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EXTEND & PRETEND: A Matter of National Security, Submitted by Gordon T. Long of Tipping Points
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Now no one, and no entity, can be permitted to be seen to FAIL.
To fail would be to deny the American Dream of ever-rising living standards, generation after generation. For the politicians, this is simply impossible to allow...To have anyone seen to fail would negate America's navel-gazing and self-deceptive idea of the nation's "role in the world".
America would become MORTAL. Dependent on something, no longer omnipotent, no longer universally aspired-to and respected.
If our children's lifestyles are not going to equal our own or those of our parents, this will lead to a restlessness, a feeling of "Why go on without change?" and - possible civil unrest.
The legitimacy of the government itself would be at stake.
Alex de Toqueville pointed out that in early 19th century America bankruptcy was neither a social nor economic impediment. The opposite of Europe. The idea of taking risks without a safety net was part of the national character. Thousands of farm families risked everything, including their lives, to invest in a trek across the continent for a possible better situation in Oregon and California. We used to let airlines and auto makers go out of business. Somehow we survived the loss of Studebakers and Ramblers, TWA and Pan American. Corruption has changed all that. But we are not Europe, yet. We will come out of this looming economic collapse with a zero tolerance for corruption and a new economy built on honest money and a free market. We are going through the mother of all corrections and I bet we correct quite a bit. We have the advantage of a Constitution that, when adhered to, protects the citizen from tyranny and cronyism. The rest of world doesn't have this rudder. We could see a replay of the French Revolution, etc. Maybe a bull market in weapons and ammunition.
To maintain that fiction - that America is a land of risk-takers and adventurers - no one can be left behind. They've bailed out banks. The unemployed, for 99 weeks each. They've saved AIG, Fannie, Freddie and that icon of American 'ingenuity', GM.
They've bailed out home"owners" with artificially-cheap money and low, low subsidized (by the saver and investor) interest rates. They've even bailed out the soon-to-be redundant education mills, with subsidized tuition fee loan schemes.
There are "programs" for the poor, the homeless, the unemployed, the immigrant, the uneducated, the bankrupt, the debtor, the battered wife, the alcoholic husband, "people of colour", anyone silly enough to open a small business.
There are "safety nets" for retirees, for penniless retirees, for irresponsible non-saving retirees, for government employees, for their families, for unemployed new graduates (loan deferment), for ex-miltary.
Even the military itself now is largely a social program for those involved, with the best in health care, food, accomodation pensions and artificial glory.
WHY should anyone risk anything to better himself and his family if his competition is completely protected from failure cradle-to-grave?
It's like a Soylent Green society...everyone shuffling around doing nothing.
I'd like to think that sucking down huge amounts of corn syrup from cradle to grave is a bit more than nothing.
Don't forget artificial sweeteners!
Funny how giving up both for only a few weeks makes anything containing them taste anywhere from "off" to "absolutely horrid".
Here's a good experiment...give up all soda, even diet drinks. In a few weeks go to McDonalds, order a Big Mac and fries, and try to wash it down with nothing but water. Disgusting.
What's really interesting is that since the wife and I have been on a mission to eliminate all artificial sweeteners and most corn syrup from our diet, we can't stomach chain restaurant food. It's either independently owned or we eat at home.
The other nice side effect is that ever since we gave up diet soda, my wine palate has improved and I've developed a taste for beer for the first time. Nice to have the old taste buds back.
So true... cut down on my intake of sugar to fruit only sources and I have never felt better. Coffee... black no suger and breakfasts like they came directly out of a combine harverter. Sure difficult to chew and overcome the gag response... but when you do your days are packed with stable energy flows. Strangely you get used to it fast and even end up enjoying it. And why the hell does anything sweet after a couple of days taste like crap?
(And let's not even talk about the need for no toilet paper.)
Oil is now part of our RDA. Who's in charge down there? Imagine evacuation. LOL. It would be worse than the clean up effort. Better to not even try. Just let people drop like flies. Millions with no place to go. We do have lots of empty homes nationwide...hmmmm.
http://abcnews.go.com/wnt/video/bp-oil-cleanup-louisiana-jindal-10946558...
Corrupt politicians have derailed the American Dream. When we have no spare change for the guy who won't work, we will get the train back on the track. Political correctness will be discarded as a waste of time. Feelings will be about feeling hungry or tired, etc. Then, after a generation or two, when we have a new class of unproductive eggheads and deadbeats we may repeat the cycle into stupidity and corruption. There's an old bush hippie expression, "Getting together with Brother Ass." It's meant for starry eyed people from the suburbs who just to smoke dope all day and marvel at the beauty of nature, the clovely fall colors, and the sparkling waterfalls. When they need to be getting a supply of fire wood together before the snow is too deep. In hard times those who don't get together with Brother Ass will freeze their ass in the dark.
Or . . .
We can have the mafia business model that is so prevalent in the US (government and corporate domains) enforced upon us. I don't see a "flushing" of the corrupt practices, rather the enhanced holding on of those practices by TPTB. Everyone will want to consider themselves to be a part of these "elite" (whether it be the "master race", God's chosen people, or whatever other elitist title can be foisted upon a willing populace), and will toe the line hoping to get the crumbs from the ever more distant TPTB's table. Greed, status, envy, gluttony, Anger, fear et al. lead to continuation of the corruption and a populace willing to accept suffering and privation in the hopes of attaining the status of the elite.
I see your scenario happening in other places where the people are too dependent on Big Brother to have the experience of getting by without ripping off someone else. You bring to mind that the Sicilian Mafia had its roots in hard times and hungry people. I don't think we are there yet. While Greeks demand more hand outs our Tea Party says enough free lunches, already. A completely different response to government insolvency based on a different history.
