I’m checking out for a few days for some R&R, it’s been 14 years, so I’d like to think I’ve earned it.

There are new prices on the website. Rainy Day just did another emergency price increase, so I stayed home and got these figures published. A quick check of 2006 .vs. 2008 prices shows a solid 75% price increase in less then two years (18 months actually).

This is a staggering jump and it’s not looking any better. There will also be new prices this fall, sometime in September / October. Mountain House remains “gone” forever, as far as I am concerned, I’ll never see their cans again. I still carry their pouches though and they ship pretty quick. I’ve got a warehouse full of Mountain House cans, but I’m not letting any of them go. Soon to be priceless, I’m sure.

I’ve always said “it will never be any cheaper” which is proving to be resoundingly true for all things. Price increase are WAY higher then what has been reported, but that’s another ’syndrome’ we’ve seen quite a lot of. “Underreporting” things like actual costs, the rate and speed of climate change, the rates of depletion and environmental destruction, the spiraling number of freedoms being lost, it’s an endless list, one which is only being given out in bits and pieces but is actually considerably worse then our handlers are letting on.

You’re not seeing all of this unless you do a bit of math and also connect the dots. Packages in the supermarket are smaller or offering fewer servings / ounces, and prices are somewhat higher, but in reality, you’re paying quite a bit more. We all know what fuel cost are doing, despite the recent drops in oil prices, my local stations are still in the $4.18 ranges.

The tiny bit of fuel that might be actually available (extractable) in the Arctic is going to cause a tremendous amount of ‘world jockeying’ among the industrialized nations, particularly Russia, China and the USA. In an extremely energy dependent world like today, it’s not going to change the price of anything, ever. It will only keep going up.

We will see $7 gasoline pretty soon. And $2 cups of coffee and $4 loafs of bread. Instead of weeing ourselves off of our oil-soaked agricultural production, we’re still stuck in the same rut as before. It’s going to take a LOT more then what we’ve already seen to change that fact.

We have a long ways to fall yet, but it could still happen very, very quickly (pray that it does, a slow collapse is the worst outcome of all). Kind of like the sudden “splat” for the jumpers that used to leap from the Empire State building. Free fall isn’t so bad, you might even enjoy the view, it’s the sudden stop that hurts.

So “enjoy it” while you can. Prices are up, but we’ve not seen anything yet. Stagflation is likely headed our way.

I don’t think that article even begins to really cover the real issue however. Just go look at the real numbers for yourself, toss in all the banking failures, the bailouts, the bankruptcies, the foreclosure rates, the millions of now homeless and scratch your head a time or two and connect the dots you do know about. It’s not that hard to see, our goose is already cooked, now we’re just a bunch of plucked birds frying in our own fat. And nothing can be done about it.

It’s still collapse, no matter how you slice it or dice it or (s)Elect it. Nothing has changed folks, nothing at all, which is the real reason why we cannot manage our way out of this growing disaster.

1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed Friday by federal regulators.

The ‘plan’ looks like to announce these closures on Fridays. Wonder which bank is next? Wait till Friday…

>Banks Brace For More Pain Not something Advil is going to help with…

Not related, but interesting, Russia’s military conducts test flights near North Pole. Told you this was going to happen. They’re going North to battle for the oil and gas.

Russia has been increasingly assertive in the Arctic region as global warming makes the area’s oil and natural gas resources more accessible.

Where’s The Outrage? Outrage? What outrage? The American people are sheep, still asleep and uncaring as America careens towards the apocalypse.

NAB WILL SHOCK WALL ST.

“The National Australia Bank’s decision to write off 90 per cent of its US conduit loans will have dramatic repercussions around the world. Wall Street will be deeply shocked when they understand the repercussions of what NAB has done.”

“US banks have written down $450 billion in bad housing loans. The revelation from NAB means that they will now certainly need to take provisions to $1,000 billion. But write-downs of $1,300 billion and perhaps even more are on the cards.” [in other words, the financial crash is still only 1/3 or less ‘the way there’ - and that’s just the housing mortgage market frauds ntm commercial property financing and consumer credit and major industrial (e.g Ford, GM) ‘markets’

How bad is it? “Overall, the financial sector is expected to report total profits of just $8.9 billion in the quarter, down 85% from earnings of $61.3 billion a year ago.”

