JHK’s Three-Act Play
Days after the Tucson shooting, President Obama rode into town on a gooey gel of good will, but by the time the memorial service – or whatever it was – got underway, the president looked rather ill-at-ease. His speech was preceded by several others, including, for promotional purposes, the President of the University of Arizona, which hosted the event, a diversity infomercial in the person of a Native American shaman, the pert student government leader, a current and former governor, and the Attorney General of the US. The gooey gel couldn’t contain the crowd, which more than a few times broke out in whoops and cheers.
The only kind of ritual that Americans seem to understand these days is an award ceremony, and that’s what the Tucson event most resembled: a fete of congratulation and warm therapeutic self-affirmation. In the aftermath of yet another horrifying milestone event that changes nothing about how we live or what we do, comes the warm soothing anesthetic gel of okay-ness. I know a lot of people felt uplifted by Mr. Obama’s remarks. I give him points for venturing out to that politically toxic city (if that’s what the agglomeration of strip malls actually is). What he said struck me as not just lacking in an original thought, but filled with something like pre-owned sentiment.
And Mr. Obama looked less than comfortable through the whole gruesome show, as though he sensed there was something off about the vibe in arena, with all its photo-op immediacy that will fade into the cavalcade of a zillion preceding it and countless more yet to come. It all made me wonder: what is the difference exactly between trying to comfort people and making them comfortable? It’s normal to want to comfort people who have suffered. But I’m not persuaded that the American public beyond the McKale Memorial Center deserves to feel comfortable about how they are and what they’re doing at this moment in history. To me, the ceremony was short on solemnity and decorum, the willingness to suspend comfort for a little while in order to recognize that what happened at the Safeway supermarket was not okay. Even the official moment of silence near the end was too brief, as though they were trying to spare the crowd too much self-reflection.
I wasn’t the only person in this country who felt a little jarred by the strange proceedings. As they wound down and the cameras followed Mr. Obama milling with the crowd, CNN’s anchor, John King came on air with a hastily-constructed narrative designed to explain all the hooting and hollering. His thesis was that the local folks of Tucson had been so emotionally squashed for five days that they just had to let it all hang out. This struck me as something between an excuse and a cockamamie story to paper over the awkward question: how come we don’t know how to act in the face of tragedy?
Of course, we don’t know how to act in the face of reality, either, by which I mean politics, our means for contending with reality. So much of the Tucson story was whether there is any remaining shred of something like common purpose between the opposing political wings and the answer resolving out of all the grief and soothing gel is no. Common purpose is AWOL in our politics lately because whatever terrain of the issues is not occupied by sheer lying is filled by cowardice and ignorance. We lie to ourselves incessantly about the nation’s financial condition. We’ve suspended both the rules of accounting and the rule of law in banking matters (lying). We’re too frightened to go into the vaults and find out exactly how much we’ve swindled ourselves (cowardice). And we aggressively misunderstand issues that will shape our future, such as how much oil is really in the ground, and how long people will be able to live in places like Tucson the way they do (ignorance) – all of this prompting us to march off the edge of a political cliff where we hang today, the cartoon coyote of nations, undone by our Acme techno-fantasies.
Discomfort is probably the only thing that will avail to alter this pattern of behavior. For the moment we have no idea where we’re going, what we’re doing, or who will take us to the next era where life will be very different. It could easily be some loutish spawn of Limbaugh and Beck, stepping in to push around a land full of lost souls desperate to be told what to do after years of forgetting how to do anything. All of Mr. Obama’s earnest, gel-like warmth does not conceal the astounding corruption of the Democratic party and the surrender of progressivism to anything that smells like money (in the immortal words of Matt Taibbi).
The Tucson shooting displaced two important political stories last week. 1.) the sentencing of former House Majority Leader Tom Delay to three years in prison for money mischief, and 2.) the appointment of JP Morgan executive William Daley as White House Chief of Staff. Both of these stories tell us as much about ourselves as the lethal antics of Jared Lee Loughner, but nobody paid attention.
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First!
Jimbo! Entertaining as usual. Things are changing fast and the turbulence is scary, but it is also fun, and for those who try to live morally and outwit the madding crowds, opportunity abounds.
The Nothing Store
It is really time to get the body in shape, calm the mind, and be ready to adapt to the coming changes. Even if you are ready for it you are going to need a good bit of luck to see you through.
http://wanderingsagewisdom.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-deal-with-changing-world.html
I still have to read Jim’s essay, for this week, in a careful way. I just wanted to quickly mention that he often invokes imagery, phrases, motifs etc of the French Revolution era. Probably because I have been reading the essays and posts here, I now think of various current political and corporate figures when I hear the lyrics to this Coldplay song (which I suspect was written, in part, with the French Rev in mind). Especially the lyrics “never an honest word… but that was when I ruled the world.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE&ob=av2nm
Everybody needs to chill. The next generation of internet cell phones will save us all !!!!!!
There is and always has been a big upside to living morally, even through the toughest of times.
I agree with ZEN17…not much to do except get the body and mind tuned up for the coming challenges. Also, start spending time doing things that matter…like spending time together with family and friend, gardening and, above all, being kind to people…particularly strangers.
Jim correctly identifies here a perfect example of how America can no longer stomach anything other than an awards ceremony.
This state of affairs truly reflects how dysfunctional our mainstream society has become.
All the more reason if we haven’t already, to switch our focus and allegiance to local matters and universal concerns such as food, clothing, and shelter security.
We’d be foolish to believe we’re ever again going to get a coherent narrative out of Washington D.C.
Jim, I know this story is newsworthy in a mainstream, car-wreck rubbernecking sort of way. The partisan politics that may or may not be involved in what happened in Tuscon and the reactions to it are not going to save us from the quickly-accumulating global disasters. The big collapse-oriented news in my little world was the floods and the fact that ABC News finally admitted that climate change is actually rocking the planet. Peru’s glaciers have retreated so much that they need $350 million a year for a decade to come in order to prevent their population from becoming a thirsty diaspora in our own comfy-for-now hemisphere. In November CBC (Canada’s NPR) broadcast a week-long Ideas fictional series that was built around a peak oil apocalypse where conflict at an OPEC meeting precipitated a $900-a-barrel oil price. Two of the characters had met on a site kinda like this one. How are we preparing for all this looming doom? Walkable cities connected by trains don’t have time to happen! Why aren’t you talking about this?
Lynn
http://www.10in10diet.com/
For a small footprint and a small grocery bill
JHK said: “the sentencing of former House Majority Leader Tom Delay to three years in prison for money mischief”
I doubt Tom Delay will serve a day in prison, unless it’s one with tennis courts where convicted congresspeople are sent.
He refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing, and is free on bail during his appeal.
So why is it that we don’t know how to act in the face of tragedy or reality?
Perhaps, in part, it’s because the people some have elected to represent us in Congress have refused to come out and state in plain simple terms what their agenda truly is: mainly to consign the vast majority of us to abject poverty. Rather than craft a simple elegant message that would state as such, they’ve collectively chosen to hide behind bizarre statements that defy both logic and truth.
http://www.gwabert.com/
I went to a Real Estate open house yesterday. The place was packed with people. I was surprised by the turnout. The house was a 4 bedroom 2 bath house in a decent suburb of Long Island.
The price was $479k. Taxes 11k per year. I asked the Realtor what a similar house would rent for. She said between $1800 and $2500.
I asked why I would buy when I could rent for so much less per month. Her answer was that I wouldn’t have any of the benefits of owning.
Benefits… right.
It’s still a fantasy world out there folks.
Aimlow Joe was here.
http://www.aimow.com
Straight on, incisive piece this week. Less metaphor and more meat, which leaves me satisfied!
Interesting to note just how much of “what we are,” transpires on television — and how, essentially (as Jim alludes to) these events become just one more in a long line of “made for TV movies.”
Let’s face it. Unless you personally knew the people involved in the shooting, you really shouldn’t be mourning for them or embracing the grief as if you did. Did you mourn for the people murdered in your city or town yesterday? Not bloody likely. If you did, you’d be in a constant state of mourning.
No, these TV events are narcissistic theater. The Roman’s couldn’t do it any better.
A study of contrasts here, the Suzy Soccer Mom cult of niceness gathered in what next to Alaska is our most masculine enviroment, the American Southwest desert. Thank you 20 million barrels per day of oil usage.
The future of Tuscon has already been written by Ed Abbey in his book “Good News”, so don’t even bother going there JHK.
JHK sez:
“Discomfort is probably the only thing that will avail to alter this pattern of behavior. For the moment we have no idea were we’re going, what we’re doing, or who will take us to the next era where life will be very different. It could easily be some loutish spawn of Limbaugh and Beck, stepping in to push around a land full of lost souls desperate to be told what to do after years of forgetting how to do anything. All of Mr. Obama’s earnest, gel-like warmth does not conceal the astounding corruption of the Democratic party and the surrender of progressivism to anything that smells like money (in the immortal words of Matt Taibbi)”.
BINGO! Great distillation of our state of hapless self-delusion.
Absolutely true; discomfort and desperation are the behavior-changers of the first water. I’ve seen it and believe it to the very darkest depths of my being. Altruism is well and good, but it can always be ARGUED! Catastrophic reality cannot. Political thought is suspended until the belly is full.
Just in case you didn’t get the memo: JHK is warning you against WISHFUL THINKING and FAKE SENTIMENT! (…but I’m hoping you knew that…)
Aside:
“Baby Doc” is back; don’t you think that ties in nicely?
The hoi polloi clapping after the national anthem (which is not an entertainment performance, by definition) is another example of national social ignorance…I don’t think East Coast Establishment solemnity really exists in this country anymore.
Still, we have more pressing problems than to critique a imminently forgettable memorial service…
there is some comfort that the Prez wrote his speech and delivered in such a tone that suggested he understood its meaning as opposed to sarah palin’s read speech that she didn’t write or understand. do you think our well read former governor and back court star understood the meaning of BLOOD LIBEL? is that in her daily usage? And yes, discomfort is the only motivating force, all the rest is abstraction which may be denied
People clap after the national anthem when they go to a football game — and they are so clueless that they don’t see the difference between a solemn event and a gladiators bout.
Pretty soon they’ll be tailgating before funerals…if they aren’t already.
Pilt
“how come we don’t know how to act in the face of tragedy?”
This is a nation where folks crack jokes near the casket in the funeral home, in pathetic attempts to dodge the ultimate reality in the land of constant consumption: that Donald Trump’s corpse is not one bit better than mine or yours.
In my childhood, paid mourners came to some ethnic funerals, and they wailed and moaned to remind us that some business HAD to be serious. No hoots or hollers permitted.
Bigger tragedies might shock us into reality for more than a few days, but if 9/11 didn’t do that, I don’t know what might. In fact, 9/11 did quite the opposite, with people telling me at the start of the Iraq fiasco that the tanks would only have to “pivot left” and take out Syria before turning around and “cleaning out” Iran. I could almost see W with a set of Risk in the Oval Office.
We’ll keep whistling in the dark in this land, and wishing upon stars, until the lights really go out.
Progorcons,
I feel very much the same about you, and I appreciate your kind words and thoughts. I may lapse into a harsher voice in this post, but it is the voice of “tough love”, as it were.
Think of it as bluntness in a time when it’s pretty much too late for anything else (and too late for bluntness, if the truth be told), but my respect for you remains as high as ever.
We ARE very much alike, Progorcons. There is one major difference, IMHO, aside from our Civil War disagreement.
You are a much more typical Liberal than I.
A Liberal, it is said today, is a man who won’t even take his own side in a fight.
I might add my own: A Liberal is a man who is so interested in intellectual analysis and fairness, that he doesn’t even have enough common sense to know a Nazi is mendacious and full-of-shit by his very philosophy or core nature.
The example of 80 years ago not enough, eh? I understand, PoC, you just want to be FAIR to everyone, even Nazis.
How very typically Liberal of you.
Another one I just made up: A Liberal is a man who is trying so hard to be nice and fair, that he will set the table for the cannibalistic feast in which he is the main course.
You want me to engage in discussions about “RW Conspiracies”? But as we’ve discussed before, I also think much of the LW is partially or fully complicit, as well. RW Nazis vs. Liberal German Social Democrats all over again, right up to the meter, tone, and style of RW Authoritarian calumnies against the Left.
You think there weren’t people like me in Weimar, who threw up their hands in disgust and said, “Liberals and Juden are such frightened mice, they are even afraid to help themselves and would rather point fingers at those who would try to help them or examine their navels, than go against the scary RW Nazis and maybe get hurt or killed.”
There were people like me in Weimar. A lot of them, in an agony of self-recrimination because of it, but with no other choice other than to keep beating their head against a brick wall. Now I’m that guy, too. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Have you read the link below yet? You should. It is significant to our conversations and the current sociopolitical structure of our nation.
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/journailleluegt.htm
In the end, Right and Left ARE nonsensical distinctions. The real fight is Authoritarianism versus Liberalism/Libertarianism. Not the current kind of Cable TV Libertarianism, consisting mostly of Authoritarians who smoke pot, but the actual kind from history books.
In LW Authoritarian nations, Liberalism is on the Right. In RW Authoritarian nations, like what was once the USA, Liberalism lies on the Left. This is not by accident, but as a reflection of the reality of the true situation.
Which is why Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, and the rest of the RW Lie Machine try to obscure reality, history, and linguistics…just as Orwell described, to keep these and other basic historical concepts from entering the National Dialog or National Mind.
How can I be loyal to the concept of Left when, if I had been born in 1970 Russia with the identical views, I would have been considered Right-Wing? I keep telling you that I don’t know WHY specifically these things happen, and any speculations as to why diminish my credibility. Lately, I describe results only, leaving the speculation to the Lizards, and fuck credibility. Beck and the rest of the RW Lie Machine doesn’t need any to be a whopping success, why should I?
I don’t know how many times I have to say “I don’t know why” to you before you stop trying to engage me in a pointless speculative debate about why I think things are as they are. They just are, friend PoC.
They just are. And I am tired of wondering why.
At this point, I am more content by the day to simply note results and forget about the why. The Lizards are responsible for it all, anyway.
Lenin called Liberals “Useful Idiots”. This is a belief commonly held by Authoritarians, Left and Right. During certain periods in histry’s endlessly repeating cycles, this is much truer than at other times.
Now is one of those times. You may decry my description of you as Liberal.
But, as I would have told you if we were having this discussion in the Hofbrauhaus in Munich 1934, what you are in a county like this is not what you think of yourself, but what the Nazis/RW Authoritarians THINK you are.
And to them, you are a typical Liberal, worthy only of either being used or disappeared. But you are so busy trying to be level-headed and fair (which most of the time is a good thing), you can’t or won’t see this.
A comic tragedy, but not a unique tragedy, not by any means.
=======================================
Even IF what you and Cartman seem to agree on regarding the Civil War were 100% true, can you really say a Reb Victory would have been good for humanity?
Slavery continuing in victory, white supremacy continuing in victory, and Good God, did you forget turning over the keys to the country to the Becks, Gingriches and Hannities a FULL CENTURY + before they otherwise would have had it?
Cannot Neoconfederate Beck-Hannity-Limbaugh ignorance and arrogance of today be multiplied 1000 times, had the Hannities and Becks and Cartmans won the Civil War?
I might argue that, no matter who won the Civil War, the flawed human species was doomed to extinction even back then, but ending slavery and defeating Hannity in 1865 sure made the Titanic ride less full of injustice and suffering than it otherwise would have been, no matter what other side effects arose becuse of it.
Do side-effects matter when a patient is already known to be terminal? One might argue that, for our terminal nation and species, it was more important we be kept as comfortable as possible while dying. Think of our Liberal Victory in the Civil War in that way, if it helps.
If you decry what the NeoConfederate RW has done to our nation and discourse today, then I cannot see how you cling to the idea that it would have been a good thing if these same people had taken control so long ago and in total victory.
If you disbelieve my premise, please do some reading of Southern Newspapers, circa 1866-1970. This will give you a much deeper understanding of where Fox News REALLY came from.
Why anyone watches television is beyond me. I’ve done without cable/satellite/broadcast TV for decades and I miss nothing, certainly not another bromide delivered by the Herbert Hoover of the 21st century. Awareness is shifting but it’s not on televison or in Congress. It’s among the people and change will be pushed from below not led from above, for good or ill. Writing an essay about what didn’t happen on television is a waste of a Monday morning. Happily there will be another Monday morning coming up soon.
Conch –
But because you don’t watch, that doesn’t obviate the fact that a massive amount of people not only DO watch, but watch almost obsessively. The television industry, which fell on its collective ass after the car companies stopped advertising 2 years ago, is back and more profitable than ever. This despite supposed competition from other distractions such as phones and tablets and games. TV is how ideas are communicated to the masses. It’s a grand one-way funnel of crap pouring into their collective minds each day.
I wish for people to disconnect, turn off their cable service and alter their awareness, but I don’t have your faith that they can pry themselves away from that blue glow — now in high definition and 3D!
I suppose it would have been much better for Obama to have simply skipped the memorial event and gone to some big-money D.C. political fundraiser, as did John Boehner.
Or, Obama could have tried to turn himself into the true victim of this tragic turn of events, as Sarah “Look at Me” Palin did.
Indeed. The right-wing blogosphere was pretty damn quick to recognize and shower their words of comfort upon the true victims of this Tucson tragedy: each other.
So it goes. At least Obama showed up for the ceremony. Along with some 50,000 Tusconians. It’s a start.
I just hope we don’t over-react to the tragedy in Tuscon and start restricting the rights of mentally-unstable persons to purchase automatic weapons and 30-round clips.
Jim writes, “President Obama rode into town..” In my mind I see the prez on his steed, smoking a Marlboro, on a cell phone, leading a remake of BLAZING SADDLES. Joe Biden can play Headly Lamarr with Sarah Palin as Lily Von Schtupp. All we need is the governor of New Jersey to agree to pay Mongo, in exchange for a federal bailout of the garden state.
Make no mistake, many of those hooting and hollering were attempting to attract the TV camera so they could then do their own momentary version of the end zone victory dance. These attention seekers probably were recording the very event they were attending to “mourn” in the hopes of having enough text-message and FB material for the next year. In short, “paying their respect” to the cult of spectacle and instant celebrity.
There is a good article in the NYT on the twilight of the oil age titled The Will To Drill:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/magazine/16Drilling-t.html
The tone is refreshingly frank regarding the future prospects of oil. Geophysicists (or at least some of them) are facing Reality (with a capital R) – that there is hardly anywhere left on the planet that has not already been explored for oil. And an admission that any oil found now is going to be very difficult and costly to get and very risky. A blowout three miles under the ocean surface is going to be near impossible to stop. And there is a frank admission that we have passed peak oil and that the twilight of the oil age is upon us. Never thought I would read something this frank in the NYT.
The appointment of Daley deserves its own column.
It’s no wonder Daley would be appointed Chief of Staff, because he is the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, to whom Obama “owes” a few things. Daley also served in the Clinton administration, and his appointment there, too, was a nod to Chicago’s royal family.
That’s surely the only reason he was at JP Morgan to begin with, so he could help engineer outrageously profitable deals with a large, rich city with a lot of tax revenue to skim. He has no particular qualifications for this job or most other elevated positions he’s occupied other than his relationship to Chicago’s most powerful political family.
He joined Morgan in 2004, and a few years later, the City of Chicago completed a deal to lease the parking meters to JPM for 75 years for an upfront payment of $1.2B. The deal was rushed through the city council, with almost no scrutiny, in less than a week. The lease guarantees JPM a given level of revenue and puts the city on the hook for potential deficiencies should meter revenues drop substantially.
No one has demanded that Daley and JPM disclose just how much compensation Daley received for this arrangement or just what his role in it was.
These types of cozy arrangements between governments and business have always been endemic in this country, but never have they been so flagrant. We now have an “de facto” hereditary aristocracy made of powerful political families and major business concerns that is so well entrenched that it is pretty much equivalent to the legally sanctified aristocracies of old Europe, along with government intrusion into every area of the country’s life, and those of the citizens, in
“I just hope we don’t over-react to the tragedy in Tuscon and start restricting the rights of mentally-unstable persons to purchase automatic weapons and 30-round clips.”
Funny! Well, at least one Wall*Mart refused. Good to see you on here as you’re one that doesn’t call me a fool for questioning excessive doom & gloom.
Natural gas prices are lower recently as fracking has improved extraction amounts.
Oops; previous comment was directed to Donny-Don.
Excellent article, as usual. I know this is a little bit off the subject, but I just saw this bit of news on the BBC site:
China’s Hu Jintao: Currency system is ‘product of past’
Chinese President Hu Jintao has said the international currency system dominated by the US dollar is a “product of the past”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12203391
I have long maintained that if the US wants to butt heads with China over dwindling resources, then China would be crazy to finance its own competition.
Kunstler can think in narrative form about our immediate predicament, a rare gift. Strapping our entire culture to the hydrocarbon rocket ride has left us mighty bewildered. As oafish as we’ve become it’s hard to imagine anything next other than a face-plant.
QSHTIk: (and Progorcons, Cash, Turk, and anyone else not a RW Authoritarian Follower)
Wow, Q. I knew you were shameless and had a big ego, but HOLY CRAP!
I mean, I half thought you might be so oblivious to simple decency (your repeated vicious verbal attacks on CFN’s women shows it clearly) that you might press on, Hannity-style, but I had no idea you would Double Down on Stupid that way!
Did I say Double Down? I meant TRIPLE Down on Stupid. Precious! Priceless! Timeless!
Where to begin? First, you not only took my advice and sent your email to the good Doctor, apparently, but you specifically sent the exchanges I asked you to.
You couldn’t have made yourself look more like a horse’s ass if you tried. My my, what the Doctor must have thought of you. Brings a smile to my face just to ponder it. 🙂
Of course you can’t see it through your bloated ego, but that’s what makes it even more delicious. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I did appreciate the Doctor’s tactful, terse response to you. After all, you were just an email address. He didn’t know you and probably didn’t want to agitate you by lecturing to you like a petulant child about baselessly denouncing people out of spite. That’s what they used to do in the old Soviet Union, Comrade Qski.
Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
THEN, as if you didn’t bring me enough entertainment and joy for one day, to cancel the anger I felt at your intial ludicrous accusation, you went and confessed before all that my initial assessement of you was 100% correct.
I said:
You said:
Sounds to me like we are describing the same thing. I bluntly and you trying to make yourself look like something other than a horse’s ass.
It didn’t work. 😉
I am truly touched that you came back just because of lil’ ol’ me. Cartman should be touched because you came riding in to his rescue swinging your Sunday Best at me like a mace. But he still hates you.
You are Cartman’s White Knight…and I DO mean WHITE Knight. But he still hates you.
Let’s get down to the nitty gritty here: never in a million years would I ever let you determine what or when I post. But you cannot say the same of me. You already admitted as much.
Can you see me grinning from ear to ear in your mind’s eye? I bet you can. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I shall further demonstrate the accuracy of my assessment of you: After reading this post you will be full of piss and vinegar to reply/retaliate. Good. I want you to do so. Make it good and self-revealing like those others. Take out your baseness of character and drive it around some more for all to see. You’ve generally hid it well, up until now. You had me fooled.
But there is nothing nothing NOTHING you can post that will make me reply to you. Furrow your brow, get mad. Search in vain for the magic words to send me to apoplexy and draw me back in to post a reply. Answer my baseless accusations with the white heat of your unctuous righteousness.
Which is just what I want you to do. I won’t reply to you; I’ll just laugh at you to myself. Try me.
Just one more thing before I settle back to await your inevitable, comical, and self-revealing reply or replies.
You said that you were going to return to going “cold turkey” from posting on CFN. So am I, in all likelihood.
After what you revealed in your posts now we both know that YOU won’t decide when you break cold turkey and post on CFN again, I’LL decide when you break cold turkey and post on CFN again.
Mwah-hah-hah-hah-hah! Mwah-hah-hah!
Thanks for admitting that I brought you back here. Thanks again for turning my frown upside down with your wonderful entertainment and horse’s-assery. It was even worth it that I let you get my goat with your odious insinuation for the payoff of all the rest of it.
If I ever get worried again that you had a stroke or something, I know how to dog-whistle you up by verbally slapping Cartman and the RW around really badly.
Turk and the rest of the Evil Liberals will be glad to help, no doubt, so as to conjure you up whenever we want to, like a pathetic puppet on a string.
Be seeing you, sweetie.
(blows kisses)
C’mon. Type that reply, Q. You KNOW you want to! Wanna SEXTUPLE down on Stupid now? Be my guest.
“He joined Morgan in 2004, and a few years later, the City of Chicago completed a deal to lease the parking meters to JPM for 75 years for an upfront payment of $1.2B.”
Look at the up-side. If JPM collapses soon, then Chicago pockets the $1.2B and gets its meters back for free!
China would be crazy to finance its own competition. – TLobo
If China gets stingy about financing then I’ll bet US aircraft carriers and their megabuck loads of jet fighters get mothballed. Or I doubt they’ll do much travelling. Maybe they’ll go on a few promenades into the high seas to maintain a fig leaf of national power but I doubt anyone will be fooled.
Obama chose not to even make a veiled reference to gun control. And, there has been no peep out of him sense. He continues to demonstrate his cowardice and lack of conviction. As far as the hooting and the hollering goes, maybe that’s just an Arizona thing. I still don’t understand it. But then, I don’t understand Arizona in general, either, a truly horrible and largely uninhabitable place. It they needed to let it all hang out, there are plenty of bars in Arizona.
“I just hope we don’t over-react to the tragedy in Tuscon and start restricting the rights of mentally-unstable persons to purchase automatic weapons and 30-round clips.”
And don’t forget those who are on the Homeland Security Terrorist Watch List. We don’t want to deny them their second amendment rights. Terrorists have good reasons to possess firearms.
I am sick of hearing the “civility” card being tossed around. It only applies to certain people. This was nothing more then law enforcement / system failure to get a nutjob off the streets.
There should be more outrage (not shootings)directed at the ponzi elite that are fucking over this country and the world.
I am afraid Tunisa, Jordan, Morrocco, and Algeria is looking more like our future. Civility? Civil war is more like it. Perhaps the hungry mobs here will unplug from their Ipads long enough to tear apart the Hamptons and kill bankers Tunisian style? Nah. I doubt it.
Tuscon, Tunisa.. both are in a desert and bankrupt. Any other similarities are to be ignored.
what blows me away are those senator that now want to pack a gun in self defence. If the shooter is in a crowd are they going to shoot in the crowd to “defend themselves” as they read from their teleprompter.
We are hostages of gun loving morons pointing to a constitution that was written in revolutionary times.
Switzeland? Everybody has a gun because they are the army, but they don’t carry it around in a paranoidal state of mind.
“For the moment we have no idea where we’re going, what we’re doing, or who will take us to the next era where life will be very different. It could easily be some loutish spawn of Limbaugh and Beck, stepping in to push around a land full of lost souls desperate to be told what to…”
No no. That lout would be Obama. He had a room full of “lost desperate souls.” And you know what? Rather than tell them what to do (sit down, shut up, honor the dead) he let them turn the whole event into a campaign stop. He only needed to say, “Please, please, please..” when all the whooping began but he did…nothing. Nothing. No. Thing.
{{“He joined Morgan in 2004, and a few years later, the City of Chicago completed a deal to lease the parking meters to JPM for 75 years for an upfront payment of $1.2B.”}
Look at the up-side. If JPM collapses soon, then Chicago pockets the $1.2B and gets its meters back for free!}
Not true: JPM has already securitizes the asset (“CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 2079 PARKING METER REVOLVING OBLIGATION”); Lizard Freres dribble-stitches VIX-indexed mezzanine syntranches, units paying virtual 6666% above LIBOR; additionally, chewing gum exposure, per par, reliably facilitated by AIG.
JHK:
“The only kind of ritual that Americans seem to understand these days is an award ceremony, and that’s what the Tucson event most resembled: a fete of congratulation and warm therapeutic self-affirmation.”
What should we expect from America? Its undeclared civic religion is the “gospel of prosperity” the aim of which is “personal salvation” and an ecstatic emotional sensation unconnected from any socially beneficial activity. Their outsized mega-churches with vast parking lots are indistinguishable from gambling casinos and serve much the same function.
Yes, JHK
The Kabuki theater continues…..
There are lots of lies and subterfuge running through the Western nations as we speak.
Today’s big story is that Julian Assange received a CD by a Swiss banking whistleblower Rudolf Elmer, who tried unsuccessfully to turn over information on 2000 offshore accounts to the German officials in the last few years. It’s all about those off shore banks on the Cayman Islands owned by the elite from 40 countries.
What does this tell us about the nature of the global recession and the demand for austerity around the world?
Does it mean that the Western powers are being systematically starved of revenue by the top eschelon?
Does it mean that the standard of living around the first world is being dismantled?
Do these people who don’t pay taxes consider themselves to be members of a nation state?
Paul Krugman the supposed Keynesian economist shocked me this weekend in the NYTimes Magazine article concerning Europe’s economic woes. Not only did he not even mention Goldman Sachs advising the Greek government to lie about their finances. (A well-documented story of a few months ago.) He quoted Milton Friedman at least three times, as if this is the way an economy should be handled while the public coffers are put on the road to privatization.
A very telling point he made was how to lower the wages of the workers so they don’t feel the pain.(prices would have to deflate along with the wages) So much like what happened here when our wages stagnated and we were told we could keep taking out mortgages on our homes. That way we could continue on our buying spree without making the money to back our spending…. The Europeans bought into the debt-wealth model too. That’s our greatest export. But it doesn’t go back into the economy. How will this effect the social contract and public money in these countries?
When we look at our own state of affairs, we see that the only way to work with the Republicans is if we agree to carry their agenda out. They are going for the SS and Medicare money and public pension money—anything they can get their hands on to loot. Their arguments hold no water since they are happy to grant the richest among us to not pay taxes into the system they want to take down. That’s $700,000. Trust me, a paltry set of low-paying jobs will be the result. Their track record over the last ten years is abysmal, but don’t pay attention to that. Why was our economy so successful when the tax rate was 90%? Maybe because if went into the public domain which was strong in those days. Now the money is being spent globally on investments that benefit themselves only. It’s gangsterism of the worst kind and this is the global leadership!
In the meantime, Obama opted to become the Republican party pet for now. No mention of the vitriolic noise artificially made by the Right to overcome the will of the people and Obama’s election to Presidency. We don’t want to embrace what the FBI has said about the socio-political climate created by solving problems at the barrel of a gun, effecting the minds of our disenfranchised and in some cases mentally ill youth.–oh they’re not impressionable are they?–But we mustn’t speech of it because now we want to work together. Of course, the race baiter Limbaugh will continue his hate-speech. And our friend on this Blog, Vlad will continue throwing this blog off track. He speaks of race as if he lives in another generation. He has never met or worked with middle-class blacks–but he knows all about them. (And don’t get me started on that depressing total waste of time on the Jews which will not prepare us for what we are going to be dealing with!)
The theater of cruelty resulting from the poor judgement the American people showed in this past election will soon go into effect and the “Entitlements” another magic word coined by the right will be surely on its way to being dismantled. Turning back Roosevelt entirely will finally be achieved with the help of the Democrats.
_________
Note: last week I posted a general description on Veblen:”Veblen identified two theories of wealth generation. His narrow theory was based on the industry-business dichotomy and the instincts of workmanship and pecuniary interests, while the general theory was based on a theory of positive versus negative instincts or influences. In his general theory, the positive instincts include workmanship, parental ability, and idle curiosity, which promote community and social wealth or welfare. The negative instincts or influences of pecuniary interests, emulation, and predation, on the other hand, destroy aspects of the cultural fabric and promote individualism. When the negative influences dominate over the positive instincts, the economy is at risk for depression and social dislocation. When the positive instincts dominate the negative ones, socioeconomic progress is in order, and the community is developing in a communicative and integrative fashion. And when there is some degree of relative balance between the two instincts or interests, a moderate degree of social development is in process…..”
What I found so interesting in the cast of characters asked to speak at the memorial pep rally (why would we exprct our young to know how to behave?) was Eric Holder, who has no ties at all to Tucson. Why does he not go to the cities that have a shooting a day to mourn and “comfort?” I am waiting for the other Holder shoe to drop that because the shooter used the Internet to post his ramblings, therefore the Internet must be radicalizing Americans and needs to treat like any other terrorist-recruiting network tool. Never waste a crisis.
Correction!! $700 Billion (not $700,000. in lost revenue)
Jim,
It is highly instructive that out here in the ‘progressive’ Bay Area the online forums discussing this tragedy (let’s not forget that the 80 per day non- celebrity shootings are ignored) feature a ration of 3 to 1 in favor of the gun loonies.
We are really a very scary nation. Where to hide from all this?
I’ll once again beseech Jim and everyone here to please endorse The Egg And Sperm Civil Union Compromise, in order to show that we can do more than talk and argue, we can change the status quo. In this case, it would resolve the marriage debate by prohibiting genetic engineering and same-sex procreation, preserve marriage as protecting the right to conceive offspring, and federally recognize state Civil Unions that are defined as “marriage minus conception rights.”
The people involved in the debate are not inclined to make any compromise that would resolve the debate, heck I bet they wouldn’t even want to win, because they’re so caught up in the business of debating they don’t want it to be over. That’s why someone from outside the debate needs to step in and prod people into forging a Compromise. And Jim would be perfect for it, he’d be able to say: stop wasting time and distracting everyone from important issues, stop holding out for ridiculous techno fantasies like Postgenderism and Transhumanism and same-sex procreation, it won’t be sustainable and is bankrupting the country. (Bill McKibben would be perfect too, hopefully they both will be bold and take a stand on what is truly important.)
“If the shooter is in a crowd are they going to shoot in the crowd to “defend themselves”
=========
The guy who took the glock away from Jared almost got blown away by an armed citizen. Imagine coming upon the scene and seeing a guy holding a glock surrounded by bleeding people.
Just think how alcohol causes some people to become aggressive, and then imagine them armed.
Arming everybody is a bad idea.
Aside:
“Baby Doc” is back; don’t you think that ties in nicely?
Here’s a link to a Stratfor article on security and accessibility for elected officials. Basically, you need trained observers.
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110112-congressional-security-tucson-shooting
“He only needed to say, “Please, please, please..” when all the whooping began but he did…nothing.”
=====
And what must be even more irritating to you is that Obama’s approval numbers keep going up … higher than Reagan’s, higher than Clinton’s, higher than Bush’s … and Obama will be re-elected easily. I will vote for him again.
Am I the only poster here who thinks that Asoka and Jimjim need to get a room?
That Obama is our Gorbachev (Dimitry Orlov’s concept not mine), is very clear – the the extent that can we keep saying, “wow, Obama does nothing but install the same bankers in his administration” and be surprized? Perhaps the comfort of the story is we know it well. So, we retell it. My concern is that the decline won’t occur fast, and we can spend out our lives not quite making it, but not going all back to the land or neuvo-agra-meta-urban-something. I don’t know about society. But the Connecticut Muffin I am sitting at has six cameras just at the counter….. Obama may not be followed by a collapse of our USSR, but we may see that he is not to become our Yeltsin or Putin… but our Brezhnev.
Gotta go with ya on this, JimJim! Our president is about as big an empty suit as you’re gonna find outside of a used car lot. Obammy is about as significant to politics as a 1972 Plymouth Duster with a stripped transmission stuck in neutral. You nailed it. He’s got…nothing…no thing. If you’re into carbon copies, check out his attorney general. Both Holder and Obama have “Bought and Paid for in Full” tatooed across both ass cheeks, courtesy of Big Business (oh, sorry, I meant “Too Big To Fail” business. They both resemble 50 year old, tarted-up, pock-marked prostitutes. Wait a few years when they leave (or get run out of) office. Their riches will make the Clintons look like mere paupers. Mark my words.
“Of course, we don’t know how to act in the face of reality, either, by which I mean politics, our means for contending with reality.”
Of course you jest. Politics is that which distracts us from reality. Absent from your blog and the comments is any mention of empathy for those that experienced and reacted in this chaotic situation.
Surely there is value in honoring the courage and self sacrificing actions of so many citizens who do not live their lives in the media spotlight. Their actions give us reasons to challenge some of the stereotypes which too often influence our behaviors.
The people that limited the carnage were not gun toting macho guys but unarmed citizens including a 61 year old woman. Can you imagine being the parents of the 9 year old child who chose to have some of her organs given to others so that they might live.
How about honoring the doctors who behaved with such competence and professionalism?
I could go on, but how about fewer complaints and more gratitude that there are such people in our nation.
So while we are mourning all this, why is there no outrage over the fact that there didn’t seem to be any police coverage for the event. Or that the shoters mental instability was well known. Tuscon PD and the Pima County Sheriff’s Dept dropped the ball. Theres no RW vs LW anything here. Just a mentally fuc*ed up stoner armed and stalking his intended victim. And this had been known since 2007 ? No wonder people carry guns in Arizona. The police don’t seem to be to bright or compentent. There should’ve been some kind of security group watching her.
I guess the question I have is> if I neuter my cat will he become a Liberal ?
“And what must be even more irritating to you is that Obama’s approval numbers keep going up … higher than Reagan’s…”
Not really. Actually, I find it quite hilarious. JK is trying to make a case the loutish spawn of Beck or Limbaugh is going to come about.
He’ s saying that this lout will be “stepping in to push around a land full of lost souls desperate to be told what to do…”
I’m saying he’s already here. He is our President. He wants to push people around by taking over car companies, banks, health care, regulate the internet, make appointments of uninvestigated czars while congress is in recess. And the fact that his numbers are gong up merely proves Mr. Kuntsler’s point…that the lost souls (Obama supporters) are desperate to be told what to do.
He’s just to stoopid to realize it. (As are you.)
That’s what I’m hoping for.. the collapse of JPM.
But I’m very much afraid Chicago won’t get that lease cxl’d if that happens. Perhaps the lease would be voided by the demise of JPM, but that might well not be the case. It could be that there are clauses in there that make it conveyable to another entity should JPM enter receivership or bankruptcy. I really do not know, and neither, I’m sure, do any of the 50 rubber-stamps sitting on our city council.
After all, our aldermen didn’t notice that it makes the city liable for any shortfall in parking meter revenue below the amount guaranteed, which I find unbelievable. Most of our alder-cretins, after all, are attorneys. Didn’t someone somewhere along the line tell them that you should read and understand a contract before you sign it.
After the parking meter fiasco, nothing can surprise me.
“Theres no RW vs LW anything here. Just a mentally fuc*ed up stoner armed and stalking his intended victim.”
No shit. But this is Rahms “You never want a crisis go to waste.” to the nth power.
The opposition in this country is to Obama’s ideas, not the man. He seems like a perfectly nice man but to many (around 47%, as he won the election by 53%) his march toward socialism is alarming.
But you are not allowed to have opposing ideas to Obama. So by making a shooting that has nothing to due with public discourse about public discourse, you start to lay the foundation for shutting up people who disagree with you. It becomes the line (supported by the MSM) that, “This is the kind of shit that comes down when you have differences, voice those differences adn don’t go along with the plan.” Even though we all know that what came down was the act of a lone, pathetic lunatic.
I will be curious to see if this will wake anyone up. I doubt it. Too much watercooler talk about the Golden Globes, football playoffs and Steve Jobs’ illness.
Oops, fucked up the tag…
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/business/global/18baer.html?hp
Interesting, as always. Are we to be surprised that some were uncomfortable, even disturbed by the event? In the days and hours before the event, we were treated to all manner of blather from the pundits about “What Obama Should Say” (you will see this stupid theme replayed in advance of the SOTU address, too. Its as useless, space-churning exercise, coming from pundits who seem to be increasingly untethered from any usable reality and are spinning further off, forming their own little clusters as they recede from relevancy.
At least JHK refrained from putting up a “What Obama Should Have Said” post, and this seems like some measure of recognition, however bleakly resigned, of the abject state of things and the absence of a path forward.
I enjoy this site, with its contrarian yet occasionally very clear-headed voice. But if JHK has lost, or will soon lose, the ability to imagine the possibility of change, then it will be s severe limitation on this place. I’m not suggesting that JHK will suddenly be looking out always for silver linings, but who knows, to be truly perceptive, maybe he will have to also be sensitive to positive signs, rather than the dwelling on the proliferation of negative ones.
This is all well and good, but as Denninger states today in his blog, what good is this info if no NAMES are provided? Whom to prosecute, expose, etc. And whatever happened to the “dumping of information of a big amerikan bank” that Assange promised would happen right after the New Year? I sincerely hope that Assange is not filled with hot air on this. He’s got TPTB all hot and bothered, which amused me no end in the “What the heck are they trying to hide?” department. Perhaps somebody got to Assange and paid him off? Or maybe some of our mafiaso politicos have offered him a one-way ticket to the bottom of the Indian Ocean?
A bit off topic, but… The NYT reports today that Virgin airlines has placed an order for 60 aircraft to be delivered in 2016:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/business/global/18airbus.html
The billionaire owner Richard Branson is well aware of peak oil. I personally am guessing that by 2015 peak oil will begin to bite hard. I recall an adage I read somewhere that civilizations erect their grandest and most pretentious monuments as they enter their terminal decline – as if that act of hubris is somehow intended to dispel the notion that anything is wrong. Imagine the effect on the financial system when the airlines default on the billions of dollars of loans for these aircraft as the airline business goes belly up.
I somehow visualize a future with deserted airports and hordes of unemployed, destitute and homeless people living in abandoned jet planes and airport lounges.
You said:
Wow. How SPOT ON was that, Buck? Sad but so very very true. I agree 100%.
Which just goes to demontstrate that anyone can pierce the veil of nonsense and through to reality, and positioning on the political spectrum matters not in the end.
What matters ultimately, is not whether we agree on certain issues, but whether our minds are independant, intellectually honest (or striving to be) and able to acknowledge unpleasant truths if enough evidence is placed before us.
I have often mentioned that I have read quite a few books and accounts on Nazi Germany, the better to understand 21st Century America. Most of them being not about the big, sweeping events of the day but what it looked like “on the ground” in the local neighborhoods, store, and restaurants.
Because Nazism is a RW philosophy, and was so heavily supported by other parties on the center-right and right, conservatives, industrialists, and monarchists, to name a few, it is difficult to find such a book written from a RW, conservative (real conservatism, not the Nazi-like thing Glenn Beck calls “conservatism”) perspective.
Well, I found one, Buck. It’s called “Diary of a Man in Despair” and it’s written by Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen. He was a Junker, an aristocrat, a monarchist, and a conservative. Unlike the vast majority of the German Right, he saw through the Nazis as much as any Liberal Juden almost right from the start.
Fascinating book, in that it is such a unique perspective: A RW aristocratic monarchist who unabashedly rejected Nazism.
If I ever thought for a moment that only the Right or the Left was capable of authoritarian evil, reading of Malleczewen’s strength of character and unyielding grace under unimaginable pressure, would disabuse me of the notion quickly.
Naturally, Left or Right, such opposition to authoritarianism is seldom left unchallenged and Malleczewen died in Dachau from bullet in the neck in 1945, which was apparently a method of execution used by the Nazis in those days.
Which is a long-winded way of saying that we might not agree on all the issues, or even many of the issues. But in your statement I see something that unites us far more than simple policy agreements or disagreements, Left or Right, could.
Just like Malleczewen lamented in his book the disappearence of those Leftists enemies he despised but now missed terribly for the oppositional political silence that followed, you may one day look at either the silence or the laughably “controlled opposition” coming from the Left in 20 or 30 years and feel the same way.
“Diary of a Man in Despair” by Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen. Not just your typical anti-Nazi book. Read if, if you ever get the chance. Anyone who is savvy enough to make the statement of yours that I quoted, should get an awful lot out of reading it.
Just keep in kind, there were so many more Liberals and Lefties who opposed the Nazis than centrists and RWers, thus I cannot say both sides were equivalent, but if I was a RW Liberal in the USSR at the same time, neither would the converse be true, for the vile, totalitarian evil would be centered on the LW, not the RW, in that particular case.
Yep, he sure will. You’ll first notice him going out to poetry readings and eating warm brie.
Then he will talk your ear off about Dog’s Rights and how many cats give dogs a bad name with all their prejudicial talk and it’s much more often the cat’s fault when a dog snaps a cat’s neck in it’s powerful jaws.
