This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
All This And World War, Too?
Submitted by James H. Kunstler of Kunstler.com,
The situation in Ukraine hotted up this weekend and threatens to blow this morning with the Kiev government affecting to send “anti-terrorist” troops into the eastern cities where ethnic Russians seized buildings. (In the olden times of Europe, they had witches and devils. Now, thanks to our example, they have “terrorists.”) While this impending civil war would be rather dire for Ukraine, it presents the obvious questions: 1) does it matter to anyone outside the region? And in particular, 2) is it any business of the USA?
War hawk kibitzers on the sidelines (e.g. The New York Times) are making a big deal of the 40,000 Russian troops marshaled around the border of eastern Ukraine. So what? That’s just a few thousand more than the 33,000 US troops deployed to Afghanistan, America’s current “nation-building” project. But the troop numbers swing to our side of the balance beam if you throw in the nearly 3,000 American boots-on-the-ground stationed in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic, and the roughly 15,000 in Kuwait and Bahrain. I don’t remember the Russians complaining very much about all this US military hyper-activity in their part of the world over the past decade.
At least somebody has stuffed a cheese Danish (or something) in John Kerry’s pie-hole the past week. The walking haircut-in-search-of-a-brain has stopped making ridiculous commitments to the US-and-EU-installed Kiev government. And President Obama has stopped drawing laugh-out-loud lines in the sand. I suspect if they resume beating that drum, they could provoke some unrest in our own country. Not everyone is glued to the Kardashian Channel with his fist in the Cheez Doodle bag. And not all of the army vets returned from operations in Muslim lands (the ones that haven’t committed suicide, that is) have such a high opinion of the overall outcome there.
Barack Obama, who I voted for twice, is on his way to becoming the worst US president in my lifetime, at least — and maybe in the whole cavalcade going back to the very start of the republic. I don’t want to get too sidetracked in this brief blog space today, but isn’t it stupendously asinine that Mr. Obama’s Justice Department and his SEC appointees only just last week became interested in the pervasive swindle of high frequency trading on Wall Street after author Michael Lewis went on 60 Minutes. Like, they hadn’t heard about this years-long orgy of front-running until now? Strange to relate, I actually might feel more comfortable if Vladimir Putin was massing troops on the Mexican side of the US border to keep Americans safe from our own bungling and destructive government.
Aren’t a number of things obvious about the Ukraine situation? Such as: the Russians have a greater interest in preventing chaos there than the US has in any provisional disposition of the Ukrainian border and the composition of its government. Such as: for most of the 20th century Ukraine was essentially a Russian province, and at various times before that the ward of several other eastern European kingdoms. Such as: Russia has a huge investment in gas pipeline infrastructure in Ukraine upon which depends a substantial portion of its national income, not to mention the winter-time comfort of most of the countries in western Europe.
Hence my plea: will parties in the USA (including Obama camp “progressives”) stop cheerleading for a showdown over this hapless doormat of a faraway nation whose destiny is not entwined with the people of Ohio, Nebraska, Rhode Island, or any of the other fifty states? We have enough to do in our own country to adjust to the new realities of the unraveling turbo-industrial global economy — and, by the way, we are not doing a damn thing to address any of it. Our domestic political conversation at all levels is juvenile and idiotic. I’d rather see US troops shut down WalMart, which has been way more destructive to the US economy (and the livelihoods of our people) than the bandits in any central Asian rat-hole. I’d rather see the US spend its dwindling capital restoring our passenger railroads than paying off the debts of strangers half a world away.
This is turning into a Vietnam moment for the US political scene. Where are the Fullbrights and Bobby Kennedys of today who have the guts to rally US citizens against insane government behavior? What elected officials among all the bought-off Koch Brother catamites and Wall Street errand boys will stand up for reality-based principle? When will the young people of this country pull their eyeballs away from their iPhones and their heads out of their cloacal vents? When will the United States begin the long-overdue task of getting its own act together?
- 19132 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -


"Will parties in the USA (including Obama camp “progressives”) stop cheerleading for a showdown over this hapless doormat of a faraway nation whose destiny is not entwined with the people of Ohio, Nebraska, Rhode Island, or any of the other fifty states?" - WORD!
In days of old the leader would lead the charge at the front of the cavalry....not from the first tee.
Re: In days of old the leader would lead the charge at the front of the cavalry
What year was that?
Over the years, there were a number of them. Atilla, for instance.
Teddy Roosevelt springs to mind.
"hotted" ? I'm not entirely sure that is a word
That's a Gartman word.
He betraying his British roots
He being a cunt.
