The Bush Administration is hell-bent on pushing through a massive deregulation affecting the environment and will have deeply negative impacts on our planetary health.
Worth reading, two pages. Predictable, given the hatred Bush & Co., have exemplified throughout their entire eight years of sordid raping and pillaging.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the next Presidential (s)election coming up. None of the candidates on the ballot represent me, not even close. Only Ron Paul was “closest” (among the more well-known), but even he didn’t want to do enough to satisfy me.
I started thinking along the lines “if I were President” the things that I would want to do. This is a reasonable exercise for every American to engage in. What would you do? Just how close are the crop of candidates to representing you real views?
If you are planning on voting, on your presidential ballot, here is what I suggest you do: vote for me.
You could do worse, and in fact, you probably will. By voting for the status quo candidates on the ballot, you will get what you’ve always gotten, which isn’t much. If your stupid, you believed the lies that “change is coming”, but it’s not. Both candidates don’t represent real fundamental change, both are beholden to the entire apparatus and system that has appointed them where they are today. It will be business as usual, a deadly combination of arrogance, ignorance, denial and death.
Eight years of insanity under George W. Bush proves that business as usual is the worst possible choice anybody could make. We survived it — but millions more did not. They wound up as grist for the grinder in very grisly ways. This is exactly what we are still be promised as being in the “best interests” of America and Americans. I think not.
Neither Obama or McInsane (or his crazy side-kick) are going to change this country for the better. I don’t care what they are promising, they are business-as-usual men and have publicly said so with the crap they are promoting every night. They’ve already told you what they intend to do, which is nothing at all like what I would do.
So I made a quick list of these things. These are only a few of the things that I stand for and what I would like to see done by the next President, although I am not criminally insane enough to actually want to be President:
There’s a lot more, but this is the short-list and it’s late. If I had my way, I’d go quite a bit further then this, I’ve shared a few thoughts on these things in past posts.
However, if you won’t vote for me and none of you probably would, then I strongly suggest you vote for YOU. Since none of the candidates being (s)Elected for us even remotely represent you or your personal views, then don’t even bother showing up to vote.
Withhold your vote and your consent to be governed and deny this entire sham the legitimacy it demands of you and pretends to perpetuate in your name, and tell everyone you know that your dissent is the highest form of patriotism that there is.
(Well, to be honest, there is one other form of citizen patriotism that is higher. Shoot the bastards that have run this planet into the ground. But Americans are still not ready for that.)
I “predict” who will win this (s)Election (but I’m not saying), but frankly, I don’t care because it is all rather meaningless anymore. The candidates are so far off the mark in comparison to my own views on how to make this planet a better or even livable place, that it won’t make any difference who will “win”. My other predictions on collapse still remain as true as ever, and the latest data I’ve seen (but not shared) indicates that it’s coming far faster then we feared.
That’s what I’m still preparing for, not a stint in the White House, pretending that I can actually change anything.
I SURE HOPE THIS IS NOT A JOKE:
Bush Pardons Himself and His Cabinet For War Crimes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RwoFcLgxA0
I’ll wait for verification before I go any further.
Yet another paid vacation for a citizen killing cop.
What damned difference does it make what “demands” the cop gave to the newlywed homeowner before firing? When does chasing (juvenile) burglars require the use of deadly force? And they were caught and not arrested anyway!
Anybody want to bet that this citizen killer will be let off with a verdict “justified shooting”?
A piece of “good news” (I hope), Chertoff, that skin-and-bones Nazi skeleton says he’s planning on leaving Homeland Security after the new administration is put into office. We can only hope someone better then him would take his place (at leaving us all alone, like they should).
Now read this article VERY carefully, because it has some very dangerous and hidden developments in it. Anytime the feds can sink their teeth into a private institution by some hook or crook method, these privately held companies are worse off for it. Not only are they “ordering” these banks to “lend money”, they’re demanding that they ask for federal support to do so.