Now for the REALLY bad news: HUMAN BEINGS FACE OBLIVION FROM GLOBAL WARMING

From Lonewolf: Recent estimates I’ve seen/heard are that current global temps are currently up between 0.8 and 1.5 C not including the masking effect of particulate pollution from industry which is also estimated in this range - and not including the lag time effects of accelerating CO2 and CH4 ‘emissions’. In other words, ‘real’ current rise is already in the 2-3 C range and probably another 1+ C in the pipeline even if all fossil fuel combustion halted today. Plus the ongoing thawing of permafrost (CH4) in the arctic, albedo changes at the poles, ocean die-off, etc.

Related: Wetlands Could Unleash ‘Carbon Bomb’

Recently Lonewolf has shared some calculations of the carbon we are presently releasing into the atmosphere from human activity:

I looked up current annual global Carbon ‘consumption’ -
Oil (2008) 87.4 Mbpd or 31.901 B bbl/yr at avg. specific gravity of crude of 7.4 bbl/MT = approx 300 lbs/ bbl (42 US gal, 7.14 lb/gal).

Note - gas 6.1 lb/gal. gasoline is 86% Carbon by mass, ‘average’ crude closer to 92% by mass (weight).

NG (2005) 104 Trillion cu ft /yr growing at 2%+/yr (2008 est) 110.4 T cu ft/yr
at 0.045 lb/cu ft 6.182Trillion lbs = 2.81 B metric tonnes (75% C = 2.108 B MT C // x 3.1 = 6.534 B MT CO2/yr x 16 (below) = 105 Billion barrel oil equivalent/yr

Conversions: http://www.eppo.go.th/ref/UNIT-OIL.html
1 Ton of Liquefied = approximately 16 barrels
Methane = approximately 50,000 cubic feet (1400 cubic meters) of natural gas, depending on methane content.

Ethanol (2007) = 920,000 bbl/day (335.8 M bbl/yr)
Biodiesel ????
Coal (2006) approx. (at least) 3.2 Billion tones “oil equivalent” (as energy content, not Carbon content (mass)).

Coal is by far the fastest growing ‘fossil fool’ use - can’t find tonnage claims or 2008 estimate.
3.2B x 2000 = 6.4 T lbs ~ = 1.07 T gal (gasoline) ~= 25 B bbls ‘oil equivalent’ but coal is FAR ‘dirtier’ (more Carbon) than oil.

I ‘think’ (feel) that this estimate is MUCH too low - perhaps by an order of magnitude above (billion barrels/yr).

32 + 105 + 0.34 + 25 = 162+++++ Billion Barrels Oil (or equivalent)/yr - at least, assume at least 90% Carbon by weight

barrel = 300 lbs = 48.6 Trillion lbs
x90% = 43.75 Trillion lbs Carbon (19.85 T kg)
oxidized = 134 Trillion lbs CO2 = (at least) 61 Billion metric tonnes CO2/yr & could be double this
(above is my ballpark estimate).

Chart below shows 8 Billion MT (yeah, right!), the crude oil weighs more than that all by itself) From Wiki

Oh boy, what a week this has already been. Economic meltdowns are accelerating at a rapid pace.

Our idiot government bails out Fannie Mae in a desperate and incredibly stupid attempt to salvage the home mortgage swindle, err bad loans shelled out, and we are all supposed to breath a sigh of relief…

Well, don’t fall for any of it. This is the ice dam breaking, next comes the flood. Vaughn has a few things to say about all of this:

Fannie Mae Unsold $5 Billion Homes Bring Peril to ShareholdersThe problem here is; if they start flooding those foreclosed homes into the market it will drive down property values, which means more homeowners will be stuck in negative equity, which will trigger another round of foreclosures.

FDIC Faces Mortgage Mess After Running Failed Bank

So, you have faith in the FDIC, huh?

**RED ALERT** RAPE BY U.S. CONGRESS IMMINENT

‘Henry Paulson is about to be given an $800 BILLION dollar blank check in the form of an increased Federal Debt Ceiling which he can spend on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac IN ANY WAY HE CHOOSES, INCLUDING BUYING THE CRAPPIEST LOANS THEY HAVE AND STICKING A ONE HUNDRED PERCENT LOSS, $800 BILLION WORTH, ON (the US taxpayers) TAX BILL.’