I actually see it happening already, although in less expressive ways (I always use exaggeration for emphasis). The Tea Parties cry for enough free lunches, but demand that the gov't doesn't touch their SS or Medicare or Medicaid. The government is already insolvent, banks are already insolvent, much of the over-leveraged populace is insolvent. The stuff just hasn't hit the fan, yet. As soon as it does, (and it is not a matter of if, but when), then civil discord will occur and TPTB will be forced to implement increasing waves of martial law to maintain "law and order". (Interesting phrase, what is really meant by "order"? Not functioning stop lights, but the maintenance of the upper class at the expense of the middle and lower classes.) I am already seeing a simmering of additional racial tensions occurring (black/brown/white/green etc.), people becoming concerned about their economic conditions (employment/unemployment/underemployment), and just plain fear. How do they address this? Ignoring it, avoiding it, not preparing for a change in basic lifestyles, and blaming it all on Obama (who, I feel, has disappointed many of us. You can't overturn 30 years of government/personal corruption overnight, but you can start at any time!). AIMMHO
Bullsh*t. Instead of analyzing the Tea Party's position on issues, you repeat one foolish comment made by one person in the audience.
Have you considered a career in TV news? You're a natural!
Insofar as early Am settlers are concerned, they risk they took was perhaps great, but so was the reward - free land, free dom, etc. Not a bad deal, esp for an immigrant right off the boat, without a penny in his pocket. When you already have nothing, risk is at par.
The Constitution does protect its citizens, but only on paper, which is cold comfort. The operational word there is "adhered" to. The guv hasn't adhered to it in at least a hundred years. In fact, the ink was barely wet on the founding docs when the guv was actively prosecuting people for anti-government speech. It's a lot easier to have high ideals than to live up to them.
The revisionists have gotten their way. Rather than monkey with contracts seen as sacred by many freedom-loving peoples, they have simply "interpreted" them according to contemporary "academic" thought. It's the same old lefty deconstruction we've seen for decades and decades - finding hidden messages in the founding docs that betray the very purpose and spirit of them. And once they establish a legal precedent, they tend to honor it as long as it fits the latest social strata. If you don't believe that, you haven't been paying attention to the now legal confiscatory powers in regards to private land seized for public use. WTH? How many laws restrict religious freedom? Tons. Again, WTH?
I wish I shared your enthusiasm for a Constitution contract that is honored, but the warnings of the Founders regarding the dangers of unbalanced powers have been ignored, and citizens have let government trample their freedoms.
But, EP, a penniless immigrant had to get a job and save for the capital needed to buy a wagon, team and supplies to make a western homestead a reality. A single guy could make it with a horse, rifle and ammo, but he learned wilderness skills fast enough to stay alive. Both pairs of my grandparents sold everything they had in order to move by Model A Fords and wagons to the high plains of Texas where the boll weevil wouldn't destroy the cotton crop. But their risk was small compared to those who pioneered across the continent. I am optimistic that we will bring back equal justice before the law and a Constitution that understood and respected. When I lived in Canada I saw a much more decentralized system at work. We paid more attention to what was happening in Victoria than in Ottawa. I can't even name the governor of my home state of Okla. The tax money goes to DC and that's where the action is. Yet their repatriated Constitution is government centered, rather than citizen centered as ours is supposed to be, thanks to Trudeau, the very European Canadian, father of multiculturalism.
you pretend to know a lot about canada for an american. Trudeau screwed canada permanantly but he retains saint like status amongst the baby boomer leftists who voted for him their first time to the polls. virgins alway remeber their first time.
Trudeau was a commie cocksucker who dealt a blow to Canada from which it will never recover. He screwed western Canada with his National Energy Program, imposed martial law in Quebec, opened the floodgates of immigration merely to procure a voter base and jacked the national debt into the stratosphere, when he wasn't in Cuba partying with Castro. Fuck Trudeau. I piss on his grave.
chimp
I was being polite. He was a commie cocksucker.
thanks for the junk. stasher.
Sorry, since the advent of the Federal Reserve we were doomed, it was only a matter of time.
There is a reason our Constitution gave Congress and Congress alone the power to mint coins and regulate the value thereof, because our forefathers knew the danger of paper money.
Say what you want about Congress, but they are the People's representatives, if they mess up the system they will at least do it in a reasonably quick fashion, and the People will elect someone to design something better.
Unlike the Federal Reserve system, with its hubris that central planning of anything, at any time, actually worked, who can keep the charade going so long a much bigger, more catastrophic collapse occurs.
Dear Treeplanter,
I am assuming that you are writing tongue in cheek since the constitution in the real word has been eviscerated by corrupt and morally decadent politicians serving private bankers and royal families. Or do you really believe that the Federal Reserve will miraculously disband, GS will actually apply ethics, that Israel will embrace the Palestineans as brothers, that the black nobility will suddenly give up their wealth and power and join up with the common man etc, etc. No, we are mind controlled from cradle to grave and it is NOT going to change simply by adopting the constitution. We will be told that we are adhering to the constitution yet it will be ignored in the same way that the USSR constitution was praised and disregarded. Read or re-read 1984, Brave New World, and Gulag Archipelago if you wish to understand where we are going
On a separate note, whatever it is that you are smoking, I want some of that!
Someone either here or at Mish's said it best:
When none can fail, all will fail.
The idea of taking risks without a safety net was part of the national character?
How? The safety net has always existed in the US. In your examples, the Indians were the ones providing the safety net. Something wrong in the US? Take land to solve the problem.
Indeed, in Europe (main land, not the colonies), Indians as a safety net did not exist and expansion at the cost of someone else was a much more dangerous endeavour.
A lot of US citizens come with fabled visions for one reason only: they cannot cope with the fact that their country was based on theft.
Theft works well for people who have little to be robbed of. Theft is another story when you are the one who own the majority of the biz.
After reading some other comments, djeee, obvious people lament the good old days of expansion, free land? Find some new Indians if you want free land the way the US settlers were handed down by the US government.
Oh puh--leese. Except for the citizens of Candyland, every single person on this planet lives on land that was stolen from others. The fact that almost all of those thefts occurred back in the mists of time gives a lot of european citizens a holier-than-thou attitude that is most annoying. Perhaps it is they who can't cope with the fact that their countries were based on theft.
The comment is wrong on two levels.
