #

    Ordinary people can’t be expected to be able to sift thru endless amounts of technical information. What are they expect to do when hired experts disagree? Europe uses a system of trial by judges – more than one in important cases. But even they might have trouble deciding when the experts disagree. But at least they are guaranteed to have above average intellects. Can we at least get rid of the feebs?
    Trial by out peers? Who are your peers? Blacks are famous for letting other Blacks off when the victim is White – the OJ trial being a perfect example.

  97. wagelaborer July 11, 2011 at 1:37 pm #

    Well, we already threw away the Bill of Rights and habeas corpus, ostensibly because the Muslims might get us if we kept centuries of human rights intact.
    I didn’t follow the trial, so I don’t know what evidence the jury was presented with, but I am actually pleased that there are still 12 people in America who believe that a person is innocent unless proven guilty.
    Most of the people I know believe that if someone is arrested for a crime, they are automatically guilty.
    Because why else would the cops have arrested them?

  98. wagelaborer July 11, 2011 at 1:49 pm #

    Is America’s Sweetheart what they are calling the dead kid?
    Like Fabian, who may have been a cute little kid at one time, but apparently was abused until his mind was twisted, we feel sorry for abused little children, but when they grow up to be selfish, hateful assholes – not so much.
    The mother may have been a cute little kid at one time. What kind of parenting did she get? If she could kill her kid, or let her die, and not bother to mention it for a while, I’m guessing she wasn’t a nurtured child herself.
    I used to have a neighbor who lived with an abusive husband. At first, we would call the police when we heard him beating her, but after a while, we could see there was no point. She would just send them away.
    She told me that when she was a kid, her mom had custody, but one day her dad came and took her and her siblings away.
    It took the mom a month to call the dad and let him know that his kids were missing.
    That is when she found out that he had them.
    This girl didn’t expect anything but beatings from her husband. She didn’t even realize that other people lived differently.
    That is why people need to be paid handsomely for voluntary sterilization.
    Oh. By the way, this girl had a baby when I met her, and she promptly got pregnant again. I suggested that she have an abortion, but she said “Abortion is not in my vocabulary”.
    The third time she got pregnant, I drove her to the abortion clinic.

  99. Uncle Ned July 11, 2011 at 1:59 pm #

    “More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroad. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”
    Dr. W.D. Allen

  100. Vlad Krandz July 11, 2011 at 2:01 pm #

    We need more bread and circuses like the Casey Antony Trial. People can’t take much reality as Huxley said. Since Soma is illegal, I heartily endorse the circus. And if Case goes into Porn, I’m there in a heartbeat.

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  101. Elrond Hubbard July 11, 2011 at 2:06 pm #

    Vlad Kranz: “Trial by out peers? Who are your peers? Blacks are famous for letting other Blacks off when the victim is White – the OJ trial being a perfect example.”
    I’m too lazy to look up specific examples, but white juries in the old South were (remain?) infamous for refusing to convict fellow whites for crimes against their dark-skinned neighbours. In either case, basing a conviction (or an acquittal) solely on the race of the defendant is heinous any way you slice it, and what’s your point exactly? How did race become part of this? The answer is that you’re a racist, Vlad, so you think race is part of everything. You’re a fanatic by definition: can’t change your mind and won’t change the subject.

  102. metuselah July 11, 2011 at 2:06 pm #

    Fabian,
    I posted a link to an interview with Alan Watt on the other thread. You really need to watch it to understand the black comedy that all of this is.
    Here it is again:
    http://youtu.be/WO_k5LvY5b0
    We’re living through a script. Don’t let the partisan theater fool you.

  103. loveday July 11, 2011 at 2:21 pm #

    That’s right blame Canada! Up here on the St Lawrence all the fishermen got their poles in a twist cause Canada fined a guy for fishing in Canadian waters without checking in with customs. Well you should hear the stink Americans are putting up over that, imagine Canada enforcing the law. Seriously people are talking about boycotting Canada. WHAT? I guess the heat is seriously cooking some brain cells. Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot, no one would make a peep about it. Oh well anyone got a copy of “Canadian Bacon” ? Seems like now might be a good time to chill out watching Jon Candy do his brilliant stuff. And stay out of the sun!

  104. george July 11, 2011 at 2:25 pm #

    Nancy Grace for President? I’ll bet a lot of pathetic American males, emasculated by the feminization of our culture, would be more than happy to put a fire-breathing, unprincipled media babe in the Oval Office. What does it say about the American male when we would rather have an attractive but clueless alpha-female like Michele Bachman leading our nation rather than the much more qualified Howard Dean?

  105. Qshtik July 11, 2011 at 2:36 pm #

    To Ozone and Dostoyevsky,
    To close out our conversation at the end of last week’s thread … see below.
    —Usage note
    Till 1 and until are both old in the language and are interchangeable as both prepositions and conjunctions: It rained till (or until ) nearly midnight. The savannah remained brown and lifeless until (or till ) the rains began. Till is not a shortened form of until and is not spelled ’till. ‘Til is usually considered a spelling error, though widely used in advertising: Open ’til ten.
    An interesting note: the above blurb is copied from Dictionary.com and yet my spell checker says “savannah” is incorrect unless the first letter is upper case (Savannah). We live in an imperfect world … dammit to hell!
    😉

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  106. ctemple July 11, 2011 at 2:53 pm #

    More really good work from JHK.

  107. ctemple July 11, 2011 at 3:00 pm #

    The only porn I’d like to see that harlot in is where she auto asphyxiates for real.
    Caleb Temple

  108. Omar Bongo July 11, 2011 at 3:00 pm #

    “Since Soma is illegal”
    Soma is totally legal.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carisoprodol
    And yes, I know you are talking about Brave New World. And I thought books were illegal in Crackerville.

  109. al m July 11, 2011 at 3:01 pm #

    Well at least I know I’m doing something right for once thanks to this post.
    I had never heard of NANCY GRACE until today.
    I even pulled up the video of her on the trial.
    Whoa, scary stuff, Jesus Christ in the morning save us!

  110. helen highwater July 11, 2011 at 3:03 pm #

    It wouldn’t be Monday morning without another racist comment from Vlad.

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  111. ctemple July 11, 2011 at 3:05 pm #

    I’ve been thinking for months that I was the only one who thought that Nancy Grace looked like she was completely out of whatever mind she ever had.

  112. soak July 11, 2011 at 3:09 pm #

    Alan Watt appears to be promoting pure psyop disinformation propaganda. Alan Watt isn’t his real name. Alan Watt is his Borne Identified psyop tag.
    On his show Alan Watt reads other people’s websites and rambles about the same three or four books everyone should read.
    Who is Alan Watt? He claims he’s a musician. He claims he grew up in England. Some believe him to be a Doctor. How does one become a Doctor while traveling around the world with bands?
    Alan Watt plagiarizes and reads straight from Glen Kealy’s stuff. At least Kealey has a history in Canada that can be checked out.
    I don’t know who is sponsoring Alan Watt and neither do his listeners. All his listeners seem to know about Alan Watt is whatever Alan Watt tells them.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aMlTw_b1uY

  113. Vlad Krandz July 11, 2011 at 3:10 pm #

    Drunk Leftist Professor accosts Paul Ryan and friends – enraged that they were drinking $350 bottles of wine while America dies. She would have had no problem if it was Pelosi or someone. Also she forgets it was their own money. Strange concept that – one’s own money. Her name? Susan Feinberg. When did she ever give up a nice meal to hang out with the poor?
    http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=28858

  114. budizwiser July 11, 2011 at 3:15 pm #

    Nancy Grace is one of God’s children and she needs to make a living – just like anyone else.
    And that’s a little bit our problem -ehh?
    You know the folks in Congress see things the same way -but when they “act like anyone else” – they give away the Treasury and get poor rural 19-year-olds killed in countries that “anyone else” could give a shit about.
    Nancy Grace isn’t doing anything as nearly disgraceful as the activities of our Congress.
    But her success certainly reflects the ease at which people dissemble critical analysis.
    Now – if she could only rally the troops to find those WMDs. And make the rich pay for the wars we started when looking.

  115. wagelaborer July 11, 2011 at 3:16 pm #

    Yeah. Too bad your mom couldn’t find anyone to drive her.

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  116. Vlad Krandz July 11, 2011 at 3:17 pm #

    A Black Hustler used to bother me in Boston when I didn’t contribute. He would say how I didn’t care about Blacks and slavery and what not. I replied once how my people had been slaves too. He exploded, “I don’t care about your People”. I smiled in Triumph.
    But at least his position and actions make some kind of sense. Your’s are just snobishness and superiority agianst your own people. Read some Flannery O’Connor – you need it. I’m the Drifter and your the Old Woman talking about pickaninnies. Her stories are full of wretched old woman hypocrites – if she could have only lived to see Political Correctness.

  117. asia July 11, 2011 at 3:19 pm #

    I read on Yahoo of someone killed in Vegas over
    his comment on a ‘yellow shirt’…did you hear of that?
    Killed with one punch!

  118. Smokyjoe July 11, 2011 at 3:34 pm #

    For the record, “Elrond Hubbard” is the best handle I’ve seen online for a while. But then I don’t get out much.

  119. Newfie July 11, 2011 at 3:35 pm #

    I don’t own a TV. Never have. There’s nothing on there. The web allows you to choose what to watch and read. The MSM is becoming irrelevant.

  120. asia July 11, 2011 at 3:40 pm #

    “I didn’t follow the trial, so I don’t know what evidence the jury was presented with, but I am actually pleased that there are still 12 people in America who believe that a person is innocent unless proven guilty.”
    Since you didnt follow the Trial how would you know?
    How can you be ‘pleased’? You didnt look at the facts [400 pieces of evidence]!
    How do you know she ‘is innocent unless proven guilty.’
    You remind me of Rose Bird, racing to give OJ free legal advice, stepping out of retirement to
    ‘help the underdog’.

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  121. asia July 11, 2011 at 3:44 pm #

    Oh Yes, yr post =
    NANCY GRACE IS AN EASY TARGET FOR N.Y. LITERATI
    [AS ARE THEM WHITE FOLKS WITH CHEESE DOODLES AND TATTS].
    Earth to CFN…its never
    ‘them black folks with the pork rinds, averaging 300 pounds per person, the gals with the nose rings and names like ashanti, listening to gangster rap and cop killer rhymes!

  122. soak July 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm #

    asia said: “Im glad theres AntiSoak[s] here!”
    ———-
    Me, too!
    I want a multitude of opinions and perspectives to flower!

  123. Omar Bongo July 11, 2011 at 3:51 pm #

    “Black Hustler used to bother me in Boston”
    I think that hustler used to bother you because she had a little extra dark meat between “her” legs when you reached up under her skirt… and you liked it.

  124. asia July 11, 2011 at 3:52 pm #

    we feel sorry for abused little children, but when they grow up to be selfish, hateful assholes – not so much.
    ‘The mother may have been a cute little kid at one time. What kind of parenting did she get?’
    DOES IT MATTER..SHES AN ADULT NOW
    ‘If she could kill her kid, or let her die, and not bother to mention it for a while, I’m guessing she wasn’t a nurtured child herself’
    WELL YES ITS A FACT SHE KINDS ‘DIDNT MENTION THE DISAPPEARANCE TILL THE BABY WAS ROTTING’
    ‘I’m guessing she wasn’t a nurtured child herself.’
    Guess all you want……..maybe blame the victim too!

  125. Qshtik July 11, 2011 at 3:52 pm #

    Love the Food Network show concept. I think people will indeed watch about anything.
    ================
    Here’s what happens in the Q household. We get up around 8AM. Mrs Q goes downstairs to feed the cats and start a pot of coffee. She turns on the flat screen TV which is nestled in a corner, attached to a wall just below ceiling height where it can be easily viewed from anywhere in the kitchen. She tunes in either a morning chick-TV talk show (the kind I will be forced to watch for all eternity if I am condemned to Hell) or a cooking show.
    My wife actually pays attention to what is being said by Rachel Ray or Cuomo’s blond live-in girlfriend, et al, although she may not be watching. I can tolerate any of these cooking chicks except the grey-haired woman with the terminal case of southern (ya’ll) drawl. (A couple of them even have excellent tits.) I am the beneficiary of the cooking knowledge Mrs Q is absorbing because hardly a day passes that she doesn’t try some new recipe.
    Anyway, 5 minutes after my wife has turned on the TV I stroll into the kitchen like a German general into a Jewish bagel factory, pick up the remote and click on channel 24. This takes me to CNBC where I can see how the futures are doing and whether my portfolio is about to take a bath … as is the case today.
    After 38 years of marriage I have learned it is quite easy to please a woman by unexpectedly saying one or the other of my two favorite lines:
    . you’re pretty
    or
    . you’re a GOOD cooker

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  126. Vlad Krandz July 11, 2011 at 3:53 pm #

    Also like all these Conspiracy People he is automatically against everything the Elite are for. So that makes him believe that there is no overpopulation problem. The Elite got that one right at least. Of course their solution is brutal: turn us all into serfs and starve anyone who doesn’t agree with it or go along with the Agenda of New Medevialism.

  127. Elrond Hubbard July 11, 2011 at 3:54 pm #

    Thanks! I’ve been using this handle (frequently though not universally) since the nineties. I was terribly pleased with myself when I thought it up, although others have also come up with it independently.

  128. Vlad Krandz July 11, 2011 at 3:56 pm #

    It’s the Elmer Fudd show!

  129. Vlad Krandz July 11, 2011 at 3:59 pm #

    Naw, Blacks don’t make good transexuals – too masculine. You want a Chinee for all that.

  130. asia July 11, 2011 at 4:00 pm #

    AS,
    Please tell us who you are! Or give us some info..
    why did you choose that ‘handle’..
    and are you ANTI soak?

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  131. metuselah July 11, 2011 at 4:00 pm #

    I appreciate your insight.
    I like this particular interview because all the information in it can be verified independently from other sources — scholarly sources.
    Alan is very careful about the personalities and organizations he focuses on, and is honest enough to relay that these are just middle level cogs working the wheels of power for front organizations. Who is it that hires these personalities and highlights their “celebrity” (and therefore their downfall), who is it who is behind the people behind the people behind the scene, Allen wont say. I believe it is the Vatican. And I already elaborated previously as to why I believe that.
    Btw, when Alan Watt was once asked by a radio caller about the Vatican’s involvement in all this, he just mumbled and confusingly tried to completely skirt the question. My suspicion, Alan Watt has some connection with the Vatican, as he’s only telling his audience a somewhat whitewashed version of half the story. NEVER EVER does he implicate the Vatican in any of the schemes of history. Still, it’s a story that more people need to be aware of. Hopefully, that will result in a deeper understanding of reality, and a further and deeper investigation of the powers behind the scenes.

  132. Qshtik July 11, 2011 at 4:25 pm #

    The onoly problem
    ===============
    Your Italian relatives are coming over, you go to the bakery and they’re out of onolys ……..Oh, wait a minute … that’s cannolis. Neh-verr-miind.

  133. loveday July 11, 2011 at 4:29 pm #

    Hey Vlad
    Yah I know what you mean about everyone feeling so bad about the plight of the black person, I can really feel for them, sincerely. But if you mention that the Irish and Scots were brutalized by the British and sent forcibly from their homes they look at you like you have horns or something. And don’t mention the Japanese in WWII internment camps or native Americans being robbed of homes and culture. Just don’t go there dude. Fact is blacks don’t have a corner on the market for suffering, most groups have been brutalized at some point in history, sadly this appears to be a recurring pattern in human history.
    As for who Ryan was lunching with he wouldn’t say and I find that real interesting. If Mr Ryan is so damned honest it should not have been a problem to speak up and say who they were. It couldn’t be that they were Wall St lobbyists could it? As far as the academic being drunk didn’t hear that, what I read was she was a professor in economics at Rutgers. Point is this incident clearly illustrates the honorable Ryan’s “let them eat cake mentality” as long as he gets his top of the line vino it’s all good right?
    Suck it up baby it’s the American way and he got with his hand in the cookie jar.
    By the way read some Joe Stiglitz, he clarifies alot of these economic issues for the masses and breaks it down for the average guy or gal how things really work.

  134. loveday July 11, 2011 at 4:32 pm #

    Sorry dude I get excited and don’t type real well all the time. By the way a cannoli sounds great!

  135. digbycookies July 11, 2011 at 4:53 pm #

    So today, back at the farm, I went to my local temp agency to pee in a cup, along with about 50 other unemployed brethren (hey, at least they let us use the loo in private). After I passed that, the remaining 43 of us (you do the math on how many didn’t pass the drug test) got to fill out oodles and oodles of paper work.
    We were then given an “orientation”, which consisted of some fat lady reading a twelve page pamphlet on how to lift 30 to 50 lb packages on and off a conveyer belt. We were also given a “quiz” which, believe it or not, asked us to identify the “fashion don’ts” of a typical factory worker (replete with doo rag, gold chains, baggy jeans, and flip flops). Dude looked Mexican to me, not that it matters. I think I scored pretty well on that one as well.
    After all that we were told that our pay ($7.50/hr) would be paid out every Tuesday. Then they told us all to go home and call the office back between the hours of 1:00 and 1:30 p.m. to learn of our shift assignments. Well, I dutifully called back around 1:15 and was told the company didn’t need any workers and I should call back later on in the week.
    And meanwhile our senators are sipping on $350.00 bottles of wine. It gets better! According to Zero Hedge, not one PENNY of the U.S. debt has been paid down since 1960. And over the past three fiscal years US debt grew by over $1.5 trillion, more than three times the record annual debt increase in any previous year in US history. Lastly, our Treasury needs to borrow some odd two and a half TRILLION just to tide us over for the next year and a half. Cheers, CFN’ers!

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  136. digbycookies July 11, 2011 at 4:54 pm #

    You aren’t, by any chance, related to Mrs. Asoka, who made a brief appearance here only a few weeks ago?

  137. AMR July 11, 2011 at 5:19 pm #

    Television news is useful as a gauge of popular sentiment. Whatever the major networks are broadcasting–be it genuine news, salacious garbage, a snowjob or something in the middle–is what millions of Americans are watching. It has a huge influence on their opinions, especially if they don’t seek out other sources of information.
    My grandmother, for instance, spends an inordinate amount of time watching CNN. She rarely questions anything that CNN reports or the motives for its reportage. She basically watches it very uncritically, as I suspect tens of millions of other Americans watch their favorite news networks. These people aren’t all idiots–my grandmother certainly isn’t one–but they aren’t inquisitive or skeptical enough to call out broadcasters for very much of the crap that they peddle as objective truth. In short, they’re too trusting and gullible. It takes an effort not to be gullible in the face of the slick performances by the likes of CNN.
    Perhaps Jim has poor taste in television, but if his goal is to take the body politic’s pulse, he has the right idea (although if this is his goal, he really should watch Fox News as well from time to time; for one thing, it’s not as bad as he seems to think).
    I don’t think Jim is wasting time by focusing on Nancy Grace. It is an extremely ill omen that she has both a television show and a large, inflamed audience. Healthy societies exile people like her to the fringes, to pass out mimeographed leaflets on the streets or harangue amused passersby from soapboxes on Speaker’s Corner. CNN continually shows its greed and utter irresponsibility by giving a primetime slot to a disgraced former prosecutor who is now a professional slanderer by trade, a non-practicing attorney, effectively shunned by her colleagues for professional misconduct, who abuses her bar membership to lend credence to her seething bloodlust.
    I ignored the Anthony trial while it was underway because it was a transparent media contrivance: a hot, white defendant on trial for the murder of her cute, white daughter, but without any appearance of irregularities or misconduct. CNN and Nancy Grace in particular were obviously seizing on the case for purposes of titillating their audience.
    What I can’t ignore now is the Two Minutes Hate that Grace and her followers are orchestrating against the jury system. I flinch from it, but I can’t ignore it. In a country where countless prosecutions are marred by wrongful convictions, official misconduct or incompetence, genuine jury misconduct and other serious problems, a lynch mob has focused its anger on a case that by all appearances the officials handled properly. The hologram is playing the mob like a fiddle, and that’s fucking scary.
    I lack the words to describe how rotten and shameful it is of CNN to enable and broadcast this agitprop for its own financial gain. To CNN’s credit, quite a few of its commentators, reporters and anchors have been critical of Nancy Grace or the prosecution in the Anthony case, but this case would not have been front-page national news in the first place without CNN’s greed, shallowness and irresponsibility.

  138. San Jose Mom 51 July 11, 2011 at 5:28 pm #

    I joined a gym back in March and 5 mornings a week I go in at around 8:00 a.m. to ride a stationary bike. Ironically, they have the TV set to the food channel. So there I am burning off calories and learning new ways to consume calories. The other TV is set on a news channel that featured Nancy Grace last week. Lord have mercy. My gym is a Walmart-grade establishment..but hey the price is right at $10 a month. We don’t have cable anymore, but lord have mercy, I saw enough of Nancy Grace at the gym.
    And by the way, complimenting your wife’s cooking is a wonderful gesture! I love to hear that my family loves my cooking..because I really do put my heart into it.

  139. AMR July 11, 2011 at 5:29 pm #

    By the way, some of the Anthony jurors believed that there was reasonable doubt because they thought that George Anthony was lying and may have had some role in Caylee’s death and disappearance. Damn the jury instructions in that circumstance; if jurors have an intuition that an unindicted witness, not the defendant, may have actually committed the crime, that’s legitimate reasonable doubt.
    Even if the CSI effect had an effect in the Anthony case, I don’t think it was decisive. And even though the jury didn’t sound like the epitome of diligence, I don’t think it was flaky or looking for excuses to acquit on the lesser homicide charges.

  140. rippedthunder July 11, 2011 at 5:30 pm #

    Hi Wage, The new term is guilty until proven innocent! I see the cops in action all the time. Up close and personal. Everyone is an asshole in their eyes. I am all for law and order, don’t get me wrong. These young buzzcuts are nothing like the cops I worked with 30 years ago. It is all about bustin’ heads and sort it out later. Assholes. Shit, I am on the watch list again. Sumbitch!

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  141. Qshtik July 11, 2011 at 6:02 pm #

    a battle going on with Al Shapton
    =========
    the famous NY reverend … as his name would be pronounced in the vicinity of Boston.
    In Brooklyn it would be Al Shawpton.

  142. bossier22 July 11, 2011 at 6:09 pm #

    A woman in California a few years back was paying for young crack heads abortions and sterilization. it was a kind idea. Then she was proclaimed a genocidal racist and the program stopped. A large majority of her clients were white. What a surprise, because some of her clients were not white she was labeled racist.

  143. metuselah July 11, 2011 at 6:13 pm #

    Television news is useful as a gauge of popular sentiment.
    ==
    No. it’s not. It’s a fake holographic projection, put up to serve an agenda. Television news has nothing to do with popular sentiment. Popular sentiment is IRRELEVANT to what’s being projected on television news. And actually, the purpose of television news is not to reflect or to even shape popular sentiment, the purpose of television news is pure distraction. Television news is meant to distract from reality and popular sentiment. There’s NOTHING on television news that is truthful. Anyone who ever has had contact with the “news” media will tell you that what get in the news media is so distorted and so manipulated with lies and spin, that it is so completely divorced from reality and is completely worthless.
    I understood this personally when I started following the misdirections and lies as they related to Israel. Because I’m an Israeli, I intimately knew the truth of what was going on in Israel. Israel a VERY small country. You can literally bike it from end to end in one day, and news can travel the country sometimes faster then the news media will report it. At first I was shocked by the international coverage as it related to Israel. How could they be getting this so completely and so consistently wrong. Then, I started asking myself why is it that my government is so inept in challenging their obvious fraud. It is then that I understood that my government is a CIA installed puppet government. From there, it didn’t take me long to also understand that EVERYTHING that we see hear and read on the news is pure CIA propaganda. And don’t think that al-Jazeera, or the BBC, or the CBC, or RT, or the IBA, or the Jerusalem Post, etc, is not part of the CIA propaganda machine. It is.

  144. metuselah July 11, 2011 at 6:15 pm #

    ..what ^we get in the news media is so distorted..

  145. asia July 11, 2011 at 6:18 pm #

    ‘Racist’ is a word.
    ‘Politically Correct’ is 2 words.
    Round here Vlad gets called the first term by those who are under the spell of the second term.Was Schockley also in favor of sterilizing welfare recipients?
    He drew alot of heat in the 1970’s, back when the USA was a much better place.

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  146. Qshtik July 11, 2011 at 6:22 pm #

    Omar Bongo = Fabien’s alter ego.

  147. bubbleheadMarc July 11, 2011 at 6:30 pm #

    The adversarial U.S. justice system doesn’t work. Rather than being concerned with determining what actually happened both “sides” are merely trying to win. Just as this approach doesn’t work in traffic court it doesn’t really work in criminal court either. Neither does our bicameral congress with separately elected president cum temporary staffing agency king approach work either. We need to start getting over the notion that our system “works”. Hint: it doesn’t work. Time to stop singing the praises of our system which presumably works when patently nothing of the sort is even remotely true.
    Jury consultants will tell you that jury members with less than a college education will not believe scientific evidence. This is because they are stupid! And no, the solution isn’t sending everyone to college. As so aptly observed by P.J. O’Rourke, “earnestness is stupidity sent to college.” You notice he doesn’t say that being “sent to college” cures stupidity. That’s because it doesn’t [cure stupidity]. I put the jury not being able to convict on the same level as the public in general not being able to believe the scientific evidence for global warming and climate change. We can simply no longer afford to be this stupid.
    So yes, give us the Code Napoleon if that is what works. It’s about time we got over all this Anglo-Saxon nonsense in this country. If a jury of your peers is a jury composed of idiots then although you may indeed be an idiot yourself do you really want to be judged by persons like yourself even if that is what you might deserve karmically? Some people might also deserve to be thrown to a pack of hungry dogs but the Anglo-Saxons stopped doing that once the Viking threat subsided.

  148. bubbleheadMarc July 11, 2011 at 6:45 pm #

    All that happened is that the defense counsel, Jose Baez, baffled the jury with bullshit. More cerebral people would have been totally unmoved and voted to convict on at least the third charge, but more likely the second charge at the very least, and quite possibly the first charge as well. After all, in order to be “baffled” by Baez’s “bullshit” it helps to actually be less intelligent than him in the first place, which clearly the jurors were. Depressingly Baez doesn’t really seem all that intelligent so this is not a good comment on the mental viability of the available jury pool. You can’t always expect a great deal of CSI-like forensic evidence. After all, criminals destroy the evidence of their own crimes, that is if they are competent criminals. And the notion that George Anthony was culpable strikes me as hovering somewhere between disingenuous and outright grotesque. Sorry, but I’m not inclined to let anyone involved off when it comes to this obvious fiasco. At least in the O.J. Simpson case black jurors were exercising jury nullification as a means of telling the system in LA County to go fuck itself in retribution for years of brutal quasi-militaristic policing by the LAPD.

  149. San Jose Mom 51 July 11, 2011 at 6:46 pm #

    Has anyone out there been on a jury? I’d like to hear first-hand reports about the experience.

  150. jammer July 11, 2011 at 6:47 pm #

    Omar Bongo = Fabien’s alter ego
    ===============================
    This may be, however Omar Bongo’s post of 12:56 pm today is acutely honest and succinct. The insight could also apply to the posts on this blog over the same period.

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  151. Auntie River July 11, 2011 at 6:50 pm #

    Hello Sweeties! THIS IS MY FAREWELL POST!
    OZONE – We still want to see you play! We’ll keep reading, so you let us know!
    WAGE – fighter of the good fight. Keep balancing that anger over injustice with an open and humorous heart.
    ASOKA- I consider it a compliment that the trolls think I’m your sock puppet.
    RIPPED THUNDER – Loved the Roy Buchanan link! You’re a very interesting guy. Maybe someday you’ll join us watching Ozone play a gig.
    MARLIN – although I disagree with just about every political thought you have, I believe Ozone when he says you have a good heart.
    TRIPPTICKET – I hope you had a wonderful vacation! Or if you were working, hope it brought abundance.
    CASH- keep thinking those deep thoughts, eh?
    QSHTICK – I’m glad you keep the standards up. Never give in! Never Surrender! (Galaxy Quest)
    BUBBLEHEAD MARC – You remind me a little of Uncle Ned. A man can receive no greater compliment!
    MYRTLE MAY – perhaps my doppelganger, one generation removed, a smart, lovely lady.
    So, my nom de CFN. Auntie, since I’m hitched to Uncle Ned, but what river? RIVER SONG! Are there no Doctor Who fans out there?
    Doctor: “But that’s a fairy tale!”
    River Song: “Aren’t we all?”
    We Americans are headed toward a dark time. I was drawn to CFN because it recognized that, and there are so many interesting and intelligent conversations going on. But now CFN itself seems to be headed toward a dark place, and darkness cannot dispel the darkness.
    “The universe is vast and complicated and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things happen, and we call them miracles.” (Doctor Who)
    I someone were to watch a fast forward version of my life with Uncle Ned, they’d see scenes of near destitution, difficult and drawn out illness, and a series of jobs lost to companies going out of business. But they were to slow it down they’d see scenes of incomparably beautiful nature, indomitable optimism, and a persistent movement toward the gloriously illuminated place created when two people laugh, adore one another, believe in each other and the limitless possibilities that life holds out with an open hand. We really are the authors and directors of this vast, complicated and ridiculous think we call life. What happens is simply what happens. Two people can lose a job. For one it’s an ending, for another it’s a beginning. Which makes a better story?
    We’re at the end of a way of living that was not sustainable. But we’re also at the beginning. Now is the time to nurture the seeds of a world that is sustainable, and joyful, and compassionate to all. I could lay out all the facts and figures proving that this is already the most peaceful era in all of human history. (It’s absolutely true!) I could give everyone the links to all the new developments exist NOW that could change the world into a beautiful place. But they wouldn’t get clicked on and the discourse would continue on it’s plodding, angry, gloomy, defensive way.
    There are some shining lights out there on CFN. I’ll keep scrolling through, but I can’t climb into it any more.
    But shine on you crazy diamonds out there. After the darkness will come the light.

  152. Auntie River July 11, 2011 at 6:55 pm #

    Dang! Q, I used the contraction it’s and not the possessive its in my final post!
    A few typos too. Fix me Q!

  153. sevenmmm July 11, 2011 at 6:56 pm #

    Laughed through most of this blog. I bet most people would faint half way through!
    Yes, it seems we are at a turning point.

  154. ExtraO July 11, 2011 at 6:59 pm #

    “Did you ever get the feeling that your country was melting down into a puddle of toxic goop”
    That process was completed over 50 years ago. Any society that entertained itself with the likes of “I Love Lucy”, “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet”, or “Leave It To Beaver” met every criteria of toxic goop I can think of.

  155. rippedthunder July 11, 2011 at 7:03 pm #

    Please don’t leave so soon. Shine on you crazy diamond.
    You just showed up a few weeks back. Where ya goin’? The first time I heard that song I was in the Mangy Moose Saloon in Jackson Hole. That was before Jackson Hole was the stompin’ ground of the rich and famoous. I was pipelinen’ in wyo. for megabucks after the gas crunch in the mid 70’s. It was great country then. Now DICK Cheney shoots faces there.

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  156. The Mook July 11, 2011 at 7:07 pm #

    Don’t forget to buy early tommorow. All Jim’s bad news will be overshadowed by the fahking aluminum companies phoney quarterly report. The fix goes on. Minus 60 at 10 a.m. and plus 100 by the close.

  157. Elrond Hubbard July 11, 2011 at 7:36 pm #

    Ever see the movie Citizen Ruth? Laura Dern plays a solvent-huffing, serially-pregnant wreck, and a judge orders her to have an abortion as a condition of her probation. She ends up in a tug-of-war between pro-choice and anti-abortion activists and it becomes a media circus. Both sides get (in my opinion) a fair hearing as well as a good skewering, and of course Ruth is only in it for the money. Worth a rental.

  158. Elrond Hubbard July 11, 2011 at 7:39 pm #

    I was with you until you started saying everything is controlled by the CIA. There’s really no need for the CIA to try to control everything in the media, institutional imperatives and corporate culture do a fine job of that. Read Herman and Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent if you haven’t already. It’s a classic, and only gets more true with each passing day.

  159. Ubbm July 11, 2011 at 7:48 pm #

    Who the hell is Nancy Grace?
    Sorry, I don’t have a TV. I just Googled her name.
    Think I’ll go back to the book I was reading.

  160. metuselah July 11, 2011 at 7:49 pm #

    Still, the agenda is set by the CIA, or if you like, by the people who control the CIA. Because the same people basically own the government mafia, the courts, the education system, the corporations, the banks, the money supply, etc. They have complete control over every institutional lever of power.

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  161. progress,conserve July 11, 2011 at 7:49 pm #

    Alrighty, JHK – I don’t mind admitting, that I was a little bit disappointed, at first, when you led us off to the Casey Anthony trial.
    But, then I took a look at your prose, finding such gems as:
    “America is fascinated with Casey because Casey IS America. America, just like Casey, is too busy looking for the latest party to take care of its children.” -JHK-
    Which is true enough, and sad enough.
    and
    “….you, too, need a paddling from Nancy Grace? O land of seething woman attorneys, we are a wicked people who deserve to be punished.”
    -JHK-
    You’ve got a bad kinky streak, JHK – you do realize that, don’t you?
    =============
    It’s interesting that we have a large number of proud and iconoclastic CFN respondents who SAY they have not owned a TeeVee since the LAST stoned age – and are pretty damn proud of it – although they do all have access to computers and the internet, apparently.
    (People who get all their “news” from the internet worry me more – because most of them will only look at news with which they strongly agree.)
    But, not only do these proud iconoclasts not know who Nancy Grace Casey Anthony is – but JHK and the rest of us are beneath contempt, and downright stoou-pid – ourselves – for knowing anything of the “popular culture,” AT All, whatsoever.
    ============
    Then we have Obama, the Repubs, and the Dems – gyrating through the latest extend and pretend US debt debacle.
    Nothing’s going to happen here, either – of any significance, folks.
    They’ll create a compromise that placates the poor, enriches the rich, and hoses down what’s left of the American middle class still further.
    And life will go on – flying PIIGS and all!
    Thanks for this weeks work, though, JHK!
    And for providing this CFN forum – if the truth is out there, somewhere – I sure would like to see it posted here, occasionally.

  162. Majella July 11, 2011 at 7:54 pm #

    As if any further proof were needed with regard to unadulterated cupidity of the Bankster set, this from Zero website:
    A quick recap – Germany and France bought Greek debt then turned to U.S. banks to buy insurance on the debt Greece and other countries sold them. U.S. banks collected the fees and sold the insurance even as they were recovering from their own bad loans and accepting bailout money to heal their balance sheets. The fees they collected went on to pad their bottom line and allowed them to post record 2010 earnings. These earnings allowed banks to payout record bonuses for a second consecutive year.
    So, while limp, gasping and on life suppport, US financial firms consciously took another dose of POISON! “Well, the fee income looks great, huh, and the COST, if it ever arises, will not be ours to bear” was the likely thinking.

  163. progress,conserve July 11, 2011 at 8:01 pm #

    What?

  164. Elrond Hubbard July 11, 2011 at 8:01 pm #

    As far as the criminal (and civil) justice system goes, well, perfect justice is not to be looked for in this world. The adversarial system we have in the Anglo-Saxon world is the product of a lot of people hashing out a lot of problems over a lot of centuries. I would be very slow to start throwing out a tested solution as foundational as this for something else. [They call that being ‘conservative’, I think 🙂 ]
    As for the way the U.S. is governed, I couldn’t agree with you more: your system doesn’t work. (NB: I’m Canadian. Please don’t take this as plumping for our way of doing things — that’s a whole other question.) The separation of powers principle is a nice theory, but it creates unfortunate political incentives that have left you with the next-worst case, after one-party rule: two permanent, competing factions, called the Democrats and the Republicans. Neither one has anything to gain by letting a third party participate; on a game-theory level, increasing the number of teams just reduces the incumbents’ ability to control the field. The electoral system is locked up tight, with all kinds of tricks, traps and diversions right down to the local level to keep everyone else out.
    ‘Factions’ is more accurate than ‘parties’, because a traditional political party represents an identifiable interest: traditionally, the British Tories represented the interests associated with the Crown and the land-owning class, while the Whigs represented merchants and independent wealth; Labour represented, well, people who work for a living (an interest formerly relegated to the left wing of the Democratic faction, nowadays increasingly foreclosed from any kind of representation); Greens represent the environmental movement; and so on. The Republicans and the Democracts both effectively represent only big-money interests, and they have captured the electoral system so completely that by this point it would effectively take a revolution to crack the system open again.

  165. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 8:10 pm #

    Most everyone here seems to be missing the point, and just screaming about turning off the TV.
    The TV news channels and newspapers are the only ones out there doing journalistic investigation/reporting. The “internets” news is merely selectively copy/pasting those actual results, which were gathered by real investigators/reporters.
    I’d argue you all should just turn off the “internets/cell phones,” as that is the total non-value-added propaganda source, echoing whatever story supports their agenda (usually with little to no fact checking).
    The Caylee story was spammed on all TV news channels for weeks, as well as newspapers. I’m not sure how you could have missed it, if you really use the “internets” news sources. Living with your head in the sand, ignorant of your country/world’s news pulse, is no admirable feat – it’s what ~90%+ of Americans do on a daily basis (no news is good news/what you don’t know can’t hurt you). Like that old saying about a tree falling – if no one witnessed it, did it happen? (Of course it did – the ‘matter’ in the forest captured/reflected wavefunctions – thus *measuring* it [quantum mechanics]).
    I get so sick of hearing that “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result – that is the basis of quantum mechanics and statistical analysis. Stupidity abounds, and even makes up excuses for “itself.” Get thee to a religious factory!

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  166. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 8:12 pm #

    LOL!!! OMG, UNCLE SOAKA!!! I’m spewing beer out one nostril – did you get banned *again*? Not sure why, your stuff is pretty tame, mostly…

  167. Buck Stud July 11, 2011 at 8:17 pm #

    Dig,
    Your employment story jarred an old memory of a Bill Moyers special on the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge which occurred during the Depression of the 30s‘. He was interviewing this old dude who worked on the bridge and who stated that it was not uncommon for a worker to suddenly lose their nerve only to look down and see hundreds of willing and able men licking their chops for a chance to replace somebody. He stated that back in those days “he could eat nails” and how they had a large band of female groupies eagerly waiting for the bridge workers in whatever San Francisco watering hole they happened to occasion after a day’s work.
    I miss San Francisco, and walking down to the end of downtown Sausalito at night to peer across the bay at that magnificent city. Those were my lonely apprentice days when I slept in the workshop at 10 Liberty Shipway because I didn’t want to pay rent. Every now and again, I would ride the ferry boat into San Francisco on a Sunday night and catch the Jerry Garcia Band play a gig at that wonderful Victorian venue the Warfield Theater. Predictably, the venue would fill up with pot smoke and the ushers would open the top balcony doors – sigh – “ rainbows end down that highway, where ocean breezes blow ”.

  168. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 8:24 pm #

    “Quite often the prosecution undermines its own case by over-charging the defendant in a misguided attempt to “throw the book at them””
    Classic “stack the deck” method there, universally employed in the “States”, resulting in 90%+ plea-bargains settlements.
    However, I heard that the Casey grand jury came up with the actual charges, and left out lesser felony charges, which she would have easily been found guilty of (I personally can’t see how she would have avoided “conspiracy to manslaughter” or some similar felony).

  169. progress,conserve July 11, 2011 at 8:36 pm #

    “What puzzles me is why did CNN dedicate so many resources to this one single case?”
    -marlin-
    Answer: To sell newspapers -err TV ads- Marlin. It’s good old, free market, American style capitalism – selling and buying ad space and spiraling ever downward searching for the lowest common denominator of customer.
    Change of subject –
    ===============
    And you’ll like some of this next story Marlin – though what it represents does not augur well for the US.
    We’ve got several thrift stores in my little rural county. I suspect that is because we’ve got a lot of fairly wealthy retirees up here – and we’ve got a bunch of working class folks who will frequent the thrift stores and buy things – and we’ve got a lot of charities that run the thrift stores and need the money they earn.
    So, anyway, one of my favorite thrift stores is run by a Christian-based drug rehab outfit. I take them a lot of stuff as donations – and it’s close to where my wife takes art lessons, so sometimes I’ll just go in there, see what’s new, and hang out with the guys for a few minutes. It’s an all male staff, BTW.
    Long story short (yeah sure, p,c!) I was in there today and saw a massive old American made bench vise sitting, forlorn and unloved, on the floor with no price marked. So, I asked one of the guys how much they needed to get for the vise and he said, “What vise?”
    So I walked him over to it and he said, “Oh, that’s what that thing is.”
    By now I’ve picked it up – 35 pounds of classic American steel, proudly marked “Wilton, Chicago14, USA, probably made in the early 1950’s – and I’m holding it up so the men at the other end of the shop can see it.
    So now three guys – ages late teens through early 30’s are staring at this vise while I hold it up high enough for them all to see it.
    And the guy I talked to first yells out, “How much do we want for this thing?”
    And the other two look at this large red steel vise for a second, before looking at each other for a second – and then one of them yells back, “What is it?”
    I swear I am not making any of this sad story up.
    What on Earth are those boys going to do for work when they finish rehab – in today’s America?
    They sold it to me for $3.00. I’m going to give it to the first one of my own kids who can tell me what a vise is actually used for!

  170. loveday July 11, 2011 at 8:47 pm #

    Jeez I think Auntie Soak Drowned Vlad and then he channelled back through her! Sheesh a little restraint and control. We are all, repeat all in the SAME BOAT.

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  171. Buck Stud July 11, 2011 at 9:03 pm #

    “ Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people” 😉

  172. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 9:05 pm #

    “Afghanistan, Jim? Ever heard of it?”
    Yeah, I just heard that Al-Qaeda is gaining a foothold there! LOL, the 12 remaining members musta recruited another 12, and *doubled* their numbers! I did laugh at the story – such a bold-faced farce, intended only to support a prolonged US presence in an unending war (Halliburton/Wackenhut/Xe/etc/etc/etc).
    “Let Matt Taibbi write about the Financial stuff.”
    Ayup, rely on that single source of info – sounds liek a r33l gud idea to me! Sure, he gets it right, but he only gets to/through about 20% of that ongoing disaster (do the banksters still have ~$30 trillion of “credit default swaps” on the books, or did the magical $700 billion bailout fix that balance sheet *issue*)…
    “I had faith and knew these women were a solid squad that could do this thing.”
    Zzz… Sports? Hehe, good to know your TV viewing experience is *beneficial*… /sigh If I watched sports on TV, I’d want to watch those events *live* (not DVR’d later, after the *con-clu-sion*). Seems totally pointless to watch a sports event that had already concluded. Your “faith” was ill-founded – the results had already been set-in-stone, as you sat there “hoping and praying” for something totally and utterly useless…

  173. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 9:07 pm #

    OMFG!!! *CARMAGEDDON*!!! JHK couldn’t have nailed that one any bettah!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

  174. Buck Stud July 11, 2011 at 9:18 pm #

    Prog,
    You’re a very smart dude and I sense that you’re also a nice guy…to the point of being sensitive.

  175. Buck Stud July 11, 2011 at 9:19 pm #

    blog took my post early…anyway…I would just tell it like it is as you see it and let the debate chips fall where they may.

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  176. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 9:39 pm #

    Killer quote!
    I never knew Woody was a doctor! Did he receive an honorary degree from some college he spoke at? From what I can tell, he flunked out of college (i.e. not even a BS degree)…
    Haha – despair/hopelessness, or extinction – Ghad-damned *SPOT ON*.

  177. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 9:47 pm #

    “I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi”
    Alabama is *MUCH* worse. Something liek 70% of black males of voting age are felons, and thus unable to vote. And something liek 85% of those felon charges are non-violent, with 85% of those only marijuana-related…
    War on drugs == race war (documented *FACT*). And, I already talked about how only cute little white girls abducted/murdered make main-stream (and not boys/minority [black/asian/latino]). If you gunna bite my material, at least give me some credit – LOL!!! /ducks

  178. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 9:58 pm #

    “To Ozone and Dostoyevsky”
    The Phoenix has risen from the ashes!!! Hahaha!
    I’m about a third of the way through “Crime and Punishment.” Having a very hard time going any further. The character names are bad enough (not sure how many times I’ve confused them with each other), but I suspect this thing reads way better in the native tongue. And, the story now devolves with the lead character suffering due to morality – totally preposterous!!! When he partook in the devious actions he performed, there was no sign whatsoever that he had a conscience. Oh well, perhaps one day I’ll finish that disaster of a story…

  179. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 10:06 pm #

    “You seem unable to spell or put together a simple, English sentence? Or are you just a drunk?”
    You do realize that ad hominem attacks will not work with me. You find fault – *poast* proof (Or ask Q for help, you simpleton). Otherwise – begone, sock-puppet!!! (poast/liek are “l33t-sp33k”).
    AND OF COURSE I’M A DRUNK!!! Why else would I respond to your tripe! LOL – so did you get your account deleted a *2nd* time – ahaha! (beer spewing from other nostril)

  180. Yirgach July 11, 2011 at 10:08 pm #

    [i]Will he, as rumored on the Web, declare some “executive action” on the debt issue, telling Congress (in effect), “… your services in this matter are no longer required”-? [/i]
    No, he didn’t… Are U that naive?
    1. He has no spine.
    2. He has no constituency.
    ie he is powerless.
    This is all theatrics, the deal has been done.
    Don’t expect any miracles.

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  181. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 10:14 pm #

    “Omar Bongo = Fabien’s alter ego.”
    You, *DAD*, are a Ghad-damned rocket scientist!!!
    And, I think the proper word(s) would be *SOCK PUPPET*.
    Ahh, lighten the *F* up – I only got 1 alias, you only got 1 alias – and “(have) got” is a verb!

  182. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 10:18 pm #

    I really wish Ed would come back from his vacation – Sharpton really runs on in the mouth, and wastes too much time…
    OMG, ED’s BACK RIGHT NOW!!! w00t!!! (He really needs 2 shows – LOL)

  183. progress,conserve July 11, 2011 at 10:23 pm #

    Since someone else brought it up, I’ll go ahead and address immigration. As always, on this open forum – I put my ideas out there expecting them to be challenged.
    Immigration into the United States is the single most important issue, faced by the world at large – upon which leaders, citizens, and voters in the US can still hope to have an impact.
    Trains, electric cars, home gardens, the end of suburbia, downsizing, downscaling, and going local – you name the issue and it fades into complete and useless insignificance in the face of a US population above 350,000,000 and the end of fossil fuels.
    Individuals have little power.
    There is power in numbers.
    Research a population control group – and join it
    And JonathanSS – sorry man, but if you can find a more important issue than immigration numbers into the US – by all means bring it up, and I’ll follow your lead.
    And to the CFN thread at large – if you don’t like this topic – show me WHY it is not important to the future of the US AND the Planet – or learn to scroll

  184. Godozo July 11, 2011 at 10:30 pm #

    I’m sure you’ve all heard it elsewhere, but I’ll state it here (and in my blog…):
    European Debt isn’t going to wreck the world economy for good…America’s inability to raise the debt ceiling will.
    There’s Republicans who’ll happily crash the government, and the rest will go along because of who votes them in.
    (either that, or Obama will cave in big-time…like with health-insurers insurance and the tax break that signaled that Social Security was officially destroyable)

  185. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 11:08 pm #

    “This takes me to CNBC where I can see how the futures are doing and whether my portfolio is about to take a bath”
    OMG, you really watch that financial propaganda HORSE-sh!t? You really need to get all your money into cash or hard assets/commodities. I’d tell my dad the same, but he’s beyond believing anything other than TBTF. Or, put it into corporate stock with real *innovative* products, real profit (10%+ margins every quarter for decades), and real dividends (not indexed funds or exchange-traded funds). (tech stocks liek Intel/M$ with benefits – not banks/brokerage firms/oil-coal companies/health insurance companies/pharma/etc)
    That’s why I’ve left my 401k/rollover IRA in the 0.1% FDIC money market for the past 6 years, and withdraw 20-25k/year into my credit union (at a 10% penalty). THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS FDIC – not when the house of cards comes tumbling down. 20-25k/year is real spending cash – spend it annually. Inflation has been double digits for years (regardless of *their* ‘adjusted’ figure that only covers luxury items, and removes all real majority expenses – fuel/food/insurance/etc).
    Do you really believe in that 11.5k DJIA number? That thing is so cooked, and can only be cooked for so much longer…

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  186. Ixnei July 11, 2011 at 11:18 pm #

    “Perhaps if you could walk in the moccassins of the disenfranchised Cherokee”
    Kansas has always been my favorite band – I gotta dial up an appropriate tune:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wveGtAQk6Ko

  187. Qshtik July 11, 2011 at 11:24 pm #

    Please don’t act the fool with me!
    ==============
    Yeah, I git it; you think PoC is jivin witcha.

  188. asia July 11, 2011 at 11:32 pm #

    ‘learn to scroll’..PCs advice, which I use regulary with you in yr 3 incarnations.

  189. Qshtik July 11, 2011 at 11:34 pm #

    Do you really believe in that 11.5k DJIA number?
    =================
    No because it was 12.5K at the close today. Maybe you made a typo?
    Unless you need that 20-25K per year to eat I think withdrawing it and taking a 10% penalty makes you dumber than dirt. No offense.

  190. asia July 11, 2011 at 11:35 pm #

    ‘You’ve got a bad kinky streak, JHK – you do realize that, don’t you?’
    Is he closet as well? how many closets are in the clusterf*k nation?

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  191. helen highwater July 11, 2011 at 11:36 pm #

    Go, Auntie, go!

  192. progress,conserve July 11, 2011 at 11:42 pm #

    “Go, Auntie, go!”
    -helen hw-
    Helen, don’t tell me you are a hater too.

  193. truthteller July 11, 2011 at 11:48 pm #

    Responding to Cash from last week . . .
    {I think women are hard wired by evolutionary pressures just as much as guys to have certain expectations and wants. In this respect you have that commonality in female thinking and behaviour. Just as guys have certain types of thinking and behaviour in common. I know it’s terribly retrograde to say so not to mention intolerably sexist. But from what I’ve seen there’s no romance without finance. You have a role as a provider IOW. In earlier times the wife would expect you to be dragging home mastodon joints or in more recent times you’d better be out ploughing the back 40 or otherwise be making sure you have a food supply for the lean winter months. Of course you’d have your own expectations with respect to her role.
    Jackie, Wage, Laura, Myrtlemay and others: want to jump in on this and tell me I’m fullashit?}
    Personally, I have NO RESPECT for a man that’s not busting his ass as hard or harder than I do 🙂 Call it sexist, call it misogynistic . . . that’s how it rolls here 🙂 If I’m working 12 hour days . . . the man better be working 13! 🙂
    And it is due to the fact that I’ve been exposed, in my generation (Gen X) as well as the generation that bore me out, to MEN, who thought it was OK to be lazy, sit on their asses, and let women support them. I’m NOT down with that! I respect men (in as much as they respect ME) when they are willing to go to the mat, bust their fucking asses, and WORK like a fool to meet an objective. And honestly, it’s a damn good thing I didn’t have children, especially SONS, because they’d be privy to havin’ a MAMA that would BUST THEIR ASSES for bein’ lazy, and a lay-about, and not getting the hell up and doing what was NECESSARY, for a REAL MAN to make his way in the world.
    I think work is good for the soul. I think education is good for the soul. I would not tolerate children who thought their place in life was to sit around on their asses and wait for something to be handed to them . . . because that’s not the hand I was dealt, and that ain’t the hand I’m dealin’, son! :)~
    I think I would have been a damn good parent 🙂 In the stead, I parent MYSELF, as a human being, and do the things for myself that my lazy, lay-about, drunken parents never did for me.

  194. Dostoyevsky July 11, 2011 at 11:51 pm #


    The character names are bad enough (not sure how many times I’ve confused them with each other)”
    Agreed, I had enough of a struggle when writing the damn thing!
    “And, the story now devolves with the lead character suffering due to morality – totally preposterous!!! When he partook in the devious actions he performed, there was no sign whatsoever that he had a conscience.”
    Why preposterous? He would hardly suffer if he had not performed those deeds and had then developed a sense of morality regardless of how exxaggerated it was..
    Nevertheless keep reading I’ve no doubt you will enjoy the rest of it.
    FD

  195. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 12:05 am #

    “PC, you are a voice of sanity, you promised to never respond directly to asoaka..
    PLEASE KEEP YOUR PROMISE”
    -asia-
    OK, asia – I tend to accept people at face value until evidence to the contrary presents itself. So, I assumed Auntie Soak was a genuine new poster.
    I’m pretty sure that the original asoaka was banned due to a legitimate electronic glitch. I’m still not sure why soak would need a female alter ego besides, perhaps mrs. soak – – –
    anyway – this is nuts – why would soak need auntie soaka to express her extra hate for the white man and her desire to have my children shine her shoes –
    What sort of shoes would auntie soak wear, anyway.
    Do they still have shoe shine stands?
    I haven’t seen one in years.
    Then we have Helen Highwater, who has always seemed pretty reasonable to me, suddenly cheering on Auntie Soak.
    Why is that?
    Is it because auntie soak is female.
    Or because Helen wants to see my children shine shoes.
    This whole Nation a la Cluster F*ckee is weirding out this evening. I think I’m gonna clock out ’till tomorrow.
    ================
    TruthTeller – I’m all about the value of hard work. But try to save a little time to enjoy your own life.
    ==================
    And note to all new JHK readers and posters – this place isn’t always this crazy –
    sometimes it’s worse?

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  196. Shakazulu July 12, 2011 at 12:23 am #

    I get it. JHK is just being sarcastic about how America is obsessed with the soap operas on TV. He thinks it’s funny, in an ironic sort of way, since the country really is burning while Nancy fiddles.

  197. Shakazulu July 12, 2011 at 12:26 am #

    “Jimmie me boy, it’s not all glum over here in Ireland.
    While the developers who made bazillions of Euros in the boom have taken off with the loot and some developments are just going to be torn down again, Ireland plugs along…”
    The Irish are not going to resist the bailouts like Iceland did? I’m glad to hear the Irish are the suffering survivors they have always been. As long as the whiskey holds out…

  198. truthteller July 12, 2011 at 12:27 am #

    What I just said . . . that’s why I have a great deal of respect for people like Tripp . . . he’s a real man, looking out for his family like he does. He might not have much money, but he has MUCH RESPECT from people like me. Takin’ care of business, man . . . that’s what a MAN does. His wife and family, and looking out for the long-run too . . . Tripp doesn’t come on this board, talking shit about women and people of other races . . . he comes on and says what it is . . . we’re fucked, folks, better start working to get your shit together, and HERE’s HOW . . .
    Men and boyz . . . there’s a line. Tripp . . . fanned and faved 🙂

  199. Qshtik July 12, 2011 at 12:30 am #

    call it misogynistic
    ===============
    I would not call it misogyny (the hatred of women) but it might be misandry (the hatred of males). Be that as it may, I am definitely in favor of everyone pulling their weight in life.

  200. truthteller July 12, 2011 at 12:36 am #

    {TruthTeller – I’m all about the value of hard work. But try to save a little time to enjoy your own life.}
    Hi Prog,
    I know, I SOUND LIKE SUCH A HARDASS 🙂 But I’m really not, man 🙂 I’ve never known anything in my entire life but busting my ever-loving ass, honey . . . it’s the result of being a redneck trailer-trash child of the inbred South, as Joe Bageant would say 🙂
    I don’t know how NOT to work, Prog . . . If I had to NOT WORK, I’d be lost, I think . . .
    Honestly, here’s what I believe . . . once you’ve been really hungry, EVEN ONCE, you do what you can to avoid that shit again at all costs, for the rest of your life, honey 🙂 I really think that’s the case for me.

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  201. truthteller July 12, 2011 at 12:38 am #

    Damn, Q . . . I don’t think you’ve ever picked on me before . . . I have to say, I am FLATTERED 🙂 Thank you for being a dick to me! 🙂

  202. Qshtik July 12, 2011 at 12:47 am #

    I have to say, I am FLATTERED 🙂 Thank you for being a dick to me! 🙂
    ===============
    No problem, you deserved it.
    😉

  203. truthteller July 12, 2011 at 12:50 am #

    And to expound further 🙂 . . . Helping JHK out here . . . 🙂 I think that’s a big part of what’s wrong with this country, the US . . . ain’t NOBODY MISSED A MEAL in a while! FUCK A CHEESE DOODLE! When YOUR next meal is coming from a bag of weevil-infested flour, some home-canned preserves, and some Crisco (if you’re LUCKY) . . . you learn how to fry “hoe-cake”, man. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT. And was grateful for the hoe-cake, at the time, with some fig preserves.
    Hungry will adjust a LOT of attitudes, in this damn country, if it’s ever really experience beyond the poverty-stricken people.

  204. truthteller July 12, 2011 at 12:51 am #

    {No problem, you deserved it.
    ;-)}
    Thanks, Q. Don’t let the bastards get you down . . . I LIKE you, dude! You’re the asshole that no one escapes! And that’s a good thing . . . the grammar police! 🙂

  205. truthteller July 12, 2011 at 12:54 am #

    I know, Q . . . I fucked up that last post with “experience” instead of “experienced” 🙂 No do-overs in Cluster-fluff world, eh? 🙂

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  206. Buck Stud July 12, 2011 at 1:19 am #

    Auntie Soakie is not Asoka. It’s another poster who engages in very cordial dialogue with Prog and who is also very derisive of Asoka when using the other screen name. It’s a curse, this gift of insight. So much duplicity posing for a portrait.

  207. truthteller July 12, 2011 at 1:19 am #

    P.S. Q . . . I DON’T hate men . . . I actually LOVE men . . . I just hold modern men to very high standards. I think a REAL MAN (as opposed to some critter with male genitalia 🙂 has certain qualities separating him from the “boys” . . .
    I think a REAL MAN, is there for his family. I think a REAL MAN, stands up for his family. I think a REAL MAN, loves his woman and doesn’t talk shit about her out of turn. I think any REAL MAN will stand up and take care of his children. I think a REAL MAN, will work for a living, and feed the children he helped bring into the world. I think a REAL MAN will never lay a hand on a woman, who in most cases is a physically less strong being than he is, and if being subjected to a “beat-down”, there’s no question who’s gonna get their ass whooped. I think a REAL MAN can talk about a problem, without resorting to fisticuffs, or firearms 🙂
    I think a REAL MAN, will have people who really love him, standing by the side of his grave, saying how much they love him and will miss him, and not be on a slab, in a morgue, with no human being knowing that he died, or cared.
    I hold most men up to the standard of my long-dead Granddaddy . . . that man would work 10 hours on a gravel truck, and then come home and plow a garden and weed and grow his vegetable garden . . . my granddaddy always had candy in his lunchbox when he came home, and we fought over it, when my granny was “keeping the kids” that day . . . I remember the smell of him, crusty old man and diesel fuel and “Paw-Paw”, and the way his sratchy beard felt on my cheek when he held me close and kissed my cheek 🙂
    That’s a REAL MAN.

  208. truthteller July 12, 2011 at 1:46 am #

    There are a FEW men here, that I would consider to be REAL MEN. I’d challenge the rest of you to live up to that. I know, this is an inflammatory post . . . food for thought. Perhaps time to step up to the plate, those of you who are insecure, and meet the challenge of being a real man? An honorable man, a good man . . . it’s on YOU now. Let’s all look at ourselves, and see where we measure up, or where we don’t. Most of us women are constantly looking at ourselves, trying to become better people . . . when are you men ever challenged to get your shit together and measure up to what life requires of you?
    Better shape up 🙂
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g19p1uEzz4I

  209. katnip kid July 12, 2011 at 1:53 am #

    PRD,I suppose next you’ll tell us you don’t know about the Real Housewives of Orange County or New York.OMG! Like, what planet are you from? 🙂 yeesh. Don’t ya know what’s going on? tsk tsk…

  210. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 1:56 am #

    In other words, women have options, men have responsibilities – all of which exist to serve women. Childen too though you may not be allowed to see them if you are deemed unworthy.
    Why on Earth wouldn any man buy into this kind of crap?

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  211. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 2:03 am #

    I welcome Auntie Soak here – you need to hear what “she” has to say. And you’ll be amazed at how others agree with it. You thought that Helen was a reasonable person!!!!
    You refused to answer my question so evidently you thought that Asoka’s is an unusual perspective. Now you may find out the Truth about the extent and depth of anti-White hatred. Buckle you seat belt boy, you’re in for the ride of your life.

  212. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 2:21 am #

    Shaming men to get them to work harder? That’s the old paradigm, exactly what we don’t need now. And of course sans the modicum of honor and respect men used to get from women and society. Now society wants men to have no personal honor but still to honor and protect women. It doesn’t work that way.
    No, we have to let it all go. We have been betrayed on every level by everyone. It’s time for White Men to lay down their burden and be free. Let it all go to hell as it will without us. Let the feminists contemplate their belly buttons and sterile wombs. Who is John Galt?
    Remember, Slack is the White Man’s Tao even as Funk is the Black Man’s. Slack is the true wealth. With slack we have the slack to make all things new. It is the lever that will move the world. Choose your fulcrums well.

  213. asia July 12, 2011 at 2:34 am #

    See the post at 4.16..
    Im laughing and laughing!!
    ‘In short, I am large and contain multitudes’

  214. Dostoyevsky July 12, 2011 at 2:38 am #

    “In other words, women have options, men have responsibilities – all of which exist to serve women. Childen too though you may not be allowed to see them if you are deemed unworthy.
    Why on Earth wouldn any man buy into this kind of crap?”
    Vladdy you racist old man how are you?
    How on earth do you draw the conclusion that “women have options and men have responsibilities” from what Truthteller wrote?
    You are one twisted puppy!!

  215. tucsonspur July 12, 2011 at 4:35 am #

    ” And if Case goes into porn…”
    Yeah, probably alot of guys out there thinking that they’d like to part her pudendum and watch her jugs jiggle. I wonder about the voraciousness of her sexual appetite, and how much of a factor it may have been in Caylee’s death.
    I thought it interesting and ironic that the state’s last witness was Bobby Williams, the tat artist who inked her with “bella vita”, July,2008.
    I saw your link about the protests at TUSD. As the numbers grow, the danger grows. The Mexicans are fiery peppers, the whites yesterday’s cold rice.
    As I post, waters are bubbling forth from my creative spring regarding the racial “static” here. I’ll post something later.

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  216. truthteller July 12, 2011 at 4:47 am #

    {In other words, women have options, men have responsibilities – all of which exist to serve women. Childen too though you may not be allowed to see them if you are deemed unworthy.
    Why on Earth wouldn any man buy into this kind of crap?}
    OPTIONS? REALLY?
    My grandfather that I spoke of, corn-fed Alabama hillbilly that he was, and I LOVE him and don’t apologize for it. Let me tell you about my GRANDMOTHER’S life (and she’s still alive, 97 years old and still living in her own home, BTW )
    Granny had 13 brothers and sisters . . . she was one of the oldest, and she was born in 1913. Every year, she looked forward to going to school, but if it wasn’t having to go bring in the cotton, it was having to help her mama bring up some more kids. So she got married at 19, with an 8th grade education. Was married for over 40 years, until my granddaddy died. My granny, dumb woman that she is, is the oldest person to date in that part of Alabama to get her GED, at the age of 79 . . . I asked her what she would do with all that book-learnin . . . she said, “Well, I reckon I’ll hang it on the wall and look at it nowadays!”
    So suck it, Vlad! 🙂

  217. truthteller July 12, 2011 at 5:00 am #

    Pre-empting all the racist douches in their bullshit for the week, I hope . . . you are all a steaming sack of shiz-nit, a hopeless bag of dung, an empty scrotum full of hate filled feces . . . may you all suck a sack of dicks before the day ends 🙂

  218. Eleuthero July 12, 2011 at 5:27 am #

    Krista said:
    JHK, I look forward to Monday mornings just to read your blog. Sir, you are brilliant and if I wasn’t a lesbian, you would be so easy to fall in love with. Thank you, thank you for the ‘kicks & giggles’ and for your poignant appraisal of happenings across this shared world of ours.
    ****************************************************
    I’m glad that Jim gets such appreciative letters
    because: 1) He provides us with this space to talk
    about real issues, 2) He actually knows how to turn a phrase and even when to use misspelling,
    irony, and scatology at appropriately hilarious
    places. Few get that Jim is a really FUNNY guy
    because they get all serious when he hits too
    close to home. Jim knows that America has
    become a land of total retards and he knows how
    to render it as a Kafkaesque farce which is about
    where it is.
    The Anthony case is just another reason why I,
    too, abandoned Comcast. The Anthony’s are just
    ONE family. However, Americans secretly LOVE
    perversion and criminality which is why we show
    so much love of it in worthless POS shows such
    as “Hoarders” and “Intervention”. Intervention
    is especially insidious because they focus on
    the addicted miscreant (because they’re more
    sensationally criminal and stupid than their
    family … which is saying something) while
    giving very little attention to the douchebag
    relatives (you know, the 400 pound whales with
    skull tats, the father who watches 18 hours of
    TV a day, and so on).
    Oscar Wilde observed 120 years ago that America
    takes its heroes from the criminal classes. Soon,
    Americans will discover that there’s not one whit
    of “romance” in loving the “bad boy” in everyone
    because now those “bad boys” have risen all the
    way to the media and industrial CEO boardrooms
    where their sociopathy shits all over your welfare
    and everything valued by decent people.
    E.