This means that these firms will find themselves irrevocably leashed to the stupid bailout fiasco against their will. Those “taxpayer funds” the feds keep throwing around was YOUR money.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands are now out of work. The Volvo link I posted the other day hit a nerve, a former Volvo employee contacted me who has other contacts with other Volvo employees in Dublin, Virginia. They’re expecting to “get crushed in the 1st quarter of 2009. I believe it, the employment / production outlook is getting worse every day.
The mainstream news attempts to spinwash the facts with one of those phony baloney happy face smiles you still find on Jack Van Impe late at night (isn’t he dead yet?), spewing forth more lies and disinformation then facts.
The financial rescue, like the rapture, is bullshit, IT IS NOT GOING TO SAVE US because neither of them are based upon reality. All that is happening is the foolish and gullible are getting skinned alive. Have you seen the gigantic jumps in the stock markets around the world? Those peaks and valleys means somebody is (still) losing a shitload of money, while somebody else is making a ton of money (at the losers expense).
There cannot be “winners and winners” in this charade of fiat money fabricated from thin air, there are always winners and losers. And where do you think all that money is going? None of it is winding up in the hands of the average Joe, who is now increasingly homeless, hungry and impoverished. All the wealth is being transferred to the wealthy elite and banksters, with billion dollar bonuses (still) and executive vacations. Anybody still playing in this game in the hopes of “winning” is an absolute fool.
Get out now, while you still can. If that isn’t plain enough for you, you deserve to be burned.
A few updates: The Mass Murderer Shimon Peres to be Knighted
Funny how the world elite continue to gladhand the other world elite, despite their records of irresponsibility, genocide and destructive policies. As I’ve said, business as usual.
This is, in my opinion, an absolute MUST read article sent in by Lonewolf. It rather succinctly puts forth the absolute insane fiscal policies practiced by the United States banking industry with government help.
Unfrickenbelievable. Please read every word in this article. Hard to accept that they were so unbelievably stupid to try this. The people that are behind these shenanigans should be taken out and shot. Continue reading »
Cryptogon has an interesting lead article, Volvo has seen a 99.7% drop in truck sales. This will cause thousands of jobs to be lost. The blame is being placed on the financial crisis.
California home foreclosures have shot up 228%, another sign of the times, as the Australians who cannot withdraw their own money from their banks.
Also found on Crypto, and a real “I told you so” moment here on the wonderful police state we all get to look forward to, happening very soon in England, they are deploying thousands of mobile fingerprint scanners to harass their citizens:
Every police force in the UK is to be equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners – handheld devices that allow police to carry out identity checks on people in the street.
The new technology, which ultimately may be able to receive pictures of suspects, is likely to be in widespread use within 18 months. Tens of thousands of sets – as compact as BlackBerry smartphones – are expected to be distributed. Police will use new device to take fingerprints in street
But it’s all okay, because:
To address fears about mass surveillance and random searches, the police insist fingerprints taken by the scanners will not be stored or added to databases.
It’s also all ok if the police don’t have a fingerprint “clue” to the crime in question, they’ll take your fingerprint “just because” they might find a clue later on, see? And it won’t be stored on those mobile computers either! So just relax, your fingerprints will never be found at the scene of a crime, say at the convenience store before where you bought a soda pop and some hoods shot up the place five minutes after you left. Their only clue, the fingerprints you just left there on the counter, which certainly won’t be compared against the Big Brother database they’re not assembling!
Don’t worry about that knock on your door in the middle of the night, it’s just your benign protective government looking out for you! Probably cause be damned, your going to be detained without it!
And we can just keep on trusting them too, right? Funny how governments and their agents continue to distrust us. The level of control and distrust they are employing is mind boggling.