One is that people do not live on lands that was stolen. Human emigration outside of Africa is a reminder of that. Aborigenicals dont live on stolen lands as their ancestors found the land to be empty of human presence when they first settled in. Many people in the surrounding islands are in a similar case.
The second level is by way much more important. Theft is one dimension but denial of theft is another.
US citizens love to tell to themselves they succeeded because of this, of that at the exclusion of theft. On the very contrary, they exclude theft of their cause for success by putting forward that the respect of property was a cornerstone of their success.
So they come with all strange stories about the good old past, being unable to cope with it.
Another section has it: how gang attitude prevails in the US. Here was a typical gang attitude. When pointing out their actions, usually, gang members threw at each other's face their respective actions. A kind of brotherhood in crime. "We are all criminal so lets not talk about our crimes"
Unfortunately, reality is a mean mother. Fact other did the same does not negate the fact the US stole to get where they are. Would be wonderful if it was the case. It is not.
The politicians won't "allow" it, huh?
THAT is the problem, that very thinking that the politicians own us.
Extend & pretend is like a weasel debtor who hooks up an answering machine so he doesn't have to take calls from bill collectors. The debts still accrue interest, and the weasel isn't more secure.
a weasel debtor
spoken like a wall street banksta with a corner office
I'm giving PROPS to Chamillionaire for his reasons why he did a strategic default on his Houston mansion.
I think he got his priorities right. I found this profound:
part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfkwobtND-U
part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JomKXb7RBs
Well, not a lot of new info here that isn't already regularly discussed in these forums. Nice to see the political angle mentioned, however, as we are truly on the road to some type of fascist dictatorship.
+1. Well written piece that summarizes a lot of the discussions here. Though, I firmly believe that this period of "sturm und drang" will eventually lead to better times. It will be a very bumpy ride, though. The 1950's were good, but the trip to there, from 1929, was hell.
The 1950's were good? If thats all we have to look forward to, then just implode this whole crap wagon today!! Crappy damn surf music... I HATE the '50's!!
The 1950's were relatively stable, peaceful (with the major exception of the Korean War) and prosperous. I don't like surfer music either, but it is better than rap. Probably the worst thing about the 1950's was the birth of youth culture.
I think surf music started in the early 60's.
fascist/communist/socialist, government by it's nature exsists for control (good or bad).
legislation is the weapon and the only tool government can use.
as the author writes: there has been a continuing expansion of government in America as a logical outcome ..the communist ideology is the "ideal model" of those who view government as best tool for management of people.
dictatorship cannot be avoided without a citizen who will not bend to the will of the elite rulers.
they have been cooking us slowly for a very long time.
Dont want to break too hard your illusions but in the US (as many places), the government has always been as big as it was possible.
The US government was big enough to organize the hand outs of the Indian lands. Later, technology has added other means to get the gov bigger.
People claiming that the US government was small at the start are once again people zapping the fact that the US organized the biggest transfer of land in man history.
Once we begin down the slippery slope of lies and deceit "in the best interest of the people" we can justify all manner of things, including false flag attacks, murder of citizens, surveillance of individuals and groups, seizure of property and so on.
This has nothing to do with "in the interest of the people" and everything to do with "in the interest of the powers that be" who have been lying, stealing, cheating the people for centuries. Once you begin to lie, each and every subsequent lie is intended to support or cover up prior lies. Period.
Lying at this level is intended to maintain the current paradigm and power structure. They convince us we should support their lies by insisting it's in our best interest to maintain their lies. Reject this ultimate lie. It is not in our best interest to support their best interest.
The lies are similar to compound interest, barely noticeable at first, undeniable later on.
something about a web that gets tangled I think
I think the tangled web is an all out Gordian Knot. There is only one fix, and it is rather abrupt.
Were just friggin Phrygians, beat down by the empire, looking for a leader. Can I borrow an ox cart and an eagle?
They are deceiving themselves as well CD. Their kleptocratic system has no limitations but their own greed... which of course is insatiable. It must eventually therefore collapse upon itself.
We will be ready.
Crazy kitty. We have at least 20 generations before critical mass is achieved. Buy the dips and you can upgrade to premium grade kitty litter and purchase more Catnip imported from Afghanistan(Afghan Kush).
Kush is best! you know your stuff Asshat! :)
NOVEMBER INCUMBENT BLOODBATH !!!! MAKE IT HAPPEN !!!!
This is only round 1 kids. It will take at least 3 general election cycles if not 4 to achieve the changes needed.
It will be a tough 6 or 8 years. The alternative is much worse. Especially if you have children and grand children.
The time to be tough and diligent has arrived.
"NOVEMBER INCUMBENT BLOODBATH !!!! MAKE IT HAPPEN !!!!"
Makes sense... go back to the shills that enabled the current situation, and are fighting ANY kind of reform (however watered down).
The alternative?
Take up arms?
Exactly what they want and expect.
"We told you about this growing domestic terrorism threat, thank God for the Patriot Act"
They still fear the vote. And they need to. Why do you think they expend so much money and effort to control the outcome of the elections?????
Like I said, 3 to 4 general election cycles.
How does voting out incumbents = voting in Republicans? Seems to me it is possible to replace a Democrat with a Democrat and a Republican with a Republican.
+1.3x10^13
Think I got this mantra from someone here on zerohedge (sorry original author, but at least I admit it isn't mine): If they're in, they're out!
Lying is the hallmark of the sociopath. If you know someone who lies, it's time to read up on sociopaths.
Sociopaths ruin lives.
Excellent comments, CD.
I really have little patience with the fools (such as the one who wrote this drivel of little import) who always proclaim: "I'm not a conspiracy buff...."
Screw your useless butt....there is no economy, no media and America is fundamentally a criminal enterprise.
And any and all who refuse to acknowledge this are criminally responsible.
The creation of a global financial virus, securitized financial instruments based upon debt (credit derivatives and credit default swaps), and controlled by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley cannot be ignored.
I realize this is but a factor of a rotten system, but if someone can't say the obvious, all bets are off...
+ Bunches and bunches, gobs and gobs and oodles and oodles, CD.
The Best Interests of the People Cannot be Managed by Other than the People Themselves.