  219. Eleuthero July 12, 2011 at 5:34 am #

    Ben Bernanke must be soiling his undies at
    this point because he probably knows down to
    the penny how intertwined we are not only with
    eurobanks but also with bailout agencies like
    the IMF and the World Bank.
    It’s appearing as if the end of QE2 is also
    meaning the end of liquidity because there’s
    hardly an asset class that’s not falling right
    now in Europe and America. JHK was prescient
    in this regard when he said that even OIL could
    drop in price because NOBODY HAS ANY MONEY TO
    PAY FOR IT. Even China’s got banking problems
    and a vastly overbuilt real estate sector.
    Sorry to bore CFN with my mantra but this is
    the onset of THE SECOND DARK AGE. And as Jim
    astutely pointed out, we’re about out of
    financial legerdemain to keep up the pretense
    that everything’s just ducky. QE3 anyone??
    E.

  220. Patrizia July 12, 2011 at 6:59 am #

    America takes its heroes from the criminal classes…
    In the 18th century in England, when you finished in the old Bailey, you could choose between being hanged or work in a colony in Virginia.
    It is true that at that time it was easy to become a criminal, you just needed to be hungry enough to steal some food, but certainly the ones who went to the new land weren´t exactly the best.

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  221. bubbleheadMarc July 12, 2011 at 7:18 am #

    Yes Vlad I do remember the OJ Simpson trial. I was attending barber college on skid row in Cleveland near the West Side Market and being nearly as tactless as yourself I actually did tell one of my black classmates “the only reason you’re glad OJ was aquitted is because you’re black”. And I was loved accordingly! The only reason I said that was because it was true. Although I got along quite well with the other blacks I couldn’t get along with that guy, an inmate at a half-way house for junkies who was attending barber college on a grant from the Ohio Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation. He once insulted me by insinuating that I wouldn’t know what to do with a woman if I had one. So I got into his face and started screaming at him like a mad man out on the sidewalk in front of this giant barbershop. He was so shocked he dropped his giant slurpee drink on the sidewalk! I told him “I’m a disturbed veteran and if you persist in fucking with me you’re going to be found in a ditch somewhere.” Now are you happy with this revelation? After that whenever this guy saw me he’d turn and walk in the opposite direction. Moral of the story: you can’t get along with everyone. In fact I don’t even try to get along with everyone which is why I want to become a hermit in the desert ASAP. I had a BVR grant and end up moving in with my counselor later on! We nearly got married but then I cancelled the wedding after I had to bail her out of jail for biting her 14 year old son. She wouldn’t listen to me the AA member about her drinking so I cut her loose, figuratively speaking that is. At any rate when reminiscing about the barber college I think “I love the atmosphere of urban decay!”

  222. bubbleheadMarc July 12, 2011 at 7:30 am #

    Seconded. On the dark age thing at any rate. One way to avoid a new dark age is to protect education by DEMANDING that students conform to the standards established for the good of our educational institutions then heartlessly expelling them if and when they fail to meet those standards, thereby ensuring a steady supply of qualified graduates to keep society running. This of course is EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT WE’RE ACTUALLY DOING! So of course we’re fucked. People learn more form failure but we’re denying them this learning experience by faking success. Fake success is even more worthless as a learning experience than actual success, which itself isn’t really the greatest in terms of getting one’s attention. You won’t bore me for one with your persistent negativity on this theme because negativity is my middle name.

  223. lbendet July 12, 2011 at 7:36 am #

    E.
    You really hit on something when you say America takes it’s heroes from the criminal class. Nothing could be more on the mark when you consider how popular “The Sopranos” were so recently that you can’t separate that from the 2008 global robbery-fest that our banksters pulled. Don’t forget the Savings and Loans and BCCI before that. All test runs of our elite to see what they could get away with. Now, the world is their oyster!
    Last August I posted:
    The Myer Lansky Special: The US as Murder Inc.
    The hero from WWII made an offer to the world that they couldn’t refuse: Pax Americana and has pushed full-spectrum dominance in areas of military and finance to the tune of non-ending wars and the dissolution of the middle class.
    This country is being run by Public Enemies of the state and it’s citizenry. Madoff may have been one of the few to pay a price, but everyone from think tanks, academia, media, insurance, banks and heads of state are complicit in this disaster.
    Our media does not connect the dots and when it does it disappears into the ether to be replaced by mindless propaganda that pushes hate to divide the 95% of the population to keep us from focusing on the real issues.
    Global warming or at least the massive pollution that The corporatists choose to deny is spewed into the environment for the sake of making money to the enth degree.
    Note: Last week I was struck at how the PR for BP has absolutely insulted our intelligence! They have the nerve to tell us they are flying planes over the Gulf to look for oil slicks after they used Corexit to hide the oil at the bottom of the gulf. Wow!! There was a great site that spoke about Corexit being used recently at night so nobody could see what they are doing. Hurray for Burson Marsteller, who are most likely behind the BP propaganda, though I can’t prove that yet. Just imagine that they are intricately involved in our politics.
    The illusion of hope to the middle class is put forth while the insatiable need of multi-billionaires to make ever more money and how our interest rates are kept low for the speculators. Not to mention that there is no hope for job creation when they are making so much from slave labor.
    The elite have done so well with Iraq and Afgh. they know they can’t miss with more war…
    In the vernacular of Sarah Palin: How’s that Paxi-Americani working for you?

  224. ozone July 12, 2011 at 7:45 am #

    “Ben Bernanke must be soiling his undies at
    this point because he probably knows down to
    the penny how intertwined we are not only with
    eurobanks but also with bailout agencies like
    the IMF and the World Bank.” -E.
    What I wonder about is what Benny’s payoff is going to be for being their US bagman and public spokesliar.
    He might be soiling his silk shorts about having to mouth lie after lie to “da peepole” and their [supposed] reps in the various commitees. Other than that, I wouldn’t think he’s all that concerned. (Although he should be a bit worried about that big target on his back; ALL these liars should be, but hubris is a wonderful thing for blocking out such dark and distressing thoughts of pitchforks, tar and feathers, torches, and sniper rifles.)
    Think those “heroes” with lots of weapons and training will be coming home anytime soon? Hmmm, scads of unemployed, well-armed, steely-jawed youngsters deserted by their corporatist-run gum’mint; that could get mighty interesting.

  225. MarlinFive54 July 12, 2011 at 7:49 am #

    PoC, good little tale there about the vice. Very revealing. My son in law owns an aerospace company that employs about 250 people. Here in Connecticut river Valley, the birthplace of the machine tool industry, he cannot find qualified machinists, or even young people who want to be machinists, so he has to bring them in from Czech Republic, Poland and Russia. That’s the state of things in formerly industrial New England.
    Buck Stud, the story of your days in San Francisco remind me so much of Eric Hoffer, longshoreman and Philosopher, and his tales about life in that city in the 1950s and 60s.
    Auntie River, where you going? Hell, you just got here! And just when I had you and Uncle Ned lined up for induction to CFNation, Yankee Division, Post 1, New England Chapter. Please reconsider.
    Two new books published, reviewed in WSJ, that might be of some interest to CFNers, ‘Cabin Fever’, by Tom Montgomery Fate, and ‘Back to the Land’ by Dona Brown. Both authors are Professors and described as ‘Progressives’. (I just have to get used the the idea that ‘peak oil’ movement is largely largely liberals and worse, TR and Roscoe Bartlett not withstanding) Dona Browns book looks to be the most interesting, a history of the ‘back to the land’ movements back to the 1890’s.
    Looks like Jims take on Europe is right. Woke up today to find out Italy is in rough shape, too, and Greece is getting worse.
    RipT, if you see an old British Army motorcycle rolling thru your town on Route 10 Sat. afternoon, you are not being invaded. No, that’ll be me headed up to Greenfield to see the Old 97s, appearing there Sat. evening.
    Yesterday sighted in a 60 year old Winchester, shot like it was manufactured yesterday. Say what you want about our history, but we sure used to know how to make things.
    -Marlin

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  226. Patrizia July 12, 2011 at 7:52 am #

    I always say that if Italy could charge copyrights for what exported, not only we would be free of debts, but we could have a nice living out of it.
    Forget Pizza, Cappuccino, espresso, spaghetti, lasagne, just think of the Mafia system.
    That is the best crime organisation you can think of.
    It is like a big family, where you owe favours and you keep people in debt just “helping” when in need…
    The banks are number first, they have the right politicians in the right place to make the right laws.
    They have judges who make the right sentences and have financial guys who can help them in the right moment.
    What can you do against them?
    Absolutely nothing.
    In Napoli the mafia lives on the “pizzo” which is the percentage every company has to pay them.
    The banks charge the same, but legally.
    The banks have “invented” the legal Mafia.
    The only thing I am glad of is that I won´t live long enough to suffer the life they have in store for us.
    I pity the young generation.

  227. old69 July 12, 2011 at 8:03 am #

    BUILD SKYSCRAPERS.
    Please, oh, pretty please, build skyscrapers, build like crazy! I was reading that in China they are building like crazy, they have “Forests of Empty Skyscrapers”. That is so damn cool, I can’t believe it! I can just imagine the blocks of texts that will be written about it in a few years, when their “housing bubble”, NAY, “real estate bubble” bursts : “The Disasters of a Planned Economy”.
    You see, what they are doing is applying logic, common sense, the thought process, the simple linear cause and effect mechanism to a real simple need: Real Estate is a need, it shouldn’t be a “scarcity”, so the more you build, the better, the more skyscrapers, the more “room to grow”, you have. Can you imagine how many chunks of furniture will be needed to fill them all up ? Can you imagine how many computers and TV sets will be put in all of those skyscrapers ? Between offices and houses, they are set to produce an infinite amount of consumer goods for all of that real estate, something never seen in the history of Man: the USA consumption of the 20th century will look so puny, it won’t even be on the radar of the future history books.
    So they are achieving Mind over Matter, the thought process dominates reality, they are planning it out, they are building their needs outright without waiting for that oh, so fickle, and oh so vague and mostly phony “invisible hand of the market” theory. That is so cool, the Planned Economy, where what I want and decide is being achieved, they are doing what I want, my will power is being respected in China, good for them, good little puppies, keep up the good work!
    Now it takes 100 workers a year to make one skyscraper, so to make a million skyscrapers they can easily use 100 million workers, it is completely doable, the workers all come from puny agricultural towns starving to death, they got nothing to lose but their chains. So with 1 million skyscrapers you can put up 50 million homes and offices, each about 100 sqm (no feet system here jose’, this is globalization stuff, not your puny Kansas City hillibilies, but anyways that is around 1,100 sq feet). So that can house 250 million people. But I phantom they could hike it up to 400 million workers and make 4 million skyscrapers, so in a couple of years have made enough real estate to house a billion people: NOT THAT IS WHAT I CALL EXCESS CAPACITY PUT TO GOOD USE, THE TECHNOLOGICAL ECONOMY ACHIEVING ITS REAL POTENTIAL.
    But you say, what about Nature ? Well who gives two c*cks and a d*ck about Nature ? What matters is to achieve, to express yourself, to build, to show that you are dominating, the Mind over Matter is working and producing and achieving real value for your money. We will mine the earth and planets to build skyscrapers, we will make Iron and Steel and Cement in particle accelerators building them atom by atom, we will win and succeed.
    I can’t stand these Greens and Environmentalists and scaredy cats all afraid of manipulating the living daylights out of Nature, always finding something poisonous and bad in every process, you can’t build atomic energy reactors, you can’t build high speed trains, you can’t do this or that and this or that. What c*cks! all in the name of Nature, this phony “False Religion” if I ever saw one (give us back the Catholics and the old Christ, or even the old Christian Fundamentalists with their hell and punishment and all, but please don’t introduce yet another fake religion, another belief system, another set of crappy values). It is their fault we have the economic crisis, we should consume and build like there is no tomorrow, we should build trillions of Skyscrapers, Rockets to Mars, trillions of Malls, buy and throw away like crazy, every 3 years change all furniture and cars, wild crazy consumption, and hose nature, use nature until it no longer exists, since then we will use Mars, and the Sun itself, go on, do it, you can do it, go on.

  228. bubbleheadMarc July 12, 2011 at 8:13 am #

    The reason there is a shortage of machinists is that factory workers, including even the skilled ones such as machinists and tool & dye makers, get treated like robots and are forced to breathe hot lubricating oil all day long, so of course no one wants to be a machinist. Maybe if the capitalists didn’t purposely design their factories to totally suck as workplaces people might actually be interested in working there. But no! Nobody’s allowed to have a job they’d actually want unless they go to fucking college instead of learning a trade. The tradespeople must be punished for not being college boys. End result: no skilled tradespeople but too many bank tellers with art history degrees. Not only was the current impasse inevitable but it was basically planned. And not by the workers because they’re not in charge. Prevailing conditions in industry today are entirely the fault of the robber baron class who are the chief exploiters of the industrial proletariat. Now they’ve moved on like a plague of locusts to China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. Fuck all of them.

  229. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 8:25 am #

    “The tradespeople must be punished for not being college boys. End result: no skilled tradespeople…” -bhm-
    Marc, I tend to agree with your points – and if America can’t find a work around PDQ then we are even more finished on the world stage.
    Something tells me that Marlin’s son is not an exploiter of his workers. (wow, 250 – that’s a big operation in a specialty industry!)
    Something else tells me that you, Marlin, a couple of other CFN’ers and I could sit down over a beer in a couple of hours and solve all the problems. (we can drink non-alcoholic beer if you prefer, marc)
    Wonder why national leadership is dumber *acting* than a few guys with common sense??
    Marlin – are your son’s machinists settling down and raising families around there? That’s cool if they are – but I wonder if their own sons will want to actually WORK in the shop where their dads made a living??

  230. lbendet July 12, 2011 at 8:27 am #

    Fuck all of them.
    Indeed. How can we change that? What can we do to crash through the media PR for the elite barriers and get that basic idea out?

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  231. loveday July 12, 2011 at 8:34 am #

    There sure does seem to be a lot of “racist static ” here this week, as someone posted above. What’s up folks heat gettin yah down? Well I’ve always thought we would have a long hot summer of rage in our near future, doesn’t surprise me that people are not targeting the true “enemy” namely the banksters. Get a grip!
    In reply to a posting above about bringing the troops home. I agree “scads of umemployed steely jawed youngsters abandoned” would be pretty interesting. Might see something like a “crossing the Rubicon” moment. But seriously the troops have been deployed so frequently and placed under such unbearable stress that the current number of suicides is almost equal to combat deaths. So if we do see all those troops come home without adequate care we should be shaking in our boots, cause they will be PISSED.

  232. Pucker July 12, 2011 at 9:11 am #

    “..faking sucess….”
    “Fake it until you make it.”
    (U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from Bob Woodward’s “Obama’s Wars”.)

  233. bubbleheadMarc July 12, 2011 at 9:11 am #

    I’m not blaming Marlin’s son in law, as after all, he’s too young to have started the adversarial labor relations climate which prevails here and elsewhere. Cleveland is extremely industrial and unionized so it is common knowledge here as well that skilled manufacturing trades are in short supply.
    And to be fair I have also had Republican tendencies in the past to the extent that I voted for both Bushes the first times they each ran for office and if I’d been about three months older I’d would’ve also voted for Nixon in ’72 as fantastic as that concept appears in retrospect. After all, Nixon was the only president I ever met and I actually got to shake hands with him in his limousine as he was leaving Westgate Mall using the southwest exit onto W. 210th Street in Fairview Park back during the 1968 campaign against Hubert Humphrey, speaking of the days when mastadons still roamed the political landscape.
    The fact is our Anglo-Saxon heritage has not served us well on the industrial front. During the ‘sixties my father worked for a British foundry chemicals company here in Cleveland and the Englishmen in upper management would routinely finish their work by 2pm then retire to the airport Brown Derby to drink away the afternoon, setting records for Manhattans consumption at that particular restaurant. Meanwhile, back at the plant, the workers were getting snowed upon by asbestos! But they had a Christmas party every year in the employees cafeteria for the kids so it’s cool! I should name names here: the company is called Foseco.
    The Germans seem to do much better at protecting their industrial base. Crap, the Germans even build their barns better. I was astounded one time while being driven from the freighter in Nordenham to the airport in Bremerhaven [I think, this was 20 years ago] to notice that the Germans built their barns out of cinder block and brick.
    Being around alcohol no longer bothers me at all, I even tend bar sometimes. I do drink non-alcoholic beer and non-alcolic champagne sometimes. Haven’t had a drink of alcohol in 20 years. Quitting drinking was far easier than quitting tobacco products. When I quit smoking camel straights I chewed Red Man and smoked cigars on and off for two years. That was about fifteen years ago.

  234. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 9:12 am #

    “. my granddaddy always had candy in his lunchbox when he came home, and we fought over it…”
    -truthteller-
    “Figures. Selfish bitch.”
    -TootFab-
    Fabian, you have a truly hateful and nasty spirit to read that happy little story that TT wrote about her granddad – and twist it into something like you just did.
    I would tell you to let go of your hate, Fab.
    But without hate, you would collapse immediately.
    And die quickly.
    ============
    Ok – go ahead and use one of your potty mouthed insults on me.

  235. old69 July 12, 2011 at 10:10 am #

    The bitch says a “real man” works hard, etc. read all of my posts, the Technological Economy doesn’t really need so much hard work anymore, except from the 3rd world country workers that are paid peanuts and produce all the items you consume. And you still have so many corporations and bosses that force people to do mostly useless “hard work” and effort just because, to simulate the need for hard work, but the need isn’t really there anymore, it is all make believe and mostly just there for status and power affirmations and statements, and so much hard work is simply mental as in trying to guess what the boss, client or whoever wants in such a fluff and turdy society and economy, all vague, all undefined. Anyways, I am not a real man, I am a Shrinking Violet, Impotent (sexually, mentally, psychologically, you name it), Anonymous Coward, Pussy Whip, you can’t trust me baby for anything, I hugely suck, am violent and insecure, freeloader, lazy, and all the worst things imaginable. OK ? satisfied now ? Did you finally get back at Mommy and Daddy from being two turds ? Do you do what everyone does, take it out on another for a past wrong doing, like since the boss “had to work hard”, he makes “everyone work hard” since his past was like that ? Or because one American dresses badly, then all Americans dress badly, and so on ? one nigger smokes pot, then all niggers smoke pot ?
    The entire idea of hard work and busting your ass is 18th and 19th century fairy tale land, no longer operating today, work is disappearing at an alarming rate through automation, optimization, you name it. Study all my past posts, study them all carefully. Unless the work is set up in such a way that one guy has to do the work of five, which also happens.
    On the machinist guy stuff, true, first they hired them a few decades ago and then they all got fired because of economic cycles and also because of the myth of college and theoretical studies and the myth of the information workers will be needed, etc. So everyone thought that there would be the need for only information workers and no longer manual skilled stuff. Well, they were mostly right, but you still need some manual skilled workers, and you still need some information workers, but the future is that no one will be needed anymore unless they really start creating huge amounts of work as I said repeatedly by building skyscrapers, Rockets to Mars, etc.
    Anyways, a solution to the machinist scarcity is very simple: anyone studying engineering should be required, obligatorily to put in two hours a day for four years learning and practicing all of that stuff hands on, even how to take apart engines and whatever, just an idea.

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  236. old69 July 12, 2011 at 10:11 am #

    The bitch says a “real man” works hard, etc. read all of my posts, the Technological Economy doesn’t really need so much hard work anymore, except from the 3rd world country workers that are paid peanuts and produce all the items you consume. And you still have so many corporations and bosses that force people to do mostly useless “hard work” and effort just because, to simulate the need for hard work, but the need isn’t really there anymore, it is all make believe and mostly just there for status and power affirmations and statements, and so much hard work is simply mental as in trying to guess what the boss, client or whoever wants in such a fluff and turdy society and economy, all vague, all undefined. Anyways, I am not a real man, I am a Shrinking Violet, Impotent (sexually, mentally, psychologically, you name it), Anonymous Coward, Pussy Whip, you can’t trust me baby for anything, I hugely suck, am violent and insecure, freeloader, lazy, and all the worst things imaginable. OK ? satisfied now ? Did you finally get back at Mommy and Daddy from being two turds ? Do you do what everyone does, take it out on another for a past wrong doing, like since the boss “had to work hard”, he makes “everyone work hard” since his past was like that ? Or because one American dresses badly, then all Americans dress badly, and so on ? one nigger smokes pot, then all niggers smoke pot ?
    The entire idea of hard work and busting your ass is 18th and 19th century fairy tale land, no longer operating today, work is disappearing at an alarming rate through automation, optimization, you name it. Study all my past posts, study them all carefully. Unless the work is set up in such a way that one guy has to do the work of five, which also happens.
    On the machinist guy stuff, true, first they hired them a few decades ago and then they all got fired because of economic cycles and also because of the myth of college and theoretical studies and the myth of the information workers will be needed, etc. So everyone thought that there would be the need for only information workers and no longer manual skilled stuff. Well, they were mostly right, but you still need some manual skilled workers, and you still need some information workers, but the future is that no one will be needed anymore unless they really start creating huge amounts of work as I said repeatedly by building skyscrapers, Rockets to Mars, etc.
    Anyways, a solution to the machinist scarcity is very simple: anyone studying engineering should be required, obligatorily to put in two hours a day for four years learning and practicing all of that stuff hands on, even how to take apart engines and whatever, just an idea.

  237. MarlinFive54 July 12, 2011 at 10:12 am #

    PoC, these East European machinists & engineers I mentioned are here to stay. Many have specialty skills they learned working for the Soviet defense industries. The Czechs are especially skilled in very technical, arcane processes.
    Politically, they are very anti communist, as is everybody I’ve ever met who has actually lived in a communist country. (The only reds left reside inside American universities anyway). They don’t like Germans much, but as far as America goes, they bleed red, white and blue. Their kids look like they’ve been here 10 generations, not two. Another curious thing, all of them maintain gardens on their property, growing vegetables.
    PoC, do you object to these immigrants, as you seem to object to the immigrants from south of the border. I don’t mean for that to be a provocative question. Just asking.
    -Marlin

  238. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 11:06 am #

    Hey, Truthteller, just wanted to say that I agree with your sentiments.
    Don’t let the misogynists on this blog get you down. There are still good men around.
    Your story about the candy reminds me of what my dad told me about his dad.
    When his dad’s shift was over at the coal mine, my dad would go to the mine to meet his dad, and his dad always saved part of his lunch for my dad.
    That meant a lot to him.

  239. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 11:11 am #

    Yeah, America was settled by criminals and desperate people.
    Have you ever crossed the United States from Missouri to California?
    You realize then the desperate poverty that must have driven people to ford rivers, climb the Rockie Mountains and trudge across the desert to get somewhere better.
    Americans are made up of people who gave up their homelands, left their families, and killed the inhabitants of the new land they settled.
    No wonder we don’t have any ties to each other, or to the land, water and air that sustains us!

  240. mm July 12, 2011 at 11:14 am #

    here is an angry female lawyer who sure doesnt fit the world-view of CFN… the world is so much larger than the television set.
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/feb/04/eva-joly-interview

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  241. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 11:15 am #

    That, of course, is the point of enraging Americans against immigrants, blacks, muslims and liberals.
    The ruling class wants pogroms, not revolution.
    And the propaganda machine is so efficient, that is what they’ll get.
    Witness this blog, whose writer frequently predicts angry mobs marching to the Hamptons, while the commenters prefer to fantasize about killing hungry marauders.

  242. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 11:23 am #

    “Something tells me that Marlin’s son-in-law is not an exploiter of his workers”?
    Geez, Prog, could you kiss a little more ass?
    Let’s see. Marlin announces that his son-in-law is part of the military-industrial complex, sucking in US tax dollars for some operation that no doubt is used to kill civilians in other countries, and he is baffled that the descendants of immigrants brought in to work machine shops in the past haven’t had those skills passed down in their DNA, and is unwilling to spend the money to train them, so imports LEGAL immigrants from the former Warsaw bloc, who are thrilled to be here in the good ol’ USA, (employed in the only growth industry in the country, except for the prison and Homeland Repression gigs), so much so that they are willing to trash their homelands for the right wing gun nut’s benefit.
    And you, who spend week after week trashing immigrants, offer to have a beer with him.
    Geez.

  243. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 11:30 am #

    “PoC, do you object to these immigrants, as you seem to object to the immigrants from south of the border. I don’t mean for that to be a provocative question. Just asking.”
    -marlin-
    Marlin, that’s a very good question to be asking.
    The short answer is no, I do not “object,” to any immigrants – regardless of where they come from.
    I think “object” is a loaded word, though – but since you intend no provocation, we’ll use it for now – knowing that we need to go back and define what two different things we may both mean by “object.”
    My concerns about any immigrants are two-fold.
    1. Considering the theme of this website – we generally acknowledge that the soil and lands of the United States can ONLY support a MUCH smaller population than we have NOW, without fossil fuels, fertilizers, etc.
    If there is a US plan that stretches out 5 to 50 years to deal with 350,000,000 ++ people as the fossil fuels run out for feeding, housing, and clothing just the US population – I think most of us would SURE like to hear it.
    That’s why the legitimate posters are on CFN, right???
    ================
    2. “Their kids look like they’ve been here 10 generations, not two.” -marlin-
    Marlin, what exactly do you mean by this – and does it extend to these children’s behaviors and work ethics. The collapse of the American work ethic/self-reliance ethos/can-do spirit – whatever you want to call it, this collapse is pretty well documented among the native born and among many 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants.
    If there is something about these immigrant families whose parents work for your son – that is going to make their third generation offspring more *successful??* in the US – than are the 3rd, 4th, and 5th generation of Americans GENERALLY –
    ??????????
    Again, I’m sure the thread would like to hear what it is that keeps the power of American consumer culture at bay for these grand and greatgrand children – when many of us -collectively- express concerns about our own progeny.
    And look, man, I’m a patriot myself –
    but I’m not sure that “bleeding red, white, and blue,” is ALWAYS a completely positive thing. “My country right or wrong,” has led us into some blind alleys before – and can do it again.

  244. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 11:35 am #

    “And you, who spend week after week trashing immigrants, offer to have a beer with him.”
    -wage, concerning marlin and me-
    Wage – your problem is that you would rather argue and pick fights than try to solve problems.
    Marlin’s here – this country is full of 10’s of millions of Marlins. Some of them are very good friends of mine in the real world.
    This particular Cluster Fuck needs a couple of honest well spoken right-wingers at least as much as it needs most of the rest of us.
    And they are not going to go away –
    no matter your wishes.

  245. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 11:47 am #

    That’s a bizarre comment, Prog.
    I point out your hypocrisy, and you accuse me of trying to pick a fight.
    I know that Marlin will not go away, and that there are a lot of people like him. And of course, I don’t like it.
    We’ll never solve our problems as long as people like Marlin support war and repression.
    You didn’t answer my question, though.
    How can someone who is obsessed with immigration blow off his concerns when it’s someone he likes?
    Because when it comes to picking fights, you sure as hell do it with Asoka. You don’t seem to want to “solve problems” with him, and he is much more intelligent and well-rounded than Marlin.

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  246. MarlinFive54 July 12, 2011 at 12:01 pm #

    Phew, Wage, You tore me a new one — again! You’re like my wife … I cant’ say anything right!
    PoC, one of those engineer kids, a lovely Russian girl, here only a few years, is coming over next week to show us how to pickle cucumbers the Russian way. She’s 25. How many 25 year old girls from the USA know how to make pickles?
    BBHMarc, speaking of machinists, how about those machinist Mates in the NAV, those grease covered souls who toiled 16-20 hours a day down in the engine room? Those f—-rs could fight and drink, and they stuck together, too! Once in awhile I’d have to go down into their spaces to calibrate their time pieces. Inevitably, they’d chase me out with the threat of a grease gun enema.
    -Marlin

  247. Auntie River July 12, 2011 at 12:02 pm #

    If I continue to jump into the fray I have to create a new identity, which pisses me off because I loved Auntie River! Call me a b@*ch or wh@re, it just makes me laugh. But to take my identity? Imagine Vlad posting under MARLINFIVE69, WAGE LABORER GAL, RIPPEDTHUNDOR and TRIPPTICKER. It’s a new low, even for him, which is saying something.
    But hey, thanx for the possible honorary induction!
    And we noticed the Eastern European gardening thing too. Every time we pick blueberries we’re surrounded by those accents.
    I think Wage was way off base this time. We need to take aim at the rapacious bankers and the top 1% who are corrupting the country and trying to turn us into a third world oligarchy. Successful small business guy is not the enemy.
    PS Uncle Ned has a WWII German sniper gun his dad brought home from the war. On the one hand it’s a symbol of Nazi horror and the death of American soldiers. But on the other hand, when you look at it, it’s really beautiful. Weird.

  248. Qshtik July 12, 2011 at 12:08 pm #

    so much so that they are willing to trash their homelands for the right wing gun nut’s benefit.
    ===============
    I gotta tell ya … this^ line is a laugh riot.
    If I take your meaning correctly you think the Russian and Czech machinists are just telling Marlin (even though it’s NOT Marlin but his son-in-law) what he wants to hear … that Communism is a failed system.
    Wage, I constantly bust Asoka’s balls for his inconsistency but I could never do that with you. You ALWAYS see life through the exact same miserable prism.
    And BTW, I agree with Marlin … I have never met an immigrant from a communist country that has a kind word for communism. In fact they are far and away the staunchest right-winger apologists for America.

  249. asia July 12, 2011 at 12:10 pm #

    Marlin,
    Do you care about the environment of the USA
    or are you another phoney green that joins the Sierra Club?
    Whats the footprint of 70 million visitors to the USA each year?
    Ever hear of the Russian Mafia?

  250. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 12:12 pm #

    A funny proverb –
    People HATE to change things about themselves.
    My wife enjoys yard work. She was born in the suburbs and always did her yard work on tiny little manicured lots in civilized areas. She always wore shorts and tennis shoes while yardworking. I never objected too strenuously. She has nice legs, and I enjoyed letting the neighbors see them. Go figure.
    Anywho – 3 years ago we cleared land for a “mini-farm” immediately adjacent to 3000 acres of completely wild National Forest. Bears, snakes, loose rocks, poisonous and spiny creatures of all descriptions – they are as near as our front door – at random times, but always nearby.
    Our first summer, my city girl wife was working at the edge of our gravel drive. I suggested long pants and boots – as there are no neighbors to see her legs, up here. hehheh
    But she was – naturally, in shorts and Crocs (shoes, but barely?) when she got into a yellow jacket nest. I heard her slap her leg when the first one stung her. I was about 50 feet away when I saw them flying higher up her bare legs – stinging as they went.
    “RUN,” I yelled – almost immediately followed by “DON’T FAll!!” as she took off down the driveway, making it about 20 feet before falling. That night, I took her to the ER with a broken wrist that still bothers her on her dominant hand.
    =================
    Long, long story short – my darlin’ was working in the yard today – in shorts and tennis shoes, this time – got into another yellow jacket nest and got stung 3 times. But at least she didn’t fall and break something.
    We kind of had it out after I treated her stings. She said, “don’t you talk to me like my daddy used to!!”
    But she did come out in long pants and boots to finish the yard work she wanted to do. I told her how sexy she looked – dressed like that.
    So we’ll see.
    Tonight, I’ll be killing a yellow jacket nest.
    I’m sure some of you pacifists and nature lovers will tell me why I shouldn’t kill any of God’s (god’s?) or Mother (father?) Nature’s creatures.
    I’ll let you talk to my wife.
    She’ll tell you to STFU.
    In a polite manner, of course.

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  251. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 12:13 pm #

    Did you check out MM’s link?
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/feb/04/eva-joly-interview
    When your planet is being destroyed and your people are being shafted, it’s time to get mad.
    The Greens are most certainly trying to solve problems.
    Too bad you spend your time, energy and money on trying to stop Mexicans from crossing the border, instead of trying to solve problems in a humanitarian way.

  252. asia July 12, 2011 at 12:13 pm #

    Actually the ‘free’ Press was HORRIFIED a few years back, the French almost voted LE PEN in!
    If they had he would have done the will of the people not of the ruling class that runs the media.
    IT WAS FRONT PAGE NEWS FOR THE LA TIMES etc…
    Someone who wanted to staunch the ‘muslim tide’.

  253. old69 July 12, 2011 at 12:16 pm #

    from:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=175880
    anon wrote:
    nameta9 wrote:Anyways, a solution to the machinist scarcity is very simple: anyone studying engineering should be required, obligatorily to put in two hours a day for four years learning and practicing all of that stuff hands on, even how to take apart engines and whatever, just an idea.
    So engineers should become machinists?
    I answer:
    Engineering education and other tech – science is way too top heavy, too much theory that in the end is never barely used, too much useless complex math for most jobs and anyways the high class math and theory is used and needed only in a few rare handful of occasions (done by the best anyways), all the math has been calculated and put in software, etc. And too top heavy and too much thinking and you become like me, a crashed computer program, come on no one wants to end up like me.
    Therefore yes, let the engineers study machining, how to bend metal, how to carve metal, how to construct circuits and engines and take them apart and so on and such. Two hours a day everyday for 4 years, then in the companies that need it, they can train others and also do the parts themselves, etc.
    Also, this is an example of when you think something is being taken care of when no one is really doing anything, I always thought that the corporations – tech schools – whatever were smart enough to know that the machinists would always be needed and companies trained them or schools, and such, but no one was really doing anything, like you always think something obvious is being taken care of, but no one is in control and it is really left on its own, etc. This may create some good opportunities to those who notice how many things are ignored, not controlled by anyone, not being done by anyone, etc.

  254. asia July 12, 2011 at 12:17 pm #

    ‘country is full of 10’s of millions of Marlins’
    Wage couldnt bus all their moms to the abortuaries.

  255. San Jose Mom 51 July 12, 2011 at 12:23 pm #

    She actually bit her 14 year old son? Holy Toledo!
    I believe that cultures that hug and are affectionate within the family circle are more likely to be peaceful. Some, not all, primitive cultures are very harsh with their kids and that means trouble. Muslim tribes come to mind–the Bedouins, etc.

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  256. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 12:24 pm #

    I’m all about successful small business guys, Auntie.
    But here’s the thing.
    The US ruling class funnels money to the war machine and has been for 65 years. But it doesn’t all go to Boeing and General Dynamics.
    Some of it goes to mom and pop shops, manufacturing the smaller pieces of the weapons of mass destruction.
    I can’t support that. I am very consistent. I am always against mass murder.

  257. asia July 12, 2011 at 12:30 pm #

    HAHAHA…
    She just called Asoka [lord troll of CFN, posting with 3? ‘handles’] ‘intelligent and balanced’ ..
    This is a gem:
    ‘America was settled by criminals and desperate people. [the US bashing again]
    Have you ever crossed the United States from Missouri to California?
    You realize then the desperate poverty that must have driven people to ford rivers, climb the Rockie Mountains and trudge across the desert to get somewhere better………..
    Turn it to…
    have you ever crossed from Tibet to
    Nepal or India, walking on feet that are now toeless due to frostbite,you realize then the desperation that must have driven Buddhists to ford rivers to flee the Communists!

  258. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 12:30 pm #

    OK, Wage – relax, and lets take one crisis at the time –
    “I point out your hypocrisy, and you accuse me of trying to pick a fight.”
    -wage-
    Wage, it’s not hypocrisy to have dialog and even friendships with people with whom you disagree. It’s actually called being well-rounded and open.
    I engage Marlin over immigration because I keep hoping he’ll point out something that I’ve overlooked – some positive thing about US immigration policy that will help me understand why it is what it is.
    Similarly, I hope by engaging Marlin to help him see some of my viewpoints. That’s called dialog – and it’s the way problems get solved and wars get averted, when written across all of humanity.
    And being able to have dialog like that here on CFN – in front of anyone in the whole wide freakin’ world who cares to look up the CFN thread and read it –
    I don’t mind telling you that that concept is honestly thrilling, still – at least to me.
    ===============
    I think you have blinders on when it comes to asoka/soak. Because he is well spoken and advances seemingly polite arguments with an extreme leftward tilt – you give him a pass on his blatant declared racism, and other things – that should never be excused.
    Helen Highwater may have exposed that same sort of bias last night. I’m still waiting for her to explain herself.
    No accusations – no anger for no reason – just dialog.

  259. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 12:30 pm #

    Expatriates tend to look unfavorably upon their place of origin.
    Check out Joe Baegant for the American version.
    Here is a poll of former soviet peoples.
    http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1396/european-opinion-two-decades-after-berlin-wall-fall-communism
    I realize that these are not people that Clusterfuckers have met personally, but they seem to have more mixed feelings than the people who come here.
    I also recommend Dimitry Orlov for your education.

  260. asia July 12, 2011 at 12:31 pm #

    ‘Phew, Wage, You tore me a new one — again! You’re like my wife … I cant’ say anything right!’
    so maybe ignore her vitriol and scroll past.

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  261. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 12:41 pm #

    Not all immigrants are created equal. A skilled Czech machinist is obviously a very different kettle of fish than a pregnant Mexican with zero skills beyond having babies. A Society which refuses to discriminate is a dead man walking.
    And yes, machinists are NEEDED – unlike anymore Asian IT droids. And yes, being White European they can fit right in.
    We have the right to fufill our needs and say no to those who don’t help us.
    A border is a semi-permeable membrane: it lets some things in and somethings out. But mostly it keep things in and keep things out – like skin.

  262. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 12:43 pm #

    The reason that immigrants from Eastern Europe are staunch right-wingers is the same reason that immigrants from Western Europe, post WW2, are staunch right-wingers.
    The US deliberately solicits fascists from Europe and other places, such as South America, to come to this country.
    And it has since WW2. And that’s part of why this country is so hateful.

  263. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 12:49 pm #

    I was sitting outside with my paralyzed dog, swatting flies that were bugging her.
    A hornet flew very close to my head. I decided to swat it.
    But then I saw it eat a mosquito.
    Amnesty.

  264. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 12:52 pm #

    What do you think of the oldtimers who didn’t try to become alcohol free but instead took pride in living with it and not letting it get the best of them? Alcoholics? Of course but so what if they could work, love etc?

  265. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 12:53 pm #

    From the article I linked to-
    “Indeed, the prevailing view in Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary is that people were better off economically under communism. Only in the Czech Republic and Poland do pluralities believe that most people are now better off. Furthermore, the consensus in many of these countries is that ordinary people have benefited far less than have business owners and
    And, by the way, I don’t think that the Warsaw countries had real communism. They had a warped, authoritarian version, assaulted by the capitalist West.
    But at least everyone had jobs, food and housing.

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  266. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 12:55 pm #

    Whoops, I cut off part of the quote. The missing word is “politicians”

  267. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 1:00 pm #

    I have no beef with your grandparents but with you and your cohort. What would your grandparents think of today’s women who bring 80% of the divorces – they call it “finding themsleves”? And throw their husbands out of their own homes? And what would your grandparents think of an all powerful State that not only allows this but seems to encourage it?
    I don’t think they would approve of any of it – nor you. I know them better than you do you see.

  268. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 1:03 pm #

    You poor male bitch – why don’t you bite your own cock off?

  269. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 1:07 pm #

    Fascists bringing down America? Infinite Delusion. You need to focus on yourself. You are a very conservative person. You have never challenged your upbringing like most people here. It shows.

  270. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 1:27 pm #

    “Too bad you spend your time, energy and money on trying to stop Mexicans from crossing the border, instead of trying to solve problems in a humanitarian way.”
    -wage-
    Wage, you and this discussion thread have an obsession with “illegal Mexicans.” With the help – no kidding, of Asoka – I realized MONTHS ago that the “southern border” and the “Mexicans” are less of a problem for the future of the Planet and the US – than are TOTAL NUMBERS of US immigrants of all types and origins, both legal and illegal.
    I’ve been consistent with that stance for some months now – yet, CFN posters continue to accuse me of “illegal mexican bashing and objecting.”
    Sort of provides reinforcement to one of your ideas that we are unthinkingly brainwashed by our own media – to the point that our words and thoughts lose their meanings.
    So, you tell me ONE important way in which the war-making power and environmental damage of the US is NOT enhanced by more and more and more immigrants – and maybe I’ll shut up about it.
    Meanwhile, we’ve all got to start somewhere – just like your French investigator of financial chicanery – that MM referenced.
    ================
    “The Legal Workforce Act, H.R. 2164, offered by House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, would require the use of E-Verify nationwide…”
    You can call either, or both, of these two gentlemen and ask that HR 2164 be brought out of committee, brought to a vote, and passed before the August recess.
    House Speaker John Boehner — 202-225-0600
    House Majority Leader Eric Cantor — 202-225-4000
    ===============
    I just spoke to two very nice administrative assistants – and left this message for both of these men.

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  271. digbycookies July 12, 2011 at 1:29 pm #

    Day 2 in the life of a layabout, unemployed male. Just finished calling that temp. agency where I deposited urine into a cup yesterday and had my ears filled with bullshit about how to lift and lower a box. The receptionist answered the call and said, “The company isn’t requesting any additional workers at this time. I will, however, put you on the list of available workers. Call back tomorrow.”
    I thought to myself, you mean I’m currently NOT on the available to work list TODAY? Now, why the fuck did they think I paid them a visit yesterday to pee in a cup and listen to their hour long bullshit? Do they think that perhaps I enjoy inserting my member into a plastic vial for examination because, “Well, gee, golly, fellas, I’m sure bored today, and I kind of wanted to share something up close and personal with you guys!” I mean, WTF? (thank you, Butters Stotch)

  272. digbycookies July 12, 2011 at 1:32 pm #

    Hey, dumb bitch! Some of us have worked over 30 years and now find ourselves out of a job with almost no prospect of landing even a minimum wage gig. Just because your dad was a loser doesn’t mean all unemployed people are layabouts. Same goes for your “pal”, Truthteller. You’re both STUPID BITCHES!

  273. digbycookies July 12, 2011 at 1:39 pm #

    Okay, I’m done with my rant. Somebody (sorry I forgot who) inquired about my home rodent problem and how it might be more prudent to set some traps. Well, guess what I found in the middle of the kitchen floor last night! I guess the cats must have dragged the trap out there because I had it placed under the stove. BTW, peanut butter works great! And yes, I have recycled the trap (but not the mouse). Digby, the Great Hunter/Trapper!

  274. digbycookies July 12, 2011 at 1:43 pm #

    “Do they think that perhaps I enjoy inserting ^ THE CONTENTS of my member into a plastic vial for examination…” Gee, the way that read was a little kinky!

  275. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 1:57 pm #

    Obama has just threatened the American People saying that if he doesn’t get his way, the SS checks wont go out August 3rd. Right out of the Communist Playbook. What did these fools think that they would get when they voted for him?

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  276. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 1:57 pm #

    “….pickle cucumbers the Russian way. She’s 25. How many 25 year old girls from the USA know how to make pickles?” – marlin –
    Marlin, I’m happy for you. I’d like to make Russian pickles, myself. But you didn’t answer my questions.
    1. Do you think this girl’s children will know how to make Russian pickles when they are 25? How about her grand-children when they are 25?
    And why will THEY cherish Grandmother and the “old ways,” when native born US children rarely do?
    2. When do we declare the US full? 400,000,000?
    600,000,000?? And what about declining fossil fuels and possible starvation.
    Maybe if the pro-immigration folks would advance some strategy besides “HOPE!” some of the loyal opposition – concerned about long-term quality of life – would relax a little bit.
    ==============
    OK – I’m out for a while. Gotta get some work done. Man, it’s HOT out there!

  277. Uncle Ned July 12, 2011 at 1:59 pm #

    Yo Marlin- I come inside from rooting around in the garden, and there’s Auntie River, back on the CFN website, hammering away on her laptop. HA! I knew she couldn’t stay away…
    Thanks to you and Rippedthunder for making us feel welcome here. I’ve been lurking around CFNation for years, but mostly just to read Jim’s monday morning post. ( I’m a big fan of ‘The Long Emergency’ , and he consistently makes me laugh about a subject -the unraveling of this once great nation, that I usually find anything but funny. Thank you James Kunstler!
    Anyhoo, I drifted into CFN Commentsland sometime last winter and its been hard to turn away since then. Now Auntie has joined me here,with my encouragement. I told her that CFN needed more women to speak up, to counterbalance all the miserable old ‘bitch hatin’ goats roaming about .
    We always enjoy seeing your posts here Marlin. Your love and appreciation for the history and beauty of our great state of Connecticut, ‘the land of steady habits’, shines through. More on this subject later though. Gotta run!

  278. Buck Stud July 12, 2011 at 2:03 pm #

    Just the other day I was talking to a former Soviet Bloc citizen now living in America and although they weren’t singing the praises of communism they sure were in envy of the European health-care model (France in this particular instance). The right-wingers on this site over-simplify as usual. When people can no longer afford health insurance, and they watch their loved ones die without health-care, how many of them will be singing the praises of dog-eat-dog capitalism then? In fact, many from eastern bloc nations are deeply habitually suspicious of revealing their true political sentiments for fear of retribution. So people like Q and Marlin get to hear what they want to hear.

  279. Buck Stud July 12, 2011 at 2:25 pm #

    too fast once again – deeply and habitually.
    This couple from the former Eastern Bloc also mentioned that there is a virulent right-wing crowd – “Mafioso” is the term he used – who are essentially destroying the culture of Moscow for the all-mighty dollar. He also laments that in the U.S. so much beautiful land is blocked off by fences; the landscape painter of Russia rarely had to ask permission to paint a certain section of land. But the jingoist always throws away the scale, and thumps the chest instead.

  280. Cash July 12, 2011 at 2:35 pm #

    … that immigrants from Western Europe, post WW2, are staunch right-wingers. – Wage
    Makes me think Wage that you haven’t met all that many post WW2 immigrants.

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  281. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 2:39 pm #

    Well, Prog, I DID remember that you were also against legal immigration.
    That’s why I called you out on your ass-kissing of Marlin.
    Now you’re back on the legal immigrant thing again.
    I can’t help it if you contain multitudes!

  282. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 2:42 pm #

    Yes, I pointed out before that I got contradictory stories from a Ukrainian and a Syrian, but no one seems to remember that.
    They toe the line.

  283. digbycookies July 12, 2011 at 2:44 pm #

    “I can’t guarantee that those checks (S.S.,etc. ) will go out on August 2nd if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.” Obama to Scott Pelley
    Well now, where did the money go, Obummer? Don’t tell us you already spent it,did ya now?
    This slickster is trying to scare old people into jumping on his bandwagon. If I believed in Hell, this guy would be roasting on a spit for eternity. He is a sick, deranged, lying, war criminal bastard.

  284. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 2:45 pm #

    And Social Security has nothing to do with the federal budget, as anyone who is employed can see by looking at their paystub.
    You pay federal income taxes, AND you pay Social Security and you pay Medicare.
    They are separate and Obama is a liar and a scoundrel for trying to conflate them.

  285. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 2:48 pm #

    Plus – the line “no Americans will do those jobs”- is bullshit.
    It’s bad enough when they say Americans won’t harvest food or clean rooms. I know Americans who do both those things.
    But when they import engineers, doctors, nurses, college professors and machinists with that sorry excuse, I call them out.

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  286. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 2:53 pm #

    The rape of the former Soviet Union is very sad.
    As soon as it fell, US capitalists flooded in to reap the wealth.
    The sturgeons were overharvested, the forests were overharvested, the massive manufacturing plants were sold off.
    I think it was on this blog that somebody linked to a story about a seed bank, acres and acres of land planted in heritage seeds, that was going to be destroyed so that a highway could be built across it.
    The scientists who worked there during WW2 starved rather than eat the seeds. (Yeah, it was this blog, because asia called them stupid for caring about future generations).
    All destroyed, for a few to profit. Rather like our redwoods, our topsoil and our Gulf of Mexico.

  287. digbycookies July 12, 2011 at 2:53 pm #

    Some of us will even submit to a background check and a drug test…for MINIMUM WAGE! Saw on the news the other night how Georgia was fretting about not being able to get fruit pickers for $12 bucks an hour! I grew up in the South. I have a masters degree and I’m fighting (but not winning) for a job in a warehouse for minimum wage! I’ll pick the damn peaches! Can I wear a wide brimmed hat, loose clothing and bring a couple gallons of water with me, or is that too much to ask?

  288. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 2:57 pm #

    Yeah, I question that story.
    It’s probably propaganda to get more cheap immigrants to pick the peaches.
    Take a bus to the city, and round up unemployed Americans. I’ll bet the bus will be full!

  289. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 3:07 pm #

    Become a mole catcher. Also have a herd of cats that you rent out to catch mice and rats. Once the garbarge stops being picked up, there’s going to be a plague of rats. Get ahead of the curve.
    The trash will blow thru the deserted streets like tumble weeds in dead Western Towns. The few remaining whites will be hunted down for their flesh. It has already happened – in the future. Is it possible to avert it? Yes, but we wont. Only individuals might save themselves at this point.

  290. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 3:11 pm #

    You should be happy for him since you are a Communist too. He’s not a REAL Communist you say? Nobody is – except you.

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  291. Bustin J July 12, 2011 at 3:23 pm #

    Truthie-teller said, “P.S. Q . . . I DON’T hate men . . . I actually LOVE men . . . I just hold modern men to very high standards.”
    They’re YOUR standards, not theirs. And your love is conditional, according to your own standards.
    “I think a REAL MAN, is there for his family. I think a REAL MAN, stands up for his family. I think a REAL MAN, loves his woman and doesn’t talk shit about her out of turn. I think any REAL MAN will stand up and take care of his children. I think a REAL MAN, will work for a living, and feed the children he helped bring into the world. I think a REAL MAN will never lay a hand on a woman, who in most cases is a physically less strong being than he is, and if being subjected to a “beat-down”, there’s no question who’s gonna get their ass whooped. I think a REAL MAN can talk about a problem, without resorting to fisticuffs, or firearms :)”
    Thing about this that is funny, that I deal with, with my own girlfriend, is that when it comes to “talking about a problem”, we’re usually talking about HER problem. Its HER way or the HIGH-way. And its never LOGICAL. Its is a lop-sided hysteria. My problems are never “related with”- they are not HER problems.
    Fundamentally, a woman tries to control a man. She outlines the behaviors she wants and doesn’t want and then manipulates the man into compliance by operant conditioning strategies. One of these is SHAMING. SHAMING attempts to exploit the deeply held psychological conditioning from childhood where a man is sensitized to a desire to please and supplicate women.
    Truthteller does this when she repeats, hypnotically, the association between the term “REAL MEN” and (what behaviors she wants to see). It works very well in real life- especially when you take a man off-guard, when he is emotionally vulnerable, for instance, after there is sufficient bonding. At that point a woman switches from attraction strategies to control strategies. It is at this point that most women transition in their personal relationships to tyranny and emotional blackmail.
    Modern women have no interest in allowing their male counterparts any kind of liberation. No, they desire the security of bonded servitude which they will attempt to obtain and maintain at the earliest possible point in a relationship.
    This instinct is driven by the subliminal reflexes of the primitive, reptilian hind-brain.
    Women are anchored in the primordial flesh, the merging of all differences into the self. An independent man is something to conquer using the strategies of previously learned, successful women. Men make the mistake of thinking the facade of emotional display reflects the inner logic of a woman’s mind. It does not. On the outside, she is all emotional manipulation, watery eyes, moods, quivering lips. On the inside she is calculating, calculating, calculating.
    A woman doesn’t think like a man, live, or love like a man. Men think that women have similar internal experiences. They do not.
    “I think a REAL MAN, will have people who really love him, standing by the side of his grave, saying how much they love him and will miss him, and not be on a slab, in a morgue, with no human being knowing that he died, or cared.”
    In this passage, TT exploits fear of being alone, fear of death, etc. to continue the browbeating strategy. TT sits around with her girlfriends and enumerates the ways in which they can maintain control and power over men in their lives. They strategize and commiserate by going over the losses and victories of the women in their peer groups. They are ego-driven and love to talk about themselves and revel in their little personal dictatorships of the home and family. The peer group is the real intimate circle of influence in a woman’s life. A husband or boyfriend does not get the intimacy- they get the full-blown facade.

  292. Cash July 12, 2011 at 3:23 pm #

    Digdy, I was out of work a couple of times (layoffs). I was out of work once for about four months. In that instance it took me about two months to start getting some action from head hunters, prospective employers etc. All the time I was out of work I did all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping etc plus spending hours a day beating the bushes for work.
    In retrospect what happened was interesting. My wife said that she really liked the food I laid out every night (really yummy stuff) and she said she appreciated never having to lift a finger around the apartment but after about six or eight weeks she started getting short tempered with me.
    I think my wife saw my earnings as the mainstay and hers as supplemental. No mattter that she mostly earned as much as me all our lives except for a couple years. It seems that this attitude is ingrained. Maybe part of it is cultural conditioning. But I think a lot of it is just plain biology. So my being out of work was a violation of the primordial sexual contract that’s been programmed into our behaviour by evolution for who knows how many hundreds of thousands or millions of years.
    And I don’t think it’s an accident that divorce rates shot through the roof either this past 40 years as more and more women hit the workforce. At the same time baby boomers in general hit the job market in huge numbers. Plus North American industry started to massively offshore production.
    So we waved bye bye to a lot of jobs at the same time as we had a massive increase in prospective job seekers. And I think that what we see in the black community with absentee fathers is happening more and more in other racial groups as the economic underpinnings of marriage get eaten away. It happened first with black people but I think the rest are close on their heels.
    And one other thing: I think the model we had of the nuclear family living in their own house in a suburb was psychologically deadening to too many women trapped in them. Like Betty Draper in that series MadMen their hands were going numb from acute boredom. So they started looking for paying work. And men tried to accommodate women in the workforce not realizing that in doing so men and women put in motion events that would subvert the age old arrangement between the sexes.
    So this sociological theorizing is no comfort to you. You need a job and I know full well how it feels. I hope it works out and you find something good.

  293. San Jose Mom 51 July 12, 2011 at 3:28 pm #

    I think it’s ridiculous that you had to do a drug test. My teenage son did a half-hour timed personality test for a min wage job in a big box store. I have a feeling that if banksters and wall street wizards took that personality test it would have triggered a red alert warning — “EXTREME SOCIOPATHIC — Don’t hire.”

  294. Bustin J July 12, 2011 at 3:28 pm #

    Women entered the workforce because millions of men accommodated and tolerated them.
    Women jumped on the civil rights bandwagon because it afforded a pathway into male realms, where they could exploit their primary skills: controlling and manipulating men.
    Now they are stuck inside offices all day doing drone work for corporations, in all-female offices. The men have fled.

  295. Bustin J July 12, 2011 at 3:30 pm #

    Love those personality tests.
    Basically the key is to lie, lie and lie.
    Yes, you have never taken so much as a paperclip from the office. Yes, you would go directly to a supervisor if someone took a paperclip. No, you have never drank alcohol to excess.

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  296. bossier22 July 12, 2011 at 3:37 pm #

    no truer post have i ever read.

  297. Cash July 12, 2011 at 3:38 pm #

    Come off it Wage. More of the good old American superiority complex. Do you seriously think it was Americans that pillaged the old USSR? It was the locals that did the job. Remember the oligarchs? Do you seriously think they’d let AMERICANS cart off the loot? Americans are such nice, pink cheeked, civilized people. They actually use lawyers carrying briefcases to do corporate takeovers and rip offs. The good old Russkies use big men carrying guns.

  298. Cash July 12, 2011 at 3:58 pm #

    Don’t be shy. Tell us what you really think 🙂

  299. welles July 12, 2011 at 4:04 pm #

    Fundamentally, a woman tries to control a man. She outlines the behaviors she wants and doesn’t want and then manipulates the man into compliance by operant conditioning strategies. One of these is SHAMING. SHAMING attempts to exploit the deeply held psychological conditioning from childhood where a man is sensitized to a desire to please and supplicate women.
    yes yes, right on the money. which is why almost all women prefer working with men.
    and bustinj hit it on the head again when he said that women ‘hypnotically’ do this.
    woman comment overheard the other day: “…because men are weak for women.”
    sums it up nicely, EXPLOIT the weakness, then reinforce the servitude through DENIGRATION tactics….works like a charm
    or why else do we have the societal joke of the hen-pecked, pussy whipped husband?
    peace peaceniks

  300. tucsonspur July 12, 2011 at 4:26 pm #

    I believe that race and immigration are right up there with the other major issues of the day. I prioritize these issues in the following way:
    Overpopulation
    Rapacious use of resources
    Environmental degradation
    Worldwide economic ponzi schemes
    Immigration, legal and illegal
    Social breakdown
    How much can you talk about peak oil? I think that Jim and others have said all that could be said on that topic. This does not mean that the word shouldn’t be spread, however. It does mean that this forum should be open to all relevant ideas, racial or otherwise. IMO, I think that the economic issues are more immediate and have the potential for much further damage to Joe citizen, at least in the short run.
    Run for the stronghold, QE3 is coming by the end of the year. Is it foreign investors other than China and domestic funds that are now buying our bonds?

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  301. asia July 12, 2011 at 4:37 pm #

    Connect the dots…Population Explosion in Mexico-Central America, more ‘Latinos’ here with their
    Anti Americanism [I mean ethnic loyalty] and
    Social Breakdown.
    Ronnie Raygun did the first am NASTY!

  302. tucsonspur July 12, 2011 at 4:39 pm #

    With all due respect to JHK, the “Generator”.
    This blog is the wire
    And Vlad the electricity
    He gives you a jolt
    When he mentions ethnicity
    Your resistance is futile
    Because his current is strong
    If you can’t take his posts
    Well, just hurry along
    Try to remember
    That electricity has
    A magnetic attraction
    Just let go of the wire
    If you can’t take his action
    So suck it up
    And take the shock
    Even though you believe
    What he says is a crock
    His powerful volts
    Zap all the dolts
    Try to defy him
    It’s really no use
    Honkey or spade
    You all get the juice.

  303. San Jose Mom 51 July 12, 2011 at 4:41 pm #

    I hate to say it, but the male bosses I had were more straightforward. I had one female boss who wanted me to dress just like her (suits EVERY DAY). She didn’t like it that I wore my long hair down everyday and suggested I try and up-do.
    Did I ask for hair ideas? No. She based her life once she had her “colors done” she wore nothing but autumn colors…even her car matched her color profile.
    I hate short hair. When I was in gradeschool, my mom insisted that I have a “pixie cut.” It was dreadful and too much like “guy hair.” I have lesbian friends — I like them, but I hate their hideous short hair cuts.

  304. tucsonspur July 12, 2011 at 4:53 pm #

    Yes, and the fallout from the blast of that RAYGUN is still with us!

  305. bossier22 July 12, 2011 at 4:54 pm #

    I talked to a girl from Romania. She said under communism they had money but nothing to buy. under capitalism there are plenty of products but no money. Very interesting.

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  306. AMR July 12, 2011 at 5:00 pm #

    You’re right that much of television news is hologrammatic projection, but the media certainly don’t project the hologram so that their audiences might disregard it as bullshit. The government officials and advertisers behind the curtain understand their audiences and know how to manipulate them. They have honed well the dark science and art of propaganda (I’d say that it’s both an art and a science as it’s currently practiced).
    What I see in the United States, both anecdotally and statistically, is a large percentage of the population that is intellectually lazy, disinclined to read serious or lengthy news articles, and disinclined to question any news report that doesn’t appear blatantly offensive or absurd. Another large part of the population, overlapping substantially with the first group, is Balkanized by political and/or religious affiliation, too stubborn and narrow-minded to even glance at anything that challenges its delicate sensibilities.
    A population such as this is extremely easy to propagandize, and the media know it. They also have the data, especially from customer surveys, to know for a fact that certain elements of their propaganda work.
    When I described television as a gauge of popular sentiment, I didn’t mean watching it can take the place of a public opinion poll, although I realize that my statement can be construed that way. What I meant was that enough of the audience swallows the propaganda hook, line and sinker to make it a close approximation of the popular consensus. Maybe Americans aren’t as critical of the news as Israelis; I have no basis of comparison; but I can say that my countrymen fall for some wacky bullshit.
    That said, I don’t believe your claim that every mass media outlet in the world is a CIA front. I see far too much variation and independent analysis in some media outlets to believe that. I do not believe one bit, for instance, that the CIA has ever been capable of hijacking the entire staff of the New York Times. This is not because I consider the CIA a good agency; I’m aware of its sordid history and consider it a criminal organization that uses treason as a stock in trade to unconstitutionally carry out foreign policy without Congressional or judicial oversight. At the same time, I just see too much evidence of journalists, editors and publishers doing their level best to hold the CIA to account for its crimes.

  307. digbycookies July 12, 2011 at 5:04 pm #

    Thanks for sharing your experience and best wishes. I’ve learned quite a few things being the “house husband”. Learning how to bake bread from scratch took me a while, but with the help of a friend who’s a chef, I finally mastered it. And the wife LOVES my bread…brags on me all the time. I’ve learned how to be a better cook AND on a budget. This means pulling out Betty Crocker cookbooks and recreating casseroles right out of the 1950’s and ’60s. Not exactly haute cuisine, but I know the little woman likes the idea of having dinner ready for when she gets home.
    As for cleaning, I manage okay. Now that it’s ungodly hot (I keep the air conditioner off when she’s not here), I’ve let myself slide a bit. When I get good and pissed off, I’m like a white tornado (watching the royal wedding on t.v. – yes- I sunk THAT LOW – caused me to take down the blinds in the living room, scrub them in the bathtub, wash the windows, and beat the furniture cushions within an inch of its life)! I don’t think the Dust Bowl saw that much debris floating around the great prairie!
    The downside is that I really miss actually talking to people every day and getting a paycheck weekly. I can understand why many stay-at-home moms become discontented. Work outside the home, of any kind, seems to bring a connection to the community at large.

  308. digbycookies July 12, 2011 at 5:08 pm #

    One of the side effects of my unemployment has been the ability to see the train wreck we are headed for unfold in slow motion. I agree. Most Americans (me included) are/were too blind to see thru the unmitigating horseshit which we call “news”.

  309. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 5:11 pm #

    I had a pixie cut too! And I hated it too.
    I still have long hair, probably due to that damn pixie cut.

  310. digbycookies July 12, 2011 at 5:16 pm #

    Those personality tests are a trip! If you answer honestly, you are screwed.
    Test item example: I have never lied before in my life.
    Well, I personally don’t know a single person who has never lied.
    Here’s one you might find interestingly or funny:
    “Golly, Jean, it’s not you, it’s ME! (I’M really sick of YOU and your nagging ass)”, OR “John, it’s not that I don’t care about you, I’m just not ready to make that kind of commitment just now (to YOU.. but for Bob…maybe).” 😉

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  311. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 5:16 pm #

    I knew what you meant, and I agree.
    What is aired on TV is what people talk about, what they think about, and, most importantly, what they think everyone else thinks.
    So, Methusalah is right in that even though TV tells us that the debt ceiling is the most important issue facing our country, most people don’t really think that.
    But, the TV talks about it, so they think that everyone else thinks it’s the most important thing, and that’s what they talk about, if they talk politics at all.
    Mostly people talk about the scandals, such as this Casey one. Earlier people were asking why, out of 200 dead kids a year, people focused on this one.
    It’s totally obvious.
    Because the media focused on this one.

  312. digbycookies July 12, 2011 at 5:18 pm #

    I lost my hair and would give anything for a pixie cut! 😀

  313. bossier22 July 12, 2011 at 5:18 pm #

    Daniel Moyniham said decades ago that the black community was a bell weather for society as a whole. As Vlad says they are leading the culture. Other ethnic groups are following on the heels of the black community as far as absentee fathers are concerned.

  314. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 5:22 pm #

    Why didn’t I get the woman training?
    Why wasn’t I taught to manipulate men and get them to do whatever I want?
    I didn’t even know there was such training.
    Thanks, Mom, both for the pixie cut and for the lack of initiation into the secret woman domination club.

  315. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 5:27 pm #

    I think that the whole 60’s long hair fad was probably a reaction to the pixie cut fad.

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  316. Qshtik July 12, 2011 at 5:29 pm #

    This blog is the wire
    ===============
    Best poetry yet at CFN.

  317. wagelaborer July 12, 2011 at 5:30 pm #

    Glenn Ford (I think) pointed out that the whole “one drop” rule, in which one drop of African blood makes you Black, started when slave owners impregnated their slaves.
    That way they could sell their own children.

  318. Buck Stud July 12, 2011 at 5:32 pm #

    “The trash will blow thru the deserted streets like tumble weeds in dead Western Towns. The few remaining whites will be hunted down for their flesh.”
    Of course, throngs of rapacious Latina girls trampling each other just to have a bite out of Vlad Krantz’s flesh. The only thing missing from your scenario is “The Dude” in search of a bowling alley. In which case, you would have no need to worry!