Then he’ll tell you why the fault lies with cats. They were just asking for it, some of them even stand up and flaunt thier cat-ness in front of a pack of dogs and then they wonder what happened. Can’t they just act a little more dog-like in deference to the realities of the world?
He’ll tell you that both sides need to tone it down, cats and dogs, and he’ll happily name the one example of a cat clawing a dog first as being fully equivalent to the tens of thousands of cats who die in dog jaws every year.
So, if you don’t want that, you’d better let your cat keep his balls.
Do you think the USA has boots on the ground, illegally stationed at military bases in Colombia because of this?
CARACAS – Venezuela’s oil reserves total 217 billion barrels, making them the largest in the world and topping those of Saudi Arabia, President Hugo Chavez said.
“We have exceeded 217 billion barrels, but the certification process has not ended,” Chavez said Saturday during a review of his 2010 accomplishments before the newly installed National Assembly.
Venezuela’s total reserves could reach 300 billion barrels of crude based on new projections, and some U.S. experts estimate that they could total 500 billion barrels, with almost all the oil in the Orinoco Belt, the president said.
The Orinoco Belt, located in east-central Venezuela, is believed to hold the world’s largest petroleum reserves, with most of the oil heavy and extra-heavy crude that is more expensive to refine because it requires additional processing.
A thoughtful piece on the circus like atmosphere around the latest tragedy. Watching it here from Up North in Canada it’s the kind of event that makes me glad to be here, even though we all know the Amerikan disease has spread here too.
It’s surprising that nobody has mentioned Jon Stewart’s excellent and moving commentary last week on the Daily Show. It was beautifully done, and until JHK’s entry today, the only useful thing I’ve seen.
But after saying that I have to admit I laughed out loud when JHK referenced Wil E Coyote to make a point. How many millions of us know exactly what he was expressing, thanks to our devotion to Warner Bros.cartoons. Hell, my kids who are in their thirties would get it too. Never mind quoting Voltaire or Plato, our culture is a bit more mass media driven. Not claiming to be an intellectual, I sure enjoyed the laugh.
“Do you think the USA has boots on the ground, illegally stationed at military bases in Colombia because of this?”
Nope. We’ve already proven by our NOT having taken Iraqi oil fields that we ain’t interested in stealing anyone’s oil.
“Civility” is just code for shutting up the Right Wing – and ultimately taking away our first ammendment rights. See how the media has buried the death threat uttered at the “Town Meeting” in Tuscon – “You’re dead” was said to a Tea Party Speaker by a leftist operativive.
I agree with Mr Kunstler about how narcicistic America has become. But I would say Liberals are worse in this regard at least. Raving and sputtering with rage, they have lambasted Republicans for the last week on their alleged lack of civility! No capacity for introspection whatsoever. None. Dead. Beyond this, as for the other deadly sins of greed and lust for power – well the Repugs are at least as good at those. And they have gotten awfully good at the arts of misdirection and propaganda too. El
Rushbo plays with a Master’s hand.
The Left is more dangerous in terms of revolution. The Right is committed to keeping us stable when the ground is falling away – making sure no one is ready for the inevitable changes. So they are dangerous too. And bankrupting us in their interminable wars. The fake left wing of Obama and the Neo Liberals are now completely part of this. There are very few real differences between Neo Conservatism and Neo Liberalism. Neither has anything to do with what they are supposed to have to do with. They were effortlessly changed because they had already been corrupted and made malleable. Liberalism had nothing to do with J.S Mill or Jefferson. And convervatism had nothing to be Edmund Burke. There was no reality there to prevent the “Neo’s” from just using them as vehicles of their own quest for World Domination.
Last week Eleuthero said:
“All we need is a roof over our head, some social
activity, some love, some food…”
The band Rusted Root sings it, “all I want is food and creative love.” Always liked Rusted Root. And they make more sense to me every day. I think those fellas “get it” better than most.
Thanks for the very flattering vote of confidence!
Bingo – think Easter Island. And also the Greece of Plato and Socrates as well: already awash in homosexuality and lage scale immigration – both signs of terminal decline. The Wesboro Baptist Church is right: we are a Pagan Empire. Why do Christian boys keep signing up to fight for a regime that is vehemently Anti-White, and increasingly Anti-Christian and Pro-Sodomite?
Pure unconscious life. One of the most ignored injunctions of Christ is the simple, “Watch”. That being said, I can’t blame people for wanting these people at the funerals of their loved ones. But someone has say it somehow and be heard. I mean you can’t expect the media to give anyone who speaks the truth any coverage.
As Jay Leno said, If God doesn’t take America to task, He owes Sodom and Gomorrah a big apology.
The leaders of our country are either stupid or clueless. The people are so blinded by the media and their gadgets, that they are clueless as well. This country is bitterly divided on most issues. It’s time to give up hope, and prepare for the war of all against all. Good Luck to everyone, because alot of us are going to be in dire sraits.
Looks like a little dab won’t do ya !
But wait, if you hurry now you can get two
for the price of one.
Don’t touch that remote control battery operated device,
with your easy deferred payment plan
you can get it now and pay later,
but hurry this deal is going fast.
pseudo-event
A pseudo-event is an event that exists for the sole purpose of media publicity and serves little to no other real function.
To say that a memorial service is only a pseudo-event is unfair to the shooting victims. But since news of Tom Delay being sentenced and the appointment of William Daily to White House Chief of Staff is suppressed the label fits.
An unconscious conspiracy of deception where journalism becomes part of government and manufactures consent for the powers that be.
About William Daley:
William Daley served as special counsel to President Clinton on issues relating to the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Daley’s appointment has been condemned by leading progressive voices.
Daley has been an outspoken opponent of health care reform and financial regulation. His admission to the ruling class is hereditary. Daley’s father being none other than the infamous Richard J. Daley. Mayor of Chicago from 1955 to 1976.
Daley is regarded as a skilled politician, due to his work on the NAFTA agreement. I’m sure starving Mexican farmers will agree he is a skilled politician.
Anybody wondering why the country is still going like a runaway train towards energy depletion, chaos, death, and destruction need look no further. Globalization and the rape of the planet is alive and well at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. An executive at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is now White House Chief of Staff.
Change we can believe in, no way.
You ask “So why is it that we don’t know how to act in the face of tragedy or reality?”
Perhaps on this 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower’s departure message concerning the “Military Industrial Complex” we all might take a peek into the mirror and take note of the person staring back. I spent a few months in Viet Nam in 1965 and I recently watched the 1971 version of “Winter Soldier” and a clip of the 2008 “Winter Soldier” available for viewing here: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/3/18/winter_soldier_contd_us_vets_active As we were wont to say “same same only different”.
When men and women in the military are trained to leave all of their humanity for others in the trash can and kill and maim our so called enemies at will. When we in our wisdom make movies by the boxcar load glorifying warfare with PG or G ratings and movies portraying love with R ratings. When we allow the gun manufactures to inhibit rational national gun control laws so they can continue to pocket exorbitant profits. I am amazed that massacres occur as infrequently as they do in the US.
Anyone who wants to understand why we act the way we act do a google search on “Winter Soldier” watch some of the clips read some of the text if there are no tears welling into your eyes and you don’t feel sick to your stomach you need to look real deeply into the mirror!
As Pogo said: “We have met the enemy and he is us”
SNAFU
James, Obama had a moment to tell the nation exactly what type of solutions he would seek, but walked away from the opportunity.
You said in your piece that the nation does not know where it is going. “For the moment we have no idea where we’re going, what we’re doing, or who will take us to the next era where life will be very different.”
I have to disagree with you. And here is why:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/01/the-rise-of-the-new-global-elite/8343/1/
The global elite, and those in the US have anointed a plutocratic government, and Obama has joined in. The elite are taking down around 25% of the country’s middle class in order to create a new class in Asia in order to sell their stuff to them instead of us. The nation is in decline. That is the plan.
Obama came out a few weeks ago and told Americans that “we must be competitive” a code phrase to wage, and benefit cuts as they all slide down to Asian levels.
In the Atlantic article a Taiwanese twerp heading a large US multinational as their CFO says that if US workers want higher pay then they must produce 10x the output and productivity levels. My question to the twerp, is he producing 10x the level of his predecessor . I doubt it.
http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com
>
Excellent comment.
I have to admit, I was hoping for something a little more exciting, but once again you’ve still done a pretty good job of pointing me in the direction of something I haven’t quite thought of before.
You see, I just recently dropped out of college and accepted a job at a nearby farm to handle their organic vegetable production. Definitely not serf’s work here, as much planning involved as there is labor, and I’m compensated fairly well as a consequence.
As you might expect, being a reader of your blog, I am not your typical college dropout. Not only was I presented with an incredible opportunity, but I was also motivated by the realization that all of us have likely already experienced, that we’re not “going back to normal”.
Now, the reason I’m bringing this all up is because of the fact that my previous college environment is still fresh on my mind, and I couldn’t help but draw a comparison between it and what I would imagine the campus at the University of Tucson to look like.
College students are quite possibly one of the most optimistic groups of people in United States. Youthful enthusiasm may have something to do with it, but I think the main culprit is the fact that the college experience has evolved in a sort of modern day adult day care, where parents drop their kids off at some campus for 4 years (maybe more) and shower them with all the money they could possibly need for assorted living expenses, weekend parties included. Even my old activist friends are optimists, optimistic about the fact that alleviating unprecedented global poverty is as easy as buying a cup of fair trade coffee.
Now, picture in your head what the audience must have looked like at the University of Tuscon. Remember, not only did they vote for Obama, but they practically worship him as the messiah.
I’ll do my best to help my generation out as much as possible, but I’m afraid that there’s little I can do but play the role of the unfortunate witness to human potential gone down the drain.
I got a chill reading this…because ya just know it’s true. Also, no one up here in Seattle land seemed to notice that the tragedy in Tuscon barely made it to the tube that horrible day because the Seahawks beat the Saints! My God!
Hooting and hollering at a memorial service doesn’t say much for manners in this country.
Many kids today, have no clue how to behave with reverence. I made my kids go to church when they were young in part for the religion and also teach them to sit still and be quiet for long stretches. Attending piano recitals can accomplish the same goal. Here are a few observations:
1. Cell phones regularly go off in church. This annoys me to no end. I’ve heard them go off during memorial services and it’s so disrespectful.
2. During advent, a woman in the row in front of me at church (Presbyterian) actually texted during the sermon. If I caught my kids texting in church, They’d get “Mom’s silent death ray eye of doom.”
3. Years ago when I was a deacon, I was helping out with the food after a memorial service for a real estate agent. One of his colleagues was wearing black BUT WITH SEQUINS….OMG–can you imagine wearing a cocktail dress to a funeral?
We live in a graceless nation.
SJmom
Why sure, Mr. Kunstler. A logical result in an environment I’ll dub, “Survival of the Misfits”.
Yes Jim, we already know that this culture is lame, top to bottom.
But what I’m trying to find out is, What’s the situation with the world oil supply? It’s hard to get any clear information on what’s happening in the petroleum industry, except that a barrel of oil is north of $90. Wall Street Journal, CNBC, CNN, even BBC hardly even mention peak oil. The high price is continually blamed on “speculators”.
I have a stack of newspapers from 1927 I have been going thru, and surprisingly, there are quite a few articles and news stories wondering about the quantity of oil left in the ground. Is there alot or is there a little? Nobody knew then it seems, just like now.
I know about the Millerites and Seventh Day Adventists who, in the 1840’s, predicted the end of the world on such and such a date. I’m wondering if we peak oil doomers could be the Millerites of 2011.
“And our friend on this Blog, Vlad will continue throwing this blog off track. He speaks of race as if he lives in another generation. He has never met or worked with middle-class blacks–but he knows all about them” ~lbendet
CFN quote of the year.
I really hope you continue your contributions to this blog. What a refreshing change to hear from one so young – and in tune with things. Pray, don’t be a stranger to “us”!
Branson has put his holding in VA up for sale, Deutsche Bank will handle it – he’ll be out of it before 2015,he’ s sharp that way – the jet announcements v.useful to gain a buyer…
(Business as usual)
But airlines that are backed by oil, think ones in Norway, Russia the Emirates et al, they’ll be flying for a good decade or more for sure, albeit with more increased internal/external airfield security…
The military planes well they will just become deadlier/stealthier and smaller and more robotic i.e. more and more unmanned drones…
As to your nations need juvenile need to outpour… continually…
(I’ll recount a personal story)
I was in DC a few years back and was taken as a guest to a classical concert at the Wolf Trap, by a senior-counsel boyfriend – Mozart if my memory still serves me… right?
Now I was a regular concert goer, over here in Blighty, so now well the form, many performances admirably led by one of your countrywomen – Marin Alsop in fact.
But to my and the performer’s horror, (they were a European orchestra)you damned oike Yanks kept bloody clapping at each movements end,(tut, tut) which completely destroyed the meter of the pieces…
And boy do you like clapping… rapturously and for 5mins plus at least…
So irritating did this become that I made a point of verbalising my astonishment (along our row) that no one understood concert etiquette… i.e. you clap and applaud at the end of the piece, not throughout its playing….
The trouble is the collective philistines seated around me simply didn’t know/realise when this was…
?
That’s the problem folks with dumbing down…
It takes generations to finally breed it out, but fortunately that time is fast approaching.
Toodle-pip…
I’m surprised you think there is no common purpose, between the two main political parties, JHK. Did you notice any difference when Obama took over from Bush (apart from the hope withering away quite quickly)?
Every political party trumpets the mantra of growth. That is the common purpose, allied to ensuring that wealth is concentrated into as few hands as possible. I can’t separate the two wings; can you?
You said:
Indeed. A tragic and comic, “Amen,” to that.
Would that it were not so.
“I’m wondering if we peak oil doomers could be the Millerites of 2011.”
If we are depending on peak oil to make us change our behavior then I’d say there’s a good chance. But we could just freely adapt our lives to less and less energy every year and reap the unimaginable benefits of such a trend instead. Peak Oil or nay. Then the joke is on them.
I wonder if the reason this whole TLE thing seems to be taking so long is that there are so many people like me who are taking Nike’s advice and just doing it. Not sure that’s what they had in mind in that ad campaign, but thanks anyway. Couldn’t be happier!
Just sitting here at my desk, watching my paycheck fall from the sky in cool wet drops, helping to set the 28 new blueberry bushes I just planted out beyond the kitchen garden fence, and getting geared up to make a chicken, garlic, and oyster mushroom pie, all of which I grew myself. Just finished cutting up 25 lbs of seed potatoes to dry before planting on the full moon, and stepped over to the computer to see what all the fuss is about.
It’s all quite liberating.
You said:
You once dated Mozart? Very cool.
;P
“In my childhood, paid mourners came to some ethnic funerals, and they wailed and moaned to remind us that some business HAD to be serious. No hoots or hollers permitted.” Oh please, spare me the bullshit. The professional mourners who turned out to ethnic funerals were nothing more than bullies, trying to drown out any genuine displays of emotion with their over-the-top histrionics. They were as loathsome in their fake pity as the mainstrean media in all their over-the-top coverage of the Tucson shootings. At ethnic funerals, I often found these same ‘paid mourners’ cracking tasteless jokes about the deceased and engaging in boorish behavior once they got behind closed doors. Fake sorrow is no better than the gel of okay-ness.
Sorry, God does not exist. And therefore homosexuality is just fine. And the Westboro Church are completely mad. Christianity is a fine example of magical thinking. Darwin is Lord. The reptilian vestiges in our genome perhaps make us prone to irrational thinking.
JimJim said: “Obama wants to push people around by taking over car companies, banks,” blah, blah, blah
============
NEWS FLASH: Car company profits up. Bank profits up. TARP repaid. Taxpayer money repaid. Deficit decreased. National debt decreased.
Socialism Obama-syle works.
CORRECTION:
Socialism Obama-style works.
TL says:
“Their (U.S. citizens) outsized mega-churches with vast parking lots are indistinguishable from gambling casinos and serve much the same function.”
=========================
Nicccceeeee!
you’ve got to be kidding me right?
Savagely and uncomfortably on the mark once again. This week and last week’s commentary on America’s inaugural tragedy spectacle have forced a lot of reflection, James.
Part of me is glad you write through the bullshit cloud, and part of me wishes you would just paint.
Thank you.
Tommy Krenshaw
http://freedomguerrilla.com
Brilliant!, Brilliant!,Brilliant!
What this blog should be concentrating on!!!
Check out Dylan Ratigan today—The best show of his to date!!
He covered The story of the Whistleblower/Wikileaks story I wrote about this morning. The gov. subsidized Bank of America to the tune of $1 Trillion and they are part of the off-shoring story. Apple too and Steve Jobs announced his sickness leave this morning. What will happen to the stocks now?
The real issue is that our richest are not paying into our infrastructure even though they are using the infrastructure in a big way.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/#41123903
——
Next great important story is a film called “Economics of Happiness”.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/#41123711
Filmmaker Helena Norberg Hodge was a guest of Ratigan and is right in line with Heinberg, JHK and many of the others who have been calling for a sustainable model of economics and labor. Please watch the segment. It addresses local vs Globalized economics. This is the kind of subject that this blog should be concentrating on.
She explains how technology is being used for efficiency at the expense of human resources, but could be used for adaptability instead. Globalism destroys local economies and even in China the people from the countryside are suffering. Our system is based on 300 years of expansion which needs to be reconfigured for future needs.
Her website is http://www.localfutures.org/
PS Gady Epstein looked pathetic when discussing free trade vs. Fair trade. It does illustrate just how scary crazy our trade laws are set-up.
Alexandra,
It’s even worse on the U.S. West Coast. Here, they give standing ovations to any performer that has a heartbeat.
SJmom
Punk says:
“Obama may not be followed by a collapse of our USSR, but we may see that he is not to become our Yeltsin or Putin… but our Brezhnev.”
===============================
Yeah….I’ve had that thought also. a long slow decline until the parasitic Military/Industrial complex and FIRE economy, eventually bring the whole thing to a creaking, rod throwing, halt. So similar to the USSSR, and for many of the same reasons. We can look forward to the same type of corrupt oligarchic economy to follow, judging by the actions were seeing now.
Nice to see people using their noggins around here and talking about things a little higher up the scale of “possible”, in terms of predictability vs. the apocalyptic nonsense so prevalent a couple of years ago.
Now, if a few more people in this county would get over their obsession with “liberal vs. conservative”, “Republican vs. Democrat” and the other “look over there….quick!” sorts of meaningless political dialogue designed to keep the people off balance, this country might actually have a chance…..but on that point, I tend to be as pessimistic as JHK. The people are way too willing to accept the non solutions being spoon fed to them.
Most of us better be hoping the techno-optimists are right (not completely impossible, BTW)…..that would be the only way the middle class gets out of this alive, and that seems like scarcely a prediction, but more like a slam dunk.
Meanwhile, any notion you have that you can formulate a plan for such a future, that will serve as anything more than a topical ointment for a degenerative disease, is just forlorn “hopiness”.
“Interesting to note just how much of “what we are,” transpires on television — and how, essentially (as Jim alludes to) these events become just one more in a long line of “made for TV movies.”
Let’s face it. Unless you personally knew the people involved in the shooting, you really shouldn’t be mourning for them or embracing the grief as if you did. Did you mourn for the people murdered in your city or town yesterday? Not bloody likely. If you did, you’d be in a constant state of mourning.
No, these TV events are narcissistic theater. The Roman’s couldn’t do it any better.” -PDM
================
I’m gonna have to start labeling/libeling folks who spew obvious sound-bytes and talking-points from wrong-wing radio and ALL of TV, “The TV People”.
The TV-people not only require that they be entertained 24/7/365, but feel that they should be granted license to be “part of the shew” anytime the mood strikes them.
I don’t know if it’s from being told “Good Job!!!” every time they fill their pants, or what, but it’s certainly distasteful.
Upon asking a 20 yr. old TV-person what in the world they’re going to do when most of their battery-powered gew-gaws are no longer available (due to energy and resource scarcity), their reply was, “Well, I just don’t want to live in a world like that.” My response was a shrug. You can be horrified at my not trying to be encouraging about their “role” in energy descent if you like, but spoiled fools like that need not apply for the task. Can’t possibly LIVE without being provided constant distraction and entertainment? Then fucking DON’T.
jhk has a valid beef with the theatrics, but the text of obama’s speeech reads well enough, especially in the shadow of the political axe above his head. this passage following seems vintage barack:
{So sudden loss causes us to look backward – but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us. We may ask ourselves if we’ve shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame – but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.}
the world not loves nor long remembers ghost writers… quick, who wrote reagan’s “slipped earth’s surly bonds and touched the face of god” speech? (i believe she’s a murdoch pundit now.)
barack’s problem: he’s his own ghost.
Here we go again: I owned a 1970 Plymouth Duster in 1971. It was a great car for me as I kept it for years. It had Chrysler’s slant-6, 225 hp engine, a classic.
“Just sitting here at my desk, watching my paycheck fall from the sky in cool wet drops, helping to set the 28 new blueberry bushes I just planted out beyond the kitchen garden fence, and getting geared up to make a chicken, garlic, and oyster mushroom pie, all of which I grew myself. Just finished cutting up 25 lbs of seed potatoes to dry before planting on the full moon, and stepped over to the computer to see what all the fuss is about.
It’s all quite liberating.” -Tripp
===============
Now, there ya go!
(Are you finding that more satisfying than texting your “i-family/i-friends” every waking moment? ;o)
You poor, culturally-deprived person, you! ;o)
Man, you guys are hitting a lot of nail-heads with a lot of 24oz. hammers this week!
Tripticket,
I wish I could be planting blueberry bushes yonder down past the fence right now. But it 5d F outdoors right now with 4 ft of snow on the ground. Another storm rolling in tonite. Cant wait for planting season.
Bean,
Love ya, know ya know I mean it, but….I got ya beat. Had a 1966 Plymouth Valiant convertible (Signet model) 225, slant 6. Word was that if you could fix a lawn mower, you could fix this car! Me, myself, fixed a stuck carburetor with a broken-off bobby pin!…enough to get me to work that day, anyway! BTW, thanks for the memories!
“the world not loves nor long remembers ghost writers… quick, who wrote reagan’s “slipped earth’s surly bonds and touched the face of god” speech? (i believe she’s a murdoch pundit now.)”
-Nightshade
(See? I do pay attention sometimes.)
===============
Would that be Peggy “the-hidden-face-of-the-evil-empire” Noonan? ….Or is it Cokie “the-bitch-with-the-big-stick-to-cover-for-her-stupid-name” Roberts?
Can’t keep my talented-but-extremely-scary madwomen straight. ;o)
Ah,and our little meeting place is back to normal. The world is coming to an end, everyone here loaths society and the first jughead in line to comment digs deep into the barrel and comes up with “First!”. This must be where James gets the notion that the only ceremony americans can appreciate is an award ceremony.
“Leftist operative”? You do like to twist the truth.
The guy had been shot three times in the attempt on the congresswoman. Pissed off at the Tea Party? Yes. Leftist? Who knows. Operative? Definitely speaking only for himself.
And I read it all in the mainstream media. Not buried at all.
Or it could be that untalented, not-so-scary, not so straight women are bewitching you! Just something for you to think about while you count sheep beneath the crisp, ironed bed linens and comfy blanky.
“Bizarrely, despite all the press coverage Enron’s corruption earned, Citigroup’s deep involvement, well known since 2002, in no significant way appears to have affected Rubin’s esteem or credibility in the media or within the Democratic Party. Nor did the developing mortgage derivatives crash that would gut Citigroup keep Rubin and his proteges from again serving as the go-to economic experts for Democratic candidates, especially the original front-runner, Hillary Clinton, and, later, the eventual winner of the White House, Barack Obama.”
(Robert Scheer, “The Great American Stickup”, p. 167.)
“Pucker —
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., is usually remembered for his heroic leadership of the civil rights movement — he led the successful Montgomery bus boycott, delivered the “I Have A Dream” speech at a time when such words were still controversial, and ultimately gave his own life to the cause of equality.
But Dr. King was much more than a civil rights champion — he was a man who lived his entire life in service to others, speaking out against poverty, economic injustice, and violence. Wherever he saw suffering, he did what he could to help, no matter who it was that needed him or why they were in pain. Through his leadership, he showed us what we can accomplish when we stand together.
Each January, we remember Dr. King on his own holiday — and one of the best ways to preserve his legacy is to engage in service ourselves. As Dr. King told us, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?'”
That’s why this Monday, January 17th, Organizing for America volunteers will be participating in service projects all across the country in Dr. King’s honor. There will be food drives, neighborhood clean-ups, education projects, blood drives, and more.
Will you find and sign up for an event in your area, and help make this country an even better place?
This movement is about so much more than politics — it is about coming together through progress, change, and community. Lifting each other up in dedication and service is one of the best ways not only to honor Dr. King, but to honor each other. By giving service a new role in this country, we can establish a new foundation for our economy and a brighter future for our children.
That is why service is key to achieving our national priorities, and why Barack recently helped out at a Boys and Girls Club service event. Since moving to Washington, D.C., two years ago, he and I have gotten to know the community through similar service projects, including past Martin Luther King Day events. I treasure those opportunities, and I look forward to another one next week. Every time we pitch in, we get so much back, and always learn amazing things from our neighbors.
All of us have something to contribute, and all of us can make a meaningful difference in someone’s life. It’s a great way to remind others that they are not forgotten, and to remind ourselves that there are always things we can do.
Please help Barack and me honor the legacy of Dr. King, and join us in service to our country once again this year:
http://my.barackobama.com/MLKday
Thanks,
Michelle”
Well, another enjoyable read, Mr. Kunstler. My wife and I watched the spectacle and both commented on how much it resembled more of a pageant than a memorial service. Mr. Obama missed a terrific opportunity to say something meaningful about the tenor of politics. He could have directly asked both sides to just “Shut up for a week or so,” but that would have been too direct and God knows a politician can’t be direct!
I, personally don’t believe politics are any more or less hostile or inflamatory than they ever were. Andrew Jackson, nearly 200yrs ago, suffered the indignity of having his beloved wife and his Mother both called Whores, by his opposition. No, I don’t think politics are any more hostile today, given that this episode was not political.
Sadly, the whole ‘event’ was nothing more than diversion, to give the masses another reason to believe that things aren’t all that bad. “At least it didn’t happen in MY town or to ME!” Meanwhile, the clock continues to tick toward financial or some other catastrophe.
Of course the clock also ticks inexorably toward the Oscars or wedding of the “Royals” or the next Kardashian bimbo or Lindsay Lohan ‘episode.’ These will also serve to occupy the attention of the masses and anesthetize their collective intellect.
All in all, just another paragraph, on a page, of a chapter of a very large unabridged book of our human experience. We will learn nothing and will do nothing.
JHK wrote: “Mr. Obama’s earnest, gel-like warmth does not conceal the astounding corruption of the Democratic party and the surrender of progressivism to anything that smells like money (in the immortal words of Matt Taibbi).”
“President Obama’s second-biggest contributor was the investment bank Goldman Sachs, which played a key role in the economic collapse even as, with the government’s help, it survived and went on to new heights of profit.” (Robert Scheer, “The Great American Stickup”, P. 8.)
“Five years later, the notional value of OTC derivatives had grown to $24 trillion, and after another ten years, when the meltdown occurred, we would be talking about $640 trillion in the notional value of all unregulated derivative trading.” (Robert Scheer, “The Great American Stickup”, p. 36)
“Or it could be that untalented, not-so-scary, not so straight women are bewitching you! Just something for you to think about while you count sheep beneath the crisp, ironed bed linens and comfy blanky.” -MM
==============
Myrtle,
That’s pretty funny and I like the visual, but I have NO idea what the heck you’re talking about! lol
I ain’t askeer’t a no wimmenz (in general), and have been bewitched [in a quite positive sense] by many, but wouldn’t want to be in a dark alley with either Peg or Cokie skulking up behind me! Them’s Lizard wimmen, I tells ya! (….and that’s a specie of a different stripe. ;o)
ProgressorConserve,
Don’t know if you’ve popped in and read my first message to you yet.
If you did, let me apologize if it was too harsh in tone or you felt as if I’d ripped you. You are definitely the last person I would want to blast here at CFN. Of all of us CFNers, you are the last who would deserve such a thing, and I well before you.
Am I tired? Yes. Do I feel strongly? Yes. Have I been watching all of this go on, without a change in basic trajectory of societal trends, for far too long? Yes.
But that’s no reason to be rude to a genuinely good person like yourself. I mean, I don’t know you personally, but I am guessing you are an honest representor of yourself in this forum and your online personality is your true personality. Again, if I was rude to you, I apologize.
I would like to rephrase, please. This being MLK Day, lots of articles on MLKs writings abound. Here’s a part of his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” which seems particularly germane to my somewhat rude first post to you. But where he was speaking of the civil rights struggle, here the words apply to acknowledgement of the impending wave of RW Authoritarianism and propaganda that threatens to swamp our nation (along with excessive immigration, excessive consumption and the rest of our seeming insoluble national problems).
Here’s Dr. King:
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
{I ain’t askeer’t a no wimmenz (in general), and have been bewitched [in a quite positive sense] by many, but wouldn’t want to be in a dark alley with either Peg or Cokie skulking up behind me! Them’s Lizard wimmen, I tells ya! (….and that’s a specie of a different stripe.}
noonan it is! (suddenly i am beset by jimjams: what if it’s not? someone surely will google it so.)
————
as for thems Lizard wimmen, could our needy reptilian sexuality be society’s last best hope? love among the races, eg, miscegenation, threatened everything for wh segregation stood.
in my day i’ve loved a republican, although not in daylight. the texas woman who once almost loved jn, that story, she a methodical mobster; with literal bales of cash, the two soared in republican circles. they sat behind the bush family box at the baseball stadium.
i didn’t know then what, if only i could not know now, i would say, if i could; suffice to say, i was curious. like a slug rimming a saucer of beer… no, wait… as derwood crawling toward samantha’s bed, scuffed oxfords in his mouth, i was bewitched. that women put a spell on me.
if peggy and i were the only two left on this storied planet, i would crawl to her, i would festoon her breasts with garlands of ferns and lace. i’d assist her in ritual ablution. she’d talk of job-killing healthcare repeal, i’d nod attentively. her acutely sensitive ear-lobes, i’d lave them endlessly, lips, tongue & nostril, silently repeating two just two letters: f f f f f l l l l l.
typo alert!
dropped word among the mmm alliteration: that is, she MARRIED a methodical mobster. she herself was no criminal, nor even mrs soprano. she was just a farmer’s daughter, a beauty, vaulted to the nominal top of texas society.
footnote to history
Does no one on this blog understand what happened to our Jared before he blanked out and went on a spree? The MSM just spun the bullshit hard and heavy so far away from the truth that no one much will even realize the pattern of behavior our shooter provided in the weeks/months before his Big Day. And his parents’ press release saying “we’re sorry and we don’t know nothin’!” “wasn’t our fault!” Of course it wasn’t their fault, they had no choice in the matter. Anyone of any deep intelligence who read Jared’s youtube postings would immediately know who’d been playing with him.
good luck with that..i work at a public institution. this website is tough to navigate.My text keeps going bye-bye.
Fine column today, Jim. One of the best.
Another event is commemorated on this day — Martin Luther King’s very own day. Now that he is safely out of the way, the real government of this country makes a national holiday of his birthday and name streets after him.
What should be acknowledged this day is that there was a conspiracy to assassinate him, and one of the conspirators confessed in court. Anyone hear about that?
More than confess, he implicated some higher-ups that readers might find interesting. See it here:
http://ctka.net/pr500-king.html
“(Are you finding that more satisfying than texting your “i-family/i-friends” every waking moment? ;o)”
My mom was just here for chicken pie and had to check her Farmville setup, wondering if her lemon balm was ready to harvest yet. I sure do like lemon balm, but I’m not so sure about Farmville.
Sounds like you might have seen this already, but interesting story about this professor who offers extra credit to his students if they give up their cell phones for 5 days. What a bunch of cry-babies we’ve become! And many of the comments are even worse…
http://chronicle.com/article/Thoreaus-Cellphone-Experiment/125962
My wife and I gave our cell phones up a few months ago (by choice), and I admit it was with a certain sense of trepidation at first, but the liberation goes viral pretty quickly in my opinion.
Oh, and would you please repost the link that had everyone abuzz late last week? I meant to read it and just lost my window.
TT
While other startling news makes the American front pages…
“Starbucks expanding rollout of 31-ounce drink size” … seems to sum it all up quite nicely.
Surely one of the greatest signs of the passing of America was the demotion of Washington’s Birthday to “President’s Day” to make room for the Communist Operative, Martin Luther King – the only American to have his own holiday. And the facts of his plagiarism, communism, and perversion aren’t even that unknown anymore – people just don’t care. The ideology is everythng, the Truth nothing. It was Dick Cheney’s ex-wife I believe, who voted not to take away King’s Theology Degree when the facts of his plagiarism became too evident to be ingnored. A high level judge also sealed his FBI record so the saint’s reputation could not be further tarnished by his own actions. And then Liberals have the clueless nerve to feel indignation that we doubt Obama’s citizenship – after his records have been sealed and he refuses to show his birth certificate. People who don’t care about the Truth wont get it – and don’t deserve it. And what they do deserve is on the way. Remember, we brought it on ourselves. Curse not God.
Neanderlover,
The Seahawks beating the Saints is news since the Seahawks have a really really hard time beating anybody. If the Hawks beat anybody it’s news.
In spite of their record the Hawks do have fans. In a world where nothing is loyal to us I guess some still desire to be loyal to something.
Basically I agree with you Neanderlover but I’m seriously concerned that you expect that anything of substance could possibly make it to the tube.
I recommended OUTFOXED as the cure to your malady.
Dear Professor Kramer,
Re our correspondence last week, please see Exhibit B posted by the subject at 11:56AM today above. — Regards, Qshtik
Michelle Obama wrote: “Lifting each other up in dedication and service is one of the best ways not only to honor Dr. King, but to honor each other. By giving service a new role in this country, we can establish a new foundation for our economy and a brighter future for our children.”
Comment: “Among the winners was Lawrence Summers, who remains convinced that he deserved every penny of the nearly $8 million that Wall Street firms paid him in 2008, when he was an Obama campaign adviser. And why shouldn’t he be cut in on the loot from the loopholes in the derivatives market—many now toxic—that he pushed into law when he was Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary? No one has been more persistently effective in paving the way for the financial scams that enriched the titans of finance while impoverishing the rest of the world than the man who became the top economic adviser to President Obama.”
(Robert Scheer, “The Great American Stickup”, P. 229.)
Ah, the memories. I had a 1964 Plymouth Valiant wagon that I bought for $100 from the fork-truck operator at work. Its biggest feature was a hole at least 6 inches wide in the back floor (under the mat). I drove, while my buddy poured paint from an old gallon can out the hole. The line stretched for about a half-mile for quite a few years after that. We laughed every time we saw it. P.S. Sorry, we were teenagers and most likely under the influence.
“The reptilian vestiges in our genome perhaps make us prone to irrational thinking.”
Are you attempting to set this last portion of your post apart as rational?
Damn, man. 3 of my buddies in Spokane and I paid $37.50 apiece for an old booger green 1969 Dodge Dart several years ago, and I thought that was a good deal! But 100 bucks for a running car? Good job. We lived downtown and walked everywhere we went, but then 2 of us started refereeing soccer matches and needed a ride to outlying high schools. Bing! Roll in the Dart.
Good times.
Let’s not forget.
By definition, everything you see on TV is a TV show. That includes any show in which you see the President.
Did you somehow think that was a real event that just happened to be on TV? Whoa. What gave you that idea? It was nothing but a TV show right from the start.
Anything other than that hasn’t happened since at least as far back as R.M.Nixon or more likely as far back as Johnson.
Remember Nixon? Nixon was one of the first to use the device (on TV) of making something true by saying it was true.
What Americans can’t admit is – the combination of American-style democracy and the capitalist / corporation, global-market economy has certain weaknesses which are what is haunting and destroying us now.
Americans are so sure that democracy and capitalism are good things that they simply can’t admit the problems we are now experiencing are related to the underpinnings and basic tenents of those institutions.
Well folks, they are. Just as surely as communism didn’t work very well in Asia, capitalism (which is a pyramid scheme based on the pretext of never-ending growth and expansion, as all pyramid schemes are) no longer works, either.
Surprised? Don’t be. In an historical perspective these were two governmental and social schemes that came along and were essentially flashes in the pan, fueled by cheap energy, that did not work for more than a brief flash and were gone.
Adios, America. You had such potential but your greed and sloth pissed it away so quickly.
I don’t think its a matter of deep intelligence. If you believe there is nothing there to know, you will not seek to understand it.
The culture seems to be in a state of stupor as a result of a complete disconnect with reality. It seems to have become incoherent and without any character. Politicians don’t know the real problems or know them but have no courage to talk about them. They are following the easier/usual path of simply following public’s sentiment and public is assuming politicians will lead the way since they have done their part (voting), it is like catch22.
You have seen the pattern long before, many, many times. Jefferson wrote of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness together because he knew that they couldn’t exist separately. Let one of those three elements be denied a man, and loss of the other two will be swift in following.
Mussolini claimed that fascism was about a merging of corporations and the State, but in truth, fascism is about nothing but death, and under a fascist’s boot death is the only thing that can hope to be produced. Not the procreation of life, not the music and magic of diversity in all its’ forms, not prosperity, not discovery, learning, adventure. Simply death. Death of the environment, death of all animal life, death of the human population . . . and afterwards, silence, the copper stench of blood on the wind, and the mud, sand, and black bitumen of barrenness and aridity.
The Bible has a phrase for Vlad Krandz and his fascist venom. It is referred to as, “the abomination which causes desolation”. It is also what America will have as her future unless she begins, very rapidly and urgently, to act to prevent it. The Reaper’s blade is being sharpened as we speak.
A nice analysis for us this week, JHK.
The biggest problem that we, as a Nation, have in addressing the events in Tuscon is that this – sad, tragic, and violent – chain of events is only *newsworthy?* beyond the local level because a sitting US congresswoman is involved.
Political shootings change history. We all know this, in a visceral way, from Kennedy and Reagan, and too many others. And now the 24/7 news cycle and the *blathering political entertainment* personalities have to blather. DAMN – purposeful political discourse is really almost dead in this country – and without it, we have no reason for being a Country.
And what were they thinking by having an open air memorial for shooting victims – some dead, some wounded, some recovering – along with some heroes and at least one or two villians. No wonder nobody knew how to act – and whether to cheer or cry.
Nice road runner analogy, JHK. That’s another corner our country has turned. Even those who have the intelligence and education to discuss historical parallels, literature, or opera – will no longer do so in public.
Mention Gotterdammerung and no one will admit to knowing whatthehell you are talking about.
Mention Wylie Coyote hanging suspended at the edge of a cliff and we wait for the punch line and nod with understanding.
Maybe Obama should make the entire SOTU speech one big Road Runner vs Coyote reference. Even those rascally independent voters might get on board with that.
============
Hancock – relax, I’ll get to you by the end of the week – just doesn’t fit the flow of posts right now
Vlad – you might try spending less time with talk radio or far right blogs – you seem a little frantic this week. Although the one post where you blamed both RW and LW had some validity
Laura L. – nice post
dale, O3, lbendet – y’all too
For some reason I got to thinking about epigenetics tonight while I was doing the dishes. You guys familiar with epigenetics? Time magazine did a great piece on it last year. The idea is that most of our genes have associated “epigenes” that work like switches, turing on or off various adaptations, accumulated over the eons, in response to current environmental conditions. It’s kind of Lamarckian in theory, but astounding in its implications when you realize that this stuff is legit.
For example, my family now lives in a house that is barely climate controlled. We turn the AC on in one bedroom during the hottest nights, and blow cool air into the other 2 with fans. And we heat the house to a tolerable level, fully clothed with a fleece on, during the coldest days. It’s not uncommon to walk out into a kitchen in the 40s early in the morning. Nor is it abnormal for the living room to be in the 90s in summer. 50 degree temperature swing. My grandparents and parents think this is insane, and to be honest, I think it’s pretty uncomfortable at times too. But my grandchildren will benefit mightily from it!
Projecting energy descent out that far, and assuming a complete lack of electrical power by then, I’m not sure they’ll even care! See, my children’s epigenetic markers are now switched over to the “deal with natural temperature fluctuations” mode, where mine are set on the “enjoy life as near to 70 degrees as you can at all times” setting. The “room temperature” setting if you will. As if there is such a thing outside of San Diego.
Another benefit I could give them would be to NOT have plenty of food on the table at all times. No parent would do this to their children by choice, and I’m striving to keep high quality food on the table at all times, but if it came to pass that this was the way of it, my children would pass on genes switched to the “utilize calories more efficiently” mode. Ostensibly they could thrive on fewer calories than I can. But then, I grew up in a culture where “low fat” and “low calorie” were meant as positive attributes!
Fascinating stuff! And the implications of what my parents and grandparents have “done” to me in our land of plenty are monumental. So having constant luxury in our lives not only spoils our children physically, it also spoils their children genetically! So before we go bad-mouthing the lazy, good-fer-nuthin kids these days, we would do well to remember that we actually made them what they are! Literally. I still slap my forehead when I get to thinking about this one sometimes.
Anyway. Good night all. Way past my bedtime…
Hey Beantown and MyrtleMay….
My first car was a hand-me-down 1970 Plymouth Satellite Sebring, which I called the blue bomb–8 cylinders with solid steel bumpers of doom. Under snow conditions, I’d throw huge sacks of sand into trunk so the car so it wouldn’t fly off the road. I drove it until 1987, and passed it onto my sister.
SJmom
James, I am as apolitical a person as you will ever find so it is not surprising that I did not watch the event that you described in today’s essay. I also avoid like the plague any staged event that I know beforehand is designed to cause a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. I don’t know when this memorial service occurred but there is a good chance I was engrossed in a pro-football play-off game at the time with (gasp!) a bowl of cheese doodles near my right hand. (Certain others here are appalled by all this interest in sports but that is a topic for another time.)
But now that I’ve read your essay I regret not seeing the service if only to compare my reaction to yours. I sometimes worry about myself in the sense that I’m often out of sync with the majority and I feel a disconnect from my fellow man that is not intentional.
Take, for example, the speech made by the President several days earlier about the massacre. It seems there was general agreement that this was a great speech and one news commentator said it was second only to his speech on race which, if memory serves, was given in the run-up to the ’08 election. (I didn’t listen to that speech either so who knows?)
But here is what I can tell you about that supposedly great speech earlier last week. My wife has a Bose radio on a table in our bedroom and it is tuned to NPR and set to go on at 7:10AM. There is a neat feature where the sound comes on at very low volume and builds slowly to normal listening volume. Thus one is not jarred from a deep sleep.
I have impaired hearing in both ears; quite bad in the right ear but only moderately bad in the left. Depending on which ear is buried in the pillow and which is exposed I may have only a general impression of what I’m listening to. Well, what it was was Obama’s second greatest speech. I listened for a couple of minutes picking up a word here and a phrase there but mostly just inflection and cadence. Far from recalling what I’ve read about Demosthenes it caused my usual reaction to speeches by politicians … a certain revulsion. The small remote device is kept close at hand and the off button was soon pressed.
Is it possible I would have been unimpressed with Lincoln’s Gettysburg address heard live? It worries me to think so.
Tripp said to Mook: “but then 2 of us started refereeing soccer matches
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and yesterday Q located some footage of my buddy reffing a match and posted a link to it. In case you missed it here it is.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r0_TS09lJc
During his trip to Afghanistan, Obama lobbied for the right of Americans to engage in sodomy in foreign lands.
On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, did Obama equate his efforts in successfully repealing Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s?
I heard that Obama is very popular in Cincinnati.
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/10/20/tem_monlede20.html
Oh knock it off. Jefferson didn’t think Blacks were equal – nor did Lincoln. Martin Luther King WAS a communist agent among other rephrensible things. You’re either a dupe or a conscious agent yourself. Stop your conscience dreaming and come down and get your face in the good earth. No more soft jobs – get your hands dirty.
You are capable of insight but you are still adicted to politeness. And when a woman shows up – you start courting and get all submissive. You have to fight your conditioning – the real fight always begins and ends inside. Do you think the Enemy will show us any mercy? The stuff about King is well known – you just can’t stand anyone talking about it. Now be fair: is not the replacement of the Father of our Country with MLK the height of madness?
