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Rock Me on the Water

Note of apology. My iMac turned up dead this morning and I got a late start by other means.

________________________________________________
     There was Japan, standing quietly offstage all these years, minding its own business, more or less – though unwinding financially and socially at some very deep level for two decades, debt rising around everybody’s ankles like a silent, insidious tsunami, population dying back, young people demoralized by the “salary-man” culture with its meager consolation of nightly drinking sprees ending in micro-hotels with rooms like funerary vaults – Japan, who had been horrifically chastened after its mad military-industrial outburst of the last century, who shook all that off to become the world’s most dependably, civilized nation. 
     And now, the sorrows of Job.
     The world was very busy watching the ME/NA countries go batshit in history’s center ring, but the spectacle of wreckage in Japan, unfolds now like the slow-motion blossoming of some gigantic evil chrysanthemum and you get the ominous idea that this is only the start of a story that will grind on and on as more bodies are discovered and the nuclear fiasco burns deeper and Japan’s finances enter a death spiral. How could you watch those videos of the sickening wall of black water that slammed through Sendai without wondering how many doomed people it carried unseen beneath the rafts of cars, and the sideways ships, and the eerily floating houses?
     I tried to follow the story on American cable TV Sunday night but with the exception of stolid, dogged CNN, all the other news channels were playing one sordid and titanically stupid program after another: meth freaks, show-biz narcissists, and sex chatter without sex. What a nation of morons we are. Over six hundred cable TV stations and only one that even tries to tell you what is going on in the world. How many citizens of this republic were watching a dessert chef undergo staged humiliation for the failure of a cupcake batch while two nuclear reactors melted down across the Pacific? We deserve what just happened to Japan three times over. And we might just get the equivalent at least in social and political trouble as our money follies unwind and normal living here becomes untenable on the old terms.
     So many things are shaking loose now in this world-wrapped-too-tight that it is hard to track where they all overlap, but I will try today.
     ME/NA has gone critical overnight. Saudi Arabia wants to occupy tiny-but-strategic Bahrain, and Bahrain says that would be an act of war – though it’s hard to conceive how they would wage one against KSA, which is up to its eyeballs in US supplied state-of-the art aircraft and all sorts of other dangerous swag. The Shia population wants to blow the little Kingdom wide open; they’ll be lucky if the Saudis don’t inadvertently turn it into an ashtray, just to see if their equipment works-as-advertised. That might be exactly what Iran wants – poised, as it is across the Persian Gulf and wishing deeply to evict the US Navy from its deep-water port in Bahrain. It would be unlikely if Iran was not helping to provoke the Shia uprising that is ongoing in many of the states on the west side of the Gulf. I only wonder why Iran has not given a green light to Nasrullah of Hezbollah in Lebanon to start a rumble there with Israel. It can’t be anything akin to a sense of political responsibility. More likely just fear of how the Israeli air force might answer this time, with events moving so quickly and the world’s head spinning so fast, it can barely focus on one particular place.  Anyway, stay tuned in the Persian Gulf.
     Meanwhile, the dithering Euro-American alliance finally takes its green light from the Saudi-dominated Arab League for a NATO no-fly zone in Libya – or the eastern provinces of Libya for now – in hope of putting the schnitz on Mr. Gadhafi’s shenanigans. I don’t know what the political idea is behind this – perhaps little more than the notion that there must be some other colonel in the Libyan military who is less mad and more tractable than proven maniac Gadhafi. It would be nice for Euro-America (and China, too, actually) if the Libyan oil industry could survive all this intact but as Michael Klare pointed out on the Web last week, it is generally the case that oil production goes way down permanently in all nations that endure political uproars. Anyway, a no-fly zone involves a lot more than just shooting down Gadhafi’s aircraft when it dares to take off. It starts with destroying the planes and helicopters on the ground, and moves forward quickly to the question of boots-on-the-ground.
     At the moment, the oil markets don’t know what to do. Some loose talk says that Japan will not need oil for a while, due to a wrecked economy. I dunno about that, with the reactors melting and twelve million people without electric power there. Let’s remember, they are not the only people in the world who buy oil. In fact, everybody but a few savages in some tiny backwaters of the rain forest use oil – and even the savages do indirectly since they trade for things that come up the Amazon (and the rivers of Borneo) in boats with motors. (Not to put too fine a point on it.)
     Most interesting to me this morning are the financial implications of all these things and let’s start with Japan. Monumental doesn’t seem to describe the unholy mess there, just the sheer awfulness of all that mud, twisted steel, radioactive trash, and decomposing human bodies scattered amongst and within it. The cost of it seems beyond calculation, but the first questions might be how does a deeply-in-debt Japan raise some cash to begin digging out and (possibly) rebuilding  (and I add that qualification because I don’t know that a lot of this lost stuff will be rebuilt at all). But it will be cleaned up and sorted out. The obvious answer to the funding question is that Japan sells foreign bonds, namely US and European. 
     That will not be a good thing for Euro-America. Japan was the quiet benefactor last time the European sick countries had to roll over their debt payments, and nobody wanted to buy their paper. Japan went in and hosed up their debt, allowing them to enjoy one last Christmas of seeming political normality. Now it’s rollover time again in the Euro-Zone and not only will kindly Uncle Japan not be present for the bond sales, they will be selling off the stuff they already hold, and it is hard to see how the European banks digest that ugly bolus of reality.
     Similarly, in the US. Japan has accumulated about 800-billion in US debt paper. They have more-than-generously propped up our operations here for years by buying the stuff. Now they would seem to have little choice but to liquidate a bunch of it and cancel their seats at the upcoming auctions of new paper issues. That leaves Ben Bernanke alone in his office with a shit sandwich for lunch. What to do now, Ben? Who on this planet is going to buy more debt of a people who spend their lives in zombie-like thrall to the Kardashian sisters? No, Ben’s going to have to eat the sandwich himself, a least until the end of QE-2. Or watch interest go way way up to the point where the risks are acceptable to outside parties – but that would only destroy the US Economy and American government at all levels, since we can’t meet our obligations even at ZIRP levels – and, anyway, who would step forward now to buy this crap under any circumstances? (Echo answers….)
      The most beguiling financial idea of the week comes from Jim Rickards of Omnis on Eric King’s interview website who says that the sheer
load of stuff in the Fed’s vaults is now so enormous that further QE is quite unnecessary to continue monetizing America’s debt. All they have to do over at the Fed is roll over the maturing securities they hold and take the money and buy more securities! In other words we now have at our disposal a perpetual motion money-generating engine. And, by the way, if I do sound a tad facetious its not because I disbelieve what Mr. Rickards is telling us. I do, however demur when it comes to the question of consequences. Despite the elegance of that operation, it still remains a fixed law of the universe that you can’t get something for nothing. What Mr. Rickards describes is a trick for buying just a little more time using the residues of wealth that already exists. But then the time comes when you have even burned through the residues of your wealth, and then what?

_____________________________
Under the theory that life goes on until it doesn’t:
I’ve recently finished writing a screenplay about the downfall of a too-big-to-fail bankster (and the redemption of three teen-agers). As they say in Hollywood: think American Beauty meets Wall Street. Accepting inquiries, which I will sort out and forward to my agent. Serious professionals only need apply. Email me at jhkunstler@mac.com.

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About James Howard Kunstler

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

819 Responses to “Rock Me on the Water”

  1. jimbolio March 14, 2011 at 10:50 am #

    Great read!

  2. Leibowitz Society March 14, 2011 at 10:52 am #

    Japan’s woes are likely going to be another triggering factor in the collapse of modern civilization, if we’re not lucky. There is a cluster of events which is shaping up to be a perfect storm (rising oil prices due to the mideast, the looming collapse of the dollar, etc) which will likely shake the foundations of America and the rest of the world to the core.
    Visit http://leibowitzsociety.blogspot.com for commentary and planning on where we’re at and how we can work to save our knowledge and keep the coming crash from being quite so hard for humanity.

  3. J Lee March 14, 2011 at 10:56 am #

    THIRD!! What a f’n stupid comment this is!

  4. Solar Guy March 14, 2011 at 11:00 am #

    Life Goes On Until It Doesn’t
    Mother Earth seems really pissed lately.
    TWO DAYS LEFT!!!
    PLEASE HELP!!!
    AAAAHHH>>>SOLAR GUY HERE TRYING TO SAVE THE WORLD BUT IT IS TOO LAAATE
    DRIVE OFF THE SUN!
    https://www.drivenissanleaf.com/Win/Vote.aspx?b=Y272Y85WBYZG

  5. GAbert March 14, 2011 at 11:02 am #

    GOP = Sky People
    http://www.gwabert.com/

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  6. Ruff Limblog March 14, 2011 at 11:04 am #

    When the tsunami recedes into memory we will find that Japan has moved closer into the sphere of China and correspondingly farther from the dying American empire.
    ~Ruff

  7. John T Anderson March 14, 2011 at 11:04 am #

    Jim: God bless CNN, which is my default channel, the first one that I turn on in the morning, and the last one that I turn off at night. I’m not sure that I could even name all the Kardashians, though I wish them well.

  8. Smokyjoe March 14, 2011 at 11:05 am #

    Perfect tone here:
    “Who on this planet is going to buy more debt of a people who spend their lives in zombie-like thrall to the Kardashian sisters?”
    Answer: there are not enough fools left in the world to prop us up.
    Expect trouble.

  9. wagelaborer March 14, 2011 at 11:07 am #

    Suitably somber entry.
    Two questions. Why is it bad for the people of the small islands of Japan to have cut back on their population?
    What (or who) is it that certifies a leader as a maniac?

  10. SitNSpin March 14, 2011 at 11:08 am #

    Awesome, as usual, JHK. I’m the “typical” soccer mom, watching the world unravel from the sidelines. My “friends” and acquaintances are oblivious to all around them (except those cupcake competitions and American Idol…) I visit your site for balance and to feel, at least once per week, that I am not the crazy one. Happy Monday

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  11. zen17 March 14, 2011 at 11:08 am #

    It is becoming all too clear that the time for preparation is quickly evaporating. We need to be ready now.
    Get you body healthy, get your mind clear…
    There is no other way forward.
    http>//wanderingsagewisdom.blogspot.com

  12. Tomfoolery March 14, 2011 at 11:08 am #

    The bottleneck has begun (all due to the overpopulation of Earth by an ignorant, excessive, uncooperative humanity). In this mass die-off of our own doing, one cannot feel sorry for anyone else – since we’re all in the same boat. There are already tent-cities in America and the numbers of jobless, homeless, and poverty-stricken rises every day both here and abroad. The people at the top think they are immune to this suffering, but once this thing reaches critical mass (probably by next year the way things are progressing) – all bets are off, especially since the perfect storm referred to above didn’t include the biggest problem facing us – the environment is becoming unstable, chaotic and harsh. In a short time we won’t be able to grow the food required to feed our own people (due to climate-change unpredictability and the fact that the largest aquifer that the bread basket of our country relies on is rapidly drying up), let alone export excess crop yields to needy countries.
    This won’t be fun and it will effect everyone. The fact that we have no leadership in Washington is not surprising but will become a problem when the chaos hits the streets.

  13. J Lee March 14, 2011 at 11:08 am #

    Jim, you need to read something about the mechanisms of how the Fed and the US treasury work. Don’t just accept the facile explanation of Rickard’s. The roll over of maturing US government bonds can always be financed by a new issue of government bonds, i.e. transactions exclusively between the FED and the Treasury. (Which is not quite true because a few outsider still do own some bonds.)But that doesn’t provide any QE effects on the economy. Whatever those effects might be, and there is still much doubt about the value of them, resulted from the original purchase of the bonds by the FED. Not on the subsequent and obviously required rollovers.

  14. Uncle Al March 14, 2011 at 11:10 am #

    In ten months the US West Coast will be bathed in Japanese nuclear waste,
    http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/currents.jpg
    The USS Ronald Reagan (the entire carrier group) inhaled a radioactive jetsam cloud while their sailor pants were around their ankles. The US West Coast and associated fisheries will go the flotsam route – and nobody can predict it!
    Amazon.com sells the Ukranian personal radiation dosimeter Terra-P(MKS-05), produced in record large numbers re Chernobl. It is an acceptable price for the functionality and proven performance. There is already a three-month wait to ship. One presumes at least one factory on this sorry planet is hiring.

  15. zen17 March 14, 2011 at 11:10 am #

    Fixed link
    http://wanderingsagewisdom.blogspot.com
    It is becoming all too clear that the time for preparation is quickly evaporating. We need to be ready now.
    Get you body healthy, get your mind clear…
    There is no other way forward.
    http://wanderingsagewisdom.blogspot.com

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  16. tictoc March 14, 2011 at 11:12 am #

    Great post, Jim. Thanks for trying to tie so many disparate things together. I enjoy your broad vision commentaries. Usually, the best we get from the established commentators is tunnel vision.
    I, too, was glad for CNN over the weekend. I gather it was the international CNN feed we Americans were watching, something we don’t usually see on a prolonged basis (at least not through my satellite provider). I was impressed by the dignity of both the coverage and of the broadcasters. I got slapped back to reality this morning, though, when the breathless, emotional U.S. broadcasters were back. Let’s have more of international CNN in the States.

  17. MoncriefJ March 14, 2011 at 11:12 am #

    I don’t normally comment on your posts, but I need to this time. What the f is “ME/NA” supposed to be? Jim, you’re a talented writer, and part of that should be knowing that acronyms have to be used sparingly. “ME” must be “Middle East,” a term of two short words that is always spelled out, but what is NA? The reader must step outside of the flow of your writing to try and puzzle it out. Annoying as all hell, and unnecessary to boot–if you’d only avoid random acronyms.

  18. MoncriefJ March 14, 2011 at 11:13 am #

    I don’t normally comment on your posts, but I need to this time. What the f is “ME/NA” supposed to be? Jim, you’re a talented writer, and part of that should be knowing that acronyms have to be used sparingly. “ME” must be “Middle East,” a term of two short words that is always spelled out, but what is NA? The reader must step outside of the flow of your writing to try and puzzle it out. Annoying as all hell, and unnecessary to boot–if you’d only avoid random acronyms.

  19. Nevrfgt March 14, 2011 at 11:14 am #

    Another Black Swan straw on the proverbial camel’s back…

  20. empirestatebuilding March 14, 2011 at 11:14 am #

    The irony that the US may be the recipient of a giant plume of Japanese radioactive dust is not lost on me.
    I wonder how a manufacturing powerhouse could be in such dire financial shape. A nation of savers who own 95% of their own Japanese gov’t debt can’t dig themselves out of a 20 year deep hole?
    Amazing how in the blink of an eye everything is different.
    There is clearly no hope for the US, other than money magic.
    Aimlow Joe was here.
    http://www.aimlow.com

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  21. Jersey New March 14, 2011 at 11:14 am #

    north africa

  22. mow March 14, 2011 at 11:15 am #

    what the heck is a kardashian ?

  23. MoncriefJ March 14, 2011 at 11:16 am #

    I don’t normally comment on your posts, but I need to this time. What the f is “ME/NA” supposed to be? Jim, you’re a talented writer, and part of that should be knowing that acronyms have to be used sparingly. “ME” must be “Middle East,” a term of two short words that is always spelled out, but what is NA? The reader must step outside of the flow of your writing to try and puzzle it out. And what is QE2 but the Queen of England? Which in this context makes you sound LaRoucheian.
    Annoying as all hell, and unnecessary to boot–if you’d only avoid random acronyms.

  24. pedal pusher March 14, 2011 at 11:17 am #

    The supposition that Japan won’t be buying as much oil as a result of the current disaster may not be on target. In fact, Japan manufactures millions of small and medium sized diesel and gasoline powered electric generators – you may have one in your garage. These will be used in an enormous noisy patchwork in the affected areas to replace much of the power lost by the nuke plants now off-line. It seems unlikely that the damaged reactors will be repaired any time soon, or that large-scale fossil fuel systems will take their place. An endless roar of petroleum powered motors will fill some of the gap. (This has already be happening in China in areas where coal shortages have hampered manufacturing – it will be even more in evidence in Japan in the coming months and years)

  25. loveday March 14, 2011 at 11:18 am #

    Hi Jim and all
    So the situation goes from grim to grave overnight, not just for Japan but all of the world’s population. These events should make it clear that nuclear power is a proven menace to life on the planet. I mean really, 3 strikes and you’re out- Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima. Let’s hope and pray for the best for everyone.
    So did I mention I already have bought seeds for a garden and am making plans to have more than one garden in a couple different locations. People may want to go out and grab some seeds as soon as possible or face the possibility of being caught in a Black Friday-like frenzy at the local Tractor supply store complete with stampedes and loss of life.
    Of course if worst comes to worst no one will need seeds.
    loveday

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  26. roberthildre March 14, 2011 at 11:22 am #

    When the accounting has become sooooo hopelessly irrepairable, like here in the US and in Japan as well, there is no other solution than to remove the numbers and consider the rescources. Human capital and natural. Japan will clear the debris, just like after the last nuclear clusterfuck it experianced, but there will be no way to settle the costs with money. Many people will do more than their share getting paid little, and many people will do very little, sitting on the sidelines pulling tricks and levers and getting paid royally. It is time to run the counters back to 0. Nothing in nature survives on arbitrary accounting and neither will we. As long as we allow the unseen fiction of accounting to rule the world, we will forever be the social products of that system. I am just grateful that Charlie Sheen has made social crack use respectful again! Now lets all go out and bang some porn stars!

  27. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown March 14, 2011 at 11:23 am #

    JHK, great column this week.
    Speaking of Japan selling off bonds, had just read this earlier today:
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/13/us-markets-weekahead-idUSTRE72A31H20110313
    (Reuters) – Shaken by the prospect of nuclear meltdown after a devastating earthquake and tsunami, Japanese investors will dump overseas assets on Monday and bring their money home to help finance reconstruction.
    Positioning for this could send the dollar plummeting versus the yen on Monday and lead to a sharp slide in Treasuries since U.S. government bonds are a favorite asset of Japanese investors, market analysts said.
    Stocks also are likely to come under pressure.
    Japanese insurers will probably sell some of their most liquid foreign assets such as U.S. Treasuries so they can respond to the worst disaster since World War Two.

  28. wisewebwoman March 14, 2011 at 11:25 am #

    I am lately struck by one question in my head: Are we better off knowing or not knowing of the reality that surrounds us?
    Our numbers are small, the ones living in awareness and busy stockpiling seeds and using extra plots to plant and driving tiny cars or biking and walking when/if we can.
    Meanwhile what passes for living proceeds as it always has in Charlie Sheehan/Kardashian land, every media outlet busy flogging Big Whacks and Malwarts as if life itself is NOT poised on the thinnest or razor edges waiting for the perfect storm which is looming so rapidly on the horizon.
    Maybe Nero was right.

  29. Cabra1080 March 14, 2011 at 11:31 am #

    “Life Goes On Until It Doesn’t”. Along the same theme, Nuclear Plants are safe until they aren’t. The biggest threat hanging over Japan right now is the possibility of a 500 year exclusion zone of the Chernobyl style – I think it would pretty well engulf the whole of Japan. Hope they get those nukes under control soon. They are NOT under control now…

  30. Truckee March 14, 2011 at 11:31 am #

    Nothing wrong with CNN unless you don’t care enough about yourself to watch unattractive people deliver the news.
    I know it is against the rules in your little liberal lives to watch FOX news but I can say this…
    If the coverage and images/videos are as good on CNN as they have been on FOX then they are simply stunning. Then CNN is doing a remarkable job. I have watched nothing else for 3 days now. Those that have not watched it missed an amazing opportunity
    I do think this event is a game changer on many levels. Much more important than some “Day Of Rage’ in some third world cesspool.

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  31. WestCoast March 14, 2011 at 11:32 am #

    CNN isn’t the only choice.
    We listen to Al Jazeera on KPFK, our local Pacifica radio station, 94.1 in the Bay Area. We used to mock it, and still do, for the pro-illegal, pro homosexual marriage wailing–but in spite of that, it’s a great station. Certainly better than National Petroleum Radio and their ADM, Monsanto, Pew Charitable Trust (read coal mines and mountaintop removal money).
    One hour of solid commercial free news in the morning. In addition, A.J. has a TV feed online.

  32. Jersey New March 14, 2011 at 11:33 am #

    QE2 = Quantative Easing II

  33. Cabra1080 March 14, 2011 at 11:34 am #

    ME: Middle East.
    NA: North Africa.

  34. PRD March 14, 2011 at 11:37 am #

    Mention of the “plume of radioactive dust” got my attention because I have been searching online for some analysis/predicted path/mapping of such a plume. I can’t find a thing. Am I missing something somewhere? Anyone have any links to info?

  35. WestCoast March 14, 2011 at 11:40 am #

    JHK…what a writer:
    “…That leaves Ben Bernanke alone in his office with a shit sandwich for lunch. What to do now, Ben? Who on this planet is going to buy more debt of a people who spend their lives in zombie-like thrall to the Kardashian sisters?…”
    “Shear load?” That’s a big pile of scissors.
    “Sheer load” would be more like it.

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  36. loveday March 14, 2011 at 11:41 am #

    Wise web woman,
    I used to feel that I would rather not know either, however then it dawned on me that if need arises it is much better to try to avoid hunger than otherwise, starvation is quite painful. I am too much of a pansy to take the chance on roughing it. Besides I have to think of the kids.
    loveday

  37. fugeguy March 14, 2011 at 11:50 am #

    My MAC using friends tell me that Macs “never” fail.
    Of course, they seem to buy new ones every 2-3 years…

  38. helen highwater March 14, 2011 at 11:51 am #

    WestCoast, I’ve got a feeling that in the days to come we are going to have far more important things to worry about than whether two people of the same sex love each other and want to get married.

  39. D177 March 14, 2011 at 11:56 am #

    Both Fox and MSNBC carried continuing earthquake and tsunami coverage over the weekend and Sunday night, even though the programs retained the old titles, such as “Lockout,” on the program guide. I was switching between those, CNN, and local channels (as well as checking online) to try and get a handle on what was happening with the reactors, having been against the development of nuclear reactors and centralized power sources in general for years. Obviously, we need to develop distributed grids based on as many forms of safe energy (solar, tidal, wind, waste) as possible, and all of this under the auspices of a public utility. This is our ONLY sane option. The nuclear plants are Frankensteins.

  40. wagelaborer March 14, 2011 at 11:57 am #

    http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhxvdya8Ld1qz5ew6o1_500.jpg

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  41. erikSF99 March 14, 2011 at 11:58 am #

    How many U.S. Treasuries and Euro bonds will Japan have to sell? This from Business Insurance:
    “Global insurers’ exposure to Japanese disaster appears limited.
    “While it is still too early to be certain of the extent of economic losses caused by the disaster, initial estimates are about $150 billion, London-based Jeffries International Ltd. said in a research note Monday. And international insurers likely will face losses of about $10 billion to $20 billion, Jeffries said.
    “While large infrastructure losses likely will be paid by the state, about 30% of the expected $60 billion of losses on commercial and specialist risk lines will have earthquake coverage, according to the note.”
    As you can tell, there is an implicit satisfaction that world insurers won’t be paying for much of this disaster–so, as JHK makes clear, the Japanese government is going to have to fund this themselves via Treasury/Bond sales.
    More from the article about what the Japanese government will have to fund:
    “International insurers will face very little exposure to personal lines losses as most of these will be covered locally.
    “All Japanese homeowners’ earthquake coverage is (covered by) a state-backed Japanese earthquake insurer in which losses are shared between private insurers and the government, it noted.”

  42. Großdeutschland March 14, 2011 at 12:03 pm #

    What a bunch of horse-jizz.
    Jim, the only moron is you, apparently. The rest of have figured out how to use our cable remotes and which channels carry news and at what time on Sunday.
    Nice “the iMac ate my homework” line. Too bad you’ve already used it like 6 times. Oh My Goodness!
    “Anyway, a no-fly zone involves a lot more than just shooting down Gadhafi’s aircraft when it dares to take off.”
    Umm… no it doesn’t. That’s why it’s called a no-fly zone, asshole. The shooting stuff on the ground and boots on the ground is just stuff you are adding so you can say “I told you so” if intervention eventually goes wrong like in Somalia.
    We shouldn’t be involved at all. Period. Except to airlift out American citizens. Let the Arab League implement its own no-fly zone. We should implement a NO-CARE zone. But reality – as in the Sendai Tsunami – is taking care of that perty good already.
    Michael Klare is an idiot who’s written a bunch of unbearable books that happen to involve oil and doom-and-glo0m politics. Big fucking deal. All countries’ oil production goes way down permanently. Some countries experience political turmoil. It’s not too hard to make up some chimichanga correlation between the two.
    But it takes a real fool like yourself to place such faith in it. This is the same type of garbage Tom Friedman spews – but because it is bad news about oil, you eat it right up. Typical.
    And the markets know exactly what to do. It’s YOU that doesn’t know what is going on. You wonder about Iran and Hezbollah for a reason. You still don’t understand Middle East politics. It’s the same reason you didn’t predict the situation there in the first place.
    And CNN is fucking horrible. Do yourself a favor and watch ABC or CBS evening news for your daily 6 minutes of international news.

  43. cleitophon March 14, 2011 at 12:07 pm #

    I don’t remember a period of history in my 35 years that has seen such an accumulation of shitty news! Good Greif: tsunamis, nuclear alterts, days of rage, peak oil, debt bombs, inflation, food crises, EURO crisis, chinese bubbles the list goes on and on.
    Alot of hope had been invested in nuclear power to run all the very hypothetical clean-tech cars and what not – I think that is going to be put on hold or at least drastically slowed down to increase safty. And that reduces a lot of alternatives for what is going to happen over the next 10-15 years.
    This is going to be a massive wakeup call for all those who think we can contimue as today, but with green colours. There are going to be fewer and fewer degrees of freedom as we go through the bottle neck!

  44. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown March 14, 2011 at 12:07 pm #

    Wow. Thanks, I think.

  45. MarlinFive54 March 14, 2011 at 12:09 pm #

    JHK;
    Another great essay, right on target. This is what keeps me here.
    But Japan ain’t finished yet, not by a longshot. They are a disciplined and hard working people, maybe the most disciplined and hardworking on earth. Don’ forget, in ’44 & ’45, 23 out of their largest 25 cities were leveled and incinerated with high explosives and napalm, courtesy of General LeMay. The other 2 were nuked. They came back from that.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    John Birch Unit
    New England Chapter

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  46. Phutatorius March 14, 2011 at 12:11 pm #

    A good blog today. I’m impressed by the intelligence. Not having cable TV, I missed the sisters K (whoever they are) as well as CNN, but I couldn’t tear myself away from news of Japan on my computer. Most frustrating was the apparent lack of knowledge on the part of most reporters regarding nuclear reactors. I don’t think most of them could distinguish between a containment structure and a reactor vessel. At Fukushima One it would appear that all three of the reactors that were in operation at the time of the quake are in serious trouble. (The three that are not in trouble were out of service for refueling and maintenance.) That’s a pretty poor record. Three for three at that plant. About 6 months ago I rented the original “Godzilla” flick. That’s what the scene on the Japan coast reminds me of now.

  47. Workdove March 14, 2011 at 12:13 pm #

    Why are you bothering with cable tv at all. There’s been nothing to watch for a decade, including dumbfounded network news.
    New York is still rebuilding its downtown nearly 10 years after 9/11, Japan will still be cleaning up this mess in 2021!
    Here are links to the best web news sites out there, many with streaming video:
    http://www.zerohedge.com/
    http://ca.reuters.com/
    http://peakoil.com/
    Also look up Aljazerra.net for non-american centric news focus.
    Link to nuclear fallout map: http://peakoil.com/forums/possible-nuclear-plant-melt-down-imminent-japan-t61098-105.html

  48. bojimoji March 14, 2011 at 12:14 pm #

    Excellent comments as usual; however, somewhat taken aback by your references to ‘savages’. In ‘The Long Emergency’ you seem to suggest our way of life may resemble that of these ‘savages’.

  49. Tancred March 14, 2011 at 12:16 pm #

    It’s sad that old CNN is considered the last bastion of “real” news, and even then only in spurts. The imperative of driving “visits” or “hits” on the Intar-Webs has led to a real dumbing down in what used to be news reporting. Now it’s all “The Ten Reasons Why blah blah blah” or Headlines that are clearly designed just to titillate or anger the browser to click. It’s really quite awful. Despite their recent cuts, I find that the BBC still sets the standard for sane, rational news coverage. Even NPR kinda sucks, if you ask this author. Smarmy is a word that comes to mind.
    ABC (Australian Broadcasting Network) does a good job, despite the excesses of the popular culture that surrounds it. That is the home of Rupert Murdoch, after all.
    JHK gave NASCAR a break this week. I happened to notice their “Ten Most Incredible Crashes” and “Ten Most Exciting Finishes” little features over the weekend. That, unfortunately, is what drives a lot of viewers, just as the same dumb bullet list headlines drive the Intar-Webs “news.”
    “What a nation of morons we are.”
    Agreed.

  50. DrDoomfromPentagon March 14, 2011 at 12:24 pm #

    I generally refrain from commenting on web sites (paranoia due to experience) yet out of respect for you and those who comment here I must add one more potential near term threat (2011-2013)…
    http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/10mar_stormwarning/
    Recently a large solar event occurred surprising many.

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  51. Cash March 14, 2011 at 12:26 pm #

    Wall Street propaganda would have it that money matters are sooooo complicated. They’re not, money is dog simple, accounting at its heart is too. It’s just a system of score keeping.
    IMO the real question isn’t the system of accounting but rather the system that determines who gets paid what. I think we all have in our heads at least some notion of what compensation is “fair”.
    Should the surgeon that saved my wife get paid more than a bus driver? Yes, no question. More than an airline pilot? Probably but I’m not sure. More than a Wall Street bankster? The answer is self evident.

  52. Steve M. March 14, 2011 at 12:28 pm #

    Moncrief: ME/NA is “Middle East/North Africa.” “QE” is quantitative easing.” “QE2” is, I believe, “quantitative easing, phase two.” I had to look it up myself. QE2 sounds like an ocean liner.
    I don’t get all of this financial stuff. I just want to know: What do we owe? Whom do we owe it to? How do we pay them back? What do we give up to pay them? I keep hearing on how much we spend, but who actually gets the money?

  53. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 12:29 pm #

    oh no Helen, The idea that “god is punishing us because we let gay’s in the military” is not going to be lost on the Tootsies and Westboro Baptist Churches of this world….
    ….. I agree with Jim in “the Long Emergency”…. I start disagreeing with him in “World made by hand”, reason being is that it assumes that the gubament is blowed up by towelheads, and just goes away. Somehow I doubt that the United State Gubment is just going to dissolve like koolaid in water, I think that they are going to spend the first half of the long emergency stealing the oil and instigating trouble all over the place to destroy demand. I think they are going to spend the second half of the long emergency turning in on us… finding someone to blame for our situation and making them pay for it.
    Kim Jong Il has proven that a total police state can be run on very little oil… PRIVATE Bradly Manning (Private in big letters because I want you to think about the idea that the lowest form of life in the Army was “leaking top secret memos from the highest levels of government”… a PRIVATE FIRST CLASS… two rungs above “maggot” in Army/Marine speak) is proof that our government is working very hard to silence any possible “journalist” before they ever think about getting a “scoop” that doesn’t come from a press release, this is among the fist signs that you live in a fascist state… one of the others is an endless war against terrifying “terrorists”… along with opening secret prisons beyond the rule of law… oh we’re well on our way at this point.
    When things go wrong for a fascist country they look for scapegoats… usually Jews and Homosexuals are the first to to… in America they will try for the Mormons too, unless the Mormons show suitable anti homosexual credentials early on (something the church is working at right now)…. oh yes, things are about to so seriously strange here at home.
    It would seem that a seismic shift is working it’s way around the Pacific Plate, in a few weeks Alaska, Washington, and California may look like Japan and New Zeland (assuming the energy is traveling in a circle around that plate)
    Once that happens all bets are off.
    And Thank you Jim… for not saying anything about President Bartlett’s son this week… I get plenty of that EVERYWHERE else!
    “And CNN is fucking horrible. Do yourself a favor and watch ABC or CBS evening news for your daily 6 minutes of international news.”
    Seriously GroB…. ABC and CBS??? Like OMG.. like, you are like, soooo right fer sher… like Katie Couric told me about like…. Lindsey is like SHOPLIFTING again… and like, SARAH is like sooooo mad at Michelle B and her homey….
    Yea…. ABC and CBS are like, QUALITY “news” fer sher….

  54. Gary P. March 14, 2011 at 12:29 pm #

    Anyone interested in what the next California Earthquake may look like should take a look at this book: “A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906” by S. Winchester.
    In 1906 CA moved 23ft. Note that Japan moved only 8ft.

  55. Dbluge March 14, 2011 at 12:32 pm #

    “Who on this planet is going to buy more debt of a people who spend their lives in zombie-like thrall to the Kardashian sisters?”
    Don’t knock the Kardashian sisters! At least they will be floating on their backs – post tsunami..!

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  56. ozone March 14, 2011 at 12:35 pm #

    Great googly-moogly!
    Fine piece of work and wondering this day, Mr. Kunstler. The rubber is indeed beginning to hit the road (i.e., runway) as we come in for a panicked emergency landing of the Concorde that is the overblown expectations of technological control over damn-near-everything. Glaring demonstration of Nature “batting last”. (Hate those sports analogies; they’re just so trite. But they certainly express the deepest thoughts of our finest political minds, eh? Jesus wept.)
    As regards to this:
    “It would be unlikely if Iran was not helping to provoke the Shia uprising that is ongoing in many of the states on the west side of the Gulf. I only wonder why Iran has not given a green light to Nasrullah of Hezbollah in Lebanon to start a rumble there with Israel. It can’t be anything akin to a sense of political responsibility. More likely just fear of how the Israeli air force might answer this time, with events moving so quickly and the world’s head spinning so fast, it can barely focus on one particular place. Anyway, stay tuned in the Persian Gulf.”
    Now that’s an interesting aside. My guess would be that the Iranians are in “head down; powder dry” mode, and will only provoke/nudge things in a most covert manner. They’re [quite literally] surrounded, and as you say, would LOVE to see that Bahraini sanctuary of the [not-so-]Fleet to go away (in the political sense).
    I have no doubt some damn-fools will start some real non-covert inter-country military “shenanigans” soon, as ‘Murka needs it some black goo to keep the Ponzi scheme going, and hang the cost in swarthy-peoples’ blood. Some damn-fools will take the ultimate gamble and start it; the Persians will then be forced to finish it. These are not folks to be fucked with OPENLY… which is exactly why they haven’t been, so far. (And why they’ve been carefully surrounded.)
    The geo-political “experts”, coupled with the fine minds in our “military arts” arena (all neo-cons that everybody thought had “gone away”) really think that they can emerge with a WIN in this energy-supply “game”. It’s all a world-destroying madness, and [as per usual] will end in the empty horror of Nothing Learned.
    Ps. I LOVE the word “shenanigans”. My dad used it all the time when we were young’uns in an angry-but-tickled kinda way. There’s a good bar in Bangkok with that title, run by an Irish guy who has a wonderful obsession with Hammond organs. It IS a funny ol’ world, ain’t it?

  57. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 12:36 pm #

    that was Gays and Jews are the first to GO…. not to to
    And for anyone that is pretending to not know what a Kardashian is…
    …. it one (or all) of any number of step daughters of Olympian BRUCE JENNER also of the Wheaties box in the mid seventies…
    ….Their real dad (and namesake) is an entertainment lawyer in LA
    Google Bruce Jenner

  58. George S. March 14, 2011 at 12:40 pm #

    Hey Jim, how about cooling it with the acronyms? ME/NA, KSA, ZIRP – it is a bit annoying at best. You know how to write without relying on this dipshit corporate style of ‘communication’

  59. Großdeutschland March 14, 2011 at 12:43 pm #

    Yeah. Seriously, douchebag. Anybody that actually watches these channels knows that ABC and CBS Nightly News gives very little coverage to celebrity news and CNN spends the good part of most days on that bullshit. CNN actually hires helicopters to stake out the LA courthouse when there is nothing going on in Egypt. I’m surprised Wolf Blitzer can actually find North Africa on a map.
    Katie Couric moonlights on 60 Minutes and isn’t a Valley Girl, you fucking retard.

  60. Tancred March 14, 2011 at 12:44 pm #

    Maybe JHK uses those acronyms to make him “look” smart? That is said to be the reason why SP wears glasses even though she had Lasik surgery.
    Isn’t that funny/ironic? SP wears glasses to make her “look” smart. Makes sense to me.

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  61. Cash March 14, 2011 at 12:45 pm #

    this is among the fist signs that you live in a fascist state – Sub
    I think there are a lot of people still alive that have direct experience with fascism in Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain that would differ with your assessment. My parents grew up in a fascist state. That was a really nasty place. The US (and Canada also) is getting shittier and shittier but I don’t think you’re anywhere close to “fascism”.

  62. k-dog March 14, 2011 at 12:48 pm #

    What’s with all these newbies bitchin about acronyms. Our secret code is in serious danger of being compromised if this keeps up.

  63. mow March 14, 2011 at 12:50 pm #

    ROFLMFAO

  64. ian807 March 14, 2011 at 12:51 pm #

    Not enough fools? Surely, this is our one completely renewable resource?

  65. lbendet March 14, 2011 at 1:03 pm #

    We’re all Haiti, Now
    Thanks for the great post today JHK, an sorry for your Imac.–hope it will rise from the dead..
    Speaking to your comment about the media, I am constantly saying that real journalism is to be supported and appreciated, as there is so little of it. There really are people on the ground putting themselves at great risk to report the real situation, no spin, no branding–just the truth, M’am. CNN is the station in this country that still puts resources into world events.
    I’ve been watching this like a hawk the last few days and some very interesting points have been made.
    One is that Japan is so very sophisticated and the 2nd largest economy of the world, they will be able to raise the money to turn this situation around. Well that goes against the reality they have been propping up zombie banks for the last 10 years and their economy has been moribund. They have been playing their part in the global monetarism game that has led them and us into huge deficits.—Deficits don’t matter, Mr. Cheney.
    Let’s see what China thinks about that! She’s about to go sailing past Japan in a heart-beat! And what that means militarily in asia will be played out in very interesting ways. As I said yesterday, Its all about economic determinism and China will move in as the new super-power of the region.
    Now Japan’s industries are down for the count and even Apple, as well as all the other techno-manufacturing will come to a halt. Hope you’re not all waiting for ipads!
    The point that goes to my title, is that they are having an impossible time trying to recover bodies and clean up the dissarray left by the tsunami. The rubble is all that’s left of what once had value that have no value anymore. With one rush of water everything went from assets to garbage–like our economy…hm
    —Why?——Because they need energy (oil) to clean this rubble up! There is no way to run machinery —goes to the heart of what JHK has been saying. With all the sophistication that Japan represents, without an energy source they are no better than Haiti. That will be true for us as well, when the time comes.
    They put much of their eggs in the atomic energy basket and now the hens have come home to roost. The whole issue of nuclear power will have to be reconsidered, as the dangers posed may be too great to deal with.
    Here’s the deal. Republicans are complaining that Obama isn’t drill-baby drilling fast enough. Question I keep asking is why the interviewers don’t ask them where the oil will be sold when we get it out of the ground. They never tell the truth that in a corporate global economy it all goes into the international oil bourse. They lvoe to pretend that there’s a national consideration in all this.
    Today they were saying that, even with environmental hazards natural gas will be our salvation.–We keep grasping at straws as we recognize our own demise…Good luck with that.

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  66. kulturcritic March 14, 2011 at 1:04 pm #

    Great piece today Jim. The fact is that the industrialized (civilized) world has made its own bed. There is virtually no safe places left to hide. Well except maybe here in Siberia!!!
    http://www.amazon.com/Recovery-Ecstasy-Notebooks-Siberia/dp/1439227365

  67. Qshtik March 14, 2011 at 1:04 pm #

    This won’t be fun and it will effect everyone.
    ===============
    I estimate that the words affect and effect are misused more frequently than they are correctly used. The “usage note” I pulled from Dictionary.com (see below), frankly, I don’t believe would prove particularly helpful to the average person, even if they were so inclined as to look it up, since both words may be used either as verbs or nouns, and therein lies the greatest problem.
    I propose, therefore, that when affect or effect are typed on any electronic device world-wide (PC, Blackberry, I-phone, etc) into any sentence it causes that sentence to be automatically transmitted by email, text message or twitter (those details can be worked out by tech types) to a team of top linguists who would judge whether the usage is correct. If this system proves effective the English speaking world could move on to other problematic word pairs such as who and whom, jive and jibe, to and too, there and their, then and than, etc.
    I see no other way around this horrendous problem.
    😉
    —Usage note
    Affect 1 and effect, each both noun and verb, share the sense of “influence,” and because of their similarity in pronunciation are sometimes confused in writing. As a verb affect 1 means “to act on” or “to move” ( His words affected the crowd so deeply that many wept ); affect 2 means “to pretend” or “to assume” ( new students affecting a nonchalance they didn’t feel ). The verb effect means “to bring about, accomplish”: Her administration effected radical changes. The noun effect means “result, consequence”: the serious effects of the oil spill. The noun affect 1 pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, is a technical term in psychology and psychiatry. Affect 2 is not used as a noun.

  68. wagelaborer March 14, 2011 at 1:10 pm #

    Even in the poster child of fascism, Cash, it wasn’t a overnight imposition.
    From “They Thought They Were Free” by Milton Mayer
    “What no one seemed to notice,” said a colleague of mine, a philologist, “was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in civilian defense, or even to vote. All this has little, really nothing, to do with knowing one is governing.
    “What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.
    “This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.

  69. wagelaborer March 14, 2011 at 1:12 pm #

    Another excerpt-
    “To live in this process is absolutely not to be able to notice it—please try to believe me—unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us had ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, ‘regretted,’ that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these ‘little measures’ that no ‘patriotic German’ could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head.”

  70. k-dog March 14, 2011 at 1:15 pm #

    ME/NA has gone critical overnight. Saudi Arabia wants to occupy tiny-but-strategic Bahrain, and Bahrain says that would be an act of war.

    That ship has sailed. Bahrain’s Sunni leaders invited 1,000 Saudi soldiers over early this morning. To the Shia population they are as welcome as skunks at a lawn party.

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  71. k-dog March 14, 2011 at 1:17 pm #

    “We’re all Haiti now” Oh boy, Vlad is not going to happy about that.

  72. Max March 14, 2011 at 1:18 pm #

    While similarly outraged by our hapless leadership, the triumph of the shills who’re continually rewarded for grifting our economy as well as the escapist behaviors of our fellow countrymen, I found your comment, “We deserve what just happened to Japan three times over” overly punitive. Perhaps an expression of frustration, your comment deems that suffering ought to be borne by the many as the result of the acts of the few.
    Try to tender that tendency the next time, Jim. We’ve already got too much misdirected anger manifested on the Web.

  73. wagelaborer March 14, 2011 at 1:18 pm #

    But the Jews and homosexuals weren’t the first to go, Sub.
    It was the communists, the socialists and the trade unionists.
    Here it was the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, and the private sector workers.
    Now, they’re after the public sector workers and the nurses.

  74. Schwerpunkt March 14, 2011 at 1:22 pm #

    While I discuss “The Change” and muse on “bug out or dig in” that disaster strikes and actual people do real suffering and the world tilts into economic trouble does not make me smug that I was amongst a small community who care to see the world with open eyes.
    I am saddened to hear that the Japanese are caught up in their own reliance on technology to save the day, or that teenagers in Libya think the USA will fight for their freedom, or that these far off events won’t be coming home in some form or another. I still hope that my EOTWAWKI preaching is just craxy little blogging me, and not the state of our current world shifting to a point of diminished quality of life for all (except for the rich or course).
    We must keep discussing collapse, but keep up hope that some of us can think up responses that help the world when disasters expand.
    http://schwerpunkter.wordpress.com/

  75. k-dog March 14, 2011 at 1:24 pm #

    “Today they were saying that, even with environmental hazards natural gas will be our salvation.”
    Fracking – yeah, water water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Gasland is required viewing for all POs don’t you know.

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  76. budizwiser March 14, 2011 at 1:28 pm #

    JK,
    In regard to Japan, I postulated this aspect of the “slow motion train wreck” beck when we were waxing on about Bus the feds and Katrina.
    Nature is going to chip away at civilization incrementally. In each catastrophe, just a little less “comeback” from ever ebbing resources.
    I can see “a couple of hurricanes” hitting the US in a decade, with the official response to the “second event” – little or nil, as we all cry, “we’re broke.!”
    And so it goes.

  77. k-dog March 14, 2011 at 1:31 pm #

    “We deserve what just happened to Japan three times over” Max – enlightenment waxes and wanes in us all.

  78. anotherplayaguy March 14, 2011 at 1:34 pm #

    I was going to suggest the live feed of Al Jazeera (http://english.aljazeera.net/) as a good news source (but, of course, not a source of the “Good News”) as it seems to be fairly unbiased. I’m surpised that so many people still have televisions that receive network programming. Haven’t had if for a year and haven’t missed it at all.
    Now, my real question. What happens when Charlie Sheen marries a Kardashian? Since I gave up Huffpo I’m out of that loop, too.

  79. mow March 14, 2011 at 1:37 pm #

    i throve during the seventies

  80. jackieblue2u March 14, 2011 at 1:37 pm #

    Maybe North America ?

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  81. jerry March 14, 2011 at 1:42 pm #

    Great piece. One must remember, Japan will undergo a massive rebuilding and clean up that will put people to work, put spending back into their economy, and increase their GDP. There actually might be large amounts of foreign cash coming into Japan to buy into their growth machine.
    They might be selling off US Treasuries, and Bernanke will have to mop them up with his QE2 cash sponges, but because hot monies might be flowing into Japan and away from US Treasuries and money markets, Bada Bing Bernanke might have to raise interest rates in response.
    The unfolding will be interesting.
    http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com

  82. montsegur March 14, 2011 at 1:42 pm #

    Ah, enjoying a beautiful sunset at the moment. Pink and bluish clouds.
    Free, low-energy entertainment for a simple mind, I suppose.
    Cheers

  83. bproman March 14, 2011 at 1:43 pm #

    Does this mean the Japanese baseball league won’t play this year because of radioactive rain ?

  84. envirofrigginmental March 14, 2011 at 1:47 pm #

    Don’t forget the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) for quality international reporting.
    If you want to truly have a comprehensive understanding of how the world perceives you, try watching what your closest neighbour has to say.

  85. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown March 14, 2011 at 1:50 pm #

    Speaking of Germany, someone was on here in the not too distant past talking about a diary or something by a German who was killed by the Gestapo in 1945… Anybody remember the title/author? Thanks.

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  86. k-dog March 14, 2011 at 1:58 pm #

    The human toll aside. Perhaps the Japanese can help with our unemployment problem. They need a lot of homes rebuilt.
    Can you imagine the sound of Mariachi Music shouting out from radios tuned to Spanish language radio stations as hammers rap and tap across the Japanese countryside.
    Of course getting across the Mexican/Japanese border might be a bit difficult, it would make long walks across the desert look like a piece of cake.

  87. MarlinFive54 March 14, 2011 at 2:00 pm #

    Hey Wagelaborer, I bought a copy of Ted Ralls ‘Anti-American Manifesto’ this morning … will begin reading it tonite to get a handle on the political CFN-speak I encounter so often on this site.
    So I think you owe me a big Emma Goldman/Rosa Luxemborg kiss, right on the lips.
    Allegorically speaking, of course
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    John Birch Unit
    New England Chapter

  88. montsegur March 14, 2011 at 2:02 pm #

    BBC isn’t bad for news, but their British roots sometime show badly in reporting about the EU.
    http://www.spiegel.de/international/ is the German Spiegel magazine in English — good for some German perspectives on world events.
    http://www.france24.com/en/ is a French perspective in English.
    Cheers

  89. jackieblue2u March 14, 2011 at 2:02 pm #

    “It would seem that a seismic shift is working it’s way around the Pacific Plate, in a few weeks Alaska, Washington, and California may look like Japan and New Zeland (assuming the energy is traveling in a circle around that plate)
    Once that happens all bets are off.”
    I suppose I better head for the hills. I am 1 block from that thar ocean. on a maybe 30ft. hill.
    not good enough.
    One more quake and I take the money and run. and the Cat.
    There is no security in this world. No one said their would or should be. Just the way it is.

  90. whm March 14, 2011 at 2:05 pm #

    Jim, Another good one. Regarding acronyms, abbreviations, jargon: They should be defined at first use.

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  91. Cash March 14, 2011 at 2:06 pm #

    You’re right, it wasn’t an overnight imposition.
    Maybe I’m reading too much into this guy. It just seems to me that he’s trying to make a case that Germans were duped, that everything the Nazis did happened slow and on the sly and all of a sudden, holy smokes, here we are in Poland. And maybe there was an element of that.
    He gives the impression that the process went at a snail’s pace. To me it just doesn’t seem that the process in Germany was that gradual. My understanding is that Hitler took power over the span of a couple of years between 1932 and 1934 and then quickly upended opposition by means of judicial tribunals, violence and concentration camps.
    Seems to me things moved along pretty quick with the rebuilding of Germany’s military, the re-militarization of the Rhineland in 1936 and Germany’s participation in the Spanish Civil War in that same year. Then in 1938 there was the takeover of Czechoslovakia and Austria. Hitler was a happenin’ kinda guy in other words.
    Right now we have the benefit of hindsight. But it seems to me, even if you were in Germany at the time and had your own problems to deal with, that the writing was on the wall, that what the Nazis were about was pretty clear.
    I’ve done reading on Germany and Hitler over the decades but over those same decades I had other worries. So maybe my understanding is wobbly.
    Montsegur lives in Germany and might have a different take on things. Mont how about it? How do you see it?

  92. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 2:07 pm #

    “Mussolini was among the founders of Italian Fascism, which included ultraconservative elements of nationalism, corporatism, national syndicalism, expansionism, social progress and anti-socialism in combination with censorship of subversives and state propaganda. In the years following his creation of the Fascist ideology, Mussolini influenced, or achieved admiration from, a wide variety of political figures.”
    Fascism is the logical extension of corporatism… does it matter if the state took over the corporations…. or if the corporations take over the state? The result is the same.
    The law expressly forbids the state from searching you without a warrant describing the place to be searched and Items to be seized… that all changes when you go to “work” for some reason…
    Then there is this…. lifted from the Huffington Post’s comment’s guidelines:
    “We also do not allow the promotion and propagation of conspiracy theories, including those about 9/11.”
    So much for free speech… Jim banned people for saying WTF to WTC7… because he is “allergic” to “conspiracies”… That’s fine, it’s his blog… but AOL is a publicly traded company… what’s their excuse?? (so much for free speech)
    The Westboro Baptist Church can say all kinds of vile things…. and the police protect them…. just try holding a sign outside the Republican/Democrat Conventions.. you get gassed and arrested. (so much for free speech)
    Fascism is a process… and if you don’t believe it is happening just get on a plane.
    There is a government employee there to search you without cause… and if you gripe you get arrested.
    We hold a higher percentage of our population in prison than any other nation on earth.. including North Korea.
    Big and little brother are always listening in… and using things like phone calls and texts as evidence….
    A 14 year old girl text-ed her boyfriend a picture of herself Au natural… and is now in prison for “distribution of child pornography” and must be a registered sex offender the rest of her life….
    Oh we’re well on our way to being fascist state alright, you just haven’t figured it out yet because you are a good german.

  93. k-dog March 14, 2011 at 2:09 pm #

    Moi,

    “First they came for the communists, but I was not a communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unions, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And then they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

    The quote is actually self-effacing, Dietrich was all about speaking out. Hitler personally ordered Bonhoeffer’s execution. Dietrich did not piss him off that much for being quiet.

  94. Desertrat March 14, 2011 at 2:10 pm #

    The debacles at the nuke plants offer the same proof as did Three Mile Island that a disaster inside a plant is a serious monetary loss, but not a public danger. But, it’s all very exciting and the media-doomers love the advertising revenue from blathering about it.

  95. Vlad Krandz March 14, 2011 at 2:10 pm #

    Events like this will show the intrinsic quality of a people. Port Au Prince will not be rebuilt – they didn’t build it, couldn’t have built it, and therefore wont rebuild it. The same goes for “chocolate” New Orleans – didn’t, couldn’t, and wont. The Japanese on the other hand, are one of the most organized and industrious peoples in the world. They will come back strong. Yes the Long Emergency will change them – but not destroy them. Their population is already dropping and they have not given way to immigration. They have some foreign workers, but true to type, they are in complete control of the process. Foreigners can’t “disappear” in Japan and then study to become pilots like they do here in America.

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  96. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 2:14 pm #

    “Douchbag” and “Fucking Retard”
    What thought provoking and quippy insults you hurl sir…. did you learn those from your mother? Or the marine platoon that had their way with her?

  97. Vlad Krandz March 14, 2011 at 2:20 pm #

    Ah yes, the glorious freedom of America where illegal aliens take millions of jobs and unemployed Americans lose their homes. Little bambino “Americans” earn their Mexican Moms the right to free housing and food – while homeless Americans have to go to soup kitchens.
    Yes, let’s pray that a Strong Man arises and puts an end to all this. To such a one we will owe our devotion and allegiance. Our current “Leaders” aren’t going to save us – they are tied in to special interests and only care about lining their pockets and getting re-elected.

  98. Niels March 14, 2011 at 2:20 pm #

    Comcast in Santa Rosa also gives us RT (Russia Today) on channel 103. It’s not as good as CNN but it is an alternative. I never watch Fox News, but they don’t have field reporters, do they?