Don’t worry though, the Olduvai Theory proves that we only have to endure this bullshit (soon coming to the United States too) for oh, maybe 30 or 40 years at the most. After that, they’ll simply ignore the most of us that are still alive. That is, unless you live in one of the bio-region cities I predict that will be tightly managed and controlled, with brain scanners, eye scanners, and fingerprint scanners, not to mention millions of video cameras documenting your every move.
It is comforting to know though, that despite living amongst all you terrorists out there, that I am being well-protected as I give up my rights to privacy again and again and again in exchange for the eternal security provided by the State. It is rather amazing when you think about it that I have not been blown up, shot, kidnapped or even threatened by one of you terrorists.
It is EXTREMELY CLEAR (I’m shouting because I really hope people are paying attention) that depending on the System to remain your “benefactor” is becoming very dangerous to your existence. Our world is falling apart as anything would that was built upon fiction. The lies that have been spread about our security and stability were the covering that is now being ripped away.
It was all only going to last as long as YOU continued to believe it would. Eventually, critical resource limits would have been reached anyway, tumbling this house of cards down into the shattered mess we are now witnessing. As it is, many people are slowly waking up to the deceptions that have been mass produced and wondering what to do. Everything that they have believed in is turning out to be a LIE.
Well, wake up and smell the roses. This is a real eye-opening act about to unfold. The collapse of our civilization is not going to painless, pretty or without destruction. It is however, entirely unavoidable now because we have long since passed many critical threshold limits which cannot possibly be undone.
Various experts in science, climatology, the environment and finance are claiming the same things. While this blog has been called the “most doom blog out there”, it is not without reason. All of the indicators are flashing bright red warning signs now:
Roubini said the world economy was “at a breaking point”. He believes the stock markets are now “essentially in free fall” and “we are reaching the point of sheer panic”. I Fear The Worst Is Yet To Come
Interestingly, the governments around the world are trying to stem the panic by fanning the flames of disbelief. Don’t believe what is happening and what you can see with your own eyes they are saying, believe us instead.
Across the world, governments have taken more and more aggressive actions to stop the panic. However, Roubini believes investors appear to have lost confidence in governments’ ability to sort out the mess.
And where will it get you to continue to believe the lies? The warning signs are all out there blaring their message. Ignorance and denial will only make it worse. It would not surprise me if blogs like this one and others were to be shut down to help “stem the panic”, while lamestream media continues to spread the government disinformation. I think you should expect this too, it will probably happen. The Fourth Amendment is already dead anyway.
This should comfort you (wink, wink) — Huge New Biodefense Lab Is Dedicated at Ft. Detrick
Isn’t this the same place the 9/11 anthrax attacks came from? Good to know that we’re still being protected! The government still wants you to believe the lies that Ivans was behind this. Stories like this one are spiked with as much disinformation as the bits and pieces of truth they include.
Biowarfare would be a great way to reduce the population, by oh, say half or 2/3 very quickly. Apparently a few others also feel the same way:
Barry Kissin, a Frederick lawyer who has strongly opposed the lab’s construction, said he fears the facility would be used to create biological weapons even though the government said its mission is defensive.
“It’s not only a huge threat to local public health and safety, it is in the forefront of the instigation of a brand-new arms race in the realm of bioweapons,” he said. “Here we are, expanding by about 20 times the size of the program that we’re now being told generated the only bioattack in our history.”
Lonewolf shared this link with me, and I (slowly) read it through and pondered this most of the night. It is the Olduvai Theory: Sliding Towards a Post-Industrial Stone Age and it has of course, particular significance towards the future of all humanity.
First off, if you don’t know what this is, it is the representation of human history and the rapid rise and fall of the industrial age.
“the life-expectancy of Industrial Civilization is horridly short.”
How short? The answer may surprise and shock you. Only 100 years, give or take a decade or two at most. That’s it.
This is because of the collapse of non-renewable resources, including energy sources. Industrial civilization depends upon non-solar energy sources for it’s existence, and non-renewable resources like mineral ores. We have already strip-mined the planet of over 50% of these resources, picking off the easy “low hanging fruit” first. What remains is increasingly harder and harder to obtain, require massively intense energy expenditures.