Yeah the Carthusian Postulants to the Grand Charteuse near Grenoble (where they make the liquor) have to be able to take the cold. The young Americans generally can’t make it and drop out – too addicted to central heating.
The principle of switches also seems to apply to disease. The immune system grows through combat. As Buddha said, “Struggle there must be. All of life is a struggle of some kind.” Races and Peoples who aren’t willing to fight will soon vacate the stage of life. There is a small Tribe in the Amazon that has held a piece of land the size of Rhode Island for 500 years against all comers. They are little guys who sit and stand with uncanny stillness. The neighboring tribes are terrified of them.
As you may already know, Joe Bageant has inoperable cancer. His readership surely overlaps with yours to a great degree so I thought it might be nice if you could give the matter some exposure. I would hate him to think that his readership who has enjoyed his many essays for free, is now indifferent to his wellbeing. I am sure nothing is further from the truth. As an Australian myself, his charming and uniquely American turn of phrase have delighted me for years, and his lucid and compassionate perspective have had an effect on my own politics and conduct. Not profound, but certainly significant. I doubt I am the only one. The same could be said of your own weekly essays. Methinks a short tribute from a kindred spirit such as yourself would be far from inappropriate. Apologies for the presumption. I would do it myself if I had an audience.
2. During advent, a woman in the row in front of me at church (Presbyterian) actually texted during the sermon. If I caught my kids texting in church, They’d get “Mom’s silent death ray eye of doom.”
—
Personally, I would be most sympathetic to anyone doing just about anything to get themselves through a Presbyterian church service. So sorry to hear that your kids had to go through that, too.
I mean, you started out Mormon and then became a Presbyterian. How much of an improvement is that?
Jesus H. Christ!
Iona
“So, despite widespread opposition to homosexual “marriage” here at home, the U.S. government is pressuring foreign governments to offically recognize homosexual unions abroad. The main pushback is coming from the Muslim world, where “alternative lifestyle” is just another way of saying blasphemy.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/15/obamas-homosexual-muslim-conflict/
What’s the deal with you clowns who insist on posting “FIRST” as if anyone gives a damn.
JHK said:
>
______________________________
Yeah, and very few folks are talking about the assassination of U.S. District Judge John M. Roll. All we hear about is Loughners mental state, etc. about about every tiny piece of news about Giffords. Why aren’t we hearing more about Roll?
Mean to say that JHK said:
—
The Tucson shooting displaced two important political stories last week. 1.) the sentencing of former House Majority Leader Tom Delay to three years in prison for money mischief, and 2.) the appointment of JP Morgan executive William Daley as White House Chief of Staff. Both of these stories tell us as much about ourselves as the lethal antics of Jared Lee Loughner, but nobody paid attention.
—
Qbala,
Your 11:35 entry, reply to Vlad was beautifully put. I really enjoy your writing.
________
Just want to reiterate my entry at 5:52 1/17. Please check it out. I really think this gets to much of what our conversation should be about. Check out esp. the “Economics of Happiness”. The interview with Dylan Ratigan and Helena Norberg Hodge is worth a listen to.
Would love to hear what people have to say about this.
Last nite on the “Coast to Coast”, George Noory’s AM overnite radio program, appeared author Christopher Steiner who discussed his new book “$20 per Gallon, How the inevitable Rise in Gasoline Prices will change our lives for the Better”. Steiner is a writer for Fortune Magazine covering technological issues.
Steiner postulates that high energy prices is a relative good thing because it would allow all kinds of alt. energy and technical solutions to swoop in, solving our energy problems. He never really mentions peak oil, except disparagingly, and he dismisses Jim’s book TLE as alarmist and overstated, comparing Jim to novelist Cormac McCarthy. Steiner advocates stiff federal taxes on a gallon of gasoline to prepare Americans for what is inevitably coming. He never really explained why the price of oil is rising except to cite increased demand in China and India, and of course “speculators”.
The real discouraging part of the show was the call in part. It seems the American Public thinks there are oceans of oil in the ground, right here in the continental U.S., just waiting to be dug up. Plus there are still a lot of schemes out there like the carburator that gets 100mpg and cars that run on compressed air, hydrogen, switch grass, compressed trees … you name it. When you hear serious and well intentioned people say these things the situation seems hopeless.
Another storm rolled into Connecticut last nite. Snowing like hell. And -10d F predicted for this weekend. Yikes!
You said:
No worries. It’s all good, progorcons. Not so much that I was waiting on pins and needles for a reply, just that, like the Liberal I am, I started feeling guilty about ripping someone who didn’t deserve it, even under the guise of “tough love”.
So I came back here and got those thoughts out while they were still fresh.
Take as long as you like to reply, or don’t reply at all. While I always enjoy reading your posts, the important thing was that you read my second apologetic post.
I am still trying to recover from my CFN posting bender, after being so good for weeks. If I was an alcoholic, I’d be laying the gutter, begging passers-by for a bit of the Hair of the Dog.
So if you do reply to me and I fail to reply to you, it means nothing more than I successfully climbed back on the wagon, but you can be sure I’ll read every word attentively.
Yep Marlinfive54
It is indeed frustrating and depressing.
I’ve been saying for a long time that there is no recognized truth or fact that everyone can wrap their heads around. We are left with a myriad of opinions–and you know everyone has a right to their opinion.
It’s the reason we can’t come up with a consensus about anything. Thus we cannot make decisions on how to move forward.
We are mired in an environment of multiple agendas for the good of a few.
This applies to every subject that comes up. All are issues are too big to surmount because we all seem to be living in different realities and there’s nobody out there that can set the record straight.
—– can’t wait till this season is passed, can wait for another brutally hot summer.
You said:
As CFN’s resident Alien Space Lizards expert, I am deeply intrigued by this comment.
And by “Alien Space Lizards” I mean: whatever the hell is actually going on that is masked by, as it was said in the movie The Matrix, “The world pulled over our eyes.”
So I have to ask you for some more specifics. Please spit out what you are trying to say. And please link to Jared’s You Tube posts so we can look at your examples.
Who do you think played Jared? Why would the parents have no choice? What do you think is REALLY going on here?
Personally, I think if there is any odor of fish here, it is focused on the Disappearing Cabbie.
Cable TV Infoganda dry-humped the tragedy in every orifice, but somehow failed to get an interview with The Cab Driver Who Gave Nutsy His Final Ride and Went Into The Safeway With Him.
They just let him walk out the front door, then Cable TV Infoganda just let him disappear down the memory hole, where he will remain with almost 100% certainty.
For those addicts of Conventional Wisdom (not James Crow or I): Why would media act contrary to their own self-interest of putting people in a buying mood in order to move product?
When it is clear from focus-grouping every past tragedy and horror in the last 15 years that nothing puts people in a buying mood like the excitement of a “How I Spent Time With a Madman Right Before He Committed His Atrocity,” story.
Additionally, how many Americans have we seen in the past 15 years who, when presented with an opportunity for 15 minutes of fame, could or would turn it down completely, particularly if they themselves had committed no crime nor done wrong?
Really? Not ONE interview since the day after the Lizard Police let him sashay out the front door? Pretty much everyone else who they could find who knew Loughner got Cable TV Infoganda time, but curiously, not the man who gave Loughner his ride to infamy and escorted him inside.
I understand, James, if you are reluctant to spell out what you are thinking, given the terminal addiction to Conventional Wisdom even prominent here, at a place as unconventional as CFN.
But I am genuinely interested in your thoughts, even if it turns out I don’t agree with them.
Please elaborate, James. At the very least, can you link to or reprint these YouTube postings of Loughner’s?
I agree about the service. I had to turn it off. It made me so uncomfortable with all the cheering. Perhaps if it had been held in a more solemn setting, that would have been a better choice.
A non-demoninational chapel or something. It was upsetting to see the way people reacted.
Hancock 1863;
Speaking of lizards, doesn’t comedian Bill Maher resemble a lizard just a little bit? I mean his physical characteristics. Are Gila Monsters lizards? Because Maher reminds me of a Gila Monster.
Well, I am pretty sure that the Alien Space Lizard Overlords are too savvy and technologically sophisticated to make their real-syntho-flesh human skin disguises even suggest a hint of what they really are.
Thus, I am postulating that, from a physical appearance standpoint, there is no correlation between people who LOOK lizardy, and those who actually ARE Alien Space Lizards.
I might even go so far as to say that people who look lizardy are almost certainly humans, since actual lizards would take better care of their appearance and NEVER allow a hint or suggestion of what really is behind the mask.
So, Maher may be a Alien Space Lizard, but I doubt it. Anything’s possible, though.
Consider this: Of all the people we can be 99.999% certain are Alien Space Lizard Overlords, how many of them actually look lizardy?
Obama? The Bush Family? Geithner? Lloyd Blankfein? Porter Goss? Not one of these or any of the other Alien Space Lizard Overlords betrays even the smallest hint of physical lizardy-ness, that I can see.
My point being, if someone’s face reminds you of a lizard, it is most likely they are a human being. (or Human Elite Henchpersons)
But that’s all frivolous speculation about questions to which we can never know the answers.
😉 😛
That we turn now to ritual and its bastard kin at first surprises, then mystifies, and, upon reflection, speaks to a national predicament in wh the center cannot hold.
Veblen, interestingly, says a thing or two about ritual’s role transacting the priestly and leisure classes (The Theory of the Leisure Class.) Superficially, he sees conferment of aspects of the occult (eg, province of sorcerers) upon individuals who might otherwise be seen as entirely within temporal realm.
(I don’t know jack re Veblen; I doubt I read the book as assigned. Still, here he is in my notes.)
Yeats, whom we know better, mourned a loss of courtesy as the industrial age closed. Simple ritual to him seemed the parchment on which life’s promises were spelled. To this reader he seemed to live his nostalgia in real time.
We have our professional sports, every element of disgraced religion and more. Rush hour traffic enacts steps as fraught as a dervish, the nascar line dance beats most nutcrackers, corporate doublespeak out-buks kabuki hands down. That is to say: we are not without ritual courtesies.
We most generally affirm a truth which does not need be self-evident: our world is at its end. Wasn’t that the credo of World War I’s lost generation? Seems natural t’would take this long, a century plus or minus, to at last play the heartland.
If fundamental values were to come back (as, say, disco dancing) the old rituals might pink themselves right silly, liz taylor & michael jackson aw-shucks strutting an encore. Still, as with barn doors left open, history’s closing cannot be opened again.
What about Alien Space Lizards that don’t know that they’re Alien Space Lizards? You could be one, I could be one. Extreme deep cover agents, we do what we’re pre-programmed to do. But eventually our true natures will come out, we’ll want to go back to mate on that that seashore on that alien world circling that far distant star light years away where we were hatched.
{I might even go so far as to say that people who look lizardy are almost certainly humans, since actual lizards would take better care of their appearance and NEVER allow a hint or suggestion of what really is behind the mask.}
the proposition that “individuals whom our logic identifies as L must therefore NOT be L” tells us nothing about L; however, by implying that our logic is reliably false, leads to the inclusion that we must simply rid ourselves of logic. demonstrably, this is impossible.
however, we know the proposition is true. thus warren buffet, avuncular colossus of omaha, is almost certainly a Space Lizard, since folksy old men who play contract bridge are the least lizard-like people on earth.
there is more here than meets the eye: buffet owns geico, represented by a lizard. he also owns dairy queen ice cream-like shoppes, purveyors of a frozen product which does not melt at any temperature of the known universe, a clever instantiation of the well-known reptilian temperature-independent strategy of cold-bloodedness.
why would a Space Lizard associate himself with lizardly products?
You said:
Not exactly a surprising response, was it?
But consider this: 21st Century America has joined the nations that have created and embraced an atmosphere based almost 100% on lies of every kind, fraud of every kind, de facto legalization of aristocratic ciminality, all covered up in ways Orwell and Huxley predicted.
So, when that 20-year-old TV Person told you they didn’t want to live in a world like that, they were lying both to you and themselves, and probably didn’t even realize it.
The Alien Space Lizards have a plan for energy descent, and it’s not that different from other Lizard Plans from the past. That being, replace the old entertainment system with the oldest entertainment system of all.
Scapegoating and Hatred of The Other in all their non-electronic, ancient, and varied forms. It worked before, it’s working now, so it most certainly will continue working in it’s more evolved form in the near future.
The tens, perhaps hundreds of millions of Americans like your 20-year-old TV person will be so twisted inside by withdrawal symptoms, they’ll do anything and follow anyone, just to make it stop.
Sound familiar?
Wow, you like, blew my mind, dude. Never thought of that. Which opens up all manner of plotlines about Alien Space Lizard Superior Biotechnology, what it can do, and how it is undetectable by primitive Primate science and medicine.
You are one crazy Conspiracy Theorist Liberal Canadian Socialshits Moonbat, you know that?
I’m telling on you.
;p
Yeah the Carthusian Postulants to the Grand Charteuse near Grenoble (where they make the liquor) have to be able to take the cold.
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First of all it’s spelled Chartreuse. Secondly, I’ve been there and toured the monastery where the liquor is made and there was no mention of a problem with cold temperatures. Granted, I was there in the summer (of 1959). I also googled it and found no reference to the monks having a problem with cold.
All that aside, if you’ve never tried it, buy some of the liquor; it’s great. I recommend the green more so than the yellow.
NOW you’re gettin’ it! Love your stuff by the way; keep on keeping on, orionoir!
As far as the deeper lizard connections, I think you’re on to something, and I think you should pursue it until you uncover the truth.
For myself, my research is over, or as close to over as my persistent Reality Addiction will permit.
Others will have to continue my VERY IMPORTANT work if you want to make additional discoveries about our Alien Space Lizard Overlords.
Are you up to the task, orionoir? ARE YOU?
😉
“Do not interfere in the affairs of primates for they are quick to anger and very subtle.”
A sarcastic joke shared among Saurons.
Martin Luther King WAS a communist agent
==========
Vlad, I’d like to understand what you mean when you use the word “agent.” Do you mean he was paid by, or under the control of, someone else? Or, would your sentence quoted above be more accurate if it read “Martin Luther King WAS a communist.”?
By my way of thinking, for example, if you said “Asoka is a communist” this would be a true statement but if you said “Asoka is a communist agent” I would say “I doubt it.”
You are one crazy Conspiracy Theorist Liberal Canadian Socialshits Moonbat, you know that? – Hancock
Thank you Sir, I bow deeply, I am humbled and honoured.
You are capable of insight but you are still adicted to politeness. And when a woman shows up -you start courting and get all submissive.
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Precisely Vlad, and this is a point I’ve made about Mamby in far harsher terms since day one. It is truly revolting. The endless throwing of arms around everyone’s shoulder in a show of inclusiveness, the hedging of every statement with parenthetic asides stating the opposite with question marks, the utter fear of giving offense.
Of course the women all love this much as women love gay men. They are so understanding and so nonthreatening.
I personally do not care about MLK (anything protected by PC is bunk), but if some who share this land area find him to be a messiah then good for them. Those people mostly leave me cynical since they are such god awful fails that no amount of happy talk about MLK has improved them one bit. There are exceptions and it was broadcast on the NBA game yesterday a black player’s ode to his white teammates.
Still George Washington still stands tall over the Orcs who abuse him. (recomended reading Fisher’s “Trenton” on GW’s leadership when it counted)
Vlad I think we and JHK can all agree on one thing, whites have nothing to live for except what the marketing wizards on TV tell them to live for in their lives.
the lethal antics of Jared Lee Loughner
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Bubbles, I understand your point but this is a bizarre “human interest” story and poor Judge Roll only had a bit part, if one can call losing your life a bit part.
What strikes me about the sentence quoted above is Jim’s use of the word “antics.” It could only have been worse if he’d said “hi jinx.”
“The principle of switches also seems to apply to disease. The immune system grows through combat.”
Precisely what should come to mind, in my opinion! Thank you for catching that pass. And a good place to rest my case for exposure versus immunization.
I think one malady that afflicts us and that made be at the root of the psyches of these disturbed young men is the extremes to which we in North America have taken the idea of individualism.
It looks to me like a lot of these young guys suffer from loneliness or isolation or extreme disconnectedness from their families, their schools, their peers. How could that Columbine plot have gone to the point where those young guys found themselves armed to the teeth plugging their schoolmates? Didn’t anybody see anything amiss? Why didn’t anybody say anything? Didn’t their parents notice anything?
Same with the delusional young Jared. The man was as crazy as a loon. But somehow he still didn’t get help.
This past day here in Toronto an older woman suffering from dementia got out of her house in the wee hours and froze to death in a residential neighbourhood. People heard her screams, they saw her on the ground but nobody helped, nobody called 911. Not my problem, go back to bed. Can you imagine? This is a really sick place. And, according to the cops, nobody is going to be charged with criminal negligence.
In a previous post I talked about my unhappiness with a big city newspaper making a big deal about the high level of academic achievement in my hometown. In an attempt to explain the phenom a guy I grew up with talked about the “wovenness” of the town society.
Maybe what we have in North American society at large is the opposite, un-wovenness, where we’ve taken individualism to absurd, destructive extremes, where we don’t know how to exist as part of a family or clan or town. Young guys get guns, rant and rave, are obviously deeply uhappy or psychologically sick and desperately in need of help and nobody helps. Hell is other people according to Sartre. I would agree, three cheers for Sartre. But maybe the opposite is worse. People can’t be healthy alone and that’s what I see a lot of.
Orionoir;
Your posts are deep and abstruse. Are you sure you’re not channeling William S. Burroughs?
Learn to spell, socialshits moobat! And don’t give me none of that whiny Lib’rul, “I’m a Canadian and we spell like Englishmen.”
You live in AMERICA, so you’d damned well better start talking AMERICAN.
You fuzzy little foreigner! (tip of the hat to Bill Murray and Caddyshack)
I say again, and you’d BETTER take me serously:
😛
“Natural gas prices are lower recently as fracking has improved extraction amounts.”
Fracking is an absolute joke, as is anyone who believes in it. Your real name wouldn’t be “ethanol” now would it? The energy return per unit of energy invested is god-awful, far lower than conventional gas production, and it’s a fool’s game. You a fool, Jonathanss?
What are you talking about?
Oh you mean the u in honoured? Comes as second nature. Like you’re driving, you signal left when you turn left and you don’t even know you’re doing it.
Whoa, there seems to be a lot of confusion here. First of all in Tucson, it was a MEMORIAL SERVICE not a funeral service. They are very different! A funeral has a corpse present. A Memorial Service can be both for the dead and the living. In this case, the Memorial Service celebrated the survival of many people at the Safeway and the heroism of many people who brought down the gunman and rescued the wounded. They were cheered for their actions as were the doctors who are working on the Congresswoman and trying to get her well. It also celebrated the lives of the 6 who were killed. Hence the more cheerful tone. Now out of the Tucson tragedy will any of us learn a lesson?
Seems to me that the NRA has been working overtime to put guns into the hands of the mentally unhinged, the criminals and the terrorists. The NRA wants everyone “armed and dangerous” which would result in huge bloodbaths when the cops arrive at a future scene and can’t tell the good guys from the bad. The NRA doesn’t seem to care that they look like a bunch of gun totting villains. Only the possession of their 9mm Glocks with 30 bullet extended magazines seems important to them. Which may make the average NRA member a true sociopath.
What I would like to know is how anyone can can call themselves a Christian and belong to the NRA? Doesn’t the Bible’s 10 Commandments say — Thou Shalt Not Kill?
Tripp,
You are definitely in my pantheon of favorite CFNers, but here I have to strongly disagree with your exposure vs. immunization theory, as a biologist.
From a scientific viewpoint, there is something to what you say. The immunological biomechanics (such as the very existance of “memory cells” in our lymphatic/immunological system) also suggest it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_B_cell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_T_cell
However, a thing being partially true does not make every assumption based on that partial truth, true. There’s a name for this particular logical fallacy, but I don’t feel like lookin’ it up, so nyah nyah! 😛
Without going into a long-winded scientific dissertation: While what you say is partially true, an easy demonstration exists to discount it’s 100% true-ness in all situations.
How? Try to gain total immunity from bubonic plague by exposing yourself to it. CDC in Atlanta is close-by and undoubtedly has some cultures frozen at -80C or colder for long-term storage and future experimental use.
But if you do try it, tripp, for God’s sake, make sure your will is complete so your family inherits all of your hard permacultured work.
“Pretty soon they’ll be tailgating before funerals…if they aren’t already.”
To be honest, I would prefer that people have a tailgate party at my funeral. It’s more honest and human. Tailgates are mostly pot-luck anyway; I can’t see any reason to criticize them. Maybe if we got away from this weird, supernatural notion that people go to some nice “place” after they die, we could pay more attention to keeping our house (earth) in order.
Who do you think played Jared? Why would the parents have no choice? What do you think is REALLY going on here?
Personally, I think if there is any odor of fish here, it is focused on the Disappearing Cabbie.
============
Hancock, try to get a grip.
There’s a long, detailed and well written account of everything known to date about Jared and the massacre that appeared in the Sunday NY Times (1/16/11). It includes significant detail provided by the cabby concerning his unwitting role in the saga. I’m not going to do your homework for you. Do some Googling. The article’s title is:
Looking Behind the Mug-Shot Grin
and the subtitle is:
Jigsaw Portrait of the Man Jailed in the Tucson Rampage
The part about the cabby comes near the end.
Really Hancock, with you nothing ever “just is.”
Everything is a conspiracy. At some point a label of “delusional disorder” becomes appropriate. I have no expertise in such matters … only the two eyes in my head. I will defer to Orionoir if he’d care to comment. He seems to have some first hand knowledge of these matters and is quite sympathetic to the afflicted.
That guy reminds me of George Bush for some reason. Maybe that would have been his routine if he had ever actually won a war.
Oh, so it’s the old Liberal-Juden Lie #67145396b, is it?
The old innocent “What, lil’ ol’ me?” trick. But I am hep to your Canadian socialist lies, Cash, and you can’t fool me.
Admit it before this forum and before God! You are a Communist Agent who is trying to bring down America through importation of your socialist British grammar and spelling!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5j8Jioan1w
;P (man, I’ve got a serious tongue fetish working today!)
The day has finally come for Frontline’s short introduction to Dana Priest’s Top Secret America which will air in Sept.
Debuting Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), the new magazine series will extend FRONTLINE’s award-winning brand of broadcast journalism with more “fast turnaround” news reports and timely investigations airing throughout FRONTLINE’s new year-round schedule.
The magazine series will also continue FRONTLINE’s innovation online, with a regular stream of Web-original video and reporting, as well as a social media strategy designed to engage a new audience across digital platforms where the conversation is increasingly taking place.
The magazine series launches with the latest from Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Dana Priest, who investigates the sprawling terrorism-industrial complex that has grown up in the wake of 9/11. Her report, Are We Safer? — produced and directed by FRONTLINE veteran Michael Kirk (The Warning, Obama’s Deal) — explores the growing reach of homeland security into the lives of ordinary Americans.
Priest examines Maryland, for example. Here, Gov. Martin O’Malley tells FRONTLINE how the Department of Homeland Security backed his state’s efforts to track down terrorists, funding the creation of a “fusion center” to bring together data from new high-tech devices like license plate readers and CCTV cameras on street corners, and to combine it with the databases of local police and the federal government.
The problem, Priest finds, is that, nine years after 9/11, Maryland, like so many states, has yet to use its vast anti-terror apparatus to capture any terrorists. Rather, it’s built a massive database that collects, stores and analyzes information on thousands of U.S. citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing.
This story is part of an ongoing investigation with the Washington Post– “Top Secret America” –that will result in a FRONTLINE film in September, 2011.
He is one goofy looking dude. The hilarious part is the fact that he laughs at his old “looks” and somehow believes he is better looking today. When he goes to the Playboy mansion the girls most certainly are only looking at his wallet. Besides that, he’s a big wimp.
“How? Try to gain total immunity from bubonic plague by exposing yourself to it.”
Thanks for the semi-props, Hancock, but I’m about as afraid of bubonic plague as I am of pillow fighting. My ancestors survived the plague because of a genetic “error”. See, the bubonic plague gains entry to human cells by bribing a “molecular doorman” called a chemokine receptor. The blueprints for the receptors are, naturally, coded in our genes. In the lucky fraction of the Eurasian population that survived the plague it was discovered that the gene involved in the construction of the chemokine receptor was “defective.” Constructing fewer receptors means fewer welcome mats for the plague. And since the gene is inherited in pairs, offspring who received the mutation from one parent were less affected by the plague, but offspring inheriting it from both parents were completely immune! Count me in that category.
But wait! There’s more! Molecular researchers actually came to this discovery while studying HIV and how it infects some people fully, some partially, and some not at all. It seems HIV and the Black Plague use the same trick to gain entry to a cell, and so Eurasians with the inherited immunity for plague are also immune to HIV! Double bonus!!
So for starters, you’ll have to come harder than throwing pussy diseases at me like the plague and AIDS.
Got any common colds out there that could use some echinacea?
Here in Atlanta, the city too stupid to know any better, Homeland Security dumped millions of dollars onto our token transit system (MARTA). So what happens when a little snow falls onto our city? 10-years later? The whole system screwed up; busses were shut down completely for two days, and nobody could be found to clear ice and snow from the stairs and platforms. Yet the other day I saw about seven shiny new white SUVs from MARTA’s fleet of about 20 of the same parked in front of the downtown station. Just who drives these vehicles and what they are supposed to be used for in an emergency is beyond me. DADT seems to be the rationale for most of this Homeland Security spending.
I should also note the fully-funded K-9 SWAT force that is there to “protect” us. What a waste (though I do like some of the German Shepherds; they are better to look at than the SUVS).
I have more of a problem with the new generation of cops, jacked-up, and bored, on steroids. Don’t believe it? Ask someone you actually know who works out at the same gym.
You are a smart one [not sure of yr gender].
But:
‘Paul Krugman the supposed Keynesian economist shocked me this weekend in the NYTimes’………
Why would anything in the
‘entertain and disinform’ media shock you?
Is this the city with 2 snowplows? both broken?
Uh…..’lage scale immigration – both signs of terminal decline’
Hes part right so why slam him for being all wrong?
And since no one else has answered yr question..
enlistment…Ill give you 2 answers.
1…..they are unemployed.
2…..read ‘THE DARK SIDE OF MAN’ [boys play with guns, gals with dolls].
Another storm rolled into Connecticut last nite. Snowing like hell. And -10d F predicted for this weekend. Yikes!
==========
Marlin, where in CT do you live? I’m quite familiar with the state … lived and worked there for two years and covered the state from one end to the other, 1970 – 1972.
I’ve been noticing your frequent comments about below zero temps. CT is usually much like NJ where
Correction:
…where below zero temps are quite rare. Thus far the worst has been about +10.
Answer this : were Blacks better off in 1960 or now? [same could be asked of whites]
Another correction:
your should be you’re
How much of an improvement is that?
A BIG ONE
Gotta admit, tripp, your knowledge of bubonic plague outstrips my general scientific knowledge about the topic, so eventually I hope to look up the mechanisms you mentioned and learn about ’em myself.
Because I don’t know anything about the specific subject matter you brought up, I have no real reply to you.
At the risk of you running circles around me again, let me just say that, after all these generations and considering the nature of Mendelian Genetics, it is very possible that the immunity gene of yours has been bred out of your line without you knowing it (of course, the opposite could easily be true, as well).
Therefore, using general biologic knowledge, I would suggest that you NOT expose yourself to Plague, for if you have misininterpreted the data… well, I hear having your armpits swell to the size of blackened grapefruits is not a pleasant thing.
Anyway, tripp, here’s hoping all is going great for you and your family in your new mountain home. (no better place to live than in the mountains, IMHO).
O Marlin, C2C has some good things [JHK was on once] but its a show for ‘haunted houses and UFO fans’.
I was going to listen last nite but in LA he didnt go on till 11? so i skipped.
Others have noted when gas gets to 5$ a gallon it so slows the economy its hard to factor all the consequences in.
“Is this the city with 2 snowplows? both broken?”
Yes. And that’s not all that is “broken.” The City of Atlanta Public Schools are close to losing accreditation. The political dynamics in the city seem a lot like Detroit. If not for all the gays moving into and fixing up some of the housing stock, we would be sunk. Just where the poor blacks go I don’t know.
‘What do I think the price of land is going to do?’
Essentials are food and gas and since food prices are skyrocketing farm land will do the same? Yes?
Less important are new homes and office buildings as ‘realty’ so maybe their prices will plummet.
{For myself, my research is over, or as close to over as my persistent Reality Addiction will permit.
Others will have to continue my VERY IMPORTANT work if you want to make additional discoveries about our Alien Space Lizard Overlords.}
———-
let the word go forth…..that the torch has been passed to a new generation….
It’s all about what we read, right? And I’m a pretty big fan of evolutionary biology and human health. Enjoy this article from one of our more perceptive colleagues:
http://www.darwinawards.com/science/bubonic.html
Cheers!
To All CFNers:
I want to thank each and every one of you for a fun and fantastic discussion thread this week. I cannot tell you how much chatting with all of you has brought a huge smile to my face and lightened my heart at this tragic (or is it tragic, considering no one any of us actually knew was killed?) time.
Even CFNs small, die-hard, dedicated corps of True Douchebags has contibuted to my joy… nay, my glee today. I enjoyed every post so far on this thread, thoroughly, and I mean every single one.
Two problems, though.
One is, course, the truly astronomical percentage of people who actually believe the Liberal Lies of the Lying Liberal Media.
As Cartman’s old Nazi pals used to say (in a slightly different, but identically-meaning phrase), “THE SENSATIONALIST NEWSPAPERS LIE!”
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/journailleluegt.htm
So, wise up dummies. If the Liberal Media said it, it must be 100% completely and utterly FALSE.
My second problem (or is it really a problem???) is that you are all feeding my CFN addiction and making it difficult for me to go back to cold turkey.
Smart people being smart, mean people being mean, fun people being fun, liars being liars and douchebags being douchebags. What a positive joy CFN has become lately, damn you all to hell!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb4eZ7Z5yk8
Stop being yourselves and start pretending to be someone else, or one day they’ll find me on a slab in the morgue, dead of a CFN overdose.
I know that there isn’t a single person on CFN who would wish me dead or anything nasty like that over some bickering on an anonymous message board.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2THs3oNooM
Speaking of abandoned airports, have you played any Fallout: New Vegas?
Qsthik;
I’m in the Farmington Valley. This winter has been exceptional, kind of like 95-96 & 93-94. Its on everybody’s mind and hard not to take note of and comment on.
Vlad Kranz;
I just want to say I served with many blacks in both the Army & Navy and found most of them pretty good guys. The kids from the northern cities had a hard edge compared to the kids from small towns from the south. There were good & bad, just like with any other group of people, that is, if you divide people into groups.
{Really Hancock, with you nothing ever “just is.”
Everything is a conspiracy. At some point a label of “delusional disorder” becomes appropriate. I have no expertise in such matters … only the two eyes in my head. I will defer to Orionoir if he’d care to comment. He seems to have some first hand knowledge of these matters and is quite sympathetic to the afflicted.}
1. yes, at some point delusional disorder becomes appropriate: this is widely known. the question is, always, are we now at this point? i believe the time is now;
2. those who see conspiracy believe in purposeful competency: my world is not so sunny;
3. is it not that wh most annoys us that eventually tells the most?
screw the pompous numbering. q, you play pool, right? enough to know that those who seem most utterly fucked are sometimes formidable opponents? it’s kind of like this saying my granddad used to have, never fight a gay alcoholic. wise man, old granddad. you just have to figure the guy, the fruity lush, he got seriously bullied til he got away; then, unwilling dark denizen innumerable iniquitied-dens, once again he acquainted well the night.
if he steps on your toes, don’t say, sorry don’t buy me no shine. instead, nod and walk away: respect the past, everyone’s. walk away not because he’s a loaded gun and you’re not: heck, we all are loaded guns. rather, respect simply by habit, uncomprehendingly respect even what is by all rights a steaming pile of shit: because to do otherwise assumes knowingness surely absent.
more pomposity, sheesh. i’ve been mean to vlad on purpose, mostly out of sanctimonious conviction, eg, you can never be too mean to a racist. as if i were not myself reflexively opposed to anyone unlike myself, or, not to put too fine a point on it, i hate everyone who is not me. (but then i quickly remind myself that that’s not a cheerful way to think.)
grammar and syntax, to say nothing of ordinary common sense, are mere social constructs, no? everything we perceive, odds are the precise opposite is more likely true.
my coach, long dead, is well-educated in the classics, imbued beyond words in words. because he spoke german as a native, he fought most of the war behind enemy lines. when we drink, just he and i, he lapses into this language of which i have no understanding.
i never had him for latin; my teacher was an awkward intellect straight out of bryn mawr. i gave her no end of trouble. my coach mentored her; she looked to him as an ugly girl might to the man who sees in her nothing but beauty. in this way she & i faceted one stone.
a meeting is called, she, coach and i are to hash my failed potential over drinks (she doesn’t know about the drinks.) you guess it: by degrees he falls into german, which i suppose she can suss skeletally. off the hook, i sit listening to the music.
language is not about understanding. nor music, nor love, nor life is my guess.
I was listening to PublicRadio this a.m…..
all these city symphonies that are broke or near closing.
sad..while ‘rap’ makes billions.
Gosh..we thought you had died.
‘ 47%, as he won the election by 53%) his march’
you are smart. the # who vote and the # who breathe are 2 very different #’s.
for instance in compton 7% vote.
‘Same with the delusional young Jared. The man was as crazy as a loon. But somehow he still didn’t get help’
Clearly you havent been to SantMonica or downtown L.A.
In SM a homeless guy killed his therapist.
The crazier they are the less likely they are to want help or get better if they do get help.
GOG,
I posted this a couple weeks ago on this blog,
here it is again for you, I think you will enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR7DCFCkqao
It’s about Wylie and The Road Runner
Worth watching and FUNNY !
Enjoy !
In response to some comments:
I know that some of you completely eschew the notion that msm will ever have any truth to tell. Actually it does, but investigative reporting is on the line today against the trend toward “communications” or the marketing of ideology.
I worked for many years at Time Inc. and I know the people on the ground either shooting pictures or reporting where things are happening around the world. Sorry but these people do have real stories to tell and have put their —on the line.
What you need to keep in mind is that even in the most repressive regimes, people can glean a glimpse into the thinking of the ruling class if they just read between the lines. That is the challenge. Yesterday I posted the Dylan Ratigan urls because I think this guy is brave enough to set the record as honestly as possible. He comes from a conservative background, but is horrified enough to say what he really thinks and gets great guests on to talk about this. I do believe I’ve gotten great information watching him. I support anyone who will say what they believe-even if they don’t always get it right.
On C-Span I heard a globalist apologist say that the idea was to get everyone in the world to the standard of living of the poorest Americans which he said wasn’t so bad. (They have TV’s don’t they?) My point is that when you hear something so out of whack, you know what they’re thinking for us here. It’s no accident that our jobs including more advanced jobs are leaving here in a jiffy.
[Today I got a phone call from a retouching house in India who offered me support for when I have too much work to do myself. That does happen, but I said I must be honest with you. I’m going to farm off work to local retouchers who I’ve worked with in the past who need the work-even if it costs me more!]
Today someone on C-Span said that we were fighting the wars for international business—My case in point. We are steamrolling thorough the world to make the world safe for McDonald’s and Coke–who btw have their off-shore accounts in the Cayman Islands. Don’t you love how it all works so neatly together?
But how would you know if you shut yourself off to the info? You’d be wasting your time talking about race.
Anyway my world didn’t blow apart because Krugman threw in with the neoliberals, silly me to think otherwise.
{Another storm rolled into Connecticut last nite. Snowing like hell. And -10d F predicted for this weekend. Yikes!
==========
Marlin, where in CT do you live? I’m quite familiar with the state … lived and worked there for two years and covered the state from one end to the other, 1970 – 1972.
I’ve been noticing your frequent comments about below zero temps. CT is usually much like NJ where
I’ll take a stab and say your near either Danbury or Putnam.}
i know it’s bad for to copy the whole post, but it seemed informational at the time and i could bear leaving it stranded in my paste buffer (aka, ram blue balls.)
altho deep undercover per LoL (lord of lizards), i must out myself: i’m husky blue. heck, i was into the lady huskies when you could simply show up at gampel, front row for $4.95.
as for putnam (hartford, waterbury, new haven, etc) i been uptown, i been downtown, i been all over this town. shdoooby.
Hancock, maybe you’ll like my latest blog post:
http://smallbatchgarden.blogspot.com/2011/01/paradigm-shifting-part-ii.html
Cheers,
Tripp
I also ‘see’ things like this often enough. And I am with you on this. and / but : as far as the law is concerned here are some facts. Although they have nothing to do with common sense and decency imo.
Part, and only part of the problem is that even Mentally Ill people have ‘rights’. One can’t just lock someone up unless they are a threat to self or others. And that is something that can’t be proven UNTIL someone gets hurt. Kinda like domestic violence situations. The perp can emotionally and verbally put their spouse down forever, but unless they lay a hand on them, well they are not breaking any (current) laws.
As far as helping the lady with dementia, that is really sad and sickening. I would have done something in that case. But / and so many others wouldn’t and didn’t. That is deplorable.
Also say there is a car accident and you pull over and you move a person that is injured, they can in turn sue YOU later on. So that is a tricky situation. Still common decency comes into play and I would probably try and help.
My husband is a first responder and he told me about the laws in these cases. You have to ask the person ‘can i help’ and get a yes.
If they are unconcious, well how can you do that?
these are different situations.
A personal case: In the town I live in there was a loose cannon, anyone paying attention, and no one was, well I was, I was younger, I KNEW this guy was gonna go off someday. He did. He did something, not sure, a robbery, yeah, he robbed a store, then drove away. cops followed, got him at a gas station getting gas, the perp SHOT the police dog, dead, so the cops opened fire on him, dead.
This guy was clearly dangerous. Again no one said anything. But even if I had said something, what could ‘they’ have done, the system ? Like I said in these cases, not the Dementia case, someone has to be hurt. Or a family member needs to proove the He was a threat to self and in this case others also.
There is no common sense or decency anymore. the ‘good’ guy takes the rap too often. can’t help if you wanted to, with out breaking a law.
I call in when I see elders wandering around in their pj’s. There are alot of Convelecent Hospitals around, and they get out, the ones with dementia. I DO call 911 and report those.
Also if you are getting raped you are supposed to yell ‘FIRE’ instead, more people respond to that.
GO FIGURE.
How can we NOT take the law into our own hands, the ones in charge don’t seem to know wtf they are doing. In most cases. Don’t know and or also don’t care.
asia, this is certainly true enough:
“The crazier they are the less likely they are to want help or get better if they do get help.”
A few decades ago, though, no choice at all was offered to the *insane.* The institution referenced below, Central State Hospital, was started by the State of Georgia in 1837. Then Central State grew like crazy in the post Civil War era. The Hospital held up to 12,000 patients up until the 1960’s. It was actually kind of interesting to ride through the grounds (1,200 acres) when I was a teenager in middle Georgia.
But scary, too – because the patients (inmates is a better term) would be outside all over the place – staring, drooling – and that was just the ones who could be let out in public view.
The threat, “If you don’t straighten up, they gonna send you to Milledgeville,” was a familiar threat to any child growing up in GA from the 1960’s or prior. A vague harmless threat to a middle class white kid – BUT your family COULD have you committed against your will if you met certain loose criteria.
And there were no “homeless” in GA in those days because the crime of vagrancy earned at least a short involuntary trip into the State sponsored mental health system.
And Georgia exhibited sustainability before the subject of the Middle East and peak oil made sustainability *cool.* Central State – located in the “center” of the state, right? With rail lines going in every direction. And farms, tended by “patients” that fed the whole institution AND made money for the State, besides.
There are at least 25,000 unmarked graves on the ground of *patients?* who were admitted and never cured.
Is *homelessness* and/or sociopathic *craziness* another one of those things that American society has been able to accept because of ample and cheap energy?
Makes one wonder what might happen to the mentally ill in an energy descent World.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_State_Hospital_%28Georgia%29
I think the reason so many need cell phones is because they lost their homes and have no land lines. I can’t afford both, so I have a cell, I need to be on call for a sick relative.
But yeah we use cell’s too often for no good reason I agree.
Another waste of time and money.
Also have a friend who gets on Yoville, like farmville, it’s more real to her than REAL LIFE.
sick.
I recall my mom telling me of her Grandfather’s funeral, and how they placed Christopher’s open casket upright in the corner at the wake, presumably to absorb one more hit of ethereal alcohol. Any excuse to drink for those County Mayo descendants.
But back then, before the sick were shipped off to a secluded Dying Seminar, everyday people were quite a bit more intimate and familiar with the actuality of a relative or loved one’s decline into death on a day-by-day basis.
Anyway, I forgot what point I was trying to make.
I could sit and listen to your banter for hours; it’s just that good.
I envy people with command of language that I don’t posess myself. And you strike me as a person who chooses their words very carefully indeed, while hiding behind a guise of spouting non-sequiturs or bibble-babble.
So carefully, you could be saying one thing and actually meaning the opposite with your tongue planted firmly in your cheek.
Were you ripping me or what? Time was, not so long ago, that even the thought of being ripped would immediately launch me into a counter-attack of ruthless verbiage and insult.
Now, at least in your case, what you say and how you say it is so perspicacious (I think), mellifluous, and well-worded, that I don’t think I would give a shit if you were ripping me three new rectal orifices, it’s just so enjoyable to read your style.
I keep telling you people that I am trying to go CFN cold turkey again.
STOP BEING SO DAMNED INTERESTING AND UNIQUE!
I think they do it just for FUN.
Orionoir – thank you, thank you!
I new if I kept waiting others would begin to address Conspiracy Theory for me.
You say:
======
“2. those who see conspiracy believe in purposeful competency: my world is not so sunny”
======
Ding, Ding, Ding – give the man in the Black Constellation a Gold Star!
Sartre was right. Hell IS other people.
From “Harper’s” magazine, April 2006, pg. 96 “Findings.”
“Mice that have been genetically altered to lack a particular memory molecule continue to be social even after repeated experiences of social domination and defeat, whereas normal defeated mice become loners.”
Nice article, Tripp. I gotta remember to check out your blog more often.
Lots of interesting ideas, and I liked your riff on ridiculous liberal (though it’s not just libs doing this, is it?) “high-tech” solutions that will supposedly keep Happy Motoring alive.
Long Live Happy Motoring! 😛
It seems to me that at the end of the blog post you are arguing completely against vaccinations or fighting disease using “chemicals”.
That’s something I could never buy into, doubly so in such 100% starkly absolutist terms. I am a bit shocked that you, with your biology background, could embrace such absolutist thinking.
Finally, my duty to the species ends at “dying for evolution” and no other reason. Since if, as you say, we should simply “dance” with viruses in furtherance of evolution, making the mistake of dancing with a deadly virus that kills one is serving evolution.
Given the choice of life or death, I’m pretty sure I will take Petroleum-based Industrial/Corporate Medicine every single time, while it lasts.
But let’s agree to diasgree, because I am trying (unsuccessfully) to get off this blog and I have no desire to engage in a lengthy discussion about it.
I did like your article and will be reading more of them in the future.
That’s very interesting. Might not that group of people described by those who know them as “Good-Natured Doormats” also be lacking that same memory molecule, or is the process purely psychological and environmental?
There’s a future study for a prestigious university’s psych dept. Problem: What are the criteria for categorizing someone as a ‘Good-Natured Doormat’ and how to design the negative controls for the experimental sequence?
==========
“I think one malady that afflicts us and that made be at the root of the psyches of these disturbed young men is the extremes to which we in North America have taken the idea of individualism”
==========
Cash, as one North American to another, “YEAH, NO SHIT, Sherlock!”
The “lone wolf?” mythos is DEEPLY engraved in the psyche of US citizens, especially our males.
Someone on the thread, either this week or last, asked something to the effect, “why is it that political killings in other countries always involve teams of cooperating killers?”
“Yet here in the US we always seem to blame our political killings on the Lone Gunman.”
=========
It may be a completely cultural thing. In Russia (or wherever) you have a society used to secrecy and intrigue AND few individuals with the balls or craziness to act alone.
Here in the US we have an open society and deep layers of protection around *some – probably soon to be all* of our National Politicians.