2nd Mortgage Holders (Banks) Now To Be Bailed Out Too

Bloomberg discovers the Real Estate Owned (REO) industry

Debt capitalism self-destructs

The Fannie Mae Gang

Consumers Set to Boost Savings Amid Economic Turmoil

‘That could spell trouble for the economy if too many people start hoarding their money and stop spending it on goods.’

Canada’s Inflation Rate Tops Analysts’ Expectations at 3.1% in June

That percentage includes ‘core’. I have a feeling that an overall average of 3.1% is not reflecting reality.

A brutal test in student borrowing

Note to Maria and Paul: don’t bother trying to figure how to send your younger son, Michael, to college for another year for $48,000. Chances are great that there won’t be much of job market in place for Michael, and your other son, to help pay that, and the accumulated school debt, back. Ever. Taking on more debt right now is NOT advisable in this economic climate.

‘Some of the stress feels familiar. Maria and her husband, Paul, have been writing checks to Holy Cross for eight years. Their older son, Mark, graduated from the private Worcester college in 2005, and the Woburn family has always struggled to keep up with rising tuition and fees, which now total about $47,500 annually.’

Too late on that ‘NOT advisable’ thing, huh? Thoughts: First son, Mark; graduated in ‘05. Maria and Paul have been paying the college (and the bank) for 8 years, including the second son’s attendance; an average of, say, $45,000. Being conservative in my estimate, that’s in the neighbourhood of $360,000 (to date) for both kids to go to school. And Maria, their mother, can’t work due to illness. Their dad has two jobs.

Chills. I’m feeling chills.

Meanwhile: Food stamp use soars in Mass. ‘Fastest-growing program in nation’

Farm Bureau: Crop Damage Pushing $8 Billion

Which together with the shortage produced by the cultists’ demand we all put ethanol in our cars, means higher food prices for the lucky people, and starvation for everyone else.

After the economies collapse and social unrest roils, the government hired mercenaries will come out the woodwork and from the air:

Blackwater expands it’s fleet of airships

Blackwater to leave security business following problems in Iraq (and I’ve got a bridge to sell you — cheap)

New Killer Drones Invade Airshow

Still think remotely controlled 757s don’t exist?

George Bush backs emergency deal for Fannie and Freddie

House votes to back Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, stem foreclosures

Fannie and Freddie, Saved But Still Loathed (By Some)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: A recipe for trouble

House OKs rescue for homeowners, Freddie, Fannie

On top of this, we’re supposed to believe that Gas Prices Dropping Like A Rock. Where do they dredge these idiots up from? Wish I got paid to write, I’m obviously in the wrong business. Gas is down, what 5 cents? 8 cents? And this is a “rock”?

It’s all Obama’s fault. Check it out. Type in “Obama Antichrist” in any search engine. What you’ll find there will scare you one way or the other.

In other worthy news, we are told that the Marshall Islands are in a severe energy crisis (they should be able to afford more oil now that prices are actually going down, right?). Food is now a #1 issue for them.

In the banking sector, Bank of America profits plummet by 41%, Merrill Lynch loses 4.9 billion dollars, and Wachovia nearly doubles that loss with 9 billion.

Merrill Lynch makes the news again by warning that ‘this winter will be brutal for utility bills‘. Ya think?

General Motors and Ford now on the verge of bankruptcy, a 46% chance and rising. Also joining them will be Mervyn’s.

How bad is it? How about as many as 8,500 banks failing?

I just got another order cancellation for an order that was going to ship this week, guess where I redirected it?

Some of my callers really don’t believe me. I guess I can’t help that now.

There’s more, a lot more, but I don’t want to make you cry.

Lonewolf sent me this, I’ve been too busy stomping out brushfires and responding to email — Half the Amazon Rainforest to be Lost by 2030

The report, “Amazon’s Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire,” concludes that 55 percent of the world’s largest rainforest stands to be severely damaged from agriculture, drought, fire, logging and livestock ranching in the next 22 years. Another 4 percent may be damaged by reduced rainfall caused by global warming. This is anticipated to destroy up to 80 percent of wildlife habitat in the region.