  99. montsegur March 14, 2011 at 2:21 pm #

    Cash, my read of the situation is about the same as yours. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichschaltung discusses an important concept in this regard. The Wiki article does not really translate the term very well; I think its literal translation hits harder: “immediate switch(ing)” (of one’s political / ideological viewpoint)
    Well, according to the article, “immediate” was from ’33 to ’37, but the Gleichschaltung was pretty much the agenda and acts designed to get everyone on the same sheet of music.
    As to how obvious it was. I believe in towns of any size and larger, it would have been hard to miss the pace of change, violence by the SA, the Hitler Youth with their whistles they used to summon other HY to street rumbles, and so forth.
    Perhaps in the rural areas and villages it was possible to remain more disconnected and simply continue doing what one’s family had always done, but even so, rural Franconia was one of the strongest areas of early Nazi support in Germany.
    The same region turned into an area of significant resistance in 1945; Fritz’s “Endkampf” is a pretty hair-raising read about what the U.S. soldiers faced there and how the German villagers were trapped between wanting to surrender their towns (and keep the place intact) and the “fight to the last man” mentality of SS soldiers, flying courts-martials, and Nazi bureaucrats who feared what might happen to them in an Allied-occupied Germany.
    Cheers

  100. k-dog March 14, 2011 at 2:21 pm #

    What a concept. Does this mean that Mexican home-builders are SHOL and the Japanese people will use their own unemployed and disadvantaged to rebuild?

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  101. MarlinFive54 March 14, 2011 at 2:23 pm #

    S Empire, some pretty thoughtful and insightful posts today, ‘specially about free speech and nature of fascism!
    Carry on, Sir!
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    John Birch Unit
    New England Chapter

  102. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 2:25 pm #

    When I say “go” I mean in the ovens… the Nazis went after the trade unions, and commies first, true enough…. but they saved their worst for who they most wanted to blame….
    Our nation is getting around to granting gay rights a little late in the oil game…
    So when things fall apart there will be someone like Fred Phelps there to say “hey, we were doing just fine BEFORE Vermont gave gays the right to marry, and BEFORE we let them into the military… maybe the oil is too pricy because we made the mistake of the Romans and Greeks (tolerating homosexuality) and god has forsaken us… Let’s get back on god’s good side”
    That’s how it starts… that and a little test run on oppression laws in Uganda… The “Christian right” in this country is made up of very scary people… who are going to be more than happy to blame anyone but themselves for the worlds prediciment.

  103. cheesemoose March 14, 2011 at 2:26 pm #

    Each new catastrophe seems to give some people giant doom-boners: “Ah, proof that I was right! The world IS going to hell in a handbasket!” Look, I can understand why Jim can hardly contain his glee when disaster strikes – he staked out this turf a long time ago and book sales only go up as his cynicism becomes the conventional wisdom.
    But this Chicken Little rush to pile on as prophets of the apocalypse by every other blogging Cassandra on the web is unseemly. Americans are a can-do people. We are going to survive whatever’s thrown at us. You can take away our cars, our flat-screen tv’s, even our beloved Cheez Doodles – and guess what? We’re gonna make it.
    Doomers: Yay! You’re right! The world is ending! Now grab a shovel and start lending a hand. Nobody wants to lick your doom-boner.

  104. Cash March 14, 2011 at 2:30 pm #

    I would suggest that you have so many people in prison because you have mayhem, your youth are totally out of control, your families are destroyed, you have an absolutely gigantic level of drug use, violence and gun ownership.
    I’m not condemning, many of the ills the US suffers we suffer in Canada also. There are parts of town here where you dodge bullets at night.
    You’re right, fascism is a process but it isn’t a slow motion process either. There’s human nature to account for. The perps would have an end in mind that they would want to achieve in their lifetime. And Americans are nothing if not oriented to the very short term. Fascist leaders included.
    I’m not belittling your concerns. You should be on the lookout. But there’s fascism and there’s a sloppy, corrupt, crony-istic kleptocracy which is what the US looks like to me.
    Fascists are highly nationalist. I look at the corporate leaders from the US. And to me it seems that they look at one thing and that’s their own personal wealth. They carry around politicians and judges in their pockets like so many nickles and dimes (to use Godfather-speak). I don’t think they give the slightest shit about the USA. They will wreck it and bankrupt it if they think they can make money off of it. It’s the free market. Didn’t you know?

  105. montsegur March 14, 2011 at 2:32 pm #

    Cash stated: “I don’t think they give the slightest shit about the USA. They will wreck it and bankrupt it if they think they can make money off of it. It’s the free market.”
    =========================
    The ironic thing is how many people think we have to give the corporations breaks of one kind or another.
    Cheers

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  106. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 2:33 pm #

    My husband, whose last name is “Lopez” did two tours in Iraq to protect your right to drive an SUV…
    Maybe the Navajo need to deport your raciest ass back to marry old England, or Poland, or Spain or wherever the fuck you came from…. how about that?

  107. wagelaborer March 14, 2011 at 2:38 pm #

    Too late, Marlin, you’ve already outed yourself. You’ve heard left wing ideas before.
    And Ted Rall is too right wing for me.
    And I don’t kiss John Birchers.

  108. Tancred March 14, 2011 at 2:39 pm #

    Ah yes, the glorious freedom of America where illegal aliens take millions of jobs and unemployed Americans lose their homes. Little bambino “Americans” earn their Mexican Moms the right to free housing and food – while homeless Americans have to go to soup kitchens.
    Millions of jobs? Free housing and food? And have you seen the folks that use soup kitchens?
    All I know is that all the Hispanic folks that live near me work hard, pay rent, and hardly ever go to soup kitchens. I used to work in Section 8; believe me, Hispanics are not the huge problem you imply. And what do you mean by “their” homes. Those people never owned those homes, so they never were “their” homes in the first place. Home “ownership” today is just a racket, that takes advantage of the ignorant and gullible…kinda like the lottery here in Georgia.

  109. Neil Kearns March 14, 2011 at 2:42 pm #

    Why do we like the confirmation that ShitsHTF? For me I think that a very basic part of me has a problem with the ever increasing complexity that day to day life requires. Hobos and others that choose radical simplification do so out of bravery of the consequences, but most others are not willing to take the risks even though the “grass is greener” longing of human nature tells us that simpler is good. If Rome burns, it’s not our fault- we did what we were supposed to with the mortgage and insurance but now we get relieved of that. Of course, we will be saddled with more different burdens and hazards, but the ever valiant subconcious mind scoffs at adversity and risk.
    I did some work at the local jail a while back, and I’m pretty sure I got a glimpse of “peak imprisonment” or “the peak of humane imprisonment”
    In the span of a month, food was cut back about 30% (to $1.75/meal) Shavers were to be used 5 times before replacement, art paper was discontinued, only one guard on staff where 2 used to be standard, temperatures were dropped 3 degrees, haircuts were only 2x per month. May seem like they got it pretty good there, but those were standard conditions for decades. Budget shortfalls meet ever widening nets of law enforcement.

  110. MarlinFive54 March 14, 2011 at 2:42 pm #

    Comrade Wagelaborer;
    I get the impression that even Chairman Mao is to right wing for you!
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    John Birch Unit
    New England Chapter

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  111. peakhaiku March 14, 2011 at 2:43 pm #

    just an acronym
    find one for the savage man
    time to use your pen

  112. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 2:50 pm #

    I would suggest that we have an intentional high level of drug use… one that has only gotten worse with the “war on drugs”… which, like Vietnam is designed purposely to be FOUGHT.. not to be WON… a proper “war on drugs” would never be called a “war” at all….
    … it would be dealt with by providing opportunities that don’t involve selling crack to acquire “bling”…. by providing treatment over incarceration… it would involve not sending mixed messages..
    ie: “Just say no” followed by “Ask your doctor if Levitra, Boniva, Lattice, Yaz, Caduet, and a thousand other drugs are right for you”
    A non Fascist country would put it’s prison system to use when Goldman Sachs wrecked the economy (instead we focused on Martha Stewart, and Bernie Madoff, who while criminal, were very very small, but high profile, fish in the pond of financial malthusians (sp? my spell check can even correct the prescription misspellings, but cannot make up for my lack of vocabulary).
    A non-Fascist socitey would do things a lot differently than we do…. go five miles over the speed limit in New York State sometime… it gets your car searched for drugs for some reason!

  113. Vlad Krandz March 14, 2011 at 2:51 pm #

    As Justice Holmes once said, a Nation is not a suicide pact. Just like the body has white blood cells as a defense mechanism, a Nation has the right to defend itself against all things which threaten the social body. If your revolution happened, it would be no different. The new body would develop an even more virulent immune system to purge the detrius of the old order. The Bolsheviks purged the Menshaviks. Which are you btw?

  114. Cash March 14, 2011 at 2:53 pm #

    It boggles my mind too. Corporate arrogance blows my mind.
    Just a short anecdote. Back in the late 1990s two huge banks, Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal wanted to merge. It needed federal govt approval and the two main guys at the time – Prime Miniter Jean Chretien and Finance Minister Paul Martin – said forget it. One problem was the CEOs were so in love with themselves they forgot to tell Jean and Paul about the merger before they made a public announcement – an end run so to speak.
    Fast forward to 2002. Bank of Montreal and Bank of Nova Scotia want to merge. Guess what they did? They tried to do an end run around – you guessed it – Jean Chretien and Paul Martin. Jean and Paul got pissed again and put a knife in that merger too.
    I do not understand these CEOs. Two huge banks. If they didn’t have the political moxie in their boardrooms you’d think they’d be able to afford the legal advice that would tell them to be very careful around Paul and Jean seeing as this was tried a few years before and failed spectularly and embarrassingly. But no.

  115. lsjogren March 14, 2011 at 2:53 pm #

    JHK’s weekly essay struck me as remarkably restrained.
    Here we have an event for which the mainstream view is that it is apocalyptic.
    What really scares me the most is that the whole developed world has shot its wad during relatively prosperous times, and is now feverishly digging itself into a deeper fiscal hole in order to prop up the remnants of prosperity.
    It would seem that even in the ABSENCE of any big manmade or natural disasters around the world that countries like the US are facing a major decline.
    Throw in any major disasters and the situation gets even more dire.
    I wouldn’t be surprised if we see within the next couple decades some major disasters in the developed world where the nations experiencing those disasters find themselves UNABLE TO RECOVER.
    For example a hurricane in Florida where major cities like Miami are simply evacuated and never rebuilt. I guess that happened to some degree in New Orleans, but I think we are going to see that to a much greater degree.
    Of course, we will then have millions of refugees from depopulated parts of the US moving to the areas that remain relatively intact, which is liable to jack the unemployment rate from the current 15 or so percent to 30-40%.

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  116. lsjogren March 14, 2011 at 2:56 pm #

    Probably time to dredge up some of the classic eco apocalypse movies of the 70s.
    We are headed to a world where we have some incredibly advanced personal gizmos, while living in slums drinking contaminated water and eating manure sandwiches.

  117. Vlad Krandz March 14, 2011 at 2:56 pm #

    Ha, Ha, H., Let them try. They lost and lost badly. Btw, the Indians are terrified of the Reconquista. The Mexicans treated them worse than we did. Some of the Minutemen are full blooded Indians. I mean why don’t you take a breath and actually think. Their treaties are with us and not Mexico. There is no reason to imagine the Mexicans will honor them.

  118. Cash March 14, 2011 at 3:03 pm #

    Oh I agree Goldman Sachs should be history and their execs and traders would be festering in prisons and taking dancing lessons in the showers with 300 lb bikers and tattooed white supremacists. And their many alumni that infest the corridors of power including our central bank here in Canada would be told to hit the road if I had my way.

  119. Vlad Krandz March 14, 2011 at 3:05 pm #

    SHOL? Shit Out of Luck? Why would Mexicans need to build homes when we just give them homes? It’s true that two weeks after Katrina thousands of Mexicans converged on New Orleans – and all the White and Black guys who had begun the cleanup where promptly fired in their favor. No checking of green cards or citizenship whatsoever. Absolutely amazing. Until we start discriminating in favor of our own, we cannot have any prospect of happiness and prosperity as a Nation.

  120. JonathanSS March 14, 2011 at 3:07 pm #

    You sure have a lot of time on your hands as you elaborated on my post from a few days ago. It’s humorous, though.
    If the life of an accountant is said to be boring, what does that make the life of a retired accountant?

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  121. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 3:10 pm #

    You are missing the Glenn Beck show dude.
    You better be careful, the A-rabs, and the Mexicans are planning to come take away your guns and they are going to use the United Nations to lock you in a FEMA camp… better go out and buy some more guns buddy…. you gotta lot of fighting to do (better go through the Krispy Kreeme drive through and stock up while you are at it)
    I hope you can strap a rocket launcher on your Hoveround… the Mexicans are coming…it’s doom I tells ya… DOOOOOM!
    All the Mexicans and Blacks gettin rich off the Welfare!!!! But your gonna show them aren’t you Randy Weaver? How DARE they need assistance from time to time… and not just a few who need it neither…NOOOOO ALL OF THEM are stealing your tax dollars…. OHHH NOOOOOOO!
    Let me know when you go off the boil so that I can tune into CBS to see if you cook up the same way David Koresh did.

  122. asoka March 14, 2011 at 3:11 pm #

    Montsegur said: “Ah, enjoying a beautiful sunset at the moment. Pink and bluish clouds. Free,low-energy entertainment for a simple mind, I suppose. Cheers”
    ==============
    I think you have, perhaps inadvertently, answered WiseWebWoman’s question: “Are we better off knowing or not knowing of the reality that surrounds us?”
    Montsegur, you have made the most refreshing post of the day.
    Is what we think we know really “reality”? Is the nightmare worth worrying about once you wake up?
    A different perspective:
    http://www.kktanhp.com/advaita.htm
    Advaita provides a bigger picture… and a lot more peace and joy.
    Thank you, Montsegur, for sharing that free, low-energy sunset. May you have many more.

  123. SeaYoung March 14, 2011 at 3:35 pm #

    Jim,
    Thank for your on-going commentary as we experience and continue to watch The Long Emergency unfold. How many authors get to see their screen-play adaption play out in real life?
    I don’t know how long the movie lasts, but I do know how it ends….

  124. Bustin J March 14, 2011 at 3:52 pm #

    Burning concepts from yesterday’s column:
    Vlad said, on Panspermia theory: “Scientifically, perhaps they are assuming that conditions elsewhere in the Cosmos are more favorable for the creation of life. But on what grounds do they make this assumption?”
    I don’t know. Perhaps they were smoking last decade’s stash and it was such good shit they concluded Panspermia was possible. I think that there are many theories, and thus many cans being kicked down many divergent roads. Currently, the the road has run out for the majority of theories. Only one can is really getting kicked down the road, and that is the RNA world theory. Panspermia will put points on the board if and when we find some evidence of extraterrestrial RNA, alien endospores, and some plausible delivery system. In which case there may be a merging of RNA world and Panspermia. Scientists certainly expect, if life is ever found in the universe, a similarly-constructed molecular basis, since the dynamics of atomic nuclei are the same from one end of the universe to the other.
    JackieBlu said “That is what our schools do, dumb down the kids.”
    But how! See trailer for The Race To Nowhere: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYwjgfcq_iY&feature=player_embedded
    I agree with Derrick Jensen that in order to damage their own children, parents must be damaged. Our society is sick.
    I am not impressed with most of the parents I meet. For one thing, most are single mothers. None of these pregnancies were planned. The fathers are completely disposable. The family unit, replaced by a pastiche of social services and other women who fulfill the desire to associate with children. There is no savings account for the kid’s college tuition. There are no rich experiences, threads of knowledge passed on between the young adult with no life experience or wisdom, and the child.
    The latest research shows marriage strong only in college graduates. Outside that, the stats are descending. The lower class no longer stays together. This is having a terrible effect on the kids and the parents. But this is not new news.

  125. Cash March 14, 2011 at 3:55 pm #

    No doubt you’re right, hispanics work hard, pay their bills etc. No doubt also that if I was Mexican I’d take a shot at making a run across the border. It’s like that Roman Catholic Cardinal from South America said, when Americans talk about poverty it’s in a different language than in South America ie the level of misery in the US is nothing like that in S. America (or Mexico for that matter).
    So once I saw a group of Canucks talking about the vile attitude of many Americans towards Mexican illegals. So one guy said something to the effect that the US has 10 to 20 million illegals that came over the Mexican border, so what if 1 to 2 million came across into Canada (we have 10% the US population), what would we be facing. It was enlightening to see the looks on the faces of the oh so liberal American hating Canucks.

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  126. MarlinFive54 March 14, 2011 at 4:20 pm #

    Whoa there, SEmpire. Let’s not be talking ’bout people getting cooked up ‘like David Koresh’. Don’t forget, alot of little kids got ‘cooked up’ in that fire, too. I know you didn’t mean it.
    Here it is only Mon. afternoon and, in CFN land, everybody is already pissed at everybody else. Truth is, this petty internecine squabbling doesn’t get us anywhere.
    What we sorely lack here is a sense of humor. We need too laugh a little bit as the world boils up around us. Example: I asked Comrade Wagelaborer for a big kiss (Metaphorically speaking). She wasn’t amused at all and slapped me down heartily. Not at all.
    Are there any professional comedy writers out there in CFN land? If so we could use your services pronto.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    John Birch Unit
    New England Chapter

  127. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown March 14, 2011 at 4:22 pm #

    Yeah, need a sense of humor. Keep on laughing.

  128. anotherplayaguy March 14, 2011 at 4:35 pm #

    “Yes, let’s pray that a Strong Man arises and puts an end to all this. To such a one we will owe our devotion and allegiance.”
    A) Prayer doesn’t work.
    B) What an idiotic prayer. Does the name Hitler mean anything? Mussolini? Papa Doc? Stalin? Mao? Etc?
    C) It’s good to see the real colors of some people are surfacing.

  129. lbendet March 14, 2011 at 4:42 pm #

    If that’s what you want, you might try by not calling Wage, who is a progressive “comrade”. That’s a good start, I think.

  130. edpell March 14, 2011 at 4:43 pm #

    “no fly zone”
    The US general have been going out of their way to remind the public of US military doctrine for “no fly zones”. To them it means all planes are destroyed. All air fields are destroyed. All anti aircraft weapons and sensors are destroyed. They are destroyed by the best means available including aerial bombardment, naval bombardment, and special operations land based forces. Since Libya naval vessels have anti aircraft weapons they will all be destroyed many of their sailors will die in the process. The professors at various schools (Princeton included) remind us this is an act of war and a violation of international law without UN sanction. Let us remember the military kills people and destroys things it is NOT a police force with bigger guns. They are professional killers.

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  131. lpat March 14, 2011 at 4:48 pm #

    I watched a lot of CNN for the 1st time in a long time. I was watching to find out about the nuclear plants. There’s no way to react to the scale of the human tragedy. That’s what apocolypse looks like, like the gods have scraped the earth and tossed it into a shredder.
    Interesting watching the tension between the grab for ratings–nuclear disaster!! meltdown!!–and the desire to downplay the danger so we don’t deflate the coming round of new plants before it gets started. US Rep Ed Markey (?) called for moritorium on building. Soledad O’Brien interviewed him and basically gave him heck. There’s problems with all forms of energy, mine cave-ins, natgas fracking making faucets burn, &c.
    I saw a commercial for petroleum and natural gas for heaven’s sake! Wow. And one just for natural gas.
    The light is dawning. People, a few, are slowly beginning to admit to themselves what’s going on.
    As of this moment Japan has flooded with seawater–that is, completely destroyed for future use–2–or is it 3–reactors.
    And probably one hundred thousand souls have been snuffed out.

  132. Phutatorius March 14, 2011 at 4:54 pm #

    Those reactors were built in the 1970s and were nearing the end of their 40 year design-life anyway. Even if they were brand new, their loss would be the least of the tragedy there. Probably one hundred thousand snuffed out, as you say.

  133. Vlad Krandz March 14, 2011 at 4:55 pm #

    Have you read “Civil War 2” by Tom Chittum, Ex-Marine? He says America and perhaps Canada are slated to break up into different Nations. You folks in Western Ma and Connecticut will probably be part of New Jerusalem which will strech down the Coast from Boston to Georgia or so. Northern New England may go with the Maritimes of Cananda and do their own thing – or perhaps join with Upstate New York and part of the Midwest.

  134. Vlad Krandz March 14, 2011 at 5:02 pm #

    That’s right, we don’t want you anymore than you want us. There’s no reason we should be living in the same country. You can live in Aztlan with your hubby. Don’t bother trying to immigrate back into the new America. By that point, Whites will finally have learned.

  135. Vlad Krandz March 14, 2011 at 5:05 pm #

    That’s right. White and Proud, yo. White and Proud.

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  136. mow March 14, 2011 at 5:09 pm #

    is Japan still considered an occupied nation ?

  137. ozone March 14, 2011 at 5:15 pm #

    Pretty weird eh, APG?
    My vision of a hell on earth would be someplace that self-impressed pricks like venereal kondition and his butt-buddies had ultimate kontrol. We’ve seen his version of utopia/suicide already; it didn’t work out too well did it? (Perhaps it wasn’t done with enough idealogical “purity”? Yeah, that’s it.)
    “It’s ugly and it’s clear; a mind’s a nasty thing to lose…”

  138. orionoir March 14, 2011 at 5:29 pm #

    {What (or who) is it that certifies a leader as a maniac?}
    ——-
    the same question occurs to me — after all, for a maniac he’s not doing so badly for himself. kind of makes me wonder if charlie sheen similarly won’t come out ahead in his contract negotiations…

  139. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 5:33 pm #

    Didn’t say there weren’t kids involved in Waco… and that is very tragic.
    And I am sure that by stockpiling guns in amounts that made the ATF nervous David Koresh thought he was keeping his kids safe…. but here’s the thing, at the end of the day they ended up being so much fodder for government cannons…. because their daddy was going to keep them “safe” from the government by stockpiling guns…. it didn’t work out that way.
    The American government is hyper violent… they consistently overreact and over reach…. when they think you are doing something wrong, they don’t knock and serve a warrant… they bust down the door and point guns at any human or canine in the room… and shoot those that move.
    When you watch the show “Cops” and it is filmed with ANY American police department, the cops they ride with constantly talk about “getting the bad guys”…. they are the “good” guys, and everybody else might be a “bad guy”….
    When the same show is filmed in ANY city in Canada… the cops talk about “good people who made bad choices”…. or just “people who made bad choices”…. Not “BAD PEOPLE”….but rather, “BAD CHOICES”…. it shows an incredible difference in how more civilised countries conduct police work…
    I feel sorry for all the kids caught up in Waco… but their parents acted in a way that allowed the police to label them as “bad guys”… and the rest is history.
    and as for Vald
    “That’s right. White and Proud, yo. White and Proud.”
    YO? YO? You be talkin like Micheal Steele Bibble shinnible homie!!!
    You don’t sound very proud to be white to me… sound like you proud to be black “yo”…. what’s the matter? Is “neat-o” and “gee willikers” not thugie enough for you homie?

  140. Jagger March 14, 2011 at 5:45 pm #

    —–Events like this will show the intrinsic quality of a people. Port Au Prince will not be rebuilt – they didn’t build it, couldn’t have built it, and therefore wont rebuild it. The same goes for “chocolate” New Orleans – didn’t, couldn’t, and wont. —–
    If you have money, you rebuild. If you don’t have money, you don’t rebuild. Reminds me of that old rationation, “The Israelis made the desert bloom when the Palestinians did nothing with it”, so the Israelis deserve the desert. Well yes, the Israelis had money to convert the desert and the Palestinians did not. Same thing in New Orleans. Those with money or insurance rebuilt and those without did not.
    So if you measure the quality of people by money, you will fit in well with racist economists. If you don’t, you are a human being.

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  141. wagelaborer March 14, 2011 at 5:47 pm #

    I don’t know why you call me comrade.
    Comrade is a gender neutral term of respect and solidarity with another person who shares your beliefs and activities.
    I am not your comrade, nor are you mine.
    Yours would be the “in-arms” type, the ones with which you killed children and livestock and burned down huts and crops.
    Kindly refrain from addressing me as comrade anymore.

  142. John Minehan March 14, 2011 at 5:50 pm #

    A few thoughts come to mind:
    —there goes the first island chain; Japan is not going to contest China’s expansion as it seemed disposed;
    —given the energy issue and Japan’s debt which is 200% of GDP, a lot isn’t going to be rebuilt;
    —which means China is poised to advance it’s economic interests;
    —Chinese have more money, at least some of which winds up proping up US debt;
    —Nuke plants actually work fairly well; these are 40 years old, went through both hell and highwater and the containment vessels probably hold; and
    —we will need to actually start building more state-of -the art Nuke Plants.

  143. Qshtik March 14, 2011 at 5:52 pm #

    Hey Jerry, you told us you were shutting down your blog but it’s still there. We are soooo disappointed.

  144. k-dog March 14, 2011 at 5:52 pm #

    “There is not an acre of ground on the globe that is in possession of its rightful owner, or that has not been taken away from owner after owner, cycle after cycle, by force and bloodshed.”
    Mark Twain

  145. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 5:53 pm #

    If I had a million liquid I would be out of here in a shot… and not to some mythical place in Iran either… try the Netherlands… but because I am an American and don’t have a million euros (liquid) and don’t have an advanced degree, and don’t speak write or read Dutch.. my chances of going “as is” is slim to none… they won’t take me as a “refugee” because running away from stupid douchebags doesn’t count for some reason…
    And you know what? YOU…sit there and want me to leave in one hand.. and shit in the other…. see which one fills up faster
    Besides that if I wait long enough Janet Nepolitano or Tom Ridge or Janet Reno will come along and strap you down to a gurney for killing a armored guard while trying to finance your revolution…. and I won’t have a Monday morning hobby of whipping you and Tootsie into a foaming “fucktard” frenzy anymore…

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  146. lpat March 14, 2011 at 5:55 pm #

    Thanks. That brings up other questions. If the reactors were brand-new, would Japan have done differently to try to salvage them? What the heck do you do with the pieces of a decommissioned reactor? Are there reactors that have already been through this process?
    I’m betting the PTB find reasons for tut-tutting the problems.

  147. San Jose Mom 51 March 14, 2011 at 5:56 pm #

    Please Vlad,
    Give us a break on the white race stuff.
    SJmom

  148. k-dog March 14, 2011 at 5:58 pm #

    Somebody calls me ‘comrade’ I’ll be taking it as a compliment. Not disagreeing with your point of view, just sayin.

  149. Großdeutschland March 14, 2011 at 6:06 pm #

    Shwhatever, Dude. If your response to being caught spewing a bunch of BS is to crack a rather lame mother insult at a screenname on the internet, then you probably have too much time on your hands and you don’t realize you need to study up somewhere else. Because your line of thinking is not getting you anywhere.

  150. wagelaborer March 14, 2011 at 6:08 pm #

    He doesn’t mean it as an expression of solidarity, he means it as an insult.

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  151. Islander800 March 14, 2011 at 6:13 pm #

    Jim, I have been following your blog for a while and it’s the first site I check out every Monday. Having read many of your books, I guess you could say I’m a fan.
    I absolutely agree with you that there are “57 channels and nothin’ on” (thanks, Bruce) as far as U.S. cable is concerned. Here in Canada, I’ve been glued to BBC World News, both for news of the ME and NA and now the catastrophe in Japan. The breadth and depth of their coverage is unsurpassed. Is it not available on U.S. cable? They put CNN to shame, so I feel for you when you say it’s the only intelligent source in America. I also followed the ME/NA situation on Al Jazera by internet and must say, when viewed with an open mind, their coverage was excellent. Since we at least have the option of subscribing to it on our cable (unlike most of the U.S.)I am considering adding it to my channel selection…..

  152. Qshtik March 14, 2011 at 6:38 pm #

    water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.
    =============
    water water everywhere nor any drop to drink. — The Rhyme (or Rime) of the Ancient Mariner

  153. Norman Conquest March 14, 2011 at 6:48 pm #

    We should watch the Japanese people’s response to this catastrophe very closely. As one of the most highly civilized nations on Earth, we should have much to learn from them.

  154. progressorconserve March 14, 2011 at 6:54 pm #

    Nice weeks work, JHK. I admire the way you manage, every week, to find at least one or two things that could lead to environmental disaster, or economic disaster, or societal disaster – or some combination or permutation of a subset of other disasters.
    You certainly have not been lacking for topics for the past few weeks, have you!
    Here’s one that everyone seems to have missed, in Japan. Apparently the Germans decided to seal their nuclear waste in solid impervious casks decades ago.
    The Japanese, however, – following the American model – have stored their high-level nuclear waste in water filled “containment ponds.” Well, these “ponds” need protection and a flow of cooling water for DECADES.
    What bureaucrat, politician, or engineer could have EVER signed off on this as a good idea?
    There are up to 100 of these cooling ponds in the US – just waiting for the electrical grid to fail and the supply of diesel for the back up generators to go missing.
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-14/japan-nuclear-meltdown-fears-spent-fuel-could-pose-new-danger/

  155. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 7:01 pm #

    “A bunch of BS”
    What BS do you refer to sir? All American television news networks are worthless… ALL OF THEM…. I watch AJE or CBC when I need real news… if I want fake boobs and spinning “alert” logos in the corner with full on Republican bullshit… Fox “news” will do… If I want some fake “liberal” who is embedded with the troops as they march for war I will watch MSNBC… If I want the “USA today version” of the “news” (think weekly reader for adults) I will either open the hotel door and grab the USA Today in the hall… or watch the CBS, NBC OR ABC evening news…it is all very selectively edited to elicit a precise response… most often by which stories are covered, as well as how.
    The CBS Evening News has wasted plenty of time on OJ, Jonbenet Ramsey, Martha Stewart, Bristol Palin, Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, Natalee Holloway… PLEANTY OF TIME!!!!!
    If your response to being caught defending the indefensible is to call someone a “douche-bag” expect that they might drag your mother into it… especially since you are not sitting here in front of me… and maybe even if you were.

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  156. Bustin J March 14, 2011 at 7:10 pm #

    PoC said, “In my area, the truth of Evolution doesn’t even achieve parity with the doctrine of Creation.
    I still have to coexist with all those people and their Judeochristian Faith. I have to do politics with them and work with them. If push ever comes to shove – I will rely on them, and they on me.”
    I understand that. That is everyone’s unfortunate reality. Why unfortunate?
    Faith is something that must be mightily maintained. Daily, weekly, forever. In the coming era of privations and tribulations, individuals’ faith being tested will mean that people tending toward the supernatural and illogical will be put under increasing emotional and psychic stress.
    Consider the atheist in the foxhole next to you. In his world, things happen for concrete reasons. He does not need to continually support a “faith”. Thus, when shit hits the fan, a normal depression ensues. Causality is not thrown into question. When shit hits the god-believer, a META-normal depression ensues. Faith is shaken, world-view is shaken, and frankly, depending on the mental infrastructure involved, may or may not be able to climb out of this hole. After all, if God exists, angels, devils, the whole crew of beings causing things to happen could certainly exist.
    Dmitry Orlov talks about the Russian’s experience with collapse and refers to their capacity to deal with reality that he doesn’t see in America. It could be precisely because we have a 90% expression of religious belief in the general population. JHK frequently bangs on about how we seem unable to comprehend reality or deal with it.
    Fantastical thinking, ignorance of causation, delusion, etc. are all on a continuum with religious thought! There is a spectrum to this: two people stand side by side in a congregation, and talk about faith and spirit. For one, it is gilt on life’s profane exterior. For the other, it is a total proscription of perceptional reality. Each speak in terms the other understands, but because of the subjective nature of the subject, they inherently mean different things.
    It really is impossible to know which way the cookie crumbles when the religious mind is stressed. Which is why I don’t associate closely with, or trust, anyone with religious convictions. Religious people are as crazy and unpredictably treacherous as any inmate of the asylum. “God” could appear at any time, snap his fingers, and cause Little Bo Peep to put their baby in the oven, just because He was in an Old Testament mood.
    Reviewing the vile comments spewn out over Youtube of late on the Japanese Tsunami I find, over and over again, this concept that God punishes people through the workings of natural disasters. This is an entirely reasonable conclusion if god-belief is the premise. It is infectious across the belief spectrum.
    I pick up a New Age screed from the health food store. In it they claim that Cancer sufferers need to buck up and think positive. A new-age twist. Same reasoning, different fantastical premise.
    Likewise, find yourself on the wrong side of Karma by some normal “Shit happens” pathway: most people agree with this logic. People everywhere are inflicted with a disgust and abhorrence of sickness, illness, misfortune, bad luck, and so on. Expect supernatural doses of suspicion when you reach out to your religious allies in dire times.

  157. ramashiva March 14, 2011 at 7:17 pm #

    “First they came for the communists, but I was not a communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unions, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And then they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
    That is a serious misattribution. That statement is attributed to Martin Niemöller.

  158. Smokyjoe March 14, 2011 at 7:19 pm #

    Pick your answer:
    1) Shapely female celebs famous for being famous (ain’t that the def. of “celeb”?)
    2) Misspelling of “The Cardassians”: predatory race from Star Trek famous for bone-ridges on their heads and their diet of hot fish-juice for breakfast.
    Either way, who cares?

  159. Preparation-oucH March 14, 2011 at 7:19 pm #

    iMac, iPhone, iPad……
    everyone needs to be thinking about getting an iWoodstove.

  160. AMR March 14, 2011 at 7:26 pm #

    Some of the people in American prisons need to be incarcerated because they’re truly violent or dangerous, but a great many have been swept up in the war on drugs and other pet projects of authoritarian sociopaths. That’s why we have one of the world’s highest incarceration rates. It’s not that we’re so much more violent than other nations. It’s that our criminal justice apparatus and its abettors in the mass media are evil.
    The furor over sex offenders is the latest unwelcome eruption of Puritanism. The first sex offender registries were started in response to a few high-profile, one-off murders of young girls by ex-cons. These cases were certainly tragic for the girls and their families, but the response was hysterical because the girls were white, photogenic and from sheltered suburban neighborhoods. Violent crime rates were dropping when most of these registries were implemented, but you wouldn’t know it to listen to the grandstanding from activists, politicians, and their stooges in the media. The result in some states has been that a tool explicitly designed to prevent recidivism by murderous pedophiles is now ensnaring people who urinated in public and horny teens who privately sent nude pictures of themselves to their peers.
    It’s The Scarlet Letter all over again, but without the public confession of Rev. Dimmesdale. The people leading us on these social wedge issues are really sick puppies. I, for one, will give thanks if the creep Chris Hansen ever walks into one of his own stings. Bastards like him need to lose credibility so that the rest of us are less liable to malicious prosecution for victimless crimes.

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  161. The Mook March 14, 2011 at 7:29 pm #

    iHavetwo.

  162. Puzzler March 14, 2011 at 7:38 pm #

    For a little perspective besides the hype on TV:
    Read the whole thing from MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering:
    http://mitnse.com/
    “Why I am not worried about Japan’s nuclear reactors.”
    by Dr Josef Oehmen, MIT
    “(If you read this)…you will know more about nuclear power plants after reading it than all journalists on this planet put together.
    There was and will *not* be any significant release of radioactivity.”
    By “significant” I mean a level of radiation of more than what you would receive on – say – a long distance flight, or drinking a glass of beer that comes from certain areas with high levels of natural background radiation.”
    I have been reading every news release on the incident since the earthquake. There has not been one single (!) report that was accurate and free of errors (and part of that problem is also a weakness in the Japanese crisis communication). By “not free of errors” I do not refer to tendentious anti-nuclear journalism – that is quite normal these days. By “not free of errors” I mean blatant errors regarding physics and natural law, as well as gross misinterpretation of facts, due to an obvious lack of fundamental and basic understanding of the way nuclear reactors are build and operated. I have read a 3 page report on CNN where every single paragraph contained an error.”

  163. asoka March 14, 2011 at 7:40 pm #

    Tokyo Electric to Build US Nuclear Plants: The No BS Info on Japan’s Disastrous Nuclear Operators
    http://bit.ly/gYj2Ht

  164. Vlad Krandz March 14, 2011 at 7:41 pm #

    Why are you so ashamed? They aren’t ashamed to be what they are. If your Christianity or Buddhism can’t help you in this, then they have failed you. This person hates Whites even though she is White, but you criticize me and not her. What is wrong with you? Btw, you are well behind enemy lines – perhaps that explains it – DENIAL.

  165. progressorconserve March 14, 2011 at 7:48 pm #

    Wow, Bustin – you type with great rapidity.
    I post at 6:54 and you have your massive missive posted for me at 7:10.
    Methinks, you were perhaps waiting for my moniker to appear, for you to post something you had prepared ahead of time related to last weeks brawl – Atheism vs Religion.
    No matter – just take it as a compliment, guy.
    Let the record show that I am not posting about religion or race as of yet this week. There’s enough mayhem in the world that those topics should be able to wait ’till at least mid-week on CFN.
    I’ll try to hit you with something Wednesday – “Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise,” as my religious forebears always taught me to acknowledge – in other words, they also acknowledged – “sh*t happens,” in everyone’s world.
    So – maybe I’ve already answered your question.

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  166. ozone March 14, 2011 at 7:58 pm #

    —Nuke plants actually work fairly well; these are 40 years old, went through both hell and highwater and the containment vessels probably hold; and
    —we will need to actually start building more state-of -the art Nuke Plants. -J.M.
    ——————————————–
    Okay then, John, but you might want to take a short peek at this first (if you care whether your kids live or die, that is). If no one is around to plug in their i-pod…. (etc.)
    http://www.gregpalast.com/no-bs-info-on-japan-nuclearobama-invites-tokyo-electric-to-build-us-nukes-with-taxpayer-funds/#more-4497

  167. newworld March 14, 2011 at 8:05 pm #

    You want to run to a white country with a muslim minority that wants to destroy it and replace it with what they fled from. Nothing more confused than a white liberal with issues of racial hatred of themself.
    Just move to Canada, but be forewarned on the downslope of the LE half of the Democratic coalition will be “Wanting what them crackas in Canada have.”

  168. helen highwater March 14, 2011 at 8:06 pm #

    I guess nobody ever taught you the concept of respect for other people. Too bad.

  169. helen highwater March 14, 2011 at 8:13 pm #

    Picky little grammar and spelling issues will be another one of those things that we really aren’t going to care much about during the trials to come.

  170. AMR March 14, 2011 at 8:15 pm #

    There are occasionally bright spots on “Cops,” but you’re right about the usual worldview on that show. It’s a disgrace. A lot of the officers shadowed are openly contemptuous of due process and basic procedure, and some of them are openly violent. Internal affairs officers should be all over “Cops” footage shot in their departments, but as far as I know they aren’t.
    One problem is that many agencies do not enforce basic standards of conduct for their officers. They give the paramilitary culture of police agencies a bad name by using it as a license for criminal rampages. They ignore the positive aspects of paramilitary culture: the discipline, accountability, uniform standards, and so forth. Commanders in a functioning paramilitary apparatus are not afraid to tell their subordinates, “You are officers of the law and are expected to act accordingly. If you make honest mistakes but work with us to correct them, we’ll work with you. If you are contemptuous of your duties, we’ll kick your ass to the curb where it belongs.”
    That was the culture I found when I applied to the San Diego Police Department, although he recruiters had more polished but equally scary ways of telling us that they would gladly kick our asses to the curb if the need arose. It was heavier shit than I was really able to handle, so it’s just as well that I was rejected. My point is that there’s a huge difference between that sort of paramilitary culture and jackbooted thuggery. The former makes sure that successful recruits are disciplined, competent and generally mature. As far as the latter is concerned, I’ll paraphrase Sgt. Van Abel: “Frankly, that’s disgraceful.”

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  171. scott March 14, 2011 at 8:16 pm #

    [QUOTE] All they have to do over at the Fed is roll over the maturing securities they hold and take the money and buy more securities! In other words we now have at our disposal a perpetual motion money-generating engine[/QUOTE]
    “They” would have “us” believe the world is powered by money rather than energy and it’s hard to argue with the past 150 years of persistent economic growth. “They” would also have “us” believe the past 150 years of persistent economic growth which is an anomoly in contrast to the rest of human civilization is entirely attributable to our greater understanding of economics. Nevermind the correlation between the past 150 years of persistent economic growth and the coincidental appearance of abundant, high energy dense supplies of crude oil, natural gas and coal.
    We will be terraforming planets and mining the moon once it’s, “economical” to do so according to those smart enough to understand economics–it’s just a matter of the crude oil price getting high enough to make it “profitable”.
    Bankers have always lent out more than what was in their vaults, it’s the nature of the beast. Having the past 150 years of confidence behind them doesn’t hurt their cause. When this batch of moneymakers eventually lose the worlds confidence just like bankers always have in the past, it will be awhile before anyone trusts “money” again.

  172. ozone March 14, 2011 at 8:19 pm #

    Oops! Sorry; didn’t see your link before I posted same. (I suppose it does bear repeating though. ;o)

  173. trundlingbyandjustsaying March 14, 2011 at 8:27 pm #

    Very, very sad situation in Japan. They are going make it through it. New and improved. I remember listening to your podcasts in Tokyo. They were pretty doomer, but I got the humor. When I returned to the States, I saw how backwards we are for the first time. It looked the same as 1995- at least 15 years behind in other words, a generation, maybe much, much more. If you take away the cell phones, personal electronics, the web that make us feel like tiny aristocrats, you don’t see much innovation at the pedestrian level. And it mostly isn’t a nice place to look at. I loved riding a bike or walking as most do in Tokyo. They really are far, far ahead of us as far as trains, architecture and urban design. Yes, it’s crowded, they have problems, but for a city with that many people it’s amazingly clean, quiet and very organized. Also a visual stunning place, and the only city I’d ever consider settling in permanently. I miss it a lot and plan to be an ex-pat there again soon. It feels like there are too many propagandist here, a disgusting wealth disparity, and it’s just not sugoi. My heart is there with you Japan. I hope to make a home there again. Ganbatte. Peace and love to everyone touched by these recent events.

  174. helen highwater March 14, 2011 at 8:29 pm #

    Glad to see you are aware of the real reason your husband was in Iraq.

  175. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 8:31 pm #

    I am damn close to Canada… my attempt to move there found me just four points short of the required number for entery…. I need to become fluent in French, and get a college degree, or have about $750,000 liquid to enter…. doesn’t seem likely either way.
    But Vermont works just fine for now… if I make a fortune I will be off to Europe..

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  176. ozone March 14, 2011 at 8:31 pm #

    Scott,
    Nice summation of the illusory vs. reality!
    (…and a carefully manufactured illusion at that.)
    Ya s’pose there’s a reason “they” want us to believe in money rather than energy/labor? I’m thinking it’s a pretty god-damn easy way to make a luxurious living out of [what turns out to be] NOTHING. (The backlash is a bitch, however.)

  177. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 8:33 pm #

    You wouldn’t believe the amount of Bacardi Rum, nightmares, lost jobs, and guilt involved when he started to see it.

  178. JonathanSS March 14, 2011 at 8:54 pm #

    You have added nothing new to this site in months. You are wasting your time trying to convince any independent thinker of your views. Try a blog in which people are ruled more by emotion rather than intellect.
    You are the weakest link! Goodbye.

  179. Qshtik March 14, 2011 at 8:56 pm #

    Jon: “You sure have a lot of time on your hands as you elaborated on my post from a few days ago. It’s humorous, though.”
    ============
    Q: I forget what I wrote. If you have the date and time, let me know. I’d like to re-read it.
    ============
    Jon: “If the life of an accountant is said to be boring, what does that make the life of a retired accountant?”
    ============
    Q: I don’t know, incredibly boring?

  180. trippticket March 14, 2011 at 9:03 pm #

    Well said.

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  181. trippticket March 14, 2011 at 9:10 pm #

    “iMac, iPhone, iPad……
    everyone needs to be thinking about getting an iWoodstove.”
    Thanks for the laugh.

  182. trippticket March 14, 2011 at 9:12 pm #

    My wife was just checking out an iPressureCanner the other day…

  183. JonathanSS March 14, 2011 at 9:13 pm #

    Last weeks “Reality Optional Nation”. Posted March 13th @ 10:23AM. Hope you like the note. It was meant as a compliment that you are keeping me honest.

  184. rippedthunder March 14, 2011 at 9:14 pm #

    Can we please get along in here folks? The name calling, arguing, and total disrespect for others is very disparaging. Let’s share our knowledge and try to improve this world which we all live in.

  185. scott March 14, 2011 at 9:16 pm #

    Because they can? I like to think they know better themselves but they probably believe their own BS. Anyway, it doesn’t matter what Bernanke thinks as long as Snookie is on Raw. Wonder if she likes granite countertops and stainless steel appliances?

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  186. trippticket March 14, 2011 at 9:21 pm #

    “B) What an idiotic prayer. Does the name Hitler mean anything? Mussolini? Papa Doc? Stalin? Mao? Etc?”
    I’ve always thought that Etc was the biggest asshole ever.

  187. JonathanSS March 14, 2011 at 9:23 pm #

    The perfect site for you:
    minutemanproject.com/
    Why don’t you head to the border and do something useful instead of ranting on the web?

  188. Phutatorius March 14, 2011 at 9:30 pm #

    They become nuclear waste. A number of plants in the US have been decommissioned and there will be more to follow as our aging reactor fleet is taken out of service. The current trend is to re-license 40 year old reactors for an additional 20 years.

  189. ozone March 14, 2011 at 9:30 pm #

    Scott,
    I’ve become vaguely acquainted with what a Snookie is, but am unfamiliar with Raw. Would that be an acronym for “Repugnant Am’ur’can Wankers”?

  190. trippticket March 14, 2011 at 9:31 pm #

    “There are no rich experiences, threads of knowledge passed on between the young adult with no life experience or wisdom, and the child.”
    Today I was trying to teach my 2 year old daughter the name of one of the herbs in the garden, and I said “yarrow” to which she mimicked “yay-yo”.
    Damn, not exactly the rich experience I was aimin’ for…

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  191. San Jose Mom 51 March 14, 2011 at 9:40 pm #

    Vlad,
    You have a screw loose. I’m not a bit ashamed of my Swedish heritage. Yeah Swedes, yeah Cubans, yeah whatever. I have a completely different worldview that you can’t begin to understand because at some basic, pre-verbal level YOU VLAD feel inferior. This shapes your whole way of looking at the world. Get some therapy for Arjuna’s sake.
    SJmom

  192. Qshtik March 14, 2011 at 9:40 pm #

    “good people who made bad choices
    ==================
    Bad choices my ass. What a bunch of politically correct crap. Like calling drunks and drug addicts substance abusers and the retarded, “developmentally delayed.” I am majorly turned off by people’s fear of calling a spade a spade. Snowflake is a prime example.

  193. ozone March 14, 2011 at 9:44 pm #

    “yay-yo”
    LOL Close enough for “mediocre experience”, I reckon!
    (Now that’s funny; I don’t care who ya are.) -Larry

  194. suburbanempire March 14, 2011 at 9:45 pm #

    “You want to run to a white country with a Muslim minority that wants to destroy it and replace it with what they fled from. Nothing more confused than a white liberal with issues of racial hatred of them-self.”
    Maybe I just want to live someplace were the bread doesn’t suck and I can smoke a joint without risking prison! Ever think of that? No, Thinking doesn’t seem to be something you are able to do…. nothing more confused than an old racist who skirts personal responsibility for his failings in life by blaming people who look different….

  195. Qshtik March 14, 2011 at 9:51 pm #

    “There is not an acre of ground on the globe that is in possession of its rightful owner, or that has not been taken away from owner after owner, cycle after cycle, by force and bloodshed.”
    =================
    I came to to this same conclusion long ago without ever having read Twain’s words. After all, it only makes sense.
    If I were to change one thing in the Twain quote above it would be to put quotes around the word rightful.

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  196. trippticket March 14, 2011 at 9:56 pm #

    “For example a hurricane in Florida where major cities like Miami are simply evacuated and never rebuilt. I guess that happened to some degree in New Orleans, but I think we are going to see that to a much greater degree.”
    I have some great ideas for a far more energy efficient dwelling than the old farmhouse we live in. Twould be smaller, for sure, and under a thick soil mantle, relying on annualized thermal inertia, orientation to prevailing winds and sun patterns, and a vegetated cooling wind tunnel, to maintain a decent temperature inside. More like Bag End I suppose, but NOT underground.
    Since we live under a mature pecan canopy (very heavy and brittle trees, as you may know), and are in the strike zone for TS-Cat 2 hurricane activity, I figger it’s only a matter of time until we get to put those ideas into play. Me, or my children, or their children, someone. But in full-on energy descent I wonder about our ability to “leave” any given area in critical mass. Miami’s high-energy infrastructure might be devastated, but the citizens of Miami might be forced to live in lean-tos on the edge of town. Long-range travel is definitely a high-energy phenomenon, and surrounding people aren’t going to welcome a lot of new mouths to feed I imagine.
    All the more reason to diversify our food production methods – mushrooms, perennial veggies, wildcraft, milk, a range of livestock. Just thinking out loud.

  197. Qshtik March 14, 2011 at 9:57 pm #

    He doesn’t mean it as an expression of solidarity, he means it as an insult.
    ==============
    No, ya think?

  198. progressorconserve March 14, 2011 at 9:59 pm #

    “I am majorly turned off by people’s fear of calling a spade a spade. Snowflake is a prime example.”
    -Q-
    Q, read that over a few times – silently – to yourself. Just think about how it sounds to a newcomer to the CFN thread. Then read it again.
    Then, read RT’s post where he says, “Can we please get along in here folks?”
    Then write back and try to explain what you would, yet, like to accomplish in the autumn of your life.

  199. trippticket March 14, 2011 at 10:05 pm #

    God I’m itchin’ for a post about how splitting the sun, pissing on Time, and taking a shit down Mother Nature’s throat will carry us into a brave new world.

  200. Ang March 14, 2011 at 10:12 pm #

    “iMac, iPhone, iPad……
    everyone needs to be thinking about getting an iWoodstove.”
    iThinkiloveyou!
    Very funny. As well as sad but true.

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  201. progressorconserve March 14, 2011 at 10:19 pm #

    “Long-range travel is definitely a high-energy phenomenon, and surrounding people aren’t going to welcome a lot of new mouths to feed I imagine”
    -tripp-
    Yeah, no joke about that one, Tripp.
    We drove the I-75 corridor from Atlanta to Jacksonville, FL two weekends ago. Then we drove it, thank God, back the other way to the north Georgia mountains on Sunday.
    You are correct that there are lots of large, expensive billboards south of Macon that have an abandoned look. Then just south of Tifton there is a series of – new, large, and expensive looking – billboard road signs advertising survival gear and food. There was no physical address that I could see at 70 mph, just a web address – survivalfood.com – or whatever. Don’t know what’s going on about that – a set of Interstate billboards seems a strange place to advertise preparations for Armageddon.
    I though about you and your place while driving back north. I’m hoping you are not too close to US 41, and especially not too close to I-75. If you are, try to look nondescript. And be ready to armor up – with little warning, if need be.
    Your website looks great, BTW. I’m enjoying following your exploits down there.
    Keep up the good work.

  202. progressorconserve March 14, 2011 at 10:22 pm #

    Now, this is weird. I just wrote a nice little post back to Tripp.
    I got “Thank you for commenting” your post has been held – TWICE.
    Weird – am I a CFN nonperson, now?

  203. San Jose Mom 51 March 14, 2011 at 10:23 pm #

    My husband calls extremely fat people, “horizontally challenged.” 🙂
    He also says, “You can’t fix stupid.”
    Jen

  204. San Jose Mom 51 March 14, 2011 at 10:24 pm #

    I was sent to the blog bardo last week. Don’t take it personally, it appears to be completely random.

  205. icurhuman2 March 14, 2011 at 10:26 pm #

    The ME/NA reference is to the Middle East and North Africa region. QE2 is a reference to the second so-called “Quantative Easing” regime initiated by the Fed to “stimulate” the economy – which is an injection of money into treasuries, essentially “printing more money” (this devalues the currency as well as having other barely mentioned effects such as increasing interest on long and short-term bond sales, which is not a good thing. I can’t remember how much the first lot was but the second one is supposed to be more than half a trillion U.S. dollars worth. (which is probably why our Aussie dollar is now worth more than the U.S. buck).

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  206. progressorconserve March 14, 2011 at 10:27 pm #

    This is insane – I’ve been seeing that JHK’s webmaster? has been running an algorithm to block posts that contain too much text that is pasted in – but now the damn thing has blocked a completely original typed post of mine – and I can’t copy/past it back in to make it stick.
    Here’s paragraph one:
    “Long-range travel is definitely a high-energy phenomenon, and surrounding people aren’t going to welcome a lot of new mouths to feed I imagine”
    -tripp-
    Yeah, no joke about that one, Tripp.
    We drove the I-75 corridor from Atlanta to Jacksonville, FL two weekends ago. Then we drove it, thank God, back the other way to the north Georgia mountains on Sunday.
    You are correct that there are lots of large, expensive billboards south of Macon that have an abandoned look. Then just south of Tifton there is a series of – new, large, and expensive looking – billboard road signs advertising survival gear and food.

  207. progressorconserve March 14, 2011 at 10:29 pm #

    Second installment to Tripp, continued:
    There was no physical address that I could see at 70 mph, just a web address – survivalfood.com – or whatever. Don’t know what’s going on about that – a set of Interstate billboards seems a strange place to advertise preparations for Armageddon.
    I though about you and your place while driving back north. I’m hoping you are not too close to US 41, and especially not too close to I-75. If you are, try to look nondescript. And be ready to armor up – with little warning, if need be.
    Your website looks great, BTW. I’m enjoying following your exploits down there.
    Keep up the good work.

  208. trippticket March 14, 2011 at 10:33 pm #

    Yeah, I get quarantined for the most random things. I used to think there was a key word, like “archipelago” or “fuck trophy,” don’t want to be talking about island chains on a peak oil blog, but I can’t correlate anything significant.
    If it’s a post of any length, or serious thought process (which isn’t usually a problem), I copy it before I hit submit.
    “Fuck trophy” is what I call a child. The administrator doesn’t seem to mind that one.

  209. Qshtik March 14, 2011 at 10:33 pm #

    Can we please get along in here folks? The name calling, arguing, and total disrespect for others is very disparaging.
    ===========
    FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!! ……….just kidding.

  210. kulturcritic March 14, 2011 at 10:34 pm #

    The only safe haven is Siberia!!!
    http://kulturcritic.wordpress.com/

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  211. trippticket March 14, 2011 at 10:40 pm #

    I am fairly close to US41, and only a few blocks farther to 75. I guess our position is to openly teach self-reliance, slowly build a tribe, and keep the 12 guage shells at the ready.