So there is likelihood that a team of “cooperating killers” would be stopped. But a “lone gunman” can exploit the folds in the security blanket in a single individual act.
=======
I understand that there is very little “lone wolf” tradition for males in Hispanic societies.
Anyone care to comment?
One last thing before I go back on cold turkey, CFN.
I just wanted to heartily second Fiedag’s idea about JHK giving some sort of shout out to Joe Bageant in his time of troubles (he has a severe form of cancer and is getting treated at the VA).
I know, I know… to more than a few on this blog, it’s just more archaic nonsense, but to some of us who were raised a certain way, it is merely Simple Human Decency.
Hancock –
There are two ways to cure an addiction. One is your basic 12-step program. Somewhere along the way of the 12 steps (I’m not sure where ’cause I’ve never had the misfortune to be in one of those programs) one has to quit “COLD TURKEY,” and never go back to the drug of choice.
There’s another cure that also will work for some personality types and some addictions. That is to keep doing the drug/CFN until you finally just “LOSE INTEREST.” After that, you can take it or leave it alone. I have used this method to deal with my use of various quasi(it WAS the ’70’s after all) legal psychoactives, and my own ethyl alcohol use/abuse.
I suggest this second type of cure for things that are generally recognized as not lethal – you know, like CFN and marijuana.
=======
Above is posted for all with an apology for making light of truly harmful addictions. I know these exist.
And the apology to CFN is posted with a cheerful, “Bite it! You know you want to!” for Q – who now waits in squirming, masochistic, homoerotic fantasy to see what else I may say about him.
Orionoir addressed the issue quite well,
“3. is it not that which most annoys us that eventually tells the most?”
Enjoy squirming a while, why don’t you Q.?
Vlad, you’re next – your post to me was actually pretty interesting – though you’re off on my motives.
BELOW THIS ON YAHOO NEWS IS:
PRICIEST CELEB HOMES FOR SALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Some firefighters turned in their helmets and police officers their badges Tuesday as part of deep municipal layoffs destined to further erode the quality of life in Camden, already one of the nation’s most impoverished and crime-ridden cities.
About 335 workers, representing one-sixth of the local government work force, lost their jobs, according to Mayor Dana Redd. It was worst in the public safety departments, where nearly half the police force and close to one-third of the city’s firefighters were laid off.
Laid-off firefighters walked eight blocks together from the police union hall to Fire Department headquarters, snaking past City Hall, then lined up their helmets in front of the building, picked them back up and started to turn them in along with their other gear.
“It’s one of the worst days in the history of Camden,” said Ken Chambers, president of the firefighters union.
Redd blamed the public safety employee cuts on their unions, saying they have not been willing to make job-saving concessions or accept the reality that the state government will no longer bail out the city as it has for the past two generations.
“Instead of protecting and serving the city, the residents of Camden, they’re choosing to protect their high salaries,” she said.
The mayor said she was willing to continue negotiating with unions to try to reach cost savings that would ……………ETC
I THINK OAKLAND ALREADY WENT DOWN THIS ROAD
people wonder if other countries have deranged lone wolf gunman. i wonder if other countries’s suburban kids set homeless people on fire.
Asia,
The demise of symphonies is a tragedy.
Just recently, the city of San Francisco had to bail out the Asian Art Museum, which in the opinion of many, is a world treasure. It contains Avery Brundage’s collection and is beautifully organized. Apparently, the museum can’t keep up servicing its $900 million debt. Their new building (which is neo-classical and used to be SF’s library) cost a bunch and is the most earthquake-proof building in California.
SJmom
{There are two ways to cure an addiction. One is your basic 12-step program.}
a third way to slay the beast: acquire new, less vexing, compulsions. for example, train for an ultra-marathon.
if endurance running and its fourteen hour a day training load does not appeal, oddball crafts such as hands-free embroidery, scientology, and dental-instrument scrimshaw may float your otherwise high & dry boat.
indiscriminately promiscuous palmistry has been berry berry good to me. if your results vary dismayingly, oxycontin 320mg qed will fix the ol wagon.
ruh-oh: my last post is “HELD BY BLOG OWNER”.
are you there god? it’s me, orionoir…
And also the Greece of Plato and Socrates as well:
=========
OK Vlad, you can use also or as well but not both. One or the other is redundant.
For me, church is about being part of community and working together to benefit the greater community. Also, I think it’s a good idea when kids learn about how to treat others with love and kindness.
Another great thing about the liberal Presbyterian I attend, is the fantastic music program. We have close ties to Santa Clara University’s music program. My kids are musicians. Before my son’s voice broke, he sang soprano solos (in Latin!) in church. So yes, I’m proud that my kids conduct themselves properly in church and have the self-confidence to sing and play piano in front of an audience. You can even take them to a nice restaurant without a single worry about manners! (Unlike some of their peers, OMG!)
Of course now they are both playing electric guitar…I’m hearing lots of Pink Floyd solos 😮
Weird stuff about things being held, Orion.
I’ve only had one thing held. It was a hand, “shooting the bird” in the old-fashioned raised middle finger style. It was appropriate to my post – in my demented mind, anyway – and it was a beautiful construction of ( . ; _ @ ( and other innocuous symbols.
And it was held X 2 – by whomever runs this thread.
And another poster had a National Geographic link held, and his post never showed up either, to my knowledge.
I suspect the thread is automated in some way – and I don’t think JHK spends a whole lot of time fooling with it during the week. I know he does check the first 1/2 day or so of posts.
And I suspect he comes to this well for ideas, occasionally. I hope he gets as much out of this thread of discussions as *some* of us seem to. Either in emotional enjoyment or honest to God (god) American (paper) greenbacks.
==========
Q – I’ll give you warning – I’m looking back at this little post. And I’m starting to get my Scotch-Irish anger up again.
When I say God (god?) I mean it as a humorous acknowledgement of possibilities – in Either (either) direction. And you, Q, are a jackass.
Do you really want me to prove it to you?
Vlad, you’ll even like the Black on Black violence in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yt849wJyVk&ob=av2el
{And also the Greece of Plato and Socrates as well:
=========
OK Vlad, you can use also or as well but not both. One or the other is redundant.}
———-
while my stature as grammarian is as yet unheralded, may i advocate the devil’s case?
vlad first imperes “think Easter Island.” next, he implicitly directs the reader to think of another country… the “And also” applies to an additional instance of the “think” directive. Because we are iteratively thinking, we need “And also” as flag.
the “as well” serves a similar yet not identical purpose. vlad is telling the reader that greece belongs to the same set of entities as easter island, that is, both are object “think”.
we both execute the *function* (of thinking) twice (knowing to do so by the “And also”) and *parameterize* that function twice. (eg, parameter one “Easter Island;” parameter two, inclusively, “Greece.”)
vlad qua human being may in fact be redundant: this is outside the scope of our grammar. however, his sentence legitimately specifies an arguably human thought.
A.M. talk radio informs
‘the average stagehands pay is 220,000$ a year’
Hancock,
Why go cold turkey? You obviously enjoy posting, and many of us,I am sure, enjoy reading your posts. Besides, we wouldn’t want Q and his Lawerence Welk DVD Collection to take another long away nap in the den rocking chair.
i must out myself: i’m husky blue. heck, i was into the lady huskies when you could simply show up at gampel, front row for $4.95.
=========
Why must I work so hard for understanding?
OK, so you’re a long-time fan of the UConn women’s basketball team but what else? Did YOU attend UConn? Do you live in CT?
I lived in Branford, had an office in Hamden and covered a district of retail establishments with ops in 16 CT towns.
Ooooo, mo’ bloggage posting?
I’ve got to get my dose thereof too!
Thanks. (Always insightful.)
You’re getting warmer: wars on Earth are merely reflections of wars in “Heaven”. Hancock and I are both Lizard Lords – but from different races of Lizards. Thus our war continues here on Earth countless aeons and light years away from its begining. The main tactic of his breed of Lizards is to call us Lizards. Always playing the aggrieved innocent, they have scored heavily with the hapless humans whom they have usurped. We use our humans with much more discretion and charity.
I may be a fool in many things, as the amount of knowledge in the world is far beyond one measly brain.
I just know what my research has taught me & whether it’s accurate or not, who knows. From an economic standpoint, I quote:
“An estimated 90% of the natural gas wells in the US use hydraulic fracturing to produce gas at economic rates”.
I don’t understand why companies would invest in hydraulic fracturing if they didn’t see a return. As I understand, if EROEI is 1 (one), companies can still make a profit if the commodity is inflating in price. Perhaps you could comment.
However, from an environmental standpoint, I’m totally with you and I personally would like to see this process banned as it injects a vast amount of toxic chemicals into the earth, some of which can leach into underwater aquifers. When you include the environmental damage, that oil and gas companies don’t have to pay directly, I’m not certain how good the EROEI would be.
While on writing about bans, here’s two others on my list:
1. Mountaintop removal for coal extraction.
2. Deep water oil drilling.
(For Nightshade as well…)
Ze Valley of Ze Farmington, eh?
Just recently escaped from there (Farmington [im]proper) to the north of Winsted (and beyooooond). Out of the frying pan, into the fire, no? Or should we say: Out of the fridge, into the freezer? ;o)
Didn’t even bother going out the door today (unusual, non-occurance). Cold and frozen drizzly shit that petrifies on contact with the snow. Not good! Will not even attempt plowing ’til the morrow; hopefully that ice will sit on top of the bit of snow that fell in the early hours of last night.
Stay toasty, and,
Best of luck to yez!
Fetch me crampons, ye scurvy knaves! H’aaaar!
There was a beautiful documenary made about the monastary called “Into Great Silence”. Someone associated with the movie wrote a book by the same name about a group of postulants who entered into the Charterhouse in England, not far from London. I believe that the part about the cold came from the book. Presumeably, Grenoble is far colder, but none of the Monks there were American.
The basics of King are available here with books referenced if you want to go deeper:
http://www.newswithviews.com/Stang/alan183.htm
King was a conscious agent of World Communism – some of his handlers were on the Russian payroll. That’s not to say he didn’t really believe in the Negro cause – he obviously saw them as intrinsicaly linked.
On the video of a few weeks ago: the Netherlands has a huge Muslim population. In certain parts of Amsterdam, White girls cover their heads or risk assault. And the Muslims are still only 5 percent or so. Imagine when their numbers grow. In many parts of the Continent, Muslims terrorize Whites on public transportation just as Negroes do here in the U.S.
“None more so than African Americans, the vast majority of whom had voted for Obama but who were the group hardest hit in the mortgage meltdown….” (Robert Scheer, “The Great American Stickup, pp. 243-244)
“…Paul Krugman was predicting a decade of stagnation possibly amounting to another Great Depression, with tens of millions of our citizens suffering, the president ignored their pain. Obama’s economic team once again catered to Wall Street’s demands that its financiers continue to be legally free to plunder. It was the final nail in the coffin of the New Deal, burying the dream that representative democracy could hold the multinational corporations accountable. The dispiriting lesson of both the Clinton and the Obama White Houses is that the Democrats proved to be as eager to please Wall Street as their Republican rivals. The influence of big corporate money far overwhelms that of labor, environmental, consumer, or grassroots organizations, making a mockery of the American ideal of self-government when it comes to reining in the antics of the largest conglomerates of wealth.” (Robert Scheer, “The Great American Stickup, pp. 246)
“Pucker —
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., is usually remembered for his heroic leadership of the civil rights movement — he led the successful Montgomery bus boycott, delivered the “I Have A Dream” speech at a time when such words were still controversial, and ultimately gave his own life to the cause of equality.
But Dr. King was much more than a civil rights champion — he was a man who lived his entire life in service to others, speaking out against poverty, economic injustice, and violence. Wherever he saw suffering, he did what he could to help, no matter who it was that needed him or why they were in pain. Through his leadership, he showed us what we can accomplish when we stand together.
Each January, we remember Dr. King on his own holiday — and one of the best ways to preserve his legacy is to engage in service ourselves. As Dr. King told us, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?'”
That’s why this Monday, January 17th, Organizing for America volunteers will be participating in service projects all across the country in Dr. King’s honor. There will be food drives, neighborhood clean-ups, education projects, blood drives, and more.
Will you find and sign up for an event in your area, and help make this country an even better place?
This movement is about so much more than politics — it is about coming together through progress, change, and community. Lifting each other up in dedication and service is one of the best ways not only to honor Dr. King, but to honor each other. By giving service a new role in this country, we can establish a new foundation for our economy and a brighter future for our children.
That is why service is key to achieving our national priorities, and why Barack recently helped out at a Boys and Girls Club service event. Since moving to Washington, D.C., two years ago, he and I have gotten to know the community through similar service projects, including past Martin Luther King Day events. I treasure those opportunities, and I look forward to another one next week. Every time we pitch in, we get so much back, and always learn amazing things from our neighbors.
All of us have something to contribute, and all of us can make a meaningful difference in someone’s life. It’s a great way to remind others that they are not forgotten, and to remind ourselves that there are always things we can do.
Please help Barack and me honor the legacy of Dr. King, and join us in service to our country once again this year:
http://my.barackobama.com/MLKday
Thanks,
Michelle”
Dr Kramer, do I have a post for you.
{Dr Kramer, do I have a post for you.}
LoL
Yes, that’s the Key: Truth doesn’t need propaganda much less terror to enforce it. Political Correctness is an extraordinary distortion of the White Psyche. Our descendants, if any, will shake their heads in amazement at how we uncovered the very secrets of nature and mastered the world – but couldn’t love ourselves enough to even maintain our own Nations against outsiders. We went too fast and built on sand. We built quickly and brutally – neglecting the most essential and precious thing of all: ourselves.
And anal rape now seems to be part of repertoire of torture since Abu Ghraib. Of course it has been allowed for generations in Domestic Prisons as a form of cruel and unusual punishment with plausable deniability for the prison administration.
Good one [again], Tripp.
Your perspective on the energy predicament is positively “Kunstlerian”!
Keep a’ go…
This winter has been exceptional,
==========
Nah, that’s chicken feed …
Yahoo weather predicts it will be -41 in Fort Yukon, Alaska tonight and -22 in International Falls, MN. I once experienced -38 in Duluth, MN in my USAF days (1962-65).
{OK, so you’re a long-time fan of the UConn women’s basketball team but what else? Did YOU attend UConn? Do you live in CT?
I lived in Branford, had an office in Hamden and covered a district of retail establishments with ops in 16 CT towns.}
qshtik, the facts of my existence are ordinary in the extreme: married w/ children, amherst ba, brown ma, uconn abd. wore a suit, went to work, fell in love with a chameleon.
the chameleon she said, this will never work: you were raised a catholic, and i, a chameleon.
i’ll convert, i said. i can do it, i swear i can!
sadly she brushed a strand of hair from my face. breathing slowly, she chilled bluer; finally, she trued her bluest hue. it’s me, she said. not you.
friends, i married that chameleon. her name is rebecca lobo.
The most beauful women have a touch of the exotic or even “reptilian” about them. Beautiful is different than Pretty. Truly they are hybrids of our ancient breeding. Did we not find the Daughters of Man fair? So Vlad is human qua human? Only in my outward form and only partially at that. As our Master Friedrich said, “Man is something to be surpassed. What have you done to surpass Man?” You have potential Nightshade, but you have to let go of the sentimentality of your lower humanity – the stuff continuously reinforced by the Media 24/7. Forget your consciece dreaming and develop conscious dreaming. On that plane you can be an iguana if you want to or a dinosaur or a Triffid. Or fly unto the very stars which rain hard upon our heads. Then you can face Dr Kramer and say, Dr Kramer, do I have a case for you!
Two weeks in a row on Loughner. Snore. Mr. Kunstler, please bring your rapier wit to bear on the emerging global food shortage. It looks like this summer’s blockbuster is shaping up to be “2008 Food Riots II: Electric Boogaloo.” Coming perhaps even to a developed nation near you?
my latest blog post
=========
Read it and your enthusiasm is infectious.
Most ordinary folks I know can’t write like you…whew, double beautiful!
(ditto for qbala and ibendet and others for sure)
There’s no hope.
After having invested in a local bank that got gobbled up by BAC years ago. I ended up a BAC shareholder.
I finally decided to call it quits when I heard about the possible Wikileaks revelations. Well, folks, that was at $11 dollars and something a share, and today BAC is $15/share. Maybe two months intervening, so a an annualized return (if someone played the contrarian game) of 189% or so.
You almost have to concentrate on investing in the worst candidates, the worst actors, rather than any stable enterprise,
Interesting!
Best of luck with your new farm endeavour (correct?). Please continue to keep us posted.
I feel increasingly uncomfortable in throwing away the calories represented by chicken fat and other by-products which are less-than-appetizing in modern terms.
P.S. I will say that—while I don’t find my house all that comfortable in the winter at 64 degrees F, when, during the period around Thanksgiving, I visited my relatives who keep their houses at 68, 70, 72… I found myself even more uncomfortable. Despite doing nothing in particular, I found myself sweating.
Interesting stuff about poor Camden Asia but I have noooo idea how the topic relates to what I asked Vlad about his use of the word agent (as in communist agent) used to describe MLK.
But anyway, let me use this story of police/fire cut-backs to segue to something else about Camden.
First of all, I grew up in the town of Collingswood, NJ which is adjacent to Camden. This latest massacre in AZ caused me to remember a similar massacre in Camden in 1949. I was 8 yrs old and the incident happened about 5 miles from my home. A guy named Howard Unruh walked out of an apartment where he lived with his Mom and down the street shooting people as he went. He went into a barbershop and other stores on the street shooting people one after the other. I think he killed 13; not sure how many others were wounded. When they caught him and asked why he had done it he said “I don’t know.” A fuller investigation showed him to be the typical loner variety of mass killer that somehow is never able to integrate himself into “normal” society. If you google “Camden massacre – Howard Unruh” you’ll find lots of articles. He died not too long ago at age 88.
Jackie, that is terrible about the accident victims.
When I moved to Europe, I had to re-take the driver’s license exam (no reciprocity). There were many questions about basic first aid, and (exactly contrary to the way things are in the US) there are penalties for NOT giving aid to an injured person—it’s called “omissione di soccorso” (lack of assistance) and it is a CRIME!
The laws in Europe, and their politics, are for the most part just as scummy as in the States, but here you can see a basic, valuable, difference: that people’s lives do have some meaning on the front line.
my last post is “HELD BY BLOG OWNER”.
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A lot of us have gotten this notice. You never see your comment again and you never know why. The comment can be totally innocuous … it makes no never mind.
A recent New Yorker article profiled Eli Broad and various goings-on in the world of LA contemporary art and museums.
The figures thrown around (hundreds of millions) sickened me.
We are going to spend millions to “curate” a shark in formaldehyde for how long and for what reason?
One smallish collection of modern art was said to need $2million/year just to barely “maintain” it. What gives?
These people are completely out of touch with reality.
Someone asks, “If I neuter my cat, will it make him a liberal?”
Which is a nice metaphor, but you guys went off in the wrong direction with the discussion.
I had the coolest tomcat one time. I was working as a vet tech, fresh out of college, when he came through the clinic where I was working. He had to be adopted out or put down. Awesome cat, pretty OK? with people – but an absolute dominating force with other male cats. And he was big enough to back it up. So, I took him home with me, and in about two weeks he established himself in a wide ranging area around my house. If it was feline and in heat he mated with it. If it was feline (sometimes canine or other species) and male he fought with it or ran it off.
Per agreement, though, I had to take him back to work and neuter him. It was a fine day. I slipped the needle in his vein, shaved his scrotum, and prepped him for surgery. One of the vets made the incision and – that fine animal was not a tomcat any more.
I took him back home, and for about two weeks he remained a force in the neighborhood. He mated and he fought – but he slowly forgot WHY he was doing those things. He no longer had a reason to live. About two weeks after that I found him dead in the middle of a path behind the house, at the edge of a pine thicket. He didn’t have a single visible injury on him. Birds did not sing as I picked him up, carried him home, and laid him to rest forever.
==========
So – what does this have to do with liberals or conservatives – Maybe not that much.
Except, you can make a case that somewhere between Johnson and BushII, the US got neutered. We continue to be a force in the neighborhood, and we still range around the world and fight – but we no longer are sure WHY.
We need a reason to live.
while my stature as grammarian is as yet unheralded, may i advocate the devil’s case?
===========
Sounds like you know way more about these things than me (I?) so, what the hay … I hear Shakespere used not only double negatives but also triple negatives as well.
Jim, I am glad to see your view(s) have evolved over time from laying blame on “bad design” to “ignorance”. I believe ignorance is not just a problem, however, it is “the” problem. Ignorance is the underlying root of what is happening here. It is important to remember that ignorance is a willful act – as a opposed to a fact about a person that they have red hair or something similar. Being ignorant can be helped and it can be changed. The important question here is: will it be changed before it is too late? Sad to say probably not. But, there is a personal peace and happiness one can achieve that an ignorant person never will. And… it has nothing to do with what car you drive, how big your house is, all the vacations in the world, or how many flat screen televisions you own (Isn’t that what American equate with happiness and WHY our country is such a mess). All I can say is that in order to change the world we have to start with our little corner of it.
No more soft jobs? Wtf? You’re probably a sallow-skinned waif who’s never even seen a shovel, much less know how to use one. I feel really sorry for you, Vlad, because everything in that bigoted head of yours exemplifies a world which will soon
cease to exist. You will in no way be prepared for what is coming in the years ahead. Do you even read JHK’s books? You will learn the true value of things when you have to hump everything you use on foot for miles.
I’ll bet you think nothing of leaving giant piles
of plastic garbage bags full of good compostable biomass at the curbside for equally giant diesel trucks to cart off 10 miles to a landfill for
“disposal”. Or think nothing of climbing into a wallowing, fuel guzzling, Ford Execution and driving 10 miles for a pack of cigarettes
and a coke.
Considering how widely your views diverge with Jim’s, I’m not sure why you even hang around this site. Go find a blog where you can slobber over millionaires becoming bigger millionaires, ruling over many many more people enslaved by economic vampires. Where skin color, despite all else being equal, somehow condemns one to a life of inferiority and low class.
I’m unfamiliar with the formaldahyde shark, but it sounds dreadful! And toxic.
A new art museum was just announced in L.A. It will be adjacent to Gehry’s symphony hall–which JHK abhors–this new museum design should probably qualify for CFN’s February eyesore. Looks like it will get dingy within months….and it seems like visitors have to go thru a birth canal to get up to the art galleries. I’m assuming it will be mostly sculpture because it doesn’t seem to have any walls to hang stuff.
Ka-ching!
sadly she brushed a strand of hair from my face. breathing slowly, she chilled bluer; finally, she trued her bluest hue. it’s me, she said. not you.
friends, i married that chameleon. her name is rebecca lobo.
===========
This is getting interesting.
First, what is ABD? Something something dissertation?
2. The “it’s me not you” line reminds me of George Castanza’s classic line: “Don’t give me that ‘it’s not you it’s me’ crap … I invented ‘it’s not you it’s me.'”
3. Marrying Rebecca Lobo is in the same league as your double 800 SATs, right?
I finally decided to call it quits when I heard about the possible Wikileaks revelations. Well, folks, that was at $11 dollars and something a share, and today BAC is $15/share.
==========
Asoka, take note (for the uninitiated, BAC is B of A’s stock symbol).
People who’ve been around markets for a long
time realize that when turds are packaged for
years in pretty boxes with pretty ribbons and
a time arrives when everyone has bought into
the scam … it’s time to sell.
Well, JHK’s “maximum okayness” point has more
or less been reached though the market might
just make marginal new highs for a little while.
But no matter how much lipstick you put on a pig,
it’s still a pig.
For example, it came out today that, alas, CITI
might NOT be okay. Gee, what a surprise. Those
pigs find it hard to keep the lipstick from
smearing. 🙂 🙂
E.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
(screaming)
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
(yelling)
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
*Chinggg!*
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
*chikk
ENTER ARIZONANS FROM ALL SIDES
After the gunman ran out of ammunition in the first magazine, he stopped to reload, but dropped the loaded magazine from his pocket to the sidewalk where unwounded bystander PATRICIA MAISCH grabbed it.[23]
LOUGHNER: “Hey!”
A bystander (who?) clubbed the back of the assailant’s head with a folding chair.[24]
CRASH!
The gunman was then tackled to the ground by 74-year-old retired colonel BILL BADGER,[25]
BILL BADGER:
who himself had been shot, and was further subdued by MAISCH and bystanders ROGER SULZGEBER and JOSEPH ZAMUDIO.[26]
Kudos to Hancock for making it through day one of the rest of his life not responding to my comments though God knows he was sorely tempted.
And to Mamby, the cat story was the best thing you’ve ever written here. Straightforward declarative sentences and the whole thing directed to no one in particular … just your love of a cat. I can relate.
Good night all.
“shout out to Joe Bageant in his time of troubles (he has a severe form of cancer and is getting treated at the VA)”
===========
Thank God for BIG GOVERNMENT VA hospitals with big- government-paid doctors and big-government socialized medicine.
The big government socialist VA health care system is among the nation’s best, and I wish Joe Bageant a speedy recovery.
levitra insomnia
————
as i lay dying, my son dylan writes, do not go gentle into that good night.
hunter dick raises his gun, fires at the caged bird, shoot friend in the face. dick runs home, has a beer, says to his lawyer on the phone, one of us had better call up the cops. the bird’s heart beats beats until it stops.
two years’ housing inventory in sluggish recovery: sometimes arson’s a girl’s best friend. soybeans go higher and i’m really not sure. wounded man looks up through his one dying eye, says, why’d you bring him in here, he ain’t that guy.
this is the story of the b of a: turks & caicos, east la. makes you obviously ashamed, to, live, in a land, where justice is a game.
rage rage into that good night. you got a better idea? jesus promises pheasant under glass: i will eat that bird.
and her name is nichole kidman.
goodnight.
“I wish for people to disconnect, turn off their cable service and alter their awareness, but I don’t have your faith that they can pry themselves away from that blue glow — now in high definition and 3D!”
It is not bad that people watch TV, on the contrary it is a good thing.
What is bad is WHAT they broadcast on it.
It is, as usual, the best way to lose a very good opportunity to deliver some kind of education to people who do not have it in any other way.
And do not come and tell me that those people wouldn’t look.
If they had nothing else they would.
People very often give the fault to something that in reality is not guilty.
I will make a few examples: Capitalism.
Now it is the devil, the source of ALL our misfortune, when Capitalism has NOTHING to do with speculation, fraud, cheating.
It would have happened the same in ANY other form of government.
The people who did it would have just used different means.
Second example: the measures taken to solve the crisis.
I guess that lowering the interest rate, pushing people to spend is ACTUALLY the best way to stimulate production.
Infact it upgraded 8,5%…in China.
Because the people who got the money to spend consumed more, but what was produced somewhere else.
The ones who took advantage were, as usual, the few who do a great business buying there and selling here (or producing there).
They say economy is stagnant because people have too many goods.
The reality is that there is no balance.
If, as once, things were produce in US (or for me in Europe) they would be more expensive, so people would BUY less (but spend the same) and THEY would have a job, and the money would go back to the local producer.
Do we need five cell phones? Do we need to change the washing machine every year?
Do we need three or four TV?
We need one, good quality, that lasts longer.
If it costs five times more, but lasts five times more, in reality we are even happier, we do not have to go and buy a new one, to have problems having to dispose of the old one and so on…
We would have more time to look at something higher level on TV.
Who cares if the choice was among 3 channels instead of 300?
One GOOD is better than 1,000,000 shits.
{People who’ve been around markets for a long
time realize that when turds are packaged for
years in pretty boxes with pretty ribbons and
a time arrives when everyone has bought into
the scam … it’s time to sell.}
no, it’s time to buy. central bankers have only one tool right now, a sixteen lb monetary sledgehammer. as bernoulli observed, you pump one hundred gallons of shit into an exam glove, more than a few digits will be flippin you the bird.
equities will piggyback what i see as a very interesting summer for food. in the short term, soaring commodity speculation will absorb any stimulus central banks are able to hallucinate; productive capital will continue to wither.
longterm, christ, it’s like pissing in a nor’easter: snowflakes are unique, yes, but little ball-bearings of frozen urine cascading down an icy hillside are a mite dicey to call.
I have CNBC tuned in here this morning.
Does anybody out there in CFN land know what the final tally is for all the bailouts to Wall Street (2007-2009), big banks, regional banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies (AIG alone got 195 billion), TARP, Auto manufacturers, local and state governments, favored pressure groups, grifters, politicians, criminals, lobbyists, Fanny Mae, Ginny Mae, unions, etc., etc., etc, handed out by the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasurey and Congress?
I’ve read of amounts anywhere from 1 trillion to 14 Trillion.
Also, where did the money come from?
When all this was happening, just a short time ago, and it was reported that some of this swag was being used for lavish parties in The Hamptons, French Riviera, Palm Springs, and to pay Patrol Officers in FT. Lauderdale $300,000 per year, why, I Figured that the IRS would ease up a bit on their ferocious efforts to collect back taxes from middle class and even poor working people. I was wrong. I can tell you from the job I just retired from that efforts have been redoubled.
Its like reverse Robin Hood; rob from the poor and give to the rich. And its not corporations doing this, it your own government!
{They say economy is stagnant because people have too many goods.}
too many goods and too few jobs. there was a school of economics roundabout hinckley shooting wrinkly ron, an idea:
africa does not need western technology; instead, what she needs is more support (western management) for *african* technology.
for example, instead of heavy equipment from caterpillar and deere, what they need are shovels, hand pumps and looms. they have plenty of labor, no need of labor-saving device.
the man i inadvertently distracted at the time asked, what about brain surgery? the joke was: shovels!
still, with all our information technology, thirty years gone by now, i wonder if it’s not time to take a page from the african playbook. labor is the last thing we need conserve right now.
a new new deal could bring a new wpa. rationalization of energy (data, finance, healthcare) and its transmission does not necessarily mean men digging ditches.
we now have crowd sourcing of a primitive kind: what if? as a different friend says in a different context, never mistake the retarded for the stupid. america is not now stupid and probably never was so; the greatest literature of the west, imho, is jefferson et al.
retardation by definition can be remedied: it is a hopeful word.
hey BLOG OWNER
give me back my bullets
Some say it was $22 trillion. Hey it’s only money and pretty worthless at that!
Of course they’re going after the great middle class.
It will be interesting to see how the justice department will handle the wikileaks issue of the offshore banking in the canary islands of the TBTF bunch. (prob. nothing, but they’ll try to imprison Assange)
That’s the ideology they cleave to. Neoliberalism destroys the middle class wherever it is employed.
On a practical level, they can’t get the rich so they’ll go for the easy mark every time. They are also about to alter social security and medicare.
What are we going to do about that?
“On a practical level, they can’t get the rich so they’ll go for the easy mark every time. They are also about to alter social security and medicare.
What are we going to do about that?” -lbendet
================
I’m afraid we’ll re-learn the cruel lessons of suffering. That’s what we’ll “do”. The only difference? Said suffering will be more equally distributed than it currently is.
The Lizards always forget that one has to maintain [at the minimum] a convincing mirage of “justice”.
Once that illusion is stripped away, all bets are off, and as the idiots “in charge” (of what?, the corruption?) like to say: “Everything is on the table”. Are those cards and chips, or dips and chips?
I’d like to know… what “table”? If it’s supposed to be a negotiating table, there’s nothing left to haggle over between “labor and management”; we know damn good and well what their intentions are. Enriching themselves, and disenfranchising [and if necessary “disappearing”] the rest of us lumpen; as long as we’ll just go-the-hell-away (plays havoc with their digestion, don’cha know).
If it should be a dining table where the goodies are served and the Big Pie is divided, why even mention it? We’re not invited to sit at that table, as has become abundantly clear in the last couple years. It’s that we can’t let go of the illusion. That’s only one dangerous aspect of the “psychology of previous investment” (tm JHK) that will keep marching us right over the edge of the precipice. To survive, we’re going to have to do an about-face and step FORWARD in a 180 degree different direction. (I suppose you could think of a paradigm shift in such a way. It’s still “moving forward”, but in a completely different direction that throws off the baggage of previous investment.)
Why is the Internet Such a Nasty Place
– An Existentialist Perspective –
==========
Vlad says to PoC:
You are capable of insight but you are still adicted to politeness. – ….. – the real fight always begins and ends inside. Do you think the Enemy will show us any mercy?
==========
“Addicted to politeness” ? What an interesting idea. It never occurred to me until I read this response of yours that many (most?) posters on the open internet develop a False Personality. I have not.
And I can explain the theory of why many genuinely polite persons (example – Scotch-Irish Southerners) may use their politeness to control the violent demons of their youth, their upbringing, or their native society – but that is a side issue to this particular discussion.
And if I’m generally polite in person, why should I not be generally polite in an internet forum?
To me, the idea of being deliberately abrasive to others for no reason is stupid.
Yet, following this rule, there are many demonstrably stupid posters on this forum and on the internet in general.
Why?
You just told us, Vlad.
“The real fight always begins and ends inside.”
==================
“Do you think the enemy will show us any mercy.”
==================
Jeeze, Vlad – and you wonder why you come across as fearful sometimes. Sure there are black, brown, and white people – but the “ENEMY” is inside of you – and inside of each of us – when “HE” exists at all.
***********
***********
Now, I’ll admit that when you say:
“And when a woman shows up – you start courting and get all *submissive?*”
Guilty as charged. Except we need to substitute the word “Happy” or maybe “Excited” for “submissive.
I don’t mind admitting that I admire women and like to be around them. I would act much the same in person as I do in print – except with much better social cues concerning when to press forward and when to BACK OFF. (And with the occasional note from my wife – if necessary.);-)
This website is a “wienerfest,” generally speaking. When a female shows up and identifies herself as such – I want to encourage her the best way I know how.
If I’m over the top and offensive with it – well, it’s up to the individual poster to correct me – not you, Vlad.
=======
Last thing:
“Now be fair: is not the replacement of the Father of our Country with MLK the height of madness?”
========
Sadly, you may be correct about this. Except – I don’t know where you were in the 1960’s – but I don’t believe it was in any part of a distressed region of the US.
*Some* – not all – of the Civil Rights Act and the MLK Holiday was enacted out of a sense of desperation. Between the killings of the Kennedys and MLK and Viet Nam – there was a real sense of dread in the Country.
You can’t get a sense of where this Country is now, without living through – or at least understanding – those years.
Long live the Three Stooges nyuk nyuk.
Maybe Tunisia is the example with people going on rampage after rampage and even looting the last dictator’s mansion. So it looks like the folks in Tunisia have the Lizards on the run. Be interesting to see where the Lizards run to. Be interesting to see also in this age of the internet whether this spreads to other places.
Any way you slice it, things will get worse on the ground for the rest of us. More of the middle class will be preoccupied with surviving to do anything about the cause of their pain. As stresses build we are more likely to start turning on one another than doing anything useful. It will be the wise man who prepares for the daily reality of navigating the angry masses.
“Maybe Tunisia is the example…”
Slicing that out of its’ contextual niche, perhaps the behavior of the lumpen Tunisians is “one” [of many] example[s] of what happens when TSHTF. Notice that many were killed when fired upon by “Govt. Forces”. Seems that when you’ve got nothing to lose, you’ve got nothing to be afraid of either. How ’bout that? Another minor item that our Lizard Overlords tend to forget over time. Ya don’t throw them gutter-livers a crumb or two once in a while, there could be trouble… Oops; pack the shit and git!
{The Lizards always forget that one has to maintain [at the minimum] a convincing mirage of “justice”.
Once that illusion is stripped away, all bets are off, and as the idiots “in charge” (of what?, the corruption?) like to say: “Everything is on the table”. Are those cards and chips, or dips and chips?}
———–
we think categorically; surely it’s served us well so far. this wasp stung me, thus all wasps are tb avoided. still, over-categorization is its own obstacle; otherwise who’d’ve colonized honey bees?
unbelievably, i am not trying tb obscure here. instead, i am speaking of something i see in the conflicts of my life: black & white.
Lizards, as a matter of fact, do not exist. their genes are promiscuous steadfast and free, metabolic analog to our microgenetic rna; spiritual analog idols false, true & american; symbiot hammer & sickle, crescent moon floating free above waves of various hue. yeats’ dancer & dance, how inseparable they be.
we are mongrels. is this not self-evident? am i a golden-retriever? Lizards are our brothers.
early in my beautiful-not career i worked at the travelers, long before anyone imagined citi, even citi, capable umbrella theft. by fluke i did data for claims fraud security, think imperial storm troopers w/o the plastic duds. my boss was so pretty, she of eyes i couldn’t help but try to paste interior my chest, every fleck green amber & blue spelled rib by rib gainst my heart. of purity such that crass advance perished silently, babe in crib.
algorithmic claims analysis, too, was in its infancy. they flew me kc zurich bangkok bonn: i was a $13 temp.
these people, whom i suppose i should call ‘you people’ now, they treated me with love respect and unfailing kindness even as i told the whole world i was falling apart. well-paid ambitious corporate members-for-life bent backwards for this temp.
when i said i could bear it no longer, the old man called me in. in those days each floor had an old man, often some veep castrato, often some heavy hitter. i could not tell. travelers, to its credit, used to let its retirees wander the halls: thus the phrase, the travelers shuffle.
he said, cards on the table. best i could figure, the cards temporarily made me my boss’s boss, next i’d be transit the moon.
the point is not that i conned a putative insurer; rather: the Lizards are a mixed bag. nobody knows nothing. work an all-nighter for the phoenix, it’s the coolest thing in the world, see the sun come up the river.
we imagine a vast watershed irrigates this tearful dessert. we see friends, relatives & strangers helplessly learning tb helpless, we pledge allegiance to what one thing could stop this crime, we who understand, we so worth putting on a plane.
there are no lizards save those twitching midst our toxic imaginings. no-one designs to screw the midddle class, no more than the middle class connives to fuck itself. rather, we, collectively but also you & i, we fail to do our best. that’s what i think. i realize i’m wrong.
to stand at the plate, to take an honest cut: if we are unable to rip the cover off the ball, can we not yet foul the ball down the line, into the hands of some happy youngster?
————
a note on the typist: i realize now that hancock is not kidding, cfn is indeed an addiction. if i learned anything at masturbation reeducation (malibu campus) it’s that it’s always best to chip over the gallery if it’s a par five with quirky bunkers. oh wait, the other thing i learned: sooner or later, you’ve got to do the fucking laundry. ta ta for now, cfn; i leave you with fond memories and surprisingly few regrets.
Mebbe refining that just a bit further; the Tunisians response to an uncaring dictatorship is one that is VERY PREDICTABLE [to the point of almost being assured]. Especially in the glaring light of food “insecurity”. (Oh, did I mean to say “future starvation”? Okay then, I guess that puts Frank Luntz back on the “coded RW languages” shelf. Bootlicking wanker.)
“You can’t get a sense of where this Country is now, without living through – or at least understanding – those years.” – Pro
Totally agree. What happened back then set the table and having seen it provides context and contrast.
Things were ugly and violent like the murders of the civil rights workers and the little black girls and the rioting. It really looked like things were coming apart, at least to me.
I remember the contempt that the Greatest Generation felt towards Boomers. They didn’t exactly hide it. And the Boomers weren’t exactly shy about their contempt towards their elders.
All in the Family was a humourous take on it but I think the Archie and Meathead nastiness and the bristliness between Archie and George replayed itself millions of times in real life over the course of the sixties and seventies. The intergenerational fighting of those days is replaying itself in the “culture wars”.
I think the black vs white animosity is in some ways “better” but in some ways not. Back then the success of people like Condi Rice, Colin Powell and Obama was not remotely in the cards. But you’ve still got a really steep black/white divide with self segregation on both sides.
As I said in previous posts and Vlad won’t like this but I think intermarriage is the key. You don’t generally kill your kin.
“there are no lizards save those twitching midst our toxic imaginings. no-one designs to screw the midddle class, no more than the middle class connives to fuck itself. rather, we, collectively but also you & i, we fail to do our best. that’s what i think. i realize i’m wrong.” -Nightshade
Point well-poked.
Screwing the middle class (or anybody, for that matter) may not be a “conscious” effort, but may be a set of “miscalculations” and lack of foresight by those of a higher proportion of lizardian instincts?
I dunno, but a big bunch of their names (the screw-ers, not the screw-ed) are splattered like arterial blood on the directory of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM, how deliciously appropriate).
“…The same people you abuse on the way up,
You might meet up [with],
On your way down…”
Ps. If the Phoenix Building is torched, will it rise again from its’ own ashes? Hmmm, I guess that’s a bit too much “magical thinking” fer me.
More snow!
What a fucking wintry, wonderlandy delight! ;o)
I’m so exuberant-ified I could just SHIT.
Today on CNBC. AIG has reorganized and will have IPO to sell its stock in the near future.
An analyst from UBS was being interviewed by the CNBC host about the AIG Initial Public Offering.
“AIG is one of the leading companies in the entire world”, is what he said.
No mention of the fact that just 2 years ago AIG was given $195 billion to keep the doors open, and some of the money was used for lavish parties in The Hamptons and at Palm Springs, CA. Or that the CEO was paying himself 20 millions per year.
Of course, UBS itself scooped up 45 billion and it isn’t even an American Bank. But hey, who’s counting.
The host never broached the subject. Why bring up unpleasantries, especially when we’re all friends here.
It’s truly astonishing, is it not.
WRT vitriolic discourse an excerpt from a column by Lorne Gunter in the National Post:
“The same liberals who now criticize conservative rhetoric as “vitriolic” (and even argue that it caused the recent Arizona shootings) often are the same ones who dripped with their own vitriol during the Bush years. But, of course, they don’t see Bushbashing as vitriol at all. To them, it is just a statement of incontrovertible fact.”
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/louder+need+shut/4129503/story.html#ixzz1BVGUqJ9F
So I’m not the only one from north of the border that sees it this way. Mind you, Gunter is right of centre despite having served as chief of staff to a minister in the Trudeau government. So that makes him suspect. Highly suspect. Maybe one of the Lizards.
Yes,
One thing that’s always driven me crazy about the soap opera that passes as news is how they think we are “tabula rasas” who never draw a bead or look at the patterns from the past.
In their group think, every day we wake up with no knowledge from the past. There’s no history, there’s no context only bright and shiny new information we should feel so happy about. Oh, how wonderful let’s invest in AIG!
_____
Ozone, I’ve got one word [really 3] for you this season: cross country skis.
you are exuberant.
1. push chair away from machine;
2. look about for keys and particulars;
3. nod if you must, otherwise don you now your gay apparel;
4. some times we find ourselves placed surprisingly right upon the wild world; other times we must turn the key in the ignition, review status of our balls;
5. in woodland: surprise, surprise, it’s trackless;
6. water trickles unattributably, so too a white throat sparrow ascends;
7. you are unsure of footwear;
8. and how will these fabrics, absorbent & porous, viscou the melted snow, even as the car protestingly peeps keyed insecurity;
9. still, you venture forth;
10. coming to a disintegrating tree, its soft constituency broadcast across the grainy white;
11.
12. this you think: i am here first. but you look about;
13. mouse tracks, a wavering line between tumbling feet; quiet conspiracy of birdsong and cryptic scrapers high in the trees; always the wind, impalpable terrestrially, still, high above, reminiscent time immemorial, time to come. and so you are back.
————-
yes, i am lurking; still, even laundry has its limits.
On this serious peak oil site, echoing what Tripp said recently, I share this writing on PLAY…
We live in a culture obsessed with wringing an external result from everything we do. Play doesn’t operate on that metric. It’s not about the end but the experience. This has made play one of the last remaining taboos, an irrational deviation from gainful obligation. What we don’t realize, though, is that it’s precisely the lack of a quantifiable result that allows play to tap a more meaningful place that satisfies core needs and reveals the authentic person behind the masks of job and society.
Anthropologist Gregory Bateson believed that the fixation on making everything productive and rational cuts us off from the world of the spontaneous that is home to real knowledge. Wisdom, Bateson believed, is to be found in the realms outside intentionality, in the inner reaches of art, expression and religion. “The whole culture is suffering from overconscious intentionality, overseriousness, overemphasis on productivity and work,” psychologist and cultural explorer Bradford Keeney told me. “We’ve forgotten that the whole picture requires a dance between leisure and work.”
8. and how will these fabrics, absorbent & porous, viscou the melted snow, even as the car protestingly peeps keyed insecurity;
===========
OK Robert Frost … Dict.com does not recognize viscou. What’s the story?