But the Olduvai theory bases it’s claims upon the peak energy usage per human. My comment above extends this just a bit further, logically stating that our declining non-renewable, non-energy sources are also a factor.
Peak energy usage per human has already long since passed, Duncan “fixes” this date as 1977. Since then, the energy “capital” available has declined, at an average of .90 per year. This will increase (rapidly) as we continue to squander the remain world’s resources with abandon (examine Dubai for current and grossly excessive examples).
First off, I think Duncan is quite correct, as this ties directly into the other observations and records of history posted on this blog. Humans have reached their apex of civilization, blowing their one shot to do better:
It has often been said that, if the human species fails to make a go of it here on Earth, some other species will take over the running. In the sense of developing high intelligence this is not correct. We have, or soon will have, exhausted the necessary physical prerequisites so far as this planet is concerned. With coal gone, oil gone, high-grade metallic ores gone, no species however competent can make the long climb from primitive conditions to high-level technology. This is a one-shot affair. If we fail, this planetary system fails so far as intelligence is concerned. The same will be true of other planetary systems. On each of them there will be one chance, and one chance only. (Hoyle, 1964; emphasis added)
What I am interested in knowing, is how this will be “responded” to by the globalists, who most certainly are keenly aware of this rise and fall of industrial civilization, and what this will mean to them and their holdings and interests.
Will they simply go along for the ride, like the rest of us, rising and falling back to the stone age? I think not. I suspect that what this means is something quite different then what Duncan and others have suggested because it is horrific in scope and scale.
From a globalist viewpoint, it makes no clear sense to “permit” humanity to exhaust the planetary resources at a breakneck speed, only to have all of industrial civilization fall back into the stone age just as quickly. The future of the planet and all of life itself would (and is) at stake.
From a humanist viewpoint, this would also be troublesome because all of our achievements including things like equality, justice (where it actually exists), democracy (same), education, and other accomplishments including science, medicine, intelligence, communications, computers, etc., would be subjected to the same decline, back to the stone age as the globalists fear.
Both fears are quite correct. Unless a massive energy source is found and developed, industrial civilization will collapse in upon itself, leaving behind a unbelievable garbage dump of useless artifacts spread across the entire globe.
But on the other hand, if such an energy source is found (purely speculative by the way, no such source has ever been found or is likely to be found), we’d simply continue to strip-mine the planet down to the bedrock and below, destroying all of the environment and all other life forms on Earth, until finally, our folly would create the collapse we have been trying to avoid anyway.
In other words, collapse will happen anyway under both scenarios. Unless we managed to springboard ourselves to the stars where we could repeat our voracious habits, we are “doomed” to remain on planet Earth. Moreover, we are doomed to go back to where we’ve already been. The question then becomes how will we exist on this planet? Will we die in a gigantic trash heap? Or on a burned out cinder? I suspect something else will actually happen and this is the focus of this blog entry. Here goes:
I do not believe that humanists nor the global elite will permit the worlds billions to mass-rape the planet forever. This would be the worst possible choice for humanity. Industrial civilization may indeed die, but it need not die everywhere and it probably won’t.
When we think of industrial civilization, we think of manufacture, production, the economy and growth and all the points in between that make modern life possible. Civilization itself is ubiquitous with the term industry, and permitting industry or civilization itself to “quit” is simply not an option for most people in all walks of life.
These people would include most of you in fact, and the world leaders, pundits and politicians. Civilization is deemed highly desirable and reverting back to the stone age is considered by most to be highly undesirable. Be that as it may, we can pretty much surmise that everything possible will be done to make sure that this does not happen (despite civilizations final conclusions anyway, foresight is not a strong human attribute).