  212. progressorconserve March 14, 2011 at 10:55 pm #

    Understand about your location, Tripp. As long as you are not right out on a major corridor and exposed – you should be fine. I really feel for those folks who have houses visible from I-75.
    They won’t last long in a genuine SHTF migration.
    I had a uncle who lived out on US 441 in south Georgia. People were forever walking up to his house – out in the middle of damn nowhere – and asking for gas or something, back in the 40’s thru 70’s. He was pretty scary looking, too – and with a yard full of meanass dogs to boot. Nobody ever sneaked up on him, either.
    Then he planted a grove of pine trees in the 100 acre corn/cotton field that had formerly been his front yard. Once you could not see the house from the road – people stopped finding him.
    ============
    Wrote this earlier, too:
    This is only the second time I’ve run afoul of the “blogeditor?” function. First time was over a finely sculpted *hand shooting bird* in the classic manner. So that was a large edit/paste – that got flagged.
    I’ve had some stuff eaten by my login, MovableType, before. But this was the first time that an innocent block of original typed text had ever been held on me –
    I try to remember to copy stuff to the clipboard before posting – but that gets into the algorithm catching large “pasted” files, again.
    Just weird. I get the feeling that JHK probably gets some ideas from this discussion thread, and he may follow it when he has time.
    It would be fun for him to f*ck with some of the posters on the ClusterFuckNation. Which, btw, is one well conceived appellation – for this comment thread.
    CF on you all!

  213. rippedthunder March 14, 2011 at 11:00 pm #

    come on Qshitk, how can we help these poor people in Japan, in 2004 I gave a ton to the Red Cross for Indonesia, I am not so sure of the Red Cross now, Who can I trust? I have the funds but am unsure as to the management of some charities. Who can I trust

  214. progressorconserve March 14, 2011 at 11:07 pm #

    So, at first I said:
    CF on you all! (and now I see that looks insulting)
    How about: CF on, you all!!
    Or, better: CF on – you all!!
    Trivial grammar and punctuation criticism does have a purpose, perhaps?
    Anyway, enjoy your clustering and fscking.
    Whatever happened to Mika, btw?

  215. rippedthunder March 14, 2011 at 11:12 pm #

    you guys confuse me. Death and destruction and you talk of IPods, and whatever, kardshians? what the f*** is that. I know Japan surprised us on 12/7/41 but we paid them back in spades on 8/6/45 . I sure hope these plants don’t melt down. It is a VERY small world! We all have to pull together!

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  216. trippticket March 14, 2011 at 11:16 pm #

    I can’t do much about earthquakes, but I’m starting up a carbon sink on our farm. Straight up accounting, state-of-the-art sequestration methodologies, change in organic matter reporting, absolute transparency, cradle-to-grave. You guys know me.
    I was going to offer it first to my travelling relatives as a carbon offset alternative, but you guys are getting it hot off the presses. You buy credits, I’ll send you a receipt and pictures. The government’s “efficiency” will never approach this. Together we’ll start moving carbon back into the topsoil where it belongs.
    May not have an impact on the ring of fire, but as a model, it could have a measurable impact on climate-related natural disasters in my expected 50-60 years of managing the sink. I’ll start working a portal into my blogsite.
    And POC, I’ll catch up with your comments later. Time for bed.

  217. slowburn March 14, 2011 at 11:18 pm #

    Diary of a Man in Despair
    by Friedrich Percyval Reck-Malleczewen
    I just read it. Good book.

  218. jackieblue2u March 14, 2011 at 11:23 pm #

    Hey ksmias. haha. get it KISS MY ASS !
    Especially you Q ! been wanting to say that for a long time. just kidding.
    not very lady like.
    actually a friend of mine wanted that for a personalized license plate, don’t think it would go thru tho. well my friend thought of it and I wanted to use it.

  219. icurhuman2 March 14, 2011 at 11:27 pm #

    JHK is on the money, again! (can I adopt him?)Oil will NOT go down. Japan will need more oil than usual sooner rather than later, and even though a couple of refineries are out of action they will go to extremes to supply the diesel needed to not just clean up the mess but to supply extra electricity to the grid.
    During the 70’s oil crisis we, in Australia, found ourselves short of generating capacity and imported at great expense a large number of deisel-powered generators to fill the gap in supply. I worked for a French construction company at the time (Citra Engineering) and had the task of hooking up ten of these deisel-sucking monsters to the grid. Electricity prices soared but the economy chugged along until further coal-fired capacity was added and we discontinued using the deisel generatotrs. Japan will do the same thing and will likely hook up a bunch of portable gas generators as well, the industrial show must go on. (expect prices for natural gas to increase along with oil)
    During the recent nuclear crisis I’ve seen untold numbers of scenarios trotted out to warn of the use of nuclear power but haven’t yet seen the scenario that worries me the most.
    I’ve also seen a lot of deniers who say that even if a complete meltdown occurs it’d not be as bad as Chernobyl, however, its not just the one power plant that’s in trouble, there are four more with coolant issues spread further afield that combined would cover an area as great as, if not greater than, the Chernobyl disaster. If you were to overlay the exclusion zone of Chernobyl over the small island nation that is Japan you will find there’s not a lot of area that isn’t uncovered. This is very worrying for me and my family as my inlaws are in Tokyo and Osaka, I hold grave fears and my wife, who has many friends also in the tsunami-effected area, is very upset (she just came in to tell me that the number four (Daiyon) reactor has just caught fire, the one that was offline when the quake and tsunami hit, which means the inner container is ruptured).
    My worry for some time now has been what happens to nuclear power plants when they are abandoned at the end-collapse-stage of modern industrial society. They can’t be decommissioned overnight and even the military can’t do the job if it can’t even feed its conscripts. The happy devolution to a medieval social structure after the fall will be impossible if the entire country is covered in contaminated land and water. The rotting nuclear missiles in silos might be sent into space to be detonated as a last resort, unless some idiot decides to settle old scores before old scores mean nothing anymore, but you can’t shoot a nuclear power plant into space. We only have a couple of small reactors in Australia but I’m pretty sure once every reactor in the world went feral and suffered a meltdown it wouldn’t be long before everyone around these parts was glowing in the dark too, so the concern isn’t related to some kind of solidarity with foreign brethren (no offense).
    I hope it all works out for Japan but the story unfolding should be a wake-up call to those who consider nuclear power to be one of the answers to our greatest challenge – peak-oil – nuclear just isn’t worth the risk!

  220. rippedthunder March 14, 2011 at 11:29 pm #

    Hey Tripp, It sounds good. I will go with it, but me thinks the IRS will try to get their hooks in it. I think it would be cool if we could get a network of CO2 sinks up and running around the country. I looked at a 1/3 acre prop. in the center of town that could grow a sh*****ad of vegetables along with a duplex homestead. sweet dreams.

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  221. WestCoast March 14, 2011 at 11:34 pm #

    Yup, that’s the way it is every day.
    So why do they keep beating that broken drum?
    All it does is coddle a tiny percentage of the population that promotes that kind of thing and more importantly, alienate a large segment of the population that therefore ignores every other message in that media.

  222. BeantownBill March 14, 2011 at 11:39 pm #

    My sentiments exactly.

  223. WestCoast March 14, 2011 at 11:47 pm #

    The one written in ballpoint pen that wasn’t marketed until years after the events portrayed?
    The one where the father of the alleged author was sued by the ghostwriter he hired in federal court and who lost?
    That diary?

  224. Qshtik March 14, 2011 at 11:54 pm #

    explain what you would, yet, like to accomplish in the autumn of your life.
    =============
    I would like to have a one-night stand with a top Victoria’s Secret catalogue model.

  225. WestCoast March 15, 2011 at 12:02 am #

    “Too cheap to meter!…”
    The fourth reactor has just melted down.
    The PM has warned people to stay inside. BTW the radiation has reached Tokyo.
    See Zero Hedge.com

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  226. WestCoast March 15, 2011 at 12:06 am #

    Looks like the Japanese Interlude is over…
    “All hell is currently breaking loose following an explosion at reactor #2 and a another hydrogen explosion at reactor #4 per Kyodo, leading to a 16% drop in Nikkei futures as blind panic grips Japan. Kyodo essentially confirms there was a reactor meltdown as radiation levels at Fukushima 3 are now 400 times legal levels. And topping it all Japan’s warning that all people within 30 kilometers from Fukushima should stay indoors and that the radioactive winds may reach Tokyo in as little as 8-10 hours. The BOJ has just intervened to prevent the yen from surging, as the following chart shows. Our prayers are with the people of Japan. ”

  227. logic11 March 15, 2011 at 12:11 am #

    Hey Leibowitz type people, long time no talk. This is logic11 from Wayofthepreserver. Similar goals, and similar points of view on the collapse. I see it as being what JMG talks about, a catabolic collapse. Each disaster strains the whole system a bit more, and each time we adjust to what has become the new normal. After a bit it would look like the world had collapsed to someone from a couple of decades earlier (and I think we are there, I think people from the eighties and nineties who predicted this world were labeled as paranoid whack jobs).

  228. bossier22 March 15, 2011 at 12:23 am #

    i tend to agree with you , as much as hate to, that we live in a random universe. but the Christians i know in my backwater southern town tend to be pleasant and honest people. many are in fact quite happy and do not bend toward neurosis or intolerance any more than you apparently do. i suspect in a pinch many ignorant Christians would make more reliable and empathetic friends in thl than hip intellectual atheist.

  229. Zappnin March 15, 2011 at 12:24 am #

    My elderly mother-in-law has relatives in Tokyo. She spoke to them on the phone and they said that shops in Tokyo were running short on food because of stockpiling. My relatives here in San Andreas/ San Onofre nuclear power plant country figure there will be time enough to get ready after the big one hits.

  230. bossier22 March 15, 2011 at 12:42 am #

    interesting canada has strict immigration requirements. if we did that we would be racist. maybe it only difficult for whites to move to canada. it seems many nonwhites are going there. probably without 750k.

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  231. suburbanempire March 15, 2011 at 12:57 am #

    Canada has a point system,
    you need 72 points to get in
    You get 72 points if you are a member of an officially recognised persecuted group fleeing your homeland… like anyone who escapes North Korea and makes it to Canada… or someone from Dar fur….
    you get 72 points if you have $750,000ca liquid.
    Other than that you get points for graduating high school, college, post graduate work…. knowing English, knowing french, having a job offer from a Canadian firm (that firm must prove that they tried to hire a Canadian first, and none could be found)… you get points if your spouse is a citizen…you get points if you are elderly, or very young… all totaled I come up to 68 points… and cannot immigrate to Canada unless I do something to get four points… a college degree would work… fluent French would work…. $750k would work…
    What’s with all the Koup Klucks Klam freaks in here anyway???? Don’t you guys have a white sale on sheets at JCPenny to get to or something????

  232. suburbanempire March 15, 2011 at 1:07 am #

    Canada even banns people from entry for having a DUI conviction… they don’t apply it fairly… because George W. Bush should have been turned away at the border based on their criteria…. I guess Stephen Harper made an exception for his neocon buddy.

  233. asoka March 15, 2011 at 1:44 am #

    Tripp said: “All the more reason to diversify our food production methods – mushrooms, perennial veggies, wildcraft, milk, a range of livestock. Just thinking out loud. ”
    =============
    Every time you “think out loud,” I learn something new. Feel free to do it more often.

  234. Shakazulu March 15, 2011 at 1:45 am #

    JHK said, “Japan…shook all that off to become the world’s most dependably, civilized nation. And now, the sorrows of Job.”
    Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said, “The identity of the Japanese people is selfishness. The Japanese people must take advantage of this tsunami as means of washing away their selfish greed. I really do think this is divine punishment.”
    If you believe in happy endings Job ends by saying, “the LORD restored Job’s fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.”
    Maybe next year Japan will discover the key to room-temperature superconductivity.

  235. asoka March 15, 2011 at 1:52 am #

    In addition to the DUI, there was also the cocaine use, and the mass murder…

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  236. asoka March 15, 2011 at 1:56 am #

    Try separating your post into two parts… that sometimes works for me. You are taking it personally… which means you are definitely a person.

  237. k-dog March 15, 2011 at 2:15 am #

    After extensive surfing I’m tending to disregard what I was taught when I was 12 years old and go with the almighty internet, Niemoller . There does appear to be some controversy about the precise origin. I’ll go with Niemoller but I’m not willing to say definitively I’m wrong and that he is the absolute origin.
    I base my identity on what I do and noton what I believe. It matters little to me who actually said the quote first. A quote worth remembering has a timeless quality and life beyond the mortal lump of flesh and bones that gave it birth.
    Having Niemoller as the author does make a lot more sense. But that, like the relative frequency of internet citations, is not absolute proof.

  238. asoka March 15, 2011 at 2:26 am #

    Since the Internet is full of misinformation, I often go to the library reference section and look at a real reference book when there is a doubt about who said something:

    Martin Niemöller
    First they came for the Jews. I was silent. I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists. I was silent. I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists. I was silent. I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me. There was no one left to speak for me.
    On resistance to Nazis, recalled on his death 6 Mar 84

    SOURCE: “Humankind – Wisdom, Philosophy & Other Musings.” (1988). In Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations.

  239. asoka March 15, 2011 at 2:35 am #

    Puzzler, it is now 3/15 EST and nine reactors are in crisis and four are in flames.
    I’m not sure the MIT information you link to holds anymore. We are in uncharted territory here.

  240. k-dog March 15, 2011 at 2:56 am #

    I’m going with Martin Niemoller with a better than 95% confidence rating. He gets my vote. Apparently the quote had a life before it had an author. There was also dispute about the exact wording of the original. Niemoller was said to have made it for the first time in 1946 in a sermon.
    I heard it attributed to Dietrich Bonhoeffer in or around 1962. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong but my 5% of doubt comes from having an open mind. I wonder if there was a letter by Bonhoeffer that Niemoller read before he delivered his sermon. Letters and notes were used extensively for communication back then and we are talking about a very tight knit group of men.
    My ‘surfing’ of course did not include Wikipeadia which I have permanently blocked.
    I suspect neither of these men would care who the credit goes to.

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  241. Patrizia March 15, 2011 at 2:58 am #

    “The identity of the Japanese people is selfishness….”
    They are also very proud.
    What will win?
    Is the Tsunami enough?
    I do not think so, they will deny the evidence, against any law of smartness.
    If you are in need, and they are, you´d better play the humble part.
    Nobody likes to help a proud, self sufficient liar.
    Nevertheless I whatch TV and I can just see desperate people, humans like me who in a few minutes lost all what they had, including dear ones.
    My heart is with them, because I strongly believe that behind any facade of greed or selfishness or proudness, there is a frighthened human beeing, who asks himself: is it worth to be a survivor?

  242. harrykrebs March 15, 2011 at 4:59 am #

    Well, I guess the “smoking gun” really is in the form of a mushroom cloud.

  243. tucsonspur March 15, 2011 at 5:40 am #

    Great work again, JHK! Right up there with “Wake ME, Shake Me”!
    You said it before, “something’s in the air.” Now it’s radiation along with everything else.
    My thanks to the racial reality posters. The Department of Justice has just decided that since too many minorities are still failing the exams, the city of Dayton must revise its grading system. That’s how an F becomes a D.
    Yes Vlad, I too would like to see that Strong Man. It may not be entirely appropriate in this context, but it was said of Lincoln …” And when he fell in whirlwind, he went down as when a lordly cedar, green with boughs, goes down with a great shout upon the hills, and leaves a lonesome place against the sky.”
    We haven’t had a leader in my lifetime who could inspire that kind of sentiment.
    Obama? Oh, yo, you betta call me mista
    cuz I be dat Harvard slicksta
    cuz I be dat Hillary tripsta
    cuz I be dat hip-hop hipsta …
    It goes on and on but I don’t have the music yet.
    Gonna put on some black face and jug ears, do a numba, man! Gotta go viral!
    Yo, word up, I’m out!

  244. MarlinFive54 March 15, 2011 at 7:33 am #

    SubEmpire;
    You state … “if I get some money together I’ll leave for Europe”.
    Why would you leave Vermont, SEmpire? Except for the rather harsh climate it seems like a pretty cool place, tolerant and open to any new Ideas that might come down the pike. ‘Specially Burlington.
    Coupla of years ago the VT Secession movement, led by a Middlebury College Prof., was gathering some strength. They even had their own flag made up. I had alot of fun with that whole thing on my frequent visits up there, in a good natured way of course.
    Your posts on the modern applications of LE are spot on.
    ——————————–
    I have to concur with some of the earlier posters here; BBC is the best place by far to get international news.
    ——————————-
    Vlad, I’m not familiar with the book you mentioned, but I have read many of Harry Turtledoves revisionist novels. They border on science fiction but they are also effective social commentary.
    WageL, point taken about the word ‘Comrade”. However, I will stick to my main point that you, as I’ve noticed with many Libs, seem to lack any sense of humor. For Christ sake lighten up. There’s mush happening but the world is not ending any time soon.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    John Birch Unit
    New England Chapter

  245. Peter Smith March 15, 2011 at 8:04 am #

    Al Jazeera English has a full, live video feed on their website 24×7. It’s useful.

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  246. welles March 15, 2011 at 8:23 am #

    wow, the world’s ending again? pretty good livin’ in lots of places still tho’, wake me when jeezis lands.
    shalom to my jap friends, any help i can offer them i’m there

  247. ffkling March 15, 2011 at 8:50 am #

    Incredible and disgusting perfectly describes the TV program, “Cops.” I recently spoke with an ex-reserve sheriff’s deputy who told me that most of these men choose this occupation out of a desire to inflict pain and control over others. And our society which glamorizes these thugs has given them permission to bring down their version of justice on anybody they so choose. If you are ever unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of these skin-heads with a badge you will understand perfectly. Many cops are looking for any reason possible to knock the crap out of you. Submit or you will be tazered or beaten to a pulp with a black jack.

  248. orionoir March 15, 2011 at 8:58 am #

    {This is insane – I’ve been seeing that JHK’s webmaster? has been running an algorithm to block posts that contain too much text that is pasted in – but now the damn thing has blocked a completely original typed post of mine – and I can’t copy/past it back in to make it stick.}
    ——
    prog, methinks the algorithm fairly simple… it looks for a list of “suspicious” words such as brand names, web site names, dirty words, etc. as far as i can tell, it’s trying to block spam and juvenile sexual-scatological rants (all the while allowing the sterling wit & repartee for which cfn is known…)
    sometimes i cannot understand why i am blocked — perhaps the “blog owner” screen is also used as an all-purpose placebo which comes up when the server chokes or its power blinks, whatever. anyone who’s ever designed a user app knows that it’s always easier to act like it’s the user’s fault.
    for goog1e’s “chrome” browser, at least, the back button will take you back to the text you just typed. however, that handy “return to what you were doing” button on the err-screen blows your work into the great beyond. (movable type [malevolent twirp] has a sense of humor.)

  249. MarlinFive54 March 15, 2011 at 9:28 am #

    Wagelaborer;
    I’ll be dropping the ‘John Birch’ appellation I’ve been signing my posts with since a few days ago when you said I was a member. I checked out their web site, yes, they are still active, a relic from by-gone cold war days. From what they say on their site, and what others write about them, they would probably admit me but kick me out after a short time, probably even before my probationary period ended. Reason being, they’re big into conspiracies, and I think any conspiracy theory is a lot of bullshit. Life is too chaotic and dynamic, the world too complex, for conspirators to effect events either large or small. Added to that if two people conspire for some nefarious deed, after a day or two, one of them, maybe both, will talk and spill the beans. End of conspiracy.
    Its kind of like when I was a local steward in my union (for about 5 years) The union glad too have me on the job, but didn’t appreciate me down at union hall when I’d complain about having to defend people who were fired, saying , after looking into the matter, they deserved to be fired, it was a waste of union resources. But I’d do my best for them anyway. Many time they were just f–kups who would get into trouble again a few months later.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England chapter

  250. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown March 15, 2011 at 9:52 am #

    Thanks, much appreciated.

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  251. orionoir March 15, 2011 at 10:00 am #

    {My heart is with them, because I strongly believe that behind any facade of greed or selfishness or proudness, there is a frightened human being, who asks himself: is it worth to be a survivor?}
    ———–
    as always i’m immersed in the news of the world, vicariously horrified by what’s happening in japan. from time to time i make an effort to remind myself that this world is not merely all about me, that is to say, that what i think & how i feel is of no real importance to anyone but myself. it’s not as there are a bunch of people around a huge table shouting, we must find out what orionoir thinks about this!
    and so my thoughts turn to cormac mccarthy’s “the road,” how his slow careful prose caught for me the spirit of people who do not give up, even when giving up’s the last sensible thing to do.
    ———–
    in my humble opinion, jhk’s understanding of international finance seems clouded by the same morality that makes his sociological analysis so clear. he believes that nations, economies, banks and other abstract entities “deserve” this or that fate. in this way he is heir to the religious conviction that colonized this land, the idea that, because there is no such thing as a free lunch, bad things will happen to those who get their lunches for free; and if they have yet tb punished, that only means their eventual comeuppance will be all the more severe.
    with lunchtime morality it’s easy to see calamity as its own reward, eg, to look at the devastation of japan and say, hey, they had it coming. to look at the world’s devastation in this same way, hanging an analysis of cause and effect upon a scaffolding of the way things are ‘sposed to be, is as invalid as the science of biblical literalists, who stretch biology across the frame of ancient texts.
    unlike the united states, which was able to shop its way out of 911’s crater, japan will have to ask for help. the human consequences of the escaping radiation are likely tb tragic & insidious. and as if the human and environmental catastrophes are not enough, a long-deferred financial catastrophe now approaches.
    to me it doesn’t seem a good time to be long the us dollar. still, i keep returning to an old idea… on a global scale, credits and debits sum to zero. that is to say, in some fundamental sense, japan’s debt (and america’s, and europe’s, etc) is mirrored by other nations’ (eg, china’s) surpluses. nations rise and nations fall, of course; but in a global world, huge reserves of other nation’s currencies and assets aren’t worth a damn if those nations don’t survive & thrive.
    the marshall plan saved post-war america as much as it did europe. china’s leadership probably understands this.

  252. Cash March 15, 2011 at 10:28 am #

    Coming to Canada is no bed of roses. For one thing we have a lot of Canadian born unemployed with established Canadian employment histories, Canadian educational and professional and trade credentials. An employer would look at them before he would look at an immigrant who may not speak good English, may have foreign credentials that are difficult to verify. Typically an immigrant will work in low paying temp contracts at first that are below his level of experience and education.
    An example: I used to know an immigrant from India that came to Canada in 1990 just at the start of a brutal recession. The guy was an eastern European educated engineer. For years he worked in crap jobs and couldn’t afford to bring his wife and son from India. Finally in 1996 he got a decent paying job as an engineer at a large downtown hotel and convention centre complex and was able to bring his family over.
    If you live in a country that has comparable standards of living it isn’t worth coming here and starting over.

  253. newworld March 15, 2011 at 10:45 am #

    Japan can dig themselves out of this, the Japanese make Japan, they have good DNA.
    In contrast America is now Obama, and what is that you ask? The last public debate for Chicago’s mayorship was a couple of hours of boredom where the biggest issue was that all the candidates HAD to agree to slavery reparations.
    Movie recomendation, “The Island of Dr. Moreu.”

  254. MarlinFive54 March 15, 2011 at 10:58 am #

    Tusconspur;
    Seen on CSpan book TV this weekend, a new biography on Obama by an author from Great Britain, a BBC reporter.
    Although sympathetic to Obama, he does point out that Obama’s dad, also named Barack, was an alcoholic who had 6 wives (at the same time) . A third world Marxist from Kenya, he liked to dress up in leopard skins and wear beads. He died in a car wreck while drunk in Kenya.
    His grandfather was a Mau Mau witchdoctor, active in the brutal 1960 Mau Mau war against Great Britain.
    His mom was also a confirmed Marxist whose main goal in life was to bed down with men from the 3rd world.
    Quite a heritage for the President of the United States. It’s almost unbelievable.
    This is probably one biography I won’t buy. And I buy a lot of Biographies.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  255. MarlinFive54 March 15, 2011 at 11:01 am #

    Tusconspur;
    Seen on CSpan book TV this weekend, a new biography on Obama by an author from Great Britain, a BBC reporter.
    Although sympathetic to Obama, he does point out that Obama’s dad, also named Barack, was an alcoholic who had 6 wives (at the same time) . A third world Marxist from Kenya, he liked to dress up in leopard skins and wear beads. He died in a car wreck while drunk in Kenya.
    His grandfather was a Mau Mau witchdoctor, active in the brutal 1960 Mau Mau war against Great Britain.
    His mom was also a confirmed Marxist whose main goal in life was to bed down with men from the 3rd world.
    Quite a heritage for the President of the United States. It’s almost unbelievable.
    This is probably one biography I won’t buy. And I buy a lot of Biographies.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

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  256. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 11:07 am #

    A kid I heard of was sent to Europe for a college graduation present.
    While there, he got drunk and mooned the Acropolis.
    And was arrested by the Greek police.
    He comes home, applies for a job as a teacher and finds out that he is on a sex offender registry and can’t be around children.
    I think that things have gone too far. But I think that about a lot of things!

  257. Qshtik March 15, 2011 at 11:10 am #

    We are in uncharted territory here.
    ============
    Thank you for NOT calling it unchartered territory … another common cause of teeth grinding.
    But, returning to a previous topic, you asked me a question about the government “renting” soldiers and I responded but you never replied back. Armies have used mercenaries throughout history. KuhDaffy is using mercenaries. Why should the US be any different?

  258. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 11:18 am #

    Cops is something (like the charlie sheen show and some show where a guy stuffs himself with obscene amounts of food) that I only see at work, when someone else has the TV on.
    The other day I walked in while they were beating some perp (“bad guy”) and I commented on how degenerate our country is. Why is police abuse and public humiliation (i.e. Jerry Springer) presented as entertainment?
    My co-worker pointed out that the last time things were this bad the Colosseum was full of Romans cheering as the lions ate the Christians.

  259. Cash March 15, 2011 at 11:21 am #

    You sound as if you want to be left alone and live in peace which is absolutely fine. I’m with that and I’m also with being able to smoke a joint and maybe being able to chew some khat with a Somali immigrant buddy of mine without worrying who’s looking.
    But. There’s always a but. The times, they are a changin’ Suburban and we need to be mindful of what’s coming. Most of the world doesn’t share our values and we have to face that and discuss it without worrying about being smeared as racist when the issue is culture and not race.
    In Ontario a few years back we were near to instituting Sharia family law for Muslims. There was a shitstorm of protest from Muslim women here and others who knew full well what Sharia law meant for Muslim women and girls. In the end our Premier saw the politics correctly and canned the idea and not only Sharia law but any religiously based family tribunals. One system of law for everyone in other words.
    But the Sharia law issue will for sure re-surface as more and more Muslims pour into Canada from around the world. For now Muslims are a minority but demographics are ever changing. Muslims don’t generally suffer from notions of cultural and religious inferiority, they are believers and we are not. Religious and cultural separatism is an idea that will not go away.
    I’m not picking on Muslims. A lot of people from India are coming here also (Hindus) whose record of peaceful co-existence with Muslims in India and Pakistan is not that great. They also live with a caste system that’s illegal in India (or so I’ve heard) but which exists nonetheless. So does a caste system have any place in Canada? To bring up the issue is not a question of being racist. It’s a question of human rights.
    You probably noticed that India is a nuclear armed power and so is Pakistan and they are usually at daggers drawn. So will Muslims and Hindus be able to peacefully co-exist here in Canada? Or are we going to be faced with a lot of sectarian violence? I don’t have a crystal ball but generally I would say that past behaviour is a pretty good predictor of future behaviour.
    My parents’ own ethnic group isn’t exactly as pure as the driven snow. The Mafia is a Sicilian thing but there is worse than the Mafia from mainland Italy. Societies of absolute zeros called the Camorra and N’drangheta have sunk roots here and are creating mayhem. There is also another gang of cut-throats called the Sacra Corona (Sacred Crown). I don’t know if they’re active here but I wouldn’t be surprised. These are not the colourful people people you see in Hollywood movies. They leave a trail of dead bodies and destroyed lives everywhere they go.
    Let’s not be sissies about these issues. Immigrants can bring good things here. But the opposite is also true.
    Liberals have been pushing the the idea of a multicultural paradise for 40 odd years. As long as culture is just colourful costumes and quaint folk dances. But culture goes a lot deeper than that. IMO multiculturalism is a fool’s errand and people that push the idea have given no thought as to what it means in practice and/or its effects on social cohesion and national unity.
    You may want to live in peace. So would I. But whether we’ll be able to is another question.

  260. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 11:28 am #

    So a nun went out to talk to the foreman of some construction workers building near the convent.
    “Can you get your men to clean up their language, please?”, she said.
    “Well, ma’m, my men are real men and they call a spade a spade” the foreman answered.
    “No, they don’t” said the nun. “They call it a fucking shovel”.

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  261. jammer March 15, 2011 at 11:32 am #

    I agree with your post. And what I find so ironic is that you never see those jackboots taking down white collar criminals. Thus, reinforcing the societal dogma that it is “them” or “they” that are the root of all crime. Poverty in and of itself does not breed crime, it is the consetration of poverty that does so.

  262. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 11:36 am #

    I don’t trust the Red Cross either. They were caught after 9-11 AND Katrina, withholding funds.
    I think that you can trust Oxfam though.

  263. Cash March 15, 2011 at 11:37 am #

    A “bad choice” is buying a FIAT.

  264. Cash March 15, 2011 at 11:52 am #

    Let the Arab League implement its own no-fly zone. We should implement a NO-CARE zone. – Grossdeutschland
    Let’s also implement a no care zone around another gigantic bore and waste of time: Israel and Palestine.
    How long as this been going on now? 100 years plus? The sooner they realize everyone is ignoring them the sooner they’ll settle their squabble.

  265. ozone March 15, 2011 at 12:03 pm #

    “Armies have used mercenaries throughout history. KuhDaffy is using mercenaries. Why should the US be any different?” -Q.
    Boy, seems like you’ve got a lot of faith in the moral rectitude of the USofA. Were you joking, or do you really feel that employing merc’s (as is current here and abroad) is “acceptable”?

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  266. Cash March 15, 2011 at 12:04 pm #

    This just in: in Canada’s study guide for would be citizens it says that certain “barbaric” practices like honour killings and female genital mutilation are unacceptable.
    Well. Apparently the term “barbaric” is too strong meat for Liberals. Too judgemental. Justin Trudeau (son of Pierre Trudeau) wants it removed.
    Most of the country is small L liberal and no doubt would agree.
    We’re doomed.

  267. Bustin J March 15, 2011 at 12:05 pm #

    Bassy22 said, “the Christians i know in my backwater southern town tend to be pleasant and honest people… many are in fact quite happy… ignorant Christians would make more reliable and empathetic friends in thl than hip intellectual atheist.”
    And when the happy pills run out?
    And how many athiests do you know personally?

  268. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 12:05 pm #

    Ah, yes, the eternal cry of the bully-
    “I was only kidding! Wassa matter? Can’t you take a joke?”

  269. newworld March 15, 2011 at 12:05 pm #

    Don’t threaten people. And tell your fellow liberals to stop with this crazy pattern of anti-white hysteria which makes you as guilty as any 1930s’ Nazi of inciting racial hatreds.
    Interesting I assume by “strapping” you mean gun ownership, then why do you tolerate the gun-control cult that infests the left?
    Speaking of gun control the ever cynical left is trotting that out today. For some background gun control as an issue is what struggling Illinois Democratic pols first reach for in times of political need.
    So what the Obama admin is doing is riling up the white conservative base till they overreact and scare the moderate white soccer mom types back to the Ds. Is this responsible leadership? No, but the goal is political power so this race baiting excercise is as important as any nuke disaster in Japan.
    So Ozone head back to Kos for the lastest soundbite aimed at “white racist teabagging gun nuts.” And stop threatening me, my wife and my children just because we are white and conservative.

  270. ozone March 15, 2011 at 12:08 pm #

    Maybe you can find out how the Japanese rescue teams get their funding. (The guys we see helping at natural disaster sites world-wide?) Or some resources that they always have need of?

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  271. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 12:13 pm #

    Whoops, sorry.
    Obviously, that wasn’t for Orionor.

  272. Qshtik March 15, 2011 at 12:16 pm #

    I’m surprised no one has mentioned it so far today but babies are being tossed out with the bath water in markets around the world.
    I monitor a slew of stock screens (gold, silver uranium, banks, coal, high dividend payers, infrastructure, etc) and the ONLY thing up is solar.
    JHK’s contention re US treasuries: “and, anyway, who would step forward now to buy this crap under any circumstances? (Echo answers….)” is, thus far, proving wrong. In fact, those treasuries are being bought big-time as a “flight to safety.” In the longer term, though, I believe Jim will be right.

  273. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 12:16 pm #

    Or maybe Doctors without Borders?

  274. Cash March 15, 2011 at 12:18 pm #

    Qshtik,
    Read and weep. Or laugh. Not sure which.
    http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/03/14/adrian-macnair-im-not-drunk-officer-its-a-medical-condition/

  275. newworld March 15, 2011 at 12:22 pm #

    Since Obama’s issue of the day beyond golf, parties and the all important basketball tournament is gun control let me give you non-Illinoisans some background into Chicago Democratic politicians MO.
    Day after day in the Chicago area there are henious crimes committed that guns are involved in, and these are nearly all committed by minorities. The politicians have no answers, NONE, all of liberalism has failed, hideously failed, and because of PC nothing can be said without upsetting some of the various cults. This leaves gun control as the talisman that is waved over the heads of population. (Jesse Jackson is on record calling the gun industry a white supremacist plot)
    So the politicians flail away at some gun owning Bubbas hoping for a miracle. BTW Rudolph Guliani practiced the only gun control that worked, his police officers stopped and frisked minorities in NYC for guns, but I would guess we cannot go back to that pratical measure, can we?

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  276. ozone March 15, 2011 at 12:26 pm #

    Your reply is exactly what I was referring to.
    No threat; solid warning.
    I hate your “ideas”, not your color or self-ascribed “label”. You’re not seeing anything close to the big picture here. You have waaaaay too much faith in authority figures, and that’s going to buy you a lot of unnecessary trouble.
    Ps. I’ll have to see what a “Daily Kos” is. I don’t cotton to talking points or “memos for followers” from any compass-point. What website or radio/teevee “source” do you get YOURS from?

  277. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 12:26 pm #

    The Christians I know may very well be pleasant people personally, but they’re quite hateful on a societal level.
    They think that the “bad guys” on Cops deserve their beatings, that people in prison should be killed to save the taxpayers money, that people in other countries can be killed by the millions if the President says so, that women should be forced to carry fertilized eggs to term, but that the resulting children should not get welfare money or health care.
    And they salivate over the “Left Behind” series, in which non-Christians are tortured and killed.
    But, yeah, they’ll smile and say “Hi” quite pleasantly when they greet you.

  278. montsegur March 15, 2011 at 12:27 pm #

    Wagelaborer stated: “My co-worker pointed out that the last time things were this bad the Colosseum was full of Romans cheering as the lions ate the Christians.”
    ============================
    While I appreciate the sentiment, I think it understates the mentality of the witch trials.
    Cheers

  279. Bustin J March 15, 2011 at 12:27 pm #

    trip said, “There are no rich experiences, threads of knowledge passed on between the young adult with no life experience or wisdom, and the child.”
    Today I was trying to teach my 2 year old daughter the name of one of the herbs in the garden, and I said “yarrow” to which she mimicked “yay-yo”.
    Damn, not exactly the rich experience I was aimin’ for…”
    I don’t understand. You’re apparently unaware of two things. One, the uncommon experience of a parent/child interaction involving botanical knowlege, a rarity in modern America. That is commendable. Two, you’re apparently unaware of the thick southern accent you’ve acquired. Ya’ll sound like a northerner with muscle relaxers injected directly into both jaw bones. “Yay-yo” sounds about right…

  280. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 12:32 pm #

    I agree, there have been multiple other instances of murders enthusiastically attended by cheering crowds.
    I’ve read that whole villages in Germany had their female populations killed as witches.
    Doesn’t our good ally, Saudi Arabia, hold public beheadings on Fridays?
    Did you see the cheering Americans when Baghdad was destroyed in “shock and awe”?

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  281. Cash March 15, 2011 at 12:32 pm #

    I agree. For now it’s a flight to safety. But in time it will be a flight from loss.
    There are only two useful ideas from that most rotten with ideology and corrupted by moneyed interests and wretchedly discredited realm of academic endeavor: economics. 1) There is no such thing as a free lunch. 2) If something can’t go on forever it won’t.
    Both ideas apply here.

  282. Bustin J March 15, 2011 at 12:35 pm #

    Hot off the press:

    According to GAO’s analysis, replacing the $1 note with a $1 coin could save the government approximately $5.5 billion over 30 years. This would amount to an average yearly discounted net benefit–that is, the present value of future net benefits–of about $184 million. http://WWW.GAO.GOV/PRODUCTS/GAO-11-281

    I am seeing a two-headed Janus Obama/Biden on one side, and a Wal*Mart on the other.
    I wonder how this cost analysis will be revised when inflation requires striking a new batch with seven zeroes after the one…

  283. newworld March 15, 2011 at 12:37 pm #

    What do you think of the gun controllers on the Left? Are they not an authority figure? To be respected?
    What ideas? The only “idea” I have ever espoused here is that the blank slate theory is bunk. The BST is god to authority today, wealth is stripped from people in a quiotic effort to create the new man.
    In PO news on the radio today the oil sands have a PR campaign claiming that in a few years they will supply 25% of America’s demand.

  284. montsegur March 15, 2011 at 12:38 pm #

    Wagelaborer stated: “I agree, there have been multiple other instances of murders enthusiastically attended by cheering crowds.”
    ====================================
    Wagelaborer, no doubt in my mind as to the rampant insanity of this world.
    Yes, Germany had quite a history during the witch trials.
    Cheers

  285. Qshtik March 15, 2011 at 12:39 pm #

    Were you joking……….
    ===========
    Oz, you would need to trace back through the thread of my conversation with Asoka to understand my comment re mercenaries. I am not into doing that leg-work for you today. Basically, I’m talking dollars and cents, not morals.

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  286. ozone March 15, 2011 at 12:42 pm #

    *on the dollar coin*
    “I am seeing a two-headed Janus Obama/Biden on one side, and a Wal*Mart on the other.
    I wonder how this cost analysis will be revised when inflation requires striking a new batch with seven zeroes after the one…” BustinJ
    —————————————-
    LOL Priceless!
    …and just how has smelting, layering, and striking metals become “cheaper” than pressing ink to paper?

  287. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 12:44 pm #

    “BTW Rudolph Guliani practiced the only gun control that worked, his police officers stopped and frisked minorities in NYC for guns, but I would guess we cannot go back to that pratical measure, can we?”
    Oh, and they want to flaunt the Constitution by illegally stopping and searching and illegally confiscating private property – from brown or black people, as long as Bubba can be spared.
    Nice people!

  288. MarlinFive54 March 15, 2011 at 12:45 pm #

    Even worse than ‘Cops’ are all the prison shows on MSNBC; Lockdown, Lockdown Raw, Lockdown Extended stay, and others on networks like National Geographic, presenting imprisoned, sometimes brutalized people, men and women, for our entertainment and enjoyment. These shows end up, without exception, in the ‘SHU’, Special Housing Unit, where human beings are locked up in windowless underground cells for weeks and months at a time. The guards are presented as heroes, the prisoners getting what they deserve. Look, I realize that prison is full of bad people, but doesn’t the administration, as well as the state, bear some responsibility for the inmate on inmate violence that occurs so frequently there? And why put this shit on TV?
    I’m convinced that the reason behind shows like Lockdown Raw is to scare the shit out of people, saying to them, “Look here, you can end up in a place like this, too. Do you think you could survive it? Better walk the straight and narrow and do what we say”.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  289. ozone March 15, 2011 at 12:48 pm #

    Alrighty.
    I don’t remember that dust-up. That’s likely a “good” thing? ;o)

  290. montsegur March 15, 2011 at 12:50 pm #

    MarlinFive54 asked: “Do you think you could survive it? ”
    ===============================
    Not sure, but from what I’ve heard about what goes on in prison in terms of prisoners brutalizing one another, I think I’d rather have the solitary confinement if I had to make a choice.
    I’ve also read that a lot of the brutality is winked at by guards who use the biggest thugs among the prison population to be their enforcers, saving them extra and potentially hazardous effort as well as keeping the “big thugs” more docile since they’re getting what they want. I have no idea of how generally true that assertion might be, but I’d guess it is almost certainly happening in some prisons.
    Cheers

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  291. Cash March 15, 2011 at 12:57 pm #

    You want to hear about failure?
    In this country we have a problem with gun violence in large urban areas mostly involving hand guns. It’s not as bad as in the US but it’s still a fairly large problem.
    So what did our Liberal govt cook up? A gun registry for long guns.
    You might ask, as I did, if the problem is hand guns what the fuck are you doing forcing registration of long guns?
    Not only that, but it cost more than 1 billion Canadian dollars (currently trading at just above parity with the US$). Yes, you read that right, one BILLION dollars.
    You might also ask, as I did, how the fuck do you manage to piss away a BILLION on a fucking database? Databases are a dime a dozen, they already exist for vehicle registries etc. Old technology, no big deal. Right? Wrong. This is our federal govt which cannot touch anything without fubaring it totally.
    I personally have no problem with gun control. But if the problem is handguns, many smuggled from the US, what on earth are we doing pissing away dough on registering hunting rifles?
    Oh, Canuck liberals say, our Police Chiefs all say the long gun registry is a good thing. Yes, but the cops on the beat say it’s useless.
    So you see newworld, stupidness and it’s attendant handmaidens, conformity to rock-rigid ideological agendas and blind partisanship, isn’t a uniquely American phenom.
    Oh, and did I mention after throwing away a BILLION dollars on a useless measure we ended up not enforcing registration of hunting rifles anyway. One BILLION pissed away for absolutely nothing.
    Bienvenue au Canada.

  292. k-dog March 15, 2011 at 1:00 pm #

    Wage, I’ll contend their is a difference between those who claim to be Christians and those who actually are.
    Ask those ‘Christians’ who advocate that bad guys on Cops deserve beatings, or those who think people in prison or anyone else should be killed or those ‘Christians’ who think poor children should not get welfare or health care to explain the Sermon on The Mount to you.
    They won’t be able to.
    Christ be he as real as the blue sky or as phony as a three dollar bill had teachings and like a good quote these teachings have a life of their own, beyond the author.
    Which leads me to a question for all:
    If an Atheist accepts Christs teachings as found in the Sermon on The Mount what are they?

  293. montsegur March 15, 2011 at 1:02 pm #

    Cash asks: “You might ask, as I did, if the problem is hand guns what the fuck are you doing forcing registration of long guns? ”
    ===============================
    I wonder if they’re more worried about facing irate citizens in open country than they are about acts by criminals?
    Cheers

  294. ozone March 15, 2011 at 1:02 pm #

    More fine ideas and assumptions.
    These will do nothing for you and yours.
    They’re not useful or productive, but I’m positive you will clutch them close.
    …nor are they worth the engagement, IMHO.

  295. ozone March 15, 2011 at 1:04 pm #

    “I wonder if they’re more worried about facing irate citizens in open country than they are about acts by criminals?” -M
    Absolutely.

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  296. MarlinFive54 March 15, 2011 at 1:04 pm #

    Interesting little story about the kid mooning the Acropolis? Wagelaborer, then not being able to get a teaching job. With everything you’ve ever done inscribed in some data base now, in this computer age NOTHING IS FORGOTTEN, NOTHING IS FORGIVEN. This point should be driven home to all kids in grade school thru high school. ‘Be cautious in what you do at all times. Any transgression now will be with you forever’.
    It’s a hell of a way to live, but that’s the reality of it.
    -MARLIN
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  297. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 1:14 pm #

    You got that right, montsegur!

  298. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 1:21 pm #

    “Which leads me to a question for all:
    If an Atheist accepts Christs teachings as found in the Sermon on The Mount what are they?”
    An atheist.

  299. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 1:24 pm #

    Yeah, the nuns used to threaten the kids that things were going into their permanent record.
    Now it’s true.
    And the US is working on collecting DNA from everyone.
    What could possibly go wrong with that?

  300. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 1:28 pm #

    Also, I was complaining on a radio show about the fingerprint and DNA collection and a guy called in to tell me his story.
    As a grade school student in Florida, they had collected his fingerprints. They did it in a innocuous, Sgt. Friendly kind of way.
    Hah!
    Then, a couple of years, he was driving in another state. He had been working on a shed, and his fingers were torn up. He got stopped for a traffic violation, and taken in. Then they checked his prints and, guess what? His fingerprints were on file and they accused him of trying to alter them, and kept him for a few days, until he could someone to bail him out.

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  301. asoka March 15, 2011 at 1:39 pm #

    Qshtik said: “But, returning to a previous topic, you asked me a question about the government “renting” soldiers and I responded but you never replied back. Armies have used mercenaries throughout history. KuhDaffy is using mercenaries. Why should the US be any different?”
    ===========
    Q., I am involved in an adobe project right now and don’t have a lot of time. My only point is that duties (like providing security) that used to be done by soldiers were suddenly contracted out to private companies like Xe (formerly Blackwater) and the soldiers I have talked to were resentful that Xe employees were receiving twice the pay or more for doing the same duties that government-paid volunteer army grunts could do just as well.
    The private company could not do the job as cheaply as the government GIs could.
    Of course, government enterprises do not have CEO compensation schedules in the millions of dollars, or multi-million dollar golden parachutes, or million dollar year-end “incentive” bonuses, or any of the other expensive and wasteful perks granted by the private sector which makes the private sector not competitive with the government. See VA versus private health for other examples.

  302. montsegur March 15, 2011 at 1:42 pm #

    Germany is temporarily shutting seven older nuke reactors in wake of the catastrophe in Japan:
    http://www.thelocal.de/national/20110315-33727.html
    I wonder how the French are reacting. A large part of their electricity is provided by nuke power.
    Cheers

  303. montsegur March 15, 2011 at 1:48 pm #

    Found it: “The French government said Tuesday that it had ordered safety checks at the country’s 58 nuclear plants, in the wake of Japan’s nuclear crisis. Roughly 75 percent of France’s electricity comes from nuclear power – the world’s highest proportion. ”
    from http://www.france24.com/en/20110315-france-orders-safety-checks-nuclear-reactors-energy-japan

  304. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown March 15, 2011 at 1:55 pm #

    I must have missed a page or two, but what is the “blank slate theory”? Thanks.

  305. rippedthunder March 15, 2011 at 2:01 pm #

    Panic is setting in
    http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110315p2a00m0na018000c.html

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  306. montsegur March 15, 2011 at 2:07 pm #

    LaughingasRomeWasBurningDown asked:”but what is the “blank slate theory”?
    =========================
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_rasa
    Cheers

  307. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown March 15, 2011 at 2:23 pm #

    Thanks much!

  308. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 2:30 pm #

    But who knows what the hell newworld thinks it means, is the question.
    It clearly is a right wing thing he’s spouting, but I’ve never been exposed to that particular right wing meme.
    Perhaps he’ll elaborate.

  309. ront March 15, 2011 at 2:32 pm #

    “Which leads me to a question for all:
    If an Atheist accepts Christs teachings as found in the Sermon on The Mount what are they?”
    I would say the atheist is significantly closer to God, whom he denies, than is the hypocritical zealot who who defies the God he claims to be devoted to by consistently ignoring the teachings in his own day to day life.

  310. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 2:45 pm #

    Hey, Tripp, have you posted this? One of my Facebook friends did, and I thought that others might want to see it.
    http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html

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  311. wagelaborer March 15, 2011 at 2:50 pm #

    Oh, wait. I think that Vlad uses that phrase, and he means that black people are genetically stupid and violent. That the slate is all full up before the baby is born.
    Perhaps newworld belongs to the same sect as Vlad.

  312. progressorconserve March 15, 2011 at 3:07 pm #

    “I’m convinced that the reason behind shows like Lockdown Raw is to scare the shit out of people,”
    -marlin-
    Marlin – you are indeed an optimist to be thinking that there is a “reason” behind any TV show – for some greater good besides selling stuff.
    I don’t watch much TV – but it used to be that either Discovery, Nat. Geo, or the History Channel – during prime time would have at least ONE show, out of the three channels, worth watching.
    Now it’s prison shows, alien abduction shows, American Pickers, and that infernal Pawn Shop show that never goes off the air – incessant pandering during prime time – on the EDUCATIONAL channels.
    In other words, TV is a mirror to the lowest common denominator of America. The reflection is not flattering.

  313. Preparation-oucH March 15, 2011 at 3:15 pm #

    “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste…”
    Rahm Emanuel.
    Agreed!
    Let’s liberate West Florida!
    http://republicofwestflorida.org/img/West_Florida_Map_1767.jpg

  314. JonathanSS March 15, 2011 at 3:18 pm #

    May I butt in?

    I don’t have a crystal ball but generally I would say that past behaviour is a pretty good predictor of future behaviour.

    I like most of your posts, but wish we could get past this type of thinking. One generation can change the way they act or think. For example, prejudice & bigotry against the LGBT community is far less on the high school campuses I visit than it is for my parents generation. Do you think the German children of parents who were Nazi sympathizers hold onto those values?

    You may want to live in peace. So would I. But whether we’ll be able to is another question.

    Here are some words that come to mind:
    *Self-fulfilling prophecy
    *Fear
    *Preconceived notion
    *Stereotyping

  315. asia March 15, 2011 at 3:33 pm #

    Are crime stats ‘racist’?
    If not what do they tell?

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  316. progressorconserve March 15, 2011 at 3:37 pm #

    – on nuclear power –
    They keep running a local interview with a Georgia Power spokesperson. Interview addresses the two nuclear reactors at Plant Hatch, Georgia – and the two new mega$$$ nuclear reactors now under construction at the same facility.
    This spokesperson keeps repeating that, “the nuclear facilities in Georgia are designed to withstand a seismic event of a type that should only occur every 10,000 years.”
    WTF! Seriously, WT Freakin’ F*ck!!
    Last spring we had severe flooding. It was said to be the type of flooding that should only be expected every 1000 years – In other words, “A thousand year flood – with the implication that we won’t have another one for 999 years. ? ?
    Are decision makers that stupid?
    Do the seismologists, hydrologists, and engineers in this country NEVER talk to the PR people about their use of terms?
    And what are the odds of a 10,000 year seismic event occurring – say, next month or next year.
    Low odds – but catastrophic consequences – that just happened to the Japanese.
    Short sighted, bean counting, capitalistic jackassed bastards have taken over everywhere. We’re never going to get rid of them until it is far too late.
    ===========
    Personal notes –
    Cash – GOOD STUFF this week. And your ideas about the fubar’ed nature of American and Canadian multiculturalism last week were very good, also.
    Wage – nice spade joke!

  317. asia March 15, 2011 at 3:37 pm #

    Once upon a time [2 years ago?] a Brit I was working with said: ‘I cant move to the USA, there are 6 countries that are banned from the lottery’!
    I KID YOU NOT!

  318. rippedthunder March 15, 2011 at 3:39 pm #

    Hey Prog, regarding the Pawn Stars, I really don’t watch much TV at home. However, it is great time waster whilst hangin’ round the firehouse waitin’ for an emergency. Ya gotta luv Chumley, the village idiot, They make him shoot all the crap which could blow up!

  319. asia March 15, 2011 at 3:44 pm #

    Me, I dont watch TV, except when im on the bike at the gym and cant avoid it.
    Since i havent watched much TV in 40 years I AM SCHOCKED AT WHATS ON.
    Especially the ‘RUBE GOLDBERG MAZE CONTESTANTS GO THRU TO WIN PRIZES'[cant remember name of show]
    Eee gads..like the last days of Rome.
    And Wifeswap!!!! yuk.

  320. asia March 15, 2011 at 3:47 pm #

    Where does ‘Tolerance’ lead?
    Did Christine Daniels kill Mike Penner?
    Google that term!

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  321. JonathanSS March 15, 2011 at 3:49 pm #

    Let’s play “Who’s Your Favorite Scapegoat”. Insert any of the following:
    – That ethnic group
    – This skin color
    – A certain Religion
    – The Gov’t
    – Politicians
    – Bubba
    – Dumbocrats
    – Republicults
    – Guns or Gun Nuts
    – Abortion doctors
    – Envirowacks
    – Gang Bangers
    – Dropouts
    – Druggies
    – War mongers
    – Elitists
    – V8 drivers
    – Hummers
    – Southerners
    – Trailer trash
    – McMansion, Faux Chateau or Garage Mahal inhabitants
    – The rich/poor
    – Greedy oil execs
    – NASCAR
    – Public teachers
    – Unions
    – Cops
    It’s fun for one and all. Add your own.

  322. suburbanempire March 15, 2011 at 3:50 pm #

    Chad Mitchell Trio The John Birch Society Lyrics:
    [By Michael Brown]
    Oh, we’re meetin’ at the courthouse at eight o’clock tonight
    You just walk in the door and take the first turn to the right
    We hope you will be careful, we’d hate to be bereft
    But we’re taking down the names of everybody turning left
    Oh, we’re the John Birch Society, the John Birch Society
    Here to save our country from a communistic plot
    Join the John Birch Society, help us fill the ranks
    To get this movement started we need lots of tools and cranks
    Now there’s no one that we’re certain the Kremlin doesn’t touch
    We think that Westbrook Pegler doth protest a bit too much
    We only hail the hero from whom we got our name
    We’re not sure what he did but he’s our hero just the same
    Oh, we’re the John Birch Society, the John Birch Society
    Socialism is the ism dismalest of all
    Join the John Birch Society, there’s so much to do
    Have you heard they’re serving vodka at the WCTU?
    Well you’ve heard about the agents that we’ve already named
    [ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/dlQ ]
    Well MPA has agents that are flatly unashamed
    We’re after Rosie Clooney, we’ve gotten Pinky Lee
    And the day we get Red Skelton won’t that be a victory
    Oh we’re the John Birch Society, the John Birch Society
    Norman Vincent Peale may think he’s kidding us along
    But the John Birch Society knows he spilled the beans
    He keeps on preaching brotherhood, but we know what he means
    We’ll teach you how to spot ’em in the cities or the sticks
    For even Jasper Junction is just full of Bolsheviks
    The CIA’s subversive and so’s the FCC
    there’s no one left but thee and we, and we’re not sure of thee
    Oh, we’re the John Birch Society, the John Birch Society
    Here to save our country from a communistic plot
    Join the John Birch Society holding off the Reds
    We’ll use our hand and hearts and if we must we’ll use our heads
    Do you want Justice Warren for your Commissar?
    Do you want Mrs. Krushchev in there with the DAR?
    You cannot trust your neighbor or even next of kin
    If mommie is a commie then you gotta turn her in
    Oh, we’re the John Birch Society, the John Birch Society
    Fighting for the right to fight the right fight for the Right
    Join the John Birch Society as we’re marching on
    And we’ll all be glad to see you when we’re meeting in the John
    The John, the John Birch So- ci- i- teee.
    Lyrics: The John Birch Society, Chad Mitchell Trio

  323. asia March 15, 2011 at 3:50 pm #

    Wipeout
    Total Wipeout is a British game show, hosted by Richard Hammond and Amanda Byram that first aired on 3 January 2009. Each week, 20 contestants compete in a series of challenges in an attempt to win £10,000. These challenges are based in large pools of water or mud and generally involve large assault courses that participants must cross.
    The show is a licensed version of Wipeout, the Endemol show that originated in the United States in 2008, with the name slightly altered to avoid confusion with the BBC version of the earlier game show of the same name. It has been confirmed by the BBC that the show will return for two more series which are to include celebrity specials.[1]

  324. JonathanSS March 15, 2011 at 3:54 pm #

    Do you know what that persons mental state was? Was tolerance the suicides cause?
    It is always easy to find stories which support one side of an issue vs. another.