"Barack Obama, who I voted for twice, is on his way to becoming the worst US president in my lifetime"
You're a little late with that revelation, friend. Better late than never, I suppose.
Just wait for President Reid.....
There's no President Reid in our future. We've all died and ended up in hell and Obama is going to be President FOREVER!
<so it seems sometimes>
Might be closer to the mark than you'd be comfortable with. The sheer hardcore evil that he relentlessly advances through his appointments and EOs is more than enough to take seriously the scenario of an engineered emergency that indefinitely (aka forever) delays elections.
This stops when the next generation says: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFAKuz0ULS4
Yup
Rome fell when the people of Rome no longer had a motive to defend their allies. If Russia pushes right to Germany (and it looks like he Will with Moldova & Romania), then Western life as we know it is done. No joke. Not another empire bothered to recognize a Roman government for the next 900 years until the Holy Roman Empire reformed from legacy corporate holdings that were turned into trust assets around 600 AD that locked up & controlled key natural resource deposits like peat (heat energy), metal (for consumer discretionary products), logistics (road hubs) and textiles (oils and dyes). Anyone want to google what kind of assets the Forbes 100 have been purchasing this year ? It's not gold or heirloom seeds.
A Visigoth army of about 50K people sacked Rome in 410 AD. The city of Rome population alone counted more than 1/2M people, let alone the neighboring provinces. And Rome has not been sacked for 800 years before. How was that possible?
"The sheer hardcore evil that he relentlessly advances through his appointments and EOs is more than enough to take seriously the scenario of an engineered emergency that indefinitely (aka forever) delays elections."
Sigh, and this gets a bunch of up-votes... Apparentlhy people missed this exact proclaimation during the Bush years.
People repeatedly get fooled into thinking that the real work/action is being done at the POTUS level... WIth GWB it was the oil industry. With BO it's the financial industry. It's ALL the same; AND, it's all collapsing because there is insufficient growth to sustain it all (it's less conspiracy and more human hubirs [believing was can have perpetual growth on a finite planet, if only <fill in the blank> would be removed from office/capitalism be more pure etc.]).
POWER IS EVIL.
Wonder what the Mormon or the dinosaur-arms guy would have managed to do had either been POTUS...
Pray for a Republican.
That'd fix everything.
What? Bush?
LA LA LA LA LA - I CAN'T HEAR YOU.
Nah, we'll just drag out and reanimate the corpse formerly called McCain and do a nationwide tour of Weekend At Bernies.
Neither a republican nor democrat be. There is no lesser of two evils here
Leave no incumbant in office.
you'd be better off just getting rid of the office all together
Thank god there are people out there with brains! +1,000,000
I'm constantly amazed at how ignorant people are of the source of the problems: I beat on "small govt" people because they just don't get it that you can't just crack a barn door open a little and expect that the horses won't get out! And, the historical norm for humanity is tribes and such: not saying that that's what I want, just stating facts.
I agree. Your average guy on the street, working full time, taking care of a family, etc, may be a little late to the party. But when you come from a place like his, he didnt just start bloggng, you had more than enough time to figure this out before the 2012 elections. Its not like its hard to see for anyone with an internet connection and a mild sense of curiosity. There were plenty of sources for him to have figured this out halfeay through the first term. Or, you could have just paid attention during the campiagn. Either way, this guy has a lot of explaining to do
Most people are well protected from the truth by something called confirmation bias.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-01/euhs-esl012406.php
Emory study lights up the political brain
When it comes to forming opinions and making judgments on hot political issues, partisans of both parties don't let facts get in the way of their decision-making, according to a new Emory University study. The research sheds light on why staunch Democrats and Republicans can hear the same information, but walk away with opposite conclusions.
The investigators used functional neuroimaging (fMRI) to study a sample of committed Democrats and Republicans during the three months prior to the U.S. Presidential election of 2004. The Democrats and Republicans were given a reasoning task in which they had to evaluate threatening information about their own candidate. During the task, the subjects underwent fMRI to see what parts of their brain were active. What the researchers found was striking.
"We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning," says Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory who led the study. "What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts." Westen and his colleagues will present their findings at the Annual Conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Jan. 28.
Once partisans had come to completely biased conclusions -- essentially finding ways to ignore information that could not be rationally discounted -- not only did circuits that mediate negative emotions like sadness and disgust turn off, but subjects got a blast of activation in circuits involved in reward -- similar to what addicts receive when they get their fix, Westen explains.