  319. MarlinFive54 July 12, 2011 at 5:36 pm #

    digbyC, what part of the country are you in?
    I retired from a Federal job last winter. Hung around for a couple of months climbing the walls and posting on CFN. My wife got sick of me being home, even tho I tried to keep up the house and go grocery shopping, etc.
    After I’d get groceries, she’d go over the receipt item by item.
    “This is the wrong size.’
    “I wouldn’t have bought this brand”.
    “Did you check the date. I bet its expired.”
    “You paid too much for this”.
    Finally I had enough. 30 years ago I worked for a newspaper, my first job after college. I went back there and they hired me, a job in the pressroom. I didn’t care. I would’ve cleaned toilets at that point, just to have a job, and get the hell out of the house.
    -Marlin

  320. Qshtik July 12, 2011 at 5:45 pm #

    unmitigating horseshit
    ==============
    unmitigated

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  321. metuselah July 12, 2011 at 5:48 pm #

    the media certainly don’t project the hologram so that their audiences might disregard it as bullshit. The government officials and advertisers behind the curtain understand their audiences and know how to manipulate them
    ==
    Sure, but again I must stress, the news media is there to distract. It is irrelevant what they use for the distraction. The whole exercise is an exercise in slight of hand. Capture our attention on one thing, while they do what they need to do unseen on the other thing. Whatever they bring to our attention, it is meant to take our attention from something else that they don’t want us to see. When you understand this, you then understand that EVERYTHING propagated in the news media is 100% irrelevant. It is all bullshit.

  322. tucsonspur July 12, 2011 at 5:56 pm #

    Thank you, Q. Poetry, (and I thank you again for calling it that), doesn’t have to be abstruse as you seem to know. I don’t mean to brag, but I put that together in about ten minutes and I can’t help but think that maybe you’re kidding me.
    Damn. It’s a compliment and I’m going to take it as such. I don’t get many. Thanks again.

  323. bubbleheadMarc July 12, 2011 at 5:57 pm #

    The family dynamic that was going on there was divorced professional couple living on high end cul-de-sac in exurbia posited halfway between Cleveland and Akron, where mom [my girlfriend] is a voc. rehab. counselor who’s replaying the same “helper” tape over and over in her head and totally incapable of looking at herself, because she’s used to picking at everyone else. So she could get stinking drunk once a month to self-medicate for PMS but I, the sober alcoholic attending meetings would get criticized for drinking non-alcoholic beer! And incidentally, NA beer doesn’t contain 0.5% alcohol but considerably less or roughly about the same amount as ORANGE JUICE, which is the only reason my sponsor drank it and said that I could as well.
    She would get drunk when in sole charge of the kids, two criminally inclined high school kids, and of course was extremely verbally abusive when drinking, which would test the kids’ patience to the breaking point, at which time they would start slapping her around. Not liking being slapped around she’d bite the little one and then he’d call the police just like dad told him to. When the police arrived they’d find her drunk with no other adult supervision in evidence and of course the 14 year old would show the cops the bite mark. She would be arrested and locked up in the local jail where she would typically pull new stunts such as flushing her orange jump suit down the toilet, clogging the cell’s toilet! The last time she got arrested for this crap if I hadn’t bothered to bail her out she would’ve been fired by the state from her job and thereby lost her pension. She had already spent $10,000 on a lawyer to fight early termination with disability pension for “hystrionic personality disorder” for getting over-involved with her clients. I was one of her clients and moved in with her for a year after taking her to lunch one day! So what the hell. I can’t complain because not only did she not charge me rent but she was also feeding me. In lieu of rent I bought her a new lawn mower and a chest freezer. The basement was a garbage dump filled with old plastic children’s toys. We finally had a wrestling match over her stunt of hiding my glasses so I couldn’t drive to the barbershop to sleep in the break room since she was getting drunk on probation that night. I could’ve been jailed because I poured a pitcher of whiskey sours over her head. She might have been reluctant to call the police because we were both naked! Something tells me that if she had called 911 she would’ve been taken to jail along with me. I drove to the shop wearing prescription sunglasses at 2:00 AM so it’s a good thing I wasn’t pulled over. And Vlad wants to know my opinion of drunks who soldier on without bothering to quit.

  324. metuselah July 12, 2011 at 5:58 pm #

    I don’t believe your claim that every mass media outlet in the world is a CIA front. I see far too much variation and independent analysis in some media outlets to believe that.
    ==
    You say this because you don’t fully know and understand history. When you start to understand how deep the tentacles go, that for example, the Bolsheviks in Russia were sponsored by the US, the Nazis in Germany were sponsored by the US, the Maoists in China were sponsored by the US, and on and on; when that knowledge sinks in, then I think you’ll appreciate why your skepticism of what I tell you is so misplaced.

  325. metuselah July 12, 2011 at 6:06 pm #

    What I meant was that enough of the audience swallows the propaganda hook, line and sinker to make it a close approximation of the popular consensus.
    ==
    Ok. How do you explain their increasingly shrinking market share?

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  326. bubbleheadMarc July 12, 2011 at 6:16 pm #

    There have always been people who swore off alcohol. In the British army in India the men formed drinking clubs into which they paid first thing as soon as they got their army pay so that they would be able to get drunk every single night even if broke. Periodically they would suffer remorse from their excessive drinking and take the pledge for six months. After six months without a drink they would be awarded a bronze medal commemorating this superhuman feat of abstinence then promptly relapse to their old habits.
    I personally don’t believe in the disease theory of alcoholism but have not had a drink for 20 years anyway. This is because I’ve learned the hard way that I suffer from alocholic cravings and that moreover, they aren’t going to ever go away if I reactivate them by drinking again.
    In terms of drinking on in spite of the predictable bad effects of alcoholism I would have to point out that if your consumption escalates beyond a certain point, say about half a gallon of the hard stuff per week, then you are not really a functional alcoholic but a hard case and that if you persist in this folly things tend not to turn out very well. Not turning out well runs the gamut from jail to locked wards in psychiatric institutions, to running a garden hose from your car’s exhaust pipe into the passenger cabin while enjoying your final cocktails on the planet earth!

  327. AMR July 12, 2011 at 6:20 pm #

    I can’t deny that Baez didn’t try to baffle the jury with bullshit. That’s a common defense tactic, after all. At the same time, what I’ve heard indicates that defense obfuscation was not the only reason that the jury distrusted the prosecution’s case. The Anthony family sounds dysfunctional enough, and Casey Anthony sounds mentally unstable enough, to make alternate theories seem plausible to me.
    I suspect that she killed her child, but why and in what circumstances, I can’t say. Nor do I find it unreasonable for jurors to have suspicions about other relatives in that train wreck of a family. As a juror, I absolutely would have had reasonable doubt about both murder charges. Even had I been convinced that she had killed her child, I would have had no way to ascertain the mental state at the time of someone so unhinged.
    What really disturbs me about this case is the Hate Week festivities being directed against the jury. Juries are one of the most important checks on government power. Properly chosen and overseen, they can be a very effective check on collusion, corruption, incompetence and other serious problems in the criminal justice system.
    The accounts I’ve heard indicate that the Anthony jury performed its duties in good faith and was basically competent. The hateful judgment being passed on the jurors is not driven by a desire to reform or improve the jury system. Good faith reform efforts do not include calls to commit jurors to mental institutions in retaliation for reaching an unpopular verdict. That’s an attempt at jury tampering after the fact. What’s happening here is that an incipient lynch mob is itching to abrogate the US Constitution because a single jury in a single, sensationalized murder trial reached a verdict with which it disagrees.
    I’m open to the adoption of professional jury trials in civil cases, but in criminal cases they are a very bad idea. When prosecutors seek to take a defendant’s life or liberty, they bloody well need to be checked by lay juries beholden to no one. Juries don’t always work properly, and the jury system in many jurisdictions needs to be improved, but it is much harder to corrupt or obtain the collusion of a lay jury than of professionals who must maintain working relationships with prosecutors or judges. Occasional wrongful acquittals are a small price to pay for a system in which the King’s men don’t get to do whatever the hell they want with impunity.
    One of the most important roles of the adversarial process and double jeopardy in criminal trials is to make sure that the prosecutors get all their ducks in a row. They get one shot, and if they blow it, it’s their fault and they should try better next time.
    In the Anthony case, the prosecutors did a good job in what turned out to be difficult circumstances. In the OJ case, they didn’t. The OJ case was an object lesson to prosecutors and police everywhere: if you put a notoriously racist horse’s ass on the stand against a Black defendant accused of killing White victims, you’re likely to lose credibility with the jury, so you’re best advised not to promote the dipshit to detective in the first place. As you alluded to, that’s the sort of lesson that the LAPD took an awfully long time to learn.
    I would argue that a partial failure of the jury system in Los Angeles County contributed to aggression and other misconduct by the LAPD. If more juries had been made aware of the racial prejudice and prior misconduct of testifying officers, there probably would have been more cases of nullification, or of juries simply not believing the testimony of dubious state witnesses. In such circumstances, the LAPD might have gotten the lesson decades earlier that its roguishness was ruining prosecutions, and if the LAPD hadn’t voluntarily reformed itself, the DA’s office probably would have lit a fire under its ass.

  328. AMR July 12, 2011 at 6:25 pm #

    You’ll need to provide me with sources if you want me to believe any of that. I’ve heard a lot of damning things about the CIA and about US foreign policy prior to the CIA, but this particular list sounds like the stuff of lunatic conspiracy theories.

  329. metuselah July 12, 2011 at 6:31 pm #

    See: Anthony Sutton, Carroll Quigley, Edwin Black

  330. bubbleheadMarc July 12, 2011 at 6:32 pm #

    The news got on my nerves when I was unemployed as well. It is obvious that the corporate news is pushing the dull-normal agenda of promoting shit to spend one’s money on, so if you’re unemployed they want you to go to community college for a year to get certified to draw blood or what have you. Then you’re also watching these ITT Tech. commercials to borrow money to study something which is almost laughably unmarketable at this juncture in the economy such as general construction contracting.
    The ex-beauty Queens on the news [eg:Robin Meade, former Miss Ohio, Headline News CNN] are never going to tell you: the end is at hand, tap out your credit cards to buy materials to construct a ferro-cement schooner so that you can escape before the rioting begins and a gang of cannibals make you the guest of honor at their next barbeque. That could perhaps be just the advice you really need but alas, you will never hear that perhaps useful information from perky little Robin from New London, Ohio.
    So, “they” will never admit that it is hopeless and perhaps you should drop out of society. After all, society is working pretty well for them, so why the fuck should they give a shit about you? And the answer of course is that they don’t give a fuck about you. ‘Cause they gots theirs and that’s that.

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  331. Qshtik July 12, 2011 at 6:36 pm #

    I can’t help but think that maybe you’re kidding me.
    ==============
    Of course I’m not kidding you. It’s not Sylvia Plath … and it’s not supposed to be. It’s a genre like the Limerick. Bawdy, irreverent and rhyming with a passing wave toward meter. Plus you nailed Vlad.
    My favorite lines were:
    Honkey or spade
    You all get the juice.

  332. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 6:39 pm #

    http://www.spingola.com/book%20list.htm
    Work your head through this reading list.
    If your head doesn’t explode – please get back to us with a full report.

  333. metuselah July 12, 2011 at 6:42 pm #

    I see far too much variation and independent analysis in some media outlets to believe that.
    ==
    Do you also have doubts that the Republicans and Democrats are both owned by the banksters and serve their interests, given the Republicans’ and Democrats’ varied and independent professed ideologies?

  334. metuselah July 12, 2011 at 6:45 pm #

    And yet, not one mention of the Vatican. I call BS! 🙂

  335. Elrond Hubbard July 12, 2011 at 7:08 pm #

    Vlad: “The few remaining whites will be hunted down for their flesh. It has already happened – in the future”.
    … Words fail me.

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  336. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 7:18 pm #

    “Thanks, Mom, both for the pixie cut and for the lack of initiation into the secret woman domination club.” -wage-
    That’s actually a deeper analysis than you may have intended, Wage. Although I’m with you on the pixie cuts, and maybe short hair in general on women –
    it just ain’t right, IMHO.
    But, “the secret woman domination club” actually does exist. Based on my exhausting research, somewhere between 20% and 60% of women in America are members. But here’s the funny thing, like it’s the ULTIMATE conspiracy – very few of these women even know they are members of this club. There are no meetings, no dues, not even a secret handshake.
    And their spouses and significant others are, often, even less aware that “The Club” exists. But it does.
    It’s in our genes. Some people have them, some people wear them, and others will simply never believe they exist. 😉

  337. AMR July 12, 2011 at 7:22 pm #

    I wasn’t referring to the partisan Kabuki theater put on by establishment hacks in Congress and the White House. I recognize the divide-and-conquer tactics that are often used to distract voters from serious issues. I was referring instead to serious investigative reporting, independent of editorial opinion or partisan affiliation. There is often a shortage of this even in our best papers, but it still exists, and when it’s done right it can really back renegade officials into a corner.
    As far as Congress being bought and paid for, it wouldn’t be so if the voters in most districts weren’t too apathetic, greedy, or obsessed with wedge issues to turf out the crooks. It is only with the voters’ approval that moneyed interests are able to keep their pet Congressmen in office. Whatever shadowy figures may or may not be trying to pull strings, they’re still operating on some level with the consent of the governed. They’re only sporadically able to orchestrate enough electoral fraud to influence outcomes.
    What really influences outcomes is that many of the governed don’t understand the stakes or don’t care. Come election time, they either sit the process out or chase red herrings. The media and any overt provocateurs or cloak-and-dagger operatives behind the scenes are only able to make their pitches and execute their psy-ops; it is ultimately the decision of the voters themselves to behave like children or like adults.
    By the way, I’ll try to remember to let you know what I think of the authors that you mentioned above.

  338. Elrond Hubbard July 12, 2011 at 7:25 pm #

    digbycookies: “Those personality tests are a trip! If you answer honestly, you are screwed.
    Test item example: I have never lied before in my life.
    Well, I personally don’t know a single person who has never lied.”
    Well, naturally. This point seems to be lost on Bustin J, who was recommending in an earlier post to just lie, lie, lie and assert that they’d never stolen so much as a paper clip and that he/she would go directly to the boss if they heard of any such thing happening, et cetera. Bustin must think they’re the only person in the world more sophisticated than a six-year-old. The people who design those tests put in questions like that and various cross-checks precisely to flag liars and suck-ups of that kind.

  339. MarlinFive54 July 12, 2011 at 7:27 pm #

    “…Right wing gun nut.” — WageL
    Is there any other kind?
    Reading this blog you’d think that the US is the worst place on Earth. Yet right now I’m looking out window at lovely green lawns, maple and oak trees, and acres of flower and vegetable gardens. Just grilled up some steaks, have the night off so washed them down with some PBR. It doesn’t get much better than that! And I’m just an ordinary citizen whose father was severely wounded in Korea fighting commies. Metusaleh, I’m surprised at you! Most Israelis are as well disposed toward the US as we are to you. I know because I visited their in 04. And Wage, you need to get outside the US more, maybe visit a 3rd world country or two, see what its like there. I did, courtesy of the US Navy. Then you can make comparisons and register your bitter criticisms.
    -Marlin

  340. digbycookies July 12, 2011 at 7:38 pm #

    “digbyC, what part of the country are you in?”
    I’m in the Southeast. Grew up in Virginia. As for groceries, I buy (that is, the government, that is YOU BUY) about 90% of everything. I use Sam’s Club for bulk stuff (t.p, paper towels, detergent). I receive zero squawk about any of the brands I buy. My time on the dole should officially be up by mid November. The Unemployment office here is an absolute joke. About the only “positions” obtainable around these parts where you can afford 3 squares and a bed is the county jail.

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  341. Bustin J July 12, 2011 at 7:38 pm #

    Well said, “woman comment overheard the other day: “…because men are weak for women.”
    sums it up nicely, EXPLOIT the weakness, then reinforce the servitude through DENIGRATION tactics….works like a charm
    or why else do we have the societal joke of the hen-pecked, pussy whipped husband?”
    I liken it to people who say they like dogs.
    They find a dog, then take it home and proceed for up to several years in beating the dog out of the animal. What you’re left with is certainly less “doggish” than the original.
    It makes one ask the fundamental question: Are they honest when they say they like dogs?
    Similiarly, are women honest when they say they like men? After all, they take the poor schlub that initially attracted them with his set of masculine traits and then apply the same conditioning regime one would apply to a dog: operant conditioning. The result is a housebroken animal.
    I’m not sure women want this. Actually I’m positive they don’t.

  342. Qshtik July 12, 2011 at 7:43 pm #

    And the answer of course is that they don’t give a fuck about you.
    =============
    Terrific rant Bubb! I picture Carlin, mic gripped tight and up to his lips, steps toward audience slightly hunched over and with a sneer on his face, says: It’s a BIG. FUCKIN. CLUB. AND YOU. AIN’T. INNIT!!

  343. San Jose Mom 51 July 12, 2011 at 7:45 pm #

    Poor kids, poor Marc. Personality disorders are pretty much untreatable IMO. What a horrific environment. Glad you got out of the situation.
    I’ve got a neighbor who has a narcissistic personality disorder (in my humble opinion) and she is a piece of work. She’s extremely beautiful with DDD boobs and also extremely bitchy when she percieves that she’s not getting positive reviews. Over the past 14 years, I’ve been a victim of her backstabbing a couple of times. My husband calls her a lying fembot (Austin Powers –International Man of Mystery reference)and steers clear of her. I simply wave hello when I have to, and try to stay out of her way. I wouldn’t wish her vengeance on anyone.

  344. metuselah July 12, 2011 at 8:02 pm #

    I wasn’t referring to the partisan Kabuki theater put on by establishment hacks in Congress and the White House.
    ==
    Yes, but your argument regards the news media was that because the various media outlets appear to be different that they must be different. I just tried to point out to you the fallacy of that argument.
    I’m also trying to convey to you something more profound, and that is: there is no news. There’s only the illusion of news. What you see on the propaganda outlets is all a manufactured scripted script.
    As regards the government and elections. Again, there is no government or elections. There is only the illusion of government and elections. The people in government are not elected, they are selected. And they are not selected by you or I. When you understand that, you understand that the whole thing is a facade and a charade.

  345. Qshtik July 12, 2011 at 8:11 pm #

    I could’ve been jailed because I poured a pitcher of whiskey sours over her head. She might have been reluctant to call the police because we were both naked!
    ============
    Bubb, you’re life just keeps getting better and better. You simply must contact a movie producer.

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  346. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 8:22 pm #

    Hey TT – you made a couple of posts last night that really hit some nerves and generated some interesting responses – so, way to go, girl!
    Now concerning the following:
    “I don’t know how NOT to work, Prog . . . If I had to NOT WORK, I’d be lost, I think . . .
    Honestly, here’s what I believe . . . once you’ve been really hungry, EVEN ONCE, you do what you can to avoid that shit again at all costs, for the rest of your life, honey :)” -TruthTeller-
    To some extent I agree, TT. And hunger and genuine privation like this is a thing that scars a person for life. I saw the results of it in both my parents – up close and personal.
    But after that, I’m thinking that maybe you have “*work*” being given more elevation in a person’s life than is deserved. My mom sounds like you – always working, all her life. She worked herself through college, when that was almost unknown for rural southern females. She taught for 35 years, retired from that, then immediately went into a heavy schedule of education related committee work – then writing 4 separate family genealogy books. She was going strong on a project when I talked to her, the very day before she had the stroke that ended her life – at age 92.
    My dad came up much harder than my mom did, as one of 14 children – a son of rural white sharecroppers in the depression South. He was quiet about it – but he had lived through stuff that would curl your hair, if you heard the stories.
    He left home at 16 to join the Army – finally earning enough income to split the purchase of a farm with an older brother – so that his mom, dad, and younger siblings would finally have a place to call home.
    Well, even after all of that, and after busting his chops for 50 hard years – my dad was pretty relaxed about his desire to work. He took an early retirement at age 62. He died at 72, and I don’t believe that he, or anyone who ever knew him, thought that that early retirement was a mistake.
    He loved, I believe, almost every single second of those 10 years that he did not have to punch a clock or answer to a boss.
    Now I’ve taken a – more or less – early retirement at age 52 – though I still work hard on things and follow my own interests.
    I know my dad would be really, really happy for me. He probably would have done it at 42 or 32, if he could have figured out how to do it.
    =================
    Not sure of the purpose of this narrative, TT.
    Different strokes for different folks?
    Follow your own muse?
    Anyway, thanks for the shoutout –
    and for your good posts from last night.

  347. Qshtik July 12, 2011 at 8:31 pm #

    She’s extremely beautiful with DDD boobs and also extremely bitchy when she percieves that she’s not getting positive reviews.
    ================
    I think I recall you mentioning this slut before. Yeah I hear ya, I really hate bitches like that; always trading on their looks ’cause they got nuthin’ else goin’ for them …………. hmmm triple D’s ………… but time marches on and beauty is a wasting asset and ………….. where did you say this c*nt lives?
    BTW, it’s perceives (I before E except after C … etc)

  348. Buck Stud July 12, 2011 at 8:56 pm #

    I’m pretty sure Vlad isn’t giving anybody a “jolt”. Perhaps, his three or four deluded fans are feeling inspired by Krantz, being prone to racist ideology themselves. But as far as providing the electrical juice of the blog – what a joke. It’s more like a psychic vampire draining the place dry, year after year, month after month, week after week, day after day. And in the immediate aftermath of our host’s weekly offering, there he is again, spewing the same old incessant tripe that you find such a magnetic attraction.
    Here’s a proposal: Why don’t you and your inspiration go open your own blog and experience just how little magnetism you provide for the majority of readers here. And while you’re at, and being the proud, white racists you are, attach a real name to your efforts. But that ain’t gonna happen, is it, punk?

  349. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 9:23 pm #

    Yes you have sensed the Truth. But why is it this way? Because despite what the liberals say, race has never really been discussed in this society. Blacks threatening and Liberals shaming Whites is not a conversation and doesn’t count.
    And the Blacks want even more of the same. But the days of us putting our heads down and listening to ourselves be defamed are over. It’s all uphill from here. They’re going to have to fight for every inch they take now.
    The mainsteam Media continues to try to hide the extent and depth of minority hatred. But every year fewer and fewer people buy or believe these rags. There might even be a relationship between these two facts.

  350. Vlad Krandz July 12, 2011 at 9:33 pm #

    One Christian Psychologist author named Scott Peck shocked alot of people when he admitted that on nights when they didn’t go out, both he and his wife would drink heavily. He said that it was the pattern of his adult life and he had no plans to change. Alcohol made this life bearable for him and he had a “stable” relationship with it. That was possible because he was a very stable person. He was neither proud nor ashamed just factual about his drinking and his weakness in needing to. He recognized it as a deep failing.
    I grant you that not drinking all day long and then really letting go is a pattern that few can attain or maintain. Jack London tried and failed.

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  351. soak July 12, 2011 at 9:46 pm #

    “The people in government are not elected, they are selected. And they are not selected by you or I.”
    ——————
    Why did “they” select a socialist for the Senate to represent Vermont?
    Why did “they” select an openly active Muslim for the House to represent Minnesota?
    Are you sure you and I don’t elect people to office? Are you sure “they” “selected” a socialist and a Muslim?

  352. bubbleheadMarc July 12, 2011 at 9:47 pm #

    Surprisingly I found that I could handle whatever it was pretty dispassionately and I think that that was because I was only a houseguest, kind of like Cato Caylin, that professional houseguest who was hanging out with OJ Simpson. When I bailed her out of jail I took precautions. First, I took my mom along to help out with getting her back to her house, since we were broken up at the time that I picked her up from the Summit County jail. I also wante to keep her at bay at that point and didn’t want to sleep with her that night. Then also I canceled our wedding which saved me from a world of shit. If I had been totally enmeshed in a marriage to her with shared finances then there’s no way I could have coped successfully with the insanity. Since then I’ve been extremely circumspect where women are concerned. Of course I was a fucking monk at one time even if only for a year or so. But I never took vows or wore the Benedictine habit.

  353. bubbleheadMarc July 12, 2011 at 10:06 pm #

    Yes, I’m familiar with Peck and read two of his books when I was interested in Christianity a long time ago. I also know through Episcopalian monastic circles that his nephew wanted to become an Episcopalian monk and Peck freaked out over that for some reason. I found that curious at the time because anyone who knows anything about monasteries realizes that monasticism is not really a viable lifestyle which is why the attrition rate has to be a good 90% these days. So if virtually everyone quits within five years why get so bent out of shape? But the fact remains that there are factions within that religion which are not in sympathy with the Anglo-Catholic movement and find celibacy to be extremely disturbing and symptomatic of a dependency neurosis. I always thought that Anglicanism was supposed to be “catholic” and found such low-church attitudes annoying, especially when expressed by converts from protestant churches. My reaction would tend to be “if you want to be a protestant then why don’t you crawl back into whatever evangelical shit-hole you crawled out of prior to attending seminary so you could get ordained and come fuck up my cradle religion?” For some reason the Episcopal Church is currently plagued by former Presbyterians and Methodists who seem to want to remain protestant while getting paid more than their old sect pays, so they figure “why not go piss on the Episcopalian parade to see who we can fuck up today since we’ve got nothing better to do?” Or “why not spend our counseling session today telling anyone who wants to become a nun or a monk how fucked they are even though we don’t know what we’re talking about, have never gone on a retreat to an abbey, and enjoy the socio-economic rat-race because it’s served our ego needs so swimmingly?”
    On the drinking thing I don’t think that the church strongly condemned heavy drinking traditionally, at least not in the catholic churches or the classical protestant churches. After all, during the middle ages you really couldn’t drink the water, so everyone drank gallons of ale constantly. The question of course is whether or not you can handle your drink. I also think that American society could stand to be a little more alcohol and marijuana toleratant, within reason of course. But then I’m a complete alcoholic so any sort of continued drinking is simply not an option for me. This could be because I am roughly 50% Celtic ancestry with a small admixture of Seneca Iroquois thrown in, both ethnicities with a certain sensitivity to alcohol. Also, nervousness runs in the German side of the family so it always seemed like everyone was drinking in order to sedate themselves to some degree.

  354. Dostoyevsky July 12, 2011 at 10:10 pm #

    Hey Vladdy
    Douchebag.
    “It took me a long time to adopt these native habits and bring them back to my native America. This is only one of the reasons I am so pro-immigrant. We can learn so much from people who have had to adapt under harsh environmental conditions. No man (or woman) is an island, baby!”
    You do schizophrenic pretty well!

  355. Ixnei July 12, 2011 at 10:44 pm #

    “Unless you need that 20-25K per year to eat I think withdrawing it and taking a 10% penalty makes you dumber than dirt. No offense.”
    Indeed – I might even agree with that. However, “a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush”. I’d rather cut loose now with *something*, than wait until after the “tulip” bubble (college financing bust/years of losses *finally* placed on the balance sheets of all those banks/brokerage firms [LOL @ GAAP]), and have NIL/IXNEI. *WHAT INFLATION*!!!
    An aside here – do you recall how people held on to “money” during double digit inflation/hyperinflation? They invested in hard, tangible, useful products – as those are the things that maintain a more-or-less *consistent* value. I have some old Mexican pesos, that at one time (no longer) could have been traded in for new pesos, at a rate of 100 old to 1 new… LOL! I’ve also got coins from another country that the IMF coerced into major inflation (can you guess?)
    I certainly don’t believe the Dow is worth 12.5k (typo? more liek brain fart). I’m still not quite sure how they continue growing it, unless of course, it’s all based upon China(Asia)/India/Mexico/South America offshoring/outsourcing. That can’t last too long, given no one has money to buy their products anymore (regardless of the slave labor cost reductions – I’m doubting any of those slaves are able to afford their own product, either).
    Who knows tho – they can cook bubbles, and drive the market up (always in favor of what “they” hold, rather than what their individual customers hold). It’s really gotta be nice, to take a bunch of money from clients, leverage it 30 to 1, and use it to bet against those very customers.
    Keep tuning in to CNBC – I’m sure there’s some really worthwhile infos there, that I just simply haven’t discovered yet… Easy profits could have been made, if you were a sociopath/without morals (BofA/Citi/etc, after bailout payoffs, or oil companies as the price rose from $2.50 to $4 the first [second?] time). That’s why they call it *easy money* – you simply jump on the “MOB” band-wagon, with no qualms *WHATSOEVER*. May the greatest man win (WTF was the original purpose of *GOVT*, already?). Wait, I got that wrong – the man with the most sh!t when he dies *WINS* – now that sounds liek a worthy goal!!!

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  356. progress,conserve July 12, 2011 at 11:16 pm #

    So, yeah – when an otherwise sober and analytically minded investment analyst comes up with something as funny as the following quote – maybe big economic troubles are a lot closer than many of us might want to imagine:
    “I said that if the market knew what Bernanke and the leadership of the central banks talked about after their third glass of wine, the market would wet its pants. That is not to suggest I don’t think Bernanke or Trichet can hold their liquor. It means that they get the problem more than they let on in public and are simply trying to stem as much damage as they can.”
    -john mauldin-
    http://www.johnmauldin.com/frontlinethoughts/what-happened-to-the-jobs

  357. San Jose Mom 51 July 12, 2011 at 11:17 pm #

    Bon Voyage! See ya’ll later in July. Hoping for relative peace in Greece, Italy, Croatia and Turkey.
    SJmom

  358. tucsonspur July 12, 2011 at 11:30 pm #

    “I’m pretty sure Vlad isn’t giving anybody a jolt.”
    It looks like he just gave you another one, even if indirectly through me. Powerful stuff indeed.
    I think that you miss my point. I judge people on an individual basis, black, brown, yellow or white. I respect a black man just as much as a white man initially, although obviously the color difference raises certain social antennae that one must neutralize in order to treat a person fairly.
    It’s a question of the forest or the trees, the macro vs. micro. The world’s demographics clearly indicate that before too long whites will be in the “vast” minority. I believe that there is instilled in all of us an inherent biological imperative to preserve one’s own race. It’s a dilemma; I mentioned in a post way back that it would be better for whites to have the race war now, or soon. But who is ready to kill? I’m not, at least not now. Is Vlad?
    Even then, the inexorable forces of change may mean the demise of whites. And certainly so if Vlad and others can’t raise the “armies of blood”.
    “But that ain’t gonna happen, is it punk?”
    Jeez, Buck, now you’re Clint Eastwood. I know that you are not brain dead, it was a good post, so get ORIGINAL!

  359. Ixnei July 12, 2011 at 11:32 pm #

    “I found that curious at the time because anyone who knows anything about monasteries realizes that monasticism is not really a viable lifestyle which is why the attrition rate has to be a good 90% these days. So if virtually everyone quits within five years why get so bent out of shape?”
    I was tempted to join up with a local Trappist Abbey that made killer fudge around 15 years ago. However, I had a problem with the sexism in monasteries (no women allowed – nuns segregated). They produced all their own food, and lived out in forested areas, which were quite tranquil and fertile. I never really had a problem with the celibacy thang – I haven’t had a girlfriend/significant other for over 20 years, and never got married/had children.
    I believe there’s something to releasing accumulated sperm every once in a while, as that is where toxins tend to collect within the male body. It’s not an obsession with me – but rather, a 0.5-1.5 hour “medical process/expulsion” every few days. However, religion seems to frown upon ejaculation, for some sinister reason I never figured out (6 years as a Catholic altar boy, doing daily mass for the priests).
    “I also think that American society could stand to be a little more alcohol and marijuana toleratant, within reason of course. But then I’m a complete alcoholic so any sort of continued drinking is simply not an option for me.”
    I was an AA advocate for about 3 years in the early 90’s, then again for 6 years in the early 2000’s. I ended up leaving, as it was just a crutch – where I could feel good about myself, hearing about how many others were *WAY* more screwed than myself. Now, I limit myself to fermented alcohol (beer primarily) – no more distilled spirits. As it is now, I’m hard-pressed to drink more than about 10 beers – and when I do, it takes me at least 7 hours (and more like 10-12). With spirits, it was way too easy to make myself 3-4 shot juice drinks, that I could chug in about 10 minutes (that had no taste of alcohol). Vodka/Everclear *NO MORE*! Hard liquor (*LEGAL*) seems to be more of a cause of schizophrenia than LSD – if’n ya ask me./.

  360. danqq July 12, 2011 at 11:33 pm #

    watched part of Dylan Radigan today and he was saying something about the marshall plan and writing off debt etc., for the US I believe. Didnt understand what he was getting at.
    Europe is messed up, and just now, when we here about Italy closing in on default, they have one of their own, Draghi waiting in the wings to head up the ECentral bank. And he once worked for Goldman sachs I believe, wonder what side hell come down on.

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  361. Ixnei July 12, 2011 at 11:49 pm #

    “Hey Vladdy
    Douchebag.
    You do schizophrenic pretty well!”
    I’d argue that it’s more like multiple personality (sock-puppet) disorder, rather than schizophrenia.
    I mean, schizo’s hear *Ghad* speaking to them (Dumbya, Pat Robertson, Bachmann, etc). They typically don’t also assume the *Ghad* figure as an alter-ego.
    But I do think you’ve nailed the long-contested “sock-puppet” link between Asoka and Vlad. I believe many here have thought they were one in the same person, for the past year or so I’ve been *reading*. I can’t be so sure, as I don’t read Vlad, except every once in a month or so – he never fails to remind me why I stopped…

  362. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 12:02 am #

    Watch Lords of the Rings. The Orcs want man flesh.

  363. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 12:14 am #

    I still want to fuck Casey like she was Hitler.

  364. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 12:16 am #

    Egad are you stupid.

  365. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 12:19 am #

    Overheard in Seattle: Black kid in office getting fired exclaims “You’re jus firing me cuz I’m Black”. The Manager responds, “No we hired you just because you’re Black. We’re firing you because you’re useless.”

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  366. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 12:29 am #

    So you wanted to join a Monastary even though you don’t believe in “Ghad”? Just because they make good fudge? One is again reminded of Edmund’s sticky fingers and how Aslan had to die in torment to save him.
    Thank you for not joining.

  367. tucsonspur July 13, 2011 at 12:56 am #

    “You have sensed the truth..”
    I did more than that. The truth in this case was the bullseye, and I the arrow in its center.

  368. Qshtik July 13, 2011 at 1:09 am #

    Watch Lords of the Rings.
    ============
    Like the Internet, there’s only one Lord.

  369. Ixnei July 13, 2011 at 1:09 am #

    “About the only “positions” obtainable around these parts where you can afford 3 squares and a bed is the county jail.”
    I’ve been living on about $12k/year, for the past decade, and quite *decadently* (I love the duality [triality] of meaning there, in a single *word*).
    It’s unfortunate that state/federal prisons are spending $40-60k+/year, per prisoner. And how about the costs for an *EXECUTION*…
    That will change soon, with the privatization of prisons. Exponential prison-felon-incarceration! Chain-gang, here we come! Majority PRISON-STATE (prison planet?)!!!

  370. Ixnei July 13, 2011 at 1:19 am #

    “I still want to fuck Casey like she was Hitler.”
    I swear, every time I passed by the HLN channel during the trial, Casey looked like a demon, with horns that were “for some reason” missing… Her cranium simply didn’t look *human*. Those horn *RIDGES* (without horns)!!!
    I’m not surprised you’d want to fsck the female-Devil. What do they call those in folk-lore – harpy/succubus? I don’t know – do you? I’m sure you must, as that’s what you *LUST*.

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  371. Ixnei July 13, 2011 at 1:22 am #

    “Egad are you stupid.”
    Ahh, so you *ARE* yet another Asoka multiple personality *DISORDER*. Begone, *SOCK-PUPPET*.

  372. asia July 13, 2011 at 1:31 am #

    What about job training or school?
    I went back to school at the age of 50!

  373. Ixnei July 13, 2011 at 1:35 am #

    “it is ultimately the decision of the voters themselves”
    You are obviously clueless to the lack of paper trails from the electronic voting booths that exist pretty much everywhere now, for the past decade.
    It was clear 10 years ago, that each voter could be given a public key (encryption), make their vote online, come back later and verify it, and NO ONE ELSE could ever find out who that person was, or who they voted for. Moreover, the total vote tally would have been completely accurate, and verifiable. And, the total cost of such a complete, consistent and bullet-proof system would have been well under $50 million.
    There’s a reason why this sh!tty “paperless” electronic voting booth code still exists, *PARTICULARLY* in key states like Florida/Ohio/etc.

  374. Patrizia July 13, 2011 at 1:53 am #

    What is behind
    What do you have to do to keep somebody as your slave?
    Simply put him in debts with you.
    What is happening to Greece in first row and Italy just a few days ago, is very clear to me.
    Speculators dump State bonds, obliging the country to upgrade the interest rates to make them more alluring.
    But higher interest rates mean to strangle a country and killing it.
    What happens?
    The BCE and the IMF come to its rescue.
    They lend enough money to survive, at a very low interest rate, so that the country can buy back enough bonds to keep the interest rate low. (the money lent is at a very low interest).
    And this would be a really good strategy.
    If a country has low interests to pay can think of being able to repay the debts.
    Where is the catch?
    They impose harsh conditions, so that the Nation dies and is swallowed in a higher state, the state of Europe which is ruled by big corporations, banks, financial institutions.
    Do you want the money?
    Well, you must sell the Parthenon at the price I tell you.
    You must buy Monsanto seeds; you must do this and that.
    It is like giving food to an animal which is starving at the condition to put it in a cage.
    Good bye old nations of Europe, welcome to the new United States of Europe, the exact copy of the United States of America.
    Ever asked yourself WHY the unemployment rate is so high?
    Why salaries are getting so low?
    Why quality food is so bad?
    Why what is happening, is happening?
    Cola´si vuole dove si puote cio´che si vuole…
    Because that is what they want there, where they can, what they want…

  375. old69 July 13, 2011 at 2:26 am #

    Hot and Horny sl*t – wh*re truthteller (looking for a REAL C*CK) found some spelling errors. Now I have to post it all over again, couldn’t she mind her own business ? what a pain in the a*s. Now, don’t blame me on the double posts, no, its not my fault, please Mommy don’t beat the living daylights out of me because of the double posts, its that slut*y w*ore who is always ph*king thruthteller that did it this time, please stop beating me up…
    BUILD SKYSCRAPERS.
    Please, oh, pretty please, build skyscrapers, build like crazy! I was reading that in China they are building like crazy, they have “Forests of Empty Skyscrapers”. That is so damn cool, I can’t believe it! I can just imagine the blocks of texts that will be written about it in a few years, when their “housing bubble”, NAY, “real estate bubble” bursts : “The Disasters of a Planned Economy”.
    You see, what they are doing is applying logic, common sense, the thought process, the simple linear cause and effect mechanism to a real simple need: Real Estate is a need, it shouldn’t be a “scarcity”, so the more you build, the better, the more skyscrapers, the more “room to grow”, you have. Can you imagine how many chunks of furniture will be needed to fill them all up ? Can you imagine how many computers and TV sets will be put in all of those skyscrapers ? Between offices and houses, they are set to produce an infinite amount of consumer goods for all of that real estate, something never seen in the history of Man: the USA consumption of the 20th century will look so puny, it won’t even be on the radar of the future history books.
    So they are achieving Mind over Matter, the thought process dominates reality, they are planning it out, they are building their needs outright without waiting for that oh, so fickle, and oh so vague and mostly phony “invisible hand of the market” theory. That is so cool, the Planned Economy, where what I want and decide is being achieved, they are doing what I want, my will power is being respected in China, good for them, good little puppies, keep up the good work!
    Now it takes 100 workers a year to make one skyscraper, so to make a million skyscrapers they can easily use 100 million workers, it is completely doable, the workers all come from puny agricultural towns starving to death, they got nothing to lose but their chains. So with 1 million skyscrapers you can put up 50 million homes and offices, each about 100 sqm (no feet system here jose’, this is globalization stuff, not your puny Kansas City hillbillies, but anyways that is around 1,100 sq feet). So that can house 250 million people. But I fathom they could hike it up to 400 million workers and make 4 million skyscrapers, so in a couple of years have made enough real estate to house a billion people: NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL EXCESS CAPACITY PUT TO GOOD USE, THE TECHNOLOGICAL ECONOMY ACHIEVING ITS REAL POTENTIAL.
    But you say, what about Nature ? Well who gives two c*cks and a d*ck about Nature ? What matters is to achieve, to express yourself, to build, to show that you are dominating, the Mind over Matter is working and producing and achieving real value for your money. We will mine the earth and planets to build skyscrapers, we will make Iron and Steel and Cement in particle accelerators building them atom by atom, we will win and succeed.
    I can’t stand these Greens and Environmentalists and scaredy cats all afraid of manipulating the living daylights out of Nature, always finding something poisonous and bad in every process, you can’t build atomic energy reactors, you can’t build high speed trains, you can’t do this or that and this or that. What c*cks! all in the name of Nature, this phony “False Religion” if I ever saw one (give us back the Catholics and the old Christ, or even the old Christian Fundamentalists with their hell and punishment and all, but please don’t introduce yet another fake religion, another belief system, another set of crappy values). It is their fault we have the economic crisis, we should consume and build like there is no tomorrow, we should build trillions of Skyscrapers, Rockets to Mars, trillions of Malls, buy and throw away like crazy, every 3 years change all furniture and cars, wild crazy consumption, and hose nature, use nature until it no longer exists, since then we will use Mars, and the Sun itself, go on, do it, you can do it, go on.

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  376. Patrizia July 13, 2011 at 2:32 am #

    If the PLAN is to reduce world´s population from 7 billions to 500.000 people, we have already too many skyskrapers, furniture and so on…

  377. tucsonspur July 13, 2011 at 3:26 am #

    The border town of Columbus, N.M. has dissolved its police force. The feds arrested police chief Vega, mayor Espinoza, village trustee Gutierrez, and nine others for conspiring to smuggle hundreds of guns to Mexican drug cartels.
    Let’s bring back the modern day version of Gen. Pershing, put machine gun nests and tanks on the border, along with patrols by Apache helicopters, and hang dirtbags like those above. Pancho Villa wannabes and fucking traitors. Shoot them, but hang them first. Oh okay, either way.

  378. ChicagoLee July 13, 2011 at 3:31 am #

    JHK can’t hit a new high with each column. Nobody can. But at least he cares enough to dig down and come up with something every week to provide a venue for us to come and shoot off our mouths.

  379. tucsonspur July 13, 2011 at 3:45 am #

    Last Friday, Oscar Navarro, 46, was killed by bees while walking in a Tucson park. He died from “mass envenomation”.
    Coyote waits. And waits. And waits. And waits.
    Okay, so this time the bees were waiting, wtf?

  380. Eleuthero July 13, 2011 at 4:06 am #

    I see, Marc, that you are fully conversant
    with the Buddhist idea of “ruthless compassion”
    which is a rough approximate to the idea of
    “tough love”. Indeed, all fuck-ups in
    colleges should be “heartlessly” tossed.
    In reality, that “heartless” tossing is
    compassion because they’ll move on to become
    useful tradesmen and I say better a useful
    tradesman than an unhappy and useless paper
    pusher.
    Our country is now guided by a false rendering
    of “Grandmother kindness” where our fuck-up
    progeny are patted on the head and rewarded
    for being dimwitted reprobates. We were a
    helluva lot better country when we were
    “beasty boys” than now that we’re “kind”.
    Our educational system is now THE examplar of
    the saying that “the road to hell is paved with
    good intentions”. When did LYING to people about
    their potential become “compassion”??
    Everyone has a role to play in our economy and
    our society. The intellectual class should go
    back to what it was in the 1950s … small and
    mostly obscure. Most people at that time MADE
    REAL THINGS and we were giants. The intellects
    were often useless as tits on a boar but when
    they DID have breakthroughs it created ideas
    and/or things that changed our lives.
    We need the majority to be the “salt of the
    earth” and the intellectual fringe will be the
    outliers who occasionally change a whole zeitgeist.
    E.

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  381. Dostoyevsky July 13, 2011 at 4:07 am #

    Vlad Kranz
    I’m curious why your online name is Vlad Kranz!
    Wiki throws up a Russian landscape artist famous for his paintings and not much else. This is not the ordinary sort of person I would have thought you would take your online name from.
    Names like Adolf Eichmann, Eugene Terre’Blanche,Virgil Effinger etc. seem more appropriate for you!
    Would you care to to enlightn the clusterfuckers as to how you chose VK??

  382. Eleuthero July 13, 2011 at 4:17 am #

    What’s amazing is that while we are robbing
    our children, the crime rate is going DOWN!!
    However, we’re still in a kind of “numb zone”
    where the REAL shit still hasn’t hit the fan
    and people are keeping their financial lives
    together with glue and bailing wire.
    Those kids in CA are all barristas working their
    asses off at Peet’s Coffee (and similar jobs) and
    they are okay with that … while they’re still
    20-something. The problem is that they will
    eventually become 30-somethings and 40-somethings
    and THAT is when serious anger will emerge.
    The young can absorb almost any insult because
    they have the physical energy and psychological
    resourcefulness to rationalize a temporarily bad
    condition. Once they reach an age where they
    want to procreate and/or have enduring, loving
    relationships, they will become acutely aware of
    their existential condition.
    I gotta tell ya … if I was them, I’d be freaking
    Che Guevara. However, being that they are the
    “Internet generation”, they’re temporarily content
    to tie up their time texting and IM’ing their
    friends. This window of time has a few more
    years to run. After that, there’s no telling
    how their anger will manifest. However, if
    history is any guide at all, it will well up
    suddenly and in ways that old shits dare not
    think about if they want to sleep good.
    E.

  383. Dostoyevsky July 13, 2011 at 4:23 am #

    Hey Oldie
    Your’e a dispshit and hopefully your online name indicates your age and not the year you were born which would mean that you’ll likely die soon you old fuck.
    Environmentalism is not a religion it only appears so to you, as a result of your lack of intelligence in understanding your own perspective. Despite the fact that you are not religious (I deduced that from your post)you still view the environmental movement through the lens of religion due to your lack of intelligence or lack of an ability to think differently from the narrow conservative cultural perspective you were likely brought up in.
    Dinosaurs like you will eventually die out , whih is a really good thing.
    FD

  384. Eleuthero July 13, 2011 at 4:27 am #

    Patrizia,
    Everybody just wants to write off the
    Greeks, the Italians, the Portuguese,
    and the Spanish as wasters. Truth is,
    what pisses off the Germans and the
    French the most is that THEIR INVESTMENTS
    IN THOSE PLACES ARE IN PERIL.
    You don’t hear much about that OR about
    OUR investment in Greece or other PIIG
    countries. I find the sanctimonious
    bitching about how the PIIGs are just
    wine-drinking wasters to be obnoxious
    given the reality that the non-PIIGs
    speculated heavily in those countries
    and stand to lose their asses.
    The non-PIIG countries exemplify the
    expression about the Puritans that they
    are worried that “somewhere, somehow,
    some way … someone is having a good
    time”. That the Germans, French, and
    English somehow thought they could make
    the Greeks and the Portuguese into Quakers
    is prime fodder for existential comedy.
    E.

  385. Patrizia July 13, 2011 at 5:31 am #

    Well, I wouldn’t talk about investments…and the talk of Germany being more productive than Italy is talking for saying stupidities.
    We have very good corporations in Italy (north).
    They are number first for wine, food, fashion, furniture’s.
    Name something about wines and food and fashion and you name an Italian brand.
    But Italians, like Greeks, like Spanish, and also like Americans are guilty too.
    Guilty of not caring about politics, about economy, about their country.
    Most Italians care for family, food, holidays, the latest soap on TV and the big brother.
    All the rest is boring.
    And the result when you do not care about your money, when you delegate a bank to care for it, is that you will find yourself poor and the bank richer.
    The same happens to your country.
    We say “the flesh is weak”…and, if you do not check, the others take advantage out of it.
    Nobody cared to check and the politicians, paid by big corporations and banks, just ate the cake and in order to have more just made more debts, in the name of the Nation.
    And now the creditors (legal or illegal it doesn’t matter) want to be paid.
    They will squeeze all they can and then let countries go bankruptcy.
    The solution?
    I would play the game, get more money, make more debts and then…fuck all.

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  386. old69 July 13, 2011 at 6:41 am #

    From:
    http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=175880
    The Disasters of a Planned Economy
    I was looking at some of China on google maps and photos and such. It is “beyond pale”, as someone said, they are really building like there is only tomorrow! You can estimate how much excess real estate inventory they already have by a simple thought experiment: the USA has 300 million people, so just imagine to add four extra floors to all homes in the USA to host 1.5 billion. Now look at their towns and cities, most of their buildings have 4 or more floors, but also thousands upon thousands of various high rises, no way they can pull off the excuse of “population”, it just doesn’t hold, they simply have huge excess capacity with no end in sight. And they have so many smaller towns on the outskirts, probably mostly abandoned. Anyways, I guess they will end up hosting the entire world population for free, they already got the Cheap Rents part licked, that is for sure. And they will also give you a free salary since their money and economy is all make believe anyways (but aren’t all economies a fake ?).
    Maybe the Chinese government should start paying itself some serious property tax, can you imagine how much cash they could obtain by printing it and giving it to themselves in the form of property taxes and then flooding the world with their cash ? And also, they will fill all those buildings with literally TRILLIONS OF TVS AND COMPUTERS AND CHUNKS OF FURNITURE!. Wow, the have their “Economic Growth” cut out for themselves for a few hundred years. Also they are building developments in Angola and elsewhere, the whole world will become saturated with high rises and skyscrapers: now that is so cool!
    At least Spain (and USA) had some market economy still going for it, it eventually had to really deal with the invisible hand of the market and they had to stop building (of course they now have an unknown number of empty apartment buildings and homes, maybe a few million ? unknown for now), but in China there is no feedback loop, no invisible hand of the market that will catch up with them, they will just keep on building until they fill the entire country up with buildings, so cool!
    Of course, I fathom most buildings will simply decay and are probably built hastily or whatever, so they build, keep them empty and then they decay all by themselves after a few years, but the cycle can repeat forever.
    Anyways I practically already wrote here the future article of The “Disasters of a Planned Economy”. Talk about Real Estate Bubble…
    [b]The Disasters of a Planned Economy[/b]
    I was looking at some of China on google maps and photos and such. It is “beyond pale”, as someone said, they are really building like there is only tomorrow! You can estimate how much excess real estate inventory they already have by a simple thought experiment: the USA has 300 million people, so just imagine to add four extra floors to all homes in the USA to host 1.5 billion. Now look at their towns and cities, most of their buildings have 4 or more floors, but also thousands upon thousands of various high rises, no way they can pull off the excuse of “population”, it just doesn’t hold, they simply have huge excess capacity with no end in sight. And they have so many smaller towns on the outskirts, probably mostly abandoned. Anyways, I guess they will end up hosting the entire world population for free, they already got the Cheap Rents part licked, that is for sure. And they will also give you a free salary since their money and economy is all make believe anyways (but aren’t all economies a fake ?).
    Maybe the Chinese government should start paying itself some serious property tax, can you imagine how much cash they could obtain by printing it and giving it to themselves in the form of property taxes and then flooding the world with their cash ? And also, they will fill all those buildings with literally TRILLIONS OF TVS AND COMPUTERS AND CHUNKS OF FURNITURE!. Wow, the have their “Economic Growth” cut out for themselves for a few hundred years. Also they are building developments in Angola and elsewhere, the whole world will become saturated with high rises and skyscrapers: now that is so cool!
    At least Spain (and USA) had some market economy still going for it, it eventually had to really deal with the invisible hand of the market and they had to stop building (of course they now have an unknown number of empty apartment buildings and homes, maybe a few million ? unknown for now), but in China there is no feedback loop, no invisible hand of the market that will catch up with them, they will just keep on building until they fill the entire country up with buildings, so cool!
    Of course, I fathom most buildings will simply decay and are probably built hastily or whatever, so they build, keep them empty and then they decay all by themselves after a few years, but the cycle can repeat forever.
    Anyways I practically already wrote here the future article of The “Disasters of a Planned Economy”. Talk about Real Estate Bubble…

  387. bubbleheadMarc July 13, 2011 at 6:46 am #

    Exactly. The fact is we don’t know where we belong because in the USA we have no “station in life”. So we base our entire status reputation on where we went to school, which is why people put college stickers on their rear car windows. And now we think it’s cruel to toss people out of school because presumably we’re condemning them to lives of utter worthlessness and inconsequence if we mess with their progress towards getting some sort of credential. The best explanation of this situation that I know of was written by Paul Fussell in “Class” and “Bad”. But mostly we’re actually messing these people up by allowing them to fail at something for which they have little aptitude. Better to allow them to succeed at something else.

  388. bubbleheadMarc July 13, 2011 at 7:14 am #

    There is a coed monastery in the Episcopal Church in the order of St. Julian of Norwich up in Wisconsin somewhere. It is very small though and these small houses tend to be extremely fussy about who they’ll let in and in my view suffer from psychologism in that rather than viewing things through the prism of religion they tend to think in terms of analyzing all applicants from the angle of imputing base motives owing to psychological factors such as dependency issues and so on. In other words no normal person would submit to be analyzed in such a heartless manner especially considering what douchebags the inquisitors in such a process typically are!
    I no longer attend AA either. I don’t have the patience for the long winded commentators at the end of each tortuously elongated lead talk, talks which often spiral out of control and end up exceeding an hour in length. I also find all the “I became an alcoholic because I’m an asshole” speeches annoying because this is plainly a chemical problem and it is the chemical that makes everyone become insane, not their presumed inner and pre-existing asshole. Then you have the incessantly religious who are constantly invoking the deity to credit for their sobriety.
    The Episcopalians also don’t seem to care if their celibates masturbate. The Catholics are still on record as being opposed to impure thoughts and wanking off, as Judy Dench put it in “Notes From a Scandal” where some lucky high school boy gets to explore Kate Blanchett’s joy trail.

  389. lbendet July 13, 2011 at 7:42 am #

    E., and Patrizia,
    Good discussion, but some things that you didn’t mention was that we are in fact insuring Greece’s debt, just like the AIG debacle. I mentioned that on Monday. It’s a scary place to be since they will most likely default and we the taxpayers will be holding the bag.
    Next issue is that the great intellects of this former great nation decided that we should be a “service” industry economy and not a manufacturing one. That is the big difference between us and Germany who is still making real money on goods. About all the US citizenry is good for in this vernacular is paying taxes and functioning as buyers of last resort!
    Third, I’ve mentioned before that the age-old meme is that the people you are screwing are all lazy. The British were masters at this and always called the Irish lazy and we say that about every group we don’t like–or are taking advantage of economically.
    Our intellectual class, E. have totally failed and have embraced a system of financial hegemony for the top 1% of the world. Nobody seems to understand what this system is, but it is changing the global landscape and it’s at full tilt– It’s called neo-feudalism!

  390. lbendet July 13, 2011 at 8:31 am #

    Great interview with Michael Hudson re debt ceiling and cutting back on social contract so they can continue on the $13T bailout on Wall st and their wars…:
    http://michael-hudson.com/2011/07/obamas-debt-ceiling-doublespeak/

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  391. metuselah July 13, 2011 at 8:39 am #

    Are you sure you and I don’t elect people to office? Are you sure “they” “selected” a socialist and a Muslim?
    ==
    You mean Obama? Yeah, I’m pretty sure they selected Obama, and pretty much every name you care to fill in the blank with.

  392. Patrizia July 13, 2011 at 8:44 am #

    “the great intellects of this former great nation decided that we should be a “service””
    I guess that ALL is in that.
    Till the 70s the working class had power.
    Then Japan came into the scen, then Taiwan and then China.
    Ironically, the collapse of the Communism helped to collapse the capitalism.
    As long as the two were divided there was no danger for our system.
    When the economy became “global” the big corporations had a huge number of workers willing to work for minimal wages and our production migrated to the East.
    They had to invent some sort of income for consumers (a consumer is worth nothing without money)so they invented the “services” jobs at the State service, paid with people´s money, mostly with people´s borrowed money.
    In Italy we had a champion in Craxi, the head of the socialist party.
    The big debts were made mostly in his times and after the birth of the Euro, since the new currency had so low interest rates (we passed from 24% of the lira to 1% of the Euro)it was a feast for our politicians, borrowing more and more and actually paying less…
    That happened to Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy states in which the balace debts/incomes was usually paired with the devaluation of the currency.
    Of course Banks and financial institutions were more than happy, completely aware that a huge debt is rarely paid back…
    Because, as you well know, when the banks or the financial institutions loose money, they are bailed out with people´s money…as usual…
    Things haven´t changed much since Medioeval times.
    There is the oligarchy of the ruling class.
    We have other Kings, without blue blood, but with arrogance and without any moral scruple.
    As for us, we are a little more cultured may be, but with the same power..zero to be honest.

  393. metuselah July 13, 2011 at 8:48 am #

    By the way, I’ll try to remember to let you know what I think of the authors that you mentioned above.
    ==
    Please do. I’m looking forward to your assessment.

  394. Patrizia July 13, 2011 at 8:56 am #

    I forgot to add that I have great hopes for the future.
    It would be very easy to put a patch to the whole situation.
    We should just export the Trade Unions to China.
    Something of this kind will eventually happen.
    Then we will get back ALL lost jobs.
    In Germany, many companies who produced somewhere else came back, because Germany offers great infrastructures and if you produce, infrastructures are essential.
    Germany´s products are expensive, but they have quality.
    And honestly who isn´t tired of knives that do not cut, vacuum cleaners that go bust after one month, appliances that have so short cable that they have to be on the floor…can openers that do not open and so on…?
    What we need is Chinese prices and European quality…and soon we will have it.

  395. metuselah July 13, 2011 at 9:05 am #

    For you, Asoka:
    Alex Jones Interviews Noam Chomsky (Part 1)? http://t.co/9idUdlT

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  396. bossier22 July 13, 2011 at 9:20 am #

    living well on12k/yr. I think thats where we are headed rather than a world made by hand. Pre 1965 we lived on a lot less. we had a lot fewer toys and luxury items, but we were not starving and had plenty of fun. I remember my mother saying that when I was a boy we were poor. I thought to myself : I don’t remember that. We might have to live without some of our damn gadgets. the horror, the horror. Oh, the humanity.

  397. soak July 13, 2011 at 9:40 am #

    Thanks. It confirms what I said. I especially liked when Chomsky patiently tried to explain things to Alex Jones at 8:45 in the YouTube. They only let Chomsky go for a minute, then it abruptly ends as Chomsky outshines Alex so much it makes Alex look clueless.

  398. metuselah July 13, 2011 at 10:18 am #

    Thanks. It confirms what I said.
    ==
    I don’t think so. The problem with Chomsky is that he’s a long-winded commie ideologue and sophist propaganda master. Sure, he can give a good criticism of the fascist state, but his commie ideology is just as bankrupt as that of the fascists. His answer is the same imposition by government mafia, elitism, and central control. You identify with Chomsky/Chimpsky, because you identify with these commie solutions, which are really non-solutions provided by the banksters/Vatican. The same banksters/Vatican that bankrolled Karl Marx and the Bolsheviks.

  399. rippedthunder July 13, 2011 at 10:18 am #

    Gadgets? “We don’t need no steenking gadgets!!” I’m goin’ out to play with my shovel! Fuck dis damn ‘puter!

  400. old69 July 13, 2011 at 10:40 am #

    Then again, what else can they do ? you got millions of farmers, uneducated, so the only thing they can do is build and build some more. Give them a function they will be happy. So they got nothing better to do but build skyscrapers and buildings and highways and trains, you name it. So this will keep them employed and busy for years on end, we need thousands of trillions of people, to build trillions of skyscrapers first all across the earth and then on Mars and so on. So you all got your work cut out for you, all HARD WORK BABY, build those skyscrapers with your bare hands, build them by the trillions for 24 hours a day for trillions of years.
    Why is Man such a Turd ? Why is he based on such a low class technology like carbon chemistry, DNA and all, so quirky and all wrong, inefficient, hose this technology, change the brain mind, shove wild symbols and chemicals and signals inside new circuits, create a new world a new experience.
    On another note, even with millions educated like in the EU and USA there is little work for them all to do, so imagine without education, but anyways, even in the USA and EU, even the educated should get down to HARD WORK, BABY, and build trillions of skyscrapers with your bare hands, etc. Enough brainy stuff, Information Technology, fluff, services and such, now only real hard concrete stuff with real concrete!

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  401. bossier22 July 13, 2011 at 10:42 am #

    I embarrassed my wife at the end of a flight. I got my best country accent going and said ” Everybody turning on your damn gadgets.”

  402. bossier22 July 13, 2011 at 10:44 am #

    Go tucson, I with you.

  403. Buck Stud July 13, 2011 at 10:59 am #

    But you didn’t answer my question, Tuscon. Why doesn’t Krandz and his enthralled followers open their own blog? Vlad has had his fangs into the carotid artery of this blog for years now; isn’t it about time for Vlad to post a link to his own new blog with his own real name? After all, he is always going on and on about the evils of socialism and the merits of right-wing by-the-bootstrap ideology. And yet here he is, sucking on the on the more or less liberal tit of JHK. How ironic that Vlad, who never fails to demonize communism, is nothing but an cyber-communist and welfare queen unable to stand on his own two feet. I mean really, he is so damned magnetic, and so damned committed to saving the white race, and surely he is a brave soul, too, just like the brave white ancestors he is always invoking -what’s holding him back?. Why the reticence to go out on his own, the fiercely-committed-to-his-cause Vlad Krantz? And why I am giving him all this play? Because it’s not really about politics, race, culture or any of that superficial stuff. It’s about an energetic transfusion for his own very meager and vacant life, a way to stir a log into the stale and shallow pond of his existence. Classic psychic vampire dynamics. And I am not being cruel in pointing this out: If a more ideal society (according to the recent laments of some on this blog) can harshly inform children they can’t cut the academic muster in the tender years of their academic life, then surely we can inform a racist and vicious opponent of the welfare/socialist/communist ideology that it’s time to plant his own two independent feet and form his own blog with his own real name on the sign. Because one thing is apparently unalterable: the magnets on the bottom of Krandz’s feet allowing for a turn to a more ethnically integrated view. Come out of the woods “Dog Soldier” and make your own stand. Your ancestors will be proud of you.

  404. bossier22 July 13, 2011 at 11:01 am #

    You right about kids in their twenty’s. They will be angry when they are forty and have not progressed. I have done OK and I am still pissed at myself sometimes. Where that anger will turn is the question. I blame myself for my failures but I am just one person. When massive numbers are angry it can turn outward in a heart beat.

  405. rippedthunder July 13, 2011 at 11:33 am #

    Burn-a-key is spewing agin’ fore the dolts in Washington.. I call bullshit!

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  406. soak July 13, 2011 at 11:34 am #

    “You identify with Chomsky/Chimpsky, because you identify with these commie solutions, which are really non-solutions provided by the banksters/Vatican. The same banksters/Vatican that bankrolled Karl Marx and the Bolsheviks.”
    ——————-
    Yes, I think you are right.
    I identified with the Vatican of the past, especially when it subversively supported liberation theology.
    I identified with the Jewish commie solutions (as presented by Jesus) because biblical communism is a bottom up pacifistic solution (as opposed to socialism’s state control of production and use of violence). Where better to have power reside than with the people?
    The banksters really don’t support either the commie solutions or the Vatican solutions. They are much more economically hard-nosed, more concerned about principal (bottom line) than principles.
    What is your solution?

  407. MarlinFive54 July 13, 2011 at 11:44 am #

    Hey Metusaleh, I’ve criticized you in the past, but I have to admit, you are one hard hitten’ sonofabitch!
    -Marlin

  408. wagelaborer July 13, 2011 at 11:44 am #

    Could you be any more obtuse or offensive?
    What is your point? The Earth is a beautiful place?
    I have never said otherwise. My complaint is that the ruling overlords are destroying the beautiful planet that we live on, and the water, air and soil that nurture us.
    The reason I don’t like you or your kind is epitomized in your casual comment that your father killed commies in Korea.
    Those are my people. Your people have killed millions of my people in the last 70 years, and I find it horrifying and infuriating.
    And for you to brag about it? I find that disgusting.
    And Prog wants me to be more tolerant, because he knows a bunch of assholes like you, smugly sure that you deserve the best life possible because you’re willing to kill people in other countries trying to make a better life for themselves and their children.
    What do the Koreans or the Vietnamese or the Greeks or the Indonesians or the Cambodians or the Nicaraguans, etc. ever do to you or your psychotic father?
    Nothing. They were just trying to make a better life, and your asshole father and his asshole cohorts went over to their beautiful country and killed them and destroyed their environment.
    And now you sit on your self-righteous fat ass and brag about it.
    If Prog bragged about his sweet Georgia life to Asoka and how it was because his grand-daddy lynched all them niggers, would anyone tell Asoka to be nice to Prog?
    Screw you and screw anyone who believes mass murder is acceptable if your ruling overlords decree it to be so.