  325. rippedthunder March 15, 2011 at 4:12 pm #

    add anti-gun nuts and women drivers! ;o) to the list. sorry girls.

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  326. Qshtik March 15, 2011 at 4:25 pm #

    Asoka: “I am involved in an adobe project right now and don’t have a lot of time.”
    =============
    Qshtik: Acrobat or bricks?
    =============
    Asoka: “Xe employees were receiving twice the pay or more”
    =============
    Qshtik: Why on earth do you suppose the DoD would do such an apparently stupid thing?
    =============
    Asoka: “bonuses, or any of the other expensive and wasteful perks granted by the private sector which makes the private sector not competitive with the government
    =============
    Qshtik’s quiz: Which response below was written by Q and which by Karl Marx:
    1. Good point. The Fortune 500 companies would all be more effective and efficient if the government ran them without incentive programs.
    2. You’re pulling my leg, right?

  327. Vlad Krandz March 15, 2011 at 4:27 pm #

    It’s my duty to convert the lost White Sheep of Clusterfuck. Now people haven’t transcended the gulf between “us” and “them” – you just created a new identity, a new us and a new them. Conservatives Whites are your “other” – and you hate them. The Minorities are your sacred cows whom you worship, protect, and usually avoid as much as possible! You folks usually know which side your bread is buttered on after all – even though your policies will ruin America in short order. Penny wise and pound foolish.

  328. popcine March 15, 2011 at 4:33 pm #

    Hey, it’s so simple! Just when the West intervenes in Libya to protect the rebels, then Iran intervenes in Bahrain to protect the rebels.
    Then the price of oil doubles.
    Sometimes these things just hit me.

  329. mm March 15, 2011 at 4:36 pm #

    you really make the world an uglier place with talk like this.

  330. mm March 15, 2011 at 4:37 pm #

    Cairo is not the third world.

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  331. MADMAX March 15, 2011 at 4:38 pm #

    I believe a kardashian is a type of Persian rug.

  332. Vlad Krandz March 15, 2011 at 4:39 pm #

    Your world view will lead to the end of the West in another generation; it is a delusional view which leaves its adherents defenceless against the barbarians. As a Buddhist, you are dedicated to clear vision yet you are in an obviously altered state of consciousness 24/7. The invaders are amongst you multiplying on your dime, speaking their foregin tongue, and taking power at all levels – yet you think everything is OK – though in other posts you have revealed your anxiety. But now your ego has come to the fore and you will admit nothing. Typical.
    Japan, Korea, China shudder at the thought of mass colored immigration. They know that it would end their ancient Culture – and that would be the same as spitting on their ancestors who sacraficed so much for them. How do you reverence your ancestors? By letting them take over America? And Europe? In Sweden you can’t even talk about the Muslim take over – it’s a hate crime. Swedish Culture isn’t too big on free speech is it? In Norway the goverment admits the Muslims are causing huge problems, but they vow to stay the course. What course? Who decided all this? There is no more fundamental question than who will comprise the People – yet you tell me to shut up. Sweedish blood perhaps or just Liberal Totalitarinism?

  333. Vlad Krandz March 15, 2011 at 4:45 pm #

    Sounds like a conspiracy to me – how else was his record sealed so completely? Also who financed his education? I say the Hand was on him from very early on.
    Remember, the Founding Fathers believed in Conspiracies: they were very frightened of both the Cental Banking Conspiracy a la Hamilton and the French Illuminati. More to the point, how could they not believe in Conpiraices since they had been Conspirators themselves?

  334. Vlad Krandz March 15, 2011 at 4:48 pm #

    Tell them about Lincoln again – it was too late in the week last time. And then let them try and pretend that our Progenitors weren’t dyed in wool Racist White Men!

  335. bossier22 March 15, 2011 at 5:00 pm #

    to answer your question, both myself and my business partner are closet atheist. not only because it would be bad for business, but also out of respect for our Christian friends. i personally dont feel i have to arrogantly and rudely belittle those with different views than i have. there are nice guys and assholes in every neighborhood, family and ideology. there are many super smart people who are Christians , conservatives, caucasian etc. btw thanks for not ragging my typos. i cant type for shit.

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  336. Qshtik March 15, 2011 at 5:07 pm #

    Cairo is not the third world.
    ===========
    MM, the “day of rage,” such as it was, was in Saudi Arabia, not Cairo.
    But, anyway … if not third world, in which world would you classify Cairo/Egypt? First, Second or Fourth?

  337. ExtraO March 15, 2011 at 5:16 pm #

    I wonder if Jim has the time (or the inclination) to read all of these comments…
    “Under the theory that life goes on until it doesn’t:” Exactly. Because that’s about all there is left at this point, theory. Things being so clearly shot to hell that any butterfly batting it’s wings on some elephants ass in outer nowheresville is all it’s gonna take to finally implode the whole decrepit mess. The whole world’s underpinnings give the appearance of being no more substantial than a sheet of wet Charmin.
    Whatever one’s guesses about where things are headed in any of the world’s current hotspots, I gotta say I really resonated with your 4th para. where you recount having tried to follow the story on American cable & basically having your stomach turned more by most of the programming than by the carnage in northern Honshu. The US so clearly does deserve several times over what the Japanese are currently suffering. If there’s any”consolation” here, it’s that when the shit finally does get to America — and who seriously doubts that it will??– it’s gonna be just that much worse…
    Saw on some MSM site the other day a comment that the catastrophe in Japan will turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to Moamarr Gadaffi. Truer words were ne’er spoke. Gives the American paper tiger the perfect cover for neglecting all of its hypocritical puffery about the Col.G. “having to go now”, & the legitimate concerns of the Libyan demonstrators & all the other BS –just long enough for things to get so far along that it can no longer be expected to support a rebellion so clearly doomed to fail. I wonder if Hillary feels any less soiled –than Bill did over Monica– at being the shill for the most duplicitous gov’t. the world has ever seen.

  338. Qshtik March 15, 2011 at 5:29 pm #

    I really resonated with your 4th para
    =============
    No, Extra, you’ve got the expression all balled up. You did not resonate with the 4th para … the 4th para resonated with you.

  339. ExtraO March 15, 2011 at 5:52 pm #

    Qshtik, a question: Did kids ever walk up to you in grammar school and smack you in the face for no apparent reason?

  340. neanderlover March 15, 2011 at 6:27 pm #

    So very much red meat in Monday’s essay. My thoughts go though to American tv — what a bunch of crap! Only a few sources contain real news, and Clusterfuck Nation is one of them.

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  341. JonathanSS March 15, 2011 at 6:36 pm #

    RE: Scapegoat List
    -BP (Screw the Brits! No more English muffins for me. From now on it’s Freedom muffins only.)

  342. k-dog March 15, 2011 at 6:38 pm #

    “Things being so clearly shot to hell that any butterfly batting it’s wings on some elephants ass in outer nowheresville is all it’s gonna take to finally implode the whole decrepit mess.”
    The central tenet of CFN, this should win a prize.

  343. Vlad Krandz March 15, 2011 at 6:59 pm #

    Bingo. One is reminded of when they told the Shiites to rise against Saddam giving the impression that they would help. They let the Shiites be slaughtered by Chemical Ali. We have no business in these fights at all. If our people are threatened, we have the right to attack – as we did long ago in Tripoli or as we did against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Iraq was pure hubris nothing more; an attempt to take over for Zionist and/or Oil reasons.

  344. mm March 15, 2011 at 7:09 pm #

    Days of Rage have been occuring with real regularity throughout 2011 across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. If the Day of Rage on Friday January 28 in Cairo’s Tahrir Square was not the first(it may have been), it was arguably the most significant. Cairo, as the largest city in Africa and one of the major cultural capital’s of the ancient mediterranean world dating back over 5000 years, and being the primary springboard for western civilization and about ten times older than the “new world.”

  345. mm March 15, 2011 at 7:17 pm #

    horse-jizz, i’m guessing, is the male offering in the ancient recipe for making horses, yes? well, heck, who doesn’t like horses. more horses, please.

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  346. mm March 15, 2011 at 7:19 pm #

    Cairo, as the largest city in Africa and one of the major cultural capital’s of the ancient mediterranean world dating back over 5000 years, and being the primary springboard for western civilization and about ten times older than the “new world.”
    ===============
    sorry for the lack of proof-reading there… should say this instead.
    Cairo, as the largest city in Africa and one of the major cultural capital’s of the ancient mediterranean world dating back over 5000 years, is the primary springboard for western civilization and about ten times older than the “new world.”

  347. Vlad Krandz March 15, 2011 at 7:24 pm #

    Kardashians are exotic blow up dolls – role models for our young women. They look kind of sexy, but there no big deal if you’ve lived in a large coastal city – there’s lots of exotic brown skinned women with voluptuous figures. There was an Armenian girl like this in one of my classes once. She hung out with the Hispanics and I just thought she was one at first. Some of the Armenians look Semitic and others more European. A very mixed people. The IAN ending on the name is usually Armenian.

  348. San Jose Mom 51 March 15, 2011 at 7:48 pm #

    My ancestors left Sweden because they were bored and cold. (And some of them got disowned by their families because they joined a nutty religion.) I do believe the blacks were in America (the were FORCED) before my adventurous ancestors.
    The current bunch of Africans coming to America seem to have a whole different aura around them. They have great manners, perfect posture, and from what my son tells me, they study very hard.
    I will tell you that young black men with their pants hanging down and the predator-like posturing scare me and I go out of my way to avoid them–especially if they are in a group.
    SJmom

  349. CaptSpaulding March 15, 2011 at 8:02 pm #

    I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to pull your pants down when you’re in Greece.

  350. San Jose Mom 51 March 15, 2011 at 8:24 pm #

    My favorite scapegoats?
    Snit-prone, alpha-moms of queen-bee teens.
    Cheerleaders (their whole reason for being is to cheer and fawn over alpha-males)
    Jen

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  351. Newfie March 15, 2011 at 8:30 pm #

    Thinking the unthinkable… if the reactors in Japan all melt down and release catastrophic levels of radiation… Japan being a rather small area with 125 million people… and 400,000 already at subsistence level after the tsunami… I wonder if that country could be the first to go into post-industrial apocalypse ? Nuclear power would become unthinkable there, and peak oil is already here, and with such a large population on a small island with no energy resources, the Long Emergency may be accelerated in Japan. Unthinkable perhaps… but… possible.

  352. lbendet March 15, 2011 at 8:43 pm #

    On a personal note two friends of mine were about to got to Japan for an extended period. One lived there for 20 years and the other was going to join friends for the Cherry Blossom Festival.
    I can’t imagine what that will be like this year as their friends tell them they are living with rolling blackouts and the uncertainty of how they’ll will get by…
    Thinking the unthinkable, You are so right about that. They have said that there are radioactive readings now in Tokyo and even though the winds have been blowing in the opposite direction it seems that this is way out of control.
    There are now only 50 people working on location and 4 reactors with problems, it’s hard to imagine that they can contain what is clearly out of control.
    An article that speaks to your post in on The Oil Drum site:
    http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7661

  353. rippedthunder March 15, 2011 at 8:44 pm #

    Hey SJ 51, give me a break! I am an Alpha Male! someone has to be a stand-up guy! I am not a chest beater, just a stand up guy you can count on. kind of like Spartacus! I do have your back! I am trained and willing to protect your butt. Peace.

  354. ozone March 15, 2011 at 8:46 pm #

    Most excellent comment.
    …and I, too, am a groveling admirer of Hillary and her exponentially expanding ass. ;o)
    -“Woe betide thee of an ass measured in multiple axe-handles and thy ill-considered mouthings.” -Book of Tomfoolery and Shenanigans

  355. rippedthunder March 15, 2011 at 8:52 pm #

    “ass measured in multiple axe-handles” that is a good quote! I will have to use it with some of the folks at work! classic!

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  356. San Jose Mom 51 March 15, 2011 at 8:56 pm #

    As long as your not beating your chest, I’m fine with Alpha Males. Smart alpha males are great.
    Jet pilots who do carrier landings are too hot to handle.

  357. ozone March 15, 2011 at 8:59 pm #

    RT,
    Friend o’ mine was just by for a beer or 3, and I hear tell a buddy of his (race car builder) has constructed a sap-boiling setup of undeniable sexiosity! I will attempt to get inside dope and secret plans in due time. Last boil tonight; wish I could attend, but you know how difficult driving can be after such festivities. ;o)

  358. ozone March 15, 2011 at 9:01 pm #

    RT,
    (For all I know, it could be YOU. ;o)

  359. progressorconserve March 15, 2011 at 9:09 pm #

    “Thinking the unthinkable… if the reactors in Japan all melt down and release catastrophic levels of radiation…”
    -newfie-
    I am appalled and heartbroken, as a human being, at the suffering going on in Japan at the present time. The Atheists on CFN would prefer I not send the Japanese prayers, or even positive thoughts – so I will not voice my internal psychic sentiments and behaviors concerning the Japanese, at this time.
    I do believe, though, that the Japanese will be OK in the long run. They are a tough, resilient, and intelligent race. I believe that they have made great effort, through the years, to keep their rice farmers and agricultural producers producing – through sensible subsidy. So, at least, their society could feed itself, before the final extremity.
    Here’s some pure, bs-type theorizing – – It is possible that the nuclear events in the waning days of WWII may have given the Japanese some extra genetic *resilience* against chromosomal and somatic damage due to nuclear radiation, since only the survivors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were, themselves, able to reproduce – more viable survivors.
    The Japanese will likely come out of this waving a Rising Sun flag and swinging solar panels – if left to their own devices.
    I do believe they will likely forswear American- style nuclear safety and management techniques from now on.
    Because these techniques seem to have some gaps.

  360. ozone March 15, 2011 at 9:26 pm #

    “I am appalled and heartbroken, as a human being, at the suffering going on in Japan at the present time. The Atheists on CFN would prefer I not send the Japanese prayers, or even positive thoughts – so I will not voice my internal psychic sentiments and behaviors concerning the Japanese, at this time.” -PoC
    C’mon, what [non-harmful things] you do in your own private space is no concern of mine. Really. Do as you think might be beneficial. Whose permission do you need to try and be helpful anyway? (Strictly a rhetorical question, as you could guess.)

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  361. progressorconserve March 15, 2011 at 9:33 pm #

    Tripp –
    Damn, man – I am so sorry about your turkey. First your goat in Macon is killed by dog(s), and now the turkey in Tifton is killed. Hopefully, you are getting the bad luck out of your system, as regards your livestock.
    I don’t want to presume to tell you what to do, here.
    ============
    (OK – you and all of CFN go ahead and laugh at that idea!)
    (In fact, I’m pretty sure that digital laughter will be heard out at the DSL connection next to the power transformer as soon as I hit SUBMIT on this post!)
    ‘Cause I don’t mind admitting that I’m one of those alfalfa males that RT and SJ just referenced. And I do enjoy giving advice – as you, yourself, have noticed, on occasion. haha!
    ==========
    So – – as soon as you stop laughing, Tripp – think about getting a dog for your place. With 300 acres you need a dog, or two, or three – and that much acreage will be able to support a dog or two, no matter what.
    You know I like to have a large outside dog, because of where I am, next to National Forest. Mainly I need one with enough body mass to be able to stay outdoors 24/7 year-round to keep the deer and the bears off our place.
    Your situation is different. Bobcats, etc. in your area will probably be used to the idea that it is best to stay away from the sounds and smells of a dog, regardless of the size of said canine.
    So you might be able to have one or two smaller dogs. Personally, I like one primary dog and one small emergency back-up dog, for where I live. But that does get to personal preference.
    Depredations on the broccoli late last summer, by rabbits, also led us to get a cat this winter. But that’s another topic for another post. So far though, Nugget, the cat, is working out OK – no mice on the decks, and no rabbits in the garden, to date.

  362. ozone March 15, 2011 at 9:34 pm #

    “I do believe they will likely forswear American- style nuclear safety and management techniques from now on.” -PoC
    Now, THAT is one helluva heavyweight topic for the “policy” dudes and dudettes! Many of us reg’lar folk (and Greg Palast, too) would like to listen in on those discussions.

  363. ozone March 15, 2011 at 9:41 pm #

    Sorry, PoC; too much beer leaking into the rambling postings…. “Shut up and read”, shall be muh motto.

  364. progressorconserve March 15, 2011 at 9:46 pm #

    Hey, O3, I’m just poking at a couple of the CFN folks, and not at you.
    “Do as you think might be beneficial. Whose permission do you need to try and be helpful anyway? (Strictly a rhetorical question, as you could guess.)”
    -ozone- posted to PoC, regarding my positive thoughts and/or prayers as directed toward the Japanese islands.
    So, please understand that I’ll never poke at you, Ozone – over religion. I believe that you and I came to a friendly understanding regarding The Long Emergency and religion months and months ago on this CFN thread.
    And I do wish you the absolute best as regards your spouse. Things like that really take it out of you, as I well know.
    =========
    On another note, for those who keep up – our close family friend who bought the Buddhist good luck charm – at a store in Japan – just a few hours prior to the earthquake – that young man is now back in the States.
    Personally, I’ll always get a laugh out of the emphatic energy in his mom’s facebook post – just 2 hours post-quake. “Young man, this is your mother speaking – you get out of Japan right this second – and you come home!”
    If Momma ain’t happy – !!

  365. Vlad Krandz March 15, 2011 at 9:58 pm #

    Well done Prog – they are an intelligent race. That’s why they don’t sit around in their own shit waiting for godot (whitey) to come help them. Where is the looting like in New Orleans? Wherea are the rapes? The attacks on vulnerable Whites? The fighting for food? The gangs grabbing it and selling in as in Africa and Haiti? Just not there, a superior race indeed. We were once more like them – and I hope someday can be again once we have purified our Lands and Culture.
    http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2011/03/japanese_dont_l.php
    Check out comment 43 in particular – the poster has an exquisite understanding of real diversity – which inevitably means segregation. The mark of a true lover is to sacrafice on behalf of the beloved. The poster truly loves the Japanese and forgives them for excluding Whites from the deeper parts of their culture. Now compare this to Asoka’s attitude to Whites and Western Culture. If you can grok all this, my case is made and you will be reborn as a White Man, no longer the typical Simpering Clown portrayed in media, but a Terrible Beauty, a White Nationalist.
    I know, I know – I hope for too much. But if our reach does not exceed our grasp, than what is a heaven for?

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  366. trippticket March 15, 2011 at 10:29 pm #

    A nifty little piece this week, following up on my dialogue with RippedThunder last night, entitled:
    “Turning the T-ides of March”
    http://www.smallbatchgarden.blogspot.com/
    It’s the expansion of my idea to create a legitimate carbon sink, and an explanation of why contributing to similar ideas in a larger format constitutes participation in a Ponzi scheme, and a waste of your time and money.
    Mook, if you still have any interest in some sort of working relationship with Small Batch Garden, my PayPal portal is forthcoming. Should be online by Thursday. Even if it’s just 10 bucks to bribe the tree service to come out to the farm and bring me a load of hardwood chips in which to grow wine caps.
    Cheers,
    Tripp

  367. Qshtik March 15, 2011 at 10:38 pm #

    MM,
    Of the several uprisings in the ME and NA recently, only the one in Saudi Arabia, to my knowledge, pre-planned a specific date to start an uprising and billed it as a “Day of Rage.” If one of the other countries called their uprising a “Day of Rage” then I apologize for questioning what you posted.
    As to the term “third world shit hole” used by another commenter, I am fairly certain (s)he was referring to Saudi not Cairo/Egypt. But, regardless, you took it as a slur against Cairo which you said was not “third world.”
    Wikipedia defines “third world” (see link below)and provides a map showing the countries that make up the so-called first, second and third world. Despite their ancient and glorious history, Egypt is a third world country according to Wiki.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World

  368. Qshtik March 15, 2011 at 10:57 pm #

    Did kids ever walk up to you in grammar school and smack you in the face for no apparent reason?
    ==============
    I take it from your response that you would much prefer that I had said nothing so you could continue to go around sounding stupid.

  369. Qshtik March 16, 2011 at 12:29 am #

    “Day of Rage.”
    ===========
    MM, I did further research regarding the use of the term “Day of Rage” and it turns out I was wrong. That term was used beginning at least Jan 25th to describe the uprisings in a number of countries including Egypt. My apologies.

  370. Buck Stud March 16, 2011 at 2:08 am #

    CFN already has Gregory Peck clearing his throat before every post–now we have Kirk Douglas too? Besides–I’m Sparticus!

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  371. Puzzler March 16, 2011 at 2:44 am #

    POC said: “It is possible that the nuclear events in the waning days of WWII may have given the Japanese some extra genetic *resilience* against chromosomal and somatic damage due to nuclear radiation….”
    Wasn’t that how Godzilla got his start?

  372. asoka March 16, 2011 at 2:54 am #

    Q. said: “Acrobat or bricks?”
    ===========
    Bricks. 30 pounds each. Thermal mass that breathes. Thermal mass that both cools and heats… absorbing and protecting from sunlight in the day and then releasing the sun’s energy at night.
    As a building material the earth is wonderful! Over 30% of the world’s population live in earthen structures, what you pejoratively call “mud huts,” as if that were an insult, as if there is something wrong with being poor.

  373. asoka March 16, 2011 at 3:07 am #

    Oil Prices Fall to Lowest Level in Weeks
    Another JHK prediction falls. JHK always said that unrest in the Middle East or that an event like the disaster in Japan happened, then oil prices would surge to $150 and the DOW would fall to 4,000.
    Saudi Arabia invaded Bahrain. Iraq and Iran are pissed. Japan is in crisis… And the price of crude oil goes DOWN to below $100!

    SINGAPORE – Oil prices hovered near $97 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a big loss overnight as Japan struggled to control a damaged nuclear plant and cope with a devastating earthquake and tsunami.
    Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 19 cents at $96.99 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped $4.01 to settle at $97.18 on Tuesday.
    In London, Brent crude was down 25 cents at $108.27 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.

  374. Patrizia March 16, 2011 at 3:25 am #

    I always thought the Japanese were different, and they are.
    Nevertheless I was born in Europe and I think I wouldn’t like to live anywhere else.
    I always wondered how you can live in such a small space, sleep in a coffin-like bed, bowing before talking, smiling when you would like to shout and so on…
    I think all this behavior is more a facade than inner feelings.
    It is enough to see how easily they lie, even in front of evidence, to understand that their inner nature is but acting.
    In front they bow and in the back they stub you.
    When you see them, they perform the part of the ultra civilizes people, in the back they show their real nature.
    In that article they were not thieves… ever read that ALL the Mediterranean tuna is caught by Japanese and shipped to Japan where it is sold at up to 1000 dollars a kilogram?
    And in the 70s, they were thieves of technology, just as the Chinese are now…
    I am sorry, I do not believe there is a race better than the other.
    After all the psychological studies you find out that, as unpleasant as it can be, behind each of us there is a communal thing that is called human nature.

  375. k-dog March 16, 2011 at 3:26 am #

    Maybe the TPTB think everything is under control. Similar thing happens when unemployment goes up, so does the stock market.
    This assumes that TPTB influence the markets. Could this be a foolish assumption?

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  376. k-dog March 16, 2011 at 3:37 am #

    I agree with you. Genocide always happens when a strong man thinks he can pull shit and get by with it.
    It’s a disturbing thought but mass murder could be part of the long emergency. Ways must be found to hold those who would instigate genocide accountable.
    The problem is how?

  377. Patrizia March 16, 2011 at 3:56 am #

    On March 11, 2011 the world changed. Nothing is going to be like it was before.
    We have entered the post-nuclear era.
    A new era without delirium for nuclear energy.
    Japan has sacrificed itself for us, certainly not voluntarily, but that’s what’s happened.
    If the nuclear nightmare that has been with us since the end of the second world war, from Chernobyl to Three Mile Island, stops (and it will) we owe it to the sacrifice of millions of people escaping the Fukoshima cloud.
    A biblical exodus. Not even imaginable.
    Japan risks to become the “neverland”, a place you don’t enter and you don’t leave. A nuclear trap.
    Which fleet will rush to help the population of the East of Japan?
    Contaminated Japanese merchandise will no longer leave the country.
    Perhaps the cloudy will reach Europe if the wind blows West.
    The feeling of what happened is too big, too deep to stand.
    People have immediately understood that the nuclear Era has gone forever.
    Man is the most intelligent of all creatures of the Globe, infact he discovered the nuclear power, but no mouse (an inferior creature) will ever build a mouse trap…

  378. k-dog March 16, 2011 at 4:01 am #

    Wage,
    Ah ha, I’ve been looking around and found this:

    Imperial religion was and still is
    a tool of the political right, used to manipulate us. Yet Christ offered an ethical scheme that is essentially a practical morality of mutual lovingkindness which does not require a supernatural God. It is Secular Christianity, a world view any scientist and atheist could adopt without compromise, and most Christians should.

    Dr M.D. Magee
    I’ve answered my own question. It comes from a rather large tome. I’ll be reading it for a while.

  379. k-dog March 16, 2011 at 4:09 am #

    That’s for sure. Good to know this mote won’t get smote.

  380. MarlinFive54 March 16, 2011 at 7:40 am #

    I tuned in BBC shortwave last nite hoping to get some accurate news about the reactors in Japan. There was plenty on that, but the main story involved political events in Bahrain, home of the US Navy’s fifth fleet. Demonstrators were shot down in the streets yesterday, possibly by Saudi troops with American made weapons, and hospitals treating the wounded were actually raided by police, doctors and nurses roughed up, cell phones confiscated etc. BBC hinted at Iranian influence among Bahranian demonstrators. It all spells trouble.
    Hardly on the radar screen are the civil wars brewing in the Sudan, which is splitting into 2 countries in July, and the Ivory Coast, which has 2 presidents. These promise to be bloody and long lasting. BBC covered this as well.
    I wonder if this a normal course of world events (every year has its own catastrophes), or the entropic disorders that JHK predicts in TLE in an energy starved world? What’s happening in Japan is no surprise to readers of Jim’s books; the diminishing returns of technology to meet everyday human needs in societies over reliant on technological wizardry. The talking heads on the cable news broadcasts seem actually surprised and put off to realize that nuclear power plants are a two edged sword, not to be taken for granted. At least that’s the attitude on CNBC.
    I finally got out on my property as the snow is mostly melted and the mud drying up. Everything in pretty bad shape with much soil erosion and damaged fences due to this brutal winter. Also, ice damage on house and outbuildings. Yesterday, while sinking a fencepost, about a dozen deer (a herd?) walked thru passing within 20 ft. of me paying no attention to me whatsoever. Probably looking for something to eat after starving all winter.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

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  381. MarlinFive54 March 16, 2011 at 7:56 am #

    Trippticket;
    How are you losing your livestock?
    Was that your only goat?
    What Killed the Turkey?
    Maybe time to take some security measures to protect that valuable livestock of yours. Better fences? I’m always working on my fences here. It’s never ending.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  382. lbendet March 16, 2011 at 8:45 am #

    Thanks for that report on the ME.
    The media always harps on one disaster as if there’s nothing else going on in the world. The result is that unwittingly, the media provides cover for the other political/military horrors going on at the same time.
    Too bad they can’t seem to inform us of other important events that will affect us in significant ways.

  383. ccm989 March 16, 2011 at 9:28 am #

    The situation in Japan remains dire. Each day it seems to grow worse and worse as nuclear reactor cores become more unstable, risking a meltdown. What’s really shocking are some people’s reactions to the disaster. The Japanese are one of the few nations that aren’t trying to steal American jobs and aren’t hoping to mass murder us. I think they deserve our support (financial and otherwise) but some people seems to think the Japanese had this coming. If that’s the case, we’re all doomed.
    At the Jersey shore, we’ve got an old, aging nuclear plant called Oyster Creek. That thing ought to have been shut down years ago but its still leaking and running. Gov. Christie is letting them run the plant WITHOUT a cooling tower until 2019. Not good. OK, we are not likely to get an earthquake (or tsunami) but I still got some KI pills (just in case). Last year, the Gulf coast got hit with an oil rig explosion but we can clean up oil, how do you clean up uranium/radiation? Seems like the contaminated area is usually abandoned for a long, long time. Does homeowner’s insurance cover nuclear disasters?
    If we run out of oil, we’ve got the technology for wind and solar power. Plus we still have lots of coal and nat gas so industry/transportation, etc. won’t instantly be wiped out, more likely just more expensive and inconvenient. Somehow I’d rather deal with inconvenience rather than radiation sickness.

  384. orionoir March 16, 2011 at 9:59 am #

    {he media always harps on one disaster as if there’s nothing else going on in the world. The result is that unwittingly, the media provides cover for the other political/military horrors going on at the same time.}
    ——
    also, policymakers deliberately use disasters as cover for unpopular actions. pakistan’s release of cia-contractor raymond davis after us payment of “blood money” seems incidental when compared to meltdowns in japan, but who knows, years from now we may see this bargain as a critical landmark in what may well turn out to be an even more serious meltdown.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/world/asia/17pakistan.html?hp

  385. Buck Stud March 16, 2011 at 10:10 am #

    Patrizia,
    You’re fast revealing yourself as one of the more insightful posters on this message board–IMO. And you sew with a thread just right for the pattern.

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  386. trippticket March 16, 2011 at 10:15 am #

    “Saudi Arabia invaded Bahrain. Iraq and Iran are pissed. Japan is in crisis… And the price of crude oil goes DOWN to below $100!”
    Occam’s Razor would suggest that this round of catabolic collapse, or minor embedded wave at least, did not require the same highs as the last one. Demand must be imploding faster than most people counted on. Interesting twist to the plot in my opinion.
    Anybody still think China and India are prepared to pick up all the slack that a US demand implosion leaves hanging?

  387. trippticket March 16, 2011 at 10:23 am #

    POC, thanks for the good advice. We thought the donkey might take care of the interloper issue, but he can’t be everywhere, especially outside of his pasture. We ran something kind of large off this morning at about 4, sniffing around the rabbit cages. Dog ends up being a pretty good idea probably, but I think I’ll wait until the garden is fully fenced so I can keep said dog outside of the important bits. Dogs and gardens are not the best of friends. A bobcat might stay away from the main unfenced entry that smells so much like human, but a dog won’t think twice about it.
    Goat was a learning experience, unfortunately, and his killer is dead. Turkey was a surprise gift and we were unprepared for turkey. The rest are pretty safe now. Thanks for the good advice.

  388. Hooting March 16, 2011 at 10:38 am #

    Kurosawa’s Dreams:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_ZxTB8mqbk

  389. Buck Stud March 16, 2011 at 10:40 am #

    I realize there are more pressing concerns, but when Art brings a tear to your eye, that a reason to celebrate, even if it’s only a nod of the head.
    I’ve been listening to Patrick Kavanagh’s “Raglan Road” sung by Luke Kelly…my God, what a masterpiece.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19qdV2vgM-o&feature=related

  390. MarlinFive54 March 16, 2011 at 11:04 am #

    Vlad Krantz;
    Lengthy article this morning in front section of Wall Street Journal about the large increase in the use of food stamps among residents of the state of Idaho. Historically, food stamp applications have been lower than average in your state; now, due to a collapsing traditional economy, they are on par with everywhere else, even places like NY.
    Some say (in the article) that federal programs like food stamps belie the ‘independent spirit’ of citizens in the Northwest US.
    How about it Vlad? Is the economy in Idaho that bad?
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

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  391. progressorconserve March 16, 2011 at 11:04 am #

    “We ran something kind of large off this morning at about 4, sniffing around the rabbit cages…”
    -tripp-
    Yah – probably your turkey killer, come back for more. Some one of the good ol’ boys around there will have a game camera you could borrow and set up on your rabbit cages. That might let you get some good pictures of your predator’s behavior. Also – pictures will be time stamped, so you could pattern the thing and set up an ambush. I’m not sure, without checking, whether bobcats are legal to shoot year round in GA (like feral hogs) – probably not.
    But on 300 acres when your livelihood is involved – sometimes you have to make your own game law – or else get a nuisance animal permit from the DNR.
    We set up a game camera below our garden spot when we first moved up here three years ago. We would have a picture of a deer, then a possum, then a bear, then a coon, then one of the neighbor’s dogs, then another bear – all within 30 minutes of each other on the camera. Our outside dog put a stop to all of that – no ambushes necessary on my part.
    And regarding dogs in gardens – people would be surprised how much of a deterrent a tiny strand of aluminum wire – hooked to a fence charger for just one week – is to your basic domestic canine.
    We have wire just on two sides of our garden – and it’s been disconnected from the fence charger for over a year. My dogs look at me like I’m magic when I touch that wire. And they never even think about entering the garden.
    =========
    Good day for burning brush if the wind stays down enough. I’ve got two big piles of limbs left from 15 trees we had topped to get more morning sun on the garden and open up more of a mountain view. When I get rid of those piles – our place will be back to GA Forestry spec for wildland fire safety for the summer.
    Better go get to work!

  392. Patrizia March 16, 2011 at 11:11 am #

    Thank you…

  393. Cavepainter March 16, 2011 at 11:38 am #

    Any religion that advocates large families is a terrorist organization.

  394. dale March 16, 2011 at 11:45 am #

    I think you have, perhaps inadvertently, answered WiseWebWoman’s question: “Are we better off knowing or not knowing of the reality that surrounds us?”
    ===========================================
    Knowledge is always better than ignorance, of course. The question is, “can you handle the truth”. Most of us walk around believing in our “Security” as if we are guaranteed a full life (or eternal life). Ironically, this is more true for the “doomheads” around here than anyone else. The “doomheads” apparently just woke up recently from their dream of immortality and are shocked by the realization that life is truly vulnerable. Hence, all the flailing about stocking up on weapons and buying seeds. Get real people, if you live in an urban or suburban environment and the time comes that our food supply has degraded enough that you will need a supply of seeds, you’ll starve or die of disease before they produce a single bean. Survival will be more a matter of luck and geography than anything else.
    Reality check: Life has always and will always be tenuous at best. A catastrophe that would make everything that has happened in the last few years look like a picnic was just narrowly averted during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Imagine a couple of hundred megatons of nuke explosions on the continental U.S!
    As individuals we are all “doomed”, it’s just a matter of time. Get accustomed to not knowing what will happen next. You may not be here tomorrow, so live like you know it.

  395. Cash March 16, 2011 at 12:03 pm #

    You’re right, everyone deserves to be judged on their own merits. On the other hand there is such a thing as cultural continuity.
    Here’s one example: Recently there was a shitstorm in Manitoba when recently arrived Muslim parents wanted their kids taken out of music class and mixed phys ed classes for religious and cultural reasons (other local Muslims said this is bullshit, such things aren’t forbidden).
    Now you can say well, this is just one small dust up. And it is. But they keep piling up. Here in Toronto we started up a school for black kids. Now some people are calling for a school for Portugese kids. Similar things are happening in other cities. We’re not fostering a sense of common citizenship or commonality or social cohesion and solidarity but rather the opposite.
    And, again, I’m not picking on Muslims, they are not a monolithic in their views. And I’m not picking on these Muslims in particular. After all, we say over and over and over that we’re a multicultural country. So these Muslim parents took us at our word. And they are taxpayers besides and those are their kids. So they have some say in how their kids are educated. Their motive is to keep their kids on the straight and narrow and good for them.
    You have to understand this country, we are self abasing to the point of absurdity. If I had a buck for every time I heard someone say “we have no identity” I’d be a billionaire. And everytime I say in response “this country in Anglo Saxon in identity” I get a bug eyed look of incredulity as if I’d just farted. This is the country that dares not speak its own name.
    Look at the facts. We speak English, we read English lit, we elect a Westminster type parliament, we live by English common law etc. It’s like Orwell said, you can spend a lifetime not seeing what’s plainly under your nose. And that’s the case with people here.
    So less squeamish people say OK, maybe YOU have no identity but WE have an identity so if you won’t exercise yours then please get the fuck out of the way and let us do it. And justifiably so. I can’t blame such people one damn bit.
    We make a virtue of national self abnegation. We proclaimed our multiculturalism 40 years ago without a second’s forethought. It sounded so very hip and progressive. But our Libs being so educated and informed and literate (they tell us this all the time so it must be true) foisted this on us for our own good and didn’t think about what it would mean in practice. The leader of our socialist party, David Lewis, derided it as a sop for the ethnics. Other people like me, less respected than David Lewis, who asked what the fuck this is all about, seeing as it looked like we were fostering tribalism within our own borders, were reviled as weirdo racists and reactionary wackjobs. We’ll see in the end who the wackjobs are.
    I keep ranting about this because I can see the US making the same mistake. People are tribal by nature. Encouraging tribalism within your own national borders is lunacy.

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  396. newworld March 16, 2011 at 12:30 pm #

    The Left is comprised of cults, rigidly segregated. What you describe is the last bit of white supremacy, ironically by white leftists. You will also notice they never ever ask the “minorities” what they think of whites and their liberalism. If they did then the charade built upon the assumptions of the blank slate theory would lie like a Japanese reactor building.

  397. MarlinFive54 March 16, 2011 at 12:36 pm #

    Hard driving rain outside my window, 33d.F. The sky looks like God dredged up the bottom of the North Atlantic and set it above us, filtering out all sunlight and warmth. Connecticut, moribund economy and crappy weather 6 months out of the year. What’s not too like?
    Philosophy got a bad rap here mostly due to Old6699s rants, which he claims are philosophical, but are any of you CFNers familiar with Eric Hoffer, philosopher/longshoreman from San Francisco, author of “The True Believer”, and many other essays? He was around in the 50’s, Lyndon Johnson’s favorite writer. (I first heard of him in Johnson’s bio)
    If so, what do you think?
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  398. Vlad Krandz March 16, 2011 at 12:43 pm #

    You’re almost home Cash – at the breaking point. “People are tribal by nature. Encouraging tribalism within your own borders in lunacy”. A contradiction? Only if you encourage other tribalisms outside the dominant tribalism. Canada was a triumph of the Anglo-Saxon. Allowing other tribes to come was its downfall. People, being tribal by nature, will fight to maintain their own tribe. After all, people would rather be colonists than immigrants; conquer rather than acculturate.

  399. Vlad Krandz March 16, 2011 at 12:55 pm #

    Yes we all look the same with our clothes off. And all of our blood is red – including rats.
    Oh fatuity, why is there no ode to you? I have not the ability to encompass thy glory!
    Your post is better than anything I could do. But you are right: the Japanese aren’t perfect. I didn’t say they were technologically better than us – or always more ethical. But any stable ethical structure begins at home. And in this they are supreme. For ourselves, we are always cutting away the branch we are sitting on; always glorifying and supporting the alien and spitting on and undermining our own base. What sane man hates his own feet and drops cinder blocks on them for fun? Everytime we ship jobs overseas and insource aliens we are doing exactly that. Every dollar of goverment aid to Africa is nothing other than that. It’s money taken from the People of the United States. As in your post, Ideology has triumphed over commonsense – which is anything but common.

  400. myrtlemay March 16, 2011 at 12:56 pm #

    Sometimes we humans need a good, old fashioned bitch slap to remind us that we’re not immortal. I can’t even begin to imagine the despair the Japanese are feeling after being hit with a triple whammy – earthquake, tsunami, radiation leakage…resulting in food and water scarcity, along with lack of shelter.
    Regarding the Missile Crisis, most Americans at the time knew the extreme ramifications of a nuclear attack on our country, and thus took it very seriously. Very few people had bomb shelters in their backyards, so most just sat glued to their televisions watching as events unfolded. A slight idea of what hell on earth looked like after seeing newsreels of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombs were dropped were very frightening. Many panicked folks in the big cities fled to the dozen or so air raid shelters in the cities in existence at the time. Not long after Castro backed down, air raid shelters became anachronistic. The stored supplies of soda crackers, containers of water, portable toilets, and canned vegetables steadily gathered dust as the decade blistered on to new horrors, not the least of which was the fiasco that was Vietnam. The human race seems to forever be on a hell-bent mission to destroy both itself and the earth that supports it.

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  401. asoka March 16, 2011 at 1:00 pm #

    “People are tribal by nature. Encouraging tribalism within your own borders in lunacy”. A contradiction?
    ==============
    I was shocked to go into a grocery store and see multicultural foods in different sections of the store. People are tribal and eat their own culture’s food by nature. Encouraging tribalism in the store is lunacy. A contradiction?

  402. k-dog March 16, 2011 at 1:02 pm #

    “BBC hinted at Iranian influence among Bahranian demonstrators.”
    Sniff Sniff

  403. Vlad Krandz March 16, 2011 at 1:07 pm #

    The panhandle is pretty bad, but not typical of the state as a whole – not much agriculture. There was a huge housing boom here years ago and then the collapse. They really got ahead of themselves up in Sandpoint and Bonner’s Ferry. As far as unemployment, I would guess it’s higher than the national average. I’m not sure about the Boise area. The rest of the State is more agricultural and probably similar to similar areas through out the Country. And that probably means more food stamps too.

  404. montsegur March 16, 2011 at 1:08 pm #

    More energy news from Germany:
    Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to temporarily shut down seven nuclear reactors could cost the industry more than a half-billion euros and result in Germany not meeting its CO2 emission reduction goals. The rest of the world is taking a wait-and-see approach.
    First, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a three-month moratorium on her government’s plan to extend the lifespans of German nuclear power plants. Now, the chancellor has elected to shut down seven of the country’s oldest reactors. At least one of them is to remain offline permanently.
    “Safety is the priority,” Merkel said in her announcement on Tuesday. “Those are the criteria by which we acted today.”
    The move is likely to be an expensive one. According to an estimate produced for SPIEGEL ONLINE by atomic energy expert Wolfgang Pfaffenberger from Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany’s energy companies stand to lose up to €575 million ($803 million) as a result of the three-month shutdown. The seven reactors affected — all of which were constructed prior to 1980 — generate revenues estimated at €2.3 billion per year.
    What that might mean for energy prices in Germany remains unclear. Manuel Frondel, an energy expert with the Rhineland-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research, told the mass-circulation tabloid Bild that consumers may be in for a price increase of up to 10 percent or more.”
    more at http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,751245,00.html
    Cheers

  405. Cash March 16, 2011 at 1:11 pm #

    Only if you encourage other tribalisms outside the dominant tribalism. – Vlad
    I agree. I just didn’t express it well. There can only be one tribe, one citizenship, within your national borders. Your thing is that the tribe is by necessity organized by race. I differ with that view. I don’t care what colour someone is. What’s in his head and heart is what concerns me and where his loyalties are.
    After all, people would rather be colonists than immigrants; conquer rather than acculturate. – vlad
    Not me. Italy was one fucked up place, Italians made it so. I wanted nothing to do with it. Canada was a better place and Canucks won me over by making me one of them. The local kids accepted me and the schoolteachers and neighbours were nice to me.
    I became conscious of it for the first time when I was a kid, a Cub scout, at a Remembrance Day ceremony. It wasn’t lost on me even at that early age, that the people there had suffered fighting fascists as seen by the number of local boys’ names on the memorial monument. Yet, there I was at the ceremony with all the local folks. And I wanted to be one of them. And my own parents were there and they were on the opposite side during WW2. I thought that was big hearted of our neighbours even if I didn’t have the vocabulary at the time to put it into words. Sounds corny and Norman Rockwell-ish but there it is. Couldn’t happen today, people are way, way too hip.

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  406. MarlinFive54 March 16, 2011 at 1:39 pm #

    Montsegur;
    This guy I work with emigrated here from a village near Miinsk in Russia … told me recently that in the fields and woods around his village there is still a lot of stuff lying around from battles in WW11 … tank tracks, helmets, German vehicles all rusted, and even old rifles. How about in Germany, are there still places like that? In the NYT last summer there was an article about all the WW1 ordinance (unexploded, but liable to explode) still picked up each summer by French farmers on the Western Front.
    Good threads today. No hostility, many interesting posts; Ibendet, Cash, Montsegur, Vlad and others.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post1
    New England Chapter

  407. ront March 16, 2011 at 1:54 pm #

    “As individuals we are all “doomed”, it’s just a matter of time. Get accustomed to not knowing what will happen next. You may not be here tomorrow, so live like you know it.”
    The all too common presumption of certainty, upon which the limiting ego thrives, is delusional. Embracing uncertainty is the beginning of wisdom. Is this not at the root of true science and education? This is what drives me crazy about conventional “education”: educators asking questions on tests for parrot-like responses, rather than inviting students to question.
    In a similar way, intellectual understanding is not real knowing, which requires actual experience and its gradual integration into every part of one’s attitudes, thoughts and actions.
    I have heard that the spiritual teacher, Inayat Khan, suggested that one live their worldly life as if they would live for a thousand years, and their spiritual life as if this were their last day.
    Adding to the story doesn’t help. This is It. And It is okay.

  408. montsegur March 16, 2011 at 1:57 pm #

    MarlinFive54 asked “How about in Germany, are there still places like that?”
    ================================
    Yes, I’ve seen artifacts on the ground in the areas where destroyed Westwall bunkers are. Never seen anything larger than old grenades, though.
    I’d guess that if one used a metal detector in the areas of Germany east of Berlin where the Germans and Soviets fought major battles, there probably would be a lot of things to be found, and likely some it quite dangerous (65+ year-old gunpowder). Going after battle artifacts is illegal in Germany, btw.
    I enjoy walking in the European forests and seeing remains of history along the walks just makes it that much more interesting.
    Cheers

  409. BeantownBill March 16, 2011 at 2:30 pm #

    Dale, your post more than any others here stuck with me. It’s not easy developing a balanced philosophy. On one hand, it’s important to have a good sense of perspective; on the other, realizing one’s mortality and focusing on day-to-day living. Humans are particularly vulnerable to this dichotomy because they have the knowledge of their future death, while simultaneously knowing of the sweep of history and all the possiibilities life has to offer.
    So how should we live our lives? For me, I strive (not always successfully) to be grateful for having gotten out of bed in the morning, knowing full well that that is not a sure thing. And I try to live each day as if I only had 6 months to live. Yet at the same time, plan for the future by hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. Life is truly a gift.

  410. trippticket March 16, 2011 at 2:30 pm #

    “Good day for burning brush if the wind stays down enough.”
    We’re doing controlled burns here today.
    Any 4-8″ hardwood of a still-slumbering species could be plugged with mushroom spawn rather than burned…
    Needs to rest for about 3 weeks anyway before you plug it.
    http://www.fieldforest.net
    My plants just arrived so I’ll be lost for the next couple days…

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  411. Bustin J March 16, 2011 at 3:26 pm #

    Marlin, “Some say (in the article) that federal programs like food stamps belie the ‘independent spirit’ of citizens in the Northwest US.”
    Idaho produces around $4,500,000,000 worth of food/yr., the majority of which it exports. Where is all this money going? Into the local economies? Worker’s pockets?
    Idaho is a top producer of Rainbow trout. As well as all the diseases and malfeasance of aquaculture. Currently they’re bubbling raw chlorine gas into penstocks to try and keep these sorry fish alive. Antibiotics dumped wholesale into waterways already choked with nitrogenous runoff.
    As for the potato fields? The instant the chemical fertilizers stop, the toxic waste that has been spread over millions of acres will rise up and replace Zinc and Phosphorus amendments with cadmium and lead, which will go right into the food supply.
    Big Ag is going pedal to the metal on GMOs, the alternative is too heinous to contemplate. Big Ag’s partners, Big Food, needs plants that will resist toxic soils and deal with chronic water shortage. Big Food’s constituents, Big People, and their Big Cars, their Big Government, Big business, Big churches, Big families, fuck. I lost where I was going with this. Big deal.

  412. asia March 16, 2011 at 4:11 pm #

    Read Jim Rogers 2 Travel books..theyre goin cheap on amazon.
    He went to Africa and talks about ‘charity’.
    folks here bash you so [pity yr not gay]
    this is priceless!:
    In Sweden you can’t even talk about the Muslim take over – it’s a hate crime.
    Swedish Culture isn’t too big on free speech is it?
    In Norway the goverment admits the Muslims are causing huge problems, but they vow to stay the course. What course? Who decided all this? There is no more fundamental question than who will comprise the People – yet you tell me to shut up. Sweedish blood perhaps or just Liberal Totalitarinism?
    LEMMINGS LEMMINGS LEMMINGS
    ………………………[ SEB, do you still read CFN?}

  413. asia March 16, 2011 at 4:12 pm #

    thanks!

  414. rippedthunder March 16, 2011 at 5:47 pm #

    Jeez’ Prog, all this time I thought you waz’ magic. What a letdown! :o(

  415. rippedthunder March 16, 2011 at 5:56 pm #

    Howdy Marlin, not to be a nit-picker, but Minsk is in Belarus, not Russia. I know just because I have had temants from Belarus and Ukraine and they get sort of miffed if you call them Russian.On another note the snow is meltin’ pretty fast here also. My trees, ‘specially the cun-i-fers, took a beatin’.

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  416. San Jose Mom 51 March 16, 2011 at 5:59 pm #

    My sister used to own about 20 acres of land in Swan Valley, ID — the other side of the Tetons, right on the snake river. They bought it on their honeymoon in 1981–a little bit of Valhalla.
    But they never developed it because 1. altitude severly limited growing season. 2. There is a massive dam just above their land and a fault not to far away. 3. No jobs.
    What job are you doing in Idaho?
    Jen

  417. dale March 16, 2011 at 6:09 pm #

    “On one hand, it’s important to have a good sense of perspective; on the other, realizing one’s mortality”
    =====================================
    That would be the same thing wouldn’t it? They are not opposite ends of a continuum.
    So, is the solution to run around filling your life with meaningless “fun” activities, because you want to have accumulated enough “fun” before you die? “Does the one with the most toys” win in the end? I guess so, if this is it.
    If consciousness is an emergent property of the brain, as many neuroscientists believe, then we’re all meat on the bone, pointless automata, mearly acting out the commands of a mass of chemicals and tapioca pudding between our ears.
    Of course, there is no proof of this materialistic article of faith on their part, or even anyway TO prove it. But no matter.
    Most of your either beleive the materialist view, or hold a notion that someone is holding a magic pea in their hand for you that you can’t see, and if you just believe, they will give you the magic pea. I could just never buy into that one. When they open their hand and there is nothing there you’re just…..stupid.
    Consider if you will, the weird irony of reincarnation. If it’s true, it’s the worst nightmare that could happen to a “materialist” (living for an eternity with your karma) He can’t just end this shit when its no “fun” anymore. But strangely, it is also better than the best thing that can happen to a Christian (because you can become enlightened in this life, even before death)
    Funny damn thing that…no matter what you believe.

  418. Alexandra March 16, 2011 at 6:10 pm #

    *So many things are shaking loose now in this world-wrapped-too-tight that it is hard to track where they all overlap*
    Indeed Jim… great line of thought in fact.
    As week’s go by, I dare say the last 7 days are starting to look like being some form of LE (Long emergency) record settimg – for all things topped off aka Cluster-fukushima!
    With a darkening cloud of nuclear paranoia fast sweeping over the world, but great news for iodine tabs manufacturers everywhere – demand is going through the roof – so to speak…
    and tis a joy to see that when the chips come finally tumbling down – primal human nature takes fully over – and panic purchases of everything kicks in…
    The final straw now for the Japanese is unseasonal blizzards… but then again we are some years in now to the start of one of the greatest solar minimums ever recorded over the last 100 years or so.
    Perhaps we should be currently glad for a wee touch of global warming maybes, though what happens when Ra finally reignites into solar over-abundance? we’ll that’s the problem of running Gaia at clapped-out, standing-room only, totally over committed… speed.
    It’s interesting to note too, that here in the UK we have a TV celeb’ naturalist, Sir David Attenborough who’s a key member of the Optimum Population Trust, and for the UK they come up with a number of 20m – which would be wise – as non-conventional ‘natural’ farming could at best support just a few more million than this…
    No surplus of course = no room for atypical fluctuations, that’s the curse of being afflicted with a classical INTJ personality – I always see/prepare for the wider picture view.
    But I digress, and back to our wise-man Dave… *sniggers* The BBC have issued him with fatwa regarding his bizarre and controversial views about responsible population control… apparently ‘any’ mention of said subject atop our national broadcasters media waves is totally and utterly uber-verboten, so he’s currently silenced and controlled with a muzzling/gagging order… sad eh?
    Which takes me back to those surreal images in Japan…
    Of official men in plastic disposable, total body covering, chemical hazard safety-suits mega-phone clutching…
    (And what are they screaming, I wonder?)
    Keep calm, and carry on shopping-n-f#cking – your nations debt fuelled economy goes meltdown critical – yor dare not… tis your civic duty.
    FUKUSHIMA – KEEP ON SHOPPING-n-F#CKING – OBEY, OBEY… OBEY!!
    Yep, across all the OECDs now we’re on the non-stop accelerating train of terminal destruction, the last station to jump-off, or points changing post long travelled past… buyflation’s running out of control and the elites in charge, watching the inevitable journey unfold give a fig not…
    So set the controls for the heart of the sun, shut your eyes tight, breathe out and relax.
    Around the corner, Hara-kiri time does fast approach, but I cannot imagine the honourable Obama-man ever going for that one, kneeling-down in one final self-effacing star-spangled banner clad act?
    Be seeing you…

  419. Vlad Krandz March 16, 2011 at 6:25 pm #

    Well since Ozone and Mika outed me I might as well admit it: I get paid 2000 a week by the Vatican to preach Radical Conservatism on liberal sites like this. I go on vacations to Rome and get my pick of the Virgins. Loose screws indeed. You know more than you think.