"None of the circuits involved in conscious reasoning were particularly engaged," says Westen. "Essentially, it appears as if partisans twirl the cognitive kaleidoscope until they get the conclusions they want, and then they get massively reinforced for it, with the elimination of negative emotional states and activation of positive ones."
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. explained it more succinctly in "Cat's Cradle":
"Tiger gotta hunt. Bird gotta fly.
Man gotta sit and wonder why, why, why.
Tiger gotta sleep. Bird gotta land.
Man gotta tell himself he understand."
Humans are all "sinners." We're all with flaws. Not in defense of Kunstler, I could really care about him, but it's the bigger message that he speaks to that's more important. Again, message, messenger... Yeah, what a stupid fuck for voting TWICE for Obama- repent! (ha ha)
No they will not look up from their phones. A 20 year old when bananarama got elected is now 26-27 has a crappy job no pussy/dick lives at home goes to grad school with no goals doesn't actually talk to anyone except texting and in 5 more years will be untrainable unhireable.
Talk about a lost generation......
Bananarama is insulted by your statement. Anyone who remembers the real Bananarama is at least 40 by now.
This is shaping up to be a cruel summer...
yes..... a 1941 operation barbarossa kinda summer
That video gave me calluses.
Just because junior lives at home doesn't mean he/she doesn't breed.
Look at the bright side. Granny gets to see her grandkids everyday. It's the new family unit.
If by "new" you mean the way that family units have lived for all but a miniscule amount of human history, then I suppose you're right...
Splitting three generations into separate abodes is a total luxury. How about some respect for those families that are able to put their pride aside and live together in the same house? Yes, it is a regression. But it beats paying all your income to a slumlord.
People are rediscovering what it means to live within their means. This is a good thing.
"People are rediscovering what it means to live within their means. This is a good thing."
People are rediscovering what it means to be poor and no longer part of a middle class. For their feudal lords, this is a good thing. For the ones that are falling out of the middle class, not so much.
This does not mean a lack of respect for the victims.
Are you a sock puppet in the employ of the perpetrators?
"and in 5 more years will be untrainable unhireable."
You mean they WON'T be perfect slaves?
Listen, I get what you're saying here. However, if you're really paying attention you'd see that the entire CONTEXT is shifting. When everyone is broke and in debt just who is left to buy all those "credible" products from which "employment" (of the "trained") is made possible?
That there are non-motivated people out there doesn't mean that they're necessarily stupid or lazy. Right now our entire system is unsure where it's going. Expecting that recent pubescent humans can figure IT all out is kind of pushing the realistic meter...
1776
In the old days, most kings that didn't inherit their thrones were usually tremendous fighters - either victorious in beating off invading sociopaths, or being victorious invading sociopaths themselves. And any King that wanted to survive had to generally be ruthless and cunning to stay on the throne; in an age of acute scarcity, too many people wanted it.
Guys like Cincinatus are pretty rare, sadly.
Its destiny is intertwined with that of the MIC, America's credibility as a world bully, and Obama's credibility...well, forget about that last part.
Cnn non stop flight 370 coverage
Do they have BREAKING NEWS ALERTS!!! for every supposed ping that's detected?
Lol almost causes seizures
It reminds me of Greta and Natalie Holloway.
I clicked on the article because of the Bieber pic. What the hell?
And left after "Barack Obama, who I voted for twice..." ?
One of the purposes of war is to control the domestic agenda.
Ya, well, I didn't vote for Obama. Twice.
no shit, i really want to like this guys articles. He has a style and attitude that i can relate to, until he gets to that part. He voted for obama twice. While i appreciate that he now regrets it, where was he in 2012. You could have said mostly the same shit a couple years ago, since all this shit was well known then, but he voted for him a 2nd time. It took over 4 years for you to realize that it wasnt raining after all, you were getting pissed on. And your mouth was open. Knustler is so fucking stupid and dense that it has taken him almost 6 years to figure this out. You can find hoodrats on youtube that figured this shit out 2 years after obama was elected, yet it takes knustler close to 6. Hard to be taken seriously as an intellectual if you are that dense
.....I voted for Obama twice.......
Akin to a Rob Ford moment..... the waiter said i was doing lines at the Beer Garden.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MU_3M5FTGk
and could you pass me down another shovel I have to dig this hole deeper...
The problem with the American political system is that the only thing worse than voting for Obama twice is having voted for the GOP candidates twice.
Well, I'll see ya and raise ya: I didn't vote (at least) twice, for ANYBODY!
Someone clueless enough to vote for Obama once, let alone twice (and admit it), shouldn't be on ZH.