F-ing A.
I disagree. The people have changed. The government has been run by the banks and corporations for at least 100 years. As long as there was trickle down, and the flow increased with each generation, there was contentment amongst the hand licking cows. NAFTA sowed the seeds of destruction of whatever virtue there was in the consumer capitalist economy. WTO for China was a nuclear bomb to American labor. The Greespan bubbles with Wall Street and DC criminal fraud was the asteroid Armageadon.
The head is dead, the body is just realizing it, one nerve cell at a time.
+1 Absolutely, the people have changed.
Our forefathers did not "give up" and "roll over" as many are advocating, saying "I can't fight the machine." Bull.
Never give up. Never, never give up. This is America.
@HFK
I am with you. I will never get up the dream. Many here, me included, engage in heavy cynacism and outrage, but I'm not just here to vent. Que Churchill, "We will fight them on the beaches...."
I vent at home to my children more than anywhere else because the fight may depend on them.
Last weekend my 15yr old was at a friends swimming and someone got her friends cellphone wet. He dropped the F-bomb. A couple hours later the police showed up and told the teens the neighbors had video camera's pointed at the pool showing the kids and the curse word. My daughter said to the police that she hadn't given her permission to be videoed and she was a minor. The cop replied "well just try and keep it clean" and left.
She came home and told me about it. Her opinion was that it was way more disturbing to know that a 50 year old man did surveilance on childen swimming than hearing a 16 year say a curse word.
I'm proud of her for understanding that she has rights and for sticking up for herself without being intimidated. We will need kids like her.
That is the most encouraging, and at the same time creepy, thing I have read all week....hell all year. You should be proud.
I'm just as proud of you as you are of your daughter. Her awareness doesn't just happen out of the blue but is nurtured and groomed by the parents in the household. You're doing something right and I tip my hat to you. It's these little battles that are the set up for the larger more important one's that are coming.
And regarding that 50 year old peeping Tom, you might wish to pursue that a little further. While walking on a public street might not imply privacy, a back yard does to some extant, including the right not to be filmed. Since it's not your own back yard, you might be limited but still.
He was videotaping underage girls in their own swimming pool. If I were her I would go to my local police and demand that they charge him with child pornography. Call the media too and see if you can get them involved.
Now you're just no better. Shame on you. I doubt a child predator would've called the police in the first place. He's probably some scrooge who just hates loud mouthed teenagers.
A cry for help. Do you need some Buddy Christ?
It's called empathizing. I, personally, would have no problem with teenage girls swimming next door to me, and I would also have a problem with my neighbor videotaping me as I swim.
You asked why he would call the cops to his house if he was engaged in illegal activities - child porn.
Many offenders call the cops on themselves. A cry for help.
but what if you're wrong about him while spreading these lies to his neighbors?
So it's ok for someone who claims they hate loudmouthed teenagers to videotape teenage girls in a swimming pool that isn't even his property and then sit in his house reviewing those tapes in your world? I hope you're not living in my neighborhood. You better hope you're not too.
It's no worse than what you're doing. As I said, shame on him, but shame on you in equal measure.
Just because you can't watch teenage girls in a swimming pool without having wicked thoughts doesn't mean someone else who claims to be concerned about home security is equally wicked.
Did you just threaten me?
Wow, you really just made my point.
A little perverted weasel like you would take what I said as a threat.
One of us is definitely perverted.
If you live in the state of Ohio your neighbor can film you in your own yard. I have the misfortune to live next door to a survelliance nut, so this is first hand information. Even though he aimed cameras directly at my lawn with the stated goal of monitoring me, the local police could not help. They were sympathetic, but nothing can be done unless the photographer has demonstrated sexual intent. As CD said, that angle might work.
I'd also like to add my praise for your parenting skills Lucky. You taught your daughter well.
You should put a giant sign in your front yard stating "the person next door at (address) is taping me and the neighborhood without permission." Get the rest of the neighbors pissed off as well.
I do live in OH, my daughter is not aloud at that friends anymore (and the parents understand why) and I told the friend to get a huge banner (like at football games) and write "pedophiles should be castrated" on it!
I don't know who is more corrupt and evil here. You or the crazy old man who hates kids.
Must of hit a nerve.
Sorry, no personal experience on the matter. No story to tell.
I have disagree BC, you are hiding something.
So I called someone out on their witch hunt and now I must also be a witch. Is that about it?
Yea sure pal.
I'm probably closer to your daughter's age than yours. Any pictures?
Oh I'm sure you've got plenty of pictures of underage girls on your hard drive already, at least until the FBI shows up over there.
Based on the posts below, you should accuse him of being a pedophile, crack him over the head, threaten to castrate him, put toilet paper on his house (and then maybe if you have the time and patience and the inclination to do some investigating, although that may not be strictly necessary as the police could do it themselves...you could find out if he is a pedophile).
Reminds me of those twilight zone episodes of the 60's. Boy, that Rod Serling was really onto something.
Doesn't Media Matters pay you to spin more important things than my posts?
dup
That is pretty fucked. I would have some fun with it (better than going for a trip to county)
I guess walking around inside your house naked with the blinds open is illegal in Ohio??
He has the right to look upon you from his yard, and to video it to, from his yard.
While it may be "creepy", it's just him enjoying the views afforded to him by his property.
If you don't like it, put up a fence. Good fences make good neighbors.
Freak
Not trying to stuff multiple families in one home?
A well-known auto dealer is doing just that in Ohio, across from an equally contemptuous Catholic university. The kicker is that they're the only one on the block registering their house to an LLC (ATRD LLC), almost as if they were expecting trouble. Nothing notable about an LLC except for the fact that houses are being bought on the other side and stuffed with multiple families of university folk.
No kids at all in that house, just about $130k worth of middle-class cars from OH, PA, NY at a $150k house for over a month. Good money says they're stuffing multiple families in that house.
Oh, I GUARANTEE you that the local police can help.
Got an underage kid? Tell your neighbor that your underage kid is developing an interest in nudism, and if you learn that your kid is naked in your yard, then you're going to immediately call the police on the neighbor for creating and possessing child pornography. After all, you did *warn* him of the risks he is taking, but he still chose to keep the cameras rolling.