Wow. As bad as this in, this still isn’t going to go far enough. It’s like 50 - 100 years sooner then the other past estimates, but I’ll step waaaaaay out on a limb here, because this is yet another example of a growing trend I’ve seen.

Here goes: move that timeline up by 15 years. By 2020 we’ll have lost most of the Amazon (just 12 years from now). The reason I’m saying that is because of two factors. Climate change effects are FAR worse then most scientist have been willing to admit. The rate of change is happening much faster then they’ve estimated (which they now admit).

Secondly, human population impacts on the Amazon are still increasing dramatically. Logging and agricultural uses are having a stupendous impact on the remaining forest. This estimate, in my opinion, is also overtly optimistic:

WWF warned that the “point of no return” for the Amazon rainforest, from which ecological recovery will be impossible, is only 15-25 years in the future, much sooner than has previously been supposed.

I strongly suspect that we are less then 2 - 3 years AT MOST for the point of no return, if we are not there already.

The only way we could reverse this trend, or even “meet” the WWF predictions is dramatically reduce human impact and human populations. This might happen yet, I’ll let you speculate how.

But Lonewolf has this to say, now that you read mine:

Wonder how much they ‘figure is gone already (article didn’t say-tmk) - I’d bet 20% completely gone and another 20% damaged now. I’ll also bet that their time line is ‘optimistic’ - that as with every other environmental forecast it’s off by nearly an order of magnitude.

So, IMO take their 30% claim and add to the current looses and speed it up by 30-40% and you have half gone in 5 years, 3/4 gone by 2020, and gone gone by 2030. I’ve also read that the self-reinforcing (negative) feedback wrt to the internal rain cycle is already tripped - years ago.

The ‘report’ claim of 4% reduction in rainfall by 2030 is overt fraud IMO. It’s already way beyond 4% reduction. Also read that 3 consecutive years of drought would transform the entire rain forest to savanna if not desert in short order (years, not decades). The Amazon basin has had “unprecedented” droughts 2 out of the last 3 years already with major tributaries turned into channels of dust (not mud). Just last night I watched the rerun of “6 degrees could change the world” where they showed this in graphic detail (past tense).

Worth reading: Global Warming Is A Brutal Truth

More Lonewolf commentary and quotations:

“But in the Sahel, as I have seen, an effective adaptation technology is already being deployed. It’s called the AK47.”

“The message, never stated but constantly emerging, is that we all have our self-justifying myths. We tell ourselves a story of our lives in which we almost always appear as the heroes. These myths prevent us from engaging with climate change.

The most powerful story of all, endlessly narrated by the hired hands of the fossil fuel industry, just as it was once told by the sugar slavers, is that we are both all-important and utterly insignificant. We are too important to be denied any of the delights we crave, but too insignificant to exert any impact on planetary processes. We fill the whole frame of the story when it suits us and shrink to a dot when that scale is more convenient. We are capable of occupying both niches simultaneously.

It is not just because The Great Global Warming Swindle is at odds with the entire body of scientific knowledge on this subject that I have bothered to contest it. It is also because it is consonant with the entire body of human self-deception. We want to be misled, we crave it; and we will bend our minds into whatever shape they need to take in order not to face our brutal truths.”

HOWEVER - as peak oil and peak food (aka peak you) take hold of the sheeples short hairs, peak climate will become a distant memory and totally ignored (mass denial cubed).

Let me be frank here (since John isn’t being listened to): Collapse is here to stay. Period. It’s a foregone factual conclusion now that we are in the twilight of our civilization. Probably a good thing too. I have no love whatsoever for the rapacious greedy system we have developed.

None of us deserve to survive this. But admittedly, we’re all going to try. The future world (the one that exist by the time you finish reading this blog entry) is radically different then the world of yesterday. Climate change is happening far faster then we’ve been grudgingly told (especially by the Bush Administration that has suppressed thousands of scientists and reports now).

Even worse, the future world will not permit all of us to survive this. This is also a factual impossibility. This is happening of course right now. The only survivors will be those that have successfully adapted to these changes underway. In the meanwhile, there will be many varied attempts to postpone the inevitable. We’ll drill the continental shelf and the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge first. And we’ll cut down the rest of the rainforest too.