We have front row seats for this theater of mass destruction:
An hour before the beginning of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in Spokane, Washington, sharp-eyed city employees spotted an abandoned backpack sitting along the parade route. As it turns out, those employees stopped a potentially deadly terrorist situation. Someone had left a functioning bomb in a Swiss Army backpack along the route of Spokane’s MLK Day parade. The city employees alerted the police department, who were able to disarm the bomb without any difficulty
viscou. What’s the story?
============
Some derivative of whisk?
Change your diet orionor,too much duennschiss.
Eli and Edythe…2 major benefactors at SMC.edu
[‘the broad stage’].
Radios been talking about ‘welfare for billionaires’ [ as LA wants a football team].
I assume he is one of the ‘billionaires wanting tax $’ for his develpments, stadiums etc.
‘Today I got a phone call from a retouching house in India’ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yikes!
Yeah, Asia
I was surprised nobody picked up on that. I felt like I was in the “Twilight Zone”. This guy saw my presence on the web and wanted some of my business. They charge peanuts for their work. When I work on site for Christie’s we have to wait for the digital photography to come back from India overnight with clipping paths. Scary—Lots of Americans including myself would be happy for the work.
I told him I would be farming my work out to fellow retouchers I’ve worked with that would appreciate the favor. I also told him he was cutting me out of work, too.
Who knows how much more work I’d be getting if the whole world wasn’t running in a race to the bottom.
Yeah. Every Christmas morning my sharp-eyed parents spotted presents under the tree and let us know Santa had delivered. Watch the stock market, or the NFL, for similar “miracles”.
Jim writes about sideways ballcaps, neck tattoos and nose rings as our most recent manifestations of national pathology, but what about shaved heads? Travel author Paul Theroux noticed them in London in the 1980’s and commented on how otherworldly they seemed. Now shaved heads are all over the place, especially in Law Enforcement, gangs and people at the unemployment office.
Sometimes it seems as if the whole enterprise has been poisoned by gasoline, crystal meth and the AIDS virus. And scary people with shaved heads.
Now that is something I would do. Comment on my own Comment ! funny.
A strong People’s Republic of China will be good for the world. The stronger and richer the People’s Republic of China becomes, the more the world will benefit.
As the President of the People’s Republic of China told Obama today, the People’s Republic of China is always committed to the protection and promotion of human rights and the People’s Republic of China recognizes and also respects the universality of human rights.
The People’s Republic of China is already sharing its wealth with the world through its foreign aid programs. The People’s Republic of China has provided development assistance to Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
The United States should continue to help the Peoples Republic of China become stronger for the well-being of the entire world.
China’s Assistance and Government-
Sponsored Investment Activities in Africa,
Latin America, and Southeast Asia
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R40940.pdf
Decades of American foreign aid have failed to end poverty in the third world. Capitalism has failed.
China is a Communist country. It will be Chinese Communism that will lead the world out of poverty.
Now THAT makes sense to me.
I want to add something, my husband says you are supposed to ask an accident victim if they want your help, if they are conscious.
If Unconcious., you can go as far as your training allows, if you go further, then the law will not protect you.
The Good Samaratin laws allow you to stop bleeding and make sure they are breathing, if you know CPR you can perform it on them.
If you come across an accident and you just stand there and do nothing, that’s ok in the eyes of the law. You won’t get cited for doing nothing.
Also for car accidents, first thing is to look for gas leaks. If there is a gas leak, you can legally move them no matter what condition they are in. Do this first. Good Samaritan Laws protect ‘you’ in these cases.
That’s the rest of the story.
Communism and capitalism are simply economic structures. China will fail because it has way too many people.
BTW, Orionoir = SEB??
{viscou. What’s the story?
==
Some derivative of whisk?}
===
i’m sorry, qshtik… i’m a neologistic stinker. somehow i figured there had tb a root for ‘viscous.’ i mean, if you’re viscous, sombebody had to visccou you, no? god’s owm viscosity atones no philosopy. and dija get the spongebob ref, absorbent and porous is he?
once i was in a bar, a drunk said, if you understand fluid dynamics, you understand everything.
i took that drunk home. that drunk was me.
———–
lbendet… once at ge in stamford i code whored an expat gig. notably, the building had an anatomically correct david replica, gargantuan in every respect, smack dab its corporate lawn. presumably ceo jack welch, mammon’s aesthete (exceeded only by tyco’s dennis kozlowski) liked it big.
at any rate, at my usual rate, a crack team and i worked around the clock on something no-one could recall at the time. some skype predecessor kept everyone connected constantly intimately mercilessly to a bangalorian crew, precisely phased day for night, indistinct women and men, wet behind the ears with each others’ fevered breath.
have you ever taught, have you ever had students of whom you dream night and day? these kids would and did invent the wheel if you so much as suggested, in less time than an indy crew can swap a tire. so bright their willingness to overcome our own oceanic occlusion was nothing but gravy, nothing but. this was some time ago; we saw it coming, slow train racing a bullet. those who are not too arrogant about their powers shall inherit the earth.
———–
funzel: did you mean duennschicht?
More snow Ozone…..
Look at the bright side — you’re not having dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
SJmom
HO…LY…SHIT!
I could’ve very easily been there, had we not moved away 10 months ago, if not at the parade, then walking through downtown! Maybe with the baby backpack on! We did that a lot. Heads-up call by city officials! And a wake-up call for anyone who thinks it couldn’t happen in their town…
Vlaaaaad???
Brilliant post, Asoka, at 2:47. I think this is a real problem with America, among other nations. And I think it makes energy descent really hard for us. Not like it was for Cuba at all. Or Iceland for that matter.
“More snow!
What a fucking wintry, wonderlandy delight! ;o)
I’m so exuberant-ified I could just SHIT.”
And here I was bummed that I didn’t get all my potatoes and onions in the ground today on the full moon…
Thanks for the kind words about my blog post, by the way.
Speaking of full moons, it is coming up right now over the farm, and it is absolutely incredible…
Remind me: on one of these Civil Rights Laws, Hubert Humphrey said: If this legislation is ever used against White Men: I will eat the paper it is written on. It was used against White Men.
Ever see a street fight? They don’t usually last very long. One guy gets in a good shot or a surprise shot, or is able to throw the other guy down and then follows up his advantage with a flurry of punches. That is exactly what the Left did in this country. They made segregation illegal – and then without skipping a beat made integration mandatory. The Right of Free Association – without which the Bill of Rights is garbage, went out the window. And a vast Federal Beauracracy was set up to force Whites to submit to all this.
And have Blacks benefitted? Of course not. They lost any dignity they had, including the family structure. Admit it, it was an atrocity and America is a slow motion train wreck. The Left has won – and the destruction of the White Middle Class is upon us. And as it goes, so goes America. The Parasites die when the Host dies. Oh and yes, our heroic Republican Leaders rendered great aid by shipping our jobs overseas and spouting moral platitudes as they brought in Third World workers. Ah, what a brave new world that has such great Americans in it.
Did you hear about the NAACP rally at the Capital in South Carolina? They put the statue of George Wahington in a box so as not to offend the participants. Now can you tell me that these people are Americans? They aren’t and neither are Leftists. Check it out:
http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2011/01/rally_draws_120.php
Btw, the replacement of George Washington’s Holiday by anyone else would be wrong – irregardless of race and political affiliation. That’s the principle in its purity. But to replace him with someone as alien in race and ideology as King is particularly egregious.
Oh YOU had an OK experience – does that end the discussion? What about the tens of millions of Whites who forced to flee their neighborhoods, or in the case of Detroit, the whole city due to Black Criminality? What of the millions assaulted and raped? Check out the FBI crime statistices if you want some Objective facts. I mean really, can’t you see the limitations of personal anecdotes – even when they’re your own?
{Also for car accidents, first thing is to look for gas leaks. If there is a gas leak, you can legally move them no matter what condition they are in. Do this first. Good Samaritan Laws protect ‘you’ in these cases.}
==============
once i was near first upon a header, a man apparently dead, another very much alive, pinned by his car’s steering column. his engine was softly bathed in flame.
a school bus arrived, i used its fire extinguisher; pitifully it whooshed to no effect. more vehicles, more extinguishers; undisturbed, the blue fire dripped serenely onto the pavement. ominously, a clear fluid flowed like a river seen from high above.
i said, sir, your car’s on fire. conscious, he was not understanding. bloodlessly his gut wouldn’t budge. throwing kindness to the winds i tried to wrench the bastard free; he voiced greater distress.
a semi-circular crowd had gathered at a distance wh gave me pause. never abandon your victim. i lived my life by this creed: keep your enemies close, your victims closer.
a young blonde in a camaro threaded the wreckage as if to pass. i said, call 911. again. no-one’s coming.
it was true: a good ten minutes had elapsed without red flashing light. this was a main road, route 44 west of norfolk, high above flood ravaged ground.
she lived nearby, her mother was an emt; gracefully she arced her car through an accelerating skid. as i smelled the burning rubber i knew everything would blow.
when the middle-aged emt arrived i walked her to the car, describing the torrent of gasoline. i told her, the fire will not go out.
you know how it is with moms, how you can’t tell them nothing? she took my victim, would not give up his hand.
at first i blended with the crowd, then walked away, scrambling down a rockfall littered with cans and glass. two helicopters descended.
i admire doctors, how they do what they’re supposed to do. if any of us are first on the scene, i say fuck the law, its liability. stop the bleeding, keep your head. hold someone’s hand.
I found Obama’s greeting of the Chinese president on the Whitehouse lawn quite interesting this morning. Full dress military packed the lawn and every balcony facing the show. I wonder what was going through his mind looking eyeball to eyeball at over 20 officers with sabers drawn. That it was mostly Navy was perhaps a not so veiled message in response to recent threats about our ships cruising the Chinese shipping lanes. Did you notice that cannons fired continuously during the Chinese national anthem, but not during ours? Obama and his guest then reviewed the troops who were an assemblage of our scariest looking southern dude warrior class. Geeze, am I the only one who feels that Obama basically told the good president to go screw himself? The future will be interesting. No doubt we are going down, but it might be guns a blazing.
I went out yesterday and spent some more of my hard-earned, inflated dollars to buy Matt Taibbi’s “Griftopia”.
I’m interested in hearing reviews of the book from any “Cluster-Fuckups” who might have read it. Thanks!
Probably worse off – at least they used to have some social stucture. And they had a small middle class that was real – not the result of affirmative action. All their gains are the result of the persecution of Whites via the Federal Goverment. The poverty is hard to judge – they have more money now, but the money is worth less. And many of them used to live under rural conditions – poor but better than the ghetto? I would say yes, but they might say no. Certainly Johnson’s Bullshit idea “to get rid of poverty” was a non-starter. How can you just give people other people’s money and “get rid of poverty”? It corrupts the recipient and enrages the people who have been robbed. And the recipient has no gratitude to the people robbed since it wasn’t voluntary – they just become ever more strident for more and more goodies from the Feds.
Read the last twenty or so pages of “The Long Emergeny”. Kunstler taks about the coming race conflict and what fuck ups Blacks are. As he said – it’s not going to be tolerated. Get with the program.
I’m not saying Kunstler shares my racial views – but he does share some of my racial concerns.
It wasn’t easy absorbing Hector Guimard in the 21st century. But once I had it,I really had had it, whiplash felinity and all. The key, the secret, the holy effluent grail of graphic nonchalance and ebullience resided in the fugitive mark of simple vine charcoal dust. I went image hunting in the gesture clouds and a beaten path to my workshop door emerged ,eventually. Old De La Cruz showed me the lock it without ever handing me a key so I stayed away from the beach, the market and the nightclub, chained to my workbench.
What were you saying about leisure again?
============
Orion, look what you’ve started. All of a sudden everyone is a freakin poet around here.
“They put the statue of George Wahington in a box so as not to offend the participants.”
That’s not the story I heard, but one has to wonder if it had been a Tea Party Rally and they had draped or enclosed a statue of MLK, what would have been the response of the media?
http://www.thestate.com/2011/01/18/1652083/no-insult-to-washington-intended.html
Q,
No poet here, maybe only the attempt at poetics in order to get at something not easily described. So how does one describe Art Nouveau? By terming it an architectural style that would satisfy Jim Kunstler’s lament for feminine architectural curves?
I was reading the story of a 80 yr old man who still, amazingly enough, works at his lifelong occupation of metal smith. He stated he could not understand why anyone ever retired, that after 60 years, he felt like he was just getting good!
And I guess that is my point to Asoka, the marriage of “work” and pleasure.
Wonderful. And I completely understand. If only everyone could be so lucky as to be engaged headlong in an enterprise they can’t live without, wouldn’t want to live without.
This is the under-reported gift of energy descent in my view. I see it as a chance to reinvent ourselves as something we’d rather be, something we wish we had been, instead of whatever we settled on for whatever reason. But it will require our full attention, whether we mark that down in the “work” column or not.
Oh and btw, My brother-in-law (BofA exec. in Charlotte) sent me a copy of ‘Atlas Shrugged’ for Christmas so I’ve decided to send him a copy of ‘Witch of Hebron’.
People grieve in different ways.
Also say there is a car accident…
===========
For no discernible reason a large Caddy built a decade or two earlier shot crazily across two of five northbound lanes and slammed into the center cement dividers of the Garden State Pkwy near mile marker 133.
Nearby cars in the work-bound onrush swerved in fruitless attempt to adjust to myriad changing variables in a nanosecond.
Amazingly, as if by order, my chariot stayed a straight course through the mayhem, parting before it like the Red Sea.
My rear-view mirror: a video game of flying glass, wheel covers, headlights and sundry grill parts and body trim. An entire chromed bumper spun and skittered randomly sending off a spray of sparks.
A hood flew up and wrapped itself over a windshield, clouds of blue white smoke billowed from wheel wells and a small pickup cartwheeled and tumbled to a halt greasy side up. My skin flushed and tingled in concert with a racing heart.
Once clear I could not bring myself to resume normal speed yet rolled into the lot just 5 minutes past 7AM start time. The assumption, of course, was that others would check for injured (or dead?) among the poor bastards who weren’t so lucky.
Apparently two of CFN really good writing correspondents have decided to go cold-turkey, and Q seems to be just getting warmed up–with a vengeance. Meanwhile, another really good writer, Asoka, is using the written word to feign instruction all the while seeking to agitate the commiephobe paranoids.
Only Professor Asoka could transform “Peoples Republic of China” into fingernails on a chalkboard.
Orionoir;
Read your descriptive account of the car wreck on Rte 44. U.S. 44, from Avon headed west, sometime seems like the demolition derby.
You’re out in Norfolk, then, “The icebox of Connecticut”.
I keep money in your bank out there in the unlikely event we ever had to make a quick retreat from the F. Valley. Doesn’t hurt to plan for a worst case scenario.
At one time I used to do some drinking at the Speckled Hen, back when we did drink. Also, is there any better place to spend a summer afternoon than on East Twin Lake, on a canoe, fishing for trout.
I Took a ride out your way several weeks ago. Started out in Riverton to see what became of the (now closed) Hitchcock Chair plant. (Converted to storage). I have to say that it was pretty discouraging to see many empty storefronts in Winsted and Canaan. The area didn’t appear all that healthy, economically speaking, which is a shame.
I ran across a book lately which you might want to check out:
Housatonic, Puritan River, by Chard Powers Smith, 1945.
Its about the settlement and development of the Housatonic River Valley, and especially the Iron & steel industry 1750-1923. I think Salisbury Public Library has a copy.
Oh ya, Orionior, in that book by Powers Smith there is a pretty good account of Shays Rebellion in Sheffield, also , of the time Melville, Hawthorne, Jonathan Edwards et al, had in Stockbridge. It is interesting to read about the influential Sedgwick Family in the 18th and 19th century, and realize that their direct decendant, Amy Sedgwick was a cohort of Andy Warhol and Bob Dylan in the Village in the 1960’s. Of course, that ended tragically.
This is not so ok
While everybody’s arguing about words used on the congressional floor. Oh, someone characterized the Republican’s big lies about healthcare reform as Nazism–the problem with that is this country is on a trajectory all it’s own.
Unlike the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany, we’re tearing down the nation state, not building it up! This is all in the quest to become a “post-industrial” state.
JHK asks why the people in academia and the intelligentsia in general aren’t saying anything, about the banking system et al. They all have their egos caught up in the new phase of dismantling America. “We The People” never had a say in this. Yep, some think-tank theorists and academicians think this is a great direction, so we are all going down this road, like it or not, while we watch our world crumble.
The top echelon is totally disengaged from the dissolution of our infrastructure, so bent on keeping every penny to themselves. In fact the news covered a number of water main and gas line explosions as our infrastructure cannot hold against the ravages of winter. Don’t forget that one of Matt Simmons greatest concerns about the oil industry is that the old crop of engineers are going into old age and the new crop got laid off.
The banks are getting bigger, Healthcare insurance is getting bigger, the media is getting more monopolistic as the citizenry looks in horror that no matter what they say, things are going in the wrong direction. So who decides where this country is headed? Certainly not you and I.
If you missed Jon Stewart last night, I recommend you check out his interview with writer Paul Clemens. “Punching Out: One Year in a Closing Auto Plant,”
NYT Book Rev:[the massive Budd Detroit Automotive Plant, Stamping and Framing Division, has shut down. Everyone has gone home. It’s about watching the plant’s enormous press lines being disassembled by hired gangs of heavy-metal vultures and shipped off to flourishing factories in places like Brazil, Mexico and India, where the equipment is needed.]
The former auto workers are now dismantling the plants in which they once worked.
All complete with an illustration of how insane and wasteful the giant global sausage is. There are two active Chrysler plants nearby in Detroit, but all the reclaimed metal is going to the other countries.
Interesting post, LBend – dead on accurate down to the last word. How is it that things that seem so obvious to you and me fall into oblivion with our political *leadership@#$@!*
I came across this link on a CNN comment thread last night. Maybe something like this could help.
Unlike some of CFN – I’ll never give up on the US until they tape down the lid on my casket and shove it into the crematorium oven.
“Chagora” must be a riff on the “agora.”
http://www.chagora.com/
“Did you notice that cannons fired continuously during the Chinese national anthem, but not during ours? Obama and his guest then reviewed the troops who were an assemblage of our scariest looking southern dude warrior class.”
I have to wonder if the Chinese are actually intimidated by the pugilistic countenance of a few staged troops. I have my doubts. The economic repercussions are another story,however, and on that that count they would be quaking in their boots should conflict break out. But in the unlikely event of a mano-a-mano like confrontations actually occurring, or even a “distanced’ conflict, I have my suspicions who would be doing the real intimidating at the end of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUy9OgRRXnw
{Its about the settlement and development of the Housatonic River Valley, and especially the Iron & steel industry 1750-1923. I think Salisbury Public Library has a copy.}
———–
marlin,
thanks first of all for your kindness. last night i visited the famous seb’s blog, reading in horror & fascination, fucking in rhythm & sorrow, seeing myself precisely as i wish never tbseen. made me ashamed, to have gone to text before lithium’s return.
as you have, i’ve explored our iron age ruins. partway up salisbury-side bear mountain (headed toward at; immediately below a fiercely policed (private) body of water in wh delicious thrill awaits reckless nighttime skinnydippers as we) — where was i? oh, the mortarless stonework, world made by hand. this spot is public. of secret ruin we cannot speak here.
the hills of roxbury, darling satellite manhattan, are lousy (in a good way) with ancient ferrous doings. as an aside, if you know an athletic young man of questionable judgement, challenge frontal assault upon dustin hoffman’s roxbury retreat: holy ninja city! (don’t tell him it’s been done.)
old new england bars i have known, very much ama. verily i may have chanced upon the speckled hen… the accident was actually *east* of norfolk and i was ostensibly westbound for ancram, ny, famous lovenest of eleanor roosevelt’s other lover. at that point the wreck was i; a local fireman reported both men dead, as if helicopters report such news. as in the movie “the shining,” my money was no good: orders of the house. and so i blubbered nigh on two hours. an invertebrate liar, i spoke of my oncologist father, who art in heaven. how once once in this lifetime i’d like to do some body some good, or have them say so. telescope forward in time now, i’m a bit of a shutter bug, fool for a pretty face. near campus a girl seemed a bit too randomly splayed upon the grass, like a discarded doll. a sudden u-turn for a roadside woman is too creepy even for me, but for her i broke a rule. approaching as one might an injured animal, seeking not to spook: i asked if i could take her picture. which is all i wanted, one more image of youth, woman, vulnerability, trust. she’d heard the news today, oh boy, beloved uncle dead of colon cancer. so i spoke of my experience with the disease, of unlikely survival, how it don’t mean a thing. i figured i’d talk long enough to get around to the capture. she later wrote me that i’d saved her life, that she was en route suicide. preposterous, of course, but i believed that she did so believe. in this way i manage to keep on keeping on.
o
Vlad
OK – so I clicked on the George Washington in a box picture – and found myself on the American Renaissance website. And I’m poking around and thinking some of this stuff makes some sense. And I’m thinking, well OK – some of this stuff is over the top – but hey, it’s the unrestricted internet and you’ve got to look for the good among the bad and be willing to use your BullShit detector as necessary.
But then I made the mistake of clicking onto some comment threads to AR news articles and JEEBUS H CHEERIST ON A CRUTCH – many of those people are CRAZY. And for the most part they all agree with each other in a self-validating loop.
Then I checked MD’s link to “george in a box” for an alternative explanation. Damnit if the AR extremism had not eclipsed most intelligent dialog over there, too.
========
You say:
“Remind me: on one of these Civil Rights Laws, Hubert Humphrey said: If this legislation is ever used against White Men: I will eat the paper it is written on.”
===========
Humphrey’s DEAD, man. We in the US can only move forward into an uncertain future. An intelligent logical look at national policy on curtailing legal and illegal immigration IS necessary NOW.
AR does this – but if I send people to the AR site for facts they will only find extremes. I had bad dreams last night –
In my dreams I screamed, “EVERYONE – move to the Pacific Northwest!! The NEGROS are coming!!”
Thank GOD (gOD?), though I woke up this morning and realized I had been having a AR inspired nightmare.
Now I’m back at work trying to make the World a better place for –
myself, my family, my State, and my Nation
That’s the best I can do.
I keep asking, “If I agree with a racist about something – does it make me a racist?”
NO! – But enough time on AR would make me CRAZY!
– or crazyER –
Ibendet;
Much of the manufacturing industries had packed it in here by 1974. It happened slowly, one company at a time. Before anybody knew what was happening it was all gone, gone, gone.
Around 1970 crews from the New Haven Railroad showed up in our town and ripped up all the tracks, tracks that had been there since 1840. Suddenly, if you didn’t have a car, and some families didn’t, you were stranded.
That’s about the time, as well, when the strip malls, indoor shopping malls, Condo projects, suburban subdivisions & 10,000 square ft. McMansions began springing up like mushrooms. Needles to say, in the remaking of the landscape, the numerous orchards, fields, woodlands, dairy farms, vegetable farms were plowed under and destroyed. All the unique features that characterized our Valley had disappeared, almost overnight. For decades it seems citizens and zoning boards stood helpless before developers and the banks that backed them.
Now that whole built landscape has been proven to be nothing more than a cancer, foisted upon us by scumbags and grifters. I for one am happy that it is over and hope maybe we can get back to having real communities like we had not long ago.
{For no discernible reason a large Caddy built a decade or two earlier shot crazily across two of five northbound lanes and slammed into the center cement dividers of the Garden State Pkwy near mile marker 133.}
———-
q, this post bespeaks an eloquence i did not sense in your previous posts. some day in the future, should you ever doubt your verbal gift, return to this piece. keep it folded in a breast pocket like a tea-party constitution.
i am one perhaps more traffic-challenged than your average bear; luckily, i am immortal. however, this one episode did challenge my faith in deathlessness. throw another log on the fire, the story may a take more than a moment.
locals call route six west out of willimantic, connecticut, “suicide six,” thinking themselves original, apparently unaware of suicide sixes all over this land. a superhighway’s load pushes through a lone cc needle, undivided two lanes following a quirky watershed hiding a warren of magical indian caves all sign of wh long since obliterated by preservationists, signs of wh, not surprisingly, yours truly has privately unobliterated, albeit with the care and respect requisite earnest supplication: this is the road, ethnic cleanser of the idiot breed, eyeball-strummer of epileptic and apoplectic alike, domain of left-blinking motherfuckers who know not the evil they do.
nighttime: bloodlevels topped nicely, all systems go. at a rate of seventy miles per hour i see three sets of headlights oncome before me, six pitiless orbs proclaiming time neither wrong nor right. thinking slowly, i conclude, my life is over. as with boxing, i aim for the guy in the middle.
what it is that now confronts me, from left to right: oncoming driver using the shoulder to pass a stopped vehicle; vehicle stopped behind a left-turner; left-turning vehicle proceeding across my path as if i do not exist. the middle seems as good as any.
cinematic jump cut: i hit nothing. i do not even brake. miles later, my heart still in my throat, i wonder if perhaps i am imagining the whole scene. next i wonder instead: perhaps i am dead.
i mean, does anyone get around to telling the dead? especially those who become so at high speed. the dead are not grateful because they’re as unaware of gratitude as the living. being dead, the dead (carefully i do not say, ‘we dead’) wander obliviously in a necropolis identical in every respect to the life the living know. small discrepancies (hey, i thought that dog was dead) are wished away by plainclothes dream police scampering about like stagehands, moving scenes and props as directed.
we all live in a garden state. we’ve got to find a way back to the garden.
🙂
There is no common sense or decency anymore. the ‘good’ guy takes the rap too often. can’t help if you wanted to, with out breaking a law. – Jackie
Amen. A recent example here in Toronto: a young guy (Chinese immigrant) was working in his food store in Chinatown when he spotted a shoplifter swiping some stuff. The perp was a repeat offender with a decades long criminal record. So the young guy chases and tackles the perp, ties him up with assistance from another chap and waits for the cops. Guess what happens, the cops charge the young guy for tying up and confining the perp. Typical isn’t it?
Happy ending though. The young guy was found innocent in court after a huge uproar. No judge or jury in their right minds would have convicted him.
seb sends his regards. he miss you all,
not.
———
in his honor hear now this palindrome:
Deep son: be stupid. I put SEB no speed.
I agree with you, helping someone in trouble is a dicey thing. You have to watch what you’re doing or it can make a mess of your life.
A long time ago the decision was made to de-institutionalize the menatlly sick ie get them out into the community where they would be cared for. Except they weren’t cared for. I’ll bet half the people you see homeless in this city, shuffling around, filthy, dressed in rags are mentally ill. They have no chance. In the old days in a hospital, Dickensian as it may have seemed at the time, had to be better than this. So who deals with this? Half the time it’s the cops that get called to deal with these people ie when they commit a nuisance crime or when they’re in dire shape and need immediate help.
You say: How can we NOT take the law into our own hands, the ones in charge don’t seem to know wtf they are doing. In most cases. Don’t know and or also don’t care.
Don’t care is right. There a was a case recently in this city where an old man was evicted from an apartment run by a municipal organization that provides rent subsidized apartments for hard up people. The old guy apparently didn’t fill out some paperwork so out the door he went. He slept in the building stairwell for a while, became sick with an infection and died.
So the issue of “don’t care” comes up. What would it have taken for an employee to go see the old guy and see what the story was? Maybe he was sick or incapacitated. Get the building super to knock on the damn door. Or phone the guy. But nope. Don’t know, don’t care, not my job. Locked him out. So a lonely, broken down old man dies a shitty death.
Very interesting. I avoid watching corporate media, so I missed this. Thank you for pointing it out.
I have long believed that the US will not give up its empire without a fight, unlike the British and the USSR, which both did so in the last century.
I have been listening to a Chalmers Johnson radio interview lately, and he seems to dread the same thing.
http://www.tucradio.org/ChalmersJohnsonONE.mp3
Chinese immigrant and a happy ending in the same post. Coincidence?
– Vlad –
Thomas Sowell is a writer with whom I frequently disagree. But he nails some truth in this book review/editorial. He makes reference to the wonderful, intact and walkable black communities that the US has destroyed.
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/12/08/walter_williams_memoir
Sowell is conservative, so you should like him.
He’s black – and moves in white society – so you should not.
Makes you think about your priorities, eh?
From the article:
“The first chapter, about Walter’s life growing up in the Philadelphia ghetto, was especially fascinating. It brought back a whole different era in black communities– an era that is now almost irretrievably lost, to the great disadvantage of today’s generation growing up in the same neighborhoods where Walter grew up in Philadelphia
If the Chinese leader was not impressed with our military presence at the greeting the other day, maybe we should bring home all our troops and “stuff” and put them on display on I-95 for him. I think he would then be impressed with all the collateral we have to back his piles of paper. He may be impressed with his own military display, but how many road games has his team played lately?
{In the old days in a hospital, Dickensian as it may have seemed at the time, had to be better than this.}
not true.
————
just as an amusing aside, there was this volunteer thing i did as a kid, visiting the chronically insane at one of your better longterm institutions. (somehow that word ‘longterm’ doesn’t quite convey incarceration’s timeframe: howbout ‘eternal.’?)
i was walking a group of men on the grounds, there was one guy, fairly big but quite harmless, who said only one phrase, always, again and again: hard on. sometimes loud, sometime soft, never ever varying.
let’s say we’re sitting on a picnic table; in the distance a buxom young nurse walks quickly by. he starts bellowing his phrase. there’s nothing i can do. hard on, hard on, hard on.
now, in order to remind myself who i am, and to pay respect to his memory, i shout his catchphrase whenever a woman walks by.
Just to stir the pot at CFN a little bit –
Here are 7 crimes thwarted by armed civilians – just in metro Atlanta, and just in the past year.
http://www.ajc.com/news/potential-crime-victims-turning-775054.html
A society where the law-abiding can be armed – is a polite society.
Wage, thanks for the link to the Chalmers Johnson radio interview. I had to opportunity to hear him live at SDSU … incredible guy. And his trilogy is very enlightening.
The beginning of the interview bummed me out, when I heard in the introduction that Chalmers had died. I had not heard he died in November. Big loss.
http://www.tucradio.org/ChalmersJohnsonONE.mp3
Chinese immigrant and a happy ending in the same post. Coincidence? – Mook
Coincidence? I’m not sure if you’re making a point about Chinese immigrants and happy endings.
All this case needed was some common sense by the cops. It’s not as if the Chinese guy ran out into the street unprovoked and did a citizens arrest for the hell of it. Or beat the perp senseless.
What it did do was provoke a huge outcry from the public and a whole bunch of politicians. Happy endings when entangled in our legal systems are rare when you consider legal costs, the time involved etc. And it took a year for the case to come to court and for that time the shopkeeper was kept in suspense.
In our society the jerks, jackoffs, bad guys get all the consideration. Our federal govt is getting a lot of heat for building prisons. IMO they should build more still. The ones we have are overcrowded and if we have the facilities to keep shitheads off the streets then I’m all for it.
They say prison doesn’t deter. It does so. When you’re locked up you’re deterred. Then they say it costs too much. But what does it cost to have mayhem in the streets? A shopkeeper was killed in the crossfire by some guys having a wild west shootemup not long ago when he was outside his shop stocking up. Want to bet the shooters had records as long as your arm?
So what did it cost us to lose that shopkeeper with a young family? The wife lost a hubby, the kiddies lost their dad, society lost a productive member all because we’re too squeamish to keep assholes locked up. We have delusions about rehabilitation. When someone pulls a gun IMO he’s beyond rehabilitation. Lock him up for life.
PoC, thanks for stirring the pot re: arming society.
Of course, I disagree. Politeness has nothing to do with the carnage resulting from citizen-owned guns.
Each year, there are 34,000 gun-related deaths in the U.S. Safety expert Gavin de Becker found out while researching his books, The Gift of Fear and Protecting the Gift, that:
* Every day, about 75 American children are shot. Most recover — 15 do not.
* The majority of fatal accidents involving a firearm occur in the home.
* Gunshot wounds are the single most common cause of death for women in the home, accounting for nearly half of all homicides and 42 percent of suicides. I know you don’t want to kill off the women folk, PoC.
* An adolescent is twice as likely to commit suicide if a gun is kept in the home.
* More teenage boys in America die from gunfire than from car accidents.
* Gunshot wounds are now the leading cause of death for teenage boys in America (white, African-American, urban, and suburban).
SOURCE: FamilyEducation http://life.familyeducation.com/school-safety-month/violence/29712.html
Sorry Cash, I didn’t mean to rile you up. In this neck of the woods we are loaded with massage parlors employing mostly middle-aged female Chinese immigrants. Their specialty is the “happy ending”.
I see. Around here criminal gangs are bringing in hordes of Chinese girls to work in brothels as sex slaves. Local newspapers are full of their ads. Monstrous crime on a massive scale inflicting horrific misery on a lot of young chicks. But of course nobody sees nuthin, especially the enlightened, sophisticated non judgemental social liberals who run this place. Brothel busts are as scarce as hens teeth. Apparently sex slavery is ok with them. Part of North America’s okayness.
Damn! That video was awesome, Buck. Thank you for sharing.
As an ex-band parent, spending much time watching less than a hundred kids try to get their act together, I can’t imagine how difficult it was, or how much time it took to get that kind of co-ordinated cooperation between so many people.
Amazing.
I used to work with an ex-Marine sniper.
One day we were leaning on a counter, side by side, when he made a remark that annoyed me, so I went to give him a casual sideways kick.
INSTANTLY, he had my leg up around my waist. I could not believe that he could react so fast. And I couldn’t get my leg away from him either. He was too strong.
So I am not inclined to arm myself and take my chances with a criminal.
It seems to me that they could easily disarm me and use my gun against me.
YAHOO Today:
The devastation in some regions will never be repaired. Parts of Oregon, Georgia and Arizona have become progressively more deserted. Since jobless rates may never recover, there is little reason to hope that the populations in these areas will ever rebound.
Some homes will be torn down in these pockets of high foreclosures in the hopes that reducing supplies will boost prices.
Whether that idea will work in hard-hit areas such as Flint, Mich., and Yuma, Ariz., remains to be seen
‘the massive Budd Detroit Automotive Plant, Stamping and Framing Division, has shut down’
HOW MANY JOBS HAS DETROIT LOST SINCE CLINTONS GATT/NAFTA?
Did you read his book [of a few years back] ‘EDUCATION FACTS AND FALLACIES’?
The chapter on colleges was a hoot!
T usually agree with TS!
Read ‘THE SNAKEHEAD’
“I have long believed that the US will not give up its empire without a fight, unlike the British and the USSR, which both did so in the last century.” -Wage
Yep, I’m solidly [and sadly] convinced of that also. “The paradigm will not be shifted until we deem it necessary to shift it.” Thus spake the Wall Street hustlers and Banking grifter cadres (and their politician toadies wallowing in Unka Scrooge’s vault).
Again, just one more truly dangerous facet of the “Psychology of Previous Investment” that JHK presciently keeps banging on about. It’s seeming that the “representatives” (ze rich and ze powerful) of the ‘Murkin Publick are so engaged/invested in their delusions that they’re believing their own bullshit! (I guess that’s what happens to pathological liars and worshipers of Mammon, eh?)
Be that as it may, the one thing that might be the saving grace of the wide-awake might be the collapse of the world-wide Ponzi economy. Sure, the USofA will attempt to strong-arm everyone else for resources it can no longer afford, but when enough realists in the vaunted armed forces put a little gray matter into the future of armaments supply, they just might realize that “going whole hog” is a guarantee of self-destruction (it’s all about supply, as we’re shortly to find out). Plus, how much trouble do you imagine might be bubbling away right here in the “Homeland”, aka, Der Vaterland, once the pretend gum’mint can no longer even provide enough food to placate the desperate masses? Do we see any department hollering about how successfully they’ve salted away a years’ worth of staples for EVERYBODY, in case of crop failure, etc.? (I’m sure the military’s got theirs, but food for non-killers? mmmmmm, I dunno.)
If anyone finds such a program going on, please let me know.
Interesting Times with Happy Endings?
People buy everything they own, almost, from China, and then call radio talk shows to say how they are against a ‘commie’ takeover by the White House socialists led by Obama.
If I were overseas somewhere in Europe, the CIS, Latin America, China, or a Chinese official, I’d conclude that Americans are just a bunch of buffoons with beer, guns, credit cards, and big butts. Which is absolutely what we are as a nation, and as a people. We stand for nothing beyond mindless consumerism, which of course is what has made China what it is and what we are: China’s bitch people.
“We have delusions about rehabilitation. When someone pulls a gun IMO he’s beyond rehabilitation. Lock him up for life.”
Our system is built upon punishment rather than restitution. The fault for this lies with churchianity. Since Augustine and Jerome the “eternal BBQ pit” has been used to scare people into salvation rather than the love of God.
Who can blame society for mimicing fear motivation by locking people away for life, instead of restoring them to a productive life, without the wisdom to accomplish it?
Part of it also must be shared by people who do not believe in the resurrections. Capital crimes, where what was taken cannot be restored by man, demand the forfeiture of the life of the guilty {to rstore the lawful order} – unless he is forgiven by the victim {not society}.
Our injustice system is about job security, not justice or restitution.
“Politeness has nothing to do with the carnage resulting from citizen-owned guns.”
Your statistics argue for education, rather than confiscation.
“To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike especially when young, how to use them.” (Richard Henry Lee, 1788, Initiator of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the first Senate, which passed the Bill of Rights, Walter Bennett, ed., Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican, at 21,22,124 (Univ. of Alabama Press,1975)..)
“The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.” (Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-8)
“The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” — (Thomas Jefferson)
It’s like most ‘see’ people as things.
What a Sad story reminds me of one where this ‘old’ guy he was in his 90’s, well lived in a mobile home with his beloved CAT.
I guess the Cat got out and pooped on someone elses little garden, so the others in the park made him have to give his CAT away.
I live 80 miles away and I almost went up there, I am from that area, but I didn’t.
No good deed goes unpunished anyway, seems like.
The story about the guy dying outside is Shameful.
and very Sad. What a World. It’s a Sad World by R.E.M. on youtube. Sometimes a good cry is a good thing.
That’s a Hero.
I try and be Aware of my surroundings.
I wish more people would do also.
I didn’t hear about this, who took the credit ?
anyone ?
I like your post.
q, this post bespeaks an eloquence i did not sense in your previous posts.
==========
Thank you for the kind words. It was you who inspired me to try for the moment abandoning the 40 year old habit of writing for corporate “internal customers.”
And thanks likewise to Buck.
Hey it came up here at The Ocean also. NICE !
A clear night.
I am ‘stuck’ here on the Coast. Feel like a Sardine in a Can all packed in so many people.
But you get used to it. Still I miss open space and Gardens. The price of land here is $$$$$ prohibitively expensive.
I hear Ya. I would do that.
Also your post reminded me that I NEED to get a Fire Extinquisher for my Camry.
And flares.
I have a story.
We were coming up to the top of the hill, 2 lanes, we were in the fast lane.
it was dark.
Someone was standing on the side of the road in the bushes, (there was no shoulder) and they were waving a flashlight up and down, I GOT IT ! and so did my husband who was driving, in the nick of time.
I said THERE’S A WRECK !
At the same instant we saw a car sideways in our lane and part of the other lane, stopped, musta hit the center divider or something. We would have broadsided this car in Our V10 at 65, had this person not BEEN THINKING OF OTHERS and had that light.
It was awesome. I love people like that.
Don’t know what happened after that. Pacheco Pass in Central Ca. Real dangerous in the fog.
It wasn’t foggy that night tho.
Once you are past the wreck, maybe best to keep going. Probably there were others on the road that helped in this case. Commuter traffic sounds like.
Funny the way you told it when you looked in the rear view mirror. reminded me of :
Once I was being tailgated (well i am always being tailgaited, and I don’t drive slow.) anyway, I said to self “it’s only a Prious” lightweight etc.
So I did something I won’t do again…..I tapped my brakes, as in did you see that dog ? Ran right out in front of me !
Shit, the Prious wasn’t paying attention, then looked up and started swerving all over the f****** place. Thankfully it didn’t crash.
And no other cars were around. And I could outrun a Prious if need be.
It’s funny now, and I bet they learned something.
Or probably not.
Now what would I have done if it had crashed and gone off the road ? Probably called it in and got the hell out of dodge.
DON’T TAILGATE PLEASE. It’s SO dangerous. And nervewracking. and RUDE.
Justice comes to Tunisia.
“None of the law agencies, however, was doing anything to stop the looting, which continued yesterday to target the properties of relatives and cronies of the presidential family.
An opulent villa belonging to Belhassan Trabelsi, another nephew of Leila Trabelsi’s, at La Marsa, near Carthage was being systematically stripped. On the arched doorway to the property, the millionaire businessman had inscribed: “This home is a gift to me from Allah.”
Mohammed Jawad Qasi, a 33-year-old carpenter, smiled. “And now Allah has taken it away from him,” he said. “If I had tried to enter here before, his men would have chased me away like a dog. I could not believe what I saw inside, the furniture, the swimming pool. The bastard had been living like he was our lord while the poor people were starving.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/presidents-family-hunted-down-as-anarchy-replaces-years-of-repressive-rule-2186292.html
{Once I was being tailgated (well i am always being tailgaited, and I don’t drive slow.)}
——-
not to run the automotive thread into the ground, but… when my younger sister was a new driver she flipped some jerk the proverbial bird. he proceeded to ride her bumper forever.
a sixteen year old kid out alone (i was not there; but as narrator i pretend i was) — and really, any female (more so than any male) — is always at risk, one never knows to what degree. anyhow, here’s the funny part: she drove straight to a police station; the moron followed her in.
the cops, with a pretty young thing in tears before them, beat the snot out of the erstwhile aggressive driver. he explained that his girlfriend had just left him and he hadn’t been himself lately, but, you know how cops are, that only egged them on.
this was an innocent time: she had no idea cops behaved that way. as adults we know better.
me, i never pull over… if you give up your momentum you’ve diminished your degrees of freedom. in general, second place controls the race: that is, if you can get behind a threatening motorist you gain informational mastery. still, i’m dying to get a bumpersticker, yellow letters on black background: FUCK YOU. sadly, wife thinks it’s an unwise idea.
“We stand for nothing beyond mindless consumerism”
Wow, strong post, of which I can’t fault. Our incredible increase in living standards post WWII, has left many of us incredibly spoiled. Not many are willing to sacrifice for the common good. Obama is even afraid to introduce a measly increase in gasoline taxes due to political backlash fear and finger pointing that it will “ruin or economy”.
Since we can’t control others or have much influence on the Federal Gov’t, I just try to do my own thing. I conserve as much as possible. My gas & electric bill averages $30/month. I put more miles on my bicycles than my car; 13K miles over the last 3 yrs on 4 wheels vs. 24K miles via 2 wheels.
I was planning a response to Asoka and you beat me to it, MD.
“Your statistics argue for education, rather than confiscation.”
Absolutely; and anyone with weapons who has not had some training – and who is not willing to take gun ownership SERIOUSLY – is a potential disaster waiting to happen.
And regarding kids and guns:
-Every cop I’ve ever known finishes his/her shift and goes home fully armed.
-If they have take-home patrol cars, these cars sit in the driveways bristling with weapons while the officers are off duty.
It is BASIC firearms safety that secures these weapons and keeps them safe from children.
=========
And Wage, regarding your sniper. You’re right – training (and experience) like that never wears off. One of my son’s brother’s in law is about to come home from his second deployment to Iraq. His MOS was MP when he deployed, but I get the feeling he’s been in some pretty serious sh*t. He’s a great guy, and I will always make every effort to stay on his good side – and urge my boys to do the same. And if he’s ever around in a situation that seems to have a possibility of physical threat – I’ll try to put him and his 22 year old’s instincts at least a couple of steps out in front of me. 😉
A measly increase in the gas tax wouldn’t change our driving habits. To do that, we’d need a very large tax. But most people still have the notion that we can legislate problems away. You can’t.
The issue here is our profligate use of energy. The public needs to be educated as to why they should change their energy consumption habits, not just increase taxes.
My Prius on its current tank of gas is getting 47 mpg, and it’s that low because the temperature here in Boston is so cold we need to keep our defrosters on to keep the windshield and rear window clear. Otherwise I’ve been getting about 54 mpg. The point is, we CAN change our energy usage without having to resort to taxing.