"Barack Obama, who I voted for twice"
no wonder i like you man ... you rock!
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Speaking of rocks...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrsBKGpwi58
It won't stay "nifty" when it's no longer 50: Free Texas! Free Cascadia!
FUCK YOU, NEOCONS! I'd like to send some photon torpedos right up your poop chute!
- indignant Kirk out
Forgot to include Vermont!
It is, however, inevitable. Globalization/NWO was but another trick to pump growth, one that was always destined to fail. Rather than consolidation it's going to be a fracturing...
Guys from the hood don't fight fair and will hurt you. Stop playing tough guy and shut the hell up Mr. Obama and Kerry. Russia holds all the cards and has a strategic advantage and let Russians have all the bankrupt millions in Eastern Europe. Let him try to support them.
"Russia holds all the cards and has a strategic advantage"
Over there, yes.
USSA eBonics military. Freaking joke. Good luck against those Russkie missiles in you USSA-zio contractor defective shit like the F-35.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxDSiwqM2nw
Imbeciles have imbecilic president. Why complain?
If you are really against war, do not attack Obama (note, that doesn't mean I like Obama or that I respect him), he is not the driver of the push to war. In fact, attacking Obama will only make it easier for the warmongers to operate.
These are who you need to attack and expose:
John Kerry
Samantha Power
Victoria Nuland
David Petraeus
Susan Rice
They work for another set of guys. Some of the names we know such as Rothschild, Morgan, Rockefeller. Many of the names we don't know.
On their home planet they all have names that are impossible to pronounce.
moog
goog
poog
Fucking reptilians!
"he is not the driver of the push to war"
Not for a lack of trying. His superiors were really pissed off that he couldn't get a simple war in Syria off the ground. They knew he would do their bidding without question, what they hadn't counted on was that he would be so incredibly incompetent in everything he undertook.
Huh?
Syria was a suicide mission. No fucking idea whether Obama is/was incompetent vis a vis what TPTB wanted, but maybe, just maybe, he and his staff managed to keep it from happening because that is what they wanted.
* Do NOT make the mistake of relying on what they say: I'd think that this should go without saying, but it seems that people loose track of this when they get caught up in emotionally charged things. MANY a politician will vote a given way not because they support that side of the vote but because they want to deceive others into thinking that they do (many cases it's to ass-cover for the next election).
You have listed more than one of Obama's presidential appointees, dcohen. He is absolutely responsible for their actions.
You left out John (What do you mean those guys I was posing with were Al Qaeda?) McCain.
Sigh, it seems the list is endless...
All are just top-level servants of TPTB. We're still missing the head...
Just another pinko hippy who hates Merica, and the troops.
Socialist distractions.
////////
And...I'm going to add to what I mean so there is no misunderstanding.
Putin, like Obama, is a socialist at their core. They are the oligarcial-type who prefer to let others work FOR THEM as they sit in the shade and watch.
They ARE NOT the American Indian socialist type who will (on occasion) smear paint on their face, grab a spear and sally forth to protect "the tribe"...no no no.
They are the Hollande-type, the technocrat-type, who have OTHERS fight their wars for them.
Thus, socialist distractions.
They are BOTH worthless POS's.
http://www.conservapedia.com/New_Party
I "Hope" I've made myself clear ;-)
For the life of me I cannot figure out the putinphilia around this place, which is the only reason I can see that you got the junks. The soviet cult of personality seems to have somehow manifested itself into a libertarian leaning finance blog which is just plain bewildering.
I enjoy it too when he messes with the NWO and their plans, but I don't think it would be wise to conflate that with some sort of superhero / freedom fighter status. Russia is by no means a utopia of classical liberalism with him in charge...
Tribal does not mean socialist despite that meme being taught in schools to make socialism more digestible. NA had economies where division of labor was important followed by ceremonies where the products of the division of labor were exchanged after relative values of goods was established the night before. And once the fur trade emerged there was sharp trading on how many beaver pelts would buy an iron axe head. It was very much a free market economy.
I'm amazed at the extent that people will try and promote/run cover for some ideology even in the face of certain failure...
When there's "plenty" things go well. When there's NOT "plenty" then things all of a sudden matter. Never mind that behind all of it was the thing that was the seed for demise.
All the "free trade" goes into the toilet when resource scarcity sets in. Humans, faces with survival, shirk off all these "pleasnatries" and will resort to their animal instincts.
No empire was ever saved by "free trade" or by any of the myriad of different ideologies that have existed. The common point of failure is that every one of them operated with the notion of perpetual growth.