It goes without saying that we should do none of these things, but we will. And anyone who opposes them will be labeled a domestic terrorist, since our “non-negotiable” way of life is so sacrosanct and sacred. Too bad that doesn’t also apply to the planet we live on, you know, that blue ball that gives us all life and sustenance.

Killing off the entire planet seems to be the destiny of humans. Until that comes to a full stop, I strongly suspect that this is what is going to happen. But almost nobody is willing to talk about stopping all of our planet destroying behavior so that we can continue to live here.  Instead, the discussion always revolves around making things worse. If that is not insane behavior, then I do not know what is.

We need to reevaluate our role here on this rock, and whether or not we should permit each other to do what we’re doing to the place. If we don’t, we will all die, in a choking, acrid and barren landscape surrounded by empty brass casings. It’s that simple.

Since several people have kindly reminded me that Mountain House has yet another announcement, I will post this here too. I know this is on other sites, but since I stopped selling Mountain House cans in May when they cut off all new orders, I didn’t think it was necessary to fan the flames any higher.

I received a letter a couple days ago that states Mountain House has sold all of their can production through 2009. Effectively, this means that many Mountain House dealers, including myself cannot sell Mountain House can products anymore.

This was of course, bound to happen. Food shortages also mean cannery shortages (duh!). My remaining suppliers remain solidly booked out for several months and there are some very real and significant product shortages, happening now for the past 3+ months.

Alpine Aire has promised that all their backlogs through June ‘08 would be filled by the end of July — but I do not believe this and have publically said so, it’s even on my shipping times page. They are doing the best they can under extremely difficult circumstances and they ARE filling quite a few orders very quickly now — but these are for older orders where the customer has waited months for their shipments.

I will shut down again at the end of July. I never did get that vacation and it only make sense to take a break. To avoid complaints and the inevitable impatience I’m constantly seeing, there will be no orders accepted at that time until I reopen, which will be a few weeks later.

Right now, I’ve got one guy having a meltdown because his buckets showed up with dents in them, he’s claiming he’s going to file a credit card claim for a damaged shipment. We’ll see where this goes, but dented buckets are very normal. The pictures he sent are just like the buckets I’ve just received — dented from the air pressure differential. That notice has been on my website for years. It’s quite common and doesn’t affect the integrity of the food at all.

But I’ll buy his shipment back from him in a heartbeat, which is what I’ve offered to do. Too bad it’s in Florida, the shipping costs are going to be pretty expensive. But getting food now is seriously problematic. I’ve had several callers tell me of lost orders, canceled orders and unfilled orders from other suppliers. Welcome to the real world. I even canceled an order myself on some impatient idiot who after waiting only one entire week, demanded to be placed at the head of the line. He refused my explanations that ALL orders are filled on a first come, first serve basis, so I gave him his money back and sent him on his way.

I’m telling all of you this because it’s terribly rude to treat us like this. It is not our fault many (most) people waited until it was far too late to get their food supply in. Nor is it our fault we are booked out now for months and months in advance, or that Mountain House is already a year plus out. I told you this would happen, over and over and over again.

Now that serious food panic is here, don’t make it worse by expecting preferential treatment or complain about things that aren’t even valid. Let me be frank: If you did not order last year when product prices were 30% - 50% lower and availability was extremely good - don’t blame anybody but yourself. If you order now — expect to wait. Expect to get in line behind everyone else that has already ordered. Expect product shortages. Expect increasing prices. Expect what you know you should be expecting. We are doing everything we can and DON’T expect anything else. These are NOT normal times, ALL of the rules have changed.

If that idiot of a President attacks Iran, then EXPECT this to get MUCH WORSE instantly and within just a few hours. The herd has stampeded, I told everyone that months ago now. The cliff lies dead ahead and that is exactly where everyone is rushing off to. Not me, I’m getting out of the way. I don’t like this capitalist model anyway. I am deliberately slowing this business down because I know exactly where it’s headed and I don’t want to be caught in the avalanche.

We are facing increasing food shortages in the days ahead. The canneries are experiencing gigantic price increases on some products — and refusing to buy them as a result. This will cause increased demands on other products and higher prices will follow. In time, we’ll simply have very little available as production fails to meet global demand. Much of our American products are being shipped overseas, where demand is going through the roof.