  409. progress,conserve July 13, 2011 at 11:49 am #

    “You right about kids in their twenty’s. They will be angry when they are forty and have not progressed.” -bossier-
    Yeah, no joke boss. And in 20 years I’ll be 75 – probably starting to look a little vulnerable, although – Lord willing – still fit and pretty mean, for many years after that.
    My mom, who would now be 95 – started pointing out to me, about 10 years ago, that she was having to become very careful when she went out shopping – especially grocery shopping, for some reasons.
    Her observation to me was, “You’ve got to watch it. Some people just despise old people. They’ll just knock you out of the way, and if you don’t watch it they’ll knock you over.”
    I started watching for it, there and elsewhere – and she was right – some people become pushy, or enraged, or something – especially if they think an older person is in their way or slowing them down.
    Mom was pretty fleet footed, spry, and careful – and she never had any real trouble with it. And she was shopping at that grocery store just a week or so before her stroke.
    Some of the problems at that store may have been related to her race and social class, to be bluntly honest. (Do NOT comment Vlad – EVERYBODY gets it without you running your big Racist Yap about it.)
    And I’ve seen kids at that store bump older people out of the way, completely regardless of race. I was limited in my ability to yell at the kids or speak to management – because I wasn’t always able to go shopping with Mom, and didn’t want someone to be “gunning” for her when I wasn’t around, because of something I’d said.
    I did hip-check one kid into a toilet tissue display one time as he tried to push past me. That was somewhat satisfying.
    ================
    And I know – that hip-check was just repeating and perpetuating a cycle of violence that will never end – blah, blah.
    I disagree. Unchecked violence, like unchecked prejudice – only gets worse, regardless of origins.

  410. rippedthunder July 13, 2011 at 11:49 am #

    Hey Marlin, I prefer “Sumbitch”. It is more succint, ;o) perhaps it dates to my days down below the Mason-Dixon!

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  411. MarlinFive54 July 13, 2011 at 11:50 am #

    Hey Metusaleh, I’ve criticized you in the past, but I have to admit, you are one hard hitten’ sonofabitch!
    -Marlin
    WageL, you really are a sweetheart. And you have a lovely way of words.
    -Marlin

  412. progress,conserve July 13, 2011 at 12:02 pm #

    On a more positive note –
    RIPPED THUNDER – YOU ARE DA’ MAN!
    I just harvested my first potatoes. That suggestion of growing them in a ring of tires and under heavy mulch was freakin’ AWESOME. (I used one edge of a 6X6 timber that makes the edge of a raised bed instead of tires – anything like that would work!)
    So for, maybe, 20 cents worth of potato eyes planted 3 months ago – it looks like I’ll dig 20 or more pounds of fresh, better than store-bought, potatoes.
    I’d never thought about growing potatoes before, until I read this blog – this Spring. I’ve grown a lot of vegetables – but they usually have nutrients and not calories. 20 pounds of potatoes is enough calories to actually keep body and soul together for a few days – all out of one 15 foot row of potatoes, and almost zero cost. Cool! And thanks!

  413. rippedthunder July 13, 2011 at 12:02 pm #

    Hi Wage, I hate to get involved in this match. Marlin is the yin to your yang. I would love to have both of you in my camp. Please calm down and don’t take this personally. Have a green tea with honey and lemon. ;o) You have strong beliefs and so do I. We can talk as adults in here. In the words of Kojak, “Who Loves Ya Baby?” It is another beautiful day here in New England. Time to make some hay. ;o) To each his own, live and let live. Keep up the good life and keep on fightin’ the good fight!

  414. rippedthunder July 13, 2011 at 12:07 pm #

    Hey Prog, I just put another stack of tires on the ‘taters. I am four 15″ tires high now. Tires are free and the spuds are growin’ like gangbusters. I have yukons, purples, reds ,and Idahoes. All organic. They are starting to flower so I am not sure how much taller I can get them.

  415. progress,conserve July 13, 2011 at 12:17 pm #

    “If Prog bragged about his sweet Georgia life to Asoka and how it was because his grand-daddy lynched all them niggers, would anyone tell Asoka to be nice to Prog?” -wage-
    That’s a pretty grim way of putting it, Wage, but you’re right.
    Now, I do believe that the 10 point manifesto of Aunte Soake to me – back upthread – is a simple mirror image of the same idea – with the HATE reflected against my “grand-daddy,” instead of the other way around.
    Do you see the hate, regardless of direction?
    And who do you think Aunte Soake is?
    Or is is “the anti-Soak?”
    Someone with hate in their heart, I’m pretty sure.
    Where’s Helen HW?

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  416. progress,conserve July 13, 2011 at 12:23 pm #

    “Marlin is the yin to your yang. I would love to have both of you in my camp.”
    -RT, to wage-
    Well said, RT – I feel the same way about the two of them.
    On to potatoes – – I think mine may be giving up because of the heat. I read that you need to dig them after flowering and as/or before – the vines wilt. I’m going to be out of town for a few days and I wanted to dig a few to see how they were doing. Didn’t want to come back to some kind of “potato disaster,” and not know what I might have missed.
    But they look really good, right now.

  417. MarlinFive54 July 13, 2011 at 12:26 pm #

    Hey WageL, tonite maybe I’ll throw an extra steak on the grill, and maybe some shrimp, for all of “YOUR PEOPLE” starving to death under the Communist Government in N Korea. Do you have that on your conscience? I understand they drop dead right in the street, from hunger, 5 million in the past 15 years. Read Robert Conquests ‘Harvest of Sorrow’ about famine and death in Communists nations, in that case the Soviet Union. (7 million ‘Kulaks’ liquidated, 1931-1934. And that’s just for starters) You’re against mass murder, what a joke? Communism is all about mass murder, specifically 100 million murders since 1917. Most people, as explained by David Horowitz, even people with red parents like yourself, outgrow all that marxist bullshit. Not you tho. You’re one of the last holdouts.
    And Wage, on your next trip to nearby Chicago, be careful not to get flashmobbed buy “YOUR PEOPLE”.
    -Marlin

  418. soak July 13, 2011 at 12:35 pm #

    “Someone with hate in their heart, I’m pretty sure.”
    ————
    Agreed.
    Someone violent who has no understanding or love for MLK’s way of nonviolence.

  419. soak July 13, 2011 at 12:47 pm #

    “about famine and death in Communists nations, in that case the Soviet Union.”
    ————-
    Please distinguish between socialism and communism.
    I believe Russia’s previous name was Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
    How is it that people, like John Birchers, can tease out the difference between a democracy and a republic, but have so much trouble with the difference between socialist and communist?
    Russia used to be socialist. China is communist, run by the Chinese Communist Party. The Peoples’ Republic of China has eaten our lunch and owns more and more of our country every day.
    Communism succeeded without firing a shot, by strategically appropriating our wealth, by taking advantage of capitalist greed and getting USA corporations to move their factories to China.
    The USSR style of socialism pointed missiles at us and failed.
    Communism has been more intelligent about how to bring down the USA.
    Examples are everywhere. We are ending our space program. China’s space program is getting bigger. China will soon militarily rule space.
    The USA is on the verge of bankruptcy and default, with more and more of its budget going to pay interest on its debt. China doesn’t have that problem. I would say capitalism lost and communism won.

  420. bossier22 July 13, 2011 at 12:56 pm #

    The Chinese had plenty of help from a traitorous elite in the west. Without it they would not have made as much progress as they have. Some of it has a dubious benefit to their own people.

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  421. asia July 13, 2011 at 12:57 pm #

    Put her on the ‘scroll past’ list, if you want.
    Also see soaks 2 posts below yours.
    Communism won [hes so stupid as to think Capitalism,
    feudalism and anarchy = communism].
    “I would say capitalism lost and communism won.”

  422. Elrond Hubbard July 13, 2011 at 12:57 pm #

    Wow, Bustin, your misogyny is truly impressive. Did you come up with all that yourself? Or have you been hanging out on some of the websites this guy talks about?
    http://videosift.com/video/Men-you-are-living-under-a-gynocracy

  423. wagelaborer July 13, 2011 at 12:59 pm #

    Well, thank you, ripped. I appreciate it.
    I feel solidarity for my people all over the planet, just as Vlad cares about white people, no matter what country they live in. I do take it personally.
    The US has killed over 30,000,000 of my people since WW2, so it’s hard for me to be calm about it.
    But I do appreciate my planet and my little patch of it, and I am also getting potatoes now, and we had a storm last night that cooled things off.
    Heads up for next week! You’re getting a storm.

  424. Qshtik July 13, 2011 at 1:02 pm #

    I have seen the word Aztlan on this blog but had no idea what it meant. Then I saw it in a photo in yesterday’s NYT. It was a photo of a painting on a wall or column beneath a bridge in San Diego. The painting was apparently of a Mexican wearing a hat or headband on which the word Aztlan was displayed. I googled that word and came up with this link. Perhaps you would be interested in reading this:
    http://www.illegalaliens.us/aztlan.htm

  425. soak July 13, 2011 at 1:04 pm #

    bossier22, the facts don’t support your assertion of “dubious benefit to their own people”
    Between 1981 and 2005 it is estimated that the poverty rate in China fell from 85% to 15%, roughly 600 million people relieved from poverty.
    What other non-communist country in the world has done that? 600 million people! In 25 years!
    No, China is not perfect. But China is not done yet.
    The last 25 years are just the start… and 600 million is nothing to sneeze at.
    China is the future. America is done, thanks to greedy American capitalists. Stick a fork in America.

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  426. djcrow22 July 13, 2011 at 1:06 pm #

    Missing Joe’s take on things and his wordsmithing…the flickering pale blue light of flat screen televisions illuminate the hologram of declining American culture…RIP Joe, we miss you.

  427. wagelaborer July 13, 2011 at 1:07 pm #

    You got that right, Patrizia.
    I was unable to find a can opener like the one my parents had for fifty years. It hangs on the wall and you pull it together and wind the handle.
    Finally my husband found one online – made in China.
    Yesterday, I had blood pouring from my finger, because the damn can opener doesn’t work, and I tried to pry the dog food lid open with a knife.
    Really? It’s a simple device. Why could they make a functional can opener 70 years ago and not now?

  428. Cash July 13, 2011 at 1:10 pm #

    Psychotic Wage? You really need to get out and talk to foreigners.
    Your people have killed millions of my people in the last 70 years – Wage
    That statement is seriously delusional. You need to talk to people who lived under the Nazi boot and who witnessed their depravities. Or those of Mao or Stalin or the Japanese or those cockroaches running North Korea or Iran.
    My in laws went through hell in China as youngsters under Japanese rule. My father in law was wounded by Japanese artillery and still he’s suffering from those wounds. My grandfather spent two years (1943-1945) in Germany in a prison/labour camp. He survived (barely) by eating garbage (mostly potato peels) put out by German farmers on whose farms he was forced to work. Fortunately for him the German guards looked the other way. Otherwise he would have died of starvation. When he got out at war’s end he was a tottering bag of bones. He never got over what he went through and saw in that camp. The experience ruined him physically and psychologically. When I was young I asked about his wartime exploits. He could barely talk about it. He said mostly that I would never believe what he went through. Most of what I know about it comes through my grandmother and father. My in laws are similarly reticent.
    One thing you refuse to understand is that Americans DO NOT run the world. There isn’t one set of ruling overlords as you put it or one elite in this world. There are many and they have conflicting interests. Elites in other parts of the world are not good hearted, well meaning people who only want what’s best for “their” people. They are murderous and avaricious. Many don’t even give lip service to human rights.
    Where the US and the West recede in world influence other powers will step up. And then you’ll see what I mean. You’ll get a real good look at the face of truly evil regimes and you’ll see that the US doesn’t even come ankle high to these others.
    This won’t be an instantaneous process. These are generation long changes. But hopefully and with luck you’ll live to a ripe old age. And then you’ll see.

  429. wagelaborer July 13, 2011 at 1:11 pm #

    Well, yes, the hate goes in both directions.
    That’s how they will get pogroms instead of revolution.

  430. bossier22 July 13, 2011 at 1:16 pm #

    I admire what they have done. They did not do it alone nor did they do it by sticking to communist principles. They are a mixed economy with a heavy autocratic hand that calls itself the communist party. The USA is done only if we blindly stick to the politically correct path of the last Forty years . It has not mattered a damn bit which party is in power. China is not killing the US , we are killing ourselves. Default might shock us into doing something about it. 600 million out of poverty , that leaves 600 million in poverty.

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  431. soak July 13, 2011 at 1:16 pm #

    Thanks for helping to publicize Atzlan, Q. One peoples’ concept of “illegal immigrants” is another peoples’ concept of “Republica del norte” …

    A June 2002 Zogby poll of Mexicans found that a substantial majority of Mexican citizens believe that southwestern America is rightfully the territory of Mexico and that Mexicans do not need the permission of the U.S. to enter.

    They were here first, and are successfully (and nonviolently) taking back what is theirs.
    More power to them. Amnesty now!

  432. Patrizia July 13, 2011 at 1:16 pm #

    Well, if that makes you feel better, it happened exactly the same to me.
    I had to open the can with a knife.
    At least they do not make cans like once they did and the aluminium is so thin there is no problem with a knife.
    But still I didn´t find a (cheap) can opener not made in China.
    I think I will have to buy a Solingen very expensive, but it works and will work for long.
    My damn problem is that I am old style and always want to save…so I always finish with Made in China…

  433. MarlinFive54 July 13, 2011 at 1:19 pm #

    Qshtik, I believe Asoka has used the word ‘Atzlan’ on this blog. In fact, its one of his main themes.
    -Marlin

  434. wagelaborer July 13, 2011 at 1:20 pm #

    Actually, soak, neither the USSR nor China are socialist or communist.
    Socialism is when the means of production are commonly owned and operated by the people, and the products are distributed among the people.
    The state, as Marx pointed out, is the repressive arm of the ruling class.
    Under socialism or communism, you have no repressive state.
    In the USSR and China, they had and have, a repressive state apparatus.
    You could argue that it was necessary, faced with hostility and military intervention from the capitalist countries, that the people of the USSR and China needed a state to protect themselves, but we can see that the state devolved into a class of bureaucrats who live better than the rest of the people.
    So, although the people of the USSR and China were better off under the rule of the bureaucrats paying lip service to the people, it isn’t socialism or communism.
    And China now is state capitalist, not communist.

  435. Patrizia July 13, 2011 at 1:22 pm #

    “I would say capitalism lost and communism won.”
    But in principle the situation is the same.
    In both cases there are few people owning all the wealth and many already starving and many that will soon starve…
    May be in one they still pretend…in the other they will.

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  436. soak July 13, 2011 at 1:24 pm #

    Like I said, China is not through yet.
    China brought 600 million out of poverty. So why has the USA not been able to end poverty for 36 million in the USA?
    And it is getting worse. For all practical purposes the USA congress is gridlocked and agrees on very little, except for their agreement on passing exorbitant defense budgets.

    Some 37.3 million people were poor in 2007 — up from about 36.5 million in 2006.

    SOURCE: Poverty in the United States, 2007 — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104520.html#ixzz1S0TaLsMJ

  437. soak July 13, 2011 at 1:27 pm #

    Patrizia, if you believe in mathematics, it is not the same.
    Between 1981 and 2005 it is estimated that the poverty rate in China fell from 85% to 15%
    85% poverty rate is not the same as 15% poverty rate.
    85 does not equal 15. It is not the same.

  438. wagelaborer July 13, 2011 at 1:27 pm #

    Why does auntie soak have to be one of the usual suspects?
    I have no idea who s/he is, but it could be someone new.
    There are 300 million people in the US, after all.
    Way more than there should be 🙂

  439. soak July 13, 2011 at 1:33 pm #

    Correct, Marlin.
    Mexicans were here first, and are successfully (and nonviolently) taking back what is theirs.
    What we now call the Southwest, they call Atzlan.
    And the Mexicans are unstoppable. Millions have poured over the southern border and will continue to do so.
    More power to them. Amnesty now!
    They are hardworking and productive contributors to our economy. Good immigrants. Let’s welcome them and work with them. Let’s all just get along, as Rodney King said.

  440. progress,conserve July 13, 2011 at 1:37 pm #

    “Well, yes, the hate goes in both directions.
    That’s how they will get pogroms instead of revolution.” -wage-
    OK, wage. I think acknowledging that BOTH sides can hate is an important step in preventing “pogroms,” and other disasters that may be EVEN worse for humanity – like US overpopulation.
    I think an unwillingness to acknowledge the valid concerns of others is the first STEP towards hate.
    I think a resort to calling out those with whom one disagrees as RACIST is a SECOND step towards hate. (as has happened to me, on this blog – three significant times now – all three from soak only – either no one else thinks I’m racist or no one else reads what I write closely enough to care – except BuckStud – thanks, BS.)
    Reference the post from soak to Q at 1:16.
    And off we go to the racist races – once again.

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  441. Cash July 13, 2011 at 1:44 pm #

    In the USSR and China, they had and have, a repressive state apparatus. – Wage
    Yer gettin’ there.
    So, although the people of the USSR and China were better off under the rule of the bureaucrats paying lip service to the people, it isn’t socialism or communism. – Wage
    Hundreds of millions of Chinese are better off now but it is really dicey still for hundreds of millions of others. What’s different now is that there’s some hope of escaping the poverty of the country-side. In the old days of Mao and immediately after there were three “bigs”: a bicycle, a wrist watch and I can’t remember the third one but it was something equally mundane (to us that is). But now they can aspire to a lot more than these simple things we take utterly for granted.
    About ten years ago getting a fridge was a really big deal for a lot of people in China. So newly prosperous people would show off their fridge in a prominent place where visitors couldn’t miss it. Something like Americans with cars.
    Apparently in India getting a toilet represents real progress. A young man that has one is a real catch for a prospective marriage partner.
    I saw a discussion program last night on TVO about how the emerging world “middle class”. They were saying that when people earn about ten bucks a day they get into economic territory where they can breathe, where they aren’t in dire circumstances. Probably the difference between eating once a day and eating two or three times a day.
    In China though the dividing line from dire poverty is really shaky. All you need is a serious illness and you’re fucked.

  442. jackieblue2u July 13, 2011 at 1:54 pm #

    That is true ! Unless we are talking about ME ! haha.
    Seriously it is a true statement. true true true.
    That’s why I find some people so boring.
    I have this one *friend* mostly talks about herself and drama. it is getting old.

  443. jackieblue2u July 13, 2011 at 1:57 pm #

    He IS one of the Head Honchos here IMO.
    now you best be learnin’ that.
    Me not a head honcho. You ?

  444. bossier22 July 13, 2011 at 2:00 pm #

    A great comparison of what middle class means in china and india vs. the west. It is an apples and oranges comparison. Good job.

  445. soak July 13, 2011 at 2:01 pm #

    “About ten years ago getting a fridge was a really big deal for a lot of people in China.”
    —————
    You know what’s also a big deal in China? Mass transit bullet trains that travel at 300 mph.
    Wait… they still don’t have those in Canada, do they? They still don’t have those in the USA, either. But China has them. http://www.autoblog.com/2010/12/10/chinese-bullet-train-sets-300-mph-speed-record/
    Your smug western superiority is entirely unwarranted.
    Canada cannot even deal with the poverty of a small group of first nations citizens and I’ve been reading about Canada’s efforts for 40 years.
    Canada could never bring 600 million out of poverty in 25 years time like China has.

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  446. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 2:03 pm #

    No Soak – they used to just want the Southwest but because of our overt weakness they now want the whole country. Why are they crowding into the Southeast if the Southwest is all they want? In short, they will take as much as we are unwilling to defend. It is simply the Law of Nature, which they live by and we don’t.

  447. Mrs. Soake July 13, 2011 at 2:03 pm #

    There you go again. Always having to act the fool around these good decent white folks. When I get home I’ll be going upside your head but good and hard.

  448. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 2:13 pm #

    I would have had no idea unless you said something. So you value diversity more than even your mother’s saftey? You never cease to amaze me. You are DOMESTICATED, owned, – not your own man. Nobody who has his own being would have such twisted priorities.

  449. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 2:16 pm #

    Use a frying pan or a rolling pin though I’m sure your own iron hand is not negligible. Black hands are often like leather.

  450. soak July 13, 2011 at 2:17 pm #

    The USA is the world’s largest debtor nation. The USA is forced to take on increasing debt by issuing large amounts of new treasury bonds to finance its stimulus efforts.
    China, overtook Japan this year to become the world’s largest creditor nation.
    China is the owner of much of USA debt, holding an estimated $1.7 trillion of U.S. bonds and dollars.
    NOTE TO MILITARISTS: enjoy your military superiority now, because it won’t last long.
    Your desire for military superiority bankrupted our country. And the USA military is weak and cannot win battles anyway. 10 years and can’t win in Afghanistan. Taliban is stronger now than 10 years ago. What a waste of TRILLIONS of dollars.

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  451. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 2:18 pm #

    Now do you see why the Army has to be on the border? Worrying about the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is madness while our own border is being overrun.

  452. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 2:21 pm #

    Very good. Now name a real Communist or Socialist State – or admit the whole thing was always a utopian pipe dream lubricated by the blood of more than a hundred million deaths.

  453. wagelaborer July 13, 2011 at 2:23 pm #

    My parents both grew up without toilets or refrigerators. You may take these things for granted, but they don’t. And I don’t either. I truly appreciate hot and cold running water, flush toilets, plenty of food, houses built to code, and the like. I just realize that these things may not last, if the ruling overlords get their way.
    And you may not realize this, being Canadian and all, but a serious illness in the US also means that you’re fucked.

  454. soak July 13, 2011 at 2:24 pm #

    I am so glad you and Q and Marlin want to talk about Aztlan today.
    Before the Border Patrol was created in 1924, the military was in charge of the borders and millions came across.
    So, yes, put the military on the borders. The USA military is incompetent, as 10 years in the Middle East and 10 years in Vietnam have amply demonstrated.

  455. jackieblue2u July 13, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    THAT is exactly it. Glad to know that some one I KNOW is intelligent, well that I was thinking the same thing. (Don’t worry it doesn’t make you less, that I think like you in this case).
    And I too feel for the young. This world is corrupt at the highest levels. We are pawns in the game. That’s the title of a book I have yet to read.
    It might be a better world if we DID take the law into our own hands. I don’t know I know I won’t do that, but trying to imagine what it would be like if we all did.

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  456. wagelaborer July 13, 2011 at 2:28 pm #

    There hasn’t been a real socialist paradise yet, and you know it.
    Every time anyone has tried, they have been attacked by capitalist countries, either with armies, or with proxy death squads.
    And, of course, no matter how many times you or Marlin throws out the “hundred million” bullshit, I know better.
    If Stalin really killed one hundred million people, no wonder it took the Russians so long to fight off the Nazis.
    That would have left 63 million people in Russia.
    But absurdities never bother your kind.

  457. messianicdruid July 13, 2011 at 2:30 pm #

    “China is the owner of much of USA debt, holding an estimated $1.7 trillion of U.S. bonds and dollars.”
    Which they are trading for gold and silver.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGK5z2LBn7k

  458. Buck Stud July 13, 2011 at 2:40 pm #

    Yes…let’s talk about you JackieBlue. And I’ll put on some Don Henley and imagine “ your hair combed back and sunglasses on, baby” ! Oh, and whatever skin tone you happen to have “shining in the sun”:)

  459. soak July 13, 2011 at 2:40 pm #

    There hasn’t been a real socialist paradise yet, and you know it.
    ———-
    Cuba significantly outperforms the rest of Latin America in terms of infant and child mortality, morbidity, educational attainment and an array of other social and health indicators.
    Cuba has lower income inequality, better music, and provides American students free medical school education.
    Oh, and some say Cuba is socialist, though, like China, it takes advantage of foreign investment.
    This whole debate is funny. When you look at quality of life indicators (objectively measured by the UNDP HDI) the socialist countries perform better than than the free-market capitalist economies.
    http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/hdi/
    In 2009, Cuba ranked 51st out of 182 with an HDI of 0.863; remarkably high considering its GDP per capita only places it 95th. Another indicator that it is not all about money.

  460. jackieblue2u July 13, 2011 at 2:41 pm #

    I am with you on that.
    Learned to late what the game was.
    and I coulda worked it.

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  461. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 2:53 pm #

    I find that regular can openers work just fine. All of nature opposes you because your communism is against Her.

  462. bossier22 July 13, 2011 at 2:55 pm #

    It all goes back to where people are moving. No whites, mexicans or blacks want to move to China. But many Chinese have moved/ are moving here. They have accomplished a lot but it is not a society westerns find attractive no matter how successful they are monetarily. That being said, we should emulate some of the good things they have done with their country in the past forty years. They were not too proud to emulate us. One thing we could do is look out for number one, as they do. While they are growing in military power, they seem disinterested in being the worlds policeman. The US would wise to let nature take its course in many conflicts it has become involved with over the years. It does not make a damn bit of difference here at home who wins eighty percent of the time anyway.

  463. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 2:59 pm #

    Mandela preached classic Communism and once sucessful pretended that he never said such things. The whole world supported this revolution. No right wing armies or death squads have intervened. So why didn’t he go all the way? Obviously he was being funded by the Capitalists.
    Get the new bio of Stalin. When a young man he ran down the street joyfully shouting “I’ve been hired by the Rothschilds”.

  464. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 3:02 pm #

    Read the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. They’re everywhere. It’s not to late to join and become the Enemy.

  465. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 3:04 pm #

    More lies. Mao killed 100 million. Stalin a mere twenty or thirty – many of them in the Ukraine. Have you no shame?

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  466. wagelaborer July 13, 2011 at 3:05 pm #

    I agree with you that countries which try to go socialist are better off than openly capitalist countries. (That’s why the corporate media demonizes Cuba, Bolivia and Venezuela.)
    They have to try to live up to the principles of fairness, equality and improved living standards that are embodied in Marxist or other socialist traditions.
    It’s like the United States trying to live up to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We have these founding documents that we the people can point to, when the rulers go too far.
    What I think happened in the USSR, China and the US is that the rulers discovered that nothing really happens when they don’t live up to their principles, that the people will mostly passively accept whatever repression they are handed.
    So the USSR dissolved its Politburo and sold off its riches, making some Russians billionaires, while millions of the rest starved.
    China sold its labor force to US capitalists.
    The USA passed the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, and the Military Commission Act, and openly tortures, assassinates and holds people in prison without trial.
    Whattayougunnadoaboutit?

  467. soak July 13, 2011 at 3:10 pm #

    MD, does that scare you? Gold is not money. Gold is just metal taken out of the earth. Gold has not intrinsic value. The value people place on gold, and are willing to steal and kill for, is an indication of human psychological illness.

  468. wagelaborer July 13, 2011 at 3:13 pm #

    Vlad, you don’t get it.
    I don’t believe your bullshit. I am not defending Mao or Stalin, but I know that they didn’t kill millions of people.
    So fuck off.

  469. soak July 13, 2011 at 3:21 pm #

    Whattayougunnadoaboutit?
    —————
    Wage, I’m not sure if this is a rhetorical question or not.
    But here is what I have done about it:
    Lowered my income so as to not fund USA criminality with my tax dollars.
    http://w4.telcen.com/simpleliving.html
    HOW I LIVE ON JUST $12,000 A YEAR
    http://w4.telcen.com/simpleliving.html

  470. progress,conserve July 13, 2011 at 3:21 pm #

    “So fuck off.”
    -wage to vlad-
    Now, try to tell me it doesn’t feel good to tell that to somebody who really deserves it.
    Just be sure to add the word, “jackass,” next time.
    😉

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  471. soak July 13, 2011 at 3:23 pm #

    I guess I am ignorant, but I do not understand why the word “jackass” is considered an insult. Aren’t those also called mules or donkeys? They marched in our local 4th of July parade. They are noble animals.

  472. MarlinFive54 July 13, 2011 at 3:24 pm #

    “So f–k off” — Wage
    Wage, like I said, you’re a sweetheart!
    -Marlin

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

    JHK said this week: “Forget Michele Bachmann…”
    ————–
    We may not have that luxury.
    Bachmann is leading Romney in Iowa. Doesn’t seem like she is going away anytime soon.
    Palin/Bachmann 2012

  474. MarlinFive54 July 13, 2011 at 3:28 pm #

    “The Black Book of Communism”, published by the French Academy, Paris, France 1998, says 100 million dead, and counting.
    -Marlin

  475. soak July 13, 2011 at 3:32 pm #

    How many have been killed by capitalism?
    Start with the Conquistadors going after gold, gold, gold, gold.
    Idolize gold. Gold is good. Gold, gold, gold.
    Buy gold. Hoard gold. Defend your gold. Kill for gold.
    How many deaths, Marlin?
    Wanna bet it’s a bigger number?

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  476. progress,conserve July 13, 2011 at 3:59 pm #

    “The misery and murder caused by your ancestors will be redoubly visited upon you and your progeny.”
    -auntie hate-
    “I guess I am ignorant…”
    -soake-
    I do believe he finally got one right, Auntie.
    This blog seems unusually Cluster Fucked this week.
    I think I’m going to take the rest of the week off and take a break.
    No, seriously – I’m got to drive down to the Gulf of Mexico – for yet another family reunion.
    So I’m probably not quite through posting, yet.
    Last year, 7/15/10 @ 2:25 – the Macondo oil field blowout was finally plugged – while my family was in route to this same reunion.
    Planning a SCUBA dive – or at least some snorkling – coincident to this trip.
    I’ll try to bring back a report.

  477. MarlinFive54 July 13, 2011 at 4:01 pm #

    Hey Soak, Asoka, Auntie Soak etc., you best not start going after the Spaniards. Hammering us Anglos is one thing, but the Conquistadors, that’s quite another …
    -Marlin

  478. messianicdruid July 13, 2011 at 4:04 pm #

    “The value people place on gold, and are willing to steal and kill for, is an indication of human psychological illness.”
    Ain’t skeered. Ain’t willin to steal or kill. Ain’t buying Bernanke’s lies either. If you don’t value something real then don’t trade your fantasy moola for it. Next year when it has doubled in value, AGAIN, we can have this same stupid conversation.

  479. Bustin J July 13, 2011 at 4:14 pm #

    L. Ron says, “Wow, Bustin, your misogyny is truly impressive. Did you come up with all that yourself? Or have you been hanging out on some of the websites this guy talks about?”
    I’ll take a look when I can. I’m sure I haven’t.
    Misogynist is a cheap shot. But, you’re full of them aren’t you?
    L-Ron also bleated, “digbycookies: “Those personality tests are a trip! If you answer honestly, you are screwed.
    Test item example: I have never lied before in my life.
    Well, I personally don’t know a single person who has never lied.”
    “Well, naturally. This point seems to be lost on Bustin J, who was recommending in an earlier post to just lie, lie, lie and assert that they’d never stolen so much as a paper clip and that he/she would go directly to the boss if they heard of any such thing happening, et cetera. Bustin must think they’re the only person in the world more sophisticated than a six-year-old. The people who design those tests put in questions like that and various cross-checks precisely to flag liars and suck-ups of that kind.”
    Obviously you don’t lie on the gotcha questions. You lie on the questions that directly imply character faults in your personal or job history.
    No, these tests are instituted because the screeners (hiring folks) can’t tell a schiester from a meister, and need a computer to figure out whom they like and don’t like.
    The kinds of outfits using these screening techniques are retail chains and similar paragons of postmodern economic efficiency. No person with any credibility would subject anyone else to such ridiculous indignity. Respectable people are simply above that.
    But jobs are survival, and any means necessary means lying. Resumes are filled with lies. The thing is, these tests are EASY to lie on. It is impossible to fact-check. All one has to do is act congruently with the set of values espoused by the behavior choices selected. In this sense it is simply a test of experience, that is, is the applicant knowledgeable enough to know that, despite the request of honesty, he is expected to present the best possible case for himself? After all, if he does not know that advertising his faults is bad job-hunting skills, it is unlikely that the individual is serious and/or methodical about getting a job. Such a person is less likely to be prepared for a formal interview, right? No employer wants to waste their time talking to an employee who numerates all the ways in which they have failed, fucked up, and/or straightforwardly acts unemployable. regardless of your personal level of douche-baggery, an employer rather wants to know that you will conform to the norms of the workplace.
    Someone who flubs the test is either an authentically unemployable douchebag or a dangerous subversive unlikely to be properly subordinate. Failure to present a proper business facade is evidence of failure to conform to business norms.
    The solution is to lie. No, you are not a card-carrying Maoist. You are not a mercenary looking for cash to pay rent. You are not a drug-using freakzoid. You are not a kleptomaniac. You have a stable personality, friends, and a work ethic. You wear a condom every time you put it in your sister, and when you steal from people, it is through the stock market and not over the counter, with a shotgun. You hide the skull tattoos, the track marks, cut your fucking hair, shave your moles, pick the gristle out of your teeth, wax your eyebrows, and drop trou on command. That is how someone gets a job at one of these places.
    I was rejected off-hand for a line-item response that I had once “drank alcohol to excess”. The job was eyeglass repair and retail in a strip mall. The franchise model delivers all sorts of plug-in, brainless “business tools” like personality testing, drug testing, etc., and so on. Clearly if I had lied I would have gotten the job. I was qualified, likable, smart, recommended by existing employees, etc.
    That was 15 long years ago. Since then I’ve recognized the soft tyranny of the job market. All those retail stores are stocked with the saddest, most pathetic people. All the dynamic people are doing other things. No one with self respect ever assents to giving blood or urine samples, or takes a fucking personality test, period.
    A real personality test is an interview. If anything an employee should give a personality test to the employer. Problem is, most would fail, because most middle managers are losers and failures in one way or another. They schlub their way through life, spend their prime years crumpling into a patent leather seat, going from one place to another in their faux-adventure vehicles. Their kids hate them, they hate themselves, and their wives hate them. They drink to excess every chance they get and get high. They stuff themselves with BBQ on Sunday afternoons and fall asleep, drooling on a lawnchair in their neatly mowed backyard surrounded by privacy fence while airplanes plow through the sky.

  480. messianicdruid July 13, 2011 at 4:25 pm #

    “How many have been killed by capitalism?”
    That’s a good question. One of the capitalist’s tools has been manipulating the prices of gold and silver to keep the worship of paper money {which they create out of nothing} strong. They hate competition which proves they are NOT free market oriented. That idea is only for public consumption {consumers}.
    A month ago Bernanke announced that QE2 was going to end on July 1st. Their policy {buying US treasury bonds} would end shortly. My reaction was: “Really?? So who is going to fund America’s romance with debt {ie: paper money}?, China?”
    The fact is, China is now a net seller of US bonds. They buy a few {subterfuge} but sell more than they buy. The only way to prevent a “failed auction” is for the Fed to step in and do the purchases. This has been done under QE1&2 in the past year.
    The only reason QE1&2 were necessary in the past was because other countries have largely stopped buying our debt {paper}. Much of “foreign” buying has been due to our own Fed setting up foreign accounts to buy US Treasuries, making it appear that all is well with “foreign” purchases.
    The problem was so bad that the Fed finally had to admit to funding the US debt itself. It then promised to abstain from QE3 as of July 1st, but without solving the underlying problem, there was no way to fulfill its promise without accelerating the collapse of the economy. This will soon become obvious.

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  481. Bustin J July 13, 2011 at 4:37 pm #

    saoks said, “Correct, Marlin.
    Mexicans were here first, and are successfully (and nonviolently) taking back what is theirs.”
    Actually, the Natives were here first, then the Spanish empire, followed by a weak official Mexican presence and now Americans. These ancestral claims of ownership aren’t ever going to flourish into actual secession. In a decade, Mexico will become a manufacturing and labor center for North America, needing its repatriated citizens to keep it from becoming a banana republic. After its oil and gas are gone, Mexico is going to require thoughtful and thorough commitment from its people to forge some sort of sustainable road forward. Atzlanders, expatriates, refugees, and Chicanos are going to have to take the country back from a political shit-hole, environmental and social backwater, and make it work. Otherwise, Mexico will simply devolve. It is not in America’s interest to allow this to happen and the behavior and strategies of America toward Mexico must also change. I’ve challenged you before to explain why mass exodus of refugees is in the best interest of Mexican political economy…
    “What we now call the Southwest, they call Atzlan.”
    What they call Atzlan, we call the United States. And we call them illegals, alien, and, (of course) Mexican.
    “And the Mexicans are unstoppable. Millions have poured over the southern border and will continue to do so.
    More power to them. Amnesty now!”
    I don’t think either party is stupid enough at this point to overtly propose that. The door is simply closing. This page of history is being turned over. The new chapter will be different. The border will be strengthened. The border is already being extensively militarized by the CIA. Soon there will not be one wetback that crosses without being painted by a laser and tracked within 5 minutes.
    At some point, and that point is approaching soon, the costs of crossing will make it impossible for the numbers you describe to make it. Investment will return to the borderlands as America seeks closer manufacturing support. Mexico is an attractive place for investment because of the lack of organized labor and NAFTA, low taxes and incentive packages. That is what IS happening. Your fantasy of the Latter-day Mexican invasion is fading fast.
    “They are hardworking and productive contributors to our economy. Good immigrants. Let’s welcome them and work with them.”
    Productive in what sense? I for one don’t approve of the consumer-driven, globalist economy we are participating in. Whats in it for me Soak? I don’t buy the flat-screens they make in the maquiladoras. I don’t buy the fruit frosted with pesticides. I don’t approve of the carbon and sprawl generating fossil fuel economy and population growth. I have zero incentive to support unchecked immigration, population growth, or the degradation of domestic labor movements.
    Work with them? Doing what? Slicing ham for sandwiches? Building gas-guzzlers in assembly lines? Picking strawberries in a cloud of pesticides?

  482. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 4:59 pm #

    Oh, Nancy. I’ve been bad. I must be punished. Should I bring the trunk?

  483. Bustin J July 13, 2011 at 5:04 pm #

    Interesting to watch China make the same simple mistakes as most other modernizing economies.
    One commentator pointed out that a lot of growth was powered by infrastructure investment and development. The question is whether or not China will be able to afford the burden their infrastructure is going to require to maintain in the future. All that fantastic concrete, pavement, and steel will saddle future generations with a serious headache. Their industrializing sprawl-out is just another variety of clusterfuck.

  484. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 5:11 pm #

    Gotta’ have somewhere to live. For them, maybe not now, but, sometime.

  485. Bustin J July 13, 2011 at 5:14 pm #

    ixnay: “It was clear 10 years ago, that each voter could be given a public key (encryption), make their vote online, come back later and verify it, and NO ONE ELSE could ever find out who that person was, or who they voted for. Moreover, the total vote tally would have been completely accurate, and verifiable. And, the total cost of such a complete, consistent and bullet-proof system would have been well under $50 million.”
    Yeah, amazing, isn’t it?
    When will America become a true democracy?
    Its not going to happen as long as people believe this is one.

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  486. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 5:20 pm #

    Would this be analogous to the transparency that we have with the automated trading systems used with our financial markets?

  487. asia July 13, 2011 at 5:27 pm #

    Soak:
    ‘Cuba has lower income inequality’ …Yes Indeed, all are poor there, Except Fidel, who is said to keep his millions in a Swiss bank!
    [according to WSJ]
    I keep wagie on the ‘Scroll past fast’ list..see you and her are really going at it..Shes even cussin.[a real lady]
    I agree very much with you..Mao,Stalin,Pol pot killed 100 million according to informed sources…
    THE GREAT LEAP BACKWARD KILLED 30,000,000 By starvation.

  488. asia July 13, 2011 at 5:29 pm #

    By our necklaces we will liberate this nation
    [most dont know about necklaces, lynching ANC style].

  489. soak July 13, 2011 at 5:30 pm #

    “If you don’t value something real then don’t trade your fantasy moola for it. Next year when it has doubled in value, AGAIN, we can have this same stupid conversation.”
    ——————-
    LOL! I have no interest in gold coins. I don’t idolized metals, “precious” or otherwise. My “fantasy moola” is functional. Whether or not it “loses value” is of no concern to me. I don’t get all indignant and angry that “they” are stealing from me.
    You are mesmerized by gold and by your supposition that it will DOUBLE IN VALUE, AGAIN. Yours is pure fantasy speculation.
    Do you know how to spot a bubble? Do you know what happens when a bubble bursts? Think this gold inflation can go on forever, always up and up? Does it matter to you?
    I could care less about the price of gold or the price of tea in China. Your soul does matter, but I’m afraid it is too late for you. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

  490. asia July 13, 2011 at 5:34 pm #

    check the whole statement, She who pays $ to be part of the dreaded ACLU also doesnt know [or wont admit] to Maos Murders….its PLAIN FACT
    ‘I know that MAO/UNCLE JOE didn’t kill millions of people. So fuck off.’
    My My such denial!

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  491. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 5:35 pm #

    Once I tried to bite some gold. I hurt my tooth.

  492. soak July 13, 2011 at 5:45 pm #

    Moody’s Investors Service has placed the Aaa bond rating of the government of the United States on review for possible downgrade given the rising possibility that the statutory debt limit will not be raised on a timely basis, leading to a default on US Treasury debt obligations.

  493. MarlinFive54 July 13, 2011 at 5:58 pm #

    Earlier I said Metusaleh was a hard hittin som’bitch, even tho I’m puzzled by her attitude toward us. And BustinJ, you, cynical, misanthropic, brutally honest, I gotta say, one profound dude! That’s what keeps me coming back.
    -Marlin

  494. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 6:03 pm #

    If you reference Roy, you have not lost your humanity. Let’s see. First Messiah was human. Hmmm…Betcha’ Ten Confederate Dollars that the next one is human too.

  495. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 6:21 pm #

    Mother Gets Off Scott Free With Horrible Crime.
    …and now, SPORTS!!

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  496. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 6:48 pm #

    Let us bow our heads.

  497. ozone July 13, 2011 at 7:45 pm #

    Wholly Shit, Buttman!
    Lotsa hand-tradin’ going on h’yar this week.
    Barely have time to read/skim through the posts (busy, busy).
    I apologize to anyone who addressed me personally for the lack of response! :o(
    I’m finding that about half of the posts can be scrolled by now, as the psychopathy is creeping out of the ground like a septic system gone bad. (Seems most of those are the soaky & vladdy family show, and have about as much import/relevance to current exigencies as a feeble fart in a howling hurricane.) That’s just my taste on the worthwhile (or not), and saves a lot of time in the “keeping up”.
    Again, apologies; maybe next week will bring an opinion I might feel like sharing…. maybe not. ;o)

  498. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 7:51 pm #

    This is not a race issue. This is a sobriety issue. You can talk people into all kinds of things when they’re all fucked up. Can’t you?

  499. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 7:54 pm #

    bow wow wow
    yippy yo
    yippy yea

  500. Qshtik July 13, 2011 at 8:19 pm #

    I read a book afterwards and then went out with a bunch of friends for the evening before getting a good night’s rest.
    took my dog for a walk
    That’s what it takes to deal with your negative bullshit every Monday morning.
    Yet here you are, rain or shine, EVERY Monday morning. Oh yeah, Jim sucks sooo bad.

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  501. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 8:27 pm #

    The Irish gangs on the East Coast were first (lest we forget). My understanding is that as far as organized crime goes, the Jamaicans and Columbians are really The Masters of Reality now.

  502. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 8:28 pm #

    You should take up golf.

  503. DeeJones July 13, 2011 at 8:36 pm #

    Wow, has Asoka gone skizo on us? And I don’t think for one moment that Soak & Flad are one & the same. Sometimes I wonder if Flad is Jims sock puppet, think about it, so many have been banned her (Jonny Rico, SEB, et all), but Flad returns month after month spewing his racist crap, and no sign of being banned.
    Now, I used to let an old friend log on in my name because she liked JHKs blog and had a kick posting too, but didn’t she want a PC at home. Why? “Cause I work on one all damm day long, why the hell would I want one at home?” is why. Shes gone now, but once in awhile I tried to bring her back to life here, her comments were pretty good.
    As I see it you have only a few choices, denial, or dealing with the USA situation, and in the latter, you can choose to stay or leave. I left and am glad I did. You really cant believe or understand just how the Mad House USA looks like from the outside.
    But anyway, this is all besides the point, which is why I hardly ever read the comments past Monday. Since Jim refuses to moderate this blog, it very quickly heads way off topic, if there really is one to begin with, and lead by Flad & others, soon degenerates into about a 5th grade schoolyard mentality.
    Next week, dooods, DJ

  504. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 8:41 pm #

    Mr. Kunstler doesn’t moderate this blog because we have killed his editor.
    Sincerely,
    Franz Kafka

  505. trippticket July 13, 2011 at 8:53 pm #

    I think the gnats missed us the most!! Christ have mercy.
    Back home from the mountains, all are fed and watered, and the garden is trimmed up respectable like. Oh, and domesticated rabbit is outstanding. Who knew that the lowest energy meat to raise would also be the tastiest? Energy descent is just full of surprises…

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  506. metuselah July 13, 2011 at 9:03 pm #

    What is your solution?
    ==
    Eliminate: corporations, banks, taxes, regulations, gov mafia.

  507. trippticket July 13, 2011 at 9:17 pm #

    “Eliminate: corporations, banks, taxes, regulations, gov mafia.”
    That’s what’s happening. The problem is, they, like almost everyone else in the first world, just don’t know it yet. Problem is, there are some desirable things that go along with that quiver of wickedness too. Or at least very familiar…

  508. bubbleheadMarc July 13, 2011 at 9:31 pm #

    You can’t get along with everyone! It is beyond dispute by knowledgable people that Hitler was a mere boyscout compared to Uncle Joe Stalin. It is also beyond dispute that scores of millions of Chinese were starved through the incompetence and negligence of the Red Chinese Communists. Our troops fought in Korea because they were ordered to go there, and not consulted as to whether or not such a trip sounded congenial or fit in with their busy schedules.
    I have also believed that Truman should have declared war on the Chinese and allowed McArthur to basically vaporize them using the full inventory of our arsenal including of course nuclear weapons. We were being tested by both the Soviets and the Chinese both at the same time, and we should have given them a little more to think about than we actually did. In other words containment was a stupid policy. Our policy should have been to kick everyone else’s ass. There is no substitute for victory.
    On the other hand we should’ve stayed out of Vietnam, as the government of the Republic of Vietnam in the south wasn’t worth having as an ally. At least the Koreans have guts and discipline. I’ve been to Korea as an American sailor and was well treated by the people there.
    Uncle Joe did say some wise things for a mass murderer however, such as “you can’t make an omelot without breaking a few eggs.”
    Both the British Empire and the United States have done themselves a disservice by not sticking to a maritime strategy of defense. We’ve both meddled in the various continental land-masses at our own peril. Just as the true beginning of British decline can be traced back to the Boer War so too can our decline be traced back to the war in Vietnam, more recently aggravated by the foolish excursions to Towelheadistan. Fuck all the hypersensitive shrinking violets.

  509. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 9:31 pm #

    Brooksley Born.
    Let’s not forget our American Heroinens

  510. Qshtik July 13, 2011 at 9:34 pm #

    all are fed and watered,
    ============
    Speaking of water, on the front page of yesterday’s NYT was a picture of some burnt to a crisp GA farmland. The ensuing long article was about the very bad drought that is affecting a swath of 14 states. The article is datelined Colquitt, GA. I’ll google up a map to see how far that is from Tifton.
    The first paragraph reads as follows: The heat and the drought are so bad in this southwest corner of Georgia that hogs can barely eat. Corn, a lucrative crop with a notorious thirst, is burning up in the fields. Cotton plants are too weak to punch through soil so dry it might as well be pavement.
    Welcome back.

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  511. Qshtik July 13, 2011 at 9:37 pm #

    Eliminate: corporations, banks, taxes, regulations, gov mafia.
    =============
    Ohh, well why the Hell didn’t you say … consider it done by noon tomorrow.

  512. metuselah July 13, 2011 at 9:44 pm #

    You’re right. The process is under way. It might not happen according to Q’s wishes by noon tomorrow, but it’s happening nonetheless.

  513. Qshtik July 13, 2011 at 9:47 pm #

    Let’s not forget our American Heroinens
    ===================
    One n too many: heroines

  514. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 9:53 pm #

    Darkness is winning. Even Prog and Marlin have jumped in of their own free will.
    What do you think of the author David Godman who has written about Ramana and his disciples?
    This is from “No Mind, I Am the Self” about Lakshmana Swami.
    “The only good devotee he had during this period was a female rat who shared his hut with him. Swamy often gave her milk to dring and each evening she would come and sit on his lap and have ecsatic fits of laughter. Sri Lakshmana says that she was a very advanced devotee who had been reborn as a rat.”
    It goes on in this vein until the rat dies laughing. Just before, Swamy (love the spelling) see Ramana’s face superimposed on the rat – indicating both death and enlightenment. One can only wonder how many of our female posters can expect such exalted future incarnations.

  515. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 9:55 pm #

    Dee, we have been discussing female inadequacy – please make your contribution.

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  516. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 9:57 pm #

    Loyalty Oaths.
    “Got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues”
    – Ringo Starr

  517. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 9:59 pm #

    Wage’s Uncle Joe had a way with words: “It takes a brave man not to be a hero in my army”.
    “The death of one is a tragedy. That of ten thousand (ten million?….) is just a statistic”.

  518. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 10:00 pm #

    Pounce!

  519. bubbleheadMarc July 13, 2011 at 10:00 pm #

    But with regards to the Korean War it is nearly always overlooked that it was the Truman admisitration which had made the unfortunate decision to restrain Chiang leader of the KMT Nationalists from finishing off Mao when he easily could have so as to maintain a united front against the Japanese with the Communists as well. By 1949 the KMT had been forced to evacuate to the island of Taiwan. It is also possible that this was the policy of FDR as well, but I can’t recall right now.

  520. Qshtik July 13, 2011 at 10:10 pm #

    What do you think of the author David Godman
    Full of shit as a Christmas turkey.
    Swamy often gave her milk to dring
    For those unfamiliar with Indian languages, dring means drink in Gujarati.
    Swamy (love the spelling) see Ramana’s face superimposed on the rat – indicating both death and enlightenment.
    Swamy sees Ramana’s face superimposed on the rat – indicating Swamy’s been smoking the GOOD shit.

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  521. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 10:20 pm #

    You are nlightened.

  522. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 10:23 pm #

    Ya know, there’s more than one way to be enslaved. Just like there’s more than one way to grab a continent.

  523. trippticket July 13, 2011 at 10:26 pm #

    “Swamy sees Ramana’s face superimposed on the rat – indicating Swamy’s been smoking the GOOD shit.”
    Me too. Side bonus of holiday to the mountains. Tomorrow t’will be back to serious. Maybe.

  524. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 10:28 pm #

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDMP3TUjQP0
    A Comrade Progress type on YouTube tells truth to weakness.

  525. Vlad Krandz July 13, 2011 at 10:31 pm #

    Are you sayin’ that the good shit do grow wild in those mountains? I’se gonna send my Ellie May to go fetch me sum.

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  526. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 10:31 pm #

    GUILTY! Of believing his own bullshit.
    Where’s Nancy?

  527. Qshtik July 13, 2011 at 10:36 pm #

    The land you left so many months ago, filled with the “despised minority creatures” you so valently fled …
    ===================
    … and oooooo I do believe that Ex lax has kicked in. Pardon moi whilst I do # 2 on this here sidewalk.
    P.S. It’s valiantly

  528. trippticket July 13, 2011 at 10:36 pm #

    “Are you sayin’ that the good shit do grow wild in those mountains?”
    If by “mountains” you mean “East Atlanta Village,” then yes;)

  529. Qshtik July 13, 2011 at 10:49 pm #

    I’ll google up a map to see how far that is from Tifton.
    ================
    About 90 miles WSW.

  530. trippticket July 13, 2011 at 11:13 pm #

    It’s bad here, Q. My garden isn’t hurting anymore, we’ve gotten just enough rain to keep everything happy for the last month or so. God awful before that, and I guess some folks are still withering dry. Along with my wife’s soaps and herbal medicines, we’re managing to make a (you know me) meager living out of the garden though, with plenty of pumped groundwater. Working on that dependency next. That one’s a killer in my opinion. Bigger than peak oil for some.
    I’m writing a piece for the local paper about how under-appreciated fresh water is, and how, well, immoral seems like a good word to use, immoral it is to water your lawn while your market gardener neighbor’s well goes dry and his crops die. Which isn’t so much a difference in career choices or gardening styles as it is that it might mean humans dying in the foreseeable future. Not cool about lawn watering. Let the damn azaleas die, people.

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  531. progress,conserve July 13, 2011 at 11:14 pm #

    Ok – I have recently read “Collapse” by Diamond in a couple of late nighters. And now, having been attacked by both Vlad AND Soak in one day – a strong indication that I must be, generally speaking, both sane AND doing something right.
    And now having been attacked by the anti-Soak – specifically as one of only two self-declared Georgians on this comment thread – I’m actually feeling a strong need to go all Scotch-Irish on somebody and whup some ass. Yet, I don’t want to kick the dog – and no one else is available. Except this comment thread – ’cause the wife kicks back.
    ================
    But let me start with a positive. My, just now harvested, potatoes are GOOD. My wife and I just had two of them, fresh out of the microwave, cause it’s too damn hot to run the oven in the house right now. We both sat there eating our potatoes, along with blueberries, blackberries, and peaches – all grown on our little spot in the mountains.
    And life is good.
    So, if nothing happens – we’ve got 20 pounds of potatoes out of a fifteen foot row – planted almost free – from potato eyes from the grocery store.
    And I just pulled up the garlic bulbs – also planted for “free” from cloves from the grocery store – and we’ve got enough garlic to last at least a couple of months from those, now.
    And my 5 foot row of peanut plants – which seeds were also bought as plain raw peanuts from a grocery store – have now bloomed and are setting those cool looking little stolons down into the mulch as we speak. I’ve got high hopes for my peanut “crop” this year.
    And of course, all of this is a small scale experiment for me. But if 15 feet of potato plants can produce 20 pounds of tubers – multiply everything by a factor of 10 and add a little bit of luck – and we’ve almost got food self-sufficiency up here.
    It’s not that hard, folks. But the time to start doing it was yesterday. And now’s not too late.

  532. xhalor July 13, 2011 at 11:22 pm #

    I think that you will find that the statistics for “How many people have been killed with those nubbish #2 pencils ‘they’ give you to communicate with the outside world” is proportionally accurate.
    Not nearly as cool as the guy who saved his razor blades so he could stud the orange that he threw at his favorite guard.

  533. trippticket July 13, 2011 at 11:39 pm #

    Fantastic! Nothing like digging up spuds, in my opinion. Good as Christmas. I was so hot and sticky today that I just worked all day in a swimsuit and hosed down whenever the gnats got unbearable. Brought the garden back from vacation jungle-dom though!
    Sorry we missed you on this run. Hopefully we can catch up in person soon.

  534. Qshtik July 13, 2011 at 11:42 pm #

    Not cool about lawn watering. Let the damn azaleas die, people.
    ================
    When we’ve had droughts here in Jersey they outlaw lawn watering and car washing. Hasn’t been that bad since maybe 7-10 years.

  535. soak July 14, 2011 at 12:01 am #

    “This warning shot from Moody’s should be sobering to those who doubt the gravity of this perilous game of chicken. There will be no winners. The clock continues to tick. Congress has two choices: Raise the debt ceiling on our own initiative or be pistol-whipped into doing so by the bond markets. Moody’s warning suggests we are coming dangerously close to the latter option. Default is wrong, unnecessary and completely avoidable. If negotiators are making progress, they should step up the pace. If, as it appears, they are moving farther apart, they should do the responsible thing and bring a clean debt ceiling extension to a vote.
    America cannot default on its obligations. We must pay our bills.”
    —Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.):

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  536. Vlad Krandz July 14, 2011 at 12:05 am #

    See None Dare Call It Conspiracy. We defunded Chiang and did not invite him to the major powers conference in Tehran. After all, Mao was just a righteous “agrarian reformer”. Anyway, what’s done is done. I hope these Turkeys aren’t still intending to defend Taiwan. After giving China most of our knowledge and weaponry, that ship has sailed.

  537. trippticket July 14, 2011 at 12:07 am #

    All this talk of good food coming out of the garden makes me want to lay out the slow food menu we treated ourselves to with my brother’s family in the mountains.
    First night – Georgia-grown grass-fed ribeye steaks and Georgia-caught shrimp grilled alongside the steaks with some kind of a fruity slaw the girls made. (I know trawling for shrimp is destructive to deepwater corals, but I only do it once a year…it’s on my list of things to give up for good.)
    Every breakfast – free range eggs from our house or theirs, local organic fruit in season, and either sausage or bacon that my bro made.
    Every lunch was something like homemade bratwurst; or Italian sausages simmered in fresh organic spaghetti sauce from our garden/kitchen, over our spaghetti squash; or a cold plate of my bro’s charcuterie and some nice cheeses we both picked up on the way. Always slices of heirloom tomatoes and fresh fruit.
    Next night was the rabbit, which we stuffed with marjoram and thyme, then smeared olive oil over them, a little sea salt, cracked pepper, minced garlic from my crop this spring, wrapped in bacon, seared on the stovetop and baked for 30 minutes in the oven. Rosemary new potatoes from our garden for the side dish. My rabbits and herbs, his bacon. Top shelf fare in my book. Easily best in show.
    Grilled free range chicken from my garden…
    Grilled rack of N. Georgia lamb…
    Grilled N. Georgia pork chops…big ones…
    If our vacation had a title it would probably be “The Goal Is Gout!” My goodness. We live so simply all year, that such luxury sure is a ton of fun. (Not terribly hungry today either.) With all the food we needed and a borrowed cabin, we did the whole 6-day, 600-mile round trip for less than $200. Absolutely out of sight.

  538. progress,conserve July 14, 2011 at 12:23 am #

    “Sorry we missed you on this run. Hopefully we can catch up in person soon.”
    -tripp-
    Yeah, tripp, I’ll be looking forward to that. I think we’ve got time – we were talking about the “timeline of collapse” last week – my personal opinion is that we may have a few years, yet – that crossing back and forth over Georgia by car or truck will be easy to do.
    And in the meantime, this self-sufficiency thing is downright FUN, this time of the year. Or it is for me, at least. I’ve got a TEENY little garden, by country standards. But, every day I’m bringing in around 5 to 10 pounds of SOMETHING, in July.
    Then it falls more on my wife to figure out how to freeze it, cook it, or give it away. But we’re working on it and working together.
    Again, life is good!
    Best of regards & glad y’all had a good trip,
    Tripp.
    P,C

  539. soak July 14, 2011 at 12:29 am #

    “…my personal opinion is that we may have a few years, yet…”
    —————-
    De tus labios a los oidos de Dios.
    I pray you are right.
    I think we have less than one year, now.

  540. tucsonspur July 14, 2011 at 12:32 am #

    And I thought that women these days just wanted to castrate the modern male! (Some, anyway)
    Yes, it happened again!
    Becker cut off his pecker! Yes, Becker!

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  541. Vlad Krandz July 14, 2011 at 12:36 am #

    Lawns are one of the cornerstones of American “Culture”. As Alan Watts said, Law’n Order. It like giving the land a haircut. No hippies allowed.

  542. tucsonspur July 14, 2011 at 1:05 am #

    Another good post, but I can’t answer that question, only Vlad can. You make some good points.
    Generally speaking, I think that my position on race is somewhat “softer” than Vlad’s, but I do consider myself a racial realist and I go where that takes me. And most of the time I find myself supporting his positions. MOST of the time.
    As I mentioned, any race that is in steep decline in the short term, and by that I mean maybe a century, faces a terrible dilemma. If you can’t reproduce in numbers enough to maintain a viable presence on the planet, a survivable presence on the planet, you face extinction, enslavement,
    or you live at the mercy of others.
    At issue also is the fact that all this talk seems to be so unrealistically radical. It may be radical to some, but it certainly isn’t unrealistic.
    Just as the dilemma of energy descent will confound our society more extremely in a few decades, the dilemma of race will join with it, creating a spearpoint thrust into the very heart of America.

  543. xhalor July 14, 2011 at 1:10 am #

    In case there’s any doubt about the level of fraud, anybody bite at the last Icelandic bond sale?

  544. xhalor July 14, 2011 at 1:13 am #

    Becker? Pecker?

  545. tucsonspur July 14, 2011 at 1:26 am #

    Yes, out in Garden Grove California, a Mrs. Becker cut off her hubby’s pecker probably because he would always deck her.
    Drugged him, tied him to a bed, and when he regained consciousness said, “baby you be fooling around and filling your need and now this butcher knife gonna make you bleed”. Well, probably something like that.
    Lord O’ Mighty!

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  546. asia July 14, 2011 at 1:48 am #

    *****
    Taiwan kicked out of the dreaded UN and Maos minions given voting power, then MFNation status under Clinton.
    People are not suppose to know or notice such things [eh wage]!

  547. asia July 14, 2011 at 1:53 am #

    I knew the head of Narayan Gurukula [.com]..
    he knew RM..who is the ‘real deal’
    Godman…I assume he didnt know RM..so who cares!
    Poonjaji, eh….
    I think Lee Lozowick [i dont think much of him]
    did a good book on Ramsurat Kumar..that might be worth buying.
    Ramsurat passed a few years ago.

  548. asia July 14, 2011 at 2:01 am #

    becker had a pecker
    now its gone
    at least jon wayne
    found his on the lawn
    once it was sewed back on
    he moved on
    to doin porn
    [a true storeee]
    Webnews…12 year old cyberstalker gets probation
    computer wiz / stalker in minn, gets 17 years.

  549. asia July 14, 2011 at 2:07 am #

    Oh,,i had told you about Mother Hamilton ,…
    she, muktanada,ramana, others said sometimes
    humans go backwards evolution wise…
    its rare but it does happen.
    you know the tibetean story of the rich guy and the servant?

  550. asia July 14, 2011 at 2:17 am #

    Meher Baba has a story of being on a boat, traveling to the west for the first time..
    theres a child with a limp also on the boat
    ……MB says:
    ‘the girl had been a he in a previous birth and a very high soul’..ya never know

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  551. asia July 14, 2011 at 2:18 am #

    Because we are fine here!

  552. asia July 14, 2011 at 2:21 am #

    so yr peanuts are GMO peanuts…
    the devils been busy in yr backyard…[wilburys]

  553. Vlad Krandz July 14, 2011 at 2:26 am #

    Were we asked if we wanted to play “host” to tens of millions of Third Worlders? If we wanted our institutions taken over by rabid liberals who despise us? If we wanted our SS money “pooled” with other moneys and used for whatever? If our currency should be debased so they could give aid to all over the world and to third worlders here in America? And for their endless wars in the Middle East?
    And you are worrying about this? Look, there are plenty of White Nationalist sites – why preach to the choir? We have to spread the wealth around. We have the answers you know and turn about is fair play. Call it a reconquista.

  554. Vlad Krandz July 14, 2011 at 2:28 am #

    I saw Ramat’s picture and got shaktipat. Rama Tirtha too.
    I’m so unenlightened that I didn’t even know rats could laugh.

  555. Vlad Krandz July 14, 2011 at 2:37 am #

    Our ancestors conquered this continent. If you’re uncomfortable with that then you should go back to England or wherever your people came from. Of course they’re being conqured by Islam since they’re ashamed too. Countries filled shame filled people aren’t long for this world.
    It’s good you’re engraged. You’re going to need that. We’ve been betrayed and you should be angry about that not at me. The Feds are the ones who have raised up the Blacks and Browns against us. Don’t hate me just because I point out the obvious.
    The hatred of Blacks and Mexicans against us is extreme. You and Buck smirked that I couldn’t find a reference about killing Whites over 16. Of course I found it with no problem. No apologies were forthcoming just more bitterness. I’m doing my job and it’s working whether you want it to or not.

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  556. xhalor July 14, 2011 at 2:46 am #

    We are on the threshold of the second most overt act of fascism I’ve witnessed in the United Snakes of America. The first was the tanking of the Dow Jones in 2008. The next one is about to happen.

  557. xhalor July 14, 2011 at 2:49 am #

    Sheer poetry.

  558. xhalor July 14, 2011 at 2:54 am #

    Becker
    Deck Her
    Remove the Pecker
    Amen.

  559. xhalor July 14, 2011 at 6:04 am #

    I have a reply for you and Vlad both. All forms of government are perfect until you insert the humans. Before you denounce the cruelty of other systems, how many people NEEDLESSLY died of starvation in the United States during the last economic depression. How many on food stamps now?
    I can see that both of you have big Communist bones up your asses. As if it is the form of government and not the people involved who make a difference. Considering the act of genocide that it took to establish the United States of America, how is this country so remarkably different?
    And I damn sure don’t hear any war stories from someone who killed from afar in the air-conditioned comfort of an Arleigh Burke.

  560. messianicdruid July 14, 2011 at 7:06 am #

    “You are mesmerized by gold and by your supposition that it will DOUBLE IN VALUE, AGAIN. Yours is pure fantasy speculation.”
    If I had phrased it as, “The dollar will lose half its value, again.” would you still be arguing with me and acting like you don’t care, or this will have no impact on your life?
    That’s really the problem. It is the dollar that is becoming worth~less, and it is used to measure everything else. The thieves blame anyone available to hide their own actions.