It is my prediction that planned (orchestrated) population reduction and resource hoarding will commence in earnest, far beyond what we have already seen, as the tactical response to the Olduvai Theory. Beyond this theory, there is of course the very real impacts of resource depletion and climate change and the inability to “permit” the third or even the second world to achieve first-world living standards. This has already been widely recognized — and a tactical response to this demand will soon commence (imo).
Irregardless of the lip-service we have all seen of fairness, justice and equity for “all” (which is really stating it will be business as usual and especially more “business” and privilege and protection for the world’s elite), the reality of what is occurring in the real world as opposed to our minds is very different. The impoverished conditions of the worlds citizens are most definitely NOT improving and never will. The Olduvai Theory also means we live at the apex of our civilization and it is all downhill from here for the rest of us.
But I also think this means that a tactical response will be deployed in earnest to reduce the worlds populations by several billions (at least), preserve the remaining resources for “technological and industrial centers”, and permit the rest of the world to basically go to hell in a handbasket as far as you and I are concerned.
One step towards this goal is the rise of the police state and global fascism that we are now seeing, especially here in Amerika and England. Controlling the unruly populations with a big stick will be necessary.
You should know that this also ties directly in with the UN agenda to reduce the world population by billions. Even ‘extreme environmentalist‘ agree this “must” happen. USA Today ran an article this year that claimed the United States population would hit “1 billion”, over three times it’s current number, by the year 2100. Nobody in their right mind would agree that this would be a good idea. It is of course, not even possible that this would happen because we will crash long before then, but you get the idea.
We are in fact, all faced with a severe problem, one which must be addressed. If populations continue to climb, we WILL destroy ourselves. If we embark on a genocidal campaign to reduce population, we ARE destroying ourselves, but with the “hope” that we are doing it for the “greater good of humanity and its future existence”. If we do nothing at all, but restrict population to current levels (a total pipe dream, we simply cannot behave ourselves), then all we would do is delay the inevitable a few years.
The other and final option is what I suspect the globalists will actually do, and that is to preserve civilization and industry by reducing world population levels dramatically through various means, including war, genocide, starvation and deprivation, disease and sickness. Selected cities and regions will be established to preserve civilization. As of yet, I do not know where they are.
As horrible as this is, I believe this is the only response they will see as being the “moral choice”, saving future humanity (and themselves) from the ultimate and inevitable destruction of civilization to come. By doing this, they will be attempting to preserve the remaining world’s non-renewable resources as long as possible and this will permit civilization and industry to continue (and their vested interests of course).
Reverting back to the stone age is simply not an option. Everything possible will be done to avoid this including global genocide.
I realize this is not “news” to collapse watchers, but there are a lot of newcomers that read this blog now. This is an agenda that has been talked about for decades and is found deeply rooted at the heart of many global policies.
The problem with it is (setting aside the morality of this issue for a moment) it makes sense. We’ve become too big and too voracious to continue like this much longer. If we do, we will consume ourselves anyway, killing off our entire species along with everything else. If we do nothing — we die anyway. If we do something, the choices will be unbelievably difficult, because it means that most of us will not live.
Fortunately, I myself don’t have to make this choice, neither do you. It is already being made for us. So my question at this point becomes “how do you survive this?” coming genocide? It will happen anyway, either externally imposed upon us by events and circumstances (sooner), or self-inflicted by sheer negligence (later).
This blog has dealt with this issue in the collapse series of articles and entries, but not as specifically as I would have liked. This is in part due to the various natures and abilities of the readership, we are all at different levels of our personal preparations and plans, and not everybody is all on the same page. The blog has attempted to highlight the issues primarily that surround us all from a collapse perspective, rather then detail the designs.
The issues are clear — we are all in severe peril and this peril is growing by the day. It is coming at us from many different directions, but will all involve our response at different times and levels. How you respond is well, really up to you. I’ve tried not to get into too many details on this because I think each response is different for every person. In general though, I do think there are common themes that we all need to embrace (read on).