Americans will experience food shortage here — guaranteed. There are efforts afoot to identify people who are buying and stockpiling food. Be CAREFUL. Not everyone is who they claim to be, I’ve made that point right here on this blog several times. As for myself, I am going to slow this DOWN. I am not in this for the money or the heart attack this is going to gain me.

Let me take the liberty publish this comment, which I don’t have permission to publish yet, but is pertinent here:

First let me apologize for contacting you with this via std. email. I tried to make a comment on one of your Collapse entries, but couldn’t figure out how to register so I could login!!! Anyway, I went shopping at several stores here in mid-Michigan today, 7/22/2008, and found some rather poorly stocked shelves. Especially at a large, national chain store (”WallyWorld”). Hardware, tools, some clothing & several food items. Then I casually “overheard” a couple of employees stocking shelves commenting about the trucks bringing in new stock were not arriving on schedule and were not full of merch. “like usual”. Has anyone else noticed empty spots on the shelves in their location? Today my wife didn’t complain or call me paranoid when I started snapping up extra dry food items! This situation wasn’t just confined to “Wally” either.Thanks for your blog, xxxx

I’ve noticed some shortages in certain stores. I am buying a lot of hardware these days and cannot find plenty of items like frost-free faucets without having to run around and hit two or three stores. I have also notice ammunition has doubled in price again, and many fresh-food products are unbelievably expensive. And everybody is now selling what looks like the same package size, but putting in smaller quantities.

For example, a case of .22 long rifle is now 4000 rounds instead of 5000. And packages of everything from cheese, tomatoes or pasta are smaller. This is a ploy to get you to buy less at a higher price.

I haven’t been to Wally World in a long time (thankfully), but you tell me — anybody else noticing shortages?

Blog registration remains closed, probably forever. It is the only way to deal with the troublemakers, sorry. There is just no other way I can weed out the federal agents and dirt-bags that are out there. You can send email if you like.

As for email — I receive very interesting email from time to time. I am not always at liberty to engage in the suggested discussion or even publish what has been shared. Essentially this is because it is a “no win” situation. There would be no winners at all and many possible losers, including myself. So if you don’t see your story or scuttlebutt make it to the blog, or even responded via email, this is why.

I’ve always said we are really all on our own. More so then anybody even yet imagines. There are many forces at work to keep us all divided and distrustful, some of it is valid, some of it is not. But you just never know what you’re dealing with when you engage in an online conversation. BE CAREFUL. As for me — I just walk away. It is the only safe course of action there is. This is not only for my own preservation, but yours too. The Internet is a magnet for all kinds of surveillance beyond your wildest imaginations. Understand this and be wise.

Hehehe, no surprise here - U.S. Fails To Measure Up On ‘Human’ Index.

One of my elderly customers, who is 91 offered me some advice - eat very little beef or pork. She’s got friends near 100 and that’s their secret they claim. I don’t doubt it, considering all the crap they put into our food these days. If you eat store bought meat, you’re really eating a pharmaceutical companies wet dream.

Here’s more on the #1 country in the world - American inequality highlighted by 30-year gap in life expectancy.

American’s just aren’t getting any breaks, are they? There is a reason why we’ve slipped in standing on health, economy, morality, lawfulness and of course, freedom and human rights. Amazing what a Beelzebub for a President can do for the country.

While Shrub gets plenty of my ire these days, he’s not alone by no means in the decline of the American empire. He’s joined by the entirety of the federal government, State governments, city bureaucrats, US military and all of corporate America. My level of absolute DISGUST (in bold, capital letters) really is pretty broad, but honestly, it’s not just limited to American indifference and malfeasance.

Once again, we are blatantly lied to by the American media, Congress and every capitalistic whore in the country. The critical issues of our day remain almost entirely unaddressed and are too unimportant for journalistic honesty or ethical stewardship.

To be quite frank, I cannot stand the business as usual model any more and can barely bring myself to write about it. I can’t even think about any of this without it boiling my blood. Our impotence as a people, as human beings, to expect the right things anymore is maddening. We’re like grasshoppers with our arms and wings lopped off, all we can do is loll around and munch down on whatever is available.

