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The Grand SCOTUS Facade
The Grand SCOTUS Facade
By
Cognitive Dissonance
There is a widely held and increasingly difficult to believe myth that the three branches of the United States government operate independently from each other, thus acting as checks and balances upon each other. And the reality is that as long as it suits The Empire’s self interest those three branches of government will outwardly appear to operate as directed by the constitution.
But if the supremacy of The Empire is threatened by external or internal forces those very same three governmental branches, either separately or in unison, will act to protect The Empire and its special interests………and the Constitution be damned if it gets in the way. Let me repeat that. The Empire will protect itself from itself, from its own greed, corruption, malfeasance, incompetence and especially from its oppressed and enslaved citizens. It is then that the facade of separation of powers begins to slip and fade away.
For example in decades past the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) affirmed slavery in America and then approved by abstention Abraham Lincoln’s blatantly unconstitutional power grab from the states, only to rule against it after the Civil War had ended and the damage had been done. Incredibly they even ratified the corralling of US citizens of Japanese descent during WW2 and the taking of their property without compensation.
And just recently The SCOTUS confirmed that the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, was constitutional because it’s just a little tax after all. Some said this was a surprising decision, but we knew it was a slam dunk because it supported the teetering Empire with additional tax revenue and control of its ‘citizens’. And this doesn’t even begin to cover the actual list of Empire ass covering rulings by The SCOTUS nor does it mention the long list of legislative or executive affronts to ‘We the People’.
Similarly, as long as it suited The Empire the myth was widely propagated that the USA was the land of milk and honey and egalitarianism ran riot in the streets. As long as productivity increases outpaced the cost of gruel and there was still plenty of financial leverage to exploit, the slaves of the nation were fed a steady propaganda diet of shared prosperity for their share of the elbow grease.
This comforting myth was helped along by switching from one wage earner households to two under the guise of equal rights for women and upward mobility for all. In addition, plenty of cool gadgets and baubles were produced and sold (at double the cost plus profit of course, this being the birth place of [crony] capitalism) in order to entertain the debt and wage slaves while carefully disguised, but none-the-less much higher than advertised, inflation ate them alive.
Now that it is no longer in the best interest of the now bloated and corrupt Empire to maintain the facade, the pretty red velvet curtain at the back of the stage is slowly being removed and the crumbling brick wall is exposed for all to see. It’s time to tighten our belts my fellow peons because the elite are having trouble maintaining their year over year double digit increases in wealth.
As many are beginning to realize, the dismantling of the middle class has begun in earnest and the various branches of government are now obviously and blatantly rallying to protect and serve The Empire. This is accomplished using many brilliantly applied techniques such as bait and switch social programs, bread and circuses for the masses, fear mongering for the weak willed and impressionable, nationalistic propaganda, manufactured left/right ideological conflicts and that old standby, good old fashioned subterfuge. Who doesn’t love it when they slop more lipstick on the pig and slap another coat of wet paint on the dry rot?
It was with this firmly in mind that I stumbled across a photo essay in Politico Magazine entitled “18 Photographs That Will Change Your View of Washington”. This was not my fault; I clicked on a link, then another link, then another when suddenly I found myself in the cesspool of Politico Magazine. Upon arriving and realizing I was already knee deep in DC excrement I plunged ahead and clicked away.
What I found after the third or fourth click took my breath away and shocked me in a way I had never quit experienced. I was so startled that I just stared at the image open mouth and mesmerized, not quite believing my eyes, stunned that ‘they’ would do such a thing. At one point I turned to Mrs. Cog in disbelief and begged her to look at my screen and confirm that what I was seeing wasn’t really what I was seeing. Alas, Mrs. Cog verified that while I may be old and senile, my cataracts had not blurred my vision to such an extent that what I thought I was seeing was not.
It seems that the exterior of the Supreme Court building is undergoing what was described as renovations and some scaffolding needed to go up. While it didn’t mention why they do so, it is common practice to place tarps over the exterior of the scaffolding to catch stray dirt and debris. In fact I believe that somewhere in the constitution there is a passage about keeping the Supreme Court Justice’s black robes clean at all costs during remodeling, so the tarps were completely understandable.
What was so alarming to me was the image that had been printed on the tarp which covered the entire depth and breadth of the SCOTUS building. A life size (and anatomically correct) picture of the SCOTUS building facade had been painted on the tarp, which was in turn covering the actual SCOTUS building facade, which itself is just an architectural fantasy and placed there only to project an image of strength, integrity and justice for all. I was staring at a simulation of a simulation of a lie if you will, and at taxpayers’ expense no less. Simply amazing the size balls these guys and gals have.
Personally I suspect they’re looting the place under cover of tarp and when the wraps come off martial law will go up and the ugly brick wall will be fully exposed for all to see. Of course this is precisely when the SCOTUS will spring into action and rule that the final nail driven into the constitution is in fact constitutional precisely because it serves to support The Empire.
It is my understanding that something similar was done to the Washington Monument while they repaired the damage done by God’s wrath, also known as an earthquake. And now I read that the Dome of the U.S. Capital Building is currently undergoing a two year restoration because that too is falling apart at the seams. No word yet on if they will paint a picture of the dome on the Dome, but personally I vote for an image of the Three Stooges instead. It’s so apropos.