  420. trippticket March 16, 2011 at 6:35 pm #

    Got the, uh, dog thang taken care of today too…
    Cute little guy about 3 months old, mutt, slim, black with white chest blaze, I’d say predominantly bird dog. Name is Nightshade. Slim Shady.

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  421. Vlad Krandz March 16, 2011 at 6:36 pm #

    Matter is an emergent property of Consciousness – but that’s not to say we are creating our own world. Capital C – prior to our individual consciousness; we are the Sun as reflected in a pot of water not the Sun qua Sun.
    Sylvan Muldoon was a natural astral projector and a proto-Buddhist. He felt that life was suffering and altho he found his projections interesting – he was ultimately appalled at the the realization of endless Life that they fortold. He didn’t know about Liberation.
    Buddhist Materialism? A modern heresy. What is the point of denying yourself if you are destined for extinction anyway? You wont be able to.

  422. San Jose Mom 51 March 16, 2011 at 6:38 pm #

    I believed you up until you wrote, “Pick of Virgins.”
    Jen

  423. Vlad Krandz March 16, 2011 at 6:43 pm #

    Nightline last night: Sure enough we do have a Nuclear Power Plant that is both near fault lines, on the coast, and at sea level! South of Los Angeles. It does have thirty foot walls to protect against Tsunamis or Storms – but that would not have been high enough against the wave in Japan. Did everyone hear about the hospital? They evacuated the first two floors but the wave was three stories high. Only the people on the fourth floor survived.

  424. asoka March 16, 2011 at 6:53 pm #

    dale said: “…the weird irony of reincarnation. If it’s true, it’s the worst nightmare that could happen to a “materialist” …”
    ============
    I sure hope I get to come back. I have seen eight decades (40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90, 00s, 10s) and the whole ride has been fun, fun, fun! Still is… more so since I discovered adobe construction.

  425. Vlad Krandz March 16, 2011 at 7:03 pm #

    You are very suggestible – that’s why you believe what the media tells you. Part of the work of Meditation is to break this conditioning and look for yourself. When you do, you will see your people crying out in agony. You will be amazed at how you could have not seen it before. It is they who have first right to your charity (if you have the means) and not Africa, Africa, Africa, Africa, Africa etc ad nauseam infinitum.

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  426. MarlinFive54 March 16, 2011 at 7:15 pm #

    BustinJ;
    That article in the WSJ I referred to didn’t really mention the environmental disaster that you suggest Idaho has become. The people they interviewed were in the Boise area and had lost jobs in various industries and businesses. I couldn’t imagine being broke and jobless in a place like that, where one might have to drive 50 miles to buy a gallon of milk or commute to a job, most likely in a blizzard.
    Last year I read (McCullough’s) account of the Lewis and Clark expedition. They passed into where Idaho is now in 1805. That was little more than two centuries ago, not long in historical time. That’s all it took, apparently, to f–k the place up royally.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England chapter

  427. CaptSpaulding March 16, 2011 at 7:31 pm #

    Wow, Japan’s getting it’s ass kicked. Earthquake, tidal wave, nuclear meltdown, all that’s missing is Godzilla.

  428. insufferable March 16, 2011 at 7:39 pm #

    IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE JET STREAM AND RADIATION PROBLEMS GO TO YOU TUBE DUTCHSINISE. hE SEEMS TO BE ABLE TO PLOT THE DIRECTION OF TH WIND USING THE VARIOUS WEB SITES. I LIVE IN NEW YORK, HAVE A GEIGER COUNTER, (I GOT AFTER 911) AND ANTI RADIATION PILLS.
    RADIATION HAS HIT THE WEST COAST AS OF 4 PM TODAY, WEDNESDAY. IT IS SUPPOSED TO GO TO CANADA AND THEN THE EAST COAST. LOG ONTO THE PERSON ABOVE AND PAY ATTENTION.
    GOOD LUCK
    ALSO AS AN ASIDE, THE HAARP CIRCLES, HAS PREDICTED ANOTHER MAJOR EARTHQUAKE AROUND THE WASHINGTON STATE COAST WITHIN 24 HOURS.

  429. Vlad Krandz March 16, 2011 at 7:52 pm #

    In the new PC story of the Three Little Pigs, the smart Pig makes his home out of Adobe not recycled materials like the other two. The Big, Bad, Wolf turns out to be a nice guy – just homeless.
    Twisting fairytales like this is child abuse. Home School your children if you love them.

  430. myrtlemay March 16, 2011 at 7:58 pm #

    Alexandra said:
    “…but I cannot imagine the honourable Obama-man ever going for that one, kneeling-down in one final self-effacing star-spangled banner clad act?”
    Just an FYI, my dear: when obammy kneels down, it’s usually to fellate some foreign oligarch or corporate big wig. Just look at the swell, well-satisfied grins on his recent appointments to “oversee” amerika’s financial regulatory “system”.
    BTW, the other corporate whores worldwide are just as simpering as our leecher in chief.
    I like the way you turn a phrase. Being a “yank”, it makes it hard for me to get your point sometimes. Do carry on, Now Voyager!

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  431. Pucker March 16, 2011 at 8:04 pm #

    [Scene from the 1960s classic movie “The Graduate”]
    “As a friend of your father, let me give you some kindly advice: ‘Plastics’.”
    [Fast forward to Peak-Oil, post financial collapse 2011]
    “As a friend of your father, let me give you some kindly advice: ‘Farming’.”

  432. myrtlemay March 16, 2011 at 8:05 pm #

    Perhaps one of the most simplistic, adolescent, naive statements I’ve ever read on this blog. Even folks here who are under 50 are clear-eyed enough to see how TS has been hitting the fan for quite some time. Anybody whose lived (outside of a “boy in a plastic bubble”) any experience of modern times can hopefully realize the infantalism of your remarks. Simply unbelievable!

  433. Qshtik March 16, 2011 at 8:12 pm #

    and if you just believe, they will give you the magic pea.
    ===========
    To me the magic pee is when I wake up at 4AM and have to go real bad and I’m able to get some sort of a dribbling flow going in under three minutes.

  434. asoka March 16, 2011 at 8:52 pm #

    Myrtlemay, existence is consciousness and cannot be separated from consciousness. My experience is that the experience of living is pure ecstasy, absolute bliss, what the Hindus call ananda.
    Nature, in my experience, is a doorway to ananda. It all fits together. Have you investigated permaculture? It provides a framework for learning how to mimic the abundance-building patterns and processes found in nature and through nature you can have the experience of bliss.

  435. trippticket March 16, 2011 at 9:34 pm #

    Re: Stamets’ Ted talk, I have it posted on the “Videos worth Watching” sidebar on by blog. Top of the list actually.
    The title of that sidebar is very appropriate. The other videos there are just as good.
    Thanks, Wage.

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  436. progressorconserve March 16, 2011 at 9:39 pm #

    “Any 4-8″ hardwood of a still-slumbering species could be plugged with mushroom spawn rather than burned..”
    -tripp-
    Thanks for the advice and the link, Tripp.
    http://www.fieldforest.net/store/index
    I’ve been meaning to ask you where you get your mushroom spores and plugs.
    And good luck with the new dog!

  437. rippedthunder March 16, 2011 at 10:08 pm #

    hey Tripped, let me know how the shitake plugs work out. I can’t get them things to grow. It’s cold here. I plugged a bunch of logs. I am hopin’ for a compost patch to come through. I just pick the wild stuff.

  438. rippedthunder March 16, 2011 at 10:14 pm #

    not too far from Driggs, I assume. Beautful country.

  439. myrtlemay March 17, 2011 at 12:34 am #

    “RADIATION HAS HIT THE WEST COAST AS OF 4 PM TODAY, WEDNESDAY. IT IS SUPPOSED TO GO TO CANADA AND THEN THE EAST COAST. LOG ONTO THE PERSON ABOVE AND PAY ATTENTION.”
    This is silly propaganda, designed to scare people to death. Instead of spreading fear, people should be sending whatever aid they can to Japan and its populace. Whatever radiation that is being emitted from the failed reactors in Japan are being whafted out to the Pacific, where it will dissapate.
    As several others have stated before, a good head start for TLE would be to obtain some good, fertle land with some fruit and nut trees, an out building, and some farm equipment, and a fresh stream of water nearby. A few roosters, hens, rabbits, and pigs wouldn’t be out of order either. Corn and wheat seem to grow there pretty well, as well as soybean. I don’t know what land goes for in states like Arkansas, but I’ll bet my two best Sunday-go-go-meeting hats that those rural land parcels go for a song. Bank of America may be able to offer a low mortgage rate. Real estate has never been this affordable, and at such low interest rates. As my realtor friend keeps telling me, “There really never has been a better time to buy. It’s about location, location, location.” My idea is, if you can’t buy your bread at the local Piggly Wiggly, why night take a crack at growing and making your own? Tastes better and is better for you – minus all the additives and perservatives.

  440. myrtlemay March 17, 2011 at 12:49 am #

    True enough about some Muslims not wanting their children to participate in co-ed P.E. offered by the local public schools. Catholics in my day were major pissed off that public schools didn’t honor holy days of obligation. So they did something strange and totally AMERICAN. They built and PAID FOR their OWN SCHOOLS! Wow, what a concept. Quit yer bitchin and start pitchin in for a school that honors the values that each group can revel in. Been a pretty good success here, aside from the occasional molestation cases, I mean. Seriously, schools built around parents’ community/religious values do seem to produce better, more educated students, black, white, Catholic, Jewish, military, etc.

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  441. asoka March 17, 2011 at 1:34 am #

    “schools built around parents’ community/religious values do seem to produce better, more educated students, black, white, Catholic, Jewish, military, etc.”
    =========
    You can do that. But you cannot prevent people of different from going to sporting events together, eating together, fighting alongside each other in wars, working together in factories, going to school together in institutions of higher learning, falling in love with each other, and marrying and having bi-racial/bi-cultural children.
    Eventually these stupid segregated schools built around “values” (read racism) will cease to exist.
    The demographics are on the side of miscegenation and the elimination of racial “purity” thank God, or Allah or Yahweh or “the laws of physics” … whatever you believe in. Thanks to love it is all happening as it should … and must … inevitably.

  442. jackieblue2u March 17, 2011 at 2:18 am #

    I cannot Stand that show COPS. They way they treat people make me SICK. THAT is abuse. I mean seriously these people didn’t kill anyone, hurt anyone, except themselves on drugs etc.
    But the COPS ‘have the right’ to treat them like shit, and I actually can’t watch it. It truly is WRONG and sickening. Not funny AT ALL. I hate their fucking Entitlement attiditude.
    I actually told a CHP OFF. For being a prick.
    long story, too late to relive.
    I do like the Sheen show, 2 and a half men, for some reason. Doesn’t bother me.

  443. Patrizia March 17, 2011 at 2:57 am #

    “But any stable ethical structure begins at home. And in this they are supreme.”
    Yes you are right.
    There is one thing they invented and it is a great thing, it is called politeness.
    Very often helps people not to eat each other and having good relationship.
    If you are polite and generous, generally you are successful with people.
    As for the aids you send to Africa, if this can in some way make you feeling better, Americans (and Europeans and Chinese etc.) NEVER do anything for nothing.
    That is why in Africa they are still fighting and backward.
    NOBODY has any interest to teach them to be civilized; more than ever now that they discovered a lot of minerals and oil…
    It is much easier to steal from ignorant people.
    And if they are so stupid to fight among tribes, the better.
    DIVIDE et IMPERA.
    Romans invented it and that was the only way to keep such a huge Empire.
    But I am still on the idea that globalization is NOT the evil they prospect.
    I always say: if we paid the bananas the right price (and no big corporation made millions on them) then the Africans would buy computers, fridges and cars.
    Globalization means I sell and buy, you sell and buy, I produce, you produce, we exchange.
    Very simple, but lacks one big element that drives today’s economy: where would the Big Corporations profit be?

  444. Patrizia March 17, 2011 at 3:05 am #

    “schools built around parents’ community/religious values do seem to produce better, more educated students, black, white, Catholic, Jewish, military, etc.”
    If you want to build a society that lives in peace, produces, consumes, makes a better living for itself and its children, you have to integrate different people in the same system.
    Everybody has to see the other as himself.
    Of course there are still differences among individuals, but they all “belong” together.
    Build the “humanity group or tribe” and they won´t fight wars anymore.
    There will still be fight on jobs, prices, merchandise, but since the other is like me, would I kill him?
    If you divide people in groups or tribes they will always fight, because they will always try to prove they are better.

  445. Ixnei March 17, 2011 at 3:11 am #

    How about that self-congratulatory MIT nuclear engineering professor, claiming all knowledge, and passing on, “Everything is better than *OK*” message. Heard that SH! way too many times before, to believe such bunk within a day of the disaster. Wonder if that moron’s also a global warming denier (once tenured, always…).
    “Water, water, everywhere – *but* not a drop to drink (yet)” Willy Wonka, ’71. @ Qshit and his self-stroking corrections – You are the *bad choice*. You show absolutely no compassion, and make it clear you are in the Vlad camp. And your corrections are so Ghad-damned annoying, worthless, and unnecessary, that I wish I had a kill-file here (to say nothing of your “fleeting” Charlie Sheen desires).
    @ Asoka and his “library reference” search – I call Bollocks on that BS. That was totally the result of a google book scan. Not to flame this guy, but I find him to be the penultimate master-debater – remember those guys in high school, who’d wheel around crates full of reference material, ready to argue any issue pro or con? It was never about the issue to them, it was about arguing their “assigned” side of the issue and *winning* (WhateverTF that means). Asoka @ Tripp, “Every time you “think out loud,” I learn something new. Feel free to do it more often.” Not sure why you’d say that, other than to be ironic – everything he stated there has been his complete message for months…
    @ LogicII, you can be more than sure that those who clamored on about TLE in the 80’s were nothing more than wack-jobs. I mean, really, all that pollution of the land/sea/water/air by carcinogenic organics/heavy metals/radioactive garbage, and the clearcutting/slash-and-burn rapeage of every last remaining forest (mmm, 5-7 years of fast-food beef, before depleted concrete soil). You can bet those “tree huggers” definitely had alterior motives there (WTF sequesters that CO2 [which we boil off the planet into deep space] into solid carbon, again?)!
    LOL @ Wagelaborer nun joke – if I didn’t know any better, I’d think that was Janeane Garofalo – but she’s way *beyond* using a computer, posting on the internet, or reading emails/messages there (good ole’ pencil’n’paper suffices, for the “blind mice”). Besides, she’s no nurse, LOL!!! But, I do miss the “Disquisition” on Rollin’s show…
    The increasing madness is obvious *everywhere*!!! Must be coming upon a full moon soon…
    Food for thought – we were barely above the (ultra) minimum solar irradiance/sunspot cycle in 2010, when the world temperature reached an all-time max (exceeding the prior record in 2005) – feeling lucky?!?
    http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2010summer/figure5.gif

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  446. Vlad Krandz March 17, 2011 at 3:13 am #

    Well Africa was still in the Stone Age when we “discovered” them. Tribe fighting Tribe is what Stone Agers do. They have modernized under our influenced, but the advance is merely external – not at the level of consciousness. They are just imitating us. They haven’t changed at all – they are still in the stone age in terms of consciousness. That we made the Countries with warring tribes in the same country didn’t help. The jihad and its war against Christians and Animists isn’t helping either.
    As far as ourselves – we didn’t live up to our highest standards in our conduct in Africa. And now we can’t forgive ourselves. This causes weakness which the Blacks are quick to capitalize on. Because we didn’t live up to our highest standards has created a reaction in us: we idealize the Blacks and act like they can do no wrong. This does not help them at all. In any case, we should try to act honorably in the future which means getting our troops out of Asia and North Africa. Allow these people to their own destiny – which in Black Africa will mean massive famine. There is almost a billion Blacks now in Africa – this cannot be maintained even if we had the money which we don’t have. In the Middle East, it will might mean the formation of the Caliphate which will be our mortal enemy for centuries. I really don’t think we should be giving them anymore technology – or accepting anymore immigrants who will form fifth columns. Maybe we can continue to do business with them – and then again maybe not.
    Contact between advanced and primitive cultures are fraught with ethical dilemmas. The Old Star Trek series portrayed this well: the Enterprise was forbidden to make contact with primitive cultures because such contact would destabilize them and prevent them from evolving as they were meant to do – exactly what happened in Africa.

  447. Ixnei March 17, 2011 at 5:16 am #

    I forgot to mention, that guy claiming the BLOG filter was working OK (hahaha!). It sounds to me like a very bad spam filter, with about a 60% success rate – why not simply flip a coin (you’re wasting major CPU resources, with a mere 60% over 50% rate).
    Oh, and I’m sure Asoka will be moving on from Buddhism to Falun Gong fairly shortly – given the leverage *that* religion allows against our *primary* slave labor state.
    As far as the radioactive wind hitting the West Coast US already – that’d be a miracle. The wind’s been traveling over Japan in a SE direction. So unless the West Coast US is somewhere around, let’s say, *San Antonio, Chile* (8.8 earthquake in 2010, 6.8 earthquake in 2011) – the math is WRONG.
    Ozone nails the fed/treasury “perpetual money machine” with cold, hard facts about real, tangible, “actual” *commodities*. Besides, that silver dollar didn’t work in the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s – so why would it work now (HINT/HINT eliminate pennies/nickels – totally worthless/worth more than their weight)… Wait, bring back that *colorful* $2 bill – LOL!!!
    I was the victim of the “patriot act”, on April Fools day, 2002 (no less). They wasted *NO* time to ensure their illegal search procedures at the “state level”. Needless to say, they found nothing, so they stayed another 2 hours trying to antagonize me into getting arrested, and “finally” succeeding (duh)…
    Did I spend $10k on lawyers to esconce myself (fully well knowing *ARRESTS* are what show up for 7 years on job applications, not “convictions”), or did I bite the bullet and pay a $260 fine and 20 hours community service?!… *YOU DECIDE*.
    Had they only put a mere *pittance* into Thorium, while bringing up *6* more reactors in Japan (et al) – could you imagine reactors still running completely safely *AND* still generating power, in Japan?!… We are a failed community, the lobbyists/corporatocracy rule. Just frak a few more million acres of arable land, and poison it with boiling fumes of toxins for centuries – call it *DONE* already…

  448. Ixnei March 17, 2011 at 5:21 am #

    I forgot to mention, that guy claiming the BLOG filter was working OK (disco #1 already, LOL!). It sounds to me like a very bad spam filter, with about a 60% success rate – why not simply flip a coin (you’re wasting major CPU resources, with a mere 60% over 50% rate).
    Oh, and I’m sure Asoka will be moving on from Buddhism to Falun Gong fairly shortly – given the leverage *that* religion allows against our *primary* slave labor state.
    As far as the radioactive wind hitting the West Coast US already – that’d be a miracle. The wind’s been traveling over Japan in a SE direction. So unless the West Coast US is somewhere around, let’s say, *San Antonio, Chile* (8.8 earthquake in 2010, 6.8 earthquake in 2011) – the math is WRONG.
    Ozone nails the fed/treasury “perpetual money machine” with cold, hard facts about real, tangible, “actual” *commodities*. Besides, that silver dollar didn’t work in the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s – so why would it work now (HINT/HINT eliminate pennies/nickels – totally worthless/worth more than their weight)… Wait, bring back that *colorful* $2 bill – LOL!!!
    I was the victim of the “patriot act”, on April Fools day, 2002 (no less). They wasted *NO* time to ensure their illegal search procedures at the “state level”. Needless to say, they found nothing, so they stayed another 2 hours trying to antagonize me into getting arrested, and “finally” succeeding (duh)…
    Did I spend $10k on lawyers to esconce myself (fully well knowing *ARRESTS* are what show up for 7 years on job applications, not “convictions”), or did I bite the bullet and pay a $260 fine and 20 hours community service?!… *YOU DECIDE*.
    Had they only put a mere *pittance* into Thorium, while bringing up *6* more reactors in Japan (et al) – could you imagine reactors still running completely safely *AND* still generating power, in Japan?!… We are a failed community, the lobbyists/corporatocracy rule. Just frak a few more million acres of arable land, and poison it with boiling fumes of toxins for centuries…

  449. MarlinFive54 March 17, 2011 at 7:13 am #

    CFNers;
    You will all be reassured to know, as nuclear reactors explode and melt down in Asia, Saudi troops pour into Bahrain in American Humvees carrying Colt M-4 rifles, and Khaddaffi launches airstrikes with jet aircraft and helicopter gunships against civilian targets in Libya, President Obama, leader of the free world, who most of you voted for, was yucking it up on TV with ESPN slicksters, making this years NCAA basketball tournament picks. He also gave some insightful analysis on some of the teams, the players, their strengths, their weaknesses, and their chances.
    He picks Kansas to win it all, no question!
    Put your money on Kansas, CFNers. You can’t lose.
    There are 9000 UN troops in the Ivory Coast, ostensibly to keep the peace, but people are being slaughtered in the streets, and the UN stands by doing nothing. Is there any example of a more useless institution in the whole world than the UN? I suppose we should be grateful that these ‘peacekeeping’ troops are not committing mass rape on the defenseless female population, like they did in the Congo several years ago while conducting similar ‘peacekeeping’ operations there. Maybe they are. We just don’t know about it yet.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  450. MarlinFive54 March 17, 2011 at 7:32 am #

    Trippticket;
    Congrats on the dog.
    When my wife brought our dog home he was a ‘cute little guy’, too. A Jack Russell Terrier. Now that he’s 4 he’s not so cute. Now he’s a terror; fearless, obstinate, independent, and thinks he’s much bigger than he actually is. He does a good job of keeping the critters out of the gardens, though. Last summer he chased off a black bear.
    ————————————————–
    Making headway in my Ted Rall’s ‘Anti-American Manifesto”. Nothing really unique or new so far, just post-modern leftism I see in Atlantic, NYT and the New Yorker.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

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  451. lbendet March 17, 2011 at 8:05 am #

    Don’t know whether anyone’s kept up with the magic thinking of the republicans yesterday. Michelle Bachman blames the media for her distorto history the other day. She claims to be a patriot and keeps making up history to suit herself. What do her followers actually think of her when they find out she doesn’t know anything?
    Dement says Big government diminishes God! I guess that means he wants no regulations on nuclear power plants!
    Inhoff claims that a nuclear accident happens ever 300 years and that the people in Japan are taking all this in their stride and only the US politicians are getting hysterical.
    You can’t make this stuff up—only the Republicans can.–One can only wonder whether someone promised these guys a tanker full of gold headed for Panama!
    My theory is when they can’t get everyone on board for more plants they’ll go to the third world countries to tell them how good it is. Messenger:
    Economic hit man!

  452. SeaYoung March 17, 2011 at 9:16 am #

    Mr. Marlin,
    You forgot to regurgitate the FOX fact that he also played golf while the world was unraveling.
    And, (thankfully) he is not at the tip of the “no fly zone” spear. This fact seems to have the foxers in a lather as well.

  453. JonathanSS March 17, 2011 at 9:19 am #

    …as nuclear reactors explode and melt down in Asia, Saudi troops pour into Bahrain in American Humvees carrying Colt M-4 rifles, and Khaddaffi launches airstrikes with jet aircraft and helicopter gunships against civilian targets in Libya…

    You read like a neocon. If the US did spend $billions (which we don’t have) trying to solve all these problems, would you be happy? Not likely. How would “The Ghost & Mrs. Muir” have handled these events? It’s easy to type away, rant & complain. How many US citizens do you want to sacrifice to solve the above issues?
    Have you not been paying attention to JHK’s message that we can’t continue to be involved in foreign affairs to the extent that we have given our deficit? We’ll most likely have to pick and choose what we get involved in.

  454. JonathanSS March 17, 2011 at 9:22 am #

    I can’t comment on the UN situation you cite, as I don’t have enough information. I agree in principle.

  455. trippticket March 17, 2011 at 9:23 am #

    OK! I got my third-party functionality button for PayPal donations/carbon offsets up and running at my blog. Read the accompanying article (the current post) to understand how our carbon offset program differs from the usual donation portals. (Hint: it offsets carbon)
    http://smallbatchgarden.blogspot.com/
    I take no cash from donations/offsets. It goes dollar-for-dollar (minus only what PayPal charges) into low-tech, thoughtfully-designed carbon sequestration methodologies. And I’ve studied with some of the best in the world. My only gain is the fertility build-up on our farm. Payment enough in my opinion!
    Cheers,
    Tripp

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  456. MarlinFive54 March 17, 2011 at 10:04 am #

    JonSS;
    I got the UN in Ivory Coast intel from BBC radio last night.
    It seems like BBC is the only Western news org. with a correspondent in that country.
    The ESPN stuff about Obama is from the local newspaper and a neighbor, who is a producer at the network.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  457. ozone March 17, 2011 at 10:09 am #

    I think Marlin is trying to imply that Obama seems to be in “look at all the pretty horsies” mode while the world goes down the gurgler. (In a very colorful manner, with connections that are taboo to name.)
    He can speak for himself on that point.
    Is Obama as thick-headed and tunnel-visioned as many of his predecessors? Another magical thinker?
    Yukking it up about fucking sports instead of soberly looking at how we might start the inevitable contraction is a little insane, but solidifies the appearance that he’s a BAU (business as usual) kinda guy. I guess for the lumpen yeast-people (tm JHK) that would be a comfort, but it’s becoming evident that reality is anything BUT comfortable. He’s the PRESIDENT for fucks’ sake, and [like Marlin] I don’t feel he has the luxury to focus on much but the shitstorm that’s about to envelop Dumbfuckistan.

  458. dale March 17, 2011 at 10:28 am #

    “To me the magic pee is when I wake up at 4AM and have to go real bad and I’m able to get some sort of a dribbling flow going in under three minutes.”
    =========================================
    Well if you only get up once a night that’s not too bad. I was getting up two or three times a night until I went on a wide array of natural supplements to lower my “chronic systemic inflammation”, seems to be working, with no crazy side affects. I hear Saw Palmetto helps for that slow starting.

  459. Cash March 17, 2011 at 10:40 am #

    If you divide people in groups or tribes they will always fight, because they will always try to prove they are better. – patrizia
    Thankyou Patrizia, you made the argument far better than I could.
    It blows my mind that liberals are perplexed when when conservative or religiously minded immigrants take us at our word that this is a multi-cultural country and then decline to give their teenaged daughters condoms and decline to adopt our prevailing topless-let-it-all-hang-out liberalism. What did we expect? We tell people to keep their old national and cultural identities. So they do.
    Myrtlemay makes a good point, if you can’t live with the system then cough up and make your own. But I worry where that leads to. I’d rather have a system of public education that takes kids of all ethnic, racial and economic backgrounds and puts them in classes together. I think that helps even the playing field. I don’t want segregation in school or outside of school.

  460. dale March 17, 2011 at 10:47 am #

    “I sure hope I get to come back. I have seen eight decades (40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90, 00s, 10s) and the whole ride has been fun, fun, fun! Still is… more so since I discovered adobe construction.”
    ==========================================
    But, what makes you think you’re coming back as a human, or for that matter, to earth?
    Sorry, I don’t buy, the “fun, fun, fun,” bullshit Asoka, I don’t even believe you believe it, not at least assuming you have rare moments when you are being honest with yourself. If it is true, it would just suggest you are as deep as litmus paper. Truman Capote put it pretty well when he said “Life is a pretty good play, with a lousy third act”.

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  461. dale March 17, 2011 at 10:57 am #

    “Matter is an emergent property of Consciousness”
    =========================================
    If that is true I wonder why you are not able to see through the tissue thin veil of your delusive appearances? Based on your posts here, it’s pretty clear that “race” is not an emergent property for you, but absolutely and inherently existent.
    I’m sorry you moved to Idaho, the last thing the northern part of our state needs is another deluded racist. Idaho has been trying to purge itself of that cancer for years, and we’ve done a pretty good job overall.
    It won’t help you anyway, no matter where you go, your distorted projections will follow, I’m sure.

  462. bossier22 March 17, 2011 at 11:26 am #

    the fact of life are schools and society self segregate according to the perceived self interest of groups, races etc and individuals. most parents have no interest in leveling the playing field. they only want what is best for their kids. fifty years of forced desegregation have produced only more suburban sprawl which this site rails against. my home town had six high schools in the 60s, 2 were mostly black. after desegregation(2011) , there are 4 public high schools. all are predominately black. they ran out of white kids when most moved to surrounding small towns. what a great result.

  463. ozone March 17, 2011 at 11:28 am #

    Orlov, Clusterfuckers, Orlov.
    Go; read; be enlightened and entertained, all in the same instant.
    (Bunk and de-bunking… “Everybody Poops” is classic Orlov deep snark.)
    http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/

  464. JonathanSS March 17, 2011 at 12:31 pm #

    Sorry I overreacted. Here’s some of the stuff I’ve heard or read reg. the POTUS:
    – Obummer
    – Obozo
    – Has a deep seated hatred of white people (his Mom included?)
    – Not born in this country.
    – Baby killer (supported family planning)
    – Kenyan
    – Muslim
    – Socialist
    – Corporatist moderate (I can agree)
    – Not one of us
    – Denies “American Exceptionalism”
    – Directly causing oil prices to rise (name your reason, such as the deep water ban)
    – Has a “fat, bitch wife who is telling me what to feed my children”.
    – BAU (You thought “Hope & Change” was more than a campaign slogan? Most Americans can’t “handle the change” to paraphrase Jack to Tom in “A Few Good Men”.
    Is this payback for W. being criticized for continued reading to school children after the 1st tower was hit? I never criticized W. for Mt. Biking with Lance Armstrong on his ranch.
    Don’t think I’m an Obama apologist. There are many areas I think could be handled better. They have been well written about by others on this blog.

  465. JonathanSS March 17, 2011 at 12:33 pm #

    Because of all the POTUS hand wringing, I think Obama should push hard for the metric system. Americans could be up in arms for sending us over the edge into Euro styled socialism.
    As a side benefit, I wouldn’t have to be laughed at by my former Canadian coworkers for sticking with that archaic English system.

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  466. Uncle Ned March 17, 2011 at 12:59 pm #

    Could someone please explain to me why the stock market is up 150 points today?

  467. San Jose Mom 51 March 17, 2011 at 1:03 pm #

    OMG!!! The metric system. For the past 25 years my mother-in-law has been warning me not to put my glass measuring cups in the dishwasher because that makes the measurements (1 cup, etc.) wear off faster. She seems to think we’ll be forced to convert all our recipies to metric because only metric measuring devices will be available in the stores. Only those who have preserved their ancient pyrex will be saved from chaos.
    Armaggedon in the kitchen!
    Jen

  468. ozone March 17, 2011 at 1:29 pm #

    Yep; a lot of really infantile crap is coming out of the blowholes of blowhards, basically just to amuse themselves and feed their pet delusions, IMHO.
    Obama as Corporate/WallStreeter/Bankster tool? 99% a “given”, as his campaign chest would indicate. THAT’S the all-important BAU that must be overthown for the race (“human”) to survive.
    Is Obama up to throwing off his masters/handlers, and begin to listen to realists? Unlikely. We’ve seen what happens to those that would defy TPTB.

  469. asia March 17, 2011 at 2:22 pm #

    Because markets fluctuate and some peeps are making money or trying to!

  470. newworld March 17, 2011 at 2:43 pm #

    Ironically in NJ the Obama elementary school has been shut down for financial mismanagement, the conservative shout section is going to have a field day with this bit of dark humor.
    So I think we can agree, blacks should have their own schools without exploiting white taxpayers to pay for them.

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  471. newworld March 17, 2011 at 2:50 pm #

    From the teddy bear wing of liberalism I now know we need “Liberal Eugenics” which means only white people must assimilate themselves out of existance and drop out of Evolution.
    Why don’t these liberal paragons call for African, Asians or the Jewish people assimilate out of existance?

  472. Cash March 17, 2011 at 3:09 pm #

    If you go into grocery stores up here you have prices in lbs and ounces as well as in kilos and grams.
    There’s one large grocery store up here (not owned by any of the big chains) that prices its produce and meat only in the old system.
    People tell you how tall they are in feet and inches. I’ve never once heard anyone say that they’re 1.8 metres tall.

  473. Bustin J March 17, 2011 at 3:20 pm #

    Turtlemay said, “”RADIATION HAS HIT THE WEST COAST AS OF 4 PM TODAY, WEDNESDAY. IT IS SUPPOSED TO GO TO CANADA AND THEN THE EAST COAST. LOG ONTO THE PERSON ABOVE AND PAY ATTENTION.”
    This is silly propaganda, designed to scare people to death. Instead of spreading fear, people should be sending whatever aid they can to Japan and its populace.”
    I’m afraid the accident is worse than anyone thought.
    These reactors are all going to go Chernobyl. If there is an explosion (and there will be) the radiating particles will go into the atmosphere and distribute all over the planet.
    People, especially children, will undeniably ingest small particles. They will travel in the bloodstream and lodge in tissues where they will sit, for years, ejecting ionizing radiation that will disrupt the recombination of DNA, over time, leading to cell death, mutations, and cancer. This will also happen to animals and adults. The particles will enter the food chain and concentrate as they move up, ending up in top consumers (us), especially those who eat other top consumers- big fish, land animals.
    Some of the nuclear fuel is made from plutonium, which is especially toxic, the kind of material that ends up making a place uninhabitable for hundreds of years.
    Over the next few months and years these radioactive particles will be drifting through the air, and officials will be telling us to relax, its the equivalent of a bunch of chest x-rays. Closer to ground zero, people’s hair will fall out and babies will die from leukemia.
    As the winds whip the fallout around, it will rain down on agricultural land and end up in the food supply. In ten years they will measure radiation from Fukushima at the tops of remote mountains, trapped in your car’s air filter, in your subway sandwich, in your breast milk, your hair, the lowest parts of Death Valley, Antarctica, and the White House Gift Shop.
    Send your money to Japan? Fuck that noise. Take your $25 and invest in renewable energy.

  474. Vlad Krandz March 17, 2011 at 3:42 pm #

    Apparently, I have a warrior or Ksyatria view of reality; my path towards God or the Ultimate Reality is not the path of Renounciation but rather the path of Duty – in my case trying to warn the Volk. All of this is laid out in the Bhagavad Gita – including the danger of Caste Mixture. As a Universal Religion like Christianity, Buddhism cannot give us the guidance we need on these issues at this critical juncture. As a purely Spiritual Path, I certainly admire it though.
    It was prophesized that at the End of the Age, evil Brahmins such as yourself would arise and attempt to decieve the people unto their destruction. Remember you admitted that although Tibet was worth saving, the West was not. I didn’t have to rip your mask off – you did it for me. Such “love” will be the end of us.

  475. Vlad Krandz March 17, 2011 at 4:01 pm #

    Blacks can’t keep their own charities going – they depend on Whites for this. Also they typically don’t donate organs or as much blood. Big juju apparently. Yet I suspect that their organs would fit their people much better than our’s. Have you heard about the desperate attempt to get Blacks to integrate the National Parks? With litte success – they aren’t interested in Nature per se. Also many seem to have a genetic fear of snakes hiding in the bushes.

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  476. San Jose Mom 51 March 17, 2011 at 4:04 pm #

    Give me a break, Vlad. Maybe by calling Dale “Evil” you have an unacknowledged dark spot in your own soul. We all have our shadows.
    As people meditate and realize that they are more than their physical bodies, they can let go of their fear. You, my friend are full of fear.
    Try to relax a bit.
    All things work together for good…
    Jen

  477. Vlad Krandz March 17, 2011 at 4:20 pm #

    Cash – they can’t assimilate and stay what they are. German Muslims eating sausage and drinking beer at Octoberfests? Absolutely forbidden by the Koran. American Muslims joining the Army – to fight other Muslims? Absolutely forbidden – no Muslim may join the Kafirs to fight other Muslims. They were never supposed to even fight each other, but that they couldn’t keep. They have pretty much kept the dictum not to join unbelievers against other Muslims though. So expect more Muslim soldiers to suddenly “go postal” on their comrades.
    So what to do about this untractable problem? Well the powers that be are trying to create a bogus Islam just like they created bogus Christianities. So expect Islamic Unitarianism and Episcopalianism. It’s already started. And behind them will be lurking the real thing. The hardliners are very clever and know all about the West – far more than the West knows about them.
    No real Muslim may befriend a kuffar. So your Somali friend was not. He was either just faking friendship with you or he was a fake Muslim and a real friend. Because you are an agnostic, you underestimate the influence of Christianity on you. Because of it and of course, your race, you were assimilable. An Italian raised up as a Muslim would not be.

  478. Qshtik March 17, 2011 at 4:44 pm #

    You can bet those “tree huggers” definitely had alterior motives
    ==============
    It’s Ulterior you dope.
    😉

  479. Vlad Krandz March 17, 2011 at 6:38 pm #

    If you aren’t afraid of what’s coming, you’re a fool. Meditation should make us stronger in our duty – not make us into pollyanna care bear/teletubbies. To be sure, none of us are perfect or even close, but your idea that every negative perception is just a projection, is pure pop spirituality – as if you can’t see something without being it. And again, people who want the death of Western Civilization or the White Race are Evil. If you can’t deal with the reality of Evil, how deep can you be as a person? Buddhism in general is not as deep as Christianity in this regard, and pop Buddhism is just atrocious – as is pop Christianity.

  480. Evelyn Victor March 17, 2011 at 7:01 pm #

    For now just to follow-up on something “Ripped Thunder” asserted 3 weeks ago. He snarled the nobody reads what Bustin has to say. I ran across his inane assertion a few minutes ago while back tracking using my search function (command G) to collect (by cutting & pasting) a bouquet of magnificent expositions by the aforementioned Bustin (e.g. Bustin on Agnosticism, Bustin on Evolution, Bustin on Religious faith of world leaders, etc).
    Bustin, henceforth, I who avidly look forward to JHK’s weekly Monday rants with now enjoy amplified anticipation of also snipping more of your flowers for my dazzlling bouquet.
    Today I came here looking for edification on a particular subject, hence my latest flower and the catalyst that initiated the backtracking endeavor, “Bustin on Japanese Nukes”.
    OOOh you are so good, I worry now the Vlads and the PoC’s etc will finally make you grow weary of wrestling in the mud and we will lose you.

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  481. Vlad Krandz March 17, 2011 at 7:03 pm #

    Sounds like we’re going in to Libya. Undoubtedly we will be fighting with some of the same people (Al Quaeda) we are fighting against in other part of the Middle East. The disparate groups will unite in their hatred of us for the killing which we perpetrate in our air strikes. Libyans will join Al Quaeda because of it.

  482. Vlad Krandz March 17, 2011 at 7:06 pm #

    Bustin out! Farewell sweet misogyny!

  483. San Jose Mom 51 March 17, 2011 at 7:06 pm #

    Not again…
    The UN Security Council just voted to approve a “No Fly” zone over Libya and the U.S. is going to help support it with our military might.
    Do we never learn? I’m sorry Libyians can’t get along, but I don’t think we have any business getting involved in a civil war. Stupid Obama.
    Jen

  484. Evelyn Victor March 17, 2011 at 7:17 pm #

    “It’s Ulterior you dope.”
    attaboy Qshtik, grind their faces into the dirt.
    And mine too when I give you the chance

  485. lbendet March 17, 2011 at 8:11 pm #

    Sing with me…..
    Whatever BP Wants BP Gets…
    Our leadership is attracted to war like bees to honey.
    It’s a win-win

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  486. k-dog March 17, 2011 at 8:36 pm #

    “Times of turbulence, high volatility and leadership transition typically provide the best environment for opportunistic investors and conditions in the financial markets”
    Source:
    Advising the exceptionally affluent.
    A dated reference I admit, but I think this answers your question Uncle Ned. Italics are mine.

  487. Qshtik March 17, 2011 at 8:39 pm #

    He snarled the nobody reads what Bustin has to say. I ran across his inane assertion a few minutes ago while back tracking using my search function (command G) to collect (by cutting & pasting) a bouquet of magnificent expositions by the aforementioned Bustin

    ============
    A new and strangely sweet voice has arrived on the CFN scene. I will be doing all I can to overlook or to otherwise cut slack, within the narrow bounds of my obsessive compulsive (sarcastic corrections) disorder, in the improbable event future posts from this fresh new flower in our midst contain minor booboos such as the bolded word on the first line of the blockquoted excerpt above.

  488. k-dog March 17, 2011 at 8:41 pm #

    “Times of turbulence, high volatility and leadership transition typically provide the best environment for opportunistic investors and conditions in the financial markets”
    From: Private Wealth: Advising the Exceptionally Affluent
    A dated reference I admit, but I think this answers your question Uncle Ned.
    My attempt to provide a link to the quote was blocked. Italics are mine.

  489. k-dog March 17, 2011 at 8:58 pm #

    TPTB did not want to do this as interference from Uncle Sam might aggravate tensions in NA and the ME.
    Qaddafi has been kicking butt and his anti-western ass has always had a price tag on it.
    Consequently since he could prevail it’s time to compassionately care about innocent civilians implement a no fly zone and install a pro western ass.
    Compassion for civilian casualties always appears when it supports western interests. In other situations nobody cares. Compassion from TPTB is an optional sort of thing and depends entirely on the situation.

  490. k-dog March 17, 2011 at 9:02 pm #

    Tree huggers have Alder-terior motives.

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  491. Evelyn Victor March 17, 2011 at 9:22 pm #

    Qschtik not familiar enough with your MO to know what you regard worthwhile to correct but if it is typos of the sort that result from when the fingers do not follow the inner dialogue I’ll have to be especially careful. I’ve typed “you” for “your” at least ten thousand times, for example. Also there is a strange quantum entanglement that attends inattentive use of the words “by” for “but” and as you might have noticed in the recent one you already corrected, “with” for “will”.
    In any case, not expecting to provide you with much to sift through. I’m content to mostly watch. But it does grate to see “effect’ and “affect” savaged and that’s why I cheered you on. No mercy for those who abuse “gamut” and “gambit” either.
    As an aside, I’m a full time stalker of depictions of chess players using boards with white not right. Most recently a TV clip touting some kid genius. In the background of his bedroom was a chessboard with pieces in place, and, you guessed it, white was not right. But enough about that. I do hope Bustin gets my message that at least one person truly appreciates his contributions here.

  492. Evelyn Victor March 17, 2011 at 9:37 pm #

    “Qshtik”, my apologies. Won’t happen again ~*~

  493. k-dog March 17, 2011 at 9:52 pm #

    “water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.”
    by k-dog
    Vs:
    “water water everywhere nor any drop to drink.”
    by Samuel T Coleridge
    Corrections are appreciated though they can feel like an albatross about one’s neck.

  494. San Jose Mom 51 March 17, 2011 at 10:55 pm #

    Welcome to the CFN. Don’t mind Qshtik, he can be quite humorous. Actually, I’ve learned a few things from his corrections.
    Jen

  495. tucsonspur March 18, 2011 at 12:17 am #

    MarlinFive54:
    Sounds more like the heritage of a Nicky Barnes or Frank Lucas.
    Obama is truly a black mark, a dirty spot on American history, no pun intended. Yes, he’s dropped the radical pose, as Van Jones said he must, to achieve the radical ends.
    I find the extent of his deception astounding, but then I look at the electorate and find it less so.

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  496. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 1:56 am #

    “I find the extent of his deception astounding, but then I look at the electorate and find it less so.”
    I’ll say NFS (starts with no) to decipher that one) to that; but I’m doing my part.
    Today I distributed over 80 copies of Lifting The Veil on the steps of k-dogs state capital; Olympia Washington, at a Fuse Washington rally. I burned DVD playable copies by hand on the same computer I’m using to type this.
    Giving DVDs away for free to like minded people for free was surprisingly difficult and required a bit of song and dance. People it seems are naturally suspicious, but apparently at the wrong people and the wrong things.
    While doing my song and dance I was asked if I was a musician. When I said no the person who asked said I should be because I was “really good looking”. I must say that comment made my day.
    Lifting The Veil relates to the Clusterfuck in an indirect way. It makes clear that the Powers That Be will be, and are supporting a ‘Last Man Standing’ energy policy.
    While at the rally I learned a fun fact. In Washington State I can buy a private jet and avoid paying sales tax, not so for a pickup truck.
    I’m going to start saving up.

  497. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 2:08 am #

    Pardon the glaring errors, thanks.

  498. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 3:31 am #

    “they will measure radiation from Fukushima at the tops of remote mountains, trapped in your car’s air filter, in your subway sandwich, in your breast milk, your hair, the lowest parts of Death Valley, Antarctica, and the White House Gift Shop.”
    That’s pretty good.

  499. orionoir March 18, 2011 at 10:31 am #

    fearless predictions: this week’s comments won’t top 600; next week’s won’t break 500. it’s called march madness.
    bonus prediction: lady huskies will bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan.

  500. LaughingAsRomeWasBurningDown March 18, 2011 at 10:48 am #

    Well said, Sir, well said.

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  501. newworld March 18, 2011 at 11:40 am #

    That 51 Mom you are replying to is yet another teddy bear hugging white woman. I’ve said America is like a giant daycare center run by stressed out middle aged overweight white women who think their “special love” can keep the peace.
    Basically been that way since 1992 when Clinton made over emotive white women the swing vote. It makes for an interesting coalition, in Chicago the black race haters have been sidelined by the teddy bear huggers so the Clinton coalition holds, for now.
    The Clinton coalition won’t hold for very long, only so much of the terror of the blubbering pathetic white woman that either end of the political spectrum can actually tolerate.

  502. San Jose Mom 51 March 18, 2011 at 11:47 am #

    From today’s San Jose Mercury News:
    “While public health officials anxiously downplayed fears Thursday that a plume from Japan’s crippled nuclear reactors was descending on California, Scienists aat UC Berkeley declared they were already detecting readioactive particles from 5,000 miles across the ocean….’We see evidence of fission particles–iodine, cesium, barium and krypton, a whole dog’s breakfast of radiation,’ said Ed Morse, professor of nuclear engineering at UC Berkely, whose students have set up a monitor on the rooftop of the campus’s Etcheverry Building.”
    Jen

  503. San Jose Mom 51 March 18, 2011 at 11:57 am #

    It’s better to be helpful and kind than to spend energy picking out people to hate,and deciding who might possibly victimize you when the TSHTF.
    I don’t believe that all the world’s problems can be solved by group therapy.
    There are lots of women-haters on this site, so your views are not unique. Sadly, this is a result of being under-endowed.
    SJmom51

  504. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 11:58 am #

    “We see evidence of fission particles–iodine, cesium, barium and krypton, a whole dog’s breakfast of radiation”
    Should I be worried?

  505. tootsie March 18, 2011 at 12:27 pm #

    Oh for fuck’s sake. Do you have any idea how watered down any radiation from Japan would be that hits our western shore? There is so much wind/ rain/ocean between there and here that to fear an increase in radiation on our shores is the height of paranoia.
    Now the potential effects on Japan? Different story.

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  506. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 12:29 pm #

    The under-endowment to which you refer. Is that above or below the neck?

  507. ozone March 18, 2011 at 12:43 pm #

    Here’s one for those who refuse to cower before the beast that gibbers and slavers in the stygian abyss.
    (For those waiting for their Savior in a spiffy uniform, please disregard; wouldn’t want to throw any water on your Jingoistic Witch ‘o the Right.)
    “If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”
    Rock on, Phil!
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27707.htm

  508. ozone March 18, 2011 at 12:44 pm #

    Thanks for the link. Good ‘un!

  509. San Jose Mom 51 March 18, 2011 at 12:56 pm #

    Why…..above the neck! What were you thinking?

  510. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 1:04 pm #

    Yes, very good. WageLaborer turned me on to it last week. I carry the torch this week and am hoping somebody else will carry it next week.

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  511. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 1:12 pm #

    Just asking. I have never been called under endowed myself and I was wondering what the term meant? I’ll Google it and find out.

  512. myrtlemay March 18, 2011 at 1:14 pm #

    “There are lots of women-haters on this site, so your views are not unique.”
    You said it! I daresay most if not ALL posters on this site are women-haters.

  513. myrtlemay March 18, 2011 at 1:16 pm #

    I’m excluding women from the above statement, and perhaps a handful of real men. Tripp, my darling, where for art thou?

  514. Cash March 18, 2011 at 1:16 pm #

    People don’t want nuke plants (too dangerous), they don’t want coal fired plants (too dirty). So we’re going with wind and solar. Sure we are. Until the wind don’t blow and the sun don’t shine and you turn on the electric stove and nothing happens.
    At least in China they don’t make any pretence of giving a damn about public safety. Reactors with plywood containment vessels? So what, you want electricity or not?

  515. Cash March 18, 2011 at 1:18 pm #

    Below the neck.

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  516. asia March 18, 2011 at 1:19 pm #

    Got a GREAT book y’day:
    ‘AMERICA ALONE’ by Steyn.
    I cant speak for the other guys here but I dont hate women, not even crazy CFN women.
    got this today from a woman in Santa Barbara:
    Last month Obama’s Justice Department forced the city of Dayton , Ohio , to lower standards for hiring police and firemen, allegedly because not enough minorities passed.
    The Dayton Daily News reports that time is of the essence vital, since recent retirements “have left public safety forces near all-time lows.” Nonetheless, the Obama administration stepped in to keep police off the streets until he could saddle them with unqualified co-workers. Under the deal Dayton cut with Eric Holder’s department, city officials would hire people who scored as low as 58 percent ( F ) on one section and 63 percent ( D ) on another – failing marks on any conventional grade curve. The 748 people who passed the test will soon be joined by 258 new, incompetent public servants. No one will know one group from another except their HR department and the people whose lives they fail to save.
    Even the local NAACP – which, as its name implies, can usually be counted on to support any policy that advances the interests of “colored people” – thinks Obama and Holder have gone too far. Dayton chapter President Derrick Forward has said, “The NAACP does not support individuals failing a test and then having the opportunity to be gainfully employed…If you lower the score for any group of people, you’re not getting the best qualified people for the job.” (In reality, the NAACP regularly supports these kinds of actions, but at least Forward does not.)

  517. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 1:21 pm #

    No misogynist here. I do however suffer from misanthropy whenever one of them posts.

  518. asia March 18, 2011 at 1:21 pm #

    Have others ‘distorted projections’ always been your problem?
    Maybe go see Kalu, hes touring the Westcoast [or at least LA] this year.

  519. asia March 18, 2011 at 1:25 pm #

    The book I just mentioned has a great insight into the ‘SAVE TIBET’ bumperstickers!

  520. asia March 18, 2011 at 1:27 pm #

    maybe Kdog is a gaydog
    [we need more of them here]

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  521. asia March 18, 2011 at 1:28 pm #

    DOES THAT INCLLUDE THE FEMALE POSTERS?
    [read:idiot]

  522. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 1:32 pm #

    Standards should be the same for all, equal and fair. Anything else denies the equality of Man and fuels disunity and dissension. Good dogs come in all sizes and endowments, as do bad.

  523. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 1:35 pm #

    And when I say equality of Man, women are included. It is sad to have to point that out.

  524. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 1:37 pm #

    no

  525. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 1:49 pm #

    “The book I just mentioned has a great insight into the ‘SAVE TIBET’ bumperstickers!”
    Please elaborate. The tragedy of Tibet is something only those who had or have the bumpersticker seem to have know about.

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  526. ozone March 18, 2011 at 2:00 pm #

    Same applies to me.
    I really don’t see how my comments could be construed as “bashing wimmenz”. (Unless jokey spellings can be seen that way without context. And I would consider that to be a bit on the hypersensitive side.)
    My unreserved apologies to all offended female parties.

  527. ozone March 18, 2011 at 2:04 pm #

    (I save my invective for those living in fools’ paradises. …Of which there seem to be as many and varied as individuals themselves! Me included! ;o)

  528. myrtlemay March 18, 2011 at 2:37 pm #

    Maybe you should consider signing up for an English course. If you were a better reader, you would have read my follow-up post. I can probably get you a good price on a third grade basal and spelling book, just to start you out, I mean. 🙂

  529. myrtlemay March 18, 2011 at 2:43 pm #

    Or perhaps “Q”, if needing extra cash, can set up a correspondence course in English for you. Yes, he most probably will start you out in “Grammar 101 for Nincompoomps”, but it is the price you must pay to overcome the incoherent ways you put your thoughts together. I wonder if he’ll charge you extra for being an asshole?

  530. JonathanSS March 18, 2011 at 3:31 pm #

    Eleuthero,
    I’ve enjoyed reading your posts & have noticed no contributions this week.
    Are you still on target to retire from teaching in five days?
    Regards,
    Jonathan

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  531. lbendet March 18, 2011 at 4:05 pm #

    Just to put things in a little perspective, radiation is cumulative throughout a lifetime. IMO, That means that you can’t underestimate exposure to radiation since it continues to
    create free radicals and cause insult to our cells.
    Although scientists say that the amount of radiation we would be exposed to from Japan is minuscule, one said last night that we all have carry a part of Chernobyl.

  532. JonathanSS March 18, 2011 at 4:21 pm #

    Can we get back to something other than gender or ethnic issues? Maybe some picked up that my “Scapegoat List” was a mocking of excessive hand wringing or doom/gloom. If you think TS will HTF, the nation is in decline, Techno Triumphilism is a joke or we’re “so F’d”, I guess that is the case. We create our own reality.
    Let me tell a story and make another list, in which I attempt to put money/mouth, in my next post. I’m going to do it from my perspective as an athlete and engineer. Trippticket does a great job from a sustainable living emphasis.