I really don’t even want to talk about any of it anymore. It’s all so utterly worthless. All of it. Flapping our gums and pounding on our keyboards, over and over and over again, accomplishing exactly zilch, while everything goes literally to hell all around us. There are killers running loose and we don’t seem to be able to stop them.  I can’t hardly see the point to it anymore, or even if there ever was one.

And I don’t know why I should talk about any of this anymore, I don’t know why anyone should. Business as usual in this god-forsaken country means we are all dead men. It means that we will go on raping and pillaging and destroying our way in the misguided quest to the ‘good life’ for as long as we possibly can, and to hell with everything else. Don’t you dare question whatever is wrong with this country, we’ll gitmo your ass to Guantanamo!

An intelligent species, especially one claiming dominance would adequately respond to the global issues and emergencies popping up all over the world in some effective fashion or another, before it was too late, but such is not going to happen among the vast majority of homo sapiens, who remain as fixated as ever on ‘a dream’ of vaporizing reality.

The rest of us who are keenly interested in doing whatever we can remain far too few in number with a less then zero effectiveness to do anything of real significance, except employ desperate measures geared towards our personal survival, which is what I’ve been doing, working my butt off everyday. This means that we will also go down with the ship, since when civilization collapses, so will most of us.

I’m trying to lower this cause and effect calamity in my own life, staying very busy focusing on personal survival preparations and strategies. But I think we’re all really totally screwed if you want an honest opinion. Our survival instincts neatly match up with our real survival options (zilch).

In reflection, with the clarity of hindsight, we can see the warning signs that were ignored 20, 30, even 40 or more years ago. Our failure though isn’t just that we are failing to change in time, our failure also means we’ve failed to recognize that we’ve never changed in time. Disaster comes and it is now apparent that this was never going to be avoided.

It’s a really lousy world we are leaving for our children — Seymour Hersch, The Nation

The news is full of banking failures, which are nothing more then symptoms to a much greater problem plaguing our civilization. Banks fail due to loans that are not repaid, which is a sign of a faltering economy (and bad policy). Economies fail because of resource shortages and more bad policy, such as exporting jobs and manufacturing overseas. But even these practices are all tied into the availability and costs of resources (including human capital).

The vile American LYING media is behind much of this loathing and disgust. NOTHING these lying scumbags report can be counted on as accurate, truthful and sticking to the facts. I am starkly reminded of deliberate ineptitude as I scan the daily headlies.

We’re constantly being fed a stream of outright lies and fabrications, ‘detainees’ aren’t really entitled to any rights or due process since we’re too damn dumb to even consider them human beings. They’re illegally held civilian prisoners being denied rights to council, visitation, and due process; imprisoned without charges, denied media access, and tortured repeatedly until they confess to everything from shooting JFK to masterminding September 11th.

Once again, President Beezelbub illegally declares ‘executive privilege‘ and most of the lapdog media continues to soft-peddle this pornographic abomination as deserving nothing more then a ’sharp protest’. A sharp protest from Congress? A ‘contempt of Congress’ is about as effective as wet napkin placed over the end of a rifle barrel.

The real crimes of Beezlebush have yet to be fully revealed, but we’ve caught many of the stories linking Bush to heinous crimes throughout the world. I suspect it’s highly doubtful that this mass-murderer will every be held accountable by any court of law anywhere in the world.

Here at home, Americans are at risk: The Power To Imprison U.S. Citizens Indefinitely, Without Charge, but even this pales in comparison to the tens of thousands of lives now extinguished by executive order. We also have more government surveillance, where once again, Congress rolled over for Beezelbush.

It’s beyond weird that the American Congress has proven to be so compliant, as is the general public acceptance of this ongoing travesty. But it does little good to complain about any of it anymore, which is one reason why I’ve toned it down lately, it’s just so terribly unproductive.

I’m much more interested now in turning my back on all of this and working towards issues which are practical, achievable and much more satisfying them tossing more words into the blowing wind.

Spotted this over on Monkeyfister, the keyhole garden.  An innovative idea that could help you grow your own food.

Some observations: I wonder if you could pry the cellphones and Ipods away from Americans and get a happy level of participation as shown in this video?  Somehow, I sort of doubt it.

The rusty cans was interesting, I’ve never seen that before.