01-10-2014
Cognitive Dissonance
P.S. – Don’t you just love this image of some tourists taking a picture of the picture of the SCOTUS facade? It speaks volumes about your average American.
Then again, the above picture is a picture of tourists taking pictures of a picture of the SCOTUS facade. Just where this all ends is anybody’s guess. Cue the hall of mirrors.
<Please, someone take a screenshot of this image and pass it on. It’s the patriotic thing to do. >
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Compost! LOL!
The Mrs. and I just made a move similar to what you and Mrs. Cod did and since then we've become compost nuts. Right now we're contemplating investing in a wood chipper. We've got tons of branches and leaves we're just not sure what to do with. Burning it seems such a waste.
All in all we're adapting quite well. It's funny that leaving so many things behind sometimes causes a feeling of selfishness, like we just don't care about all the problems going on in the world. Well, you know what? I've been very vocal and stuck my neck out on many occasions over the years trying to affect some sort of positive change. Nothing has ever worked. None of it. So now instead of getting angry about this...I'm more embarassed than anything else. Is that being selfish too? I'm not sure.
As soon as I saw the tarp photos that's what I felt. Embarassed. So are we "quitters" for focusing on things like compost? I really don't know.
One mistake I think I made in this venture...since we've sworn off paying for crappy TV...I climbed up on the roof and mounted an OTA antenna. We pull in a few channels we've never even heard of. Every once in a while we turn on a thing called "MeTV". Old shows like "The Rifleman", "Bonanza", "M.A.S.H". I half watch it and try to figure out how those shows were probably trying to bend our heads or buy things. Today's commercials don't fit. In between "free" TV are commercials for "death benefits", "life-alert", "reverse mortgages". No beer, truck, or verizon commercials. It's weird.
So, when we decide on a wood chipper, I think the first thing I'll throw in is the antenna. Maybe we are selfish for withdrawing (I hate the phrase "going galt"); I don't care though. We feed a lot of birds and don't bother anybody.
Compost is over rated, too much work, and often involves over-priced tree-hugger gadgetry that is just as dysfunctional as their buyers' brains. Hügelkultur is much simpler (and the umlaut is damn important unless you want sound just as dumb as BHO mispronouncing Pakeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeestan or Corpse-man when talking agriculture around a German speaker - and BHO is supposedly a well traveled native English speaker).
In short, take all your crap (both literal and figurative) and throw some dirt and then seeds on the pile and let nature do its thing. Being a Redneck or an Hinterwälder isn't about not working hard, it's about not working harder than you have to in order to achieve a desired outcome...
Hmmm....Hügelkultur.
A quick search tells me that looks interesting. I've got plenty of piles of wood!
Less work is right up my alley. Thanks.
(I'll just think Hügelkultur for now...learn to pronounce it later lol)
Tree trunks, branches and leaves, lawn clippings, pine needles, dimensional lumber scraps, table scraps, the dog shit pit and manure pile, the fireplace ash bucket and the rotting logs from the woodpile that you don't want to bring into your house, old (natural fiber) clothing/rags, even your unwanted OTA TV antenna (if the antenna is metal as opposed to plastic - the iron oxide/rust helps with alakai soil and plants that really prefer acidic soil -- just don't tell the fundamentalist dogma spouting tree huggers if you do so), if it's natural the earth can eat it - just avoid natural inputs with negative allelopathic outputs based on what you want to grow (e.g. see http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs186) or other potential "toxicity" (OSB/engineered lumber products with all their glue content, painted or stained wood furniture, etc.) The possibilities are basically endless, and there is really is no absolute "right" way, just different consequences for different methodologies and input mixtures. I think a snow blower or silver coins to throw in the water storage tank tend to be more practical investments than a wood chipper (unless you are suffering a banker or bureaucrat infestation).
+1 love making compost (find the process therapeutic), but after years of doing it, found that there's a huge difference between composting and making Compost. i/m/h/o, best reason to do Compost is to run minerals (rocks, stones, dust, salts) through a microbial process in order to give a boost to the soils/plants at certain periods of times in the season. and it's best delivered in a liquid form (compost tea) as a spray. a little goes a long way.
for all the rest, there's hoogles ;~) one thing i discovered with them is that it's best to have a highly absorbent material (big already decaying logs, lots of natural fibers, etc) on the bottom layer to soak up all those nutrients so they don't leech (especially when you're using a lot of manure).
thanks for that link. have a bunch of highly alleopathic Trees of Heaven that i need to reprocess and i'm trying to figure out how much of a transformation is required to break down those chemicals. wondering if pigs or goats will do the trick or whether even burning will do it.
I don't have any experience with Trees of Heaven (my headaches were from a grove of equally ironically named Paradise Trees). But there's a reference to Schmidt S K 1988 Degradation of juglone by soil bacteria. J. Chem. Ecol. 14, 1561–1571 which might be worth looking into. (Sourced from the abstract & citation list for Herbicidal effects under field conditions of Ailanthus altissima bark extract, which contains ailanthone http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1026209614161)
My gut instinct would be that if the ailanthone is produced/housed in primarily the bark (which would need to be verified) then shaving the trunks before placing them at the bottom of the trench and cabonizing the bark before throwing the charcoal on the pile would be effective remediation). FYI - one of the other citations at the link above above is Bourke C A 1996 Lack of toxicity of Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven) for goats. Aust. Vet. J. 74, 465.