  533. montsegur March 18, 2011 at 4:27 pm #

    lbendet mentioned: “we all have carry a part of Chernobyl.”
    =====================
    So do German pigs. Wild pigs shot by hunters in the Bayerische Wald (a range of high hills along the Czech border) are routinely tested for radioactive contamination. I guess their habit of rooting into the dirt gets them down to the soil layer where residue from Chernobyl is found.
    Cheers

  534. progressorconserve March 18, 2011 at 4:34 pm #

    Can we get back to something other than gender or ethnic issues?
    -jss-
    Sure, Jonathan – how about religion?
    ==============
    Thread is quiet this week. Orion says it’s March Madness. I thought it was lack of race/gender/Atheism discussions. Hopefully, it’s not cumulative radiation poisoning. Everyone alive since July 16, 1945 has been soaking up the radioactivity.

  535. JonathanSS March 18, 2011 at 4:44 pm #

    A year and a half ago, I had the pleasure of touring the Palo Alto Net Zero home (paloaltonetzero.com). I rode my bike from the hills of East San Jose to his home on University Ave., N. of downtown P.A. The owners goal is to not use any more power than he has generated himself (net zero electric use). He disconnected all natural gas and uses only electrical power. The conversion costs are insane for the avg. American (over $100K), but it opened my eyes to the fact that it is not a big sacrifice to reduce energy use in half and possible to see an 80% reduction with enough care.
    Each family’s cost/benefit ratio is unique, but we can move towards the following:
    1. Seal the envelope (insulate, caulk etc.)
    2. Windows (the owner of PANZ is CEO of Serious Materials, a window that has 3x the insulating factor of any other double pane. I put these in my San Jose home).
    3. Solar hot water.
    4. Pellet stoves.
    5. Super efficient refrigerators (less than half the energy of current, but with much reduced capacity – can’t get something for nothing).
    6. Induction cook top.
    7. Convection ovens.
    8. Portable solar ovens.
    9. Heat pumps.
    10.LED’s
    11.Phantom energy reduction with switchable outlets.
    12.Line dry clothes
    13.More efficient washing machines, dishwashers, microwaves etc.
    14.Conduct a home energy audit.
    Some have concerns about fresh water supplies, since we waste so much and do stupid things like corn based ethanol. Look at water capture tanks and gray water.
    Eliminate the use of ICE’s. It’s a joke that suburbia still uses lawn mowers. Would you use a gas powered vacuum cleaner indoors?
    Bicycle!
    I’ve reduced my own energy use in half and my home uses about $500/year in gas/electric. The avg. American spends $2200/yr.
    Thanks for your time.

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  536. MarlinFive54 March 18, 2011 at 5:00 pm #

    Well, it looks like we got the UN mandate to wage (aggressive) war in Libya. Ya, we’re going in, and soon. UN mandate? That sounds familiar.
    Nobody liked the way President Bush and Rumsfeldt made war, now we’ll get to see how the Democrats do it. Wilson, Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson … they have pretty big shoes to fill. Let’s see how it goes.
    Here’s Marlins advice:
    Hit ’em hard
    Hit ’em low
    Hit ’em like a buffalo.
    They can’t go wrong.
    Start my 2nd job tonite so will probably be signing off for awhile.
    Carry on, CFNers!
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  537. progressorconserve March 18, 2011 at 5:02 pm #

    “Nincompoomps” – Myrtle? You are really teeing up a word for someone, aren’t you?
    Try, nincompoops, next time.
    Then you ponder, concerning Q as a language teacher, for asia, “I wonder if he’ll charge you extra for being an asshole?”
    No, only political leadership and the CEO class are able to charge extra for being assholes. Asshole language instructors are a dime a dozen – no extra charges will be billable for that particular personality characteristic.
    Otherwise, some of us would be too busy counting our extra income to ever have time to post on CFN.
    I did find “nincompoomps” used in a blog entry – kind of a cool looking word, actually.
    http://www.pszulu.blogspot.com/

  538. JonathanSS March 18, 2011 at 5:07 pm #

    My long story and list is being held by the moderator. Here’s another one you might enjoy.
    I was talking to a fellow at the Palo Alto Net Zero home tour who has an elaborate solar panel array on his home. He said that he was generating a lot of excess capacity back onto the grid and PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) was not compensating him for the excess. So, his “brilliant” move was to use up the excess by running his home AC system when it wasn’t necessary. Gotta love it. Not!
    My solution was to buy an electric car or have one of his existing converted to electric.

  539. lbendet March 18, 2011 at 5:09 pm #

    Warmed my heart to hear we all have something in common with the Wild pigs in the Bayerische Wald.

  540. progressorconserve March 18, 2011 at 5:43 pm #

    Jonathan, that entry will be held forever – and never released, based on my experience on CFN. I hope you’ll retype it for us.
    And regarding:
    “My solution was to buy an electric car or have one of his existing converted to electric.”
    -jss-
    We looked seriously into buying a Prius, ’cause we need longer range and more payload than a pure electric vehicle can provide. The advantage to an electric would be charging it off solar panels and then using the car battery as power supply for the house when the vehicle was not being charged for a trip.
    I decided the risk of voiding the Prius warranty was too great to try something like this. Plus, there’s that battery replacement issue hanging for any electric vehicle.
    So we got a 32 MPG crossover. But I’d consider trading based on new information.

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  541. ront March 18, 2011 at 6:42 pm #

    This is a long piece, but i thought it might touch some of the participants on this blog. The attribution follows with the article.
    Ront
    BRAND NEW ARTICLE:
    “Earthquakes, Earth and You”
    Maureen Moss
    Dearest Hearts,
    As always I pray you are well.
    For the past several days I have been awakened around 4:00AM to just sit and be still (not write) and contemplate where we are as a species and as a planet, and what it means to watch, not just realize, that the world as we have known it is ending with a big bang, just as it began.
    I’d thought about writing, many an early morning as so much awareness and feelings were coming up at rapid speed, but realized I needed to feel into all of the feelings before doing so. I have had so many conflicting feelings I wasn’t certain which were mine, which were from the mass consciousness and which were as a result of all of the geophysical activity.
    I soon realized they were all mine. There was no separation or parceling it out. I was to be with all of it.
    One minute tension, the next tears. Confusion followed by clarity, peace followed by unrest, feeling raw and then feeling like a butterfly must feel when it’s first drying off and begins to realize it is about to begin a brand new existence. Where to fly first?
    For me, I wasn’t quite sure what to do, how to be, or what to think. I was all over the boards, and just needed to be, without judgment about myself until I landed somewhere. And then came the monstrous earthquake, and I seemed to land.
    When the earthquake in Japan hit with such velocity, the only thing I could think about was how brave my brothers and sisters across the globe were to have complied, at some level, to help the rest of the world wake up (again) more fully to the only thing that matters, love, and to the only expression that will get us from one world to the next, love.
    Though this certainly wasn’t the first event attempting to garner our attention, it was a massive one that could not and cannot be ignored, with more to come. We will be reminded over and over and over again until we get that the only reason we are here, is to love.
    Though there are rumors that Japan’s earthquake was “man-made,” and others, that reported otherwise, it’s irrelevant to a large degree and another distraction. At the end of the day, it’s still about us that are left standing in the moment, being made ready to be birthed into a completely different life, where love rules above and beyond all else.
    This earthquake is about every one of us, not just those that fell in the quake. Right now prayers for Japan are not enough, though by all means necessary. We must pray and send love and healing Light, and then we must go deeper than each.
    We must look to ourselves. Every single one of us is being positioned to be the change we wish to see in the world. How will we be different? What will you do differently in this new life? What poisons and toxins, discontent and story will we each transmute that still lurks in the shadows? How humble are we willing to become to transmute our own disassociation and discord, with love?
    We are the regenerators, the guiding forces behind a new reality.
    Understandably we are all fixated on the reports of where the next quake will hit and what to do to prepare, however there is more. Much more. Once prepared to take care of our needs, and the basic needs for our families and animals, we must turn our attention to love at a level we have never participated in before.
    Love is the reason we all came to this Planet at this time. That is something we can all understand that connects us all, besides the God of our understanding. In the beginning we were One, then we split apart to have experience, and now we are being glued back together again.
    As we all know by now we are standing on the threshold between worlds. Please take a moment to ask yourself what does that mean to you? What does that mean, besides yippee a whole new world is about to emerge? We must go deeper than that.
    As I write this, I am living in one of the states that has been predicted will be hit by a massive earthquake within the next week. I have taken a breath, and noticed I am not afraid; actually that is the least of my concerns, perhaps oddly enough.
    Yesterday, I calmly went out to get supplies, should this occur, though I did so with an eye on everyone else, as they too gathered their supplies.
    I looked at each one that I passed or was near in the Coop market through a different lens of perception, my heart. I watched and then quietly sent a stream of love to each. These are my brothers and sisters. These people, many of whose names I don’t know, as I have lived very quietly here, matter to me, really matter to me. What can I do, I asked myself, to show them love after 10 years of living in the same town with them, and not even knowing many of their names?
    Someone randomly came up to me who happened to be the very first person that I met 10 years ago here. He looked at me deeply before he spoke. And then he said, “You’re different somehow. You’re not in a “blur.” How interesting I thought, that I had been seen as a “blur.” No offense was taken at all, and none was meant. I understood it.
    I have put my nose to the grindstone and worked so hard and fast for so long, I must indeed be a blur to many. We chatted a bit longer, talked about the earthquake that is reported to occur here and gave each other a big hug, for the very first time. We meant it.
    I finished gathering what I came for and my attention turned toward one person in particular. We were both directly across from each other at the check out registers. I knew her name, and I also knew that she had been ill for quite some time, and recently went back to work, part-time. I knew that financially things must be tight for her. Just watching how she scanned her wallet to pay for her items, let me know that. One can learn a lot, by simply noticing.
    Without thought, I walked over to her register with my debit card in hand and swiped it to pay for her purchases. I said nothing and I needed no response though she thanked me profusely. We looked at each other, with loving tears in both of our eyes, hugged each other and I walked back to my register, paid for my purchases and left.
    I noticed that my heart that had been aching for weeks was exploding with love, finally. Not that there wasn’t love before, but this was a new love, a sincere, ‘there is only one of us love.’ It was different. I always knew that, I haven’t always felt that.
    The ride home was deeply silent. I looked at every mountain differently, every house, every person and dog that walked the edges of the road. I felt as though I were bursting a seal that had been on my heart for a very long time.
    I heard the God of my knowing gently say to me, in part “it’s taken you a long time Maureen to let go of your conditional heart. You have held on to your heart and the way you loved as you warred your way from one life into another. It was understandable, before. Now, it is not acceptable.
    Your planet and all of humanity is birthing Love right now, in spite of the fact that everything is shattering in front of your very eyes. Do you understand that? You are all birthing Love.
    If you notice, it has gone beyond job loss, and foreclosures. As a collective you were ready. Everything on the Earth plane is in reverse to Truth. There had to be a grand fall for a new evolutionary possibility and you are in the midst of it.
    Evolution slows down for no one, and it touches everyone. All of humanity must now reach into new fields of consciousness as you have just personally experienced. Each one of you are tasked with severing your relationship to the genetic template of human consciousness and the trite justifications for it. This is what Jeshua meant when he said, “the wheat will be separated from the chaff.” The time is upon you, now.
    Everything will continue to shatter, break, blowup and fall down until the only thing left is love. This was all part of the Divine plan. It was not meant to hurt anyone. It is meant to heal everyone, in due time. Many were determined to play their role, well, and they are safe with Me.
    There is only One of you. There is only Love and as One Love, your deep realization and permanent shifts of perspective will occur out of the burning embers on your earth.
    When it all falls apart, you will all come together. Tell everyone you know to buy their supplies, find their ways to be as safe in the world external as possible, though above all else to blatantly show their love to each other in every moment. Many on your Planet will only be here for a short time. No one knows who will stay and who will go. Wouldn’t it be appropriate now to freely give your love to everyone?
    Love like you’ve never loved before. Restrict yourself from nothing. Love everything and every One. Crack your own hearts wide open and put yourself in your rightful place in order that you will have a greater understanding of the events of a yet untold history.
    There is a promise that has been written for all of you. Some may say it was written in the stars, though it was written in your story.
    You will rise beyond your wildest imaginings. You will awaken to your hidden goodness, you will share joy and love with each other in an honorable, Divine and desirable manner, and you will be held in the arms of My Love, as you move from one reality into another. That has always been My promise.
    And so it is that wherever the Earth quakes next, the waters rise or the mountains spew, remember what is most important and be the grandest expression of Love you can imagine yourself to be. Better yet, act as you think I might, and love as you imagine I love.”
    Wherever you are, know you are loved and watched over.
    I love you my brothers and sisters. I love you will my full heart. I am grateful to be waking up with all of you and knowing I am a part of all of you.
    Copyright 2011, Maureen Moss. Please pass this to all you know it will serve, keeping article intact and with name, and websites.
    http://www.worldpuja.org
    http://www.maureenmoss.com

  542. James Crow March 18, 2011 at 7:11 pm #

    Frankly none of this societal bullshit matters with regards to the livelihood of this world, this Earth. You can split hairs all you want. The “peoples” of the middle east have already let their land be destroyed for dollars and oil. That same land is linked to the rest of the planet. Pumping the oil out from underground is like being bled on a planetary scale. It is gone. Shut up and enjoy while you still can. There is absolutely nothing we can invent or imagine that will save us. A comet will be a godsend.

  543. asia March 18, 2011 at 7:35 pm #

    OK, Steyn is of Canadian / Belgian heritage but lives in New England [Vermont?NH?] and notices all these ‘Free Tibet’ stickers and even college groups.
    EVERYONE WANTS TO SAY FREE TIBET BUT NO ONE WANTS TO FIGHT THE REDS TO FREE TIBET….words are as useless as bumperstickers.
    JonathanSS
    Liked the story about the folks not getting paid for feeding the grid their extra solar power!

  544. asia March 18, 2011 at 7:50 pm #

    Not very funny but at least you tried!

  545. asia March 18, 2011 at 7:55 pm #

    Actually the tragedy has been goin on for sometime.
    Mao killed 70,000,000.
    Stalin 20,000,000.
    So a free Tibet is unlikely anytime soon.

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  546. asia March 18, 2011 at 7:59 pm #

    let Mrytle do it!in May.

  547. rippedthunder March 18, 2011 at 9:09 pm #

    Hello Myrtle, I am not a woman-hater, as you say. Except for maybe my comment about woman drivers. That was a bad joke. I work with many woman in a vocation which was long considered a men only job. They do a fine job and are very proficient operating the heavy equipment, even more so then some of the men. So for all the wonderful women on CFN here is a link to a huge “Coronal Mass Erection” which occured on 3/16.
    http://spaceweather.com/images2011/17mar11/cme_c2_big.gif?PHPSESSID=oj12mcob3dbefki2d7armr2473

  548. rippedthunder March 18, 2011 at 9:12 pm #

    Sorry, Quistk. I Guess that should have read ” Coronal Mass Ejection” sorry for the error! ;o) also known as a CME. The sun god is starting to get uppity!

  549. rippedthunder March 18, 2011 at 9:36 pm #

    After the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century the sun is starting to go postal. What it means? probably nothing. But still interesting through a solar telescope. With our reliance on satellites for so many things it could actually have some consequences.
    http://spaceweather.com/images2011/18mar11/filament2048.jpg?PHPSESSID=em5uqknomhc7881d7tg006d192

  550. jackieblue2u March 18, 2011 at 9:43 pm #

    Yes that’s the airborn radiation.
    I worry about if it melts down, and gets directly into to OCEAN. You know I get the feeling it’s going to level 7. This am on the news they said on a scale of 1 to 7, this situation is currently at 5. That was this morning.
    If it goes to 7, and into the OCEAN, it’s a whole new story.
    It’s already a new world.
    When they say “the situation is worse than we thought.” it usually means, the situation is worse than we told you at first. That’s what I’ve noticed. Break it to ’em gently kind a thing.
    You learn to read between the lines / lies.
    I feel sad for the people in Tokyo.

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  551. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 9:54 pm #

    I’ve been contemplating this and have to agree. A Save Tibet bumper sticker is a notch above putting a Save The Planet bumper sticker on a Hummer but that’s all.
    My consciousness concerning Tibet is higher than most, if there were something I could do for Tibet I would, but what? If I were to boycott Chinese goods I’d be naked.
    I have thought about buying some land across from a Wall Mart and erecting a giant flagpole on it. I’d fly a twenty foot wide Snow Lion flag at half mast but that’s a dream I can’t afford.
    It would be cool if we had one millionaire or billionaire with that kind of artistic vision but great wealth it seems stifles creativity.
    If we had just one with that kind of perspective perhaps we would not all be wearing Chinese underwear.

  552. Qshtik March 18, 2011 at 9:57 pm #

    I’m surprised no one has mentioned the “racist” YouTube “rant” denigrating Asian students at UCLA that has gone viral in the past few days.
    It was performed by a bleach-blond airhead named Alexandra Wallace (as she leaned forward toward her laptop’s camera and squished together all the cleavage she could muster) who purportedly was highly annoyed that Asian students were using their cell phones in the library and disturbing other students prepping for finals.
    I was a bit suspicious about the whole affair when I saw that a spread of bikini pix showing off Alexandra’s not insignificant charms were “discovered” and posted only a day or two after the infamous rant.
    As if this stunt were not merely a tempest in a tea pot, UCLA poobahs appear to be holding round-the-clock meetings to decide what is to be done about this horrid political incorrectness. And to top it off, no lesser light in such matters than the NYT has inserted itself with an editorial in today’s paper, simultaneously tsk tsking Ms Wallace while defending her first amendment rights. Next thing you know Obama will be brokering a “beer summit” between the young hottie and Wen Jiabao. The late-night talk circuit seems a given, if not a book deal.
    Obviously TPTB at UCLA and the NYT have never read the comments here at CFN. The so-called “rant” that has drawn all this attention is about as offensive as a puff fart in a windstorm.

  553. jackieblue2u March 18, 2011 at 9:58 pm #

    You are probably right.
    It could be a slow miserable end, or a fast one.
    I prefer fast myself.
    What a strange world and times these are.

  554. myrtlemay March 18, 2011 at 10:32 pm #

    Yeah, okay, and all that stuff, but WHO GETS THE TOYS? That’s what I want to know. I mean, there are so many rare minerals on the earth, and diminishing fossil fuels, so WHO GETS IT ALL. Me? I want it. I WANT IT ALL! I mean, that’s what being an amerikan is all about, isn’t it? I WIN! I WON! Yes. I won the WWI and WWII so that means I get all the toys, right? Before I decided to even play this game I was told I’d win the TOYS! What is with all of this bull in the M.E. and Africa? I PAID FOR THIS STUFF, and while I sit on my ass collecting S.S., I can’t understand why you people aren’t getting it for me! JEEZ…a “greatest generation” only comes around every hundred years or so. Do you (and others) honestly want me to WAIT for what is so obviously MINE? NICE GRATITUDE for the folks that saved your asses from the freaking nazis and japs!!! YOU’RE WELCOME!

  555. Qshtik March 18, 2011 at 10:38 pm #

    Make that: a spread ….. B>was “discovered”

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  556. rippedthunder March 18, 2011 at 10:40 pm #

    Strange days indeed. This goes back to all the oldsters here. 1967 maybe? almost 45 years ago!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NSz-9qqgKE

  557. Qshtik March 18, 2011 at 10:42 pm #

    was “discovered”

  558. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 10:54 pm #

    The greatest generation. I recall someone said that after WWII that generation went on to invent suburbia and all it’s salad shooting trappings. “Suburbia, the single greatest misappropriation of resources in human history.”
    Anybody remember who said that?
    The generation that made damn sure that any succeeding generations would live in the fucking stone age, if they are around to live at all.
    One good thing about the stone age if we lucky enough to have it again. At least it’s sustainable. One generation won’t be depriving all future generations of their share of what is left then.

  559. rippedthunder March 18, 2011 at 11:15 pm #

    Ah! The stoned age. I think I spent too much time there years ago. . I am forever lost in the fog of th ’60’s . good or bad I can’t be sure. Probably I lost too many brain cells! Seemed like fun at the time!

  560. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 11:27 pm #

    Apparently Ms. Wallace was harassed to the point where she quit UCLA despite no disciplinary action being taken against her. Her desire for popularity apparently outweighed her desire to get an education.
    It’s sad. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

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  561. k-dog March 18, 2011 at 11:39 pm #

    I’m reading about Catharism tonight but dog treats just keep coming.
    If you are referring to Cannabis rippedthunder it does not cause loss of brain cells or any other kind of brain damage.
    Having been concerned about this myself at one time I delved into the subject and learned the truth. Twenty thousand studies can’t be wrong. Only the ones that were government funded are.
    Life is full of little punks and we pay taxes for them.

  562. trippticket March 18, 2011 at 11:45 pm #

    O3, have you seen how prolific Mr. Orlov has become all of a sudden? I can barely keep up! Seeing as he’s been through all this before, I take his jumpiness as an interesting bellwether.
    Plenty of time left for sleepin’ though, and it’s way past my bedtime.
    Tripp out.

  563. Buck Stud March 19, 2011 at 12:32 am #

    Oh come on Q. Truth be told, Alexandra’s not insignificant charms had you thinking double and focused on the only interesting Subjects in the entire charade. Proper grammar climbs into the back seat when faced with a nice pair of tits.

  564. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 12:52 am #

    Not quite:
    Proper grammar climbs into the back seat when faced with a nice pair of tits.
    Use of a more exact adjective yields.
    Proper grammar climbs into the back seat when faced with a fine pair of tits.

  565. Buck Stud March 19, 2011 at 1:49 am #

    Not quite. The “more exact adjective” is hardly yielding; it’s shining a flashlight through the back door window right in the middle of a wild thing. Now we have two CFN cock-blockers 🙂

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  566. turkle March 19, 2011 at 1:54 am #

    I was on the road today and saw a gas station chain that’s called CFN. Gave me a lil chuckle.

  567. turkle March 19, 2011 at 1:58 am #

    jackie, the ocean is big. It can take a lot.
    Seriously though, radiative materials getting into the ocean is not the main concern here.

  568. turkle March 19, 2011 at 2:02 am #

    Well, they got a lot of oil, Mommie. Business as usual. *shrugs*

  569. turkle March 19, 2011 at 2:17 am #

    I see Vlad Kraps is still here spewing out his filth on a daily basis. Big surprise there.

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  570. turkle March 19, 2011 at 2:19 am #

    I also heard there was going to be free cake and pie for everyone, too.

  571. turkle March 19, 2011 at 2:39 am #

    “Life is full of little punks and we pay taxes for them.”
    What is with all the tax whiners lately? You taking some queues from the Koch brothers?
    You paid some taxes and the government did something with that money you don’t like…boo hoo. Has there ever been a whinier group of selfish, self-entitled brats than early 21st century Americans? What do these people think, that Obama needs to phone them up and get their personal stamp of approval before he lifts a finger to do anything?
    The US government doesn’t seek your personal approval for everything it does. In fact, if everything the government did with tax money had to pass everyone’s approval, it wouldn’t be able to do anything. There’s always at least one person who doesn’t approve of anything at all.
    Me, I resent my tax dollars paying to annihilate innocent Middle Easterners with depleted uranium and white phosphorus. Some people seem to have a problem if their taxes pay for other American’s medical care or their basic existence so that they don’t have to live under an overpass in a cardboard box. That spending seems to me like less of an epic injustice in the whole grand scheme of things than paying for drones and bunker busters, but, hey, maybe my moral compass is just all out of whack. I bet that Afghan wedding party had it coming to them.
    You go to other countries and people have personal ethics and feelings of responsibility towards others in their society. They look at taxes as a duty for belonging to their country. They don’t tend to resent paying for social services, because they know it could have been them given different circumstances. Or they might even need them some day.
    Here, the dominant cultural ethos seems to be, give me Lexus SUV and multiple flavors of Dorritos, and get the hell out of my way. I got vacating to do. I got mine, and that’s all that matters. And hands off my Medicare. What about MY retirement? My taxes are too high. Taxation is theft. Drill baby drill. Don’t back down, reload. Liberalism is a mental disease. Abortion is murder. Jesus is my lord and savior.
    Shiat, I’m moving to Cananda one of these days. This country is coming apart at the seams. It is just a matter of time.

  572. montsegur March 19, 2011 at 3:15 am #

    lbendet stated: “Warmed my heart to hear we all have something in common with the Wild pigs in the Bayerische Wald.”
    =======================
    I feel the same way. I’ve wondered for a while now if I have been rooting too deeply into the soil for my own good.
    Cheers

  573. montsegur March 19, 2011 at 3:18 am #

    k-dog stated “I’m reading about Catharism tonight but dog treats just keep coming.”
    ===========================
    Rex Mundi is running things these days. Explains why the human condition remains so exquisitely miserable.
    Cheers

  574. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 3:44 am #

    Read it again,
    By punks I mean we have been punked, we have been deceived. I don’t complain about taxes. Taxes for the common welfare are good. Render unto Caesar and all that rot. But taxes spent to deceive are; well ironic. I wasn’t whining about anything. Why are people so OK with deception? When we find we have been deceived (the public) why do we forget so quickly?

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  575. lbendet March 19, 2011 at 8:12 am #

    Morning, Turkle
    I don’t think anyone reacted to a post I made a few days ago. SC Sen. Jim DeMint claims that big government diminishes god.
    The Republican party is the party that says, no regulation, no taxes and austerity is just around the corner for everyone bu the top .5%. They like to conflate their Theocracy with neoliberalism (their ungodly agenda) and they seem to have bamboozled a lot of people whhile appealing to their selfishness.
    While speaking of values they destroy them. I’ve learned that when they say something they usually mean the opposite.

  576. lbendet March 19, 2011 at 8:31 am #

    ps.pardon my typos–that’s what happens when I type before my first cup of coffee. Don’t know what my excuse is at other times.

  577. ozone March 19, 2011 at 9:47 am #

    LOL
    Nice snark-age, MM!
    (The best is always bone-close to what’s really being expressed, “out there”.)

  578. ozone March 19, 2011 at 10:05 am #

    “Apparently Ms. Wallace was harassed to the point where she quit UCLA despite no disciplinary action being taken against her. Her desire for popularity apparently outweighed her desire to get an education.
    It’s sad. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” -k-dog
    I dunno. In a case like this (a consumer-culture/celebrity-obsessed idiot), the wasted mind seems well-deserved. As I’ve said before, sometimes shame is a useful societal “adjuster”. To a generation unused to consequences for their actions, I would wish them some temperance. (I fear that will only come after privation, however.)
    I’m seeing REWARDS for shitty and destructive behavior; it’s more than uncalled-for.

  579. ozone March 19, 2011 at 10:06 am #

    (It’s likely she’ll get her “15 minutes”, in any case.)

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  580. orionoir March 19, 2011 at 10:19 am #

    just in case i haven’t been repeating myself, i still say this: of the four horsemen now approaching, the first to arrive is fiscal.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/business/economy/19charts.html?src=recg
    (floyd & gretchen are the times’ haldeman & erlichman of business writing.)

  581. ozone March 19, 2011 at 10:24 am #

    I think you just encapsulated my views on l’il Jimmy DeMented’s so-called “thoughts” pretty well!
    No response necessary. ;o)

  582. lbendet March 19, 2011 at 10:25 am #

    The Name of the Rose..
    Agnotologic Capitalism a term coined by Michael Betancourt
    Finally I discovered the word that describes the system of subterfuge for this monetarist system on Max Keiser this morning. I’ve been trying to describe since I started blogging here, that we are being systematically confused of what is reality. The construction of that tower of babel of confusion we call difference of opinion based on no actual truth. Or as Steve Colbert describes as “truthiness”
    We are living in a Capitalistic state partially supported by systematic disinformation, general confusion of what is fact and what is not. What is physically real and what is immaterial–all a byproduct of the digital age since the 1980’s. Also IMO around the time where Supply Side-economics and Globalism appear. (neoliberalism)
    Study of misinformation is pushed into the system as a quantity into itself. Construction of this is to deceive the markets of real tangible commodoties.
    Propaganda–lies. Agnotology tries to create doubt of what is known.
    ie.,in 1960’s cigarette companies tried to make cigarettes look healthy. This tactic has expanded to all risks to products and markets.
    Digital capitalism. Aura of the digital when we deal with something digital we stop thinking about the physical costs, the hardware and maintenance. Doesn’t seem to cost anything to the end user. Hence the bubbles are reflections between the rupture between the physical realities of the digital space.
    Transfer from digital realm into the less than digital realm–ie financial markets–Financialization and the reshuffling of immaterial commodities gold index instead of the physical gold.–may not be connected to physical reality. Bundled tranches are the chopping up (sausage-making) —removed labor from the market. Eliminating the human element–automated immaterial version of capitalism. Intangible assets.
    You need all these players in govt. and global banking system to push this as real. This is ultimately unsustainable –Inevitably of total crash is built into the perversion.

  583. Qshtik March 19, 2011 at 10:38 am #

    that’s what happens when I type before my first cup of coffee. Don’t know what my excuse is at other times.
    =============
    Too much coffee?

  584. ozone March 19, 2011 at 10:47 am #

    Hmmmmm, far-reaching (and probably insane) speculation on forms of those Horsie-guys are percolating. (Look out! ;o)
    Supposing the ultimate [un]civil war for the soul of humanity; will the survivors (if any) forgive the “losers”? (We could assume ALL to be losers in this scenario, but I’ll continue.)
    I just saw a movie that involved a Vietnamese family, where the father was sent to the “re-education” camps and grandma, wife, and son undertook the traumatic voyage to the Great White Chief’s (good friends, don’cha know) place in virtuous and trustworthy America.
    The father’s enslavement and brutal treatment by sadistic psychopaths bent on more than revenge put these wonderings in my head. Did these cruel soldiers free the Vietnamese people, or did the Vietnamese people free THEM? Nothing good can come of a Final Struggle that leaves the most unscrupulous to rule.
    This is the reason for a “managed” contraction; to avert an all-out resource war. I don’t see ANY realistic/long-term “management” going on, do you?

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  585. Qshtik March 19, 2011 at 10:58 am #

    Shiat, I’m moving to Cananda one of these days. This country is coming apart at the seams.
    ================
    Where is Cananda? Uuh…Oh…nehh verr mind.
    Apparently you haven’t been reading Cash’s posts. He doesn’t see Canada as Shangri La.

  586. myrtlemay March 19, 2011 at 11:06 am #

    What’s interesting to see is how China’s president Hu is cozying up to the Japanese in this very grave moment. Over a conversation with a neighbor recently, we spoke of how quickly Japan made a come back after WWII. By the mid ’60s, the Japanese economy was in full swing, with Tokyo a major metropolitan city. My neighbor made a remark that when (if?) Japan comes out of this tragedy, they will rebuild at a breathtaking speed. This with the full financial backing of China, of course. In other words, Japan is about to become China’s bitch, big time. China is also the only world player with loads of cash. Japan literally is on its knees before China. It’s a safe bet that Japan will become a huge garage sale for China, whereby they scrap anything and everyone on the tiny island that isn’t worth saving, bulldozing just about everything, and fashioning it into a quasi-theme park. The Chinese have very long memories. They have yet to get over Japan’s entry into WWII and the indignities they suffered under Tojo. So adjust your rabbit ears, tune in to see some major league groveling and ass kissing from the Japanese toward their new “saviors”. Grab some popcorn. It promises to be a good show.

  587. lbendet March 19, 2011 at 11:07 am #

    Q:Too much coffee?
    Ha–That’s a likely story!–And how very convenient.
    (except I only allow myself two cups of coffee a day. It’s like rocket fuel in my system.)

  588. ozone March 19, 2011 at 11:08 am #

    I, for one, believe disinformation to be one with very core of rapacious capitalism; Madison Avenue has been very busy for a very long time. Follow the money…

  589. ozone March 19, 2011 at 11:12 am #

    …”THE” very core…

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  590. JonathanSS March 19, 2011 at 11:21 am #

    RE: Vlad Kraps
    That’s a good one! (said w/ a thick, Austrian, Ahnold accent).
    I don’t get this guy. He’s safely ensconced in Coeur d’Alene ID, typing away for hours out of his trailer. Partially or fully unemployed, I assume he hangs with his skinhead buddies, bemoaning anybody in this country that doesn’t look like the descendants of Hitlers utopia. Bunch a losers. Probably chanting “if it’s white, it’s alright”.
    He almost always is in the top 5 posters on this site, exceeding 50 posts a week sometimes. How he thinks he’s influencing anybody’s opinion is beyond me. I suggested he do something useful, head South to the border and join the Minuteman Patriots. No comment from him, just more rambling. Probably too poor to travel.

  591. JonathanSS March 19, 2011 at 11:27 am #

    …I’m moving to Cananda one of these days.

    Say it aint so & welcome back! More of us have to stay here and fight the good fight.

  592. Cash March 19, 2011 at 11:29 am #

    So your Somali friend was not. He was either just faking friendship with you or he was a fake Muslim and a real friend. – Vlad
    Only he knows whether he’s a real Muslim. I’m pretty sure he’s for real. He observes Ramadan and it’s a real pain in the ass for him as he’s a big fella with a big appetite. So after sunset he eats everything but the drapes. I’ve known him a long time and I’ve never seen him drink alcohol. And Friday night is for the mosque. I’m not an expert but the guy and his family look Muslim to me.
    As for whether he’s a real friend, again only he would know. As for me, I treat people the way they treat me. BTW, this guy is no toothless illiterate. He speaks Italian like an Italian. He has a science degree from an American university which I’m pretty sure is genuine as our employer’s a real Nazi when it comes to background checks and university transcripts.
    Maybe you’re right that Muslims aren’t assimilable. But I’m not so sure. I think the issue is more culture outside of the religious dictates of the Koran. I’ve worked with quite a few Muslims and they vary widely in attitude and outlook. Many are not so rigid. Jihad is not their thing.
    One guy I knew is an accountant from Pakistan. His wife is a doctor. She got a really good job offer in Dubai so they upped sticks. Not the stereotypical patriarchal household.
    Another guy I worked with, also of Pakistani origin, worked for many years for Ernst and Young in Saudi Arabia. He said they moved to Canada because they couldn’t bear to raise the kids in Saudi Arabia, where for one thing, the police are butchers and everyone is scared stiff of them.
    Another chap from Pakistan, raised in the UK and moved here as an adult, sounds more English than the English and really likes his pints.
    Another guy that I worked with briefly, born here, Egyptian by descent, is a lawyer with a high powered Bay Street firm. Muslim women in my employer’s accounts payable dept mixed and worked easily with the rest of us.
    You have other guys like Tarek Fatah, a local guy, that rails against Muslim extremism and Irshad Manji, an author that you may have heard of that does the same. Irshad professes to be a devout Muslim yet looks like a hip young chick.
    I think inter marriage is the long term key to societal peace as you don’t usually kill your own kin. I’ve seen Muslim/non Muslim hookups. I’ve seen dark skinned Muslim chicks hug young white guys on the street by way of greeting. You can see libido doing its thing. So I think social or religious barriers aren’t necessarily insurmountable.
    How will it work between Muslims and non Muslims in general over the longer term? Will it be rancourous or peaceful? No idea. Too soon to tell. Muslims have been here in sizeable numbers for only a short time. Same thing with Hindus for that matter. But I think that eventually human libido will work its magic. You might as well scream at the tides.
    We can’t be squeamish about Anglo Saxon or western culture. There has to be social pressure and an insistance on societal norms, standards of behaviour and attitude and loyalty but at the same time, once you have citizenship papers and you’re one of us and, then you’re one of us. Acceptance goes both ways.
    Tarek:
    http://www.facebook.com/TarekFatahFans
    Irshad:
    http://www.irshadmanji.com/

  593. JonathanSS March 19, 2011 at 11:29 am #

    Pathetic! Who gives a rat’s ass about typos?

  594. lbendet March 19, 2011 at 11:31 am #

    Understood. This is on a very different level, having to do with the value of all things from products, commodoties, human life to financials.
    Check out Max Keiser.com.
    It’s way more pernicious and I think is the raison-d’etre for the constant confusion of facts and world view in the “civics” war on the ground.
    You know like, radiation is good for your health and nuclear power plants are only challenged every 300 years.

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  595. Qshtik March 19, 2011 at 11:34 am #

    Oh come on Q. Truth be told, … Proper grammar climbs into the back seat when faced with a nice pair of tits.
    ============
    I bin busted.

  596. ozone March 19, 2011 at 11:54 am #

    “How will it work between Muslims and non Muslims in general over the longer term? Will it be rancourous or peaceful? No idea. Too soon to tell. Muslims have been here in sizeable numbers for only a short time. Same thing with Hindus for that matter. But I think that eventually human libido will work its magic. You might as well scream at the tides.” -Cash
    I think so too. (Although you’ve inadvertently provided rotting meat for the carrion fly that is the heart of Mr. Kraps.)
    If you’ll remember waaaaay back when, in order to establish the Raj in Iraq, the Sunnis and Shias had to be set at one anothers throats. They were heavily intermarried, so, what to do, what to do? Ah, easy-peasy! INSTALL Shias into all positions of power (regardless of competence), disband the army (a social “binder” as well as a profession), and disenfranchise and kick the Sunnis to the curb.
    A fine example of divide and conquer, and social cohesion in reverse!
    “Now, just who shall we find to take on these pesky and divisive oil contracts that seem to be laying about the place?”, quoth Paul “the banality of evil” Bremer…

  597. Cash March 19, 2011 at 11:55 am #

    We have big problems. We’ve been hearing this propaganda that this place is a bastion of fiscal probity yet if you look at our combined federal and provincial deficits they come to somewhere around C$70 billion (the loonie is trading just above parity with the greenback). So if you Americanize the number to account for the 9 times population disparity (34 million vs 308 million) it’s a total of over $C600 billion. So we’re the healthier horse in the glue factory.
    Plus we have a housing bubble up here especially in Toronto and Vancouver. Of course real estate associations say don’t worry be happy, economic fundamentals support ludicrous house prices, the same way as in the US around 2005. How did we get here you might ask? By having monetary policy too loose for too long. Like in the US. And who is our central bank governor? Why, wouldn’t you know it, he’s a former Goldman Sachs investment banker. What a surprise.
    I could go on and on about the perilous state of our banks, the mess our health care systems are in, the dicey sustainability of our national pension system etc. But you know the story.

  598. MarlinFive54 March 19, 2011 at 11:56 am #

    CFNers, Question;
    Haven’t Obama’s good Chicago Buds, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and The Reverent Louis Farrakhan, been honored guests in Tripoli, Libya of the esteemed Colonel Khaddafi in the past few years? I wonder, on any of those (official) visits, were promises made, greetings given, official gifts exchanged?
    For those of us who read the screed, ‘House of Saud, House of Bush’, and were around to witness the (reprehensible) way President Bush was treated in 2005-2006 by the MSM and the American left when things got rough in Iraq, these moments truly are SWEET. Top it off with the announcement made a few weeks ago that indeed, no, Guantanamo prison WILL NOT BE CLOSED anytime soon, if ever, well, it just doesn’t get any better than this.
    The GOOD NEWS keeps rolling in. The world truly has been transformed. Utopia, promised in the 2008 election cycle, is at hand!
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  599. ozone March 19, 2011 at 11:57 am #

    Respectfully, I consider it all of a corrupt piece. After all, Cheney’s got his PR firm too.

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  600. ozone March 19, 2011 at 12:12 pm #

    Well, it IS interesting, but I don’t see it as too germane anymore. After all, what are the international policy differences between the Bush era and the Obama mash-up? (As in…. hmmm…. none; oh, there is that 3rd front being aggressively pursued though. But, no worries, the FRENCH are firing the opening salvo, so no “dirty hands” to be seen from this side o’ the map. The ironies are getting sickeningly thick on the ground.)

  601. MarlinFive54 March 19, 2011 at 12:14 pm #

    Turkle says, ‘Are you taking some Ques from the Koch bothers’?
    That reminds me; On CFN two types of billionaires exist. Here you have ‘good’ billionaires Soros, Geffen, Spielberg, Carlos Slim. Over there are the bad billionaires, Koch brothers, Murdoch et al. Remember in 2004 the street theatre group ‘billionaires for Bush’? There is nothin like a little street theatre to bring out the truth.
    I don’t know any billionaires but thought I would point it out. that’s all.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  602. ozone March 19, 2011 at 12:15 pm #

    LBendet, thanks for the reminder of the phrase, “on the ground”. (It’s like snuffling for truffles! ;o)

  603. MarlinFive54 March 19, 2011 at 12:22 pm #

    Ozone;
    Did you enjoy that ‘preview of spring’ yesterday up there in W. Mass.? My spirits were lifted. Its funny how much depends on the weather.
    I’ll be making my bi-annual literary tour of W. Mass. soon, Melville, Hawthorne Fanny Kimble etal by way of Roosterville and Stockbridge before the crowds of summer hit. What can I say, I’m a bookish guy.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  604. Cash March 19, 2011 at 12:29 pm #

    Here’s a commentary from one of our pundits. You might like it. Or maybe not. But it’ll give an idea how some foreigners see Obama and the US.
    http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/absent+America/4469576/story.html
    Rex Murphy does a commentary every Thursday night on the CBC. You can get some of his commentary here under the caption Recent Rex Murphy;
    http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/rexmurphy/story/2011/03/10/thenational-rexmurphy-110310.html

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  605. lbendet March 19, 2011 at 12:37 pm #

    Wild, wild piggies….
    ps do listen to the Bentancourt interview on Max if you have the time!
    http://maxkeiser.com/

  606. Qshtik March 19, 2011 at 12:48 pm #

    My knowledge of Islam and the Muslim world is near zero. Perhaps someone can shed light. Why is it in certain Muslim countries that are majority Shia and minority Sunni – like Saudi, Bahrain and Iraq (under Saddam) – that the Sunnis manage to hold the political power?
    Are the differences in these two groups purely religious or are there deeper cultural or even brain power differences? If compared to, say, apartheid South Africa is the difference as stark as: Sunni is to White as Shia is to Black?

  607. dale March 19, 2011 at 1:12 pm #

    Have others ‘distorted projections’ always been your problem?
    =====================================
    “other’s” distored projections are only a problem for us to the extent they become widespread and institutionalized. If society, as a whole, becomes neurotic and fear ridden, it effects us all.
    Your personal distored projections I would classify as both boring and typical, not a threat to anyone.
    Poor Vlad is an example of someone whose distorted and unreasoned fear and anxiety have turned him into a pathetic little man crouching
    in a single wide in N. Idaho. He’s only a threat to himself.

  608. dale March 19, 2011 at 1:16 pm #

    I checked, my underwear is made in Costa Rica.

  609. newworld March 19, 2011 at 1:17 pm #

    50 rockets fired from Gaza today, jews breath a sigh of relief since this kills the idea of a one state solution.
    Which brings me think why do they get to determine who is an Israeli when no white country gets to decide who is a citizen? Can you libs answer this?
    And no doubt Europe is going to see an uptick in terrorist activity now that they have intervened cynically in a civil war in Libya. Third world disorder coming to France and that boosts Marine LePen, and what will the left respond with? “Racist” of course.
    Give Jim credit on one of his prediction about Euro military power being flexed in times of “necessity.”

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  610. Cash March 19, 2011 at 1:21 pm #

    Why is it in certain Muslim countries that are majority Shia and minority Sunni – like Saudi, Bahrain and Iraq (under Saddam) – that the Sunnis manage to hold the political power? – Q
    A ruthless, armed minority can dominate a much larger group. The example from ancient times was Roman Italy, population 4 million, ruling an empire of around 60 million. More recently is the British Empire. According to wiki the Empire ruled 1/4 of the world’s population by 1922.
    Here’s what wiki says:
    “In contrast to other schools of thought, Shia Islam holds that Muhammad’s family, the Ahl al-Bayt (“the People of the House”), and certain individuals among his descendants, who are known as Imams, have special spiritual and political authority over the community.[3][5] Shia Muslims further believe that Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, was the first of these Imams and was the rightful successor to Muhammad[6] and thus reject the legitimacy of the first three caliphs”
    I’m no scholar on Islam but the way I think of the Sunni / Shia divide is kind of like Catholicism vs Protestantism. Both based on the New Testament. Similarly all Islam is based on the Koran which in turn drew a great deal from the Old and New Testaments. Muslims see Judaism and Christianity as incomplete and in some ways erroneous. They see Mohammed as the messenger that ironed out the mistakes and finished things off with the Koran.
    I think Saudi Arabia is majority Sunni, Iran is majority Shia. This Wahabi (or Salafist) version of Sunni Islam in Saudi Arabia is nothing new. Not a creation of George Dubya Bush. The founder was a scholar named Mohammed Ibn Abd al Wahab that lived in the 1700s. He formed an alliance with the al Saud family that eventually conquered all of Saudi Arabia. They were the ancestors of today’s ruling family.

  611. Preparation-oucH March 19, 2011 at 1:34 pm #

    [QUOTE]…the opiate of the masses.[/QUOTE]
    [U]In whatever form, in whatever place. [/U]

  612. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 1:57 pm #

    I think that you even had to check speaks volumes.

  613. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 2:00 pm #

    “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
    I need to make my sarcasm more direct. I was kidding.

  614. ozone March 19, 2011 at 2:09 pm #

    “Did you enjoy that ‘preview of spring’ yesterday up there in W. Mass.? My spirits were lifted. Its funny how much depends on the weather.” – Marlin
    You betcha! Even dug up some parsnips to celebrate; tasted like spring awright.
    Lemme know when the tour commences; we’ll find a way to stumble into each other (Tucker’s would probably be easy) if we’re around (which would be likely).
    Enjoy!
    Ps. Stumbling entirely optional. ;o)

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  615. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 2:12 pm #

    Republican Christianity is an oxymoron. Republicans exploit poor and gullible people into believing they have gods approval when republican positions are diametrically opposite to the teachings of Christ.

  616. Vlad Krandz March 19, 2011 at 2:17 pm #

    It works the other way too – Syria is majority Sunni ruled by Shiites. Tunisia might be too – or was anyway, I’m not sure.
    As for the Jihad: it is coming Cash. You can’t just look at few odd, high level individuals who are wavering in their faith. They will support their Co-Religionists when push comes to shove. It’s like the Re-Conquista: some of the Mexicans hate us, some of them look White, act White, and still hate us, some of them are full blooded Indians and like us – and all support the Reconquista! The sweet Mexican Lady at the store fully supports the La Raza fanatics. It’s good cop/bad cop – they’re all cops. This is what Whites fall down on completely – they are so individuated (so called) that they can’t even imagine the power of a united culture anymore.
    For the record: there have been Renaissances in Islamic History – they are always swept away by Fundamentalists who invade from other Islamic areas. Spain was already Fundamentalist when it was taken back by Christianity – waves of Fundamentalism and armies too have spread up from North Africa.

  617. ozone March 19, 2011 at 2:17 pm #

    Cash,
    Thanks for the link-ages.

  618. ozone March 19, 2011 at 2:19 pm #

    Thanks for the Max-age link.
    (I don’t check in on him enough.)
    “I’ll huff, and I’ll puff…” ;o)

  619. ozone March 19, 2011 at 2:21 pm #

    Oopsie, sorry I didn’t pick up on that. (Forget contextually devoid rant.)

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  620. Vlad Krandz March 19, 2011 at 2:22 pm #

    I’d agree with Cash: Catholicism vs Protestantism. The Shia believe in centralized religious authority and tend to be more mystical. The Sunni focus more on the Book and the authority is less of a priesthood but rather those who know the Koran and can preach it.

  621. trippticket March 19, 2011 at 2:27 pm #

    Pardon me for jumping tracks here folks, but over the course of my time here at CFN, one of the recurring themes in my posts has been that high-energy industrial civilization has separated us from knowledge that is unbelievably useful for solving a lot of the assumed problems of energy descent.
    Just now my wife and I were putting together a list of herbs to plant in an “apothacary pasture” for our livestock – a roughly 2 acre fenced annex of their usual pasture that we will let them into from time to time, and came across this herb, in a group of plants commonly called “clivers”. Marsh bedstraw is one I remember from my days of botanizing in Florida. This particular one is called Galium aparine. It’s supposed to be a great lymphatic system toner, help remove foreign objects from the digestive tract, and lower body temperature, a trait I would consider somewhat useful in the hot muggy south. Livestock are said to eat it enthusiastically at first, then gradually lose interest altogether, signifying that they’ve had enough, and could they have some more plain old grass now, please.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_aparine
    Ah the knowledge we must’ve discarded as “primitive” when we set out to conquer the universe with our guns, germs, and steel. If I could eat an herb that made air conditioning obsolete…
    I hear borage is supposed to help keep one cool too, and I just happen to have 4 borage seedlings up and ready to plant out. I vaguely remember Novella Carpenter, over at Ghost Town Farm in Oakland, CA, and author of “Farm City,” mentioning how delicious borage is as a cooked green. And once you plant it it just reseeds itself.
    I’m reminded of a quote by one of those “primitive” Australian aborigines:
    “The more you know the less you need.”
    I’ll keep trying to make that my life’s edict. But now it’s time to get set up for the dairy cows we’re going to pick up tomorrow. Iona Laundramat, if there’s any chance you’re reading this, are you near Alma?
    Cheers!

  622. Vlad Krandz March 19, 2011 at 2:29 pm #

    You can’t have a country with this much diversity – it’s a non starter. As the minorities gain power, they will try to grab more and more. The Feds give it to them to shut them up and we become a persecuted minority. Fantasy? It’s already happening dummy. And by creating such a fractured populace, the Feds get what they want: a fractured electorate. By juggling the different groups, they think they can stay in power. We’ll see.
    What does the SS at the end of your name mean? Are you some kind of Liberal Nazi?

  623. montsegur March 19, 2011 at 2:35 pm #

    trippticket wrote: “Just now my wife and I were putting together a list of herbs to plant in an “apothacary pasture” for our livestock”
    —————————–
    In Germany, one sometimes finds gardens that are specialized in that herbs useful for other-than-pharmaceutical drug treatment of ailments are grown in them. Sounds like an idea that could be useful in a TLE scenario.
    Good idea to do it for your animals.
    Cheers

  624. trippticket March 19, 2011 at 2:38 pm #

    By the way, it grows all over agricultural fields in the southeastern US, and is considered a pesky weed. Go figure.

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  625. montsegur March 19, 2011 at 2:46 pm #

    trippticket wrote: “it grows all over agricultural fields in the southeastern US”
    —————————–
    Oh. For a moment I thought you were referring to kudzu.
    Cheers

  626. lbendet March 19, 2011 at 2:48 pm #

    Republican Christianity is an oxymoron. Republicans exploit poor and gullible people into believing they have gods approval when republican positions are diametrically opposite to the teachings of Christ.
    Yes, Indeed-Just part of the projection campaign they pull. Like Liberal Nazi–sorry ’bout that Vlad but it’s right out of the Rush Limbaugh–Glenn Beck playbook. Ya’ know left is right, up is down black is white…twist and turn ideas so out of shape throws the folks off-balance.

  627. Vlad Krandz March 19, 2011 at 2:55 pm #

    Your Liberal Utopia is still-born as is obvious to anyone with a lick of commonsense. Yet you keep beating the drum – why? Obviously you are a Destroyer, a Priest of Evil.
    One of the reasons is it can’t work is the blatant inequality of the races. Here’s an article based on new evidence that gives one reason why Blacks though only 13% of the population commit 50% of the violent crime.
    http://takimag.com/article/the_thug_gene
    Remember Dale, there are no others. We are One. You hatred of the Demon is just your Fear. What are you afraid of? Being wrong? You are. Now get beyond it – by admitting you are wrong. There is no Enlightenment before Repentance. Thems the Rules.

  628. Vlad Krandz March 19, 2011 at 3:04 pm #

    The Colonel has always supported Black Nationalism in America such as the Black Panthers. He may support Blacks as such – or he may see it as his contribution to Islam – a profound way to weaken America, the Great Satan. In any case, he is against the West whether as a secularist or a Muslim.
    President Bush was right – not I think that we have alot of Freedom though. It’s just that people always hate the top dog. Beyond that, we have supported their Enemy, Israel. And beyond even that, they’re Jihadists. They mean to conquer the world, become the new top dog. The Jihad was coming even if Israel was never set up in Palestine.

  629. Qshtik March 19, 2011 at 3:19 pm #

    Suggestion Tripp: Re the Galium aparine and the borage that are alleged to lower body temp … why not do a study to prove or disprove.
    Before you and your family begin regularly eating these two items, start taking the temp of each family member two or three times per day always at the same time, like 10A and 4P, and enter into an Excel spreadsheet. Calculate a moving average like, say, 5 days to smooth out any bumps.
    Then add the two items to your diet and continue the temp taking. If your temps decline even a half degree from the prior average I would be amazed. And even if it did, would that help in the Georgia heat?

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  630. Vlad Krandz March 19, 2011 at 3:24 pm #

    St Paul said if you don’t work, you don’t eat. That’s Christianity. The Priest who thought that the Goverment has the right to take my money and give it to Africa is not teaching Christianity. Charity is voluntary or it is theft.
    One thing I do grant Vatican Two type Catholicism and Liberal Protestantism: there was profound collusion between Colonialism – guns, liquor, dispossesion, turning proud Amazonian warrior farmers into alcoholic bell boys – and the Mission Work. When Christ said, preach to all men, surely this is not what He had in mind. There were good missionaries too – men who risked their lives and many who lost them. Even in the Colonial Scheme, much good work was done – but at what cost? In any case, I want to the power to choose what I support – as it was always understood that an individual has the right to do.

  631. asia March 19, 2011 at 3:26 pm #

    Dammit QTIP! None here had commented on Bikini model Alexa till you started this.
    A word to ozone / k-dog etc….
    Unlike us she spoke her mind in cyberspace but her
    face and name were attached to it!
    Ching Chang in the library..
    the comments on youtube include things like
    ‘us gooks call those types JUST OFF THE BOAT’

  632. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 3:32 pm #

    Right Wing Christians boast of discipleship, but are not followers of a biblical Christ in any sense of the word. They mix pick and confuse teachings to suit their private agendas. Behaviors that make them appear Christian on the surface are their standard. Wolves in sheep’s clothing they wear business suits to worship their dead god denying the maxim of the living god who’s greatest commandment is to love one another even your enemies.
    They want to be rich, at whatever cost to the earth and everyone else who lives on it. Christ’s teaching is to create the kingdom of heaven on earth. We are rich when we are civil and kind to each other, not when we have stuff.