“Justice comes to Tunisia.”
Nice post, MD. NOW – if someone will simply change “Tunisia” to “The Hamptons.”
And change all those arabic sounding names to Lloyd Blankfein, Dick Cheney, and the gang. And change the “Allah” references to “Christ,” “God,” “Moses,” or Whatever the banksters believe in –
And then add a little free verse style literary technique – (orionoir – you can handle that, if I may custom order a post!)
Presto Chango – one of JHK’s Dreams of Collapse!
Regarding gun control – it’s one of those divisive issues like abortion, in which you’ll never convince people to agree with you if they already have the opposite viewpoint.
Personally, I’d rather have the option to own my own weapons. The price to pay is possibly having innocent people getting shot. But I have to balance that consequence against protecting myself and the people I love.
I also believe the bad actors will always be able to physically harm others even if there were no guns at all. The Tucson shooter could have easily made a bomb instead.
I bet everyone has a driving story. Years ago, on a hot summer’s day, I was practcing my martial arts in the hallway of my home, with the front door wide open. A woman drove up the street, got to my house, jumped out of her car and ran into my house, shaking uncontrollably. It seems some crazy guy tried to cut her off with his pickup, and when she managed to get by him, he took off after her and tried to drive her off the road. She was driving on my street trying to get away from him when she spotted my open door.
Maybe it was because I was all warmed up and had just had a good karate workout that I ran outside, got in my car and tried to find the pickup, but to no avail.
When I got home, the woman wouldn’t leave my house, but at least she had stopped shaking. I called the police and they came over about 10 minutes later. I asked the officer to follow the woman home so she would feel safe getting there. The officer agreed and then asked the woman if she did anything to provoke the man. She said no; then she thought about it and remembered that the guy was trying to pass her on the road and she wouldn’t pull over, and gave him the finger as he went by.
Most people seem to have bad judgment.
What about the meeting Obama just had with the ‘chinese guy’?
I listened to Jerome Corseys take on it last nite.
horrifying.
I’ve been carrying “The End Is Near” sign for thirty years, and it’s getting heavy. I admit some “told you so” satisfaction for being ignored, humiliated and labeled. Now I am contemplating changing the N to an H.
I try to approach everything from God’s {as best I am able} POV. I know that sounds ridiculous {to you}. Ask yourself why? A big part of the story is that “many false spirits have gone out into the world”, so we should expect to be presented with many reasons to believe in “churchianity” and at the same time, realize it is a bunch of bunk. God hates idols {man-made belief systems}. Most of us are going to try it our own way first.
“When America honored the God of heaven we prospered and were set high above all the nations of the earth. We were respected and the US dollar stood for something. Everyone all over the globe held US dollars as the ultimate expression of value.
When the current occupant in the White House made the statement that “America is the greatest Nation in the world and we intend to change that”, it should have been plain that our Nation’s execution sentence was being announced right before our eyes.
The Titanic is sinking, the deck chairs are being fought over for the best view and the band plays on as they mesmerize its listeners, as hope fades and freedom sinks beneath the “sea of apathy and indifference”. The entertainment mantra of our day has become to avoid reality at all costs, or better yet “abandon critical thinking and responsibility all ye who live here”!”
“When the current occupant in the White House made the statement that “America is the greatest Nation in the world and we intend to change that”, it should have been plain that our Nation’s execution sentence was being announced right before our eyes.”
OK, did Obama say that? Every once in a while, they slip up.
Remember when Bush said, “Our enemies never stop thinking of ways to harm America, and neither do we” ?
Very telling.
{It was you who inspired me}
————–
well then my work here is done. :p
(your replies throughout made this place worthwhile.)
As for driving, I still go by the 55mph speed limit, set in order to save oil back in the 70s.
Why would I deliberately waste oil?
When people tailgate, I slow down, under the theory that they will go around me, (and I let them, I don’t speed up), or they will hit me, but at a lower, safer rate of speed.
It is true that sometimes a person sitting in a parking lot, who has someone back into them, will sustain severe neck damage and need to come to the ER fully immobilized and screaming in pain, but I still feel that the lower the speed, the lower the bodily damage.
I haven’t read all the comments yet, but I think the funerals have probably been more serious. Politicians give speeches all the time, but people only get buried once.
Just to drive the automotive topic into the ground … 😀
Twice I’ve had one of those out of body freeway automotive experiences. I was there, and now I’m here, unscathed. In between is twisted metal, broken glass and gasoline running across the pavement. Must have been one of those temporal time things they’re always nattering on about on Star Trek that neatly wrap everything up.
I rarely drive the freeways, anymore. I take those scenic routes. Those Blue Highways (thank you William Least Heat Moon.) 10 or 15 minutes longer but I arrive with my blood pressure at normal. And I see such interesting things!
What ? He said that ? How and when. I believe you I just find this hard to believe.
anyway yeah Simon & Garfunkel
‘AND THE PEOPLE BOWED AND PRAYED TO THE NEON GOD THEY MADE’
It does feel the way you describe it, the ship is sinking and everyone is trying to get the best seat, & all the shells in their pockets.
Wagelaborer: I was stopped at a stop sign, and someone rear ended me, a smaller car then mine, I don’t know how fast she was going, but the hit didn’t seem very hard, and / but I knew better, since no damage to my car I let her go scott free. 2 days later I paid the price for almost 1 year, I had and still have Whiplash. I am saying you can get hurt at low speeds I think especially if you are at a standstill.
One of my biggest fears is being in a wreck. I drive defensively and also always looking out for all around me. wish more would do same.
I think I’ll start a site about driving. One guy did this ‘here’ years ago for awhile he used to take pics of people on a mountain hiway, and post in inet, he blurred their licenses, but it showed them doing really dangerous stupid shit in their cars.
I thought tailgaiting was illegal. Hell even the CHP’S do it. all the time. unconciously driving ourselves and others crazy !
I take backroads also as much as I can.
I once said to a friend: there’s a huge Black Fist (symbolic of Black Power) outside the City Hall in Detroit. He said, no it’s the fist of the boxer Evander Holyfield (or some great Black Boxer). I said, as I said there’s a huge Black Fist outside the City Hall in Detroit.
“…we CAN change our energy usage without having to resort to taxing.”
I agree that everything you say is true. However, most American people don’t like to “be educated”. It would be labeled; Big Gov’t, Big Brother, Socialism, etc. I keep going back to the late 70’s where people didn’t want to hear that message of conservation from Carter. It’s much more inspiring to listen to RR “it’s morning in America”. If more Americans understood the gravity of our energy dilemma, like you, we wouldn’t be so close to the conditions facing us.
A fearless leader would explain that Americans are not paying the true cost for their petrol usage. Not including indirect military expenditures, but just looking at pollution, a good start would be to slap a $1/gal on gas. This calculates out to $0.05/lb. of carbon dioxide since a gallon generates roughly 20lbs of CO2. I don’t like paying taxes anymore than anybody, but we have to compensate for the continuation of tax cuts somehow. Especially since MIL $$ seem sacrosanct.
Well as I always say, if you’re not scared by now, you’re not getting it. But you got a glimpse and you got overwhelmed. Your emotional reaction has become the main issue and also your emotional reaction to your emotional reaction. So the whole topic we were talking about has been forgotten. So no more can be said.
Greer posts an interesting take on TLE this week:
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2011/01/onset-of-catabolic-collapse.html
The collapse began in 1974?
The only argument I might have with this is that the technology so many people use as a reason to continue business as usual might be making our situation a lot worse than it might otherwise be. That’s why I see success in an energy descent scenario depending utterly on radical behavioral innovation, and at our earliest convenience. Instead of relying on technological solutions to save us we should make real changes voluntarily in the way we use energy. I mean, unless we really like pain. But that’s someone else’s department…
“anyway yeah Simon & Garfunkel”
I just happen to be listening to “Negotiations and Love Songs” as you write this.
“Momma don’t take my Kodachrome!”
Dunno if those 2 said that BUT GORE DID SAY:
‘OUT OF ONE MANY’
VERY TELLING…………………………
Bean, I disagree with you here:
========
A measly increase in the gas tax wouldn’t change our driving habits. To do that, we’d need a very large tax.
=========
The way gas consumption responds to price pressure is one of Budizwier’s favorite issues – and I tend to agree with him. I just don’t believe your “basic American type” citizen is going to respond to education on energy consumption.
Sadly, anymore – even if the *education* is oriented toward “patriotism,” I’m not sure we’ll get a very good response. And I’m sure that if the education is oriented toward “doing the right thing for the environment” that roughly 50% of the American People will do the EXACT OPPOSITE.
So, IMO, a simple tax on carbon would have been the way to go. It should have phased in over 5 years with the goal of gasoline/diesel at $5/gallon by 2005. And “the Decider” could have sold it to the American people after 9/11. Or Obama might have sold it to us during the Macondo events. But Bush and the gang spun 9/11 and told us to go shopping. And Macondo was spun off as “nothing to see here, folks, plenty of easy oil.”
And now we may have $5 gas this summer. Or $2 gas this summer. WHO THE HELL KNOWS! And how is American industry and home buyers/car buyers supposed to plan for a future like this?
But it’s pretty obvious that today’s American will only respond to price pressures on gas – whether prices are driven by taxes with some planning; or prices driven by the *blind* forces of international energy markets.
We’ve got more and more Republicans, with their childlike faith in free markets, coming into power.
GEE – I wonder how THIS is gonna shake out?
“And I’m sure that if the education is oriented toward “doing the right thing for the environment” that roughly 50% of the American People will do the EXACT OPPOSITE.”
Who would know that Chevron is one of the most environmentally friendly corporations on the planet? They always improve their drilling sites ecologically. Tell my Faux News watching step-dad that though and he’ll boycott Chevron just for being gay.
Actually, Jonathanss, you are a victim of corporate media propaganda here.
“Polls indicated that popular reaction to the speech was generally favorable, but then the chattering classes weighed in. By 1979 Carter’s media stock had bottomed out. Pundit after pundit took Carter to task for having the temerity to blame the American people for their wasteful ways”.
The corporate media tells us that Americans didn’t like the speech, but they did, until they were told not to. Remember that a whole lot of Depression survivors were alive then, and took wearing a sweater when it’s cold as just common sense.
We were told to dislike Carter.
Corporate media tells us that we “all loved Reagan”. But we didn’t.
And I am not the only one who still hates Reagan, even after 30 years of being told by the corporate media that I love him.
Most of my friends also spit at the mention of his name. (Figuratively, of course).
“Well as I always say, if you’re not scared by now, you’re not getting it.”
I have a friend. We worked together for 13 years, then I left. He and I are again working together, after three years apart. A group of us were talking the other day and the precious metals came up. I asked him, “weren’t we talking about silver back when it was selling for 6 or 7 bucks an ounce?” He said we may have, then asked what conspiracy theories I had heard about lately. I said, “Oh there’s a bunch of them out there.” and ended the conversation.
Don’t try to bullshit a bullshitter, Vlad.
=======
“Your emotional reaction has become the main issue and also your emotional reaction to your emotional reaction. So the whole topic we were talking about has been forgotten. So no more can be said.”
=======
This statement is nonsensical to a factor of 2.
(And I believe what you are saying is that if I attack the *average* poster on your favorite website that I’m attacking you.)
Immigration demographics scares the hell out of me – from an environmental standpoint. And, yeah, maybe from a racial standpoint – but maybe I’m a closet racist – or maybe I’m just a rational American. Who knows/who cares??
Now, if you would like to talk about how American Renaissance could lead some rational dialog on immigration – and bring it into the mainstream, somehow – I’d be your man.
I don’t know about the Obama quote, I was just reacting to MD.
But here’s Bush-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8pvU1iyT3c
Wage,
I hate – HATE – what Reagan did to this country.
(and since I’m in Georgia – I must pause at this point, genuflect, and say “reagan was a great american reagan was a great american”
And I think if we could get to the bottom of why Reagan is freakin’ LOVED so much – that we’d be on our way to understanding the mystery.
But I think you’re giving the “corporate media” FAR too much credit for this debacle. The media was still on the ball in 1980. Nixon was unseated in ’74, in large part by the efforts of the media. Carter WON handily in ’76. Reagan didn’t win the popular vote by that large a margin, BUT he did win 49 states in the Electoral College. (he lost Georgia, Carter’s and my home state – so I’ll always have a dog in this fight with you and your friends, Wage)
It wasn’t that the “corporate media” told *us* to love Reagan. But it WAS that the Reagan operatives and his press secretary approached the Electoral vote with a BRILLIANT STRATEGY to MANUFACTURE a landslide that never existed in reality.
The aftermath of the 1980 election was the beginning of the “framing” of issues. The American press – for a variety of complicated reasons – stopped doing investigative reporting about this time and started living and DYING by press conferences and press releases.
Democrats and liberals (Greens/socialists/whatever?) still SUCK at “framing” of issues.
And we of the Left NEVER stay “on message.”
Republicans, for all their demonic faults, excel at “framing” and staying “on message.” As long as they do this without pushback from the Left, in modern sound-bite America, the left is going down and – down lower.
You’re both wrong. It is not a “Black Fist’ and it’s not Evander Holyfield’s fist. It’s a bronze sculpture and the black you see is not actual human skin pigmentation but a metal patina finish. The sacred cow in India is the main course of a meal in America.
Why does your interpretation have to be the “right” one?
Thanks for weighing in. I’m not a victim as I agree with you on RR. So many think Reagan was just great and probably applauded when he took out Carter’s solar system from the White House roof. Now we have Sister Sarah channeling RR and rehashing some of his themes.
He doesn’t even catch himself saying it !
I can’t believe this guy was President of the U.S.
I saw a bumpersticker once it said
BUSH: EVIL LYING RETARD
Just Buck up Buck – it’s a symbol of Black Power just as a White Fist so placed would be a symbol of White Power. It is supposed to be some boxer – I indicated I didn’t know which. Why the shock and resistance to the obvious? They’re into power you know. And it’s not only something of a universal symbol, but also one with extensive history in the Black Community.
Procon,
In a servile society, increase a tax enough and consumption would decrease, that is a fact. But I was responding to a remark that questioned why we couldn’t have a “measly” tax increase on gasoline. But what is “measly”? $.10/gal? $.25/gal? The dictionary defines measly as contemptuously small. And I maintain that such a small increase would not change driving habits, only increase grumbling.
So if a small tax increase proves ineffective, and a large increase is immoral (well-off people could afford to pay the tax, poor people would be further restricted and disadvantaged), what other choice do we have except education – and even that is no guarantee of decreased gas consumption as you say.
I don’t disagree, Beans. I saw the word “measly” in the original post that you were responding to. And I took the use of the word to mean that political *leadership?* in the US is not going to approve a tax increase on gasoline – whether “measly” or MEANINGFUL – because of short term *measly?* political considerations.
And Tripp’s stepfather speaks for a huge bunch of Moron-Americans when he goes to the opposite direction deliberately, purposefully, and PROUDLY – to burn MORE gas and do MORE damage – when environmental considerations are mentioned.
The only way a “meaningful” gas tax would be moral would be if a good chunk of the revenue were rebated to the lower/middle class to make up for the disproportionate effect of an energy tax on those classes. AND then if most of the rest of the revenue collected went into renewable energy so the lower/middle classes might have a chance of economic survival in America in the coming decades.
It’s not happening, though Beans. I’ll save Tza/Ling/Jim the trouble of going nutso over the words energy and tax in the same paragraph.
And jimmim and his ilk – for some bizarre and unfortunate reason – have the ear of the republican national *leadership?* – so nothing’s gonna happen for at least another decade more of dumfuckery on the National level.
To paraphrase asoka, and the now absent mika –
“we are so fsked!”
To end my evening on CFN on a semi-positive note, I’ve been looking at yet another New Year’s forecast. I know I’ve linked to this same investment firm several times, but:
1. I’m not shilling for money or ANYTHING
2. Every analysis I’ve linked has been unique
3. We all (even CFN’ers) need different perspective
4. This one has cool MAPS of global situation(s)
http://www.investorsinsight.com/blogs/john_mauldins_outside_the_box/archive/2011/01/20/annual-forecast-2011.aspx
So, here goes. And one sentence in particular in this analysis caught my ear:
“Ultimately, Germany will find resistance in Europe. This will first manifest in the loss of legitimacy for European political elites, both center-left and center-right.”
All you Lizard Theorists please notice the “s” on “elite(S)” The world is absolutely apeshit full of dumsh*t elite(S) – they can’t all be in cahoots.
There have to be Snakes and Turtles, at least.
And how about salamanders, newts, and frogs?
Did you see Newt Gingrich may run for president?
Coincidence? Surely not!
‘To paraphrase asoka, and the now absent mika –
“we are so fsked!”‘
Nah, somehow I just don’t have it in me, ProC, to feel hopeless. We may have to wade through a lot of shit for awhile, but we will prevail. Hey, today I just read about 2 French scientists claiming they have achieved cold fusion using a nickel-hydrogen reaction; it would produce a kilowatt-hour of electricity for a penny. Alas, this is most likely a scam, but if for every 100 scams or failures a new energy source could be developed…
One of my personal goals is to research everything I can about peak oil and abiotic oil. It might take me awhile, but I wanna come to my own opinion on this most important issue.
Vlad,
Maybe you’re old enough to recall the bowed heads and raised fists of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics. From that vantage point, I see your point, sort of. For somebody not around during that era, perhaps not so much. For a first time viewer of the sculpture without knowledge of the narrative text, there probably is no inherent a-priori meaning: the sculpture might represent the determined and soiled fist of a Motor City auto worker, for example. But you creatively engaged with the piece and determined that it was a “Black Power” fist–surprise, surprise. So why sell others short, they may actually see the fist of a Thomas Hearns, Joe Louis, or Sugar Ray Robinson?
There is some good writing on this site, but I’m starting to think most of you are insufferably pretentious boors. The preferred style is as purple and livid as a fresh weal.
Recipie for a typical CFN post: Take 2 parts Hunter Thompson and 1 part Cormac McCarthy, add to six fingers of postmodern pretentiousness and season with a dash of self-consciousness. Sprinkle liberally with multiple adjectives fresh from the thesaurus. Serves thousands.
This comment shows total mendacity. You said it was a fist, and it was made of metal. Black people are skin and bone like White people. VLAD, you think the world should change, you should change yourself first. Get a clue, and a life.
And Penumbral, you are as purple as a weasil.
A strong People’s Republic of China will be good for the world. The stronger and richer the People’s Republic of China becomes, the more the world will benefit.
=========
The post from which the above is excerpted repeats “the People’s Republic of China” eight times (about 23% of total word count). You would think it acceptable to shorten it up to merely “China” once that nations full official name had been respectfully used.
But Asoka, as our resident communist, has an ulterior motive to provoke and annoy someone. Vlad? Cash? me?
Asoka does not like to think that China is perhaps the most rabid Capitalistic country in the world which is so for two reasons: they understand perfectly the Law of Supply and Demand and when all is said and done they watch out exclusively for ‘ol number one.
I agree with you Cash: Mono-Racial societies are more peaceful than Multi-Racial Socities. So if we’re going to do that, why not reatain the beauty and any special adaptations inherent in pure breed? In your model there is a loss of genetic information – a real impoverishment. My model is superior. The only thing your’s has is the utility of the fait accompli. But it’s largely illusory because we’re not going to go along with it. Your ugly model is only “practical” if people can be duped or bullied into it. But we can’t and wont. America? It’s not worth the death of our precious bloodlines. I grant you that there should be places where people can breed freely with no regard for race. But all over the White World? (and only the White World) Why? Who said? What’s in it for us? Why do you and your kind hate us so much?
Wtf, we were talking about Blacks and the Statue of Washington in particular. Then you went off on a tangent about your feelings and dreams. And now you accuse me of accusing you of not liking my favorite website. Read over my post and your response. You can be really bizarre sometimes.
Amren is a good site. They wont deal with the Jewish Question so they fall a little short of White Nationalism per se. Jared Taylor is very eloquent and every inch the Southern Gentleman. This may be why the Enemy hates him so much – he’s very far from the caricature/reality of the Skin Head. I had a ticket for the Conference last year but it was cancelled by Leftist Death Threats. They have been harassed in the last few years but that was the only time they were stopped cold. This year they have wisely left DC and are going to have it North Carolina I think. You should go.
It turns out to be the fist of the boxer Joe Louis – a native son. As perhaps the greatest boxer in American History, his fist is an apt symbol of Black Power. It is not raised in the Black Power salute – so you can retain the crumbs of your dignity even though mostly wrong.
http://discoverblackheritage.com/fist-memorial/
>
You are a violently repugnant human being, if that’s your stance on the WBC. Those people have vomited bile all over any version of any Christian Bible I have ever read, and clearly and quite blantantly pick and choose the context of any scripture they “spew” at the funerals of various and sundry innocent human beings whose only crime is being targeted in the sights of this latent homo, Fred Phelps, who is the leader of their “church”. That sick fuck only survives financially in any way (considering they bounced his ass out of the bar in Kansas back in the fucking 80’s, come on, people!) on the beneficience of his equally sick, brainwashed children, who have been filled with hate every single day of their sad lives. I’ve never seen anyone so obsessed with the workings of the anal cavity than Fred Phelps of the WBC, and I’d venture to guess that it’s because he’s secretly gay, totally hates himself, and would love nothing more before he splits hell wide open than to have his ass split wide open by some dude with a 12 inch cock :)~ Food for thought, gay-obsessed-bashers . . . fantasize amongst yourselves :)~~~
Hancock1863;
Your Lizard People theory intrigues me. I think about it all of the time. I cannot get it out of my head.
And I’m looking at people differently, examining them more closely.
Are you aware of ‘Capra Syndrome’? It was first identified by a psychiatrist in Paris shortly after WW1. If you have Capra Syndrome, you come to believe that those around you, even family members, invariably, have been eliminated and replaced by monsters or aliens. (or lizards). These monsters (or lizards) perfectly replicate the speech, mannerisms and countenances they have replaced. Their intentions are evil, and they have taken over the world.
Sometimes when I’m reading the posts on this site I just burst laughing. My wife asks what the hell is so funny, I thought that was a peak oil site. It is, but some of this shit is pretty funny.
I probably should be talking to a mental health professional the sooner the better.
CNBC, 1/21/11, Mexican oil production down from 3.3 mbpd in 2005 to 2.5 mbpd 2010. And their largest well, Canterell, has been pumped dry.
‘To paraphrase asoka, and the now absent mika –
“we are so fsked!”‘
==
I’m ever watching, Bill. And you are right.
Pen-con,
Congratulations! You’ve become a member of a club that you hold in contempt! That’s just cute. ;o)
You are totally different from SEB, Orion.
He was foul mouthed and nasty, and you are lyrical.
The first time I ever met penumbral conundrum I was just a little boy. She stood outside the bathroom door while I was taking a piss, tapping her wristwatch impatiently, exhaling that exasperated cosmetics sigh. She’s good at that, telling a guy to hurry up while choking the self-conscious bladder neck. Since that time, I’ve met the type on many more occasions. Curling up that Elvis corner lip and furrowing a cultured brow from high atop Mt. Snooty, how many times they have aimed that deadly “Pretentious’ missile at the only-for-fun amateur party. Sometimes twice in two short paragraphs. And how many times they have missed the mark, only managing to stab variety in the eye. They dismiss the party snacks, and offer up some authentic Culture Cuisine, comprised equally of Cliché Disdain and Learned Critic Academy. How original.
Still, I wouldn’t mind reading more of penumbral.
Education does work. It worked in the 70s, when Americans lowered their energy use.
It worked when I lived in California. When we had droughts, they would tell us to conserve water, and most of us did.
There are always jerks. They can be reached also.
I used to work with a horrible person, married to another horrible person. He was a farmer, who moonlighted at a prison. They were right wing Christians.
There is no way that education or appeals to cooperation with their fellow humans would have worked with these people.
But when gas prices went up, he bought a small car to commute to the prison, instead of driving his pick-up truck.
He was foul mouthed and nasty…
===========
…to Wage perhaps (I don’t recall) but not in general. He was merely brilliantly unfathomable(for the most part) and certainly marching to a different psychiatrist.
What on earth gave you the idea I hate white people? I don’t hate white people. I just don’t put any stock in the idea of “race” never mind racial superiority/inferiority. People from different parts of the world look different mainly because of adaptation to local climate. To me the only relevance “race” has is that you can tell what part of the world somebody’s ancestors came from.
The only thing your’s has is the utility of the fait accompli. – Vlad
I would agree about the fait accompli. I wouldn’t minimize the utility of it.
So if we’re going to do that, why not reatain the beauty and any special adaptations inherent in pure breed? – Vlad
IMO there’s no such thing as “pure breed”. Europe has been subject to invasion and resettlement since day one. In you and me Vlad there’s the genetic endowment of ice age hunters, neolithic farmers from Anatolia and the Middle East, Moors, Huns, Magyars, Turks, subsaharan Africans, Slavic and Germanic people and who knows what else. Plus a bit of Neanderthal according to recent genetic studies.
According to one recent study European y chromosomes descend from Middle Eastern farmers that migrated there after the ice age. So the man with the plough out bred the hunter with the spear. According to another study (I think they were looking at mitochondrial DNA) modern Europeans are predominately descended from ice age hunters with a minority component of middle eastern farmers.
But in the end what does it matter? A little more of this or a little more of that. If you have two Germans whose ancestors have been living in Germany since time immemorial and one is four inches shorter than the other but has blonde hair and blue eyes whereas the taller one has dark hair and brown eyes what can you conclude? IMO nothing.
The further south you go in Europe the more likely people are to be darker in complexion. I’m stocky and have dark hair. My grandmother’s side of the family has people with red hair. Some of my family are short like me, some of us are taller. Some of my cousins have blonde hair.
What does it all mean? Bugger all. The historical record says that my parents came from a part of Italy that was settled by Neanderthals, then by ice age sapiens, then by middle eastern farmers, then by Italic tribes/Celtic tribes/Latins/Romans, then ravaged by the Carthaginians who raped their way through, then conquered by who knows what Goth tribe in the Dark Ages who themselves were ravaged and raped by the Huns. The Romans took slaves from all parts of Europe and the Mediterranean basin and North Africa and they lived, worked and bred in Italy. The part of Europe you come from likely has a similar history.
So I don’t think there’s any pure breed. You have a white skin but look underneath and I’ll bet you’ll see peeking out at you along with your white European ancestors, some Asiatic Huns and Magyars, Moors, Arabs, Blacks and whatnot.
My hometown had a fair number of Hungarian immigrants. They had all manner of Asiatic and European appearance what with a Hunnic tribe and then the Magyars settling there. Those people are a product of a thousand years or more of Asiatic and European inter marriage.
I have a Czech relative by marriage. He researched his ancestry. Turns out his surname is of Arabic origin. I’ll bet there’s a fair chance that you have Ghengis Khan as one of your grandfathers.
Come to think of it why don’t you get one of those DNA companies that will study your DNA for a fee to have a look at yours. Let us know what’s all in there.
The last place that was capable of developing Kodachrome closed last week, somewhere in the Midwest. If you have any film left, you can now throw it away. Lake Erie thanks you.
Q, I like having honest debates and disagreements and exchange of views and ideas.
But with Asoka it wasn’t like that so I stopped reading his posts. I don’t know what he’s saying nowadays so he doesn’t in the slightest annoy me or provoke me.
{Recipie for a typical CFN post: Take 2 parts Hunter Thompson and 1 part Cormac McCarthy, add to six fingers of postmodern pretentiousness and season with a dash of self-consciousness.}
methinks you represent an outsider’s perpective well, penum. cfn perhaps more than most virtual communities evokes the remembered-title (of what?) “the empty fortress” — that is, a fiercely defended sanctuary of insecurity, uncertainty and fear.
are you as yet unhazed? me, i’d rather not join any club that would have me.
the intellectual meat of this feast is the story of our time, i think. if the meal is too-heavily salted it’s hardly your concern. if you and your criticisms are ignored here, what does it matter if they’re true? i mean, what does it matter, if they’re true? don’t hang with the big boys if you need mom’s gentle affirmation.
healthy people do not fear the challenge of outsiders. people here are notably unhealthy.
as for abundant synonyms, pretentiousness, expression of self-consciousness: what of it? your shit smells like roses? you see good-writing, you represent yourself as an equally good writer (and obviously you’ve vocabulary) — once again, what of it? are you here to show off your photographic prowess, taking a perfectly focused picture of a toilet? look at the composition, the color balance! me, i’d rather shoot fuzzed shots of beauty.
Well said. Really funny. I’ve met the type myself. You can’t possibly measure up so don’t even try.
But I wouldn’t have been remotely as creative as you. Too much effort. I would have just said that if prenumbral thinks we suck then go fucking read something else.
A firearm saved me and a friend from a serious situation just off the Dan Ryan in Chicago, had to stop for gas in “diverse” neighborhood and a Model 29 saved all parties from trouble. No headlines for the emotionally challenged to get upset about, me and my friend have gone on to productive lives, the “youths” who knows?
The gun control socialist cult has little gasp of reality, more make believe utopianism that basically has turned into a racket.
Just put up the sign, “A gun free house” already.
Q said: “Asoka does not like to think that China is perhaps the most rabid Capitalistic country in the world…”
No, Asoka likes to think the People’s Republic of China, which is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party, made a conscious decision to use cheap Chinese labor to entice Western capitalists to invest in the People’s Republic of China, by guaranteeing them huge profits from cheap labor, so as to create wealth for the People’s Republic of China, so as to weaken the West, so as to strengthen the People’s Republic of China, so as to become the world’s only superpower, replacing the United States.
So far, their strategy is working, as the United States sinks into third world status.
So, keep on insisting the People’s Republic of China is capitalist. That is what the Chinese Communist Party wants you to believe. They need suckers to keep investing in and building factories for them.
Curling up that Elvis corner lip and furrowing a cultured brow from high atop Mt. Snooty
============
A new tack in CFN Commentary:
First come comments and replies, then critiques of their literary quality, then writerly critiques of the critiques.
Q said: “A new tack in CFN Commentary”
======
One that I welcome heartily.
The quality of the comments has noticeably improved, both in intellectual content and literary style. Some of the new posters are very welcome additions, the absence of some is also welcome, and the regulars are making outstanding contributions.
I am enjoying reading all of your comments.
No, the only people who are nasty to me are you and Mika.
They need suckers to keep investing in and building factories for them.
=============
Like I said … rabid capitalists in communists’ clothing.
Using capitalism to create wealth is a tactic being used by the Chinese Communist Party. You can invest in something, make a big profit, yet not believe in the product you are investing in.
Capitalism is temporarily serving the People’s Republic of China’s interests, a necessary stage in its growth before communism can claim the final victory. Without wealth communism only redistributes poverty.
The growing strength of the People’s Republic of China (with the world’s second largest military budget), and the concomitant growth in monetary wealth allows the People’s Republic of China to develop innovative weapons to use against enemies: kinetic-energy weapons, high-powered lasers, high-powered microwave weapons, particle-beam weapons, and electromagnetic pulse weapons. The People’s Republic of China’s wealth (which comes at the USA’s expense and increased indebtedness) will not be disturbed by any other nation. All hail “rabid capitalism” in service of the Chinese Communist Party’s goals!
Don’t take Asoka’s word for it. Read the official constitution of the Chinese Communist Party. They spell it out very clearly.
http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/49109.htm
Do they sound like “rabid capitalists” to you? Th People’s Republic of China’s Constitution was adopted in 2002.
The realization of communism is the highest ideal and ultimate goal of the Party. And if it takes the tactical use of capitalism for a brief time, so be it. There are plenty of greedy businesses in the USA ready to help out the cause.
Nice to see you back, Mika.
Q said: “Like I said … rabid capitalists in communists’ clothing.”
=========
OK, Q, we have a fundamental disagreement.
I believe the People’s Republic of China leaders, who are members of the Chinese Communist Party, are rabid communists in capitalists’ clothing.
Just a thought: Canada had 179 firearm murders in 2009 out of a total of about 610 homicides. That’s roughly 30% of all homicides. That’s in a population of 34 million.
According to FBI stats the US had 9146 gun murders in 2009 out of a total of about 13636 homicides. That’s roughly 2/3 of all homicides.
The US has about nine times the population of Canada. If it had a proportionally similar number of gun murders the US would have had about 1600. That’s an annual saving of about 7500 lives.
So call gun control proponents what you want. The question is does gun control work?
Cash said: “So call gun control proponents what you want. The question is does gun control work?”
===========
Cash, the Canadian statistics, so starkly compared to the USA statistics, make it difficult to answer other than in the affirmative: gun control works. When I have crossed the border into Canada, the border agents assure themselves I am not bringing in any drugs or weapons. It is a pain, but given the statistics you have provided, it works.
There are six ways you can die: too hot, too cold, thirst, hunger, illness, injury.
Simple critical infrastructure can prevent death.
SOURCE: Dealing in Security: Understand Vital Services and How They Keep You Safe
http://scr.bi/QC0WF
By simplifying needs you become wealthier.
Wealth does not consist in having the most things.
Wealth consists in having simple needs and being able to meet them.
In America, I believe we have a higher percentage of criminals and a higher percentage of crazy people. We have intolerant drug laws and brutal prisons, which criminalize many people. Our fast-paced, high-pressure and in many cases, meaningless lifestyles contribute to the general craziness. And our competitive, status-driven economic environment necessitated at least two workers per household, thus in effect, breaking up and screwing up families. Then, as icing on the cake, throw in a social system derived from repressive Puritanism, and voila, a violent country.
Oh, yeah, also throw in us having a cultural history of 400 years, rather young compared to Europe and Asia, and a frontier settled in only the last century; frontiers are violent.
Don’t blame the messenger (the gun) or the message (the bullet), blame the system.
You too. Glad to hear you managed to get some time in Disneyland. It will be a bumpy ride from here on:
Steve Keen’s predictions for 2011
– http://goo.gl/7ZnD4
Thanks for the link, very sorry to hear he had died. I highly recommend Blowback and Sorrows of Empire for your reading pleasure.
You’re also being invaded by Mexico. I would bet a good percentage of the gun crime is committed by Mexicans and those affiliated with them.
I agree it’s the system ie a society encrusted by layers of customs and attitudes going back centuries. After all guns and bullets are inanimate things. To change things like this takes a societal change. I think societal changes come in spasms. Just look at the difference in society between 1945 and 1970. Hardly looked like the same country.
Mika, regardless of who is committing crimes, the murder rate declined by 8.1% between 2008 and 2009, according to the FBI (as did violent crime overall).
SOURCE: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=31
It is not helpful to single out groups by race or ethnicity. Someone could start saying, over and over and over again, that Jews are the ones responsible for societal breakdown… until the lie is repeated enough that people start to believe it and bad things happen.
Leave the lovely Mexicans alone. I welcome all Mexicans, with or without documents. They are hardworking, family oriented, and net economic providers to the USA economy.
I like the way you Think. And I am glad you do it ‘out loud’ here.
I hope you stick around.
Re: The Lizard People. I was rummaging around the Net trying to find a movie I had seen that I thought was about the Lizard People. The movie I had in mind was “They Live,” 1988 a John Carpenter film. Life in America is going to shit (sound familiar?) and a guy finds a pair of glasses that allow him to see past the disguises of the aliens. But, never mind, because these aliens aren’t “lizard-ey” enough. But, it makes interesting points about consumer culture and yuppie scum (remember them?)
I did stumble on something else interesting in my search for the Lizard People. Our very own home-grown Washington State cult, Ramtha has a riff about if you don’t stay true to Ramtha, the alien Lizard People will come and eat you up.
I worked in the library branch in their stronghold, Yelm, Washington for 3 long years. Sweeping generalization: most of them are self-entitled Euro-trash. But something to keep in mind. They have been prepping for the apocalypse for years and when TSHTF will probably be a force to be reckoned with at least locally.
For a fictionalized view of the cult, read Jim Lynch’s “Highest Tide.” It’s pretty spot on.
Mika, did you ever ride on bumper cars in an amusement park? After a while you get pretty used to the crashes. Life is filled with adversity; our job is to cope with it.
I wouldn’t say we’re being invaded…California was once part of Mexico. The San Jose Police Department calls it an weird quirk (and I hope they are right), but so far this year, we’ve had SIX gunshot murders. Last year, we had zero murders in San Jose and I think 21 murders for the entire year in 2010.
So far as I know, all six of these murders are latinos killing latinos. Yes, we have a gang problem.
SJmom
I dunno, Cash. Leading my life every day down through the years, each day was pretty much the same to me. It’s only during retrospection that the differences seem very large.
I know the ’50’s were not an idyllic era, but they were so much simpler than the present; I often wish I could go back when my life becomes too intense.
Well cash if we had the pre-civil rights gun laws and they were enforced, yes gun control would “work.” Norm those stats for race and the data skews in favor of the enviromental materialists.
I’m not for stifling the gun controllers, it is just that they are so weak minded and adled with PC that they are an embarassing joke.
Those who want to turn the 2nd amendment into yet another cult protected by a ring of PC taboo are its real enemies not the racketeers like Josh Sugarman or Sarah Brady.
Hmmm,.. I’d rather just stir clear of adversity. When caught in an ocean current, best to just stay on dry land. 😀
Thank you. I intend to.
Guns don’t kill people. Husbands that come home early do!
Adversity is a force of nature that you can’t avoid; it’s an inevitability that comes every so often; the best one can do is to accept it and deal with it.
{The movie I had in mind was “They Live,” 1988 a John Carpenter film.}
very cool flick, esp with chips, dips & intoxicants. i saw it at “deke” the uconn engineering frat. the soundtrack especially is worth the price of admission.
a movie i associate with “they live” is “the handmaid’s tale.” (was double-feature perhaps.) this one is more socially redeeming plus has way better sex.
And husbands that don’t work.
In our country it is how many murders do guns prevent?
Truth be told guns save lives even of pretentious twit urban white libs. I mean do we ever see a yard sign saying, “This is a gun free house?”
FTR Cash is yet another inhuman ideologue his ideology over the fact that I know a gun saved two lives.
Guns allow economic development, in a rarity I know of a real family, husband and wife who bought early into a big city neighborhood, a shotgun behind everydoor and two large dogs, neighborhood saved.
Up here in little old Centralia, Lewis County, Washington we had 7 murders last year. Just about a record for us. Mostly low rent dirty white boys involved in drugs.
The scary part is the County is damn near broke so they are being very selective in which cases to pursue the death penalty as death penalty trials are soooo expensive. It’s not a matter of justice or guilt, it’s a matter of resources. Money.
There was a case last fall where some 22 year old guy was cooling his heels in the County slammer because he had been fooling around with a 15 year old girl. Two weeks later during one of the murder investigations, it came to light that a 22 year old woman had had a child by a 15 year old boy. She was not charged. When I commented on this in our local newspapers forum, a few days later there was an article in the paper that the County had decided not to charge her as they didn’t have the resources (money.) That they had to be selective.
We do have some gang problems here, but the State, so far has been pretty pro-active (laws, task-forces) in stepping on gang activity. Not only are we on the I-5 corridor, but Hwy 12 runs from here over White Pass to Yakima, a hotbed of Hispanic gang activity. Lots of low-riders over that pass.
And now we’re moving from Meth to Black Tar Heroin.
“Handmaid’s Tale” I saw stone cold sober and it scared the hell out of me. Every time I hear the word “theocracy” I remember the movie and start to twitch.
{Adversity is a force of nature that you can’t avoid}
wisdom of the ages, phrased many ways. corollary imho is the injunction to accept failures inherent one’s being.
at the risk of killing yall with triteness, here’s a paraphrase of something i read once in (someone else’s) anorexia self-help book…
if we have failed in life, it is only that we have failed to accurately assess our own value.
most all, i celebrate the moments of my life with international food’s flavored coffees. because exxon-mobil listens, and cares. hormel textured meat byproducts: because time goes by.
guns don’t kill husbands that don’t work: wives with rolling pins do.
I don’t buy that. All the crap that’s heading our way is all man made. And it always was man made.
I read “Handmaid’s Tale” twice! Margaret Atwood is a Canadian national treasure. I just finished reading “One Second After” by William R. Forstchen.
I’m always looking for good books…any suggestions?
Jen
Yes, but whether or not adversity is man-made it’s still adversity and we have to deal with it.
The concept of dealing with adversity is independent of what causes it.
Jen,
If you liked Handmaid’s Tale, you have probably read some of the “classic” literature like Nathanial Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter (a romance), or Virginia Woolf’s, Room of Ones Own or Emily Bronte’s, Wuthering Heights, or Andre Breton’s, Mad Love (try to get the one translated by Mary Ann Caws).
You might also like Kate DiCamillo’s, The Tale of Desperaux or the plays of Christopher Marlowe.
Other titles you might check into are Brian Jacques, Mariel of Redwall; Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, or Katie Flynn’s, Poor Little Rich Girl, or Art Spiegelman’s, Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began, or Dith Pran’s, Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors.
Going back to the “classics” I imagine you have probably already read the novels of Jane Austen, like, SENSE AND SENSIBILTY, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and EMMA, and Daphne Du Maurier’s, Rule Britania, or Alexandre Dumas’, The Three Musketeers.
D. H. Lawrence’s LADY CHATERLY’S LOVER also might interest you, or Truman Capote’s, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, or Sylvia Plath’s, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams.
Other classics that come to mind is Stendahl’s THE RED AND THE BLACK, or Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well.
Then there is Da Chen’s, Colors of the Mountain (a thrilling account of an ordeal that fosters spiritual growth), or Catherine Texier’s, Victorine, or Timothy Findley’s, Not Wanted on the Voyage (if you like cats, you’ll love this sad and beautiful story of Mrs. Noyes’ talking cat), Ellen Gilchrist’s, Rhoda: A Life in Stories (Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction)
There are so many titles to recommend: Janet Davey’s, First Aid; Nigel Williams’, The Wimbledon Poisoner; Gerard Woodward’s, I’ll Go to Bed at Noon; Esther Freud’s, Peerless Flats; Mark Dunn’s, Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters (learn how to save friends, family, and fellow citizens from encroaching totalitarianism!); Jeanette Winterson’s, Art and Lies; Dora Levy’s Mossanen’s, Courtesan; Robertson Davies’ Murther and Walking Spirits, Friedrich Durrenmatt’s, The Assignment, or, On the Observing of the Observer of the Observers; Kate Moses’ Wintering; Shirley Jackson’s, Life among the savages (1953) and Raising demons (1957) — ah, life in the 50’s — Toni Morrison’s, Love (she is Black but that is not why I recommend her); Sheri S. Tepper’s, Sideshow; Colleen McCullough’s, Ceasar.
We could do this all day, but assuming you haven’t read all those, these should give you a start. See if you can see how they relate to the Handmaid’s Tale.
That was its intention, Luke. Just like Easy Rider and Deliverance were masterpieces of hatred against the South. What is your point? Don’t tell me you really let things like this be the dominant factor in the formation of your views? Only uneducated people fall for that… Why not then accept Birth of a Nation as pure History? Sheesh.
Abby you haven’t grown in fifty years. Black Good – White Bad. Still stuck in the 60’s. Sorry Abs, but we don’t look up to people like you anymore if we ever did. You folks have failed in your attempt to transform America into some version of the Soviet Union.
True. It’s the approach of “dealing with it” that we might differ on. But why stir into trouble, if you can avoid it?
CORRECTION:
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter
I’m typing fast sometimes and still my fingers and my mind are not communicating, or maybe it was an innocent error. Now corrected.
Couldn’t help but pass this along. Really striking pictures of Detroit in its long decline. The Archdruid’s article that I posted yesterday seems particular salient in light of these beautiful photos:
http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html
Enjoy!
Tripp
So speaking out against the queering of our Country is sick? Is it sicker than sticking a scissors through the skull of new born baby and sucking out the brains? Oh I know, the “doctors” are clever: they call the baby a fetus and kill it in the womb or even in the birth canal. Cleverness and Evil are often allied.
Some gays are good – after all, it’s not their fault. They are against the Gay Agenda and Abortion.
CORRECTION:
Other classics that come to mind are Stendahl’s THE RED AND THE BLACK, or Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well.
I need to edit my posts better.
Vlad, you are fighting lost battles with your racism and homophobia. Miscegenation won the day. Used to be illegal for Blacks to marry Whites.
As for the Gay Agenda, the gays have won with their takeover of the military and their takeover of the institution of marriage (civil unions today, marriage tomorrow).