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  561. bubbleheadMarc July 14, 2011 at 8:24 am #

    Amen exhalor from inhalor. The fact is, the so called “communist bloc” wasn’t even communistic, as they instituted then perpetuated their own class system in which status was derived from one’s contributions to the state. In orthodox Marxism the state was supposed to wither away.
    And in terms of everything good being ruined by people this insight could be employed in a positive sense when you realize that you can in fact negotiate with anyone by appealing to their self interest, no matter what their ideology might be. This is what Churchill meant when he said that if the devil were against Hitler he’d make positive reference to the devil in the house of commons. A more useful term vis a vis the old Warsaw Pact would be “command economies”.

  562. bubbleheadMarc July 14, 2011 at 8:27 am #

    What is the overt act of fascism we’re on the threshold of?

  563. lbendet July 14, 2011 at 8:44 am #

    Our Overgrown Garden of Earthly Delights
    In reading the thread in the last 12 hrs I noticed many of you discussing your gardens and the wonderful results you are getting. Many of you are literally enjoying the fruits of your labor and on a very local personal level, that is most gratifying to read about. So thank you Trip et. al for sharing…
    That said, I couldn’t help but think about the overgrown weeds that are strangling our common garden, that is the US.
    Yesterday, Charles Hugh Smith Of Two Minds blog writer started a new series called Poverty in America. In this he describes how the elite manufacturers of the US are now decoupled from the rest of the population, thanks to neoliberal globalism. We have allowed 400 of the most selfish traitors on earth run this country into the ground–we have not yet reached critical mass–just wait until we do.
    We have Coporatism and TBTF who hate competition (the opposite of Capitalism) running the government and through ideology based, not on fact but on bizarre fictions, we have a polity that thinks if they reduced government and taxes, all will work out.—That, my friends is pure fiction.
    If the government weren’t overgrown with the weeds of lobbyists, banks, insurance, Monsanto, a burgeoning security industry which is rampantly eating our tax-payer money, maybe this government could get something done. Instead, we are being strangled, here on the ground, no longer able to thrive and grow.
    We are mired in mud of the Kulcha wars, where one step forward is 5 steps backward. Even people like Chris Matthews and Dylan Ratigan are frustrated with what they are seeing i goverenment. (I suggested they read CHS, BTW).
    Yes, all the nonsense about cutting taxes to the 400 richest people in the country to create jobs is a fantasy from a different era. All they are doing is obtaining slave labor in other countries, enjoying the giant differential, adding more hours to those who are working and they refuse to hire new workers.
    Obama had the golden opportunity to decouple business from healthcare insurance with a majority on Democrats in both houses, and he failed to lead—he failed to fulfill his mandate that the people said they wanted when they voted him into the presidency. His administration made sweetheart deals with big pharma and private insurance companies who are making $billions. That’s why our healthcare costs are so huge and wasteful.
    He also failed to restructure the debt, did not reinstitute Glass Stegall and proceeded to reflate the bubble which is now going to blow up on us again. O promised on the campaign trail to restructure taxes in a way that would incentivise businesses to hire in America again. Now he’s discussed the idea of lowering taxes on products made outside the US.
    We are now insuring the Greek debt, which will only screw the US taxpayers. (notice how the rich refuse to pay their fair share–hmmm maybe they know something we don’t)
    In our present environment, nothing substantial to restructure this country can take place, so change is impossible. But as JHK says it will happen whether we choose to or not, that is inevitable. We are all a part of and witnesses of this moment of history. It could have been one that ushered in changes that would make the inevitable kinder and gentler—that is not in the cards.

  564. welles July 14, 2011 at 8:59 am #

    An Eden that my ancestors and I cultivated so many years ago before you white mothers stole it from us
    bud you didn’t cultivate jack shit, you were born non-white, the other guy was born whitish, people migrate and settle/steal other lands…suddenly it was *always* theirs..
    keep pining for what isn’t gonna happen, the return of black egypt-eden-glory, or the white-viking-glory….what a joke
    peace peaceniks

  565. bossier22 July 14, 2011 at 9:24 am #

    An awesome post. I can’t help but believe our elite of the past, while all for making a buck, were all for promoting America. When every culture became”equal” it decoupled the elite from their country. They became global citizens and everything is cumbyah and brotherhood of man for them.

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  566. MarlinFive54 July 14, 2011 at 9:41 am #

    BBHMarc, good post yesterday about Korea. The only reason I mentioned it at all, and my Dad being wounded there in 1950, is that I wanted show that I wasn’t born with a silver spoon but still went ahead and had a pretty good life here, of which I’m grateful. I don’t know what got up Wages you know what. Talk about hate …
    -Marlin

  567. wagelaborer July 14, 2011 at 9:42 am #

    You are being manipulated, Soak.
    They want to raise the debt ceiling to get Americans into more debt to pay the bankers.
    Read lbendet’s link!!
    http://my.freeze.com/NA_newtab_i_IE.html?fr=freeze&type=W3i_NA,173,0_0,Tab%20Search,20110311,17369,0,8,0

  568. wagelaborer July 14, 2011 at 9:47 am #

    OK, I meant to link to the Michael Hudson article, but it didn’t work out.
    But they are Manufacturing Consent for more debt slavery by staging a fake fight between the Reps and the Dems, as Alex Jones and Noam Chomsky point out, when the whole thing is unneccessary, as Michael Hudson points out.
    Don’t fall for it, Soak!

  569. DeeJones July 14, 2011 at 10:01 am #

    Flad, I guess we don’t need to discuss male inadequacy, eh? You are a prime example, nothing further to say.
    Say, do you live alone? Or in your parents attic, basement or garage? Have you even ever had sex with another person? Without paying for it? And if you did, I bet (S)he over charged you, and you didn’t even notice. Or do you roofie women, and then keep them tied up in your cellar? Say, are you a necrophiliac?
    Dee 🙂

  570. wagelaborer July 14, 2011 at 10:18 am #

    “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities” Voltaire
    So our two resident John Birchers and our fascist have all agreed that Mao killed 100 million people.
    World War 2, a war which raged over multiple countries and continents, involving mass armies, and bombs and bullets and machetes and death camps, killed 40 million people.
    But we are supposed to believe that a single man in a civil society at peace, killed more than two and a half times more people than World War 2?
    This is clearly absurd.
    Yet, Bubbleheadmarc, not the usual right winger, but inspired by this absurdity, announces that the US should have leveled the entire country of China with nuclear bombs, a clear atrocity.
    The US is now in yet another announced atrocity-producing situation, where they are bombing the people of Libya, in order “to save them”.
    They couldn’t get away with these atrocities if people didn’t believe absurdities.
    Wasn’t there a Clusterfuck participant who tried to make people understand numbers, at one time?
    20 million, 40 million, 100 million….pretty soon you’re talking real numbers!

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  571. dale July 14, 2011 at 10:42 am #

    There hasn’t been a real socialist paradise yet, and you know it.
    ————————————-
    You should know that this sort of argument is of the “strawman” variety, and treat it accordingly. It’s right up there with that Obama as “messiah” thing. Don’t waste your breath.
    But then….to be truthful…the whole “left vs. right” argument is mostly a load of bullshit, being almost entirely “sound and fury” without substance. Nothing touching on reality is ever part of the discussion. But I guess it keeps the hoipolloi busy believing part of the power structure is on their side, and therefore serves its purpose. For those in power, that is.

  572. bossier22 July 14, 2011 at 10:44 am #

    If you are still talking about Stalin’s Soviet Union, i can’t vouch for exact numbers killed. But a civil society at peace, are you out of your mind. Of course you are not but you are believing an absurdity yourself. On Libya you are absolutely right, it is none of our damn business. Besides who’s to say the new boss might be worse than the old boss.

  573. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown July 14, 2011 at 10:51 am #

    Peak oil seems bad enough… but what about this other peak?
    http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2305

  574. dale July 14, 2011 at 10:53 am #

    You don’t have to be a prognosticator to understand history, you just have to stand back far enough and look. What I see is this:
    In the last thirty years both parties have cooperated in instituting policies which have slowly decimated the middle class while enriching an incrasingly smaller group of elites.
    The game is just about up, and its gotten out of their control. When the multiple stimulus era ends, reality will force the liquidation of the middle class in order to maintain the status quo for those at the top. At that point, it really won’t matter which side you are on in these ridiculous current political debates. You will either be among the elites (which none of us are) part of the technocratic structure needed to keep it all going (which very few of us are) or “the rest” who won’t really matter.
    Carry on now, “conservatives” and “liberals”.

  575. wagelaborer July 14, 2011 at 11:10 am #

    http://michael-hudson.com/2011/07/obamas-debt-ceiling-doublespeak/
    OK, this is what I meant to link to earlier.
    This entire charade of the debt ceiling is exposed by Michael Hudson.

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  576. wagelaborer July 14, 2011 at 11:14 am #

    And Matt Taibbi, as usual, explains how the anger of the American people, sliding down the rathole, is focused on those just above them, instead of the ruling overlords.
    http://www.readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/83-83/6598-greed-excess-and-americas-gaping-class-divide

  577. Patrizia July 14, 2011 at 11:21 am #

    “In our present environment, nothing substantial to restructure this country can take place, so change is impossible.”
    There would be many ways to make things better, at least to start to change.
    I cannot believe that there is not one economist who knows the right thing to do.
    The problem is that they do not address the real problem because they do not want, because it is not convenient.
    As long as Walmart will go on selling chinese products, making huge profits producing at a very low cost and selling at western price, nothing will change.
    It could change if there was the political will to CHANGE.
    It would be enough to put taxes on imported products and helping with that money the local production.
    It would be enough a little bit of honesty in doing ones job, which is trying to make things better for the citizens.
    There is only one thing to do, and we should do it before it is too late: changing the political class.
    If we had politics who CARE, who want to do the job for which are elected, who really want to make things better something would change.
    If 20% of the population is unemployed, even 30% and the rest, 80 or 70% still has a job and still can spend money, why should they change something?

  578. Vlad Krandz July 14, 2011 at 11:51 am #

    You’re just using Fascism as a synonym for “bad guys”. Fascism doesn’t play the money game like Capitalism and Communism do. A bad Fascist State would be repressive and brutal – but the bankers and businesmen would know their place and have a real fear of getting out of line. In other words, they are not in charge as they are in Capitalism and secretly in Communism.
    The word you want is Plutocrats or Totalitarians or Oligarchs or Class Tyrants.

  579. Vlad Krandz July 14, 2011 at 11:53 am #

    Vlad, Vlad – I will teach you to say that name with passion, Macha.
    I’ve been into sheep. You will be my first non-sheep.

  580. Qshtik July 14, 2011 at 11:55 am #

    People are not suppose to know or notice such things
    ===============
    Asia, you’re writing as you think you hear but there’s actually a “d” at the end of that bolded word above.
    It reminds me of an audit I did about 35 years ago in Harlem (NYC). Not relevant to the story but modestly funny … on my way from the parking lot to the business concern I stopped at a corner news stand and asked the black lady for a Wall Street Journal. Her response: “Are you kidding me? in this neighborhood?”
    Anyway, around noon of that first day of the audit I went to a luncheonette down the block. I sat at the counter and pretended to be oblivious that I was the only white person in the place and wearing a suit and tie no less. I glanced up from my menu and noticed a hand-scrawled sign scotch taped to the mirrored wall. It read:
    Chop beef
    Boil potato
    Ice tea
    I smiled slightly and held a quick debate with myself whether or not I should ask the young black counter person if the words preceding beef, potato and tea were intended as verbs because, if not, and they were meant to be adjectives they each required ed on the end.
    I quickly abandoned this internal debate, because I’m nothing if not practical, and ordered a pastrami on rye.

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  581. Vlad Krandz July 14, 2011 at 12:17 pm #

    Spoken by a man who helped create the Terror known as the French Revolution – which Communists universally adore.
    In one of his five year plans for iron, they were behind schedule so Mao ordered them to take away plows that had been in families for years. Of course the people starved and the communes could not equal the yields of the small farms. As the Greek orator said, “They make a desert and they call it peace”.
    So what is your party? SWP, WW, or RCP – my personal fave. The cult of Bob Avakian is so absurd. They make a big deal about him being in hiding but the FBI lost interest in him many years ago. No one’s looking. He’s just a fat guy who probably watches alot of sitcoms and writes an occasional epistle to the devotees.

  582. asia July 14, 2011 at 12:32 pm #

    Sheesh………I have a college degree and [gasp]
    I DIDNT KNOW THAT..WELCOME TO EUBONICS U.
    I have a new name for Wage,
    “Cleopatra, QUEEN OF DENIAL”.
    [Did I place the period correctly?
    and gimme a boil potato..yes Manhattan is a land unto itself..in the good ole days with the candy stores that were Bookmakers and the theatre
    ..actually in Brooklyn that had a Hollywood Film
    title on the Marque but when the underage guy walked in they were showing a skinflick]

  583. Qshtik July 14, 2011 at 12:34 pm #

    Wasn’t there a Clusterfuck participant who tried to make people understand numbers, at one time?
    20 million, 40 million, 100 million….pretty soon you’re talking real numbers!
    ===================
    I believe that was Everett Dirksen (Sp?) but I don’t think he ever posted here at CFN.
    😉

  584. tucsonspur July 14, 2011 at 12:35 pm #

    Thanks for the thumbs up.

  585. asia July 14, 2011 at 12:38 pm #

    You are a Troll adding to the Flame War here
    and reading some Bircher works might open yr eyes.
    The Maoist atrocities in Tibet are well documented,
    In part because Dalai Lama is ‘In’ with the
    leftists here in Hollywood.
    There have been books upon books written about events such as this………………..
    a Lama who recalls being at the Nepalese border but his flock were denied entry, 1000 starved
    waiting passage into Nepal.

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  586. tucsonspur July 14, 2011 at 12:39 pm #

    “Sewed it back on, went into porn..”
    I know one of his more popular movies, did you see it? It was called “Scarcock”.

  587. tucsonspur July 14, 2011 at 1:03 pm #

    Good old New York! I’ll bet that pastrami on rye was pretty good.
    Good move on your part. You could have wound up ded.

  588. soak July 14, 2011 at 1:26 pm #

    Republicans may not support raising the debt ceiling until the stock market takes a major plunge, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Thursday, drawing comparisons between the debt negotiations and the 2008 vote on the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
    “The Republicans may need to see the markets drop 400 points,” she said at a press conference Thursday.
    Pelosi said the debt limit debate was similar to the debate over TARP in 2008, the “bailout” bill that approved $700 billion in federal payouts to banks. Although neither party wanted to support the bill, Democrats in the House came forward to pass it, Pelosi said, because they wanted to restore confidence to the markets.
    The TARP bill initially failed in the House, with just 145 Democrats and 65 Republicans lining up to support it, short of the 218 total votes needed for passage. The vote caused the Dow Jones Industrial Average to plummet 777 points.
    “Unfortunately [Republicans] had to let the TARP bill die and markets tumble before they would supply even a few more votes,” she told reporters after the press conference.

  589. soak July 14, 2011 at 1:55 pm #

    “You are a Troll adding to the Flame War here
    and reading some Bircher works might open yr eyes.”
    ————–
    C’mon, asia, that is not true. Wagelaborer is not a Troll.
    Wagelaborer is one of the most rational, honest, commonsensical, intelligent, and balanced people on CFN.
    And I say that even though she criticizes my positions and sometimes does not agree with me, for example on immigration. I say that even though she thinks I am being manipulated regarding the debt crisis.
    Just because someone does not agree with you does not make them a Troll.

  590. wagelaborer July 14, 2011 at 2:31 pm #

    Aw, shucks, thanks, Soak.
    And I was just going to link to that Michael Hudson article again until you read it!
    But I guess you have.
    So quit shilling for Obama!
    luvya! 🙂

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  591. jackieblue2u July 14, 2011 at 2:31 pm #

    This is one of my favorite blogs. This thread Rocks !
    I don’t have time to reply right now, if ever. Probably tonight or at the end where no one reads anyway.
    anyway I will leave you with one of my favorite lines from a Johnny Rivers songs :
    To live you must nearly die, giving up the need to say I, look to your soul for the answer. Look to your soul…..
    Hold the fort down til I get back.
    🙂

  592. soak July 14, 2011 at 2:37 pm #

    “I am not a priest, I am just a friend. I am here to explain to you how I have discovered truth. Doubt has been my own process, my own way to reach to truth. And I would like you to become more and more sharp, intelligent. Doubt more scientifically. Just as in science doubt helps you to discover, it also helps in the inward journey.”
    –Osho

  593. Qshtik July 14, 2011 at 2:47 pm #

    So quit shilling for Obama!
    ==================
    Wage, I am really disappointed that you allow yourself to be sweet-talked like this. Whatever Soak says tomorrow you can be assured will contradict what he says today. (“Do I contradict myself? Well then I contradict myself … -Walt Whitman.)
    Please go back to 6:22PM on June 8, 2011 and read how Asoka dropped Obama like a hot potato.

  594. soak July 14, 2011 at 2:59 pm #

    Wage, even Hudson had something good to say about Obama:

    And the one good thing in President Obama’s speech two days ago was he used the term spending on tax cuts. So that’s not the same thing as raising taxes. He said just cut spending by cutting spending on tax cuts for the financial sector, for the speculators who count all of their income that they get, billions of income, as capital gains, taxed at 15 percent instead of normal income at 35 percent. Let’s get rid of the tax loopholes that favor Wall Street.

    The largest contributors to the deficit have been Bush’s trillions for wars and tax cuts for the wealthiest.
    If Obama would just stop the wars and not renew Bush’s tax cuts, it would go a long way toward eliminating the deficit.

  595. soak July 14, 2011 at 3:06 pm #

    Q, you then taped something to your computer and predicted I would change my mind the next week. You were wrong. Your words are June 8, 2011 at 7:20 p.m.

    I am taping a little note to the edge of my laptop screen that reads “6/8/11, 6:22PM, Asoka drops Obama like a hot potato” so I can throw it back in your face when you do a 180 around this time next week.

    I have been consistent in my opposition to drone bombings for years now. I criticized Bush and I criticize Obama. Consistency.
    I have stated both men are war criminals and should not be allowed to walk the streets as free men. Consistency.

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  596. asia July 14, 2011 at 3:13 pm #

    Fabian, you are being an Alarmist [welcome to the club].

  597. soak July 14, 2011 at 3:16 pm #

    New York 26.
    Just how will Obama’s socialist plans be interrupted? Secret Service will be watching you for your answer.
    New York 26.

    Over the past 12 years, as the blog “Smart Politics” notes today, there have been 192 elections in which the Republican Party has tried to take a California congressional seat out of the hands of the Democrats, 192 straight elections. Of those 192 elections, Democrats in California have won all 192 of them.
    Over that same period, seven of California‘s congressional seats that were Republican have gone to the Democrats.

    New York 26.

  598. asia July 14, 2011 at 3:20 pm #

    ‘You and Buck smirked’..actually I recall it being the blowhard in Australia, whose name I forget.

  599. soak July 14, 2011 at 3:25 pm #

    How the Bush Tax Cuts Blew Up the Deficit and Debt
    http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/07/238653/animation-tax-cuts-deficit-debt/

  600. soak July 14, 2011 at 3:29 pm #

    And the NY 26 special election? It was held by Republicans since the Civil War… until now. Does that make your case for you, in upstate conservative NY.

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  601. Vlad Krandz July 14, 2011 at 3:31 pm #

    r

  602. soak July 14, 2011 at 3:32 pm #

    “This merely speaks to the idiotic electorate of California…”
    ————
    People who call voters idiots and fucktards probably belong to the political party that is losing elections.

  603. MADMAX July 14, 2011 at 3:39 pm #

    Who the hell is Nancy Grace?

  604. Cash July 14, 2011 at 3:40 pm #

    You bet I realize it. It’s no secret that there are a number of border states that are big time trading partners especially with Ontario and these states are in really rough shape.
    Let me lay out number-wise the extent of the problem:
    According to Statistics Canada we Canucks had 616 billion Canadian dollars (currently worth about USD 1.04) in direct investments abroad at the end of 2010.
    Of that amount 250 billion was invested in the USA. In comparison, foreigners had about 560 billion invested in Canada and about 306 billion of it came from the USA.
    Here’s more: in 2010 Canada’s merchandise exports totalled about C$404 billion. Of that amount about 63% was to the USA. Of our total international trade, which also includes trade in services and other things, the USA accounts for about 75% of it.
    Now to put it in context: Canada’s total GDP for 2010 was somewhere around 1.6 trillion C$. So exports to the US are absolutely critical.
    I don’t know if this is still true but around 10 years ago the world’s biggest trading partners were Ontario and Michigan. Our greatest natural resource is the 100 million plus American consumers living within a one day truck drive of Southern Ontario factories.
    Just to put it into a rough number and one which you hear all the time around here, roughly one billion dollars in goods crosses the border from Canada into the US every day. Roughly the same amount crosses from the US into Canada. So the dependence is mutual. We have hundreds of billions invested in each other and billions in profits flow both ways across the border from this.
    So you see we have each other by the throat. If you go down we go down and if we go down you guys get brutalized too. And let’s not forget your dependence on Canuck oil which the Chinese are gazing at lustfully. And they’re licking their lips.

  605. ctemple July 14, 2011 at 3:53 pm #

    r, what does that mean? Is this some Internet slang I’m not aware of?
    -Q

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  606. Cash July 14, 2011 at 4:01 pm #

    Great post. We’ve had the same type of intellectual laziness up here. And political balkanization too except it’s regionally based.
    The last election we had (May 2) thankfully shook things up.
    One thing we do really well up here is to periodically destroy political parties and create new ones. You guys need to do that once in a while. Not too often or you end up with an Italian style mess. I don’t know if this Tea Party phenomenon qualifies.

  607. ctemple July 14, 2011 at 4:05 pm #

    I consider myself a conservative reactionary, and almost all of my anger is directed at the wealthy and privileged. They’ve ran the country down the toilet.

  608. Cash July 14, 2011 at 4:07 pm #

    That’s hilarious.

  609. soak July 14, 2011 at 4:12 pm #

    Ahem. No response on this nugget. Of course you never respond to facts…
    —————
    You are including the things Obama had to sign onto in 2007 because of the Bush-created economic recession. And you are including the cost of wars Obama had to continue that Bush created. And you are including the deficit created by Bush tax cuts that happened before Obama took office.
    Your “facts” are skewed. Take out the Bush recession, Bush wars, and Bush tax cuts from Obama’s first year and your figures would be more accurate.
    Obama is entirely responsible for the deficit he has run up in the second and third years by following Bush’s policies, running Bush’s wars, and continuing Bush’s tax cuts.

  610. soak July 14, 2011 at 4:14 pm #

    This is as relevant to how Obama will fare in the coming election as is the “special olympics.”
    ————-
    Right. Keep doing what you are doing. It is working fine for Obama.

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  611. Bustin J July 14, 2011 at 4:30 pm #

    Xhalor said in response to a thread about voting systems and transparency: “Would this be analogous to the transparency that we have with the automated trading systems used with our financial markets?”
    Its hard to understate how unaccountable our voting system is as-is.
    There is no effective proposal toward transparency in US elections, or elections in general, because it is not in government- or corporate- interests to democratize the system. Any improvement on the system starts pushing a dangerous political agenda- based on participation and empowerment. The established powers have no interest in reform.
    The capitalist way of managing elections would be to create a market around election services. That is not the case- all the contracts are delivered no-bid to corporations like Diebold. There is no interest in democratizing elections.
    I live in a place where the barrier to tabling an issue is extremely high. And I have witnessed the “will of the people” ignored and imposed several times- enough to realize that, even at a local level, voting does not work, that we do not have a functioning democracy.
    America’s basic civics brainwashing is a complete lie. The Public relations cretins in the media and elsewhere are rubbing their greasy fingers together in anticipation of next years orgy cash in the service of creating social noise that will drown out any dissent or question of the electoral system.
    The blue-haired old ladies at the voting place are volunteers, but the lobbyists, PR firms and pols are paid servants of this system. Your medicare and Social security are going to be cut, your currency devalued, and your streets will be filled with tear gas, rocks, and broken bottles.
    America’s alpha males, the fat, stocky types who played football in school and just got back from running security in the Mideast are going to be wearing a comfortably familiar sort of body armor and will get their fat paychecks and adrenaline rushes bashing heads and arms. Its coming baby. Its coming. These are the inheritors of a police state. These are the growth industries, the new job base. Professional ass-kicking and the for-profit prison system.
    A fair and democratic voting system that brings direct representation to Americans and complete transparency could be achieved for peanuts.
    They don’t want to share their power with you. They act like you want another Apollo mission to the moon.

  612. soak July 14, 2011 at 4:42 pm #

    “…will get their fat paychecks and adrenaline rushes bashing heads and arms. Its coming baby. Its coming.”
    ————-
    Aside from your glee, you provide zero evidence for this claim. Indeed, you mislead. The growth industries in the USA are:
    1) Management and consulting services
    2) Services for the elderly and persons with disabilities
    3) Home health care services
    4) Computer system designs
    5) Retail trade
    I can provide concrete wage and salary data to back up what I am saying.

  613. wagelaborer July 14, 2011 at 5:36 pm #

    I was practicing my womanly charms, since my mother failed to teach them to me.
    That was the very first time in my life I ever used the phrase “luvya”.
    Apparently, no one was impressed.

  614. wagelaborer July 14, 2011 at 5:41 pm #

    Seriously, soak?
    You read the whole article and all you get out of it was that Michael Hudson liked a four word term that Obama used, while he was lying to us about fighting the Republicans?
    I am not impressed with Obama’s “fighting words”.
    He has a habit of straightfacedly lying – talking populist shit while enforcing ruling class dictums.
    And I don’t believe that being a “consultant” is an up-and-coming profession.
    That is what people call themselves when they have a skill, but are unemployed.
    Bustin is right. The steady employment will be in the busting heads department, along with prison guards and Grandma groping.
    There will be no more Grandma nurturing. Those days are over, and your man Obama is leading the charge.

  615. ozone July 14, 2011 at 5:42 pm #

    I would agree with your assessment.
    It may be hard for the statistic-dependent to grasp that, but they’ve never been skilled at reading the writing on the wall or smelling the chaos on the wind… that’s why they’re statistic-dependent. The largest and deadliest trends are written between the lines. If they’re not named, perhaps they don’t/won’t exist?
    I’m sure you noticed, X was grimly kidding [as per usual]; I like their style. ;o)
    Lastly, are you noticing how much over-scrollable blatherskite is being splattered against the walls in here? Desperate times call for desperate measures, methinks…

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  616. bubbleheadMarc July 14, 2011 at 5:43 pm #

    Personally I like it when everyone on this blog goes nuts for awhile. Makes me feel almost normal in fact.
    Our former next door neighbor fought in Korea as an infantry captain and only 18 members of his company survived the war. When they got to Japan at the reception center they had a banquet table filled with mixed drinks so they didn’t have to wait for a bartender to fix them one. He continued drinking until after he retired when he finally quit and also sponsored me in AA for awhile. He said that the Chinese would attack in human waves and that after repelling several attacks their position would be surrounded by towering piles of bodies.
    I think everyone knows you weren’t born with a silver spoon in your mouth. The silver spoon people don’t enlist when they turn 18! I also got a kick out of someone, can’t remember who, who taunted you with the line about how people on air conditioned navy destroyers don’t have any war stories to tell. It reminded me of the instructor at submarine school who sarcastically commented to us: “aren’t you guys lucky that you get to go live on a nice safe ship now!” Which reminds me of all the ships in recent decades which have been hit by hostile fire or sank owing to some horrible accident, or were mistakenly strafed by fighter-bombers, or captured by the enemy for example: USS Thresher, USS Scorpion, USS Liberty, USS Pueblo, USS Forestal, USS Stark, USS Iowa, and last but not least the USS Cole. Also, during the Gulf War at least ten merchant seamen were killed, including one of my shipmates who was murdered by an Arab truckdriver down on the pier at Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. Most of the merchant marine casualties in that war were firemen, oilers & water-tenders killed in boiler explosions attempting to start up idled steam plants on antiquated maritime administration freighters from the mothball fleet.
    As I’ve said before I would prefer that the government adopt a maritime stategy and leave the WOGS [worthy oriental gentlmen] alone, but sometimes you get backed into a corner and forced to fight. If and when we do fight we should employ overwhelming force. General MacArthur was right.

  617. ozone July 14, 2011 at 5:51 pm #

    Why, Wage, I, for one, was much more than impressed; I was shocked… shocked I tell you! ;o)
    (I do like me a good shock once in a while though.)

  618. rocco July 14, 2011 at 6:43 pm #

    JHK: Nancy Grace that is the future courts that await us. Do not forget TLC has a show about,”Toddlers and Tiarras” where parents take their 4 to 7 year old kids and put them in pagents. We are doomed. Being just down the “paid off” thurway our usual rain every other day weather has become dry. The Italian/German descent part of my town loves their lawns and are crying. I decided to pratice for the peak oil world ,took my wheel barrow and bucket and walked to the Erie Canal 0.75m way. As I was filling up my bucket of water, the fisherman were telling me thats poison. I told them I was praticing when the water pumps go down,they offered me whiskey. NO ship yards, no industrial base, no railroads how are you going to fight the next “big war”, out source to who? May Zeus bless you all.

  619. MarlinFive54 July 14, 2011 at 7:18 pm #

    Wage, I was impressed with “luvya”.
    Its a lot better than “Go F–k yerself” that you said yesterday.
    And I discovered we have a few things in common. One is that, like you, I always use AMTRAK, not the airlines, when I travel. My last trip, to Wyoming, was on the train. It doesn’t go into Wyoming so rode it as far as Salt Lake City.
    Another is the concern with the militarization of the civilian police in our towns and cities, and the SWAT squads employed everywhere, something that BustinJ also obliquiley referred to earlier today.
    Hey Asoka, Democrats might have won 192 straight elections, but isn’t that State $55 billion in debt? The Golden State has myriad problems and is beginning to look a little tarnished. It is still the greatest place in earth, tho! (after New England, of course).
    BBHMarc, yeah, my dad had also been in France and into the Rhineland in 1944-45. He said Korea was worse in every way. Those guts went thru hell, ‘specially in 50 & 51, when we were getting our butts kicked.
    My newspaper is laying more people off. Probably not in the pressroom though.
    -Marlin

  620. MarlinFive54 July 14, 2011 at 7:29 pm #

    “Who is Nancy Grace?” — MadMax
    Your worst nightmare, that’s who!
    -Marlin

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  621. DeeJones July 14, 2011 at 7:52 pm #

    “I’ve been into sheep. ”
    Ugh, Flad, I hope the sheep wash afterwards, you can transmit all kinds of diseases to the poor animals.
    But at least thats a worry off my mind, that you aren’t a serial killer, yet.
    Aww, poor sheep. I feel really awful for the poor critters. Say, can you tell the difference between the male & female sheep, or does it even matter?
    Dee

  622. metuselah July 14, 2011 at 7:53 pm #

    The duplicity of the CIA Oligarchy:
    http://youtu.be/ZldFWb-mYBc

  623. DeeJones July 14, 2011 at 7:56 pm #

    Say, fabian, are you the kind of guy that bends over and licks his own ass before speaking?
    Or are you just talking out your ass….
    Dee:)

  624. MarlinFive54 July 14, 2011 at 8:05 pm #

    Metusaleh, why do you hammer the CIA only. How about the Russian, Chinese and Iranian intelligence services, are they not ‘duplicitous’ as well? They all are; its the nature of the business.
    -Marlin

  625. metuselah July 14, 2011 at 8:15 pm #

    You do realize that all these “players” that you mentioned are all CIA as well. You don’t think Putin is CIA. Think again. You don’t think his Chinese counterpart is CIA. Think again. You don’t think that the Iranian Mullahs are CIA. Think again!

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  626. bubbleheadMarc July 14, 2011 at 8:23 pm #

    And always remember the immortal words of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog when you are unjustly attacked by other posters to the blog:
    “May the force be with you for me to poop on.”
    Triumph the CIDOG

  627. asia July 14, 2011 at 9:19 pm #

    Marlin,
    When people start buying more PAPERS,
    The Papers will hire more people.
    You are here, where the action is.
    Newspapers and magazines are ’10 years ago’.
    Time / Newsweek are like 50 to 80 pages an issue
    [of entertainment and leftist disinformation].

  628. trippticket July 14, 2011 at 9:39 pm #

    “Peak oil seems bad enough… but what about this other peak?”
    Peak Superman? Yeah, that’s a pretty good cartoon about how “green” energy isn’t the answer. The only viable answer is cutting energy use of all types. Probably pretty radically. That’s why everyone hates the viable answer. Thanks, Laughing!

  629. trippticket July 14, 2011 at 9:46 pm #

    “I think we have less than one year, now.”
    Maybe it’s just me, but that seems like a somewhat major change of pace from 47 years out.
    What’s happening in Minnesota? I caught wind of the police department out there disbanding. The whole state’s police?? Yikes, and I thought Michigan decommissioning roads was telling.

  630. trippticket July 14, 2011 at 9:53 pm #

    “But let me start with a positive. My, just now harvested, potatoes are GOOD. My wife and I just had two of them, fresh out of the microwave, cause it’s too damn hot to run the oven in the house right now. We both sat there eating our potatoes, along with blueberries, blackberries, and peaches – all grown on our little spot in the mountains.
    And life is good.”
    Sounds like a little slice of heaven to me. Can’t wait until I have my own blueberries and peaches (among lots of other things – my pineapple guava, pomegranates, and figs are doing great) to eat with my blackberries and potatoes. They’re all doing great though too – just a matter of time.
    Enjoy my friend!! And congratulations!

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  631. trippticket July 14, 2011 at 10:02 pm #

    “Ok – I have recently read “Collapse” by Diamond in a couple of late nighters.”
    Awesome book by the way. I just picked up the last title of his that I didn’t have – “Why Is Sex Fun?” Knowing Dr. Diamond it should be insightful! And to all the comedians out of work out there, yes, I know why sex is fun to me, but I want to know the evolutionary reasons for why it feels so good.
    Still reading EF Schumacher’s book “Small Is Beautiful” though. It’s most beautiful, however, when I can get more than 2 pages digested between outbursts from the children though…

  632. trippticket July 14, 2011 at 10:14 pm #

    By the way, Clusterfuckers, my computer is getting seriously hard to deal with, and the local network out here in the sticks seems to be getting sketchy.
    If it goes down, if it gets too hard to use, we probably won’t fix it. Which means weekly trips to the library to catch up on email and update my blog. Probably very limited time here.
    This is how I see collapse going. Just attrition really. My aunt is assistant dean of agriculture at UGA and she has gotten nothing but budget cuts since she inherited the job a few years back. They’ve managed to not lay anyone off by encouraging people to retire, and then not refilling those expensive tenured positions, but it just keeps coming. That’s the pattern I think. Things will break down and we just won’t be able or willing to fix them. In this case willing.
    Ironic that, as I type this, my keeeeeeeyboard is sticking and doing what it pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeees. If I disappear, just know that I am still out there, at my l

  633. theroachman July 14, 2011 at 10:19 pm #

    Asia
    Yes thats it lies by liberals is what got us here today. People like Jimmy Carter and his lies about oil when he was President really piss me off too. Or Al Gore and his lies about the enviroment.
    Why do you follow this blog?

  634. Cavepainter July 14, 2011 at 10:49 pm #

    Whatever the number of illegal aliens among us citizens, their presence here is testament that they’ve gained advantage over what would have been their lot had they remained in their country of origin.
    Such advantage would doubtlessly prove valuable back in their home country should they emigrate back tomorrow. You know,….a kind of reverse Peace Corps largesse of the American taxpayer.
    But rather than expressing gratitude for our patience and leniency in face of such disregard of our national sovereignty, they now insolently demand legitimacy as a political force. Essentially, subordinate our citizen will (as expressed through laws crafted and enacted by democratically elected representatives) to default of however many foreign nationals choose to ignore our legal attempt to govern rate of immigration.
    Of course, political whores in our nation are dishonoring their oath of office by selling our national sovereignty to buy with an amnesty the favor of what then will become — almost instantly — a critical swing block vote, projected beyond to become, via chain immigration clause, the dominant political demographic.
    Supporting such whores are traitors who seek to quell guilt they’ve internalized as personal for what they perceive as errant national policies of the past. Why is it that so many Americans believe that some moral calculus exists whereby a grand gesture of contrition (dissolving US sovereignty or making our nation less “white” and less European) will placate physical laws that otherwise spell global disaster from overpopulation?
    These are the same folks contending that the framers of the 14th Amendment had in mind extending perpetual impunity to foreign nationals who choose to violate our immigration laws. Well, there goes our nation’s chance of keeping at bay the imbalances of overpopulation that might otherwise be halted at our border.
    Consequently, unless we mobilize ourselves, we citizens stand to lose what should be our exclusive entitlement to determine national destiny.

  635. metuselah July 14, 2011 at 10:57 pm #

    Supporting such whores are traitors who seek to quell guilt they’ve internalized as personal for what they perceive as errant national policies of the past.
    ==
    There’s no guilt involved on the US corporate plantation. You are either a slave or a slave owner. And if you’re a slave, you count for nothing. Your quaint ideas about being a “citizen” are just that, quaint.

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  636. soak July 14, 2011 at 11:42 pm #

    “…that seems like a somewhat major change of pace from 47 years out.”
    ———–
    No, they refer to different events. The 47 years refers to the INEVITABILITY of physical supply of easily obtainable petroleum, a 47 year energy descent after reaching peak oil.
    The one year (or less) refers to the POSSIBILITY of economic collapse (TSHTF), hyperinflation, etc.

  637. soak July 14, 2011 at 11:47 pm #

    “If I disappear, just know that I am still out there, at my l…”
    ———
    Adios, Tripp. Very creative way to leave CFN.

  638. soak July 14, 2011 at 11:49 pm #

    CORRECTION
    The 47 years refers to the INEVITABILITY of continued decline of physical supply of easily obtainable petroleum

  639. soak July 15, 2011 at 12:05 am #

    Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has warned there is a one-in-two chance it could cut the United States’ prized triple-A rating if a deal on raising the government’s debt ceiling is not agreed soon.

  640. soak July 15, 2011 at 12:14 am #

    Fabian said: “Who the fuck cares what Moody’s thinks? ”
    ————-
    Who cares? 7,000 municipalities in the USA who would be affected care. Anybody trying to get a small business loan cares.
    A downgrade, which would imply that U.S. debt is no longer “risk-free,” would likely send interest rates soaring as yields on Treasury securities would rise, economists said. That could freeze the flow of cash through the economy, as borrowing would likely be constrained.
    Worse, it’s not just the U.S. government’s rating that would be downgraded. The ratings of thousands of borrowers are tied to the federal government’s rating. Bonds issued by U.S. municipalities, the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and even by the governments of Israel and Egypt could have their ratings threatened, Moody’s said.
    Moody’s would dock the ratings of at least 7,000 municipal credits if it slashes the U.S. government’s grade, Bloomberg News reported.

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  641. Vlad Krandz July 15, 2011 at 12:17 am #

    Yes, the Mexicans are like wolves – they sense our weakness. And it has emboldened them. And when they taste our blood, it will drive them into full attack mode. It is Nature at work.
    Likewise with Blacks: the crime rate has exploded ever since the begining of the Civil Rights era. Our attempts at kindness are seen as pure weakness – which of course they are at this point. At the begining perhaps, the liberal point of view might have had some legitimacy – but not now after endless Black failure.
    Now it enters a new phase with the election of Obama and the rise of the Black Flash Mob. Some have pointed out that the crime rate has fallen in recent years: a bit perhaps probably due to the incredible level of incarceration. This level is not sustainable and they are already releasing criminals in California – mostly Mexican out there of course.

  642. asia July 15, 2011 at 12:21 am #

    I follow this thread BECAUSE I CAN NOT STOP reading it.

  643. asia July 15, 2011 at 12:23 am #

    MS13
    Wolves………..well said!

  644. Qshtik July 15, 2011 at 12:23 am #

    The gold bubble is about to burst … blah … blah … blah … You have been warned.
    ===============
    Lest anyone forget, Soak wrote the above words (less the 3 blahs which I added) 4 days ago at 11:30PM Sunday night 7/10. For a little perspective, on July 1st gold was at $1483/oz. This morning (Thursday, 7/14) gold traded at $1593.80. Gold up $110 in 2 weeks.
    The push upward seems to be coming from a growing belief that there will be a QE3 (though I suspect it will take some other form and go by some other name) which Ben appeared to confirm yesterday in his inimitable “Bernacular” saying, effectively, we will create as much money out of thin air as “conditions warrant.”
    There was a bit of reversal in his rhetoric this afternoon in which he appeared to deny the possibility of a QE3 or its equivalent and that pulled the rug out from under what was shaping up to be a positive market day.
    People like Soak with no skin in the game – no money, no children, few assets – can cop a holier-than-thou cavalier attitude and suggest by their example that the whole world just assume a lotus position and meditate on … on, I don’t know … adobe huts and whirling dervishes. How foolish of Soak and how ill-served are his acolytes … if any such actually exist.
    I think it is safe to say that Soak, as a short term market prognosticator, is worse than JHK.

  645. Vlad Krandz July 15, 2011 at 12:27 am #

    His book “Guide for the Perplexed” is probably the best small introduction to the Perenial Philosphy and the Great Chain of Being.
    Everything is simultaneously a complete whole and a part of some larger complete whole. This you believe. But the difference is the hierarchy – life cannot be reduced to atoms nor mind to life nor mind to intellect, etc. So the complexity is both both horizontal and vertical. “Primitive Man” knew about both but especially the vertical -though they would talk more in terms of the “seen” and “unseen”.

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  646. Vlad Krandz July 15, 2011 at 12:30 am #

    You eat with that mouth? As your shepherd, I cannot but disapprove of your language. Women should be modest, demure, and charming. Wage is turning over a new leaf and so should you.

  647. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 12:31 am #

    “600 million out of poverty , that leaves 600 million in poverty.”
    soak attempted pointing this out to Patty, but left out all the details.
    1981: 994m, 85% poverty rate => 845m in poverty
    2005: 1.3b, 15% poverty rate => 195m in poverty
    QED – 650 million out of poverty.
    That leaves 200 million in poverty – not 600 million.
    Mrs. Soake? Way to suggest yet another sock-puppet, PoC… /sigh

  648. soak July 15, 2011 at 12:32 am #

    “How foolish of Soak and how ill-served are his acolytes … if any such actually exist.”
    I am a fool. Life is more fun that way. I have no acolytes and want none.
    “I think it is safe to say that Soak, as a short term market prognosticator, is worse than JHK.”
    Your description of gold’s inflated “value” reminds me of housing “value” increases just a few short years ago.
    It remains to be seen who is the best prognosticator.

  649. soak July 15, 2011 at 12:38 am #

    Thanks for filling it out with hard data, Ixnei. I knew bossier was wrong, but didn’t take the time to research it. I’m glad you did.
    I don’t think most of us have any idea of the tremendous social and technological change China is going through, nor do we quite believe China will soon surpass the USA to become the world’s superpower.

  650. Vlad Krandz July 15, 2011 at 12:38 am #

    Sorry, just a typo. I’ll try to think of something terrible to say to you if you like though.

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  651. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 12:43 am #

    Who cares? 7,000 municipalities in the USA who would be affected care.
    ==
    Fabian is correct. Why are these municipalities operating outside their budget? And why do you feel that the US is entitled to operate outside its budget receipts?

  652. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 12:48 am #

    “Yesterday, I had blood pouring from my finger, because the damn can opener doesn’t work, and I tried to pry the dog food lid open with a knife.”
    Haha, you gotta love those electric can openers. Total SH!T. If they last more than 5 years it’s a miracle – usually the electronic motor burns out, or the can just sits motionless while the blade/gear grinds into the can seam…
    I’ve got a hand opener – forget where I bought it, but it’s only 12 years old. It does in fact say “MADE IN THE USA” on it, and still works great. Must have opened close to 1,000 cans on it (I collected 10 years worth of recycled cans, cleaned and opened on one side, for recycling. Burnt out the can opener within an hour, on the first 60 or so cans [taking out the bottoms], so bought this hand operated one. Ended up with a recycle bin of flattened tin cans weighing in at over 80lbs.).
    You can always use the swiss army knife implement – I used to use that for years in college. Works fine, just a bit slow. Oh, and I even broke the thin blade part off of mine, so it’s just a “j-shank” looking thang, but still works fine.
    My sister got some newfangled one from Bed Bath and Beyond (she’s into those “$5 off $15″/”20% off” coupons) that operates tangentially to the old-fashioned openers (cuts below the seam around the side of the can, rather than in the seam on the top of the can). It was hand-operated, seemed real easy to use, and left no sharp edges (compared to old-school openers). Guarantee that fscker is from China, tho!!!

  653. Qshtik July 15, 2011 at 12:51 am #

    Your description of gold’s inflated “value” reminds me of housing “value” increases just a few short years ago
    ==============
    Messianic explained it well the other day but you failed to notice … it is NOT that gold is rising … gold is essentially steady and its price is simply reflecting the perceived decline in the current and future value of paper currencies, mainly the US dollar.

  654. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 1:15 am #

    “I don’t think most of us have any idea of the tremendous social and technological change China is going through, nor do we quite believe China will soon surpass the USA to become the world’s superpower.”
    The only thing they don’t really manufacture yet, is state-of-the-art semiconductors. Most cutting edge companies producing silicon are still building fabs (fabrication facilities) in the states.
    It’s only so long before they figure it out tho – not too hard to hire the same folks that build the vibration-free fab structures to come pour concrete *footings*, not too hard to buy the lithographic/implant/thin films/rtp/hvac equipment needed, nor the cleanroom scrub stuff. What is hard to get is the designs. I’m sure they’re taking advantage of the Japanese meltdown here (wholesale Jap fab relocation – LOL “China Syndrome”)…
    However, pretty much all other manufacturing of raw materials and consumer items has been moved there. They don’t really make cars yet, but *MEH*, how hard is that, compared to say Caterpillar tractors that they build locally (‘sif cars are the wave of the future)? They’d be smart to go after Thorium reactors – but they prolly don’t have a 1,000 year stockpile of nuclear grade stuff like “we” do (or did “we” manage to destroy it already, haha – 6 miles deep).
    Their space program may shortly put us to great shame. Just call me a skeptic who has major doubts, about human travel for weeks completely outside the Van Allen belts…

  655. jackieblue2u July 15, 2011 at 1:21 am #

    Well I have been kinda STRESSED to tell you the truth. Moody. Just strange. Overload.
    Just trying to manage my life, like we all are. Other than that I was fed up with my computer running so slow that I just stayed off the dang thing for awhile, more than usual.
    This IS my favorite website, yeah I don’t have a life haha.
    Sometimes I don’t get on here until more towards the end, and by then well I don’t think too many folks read the end posts.
    I had to drive today, only 50 miles, a beautiful drive down the coast for an appt. Driving is getting more and more dangerous, people are wound up tight, times are so difficult. listen to this. Doubt it made the news in Canada. It may have.
    People seem to be losing it, more than ever, and on the roads just seems really dangerous.
    Well some guy completely lost it, and went flying up the highway (in the wrong direction, on purpose) trying to hit someone, and people in cars were dodging him, he was going fast over 50 some say faster, he managed to hit a car head on and killed a mother of 4, I don’t know what she was driving. She was alone. He’s ‘fine’. other than deranged.
    I tell ya it’s scary out there. Oh this is on the main hiway here where I live. Miracle more cars/ people weren’t involved.
    You have to be completely alert on the road which most are not. I am. Still it’s just getting to be too much for me and I am not that old yet.
    I have options where I live, bike, bus, walk, car.
    Just need to use car less. and less.
    I was rear ended and still have whiplash, maybe forever. Don’t tailgate.
    All around the cost of driving is high.
    Stress and financial.
    My husband completely lives in denial about what’s going on in the world. Drives me crazy.
    Oh and I resonded to your post : you aren’t an asswipe (I can’t remember the word you used but it had ass in it I think) about the roles of men and women.
    You got it right. Nothing wrong with that. As long as there is mutual respect, which you get, but too many others don’t. IMO. You a BADass !
    but that’s a good thing.
    God I do crack my self up sometimes. It just comes out and I post it. I do edit tho. and this is what ya get. You should see it Before.
    I swim for exercise and relaxation. There are nice trees on the property and I enjoy listening to the birds while I relax in the warm pool in the evenings. It’s an apt. but nice in many ways.
    See what you get for asking ? Sorry I am all over the place. Trying to focus.
    Just trying to figure this out and keep it together.
    I’ll stop now. Probably too much information.
    JB

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  656. Buck Stud July 15, 2011 at 1:47 am #

    “Such advantage would doubtlessly prove valuable back in their home country should they emigrate back tomorrow. You know,….a kind of reverse Peace Corps largesse of the American taxpayer.”
    I’m not so sure it’s an advantage. Largesse, especially of the ostentatious variety, is not likely to be well received among the many doing without. Talking to more than a few Mexican natives, I have come to learn that many kidnappings in Mexico are not drug related, but financially motivated. And that’s the inevitable result of a social and economically stratified society by design: throngs of the angry, bitter, and desperate only to eager to even the score. Atlas was their inspiration on the drawing board, but they forgot to design eyes in the back of his head for that tragic day when one of the offspring takes a solo excursion.

  657. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 1:51 am #

    “Canada could never bring 600 million out of poverty in 25 years time like China has.”
    Hardly a fair comparison – Canada has only 34 million chumps living there, still feigning allegiance to the UK Empire/*ROYALTY*. They’re still printing money with the Queen on it, correct – Yes?
    Gotta be nice, to be *BORN BY BLOOD*, and simply inherit VAT taxes or whatever, while doing *ABSOLUTELY NOTHING* (save Lady Diana – look where that got her).
    Reducing poverty would be a start – I’m betting it’s on the increase in Canada, just as it is in the *GOOD OLE* USA. Giving it a figure? How about cutting poverty in half? Or cutting it to a *QUARTER* of what it used to be, as those 1981-2005 85%-15% China poverty stats do (850 million to 200 million)…

  658. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 1:58 am #

    “a female alter ego besides, perhaps mrs. soak”
    That, just in case you all thought I was delusional…
    Oh, and no more plagiarism!!! LOL!!! \wink

  659. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 2:31 am #

    “Your desire for military superiority bankrupted our country. And the USA military is weak and cannot win battles anyway. 10 years and can’t win in Afghanistan. Taliban is stronger now than 10 years ago. What a waste of TRILLIONS of dollars. ”
    I find it absolutely funny (or more liek totally insulting” how true the above is. Yet, it will tickle the *funny bones* of those here, “in the know,” to the extent of total fury, hate and anger – towards the “messenger” (go figure).
    Accept it, the $1.4 trillion/year US war machine is nothing more than a *bankruptcy* machine. Tell your parents to kiss their entitlements *GOOD-BYE*. Go in the backyard, and dig a ditch 2′ wide/8′ length/ 3′ deep. Then toss those ancient FSCKS into the grave they essentially dug for us all – those incompetent fscks who passed this reality on to us. Oh, and don’t forget to thank your *ANCESTORS* for this miracle gift, when you bury them.
    The US military is entrenched, unelected, and certainly *MORE* in control of US decision-making than your *STOLEN VOTE*. And, they’ve got enough nukes to turn the surface of the planet into *VENUS* (words for *thought*).
    And here I am, simply waiting/watching. When will those *six-figure-salaried-government-stalkers* go all *trigger-finger-happy*? I’m guessing, sooner, rather than *LATER*. ********

  660. Dostoyevsky July 15, 2011 at 2:43 am #

    Dee
    He’s such a despicable mouth breather that women don’t allow him to to get any where near them. So he is forced to roofie sheep and have his way with them in his parent’s basement.
    I can only shudder at the thought of what his parents must be like to have produced such a moron.

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  661. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 2:50 am #

    “I truly appreciate hot and cold running water”
    I went without hot water for 3 years. It’s really not that difficult – you take on the “polar bear” mindset during showers (I bet I used 3 gallons a shower *TOPS*). Not so bad in the summer, incredibly cold in the winter.
    As far as toilets, females are kinda screwed. I piss into a 1-gallon sealed container, and flush it daily with the morning defecation. Sure, dealing with the feces would become a problem without plumbing, but not that huge. That stuff would simply go to the crops that your *LIVESTOCK* feeds on…
    As it is now, it’s toxic cesspool poison, that can’t go anywhere (people are flushing steroids/prescriptions/carcinogens/organics/heavy metals – WHAT HAVE WE DONE).

  662. Patrizia July 15, 2011 at 2:54 am #

    Who profits?
    That is the question you have to ask if you want to find a murderer.
    That is exactly the same question I asked myself to understand what is happening.
    Who are the speculators, who earns out of the situation?
    There is just one answer: the BANKS.
    Take Italy.
    After the speculative attack, the bonds had to pay interest rates almost at 6%…
    Who pays the interests? The Italian people
    What happens?
    The European bank, the International monetary fund (the International Mafia Federation) come at Italy rescue.
    They give the money.
    To whom?
    To Italy?
    No to the Banks.
    Now the Banks have 50 billion Euros on which they pay 1% interest rates.
    Now they CAN lend to Italy 500 billion Euros.
    How?
    Buying their bonds which pay 6% interest rates…
    They pay 1% on 50 billion and can lend 500 billions at 6%…
    Not a bad deal…
    And the risk is zero, because, if Italy defaults ( which will not happen) the state WILL bail out the banks.
    That is exactly who profits.
    That is the murderer.

  663. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 3:13 am #

    DON’T FEED THE TROLLS!!! And Dost, I might get back to that book, one of these days (I have it *bookmarked*). I’d still argue that morality should have pre-playing into those two murders (2?) – but *whatever*.

  664. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 3:23 am #

    Yo! Soaker!
    Is China still all over Falun Gong? Hehehe! I’ve seen their propaganda on public TV here… Seems pretty tame (liek you, and all your sock-puppets).

  665. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 3:31 am #

    “improved living standards that are embodied in Marxist or other socialist traditions.”
    *CONTRACTS*. As in, “It is written (in stone).”
    I remember how “commie/red” was just propagandized to us as children. There was no knowing what it meant; it was just *EVIL*. Those pinko commies!!!
    TOTAL FSCKING PROPAGANDA – USA 70’s (can’t speak for the 50’s or 60’s – LOL!!!).

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  666. lbendet July 15, 2011 at 7:30 am #

    More Tales from the Warpage (continued from summer 2010)
    Eric Cantor, our negotiator on the debt ceiling:
    I cannot believe nobody is mentioning this.
    What kind of country allows this person to have anything to do with negotiations on the debt ceiling when he stands to make money on the it’s failure?–Oh and I believe this is making money on the demise of the US–He’s a (trader) traitor if ever there was one and he will continue, rest assured in his position without MSM coverage:
    from an article I copied this morning:
    [Eric Cantor is shorting bonds…
    Eric Cantor’s glaring conflict of interest
    He’s the GOP’s chief debt ceiling negotiator. He’s also invested in a fund that will skyrocket if there’s a default.
    ….
    When Eric Cantor shut down debt ceiling negotiations last week, it did more than just rekindle fears that the U.S. government might soon default on its debt obligations — it also brought him closer to reaping a small financial windfall from his investment in a mutual fund whose performance is directly affected by debt ceiling brinkmanship.
    Last year the Wall Street Journal reported that Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, had between $1,000 and $15,000 invested in ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury EFT. The fund aggressively “shorts” long-term U.S. Treasury bonds, meaning that it performs well when U.S. debt is undesirable. (A short is when the trader hopes to profit from the decline in the value of an asset.)
    According to his latest financial disclosure statement, which covers the year 2010 and has been publicly available since this spring, Cantor still has up to $15,000 in the same fund. Contacted by Salon this week, Cantor’s office gave no indication that the Virginia Republican, who has played a leading role in the debt ceiling negotiations, has divested himself of these holdings since his last filing. Unless an agreement can be reached, the U.S. could begin defaulting on its debt payments on Aug. 2. If that happens and Cantor is still invested in the fund, the value of his holdings would skyrocket.]

  667. lbendet July 15, 2011 at 8:01 am #

    Tripp,
    Attrition is the name of the game. I totally agree with you, its as if the decision makers who don’t want to pay taxes have decided to close shop on this country. We are going out of business.
    Might I suggest you go to China or India if you want to see business, my friend.
    Last night during a discussion of our NASA’s last shuttle mission, I heard someone say that India might be interested in continuing space exploration, BTW.
    We are putting up a sign, “Out to Lunch” (in more ways than one) and ahh–don’t hold your breath waiting for us to reopen in the afternoon.

  668. messianicdruid July 15, 2011 at 8:26 am #

    “…gold is essentially steady and its price is simply reflecting the perceived decline in the current and future value of paper currencies, mainly the US dollar.”
    Silver, however is being consumed by industry and will be almost impossible to replace. With about five times as much gold above ground as silver the price ratio makes NO sense.
    “The US constitution states quite clearly that only gold and silver can be used as lawful currency. Along with numerous other constitutional violations happening throughout the world, the concept of ‘lawful currency’ has been exploited, hi-jacked,and used by the parasitical class[es] in their attempts to enslave the entire human race. Although it’s assumed the founding fathers of the US were acting in a benevolent fashion when composing monetary constitutional law, the concept that lawful currency should exist leaves-the-door-open for the elite to hitch-a-ride on the fruits-of-our-labor, and act as a parasite upon humankind.
    Lawful [in actuality ‘legal’] currency, whether introduced in a benevolent or malevolent fashion opens-up a critical window for the parasitical classes – taxation. Once only certain types of currency are designated as legal tender, the government can then be coerced,honey-trapped, bribed,threatened,or simply charmed or paid into acting on behalf of the parasites, instead of the people they should be representing –their constituents. From subsidizing selected components of the economy to creating complex taxation laws, the elite set-out a myriad of difficult choices for humankind, in the hope they’ll confuse and scare us into submission. The medium-of-exchange is fundamental to man’s ability to run even a small-scale economy and should be treated as-sacred-as-liberty-itself. To be free, the medium-of-exchange must also be free.”
    http://dont-tread-on.me/the-dangers-of-legal-currency/

  669. messianicdruid July 15, 2011 at 8:49 am #

    You will profit from reading:
    http://www.gods-kingdom-ministries.org/COLDFUSION/booklet.cfm?PID=128
    an excerpt:)
    “The value of a “dollar” was set by our founders as the equivalent of one ounce of silver. At the same time, a buckskin on the Ohio River was valued at one dollar. Hence, a dollar was a “buck.” Though not valued in terms of barley, the principle was the same, and all men could trade “bucks” as if they were one ounce pieces of silver.
    The effects of this legislation are enormous upon the national economy.
    When God fixed the price of “ a homer of barley seed at fifty shekels of silver,” it established both a silver standard and a barley standard, both derived from the land itself. The silver-barley standard was based upon the production from land, but not upon the land itself. Land belongs to God, and the divine law makes God’s created land inherently priceless. It can only be valued according to its productive ability. Hence, the biblical economy is not built upon a “land standard,” any more than on a gold standard.
    Instead, it is built upon barley and silver. Barley is a product of farming the earth, while silver is a product of mining the earth. These two things represent all production from the land, and so they form the silver-barley standard. But it should be kept in mind that the true economic standard in Scripture is based upon ALL production and is not limited to barley and silver. Anything that has value is money or wealth, and this true money may be represented by currency.”

  670. messianicdruid July 15, 2011 at 9:01 am #

    Commenting on the recent exchange between Bernanke and Paul:)
    “The exchange, which Dr. Paul ended by remarking that some people still think gold is money, throws into relief the disconnected nature of our dialog. In the narrow sense, it’s true that the Fed doesn’t spend money. In the broader sense, it’s true that the Fed has become the enabler of the Federal government’s binge of spending — all the while boasting of the profits from such lending. Now we are in a showdown between a House elected to halt the increases in taxes and spending and a president and Senate bent increasing both. Into this midst comes a central bank signaling its preparedness to mount yet another round of quantitative easing, while the definition of inflation undergoes the equivalent of a gerrymander to disguise the significance of the collapse in the value of the dollar, which — on cue — hit a record low even as the chairman was speaking and the Republican leadership in the Senate was maneuvering to grant the president authority to issue debt on his own say-so. In our 40 years on this beat we don’t think we’ve seen a more cynical performance — by a central bank or an administration — than that which has been on display these past few years.”
    http://quantumpranx.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/bernanke-gold-isn%e2%80%99t-money/#comments

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  671. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 9:13 am #

    I cannot believe nobody is mentioning this.
    ==
    See: July 14, 2011 7:53 PM

  672. ozone July 15, 2011 at 9:21 am #

    MD,
    While I appreciate your expositions on “money”, I found this little bit gobsmacking:
    “When God fixed the price of “ a homer of barley seed at fifty shekels of silver,” it established both a silver standard and a barley standard…”
    Please contact gawd immediately and update to some fiat currency/mineral that he [in his infinite wisdom] approves. Then we’ll know what to “invest” in!
    (I need to know how many zinc kronor I can get for a bushel of potatoes. Applying Bart Simpsons dad as a unit of measure doesn’t seem to make sense, as his weight continues ballooning.)
    Hurry, things are turning into a shit-fest in the financial world, and you appear to have his ear. We need the stability that only the sky-ghosts can bring!

  673. ozone July 15, 2011 at 9:29 am #

    (Sorry for the snark, but that was over the top. Which “shekel-user” was acting as gawd’s go-between, and were there “conflicts of interest”/big profits involved? Floundering authoritarian followers without direction want to know…)

  674. lbendet July 15, 2011 at 9:51 am #

    Thanks M.
    I’m listening to it now. Keiser and Herbert–always great for the info….I’ve been email newscasters about this.
    I’m hoping this will be exposed. Looks to me like Matthews is getting ready to go more to the left, unless he’s just saying this to his guest this past week, Robert Reich.

  675. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 10:02 am #

    Mornin O3, another great day to be above ground hey? Best not be taunting the almight sky-ghosts least you be smitten like the scoundrel which you are ;o)

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  676. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 10:04 am #

    Perhaps you are a rapscallion!

  677. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 10:10 am #

    MD, If I sent the IRS 10 “Homers” of barley on April 15 would we be square? I thought a “Homer” was something that Ortiz slammed over the “Green Monster”

  678. ozone July 15, 2011 at 10:15 am #

    “Perhaps you are a rapscallion!” -RT
    ‘Zounds! Why, sink me, Man! …And a bilious bounder to boot, ‘pon my soul!
    -the Purple Pimpernel

  679. soak July 15, 2011 at 10:18 am #

    “(Sorry for the snark, but that was over the top. Which “shekel-user” was acting as gawd’s go-between, and were there “conflicts of interest”/big profits involved? ”
    ————-
    Don’t be apologizing O3. MD has bigtime conflicts of interest. He has made a deal with God. In return for spewing Biblical tripe on Earth, God guarantees him an eternity in Heaven.
    Actually I think it the height of hypocrisy for a supposed Christian to be so focused on gold.
    Christians should not be concerned about laying up for themselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. Instead of hoarding gold, it should be converted to fiat money to be spent, to multiply fruitful effects.
    Money is also called currency because, like a river current, it flows from one hand to the next. Gold is not currency and is not commonly used as legal tender.
    If I had some shiny gold, I would decorate my outhouse door with it.
    In the end, not even money is necessary. Before money there was good will, mutual cooperation, sharing, and barter. There used to be love. Now there is love of gold.

  680. bubbleheadMarc July 15, 2011 at 10:19 am #

    Okay Metuselah I watched Max Keiser & Stacey Herbert twice, taking notes the second time. So the central question remains “why are the kleptocrats immune from prosecution?” Interesting points:
    *** Eric Cantor is laughing at the American people since he owns shares of Proshares ultrashort. Is this why he is sneering all of the time? And how can we wipe the shit-eating grin off of his smarmy little face?
    *** Half of all recipients of various forms of governement aid are totally oblivious to their actual status as “welfare queens”. This includes people benefiting from the mortgage interest deduction on their federal income taxes and even food stamp recipients are so obtuse that they don’t realize that food stamps are a socialistic government program.
    *** The prime ministes of both Greece and Italy are destroying their nations’ economies intentionally. Bertelesconi [sp?] is described as a “buffoon”.
    *** The Banksters are buying up shares of BSky to aid and abet Rupert Murdoch who is actively engaged in the ruination of American democracy through his propaganda machine Fox News. At this point there can be no doubt that Murdoch is a criminal. Keiser described Murdoch as “Dr. Evil”.
    And of course Keiser’s best quote, of John Locke that “When the social contract is broken a revolution is required.” I’ll second that motion. Let’s start by fixing Cantor’s smug little ass.