The CIA reports that there are 266 “nations, dependent areas, and other entities” on the world today. During the last few weeks at least 90 of these are reported to be having continuing serious or very serious energy shortages. The number of countries with energy problems may be much higher as the CIA also reports that 94 of the world’s nations are islands many of which are so small they are rarely heard from but are almost certain to be suffering from $140 oil.

Most of the places having serious energy problems are in South Asia, Africa, Latin America, and scattered islands. Taken together, they make up over half of the world’s population. Nearly all are having electric power shortages that have resulted in daily blackouts ranging from a few hours to most of the day. Droughts, fuel costs and rapid growth in electrically powered consumer goods are behind most of the shortages. Insurgencies, mismanagement, and even accidents are taking a toll. Liquid fuel shortages are growing rapidly as poorer nations struggle to keep up with surging prices.

In sum, these shortages are causing serious hardships among peoples who have grown accustomed to electric lights, refrigeration, air conditioning and motorized vehicles. Some form of energy-related strike, demonstration, or riot is now being reported almost daily somewhere around the world. It will not be long before serious repercussions evolve from these shortages.

There are so many places with serious troubles that it is difficult to pick out the more vulnerable. Pakistan, where power shortages have nearly eliminated the export-textile industry and which is only days away from running out of liquid fuels, is likely near the top of the list. Bangladesh and even India may not be too far behind, possibly failing to produce enough food for their peoples. Beyond South Asia there are numerous places of consequence that may be facing political upheavals due to the declining availability of electricity and liquid fuels. Energy Bulletin

Go back to sleep now, nothing here to see.  50% of the world’s population is now in serious trouble, but you’re an American and it can’t happen here. Our special status and privileged position ensures that we will be just fine.

Ignore the 200,000 homeless children (in America of course) I read about last night, they’re not an indication that anything is seriously wrong either (not to be confused with the other 200,000 children being sold into slavery each year).  The other 20 million people still being held in slavery is just business as usual, of course.

We’re good.  Wages to (l)earn slavery is the normal course of events in America. Again, business as usual.  Sleep now, as you pull, push, crank, wind, lift, stack and sell, performing all the motions of a robot.  Ah yes, the American Dream as Carlin used to say, the one you’d have to be asleep to believe.  Sleep now.

I don’t have much to say, the banking failures are just the tip of the iceberg, signs of a civilization gone terribly wrong. More of these to come, that’s for sure.

The government proposed bailout of the mortgage lenders is ‘weird’ in my opinion, a real Catch-22 situation. The collapse continues, dominoes fall, all you can do is get out of their way (if possible).

I’m pretty sure the loss of the zooplankton has failed to generate the global alarm this truly signifies. I find this very strange too, because this is extremely serious for all life on Earth. Whatever future humans may have, will be dramatically diminished if we have no oceans to rely upon.

Jason Miller in a fine rant on American capitalism:

And we “comfort ourselves” by wallowing in the fetid sewage that flows freely from our idiot boxes, enslaving our minds to the Bernays-inspired propaganda that ensures our fealty to a system that is murdering the planet and rotting our souls. Reality television provides us with the twisted wreckage and bloody corpses of a horrific car wreck, piquing our morbid curiosity and distracting us from the prick of conscience or any thought of doing something really stupid, like perhaps ending our rape of the Earth. Kens and Barbies, “sage” analysts, establishmentized minorities, and “populists” pulling down six figures or better (all of whom enunciate, dress, and smile to sickeningly unnatural perfection, mind you), deliver the “news” and affirm the “rightness of our Whiteness.” Television is truly a balm to our diseased souls. Murdering God: Of Shotguns, American Capitalism, and Moral Expediency

And on that same theme are my own dark thoughts. I’ve been thinking about this for weeks now. Global emergency bells are clanging away on many, many critical issues all over the world as the dominoes topple left and right.

An intelligent ‘dominant’ species would adequately respond to these global emergencies in some fashion or another, before it was too late, but such is not going to happen among the vast majority of homo sapiens, who remain as fixated as ever on ‘a dream‘ of vaporizing reality.

Real Climate published a great graphic on the ‘political interference of scientific data’ from 2001 - 2008.  I suggest everyone take a look at this, so that you can know just how bad it’s been trying to get the word out on environmental issues.

If you don’t like pictures, check out that A-Z List (text), something there for ‘everyone’.