I can romanticize quite easily what it would be like to live in the stone age, but it doesn’t really matter to me, because I will never see it. Your kids very well might however which is why it then becomes quite pertinent to humans living today. But I can’t possibly romanticize what it would be like to live under more tyranny or global genocide, or having to “buy” energy units in order to exist. Well, we do that already, it called kilowatts and gallons and pounds, but I meant under a quota program. We’re all very accostomed to getting what we want, when we want and all that we want. That won’t last much longer.
Quotas are coming by the way, that should be self-evident. In a nation that uses 25% of the worlds energy, but comprises less then 2% of the world’s population, quotas for your energy usage and consumption are coming. Right now, you pay as you go to live the privileged life of an Amerikan, and that will always be the case. But you won’t always be able to consume excessive amounts of food, fuel or energy (or even renewable resources like water) forever. They will restrict this with a broad brush as time goes on.
The “answer” to all of this has always remained the same. Humans must embrace a new ethic and a new level of existence if they are to survive much longer on this planet. Since this is not happening (not in America), then it will eventually be imposed upon us by external forces.
The better choice then would be to do it now while you can still choose. It will be the lack of choice in the future that will make this harder to accept then willingly choosing now. You can actually stand a chance to avoid the coming global genocide if you choose now to live independent of the system, instead of being entirely reliant upon it.
This should be self-evident, but in case it’s not, here’s why: the teeming billions that now exist are entirely reliant upon the failing agro-industrial system for their existence. This will only worsen their conditions and existence as time goes on, the Olduvai Theory proves that, as does peak oil, energy decline and resource depletion and climate change.
Those still “in the system” and reliant upon it for their existence will be the first to be affected by all of the above. They will also be the first ones removed in the coming genocide. Whether planned or accidental, the end result will be the same, billions will perish. Therefore, remove yourself (choose) to become self-reliant and take care of your needs as soon as you can, then teach this to your children, who are going to need this the most.
We should be setting up centers all over the world to become self-reliant, but common sense and foresight on the pending issues facing humanity remain ignored. It’s too bad, because we could do quite a lot if we wanted to avoid the other outcome, which I’m convinced will be pretty horrific. Preserving human life is not a strong suit of civilization, which takes and destroy lives with abandon. Civilization (and industry) is insensitive to life actually. This indifference springs forth from the disconnected nature (modern) civilization and industry has with nature, which is the source of all life on Earth.
By becoming self-reliant, you will have made a rather major step towards your own survival and that of your children. The global genocide to come will still be a very real factor, but you will have done what you can, when you can to try and survive this.
Finally, this is after all, your only real choice anyway. If most of humanity (if not all, but I believe the globalists will develop technological and industrial centers for selected membership while they suck the rest of the planet dry of resources) is headed back to the stone age anyway, then take a step in that direction now and become self-reliant. The education you will gain will be absolutely invaluable — and quite essential for your continued existence.
Several people have pointed out to me the recent and real scare by the Department of Fatherland Security and the clear and present danger this agency represents with the newly designated “Constitution Free Zones”. If you have not heard about this, you should.
What is happening is the thugs at Homeland Security have designated a 100 mile wide “free zone” around the entire US border as being exempt from Constitutional protections. According to the ACLU, this zone encompasses a full 2/3 of the entire United States population.
Most U.S. cities fall within this region, and most U.S. citizens live within the 100 mile border zone. This area represents 197.4 million Americans. Anyone within this region can be stopped and searched illegally for any reason, probable cause is not required.
Wired has a article on this story, as does the ACLU.
In a video shown to reporters at a national press conference event Wednesday, retired San Diego social worker Vince Peppard complained that he and his wife were stopped at a checkpoint on a road east of San Diego
on I-94, many miles after crossing back into the United States with tiles he’d bought in Mexico.When he refused to let the Customs and Border Protection officer search his car, the officer led him to a bench, called in the contraband dog and then “ransacked” his car.