  633. Vlad Krandz March 19, 2011 at 3:36 pm #

    Welcome back Turk. Where did we leave off? I think you admitted that to be consistent a la your ideology, that Black Africans didn’t have the right to have their own Countries. So now the question becomes, do the Chinese have the moral right to take over Africa? And if they don’t, whose going to stop them? The Africans? (giggle). Only the Whites could have or even would have, but now are to despised and broken by Liberalism to do it. So it seems your ideology leads to Black servitude.
    Well that’s enough for now. I teach by the Socratic Method and I have given you a few questions to ponder. We ARE making progress – even if it is against your will. Btw, that’s why the Ancients put the formation character front and center in Edcation. IQ per se, lead nowhere but delusion until the mind is humble or as one scientist put it, “you sit down before the facts like a little child”. You are obviously anything but prepared – but I do my best anyway. Someday you will thank me for all this.

  634. asia March 19, 2011 at 3:43 pm #

    Kdog,
    One thing you can do for Tibet is visit it while it still is Tibetan.
    A friend did a few years ago.Unlike the tales of
    Great success/ Chinese miracle in the lamestream
    media she said the countrys being devistated.
    Yet she doesnt see the parallels between Tibet
    [swallowed by China] and the USA being destroyed
    by immigration and multi culturalism.
    And shes no ‘phoney buddist’, shes an excellent 25 year practitioner.
    She calls what passes for TB in California now
    ‘dog and pony shows’.

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  635. asia March 19, 2011 at 3:45 pm #

    Dale with his wine and you with yr whine.
    And the 2 terms can be switched.

  636. asia March 19, 2011 at 3:49 pm #

    Drink only water!
    avoid all other fluids.
    be a vegan! [yeah right]

  637. Qshtik March 19, 2011 at 4:23 pm #

    Dammit QTIP! None here had commented on Bikini model Alexa till you started this.
    ============
    Asia, how ’bout we get a modestly attractive brunette who is very articulate, ie doesn’t use the word “like” to excess and doesn’t sound like the classic valley girl, (there must be one somewhere) to espouse a vast reduction in legal immigration and a total elimination of illegal immigration (duh ..isn’t allowing something illegal a touch illogical?).
    I’ll bet Vlad could draft a perfectly sensible and compelling 5-minute piece for this young lady to deliver. She could prepare her YouTube video in the buff if that’s what it takes to hold people’s attention.

  638. Qshtik March 19, 2011 at 4:35 pm #

    Drink only water!
    avoid all other fluids.
    be a vegan!
    =========
    And die of boredom before my time.

  639. JonathanSS March 19, 2011 at 4:41 pm #

    Wow! Your 100% right. How could I be so misguided, oh great one? What did I think this country is, “the great melting pot”?

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  640. asia March 19, 2011 at 4:55 pm #

    OK, water and booze.
    veganism isnt boring.

  641. Qshtik March 19, 2011 at 5:07 pm #

    What does the SS at the end of your name mean?
    ============
    Social Security?

  642. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 5:44 pm #

    I think you mean JonathanSS and I think he means Schutzstaffel not Social Security. Now that I’ve put it out there lets see what he says.

  643. Qshtik March 19, 2011 at 6:06 pm #

    I think you mean JonathanSS
    ===============
    Yes, I was quoting the question that Vlad asked Jonathan.

  644. JonathanSS March 19, 2011 at 6:32 pm #

    I’m not so creative, poetic or much of a linguist. It’s just my middle and last name initials.

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  645. MarlinFive54 March 19, 2011 at 6:52 pm #

    CFNers;
    Anybody watching CNN?
    Missile and airstrikes from American Ships and French Aircraft in North Africa! Looks like Obama and Hillary have opened up another front in President Bush’s war ‘War on Terror’.
    Two fronts weren’t enough.
    The irony here is delicious.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  646. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 7:11 pm #

    French warplanes attack tanks and US launches cruise missiles, as international military intervention begins.

    Al-Jazeera
    Call me crazy but this seems a bit more serious than implementing a no fly zone. I wonder if Obama is going to prove he can piss further than Bush by killing Qaddafi’s sons along with their father.
    Neo-Con or Neo-Liberal whatever you want to call it. The Last Man Standing policy is calling the shots.

  647. trippticket March 19, 2011 at 8:08 pm #

    Q, Q, Q, oh literal one. You did live during a luxurious time of human history, didn’t you. Well, I won’t take up too much of your climate controlled time with my heat stroking;)
    I think we would find that even a temp difference of half a degree, let’s say from 99 to 98.5, would make an immense difference in perceived discomfort. But literal translation aside, have you never eaten something that made you feel cooler? Again, the perception of luxury you’ve enjoyed for so long has mostly removed you from rarity. Which to me defines luxury.
    Case in point: At my house we mostly eat by the seasons. A big no-no is eating vegetables during the wrong part of the year. Been a while since I had a tomato. So when the lettuces and greens start coming in, along with wild harvested greens, in early spring (it was almost 90 today – I have a hard time using the “early” terminology), quite often we get a very serious rush from the mineral load of the season’s first salads. Our first salad this season was made of the thinnings of ~10 varieties of lettuce, baby kale, and spinach, plus young dandelion and purslane greens. We must’ve sat there for an hour after lunch, just enjoying the full body rush, the extreme mental clarity (the kind you don’t get from eating crap lettuce year ’round), and the cooling effect of restoring mineral balance to the body in the proper season.
    Now, I would assume that, automatically, someone of your experience would assume that having access to those greens year round would be better, right? If they are that good in the spring, wouldn’t having them all the time be a plus? This is where our opinions diverge apparently. I tend to think that eating more in line with our evolved pattern carries a suite of benefits that eating anything we want regardless of season skews and confuses. Use that example as a metaphor for everything the industrial model has enabled/ruined, and I think we will understand each other.
    When I focus on eating horticultural food, or hunted and gathered food, in season, my experience of life is altogether richer than when I eat a lot of cheap, but filling, agricultural food. So much so that it sometimes scares me back into the latter for fear of going where others won’t follow. I think more clearly, I feel almost no pain (and that’s saying something in my world), I enjoy perfect digestive function, and I sleep and wake better. But damn I love beer and pizza! And so the backsliding rollercoaster continues, with shorter and less frequent agricultural stumbles each round. It’s that self-sabotage thing I was talking to Eleuthero about a couple of weeks ago. We seem to love it, and I have as hard a time with it as anyone.
    But I do think we’ve lost a lot of our natural ability to cope (and thrive) – just think about the epigenetic implications alone, and our ancestral knowledge of which herbs help with what problems. I doubt the natives in the US southeast were as miserable as we imagine them to be, without AC and a grocery store. Matter of fact I imagine they thought far more clearly than any of us here do. And I can only guess that they felt the same mineral rush in early spring that I feel, and the cooling effects from eating the right plants at the right time.
    Industrial humans mostly just poison themselves repeatedly and spend a shitload of energy trying to make the poisoning more comfortable. It’s like Bill Mollison’s question: “If you get a headache, do you take aspirin? Or do you change the behavior that caused the headache?” The average industrial life is pretty much an endless cycle of the former.

  648. asia March 19, 2011 at 8:09 pm #

    BUT LOOK AT YAHOOS PAGE:
    TRENDING NOW
    1.Jennifer Lopez
    2.Reese Witherspoon
    3.Dan Quayle
    4.Allergy season
    5.Shania Twain
    6.Billy Ray Cyrus
    7.Katie Holmes
    8.Netflix
    9.Salt panic
    10.3G
    NEXT TO:
    U.S., allies strike targets in Libya U.S. and British ships and submarines launched the first phase of a missile assault on Libyan air defenses
    CAN GADAFFY COMPETE WITH REESE WITHERSPOON FOR OUR COLLECTIVE ATTENTION?

  649. asia March 19, 2011 at 8:12 pm #

    “the great melting pot”
    That was a musical circa 1900,
    written by a jew [of course].
    one more myth!

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  650. asoka March 19, 2011 at 8:40 pm #

    Q, it could be as simple as demographics. In the United States the white population was 80-90% and most of the presidents have been white.
    In Islamic countries the vast majority of Muslims are Sunni, while an estimated 10 – 15% are Shia, so most of the power has been held by Sunnis.

  651. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 9:52 pm #

    As SS are your last two initials I apologize if my inquiry that they meant anything else bothered you.

  652. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 10:00 pm #

    Local news radio is giving occasional twenty second sound bites on how we are helping the rebels and that their victory will be assured due to our noble efforts.
    Having just had a rather nice meal I turned the radio off so as not to upset my digestion.

  653. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 10:40 pm #

    Buddhism in California has an all about me flavor as do most things there, I can understand your friends frustration. I’m a novice regarding Buddhism in general but I definitely prefer Tibetan Buddhism over Zen.
    I wish I could travel to Tibet but today all I can do is recommend seeing Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion it’s very good and will touch anyone with a heart. Anyone who has ever wondered what the free Tibet bumper stickers are all about should see it.
    I recall a certain Mr. Hu in the film who epitomizes what I most dislike about some Han Chinese I have known.
    I watched Cry of the Snow Lion on Netflix where it is available online.

  654. trippticket March 19, 2011 at 10:49 pm #

    We just roasted that poor turkey victim from last week, after a few days in the deep freeze and another in the brine. He was a Bourbon Red, and the meat was very dark, very rich, and very delicious.
    Guess I’ll need to start another one soon for family holiday dinner.

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  655. myrtlemay March 19, 2011 at 10:56 pm #

    “Call me crazy but this seems a bit more serious than implementing a no fly zone. I wonder if Obama is going to prove he can piss further than Bush by killing Qaddafi’s sons along with their father.”
    I went through my checkbook today, and it seems to me that I have already paid for Libya many times over (the government wrote the checks out to them around l970 or so. I believe that gives me what they call “eminent domain”, in that I can install or remove a “leader” in that country whenever it seems necessary. When the natives began to start some real shit storms there, I decided regime change was necessary. Now I’m going to shell out yet more cash for some artillery, war planes, bribe money, not to mention human lives, and install somebody who will make things “Happy Land” over there for me, again. I really don’t have the time for this business. Please just send me (oops, sorry, my grandkids) the bill, and wake me up at the usual time tomorrow in sufficient time for brunch in the “Senior’s Lounge”. Gosh, I’ve waited my whole life to be a senior, and HERE I AM! Oh, did I forget to mention that the brunch was going on my grandkids’ account? There I go, ANOTHER senior moment. Thanks, grandkids! You’re the cat’s pajamas!

  656. turkle March 19, 2011 at 11:04 pm #

    Q, I’m sorry. I meant Canadia, you know, the country north of us with vast tracts of land and people who speak a little funny and wear furry hats.

  657. turkle March 19, 2011 at 11:06 pm #

    “You can’t have a country with this much diversity – it’s a non starter.”
    Well, here we are, started and everything.

  658. myrtlemay March 19, 2011 at 11:08 pm #

    In all seriousness, one of my daughters asked me, “What’s it like to see American life today compared to when you were a child?”
    To which I replied, “You already know what it’s like. I don’t need to tell you.”
    She looked confused, so I decided to elaborate, albeit, somewhat crudely: “Have you ever really had to use the bathroom, BADLY, and had to flush, TWICE?”
    I think, in a way, she “got it”.

  659. turkle March 19, 2011 at 11:19 pm #

    Yeah, Cash, I realize that nowhere is perfect. I’m just saying, people seem a little less insane up there.
    More good things about Canadia:
    -nice looking wholesome girls with cute accents
    -good skiing (yay Whistler)
    -socialized medicine (say what you want about Canadian health care but I dare says its system in better shape than its southern neighbor)
    -good beer
    -nice people
    -vast tracts of land which will be suitable for habitation once global warming really kicks in
    -much oil, though non-traditional
    -nice safe cities
    -furry hats
    Housing? Erm, okay, perhaps there’s a little blip up there. The US is in full on housing crisis mode. Something like 25% of houses are underwater. Housing continues to go down or stagnate. We are fzucked. People can’t move to get new jobs, because they can’t sell their houses.
    5 or 600 billion in debt. Is that yearly or total? Either way, you’re pikers compared with us. We got 1.5 trillion per year, actually more like 2.5 if you believe the CBO on Obama’s budget. 13 or 14 trillion or something like that in total debt.
    Which rich countries these days a) don’t have some kind of housing bubble in the works or ongoing b) don’t have problems with pension obligations c) don’t have problems with their health care systems?
    If they exist, I don’t know of them (Germany maybe to some extent?).

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  660. k-dog March 19, 2011 at 11:20 pm #

    “I recall a certain Mr. Hu in the film who epitomizes what I most dislike about some Han Chinese I have known.”
    I decided to not let my comment hanging.
    Specifically I mean acting with an air of superiority while blatantly lying to your face and dominating the conversation.
    I suspect there are cultural inhibitions which do not allow for a beat-down under such circumstances in China. In America the behavior I’m talking about could get your ass kicked.

  661. turkle March 19, 2011 at 11:24 pm #

    I think its funny that Americans are so rabid about illegal immigration when most of this country was basically stolen from other people less than 200 years ago. Is the theory that once you steal some land and kill or marginalize most of the existing inhabits that it is yours “fair and square” in perpetuity? What makes your initial stealing right and subsequent migration into the area by the unauthorized wrong? I’m just curious. I am not a believer in morality, in that the universe is by nature an amoral place. It just amuses me that people are so self-righteous about these kinds of things. I guess might makes right, but only for special fat American keisters (not for your Mexican buttocks). Moral relativism…isn’t it fun?

  662. myrtlemay March 19, 2011 at 11:27 pm #

    Yeah, I was thinking of heading for the border myself, but Cash talked me out of it (maybe he’s paid by the government to discourage us discontented amerikans from storming the border?) But the cold weather, snow, really bummed me out…the ole rheumatism, doncha know. Plus, the flippin furry hats…the kind with the flaps over your ears, for cryin out loud. Already costs me a small fortune to have my hair set, “just so”. Imagine spending all that money just to park a dead, furry animal on my head to stay warm? No thanks to that one! God invented ”
    Aquanet” for a reason, and it wasn’t so that we could ruin a perfectly good wash, set, and spray for a warm, but funny looking hat. IMO, of course 🙂

  663. turkle March 19, 2011 at 11:38 pm #

    “Buddhism in California has an all about me flavor as do most things there”
    Do you find the rest of America to be much different?

  664. jeff z March 19, 2011 at 11:53 pm #

    Chop wood, carry water.
    Nothing makes much sense right now, but does it makes sense to try to make sense of it?
    http:\\eighthacrefarm.blogspot.com

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  665. jeff z March 19, 2011 at 11:56 pm #

    oops. that is: http://eighthacrefarm.blogspot.com/

  666. jeff z March 19, 2011 at 11:58 pm #

    oops. that is: http://eighthacrefarm.blogspot.com/

  667. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 12:14 am #

    The issue I have is not with illegal immigrants themselves but with employers who illegally profit from them at the expense of our own people.
    People born here, many of which have mixed ancestry with original inhabitants should not have to pay for the sins of their forefathers. The people who originally stole the land, not all of which was stolen all died over a hundred years ago. Sins of fathers should not be visited upon their sons and daughters.
    As you are not a believer in morality you should have no problem accepting that it is not our moral duty to absorb the worlds overpopulation. An overpopulation we are not responsible for and in no way caused.
    We should be responsible for our own overpopulation but we will never address or recognize that problem with open borders.
    As a people we have a right to self determination and as a people we must grant other societies this same right, all of them. Including Libya.
    This means an end to theft and a recognition of sovereignty for all people. Borders and defined citizenship is a consequence of sovereignty.
    The problem in arguing this issue is over-generalization on both sides. Your argument is full of over-generalization and you probably see them in mine. It is a complex issue.
    How did I do?

  668. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 12:25 am #

    Not orders of magnitude different but with the exception of a recent trip to Oakland my impression has been that California people love to talk about themselves at great length, more than other places in the country I have been too. I also think the entertainment industry has something to do with it.
    California is a big place. It’s easy to overgeneralize. My view is based on personal experience, subject to change.

  669. Qshtik March 20, 2011 at 12:27 am #

    Q, I’m sorry. I meant Canadia,
    ==================
    Hey, no prob man, I meant Canadia too.
    😉

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  670. turkle March 20, 2011 at 12:28 am #

    “Sins of fathers should not be visited upon their sons and daughters.”
    But that’s not the way the world works. Life is not a clean slate. Things are the way they are because of what your father did and his father and so on. Wanting it to be different doesn’t make it that way. Though I suppose I agree with you in principle, that people shouldn’t have to deal with problems created long ago. But they do. It seems to me people in previous generations understood this. Americans, in particular, seem to consider themselves sinless and blameless, but that’s just wishful thinking. Your hands are covered in blood whether you like it or not.
    Eh, I’m not arguing for open borders or anything in particular, really. Not allowing others to enter the United States illegally makes sense practically. So does making sure workers are here legally. I just think people’s perspective is very narrow, and they tend to moralize their own behavior to justify it, regardless of any historical truths. The influx of Mexicans is certainly less barbaric than the wholesale murder of Native Americans that occurred in conquering the west.
    How’s my argument full of over-generalizations? We didn’t steal this land from the Indians by force? Arizona didn’t used to belong to Mexico? Do tell, my friend. Don’t leave me hanging.
    You think America is a life boat? That is such a naive perspective. You think that the rest of the world can go Mad Max and we’ll still be here watching American Idol and eating Dorritos? The world population keeps growing and America gets to say, “Sorry, all full here.” even though population density is low compared to most other developed countries. I dunno. Suppose that can work if we completely militarize the borders and go isolationist. We shall see.
    How’d you do? Ahaha…well, you certainly don’t have to impress me, some anonymous snarky dude on the internet. I’m just interested in the discussion. Nothing will get solved here by this banter but I enjoy the show.

  671. asoka March 20, 2011 at 12:29 am #

    Turkle said: “Well, here we are, started and everything.”
    ===========
    LOL!
    And so multicultural we even elected a president who is half-white, son of a PhD-totin’ white mother from … wait for it … the heart of white America: Wichita, Kansas.

  672. turkle March 20, 2011 at 12:41 am #

    Humans are, by nature, migratory animals that move elsewhere when the local hunting and gathering is no longer cutting it. That’s a tradition and, dare I say it, an innate human tendency that is millions of years old. So immigration is perfectly natural. Putting lines on maps and attempting to stop people from moving around is just ultimately something that will not work for humanity in the long term. I have an atlas that shows the political boundaries during the Middle Ages and how they evolved from around 450 to 1450 AD (great little book btw). People moved around A LOT back then and the political definitions were fluid and ever-changing. Somehow we have this idea that current political borders are sacrosanct. But this conflicts with what people actually want to do, which is move someplace else in search of greener pastures or even just out of boredom (I’m thinking of my ancestral Scots who left their boring moors to go and adventure on the European mainland).
    I like the hunting and gathering analogy for humankind quite a bit. I think much of our cultural misperceptions extend from our ingrained attitude that when the berries and grubs run out in this valley, we can simply go on to the next one. People seem to have this attitude that there will always be another place to go and get what we need when resources run out. I see it in everything from the food supply to oil extraction. All we have to do is drill baby drill, because oil couldn’t possibly ever run out….right?
    Ultimately, I’m somewhat of a fatalist. I’m not of the persuasion that all the world’s problems have solutions, or even most of them. I like Greek mythology. They knew the tragic nature of life. Sisyphus pushes the rock up the hill again and again, even though it rolls back down when he gets close to the top. Why? That’s the nature of life I guess, to keep trying no matter what.

  673. asoka March 20, 2011 at 12:56 am #

    Jeff Z said: “Chop wood, carry water.”
    ============
    Asoka says: “Mix mud, carry adobes.”
    I have aching arms and a delicious feeling of connection with people all over the world who have built human housing on a human scale, using sun-dried abode bricks that will last for thousands of years, yet will dissolve in millenia without contaminating the planet: from earth to earth.
    Here a photo of the world’s largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, built around 1,200 years ago, where 30,000 people lived:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Chan
    ChanChan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is now being destroyed by global warming El Niño tornadoes.
    No plastic, no metal was used in building this adobe city, just beautiful mud and aesthetically beautiful structures. Be sure to scroll down to see the relief carvings in the walls. These people were incredible artists!
    Do you think any of our ugly (and toxic) suburban tract homes will last 1,200 years?

  674. asoka March 20, 2011 at 1:00 am #

    More beautiful Chan Chan adobe city photos:
    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Chan_Chan

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  675. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 1:37 am #

    “How’s my argument full of over-generalizations? We didn’t steal this land from the Indians by force? Arizona didn’t used to belong to Mexico? Do tell, my friend. Don’t leave me hanging.”
    Some smallpox was introduced to Western Native American populations intentionally. I know that this is true so I’ll bring it up first.
    Most smallpox however was not. Spanish Europeans unknowing brought it with them to the new world when they discovered it. It wiped out the native population to a large extent.
    As a consequently significant areas of New England were vacant when English Settlers first arrived. These Europeans did not steal the land they settled because it was empty. To some extent this pattern repeated itself as settlement progressed across the land to the pacific.
    Arizona used to belong to Mexico. I have read the Peoples History of the United States and think the Mexican American war is a disgusting part of our history. However the people living on these conquered lands were not deported in any large numbers as far as I know. They became the Americans we know as Hispanics. Those living north of the border became Americans and those living south of it remained Mexican. Unless we want to return half of the western states to Mexico with the population that is living there I think the balance sheet is more or less square. Perhaps people in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas should vote on repatriation. We both know that’s not going to happen but maybe it should.
    As to having blood on my hands, I am responsible for my own actions but actions I had no part of, personally disagree with and condemn, I don’t agree.
    Is America a life boat? To some extent yes. We have two rather large moats and a northern border with a relatively small population.

  676. asoka March 20, 2011 at 1:49 am #

    “I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.”
    — Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City
    Countries the United States has bombed since World War II
    Note that these countries represent roughly one-third of the people on earth:
    Afghanistan 1998, 2001-
    Bosnia 1994, 1995
    Cambodia 1969-70
    China 1945-46, 1950-53
    Congo 1964
    Cuba 1959-1961
    El Salvador 1980s
    Korea 1950-53
    Guatemala 1954, 1960, 1967-69
    Indonesia 1958
    Laos 1964-73
    Grenada 1983
    Iraq 1991-
    Iran 1987
    Kuwait 1991
    Lebanon 1983, 1984
    Libya 1986, 2011
    Nicaragua 1980s
    Pakistan 2003, 2006-
    Panama 1989
    Peru 1965
    Somalia 1993, 2008
    Sudan 1998
    Vietnam 1961-73
    Yemen 2002, 2009
    Yugoslavia 1999

  677. asoka March 20, 2011 at 2:25 am #

    Marlin said: “Is there any example of a more useless institution in the whole world than the UN?”
    =============
    The UN appears to be kicking ass in Libya.
    Gaddafi’s strategy is to portray the UN-sanctioned operations as a Colonialist act of aggression.
    Is war with Libya the answer? Are you supporting Gaddafi, or the UN, in this war?
    Obama is in Brazil with the goal of creating USA jobs. From there he is issuing statements about Libya (“we will NOT deploy any USA troops on the ground”).
    It appears Obama is able to walk and chew gum at the same time. He can pick basketball teams, run wars, and engage in free trade missions simultaneously.
    Maybe you are right: Obama is the Messiah.

  678. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 2:35 am #

    The Guatemala C.I.A. backed Coup of 1954 has a special interest for me.
    It pissed off visiting Argentinian Ernesto Guevara Lynch so much that in 1955 when he met Fidel Castro in Mexico City he became Che Guevara. Che a man who would live breath and die for his beliefs with uncompromising fidelity. For which Jean-Paul Sartre would say “Che was the most complete human being of our age.”

  679. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 2:39 am #

    “Obama is in Brazil with the goal of creating USA jobs.”
    I have to ask. Are you serious, I must be really stupid or something. How does that work?

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  680. Buck Stud March 20, 2011 at 2:49 am #

    “Chop Wood, Carry Water”…I remember that book from way back in 77 or thereabouts. It was classic go- with-the-flow stuff , covering most of the New Age bases: natural food, meditation, yoga, martial arts–Tom Laughlin and his “Billy Jack” hat would have fit right in. There was even a little blurb about uptight energy inducing retractable penis syndrome–that embarrassing little anathema to the “let it all hang out” and “if it feels good do it” lifestyle espousal.
    Ultimately, I drew a line in the sand at natural hot-springs hangouts. Not due to a fear of nudity, but because inconsiderate filth used nature as their ashtray and bottle catcher. Nothing good ever lasts.

  681. asoka March 20, 2011 at 3:02 am #

    Obama aims to bolster economic relationships that could add jobs back home and to show the U.S. is engaged with neighbors whose support is needed to fight terrorism, drugs and climate woes.
    “We see the chance to sell more goods and services to a rapidly growing market of around 200 million consumers,” Obama said at a meeting of corporate leaders in Brasilia. “For us, this is a jobs strategy.”

    http://www.suntimes.com/business/4407342-420/brazil-trip-focuses-on-jobs-obama.html

  682. asoka March 20, 2011 at 3:39 am #

    Good on ya, New Mexico!

    SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) – New Mexico’s newly elected Republican governor lost her attempt to deny driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants on Saturday, when the bill died in the state Senate. New Mexico is one of only three states to allow undocumented immigrants to receive driver’s licenses.

    New Mexico is following my advice to make undocumented immigrants welcome. The more the merrier. Immigrants are hard-working, family-oriented, enrich our culture, and contribute to our economy.

  683. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 4:11 am #

    What goods and services? America makes nothing Brazil needs. In fact American makes nothing anymore. It all comes from China. What’s he talking about? Stuff from China sold in Brazil will help American corporations based in China but won’t create any American Jobs. Oh I think I just answered my own question.

    “For us, this is a jobs strategy.”

    He’s talking about Chinese jobs not American Jobs. He was talking to Corporate Leaders, his constituents. Should have picked up on that.
    I’m such a dimwit I should have seen the connection right away. I guess that what comes from having one or two remaining brain cells that can’t admit that we have all been punked and that he is a man of the people.
    Of course billions of taxpayer dollars spent fighting the war on drugs is very important. We must keep fighting it forever. Lots of government Law Enforcement jobs depend on it and the American private prison industry has to be kept supplied with warm bodies as well.
    Seriously, the war on drugs has been a real problem. There is danger it may be won someday. Thankfully the War on Terror is around if that happens or we would have to do something like come up with a working health care system to keep the government job trough full.
    I guess it is about jobs after all, just not jobs for you and me. And here I thought be was bullshitting, shame on me.
    Climate woes, now that I understand. Going to foreign countries and talking about it is very important because if he talked about it here it might result in a realistic energy policy and involve fundamental changes in the way we live. We can’t have any of that, best he just talk about climate woes in foreign lands.

  684. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 4:24 am #

    In an effort to streamline the system I propose issuing a special card with a drivers license on one side and a green card on the other. This would have the benefit of making the illegal immigrants instantly legal. Not that it matters since drivers licenses have always been taken as de-facto proof of citizenship anyway.
    Now the problem of mandatory insurance with a driving license is still a problem. Get rear ended by an illegal alien without uninsured motorist coverage on your policy and you’re still screwed.
    Of course requiring all citizens to have mandatory uninsured motorist coverage on their mandatory auto insurance policies fixes that.

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  685. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 4:32 am #

    Have to get to this before Q does.
    should be:
    I guess that what comes from having one or two remaining brain cells that can’t admit that we have all been punked and that he is nota man of the people.

  686. Evelyn Victor March 20, 2011 at 4:50 am #

    Email from a friend recently…
    “I was listening to the most ridiculous interview about a week ago with some esteemed financial expert who repeatedly insisted in the most nebulous terms that murika has to become an export nation again yadi, yadi, yadi. The guy was articulate and the stuff he said sounded right in abstract terms – produce more stuff and sell it so more murikans have jobs blah, blah, blah… Well what can murikans produce and export asks the interviewer. Answer: we need to produce more so that more people will have jobs because murikans are the hardest working most productive people who ever walked the planet blah blah blah. I’m going crazy because the question is WHAT not WHY. Eventually to answer that part of the question the jackass says we could produce more video games, more movies and entertainment media, provide more financial services like insurance and blah blah f’ing blah. He wouldn’t describe one single tangible item murikans would be able to produce and compete with in the world market. So I ask you, what the hell can murikans do to get back in the game? ”

  687. montsegur March 20, 2011 at 7:19 am #

    Mrs. Clinton, speaking at an emergency summit in Paris, said that the U.S. would “not lead” the international response but would offer “unique capabilities” to support the coalition effort.
    From http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704021504576211690643186556.html
    ==========================
    Interesting, if it turns out to be a true statement.
    JHK has predicted a pull-back from global operations by the DoD.
    In this case, the lower level of U.S. involvement is probably less because of an immediate oil shortage than it is a push to the Europeans to assume a more prominent role in these kinds of operations.
    The involvement of the West in Libya, however, is not all that it seems to be. As I understand things, Libya sells most of its oil to Europe, so the Europeans have a distinct energy-supply interest in what happens in Libya. The U.S.; to a much lesser extent, if at all.
    I still don’t understand why Arab nations aren’t handling this. It concerns other Arabs killing each other in Arab lands. The West should not be involved in this, and the Arab League should not wait on assistance from western military forces. The U.S. sold Egypt very modern aircraft and ground forces equipment (including M1 tanks). Where is Egypt in this?
    I doubt this will be a “short war”. Even if the conventional Libyan military forces collapse rapidly, there will be blowback from terrorist acts, and I predict they will largely be directed against the U.S. for reasons that mostly have little to do with the current situation in Libya.
    My $0.02
    Cheers

  688. lbendet March 20, 2011 at 8:38 am #

    K-Dog
    from your 4:11 post.
    You’re right about that. Obama is going to S. America to continue the NAFTA/CAFTA idea. As I’ve said many times over, Obama is a dedicated neoliberal and globalist (right out of the Milton Friedman playbook).
    The meme they keep telling us is that they are creating jobs here, but surely people see the pattern and it doesn’t bear this out.
    from an article in Finacial Times:
    Please respect FT.com’s ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article – http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7e14756c-37a9-11e0-b91a-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1H8teJ7fg
    China is in talks to build an alternative to the Panama Canal that would link Colombia’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts by rail – a move that Bogotá also hopes will spur Washington to push for Congressional approval of a US-Colombia free-trade pact.
    “It’s a real proposal? … and it is quite advanced,” Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia’s president, told the Financial Times. “The studies [the Chinese] have made on the costs of transporting per tonne, the cost of investment, they all work out.”
    Don’t cha just love it?
    ___________________
    Now we have a third front, adding to our full spectrum militiary hegemony, while helping BP and the Europeans with their oil supply. Why do you think France and GB wanted to do the “no fly” so badly?–We may end up holding the bag financially as usual.—And all this without raising the taxes on the rich back to even where they were during Clinton’s years. –You know by now, they will not be creating any new jobs. They are way to addicted to the digital economy where human resources don’t exist–or are a deficit.
    (Agnotologic Capitalism as I wrote about yesterday)

  689. ozone March 20, 2011 at 10:37 am #

    –You know by now, they will not be creating any new jobs. They are way to addicted to the digital economy where human resources don’t exist–or are a deficit.
    (Agnotologic Capitalism as I wrote about yesterday)
    -LBendet
    Yes, thanks for that Max K. video link, BTW.
    Anything “economic” that doesn’t tie itself to labor/energy (an expression of basically the same thing) is ethereal, illusory, specious, false. A bit of legerdemain, distraction, trickery, a big fucking LIE.
    Sorry Unka Milty [F], NO SALE.
    (That goes for Leo Strauss too; why do these shitheels seem to congregate in Chicago? Maybe where all the nation’s food supply routes through? Hmmmmm, money and power in controlling that little item, eh?)

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  690. ozone March 20, 2011 at 11:00 am #

    Dairy cows now, too?? Wow, you’re going “there” quick! (Although I don’t see all that much time to spare either.) You do have the long growing season and pasture area to support bovine beasties too. We’re a little constrained by having to harvest a LOT of hay for wintertime. Perhaps if we pooled our labor we could make that more viable.
    Good on ya!
    Anywhich, I thought I’d throw a small anecdote your way. The Thais eat massive amounts of hot peppers, and where you and I would be dripping sweat in the heat and humidity, they remain nice and dry. I’m not sure why the ingestion of large amounts of capsicum might produce such an effect, I think it has a lot to do with it. I’m a fan of hot peppers, but [in-country] Thais have an amazing tolerance to the very hottest. (Their condiment sauces will actually BURN your lips to a point of developing a rash.) Typically, since meat protein is so very expensive to raise, eating 4 times a day is the norm in order to get enough calories. Plenty of veggies, as there are 3 crops per year; so eggs, chicken, fish, some pork (for special) round out the diet.
    Oh, obesity is quite rare, unsurprisingly.
    Just something I thought you might look into for body temp. adjusting. Maybe if you’re that “hot” on the inside; one doesn’t notice the heat on the outside! ;o)

  691. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 11:03 am #

    Turkle – I hope you haven’t finished posting for the week. I’ve really been trying to get an answer to the question – What was wrong with America being a lifeboat? –
    “You think America is a life boat? That is such a naive perspective. You think that the rest of the world can go Mad Max…… The world population keeps growing and America gets to say, “Sorry, all full here.” even though population density is low compared to most other developed countries. I dunno. Suppose that can work if we completely militarize the borders and go isolationist. We shall see.”
    -turkle-
    Trippticket continues to calmly postulate a 5/6ths population decline – taking global human populations back to “background energy” of hunting/gathering/permaculture. I have not seen anyone post any logical reasons to disagree with this assessment.
    ================
    Actually – high US populations will do far worse things than contribute to an American Mad Max. Because it does appear that the US, Europe, and China are going to enter a brutal “last man standing” competition for diminishing world resources.
    The more souls in the US – – legal, illegal, Atheist, Muslim, Christian, Pagan, etc. – – the more devastating the impact of the US on world ecosystems and resources.
    Am I missing something here, that logically argues against secure US borders and drastically curtailed legal immigration to the US?

  692. ozone March 20, 2011 at 11:09 am #

    k-dog and turkle,
    Entertaining reparte, Youses.
    Although there’s nothing we can do about the past, it does show how things tend to shake out, and deserves discussion of [typical] motivations and reactions.
    How’zat go? …”the past is prologue”… or something like that?

  693. ozone March 20, 2011 at 11:35 am #

    Cash,
    Read and listened to the Rex links.
    While he’s quite erudite, and pushes all the right buttons regarding “brother’s keeper”, “humanitarian responsibilities”, etc., the guy’s an interventionist ‘neath it all. I have a hardcore mistrust of those who would send others to kill and die for their “principles”, which they stridently espouse from a cozy, well-appointed nook somewhere well away from the killing and dying. (Odd, that name: Rex. It means “king”, doesn’t it? By royal fiat he urges military meddling in foreign affairs?) If he wrote his missives from a spot where the bullets and shrapnel whined about him, I might lend SOME more ear.
    Oh, I would say that he doesn’t quite get Obama’s waffling. He may DO as G.W. Bush would do, but for the sake of his true believers, he cannot APPEAR to do as G.W. This is all about puppeteering and satraps, not “humanitarian concern”. (We’ll just see how much “concern” there is when the inevitable insurgency begins. I don’t see much “concern” about firing missles at anything that moves in Afghanistan, do you? Empty apologies notwithstanding.)
    Continue! I always find your comments thoughtful and thought-provoking. (While I, on the other hand, am using up way too much band-width! ;o)

  694. asoka March 20, 2011 at 11:36 am #

    k-dog said: “He’s talking about Chinese jobs not American Jobs. He was talking to Corporate Leaders, his constituents. Should have picked up on that. ”
    ==============
    Obama is talking about an increase of millions of jobs in the United States, not China.
    American exports to Brazil and Chile, Obama’s two destinations, already account for more than 300,000 jobs in the United States, in manufacturing, high technology, chemicals, military equipment and clean-energy products.
    U.S. goods exports to Brazil have already nearly tripled, growing from $12.4 billion in 2002 to $35.4 billion in 2010 and can easily triple again.
    As they say in South America (which largely escaped the world financial crisis) :
    “EL SUR TAMBIEN EXISTE”

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  695. ozone March 20, 2011 at 11:51 am #

    “EL SUR TAMBIEN EXISTE”
    Until “the South” climbs into bed with Uncle Sam’s neo-cons and neo-libs. Then they begin non-existing with great rapidity (in case you hadn’t noticed that phenomenon).

  696. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 12:05 pm #

    “Because it does appear that the US, Europe, and China are going to enter a brutal “last man standing” competition for diminishing world resources…
    The more souls in the US – – legal, illegal, Atheist, Muslim, Christian, Pagan, etc. – – the more devastating the impact of the US on world ecosystems and resources.
    Am I missing something here, that logically argues against secure US borders and drastically curtailed legal immigration to the US?” POC
    No, you’re not missing a thing. What you and anyone else paying even the slightest bit of attention is noticing, is that TPTB are getting ready for the final showdown. I’m guessing this crap will last anywhere between 10 and 20 years, with little party games, like gradual starvation of the poorest of the poor, catastrophic disease as we disintegrate into third world conditions, and perhaps the all time favorite musical chairs of genocide on a grand scale. These little courtly games will have the intended result of reducing world population to what it was around 1900 (around 2 billion or so). Those of us who aren’t slaughtered by unmanned predator drones or nuclear anihilation will get to be serfs to the power elite. When you think about it, it’s really all about what THEY want, isn’t it?
    Make no mistake. You, your family, your home, my family, my community are seen by the power elite as little more than a nuisance, kind of like a group of flies around Tripp’s kitchen table. The faster they slaughter us, the quicker they get THEIR world back. You see, it’s not OUR world, it’s THEIRS. If you ever had any doubt how cold-blooded and ruthless these monsters are, gaze your eyes toward the suffering masses in Japan, Libya, Haiti, fill-in-the-blank. And just for background noise, we get to see our CLOWN IN CHIEF parading his sorry ass around Brazil, proclaiming “JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!” If you read some of the comments on this site, you’ll see just what kind of idiots buy into this huckster’s words. And don’t bother marking your calendars with the “End is near” date anytime soon. This little party is JUST GETTING STARTED!

  697. Buck Stud March 20, 2011 at 12:13 pm #

    Asoka writes:
    “Immigrants are hard-working, family-oriented, enrich our culture, and contribute to our economy.”
    And yet what type of economy can ultimately thrive and prosper with such dismal High School graduating rates?
    http://www.all4ed.org/files/NewMexico_wc.pdf

  698. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 12:49 pm #

    Libyan state media has reported at least 48 people killed in UN sanctioned air strikes against Libya.
    Since UN air strikes against Muammar Gaddafi and his forces have killed at least 48 Libyans so far I propose the operation be labeled operation PCP for Protect Civilian Population instead of Operation Independent Libya as I suggested last week.
    One would have to be high on PCP (phencyclidine} to believe an unknown number of French bombs and 110 American Cruse Missiles slammed into Libya yesterday in order to protect the Libyan People.
    Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said the military operation authorized by the UN Security Council was not intended to remove Gaddafi from power.
    A defiant Gaddafi speaking from an undisclosed location (can’t imagine why) this morning disagrees saying the combined French British and American assault amounts to a “cold war” on Islam.
    In other news Saudi Arabia arrests protesters at a Riyadh demonstration which demanded the release of thousands of prisoners, held captive for years without trial.
    As protests are banned in Saudi Arabia it must suck to be them. Since we train the Saudi Arabia Military I imagine these prisoners might be experiencing a bit water-boarding as I post this. Of course my speculation could just be my over active imagination at work. The protesters might just be drinking tea and studying the Koran with their prison guards.
    Do Saudi Arabians drink tea?

  699. montsegur March 20, 2011 at 1:07 pm #

    k-dog wrote: “I propose the operation be labeled operation PCP”
    —————————-
    k-dog, please. Don’t you know this is Operation Odyssey Dawn? It has an interesting name if nothing else. (sarcasm off)
    The cruise missile bombardment is a perfect example of why no military operation, such as a “no-fly zone”, can be truly “limited”. As is the western norm these days, there is a distinct aversion to other than single-digit casualty counts for the western forces. Thus, before Allied aircraft can fly with little threat from the Libyans, the Allies want to suppress Libyan air defences. Most of the missiles probably targeted SAM sites and communications facilities.
    I doubt they’re going to have much choice about removing Khadaffi from power. Unless they’ve failed to read their Machiavelli.
    This isn’t about the Libyan people. It is about keeping Europe’s oil supply operational. That’s why the West doesn’t insist that a country like Egypt perform the military operations. Why, the Egyptians might decide they like having a good supply of oil under their direct control! Not like they don’t have their own growing need for oil in cities like Cairo and Alexandria.
    Cheers

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  700. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 1:16 pm #

    So I’m wrong. We do make a few things Brazil needs. Military Equipment and High Technology.
    Since the distinction is made I have a question. Are microwave weapons used for crowd control considered Military Equipment or High Technology?
    I’m sure the Chilean government will order a few so we really should know which statistical bucket they belong in.
    And a couple of other questions.
    What exactly are clean-energy products?
    Where does the 300,000 jobs in the United States figure come from and what is the margin of error for that figure?
    Curious dogs need to know.

  701. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 1:33 pm #

    “Most of the missiles probably targeted SAM sites and communications facilities.”
    At least a few targeted a military convoy of tanks and rocket launchers on a freeway approaching Benghazi “Syriana” style. I hope George Clooney is all right.
    The Pictures were on Al-Jazeera but have since been replaced by a picture of Admiral Mike Mullen who’s comments stretch credibility so badly that he becomes noteworthy.

  702. MarlinFive54 March 20, 2011 at 1:35 pm #

    Marlin asks, rhetorically,;
    Does this mean that Obama has to return his Nobel Peace Prize?
    Marlin answers, rhetorically;
    Did Yasser Arafat return his?
    Having served aboard several US Naval vessels, I can tell you right now the sailors aboard those ships in the Med are wooping it up at every Tomohawk missile launched, at every allied jet aircraft from France that flies overhead with a bomb payload headed into Libya, hooting and hollering, having a helluva good time. Hell, this is what they signed up for.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  703. MarlinFive54 March 20, 2011 at 1:39 pm #

    One more question, non-rhetorical;
    For you CFN historians out there, has ever before in US history has an American President initiated military action from outside the country, on a political junket to L. America if you will?
    Just curious that’s all’
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chaptet

  704. montsegur March 20, 2011 at 1:41 pm #

    k-dog stated: “At least a few targeted a military convoy of tanks and rocket launchers on a freeway approaching Benghazi “Syriana” style.”
    ==============================
    Sure those were cruise missiles? Hitting a moving target would probably have been done with missiles launched from an aircraft. I read that French aircraft had attacked some of Ghadaffi’s ground forces outside of Benghazi.
    Not that it matters much for those on the receiving end: dead is dead.
    Cheers

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  705. montsegur March 20, 2011 at 1:47 pm #

    Not sure about the answer to your question, but in reality it matters little. No doubt the White House has plenty of communications resources. Obama could be sitting on a stump in Outer Mongolia and have tons more bandwidth than you or I will ever see.
    Cheers

  706. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 1:48 pm #

    No disrespect intended, but I think you are confusing the empty suit who flits about the world, willy-nilly, in between big bashes at the White House, weekly 18 hole golf outings, etc., with someone who really makes the decisions regarding whom we are going to bomb and steal from next. The court jester you refer to is a war criminal, responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Muslim men, women, and children. The fact that he is only “following orders” makes him no different than the Nazi scum bags who testified at Nuremberg. As with everything else, follow the money on this. The Bilderberg gang has this man-child in their hip pocket. Anyone who believes a word that comes out of his lying ass mouth has more than just a few screws loose. Mark my words. As soon as he’s out of office, he’ll make Bill and Hillary look like paupers.

  707. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 1:52 pm #

    No I’m not sure, but all the bullshit we are being fed is going to require a much larger spoon than I have in my kitchen drawer.
    And for those on the receiving end of our humanitarian intervention on behalf of the Libyan people I agree: dead is dead.

  708. montsegur March 20, 2011 at 1:56 pm #

    MarlinFive54 stated: “I can tell you right now the sailors aboard those ships in the Med are wooping it up at every Tomohawk missile launched, at every allied jet aircraft from France that flies overhead with a bomb payload headed into Libya, hooting and hollering, having a helluva good time.”
    =====================
    Times have changed since John Woodward Philip famously stated:
    Don’t cheer, boys. The poor devils are dying.
    3 July 1898.
    Cheers

  709. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 2:00 pm #

    Remember this is not a US action it is a UN horse race and we only have a pony in it. Having our fearless leader out of the country helps preserve this fiction.

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  710. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 2:11 pm #

    Good point. And what better place to send him than Brazil. The following from the U.S. State Department site:
    “Like its supply of carbon-based fossil fuels, Brazil’s proven mineral resources are extensive. Large iron and manganese reserves are important sources of industrial raw materials and export earnings. Mining companies, most of them Brazilian, tend to prefer to explore the deposits of nickel, tin, chromite, bauxite, beryllium, copper, lead, tungsten, zinc, gold, and other minerals.”
    Brazil is ripe for the plucking (or substitute another word, if you wish). I wonder if the poor bastards have any idea who they’re climbing into bed with. $$$ speaks louder than logic, I guess.

  711. montsegur March 20, 2011 at 2:15 pm #

    myrtlemay wrote: “I wonder if the poor bastards have any idea who they’re climbing into bed with.”
    =============================
    My guess is that they do. Brazil didn’t send an infantry division to fight the Germans in World War II out of the goodness of their hearts, after all — there was likely something in it for them.
    Cheers

  712. ozone March 20, 2011 at 2:18 pm #

    Marlin asks, rhetorically,;
    Does this mean that Obama has to return his Nobel Peace Prize?
    Marlin answers, rhetorically;
    Did Yasser Arafat return his?
    -M554
    Damn, Marlin,
    There’s that pesky “precedence” thang again!! ;o)
    How many do I gots to kill before I get my medal o’ freedom?
    …And speaking in the civilian protection meme; where were the carriers when the Israelis did a bit of civilian whacking in Gaza in ’09? Something smells fishy with this protection racket… or is that diesel I’m scenting?

  713. Preparation-oucH March 20, 2011 at 2:20 pm #

    From Khadaffi’s letter to Obama:
    If one of the cities in the USA was in open rebellion against your government, what would you do?
    Anyone have an answer?

  714. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 2:20 pm #

    “Make no mistake. You, your family, your home, my family, my community are seen by the power elite as little more than a nuisance, kind of like a group of flies around Tripp’s kitchen table.”
    I have to agree, if they did not think as you say the ‘Oil Depletion Protocol’ would be implemented and clean renewable energy projects would reduce our national unemployment to normal levels.

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  715. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 2:25 pm #

    History answers that question, it was called the civil war.

  716. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 2:49 pm #

    Ya’d hafta get us to turn the t.v. off first, Prep. And ya know what? We ainna gonna do it. Ya wanna know why? Cause we be too busy watching “Dancing With the Stars”, “Lost”, “Two Men and a Little Brat”, to sustain our attention for any longer than 2 1/2 minutes.
    Let’s play pretend for a moment, okay? Let’s pretend that good ole California is next to get the “Big One”. (Please, no hateful messages from the Left Coast – THIS IS ONE OF MY BIGGEST NIGHTMARES!)
    Just so happens we have lots of new-KA-LURE reactors built upon the San Andreas fault line. How fast do you think we could evacuate L.A. in case of a severe (and 300 year overdue)earthquake? And how quickly would the good citizens there come to the realization that our gubment is about as enthusiastic about actually doing something to mitigate the disaster of the situation as they were in, oh, I don’t know, New Orleans?
    Would the people in California riot and rebel, demanding that our government provide immediate aid and relief? I’d sure as heck hope so! But what about citizens who lived in, oh, I don’t know, let’s pick Florida. If the U.S. government sent predator drones to “quiet the California troublemakers”, how swiftly would Florida get off of its ass to join in and side with their devastated countrymen on the other side of the U.S.? At the rate our educational system is going, I’d seriously doubt that anyone under 30 would even know that California is part of the United States! “Jes turn up the volume, honey! It’s jes more squealing from those liberal patsies in Californicate!” I’d imagine Wall Street offering derivatives on whether or not California could survive as a state, with millions of crops destroyed by radiation. Imagine the fortunes to be made!
    I’ll never forget the cruelty of the religous right, claiming that Katrina was god’s judgement on gays. We’re a swell lot, we are.

  717. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 2:57 pm #

    To speak of 300,000 jobs for US residents, like it’s a big number – to be produced by the Obama excursion to Brazil – is embarrassing on the face of it.
    There are 312,000,000 people in the US.
    Almost 100,000 more come in LEGALLY every month.
    3 months worth of LEGAL immigration will erase the job gain from the Obama trip to Brazil.
    Who are we trying to kid here? US?

  718. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 3:03 pm #

    Think I found the link that Prep made about Gaddafi’s question of “What would you do if there was an uprising in the states?” or some such.
    “Mr Gaddafi also sent a letter to the French and British leaders, and the UN secretary general, saying the resolution violates the UN charter and saying they would “regret” any intervention.
    SOURCE: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/what-would-you-do-if-rebels-attacked-us-cities-gaddafi-asks-obama/story-e6frfku0-1226024683575#ixzz1HAQs6TyD
    “Libya is not for you, Libya is for the Libyans,” he said.” Translation: Silly Gaddafi, Trix are for kids! OR…Look, you provided 40 years of faithful service as our handmaiden. And thanks! But it’s time to take the retirement package, the gold watch, the pension, and take a well deserved rest. Frankly, old friend, you’re nuttier than a fruitcake. Don’t take it to heart, old boy. We all lose a bit of our marbles as we get up there in years. You’ve gone slightly off the deep end now. Relax, let go, and let US do the killing. Don’t forget, we MADE you what you are today. Don’t bite the hand that feeds, friend!

  719. montsegur March 20, 2011 at 3:13 pm #

    From http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110320/wl_nm/us_libya
    “Arab League chief Amr Moussa called for an emergency meeting of the group of 22 states to discuss Libya. He requested a report into the bombardment, which he said had “led to the deaths and injuries of many Libyan civilians.”
    “What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians,” Egypt’s state news agency quoted Moussa as saying.
    Arab backing for a no-fly zone provided crucial underpinning for the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution last week that paved the way for Western action to stop Gaddafi killing civilians as he fights an uprising against his rule.”
    ==========================
    Oh boy, here we go. Day 1, and the Arabs who supposedly backed the action are already dissatisfied. I believe I commented before about the potential for blowback.
    Frankly, someone needs to ask Moussa, “so why the hell don’t the Arabs volunteer to take care of this situation?”
    Not that the West would back out at this point.
    Cheers

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  720. Vlad Krandz March 20, 2011 at 3:21 pm #

    We are kuffars or kaffirs (spelling has not stabilized yet) – infidels. We can do nothing right with these people and never will. Just as we will always be racists to Blacks no matter how much we walk on egg shells or crawl. It’s time to come home – in all senses of the word. Come home to ourselves, if we can find the way. If we still have a Home. If we like ourselves enough to live with ourselves. How cleverly the Masters have taught us to hate ourselves!
    On Libya: many of the fighters will undoubtedly be Al Quaeda or at least somewhat under the cultural influence of the Muslim Brotherhood. Now there is talk of arming the rebels. We will be arming our enemies – as we did in Afghanistan decades ago.

  721. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 3:27 pm #

    “We will be arming our enemies – as we did in Afghanistan decades ago.” VK
    I prefer the Vietnam analogy, myself. But hey, that’s just me.

  722. Cash March 20, 2011 at 3:28 pm #

    The Bilderberg gang has this man-child in their hip pocket. Anyone who believes a word that comes out of his lying ass mouth has more than just a few screws loose. – MM
    Obama’s their bitch (sorry ladies). Even the most delusional, blindly partisan can see that. The only time I can remember that’s more horrifying and depressing than this time was post JFK assassination when the full realization was dawning of what had just happened: a public execution of an American President, a ludicrous cover up, a patsy murdered in full view in case some people failed to get the message, an official whitewash. A defacto coup d’etat.
    And what have we got now? The upending and subversion of the US government by moneyed interests. And, just so we all get the full picture of who’s running what, Obama gets a Wall Street bankster as his Chief of Staff, the man appointed to supervise Obama. Vomitory.
    About Libya: I can’t for the life of me see how this, ahem, “intervention” helps anything. They’ll have to put boots on the ground and after a few months the Libyans will turn from fighting each other to killing “coalition” (meaning mostly American) troops. It’s not as if we haven’t seen this movie before. We know the script …truck bombs, IEDs, more terror plots. In the end this will be for nothing.

  723. Vlad Krandz March 20, 2011 at 3:37 pm #

    Why did you vote for Him? He was obviously a fraud. And why do dismiss out of hand the idea that he is not an American Citizen? You’ve been wrong about everything else – why not this too? I mean they’ve gotten away the biggest fraud in human history – the Federal Reserve “Banking” scam. Putting an alien in the White House is small compared to that. And it’s working so far: you people put him in there despite his sealed record, lack of experience, breaking his word on only taking public election funds etc.
    Oh so now you know better! No you don’t. You all will put Hillary in next time cuz she a woman, oh my god a woman, the first women president of thee UNITED STATES! That’s all that matters – the triumph of form over substance, plumbing over policy, skin color over integrity.
    Could we be wrong about Obama’s citizenship? Sure, but the point is that’s it’s not a stupid concern. The fact that you people think it is just shows your stupidity. Give something a name and then hate it. Call us “Birthers” and then you feel SOOOO self righteous and SOOOO justified in dismissing us. You see their ability to activate the liberal superiority complex at a moments notice is one of the strongest arrows in their quiver. Once you have a person feeling self righteous, you’ve got him. People stuck in a superiority complex are stupid people – just like angry people are. The second fact is recognized but not the first. The angry White underclass is recognized as stupid but the complacent middle class gets a pass – why? Why would they tell you, Mrytle? That’s their power right there. They don’t want you to wake up.