Just like with NWO, I don't concern myself with "socialism" or "fascism" or anything else taking over the world. Some people just have been traumatized and need to get on with life (and stop trying to save the world- it'll work out just fine).
Everyone look boner is taking a selfie. Don't notice the last of the Americans are putting their ass on the line in NV while the government corrals your right to protest into a damn free speech zone!
Hey idgit. The Washington D.C. globalists are attacking the United States of America too in case you haven't noticed.
Unfortunately, what the Bundy siege has revealed is the selling of the American country--the American people and their land--to foreigners so as to enable the criminals of the DC US to stay in power that much longer.
Unfortunately for the American people is that like the French during their revolution, we will have to contend with the hove of criminals called government and foreign interlopers.
"I''m going to have to buy more ammo."
No story says Us vs Them like Harry Reid’s rip-off weasel stand in the Nevada desert.
It develops that the Bureau of Land Management, bringing attack dogs over the weekend to use against citizen rancher Cliven Bundy, is now headed by a longtime aide of Harry Reid. Neil Kornze was being approved for the top BLM post (35 years old and 28 votes against him in the Senate on April 8) just days prior to BLM agents' confrontation with ranchers and militia men on the Bundy ranch.
The agents withdrew but no one expects this siege to be over.
And if this ain’t enough to tie the Nevada senator and majority leader of the Senate to this assault, here’s more:
First a paragraph from infowars.com:
“Deleted from BLM.gov but reposted for posterity by the Free Republic, the BLM document entitled 'Cattle Trespass Impacts' directly states that Bundy’s cattle 'impacts' solar development, more specifically the construction of 'utility-scale solar power generation facilities' on 'public lands.'”
Also deleted from the BLM website but retained by BizPac: “None-Governmental Organizations have expressed concern that the regional mitigation strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone utilizes Gold Butte as the location for offsight mitigation for impacts from solar development, and that those restoration activities are not durable with the presence of trespass cattle.”
After a recent trip to China, Reid is now reported to be connected with his son, Rory, in a deal on solar development in the Nevada desert by the Chinese energy giant, ENN Energy Group, reputed to cost $5 billion.
With huge sections of Nevada land under government supervision or ownership, the Reids’ deal apparently involves at least two locations in the desert, one of them in the same county as the Bundy ranch.
The ranchers and militia rushed to the side of rancher Bundy because of widening disputes over more and more lands moving into the Federal domain and thousands of U.S. ranchers being pushed from the land due to environmental regulations, grazing contracts, et cetera.
Never mind that Reid, a Nevada Democrat, reports assets of between $2.8 million and $6.3 million, all built during a life while in government office except a two-year gap in the mid-70's between his term as Lt. Governor and his service on the Nevada Gaming Commission. Or that the BLM is getting ready to euthanize 700 desert tortoises it holds in captivity and turn another 700 into the wild (most of them domesticated with little chance for survival) because of the expense of caring for them.
Or that The Blaze’s Dana Loesch says Harry Reid originally pressured the BLM to change the tortoises protected zone to accommodate developer Harvey Whittemore, one of Reid’s donors. Whittemore was convicted in May 2013 of making illegal campaign contributions to Reid.
"BLM has proven that they’ve a situational concern for the desert tortoise as they’ve had no problem waiving their rules concerning wind or solar power development,” Loesch said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-22/senate-leaders-millionaires-in-financial-disclosure-data.html
Well, if anything, this keeps the desire to usurp D.C. out in Nevada instead of where the real roundup should be taking place.
I'd not hold your breath waiting for the Homeland to get it's act together.........
Stay the fuck out of it! I will ride a bike, use geothermal heat and grow my own food if it means the end of the useless wars. And anyone who advocates the need for these endless incursions should sign the fuck up for infantry. Be first out of the landing vehicle if these wars are so important to our country.
" is it any business of the USA?"
At this stage, this IS the business of the DC US and their Israeli wagger.
it would take a veritable flowing river of elitist blood for the usa to begin to get its own act together
Now there's a thought...
Guns and butter.
Yes I also think Justin and Selena should get married....
Then, Spayed and Neutered.......
I believe that's the wrong order. First spay and neuter, then they can get married.
There's nothing like a good hot war to take the proles' minds off their local problems (like what's to eat and it's cold out here).
It's worked before, lots of times. It'll work again.
Will it take our minds off of the fallout in our fields?
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson
The chosen ones are gonna murder another 8 million in Ukraine. Encore, encore.