Problem solved--one way or another.
Pretty much everything you do today is under surveillance.
uh, the former prosecutor also wants to know why the hell the police are responding to 911 calls about bikini teens cussing. Maybe the cop's a pervert too.
that guy should be cracked in the head with a bat for several reasons. Hes a perv number one! If my neighbors were to video tape me, it would be pretty much all f-bombs.(thanks USMC!)
You should file a police report, that guy is a predator, at least real creepy.
I'm secretly hoping the kids put on ski masks and toilet paper and liquid ass (look it up) the jerk in the middle of the night. But I would never tell her that ; )
In all seriousness, if I were you I would make sure everyone in the neighborhood knew that this guy was videotaping teenage girls in their swimming pool and looking at the tapes. In my neighborhood, he would be one very sorry individual once word of this made the rounds.
Lucky: I just *had* to look up Liquid Ass. Sounds like a great idea!
ITS THE MOST HORRENDOUS SMELLING STUFF EVER! The joke was on us when we bought it. UPS left it at the door, our pomeranian went out the doggie door and brought the box in, chewed it open and spilled it all over the entry. When we got home we cried from laughter and because our eyes burned from the smell of an entire bottle spilled at once. We'll be laughing about it for the rest of our lives.
One of my old middle school favorites for neighbors we didn't like was simple:
A spool of fishing line
A larger sized threaded nut
A thumb tack
Tie the nut to about a 24" to 36" piece of fishing line.
Tie the other end of that section of line to the tack
Thumb tack the nut above offending neighbors window
Tie the end of the remaining reel of line to the nut
Spool out about 50 or 60 yards of line to a nice piece of cover
Take in the slack and start tapping on the window
Triggers rage, guaranteed.
You can do a similar thing with heavier line and garbage can lids if someone leaves the cans anyplace with a "convenient" overhang over them.
The target looks out and sees the lids going up and down making a racket but sees no perpetrator.
You can also do great things with a very loud boom box that you don't want anymore that has cassett or CD play back capabilities.
!
"Last weekend my 15yr old was at a friends swimming and someone got her friends cellphone wet."
I would definitely make a formal complaint with the police and against the police, for not pursuing voyeurism charges agains this "neighbor."
Something most definitely creepy about this....
You've obviously taught her well. Kudos to you.
However, I've got one to beat that. On of my nurses got called in to school emergently because her son who is 7 was eating his PB & J sandwich and got bored. He looked down at it and realized the bites he had taken out ouf it left it in kind of an "L" shape. So he picked it up like it was a pistol and went "Peww - peww" to his friend. Everyone thought it was funny except for the Camp Guards who felt that he met criteria for expulsion because of their "zero tolerance policy" on guns and recommended psychiatric counseling and family therapy. Thank God she's VERY ballsey and told them to go fxxk themselves and to just try it. They backed down.
Can you imagine?
Assault with a PB & J.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUiHWjODhwA
+1000
..."hand licking cows!!!"... Outstanding Nikki!
(Love your writing style BTW!)
I disagree, too. Unless a foreign government is governing us, it's just people we're talking about. Not just the government, but the actual people, are really no better than people elsewhere.
The only reason any of this is becoming a major issue is for the simple observation that it is not working out very well here. If things were going well in the US, then the people wouldn't have a sense for this at all.
Nothing will change permanently until we abolish the Federal Reserve system. It can too easily print money which masquerades as wealth, and thus is very, very difficult to defeat. Witness this recent crisis where the perpetrator of the crime, the Fed, will gain MORE power.
Only a systemic collapse of the currency will spur meaningful change, but rest assured, it is coming, soon.
b.i.s. says a worldwide currentsea collapse "a good thing", Because if currentseas were worth less imports and goods would be cheaper. it is a way to ease into a deflation scenario, but it would keep equities high. and gold, gold would sky rocket. and because the central banks hoard the majority of the world's gold reserves, then all would be well. something like that. I do not get it either, but this is what appears to be heading down the pike.
also, remember that the Hollywood Futures Index has only 1 more hurdle to clear before it is a go. It has cleared all 3 of the CFTC's (Futures Trading Committee) criteria, now the congress has to approve it. I have heard Congresswoman Lincoln's proposal has been "watered down", does this have to do with allowing Hollywood derivatives? Probably.
The reason that a Hollywood bubble would mask this depression is simple; it would increase velocity in the money supply. The banks have the cash reserves (TARP and STIMULUS) now they will use it to fund this next bubble. This velocity will do the said BIS's work, and then exports will be cheaper.
One important thing to always remember, THE DOELARR IS THE US MAIN EXPORT. Countries such as China, Japan, Russia, Brazil, The House of Saud, and each European country have each $1 trillion of them. Each country. The doelarr is our main export and we want to increase it. This is the Neo-Keynesian economics. Whether the Professors at Princeton and others around the country (Ben Bernanke/Paul Krugman) understand this is another story.
Generally good article. Several thoughts:
1. It is populist tripe to blame government for the moral hazard when the American people share in the blame. Strategic defaults are an example. The flock of those who claim to embrace capitalism to government jobs and contracts is another. The vitriol towards BP and government without a willingness to change our consumption patterns is another. Simply put, the American people take what they want and blame others for the problems it creates. We have the government we deserve.
2. If you go back 100 years, we had no air conditioning, no cars, no traffic, no absurd development patterns that create stress and health problems without contributing to the quality of our lives. We have decentralized our lives on the faulty premise that cheap fuel would always be available. We were wrong. Our system of life is unsustainable and like all societies facing unsustainability we can either change and adopt a more sustainable model based on what we know now or stubbornly cling to that which has been proven unsustainable and perish.
I am not a Luddite, but I do believe there is a middle ground. Why not design houses that use the breezes to cool and the sun to heat? The old dogtrot cabin was designed that way. Why not use the wind as a source of power? Back when there was no alternative we used the wind to lift water and grind grain. These are big problems. They demand big answers, yet all I hear is that we need nuclear. Good Lord, imagine if the BP disaster had been nuclear instead of oil and gas. No, we need to be strong and bold in the face of adversity.