  724. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 3:40 pm #

    This just in CFN’ers!
    “Colonel Gaddafi has recommended the armed forces call an immediate ceasefire, shortly after anti-aircraft fire was seen in the sky over Tripoli.”
    -and-
    “The declaration – effective from 7.00pm – was announced by a government spokesman at a press conference.
    The United States earlier said it expects to conduct more air strikes on Libya, as the Arab League also criticised the military action.
    The anonymous US official said the operation was “ongoing”, adding: “I fully expect more strikes.”
    In other words, THE ASS POUNDING WILL CONTINUE! BITCH!
    SOURCE: Skynews

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  725. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 3:59 pm #

    The political motivation behind involvement in Libya must be the belief that by helping the Libyan rebels the ruling class will be able to control them once they take power. It is the only thing that makes any sense. This is a risky move born of western hubris and wishful thinking. The only way it can work is to have boots on the ground.
    In the end all it will mean is death, Death in Libya for sure but since it does nothing to alleviate the clusterfuck and in fact accelerates it, death will not be limited to Libya.
    Lifting the Veil: Obama and the Failure of Capitalist Democracy documents Obama’s commitment to the largest military budget of all time and his total commitment to the ruling class. A class he is now part of and fully committed to. Membership has its privileges and he wants all of them.
    Obama is showing himself to be a man dedicated to the full realization and horror of the coming clusterfuck. He has done nothing to mitigate it since he took office and obviously won’t.

  726. Vlad Krandz March 20, 2011 at 4:09 pm #

    I agree with Myrtle: it’s the Global Agenda. Use the strength of America to police the world all the while weakening the actual American Nation. Bringing in all these alien, uneeded people is all part of that. And finally America will need help. As Kissenger once said, the American People might not accept UN Troops today, but tomorrow they may ask for them. The actual idea is simple: create a problem and then have the solution to it. It brings great power. The actual implementation is what separates the men from the boys. And these guys are master chess players. They plan far ahead and each move may have a multiple of different meanings including none at all, just distraction.
    Remember the Georgia Guidestones – that’s the World they want. With themselves on top forever. They forgot to mention that part in the Stones. Of course one could argue that maybe it’s better that someone is in control than no one. And at least they do seem cognizant of Ecology. Whether they actually care is another question. Implementing the worship of the Earth as a Goddess is part of their plan for the masses. What they believe in a whole other story.
    In any case, their cruelty and betrayal of Western Civilization disqualies them in my book. But who has any other answers – and the power to implement them? I like Vladimir Putin for his love of his own People, but does he have the Vision that the world has to change?

  727. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 4:19 pm #

    Why did she vote for him? The same reason everybody else with a progressive bone in their body did including myself.
    Brand Obama was the best marketing campaign of all time. He said all the right things and everyone believed him. He was named Advertising Age’s marketer of the year for 2008 he was so slick.
    Besides which the alternative was a fossil with a few screws loose. It was a case of good cop / bad cop and we trusted the good cop to be the real thing. Change we could believe in. Remember?
    Everyone here knows why you did not vote for him. We know you thought he was an obvious fraud because of the color of his skin which is all you think about.
    You were right, by accident.

  728. asoka March 20, 2011 at 4:30 pm #

    k-dog said: “Where does the 300,000 jobs in the United States figure come from…”
    That figure comes from an article in the Seattle Times:
    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014546915_obamasa20.html

  729. lbendet March 20, 2011 at 4:35 pm #

    Operation Odyssey Dawn–what a romantic name for more war.
    How about Odyssey Iliad & Whole Global Enchilada
    Oh, if only Homer were here to see the great tragedy of the Empire self-destructing what would he write?
    We see a country that never saw an opportunity to fight it couldn’t resist. Like a siren song for hegemonic power, but never with clear goals or an exit strategy. And perhaps they are egged on by countries who won’t commit themselves for the long haul, who bait the poor delusional state into fighting their wars for oil in Libya. After all, they have big social contracts with their people. Those health benefits and bargaining for low prices for pharmaceuticals….
    If Homer were writing the narrative would he give into the marketing of ideology as the spin-meisters of today?
    Our unfortunate young men and women in the military are being wasted with their repeat deployments on at least three fronts, four if you count Pakistan. Punished for wanting to serve their country, they keep buying into the patriotic kant, line hook and sinker. (& I do mean sinker)
    It boggles the mind how badly they’re being treated. And how badly they are treated when they get home…Maybe they dream of someday returning home as Odysseus did in epic poetry. Many broken-down into characters from the “Hurt Locker”, who can’t adjust to normal life after all those deployments.
    And the budget deficit suddenly doesn’t matter when we can get ourselves into another theater, the world powers and corporations look to us to create more disaster, Japan wasn’t enough!
    China and Russia smartly sit these liquid wars out as they gain more momentum in building their countries us, as we keep spending down.
    Tragic, indeed. I wish I were a poet.

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  730. asoka March 20, 2011 at 4:37 pm #

    Marlin said: “Med are wooping it up at every Tomohawk missile launched, at every allied jet aircraft from France that flies overhead with a bomb payload headed into Libya…”
    =======
    Marlin, are you pro-French?
    (The French are helping carry out the United Nation’s will. Are you now pro-United Nations, Marlin? Which side are you on: Qaddafi or the UN?)

  731. asoka March 20, 2011 at 4:45 pm #

    k-dog said: “So I’m wrong. We do make a few things Brazil needs. Military Equipment and High Technology.”
    ===========
    Not just that k-dog. And don’t forget that with Obama we have had a decrease in government employment (shrinking government) and an increase FOR NINETEEN CONSECUTIVE MONTHS in private sector employment. We are indeed making and exporting stuff Brazil needs.
    Every $1 billion we export supports more than 5,000 jobs here at home. That’s why last year, Obama set a goal for the USA : to double exports of goods and services by 2014. And the USA is on track to meet that goal: exports were up 17% in 2010.
    The impressive growth in Latin America in recent years is good for the people of the hemisphere, and it’s good for the USA.
    We now export three times as much to Latin America as we do to China, and our exports to the region — which are growing faster than our exports to the rest of the world — will soon support more than 2 million jobs here in the United States.

  732. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 4:45 pm #

    Turns out:
    The article comes from the New York Times and was reprinted in the Seattle Times. It was written by Jackie Calmes. The actual quote from the article is:

    Obama said, estimating that American exports to Brazil and Chile — his two destinations — account for more than 300,000 jobs in the United States, in manufacturing, high technology, chemicals, military equipment and clean-energy products.

    Mystery solved, the source of the 300,000 jobs number turns out to beOBAMA himself.
    Considering the source the k-dog is now disregarding the 300,000 jobs number altogether.

  733. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 4:49 pm #

    I think you’re a poet and don’t know it. And a pretty darn good one, at that! Your prose brought back some nice memories of studying the “Iliad and the Odyssey” in high school. Ironically, you made the unpleasant events of the hour/day/year/decade somewhat less agonizing. Thanks.

  734. lbendet March 20, 2011 at 4:59 pm #

    Thank you, Myrtle May.
    Running always gets my mind going. (It’s really nice outside even if it got cooler again.)
    Everyone’s posts are good today.
    Nothing like a new front to get people agitated.

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  735. asoka March 20, 2011 at 5:06 pm #

    k-dog said: “And a couple of other questions. What exactly are clean-energy products?”
    ==============
    OK, k-dog, since you asked… here are two examples (there are many more) of how Obama is creating jobs in the USA specifically related to export to Brazil of clean energy products:
    WindStream (New Albany, IN) closed a $10+ million deal with Wind Force Energia, a Brazilian Clean Tech distributor, for 30,000 wind turbine units. WindStream will begin the delivery of these units at the end of this month and continue for the next three years. The product will be used in Brazil in both on-grid and off-grid solutions for urban and rural applications. This deal will result in 150 new jobs in Indiana.
    • Capstone Turbine (Chatsworth, CA), a manufacturer of clean technology micro-turbine energy systems with 200 employees, recently completed work on a $2 million contract with Brazilian Fluxo Servicios de Petroleo for micro-turbine systems. The turbines, manufactured in California, have been shipped to Copasa, Brazil where they produce clean energy from methane bio-gas as a wastewater treatment facility that serves millions of Brazilian residents.

  736. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 5:20 pm #

    Asoka you say:
    “And don’t forget that with Obama we have had a decrease in government employment (shrinking government)”
    Hmmmmmm, shrinking government after the rape of the Bush administration, to me thats more proof of Obama being a Republicrat. But perhaps I should look harder at that; my bias is obvious.
    Every $1 billion we export supports more than 5,000 jobs here at home.
    Where do you get that, I’m supposed to just believe you? Oh and do that math on your 34.5 billion of exports to Chile and Brazil you don’t get anything near 300,000.
    Regarding exports yes, up 17% in 2010 from shit if true. Doesn’t mean much.
    Asoka you appear to be one of these first derivative people. When a statistic doesn’t give you the answer you want use calculus and take the first derivative and present that useless piece of information to make your case.
    Most everyone knows the increase “FOR NINETEEN CONSECUTIVE MONTHS” has been insignificant and does next to nothing to solve out unemployment problems.
    I guess Asoka is back to being chief cheerleader for TPTB.
    But go ahead and rip me up. I need to log off and get back to my life for a while.

  737. asoka March 20, 2011 at 5:22 pm #

    ProCon, underlying your racist anti-immigrant postings seems to be this assumption: immigrants take jobs away from “real Americans”.
    The research does not support that assumption.
    A new study, “Immigration, Offshoring and American Jobs,” written by two economics professors — Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano of Bocconi University in Italy and Giovanni Peri of the University of California, Davis notes that when companies move production offshore, they pull away not only low-wage jobs but also many related jobs, which can include high-skilled managers, tech repairmen and others. But hiring immigrants even for low-wage jobs helps keep many kinds of jobs in the United States, the authors say. In fact, when immigration is rising as a share of employment in an economic sector, offshoring tends to be falling, and vice versa, the study found.
    American economic sectors with much exposure to immigration fared better in employment growth than more insulated sectors, even for low-skilled labor, the authors found. It’s hard to prove cause and effect in these studies, or to measure all relevant variables precisely, but at the very least, the evidence in this study doesn’t offer much support for the popular bias against immigration, and globalization more generally.
    We see the job-creating benefits of trade and immigration every day, even if we don’t always recognize them. As other papers by Professor Peri have shown, low-skilled immigrants usually fill gaps in American labor markets and generally enhance domestic business prospects rather than destroy jobs; this occurs because of an important phenomenon, the presence of what are known as “complementary” workers, namely those who add value to the work of others. An immigrant will often take a job as a construction worker, a drywall installer or a taxi driver, for example, while a native-born worker may end up being promoted to supervisor. And as immigrants succeed here, they help the United States develop strong business and social networks with the rest of the world, making it easier for us to do business with India, Brazil and most other countries, again creating more jobs.
    ProCon, please stop yelling “defend the borders” because that will hurt America in the long run. We should open the borders and welcome in all the brain power we can attract. We are all in this together, regardless of our skin color or national origin.

  738. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 5:31 pm #

    Source: AL JAZEERA BEGIN QUOTE:
    (Gaddafi, today) “We will fight and we will target any traitor who is co-operating with the Americans or with the Christian Crusade,” he said.
    Gaddafi mentioned the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, as well as the bloody US intervention in Somalia and the ongoing campaign to capture or kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
    All, he said, were examples of the kind of defeat the US was about to endure in Libya.
    “You don’t learn,” he said. “You’re always going to be destroyed.”
    END QUOTE FROM ALJAZEERA
    Well, CFN’ers, you can go on squabbling over 300K jobs, or whatever TF. How about how many Brazilian nuts it takes to fill a freaking basket? Is it cocktail hour YET? Is it cocktail hour in Brazil? More importantly, will they take amerikan expatriates now that obammy has cozied up to them? Just give me a straw hut, a blankie, and some potent herb. Plus, I think the unemployment rate their is something like around 6%. Remember when the U.S. unemployment rate was that low? I don’t. Just send me a one-way ticket to Brazil. I’ll keep my mouth shut. I promise!

  739. asoka March 20, 2011 at 5:39 pm #

    myrtlemay said: “Plus, I think the unemployment rate their is something like around 6%. Remember when the U.S. unemployment rate was that low? I don’t. ”
    ========
    Several months ago I said 10% official unemployment rate was the “new normal” in the USA and it would never come down.
    I was wrong. Obama has brought the unemployment rate down into single digit territory again through encouraging private sector employment.

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  740. MarlinFive54 March 20, 2011 at 5:43 pm #

    Now the Arab League is saying GB, the US, and France is going too far with their tomahawk missiles and high explosives bombs. No, this is not what they had in mind at all last week when they asked for the establishment of a ‘no fly zone’.
    And at least one commentator on CNN today said that the rebels in Libya might be led by Al Quaeda.
    “Another fine mess you’ve gotten us into, Ollie”.
    Gee, I wonder what Jim is going to write about tomorrow? Not much happening in the world right now. He’ll really have to dig deep.
    Anybody know what the situation is with the broken down reactors in Japan? Anybody care?
    When’s Obama getting back from his (latest) Vacation?
    Many questions, not many answers.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  741. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 5:43 pm #

    “ProCon, underlying your racist anti-immigrant postings seems to be this assumption: immigrants take jobs away from “real Americans”.”
    -asoka-
    Three questions:
    1. How many people is too many people in the US?
    2. Is there any way to advocate for reduction in growth of US population without being called “racist” by Asoka.
    3. Are you impeding, again, Asoka?

  742. MarlinFive54 March 20, 2011 at 5:49 pm #

    Asoka;
    Sometimes on this site I’m asked (accused) if I’m a Fox News fan.
    Am I out of line in enquiring whether or not your a MSNBC viewer? Or an NPR listener? Because you sure sound like one. I’m not sure if you’re really a TRUE BELIEVER or just posing as one, bullshitting us if you will.
    Which one is it?
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  743. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 5:53 pm #

    Marlin 554
    “And at least one commentator on CNN today said that the rebels in Libya might be led by Al Quaeda.
    “Another fine mess you’ve gotten us into, Ollie”.
    Gee, I wonder what Jim is going to write about tomorrow? Not much happening in the world right now. He’ll really have to dig deep.
    Anybody know what the situation is with the broken down reactors in Japan? Anybody care?
    When’s Obama getting back from his (latest) Vacation?
    Many questions, not many answers.”
    You had me ROTFLOL! I’ve damn near at my wit’s at all these shenanagins….loverly!

  744. Buck Stud March 20, 2011 at 5:54 pm #

    You can’t make this stuff up:
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42172096/ns/politics-more_politics/
    She questioned the Chinese military’s ascent, saying the Communist country’s stockpiling of ballistic missiles, submarines and “new-age, ultramodern aircraft” seemed unjustified when it did not face an outside threat.
    “What’s with the military buildup?” she said. “China’s military growth can’t just be for defensive purposes.”

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  745. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 5:55 pm #

    ^wit’s end. And still LOL, Marlin 554!

  746. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 6:01 pm #

    Buck Stud’s referenced article is WELL WORTH READING IN ENTIRETY! Jeez, still LOL! Laughing sure as heck beats crying! Grand theatre of the absurd!

  747. MarlinFive54 March 20, 2011 at 6:07 pm #

    Asoka;
    Authentic Party Man?
    or Poseur?
    Explain Yourself Sir?
    Metaphorically speaking, of course.
    And no disrespect intended, either.
    -Marlin
    CFNation Post 1
    New England Chapter

  748. myrtlemay March 20, 2011 at 6:50 pm #

    Things are wild and crazy. Seems the United States has this madcap scheme of invading Libya due to the expiration date of its puppet, Ghadaffi. Like a drunk guest at a Christmas party, the man doesn’t know when it’s time to leave. Or maybe we can think of him as a carton of milk that only increases in stink as it sits in chilled air in the fridge.
    But I got to wondering, how do you say goodbye to someone you’ve been with for over 40 years? What do we expect Obama to do? Does he invite Ghadaffi to dinner at the White House? Share a glass or two of wine next to the fire? Reminisce over old photo albums: “Look, Ghadaffi, there’s you right after the Lockerbie thingy?” Or, “Look, here’s you, laughing at the poor bastard who believed you when you said that you no longer “did” terrorist activities.”
    At the end of the evening, after a few laughs, maybe a song or two, you walk him to the door. You put an arm around him and say, “Hey, thanks Big Guy! Sure, we’ve had our differences, but ya know what? Screw ‘em. Screw ‘em all. They never appreciated you. What you did to your country and its people. But ya know what? I appreciate you. Michelle, honey, will you get Ghadaffi his parting gift? Yes, dear, the envelope on the table…YES, dear, the THICK envelope on the table. Thanks honey! Listen, Big Guy, you have a safe one back to Libya. You’re all set for your return ticket on Air Force One…No, no, no, thank YOU, Ya big lug!”
    And then, as the door closes behind the dictator, the president smiles at Michelle and says, “You did activate the detonator, right honey?”
    “Of course I did, you Big Silly!”, Michelle purrs sweetly.

  749. MarlinFive54 March 20, 2011 at 7:03 pm #

    Myrtlemay;
    You’ve got some talent in the fiction department, more specifically, in short stories. Do you remember O’Henry? Like that.
    -Marlin

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  750. Qshtik March 20, 2011 at 7:04 pm #

    WARS ENTERED DURING US PRESIDENTIAL ADMIN 1990 – present
    Bush I (R) 1 Iraq
    Clinton (D) 2 Kosovo, Afganistan
    Bush II (R) 2 Afganistan, Iraq
    Obama (D) 1 Libya ………… and counting
    Score tied at R=3, D=3

  751. turkle March 20, 2011 at 7:15 pm #

    Don’t you think that these wars deserve some kind of weighting scheme? I mean Kosovo was like a skirmish compared to Iraq and Bush’s Afghanistan adventure. Libya is also not going to be on the scale of either of the R wars. No ground troops will be employed.
    What did Clinton do in Afghanistan?

  752. ozone March 20, 2011 at 7:24 pm #

    Recent ‘Murkin ‘Administration[s]’ – 6 (and counting)
    ‘Murkin People – 0
    Geez, my scoring seems skewed somehow.
    Oh well, let’s take this road show to ‘Vegas and see what kinda odds we might be able to get (c’mon we’re all about creativity, ain’t we?)

  753. ozone March 20, 2011 at 7:29 pm #

    Plus, there’s all that EXCEPTIONALLY good karm-el we got goin’ for us! Keep that distraction goin’; it’s working its’ wond’rous magics!
    (who agin’ who, waz ‘at agin?)

  754. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 7:35 pm #

    100% concur, O3!
    “Recent ‘Murkin ‘Administration[s]’ – 6 (and counting)
    ‘Murkin People – 0”
    Wage hit this one out of the park, re: Obama:
    – – “We’ve been punked.” – –
    Vlad, from earlier – McCain wasn’t that bad, and he would have earned my vote instead of Obama, but when McCain nominated Palin to “energize the base” he revealed himself as incompetent. He would have “punked” us even worse – without doubt.
    At least with Obama – we get clear headed and intelligent leadership selling out the American people.
    With McCain – just like BushII – it would have been fuzzy headed and unintelligent *looking* leadership. But we still would have been sold out, just as much – as a nation.

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  755. turkle March 20, 2011 at 7:39 pm #

    Just as no man is an island, no country is an island. The US gets most of its consumer goods from China and other Asian countries. It imports 2/3 of its oil. America depends on foreigners buying up its government bonds by the trillions.
    And here you’re talking about it being some kind of life boat for when TSHTF.
    Is that with or without the 10 million barrels of oil we import daily from other countries? Will we still be able to get TVs, cars, and clothes from Asia? When we become a lifeboat, does that mean the Chinese and Japanese won’t buy any more of our bonds? How much of our food supply will need to be sold off to bail out the lifeboat?
    America couldn’t function in its current form without support form outside. Without cheap consumer goods pouring in, massive oil imports, and foreign bond buyers, America is no more a lifeboat than any other typical nation.

  756. turkle March 20, 2011 at 7:41 pm #

    Geez, Vlad, you use “they” a lot without actually saying to whom you’re referring. Am I supposed to imply from the context? Is it the Illuminati, The Bilderbergers, or perhaps the evil lizard people from Alpha Centauri?

  757. turkle March 20, 2011 at 7:47 pm #

    Insane McCain sang “Bomb Bomb Iran” at one of his rallies.
    This is the super-hawk liar who continually said things were going just great in Iraq.
    He is the one who said that a detailed study and survey was needed to determine if gays should be allowed in the military and when that was done and it was determined that people in the military said it was fine, he wanted…more studies.
    He picked balloon-headed Sarah “Don’t back down, Reload” Palin as his running mate.
    O-k, dude. Whatever you say…he wasn’t that bad, compared to…um, Bush II? Gaddafi?

  758. turkle March 20, 2011 at 7:49 pm #

    Not invading myrtle. The US military will just lob some cruise missiles in there and maybe blow some things up with air strikes. There is no stated intention to put boots on the ground.

  759. ozone March 20, 2011 at 8:04 pm #

    America couldn’t function in ***its current form*** without support form outside. -Turk’
    Keee-reckt-o-mundo! …and that would be the all-important qualifier right there, wouldn’t it?

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  760. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 8:22 pm #

    “America couldn’t function in its current form without support form outside. Without cheap consumer goods pouring in, massive oil imports, and foreign bond buyers, America is no more a lifeboat than any other typical nation.”
    -turk-
    All that stuff is complete bull shit, turk, if you don’t have enough food to eat. America still is a huge net food exporter. You let the US population go to 350,000,000 (it will go a lot higher than that if LEGAL immigration isn’t drastically reduced) and then you let oil go to $200/bbl.
    The US will barely be able to feed it’s own massive overpopulation, at that point.
    When your own lifeboat is swamping – you are in no position to help the rest of the globe.
    Sadly, no matter how bad things are in the States – TS will really HTF – in the rest of the World, when the rest of the World begins to go seriously hungry – and America can no longer help.

  761. turkle March 20, 2011 at 9:02 pm #

    “when the rest of the World begins to go seriously hungry”
    What makes you think that if the rest of the world is starving that Americans won’t be also?
    American exceptionalism?

  762. turkle March 20, 2011 at 9:04 pm #

    “America still is a huge net food exporter.”
    Uh…really? Monetarily, America has a monthly net deficit in food imports.
    Again, America as lifeboat = myth.

  763. turkle March 20, 2011 at 9:07 pm #

    So America can be transformed into a life boat from its current form as like a Hummer?

  764. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 9:13 pm #

    “What makes you think that if the rest of the world is starving that Americans won’t be also?”
    – the young turk –
    Turkle – the whole “last man standing” idea argues in favor of the US competing with China and Europe for a diminishing share of world resources.
    My projection into the future is that the Chinese will eventually win the Global competition, hands down – buying up, or coercing access to,resources and real estate to increase Chinese standards of living, just as the US has done.
    The “end game” occurs when global resources diminish to the point that the US can no longer supply food to anywhere OUTSIDE of the US – because of 350,000,000 US “citizens.” And understand the thrust of my argument – that the US should be doing everything in its power to reduce population trends INSIDE the US, now – before it’s too late.
    Consider that there are already millions starving around the world – with a SURPLUS of food and energy in the US.

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  765. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 9:18 pm #

    “No stated intention to put boots on the ground.”
    Just checking in, I’m doing laundry so I can’t get sucked in but I gotta say:
    The thing about having no boots on the ground is going to change but quick if the Libyan Rebels turn out to be the Islamic Brotherhood.
    I’m not saying they are. I don’t know who the rebels are. I don’t have Obama’s intelligence.
    Ooooopsee, I take that back. I probably do have Obama’s intelligence. What I don’t have is his access to data.
    Sometimes it’s best to go with the devil you know than to roll dice. I have always wondered if Qaddafi’s bad rap was really deserved but he definitely stopped a lot of shenanigans after the air strike on his tent by Reagan back in 1986 killed that little girl.
    She may or may not have been his daughter. That depends on who you believe. She certainly was somebody’s daughter.
    I confess I know little about Libya but was it really wise to escalate the Libyan conflict in the direction of regime change? I know that’s what our government does but changing that policy would have been change I could have believed in.
    Too bad the media in america is controlled by special interests or we could get a clue. Time will tell.

  766. CaptSpaulding March 20, 2011 at 9:20 pm #

    Actually another myth is the one of America being a great melting pot. Whenever various groups emigrated here en masse, they was plenty of discrimination against them, the one that comes to mind right away, is the Irish. Remember “No Irish Need Apply?” It applied locally to other groups as well at least through the first couple of generations. Now the one advantage that all of those groups DID have, was that at least they were white europeans. And although even they were discriminated against at first, they were able to blend in eventually. The problem got worse with blacks, and other people of color, who cannot change their pigmentation and thus become the lumps in the melting pot. Also, some groups (Hispanic mostly) come here and are very arrogant about their language and their culture and see no reason to change. It’s always noble to celebrate diversity, but when confronted with the reality, most people prefer others who are pretty much like them. Not saying that that’s a good thing, just the way it is. Human nature

  767. k-dog March 20, 2011 at 9:26 pm #

    And understand the thrust of my argument – that the US should be doing everything in its power to reduce population trends INSIDE the US, now – before it’s too late.
    Such blasphemy. It’s good to know there are at least two of us with that idea. I thought I was all alone.
    Back to my Laundry.

  768. asoka March 20, 2011 at 9:27 pm #

    ProCon said: “Sadly, no matter how bad things are in the States – TS will really HTF – in the rest of the World, when the rest of the World begins to go seriously hungry – and America can no longer help.”
    ============
    Ummm, more American exceptionalism? No place better in the world than the good ol’ USA?
    Have you read any of Welles posts, ProCon?
    Things are better in other parts of the world. There are other developed countries “richer” than the bankrupt USA. There are other countries that have a better quality of life, as measured by better health indicators, better educational systems, less crime and fewer prisoners, fewer homeless, etc.
    Other countries may not be “developed” like the USA, but they will not starve when TSHTF.
    For example, Brazil will not be “going seriously hungry” when TSHTF, nor will many other countries. It is kind of touching, your patriotism, your defense of the USA. Many immigrants from poorer undeveloped countries share your view and that’s why they want to come here.

  769. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 9:39 pm #

    “For example, Brazil will not be “going seriously hungry” when TSHTF, nor will many other countries. It is kind of touching, your patriotism, your defense of the USA. Many immigrants from poorer undeveloped countries share your view and that’s why they want to come here.”
    -asoka-
    Perhaps, asoka, but you did not answer my questions:
    1. How large should the population of the US be allowed to become?
    2. Is there anyway to argue in favor of reducing immigration rates into the US without being accused by asoka of racism?
    Answers or Impediments to dialog?
    Pick one, asoka.

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  770. turkle March 20, 2011 at 9:39 pm #

    Uh, k-diddly, the most active countries in Operation Free Libya thus far are France and Britain, who have been bombing government land vehicles with their jets. Belgium and Spain are also planning to get in on the action. America has only pressed the launch button on some cruise missiles. So this isn’t exactly a unilateral operation lead by Uncle Sam. Britain and France were actually the most gung-ho. And there is no way that America is going to put troops in there. I am willing to bet on it. Perhaps there will be some UN “peacekeepers.” America has too many other military commitments at the moment, and there is no political will for it. (Air strikes and cruise missile launches are another matter.)
    The situation was already going towards regime change. Gaddafi’s people are, by and large, against him. He has lost his legitimacy. Half the country is controlled by the rebels. What the UN is trying to do (I think) is put the smack down on him so that he isn’t able (or is less able) to massacre his own people using foreign mercenaries, artillery, and jet planes.
    Anyways, that’s what the UN is saying. It is really all about the oil. Libya is number 8 exporter in the world. This little civil war is affecting oil exports and causing the price of oil to rise. So, yeah, the Western countries are ready to roll.

  771. turkle March 20, 2011 at 9:46 pm #

    I have witnessed more hatred and racism here on this board in one week than I have in years of real life living among people of different races, including Asians, blacks, and Hispanics. Most people are not interested in this race baiting bullshit like you sad people.

  772. asoka March 20, 2011 at 9:48 pm #

    Brazil is up and coming on the world stage. China is no longer the automatic first choice for production facilities.
    For example, Apple and Foxconn are in the market for some new factories. According to Bom Dia, Foxconn may be looking to move some of Apple’s assembly lines into Brazil and out of China.
    How great to have a stronger regional hemispheric alliance and to stop supporting Chinese Communist Party ruled China.
    How nice to have an intelligent president. Obama is playing chess.

  773. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 9:52 pm #

    turkle –
    I see nothing that looks like “race baiting” in CaptainSpaulding’s comment back to you. It’s the man’s opinion. I’m quite certain he could back the opinion with facts to support it.
    What part of it was race “BAITING” ?

  774. CaptSpaulding March 20, 2011 at 10:01 pm #

    I guess you didn’t read the part where I said I’m not saying that it’s a good thing, just that that’s the way it is. See, it’s a little something called reality, you should try it. Sometimes it doesn’t taste too good, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s reality. What I wrote shouldn’t be that hard to understand, but they say “If an ass peers into a book, don’t expect a wise man to look back out.”

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  775. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 10:02 pm #

    “Such blasphemy. It’s good to know there are at least two of us with that idea. I thought I was all alone.”
    -kdog-
    You are far from alone, kdog, even on this left leaning website. So far, only asoka and a young lady named Mila51? are in favor of unrestricted illegal immigration.
    Asoka argues in favor of it based on economic growth for the US. But that counters any argument he might make based on the planet’s ability to support human life – much like Olde69, who is at least consistent with his technotriumphant utopianism and billions of space colonies.
    Even turkle, up the thread, admitted that nations need to control their borders, right Turkle?

  776. asoka March 20, 2011 at 10:03 pm #

    The White Man demands: “Answers or Impediments to dialog? Pick one, asoka.”
    ==================
    ProCon, this is not a place for dialog.
    CFN is a place where people vent, form cliques, push ideologies, promote fear, wish for TSHTF, and spout vicious, unfounded slander against the Commander-in-Chief of the United States.
    ProCon, you long ago stopped regarding my posts as worthy, so I do not consider your appeal for dialog to be sincere.
    I enjoy posting here to share an alternative point of view not based on doom and gloom. This earns me CFN vitriol.
    And now, you are demanding answers, as if honest dialog is possible here.
    My answers never satisfy you in any event. I cite research and provide facts. You respond with ultimatums. I think we should just agree to disagree. Do what you must.

  777. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 10:08 pm #

    “My answers never satisfy you in any event. I cite research and provide facts. You respond with ultimatums. I think we should just agree to disagree. Do what you must”
    I must repeat the questions:
    1. How large should US populations become?
    2. How does one argue in favor of reducing immigration without being labeled a racist?

  778. asoka March 20, 2011 at 10:19 pm #

    1. 550 million to 750 million
    2. Stop bemoaning the arrival of immigrants (legal or illegal) as if immigrants were a problem instead of a solution.

  779. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 10:30 pm #

    “1. 550 million to 750 million”
    “2. Stop bemoaning the arrival of immigrants (legal or illegal) as if immigrants were a problem instead of a solution.”
    -asoka-
    1. That’s too many people
    2. You are wrong
    3. You started this dialog, a – I was asking turkle a serious question – and now you have impeded the dialog, yet again.

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  780. asoka March 20, 2011 at 10:37 pm #

    United States in the World
    GDP per capita
    USA is 11th out of 227 countries (1)
    Life Expectancy
    USA is 49th out of 224 countries (2)
    Enabling Trade Index ranking
    USA is 19th out of 125 countries (3)
    Environmental Performance Index
    USA is 61st out of 163 countries (4)
    With these rankings on per capita GDP, trade, life expectancy, and environment, I am not arguing anyone should leave the USA.
    On the contrary, I think we should stay, we should welcome more immigrants, and we should all fight together to make this a better place to live.
    With these rankings I am demolishing any validity of the notion of “American exceptionalism”
    REFERENCES
    (1) SOURCE: CIA World Factbook, 2009.
    (2) SOURCE: CIA World Factbook, 2010.
    (3) SOURCE: World Economic Forum, 2010.
    (4) SOURCE: Yale University / Columbia University (2010)
    ….. SOURCE: CIA World Factbook – 2010
    49th 224 [3]
    World Economic Forum – Enabling Trade Index ranking 2010 19th 125 [4]
    Yale University / Columbia University – Environmental Performance Index 2010 61st 163 [5]

  781. asoka March 20, 2011 at 10:42 pm #

    “and now you have impeded the dialog, yet again.”
    ============
    So, who appointed you the Grand Marshal of CFN?
    If you don’t like what I post, don’t read or respond to my posts. Problem solved.
    But I will continue to read all of the posts and respond to any of the posts… as is my right as a card carrying member of CFN, Southwest Adobe Mud Hut Chapter #2.
    I particularly enjoy reading your posts, ProCon. I hope you continue to contribute to CFN. Your viewpoint is a valuable one to be considered.

  782. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 10:49 pm #

    So, a, you want to post your research as to how the land mass of the US will support 750,000,000 people?

  783. asoka March 20, 2011 at 11:02 pm #

    When you consider all the factors: economic, well-being, ecological footprint, etc. in one index (the HPI), the United States does even worse.
    USA ranks 114th out of 143 countries.
    SOURCE: http://www.happyplanetindex.org/
    CFN, with its gloom and doom attitude, is anecdotal proof of the validity of the HPI ranking of the USA at 114th in the world.

  784. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 11:16 pm #

    How about 550,000,000 people supported by the agricultural land mass of the US. Care to cite a website that says this is possible, asoka?
    There’s plenty of research saying that 200,000,000 is a more logical number for sustainablity.
    http://www.wwf.org/
    Trippticket says 100,000,000 in ALL of N. America is a more likely number – even with the best of permaculture practices implemented.
    We are at 312,000,000, just in the US, now.

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  785. asoka March 20, 2011 at 11:18 pm #

    OK, ProCon, here is “my research”
    USA population density (total area population divided by land area in square miles) is 76.
    European counties have populations of over 500 people per square mile.
    For “my research” I chose 150 to 200 people per square mile (since we do have some deserts!)
    I consider this to be a reasonable figure since several states in the Northeast USA have population densities of more than a 1,000 right now, and they have not fallen to chaos. The Northeast is one of the richest parts of the country.
    You want dialog, ProCon?
    What are your arguments for closing the borders? You think our population density is too much at 76 people per square mile?
    Can you provide data, concrete and accessible numbers anyone can understand?

  786. asoka March 20, 2011 at 11:30 pm #

    ProCon, it is easy for you and I to throw out numbers. Reality will happen regardless of what numbers we choose.
    And my view is supportive of the current reality of actual immigration.
    Immigration (legal and illegal) will not be stopped. That is reality.
    Your, and Tripp’s, numbers are not real. It is a pipe dream to think the USA is going back to 100 million residents. You need to get real.

  787. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 11:30 pm #

    “You think our population density is too much at 76 people per square mile?”
    -a-
    Yes.
    “Can you provide data, concrete and accessible numbers anyone can understand?”
    -a-
    Yes.
    http://www.harpers.org/archive/2004/02/0079915

  788. asoka March 20, 2011 at 11:38 pm #

    Do you know the difference between numbers and a URL without numbers?
    The Harpers article was an interesting read, but nowhere does it say what the optimal USA population density should be. The article provides zero support for your saying 76 per square mile is too much.

  789. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 11:43 pm #

    “Your, and Tripp’s, numbers are not real. It is a pipe dream to think the USA is going back to 100 million residents. You need to get real”
    -a-
    You are confusing fantasy, pipe dreams, and reality, a. Tripp, JHK, and many others foresee a dramatic population collapse for the US. This collapse may take populations UNDER 100,000,000 for North America.
    The higher the population prior to collapse, the worse the effects of the collapse.

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  790. trippticket March 20, 2011 at 11:44 pm #

    “Your, and Tripp’s, numbers are not real. It is a pipe dream to think the USA is going back to 100 million residents. You need to get real.”
    If we come to a place where we have to live on the resources of this continent alone, without unsustainably mining/raping the lands/waters of the people who would now like to get back in touch with their former resources (i.e. your immigrants), then we will be lucky to support half that many.
    Soak, you’re not thinking about background carrying capacities here. You’re only considering this from a fossil energy perspective. Sure we could support more than 300 million folks in the U.S., way more, but not without cheap energy. And even then the system would ultimately break down.
    And if you’re trying to convince me that we will have more and more cheap energy to make this work, then you should go talk to Old8M, because that’s not an argument I want any part of.

  791. progressorconserve March 20, 2011 at 11:45 pm #

    “The article provides zero support for your saying 76 per square mile is too much.”
    -a-
    You need to read it again. And you need to learn to make inferences.

  792. asoka March 20, 2011 at 11:49 pm #

    Norway has committed six F-16 jet fighters and Belgium eight F-16s, a frigate and 200 military personnel.

  793. asoka March 20, 2011 at 11:54 pm #

    Asoka: “”Can you provide data, concrete and accessible numbers anyone can understand?”
    ===========
    ProCon: Yes.
    ==========
    ProCon, you need to follow through on your promises.
    Providing a URL and then saying “you need to learn to make inferences” is not providing data.

  794. asoka March 21, 2011 at 12:03 am #

    Tripp said: “If we come to a place where we have to live on the resources of this continent alone…”
    ============
    Tripp, I shouldn’t have to tell you this, but a continent is a large landmass. We are on the NORTH AMERICAN continent: Canada, United States, and Mexico.
    I dispute your assertion that we cannot live on the resources of our continent.

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  795. trippticket March 21, 2011 at 12:12 am #

    In a more normal Trippticket post…he might ramble on about how self-reliance in his household took a major step forward today.
    We have a dairy cow!! She’s a 3 year old Jersey named Anna who lost her calf to breach labor a month ago, but has been milked every day since. I milked her today, my first time ever, and I am QUITE THE AMATEUR! But we got nothing but time to get good at it.
    If push came to shove, my family of four could actually live on her daily milk offering. (Never mind the rabbits and eggs, the 40 fruit trees, 20 nut trees, 30 blueberries, dozens of blackberries, 100 bulbs of garlic, 300 onions, 250 lbs of potatoes, 100 lbs of sweet potatoes, sacks of beans, and quarter ton of winter squashes (roughly) I have growing;) She gives about a gallon and a half to 2 gallons, milking once a day, 10-15 gallons a week. And that raw Jersey milk is creamy and delicious! I think I’m jealous of myself for having such milk in my fridge.
    We’ll be making butter, sour cream, yogurt, kefir, ice cream, and lots of cheeses fairly soon. We’ve been practising whenever we can pick up a jug of raw milk here lately.
    From an ecological systems perspective, we added 6 acres of the most efficient solar panels known to man to our operations today. I.E. for $75 in transport costs, we brought a cow in to convert 6 acres of inedible, but very efficient, solar-power-harvesting grasses and pulses into rich, mineral-dense, enzymatically-active human food.
    It was a long day, but that was a HUGE addition to the Garden…

  796. progressorconserve March 21, 2011 at 12:17 am #

    “ProCon, you need to follow through on your promises.”
    -a-
    a, you need to learn the difference in a simple affirmative answer, “Yes, I can provide data,” and a “promise” to provide such data.
    Still, my contention that the US is already overpopulated is an easy one to support.
    Check this out.
    http://dieoff.org/page40.htm
    Asoka, still waiting for some site, somewhere, that will show how the US can support 550,000,000 mouths – without using fossil fuels.
    Tripp – sorry I got you into this. You want to make the world a better place. Asoka wants to argue and impede. If you stay up too late arguing, you won’t have the energy to make the world a better place, tomorrow.
    That’s awesome about the cow – and the way your place is coming along for you!
    I’m done for now.

  797. trippticket March 21, 2011 at 12:24 am #

    “I dispute your assertion that we cannot live on the resources of our continent.”
    Take it up with Jared Diamond, who would tell you that MAYBE 50 million American aborigines made a living off of this land mass, and that they had both a far more expansive knowledge of food plants and animals, and a much lower energy demand than anyone alive in the U.S. today.
    Maybe you could explain to him how half a billion WalMart-shopping, McDonald’s-cramming, Nintendo-playing half-brain-dead morons who couldn’t tell you whether peanuts grow on a tree or underground could out-perform and out-conserve those 50 million hunter-gatherers. Without access to cheap fossil energy and the resources of other peoples. I’d be fascinated to hear how that works too.

  798. Qshtik March 21, 2011 at 12:39 am #

    Norway has committed six F-16 jet fighters and Belgium eight F-16s, a frigate and 200 military personnel.
    =====================
    Asoka, not only have you NOT uttered a negative word about Obama having inserted the US in a third war but the sentence above from a recent post sounds almost joyful.
    I know all about you being “large” and about “foolish consistency” and such but your faithless turn from pacifism is astonishing even for the likes of you.

  799. rippedthunder March 21, 2011 at 12:54 am #

    I think the quote was. Ahh “Grasshopper, If everyone carries a toothpick, No one will have to carry the log!”

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  800. asoka March 21, 2011 at 12:55 am #

    Asoka said: “Norway has committed six F-16 jet fighters and Belgium eight F-16s, a frigate and 200 military personnel.”
    =========
    Q said: “your faithless turn from pacifism is astonishing even for the likes of you.”
    =========
    Q., I did not “turn from pacifism” … I simply communicated a fact without saying if I agree or disagree. You are jumping to conclusions.

  801. Buck Stud March 21, 2011 at 1:18 am #

    When one American industry after another welcomes cheap labor by hiring them, the term “illegal” is punctuated with a wink of an eye. In fact, it’s an unspoken invitation. I have known many people from Mexico, and almost to a person they one day hope to return to their own country. Whether or not this ever happens is another matter altogether. But since they are here, invited if you will, then stop with the counter-productive pretensions such as banning in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants. That practice is an education disincentive which punishes the innocent and conscientious student.
    If I were King, extremely high achieving students of immigrant parents would earn citizenship for their immediate family. That would be a win-win in comparison to the floundering state of current immigration affairs.

  802. asoka March 21, 2011 at 1:54 am #

    Tripp said: “Maybe you could explain to him [Jared Diamond] how half a billion WalMart-shopping, McDonald’s-cramming, Nintendo-playing…”
    =======
    Tripp, you are setting up a straw man, jumping to conclusions, and insulting me, all in one fell swoop.
    I have made my position very clear that I am in favor of reducing global population and eliminating national borders.
    I have made my position clear (and I am walking my talk), that we all need to use less energy and embrace voluntary simplicity and live in small houses (even if they are not adobe huts) and practice permaculture.
    You are setting me against Jared Diamond, as if I am going to defend current levels of consumption, while ignoring my work here for the last several years.
    Tripp, I was preaching permaculture before you made your first post on CFN. I had a vasectomy to make sure I did not contribute to resource depletion and environmental contamination, probably before you were even born. You are still having kids. You had your tubes cut yet?
    I do not allow cold calculations of energy and population dynamics to turn my heart against immigrants. I support population control on a global scale, especially among white middle class North American consumers who are consuming many times more than most of the world. I do not support slamming the door in anyone’s face when it comes to immigration.
    Of all people posting here on CFN, I would expect scientists like you and ProCon to understand that when it comes to carrying capacity, the human-environment link is full of multi-layered processes. I would hope that neither of you would engage in “blame-the-victim” arguments directed at immigrants.
    Both you and ProCon seem to be operating on this assumption: more people mean fewer resources.
    What you may not be taking into account is the resilience of human beings, demonstrated over time by evidence of the ability of humans to change, and to adapt.
    I apologize if that statement offends the mathematical sensibilities of your theoretical models. We are humans, not plankton. (no offense intended to plankton either; that was an inside joke: see Jared Diamond’s article: Distributional ecology of New Guinea birds. … The paradox of the plankton, in American Naturalist, vol. 95, 1973)
    Carrying capacity is not fixed. Carrying capacity can change because relationships between humans and their ecological settings can change.
    As for Jared Diamond, since you seem to want me to address him and not you, my criticism would be the same for his take on carrying capacity. His position is weak to the extent that Diamond makes an assumption of an equilibrium: that more people mean fewer resources. And I’m not talking about trillions of skyscrapers on Mars here.
    I’m talking about the fact that human populations can increase local biodiversity simply through their presence on the land (your life is my evidence for this assertion, Tripp), challenging the long-held assumptions that human habitation necessarily leads to deforestation and decreasing biodiversity.
    In any event, carrying capacity calculation depend upon data not easily obtained, data that is elastic, such as the measurement of food resources. How do you classify plants that could be eaten, but usually are not eaten? How do we include plants that appear on the landscape irregularly, over longer time periods than twelvemonth cycles? Do we privilege caloric values over nutritional values (i.e., cassava versus beans)?
    Carrying capacity as a concept is also unable to account for human preference in taste and labor expenditure and carrying capacity does not even address the issue of standard of living.
    For example, population biologists (and their computer simulations) cannot explain why one group of people will eat flying termites, while their neighbors in the same ecological niche refuse. The reasons are complex, involving world views, historical processes, and other cultural phenomena that give food meaning.
    Carrying capacity is an ahistorical view of a process that in fact fluctuates in short- and long-term time frames. Making statements about carrying capacity should be done with abundant caution.
    Neither Jared Diamond, nor you, nor ProCon can create a carrying capacity equation that provides clearly defined measurements that successfully
    account for the significant, unpredictable variation found in any region large enough to support a local human population.

  803. asoka March 21, 2011 at 2:10 am #

    Q said: “Asoka, not only have you NOT uttered a negative word about Obama having inserted the US in a third war…”
    =======
    Q, I got tired of using capital letters, screaming at the top of my lungs on CFN, that Obama should be prosecuted as a war criminal for the drone bombings in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
    Now we attack Libya, and because I have not “uttered a negative word,” you think I am suddenly enamored of Obama’s foreign policy?
    This time (as opposed to my recent posts to ProCon and Tripp), I am requesting that you please, please, please, jump to the conclusion, the correct conclusion, that if Asoka is opposed to all war, as he has repeatedly stated, if Asoka has never in the history of CFN said anything pro-war, if Asoka has repeatedly quoted the prophet of nonviolence, Martin Luther King, if Asoka has vociferously opposed Obama on multiple occasions with regard to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, then it is reasonable to jump to the conclusion that Asoka does not support Obama’s decision to gin up an international campaign, using the UN for cover, to war against Libya and to kill many innocent Muslims (may Allah have mercy on their souls).
    I jump to the conclusion that you were wanting to play “gotcha” with my silence, and try to make it seem I am being “inconsistent.”
    Thanks for playing.

  804. k-dog March 21, 2011 at 2:14 am #

    I picked up a copy of “COLLAPSE” by Jared Diamond a few days ago at my favorite used bookstore. I have not read it yet but just watched a Documentary based on it on demand via Netflix.
    A major contributor on the flick is none other than James Howard Kunstler and I recommend all the faithful and everyone else watch it.
    If Asoka watches it he won’t be saying the US can support 750,000,000 people, I’m sure of that.
    **************************************************
    Concerning the oil wars here is an interesting view.
    Farrakhan warns, advises Obama on Libya
    A view the k-dog supports.

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  805. asoka March 21, 2011 at 2:17 am #

    Asoka said: “to kill many innocent Muslims (may Allah have mercy on their souls).”
    ============
    And don’t be surprised (though I hope it doesn’t happen), if we suffer some “blowback” on USA soil for our foolish and criminal war making.
    As it says in the Bible: what goes around comes around … (you reap what you sow) and we are sowing a lot of violence.
    SOURCE: The Holy Bible, Galatians VI (King James Version): Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

  806. asoka March 21, 2011 at 2:33 am #

    In this specific anti-war video statement, I also support Minister Farrakhan. I don’t support his apparent satisfaction in noting, later in the video, the existence of white militias in the USA “rising up in anger” and the prospect of America being “bathed in blood” from the white militias.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY-_JsNrxiM
    I condemn terrorism and the use of bombs.
    War is terrorism.
    Thanks, k-dog.

  807. asoka March 21, 2011 at 2:34 am #

    Last!

  808. k-dog March 21, 2011 at 2:42 am #

    I too condemn terrorism and war. May peace and brotherhood prevail.

  809. asoka March 21, 2011 at 2:42 am #

    orionoir said: “fearless predictions: this week’s comments won’t top 600…”
    =======
    806 and counting orionoir …
    Now, LAST!
    For Sunday, anyway.

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  810. asoka March 21, 2011 at 2:45 am #

    k-dog, I am glad we agree on this. So many resources, both human and economic, are wasted on war.
    It is so easy to get people to go along with wars nowadays. Libya was like a Friday afternoon news dump. Oh, by the way, we are attacking Libya. Yawn.
    People seem to enjoy watching the fireworks, as if dropping bombs on people is some kind of a display of righteous power. NOT.

  811. asoka March 21, 2011 at 2:58 am #

    Q: How do you know if you are rich, middle class or poor in America?
    A: When you go to work, if your name is on the building — you’re rich; if your name is on an office door — you’re middle class; if your name is on your shirt — you’re poor…and, if someone else’s name is on your hand-me-down work shirt.
    –Joe Bageant
    http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2011/03/some-fight-back.html
    Joe Bageant says: “we deny the one truth held in common by every enlightened civilization: we are our brother’s keepers.”
    I want to extend that sense of brotherhood to Mexican immigrants and Muslim immigrants, also, because they, and all immigrants, have much to contribute to our civilization.

  812. asoka March 21, 2011 at 3:02 am #

    ROCK ME ON THE WATER (Jackson Browne)
    Oh people, look around you
    The signs are everywhere
    You’ve left it for somebody other than you
    To be the one to care
    You’re lost inside your houses
    There’s no time to find you now
    Your walls are burning and your towers are turning
    I’m going to leave you here and try to get down to the sea somehow
    The road is filled with homeless souls
    Every woman, child and man
    Who have no idea where they will go
    But they’ll help you if they can
    Now everyone must have some thought
    That’s going to pull them through somehow
    Well the fires are raging hotter and hotter
    But the sisters of the sun are going to rock me on the water now
    Rock me on the water
    Sister will you soothe my fevered brow
    Rock me on the water
    I’ll get down to the sea somehow
    Oh people, look among you
    It’s there your hope must lie
    There’s a sea bird above you
    Gliding in one place like Jesus in the sky
    We all must do the best we can
    And then hang on to that Gospel plow
    When my life is over, I’m going to stand before the Father
    But the sisters of the sun are going to rock me on the water now
    Rock me on the water
    Sister will you soothe my fevered brow
    Rock me on the water, maybe I’ll remember
    Maybe I’ll remember how
    Rock me on the water
    The wind is with me now
    So rock me on the water
    I’ll get down to the sea somehow

  813. asoka March 21, 2011 at 3:03 am #

    Last!

  814. turkle March 21, 2011 at 3:43 am #

    People speak different languages and have differing cultures. Get over it. It isn’t some epic tragedy or catastrophe. Viva la difference.

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  815. rippedthunder March 21, 2011 at 7:32 am #

    Sorry Asoka, realize that you you can never get the last word in. just a quick question. What do you use for a roof structure and waterproof membrane on your adobe constructions? LAST!

  816. progressorconserve March 21, 2011 at 7:44 am #

    “People speak different languages and have differing cultures. Get over it. It isn’t some epic tragedy or catastrophe. Viva la difference.”
    -turkle- to CaptSpaulding
    True enough, Turkle. But what’s left of the American “melting pot” turns everyone who lives here into a profligate US-class consumer of resources.
    ===========
    My thanks to asoka, last night, for illustrating the vision that Free American Market Capitalism (aka TPTP or the Elite) is bringing to these shores.
    550,000,000+ ‘Mericans will inevitably live in grinding poverty and soul destroying homogeneity of lifestyle and diet. They will inevitably live packed in cities in the fashion of Calcutta – but with a frayed multicultural facade layered on top – and “protected” by the Patriot Act, or something worse.
    They will be assisted and/or preyed upon by a tiny aristocratic elite – in which latter group I will now endeavor to place my great grandchildren.
    Not a pretty vision – high American population –
    But a likely Fate.
    ————–
    Wish I had better news.
    Have a great Monday, CFN!

  817. progressorconserve March 21, 2011 at 7:56 am #

    Should have been:
    TPTB
    American Free Market Capitalism
    And RT – sorry about that, man. The human desire to be on the top of the heap, or FIRST!, is built into the human gene pool.
    So, apparently, is the desire to race to the bottom.
    Last!?
    Not me – I hope.

  818. jonabark March 21, 2011 at 11:12 am #

    Kunstler is a well-informed but mean-spirited writer who thrives on a false sense of moral superiority and a heavy dose of racism/cultural elitism directed at Iranians, Arabs , African “Savages”, “Corn Pone Nazis”, anyone who thinks Israel is an apartheid state engaged in genocide and anyone who likes architecture that he doesn’t like. I have been reading this blog too long with increasing cringe. A lot of you people sound like the Peak Oil Version of Glenn Beck. Kunstler is also a hypocrite, flying around the globe spewing carbon and not exactly slender for a guy who is always on about fat folk. His hard core support for the mass murder in Iraq tells too much about where he is really at. He may not like corn-pone Nazis , but he is OK with real fascist blitzkriegs that kill hundreds of thousands and leave a nation in complete chaos. I agree that we are headed for a huge contraction and his views on peak oil and the recent banking fiasco are well developed. But there are people who write more thoroughly and informatively on all these topics. Heinberg , Klare, Nicole Foss on energy and Matt Taibbi Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, and Nicole Foss on the ecoomy are my favorites though there are many. Reading them doesn’t require one to wade through the racist (primarily anti Islamic) crap and hunger for vengeance Kunstler invokes. I read the Clusterfuck column less frequently and have been documenting my disagreements in a respectful way. but I have lost most of my respect. The blog has become weirder and more saturated with a spirit of vitriol and self righteousness. The anger and put downs are too rife in cyberspace . The troubles we have foreseen are upon us. Global warming, the unsustainable dangers of Nuclear Power, resource wars, and economic meltdown. Deliberative alternative thinking is in order.
    What you have in Kunstler is an angry aging erudite smart-ass who fantasizes about rescuing young women from fires and having them crawl into his bed. Good luck with that. I won’t be buying the follow up novel, despite the wonderful scenes of torture and pistol-to-the-head justice. How are these fantasy criminals different from the criminals who work for Bush and Obama, Mubarak, the King of Saudi Arabia, Putin or any other global bullies. Except that the Bush Obama criminal soldiers break into homes at night and kill Women and children for fucking American political bullshit., or just drop bombs on them or gun them down from airplanes because Neo-Con, neo – criminals think it is a good tactic.. How are his fantasy criminals different from the Israelis who did the same in Gaza?
    So if you are cool with all this, then keep fondling Jim Kunstler’s ego; I will be finding other things to do.