If you have a pond- fish shit fertilizer is already available in a liquid suspension, or is available in drum sized containers at reasonable cost (which I still have a couple of lying around) and works great for nitrogen and phosphorous depletion. But I really am just too lazy or otherwise preoccupied to put in the effort of properly making my own compost.
thanks mate, that's good stuff.
p.s. lazy or smart? :)
Yuck, the dreaded juglone.
Mostly I've got red and white oaks, but I do have some Black Walnuts. I haven't even walked this entire property yet and I can already see dozens of them that are standing dead..and some are quite large. Also some large pines that the beetles have gotten to. So, I intend to cut them down, and do my best to avoid getting killed in the process. (Felling a large tree gives me a pretty good buzz) Already I've got probably a few years of oak cut/split/stacked for heat purposes.
I might still get the chipper but I know what you mean about buying yuppie junk. Somebody sent us a gift subscription to "Mother Earth News" and some of the shit they sell is crazy. Super expensive diesel tractors with solar powered AC, AM/FM CD players...
So much to learn...I'm thinking the branches would make nice mulch around the beds, paths to the shed, etc. Tracking muddy boots inside isn't very popular. I've got some really huge piles of oak leaves to make into leaf mold (we have pretty heavy clay outside the forest area). The dogs have done a pretty good job shredding my piles...I fling sticks in there for them to fetch over and over again lol. Can't wait for Spring...this is going to be fun; but lots of work.
chunga, if you're still reading,
those bug-infested trunks are the ones you want to put at the bottom of your pile. the spongier, the better, the bigger.
also, hoogles created on contour drastically improve their overall efficiency due to an even distribution of water along the mound. there's a simple way to measure contour with a cheap DiY A-frame. uboob: hugelkultur contour for how-to vids.
What I'm doing now is bookmarking a bunch of stuff.
Being on TN's Cumberland Plateau, we've got plenty of sloping areas and it looks like the gist of the contour is to catch the water so it soaks into the logs.
I think we have a perfect spot not too far from the house. When the previous owners cleared this lot, they just dozed a bunch of big trees down a little hill into a pile and I've been cutting at it with the chainsaw. Now that the "polar vortex" has let go, I'll sit outside with my better half this week and put our heads together. It was almost 70 today.
We've always had really productive gardens...more than we could eat...or even give away. Now we want to make sure we preserve as much as possible, so being close to the house/kitchen is a plus. The wild-life here is really amazing; the only time we leave here - we're getting paid. And unless the weather is terrible, we're outside.
The advice is appreciated. :-)
The wood chipper has valid uses, particularly if you have that much land.
I caught one of my relatives with one of these http://www.naturemill.net/products.html and it took until the POS broke to convince them there is a better way. $400 for a styrofoam box that sucks electricity to heat and agitate a minuscule amount of "compost" -- the microeconomic equivalent of the thinking that $500 million for Solyndra's green gadgets was a "good" use/investment of limited national resources.
Oh gosh...that looks like a toaster.
Probably makes crepe suzettes too for a nice snack after tennis. Perfect for the rugged (yet refined) survivalist homesteader lol.
If it's the right kind of wood, you can use it in a smoker. If not, make sure it is cured very well, and you can use it for open flame cooking. Woods that aren't good for smoking with are still often good for grilling. And, if you keep the ash, you can use the ash to make hominy or soap. Burning it is not always a waste;)
The CPS has been notified and you will be receiving a knock on your door shortly.
-teh NSA
Mrs. Cog and I have half joked about painting a big red and white bulls-eye on our roof to help the NSA drones hone in. But then we realized that doing so would just ensure that our nearest neighbor a quarter mile down the road would be hit.
They are too nice for us to subject them to that.
Just host a wedding at your home. That will 100% ensure that you are hit.
My daughter is not getting married until she is 35. She promised.
<And I'm guarding the front door with my Remington just in case.> :)
Old joke.....
Guy with 3 daughters.
A guy comes to the door, says 'my name's Lance< I'm taking your daughter Alice to a dance'
A second guy comes to the door, says 'my name's Neil, I'm taking your daughter Betty for a meal'
A third guy shows up, says 'my name's Tucker'
He shot him!
Sweet that leaves the back door unguarded!
lol - Not exactly
+357 Mrs. Cog
Meet my backup. You don't want to mess with her. At times even I don't. ;-)
Hahaha, I was waiting for you to say that Mrs. Cog was at the back door. I guess the better bet is the front. ;o)
All the best to you and Mrs. Cog.
Hahaha, I got a chuckle out of that. Thanks for the honor of the reply.
Pay no attention to the men (and women) behind the curtain...
(From the Wizards of Laws)
Supremecourtception!
SCROTUM
Supreme Court Retch of the Uncitizen Muslim
Too funny.