It doesn't mean spending money. It means being creative. It means being courageous enough to admit what is becoming painfully obvious. We need to do things differently. We need to be better.
I have a lot of faith in the American people. We are resourceful and we live in a land of plenty. We can beat this if we choose to. We absolutely can. The only question is whether each and every one of us is really interested in changing and bettering or if we'd rather sit around and point fingers while wallowing in our self-righteous justification.
Extend and pretend is not a matter of national security, rather, it is a symptom of a nation that does not have the courage to deal with reality. That extends from the highest reaches of government to the people you share your street and neighborhood with. There are some special people who post here. Some of you are brilliant. Lead. By example. Now. Without waiting for others. They will follow. They always do.
God Bless.
Yeah, it doesn't require money, just creativity. It doesn't require hard work, just smoke a lot of hopium. Please stop sucking up to our glorious leader, Barry sotero. You're the people we're fighting against. You're a disgrace, to yourself, your family, and to the human race. I tell you now, with people like this, we truly are doomed.
Our own apathy and self indulgence is the enemy. I often thought the State flag of Florida should have an air conditioner displayed prominently on it... I can't stand that sticky heat 24/7 otherwise!
But the bathwater has been getting colder these last several years... the 'huddled masses' are becoming restless...
I disagree that by making domestic changes we necessarily impact the rest of the world to any material degree. The only way to make sweeping environmental changes (energy policy) is to have a unified world government (copenhagen treaty). If compliance is not forthcoming, then we must be willing to bomb other nations into submission. Until we are ready to go to war over environmental standards, we will have a "cheapest" (dirtiest) energy policy that finds the path of least resistance (shitbird and/or apathetic countries and/or countries simply wanting to expand economically and improve their standard of living).
I think that many of these issues will fix themselves. Our level of pollution, as productivity grinds to a halt in the coming decades, will naturally decrease.
However, as the BP spill has shown, we will have a terrible legacy from antiquated energy (see nuclear waste, natural gas contamination of ground water from extraction techniques, oil spills, etc.). In other words, even if we have a new magical energy source, if we do not sink significant efforts into ensuring existing oil/natural gas/nuclear infrastructure remains safe, we face global catastrophe. I'm sure that there are quite a few places that could turn out to be "earth killers" if left unchecked. I believe your comments ignore the future resources necessary to putting a cock in pandora's box. Ultimately, I see a Saganesque theory coming about called "human spaces."
I agree that we need to lead by example. The problem is, it has to be a universal paradigm shift. Until we're willing to force the shift on other countries (utilizing environmental destruction to do so, no doubt), our efforts will be all for naught. In the meantime, we will suffer by forcing additional tax burdens on our self (and other nations dumb enough to go along with us)to account for the cost of change. China already gave you its answer on this one.
PS, leading by example becomes little more than an argument from intimidation. For example, just because japanese executives can fall on their swords or european politicians can step down, doesn't mean anyone else will give a shit (emerging nations) or has to follow suit. Other people will follow suit when they feel it is the right thing to do or, more importantly, when it best suits them. I don't think we're there yet (unless of course we force the issue with war).
Is Pandora hot? If so, I volunteer my cock to put in her box...
Anyone that desperate to become your cock holster will surely give you a souvenir for your efforts. (at best make your private parts itchy and at worst slash your tires and cook your rabbit). Needless to say, you'll have to take a number, as we're all masochists.
hey, impending doom, I was going to just scroll past your post, but then Mr. Lennon Hendrix had a post downthread at 10:02 that changed my mind.
your mind doom? *owned*
when people think it's funny to have an "opinion" that millions of other minds have, simultaneously, then it's over. . . when parents with teenagers ACT like teenagers, not setting an example as an adult, but emulating immaturity, then it's over (stink bombs to deal with a possible sexual predator in your neighbourhood? seriously??)
if anything, amrrkkns could use a swift kick in the ass towards growing up.
. . . which, of course, is on it's way, tantrums or no.
Oh to have my first junking. 5? really? this is so fucking annoying. Please post a response and debate the issue if you're in disagreement. That's how we progress...
Best today comment I think.
As the US is unable to govern themselves, they need to bomb the rest of the world into adopting a way of doing the US is unable to practise.
Econo, spot on in your observations.
And you know what, you can be a luddite and still have a great life.
I call myself a tech-no-logical luddite. A creative one at that.
I live here in hot India (am considered upper middle, enough money, for now anyways), I do not have a refrigerator, no AC, never iron my clothes, buy fresh food every day, consume what is cooked, drive my 14 year old car less than 100 km a month... and a few other ways not appropriate to mention.
Go on folks, be tech-no-logical luddites. Be bold, brave and above all, be yourselves.
Eat less, get used to it. Better now than when hit by shortages, yes?
Such wild times coming!
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
We will change.
It's just a question of whether it will be voluntary or involuntary.
I vote voluntary.
Just bought a Prius. It drives like a toaster oven!
Didn't believe the global warming tripe- just thought it made sense.
That's as good as it gets and then collapses further.
Soon I'll be driving a Moped- then a bicycle.
"Soon I'll be driving a Moped- then a bicycle."
May I gently correct you?
"Soon I'll be riding a Moped- then peddling a bicycle."
There, that's better. :>)
...use the breezes to cool... You sir, have clearly never lived in South Texas where breezes bake, not cool.
Thanks for letting our elected representatives, who work so hard on our behalf and never lie to us, off the hook.
well said!
Wind/solar/tidal, etc. is a nice adjunct, however there's not enough of it at the right times to power civilization. Regarding nuclear, France generates almost all of its power via nuclear and has no problems. Don't bother mentioning Three Mile Island; the containment systems worked.
"Price keeping" for financial assets is a national security priority. Rhetoric about "our commitment to free markets" is propaganda that keeps the chumps betting against rigged outcomes. If you're not on Benny or Timmy's speed dialer, you're the fish. Anyone who doubts the staggering coercive power of the Federal government needs to spend a day on a Marine base. Get with the program -- or get crushed. That is all.