“I didn’t feel like I was inside the U.S.,” Peppard said, calling the search on the side of the road embarrassing. “I felt like I was in a B-movie with Nazis asking for my papers.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPOuj-WzAoA
It is already much too late to say “this is how it all begins”, because illegal search and seizure has long been a policy of the U.S. Government against the citizens. Over 5,000 properties per week are seized by the IRS for example, and breaking door down in the middle of the night and simply killing the occupants inside is also the norm.
This is just yet another example of how American freedoms are being simply discarded or ignored by our “protectors”, who have long lost sight of what their job was really supposed to be. They recognize nothing except their own might and consider you their enemy (and victim).
Sorry I’m slow getting this article up, my eye still hurt like the dickens and it’s actually pretty uncomfortable to sit at the computer still, but things are improving.
This is right out of a science fiction novel, except it’s not. It’s a Pentagon request:
The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to provide a “Multi-Robot Pursuit System” that will let packs of robots “search for and detect a non-cooperative human”.
“What we have here are the beginnings of something designed to enable robots to hunt down humans like a pack of dogs. Once the software is perfected we can reasonably anticipate that they will become autonomous and become armed.
We can also expect such systems to be equipped with human detection and tracking devices including sensors which detect human breath and the radio waves associated with a human heart beat. These are technologies already developed.”
Anybody know how to kill a robot? I do. Hunt down the S.O.B’s that designed, deployed and manage these things and kill them. Robot problem solved.
I have re-enabled the shopping cart again, those of you that have asked, it should be operational now.
My eye is better, still painful, but I finally got some pain killers to put into the eye. This made a dramatic difference. The first 24 hours were sheer agony. For some reason, the emergency room refused to prescribe any pain medication and I endured the first night thinking rather dark thoughts.
What happened is I tore my cornea while using a power saw (with no safety goggles). I probably made it worse by immediately grabbing my eye and trying to wipe out the debris. When this didn’t work, I tried to flush things out, but could not find my eye cup (strange how you can’t see the very thing you need when this happens) and resorted to a shot glass full of water instead (this is the only reason I have a shot glass, I don’t drink hard liquor).
Eventually, I did find the eye cup and kept flushing things out, but it was already too late. Within two hours, I was ready for the emergency room. The damage was pretty extensive, three scratches, one pretty large and wide. I can’t really describe the pain, other then taking a knife to your eye and twisting it in non-stop. They told me it would get better and it has, but it took a while.
Take it from me — wear your safety glasses. There is a term used by motorcyclist, All The Gear, All The Time (ATGATT), even if you’re just going to ride your machine across the street. This is also true when working with equipment or wherever there is even the slightest chance of injury to your eyes — wear your safety glasses. I have a dozen pairs and was doing a tiny job requiring only two cuts and got lazy and forgetful. This oversight (no pun intended) cost me about a $1000, so “lesson learned”.
Right now, it’s painful, but usable again, so I’m back in business. I “see” the Drudge Report has yet another absolutely useless headline, “No Signs Of Al Qaeda Election Threat”. Of course there isn’t, Al Qaeda is a fiction. The fear-mongering employed by the Republicans is yesterday’s old tired news — but it still affects the ignorant and unwary.
I think the Republican party is extremely desperate right now to be honest. A disingenious story of a McCain supporters being facially disfigured are being spiked in the news. I mean, c’mon, do you really think this is going to make a difference in the (s)Election?
So far, it looks like the (s)Election IS going to happen. It also looks like the Iran fear-mongering has tapered off as I expected. Bush & Co., are indeed making plans for their “after party” of plundering the world as they ride off into the toxic Texas sunset. But what a mess they have made!!! In a just world, they would hung out to dry after being drawn and quartered. And they deserve it too, that and more. The suffering and devastation that they have caused will be remembered for a thousand years if we manage to survive that long. The absolute WORST presidency in American history, bar none.