You can continue to be fearful and strike out, or you can accept the facts: some people will fall in love, regardless of their color or their sex, and for love of country some people will fight wars, regardless of their color or their sex.
One thing is for sure: you are fighting against love, and you will lose. Love will out.
California was once part of Mexico? So what? So was everyplace – they took it from the Indians just like we took our part of America from the Indians. There couldn’t have been an America without conquest of the Indians. That’s prettty basic, but like all basics it has been forgotten.
‘MEXICO’ is a term for a place [not a nation] that the Spaniards invaded.
If you can avoid trouble, that’s great. But trouble often finds you.
‘Immigration’…24/7 Citizens are lied to / disinformed by the media on this, uh, matter so
HOW TO GET THE WORD OUT?
‘Mono-Racial societies are more peaceful’
Then explain 3000[?] years of War in Europe and Africa!
I agree with Asoka, Asoka. The Fools believe that Capitalism will automatically bring human rights to China. It aint happening. And we’re losing our’s here. But you should consider that if Communism is sufficient, why would they have to import Capitalism at all?
Did you see the cartoon the Chinese made of their President flying the stealth jet in and then throwing the keys to Obama – treating him as the valet? Great stuff. Obama is totally outclassed trying to negotiate with these arrant Oriental knaves. He should stick to tricking stupid Whites.
Vlad said: “…if Communism is sufficient, why would they have to import Capitalism at all”
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I answered this question in my post. If you study Marxism, you will see that there is an economic evolution from capitalism (wealth creation), socialism (state control of means of production) to communism (local control, withering away of the state).
So far, capitalism has shown it can develop and socialism has shown it can dictate priorities (health insurance, education, etc. in Scandinavian countries), but communism has yet to fully bloom.
If you read the Chinese Constitution (2002) I provided a link to, it explains that this process may take a hundred years or more.
Wealth creation is a prerequisite. If you start with communism, what is going to be distributed other than poverty?
The Chinese are smarter than us and have an infinite amount of patience compared to us. They are slowly destroying the United States, without firing a bullet, by using their soft power and persuasion, and manipulation of our greed.
We are going along with the destruction of our nation, dismantling our factories here and moving them to China… their gain is our loss… over and over and over again, because capitalists want more profits through cheap Chinese labor.
The Chinese Communist Party wants to be the world’s only power, and they will manage it through a temporary use of capitalism, with help from greedy USA corporations. It is all laid out in their official documents. It is no secret.
CORRECTION:
Other classics that come to mind are Stendahl’s THE RED AND THE BLACK, or Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well.
I need to edit my posts better.
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Oh please Asoka. Why the self deprecation?
And why the pedantry? That’s Q’s shtick ;o)
And BTW, while you were at it – i.e. changing is to are – you should also have changed or to and.
True. Find strength in numbers.
LOL. Pollyanna answers for me and Vlad attacks me. Interesting how two guys from opposite ends of the spectrum can equally be such jerks.
But I degess..
“Road Angels: Searching for Home on America’s Coast of Dreams” by Kent Nerburn. From the cover: “Ride shotgun with Kent Nerburn on a remarkable journey that uncovers the myths anddreams of America’s West Coast. Fearing that his passion for life was dimming and worried that his family needed to escape the harsher realities of Minnesota life, Nerburn set out from the start landscape of a northern winter to drive down the coastal roads of Washington, Oregon, and California. “Road Angels” brings us face-to-face with unexpected places and extraordinary people – and in the end we learn what it means to find home.”
What he did was revisit the places where he spent much of his early 20’s.
If you like books similar to JHK’s “World Made by Hand” series, you might like S. M. Stirling’s series. The first is “Dies the Fire.”
It mostly takes place in SW Oregon. For some unknown reason, something called “The Change” takes place. “…all electronics devices – computers, telephones, engines, radios, televisions – and even firearms to cease to function, and plunged the world into a darkness humanity was unprepared to face.” All technology more complicated than striking a match stop working. Several strong female characters.
I need to know what you really liked to make suggestions. How about David Guterson’s (“Snow Falling on Cedars”) “Our Lady of the Forest.” A young run-away girl keeps body and soul together picking mushrooms in the forests near Forks, Washington (pre-vanpire plague 🙂 She thinks she sees a vision of the Virgin Mary in the woods. Throw in a priest suffering a crisis of faith and the attendant media frenzy and you have a pretty good read.
If you wanted to re-visit a bit of the classics, taking into consideration where you live, you might dip into a little Steinbeck. Someone Pollyanna didn’t mention in his launch into attempted one-upsmanship bibliographic case of verbal diarrhea.
For him I’d recommend “House of Rain; Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest” by Craig Childs.
Did you see the cartoon the Chinese made of their President flying the stealth jet in and then throwing the keys to Obama – treating him as the valet?
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There no such thing as a stealth jet. Stealth technology is a gimmick used by the military industrial shysters to sell their expensive shitware to morons like you and the morons of the Chinese Communist Party.
{If you liked Handmaid’s Tale, you have probably read some of the “classic” literature like Nathanial Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter (a romance), or Virginia Woolf’s, Room of Ones Own or Emily Bronte’s, Wuthering Heights, or Andre Breton’s, Mad Love (try to get the one translated by Mary Ann Caws).}
because we’ve bandwidth to beat the band, and because asoka’s bibliography reads so sweetly, allow me to lay deez book club suggestions on ya….
yes to ella minnow pea.
some heavy classics which might impress boys & girls should you carry them to starbucks. if you carry them to starbucks: faulkner’s Sound & The Fury; nabokov’s Lolita; camus’s The Plague; melville’s Moby Dick…
grouping is beyond me. howbout miller’s Death of A Salesman; williams Glass Menagerie; anything by ionesco, sam shepherd; mamet’s Glen Fiddich; shakespeare’s Hamlet; mailer’s Tough Guys Don’t Dance, updike’s Couples, hawthorne’s Bleak House; cheever’s Collected Stories; salinger’s Nine Stories; doctorow’s Ragtime; kennedy’s Iron Weed.
cormac mccarthy’s The Road, of course, but also the early Child of God. capote’s In Cold Blood; wallace’s Infinite Jest; all of raymond carver’s stories, especially the collection “Where I’m Calling From.”
dirty pleasures: judy blume’s Forever; anonymous’s Lisa Bright & Dark; maynard’s Looking Back; poe’s The Raven; The Joy of Cooking; exley’s A Fan’s Notes; wilson’s Alcoholics Anonymous; katzen’s The Moosewood Cookbook; Ansa Software’s “Paradox 2.0: A User’s Manual.”
i’m trying to picture my bookcase at home; it’s crammed with children’s books now. wilder’s Little House on the Prairie (but none of her others;) carroll’s Alice in Wonderland; tolkien’s Hobbit; spenser’s epic poetry, kant in translaton, styron’s Darkness Visible.
don’t you always feel you are forgetting the one you love most?
as for relevance to atwood’s “Handmaid,” i dunno… in a sense all literature explores an individual’s effort to come to terms with the world at large. for his struggle i love tennessee williams most of all, excepting those whom i love better. raymond carver’s short fiction especially floats my boat, his ear for desperation.
Alright, for the sake of argument let’s assume your idea of racial “equality”. Everone’s the same, all a blank slate etc. OK. But once a Culture is underway, it perpetrates itself via the ordinary, socio-biological process of the Family. And this involves a certain people in a certain place with a certain culture, values, beliefs etc. It’s not a universal thing, Cash. And in your attempt to unversalize it, you will destroy the thing (British Culture) which you profess to love. When aliens come in to a Commonwealth Country they bring their own beliefs and values – and their own Ethnic drive for dominance. But you might say they have been part of the Commonwealth or at least English Cultural Sphere for a long time. Doesn’t matter. That’s a political thing for the most part – being conquered and dominated politically doesn’t make you a convert to that culture of the conqueror. And speaking English does not make one qualified or even interested in passing on English Culture.
Surely you can see this? No of course not. You are like a fish arguing against the existence of water. The reality is too close for you to see it. This is the power of the big lie – except you do it to yourself. Something so basic becomes taken for granted and then DOUBTED! If you were human I could choke you and make you believe in air. But as a fish…
My favorite Hasidic story: The Yeshiva student tells his Father, Dad I’ve lost my faith. The mind can argue for or against anything. I could prove that I don’t have a nose. The Father punches him in the nose and asks solicitously, “What hurts”?
I’d like to punch you in the nose.
Too bad about the coming fall of Berlusconi. This flawed, ridiculous little man is one of the few true Men left in Europe. He can’t lead, but he can follow. What an amazing thing: to keep ones word; to keep trust with the People who elected him. To bad more of our “Leaders” could at least Follow. It’s not heroic but by God, it’s something!
Ruby is really something. For such a girl, what man who is a man would not fall? Perhaps we should go back to an Old Testament or Muslim point of view about all this – would sure save good men like Berlusconi and lower the murderous level of hypocrisy in general.
Q said: “Why the self deprecation? And why the pedantry?”
=====================
Why? Because Jen asked for book recommendations on a public forum and I decided to share some titles. For that I am called Pollyana and a jerk. LOL!
For the record I like both of you, Q and Luke, and I read all of your posts. I don’t scroll past anyone.
I said more peaceful not peaceful. Secondly, you are talking about inter-cultural conflcit I was talking intra-cultural conflict – withing a given culture or country in other words.
You get mad at me whenever I talk against Gays or Indians. As the Book of the Law says, “You are against the people oh my Chosen.” Also it says, “As Brothers fight ye”. But fight by all the rules of art, not foolishly, angrily, or clumsily. Your attack was weak and easily parried. I await better. I will take the force of your attack and use it against you while simultaneously letting it increase the ambient energy of my system. Thus battle per se is perfectly consistent with the Love of God. Only smallness, humiliations, cruelty, and atrocity are utterly forbidden. Muslims understand these things far more than modern Christians. We need the Old Testament – desperately.
Did I say anything about it being real – I just said cartoon – like you.
Hi LLB,
The “Road Angels…” book sounds promising–I’m going to reserve it at the library. If you like Atwood, read her latest, “The Year of the Flood.”
Thanks,
Jen
I see. So why get all riled up over a Chinese cartoon?
{I’d like to punch you in the nose.}
i’d like to buy the world a coke and teach it sympathy, i’d like to buy this girl a coat and club a baby seal.
I’d like to punch you in the nose.
always have to steal my kisses from you, always have to steal my kisses from you: I’d like to punch you in the nose.
vlad, assume for a moment no-one’s impervious to thought; also, for the sake of the friggin sake of christ in heaven, assume that others here have many of the same categorical intuitions as do you, especially with respect to race, intelligence and wealth.
i was not born yesterday; nor did i just fall off the applecart. affirmative action’s bonus babes surround me, i see them eating at self-segregated lunch tables in dining halls all over this former land of white privilege: remember, i went to a state university, i taught classes in which the blacks sat in the back and loudly carried on discussions one might hear on a city bus. at least the white students had the courtesy to pass out quietly.
thing is, this world is not about me, no more than it’s about you. whether or not you get into law school is as meaningful to society as a bug hitting a windshield. we are not that important.
how many big sins have happened on this continent? the extermination of the native americans has got to rank; so too does slavery. faulkner had a phrase, or perhaps it was o’connor: blood will cry out.
blood has been crying out for centuries now. you feel the White Man has been shunted aside? that’s a valid feeling, one worth drinking over; perhaps you could write a poem. still, i urge you to look anew at your own importance in this life we are somehow all living: how much do our individual disappointments matter?
imagine you are dying, what would matter to you then? let me tell you how it is for me: i care about how rapidly those drips of morphine are a’drippin. i am happily surprised to see my brother, who said he would not watch me die. i haven’t seen him in a long long time; he tells me he came yesterday.
i don’t suppose it’s snowy where you are. today i’ve never seen such snow, sheets of it blowing like the northern lights. the drifts make me reach for my camera, but it’s slipped my mind. all these curvy serrations with fine spray at each crest, shadow and form, an imaginary world.
when you walk you leave tracks, here’s a wicked bad analogy: they’re all you leave. look back at your tracks as the white wind fills them; look back again, they’re gone.
I’d like to punch you in the nose.
I think you would win that bet !
I’m always looking for good books…any suggestions?
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At least twice in the past I told the story of my desire to become a “well read” man and that I acquired a fine set of leather bound, gilt edged books from the Franklin Library at a rate of one per month until I had the whole set considered to be the 100 greatest books of all time. One of them I’m currently reading is a collection of essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Very profound but not what you’d call a “page turner.”
I would recommend any one of those 100 – the first to arrive by mail, for example, was Moby Dick – but folks, in general, I find are not that keen on the classics some of which they may already have read or, if not, might think of as old, stodgy, and irrelevant. Asoka’s list named several of the classics.
So, rather than list any more from that group let me tell you about a favorite of my wife. She’s in a book club (in fact they are meeting at our house as we speak). I asked her her favorite recent book club selection. The answer: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
Speaking of the book club … it was several years ago that they got together at our house for the first time and I had never previously met any of this group of women. My wife introduced me to the first arrivee, I smiled and shook her hand and she said, “I’m sorry I missed your name” and I said “Call me Ishmael.” A strange smile crossed her face and she sheepishly said “Really?” “No, of course not” I said, “It’s just a little book club humor.”
Here is the first paragraph of the Plot summary from Wikipedia:
The book exposes the changes in Indian society from independence in 1947 to the Emergency called by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Mistry is generally critical of P. M. Gandhi in the book. Interestingly, however, Gandhi is never referred to by name by any of the characters, and is instead called simply “the prime minister”. The characters, from diverse backgrounds, are all brought together by economic forces changing India.
If you read it let me know what you think of it.
P.S. I think Oprah may have mentioned this book on her show.
I am wondering how you all came to hear about JHK ?
I purchased my first book of his HOME FROM NOWHERE IN THE 80’s. GEOGRAPHY OF NOWHERE AND HOME FROM NOWHERE.
He put my feelings about Our Society and Lifestyle into words. Our ugly suburbs where you need cars to get around in, etc.
If you care to say, I am just curious, of course you don’t have to answer.
There no such thing as a stealth jet.
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Oh yeah!? I got news … there’s one been parked on your front lawn for the past two weeks.
;o)
I know. But asoka has his agenda. And even though, like him, I wish the US empire and the anglo-amrican imperialists dead, I still value truth above all else.
It’s a shame I lack the active radar to detect it. I would have loved to take it for a spin. 🙂
Jackie said: “I am wondering how you all came to hear about JHK ?”
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I have never revealed this on CFN, but here it is. A friend of mine, a long distance truck driver who died two years ago, told me about JHK. We lived in different places but talked by phone. He and I have been friends since the 1970s and he drove a truck for more than 30 years.
I think he posted here (we never discussed pseudonyms), so he was just one of many posters who suddenly stop posting and we never hear from them again.
In his case he had a valid reason. Maybe he had a leaf blower in his hand and just keeled over dead. I did read his obituary and spoke to mutual friends about him after his death. He lived alone.
If our grammar and spelling and punctuation is suddenly allowed to continue with errors, I wonder if Mrs. Q. will give us the bad news. Over the years I have become close to all of you and like all of you as persons, even those who despise me and “scroll past”… LOL!
My heart is filled with love for the Clusterfuck Nation.
CORRECTION:
Over the years I have become close to all of you. I like all of you as persons, even those who despise me and spitefully “scroll past”… LOL!
My heart is filled with love for the Clusterfuck Nation… and for illegal immigrants… and for Muslims… and for Republican, Independent, and Democratic congresspersons… and for abortion doctors… and for members of ACORN and for all community organizers… and for gays who want to have RELIGIOUS MARRIAGE CEREMONIES… and for the soldiers in Afghanistan, including all the allied soldiers and the Taliban and Al Qaeda soldiers… may they one day lay down their weapons and break bread together in peace. I wish all of you peace and may Allah have mercy on you.
And thanks to Zen17 for perhaps the most sane message that gets posted to CFN every week. (See it this week at January 17, 2011 10:11 AM)
A’Salaam Wa’Alaikom my sweet friends. May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon you.
here’s a paraphrase of something i read once in (someone else’s) anorexia self-help book…
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I take this as a moderately clever way of saying the anorexia self-help book was actually your own.
So now we are to believe that in addition to surviving colon cancer 4.5 years beyond expectations, being certifiably mental and marrying Rebecca Lobo … now you’re saying you were or are anorexic??
What’s next? you broke Mike Tyson’s jaw in a barroom brawl? You addressed a gathering of physicists and mathematicians at Princeton University and presented your proof that E, in fact, does not = MC squared? Is this more of the double 800s dodge?
“I am wondering how you all came to hear about JHK?”
I have a friend of a friend in Maine who calls herself a “medical intuitive,” has taught courses at Brown University on the subject I believe, and who is also a permaculturalist. I discovered permaculture, felt the enlightenment therein, and was “introduced” to her via the ‘net. Ended up she was a bit more Aquarian New Age than I tended to be (OK a lot more), but she introduced me to JHK and Richard Heinberg early on in our brief relationship. Toss in Joe Bageant (we’re pulling for you, buddy) and John Michael Greer, and you’ve got the extent of my exposure to the world outside my garden, family, and community.
Skewed vista, you say? Most assuredly! But the 4 of them make a fine cadre of sane thinkers in my opinion, with just enough disparity to melt into a rational worldview. Add in permacultural rock stars like Geoff Lawton, Darren Doherty, Toby Hemenway, and of course, David Holmgren, and I’m one happy man, permanent contraction and all…
{now you’re saying you were or are anorexic??}
oh no, not me. but as a nutbin alum, i’ve come to know and love many women with eating disorders. this says something terrible about my psyche, i’m sure, but as yet i’ve not parsed it.
do you ever look at the lovers you’ve known and see them as a set? think of kenny rogers… to all the girls i’ve loved before. atlanis morrissett sings female counterpoint.
back to set theory: what do all these people have in common besides fucking you? gosh, i’ve such a motley crew… i suppose we should not go there now; save this for next episode.
although i never took tyson, i am sure there are other weird titles with wh i could shock you. for one thing, i’ve managed to know lots of celebrities. there’s a trick to it, of course, it can’t be too different from stalking. oddly, though, sometimes famous people seem to cross my path through none of my device.
throwing themselves at me is what they’re doing. i mean, sheesh.
yknow how i mentioned how dfw wrote back to a blind email? alan greenspan did too. we went back and forth two cycles.
celebrity name-banging gets even better if you’re allowed to count the famous people that someone you met said he or she knew. for example, the anorexic woman had previously been at a more famous bin (late great menninger’s in topeka) with nichole kidman. tom cruise built a house for her on hospital grounds.
if i eat someone with an eating disorder, does that mean i also eat nichole kidman and by extension blow tom too? you can see why they call it a disorder.
tom, tom, tom, how many times he and i did red paint the town. there i was in radiology, waiting for tomtomtography, when out of the blue, who should it be: david hasselhoff! his chest glistened like a ky tube been stepped on by ricardo montalban.
If our grammar and spelling and punctuation is suddenly allowed to continue with errors, I wonder if Mrs. Q. will give us the bad news.
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I have actually given this some thought. Here’s the plan:
Five years ago when I retired the first thing I did was build my own coffin. It’s really quite a piece of work. The wood is stained dark and polyurethaned with several coats. It’s got handles made of one inch wood dowels for carrying, imitation brass hinges and latches that lock down the lid, decorative wood trim, etc.
The design is my own. It is a so-called “toe-squeezer” (some call them heel squeezers) built inside a rectangular wood box. All materials are deliberately inexpensive – 2X4s, 3/8ths inch plywood etc – as a way of downplaying not only my own importance but everyone’s importance in the grand scheme of things and not blowing money unnecessarily that my wife can use and perhaps pass on to my kids.
I will be wearing a particular set of old blue-jeans, beat up sneakers and a thoroughly worn, stained and faded work shirt missing several buttons (though it and the jeans will be freshly laundered).
The coffin’s most distinctive feature is the inside of the lid made to look like a pool table. It’s got the green felt cloth, the spots near either end, a pool cue, tip chalk and two real pool balls (numbers 3 and 7) cleverly attached so everything remains in place even when the lid is closed and everything is upside down.
The box and I will be displayed at a wake in the dining room of my home and then I will be cremated. The box will be kept, stood on the feet end and converted into a book case. My ashes will go on the mantle, probably in an urn of some sort but I like to tell my wife I want it to be a Hellman’s Mayonnaise jar (that ticks her off when I say it … all in good fun of course).
I recently mentioned my hearing impairment problem in a blog post which of course is also known to family and friends. To add levity to the occasion of my passing I installed a 1″x3.5″ brass plaque near where my head will be lying and on it is etched “At least the infernal ringing in my ears has stopped.”
So, where was I? I’m getting off track. So as not to leave you guys in the lurch with no one correcting your posting errors and wondering what ever happened to that pain-in-the-ass Q, I will leave full instructions for my wife attached to the faux pool table where she couldn’t possibly miss it, how to log into CFN and give you the grim news.
“One thing is for sure: you are fighting against love, and you will lose. Love will out.”
You need to be more precise. Go back to last week’s lesson. He is not fighting agape or phileo, he is fighting eros {lust}.
And making it legal does not make it lawful {1 John 3:4}.
oh no, not me. but as a nutbin alum…
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This whole damn post is a hoot O but I gotta confess, I been trying to work you around till I can get the truth about Rebecca Lobo ’cause I googled her bio and she’s married to a dude (Steve Rushin, I think was his name) and has several kids. Well, there’s a few possible explanations. You married her, she said “it’s not you it’s me” etc, you split and then she met Rushin. Orrrr, you’re an unrequited women’s basketball groupie and the Lobo thing is your favorite wet dream. Orrrr etc etc.
One thing your Lobo post taught me about writing is that one can create alternative possible realities simply by telling the facts in non-chronological order.
I look forward to your coming clean re Ms Lobo.
“If you care to say, I am just curious, of course you don’t have to answer.”
I got “World Made By Hand” at a gargae sale for a quarter. Best twenty five cents I ever spent.
I must be feeling a bit down tonight…a requiem for a chat-room breakup kind of thing:
Why did it have to be like that, the two of us never to meet? You were afraid (or at least that was your excuse) that if we met in person, you would want to throw your arms around me and give me a big hug and kiss, then sit closely, looking into my eyes and memorizing my face, holding my hands, wiping a few tears, listening to my voice and my words. You might lay your head on my shoulder and feel the warmth of our embrace… and start to fall in love with someone you could never have. I said, “When can we meet? “
No, it didn’t have to end that way. We could have met and began a nurtured revulsion of each other in a heart-sparing pre-emotional rescue. You of the corporate proper would immediately despise my every six month appointment to the barber shop and I would anticipate the smell of your bad coffee breath first thing in the morning. (You gave yourself away in suggesting a Starbucks meeting place before ultimately deciding you would rather not). I would come to question the time and date of your email correspondence image, and perhaps not a tiny bit relieved that the side-profile view would never have the opportunity to contradict the enormity of my foreshortened manhood portrait. We would never again look into the delusional fantasy of some romantic rear-view mirror. We could have drove away for emotional good, forever and ever smugly satiated in our rejection of each other.
But no…you’re probably home checking your email every five minutes, hoping and praying for a groveling please-o-please. And here I am, typing away…just for fun.
Read (skimmed) it. True confession time. She’s a little to Literary for me (Literature, with a capital “L”. ) My tastes in books and art tend to be pretty pedestrian. Films, too.
Another author I really like is Robert Michael Pyle. By trade, he is a lepidopterist. A butterfly guy. 🙂 Wrote some of the guides for the Audubon Society. He’s also wrote about Bigfoot. But I think his best stuff is writing about where he lives, the Willapa Hills and Grays River area. Wahkiakum County. (I love the sound of those names.) Down the Columbia River, out toward the ocean. On the Washington side.
He’s a very lyrical writer and has a nice feel for the land. If you’re curious about the off-the-beaten-path, Washington State, wet side of the mountains Pacific Northwest, he’s the guy to read.
JackieBlue;
I picked up a copy of Rolling Stone in my dentist office, the issue that excerpted TLE. After that I just had to buy a copy of that book.
Recommended reading;
Journey to the end of the Night, Louis Ferdinand Celine.
Visions of Cody, Jack Kerouac.
The Camp of the Saints, Jean Raispail.
Of course Great Gatsby is still the Great American Novel.
In case anybody cares, yesterday Great Britain decommissioned its last and only aircraft carrier, Ark Royal. Its jump aircraft Harrier jets were scrapped in October. Now Britain hardly has a Navy left. Its almost as if Great Britain has given up and turned inward, like a huge army whose only mission it is to care for its own wounded. Read “Londonistan” about Muslim domination of England’s largest cities. Imagine if this attitude had prevailed in 1940 when the Luftwaffe came a calling!
So it looks like America alone will be called upon to keep the sea lanes open and defend what’s left of the west and western civilization. But our own Navy is shrinking, too.
But don’t worry. Homosexuals can now openly serve, and women will soon be integrated into front line combat units.
I’m sure the Russian Spetznatz and 7,000,000 strong Chinese Red Army is shaking in their boots, especially when they look across the Pacific and examine the puny U.S. Army of 490,000 active duty soldiers. General Grant commanded more troops when he took Richmond in 1865.
The only thing I can think of is that the Joint Chiefs no longer care about the size and quality of the force but will rely on technology for success in future campaigns.
When Reagan and Thatcher embraced neoliberalism, I’m sure they never expected this outcome.
At the time both countries looked fat and could handle a cut in revenue for more growth, but in fact over time it is proving to be deleterious to the public sector and the military.
You can say technology will take the place of boots on the ground, but the way war is fought would have to be reconfigured to fit the reality of dwindling public funds as special ops and much smaller cadres of assassins, computer viruses etc.
The quest for privatization leads to the dissolution of the armed forces by its very nature. It’s not surprising to hear the GB is cutting it’s forces, it’s been going in that trajectory for a long time.
Very simply put, what’s happening here is that the bankers and corporations want the tax-payer money. Allowing this unfair trade imbalance can only lead in one direction.
What got a laugh from me was last week was that China rolled out a stealth bomber ten years before our military intelligence projected. They said 2020, and it’s Jan. 2011. (oops)
If you’re listening to what MSM is talking about, its all about cutting the military budgets, social security, medicare, federal pensions. Well lots a people voted for em. That’s going to be the balance between the Dems and Reps, folks and its all going to get slashed.
The top 2% have no intention of paying more taxes, so the easy marks, that is you and I are going to have our taxes increased–definitely local.
There has been discussion that we’re moving in the direction of NATO not the US as an International force in the future. Especially in central Asia.
In answer to how I came across JHK. I too read the Rolling Stone and since I was already reading Matt Savinar’s blog Life After the Oil Crash, I was pretty primed for what Long Emergency was addressing.
Well put, Ibendet. Your post certainly clarifies the situation. I gotta say, sometimes I’m astonished at the insight and intelligence some of you CFN ‘correspondents’ bring to this site.
Thanks MarlinFive54,
The thing that I can’t quite understand about “group think” is that once an idea is adopted and becomes de rigueur, they just can’t seem to make adjustments when the conditions change.
The ideology takes over and you can never turn back to say as Reagan did, increase taxes when they are needed [for instance].
A really great system of thought and leadership would be one that’s flexible enough to apply ideas for the conditions we face, but alas we are stuck in the no taxes, no regulation paradigm and we will suffer from the laws of diminishing returns, as that top 2% continues to invest overseas.
{So as not to leave you guys in the lurch with no one correcting your posting errors and wondering what ever happened to that pain-in-the-ass Q, I will leave full instructions for my wife attached to the faux pool table where she couldn’t possibly miss it, how to log into CFN and give you the grim news.}
q, sounds like you’ve your own intimations of imminent death. everyone should experience this, once in a lifetime.
my people are cremated but drawn to stone memorial. all i wanted was my name, dob, tod: nothing else. my marker would be high in vermont’s northeast kingdom; my parents bought a plot next to theirs. (predeceasing fucks with estate planning like you would not believe.)
as water seeks its level, my wife gets her way: there would be a massive stone basketball in providence’s toniest marble orchard, off the east side’s blackstone blvd if you know the town. we compromised: there would a line of text on both stones
he loved to run
———
excepting thoughts of my children, i was thrilled to die; i believe this is why i survive to this day.
the oddest thing happened after the first (botched) surgery to remove my bowel… one by one i heard from nearly every girlfriend of my life. as if word had gone out. to a woman they forgave me with fond recollection. you have to understand what a shit i am to know how odd this truly is.
we are halfway infinite and infinitesimal. people are capable of such kindness.
———-
as for rebecca, i’m sorry, i was being lame: i am simply a fan. that team, the first to take the championship, remains special in many people’s mind. rizzotti, lobo, i’m blanking on the other names; subsequent teams blot memory as a security over-write. sue bird came later, if you want to talk about wet dreams.
if you saw rebecca from a distance walking toward you, you’d think, christ, that guy is built. she had the classic inverted pyramid upper body, set upon the graceful hip carriage of all great runners. she did not have the fucked up leg geometry of so many women, those whose careers end early, fallen to torn anterior cruces and well-meaning surgeons’ knives.
i attended church at the time; it supposed tb a well of easy sex. the girls from the team sat among us; always they were surrounded by children, as if each were jesus, and to me it seemed they enjoyed this.
of course there are lots of men around here who carry torches for the girls; we trade stories of personal encounters. i think we’ve an implicit belief: these girls are freaks, blessed with talent for a game that ends in just a year or two, god’s own shot clock. being lesbian isn’t quite the cross it used to be, but that coupled with outrageous athletic talent seems a two-edged blade. as with flowers, their fragility is their beauty. a man just wants to reach out protectively, to throw his body in harm’s way, if only to shelter, to claim a better thing.
it’s self hatred, of course, to see all good things in children: after all, there’s nothing left. still, if we see goodness in any form, perhaps we hear resonance within, some forgotten harmonic.
have you come across the idea of ‘stochastic resonance’? sometimes a weak station’s static brings out something new in the music. i believe this is a tenet of signal processing, the very randomness of noise brings into relief peaks and troughs of waveform otherwise obscured. this is my entire philosophy of life: the noise all around us, this fucking noise, every so often it falls into synch with our heartbeats, like a blind monster pushing a small child on a swing, pushing into nothingness insensibly, because he’s a monster, because he’s blind, but then, sooner or later, he’s dead on the swing’s beat, the pendulum reaching to a branch high above comes softly to his hands and: swoosh. to the moon!
“as for rebecca, i’m sorry, i was being lame: i am simply a fan. that team, the first to take the championship, remains special in many people’s mind.”
This is not going to please Q…all that Goggle research 🙂
Jackie,
I believe it was an article posted on information clearinghouse, either written BY JHK, or he was mentioned in someone else’s.
BTW, just reading along… Fascinating stuff from everyone in call and response, and stream-of-sub-consciousness.
Oh Boy,
Just when we were speaking of the Military: check this out concerning Sy Hersh discussing Christian fundamentalists running the military.–A must read on Huffington Post!!
[What I’m really talking about is how eight or nine neoconservative, radicals if you will, overthrew the American government. Took it over,” Hersh said…..carried out secret missions to kill American targets, is one that supports “[changing] mosques into cathedrals.”]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/21/seymour-hersh-military-crusaders_n_812363.html
Vlad
It may be that there is nothing horribly evil about AR. I’ve been poking around the website and they are certainly understated compared to the “Thunderbolts,” and other assorted magazines that kept intruding into my slowly liberalizing Southern upbringing.
But, to explain my reaction to your “George in a Box” story – I read the story, than began to read some comments. I often find more Truth and usefulness in comments than in the original story.
And – approximately the 7th commenter down – on the GW statue story, one of the AR comments was, “Yeah, the South will be 100% Black soon – and the remaining Whites will rejoice in moving to the Northwest.” (paraphrased)
As you should know, *logic* like that triggers my Bullsh*t Detector into a loud alarm “AAANK, AAANK, AAANK, AAANK!”
Bottom line: Excessive legal/illegal immigration to the US is going to lead to lots of Pain, in an energy descent World. AR might help address this issue, but excessive General Racial Stridency makes AR marginally helpful, at best – or perhaps a net negative to the issue.
“I’m sure the Russian Spetznatz and 7,000,000 strong Chinese Red Army is shaking in their boots, especially when they look across the Pacific and examine the puny U.S. Army of 490,000 active duty soldiers. General Grant commanded more troops when he took Richmond in 1865.
The only thing I can think of is that the Joint Chiefs no longer care about the size and quality of the force but will rely on technology for success in future campaigns.” -Marlin
===================
Ouch; don’t look too good, do it?
Yep, for a looooooong supply chain, one needs piles and piles of precious resources (bought with piles and piles of whatever filthy lucre you’d care to name). How much more blood can be squeezed from how many more stones?
Talk about your “techno-triumphalism”! I know the basic premises of this Homeland are now “find some shitty little country and kick its’ ass” and “divide and conquer”, but why oh why would anyone want ANOTHER front in Pakistan, taking on the fiercest Pashtuns in the area, in the rough terrain of Waziristan?? I’m sure there’s a “plan”, but I doubt I could be convinced that it’s a “good” one. (IOW, a plan that might have some reasonable measure of success, other than lots and lots of bodies laying about the landscape. When you kill wives, chilluns, grammies and grampies, that tends to really piss people off and gives ’em one reason to live… revenge. I seem to remember seeing this scenario before.)
How much longer can this “biggest and baddest” foolishness continue? …And does it end with a whimper or a bang?
orionoir,
It must just be resonance as an explanation. Like, some posters can now not stop thinking about Hancock and his Lizards.
And now, when I let my mind relax, I hear the tune from the 1971 advertisement, “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke,….”
Except I keep singing ghoulishly, “I’d like to buy a girl a coat, and club a baby seal.”
It is rather hard to follow one of your lyrical posts and go back to using words as, you know, actual WORDS. Nevertheless, I shall keep trying.
Here’s posting at You, kids
-bogart
The Blank Slate Theory is bunk. Only the wild eyed crazies, the leftist dead enders believe in it anymore (and the teachers’ unions who profit by it).
Its why we get such race law evil, on one hand some cultists spew the lines of there being no such thing as race and then on the other hand enact racial laws so arcane and detailed that the South Africans would be impressed. Yes this is written down in the Federal Register inumerable racial classifications and empowering federal officials to make a visual confirmation of said race.
“Deliverance as South bashing…”
I’ve got to disagree with you, Vlad. James Dickey was Southern born and Southern bred. The movie follows the book to a fair degree of accuracy. The conflict in the book was suburban man vs mountain degenerate vs nature. Think about the very end of the movie – with the understanding expressed by the Sheriff (played by J. Dickey the author.)
And south bashing – naaah, we’ve got plenty of people around still that match all those stereotypes – except now with an overlay of cell phones and crystal meth. Other regions of the US have degerate people also – including your Northwest.
Southern caricatures are just Standard Parts of entertainment. It’s just background technique that writers use without thought – including our own host, JHK with his NASCAR jabs.
This is not going to please Q…all that Goggle research 🙂
==============
Not really Buck. I am always pleased to know the truth. I can handle the truth.
And BTW, it’s Google. You knew that but you were checking to see if I’m paying attention.
MIKA – It’s funny how I,PoC, can conjure up a long vanished poster out of thin air. I did it with Q and his leaf blower several weeks ago. And now I’ve done it with Mika, simply by misspelling his favorite expletive, “fsked.”
Go figure?
And asoka says,”Leave the lovely Mexicans alone. I welcome all Mexicans, with or without documents. They are hardworking, family oriented, and net economic providers to the USA economy…”
=======
Except we do not need more economic providers. We’re full to near bursting already. Police just seized ONE THOUSAND POUNDS of meth from a Mexican gang operating north of Atlanta. Several of their key operatives had been deported more than once, yet here there are again – acting as net economic providers – while breaking US law with violence and impunity.
Jumpin jackrabbits Vlad, I don’t know whose posts you’re reading but I don’t think they’re mine. Or maybe you’re projecting a lot of beefs onto me maybe for lack of a better whipping post.
Let’s push the rest button. We differ on the matter of race. Let’s just leave that aside.
First this Vlad. For your listening pleasure and to relieve the eye watering tedium of this post here’s our real national anthem. Enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxOhk4Lk9aE
Onwards. The people of this fine country let bygones be bygones and let citizens of a foreign country and former enemy come here and they made my parents their own. And I returned the favour.
The irony is that the descendants here of the people that founded Anglo Saxon civilization now revile it. They’ve done their best to mentally scrub their minds of any concious notion of it.
So what do you expect of newcomers when they come here? You have all the hippest of the hip, our own “educated”, cosmopolitan urbanites telling them to cleave to their native ways.
IMO, for newcomers, their national loyalty, their culture, what they value, who they see as their countrymen is not a matter of race or national origin. It’s a matter of adopting and accepting a new “team” (us), of being accepted by this team as one of their own. But it won’t happen if the local native born ie the original “team”, act like losers, show disrespect for themselves and their own heritage. And of course there’s the natural “drag” of intertia, of newcomers sticking with what they know.
Ask any right thinking Canuck “what is Canada” and their eyes do little discos of incomprehension. They all “know” that Canada has no culture. They’ll mutter about multiculturalism or state provided health care.
If you dare to point out the obvious you get sneers and eyeball rolling disdain. And I think a lot of liberals in the US share this sentiment about their own country.
And I say to them, morons, I’m not Anglo, my parents came from Italy. Do I have to point out the obvious , what should be of value, what makes this country worth living in?
Apparently I do. Leftist and rightist propaganda, that Canada has no culture, that it is an aggregation, a mosaic of cultures, that it is a post national nothing, that we’re nobodies, has had a really deep impact. People really believe it.
And they believe it to their core, in defiance of common sense, of logic and reason and in defiance of what their lyin’ eyes are tellin’ them. As Orwell said people can spend a lifetime not seeing what’s plainly under their noses. In their own minds they really are nobodies, they live and breathe their nobody-ness and don’t try to convince them otherwise. They exude snarling nothingness and give it life. Or non life.
Our, ahem, “intelligentsia” think it’s the height of sophistication to actively work against our collective interests, to beat down this country every day in every way. Being of the establishment themselves they can’t see the glaring conflict of being anti-establishment in their stances. They obviously aren’t big on logic. But people look to their “betters”, the opinion makers, the trendies as their example and they go along.
I think you embrace a culture and civilization on a visceral level. Or you don’t, you reject it on a visceral level.
I think I “got” Canada at a gut level. At school in the morning we would hoist the Red Ensign (our real flag) and the Union Jack and sing Oh Canada and God Save the Queen. We also had Remembrance Day parades and services at our war memorial to remember the local guys that risked their lives and died fighting fascist and Nazi and Communist totalitarianism. These were just the outward symbols, they help people “get it”. This was pre 1960s nihilism, pre multiculturalism, pre contemptuous disdain for our country’s civilization and history. For a brief time we knew who and what we were.
You might get the impression that I think this country is not long for this world and you would be right. We’ll be history’s biggest laughingstock, having relinquished an uncontested claim on the world’s richest landmass. That’s our destiny. You heard it here first.
You heard it here first.
=========
Possibly your best post ever Cash.
Hope you liked it. I’m here to serve.
Thank You for the book list.
I read your post to my husband and he said that England submarines instead of Air Craft because they are less vulnerable than above ground vessels.
But I have no idea about this stuff, sometimes he doesn’t know wtf he’s saying. In general !
So this info might not be accurate.
That’s pretty scary about them giving up and in to the Muslims. We are so vulnerable. I feel.
You might get the impression that I think this country is not long for this world and you would be right. We’ll be history’s biggest laughingstock, having relinquished an uncontested claim on the world’s richest landmass. That’s our destiny. You heard it here first.
This might be true for the U.S. & Canada !
While we sit inside and watch and believe what we hear and see on t.v. as reality and truth.
{And BTW, it’s Google. You knew that but you were checking to see if I’m paying attention.}
but do you know why it’s “Google”? (eg, a misspelling of the word ‘googol’ denoting 10 raised to the 100th power.)
the texas instruments scientific calculator “ti994a” came into wide use when i was in high school. (interestingly, led digital watches also hit the scene then: although we did not know it at the time, our generation was electronic consumerism’s vanguard.)
the calc’s factorial key “!” afforded no end of amusement, since you could “see” the processor bog as the you fed it incrementally larger two-digit numbers. significantly, for us adolescents, the chip tipped over at 69! coincidentally, this evaluates somewhere near a googol.
I disagree but lets let go of it and NO!, I am never mad at you!
‘The Chinese are smarter than us and have an infinite amount of patience compared to us. They are slowly destroying the United States, without firing a bullet, by using their soft power and persuasion, and manipulation of our greed’
for once [and only once] asoka has something worth reading.
so why do you ‘welcome’ all chinese into the usa?
Damn, I cut and pasted or copied the first paragraph from CASH and it doesn’t look like it.
I thought they came out smaller and highlighted.
Probably I copied instead of cut. Still learning.
V e r y s l o w learner.
‘What on earth gave you the idea I hate white people’……Maybe for the same reason he thinks im angry w. him!
All this talk about white people, black people, asian people, women, etc. is just a comfortable conceit.
Experts: “Over the next 100 years, 20 to 30 percent of species on Earth will die off.”
The fishing industries have had it. Over 80% of the world’s oceans have been bottom-trawled- strip mined.
People: IQ still hovering around 100- barely adequate to wipe one’s ass.
Young people: THERE IS NO FUTURE
Old people: There is still time left to make your lives meaningful- if you know how.
Women: Fat, stupid, infantile, still over-reproducing, hopelessly addicted to a degenerate optimism.
Religion: Still insane, crazy, stupid.
Politics: Unquestionably out of control
What we need is the Gods to shake the earth and rain fire from the skies like they used to. There are way too many DOUCHEBAGS on riding lawnmowers, sucking down sixers of Miller.
News flash:
Latest climate change models:
Upper limit of temperature change 2010-2100:
29`C
That is a return to the Jurrasic.
Short list of Climate Change menu items:
No more food, no more sunsets, no more cool breezes, no more animals, no more fresh water.
THERE IS NO FUTURE
I thought they came out smaller and highlighted.
==========
Jackie, there are various “looks” you can achieve by using “HTML tags.” e.g. you can bold and italicize or even do both. But the look you were looking for is called “blockquote.”
I would simply type out those symbols and letters to show you but the system won’t accept them so I have to be diligent in explaining the sequence in words. It’s quite simple so bear with me.
What I did to blockquote the above paragraph was to type a less than symbol (which is to the right of the letter M, above the comma), then the word blockquote, then the greater than symbol (which is two keys to the right of the letter M, above the period). These key strokes were made without any spaces and the letter T of the word To (that is, the first word of the subject paragraph) comes right after, again, without a space.
Then, at the very end of the subject paragraph you enter the identical symbols and letters with just one difference. You insert a forward slash symbol between the less than symbol and the word blockquote. The forward slash is on the same key as the question mark.
I’m talking to you like you’re a first grader learning to read “See Spot run. Run, run, run” because you always present yourself as a poor little slow-witted waif which we all know is BS but I’m going along with it because that’s your shtick while pedantry is Q’s shtick;o)
DO NOT get frustrated because I have made this sound complicated. It isn’t. And after you have done it a couple times it’ll be second nature and easy as pie.
Jumpin’ Jehosephat! So why don’t you just put a loaded gun to your head and pull the trigger?
(For you trivia fans, where did the expression above come from?)
THERE IS NO FUTURE
=========
All this list of doom needed to cap it off was “Have a nice day”
(For you trivia fans, where did the expression above come from?)
============
If I’m not mistaken Jehosephat is a biblical figure known for having won the high jump in the first olympic games. Correct me if I’m wrong;o)
A nice song – it’s been changed a bit apparently. Look – you do my work for me. Still assuming no intrinsic differences just cultural – we have blown it. If you’re going to have a mental construct as a guiding principle – the “proposition nation” then you have to be extra smart and careful to make it work. That means not too many people brought it too fast. That rules us out down here. And it also means being especially careful not to bring in people from very alien cultures in great numbers – or only very, very slowly since the work of assimilation is going to be so difficult. You think your ancestors were tough nuts – they were nothing compared to the Bantus and Somalis. You guys have blown it too.