There are plenty of Jewish people who are pushing for war, but I think Kunstler is Jewish and he's against it. So I would respectfully suggest that we all be careful about blaming "the jews" or "the chosen ones" (same thing), and instead be a little more careful with our choice of words. There's no need to alienate people who are on our side regardless of their ancestry/religion/ethnicity.
Absolutely. It's the Marxists/radical leftwingers that have given the other 2% a bad name.
And BTW, if you think that there are such things as friendly pirates, you are very naive. Kunstler has made it crystal clear that he absolutely hates our kind with a purple passion. Get real.
I don't generally read Kunstler, so I wouldn't know, but I liked this article of his. But putting Kunstler aside, there are still some good Jewish people obviously. One of the first books I read on the Middle East situation was What Price Israel? written by Alfred Lilienthal who was Jewish. He was highly critical of Israel and the tactics its mostly Jewish supporters used.
gimme a break the dirty slimeballs play both sides.
gimme a break the dirty slimeballs play both sides.
My only comment is how in the hell did anyone justify voting twice for Obama the second time around. I almost stopped reading at that point. Sheesh.
What do you mean almost ????
This is turning into a Vietnam moment for the US political scene. Where are the Fullbrights and Bobby Kennedys of today who have the guts to rally US citizens against insane government behavior?
1967 one more time !
"Barack Obama, who I voted for twice, is on his way to becoming the worst US president in my lifetime, at least — and maybe in the whole cavalcade going back to the very start of the republic"
You didn't figure that one out after the first four years? Really? You are either slow or idealistic.
Why should I listen to anything you say, you are certainly slower on the uptake than most folks around here. Seriously, you COULD NOT SEE what was going to happen???
You will be posting the potential takeover of former USSR properties by Putin Inc. next year. Amright?
Get with it boy.
+1,000,000
While I couldn't stand his first four years, he has gotten worse now that he no longer needs to worry about getting re-elected. A lot of people were duped and are just now waking up to the fact that Obama is a two bit Chicago thug politician. It didn't help that his opponent was Romney. As Lewis Black put it, "I don't know if you noticed, but our two-party system is a bowl of shit looking in the mirror at itself."
I didn't vote for either of those assholes.
Kunstler is really stupid or really deceitful, or both. I'm surprised that so many people are so easily taken in by his schtick.
"What's all this talk about Early Termination Fees for cell phones making the stock market rigged?"
Well the involvement at this time is minimal.
When will the United States begin the long-overdue task of getting its own act together?
NEVER!
if i could add to the writers thoughts, every regime change the u.s. perpetrates around the world exacts a toll on the soul of this country. America has a massive karmic reckoning because we have caused more pain, suffering and death for the purposes of preemptively securing our own "freedom" than any civilization in history. Every soveriegn nation has the right to exist and seek prosperity based on their own ideology. If that nation is managing itself peacefully, any provocation from another country is absolutely unwarranted, inappropriate and dangerous. The actions of our country no longer have moral impetus because we've caused so much trouble on false pretenses for so long now, and people are more skillfull at cutting through bullshit even despite the heavy brainwashing of the networks. We can see it on obamas face when he tries to convince americans to accept sham policies that he knows are detrimental to us. the dude looks guilty as hell. We will suffer Romes fate for a remarkably similar and simple reason - the expansion of an empire too big to manage
and so expensive to manage that it runs the country broke. Roman
currency lost much of its value because they slowly, over time, reduced
the silver content in their coin, and it became worthless. We skipped the
'reducing silver' part and went straight to paper, a currency that funds useless wars and puts us even further in unnecessary debt due to the policies of idiots. GOD HELP US.
If they kill these cowboys its on and everybody knows it. This may be the literal and symbolic beginning of revolt and it wont have a damn thing to do with dung eating turtles. One spark is all it takes. First Putin now cowboy... bet your ass their scared now and they should be.
James,
As the 2nd worst President in US history once said, "Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice....*dumb look*...You won't get fooled again!".
What kind of idiot votes for Barry Twice???? How, pray tell, did you manage to get fooled - err suckered - twice into voting for him?
Please don't give me that "lesser of two evils bullshit". Two buses are heading for a cliff, one at 55 mph and the other at 70 mph. Do you ride the first bus or do you jump off?
If you voted then you have NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN. Voting adds legitimacy to this Kabuki Theatre and allows "them" to claim said legitimacy through that nauseating "the people have spoken!" bullshit.
Let's see them claim THAT with an 18% voter turnout.