I’m still not voting, no way. I am withholding my consent to the entire political process as being fair, ethical or even moral. I also do not believe that throwing my vote away is worth doing, or giving the system the credibility it desperately lacks by voting to “participate” and give legitimacy to what I know to be fraudulent. I will be “governed” whether I like it or not and it won’t make a lick of difference by who. Both candidates are for the System and for war, death and destruction and more Empire. Not me, I’m for everything they are not.
A few days back before losing my sight, I did see a program that showed how incredibly hard it was to be involved in the political process (John Stossel show). Groups that were promoting one political party or view are subject to campaign finance laws, which are absolutely immense. Covering a very thick book, they cover all the reporting requirements and restrictions that govern anybody who might decide to promote a candidate (including themselves of course). The book is over 500 closely typed pages long and would span a football field and a half.
I forget which university this was, but a university professor decided to find out if ANYBODY was capable of complying with these regulations and conducted a test. Over 200 people took the test that was set up — all 200+ people FAILED. This is very telling, and Stossel called it correct — it’s rigged to be in favor of the incumbent parties already in office and to keep “outsiders” from participating and having any effect on the system.
Even if your party has zero funding and is all volunteers, you are STILL required by federal law to submit to this monstrosity. Most people simply give up when they get slapped with these restrictions. One lady, who was running an all-volunteer, zero financing campaign, was hit with a $10,000 fine for failure to comply.
It is countless examples like this that demonstrate that our political process is a total waste of time. Trying to reform the system is only a joke for gullible fools who should know better by now. Nobody “reforms the system”. NOBODY. This is a blatant lie and it never works. But every (s)Election cycle, the pundits and politicians keep spewing the same lies over and over and over again, “Change”, “Reform”, “A New Direction” and what do we get? The same old bullshit, over and over again and nothing changes.
Nothing ever will because the root causes are always unaddressed. They are taboo, fault lines in the foundation of our entire system. We quickly cover them up and marginalize anyone who dares reveal their dangers. This is too bad, because the world would be a better place if we would just be honest with ourselves and come to grips with what is really at fault in our society.
No matter, wishing for something like this in one hand and ten cents in the other still won’t buy you a cup of coffee.
Not unrelated:
Police departments in cities across the country are beefing up their ranks for Election Day, preparing for possible civil unrest and riots after the historic presidential contest. Police Prepare for Civil Unrest
I call this fear-mongering “bullshit” too. There may be some protest, but riots? Yeah, right. Only if somebody shoots Obama or they catch McCain with his hands in the cookie jar (rigged election) or something like that. But I doubt it very much. Sounds like a great excuse to practice or deploy martial law and for the the tech toys to be brought out into the light of day.
Like everything else America does when it comes to stoking fear, this is yet another gross overreaction by our “leaders” (idiots in charge). I suspect that a lot of these “riot police” will actually be deployed at election booths, which I thought was illegal. Fear and intimidation works.
Here’s how to avoid “riots” and civil unrest for our elections: Conduct a fair and honest election (versus (s)Election). Allow qualified candidates to run for office that actually represent the will of the people. Eliminate lobbyists and electronic voting machines. Provide paper ballots and accurate, timely recounts where necessary. Bingo — no riots, no unrest.
There is a reason that they make things so complicated these days instead of just using common sense. My comments about campaign finance laws are an example here. By making things deliberately difficult, they can make sure that you are never accurately appraised of what is actually going on and remain basically uninformed of the real truth, nor can you ever hope to have any effect (reform) on any of it.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again — the entire System is rigged from the get-go. It will never be fair, honest, ethical, moral or just, because it can’t. Not because the people do not want it, it is because the people that control it make sure that it will never, ever happens. The tiny “victories” were justice is served or honesty prevails are minuscule compared to the injustice that is actually delivered day in and day out.
This is why voting does not work, reform does not work or even ‘participatory democracy’ does not work. The System is terribly lopsided and rigged to favor those in power and it will remain that way until it is brought crashing down.