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  681. ozone July 15, 2011 at 10:38 am #

    BHM,
    The hubris and ignorance are both to be found in gargantuan quantities now, aren’t they? It’s truly amazing; but [for one example] Cantor’s hubris and blatant conflict of interest couldn’t exist without the ignorance of the general public, could it? (That, to me, is the scary part, and all bets are off when true privation sets in. “Law? What law?” “Contracts? What contracts?” “Enforcement? Try it.” They know not what gates they’re opening, and what future demons have already been released.)

  682. messianicdruid July 15, 2011 at 11:04 am #

    “In the end, not even money is necessary.”
    We are not in “the end”, so we must function “in the world {system}” but not be “of it”. Constant criticism of our imperfect efforts is expected.
    “Before money there was good will, mutual cooperation, sharing, and barter.”
    If one can “barter” with gold and silver, what exactly is your beef?

  683. dale July 15, 2011 at 11:08 am #

    I am not impressed with Obama’s “fighting words”.
    He has a habit of straightfacedly lying – talking populist shit while enforcing ruling class dictums.
    ——————————-
    Well said,… weird isn’t it? During the election it was all “change, change, change”, but when he was given a golden opportunity to do so….he blinked.

  684. dale July 15, 2011 at 11:13 am #

    but I do consider myself a racial realist and I go where that takes me.
    ————————————–
    Maybe you should consider mastering your thoughts, rather than letting your thoughts master you.

  685. dale July 15, 2011 at 11:16 am #

    Peak Superman? Yeah, that’s a pretty good cartoon about how “green” energy isn’t the answer. The only viable answer is cutting energy use of all types.
    ——————————————–
    Tripp, that’s ideology talking….if there is an “answer”, it will be a combination of both green and conservation, and many other things we probably haven’t even thought of yet.

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  686. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 11:23 am #

    Gadzooks my man! I got shit to do. A coupla days ago someone posted about a dick removal by a distraught woman. I believe it was down south. Years ago, mid 80’s maybe, I picked up a dude with the same problem. His ol’lady cut it off and tossed it out the window. He was messin’ ‘roun and was passed out drunk. Ain’t nuthin’ worse than havin’ yer dick in the dirt. Especially if you ain’t there wid it. I think it was the only time I held another man’s penis. Needless to say it was a useless chunk o’ meat and could not be reattached. It’s not funny , but they still call him dickless around town!

  687. dale July 15, 2011 at 11:24 am #

    BTW Tripp,
    You might consider reading Kertzweil’s “The singularity is near”, just for a different POV.
    Before everyone gets all flamey and all, I’m not saying he’s right about everything. As I’ve said many times, I don’t believe anyone has a good record predicting the future. What he does do is make a good case for our consistent under estimation of the pace of technological change. I think that is a good thing to keep in mind….if being open minded is a positive value for you.

  688. MarlinFive54 July 15, 2011 at 11:24 am #

    CFNers will be reassured to know that ‘Gay & Lesbian History’ is now required cirriculum in all California Public Schools, beginning in Kindergarten. So far the various Mexican and Hispanic organizations, who represent the majority of public school students in that state, have not responded. Who cares what they say, anyhoo? The story on CNN suggested that the content of the course would be carefully vetted by powerful international homo groups to ensure that nothing negative works its way into the program (about homos), just positive stuff. In this way, presumably, some of the younger, more impressionable kids, 6 and 7 year olds, can make their own minds up whether or not to pursue this ‘alternative lifestyle’. Its all about freedom.
    -Marlin

  689. MarlinFive54 July 15, 2011 at 11:29 am #

    “Its not funny, but they still call him ‘dickless’ around town” — RipT
    No, RipT, its funny!
    -Marlin

  690. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 11:32 am #

    Sort of like Dickless Cheney, did you no he does not have a pulse. He is running a centrifugal pump, just like a fire engine. The lengths we will go through for the heartless amongst us!. Paid for with your dime.
    http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-01-05/entertainment/27086458_1_mechanical-heart-artificial-heart-surgical-director

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  691. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 11:32 am #

    American democracy
    ==
    There was NEVER EVER such thing on the American plantation. Nor was there ever anything resembling a democratic process on the American plantation. You should be glad that people like Eric Cantor are betting on this disgusting edifice to collapse. Eric Cantor, Lloyd Blankfein, etc., are going god’s work.
    Re: Max Keiser & Stacey Herbert, they are commie idiots. The gov mafia is not helping anyone but the banksters by providing credit subsidies for education and housing. By providing credit they are actually INCREASING the price of education and housing, making it impossible for people to participate in these without becoming captured debt-slaves, politically compliant worker bees on the American corporate plantation.

  692. soak July 15, 2011 at 11:48 am #

    Gold as a medium for barter? Given the number of exchange transactions in the world, there isn’t enough gold to manage them efficiently.
    There’s also ethics to consider. There don’t seem to be many benefits from gold production. Very little of the production takes place in the U.S. or is owned by U.S. companies, and this doesn’t help our unemployment problem.

  693. Cash July 15, 2011 at 11:52 am #

    I would submit that we here don’t know from “poverty”. It’s like someone from South America said not too long ago, when North Americans talk about “poverty” it’s in a totally different language.
    I used to work with a woman from Pakistan whose sister was/is a nurse there. She told a story of a family living in a large Pakistani city. This family had several kids. The youngest, a baby, became really sick with diarrhea. The parents took the baby to the nurse who said that medicine was needed. The problem was that the family couldn’t afford the treatment. If they bought the medicines they’d lose their home and be out on the street and as likely as not the baby would get sick again and die anyway and in the meantime they’d put their other kids in peril. So the nurse advised them to let the baby die. Can you imagine having to make a choice like that? Not too many people in Canada face a situation that dire.
    So I agree with that South American about our definition of poverty. It seems to me that we define it as more a lack of middle class amenities than how people in the rest of the world see it. That Pakistani baby with diarrhea would be easily treated in this country.
    Having said that I would say that our situation is steadily worsening. Like the US we offshored a great deal of production and jobs to places like China. Look in any store here. “Made in China” is what you see. My hometown was one of the casualties. Like a great many other places in the US and Canada formerly industrial “brownfields” and boarded up businesses replaced what was a hustling and bustling community.
    The Chinese ruling elite understood a long time ago that Marxist ideology was the road to nowhere.
    In the post Mao era Chinese rulers mixed practicality with ruthlessness. Unlike our own politicians they don’t face re-election cycles. On the one hand they know that as long as they make steady economic progress they won’t face a military or popular revolt. On the other hand they unsqueamishly crush dissent.
    I would believe offical Chinese economic statistics as far as I can throw them. Chinese officials themselves say they’re crap (anonymously of course). But I do believe people’s accounts of what they see there ie that on the one hand the Chinese made great progress and that on the other hand they still have hundreds of millions whose condition is still really iffy. Not starving but seriously deprived and hungry. A really big problem for the PTB in China and a potential source of threat.
    And yes our bills still have Queen Liz’s face. Feigning loyalty is right. Will and Kate were a big hit up here. Royalty is all about show business nowadays.

  694. messianicdruid July 15, 2011 at 12:07 pm #

    “Given the number of exchange transactions in the world, there isn’t enough gold to manage them efficiently.”
    “…efficiently”, for who?
    Back when paper currency was actually backed by gold we did just fine. You could have your gold on deposit with an honest bank {I know, its hard to imagine} and would be issued notes {representing gold} that could be exchanged for gold in person at the bank, if the person you were trading with trusted you and the bank. Remember?
    The only reason you believe there is not plenty of metal available for this is that the number of dollars is exponentially increasing because of their returning to their intrinsic value – zero.
    Even if the dollar were valued at 10,000 {or even ten trillion} to one ounce, if the currency were convertable, you could still exchange it, or leave it sitting in your account as electrons. However I would not advise it.

  695. soak July 15, 2011 at 12:17 pm #

    “The only reason you believe there is not plenty of metal available for this is that the number of dollars is exponentially increasing because of their returning to their intrinsic value – zero.”
    —————
    It does not matter that fiat money has zero value. It works. You use it everyday.
    Stop pining for gold or a gold standard or barter with gold. Stop with the idolizing of gold. No more golden idols.
    The price of gold is not supported by anything other than the mood of investors, which means its value can plummet just as quickly as it has recently soared.

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  696. asia July 15, 2011 at 12:23 pm #

    BedBath n Beyond..yes I was there yesterday with a 5$ Coupon.
    About 3? years ago I bought a cheap faucet and was told it would last 2-3 years. Sure enough it started to leak. A plumber looked at it and said
    ‘Cheap Chinese stuff, it has no washers. The whole thing will have to be replaced’

  697. bubbleheadMarc July 15, 2011 at 12:47 pm #

    Yes there was/is: we have democracy for rich white folks! It’s like the time I was hanging out in San Diego with my master of the universe college room-mate and he said, “shouldn’t there be a shorter line for the rich white people?” This was the guy who closed his golf oriented trinket company because he so detested dealing with the workers. He moved back to Aspen to work full time as an investment counselor to the trust fund babies there. He is a firm believer in doing things the EASY way! So am I, but from more of a blue collar perspective.
    Nevertheless I do admire your relentless negativism. If someone tries to order me to smile when I’m buying something I’ll tell them “I don’t want to wear my face out.”
    I do agree that our system is totally corrupt and therefore no longer worth saving. Maybe it is for the best that the collapse happens sooner rather than later.

  698. ccm989 July 15, 2011 at 12:50 pm #

    I’m surprised Cantor’s conflict of interest didn’t get more air time. Maybe 15K isn’t enough to elicit media attention? How horrible that he is betting against his own country! Then again, when it was revealed that Citizens United had contributed to Clarence Thomas’ appointment to the SC, very little was said when Thomas then approved the Citizens United decision that now allows corporations to be treated as citizens. Talk about conflict of interest! Maybe these things are complicated but both items should ALARM the public and the public should demand that action be taken. So far, zip.
    Only the British seem to care that Murdoch is a scum, alleging that his media empire hacked into cells phones of murdered girls, PMs and the royals. Hopefully this will crack the Murdoch empire and cause it to crumble. Then the Tea Party will follow. I stand with the outraged British citizens and have cancelled my WSJ subscription. Its hard to believe the chicanery that is happening now with the debt ceiling. Raise the limit! Its all fiat money anyhow. Somebody else said if we are downgraded by Moody’s, so what. I have a tendency to agree — after all Moody’s is so tarnished now, its hard to believe that its still around. They have no cred. Don’t want the country to collapse. Don’t want to see old people robbed of their Social Security or Medicare. Would like to see Eric Cantor tarred and feathered! He is such a sleaze.

  699. bubbleheadMarc July 15, 2011 at 12:56 pm #

    Yes indeed we are totally fucked at this point. I like having absolutely nothing to believe in because it lets me off the hook. We are surrounded by an all pervading stupidity at this point in which everything the masses believe is total horseshit!
    It’s like one of the posters to this blog I won’t bother naming who ranted “and some of the people on CFN want to throw our children out of school.” Yes, of course we do, we’re tired of paying for your kids to not learn fuck all! So if you don’t like it people then suck on it! THE SCHOOLS ARE FINE: IT’S THE KIDS THAT SUCK! Less is more: we need to boot the more worthless older adolescents the fuck out of their twelve year free ride a couple of years earlier! After all, anything to save a buck.
    The revelations concerning Cantor are just too much! He’s a fucking traitor! When are we going to start prosecuting these parasites? Nuff said for now: PROSECUTE THE PARASITES!

  700. Cash July 15, 2011 at 1:03 pm #

    You a BADass !
    but that’s a good thing – Jackie
    Jackie, the worst thing a chick can say to a guy is “you’re a nice guy”. There’s no more dreaded phrase. Totalling demoralizing.
    I hate being called a “nice” guy. It really ruins my day. Being called a “good” guy is different. “Nice” means doormat. “Good” means a straight ahead straight shooter who stands up to bullies, defends his country, a square jawed soldier, a real Marine. A totally different thing.
    “Badass” means a dangerous, two fisted fella that can’t be messed with, a guy with a real sharp taste for sin, who’s fun, someone a chick can depend on to take care of things. A good thing as you say.
    So thanks for the really nice compliment. Show me a badass and I’ll show you a guy with more babes than he knows what to do with. And I’ve heard real uptight women who work real hard at looking respectable and who hardly ever say heck and damn admit the attraction but only after a couple drinks loosened their tongues and made them say things they regretted the next morning.
    Another thing: I’ve had half sloshed women say to me half admiringly a few times: gawd you can really hold your liquor. Another nice thing to say because there’s nothing more pathetic and ridiculous than some dickweed (an accountant usually) that’s out of commission after a few beers. I think a nice toot once in a while is a good thing. Culls the weaker brain cells.
    About cars: We got rid of ours a long time ago. I don’t miss it. People drive like jackasses around here too. They turn on the ignition and switch off their brains.
    Swimming is a good thing to do. Keep at it. We have a lot of bike trails around so I ride my bike a lot for exercise.

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  701. Qshtik July 15, 2011 at 1:05 pm #

    Eric Cantor is laughing at the American people since he owns shares of Proshares ultrashort.
    =============
    I hardly know where to start with this. First of all there are numerous “stocks” (really they are ETFs, Exchange Traded Funds) whose names begin with the words ProShares UltraShort. To own one of these ultrashort “stocks” is to be making a bet (I prefer the words acting upon a financial judgement) that the underlying index on which it is based is going to go down in value. For example, if you believe oil is not likely to go above $100/barrel in the short term because of worldwide demand destruction (due to recession) and because the US govt might dump another 30M barrels of oil on the market from its strategic reserves, you might buy symbol DUG when oil is at $100 in the belief that oil might then drop back to $95 or $90. As an inverse investment “product” DUG will rise in price as oil falls.
    A slew of ETFs have been created covering every investment area known to man: oil, gold, financials, materials, real estate, the S&P 500, the NASDAQ 100, the Russell 2000, the DJIA 30, the China 25, the US dollar, various maturities of US Bonds, I could go on and on. You can go either long or short and the word “ultra” means that the financial instrument has been designed to move in either direction at a rate double the underlying index. They call it 2X levered. There are other instruments out there that are triple levered.
    If Max Keiser and his guest on the video are correct, Eric Cantor owns TBT (essentially a short position on 20 year bonds). I happen to own some TBT myself in the belief that the massive creation of money “out of thin air” i.e. inflation (funny how pieces of paper with ink on them that have no intrinsic value are always described as having been created “out of thin air”) will at some point be revealed in massively higher prices. And when it does it will be like the early ’80s when a high inflation rate was accompanied by falling bond prices and therefore rising interest rates. If I recall correctly a 30 year bond back in those days yielded 18% annually.
    So there is nothing mysterious or nefarious about Cantor owning TBT. Because he is not blind he can see that the US is already financially FUBARed (fucked up beyond all recognition) and a collapse of US bond prices is virtually a forgone conclusion at some point. Say, for example, if China began to dump their holdings of US bonds or simply refused to continue buying more (but they’ve got a tiger by the tail and dare not do this). What Cantor is doing currently in these debt limit negotiations is trying to prevent FURTHER damage not reverse the damage already done. THAT damage is irreversible.
    If you think Cantor is laughing at the American people because he has made a killing on a short position in 20 year bonds by taking actions in his own interest and against the interests of the American people I invite you to go to Yahoo Finance and pull up a three year chart of TBT. You will see a high 3 years ago around $70, a low eleven months ago around $30, and a current price around $33. Some killing!
    Max Keiser is talking out of his ass!

  702. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 1:08 pm #

    we have democracy for rich white folks!
    ==
    That’s the Athenian model. It’s democracy by name only. And we know how that ended.
    The new thinking is that brainless human automatons, “Eleuthero” being an example, are no longer needed. The useful idiots are to be replaced by brainless electronic automatons.

  703. messianicdruid July 15, 2011 at 1:16 pm #

    “It works.”
    until it doesn’t. IOW the trust needed for it to be useful was first easily obtained because it represented something real. Afterwards they just passed a “law” that everyone had to use it as “legal tender” for all debts public and private, so aware people would not insist on the real thing.
    After a few years, while everyone got used to using paper, the real goods it represented were quetly removed, and the currency lost its convertability. Now-a-days most people are completely ignorant of the history of money and the manner in which it has been used to enslave us.
    “The price of gold is not supported by anything…”
    Not so. It has to be produced. This requires energy, labor, technology ie: investment of value. This is why bankers hate it and you do not appreciate it.
    “Thou shalt not steal” is a valid law. If I allow someone to steal from me, I am assisting them in breaking the commandment.
    I decided a long time ago if I was going to trade portions of my life for money I was going to understand what I was getting. I discovered that the use of paper money was a way for government {and those who control government} to steal from productive citizens. How can you justify theft?

  704. Qshtik July 15, 2011 at 1:32 pm #

    The price of gold is not supported by anything other than the mood of investors, which means its value can plummet just as quickly as it has recently soared.
    =============
    Recently soared? It was under $200 10 years ago, today it’s near $1600. When I was young coffee cost one thin silver dime. Now it costs one paper dollar.
    The mood of investors? For 10,000 years humans have been in a “mood” to place a higher value on gold than on paper and ink, sea shells or bird feathers.
    You act as though investor moods are without cause.
    Note to CFN: In Hindi Asoka means “very foolish black man.”

  705. soak July 15, 2011 at 1:47 pm #

    “In Hindi Asoka means “very foolish black man.”
    ————–
    Everyone thinks gold has value.
    I say gold has no intrinsic value.
    So, who is the fool?
    The problem of gold as a portfolio investment is that it isn’t a real investment. Real investments are stocks, bonds, income-producing real estate and private businesses, all of which, except for bonds (which produce interest instead), produce profits. These are paid out as income in the form of dividends or are reinvested and grow.
    In contrast, gold bullion just sits there hoping to look attractive.
    But then, I’m the fool, so don’t listen to me.

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  706. Qshtik July 15, 2011 at 1:53 pm #

    Gold as a medium for barter? Given the number of exchange transactions in the world, there isn’t enough gold to manage them efficiently.

    There’s also ethics to consider. There don’t seem to be many benefits from gold production. Very little of the production takes place in the U.S. or is owned by U.S. companies, and this doesn’t help our unemployment problem.

    ================
    This is one of the weakest most lame arguments you have ever made here at CFN.

  707. soak July 15, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    This is one of the weakest most lame arguments you have ever made here at CFN.
    ————–
    Which one, Q?
    Gold is not as nimble as fiat electrons (though just as worthless). Gold is made of electrons, after all.
    Gold production is out of USA control and does not address our unemployment, which in 2010 the Republicans said was going to be their focus. We have a Republican congress. Where are the jobs?

  708. DeeJones July 15, 2011 at 2:34 pm #

    “*** Half of all recipients of various forms of governement aid are totally oblivious to their actual status as “welfare queens”. This includes people benefiting from the mortgage interest deduction on their federal income taxes and even food stamp recipients are so obtuse that they don’t realize that food stamps are a socialistic government program.”
    Does this include those in the military? After all, who supports them from the moment they enlist to grave? Thats right, the US taxpayer, and just how many millions in the military is the taxpayer supporting right now, with the most expensive weapons in history?
    People seem to forget this one simple, little fact, we not only pay the salaries of those in the military, we pay for their food, clothing, TP, toothpaste & brush, EVERYTHING.
    THIS is what is bankrupting the USA, on top of the overpriced weapons systems. Read not long ago that the F35, already obsolete – planned to fight the USSR – will cost over a TRILLION for its planned lifetime of just a few years, and the P-gon already wants something different, and even more expensive no doubt.
    The US government should not be cutting SS, or Medicare, they should be cutting the so-called “defense” budget.
    But they won’t……
    And the Romans didn’t dare cut the salaries of the Army either…
    History, just seems to go round & round & round, but when will it ever go down the ol’ pipe?
    Dee

  709. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 2:41 pm #

    Gold is far more than just electrons. It has served as a medium of exchange for thousands of years. Slightly longer then the lowly US paper dollar. That fact even you cannot refute. Sure you can’t eat it, but something has to have barter value. I will take a chunk of metal any day over a piece of paper printed by some moron at the US mint. Burn-a-key is an asshole. As far as your jobs comment goes, I believe you stated in the past that you are unemployed and prefer to stay that way and live on your $12,000.00 dollar pension and free health care. Hey I’m cool . I’ll pay in to the system and you can take out.

  710. wagelaborer July 15, 2011 at 3:00 pm #

    I am against cruel animal research, but one experiment that the evil CIA researcher Seligman did applies here.
    They shocked dogs while they were helpless, and then shocked them when they weren’t, and the dogs still refused to help themselves. They call it learned helplessness, and it definitely applies here.
    The debate is presented to us as “raise the credit ceiling or crash the economy”. Obama is threatening to not pay Social Security in August, holding Grandma hostage for the bankers.
    Emmanual Rahm said before he left that no crisis should go unused. Naomi Klein uses calls it the Shock Doctrine, where people in a state of crisis accept things that they never would under ordinary circumstances.
    Michael Hudson points out that the entire thing is ridiculous. If they can create $14 trillion for the bankers, they can create $1 trillion for the people. It’s all just fiat money anyway, and the dollar is the world standard.
    The military-industrial complex, the Homeland Repression complex, and the prison-industrial complex is simply ignored as the Black Holes of money that they are.
    They say that Social Security is the cause, and yet the Social Security funds are separate from the federal income tax funds.
    But the biggest learned helplessness of all is the belief that the only way to create money is to borrow it from the bankers.
    Ellen Brown and the Green Party point out that we are not helpless. The US government can create money without incurring debt.
    There is no reason that the full faith and credit of the US government can’t be used to create money for social good, without indebting its citizens to the banks.
    If the full faith and credit of the government is good enough to indenture its people, it’s good enough to back its own currency.
    But, carry on, helpless dogs, arguing about how best to pay off the bankers. Screwing Grandma, throwing the kids out on the streets, switching to gold, which didn’t work any better than paper money, shutting down hospitals.
    Whatever.

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  711. k-dog July 15, 2011 at 3:03 pm #

    Are you feeling so bad about yourself and your nation that you, too, need a paddling from Nancy Grace?

    I’ll pass, the line of eager paddlees is certain to be really long by now. I don’t want to wait.

  712. soak July 15, 2011 at 3:07 pm #

    GOLD
    Atomic Number: 79
    Atomic Mass: 196.96655 amu
    Number of Protons/Electrons: 7
    Number of Neutrons: 118
    OK, RT, you got me. Sucker does have more neutrons than electrons. But all those subatomic particles are so small, and weigh next to nothing, that in the end it means so very little whether you are talking about tin or gold or manure. Actually shit has more value.
    Gold has only been around about 5,000 years.
    Humans have been around at least 20,000 years.
    I don’t know how long electrons have been around, but I’m pretty sure they beat gold.
    Just because gold has served as a medium of exchange does not mean gold has intrinsic value. Or would you say the same if I could show you a culture in which the medium of exchange for 5,000 years was coconuts or sea shells?
    The only value gold has is what we hallucinate it to have.

  713. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 3:13 pm #

    The US government can create money without incurring debt.
    ==
    No, it can’t. Not if they wish foreign held US dollar to be circulated back into the US economy. Without that circulation the anglo-american corporate empire is finished, immediately.

  714. soak July 15, 2011 at 3:16 pm #

    “Hey I’m cool . I’ll pay in to the system and you can take out.”
    ————-
    I paid in for 45 years. I pre-paid my pension from my salary. We all paid into the system.
    I’m not interested in counting pennies to see if I get out less than I paid in or more than I paid in.
    If I die and don’t get out what I paid in, someone else will benefit. Hey, I’m cool with that. That is the way the system is set up. It has heart. It’s not about accounting. It’s about financial security. I’m lovin’ it. But I earned it.

  715. wagelaborer July 15, 2011 at 3:20 pm #

    When the Spanish Empire managed to kill enough Indians to massively increase its supply of gold, they went nuts.
    All that gold, and still they went into debt. And then the gold ended and so did the Spanish Empire.
    The US was the next empire. When we were on the gold standard in the 19th century, though, the ordinary citizen suffered, because the bankers had all the gold.
    The depressions lasted for years, sometimes decades, and people went hungry and cold.
    “Mankind shall not be crucified on a cross of gold!”. But that’s all down the memory hole, now, while we dogs are confused with multiple masters pulling our chains and dangling treats before our noses.
    It’s most likely hopeless, in my opinion.
    Common sense and kindness will always lose against greed and treachery.

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  716. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 3:20 pm #

    Wage, I love ya baby but you need a chill pill( ie: valium).I take them when I get worked up. I had a 2 year stretch with AFIB in 2009. I had a PVIA at Ma. General. and I can honestly say my electrophyisiologist? is my hero. No more blippity-blips. We are screwed but nothing you or I can do is going to make a differance. Take a walk in the sun and face the facts. The rank and file are marching like lemmings over the cliff. Keep up the good fight and enjoy the time you have on this beautiful planet and don’t sweat the small(or large) stuff which you have no control over. Care for others as you would care for your own.

  717. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 3:21 pm #

    The only value gold has is what we hallucinate it to have.
    ==
    The value of gold is its physical stability, malleability, and relative rarity. As such, it can serve as a good store of value and exchange.

  718. wagelaborer July 15, 2011 at 3:21 pm #

    Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that part.
    We’d have to give up our Empire and live within our planetary means.
    But I’m cool with that.

  719. wagelaborer July 15, 2011 at 3:25 pm #

    Ha, ha. We posted at the same time, with the same conclusion, from different viewpoints.
    We’re screwed. I agree.

  720. soak July 15, 2011 at 3:26 pm #

    Emperor Gold has no clothes, but when I try to point out that naked truth, everyone tries to convince me gold is dressed to the nines. I must be a fool. How could I be right and everyone else be wrong?

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  721. wagelaborer July 15, 2011 at 3:28 pm #

    Whoops! Of course, the British Empire was before us.

  722. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 3:31 pm #

    But I’m cool with that.
    ==
    Me too. 🙂

  723. soak July 15, 2011 at 3:33 pm #

    CORRECTION
    everyone tries to convince me gold is dressed to the nines… such stability, such malleability (a bug not a feature), and such rarity…
    Ooooo, Aaaaa, and it’s shiny, too!

  724. wagelaborer July 15, 2011 at 3:33 pm #

    Gold is mined in environmentally destructive ways, ruining water supplies, with great cruelty to the humans involved in the labor, and to those who live on the land.
    That is not in any way a minor point.
    Not only would I not hoard gold, I won’t even buy gold jewelry.

  725. soak July 15, 2011 at 3:37 pm #

    Thank you, Wage.
    Q didn’t quite get my argument (which he considered lame) about gold production and its human costs.
    But then what is human life? Or the environment?
    … compared to GOLD !!!!

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  726. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 3:41 pm #

    That is the way the system is set up. It has heart.
    ==
    No, it doesn’t. It’s a cold-hearted killing machine. It’s designed to kill you before you collect. And if you somehow manage to escape its perfectly calculated mass killings, for all practical purposes it will still void all promises made to you.

  727. soak July 15, 2011 at 3:48 pm #

    You are funny, Meuselah! What you describe is not my life experience.
    I escaped the matrix. I escaped my biological programming. I escaped society’s militaristic programming.
    I manage to live happily, protected by the wonderful matrix systems I do accept, like social security.
    Who was it who said: “Living well is the best revenge”?
    I have defeated the matrix. Indeed I have used jiujitsu on it. The matrix works for me now and cannot disturb my happiness.

  728. soak July 15, 2011 at 3:54 pm #

    Living well is the best revenge.
    — George Herbert, English clergyman & metaphysical poet (1593 – 1633)
    ————–
    Perhaps a fool like me!

  729. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 3:58 pm #

    What you describe is not my life experience.
    ==
    That’s because you don’t live a real life.

  730. soak July 15, 2011 at 4:02 pm #

    “That’s because you don’t live a real life.”
    ————-
    Apparently not, at least not anything resembling the “reality” you are trying to sell me. I ain’t buyin’

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  731. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 4:02 pm #

    I escaped the matrix.
    ==
    You escaped nothing. You managed to find a loophole. But that loophole will not be there for much longer. And then what will you do?

  732. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 4:05 pm #

    I ain’t buyin’
    ==
    That’s why you’re here every day. You’re busy living.

  733. soak July 15, 2011 at 4:06 pm #

    “And then what will you do?”
    —————
    I’m feeling a bit loopy today. I’d best not answer. Most human beings worry all the time asking themselves “And then what…?” when the truth is we cannot predict the future. I may not be alive tomorrow.
    A month ago a friend went to bed and never woke up. It happens.
    So why worry about “And then what will you do?” That is how the matrix manages to keep us trapped in their system, always worrying about tomorrow instead of enjoying this present moment.
    I’m still not buyin’ and I wouldn’t even if I had stable, malleable(!), and rare gold.

  734. soak July 15, 2011 at 4:08 pm #

    “That’s why you’re here every day. You’re busy living.”
    ————
    Exactly! This is my joy! Good catch, Metuselah!

  735. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 4:12 pm #

    This is my joy!
    ==
    What can I say. Enjoy.

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  736. Buck Stud July 15, 2011 at 4:21 pm #

    The newest game in town. Recently I noticed a billboard featuring a proud,grinning 92 yr old woman with a newly earned college diploma in her hand. The accompanying text read “It’s Never Too Late”. So let me get this straight. The struggling 75 yr old HS graduate enrolls in college, takes out huge amounts of Govt backed loans and after finishing their studies(which results in no job) goes on the bare minimum payback plan – say 15 dollars a month over the next 25 years, or until death arrives. LMFAO – “debt slaves” my ass !!!

  737. messianicdruid July 15, 2011 at 4:22 pm #

    “There is no reason that the full faith and credit of the US government can’t be used to create money for social good, without indebting its citizens to the banks.”
    Agreed. The problem is finding some Statesmen who can be trusted to issue this money into the economy based on productivity. Monetizing a bridge that will be used by the public is an example. People are hired to plan, gather materials and build the bridge. These are paid with the government issued “greenbacks”. They in turn, buy groceries, energy, pay bills, save, and eventually pay taxes. When the taxes are paid {after say a year} the government retires the money.
    Now, We the People have a nice bridge, which we pay no toll to use, and we have had the use of {circulation of} the money for about a year.
    Imagine thousands of these projects, running concurrently, each one producing something of value to We the People and the resulting prosperity. All without debt to banksters.
    As it is “the full faith and credit of the United States” has been trashed because of dishonest men and greedy citizens.

  738. MarlinFive54 July 15, 2011 at 4:28 pm #

    “In Hindi ‘Asoka’ means ‘very foolish black man”, — Q
    Only thing is, Q, Asoka isn’t black. That dude is about as black as you or I. All the hundreds of black guys I’ve known on the job and in the military in the past 3 decade, I can’t think of one who would spend his time on a doomer site like this one, conversing with middle age crackers. No, Asoka is a fairly well educated 60 year old white guy, recently retired and moved to the sunny southwest, who enjoys the contradictory role of ‘agent provocatuer’, and also generally enjoys busting balls. That’s my guess.
    Asoka, you still onboard with Palin/Bachman 2012, The Year of the Woman? “Launch Nukes & Kick Ass” (proposed campaign slogan)
    -Marlin

  739. soak July 15, 2011 at 4:29 pm #

    The problem is finding some Statesmen who can be trusted to issue this money into the economy based on productivity.

    Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me! …
    RON PAUL!
    Am I right?

  740. Qshtik July 15, 2011 at 4:31 pm #

    Gold is mined in environmentally destructive ways, ruining water supplies, with great cruelty to the humans involved in the labor, and to those who live on the land.
    ===============
    The same goes for everything that is mined. My wife’s mother, age 89 lives in our household. She was born and raised in western PA. She was 2 years old when her mother died. Her father was an electrician in the coal mines. He touched the wrong wire with a wrench and died at age 56. My mother-in-law was 13. Her parents were Czechs and spoke little or no English. She was raised by older siblings (she was second youngest of nine). She never learned from her mother how to sweet-talk men. They lived in the woods on a mountain. Their water supply was carried in buckets from a stream.
    Life’s a bitch and I’m unimpressed with your cruel gold mining argument.
    I own one piece of gold jewelry – a ring with a red stone in it. I swapped an ounce of shitty pot for it in 1971 in an antique store in New Haven, Ct.

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  741. tucsonspur July 15, 2011 at 4:32 pm #

    Under food for thought or whatever:
    An illegal alien was just arrested working at the Palo Verde nuclear power plant here in Arizona. Investigations are now under way.
    Exorcists are gathering in Poland this week to discuss vampires and….. mental illness.

  742. soak July 15, 2011 at 4:32 pm #

    “Asoka, you still onboard with Palin/Bachman 2012”
    —————–
    Marlin, this is the third time you’ve asked me this. Are you some kind of Doubting Thomas?
    I will admit, however, that just today I was thinking of starting a movement to draft Elizabeth Warren for president. Bachmann and her husband have freaked me out some with their anti-gay theology.

  743. soak July 15, 2011 at 4:36 pm #

    Had he or she received good performance evaluations? Were they performing their duties competently?
    These are the pertinent questions, not whether they are “legal” or “illegal”
    Or did you mean “alien” as in extra-terrestrial?

  744. soak July 15, 2011 at 4:41 pm #

    So, it wasn’t me you were saying should not go to the bar, the bar with confederate flags on the wall. Must have been my friend, Van Jones you were protecting. Right white of you my friend.

  745. soak July 15, 2011 at 4:55 pm #

    FROM THE DISCREDITED URBAN DICTIONARY:
    mighty white of you
    Originally used under colonialism and before civil rights, this phrase expressed appreciation for honorable or gracious behavior, under the assumption that white people were inherently more virtuous. Today, it is generally used sarcastically in reference to underwhelming acts of generosity.
    In Jamaica in 1765:
    A: I built the slaves a church to hang out in on Sundays, even though I didn’t have to.
    B: Well, that’s mighty white of you.
    In Harlem in 2010:
    A: I’m feeling so generous, I’m gonna eat my food right next to you so you can enjoy the smell.
    B: Well God damn, that’s mighty white of you – How could I ever repay you for such a selfless act?
    In Western Massachusetts in 2011:
    A: Asoka, you and Van Jones are not welcome here… there’s confederate flags on the walls.
    B: Brother Marlin, that’s mighty white of you to protect us like that.

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  746. tucsonspur July 15, 2011 at 5:00 pm #

    No, they found him smoking MaryJ and distributing reconquista and make your own A-bomb literature.
    No again, I meant alien as in:
    1.a person of another race or nation
    2.a foreign born resident who has not been naturalized and is stil a subject or citizen of a foreign country.

  747. soak July 15, 2011 at 5:19 pm #

    Were the performance evaluations satisfactory? Were they performing their duties competently?
    Being a person of another race or nation is irrelevant.
    If a terrorist wanted to work at a nuclear facility, all they need to do is become a citizen by “swearing” allegiance to the USA and you would be satisfied because they are citizens.
    It could be an American-born disaffected Tea Partier or American-born liberal or American-born Neo-Nazi skinhead. Those “citizens” would be OK with you, especially if they had degrees in nuclear engineering to work at a nuclear facility Of course.
    But being “legal” is no protection, no guarantee, when it comes to nuclear facilities. Some of the worst domestic terrorist attacks have been committed by “patriotic” American born citizens.
    La Reconquista can’t come soon enough.

  748. tucsonspur July 15, 2011 at 5:36 pm #

    Yes, American citizens can be terrorists also. However, the major point here is SECURITY, or rather the apparently glaring lack of it.
    ” Being a person of another race or nation is irrelevant.”
    It is not irrelevant when that person is here illegally, because it goes directly to the issue of SECURITY, both internally and at the border.

  749. bubbleheadMarc July 15, 2011 at 6:25 pm #

    Totally agreed. Our military establishment is bloated considering that we have no serious rivals for global hegemony at least militarily. These absurd police actions currently being conducted in Greater Towelheadistan are not wars in any classical sense, at least not since our original opponents collapsed faster than the Italians during WWII. We should pull all of our troops out of Europe and the middle east. We should totally automate our warships and reduce crew size on each class of vessel. The number of vessels should be reduced as well. Soldiers, sailors & airmen should be vested at ten years and encouraged to get out in many cases. The so called war on terror is about ten years old now and the enemy have landed one really good punch and that at the very beginning of this fiasco. The book I own on the Iraq war is entitled “Fiasco” for good reason. Our preoccupation with absolute security is instead weakening us fatally. Let the Israelis worry about middle east. We should cut them off as well.

  750. bubbleheadMarc July 15, 2011 at 6:38 pm #

    Okay, thanks for your input. You sound like you really know what you’re talking about. And you live in a $500,000+ house so you’re clearly no fool. Of course in certain parts of California a $350,000 house looks like a $75,000 house in Cleveland!
    To mirror what someone else recently posted I’m going to try not getting bent out of shape by all this economic insanity. In the long run we’re all dead anyway so why sweat the load? And according to Colin Wilson [Beyond the Occult] we might even get laid in the afterlife so sign me up for that!

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  751. soak July 15, 2011 at 6:52 pm #

    “And you live in a $500,000+ house so you’re clearly no fool.”
    ———–
    LOL! Got that right!
    Fools live in adobe huts with outhouses that have gold-plated decorative doors! Stability! Malleability! and definitely Rare!

  752. ozone July 15, 2011 at 8:09 pm #

    “Because [Complicitous Cantor] is not blind he can see that the US is already financially FUBARed (fucked up beyond all recognition) and a collapse of US bond prices is virtually a forgone conclusion at some point.” -Q.
    Just to cherrypick (it’s what one does here), the meaning of FUBAR is well-known to most posters here. You’re apparently not aware of that; that should worry you. If it doesn’t, you might want to mull it over a while…

  753. lbendet July 15, 2011 at 8:33 pm #

    Sorry in advance–not following the thread today, but thought I’d just give some perspective about wealth disparity in this country.
    From Charles Hugh Smith today: Made in the USA:Wealth Disparity
    from last few paragraphs:
    [The top 1% of US households receive nearly as much income each year as the value of Germany’s GDP; and they receive more income than all other nations’ GDP (individually, not cumulatively) but the GDPs of Japan, China, and the US.
    The financial wealth of the top 1% exceeds the value of the entire GDP of the EU (the world’s largest GDP in aggregate).
    Moreover, the top 1% could lose 90% of their financial wealth and still collectively have more wealth than all but each of the world’s top eight GDPs (US, China, Japan, Germany, France, UK, Brazil, and Italy).
    When one hears that wealth and income inequality is extreme in the US, I suspect many do not realize just how extreme it really is.
    Peak Oil (falling net energy and available net exports), government “austerity”, and the effects of population overshoot imply that wealth and income concentration will become even more extreme, affecting what remains of the professional middle class, who are largely dependent upon the ongoing growth of debt-money and government borrowing and spending.]
    for whole post
    http://www.oftwominds.com/blog.html

  754. jackieblue2u July 15, 2011 at 8:46 pm #

    Yeah I meant it as a compliment so I am glad it didn’t mean anything close to ‘nice!’
    Thanks for the info. Didn’t know that: The difference between ‘nice’ and ‘good’ when referring to men. May come in handy someday.
    I know a Badass, and boy was he fun to be with sometimes. And yes he could hold his liquor. This is before I got married. He also a good guy.
    Not nice for sure.
    So that’s why you are so mellow, (but still a badass don’t worry…..)You parked the car for good ! I took the bus for 1.5 years to work, didn’t drive at all, it was a 10 minute trip, anyway, I am much mellower when not driving, I hope to be able to not have to the sooner the better.
    And yes I agree, most people turn the ignition and now their phones on, and their brains off. They Never learn.
    I try and either swim or ride my bike almost every day. Try to be done with driving by 2pm.
    or wait until everyone is having dinner if I have to go out for something.
    Time to ride now…..here I go.
    🙂

  755. jammer July 15, 2011 at 8:47 pm #

    “Homer” was something that Ortiz slammed over the “Green Monster”
    Rippedthunder,
    The correct reference in Red Sox Nation lexicon to the left field structure at Fenway Park that is in fair territory is simply, The Wall. Using the trite and MSM contrivance that you did, exposes you as a Red Sox neophyte. As a resident of the Bezerkshires, I am surprised at this glaring oversight….

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  756. jammer July 15, 2011 at 9:01 pm #

    jackieblue2u,
    Please excuse me, however it seems difficult to perceive a bad ass riding a bike on a bike trail. A God Damn bike trail. Pleeease…

  757. truthteller July 15, 2011 at 9:03 pm #

    {Not sure of the purpose of this narrative, TT.
    Different strokes for different folks?
    Follow your own muse?
    Anyway, thanks for the shoutout –
    and for your good posts from last night.}
    Thanks, Prog 🙂 I do seem to have pissed some human beings off, which is ok in my book 🙂 I think you and I, as children of the South, understand each other in a way that perhaps others who haven’t experienced the culture and the history of privation among the Scots-Irish contingent have.
    This secret women’s club . . . is there a secret handshake or a password we have to have at the door to get in? Because I seem to have misplaced mine 🙂
    And for Vlad et al who’s worried about what shit who took away from what divorce . . . HE got it ALL, and that was 100% voluntary. And I think it made him even madder than he would have been otherwise . . . if I had taken him to the cleaners, he could have justified me being a gold-digging bitch 🙂 But the truth is, I didn’t want to live with an abusive drunk anymore, and said fuck it, TAKE IT ALL, I just want AWAY FROM YOU! 🙂 The male ego can be fragile in that way, I guess. Have a great weekend, Prog!

  758. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 9:12 pm #

    “What kind of country allows this person to have anything to do with negotiations on the debt ceiling when he stands to make money on the it’s failure?–Oh and I believe this is making money on the demise of the US–He’s a (trader) traitor if ever there was one and he will continue, rest assured in his position without MSM coverage:”
    That guy is a total flip-flop moronic douche-bag, who can’t even make up his own mind when it comes to something he has to vote on in literally hours. He is a plebeian amateur, who should have never been given a rank leadership position.
    He actually went on Laurence O’Donnell’s show about 2 years ago, apparently expecting not to get totally *schooled* He claimed back then, that he would vote for tax increases – guess he invested in that short bond fund some time thereafter. I’m guessing no repubnicants will ever go on a CNN/MSNBC talk-show ever again, when FOX is willing to polish their knobs so well (*especially* in the case of Bachmann and Palin).
    However, $15k is a pittance. I lost $15k in two different stock investments ($30k total), in the late 90’s. 3DFX, and WorldCom. The first was a mistake (I believed in their technology), the second was fraud (Enron/WorldCom/Tyco/etc). However, I believe it was WorldCom that laid all those fiber lines to India, for the telecommunications *OUTSOURCING*, that has screwed millions of US employees out of jobs…

  759. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 9:29 pm #

    Yo Jammer, To tell ya’ da’ truth I am really not a huge Sox fan. My ol’ man was a yankees dude havin’ come from the Bronx an all. He was a minor leaguer and had a contract with the Yankees. He gave it up tp go fight the Japs in WWII. All the fellas at work are Red Sox fans. I don’t much give a hoot for sports. Bunch of overpaid Aholes as far as I am concerned! Hit a ball and make a million yippee! Golf, tennis, basketball, soccer.Blow me!

  760. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 9:34 pm #

    And Jammer I did not mean that in referance to you!

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  761. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 9:53 pm #

    Killer tune I just found on the internets:
    (Reggae beat)
    Soak-y, he no, no likey me,
    perhaps it was my flame-y,
    Of someone he knows, his Auntie,
    And now it’s clear, we’re not free…
    So Soak, he soak-y his fears,
    in non-stop, turbulent tears.
    All this, while that day soon nears,
    And the apocalypse leaves us without dears.

  762. anti soak July 15, 2011 at 9:55 pm #

    I AM LARGE…BEWARE

  763. anti soak July 15, 2011 at 9:57 pm #

    *****

  764. anti soak July 15, 2011 at 10:04 pm #

    Dear Boy [Or Girl]
    YOU HAVE WON OUR HEARTS!

  765. Qshtik July 15, 2011 at 10:05 pm #

    I don’t much give a hoot for sports. Bunch of overpaid Aholes as far as I am concerned! Hit a ball and make a million yippee!
    ==============
    Play the GIT-tar on the M T V
    That’s the way we do it
    Money for nothin and the checks for free
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAD6Obi7Cag

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  766. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 10:10 pm #

    So Soak, I am also large and contain multitudes.Just to clear my head about some shit. a few years back this fella was plowing a tobacco field. He caught his head in a wire and travelled for maybe 300 yards before the tractor stopped and got tangled in the wires. . It took us probably 20 minutes to find his head. Do you know what a head weighs? It is friggin heavy. I also grabbed a fellas leg who tried to jump a train. We packed it in ice from a local package store. Unfortunatly the infection took hold and he lost the leg an died. I do my best but I can’t save them all.

  767. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 10:16 pm #

    “I manage to live happily, protected by the wonderful matrix systems I do accept, like social security.”
    Yeah, you and Q – not I. Happy? That is a total delusion – if you have the senses to smell/taste/see/hear/feel(*read*) the death that surrounds us all, you’d hardly be *content* with our current situation on this planet.
    SS? In ~18 years I am guaranteed (ROFL!) ~$700/month, and if I wait another 3 years, it’s up around $1,100/month. I doubt I’ll ever partake in that Ponzi scheme. However, it’s something that 60+ million “geezers” count on, month after month, in this country (“divorced MOM” and “millionaire DAD” included). I’m not against it conceptually – I just think most folks could have prepared better, so that they didn’t need to *RELY* on it. And, it would have been nice if the “geezers” had considered the repercussions of their *every action* on their children/grandchildren/*GREAT*grandchildren… \sigh
    I believe every US child is born into an approximate debt of about $1/3 million. LOL, talk about selling your child into indentured servitude!!!

  768. Qshtik July 15, 2011 at 10:17 pm #

    I lost $15k in two different stock investments ($30k total), in the late 90’s.
    =================
    So you fucked up in the ’90s and it’s Eric Cantor’s fault.

  769. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 10:26 pm #

    “I don’t much give a hoot for sports. Bunch of overpaid Aholes as far as I am concerned! Hit a ball and make a million yippee!”
    I have to agree. I also wonder about the idiots who would pre-record a sports event, and later sit there cheering on their team (the game ended already).
    “Play the GIT-tar on the M T V
    That’s the way we do it
    Money for nothin and the checks for free”
    However, I’ve got nothing against entertainers, with messages. Not clear if you do or don’t – *millionaire DAD*. Heh! You won’t find me paying $170+ for nose-bleed venues to U2. Tho, I did listen to them in ’82 (Boy/October), when they were touring east coast bars for max $5 cover charge… (free the *CHICKS*!!!)

  770. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 10:28 pm #

    I am so sick of this shit. We had a parent couple hit a tree across from their house. with the kids looking out of the window. Tragic. I think they were fighting about something. I can still smell her perfume. I had to pull her out of the car. My partner went to the funeral. He took it worse than me. Like I said , I am a hard case nut job!I am 31 years on the job. Fuck that shit!

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  771. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 10:31 pm #

    “anti soak question”
    Someone *REALLY* likes you, PoC. Stop *FEEDING THAT TROLL* – plz?
    Seriously, I’m begging you. LOL! GHAD damn administrator needs to start checking(/*BANNING*) IP addresses – plz. ZZZzzz…

  772. jammer July 15, 2011 at 10:32 pm #

    Rippedthunder,
    I agree with you on the sport idolatry. It is a thing with me in regards to the Wall reference. And thank you for the clarification on your second post….

  773. City Mini Double Stroller July 15, 2011 at 10:33 pm #

    Ahhhh Nancy Grace. America’s pitbull for the kids. She gives me the freakin creeps. When I am channel surfing and see that barbarian I run the other way. Sorry she has issues

  774. rippedthunder July 15, 2011 at 10:34 pm #

    I am so sick of this shit. We had a parent couple hit a tree across from their house. with the kids looking out of the window. Tragic. I think they were fighting about something. I can still smell her perfume. I had to pull her out of the car. My partner went to the funeral. He took it worse than me. Like I said , I am a hard case nut job!I am 31 years on the job. Fuck that shit!

  775. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 10:35 pm #

    “I lost $15k in two different stock investments ($30k total), in the late 90’s.
    =================
    So you fucked up in the ’90s and it’s Eric Cantor’s fault.

    Come on, douche-bag *millionaire DAD* – I said $15k was a *PITTANCE*. Easy come, easy *GO*. Just don’t let *divorced MOM* (the gambler) hear that $15k losses is acceptable – LOL!!!

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  776. metuselah July 15, 2011 at 10:42 pm #

    Charles Hugh Smith’s blog should be required reading for all.

  777. anti soak July 15, 2011 at 10:52 pm #

    CHICKS FOR FREE

  778. anti soak July 15, 2011 at 10:54 pm #

    LYRICS ONLINE:
    Now look at them yo-yo’s, that’s the way you do it
    You play the guitar on the M.T.V.
    That ain’t working, that’s the way you do it
    Money for nothing and your chicks for free

  779. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 11:00 pm #

    Gold? There’s *GOLD* in them thar hills!!!
    I’m gunna go gold panning this weekend, on some spent 1890 claims, right here about 30 miles from my house. I’ve already scored about a 1/4 gram of tailings from the river east of Salem, OR (about 20 miles from Detroit Lake). I’m hoping the metal detector gives me a good signal, on the sand/rock beaches, inside the C curve!
    Hahaha! Wish me luck – LOLz.

  780. Ixnei July 15, 2011 at 11:07 pm #

    Gold?
    LOL, a Japanese friend of mine (about 60 years old now) told me about how his grandfather was involved in the road tunnel construction in Oregon (his parents were in those internment camps, during WWII). He said his grandpa routinely found gold veins when they were tunneling those roadways – but they just plastered/concreted over them.
    Lotsa gold to be found – ahaha!!! Just gotta know where to *LOOK*… Oh, and *FSCK* that cyanide leaching sh!t. Talk about a *travesty*…
    Best bet – take all that obsolete silicon motherboard landfill sh!t (that we send to China currently), grind it up, and cyanide leach it. Guaranteed $400/ton gold (*GO FIGURE*).

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  781. digbycookies July 15, 2011 at 11:57 pm #

    AMEN!

  782. soak July 16, 2011 at 12:20 am #

    Ixnei said: “if you have the senses to smell/taste/see/hear/feel(*read*) the death that surrounds us all, you’d hardly be *content* with our current situation on this planet.”
    ———
    If you are able to notice the in-breath and the out-breath and be aware of the death that happens to cells every single moment of every singel day in your very own body, then you would realize our current situation on this planet. Every moment there is death and every moment there is rebirth … if you can smell / taste / see / hear / feel (*read*) the Book of Life. 

  783. chill July 16, 2011 at 12:23 am #

    I’m with Ozone — don’t have a television, so I had to look up who Nancy Grace was. Just as happy that I didn’t know. The real world ain’t in that flat screen, just shut it off and it won’t have any power over you, or any of us, anymore.

  784. soak July 16, 2011 at 12:26 am #

    “GHAD damn administrator needs to start checking(/*BANNING*) IP addresses – plz. ZZZzzz…”
    ———-
    I would second that, but I doubt it will happen.
    I have only used one IP address in all the years I’ve been here. I only used Asoka as a handle (until it didn’t work) and made one change to Soak when Asoka no longer worked.
    I have no idea who is creating all the variations on soak, but IP address blocking would clear it up and get rid of the impostors and “sock puppets” who are using some form of soak but have no relation to me.

  785. Buck Stud July 16, 2011 at 1:15 am #

    I don’t much care for the corporate sports world these days, but once upon a time athlete gazing was one of my favorite pastimes. I recall Bobby Bell, the great Chiefs linebacker running down a very fast running back half his size. I also recall his coach, Hank Stram, enveloping himself between his two behemoth stalwarts, Buck Buchanan and Ernie Ladd, because opposing fans were pelting his team with real beer bottles for running up the score. I watched the great Paul Warfield and Emmitt Thomas duel mano-a-mano in the longest game ever played. How many times did I see 78,000 berserk fans gasp a collectively sigh of disappointment as Stabler, on third and eighteen, hit Blitinikoff tight-wiring the sideline at eighteen-and-a-half. Jack Tatum used to smoke cigarettes immediately before a game and before putting a player in a wheelchair for life. Julius Erving – “The Doctor” – was the most respectful and kind professional athlete I ever had the pleasure of meeting. Joe Namath and Roberto Duran could never bring the wind, but they rode a mercurial wave when raising the sails. I remember the heartbeat of the old AFL before they replaced it with an artificial pacemaker and stupid ex-jock commentators. I remember Curt Gowdy and his sheer joy in broadcasting that 71 World Series when Roberto Clemente took a ball of the right-field outfield wall and roped a no-bounce throw to the catcher to hold a runner at third. I remember not really caring who “won” the game, just being visually mesmerized and content to watch the most magnificent physical specimens on the planet.

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  786. soak July 16, 2011 at 1:41 am #

    just being visually mesmerized and content to watch the most magnificent physical specimens on the planet.
    —————-
    More accurate might be “most massive physical specimens”…

  787. Buck Stud July 16, 2011 at 1:46 am #

    LOL! No I meant the most magnificent. Perhaps you never saw Roberto Clemente?

  788. wagelaborer July 16, 2011 at 2:17 am #

    I’m unclear on the medicine that cost so much that would have saved the baby’s life.
    All we in the “first world” do is give IV fluids.
    I understand that in the “third world” they give PO fluids with electrolytes, which cost very little.
    I know that I give Bounce Back to my goats and they get better.
    It’s possible that you were played once again, Cash.

  789. wagelaborer July 16, 2011 at 2:40 am #

    Exactly, druid.
    The only problem, of course, is making sure that our government funds social uplift projects, instead of the death projects it has funded for the last 65 years.

  790. soak July 16, 2011 at 2:45 am #

    CORRECTION
    Today’s NFL linebackers are more like “most massive physical specimens”…

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  791. wagelaborer July 16, 2011 at 2:47 am #

    It wasn’t an electric can opener.
    I’ve never had such a thing.
    It was a wall mounted, hand operated, crank can opener that I had to buy from a True Value in Connecticut, and it still doesn’t work!!

  792. soak July 16, 2011 at 2:48 am #

    CORRECTION OF THE CORRECTION
    It’s been a long day:
    Today’s NFL linemen are more like “most massive physical specimens”… The average offensive lineman in the NFL is 6’4” and 300 pounds.

  793. Eleuthero July 16, 2011 at 2:51 am #

    LBendet said:
    Our intellectual class, E. have totally failed and have embraced a system of financial hegemony for the top 1% of the world. Nobody seems to understand what this system is, but it is changing the global landscape and it’s at full tilt– It’s called neo-feudalism!
    ***************************************************
    Our intellectual class has been incorporated into
    being the rationalizers for the rentier class.
    Even Obama is being duped into NOT raising taxes
    on people making several million bucks a year.
    The Republicans, a passel of goddamned liars,
    claim that since a tax on the rich won’t solve
    the ENTIRE debt problem we shouldn’t even let
    it solve TEN PERCENT of the debt problem. Of
    course, this banks on the stupidity of people
    because all rational people know the deficit
    and debt problems must be attacked on many,
    many fronts.
    What amazes me is the continued complicity of
    poor “pickup truck” Midwestern and Southern
    Republicans falling for this verbal chicanery
    their party.
    I also like the way Social Security and Medicare
    have been labelled as “entitlements” when EVERY
    citizen pays into them in EVERY paycheck. I
    don’t question that these payments won’t cover
    the WHOLE bill but where in the political sphere
    is anyone criticizing the MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT
    who claims that they “need” to charge you $45
    for two aspirin and $10,000 to look at your
    chart.
    Insurers take most of the flak but it’s the
    waste, inefficiency, and greed of the care
    providers themselves that are creating the
    lions share of this problem. Example: Look
    at the usual $2000 (give or take) cost of an
    MRI. Do the math … the machine costs about
    $1M and is run on about 20 patients per day year
    round in most hospitals. That’s 40 grand per
    day and around $1.5 million per year. What
    industry gets to amortize the cost of the
    ENTIRE machine (less maintenance fees and
    technician costs) which functions for a decade
    in ONE year??
    You’re right, it’s “neo-feudalism” but our
    “lords” consist of the providers of our
    necessities … the rentiers, the doctors (who
    are becoming more incompetent every year), and
    the energy providers. These are MONOPOLIES and
    near-monopolies yet we’re constantly told we
    have a free market system. When one looks for
    an apartment one doesn’t have a lifetime to
    look so one takes the least evil on the market.
    This is NOT a “free” market.
    E.

  794. soak July 16, 2011 at 2:54 am #

    Here is an industrial strength manual can opener that is made in the USA (in the Independent Republic of Vermont), has been around 17 years and opened over one BILLION cans without a single complaint.
    http://www.edlundco.com/catalog/category.cgi/3/4/5/p1/default/N

  795. Eleuthero July 16, 2011 at 3:04 am #

    This is an addendum to my last post … what
    is “free market” about medicine. Indeed, do
    you know that many providers, like United
    Healthcare limit you to THIRTY MILES from
    your house? But that’s almost moot because
    if your kid gets sick you go to the one
    available doctor within the shortest distance.
    How is this “free choice”?
    I view providers of healthcare, energy, and
    domiciles to be monopolists. Trying finding
    places in any communities with a limited
    number of rentals. Real estate conglomerates
    might divide up, say, 100 rentals between 3
    or 4 property management companies who try
    to match each other’s price. You spend days
    or weeks looking and end up finding out that
    if you don’t want a dump, you’ve got five or
    six identical choices at almost identical
    prices. Again … the ILLUSION of a “free
    market”.
    Since these monopolistic providers have quasi
    Socialism protections by engaging in de facto
    price fixing, why not stop the PRETENSE and
    get it out of their grubby little hands?
    As I’ve stated before, government might be
    “evil” but it is often a REACTION to a
    market sector(s) that haven’t behaved well
    and who are squeezing the life out of the
    middle class. Libertarians have a juvenile
    philosophy that government CREATES evil
    while all agreed-upon business transactions
    are morality upright if someone signs a
    contract. In other words, libertarians
    take the view that evil doesn’t exist if
    I can either DUPE you or MONOPOLIZE the
    resource you covet. It’s bullshit.
    E.

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  796. soak July 16, 2011 at 3:12 am #

    you’ve got five or six identical choices at almost identical prices. Again … the ILLUSION of a “free market”.
    —————
    If you are in the Atlanta rental market, what used to rent for $1200, now rents for $1400 or $1600 a month. You are “free” to rent at the higher price.

  797. Eleuthero July 16, 2011 at 5:15 am #

    Soak said:
    If you are in the Atlanta rental market, what used to rent for $1200, now rents for $1400 or $1600 a month. You are “free” to rent at the higher price.
    ****************************************************
    And due to the illusion of “choice”, you’ll spend
    a hundred hours to find that narrow $200 spread.
    The rentier class is THE most destructive of all
    the monopolies because every dollar of excess
    rent they collect is a dollar that cannot be
    used in town to buy goods, go to an eatery, or
    even fill up your tank for an out of town visit.
    Real estate, like the financial sector, saps
    liquidity without PRODUCING anything. If a
    landlord puts in new rain gutters they want
    you to think they’re Jesus Christ.
    Medicine is the same way. I’ve got four major
    hospitals within ten miles of me but there’s
    not a dime’s worth of difference between them
    so, of course, I’m going to the nearest one
    when I need help. If I cut myself on a kitchen
    knife do I really have a “choice” about which
    facility I’m going to when I’m gushing blood??
    The whole idea makes a mockery of common sense.
    Same with energy. You move to an apartment
    building and it is PRE-ORDAINED as to who
    the utility provider is. Yes, you can go
    to the trouble of finding alternative providers
    but they’re often these “green” providers that
    are 30% more expensive. Some “freedom”.
    Libertarians who think government is evil
    should consider what we now have with these
    pseudo-“free” markets. I reiterate …
    government and regulation is often a REACTION
    to malfeasance and out-of-control avarice in
    phony “free” markets. I guarantee you that
    if the government had more involvement in
    medicine that two aspirin will NOT be $45.
    The libertarians will post a laundry list of
    how “horrible” regulated medicine would be
    yet terrible “Socialist” Europe has greater
    longevity, less infant mortality, and all at
    a LOWER cost than “free market” America.
    I’m not a Socialist or ANY kind of “ist” but
    I refuse to cover my eyes just so that I can
    believe every plank of a stupid “ism” like
    Libertarianism which has a pre-pubescent
    naivety about the evil in human interactions.
    Facts are facts and they have ways of evading
    anybody’s doctrinaire bullshit.
    E.

  798. lbendet July 16, 2011 at 7:44 am #

    E.
    I agree with you time and again. But I think Obama knows better and can’t move h is chess pieces the way he would want. He’s got a god-awful environment to work with.
    1) Obama is painfully aware that the taxes should be raised in a real way on the top 5%.
    2) Polls have indicated time and again that 85% of the Republicans believe that taxes should be raised on the rich. Obama has said this during his press conference that there’s only 25% Republicans who are against this.
    Obama is working in an impossible political climate, so what he is trying to do is get rid of some loopholes which will essentially raise taxes on the rich, but the Reps won’t budge!
    Instead of having all options on the table to balance the budget as all other presidents including Jesus Christ Reagan, who raised taxes several times when he realized that supply side was a sham, Obama is stuck with cutting only.
    So the deal is that in order to win an election, Obama needs to be a Centerist, which is right of Richard Nixon, so he has been advised.
    About the medical debacle which will crash and burn, since nobody can afford it, he had a mandate to create a single payer system.
    He listened to the neoliberals. Too bad. In the future we will have to choose between keeping our homes or getting surgery. And the elderly will be living on cat food.
    Hope the rich are proud of themselves.

  799. lbendet July 16, 2011 at 7:58 am #

    Last week on Dylan Ratigan, The former head of US operations for Shell, John Hoffmeister discussing the debt ceiling–Partisanship is the problem and people and business are suffering.
    Hoffmeister wrote “Why we hate the Oil Companies” and founded Citizens for Affordable Energy.
    He is calling for an independent government energy board, not connected to elections, understanding we are heading toward a peak situtation. Energy is a social good and a lubricant of society.
    He says free markets are long gone and we have to face reality that the government must be involved in policy making. Looks to me like the charade of the right is going down the rabbit hole.
    The reason why the Asian markets are doing so well is that they have a better relationship between government and business.
    The restructuring of our debt is what’s needed, but the games continue.
    The business community is quiet because they are afraid of retaliation by the politicians.
    These were very interesting points he made during this round-table. You can check it out for yourselves on the Ratigan show. It’s still there for your perusal.

  800. lbendet July 16, 2011 at 8:16 am #

    One more thing, E.
    The idea of no regulation alongside free markets is the destruction of a free market.
    If there is no laws applied to corporations, then you get what we have right now. I call monpoly capitalism=corporate communism because like the soviet system, these entities are so large and powerful and can influence government activities, while they socialize their failures. For us citizen consumers on the ground, it might as well be communism. It’s all the same when you get to this extreme.
    It’s been getting obviously worse and worse, since we bailed these guys out to the tune of $33 Trillion internationally, but they want to continue to siphon out the commons.
    I always say they want us all to work for a dollar a decade while they want 100% of all the world’s wealth and all the world’s resources. Good luck to them—don’t think the large organized crime syndicates of India etc. are going to accept that. Don’t think other countries are going to put up with us much longer–we will lose this game.

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  801. ozone July 16, 2011 at 8:20 am #

    “…But I think Obama knows better and can’t move h is chess pieces the way he would want. He’s got a god-awful environment to work with.” -LB
    Yes, this may be true, but it’s my belief that he’s doing exactly what he was “hired” to do: dismantle the social safety-nets for the benefit of the monied class. He may be afear’d of losing the next “selection”, but you can’t predict the course of events when you make a deal with da Deb’bil. (He always changes the rules and redefines the goals.) He’s even trickier than the Big O. How Obama thought he could void the contract once in power is beyond my limited imagination. Signed in blood behind the blackout curtains, with the Bush retainers as witnesses.
    So now, his only option is to try and baffle the public with bullshit, and that seems to be working about as well as Boehner’s schtick (in the “credibility” realm).
    Notice the constant invocations of “the American people” by politicos [professional liars] of every stripe. That’s when you know for sure that bamboozlement is being delivered by the truckload.

  802. ozone July 16, 2011 at 8:27 am #

    …So, yeah, why not a fire-breathing dragon like Nancy the Graceless as The Red Queen? Somebody’s ass would be getting kicked; who cares if it may be exactly the wrong ones! Good for ratings (drooling, anesthetized “watchers”) don’cha know. Keep the cattle from stampeding just a liiiiittle bit longer.

  803. lbendet July 16, 2011 at 8:40 am #

    Yeah, Ozone
    I agree. It takes a Democrat to shred the social safety net. These idiots are playing Kabuki politics and everyone who is breathing can see right through it.

  804. rippedthunder July 16, 2011 at 9:29 am #

    Where is LLB?

  805. lbendet July 16, 2011 at 9:39 am #

    Where is LLB?
    I guess he’s in the process of moving and may not have access to a computer.
    He’s a good soul-hope he’s doing well.