But obozo is a pathologic liar, and timed his full neocon 'coming out' party right after his reelection when he was in the clear. He has further neocon agendas yet to be revealed through the end of his term, watch it get worse
Now don't go being stupid. Voter turnout in 2012 was 57.5%. You can make your point without pulling shit out of your ass. Voting doesn't mean you can't complain. Pledging mindless fidelity to the two major parties means you can't complain.
sorry, i misunderstood you. voting means you can't complain. I did vote (LP, mainly because of my states write in laws). But i still say, the ones who didnt vote are the ones who can really complain about anything they want. Voting implies consent to the system. By voting for one party, you consent to the way this operates, i.e. you sign the implied contract that says if you lose, you consent to having the 51 % (yes, generalising) of the population enforce their will on you at gun point
All voting means is that you HOPE that by marking X in a box that somehow this will effect CHANGE.
Voting gives people are sense that "they matter" and that they have influence.
Exactly, People who mindlessly parrot that old mantra of "if you don't vote then you have no right to complain" are the ones that should read Edward Bernay's "Propaganda". Their fucking brains are programmed with a macro instantiated via the Echo Effect (repeat something often enough and it becomes "true" - just like "driving is a privilege", where the hell did that come from. Highways are public, and as such I am a co-owner and have a RIGHT to use them, remember, some rights ARE revokable so don't get all balled up over that statement, but think about it - "It is the mark of an educated man to be able to entertain an idea without necessarily accepting it - Aristotle.). For many, the look of indignation I get when I inform them of the TRUTH, that they are propagating a rotten system, just bakes their noodle. The non-linear responses I get are completely expected.
Usually the reaction is a eye-blackening knee-jerk, often in forum posts. Hee hee.
To be fair, I always go to the ballot box, and vote local issues, or a candidate (often local) that I think could possibly represesnt my interests (and Ron Paul of course). But that's a double whammy. See, it shows up in the stats that I voted, but skipped all of the major candidates altogether.
So I need to clarify my point. "Those that vote to legitimize the rotten system (in hope of change or due to mindless programming) have no right to complain".
Yes, my gesture is but a drop of water in an ocean. But what is an ocean but a collection of many drops of water? And I get to walk out of the polling area with my integrity and my conscious clear.
I know what the typical turnout is.
I was making a point that you missed.
Agreed on not supporting the two-family mafia. That was my primary point. I am OK with 3rd parties if they meet the criteria of my principles. My point was that Joe Six Pack goes out, votes tweedle dee, tweedle dum, and then thinks he has a right to bitch.
No, I disagree. I think they owe guys like me and others like me an apology.
You are totally missing the reality of our situation. There is hardly a difference between the (R)s and the (D)s anymore, "hope"ing for "change" notwithstanding
There damn well is a difference between the two mob families, and that's the disposition of the pillage and what completely irrrelevant wedge issues their flock line on. Disgarding the two aforementioned, they are effectively two faces of the same coin and serve the same master.
Same foreign policy? Check
Same monetary policy? Check
Same domestic policy of dividing Americans to fight amongst each other? Check, although the tactics may differ, as does the rheotoric, the goal is identical.
Same policy of stripmining other nation's precious resources for their master's benefit? Check.
Similar allegience to the aristocracy? Check.
I haven't missed the reality of that for almost 15 years now.
..was my point, as you have also pointed out how they have similar agendas, though much bs posturing goes on. AFTER the basic political geography has been mapped out and amts of money to be pillaged are established, their argument is now how to divide up the spoils.
http://i.imgur.com/94eLBQP.jpg
Asshole. Kill yourself.
Sounds like you're all in for the Warren-Sanders 2016 ticket. Right there with you.
James H. Kunstler -> right on the money!
The Ukraine is none of our business and a ridiculous reason to start world war 3.
So, you've back-of-the-napkined a list of good reasons then...
Well, the best reason of all, uhm....., there's two actually, when war breaks out NATO can destroy all the Ukraine gas pipelines, take that Vlad, and two, while Russia is busy with "The" Ukraine, they can easily get the NATO-Syrian war restarted and that nasty little pipeline Qatar has always wanted back on track.
Let's see those pesky Keystone Pipeline haters squash that Qatar pipeline.
(And, as a side plot, Israel gets to pound Hezbollah one more time just for the fun of it)
did you read the rest of the article?
Maybe he voted for Obama twice in the 08 election.
Obamaq and co don't give a toss about the people in Nebraska or any of the other 49 two-bit states; their concern is loot.
Fucking Kunstler.....Vote for Obama twice. What a fricking tool. That's all you need to know.