After reading a few "Who is in charge of the U.S.?" threads, It strikes me that maybe the question should be "Is anyone in charge of the U.S.?" If the answer were no, not a single entity, then a few answers suddenly become clearer.
Regards.
+100
Are ANY Americans real?
They want more electricity but hate power plants. They want paper but don't like logging. They want oil but hate oil companies and feel entitled to gas at $1/gal so that they can BRAG about how much they consume. From top to bottom, the leaders are merely giving "us" what we ask for. We cannot HANDLE the truth, after decades of self-deception and echo chamberism.
People were gotcha'd saying they supported Obamma when the interviewer told him that Ruxpin's positions were the same as Muhcane's. They said they agreed with every single thing they attributed to the guy even though his positions were really the OPPOSITE. We have cults of personality, a two-party oligopoly.
At this point, nearly everyone here has probably been accused of being a gloom & doomer. This Mar 09 rally was the worst possible thing that could have happened because it gave the sheeple "hope" again.
I think a lot of this has to do with the division of labor (or labour for you BP execs). We have become so specialized in knowledge that we no longer understand how everything ties together. I find that the most successful people tend to be able to truly understand the interaction of many forces upon their particular market. We simply cannot see the forrest for the trees.
Plenty of examples to choose from... people that love to eat meat at restaurants, but get sickened by looking at meat in a grocery store... the whole we need to reign in corporate bonuses at the same time my 401k go up...
Life for many people has simply become a series of seemingly unconnected events. Don't worry though. I think a lot of these issues are all symptoms of a robust credit system. It will get fixed soon.
edit: made up "credit system" based and backed by nothing but hope and promises.
There, fixed it for you.
I liked the part about specialization. Americans have been modified emotionally to be robotic and reactionary within a certain paradigm of false consciousness.
++ for the "modified emotionally" observation.
emotionally stunted, dependant on daddy-government to keep up the charade of "independence" like so many trust fund brats. . . that so many in this nationstate are now also armed with guns AND a sense of entitlement bodes ill for the months ahead. . .
I'm not sure that it's 'specialization' as much as being the recipient of the labor of folks who are willing to do 'servant' type jobs. I find it the height of illogic to think that since one is a specialist (say a programmer like me), that I shouldn't know or have the facilities to make my own lunch since it's far more 'efficient' for me to use my high value time to program instead. There is an upper limit to me using my high-priced time anyway. Plus I'm not 'fault tolerant' if I don't have the skills to do it myself if the need arises.
I myself felt like I didn't know enough to be really self-sufficient. I learned canning, sausage making, making jerky/dried foods. I've known fishing for a long time, but fish are easy to kill since they don't scream and aren't anthropomorphized to the point of making you too squeamish to do the deed (unless you're a big Charlie Tuna fan). I'm now going to learn hunting, having had some gun training. Maybe I'll have to add panning for gold in my spare time...
I am the same way. The problem is that we are weirdos. Being a "renaissance" person is not necessarily mutually exclusive with specialization, but, in general, the more time you spend in one area, the less you spend in another. We end up being competent in everything and masters of nothing.
Micro econ taught me that I was to specialize in a particular field in order to maximize my profits. While this may be true in a vacuum of "all else equal" (fucking hate that by the way... might as well be "caveat, this bullshit spewed from my mouth has no connection to the real world".
At any rate, what so many people fail to understand is the true cost of not being well rounded. Many people have homes, cars, electronics, etc. They look at the sticker price and think they can afford it. What they fail to recognize is the cost of maintenance, repair, replacement, etc. When they have no margin for error on budgeting and something on the car breaks, they go into the red and never go back because of interest rates. If people actually factored in the real costs to them of all their toys, they should either get rid of them and reduce their standard of living or learn to maintain them (something out of their core competency). If you have to rely on other people not to fuck you all the time, you're going to have one really sore asshole. "your stuff ends up owning you." They can't cook, so they have to eat out all the time... etc., etc., etc. Can't balance a checkbook, so I have to pay all these overdraft charges, etc.
The other problem is that through specialization, we fail to build redundancy in the system. As the labor force contracts, we have specialists left out in the cold without useful skills. Depending on the speed of contraction, the concept of "retooling" is best left to academics.
couldn't agree more MMan!
"specialisation" is a dead end if you can't afford to pay off other "specialists" to service your stuffs. . . like a parasite needs / seeks a host, a focus on one skill to the exclusion of other skillsets leaves you vulnerable if your host disappears. . .
best to have a basic set of skills that can be augmented by others within your circle of community / friends, and barter your time efficiently. . .
For more on trav7777's most accurate comment, I would highly recommend Gene Healy's "The Cult of the Presidency."
I have dreamed that if every home, building, outhouse and other things had collected electricity from wind and the sun across the entire USA and exported unneeded power for income we would be doing well.
However, The cost to outfit my home to follow my own advice and have a little export power (Income) to the grid is much more costly than simply paying the electric and gas bill each month. Imagine if I took out a loan from the bank for tens of thousands of dollars to retrofit my home and then make monthly payments on this retrofit, it's still going to be cheaper to pay the electric and gas bill.
We can definately use the windmills going up across the USA for the grain and the water and industry. It's already happening.
I was raised in a area where there was plenty of milk, fruits, vegs, food products and what have you. There was industry in form of minerals and enough to make brick, charcoal, firebrick, wood products and so on. It was a wonderful place.
Where I live now, there is some resources left but not much. Sometimes I think about moving to another place where there are more things to be done in the old Colonial ways and perhaps even steam powered industry to produce something at home.
But that is a thousand miles.
This Country I have traveled just about all of it in my work over the decades and I gotta tell you, there is everything anyone can ever want right here in the USA. Except maybe rubber or some other products that we need to bring in. The problem is money.
IF we can decouple this land and the people from going into debt to get a job at 21 years old and away from Money and all the bad things associated with it, then maybe we can work our own way out of this mess.