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  806. Buck Stud July 16, 2011 at 9:56 am #

    Soak,
    I don’t want to get into a debate over professional athletics, after all, I detest the ignoble on-field antics of so many players who seem to think every routine play is deserving of a Jerry Springer high-five spectacle along with the militaristic corporate vibe that permeates these events. And not only those two reasons, but the ridiculously high-priced tickets and concession stand rip-off prices. But I will take issue with your “massive linebacker contention”. Today’s linebackers are not so much massive as they are incredibly fast and agile. Speed rules because Speed never has a bad day. In many respects, the modern day team athletic model is a mirror of the U.S military: fast, agile, deceptive, and devastating , a Michael Jordan blitzkrieg overwhelming the ponderous. Take away the advantage and utility of speed and a team becomes bogged down, playing for time, and not unlike a military occupying a country after the fast break of the initial victory.
    But I sense your real contention is that pro-athletes are not necessarily “the most magnificent athletes” on the planet. And if that is the case then we are in agreement I have met too many rock-climbers, yoga adepts, bicyclists and martial artists who were unbelievably impressive if not massive. And ho could I ever forget Theo. Little did I know way back in 1969 and 70, that among the players in our sandlot football games was, in my opinion, a phenomenally great athlete. Our little games were almost an evening ritual, with many of the neighborhood kids congregating at the local elementary school to pick teams for our tackle football battles. These games were rough skirmishes – we wore no helmets, pads , mouth guards, etc . The out-of-bounds line was the chain link fence; the goal line was delineated by a long metal jungle-gym type bar that welcomed a TD with a flip or jolt. Invariably, after an hour or two of beating the crap out of each other we would take a rest. Or on those nights when we wanted a treat of visual magic, someone would deliberately kick the ball onto the top roof of the school so we could grab a glimpse of a super-natural-born-thing in motion. And then off he went… up, up, up the tall cottonwood, all the way to the top it seemed, branch to branch, limb to limb – he was “The Proudest Monkey” you ever did see (thank you DM)! And then back down again, to roof height where he would leap a great distance from the tree to the building, sometimes catching himself with no more than a fingernail grip. After pulling himself up, and throwing the ball back down, he would then languidly hang from that very same roof again, until deciding to let go and transforming the fall itself into the landing of a cat.
    It was only later, after learning that he was a national collegiate gymnastic champion , that my eyebrow furrowed and my mind thought,” Hmmmm“. And then I learned that he was the first person ever to score a perfect 10 on the high bar, and with a broken elbow at that. And then I learned that he was a technical adviser to the Olympic games. He was the greatest athlete I ever saw.

  807. rippedthunder July 16, 2011 at 10:07 am #

    Most excellent story Buck Stud!

  808. soak July 16, 2011 at 10:57 am #

    “I will take issue with your “massive linebacker contention”.
    —————
    I typed “linebacker” while thinking “linemen” and then later corrected it.
    Linemen, at 300 pounds or more, are not terribly fast and agile.
    Thanks for sharing the gymnastic story. I used to jump from our garage roof, but never with the intention of landing like a cat. My intention was to hit and roll, imitating paratroopers I had seen on TV.

  809. rippedthunder July 16, 2011 at 11:51 am #

    Hey E, I had a “procedure” at Ma. General( if you ask me Boston has some of the best hospitals in the country) anyway the bill was 67 large! That was for a one night stay! You should have seen the lab. I figure two docs, three or four nurses and about 5 million in equipment.I’m worth it. If you look at the money I have paid into insurance over the years, health, car, life, property, etc. the gotdam ins. companys are still ahead of the game on me. Not to mention the drugs were great, Ya gotta love that fentanyl! 100 times stronger than heroin. Yippee! Shit here comes the DEA!

  810. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 12:09 pm #

    He was the greatest athlete I ever saw.
    ===============
    Well told story Buck … and I always enjoy the stories that come from personal experience.
    I wouldn’t be Q, however, if I didn’t mention a slight drift from your football metaphor when you, inexplicably, tossed in Michael Jordan, instead of using a speedy household name football linebacker.
    The closest comparison to your “proudest monkey” I have to offer from the sandlots of my youth is Kenny Baird. Five foot seven, fast as lightning and exceptional at all sports involving a ball.
    One day a pro player from the Philadelphia Warriors showed up on the outside courts of my high school. He must have heard that some good games happened there. He wasn’t in the game a minute before Kenny stole the ball from him and went in for a layup in the blink on an eye. The pro knew he was in for a surprisingly rough afternoon.
    I was stunned to learn decades later that Kenny was gay. Who knew? Who would ever have suspected?

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  811. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 12:22 pm #

    the blink on an eye
    ========
    of

  812. MarlinFive54 July 16, 2011 at 12:37 pm #

    Hey Ozone, did you crack open ‘Naked Lunch’, yet? Pretty crazy stuff, eh, somewhat in the vain of DeQuinceys ‘Confessions of an Opium Addict’. Maybe not quite as literate as DeQuincey, but funnier. Burroughs has this wry, sardonic sense of humor that I can’t resist. And he lives in that nebulous region that exists between dreams & reality. And to think it was written in the mid 1950’s.
    -Marlin

  813. MarlinFive54 July 16, 2011 at 12:51 pm #

    “I heard about you, Wilson.”
    “What did your hear, Shane?”
    “I heard you were a lowdown Yankee Liar”.
    ————————-
    Good prospecting, Ixnei. I’ll be headed out this afternoon to with my metal detector to explore an abandoned 17th century village on the west side of the Farmington River. So far have found some Blacksmith tools, that’s all.
    -Marlin

  814. rippedthunder July 16, 2011 at 1:47 pm #

    Yo Marlin, good luck with the metal detector. If you find any large cents on site please feel free to send them my way. I think I dropped one there years ago. Feel free to send it to me. My address is : Send me your cool stuff. com
    http://www.earlycoppers.com/VarietyPages/EarlyDates/1795/1795_S74_NET35.htm

  815. Buck Stud July 16, 2011 at 1:54 pm #

    Thanks Riiped. I enjoy yours as well, horrifying as there are at times.

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  816. Buck Stud July 16, 2011 at 2:09 pm #

    Q, my linebacker comment was a stated opinion, but my “Speed” comment was more or less a generalized metaphor. But I appreciate your comment and perhaps I should have integrated more appropriately.
    Back in the day I might have been surprised by an athletic blue-collar gay man who defied the stereotype, but not so much anymore. I am not even that surprised when a virulently anti-homosexual right-wing evangelical type voluntarily submits to a sexual preference re-education stint as a result of the closet door accidentally opening. But my head does tilt a bit when a man states they want to passionately hump an attractive woman as if they were their favorite racist demagogue. But that’s just me. And that’s why this is Clusterfuck.

  817. LewisLucanBooks July 16, 2011 at 2:18 pm #

    I don’t move til this winter. I’ve just decided not to participate in this forum any longer. I don’t care for some of JKs recent pronouncements. The “noise” vs utility of this unmoderated forum has reached the tipping point, at least for me.

  818. MADMAX July 16, 2011 at 2:20 pm #

    Jesus, Auntie – bite my head off! I’m sorry if I am not one of the millions of fat-assed cheese-doodle cretins who watch Entertainment Tonight every fucking day because I have no life! Bite my ass!

  819. Buck Stud July 16, 2011 at 2:21 pm #

    And one more thing. I think the societal stance is somewhat softening against the taboo of homosexuality because the strait as a poplar grandparents, who loved and nurtured their beloved grandson since he was in diapers, cannot find the “moral compass” within themselves to condemn their own flesh and blood loved one to a life of pain, guilt, and denial. And good for all parties involved, including Christ himself.

  820. bossier22 July 16, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    I understand your numbers since the early eighties. I would bet the definition of poverty in China vs the U.S. are two different things. Will they surpass us? We can’t even build new schools. They will surpass us because we will not do what is in our own best interest. Turning our focus inward on what is best for our own people instead of Afghanistan etc would help. For what we have spent there we could have solved a lot of problems here and been to Mars. I maintain our own elite did us in not China.

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  821. jackieblue2u July 16, 2011 at 2:47 pm #

    I married into it.
    Waited til 43.
    Was a FreeCat before that.
    Owed nobody nothin’.
    Loved it that way.
    Want out. My life back.
    My husband believes all the crap on T.V.

  822. jackieblue2u July 16, 2011 at 2:57 pm #

    Hi RT,
    you must be in law enforcement.
    yes you must really be sick of seeing the messes people make.
    I want law enforcement to ticket tailgaters. And wonder why they don’t.
    I want people to stop tailgaiting constantly.
    But like Cash, just hope to hang up the car sooner than later.

  823. bubbleheadMarc July 16, 2011 at 3:16 pm #

    In this suburb of 18,000 the bored of education recently tore down three elementary schools, one of which was built in the early ’80s mostly, and replaced them with just one building, because as they explained in town meetings there weren’t enough electrical outlets in the older buildings, the middle of which was built in the ’40s. So now with just one elementary building they are stuck with permanent busing for the little kids. Then they got a stealth school levy through disguised as a community recreation center which in fact is really just an extension of the physical education facilities for the secondary schools. This cost over 40 million! If you want to swim at the pool you must buy a membership! And then of course half the idiots who voted for all this crap have moved since the election leaving everyone else to pay for it.
    It should be obvious to even the most casual of observers that in cultural institutions such as churches and schools it is easier to run building campaigns than it is to address the ostensible purpose of these entities which apparently no one can really remember at this point. So speaking for myself I wish that we were among the communities which can’t get schools built because the old ones were perfectly acceptable to any sane or normal person.

  824. jackieblue2u July 16, 2011 at 3:17 pm #

    RT.
    maybe an EMT ?

  825. trippticket July 16, 2011 at 3:33 pm #

    “Tripp, that’s ideology talking….if there is an “answer”, it will be a combination of both green and conservation, and many other things we probably haven’t even thought of yet.”
    I never once said that we won’t do our best with “renewables”. I have a solar panel on my roof now, and almost certainly will have a couple more, along with a homemade wind turbine or two. For critical uses. My point has always been that we physically cannot replace millions of years of solar energy stored up in a highly concentrated, very portable, and pretty damn stable form, with new technology that was completely enabled by that same dense energy source, and capable of harvesting only the sun’s instantaneous energy output. Completely different ballgame, and I’m not sure why that it isn’t better understood. Except that it’s probably a pretty scary thing to really get a hold of.
    Solar and wind are transition tools, to get people who grew up with the devout belief that they need energy on the order of kilowatts/day, back to something near zero. Listen, I like refrigeration, I think it’s pretty useful, and fans too, in the insanely sultry heat of the South, and perhaps a shortwave radio might be nice to play around with on bare bones power. But besides that, I really think most of the rest is a pipe dream for people convinced that it is their own genius, and not nature’s gifts, that got us where we are today.
    Of course, if all goes well, you’ll have at least 50 years to prove me wrong.
    But one thing I can tell you for sure, from an ecologist’s perspective. Whatever energy humans have available to them they will use, just like any other animal would. Problem is, humans are the very neediest of the kingdom. We require the full periodic table of elements in our diet for proper brain function; a wide range of menu items in our diet, including meat whenever we can get it, which is an order of magnitude more “expensive” to make, energetically, than a plant; and we seem to have a serious problem maintaining reverent contact with the cycles of life that support us. More humans, created by more energy, of any kind, isn’t the answer. Unless the question happens to be, “how can we guarantee our species’ demise?” Which obviously isn’t the question I’m asking.
    In my studied ecological opinion, we have severely overshot our resource base on the back of oil (I would calculate that consumptive overshoot in the 10^3 range), and technology is largely responsible for making that situation worse, not better. If nothing else, look at how technology today is obfuscating our general understanding of the magnitude of our predicament. So my advice, to anyone willing to take it (obviously I don’t mean you, Dale), is to get small fast. In the end none of this banter will matter one iota unless it saves your hide.
    It isn’t ideology talking, it’s just good sense.

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  826. Buck Stud July 16, 2011 at 3:38 pm #

    I suppose it’s only fitting, that at the tail-end of one of CFN’s more bizarre weeks, you sit typing in a buckskin suit channeling the great Alan Ladd. Are the Village People looking for help?

  827. Vlad Krandz July 16, 2011 at 3:50 pm #

    Thank you for your honesty. The marketplace of free thought IS far too raw for the average liberal. I mean Totalitarianism isn’t just something imposed from above – it meets a need in many, many people. Sorry you’re one of them.

  828. Vlad Krandz July 16, 2011 at 3:54 pm #

    That’s all you have to say punk? After a comment like that, you just casually project it onto me? Fuck you – you have no moral gravitas at all. You are a slave at heart.

  829. Vlad Krandz July 16, 2011 at 3:58 pm #

    It was a joke asswipe. Fascists obviously have a better sense of humor than Liberals. Not only am I stronger, smarter and faster than you – but funnier. You’re a typical White Liberal – can’t run, can’t jump, can’t fight, can’t fuck. And can’t think.

  830. Vlad Krandz July 16, 2011 at 4:05 pm #

    Bismark once said, “I don’t want war just victory”. So it is with you. You want the domination of Whites by Non-Whites. And you don’t care how it is done. Or what goes along with it. You’ll just close your fat little eyes. King was the same way as is Mandela. Winnie was the overt monster but Nelson really doesn’t care what happens to individuals, especially White ones.

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  831. Vlad Krandz July 16, 2011 at 4:09 pm #

    How do you deal with the fanatics you work with? I have encountered real hatred from blue collar types when I expressed disinterest in the Red Sox Cult. I suppose it’s different if you work with people and you can talk about something else. But in a casual setting, it can be rough.

  832. Buck Stud July 16, 2011 at 4:14 pm #

    Mine was a joke too, Asswipe – what were you saying about sense of humor? Oh I know – you really take yourself seriously. So seriously, in fact, that you will not open your own blog with your own name to vocalize your ever so serious commitment to the “White Race”. So I do get the punchline Vlad – you’re basically a joke.

  833. Vlad Krandz July 16, 2011 at 4:16 pm #

    Liberalism has gone too far up a sterile and dry creek by supporting things like Gay Marriage, Illegal Immigration, and Feminst Hatred. Now it has to retrace its steps if it wants to retain any viability. JHK obviously has come to realize this. Life is growth Lew. Some of your cherished opinions are wrong or at least incomplete. You have to change. Why make such a big deal about it? It happens to everyone.
    It all comes back to your hatred and wanting to be better than Conservatives. Now you have to eat humble pie.
    None of this means Conservatives have been or are right about everything or that Liberals haven’t done good in the past. The Democratic Party was once the Party of the White Working Man. And Liberalism has lead the Environmental Movement for decades.

  834. Vlad Krandz July 16, 2011 at 4:22 pm #

    All lies in Jest Buck. I was kidding just now and you got angry again. Why can’t you just get “it”. The punchline is infinite bliss. Why don’t you get a rubber hammer and start hitting yourself with it.
    If I got my own blog we couldn’t talk like this anymore.
    How do you feel about there being a White Heavy Weight Champ btw?

  835. jackieblue2u July 16, 2011 at 4:33 pm #

    I had the same thought actually. Funny to picture except on a Harley.
    But Cash contains multitudes, like others have been saying lately “I contain multitudes”, I know that is Whitman, and Contradictions.
    Who knows ?
    He my cyberfriend either way.

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  836. lbendet July 16, 2011 at 4:38 pm #

    LLB:
    I, for one will miss your POV. Your interest in books and art history.
    Best of luck to you.

  837. Buck Stud July 16, 2011 at 4:46 pm #

    I must have misread you Vlad. You seemed awfully angry and all, perhaps another Friday night “letdown” to blame so I wasn’t taking it personally.
    How do I feel about having White Heavyweight champion? What a goofy question. That’s like asking somebody what they thought of Rocky Marciano or Jack Dempsey. Great fighters in a brutal game at at a time when the general level of pugilism was at far higher level than it is now. Only a very disturbed and time-warped mind celebrates an athlete based on race in this day and age of MMA and so forth. Joe Louis brought them out on in the streets in the ’30s because he was a symbolic spearhead against severe institutionalized racism. If you cannot distinguish between that circumstance and a Hitler refusing to acknowledge the greatness of a Jesse Owens in the Olympics then you are more disingenuous and possibly stupid(not likely) than I might imagine you to be.
    As far as the ‘white liberal press’ ignoring the Russian champions that is more a result of the demise of boxing in general, and to the fact that they are Russian (not white). Boxing has been in a state of decline long before those two arrived on the scene.

  838. rippedthunder July 16, 2011 at 4:55 pm #

    Hi LLB I don’t blame ya. The noise is getting excessive.

  839. Cash July 16, 2011 at 4:57 pm #

    Maybe I got played. But maybe not.
    Maybe the baby had an infection that needed anti-biotics of some kind. How many parasites and bacteria are there that cause bad diarrhea? Salmonella? Giardia? Cholera? Correct me if I’m wrong but are antibiotics not used for these nasties? This was a baby we’re talking about and a very poor family. I have two great grandparents that died young from cholera. Too poor to afford treatment.
    There are many many millions in Pakistan that survive on a few bucks a day. It doesn’t take much to push them over the edge.

  840. rippedthunder July 16, 2011 at 4:59 pm #

    Yea VK, The red sox fans can be a bit much. They went bullshit when they won the series in 2004? I don’t follow them or the patriots. The guys at work don’t miss a game. I have better shit to do.

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  841. rippedthunder July 16, 2011 at 5:02 pm #

    Hi JB2U, yea i have been on the “Bamblance”as Prog says for over 31 years now. I have a whole junk drawer full of shit. I can’t even close it any more. I just got off the damn thing. I took a cut in pay, but enough is enough. I’m too old for that shit.

  842. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 5:25 pm #

    “along with a homemade wind turbine or two”
    LOL, I have a project in progress, involving dollar store pinwheels. I used to rollerblade (~6k miles on my skates), and have plenty of old semi-worn out ball-bearings. I modded the pinwheel plastic-on-plastic bearing with a ball-bearing mount, and fit the shaft with 2 ball bearings in a cylinder, hung upside down. The thing spins almost constantly, and changes NSEW direction to take advantage of different wind directions. (HINT: duct tape is a good temp for debug, but super glue is total sh!t. 5-minute epoxy is DA BOMB!)
    My next mod (in progress) is to mount 2 magnets on the pinwheel, and wire-wrap a bent metal nail to supply a/some diodes. Still wondering if I want to incorporate inductive RC capacitance/rechargeable batteries in the loop…

  843. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 5:33 pm #

    “I want law enforcement to ticket tailgaters. And wonder why they don’t.
    I want people to stop tailgaiting constantly.”
    If you are really driving so much (10-20+ gallons guzzled per week?) that this is a major issue for you, then perhaps you should rethink your *ROUTINE*.
    Bah, tailgate/tailgait – hardly registers on my radar (it does, but *BARELY*). Try walking/riding a bike/rollerblading/*PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION*. You will be healthier, and have time to *read* while in transit…

  844. AMR July 16, 2011 at 5:51 pm #

    The Tea Party is not offering the political realignment that we need. I wish it were.
    The Tea Party was a good idea in theory that quickly turned into a shit magnet for malevolent and discredited Republican ideologies. Its genesis moment was inauspicious: a rant by finance correspondent Rick Santelli from the trading pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, complaining sanctimoniously about the irresponsibility of borrowers who were underwater on their mortgages. His rant served as the type for the large swath of Tea Partiers who basically got theirs and now want to screw everyone else. Much of the rest of the Tea Party is comprised of kooks, bigots, theocrats and misinformed supply-side dittoheads. It has turned into little more than an intellectual garbage pail for bad ideas that the Republicans ought to disavow.
    The only way that I can see the Tea Party serving as a legitimate reform movement is if it lures the crazies and ass hats away from the Republican mainstream, allowing the GOP to realign with the sane centrists who used to be prominent in its base. This realignment might convince the Democrats to tone down their own extremism and cultism. Then the Tea Party would have served its purpose and could fade into obscurity. It has no legitimate place enduring after the realignment in the fashion of the GOP in the late Antebellum period. It is more akin to the Dixiecrats, an odious faction whose platform is antithetical to a free and open society.
    The problem with this scenario is that it would require Republicans currently in office to grow a pair instead of kowtowing to the Tea Party. Most of them have been doing the latter, John Boehner among them, with his spinelessness in the face of idiotic low-tax orthodoxy.
    GOP rhetoric on tax policy and the balance between the public and private sectors has degenerated to the point of insulting intelligence. There is a lot of middle ground between the banana republic ideals that the GOP is extolling and the genuinely oppressive and counterproductive tax structure that drove much of the Swedish economy underground in the Eighties, but only rarely do Republicans have the courage not to muddy the waters about the effects of tax policy. John Boehner evidently tried briefly in budget negotiations with Barack Obama before he caved in to mob pressure from the fringes.
    The current 15% rate on long-term capital gains and most other unearned income, for example, is not oppressive or counterproductive by a long shot, but any proposal to raise it would run afoul of the simplistic propaganda about tax increases destroying jobs and wealth. The same would be true of a number of conceivable increases in marginal earned income tax rates on the wealthy. Most Republicans, however, are craven or cowardly enough to conflate modest proposals such as these with the misguided punitive taxes that are assessed on productive workers of more modest means.
    The standard Republican talking points about the private sector always creating wealth and the public sector always destroying wealth are absurd to anyone with basic critical thinking abilities and observational skills. Tax funds often disappear into black holes, but not always, and governments provide a lot of useful, effective, and sometimes essential services. Conversely, the private sector is no managerial utopia. “Dilbert” wouldn’t be so popular if it were.

  845. soak July 16, 2011 at 6:02 pm #

    Sorry to see you go, LLB. I wish you success in becoming a hermit, if that is the route you choose. It is a noble calling.
    I had an uncle who was a hermit. We made a trip to see him once a year, take him new decks of cards. He played solitaire. Help do a spring cleaning of his cabin. He died one day, but nobody found the body for six weeks.
    You are always welcome back. Take care.

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  846. AMR July 16, 2011 at 6:10 pm #

    We Yanks haven’t successfully killed an old political party or birthed a new one since the 1850s. The closest we came to doing so to good ends since then was with the progressive movement at the turn of the Twentieth Century. It wasn’t viable as an established political party–if memory serves, only a handful of Progressive Party candidates were elected to high office, most notably Bob LaFollette as governor of Wisconsin–but it was very effective on policy. It left the country an exceptional legacy in the form of an effective regulatory apparatus,
    workplace safety legislation and the like.
    The present-day GOP devotes immense effort to dismantling the progressive legacy on the false premise that the private sector can’t do harm. The Democrats are usually more cautious about these things, but not always; Clinton certainly wasn’t. The historical ignorance required to ignore or even badmouth the lessons of the Gilded Age and the Great Depression is appalling.
    Ross Perot might have established a viable third party in 1992 had he not been too flaky for the presidency. It was really a shame that he flaked out so, especially since some of the other intraparty dissident movements have been led by ass hats. The Dixiecrats, for instance, were motivated by the reasoning that they didn’t like Republican economic elitism, but…damn niggers. The Tea Party is driven by a very similar bigotry, with the main difference that they’ve decided to cast their lot with the Republican elites that they used to distrust. It’s a similar psychology to what the Virginia elites used in the aftermath of Bacon’s Rebellion: divide and conquer the white lower classes by reminding them that they aren’t black. Really sick, pernicious shit.

  847. soak July 16, 2011 at 6:11 pm #

    “…allowing the GOP to realign with the sane centrists who used to be prominent in its base. ”
    Amen to that. One of the Republican candidates for president I really like is Gary Johnson. He has executive experience. He was governor of New Mexico.
    I rarely hear much about his campaign. The media seems to like the other candidates. Gary Johnson seems like a reasonable centrist Republican. However, if word gets out that Asoka endorses him, it may be a setback.

  848. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 6:18 pm #

    “If you find any large cents on site”
    I actually used to have an 1820 large cent, in good condition – my oldest coin. I forget exactly how I got it (I think I payed $8 for it, in ’82)
    Until, of course “Indian-giver” *divorced MOM* gambler hocked it right out from under me. After all, she gifted me a couple coins as a child, on my b-day and at X-mas, so my entire collection was *HERS*. Ahh, yes – I hold onto that idea of my $5k collection (current value), that she hocked for at most $300 (20 years ago – ~$1.5k then), liek a past that never ends! THE HORROR!!!
    I guess I just can’t let go of the material – LOL!!! (I bought *divorced MOM* a ’91 century in ’96 for $4k cash, and an ’05 regal in ’08 for $8k cash [she has been fixated on buicks ever since *they* bought a brand new ’78 regal {22-24 mpg v6 fuel-injected}]- enabling the gambler in her! Easy come, easy *GO*)

  849. jackieblue2u July 16, 2011 at 6:36 pm #

    Everybody must be outside having fun for the weekend.
    Fine be that way !
    I will also…..see ya all next week after the Monday doomsday report.
    This week was one of my favorite all time threads.

  850. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 6:39 pm #

    Bah, tailgate/tailgait
    =============
    You just unwittingly raised a good question. How could the media headline dreamer-uppers have failed to label the revelation/sagas of all these errant libido politicians’ extracurriculars TAILGATE?

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  851. Omar Bongo July 16, 2011 at 6:41 pm #

    Qshtik, you have some serious issues.
    I don’t own a dog, I didn’t write that, and I’m not here every Monday morning. Get a life.

  852. Omar Bongo July 16, 2011 at 6:50 pm #

    “The US has killed over 30,000,000 of my people since WW2”
    Huh? What are you talking about? YOUR people?
    It is bad enough that this site has been overrun by lunatics like Vlad, Ixnei, and Qshtik, please stop posting this unsourced gibberish.
    “Yesterday, I had blood pouring from my finger, because the damn can opener doesn’t work, and I tried to pry the dog food lid open with a knife.”
    If you haven’t figured out how to use a can-opener yet, please do us all a favor and stay away from the fucking internet.

  853. Cavepainter July 16, 2011 at 6:50 pm #

    Nationhood is a concept. Our outsized neo cortex is the hardware that enabled us humans to process sensory input into concepts, enabling us to live beyond the impulse of instinct. That is, we deal in abstractions.
    “Reality” is a conceptualization, just as is the notion of individual self or the social self, or, for that matter, “time” itself. As social animals cohesiveness as family, tribe, nationhood (or sports team, for that matter) is based upon a meme that remains resonate enough among the unit membership. If not, then the social unit splinters. Think partisanship, or sect, or class,…..on and on. It is only through the thousands of years of state and civil law development that we have modern democratic states capable of managing “diversity” to the extent we know today without rupturing (shall I say Balkanize?).
    “Citizenship” and national sovereignty (like the Magna Carte and the US Constitution) aren’t trite, contrary to metuselah’s reply to my post of July14, 10:49PM, they’re benchmarks of social development and the concept of democratic governance.
    No, this is not academic hoop-la, most particularly in context of issues addressed at this site. Preserving US sovereignty – and therefore keeping the nation’s destiny in the hands of its citizenry – is our last hope of surviving the great catastrophe that is written into over population. Survival at all will be spotty across the face of the globe, and our chance here grows smaller in proportion to how much we allow population to increase by legal and illegal immigration – which are the only factors driving population growth in our country for nearly 80 years.
    Look, the peril is that great. The numbers are unforgiving; the plight of the rest of the world will not be softened at all by allowing unrestricted numbers into our country. But if we survive at all the quality of that survival will be greatly diminished if we lose common cohesion to our nation’s founding principles. That will continue to happen the more we admit people whose beliefs are shaped by archaic myths and beliefs.

  854. metuselah July 16, 2011 at 7:06 pm #

    If the US had a real democracy similar to that of Israel, neither the Republicans or Democrats could manage a popular vote in the double digits. The only way to reform the US is to reform the US. The whole political (and therefore economic) system is so deeply flawed, its perniciousness now has reached catastrophic global proportions. We are literally facing a global holocaust, on multiple fronts, because of this.

  855. soak July 16, 2011 at 7:12 pm #

    “…the quality of that survival will be greatly diminished if we lose common cohesion to our nation’s founding principles. ”
    ————
    “Give me your tired, your poor,
    Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
    The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
    I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
    — Emma Lazarus, God bless her soul

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  856. metuselah July 16, 2011 at 7:13 pm #

    July 14, 10:49 PM? What the hell are you talking about? That’s your comment.

  857. Vlad Krandz July 16, 2011 at 7:15 pm #

    The same thing happened in St Louis a couple of decades ago. They decided that Blacks were failing miserably because they didn’t have good facilities. So they built a gigantic state of the art High School – also 40 million or so when that was alot of money. The test scores didn’t increase and the Blacks trashed the place in a few short years.

  858. Vlad Krandz July 16, 2011 at 7:24 pm #

    You obviously hate having a White Heavy Weight Champ – probably one of the best ever – certainly the most powerful. Joe Louis is usually considered the best of all time. It would be an interesting match but I wouldn’t bet against Louis. He was a pretty big man also and his technique unsurpassed.
    That’s a Liberal Lie btw. Jesse Owen always said that he wished people would stop using his name in that way. Hitler came down to shake hands but his handlers wouldn’t let him shake Hitler’s hand.

  859. metuselah July 16, 2011 at 7:30 pm #

    “The US has killed over 30,000,000 of my people since WW2” Huh? What are you talking about?
    ==
    She means the US is responsible for the death of at least 30 million people on planet earth since WWII. What it is for you so hard to understand?

  860. trippticket July 16, 2011 at 7:31 pm #

    Oh Dale, by the way, a new book is coming out from John Michael Greer that might strike your fancy:
    “This September, San Francisco’s Cleis Press will be bringing out my next book, Apocalypse Not, a wry survey of the apocalypse meme – the notion that sometime very soon, history as we know it will suddenly be replaced by a new osmos that just happens to bear a close resemblance to our favorite daydreams – and its role in inspiring the last three thousand years or so of End Times that weren’t. The Rapture, the Singularity, the prophecies of Nostradamus, and of course the upcoming 2012 brouhaha, among other things, all come in for discussion Though the subject’s a serious one, the book is a good deal shorter than my three peak oil books, and a lighter read as well. On the off chance that you’re interested, dear reader, it’s now available for preorder.”
    Enjoy!

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  861. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 7:34 pm #

    “Here is an industrial strength manual can opener that is made in the USA (in the Independent Republic of Vermont), has been around 17 years and opened over one BILLION cans without a single complaint.”
    LOL, why does that sound like McGreasy’s claim of “over 100 billion served”?
    I’d certainly like to see the *single* can opener that has opened “one BILLION cans” (let alone 10,000). That beast looks like it takes up a *huge* footprint of kitchen counter space. And all for a mere $440!!! LOL, soak.

  862. Vlad Krandz July 16, 2011 at 7:35 pm #

    Why can’t we just heat our homes with compost heaps like one group I saw advertising in Cambridge, Mass Food Co-op was going to try? I mean it’s hot right?
    As for Dale: he is plant and can perform photosyntheisis. That’s his green energy. Why can’t we power our cities using the energy of Trees?
    Stop being negative. The sky is the limit. The sky. I went to an Islamic Lecture once: he said that the jinn (daemons) were hiding behind the sky so be careful.

  863. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 7:46 pm #

    “WOW! That last comment really made me sick.”
    When you “reply” to that comment, you should really be sure to link it. The prior comment was from soak to me, and seemed trivial – not sickening…

  864. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 7:52 pm #

    “Why can’t we power our cities using the energy of Trees?”
    During one of my earliest tripp-sessions, I remember during 0’F (-18’C) deep winter, looking at the deciduous hedgerow of trees around the subdivision, and seeing an energetic field, that heretofore, we have no *CLUE* how to tap.
    Seeing is *believing* – LOL!!!

  865. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 8:04 pm #

    “every singel day”
    Yeah, exponential *DEPLETION* – your senses don’t seem to be able to generate time-based analysis. Hell, even if it’s linear depletion, it’s less – but exponential means something far more *sinister*…
    Something liek 120 “units” this year, 100 “units” next year, 60 “units” the 3rd year, *0* “units” the final year…
    “Come on, get happy!!!”

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  866. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 8:31 pm #

    “Then you have the incessantly religious who are constantly invoking the deity to credit for their sobriety.”
    Yeah, that *higher power* horsesh!t got real tiresome. Either you have the fortitude to control it, or you don’t. And all that intervention sh!t propaganda tended to spill over as well.
    I simply love beer way too much, to give it up. I also love a decent French Bordeaux (are any bad? I remember buying bottles for $1/$2 in France ’83/’97), and of course, the 2x annual bottles of Dom Perignon that I buy for family events (puts Moet-Chandon/white [4]star to shame). Never got too attached to Vodka or Whiskey (but did drink gallons of them both, in the day). Hard to pass on a good Manhattan tho (sweet, not dry)…

  867. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 8:36 pm #

    I didn’t write that, and I’m not here every Monday morning.
    ===========
    The italicised words in my post are quoted directly from the last paragraph of your post at 12:46PM on Monday 7/11. You also posted at 11:47AM and 11:55AM that day and of course that’s the morning.
    30 days, next case.
    P.S. I assumed you were Fabian’s sock-puppet but since you did not call me a moronic fucktard you couldn’t be.

  868. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 8:51 pm #

    Make that your 12:56PM post

  869. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 8:52 pm #

    Last post was for Omar.

  870. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 9:03 pm #

    What it is for you so hard to understand?
    ===============
    Sentences like the above^ are hard to understand.
    Let me guess, you were taught English by someone from an obscure eastern European country.

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  871. metuselah July 16, 2011 at 9:17 pm #

    Get use to it. Your fetish about what english should be is your fetish, not mine.

  872. Auntie River July 16, 2011 at 9:20 pm #

    Hello sweetie! This isn’t actually a reply, its a call for help. You know New Jersey/New York. I have to drive to Egg Harbor Twshp next week and both mapquest and my Garmin want to send me through da bronx. I did that last year and it was awful! What’s the best route from the Merritt Pkwy in CT using Tapan Zee Bridge to avoid New York? Thank you!

  873. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 9:24 pm #

    Your fetish about what english should be is your fetish, not mine.
    ============
    Obviously.

  874. metuselah July 16, 2011 at 9:30 pm #

    Stop being a nudnik. 🙂

  875. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 9:37 pm #

    I would try to avoid rush hour and go through “da Bronx.” Going over the Tappan Zee would add MANY unnecessary miles to your trip and might, itself, be jammed up if you hit it at the wrong time.
    I have a cousin named Linda who lives in Egg Harbor Twshp.

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  876. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 9:42 pm #

    “The italicised words in my post are quoted directly from the last paragraph of your post at 12:46PM on Monday 7/11. You also posted at 11:47AM and 11:55AM that day and of course that’s the morning.”
    Sound liek someone has a guilt-complex – *millionaire DAD*!!!
    Ahahaha! Let me guess, all your followups are “technical” in time-space – LOL! Gramps, cut some slack/give it up… You take your $24k/year SS payments to offset your $12k/year property taxes – *TIT FOR TAT*. Pure Repubnicant.
    YES! I am disturbed *millionare DAD* still sucks the titty of socialism/SS/MC/MA, all the while playing the *GREATER THAN THOU* role. Do you *REALLY* have anything to provide, other than being a non-invited spell-checker?

  877. wagelaborer July 16, 2011 at 9:46 pm #

    It’s always worse when kids are involved, ripped.
    I know how you feel. It sucks.

  878. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 9:48 pm #

    “What it is for you so hard to understand?
    ===============
    Sentences like the above^ are hard to understand.
    Let me guess, you were taught English by someone from an obscure eastern European country.”
    You *FSCK-tard* – English is his second language (I already pointed that *FACT* out).
    You, however, *millionaire DAD*, are so elite, you speak *ONLY OLDE ENGLISH*. You fscking douche-bag. I wish you only the entrails of those you condemned.

  879. wagelaborer July 16, 2011 at 9:56 pm #

    I’m surprised that you think that Obama really, deep, deep down, wants to do the right thing, but the big, bad Republicans won’t let him.
    As you point out, he is to the right of both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
    I see no evidence that he is playing some sort of chess.
    I think he’s playing strip poker, and we’re the ones getting stripped.

  880. myrtlemay July 16, 2011 at 10:02 pm #

    It should also be mentioned that there is a Great Egg Harbor and a Little Egg Harbor Township. Not just a good egg harbor, or a pretty good egg harbor, but a GREAT Egg Harbor Township. At any rate, either place is rather anti-climatic if memory serves correct.

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  881. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 10:05 pm #

    L and E are arguing with themselves – much liek *sock-puppets*.
    Sure, they have good points, but that sh!t is obvious to anyone, who even takes a basic look at the partisan (two-party) horse-sh!t, for the past 2 decades.
    Your votes mean nothing – there is no secure voting mechanism *STILL*, 10 years later (Bush theft Florida). You all are nothing but fodder, that believes in some “good”. FSCKING fools.
    Lesser of two evils? Haha, you just bit their *TROLL*. Cluebees. Enjoy it, while the planet can sustain us…

  882. metuselah July 16, 2011 at 10:07 pm #

    Corrected: What it is for you ^that is so hard to understand?
    (English is such a tedious anal language. Damn Germans).

  883. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 10:11 pm #

    Do you *REALLY* have anything to provide, other than being a non-invited spell-checker?
    =============
    In my humble opinion your sentence above^ would have read a bit better if you had used the words an uninvited spell-checker.
    But to answer your question: no, spell-checker is about it.
    P.S. Are the numerous asterisks, exclamation points and words typed entirely in upper-case in your post an indication you’ve fallen off the wagon? Earlier this evening you were talking rather longingly about various favorite forms of “the sauce.”

  884. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 10:16 pm #

    Corrected: What it is for you ^that is so hard to understand?
    =============
    Here, read this out loud and see what you think: What is so hard for you to understand?

  885. Auntie River July 16, 2011 at 10:20 pm #

    I’m a country girl, and last year’s gnarly, crazy, down and dirty drive through the bronx left me a nervous wreck. It was really awful. Mapquest says Tapan Zee Bridge is 14 miles longer – well worth it in the context of a five hour drive. If you WERE going to avoid downtown New York, how would you get from the Tapan Zee Bridge to the New Jersey Tpke?

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  886. wagelaborer July 16, 2011 at 10:22 pm #

    I’m certainly not an expert on third world diarrhea.
    Here in the states we just treat symptomatically.
    The thinking is that the body is expelling the virus/bacteria that is causing the diarrhea, and we just make sure that there is no dehydration.
    I got played last week, I think, but not on purpose.
    My BFF got civil unionized today. He was telling me earlier this week about a gay couple he knew who were together for decades. One of them died, in hospice care, with his partner at his side.
    Even though the dead guy made a will, signed and notarized, his mother sued and got it overthrown. And the judge said that she was the one who lost a loved one.
    Well! I was indignant! And I was at a party Thursday, sharing this story, and everyone was indignant! Until a lawyer said that the story sounded fishy, that a lawful will could not be overthrown for no reason, and there might be more to the story.
    Oh. Well. Maybe there is, since part of the story is that the partner got the house. The mother couldn’t take that, although she swept through and pointed out things she wanted. Including vacuum cleaner bags.
    Anyway, people get things wrong.

  887. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 10:35 pm #

    “In my humble opinion your sentence above^ would have read a bit better if you had used the words an uninvited spell-checker.”
    I heartily *DISAGREE* – non-invited *millionaire DAD*.
    “But to answer your question: no, spell-checker is about it.”
    That’s kinda sad. But your choice, of *course*.
    “P.S. Are the numerous asterisks, exclamation points and words typed entirely in upper-case in your post an indication you’ve fallen off the wagon? Earlier this evening you were talking rather longingly about various favorite forms of “the sauce.””
    Did I fall, or did you accept those $24k SS payments every year, for *YEARS*? Hardy an *ARGUMENT* there, hey? So – you liek pisswater Champagne? I can barely drink Moet-Chandon (4) star – Nothing but $150/bottle Dom Perignon here.
    You?!? I’m betting you’d settle *short* on anything – you CRETIN. I mean, *millionaire DAD* – heh. Say *HI* to Jesus for me. And if he speaks to you in the meantime, *LET US KNOW*.

  888. wagelaborer July 16, 2011 at 10:40 pm #

    And just to put it all into perspective
    http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2011/07/priorities-of-damned.html

  889. Qshtik July 16, 2011 at 10:43 pm #

    either place is rather anti-climatic if memory serves correct.
    =================
    Hi Myrtle, you don’t post much around here lately.
    It’s anticlimactic. Climatic has to do with climate. Climactic has to do with climax.
    Also, it’s correctly.
    P.S. I think there is also a Shitty Egg Harbor and a Fantastic Egg Harbor Township. Some people in Shitty are upset with the name and want to change it to Mediocre Egg Harbor Township.
    😉

  890. metuselah July 16, 2011 at 10:45 pm #

    Yuk, you have no lyricism in your soul, Q. 😀
    I’m going back to the original, and that’s that !!!

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  891. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 10:45 pm #

    “I’m a country girl”
    You’re a GHAD DAMNED sock-puppet. Quit lying. Fscking *k00k*.

  892. Ixnei July 16, 2011 at 10:48 pm #

    I’m guessing the *PROFESSOR* (*millionaire DAD*) has something to say about your lack of OLDE ENGLISHE.
    Am I wrong?!.. LOL – Ghad-damned soak sock-puppet. Quit while you’re *AHEAD*.

  893. wagelaborer July 16, 2011 at 11:15 pm #

    What do you mean – noise vs utility?
    And what would moderation mean?
    Personally, I prefer the wide open space that this forum provides, even though the ignorance of those I don’t like appalls me.
    It still makes for an interesting place to visit.

  894. wagelaborer July 16, 2011 at 11:24 pm #

    Thank you for the link, soak.
    Those are weird looking can openers. Not at all like the ones I grew up with.

  895. Vlad Krandz July 16, 2011 at 11:38 pm #

    It is Wilhelm’s Reich’s “Orgone”. His books were burned by the early FDA – there must be something to them therefore.
    As Gerald Celente says, only something really big like a new energy can save us now. Goethe saw the primal or archetypal plant which he called the Urpflanze or something like that. If we could only get the sap of that plant. I’m working on it via Alchemy and Thomist philosophy.
    As Robert E Howard said, “Forgetist thou the Snake who fought to save the human soul?”

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  896. soak July 16, 2011 at 11:55 pm #

    You are welcome. Although, as Ixnei pointed out, it is the model that has opened one BILLION cans, not a single can opener.
    The price is also prohibitive as it is designed for heavy duty use in the food service industry.
    Still, it goes to show that quality products are being manufactured in the USA. Not everything has to come from China.

  897. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 12:06 am #

    I’m going back to the original, and that’s that !!!
    ====================
    Hold on there Jewish cowboy, not so quick!
    This was your corrected version: What it is for you that is so hard to understand?
    You can improve this greatly by just changing the position of two words as follows: What is it for you that is so hard to understand?
    You may ask “why didn’t you suggest this in the first place?” and the answer is that the sentence contains two unnecessary words (it and that). Remove those words, change the order of what remains and you’re back to my original suggestion: What is so hard for you to understand.
    There is a famous little book titled The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Its main message is that in good writing no paragraph should contain an unnecessary sentence and no sentence should contain an unnecessary word.

  898. Buck Stud July 17, 2011 at 12:16 am #

    Actually, I don’t really care who is the heavyweight boxing champ. I don’t like the sport and I don’t care for the sleazy nature of the business. But if I did follow boxing, I would probably have far more interest in the lower weight division fighters.
    Joe Louis was not that big of a heavyweight; I think Louis only weighed in at 195 in his prime. Max Baer and Primo Carnera were much larger men. The greatest heavyweight ever was Muhammad Ali. Before he was stripped of his title and banned from boxing he was the fastest heavyweight ever – by far. His footwork was dazzling,and his jabs barely discernible to the naked eye. His skill at slicing an opponent was unmatched. Your Ukrainian boys would have only lasted three rounds tops with Ali before their own blood rendered them blind

  899. wagelaborer July 17, 2011 at 12:23 am #

    National sovereignty has been declared outdated.
    Not by the hordes of immigrants, but by the corporate overlords that rule us now.
    We, the citizens, have no say in the governing of the country.
    It is mostly Democrats that trash national sovereignty in favor of “international consensus” (defined by the corporate interests salivating after particular national assets).
    “In the 90s, “liberal humanitarians” said international law was an ass and demanded that it be scrapped. They called on western powers to rewrite or simply to ignore the UN charter, in order to facilitate interventions everywhere from Somalia to the Balkans to Kosovo.
    It was a formidable consensus of both left and right, comprised of politicians, academics, journalists and NGO activists. And if you argued against this consensus promoting international intervention over sovereign equality, as I and others did, you could expect to be denounced as an appeaser, an apologist or even a fascist, as someone described me when I protested against the (illegal) bombing of Kosovo in 1999.
    These “humanitarians” helped to create the lawless world in which Bush and Blair can treat the third world as a private shooting range.”
    http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2007/01/dominion-over-world-i-iraq-is.html

  900. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 12:43 am #

    If you WERE going to avoid downtown New York, how would you get from the Tapan Zee Bridge to the New Jersey Tpke?
    ===============
    #1 Whether you use the “Cross Bronx” and the George Washington Bridge, or you use the Tappan Zee you are NOT going anywhere near what is considered “downtown New York.”
    #2 If you use the Tappan Zee you will NOT be winding up eventually on the NJ Turnpike. Rather, after you cross the Tap Z into NJ you go 5-10 miles and follow signs for the Garden State Parkway. Then you go on the GSP south all the way till you’re near Atlantic City and that’s where Egg Harbor Township is. The GSP crosses the NJ Tpke but you should not get on the TPKE at that point since it would be an inefficient, though possible, way to get to Egg Harbor.

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  901. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 1:04 am #

    IX-NAY,
    All your posts this evening are “off-the-wall” and most are downright offensive to me and to others. Frankly I don’t know what your problem is with this millionaire Dad bullshit and I don’t get your beef about me receiving SS checks (after paying into it for 56 years). It sounds like you’re angry that I got old soon enough that I could collect and YOU DIDN’T get old soon enough and now you fear the govt is going to pull the rug on SS … and this is somehow MY fault.
    A piece of advice: Pour the remainder of that bottle down the drain and back slowly away from the sink.

  902. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 1:27 am #

    The price is also prohibitive as it is designed for heavy duty use in the food service industry.
    ===============
    The price is also prohibitive as it was probably designed for use by the military and as such they would have put out an RFP (request for proposal) with specifications that the unit will work flawlessly in a temperature range from 130 to -65 degrees Fahrenheit and will withstand vibrations equal to those experienced in a Space Shuttle launch and also a vertical drop from an altitude of 150 feet onto concrete, etc etc.
    Little does the common man realize that this sort of thing is not unusual in military procurement and likely is the cause for the infamous high-priced toilet seats and hammers of a few decades ago that people like to blame on the contractors.

  903. jackieblue2u July 17, 2011 at 1:27 am #

    Yeah I am working on driving less. Already do.
    I could be 1 block from my apt. and be tailgated.
    Haven’t been out of county for years. And I used to go 2x a year 200 mi. to see family members.
    It just feels like a warzone to me out on the road lately.
    I got whiplash from being rear ended at a stop light.
    Hurts like hell one year later. still.
    I drive very little, and in the future that is planned even less.
    I probably burn 3 gallons a week. There are alot of stop signs in this county so uses more gas. I have an economy car.
    I am not that timid. Just it’s congested here, bikes, cars, college kids, etc. and half are crazy AND really bad drivers. You would not believe it.
    Ain’t safe at all on a bike. For leisure on a bike path yes that is ok. But down the main drag NOT. Running errands NOT. I could see a moped or something, as everything is within 2-7 miles.
    But I am definitely driving less. Cut by half just recently. NEVER commuted. Should take the bus more.
    I have back problems, bulging disc, so sometimes can’t walk far, I LOVED TO WALK. Too much heavy lifting, pottery in the garden.
    I wouldn’t mind taking the bus, and I used to, but there are alot of creepy dirty and rude
    morons on it, just a fact. I am not a snob, but some people I just don’t want to sit next to.
    Dirty dangerous creeps.
    Where I live there is a wide mix of people. They come in all varieties. Some very unsavory.
    It’s very strange here, beauty everywhere, mountains*water*trees, it’s a tourist destination. but the locals are rushing around like crazy, even when they are shopping for food.
    I don’t get it. Did I mention they drive like shit ?

  904. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 1:38 am #

    even though the ignorance of those I don’t like appalls me.
    ==============
    I guess this means Wage is OK with the ignorance of those she DOES like.

  905. Buck Stud July 17, 2011 at 1:46 am #

    Forget about Don Henley, you’re sounding like a Bonnie Raitt girl: “ Slide over baby, here by my side, I wanna take you on a Slow Ride!

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  906. Ixnei July 17, 2011 at 3:56 am #

    “A piece of advice: Pour the remainder of that bottle down the drain and back slowly away from the sink.”
    LOL, testing me, to see if I can read the new name you gave me – good one. No hard liquor here. Just simple common sense, and time-based analysis. And if you think I’m gunna poor the other half of the Dom Perignon down the drain, you’re *INSANE*!!!
    Over and over, you correct foreigners liek this is some sort of AP English class, when it’s obvious English is their second language (3rd? 4th?).
    And you think I’m disheartened about not being able to collect SS – you’ve obviously not read my poasts. I will never take the $700-$1,100 monthly SS checks when I qualify in 18-21 years, and I’ve stated as much already (nor will I milk MC/MA).
    You’re damn right I’m angry. But there is a substance to my anger rants – not pure self-righteousness/racism/illogic/etc that others dish out here. Here’s to hoping you need that monthly SS, *millionaire DAD*, as you short the US dollar/bonds (or WhateverTF else you gamble on in the ETF markets – *divorced MOM* gambler would be proud). Hmm, are we at 11.5k Dow already?!… Tune in next week (did I just hear a prediction?!?)!!!

  907. Ixnei July 17, 2011 at 4:14 am #

    “a temperature range from 130 to -65 degrees Fahrenheit”
    Hmm, Mil Spec used to be -55’C to 125’C, at least back when I was testing rad-hard memory for IBM in the late 80’s (MIL-STD-883, Condition 1015). It appears this has been reduced, to something like -40’C to 70’C (MIL-STD-810)?!…
    But yeah, *dear ol’ DAD*, we get the point (is that more tolerable than *millionaire DAD*? heh)!

  908. Eleuthero July 17, 2011 at 4:20 am #

    LBendet said:
    If there is no laws applied to corporations, then you get what we have right now. I call monpoly capitalism=corporate communism because like the soviet system, these entities are so large and powerful and can influence government activities, while they socialize their failures. For us citizen consumers on the ground, it might as well be communism. It’s all the same when you get to this extreme.
    ***************************************************
    Eruditely said, LB. It is, indeed, like a soviet
    system and they do, indeed, “socialize their
    failures” as you so eloquently put it.
    You may be interested in an out-of-print book
    called “The Demise of Capitalism AND Communism”
    (my emphasis) by Ravi Batra. Batra claimed that
    despite all appearances of being antipodes, the
    “big fish eating littler fish” style of
    predatory capitalism will create the same “too
    big to fail” enterprises that end up being
    quasi-government agencies.
    You’re absolutely dead on the money … the form
    of “capitalism” we have right now is anti-
    competitive, monopolistic, and has socialist
    protections from failure. And yet the biggest
    barkers to keep this system in place are the
    REPUBLICANS who think that fighting against this
    is “class warfare”.
    Talk about Orwellian double-speak!!!!
    E.

  909. Eleuthero July 17, 2011 at 4:26 am #

    I can only wish you godspeed on your return
    to health, RT. I hope that your “co-pay”
    on the 67 large isn’t, itself, “large”.
    A sante’ my friend and … don’t use up ALL
    the good dope, okay. 🙂 🙂
    E.

  910. Ixnei July 17, 2011 at 4:27 am #

    OMG, the *PROFESSOR* to the rescue, just a few minutes prior… *THAT* “figures”.
    So when do I get my *B* in AP English, *dear ol’ DAD*?

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  911. Ixnei July 17, 2011 at 4:34 am #

    Wow, I am definitely one rude mudda fscka! Oh well, who’s moronic enough to take this sh!t personally here? (I gotta admit, I nailed Q on the above reply to myself – I knew there was no way in hell he could keep from correcting that Myrtle-poast).

  912. Ixnei July 17, 2011 at 5:21 am #

    Definitely quiet here in the CF nation! Smoked a couple “roll-yer-owns” (Drum), trying to settle my nerves (GL with that, LOL). I do love nicotine – but I despise the salt petered paper, wood pulp-infused chemical cigs that most smoke (still 100+ unknown chemicals in that crap).
    Here’s a story that should shine with all the old-timers here. *divorced MOM* used to beat us with a wooden spoon, when we were *BAD*. I even remember a time she couldn’t find that wooden spoon, so she resorted to the METAL SPOON (true, that). The kind of stuff that would get mothers put in prison, on felony abuse charges, now-a-daze. You ask her about it now, and she says that no physical contact ever occurred (tell that to the permanent scars/bruises) – she’d just mention the wooden spoon, and that scared the children into obedience (wonder *WHY*)…
    Well, one day, when I was 15, *divorced MOM* became enraged at me, for *some* reason (that time of the month?)… She started flailing her arms at me, for no reason I could understand, so I grabbed both of her arms to keep her from hitting me, and she started wailing like a banshee. Dad was nearby, came to her rescue, took a couple swings at me, and I ended up cowering in the corner (he stopped as soon as I rescinded). He just responded to her “shrill cry” – but after that, there was never physical contact between me and *millionaire DAD* (or *divorced MOM*). Curious, they divorced about 2 years later (talk about *love*)…
    The point of this story? Oh yeah, *THAT*. LOL – WTF do I know… (better than discussing the poisoning of the land/sea/water/air, with heavy metals/radioactive cesium/carcinogenic hydrocarbons)

  913. Ixnei July 17, 2011 at 6:53 am #

    You both (LB and E) seem to miss the meaning of monopsony/oligarchy collusion. Or perhaps you spam otherwise, in the name of monopoly?!… Different beasts, *INDEED*. – ahaha!

  914. Ixnei July 17, 2011 at 7:56 am #

    Fyodor!
    “regardless of how exxaggerated it was..”
    Any normal human would have had problems before that *escape artist* sneaking down the stairs, *undetected* bit. That escape was well-written, and the only reason I might re-open your *book*. That was very pro-pose!!!

  915. lbendet July 17, 2011 at 8:12 am #

    Ixnei,
    All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely sock puppets!
    If you look in the mirror perhaps you’ll see one too.
    I can’t imagine what you think is so sock puppety about two people, one conservative and one progressive coming together in agreement on the nature of this beast we call the US on this blog—so what?
    What’s it to you?
    Wage was just asking me a simple question. I really don’t think your response made any sense. I certainly think there are still national political strategies being played out here and I do believe that Obama is playing chess—not that he is in any stretch the guy with the passion to have turned the ship around.
    He’s just going with the same agendas that have been set in motion since the Nixon administration, but who knows whether that was is original intent. We don’t know whether once they get in office, someone sits down and has a little talk with them. They are only there for 4-8 yrs.,
    afterall, while others are in govt. for decades. Who really wields the power?
    To Wage and Ixnei: Why is it verboten to entertain the idea that although Obama may be a globalist and a neoliberal as most of the DNC is, why do you suppose he isn’t playing out what he believes is where the votes are rather than follow through on the agenda with which he got elected? He had the majority in both houses and still couldn’t get the votes on a public option. He stayed away from the action because he was warned that in the early ’90’s Bill and Hill got too involved in the healthcare bill and that’s why it crashed and burned.
    Oh, and by the way not everybody who is rich and powerful have the same agenda. It’s the guys fighting the financial/military global hegemony that are more the issue–they’re the folks who are steering this baby into an iceberg.
    I have no problem with you disagreeing with any of my ideas, just pose your argument and leave the labeling out of it. Seems simple enough to me.

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  916. jammer July 17, 2011 at 8:21 am #

    AMR said: Most Republicans, however, are craven or cowardly enough to conflate modest proposals such as these with the misguided punitive taxes that are assessed on productive workers of more modest means.
    I liked your post very much, however doesn’t craven mean cowardly?

  917. bubbleheadMarc July 17, 2011 at 8:25 am #

    I like sinsemilla white widow hydroponic weed washed down with non-alcoholic Becks bottled in Germany and shipped here by containership! What’s the carbon footprint on both of those?

  918. Ixnei July 17, 2011 at 8:38 am #

    “I can’t imagine what you think is so sock puppety about two people, one conservative and one progressive coming together in agreement”
    Haha! Good one, LB.
    However, the sock-puppets I see here are all one-in-the-same *PERSON* – perhaps a multiple personality disorder *folk* (same IP address?) – but one in the same *person*. Certainly not different folk coming together *FINALLY*, in agreement…
    But I suppose we can all *DREAM*. Keep on pretending that the current demo/repub bi-state *duality* is some sort of scheme for the down-trodden. Maybe you even believe your vote *counts*. GOOD FOR YOU! Hope is something – not what I’d count on, but *something*…
    I get your points, you and E – same old, same old – nobody else can figure it out, or *VOTE*, apparently… But GL to you both – make it *COUNT* this time \sigh…

  919. bubbleheadMarc July 17, 2011 at 8:41 am #

    In response to your schools reply to me vis a vis St. Louis. This same thing happened on a giant scale in Kansas City, MO.. As with many other things the Germans figured this shit out long ago. They test everyone at the age of 11 and those beneath the cut-off, probably two-thirds of the population, go to vocational schools. The upper third go to their equivalent of the British grammar schools, which were actually state funded college preparatory type high schools.
    To me it is very simple: most people, while not introverted enough to thrive in an academic atmosphere, can do well in a vocational setting. And conversely, persons not academically inclined if forced to sit through six years of lectures will only learn to become lazy.
    The political implications of the German model are obvious: middle class parents will scream bloody murder if their child is labeled a “dullard” and shipped off to vocational training. Minority parents will also protest en masse no doubt if something on the order of 85% of their kids, predictably scoring low on I.Q. tests, are sent to cosmetology or auto mechanics instead of college prep., a program which they will [of course] inevitably fail. Apparently we would rather have kids fail at the higher status program than a manual arts curriculum for which they might actually be well suited.
    The unavoidable conclusion: the parents are assholes. They need to be told what to do by the government. After all, most of the parents are imbeciles as well. One of the reasons most of the kids are so cretinous is because they inherited this trait from their largely below-average parents. FUCK ALL OF THEM. They have no idea what they’re doing so their options must be circumscribed by the relevant governmental authority. If they want their illiterate offspring to attend prep school then let them pay to send them to such schools themselves with the proceeds from their own labors, such as they are, probably not much in most cases. It is not up to the taxpayers to subsidize people’s unrealistic expectations. Never forget: THE SCHOOLS ARE OKAY IT’S THE KIDS WHO SUCK!

  920. Ixnei July 17, 2011 at 8:53 am #

    “introverted enough to thrive in an academic atmosphere”
    That doesn’t make sense to me. Perhaps “introverted” should have been replaced with “intelligent”.
    Definitely not getting *THAT* connection.
    Oh, and Becks is piss-water. Just letting you know, LOL!!! White widow – 6-fig-salaried stalkas gunna be knockin’ on *YO DOOR*. Just *SAYIN’*

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  921. lbendet July 17, 2011 at 8:58 am #

    Ixnei,
    I’m so saddened that your paranoia is getting the better of you. I’ve been pouring my heart out on this blog since the spring of 2010 and I believe the people who have read my comments in this time can see you are teasing me and I resent it.
    I normally refuse to get drawn into these kinds of inter-action because I believe they lead nowhere but create a bad environment for all who choose to post here.
    I discuss many subjects here if you pay attention. I’m a retoucher and an artist who has been concerned about energy issues since the principle of my high school set up seminars on the first Earth Day where people representing Solar, nuclear and con ed came to speak about energy and the future of alternative energy. Imagine my disappointment that we are still nowhere on energy policy.
    E and I are from opposite coasts, opposite political affiliations, opposite genders we are one year apart, both born in June. This has taken a long time for me to surmise over the period of time that I’ve been posting here and reading his posts.
    If two people from such different backgrounds agree, we must be hitting on something right—That’s what I say.

  922. Ixnei July 17, 2011 at 9:13 am #

    “you are teasing me”
    I don’t know you, and you are the *LEAST* of my worries. Perhaps you want a pat on the back – whatever. Just because you started reading this BLOG 3 months before/after I did – that’s totally irrelevant.
    You and E. Let me see… If you have any substantial contributions, they will stand up to scrutiny. It’s really that *SIMPLE*. My criticism/sarcasm should be nil to none with respect to that…
    I liek to cut straight to the bone. This is my only alias, and I’ll stand by it, rain or shine. You had some apparently good teachers – what *DID* they teach you? The inferiority complex?
    Damn, *prove* me wrong…

  923. bubbleheadMarc July 17, 2011 at 9:28 am #

    Simply being “intelligent” isn’t enough to succeed in school. One also must be capable of tolerating enough solitude to actually learn the material. Many bright people are so extroverted that they can’t tolerate reading for any appreciable time.
    When the six figured stalkas come a’knockin on my door they’re not going to find anything. That’s because there’s nothing to find here. And yes, all NON-ALCOHOLIC beer is piss water. Since I haven’t had a drink in 20 years I can’t even remember what real beer tastes like. I get Becks NA because it’s fifty cents cheaper than St. Pauli girl. American NA beer is intolerable.
    To me the schools debate is off-kilter because it is politically driven and schooling is being divvied out to the parents like political spoils. Part of this game is to pretend that there even are many academically inclined people in the first place, which clearly there are not.
    It is also believed by parents that kids assigned to vocational programs can never attend college. This is patently absurd. There are college quality specialty schools parallel to the university system which also grant degrees such as culinary arts schools for instance. This also ignores the situation currently obtaining in which the community colleges are really vocational schools.
    Kids who hate sitting still and reading should be given something else to do to keep them busy which will increase their employability IMMEDIATELY UPON GRADUATION.

  924. Ixnei July 17, 2011 at 9:56 am #

    Why are we *fscking* idiots?
    The final forests are being clearcut everywhere – in the US, in South America, in Africa, in Asia.
    We just *suck it up*, and pretend with horsesh!t about *WHO KNOWS WHAT*. Amazon Basin looks almost *clean*!!!
    Those forests might have absorbed the CO2 we *GUZZLE*… As it is now, we flush total toxins, heavy metals, radioactive metals, and carcinogenic hydrocarbons – *FLUSH* (out of sight, out of *MIND*).
    LB and E still argue about the duality of *partisanship*, while we watch it all fall into the *abyss*. Scrub it, LOLZ!!! Scrub-a dub-dub.

  925. bubbleheadMarc July 17, 2011 at 10:19 am #

    I remember Pilsener Urquel as being the best beer. And like a head shop owner I once knew, there’s no need to grow your own when you can afford retail!
    One of the reasons we’re idiots, that is collectively as the entire human race, is because we take the planet earth as it was handed down to us for granted. I guess we’ll miss it the way it was once we’ve completely destroyed it, but then at that point we’ll all be dead so it won’t matter.

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  926. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 10:50 am #

    Thanks for the kind words E. according to the docs my heart is large, strong, and contains multitudes. (Soak take note here!) I had a wiring problem. I needed an electrician and not a plumber! I took a stress test and maxed out the machine. I can’t believe the stuff they can do in a modern hospital. It is like magic . I try to take care of myself. eat good and work the shovel, bike ride . All the fun stuff. It really is scary when shit comes out of the blue and messes with your good times. Keep it on the sunny side! Live long and prosper!

  927. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 10:59 am #

    Ah the pilsner! I brewed a fine batch of bottom fermented beer a coupla years back. It was one of my best batchs ever. I love the lagers. All these micro-brews and their top ferment ales! buh!That beer is to be consumed warm., but a fine cold lager, that is really something to be savored on a hot july afternoon. You gotta give it to the Germans and the rest of the middle european countries. They make a fine brew. The Brits can take their ale and pour that swill down the lew.

  928. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 12:11 pm #

    The point of this story? Oh yeah, *THAT*. LOL – WTF do I know
    ==============
    I know the point. It’s an oblique apology for some of your off-the-wall posts by way of reference to a “dysfunctional” family upbringing.

  929. soak July 17, 2011 at 12:31 pm #

    Lbendet said: “I do believe that Obama is playing chess”
    ————-
    I certainly hope so.
    The only way I can believe the chess metaphor is to think that Obama is going for the long game.
    The first four years he has done what was needed to survive (granted he inherited a nation in the ditch). He has made some changes, but nothing so radical as to endanger his re-election.
    Do people appreciate that Obama has presided over the largest tax cuts in the history of the United States? Obama’s stimulus plan included $282 billion in tax cuts over two years. According to the Wall Street Journal, Bush’s first two years of tax cuts amounted to $174 billion.
    Obama achieved the largest tax cuts in history: change you can believe in.
    In Obama’s second four years… well, I better see some excellent chess playing going on… to justify the first four years of getting beat up like a rope-a-dope.