WWIII. You're kidding right Jimmy? The best way to have prevented it was to have shot that MIG out of the sky when it went by on, oh......say pass number 1 instead of waiting for a dozen and telling them it was Unprofessional. lol Reports say they don't know whether the pilot was intimidating the ship...or just being friendly? LMFAO. Oh God...You can't make this shit up.
That would have been a good way to find out if the Russian torpedoes are as effective as they're alleged to be.
One shouldn't forget that America depends on the Russians to get to the space station.
Twice?
Jeebus WB7, stay on narrative.
"Barack Obama, who I voted for twice..."
Fuck this idiot. He voted. He consented to ass rape, now that his ass is reamed out to a size 18 he's whining?
You should not blame him, red or blue, whatever color you happen to like and claptrap that you decide to swallow during your election year, it would have ended up the same, if you vote at all, whether your particular color wins or not you deserve this, this is your system at work.
If I had a time machine I would travel back to election day of '08 and break my hand before I could cast my one and only vote for Mcinsane.
I was so ignorant then, I can't believe it sometimes...and what a long insightful journey it has been for me ever since.
Thank God for Ron Paul.
Be careful.
Ron Paul... great guy.
Also, living, breathing proof that genuine, significant change will never come from within an utterly corrupt system.
indeed
Please. Spare me the theatrics when you have proven that you can make the same mistake twice, just like a 5 year old who consistently drops his ice cream.
Just lick the shit off the ground that dropped out of your stretched and fucked asshole, and STFU.
Nothing to see here, just another dumbfuck cheerleader with saline implants for brains.
Never.
The Truth hurts.
Sorry, for any good points that he may have been making, I had to stop reading once I came across:
"Barack Obama, who I voted for twice...."
"...the people of Ohio, Nebraska, Rhode Island, or any of the other fifty states?"
"Other" fifty states? Wait, when did Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam become states?
Hmmm...
Excoriates bought off Koch Bros. catamites...
Votes twice for a bought off Soros sodomite.
Dumbass for voting for this prick twice, what a douche...
Maybe we should just elect Beibs so that people will realise just how inconsequential the office really is.
When they knock on your door with pamphlets in hand, just tell them you don't vote---it only encourages them!!
Too much corn syrup, never gonna happen
Bad as Viet Nam ... hell ... this could get as bad as World War Eleven!
"This is turning into a Vietnam moment for the US political scene."...
Vietnam?
Yeah a Vietnam with the second largest collection of thermonuclear warheads on the fucking planet!
James a great write but ya missed it by ".......................................................................................................................... " that much!
When this one gets rollin we're going to be wistful about wanting to relive those Vietnam days!
I don't see this escalating much more. Maybe some hard-core pro-Russia Ukranians cause some problems internally, but I don't see Vlad stepping up and grabbing more land. All his posturing now looks to me to be actions designed to create a bargaining chip in future "diplomatic talks". Vlad has Crimea; that's the only thing that has real value to him - his access to the Black Sea, and the rest of the world. I don't think he is too sentimental about the rest, but if he acts like he is, and then stands down, Live Shot Kerry can claim a moral victory and go back to wind surfing, and Vlad can proudly hoist the Russian flag over his new sea-front military posts.
The Wal Mart bashing gets old. They're a great American success story that employs more than a million people around the world. Wal Mart would certainly sell american made stuff if there was american made stuff to be sold that their customers demanded.
Here is what the American success story is: A woman opening a boutique and it thriving for 20 years on Main Street. She did not end up in a mansion but goddam it, it's a fucking specialty store. Gone now thanks to Wal-Mart. Do you shop there? Well I avoid it like the plague because of deceptive practices to maximize the amount of money the customer spends before they leave the building. Costco...that is a success story. Wal-Mart sold out the customers and their off spring to ensure they will never end..that no competition will rise up from the masses and put them out of business. UNFAIR competition.
Wal-Mart today carries 2-3 brand names. The camping section is espeically interesting. Their brand, whatever it is, and one other ...who must have agreed to some shady deal in teh back room to have Wall-Slaves sell their shit. There are 5 stores in a town of 200 thousand people, maybe more. They are every 5 miles in every fucking direction. The store fronts beside them end up as fast food shops because the loss of traffic going to Wall-Slaves.
These stores and CVS look as if they could fold up and leave in 24 hours. You are a foolish man and reading what you wrote made my heart fall from the top of Mount Everest. It is very disappointing reading this. I understand trolls and those who have allegiance to the Greed E. Ones but...you?
A lot of very good people, community leaders, soft ball coaches, hospital staff local commerce are going to become victims to this game of chess they call our lives. And obviously many are incapable of understanding that this is genocide, the more palateable version perhaps, but the end will be the same.