My neighbor and I were talking the other day, he's 60, i'm 36. Being about a generation apart you would think we see things a bit differently but we agree on most of what needs to happen, just not the way to get there.
As an example, we live in Arizona. He believes that every new house being built should have solar water heaters and power built into the costs. I tend to agree, but he thinks it should be enforced by the .gov and I think that people would pay the extra if you could explain the benifits such as lower energy costs and self sufficency. I would love to add panels to my house, but it is expensive to do to an existing structure. I can do most of it myself though and will be looking at that route.
Most of my friends that are near my age in the past couple years have been moving towards self sufficency. We all have started gardens, buy pm's, and have armed ourselves. They always thought I was a bit crazy with the guns and survival stuff but now I get a call about once a month about what is a good handgun or rifle. It gives me hope that some of these people were so helpless when we were younger and now they have a rip roaring garden, can food, and hunt.
I am afraid the American people have changed as well. We are fat, overpaid (those that are employed), deluded into a stupor of entitlement, wasteful, ill informed, politically passive, intellectually lazy, debt bloated, cronified, leaderless yadda yadda. There are millions of developing worlders ready to eat us all for lunch. God bless America.
Overpaid?
So the answer is to cut payrolls until the prices of the things that are now barely affordable but needed for everyday life fall to a new "equilibrium" poind due to lack of demand?
Or will you just stop short and say if housing payments were halved, then wages could fall?
Rock and a hard place my friend.
He probably means overpaid in the sense that wages in the U.S. will have to fall to match the level in places like China and India. This was all laid out very clearly in the 1992 Vice Presidential debates between Gore and Perot, but everyone was too busy commenting on the fact that Perot seemed a bit loony to realize that what he was saying made sense. Too late now though.
Like I said, Rock and a hard place.
Perot was a good candidate. He was a good businessman and had amazing attention to detail.
But he was not a spokesmodel for the TV watching masses so........
Speak for yourself RC.
Not that there aren't alot of effed up things going on, here, but which country is poised to step up and assume the mantle?
China?
http://www.speroforum.com/a/34589/CHINA--Strike-hits-a-third-Honda-plant
"Strikers claim they were beaten by local police after management called them in right after the work stoppage went into effect. The plant’s 1,500 employees appear to have walked off all at once.
Police took away journalists trying to report on the strike, and the authorities immediately deleted internet posts describing it"
How about India?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aErNiP_V4RLc&pid=20601109
"Dodging leering men and stick-wielding farmers and avoiding spots that her neighbors had soiled, the mother of three pulled up her sari and defecated with the Taj Mahal in plain view.
With that act, she added to the estimated 100,000 tons of human excrement that Indians leave each day in fields of potatoes, carrots and spinach, on banks that line rivers used for drinking and bathing and along roads jammed with scooters, trucks and pedestrians. Devi looks back on her routine with pain and embarrassment."
Yum! There are more cell phones activated in India than there are connected tiolets. By far.
I picture someone taking a dump in the Ganges while talking on a cell phone. Sounds like it would make a great T-shirt.
iPood.
http://www.tshirtbordello.com/images/ipood-shirt-lg.gif
Ripped Chunk,
I've been to India twice, and have witnessed this very scene. And yes, you could probably find a t-shirt showing same, but would you really wear it? Besides, ever wonder what the poor in India use for toilet paper? Hint: don't shake hands with an untouchable.
China is at least attempting to raise the standard of living of the peasants. The huge expendetures in infrastructure is not only targeting the elite but also the lower classes. However the ruling elite know there will only be enough "cream" to keep the top 1% in silk and gold.
The goal of the elite in India has ALWAYS been to raise the standard of living for themselves, the top .01%. The caste system is still strictly enforced and will not be made illegal as it should. The Indian elite are doing NOTHING to build the infrastructure required to raise the standard of living for the lower castes. They are only targeting the cities they live in and where their businesses are. There are about 400 million homeless in India. Billions for weapons but there is virtually no infrastructure being built for clean water and waste disposal. The fawning of the western press and politicos over the Indian elite is disgusting.
The gole of the elite in the West is to lower the standard of living for 95% of the populations.
"It isn't that the American people have changed. Our Government has changed."
True, our Government has become a parasitic entity draining the lifeblood of our once great country from within - just as maggots devour carrion from the inside-out. But I disagree with the first premise in the above...
The American people have changed [present company excluded]. The vast majority of the citizenry of this country have allowed themselves to be dumbed-down to such an extent, they don't even notice the quiet destruction all around them. The repudiation of family values and the work ethic has halted progress; indeed, we are now regressing. It has been said many times on this website - as long as the TV is on and the trough is full, it's eyes-wide-shut for the masses.
I am a young professional and I am continually astounded at the ignorance of my peergroup. I could post 1,000 examples of everyday stupidity and absurdity [read: watch 5min of one reality TV show on Mtv]. I don't even try to relate anymore. I surround myself with those few that join me in an articulate dissection/discussion of the present predicament in which we find ourselves. I haven't the time or the patience to deal with the hollow masses.
I'm sorry to point it out - but this country has changed. It's up to the remaining vestigaes holding dear the values that made this country great to take back control. Otherwise, we are - in fact - doomed.
Every generation has its morons. The mental midgets you see on "Jersey Shore" are the kids of the disco idiots I hated back in the '80s.
Indeed - however, once the mental midgets outnumber the intellectuals, trouble begins. I fear this is the current environment in which we find ourselves.
Maybe it's an extension of natural selection by-proxy. Things could eventually get so bad, the stupid and ill-prepared won't make it...
True, and when welfare mothers get larger checks when they have more babies and working families have less children so they can provide better for them......... we get more children being raised as mental midgets than intellectuals.
I agree. And those damn middle class people who get their interest and taxes subsidized through a tax deduction. Talk about a system that leads to mental midgets!
Yep those deductions should be reserved for corporations that donate big bucks to the politicians and those lying leftist non profits who get subsidized by our government to infect our public laws with policies that further their own socialist agenda, all while collecting paychecks for themselves. The mental midgets now are in control of the system. Sucks.
+1000
: )