  930. SNAFU July 17, 2011 at 12:32 pm #

    Clip of Qs’ reply to Soak: “Little does the common man realize that this sort of thing is not unusual in military procurement and likely is the cause for the infamous high-priced toilet seats and hammers of a few decades ago that people like to blame on the contractors.”
    I have worked for both sides of the aisle and neither is blameless nor totally at fault. From the Government side, contracts I have been involved with were inevitably intertwined with politicians desires to brag about bringing home the bacon. Many a military type pointedly proclaims that they could give a shit less about the cost, they just want it. It being some gee whiz goodie that a military contractor may be pie-in-the-skying in response to an off-the-cuff remark by a General on the golf course.
    Whilst working in an R&D laboratory, for military contractor, I observed that many times the test-to requirements were selected and tailored to match the very devices the facility at which I was employed was able to construct. The obvious intent was to preclude a rival manufacturer from horning in on their gold plated Government contracts.
    I am in no way deriding the total of the MilSpec process; however, just as the security classification of documents ofttimes has far more to do with politics than need so to does the specifications for military hardware.
    SNAFU

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  931. soak July 17, 2011 at 12:48 pm #

    Excellent comment!
    “they could give a shit less about the cost, they just want it.”
    Correct. And why should they care about the cost? They know the Senate is capable of 100-0 votes when it comes to military budget.
    US Senate votes 100-0 for $70 billion more in war spending 30 September 2006
    Senate approves Panetta nomination, 100-0 June 21, 2011
    Doesn’t matter which party is in power when you live in a military dictatorship that easily dictates budget votes.

  932. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 12:55 pm #

    I have worked for both sides of the aisle and neither is blameless nor totally at fault.
    ============
    I will take this^ reply and one earlier by Ix-nay as confirmation that I am not TOTALLY full of shit when I imply that the government is their own worst enemy when it comes to military procurement costs.

  933. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 12:57 pm #

    Fabian? did you say something? Blow your dog whistle. Maybe my dog will hear you! Cuz, no one else listens to the stuff spewing out of your keyboard.

  934. soak July 17, 2011 at 12:59 pm #

    “Save, perhaps food, this is true of all “things.”
    ————–
    I’m betting that right now, this very moment, you are breathing in and breathing out. Without the “thing” called oxygen, you would be dead in a matter of minutes.
    Yet the air we breathe is free. We pay nothing for it.
    People like to say “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”
    Air is the “free lunch” that keeps us alive. And it’s free.

  935. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 1:04 pm #

    “During one of my earliest tripp-sessions, I remember during 0’F (-18’C) deep winter, looking at the deciduous hedgerow of trees around the subdivision, and seeing an energetic field, that heretofore, we have no *CLUE* how to tap.”
    It can be tapped, tapped for human benefit, but not for the “benefit” of civilization.
    When you start talking about “tripp-sessions,” with two ‘p’s, I automatically assume you want me involved in the conversation. Otherwise you’d have just said trip-session;)

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  936. Cavepainter July 17, 2011 at 1:09 pm #

    Create a sense of urgent economic peril and the public mind can be led to sacrificing everything of value otherwise to remedy the “emergency”.
    It’s this formula of public manipulation that’s being worked by the oligarchs for plundering “bottled up” natural resources, as in wilderness set-asides, National Parks, publicly owned lands general and all else now regulated by environmental law against plunder.
    This formula has, more or less, worked throughout human history; think of the Cedars of Lebanon mentioned in the Bible – gone now by thousands years. Today though, this “art” of public manipulation has attained scientific level of sophistication.
    This is why the news is filled with pundits and politicos wringing their hands about default on national debt and talk of restructuring Social Security and Medicare. Such discussions are the “straw men” for maintaining a public sense of panic, positioning it psychologically for being bilked out of “quality of life” enhancing national treasures, such as wilderness experience, wildlife diversity, clean air and water, and serene landscapes uncluttered with the edifices of capitalistic “growth and progress”.
    The ploy is easier than ever now too because of the burgeoning overpopulation, compounded by that population crowded now mostly into metropolitan existence – far removed from daily experience with those “bottled up” resources, hence less intimate awareness of the treasure of experience available from it.
    The greater the strain of overpopulation and the concomitant pressure of human life reduced down to equivalent of rabbit warren existence in cities, the more easily is manipulated the public mindset. That’s why the oligarchs want maximum population load; sense of immediate peril is amplified to max.
    Saving the rest of the world is out of the question, but America can yet prevent quality of life here from being reduced down to minimum caloric requirement in a human equivalent of a Nebraska feed lot. What is required is stabilizing our national population by limiting immigration in accordance with that goal. Of course, that’s not acceptable to the PC crowd and the Congressional puppets of the oligarchs.

  937. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 1:09 pm #

    Yo Fabian, you are a financial wizard You sold out silver at 34 bucks and now it is almost back to 40! Please keep up the good work! I will be the guy serving your sorry ass some shitty creamed corn mush at the soup kitchen! get a job and please stop your horseshit on here.

  938. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 1:17 pm #

    Vlad, back to an earlier comment of yours, there’s no reason why we can’t heat our homes, and more easily, our water, with compost piles. I’ve known people who set up showers this way, and my wife and I are considering setting up our hot water supply with a redundancy like this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jm-c9B2_ew
    Are you familiar with the work of Jean Pain?

  939. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 1:24 pm #

    Hey Tripp, give me the cold weather anyday. As long as I have my stuff set up for the hungry times I am cool with it. I was just outside and I was sweating my sorry Northern Italian Alpine ass off. I hate the hot weather. I guess I am not acclimated to it. I can always bundle up, but I can’t get much lower than buck-assed naked. I give you southerners a lot of credit. I don’t know how all of those “Snowbirds” will possibly make it through a Georgia summer without AC. As Lula Fortune said in the great David Lynch movie “Wild at Heart” . “You got me hotter than Georgia asphalt!”.

  940. soak July 17, 2011 at 1:25 pm #

    “America can yet prevent quality of life here from being reduced down to minimum caloric requirement”
    ————–
    An optimist on CFN!
    If immigration results in reducing the daily caloric intake, that would result in billions of dollars saved in health care costs, through a reduction in obesity rates. Quality of life would improve. Longevity would improve.
    Inadvertently, you made an argument in favor of continued immigration to the United States. Thank you!

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  941. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 1:26 pm #

    Got me there trumpster!

  942. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 1:28 pm #

    Ok Fabian, I am not a Moron, I am a Fucktard! have you got that straight now?

  943. soak July 17, 2011 at 1:32 pm #

    “Sorry. Gotta contract muscles to take it in and expel it.”
    ————
    You contract muscles? Are they no-bid contracts? How much do you pay? What contractors have you hired?
    This “take it in” and “expel it” … just how is it related to the “Gotta”?
    In my case breathing is more or less automatic, without the help of paid contractors.
    You bein’ ripped off, bro!

  944. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 1:35 pm #

    Hey Fabulicious, I am headed back outside to sweat my balls off again. When they fall off would you like to place them on your forehead? Believe me, most of us here would consider it an improvement. Maybe you could get laid by a gay fucking billy goat!

  945. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 1:42 pm #

    Tootsie quoting Obtusela quoting Soak – “The only value gold has is what we hallucinate it to have.”
    ===============
    I understand Tootsie’s point that the above might be said of virtually anything except food. It’s a corollary to the pearl of wisdom “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
    However, belief that gold is a superior medium of exchange vs paper fiat money is NOT a hallucination. See definition below. People do not come to see gold as valuable as a result of mental disorders. To the contrary, it is in the minds of non-mentally-defective people that value is seen in gold.
    Nice try Asoka on your attempt to slip the idea by us that you have to be crazy to believe gold is valuable. As I said about two years ago, you are as slippery as a slimy eel. And it comes so naturally to you … you don’t even have to think about it.
    hal·lu·ci·na·tion
    noun
    1. a sensory experience of something that does not exist outside the mind, caused by various physical and mental disorders, or by reaction to certain toxic substances, and usually manifested as visual or auditory images.

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  946. soak July 17, 2011 at 1:42 pm #

    “I think your brain has to work very had on the “automatic” functions.”
    ———-
    The automatic functions are still a free lunch.
    I am not contracting out the work, nor am I paying my brain for the excellent work it does, nonstop.
    Next.

  947. lbendet July 17, 2011 at 1:44 pm #

    Create a sense of urgent economic peril and the public mind can be led to sacrificing everything of value otherwise to remedy the “emergency”.
    Yep, Cave
    That describes the Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Always suggest people read that. Everything’s going along with the playbook.
    I was listening to Webster Tarpley earlier this morning. There are two for 7/17. This is the one I listened to…
    http://geraldcelentechannel.blogspot.com/2011/07/webster-tarpley-worst-economic-crisis.html

  948. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 1:45 pm #

    Yo Fabian, you are a financial wizard You sold out silver at 34 bucks and now it is almost back to 40!
    ==
    It will go to $25 or less in the next deflationary crunch. This is right around the corner. Next few weeks, maybe month(s).

  949. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 1:54 pm #

    You contract muscles? Are they no-bid contracts?
    ==============
    Oh WOW Soak, your little play on words is sooo hilarious! NOT.
    The lameness of your post is not worthy of even YOU.

  950. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 1:56 pm #

    Hey Fab, This is fun. Well I was out in the heat and I sweated my balls off. Where should I send them? I will also send a tube of Gorilla Glue. It’s the best stuff going and I would hate to have my testicles fall off of your forehead during the middle of your billy-goat suck off. Believe me , you do not want to get in a pissin-match with a dick-wad FF of 32 years! Feel free to join in the discourse!

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  951. Buck Stud July 17, 2011 at 1:58 pm #

    “The ploy is easier than ever now too because of the burgeoning overpopulation, compounded by that population crowded now mostly into metropolitan existence – far removed from daily experience with those “bottled up” resources, hence less intimate awareness of the treasure of experience available from it.”
    That’s a great point, Cavepainter. Paradoxically, however, cheap oil and the interstate highway system increased exposure and a loving awareness of pristine wilderness areas among the urban general public. The summer vacation to Yosemite or Yellowstone for a family from Chicago and the resultant populist sentiment for nature was the stool that allowed the environmental movement to sit at the national table. I find it interesting that in remote and sparsely populated regions such as Wyoming and Alaska, where the sheer abundance of nature is often experienced in often hostile and adversarial conditions, conservative political beliefs, and the GOP specifically, dominate the political landscape. The ranchers, fishermen, loggers, and farmers who reside in these regions where the brutal thumb of nature imposes a vicious retributive timeline on the slovenly slackers of summer, really do have a visceral understanding and appreciation of ” by thy own bootstraps”. And I understand and appreciate that sentiment. Unfortunately, the true and legitimate ethos of these hardworking souls has been co-opted by the military contractor and fake conservative types sucking on the public tit.

  952. soak July 17, 2011 at 2:02 pm #

    Q, when talking about the concept of a “free lunch, no such thing as” the implication is there is a financial cost involved.
    Fabian changed the meaning from financial to physical, i.e. free muscle contractions.
    I returned to financial costs, the proper sphere when discussing a “free lunch”.
    Breathing is necessary for survival and there is no financial cost involved with breathing. Therefore, there is such a thing as a free lunch, though most people take their breathing for granted and do not appreciate breathing anymore than they appreciate the value of dandelions.
    I reject your characterization of my post as lame.

  953. dale July 17, 2011 at 2:03 pm #

    Charles Hugh Smith’s blog should be required reading for all.
    —————————————–
    I like him too, good writer, and he’s even right about as often as a coin flip. Typical for media pundits, he is often blinded by his own ideology or agenda.

  954. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 2:04 pm #

    Yo Fabian, you are a financial wizard You sold out silver at 34 bucks and now it is almost back to 40!
    =============
    Tootsie mentioned day trading gold but I don’t recall him ever mentioning silver.
    BTW, you left out a period required after the word wizard. I’m sure you are pleased to have me point this out.

  955. Bustin J July 17, 2011 at 2:04 pm #

    Cavepainter said, “Saving the rest of the world is out of the question, but America can yet prevent quality of life here from being reduced down to minimum caloric requirement in a human equivalent of a Nebraska feed lot. What is required is stabilizing our national population by limiting immigration in accordance with that goal. ”
    It is amazing when you look at numbers, feel them, and understand them. Population stabilization is key.
    Recently I referred to the fact that the average American woman measures up to 118 Bangladeshi women in terms of energy intensity (of use and consumption) per annum.
    I happened to come across a recent issue of National Geographic with a spread about the situation in Bangladesh.
    Guess who is building a 6 foot high concrete and barbed wire security fence across hundreds of miles of common border? India, to keep the goddamn Bangladeshis out.
    Bangladesh, until recently, featured an average 6 offspring per woman. Due to herculean efforts in the last several decades, along with public health improvements and female empowerment, that is down to 2.4. But it is too fucking late- their population is already ranked 7th in the world. In a country where much of the urban population lives on a floodplain. Where half the people can’t read or write and shit goes untreated into the waterways.
    The LAST thing Bengladesh needs is the wholesale export of Engineers, scientists, and mathematicians to first world countries.
    But Soak thinks would be just fabulous. He needed some pussy and thinks imports are better than domestic. Now he’s a full-time cheerleader for the destruction of Mexico’s political economy. Way to go, dude.

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  956. asia July 17, 2011 at 2:05 pm #

    *****

  957. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 2:07 pm #

    Hey MT, I really don’t see that happening.The greenback is goin’ down. I can’t see any other way out of this debt mess.Fed man Burn-a-key will see to that. Inflate your way out is basically all we can do. Are you sharing a tent with Fabian? If you are don’t let his guido pompadour get in your eye! Shit that hurts!

  958. soak July 17, 2011 at 2:07 pm #

    Q, you called me a fool for my view on gold.
    I must have confused fool with crazy.
    Your definition was spot on. The value humans place on gold is all in their minds. Gold has no intrinsic value. It is metal mined out of the earth. Period.
    http://dandelionking.net/
    Gold has less value than dandelions.

  959. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 2:09 pm #

    He can manage to think two steps ahead. This by itself already puts him head and shoulders above the rest.

  960. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 2:09 pm #

    I love dandelions.Tripp calls them chicory. They are great salad greens, if you love the bitters, and they make a fine wine. Why do I waste my time on here?

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  961. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 2:12 pm #

    BTW, you left out a period required after the word wizard.
    ==
    You should be addressing this point to the person I copied and pasted from, not me.

  962. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 2:16 pm #

    Hey MT, I really don’t see that happening.
    ==
    Then you don’t understand the Euro market(s).

  963. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 2:18 pm #

    “I was just outside and I was sweating my sorry Northern Italian Alpine ass off.”
    Yeah, my cool northern Atlantic Irish blood gets a little offended some days, but you learn to just lay low on the worst. I think that’s a mental shift a lot of people don’t get, that what the world needs more than anything right now is for humans to just STOP! Stop doing stuff. Stop moving around all the time. Just lay down and take a nap. Sit under a tree and read a book. Cop a squat in the horse trough and cool your heels. Bike out to the lake and dive in.
    It really is amazing what the human body can get used to. Look at you, no problem at all with seeing guts and gore, day in and day out. No thanks! I opted out of med school for that very reason. (Glad I did too.) But the snowbirds will all be headed back north, I can almost guarantee you, once the power goes out (or once they can’t afford AC)…if they can still manage to do so. Otherwise, misery for a while.
    In some colder areas I’d be a lot more concerned about localized deforestation. And once the ability to drive your truck out of town falters, localized is probably all that matters. I think a lot of northerners in the drier areas (like where Vlad is) will have to shoot people to keep them off their firewood. Not a pattern I want any part of.
    To be honest, I tend to look at it from a deeper evolutionary perspective than just where my family emigrated from recently. Most of human history was spent near the equator, so I can only assume that’s where the lowest energy human upkeep resides.
    Smart lads, I think, the Dee Jones and Welles types who have already made the move back to those little latitudes. And from their reports I can only guess that an easy, low energy existence is still the norm in those places. But when it comes right down to it, I’m hoping the unbelievable number of smokin’ hot ladies in south Georgia start dressing more appropriately for the weather, as AC slips out of reach.
    Butt nekkid you say? Don’t mind me!;)

  964. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 2:23 pm #

    Are you sharing a tent with Fabian?
    ==
    No. But I like his spirit. He’s probably the only one here who hasn’t been lobotomized.

  965. jackieblue2u July 17, 2011 at 2:24 pm #

    I had similar experiences.
    Not being taken seriously, by same.
    In my case, I didn’t read yours yet anyway, I tried to not take personally and it was written kinda neutrally. I wasn’t sure how ‘bad’ to take it. So I just didn’t think their was nasty intentions in my case.
    As far as catching on to and learning what each person is about, it takes time. Took me longer than you. I would just read and reply, didn’t even look who posted it. Then I saw continuity, and learned what different folks were about. But mostly which ones I resonated with.
    The guys like to fight with eachother, some for fun some for real. Sometimes it makes me laugh.
    Sometimes we have to not take it to heart, and sometimes that’s hard. Rude people suck.
    There are some really cool folks here. You are one of them IMO.

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  966. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 2:24 pm #

    the resultant populist sentiment for nature was the stool that allowed the environmental movement
    =============
    How dare you refer to populist sentiment for nature, effectively, as a piece of shit. You could, at least, have expressed it more kindly as
    “evacuated fecal matter.” And then you spoke of the environmental “movement.” What’s up? Must everything be scatological with you?
    😉

  967. soak July 17, 2011 at 2:25 pm #

    “Guess who is building a 6 foot high concrete and barbed wire security fence across hundreds of miles of common border?”
    —————-
    What a waste of energy resources!
    We spend entirely too much on defense of non-existent borders. NASA proved this from space:
    http://bit.ly/oMan7w
    We are wasting what little energy we have left in defending imaginary border lines that only exist in our minds. It’s downright hallucinatory!

  968. dale July 17, 2011 at 2:26 pm #

    Isn’t it interesting that so many people who believe in one non-religious notion of apocalypse or another, just can’t seem to see the connection between these religious stories and their own beliefs?
    Most such thinking is predicated on little more emotion, no matter how much “data” believers may quote. Their acceptance always comes free of any admission that there is so much “data” out there, we can build whatever fairy tale sand castle most meets our own predetermined ideas, if we choose.
    Get over it, pointless extrapolations which end in catastrophe, only mean that things will change, not that you know HOW they will change.
    Choose NOT to believe everything you think, or every emotion you feel. Just watch them come and go, they’re not real.

  969. Vlad Krandz July 17, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    Dave Foreman, co-founder of the radical Earth First movement told the dark truth – people close to the Earth like Loggers and Ranchers often basically hate it. It’s simply something to be conquered for monetary gain. That they enjoy the process of conquering doesn’t change anything since men can fuck something they don’t love.
    On that note, someone once described a pioneer settler as someone who chopped down all trees over half a square mile and shot all large animals for ten square miles.
    Read a great book on the mechanics of hiking the Appalachian Trail. The author said that 90% or so of the people who do it are into it as an accomplishment, an ego trophy. They love to calculate mileage per day and whatnot and are incensed by hikers who take shortcuts and then claim to have “hiked the Appalachian Trail”. The author admitted that he was of this ilk as well but that his son just loved to walk for the beauty of the Forest.
    Do people who hunt love Nature? People who snowmobile – or do they love engines?
    These then are the two races: the Children of the Light and the Children of Darkness. Obviously the mere fact of being primitive has nothing to do with it – read Lord of the Flies or an any old text on Anthropology.
    The White Race has a higher percentage of the Light Bearers than any other race. They Asians have gotten into Ecology to prove that they are as good as we are.

  970. jackieblue2u July 17, 2011 at 2:28 pm #

    Here is a funny for you, and all.
    I was in 10th grade and Really Shy. But smart.
    I was speaking out loud, for once, in biology or science class, and I said Orgasm instead of Organism. Can you imagine ?
    At that age I was Mortified. I went into shock, I bet the class was cracking up tho.

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  971. soak July 17, 2011 at 2:33 pm #

    “There are some really cool folks here. You are one of them IMO.”
    ————
    My sentiments exactly… about you. I appreciate your posts, jackieblue2.
    Yes, for some reason the boys like to fight.
    I get called lots of names. I reply without rudeness, trying to stick to the content.
    I don’t want to respond to name calling with name calling, though I appreciate you find it humorous.

  972. dale July 17, 2011 at 2:33 pm #

    good point!, I think I posted one of his essays here not long ago.
    Anything can happen. If you don’t believe me, read a history book.

  973. Buck Stud July 17, 2011 at 2:34 pm #

    Only a formalist with a penchant for explication …very funny Q!

  974. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 2:37 pm #

    Good post, Vlad. Everything except the last paragraph. How you manage to arrive at the last paragraph after what you wrote in the preceding paragraphs is nothing short of stunning.

  975. soak July 17, 2011 at 2:38 pm #

    “Choose NOT to believe everything you think, or every emotion you feel. Just watch them come and go, they’re not real.”
    ————
    Very wise words, dale. Echos a dharma talk I was listening to yesterday.
    Watch them come and go. I contain multitudes and watch the multitudes within… but without becoming attached or identified with them.
    Nice.

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  976. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 2:38 pm #

    “The summer vacation to Yosemite or Yellowstone for a family from Chicago and the resultant populist sentiment for nature was the stool that allowed the environmental movement to sit at the national table.”
    True, but taken to its next logical conclusion, there would be no need to gut roadless rules and national parks if we weren’t driving all over the place constantly, burning up all the resources, enabled to do so by a general economic buoyancy that would eventually run that last grizzly down, and back over him to make sure he was dead, on the road to progress.
    That’s why I celebrate the passing of peak exploitation every day. Because I just don’t think humans have the wisdom to do it by themselves.

  977. lbendet July 17, 2011 at 2:39 pm #

    Thanks, Jackie
    You’re a cool free spirit on this blog.
    Always a pleasure reading your posts.

  978. MarlinFive54 July 17, 2011 at 2:41 pm #

    Had business to take care of in Winsted & Torrington, CT yesterday, had a chance to look around. These small cities date back to the mid 18th century, 1st as colonial settlements, then as market towns where surrounding farmers would bring in their products for sale and shipment to NYC (on the Housatonic RR) and points south. It was big milk producing district for 150 years. There was also a quite substantial industrial base beginning in the 1880s.
    In 2011, the industrial base has evaporated, dairy farms gone, no RR, no Ag marketplace, main streets deserted (junk shops and boarded up storefronts) and in the middle of Torrington a 20 acre paved over disaster called Torrington Plaza, a half empty strip mall. Several weeks ago I described the people you see on the streets, overweight, tattoos, body piercings. Puerto Rican street gangs have moved in from Bridgeport and NY , causing all kinds of mischief.
    The lovely, wooded rolling hills surrounding these towns have fallen to the scourge of the late 20th century, the real estate developer, with square miles of projects carved out of the forest and abandoned farms, plastic clad houses up close to each other in projects with names like ‘Trotters Glen” and Fox Chase. There are dozens of these, and each have several hundred houses. Many are for sale. Some of these places were built only a few years ago and already look forlorn. You have to drive 20 miles to buy a quart of milk. The driveways are full of cars big, trucks and boats, but nobody even has a garden in what was once, not long ago, the most heavily farmed area in the country. These places are ‘in the country’ but have not one amenity hat makes life in the country life possible. These people are dependent on cheap oil and there automobiles to keep going. For me TLE can’t come soon enough, restore some balance and sanity to town and country in Connecticut.
    -Marlin

  979. soak July 17, 2011 at 2:43 pm #

    the resultant populist sentiment for nature was the stool that allowed the environmental movement …
    ———
    Buck, I thought you were making a very important point about the environmentalist movement.
    The original quote displays a lack of proximity of the words Q plucked out and forced together with bold letters.
    I am glad you thought it funny. I like Q as a person, but I thought the forced adjacency was lame.

  980. MarlinFive54 July 17, 2011 at 2:47 pm #

    Hey JackieBlue, sweetheart, I appreciate our posts as well. It doesn’t sound like your marriage is going too good, tho!
    -Marlin

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  981. soak July 17, 2011 at 2:47 pm #

    That’s why I celebrate the passing of peak exploitation every day.
    ————-
    Tripp, WTF!
    Your whole life is dedicated to putting a brake on peak exploitation.
    If you wanted to celebrate, you could have just bought an air conditioner, exploit the hell out of the grid, and forget about all that solar rigamarole.

  982. soak July 17, 2011 at 2:56 pm #

    Nice report, Marlin.
    “For me TLE can’t come soon enough…”
    You may get your wish. If there is a default, that should provide a big oomph toward TLE. It is the reason I am now thinking we have a year (2012) or less before TSHTF.
    Me and the Mayans, LOL!
    I could be wrong. Q says I am a “very foolish black man”

  983. Vlad Krandz July 17, 2011 at 3:09 pm #

    I didn’t say that Whites are the Children of the Light per se, just that they have a higher percentage of them. This would accord with your perspective too – since the worst are often a corruption of the best.
    Jews often boast about their criminality – it just shows off their power in their book. All but two of the Russian Oligarchs (robber barons after the fall of the Soviet Union) were Jews. The Jewish response is typically “Oh yeah? So who are the other two guys?” The real sin is preying on other Jews as Madoff did.
    So from this perspective, Jews were once the best but fell prey to the darkness long ago as a People. Individuals can still go against this trend – far more easily than the average Black who is born less gifted.

  984. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 3:11 pm #

    That’s not what Mr. T. is doing. Mr. T. to his great credit has decided to create and impose his own reality on the world. YOU on the other hand, live like a rat, hiding in one of the dark corners of the matrix, hoping that you wont be caught. You don’t contain multitudes. You contain cowardice and that is all that you contain. Your existence as a rat is exactly the path that the matrix chose for you.

  985. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 3:12 pm #

    ??
    I don’t have to apply the brakes to peak exploitation. Peak exploitation was a moment in geologic history, and it’s in the past. My best guess would be alongside peak economy, October 2007.
    All I’m doing is learning how to get along in the subsequent contractionary ethos.

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  986. Vlad Krandz July 17, 2011 at 3:14 pm #

    But some are real otherwise how could we even take his post seriously? The discriminative intellect must be strengthened in order to know which are real – the Buddhi. Sounds like Buddhism. Conincidence?

  987. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 3:21 pm #

    Vlad, how many times can I go over this with you. These people were meant to be setup as scapegoats. Do you think it’s a coincidence that as soon as the rotten edifice is about to crumble they put a black idiot as President and surrounded his with a crew of Jewish idiots who haven’t a clue that this thing is meant to sink them.
    Vlad, you have a brain. Use it! And stop letting your blinding prejudice and blood lust guide you astray. We are ALL in this together.

  988. soak July 17, 2011 at 3:26 pm #

    “Your existence as a rat is exactly the path that the matrix chose for you.”
    ————-
    You sound like my fundamentalist Christian brother. You have a totalitarian ideology in which everything is explained by the matrix. Whatever happens is because that’s what the matrix wanted. It is totalitarian. There is no escape.

  989. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 3:28 pm #

    since men can fuck something they don’t love.
    ==============
    Ah yes … so true, so true … been there done that … more times than I’d care to admit … and some were real dogs to boot (a hardon isn’t choosy) … then again they might have said the same thing to a girlfriend about me … Nah, that could never happen.

  990. soak July 17, 2011 at 3:31 pm #

    OK, I think I understand now.
    I don’t exactly celebrate the passing of peak exploitation because I see many people are going to suffer and die, unless human wisdom is employed.
    I guess “learning how to get along in the subsequent contractionary ethos” is more palatable to me than celebration, but perhaps I am hung up on semantics.
    I’ll celebrate the passing some aspects of the passing of peak exploitation with you. There will be positive changes, like improvements in health with less caloric intake and more exercise, more autonomy, renewed personal relationships, less time spent on CFN, etc.

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  991. bubbleheadMarc July 17, 2011 at 3:32 pm #

    We had a guy in our class at high school with the surname of Bates so naturally everyone used to call him “Master Bates” at every opportunity. We would also pass Mr. Natural comics around in class. This was so long ago that the seniors actually had their own courtyard in which they were permitted to smoke cigarettes if they wished. This was circa 1969 through 1973. I was the vice-principals lifeguard at his apartment building in a different more cosmopolitan city and a couple of times during my dinner break he invited me up to his apartment for dinner and even served me mixed drinks at the age of 17 & 18. We then had 3.2 beer for eighteen year olds in Ohio. A buddy of mine recently commented on this story that this was “creepy”. This guy is 14 years younger than me so he just doesn’t get the ‘seventies. Remember the ‘seventies? That was before everything became completely chickenshit.

  992. MarlinFive54 July 17, 2011 at 3:35 pm #

    Hey Asoka, one thing I have to say. You’ve taken alot of crap here and have not responded in kind, and I admire you for that. Same with Helen Highwater and a few others. I’m guilty of busting your balls too. Nothing personal. The main thing is that sometime in the past you state that our decline will be a slow and grinding process, not a sudden collapse as predicted by many. I think you nailed it right there, because thats whats actually happening.
    -Marlin

  993. Vlad Krandz July 17, 2011 at 3:41 pm #

    I can’t imagine compost piles being able to heat homes in most of the United States. The temperature is good but the quantity of the heat far too little – just as a bird flying over a frozen lake has a high temp but far less energy than the lake. Of coure I suppose one could build a giant compost pile and then live over it – constantly renewing it of course. But it doesn’t sound very pracitical.
    I think this one can be filed under low tech appropriate for post fall. And you tend to think that most of the US isn’t going to fare too well anyway. Too far north and/or too dry.

  994. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 3:46 pm #

    Hey Vlad, your little buddy Adolf is apparently pretty dope on the mic. Didn’t know that…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFA-rOls8YA&feature=relmfu

  995. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 3:47 pm #

    You have a totalitarian ideology
    ==
    I don’t have a totalitarian ideology. I have a very libertarian and democratic ideology. But it doesn’t negate the facts of reality that we live in.
    You believe you made a free choice living like a rat. I believe that it is no choice at all. All it is, is a psychological path tailored to your psychological makeup.

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  996. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 3:51 pm #

    I wouldn’t attempt to heat a home with a compost pile. That’s why I leaned toward water heating with my comment. But Jean Pain has made some pretty interesting strides in the conversion of forest waste to energy. Something that might actually work in your neck o’ the woods.

  997. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 3:56 pm #

    a couple of times during my dinner break he invited me up to his apartment for dinner and even served me mixed drinks
    ==============
    I hope this Vice-Principal didn’t walk with his elbow on his hip, his forearm gently extended and the palm of his hand facing upward.
    He didn’t accidentally on purpose drop something on the floor and position himself behind you did he?

  998. Vlad Krandz July 17, 2011 at 3:57 pm #

    Modern Presidents are always surrounded by Jewish Idiots. Do you think that Kissinger isn’t a major player who knows what’s going on? And Bernanke probably isn’t a major player but he knows that America isn’t a real country anymore.
    I take it you concede the fact that the Oligarchs were mostly Jewish. The Oligarchs was a big Israeli TV show even. Watching them screw the gentiles was fun. Too bad Putin chased them out. Berezovsky has sworn revenge and fiances the Chechins.
    Jews are now in Skull and Bones, one of the big local Illuminatis that used to be reserved for the 60 or so large Protestant (and even a Catholic or two like Buckley) Families. But Gentiles are not in Bnai Brith – Jewish Masonry. Obviously the Jews are increasing in power at the expense of the Gentiles. Some like Henry Makow say it doesn’t matter since they’re all intermarried now anyway.

  999. soak July 17, 2011 at 4:15 pm #

    You believe you made a free choice living like a rat. I believe that it is no choice at all.

    Whatever it is, my electric bill was $21 last month. I’m on the grid and the basic residential rate is $15, so I consumed $6 of electricity. Thank you, Mr. Matrix.
    Living like a desert rat in an adobe hut suits me and my fixed income just fine.

  1000. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 4:23 pm #

    Do you think that Kissinger isn’t a major player who knows what’s going on?
    ==
    Who the fsck is Kissinger? Who came before Henry Kissinger in Kissinger’s family? Who came after Henry Kissinger in Kissinger’s family? Kissinger is nothing but an errand boy. That’s all these people are. Low level cogs. It’s the people that you can’t name that run the show.
    As for Bnei Brit, again, who the fsck is Bnei Brit? Who funds them? Who voted for them? How is Bnei Brit significant in any way? I don’t give a shit about Bnei Brit. And 99% of the Jewish population feels the same. They are completely ignored, same as Neturei Karta. These groups are nothing but bought-and-paid-for propaganda front group claiming legitimacy when in fact they haven’t a scintilla of legitimacy.

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  1001. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 4:37 pm #

    But Gentiles are not in Bnai Brith
    ==
    Get real! It was gentiles that created Bnei Brit. Bnei Brit has done NOTHING for Israel. They contributed NOTHING. All they are is a propaganda group, most likely financed by the Vatican. Tell me, how many Jews did Bnei Brit help escape Hitler and Stalin? How many Jews did Bnei Brit bring to Israel? How many projects did Bnei Brit finance in Israel? I’ll tell you how much. ZERO!

  1002. soak July 17, 2011 at 4:41 pm #

    All it is, is a psychological path tailored to your psychological makeup.
    ————
    It is more than that. Last night I spent several (drug-free) hours in wonder and ecstasy. It was, yet again, another free lunch. Didn’t cost me a dime. I just opened my eyes.
    The spectacular was in the sky: an unforgettable moon rise.
    But maybe you have to be a formerly urban foolish Black man to get high on a desert moon rise.

  1003. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 4:41 pm #

    “I don’t exactly celebrate the passing of peak exploitation because I see many people are going to suffer and die, unless human wisdom is employed.”
    Your lack of celebration is easy enough to explain. It arises from the fact that you are still a son of DeCartes; you see the world through the lens of Cartesian dualism. Nature v. Culture in a zero-sum game. I’ve only met a few people who don’t, but if I could academically describe a transit from the cancerous growth paradigm based on scarcity to the liberated contractionary one immersed in the cycle of abundance, it would travel directly through the rejection of this dualistic perspective.
    You don’t celebrate because you still see man as separate from Nature. You don’t understand that the peak exploitation of Nature is also the peak exploitation of man. I think it’s almost a guarantee that there will not be as many humans on Earth a century from now, and if there are I think it’s safe to say that they will all be living a much less affluent lifestyle than we do today, but it doesn’t mean that there has to be a catastrophe in order to get there.
    The wisdom you speak of can be distilled down to two vials: in the one is radically reduced reproduction; we have to go into a negative population growth pattern at our earliest inconvenience. I admire your commitment to this item.
    And in the other is radically reduced consumption. The four people in my house live on 20% of the energy budget that just my wife and I lived on 4 years ago, but we’re working on cutting that by 80% again, and then we’ll do it again. I have to admire my own commitment to this one.
    But we have to have both. Sounds remarkably like Bill Mollison’s statement of Permaculture’s third ethic, doesn’t it?
    When you finally grasp that man IS nature, and that Nature’s profit is also our own, then you will celebrate, with music and dancing, the passing of peak exploitation with me.

  1004. asia July 17, 2011 at 4:43 pm #

    Yes, You are also the guy who thinks
    PLANTS= ANIMALS=HUMANS !!!!!
    And Vlad pointed the absurdity of this…maybe that’s why you just sniped at him.
    Plants are not = to even the lowest animals
    [are the lowest animals germs? if so which species?]

  1005. soak July 17, 2011 at 4:44 pm #

    metuselah said: “most likely financed by the Vatican”
    ———–
    Full Disclosure: My $6 electricity consumption was not financed or in any way subsidized by the Vatican.
    Metuselah, how much does the Matrix have you paying monthly for electricity?

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  1006. asia July 17, 2011 at 4:47 pm #

    Its called ‘Islam’ my friend.
    Pakistan and Bangladesh both were parts of India.
    Theres an article online ‘Why My Father hated India’
    that’s worth a glance.
    All over the Muslim world they have ‘bred like rats’.

  1007. soak July 17, 2011 at 4:58 pm #

    All over the Muslim world they have ‘bred like rats’.
    ————–
    Yes, it is shameful how the Muslim women dress so scantily, showing off their beautiful eyes, provoking the men…
    Now, for the facts:
    1) The decline of Muslim birthrates is a global phenomena.
    2) There is even a sharper decline among Muslim women under age 20.
    3) The more education and empowerment women have, the fewer children.
    SOURCE:
    Walker, Martin. “The World’s New Numbers” The Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2009. p. 24-31.

  1008. Buck Stud July 17, 2011 at 5:21 pm #

    I agree with you on the ego aspect. The other night I saw a film: The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest. Basically, this modern era climber retraces the route of the British climber George Mallory and dons a lot of the same clothing and equipment. They even eschew the ladder that the Chinese installed to ascend the north face of the peak. All the while I am asking myself why would anyone want to do this. To my eyes, the peak looks far more pleasing from a distance; up close it’s nothing but ice, ledges, and cliffs. And a ton of danger. And when they do reach the top, they have to turn around in a hurry and scramble down because monsoon weather is bearing down on them. I’m sure a sky diver can relate with the ‘I never felt so alive as when I was brushing close to disaster’ mantra. But as far as loving Nature, nah, I didn’t get that feeling from the film. It was all about conquering it as you mentioned.

  1009. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 5:27 pm #

    Metuselah, how much does the Matrix have you paying monthly for electricity?
    ==
    In real terms, probably less than you pay. And with my income I also get to travel the globe twice a year, every year.

  1010. soak July 17, 2011 at 5:39 pm #

    In real terms, probably less than you pay.
    —————
    How about in real Canadian dollars?
    I have already traveled the globe. I liked India.
    Why are you reluctant to provide a hard dollar number on your electricity bill?
    If the Matrix is threatening you if you reveal that information, I understand. But even then, a smart self-identified Zionist like you could find a way.

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  1011. Buck Stud July 17, 2011 at 5:39 pm #

    They don’t call it “The Land of Enchantment” for nothing, eh Asoka? I have never seen such indescribable beauty as the light and sky of New Mexico. And the trek from Walsenburg Colorado down into Taos and Sante Fe is nothing short of spectacular. No wonder so many great landscape painters settled in that region.

  1012. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 5:48 pm #

    Why are you reluctant to provide a hard dollar number on your electricity bill?
    ==
    And why should I relent to any of your requests? I gave you a polite answer. You’re not happy? You want the non-polite answer? Well, here it is: Fsck Off!

  1013. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 5:50 pm #

    First of all, please point out to me where I just “sniped” at Vlad. Considering who Vlad is, I’d say I’m one of the most amiable of commenters on this blog with him. Other than the one or two folks (no names;) who treat him like Lord Valdemort.
    Second, I honestly don’t care what your particular misunderstanding with Nature is. Every organism on this planet has been evolving for exactly the same amount of time, so by definition, it’s pretty myopic to refer to one as “higher” than the other. Different, yes indeed, but not higher. I’ve never said anything about us all being the same. But we all came from matter and energy, and we will all return to matter and energy. Believing fervently that man is destined for a paradise that all the other members of Earth’s community are ill-suited for demonstrates man’s ignorance, not his superiority.

  1014. Vlad Krandz July 17, 2011 at 5:53 pm #

    Ali once asked Joe Louis how he thought they would have matched up. Louis said “I used to have a bum of the month tour.” Ali said are you talkin’ bout me? Louis said Yup. Nuff said.

  1015. soak July 17, 2011 at 5:59 pm #

    Indescribable beauty is right! Kept Georgia O’Keefe busy. Last night I went for a walk along a flowing river, so clear the water, so big the fish. So peaceful… and warm.
    And empty. The population of our entire, geographically huge, county is less than 30,000 (thirty thousand people). No traffic. No smog.
    White clouds. Blue skies. Gentle breezes. Birdsong every day. Green trees. Sunny 330 days a year. The silhouette of mountains at night.
    Neighbors who know and practice sacred dances, kirtans, zikrs, and vipassana … my kind of people!
    The Southwest is the best place the Matrix has seen fit to put me yet.

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  1016. soak July 17, 2011 at 6:16 pm #

    I see I have touched a sore spot. Understandable though.
    How much electrical energy one consumes is very revealing information, indicating just how much you are ruled by the Matrix.

  1017. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 6:23 pm #

    How much electrical energy one consumes is very revealing information, indicating just how much you are ruled by the Matrix
    ==
    It has nothing to do with the matrix. It has everything to do with you asking questions that you have no business asking. Capish!?

  1018. soak July 17, 2011 at 6:33 pm #

    It has everything to do with you asking questions that you have no business asking. Capish!?
    ————–
    More than you will ever know. LOL!
    If you haven’t noticed, energy consumption is a frequent topic here. I have no fear to reveal my electrical bill payment. Perhaps it was my mistake to think you would have that courage. I meant no offense. I was just curious. Now I know it is none of my business. Appears to be top secret.

  1019. soak July 17, 2011 at 6:53 pm #

    The tremors from even a short-lived default could take unpredictable paths. Stocks, bonds and the dollar would likely plummet in the immediate aftermath. There’s wide agreement among economists that a default would drive up borrowing costs for everybody. U.S. Treasury yields act like a floor for other lending rates, so raising them makes it more expensive for Americans to take out mortgages, for corporations to finance new spending and for local governments to borrow.

    I would imagine this might be JHK’s theme for tomorrow’s post. These developments, if they happen, will hasten a WMBH.

  1020. bubbleheadMarc July 17, 2011 at 7:04 pm #

    In retrospect I do believe now that he’s gay. There was no problem of that sort at the time though. In other words he didn’t make any sort of a pass at me.

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  1021. bubbleheadMarc July 17, 2011 at 7:10 pm #

    Terrible production values. Don’t they know that you can order real nazi uniforms on the internet? Don’t ask me how I know that. Okay I’ll tell you. You type in on google “nazi uniforms”.

  1022. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 7:13 pm #

    The focus is wrong. The focus should be Europe.

  1023. Vlad Krandz July 17, 2011 at 7:33 pm #

    Less than thirty thousand? Sounds like it needs some enrichment from the undocumented workers that you love so much. Or are you saying that you value small population just when it comes to your own neighborhood?
    And how many of those whom you term “your kind of people” are Black or Mexican?

  1024. bubbleheadMarc July 17, 2011 at 7:39 pm #

    I’m shocked to read that you didn’t like Muhammed Ali. Did you find him too uppity for your taste, not deferential enough to the man, and unwilling to be inducted into the army so that he could go participate in the bungle in the jungle?
    I don’t care what anyone says but you knew you were at a real event when you attended one of his closed circuit fights displayed on a big screen down at public auditorium here in Cleveland. Plus they would be serving hard liquor which always helped back then. And then there was the most priceless episode of all, or the time Howard Kosell was interviewing him and described Ali as a “raconteur” provoking a puzzled glance from Ali revealing that he didn’t know what “raconteur” meant. Everyone I was watching that interview with burst out laughing. I’m sorry but I would’ve placed my bet on Ali. His absurd narcissism was really the greatest going on and on to reporters about how “pretty” he was. Priceless. There is simply no comparable character on the sports scene today.

  1025. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 8:14 pm #

    “Sounds like it needs some enrichment from the undocumented workers that you love so much. Or are you saying that you value small population just when it comes to your own neighborhood?”
    Well done!

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  1026. lbendet July 17, 2011 at 8:17 pm #

    Believing fervently that man is destined for a paradise that all the other members of Earth’s community are ill-suited for demonstrates man’s ignorance, not his superiority.
    Touche, Trip
    good post.

  1027. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 8:18 pm #

    Hi Marlin, I have to agree with you, Asoaka and Helen Highwater know when to hold there cards. As far as Fsbian goes, not so much. He is a first class numbnuts and he tends to get my goat. I’ll give him credit for that. I really should know better than to respond to him.

  1028. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 8:21 pm #

    Hey Soak, I know we have quarreled in the past. It sounds like you are in a beautiful corner of the country. I really don’t have a problem with VK but I just wish he would be cool with everyone.

  1029. bubbleheadMarc July 17, 2011 at 8:37 pm #

    Your situation sounds pretty good to me. Good posts today. New Mexico and the southwest in general is far out. Some of these counties in Nevada are pretty much totally deserted as well. In the same county where area 51 is located the county seat isn’t even incorporated! I think that county doesn’t even have 10,000 people. I think it’s called Lincoln County but not sure. When I briefly worked on a seismic crew for Petty Ray Geosource in of all places Superior National Forest I was called “soak” because I got drunk so much! We would run our entire route for the day planting surveyors flags then retire early to a hunting & fishing lodge and pound down the lagers, as IXNEI was enthusing about earlier.
    To me the goal would be to reduce expenses to the absolute minimum. No bills in the mail except for maybe satellite internet. In the meantime I’ll continue watching shitloads of bad TV and sending out for pizza!

  1030. rippedthunder July 17, 2011 at 8:38 pm #

    Okay McMurphy, give the Chief a call!

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  1031. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 9:07 pm #

    I wish you only the entrails of those you condemned.
    ================
    I haven’t read any of the books in the series but this line above^ sounds like it might be a direct quote from a Harry Potter novel.

  1032. soak July 17, 2011 at 9:18 pm #

    Yeah, RT, I would consider a low point in our relationship when you said you wanted to put a bullet in my head.
    But I still like you as a person and respect the work you do. I don’t think I could do it. You are pretty close to retirement now, though, right?

  1033. Cavepainter July 17, 2011 at 9:19 pm #

    Maybe some of you missed my post of months back wherein I disclosed that I’m a child of the 1930s Depression. I wonder how many visitors to this site are as equally old, consequently able to give supportive impressions from that experience. If JHK’s prognostications are correct then attention to testimony from my generation might be of value, considering that we actually lived the likes of what he projects.
    As is often noted at this site, Americans are grotesquely overfed. Overfed does not equate with over nourished. Research in nutrition has shown that though food today is abundant it has since the 1960s been less than fifty percent as nourishing or flavorful as what I was raised on. Consequently, the “body America” has been starving for nutrition, hence compelled to constantly eat whatever is within easy reach — particularly snack foods which are both convenient and made “tasty” by “additives” but are bereft of the actual nutrients that once signaled both a food’s nutritional and taste value. The final 72 hours of maturing (ripening ), whether vegetables, fruits or grains, is when naturally grown foodstuffs gain the greatest nutritional value, concurrent with greatest taste value.
    Hybridization has been aimed at cosmetic appearance with long shelf life, allowing hasty harvest before full ripening. Then too, the agricultural approaches of industrial farming have robbed the soil of the nutrients that enriched the foods consumed by my generation, sourced almost exclusively from small and local family farms still extant at the time.
    We humans are sugar and taste seekers because our bodies learned through evolution that nutrition peaked simultaneously. “Sweetness” today is typically devoid of nutritional value, but now you understand why children, having the greatest nutritional needs, throw tantrums at the candy displays — always strategically staged at check-out counters.
    Our nation’s population was less than half of today’s, and most city dwellers were still not a full generation removed from the family farm that was, as often as not, still manned by relatives providing provisions to their city kinfolk.
    Cities were yet still postage stamp size rather than megalopolises, easily escaped to woodlands of game and fishable waters. Though employment was scarce there were such “fall back” resources. That resource has mostly been erased, leaving little margin for local recovery from economic or natural disasters that could disrupt our fragile system of supply from sources thousands of miles removed.
    On those accounts a future depression could be many times harder to survive than that of the 1930s Great Dust Bowl. By their own admission agencies of public lands management contend that wildlife would be wiped-out within a week by wanna’be latter day Jeremiah Johnsons who’d outman and out gun agency officers and carry on turf warfare among themselves.
    Our prospects dim with increasing population and the inevitable warring of factions breaking down out of our wonderfully PC and celebrated diversity”. Good luck.

  1034. soak July 17, 2011 at 9:21 pm #

    And how many of those whom you term “your kind of people” are Black or Mexican?
    ————-
    They are all my kind, Vlad. We are all human beings here.
    The undocumented extraterrestrials only visit.

  1035. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 9:22 pm #

    Touche, Trip
    ============
    What on earth does Tripp’s post have to do with the “Big 4” accounting firm Deloitte Touche?
    😉

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  1036. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 9:24 pm #

    “Full Disclosure: My $6 electricity consumption was not financed or in any way subsidized by the Vatican.”
    Was your power bill really $6 last month? If so, call me very impressed.

  1037. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 9:29 pm #

    In other words he didn’t make any sort of a pass at me
    ================
    It’s OK Bubb, there’s nothing to be afraid of, you can tell us about it.
    😉

  1038. soak July 17, 2011 at 9:35 pm #

    “Sounds like it needs some enrichment from the undocumented workers…”
    —————
    Yes, we have lots of undocumented workers and they are welcome. The great thing about the United States is that you are free to move if you don’t like your neighbors. Having undocumented Mexicans was an unexpected cultural benefit (it helps that I speak Spanish).
    I am in a sparsely populated area because that is where I could afford to build an adobe hut. On a fixed income I could not afford to live in a densely populated urban area with the price of houses and the price of rentals these days.
    Once I got to the Southwest the enchantment was serendipity.
    You are welcome to move here, Vlad. The more the merrier. We have some militia groups. We have the Tea Party activists. We have “Harlistas” (devotees of Harley motorcycles), we have cowboys, we have artists, we have aging hippies, we have homeless, we have drunks, we have white bread retirees, we have yuppies, we have it all.
    You’d fit right in, Vlad … as long as you are willing to live and let live. I hope more undocumented Mexicans arrive. I hope one day they have the political power to take back what was theirs.

  1039. soak July 17, 2011 at 9:39 pm #

    Tripp, it was $21. But the residential basic rate for everyone is $15, so I used $6 over the basic rate.

  1040. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 9:49 pm #

    I don’t give a shit about Bnei Brit.
    =============
    That’s pretty obvious. You’re supposed to be an Israeli Jew but you don’t even spell B’nai B’rith correctly.

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  1041. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 10:02 pm #

    “I hope more undocumented Mexicans arrive. I hope one day they have the political power to take back what was theirs.”
    I would imagine that they will one day. I hope everyone in the desert SW is considering a long, drawn-out, low-intensity civil war between whites and hispanics in their TLE calculations. Without abundant cheap energy I also think it will be hard to live in the Rockies period, so that would leave the Pac NW isolated, and probably the first region to secede from the Union.

  1042. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 10:10 pm #

    Tripp, it was $21. But the residential basic rate for everyone is $15, so I used $6 over the basic rate.
    ===============
    So, in other words the real number was 250% more than the originally stated number.

  1043. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 10:19 pm #

    daith a phaict?

  1044. metuselah July 17, 2011 at 10:21 pm #

    =
    Lew Rockwell:
    The Criminal Conduct of the US State
    http://t.co/vmVvDd5
    ==

  1045. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 10:23 pm #

    “So, in other words the real number was 250% more than the originally stated number.”
    Or 350% to the non-mathematically-challenged;)

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  1046. soak July 17, 2011 at 10:47 pm #

    Nice try, Q. If you check my original post at JULY 17, 2011 4:15 PM you will find the following:

    Whatever it is, my electric bill was $21 last month. I’m on the grid and the basic residential rate is $15, so I consumed $6 of electricity. Thank you, Mr. Matrix.

    All three of the numbers: 6 and 15 and 21 are real numbers and the sense in which they apply to my consumption is clearly explained in the post.
    Thought you had a slippery eel?

  1047. soak July 17, 2011 at 10:50 pm #

    Is anybody who is on the grid paying less monthly on their electric bill?
    If so, how have you achieved it?

  1048. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 10:50 pm #

    I said Orgasm instead of Organism. Can you imagine ?
    ============
    Yeah, I can imagine. Tenth grade, the era of the perpetual lump in the pants. If I had been in the class and you were the pretty blond you’ve reminisced yourself to be I might have popped off in my pants at the mere mention of orgasm.

  1049. trippticket July 17, 2011 at 10:56 pm #

    “Tripp, it was $21. But the residential basic rate for everyone is $15, so I used $6 over the basic rate.”
    Still, 21 bucks is less than a third of my normal at this point. I remain impressed. Although that $70 power bill represents about 45% of my total monthly bills, outside of gas and any food we’re not producing, and $12 of it is really farm use, to pump water for someone else’s cattle, not house use. (Small price to pay to keep my dairy cow on that huge pasture with all of their beef cows.)
    We think Anna arrived pregnant by the way!:)

  1050. jackieblue2u July 17, 2011 at 11:00 pm #

    Yeah I was so self conscience that I was clueless, but I am now sure others remember it also in a different way.
    One of my most embarrassing moments.
    I am who I say. yeah still blonde (kinda) and not as young. No ones’ getting any younger.
    Not bragging just was in a talkative mood when I put that info out there, running up and down the beach. forever. Just feeling good and healthy.
    Hey here is an interesting saying I read on a plaque somewhere.
    Youth and beauty if a gift of nature,
    middle & old age are a work of art.
    I am in the middle now.

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  1051. jackieblue2u July 17, 2011 at 11:12 pm #

    I think you are correct here.
    So many people now. Congested areas.
    Damn.
    We are all in the same boat, well 90% or so.
    Depresses the hell out of me. Stuck in paradise here, but that won’t matter. So many people and gangsters. Salinas valley agriculture won’t even be able to save ‘us.’
    It’s all falling apart. Not just me.
    Feel like a sardine in a can. Packed in.
    Won’t be a pretty picture when the food runs short.
    Not looking forward to it.
    Wish you were wrong.

  1052. soak July 17, 2011 at 11:30 pm #

    $12 of it is really farm use, to pump water
    ————
    Part of our electric bill is paying for a small pump we sometimes (sporadically) turn on during the day. It runs a small water fountain where the birds come to drink. Completely unnecessary except Mrs. Asoka is pisces and says she “needs” to hear and see falling water.
    I don’t know how much electricity the small fountain pump uses, but it can’t be much. We have big trees in our front yard that give shade… and the birds are appreciative of both the water and the trees. And Mrs. Asoka is happy. And when she is happy, I am happy.

  1053. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 11:32 pm #

    Or 350% to the non-mathematically-challenged;)
    ===============
    No, Tripp. The portion of the $21 total that was more than the originally stated $6 was $15. $15/$6 = 2.5
    You are thinking of the % the $21 total is of the originally stated $6 and that is $21/$6 = 3.5.
    Putting it another way, I was quantifying as a %the amt of the deception ($15) relative to the base $6.
    You cannot imagine how many times this very simple point came up in my work as a financial analyst with a defense contractor for 26 years.

  1054. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 11:42 pm #

    And Mrs. Asoka is happy. And when she is happy, I am happy.
    ==============
    Yes, all married males understand implicitly the truth of the above^. The usual expression of this truth over the entire globe is “Ain’t nobody happy if the Missus ain’t happy.”

  1055. soak July 17, 2011 at 11:45 pm #

    Q, if you check my posts at JULY 17, 2011 4:15 PM and at JULY 17, 2011 10:10 PM you will see there was no “deception”
    You say you were “quantifying as a %the amt of the deception ($15)”
    But there was no deception. What you were trying to do is bust Asoka and make him look like a slippery eel.
    By the way, amt is not a word.
    You have something against vowels?

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  1056. Bustin J July 17, 2011 at 11:51 pm #

    cavepainter said, “Maybe some of you missed my post of months back wherein I disclosed that I’m a child of the 1930s Depression.”
    I hear you and value your input. A cherished personal resource is my own grandfather, who was a young man in his 20s by the time of the Great Depression.
    What smacks me in the face is the relevance of their life in an era of low energy intensity, and the pristine quality of the Earth at that population level, an abstract way of saying that it was unpolluted as well as unpopulated.
    My own grandfather remembers at the height of the depression, the government management of agriculture. To keep livestock prices from collapsing, he witnessed large numbers of livestock being shot in the head and rolled into a pit at a time when it was hard to find work.
    Today, everyone walks around with their face in their iPhone. People have no idea where food comes from, or the consequences of resource scarcity. They have no respect for the achievements of the past or its gifts….

  1057. Qshtik July 17, 2011 at 11:52 pm #

    Nice try, Q. If you check my original post at JULY 17, 2011 4:15 PM you will find the following:
    ==============
    OK, you’re off the hook this time but don’t fuck up ’cause I’m watchin’.

  1058. Qshtik July 18, 2011 at 12:20 am #

    Today, everyone walks around with their face in their iPhone.
    ==============
    So true, and a major bone of contention between my daughter and me. But like you say, it’s EVERYBODY today.
    I was eating at a diner today and 3 guys about 25ish sat down in a booth near me. All 3 were engaged in animated conversation but only once in awhile did they look at one another. Each had a cell phone in his hand which he operated simultaneously?) with the conversation. There was much finger flicking or dragging to scroll (possibly reading emails?) and much thumb typing (emails, TMs, tweets, twitters?) and no one seemed the least put out at what I think of incredible rudeness.
    When I mention this to my daughter she gives me one of those rapid-fire run-together responses with the disingenuous smile “Dad, Idon’tneedtolookatyoutolistenortalk.”

  1059. soak July 18, 2011 at 12:21 am #

    No, sir, Massah Q.
    I be tellin’ the truth, the whole truth, and nuthin’ but the truth, so help me Krishna.
    om shanti
    satchidananda
    om shanti om

  1060. Vlad Krandz July 18, 2011 at 12:43 am #

    Ali was quite a character to be sure. Check out this clip where he defends racialism and the integrity of the races against a hapless PC White wimp of a journalist.
    http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=10227

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  1061. Qshtik July 18, 2011 at 12:58 am #

    I be tellin’ the truth, the whole truth, and nuthin’ but the truth, so help me Krishna.
    ===========
    If you’re going to use the vernacular the word is troof.

  1062. Qshtik July 18, 2011 at 1:08 am #

    Maybe it’s all just so much tea leaves and chicken entrails but I just looked at a Gold chart and it looks “toppy.” That’s scientific language meaning “due for a setback.”

  1063. soak July 18, 2011 at 1:11 am #

    Q., I checked the Urban Dictionary. Troof is ebonics. I was using standard New Jersey English.
    Troof
    an object, concept, idea, or person that reflects a certain inherent truth regarding the human condition.
    often used after the article “da”

  1064. jackieblue2u July 18, 2011 at 1:48 am #

    These texters are going to have major tendon problems in their hands, and sooner than later.
    I know people in their 60’s, that do this. My sister and a friend. I find it to be very rude.
    And immature.
    The new Matrix, is virtual reality, if that makes any sense.
    Anyone texting and driving should have their licences revoked for a month or something.
    It is Extremely Dangerous, don’t ask me how I know.

  1065. jackieblue2u July 18, 2011 at 1:53 am #

    I WISH all men knew it as you say.
    All men definitely do not know this.
    All men Should know it.
    Or maybe some men just want to be miserable.

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  1066. jackieblue2u July 18, 2011 at 2:51 am #

    It’s not good.
    I am not physically abused. Never have been.
    Just he is narcissistic and no empathy. Great.
    Lucky Me. He lies and hides ‘things.’ $$$. Gets rude and mean. THAT is DisStress that makes ME physically ill. Back pain, etc.
    I was leaving him.
    He got sick with a terminal illness.
    given 1 week to live.
    I have been caregiver 2.8 years now.
    I don’t want to say too much.
    It’s a long fucked up story-reality.
    He isn’t taking care of business and I have Me to consider. He has daughters that can help if I leave him. I may have to for my sanity and should have long ago.
    So Domestic Violence can be other than physical.
    But that is not the topic of this website, and most folks can’t understand it, unless they have lived it.
    When ever I hear “it takes two”. I say oh yeah, NOT ! It takes two to Tango, but this ain’t the Tango. It’s difficult to explain.
    I never thought my life would be like this.
    It won’t for much longer. Had enough.
    I have good FRIENDS that are like family. Forever friends.
    Now you don’t have to wonder, in case you were.
    I know you ‘care’, and were curious.
    I am glad you like my posts.
    good night.

  1067. Eleuthero July 18, 2011 at 4:28 am #

    LBendet said:
    Oh, and by the way not everybody who is rich and powerful have the same agenda. It’s the guys fighting the financial/military global hegemony that are more the issue–they’re the folks who are steering this baby into an iceberg.
    I have no problem with you disagreeing with any of my ideas, just pose your argument and leave the labeling out of it. Seems simple enough to me
    ***************************************************
    The first paragraph seems self-evident enough to
    me but most people don’t have the mental horse-
    power to make fine discriminations … including
    some of your recent detractors.
    As to the second paragraph, well, we’re dealing
    here on CFN with people like Ixnei (Fabian, and
    many, many others) whose arguments are neither
    weighty nor well-reasoned. They don’t have that
    horsepower so they have to prefix all arguments
    with calling people “idiots”, “morons”,
    “fucktards” and so on. It’s PRE-adolescent.
    People sense when they have no INHERENT power.
    When they sense it, they have the impotent rage
    of a child denied his candy.
    You’re right … we are of opposite gender,
    opposite coasts, and opposite fundamental
    political affiliations. However, we live
    in strange times when reason is abandoning
    both sides of the aisle in Washington.
    We’re BOTH dinosaurs who still believe in
    conceptual debate which makes us disenfranchised
    members of the polity.
    Contrary to what Yeats said in “The Second
    Coming”, the “center” not only HOLDS but it’s
    the only political religion … amorphous goo
    in lieu of convictions and powerful lines of
    reasoning. They can only yell at each other
    in Washington so it stands to reason that this
    site emulates our culture so accurately.
    E.

  1068. lbendet July 18, 2011 at 6:53 am #

    Thanks for that E.
    I knew when our cat woke us up especially early today that I would volunteer to feed him, anticipating that when I went on this blog, your comment would make getting up it worth it.
    I will enjoy the early morning breezes before slogging through the predicted heat today, sipping my coffee before I’m awake enough to think.

  1069. bubbleheadMarc July 18, 2011 at 8:18 am #

    His arguments are fallacious because he’s comparing humans, who are all of one species, with different species of birds, which of course cannot interbreed outside of their own species.
    I believe that if the human race survives there will be much more interbreeding amongst the various races. After all, hybrids have advantages over purebreeds. Also, if we are to survive and eventually migrate off of the planet we must transcend tribalism.

  1070. trippticket July 18, 2011 at 8:28 am #

    You’re an accountant, so you’re entitled to creative mathematics I suppose…

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  1071. trippticket July 18, 2011 at 8:44 am #

    BBM, you don’t honestly believe that a species incapable of living in harmony with the system that gave birth to it through a long extended evolutionary process, and covers 100% of its needs, could actually manage to create on its own an extra-terrestrial system that accounts for the biological services of millions of species of bacteria, archaea, protists, plants, fungi, and animals, not to mention factors like maintaining a stable atmosphere, heat, cooling, and solar energy, and appropriate g-forces, do you?? I have to say that this is one of the more astounding assertions I hear offered too often around this joint. It just shows a comprehensive lack of understanding about who we are and where we came from to me. Nature created us, not the other way around. Economy is a subset of ecology, not the other way around.
    Also, in a lower energy future you can almost bet the farm that the majority of people will be LESS likely to interact with strangers from outside their region, much less with people from other continents, religions, races, etc. Cultural integration is a product of the high-energy society we built on cheap abundant oil. Low energy cultures are always more xenophobic. Get your hybrid vigor while you can, man!

  1072. bubbleheadMarc July 18, 2011 at 8:48 am #

    I’m sorry to disappoint you but there’s really nothing more to that story. I was the lifeguard in his building for two years and we used to talk about the school periodically then he invited me up to his apartment to eat dinner during my break no more than twice. Each time we ate a steak and drank one or two rum & cokes. I was probably even legal drinking age for beer the second time. I never got any creepy vibes from him and nothing ever came of it. There was never any open ended hanging out after work or anything of that sort. There was never any sort of scandal associated with him as there had been with an earlier principal there who eventually got in trouble for both embezzlement and for sleeping with girls in his charge. This guy was generally considered to be a regular guy and he used to invite members of the swim team to swim laps there. These people were always in groups and there didn’t appear to be anything untoward going on. I know you’ll have a field day with this now! You old farts always think that gays are all chicken hawks. Personally I think that gays typically ignore straight males because they don’t think they’re going to get anywhere with them but then also because they don’t want to get beaten up.

  1073. soak July 18, 2011 at 9:46 am #

    Murdoch = criminal activities in England and USA.
    FCC denies airwave licenses to criminals.
    Bye-bye FoxNews.

  1074. bubbleheadMarc July 18, 2011 at 9:51 am #

    If only it were so simple adobe man.

  1075. Qshtik July 18, 2011 at 10:01 am #

    I’m sorry to disappoint you but there’s really nothing more to that story.
    ================
    Bubble, I hope you realize that whole conversation was in jest. I DID use the winking smiley face didn’t I. Actually, IRL I am not the homophobe that sees a queer behind every tree but I like to play that cliched role. A kind of Archie Bunker.

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  1076. rippedthunder July 18, 2011 at 10:23 am #

    Sorry about that bullet comment Soak, I believe I apologized for it at the end of the week. Words can cut like a razor and can never really be retracted. I was a having a berry, berry bad day. ;o)

  1077. rippedthunder July 18, 2011 at 10:27 am #

    Hey O3, LAST! Don’t mess me up bro! You don’t want to be compared to th Ol’ Lady again do ya? HAHAHAHEHE!