Why extra smart? Because the proposition nation is unnatural and non-historical. It does not rely and in fact CANNOT rely on traditional taboos and restraints. Or depend on traditional acculturation of church and community. I think the social engineers were assuming all these things would continue somehow even without the existence of churches or communies. A big assumption and an incorrect one. So now they are desperately trying to create fake communities – mostly by throwing the word around alot. It’s not going to work so there is in Truth nothing for the immigrants to assimilate TO. You acknowledge this much. But you seem to think that if Canada has maintained its national pride and military that would have been enough. I disagree. You NEED some of those organic structures to maintain a culture. And without a culture…the culture is the mind and the country is the body. Without the mind the body will die. Likewise without the country, the culture is endangered and will probably die. Thus Whites (shifting back to my own paradigm) are threatened with extinction as a People since we have lost our mind (culture) and are losing our bodies (countries).
You’re both wrong. These things occur naturally. The US had its turn. China will have its turn. After that someone else will have their turn. To everything there is a season: http://goo.gl/jk3Xr
I should wear a black veil over my face like Hawthorne’s Minister. It would be not only pennance for my sins but for your’s and the sins of Liberalism in general. I am after all, a former Liberal who is trying to make ammends. But the evil is so great….
Thanks Q.
Listen tho I AM SLOW when it comes to computers. It’s not really a shtick. I am serious.
And I don’t think I am stupid, but I know I do not have a way with words.
I am not as smart as you might think I am. But I try.
I have a couple friends who ‘get’ computers and they can’t believe how I don’t get even the simplest things. They also have to go s l o w with me.
I CAN get it the way you explained it, it’s not an act. I will now go back and read again, until I get it and then give an example. Or else just put so and so said in quotes ! if I can’t do the other.
THANKS AGAIN for taking the time.
and for Reals, don’t know what pedantry is but will look it up on wiki.
🙂 I think that’s a smile.
Seriously poor is true, not half witted but slow.
and when it comes to computers a mental block.
But I know who to hang with, Intelligent people.
I even have a friend who is a certified Genious.
Well he would be if he joined Mensa.
I have Intuition, but not facts. I learn facts here. Well I try.
So It’s not really BS. I WISH it was !
But thanks for thinking I am SMART !
You give me more credit than I might deserve, but then maybe I AM SMARTER THAN A 5th grader !
Or smarter than I think I am.
anyway. thanks again. I need some time, i got the first part down. but at the end of the sentence will take me time. I swear i am not kidding.
okay enough of this.
“I love crushing bastards.” -J. Assange
Something to live for.
Of course all places have their degenerates – that’s not the point. The point is why do the Liberals in Hollywood always focus on the South? And the Liberals in print as well? It’s because you folks still have a modicum of non mediated, unapproved intrinsic, regional Culture. And that they cannot stand. And of course, your glorious revolt.
Let me do for you what I did for Cash: adopt your paradigm of racial equality but without sacraficing my concerns for the White Race. So what would it take for Whites to gain equality in America? Obviously, we would need ethnic lobbies like the Blacks have: NAACP, Black Caucas, etc. Or the Hispanics: La Raza, MECHA, MALDEF, etc. So would they let us do that? I doubt it. And if they did, what would be the result? If Whites fought for every right that we guaranteed, fought against AA, minority set asides, minority preferences in the good schools etc – do you think this country would hold together? I don’t. The system as it now stands is predicated on White capitaulation and the subsequent persecution and theft. If we were to begin to fight for our rights and win – it would mean civil war and the end. So why bother – let’s (slipping back into my own paradigm after invalidating your’s) just go for our own Nation. That’s the choice before us: capitulation and humiliation or a fight for freedom. The middle choice of equality is not going to be allowed – we could try but we will be shot down with increasing hatred and violence.
I really meant to ask, “Who said the phrase?” You may be correct about its origin,though. Sorry.
Alrighty then. I DID IT !
Ah, just started listening to Naomi Klein on TED.
She’s da one who wrote “The Shock Doctrine” and “No Logo”
This is a lecture on risk taking…from BP to climate change etc. Hope you enjoy:
http://www.ted.com/talks/naomi_klein_addicted_to_risk.html
You may be correct about its origin,though. Sorry
=========
I am amazed when people don’t recognize when Q is trying to make funny. The winking smiley face ;o)is supposed to be a clue.
Anyway, google jumpin jehosaphat and you’ll find so many theories about its origin you’ll be busy all night reading them.
I should have known, but I don’t use emoticons and I usually don’t pay attention to them in posts. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know what your’s meant. Does this make me an emotional cripple? I hope not because I might cry; and then I might get angry and kick in walls, after which I might laugh hysterically.
BTW, I was referring to the Captain Marvel comic books, which I read as a kid. One of the characters always said jumpin jehosaphat.
{That’s the choice before us: capitulation and humiliation or a fight for freedom. The middle choice of equality is not going to be allowed – we could try but we will be shot down with increasing hatred and violence.}
what i want to know is this: are our white women safe? if the lesser races are on the warpath, we should at least have a plan for moving our women to safety. i want the truth.
if we herd them in two orderly lines (will you please be quiet, please) into the grand canyon and then throw a huge blue tarp over them, the savages may be fooled. alternatively, we could hand out plastic sugar maple suits, complete with rustic buckets to hang from their tummies.
other possible ideas
———–
* rocket them into space, taking special care to avoid the moon, which throws off their womanly cycles;
* rent out the anne frank museum in order to hide them all in the attic;
* give them all tickets to see ashton kutcher’s latest film, knowing that no-one will possibly venture into theaters showing such swill.
For sake of argument allow the hypothesis of a future forty years after current illegal aliens have been granted amnesty, at which time they’ve attained citizenship and all privileges attached, including the most important one of democratic representation through process of elections. The argument I wish to stir is whether or not they (the citizen body comprised of these once illegal aliens and manifold descendents) will feel betrayed if the representatives they’ve elected to office opt not to serve the citizens’ will but instead subordinate it to that of foreign nationals.
The relevance of indulging this hypothesis delves directly into the current debate regarding amnesty, bracketed by the corollary issues of national sovereignty and entitlement of citizens to direct national destiny (inherently exclusionary as long as sovereignty is not surrendered).
Exactly, I am mindful of this site’s focus upon issues of imbalance between resources and demand of rising population – just the context for this argument.
Given this context here’s my argument: Immigration policy and laws are not whimsical or arbitrary as seem implicit in arguments for amnesty (on the order of detached abstractions of moralistic exercises in campus ethics classes). Instead, they necessarily must be framed pragmatically in balance with the full spread of governmental obligations in responsible disbursement of tax revenues toward compliance with citizen demands and expectations of social order, cohesiveness and quality of life. That is to say, citizen control of national destiny — you know; democracy!
Amnesty though argues for defaulting immigration policy to however many foreign nationals choose to ignore our laws – that is, defy the citizens’ will as expressed in our legislated law.
Arrogating itself to such detached moralistic high ground the amnesty argument asserts that surrender of sovereignty is due penance by our nation for policies of generations past that don’t meet some contemporary notions of “political correctness”.
My proposed hypothesis though allows projecting forward; imagining how might re-act a future citizenry to having its interests, aspirations and concerns subordinated to another massive influx of illegal aliens.
Assuming that such future population would be even more “diverse” than today, would opponents to such surrender of sovereignty be branded as xenophobes, racists, Nazis, chauvinist, nationalist? Or would they simply be seen as rightly feeling invaded upon to loss of control of national destiny?
Hmmm, doesn’t mulcting such onus of guilt upon the US citizenry along with demand for penance defy the reality that illegal aliens have misallocated to themselves great advantage over their fellow countrymen who didn’t come here in violation of our immigration laws? That if deported that “advantage” stolen from the US citizenry goes with them and is unrecoverable by all the US citizens who were disadvantaged by the economic dynamics of labor market dilution and by weakened social services infrastructure? Not to mention added burden upon the environment due to intensified population growth and overwhelmed civic infrastructure plans.
An excerpt from Matt Taibbi’s book “Griftopia” unelegantly summarizes the world that we’ve created:
“Here’s the big difference between America and the third world: in America, our leaders put on a hell of a show for us voters, while in the third world, the bulk of the population gets squat. In the third world, most people know where they stand and don’t have any illusions about it. Maybe they get a parade every now and then, get to wave at shock troops carrying order colors in an eyes-right salute. Or maybe, if they’r lucky, the leader will spring for a piece of mainstream entertainment—he’ll host a heavyweight title fight at the local Palace of Beheading. Something that puts the country on the map, cheers the national mood, distracts folks from their status as barefoot scrapers at the bottom of the international capitalist barrel. But mostly your third-world schmuck gets the shaft. He gets to live in dusty, unpaved dumps, eat expired food, scratch and claw his way to an old enough age to reproduce, and then die unnecessarily of industrial accidents, malnutrition, or some long-forgotten disease of antiquity. Meanwhile, drawing upon the collective whole-life economic output of this worthy fellow and 47 million of his fellow citizens, the leader and about eighteen of his luckiest friends get to live in villas in Ibiza or the south of France, with enough money for a couple of impressive-looking ocean crusers and a dozen sports cars. We get more than that in America. We get beautifully choreographed eighteen-month entertainment put on once every four years, a beast called the presidential election that engrosses the population to the point of obsession. …Voters who throw their emotional weight into elections they know deep down inside won’t produce real change in their lives are also indulging in a kind of fantasy. That’s why voters still dream of politicians whose primary goal is to effectively govern and maintain a thriving first world society with international ambitions. What voters don’t realize, or don’t want to realize, is that that dream was abandoned long ago by this country’s leaders, who know the prosaic reality and are looking beyong the fantasy, into the future, at an American plummeted into third world status. These leaders are like the drug lords who ruled America’s ghettos in the crack age, men (and some women) interested in just two things: staying in power, and hoovering up enough of what’s left of the cash on their blocks to drive around in an Escalade or 633i for however long they have left. Our leaders know we’re turning into a giant ghetto and they are taking every last hubcap they can get their hands on before the rest of us wake up and realize what’s happened.” (Matt Taibbi, “Griftopia”, pp. 9-10)
People get the “leaders” they deserve. 300 million apathetic slobs. No backbone. No integrity. Willfully blind and thoroughly corrupt in every possible way. That’s the real reality of the situation.
Q said: “I would simply type out those symbols and letters to show you but the system won’t accept them so I have to be diligent in explaining the sequence in words. It’s quite simple so bear with me.”
Q, it was very of you to type out the instructions.
But they say a picture is worth a thousand words.
It would have been easier to point her to a picture of the blockquote tag. Like this one:
http://www.faqs.org/docs/htmltut/linepar/_BLOCKQUOTE.html
Then she can see how to form a blockquote tag, instead of having to read a long set of instructions.
CORRECTION:
Q, it was very kind of you to type out the instructions.
Thank you for the poison, Nightshade. It’s really wisdom from the mouths of babes – if you only knew. To you and your ilk, the very idea of protecting women is a barbaric anarchronism when actually it’s one of the basics of any society. How can one be so wrong? You have drunk the poison, Nightshade. Just in case you care – check out the crime statistics about Blacks – and be amazed. The Hispanics are no prize either. Certianly as they pour the quality of life and the safety of our women is in jeopardy. Part of being a man is to know these things.
You think me a savage? I too love snow. When a boy I sometimes wept when it changed to rain and the faery land began to corrupt. Ever watch “Silent Snow, Secret Snow” on Night Gallery. It was based on a short story I believe. One can go too far. Paradoxically, my almost supernatural sensitivity leads to my savagery. It allows me to percieve that there can be no real accord with the dark skinned ones – not enmasse. A few friendships here and there. I had a couple -I never told them about my conversion to White Nationalism. It would have hurt them very much. I regret this deeply – but I’m not like most people: I don’t let my heart deny what I have seen as True. I didn’t creat this world of inequality and savagery. I can only learn to live in it – and protect me and my Own. Why is onus always on us? My Black friends and your’s never stopped loving their people first. And that you can take to the bank.
That sounds like a book I’d be interested in reading.
Will check it out. Thanks.
P.S. the previous post was backwards so maybe I didn’t learn it yet. The first paragraph should have been blockquoted.
Frustrating !
Personally, Vlad, I try to mind my own damned business when it doesn’t personally affect me. Gay people don’t personally affect me, so what they do in the privacy of their bedrooms is none of my damned business. As for abortion, I would wish it was unnecessary if people were given proper sex education (a little bit more than “just say no” 🙂 and the best possible access to effective birth control.
Let’s put the focus back on the issue, though . . . HATE. As I’ve mentioned before, I was born, raised, and enculturated in the American South. There are many things about the southern culture that I love and cherish. Racism, misogynism and hate are not among those things. I was raised in the Southern Baptist tradition (although I no longer practice those beliefs) and I can honestly say that NEVER did I see anything like what’s espoused by the Westboro Baptist Church in any Sunday school I was ever sent to as a child. I have known many Christians who find the ideas of this fringe cult simply vile and repugnant, because that’s not what Christ taught . . . God HATES YOU, and FAGS, and EVERYONE! Really? You must have a different version of the King James than the one on my shelf, if that’s what you really believe. The Christ I know is the one of sharing, and caring, and love for his fellows. I highly doubt he would be hanging out outside the funeral of innocent people repulsing anyone within earshot.
This sort of thing is what gives Christians a bad name . . . the ones who forgot to actually READ and FOLLOW the teachings, are the ones who end up on CNN. Go figure.
Vlad, you are a nut. If Berlusca falls, it will not be because of Ruby. His corruptions run far and wide. ALL Italian politicians’ corruptions run far and wide.
Given the number of post-war governments united Italy has had, Silvio’s (recent) stint is the longest-lived. There’s almost a square-dancer’s imposed rhythm, among the elite ranks, to “change partners”, however.
Do the “toghe rosse” have it in for him? Probably.
Is he a criminal notwithstanding the partisanship of the magistratura? Absolutely. It’s not one or the other; both can be true.
How did I encounter JHK? I saw his TED presentation about lamentable urban development and architecture.
MarlinFive54, thanks for your question: “But what I’m trying to find out is, What’s the situation with the world oil supply?”
===================
To find out about the world’s oil supply you first have to decide whether the historical development of oil has been biogenic and non-biogenic petroleum formation.
If you go with the “abiotic” oil formation theory then the concept of “peak oil” is destroyed, i.e. with abiotic oil formation the notion that world oil production is destined to reach a maximum that will be followed by an irreversible decline doesn’t make any sense.
I suspect that peak oil is first and foremost a matter of production flows. Consequently, the mechanism of oil formation does not strongly affect depletion. If you could prove to me the extreme — and unlikely — hypothesis of abiotic petroleum formation, then I would gladly eliminate “peak oil” from my vocabulary.
Cavepainter,
If I’m reading you correctly you’re asking if today’s illegal immigrant soon-to-be citizen will resent being economically undercut by tomorrows illegal immigrant? I don’t think that’s a hard question to answer, given the inherent self-interest of most humans along with the right-wing economic mantra permeating society.
But you’re setting up a diversionary straw man in my view…there is something deeper poisoning the economic and societal well.
http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=RusLast.xml&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=2&division=div1
GO JETS !!!
MarlinFive said: “But what I’m trying to find out is, What’s the situation with the world oil supply?”
==============
As a CFN optimist (there aren’t many of us among the doomsters) I would like to try to ease your mind a bit about the whole “peak oil” thing.
So here goes: the end of the oil age will come long before the world physically runs out of oil.
I hope that is reassuring.
BP, Shell, the IEA, etc. all recognize that we have reached the end of “easy oil” but we do not have a proven physical shortage of oil reserves. (Yes, even Shell is aware of “peak oil” and thinks it will come in 2015).
But other studies conclude that oil production will be around 115 million barrels a day in 2030 with no evidence of a peak in supply before 2030.
The expectation is that oil’s share of global demand will fall from 34% now to 30% in 2030 according to the IEA’s World Energy Outlook (2009).
If we are anywhere over 100 million barrels a day in 2030, then we will be over current production levels, which means we have not hit peak oil yet.
Consider also that the world is very busy reducing its reliance on hydrocarbons and the share of zero-carbon fuels is rapidly increasing.
The question you raise is valid, but instead of focusing on “peak oil” we should be focusing on global energy security from a multitude of sources that are complementing and will replace oil as the primary fuel.
We also cannot isolate “peak oil” from other factors like population (world population, which has nothing to do with “illegal” immigration in national settings), per capita income, economic structure (communism will win out as the People’s Republic of China becomes the world’s biggest superpower), and fuel mix.
Thanks again for bring CFN back to the topic of peak oil.
“Diversionary”, or just one more admixture to the poisonous aim of undercutting “of the people, by the people, for the people”?
CORRECTION:
Thanks again for bringing CFN back to the topic of peak oil.
Here’s a question that was recently posed to the Dalai Lama to hail the birth of 2011:
“What thing about humanity surprises you the most?”
His answer was as follows:
“Man”
“Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he doesn’t enjoy the present. And as a result he doesn’t live in the present or the future. And he lives as if he’s never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived.”
Yeah me too.
I remember JHK writing about how important it is for teenagers to be able to get around by themselves, and explore the world. Which they can’t do in the suburbs.
Instead you have Suburbia, which drives Everyone crazy. Being dependent on Cars for getting anywhere / everywhere / NOWHERE. And then the choices are Mac D’s and other such non places. It always was too strange for me. Disconnected.
I’ve always felt that way, and avoided living such places. There is no sense of community.
But that’s the American way, well it was anyway.
Stuck in a rut. An unhealthy one. Now I don’t know what the American Way is. Who can afford houses ? Buying or renting. Oh I know some can, but most cannot. Unless they already own something.
Anyway, that’s the stuff I am interested in more than the politics, but I am trying to learn.
I enjoy reading other posters’ thoughts. There are some really good thinkers here.
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
HOW TRUE IT IS ! Smart guy the dali lama.
oh a friend of mine has a quote he made up :
First they take it away from you….then they SELL it back !
I think that’s pretty good.
SWEET SMILING CHILDREN by JOHNNY RIVERS
the lyrics are so good. this song never hit the top 40, but it’s on my top 10 list.
“You tell all the sweet smiling children, about
lipstick / perfume /fine /cars and /homes so that when they find that love it will be true / but it already is, you just don’t know it.”
Anyone who loves J. Rivers outa Youtube this song, the pics are strange, but the song is awesome.
We are brainwashed to buy all this crap, much more than we need, in order to feel and look good enough to be loved. what a load a’ crap.
We are ‘made’ to feel like nothing, until and unless we have all this STUFF. From the outside in instead of the inside out.
It’s insidious.
Sing it, Sister! 🙂 I moved to Orange Co., CA way back about 1971. For a job. I remember writing friends “back home” in the Pacific Northwest that there wasn’t anything there except freeways, strip and shopping malls and freeways.
There were a few nice things. San Onofre State Beach. The mostly deserted, most of the year Mission at Capistrano. Spent hours there just wandering around when I needed to decompress. There were still a few fruit and vegetable stands next to small truck farms tucked away here and there.
Then came the gas crisis. I saw things in those gas lines … I thought to myself, “I’ve got to get the f*** out of here before something REALLY bad happens. The last nine months or so I lived in Long Beach. That, I liked. It had a downtown and a transit system that was pretty good. It had a sense of “place.”
Still, it was a formative experience and I still think young people should get away from home for a few years and see how other people live.
For instance, there I was in my early 20s and I didn’t have a clue that people were prejudiced against Hispanic people. It’s a too long story about how my folks were raised and who they worked with, etc.. I knew people were prejudiced against African-Americans, but the whole Hispanic thing had just not crossed my radar.
When I moved to Southern California and discovered this, I was horrified. What was really sad was the number of Hispanic people I ran across who would tell you they were anything but Hispanic. Only if they got to know you really well, would they tell you their deep, dark secret.
Yeah alot of Churches have become weak and useless; basically capitulated to the secular, materialist, liberal, feminist, gay, worldly, mortal, sinful, evil paradigm. When one of the High Priests of the Liberal Cult, Ted Kennedy died – the Church in Boston gave him a send off like they would a Saint. So are these people Liberal Catholics or Catholic Liberals? The latter of course. Bishop Sean lisped when asked why they did this: “I didn’t want to create divisiveness”. Well Christ did. He said in one place, I came to divide Fathers from Sons, Mothers from Daughters, two against three, and three against two. Or how about: I came to cast fire upon the Earth and what would I but that it be kindled? Now that’s worth listening to. The Sean O’Malleys of the world didn’t spread Christianity – they are the destroyers of it.
Homosexuality is condemned – no ifs, ands, or buts. Mercy is something added on to Justice but Justice comes first and always. Mercy just sometimes – if the sinner is truly repentant. Liberalism reverses all this ultimately doing away with sin all together. The only sin becomes any kind of judgment at all. The only sin is to believe in sin. As Lovecraft says, the old ones will teach us new ways to laugh, to kill, and feel joy. And you will hunt us believers down to torture and kill us all the while raving about peace and love.
I’m not a member of the Westboro Church. And I have many doubts about them and their beliefs. I simply pointed out that supposedly Christian men and women are joining the military and fighting for a Sodomite State. It’s weird. The Westboro Church throws politeness to the winds in a desperate attempt to stop the coming train wreck. I wouldn’t like it either if they showed up a funeral of a love one. But maybe there are higher considerations than that. People in liberal societies are typically “over socialized” and pathologicaly polite – a triumph of form over substance. They typically act arrogant towards traditional people and craven towards minority barbarians. And always and eternally gullible towards their own leaders and pet causes. They attempt to restrict freedom of speech for others – and glibly try to justify it. They will hold onto ridiculous ideas long after they’ve been disproven: the greatness of the old Soviet Union or Global Warming are two good examples. In short, they are not very admirable people – they need to repent in other words.
I met Reverend Phelp’s daughter at a rally. She was a very impressive person – incredibly filled with energy and joy. A lawyer too I’ve heard. Might people like them be too fanatical if they came to power? Yeah, probably. But that’s another liberal illusion – there’s actually no danger of that. The Christians you’re threatened by are sell outs like Mike Huckabee. No real change from George Bush – probably more liberal. Who knows what people like this believe. Laura Bush admitted that she believed in gay marriage in an interview a couple of months ago. She did she change her views or was she just faking all along? And what about Bush himself? Who knows? No Christian is allowed to join Masonic bodies yet Bush was a Skull and Bones man. So how deep could his Christianity be if he could live with that? Unless he repudiated it as youthful folly of course.
{You think me a savage? I too love snow. When a boy I sometimes wept when it changed to rain and the faery land began to corrupt.}
dear vlad,
your post reminds me of the great 20th century literature of the south… faulkner, o’connor, walker percy, even tennessee williams. there’s this wistful tone of the diaspora, as if you are stranger in your own land, lost in a familiar place.
in this anonymous forum insults are a dime a dozen, as are gratuitous compliments: still, undeniably, something good is in you, the words of hatred don’t much obscure it. should i ever run into dark alley white-power skinheads, may i please mention your name? conversely, should a gang of secularist humanists come at you with broken bottles, feel free to play the nightshade card, they’ll buy you a drink instead.
but don’t drink it.
i feel like typing this story; who cares if i contrive to make it relevant; and relevant to what, what the hell do i want to say to you, this (perhaps) one final time? but first the story:
dang, now it’s slipped my mind. well then, a different story:
once i was in a bad way in a bad town; local cops were looking for me, although all would be explained to their satisfaction later on. time to get out of dodge, cepting: no money, no vehicle, inadequate clothes, and all these misguided constables prowling about like rush hour cabs.
i ducked into a barber’s, accepted a haircut which made me look like the less handsome one-adam-twelve one-adam-twelve. i put out my thumb; near-instantly, a cadillac stopped. i don’t know what year marked the brand’s highwater for size and ugliness, but this one was close.
a young black pimp dressed like a white man imitating a young black pimp was in the front with a girl holding a baby; the mom whimpered more than her child. a small television was wedged atop the shelf of the back glass; the man watched a soap opera in mirrored rear view.
they passed back a joint… the casual intimacy of shared smoke let me begin to feel the day’s terror. as rationality disintegrated a song came over me: homeward bound.
we dropped off the girl in a desolate neighborhood into which i would not otherwise have ventured save in an armored vehicle. the baby sat alone like a bag of groceries.
my friend explained he was taking me all the way because he wanted to show that a black man can do something good for a white man. i told my mother this. she said, your lawyer called.
a week or so later, my mom picked up a young black man on the margins of a marginal town. she told him, i just want to show that a white woman can do something good for a black man.
he said, lady, you shouldn’t do this.
———-
we live in a world of ancient hatred. still, we make our choices, every day we’re alive. there’s an ebb and flow. vlad, you’ve sensitized me to the injury i do people with my disdain, flip remarks, summary judgement, etc… even though so much of what you say offends me, the ways in wh you explain yourself make me smile and mb sometimes introspect my own matrices of feeling, memory and hope.
i was looking for good walk-away-line: that wasn’t it. the writing jag has run its course. the lithium’s hitting me in a manner dfw once described as
a warm mug of sleepytime tea, followed by a lead sap to the back of the head.
🙂
You think me a savage? I too love snow.
==
And? Is that the criteria for a savage?
You are worse than a savage. A savage can be excused as an ignoramus. You don’t have that excuse. What you are is a lying conniving bloodthirsty reptile. Everything you stand for translates to death of the human spirit. You champion theism fascism nazism racism imperialism genocide and all the other lies of the moneyed swine whose propaganda you parrot. You are a walking talking disease. You are death by any other name.
To whom it may concern,
Comely blond, last name Crowley, just said on the McLaughlin Group that Hu (Jintao) is “a Capitalist in Communist clothing.”
Vlad Krandz;
I don’t mean to be busting your You-Know-whats, Vlad, but you seem to be putting a lot of thought and effort into fighting a war that is already lost. Our side lost, Vlad, and what’s more, we beat ourselves, at Spotsylvania CH, at Makefing, on the Somme, at Stalingrad and a thousand other places.
And now is the time to pause, gather ourselves, take stock and salvage what we can.
It’s useless to be angry at the victors. And with TLE bearing down on all of us there probably won’t be any winners anyway, just losers.
I think the best we can hope for, Vlad, is a sizeable white minority within the U.S., with our black and hispanic allies, diciplined and educated, carrying on the hard work of preserving the enlightenment and Western Civilization
Why would a capitalist put on communist clothing? Don’t capitalists have their own clothes? Do communists have to do everything for them?
MarlinFive54 said: “I think the best we can hope for, Vlad, is a sizeable white minority within the U.S., with our black and hispanic allies, diciplined and educated, carrying on the hard work of preserving the enlightenment and Western Civilization”
============
Wise words. Perhaps Vlad does not recognize that there are those of us who wish to preserve the best of both east and west.
It is Vlad’s fear that distorts his thinking.
Even if the white minority is savage it should be protected from discrimination, racist attack, etc.
I have told Vlad many times that we are in charge now, but we hold no animosity. Because of the suffering the Black community has experienced, we don’t want to inflict that on anyone else.
In fact, I am grateful for the opportunities given to me by affirmative action and the civil rights movement and welfare.
We should extend the same benefits to the White minority… protect them, and help them pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
I’m going to have to disagree with Mika: Vlad may not be stupid, but he is ignorant, perhaps willfully so, on many counts. For example, the following beauty:
“Well Christ did. He said in one place, I came to divide Fathers from Sons, Mothers from Daughters, two against three, and three against two.”
Vlad doesn’t understand composition, so everything in his philosophical and spiritual thought process begins and ends with separation and division. Vlad only envisions the irreparably severed; a Christ separates only to intensify the unification. The antagonistic muscle action on the spiritual plane if you will.
And it’s not,“two against three, and three against two” with special emphasis on “Against”. For example: One line breaks off into three, while two of those lines may submerge back into the matrix of their inception, leaving only an echo hint of the implied. The remaining thread languidly attenuates into a graceful and elongated stillness ultimately reuniting with re-emergent threads into a twisting, turning, undulating pool of spherical regeneration; the conflict and separation that Vlad envisions is only the spiritual gathering point, like a snake coiling or an archer pulling the bow. From this frenetic and swirling bow of circular storage–the violence that Vlad craves as a mistaken segregation– whiplash lines are projected into singular union threads of directed movement that ultimately peel away from one another in a cyclical repeat. But the departures and reunions are never generic formula repeats; that would be an affront to the idiosyncrasy and spirit of nature. Every rendezvous of generated circularity and season of isolated solace is specifically unique and alive with the surprise of its instigation–but never utterly severed and disconnected.
I hear that Cromartie, the Jets defensive back, has fathered nine kids, with eight women, in six states. Now that’s productivity!
Greetings from a new sober Amrikah…
Well here I am holed up in an AC-sealed-environ of hotelic splendour in Back Bay, Boston. Very frozen here with -16c at nights, and ice floating in the Bay on finals into Logan. And boy do I miss that fresh-crisp-air feeling inside a room, rather than the bland mechanical fug atmo…
(Plays havoc with my skin) – so feeling a tad cardboard – and once more only the doddgy-figgety poor wander the streets and us ‘mad’ europeans…
Once more infantile cutlery and a one-man-band breakie centre is the norm though. The operative seemed to blink incredulously when I requested a steel knife to cut a ‘real’ orange in two, as I badly needed something wholesome to add to the yellow allegedly citrus dispenser fluid… ??
But at least the other ‘diners’ where not full arizonan-blubbery-bodied – which was nice, but then where in an ‘academic’ city je pense… ?
How did I venture upon the playing-field wisdom that is the honed mind of JHK?
Well CFN’ers, back in 2005/6 I was sorta perplexed that even in my fairly cosseted prof’ life I was working harder and harder, but the rewards and difficulty encountered were getting tougher, and tougher. Meanwhile the ever dwindling returns, higher operating costs and greater taxes – made it increasingly futile.
Unlike working in BANKING… *sniggers*
So I started seeking ‘answers’ by trawling the internet, and stumbled upon the Long Emergency and the ‘look inside’ feature on Amazon…
Twas a bitch-slap, clarity light-bulb pinging moment, the veils of darkness lifted and I quickly figured out peak-oil was no ‘theory’… simple geological fact that few in power dared to mention.
The ‘game’ was up, and no tech-band-aid will wing it for all 7bn of us intenet on locust like asset depletion, and smart folk already knew it.
Back in 2006 this was classed ‘radical’ thinking, with many it still is, I quickly lost friends that I dared to broach the subject with.
But I’ve been very fortunate to completely change my life and prepare well, so for that I’ll be eternally grateful to James, and he knows it. I entered into some personal emails with him early on, Heinberg too (whom I met personally in Bristol)… to congratulate them both on their unique foresight and historical perspective and clever and oft witty insight.
And in Mr Kunstler’s case the practice of written craft and vocal intelligence is something that we all need to champion – I dare say more so this side of the Atlantic – when i see the awful drivel expounded by Fox/CNN headlines MSNBC et al from botoxed product femmebot lovelies beamed out of the room plasma screen
Be seeing you…
So then, is it ok for me to go spend $250,000 on a Corvette, at the Barrett-Jackson auction, because I will be able to get gas for it for at least another 100 years? Actually. I just haven’t been able to figure out what would possess someone to buy a car like that, knowing that there will be no gas down the road.
I’d like to hear Rush Limbaugh’s retort to that.
And, oh ya, Go Jets!
Thank you. Now look at your brother and sister liberals and you will see unspeakable arrogance and condescension. PC is a human sacrafice religon in which its members sacrafice the White Race (but rarely themselves or each other) for social approval points. Competetive altruism is one aspect. The really hard core really do feel guilty and will put themselves in harms way of minorities. But this is rare. For the most part it’s an “in house” affair in which the participants trash outsider Whites and stroke each other off. When an outsider like me shows up – the chorus of hate is beyond belief.
I might still do a kindness to an individual Black whom life throws my way. Such is my nature. Certainly random violence is a violaton of the best in us and is a huge mistake. I’ve also recieved kindness from Black strangers. It does not make up for the eternal threat of violence that Blacks bring or the squalor and chaos. And the eternal need, the helplessness, the incapacity. And here’s the msytery: the good Blacks don’t see any of this. They are strangely comfortable with what is unacceptable to Whites. Only a very rare Black will criticize his own people in front of Whites – or at all apparently. They will rave about poverty and crime – as if the Blacks have nothing to do with these things! And Liberals fall for it everytime.
White Women picking up young Black Men is a gigantic mistake. They supress their natural fear so as not to be seen as a racist. Fatal mistake. Blacks play on this all the time.
Thanks Mike – if you liked me I’d have great cause for concern. As long as you hate me I know I’m on the right track. Now every village in Israel used to be Palestinian and you call me a Nazi? Get real clown. The hypocrisy of your lives is killing your nation. That’s why people in Israel as turning to God – there’s now hundreds if not thousands of Churches in Israel evangelizing the Jews. This is despite official disapproval and the threat of violence against them.
Alexandra,
What did you do in your professional life before you discovered JHK? What are you doing in Boston?
Jen
As long as you hate me I know I’m on the right track.
==
Right track to where? Another Orwellian age of lies, subjugation, darkness, and death? Buck Stud says you’re willfully ignorant. But I know that you know the truth of what’s what, because I know that you know who’s subsidizing your agenda, and I know that you know who and what those people are all about. You’re not misguided, you’re just evil. And a troll. And that’s really all there is to it.
Why would a capitalist put on communist clothing?
===========
In the case of China it is to maintain a (foolish) consistency with the stated ideology of decades.
In the US its the opposite. As our two parties (foolishly) turn more socialistic they put on capitalist clothing to remain consisent with the (fading) past.
So it was a Black Fist in Detroit. You were wrong. You’re good at that. It must be strange to know so many things that aren’t true.
There two ways you can do it for “unnatural” countries like the US and Canada. As you say you can have a “proposition nation” by which I think you mean a nation of shared values or culture. Or you can have a traditional tribal “blood and soil” type of nation state like what you saw in Europe.
If we want to have the “proposition nation” then the loosey goosey anything goes-ism that we’ve seen for forty years can’t work. It’s a recipe for societal suicide and national self destruction. Which is what I’ve been arguing since I was in short pants. And, as you say, we’ve blown it or at least we’re in the process of blwoing it.
If we want the second, a traditional “blood and soil” country then newcomers have to become part of the “tribe” with it’s ways and rituals. Which is what we used to have when I was growing up. As you say, churches and communities are a vital part of it.
I think you can have a combination: part tribal and part “proposition nation”. To have this, newcomers have to throw off their old national and ethnic identities and adopt the new one. And it requires that we native born adopt the newcomers as part of the “tribe”.
This is hazardous but it can be done. All of my generation of relatives in this country have married people not of Italian descent. We have people in our family of numerous national and racial origin. The offspring no longer say I’m German or I’m Italian or Polish or whatever because the first generation barely speaks the old languages and they have little connection to the old country. Plus their parents aren’t of the same ethnic origin.
fathered nine kids, with eight women, in six states.
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You know dem black guys … daze real dumb and fulla cum … sep Soaka … fool done had his nuts cut off … figgerly speakin.
There was a part of me that always thought Vlad was simply stirring the pot, having some diabolical fun on the World Wide Web. But then Vlad put it in writing: he attends “rallies”. The kind of a rally where one can meet the daughter of Reverend Phelp.
I also learned one other thing this morning. That “People in liberal societies are typically “over socialized” and pathologicaly polite – a triumph of form over substance.” And that anyone who calls out politically incorrect Vlad is engaging in “unspeakable arrogance and condescension.”
So Vlad wants it both ways. Like the schoolyard bully he whacks an opponent and then alerts the authorities at the moment of retaliation.
But nobody has to fill in the pieces of Vlad’s act; it’s all here, right in front us, as transparent as the thin skin Vlad Krantz so proudly wears.
This Blog is nuts!
Did anyone reading it make a New Years Resolution to stay away from it?
“I think you can have a combination: part tribal and part “proposition nation”. To have this, newcomers have to throw off their old national and ethnic identities and adopt the new one. And it requires that we native born adopt the newcomers as part of the “tribe”.
This is hazardous but it can be done. All of my generation of relatives in this country have married people not of Italian descent. We have people in our family of numerous national and racial origin. The offspring no longer say I’m German or I’m Italian or Polish or whatever because the first generation barely speaks the old languages and they have little connection to the old country. Plus their parents aren’t of the same ethnic origin.” -Cash
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Well… yeah, that’s how it HAS to be done (if you’d like your tribe to survive, that is). Why did tribes adopt or steal the new blood “furr’ners” to add to their population? Remember now, this was waaaaaaaaay before eugenics or even the study of “reproduction”; they simply instinctively knew that a further narrowing of their gene stock would KILL THEM OFF.
So, stop engaging that fool (or any fool) that cleaves to self-aggrandizement and self-delusion as a fucking WAY OF LIFE. Let ’em stew in their own swill; they fail to grasp even the most obvious of natural factors that provide them with life. Why support that shit? It just gets on ya…
It’s time for realism, not fantasies of racial purity; our grandkids are going to be lucky to have anybody to mate with that isn’t going to produce monstrosities as it is. Shut off the crap spigots, please.
What a great, ironic quote! I have a friend who met the Dalai Lama once. As you may know, I’m very science-based, but I once was introduced to a Tibetan Lama just to say hello to, and wow, the spirituality was radiating off him like a visible aura. I guess some things are difficult to explain rationally.
Regarding the quote, I don’t necessarily agree we sacrifice our health to make money, although it’s probably true for some people. Maybe he was trying to say we place a higher value on money than we do our health – until we get sick or old.
For me, it’s true I live my life as if I’m going to never die – at least until very recently. I had a little health scare, but as it turned out, I’m ok. But for a week I didn’t know, and for the first time in my life I had to face my own mortality.
It was so strange that I felt disoriented, besides scared. I found it incredibly weird that the universe would go on without me. I never realized how self-centered I was, nor did I know how much I thought the universe revolved around me.
This whole incident has taught me that I better get my philosophical house in order. I have to contemplate the strength of my ego. Maybe there’s something to this Zen stuff.
In the furtherance of reality-based thinking, we present for you approval [or otherwise] a most incisive comment in the classic Titanic-mode, by Charles Hugh Smith:
“In the U.S., we all want to be in the First Class lounge, enjoying a nightcap and the music. A lively debate ensues; principles must be upheld. But which ones? The final two hours are spent in heated debate, and those who argue so persuasively for their principles are shocked when the icy water reaches them: life can’t end like this, it’s supposed to end with a compromise that leaves my cherished political principles intact.”
There ya go. In regard to my [just previous] post, that about says it.
Latest here——–
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjan11/conserving-doomed-systems01-11.html
How do you know that I know? And btw, what is it that I know again? Lemme guess, the Vatican controls the World? That has to be the stupidest Conspiracy Theory going – they lost a long time ago and have been gradually losing worldly power for generations. You may be confusing cause and effect so to speak: yes they’ve been infiltrated by the Masons – the Illuminati were inluenced by the Jesuits and then may have infiltrated them, the P2 scandal, the New Mass engineered by Buginini who was revealed to be a Mason, etc. By this doesn’t indicate the strength of the Catholics by rather their weakness. On the contrary, it indicates the strength of their opponents the Masons and their allies the Zionists.
Wtf, you’ve never gone to a rally – as if going makes me the Devil. I met her at an Anti-Gay marriage rally – so what? Lots of people of many persuasions were and are against gay marriage including many minorites. You wouldn’t have to make me into the Devil if you would stop making a fool out of yourself. For the umpteenth time, I know that the Westoboros are a bit over the top. I’m just saying that they make an important point that no one else seems to think is crucial: we must stop the queering of America. Now they would probably want to persecute Gays if they gained power – I don’t. I just want them to quiet down and accept tolerance instead of trying to achieve cultural dominance.
@ San Jose Mom
*What did you do in your professional life before you discovered JHK?*
I started off as an art director SJM, then made Head of Art until (finally) gaining the lofty title of Creative Director for a whole bunch of various ad agency’s of which one was DDB/Omnicom group network owned…
MadMen anyone?
What am I doing in MA you also ask?
Checking out Harvard for a post-grad slot, working, playing and seeing that US consumers in the Hynes Convention Center Mall have much the same ‘habits’ as those perambulating the Scottsdale Fashion Center some many thousand miles southerly distant… lol
Both places you can safely avoid nature, in summer that equals +43c in Arizona, here now in Boston we’re talking -6 to -16c… shopping as usual.
In our hotel we’ve a lift door that’s ad clad suggestingg eco focused car-pooling, which as the hotel truck shuttle V8 equipped is left on permanent, key-in-ignition idle running 7am-10pm… no one I guess apart from me’s maybe, has any sense of twisted logic corporate irony?
Well pledge mission statements abide, dudes. And universal brand strategy’s are now the same for high-end goods no matter which nation state you wander…
From Beijing, to Rome, Budapest, Paris and London… and I guess if Tony Bliar has his way soon, eventually Tehran too…
Ciao Bella!
Vlad,
You’re an inspiration to heterosexuals everywhere; why would I seek to undermine/abridge your First Amendment rights ?
But I am curious; did you carry a megaphone? What did your sign say? Did you have an arm draped around “your squeeze“ ? Do you even have a woman? Did you burn some Richard Simmons workout tapes? Do please tell.
Or perhaps some folks from CFN witnessed you demonstrating ?
Vlad –
At the present time I’d have to say that white people still have most of the power in America. We certainly still have most of the money and most of the valuable assets.
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So, Vlad, when you ask:
“So what would it take for Whites to gain equality in America? Obviously, we would need ethnic lobbies like the Blacks have:”
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I am in no particular hurry to see a *National Association for the Advancement of White People(NAAWP),* for example – because when that organization becomes necessary it means that *White Power,* and property, etc – has dropped under some critical point, say 49%. Whereas, at the present time, White assets and power amount to perhaps 90% in the US.
Now – I do not argue that demographics have not changed far too radically in the US since 1980 – mostly because of excessive legal/illegal immigration. And uncontrolled immigration and demographics may WELL necessitate a NAAWP within the next 20 years – but I don’t believe the NAAWP is something to which even a White Separatist such as yourself should look forward.
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And then you say:
“(slipping back into my own paradigm after invalidating your’s) just go for our own Nation.”
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First of all, stating an invalidated paradigm does not PROVE an invalidated paradigm.
Beyond that, though – your White Nation in Idaho/Oregon is pure fantasy. It COULD only happen if enforced with the power of government. But it WOULD only happen if society had degraded to the point that government had no power of enforcement.
And the Separate Nation fantasy is a distraction for some talented minds that could work on more important issues. (and NO, gay marriage is not an important issue)
I agree. I know it’s not … comfortable… to criticize at a moment like this, when we’re told that we’re all on the same page because of the tragedy, but…
President Obama’s speech was hardly even finished when the analysis began regarding how historic and presidential this speech looked. How did it compare with Reagan after the Challenger disaster or, you know, Wilson after the Lusitania?
It was – just like after 9/11 – less about how it legitimately affected us and more about how well it approximated something that ought to affect us.
{t was – just like after 9/11 – less about how it legitimately affected us and more about how well it approximated something that ought to affect us.}
katy, i had to twice savor your apt comment. still, obama’s speech did touch a note close to my heart when it reminded us of life’s brevity, how this moment compels us to love the living better. to me this message is increasingly true.
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re your nick, are you old enough to know steely dan’s “katy lied” album? there’s a praying mantis on the lp cover.
Steelers 24
Jets 19
BoA immoral
Orionoir;
So you’re out there in Storrs.
What do you make of the news today out of the Nutmeg State?
Office vacancy rate in Hartford at 30%. And rising. What was once, not long age, prime real estate is on the verge of being abandoned.
Also, in New Haven, more people shot to death last nite. It seems like a weekly occurrence there. Home of Yale U., eclectic and cultured … now devolved into something resembling Mogidishu or Dodge City.
I know New Haven not thru Yale but from my interest in the New Haven RR and Winchester and having several relatives employed there. I remember it as a thriving little city, a really interesting place, not a bloody gang urban battlefield.
I think the long emergency is already bearing down on Connecticut, like those thick nocturnal fogbanks, opaque and inscrutable, that roll in off the cold waters of Long Island Sound in March.
One more thing. New Haven is relevant to this site because it is where the oil age began in the U.S. The original investors for Col. Drakes drilling venture in Titusville, PA all came from New Haven, CT. Whale oil was getting scarce and expensive and they were angling around for something to replace it with. It was a gamble. A shot in the dark. Now we are where we are today.